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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, otherwise the NejiTen would be canon.
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Enjoy.
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Chapter 26.
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He listened to the murmurs around him, his guards talking among themselves in ill-concealed whispers whenever the subject of the trip came up. No doubt the uncertainty about the destination chosen for the new trip had them on edge, even his uncle, who had called him into his office to ask him directly.
He had heard something akin to a complaint from Hiashi because he was planning a trip when he had just returned from the previous one, and because he was finally immersing himself in the management of the company. He made it clear that replacing him as director had been temporary and since the cast was gone, he saw no reason to continue in that position. Furthermore, the previous trip had been a business trip that had been interrupted when it was just beginning.
He made it clear that it was a personal trip, to which the man frowned because he was taking a vacation and heard him ask if the trip was again to Canada but now with other intentions. Clearly his uncle wanted to know if he was going all the way to that country to look for his daughter, and it wasn't a lie when he told Hiashi that the destination of choice wasn't a country in the new continent.
No, he definitely wasn't going to Canada but he was going to go to look for Yumiko. He wasn't lying either when he said that it was a mostly personal trip, so the purpose of it was solely up to him, even if for a vacation he wouldn't have chosen a winter country.
At least his suitcase included the cold weather clothes he had bought for his January trip that would be useful for going to Stockholm. And that was the only direction Shino gave the other guards, to bring their coats. Kiba was also going because on Friday morning he had a business meeting scheduled, but that was the only one, in the afternoon he would already be free. It was a short trip, not counting the flight time which again was very long, he would leave on Wednesday morning and officially his schedule said he would be back on Tuesday.
Officially, because he was willing to stay a couple more days if necessary to start making arrangements regarding his daughter. Or at least use those days to share with her and convince Tenten to go to Japan while they were there, because in his native country it would be much easier to do the legal things. Although he didn't want to admit that he didn't feel at all optimistic about it, so he left that to Hanabi, who every now and then reminded him that she wanted to meet Yumiko.
Contrary to what he usually did on those long flights, he didn't give in to the sleepiness he had and didn't take the sleeping pill, because they would arrive at their destination at night. The only reason why on previous flights he relied on such pills was because it was Shino who got them, and so he knew that the man would be stationed at his side the whole time. He was sure that someday he was going to find out that in reality his head of security was a robot and so sometimes it even seemed like he didn't need to rest.
Technically it was almost midnight when he arrived at the hotel, but for him it was 6 am and he had just pulled an all-nighter. Not even in his university years had he ever done anything like that and it definitely didn't go with him, so as soon as he hit the pillow on the bed he fell asleep. The only redeemable thing about that was that when he woke up he didn't feel as jet lagged as he might have otherwise.
Shino had already told him that space in his schedule could be created on Thursday or Friday afternoon, and checking the book fair schedule Kiba told him that Tenten was having her book pre-launch on Thursday afternoon. While it was a closed event that only pre-registered people could attend, he didn't care, the important thing was that the brunette would be there and most likely Yumiko as well.
He was attentive to the signals of his security chief, it wasn't the first time since he had that position that the Aburame created a space in which they could sneak. For obviously just as when he was one of his guards, the man refused to let him go alone. When he saw the movement in Shino's hand he didn't hesitate to climb into the car in the passenger seat, being joined a second later by the man who climbed into the driver's seat and started the vehicle.
They were waiting for a traffic light to change when the radio beeped, one of the guards asking if anyone had seen him. Their head of security activated the intercom only to advise that he was personally taking over and that they could take the afternoon off, that he would let them know when they returned. Shino proceeded to turn off the device after that before waiting for any kind of reply from his subordinates. The destination was clear, they were going for the literary event the brunette was at.
At the entrance along with the ticket they gave him a map of the place, it was a huge event so there were different rooms and pavilions that were destined, in addition to the programming of the fair and where each of the scheduled events would take place. From the time it was clear that Tenten was at the pre-launch of her book and most likely Yumiko would also be there. So he headed in that direction, being closely followed by Shino, who under his dark glasses was analyzing everything around him.
He avoided frowning as he tried to enter the room where he knew Tenten was and was stopped by a woman with a list who asked his name. It was a pre-launch and only people who had been specifically invited to it were allowed access. He could try to bribe her, or even try to flirt with her enough to get her to let him in, but he considered it an unnecessary waste of energy and didn't want to spend the rest of the trip having to get her off his back.
On the schedule it said until what time the event was, so for the time being he would go get something to eat while he waited for that time to arrive so he could return and try to find his daughter at the end. The jet lag wasn't hitting him as hard as usual, although his appetite had been diminished and that's why he hadn't eaten lunch even though it was already past the hour. Since the country was famous for its salmon, he opted for such a dish, a gravlax that although it was barely the size of an appetizer served to satiate the little hunger he felt.
His next stop was the bathroom, thinking that when he left maybe he could walk around the place to continue killing time and maybe also take the opportunity to buy some books for the return flight. Shino at his side didn't say anything, just accompanied him in silence, attentive to his movements. He was about to enter one of the enclosures when the Aburame signaled him to stop.
"What's the matter?" he asked, initially believing that it might be a security issue and that the man wouldn't approve of him entering a place where there were quite a few people.
But until the plane had landed no one but Kiba and he had known the destination, which meant that there were only a few people who knew he was in that country and it was practically impossible that in such a short period of time something like a threat had already arisen.
"At your 4," in all those years he had already gotten used to the man's indications with the clock hands, so he turned his head to his right in the indicated direction.
Not really paying attention to her surroundings was Yumiko walking to pass by where they were at that moment. He turned around to take a couple of steps to stay in her path, but it was more likely that she would just dodge him like she did with all the other passersby rather than notice him.
"Yumiko," he pronounced without raising his voice too much, just enough so that the young woman who as he had predicted had passed by him without determining him would hear him, stopping to look for the origin of her name.
"Neji!" the reaction was unexpected, especially because of the emotion in this one as if he were a great friend whom she hadn't seen for too long.
He tried not to stir uncomfortably in the tight embrace, telling himself that he should get used to such displays of affection. Not only because Yumiko was the daughter of the brunette, who in their relationship had always been effusive and it was obvious that she had raised her to be just as expressive, but because he was precisely her father and such displays of affection from his daughter should be normal. Or something like that.
"What are you doing here?" was the question as soon as she stopped hugging him, although she didn't pull away from him.
"The day we met in Montreal you mentioned that your mother was having an event in Stockholm in March."
"You remembered!" it had been almost a shout with more excitement than before.
"I have a good memory," in general.
"So do I," Yumiko drew a smile before looking at him accusingly, "and I don't remember giving you the exact date."
"It wasn't very difficult to find a literary event that would take place in March in this city and that would have Tenten as a guest," he clarified downplaying the importance, "my assistant took care of finding the date and the address."
"Did Kiba come too?"
"He stayed at the hotel," although he probably had already gone out to tour the city on his own because the man had known in advance that he was going out alone with the Aburame that afternoon, "Shino is here," he made a hand motion to point at the man.
"Hello, Shino," she waved her hand in greeting to the man and he replied with a nod. "And the rest of the men who are usually around you?"
"For today it's just us," Yumiko tilted her head slightly, clearly not understanding and she wasn't going to explain to him why he had to sneak away from his own guards. "And your mother?"
"She's at the pre-launch, I went out to the bathroom but I was on my way back."
"I'll be waiting for you to come back out."
"Why don't you come in?" there was confusion in her voice.
"There's a guest list, I'm not on it."
"Right, my mother is today talking to the media and critics who received an advance copy of her latest book," it was a good time to realize that he had looked up absolutely nothing about the brunette's literary career, "well, I guess we can tour the fair in the meantime," he raised his eyebrow at the use of the plural in that sentence. "What's up?"
"Shouldn't you go back to your mother?"
"Yeah... maybe she'll punish me again later, too, but..." she shrugged her shoulders, "what difference does it make."
"Punish you again?" he was curious, "did Tenten punish you for running away to Montreal?" it was obvious that any parent would punish their child for such an action, in response Yumiko just nodded her head, "did she hit you?" now she denied and he raised an eyebrow again because he thought the angry woman he had seen on the previous trip was capable of such a thing, "are you sure?"
"My parents have never hit me," the smile was gone, possibly because of the memory of the man she called dad, "mom hates violence, though her punishments still hurt... just not in a physical way, hers is negative punishment."
"Negative punishment?" nothing came to his mind with those words, "is there such a thing as 'positive' punishment?"
"Positive punishment is when you receive an aversive stimulus," it was Shino who intervened, "hitting or forcing someone to do something they don't like is an example of that."
"How do you know that?"
"Never ask Shino something you don't want to know the answer to," although it was he who wasn't sure he wanted to know why his security chief was familiar with such terms. "And negative punishment?"
"It's taking away a pleasant stimulus, you take away something the person likes," the Aburame explained again, "like forbidding to watch TV, limiting the use of social networks or the cell phone."
"Does your mother take things away from you?" Yumiko affirmed, "what did she take away from you for going to Montreal to meet me?"
"My participation in the theater group, my credit card, outings with my high school friends and..." there was a pause, he could imagine that his daughter was quite a social student and since she was considering studying a career in performing arts it was obvious that she would be in some related extracurricular activity. "I guess I won't be getting a car on my birthday."
"June 15th," that made the smile on Yumiko's face return.
"That's right, although I'm not ruling out the car yet, mom said that after this trip we'll talk about resuming my classes so that my license will no longer be that of an apprentice."
It felt rash to say that he could give her any car she wanted if her mother refused, even give her one of his credit cards to buy anything she wanted. But included in his plan to try to make things right on that trip wasn't questioning the brunette's parenting skills, which meant not contravening his daughter's punishment even if it was too easy to do so.
"But hey, I'll get my privileges back at some point..." Yumiko spoke after several seconds of silence without wiping off her smile, "where are we going first?"
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He couldn't remember the last time he had attended such an event, as a rule he avoided overly crowded places, which meant not going to conventions or places involving large congregations of people. And yet there he was, being practically carried by Yumiko who had taken him by the arm as they moved through the place.
Though he had to be honest, the place wasn't crowded, or not as crowded as he knew it was going to be over the weekend. At the moment what swarmed the halls were those students and senior citizens who could afford to attend on a weekday at a time when the offices normally operated.
There was no specific destination, just wandering around the different stalls, entering some where he saw a couple of books that were of interest to him. He wasn't going to buy anything at that moment because he didn't want to be carrying the extra weight, but he would keep it in mind to acquire them before the event was over, he could even send Kiba later to take care of that.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but minimum it was 1 hour they had been walking here and there when it was Yumiko who stopped at one of the places, walking in before releasing him and then turning to look at him. It was as if she was waiting for something from him, what he had no idea was what. Behind him he could see out of the corner of his eye that Shino was glancing at one of the books on display.
"This is mom's publishing house," his daughter finally spoke when she saw that he didn't utter a word.
Only then did he notice that in addition to the books on display there were some banners advertising the brunette's new book. It was the fourth book, the continuation of an 'acclaimed saga', something about spies from what he could tell from the cover. He slowly walked through the space, noticing that clearly Tenten was a recognized writer, something he hadn't stopped to think about with the simple fact that she was on the international guest list for said fair.
And no doubt the publisher had decided to take advantage of that invitation to get all the benefit possible, hence the book launch was that Saturday, all the publicity they were giving her and that despite having other authors they were focusing on her at that moment. If his grandfather were still alive, he would have been very upset to learn that the brunette had indeed achieved her dream of having a career in the artistic world.
His smile faded almost as quickly as it appeared and his brow furrowed slightly at the thought, not because he had thought of his grandfather, which despite not saying it out loud he was happy that had died. But for having thought of Tenten fulfilling her dreams, not because he admired that she had made it as a teenage mother in an unfamiliar country, but because she hadn't minded leaving him behind for the sake of achieving her own goals.
He snorted before turning around and walking out of the place, he wasn't again feeling sorry for himself or anything, at his age he had a life that many would kill to have. So no, he wasn't going to rethink something as absurd as his relationship with his first girlfriend. The only reason for his first girlfriend to be in his thoughts and his recent schedule was because of the daughter they had in common, he would settle everything related to Yumiko's paternity on that trip and he would never have to talk to Tenten again.
"Is something wrong?" His daughter had also gone out.
"No," he denied all at once, "it's just not my kind of literature," and that wasn't a lie.
"Reviewers often say that Mom's books are for most audiences and that they are good because she doesn't treat the reader as stupid," she commented, "that she doesn't assume the reader knows about the subject she will talk about and explains enough so that lore and context can be created, without also going overboard in the amount of detail she gives."
"I don't like spy books."
"The spies are only the ones in her most recognized saga, not all of Mom's books were planned to have sequels, so there are some that are just one book and that's it," no doubt Yumiko knew about her mother's work, "and she has explored many genres and worlds, from medieval stories to futuristic science fiction."
"Have you read everything your mother has written?"
"No, but sometimes she tells me her ideas," his daughter shrugged, "and all the children's stories she has published were written for me, when I was a child my parents read them to me before bedtime."
"Children's stories aren't my kind of literature either," he didn't wait for an answer, starting to move away from that specific publisher.
"What do you usually read?" Yumiko had matched his pace, though without taking him by the arm again.
"What?"
"You said that's not your type of literature, what do you usually read then?"
"Business books, some related to the biographies of great businessmen," although that was more a demand of his grandfather when he was alive and he hadn't touched a book of those since the old man had passed away, "or I usually read some documents related to my work."
"Boring," mused the young woman, "don't you read anything for fun?"
"Not really."
"What do you do for fun then?" he thought about it for a moment.
"I enjoy silence, having time for myself," and sex, but it wasn't something he was going to say out loud to his daughter.
"I repeat: boring," Yumiko pulled out the phone that had just rung, "don't you have any hobbies like... I don't know, painting, running or what do I know, walking a dog?"
"I've never had a pet."
"Really? Never?" he shook his head, though he remembered all the times he'd heard Kiba talk about his dream of getting a dog when his schedule allowed it. "What about a plant?"
"Because of my job I usually travel quite a bit, I often spend several weeks away from my apartment," and to tell the truth he didn't see the point of spending time taking care of a plant.
"With Dad we spent entire weekends gardening," the phone rang again in what he could assume was a notification and not a call, "although when we traveled it was necessary to hire a gardener."
"Where did you travel with your parents?"
"Lots of places, we traveled a lot both for mom's work and on vacation... is... it used to be fun," he could see the slight hint of sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he excused himself trying to sound sincere, "I didn't mean to be intrusive."
"No, you're not intruding, it's just... well, don't tell mom, but work trips aren't as much fun anymore as when dad was alive," he didn't say anything, he really didn't want to poke at that wound. "I'm not saying that mom isn't fun or..." Yumiko bit her lip, "well, it's just that mom is busy most of the trips because of her work..."
"Like right now?"
"Exactly," the phone rang once more and his daughter checked it, she was frowning slightly after typing something and there was a new ringing sound.
"Is something wrong?"
"Mom knows I'm not in the pre-launch room, I already told her that I haven't left the fair and that I'm fine... but she wants me to come back right away."
"Is Tenten always so controlling with you?"
"Only since I ran away..."
"Let's go," he gave a slight glance around him to locate himself so he could direct his steps in the direction of the place where the brunette was.
"Where to?"
"I have to talk very seriously with your mother on this trip, the last thing I need is for her to be predisposed because she thinks you escaped again."
"About me?" Yumiko asked trying to match the speed of his gait, "are you going to talk to mom about me?"
"Clearly, I have absolutely nothing else to talk to her about."
He recognized the pout on his daughter's face but decided to ignore it, he was serious when he said he didn't need Tenten to be biased against him. Although it was probably unnecessary to go to the trouble of thinking something like that, Tenten had been biased against him from the very moment she had hidden her pregnancy from him. However he wanted to maintain the conviction that the trip wasn't going to be in vain and something could be done.
"Aren't you coming in?" she asked him when she saw that he and Shino didn't advance to the person who was next to the door with the entry list.
"I am not allowed to do it."
"I can take care of that," Yumiko didn't wait for him to say anything, advancing towards the woman and starting to talk to her, a little more than a minute had passed when she turned around and came back with them, "there's a problem."
"What is it?" he asked cautiously because he didn't like the gesture of false innocence that his daughter was making, he recognized that gesture.
"She will allow you in alone, I'm sorry Shino," he exchanged a look with the Aburame, who clearly wasn't pleased with those words.
"I'll wait here," no, his security chief was definitely not happy.
"I can try again," offered Yumiko, but her smile was still fake, "maybe if you take off your glasses and..."
"I'll wait here," repeated the Aburame not finding the comment funny, giving a slight nod in his direction which he replied in kind. He was no longer 24 years old nor was he looking for a way to sneak away from the man, "Yumiko," he commented by way of a temporary farewell with a nod of his head.
"Shino," she answered in the same way, "shall we go?"
"What did you say to let me in?" he questioned in a whisper as soon as the door behind them closed, seeing that there were about forty people in the place.
"I just told the truth," it was amazing how sometimes Yumiko could sound just like Tenten, "although I changed it a little bit at the end."
"What did you say?"
"That you're my father," despite all the times he had thought of Yumiko as his daughter, it felt strange to be called that way by her, "but that didn't seem to convince her at all because you're not on the list."
"What did you make up?"
"It's not exactly a lie..." they had been advancing towards where the people were, Tenten was sitting on the stage in front of everyone accompanied by a man that he could suppose was a representative of her publisher.
"Yumiko."
"I told her that you're going to give mom a surprise..."
No, that wasn't a lie and both that the sentence he was uttering fell halfway through and the altered expression on Tenten's face when their gazes met made it clear that she wasn't expecting to see him there, much less with Yumiko by her side.
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She needed to calm down a bit as the event progressed, not because she was talking to several specialized critics who had read the fourth installment of her book saga with a magnifying glass, analyzing every detail minutely and asking about some of these. That wasn't the problem, she was used to criticism and throughout her career she had learned precisely to understand that it was through these that she could improve.
What had her patience frazzled not only at the event but on that trip, or more precisely the last few months since she was finishing her latest book, was her editor. Except for her daughter's extended absence, the pre-launch was going very well, but things were definitely going badly with the man on that trip and she was having a hard time acting diplomatic and not thinking about the card the other publisher's rep had handed her on her trip to Montreal.
All her career as a published writer she had worked for the same publisher, her first editor being the man who had given her the opportunity and with whom she had worked for the first few years. But after his retirement due to age she had been having other editors, with no major problem so far. Until the last year that man had arrived specifically.
Their relationship had been normal at the beginning, as she had worked so far, she sent him the advances at the agreed times. The problem was the first in-person meeting, the man was definitely very different from what she had imagined through calls and email exchanges. Yoshio was his name, they shared nationality which was a little strange to her.
The problem? Yoshio was a businessman with a high focus on the business side, so he often didn't make her feel as if he was really interested in what she was writing but in the speed at which she was writing it and the sales it was going to represent for the publisher. At times she felt as if he was treating her like a product to be made the most of and only focused on the best way to prospect for her books and increase the amount of sales.
The man wasn't really used to the creative world and believing that she only produced objects for sale he apparently thought he could intervene in her work style. Trying to agree with her on a minimum number of words to write per hour, day, week and month. In other words, if she had a fixed number of words stipulated, she could write much faster and thus reduce the time she was given to deliver her manuscripts.
She refused and explained that writing didn't work that way, it wasn't an assembly line where she could guarantee that a certain number of pieces would be assembled by the end of the day. While she did her best to be consistent in her writing, it wasn't something she could force, one day she could write several chapters and the next she could stare at a blank page for hours.
Although she gave in on having the last book ready for the launch at that book fair she had been invited to more than 6 months ago. She did it because she admitted that it was a great opportunity for her career to take advantage of that event, but she flatly refused when in the previous meeting she had with her publisher while in Sweden, he informed her that given the comments he had already heard about her book, it would be ideal if they announced that by the end of that same year the fifth installment would arrive and also that the saga would be extended to a sixth book.
She emphatically refused both, although as she was writing the fourth book she had been laying the groundwork for the fifth, and had been jotting down some ideas, that didn't mean she could write it in a hurry. And a sixth book was unthinkable, her literary saga had been carefully planned to finish tying up all the loose ends in the fifth book, extending one more book implied creating new subplots just to be able to close them later.
She saw the man make a face and accept almost obliged, proposing then that since she was in Europe they would do a tour promoting the new book, autograph signing meetings and so on in countless bookstores in several countries across the continent. Showing himself again annoyed by the fact that she refused, accusing her of wanting to be a mediocre writer and not allowing them as her publisher to get her greatest potential. Sabotaging herself just as she had done a few months before when she was proposed to tour Japan, her homeland would be happy to receive her.
In her contract there was a specific clause regarding her never going to Japan and that her books in that country had to be published without her full name. 'T. Sabaku' was the name under which her books were published in her native country, a country from which she was practically an exile. But her reluctance to tour Europe wasn't for the same reason, it was for the simple fact that she couldn't accept a month-long trip from one day to the next, she had to think of her daughter.
Yoshio made a comment about putting Yumiko on the plane back to Canada and her staying in Sweden, or if necessary taking her along for the ride. The colors had risen to her face in annoyance, clearly the man didn't have children and didn't understand that she wasn't going to put her underage daughter on a plane alone to fly halfway across the world and completely disengage from her care. She wasn't an irresponsible mother. Let alone dragging her daughter for a whole month from city to city on a trip with a tight schedule that would have nothing touristy about it.
Her answer to the European trip was to postpone it to the middle of the year, Yumiko would be on vacation so she could leave her in Toronto at Temari's house and during the week she could accompany Kankuro to the theater, so between them they could help her take care of her daughter, it wasn't an ideal scenario but it was a much more reasonable option. Her editor refused, by June there wouldn't be the same reception of a tour, they should take advantage as soon as the book was freshly released.
So sitting at that table next to her editor she was tense, hanging on every word the man uttered so as not to allow him to commit her to the press on a date of the next book that she didn't plan to meet or on a trip that wasn't previously stipulated. That in addition to keeping an eye on when her daughter would return, she preferred to keep her in sight.
And it was when she was answering a question from one of the attendants that she felt a gaze glare on her, her mind went blank for a moment as she thought that was just the thing she was missing to make her trip worse. Neji was standing next to Yumiko.
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It's my birthday!
Since my return to the writing world I've tried to do as many updates as possible on this date (hahahaha, it's only been 2 times), but well, the point is that this year I didn't want to let the date pass without updating.
I'm still alive, writing the next chapters of both this story and Captive (you can find it in my profile), but I haven't been able to resume the rhythm I had before and that's why I'm not here today to announce that I'll be back to the usual update dates. I haven't abandoned the stories and I really hope to be able to update as before.
That's all for today, I thank you for your patience and for reading.
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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.
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Regards, Sally K.