Uncertainty

Setback

She hated jet lag, she hated it completely. It wasn't enough to have the confusion in her thoughts when she landed for not understanding the time changes and if it was earlier or later in the place she was, she had to add that sometimes her head hurt and something like a haze got into her mind. The only thing that lifted her spirits was that she no longer had the time change, she had returned to her city and in just a few minutes she would be able to see her son.

She picked up her suitcase when she recognized it on the conveyor belt, and could see the back of Neji, who was a few steps ahead of her, always waiting for her even if he pretended not to. The moment she crossed the huge door all at once she started to look for her son's tousled hair, but it wasn't there, there was only Kiba who approached her with a smile and greeted her with a light kiss.

"And Ryuu?" she asked all at once, her husband took the suitcase with one hand and her with the other.

"At the institute," his tone of voice had a hint of obviousness in it that only confused and annoyed her more.

"At the institute?" she repeated, "On a Sunday?"

"Sweetie, it's Monday," she narrowed her eyes.

"The flight was a..." she thought for a moment

"Because of the time change, it's Monday here," Kiba smiled as he clarified the day for her and she just cursed again in her mind, damn the time zones!, "Come on, we have just enough time to pick up our dragon."

She nodded, walking hand in hand with her husband to the car, leaning her head back in the chair and trying with all her might to concentrate on staying awake until the evening. She had the next day off and was due back at work until Wednesday, so at least she had time to recover and get back to being as focused as usual. As she reached the door of the institute she could see her son in the distance and jumped down, running up to him to hug him all at once. Her little dragon's initial joy at seeing her back was soon overshadowed by his adolescent instinct of not wanting his mother to shower him with kisses in front of all his classmates.

They all went to a hamburger restaurant and finally at home she spent the whole afternoon listening to her son talk, as well as helping him check his homework. She had discovered that he hadn't done the English literature homework he had been given the week before, and avoided frowning, she didn't want to scold him the day she returned home. With what she could focus on they were reading together so that he would finish it at once.

Her dinner was somewhat light, she felt completely exhausted and the only thing she was thinking about was getting in the bathtub for a while before she could finally go to bed and sleep until the next day. She prepared the water, added a couple of smelling salts and undressed, letting out an audible moan as she came into contact with the hot water. She wanted to, and at the same time she didn't want to, let her mind focus on everything that had happened on that trip, on all the conversations she'd had with Neji.

Because telling him the truth about not eloping to get married, had hardly been the first thing she'd confessed. She didn't know why exactly, or maybe she did, for once in her life she had needed to let out absolutely everything she had had to keep quiet for years in her marriage and in her life. She told him about how she met Kiba, about Tayuya and why she had reacted that way to seeing her that day among the aspiring secretaries, about knowing there had been other women after that one and what she had heard before the trip, and that above all else there was still Ryuu. The only thing she didn't mention was about her family's humble background nor about her scholarship which was the only reason she had come to the private high school.

And that's when the Hyūga spoke up, not that he was a lawyer but he knew a few things about law. Saying that taking Ryuu's custody away from her completely was impossible, by law they had to allow her to see him on weekends if they gave it to her on a partial basis, because due to the child's age the judge would listen to him and would take into account what he had to say regarding which parent he preferred to be with. It was a matter of having a competent lawyer, but not even the most incompetent of them all would allow custody to be taken away completely. They couldn't just disappear her, he also mentioned that her prenup should be able to be evaluated. She had kept silent, her prenup had never mattered one bit to her, only her son. The last thing Neji had said to her at the airport before they parted ways to board the flight was that if she wanted to, he would lend her his lawyers, a firm that had nothing to envy to those working for Tsume.