Hinata stared between the four lists of names, two on each page, positioned side by side in the open book. She sighed tiredly and closed it gently, laying it back in her lap.
"There's no way I can do this . . ." she muttered to herself.
It's too early in her pregnancy to look for baby names. For one, she doesn't even know the baby's gender yet; and two, how can she pick names without Naruto's own input? This is his child, too, isn't it? He has every right to be a part of the naming process.
An ache pulses in her chest; Hinata feels her heart clenching in on itself. It knows how hurt and depressed she gets when she thinks of Naruto. He's gone; been gone for a week now. It's been two and a half weeks since Hinata found out she is pregnant.
This is not what she thought her having a baby would feel like. Her "baby daddy", as Kiba, Naruto, even Shikamaru, would say, wouldn't have been a bad guy and gotten himself arrested and thrown into prison, leaving her alone and pregnant.
But . . . But it's not like Naruto is a bad guy. He's just . . . had it rough. He's been through a lot. Hinata has been through too much—she realizes what Naruto had done to her is beyond inexcusable. She knew when he would apologize, the next day the same thing would happen again. That became a routine and she couldn't help but fall into it.
She loved him too much to push herself away. Maybe Naruto loved her too much to let her go . . .
Again, the sad thoughts! Enough of that.
Just as Hinata shook her head to physically erase her mind, her phone began vibrating next to her, catching her attention immediately. The caller ID read Sakura Haruno's name.
Hinata hesitated for precisely two seconds before answering the call.
"Sakura," Hinata voiced quietly.
"Hinata!" Sakura's loud, cheery voice echoes into the phone. "Hold on, I'm adding Ino into the call."
Hinata was careful to silence her gulp.
These past few weeks, she's started hanging out more and more with her friends. After being distant and secretive for so long, she missed interacting with them; but because she's been so closed off and had only dealt with Naruto's behavior, she noticed she's been more quiet and reserved than usual. Hinata feels herself shy away in the back of her mind as she understands just how badly this affects her conversational skills when they're already terrible. She's been working on it, but things with Naruto threw her progress out the window.
Every once in a while—sometimes every couple of sentences—her stutter will spaz out of her. Talking is a definite struggle when she can barely say "hi".
Hinata listens to the sounds of her two friends, both of which are bubbly and happy for the most part. Hinata has never really been like that . . . A weird feeling tingles along her skin, making goosebumps rise.
Am I that different from them? I'm not a regular girl, I suppose?
Hinata's brows furrow as she delves deep into her thoughts again.
She's never been outspoken. Hinata recalls every moment in her life she's tried standing up for herself; she'd say about two out of ten times things went great for her. She stood up to her cousin and now they're close, and maybe when she stood her ground against Sasuke. But thinking about Naruto . . . every day she spent with him, it was like she was drowning. She couldn't reach the surface and find the air to breathe. He would watch her every move and manage her every action. He was in control of when she would shower, when to sleep, when to eat, when to speak, what clothes she was allowed to wear . . . She couldn't do anything lest she wanted to purposely anger him.
That, she never wanted to do.
"Hinata, Hun, are you alright?" comes Ino's soft-spoken voice, full of concern. Hinata blinks her eyes against tears she didn't notice at the corners of her eyes. The girl discretely sniffled and nodded to herself.
"Y-Yes," she replied. "Just lonely, that's all," Hinata admitted. A low mewl echoed from one of the girls.
"Aw, Hinata," came Sakura, "How about we come over? We can do what girls do and paint our nails!"
An immediate scoff came from Ino. "Seriously? No. Let's talk about boys." Hinata frowned slightly at that. Before she could say anything, a gasp broke from Sakura.
"Ino!"
"What? . . . Oh." Silence masked the unspoken words.
Boys. Naruto. Boys. Sasuke.
Naruto hurt Hinata.
Sasuke hates Naruto.
Naruto is in prison.
Sasuke still hates Naruto. At least everyone still thinks so.
"Guys," Hinata finally speaks up. With a delicate touch, she runs her hands over her still tiny belly. "I'm pregnant."
The phone clicks. Hinata reads the "ended call" on her black screen. She suspects the girls hit the red button in surprise, because after a second of being hurt, thinking she'd been thrown away like trash, her phone rings again in her hands.
In her haste to press the correct button, Hinata answered the call, but not before dragging it away from her ears once Ino and Sakura yelled in unison: "YOU'RE PREGNANT?!"
Aaaaaaand here's the start to a new fic-sequel to "Listen To Me"?! Is this true?!
I honestly don't know how I'm starting this or how I should go about this, so I'll be honest: gonna take it slow and carefully cuz I don't wanna screw this up and make it crappy. (If you're gonna ask, no, haven't watched the third generation of Naruto yet. Those babies ain't mine yet. Naruto's my boy.)
Please let me know what y'all think! What do you think of this perspective of Hinata! This wasn't planned. The story is in third person p.o.v. btw, so multiple characters' p.o.v. to be expected.
Thank all of you who have read and enjoyed "Listen To Me", I hope you enjoy this story as well, wherever the hell it may go, hahaha!
Please Favorite, Follow, and Review!
-SullyR
(Also, what's your opinion of the title and summary? Like, dislike?)
