A/N: Sorry guys! I could only say that this chapter has no NARUHINA interaction. Bear with me! And don't hate me for the last chapter. haha! I feel so Kishi. yikes. I'm not going to kill anyone though, if you wanted to ask. I'm not Kishi! I'm sorry if this chapter was more Sakura/Sasuke based. I just had to add them in. But get ready for action, yeah? kekekeke.

Enjoy this chapter, nonetheless. I'll update you soon!

Complicated Support

Two days have come and gone quickly and Hinata had brought Minori out to look at the rest of the city. He finally grew to know what a park was and how tall the buildings were. They went to every shop in town and they never missed a helicopter breeze by. Hinata would feel happy then and enjoy her time with Minori but she didn't have the same peace she had in her heart. She could say guilt was all that she ever felt.

She had spent the afternoons with Minori but this time, Naruto was not around to tag along. Whenever she fetched Minori from Naruto's apartment, Hinata would be greeted by his plastered smile before he would run off and say he was late for work. Hinata could only say to Minori that Naruto was busy. The boy was upset for a while but he got over it, understanding how busy the blonde was over work. It was good that Minori understood well but the fact that Hinata kept thinking way back to the time Naruto and her was last at Sasuke and Sakura's apartment...? She just felt so hurt; she didn't know where to begin.

"Hinata nee-chan?" Minori shook Hinata's hand, "I think your phone is ringing."

Hinata nodded with a smile, thankful that Minori snapped her back to her reality. She rummaged through her sling bag and picked up her phone, only to realize who it was. She felt her heart drop a little in disappointment, expecting it was Naruto calling to check on Minori. It wasn't since he was busy, wasn't he?

"Good morning, Sakura-San," Hinata had a fake smile over her face. She had this intuition that if she smiled, maybe she'll sound better over the phone. Hinata could only feel stupid at that.

"I need you to be in my office later. Is it alright for you to drop by today?" Hinata heard Sakura's exhausted yet rushed voice over the other line. Did something come up in the office?

"Sure, I'll be there later in the afternoon," Hinata tried to obliged herself, trying not to make more burdens for the tired attorney.

"I'll take note then," Hinata heard the ruffling of papers before she heard the rosette greet goodbye.

What could have happened...?

In addition to that, another layer of worries bundled over and Hinata felt herself clutch onto Minori's hand a little tighter.

"Hinata nee-chan, are you okay?" Minori looked over at her with his wide sky blue eyes and there it was. The way Minori had such deep blue ocean blue eyes. Hinata was reminded about Naruto because of that similarity. She bit her lip, not wanting to put a frown in front of Minori. The little child was already worried about her.

"I'm fine," Hinata tried her best to make the warmest smile she was able to comprehend, "There's this one place I wanted to show you."

Minori's eyes brightened up. He was excited again and began jumping on the spot. The hood from his sweater jumped with him.

Hinata gave him a small smile before they commenced their journey on foot. Besides, they weren't that far from where they were heading. The fact that it was close made Hinata feel a little more calmer than she usually was from the last two days. She had to keep herself in level that she was a responsible, collected and independent woman.

She just had to...

Hinata had to show that. And visiting that place once again would be able to trigger that, hopefully.

"Oh? Is this an abandoned building?" Minori's wide blue eyes scanned the interior of the third floor. He was running around freely and inspecting every inch of the room they were in with every ounce of curiosity a six year-old boy could handle.

"Yes, I sometimes come here to think," Hinata sat over one of the rubble. Nobody had bought the building or took it down since that accident she got involved four years ago. The government didn't even touch the plot of land and it remained to stand there along with the buildings next to it. If it served as a reminder that tragedies could happen at any time, Hinata wouldn't know. She was only twenty and followed Neji on one of his trips. She didn't think she'd make this place as her solitary sanctuary.

"This building was supposed to burn down in a fire," Hinata explained as she followed Minori around. She traced each wall with her fingers, remembering the flames burning around her not so long ago.

That was right. Hinata almost died if not for the flicker of bright light reflected over her side that time. It was because of that she found that laminated photo under the small bits of rubble. She hid below another concave of rubble once she found the photo. It was like a miracle. She was found in time and the building didn't collapse at all.

"Nee-chan, you're weird," Minori's voice echoed throughout the complex. Hinata could only give the boy a glare before Minori ran up to her and apologize.

"But you like this place, right, Hinata nee-chan?" Minori grinned from ear to ear towards her, earning a ruffle on his dark messy hair.

Hinata rummaged through her bag again, looking for her purse. When she finally found it, she pulled the laminated photo that had been folded and dog-eared throughout the years. Minori could only look at it by her side. The boy studied it evenly.

It was a lady with long ginger hair, a bright smile on her face and made a humorous squinted face towards the camera. The lady had a book on her hands as she made her face towards the camera. It was hard to explain, really.

"She looks like Naruto nii-san," Minori spoke out loud before he went off to doodle on the dirt with his hand. Hinata just stared at the photo a little while longer after hearing Minori's small little comment. She held a hand over her lips, a little taken aback over what Minori said.

She shook her head and stuffed the photo back.

Yeah, it couldn't be.

"The problem here is that we're left with only four more days," Sakura ran a hand over her hair, "And both of them are asking for more rather stupid conditions."

Hinata stared at her friend, flipping through the documents and staring on her desktop computer once in a while before she wrote with her pen on one of the sheets of paper. Hinata felt that she couldn't help other than take care of Minori. It seemed like Sakura was doing a far more complicated and useful job compared to her. She sighed before she turned her gaze towards Minori, drinking a cup of water from Sakura's pantry.

"All in all, it's all up to Minori," Hinata stared up at Sakura who was still writing in on her reports, "Maybe we should have him visit –"

"NO."

Sakura and Hinata's eyes darted towards Minori. The boy was simply sipping onto the cup of water, as if his loud refusal a while ago didn't happen at all. Minori sink in his seat after receiving a glare from Sakura.

"Minori," Sakura said in a warning voice, "We want the best for you so you have to cooperate."

Hinata nodded despite finding it hard to let go of Minori soon. She felt too attached to the little boy ever since they met. He was adorable even if he had mild mood swings here and there. For the past few days, Minori was happily sharing about things he wanted to do when he grew older. Minori pointed at the sky and said he wished to be a pilot when one of the helicopters or jet planes flew by. Sometimes, he would say things out of the blue like how he wanted to eat cotton candy again or how weird Sasuke or Sakura was. Minori was so precious and Hinata had never grown that attached with any other kid than Minori.

"But I don't like Mrs Big-Hips and Mr Wimpy or that other woman with the loud mouth," Sakura heard Minori referring to the two parties. She tried to suppress her laughter, leaving her eyes teary. Hinata, on the other hand, could only correct Minori and talk about manners but giggled only at the end after failing to suppress it either.

But once their laughter died down, the two ladies grew worried again. They were worried that Minori didn't want to be accepted by any other family who wanted him. If it was because Minori was scared that he might be abandoned as an orphan again or afraid of change, Hinata would've known better of what to do. However, the little boy didn't tell her anything about these things.

The two of them stared at each other, with the same expression. Sakura wanted to switch the subject but she could only be left to think about what she witnessed Naruto running off from her apartment rather quickly and leaving Hinata stunned the other day. She remembered well that she ran forward to Hinata while Sasuke chased after Naruto. She could hear the loud knocks on the door before Sasuke gave up. Sakura simply stared intensely at Hinata while Minori looked up at her with clueless eyes.

Sakura tapped her pen on her desk. What could've happened? What made things come up to that point?

"Naruto nii-san sure is busy," Sakura heard Minori thought out loud, as if on cue, but the fact that Minori said that…? Sakura grew worried for Hinata and Minori.

"He's never busy," Sakura stared at the both of them, seeing their stunned expressions. Hinata would then hang her head low and shrug. Minori would only wonder a little about Naruto before his attention came across Sakura's pantry again, seeing the bar of chocolate sitting above the counter. Sakura had nodded when Minori asked.

There was an unbearable silence of Hinata realizing that Naruto was avoiding her… Sakura could only sigh before she looked up at Minori once again. Didn't the boy have to leave for tomorrow? He had to go back to the orphanage soon, right?

"Are you going to talk to Hisao-san later?" Sakura asked out loud, trying to block off the subject of Naruto in front of Hinata. She thought that she had to think of something. They had to make up or Hinata wouldn't be able to focus on her work. She made a smirk when she finally found an idea up in her head. Sakura laughed inwardly after realizing what it was like to be a match-maker.

"Why is that?" Hinata shot her head up.

"We need Minori to stay throughout the rest of the week. We hadn't come up to what has to be the best for him," Sakura tapped on her desk once again.

"Sakura-san," Hinata said in a concerned voice. Wasn't it the late afternoon already? Why the sudden…?

"Hinata, you want the best for Minori, don't you?" Sakura made an excuse. She felt manipulative and prayed inwardly to a god to forgive her. When she heard a still silence from Hinata, she knew that her plan was ready to commence. Silence meant consent. She gave a reassuring smile to her friend before she had quickly text messaged Naruto, lying that she herself need a ride to Hisao's orphanage again. Yes, it was a lie but it was for good reasons.

Hinata and Naruto better thank her later.

"What about Minori?" Hinata asked.

Sakura grinned at that. Rather vaguely, Sakura waved her hand over as if it would cool off Hinata's growing concern and replied, "You know how it is! He'll be taken with good care."

Hinata nodded, thinking it was Naruto that Minori was going to stay with.

"I'll get a driver for you then call me if things are going right," Sakura went back to her bossy demeanor. Hinata agreed, not aware that Sakura already made up a plan for her and Naruto to get things patched up together by having Naruto drive her instead.

Minori lay on Sakura and Sasuke's bed, retrieving a piece of paper from his pocket. He flipped it open, only to see the familiar sight of dashes and dots all in one page. In each line, there were a number of them. Minori laughed when he thought it was aliens who wrote this in their own language before his eyes stared widely at the ceiling, fearful for the moment that there might be aliens watching him with their big pupil-less eyes and sticky green hands reaching for him. Minori's imagination ran wild before he noticed that he screamed out of fear.

Sasuke greeted Minori in the room with a slam on the door, seeing Minori shutting his eyes and tangling up his legs on the quilt covers. Sasuke sighed before he approached the boy in frustration. His expression was grim, after seeing the new mess the boy made. It was not long ago that Minori messed up the living room, now, Sasuke had to live with the fact that his side of the bed was in chaos before he slept. Sasuke just had to be a neat freak. He sat next to Minori by the edge of the bed, trying to suppress the anger he felt for the boy messing up the house. And the fact that everything Sasuke and Sakura do today have to be under the rating of Parental Guidance.

When Sasuke saw the slip of paper on Minori's hand, he grew curious and eyed it from top to bottom, forgetting about his anger towards the six year-old boy.

"What do you have there?" Sasuke asked. He knew he saw this type of code before. He felt rusty that he wasn't able to decode it. After all those years studying for the force, Sasuke failed and shook his head in embarrassment. He could identify it was a type of code. What was it again?

"It's alien language. I think they're ready to eat us!" Minori waved his hands in terror. His imagination was ready to run wild again.

Sakura stood by the doorway, witnessing the scene before her, a clueless Sasuke and an energetic Minori. Her mother should have seen this. Sakura giggled before she walked toward the other side of the bed, staring at the paper on Minori's hand.

"It's Morse code, isn't it?" Sasuke asked Sakura but she could only shrug. Minori on the other hand was forgetting about the paper he left on Sasuke's hand and was bouncing on the bed. He never had seen such a large bed before. Sakura would only hold Minori's hand and grinned with Minori, messing the bed once again which Sasuke had seem to pay less attention to than before.

He went over his desk, turned on the lamp and quickly got his rather thick books. Here was Sasuke, decoding codes again, like he used to.