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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of the characters from the series, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and all the other companies.

Chapter Eight

Mother

"I just don't know what to do with her anymore. She breaks curfew, goes to parties, and she is seeing this hoodlum boy. Just come stay with us until she leaves for college. Make sure she doesn't start doing drugs or get pregnant. Anything that could ruin her life."

The phone call was still fresh in my head as I stepped off the train, back into my home town. It has been years since I left, but the memory is always alive in my head. The night I left my husband. Claiming he was dragging me down, while it was quite the opposite. My daughter's face also haunts me every night. Her voice begged me never to leave her, and at one time I promised I would always be there for her. Now she refuses to speak with me. Never returns my calls. But maybe I could redeem myself and try to help Hinata. Even if she didn't want my help. I'm not going to let her reach rock bottom.

I called a taxi quickly, then I was on my way back to my former home. The ride there was awkward. Many buildings that once stood were either abandoned or torn down. Some were lucky enough to be converted into a different business. The old movie theatre where Hiashi and I spent many times on dates or with friends, was now a club called the Slippery Nipple. So much has changed.

But what didn't change was the Hyuga estate the taxi pulled up next to.

The black metal gothic gates still stood strong to keep out outsiders. The grass was cut perfectly straight all around. The house was dark, almost like no one was home. I grabbed my bag and pushed back the rusty gate. I felt like a dead woman walking up the stony pathway to the front door.

I hesitated at the front door, before gently knocking. Waiting a few minutes felt like an eternity while tugging at my black leather jacket to keep me calm. The door was finally opened by my 12 year old daughter.

"Hey Hanabi" I gasped at the grown image of her.

"Mother?" She guessed correctly. I smiled and nodded.

"Your father called me here to keep an eye on your troubling sister. Is any of them home?" I asked.

"Father is upstairs in his study and Hinata is in her room. She is grounded" She stepped aside to let me in. As I was right, the inside of the house did not change at all either. The pictures were still mounted on the wall of our years together. The only thing that changed were the people in it. The last time I saw Hanabi was when she was a baby. We have only spoken a few times on the phone before, nothing serious. Now she was grown girl, seemed very mature for her age.

I dropped my bag on the ground and slowly walked up the stairs to Hiashi's study. No one dared to enter that room unless it was an emergency. But the man said he needed me here, so I guess I could enter freely. To my surprise the door was cracked opened. I knocked softly before walking into the room.

"Hiashi" I called to him.

The same image of my husband from years ago turned and faced me. "Hitomi?" I chuckled at his voice. He too has not seen me in years. His eyes looked over me from top to bottom. "You look amazing" He gasped.

"I guess you mean I look good for being 35" I laughed.

"Its good to see you" Hiashi smiled at me.

"Its good to see you too" We both moved forward and bumped into each other but finally managed to give a nice hug. Trying to hug after a horrible divorce was awkward enough. It was worse when your ex still drooled over your body in front of you.

"So how have you been?" I expected the answer to be a lie.

"Fine, you?" I decided not to sugar coat my answer.

"I left Todd in California. I moved into a small apartment in New York. Never been happier" He smiled at me.

"Good for you" I remembered why I fell in love with Hiashi. His smile put a smile on me. The way he spoke would comfort me and made me feel safe. His touches could be rough and gentle when we made love at any time. But we both changed over time like every married couple would. We were warned though, you don't marry young or you don't marry old our parents told us.

"So where is my estranged daughter?" I asked him.

"She should be in her room, follow me" We walked down the fall and made a left. The last room in the hallway belonged to hers. Hiashi knocked on the door and in a stern voice he called. "Hinata" No answer.

"Hinata" He tried again just a bit louder. Still no sound.

"Maybe she is sleeping" I told Hiashi. He huffed and backed up slightly, before ramming his shoulder into the door, knocking it open. "Still got the magic tough Hiashi" I laughed and walked into the room. This was the first interior change of the house I seen so far. The room was no longer a light purple shading it was just white. The many stuffed animals that covered the floor were gone. The small bed that was close to the door was now a queen size bed that was now farthest away from the door. Besides the bed, the only furniture was a desk next to it, with a laptop and small stereo on top of it. The rest of the room was filled with shelves of books. Hinata was not in this room either and the window was open.

"She got out again" Hiashi ran to the window and cursed.

I ignored Hiashi's rant and continued to look around the room. The room was so bland, you would think the Hyuga would decorate this room to the full extent. What caught my eye were the three black framed photos that hung over the desk, all hanging straight in a row. The first one had Hinata and I guess two of her friends, all looked to young to be teenagers. The other two girls had huge grins on their faces, while Hinata had a slight smile on hers. The second picture had a boy in it this time. Hinata looked a bit older, but all the same. They both were close to each other when the picture was taken. The brown-haired boy had a toothy grin on his face while flashing the peace sign. While again, Hinata had a shy smile on her face. The last photo looked more recent. The picture was obviously taken at a track meet. An older woman had pieces of cake all over her hands as she shoved the food into Hinata's face. A gold medal hung around the girls neck and she looked genuinely happy.

"This is why I need you here Hitomi. She has been showing this behavior for a while now. And she is not listening to anyone. Maybe somehow you can get through to her." Hiashi growled.

"Relax Hiashi. She will come back. But for now, I'm going for a little walk. Familiarize myself with the neighborhood again." I walked past Hiashi and went downstairs.

"Mother, where are you going?" Hanabi called out.

"I'm going for a walk." I opened the door and looked back. "Do you want to come with me?" Hanabi quickly hopped up and ran to me.

We took a small walk around the neighborhood. Nothing really changed around. The Changs still lived in the old Victorian house on the end. The Johnson's children were now grown up. The two brothers were playing basketball in the street, while the daughter was now sun bathing on the front lawn.

I looked down at Hanabi who had completely tuned out.

"So how have you been?" I asked.

"Good, I was able to move up a grade since the last time we talked" She shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Really, that's amazing. What grade will you be going into?"

"9th grade." Hanabi said.

"Your probably going to miss your friends at your old school" I patted her shoulder.

"I don't really have that many friends in school" She hung her head in shame. Hanabi told me once on the phone that she didn't get along well with the other students. She didn't have the same interests like most of the other girls in her class. I told her over the phone there was nothing wrong about being different, but I didn't want that to stop Hanabi from communicating with others.

We stopped at an ice cream parlor and talked some more. I took this time to snoop out more information about Hinata.

"So Hanabi, what has your sister been up to" I asked her.

Hanabi stopped licking her ice cream and looked at me. "We don't talk that much"

"What about when you do talk"

"She once stayed over a boy's house all night. Father said he caught her with some delinquent. " My mouth dropped open at the comment.

"Hinata stayed over a boy's house. Well I guess I already failed that mission" I threw out the cone in the nearest trash can.

" What?" Hanabi followed me.

"Its nothing." I shook my head. "Come on, its getting late" I ushered away back home. We both didn't speak as we walked home, but as we neared the house. We found two people standing outside the house by a motorcycle. And they were both lip locking and their hands were wandering.

"Well, well. What do we have here" I said walking up to the two teenagers.

The girl stopped immediately and looked at me. Her eyes stopped and analyzed my figure. She took after me more than I thought.

I walked closer and got a better look at the two of them. The boy would check out our appearances. From a distance it would have looked like clones in different clothing.

"Don't you recognize me Hinata" I called out to her.

"Hinata who is she?" The boy asked.

Hinata took a second before speaking. "She is my mother"

I chuckled at her statement. "Didn't think you would see me again, did you?"

"Good-bye Naruto" Hinata said and walked quickly in the house. Bad move, leaving the boyfriend unprotected in front of a crazy mother.

I decided this could be a good research time. "Hanabi go in the house" She immediately obeyed and ran in the house. I looked back at the stunned boy who still seemed shocked at the revelation.

"Naruto was it?" I walked up to him.

He snapped back into reality. "Yes ma'm"

"I'm guessing your also the boyfriend that has been corrupting her also" I smirked. He blushed but shook his head.

"I haven't done anything bad to her or influenced her in any way" His voice was honest.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah" His voice was quick to answer.

"Have you slept with her? Blowjobs? Any package handling?" His blushed deepened further.

"Are you insane or something?"

"You didn't answer my questions" I was ready to smack this boy across the face for insulting me.

"No, nothing. We just met at the beginning of the summer. We aren't rushing into anything" The blonde boy huffed and started his bike. "I'm sorry but I have to get home"

"Trying to get away from the in-laws?" I chuckled. But he didn't think it was.

"I have to take care of my dying grandfather" I was shocked. Bad boy on the outside, but there was good boy on the inside. "And why do you have to bother Hinata like that. After what you did to this family, you have no right to judge who Hinata is with" And he was off. Sadly he was right. Hiashi welcomed me back with open arms. Hanabi never questioned about the past. But Hinata had her back turned to me.

I sighed and walked slowly into the house. Walking right into a Hiashi vs. Hinata battle.

"I told him to stay away from you!" Hiashi said sternly.

"He took me to the airport to say good bye to Ino. We did nothing else" Hinata defended herself.

"Neji could have driven you. You didn't need to be on that death trap bike with that hoodlum in the first place." Hiashi raised his voice slightly.

"It was a last minute thing. Besides, you don't know Naruto like I do. No one does!" Hinata yelled back before running up the stairs. Followed by the sound of a door slamming shut.

"Only one more month, and it will be a lot quieter around here" Hiashi's father said from his favorite black recliner.

Hiashi rubbed his hand on his forehead to calm himself down. Something he would do after we had our fights. I walked up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He took in a deep breath. "Your bag is in the guest room, make yourself at home" With that he walked upstairs into his study.

What happened here? There was so much tension. Everyone was at each other's throats. But I was here for a reason. And that was to help Hinata. I planned to do that and beyond. I will get right on that tomorrow after I take a nice long nap.

XX

I ignored my family the past few days. I couldn't take anymore of their problems. I decided to bike to Mr. Jiraiya's house, since I haven't seen him in a while. I pulled up into the driveway to notice he was sitting on his usual chair swing. His face looked paler then normal.

"Hello Mr. Jiraiya" I smiled at him. But it dropped when he didn't look up at me. "Is something wrong?"

"My wife died this morning" Was he all said.

I didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry Mr. Jiraiya"

"It doesn't matter. I knew she was going sooner or later. I'm just glad she went peacefully in her sleep" He sighed and covered his face. Soon he was covering his mouth has he began a fit of coughing.

"Would you like to be alone or-" I stopped talking when I saw Mr. Jiraiya freeze and fall off his swing and hit the ground. "Mr. Jiraiya!" I yelled. He didn't answer when I yelled his name.

Naruto quickly rushed out to the porch to find me hovering over Mr. Jiraiya. "What happened?"

"He just fell over and now he isn't moving." Naruto threw his grandfather's arm around his shoulder and helped him into the car.

Naruto didn't speak on the race to the hospital. Mr. Jiraiya was taken in quickly for a examination. We both sat patiently in the waiting room. Naruto sat opposite to me on the other side of the room, holding his head in his hands. I decided to break the silence to at least take his mind off his grandfather.

"I heard about your grandmother's passing. I'm sorry"

"I was in the middle of calling my dad when I heard you yell" Naruto didn't seem too happy about it.

"I guess it would be nice to see your father again?" I said.

"Not under these circumstances" He growled. "When Jiraiya heard the news, he didn't speak one word to me. The old man walked right out to the porch and stayed there the whole morning. Now he doesn't care if he lives today or dies tomorrow." Naruto shook his head. "Why did she have to go before him. Fuck!" He punched the wall next to him. "You shouldn't even be here, this is family business. Go home!" He shouted at me. It seemed the Kyubbi was resurfacing.

"Please Naruto, you need to relax" I went to place a comfort hand on his shoulder. Only for him to smack it away.

"Get away from me" He growled deeply at me.

"Naruto your acting-" I stopped speaking when Naruto forcefully grabbed my cheeks.

"Go home" He released my face, only to have my body fall backwards onto the ground.

I nodded and quickly ran from the waiting room. I continued to run away from the hospital. Clouds booming over my head. I didn't know where to go. I didn't want to see my family, Mr. Jiraiya was sick, Naruto wanted nothing to do with me. Where was I going to go? I stopped outside a bar on the corner probably a few blocks away from the hospital.

I took a quick breather before I felt someone bump into me in the side.

"Excuse me miss, I didn't see you" By the sound of it, the voice belonged to a woman.

"Oh its alright"

I looked up to see a red-headed woman staring down at me. Her face seemed familiar to me.

"You look like you could attend high school. Do you know a boy named Naruto Uzumaki or Namikaze. You probably went to school with him" She asked.

"I just graduated from school. But I am going out with someone named Naruto. I don't know if they are the same person though." The name Naruto was odd enough, actually I have never met someone with the name Naruto besides my boyfriend.

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, abnormal whisker marks on his face, short tempered" She started to describe him.

"That sounds just like him. But before I tell you where he is. I want to know who you are"

"I'm his mother, Kushina Uzumaki" My mouth dropped at the news.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I needed to check up at him. Making sure he is being a good boy. I called his father last week, letting him know that I was going to stop by. He didn't think it would be a good idea, but I think maybe Naruto would be at least a little happy that I came back for a visit." I could tell the woman was very nervous on her son's reaction.

"Here follow me. Also my name is Hinata Hyuga" I shook her hand and lead her to the hospital. My mind screamed turn around, but I kept walking forward. A bad feeling rumbled in my gut. Hopefully Naruto has cooled down from his near Chernobyl meltdown. The elevator ride was even more awkward up to the 6th floor. I was becoming just as nervous as Kushina next to me.

We finally reached our floor and began to walk down the hall to the waiting room. Naruto was there by himself, sitting with his head resting on his folded hands.

"Naruto" I called out. He looked up and instantly stood at the sight at the woman in back of me.

"How did you find me?" Was the first thing he said.

"Well your father said you moved back here. And then I ran into your girlfriend on the corner and brought me here. Aren't you happy to see me?" She took a deep breath. "I just wanted to see you"

Naruto began to hyperventilate. His eyes narrowed right at me with a look that could match any demons. "You brought her here"

I was too scared to talk so I simply nodded.

He didn't speak, only continuing to breath heavily. Before I knew it, I felt a force knock me off my feet into the trashcan behind me. Rolling me over I landed in an awkward position between my neck and shoulder. Shooting pain down the rest of my back. Naruto purposefully shoved. When my vision became clear again, I found he was coming back for another assault. What stopped him from tarring out my throat was Kushina's choke on his neck.

"I see you haven't controlled your anger one bit, Kyuubi" Kushina scolded him. She even gave him a push back.

Though his hate wasn't focused at the woman next to him. It was directed right at me. He tried once more to charge pass Kushina, but she grabbed him and stopped him before he could make another step forward. "I'll kill you!" Naruto growled and pushed his mother off of him and walked back to the farthest corner from me, trying to calm down. But the hateful expression stayed, I couldn't tell if it was the Kyuubi's influence or if Naruto felt betrayed that I lead his mother to him. All I could see was the pain and anger in his eyes. And I couldn't understand why he felt this way.

I couldn't take the glare anymore. I pushed myself off the ground and ran away from the mother and son. Running past many doctors and nurses, I nearly knocked the 1st level button in the elevator out, and finally ran out into the rainy streets of the city.

I thought to myself that I have been running a lot this summer. I swore after I finished track I would never run unless it was an emergency. But I have been using it as an escape from my problems. I ran past the bar on the corner, not looking back at the hospital. I ran past the long lines of the movie theater, still not looking back at the hospital. I ran past the ice cream parlor, the hospital was no longer in view. I took a breather at a light post, the cold rain cooled down my heated body.

I was far from home. And the only way back was in the opposite direction. Passing the hospital. I couldn't do that. Not even Kurenai's house was close enough for a run. I was stranded in the rain.

A car beeped behind me. "Oh Hinata" A cheery voice began to sing my name through the pelting rain. God help me. "Hinata are you deaf? Behind you" I turned and saw my mother next to my father's baby.

The beautiful silver Porsche 911. My father cherished this car more then his own family. He rarely drives the damn thing. And always keeps it locked in the garage. Who ever was dumb enough to move the car from said spot would risk disownment or if you were a minor, sent to military school. That's why my cousin Sora isn't around anymore. Why the hell was she driving it?

"Get out of the pouring rain. I have been looking all over for you" I gave up and walked slowly to the car. At least I could get a ride home.

"Your father let me borrow one of his cars so I could find you" She said starting it back up.

I still couldn't believe she was driving this car. But I had to respond to her statement. "To make sure I wasn't getting pregnant or high?"

"Bullseye" My mother snapped at me and hit the gas to the car, speeding us into traffic. Where she almost had a semi truck collide in back of us. I dug my nails gently into the seat. My mother was the worst driver ever. But it gave me something to think of other then the hospital accident.

"Father must really regret the divorce if he let you drive this thing"

"You know I said the same thing when he handed me the keys. I could see his hands shaking as he pulled away" Besides her illegal lane changes and driving 90mph in a 25 area. We got home safely. I could see my father was messing around in the garage as we pulled up.

"See Hiashi, I took care of your baby" My mother threw the keys at him. "Now you don't have to hang yourself now?" She grabbed the rope that my father was fixing up on the table and walked into the house.

"How many complaints am I going to get" My father asked me.

"Probably about 10." He sighed.

"I better start writing those checks" He muttered under his breath.

I followed behind him and walked to the bathroom for a nice warm bath. It didn't take long for the bath to fill and I was soon relaxing my sore back muscles.

I started to think about the day.

Mr. Jiraiya's wife died.

Mr. Jiraiya collapsing onto the ground.

Naruto yelling at me in the waiting room.

Meeting Kushina.

Naruto shoving me to the ground.

That hate filled glare that shot through my heart.

I could feel tears forming at the corners of my eyes. I didn't want them to drop so I dunked my head under water, making sure they never left my eye sockets.

I left the tub later and dressed in black sweatpants and a loose blue shirt for comfort. Laying in bed also helped my sore back and neck. I checked my phone every few moments to see if Naruto texted or called. Nothing. I threw my phone down in anger and continued to stare at the ceiling.

My mother then walked in without knocking with a plate full of cookies.

"Hey kid what's up with the frowning?" She said while taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I made you your favorite cheer up cookies."

"None of your business" I hissed.

"You and your boyfriend get in a fight?" She guessed right.

I didn't answer her.

She patted my shoulder. "Just think of it like a fairy tale we use to read. There is always a happy ending." She placed the cookies on my desk and walked out.

My mother would always make cookies for me when she knew I was upset. Sometimes would even read to me my favorite fable books. I would like to say I didn't miss them, because they belonged to a memory that never was. Something I described to Kurenai a long time ago. But I couldn't help but eat them she made them perfectly, and they always cheered me up.

Though I was no longer a child anymore. There was no such things as happy endings in reality. And Naruto was ready to become another tragedy in my broken life…

Sorry that took a long time getting out. I had major writer's block trying to get this chapter out. But it will get better later.

Before you all say anything, no they are not breaking up. And Naruto will have a chance to explain himself in the next chapter. Also I made Hinata's mother the way she is to show the age difference between Hiashi and herself.

I would like to say there may be possibly be a lemon next chapter. Just keeping the suspense up.

Next Chapter

What We Do In the Backroom…

Read to find out.