Sasuke awoke that morning alone, as usual. Sasuke got up that morning alone, as usual. Sasuke ate breakfast that morning alone, which was unusual. He didn't like it. Normally Shihu would be up by now and ready to face a new day, and that would bring a smile to Sasuke's face.
But not today. No. Today, his little girl was waking up at some stranger's house, sleeping in some stranger's bed, eating some stranger's food. The thought made Sasuke feel angry and sick. Dammit, Neji didn't deserve Shihu! No one did except him and Naruto!
Naruto. Oh god, Naruto was gone. Sasuke's stomach turned as it always did when he thought of his deceased husband. He sat alone at his table, plate of untouched food in front of him, face pale and hair unkempt. He sighed sadly and pushed the food away from him so his head could fall cleanly onto the table. He'd made enough messes to last a lifetime and he didn't need one more
And what made the day worse was that he had to wait one week before he could see Shihu again. It was only Tuesday. He wasn't legally allowed to see his daughter again until Saturday. And then he only had two precious days to spend with her. And they had to be spent under the watchful eye of a court liaison.
"Dammit!" Sasuke swore under his breath. An annoyingly familiar sting in his eyes alerted him of the coming tears and he viciously tried to blink them away. They still came though. Those traitorous tears fell from his eyes even though he told them not to. It wasn't many but still. His father had always told him that tears were a sign of weakness. That emotion was a sign of weakness.
Then Naruto had come along and Sasuke had changed his attitude. And fallen in love.
But now Naruto was gone, and Sasuke's views were slowly morphing back to what they had been. And damn it all, he wasn't trying to stop them!
Blinking, Sasuke thought back to his life with Naruto. Remembered how many times he had cried. And how much better he had felt when he let the tears out. How much more open he felt when he was with Naruto, like he could share his emotions, let them out and not be ashamed of being reprimanded. He hadn't needed to concentrate on impressing his father, on surpassing his brother. Naruto had only ever wanted him. And he had always put him first. Had always valued him more than anything. And then later, Shihu as well.
And in return, Sasuke did those things for Naruto. Sasuke loved Naruto as Naruto loved him. But now, what was he to do? Naruto was gone. Shihu was gone. Their life was gone!
So now, all Sasuke could do was let the tears come. Let them fall as they will and just stop caring about it. So he did.
A knock on his door just barely got his attention. It was so soft, he barely heard it. And the constant storm raging in his mind and heart only made it harder to hear.
With much more effort than was healthy, Sasuke pushed himself up and wandered to the door. He opened it in several dead and choppy movements. Tsukiko jumped at the noise. Sasuke blinked and his brow furrowed.
"Tsukiko?" his voice was quiet and scratchy, as it always was in the morning. Tsukiko misinterpreted it as anger. She flinched away from him and bit her lip nervously.
"Um…I know I—I said all this before, Mr. Uchiha, but…I just…I'm so sorry." Her voice was little more than a whisper and it was clear to Sasuke that she truly regretted what she'd done. He internally rolled his eyes.
"Tsukiko, I told you," he said, schooling his voice to be patient. "It's not your fault. I would've done the same thing were I in your position." Tsukiko shook her head.
"No, Mr. Uchiha, I—please, can you just accept it? I—I don't know what else I can do that might help you…" she trailed off and turned red. Sasuke sighed softly.
"Tsukiko, it's okay," he reiterated, firmly. "I understand your reason. And I'm not angry at you. Why don't you just go home and get some rest?" Tsukiko looked at him in disbelief.
"Mr. Uchiha," she said softly but matter-of-factly. "I can tell when you're angry and it's really clear that that's the case right now. I'm just trying to help, and when you--"
"Who says I need any help, Tsukiko?" Sasuke snapped, his temper finally lost. "Who says I need things like useless apologies and unnecessary pity? God dammit, my husband just died! Give me a little time to cope with that before you come over and grovel at my feet, will you!?" Tsukiko stared at Sasuke, mouth agape, eyes wide, body frozen. After a moment, her eyes closed and she gritted her teeth, her body quivering and shaking with what had to be anger.
"You'v had time!" she shouted angrily, causing Sasuke to jump. "You've had plenty of time to at least adjust to life without Mr. Uzumaki! But you're still moping around like you did the day he died! And I know that you have another reason for acting this way, but I'm trying to apologize for that! Mr. Uchiha, I've been killing myself for the past few days for doing this to you! I know it's not all my fault, but a lot of the blame does rest with me! And the least you could do is accept my apology and act naturally around me!" The raven-haired man took an involuntary step back and stared at her. Tsukiko had never acted like this before! He had always seen her as the kind and timid high school girl who always took perfect care of Shihu when neither he nor Naruto was around.
"I knew Mr. Uzumaki too," she continued, undeterred. "And I miss him too. Not nearly as much as you do, but I'm still suffering here." At this, Sasuke grew angry. Tsukiko could have no claim to any suffering that had to do with Naruto! She hadn't known him as Sasuke had. She hadn't loved him as Sasuke had and she certainly didn't miss him as Sasuke did, at least she got that part right.
"Don't talk to me about suffering," Sasuke hissed to her through gritted teeth. "You don't know suffering like I do! You didn't lose a friend and companion so suddenly like I did!" Tsukiko lifted her hands in exasperation and gestured furiously towards the Uchiha.
"See!?" she all but shouted. "This is you! This always has been and always will be you! You always blame everything for your problems! It doesn't matter what it is! You, me, your friends, the government, whatever! So long as it's there, it's fair game! You never do anything to solve anything; you are the most angsty person I've ever met! And what's more, you seem to like it!" Before anything more could be said, the girl turned around and stormed angrily away, leaving Sasuke standing there, dumbfounded.
The Uchiha stared after her even after she was long gone and he released his held breath. Doesn't do anything? That wasn't true! Sasuke had done plenty to try and rid himself of his problems. He had…he had…
Sasuke blinked and cringed.
He had gotten drunk. He had hurt his daughter. He had destroyed himself. That was what he did.
"Shihu?" Neji's soft voice penetrated Shihu's mind and she tried to block it out. It's not Daddy's voice…It's not Father's voice… she thought. It's…someone else's voice… She buried her face in her pillow and pulled her blankets over her head. Outside her door, she heard a small breath.
"Shihu, please come out," Neji said patiently. "You don't have to talk to me. You don't even have to look at me…But you need to go to school. You've got to get ready. Please…" The girl choked back a sob but carefully got out of her bed, walking over to her door. She opened the door a crack and looked out at the unreadable face that towered over her.
"G-go awa—ay," she sniffled. Neji's eyes twitched and his hands quivered, but it was barely noticeable. He took a breath and gave her an empty smile.
"Alright," he murmured. If Shihu hadn't been as distraught as she was, she would've taken notice of the hurt sound in the Hyuuga's voice. Smoothly, the man about-faced and walked away. Shihu whimpered and shut her bedroom door to prepare for school.
Backpack, schoolwork from weeks ago, her favorite jumper that had been her present from Father and Daddy this past Christmas and of course, her favorite orange sneakers. And then she was heading downstairs, absentmindedly twiddling her wild hair around one finger wondering what she would say to Neji.
She found him in the kitchen, standing in front of a window, looking at the closed drapes as if they were the most important things in the world. On the stove, bacon was sizzling dejectedly, trying and failing to keep the brunette's attention. Neji sighed and brought a hand up to his face. He began to rub his temple and Shihu took a step towards him, looking at him worriedly.
"Neji, are you getting a headache?" she asked shyly. Neji turned around to face her and his eyes glazed over with something she didn't recognize. He smiled and shook his head, but said nothing. Going back to the stove, Neji checked on the progress of the bacon and moved over to the toaster to peer inside at the slowly burning bread. Shihu looked at him.
"What about cereal?" she asked confusedly. "Don't you have any cereal?" Neji turned to her with that same smile and nodded.
"I do," he affirmed. "Fruit loops. I'll get them for you." Shihu's face brightened, if only a little.
"I love fruit loops!" she exclaimed. "They're my favorite!" Neji's smile faltered and for a moment, Shihu felt a little bit warmer when she looked at his face. It seemed more real than before.
"Mine too," Neji responded sincerely. "They've been my weakness ever since I was a child." He chuckled.
"I remember, I would have them every day and my mother would always try to tell me that they didn't have any different flavors, but I knew better." Neji winked at her. "Don't ever let anyone tell you that fruit loops don't have any fruity flavor, it's just not true." Shihu beamed and nodded excitedly. Forgetting her discomfort, she skipped up to the table and hopped up into the chair, waiting expectantly for her fruity morning treat.
Smiling to himself, Neji turned his back to her and retrieved a bowl from the cupboard above the stove and then grabbed the fruit loops from the pantry closet where most of his nonperishable food was kept. Toucan Sam smiled back at him from the box where the perfect bowl of fruit loops could be seen protruding from the bottom. Neji shook his head fondly and placed the bowl and the box in front of Shihu and allowed her to pour herself the amount she wanted. She filled it all the way to the brim. Neji raised a brow at this but said nothing. Shihu looked around for a moment and then asked, "Where's the milk?" Neji blinked and then hurried to the fridge.
"What kind?" he asked, opening the refrigerator door and peering inside. He turned to see the girl looking at him as though he were dumb.
"The red kind," she said simply. Neji looked at her for a moment before turning back to seek out the 'red kind.' There were only two gallons of milk in his fridge; skim milk and whole milk. The Hyuuga was about to turn back to Shihu and ask her what she meant when he noticed something; the whole milk had a red cap. Neji almost hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. Of course that's what Shihu meant. He should've been able to realize that. Reaching into the cold and icy freezer, the brunette man extracted the 'red kind' of milk and placed it by Shihu, shutting the door with his hip.
"Thank you," Shihu said politely but hurriedly, her eyes on her monstrous bowl of cereal. She grabbed the milk greedily and impatiently ripped the cap off, setting it down clumsily on the table. Neji watched in amusement as she lifted the jug off the table with both hands, tipped it carefully and poured the white liquid out onto her fruit loops. The bowl slowly filled with milk and the fruit loops rose. Several of them fell out onto the tablecloth and Shihu laughed, placing the milk jug down before the bowl completely overflowed. Neji watched her silently, more affected by this simple action than he should've been.
Watching her like this, Neji began to remember what his days as a child had been like. How innocently carefree they had been and, mostly, how much fun he had had in the morning eating his fruit loops.
But something else he remembered was that he had never once eaten a bowl of fruit loops while he was married to Tenten. He had stopped as soon as he started dating her because he was so afraid that she would think it was childish and stupid. And as time had gone on, he had slowly forgotten about his love of the wonderful sugary cereal.
But now, it would be so easy to grab a bowl himself and do just what he used to do; eat fruit loops until someone took the box away.
It was sorely tempting. Neji found it harder to resist than he ever thought it would be. And when Shihu looked up at him in askance, mouth full of fruit loops, and asked, "Aren't you going to have some too?" Neji threw restraint to the winds and boldly poured himself a bowl of sugary cereal. He turned to Shihu and smiled.
"Could you pass the milk?" he asked, reveling in the sound of the words he had never really used in that context since he was sixteen years old. Shihu nodded and absently handed him the milk. Neji hid his eagerness as he poured the white stuff into his own bowl and began to eat.
It was an interesting sight, the adult man eating fruit loops right along side the elementary child. Interesting in a very homely way. One would never think that these people had gone through so much if they were to see them now.
"Do you know what school I go to, Neji?" Shihu asked suddenly, fruit loops in her mouth. Neji turned to her and chuckled. She looked so cute with her bulging cheeks and that little bit of milk trailing down her cheek. Without thinking, Neji reached out with his napkin and wiped the offending bit of liquid away. Shihu blinked and giggled, blushing cutely.
"No, I'm afraid I don't know what school you go to," Neji confessed. "But if you tell me, I'm sure I'd be able to find it. Does your daddy usually drop you off, or do you take a bus?" Shihu nodded, turning her attention back to her cereal.
"Daddy usually takes me," she answered, swallowing her mouthful. "He says that he doesn't want to let me go on the bus 'cause he doesn't want people making fun of me." She shrugged, indicating that she didn't know what the heck her daddy was talking about. Neji's expression turned slightly grave at hearing that. He understood, of course. In a word, it was discrimination. There was probably a lot of prejudice against a girl with two gay fathers. And against the fathers themselves. Neji made a mental note to ask Sasuke about that the next time he saw him.
"Alright, Shihu," Neji said. "I suppose, then, that I'll have to take you." The little blonde girl nodded absently, busy making a face with her fruit loops. The Hyuuga watched her wistfully for a moment and then turned away, bringing his mind over to the task at hand; getting Shihu to school on time.
He walked over to a little blue backpack on the counter and began to organize the objects within; a lunch box, complete with lunch, a pencil case, complete with colored pencils, a set of notebooks, and several sheets of paper that Neji assumed to be homework that Shihu failed to complete in the face of everything that happened.
Back at the table, Shihu hopped down from her chair and took her bowl over to the sink, standing up on her tippy toes, trying to reach the faucet.
"Neji, I can't reach!" she complained, scrabbling for the teasing faucet. Neji chuckled from somewhere behind her and a second later, she was being lifted up by a pair of strong arms in which she felt safe, despite herself. Neji set her up on the side of the counter and Shihu blinked. Now that was something Daddy never let her do! No matter how much she begged! But who was she to tell Neji that, when she had wanted to stand up there for so long? Grinning to herself, Shihu crouched down carefully, aware of Neji's hands resting lightly on her hips, ready to catch her if she fell, and began to rinse out her cereal bowl.
"Daddy always tells me to clean up after himself," the girl explained. "He says to not be like Father, 'cause Father never cleans up after himself." Shihu sounded proud of herself.
"Daddy was always telling Father to be more like me," she continued. "'Cause Father was always so messy and I was always clean. Daddy sometimes told Father that his eyes should've been brown and not blue, 'cause he was so full of sh--" Neji's eyes widened and he clamped a hand over the girl's mouth. She started and yelped, falling backwards, cushioned by Neji's arms. She ripped his hand off her mouth and turned to him indignantly and opened her mouth to protest but the Hyuuga cut her off.
"That's a bad word, Shihu," he explained. "The one you were about to say. I'm sure your daddy didn't mean for you to hear it when he said it, and I'm even more sure that he wouldn't want you to say it." Shihu's eyes were wide and she nodded vigorously.
"Are there any other words I shouldn't say?" she said. "Because I heard Daddy say something when he was in his room one time, and I remember my teacher telling off one of the boys at school for saying it." Neji's brow furrowed. He was pretty sure he knew the word to which Shihu was referring as well as the situation in which Sasuke had used said word.
"Um, why don't you just whisper what he said to me and I'll tell you if it was bad or not," Neji said carefully, entirely unsure as to whether or not he wanted to hear what had transpired that Shihu had heard.
She nodded and leaned up to Neji's ear, cupping her hands around her mouth secretively. Neji turned his head and moved his hair away from his ear as Shihu whispered softly what she had heard.
Neji blushed. Immediately allowing his hair to fall in front of him once more to hide the color, the Hyuuga proceeded to hastily explain what had happened.
"Um, well, Shihu, that's a very bad word and I'm sure that both your daddy and your father were just...unaware of what they were saying at the time," he ventured cautiously. Shihu cocked her head and looked at him confusedly.
"But they sounded like they knew what they were saying," she argued unknowingly. "Father's voice was all low and growly and Daddy's voice was all impatient and annoyed like it always is. And he said he wanted Father to hurry, so how couldn't he know what he was talking about?" Neji groaned and covered his face with his hands, completely aware of the heat that was burning his cheeks. After a moment, he sighed and faced the girl like the man he was.
"Shihu," he said seriously. "They were doing something very adult that you should probably ask your daddy about in the distant future." Shihu cocked her head to the side. An indication that she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
Neji lifted her off the counter and placed her gently on the floor, handing her the now neatly organized blue backpack.
"Alright, Shihu, head to the car now," he said firmly. Shihu nodded, still slightly confused and walked to the front door. As soon as she was out of sight, Neji let out a relieved sigh and wiped the back of his hand over his forehead, wearily retrieving his keys and phone.
Shihu situated herself in the front of the car and was happily swinging her feet back and forth when Neji came.
"Does your daddy normally let you sit in the front of the car?" Neji asked. Shihu hesitated and then shook her head.
"No," she said dejectedly. "Only sometimes, when I've been really good." She paused and turned to Neji imploringly.
"But I promise I'll be good!" she pleaded. "I'll buckle up and I won't open the door or anything! Pleeeeaaase, please, please, please, please, please!" Neji smiled and shook his head, almost laughing at the child's antics. He loved her already.
"Very well, Shihu," he said. "But you have to do everything you said, fair?" Instinctively, he stuck his pinky out, as he had used to do with his mother and smiled sincerely at the little child. Shihu blinked and smiled back, reaching out and wrapping her own pinky around Neji's.
"Fair!" she agreed happily. The Hyuuga nodded and buckled his own seatbelt. He put his key into the ignition and started the car, all the while watching Shihu, who looked more at home with him than she had before.
There were still those signals that she unconsciously gave off that indicated that she would still rather be anywhere but there. The way she slid over in her seat as far as it would allow. The way she kept her eyes on the window, the way she leaned away from Neji. It was all still there. It was still clear to him that she didn't and wouldn't ever consider him family to her. It was one big contradiction of itself. Just when he thought he was taking a step forward, she surprised him by taking two steps backwards.
Sighing to himself, Neji backed the car out into the road and sped away. At the stop sign, he turned to Shihu.
"Can you tell me the name of the school that you go to, Shihu?" he asked. She thought for a moment before responding,
"Konoha Elementary School." Neji nodded.
"I figured as much," he mumbled to himself. Shihu shrugged and turned back to the window.
They drove in silence for the duration of the ride until Neji's phone went off and both of them jumped.
"It's Sasuke," Neji said softly, checking the caller ID. Quickly attaching his ear piece to his phone and then placing it tenderly on his ear, Neji answered the call.
"Mr. Uchiha," he said into the mini microphone. "Do you need something?"
"Oh, Neji, you're there." He sounded slightly relieved. "I tried to call your house, but you weren't there, I kinda panicked a little, heh." Neji couldn't find it in him to chuckle so he nodded.
"Oh, well, I apologize for having worried you," he replied. "I was just taking Shihu to school. I always have my cell on, though, and I always carry it with me, for future reference."
"Oh, well, thanks," Sasuke replied slightly awkwardly, in Neji's opinion. "I just wanted to make sure everything was…okay, you know? Um, do you think you could walk Shihu into the school and to homeroom? I, uh, usually do that just to make sure that she doesn't…well…" He broke off and the tension was tangible. Neji swallowed noiselessly and attempted to switch the subject.
"Do you normally pick her up as well?" he asked. Sasuke immediately got the gist and followed up smoothly.
"Yeah, I do," he said. "But, every Friday, she has a meeting with the school councilor to talk about her week and the ups and downs and such. On Fridays, I usually pick Shihu up at about four in the afternoon, instead of three." Neji nodded, turning smoothly onto the school road.
"Alright," he said. "Thank you, Mr. Uchiha." There was a pause for a long moment, before Sasuke sighed.
"Sasuke," he mumbled. Neji blinked.
"What?" he asked, confused. Sasuke sighed again.
"Sasuke," he reiterated a little louder. "Just call me Sasuke." Neji nodded slowly, before he realized that the Uchiha couldn't see such an action and needed a verbal answer.
"Thank you, Sasuke," he said, trying to sound sincere. "I appreciate it."
"Whatever," Sasuke muttered. A little more sincerely, he said, "Tell Shihu that I love her." And then he hung up. Neji sighed. And hung up. Shihu didn't turn to him, not even to ask if it was her daddy, which surprised and disappointed Neji. He had wanted an excuse to talk to her, even if it was only to answer a question.
He pulled into the parking lot of the school and quickly parked as close to the building as possible.
"Alright, we're here," he said to Shihu, unbuckling his seatbelt and removing his keys. Shihu nodded and unbuckled her own seatbelt and quickly got out of the car. She immediately started walking towards the building, a look of excitement on her face, and Neji followed after her, a look of…something on his face.
He caught up to her just as she reached the door and pulled it open for her. She ran in and sought out her friends, while Neji held the door open for another woman and her child. The woman smiled and thanked Neji, who responded in kind and then both proceeded to enter the school. Neji found Shihu near the principal's office, talking to another girl about her age, this one brunette and slightly shorter than the blonde. They were both smiling brightly at each other and appeared to be catching up on everything Shihu had missed during her long absence.
Very suddenly, a bell sounded and Shihu rolled her eyes, turning to head towards what Neji assumed was her homeroom with the other girl. Quietly, the Hyuuga followed, honoring Sasuke's request to take Shihu to homeroom, yet giving the girl some room to talk with her friend.
"Excuse me," a woman's voice said. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Do you have a child who goes to school here?" Neji turned and saw the woman for whom he had opened the door earlier. He smiled and nodded.
"Yes, Shihu Uzumaki," he affirmed. "I'm taking care of her for the time being." He chose his words carefully, not wanting to reveal too much of Sasuke's situation to a complete stranger. The woman nodded sympathetically.
"Yes, I heard about her father's death," she said. "It must be very hard for her. And Mr. Uchiha." Neji tilted his head slightly.
"You know Mr. Uchiha?" he asked. The woman nodded.
"Yes, from all the PTA meetings he attended," she replied. "Very nice man. Really seemed to love his child. He never really contributed at all, but he was fun to talk to, if you ever got him out of his shell, that is. Seems the only one who ever succeeded in that was his late husband." She sighed, shaking her head sadly. Neji's brow knitted together.
"If you don't mind my asking," he proceeded cautiously. "How is a homosexual marriage regarded by the majority of this school's parents?" The woman blinked and thought for a moment.
"Well," she mused slowly. "I don't think that it's really much of a problem for most of us here. These parents are all very open-minded, and besides that, are just more concerned with their own child's education than they are of another child's parent's sexuality, so it's never really much of a problem.
"However, there always have to be some rotten apples in the bunch. There are several parents who really don't approve of such relations, but no one so far has ever voiced any opposition. I certainly don't think any one of these parents would be interested in invoking the wrath of the school, or Sasuke Uchiha, for that matter." She turned to Neji and smiled.
"Now that man would do anything for his family," she remarked matter-of-factly. Neji returned the smile and nodded.
"I know." Neji turned back to the happily chattering Shihu and let out deep contemplative breath. Beside him, the woman had turned her attentions back to her own child and was slowly drifting away from Neji and towards her own child's homeroom.
Neji continued on his path until Shihu turned to him and told him that she was ok, he didn't need to go into the homeroom with her.
"I need to meet your teacher at least once before I leave, Shihu, alright?" he said, kneeling down to give her a stern look. Shihu had retreated a little bit but nodded. Neji smiled and stood back up, turning to walk into Room 223, Shihu's homeroom. A little sign on the door indicated to Neji that a Ms. Oda was Shihu's teacher.
Shihu followed behind him, whispering secrets to her friend, who was looking at Neji with a little blush on her face.
Neji walked up to a young woman at a desk near the front of the room and gently cleared his throat.
"Ms. Oda, I presume?" he asked politely. The woman turned to him and gave a warm smile. She stood up and extended a slender hand.
"You presume correctly," she said, and Neji noted that her voice was soft and sweet and everything he imagined the perfect teacher to be. "And you are?" Neji reached out and shook her hand and allowed his mouth to take on a general upward curve.
"I am Neji Hyuuga, Shihu's temporary guardian," he responded. The teacher laughed lightly and released Neji's hand.
"Temporary?" she asked and then paused. "Wait a moment. Are you the one who…? That is, Mr. Uchiha, he…" She broke off and gave a chuckle.
"Boy, I must sound like a rambling fool right now," she said heartily. "I'm sorry. What I'm trying so unsuccessfully to say is that I am aware of the details of Mr. Uchiha's…situation." Neji gave a nod, prompting her to continue. She took the hint gracefully.
"I received a detailed account of the whole thing from little Shihu over there," she indicated fondly to Shihu, sitting at the back of the room talking with her friend, "And I received the same detailed account from Mr. Uchiha himself. I'll try to help her as best I can, but I'm not sure how open to discussion this topic will be with her." At this, the young woman turned to Shihu with a worried expression and Neji found that he enjoyed the appearance of her features much better when they weren't furrowed with anxiety.
But then he was struck by a sudden thought. Looking at her curiously, Neji asked,
"Are you the school councilor?" She turned to him and nodded, smile back in place.
"Guilty," she said with a chuckle. "I work as the councilor after school during weekdays. Sometimes, I get calls on the weekends, but not all that often. Although, if anyone has a right to ask me in on the weekends, it's Shihu. I mean, really, I don't know anyone who's had to go through so much at such a young age! I don't know anyone who's had to go through that, period! And she seems to be handling it so well." She turned once again to look affably at the little blonde child. Neji followed her gaze and found himself agreeing with her. It was true, Shihu did have more of a right than anyone else he knew to seek help, though she never did. Neji admired that.
"Ms. Oda," he said. "How well are you acquainted with Sasuke and Shihu?" Ms. Oda chewed at her bottom lip as she contemplated her answer.
"Well," she started slowly. "I…knew Mr. Uzumaki very little, he never really showed up to any of our meetings, that was mainly Mr. Uchiha. I don't mean to sound stereotypical or as though I'm labeling, but I do think that Mr. Uchiha took on the role of the 'active mother' in that relationship. And as for that man, well, I knew him much better than I had known his husband. Mr. Uchiha is the kind of person who really actively participates in his child's life, academic or not, and he and I, I'd like to believe, became fairly close. So, in retrospect, I believe that I was, more or less, fairly acquainted with Shihu's family." She looked at Neji with an earnest look and the Hyuuga was loath to admit that he was hard pressed to find a response. Luckily, the young teacher saved him.
"What of you, Mr. Hyuuga?" she asked, genuinely curious. "Do you know the family very well?" Neji thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"Not very well, actually," he confessed. "I actually was incredibly close to Naruto and didn't have the pleasure of knowing his husband or his daughter all that well. If you know the details of the situation, then you should know already that I was appointed Shihu's godfather." The woman nodded and then jerked, as though remembering something.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Mr. Hyuuga," she exclaimed sheepishly. "I never fully introduced myself! My full name is Moriko Oda." She moved as though to present her hand to him, but stopped, realizing that she had already performed that part of the introduction. Neji smiled and nodded.
"Well, Ms. Oda, it was a pleasure to meet you," he said. "I would love to continue this, so perhaps, if it would not be too forward, I'll give you my number and we can set up some sort of outing?" Moriko nodded in what Neji interpreted to be a politely eager way. She turned to her desk and retrieved a slip of paper and a pen. She began to scribble a number down and Neji took the time to really take in her appearance.
Soft red hair pulled back into a firm and neat bun, thick reading glasses resting atop the bridge of her nose, smooth and slightly tanned skin, a slender figure and an absolutely marvelous complexion. Neji had to admit, this woman, Moriko Oda, was striking. He admired her sense of style as well. No flashy adornments, no unnecessary embellishments, just a plain and simple dress meant to hug the figure, yet that advocated a manner of sophistication and poise that Neji simply loved in a woman, complete with a nice set of black shoes and a lovely beaded bracelet that rested round her left wrist.
A moment later, Moriko was straightening and handing a neat little slip to Neji, a slight pink color creeping onto her cheeks.
"The first one's my cell number, and the second one's my home number," she explained. Neji nodded.
"Thank you," he said with a small grin. "I hope you do realize that you've just given a complete stranger your phone number, and that anything that happens is completely your own fault." He knew he was taking a big step, and it occurred to him that perhaps it was a little too soon for playful banter, but, in his defense, it had been an incredibly long time since anyone had ever made him feel like this, even if 'this' wasn't all that much, and he had enjoyed speaking to Moriko, even if he hadn't done much of the speaking. He decided that maybe Lee was right.
Maybe it was time he gave some serious thought to moving on. Maybe Moriko could help him do just that. Maybe he needed to try and go halfway again. Who knows what would meet him in the middle?
Either way, Neji Hyuuga left Konoha Elementary that day with a new number and a new resolve, leaving behind a blushing school teacher who was eagerly anticipating the call of a handsome and kind man who could possibly be her first serious relationship.
Uh-oh! Am I really making Neji attracted to that woman?? Is there really gonna be a relationship between them?? WHAT ABOUT SASUKE?!?!?!? HA! I just though of this as I was writing and I had to put it in! What's a love story without an annoying Mary Sue character who always seems to get in the way??
Question: Does my OC seem a little too happy to anyone? She did to me and I started to wonder how the hell Neji could ever want to go out with her. But oh well, I wrote it and now I'm going with it!
And besides, Sasuke's busy being a jerk, so, yeah.
Don't worry, there'll be more interactions between Neji and Sasuke in future chptrs, which means that Neji can slowly break down Sasuke's emotional barriers and make him fall in love all over again!! Yay! Review, please!
