Thanks for the reviews and follows. I expected to receive some negative backlash due to the pairing, so no big deal. Haters gonna hate! But I do welcome any type of constructive criticism.
Chapter 1 has been edited to fix grammatical errors, and the later portion of the chapter has changed a bit. Sasuke's wound is located on the left torso and he's missing his left arm in this story. I wanted to keep things as close to canon as possible.
(Needed) Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I sure wish I had an ounce of Kishimoto's creativity and talent.
Chapter 1: Life of a lonely Housewife
The first two years of Hinata's marriage were everything she dreamed of. In the beginning she continuously reminded herself that this was real and not just one of her obsessive teenage fantasies that starred a certain blonde shinobi.
After returning from the moon and defeating Toneri, her relationship with Naruto progressed quickly. Hiashi didn't object to Naruto dating his daughter, in fact he seemed pleased and somewhat proud of her. While this made her feel like she was a broodmare, at least it resulted in some sort of patriarchal recognition. Naruto was even allowed certain 'privileges' unheard of for non-clan members, such as being able to visit Hinata within the compound without chaperones and being invited to tea with Hiashi (something Hinata or Hanabi never had the luxury of experiencing, she assumed maybe it was gender-restricted as Neji often had the pleasure of patronizing the tea room with her father). Naruto didn't recognize that these 'allowances' or 'permissions' were in fact entitlements that were only bestowed upon upper-standing Hyūga members of the main branch or upper echelons of shinobi. This didn't bother her, as she was happy her family finally recognized that Naruto was a true treasure.
Not surprisingly, her teammates and the rest of Konoha 11 (minus her beloved Neji Niisan – who died trying to protect her during the 4th great ninja war) were truly happy Naruto finally reciprocated her feelings. Even the stoic Rokudaimei -Kakashi and Iruka sensei were happy that Naruto finally found some semblance of home.
After six months of dating Naruto proposed, she accepted and their wedding was held shortly after. All of their special people attended, as well as the Kazekages and nobles from around the world. However, Naruto's best friend and non-familial brother could not attend, both Naruto and Hinata pleaded to Kaskahi and her clan to permit the invitation, but the wounds Sasuke inflicted on the world were too fresh and not even his world-saving endeavours could immediately erase those memories. Surprisingly Naruto hid his disappointment well, either because of his ongoing Hokage training or because he wanted to please Hiashi and avoid unnecessary tension with his future father-in-law. This grieved Hinata as it reminded her of Neji's absence. However, the show went on and the wedding was a joyous occasion which included everything little Hinata dreamed of.
After their second year of marriage, Naruto was removed from the active Ninja roster and shadowed Kakashi full-time as the Hokage in-training. This resulted in longer hours at the Hokage tower, and less time at home. Hinata only saw him at breakfast and when he returned at night, though she was often fast asleep. This was still a happy and fulfilled period of her life, as she expected a busy and hectic lifestyle for the soon-to-be leader. Given her father's status as the head of the Hyūga, he gave her ample warning that her life as a 'first lady' may not be all bells and whistles but might actually be quite lonely. However, several grandchildren could be a lovely remedy to her foreseen loneliness.
Naruto, being the kind and selfless person that he is, also reminded her before they took their vows that this may be a bitter but unavoidable aspect to their marriage and that he would understand and respect her decision to break up and look for a partner who could devote more time to her. But she was crazy in love, and there was no way she could even fathom letting go of her 'golden ninja', so she brushed it off and happily jumped in knowing that things might get a bit difficult. "Don't all relationships have their ups and downs". She honestly foresaw a life where Naruto would be home for breakfast, dinner and the weekends. This was more than enough for her, as she was also a ninja and understood the importance of having a present and committed leader of Konoha.
However, very quickly into his training he started missing dinner and returned to their home to sleep. But at least she could still spend time with him during breakfast. But this didn't last long either, as Naruto started sleeping in the Hokage's office when he took up the position as the Nanadaime Hokage. Children were unfortunately put on hold, at first it was because he was barely around, and when he was, he understandably didn't have the energy to have sex with his wife. Then later on, it was because Hinata's loneliness led to cynicism and overall reluctance to start a family without an active and involved father head. Growing up without a mother was full of pain, her father and Ko's presence couldn't make up for the maternal absence. While she knew her future offspring would still have Naruto in their life, she envisioned the turmoil they may experience knowing that their father voluntarily chose his Hokage duties over his family.
On their seventh wedding anniversary, Hinata had enough. This was the fourth wedding anniversary he completely forgot. He didn't send her a text message, email, flowers or even a clone. What made things worse is that he promised her a date night at Ichiraku's. Obviously, he was overreaching but the promise was appreciated. Knowing that he would be late she ordered in ramen.
Going out of her comfort zone she wore a deep purple velvet dress with a plunging v-neckline and an asymmetrical cut at the bottom which generously showed her toned, pale thighs. She applied a hint of blush to her cheeks and topped it off with a red lip stain. Her waist length hair was tied in a bun, showcasing small gold earrings She hoped this would entice him enough to visit their home more often.
Their dinner was delivered at 8pm and at 10pm she activated her byakugan to find him at a lounge with several dignitaries from the Land of Sound. Hinata always saw herself as reasonable, so she would have understood if he simply informed her that he had other priorities and couldn't make it. But he didn't even respect her enough to relay this information. She had enough, but she knew she was stuck. Divorcing him would tarnish his name and her clan's. Upkeeping the reputation of the clan was not top of mind. What she really wanted to avoid was sullying Naruto's public image, especially as he worked so hard to become Hokage. She couldn't let her selfish needs wreck havoc on their life. She would bide her time with him, and maybe one day he would be able to better manage his time or maybe she would get used to it. At least he wasn't abusive or unfaithful. But tonight she would forget her sorrows by numbing the pain away with alcohol. Being a lightweight drinker, a couple drinks of sake were enough to place her in an inebriated sleep.
She woke up to knocking on her front door, at first it started off lightly then it evolved into banging and then it stopped altogether.
"Hold on I am coming, stop being so loud!" she said as she held her head in pain – brought on by her binge drinking.
It was 1am now, it could only be Naruto at this hour.
As she opened the door, she announced in an annoyed tone "Naruto, did you forget your keys at the tower again?" But it wasn't her husband at the door. Who was this tall man? She quickly registered that he was wearing a tattered brown poncho and a black headscarf which cast a shadow over his eyes. Was he homeless, did he need food or money? She would find out behind the safety of her closed door. As she was about to shut the door in his face, he pushed forward his leg to prevent her from locking him out. Now as he was only a few inches away from her, she noticed the infamous mismatched eyes. One purple and the other ebony black. What was Sasuke Uchiha doing at her doorstep at this ungodly hour? Before she could ask him, he stumbled onto her causing them both to fall. She was now sandwiched between the cold hard floor and an unconscious nin.
The fall was hard and sudden, but the shock of the strange events quickly unfolding dulled the pain, at least for the time being.
"Sasuke are you okay. Oh god, you're unconscious? Is this blood" she said while pushing him off of her and gently guiding his back to the floor.
"I need to get him into the living room so I can see what's wrong"
Squatting behind Sasuke, Hinata placed him in a seated position then reached under his arms to lift him. With a tremendous amount of effort she then walked backwards dragging him to the sofa.
Lifting his shirt above his navel revealed a 10 inch gash running down the left side of his torso. It appeared he survived an unsuccessful shanking or impaling. He was one of the fastest and strongest nins, so whoever did this was skilled and very dangerous. She only hoped his assailant was dealt with and not on the way to her home or village. She wasn't in the state of mind to fend off an enemy.
"I have to remain calm. I'll call Sakura, she is his teammate and would do anything to save him" she said to herself aloud. At that moment Sasuke regained consciousness and in a whispered groan said "don't let Sakura know I am back, just get Naruto." Then he passed out again. Hinata didn't know what to do, should she listen to him, but what if he bled to death on her couch. Sakura and Naruto would never forgive her. She could try texting Naruto but he would probably be too drunk and occupied to acknowledge her digital cry for help. She knew the basics of medical ninjutsu and even owned a few medical text books which were used during her medical training with Tsunade Sama. Her grandmother hinted that since her skills as a nin were lacking, maybe shifting to a medical position would better benefit the village. She liked the idea, but it was abruptly stalled at the onset of the war. She picked up the training for a bit after the war, but that was also short lived since her clan didn't think it would be appropriate for a first lady of a Hokage to be working as a mere medical nin. Not being able to finish and practice was disappointing, but she would have done anything to be with Naruto.
Looking at Sasuke she determinedly said "I can do this. I'll stop the bleeding and patch the wound up as much as I can. Then Naruto and I will figure out what to do next."
She quickly cleaned her hands with soap and water before creating a saline solution, which she used to sanitize his wound. Using a sterilized pair of tweezers she removed debris that was lodged in the wound, then applied pressure for about 5 minutes until the bleeding stopped. Assessing the site again, she determined it would require stitches as the laceration was deep enough to expose subcutaneous tissue. She hoped a simple suturing procedure would be enough to close the wound. She didn't have any standard medical equipment at home, but owned a sewing kit and nylon dental floss (which she read was a good substitute for suturing thread). With a sterilized sewing needle, she began closing the wound.
Warm beads of anxiety-induced perspiration slowly dripped from her face as she went about the procedure. After finishing, she used a scissors to cut the fabric of shirt around his torso to ensure that the stitches remained dry and clean. She ran upstairs to quickly clean herself and change into fresh clothes.
Upon returning to the living room she noticed how unusually pale he looked. "He has lost a lot of blood. I just hope he doesn't slip into a coma from blood loss." She said again to no one in particular.
Placing a tatami mat on the floor next to the sofa, she laid down and willed herself to get some rest as tomorrow would be a long day. As she started to drift off, she wondered if Naruto would be able to secretly obtain some opioids for Sasuke's pain. He would need it once revived. She really missed her husband and desperately longed for his help.