Fragile Hearts: Twenty-Nine
Hinata was awoken by the sound of the front door closing, she quickly hopped out of bed and pulled on a robe over her nightgown. It wasn't daybreak as yet so it was hard to see in the dark. Her hand held the railing as she descended the stairs quickly. Thankfully no one in her family was awake yet so it was quiet.
"You're leaving already?" She asked once she made it outside. Before her was Naruto who was busy putting his stuff in the trunk of his car.
He closed it and came to stand in front of her. "I have to leave now if I want to make it early."
"O-okay...I-I'll just go..." She trailed off and pointed behind her. "Get ready."
The blonde chuckled and placed his hands on her arms, stopping her from leaving. "Whoa whoa whoa, where are you going?"
"T-to get my stuff..." She replied looking up at him.
Naruto shook his head, "you need to stay here."
"But—"
"No buts, this is my problem and you still need to reconcile with your family."
His thumbs traced small circles on her arms which calmed her down. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"
The Uzumaki grinned, "why? Are you worried about me?" Hinata blushed and turned her face away, but he continued to tease her. "Do you want to come so that you can hold my hand?"
"G-go away," she muttered pushing him away from her. He chuckled and staggered backwards releasing her from his hold.
"I'll miss you."
Hinata blinked, "w-what?"
"I said—"
"I heard what you said."
He then got closer to her, "what? Won't you miss me?"
"I-I... well...um..." She trailed off when Naruto started laughing.
"It's okay...don't force yourself." He replied before turning away. Naruto opened the car door and was about to get in when Hinata stopped him.
"Naruto-kun."
He turned around and was surprised by two arms closing around him and the feeling of lips against his cheek. He froze and stared at the closed door of the house, shocked by Hinata's actions. It was a few long moments before he regained his senses and looked down at the shy girl who seemed to realize what she'd done. Deciding to make it easier for her, he hugged her back and smiled.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're in love with me," he spoke.
Hinata didn't reply, she merely continued to hide her blush-stained face in his shirt. "Drive safely."
"I will, don't miss me too much."
She giggled and pulled back slightly, "I won't."
He placed a hand over his heart and frowned playfully, "you're really hurting my heart Hinata. At least pretend that you'll miss me." She smiled and shook her head before wrapping her arms around herself due to the cold morning air. "Go back to bed."
"I will once you leave."
"No I want to make sure that you're okay first, now go inside where it's warmer."
"Naruto-kun—"
"Hinata," he said ending the conversation. The Hyūga sighed and marched towards the closed door. Opening it she turned to wave him goodbye, which he did before entering his car and only when the door was closed did he drive off.
Hinata didn't go back to sleep however, she laid in bed thinking until the sun rose and others started waking up. She was worried about Naruto and still a bit in shock about how she kissed him on the cheek.
She glanced down at the end of the bed where a pillow and blanket were situated. She'd laid them out for Naruto last night, but he decided to sleep in his own room. She suspected that it was because he was worried about the call he got from Shikamaru and because of that she was even more worried about him.
There was a knock on her door followed by, "Hinata-nee."
"I'm up Hanabi," she said getting out of bed slowly.
"Breakfast is almost ready."
The pale girl sighed and ruffled her messy hair, "alright...I'll be right down."
...
It was around 10:00 am when Naruto set foot in his organization. He was greeted by his employees as he usually was, but only when he made it to his floor did the tension start to build up.
"Mr. Uzumaki, good mor—" Shion said.
"Tell Shikamaru to come to my office," he said cutting her off.
"He's already there," she called after him. Naruto simply nodded and proceeded to his office, as soon as the doors were open he saw the spiky black-haired man pacing around his desk.
"Finally," he muttered pushing his hands into his pockets.
The blonde frowned and walked around to his seat, "what happened?"
Just then Sai entered and threw a newspaper on his desk. "See for yourself."
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and read what was written on the front page. To him nothing seemed wrong so he was still bemused as to what the problem was. "This is just talking about the launch."
Sai scoffed, "that's the point."
"It just said that the new line of cars look good."
"Our new line of cars."
At that Naruto froze, "what?"
Shikamaru sighed, "the designs are the same." He reached out to open a folder on the desk. "The remodels that you asked Sai for, they're all the same."
Naruto frowned as he looked through the photos that they'd taken. "But how?"
"That's what we'd like to know." Sai said sitting in front of the young CEO's desk. "The only people that had access to those designs were you, Shikamaru and myself."
"Then how could they have gotten a hold of it?" Naruto asked.
Sai frowned, "don't look at me."
"It must have something to do with the file you lost."
"The file that went missing you mean," Naruto corrected.
"Whatever, I just think it's linked to this."
Sai frowned, "on the day I gave it to you, did you have any meetings?"
"No, not that I can..." He trailed off. "I don't think so, but I'll check with Shion."
"We need to do some serous damage control," Sai pointed out.
Naruto sighed, "cancel the launch. It's back to the drawing board...for now."
Both men nodded and exited his office, he leaned back in his chair and thought of how or who could have leaked the designs. The only thing he remembered about the day he got the file from Sai was that Hinata had visited him to give him Kurama. But he was sure it wasn't her.
Then who was it?
...
After breakfast Hinata sought to find her sister. She needed to spend some time with her and to also get her mind off Naruto.
He hasn't even called to let me know if he arrived safely.
She pouted and shook her head; it wasn't time to think about him. Just then she felt her body collide with another. Stumbling backwards she glanced up and realized that it was her father. "F-father. I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."
Hiashi shook his head, "it's okay." She'd already explained to everyone else that Naruto had an emergency to attend to and they were all fine with it, but Hinata felt that she should have gone along with him.
Stop it! You're not his girlfriend! He can take care of himself.
"Uh...Father."
The older Hyūga stopped and turned to look at her. "Yes?"
"H-have you seen Hanabi? I can't seem to find her and I wanted to go—"
"She's with her tutor," he interrupted.
The midnight blue haired girl frowned, "w-what? But it's Saturday...can't she at least get a break?"
"No. Now if you're done—"
"No," she spoke up which surprised her. "I'm not done."
Hiashi furrowed his eyebrows, "excuse me."
"Father, I don't understand why you work her so hard. She's still young, she needs to go out with friends and socialize...this is too much."
"Too much," he scoffed. "It's because I let you have that kind of freedom why you turned out this way."
The pale girl was then taken aback, "w-wait...what?"
Hiashi turned away just then, "do not disturb Hanabi."
"Why? Why can't she have a break?" She asked raising her voice for the first time to her father. Her entire body shook with rage and adrenaline as she vented her thoughts.
"Hinata."
"Just answer me Father! Why can't—"
"Because I don't want her to disappoint me the way you did! You have brought nothing but disgrace to this family Hinata. You do as you please without thinking about how your family feels about it." He turned around to continue scolding her. "You were supposed to take over my company, but instead you gave up on your studies and started working in a pet shop all because of a silly breakup. I thought you had redeemed yourself when you brought that young man home, only to find out that he's just your friend. You are not a daughter that I am proud of Hinata and I won't let Hanabi turn out like you."
His words came down on the Hyūga like a ton of bricks. Her eyes filled with tears and subconsciously her body waited to feel Naruto embracing her, she waited to hear his reassuring words...but he wasn't there. "Y-yeah...well I think I t-turned out pretty well for a-a girl who got raped and disgraced in college."
"What?"
"Y-you never once asked me why I chose the life I'm living n-now," she said between sobs. "Instead all you do I-is criticize everything I do...all I ever wanted was f-for you to accept me a-and to love me, but I now know how you think of me."
Hinata turned and began walking away, "Hinata, stop."
Coming here was a mistake. A big mistake.
Fragile Hearts | A NaruHina Story
©Infinite_Writer01™2016
Thank you for reading!
