Hey everyone! Sorry about the long wait! Been super busy with work and everything, but I hope you enjoy this chapter nonetheless.
Xxx Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto xxX
About a week has gone by since Hinata has seen Sasori in the park and she has to say that a few things have been different. For one, there were now two new employees working the spots that she usually sees either Naruto or Karin working. Both have red hair, ironically, but one seems to carry themselves with a bad attitude which was probably why she wasn't working the counter, while the other seems to be a bit more… how should she put this - Karin like. She hasn't had a chance to learn their names yet since this is her first time seeing them in the store since Kushina briefly mentioned something about them in passing. Despite this, she's just happy that Kushina's shop is getting enough business now to branch out and start getting more workers.
Another thing that's different is that for once, like when she first came back to the shop, both Sasori and Gaara are working, though Gaara's hidden in the back due to the bandage still wrapped around his head and Sasori's helping the new employee with a bad attitude figure out where everything is and goes. Although, he seems to be a bit irritated at the moment which probably doesn't bode well for teaching somebody new - especially if they look like they're ready to call you out in a not-so-nice manner.
With a muted nervous chuckle, she walks over to the counter towards the new girl, who kind of perks up but not by much. Okay, so maybe she can also learn a couple of things about how to greet a customer.
Hinata sighs and smiles while the darker skinned woman merely stares at her with a raised eyebrow when she places multiple trays of drinks on the counter in front of her. Her jaw slightly drops though when Hinata hands her over a foam cup with a smiley face on it.
"Hi. I'm Hinata. It's very nice to meet you." The bluenette greets the weirded out woman. Her smile wavers a bit when she sees the judgemental glare coming from the redhead.
"I'm going to grab my boss." Was all the golden-eyed woman said before briskly walking up the stairs with a roll of her eyes.
Hinata blinks, confused by the tense and awkward exchange that just took place. All she was trying to do was be polite. Guess she was right about her being kind of like Karin, although her friend wasn't half as bad as this. She could say she was more… direct with her contempt?
With a heavy sigh, she puts the cup back in the tray and looks over towards Sasori and the other newcomer. She almost picks up two other cups for them when she stops midway upon finally seeing an argument break out between them. It wasn't a severe argument like she had thought it would be, but more like a childish one with insults and names and jabs being flung back and forth. More breath escapes her as her head droops before perking up again when remembering that she had some hot tea for the troubled youth in the back.
Hinata leaves the trays where they are but grabs the one meant for Gaara and travels into the back room. Part of her hopes that she doesn't end up stumbling upon another incident like before as she looks for the redhead. Relief fills her when she finds him taking inventory casually in the second aisle from their giant printer.
When he doesn't immediately seem to notice her presence or - as she believes - rather opts to ignore her until she goes away, she stubbornly calls out to him with a vibrant smile.
"Gaara-san, I brought you some tea today. Green tea is what you said you like, right?" She asks as she holds out the tea for him to take. Finally, his seafoam eyes acknowledge her, but when she looks deeply into them, she sees something that makes her heart pound with sympathy and sorrow.
She manages to take a glimpse at his attire before being interrupted by a train of redheads calling her name. Given the recent drastic change in weather, his outfit would usually be considered quite practical if the person hadn't seen what she just saw. A thick deep dark brown knit turtleneck with fitted black pants and dark black boots. What most people would see is someone bundled up for winter, not someone trying to hide his body.
Before she can utter a word or he can say something in response to her, Karin, Kushina, and the new employee come flocking into the back, making Gaara tut and turn away from her. Just before she's tugged away, she manages to hear him say just one thing to her, and it makes her heart ache more just to hear the actual tone of his voice.
"Just leave it there." By the subtle nod of his head in the direction of the table next to the printer, she quickly places his tea there as she is dragged back into the front by the Uzumaki duo.
"Sorry, Gaara!" Kushina calls back in a happy tone, obviously oblivious to what the bluenette has just witnessed. "We're going to borrow Hinata for just a moment."
Gaara doesn't respond which the others don't seem to mind. Hinata sighs as Karin and Kushina search for their drinks in the trays. When they can't seem to tell whose is whose, she picks up their drinks and hands them off. The dark skinned woman just crosses her arms and raises a brow at the trio in confusion. Kushina merely laughs while Karin just glares back, being slightly defensive of bluenette in her own weird way.
"Sorry about that earlier Hinata." The elder Uzumaki begins to apologize. "This is Karui, our new employee. And that one over there," She points over to the other redhead still bickering with a highly annoyed Sasori. "Is Tayuya. She's kind of hired; we just have to work on her attitude a bit and then she should be fine, haha."
Hinata watches Kushina chuckle anxiously as she watches the duo fight, but she can tell she's relieved that it's not nearly as bad as when he and Gaara go at it. She will never forget that her first introduction to them was one choking the other that was trying to punch a hole in his face. That was one of the scariest days in her entire life and she was pretty darn sure that none of them would like a repeat of it.
"And sorry about not giving you a heads up about Hinata, Karui." Kushina continues her apologies, only to be interrupted by her niece.
"Oh yeah, prepare her for when she's going to be assaulted by some weirdo with a cup of coffee." Karin mocks, ignoring the glare Karui sent her way. She just continues to sip her coffee while turned the other way when her aunt pouts at her actions. "Her words, not mine."
Hinata blushes at the insult that the new girl may or may not have said about her kind gesture. Surprisingly, she's even more standoffish than Gaara and Sasori were when she first met them. Granted they were still kind of standoffish to her now, but she'd like to think that they've gotten at least a bit better… maybe.
"Ugh. Come on Karin, play nice." Kushina groans, placing her hand on her temple when both young women roll their hardened eyes at each other.
"Hmph!" The bespectacled girl scoffs, turning her attention to her friend. She proceeds to grab Hinata by the wrist and starts to drag her up the stairs, despite the shy girl's mumblings and her aunt's protest. "Since you're down here and no one seems to want their coffee just yet, Hinata and I have some things that we need to talk about."
"Karin!" Kushina calls, but her voice falls on deaf ears, making her sigh and turn to gaze at all of her workers. Why do I have to hire people with such sour attitudes? Why can't I have nice people come work for me..? Even my own niece is a pain the ass sometimes.
The Uzumaki doesn't even register the questioning stare Karui is giving her due to her steadily growing pout and puffed up cheeks while lost in thought.
"Um…. Uzumaki-san?"
Coming up the stairs, Karin drags Hinata passed a bruised sleeping Naruto who was laying on the couch with the TV turned on with low volume. Hinata's eyes widen with worry as she stares at her friend, but when she tries to go to him, Karin simply tugs her along without a care. She opens the door to one of the spare bedrooms and gently ushers the bluenette inside. It's when she closes the door behind them that Hinata turns her with an incredulous look.
"Karin-chan, what happened to Naruto-kun?! Why does he have a black-eye?!" She exclaims softly as to not wake the blonde in the other room.
Karin merely huffs and moves past her to sit on the bed. Her nonchalant attitude has Hinata speechless and dumbfounded. She's even more perplexed when Karin starts to smirk and snigger under her breath.
"Don't be such a worrywart, Hinata. That dumbass just managed to get hit really hard in the face during a basketball match against Sasuke-kun and some of their friends the other day at the gym. It's no big deal. As for why he's sleeping, he just has a simple headache so auntie let him take a nap for a few."
"Oh." Hinata breathes a sigh of relief, chuckling to herself at the image of Naruto managing to get hit in the face with a basketball. With the mention of Sasuke, she can only assume that maybe he took things a bit too far and went a little hard on Naruto per usual between the two. Their rivalry can get very… intense sometimes as she's witnessed.
The Uzumaki pats the spot beside her on the bed and shifts so that she's facing Hinata comfortably when the Hyūga complies. Hinata raises an eyebrow at her friend in question, not really sure why she was brought up here and what exactly was needed to be discussed. Karin senses this and fixes her glasses before speaking her mind.
"So, how's it going with the breakup?" She asks bluntly, making Hinata blush. She was not prepared for this kind of question.
"Huh?" The bluenette blinks owlishly, willing down the red in her cheeks. Karin scoffs at her and leans forward with a glint in her eyes.
"You know, your break up with Hidan? Did you do it yet?" She asks again, shaking Hinata when her brain seems to malfunction at the mention of the silver-haired asshole.
Hinata gulps and fiddles with her fingers. "O-Oh… that. Well, um, y-you see… I have not."
The shy woman flinches when the redhead's voice raises an octave and the bed moves as she jumps up in disbelief. "Are you serious, Hinata!? You haven't broken up with that jerk yet?! I thought you said you were a couple weeks ago! Before your twentieth birthday so that you can officially start a clean slate?!"
"Y-Yeah, well, th-things haven't exactly been going l-like I - we had hoped." Hinata responds, shrinking away when Karin bounces back down in front of her with a quirked brow of her own.
"What do you mean?"
The bluenette switches her gaze to the comforter to keep away from the intensity in Karin's stare.
"Y-You see, Hidan hasn't been answering any of my calls lately. He doesn't respond to my text either so we haven't been able to actually have a conversation about it yet. How can I break up with him if I can't even tell him so?"
"Are you serious?" Karin mumbles in disbelief. She crosses her arms under her chest and gives her friend a hard stare. "Have you tried going to his house to talk to him there?"
Hinata flushes pink at the question but nods her head in confirmation. "I have stopped by a couple of times when I couldn't reach him. But I gave up after the second time because I didn't want to be accused of being a stalker or something if somebody had seen me there more than once."
"Ah. So he wasn't home either?"
"I'm not too sure. I saw his car there when I went there the second time, but no one answered the door when I knocked. I did hear the TV on in there, but my guess is he maybe left it on and went somewhere on foot…"
Karin's brows furrow and her tinted lips curl in anger. "Tch. That bastard. It seems to me that he's avoiding you."
"Avoiding me?" Hinata gasps, fisting the blanket. "W-Why would he do that? I haven't even mentioned in the voicemails or text what I wanted to talk with him about. I always asked if there was a time that we could just meet up or something, nothing more."
"That pussy is definitely avoiding you, Hinata." Said female cringes at the usage of that vulgar word, but ignores it in favor of feeling upset. "I don't know why he's hiding like a bitch, but that's just wrong. I wonder if he's sneaking around behind your back."
The Hyūga's eyes widen as she brings a hand to her lips. "You mean l-like cheating?"
Karin turns away to avoid seeing the inevitable hurt in her friend's innocent eyes. "M-Maybe. I mean, there's always a chance I could be completely wrong on this and he's not cheating, but…"
The young Uzumaki female glances over to see Hinata staring at the comforter, crestfallen. She can tell that she is close to shedding tears and that alone makes her more pissed off than the just the thought that Hidan could maybe be cheating on her. She doesn't believe that this asshole is worth her tears, let alone time and effort just to break up. If he is ghosting her, then she should just ghost him back and move on. She knows it's over so who cares what that prick thinks! He can choke on a choad for all anybody cares, and if he does somehow have a problem with Hinata moving on, then he can take it up with the whole army of people who are ready to have her back.
Hinata's mind is too preoccupied with running thoughts to notice the growing scowl on Karin's face and the tightening of her fingers on her arms. She was too busy thinking about why Hidan would cheat on her, if he even was. Was it because she was too plain? Was she not fun enough anymore? Has she become too dull of a person for him to even want to be around? Was she annoying him with the constant messages? Could he maybe sense what she was trying to do and was prolonging the inevitable? Or maybe… maybe he really is cheating because she's not giving him what he wants; what he constantly begs for almost weekly and sometimes daily. Would he really cheat because she refused to have sex with him? Granted it's been a year since they've been dating, but for some reason, she just wasn't ready to take that step with him. She's kissed him and let him cop a feel or two, but never anything more intimate than that. Would this really be grounds for him to go behind her back and avoid her like the plague?
Hinata comes out of her stupor when Karin places a comforting hand on her shoulder. She blinks away the tears when she sees the determined look in the redhead's matching eyes.
"Listen Hinata. If I'm right about Hidan cheating and avoiding you, then I think you should just let it be and move on, telling him be damned. Your birthday is in a few days; you're going to be twenty years old! You don't have time to be dealing with some high school bullshit that this prick is putting you through."
"But Karin-"
"If he's not even going to take the time to answer you or hear you out, then fuck it. There's honestly nothing tying you down to that deadbeat loser. Remove him from your life and let's celebrate a new year of life for you, okay? You'll be much happier this way."
The bluenette lets her friend's words sink in deep. She agreed with her the first time the subject has been brought up, and she agrees even more now. She was right. Absolutely right. There really was nothing tying her down from moving on except for her own tenderhearted conscience. She wanted to give Hidan the courtesy of at least knowing that she didn't want to be with him anymore. She felt that that was the right thing to do. But now, if he doesn't even want to speak with her, why should she continue to give him the time of day? Was it even worth it? He already took a year of her life away as it is, so she shouldn't let him take another second.
Using the back of her hand to rub at her moistened eyes, she grins up at the Uzumaki with appreciation.
"You're right, Karin-chan. I'm not going to give Hidan one more second of my time. If he won't speak to me, so be it. I have better people in my life anyway."
"That's my girl."
"Wha-?" Both females turn towards the doorway to find Naruto leaning against it, holding his head in his palm.
"Naruto? When did you get up?" Karin questions.
The blonde yawns and makes his way towards the girls, plopping down on the bed beside Hinata."It was kind of hard to stay asleep with your screeching going on right next to me. You just made my headache worse, so I thought it best to just listen in on what you ladies were saying."
"So you're a dirty eavesdropper listening in on girls secrets, huh? No wonder you get rejected so much by women, you fucking creep." Karin huffs, crossing her arms under her bust.
"Tch. You're just mad that I called you out for being such a noisy weasel, Karin."
"Am not!"
Hinata watches the cousins bicker back and forth for a moment, enjoying the sudden release of tension she was feeling due to the previous topic. She was glad that she has such supportive friends around her to help her through these awkward and tough moments in her short life. She was truly grateful for them.
"So Hinata, now that you are single and maybe not so ready to mingle, what are your ideas for your birthday?" Naruto suddenly asks, apparently done with the harmless banter.
"Yeah, that was another thing I wanted to talk with you about too." Karin chimes in. "I've mentioned it a couple of times already, but your birthday is in a few days and we were all wondering if you were going to have another big family party or something this year."
Hinata nods and brings a finger to her lip in thought. "Well my father did want to have another birthday party for me at home again like last year, but he told me since I'm turning twenty if there was anything else that I wanted to do instead, I could."
"Like what? Clubbing or something?" Naruto chuckles at the thought of Hiashi imagining his daughter out in clubs full of drunk men. The uptight bastard was probably having an aneurysm just thinking about it.
"Possibly, but he probably knows that I may not be much for the club scene. He's most likely suggesting that I go out with my friends instead of just staying home and eating cake under his eyes is all."
Karin softly gasps in surprise. "That's honestly the most shocking thing I've heard since you brought Hidan to us. Hiashi willing to let you out of his sight to actually act like a woman? Did he hit his head or something?"
Hinata laughs along with the cousins with a pink tint to her cheeks. "No, no, my father is fine. I believe he's starting to trust me more is all. Especially since I told him about my plans to break up with Hidan."
"That's good, though, that he's starting to trust you more. He's finally learning to let his little birdy go." Naruto moves his hands in the motion of a bird flying away, making Hinata chuckle while Karin rolls her eyes.
"Again with the bird jokes, Naruto? We get it. Her family has this thing with bird symbolism, gosh."
"Don't be a hater. My jokes are hilarious - ttebayo."
"Yeah, yeah." She flips her crimson locks over her shoulder. "Anyway, back to the party. I was thinking that if your dad still wants to hold a big party for you back at your place, maybe we can invite everyone out afterward and go to a club or some other place for a more mature type of partying. Something that can officially start your new life as a free woman and adult!"
"Oh yeah! That sounds awesome! Finally a great idea from you, Karin!"
"Shut up, Naruto!"
Hinata puts a hand to her chin as she contemplates the suggestion. A wide smile forms on her faces and she starts clapping her hands a few seconds later. "I actually like that idea a lot. I could invite everyone, too, like Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, and even Sasori-kun and Gaara-san. Both of them look like they need some time to relax and it'd be really nice to see how everyone is out of work!"
"That's the spirit Hina! Get those mopey bastards off their asses and out into the party scene! I'd love to see those two idiots white-girl wasted anyway." Naruto cheers, pumping his fist into the air, only to fall back down to hold his throbbing head. "Uh~..."
Karin cringes as memories of drunk Sasori and Gaara come flooding her mind from those few nights she's spent with them during closing. So touchy-feely and goofy… nothing like the assholes they see during work hours. Maybe Naruto would enjoy seeing that side of them since that's more like himself, but that's a sight she'd rather avoid unless there are other people she can force them onto if they start acting that way towards her again.
Both Hinata and Naruto miss the slight shiver of the redhead as they continue to talk about the plans for the upcoming birthday celebrations. Karin shortly joins the conversation once more and the trio starts making text and calls towards people and writing down all of the ideas they had for the coming night. The room is overflowing with their enthusiasm as they plan, each hoping for the best to come to hopefully get their minds off of all of the craziness happening in their lives this past couple of weeks.
Sorry guys that not only did this chapter take forever to come out, but that it's shit on top of it. I had an idea and this is the bleh that came out lol. I know it's short but I wanted to get something out to keep the story going and hopefully get back to the flow that I want/need it to go. I know there were no Hinata x Gaara/Sasori moments in this chapter, but there will be some to come. I'm trying guys lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this small chapter and are glad to see that I didn't abandon it. Please review, follow, and/or fave! Knowing I have support for this story means a lot to me. Thank you all for reading! I hope you have a great day and/or night!