Author's Note: Thank you for the all the interest in this story so far. So sorry it's taken me forever to update. This chapter will start out dark, just fair warning. It's also more backstory than I had planned on and introduces a new character's perspective, just so the other storyline is up and running that will eventually intersect with Hinata's.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. I do not own the title of the fic; that belongs to Pierce the Veil.

Bedless

'Cause you don't even know you're an angel
Foolish am I for the times I come and go
These stars defy love, so I close my eyes
And sleep inside your worn-in bed outline

-Pierce the Veil

Chapter 2

Hinata

Hinata awoke in a cold sweat, sheets tangled around her legs, keeping her bound to the bed. Brushing sweaty fringe from her eyes, she felt around for the lamp, light suddenly illuminating the darkness of the room. It was the same memory again.

Disentangling herself from the duvet, Hinata swung her legs out of bed and headed for the bathroom. That awful, overly-wet feeling was in her mouth and she knew from experience that she would throw up. Glancing at the space between her legs, Hinata felt the old familiar relief that the tops of her thighs were not stained red.

Once in the bathroom, she did throw up, but it wasn't much. She had been too tired to eat that night and had gone straight to bed. Rinsing her mouth out, Hinata tried not to glance in the mirror at her reflection, knowing full well what she would see staring back - a tired, pale woman, right on the vestiges of sanity.

Although her miscarriage had not happened in bed, the memory always haunted Hinata when she was at her most vulnerable. In fact, Hinata really couldn't recall some of the details. She knew she had fallen down the stairs, knew that it was a result of her and Naruto fighting, but she couldn't remember regaining consciousness in their flat. Her blood pressure had spiked suddenly, making her dizzy and faint; there was no way she wouldn't have fallen down the stairs.

It had been in the ambulance, but only in flashes. She did remember looking down at the tops of her thighs, seeing the horrific red stain that covered her jeans. Maybe a few more flashes in the emergency room, then nothing until she awoke in a room.

Shock, the doctors had told her, and a mild concussion. The worst had been having to remain awake when all she had wanted to do was curl up and die. No one would let her, especially Naruto. He kept her alive that night through sheer force of will.

The fight…what had it even been about?

As she wandered through her flat, Hinata tried to remember. What had any of their fights been about?

His drinking? His tendency to push her aside for "work"? The lipstick on his collar that was easily explained away? The lipstick around the base of his member that wasn't so easily explained away?

Hinata tried to push these aside as she headed for the kitchen. A good stiff cup of tea would set her right. Glancing at a clock, she noted that it was around 5 am already. At least the nightmare wasn't waking her up in the middle of the night like it used to.

With sudden clarity, the fight came back to her, as she made her way to the kitchen.

It was about these "friends" from work that kept him out all night. He hadn't been home at all that night, stumbling in well past dawn, reeking of booze and cigarettes, and possibly a very stale perfume. Hinata had lain awake most of the night, worrying about where he'd been.

This had become a pattern, Hinata mused, as she heated the water and selected a loose tea. Oolong with a bit of cream and sugar would be almost as reviving as hot chocolate, which she was out of currently.

Naruto had started staying out late not too long after they had been married. He was a police officer, so it made sense that he worked weird hours because of shifts and overtime. Then, when the excuses got flimsier, Hinata still felt like she could forgive him as long as he came home to her at the end of the night.

But he had not become violent with her until after she had lost the baby. Hinata had figured it was because deep down he blamed her in some way. He would become inexplicably angry, lashing out with words and fists.

At first, she ruminated as she sat down at the immaculate table, it had been only when he was very drunk. After he sobered up, Naruto couldn't remember a thing, always seemed so shocked when Hinata woke him up and she was covered in little bruises and scrapes. He would buy her something expensive to make up for it.

Then, it seemed like he was drinking all the time, hitting her for the least little thing. There were other things too, like the time he accused her of being a cheating whore and had taken a bottle to her…

The teacup shook in her hands, splashing hot tea all over her fingers. Hinata realized, with a nasty shock, that the tea had also scalded her lap.

Abandoning the teacup, she took off for the shower. There was no way the shop could open today, Hinata realized as hot tears streamed down her face.

Instead, it would be a call to her therapist's office to see if there would be any way she could get an appointment. Her anniversary, she decided, and the stranger from the day before last had left her floundering.

Naruto

He sat awkwardly on the bar stool, his vision blurred, the football game on television nothing more than colorful shapes chasing after a black and white phantom. It was nearly closing time; he had been there a good part of the night.

The pictures at home had just been too haunting. Hinata's beautiful face staring at him, accusing him, of letting her be abducted from their home.

It would have been their anniversary; a happy time.

She would have tried to cook him something wonderful…

He slipped off the stool, crashing to the floor.

"Hey buddy, I'm cutting you off," someone above snarked.

"I've got him," a smoother voice said, reaching under his arms and hoisting him back up.

The blurry face seemed familiar, right before Naruto vomited spectacularly and blacked out.

Kakashi

He was only minorly disappointed that the beautiful Himawari had not called him back yet. Ino's words came back to him, about Himawari being a delicate flower that might break.

She had seemed very nervous about letting him into the store. And about the interview. And pretty much everything.

But at the same time, she also seemed to like him.

But, Kakashi had many experiences with this before. Women always wanted a bit of a mystery with him and there had been many affairs.

Just that, affairs. He had probably never had a woman that had not been had by someone else. Which, there was nothing wrong with married or experienced women, because they knew what they liked. He had gotten plenty of experience for Icha Icha without resorting to late night porn.

Kakashi had never had a real, stable relationship with someone who was not already married. Had not had a real stable relationship ever, that he could remember in recent memory anyway.

When he had moved from the big city to the small town, he had left those Tinder dates behind. Kakashi was done with that lifestyle, the monotony of "don't let my husband find out" or "my husband is out for a few hours, can you come over?" It got old being the plaything of rich, horny women when you weren't twenty anymore.

Most guys would call him crazy, but Kakashi was just tired of only being wanted for one or two things, neither of which was his mind. He was fast approaching forty and had realized when he was walking through the park or going out to eat, that he wanted to be like one of those fathers he watched playing with their kids.

He could almost hear Jiraiya in his head now, "You're nuts! Don't settle down! Never settle!" Jiraiya had led that kind of partying lifestyle, and look where it had gotten him. Massive Heart attack, before his time. Kakashi didn't want that anymore. The random hookups when it was convenient, just for his body. He had plenty of material now, he wasn't young and inexperienced like he had been when Jiraiya had taken him under his wing way back in the day.

Kakashi wanted to put some roots down, be a father, and lead a more meaningful life. He still wanted to write, but he wanted more interesting plot lines, something deeper than just dalliances and lust.

It had been well over a year since any of those women had even texted him, even longer since he had said "yes" to any of their proposals.

His cellphone rang and Kakashi stumbled over his carpet of sleeping dogs to answer it. A little rush of disappointment when Kakashi noticed it was a number he knew very well.

"Iruka, this had better be good," he growled.

"Well hello to you too!" Iruka snapped. "I was calling with some good news."

"That's different then. What is it?"

"My friend at the flower shop says there is a good possibility you will get the job after all. She just called Himawari with your background check and said things were looking very good."

"Great. Now can I get back to work?"

Kakashi was too anxious to really sit down and write. He was seriously considering taking the dogs for a walk, just to let some of that nervous energy off. The dogs, however, seemed to have a different idea of how they wanted to spend their afternoon.

"Authors, can't live with them, can't make them happy," Iruka grumbled as they exchanged quick goodbyes.

At least, there seemed to be a possibility of Himawari getting back to him.

He nudged the nearest dog with a sock-clad foot, only to be met with a low growl in return.

Giving up for the time being, Kakashi sat down at his laptop once again and tried to pound out a little more build to his characters. His hero was turning out to be suspiciously like himself, his heroine was two dimensional, and everyone else was cardboard.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, glanced at his phone again although he knew she had not called.

Telling himself it was for inspiration, Kakashi ended up just getting on youtube for a while.

Hinata

The day before last had been a complete write-off, she knew. Hinata had spent well over an hour in the shower, the chilly water finally persuading her to do something else for a while.

Her therapist had made arrangements to see her later that afternoon. Luckily there had been a cancellation.

Hinata hated that her past still held so much sway over her life, hated that she had virtually no control some days. It had been a wasted day, personally and financially, but it had not happened in a long time. She did take some comfort in that; it had been nearly 4 months.

Once out of the shower, Hinata had exercised for a little while, hoping to work herself into exhaustion. When that didn't work, she baked a whole batch of cookies and ate half of them, feeling guilty but slightly cheered up.

She had read once that chocolate was a cure-all for horrific memories.

When it came time to visit her therapist, Hinata slipped out the back way of her flat just in case customers might be lurking around. She didn't want them to see her in such a state.

In the comfort of the office, Hinata had been able to just let things go.

This morning, Hinata had awoken from a deep sleep feeling a little more refreshed. Lying in bed with the duvet tucked up under her arms, she realized that yesterday would have been less of a disaster if someone else had been in charge.

Perhaps, Ino would give her a call after all today.

Later, when she was finishing her prep work for the day, Hinata's phone rang somewhere across the door. Straightening her stiff back, the store phone proved hard to find. Hinata had a cheap burner phone for emergencies, but she didn't like using it or giving out the number. It was literally only so that her cousin, Neji, could contact her with any really important family news. In the year she had been in hiding, Neji had only called one time to tell her that her sister had finally gotten married.

"Yes?" Hinata asked, slightly breathless. The phone had been under a stack of paperwork.

"Hey, you didn't open yesterday, huh?" Ino asked.

"No, I was sick," she said quickly. Hopefully Ino wouldn't notice.

"Oh, sorry. Well, my friends at the police station say he comes back clear. You should hire him, just in case you have any more sick days, right? It would be so nice to have someone that could just run things for a day or two."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that. I guess I will," Hinata found herself answering. After a quick exchange with Ino, Hinata hung up.

Glancing at a clock, she realized she was a few minutes late opening. A few customers were already waiting outside, looking concerned about the times listed on the door. The phone call would just have to wait.

Hours later, Hinata was exhausted. It had been a busy day of regulars and orders. If she was honest with herself, all the little bookstore owner wanted to do was curl up in a blanket and veg out on bad television.

I've got to make the phone call though.

Before retiring upstairs, Hinata dialed the number listed on the interview sheet. The line rang so many times that she felt a bead of sweat trickle down her back, as to whether he would actually answer or not.

"Hello?" came a groggy, unmistakably male greeting.

"Y-yes, t-this i-i-i-is, Hi-Himawari, f-f-from t-the s-s-s-s-store?" There was a huge lump in her throat.

"Oh, well, hello Himawari. How are you?"

Her insides melted a little bit. Why was she so nervous? "Oh, f-fine. I-I- um wanted t-to," she swallowed past the lump. "Let you know. That. You g-got t-the j-job."

"Great! I was really hoping it would work out." She could almost feel the joy radiating off of him through the connection. But she couldn't let herself get caught up in another man.

"Me too."

She told him a time to come the next day, to show him how the store worked (a time when plenty of customers were usually around just in case) and they exchanged brief goodbyes.

That night, Hinata slept just a little bit better.