Etsu scrambled for her legs and was caught before she could slam into them, then lifted to Hinata's hip.
"Thank you for taking her." Matsuri said.
"I promised we would look after her while you had missions. I just finished looking over all that work the Hyuga sent me. I will have the time." Hinata giggled as Etsu hugged her neck.
"Here are her things. If I come home later than planned and she needs anything from home, she has her key, right?" Matsuri smiled as Etsu scrambled to pull the chain out of her shirt to show her mother. "Good, tuck it back." Etsu obeyed and went back to clenching around Hinata's throat. "Be good for Hinata." Matsuri kissed her daughter and waved as she headed off.
Etsu waved. "Bye-bye, Oka-suri." Hinata tried not to giggle at mixing 'mother' and Matsuri rather than the normal finishing honorific. It was something at least she was identifying her as her mother in her way.
Hinata was generally surprised at how well behaved Etsu had become. The child was definitely nin destined rough and full of energy, but she could also sit and play quietly when she was asked to. She seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of honorifics and manors, but she was trying to be polite, and that's what mattered.
Hinata kept her with her for most of the day. She usually played at the orphanage when Matsuri was busy; however, with Matsuri leaving, she wanted to reassure the child that she would not be left at the orphanage again.
Hinata didn't mind having her around. Etsu had an interesting outlook on life and asked questions she wasn't always sure how to answer. Hinata gladly took the challenge.
Hinata was interested in how Gaara would handle having her around; lunch would be their first introduction.
"Etsu-chan, we need to be quieter around Gaara. He has headaches." Hinata crouched in front of her with her finger to her lips.
Etsu nodded. "What do I call this one?"
Hinata tried not to be amused by the wording. "Gaara-sama or Kazekage-sama."
"Why?" She asked out of pure curiosity.
"He's the Kage, leader of the village. He deserves respectful honorifics." She explained.
"You called him Gaara." Etsu pointed out.
"I am married to him. That makes us more familiar. He also asked." Hinata stood up with their tray. "Now, we need to knock to not be rude, not too hard."
Etsu knocked, and Hinata smiled as she heard Gaara's confused reply, not recognizing it. She opened the door and his face twisted into more confusion until she moved to let Etsu through.
"I forgot about the child." He mumbled to her.
She smiled, setting the tray on his desk and helping Etsu into a chair. "Hello, Gaara-Kaze..." Estu trailed off as she realized she was wrong.
"Gaara-sama should be fine." Gaara nodded in agreement.
Hinata helped Etsu as they ate. Gaara stayed more silent than usual with the extra presence. Hinata chose to speak normally despite the input from her husband. She knew he was not yet comfortable or familiar to children. Etsu kept her tone down, but Hinata kept a secret as she tried to ask questions directly to Gaara.
He was slightly surprised every time and would take time to answer as briefly as he could. She would usually try to fill in where he had not, but it was certainly sweet that he did try to answer. She thought they would get along just fine.
Temari giggled openly at her sister in law doing paperwork around the little girl on her lap coloring. "Ready?" She asked.
"But I want to stay with Onee-ina." Etsu pouted.
"Huh?" Temari asked.
"That's me." Hinata giggled. "Etsu-chan, I have some meetings, and I can't keep you with me for them. You need to go with Temari-san for a little while." Hinata refrained from calling her sister this time to not confuse her.
"Why?" She whined as Hinata lifted her off her lap.
"You don't even know what I have planned." Temari put her hand on her hip. "I think all little brats like dango, right?"
"Dango?!" Etsu bolted for her.
"Persuaded by food? Too bad Kankuro hates kids. I think they would like each other." Temari picked her up, and with one swift movement, had her on her hip.
"Don't spoil her diner," Hinata called as they left.
"Spoilsport," Temari mumbled with a wave.
Hinata tapped on his door, letting herself in and setting the completely limp child on the couch. "I don't think she is going to be waking anytime soon, so she shouldn't bother your work."
"Has she been distracting?" Gaara asked with genuine interest.
"Not really, it's something I got used to quickly. I just worked around her, it's a little slower, but I still got everything I needed to do, done." Hinata sighed, sitting in the chair across from him at his desk. "If she was any younger, it might be more trouble."
He glanced over at the child, nodding, and looked back to his wife, who was frowning.
"This isn't realistic long term, though." She whispered.
"What do you mean?" Was she not able to take her in the future like she had told Matsuri?
"I mean, if I am expected to have children, I wouldn't be able to keep working as I do." She frowned, staring at the blank cover of the folder in front of her.
"We have options in that case." He hadn't been raised by his father.
"I'm not getting a nanny or having Temari-nee-chan raise our children." She blocked. "I refuse to pass my children off, especially with the Hyuga here." Her frown deepened. "It was difficult enough to have kept them unbranded. I am an exception and will be the main house connection for this compound, but.." She shrank into herself.
"I don't know what the appropriate response to this would be." He admitted.
She shook her head. "There isn't one."
"I wish I could be more helpful to you." He tried. "However, I don't think leaving, or less involvement wouldn't be an issue in a few years. You also still have the option of adopting as you had said before." She didn't look lifted at all. He had failed. "Does having the child around upset you."
"No, it just gave me the thought, is all." She sat up straight and yawned. "I might just be tired. Onee-chan is going to be taking her to sleep in her room soon, then we should probably head to bed."
He nodded and looked over to the child that his student had taken in. Children were quite interesting.
By the time Temari had come to pick up the sleeping child, Hinata was asleep with her head on his desk. She was so completely asleep that she only stirred enough to lean on him when he picked her up.
He did manage to wake her when they got back to their room so she could be ready for bed, but the hollowness in her eyes told him she was barely functioning to do so. Sand handed her things to keep her from falling over during the routine. The child had taken more out of her than she had admitted it would seem. She slumped onto the bed next to him and curled into him. He laid an arm around the back of her shoulders and burying his face into loose hair. He would make sure she had a lighter load tomorrow.
"Not that one, that one." Hinata pointed, and Etsu snatched the book she needed and bolted back over to her lap. "Thank you, I appreciate your help."
"Why don't your eyes stay bulgy?" She asked with a tilt of her head. She curiously touched the spidered scars on her face that spanned from temple to temple.
"Their chakra veins, when I use my Byakugan, they're filled with more chakra than usual because it takes quite a lot." Etsu had a basic understanding of chakra. Hinata understood because Matsuri had been getting her ready for the Academy.
"Could I do that?" She wondered, closing her eyes hard and opening, trying to imitate the change.
"No, but I'm sure you will find something you are good at once you start learning the basics." She giggled at the child's enthusiasm.
"What did your team do?" Etsu asked as she crawled back into her lap.
"We were trackers, with my eyes, Kiba-kun's specialty dogs, and Shino's bugs we specialize in finding people and things." She explained.
"Bugs?" Etsu asked with amazement.
Hinata smiled and explained her friend's clan's and their specialties. It was nice having someone who was constantly interested in everything she said.
Matsuri opened her arms, dropping her bags to receive the child that jumped on her. "There you are!" She cheered, lifting her into the air. "Were you good?"
"Yeah!" Etsu giggled as she held at the high height.
"We only had minor incidents, nothing notable," Hinata confirmed. "We need to work on not running in the halls, though."
"She wasn't too much trouble?" Matsuri wondered.
"No, but she was spoiled." Temari insisted on filling her with sweets, complaining at the rate she was going she wasn't going to have any, and she didn't think she was getting nieces or nephews from her brothers.
"Great, now you're never going to want to come home." Etsu shook her head to deny and hugged her mother. Matsuri smiled. "I missed you, too.