The night before was miserable. Hinata could only think about the conversation with her father. She couldn't tell whether he was being sincere or not and that posed many questions. Why would he want to get to know her now? Was he finally coming around to being a good father? To trust him would mean that she would have to risk getting hurt again. That wasn't something she was looking forward to, but because it was her father she felt then need to at least try. There will always be a soft spot there for him. She always yearned for his attention, but instead she trained herself not to depend on it. Furthermore, it crippled her because she thought without his approval there was no need to be alive.

The Hyuga decided to get dressed. The thoughts were getting to her and she needed to get them out. She had stopped by Anko's office first but the doors were closed. Then, her mind went to Sai. The thought of him made her let out a heavy sigh. She felt as though she had been using him too much to vent but he made it hard with his understanding personality. Either way she still wanted to see him.

After buying some fruit from a local vendor she made her way over to the studio. She took each step one by one before stopping at the entrance. When she peeked in, Sai was showing off art pieces to some potential buyers, and in the meantime she decided to look around herself. She came upon a piece that caught her attention significantly. The picture displayed a little girl in a white dress with barbed wire surrounding her. She was faceless and her white dress held small stains.

"This is one of our more complex pieces" a voice said behind her.

"Hi Sai" she'd say turning to give him a smile before looking back to the picture.

He chuckled softly as he moved up beside her to give a playful bump, "What does this say to you?" he asked curiously as he looked back to the picture.

"Well it's definitely dark" she said at first. "I think the stains represent pain or more like scars, the barbed wire shows her being trapped, and I think she's faceless because she's never been... allowed to be herself. It's so...sad."

"Wow" was all he could say in response to her. "Seems like you relate to her."

Hinata smirked dropping her face for a second before turning toward him, "You think?" she joked.

Sai pulled her into him, embracing her warmly. "Are you feeling ok today?"He could already tell there was a problem, but he remembered that she got annoyed by that from time to time.

"No it's just...I dunno" she'd say burying her face into his chest."It's nothing."

"Come on, I know it's definitely more. I don't want to force you but you can definitely tell me Hinata" he assured.

Hinata sighed heavily as she turned herself away from Sai, "I just feel like I'm always complaining about my problems to you and I don't want you to think that's the only way I see you."

Sai nodded to her words, finding it cute that she was worried about him getting mad at her about something like that. "I truly don't mind it Hinata. Honestly."

Even though he said that, she still wasn't feeling any better about it. It almost felt like she was burden to him in her mind and she hated feeling that way.

"Would it be more comfortable if we stepped outside?" he asked gently.

Even though she was pretty hesitant about it, she still nodded in response to his question. She waited until he alerted his co worker before turning to go outside. Her eyes caught a stone bench sitting close by and walked over to have a seat. Sai followed behind doing the same. "My father and I have never had a great relationship and now suddenly he wants back into my life" she paused. "He never wanted anything with me so...this is making me a bit suspicious. But then there's the side of me that wants a relationship with my father and I just feel like maybe I should try for that reason."

"Well then if you feel like trying then...try. There's nothing wrong with that."

"The gamble is if I'm up for risking getting hurt again because this is my father, you know?" she'd say with a slight crack in her voice. "I can't deal with that type of rejection again."

"But if you don't at least try then there will always be that 'if'. Just see what his intentions are. That way you'll always know what he's up to" he explained.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll give it a shot."

Sakura was taking her usual path to the hospital when she noticed stuffed animals being sold outside of a shop. The one that caught her eye was a cute little sheep with a tiny pink bow around it's neck. She couldn't help but smile to herself, knowing that she was actually going to bring someone into the world and even though it may cause a bit of trouble she was happy. It was a baby from the man that she had loved all her life. Maybe this time he would love the baby enough to stay with her. Her hand moved to her stomach, rubbing it gently as she looked at the little sheep. "Hopefully you'll like it little one" she said to the belly.

By this time Naruto had showed up just in time to notice that she was talking to herself, but only managed to catch the tail end of her words. "Whose little one?" he asked curiously.

His sudden presence caused her to jump slightly but the question was really what got her, "Oh umm...little one is for the new baby at the hospital" she said, completely lying but she didn't want to tell anyone else yet about the pregnancy.

The blond looked at her for a moment, watching as she paid for the little sheep. "I think we should talk."

"About what?" Sakura asked as she put the little sheep in her satchel.

"Look I know about you and Sasuke. I saw you go to his house the other night" he'd say solemnly. "I thought we were going to give us a chance Sakura."

Sakura sighed to herself, dropping her face before looking up to Naruto. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I can't have anything with you, ok?" she'd moving closer to touch his face. "I'm sorry."

Naruto backed away from her touch, looking down at her in anger. "You used me again?!" he yelled. "Sakura why can't you understand that I would give you the world! I love you! He will never love you the way I love you."

"You don't know anything! He can change!" she responded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Sakura, are you serious? You act like we don't know him. When Sasuke doesn't care about someone he could give a shit whether they live or die" he said bluntly.

"Well he will when I have this baby!" she yelled, gasping soon after when she realized what she said.

Her words made Naruto speechless. It was as though he'd been frozen from the confession. "Oh my god" he finally managed to say.

"No no no, you can't tell anyone ok please?" she begged frantically through her tears.

"You are so fucking selfish, you don't even care about how I feel hearing what you just said to me" he stated, looking at her disgustedly. "I should have known better. Every time I was with you I should have known better."

"Naruto, I'm sorry!"

The blond didn't look back. He made his way furiously to Sasuke's place, taking to the trees to move faster. Once there he banged on the door, "Sasuke!" he yelled as he continued banging.

Sasuke walked to the door slowly when he heard the banging, recognizing the voice immediately. He opened the door, only to be met with a fist to the jaw. "What the fuck?!" he yelled stumbling back a bit.

"You got her pregnant!" Naruto yelled. "Tell me you didn't know about this."

The Uchiha sighed heavily before looking to his friend, "I just found out yesterday. We were going to keep a secret for a while until it could no longer be kept quiet.I'm sorry."

"Do you even care about her?"

Sasuke remained quiet for a moment. He knew his friend knew the answer to that already and he was feeling the worst about it because it may mean he might have to marry Sakura. "I care about the child."

The blond chuckled softly for a moment before shaking his head. He was silent for a moment as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Our bond is too strong for me to hate you but for right now, we don't need to talk to each other."

A couple days later...

Hinata had found herself in front of the Hyuga Manor gates that morning. She hadn't been there in years and just the gates were already making her nervous. With a light push, she opened them just enough for her to slip inside. All eyes were on her at this moment but she only came to see her father. She could hear the whispers whirling around as she walked to her old home and she started to feel smaller and smaller. Everyone most likely knew about what happened between her and Sasuke. They also know how she had renounced her title to be with him as well. Not many took that too well. "Hinata?" she heard a younger voice call out. It was Hanabi, her younger sister. "Wow you look so beautiful" she'd say sweetly to her sibling.

Hanabi still kept her stern face but she couldn't hide her blush very well. A trait she managed to catch from her sister. "What are you doing here? I thought you were done with the clan?"

"I'm not really back" she responded. "It's just that Father and I had a talk and he suddenly wants to bond with me more."

The younger Hyuga looked a bit confused. She knew her father was a strict old brute so why would he want a bond with Hinata? Hanabi had heard that her sister was growing stronger but she never really thought much of it. That may be why her father wants Hinata there.

"Ah my daughters" Hiashi said with a smile he watched the two approach.

"Hello father" they said in sync as they looked up at him.

"Hinata may I talk to you in private please?" he asked politely.

Hinata nodded to her father, waving to her sister as she followed. They were soon standing in the garden, "This was your mother's favorite place. When she was pregnant with you she and I would lay here and even fall asleep from time to time" he recalled, smiling as he thought about it. "But anyway, how are you?"

"I'm uh I'm doing well. Everything seems to be calm so I haven't been on any missions lately but I've been training just as hard" she explained.

"Excellent, excellent" her father responded. "Don't you think you should train here? You know? since this is where you came from, we would have a lot to tell you in order for you to excel further."

Hinata's head drooped a bit as she listened. This was never a place of peace for her. It was always like a prison with everything being strict and asphyxiating. She never felt free but it would be beneficial to learn some new things about her fighting style. Her life goal now was to grow as a ninja and this may be just the way she gets to the next step.

"Hey, it's just a suggestion. Don't look so gloomy" her father teased.

"I know and I'll think about it" she responded. "Hanabi's growing up I see."

"She's a fine young lady, sticking to the ways of the Hyuga culture. It's funny because I see more of me in her everyday" he said proudly.

Hinata couldn't help but wonder if that was a jab at her. She wouldn't think much of it though. In fact, she was happy that at least one of his children could make him proud. Being a slave to her father's expectations wasn't particularly exciting and she would never want to go back to it. "She's beautiful. She'll make a fine clan leader one day."

Hiashi sighed softly at those words. He wanted Hinata to become the leader. She would bring so much promise to the clan. "Hinata, I...truly believe that you should be clan head."

"Father" she said closing her eyes for a minute. "I really don't want to be. Hanabi has always been the best and she will get stronger."

"Yes but this was your mother's wish." He fabricated a bit because he knew his wife only wanted a bond between him and Hinata. The joy that it would bring to see her take over would be his happiest moment.

"I need to go" Hinata said abruptly as she stood up, ready to walk away.

Hiashi followed after touching her shoulder gently, "Hinata, please think about it" he urged before letting go.

Hinata walked away, face down as she made her way out of the house. No one had noticed but Hanabi was eaves dropping close by, "Clan leader?! But that's what I've been training for all my life. Why is he choosing her?" she thought angrily.