Hello again! The new chapter is here!
hikari0605-san: hi! It's good to hear you like Hinata. Let me hear from you again this time too, okay?
Shikara Gizzel-san: hi! Why do you think Itachi is the dad? And yeah, me too, wishing to be able to write twice a week. Unfortunately, I am just a slow lazy writer. Lol.
Bexbluedragon76-san: Sure! Sure! I will grant it for you! ;-)
Chirithy564-san: thank you! I'm glad you like it! I hope you like the new chapter too!
Guest-san: lol.. This story definitely lacks the fast update beside its messy grammar.
kiss2lips-san: yup! Our sasuhina are neighbors. I really love this concept. :-)
DAngel7-san: oh..I'm happy you like it! I want to write a jealous Sasuke more!
guess-san: yeah, the test definitely will help many people, right? But I won't use it this time. ;-)
Rue24-san: aw..it's a sasuhina, though. Honestly, I don't remember have ever read about kibahina, too. I am too obsessed and faithful tp sasuhina.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 3
"He is exercising his leg at this moment." Hinata said with a soft smile.
"That's good. It's better his legs than his vocal cord, eh?" she heard Kiba replied from the phone and Hinata giggled.
"He is a good boy, he never whines except when he is hungry or wets himself." It had been a week since she met Haruto and after her confrontation with the Uchiha, the apartment next door had become so quiet that Hinata wondered whether the owner was home or not all the time.
"But..Geez..we still have got nothing so far, sorry, Hina but we have some big cases and reports to fulfill but I will try to find her as soon as possible." Kiba sounded so guilty which made Hinata felt bad to him.
"U..Um.. O..okay."
"What's the matter? Is there something you want to tell me?"
"No. Not really, Kiba-kun."
"Hmm.. So suspicious, I work as a detective you know, Hinata. You must have something since you stutter and when you do it means you are debating to tell or not to tell, eh?"
Hinata bit her lips and smiled sheepishly, "Not really, Kiba-kun." But when Kiba didn't add anything her stupid mouth moved by its own, "Um.. Wha..what if I find his father?"
"Well, that's even easier and better! Just give the kiddo to his father as his mother wishes!" He replied energetically.
Hinata sighed, "But he neither acknowledges nor wants Haruto-kun."
She heard Kiba sighed, "Well, it's understandable. It's an unknown son we are talking about and he appears so suddenly like a pimple on your face on one morning without warning."
"Haruto-kun is not some irritation on face, Kiba-kun." Hinata reprimanded softly.
Kiba snickered, "Well, my bad, sorry." He cleared his throat and said formally, "You can give me his contact and I will ask him to come. We will talk about it and prepare the documents, he won't be able to elude or run away from his responsibility this time. I assure you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, first we will track down his record and his statement. We will put him to have a paternity test if we have to. With that powerful evidence he has to take Haruto into his wing, doesn't matter if he wants it or not." Kiba explained briefly.
"But I don't want it." Hinata said softly.
"Huh?" Kiba asked, afraid that he heard it wrong.
"I mean.. Well, if he has to do the paternity test and when Haruto-kun is indeed his son, he has to admit and take Haruto-kun in, that person will feel forced. He won't see Haruto-kun as his son but rather a responsibility, a burden. He won't love Haruto-kun as a human being, as his own."
And that is too sad.
"It won't be fair for Haruto-kun." Hinata finished her speech with a soft whimper.
She heard Kiba groaned in frustration after a long silent minute, "Alright! I got it. I got it. We will find his mother and get this all clear, peacefully. okay?"
"H..hai!"
"But I want you to do your best to change his mind too, alright? Perhaps you can change his mind as you do to me. Who knows?"
Hinata nodded despite being alone at her room, "I understand. Thanks, Kiba-kun."
"Don't thank me yet, you idiot. Just make sure he acknowledges the baby sooner. The sooner the better."
"But Kiba-kun, I think he doesn't lie to me." Hinata mumbled feverishly when she remembered her neighbor told her about his self relief.
"Huh? What did you say?" Kiba replied as he didn't hear it clearly.
"Huh? Huh? W-hat?" Hinata replied hastily, she just realized what she said unconsciously. She and her stupid mouth. "No. Nothing, just talking to myself."
"If you say so. I have to go, my partner and I have an investigation to attend. I will let you know soon after I find something, 'Kay?"
"Um.. Okay. See you and please be careful, Kiba-kun."
"Yeah, you too. Bye, Hina."
Hinata giggled, well, what would happen to a very conventional teacher and a several months old baby?
###
Hyuuga Hinata was looking at the very big problem. Herself. She was a very clumsy and forgetful conventional teacher. She decided to add those new adjective to describe herself. Two useless yet precise definition of a Hyuuga Hinata.
How could she be so careless she wondered, but with the small baby to watch and keep save she claimed that this too must have happened to someone else in this big world.
Yeah, something like fforgetting-your-only-key-to-enter-your-apartment-while-your-spare-key-was-placed-in-a-small-box-inside-your-drawer-for-safety-reasons.
Or maybe not.
It was just Hinata herself and her clumsiness.
And her forgetfulness.
And her ironic thinking to keep the room safe but to lock herself out of the safe room.
Yeah, very smart.
Hinata just went to buy some diapers and things at a nearby market only to realize she left her key at the counter. And now locked out of her room.
She tried to call the maintenance man to help her but he wasn't available till ten since he had some business out of town. Which meant she had to wait at least four hours.
She called her cousin's friend but there were no answer, Ten Ten said about camping in the middle of mountain or so. Kurenai-sensei was having a holiday so it was out of options. Hinata wanted to go to a cafe but it would be too noisy. She decided to stand and wait but the hall was getting cold as the night came.
"What should I do, Haruto-kun?" she said to the sleepy boy, her arms went stiff and painful after almost one hour holding the baby. Hinata wanted to cry very much but that would only make Haruto restless so she decided to whispered some soft song to the boy. She gave up and sat on the carpeted floor with a big sigh.
The petite woman bit her lips, she couldn't go to her cousin since he would ask too many questions and might do something reckless albeit doing it for Hinata's sake. Kiba was busy, too and she felt guilty to disturb him more. Her gaze fell to the sturdy door next to her.
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.
###
Uchiha Sasuke opened his door sleepily, his hair was messy with big eye bags under his dark eyes, Hinata could see thin layer of unattended mustache. He yawned and scratched his chin, although wearing only thin white cotton tshirt and navy baggy short, Uchiha Sasuke still managed to look magnificent.
"U..Um..Uchiha-san..good evening."
"Hn.." He replied calmly.
"I..I have been wondering if I can stay at your place for several hours, four at the max."
He yawned, "Why?"
"Why..well, I..I kinda forgot to bring my key with me when I went to shopping just now and I can't enter my room."
He blinked, "Call the maintenance man." He answered straightforwardly, he was still a little sore of what he saw that day.
"I had. He can't make it until ten."
Sasuke was looking at her with his unreadable expression. Hinata didn't know what was inside his perfect head but she was too tired and her arms were too numb to think about trivia things.
Seeing his lack of reaction, Hinata knew he was not happy. "Can you take Haruto-kun in instead? It's a bit cold out here and I..I don't want him to catch a cold. Just Haruto-kun, please?"
The lean built Uchiha scrutinize his neighbor who looked so tired but tried to appear alright and respectable, in such tiny body was hidden a very strong will.
Sasuke opened the door wider and walked back to his room but he turned around when he felt Hina didn't follow. "What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"Just come in."
"Hai!" Hinata stepped into the room and put her paper bags on the hall.
The view in front of her made Hinata surprised, unlike the tidy and clean room she saw that day, her neighbor's room at that moment was an exact picture when a typhoon ran across your place. There were papers scattered around the floor, table, some even on the sofa. The area of the table where wasn't occupied by the papers was filled with laptop, cups, instant noodles cup and wrecked papers. Hinata didn't know where to put her feet on.
Sasuke brushed the papers on the sofa and kicked away some to under the table.
She put Haruto on the sofa and used some pillows to keep him safe from rolling out of the sofa. "Well.. He won't wake up in at least two hours, you can call me when he does." she stepped aside.
"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked with a frown.
"I'm going to wait outside." Hinata pointed to the door.
Sasuke sighed, "You can stay."
"But I thought.."
"Just stay, I don't know how to tend a baby, this small much less. Having you next to him might be a better option, and it's warmer here. It's worse if you catch the cold."
"Well, Haruto-kun has his father." Hinata shifted her gaze to the floor.
"I'm not." Sasuke replied.
"But you just let us in."
"That is different. That baby is not mine so you better find his real father fast." He snapped mildly.
"But he is definitely yours." Hinata insisted in soft mumbled.
"Fine, go, stay. Whatever. Don't disturb me, I have just finished my works and I need my sleep. You can leave whenever you want." He sounded irritated and disappeared into a room which Hinata presumed as his bedroom.
Hinata sighed, his mood was very bad, it seemed. She collected some papers and sat down on the floor.
Two hours later Haruto woke up as Hinata predicted and he definitely needed his meal so Hinata stepped into the open kitchen and prepared Haruto's milk as quiet as she could. She would explain to the apartment's owner when he was awake.
"You are a good boy, Haruto-kun." Hinata praised the baby and he replied with a happy giggle. The bluish haired woman brought the boy to her arms and patted his back to let him burp.
"There. How are you, my little prince? Did you have a good sleep?" she cooed.
Haruto mumbled and looked around the room, he clearly knew it wasn't Hinata's as he mumbled and swinging his hand to a wall filled with pictures. Hinata stood and brought the baby to the said wall, "Can you find daddy?"
"Uh..uh.." Haruto responded.
"Yeah, you can see daddy, right?" Hinata nodded and looked at one picture of many young men of Uchiha, there were also the blonde she saw that night and a silver haired man who wore mask to cover lower half of his face.
"Mummm..mummm.." Haruto mumbled again, his mouth moved up and down while looking at the photo then Hinata.
"It would be nice if your mommy is inside the photo too, ne?" Hinata giggled at her silliness.
Hinata then moved to see the next pictures only to realize it was almost eight thirty and there was no sign from the owner to wake up soon so she decided to make some dinner to thank the owner. "Let's make some delicious food for Uchiha-san, ne, Uchiha-kun?"
She made some onigiri and salad happily while Haruto was sleeping on the counter, safe from any hazardous materials of course.
Hinata had checked his refrigerator only to found half of it filled with tomatoe juice and fresh tomatoes. His cabinet was no better, he stocked only canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. Hinata wondered how this man could stay alive with such low nutrition.
"Is that why he has such good and radiant skin?" she mumbled.
"What is that?" a deep voice responded.
Hinata yelped and an onigiri she was making slipped out of her hands and caught by Sasuke smoothly. "You are startling me."
Sasuke scratched his stomach, his well toned abs were a feast to Hinata's eyes. The man plainly didn't intend to clean or improve his messy appearance but he still look as good as the models on the catwalk. She shook her head and pushed a plate filled with onigiri, "I used some hot water and your utensils just now and I make some dinner for you to thank you. I'm sorry for intruding." she bowed.
"Hn." He sat and ate the onigiri he caught just now.
"How is it?" Hinata asked timidly.
"Consumable." He answered flatly.
Hinata was amused since her foods were praised highly, especially by Kiba and her nii-san. Hearing Uchiha Sasuke's short answer was a new thing for her and that made her heart tingling and happy. It was so strange.
"Why don't you eat, too?"
"Ah.. I h..have some just now." she blushed and went back to cradle the baby. "Sorry for the wait." she brought the giggling baby to the living room but still visible from Sasuke's position.
Sasuke ate his actually very delicious dinner and watched his guests interactions silently.
The raven haired man observed the woman carefully, she was lovely although not as stunning or mesmerizing as Sakura or Ino were but still lovely. Hinata's beauty was pure, delicate, pleasant and classy. Hinata's movements were also very elegant and her visage was cute, adorable and everything between those, especially her ever-present blush on those fluffy cheeks.
Sasuke thought Hinata was a bit weird, in a good way, as she willingly took in a stranger's child which clearly wasn't her into her arms and protected him. Had it been another woman, namely Sakura, she would have gone crazy taking care of the baby between her packed schedule. Both Naruto and him would hear endless screaming of her. Yet, here was Hinata, asking for help from her barely knew neighbor -who could be a bad guy-, just so her baby was alright.
"It's your job cleaning up this room I suppose." Sasuke said when he stepped into his clean and organized living room, there was big trash bag at the corner of the room.
"U..Um.. I just felt uneasy being here doing nothing to help. I stack the papers base on the year and diagrams and then the other is what I think unused but perhaps you can check it before throwing it away." she pointed to stacks of paper.
"Hn.. I will later." He sat at the sofa.
"Do you want to hold him?" Hinata asked from the floor across him.
Sasuke looked at the boy stoically while Haruto looked at the man with his innocent round eyes.
"No, thanks."
"But, he needs his father." Hinata interjected.
"Which isn't me." Sasuke replied.
"Fine." Hinata huffed.
"Good." Sasuke smirked.
And Haruto laughed.
Hinata smiled solemnly, "Perhaps I should believe in you, Haruto is too cute and joyful to be yours."
"Are you telling me that I'm bitter and sorrowful?" Sasuke raised his brows, teasing the lavender eyes woman.
"Eep.." Hinata clearly didn't realize that she said her thought out loud.
Sasuke extended his hands to the baby, "Give him to me. I will show you what joyful is."
And Uchiha Sasuke did. He played with the boy childishly and warmly. Haruto never had such loud laughed whenever he was with Hinata, which was sad.
Gone was the moody and bad-mannered Uchiha Sasuke. The man who played with the baby was a silly yet still charismatic as ever. Hinata suspected the moody part was thanks to the work load. Uchiha Sasuke was a good man albeit sometimes thorny here and there. Besides, a baby wouldn't be so ease and relax in a cold hearted guy arms, right?
"Uchiha-san."
"Sasuke." He corrected.
"Sasuke-san."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but responded with a short "Hn.."
"Last time..you said that you would remember every girls you..Um.."
When Sasuke smirked and got what Hinata was trying to say, "You mean the girls who I fu—"
"I really appreciate it you stop it there." Hinata cut hastily. "There is a baby here."
Sasuke's smirk didn't disappear though. "So what? He doesn't understand."
"I prefer he doesn't know as long as I can help it. Well, I just want to ask whether you forget about Haruto's mom by accident?"
"Impossible." Sasuke answered with a short snort and Haruto laughed, he must be thinking that Sasuke is playing with him.
"Y..you could be drunk t-that time."
Sasuke hummed, "You have seen my job, there's no time to drink. My clients will go berserk knowing their business is run by a drunkard."
"Th..that's true.."
"How old is this boy?" He pushed his fore finger into Haruto's fluffy cheek, the said baby was smiling and swaying his limbs energetically.
"Kurenai-sensei told me he was about five or six months, in her opinion."
The Uchiha made a quick calculation in his brain, "So, he was born in spring which means it's about summer when he was conceived." He closed his eyes and frowned, "I wasn't here that time. I was out of the town, working."
"You can see it yourself." He handed a rectangular schedule notebook he took from the cabinet next to him to Hinata.
The said woman bit her lips when she read the carelessly written notebook, it was filled with packed and tight timetable.
"Yeah, last year was a bad year but fortunately Sasuke bastard helped us. It was a nightmare, our shares dropped drastically, lost the stakeholders and lost our market. Teme and I worked for weeks, we barely slept let alone took bath. You should have come and see how stupid he looked, he even didn't go to a date that—" and Sasuke disconnected the line to Naruto.
Perhaps it wasn't a good decision to call his stupid friend to confirm his words.
Naruto wasn't well known by his gratefulness.
He took the phone and dialed another number and Hinata waited nervously, fortunately Haruto had gone back to her arms to calm her down.
"Yes, I remember it. That time was very hectic. I quite regret it for not be able to help you guys but we were short handed at the hospital, too. Ah, I heard from Naruto you even went to survey the market after three sleepless night like a zombie. He laughed about your appearance and remember that I found you fell down on the road with your face—" Sasuke disconnected the call with a low hiss, "Those guys will be dead."
And only then Hinata realized that Uchiha Sasuke wasn't Haruto's dad. But, then who?
###
Her hours with the raven haired man was come to end. The maintenance man called her a little an hour later, Sasuke followed Hinata waiting at the hallway as the maintenance man finished his job in less than fifteen minutes. Hinata felt a bit sad since they would be apart. The stoic man was helping Hinata bringing her shopping bag on one arm and Haruto in the other one and still look like a handsome model.
"Your son is awfully look like your husband, you should try a daughter too. I bet she will be a pretty girl like his mommy, no?" The man tidied up his instruments, Sasuke just chuckled while Hinata blushed darkly.
"N..no..we aren't.." she stammered, denied and blushing at the same time.
"Hn..we will try harder." He smirked and bumped Hinata's shoulder playfully.
Hinata was very grateful that she was older, stronger although none wiser so she didn't fade out by such lecherous comment.
The maintenance man laughed and excused himself politely.
Hinata opened the door and went to check her key and indeed she forgot her key as Sasuke stepped in her apartment.
"You shouldn't forget it next time."
"Hai, sorry." Hinata bit her lips and took the sleepy Haruto from Sasuke.
"Hn.." Haruto mumbled again and blinked, trying to stay awake.
"You should sleep now, it has passed your sleeping time." Sasuke messed his dark hair then went to the door.
Hinata put the baby on the bed and ran to the door, "A..ano.."
Sasuke who stood on the cold foyer turnedaround, "Hn?"
"T..thank you for today." she said softly, her eyes didn't meet his.
Sasuke looked at his neighbor, at that position he was still a bit taller than Hinata. He stretched out his hand and moved closer to her, closer and closer that his face was several centimeters from Hinata.
What is he going to do? Oh my! Oh my!
The Hyuuga was holding her breath, too scared to move and her eyes were closed automatically.
"Hinata."
Hinata opened her eyes as he pinched her left cheek. "Oh?!"
"Hn.." He smirked and went away.
Hinata touched her cheek, it was hot not because of the weather or embarrassment. Her heart was also beating fast not because of nervousness or anxiety.
It was something new for her.
It was the first time for her.
This is the end of the chapter. How is it? :-))