Hinata gave Sasuke a kiss as he left for work with Miki on her hip. The apartment was half in boxes waiting for their move, and she would probably do more today after work. Hinata set Miki in her pen. She was still sleepy enough to entertain herself while Hinata checked emails, but before Hinata could even sit down, there was a knock on the door.
Hinata's eyes darted around the room to check for anything Sasuke might have forgotten but stopped when she realized he would have just unlocked the door. The knock came again before she could get to the door. "Police, please open up."
Hinata's heart stopped as she opened the door to the office. "Is… something wrong?"
"Mrs. Uzumaki?" The officer asked.
"I…" Hinata didn't feel like explaining her divorce. "Yes?"
"There's has been an accident."
Sasuke rushed through the lobby and anxiously waited as the receptionist took her time telling him where to go. His stomach dropped out as he found Hinata sitting alone on a bench in a hallway with a baby carrier. Her blank expression cut through him. He lowered to his knees in front of her hand and wrapped himself around her numb form before coming back to put his hands on either side of her face. "How are you doing?"
"He's dead." Hinata looked through him, lip trembling. "He… had me as his next of kin still… under my married name." She scoffed with no humor. "Was he just too lazy to change it?"
Sasuke rubbed a thumb over her temple. He couldn't fix this. "What happened?"
Hinata shook her head. "They don't know yet. His car went off the road. He was brought into the hospital. He wasn't conscious, so they found me, but he was already gone by the time I got here." Her eyes avoid his darting as she tried to process. "They don't think he was drunk. They are trying to figure out if something else happened or if he fell asleep."
Sasuke got up to sit beside her and let her crumple into his side. He kissed the crown of her head. Naruto couldn't even die quietly, could he?
"Mrs. Uzumaki?" A doctor came up to them. Hinata didn't correct her. "I need you to fill these out." Sasuke took the clipboard for her. Hinata took the offered pen and started looking at the form. "I'm sorry for your loss. If it's any consolation, his condition would have claimed him within the next few months."
Hinata pen paused. "What condition? What are you talking about?"
"His organs were shutting down. His cancer spread to his brain. It may have been the cause of the crash." The doctor's lips came into a tight line as Hinata's face became more horrified. "You were his wife he didn't tell you it got that bad?"
Hinata gapped. "He never told me he was sick."
The doctor put a hand over her chest as she realized how much of a mess she just caused. "He must have known. He would feel awful, and he had a last will in his wallet." The doctor turned her head. "I can get his personal items."
Sasuke's head fell into his hand. That… dumbass. The doctor disappeared, and Hinata tried to focus on the paperwork, but her hand was shaking too much to write. Sasuke pulled it out of her hands as her breathing got quicker.
Hinata's face scrunched miserably as a bin with Naruto's things was presented to her. She ignored the light dust of glass as he picked up the folder paper that was removed from Naruto's wallet. The will they found.
"Hinata, don't torture yourself." Sasuke rubbed her arm.
"Why didn't he tell me?" Hinata whimpered. Sasuke knew what was going through her head. The same question he had. Was this why he left?
Hinata sat on the couch, staring at the journal on the coffee table. She glanced over at Sasuke and Miki sleeping on the mat, but her eyes kept coming back to the journal. She read it. Sasuke read it. She just didn't know what to do with it.
How could he?
How could he do this to her?
Naruto found out he was dying and rushed their lives, wanting to experience as much as he could, but when he found out it was getting worse, he 'didn't want to put her through that.' He trusted Sasuke to clean up his mess and take care of her. Even detailed that he came back to check on her to make sure that Sasuke would protect her.
His last stop was to tell Sakura he was dying, making her promise not to tell.
The journal had an entry for every day since he left, never mentioning his pain, just how much he missed her, and what he wished their lives could have been. Was she even supposed to read the journal? In the will, it was supposed to go to Sasuke, but it left no instructions to not share it.
Sasuke hands made her jump as she realized by the marks on the side of his face and his hair in an odd direction that he woke up and saw her spiraling. Hinata shifted on the couch to compensate him, curling herself into his groggy arms.
Sasuke was almost too warm and smelled stale, but it felt good. "Stop thinking about it." He kissed her temple.
"He didn't give me a choice," Hinata hummed with her nose in his shoulder.
"He knew what you would do. You would have sat by his bedside every day to watch him waste away." Sasuke rubbed his thumbs over her skin.
"Selfish bastard." Hinata hiccuped as tears blubbered down her face. "He probably knew before we were married." Sasuke nodded. "If he told me…" Her voice cracked, and she didn't even bother to finish.
It made sense now, the perfection he was striving for. He was pushing for it, so they had it before he died.
"Hinata, you're allowed to hate him still." Sasuke brushed her hair down. "He still made you unhappy trying to make you happy. He lied and caused pain to save you from different pains. You are allowed to feel angry." Hinata pressed her face harder into his shoulder, hoping it would take the pain away. "You know I am."
After Sasuke read it for the first time, he set his jaw and excused himself for an hour. Hinata didn't want him to think that he needed to hide his rage, but she understood why he didn't want to show her. "At least he did one good thing." Hinata lifted her head. "He sent you to me."
"He knew me too well." Sasuke leaned forward to give a solemn kiss.
**Lavender-Long-Stories**
Hey I don't support bashing behavior.
Naruto is not in the best light in this story, but there is nuance. Every story has its villain.
If you came just to bash, understand though I can't stop you I think that behavior is toxic and hurts the fandom.
