Thank you everyone for your reviews and comments. You guys are awesome!
Here is the new chapter. Let me know what you guys think so when I write the next chapter I'll keep it in mind.
Enjoy!
Was this really happening to her? She still couldn't fully understand the situation she was thrown in but even after accepting the obvious truth behind Natsumi, and her parentage, Hinata still couldn't believe her luck. She went through her day as if it was like any other, but every moment she got, she would glance at the new girl in her class, Natsumi Uzumaki.
Maybe there was a god up there, thought Hinata, that just liked messing around with her. First, it was Naruto's accident which was like losing him all over again, and now it was this girl which would become a constant reminder in her days that what she wanted at one point with Naruto was something he already had with someone else, a family. She could never have something like that with Naruto.
By the end of the day, when the final bell rang and all the children were let out to be picked up, Hinata couldn't breathe. She felt suffocated by the girl's presence because the girl kept reminding her of the one person she did not want to think about.
Hinata packed her stuff and went home right away, not wanting to wait and meet someone she didn't want to by chance. She had to get home and relax to forget everything she had been thinking about that day. Natsumi was just another student in her class, she couldn't move her just because of her parents.
Hinata was not going to let herself be bothered by any of this. She didn't care that Naruto had a child with another woman. She didn't care that he had moved on and was living his life like every other person. She didn't care that she might have to see him and Ayame in the future for parent-teacher conferences, probably a lot of those, and many other things. She didn't care. She wanted to be unfazed, cool and calm. She would take this one step at a time.
The next day, she avoided running into Ayame as much as possible which was a success. But she still had to stare at Natsumi, a physical reminder of Naruto because of their similarities. The girl sat right in the front where Hinata could not miss her even if she wanted to.
Natsumi's cheerful and candor personality was something that Hinata could easily place as an inherited trait from Naruto, which made things so much harder for her. She couldn't even think about what Naruto would do if he found out that she was his daughter's teacher. Would he transfer Natsumi to another class? Another school? Would he avoid Hinata like the plague?
Hinata sighed as she stared at her salad in the teacher's lounge. In was lunch break and most of the teachers were sitting in there either chatting, reading or grading papers while eating lunch. Hinata was the only one who kept staring at her lunch with a depressed look, so much so that another teacher was beginning to worry.
"Hinata, you okay?" asked Tenten, the school's physical education teacher.
"Huh?" replied Hinata so eloquently as her train of thought was halted. Tenten just raised an eyebrow.
"You've been sighing at your food for the past twenty minutes. Do you not like your salad?"
"What? No, the salad is fine. I was just...t-thinking about some stuff."
"Well whatever it is, stop. You always overthink things." She shook her head. "Just enjoy the day and don't worry so much. And if that doesn't help then you can always talk to me," winked Tenten.
Hinata just smiled at her friend's antics. Truthfully, Tenten was the only one she could call a real friend, and maybe her only friend at work. She knew when Hinata needed her space and when she needed to be pushed to open up.
"Thanks Tenten."
The rest of the day went by as usual and soon Hinata was heading back to her apartment. On her way she kept thinking about what it meant for her to have Natsumi in her class. Would she be seeing more of Naruto and her family around at conferences and school events? She shook her head to rid herself of the same thoughts she had been having yesterday. She couldn't wallow over someone from her past when obviously they weren't doing the same. She just had to focus on her work, plus Natsumi was just like any of her other students so she would have to treat her as such and not like a ghost from her past.
Two weeks passed and Hinata was surprised at how normal the school year had been going so far. She didn't know what, but she thought that something was bound to happen to her since so much already happened this year. But she was grateful that nothing out of the ordinary had happened so far. She even got to know more about Natsumi just like she did with any other new student in her class. It was hard at first because every time the little girl described something about herself, Hinata found it easy to relate it back to Naruto because she knew him so well. She had to stop doing that because it was always leading her to a depressed mood afterwards.
At the moment, she was sitting in the teacher's lounge after school, drinking some tea while grading some papers. It was getting late so she decided to pack up and head home.
On her way out, Hinata dropped by the school's main office to pick up some paperwork. There she saw Natsumi sitting in the waiting room at a table in the corner while working on her homework. When students would get picked up late, the school had a policy to have the students wait in the main office rather than outside where there was no adult supervision. It was quite late so Hinata was surprised to see a student still at school. She decided to go talk to her.
"Natsumi," Hinata said as she approached the girl.
"Oh, hi Ms. Hinata!" The girl's face brightened at seeing her teacher. Hinata smiled in response.
"Are you still waiting to get picked up?"
"Yeah. Dad's late again." Her mood fell immediately.
"Oh... w-well, I'm sure he didn't mean to be late. He's probably on his way." Hinata felt awkward talking about Naruto especially in front of Natsumi.
Even after Hinata's effort to console her, Natsumi didn't feel any better and Hinata could see that so she decided to sit with her.
"What about your mom? If your d-dad can't pick you then your mom might."
"My mom..." she turned stared at the table in front of her as if she was remembering something. "Well you see -" But before she could finish Naruto rushes in cutting her off.
Hinata froze when she heard Naruto's voice as his footsteps were getting closer. He was walking behind Hinata and she couldn't do anything but to turn and look at Naruto with wide eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Natsumi, I'm so sorry I tried coming earlier but I couldn't get an earlier shift so..." Naruto's rambling slowly came to a stop as he saw who his daughter was sitting with.
She shouldn't have been surprised since she knew Naruto was coming to pick up Natsumi but Hinata wanted to curse herself as she felt her blush rise and heart race as if she was caught doing something she shouldn't have.
"You're always late, and you say the same excuse every time!" Natsumi folded her arms as she turned away from Naruto with a huff.
It was quiet for a while as Naruto gaped at Hinata while she avoided looking at him. Eventually Natsumi turned to see why her father was so quiet.
"Dad, why are you staring at Ms. Hinata like that?" She asked confused by the look of surprise on his face.
"What?... Ms. Hinata?" He raised his eyebrows as he looked towards his daughter.
"Yeah, this is my teacher. Remember I was telling you about my teacher. Were you not listening to me then!" Natsumi pouted.
"No, I was but you...never told me her name."
"Ok well now you know. Dad this is Ms. Hinata. Ms. Hinata this is my stupid old man." Naruto stared at Hinata for a few more seconds before he registered what his daughter said.
"Wha- Hey! Who're you calling a 'stupid old man'?" Natsumi struck out her tongue at him. "You better watch the way you talk to me young lady." She just turned around and started walking out, ignoring her father. "Natsumi! Come back here and pack your stuff." But she didn't listen.
Hinata felt awkward. At first, Naruto couldn't stop looking at her, but now it seemed like she was not even there. She quickly started to pack Natsumi's stuff in her backpack when she saw the little girl walk away. She didn't want to be in alone with Naruto but she couldn't leave him to pack Natsumi's stuff with only one hand. His other arm was still in a cast.
Naruto glared at the back of his daughter's head but she kept ignoring him so with a sigh he turned to get her stuff but froze when he saw Hinata. She had already packed up Natsumi's stuff, and he didn't know what to say.
"Thank you," he said almost as a whisper when she handed him the backpack.
"Mhm," she replied quickly and began rushing away.
Naruto wanted to say something to make her stop. It was obvious that she was avoiding him especially after the way he spoke to her when she asked for an explanation in the hospital. Now, seeing as how Natsumi was in her class, Naruto knew that Hinata would've figured things out on her own. He wanted to talk to her and explain things to her from his perspective but it was best if he kept his distance from her. He had to focus on his daughter.
He was afraid to talk to Hinata, because he didn't want to say something to her that wasn't meant to be said aloud, or even find out what she thought of him. He thought that it was for the best for him to leave Hinata because after finding out that he had a daughter, he knew he had to take responsibility, but he couldn't drag Hinata with him. She had a life ahead of her after graduation, and he didn't want to tie her down. He honestly believed that she would be happier with someone who didn't have a past like him, because after he found out about his daughter, his old self came back to haunt him.
"Come on dad! It's already so late, and I'm hungry!" Natsumi stomped to get Naruto's attention. He just stared at where Hinata had been and hadn't moved since she left.
"Yeah...lets go," he said finally, as he slowly followed his daughter out of the school to the train station with her backpack slinging from his shoulder.
Hinata, on the other hand, left the school as soon as possible. She went to her car and drove back to her apartment.
In the beginning, all she had wanted was to talk to Naruto and get an explanation that she deserved from him. But now she was too afraid to listen to anything he had to say. In reality, he wouldn't have said anything to her in the school but she was too afraid of the possibility, of even looking in his eyes and finding out what he didn't say all those years ago. She knew now that he had a daughter and that was the reason why he left, but having to hear that from him would've been different.
As much as Hinata had loved Naruto at one point in her life, she wasn't a selfish person. She understood why Naruto decided to leave her to be with his daughter and her mother, but Hinata couldn't help but feel hurt at the fact that he never trusted her enough to tell her his reasons when he broke up with her. Even recently when she asked him again for an explanation at the hospital, he didn't tell her.
This was just the beginning of the school year. Hinata didn't know how long it was going to be like this between her and Naruto. She just wanted to be at that point where everything would feel okay and she could face him without having her heart remember the pain she felt all those years ago.
So no real cliffhanger for this one. Thought I should give that a break.
So for these past chapters I've been focusing mainly on Hinata's side of the story but in the next couple of chapters I want to go over what life is like for Naruto.
Till next time.