Woah. I knew people would get upset at the new addition of Sasuke but I didn't realize it would be so divisive. Like I said in the previous chapter, I understand if readers got upset since they might not have expected this but that does not mean you can go around bashing the characters, the author and other ships. This is my story so the characters I write will be according to what I want them to be in the story. I read the reviews and I know that people can be harsh with their comments but I don't let that affect me because I will do what I want just like you will do what you want. I can't stop you from reading this fic and writing comments about it, and you can't stop me from writing this fic the way I want to. If you don't like what I write then you have the freedom to ignore it.

On the other hand I would like to thank all those who took the time to write comments and critiques for this story in a respectful way that did not discourage the writer or other readers. Thank you.

Now on to the new chapter. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

For Naruto, the weekend had been quite a dark one as he had ended up staying in most of the time. Natsumi was at her mother's house for the weekend so there was no one around to keep him busy and this led him to do a lot of thinking.

He thought that talking with Hinata would make the situation better between the two of them. He didn't like how things were awkward between them. Seeing her had brought up emotions that he had buried deep in his heart so that he could focus on his daughter and his responsibilities, but after actually talking to Hinata he was starting to question himself and his actions. Had he made the right choice? Did he really hurt her that much? Had he unnecessarily caused pain to the both of them? He thought that this was what was best for her, but was it really? She was obviously hurt by his decision, but he still wasn't sure about the magnitude of her pain.

Throughout the entire weekend, more than once, Naruto questioned that if he could go back, would he make a different decision? Even if he kept thinking about the past, he couldn't change it now. That was one thing Naruto regretted because he could not stop thinking about an alternative where he and Hinata had never been separated. That could never happen now. There was only one thing he could do, and that was that he could try to make things better between him and Hinata. He wanted to make amends.

Natsumi had also noticed how her father was behaving this weekend. When Naruto picked her up on Sunday, his mood didn't seem as bad as it had been in the beginning of the weekend, but there was this new determination that made him seem quite pensive whenever he was lost in thought. Natsumi didn't know what was going on with her father. His forced smile and efforts to pretend that he was okay didn't make her feel any better. She knew something wasn't right and she couldn't figure out what it was.

When Monday came Naruto started the new week with a new goal in mind to try and make amends for his mistake in his past. He had to somehow make it up to her if he wanted to at least be on friendly terms with her. Natsumi, on the other hand, started her day with a goal to figure out why her father was acting weird all of sudden. Maybe she could find out what her teacher and her father spoke about last week that affected him this much.

"Ms. Hinata, how was your weekend?" Natsumi asked as she sat in front of Hinata who was at her desk. School had ended and Natsumi was waiting for her dad in her classroom like she usually did. Hinata was reluctant to let her stay there just because she wasn't sure if she wanted to see Naruto herself, but decided against it. It would be unfair for Natsumi to be affected by something that wasn't her fault.

"I suppose it went well," Hinata replied automatically not really paying attention to what she was saying since she was busy grading some assignments. It wasn't until she realized what Natsumi had asked that she began blushing at the memory of her date. Now whenever she thought back to the weekend, she didn't remember how she had felt in the beginning when she was depressed over Naruto's conversation last week. She only thought about the blind date she had been on, and it alwaays caused her to feel a mix of emotions that she couldn't distinguish.

"Oh," was all that Natsumi said. She had thought that maybe her teacher's weekend would've been as bad as her father's since his mood changed after talking to Hinata. "I think something happened to my dad over the weekend," she said with concern as she stared at the desk in front of her.

Hinata's heart constricted slightly at the mention of Naruto, but her concern for him won over any anxiety or impulse to avoid the topic. "What happened to Naruto?" she asked immediately without much thought except for Naruto's well being. Seeing him after his accident had caused Hinata to be more vulnerable to his health and well being. Sure she was angry at him for causing her so much heartache, but she still did care for him.

"I-it wasn't something serious, I think." Natsumi raised her eyebrows at the serious look of concern on Hinata's face. She was surprised to see Hinata worried over her father, and the way she said his name with so much familiarity like she knew him as more than just Natsumi's father.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked as she scrunched her eyebrows in concern.

"He was probably sick, haha," Natsumi laughed nervously when she realized how seriously her teacher had taken her words. Her father was only acting weird but he was still perfectly fine, physically at least. Hinata just looking at Natusmi in confusion but ended up shrugging as she went back to her work with a small sigh of relief at knowing that it wasn't something serious.

"Uh, hello," Naruto said nervously as he walked into the classroom.

Natsumi looked at her father who was acting weirdly now.

"I'm here to pick up Natsumi," he said to Hinata as if she didn't already know.

Hinata tilted her head at the obvious awkwardness in Naruto's behavior but didn't comment on it. She could understand why Naruto was acting like that because of the conversation they had last week. She hadn't outright said it, but Naruto probably figured how much his actions had affected her after all this time thinking that he was doing it for the best.

"Dad, what's for dinner?" Natsumi asked as she packed her backpack.

"Shoot! I didn't buy the groceries." Naruto smacked his forehead as he realized how distracted he was over the weekend that he forgot to get more groceries. There probably wasn't anything left to cook at his apartment. "I guess we'll go to Ichiraku tonight."

"Really?" Natsumi's eyes widened before she turned. "Ms. Hinata, you said you would come with us the next time we went to Ichiraku." She looked at her teacher hopefully remembering what she had said last week.

"What?" Hinata said while staring blankly at Natsumi.

"Remeber you said 'maybe another time' when you couldn't come to Ichiraku with us last week." Natsumi kept pushing for Hinata to come because this was one way she could see how her father and her teacher interacted with each other outside of school. She was convinced that there was something between them, and she wanted to figure it out.

"Oh, I-I'm not sure if your fathe-"

"I don't mind... You should come...If you want to," Naruto finally spoke after Natsumi begged Hinata to come with them. He had felt awkward last week when Natusmi had brought it up, but this time it seemed like the best idea to try to amend the distance and the strain between the two of them. He wanted things to be normal.

Hinata stared at Naruto with wide eyes as she tried to think of why he would be asking her to come. She thought that he would be avoiding her like always and she was alright with that because she wanted nothing but to get over him. Now he wanted her to come with him and his daughter for dinner. She could see in his eyes how he was trying to plead with her to come.

"Natsumi, why don't you wait outside for me," Naruto told his daughter without taking his eyes off of Hinata.

"Ok," she replied after a few seconds of staring at the both of them in curiosity.

"I... I know I've messed up a lot in the past...and you didn't deserve the pain I caused you. I was stupid thinking that it was for the best without realizing the consequences of my decision...Hinata...I'm not asking you to forgive me just yet because I know I don't deserve it. But, please give me a chance to at least make it up to you." Naruto looked towards Hinata as she stood there silently without giving much away in her expression. He was nervous and his heart was beating abnormally fast because he desperately wanted this.

Hinata's own heart was beating rapidly but she controlled herself from letting her facade fade in front of Naruto. She tried to bring up the hate she felt for this man whenever she thought about the pain he caused her. How dare he try to fix things like it was not a big deal. He broke her heart and there was a part of her that wanted him to suffer for doing so. But looking at him now made it hard for her to bring up all those negative feelings because there was still a part of her that missed his touches and his kisses; it was a part that wanted to just forgive him and run back into his arms. She knew he didn't deserve her forgiveness, not so easily at least. No matter how kind natured she was, she knew she couldn't forgive and forget that easily.

"Please Hinata," Naruto whispered loud enough for her to hear as he begged after she didn't say anything for a while.

"Okay," she whispered back.

Hinata didn't want to forgive him easily because it would just mean that all the pain he caused her didn't mean anything, but she didn't also want to push him away. She wanted to give him a chance especially after meeting him after four years and almost losing him all over again in the accident. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt for inadvertently making a decision that broke her heart because she didn't want to end up looking back with regrets and what ifs in her mind. If this really was never meant to be then the only way to find out was to try, why else would fate bring them together like this after all those years.

I know it seems too easy for Hinata to accept Naruto's effort to patch things up, but don't expect her to just let Naruto waltz his way back into her life. Even though he knew he hurt her, I'm going to make it so that he can finally understand how much he affected her. Naruto has a character flaw where he is too selfless, and sometimes thinks he is doing something for the best without realizing how much it would affect someone. You'll see that in the future chapters.

Also, her doing this does not mean that she will stop trying to move on from Naruto.