I'm very very sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out. Please forgive me :(

As always thank you to all those who left a comment and reviewed.

Here's the new chapter. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

"You know Natsumi has been doing really well in her class recently." Hinata stood around her desk as she organized her belongings on it while Naruto leaned against one of the desks for the students as he listened to her.

"Really? I always thought she was a slacker like me," he laughed nervously.

"Well...she still goofs off in class sometimes," Hinata smiled, "but when it's something that interests her then she goes all in. You were like that too in class." Hinata looked at Naruto pointedly.

"Huh?" Naruto gave her a confused look.

"Do you remember the last assignment for our writing class freshmen year?" Naruto still didn't change his expression so Hinata went on. "It was a research paper and we could choose our own topic...and you chose..."

"Ramen. Of course I remember that! I got the best grade on that assignment! I know I would've failed that class if it wasn't for that." Naruto chuckled. "I still have that paper though."

"No way..." Hinata said through her own laughter.

"I do! It's the best grade I've gotten for writing so I wanted to keep it." Naruto shrugged while Hinata kept laughing.

It was the end of the week and Naruto and Hinata were catching up as they waited for Natsumi in her classroom. The little girl had begged her father to let her play with her classmate Haru for a little while who was still waiting to be picked up in the office. Naruto had been reluctant because, knowing Natsumi's feelings for Haru, he didn't like the idea of his daughter getting involved with a boy at such a young age. He was about to go and interrogate this Haru kid when Hinata reassured him that they would be okay. She had seen how Natsumi interacted with Haru in class and she had told Naruto that it was just a harmless crush. They were barely nine years old so they wouldn't get involved in the way Naruto was implying, but he was just being overprotective.

As he waited for his daughter, Naruto decided to strike up a conversation with Hinata. It was awkward between the two when it was just the two of them. Natsumi was like a buffer but now that she wasn't there, it hurt Naruto a bit to realize that they still weren't comfortable to interact on their own with one another. But that was something Naruto knew he had to work towards since he was the one who had caused it. So he began talking. It started off as small talk but they spoke more and more as the conversation continued. Naruto wasn't expecting them to be comfortable like how they used to be but it was nice to be able to talk about the time they shared together little by little, even if they never directly talked about their relationship. Just talking to Hinata about some of the memories was enough for Naruto.

"You know, for the past couple of weeks I've been meaning to ask you something." Naruto spoke seriously after their laughter had died down. He finally felt confident enough to ask her directly.

"What is it?" Hinata spoke softly as she mirrored his expression.

"How did you end up here?" Hinata didn't reply only because she didn't know what he was addressing to. The city? Her job? "How did you become a teacher?"

"Oh, that's simple. I just had to take some courses and get certifi-"

"No, I mean why did you become a teacher? You never said anything about becoming one when we were in college."

It was strange how Hinata had never been asked that before. It was true that she hadn't planned on becoming a teacher but things took an unexpected turn that she had ended up here. She guessed that since no one ever asked her this question she never knew how uncomfortable she was answering it. Naruto knew her from before she decided to work in this career, which made her even more reluctant to answer him. She didn't want someone to think that she was unable to reach her original goal so she settled into this. It was certainly that way at first but she really enjoyed her work now and she didn't want to go back.

"That's probably a story for another time." Hinata smiled at Naruto, feeling relieved as she saw Natsumi walk back into the classroom.

Naruto realized that his daughter was back and dropped the subject there, but he was still very eager to find out what had happened. There was a part of him that dreaded the possibility that maybe he was the reason why she decided to give up what she had been pursuing before he broke up with her.

"Let's go dad, I'm hungry! Bye Ms. Hinata!" Natsumi grabbed her backpack and then her dad before exiting the classroom with an energetic wave to Hinata.

Naruto gave small goodbye of his own to Hinata, wishing her a good weekend, before heading out after his daughter.

Speaking of the weekend Hinata's date was on this Saturday. She had almost a week to think about it but even now she didn't have a plan on what they would be doing on that day. This was bad.

She had asked Tenten for advice and she had responded, "Well why don't you do a normal, simple date, something you would like. He always does something fancy and overboard. He's used to that kind of stuff." Tenten rolled her eyes. "Why don't you throw him off his guard and make it a simple date, something where he can't control everything."

That made sense. Hinata knew that if Sasuke had to decide on the date then they would have done something similar to their first date. Being from such a family as his, it wasn't a surprise to see what kind of things he was used to, but to Hinata that didn't matter. What mattered to her was knowing the kind of person Sasuke was.

After the dinner last week with Naruto and Natsumi, Hinata decided that a simple date was the way to go. Even though her first date with Sasuke had been in a really nice place, it was not something Hinata liked doing all the time.

On the other hand, thinking about Naruto made Hinata realize that he was indeed trying to be on better terms with her and make up for the past. He was more open with her and they spoke often, usually when he came to pick up Natsumi. Even with so much interaction, Hinata knew that they were still dealing with each other on a formal level. It was mostly small talks or Natsumi that made them interact with each other so it still felt that they hadn't bridged the gap yet but it was slowly getting there.

For Hinata, the challenge was to realize just how much she would allow Naruto to be in her life. So far she was comfortable with how things were between the two, but if it stayed this way then they would never be able to interact as anything more than someone they used to know. It was probably the little girl's presence that allowed them to be more casual with each other.

"Sasuke, where are you going?" Sasuke got off the bar stool he had occupied while he sat with his friend and paid on the counter before turning to head out. "Done already? It's still pretty early." The speaker stopped him from leaving by placing her hand on his forearm when he placed the bills.

"Sakura, are you keeping tabs on me?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the pink haired bartender that stood on the other side of the bar.

He had seen her here often since this was the one place he frequented with his friends whenever he needed a drink, and if he had to be honest, he had picked up quite a lot of one-night stands from this place, including the bartender. It was just something about this place that always attracted some of the hottest girls in the city. But now it seemed that Sakura was getting more and more confident in testing her boundaries with Sasuke. She was the only one who was a little more than a one-night stand but that was only because he always saw her here and she was always persistent at approaching him. Now it was kind of getting annoying. For the past several times she had approached him she wasn't getting the hint that he wasn't interested and tonight Sasuke knew that she was probably hoping he would get drunk enough to accept her offer.

"You're so funny Sasuke." She waved her hand at him. "I was just saying since you always stay way past midnight on Fridays, but right now it's barely even eleven."

"Well, I have to be somewhere tomorrow so I can't afford to waste time today getting drunk. Don't want to have a hangover for my date." Sasuke smirked at her shocked expression and moved his arm away from her grip. He nodded at his friend to say goodbye and then left the bar to head to his apartment.

It was annoying that he didn't get to spend his weekends like he used to since he decided to take this dating thing seriously. He knew he was young but it was getting boring how things were going on his life. This combined with a newfound interest his parents had suddenly taken in his love-life told him that he better straighten up or else his parents were more than happy to set him up.

Sasuke wasn't interested in something serious where he would have to propose to someone in the end, but he was tired of the constant hookups and breakups. He wanted to have a normal experience in something for once. He wanted to to find someone, date them, and whatever else people normally did. He just wanted something different than what he was used to.

He wasn't sure this different thing he was looking for was something that he actually wanted, but for now he knew he was looking forward to it. Sasuke didn't know whether it was because it was a whole new experience for him or was it because of Hinata. He didn't care about that right now and just decided to enjoy it for what it was.

The next day Sasuke received a text from Hinata telling him to meet her at a specific address. He obliged, driving to the location she told him about and waited inside the car. It was pretty early, almost 10. Well, it was early for Sasuke on a weekend. It was also pretty chilly since winter was approaching.

Sasuke couldn't help but curse at Hinata in his head for deciding to do this so early and making him wait out here in the cold, but in reality he was eager to find out what she had in store for him. It was different being on the receiving end of this for the first time. All he had to do was just relax and enjoy while Hinata did all the planning.

"Sorry for making you wait." Hinata opened the passenger door and sat inside the car trying to warm herself.

"Why this early?" Sasuke asked without caring for any pleasantries and greetings.

"I thought we could have breakfast together." Hinata shrugged.

Sasuke observed her for a few seconds before starting his car. "Whatever. Just tell me where we're going for breakfast."

"IHOP." Sasuke rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to groan. Sure he wanted something normal, but is this what people did, or was this girl just weird? Who goes to IHOP for a date.

Sasuke took a quick glance at Hinata's direction who was too preoccupied with whatever was outside her window. Even though he didn't know her that well, Sasuke thought that she was acting weird. Was she deliberately trying to make this date like this. Maybe she was doing this to scare him away or something. He remembered Tenten had said something about that but Sasuke was stubborn and he wasn't fickle either. He would see what she did today to see what her game really was.

Hinata knew it was a bad idea the minute it came out of her mouth but now she couldn't take it back. The truth was that she still didn't know what they would do today since she didn't have anything planned out. So technically she was winging it. There was one thing she really wanted which was to get to know Sasuke more and that was why she had asked him to come this early. She thought that it would be nice to spend almost the whole day together. This way she would get to talk to him more and find out about him from himself.

That was all great but looking at Sasuke's annoyed expression now, she knew that suggesting IHOP wasn't really the best idea. Like who goes there for a date? Especially with Sasuke Uchiha who has probably never stepped in an IHOP in his entire life, until now. Why would he need to go to a cheap alternative for breakfast when he could afford to eat his pancakes at any five star restaurant in the city. Well hopefully he'll enjoy some seasonal specials there, Hinata thought.

As they pulled into the parking lot, Hinata gathered her things while Sasuke looked for his beanie after parking his car. The both of them were dressed in casual clothes, although Sasuke's casual was still more fancy than Hinata's, but the point was that he would blend in with the crowd. He still wore a beanie just incase somebody would recognize him from his spiky black hair. What a hilarious headline it would be that 'Uchiha stock dropping so low that the prodigal younger son eats out of a measly IHOP.'

Sasuke snorted realizing how ridiculous he looked walking into this place. If people knew who he was as soon as he walked into the place, he was sure they would immediately become suspicious. He would too if he didn't know that this was Hinata's suggestion and he was just trying to be a gentleman to his date.

"Sasuke, we can go somewhere else," Hinata suggested after she saw him wipe his side of the table for the third time with a napkin.

It was way too sticky for him and he was sure they didn't do a good job at cleaning it before they sat them down.

"No, this is fine. This is absolutely fine," Sasuke said as he wiped one more time.

Even though they hadn't spoken much since they got their, but just from looking at Sasuke, Hinata was able to see some parts of him. She figured that he wasn't used to places like these since his family probably always roamed in a high class society. She also found out that he was very stubborn. No matter how cringeworthy this place was to him, Sasuke did not let his resolve drop. It was as if going to IHOP was a challenge he had to win.

Hinata smiled inwardly as she decided what they should do for the rest of the day. She remembered what Tenten had suggested to her about doing something that she would like, but thinking about it now and knowing how Sasuke usually was, she wanted to take him out of his comfort zone and just spend the day with him in the most boringly normal way. Tenten had told her how Sasuke was and how he would usually spend his days so this would be a complete opposite of that, but since it would just be the two of them without any extravagant distractions, hopefully along the way she would find out more about him.

Any suggestions for their date? What do you think about the way it's going so far?