Second Chapter of the day, once these 4 get posted we go to scheduled releases so enjoy these while they last!
Hinata wonders what it is like to raise a teenage boy and Temari cheers her up.
gunmetal and bow
Stress was building behind her eyes at a rate that was unprecedented lately. She took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Haru had been acting strange the last few days, which was not unusual. The teen was taciturn, moody, and sometimes so withdrawn she worried that she had caused permanent emotional damage during his formative years. She couldn't get the way his eyes had looked at her this morning when she brought up his upcoming birthday and it was making it difficult to focus on work.
Fear had been almost palpable in his stare, and his usually stoic expression had looked almost panicked. His eyes were almost impassive from the moment he was born, and though at first she had difficulty looking at them and maintaining eye contact she made sure to learn how emotions would flicker across them from time to time, squirreling the information away for future use. Her thoughts were interrupted as she tried to balance her pen on the bridge of her nose by someone barging into the office without a single knock.
"Would Haru like a Yebira or a Yazutsu better?" The interloper asked, not pausing for a moment to apologize for their rude entrance.
"Haru doesn't do ceremonial Kyudo, a Yazutsu would be best." She responded, grabbing the pen before it slid off her nose as she straightened to level the blonde with an amused stare.
"Oh, sorry princess, did I interrupt some much needed moping?" Teal eyes pinned her to the chair as a smirk made its way to Temari's lips. "You looked like you were trying to solve world hunger."
She sputtered, words were not forthcoming. Once she managed to collect herself she glared at her friend, ears warmer than she would like them to be.
"How did you know what I looked like?" She asked, attempting to appear indignant and knowing full well that she failed.
"Hina," her friend began. "Your office is a cage of glass." Temari motioned to the glass walls that covered every corner, leaving the office open for anyone to peruse as they walked by. "You forgot to turn on the privacy screens," she added flicking a switch on the wall that turned the glass frosted, impenetrable by peering eyes.
The blush came then, a wave of red starting at her chest and moving up towards her scalp. Hinata covered her face with her hands, muffling a groan. She had indeed forgotten to turn on the privacy screen and had probably roused more than once amused stares in her direction from the staff in the rest of the building during her musings.
"What's wrong?" Temari asked, sitting down on the chair opposed hers and leveled her with a curious stare.
"Haru… didn't seem thrilled about his birthday." Hinata said slowly, as if the words were difficult to bring to life.
"Haru is never thrilled about his birthday." Temari countered, slightly shrugging as she kept her teal eyes fixed on Hinata's gray ones.
"He's 14, shouldn't he be excited for his 15th birthday?" Her pale eyes were apprehensive, and she wrung her hands together.
"Gaara was never excited for his birthdays." Hinata glared daggers at her friend at the offhand remark. "You know Haru, he's…Haru." She finished, nervously looking away.
Hinata whimpered, once again covering her face with her hand, if Temari didn't know any better she would think that her friend was crying.
"Hinata, Haru has never wanted for anything, for as long as he has lived. He's probably just going through puberty."
It was a reasonable explanation. Haru was indeed a teenager, and though Temari knew that Hinata was haunted by the idea of not providing for him as much as she wanted, there was no reason for her to torture herself over a birthday celebration.
"I know, I just…" She sighed, frustrated. Her eyes downcast and her brows furrowed.
"It'll be great, we will all be there, maybe he even invites people from his Kyudo team. Stop stressing over something like that. Instead you should be worried about what to get him." The way she nonchalantly pushed aside the concerns Hinata had over the reticent nature of her son was something that she would always admire.
"Wakyu…" she began softly. "He's gotten taller…"
The grin that flowered across Temari's face was radiant, and she looked at Hinata with unbridled affection.
"You get the Yumi and I will get him the Yazutsu. He'll be the most handsome boy when tournament season begins." The pride in her voice was unmistakable. Temari was Haru's number one supporter, and never missed a single Kyudo match. She put Hanabi's enthusiasm about her nephew to shame.
Hinata laughed, pleased and then sighed. She rubbed her temples with her eyes closed and then turned to look at the sketch in front of her. Lately she felt as though her time was running out, though she was not sure why the feeling lingered.
"What is really bothering you Hina?" Temari asked.
"Do you ever feel…" She looked at Temari, her eyes pleading . "I don't know… almost like… uhm…" she continued, her words trailing off with her confusion. "Like something is going to happen and you just don't know what?"
"Hmmm…" Temari hummed, she cocked her head and examined her friend, wondering if there was something she was not telling her. "There are definitely times where I felt anxious about things, but normally the feeling passes after a few days."
The indigo haired woman sighed again, twirled her pen in her hand and stared somewhere over Temari's shoulder as she tried to put into words the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, generally afraid that she was over-reacting. She had spent 6 years hiding, making sure that no one would find her or Haru, and she was sure that this time spent in hiding, in addition to everything else that she went through, made her unnecessarily sensitive to things that she couldn't put her finger on. She tried, and failed, to talk herself out of this feeling, and was growing more insecure by the day. She looked at Temari, trying to convey to her friend how much this was affecting her, but finding herself unable to put it into words.
"Maybe I have just been working too hard?" She offered meekly as an alternative.
"Or maybe, there is something bothering you but you just can't figure out what." The blonde shrugged, not wanting her friend to feel as though her feelings were not valid, however vague they seemed to be. "Not everything has to have an answer Hina."
"I… I know," she put her pen down, and moved around some of the papers on her desk. "Maybe it's because Haru seemed so withdrawn this morning…"
"Or maybe it's because you are you, and sometimes you can't help how you feel." Temari suddenly snapped her fingers and smiled widely at Hinata. "Maybe going out with Hanabi would make you feel better? Hasn't it been a while since you saw her?"
"I highly doubt Hanabi's… less than calming presence will help me deal with whatever is bothering me." Hinata almost scoffed, but she did roll her eyes, in a gesture that reminded Temari too much of the Uchiha she kept company with.
"Perhaps… however, it will certainly prove a worthy distraction. You can ask her how things are going in Hyuuga Corps, or even gossip! Who knows, maybe that cousin of yours will finally fall off a flight of stairs while not looking!" Temari's wolfish grin only seemed to grow wider as she imagined the unimaginable.
"What would ever cause Neji-nii to fall down the stairs, Tem? Now you are being ridiculous." She frowned, adding a highlight to her sketch, suddenly worried that the scene was too dark.
"Ugh, you are no fun…" Leaning her head back to look at the ceiling she sighed. "Maybe talk to Sai? He seems to get what you mean in ways that I could never fathom, plus, it seems as though you are currently having an artist block?"
Hinata grabbed the sketch she was working on and crumpled it, throwing it into the trash across the room. It bounced off the rim of the trash can and laid sadly right next to it. Biting her lip she tore her eyes away from the discarded piece of paper and leveled her friend with an exasperated look.
"He's away on business, something to do with researching his new book?" It would be a lie if she were to say that she didn't miss her friend, but it would also be a disservice for her to call him back from his research trip to only give him half feelings and nothing of substance.
"Is it the new book then?" Temari asked, finally looking back at her friend. "Sometimes you feel this way when the story isn't going the way that you want it to and you feel lost in regards to the plot."
"I write children's books Tem, not philosophical entries in regards to life, love and pursuit of happiness." The dismissive tone was unlike her.
She was growing frustrated by her lack of words to describe whatever was bothering her. Temari pursed her lips, finding that her friend was growing frustrated, even if she was too polite to say so. She grabbed a kneaded eraser and examined it, the parts where the graphite had dyed it darker, where Hinata had applied too much pressure to erase a line from existence, and with a snort threw it at her friend. It delighted her when Hinata caught it without hesitation.
"How about some Kyudo? You know that Gaara loves it when you visit the Dojo, plus I think Shinki has a crush on you." Smirking she dodged as Hinata threw the eraser back at her.
"He does not!" She gasped. Shinki had been adopted by Gaara about 6 years ago, a young boy with talent that he had come across during a tournament. He learned that he lived in an orphanage and after a year of tutoring the boy, he offered the adoption. Shinki had been hesitant at first, but something about Gaara had drawn him to say yes. "He's Haru's best friend, how could you say something like that?"
"Hina… my love, my friend, my talented, intelligent, beautiful friend…" Temari began, her eyes pleading, looking at Hinata like she had a terminal illness. "You're a milf, of course he has a crush on you!"
Hinata reddened, the color rising to her cheeks instantaneously. Her pale lavender-gray eyes widened to a comical degree as she sputtered, unable to say anything to regain her composure and chastise Temari at the same time. The blonde cackled and stood from her chair, stretching her arms above her head.
"Let's go get lunch, eating might ease whatever you are feeling." She said checking her watch and smiling at her still red friend. "I could ask Gaara if he's free? Besides, fresh air ought to be good for your writing, I know you have a deadline to think about but you're literally not accomplishing anything, I would gander that you're really just… regressing at this point."
She couldn't argue with that, she had spent half her morning wondering about the feeling in her stomach, the second half she had spent trying to decipher her taciturn son. She leaned her elbows against the desk and rubbed her face, a small groan leaving her lips before standing. She now realized how stiff her body was, and cracking her knuckles to loosen the joints she grabbed her purse.
"Fine," she relented. "But only because I have not eaten yet, not because I agree with you." She sniffed indignantly. Trying and failing to sound annoyed.
"Come on Hina." Temari drawled. "Your Hanabi impressions are never going to cut it." Smirking she grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. "Let's go before you change your mind, and while you are at it, tell me about this new book."
Hinata couldn't hide the smile that tugged at her lips, but as she followed the blonde out her office she couldn't shake the feeling that things were going to change in a way that she could not predict, in a way that she was not ready for.
I promise answers are coming and that things will make sense with time!
Kind words are always appreciated 3
