Chapter Text
Hinata
"Himari, you have to slow down—you're going to fall down," Hinata gasped out as she carried the heavy box in her arms.
She had seen the little girl, a blur of dark hair and pink flower petals falling off out of her head, run right past her up the stairs.
"Don't worry, Mama," Himari chirped, arms wrapped around a box far too big for her little arms. "I'm being super extra careful."
Hinata heard the rattle of dishes coming from the box that Himari was carrying as she turned the corner of the building. Hinata had warned her to take a smaller box, but her daughter wanted nothing more than to prove she could do things on her own.
Hinata had reached the top of the stairs; that's when she heard the loud crash and a man asking a question and the sound of Himari groaning in pain.
"Himari!" Hinata gasped, dropping the box and rushing forward, a panic tightening in her chest.
Himari was on the ground; the box had burst open, and broken dishes were scattered all over the floor. A man standing outside his door was grabbing Himari's arm and pulling at it.
"I'm ok," Hinata hears Himari groan out as the man helps her stand on her two feet. "I'm sorry, Mama, I broke the dishes."
Hinata doesn't give the mess a second glance as she drops to her knees in front of Himari and grabs the small girl by the shoulders. She slides her hands over Himari's arms and over her head, checking for any cuts or bumps.
She pulls Himari into a tight hug and can feel Himari start to struggle in her arms. Hinata is mad, but she doesn't want to shout; scolding Himari won't do anything about the broken dishes. Her daughter is fine, so the next thing Hinata thought of to do was hug her daughter tightly.
"I said I was sorry," Himari said, her voice muffled by Hinata's arms. "You're hugging too tight, Mama."
"I'm very upset, Himari," Hinata says and hugs her daughter closer.
"And I don't like your angry hugs," she shrieked, finally slipping out of her hold.
Hinata stands with a sigh and looks at the broken dishes and notices the man that Himari had bumped into. He's tall, his black hair is messy like he had just woken up, and even his shirt was rumpled like he had just rolled out of bed.
"I'm very sorry about this," Hinata says with a bow of her head.
"It's alright," he mumbles out and glances at the broken dishes on the ground. "As long as the kid is alright."
"I'm ok," Himari says cheerfully. "I think I might have broken a rib or two from Mama hugging me too tight." She adds afterwards, gripping her side and letting out a fake groan of pain.
Hinata gives a stern stare at Himari, who only laughs. When she glances back at the man, he's looking at Himari and trying hard to fight a smirk that pushes at the corners of his lips.
"Himari, apologize," Hinata says sternly.
"I'm sorry, mister, for running into you." Himari's apology rolled out in a rush and a quick bow of her head.
The man doesn't look upset; he seems relaxed as he leans against his doorframe, his black eyes staring right at Hinata. It gives her a shiver down her spine; he doesn't look angry, but why do his eyes look so intense?
"It's fine," he states simply, his voice low. "I'm pretty strong, so it didn't hurt."
He moves forward and closes the door behind him. Moving over to the spilled box, he flips the box over and starts to gather the broken pieces, placing them back in the box.
"Oh no, please, I'll take care of it." Hinata panics and kneels down close to help pick the pieces up.
He ignores Hinata, his face still the same serious expression, but his fingers gently pick the broken pieces and place them one by one in the box.
"Are you stronger than my papa?" Himari asks, leaning close to the man.
Hinata flinches at the mention of Himari's father; she had been trying to pick up a shard of broken dish and had pricked the tip of her finger.
She stares as a drop of blood forms, and her hand is suddenly yanked by a larger, warmer hand. The man pulls her hand towards him and glances at the drop of blood; he doesn't pause as he answers Himari's question.
"Don't know. Haven't met him." His voice was flat, uninterested. Then his gaze flicked down. "You should be more careful."
She blushes and yanks her hand from the man's grip and clutches her bleeding finger to her chest. Hinata can feel the burning in her cheeks as the blush spreads, burning to the tip of her ears.
"His name is Uzumaki Naruto! He works at the big kid school." Himari proudly states with her hands on her waist.
"She means the university." Hinata quickly explains.
"That's what I said," Himari protests, pouting. "He works as a teacher at the big school for big kids." Himari gleams proudly.
Himari must have gotten her confidence from her father because Hinata can barely function talking to any stranger, even at her age.
"Hn," he grabbed the last piece and put it away in the box. "I think I've heard of him." He said, grabbing the box and standing up.
"You have?" Himari shouts, jumping up and down.
He nods, and Hinata stands as he offers the box to her. She takes it into her arms and tries to ignore the feeling of his hands brushing hers as the box passes between them.
"He's loud." His voice was flat, dismissive
Himari grumbles out a protest as she crosses her arms. Something about how her papa isn't loud and is the smartest and funniest person she knows.
"Do you work at the university?" Hinata asked.
"No, I'm a student."
Hinata blinked. He looked young, yes—but a student? For a moment she felt the years between them stretch wider than she expected.
"O-oh, well, thank you again for the help." She stuttered out.
"Thanks again, mister."
"Sasuke," he says with a shrug and turns to leave.
"My name's Himari; it was nice to meet you." She shouts happily, waving at Sasuke's back.
He doesn't turn to look back at them as he turns at the end of the hall and makes his way down the stairs.
Hinata glances at the door that he had just closed and then at the one that now belongs to her; Hinata's door was right next to the one Sasuke had just walked out of. "I guess he's our new neighbor."
"I like him," Himari says, running over to grab the box that Hinata had dropped earlier. "He feels like a good person."
Hinata struggled at first but was able to unlock the door while Himari twisted the knob and opened it. Stepping in was a strange feeling; this wasn't their home, but it would be for however long they planned on staying here.
"It feels weird here." Himari voiced the thoughts Hinata was thinking.
"It's not that bad; we just have to fill it with our stuff." Hinata slipped off her shoes and made her way through the open kitchen and into their small living room. "I'm sure we can make it feel like home in time."
"But it's not home because Papa isn't here with us."
Hinata didn't need to look at her daughter to hear the broken sound in her voice. Hinata put the box on the table, the clinking of broken glass shifting around.
"I know, sweetheart." Hinata made her way over to her, to Himari, who still stood at the entrance clutching the box in her hands.
"I miss Papa. Why can't we just go back to living with him?" Himari sobbed, her blue eyes shining with tears. "I want to be with Papa."
Hinata didn't know what to say as she wrapped her arms around Himari, feeling her shoulders start to shake as her cries got louder. Hinata knew how hard it was for Himari to understand that her father and mother weren't together anymore.
She couldn't explain to Himari that her father had outright told Hinata he didn't love her anymore. That she was being kicked out of a house she had lived in with a man she loved for 12 years and had raised Himari in—it wasn't her home anymore.
Hinata couldn't say any of it, so she hugged her daughter a little tighter as Himari cried on her shoulder, and Hinata swore that she would try her hardest to make this new life better for her daughter and herself.
"How about we order some takeout today?" Hinata asked, rubbing her hand down Himari's back.
"Can it be ramen?" Himari asked with a sniffle.
"Yes, it can be ramen." Hinata smiled; she knew that it was Himari's favorite because it was the one thing she loved sharing with her dad.
✿
The day went by fast, with Hinata spending it trying to unpack the rest of their boxes until their delivery got there.
They ate their food with Himari gushing about school and excited to go back again, and to Hinata's relief, no more tears were shed about the new place.
Himari got a bath, and Hinata pulled out the futon, getting Himari comfy and patting her to sleep. Hinata was starting to drift off as well until a soft bang echoed through the walls, shaking them a little.
It was quiet for a moment until Hinata could hear the soft footsteps coming through the wall, and it dawned on Hinata that it was Sasuke next door. It worried her a little as to how thin the walls were.
A loud ringing filled the room, making Hinata jump; she reached across Himari's sleeping body to her flashing phone. When she brought it close, Hinata felt her grip tighten around the phone when she saw the name flashing on the screen.
'Husband' with a picture of Naruto's bright smiling face holding onto Himari, who was two at the time the photo was taken.
Hinata gets up and slips out of the room as quietly as she can and heads for the sliding glass doors at the back wall of the living room.
As she slides the door open, she presses the green button on the phone and presses it to her ear. "Hello…"
"Hey," Naruto's voice comes through. "Took you a while to answer."
"I was putting Himari to bed."
"Oh." he sounds disappointed. "Was kind of hoping I could say goodnight to her."
She bites at her lip trying not to say what she thinks, 'Maybe you wouldn't have to miss saying goodnight if we still lived together.' That wouldn't have mattered; Hinata remembers the fights they would have had when Naruto missed a lot of important dates.
"What do you need, Naruto?" Hinata tried not to let disdain echo in her voice.
"I wanted to ask if I could pick up Himari from school tomorrow." Naruto says, and he sounds almost bashful.
Hinata looks up when a creak sounds; she looks to her left to see Sasuke slipping out of his apartment and standing on his balcony. He doesn't seem to have noticed Hinata even though the balconies are so close, only a few feet apart from each other.
"Hinata, are you listening?"
"Yes, I'm listening," she murmurs, but she is still eyeing Sasuke, who leans against the railing of his balcony and pulls out a lighter to light the cigarette that dangles from the corner of his mouth.
"So is it ok if I pick up Himari from school tomorrow? I can't keep her since I have work, but I can keep her company until you're done with work."
Pulling her gaze from Sasuke, who takes in a deep breath and blows out a billow of smoke, she turns her body away from him, trying to remember what Naruto said.
"Will you really be there, Naruto?" Hinata asks.
"What are you trying to say, Hinata?" Naruto asks back with a sigh.
She doesn't want to fight, but Hinata doesn't want to disappoint Himari either. This isn't the first time Naruto has said he'll make time for their daughter. Naruto liked making promises only to let them fall through with a flimsy excuse.
Hinata doesn't want to make all the new changes worse by telling Himari that her father will pick her up only to find out that Naruto couldn't make it.
"I just want to be sure that you'll be able to pick her up," Hinata says.
It's quiet on the line for a moment, then another sigh. Hinata can't see Naruto but is sure that he pinches the bridge of his nose. It's something he always did when he would get annoyed.
"Why do you want to fight Hinata?" Naruto says exasperatedly. "If you don't want me to pick Himari up, then just say so."
He always did that, trying to make Hinata feel like she was the one doing something wrong. "I'm not trying to fight. I'm just making sure that our daughter doesn't cry when you don't show up."
"I'm trying, alright? I don't know how much more I need to try. You're the one who took her from me." Naruto's voice is starting to rise.
Hinata pulls the phone from her ear as she stares at it, as if she can reach into the phone and shake some sense into the man.
"I'm already working overtime to give you and Himari a better life, and you have to be ungrateful."
Hinata takes a deep breath and holds it, letting her arm fall to her side; she takes a moment to let the breath out and collect herself. This isn't the first time; what he's saying isn't a surprise.
Naruto was once a good husband, but a few years back it started to get worse. Maybe it was the hours of work and the stress, but sometimes Naruto's words could be cruel.
The way he would talk to Hinata would send her into a panic, making her breathe faster and her heart beat rapidly.
She looks up and sees Sasuke looking at her with those same eyes, those eyes that hold something in them that Hinata can't read. The red embers from his cigarette burn bright, and smoke drifts into swirls above his head as he lets out a breath.
Hinata doesn't think Sasuke is doing it on purpose, but it almost looks like he's breathing with her, and she starts to get her breathing under control.
She picks the phone back up and can still hear Naruto going on his same rant. The one that Hinata has heard many times before. It was the one that always made her feel bad for asking him to take a little time to spend with Himari on her birthday or a night out with Hinata.
"I'm just trying to be a good dad for—"
"You can pick up Himari after school. Her classes end an hour early before I get out of work." She says, interrupting Naruto.
"Hinata," Naruto says, irritated.
"I'll send you the address of our apartment, and I'll leave the key in the mailbox; you can grab it and let yourself in." Hinata can hear her voice; it sounds robotic and strange to her own ears.
She hangs up with no goodbye and glances once more at Sasuke; he hasn't stopped staring at her. Hinata is starting to get tired of this man seeing through her, as though he can see all the cracks Hinata tries hard to cover up.
"Smoking is not good for you," she says. "It will ruin your health."
That's all she says as she slips back into her apartment and slides the glass door closed and locks it.