In the Hokage's Office | NaruSasu

23. New Life

Hinata was getting used to her single life. She felt like a widow at times, since she never really saw her ex husband and her marriage ended rather abruptly. She wanted to find him and ask him how he was doing. But she knew that would be a bad idea considering how awkward that conversation would be and the fact that he wasn't hers (and never was) needed to sink in. She couldn't just show up and ask how he was doing because he shouldn't be her problem.

Kiba and Shino asked how she was doing and she could tell they were trying not to push her to say anything which she appreciated. She didn't really like to talk about the fact that she was basically dumped. She already got enough questions from the villagers which she ignored. The Hyuga's at their estate were no better, in fact they were worse than the villagers who had no tact and would frequently ask more straightforward questions thinking they were entitled to the information. At least she could count on her old teammates to be more considerate of her feelings.

Neji was angry as hell at Naruto, but Hinata told him not to do or say anything which he begrudgingly agreed to. If she didn't want him to do anything he wouldn't, but it wasn't like he'd still be buddies with Naruto after what he did to Hinata. Neji and Tenten got engaged, but it wasn't made a big deal of. It was right before news broke out of Hinata and Naruto's divorce, so they didn't want to make a big deal of them getting married right after news like that. Neji was surprised that his proposal was even approved, but seeing as Hanabi was the head of the clan he shouldn't have been. Things were different for the Hyugas than they were before.

Hinata was a single mom, and although she was now officially a single mom, it wasn't that different than what she was doing before. In fact Naruto saw Boruto more often to her surprise it was probably because he was feeling guilty about all the missed time. Naruto and Hinata's interactions were strictly about Boruto. They didn't talk about anything else. In a way it made things easier but also made her feel lonely at the same time.

She was definitely not ready for a relationship and she didn't think she ever would be so she focused on taking care of her son. Also focused on eating healthy and avoiding alcohol no matter how much she wanted it since she was pregnant. With the way she was feeling she would love alcohol but she wasn't about to add being an irresponsible mother to her list of failures.

Boruto was a handful, but she could handle him well enough. She wondered how it would be with two kids. She found herself both worried and excited at the future of having two kids to raise. She was sure that this new baby would be adorable.

*
Sasuke and Naruto spent way more time together. Sasuke loved being in Naruto's office, and he looked at confidential documents about the village. Sasuke didn't miss conflict. It was somewhat refreshing not having to worry about anything. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Even though there was nothing off. Even during his travels there was nothing that could be a threat to Konoha. At least not a threat that he or Naruto couldn't solve alone. So there was nothing to worry about. It's just his shinobi upbringing probably. Or the fact that he always had to fight something was getting to him now that there was really no threat anymore.

Sasuke has waited a long time to actually 'go public' with his relationship with Naruto, and now that this mentally agreed amount of time in his head was approaching he was getting uneasy. It's been a while, and gossiping about Naruto has settled down a lot. They moved on to something else.

Naruto had told Sasuke a while ago that Hinata was pregnant —to his displeasure. Naruto did not need another kid to worry about. Sasuke didn't need another reason for Naruto to go away. But there was nothing he could do about it so he wouldn't remain bitter, also Naruto seemed pretty remorseful about not telling him sooner. So Sasuke took advantage and added a new houseplant to the house despite Naruto's threat to throw away his tomatoes if he did. Sasuke ended up kind of regretting it but he wasn't going to say that ever.

The two did find it cute to talk about Boruto and Sarada. Naruto spoke more about his son than Sasuke did about his daughter. Sasuke was proud of her, she was smart for her age and looked like him way more than she looked like her mother. He didn't get to see her often because Sakura frequently left her with her parents. When Sasuke did see Sarada, it was mainly when she was with her mother. Sakura would frequently glare at Sasuke with pure hatred, which Sasuke ignored and pretended like she didn't exist.

"...So then he asks me about—" Naruto's story was simply cut off and he stopped speaking. Sasuke went on alert what was going on?

Naruto looked shocked for a second then he became serious which was a striking contrast from what he said .

"Hey what's wrong?"

"...uh it's Ino, she contacted me and said that Hinata's pregnant, she's with Sakura in the hospital right now." Naruto started to get up, and put on clothes to go out. Sasuke stood around wondering if he should go, if it was even his place to go. He was a home wrecker basically. Also Sakura would be there and Sasuke in the back of his mind didn't want Sakura to like kill Naruto's baby out of anger for seeing him. He already knew how she felt about him. Don't need that murderous intent anywhere near a newborn child.

Sasuke didn't ask, and Naruto didn't specifically tell him to come. Sasuke stayed home alone with his thoughts (and tomatoes). Sasuke knew it was irrational but he couldn't deny that he was worried that Naruto would see his adorable baby and want to go back to his wife. Of course the rational and logical part of his brain knew Naruto wouldn't do that he literally said he wanted to marry Sasuke just a few days ago, and he even went as far as to divorce Hinata even when Sasuke thought that was the last thing Naruto would do. Then again there was something about Naruto that made him act rather illogically. There was no way a baby with Naruto's genes (and Hinata's) could be anything less than absolutely adorable. Sasuke was thinking about the minuscule possibility, that Naruto would want his old family back.

The more he thought about it the worse his anxiety got. He went to the store, he bought groceries for days. He walked around town, he thought about seeing Sarada but he would not take the chance. She was at Sakura's mother's house, and Sakura's parents hated Sasuke even before they were divorced. Her mother would not let Sasuke see Sarada. He went back home which was empty without Naruto there. Naruto was gone for hours. Of course childbirth takes hours but did he actually have to be there the whole time? What was he going to do? They weren't married anymore and it's not like he was a doctor. He definitely must have felt obligated to be there because the baby was his.

Sasuke drifted to sleep and heard the unlocking of a door, Naruto was home. Sasuke had shot up and turned in that direction. Naruto had a grim look on his face. What happened?

"Naruto? Are you alright?"

"...The baby, it's a girl...but she something was wrong I think and they didn't tell me what was wrong and Sakura sent me away. Hinata was in a lot of pain and she named her Himawari. I didn't even get to hold her before they took her away. I don't know what's wrong or if she'll make it." Sasuke noticed that Naruto looked stressed out and tired. Sasuke suddenly felt super selfish and didn't know how to console Naruto's worries. Here he was worrying about Naruto falling in love with his kid and Hinata all over again enough to leave him, and Naruto was worried about if his newborn child was going to die.

"I'm sure it will be okay. She'll be fine. Sakura can heal her or something. I hate her but even I can't deny she's a good med nin, I am sure they'll figure it out." Sasuke decided to use reasoning instead of simply nice words to help Naruto. Naruto smiled but it wasn't backed by any sort of real happiness.

"Yeah...she'll be fine." Naruto said, but he was unsure of it himself.

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*High key boring I'm sorryyy I had writers block. Lots of exposition and I think I do that a lot -_-

*It's been 9 months in this fanfic since the chapter Replacement because Himawari is born now but it feels longer in my head.*

Thanks for reading!