Blossom

Chapter One: Nice To Meet You

Record scratch.

She was tapped on her shoulder suddenly, making her take off her headphones to see who the culprit was. A shy smile and brown eyes greeted her, an apology on their lips but Hinata couldn't hear. She didn't want to hear. They asked her a question, or did they tell her something? From the look in their eyes, it was the former.

"Sorry?" She mumbled, pressing pause on her music, she realized how annoyingly loud she had it but she didn't quite care.

"I think it's your turn." They motioned to the paper in her hands and the number flashing on the screen in bright red.

Now serving client 13 in office 2.

"Ah, thank you." Hinata gave them a tight smile, grabbing her bag and leaving immediately. That smile left her face as soon as her back was turned.

The office was nice and clean — like it usually was. The odd placement of the bookshelf and a standing lamp hidden behind the door for some reason made her feel just as welcomed as a cat in a house of dogs. Placing her bag on the seat beside her, she pushed her hands into her sweater pockets and put her headphones back on.

Ditto had been on loop for ten minutes straight, and no one has ever thought to point it out because she looked miserable. She wouldn't care if they did, but she hated when someone pointed out her lack of care.

Stay in the middle—

"I see you finally decided to come to your appointment." A blond woman sat across from her, fixing her shirt around her rather huge bosoms before smiling.

Flicking her headphones off once again, feeling very annoyed that she's done it more times than she would have liked, Hinata sighed. "I've been busy."

"With?" She clipped on her discarded name tag. Tsunade Senju — an extremely qualified doctor who took no one's bullshit, especially Hinata's.

"Stuff." She mumbled, digging her nails into her skin out of pure boredom. "It's none of your concern."

"It is my concern seeing as you want to go ahead and become a surrogate. You passed your psychological evaluation, which isn't surprising since you've been to therapy—"

"Do you have good news or bad news?" Hinata sat up straight, wanting to leave but she couldn't. Not yet.

"Are you in a rush to get out of my office?" Tsunade raised her eyebrow, pulling out a file from her desk. "I just wanted to check on you before I tell you how things are going. We found a couple who would like to meet you. If things go well—"

"We've been through this countless times, Tsunade." She frowned.

"I know that you're well aware of the protocols, but, you've always been...not the best to handle for some of these people."

"They don't like how—"

"Yes, I know. Your eyes, they always think you're blind."

"A little ableist, don't you think? They don't want me because my eyes are too pale, or I look sick and weak, or some other made up reason." She scoffed.

"You're angry."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Hinata closed her eyes, clenching her hands and then spoke in a calmer manner. "Do these ones know at least? So I don't have to go through the whole explanation thing again."

"They've seen a picture of you, yes. They don't mind at all." She reassured, "and I know one of the clients personally."

"Is this a favour you're doing?" She was skeptical, she stopped receiving appointments once they realized she wouldn't show up to them to be ridiculed by their clients. For Tsunade to reach out personally, and demand that she show up to her office so early in the morning, she figured as much.