Blossom

Chapter Twenty One: Happiness

"Do you have everything you need, Sarada?" Hinata strapped Haruna into her car seat and closed the door as she approached the young girl.

Staring at a list of small scribbles in her hand, Sarada tapped her chin in deep contemplation as she gave Hinata a thumbs up. "I think so."

"Let me have a look." She held her hand out for the sheet of paper. Her eyes scanned the contents carefully as she hummed and escorted her adoptive daughter to the car. "This is great."

"Mommy can't make it."

"I know, she's in Costa Rica for a medical mission, I'm sure she'd call us or something." Hinata reassured the younger girl as they pulled out of the driveway.

They had about an hour to get the house completely ready. She had picked up Sarada straight from school and brought her home to get her little list since the young Uchiha complained about not remembering anything on the sheet of paper.

"I hope daddy likes it." She mumbled as she watched the houses turn into trees and then the big city buildings.

They were on their way to multiple shops to collect the things they would need to organize the perfect birthday celebration for Sasuke. Sarada had informed her that they would usually go out to eat on his birthday but she wanted to do something at home. All day, Hinata had been cooking and getting things ready beside the decoration and buying the cake — Sarada wanted to do those.

"I think he'd like it very much."

Besides, it was another chance for her to reaffirm her seriousness with the Uchiha. True to their words the last time they had a very serious heart to heart conversation, they've moved on from the nanny-father dynamic to one that was comfortable for the both of them. Perhaps they were beginning to be good friends, which was a great foundation for the future. They didn't let anything else dictate that and they wouldn't mind at all if it remained that way.

Except sometimes Hinata couldn't ignore that dull ache of wanting in her stomach whenever she saw Sasuke with Haruna.

Since she had lost Rei, she wondered what life would have been like to have someone there to support her if she ever had a child, and Sasuke was proving to be very reliable — that was to be expected, Haruna was a part of him as well. It was rather comical to her that they had once had a conversation about her having another child and trusting someone else to help her and it was happening right in front of her eyes.

Hinata had continuously brushed it off though, reminding herself that those feelings were nothing but adoration for the man who really loved his family. No doubt he didn't feel the same about her.
Their conversations were lax, and they did spend a lot more time together without the children but there were moments where she thought that he was only doing so because of his promise to his ex wife.

Sakura did back off completely and stopped trying to force them to like each other, but she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. They rarely talked about his past relationship, and would slip into conversations where they would relish in the memories of the children. Hinata thought of those to be just Sasuke finding solace in the fact that he no longer had to carry such a heavy load on his own.

As long as he felt that way, then she would be perfectly fine with their arrangement.

"We'll go in, get everything we need, and get out immediately so we don't get stuck in the middle of rush hour. Is that a deal?" She stopped the car quickly and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Yes!" Sarada followed suit and unbuckled Haruna as well so they can move faster. "Daddy shouldn't get home until six, right?"

"Right." Opting to leave the car seat in the car since Haruna could sit up straight now without much support; Hinata grabbed a trolley on the way inside. They made a beeline for the party section. "Which means..."