Chapter Twenty-One

Tw: Mention of Su*cide

"It's his birthday, we have to go." Ino said, "I have to bring him a present from my Dad, but I probably won't stay the entire time." Hinata said to Ino, "Yeah, and my mom has been on edge about me going to parties since last weekend."

"Hinata, he wants you to come." Ino started, "And I get that, Sakura. If you don't want to, then I don't want to force you, but if you want, I can help you come up with something."

Ino was trying to convince her friends to come to Naruto's birthday party, and they were trying to get out of it. Sakura had a valid excuse, while Hinata just wanted to avoid him as much as she could.

"He just wants me to come because he doesn't know about what I did." Sakura rolled her eyes, "You know he won't care, you just need to be honest and get back together with him already." Hinata sighed, "Yeah, you're right."

As she said that, they walked through the entrance of their school, and she instantly made eye contact with the boy that had been on her mind. Walking toward him with a smile, "Happy Birthday, Naruto." Hugging him, he smiled and said, "Thank you."

"Are you coming by tonight?" "I kind of have to, don't I?" He laughed a little, with his hand still on her waist. "I guess so."

"I could always cancel it, and we could just get dinner with the kids or something." She blushed as he said that, "You shouldn't, everyone is so excited." He shrugged, "Yeah, well I guess I can't disappoint, you know?" Hinata smiled at him, and nodded her head.

"Exactly. I know that there's going to be a lot of our classmates there, but I guess Hanabi wants to go, because of Konohamaru." "Yeah he's just spending a few nights with us." "Is he okay? I noticed his bruises the other night at the gym."

Naruto sighed deeply, "Honestly? I'm not sure. Do you think you could ask Hanabi? Because I think it's a lot deeper than him just getting into fights at school." She nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I'll ask."

"But yeah, she's always welcome to come. I told him last night though that if I caught him drinking or anything, he'd have to deal with me." Hinata laughed, while subconsciously resting her hand against his forearm.

"Yeah I'll talk to her tonight. They should be on their best behavior." "Yeah, I'll be watching them." "Me too, but they remind me so much of us that I worry sometimes." He laughed a little before taking his hand from her waist and turning to his locker to open it, "Same. But I think they're-"

He stopped talking, as confetti exploded from his locker, and he saw a birthday card, alongside a bag full of gifts. Almost on cue, a herd of girls started toward his locker. "Well I'm going to leave before I'm ran off by your parade. See you in first period, Naruto." She said before kissing his cheek, and walking away.

"Hey, Sasuke." Sakura said to him as he opened his locker. "Good morning.""How are you?""I'm alright." He said while rummaging through his folder, looking for an assignment. "I'm great, thanks for asking." She said sarcastically, making him turn and face her. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry, how are you?" A light blush came to her cheeks, "I'm okay. I miss you.""We spent most of yesterday together." He said with a smile. "Yeah, but you weren't really there. I know that you've been really tired, I'm just waiting for you to tell me what's keeping you up at night." She spoke while placing her hand to his cheek. As she gazed lovingly into his eyes, his thoughts were occupied by the news of his brother's high school girlfriend.

"I know it's Naruto's birthday, but can you help me with something tonight?" Although she wanted to ask what it was, she didn't because she assumed it was important. "Sure. If it's important enough to miss your best friends birthday."

"He understands." She nodded in agreement, "Okay, then of course. I'll be there." He nodded, "I'll pick you up at five. We're heading about two hours out." "Oh okay. What should I wear?" "We'll talk about that later." He said while the bell rang.

Though she had a million more questions, she didn't ask them as they walked to class, and smiled as he intertwined their fingers. "Happy birthday, Naruto." Sakura said to Naruto with a smile, while walking into their classroom. "Thank you, Sakura. Are you guys ditching the party?" Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, we'll make it up to you." Naruto just smiled at them, "Don't worry about it." ~ "Don't tell Dad that I'm letting you come to a party, okay?" Hinata said to her sister as they stood in an elevator holding their gifts for Naruto. Hanabi laughed, "I'm just surprised you let me wear so much of your stuff."

She winked at her younger sister, "Don't get used to it." When they got there, she made her sister walk in front of her as the younger high school boys gave her looks, that made Hinata uneasy. When they sat their gifts on the gift table, Hanabi asked with a bright smile, "When does the fun start?"

"Hinata!" Ino exclaimed while throwing her arm around her, making her laugh, and Hanabi look at her with a surprised look on her face. "Little Hanabi! You're growing up too fast!" She said while pouting her bottom lip, and cupping the adolescents face. "I love you, and if any of these guys try anything, and I mean anything! Let me know!"

Hanabi laughed, "And don't fall for any of their tricks either! They all want one thing!" TenTen said, coming out of no where. "I'm going to find, Konohamaru."

"You guys started early." Hinata said, as she watched Hanabi walk over to her boyfriend, and greet him with a hug. "You missed the pregame, we have to get you caught up!" With that, they dragged her off to the kitchen, where Naruto stood with his back facing her, playing a drinking game with a group of girls who stood in a circle around him, shirtless.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise, as the scene unraveled before her. Boys chanted, as he took a shot of liquor, before pressing a card against his lips, and passing it to a girl that was to his right. "Why don't they have shirts on?"

"They were giving body shots earlier." Hinata laughed a little, although it made her nervous that Naruto seemed to be enjoying it so much. "I'm literally only an hour late. Have I missed that much already?" They nodded, "Yes. Which is why you need to get caught up."

As her friends tried to get her drunk, Kiba watched her from across the room, with a beer in his hand, and a girl flirting with him. He watched her start to drink from the bottle of liquor that her friends had been passing around, and a blush came to his face as he noticed her lavender eyes on Naruto, who stood a few feet away from her.

Truthfully, he still liked his best friend, and although he had told her differently, he couldn't stop his feelings even when he tried. His brown orbs noticed Hinata's lavender ones as they stayed on Naruto, watching him closely as he laughed with a group of girls, and a sigh left Kiba's lips.

Though she didn't realize it yet, she was in no place to move on from Naruto, because she loved him, and they all knew it. Honestly, Kiba felt horrible because although she had initiated things, he felt that he had taken advantage of her fragility, and he wanted to apologize.

"Hey, Ladies." Kiba said to them, while Hinata focused on pouring a mixture of liquor and juice into a plastic cup. She wasn't ignoring him, but she was distracted by Naruto being surrounded by a bunch of gorgeous, half naked girls. "Kiba! How are you?" Ino asked. "I'm good, how are you guys?"

"We're great! How are you?" The drunk girls asked redundantly, while Hinata carelessly chugged her second drink of the night. He watched her for a moment, "Hinata." Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at him. "Hey, Kiba. Let's take a shot, like always." Grabbing another cup for him, he shook his head. "I'm DD for tonight." "That's lame." She said before downing both of the shots she had just poured, "Is someone taking you home?"

"Oh, actually I was supposed to DD." "It's okay, I'll take you home later.""No, I'll just stop and drink water for the next few hours. Besides, Hanabi came along." His eyebrows scrunched, "Hanabi's here?" She nodded while taking a sip from the liquor bottle, "Yeah, with her boyfriend."

"Who's idea was that?" Hinata shrugged while wrapping her arm around her friend's waist. "I can't even remember." He blushed as she pressed her body against his, "But it's okay. She'll be fine." Kiba nodded, "Y-yeah."

Ino noticed his blush and laughed, "Getting flashbacks?" She asked while drinking from her cup. He looked down at the girl who had her arms wrapped around him."You told them?" "Of course, they're my friends." "And Naruto is my friend." "He doesn't know." "Not yet, Hinata, this isn't good." She frowned while pulling away from him.

"I thought we had a good time?" As she spoke so loudly, she brought attention to herself, and the people around them eavesdropped on their conversation. "We did! But we shouldn't be telling people." He saw the clear look of confusion in her eyes, and he sighed before grabbing her hand. "Let's talk."

"What's there to talk about? You clearly-" She said as they walked to Naruto's vacant bathroom. Kiba cut her off while shaking his head, "Hinata, I love you." She smiled, "I love you too."

"N-no. I'm in love with you, Hinata. I thought I was over it, but I guess-" This time, she cut him off, by grabbing his face, and kissing his lips. His eyes widened, as she kissed him. Although he wanted to embrace it, and kiss her back, he had to pull away. "You're drunk." She sighed while nodding. With her hand still against his face, she rested her forehead against his.

"I noticed tonight, that when I watch you from across a room, you spend your time watching him." He spoke softly, while they both closed their eyes, and finally listened to the truth. "I love you, and I'm sure you love me too, but you love him more." Her bottom lip pouted as tears came to her eyes. "I wish I didn't."

A part of her meant it when she said that. Kiba had never hurt her, and he was her best friend. The both of them loved each other, and in that moment, Hinata felt like he was the better guy, just not the best guy for her. "It's okay, Hinata. Some people just aren't meant to be, and I can't force you to fall in love with me."

A tear fell from her closed eyelids, "I'm sorry, Kiba. I wish it were you." "I do too, Hinata." He kissed her forehead, and pulled her into a hug as she held him tightly. "If it makes you feel better, I think that Naruto is a great guy."

"Unlike the both of us, he was never taught how to love, or even be loved. You just have to be patient with him, Hinata. I promise you that he's what you need." He said truthfully, knowing that his friend would love Hinata in a way that would satisfy her. "But what if you're the one I want?" Kiba shook his head, "You want him too."

"But why?" She asked him while crying to her best friend, who's heart was breaking as he answered her question. "Because you love him." As Hinata cried on her friends shoulder, Naruto enjoyed his drinking game.

"That's what I'm talking about! Good job, ladies!" Naruto said while throwing his flexed muscles up into the air, and turning around. "Ino, and TenTen! How are you guys?" He asked while greeting his friends with a bright smile, and a flustered face.

"We're good, how are you? Feel any different?" Naruto obnoxiously laughed, "Just really drunk. How about you guys?" They laughed while sipping their drinks, "About the same." He nodded while looking over the crowd of people in his kitchen.

"Is Hinata here?" The girls glanced at each other, "I think she was helping with Hanabi with something." Ino said redundantly, making herself giggle. "I mean, I think she's helping Hanabi with something." Naruto nodded, "Well I'll go find her."

Before they could stop him, he was off, and they were shaking their heads. "I hope she doesn't ruin his birthday." "Hinata, there you are, Princess." He said loudly, getting everyone's attention, even over the loud music coming from the living room. They stood alone in the hallway as Kiba walked in the opposite direction. She smiled at him, "Birthday boy."

The obviously intoxicated guy hugged her tightly, picking her up in the process. "You look gorgeous." He said into her ear, as he looked over her body, trying not to gawk at her exposed cleavage. "And you look shirtless." Naruto laughed, as their arms stayed in place around each other. "Yeah, I was playing a game."

"We should drink water." She said, and he nodded, although he wasn't really listening, because of his intense fixation on her lips. "Wait." He said, as she began to pull away from his hold, and go to the kitchen to grab them water. "I miss you." He said while gently pushing her against the wall. "I miss you so much." She blushed, "You're drunk." "I'm not that drunk. Tipsy at most, and I miss you. A lot." He said while cupping her face in his left hand, and caressing her cheek.

"No, I'm tipsy, you're drunk." "Only a little." He argued with a boyish smile, making her laugh. "Tell me you miss me too, Princess." Instead of doing as he said, she kissed his soft lips passionately. His hands grabbed her by the hips, and lifted her up making her legs wrap around his waist, while her hands sat against his neck. His hand started to play with the bottom of her exposed bralette and she grabbed his hand, "No, you're drunk."

"So?" He asked, "You don't take advantage of me when I'm drunk, so why would I?" "That's different. You're not taking advantage of me, I want you. I want you so bad." She lightly tapped his face with her index finger, as a smile came to her face, "Then you'd better sober up."

With their hands intertwined, they wandered through his apartment with their other hands holding cups of water. Hinata wasn't as drunk as Naruto, but she knew that he needed to sober up if she planned on talking to him about their relationship tonight.

"I have to pee." He proclaimed, making her laugh, "Are you fine going alone?" "Yeah, you don't like seeing me pee, remember?" "Yes, but are you going to fall over or anything?" He laughed, "No. I sober up fast." He said before walking away. "Dance with us!" TenTen yelled before grabbing her friends hand, and pulling her to the middle of the group of people.

She laughed and let loose with her friends, while sipping her water. Looking around the room, she searched for her sister only to not see her at all. "Have you seen Hanabi?" She asked her cousin as he stood behind TenTen, "Not in a while actually."

Her eyes squinted as she thought about every bad thing her sister could've been doing. "I'll find her." As she meandered through the group of drunken teenagers, she turned right to go into Naruto's room, where she was just met with Naruto changing into a shirt. "Hey."

"Are you looking for someone?" He asked, and she shook her head, before leaving the room. When she opened Sasuke's door, she saw her sister, and her boyfriend. Only they were with a group of sophomores, who were passing around alcohol and drugs.

Stupidly, Hanabi was bent over, about to snort a powdery substance off of a tray, while Konohamaru seemed to be already be in a state of euphoria. "Hanabi Hyuga." She said sternly, making her sister stop immediately, while the underclassmen stared at her.

"Are you guys kidding me? They are thirteen. Get the hell out!" Hinata exclaimed to the teenagers, making them rush out of the room, Konohamaru got up too, but she grabbed him by his arm and sat him down before slamming Sasuke's door shut.

"Hanabi, what the hell?" Her sister rolled her eyes, "It's a party, Hinata." She scrunched her eyebrows, as she fumed with anger. "Do you see me doing drugs? Especially hard ones like that? Do you know how easy it is to get addicted to that stuff? Come on, Hanabi!" She watched her sister start to cry and she rolled her eyes, "No! You don't get to cry and get out of this, Hanabi! You are a child! How can you be so irresponsible? Drugs? Seriously?"

Naruto heard her yelling as he left his room, and when he turned the door knob to open Sasuke's door, he was met with a crying Hanabi, and Konohamaru who was seconds away from passing out. "Hey, what's going on?" Hinata ignored him as she continued to lecture her sister. "You are too smart to throw your life away. I can't believe this, Hanabi." She repeated while pacing, and with tears in her own eyes.

Naruto looked at Hanabi, and saw her hunched over, just taking in the words her sister was saying. He felt bad for her, "Hinata, yelling at her isn't going to get your point across." Tears fell from her eyes as she said, "I know! But what the hell, Naruto?" "What's going on?" He asked, before going over to Konohamaru, and seeing that he had fallen asleep. "These two thought it was a good idea to try drugs."

"Okay, well I am going to lay him down in my room, and keep an eye on him. I'm only leaving if you stop screaming at her. She made a mistake, Hinata. It's okay.""No, it's not okay! She's a fucking child!""No I'm not! You keep treating me like one, and I'm not!" Hanabi yelled, making the both of them stop.

"All I wanted to do was take a break, and have fun with my boyfriend, but I can't even do that without you acting like our mom! You're not Mom! You're my fucking sister, Hinata!" Her eyebrows scrunched in anger. "Do you want me to apologize for caring about my sister? Drugs are not the way to have fun, Hanabi."

"But alcohol is?" She asked in a snarky manner. "I'm almost an adult, Hanabi. Me drinking alcohol isn't the same as my thirteen year old sister doing hard drugs to try and impress high schoolers." Hanabi rolled her lavender eyes, "You're such a fucking prude."

Her sister's eyes widened, "Sorry I care about your fucking future. What happened to you, Hanabi? Really? Because you've changed." Hinata spoke softly, as she approached her sister, and sat next to her on Sasuke's bed. "I grew up, Hinata! Can you treat me like that, instead of your fucking child?"

"I know I'm not Mom, Hanabi, but stop acting like I haven't been there for you. I was there for you whenever you had nightmares, for Godsake I was the one who took you shopping for your first training bra. Do you think I wanted to step up and take on that role when I was a kid myself?"

"Do you think I want to act like your mom? How can you expect me to act any differently when you behave this way? I put so much faith into you tonight, and you really disappointed me, Hanabi." It broke her heart to hear her sister say that, and as she parted her lips to say something, she couldn't manage to form any words.

Naruto decided to give them their privacy by picking up Konohamaru, and leaving Sasuke's room. "I-I just thought we could always be honest with each other, but obviously not enough, so tell me what's going on." She sighed deeply, before laughing a little as tears fell from her eyes.

"There's just so much going on, Hinata. I need a break." Hanabi started, while running her fingers through her hair. "And like I've tried everything, and nothing's working so I thought I'd just try it for once. It seems to work for Konohamaru."

"What do you both need a break from?" "I know you've noticed the bruises on him.""Is he being abused?" Hanabi nodded, "Everyday he comes to school with a fresh new bruise thanks to his stepdad, and I-I try to help, but he won't let me."

"We will help him, Hanabi. I promise." Tears continued to fall from her beautiful eyes as she said, "A-and I just feel really bad about myself. Like all of the girls at my school are so beautiful, and I'm just so-"

The sob she tried to choke back left her lips as she facepalmed her forehead repeatedly, before Hinata grabbed her hand. "Hey, look at me." She crouched in front of her, "I understand what you're going through. I know that I can call you beautiful every single day, but you won't believe it, and that's okay. But I want you to know that you are so incredibly beautiful, and intelligent, that sometimes it makes me happy just to think about how I'm related to you, Hanabi. You matter, and you are valuable. I love you so much."

"And I know that! I know that I'm pretty, and that I'm loved, but I just can't help it. When I look in the mirror, sometimes all I can do is throw up because I-I feel disgusting." Hinata nodded in understanding, "I used to do the same thing, Hanabi. I would starve myself until I felt well enough to eat, and sometimes it would be days before I ate anything."

"What helped it? I hate feeling this way, and I feel like it's only getting worse, Hinata." "I went to therapy, Hanabi. I think you should see a professional too. My words can only go so far." She shook her head, "But then I have to tell Dad, and I-I can't."

"I'll talk to him, don't worry, we will figure it out." Hanabi nodded, "Thank you. I'm sorry." Hinata shook her head, before wrapping her arms around her sister. "I love you so much, but if you ever do that again, Hanabi. I swear to God I will-." She laughed a little while cutting her off, "I won't. I promise."

Eventually, Hinata and Hanabi left the room, only to be met with her friends sprawled out in the living room. Ino laid unconscious, while her boyfriend tried to take her makeup off for her. "Where is everyone?" She asked him, "Naruto sent them home." Sai answered, "Is she okay?" Hinata asked while watching her cousin pick up his drunk girlfriend into his arms, "Yeah. She's fine."

"Do you want to go home?" He asked his cousin, and Hanabi nodded. "Y-yeah. I do.""Goodnight, you two. Call me if you need anything." Hinata said while patting her sister's shoulder. "You too. Goodnight."

"Hey." Naruto said to Hinata as she opened the door, and saw him sitting in his desk chair, while Konohamaru laid in his bed asleep. "Hey." She said, before sitting on his lap, and laying her head in the crook of his neck, completely exhausted.

"That definitely sobered me up." Hinata giggled a little, and placed a delicate kiss on his neck. "Well I guess I can say that I miss you too, Naruto." She admitted quietly, "I think we should date again.""Me too, Hinata." A smile came to both of their faces. "I'm sorry for not being honest with you."

"I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to explain yourself." Naruto kissed her cheek,"We need to be more honest with each other."She nodded in agreement, "We will this time around." He nodded too, "Yes, I promise.""I love you." Hinata said with a smile, "I love you more, Princess." He said, before pecking her lips.

"I always pictured me as being the bad cop." She laughed, "Like if we had kids?" He nodded with a smile on his handsome face. "Yeah, I always thought I'd be the bad cop, then you'd come in and save the day. But after tonight, I'm not so sure." Hinata smiled at him, "I guess I never really thought about it."

"Really? I think about that sort of stuff a lot.""What else do you think about?" He smiled at her before tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, "Us just growing old together.""How many kids do we have?" "Two, one girl and one boy." She smiled at the thought of that. "Have you thought of any names?"

"I figured I'd leave that to you." A cute giggle left her lips, "Well I think our daughter's name should be Himawari." "Sunflower? I like that."

"But I heard you earlier, and I'm sorry that you had to grow up like that, Hinata. I guess I never really realized." She just sighed, "Yeah, I guess I can't complain. I'm a trust fund baby who gets what I want." Naruto shook his head, "That doesn't discredit your trauma, Hinata. Sure, maybe your parents weren't murdered when you were a child, but that doesn't invalidate anything." She blinked, making a tear fall from her eyes, before she wiped it immediately.

"I don't know, I just try to rationalize it because I don't like to think about a lot of it." His thumb caressed her thigh as she took a deep breath, "Like repressed trauma?" "I guess that's what you can call it." "It's never good to keep things in."

A laugh left her lips, and she brought her hands to her face to stop her repressed memories from taking over. "N-Naruto." She spoke softly, while tears came to her eyes. "Let it out, Princess." He spoke back to her, in the same tone, making her completely unravel.

"My mother struggled with depression for years, and I never really understood what that meant until I was diagnosed with it." She said so quietly that he hardly heard her, "At times she wouldn't leave her bed for days, and my father was always busy with work, so I just naturally started doing things around the house, you know? I knew that she needed the help." Naruto nodded, while running his fingers through her hair.

"Everyday Hanabi and I used to rush into our parents room, ready to tell our mother about our days, until one day I opened the door and we seen her." Hinata was out of tears, as she remembered the stomach churning image of her dead mother.

"We saw her hanging from the ceiling fan, and I remember the look on my sister's face." When Naruto said that, his eyes widened slightly, horrified at just the mental image of that. "She was eight, and she didn't really understand what was happening, so all I could do was help my mother down, while telling Hanabi to call the police."

Oddly as she spoke about what had happened over five years ago, it only made her feel worse, almost as if she was reliving the moment, and it made her get an intense migraine. "I-I'm sorry, I can't talk about this anymore." She said while rubbing her temples, making him nod, "That's okay, I understand. Thank you for even telling me. Can I just say how strong you are?" "Not strong enough."