Chapter Text
Hinata was so surprised that she was able to recognize her sister. She hadn't seen her in so long, so to just know it was her with one look at her face really startled her. She looked so grown-up.
When she showed up at the office, the air was tense, so she suggested that they talk at a café. Hidan pulled her aside before they left to tell her that the kid was rude, but she was sure that she likely wasn't in the best mood. Her father just died, after all.
Now they were sitting across from each other at a café, both probably wondering who was going to speak first. Hanabi eyed her, and after a long moment, she broke the silence. “You just don't look old enough.” She mumbled, digging her straw in her drink.
“Sorry?” Hinata blinked.
“You looked too young.” Hanabi shrugged. “I guess I always assumed that you were older when you ran away, but I checked, and you're only five years older than me.”
Hinata felt her face scrunch in confusion before she realized what was happening. “I didn't run away.”
“That's what dad said.” Hanabi shot back.
“And he told Neji that I went to boarding school.” Hinata was sure there was some mingling of that story that he told. She went to boarding school for so long, and then, when people started asking why she was never visiting home, the story would have changed to ‘she ran away from boarding school’.
“Where were you then?” Hanabi prodded for her answers.
Hinata didn't really know how she was going to explain this. She didn't want to ruin her father's image now that he was gone. “I was… left behind.” Hanabi's face scrunched in confusion, but she set her eyes on her to listen. “When we were little…” She felt strange calling him her father out loud to her when she knew him more. “He has debts. That's what he was running from, and when the debt collector came home before he did… and I was there waiting for him… he just never came to collect me.”
Hanabi's face scrunched up with confusion. “That doesn't make any sense.”
“It's what happened.” Hinata shrugged. “He just never came back to get me.” At least she didn't think he did. His being found with her number made her think that he was trying to contact her, or at least thinking about it. At this point, she assumed that the only way he could have gotten it was if Neji had given it to him. She wondered what his reaction was to finding out that he had been caught in his lie.
Hanabi fell silent, looking into her drink. She had probably built up his conversation in her mind ever since she found out about her. She wondered what all her theories were.
“How long have you been back in the country?” Hinata wondered.
Hanabi blinked at her. “I don't think we ever left. What do you mean?”
“Where did you grow up?” Hinata wondered.
Hanabi pointed. “Up north. Just a city or two away.”
Oh.
Hinata somehow felt like she shouldn't be surprised that he didn't flee the country forever, but it was still surprising to her that he just never came back for her.
“What did you run to get?” Hanabi tilted her head to her childish little backpack that Hinata had made her wait for her to get.
“Oh, I have something of yours. I thought you should have it.” Hinata explained. She reached down into the main pocket of one of the few things that she had from her original life, the backpack that she had packed for the plane ride that she never went on. She pulled out Hanabi's bunny. “This was yours. I packed it because I was worried that you would have cried on the flight without it.” She explained. “I guess it didn’t matter.”
Hanabi accepted it, setting it on the table and looking at it, not sure if she remembered it. She would have been so little at the time, Hinata wouldn't be surprised if she didn't.
Hinata's attention was pulled down to her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at it. It was Hidan. She asked Hanabi to give her a minute, and she answered the phone.
“Where are you?” Hidan asked on the other end.
“I'm still talking to my sister,” Hinata whispered back to him. “I'll call you when I am done, okay?” She asked before she hung up the phone.
Hanabi pointed at it. “That was the rude guy. Who is he?”
Well… “He's my boyfriend. Sorry. He can be a bit abrasive when you first meet him.”
“Boyfriend, really? That jackass?” Hanabi tilted her head like she wasn't sure if she was impressed or not.
What an interesting young lady she had grown into.
Hinata curled herself up on his couch, or maybe he should call it her couch. It was his apartment, but she picked out most of the furniture. At this point, it had become more her apartment than it was his.
Hidan didn't really feel like he needed much, and really she didn't either, but it was usually a weekend where she thought that it would be nice to have a couch or a dining table, and they will go out to get one, and he would have to admit that it'd be nice not to eat meals off of a coffee table all the time.
He flopped down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. “How did you chat with your bitch sister, go?”
“My father lied to everyone about where I was,” Hinata answered with her far-off stare. “I'm starting to wonder if he thought he got away with it. He just didn’t care enough about me and would have just gotten rid of me at the first chance he could.”
“That's kind of what happened, isn't it?” Hidan answered.
“I don't know.” Hinata sighed, laying her head on him.
“Forget him. The guy was clearly a cunt that wasn't fit to be a father.” Hidan declared.
Hinata cracked a smile. “I'm kind of glad I didn't know him.”
“Then forget him.” Hidan prodded.
Hinata nodded and turned to snuggle up closer to him. He readjusted his landing himself back to make it more comfortable. If he had ever met this man, he would have punched him in the face. The bastard was lucky that he died before he found him.
Hidan leaned up against his car, looking at this god awful University campus for what he was hoping was the last time. From what he understood, this was the test of all tests. Even though it wasn't a final exam for a class, it was like a final exam for law school or something shit.
This shit had been taking up a lot of her time. She had been studying for it non-stop day and night, and any time that she had left over, that wasn't at a desk or school, she would go out to see your sister. That little brat was soaking up what little of her free time that he usually got, but at least she came home and got into bed with him every night, and that's all he gave a shit about.
He was getting a little sick of that little brat and her cousin. The snobby prick had no business having the opinions that he did about everything.
He was just hoping that little Miss Smarty Pants once she's done with this test that she'll finally have some more time because she won't have to go to school and work at the same time, though with her working at the office, it's always been easier to see her because they're in the same place, but that might change if she gets a fancy lawyer job. He hadn't talked to her about it, but maybe she was going to need to move into the city. She had been worrying about getting into law firm.
Out of the trickle of students that were exiting the exam, Hinata finally emerged, and she looked very tired. He simply opened his arms up, and she walked right into him and wrapped herself around him and held on.
“How was it?” He asked.
Hinata just answered in a miserable little noise that she let out. “I just want to go home.”
Hidan rubbed at her back. He could fulfill that request.
Hinata came into the office to find an offered piece of mail before she even sat down. Usually, an envelope came with instructions on what Kakuzu wanted her to do with it, but he simply handed it to her and headed back to his office.
She was confused until she looked down at the sender.
These were her exam scores. This would tell her whether she passed and was now a lawyer, or if she had to take the whole exam again.
She glanced around to see that all of the guys were trying to act like they weren't watching her. They were clearly paying attention because they all knew what it was, and we were waiting for her to open it.
She felt sick to her stomach. This was so much more pressure.
She ripped the seal and waited for disappointment, but once she pulled it open and took a serious look at it…
“How did you do, kid?” One of the guys asked before getting smacked for it.
“I passed.” She breathed. She couldn't believe it.
The room erupted with cheers, and before she could even react, she was picked up off her feet and held in the air. She squeaked and held on, breaking her frozen state to feel the excitement of everyone in the room.
“We should go out to eat and have a few drinks.” Someone suggested.
“Ah, I still remember you when you were just a little squirt.” Another ruffled her hair.
There was at least one of them who was crying. It might have been a few. Honestly, she felt like crying, but she had something to do first.
She waited for a moment to break away and tell them to hold on and wait for her. She collected the letter, leaving the celebration to head to Kakuzu's office. She was sure that he could hear all the commotion, but she placed the document down on his desk.
“I passed.” She told him.
Kakuzu pulled his attention away from what he was doing to look at it. “Good job.”
If she wasn't crying before, she certainly was now. “I… I have to…” She pointed to the others.
Kakuzu waved for her to celebrate.
Hinata dipped her head down low and wiped her eyes before going to join the others, where they started awing because she was crying. She smiled through the tears.
She was really happy.
Kakuzu turned in his chair to find Hinata was once again circled.
Hidan joined the party late and had to be told what was going on. He got a big grin on his face and kissed her before picking her up off her feet. She was smiling, but she was also blushing, trying to place her hand in his face so he wouldn't be so affectionate in the group.
“Hey, boss, you coming?” One of the rowdy staff members called back to him.
“Nah, he won't want to come cuz he doesn't want to pay.” Another laughed.
Kakuzu sighed and stood up.
There was a collective cheer that he was coming before the attention was brought back to Hinata, asking her what she wanted to eat and if they could get her to have a couple of drinks.
“Hey, don't pressure her.” Hidan defended, waving his arm out in front of her to make them back off.
Hinata wasn't bothered. She just had the biggest grin on her face,
She had grown up so much.
She was happy.
Kakuzu had come back to a thought a couple of times over the years: he was grateful that Hiashi never came back for his collateral.
She was the best debt he was never paid back for.