From Rags To Unwanted Riches

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"It has to be special" the man looked at Hinata in earnest, "My future mother in law already hates me because I'm not catholic or from Ecuador."

"Well you're in luck with the Ecuador thing, their national flower is the rose" Hinata moved over to the long stemmed roses and picked out a some choice red blooms "And then lets see... just red roses will seem boring so if we put some white carnations... they are for faithfulness and real love."

"Sounds good to me" The man smiled hopefully

"And if we add some laurel leaves to the greenery display, like the Ecuadorean flag then we may be onto a winner." Hinata made up the bouquet and smiled softly at her customer "If the two of you love each other and are honest and open in yourselves then you will be happy." Binding up the bouquet in clear cellophane and raffia Hinata made up the total and handed the flowers over.

"Thank you so much... for everything." The man gave her a grateful nod as he carried his delicate cargo out to the car. Hinata watched him go happy to have helped, that's one of the things she loved the most about this job, you got to see the important milestones, births, marriages, anniversaries... funerals. Still with a soft look and a caring attitude even the toughest events could be made more manageable. On the counter Hiashi blew a raspberry and moved causing his travel chair to rock. Walking over Hinata took hold of her baby's little hand watching as his tiny fingers curled around her long one.

"The effort he's making is very sweet, that's what girls like so you take note young man!" the baby gave toothless grin... or was it so toothless? "oh look at that... your first tooth!" She couldn't wait till Ino and Sakura got back to tell them, she considered calling Naruto but knew it would be a bad idea, she needed to keep their lives apart "Is this why you've been so fussy recently?" she'd thought the babies bad mood was a result of being away from his father so much "Look at my baby boy teething!" Hinata lifted her son out of his seat and cuddled him close not caring about the drooling mess her was making, teething babies were a messy business but she couldn't care less, her son made everything her husband had done seem almost worth while.

Her mind drifted to Naruto as it did so often in the weeks since she'd last seen him. He'd stayed true to his word and moved out, he'd made to return his keys but she'd asked him to keep them, just in case. He'd agreed but she'd seen the hope in his eyes as she said it, she felt bad about that, she didn't want to give him hope, she wanted them both to make a clean break...

Some clean break she was making, she still thought about Naruto daily, there were days when it was hourly but usually it was in the late hours after she had put Hiashi and Hanabi to bed, then her mind turned against her and she remembered all that she and Naruto used to do in that time before they too went up to bed...

Thoughts of their activities after those hours haunted her too, Naruto was the perfect lover, she didn't like to admit it, in fact if she had her way it would be a fact she vehemently denied but as it was Naruto had awoken a sexual side to her that she'd always been able to block out before, now she laid in bed her body aching with pent up desire that it was almost impossible to sate, her fingers bore no comparison to Naruto's, she missed his rough hands against her breasts and the feel of his breathing harsh and ragged against her skin. Hinata blushed brightly as she felt her body grow warm, she would not allow her horny side a look in when she was standing in the shop she ran holding her baby in her arms. Suppressing those feelings back to where they belonged Hinata knew that tonight might be the night when the gag gift Ino had given her a while ago came out of its box.

Thankfully for her piece of mind the bell above the door of the shop sounded alerting her to a perfect distraction.

"How can I help you sir?"

"Well I was..." the man stopped and tilted his head to the side "Don't I know you?

"I don't think so sir" Hinata thought the man looked a little familiar but that could mean anything.

"Yes I think... you live up by the Elm Tree Estate, you're a housekeeper there."

Suddenly Hinata twigged where she'd seen him before, he was the runner Ten-Ten and Sakura had said was asking her out. "Oh yes, hello again."

"Is he yours?" he asked reaching forward to 'shake hands' with the baby in her arms

"Yes this is Hiashi... I'm surprised you remember me."

"Pretty woman like you, I definitely remember." he smiled showing her a line of perfect white teeth "I'm Michio, so do you still live up on the estate...?"

"I'm Hinata" she offere3d up her name knowing that he was pausing hoping she'd tell him "Hinata Nami... Namikaze, and yes, I do still live up there."

"Married now?" he noticed the ring and his smile seemed to falter a little

"Sort of... separated, we'll be getting a divorce soon I think."

"Ah, well I shouldn't pry, I'm here to pick some flowers for my mother, hshe adores tulips and it's just coming into that season."

"Yes, any particular colour?" Hinata sat Hiashi safely into his chair and after strapping him in went over to the buckets holding a festoon of the flowers

"White, her favourites."

"Of course, just white tulips or should I make a bouquet?" they discussed the flowers as Hinata bound up a sweet little bouquet, she discovered that Michio was an investment banker, he came from a wealthy family and his house had been inherited from his grandmother. She told him little about herself but he asked more questions about her son than her and that was a subject she was always happy to open up about. As it was their transaction was complete in very little time but he continued to talk with her and she was happy to were just sharing a joke when the shop door opened and Ino walked in with Choji

"Sorry that took so long but the doctor wanted to talk to us about something" Ino nodded to their customer and went straight into the staff room out back.

"One of the business partners?" Michio guessed

"And a good friend, this is her husband Choji, Choji meet Michio."

Choji gave him a nod but said nothing making the situation suddenly feel uncomfortable.

"Well I better go" Before he did so though he reached into the bouquet he'd just brought and pulled out one of the pink tulips and handed it over "Thank you for your help"

"Thank you" Hinata looked down embarrassed as she took the gift, it was obvious that Choji's arrival made any previous flirtation feel out of place but Michio merely smiled and left telling her he'd visit again one day.

Flushed Hinata laid the flower down and glanced up at Choji "What did the doctor say?"

"It's a long story, but he's definitely a boy, a friend for little Hiashi" Ino came out of the staff room now wearing a pinny to cover her clothes "I thought Ten-Ten was here?"

"She's gone out to pick up some food, she should be back soon. A boy you must be so happy!"

"We are" Choji sounded anything but happy "So... friend of yours?" he didn't need to explain who he was referring to.

"A neighbor actually" Hinata was annoyed that he was making her enjoyable start to the afternoon seem almost sordid. "He lives a few houses away from me."

"Hm"

"Well Choji you better get back to work" realising that she was missing something Ino hurried her husband out the door pressing a kiss to his cheek and grinning when he pressed a kiss to her stomach, at over 7 months Ino was beginning to feel like a beached whale half the time but she loved how much Choji loved their baby.

"What was up with him?" Ino asked as soon as he was gone

"I think he thought I was flirting with Michio."

"So what if you were?" Ino said in disbelief, "you are technically single now honey, you can flirt all you like."

"I didn't mean to... Do you think he'll tell Naruto?"

"So what if he does?"

"Michio... he's nice but he's no..." Hinata stopped herself, she was about to say 'he's no Naruto' but then she remembered that Naruto was no Naruto. "He's no one I want to date" she attempted to cover herself but she was pretty sure Ino knew what she'd been saying.

"Well what does it matter then?"

"It doesn't" after a moment of two of though Hinata realised Ino was right "It doesn't matter at all" walking over to the tulip buckets with the flower Michio had given her she slipped it back in with the rest. "So, lets see the pictures!"

---

"Come ooon" Shikamaru groaned as he looked up at the clock again, "It's almost 10, some of us have homes to go to" There were ten of them all sitting around the boardroom table with projections for the coming year, the death of Orochimaru had caused a lot of real estate to come onto the market and now the police had finally decided to let the matter drop putting it down as murder by person or persons unknown, the sales could go through.

"I agree with Shikamaru" Choji spoke up "Ino and I had a long appointment at the doctors today and we have stuff to talk about."

Looking up at the clock and realising that even the lights in the office seemed to be agreeing with the staff as they were turned down lower than before the boss agreed "Fine" Naruto couldn't help but be annoyed at how quickly time seemed to pass, this was the first acquisition his parents were letting him handle alone and he wanted to get it right, besides, he had nothing to go home to. "Everyone out" no one argued, only Neji and Sasuke didn't join in the rush to the door, Neji stayed to speak to Naruto for a moment about Hinata but then he too made his way home. "You can go too" Naruto told Sasuke noticing he hadn't moved.

"Nah, I'm leaving early tomorrow so I might as well stick around for a bit and make sure you don't work yourself to death."

"Very Kind... well if you're gonna stick around you might as well go get the bottle of Dalmore in your desk drawer."

"Yes Sir! I'll be right back" Sasuke then opened the door and left the office leaving Naruto to his thoughts, well for a few minutes anyway, there was a timid knock at the door that Naruto growled a 'come in' to, this was soon followed by a dark haired beauty uttering a shy sounding

"Naruto?"

"Hinata?!"

..

Naruto stood squinting in the low lights of the office

..

"Is that you?"

..

Laila was confident that there would be no one with Naruto now, she'd done everything she could to make sure this went smoothly, given that she'd been bringing up drinks to the office all evening she knew that he was a little drunk, not as drunk as she'd have liked but he didn't do that anymore, still she had a good chance. People had often commented on how like Naruto's wife she looked, with her hair now died to match Hinata's and her eyes were a very light grey anyway she looked even more so. She wore the same cocktail waitress as Hinata wore when she worked here and that must have been when the girl caught Naruto's eye, there was no way the jeans and T-shirt look would have done it for him.

"I can be if you want me to be" The dark haired woman noticed confusion cross Naruto's face.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Just someone who feels bad for you" she kept her voice low and sweet like the botch she was imitating, seriously, who would throw away a guy like Naruto, even a complete gold digger would want him for his body as much as his money.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" she kept moving forwards despite his reaction.

"I'm being what you want."

"Get the Fuck out of here!" he ordered moving back disgusted by her words, "I want her not some stupid imitation"

"I can be a stand in for now though right?"

Her words killed him, how had he ever thought like that, OK he'd always considered other girls as a stand in but to hear someone else talk about Hinata like that was so wrong. How could anyone think they'd take her place? Hinata was perfection, everything about her body mind and soul called out to him and taking a substitute was an insult to her. "Get the hell out of here" grabbing her arm Naruto began to walk her to the door.

"I'm just like her when you first met her!" Laila finally shrieked "What could she possibly have that I don't?"

You'd have had more luck with Hello Kitty Pyjama's" Naruto said with a smirk as he unceremoniously pushed Laila out of his room, she tumbled to the ground outside the door and looked up at him in shock, Sasuke arrived in the corridor in time to witness this and gave Naruto a look.

"I was only gone five minutes"

"Even I'm not that fast" Naruto laughed with his friend and turned away to go back into the office "Get lost girl, and get a new job I don't want to ever risk seeing your face again."

Laila scrambled to her feet and backed away from him, his wrath was terrifying.

"Who was that?"

"Just a groupie"

"She looked a lot like..." Sasuke trailed off and began to pour a drink for his friend.

"When I saw her face for a second i thought..." Naruto stopped himself from saying more and just took the proffered tumbler before downing the drink in one..

"You thought she'd come back to you." Sasuke finished for him pouring something for himself before topping up Naruto.

"God Sasuke" Naruto ran a hand through his hair "Will I ever get her back?"

"I can't answer that for you, but I hope for your sake that it does work out. Being in love is bloody awful when the girl won't give you the time of day."

"I thought things were going better with Sakura"

"After the attack they were for a bit then one of my ex mistresses showed up, turns out she's Sakura's cousin."

"Damn!" Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "That must have been from a while ago though, you haven't had one woman around you for years."

"About ten Years ago but she remembered me, I'm pretty memorable."

"Big Head" Naruto spat without malice, both he and Sasuke had every reason to be pompous of their prowess in the bedroom, looks and money only get you so far, if you're no good in bed then you've no hope. "What you gonna do about it?"

"I'm not too worried, Sakura doesn't get along great with her family really, they only ever get in touch when they want something, you know none of them came to visit her whilst she was in hospital, and her parents are basically sponging off her. I kind of want to save her... does that sound really pathetic?"

"No, I felt that way about Hinata, I liked making sure she had everything she needed, I once brought a bakery's entire pastry section because I wanted to make her smile." the memory made Naruto's expression seem more relaxed than it had been in weeks, "She thought I was ridiculous."

"I always said she was smart!"

"I'll get her back... first thing tomorrow I'll go sort out the divorce settlement."

"Um... I know Hinata was the smart one in the relationship but you do realise that doing that will mean going in the complete opposite direction to getting her back."

"I'm letting her go Sasuke but I'll win her back I'll just do it honestly this time. I'll make her fall in love with the real me."

---

"More flowers for your mother?" Hinata asked with a friendly smile, every Thursday at the sane time Michio had come in to buy another load of flowers for his mother, if Hinata was there alone they'd chat like old friends but if someone else was there he made a point of asking them to make up the posies to be gifted to his mother, Hinata appreciated his behaviour it meant less questions from her friends and she wasn't even officially divorced yet, it felt wrong to be flirting with Michio when she still wore a wedding ring. She wasn't wearing it today, it was a test, for the last two months flirting with this guy had felt wrong, she wanted to see how it felt when she embraced herself as single.

"Please, I think we want some lilies today"

"Alright, we have some lovely blooms in today, they're just at the right stage, slightly opened and about to realise their true potential"

"Oh really?" Michio had followed her other and she jumped when she realised how close he was "Hinata I want to ask you a question."

"O-Of course." Hinata felt nervous, he was far too close

"Would you be willing to go to dinner with me?"

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, the meal between Lunch and bed time."

"I don't... I know what the meal is, I just.."

"I'm asking you out on a date."

"I thought that might be the case... I'm sorry Michio I just don't think..."

"It's too soon" he filled in for her letting on hand rub her arm in a friendly and comforting gesture "I understand, I think the lilies are perfect. I'll take ten."

Hinata nodded and silently wrapped the bunch together, it was almost awkward but upon seeing Hiashi Michio brought up her favourite subject as he tickled the babies feet, in mere seconds Hinata was back at ease and the two continued on their normal way until he looked at the clock and started to leave.

"I'll see you again next week" he gave her that smile, even as a married woman you couldn't help but notice that he was very handsome with his olive skin and dark hair.

"Wait... Michio" Hinata stopped the man and gave him a tentative smile "I do know that there's a new restaurant just opened, I've wanted to try it for some time. Hiashi's with his father tomorrow night."

"I'll pick you up at eight?" he offered his perfect white teeth showing a gleaming smile once again.

"Sounds good" Hinata returned the smile with a little less alacrity but with a conscious determination.

 

 

 

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OK so I know some of you may not like this and I feel like it was very short but she has to date and its shows a passage of time, it's gonna be good for her later on in the story trust me!