Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kakuzu had heard every excuse in the book over the years. Very rarely had he given out a loan that he didn’t have to chase down payment for, but if these people were smart with their money, they wouldn’t be coming to a loan shark in the first place. People only came to him because they knew they couldn’t go to the bank. Usually, they didn’t have enough assets, and they were too high of a risk for the normal financial system. Some of them were already in too much debt with the normal banks to pull out more, and some people… their pride just wouldn’t let them take money from something that was part of normal public record.

That last one was the type of man Hiashi Hyuga was. The kind that by all means could likely go to a normal bank, but was in enough a hole quietly that he didn’t want a financial audit that a loan would trigger that would expose just how badly he handled his finances.

Kakuzu didn’t particularly care what the cause was: gambling, bad investments, poor spending, it never mattered to him. What matters to him with a fish this big is if he had something to threaten them with when they enviably didn’t pay. For a man like Hiashi, the threat was his reputation. If he didn’t pay, people could find out not only that he owed money but he owed money to a shady source, which would open up a whole host of questions that he wouldn’t want to answer, like why he would need a loan, why wouldn’t he just get it from a bank, and why couldn’t he pay back the shady loan he took out?

A business never wants people to know just how bad with money they are. If it knew that its guarantees were all hot air, it would scare off investors and lose customers’ trust.

With a business like Kakuzu’s, no one needed to worry about that because he always tracked down his money, no matter what he needed to do to get it. If someone owed him money, he would make sure they paid, or he would ruin their lives trying.

Which led him to today.

Hiashi was behind on his payments. Kakuzu had sent a few of his associates to collect, but when they returned empty-handed and with legal threats, he knew he had to appear in person, but first, he did some research so he knew what he could take as collateral.

Hiashi Hyuga was worse off than most thought. Bad investments had made the man who came from a long line of wealth practically broke. His home was at risk of being foreclosed, and his car was already at risk of being taken back by the dealer. For all the money that he should have, none of it was liquid, which put Kakuzu in a difficult place. He only wanted to use the reputation card if he had to, as a ‘rich’ screw-up like this would always need more money and would be desperate for more at some point.

If he played his cards right, Hiashi would pay him back and then open another loan, that was if the man didn’t declare bankruptcy, but even if he did, that wouldn’t mean anything to him because he wasn’t going to go after him legally, where something like bankruptcy protected scum like Hiashi. No, he would just nip at his heels until he found the money.

Hiashi didn’t have much to his name. His wife had died a few years ago, a nephew he had sent to boarding school the moment he could, and two young girls.

Girls, he was sure that he wanted to take good care of.

Maybe that was his weak link, something that would push the same nerve as his reputation.

“I think that Hiashi is planning on leaving the country.” An associate brought him a document. “I just talked to a friend from immigration, and he has issued passports for both of his daughters, and he has bought three one-way tickets.”

Kakuzu looked at the domination with a new-found frustration for this man. No one was going to run off without paying. It looked like he was going to make that visit sooner than he thought.

Hiashi closed another suitcase before pulling it off the bed and putting it on its wheels. He looked around, wondering what else was worth taking with him.

He was so angry that it had come to this. He was forced to leave his home because he was being hounded from all corners. He could believe this. If he ever got a hold of that financial advisor, he would kill him. Thousands were gone because of a few bad bets in the market. Thousands more in investments that he assured him were completely safe. Businesses that he invested in were failing left and right in this economy, and they all cried that they were the victims, but they didn’t realize that their failure was his loss. Their lack of work ethic was making him have to take out questionable loans so people didn’t know how badly he had chosen.

He should have never taken the risk of those failures. He should have seen the writing on the wall that those people wouldn’t have succeeded and that they were a waste of space for ever trying.

Scum. Societal rejects. They deserved to fail, but they were unforgivable for dragging him down with them. He would never be so foolish again.

A creak in the floorboards made his irritation spike. He turned his head to the door where his young daughter was doing a very poor job of hiding herself, peaking in. She ducked her head apologetically. She was, unfortunately, old enough now to ask questions.

“Come here,” Hiashi told her.

Hinata padded her way into his room with her hands tucked behind her back. “Are you going somewhere?” She asked, looking at his suitcase. What a dumb question. Why would he be packing a suitcase if he wasn’t going somewhere? “When will you be back?”

Hiashi set his hand on his suitcase and wondered how much he should tell her. He couldn’t trust a child her age to not repeat something she was told. He didn’t want her telling her relatives what ever he told her. “We are going to go on a family trip.” He told her. “We will be back shortly.”

Hinata’s eyes lit up. “Family trip? All of us?”

Naive, bordering dim witted. He would have hoped that she would be smarter than this by now. It was unfortunate that she could so easily be tricked. Neji at least understood that sending him to boarding school was not just for his benefit. He would have had her follow him, but the all-girls school only started taking students two years older than the boy school for some reason. At least his youngest was already showing promise. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ll have to run an errand tomorrow morning. Then we will go to the airport.”

Hinata tied her hands together, trying to contain her excitement.

Hiashi nodded his head to the door. “I’ll pack your bag. Go grab a few things you want to take with you.”

“Okay!” Hinata headed for her room.

Hiashi shook his head. She was a frustrating child. Maybe the foreign school system would be able to do something with her.

Hinata sat with her backpack on. She had never been on a plane before but she knew that her father had many times. He packed her a suitcase that he already had in the car, but her backpack was full of the things that she wanted to take with her. Like the bunny she got from her uncle when she was little and Hanabi’s favorite blanket because her father didn’t pack it.

Her father should be back soon. He didn’t like it when she wasn’t ready when he got back, so she was going to sit and patiently be ready so that he wouldn’t be grumpy for the trip.

She didn’t know where they were going. Would it be to see family? Where are they going to see Neji? She missed Neji.

The doorbell rang.

Was that her father? Why would he ring the doorbell? She hopped down from her seat and headed to the door, and the doorbell rang again, more impatiently. Maybe he forgot his keys, and he would be very upset if she didn’t answer.

Hinata opened the door and peeked out. The man at the door was not her father. “Hello?” She asked.

The man with dark skin and hair in his eyes dropped to her height. “Is your father home?”

Hinata shook her head. “He’s coming back, and then we are going on a trip.”

The man's nose twitched irritably, just like her father’s did when she did something wrong. “So the bastard is running.” He crossed his arms, and his head turned away in thought, and he only seemed to get angrier the more he thought.

Then his eyes dropped to her.

Chapter Text

Kakuzu waited by the phone, waiting for him to come back and find his daughter gone and the note telling him to call. If Hiashi wanted to play dirty and leave the country to avoid his debt, he had no problem playing dirtier to collect it.

Hiashi’s daughter didn’t struggle much, though she seemed smart enough to know something was wrong and that it was in her best interest not to make a fuss. She peered at him from the couch of his office, where he told her to sit, holding tightly to a bunny that had seen better days. She was quiet and well-behaved. It was surprising, really. Most kids as young as her were walking nightmares.

Kakuzu tapped his finger down by the phone, annoyed that he had waited this long already. “You said he was meant to be back by noon, right?”

The little girl nodded slowly.

Kakuzu’s eyes lifted to the clock that was several hours ago. Who left the daughter, who was only a few short years into school, at home alone anyway? Especially when he had a loan shark looking for him?

“Sir.” A knock on the door frame accompanied the call for him.

“What?” Kakuzu sneered his bad mood at them.

“Uh…” They glanced at the little girl, whose eyes floated up to them. They stepped back out of the door and gestured with their eyes to make it clear that what they had to say they didn’t want to repeat in front of the child.

Kakuzu sighed and got up. “Stay put.” He pointed a finger at her before slamming the door shut behind him, expressing his irritation at the person that he was paying who had dared make him cater to the child over him. “What!?”

The underlying flinched. “Uh… well, it’s just that…” They groveled instead of actually saying what they needed to.

“Spit it out.” Kakuzu hissed.

“Hiashi Hyuga has made his flight and left the country.” They ducked their heads as they rushed the sentence out. “I just got word of it, but he left over an hour ago.”

“Without his daughter?” Kakuzu blinked. What?

“He came home and left in a hurry. We followed him, thinking that he was going somewhere to get the money he needed, but we lost him in traffic.” They cowered apologetically. “Our connection just told us he was on the plane he booked with just his one child.” They further explained.

Rage coursed through him. Hiashi really was a bastard. He saw a note and knew his daughter was taken as collateral, and instead of calling to settle his debts, he left his brat behind. What did he expect him to do with his brat? Did he think he wasn’t going to hurt her? Did he realize what kind of man that he signed a contract with? Did he realize what kind of game he was playing?

“So, what do we do with the girl now?” The underling whispered, tilting his head into the window to see her on the couch.

Kakuzu followed his eyes. That was a good question. Maybe he could find a way to contact Hiashi still and threaten to send his kid to an orphanage. “We will wait a few days. See how bad of a father Hiashi is. Maybe I will report him for abandonment.”

The man tilted his head. “Wouldn’t he report you for kidnapping?”

Kakuzu brought his hand up, and the man flinched. “Not without outing his debt.” That was what he was really running from here. “Go see if you can track down a location for him.” It would be difficult. Even knowing what country he was going to didn’t help much, but if they found that, maybe they could track him down by who he had worked with in the past or some of his extended family.

They nodded but paused before he went. “Has she eaten?”

Kakuzu waved him off and headed back inside. The girl was a little more skittish, wrapping the tighter around her bunny, practically hiding behind it. The door slamming probably scared her. “What’s your name?”

“Hinata…” She stuttered. Irritating.

“Hinata.” Kakuzu addressed, trying to be calm to get better answers out of her. “Do you know where your father was going?”

“A family trip,” Hinata answered simply.

“Where?” Kakuzu asked through his teeth.

Hinata shook her head. She didn’t know where.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. That wasn’t helpful at all. Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t tell her where he was going. She was probably too young to really understand what was going on anyway.

“That was a lie, wasn’t it?” Hinata ducked her face into her bunny, pitifully. Kakuzu’s eyebrow shot up. Maybe she was smarter than he thought. “We’ve never gone on a family trip before. I thought it sounded too nice.” Her voice trailed off.

His eyebrows twitched together. That was an odd thing for a kid to say. “Do you know any of the numbers or addresses for your family outside the country?”

Hinata shook her head. “I’m not allowed to use the phone unless it's an emergency, and even then, it needs to be a big emergency.” She emphasized.

Kakuzu chewed on his frustration, this child was useless to him. “And you are sure he said he would be back for you a noon.”

Hinata stared at him for a moment before her eyes fell to the ground. “He’s not coming back for me, is he?”

Kakuzu was surprised that she got a hold of the situation so quickly. He would have thought a kid would kick and scream and be sure that their parent was going to come to save them, but he didn’t even have to tell her that her father had flaked for her to come to the conclusion that she had been abandoned.

Maybe he misunderstood Hiashi. He thought he would, at the very least, care about his daughters as any normal man would care for his blood, but maybe he was too much of a scrum bag for even that.

A tear ran silently down her face, and she dipped her face into the bunny's head miserably, squeezing it to her.

Kakuzu huffed. Great, now he was stuck with Hiashi’s crying brat and his unpaid debt. If her own father didn’t want her, what use was she to him?

Hinata flinched as there was a heavy thunk in front of her.

“Here.” Kakuzu’s voice announced. “Eat.” He commanded.

Hinata lifted her head to look at the tray. It had a bowl of soup and another of rice. She didn’t really want to eat, but she didn’t want to upset him either.

He went back to his desk and sat down with a huff, looking at the papers on his desk. He looked at his desk like her father did, with a scowl on his face, but he was different. When her father scowled, it was deep, but… not. It was like he was still keeping so of his face flat on purpose. Which in some ways made it more scary because she couldn’t tell mad that he actually was. When this man scowled, he did it with his whole face, like he wasn’t hiding even the smallest amount of his anger. Or at least that was what she hoped because he would be terrifying if he were madder than his face was.

Hinata put her bunny to the side next to her backpack and got down on her knees next to the table to eat. She picked up the spoon and shoved a big bite of rice in her mouth to make it clear she was doing as she was told.

She shouldn’t have gotten excited when her father told her they were going on a trip. Maybe he never intended on taking her, but then why didn’t he just tell her? He had never gone to the effort of tricking her before.

She didn’t even know where he was going or even how long he was going to be gone.

And why didn’t this man know when he was going to be back? Did he not tell him? He came to watch her, but he didn’t know how long her had to watch her for?

She would just be on her best behavior so he didn’t have anything bad to report back.

Hinata tried to hold back her sniffles as she chewed. She didn’t think it was fair that she was left behind, but it was probably her fault. She probably did something. She should figure out what by the time he got back. He might expect her to know.

She felt the man’s eyes on her from the desk, so she picked up the bowl of soup and took a big sip of it to show him she was doing what she was told.

Maybe if she behaved, didn’t complain, and did what she was told she could go on the next trip.

Chapter Text

Kakuzu rubbed his face as he drank his morning coffee and sat down at his desk with a sigh. His eyes fell to the couch and the child that had taken up residence on it, still sleeping, but not with the bunny. It was set up beside her back properly like it was waiting to go.

He didn’t understand Hiashi Hyuga. What kind of man left his own young daughter behind to run away from his responsibilities?

Kakuzu knew there were terrible parents in the world. In his line of work, he saw some of the worst. Parents were willing to push the debts they signed up for onto their kids to take care of and burden them with when they couldn’t keep their promises. If he had to guess, they didn’t just decide to do that one day. They were always like that. Those kids knew what their parents were like, and many of them were exhausted when trying to settle their debt, claiming it would be the last time they helped them, but it probably wouldn’t be because no matter how those parents had treated them or continued to treat them, they were still their parents, and it was hard to cut them off even if they didn’t do anything for the children they were now burdening.

People were stupid, sentimental creatures who should look at their relationships more harshly, like a profit and loss statement. People who drained them or their finances should be cut out like an unnecessary expense.

However, despite all that, it was also his experience that parents were a lot more protective of their children when they were young. If they needed to leave them behind, they left them with relatives. Someone they thought was going to take better care of them than they could. which made him initially believe that Hiashi was going to call and tell him that a family member would settle the debt, and he could pass the child along to them. It was the next logical step, but it had been two days. Even if he had been on the longest flight away, he would have had time, once he landed, to make a call.

Hiashi wasn’t scrambling to get his child to safety. He was scrambling to protect himself.

The man was a widower. Kakuzu wondered what his wife would think about this.

The little girl made a noise as she woke up, rubbing her eyes. She turned her head, noticed that he was already up, and sat up. It was only now that he realized that, though she had brushed her own hair and washed her face the day before, she was in the same clothes.

“Do you have any clothes in that bag?” Kakuzu asked.

Hinata blinked at him blearily but shook her head. “No.”

Kakuzu huffed. He needed to make a decision. If she was going to stay here for a few more days, she needed clean clothes and something to keep her busy, and if he was going to find a family member to ship her off to, he was going to have to do it quickly.

But she probably should have a clean set of clothes anyway.

Kakuzu set his coffee aside and stood up. “Come with me.”

Kakuzu thumbed through the second-hand clothing racks, looking for something in her size. Even here, children’s clothes were overpriced for tiny pieces of fabric with ugly characters on them.

Hinata trailed beside him, sticking close. Every time he thought that she had wandered off, he just needed to turn a little further because she was just hidden by a wrack or the small stack of clothes in his hands.

He turned his attention back to the racks. He was mainly looking for dresses. They were simple and usually cheaper than buying two pieces that also had to fit separately.

With a handful, he turned to her. “Go try these on. Only bring back the ones that fit.”

Hinata took the stack and looked around for a dressing room, but she couldn’t see over the racks.

“Over there.” Kakuzu pointed her in the right direction.

Hinata scurried off to do what she was told.

“Oh, doesn’t she look so cute?” One of his employees cooed at her as they came back.

Hinata ducked her head down and flattened out the wrinkles in the dress.

“A bit dated, though.” He mumbled and looked confused.

Kakuzu gave him a glare. “I am not buying new clothes for some kid who isn’t even my responsibility.”

“Oh, about that…” The employee quickly looked back at the girl. “If you go back to the office, I’ll make you some hot chocolate.” He gave her a big, fake smile.

Hinata did what she was told, but at this point, it was clear that she didn’t need to be bribed, and she was probably old and smart enough to know that the fake smiles were only for her.

“What?” Kakuzu asked.

“Well…”

Hinata sat on the couch and waited in her new dress. She touched the scalloped edges that were meant to look like flowers, with buttons down the front that looked like little leaves. It was pretty. She had never been allowed to wear something this pretty, except for her festival kimono, and she only got to wear that once a year.

“I told you to find him!” Kakuzu roared.

Hinata ducked her head down and turned it toward the open office door.

“Boss, we don’t even know what country he is in.”

“I don’t care what country he ran off to. He can go to the South Pole for all I care. I am not going to let him escape what he owes me.” Kakuzu asked furiously as something hit a wall and made her flinch. “I can’t believe that bastard! What kind of father is he? What does he want me to do with his brat? Does he expect me to work her for his debt? What use do I have for a girl that is barely old enough to be in school?”

“Boss, keep your voice down. The girl…” The other man he was talking to tried to hush him, but that only led to another harsh slamming noise.

“Find the brat’s family.” Kakuzu barked his orders. “We will drop her, and maybe they can get a hold of him.”

Was… her father not coming back for her?

Hinata’s hand twisted in place onto the fabric of the couch, and tears stung her eyes. She knew something didn’t feel right about this, but she thought that was because she didn’t know what she was being punished for being excluded from the trip.

But it wasn’t just that she was excluded from the trip. She had been left behind to pay his debts.

Tears dripped off her face, and she dipped her head as she bit down on her lip to try to stop it.

She was on her own now.

A sob broke her, and she couldn't hold it anymore. She curled herself up to try to cry quieter.

It wasn’t fair. What did she do that was so bad that she had to be left behind? Why did she have to make up for what her father did? Why couldn’t he just pay them back?

Another slam happened, but then there was silence.

The tension that Kakuzu built up in the room disappeared, and the man who worked for him sighed. He must have left.

What was going to happen to her now that he was mad?

Now it made sense why he kept asking where her dad was. He wasn’t meant to be babysitting her until her father got back. He picked her up because he wanted her father to come to get her so they could talk.

“Hey, it’s okay.” The office door opened quietly as the man who promised her hot chocolate came in with it in his hand. “He's gone now. He'll cool off before he comes back.”

Hinata lifted her head and tried to wipe the tears off of her face.

“Here you go.” He put the cup in her hands. “Don’t be scared. He’s just loud.” He was lying to make her feel better. He was clearly very angry.

“Thank you.” Hinata managed to say, pushing down the sob and sipping at the hot chocolate. It was helping her stop crying to drink it.

“Such a polite child.” He patted her head as he got up. “Don’t worry about the boss. He’s not upset with you.” He tried to assure her, but it wasn’t really that assuring when he put his hands on his hips and looked out the window of the office like he was concerned he was going to come back at any minute. “Hey, do you know the number for any of your relatives?”

Hinata shook her head and hiccuped another sob. “I'm not allowed to use the phone.”

He nodded. “Alright.” He sighed. “Can you tell me the names of your aunts or uncles?”

Chapter Text

Kakuzu sat back down in his office. The child wasn’t on his couch anymore. She had been moved out to the main lounge area and was currently sleeping under a jacket, somehow over the noise his staff was making.

They were useless if they couldn’t even find one bastard father.

To add to his frustration, it seemed that he had overestimated the girl's perception of the situation. His staff seemed to think that his shouting made her cry, but Kakuzu wasn't as stupid as they were. The girl had been quiet and well-behaved for the last few days. She didn't react to any of the times he yelled at them, other than to get quieter and more well-behaved. Why would she cry because he raised his voice?

No. She wasn't crying because he scared her. She was crying because she had finally figured out that she was collateral for her father's debt.

If she was only figuring it out now, he had to contend that she really was just well-behaved and not on her best behavior because she understood that he didn't give a shit about her well-being, and she wasn't going to give him any reason to turn his upset from her father under her.

Now what?

He couldn't just keep waiting around with Hiashi's brat living in his office day in and day out. Hiashi had very clearly called his bluff. As frustrating as he found it, he won this round. He wasn't going to keep his kid indefinitely until he showed up looking for her.

As soon as he found a family member, he was going to dump her off there, and that would be the end of it. He would have his contacts. Notify him if Hiashi ever made it back into the country, and he would make sure to put an extra note on his debt for every single thing that he bought for his brat. She was in his care.

Kakuzu rubbed at his temple in frustration. What a goddamn headache.

Hinata trailed after the heels of Kakuzu.

He was in a bad mood again.

The nice men from the office told her that they were looking for some of her family but hadn't been able to get a hold of any of them yet. They said it like they were lying, but she didn't know what the lie was.

It was late, and everyone else had left. Kakuzu got a call and told her to put on her coat and come with him while he ran an errand.

They left the office into the cold evening and walked down the street in the dark. There was barely any light coming from the sparse streetlamps over the sidewalk.

They passed building after building and kept going. She wasn't sure where they were heading, but it felt like it was far. Maybe it was just because it was dark, and she couldn't see the door to the office anymore.

They had been walking for a while, and it felt late. She rubbed her eyes. She was tired, and her legs were starting to hurt, but she just kept quiet. She wanted to know where they were going, but it wasn't really that important that she knew.

He was already not in a good mood, and nothing put her father was in a worse mood, like complaining or asking questions that he didn't want to answer.

She yawned quietly and wondered when they would get there… and when they would be going back.

Kakuzu pushed his keys into the old lock and huffed as he opened the door to the warehouse. The door opened with an awful creek. He propped it open with a nearby rock that he kicked into the way of it. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it around the inside. The building had lights, but he didn't have the power to turn them on because they were in here so infrequently. The only thing that he kept the electricity bill for was the cameras because he would be damned if anyone stole from him, and he did not know who it was, so he could track them down and skin them.

“Wait here.” He told Hinata as he went in.

After a few minutes of looking, he found the box he had called about. He moved the box that was on top of it off so he could open it, pull out what he needed, and tuck it into his jacket.

He turned his flashlight back to the little girl waiting by the door. She was leaning to the side and childishly rubbing her eyes.

It was clearly past her bedtime.

Kakuzu kicked the rock out of the way, closed the door, and relocked it behind him. “Let's go.” He instructed.

Hinata nodded with a yawn, following after him, but as they walked back. He realized that she was only getting slower, street after street.

Kakuzu stopped and huffed.

Hinata caught up with him and looked up at him curiously with dull, tired eyes. She wasn’t doing it to be a pain in the ass. She didn't realize she was going slower.

Maybe he should have taken that car. He didn't usually like to waste the gas for a trip that was so short. It was only a few blocks away, and he was willing to take the walk, but he didn't factor in the fact that she had little legs and how late it was.

He would have thought that she would have at least complained that she was tired, or her feet hurt, but this child really was too well-behaved to even whine.

He didn’t want to walk at a quarter speed the whole way back.

Kakuzu dropped down to one knee. “Come on.”

Hinata obediently got on his back, and he picked her up and adjusted her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder to keep herself in place.

She was lighter than he was expecting. She was still a small child, but maybe a little too thin as well.

Kakuzu hiked his way back to the office, letting himself in, at which point he realized that her arms had gone completely slack.

She fell asleep.

She was more tired than he thought.

Kakuzu brought her back to his office, which had in part become her temporary bedroom. He sat down and released her from his back. She somehow was still asleep through that, so he just laid her down and tossed the blanket over her.

She had been so mature for the last couple of days. He was starting to realize how young she actually was.

He went back to his desk. Emptying his pocket of the item, he went to retrieve it so that it was ready to pick up for the customer who requested it. They should be here within the hour.

His eyes fell on the child that shouldn’t even be here.

He really needed to find her family so she wasn’t his problem anymore.

Hinata was pushed in at the table where the employees usually sat to eat their lunches, and a bowl was put in front of her by Kakuzu.

“Rice, vegetables, and chicken again?” One of them said. “Why don’t you buy the kid a hamburger or something for once?”

“Why would I waste my money on fast food?” Kakuzu shot back. “Anyway, she's a child. She needs nutrition, not grease garbage.” He said, like he ended the argument, taking his own bowl back to his office and closing the door.

“Don’t mind him.” One of them said to her. “We'll get you a burger soon.”

Hinata didn’t really mind either way. What Kakuzu fed her was good, and it was always almost more rice than she could eat.

“Hey, we have some good news.” Another prodded. “We found some of your family. We're going to go see them later today to get you settled with them. Sound good?”

Hinata nodded, with her mouth full.

She wondered who they found. She knew that she had a big family, but she didn't know a whole lot about them because her father didn't like most of them, or at least he didn't seem to with the way that he talked about them. He didn’t like when they called because they always wanted something, or at least that was what they said.

She didn’t know what they wanted, though.

“We will get back to you where you belong.” They told her.

“But we are going to miss you, kid.” Another told her with his mouth full. “You have to be the most well-behaved little rugrat I've ever met.”

“My kids are monsters.” Another laughed. “Maybe you can teach them something.”

“Nah, they have too much of you in them.” The one pushed the other, and they all laughed.

Well-behaved?

It was nice of them to say, but she couldn’t say that her father agreed with them. Maybe that was why it was so easy to leave her behind.

Chapter Text

Kakuzu held out his card. “If Hiashi gets a hold of you, get a hold of me.”

Hinata peaked from behind him at the family members that she couldn’t remember. They acted like they knew her, so they probably did, but she just didn’t remember. They had a lot of family, but she only ever saw them in passing. Her father didn’t seem to like to stay and talk to them.

Kakuzu looked down at her and nodded his head into the door. “Go.”

Hinata did what she was told, stepping out from behind him and dipping her head politely before she went toward the offered hand. She peeked behind her to see Kakuzu give her a final look before he headed back to his car.

Would she see that man again?

“Come inside.” A hand was offered to her. “Let’s see what we can do about finding your dad.”

Did they think that they would be able to find him? He seemed rather good at hiding.

Kakuzu sat back down at his desk with a long sigh. The child was finally gone. He had things to do, and she had been in the way, so he was glad to see the last of her, but he wasn’t happy that he was letting Hiashi get away with this. He was going to have to keep an eye on the house and maybe send someone out to take a peak to see if Hinata was still there or if he had come to pick her up, but he didn’t think he would need to do that himself and his worthless employees were already complaining about her being gone.

They didn’t need the distraction. They just wanted an excuse not to do their work.

He rolled his neck and picked up his pen to look at his ledgers and see who was next on the list to squeeze, but his eye caught something on the couch that he used to be there at this point but should not be there anymore.

Her damn bunny. She left it behind.

Kakuzu scowled.

Well, she was going to have to do without it. For now, he was not driving all the way back. She didn’t sleep with them anyway, and he was rather sure that it wasn’t even hers. He thought he heard her correct one of the guys and said it was her sister’s.

Kakuzu pulled his attention back down to the ledger. He would have someone take it to her, or he would stop by if he were going past that way this week.

The office was much quieter than it had been in the last while. Hinata didn’t make much noise, but her presence seemed to make the staff rowdier, and with her gone, all he ever heard about was that he missed the little brat.

Kakuzu could admit he had gotten used to her presence, but he wouldn’t go as far as to say that he enjoyed her being there or even that he thought that her presence was a net positive in the office.

The week went on. They got clients, they chased debts, and they made deals.

And his phone rang a little too often for his liking.

It was ringing again, and he really started to think that he needed a secretary, but he really didn’t want to hire someone to sit on their ass most of the day like some of his staff did already. “What?!” He demanded as he answered. His fused was low.

The other end of the line was very quiet, and he almost hung up, but instead, he heard the smallest voice. “Mister… uhm…”

“Hinata?” Kakuzu glanced up at the bunny that was still sitting on his office couch. “Are you calling about your toy?”

“I…” Hinata squeaked. “No… I called to ask if my father called.”

Kakuzu scrunched his face to look at the phone. “No. Your family was meant to call if he did, not the other way around.”

“Oh.” Hinata's voice was small and almost too quiet for the bad-quality line, but she sounded… not disappointed, more worried.

“Why?” Kakuzu prodded.

“Well…” Hinata said. “If my father doesn’t send money. I can’t go to school.”

“What?” Kakuzu asked her. That didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean you can’t go to school?”

“Well, I…” Hinata tried to answer, but her voice was cut off by shouting on the other end of the line.

“Who told you could use the phone!” A woman yelled, and the phone clattered to the surface. “I told you to clean the floor! Go!”

“I finished.” It sounded like Hinata said, but her voice was hard to hear as it was carried away.

Kakuzu hung up the phone and grabbed his keys.

Hinata ducked her head down as far as she could as she pushed her rag across the floor over and over, scrubbing at imaginary stains. She thought it was clean enough, but she had learned her lesson that she wasn’t good enough, and she should keep scrubbing until told otherwise.

Her fingers didn’t like this. Every time they had her clean something, they were getting wrinkly, like when she stayed in the bath for too long.

She hoped her father would call soon. Her family was getting more and more upset that they couldn’t find him, just like Kakuzu, and they kept asking her for money, but she didn’t have any to give them.

The door to the shop opened, and Hinata bowed her head down to not look who came in because she had greeted someone on her first day and got a magazine thrown at her for it. She was only meant to clean and be quiet.

“Get up.”

Hinata's head shot up to see Kakuzu standing in front of her, looking very, very angry. She dropped her rag in the bucket and brushed off her knees as she quickly did as she was told. Had her father called?

Kakuzu knelt down to her and brought his hand out.

Hinata twisted her fingers together. She didn’t know what he was asking for.

Kakuzu’s hand came under hers and lifted them up for him to see, and his other hand ghosted back her arm where it hurt from her auntie pulling her down the hall.

“Hinata.” Her auntie snapped from the back room. Hinata shrank. “I was just told that someone heard the door chime. Why didn’t you…” She stopped ranting when she stepped into the shop and found Kakuzu there. She looked surprised and not happy to see him again.

“Hinata.” Kakuzu's voice told her angrily. “Go get your bag.”

Hinata didn’t know why, but she wasn’t going to argue. She quickly weaved around him and dipped her head as she passed her auntie on the way into the backroom. She got her things that were still mostly in her backpack because they told her very firmly that she had better not leave things lying around.

Before she could close her bag, she could hear her auntie yelling, she couldn’t hear her entirely from back here but what she could hear it was about the money she thought that she would have gotten from her father and she heard at least one ‘worthless brat’ in there which she had head quite a bit in the last few days.

A loud crash made her flinched.

But her auntie stopped yelling.

Hinata put on her backpack and cautiously padded back out of the hall to peek into the main shop. The bucket that she was cleaning with was tipped over, and the whole way across the room, the soapy water was everywhere, including on her auntie.

Kakuzu was holding a broom that had been set against the wall up at her like a sword.

“I’ll call the police!” She squeaked.

“Go ahead. I would like to report some child abuse.” Kakuzu threatened back.

Hinata was scared, but she stepped out of the door to show Kakuzu that she had done what he said. His eyes fell on her, but he didn’t relax, keeping the broom up like he might swing it. “Did you get everything?”

Hinata nodded quickly.

Kakuzu flicked his head over his shoulder toward the car. “Go get in the car.”

“I… Okay.” Hinata thought better of asking questions. He didn’t look very happy. She pushed her way out of the door and found his car right outside. She pulled the back door open to let herself in, but before she could crawl in, she heard glass shatter and a screech from inside. She turned around, but it looked like the lights were out all of a sudden.

Kakuzu came out moments later. “Let’s go.” He told her, closing the door behind her as she got into her seat. He got into the driver's side and slammed his door shut, huffing out his anger before he started the car. “Seat belt.” He snapped.

Hinata scrambled to get it. She didn’t understand what he was so upset about, but if she had to choose between going back with him and having to spend another day at the show with her auntie, she would choose him. He yelled at her less.

Chapter Text

Kakuzu parked his car. The quiet drive had done very little for his temper. He was just replaying the absolute garbage that woman said to him. It was taking everything in him not to turn around and bust something else up in that shop. He hoped that the disgusting woman couldn’t have any children or reproduce because the way that she treated a child was absolutely unacceptable.

He didn't care how much of a brat the kid was, there were lines that you just didn't cross with children, especially when they were your own.

He pushed out a breath before turning his head over his shoulder to tell Hinata to get back inside but she was slumped against her seatbelt, completely passed out.

He couldn't say he was surprised if they had her working for them like she was some kind of slave. If he can find her father to get the money he was owed out of them, what made them think that they were going to get cash for taking her in?

He got out of the car and resisted slamming the door before he came around to pull her out. He unlatched her seat belt and just picked her up straight. Her head rolled to the side onto his shoulder, and he angled himself down to grab her backpack, which, if it had been any further in, he would have left in the car for the night because he was not in the mood to fight with it.

He brought her inside and laid her back down on the couch where she had been sleeping before and where her bunny was still. She stirred, but only enough to curl into herself. Her hands curled up into little balls next to her face. The edges of her fingers were dry and red. He tossed her blanket on top of her and huffed.

This was ridiculous. Hiashi couldn't pay his debts. His family didn’t know how to take care of a damn child. Was there anyone in this awful family that cared about this child?!

She wanted to go to school. Who the hell stop the child from going to school? How many kids wanted to go to school?

Kakuzu sat down at his desk. If the kid wanted to go to school, he would enroll her. If no one could be responsible enough to take her in, and he had to be the one to take care of her, then he was going to turn her into an asset.

He paused. He wouldn’t be able to do that when he wasn’t legally her guardian. That was fine. He was just going to have to forge some paperwork.

Kakuzu eyed the pawn shop that had a few too many weird dolls hanging from the ceiling for his taste. No one was at the counter, so he smacked his hand down on the bell. He didn't like waiting, and he was still in a very bad mood.

“I heard the door chime,” Sasori called from the back.

“Then you should have come out to greet your customer.” Kakuzu hissed back.

Sasori came out of the back room with a ridiculous pair of glasses on his face that were probably designed to look at something tiny and frustrating. He flicked the lenses to give him a look. “What do you want?” He asked.

“I need documents.” Kakuzu pulled out his own and a picture he had taken of Hinata and had gotten printed out. “I need this girl to be on my family registry.”

Sasori made a face and picked up the picture. “How did you end up with a child?” He as ludicrously. “She doesn't look like you.”

Obviously, she wasn't his. “She’s collateral.”

“Then why do you want to put her on your family registry?” Sasori shook his head.

“Because you need a legal guardian to sign the paperwork to send her to school.” Kakuzu didn't like explaining himself.

“Why are you sending collateral to school?” Sasori raised his eyebrow.

“Just make the document.” Kakuzu snapped at him.

Sasori was unfazed by his rage and only flicked his eyebrows up like he thought it was amusing that he had gotten under his skin. He would find it far less amusing if he burned this stupid pawn shopfront to the ground. “What do you want the relation to be?”

“I don't care, whatever will make it easy to enroll her without any questions.” That was his job to figure out.

Sasori collected the information he brought. “Alright, I'll call you when it's done.”

“Here you go, kiddo.” One of the guys who hung out in the office handed her a pink bottle with a character on the front of it. “Use this lotion on your hands until they stop flaking, okay?”

Hinata accepted the bottle from him and opened it to smell it. It smelled nice. Everyone seemed very concerned with how her hands looked. She didn’t even think that it was that bad, but she heard a lot of mean things pointed at her auntie.

She wasn’t really sure if she should be upset. She felt like she was punished because she hadn’t done what she was told, but that didn’t seem to be everyone else opinion. She didn't actually know who to listen to because, until recently, the only person she was ever allowed to listen to was her father.

Everyone here seemed to listen to Kakuzu even though they were adults too, so she thought that he was probably the person she should listen to the most.

“Are you excited to start school?” Someone asked her.

Hinata nodded.

“Will this be your first year?” They wondered.

Hinata shook her head. “I had school last year.”

“I bet you did really well, huh?” She was presented with a smile.

Hinata couldn't smile back. “Not good enough.” At least her father never thought so. He was very upset that her handwriting wasn't improving as much as he wanted it to. He didn’t like how she held a pencil. He made them write characters over and over and over and would stop her to correct her hand positioning anytime she fell back into the position that was more comfortable, but he was never happy with the shape in which her characters came out. She remembered crying because her fingers were tired, but she knew she couldn’t stop or he was going to insist on her doing more.

The smile dropped. They open their mouth to say something else, but they stopped as Kakuzu came in with a plastic bag of clothes on a hanger and drops it on the chair next to her. “That is your uniform. Take care of it.”

Hinata touched the edges of the plastic that the uniform was tucked into. She was glad she was going back to school. She knew her father would be very upset if he found out that she was falling behind in classes.

“Oh, won’t you look spiffy?” One of the guys said. What was spiffy?

“We need to get you one of those.” Another joked at him while he was in the middle of chewing.

“I could pull it off.” He joked back, striking a silly pose.

Hinata giggled, but they flinched as Kakuzu’s office door slammed. “I think we are being too loud.” She whispered.

The group sighed.

Kakuzu reached into the spare bedroom that he had been using as a storage closet for the apartment that was over the top of the office and turned on the light. Everything that he had stored in there had been piled up into its boxes on the far side so that it could have room for the futon he laid out for her.

He regretted sending someone out to get her a duvet and pillow because of a brightly colored flowery monstrosity, but he didn't care enough to take it back,

The room would be simple but functional. If she wanted to do her homework in here, he’d plop a table down, but other than that, he didn't think she needed much else. That being said, he was sure that she would collect a few things, as his staff seemed to be intent on spoiling her.

“You’ll sleep in here from now on.” He told Hinata, who peaked in from behind his legs. “Keep your things in here, keep them tidy. I won’t clean up after you.” It was a somewhat unnecessary comment. She kept tidier than most of the grown men that he employed.

Hinata padded inside to look around. Her eyes were curious and content.

“Stay out of the boxes,” Kakuzu added. There was nothing in there that she could really destroy, but he didn't want her snooping either. “You should clean up and go to bed. It's getting late.” He turned to go back downstairs to his office, he still had work to do.

“Thank you,” Hinata called, making him pause. “Good night.” She added.

Kakuzu didn’t respond. He just headed on his way.

Chapter Text

“Does she have any allergies?” The old crone at the desk asked with her pen primed over a file that was likely going to be shoved in a drawer and never read again. “There wasn’t one listed on any of her paperwork.”

Kakuzu glanced down at Hinata to answer the question.

“Strawberries.” Hinata let out in a small voice.

“Alright. We’re just going to need an emergency number and…” The crone turned her chair around and then pulled a card out of a pile. “If you ever need to pull her out of class for an appointment or family emergencies, we need you to call this number before you show up.”

Kakuzu took the card.

“Well, that’s it.” The crone got up from her chair and smiled at Hinata. “Since you’re our only new student in the year, you’re going to be the belle of the class.”

Hinata shrank down miserably.

Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to make the incredibly quiet child know she was about to be the center of attention. Hinata looked up at him with that fear in her eyes, but she wanted to go to school. This was the consequence. “Go on.”

Hinata pressed her lips together, slid herself off her chair with her backpack and her lunch box, and followed the desk lady out of the room to her class.

Kakuzu was glad to be done. With her here for a few hours a day, he could get work done.

Hinata dipped her head as low as it would go as she was introduced to the class. She didn’t want to be stared at. She just wanted to sit down and start the lesson. She was told to go sit in the empty seat, and she hurried to the back of the class to fill it.

She shrank down into it as other students glanced back to look at her.

She really, really hoped that class would start soon.

“Hey.” The kid beside leaned over. “Are you foreign?”

Hinata blinked at him and shook her head. Why would he assume that?

“Do you speak Japanese?” He made a face at her.

Hinata nodded.

He looked even more confused. “Then why aren’t you talking?”

“I…” Hinata wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“She’s scared.” The kid in front of him turned to scowl at him. “You’re scaring her.”

“How?” He waved his hands at her. “I just asked her a question.”

“I don’t think she wants to be asked questions.” The other told him.

The first pouted at him before turning to her. “I’m Kiba.” He pushed the shoulder of the guy in front of him. “This is Shino.” Shino mildly nodded his head.

“H… Hinata.” Hinata bowed her head politely.

Kiba made a face. “That’s a weird name.”

Shino turned to give him more of his annoyed look. “It’s not.”

“What would you know?” Kiba shot back.

Hinata shrank down in her seat. She had been here for two minutes, and she was the center of an argument.

Kakuzu glanced down the parent pick-up line and saw some uncomfortable faces of past or current customers. They probably thought that he was here for one of them, but he had his own business to deal with today.

Hinata came up with her head down. She glanced up only for a moment, enough to see him, and she shoved her eyes back down on the pavement and hurried toward him.

He opened the car door for her, and she got in. He came around to get in the other side and checked the rear mirror to see her glancing out the window warily. He glanced back out at the schoolyard to see that they were was a snot-nosed kid waving aggressively at the car.

… He really didn’t like kids, or at least ones that acted like whatever the hell that was.

“I can run really fast, wanna see?” Kiba asked her, and before she could answer, he took off across the basketball court.

Hinata blinked. It was fast.

“I think his mom said that she is going to get medication,” Shino commented, crossing his arms.

Medication for what? Was he sick? He seemed fine.

“Look out!”

Hinata turned to see what the shouting was out, only to realize far too late that she was the one they were shouting at. A basketball hit her face. Her head flicked back, and her feet came out from under her. She stumbled back, knocking both her and Shino to the ground. Between the hit in the face and the fall, mostly to the hardwood floor, she was too startled to know what actually hurt.

She tried to look to see if Shino was okay, but she couldn’t focus, and she coughed because somehow she had liquid in her mouth.

“Oh! Sorry.” Someone called as they rushed closer. “Are you okay? Oh, your nose!”

Hinata blinked up at a blonde boy she hadn’t met before. His hands were out, trying to see if she was okay. “I think…” She coughed again, but when she tried to cover her mouth, she covered her hands in what looked like blood. “...” She let out a squeak as she realized she was covered in it.

“Tip your head back.” The PE teacher instructed her as he pushed his finger onto her forehead and rested a hand on the back of her head. “Naruto, you need to be more careful. This is the second time this week you have hit someone.”

“It would be a problem if someone could catch the ball.” Naruto shot over his shoulder.

“Here.” The PE teacher pushed a bundle of tissues under her nose. “Someone take her to the nurse and tell her to call her parents.”

“I can!” Kiba announced.

“Hold this under her nose and make sure she keeps her head back.” He instructed, letting Kiba switch hands.

Kiba washed the blood off his hands and came back into the nurses' office where Hinata was sitting in a set of clothes from the lost and found that was a boy’s PE uniform that was way too big for her because hers was covered in blood. Her nose was forming a bruise around her nose, which she had an ice pack lightly pressed to, but luckily, the nurse didn’t think that it was broken. Her nose was a little too flat to break, which was cool.

Hinata looked up at him as he sat down.

“Is your dad coming to pick you up?” Kiba asked.

Hinata's eyes shifted off to the side. She didn’t really answer. Was he not?

“I got the flu once and threw up all over the lunch table, and my mom had to come to get me, but my sister also had the flu, so we got to stay home together and watch movies and eat as many peanut butter crackers as we wanted,” Kiba told her with a smile.

Hinata didn’t smile back, actually she looked like she might cry.

“I mean, my sister did hog the couch with her big butt, but…” Kiba stopped as he watched Hinata go from looking sad to her face scrunching up as she started to cry, which made her flinch and reach her open hand to her nose. “Hey… sorry…” He tried.

He didn’t understand why she was crying now. She wasn’t crying when she got hit in the face. Did it just really hurt? Did she have a bad time with the flu?

“Can I help you?” The nurse lifted her head from her desk to look at the door.

“I am here for Hinata.” A deep voice commented.

Hinata got up and wiped at her face to hurry to her dad latching her hand to the hem of his jacket.

He looked down at her and brought his hand down to lift her face to look at the bruise. “What happened?”

“Stray ball in gym class.” The nurse commented. “She should be fine, but her nose keeps bleeding, and she is going to need to keep switching out ice packs, so I don’t want to send her back to class.”

Hinata dipped her head down and tucker herself closer to him.

Her dad glanced around the room and his piercing stare caught sight of him and glared at him. “Who hit her.”

Kiba shrank. Not him. He didn’t do anything.

“Just one of the kids playing basketball.” The nurse told him. “Probably Naruto. That little brat is never careful.”

Hinata tugged the hem of her dad's jacket to get him to leave. Her dad glanced down at her and bowed his head only half politely to the nurse before he turned to leave with a last death glare toward him.

Kiba ducked himself out of view just in case.

The nurse peaked her head around the curtain at him. “You can go back to class now.”

“Yeah…” Kiba agreed.

And he thought that his mom could be scary.

Why did talking about that time he was sick make her cry?

Why did her dad look nothing like her?