Can We Love

Who The Fuck Did My Mother Hire?

As promised, Asuma took me out around the Village.

He even brought his girlfriend, a kind woman named Kurenai.

She was also a Jonin instructor and had gladly given me all the embarrassing stories of her young students.

But then Asuma would say something I couldn't understand and then they would make cute faces at each other over a joke I would never understand.

I know that I had invited her, and I did enjoy her company.

I just enjoyed it less when Asuma would push back a curl of her deep brown hair, or stare into her kind red eyes.

She was a beautiful woman, capable of finding herself a nice man that she was happy with, while I was stuck under my mother's heel.

I couldn't care less that they were together, but I was jealous of the looks they gave.

They have something I feared I never would, and it infuriated me.

I found their company becoming less and less welcome.

We were no longer a small group hanging out to distract me from my inevitable wedding, but I started to feel as though I was interfering with a date.

It was natural and expected, but it still annoyed me.

I became background noise, like the servants back at the Manor.

They made sure to include me when it was necessary, but I knew the truth.

I was a nuisance, as my mother always said, and it was time for me to go.

'But I don't want to go back yet.'

I bit my lip and slowed to a stop, watching Asuma laugh at the quiet joke Kurenai whispered to him.

Deciding it best not to disturb them I silently slipped away.

Sometimes I prided myself on my ability to disappear, which made me feel like a ninja as a child.

But then I grew up and my dreams of being a fellow shinobi perished with every immobile dress or heels my mother forced upon me.

Slipping through the busy streets of Konoha was satisfying, almost freeing.

I wondered, briefly, if I could, should escape?

But the thought was fleeting.

It wouldn't be fair to Hatake, after all.

Asuma made it clear that if he doesn't marry me then he'll be forced to marry someone else.

He couldn't run, so why should I be allowed to forsake everything when he can't?

It wouldn't be fair.

At least with me, he would have freedom.

What if the next girl was some stuck up snob?

I, at least, won't inconvenience him.

'Mother always taught me how to be a proper wife,' I thought bitterly, 'But to hell with that. I'll just stay out of his way like some roommate, that way neither one of us feels obligated to anything.'

Hanging my head I watched the feet of the crowd absently.

I was taught to be a proper wife, yet I was never any good at it.

Sure, I could do the basics, but I was never enough for my mother's approval.

'Who cares? I'm not gonna run around and cook dinner, clean, or please some man I couldn't care less about!' I thought heatedly, cursing whoever decided that was what it meant to be a wife.