A few important notes:
This is the sequel to "The Mistress", if you haven't read it you may not understand this story but I'll probably format it so you can pick up on the context clues and understand what's going on.
I have been gone forever! I've been helping people in other countries so hopefully you guys will find it in your hearts to forgive my absence, it was for a very good cause.
Please please please excuse spelling mistakes!
And yes, I am still working on "The Branded", a completely unrelated story. I'm a busy little sun of a gun.
"I'm unsatisfied with myself." She murmured as she shut the door.
"What now?" he groaned, slinging back in his chair with a stack of unorganized and meaningless papers in his hands. He groaned, knowing this would lead to another one of those marital conversations.
"Look at me." she whined, tapping his shoulder in defense. A defense she often used because she didn't know much of anything else.
"I am looking at you." he ran his free hand through his thick, black tresses. They were tangled and matted with grease, it had been days since he even thought about combing that mess upon his head. It was so unlike him. "Do you have such a low self esteem that you have to reduce every shingle of a nerve you have to a lack in sexual attraction?" He didn't mean to be so harsh, it was just one of those days.
"Why won't you just say it? I know its what you think..." Hinata covered her forehead in some form of self induced shame.
"You want me to admit this? You want me to reassure all of your imperfections to feed into your little selfish insecurity which we all know is just another petty ploy to occupy your time and make everyone feel sorry for you."
She just stood there with the wide eyes of a young child just deprived of his favorite toy. "Why would you say that?"
"Isn't that what you wanted me to say?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, staring into his stack of papers.
"No." she whimpered. "Why would I want you to say that? What wife wants her husband to tell her she's fat?" It did slightly change his position, he wasn't thinking as rationally as he was Sasukely. He was in a bad mood, he had that sacred excuse and he would use it to humiliate and demean her as long as it stood strong.
"Yes, Hinata, you're still attractive to me." he finally sighed, just saying whatever he thought she would be most pleased with.
"You mean that?" she stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his tense shoulders.
"Dammit, Hinata. We have two kids, and since we both know what you have to do in order to get children, lets agree that I still view you as moderately attractive." He began his ramble as he normally did.
"I need someone." she stepped away and began an outloud thinking process.
"Why is that?" Sasuke turned around in his seat as his ears perked in suspicion with a slight dash of accentuating masculine jealousy.
"It's not important." she shook her head with a half smile.
"I'll take your word for it." he sighed, turning back around to sign sheet after sheet of business documents, proposals and approvals. So forth he didn't care for but had to do in order to keep a thriving house hold. It was almost a cruel irony that his house was less than vivacious on a regular basis.
Seconds passed as he signed and stamped sheets, like clock work. As of late it seemed as though everyone wanted a piece of him. Itachi still lusted after his portion of their business and the family home. Tsunade turned him into her own personal punching bag as she constantly flooded him with her busy work, as a pre approval task for someone who was perhaps nearly somewhat capable of becoming a potential hokage. While everyone in town needed him for an endorsement, stock purchasing and so forth. Hinata herself, needed him as a husband, his children were much less demanding since they were cared for by Hinata's highest paid nurse.
"Why are you still here?" he turned around once again in annoyance of his wife's nearly silent breathing from behind him.
"Well...you did say we would be going to town today...but if you don't have time..." she meekly looked at her thumbs as she poked them together awkwardly.
How could he possibly deny her this? She stood there so coyly with that saintishly seducing smile and that immature disposition. He would hate himself if he didn't fulfill this for her, if only once. "Why don't you go fix your hair in the vanity? I'll be out in an hour."
"You sound like you don't really want to go."
"I don't, I just assume this is something men usually do for their women. While, in all honestly, you'll be physically willing no matter how well I treat you, you're just that type of person. So, in reality I'm actually treating you with respect and love of my own will." his fingers tapped against the table, he had no idea why he was thinking out loud.
"Sasuke...everything that happened...before...I forgive you." Hinata said, leaning up against the door.
"I could care less whether or not you forgive me, that's not on my agenda. Is it wrong for a husband to want to tend to his wife's every need?"
"Well, every need may be an exaggeration." Hinata said humorously.
"Oh and now you're joking with me as if we were old friends?" a modest smirk graced his face. Hinata stepped towards him slowly, gently brushing her moist lips against his dry, and unwashed cheek. Short and jagged stubble poked through his pores and prickled her lips.
He bit the inside of his cheek, fighting the urge to grab her face and press his lips against her own. But no, he wouldn't give her that satisfaction.
The clock ticked away, each moment being knocked down and reduced to mere time in the flow of reality. She walked on the sidewalk ahead of him, surrounded by towering buildings and shops. Men and women guarding kiosks licked their lips in note of the Uchiha's deep pockets, praying on his wife's wandering eye and her attraction to "antique" commodities. The concrete hell he'd learned to recognize so well.
He did analyze her from behind, he often found himself trailing behind her like a lost puppy. Ironic as to how before, it was she that followed him to any dark corner. The heels of her shoes tapped on the pavement, each single stroke making its permanent mark on the earth. She never wore them before, she complained of pain surrounding her ankles and an awkward sense of sexual discomfort. Perhaps it was her recent acnowledgement of her increasing weight that provoked her to desire such things she once described as superficial. What scared him to no official amount was his ability to sense a stop coming by what targets he viewed ahead.
Hinata turned to a window, running her eyes over every detail of the advertisement showcased there. Her eyes became wide like that of a young child when presented with something they truly wanted, an ad for some cheaply made yet overpriced material for the purpose of making a given person appear to be thinner. Since when did his wife become so self centered?
"You don't need it." He spoke, just trying to say what she needed to hear.
"I do. I just want to be perfect for you." she turned to him, gently rubbing his arm. His stomach turned at her sweetness, the fact that he was undeserving at him alive.
"Regardless of how perfect you appear to be, it won't change the fact that under your clothes, the only parts of you I really care about, will wilt and age just as you do. If you'd stop trying to tweak every detail of your body, perhaps you'd have a better chance of remaining youthful naturally." she hated his lectures.
He didn't understand what it was like to be a woman approaching 30, outer beauty and natural sense of sexuality slowly dwindles. Hair will fade and become gray, lips will begin to become less perky and plump, skin will sag and become lifeless.
Sasuke's eyes trailed over her face, watching as her expression dosed from hopeful to disappointed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt." his apology didn't help his situation as he seemed to be apologizing for her lack of mental capacity when it came to common sense.
"No, I'm sorry. I was being foolish." she sighed in that low, emotionless tone she did as she began walking once again. The confidence she'd carried with her on the way, now reduced to that of a mustard seed. She watched her feet with every step they took, sighing and breathing more abnormally by the moment.
Despite her unwillingness to return to body, they held hands, the sad truth was that regardless of how prized and perfect they were, the affect of their relationship on the general population was fading. They were no longer the "cutest" couple. It was sad how fame came and went around those parts, especially for a woman nearing her mid life. Sasuke paid it all no mind, his physical being gave off no hint of aging, even as he was expecting his thirty-sixth birthday soon. He just didn't know why she obsessed about age, he'd been mentally sixty for such a long time, age was nothing but a number to him. It seemed as though she detested being gawked at by young teenage girls, who assumed the nature of her marriage was so glamorous, and elder couples who based their love as a reminiscent memory of their own. In reality, as the adoration disappeared, she lusted after it more and more. Before Sasuke knew it, she was coordinating her cocktail dresses to his suits, they were holding hands as they walked down the road, whenever someone stopped to speculate he would find himself locked in a faux kiss filled with faux passion.
Now the only thing he cared to figure out was her current mood, she held him so tightly yet felt so cold and distant. She didn't bother to throw him a glance, instead was walking with eyes straight and the occasional sigh of displacement. It reminded him of the way they used to be. Why did he start caring? "Hinata, stop this." he said, almost beggingly. "You know I mean you no harm, I just want you to understand how I feel."
"I'm truly alright, don't be concerned." she said, half smile girded with lies.
"Look," he speed-walked over to a wrack of flowers, where a vendor stood advertising supposed "fresh picked" roses. Sasuke didn't care whether the roses were fresh picked from a garden or fresh picked from shit, this fit his situation well enough. Hinata watched, predicting his every movement. He shoved his hand into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet, no doubt his fist appeared with dollars in overflow. He offered them to the vendor by pushing them in his face, he smiled eagerly with greed and took his dirty money, replacing the money with several plooms of roses by the dozen. He grabbed them roughly, probably killing several buds, walking back with a pathetic little smile and arms full of "beautiful" flowers. Of course, this wasn't always the case, occasionally he offered her jewelry, some times it was expensive clothes or cuisine. "Flowers." he showed her, as if she didn't already know what they were.
She accepted them, somewhat pleased, only somewhat.
He frowned at her unchanged expression. "I don't suppose you'll be letting me off easy this time?" Sasuke groaned inwardly, realizing exactly what was happening and feeling quite stupid for not being clever enough to have stopped it. Here came the inevitable correction, the righting of his wrongs.
"The flowers...are lovely." Hinata nodded in acceptance of his weak plea for forgiveness.
What was I thinking? Flowers always work! "I'd assume the flowers were poisoned by your expression. You don't exactly seem thrilled." He spoke, glancing to a passer by who seemed extremely too into their conversation, giving him a confused eye.
Hinata linked her pinky into his, tugging him in the most gentle way possible along their trail. She was always cryptic with these things, she would never let him onto what her heart was truly saying. Instead, she would rather ignore the situation, ignore everything and hope it would fade into daylight like most of her problems did before. It only recently occurred to her that she could only cover up her mess to a certain extent before the very thing she used to cover it, became a whole new mess of its own.
"Do you plan on speaking or are we going through another 'post marital' stage again?" His humor was really making her sick.
"Would you listen if I told you?" the sarcasm was like a snake bite.
"I'm sensing a moral to all of this."
"What I want never matters to you." She could have been more blunt, but he'd be too distracted by the bluntness to properly assess what he needed to do.
"That's not necessarily true." He spoke, examining his surrounding for no particular reason. "Your desires have a high importance in my mind, whereas I like to leave them as just that, desires."
"I expect that of you." she replied, coldly.
"Did you?" he raised a brow. "When you spend most of your marriage, ignoring your other half, finding her opinions even somewhat relevant slips through the cracks."
"That was suck a long time ago."
"Yet you speak of it like it was just yesterday, atleast when its convenient for you." Sasuke said, lashingly.
"Because it still hurts." her eyes wandered, the colors of the street catching her pupils and drawing them every which way. She spotted a man, stretching between several men and women, a pretty poor amount to add. They all tapped each other's shoulder's, whispering of the man's physical build. He was fit to be sure, Hinata's eyes remained fixed on his persona.
"Well I'm sorry that it hurts. What more can I do?" Although this was an alleged apology, it sounded so much like he was demanding forgiveness from her.
"I need him." For the very first time in this crazy adventure they referred to as a committed relationship, Hinata ignored something Sasuke said. In fact, she released his smallest finger and began to be drawn in my the man's aptitude.
Sasuke's eyes furrowed drastically, almost to the point where they would not become unfurrowed at any point. He stomped behind her in a modest sense of alarm, looking about at all the people who'd seen that (about three, but regardless of that) winning over their agreement with his quick, unsure glances.
Hinata smiled, the man stretched over and over for the people around him as if this were a performance. She later caught sight of a small sign on the ground near him, stating his name and purpose. The man looked up at her, seemingly buzzed with a natural excitement. "Hello there, Lovely." he held his hand out to embrace hers. She giggled, placing her palm where his was. He kissed it for an extended three seconds before softly letting it go. "This is insanity, when a woman like you comes to my stand I get worried. How could you possibly become any more attractive?"
Hinata blushed...as usual.
"Excuse me, I am Rip Dansei. I work in physical fitness and you, my dear, are a very fine specimen. Who might you be?" His drawl cut Hinata's throat, she felt entranced even.
"Hinata Hyu...Uchiha."
"Hinata, what is this?" Sasuke stepped closer to her, not taking his eyes off this strange man for a moment.
"I'm sorry, I'm Rip Dansei. I work in physical fitness." He reintroduced himself and offered Sasuke his hand.
Sasuke immediately shrugged it away, he always thought handshakes were beneath him, especially those employed in casual jobs. "I heard your name." Sasuke nodded, bitter sweetness dripping from his non compliant tone.
"Sasuke, this is who I need." Hinata tugged his shirt slightly, her words caused Sasuke's stomach to do a flip flop.
"You are Sasuke Uchiha? I've heard of you from my home." he offered his hand once more.
"Yes, I'm Sasuke Uchiha. Who are you?" he speculated once more.
"I'm Rip Dansei, I work in physical fitness." Damn, his hand seemed to be permanently in that position.
"He just said that." Hinata pointed out.
"And you are Hinata Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha's wife?" he motioned with his finger between the two.
"Yes, she is." Sasuke took it upon himself to answer for her. "We're married." he had no idea why the most simple sentences were coming out of his mouth, he just had to make sure this guy was aware.
"I've heard." Rip nodded, obviously tired of the banter.
"I'm seeking your services." Sasuke had never heard Hinata speak so assertively on her own before. "You see, I need to lose twenty pounds-atleast." She really wanted this and it was just now hitting home for Sasuke.
"I wouldn't recommend you lose any weight." Rip shook his head, concentrating on her physical make up.
"She's had two children." Sasuke added. "She's almost thirty too." as if to deter his attraction to her. Hinata swatted at him.
"Nonsense, I wouldn't believe you were a day over twenty-four." Rip tilted his head to Hinata with a generous smile, she blushed once more. Sasuke grimaced in disgust of his polite drawl. "I'm nearly forty myself, but you're only as young as you feel."
Hinata's brows raised in delight. "I'd never imagine you were forty." she gasped.
"We've really got some place to be." Sasuke tugged at her dress strap.
"This will only take a moment." Rip assured them both, Hinata's eye never even left the man's face. "I can put you on a twice weekly schedule. My shop is just around the corner." he pointed.
"She'll be training with you...inside your shop?" Sasuke repeated what he'd heard, trying to understand to what extent he would have to murder himself.
"Sasuke, please don't make this a bid deal." Hinata whined, knowing what was coming before it came. Sasuke was notorious for his jealousy. He would do whatever he wanted while he'd speculate every detail of Hinata's personal life. He believed she should have no personal life, unfortunately the common law denied him of that "right".
"It's quite alright actually, I offer personal training sessions for the home." he spoke, directed at Hinata then turned to Sasuke. "If that is your preference." as if it were his choice, in all honestly it was.
He bit the inside of his lip, contemplating what he would say. He didn't want that man near his wife, her definitely didn't want him in his home near his children or anything else relatively important to him. Then again, how could he possibly let Hinata down? Well, easily but he'd decided he was "changed" and he wanted to show that finding of self to her. This just wasn't the way he'd expected.
"That's...fine." he nodded, feeling a release in his diaphragm.
"So well, I'll pencil you in sometime tonight and give you a call in the morning." his smile made Sasuke want to punch him in hidden areas.
"How exactly have you obtained my phone number?" Sasuke questioned suspiciously.
"It's right up there." Rip pointed to a sign overhead.
All three turned to look up at it.
Sasuke Uchiha-XXX-XXXX
Damn, now he has my phone number. Sasuke gnashed his teeth inside his mouth, this day had barely began and it was already starting to wear thin on his resistence.
"Like I said before, it would be such an honor to work with a woman of your physical magnitude." Rip flashed her an irony drenched grin, returning to his work as they had noticed a short line formed behind where they stood. As it turns out, the high class couple still attracted much attention, even enough to draw a small crowd to a sketchy outlet stand. It may have had something to do with Rip Dansei's appearance but Sasuke would never admit it.
Now, back to the matter at hand. He would not, absolutely would not have his wife disrespect him in that way. In all truth, what she did wasn't qualified as disrespect to anyone but the merciless force that was the Uchiha prodigy. The rest of their walk was short, and bitterly silent. The ride home in their exclusive black limousine was painfully silent. Dinner that night was deathly silent. No words were spoken by him as they lay in their bed last night nor as she dreamt sweetly of her soon to be "attractive" body. He wanted to show her the fullness of his disgust for her as of late. She understood and soaked in the rejection as she normally did, as a result she mirrored his silence. It was her only defense in this relationship, she only gave back what he put forth. An attempt to woo her was rare and normally followed with unpurposeful persecution much like today; much like many days ahead.
Sorry for my absence, I'll try to write as much as I can between all the shiznit I'm currently into right now. I love you guys!
Thanks for readin' and thank you for being so good lookin'