Sacrifices

Chapter 2 of three

Kiba and Shino are the first outsiders to hear, as is Kurenai, who takes one look at Hinata's face and walks off to get a drink or several.

Kiba sputters, and begins to shout, as loud as he can. Every noisy profanity lowers in volume until finally he mutters a, "…not…fair…" under his breath and scrubs fiercely at his eyes.

Shino considers it carefully, and, leaning against a tree trunk, asks her if she is sure.

"Yes," she says. Kiba stares at her, asks her "Why?" , and she shrugs.

Akamaru offers her a hug. She accepts it.

It is a very nice hug.

.0.

The first time she actually meets her future husband face-to-face, she is not at all prepared.

He walks into the Hyuuga compound a few days ahead of the delegation from Sand, having gone ahead for reasons of his own. This one, she suspects. She sees him in one of the formal meeting rooms.

When she stumbles into it, she is flushed, partly from excitement and exertion, and she is afraid.

"I am Gaara of the Sand," he says without preamble. No other words are necessary, his title says it all. "We are going to be married in two weeks."

"Yes," she says, bowing to him. He inclines his head at her, his posture one her father would have loved for her to emulate.

"I-" he hesitates, almost, and she envies him his ability to look perfectly sure even when he is not. "I will try to be a good husband to you."

"Thank you," she says, eyes downcast. If he is willing, then there is no reason why she cannot do the same. "I will be a good wife as well, Kazekage-sama."

He looks as though he is struggling with himself as he rises. She does not try to open the door for him, Hinata would only get in his way.

"What is your name?" he asks, back to her, face unreadable in any case. She supposes she should have been grateful that the elders had so much as bothered to inform him that she was Hyuuga.

"Hinata," she tells him.

He nods. "You may call me Gaara, Hinata. You are going to be my wife."

After he leaves, she slumps against a wall, remembering the coolness (but not cold, she knows cold, not the freezing aura of disdain but the lukewarm waters of unfamiliarity) of his gaze, the stone of his voice and face.

Gaara is going to be her husband. She is going to spend the rest of her life with that man.

She cries because she is being self-pitying. To do it for any other reason would be an insult to the Kazekage-sama, an insult to a man who is doing his duty as much as she is.

Neji sees her red eyes, but says nothing. She is grateful. Hinata is more than enough of an embarrassment to the family as it is.

.0.

The next time he visits her, he lets himself into her garden, and stands there for a few minutes before she notices him, dry branches casting deep shadows under his eyes, like the not-faded ones beneath his eyes.

Gaara sees the absorption on her face and the curve of her neck as she replants a sapling, and lingers on the gentle hands smoothing soil over delicate roots.

Hinata greets him, stumbling over the beginnings of his title before settling on his name.

Temari says that Hinata is shy. Temari says that Hinata is easily scared. Temari says that he should be nice to Hinata. Gaara thinks he has no idea how to.

He nods to her, and Hinata has no idea what to say, no idea what to do, or even if she should do anything at all.

She is quiet and small and weak. She is scared, not afraid. She is going to be his wife. Gaara feels, for a moment or two, almost overwhelmed.

They are the both of them hopeful, with no idea as to what about.

-tbc-