Whee, it's chapter 7! I'm sure you're all reeally excited. Well you ought to be. And yes... every now and then my inner drama queen demands that I use italics every other sentence, because there needs to be emphasis to create what I'm trying to convey.
I own zip... except for this really puffy black coat with white piping. I love it, it's all fluffy and new and waarm... Virginia weather needs to make up its mind. Anyway... as I was saying, don't own Naruto, and the : ahem : ring is based off a much cheaper thing of pink and white crystal that I do own. Apologies to anyone who doesn't appreciate my viscously attacking (yes viscously, because me and my roommate are insane and enjoy confusing other people) Sakura. But keep in mind this AU, and I needed some relief. At least I didn't take a bat to her. Continuing with the disclaimers, there's a J.J. Rousseau quote in there somewhere which I don't own either.
Descent into Rapture Chapter 7: To Mark
"Oi, Uchiha, you have a moment?" Hanabi twirled a lock of hair around a finger and waited for an answer. The dark head raised from the water fountain to look her in the eyes.
"I have a few more than one. What for?" Given the expressionless look on his face, he probably already had a good idea, and didn't appreciate her intrusion in private matters.
"You and I both know the only reason I'd talk to you is because of my sister. You know… your fiancée."
"What about her?"
"You just can't make things easy for everyone, can you? I want to know if you're just going to let the Clans' will be the only driving force behind this engagement." Her gaze hardened. "I refuse to let my sister marry a man she barely knows, even after eight years of being in the Club." Sasuke's face never changed as her defenses slipped, showing just how much she worried about her older sister. "She wouldn't like that, even if she never complained. I understand that you were both thrust into this arrangement, but the least you could is try to work with it."
Seeing the Uchiha wasn't about to say anything, much less move from where he stood in front of the water fountain, she huffed and walked past him, head tilted up. As she passed she said in a low voice, "Don't you dare make her cry, Uchiha."
"Hyuuga." His voice stopped her.
"What?"
"The Clan gave me this." He held up a small ring box, which he tossed to her.
She opened it, and pressed her lips together. "It's…"
"Hideous." Sasuke didn't need to hear what she had to say to know she agreed. "Clan heirloom."
"It doesn't suit her." Hanabi looked at the gold band, with its diamonds and rubies, and tried to picture it on her sisters pale hand. She closed the box with a definitive tick and flipped it back to him.
"Can't be helped." They both knew he was talking about more than the Uchiha heirloom.
"So, when do you plan on giving it to her?" At the blank silence, Hanabi had to repress an exasperated sigh. "Well seeing that it's show and tell, I'll let you in on a secret. You know that they're demanding you act more… couple-y. Neji's booked the pair of you seats to the circus. Hopefully no one will notice if you make a spectacle of yourself. He'll find you sometime, I'm sure."
"Sasuke-kuuun, why don't you ever talk to me? How can you be engaged? To her, no less. I know you don't so much as look at her, so why does everyone say you're going to be married with in the year? Sasuke!"
"Sakura… go… away… I do not need to deal with you right now, in fact, I never have. This ridiculous crush you insist is true love annoys the hell out of me. You annoy the hell out of me."
"What is this racket?" Yuuhi Kurenai all but flung open the shoji door. She looked highly annoyed. Behind her were four girls. Three were new, receiving their training with no less than Scarlet, but the fourth was…
"Hinata-chan, can you please do something about your fiancé?" Kurenai refrained from spitting out the last word. "Why don't you treat him to a therapy session? Girls, thank Hinata-san, she's leaving now." With genuine moans of disappointment from the students, Kurenai guided her former charge out the door; with a warning "I was quite serious".
"Good afternoon, Haruno-san… Sasuke." Hinata offered weakly, still in mild shock from the abrupt transition.
Sakura flipped her hair over her shoulder with an ill-tempered "hmph" of annoyance. Sasuke simply glared at the floor. Hinata was visibly wilting from the menace permeating the hallway.
"Um… if you don't need me for… anything, I'll just go to the Lounge and see if anyone needs my… help." She made to beat a hasty retreat, but an arm caught her.
She turned and was greeted by Sakura's furious face and Sasuke's hand on her wrist.
"Actually… if you wouldn't mind…"
"So this is just to make me feel better or do you actually want my help?" She asked casually as she selected a softly pungent concoction of tea leaves and aloe.
His voice was muffled as he pulled his shirt over his head. "More of an overdue necessity. If you've ever gone against Naruto, you would know he's kinda… over exuberant. And I don't ask for just anyone's help."
She laughed a trifle too forcefully, trying to rid herself of the guilt of leaving Sakura behind. "Coming from you, that's high praise. Alright, well, let's get started. Sorry if the table is a little cold."
Her hands were as warm as her normally sunny attitude. And her voice was as cool and refreshing as whatever it was she was rubbing into his skin. There could be some definite perks to this arrangement. At least she wasn't one of the rabid leeches like Sakura. And speaking of her…
"So when's the wedding?" There was a note of spiteful malice in the pink haired girl's voice. Sasuke was more than willing to ignore her, but Hinata… was far too polite. He didn't understand why Sakura had decided to follow them. Stupid.
"I- We…" The tears were almost audible in her voice. Then training snapped in, and a cool layer of socially acceptably correctness came through. "We've just been so caught up in the public unveiling of our engagement that the two of us hadn't had time to really think about the wedding." There… all statements true… in the right context.
Sasuke could feel the tension and anxiety fighting against the icy demeanor. She was far past flustered, he could tell. Her hands were fluttering over the small of his back, and they weren't doing him much good. His hand gently took hers and guided it to the wings of his back, around where he had been feeling a little sore after some match with Gaara.
She bit her lip; she was becoming distracted, which did no one any good, so she stopped thinking about Sakura, about the engagement… about anything but Sasuke. Not that that helped in the least, because… well, she was running her hands all over his bare back.
Sasuke had also stopped thinking about Sakura… but that had been going on for a long time. He personally didn't care what the other girl thought; more advantages of the engagement were making themselves known.
Calm quiet versus all that chatter. An excellent fighter and healer that could tolerate, if not understand, his moods. Or the flashy but mediocre fighter that sold well, and despite not being from a rich family, was spoiled beyond belief. Sakura was pretty enough, with her very long pink hair, but it was the kind of beauty that was becoming common. It turned heads, but those heads soon forgot and went back to what they were doing. Plastic surgery, dye, cosmetics, all of it was to create the image that Haruno Sakura was naturally; that socially sought artificial idea of perfection. Hyuuga Hinata, from what he could tell, was not any of that. She didn't turn heads; she caught eyes and held them. And they would always look for her, to make sure she was actually there. There was something about her that made you need to check and make sure you hadn't imagined her to begin with. She was, he would admit, a beautiful woman. Even Itachi had seen that.
Sasuke tried not to tense up at the thought of his brother. He remembered all too well the last time he had seen him. His first fight with Hinata. He and his fishy friend had been there, watching him and Hinata fight. They wanted a stunt double for some new best selling movie that Sasuke would not be able to watch, simply because it had his disowned brother in it. Not that the public knew Itachi was his disowned brother. The Uchiha Clan mostly kept to itself, and that had proved prudent this time. A seamless transition of Heirs. He pulled himself out of his thoughts when a new voice broke the heavy silence.
"You look a little upset, Haruno." Sasuke felt Hinata's hands tense before continuing their work. He turned his head to the doorway. Hyuuga Hanabi was leaning against the doorjamb, with Uzumaki Gaara. She had obviously come in search of her sister, but had apparently decided that toying with a girl she didn't like would be a good way to pass the time till her sister finished. Hanabi's lips had a tiny little sadistic tilt to them that Gaara seemed more than a little distracted by. Trust one sick fuck to be attracted to another. Sasuke supposed that might have been an unfair thought, but it didn't have to be wrong.
"Firecracker, not now, please." Hinata sensed the potential catfight and tried to diffuse the bomb before it had a chance to spark.
"But Hinata…" Hanabi had been about to retreat gracefully… then Sakura opened her mouth.
"What's wrong, the Hyuuga spare can't stand up to the heiress?" There was a less than attractive scowl on Sakura's face.
Hinata didn't even hesitate. "Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong." She remarked quietly before changing tune. "All done, Sasuke; that should have helped." She moved to the small sink, and caught sight of Gaara, who had been lurking just out of her sight behind the door. "Hi Gaara-kun." She gave him a warm smile, one it had taken him a long time to get used to.
Sasuke sat up; rolling his shoulders a bit, testing what had been fixed. His eyes were on Sakura, who was clearly not used to being brushed off, despite that being the entirety of the relationship she had with Sasuke. The younger Hyuuga had a gleam in her eyes that suggested malice, and Gaara was watching blankly, but he was watching, the set of his shoulders suggesting he wouldn't be happy if either Hyuuga were upset.
"Sakura-san, I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult my sister. Hanabi is rather short-tempered, and I'm rather over-protective." Hinata dried her hands and gave the younger woman a serene smile.
"As if the princess could take me on."
"There's a reason she's in the Elite, Haruno." Hanabi was pissed. No one implied her sister was weak. Gaara looked annoyed too… as much as Gaara could look annoyed. His hands were ever so slightly curling to a fist. Hinata was biting her lip, not sure what she would do should a fight break out. Sasuke decided to take things into his own hands. He pulled out the ring box, with that vulgar mark of ownership inside, and tossed it in the air, catching it when it came down. It caught only Hinata's attention, the others were fixated on each other.
He reached over and pulled her closer. Her body was warm through her leotard, and his skin was cool. The glide of skin against cloth brought on… nothing. What should have been a sensual caress was merely part of a performance.
"Forgot to thank you for the fight earlier." He remarked offhandedly, uncaring of her sudden blush, of everyone's rapt attention. She took the box in a silent fluster, opening it with slight trepidation. She stared at it, seconds stretching in to moments.
"Uchiha heirloom. Thought you should have it now." He didn't need to tell her that the lack of pronouns was deliberate.
"It's a lovely ring." The sentiment behind it was anything but. She put it on the appropriate finger, staring at it a little dazedly.
Hanabi and Sasuke looked too. Against her lily white skin, the ring looked… out of place. It didn't look bad, it just didn't belong there.
With a barely concealed snarl, Sakura flounced out of the room.
"See, that wasn't so difficult." Hanabi's face and voice were expressionless.
Review responses:
Dearx: Patience is a virtoo my dear; and all my reviewers are saints. As patience isn't a necessary trait with my stories... I like my writing style too... it helps me make things flow better. I can almost see how the scenes end, what words would be emphasized, but the fact that it's fanfiction lets me stick in a few extra things.
juliaguliua1017: Grandmaster plans are only fun when they don't work. Otherwise life'd be kinda boring. For me. And as for Hinata playing detective... well you'll see. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I can hope.
mI.Shoe: I'm hoping you meant to say "fascinates" because I'm not going to do "fantasizing". Even if I do stick stick Hinata in purple leather... XD. Having been dragged in to sketchy sketchy movie viewings with in recent memory... Fantasies are out. But yes, I digress. You'll see what happens eventually. It'll be like a TV epic... thing... bob... ish... um... I'd do more for the January contest... but I'm out of ideas.
Blind adoration makes me so happy. And the fact that I have absolutely no social ensure the short wait between updates. It's so sad that I have to live vicariously through my fanfiction. It makes me sad... if only I had two really hot brothers in contention over lil ol' moi.
So anyway, more thanks and thulips to Lems, Nanthakon DDR, Sinnara, kenshinlover2002 and Demeterr
Reviews make me happy, very much so. I'll peddle more romance if I get a lot. XD
