Hey! Things are finally FINALLY calming down on my end, so hopefully some more regular updating is headed this way! This one's a bit short to get me back into the writing mode. OOCness may happen, blah blah, oh well, I'm sure you know by now. Please NICELY show my my errors so that they might be corrected. I'm going to start introducing a couple new concepts into the mix. Thank you to EVERYONE who has reviewed! I was one away from one hundred! That is AMAZING. I never in all my life expected so much positive feedback! Now, after such a long wait, here is the next chapter offfffff...
The Orchid's Keeper
Main Pairing: Sasuke/Hinata
Side Parings: Onesided Neji/Hinata, Undetermined
Rating: M, just in case I get a little heavy. ;)
Summary:A dark young man spots a beautiful girl in a field alone, and decides she will be his. However, he soon finds that force may not have been the way to go about things…
Things within the main house of the compound had been…strained since her "date" with the young dog lord. The elders had naturally been very displeased with the turn of events, and Kiba himself had gained a strange, embittered edge. Once, she had been going down the corridor, headed to another dance lesson, and she had heard raised voices coming from one of the rooms they used less often.
"I came here under the impression that things would be moving much quicker than they have been. I cannot begin to express how very angry it makes me to be lied to."
She had scurried away before she could hear anymore, but even that had been enough to make her more than a bit frightened.
Now, she was being called into her father's office, after a week of more "dates" with Kiba. One highlight, however, had been that she had gotten to know the happy young man Naruto better, and she had to say that she enjoyed his company, quite more than she had expected to. His buoyant laughter and sunny disposition, not to mention his ever-lengthening stories and crude jokes filled the awkward space between her and her 'beau'.
Neji on the other hand, hadn't spoken a single word to her since their last heated exchange, the day after Kiba had arrived. All though many had been watching her that evening, he had not been one of them, and for some reason he had simply assumed she had allowed the man certain liberties.
She recalled with a slightly aching heart the cruel words they had spoken to one another.
"Neji-nii-san, I don't understand why you have been looking at me like that all day. It makes me uncomfortable." She had spoken up. They had been in her sitting room, she working on her tragic needlework, and he staring at her with what could only be disgust on his face.
"Forgive me, Hinata-sama. I just cannot seem to view you in the same manner. After all, you are a changed woman now, aren't you?" his voice had been biting and respectful at the same time.
It had irritated her thoroughly.
She had tossed the velvet scrap aside and stood as easily as her heavy clothing would permit. Despite the fact that their initial meeting was over, she was still being made up every day. She was tired, from poor sleep, cranky from all the attention and pressure, and very very warm from all the stupid stupid layers she was wearing.
"And just what are you implying, cousin?" Her voice was cold, one of the few times she used the typical Hyuuga demeanor.
Neji stood as well, towering over her, attempting to intimidate her. "No need for pretty niceties, Lady. I know as well as you that you are a woman of the world now." He replied, looking down on her, eyes hard.
"If you are implying in some way that I was anything less than friendly with Kiba-kun, than let me inform you that I was not. I hugged him. And that was it. Believe it or not, I can and do think for myself. I'm not some mindless little puppet that the elders can have do their bidding any time they want. I am making this decision of my own consciousness. I am not being forced into anything. If you'd open your eyes and close your mouth, maybe you would have noticed." She retorted, shaking with anger. Why was he being such a…..mean person!
Her exit had followed her dramatic little rant, and they hadn't spoken since.
Of course, she was apologetic, and of course, he would have nothing to do with her at the moment.
Her father's office was already open, and she made the traditional greetings. Seated inside already were Kiba-kun and her father. Kiba stood when she entered the room, bowing to her deeply.
"You look lovely, Hinata-sama, as always." He told her, his voice slightly gravelly.
The tension was very thick in the air, and she felt certain that if anymore were added one could swallow and choke on it. So, instead of being petulant, she was very forthcoming.
"Thank you very much Kiba-kun. You look handsome, as well." She told him, a blush staining her cheeks. She knew he saw it, because his grin widened.
"Ahem." Her father cleared his throat.
"Please, daughter. Have a seat. We have much to discuss."
Neji slammed his body against the heavy dummy, modeled after a man far outweighing himself.
His training had been much more rigorous the past week. He had arisen hours earlier than typical, trained much harder, destroyed more dummies, sparring partners, and equipment than ever before. No one was willing to train with him anymore.
What he needed was a good, old-fashioned fight with someone he could really lay into.
Maybe one of the mutt's guards would be up for the challenge.
Hinata's words still rang in his head. But not in the positive way, as she had hoped.
Instead, all he could hear her saying was that she chose to follow the path she was on.
She was deciding to marry that idiot.
She was deciding to give everything up.
She was deciding to leave without ever even giving him a chance.
He kicked the dummy viciously.
It's thick, heavy rubber head flew off, and slapped against the wall, bouncing a couple times, and rolling to his bare feet.
He nudged it with his toe, feeling the weight, the slippery skin-like texture.
That made four dummies this morning.
He was on a roll.
"Has everything been readied to my specifications?" He demanded, devoid of emotion.
Sasuke was scrawling lazily in the book of the Worthy. It had been what he supposed most would call a 'good' day. He had had a total of seven people depart into the haven of the underworld, nearly unheard of compared to the one or so he had every couple of days.
It irritated him slightly.
Almost as much as the green-eyed woman sitting on his desk.
"Of course, master. The coach has been prepared, horses groomed, and guards have been notified of all planned entrances and exits." The mostly-naked demon girl said shaking her long, pink hair in what he was sure she thought was a seductive manner. Her lack of clothing was what was considered the norm by most of the demon women that worked in the lower depths of the underworld, some taking an even more…casual….approach to the 'uniform.'
"Good. Now, where is the idiot?" He asked, not bothering to take his eyes off his paperwork this time.
"Naruto-kun is on his way in. He was checking last minute preparations, and then promised he'd be back shortly." She told him, pressing herself a little bit closer to his hands.
"Excellent. Dismissed." He replied, all but pushing her off of his desk.
"But master I had been hoping we could—"
"Was I unclear when I dismissed you?" he cut her off, his eyes cold and calculating, as he fixed her with his steady glare.
"No, master. My apologies." She murmured, before scuttling off.
He wished annoying women had been that easily handled in his mortal days.
He scoffed lightly to himself, before returning to the book, and finishing the task at hand.
Afterwards, he would be able to focus on the much more important and tantalizing job ahead.
They had been sitting in silence for what seemed to be a good million years, but what could truly have only been fifteen or so seconds.
"I know, it may come as a shock, daughter, but the elders felt that with the way things were progressing so well, that there was really no need to wait." Her father spoke, and she regarded him with glazed eyes.
Hinata was quickly becoming a pro at receiving bad news.
This time, she hadn't fainted, or called out in dismay, or anything. And really, if she thought about it, the news wasn't truly awful. She had known it was going to happen.
She just didn't realize it would be so soon.
"The Inuzukas think it best that the two of you are wed in the village. A public unification will further cement the peace and prosperity that has been our way for many years now. This is just one more way of ensuring them that we aren't a threat to them…you understand, of course, Hinata?" he asked her, knowing it didn't really matter if she understood or not.
"Of course." She murmured, dutiful daughter that she was.
Kiba had been holding her hand for the duration of the meeting, and it felt as if all the moisture in her body was being removed through that one extremity.
She had figured the meeting would be about progressing their relationship. She certainly wasn't dumb enough to think it could have been about anything else.
A wedding, especially a traditional one, was a big affair that took at the least a few months of planning. She had thought she had had more time.
She was wrong.
"You leave tomorrow morning. Your things are being packed as we speak." He told the two, his voice quieter than before.
"Tomorrow?" she squeaked. Even the most skilled wedding planner in all of Japan couldn't plan a wedding in a day!
"The wedding won't be until next week, of course—"Kiba cut in, attempting to appease her.
"Next week!" she cried, pulling her hand away from his.
She only had a week left to be herself.
Only a week left to live her very own life, before she would become nothing better than a common…brood mare.
"It's not that far away, really. It will fly by like you won't believe!" Kiba promised her, trying to smooth ruffled feathers.
She smiled at him prettily, but couldn't help but think 'That's what I'm afraid of….'
Her room had never had much to symbolize that it was hers. The lacey blankets and pillows. The matching curtains.
The only thing left this morning was her hairbrush set.
After a final night of sleeping in her girlhood bed, she had helped the maid pack up her quilt, everything else having been removed before hand.
Now, seated before her glass, brushing out her hair, her eyes filled with tears.
This was too fast.
She wasn't ready.
She didn't want to go.
She closed her eyes and choked back a sob, because her door was open.
This was no longer her place to cry in.
This was no longer her eye in the storm.
When she opened her eyes, her cousin stood behind her. She hadn't even heard him come in.
"Neji-nii-kun…" she began, but then trailed off, biting her lip. She stood suddenly, and walked over to him.
In her trembling hands, she held her mother's brush, the only thing she had left of her. On a day like this, a girl needed her mother.
"Hinata…" his voice was tight with emotion, and for the first time since his father's death she thought she saw tears in Neji's eyes.
"I'm sorry." He told her.
"I know." She replied.
And when he reached for her, and held her face between his fingers, and brought his lips down to hers, and kissed her like she was the only thing in existence, like she was the very sun, moon and stars, she let him.
:) Please, please, I beg you. Drop me a little something? :) I love love love you guys who stick with me through my crazy updating. Nothing makes my day more than to see a review from one of you guys! Thank you so so much! Until next time!
Avid.