Author's Note: I did it! I've actually had part of this chapter planned from almost the beginning of the story so getting to finally write it out was pretty relieving. I hope you guys like it. It's definitely one of my favorites so far.
Chapter Twelve: Getting Somewhere
It had been a few weeks since her office was inundated with flower arrangements. After that first week, she had continued to receive a lovely arrangement each Monday, but it seemed that Itachi had somehow determined that a bouquet a day had been too much. As much as she'd appreciated the gesture - and as flattered as she was being the object of such persistent affection - she'd breathed a sigh of relief when the arrangement the following Monday was not accompanied by more the next few days.
She glanced at the bouquet of lilies currently residing on her desk as she shut the door to her office. Her afternoon was blissfully free of any meetings so she decided to take a short walk to her favorite coffee shop just down the street. Her favorite latte and a cinnamon roll sounded like a perfect way to celebrate an afternoon consisting of only herself and her email. And, the caffeine would keep her perked up so that she'd stay productive sifting through the emails she knew were piling up as the third quarter came to a close.
Standing in line at the shop, Hinata glanced through her work email on her phone, marking certain emails as important so she would look at those straightaway when she got out her laptop.
"Hinata?" came a voice she knew all too well and the young woman froze for a moment, before turning around and acknowledging the person who was now standing very close to her.
"Hello, Naruto," she said politely. She formed her mouth into what she hoped passed for a smile and looked towards the counter to see how long she would be waiting with him.
"What are you doing here? Not that it's not good to see you! I just had a couple days off for some errands this week and stopped in here for a snack."
Lavender eyes looked him over - his golden hair, earnest blue eyes, and that disarming smile. His looks certainly hadn't changed, but she was happy to notice she felt entirely unaffected by them. Perhaps her heart was finally catching up to her brain and she was legitimately over the man who'd been her whole life for so many years.
"I come here pretty often. It's just down the road from work and they have the best cinnamon rolls."
"Oh, yeah! I thought the name sounded familiar. This is that place you were always talking about. I couldn't remember where I knew it from, but I figured I'd give it a try."
After that there was silence between the two and Naruto rubbed the back of his head in a gesture Hinata remembered meant he was a little nervous. She felt almost good knowing he wasn't still comfortable around her. Was it petty to think he didn't quite have that right? To hope their breakup had affected his feelings at least a little?
The Hyuga glanced toward the counter again, noting only two people stood between her and her order. One, now that the cashier was handing the man in front some change that was promptly dropped in the tip jar.
"So, uh, you want to sit with me when you get your stuff? I just started on my sandwich so I'll probably be here for another half hour or so. We could catch up."
Hinata's thoughts went to the laptop in her bag and she began to reconsider her idea of working part of her afternoon remotely from the cafe. She wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of sitting and chatting with her ex.
Fortunately, before she had to answer the cashier waved her forward.
"Hello Miss Hinata! Glad to see you back, it's been a while!"
Hinata smiled and responded, "Good afternoon, Keiko. I didn't realize it'd been so long."
"Will you have your usual?"
Her smile widened as the petite brunette rang in the order. The food and the atmosphere of the Leafy Bean were what had originally drawn Hinata in, but the service was what kept her coming back. All the employees there were kind and attentive. Most were studying at the local university where Hinata had attended and she'd often speak with them regarding their classes and professors. They were bright and eager and she had told a couple of them that if they were seriously considering business to let her know and she'd see what she could do about an internship. They usually had a few interns at a time in their company in various departments. These people were nice to her before knowing who she was or what she did so she didn't mind helping them out.
Hinata opened her wallet to get out her card, but Keiko stopped her. Shaking her head, she said, "Oh, that won't be necessary. It's already been paid for."
She tilted her head in confusion, and Keiko smiled and her eyes gleamed.
"A Mr. Uchiha called up here last week and paid for a gift card for us to use when you come in. You're probably set to have your usual a few times a week for the next month with how much he put on there!"
She could feel Naruto stiffen beside her. She realized that although she knew it was Itachi, he must think it was Sasuke who had done this for her.
"O-oh, that's very nice of him. Well at least let me leave you a tip."
"That won't be necessary either! He took care of that as well in his instructions. He is quite generous. I wouldn't want anyone less for our favorite customer," the brunette said with a wink.
Itachi had bought her flowers and now he was buying her coffee. He wasn't with her when she was getting it, but it was almost better that way. He respected the fact she needed some space and was giving that to her. Hinata felt warm at the thought.
She could hear Naruto scoff beside her and although it annoyed her slightly, the butterflies fluttering in her stomach were too strong to be bothered. He led her to his table and they sat down. She was still lost in thought a few minutes later when her order was placed in front of her.
Hinata noticed a heart drawn into the froth of the latte and looked at Keiko who was still smiling widely. "A heart from the guy trying to win your heart!" she said, but suddenly looked self conscious. "Was that too cheesy? It sounded fun in my head, but now that I said it out loud I'm not sure… He didn't ask us to say that. He just asked for the heart."
Hinata smiled at the young barista and shook her head, "It's fine, thank you."
The brunette perked up again at the reassurance and bounced back behind the counter. Another line was beginning to form and the Hyuga watched her do her job while taking a sip of her coffee.
"You look really pretty today," Naruto said, jerking her suddenly from her thoughts.
"Um, thank you," she replied, feeling a little awkward.
They were quiet for another minute before he piped up again, "He's not good for you, you know."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Sasuke. He's no good for you. He's never serious about anyone and yeah, I haven't seen him do anything like this before, but I still think you shouldn't date him."
Anger ripped through her, but she clamped down on it and looked at Naruto calmly over her mug.
"I don't think that's any of your business," she replied quietly. She took another sip, but her stomach was beginning to clench from her swirling emotions.
"Aw c'mon. I don't mean anything bad by it, I just don't want to see you get hurt!"
Hinata sat her cup down as carefully as she could, noting her hand was beginning to shake with anger and she took a deep breath in through her nose. She let it out and folded her hands in her lap, not wanting Naruto to see them shake.
"You don't get to say that. You don't get to say things like that to me after what happened."
"Look, I know things didn't end perfectly between us, but he's my best friend and I know him. I know how he is and I'm just worried for you."
She could feel her skin beginning to flush, but this wasn't out of embarrassment or affection. This was frustration.
"What, I wasn't good enough for you so obviously I won't hold your friend's attention? Is that what you're implying?"
Hinata was surprised at the bite in her voice and the words that were coming out of her mouth. She was known for her even temper. Hanabi even teased her on occasion saying she'd tried really hard to be the annoying little sibling when they were younger, but she'd never been able to get under her skin.
But honestly, how dare he. How dare he act like he was in a place to tell her what to do with her love life. Whether he knew what he was talking about or not, the fact that he was trying to dissuade her from a relationship at all was infuriating. How could he possibly say he had her best interests in mind?
"No, no! Hinata, I care about you! I would be upset to see you get hurt."
"Oh, of course. You would be upset. I shouldn't be with someone because it might affect you badly."
"No, I - "
"Stop, Naruto. How dare you think you have any right to give me relationship advice. You don't get to say you care about me and my feelings. You broke up with me, remember? You left me for someone else without so much as blinking and now you expect me to think you have my best interests at heart?"
Hinata could feel tears of frustration beginning to form. She stood up and gathered her things, not wanting him to see when they inevitably began to fall. She hated that she cried out of frustration. She was angry. She wanted to yell. And instead she knew she was close to breaking down in tears.
"Hinata, please don't go! I just wanted - "
"I don't care what you wanted. I cared only about what you wanted for years. I gave you everything you wanted for years. You threw that away. You threw me and our relationship away and now you think you can talk to me and ask me not to do something and expect that I'll listen because I always listened before. Well not anymore. If this is how you show you care then don't even bother."
Before he could say anything more she turned and stormed out the door. She could feel hot tears begin to fall down her cheeks and cursed internally. Crying in public was not something she planned to do today. She was going to have a nice snack at one of her favorite places and get some work done and now she was surrounded by business people who were going to see her crying because she was just shy of losing her cool and sobbing in frustration.
Her lavender eyes began to blur and she blinked quickly to clear them, trying to find a place she could step into and hide until she could compose herself.
"Hinata?"
Oh no. No, no, not right now.
"Hinata, are you alright?"
Itachi's smooth voice was suddenly right in front of her, and through her tears she could see onyx eyes looking at her in concern.
She opened her mouth to say she was fine, but instead of words she let out a sob and slapped her hand over her mouth in embarrassment, hoping to stem any further crying until she could get somewhere at least semi-private. Preferably away from the multitudes of passerby that were already beginning to turn towards her in curiosity.
Without any further words or prompting, Itachi put his arm around her and spun her into him, walking briskly while bringing her with him. Trying to hold in the tears that were spilling with more ferocity, Hinata didn't have the strength to bother fighting it.
Before she knew it, he'd opened a door and gently pushed her into what she quickly recognized was his car. He shut the door and came around to sit in the driver's seat.
"The windows are tinted as much as is legal so no one will be able to see in," was all he said before she broke down.
She couldn't believe this was happening. First Naruto had tried to tell her who she could date, and now she was ugly crying in the passenger seat of Itachi's car. Crying out of frustration was one of the things she hated most about herself because it made her feel weak and now she was doing it in front of one of the most powerful men in the country.
Due to everything that had just happened, she wasn't able to calm down for a few minutes. It was always worse when she tried to hold it in and it took her a while to get her breathing under control. Once she was breathing more slowly, a handkerchief was pressed into her palm and she shielded her face with her hair as she wiped her cheeks. Her eye makeup was waterproof, but she was sure even it could not have survived those tears intact. Luckily she didn't see much evidence of runny makeup when she pulled the cloth away from her face, though she was too embarrassed to pull down the visor mirror to check the full extent of the damage.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I am curious as to what had you in that state. You don't strike me as the type to lose your head easily."
Hinata didn't particularly want to share, but he'd just saved her from making a complete spectacle of herself and she felt as though she owed him something.
"It was just something Naruto said. He made me angry and when I'm angry, I cry."
Itachi was quiet for a moment.
"I see."
He wasn't asking for further elaboration, but for some reason that made her want to do just that. "I went into the Leafy Bean and he was there and he wanted me to sit with him and the girl told me you'd covered my coffee, but he thought she meant Sasuke and so he decided to tell me how I shouldn't date your brother and it just… it made me so mad. Because he broke up with me and we've hardly spoken since and now he thinks he can tell me what I should or shouldn't do with my love life."
"Oh. That does sound frustrating." The way he said it wasn't patronizing, but like he genuinely understood. Though she doubted he could understand her sobbing in response, she appreciated that he didn't make her feel ridiculous.
"I'm - I'm sorry for bothering you with this. I think at this point I'm more annoyed with the fact he caused me to do this than I was with the idea of him trying to tell me what to do."
"Do you want me to fire him?"
Hinata looked over at him with wide eyes, but his smirk quickly clued her into the fact that he was joking. She let out a small, watery laugh.
"Thank you."
"No thanks are necessary," he said sincerely.
"Thanks are absolutely necessary," she insisted. "And not just for this. For the flowers, for the coffee, for giving me space, for taking me somewhere I could let go, for noticing that that's what I needed, and for not judging me. Just… thank you. For everything. I don't - I don't deserve any of this from you and you still keep being wonderful."
"Hinata." His voice was suddenly sharp and she whipped her head to look at him again. He looked intently at her and spoke firmly.
"You definitely deserve those things," he said, as he took her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers.
"You're an amazing woman," with his other hand he caressed her cheek and placed his thumb against her lips when she began to protest, "and I'm not sure why you think you're not worthy of something as simple as flowers or being treated to coffee, but clearly I need to find a way to convince you of just how wonderful you are." His thumb was rubbing her bottom slip slowly as he spoke and the contact was causing her heartbeat to quicken and her body to feel warm.
With the hand that was holding hers he tugged her gently closer as he leaned in. His fingers trailed from her mouth back into her hair, her skin tingling at every point of contact. Hinata's eyes fluttered and began to close in anticipation. If his lips made her feel anything like his thumb did then a kiss would… she shivered involuntarily at the thought.
He stopped when he was close enough for her to feel his warm breath mingle with hers. She opened her eyes and saw him press his lips into a thin line before sitting back in his seat.
"I apologize," he said. He kissed her hand one more time and placed it back on her lap. He took a deep breath in and she could tell his pulse must be racing as fast as hers.
"I'll drive you back to your office if that is alright with you."
Hinata felt emotionally drained and a little thrown off by their almost kiss so she was thankful for his offer. She had to remind herself he had stopped out of respect for her wishes. Ironically, it made her want to kiss him even more.
"That's very considerate of you, thank you," she said. She began to reach for his hand when he shifted his car into gear, but held herself back. She shouldn't get carried away.
They drove back in a companionable silence. She thanked him again for his assistance and walked back to her office, letting out a sigh of relief once in the quiet empty space. She was bothered that she'd reacted so strongly to Naruto. She was embarrassed that Itachi had seen her such a mess. And mostly she was frustrated that somehow even after more than nine months, her ex boyfriend was somehow still negatively affecting her love life.
When a to go latte and cinnamon roll were delivered to her office from the Leafy Green, Hinata made up her mind. She was going to call Sasuke and they would resume their plans that weekend.
She still didn't feel like she had it in her to pursue someone as incredible as Itachi, but she could at least let Naruto know he had no say in her life anymore.
There you go! So the revenge will be starting up again and Hinata's finally starting to figure out what she wants. And Itachi is precious. Please let me know what you thought!
