Chapter 26

Her clothes and various other articles of importance were all neatly folded and put in her suitcase with great care. She stooped down and buckled the straps of her suitcase.

Two more days. She had two more days to complete her mental check list.

Grimacing, she left the hotel room and locked the door behind her. Now off to her first task.

--

She stood patiently at the gates, her hands clasped behind her securely, waiting for them to open for her. Without much further ado, they opened wide, welcoming her within and letting her begin her long trek down the driveway.

The walk from the street all the way down to the mansion was shorter than she had hoped and remembered it to be; she was still too nervous. Taking a deep breath and shaking her hand to clear the jittering sense running through it, she rang the doorbell.

It took a minute before it was answered by the growling owner, "What?" An expression of both shock and mild disgust spread across his face, "Hinata?"

Hinata knew she shouldn't't feel hurt by the look on his face; she deserved it. She stared at his shoulder, still too much of a chicken to look at his eyes, "H-hello, Neji."

He continued to stare at her silently and Hinata couldn't help but feel that the vow that she had taken not to be unnerved by him was slowly crumbling. Clearing her throat and mind, she said, "May I come in?"

Neji stepped out of the way without a word and let her come in. His eyes were blank and held neither hospitality or hostility, Hinata found this stare even more intimidating than an angry scold or shout; at least then she could tell what would happen.

Without bothering for small talk, Hinata asked almost immediately, "Can you bring Tenten down too, please?"

Silently, he left her standing in the foyer by herself to fetch his wife. It hadn't taken long before the thumping of Tenten's usually light feet race down the stairs towards Hinata was heard and she had thrown herself at the other woman.

"Hinata! Dear lord! It's been a week since you ran off! We were going to call the police," Tenten sobbed into Hinata's shoulder; Hinata hoped the tears were just the by product of a hormonal, pregnant woman instead of a friend concerned for her beyond belief, it gave her too much guilt. "I was so worried."

Hinata awkwardly patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry." She gently pushed away her friend and took a deep breath, preparing for what she was going to say.

"Okay, guys." Good, good; her breathing was steady and she hadn't yet started shaking or bawling from the pressure, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. For running away, for dumping myself and all my problems on you--"

"Oh, Hinata, you don't have to worry about--" Tenten began and took a step towards her.

Hinata held out her hand, "Please, let me finish, Tenten." Getting ready for the next blurb of her mini speech, she took a deep breath, "And I am going back to Wife Search. I am."

"You're what?" Neji growled, "You are not--"

"Yes. Yes I am." Hinata said firmly, "I'm sorry that you don't like that. I'm sorry I'm disappointing you, Neji, but I'm going to do something I want."

Tenten finally made her way up to Hinata and put both hands on her shoulders, "If you want this, go for it, please. I want you to be happy, and if being with a prick that may make you feel special makes you happy, then do it." She grinned and let her arms drop.

As much as Hinata wanted to throw her arms around both of them, she refrained and gave a strained smile, she merely gave a small bow of her head and rested her hand against the door knob.

"Thank you."

--

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Ding-dong.

Hinata sighed exasperatedly, he had said he would be here. Tapping her fingers against her arm she rocked back and forth on her heels, mentally counting to fifteen. She was just about to leave when the door was flung open by Naruto clad only in his sunshine boxers.

"Hinata!" He cried sheepishly, "Sorry, I forgot. Come in, come in." He beckoned her in and quickly kicked some shoes that were haphazardly thrown into a pile further into a corner.

Hinata said nothing and stepped inside; how typical of him to forget. He led her to the parlor and offered her a seat and a drink, to which she politely declined the latter.

"So, what is it that made you call me so early this morning to ask we meet now?" He asked without any malice or annoyance, purely curious.

"I-I need to know some things..." Hinata began and fidgeted in her seat for a moment before asking as slowly as she could, "What...what happened between you and...Sasuke?"

The small smile on Naruto's face faded and he folded his hands together, "Sasuke and I had many photo shoots together in high school. We were...not friends, but he understood me. He understood what it was like without parents. He understood my sudden fits of anger sometimes. He and I even went to the same therapist.

"But we had a wall, if you will, that prevented us from taking the step to be friends. That wall was Sakura."

Hinata felt despair fill her stomach even though she knew she was still furious with Sasuke for cheating with that woman and that she hadn't forgiven him. Sakura. Hinata remembered the confrontation at the Aqua Pier between her, Sakura and Naruto. That woman always managed to find a way to make Hinata's heart twist and tear painfully.

"Sakura...Sakura was gorgeous. Is gorgeous. She was smart, she was powerful. She has this it factor about her that makes everyone worship her, makes everyone want to tear out their own hearts just to offer if up to her. She's a goddess." The hazy look spreading across his face was hastily removed and he added quickly, "But you know...she's kind of a bitch."

Hinata snorted.

"Anyways. I loved her in the early years in high school, obsessed with her. Which I'm sure, you know. I'm pretty sure everyone knew."

She had. It was hard not to. This was why when she had heard of Sakura's one night with Naruto it had given Hinata such a big blow.

"I was so devoted her but...she always rejected me. It made my pent up anger over my loss of parents and every other injustice put against me so much more. I was furious all the time on the inside then, always a volcano ready explode at any moment. The thing that set me off was when I found out Sakura had a thing for Sasuke. A big thing. As big as mine for her. But like her, he always rejected her, even more than she rejected me.

"I was so angry. I had never been that angry before. I pulled Sasuke out of his photo shoot and started beating the living shit out of him. Normally, Sasuke and I would be pretty even in a fight, if not him usually being better. He had all of those fancy martial arts lessons and I just had more experience with full out brawls between whoever managed to piss me off or I managed to piss off.

"But my fury drove me to a level I didn't know I could go to. I beat him so bad." A brief, delighted grin crossed his face, "He was sent to the hospital nearly in pieces, he was out for several days and in the hospital for several weeks.

"It turned out though, the day before I kicked his ass he received information about where his mysteriously disappearing brother was. After that photo shoot he was about to take the first plane to fetch him. By the time he got out of the hospital, Itachi was gone again. His trail had run cold."

Naruto's head drooped and his eyebrows knit together in a sad, painful way. "So that's that. Sasuke hates me because I ruined all chance of him finding his long lost brother."

Hinata got up from her seat and threw her arms around her ex-husband just as she used to when he had a rough day. She stayed like that for a second before saying, "Naruto, I think I do want to be friends. Really do. I do love you, I can't not, really."

Naruto returned the hug and wrapped his big arms tightly around her and buried his head into her shoulder, "That's good. I love you too, Hinata." He whispered and Hinata felt her heart twang painfully at his mournful and quiet voice.

It was a while before she let go of him and looked up at him. Quickly, she wiped the tears from his face and gave him another quick hug which he seemed grateful to receive. "I hope you find the right girl."

He laughed and gently pushed her away, "Don't worry. You know me, of course I will." He grinned cheekily and ruffled her hair.

Hinata made a face and playfully punched away his arm, "Oh, shut up." She picked up her purse and slung it across her shoulders, "I have to go now. I'll see you later." She smiled warmly at him and patted his head, "Be good."

"Aren't I always?"

--

"So may I take your order, miss?" The waiter asked politely and held his notepad expectantly.

"Ah, just water, thank you."

"Mineral water?"

"Um, no. Just water, thanks." Hinata responded meekly and sunk into her seat slightly. The waiter gave her a small smile and nodded his head before leaving to take another order.

"Hinata!"

Hinata waited for her flustered looking sister to pull out the seat across from her and slide in. "Sorry I'm so late! You wouldn't believe how many commissions I have to complete, everyone wants something it seems like." Hanabi's eyes shone brightly and Hinata couldn't help but frown slightly; the fame was getting to her.

But it was her sister, whom of course she loved dearly, so she smiled at her, "That's good. I'm glad business is doing so well."

"Yeah." Hanabi chirped and called a waiter to order up a complicated sounding salad of sorts. She turned back to Hinata and rested her head on top of her folded hands, "So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" The smile on her face never left and her cheeriness was seeping out of her pores.

Hinata fidgeted in her seat, already she had made two confrontations in one day, making another one would not go as smoothly, especially against her sister. Finally looking up at Hanabi's expectant face she drove on, "I wanted to talk to you about...Gaara."

"What about him?" The smile never faded from her face, but she stopped looking at Hinata and began examining her glossy looking nails.

"He's hurt that you're just...playing around with him. Y-you're just stringing him a-along." Hinata blurted out desperately and was disappointed that her old habit of stuttering had returned so suddenly, "It's not f-fair for him!"

Now the smile was gone and replaced with a cold stare, "Gaara and I were never really serious in the first place."

Hinata could not believe that these were the word's coming out of her dear sister's mouth. Narrowing her eyes, she hissed in a steely voice, "I've seen the way you guys have looked at each other. Don't lie to me, Hanabi." It had to be a lie. They did love each other, she was even sure that Hanabi favored Gaara over Kiba, another poor man she was probably stringing along.

"Don't act like my mother." Hanabi snapped and ignored both the waiter and salad that had arrived. Hinata did the same with her water.

"Since when haven't I acted like your mother? Since when haven't I always tried taken care of you because father wouldn't? When haven't I always tended to you?" Hinata clenched her fists and jaw to stop from screaming.

"You don't have to now! Stop worrying about me; I can take care of myself now!" Hanabi had no such restrictions and suddenly stood up from her chair, bending over the table closer to Hinata.

"I'm worrying about Gaara!" People were staring now.

Hanabi sat back down in her seat but did not remove the venom from her voice, "Let me repeat myself. Gaara and I were never serious. I don't want a serious relationship, not when there are so many other options available for me now." She looked at Hinata scathingly, "And don't lecture me about being 'strung along'. You're the one willingly being strung along by this Uchiha in this idiotic contest."

Hinata could not believe this. Hanabi was covering up her fear of commitment with the excuse of her sudden popularity. It was reasonable, Hinata supposed, that she was so frightened of commitment, Hinata was too, but only for the reason that her previous relationship had gone under. Both their mother and father who had at one point both seemed so committed and in love themselves had suddenly one day fallen out of it and divorced. She could understand that. But it infuriated her that Hanabi was trying to cover it up with a lie because her swollen ego had made her pride so much more unbearable.

Slowly standing up, she stared at Hanabi coolly, "Bull. Shit. Get over yourself. Stop letting your pride turn you into this, Gaara deserves better. Kiba deserves better, or have you forgotten all about him?"

With that final word, she left her sister seething in the corner of the restaurant, ready to unleash her anger out on the poor waiter who had the poor timing to come and ask if the meal had been satisfactory.

--

Warily, she pushed open the door that tinkled merrily, announcing her presence in the small café. She stopped in her tracks like an animal caught in headlights when Gaara turned around to see who had made a call so late at night when they were nearly closed. He gave a nearly imperceptible snort and look of near disbelief.

He turned back around and continued wiping down tables, "Oh. Hello, Hinata."

"Hello, Gaara," Hinata whispered back a greeting and closed the door behind her.

She stayed with her back against the door, quietly watching Gaara go from table to table, wiping them down until he threw down the rag forcefully and glared at Hinata, "Why are you here?"

Hinata quickly looked down at the floor, "I came to apologize. I'm so sorry."

He picked up his rag and recomposed himself, asking monotonously, "For what?"

"For being so cruel, for freaking out, for running our like that, for not even listening to a word you were saying and for blaming you for being the cheater." She blurted all out and felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

He paused in mid-swipe and stared at the table while asking, "What makes you think I'm not the cheater anymore?"

Hinata took a step away from the door and tried in a steady voice, "I...I saw Hanabi today. And you were right. About everything. I didn't believe you, not really, at first." Angrily, she swiped away at the tears, "She's my little sister!"

With a tired sigh, Gaara slumped himself into a heap onto a chair, "I know. And I'm sorry for dumping it all on you." His face saddened, "The insomnia's returned."

"You deserved better than this." Hinata insisted stubbornly and was frustrated that she couldn't stop crying.

"No. Not really. I deserve every bit of misery that I'm getting. Karma." His eyebrows knit together and motioned Hinata to sit down next to him.

She shook her head, "No, no you don't." She denied both his offer and claim and stomped her foot obstinately, "You've always been so kind to me! You've been a better person than so many people I know. You're my friend." She didn't even know why she was crying this hard.

"So I take it you're not going to take up my confession?" He looked up at her through lidded eyes.

Hinata froze and widened her eyes. Gaara gave an empty laugh, "Just kidding. Didn't think you would."

With a defeated sigh and resolute final tear, Hinata sat next to him, "I wish I could make Hanabi get some sense knocked back into her."

"Me too." Gaara murmured.

"Is there anything I can do?"

After a thoughtful pause, he muttered, "Tea."

She grinned and stood up to leave and make it for him.

--

Hinata collapsed onto the made bed, exhausted. She had had two days to finish her tasks before she returned to Wife Search, and had done them all in one day; it had been one of the hardest days of her life. Ignoring the urge to cry some more, she rolled over and fell immediately to sleep.

--

Yes. Gaara does not have eyebrows.

Yes. This is an AU.

Yes. He does have them in this fan fiction.

Ah, next week…THE CONTEST CONTINUES!

Okay. I'm am seriously FUCKING pissed. I've discovered someone who's nearly plagarized my fanfiction and I'm ready to blow something up.

Check out: Big Brother: Uchiha Style

Tell me they haven't copied my story. Tell me.

Ciao,
MissLe