Naruto isn't mine. Believe it?

I missed the birthdays of thinks-too-hard and Andreaeb182, but I wanted to celebrate anyway. Happy (extremely late) birthday!

oOo

If there was a place on Earth that was adjacent to the heavens, Hinata imagined that Jugo's workshop would be it. Practically a closet, it was a space in Sound Machine's headquarters where Jugo could store some of his creations. On all the walls were floor to ceiling shelves stuffed with fabrics, shoes, jewelry, watches, and sewing paraphernalia Hinata did not quite recognize. In the middle, a countless amount of clothes hung on racks. She could see that there was some kind of organization, with outerwear on the left, underwear on the right, and everything else in between.

By the window was a desk full of patterns and a sewing machine. On the opposite side, there was the door to the rest of the building and a small couch. An actual closet doubled as a changing room.

Jugo was currently slipping outfits to Sasuke through the door as Hinata sat on the couch with Yukimaru on her lap. During her time away from the team, Sasuke created a new single. He was still in the news cycle from his recently ended tour, but Kabuto wanted a new music video to release the moment Sasuke stopped being relevant.

Maybe it was a bit early to start prepping Sasuke's outfits if Sound Machine had not even hired a director or choreographer yet, but Hinata and Jugo liked having time to plan their projects. They could conform to the art direction at any time.

"I don't like yukata." Sasuke griped behind the closed door.

"But you look good in them," Jugo calmly replied as he adjusted the clothes hanging from his forearm. "Good lines." He caught Hinata's eye and winked.

Her mouth fell open. Did Jugo know about her crush? Was she that obvious?

She ducked her head and pretended to be interested in the game Yukimaru was playing on her phone.

The door opened and Sasuke frowned and gestured to his body. "Really, Jugo? Orange?"

Jugo gave a small grimace. "Sorry, that is not your color. But I was right about the lines."

Hinata agreed. It was a struggle to pretend she was not looking at Sasuke's hips and backside as he huffed back into the dressing room. Okay, maybe she was obvious.

"Take it off and let me see if I can find another one in a better color. Maybe we can stick with a haori and give you some more modern pants." Jugo set his clothes on a nearby stool waded into the sea of clothing to rifle through hangars.

Hinata's phone chimed with a notification and Yukimaru easily relinquished his hold on the device. Half thinking it was a text message from Guren (who was in the food court enjoying some quiet time), Hinata opened it in front of Yukimaru. Instead of being a text, however, it was a email with a link. She clicked on it and it took her to a locked website.

"What is that?" Yukimaru asked.

Hinata buried her smile in his hair as she typed in her password and entered the private blog where a new video was waiting. Caught up in her excitement, she hardly noticed as Sasuke dropped down next to them on the couch with a sigh.

"It's my family." She replied happily. Hitting play, strains of classical music warbled from the tinny speakers. Both Sasuke and Yukimaru leaned in.

Yukimaru pointed at Neji in the role of Duke Albrecht. "He's your brother?"

"He's my cousin." She beamed as Natsu came on stage to a round of applause. "And that's also my cousin."

"Wow," Yukimaru breathed.

"It's online?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata jumped at his proximity. He had changed back into his street clothes, probably hoping that Jugo would decide to stop for the day.

"Um…" Hinata wondered how to word the truth in front of the child in her lap. "My cousin Kou videotapes opening night for me um… since I wasn't able to go."

His brow furrowed and Hinata could see his individual lashes and feel his body heat. His thigh was pressing against hers and his elbow brushed her side and if she was not so embarrassed about her family drama, she would probably be in a puddle on the floor right now.

He had been doing this lately. Freely and innocently touching her in a way that only her closest friends and family did. A hand on her forearm or back or shoulder. Knocking knees together. Leaning his head in close to hers. She did not know what it meant or if she even wanted him to stop.

"Why weren't you able to go?" He asked.

"You can go see them?" Yukimaru asked.

Hinata distracted herself by explaining that anyone could go to the ballet before reopening Yukimaru's game. She waited until he seemed sufficiently engrossed before giving Sasuke a taste of his own medicine.

Whispering into his ear, she murmured: "I'm not allowed."

He fell back onto the arm of the couch, and Hinata took a breath of the cool air that rushed in between them.

Really? His glare demanded.

Hinata frowned and flicked a significant look to the top of Yukimaru's head. Bless him, but he was the kind of child who would yell your personal business on a busy street corner. He did not need to know any of this.

Thankfully, as Jugo was an actual angel, he appeared with a black haori embroidered with white cranes. "Try this one boss," he ordered.

Sasuke sighed and hefted himself to his feet. "Fine, fine."

Surprisingly enough, Sasuke managed to let it go for three whole hours. His phone call came just as she was studying a can of bamboo shoots. Grocery shopping tended to be a bit difficult on the days she thought about ballet. She knew that she could now eat whatever she wanted, but her disgust with her weight would sometimes make all food seem unappealing.

She answered her phone without even looking at the screen.

"What do you mean you aren't allowed?"

Hinata startled and looked around like someone would notice she was talking to a famous popstar in public. "Sasuke?" She whispered.

"... Yes?"

Feeling exposed, she shuffled away from the end cap full of canned foods and ducked into an aisle. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting… Are you asking about the video?"

"Yes."

The option of not explaining was open to her, but she felt like he would be offended on her behalf. She wanted him to be angry for her. The whole situation was massively unfair and she had been carrying this hurt around for ages. It would be nice if someone else acknowledged it. If she could trust him to safeguard her secrets for her.

"I… My cousin sends me recordings in secret since… Since I'm not allowed to go to any shows. Not even as an audience member, because my father… But, I want to see and cheer them on, you know?" She could not manage to utter the word "disowned" in public but Sasuke was the king of limited communication and reading between the lines.

"Tch. That's not… Family shouldn't…" He struggled with his words and Hinata wished she could read his face. She was getting better at reading his microexpressions. They revealed far more than he realized.

"That's stupid." Sasuke settled on.

Something tightly wound in her chest unraveled. She firmly pressed the index finger of her free hand to one of her throbbing temples and let out a small laugh of relief.

"Yeah." She agreed. "It's really stupid."

oOo