She Deserves Better

Authors' Note: Thanks for the reviews. We hope that you all enjoy this second wedding chapter because this time, it's the big one ;)

Silver's Chapter Notation: For some reason, I typed Chapter 37 for Chapter 36 and chapter 38 for Chapter 37. These are the correct chapters and the typo corrections have been made. No chapters were missing. Sorry for any confusion.

Chapter 37

Two months later, Hinata was staring at herself in the mirror of one of the hotel rooms in the Plaza. The Hyuga woman was wearing her wedding dress and a sparkling tiara. It really did feel like something out of a fairy tale until her mothers started talking.

"This is for you dear. It's a tradition! Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue!" Mikoto giggles. At first, Hinata innocently thought that sounded normal enough. She smiles and takes the bag that her soon to be mother-in-law handed her. "Thank you." And then made the mistake of opening it in front of her sister. Some rather lacy bridal lingerie to put it mildly.

"When I first got it, it was the wrong size. So it's been sitting in the closet for over three decades." She beams. "But I think it should fit you and Emiko. And if that doesn't get Emiko and I some adorable grandchildren, nothing will."

Hanabi goes wide-eyed at the very skimpy lingerie. If her father saw that, he would have a heart attack in the middle of the ballroom, she was sure of it. "…I think Sasuke will like it."

Her mortification was only deepened by the fact, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were also there. "I'm s-sure here will." Hinata blushes scarlet and Mikoto beams, clearly quite pleased by her own cleverness.

"Yes, that should do it." Emiko laughs as she places a necklace on Hinata. A silver chain with a sapphire on it. "Something blue and that you can actually wear in public."

"Well, that's something old and something blue." Ino grins widely. "Now just something borrowed and something new!" She pulls out a little box, fiddling with the contents and reaching for Hinata's ears, letting silver star earrings dangle from the empty holes there. "Well, that's something borrowed!" Ino had worn those to their senior prom, even if they were a bit expensive to be wearing to a dance.

Hinata smiles at the earrings. "I can't believe you kept them for a decade." She reaches for them and nods gratefully at her friend. "Thank you, Ino."

"No problem!" The blonde grins happily. "Now…something new…something new…"

"I can help with that." Sakura carefully pats the twisting braids holding back Hinata's flowing, waist-length hair. "I picked it up this morning." She reaches into her purse, pulling out a snow white ribbon, lacing it into Hinata's hair with the precision of a surgeon. "There, something new."

"Mmm this is definitely more fun than my Bachelorette Party." Now that had been traumatizing. "Never again. Never again!"

Ino snickers. "Not unless you're planning on getting married again." Which she doubted. She'd never seen Hinata attach herself to anyone so throughly. Then again, she knew something that most of the room didn't. Tsunade knew, which meant Sakura knew, which meant that she managed to pry it out of Sakura. Hinata was pregnant! And she'd been pregnant less time than Sasuke had been planning on proposing! She got that part of the gossip straight from Naruto and Karin.

Hinata shakes her head. "Until death do us part." And even then, she wasn't sure that she'd ever remarry. It just wouldn't be the same. "And you only snicker because you didn't have to deal with him after he realized I got drug along." Hinata was pretty sure she still had some lovebites somewhere.

Mikoto laughs. "Like father, like son. I'm impressed that you can walk." Hinata blinks. That was moderately disturbing. Moving on then. "Well I think that's everything."

Sakura smirks. "Well, everything on our end. But I'm pretty sure that Naruto is giving Sasuke a headache right about now." He was taking his Best Man duties seriously. That included the bachelor party that Sasuke had to be dragged to almost kicking and screaming, and which he did absolutely nothing but drink a little at. Naruto had been disappointed about that, but at least he was too oblivious to pay much attention to the strippers. Sakura still clocked him good, though.

Hinata nods in agreement. "That's true." It was a miracle that the two of them hadn't killed each other yet.

Sasuke wasn't sure what had him more on edge. The fact that he was getting married today. Naruto and his incessant talking. Or Kakashi dressing him in full uniform, all appropriate medals and ribbons present. And by appropriate, that meant ALL of them. He felt like there was a spotlight trained on him, and he wasn't even anywhere near the altar yet. Hell, he wasn't even near the grand ballroom yet.

And then there was Itachi messing with his hair every ten seconds. Now THAT was aggravating. He made it stick up in the back, despite Sasuke's efforts to keep the short locks DOWN. "Would you stop that!?" He swats Itachi's hand away for what feels like the millionth time.

"I don't see why." He smirks at his little brother lovingly. "This is the style that she met you in, well, almost. It's fitting." He smiles as gestures towards the door. "I imagine the flower girl is already out and I can hear the music playing." Classical music and some jazz. Likely Hiashi and possibly Emiko's influence.

Sasuke glares at his big brother. "No it's not, but I'm trying to at least look respectable." He manages to pat his hair down, sort of, before glancing at the door. His heart was pounding so loudly, he was pretty sure that everyone in the room could hear it.

Fugaku shakes his head in amusement. "Sasuke, you're wearing your military uniform and have at least half a dozen decorations on you. You look very respectable and the unruly state of your hair is of little importance." He pat pats him on the back. "Besides, Hinata is likely only going to mess up your hair later anyway."

Sasuke shoots an annoyed glare at his father. Civilians just didn't get it. There were certain standards to uphold, especially in uniform. He was a Major for crying out loud! "Whatever…that's later. And none of your business!" And the last thing he needed was his father commenting on his impending Honeymoon. He was pretty sure his cheeks were still burning despite that.

Fugaku rolls his eyes good-naturedly. His son truly must have thought he stupid. "Of course. Later." He was not born yesterday. There was really only one reason to rush an engagement that much. Hinata was likely already pregnant. Thankfully, his wife and Emiko seemed oblivious.

So did Hiashi. Fugaku knew this because Hiashi hadn't threatened to castrate Sasuke recently. So for now, he'd keep his mouth shut and invest in earplugs for when the Hyuga Patriarch found out.

Sasuke narrows his eyes at his father's expression. He looked way too smug. "Is my getting married really that amusing?"

"Naturally, you are my son." Fugaku smiles and chuckles. "I know that my expectations were high for you and that I was not...as warm as I should have been, but I do care about you. Which is why I know better than to keep your bride waiting." He gestures to the door.

Sasuke glances at the door, nodding. That was a big crowd of people, and it made him very nervous. "Yeah." But Hinata was going to be out there soon. He'd better get going. "You still look like the cat that got into the cream, though." He makes for the door, pausing when his hand touches the heavy wood. "By the way, Kakashi, have you seen my Beretta? I think I left it at the base yesterday?" He'd been a bit scatterbrained because of the wedding prep, and must have left it behind.

Kakashi tries not to smirk. "No, I haven't seen it. But we can find it later. Now go on, get yourself down that aisle and to the altar."

"Alright, alright." Sasuke opens the door, heading down the hallway towards the grand ballroom. Where did that gun disappear to, then?

The grand ballroom was beautifully decorated with chandeliers, a red carpet, hundreds of golden covered seats, and dozens of refreshment tables scattered around, not to mention the beautiful artwork. And everyone was dressed in their best clothes. Whether that was a military uniform, a lovely dress, or an expensive suit.

As Itachi predicted, a flower girl was bounding down the aisle and throwing petals everywhere much to the crowds delight and the preacher was waiting at the alter as the groom and groomsmen made their way down. What seemed like a thousand cell phones were snapping pictures so quickly that it almost drowned out the music playing in the background.

Well, that made Sasuke feel extremely self-conscious. Not a good thing, but…the friendly faces in the crowd made him feel better. And somehow, his whole platoon had ended up coming. Even a few higher-ups who had their eyes on him. Their invitations were a courtesy, of course. But the bulk of the guests were family and close friends.

The Uchiha, the Hyuga, and even the Uzumaki and Senju were out in force for this event. Those four families usually ended up attending the same events just by the close associations between them. That, of course, was probably a recipe for disaster, seeing as the older folks had more than a few rivalries going on.

Jiraiya smiles as he sees the groom and his party make their way to the alter. It wouldn't be long now until the bride came out. While this was certainly a more traditional wedding than the last one, he was still pretty sure that he could get a few laughs from the crowd.

Sasuke forces himself not to groan as he arrives at the altar. "No funny business, or I'll have to make do without my gun." Naruto's godfather was a nice guy, a world-class pervert, but a nice guy. Funny too. But after the last wedding, Sasuke was still a bit wary about having the old man volunteering his services in officiating the wedding.

"Well you're only getting married once." He beams at him. "Hopefully, anyway." Jiraiya looks out into the crowd. "So we might as well make it memorable."

Oh, Sasuke was definitely only getting married once. He had no intention of having this not work out. "Just don't make it as memorable as Suigetsu and Karin's wedding." That was just insane, really.

Jiraiya grins as he remembers that one. "That was some of my finest work." It was going to be difficult to top that. Suddenly some gasps were heard as Hinata was walked down the aisle by her father. "And here comes the bride now."

Sasuke's eyes wander to where Hinata was being escorted down the aisle, his eyes widening at the sight of her. A long white dress, puffing out elegantly around her, trailing gracefully behind her, with patterns of flowers traveling up the bodice, all the way to the low neckline. Her pale skin was decorated with a silver and sapphire necklace, and he could see a white ribbon in her hair, and a tiara holding her long, silky veil in place. She was…

"Beautiful." Naruto grins, elbowing Sasuke. "Might wanna pick your jaw up off the floor, bastard."

Sasuke glares quickly at Naruto. "Idiot." But his eyes quickly find Hinata again. Naruto was right, though, his bride was absolutely stunning.

Hinata blushes and smiles when she notices Sasuke's eyes on her. Though the bluenette was leaning into her father slightly. Probably because she was a bit overwhelmed by having likely hundreds of pairs of eyes on her.

Somehow she manages to will herself to move forward and not to stumble over her high heels. They were beautiful, but falling in those things would be humiliating. Sasuke's smile was reassuring though and she makes her way down the aisle, with her father's help.

Sasuke could only see Hinata as she closed the last few meters of distance, nearly coming to a stop before he reaches out for her hands, pulling her towards him. Though he's careful enough not to dislodge the bouquet. After all, they had plans for that later. "You look beautiful. As usual."

She smiles. "So do you." Her smile only grows. "As usual." Jiraiya chuckles at that.

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga. If anyone has any reason why this couple should not be read, speak now or forever hold your peace." He smiles happily. "I would caution against it though as Sasuke has quite the temper and a lot of medals. Any objections would likely be met with a less than warm reception.

Sasuke was tempted to smack Jiraiya for that one, but he settles for glaring out of the corner of his eye for about two seconds. After all, the old man was not worth a court-marshal, especially not on his wedding day.

"Ah good." Jiraiya smiles more. "No one is feeling suicidal today. Excellent. No funerals." He smiles at Sasuke. "Do you Sasuke Uchiha, take Hinata Hyuga to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love, honor, and cherish for all of your days? To stand by her side in good times and in bad? For better or for worse? In sickness and in health? Till death do you part?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the man, Sasuke stares into the soft eyes of his beloved. "I do." Though the old perv was right. No objections meant no funerals.

"Do you, Hinata Hyuga, take Sasuke Uchiha to be your lawfully wedded husband? To love, honor, and cherish for all of your days? To stand by his side in good times and in bad? For better or for worse? In sickness and in health? Till death do you part?" Jiraiya beams at the blushing bride.

Hinata smiles as she rubs Sasuke's hands lightly. "I do." She was one bride that didn't have cold feet. Though sore feet wasn't out of the question. Damn heels.

"Then by the power vested in me, I pronounce thee man and wife." Jiraiya chuckles. "You may kiss your bride and after everyone has congratulated you, you may make a tactical retreat to your Honeymoon where you can deploy as many Do Not Disturb Signs as you wish."

Sasuke doesn't resist the urge to roll his eyes this time, but ignores the old perv after a couple of seconds in favor of sweeping his wife into his arms, the rings slipped deftly onto fingers during the embrace, before he decides that the kiss should NOT be rated G.

Hinata giggles as she was swept into his arms and returns the kiss happily. Sighing in contentment, until she realizes it was a rather passionate kiss. "Sasuke." Hinata blushes more as she breaks the kiss and rests her head on his shoulder. "Let's not give my father a stroke."

Sasuke smirks as he leans down to nibble her ear. "Alright, you can be the one to give him the heart attack after we leave." He chuckles softly. "Remember the plan?"

Hinata mews cutely as her ear gets nibbled on. "That sounds good and yes, I remember." She laughs as she hurls the bouquet roses away from the crowd and towards the groomsmen, smacking Itachi in the head with them.

His smirk only widens at the sight as Sasuke glances at his rather poleaxed older brother. He chuckles under his breath "Nice shot, Princess. A perfect bullseye."

Hinata giggles at the sight. "Well I learned from the best." She smiles and kisses his cheek. "You have very good aim too."

"Yes I do, and I suppose that it's time to prove it." Sasuke runs his hands up Hinata's legs, shifting her dress, and blinking when he finds something hard attached to the right garter belt. "What the…?" He pushes up the white fabric bemusedly, twitching at the sight. "THAT'S where my Beretta went!?"

Madara just bursts out laughing. "Are all brides packing heat to their weddings these days?" He looks around in amusement. "Why did no one inform me of this new tradition?"

Hinata blushes and smiles at Sasuke. "I wanted to make sure you didn't threaten Jiraiya with it." She figured it was better safe than sorry.

Sasuke's eye twitches. "So…what, you asked Karin to grab it for you!?" It had to be her, she had access to both of them as one of the bridesmaids, and she was looking too smug for that not to be the case. He shakes his head and goes for the other garter instead.

"Yes, I asked Karin to get it and she agreed with me, that it was the safer option." And who could blame her? Suigetsu would have done something stupid, and Kakashi would have just laughed it off. Hinata had no choice but to resort to Karin.

"Naughty princess, I'll have to punish you later for that." He slides the lace from Hinata's leg, pulling the elastic fabric taught between his fingers as he glances over his shoulder, firing the decoration straight at Kakashi's face.

Hinata smiles and then squeaks at Sasuke's words. "I look f-forward to it." She watches as the garter belt goes flying at Kakashi's face and the silver haired man winces.

He gives Sasuke a half-hearted glare. "Very subtle, Sasuke." He rubs his face. "That felt like a wasp's sting!"

"It was supposed to!" Sasuke rolls his eyes in a juvenile fashion, pulling his new wife to her feet. "Now you two can stop dancing around each other, right Itachi?" He smirks at the bouquet in his brother's hands and the petals stuck in Itachi's hair.

Itachi pokes his forehead. "Foolish little brother." Itachi shakes his head and walks over to Kakashi. "I apologize. You'll have to forgive Sasuke. He was born foolish. Hinata is kind to overlook that particular quirk of his."

Sasuke shoots them a sour look as he pulls Hinata away to dance. Kakashi just smiles at the two. "Well, Sasuke has always been my favorite subordinate because of who he is. Foolish recklessness included." He presses a hand to his chest. "Though I wish he would stop trying to make me have a heart attack."

"Just part of his charm, I suppose." Itachi shakes his head and kisses Kakashi's cheek as he leads him away to the dance floor.

Hinata laughs as she wraps her arms around Sasuke's neck. "I'm sure one of them will propose soon enough. The way they look at each other speaks volumes." She sways with him gently to the music, lilting notes already filling the air.

"I know. It's just fun to tease Itachi about the fact that I beat him to the altar." Sasuke eyes his brother dancing with his colonel for just a second, before focusing his attention solely on his wife. "So, will you be leaving the postcard for your father, or will we be sending it to him from Madrid. Personally, I think that leaving him one is a better choice. It'll give him time to cool down before we get back in two weeks."

"Everything is such a competition when it comes to brothers." She laughs at the thought that Sasuke thought he had beat Itachi in some way because he got married first. "But yes, I think that a postcard before we leave might be better."

"We could leave it with Itachi." It would serve him right if Sasuke made him the messenger of THAT news. Itachi could deal with Hiashi. "Or Kakashi." The colonel could handle one irate businessman easily enough, so he was an option as well. "Otherwise we can't be sure that he'll get it once we're in the air."

"Do you have a preference?" She smiles at him. "Doesn't matter to me, just as long as he gets it." Hinata glances at the cake. That did look good.

Hm…which one to have suffer Hiashi's wrath…? Decisions, decisions. "Both of them." Sasuke nods, satisfied with his choice. "They should be able to get the message to Hiashi. Besides, I doubt that they're going to be leaving each other alone for the rest of the night."

Hinata laughs as she leads them over to Kakashi and Itachi, handing them a card. "Make sure that my father gets that before you leave." She winks at them and then leads her husband over to the cake.

Sasuke suppresses a chuckle as his wife pulls him to the towering white, blue, and gold monstrosity that they called a cake. It was HUGE! Well, it had to be, considering that there were four Japanese clans here, along with a platoon of soldiers, and a crack team of agents, officers, and specialists who had been hard at work uncovering all sorts of nasty details over the past year and a half, and really needed a break from chasing bad guys.

"I'm not really sure how we're going to be able to cut it." Hinata blinks at the massive cake. "It's so big."

Suigetsu snickers. "Karin said something similar on prom night." Hinata couldn't help, but blush at that statement. "Good times, good times."

"Awesome, Suigetsu…I didn't need to know that." Sasuke frowns at the cake. "I might have an idea, though…" After all, the giant blue man could usually be counted on in a pinch. "Kisame, you got a sword on you?" He raises his voice above the noise of the crowd, knowing that this cake was going to take some serious effort to cut.

Kisame smirks and walks over with his sword in hand. "Of course, I never leave home without it." That was rather odd, even by Kisame standards. Still, Hinata wasn't going to question it.

Sasuke had long ago learned not to ask why Kisame liked swords so much, let alone carrying the deadly weapons around in public, or why Suigetsu shared a similar fascination, only including a vast array of firearms on top of that. He just accepted it for what it was, and now, he would make good use of both it and the giant man. "Well, you're the only one who can reach the top." He and Hinata were supposed to cut the cake, according to tradition, but maybe…practicality would have to win out. It was just too huge a cake.

"No problem!" He grins seemingly rather delighted by his new task. "You got it!" And with that, he swings his mighty sword down, cutting it into little pieces for everyone.

Ah, a time when having weird friends came in handy. Sasuke smirks as he picks up a piece of cake. "Thanks." Next, he turns to his naughty wife and smushes the piece of cake right in her face. "And that, Princess, is for stealing my gun."

She quickly swallows some cake and licks her lips free of the frosting. "You normally like it when I play with your gun though." And she shoves some cake right back at him!

Sasuke dodges most of the cake, but it still smears his cheek. He rubs it off with his thumb, licking the frosting away, before moving his ministrations to Hinata's cheek. "And I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with it again tonight."

"M-Maybe." Hinata blushes and stammers at him. "Well it looks like everyone is having a good time." She smiles as she looks around. Even the elderly were having fun, and one couldn't accuse the Uchihas of not having energy, even into old age.

Speaking of old age, over near one of the refreshment tables, Naori Uchiha was staring at the cousin she had not seen in years. "Madara, how on Earth do you care for that mane? You must spend half your day in the shower, just washing it." Honestly, she had never seen a man with hair as long as Madara's. Though she supposed, Jiraiya's came close. It was still less wild than the oldest Uchiha's.

Madara chuckles at the thought. "Not at all. The secret is shampoo with distilled sandalwood oil." It was perfect for thick and wild hair. "It keeps it all under control." Maybe he could recommend the product to his great-nephew, help him control that duck's ass when his hair eventually grew back out.

"Mmm I see. Well that makes sense." Naori smiles and giggles when she notices what Tobirama and Izuna were discussing. Now that was an amusing topic of conversation.

"Back in our day, the most threatening thing a man had to worry about on his wedding night was a chastity belt." Tobirama observes sagely.

Izuna laughs and nods in agreement. "Yes, now they have to worry about their wife hiding a gun in her stockings or something of that nature." He shrugs. "Poor Madara. If he had gotten married today, he would have gotten his head blown off. Though the skirt chaser was responsible for half the chastity belts going missing in our day."

Madara grumbles irritably. "I do know how to handle a gun, you know. A firearm is hardly a daunting opponent."

Izuna chuckles. It was always fun to mess with his foolish elder brother. "If you say so." He smiles and sips his wine innocently.

"I do say so." Madara rolls his eyes at his little brother. He was, after all, old enough to remember the second world war. Izuna may have been too young to fight, but he hadn't been. Facing down the barrel of a gun wasn't that bad, at least in his opinion. And apparently, his great-nephew thought the same when he'd come asking for the recommendation that Fugaku never would have approved of. It was a decade ago, long before he'd given up political office, but it was a day he would never forget. "At least your grandson made it this far in one piece. I'm proud of the boy."

Izuna nods in agreement. "As am I." He honestly didn't know how the man had come through all that with his sanity intact, but he supposed that it did help to have a sexy doctor around. "Poor thing looked terribly self-conscious in his uniform earlier though." All those medals were bound to attract attention.

"Hm…then perhaps I should have worn mine in support…" Madara wasn't entirely sure where in the attic he'd stashed it, but he was sure that the half century old uniform was probably kicking around somewhere. It definitely would have attracted attention, though. Especially to be one of the few Japanese American soldiers to not be suspected of treason, and make General before the end of the Cold War. It was the best way he knew to protect his family.

"That's a sweet sentiment, but it's probably better that you didn't." Izuna shakes his head. "All eyes should be on them during their wedding day and you in that uniform, well that might attract too much attention."

"True." Madara's uniform was…well it stood out, to put it lightly. And as his eyes fell again on Sasuke, he smiled. Well, a little. "There's light in his eyes. More than you'd expect after everything that happened." And when those friends of Itachi's had dug up all of the secrets lying buried around the incident, well, the boy's mental fortitude was truly brought to light. "He would make a good General." Even if he still had some anxiety, and a few nightmares here and there.

Izuna nods in agreement and smiles. "Don't tell the bride that though." He was pretty sure Hyuga, well Uchiha woman would be less than thrilled to hear that. "I'm surprised that she apparently didn't object too strongly to his continued military career."

"Well, from what I heard, there was more than a little opposition." Well, that was putting it mildly, according to how Madara heard it. "But the boy is determined, I'll give him that."

"Honestly, I wouldn't have blamed the man if he took the Honorable Discharge." He'd been willing to encourage it, actually. "At least, he's now in a more secure position now." And woe to anyone who tried to send that man overseas. Izuna was sure that like most Hyugas, Hinata had been trained in self-defense. That wouldn't be pretty.

"Yes, he is, but he would never have taken the discharge willingly." Madara was sure of that. "He has the same fire I did when I was his age. He still has a long career ahead of him. And I doubt they'll be risking his genius again by putting him back in the middle of battle. He's proven his courage, now it's time to use his mind to serve and protect."

Izuna nods, but he couldn't help shrugging. "I can't say that I like it any better than she does really." He sighs at Sasuke worriedly. "At least you're probably right about that last part."

"Oh, I know I'm right. After all, there is something to be said for history repeating itself." Madara's eyes glitter with amusement. "And as for history repeating itself, I do believe that the couple is about to sneak off like you once did at your wedding."

"That's my grandson." Izuna chuckles at the thought, remembering his own wedding many decades ago. "Good times. Good times."

"Well, I do believe that the private plane is ready. Should we help them to make their exit before the Hyuga discovers that you're about to be a great-grandfather?" Madara could already imagine the look on that traditional man's face when the real reason for the short engagement came to light.

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Yes, I suppose it's only proper. I do have a great granddaughter or great grandson to protect." He laughs and heads off with him to rescue the newlyweds.