Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to Dani Stark, Clovergirl100, rao hyuga 18, and Guest for all your reviews! Also thanks to everyone who continues to add this story to their favorites and follows lists!
Author's Note: Only two updates left: the epilogue and the bonus chapter. My gosh, I'm so not ready for this story to be over! But fortunately it's not yet, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading!
*~Chapter XXXVII~*
~Ripple~
Time dragged by, hour by hour, day by day. Itachi kept an eagle eye on his wife, constantly searching for the familiar signs of pregnancy, things which still lingered in his mind from the last time. He second-guessed everything, wondering if her sudden mood changes or slight bout of nausea was the definitive sign they'd been waiting for, and simultaneously dreading.
Her womanly time swiftly approached and then passed - nothing. But Temari told him not to panic, even when it was clear she was trying not to do the same. She'd skipped before, she said, because of stress. And obviously they were both under a great deal of that.
That's all it was. It had to be. They both refused to believe anything differently.
And then, in late September, just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, yet another missive from Konoha arrived.
During breakfast one morning, the delivery to Gaara at the table of a scroll from Konoha marked "important" pulled Itachi out of his contemplative haze. Next to him he sensed Temari going on the alert, while across the table Kankuro looked up with a mildly curious expression. He held his breath as his brother-in-law broke the seal and unrolled it, hoping this was not the news he'd dreaded hearing since the first report about Sasuke reached him a couple months beforehand. If his little brother had left Konoha... If he'd become more involved with Orochimaru...
But instead of the grim look Itachi expected, a half-startled, half-pleased expression crossed Gaara's face. His green eyes snapped up from the missive to look around almost wildly at his family, before he went back and read it again.
While Itachi exchanged a puzzled look with his wife, Kankuro twitched impatiently. "Good news?" he asked his brother.
"Yes - and no," Gaara said with an unaccustomed hesitancy, hands sinking slowly to the tabletop, still holding the scroll. He looked positively stunned.
Scowling, Kankuro set down his chopsticks and queried irritably, "What kind of answer is that?"
Leaning forward, Gaara re-read the scroll for the third time. Itachi noticed how his right hand moved to his left wrist, as if absentmindedly, where his fingers brushed the tattered lavender ribbon the elder man had noticed several times before. As always, he wondered at the scrap's significance, but again didn't ask.
At Itachi's side, Temari suddenly stiffened, her own gaze locked on her brother's wrist. She looked from it, to Gaara's face, then to the scroll, her features settling in the very grim look Itachi had expected to see on his brother-in-law's earlier.
"This scroll," Gaara said slowly, almost wonderingly, "is from Hyuuga Hiashi."
Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi saw Temari's expression tighten, turning cold and remote. Very carefully, she set down her chopsticks, the contents of her plate only half-eaten. Her sparking teal eyes focused straight ahead past Kankuro on nothing Itachi could see, and he wondered at her reaction to the name.
Gaara, however, didn't seem to notice his sister's reaction. "Lord Hyuuga explains there has been some trouble in the family," he murmured, concern briefly crossing his features. "Konoha is not as safe as it once was, and he needs to take steps to keep his daughter protected."
"What kind of danger?" Kankuro asked, dark eyes suddenly sharp and wary instead of light and teasing.
"Lord Hyuuga says here he cannot discuss it at present," Gaara answered distractedly. His pale green gaze went over the scroll for what Itachi thought was the fourth time, a strange range of emotions crossing his face. "But the main reason he wrote was to tell me he's having to move everything up three years." He tore his gaze away from the scroll's contents with visible effort, his deeply shadowed eyes glowing with what seemed oddly like excitement. "He is sending Hinata to us - to me. She will be here two weeks from today."
As comprehension began to filter through Itachi, Kankuro broke out in a wide grin. "Congratulations, little brother!" he cried, reaching out to pound his younger sibling's shoulder with obviously careful enthusiasm.
Knowing he would get no answers from either brother, Itachi leaned over and breathed his whispered question into his wife's ear. "Is this about - what I think it's about?"
Temari's lips thinned, and her gaze snapped around to focus with clear animosity on the scroll Gaara still gripped. "Not here," she snapped. "I'll tell you later, in the gym. We shan't be interrupted - or overheard - there."
Without a word, she rose from the table and slipped from the room, her posture rigid. A single glance showed Itachi neither of her brothers noticed, so he quietly stood and followed, leaving Gaara and Kankuro to their strange celebration. When they reached the gym, she halted in the center, arms stiff at her sides, her fists clenched so tightly he halfway expected blood to trickle between her fingers from her nail-punctured palms.
"Temari?" Itachi ventured. He didn't dare get too close, since she looked like she'd take a swing or four at him if he did.
She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, expression frustrated, eyes angry. "Are you familiar with Hinata, Hyuuga Hiashi's elder daughter?" she asked brusquely.
"Not really. I've never actually met her formally, although I've seen her several times." Where are you going with this? He knew better than to voice the question.
Crossing her arms, Temari huffed and rolled her eyes. "On the same visit I first met you, Gaara made Hinata's acquaintance. They were instant friends, always running around together playing games and such." She frowned, lips puckering as if she'd just eaten something sour. "An - ah - incident occurred, and we had to leave Konoha abruptly. Gaara was heartbroken, thinking he'd never get to see his friend again. But after our father's death a few years later, we found a scroll among his things. Apparently a marriage had been negotiated to promote an alliance between our villages - Gaara to Hinata, to be enacted after her nineteenth, his twenty-first, birthday."
"Yes, three years from now," Itachi said when Temari fell silent, wanting very badly to add, I know this already. Well, mostly. "But now something's happened to move up the timetable and she'll be coming in two weeks." To marry Gaara. Which can only benefit us.
"I heard." Ice encased Temari's words. Itachi could have sworn he felt the temperature in the gym drop at least ten degrees. She suddenly threw her hands up in the air and whirled, pacing a tight circuit like a caged tigress, complete with the growling and teeth-baring. "Gaara is not ready for this! Suna is not ready for this, I am not ready for this, and I have no doubt Hinata is not ready for this." Disdain dripped from her tone at that last part, piquing Itachi's curiosity.
"Do you not like Lady Hinata?" Itachi inquired cautiously. From what he'd been able to tell from a distance the few times he'd seen her, the girl seemed like a sweet, polite, well-bred young lady. She always dressed immaculately, had a kind, shy smile, and her large pale eyes were strangely haunting. He'd never perceived anything disagreeable about Hyuuga Hinata.
Temari briefly halted her pacing, shooting a glare in his direction as she did so. "Oh, I had nothing against her as a kid," she said. "She was a sweet, outgoing little thing, and the only person in the world who could drag Gaara out of his shell. She made him human."
When his wife didn't offer anything more, Itachi cleared his throat into his fist and dared ask, "What made you change your mind?"
For a moment, Temari only snarled incomprehensible things under her breath. Finally she let out a growl and said, "Because I found out the little tramp is cheating on my brother!"
Itachi felt his eyebrows hitch upwards involuntarily in shocked surprise. He staggered back a step. "Pardon?" he choked out. Hyuuga Hinata struck him as many things, but a cheating tramp had certainly never counted as one of them.
"When I was in Konoha enlisting Lady Tsunade's help for you when you had pneumonia-" she shot him an apologetic look at the reminder of that rather uncomfortable time "-I also agreed to check up on Hinata for Gaara. He wanted to make sure she was healthy and happy." Temari's shapely lips twisted sardonically, her rapidly darkening eyes shooting sparks as they restlessly darted about the room. "Lady Tsunade led me to a little restaurant in the center of the village, where Lady Hinata was having lunch with her friends. Gaara had told me I didn't need to talk to her, thank goodness, because what I saw through the window makes me want to say many things to that girl of which I know my brother wouldn't approve."
Feeling confused and at a loss, Itachi rubbed the back of his neck. "What did you see?" he prompted, trying to keep his tone calm and gentle.
Her look turned sullen, something disturbingly like hatred simmering in her eyes. He felt reasonably sure she wasn't aiming that particular emotion at him... "I confirmed she was healthy and happy, all right. I found her all cozy with some blond idiot, undoubtedly her lover. She is engaged to my brother, and yet she is going behind his back seeing some other man!" A sound somewhere between a growl and a scream tore free from her lips.
Yikes. Itachi took another cautious step back, almost sure he felt the flames of his wife's scorching anger starting to singe his eyebrows. "Did you tell Gaara?" he asked. Somehow he didn't think so, for if she had, surely he wouldn't have seemed so enthusiastic (well, enthusiastic for him) about her imminent arrival.
"No." Temari let out her breath on a long sigh. Her footsteps eased from stomping to brisk as she continued to pace. "I started to, but I just couldn't do it. Hearing that would crush him, Itachi, and I don't want to do that. Hinata is more than just Gaara's fiancée. She's everything he's been aspiring to since he was twelve. She's what helped him change - he did it all for her. When things would get tough, he'd think about her, talk about how he needed to become a better person to deserve her. That's why he wears that ribbon around his wrist; she gave it to him. It's the only thing of hers he has, and I think it's something of a talisman for him." She finally stopped in front of him, one hand on her hip, the other cupping her forehead. "How can I just yank all that away from him?" she asked hopelessly.
He hated to voice the thought hovering at the back of his mind, but he just couldn't reconcile Temari's description with what he'd seen of Hinata. "Are you sure about what you saw?" he asked gently. "There wasn't room for misinterpretation?"
Temari shot him a dark glare. But then she suddenly frowned again, and this time he saw the light of contemplation in her eyes. She was obviously thinking back over the incident, replaying it in her head, seeing it from different angles than she had last time. He could almost hear her wondering if maybe she had gotten it wrong - see her hoping she'd gotten it wrong, for her brother's sake.
"I don't know," Temari finally said, her frustration obvious. "What I saw - it just seemed so obvious... She looked like the moon and stars had just been dropped into her lap! But," she added grudgingly, "I didn't actually see her return the idiot's hug. She might have even seemed, well, almost embarrassed by it. Still, though," she fired up again, "she could've at least repulsed him, or - or pulled away, or something, instead of looking like- like- some infatuated tart!"
"It's not that I don't believe you. I just can't think of the Lady Hinata I've seen as doing something like that," he said. "The times I've been anywhere in her vicinity, she's always seemed very sweet, quite shy, and polite almost to a fault. Like I said, I've never actually been introduced to her, but I've had several occasions to observe her, and I just can't see it." Itachi toed off his shoes and headed for the rack of bō staffs, picking up their perferred weapons and tossing Temari's to her. "But if you are absolutely sure about this, you do need to tell your brother. If Lady Hinata is coming here to marry Gaara with her heart set on her former relationship with a different man, things could turn ugly really fast."
"I know," Temari sighed, then went on in a much lower voice. "I just don't want to break Gaara's heart like that. And, on the slim chance I am wrong, if I tell him this and create distrust between them, this could become an even worse disaster than keeping my mouth shut could." She spun her staff a few times over her head, then smacked the end of it down on the mat. "I just don't know what to-"
"Temari!" As if their talking about him made him materialize out of thin air, Gaara appeared in the doorway of the gym, eyes briefly passing over Itachi before settling on his sister. "I thought I'd find the two of you in here. How soon can you plan a wedding?"
Itachi sensed thunderclouds building under the ceiling as Temari stared at her brother. "What kind of question is that?"
Gaara lifted his hand and waved it slightly, drawing attention to the scroll he still held. "Hinata will be here in two weeks. Her father made it clear he would release her to us only if the marriage is arranged to take place within a couple of days after she arrives, so it needs to be planned quickly." He glanced from his sister to his brother-in-law, his gaze somehow pleading. "You're the only married couple of my near acquaintance. And, Temari, you did such a good job planning your wedding, I know you're the perfect person to plan Hinata's and mine. I have no idea how to do it, and Hinata won't have enough time to do it when she gets here, so..." He trailed off, seeming almost eager.
It was an emotion Itachi wasn't used to seeing from his stoic brother-in-law. Seeing it on the other man's face now, he understood more than ever why Temari didn't want to share her secret with the redhead. Gaara's animation and enthusiasm - low-key for a normal person, yet wild for him - made it obvious finding out something like his fiancée maybe cheating on him would crush him.
Pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand, Temari let out a gusty sigh. "Gaara, I had a couple of months to plan Itachi's and my wedding, not a couple of weeks - and I had help from Sumi and Matsuri!"
"Matsuri can help you again with this wedding - she's going to be Hinata's lady's maid and bodyguard, after all. And, if she has time and is willing, Sumi can help, too." Gaara looked pleased, as if the whole matter were settled.
Itachi could practically feel the electric charge of lightning preparing to strike prickling along his arms and up his spine. Uh-oh.
Temari's face flushed bright pink. "Are you listening to me? Even with help, there're only two weeks in which to get everything done! Gaara, I'm a ninja, not a wedding planner. Besides that, planning my own wedding is different than someone else's. It's not that I don't want to help you, little brother, but - but..." She trailed off, suddenly looking as if she was afraid she'd said too much.
The light in Gaara's eyes dimmed slightly, but he didn't look as disappointed as Itachi anticipated. "I understand," the redhead said with quiet dignity. "You're right - it's too much to ask. I'm sorry - I'm afraid I got quite ahead of myself." He briefly brushed his forehead with the tips of his fingers, as if a headache were developing, then glanced again at the scroll in his hand. "I will ask one of my assistants to make some quiet inquiries around the village, to see if there are any professionals who can help with the planning on such short notice." The corners of his lips lifted in a a slight smile, a shred of hope still lingering in his eyes. "If I do find someone - will you at least consult with them?"
Looking torn, Temari nodded mutely. Gaara thanked her, nodded briskly to them both, and then left in a swirl of red and black.
Still clutching her upright bō staff, Temari slowly went to her knees on the mat. Lifting her head, she looked in Itachi's direction and said, "See? This is why I didn't tell him before, and don't want to tell him now. He's so excited for her to come. He's been waiting for years for this to happen, and the fact it's been moved up is just the icing on the cake. How can I possibly disappoint him?"
Kneeling next to her, Itachi brushed a loose lock of Temari's golden hair off her forehead before cupping the back of her neck and massaging gently. "Why don't we just wait, at least for now?" At Temari's confused look, he hurried to explain. "Even if Lady Hinata was in a relationship with someone when you were in Konoha, that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't break up at some point between then and now. It's been almost a year, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. I suggest we keep our peace until she gets here, and then closely observe her when she does arrive. If we see any hint of trouble brewing, of her loyalties resting somewhere else, we will go to your brother. But if we tell him now and she gets here and her loyalities don't lie elsewhere, we'll have stirred up a hornet's nest for no good reason."
Lifting her free hand, Temari rested the tips of her fingers against his on her neck. "Between us, you are the voice of wisdom," she sighed. He could feel some of the tension ease out of her, and she nodded. "You're right. We'll keep a close eye on her when she gets here, but we won't have much time to act if we do see something. The way Gaara talked, the wedding could be as early as the day after she arrives. If we do see something, we'll have to go to him immediately."
"Agreed." Leaning forward, Itachi pressed a kiss to his wife's temple and then stood. "For now, are you ready to get some practice in?" He reached down his hand in an offer to help her up.
Though she smiled up at him, Itachi saw the disquiet lingering in Temari's eyes as she took his hand and let him assist her to her feet. "Try and stop me," she challenged.
As they began to spar, Itachi couldn't shake the nagging question lingering at the back of his mind.
Had they made the right decision? And, if not, what would the consequences of their withheld truth be on Temari's brother - and his fiancée?
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes: Poor Gaara, he's so excited, and he just can't understand why his sister isn't, too! It was hard, finding that delicate balance between keeping him in character and still bringing across how excited he is! I just kind of want to hug him, really. And poor Temari, she's so conflicted. Only two updates left now, the epilogue and then the bonus chapter. I'm so not ready for this fic to be over. But that means I'll be wrapping this story about a year after starting it, so I really couldn't have timed that better if I'd tried! Thank you all so much for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you for next week's update!