The director's blood pressure was too high. Of course, it was. Hinata sat quietly as his doctor explained his tests to him. Hinata wondered if it would have been better if his son came with him instead. The doctor gave him a prescription and a diet, and a recommendation to bring down his stress.
She wasn't at all surprised. Her father had a similar problem.
Hinata was just glad she could now do something about it. She could at least control his food during work hours and make sure that he took his medication. She wondered what her father was doing now for food. She would have to ask Hanabi tonight. She had done all the cooking. Hanabi knew how not to burn something, but she knew that she was far more likely to grab a convincing meal than cook. She hoped that her father was eating healthy.
Her boss didn't say a word to her after the appointment, he seemed to be still upset about being made to go, but she was glad he did. They parted ways in different cars, and she looked out the window with a smile. She was glad she had gotten him to go for his check-up.
Itachi was surprised to see his father home so early. "This must be a record. You're home for dinner. I don't think I've seen that since Sasuke was in diapers."
His father scowled at him. "I went. Are you happy?"
"Went to what?" Itachi asked.
"Don't play stupid. I went to the damn doctor." His father snapped, setting papers down on the table.
"Oh, really? That's good." Itachi looked down at the papers. "Wait, why would I know you went to the doctor?"
"You told my assistant to make an appointment." He grumbled.
"No, I didn't." Itachi shook his head.
"Yes, you did outside my office yesterday." He pressed, annoyed.
"All I did was ask her if the headaches were becoming more common again." He explained.
A grin spread across Itachi's face. Hinata must have made him an appointment, and he must have assumed that he was meddling again. Which means. Hinata made him an appointment, and he went without a fight.
His father slowly realized as well. He huffed, looking down at the medical report. "Well, you got your wish." He snapped. "I'm looking after my health."
Itachi smiled. He got more than just that.
Hinata looked anxiously at her schedule. She was meant to have this stylist appointment, but she knew that Itachi wanted to take her. There was only so much she could defy her boss.
She looked out at Lee, who had on another loud suit. This one was bright yellow. Where did you even find a suit like that?
An idea popped into her head.
She wasn't going to cancel her stylist appointment.
Itachi picked her up a little before noon. He insisted on having lunch first.
He asked her what she thought she looked best in. She answered honestly that she hadn't even gone to a dance in school, so she didn't know. The only event attire she had was a summer kimono for the summer festival she took her sister to every year, and it was getting thread bear.
Itachi didn't seem deterred.
They spent some time at lunch scrolling through some formal attire images so he could gauge what she was comfortable with and what she thought would look best on her. She wasn't even going to ask what he thought was going to the price range because he already insisted on buying. She knew he wasn't going to take no as an answer. What could she do anyway? She already gave up her chance out of this.
They had a pretty good idea of what they were going for. Black to make sure she didn't stand out, high neck for her comfort, long for the event, sleeves because the event was open to the gardens.
She talked him out of jewelry. She had simple silver earrings and a bracelet from her first fitting that would do fine, and if the dress was high neck, a necklace would be too much.
With all that in mind, they headed to the shops where she was sure Itachi was having far more fun teasing her by occasionally pointing out a dress that was the opposite of what they were looking for. Before long, she found herself doing it too. Necklines that plunged past the ribs, slits in the skirt so high she couldn't imagine being able to wear underwear, backless dips that would have to fit you exactly, or you were having a mishap.
She knew these were all dresses people bought, so someone must be able to pull them off. She just didn't see all the effort worth it for her uses. A lot of them were quite lovely.
It took hours and a few dressing rooms, but they had found what they were looking for. High neck, long sleeves, floor-length in heels.
Itachi was fun to shop with. Shopping had never been fun for her like it was for most girls in school. She didn't do it often, but there were a few times she had been pressured to go to a mall by girls who wanted her to 'step out of her comfort zone.' When you're 16, and your chest and hips are twice the sizes of what you want, and you are comfortable with that, it's quite hard. She also knew that anything they wanted her in, she would never get out of the house without knowing her father.
Her sister respected her comfort zone but never was interested in shopping for clothes.
Itachi made shopping comfortable, he would tease her, but it was more about the atrocity of the item than her comfort in it. She enjoyed the company.
She just didn't understand why he wanted to spend so much time on her. She knew that he didn't do this with the other assistants his father had. Maybe it was simply because it made his father angry, and he seemed to enjoy doing that, but if that was the case, he could have just demanded she try on thirty-some dresses and picked out the one he liked, but he had focused on her comfort.
Maybe he was just too nice to do that, even to achieve the goal of upsetting his father.
With the dress in the dressing bag, she realized how late it was. "I still need to go grocery shopping."
"We can go on the way," Itachi said from behind her as he headed to his car.
She waved her hands. "It's late. I'm sure you are hungry. You should go have dinner."
"How about this." He said, putting the dress in the back seat of his car. "We pick up groceries, and since I know you're unhappy about me paying for the dress, you can make me dinner. You always have such a nice smelling lunch."
She opened her mouth to protest, but sadly, she knew there was no talking him out of it. "Alright..."
Itachi followed her around as she did her shopping. She had found that getting all she needed for the week and prepping it all ahead of time as she had done in college was a much better approach when she could manage it. She would do all her shopping Saturday and then her prep Sunday. That was when there wasn't a report that she had to have on the director's desk on Monday, or like the week before he had decided that she had come with him to a speaking event, which was just 6 hours of her following him around, taking the occasional side note, and denying alcoholic beverages.
With all the items, she let him into her apartment, which she was glad to have cleaned recently. She was a neat person, but she didn't want to be judged for dust in the space she was barely in.
He didn't say much, but he did quickly give up helping her put things away as her tiny kitchen was not big enough for the two of them. He was happy to sit on the pillow at her sitting table.
"You don't keep much, do you?" He wondered, looking around at her futon. The free-standing rack she had bought to keep all her office clothes, while her old clothes were folded and along with any sentimental wherein the shelves of the closet that was built into the wall. Other than the desk he was sitting at and a few things for the kitchen, the small room was bare.
"I was living with my family before, and I'm not here much." She excused. He didn't press her for more information. She was sure this entire apartment was smaller than his room, but she was glad he didn't press much.
"Are you enjoying working with us?" Itachi asked her, leaning on the table, prompting his head on his hand as he watched her chop vegetables.
"I do." She started. "I always hoped that I would work at a large company. I just didn't think I would do so soon or have sucked a high position so early." She admitted.
"How did you get the job?" Itachi wondered.
Hinata blushed. "I have no clue." She looked embarrassed. "I accidentally applied for the wrong position. When I noticed, I thought at best they would toss the application to a lower position, and at worst I could go into an interview to get some experience getting rejected." He raised an eyebrow at her. "When I was chosen for an interview, I was even more surprised, and then in the interview, I was told that my clothes were unacceptable." He frowned. "But when I got home, I got a call from the previous assistant who interviewed me that I had gotten the job." She set the vegetables in the hot pan with frustration. "I've no clue what would have made me the choice even if they were in need of someone that quickly."
Itachi was sure of it now, after talking to his father's previous assistant and finding that not only was she the only one that he chose for the interview, that he sat in on the interview and then chose her without looking at any others. He knew his father had an ulterior motive with this girl, he handpicked this girl to torture, and he couldn't figure out why.
"What were you doing before?" He asked.
"I was working at a medium-sized company doing mostly project finishing, making sure there weren't typos, and no one forgot to sign anything. The hours were miserable, though. My hours usually start at 5 in the morning, and I had to take the train and bus to get there, so I was up at nearly three every morning." She seemed to catch herself complaining and straightened. "But, it made the hours at this job easier." She put her positive spin on it.
"What made you go into business?" He wondered.
Hinata blinked at him and looked down quickly. "Uhm, well, my father was in business, so it seemed like the best choice."
She wasn't a good liar.
"Your dad told you it was your only choice?" He guessed.
She turned a little red being caught. "No, it was one of three choices." She grumbled.
He chuckled. "Didn't want to be a doctor?"
She bit her lip. "Doctor wasn't one of the choices."
"Really? That's usually always the number one choice." Itachi mused.
Hinata put a lid on her cooking and washed her hands, and then lent on the counter, taking a moment to formulate her answer. She sighed. "I wasn't quite good enough for the family doctor" Her tone got hard.
Itachi realized he might have touched a wound.
She fidgeted in the uncomfortable air. "But my sister is planning on going to medical school. She is about to graduate high school. She's top of her grade. She should get in easily."
"You must be proud of her." He welcomed the change of subject.
Itachi prodded her with a few more questions as she finished cooking. Her father owned a nondescript office, they lived out a fair way from the city, she had gone to a nondescript college and did so mostly on scholarship, she had no boyfriends, her mother passed away when she was a child, and she was putting money away for her sister's medical tuition.
He couldn't figure out what it was that his father had against her.
Hinata put dinner in front of him, and he was happy to dig in. It smelled amazing. "What did you say your father's name was? If it's the same line of work, we may have worked with him at some point."
"Hiashi Hyuga." She covered her mouth as it was full.
"Hmm." Itachi wondered. It didn't sound familiar.
"There are a lot of Hyuga's, so I wouldn't expect you to know of him." She waved her hands. "And I don't look anything like him."
"What was your mother's name?" He asked.
"Hitomi." She relayed between bites.
That did sound familiar. "A lot of H's." He chuckled.
She nodded with a smile. "My father does have a twin brother, Hizashi."
That also didn't sound familiar, but he had information that needed to be looked into now.
"We've done a lot of talking about me." Hinata pointed out.
He smiled. "Yes, we have. Do you have any questions for me?" He got what he wanted.
"What's your brother like?" Hinata wondered. "You talked about him before, but your father doesn't talk about him much."
"They don't get along all that well," Itachi explained. "Between the rebelliousness Sasuke has and the sheer bull-headedness of them both, it's sometimes hard to keep the peace for a whole dinner."
She blanched. "Oh?" She was sure two Mr. Uchiha's would be a lot in one room.
"Yeah. Our father has always been like he is now, but after our mother left us, he had no more reason to stay away from the office." Hinata frowned, but he seemed to have no emotional response to it. "Then, as I got older, I had to spend more and more time being groomed to take over as heir one day. My father isn't emotionally available as it is, and my mother took most of his remaining empathy with her in the divorce, so neither of us were there for Sasuke when really should have been." He smiled. "He's a strong kid, though, and he found his revenge in refusing to go to his father's chosen college and deciding to go abroad." He sounded proud of his brother. Despite what he said about his attitude, he had nothing but good things to say about him.
"Is he still in business?" She wondered.
"He majored in marketing, so just a little rebellion there, still a business major. He decided he wanted his masters. That's why he's just getting back now. He'll probably become our international marketing director shortly after he has a project or two under his belt." Itachi relayed. "He comes back during the summer every year, but he refused to come to mother's Christmas party last year after a fight he had with her." Hinata gaped a little. "Yeah, you think that's big. It's her absolute favorite holiday. She was livid."
Their food was now gone. They talked over their empty bowls.
"Do you resent your mother?" She asked hesitantly.
"Mother is… overbearing, opinionated..." Itachi explained. "But she's still my mother. I try to be civil with her even if I think she can be too much at times." She nodded. "However, Sasuke blames her for the divorce. To be fair, it was her affair that started it." Hinata gaped at him again. She hadn't wondered why they were divorced. "You think that was bad? You should have seen the blow up when she decided to marry him."
"I'm sorry..." She hadn't meant to dig up such personal items.
He waved his hands. "It's old news to me. I find it all good fun to watch."
"Does it bother you that she got married to her lover?" She asked.
Itachi shook his head. "I don't think poor of her, her marriage to father was arranged, and they never really liked each other much. Father tried, but she always was at his heels saying he wasn't trying enough, and that was ultimately what she blamed her affair on."
Hinata felt her heart bleed a little. Though they were rich children that probably had everything they wanted, if they didn't have attention and love when they needed it most, what did they have? It sounded like a miserable childhood. She hadn't even met this brother of his, and she already felt bad for him.
"Well, let's not end the night on a low note." Itachi clapped his hands. "Let me help you with these." He picked up the dishes. "And we can talk about what you decided to get Sasuke from father."
After fighting with him about the dishes, she relented on letting him dry them.
After he had left, she felt like her small apartment was more empty than usual. His calm presence was comforting and filled the room in a way she didn't notice until after he was gone.
Maybe she needed more furniture.