Day 15
000
Hinata left Itachi's chosen room without a word. Rather than go to her room, she entered the bathroom across the hall, dropping her silk robe to the white tile after closing the door. She piled her hair up and clipped it to the top of her head. She wanted to just...soak. After filling the bath, she threw some lavender-infused salts into it.
She let her head rest on the lip of the basin when she sank into the water, closing her eyes. It was easy to entertain the thought of running away. To take on a deep cover mission and just...disappear. She pulled her knees to her chest and watched the ripples left in the movement's wake. No, she would never actually try it. It wasn't the logistics, or even the clan duty.
She just didn't believe running away ever solved a problem of this nature.
Her understanding of the marriage, at its heart, was that Fugaku Uchiha and her father and the clan councils decided that this would be the best route to harmonizing the village. Since she was the one marrying an Uchiha, and not the other way around, then the Uchiha clan must have been holding something over the Third's head, or threatening a conflict.
She tipped her head back again and sighed. There was no point in trying to find the original document. It was probably not much different from the one she signed.
Her hands splayed across her stomach. An heir. She took a deep breath of the lavender scent. What a strange stipulation. She tried not to notice the expansion of her diaphragm. It didn't matter why, at this point. She inhaled again. Exhaled again. But the sooner the better. Then there would be less trouble, she supposed.
Somehow, the thought didn't calm her nerves as she toweled off and prepared for bed.
