family affair

four:

i dare you

Hanabi was busy making plenty of noise as she ripped aluminum foil off the heads of baked dishes. They lined the table by the dozens, all different assortments of desserts: rich triple chocolate cakes, glistening apple pies, banana pudding, lightly dusted powdered donuts (for the elders who had a taste) made from scratch and deep-fried, creme Brulee made just right, and mochi resting in a bowl on top of buckets of dry ice.

Hinata was inclined to ignore her. She set upon the long table a stack of indigo china along with small, golden forks. After that, she surveyed the spread appreciatively. There was something for everyone––they'd made sure of that.

Hanabi huffed again, a frustrated teenage sound that begged attention, and slammed something down upon the table. This time, Hinata turned to raise an eyebrow at her brimming sister, who had her arms crossed in front of her mint green crewneck. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was wearing leggings and a pair of slippers––a stark contrast to Hinata's ensemble of sleek, black dress which fell an inch or so below her knee with a slight slit up the thigh, and hugged the rest of her body like a glove. It had a square neckline and thin straps which caused her freckled shoulders to acquire dozens of goosebumps, but she could do nothing about the temperature. Her father liked it cold.

So she'd worn a light purple shawl, which hung loosely around her body as she did this and that in preparation. Her feet, too, were enclosed in slippers, but she'd gone to dinner an hour before, and Hanabi had not, so her square-heeled Valentino's sat overturned and forgotten in the doorway. Her hair was curled gently around her delicately painted face. Hanabi stared into it with an intentionally disdainful glower.

Hinata laid her hands out flat in front of her, trying to stop Hanabi's bubbling temper from erupting. "You think I want to-"

"Why can't I join yet? I'm basically a fucking adult!"

"H-Hanabi," Hinata frowned at her tone. She straightened from beside the china she'd been arranging. "You're 15. You know how Father feels about this. Besides...if you actually had to go, you'd know why I don't want to."

Hanabi glared at her. She had always been a grumpy, angry child, taken to throwing tantrums and picking fights with Hinata and Neji. When they finally grew out of being egged on, the younger Hyuga turned to schoolmates and neighbors to lay her frustrations on. She loved the thrill of throwing her fists back, angling her body, and flinging all of her force behind one calculated punch. She liked to fight. She always had, especially after Aoki had gone and left the Earth.

"You don't want to because you don't really have anything to do with Family Business," Hanabi said meanly.

This wasn't true, but Hinata couldn't fault Hanabi for thinking as much. Because Hanabi was underaged, Father had forbidden Hinata from talking to her about the Syndicate. It didn't help that Hanabi liked to fight so much, there was no telling what she would get into once she was allowed to be a part of anything. Hinata lived in constant fear of the day Hanabi turned 18.

No, it was good she couldn't join the Affair right now. She needed to stay away as long as possible. Perhaps Hinata could change her mind within the limited span of three years, and convince Hanabi to go to college somewhere far away from Konoha altogether.

When Hanabi was a child, she was intentionally shielded by their mother. Aoki had seen what the Syndicate had done to her other child: walking in while Hiashi's stoic form stood over Neji and Hinata with their hands shoved inside of an animal carcass, teaching them the difference between a pound, an ounce, and an immediate jail sentence. She wanted Hanabi to have no part in it, so she put her foot down when Hiashi came to retrieve Hanabi for what would be her first lesson in the trade.

Whenever Aoki sat down to brush her hand over Hinata's bangs, she thought about how the small girl was probably a lost cause. It was too late for her. She knew too much, and she was already prone to saying the right things to the right people at the right time. Even with Hinata's shy nature, it was concerning that a child knew just what to say to get what she needed.

All this mothering was happening at a time when Aoki had needed something safe to protect when she had put at risk everything else simply because of her own desires. Hanabi was not yet under Hiashi's fingernail, and Aoki wanted to keep her that way...just in case.

A paper door slid open and Hanabi and Hinata's heads snapped in the direction of footfall. Hiashi entered the room dressed in a dark, tailored suit. He looked appreciatively at the spread of desserts and then at his daughters. If he'd heard them bickering, he didn't say anything about it. They both dipped their heads in a bow.

"I need the room," was all Hiashi said.

Of course, Hanabi: "But the Affair doesn't start until––"

Hinata elbowed her in the side, grabbing the crook of her elbow to lead her out first. "O-of course, Father," Hinata said, pushing Hanabi with her free index finger, knowing that it hurt, and not caring. "I'll see you later tonight."

She was so busy prodding her younger sister with nails in an effort to escort her out, that she almost didn't notice Suna Gaara standing in the doorway. When her shoulder brushed his chest upon her exit, her breath got stuck. She choked and started coughing, completely red in the face.

As she tried to catch her breath, Gaara glared down at her with a perfectly hateful gaze. Despite herself, her shock turned to anger, because she'd done nothing to deserve it. She released Hanabi and opened her mouth to say something, anything to him, when he stepped away abruptly, sliding the door shut. She was so close to the door that it brushed the tip of her nose and she felt the air swoop past with the dismissal.

"I'll kill him," Hanabi said as if it was a fact that could not be contested. Hinata didn't disagree with the sentiment––if one thing was for certain it was that Gaara had always been bold.

-:-

When Hinata was 18, Gaara laid her down in a bed of her favorite flowers. Everything felt right when he wrapped his arms around her body and held her tightly against his chest. Sometimes, at night when she could sneak away, she would shake with nightmares. Sometimes, at night, he would too. They learned to love each other that way, in the dark and pushing fear out the space with their hands and shoulders.

There was a moment when it felt like they could last forever. Hinata remembered this vividly; it was in April, and the first signs of true spring had started to dot the ground with the heads of yellow flowers. Hinata had spent an hour and a half on the train, on the way to a restaurant two suburban towns over so that she could not be accidentally seen by anyone in the Family.

"Hey," Gaara said when he spotted her walking towards their table. He got up like he always did, and slid his hand under her sweater to lay it flat against the skin of her back. She melted into his touch, their bodies molding together for a few warm seconds. He breathed in the scent of her hair. It was always like they were meeting for the first time over and over again, the two of them. "I was worried."

Gaara was always worried. It had taken Hinata the better part of the year to learn this about him because he liked to hide it. His appearance was intimidating––all the edges, dark clothes, and scathing looks––but really, it was armor. When they sat down to eat, weariness rested on the skin of his face like a mask.

"N-no need to be, I'm here," Hinata assured. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and immediately started pulling up a webpage to show him. When she looked up from the screen, he still looked wary. "What's going on?"

His expression changed minutely, and Hinata knew intrinsically that they were entering the taboo part of their relationship. The thing they tried so hard to ignore. She reached across the table to clasp his hand, but he moved it back and looked away.

"Listen," he said in a low tone, his eyes were distracted; he was staring out the window of the cafe. Across the street, a group of teens walked rowdily out of a record store. A couple in the rear were holding hands, their heads bent close together in conspiracy. "I um...I...my father..."

He trailed off. Hinata's hand felt lonely and cold on the table, and he made no movement to grab it. His eyes darkened and his jaw tensed. He was working the bone there, and she could see his skin tightening and loosening with the action. It was here when Gaara looked the most dangerous; looked every part Suna, and every part determined. It was how he looked before he was about to start a fight.

Hinata had only seen Gaara fight a handful of times, at concerts or raves, but never in the context of the Suna Syndicate. It happened when men got too close to her, or when they shoved passed him rudely. He'd straighten up his back and send his left fist flying, blackening an eye until it no longer opened. He could be ruthless if it meant respect. He didn't let anyone get away with treating him poorly. It was something Hinata admired about him, but sometimes when they'd meet up after spending days apart, he'd show up bruised with cuts across his face. His hands would be calloused and his eyes haunted. When she would ask what had happened he'd give her a taunt, distanced look, and say "family stuff."

So the conversation would be closed just like that, middle of the chapter, with no hopes of finishing. Hinata learned to love him that way, and he learned to love her, even when she showed up with her own unfinished pages, even when he had questions he'd have to cast into the night because there would be no answer coming from Hinata's loyal mouth.

Gaara grabbed her hand suddenly, and Hinata looked up. He was looking into her face now, though his expression had scarcely changed. With his hand, Hinata felt its familiar roughness and she squeezed it supportively. Finally, he cleared his voice again and said, "My father...he's sick. I don't know if you've heard..."

The Families talked and rumors spread, but whenever Hinata heard the name Suna on her father's tongue she left the room. She shook her head, "I-I didn't know, Gaara. I'm so sorry."

Gaara leaned back, taking his hand with him again. He was sighing and rubbing his temples. When he turned his head, she noticed his neck was dark with bruises that suggested he'd been choked. "Yeah well," he didn't acknowledge what she'd said. "The Family is worried. It's uh, it's...reasonable. My father agrees. He wants to...name me Father."

Hinata's stomach dropped: "What?" and she recoiled slightly before immediately blurting out, without thinking, "Not Kankuro?! Isn't he older?"

Gaara sent her a sharp look. It was unlike them to name their family members, and it was strange hearing his name on her tongue. She immediately looked away, embarrassed and upset. She felt heat begin to rise to her face, her breath increasing. If Gaara was going to be a Father, well that just...

What would that mean for the two of them?

"I'm almost 19," Gaara said. "I know we don't talk about this stuff but...I make a lot of decisions already on behalf of the Family. I'm prepared to do this."

Hinata just blinked at him uneasily. She had thought they were the same––she didn't know that he'd been an active member so young. She was shocked to find out that he'd been so active for so long that he could just become a Father! Just like that! For a long, terrifying moment, she felt scared of him.

She didn't know anything about him.

She pushed that thought to the back of her head like it was spoiled milk and quickly turned the screen of her laptop to Gaara, pointing. She began to talk quickly as if she were reciting a script, "W-well, you don't have to be prepared to d-do anything, Gaara! There's so m-much more to life than our families. To our lives. I thought we were g-going to try to do this together? Y-you were so excited about this program and––"

"Hinata––"

She ignored him, frantically letting the information burst from her lips without stopping, "you can get scholarships if y-your family won't support you! I've been looking at apartments in Iwa too, and I honestly t-think we could work with a studio if you're willing to s-sacrifice space. I want to––"

"––Hinata," Gaara tried again. He was slowly shaking his head, his head of red hair spilling into his eyes as he did so.

"––tattoo professionally as I start my studies, m-maybe to make some income? I'm g-good at it, though I guess I'm n-not supposed to talk about what I do for the Family. Though y-you already broke that rule tonight, d-didn't you?" she laughed hysterically, here. "Anyway, I r-really think that if you wanted to do this, to go to college, with me, you could. Y-you don't have to live the w-way we've grown up. Look, I even started the app––"

Gaara slammed her laptop with a thud, and the sound rang out through the cafe. He was glowering at her at this point, his eyes narrow and angry as he looked down at her, "don't pretend to know how I've grown up, Hinata. Don't pretend to know anything about me at all."

Hinata flinched as if she had been hit.

"Do you think I want to do this with my life? Seriously think about it," Gaara spat at her. He was looking away again, staring across the street. His hands were fisted at his sides.

Hinata looked down. Her laptop was shut so hard that it opened itself back up slightly from the force. The screen was cracked in the upper-righthand corner. She opened it up to inspect, pointedly ignoring her boyfriend, and touched a piece of the broken glass. A dot of blood appeared on her finger in response and she drew her hand back.

"You can be so fucking naïve sometimes," he grunted unhappily. They were silent for a few long beats as a waitress served them cups of coffee and asked if they wanted to order anything else. Red in the face, Hinata told her no as Gaara poured packet after packet of sugar into his mug.

"And y-you can be mean," Hinata muttered, her eyes downcast. She knew their plans for college were just dreams. She knew, logically, that they would not happen, but she'd wanted to believe that the two of them could share a life outside of family politics. Now, it was all but impossible.

"I'm sorry," Gaara said in a low voice. He reached across the table and grabbed both of her hands. Hesitantly, she looked up and into his eyes and saw the true remorse that lived there. "I'm really, really sorry, Hinata."

"Do you think...do you think w-we can still be together?" Hinata whispered this, as if she already knew the answer, but wanted to ask it anyway. "With you in charge, m-maybe things can be different?"

He nodded and brought her knuckles to his lips, kissing her hands gently. Hinata placed her hand against his cheek as he said, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe things can change."

Then, as if under a spell, both of their phones started vibrating against the table. Gaara answered his quickly, standing from the table, barking: "What Temari?"

On Hinata's screen, her father's name appeared. Fear jumped to her throat––he never called her. Had She and Gaara been seen?

"Where are you?" Hiashi's voice ran through the line clearly. Hinata watched Gaara walk quickly out of the exit and down the street, stopping just once outside of the record store. He gave her a long piercing look, before turning away to speak into his phone.

"I need you to get home right now. I'm sending a car," Hiashi continued without waiting for her response. As Hiashi continued to talk, she started to realize that she and Gaara would not be returning to their conversation any time soon. Gaara's uncle was in the hospital, and Hinata's uncle had been the one to put him there.

-:-

It was strange when Hinata realized that Gaara wasn't at the official Affair. Stranger even, that the dark-haired man from the laundromat was, and he was sitting in the frontmost position in the room, looking pensive.

From her spot next to her father's seat, she'd looked around for Gaara while pretending not to, shielding her eyes when they caught the stare of an Uncle or Family member. The Affairs happened every few weeks––called by the Father when intensive decisions had to be made. They were closed meetings; only elders, Uncles, and higher-ups were allowed to attend. You had to be extremely special to be invited to the Hyuga Estate.

The meetings took place in the traditional part of the Estate, where wooden floors and paper doors dominated the west wing of the manor. Across the room, elders milled about indulging in the spread of sweet treats that was customary for an affair. Behind them, a paper door was wide open, casting the room alight with the sun's glow and a sharp breeze from the interior garden. Neji was there in his stark suit and looked ready to close it, but he was waiting for Hiashi to finish his cigar. Hiashi was smoking beside the frozen koi pond, backlit against the setting sun, his features posed in thought and unmoved by the cold. He looked across the way mildly, watching a Hyuga cousin at the opposite door as he collected cellphones in a basket, an automatic rifle strapped to his back.

Hinata felt the breeze on her back and she pulled her shawl tighter around her bare shoulders. She wished she could escape to the east wing, the modern side of the manor where her room was, and trade her strappy dress for a thick wooly sweater, but it was customary to dress up. She, especially, had to look the part.

Her seat was a little to her father's left, on a raised platform that sat in front of dozens of cushioned floor placements. Beside her sat an Uncle, usually Inoichi, the closest to him, and then her father sat at the top. Directly to Hiashi's right was a seat that was symbolically left unfilled, where Hizashi used to sit, and next to that, Neji's placement.

Hiashi coughed loudly from the garden, and Hinata turned her head slightly to watch him put the cigar out. He entered slowly through the door, and Neji nudged it closed with a quiet tap. Hinata bowed as he took his seat in the middle, and after her, the rest of the Uncles and higher-ups did too. They took their seats, leaving their plates of sweet desserts to the sides of the room. There was to be no eating or drinking during the actual Affair.

Which brought Hinata back to the dark-haired man from before, who sat centerfold with a blonde man she'd never seen before. She appraised them both, trying to recall their names, but coming up blank each time. It was strange that these two, whose names she did not even know, appear at the Affair when they were so new. She cocked her head to the side as she watched them idly.

The dark-haired one looked back, his mouth in a thin, unemotional line. His eyes were like two pieces of coal as they watched her watch him. She was impassive in the face of his gaze because she sat where she felt most powerful. Anywhere else, she'd probably scurry away like a drenched mouse and hide her face. She'd been raised to sit there, whether she liked it or not.

"Welcome, Family," Hiashi called after everyone had seated. "May our days be blessed with fortune, and our nights be protected and virtuous."

"God willing," everyone replied, as was customary. The two new guys remained silent. This was their first Affair.

Hiashi stood, which was unusual, and walked a few paces so that he was standing next to Neji. Choosing to remain seated beside Hiashi's standing figure, Neji looked small and boyish as his uncle placed a hand on his shoulder. "Before we start," Hiashi began. "I would like to make a brief announcement. We buried my brother a few weeks ago, may he rest in peace––"

"––God willing," everyone called again. Hinata did too, but her voice cracked and she wasn't sure why. She watched her father and cousin closely. Neji was a mirror of her father because he'd been a mirror of his own. As he aged into his young adulthood, his jaw took on the sharp edge of the Hyuga patriarch. His features were a dangerous mix of delicate and severe.

"––and this is our first Affair with him in the ground. This seat has been left vacant since his imprisonment because we thought we'd get him back." Hiashi paused, though Hinata secretly thought it was more for dramatic effect than emotional processing. Still, she cast her eyes to the ground to pay her respects. Her father, to his theatrical credit, took his glass of sake––he was the only one allowed to eat or drink––and cast it towards the ground like an offering. It made a semi-circle around Neji's seated position.

There was still drink left in the cup. Hiashi held it out to Neji and Hinata felt the breath stall in her throat, looking up quickly to catch the shock on Neji's face before it flickered away into a hidden place. The new men in the front were forgotten as Neji turned to Hiashi, extending his hand to take the glass.

"But we are not getting him back," Hiashi said. "For that reason, I am forced to fill his position––his seat. I extend an invitation to my nephew, son of Hizashi Hyuga, Neji Hyuga. Neji, will you sit with me?"

Everyone was quiet, barely breathing, as they witnessed this rare movement of power. The Hyuga Syndicate was a tight-knit group, but it had little room for upward mobility unless you had proven yourself to be someone phenomenal. Even more, you had to prove yourself to be loyal. You'd have to almost die three times with the Hyuga name sealed up inside of you, in order to do what Neji would do.

Neji stood, holding the glass tightly in his grip. His face was hard as concrete, serious, and unmoving. "I will."

"Will you do us the honors of becoming an Uncle? Will you promise to protect and serve the Hyuga with your blood and virtue?"

"I will," Neji said. "I promise."

"Then I welcome you to drink," Hiashi said. "And join me as an advisor during this Affair, and all of the Affairs after."

Neji kneeled ceremoniously and drank from the cup of sake Hiashi had given him. Hinata watched him silently, as they all did, taking in his serious face, his mournful gaze, and the proud smile that began to work its way across his lips. "I accept this position. May I make the Family proud."

"God willing!" Everyone cheered, jubilant and energized with the news, throwing their fists into the air. Hinata hoped that her call was the loudest. Embarrassingly, she felt moisture build around her eyes as she watched her cousin ascend the platform to sit next to her father. He crossed his legs when he sat on the cushion, looking quietly proud as he looked out into the small crowd of seated Family, taking in his new position. His eyes passed over each and every person, stopping for a long pause, on the dark-haired man in the middle.

"Excellent," Hiashi said, as he too finally took his seat. He held out his cup, and someone quickly rushed to refill it. "Now. On to the next order of business tonight. It might come as a shock to many of you, and I can't blame you. I was surprised, myself," he prefaced as he took a drink. His eyes looked curiously mischievous as he looked down at them. "We have an Uchiha among us. One of the last of his kind––and he would like to join our ranks officially. Shall we hear him out?"

Hinata's head snapped to the dark-haired man as outraged cries filled the room, its tenor echoing noisily against the walls, as the majority-man room loudly disagreed. They were crying things like "traitor!" and "Uchiha scum!" Hiashi let them rally as he sat, quietly drinking his alcohol, observing everything.

Finally, an Uncle from the West Port Docks said, "Why would we welcome an Uchiha? Especially one who would seek solace with his own family's sworn enemy?"

The dark-haired man was looking at her again as he listened to the outrage, his eyes slowly and curiously sliding from her, down the line to Neji, and then back to her again like the gaze of a hungry snake. She felt a sudden heat as he smiled tightly and said, "With all due respect, I have no family. They were all murdered when I was nine. I only want revenge."

Hinata's heat turned to chills.

-:-

Sasuke shouldn't be surprised, all things considered. It was the Hyuga way to throw him to their dogs, and for all their yapping they were quite a fearsome crowd.

He felt Naruto––going by Shenji––shift beside him in discomfort. They were in the belly of their beast with no way out, and Sasuke had put them there. At least Naruto had not used his true identity, so once this was over he could escape to a new city and take other missions elsewhere. Sasuke had no such future, and he hadn't counted on it, either.

Hiashi did not look moved by Sasuke's proclamation. If anything, he looked like he expected it. Neji, on the other hand, had shifted with agitation in his sparkling new seat. Sasuke laughed to think Neji was affected by an Uchiha's sudden presence overshadowing his meager ascension in the Hyuga hierarchy. Sasuke wondered if he remembered him yet.

Another movement caught his eye, too. The woman from the car. Now Sasuke could finally place her as she sat with folded knees on an indigo silk cushion. She'd moved to subtly cover her mouth with her hand in surprise, her shawl falling from her shoulder and landing below her on the hardwood floor with a cloud of sunlit dust. It was such a demure gesture for the daughter of a kingpin, Sasuke almost did not recognize her as such. But now that she sat in front of him with her light eyes blinking rapidly and filling with what looked like a twisted sort of empathy, he knew exactly who she was.

They'd played together as children once in a very neutral place. The Konoha Science Museum. They'd dipped under the heads of giant plastic tyrannosauruses as their fathers discussed important business on rest benches. Sasuke and Hinata were all chubby fingers and reaching palms inside of the dinosaur park, at barely 9-years-old chattering with each other easily without the knowledge of a war on their shoulders. It had been avoided, that war, after Hiashi and Fugaku put aside their differences while their children played easily. A treaty had been drawn and shaken on. They would still be enemies, yes, but enemies with hard, drawn boundaries. It was the polite thing to do, especially because the Hyuga owed the Uchiha a great deal.

"I knew who you were when you found Kiba and asked Tsume to vouch for you," Hiashi said quietly, thoughtfully. "And I wondered what your goal was. I chose to wait and see."

Sasuke didn't bother to look surprised––this mission had always been a liability, given his former status within these networks. It seemed to him he was meant to be caught, and ANBU had accounted for his adaptability in the face of danger. Besides, his issue as an agent had always been that he was hard to forget. There was something about his face.

It's why he'd always preferred the assassin tract, but repeatedly, he'd been denied. Eventually, he had to just get over it and keep working.

Kiba had been his and Naruto's into the Hyugas. He owed a steep favor to someone in ANBU and took Sasuke and Naruto under his wing no question. Idiot's fate would come to him fast, but it wasn't any of the Uchiha's business what happened to him. He shouldn't have been gambling with operatives, now his life hung in limbo, though he scarcely knew it when he offered the pair to his mother. ANBU don't make themselves known, even when they need a strong favor––they were convincing and terrifying enough on their own.

Sasuke inclined his head to where the man was sitting with his mother, Tsume, a higher-up with a tight frown etched across her face. She didn't look at him at all and she didn't look pleased.

"So tell me, Sasuke Uchiha son of Fugaku Uchiha, what is your goal, and why have you come to us?"

Sasuke lifted his head, his eyes meeting with Hiash's pale ones. "I want to make a name for myself: I want to make a lot of money," he said. "And like I said; I want revenge. I'm going to find my brother...and kill him."

He let the words settle into the room. It was so quiet, he could hear Naruto's breathing beside him, and he hadn't moved an inch this whole time.

"And what makes you think we want to help you get those things?" Neji spoke up, perhaps out of turn, because everyone looked at him strangely. Too big for his comfy seat, Sasuke thought mildly, humorously.

"Because you all want revenge too," Sasuke said. "And I can help you get it."

-:-

"That was intense," Ino muttered quietly. The two of them were leaning against the walls of the interior garden, both bundled in heavy fur coats. They were smoking a blunt Ino had rolled directly after the Affair. With one hand she held a plate of lemon pound cake, in the other the blunt that smoked easily between her long acrylic nails.

"Yeah," Hinata agreed, pieces of crumbling donut falling out of her mouth as she spoke. The two of them giggled to distract from the stress that usually came after a long meeting, and Hinata wiped her face. She peered through the doors and saw men gathered around the table as Sasuke and Shenji stood back, observing their new operational home.

When Sasuke delivered insight on the Akatsuki, all bets were off. Everyone wanted blood, and they wanted it fast. Even Neji's stubborn look slid off his face after the Uchiha relayed the news. He was no outsider to rage, he just hid it better than most.

So it had been decided: Hiashi would keep the new boys close to him, and they would report directly to him at the Estate. Hinata knew that this meant he did not at all trust them, but they were too valuable to be let loose into the world. A new, intriguing game was leveling out the playing field, and the Hyugas had found their way into the middle of it. They loved every second of it.

They would be seeking out the Akatsuki to avenge Hizashi's death. An eye for an eye, let the whole world go blind.

The thought of it rendered her exhausted, and she wished for her bed only a few dozen steps away from the interior garden. But she couldn't leave yet––it would be considered rude for her to leave while guests were still outfitting the meeting room and gardens, and her father had already disappeared elsewhere for the night. It was up to her and Neji to see their guests safely out of the Estate.

"They're kinda hot though," Ino was saying as she passed Hinata the blunt, a sweet and musky scent entering the air between us. "Like, good eye candy. You're lucky they'll be stationed here, eh?"

"I guess," Hinata said agreeably, just barely catching the end of Ino's conversation––Ino mostly liked to talk to hear her own voice. Hinata wanted to go inside, but smoking wasn't allowed in the Affair room, and she really needed to feel calm so that she could entertain conversations with the elders. They, too, liked to talk. Still, she was freezing and her bare legs were exposed to a wind that had just turned sharper; the sun had just dipped past the clouds. "I d-dunno. It's kinda weird t-they just showed u-up here, right?"

Ino shrugged. "Kiba's always taking in strays," she brushed off her coat and told Hinata she could have the rest of the blunt before she passed it to her. "Dogs and people, you know? He's got a big heart."

"Sure, sure," Hinata agreed again, taking the rest of the weed. She was so damn tired she would let Ino say anything at that point, just to end the conversation. "Where a-are you going?"

"Shika's tonight," Ino said, pulling a mink head wrap from her large Chanel bag. She fitted it over her straight blonde head, looking like she'd just stepped out of a Russian film. "We're doing karaoke, wanna come?"

"You know I c-can't leave," Hinata said. Not that she'd wanted to, anyway. "Go have f-fun. I'll see you tomorrow for the initiation?"

"You know I never miss a party," Ino smiled brilliantly and kissed both of Hinata's cheeks before she disappeared back through the Affair room. Hinata watched Shikamaru stand from his place on the floor and loop his arm around hers. Together, they collected their phones and disappeared from view.

Hinata sighed once she was alone, and sat dutifully on the little wooden bench beside the koi pond. Every once in a while, she cast her eye inside of the room to see who had cleared out of the space. Neji was accepting congratulations beside the dessert table, shaking a dozen hands with a broad smile across his face. Hinata would have to congratulate him later, once everyone cleared the room.

Behind her, she heard a wooden door slide open from another room. That was unusual for the west wing. The only other rooms with access to the interior garden were her father's office, the sauna, and a small empty room for Syndicate guests of honor. Behind her was her father's office, so she didn't startle immediately. She simply straightened her back and turned to greet him, saying "Fath––"

The words died on her tongue as she came face-to-face with Gaara, who apparently had never left. So he hadn't been invited to the Affair, Hinata thought to herself, curious and alert, but there was still business to attend to.

Hinata cleared her throat, standing abruptly. Gaara closed the door to the office behind him, and before it shut, she watched her father turn off the lights and walk away. Not seeing his daughter in the garden, he had unknowingly left her alone with the man who'd broken her.

Hinata didn't want to talk to him, but Gaara grabbed her wrist before she could so much as think to walk away. His green eyes were heavy with something she scarcely recognized, glowing with power as his position as head of Suna became bigger and more great as the years passed. The years had been kind to him: his form filling out so he was not just bones, his jaw sharpening, and his face broadening handsomely. Hinata remembered when he was a stupid teenager, just skin and bones after his Uncle was killed; remembered when he leaned her over his bed with his hands on her neck, pushing her face into the mattress as he demanded some type of respect for a role that had nothing to do with her.

They'd played that game for a couple of months––him becoming increasingly mean and bitter, and her submitting to his anger as if by hurting her, she could bring back his favorite Uncle. She'd never met Baki, but she knew that Gaara was enamored with him for as long as she knew Gaara. Baki was like a father to him, and because his actual father was mean and terrible, Gaara had needed Baki more than he had needed anyone else. Baki had saved his life.

For four long months, he'd fucked her like he hated her, throwing her around and striking her in the face when he looked down at her, as if he didn't like what he saw. He'd leave trails of bruises on her skin that she would not notice until morning. He'd see them too, but he never said sorry, he never said anything at all.

They broke up one night when Gaara's anger turned Hinata into a fearful ball of tears. He tried to say he was sorry for his yelling, but Hinata could not see past the red in his face and all that she had been doing to get him to love her again. So, as they lay in bed holding each other, she did the only thing she thought she could: she threatened to tell the Hyuga Syndicate everything. Gaara's face quickly turned to ugly fury, "you'll start a fucking war."

"Why would it s-start a war if you've done nothing wrong?" Hinata challenged. They were eye to eye and Gaara's free hand twitched at his side. His left hand was already gripping the back of her head.

"You're a fucking bitch," he growled. He gave a final harsh tug of her hair, retching her violently away from him, and letting her fall back onto the bed as he stood. "A waste of fucking time and space. Get the fuck out! Get the fuck out my house!" He started to throw her clothes at her, her belt buckle hitting her square in the lip and cutting it. She tasted iron as she scrambled up to slide on her panties, leaving her bra which sat in a corner, and sliding her blouse over her shoulders.

Gaara pushed her out of the room, throwing her backpack at her head. She covered her bleeding mouth with one hand as she rushed down the stairs. He called her a slut over and over again, hurdling words at her back like daggers. She slipped down the stairs in her haste.

"If I ever fucking see you again, I'll fucking kill you," he shut the door on her as she stood on the porch, a mess of blood and tears on her upper lip. Because she loved him, she would take what he'd done to the grave. She didn't want her father to have him killed. That was her problem, her fatal flaw: her soft heart.

Hinata felt her heart stagger in her chest as she blinked rapidly, taking in her position. Gaara's hands that had gripped her wrists had loosened and she yanked them out, staggering slightly from the gesture. She looked over her shoulder and into the room, but someone had shut the door, due to the cold she presumed. They stood in a small pool of light that came from a lantern next to the pond but were otherwise in near darkness. Idly, in her panic, Hinata realized that Gaara had been speaking to her: apologizing.

Hinata registered that she had been saying words back without understanding what was being said, words tumbling out of her like: "Please stop, Gaara. Please leave me alone. Not right now, not here." A blubbering mess of exhausted panic and push away as she stepped back while he kept moving forward.

The door slid open again, casting the garden in a rectangle of golden light as voices wafted out to greet them, and then closed it again. Unable to move from her stalemate with Gaara, Hinata assumed with anguish that someone had seen them deep in conversation and had chosen to give them privacy. Perhaps, from the gaze of a passive onlooker, their stances in the dim light of the garden could've looked intimate.

Hinata tasted sour in the air. Gaara kept speaking, but she wasn't hearing any of it, her mind replaying images of his bedroom behind her eyelids. She was grateful when a new person's voice cut the air with its sound, rendering Gaara silent with an almost audacious tone of authority.

"I think she asked you to leave. Multiple times. As a direct hand of Hyuga Hiashi, I will have no choice but to physically remove you."

Uchiha Sasuke stood before the both of them, his eyes a startling constellation of provocation. His stance said I'll fuck you up, his eyes said, I dare you.

AN. Now the real stuff begins. Please review!