For a few months, it had been quiet. There was still the occasional villager that decided to voice their opinion when and where it wasn't wanted, but there had been no major incident for a while. Hinata had finished what she wanted with the house, all but one room, the 'guest room.' She stood in it for hours and changed the furniture a few times and still couldn't decide.
Sasuke stood at the door and watched her move the furniture, again, with mild amusement. "You're not going to leave it alone, are you."
"I don't like it." She pouted and sat harshly on the bed.
He grinned, crossing the room sitting with her. "Why do you not like it?" He chuckled as she flopped back on the bed.
"I have no idea." She laid her arms over her face. "It's the only room I haven't figured out yet." She huffed. "What do you think?"
He slipped his hands under the rim of her shirt. "I think we should use the bed."
She giggled, swatting at his hand. "I'm being serious."
"So am I." He lowered his head to kiss the skin exposed.
"Sasuke..." She whimpered.
He laid his head on her hip and hummed. "I'm not sure. What bothers you about it?"
"Well, no one is coming over. We don't have house guests. Who am I decorating for?" She sighed partly because of exasperation, partially because he had resumed his assault at her hip line.
"I think you'll get an idea."
Hinata hadn't thought much of the guest room but now that she stood at the door frame looking at what had been finally decided. She realized what the next part of the story was. Stepping in, it was partly used for the storage of random things. The closet was filled mainly with storage boxes of paint and tools for the furniture she built. All the furniture that was there was small and Hinata remembered Sasuke had mentioned 'getting out a futon' to sleep in here. The bed was a crib. This was meant to be their nursery room.
Sasuke slipped his arms around her from behind and laid his face into her shoulder, and her heart clenched with a sudden heartbreak. If she had insisted on sleeping separately, he would have slept in a room that only reminded him that they were planning children. She felt sick.
She clutched her hand to his arms around her middle and covered her mouth with her other hand as she felt tears.
"It needs to be dusted." He thought aloud, breaking her heart further. He hadn't entered this room in a while, on purpose.
She stood there for a heavy breath and wiggled free of his grip heading for the linen closet for a rag.
"That wasn't prompt." He called after her.
She sniffed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "It needs to be cleaned."
He rubbed the back of his head, sighing, then heading to the kitchen to fill a bucket.
They moved the normal bed to the house they were using for failed projects and storage and found a child-sized crib that could be converted to a bed by taking the sides off in a compound's storage house. Hinata didn't feel right taking on from one of the houses. She giggled as Sasuke threw it over his shoulder, holding it with one arm, and looked at her confused as to what she was laughing at him for.
With the small crib in place, she suddenly knew what she wanted to do with the rest. Small dressers, a desk, and little chairs with a low table. It all fell into place.
"I need linens," Hinata said with her hands on her hips. "And maybe a rug."
"Oh, shopping for children's bedding and cute rugs. I'm sure that is going to go well." He flopped down to sit on the floor, tugging her down into his lap.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and wrinkled her nose. "Should I make them?"
"No, I think you should pick out baby clothes and wave them at Sakura." He smirked.
"I'm not even pregnant, and you are already trying to find ways to show off?" She giggled.
"Yes, is there something wrong with that?" He grinned.
"But I wasn't going to retire for another year," Hinata asked, looking up from scrubbing the floor.
"Yeah, but we were ready. That was the point. Though I was joking about the trouble getting the bed fittings and rugs, there was something that happened that day."
"What?" She asked, dreading the answer.
Hinata lifted the fabric and puffed out her cheeks in a pout, looking back at him. "The neutral ones are all yellow."
"What were you hoping for?" He wondered, leaning down to her height to look at the colors.
"Green? White? Tan? Anything other than a blush pink, baby blue, or sunflower yellow." She hummed. "Maybe I should try to make them."
"If you want, but I have seen your sewing skills." Sasuke chuckled as she threw him another pouted look. "I'm sure you can manage it."
"Those are for children's beds." Someone commented from behind them. His wife tilted her head to look behind him. He opted for remembering the voice.
"I know Ino-chan," Hinata replied politely.
He could feel her look of disapproval from behind his back.
"I haven't seen you in while I heard you were married." He cringed, making his face twitch. They were not invited to what he was sure, knowing the woman who made flower arrangements and planned weddings as a family business would have been a huge event.
"Yes, I did." She answered snippily.
"Congratulations, I haven't spoken to Sai-san, but I hear he's very nice." His replacement, he vaguely remembered meeting him when Naruto tried to make the four of them a team.
Ino made a noise of acknowledgment, but nothing more. He took the plunge and turned from ignoring her from the much more interesting fabrics. She had a hand on her hip and her other arm holding her purse at a 'bitchy' angle. She avoided eye contact with him and pretended to be looking at fabrics of her own.
"Should we be expecting a new Uchiha then?" She asked in a blunt-but-not-blunt way that made his blood boil. He would prefer her to be a bitch directly than hiding behind social politeness.
"Uh, no, not yet, but we have an extra room," Hinata noted.
"Thinking a little far ahead, aren't you?" Ino asked, flipping through fabrics purposely. He was sure she wasn't even looking at them.
"Well, it's not like we have anyone we would want to invite over." Sasuke paused to look to the side to keep a straight face and not snort a laugh. He was not expecting her response to be so brutal and pointed.
Ino also had to pause and look at Hinata's innocent face and nod awkwardly. "Of course."
Either Hinata didn't realize what she had said, or she wanted to grind the guilt further. He was relatively sure it was the first thought he wished it was the latter. "The Uchiha district is central to the village."
Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and tried not to laugh at his oblivious wife.
"Right..." Ino nodded. "You're still in rotation."
"I will retire before I start baring," Hinata added. "It's nice to be prepared for the unexpected."
"Of course, there's not always a way to fix mistakes," Ino hummed.
He was annoyed, but he glanced at his wife and became furious. She was frozen with her mouth slightly open, not sure what to say. He then realized she had been being genuinely kind to Ino and probably not understanding the purposely rude comments and attitude she was giving or maybe didn't expect her to go so far. He knew she hated him, but he wasn't sure Ino had been mean to her directly.
"Well, not accidents are mistakes." Hinata declared in the same soft tone, but it cut the tension roughly. She turned to him. "I think I will stitch the bedding myself. I want green."
He nodded, laying a hand on her back and edging her out of the store.
"I never really can tell when she is being mean. She used to make comments on my clothes. I didn't realize she was making fun of me until Sakura-chan told me. It wasn't really that we weren't friends. It was just she had a very strong personality, and she let it overflow to be rude sometimes." Hinata rolled her hands over the stitches in the green and white striped bedding sat by the bed. It would need to be washed.
"She's not a queen. She doesn't need to act like royalty," Sasuke laid his head back on her knees from where he sat in front of her.
Hinata put down the sheet and ran her fingers back through his hair, clearing it from his face. "I think it's an insecurity response. She used to comment on my weight. Sakura-chan said it was because my chest was bigger and she was jealous."
"You think she's jealous you married me?" She hummed. It was possible she did, like Sakura proclaim her love for him when they were in the academy, though Hinata was sure she dropped it when he was left, especially because she was sure she and Sai had gotten together before he had gotten back.
"I think she doesn't have a different response." She rested on the idea. "I think she doesn't know what to think, so she went with the same level of disgust that Sakura-chan went with. She's not one to voice an unpopular opinion, so defending or befriending us when everyone else was showing us their backs would be… against her."
"You can defend her. I'm going to continue to think she is just a massive conniving bitch." He closed his eyes and sighed.
"I don't think it is so malicious, though I was probably hurt at the time, her thinking a baby I was planning for would be a mistake." She frowned, looking back around the now clean room.
"Yeah, though at the time, that's what everyone voiced, they couldn't tell you not to marry me you had 'already made that mistake.' However, they could dumbly imply not to have children for whatever reason." He shrugged.
"Why are people so… quick to judge?" She sighed.
"You've lived in the village all your life, and you are surprised?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, but I wish we would have all grown up after the academy. The more I hear, the more childish it feels. Why are we all so worried about other people's decisions?" She leaned down over him touching her nose to his with a pout.
He pressed up to kiss her forehead. "You felt that way then too."