"It's about time for the peace meetings." Hinata hummed, looking at the calendar.
"Shit, I forgot about that." Sasuke rubbed the back of his head, looking at the mark in her handwriting on the calendar.
"We go?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"Yeah, you have a friend there. I don't like him, but it is the only time he comes." He explained. "That should be far enough back to remember, right?"
"Gaara?" She tried not to smile at the face he made. Nose scrunched in distaste.
"Yeah, the prick," She laughed.
"What?"
Sasuke loved his wife, he reminded himself as he stood behind her. She folded her hands in front of her and bowed. He followed not quite as low. He didn't care as much, but he would be polite for her sake.
He didn't give a damn about visiting Kazekage.
"Hinata." He nodded his head in respect. Wait, why did he know her by her first name? He knew he made a face because the Kazekage caught it. His nearly expressionless face twitch only slightly in interest.
His eyes slid back to her as she started replying. "I didn't know you would be coming, Gaara." Why did she know him by his first name? Did they know each other?
"I did not plan to. I wanted to send Kankuro and be done with it, but Temari insisted. She does not get many excuses to come see her boyfriend for extended times." He explained causally, then his face changed to mild confusion. "I believe you mentioned no longer coming to represent your clan. You didn't explain why, but you were sure you would no longer be coming to the peace meetings."
"I'm no longer representing the Hyuga clan." She agreed with a nod.
"She represents the Uchiha." Sasuke found his opportunity to speak.
Hinata looked between the two. "Have you two met?"
"No," Sasuke stated plainly.
"I know of him," Gaara explained, glancing at him again. "I sent my approval for his pardon." Hope, he wasn't looking for a thank you.
"Well..." She looked back at him again, looking unsure. "This is my husband, Sasuke Uchiha."
Gaara looked mildly surprised. "You were married?"
"I'm sorry I didn't send any invitation as a courtesy. We didn't have a ceremony." She explained. "Though I doubt you would have been able to make it if we had."
He nodded in agreement. He didn't seem offended. What an odd man.
"I hope this clan treats you much better." The Kage gave him a look of warning, and Sasuke glared back. Don't accuse him of mistreating his wife.
"Much better." She assured him.
"He wasn't being mean," Hinata excused. "He had few friends, and he is very protective of what he has."
"Yeah, still don't want to be compared to your family." Sasuke crossed his arms.
It was clear that the Hyuga hadn't wanted them there, but there was nothing they could do because despite being the only members of the Uchiha clan, they were a recognized clan still, and they had a right to be there.
They didn't say much, but Hinata was recognized and spoken to by representatives that recognized her, mostly confused she wasn't sitting with her sister and father this time, but it got around after she explained to a few people that she had married and was part of another clan. It had also gotten around rather quickly, not only who her husband was, but that he had claimed head to his clan.
There were mixed reactions to this information. Some were turned away by the name Sasuke Uchiha. Some wondered if the clan would grow to its original power, which they had no direct answer for, other than she wasn't pregnant. Some were worried that the Hyuga would be more difficult to negotiate with without her playing mediator, which she tried to alleviate by recommending her sister before her father.
"I didn't realize you were so popular." He mentioned to her when they had gotten a break.
"Oh, I think that my father is hard to approach, so when greeting or consulting with the Hyuga, I was the usual choice to speak to, but I have been coming to these since I was young. I'm sure some of the older representatives knew of me when I was just a child." She explained.
"Now we had only been to two when we were married, and they weren't that bad. Some whispers got back to us, but with the nature of the event, no one directly told me I shouldn't be there. Even if they did, it wouldn't have changed anything. I went because you wanted to go, not because I wanted to be there." Hinata nodded.
"Does that mean we are expected this year, or can we not show up without incident?" She wondered.
"Well, if you were still chair bound, I would say that it would be fine to skip due to your health, but you know these types, They will jump to conclusions. I don't care, but it might be less painful to show up." He said honestly, wrapping himself around her waist from her back as she looked at the calendar.
"I think it would be fine. Not all that much has changed, has it?" She hummed. "If we are asked about the accident, we can simply state I have mostly recovered."
"You know your memory loss is going to make around." Sasuke reminded her with a sigh.
"Yes, it likely will, but it's rude to press for details. We can simply not change our answer. I am not quite fully recovered." She smiled over her shoulder at him. "I'm sure it will be fine."
"If you're sure." He pressed his nose to her shoulder.
With a basket on her hip, loose skirt fluttering around her legs, hair messily tied up to keep it out of her way, he could see a dark-haired, pale child at her ankles. The fact that he wanted it wasn't what killed him, and it wasn't that they almost had it. What ate his insides out was she had wanted it and seemed to still want it.
Sasuke didn't understand what went on in her head before all this, and he certainly didn't understand now. She was always far too forgiving, caring and went out of her way for the smallest thing. She was all the things he wasn't, and he wanted to give her back all that he could, but now he couldn't give her what she had wanted most before this happened.
She squeaked, being flapped in the face by the baby sheets she was putting up on the line, and he both laughed and felt sick. She had insisted on washing them by the hand. He could only watch as she teared up, washing the fabric she didn't remember stitching together.
He wasn't sure who all this was harder on, her for looking at what she couldn't remember or him watching her and remembering what she couldn't.
With all the sheets on the line and the basket set to the side, she sighed, coming back to the house. "You okay?"
"Yeah… no." Don't lie to her.
Hinata stretched in bed and felt her hip being snatched back into the bed. "Sasuke." She giggled, lifting the blanket off his head. "I'm going to make breakfast, aren't you hungry."
"Not for food." She felt herself turn redder. She gasped as she was tossed back into the bed and towered over. Her neck was attacked, and she felt her voice leave an embarrassing moan. She dug her nails into his back, and her breath grew jagged. His hands spilled down her side and back up her shirt, and she squeaked at the new feelings.
And just like that, it was all taken away.
Sasuke, now fully awake and panting, clenched onto the sheets in a death grip, stared at her with wide eyes. "Shit."
"Sasuke?" Hinata asked in a labored whisper. She was sure now that he hadn't thought he was awake yet. How often had he dreamt of making love to the wife that was right next to him? She felt tears. How could she be so selfish going at her slow pace? Hadn't she loved him in the very bed before?
"I'm sorry. Damn it. I'm sorry." In a quick movement, the blanket was tossed off the bed, and he, on the other side, sitting rubbing his face heavily like he was scrubbing it off.
"Sasuke, wait!" Hinata squeaked, grabbing his arm before he could run further.
"I'm sorry, this is not excusable." He huffed.
"Sasuke, it's okay!" She assured him.
"Hinata, you're crying! It's not okay, damn it. I just assaulted you!" He tried to tear his arm from her, but she was not having it. She used all her strength to keep hold of his bicep. He turned on her with his own red-rimmed eyes from the pressure she was putting on his arm.
"I am not so weak you could force yourself on me without a fight." She declared. "I'm not crying because you were on me. I'm crying because I realized I am selfish, and I shouldn't have been denying you."
He stared at her going limp. The anger at himself being replaced with confusion. She let go of his arm, leaving a red mark where she had proved her point, and more, she would have snapped the bone with one twist. She was no longer sickly.
"What do you mean selfish?" He all but spit at her, looking disgusted and confused.
"I shouldn't have pushed you away. I'm your wife. This is our bed." She rambled, turning red. She still was embarrassed about the topic.
"Don't you dare think you owe me anything because we were married or have had sex before? Maybe you have been in this house too long." He growled at her.
"I'm not subjecting myself. I'm saying that I want to sleep with you, not only because I'm your wife, but because I have chosen that path again." She huffed and felt light-headed with her declaration.
"Is this because we lost a child." He started angrily, but it lost its steam quickly. He was defeated by the time 'child' had left him.
"No, of course not." She assured, crawling over to him, laying a hand on his back, he looked away.
"I don't want you to push yourself because you want to give me a child. It's not fair to you. It's the same reason I wanted you to take your birth control. Us having a child doesn't make sense right now." He pushed.
She took in a breath. Children weren't really what she had had on her mind but now that they were on the subject. "Why not?"
"What the hell do you mean 'why not'?" He scowled at her.
She took a deep breath. "If you are waiting for my memory to come back, it may never. The chances that I will fully recover is next to impossible, so what are you waiting for?"
He stared at her, deflated.
"I might never be the wife you remember, but I can't ever be your wife again if you won't let me." She expressed.
He left out a breath he had been holding and looked down at his hands, clenching them and scrunching his face. "You are the wife I remember, and that's what makes it hard. You haven't changed at all, and it makes it hard to remember that you don't remember me like I remember you." His eyes filled with tears she was sure weren't going to fall. She curled around him. "You have been the same woman since I met you. Nothing has changed, same qualities, same convictions, same habits. It's all still there. It's just you don't remember what I have become from what trash you found me as."
"Sasuke, I do remember, you have told me everything you wanted me to know. I just can't remember my side, but if what you say is true, and I haven't changed, then telling me how I should make similar conclusions then as I have now." She assured him.