"No!" Hinata shouted in embarrassment. "I'm not wearing it." She was putting her foot down for this.
"Come on, please?" Temari whined, holding up the piece of lace. "I got it for you!"
"You can keep it for your wedding!" She offered with a pout.
"It would be too big for me." She commented. "Your thighs are bigger than mine."
"I'll fix it for you then. I'm not doing it." She told her firmly.
"Fine." Temari tossed it on the vanity.
A knock on the door interrupted them. "Onee-chan?" Temari opened the door.
"Which one?" She asked with a smug smile.
"The Hyuga." Hanabi said with a scowl.
"You are no fun." She mumbled, opening the door letting her in.
Hinata smiled, opening her arms. Temari pulled her hair out of the way so she could hug the smaller girl.
"Maybe you can convince her to wear it." Temari started.
"No," Hinata told her firmly.
"Fine… Fine..." She mumbled, going back to tediously braiding the longer strands of the chain into her hair.
"What's this?" Hanabi asked, touching the front of the chains that dangled on her forehead gently.
"It's a wedding headpiece that takes the place of a vale or a traditional drape vale," Hinata explained.
"Odd, but pretty. What do you do if their hair is too short?" She asked, fiddling with the front piece turning it in the light, making the polished glass shine.
"Pin it in in drapes or pull it back and hang it all in the back or down the sides." Temari filled. "But Hina has this lovely long hair perfect for weaving it in."
"I'm going to have fun getting it back out." Hinata giggled.
"I'll help," Temari told her.
"How's father?" Hinata asked.
"He doesn't seem pleased with the arrangements. He's already voiced he would have preferred a Hyuga style wedding," Hanabi admitted.
"What's that like?" Temari asked with interest.
"Large layered wedding kimono, sheet-like veil, very formal, very practiced, very quiet, very ceremonial," Hinata answered.
"Oh, to hell with that." She scrunched her nose.
Hanabi laughed. "I like her. Maybe I'll marry Suna too."
"I'm taken," Temari said with a fake flip to her hair, which was all pinned up in a jeweled bun.
"Can you do that to my hair too?" Hanabi asked.
"I still have to finish this and her makeup," Temari explained.
"Sit down I'll do it. I did onee-chan's hair." She patted her lap.
"Onee-chan?" Hanabi pouted at Hinata.
"I'm the oldest one. You're still the little brat of the family." Temari saved.
Hanabi lit up. Hinata knew Hanabi liked the idea of having a big loving family, unlike the one she had at home. Guess she was marrying one for her one.
Hanabi happily plopped down on her knees, flatting her kimono. She laid her head back on her sister's lap, looking up with an adorable grin Hinata couldn't resist. Temari gave her a comb and some accessories.
Sister time, Hinata thought with a hum.
"I do not believe I would have enjoyed one," Gaara explained. "And I do not believe her family would have appreciated the thought."
"But it's from their culture." Kankuro pouted.
"I certainly think the idea is degrading," Baki added.
"You're married." Kankuro defended. "You have to say that so your wife won't slap you."
"I agree. I do not believe this 'stag night' is a good idea," Gaara mumbled, ignoring the laughing in his head.
"What is a stag?" Baki asked.
"Type of animal, also known as a male deer known for living in wooded areas and are hunted for their meat," Gaara explained.
"Why do you know that?" Kankuro frowned.
"I had to ask Hinata." He added.
"You told her?" Kankuro whined.
"She explained it months ago around the same time she explained the bad luck of the groom seeing the bride the day of the wedding." Baki scrunched his nose. "We're not practicing it. I don't understand it, and she isn't superstitious."
"Such odd customs." His former teacher mumbled.
Another knock came on the girl's door.
"The more, the merrier." Temari held out the piece of hair she was working on for Hinata to hold with her free hand. She opened the door. "Matsuri? Need something."
"I thought I would join you. Do you need help?" She asked, staring at the floor.
"Have you had your hair done?" Temari joked.
"Uh, no?" She asked, touching the ends of her loose hair.
"Well line up, Hina's nearly done with Hana's, and she could do your next." Temari ushered her in.
"Oh! I get a short name too?" Hanabi brightened as Temari went back to work.
"My hair's a little short," Matsuri mumbled bashfully.
"My hair used to be much shorter. I'll manage." Hinata put the last pin in her sister's hair. "You're done, Hanabi-chan."
Hanabi quickly popped up into her mirror, ecstatic. She lightly touched the pulled back, twisted pieces carefully pinned.
"Don't touch it." Hinata scolded.
Matsuri hesitantly sat at Hinata's knees. She sat ridged when she started combing back the short stands. "Tell me if it hurts, okay?" Hinata told her as she gently combed back the sides. "Can you find me something to put in her hair Hanabi-chan?"
"What about this?" Hanabi held up a large hairpiece. "You could pull it all back and make it look like it comes into the flower."
"Not sure Matsuri-san would like something so flashy?" Hinata half replied, half asked.
"No, no, thank you." The girl in question mumbled.
"Something more delicate," Hinata added as she started pulling all back into one.
"What about that." Temari flicked her head with a mumble and pin between her teeth. "No, not that, the one to the left."
Hanabi held out what Temari had pointed out. "Perfect." Hinata folded the ribbon in and lightly french braided small portions back in even spaces into one short ponytail she tucked to hide the ends back into the tie. "Hand me a pin, please." She asked politely.
She pinned the ribbon in and wrapped it down to make a simple bow at the bottom, letting the ribbons' ends hang. "Very classy," Temari told her.
"How am I supposed to put this on." Hanabi held up the pale sash the family at the wedding were all wearing.
"You could replace your obi since you're not wearing Suna garb." Hinata motioned toward her setting to work, helping her untie her obi and replace it.
"I like the color." Hanabi turned to see the knot when she had finished noting the golden sash.
"We had to go with a color that matched nearly everything. We weren't sure what you and your cousin would wear." Temari explained, finishing Hinata's elaborate braids.
"That's gorgeous." Hanabi's eyes glittered as she examined the finished product.
"Temari-chan used to weave." Hinata smiled proudly.
Matsuri got up and smiled in the mirror, lightly running her finger over the tight braids following back to her head. "Sorry I can't do much more. I haven't done any weaving."
"No, I like it, thank you." She told her with a small nod and smile.
Kankuro leaned over her being precise with her makeup.
"Put your tongue in your mouth before I make you bite it." His sister teased at his focused face.
"It's a thought focus thing, you would understand." Temari rolled her eyes at the insult.
Hanabi laughed. "I should visit more often."
"It's never dull." Hinata smiled. "You know the lighter paint looks good on you." She noted. Kankuro's usual heavy deep purple face paint was replaced with light-colored strokes only around his eyes. She had seen him without it plenty, in the morning or late at night.
"Don't talk if your lips aren't dry." Kankuro scolded. Hinata opened her mouth slightly agape like she had been told before.
Hanabi was eventually fetched by Neji, who didn't come into the room. If Hinata had to guess, he was nervous about the whole of the wedding as it was. He would hide it with the excuse he didn't want to add stress.
When Kankuro stood up and closed his set, she looked in the mirror, glad to see neutral colors.
"I think it's lovely," Matsuri added with a small smile of her own lightly painted lips.
"Where's you, sash Matsuri-san?" Hinata asked, noticing her dress robes didn't hold one of the sashes like Temari's, Kankuro's, or Hanabi's.
"Why would I have one?" She asked with a scrunch of her nose. "I'm not in the wedding."
Hinata looked up at Temari in confusion, and she blinked. "You never said you wanted her in it."
"I thought it would be implicit. She's Gaara's apprentice and assistant, Baki's got one." Hinata frowned.
Matsuri stared at her, her face scrunched, and she started to tear. "Oh, no, no." Hinata waved her hands. "Don't do that you'll ruin the nice makeup nii-san did." Hinata held out her hands. Matsuri took them in a death grip as she sniffed.
"Not this stuff," Kankuro mumbled proudly.
"Do we have an extra family sash? I think she should be standing with us," Hinata asked as she thumbed over Matsuri's hands?
"I think we did in case of a wardrobe disaster. I'll go find it." Temari smiled, patting the teary girl on the shoulder before she headed out.