Chapter Three
Different
The only thought that Itachi allowed to cross his mind was that it was different. Anything else would have rubbed salt in his already painfully gaping wounds.
He let out a soft sigh when his hair pricked his eyes for the umpteenth time.
This wasn't going to work.
No, this wasn't going to work at all. He couldn't use bobby pins like most with bang problems did. Not only was he not living in Asia where androgeny was exalted, but he didn't appreciate his gender or sexuality being called into question. The last thing he needed was to feed his delusional yaoi admirers ammunition.
He knew he had them, he found out the hard way.
He had no desire to repeat that experience. Literature, if it could be called that, starring him and another man in anything resembling a relationship that was not platonic, should be burned immediately and its ashes splashed with gallons of holy water. He shuddered as he thought back to a time in high school when he unknowingly opened an email with very vivid descriptions as to what some guy named Kenji was doing to him in the shower. He tried to stop reading, really he did. But the writing was much like a gory car accident, one you just couldn't tear your eyes away from.
Needless to say, years of therapy and he still couldn't stop the nightmares.
Itachi sighed and once again tried to ignore how his hair pricked his eyes.
It was really irritating
He was going to find a solution to this, and it was going to be one that didn't cause others to question his gender or sexuality.
"Itachi-san?"
Itachi warily turned around, absolutely terrified of what the owner of that voice would do to him next. He really did mean it when he had complimented his sister-in-law. She looked great for a pregnant person, her baby bump was barely visible and she was positively glowing.
"Yes, TenTen-san?" He did a quick sweep of the room to make sure there weren't any "weapons" around.
"I'm sorry about your hair," She said sheepishly. "I swear I didn't mean to ruin it.
She looked so upset about it that Itachi almost said something comforting.
Almost
The last time he tried to make her feel better she threw three kitchen knives and a frying pan at him. It wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't have such great aim.
But no, her aim was impeccable and he was out ten inches of hair. Now he looked like one of those Asian celebrities who looked like he spent way too much time on his hair. As if he needed more people to think he was some vain bastard.
"I think short hair suits you better and at least you won't have guys trying to pick you up at bars anymore." Tenten said hurriedly. "So really I did you a favor."
"You're right thank you," Itachi said as he got up from the couch.
It was just easier to agree with her in her current state.
Yeah
Easier and safer. He really couldn't afford to lose any more hair.
"I have to go to work." He said quickly when he saw tears starting to fill up the woman's eyes.
Tenten nodded. "Oh okay. Your hair really does look better this way Itachi san."
"Thank you Tenten-san. I'll see you at dinner." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left as quickly as he could. He wanted to get out of the house before she somehow interpreted whatever he said as an insult.
Hinata couldn't help but feel insulted.
Did she look like she didn't know what was going on? Like she didn't know her father wasn't using her as some sort of bargaining chip or what kind of thoughts were going through the minds of the men who were leering at her?
Did it say somewhere on her person that she was dumb and oblivious? Because really, that must be the only reason her father and Kimura-san were speaking as if she weren't there to hear how much money she was worth.
She almost wished she was five years old again, almost
At least when she was five her father wasn't trying to sell her off to the highest bidder.
She hoped anyway.
"Isn't that right Hinata?" Her father said, a sharp edge to his tone hinted at what was to come if she continued to zone out.
"Of course father." She really should be paying more attention. After all, this man was a candidate to be her husband.
Even if she was "engaged" her father had no knowledge of it, and it was imperative that it remained that way. That meant acting the part.
"I look forward to seeing you again Kimura-san. I hope you have a safe trip home." She said demurely. Playing the role of the ideal high society wife was something she was good at, impossibly so. But it wasn't all she wanted to be.
She quietly stood from her seat as Kimura-san did the same to leave. She bowed her head as he and her father left the room.
Thank god that's over, she breathed a sigh of relief and quickly dove for her bag. She prayed to God that no one had heard the vibrations of her phone. It would not do to have her father questioning her. She took a swift glance at the door to make sure that her father was still there before she answered her text message.
I'll be there in ten.
Itachi was extremely disappointed.
It had been a little over two weeks since the proposal and he had yet to hear a word from his dear fiancée. He had been hoping that she'd take the initiative and invite him to dinner, it was her who was to do the courting after all. But all that hope was in vain because she had yet to contact him in any way to make plans.
Maybe he should have held off on the book for a little while longer. He thought as he tapped his pen against his desktop. No, if her passing out was any indication, he should have sent her more than one book.
He sighed as he glanced yet again at his phone. He had texted her almost two hours ago and he had yet to get a reply. Was it just him or did it seem like he was the only one interested in this "relationship"?
He dated here and there, but those events were very very few and far in between. It was hard to juggle a multi-million dollar company, an over bearing father and a younger brother who just loved to get into trouble, and to top that off he was socially awkward, extremely socially awkward. For all his genius, he just never quite understood the concept of socializing. He always found it rather difficult to relate to his peers, forming bonds of any sort proved impossible.
He never really had the chance to "mingle" with those his own age. It was hard to be a genius and even harder to find someone who understood one. He had skipped three years in grade school and then graduated MIT at the age of sixteen. The short years he spent in higher education involved him avoiding all members of the female race and some belonging to the male race too. They wanted one of two things, his money or bragging rights. And he was nowhere near socially adept at dealing with either.
Itachi let out a slow breath, and wondered if he was making a mistake. His marriage was inevitable. If he did things this way, at least he'd get a say in it.
The whirring of his vibrating phone caught his attention.
"About time," he muttered, he impatiently blew his hair out of his eyes. His dark eyes darted across the screen of his phone and a small relieved smile unconsciously made it across his lips.
He wasn't the only one
Make that fifteen, he texted back.
He got up and put his jacket on in one swift movement and he was out the door.
"This doesn't count," Was the first thing he said once she got to the table.
"What doesn't count?" She looked up at him with such an endearing look of confusion that he almost didn't say what he was going to say next.
"This isn't a date," He replied. He silently pulled the chair out and gestured for her to take her seat, discreetly watching her for any sign of what she might be thinking.
"Then what is this?" His fiancée asked, "Is this a business meeting?" She looked nervous for a moment before she started rummaging through her bag. "If you don't mind waiting, I had written up some terms of my own for our arrangement, I can have my sister bring it?"
He actually paused for a moment before proceeding to take his own seat.
"What kind of terms?"
Hinata stopped for a moment before scrunched up her face in concentration. "Sexual intercourse is prohibited until the wedding."
A non-believer in premarital sex
He couldn't fight the smile that started on his lips. It was refreshing to know that innocent, women such as her still existed.
They were such an endangered species.
"What about other things?" he asked nonchalantly studying his menu.
"I'm sorry?" She looked so startled, with her wide eyes. He thought that she might actually faint from the shade of red her face turned.
"I am a man Hinata-san, I have needs," he ventured a glance over his menu and struggled to keep the smile off his face. "I expect us to have a monogamous relationship. If we're going to be together and later married, I want us to mimic two people in a healthy monogamous relationship."
This was just too easy
He knew that this arrangement would provide him with an abundance of entertainment, he just didn't know how much.
It was obvious she was struggling to compose herself. He didn't miss the way she clenched her fists. She was scared and indignant and he didn't blame her.
After all he was a renown gentleman, a white-hatter if you will.
She most definitely didn't expect him to be the lecher he portrayed himself. Any blue blood caught acting the way he was would have been severely reprimanded and publicly humiliated.
But he was Uchiha Itachi
and he really couldn't care less.
Then, his demure fiancée raised her gaze to meet his. There was no sign of the inner turmoil that was so visible only seconds ago. No, what studied him back was the infamous Hyuuga stare; cool, calm and collected, calculating and suspicious, exactly how his gaze was.
Sitting there before him was the same woman who had demanded his hand in marriage.
And he liked it
"If you'd like I can show you after lunch," he had the gall to say. She didn't miss the way his dark eyes scrutinized her face, and she didn't like it.
His gaze was piercing and she just knew that the intelligence behind his gaze meant that he knew exactly what he was seeing.
And she was afraid
"Is what you want to show me a game?" Hinata thanked the waitress with a polite bow of her head and slowly took a sip of her water. "What are the rules?"
She had to keep her cool. There was too much at stake for her to lose this newfound alliance.
You're doing this for your sister, don't forget!
She paused as she thought of her sister, Hanabi
With renewed resolve she met her fiancé's gaze head on.
So if it was games that he wanted to play, it was games she'd play.
But it was so much more difficult to do than it was to say. Itachi was staring at her rather intently and it was unnerving. She had to think of something that would throw him off kilter. Itachi may be recognized world-wide as a genius, but she was the black sheep of the Hyuuga; notorious among elite circles to be unpredictable. She had the edge here.
WWTD
What would Temari do?
Say something raunchy and completely inappropriate, no doubt.
Hinata fought hard against the inevitable flush that started on her creamy cheeks. There was no way she could pull that off. She didn't have the assured aura her closest friend did.
No, she would have to take whatever Temari would do and give it a Hinata twist.
She looked up from her menu and almost sighed.
Itachi was still watching her.
Really, it wasn't fair for any human being to be sculpted so perfectly. His flawless face was all the more obvious the closer he leaned into her; his eyelashes were simply amazing and his complexion, porcelain. His almond eyes were slightly slanted, uniquely beautiful and frustratingly impossible to read.
All of that was enough to break down even the most juggernaut of defenses.
She didn't stand a chance.
His bangs brushed against her forehead as his upper body continued its journey across the table.
Sometime between the start of the conversation and her return from her mental break, Itachi's chair trekked the distance from across the table to less than arms length away from her own seat.
And when he spoke it was almost directly into her ear.
"The first rule," He said so softly that she had to strain to hear him. "is that you'll call me Itachi-kun."
She felt her infuriating blush creep up again at that intimate honorific.
He couldn't be serious. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and fought the urge to smack herself.
He was serious
"Will that be a problem, Hinata-chan?"
"No, not at all." She gave herself a mental pat on the back for her composure and put her mind to work. What would her best friend Temari say in a situation such as this?
"When we play this game," She started slowly, her mind reeling for the most provocative words to say. "will you pull my hair?"
I know it took a long time, I was just having a bit of trouble writing this up. Please be patient with me. I am not going to give up this story, it just takes me a while to get my thoughts together and i'm sorry. i really do hope you enjoyed this chapter. please tell me what you think. i love constructive criticism, i know my grammar sucks so tips on that would be great. .
thank you so much for reading!
-Riley