Chapter Eight

He stood there and took in the rustling of the leaves above him. The setting sun and the blowing wind cast her off in such a way that it gave that forlorn aura she exuded a synergistic effect.

Or maybe it was just him

"I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?" Hinata asked. She looked like she might be sick. A slim finger reached up and placed a strand behind her ear, a small gesture to keep her composure. He couldn't help but see the parallels with that fateful encounter.

Itachi paused, not quite sure whether to continue. "I didn't realize you were hard of hearing, Hyuuga-san." He said quietly. He saw the look of recognition cross her features as she recognized her own words being used against her and briefly wondered what she was thinking. She was usually so easy to read, but right at that moment he found himself before the same person who demanded his hand in marriage. He continued to watch her, waiting for a flicker of emotion.

Nothing

"I don't think this is going to work out." He tried again. All the while hating himself for saying those words, especially when he didn't mean them. "The contract said that I was free to back out of it, so I am." That seemed to drive his point home because the woman he was in love with clenched her small hands into tight fists as her lower lip trembled. The troublesome wind blew her hair out of their loose restraints, she looked disheveled and lost.

He looked away, pretending to find the setting sun more interesting that it really was. The park was empty, and the lamps were beginning to flicker on. The leaves were crinkling and the wind began to howl softly as though it were voicing his heartache, the very heartache that he would never admit to.

Itachi fought back the urge to sigh and fixed his gaze onto his fiancée, no wait. Make that ex-fiancee. He watched as Hinata fought to compose herself. She was easy to read now, and it was written all over her that she was hurting.

She watched him silently and he wondered if his gazes were that unnerving too. She twisted the diamond ring around her finger, hesitant to give it back to him, because if she gave it back to him then it really was all over. For a moment, he thought that she might argue with him, and it gave him hope.

It was a false hope

Because if there was one word to describe Hyuuga Hinata; it would be "non-confrontational". There was no way that she'd argue with him, no way that she'd fight to inconvenience someone else.

Especially not about this

"I guess I should give this back to you." She said. He felt his heart plummet, despite knowing that she wouldn't argue with him. It would have been a great time to prove just how unpredictable she was.

But she didn't and he hated it.

Her beautiful eyes refused to meet his, and he desperately wanted her to look at him one last time. She clenched her hands into tight little fists before reaching to her ring finger. He didn't know what to do to stop her. He wanted to scream and shout, throw a tantrum.

Anything

Anything to make her stop

That ring belonged on her finger it was never going to go to another woman.

"Keep it."

"I can't."

"Please," he implored. He took a step back, and put his hands in his pocket. He wanted to kick himself for showing such weakness but there was no other way. That ring belonged with her.

He wasn't going to take it back.

.

.

Hinata fought back her tears.

How had things gone so terribly wrong? Hanabi was turning twenty-one in two and a half months. Then she would have to comply with the contract and marry Itachi herself. Then she couldn't be with Naruto.

The roaring fire in the Sabaku estate did nothing to provide its usual comfort. The Hyuuga's petite form was dwarfed by the oversized furniture. She was lost in a mass of cushions and pillows on the Sand Princess's leather couch. The wind howled and sand tinkered against the glass over the sound of the cackling fire, filling the silent room with a symphony of sound.

Temari, ever the patient one, watched her friend, waiting for her to make the first move.

"Temari, what do I do?" Hinata cried. She sank into the Sand Princess's couch and drew her knees up to her chest, he very picture of dejected.

Temari took a sip of her wine and nodded to herself. Ah, there it was. The cry for help.

"I'm sorry, I just don't understand why you put in a clause that said that he could back out of it at anytime." she said rather bluntly, if Hinata had come to her looking for pity she had come to the wrong person. "I thought you were serious about this. What's wrong with you!"

"Of course I'm serious about this! Hanabi doesn't want this Mari-chan." Hinata slammed a fist into one of the cushions. "She doesn't want Hyuuga International and if I don't take it from her, my father is going to sell it off. He'd rather disband it than pass it on to someone who's not a member of the main family."

Temari took in what her friend said and ran it over in her head. "But there's two of you. When-"

"My father was going to announce it a month before Hanabi's twenty-first birthday. I'm not fit to lead my family, much less a multi-billion dollar empire." The brunette said softly. She sighed. "The heir is contracted to marry Uchiha Itachi. It was originally Uchiha Sasuke, but once he found out about the contract, he went and knocked up the first woman he could find and then married her. I don't even know if it was in that order."

"I'm not surprised." Temari muttered. She took a sip of wine as she leaned back and studied her friend. Something else was missing. "Who did he knock up?"

"Tenten-san."

"Isn't that your cousin's-"

"Yes, she was," Hinata muttered. "To make up for the breach, they revoked the majority shares and gave them to Itachi-san, even though he has his own company to run, then promised the older Uchiha brother to the Hyuuga heir."

"And that's Hanabi," Temari put down her glass and pulled her best friend into a hug. "Does he know all this?"

"I don't know, it's hard to tell with Itachi-san. He keeps his cards close to his chest." Hinata laid her head on Temari's shoulder and sniffled. "What do I do? Hanabi could elope, but then she'd be disowned. They'll brand her!"

Hinata unconsciously pulled on her collar. But Temari didn't miss the angry red ying-yang scar at the side of her neck. The line going through it meant that she was no longer in line for the "throne".

Temari sighed. "Then do something about it."

"What can I do? Itachi already 'broke-up' with me." Hinata moaned. She really just wanted to wallow in self-pity for a bit.

There was nothing she could do for Hanabi now, how was she going to tell her that?

"Maybe he thought you weren't serious."

Hinata stopped and looked at her friend.

How dare she!

How could she say that! She had tried. She did. She packed him lunch and gave him hand-made presents. She did whatever Itachi had asked. She…

Hinata froze and thought really hard for a moment, she wracked her brain for all the things she did to make him fall in love with her, anything to show that she was serious

She came up with nothing

She's done absolutely nothing! She'd get uncomfortable after each "date" and then use that discomfort to avoid him for weeks at a time.

Then he'd somehow force her to come out and she was always so reluctant to comply! He was the one who was supposed to be getting wooed and yet he was the one that did everything she was supposed to do. He sent her flowers and presents and he even went out of his way to bring her soup.

Soup!

The shy brunette let her head fall back against the cushion of the couch.

There was one condition and she hadn't even bothered to try and fulfill it.

God, he had to give her another chance. He just had to. She just had to make this right.

"There we go. There's the Hinata that we need now." Temari chirped clearly happy that the dissection was over. It was midnight and Temari had stayed up with her to autopsy whatever she and Itachi had had, after what would have no doubt be a long day of playing politics. But she was a good friend like that, despite the tiredness in her eyes, they gleamed in delight as she stood. Finally, that was over.

She picked up Hinata's purse and grabbed her friend by the arm in one quick movement, and before Hinata had a chance to protest, was dragging her to the door.

"Temari-chan, where are you taking me?" Temari pushed Hinata out the door and promptly closed it behind her. "Temari! What are you doing. Let me back in!"

The Princess opened the door a crack and tossed Hinata her purse before closing the door again.

"Go, don't come back until you've got him back."

"But-"

"Go."

.

.

Itachi rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Was someone banging on his front door? What time was it? He glanced at the glow in the dark digits glaring at him.

3:46 am

"This better be good." He muttered as he got out of bed. He padded barefoot down the hallway, absent-mindedly scratching his stomach. He covered his mouth and yawned, snapping his mouth shut when his thigh hit the corner of some table in the middle of the hall way.

God that hurt, he rubbed his leg and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark before continuing down the hall. Maybe I should have turned the lights on?

"Itachi-kun!" he heard a familiar voice call. "Itachi-kun!"

No, it couldn't be, could it? Itachi forgot about the pain and his issue with the darkness and rushed to the door. But he stopped himself before opening it and took a moment to compose himself. It wouldn't do to look eager to see her after he had just dumped her. If "dumped" was the right word.

"Itachi-kun! Please open the door I have something I need to talk to you about!"

Itachi peeked through the peep hole and saw the object of his affections looking disheveled but determined under the street lamps at his front door.

He opened the door just as she was about to knock and her fist came down on his chest just a little harder than he'd prefer.

"Itachi-kun!" He took in the mass of hair in front of him as she gave a low bow. "I'm sorry about that." He could only imagine the expression on her face at that very moment. Her pale eyes would be wide and her small mouth would be meshed into a thin line. Her cheeks red. Seeing her in his mind's eye, he decided that she looked utterly adorable that way.

"It's no problem Hyuuga-san, please come in." He stepped aside to let her in and closed the door behind her, rubbing his chest a little when she wasn't looking.

It hurt

"So what can I do for you?"

"Let's get married."

Itachi felt a sense of de ja vu come over him. He used the time it took to take her jacket to think up an answer. "Didn't we try this already?"

Hinata looked up at him, her fingers fiddling with a button on her blouse. "No, we tried being engaged, that failed. We never got married though, so we should try that."

The man froze. His mind struggled to come up with an explanation for this, this whole mess. So he handed back her jacket and began ushering her out the door.

"Itachi-kun!" she let out a startled gasp when a firm hand started to "guide" her by the small of her back. She quickly turned to face him. In their earlier encounters she learned that he had a hard time refusing her when they were face to face and she was planning on using that to her advantage. "Can we talk about this?" she fought back a giggle when the sudden change in position made Itachi awkwardly put his hands up in the air, clearly unsure of whether or not he should continue guiding her to the door.

It wouldn't be appropriate to touch her stomach would it? After all they weren't anything anymore. Just two people who barely knew each other.

Itachi paused in his stride as he pondered where on her person would be a safe place to touch her. The couple stood face to face for a long moment before he let his palm rest on the top of her head and turned her around so that she was facing the door again. It was easier to deal with the back of her head than her face.

Much easier

He began walking, hand still on her head, guiding her. The tired man opened the door and gave Hinata a gentle push out of his home. "Come back in ten hours." And then shut the door behind him.

But he didn't lock it. He just closed it and rested his forehead against the cool wood. He listened as the very woman who haunted his dreams knocked gently on his door begging to be let in.

And there, in the privacy of his home, he didn't bother fighting the giddy smile.

Itachi-1 Hinata-0