Chapter 20

"So how was the trip? Tell us all about it." Ten-ten said immediately after welcoming Hinata back with a hug.

"Did you make Sasuke beg and plead?" Temari asked grinning widely. Hinata giggled at her. Leave it to Temari to ask about payback first.

"No nothing like that." Hinata told her and she pouted. "He did sulk a lot though and glare and was in a generally bad mood."

"Oh do tell." Temari said excitedly and Ten-ten rolled her eyes.

"Gosh Temari. Let her tell us how she wants to tell us." the girl said and Temari then rolled her eyes.

"Thank you." Hinata said smiling. They were all having lunch at Temari's house. They were the only ones home since the boys were gone to work. Gaara at the tattoo parlour and Kankuro with the mechanics for their part time jobs turned full time because of the holidays.

"The trip was great. Father spent most of the days in his room working until we his loving children kicked him out." Hinata began and they chuckled. It was typical behaviour for Hinata's father to always be working. "Sasuke's mom and dad were in their rooms all the time except for dinner but for a totally different reason."

"We know who got some this trip." Temari grinned deviously, eyebrows jumping.

"TMI." Ten-ten shook her head. That was not something she wanted to think about.

"Itachi is apparently a ladies man and dated over a dozen girls throughout the course of the trip. One for each event of each day." Hinata continued.

"Can't blame him; he's smoking." Temari interrupted fanning herself lightly.

"Please tell me Neji wasn't the same." Ten-ten said wincing. "I mean he's a guy I can't expect him not to look but please tell me he didn't go out with any of them."

"No worries. He was a well behaved boy. Girls didn't seem exist to him. Well except for that one girl all the boys were staring at that Itachi went out with." Hinata told her. She hadn't liked that girl at all. Ten-ten nodded relieved. "Anyway, Kisame is the most generous, funny and entertaining guy ever. We hung out everywhere: the beach, the pool, jet skiing, rock climbing and King Kong-ing when we got to the top."

"I'm telling you she's got a mini crush for that guy." Temari told Ten-ten and Hinata blushed.

"I do not." she told them.

"Denial." Ten-ten stated sagely.

"I don't." she denied.

"Sure looks like it." Temari said stroking her chin.

"He's just my best guy friend." Hinata said laughing.

"I'm telling you if it wasn't for Sasuke you would be totally crushing in that guy."

"They are nothing alike." Hinata stated with a small smile.

"Sasuke is the odd one out of your crushes." Temari pointed out

"Naruto and Kisame sound a lot more similar." Ten-ten said and Hinata frowned.

"I am not crushing on Kisame." Hinata said resolutely and the two shrugged. She honestly didn't feel that way about him and he had said more than once that she was too young anyway. He didn't date girls more than four years younger than him. He was twenty-three and she was sixteen, seventeen in a few days. That was more than four years.

"So you hung with Kisame all week. Continue." Temari said

"Yea. Tobi is insane."

"Tobi?" Ten-ten asked

"Sasuke's cousin." Hinata clarified. "I knew he was a little crazy because he talks in third person and acts like a kid. The guy is obsessed with cookies and dive bombed off the pool supply building. He also got chased by hotel security."

"Sounds like a party." Temari commented.

"Dive bombed the pool?" Ten-ten asked. "How high was this building?"

"Almost as high as the dive board used for professional diving. Everyone in the pool scattered. It was a huge splash."

"Was he alright?" Ten-ten asked

"He laughed."

"I like this guy." Temari smiled picturing it all. Hinata shook her head.

"You would think he was annoying." Hinata told her. "Hanabi got a crush."

"Aww! Who is it?" Both girls asked instantly.

"Tobi." she answered as they. "Hanabi hated him from the minute she met him so they didn't get along. Tobi usually just ignores her or is completely oblivious to her snipes. She got annoyed with him two days before we came back and he must have finally had it with her and told her off. I wasn't there. Apparently Tobi is not all happy and excitable four year old and can be a 'dark and dangerous guy filled with deception and mystery' her words not mine."

Temari and Ten-ten giggled but said nothing. Hanabi obviously liked the tall dark and mysterious guys.

Hinata continued. "So she did a complete one-eighty and like him. Sasuke Itachi and I tried to warn her that it wouldn't work and she should just not pursue it. We really did try but she wouldn't listen to us."

"Why shouldn't she?"

"He had a girlfriend?" Ten-ten asked. They were both leaning forward now.

"No." Hinata answered with a serious face to match the story. "She wouldn't listen to us and when we were on our way to the airport she managed to get to be the only person in the car he was driving. They were alone the entire trip. Apparently Hanabi used the alone time to confess."

"This is getting good. What happened?"

"She was shot down. Immediately."

"What? Why?"

"There was no thinking time just an immediate no."

"Whyyyy?" both girl whined. They were both into the story now.

"Now this is what Hanabi told me. When she asked and he said no and she asked why, he said 'Silly, Tobi can't date Hanabi, Hanabi too young, how old you think Tobi is?' She told him she thought he was seventeen or something. So then he says 'no, no. Tobi is twenty six, twenty seven in two months! Gonna be awesome!'

Shocked silence.

"Hold on. So the guy who dive bombed the pool and got chased by hotel security is thirty in just about three years?" Ten-ten asked and Hinata nodded. "College student?"

"Final year." Hinata answered.

"I like this guy." Temari said for the second time that afternoon.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but Hanabi is thirteen, right?"

"Yea."

"That's thirteen years. Twice her age literally." Ten-ten said still in shock.

"'I fell in love with someone who was twice my age.'" Temari sang then began to cackle.

"How did she not realise he was that old?" Ten-ten asked and Hinata shrugged.

He acts young, looks young and looks too cool to be his actual age even the eye patch looks cool.

"Eye patch? He has an eye patch?" Temari paused in her laughter to ask and returned to it the moment Hinata nodded. "I definitely like this guy!"

"He had an accident with his eyes when he was younger." Hinata told her.

"Maybe he's a government experiment like Kakashi-sensei." Temari suggested

"They are almost the same age." Hinata stated thoughtfully with a small smile.

"Don't tease people about their bad eyes." Ten-ten admonished but now both Hinata and Temari where giggling.

"Ten-ten. Temari." Hinata began suddenly serious. Both girls immediately quieted down. "The final price of my trip I have to share: I figured out how to help Sasuke."

"The gang stuff?" Ten-ten asked while Temari remained oddly quiet. Hinata nodded and immediately jumped into an explanation of the idea. The girls listened in rapt attention and in increasing shock. When she was finally finished they were both silent. Ten-ten was thoughtfully thinking it through as Hinata nervously watched when Temari spoke.

"I'm in." she said in rigid determination. Her whole posture was serious. "I understand the plan and it does stand a chance of working. You're gonna need the help. I can promise you that Gaara and Kankuro are in too. The Sabaku family is with you."

"Thank you." Hinata said with a grateful smile. I don't want to put you in harm's way.

"Naw. I'm a big girl, I can take it. I've done this before." Temari said waving her off. "It's pretty much the family business."

"It's not my family business but I'll help too. I'm in." Ten-ten said

"Thanks you guys." Hinata said pulling them into a hug. "We can't tell Neji. He'll try to get in the way."

"Sure." Temari said while Ten-ten nodded determinedly. They couldn't have Neji stopping them. "What now?"

"There's someone I need to talk to."

XX

The silence was almost deafening as Hinata waited with bated breath for an answer or a comment from the newest person who knew of the plan. They were sitting at an empty sitting area in the mall's food court. It was almost nerve-wracking to wait as he thought about from possibly every angle and with every possibility it presented.

"Ok. What do you want from me?" he finally said leaning back to look at Hinata with the calculating eyes of a business man. "You wouldn't tell if you didn't need something."

"I need to speak to someone." Hinata answered his question calmly. "I need an audience with your boss."

He nodded in understanding. "Leader. We don't get paid."

"Leader." she acquiesced with a gently nod.

"Do you believe you will be able to handle it all? This is not a joking matter." he asked watching her with narrowed, stern, serious eyes that held of red from focus.

"I know its not." she said meeting his eyes head on. "I have thought on it many times and I believe I can do it. Of course I will need help."

"You will have it." he said. "I will arrange a meeting but then it's up to you to get the compliance of our Leader."

"Of course." she said. "Thank you Itachi."

"You know Sasuke won't agree with this right?" he asked his eyes softening.

"I know." she answered.

"How do you like biscotti?" he asked surprising her at the abrupt change in topic. His small smirk smile was once again gracing his face. "Mother made a batch and I have a few extra."

"I like them very much." she answered also smiling.

XX

Sasuke's day sucked. It had been boring. He had spent most of the morning in bed then the rest into the afternoon texting and playing video games as best the cast would let him without feeling too weird. He munched on biscotti from his mother and ignored texts and phone calls from Sakura. Why she was calling him was beyond his reasoning capabilities. He was on his seventh can of soda for the last hour and a half and fourteenth shift looking to be comfortable in the last ten minutes when he got the phone call he had been waiting on for days just when he had decided to not touch the phone again. He could tell by the special ringtone exactly go it was. He could see the name and picture through the glass centre table from his place lying with his head hanging off the sofa upside down and his feet over the back of the sofa. He dropped the video game controls and scrambled up before knocking over his can of soda on the floor and tripping over the rug to snatch the phone off the table before his body his the floor only just preventing his arm from jarring too much.

"Hello?" he answered coolly as he arranged himself on the floor.

"Hey." her voice came through the phone quietly. He had thought she had forgotten or deleted his number. That thought hurt a little.

"Soo..." Sasuke finally said and mentally breathed himself 'just great you sound like an idiot.'

"Meet me at the park." Hinata told him and he found himself jumping up eagerly and nodding.

"Yea ok. Now?" he said remembering she couldn't see him.

"Yes." she answered.

"Ok. Fifteen minutes." he was already up the stairs when she answered with an 'ok' and hung up. What followed was the quickest bath and change of clothes that Sasuke had ever done in his entire life. He was out of the house in ten minutes and parking the car in the park parking lot in the next five. When he got out of the car and made his way to the park's entrance he found Hinata already waiting on him. She stood just inside the gates with her hand stuck into the pockets of her jacket. It didn't snow in Konoha but it did get very cold and rainy over the Christmas holidays. She was dressed for the weather. Even he had to switch his usual jacket for a thicker one before he left.

She spotted him before we was half way to the gate and watched him approach even as she shifted on her toes. She looked him up and down when he was finally standing before her.

"Hey." he said attempting a small smile.

"Hey." she answered with a small smile of her own. They spent the next minute just looking at each other. Sasuke suddenly realised that her hair was a lot longer than when he had first started noticing her. He was liking the long hair, it fit her.

"So, you wanted to see me?" he asked with barely veiled anxiety. This was literally the first time he was talking to her face to face in two weeks, since she visited him in the hospital.

"Walk with me." she said after a moment and Sasuke inwardly cringed.

'That can't be good.' he thought but turned to begin walking alongside her into the park.

"How are you?" Hinata asked eying the arm wearing the cast.

"Fine. No pain or anything. You?"

She shrugged. "When are you going to get it off?"

"They're going to look at it in a few days." he told her. "We'll know then. It will hopefully be off before we have to go back to school."

"That's good."

"And you? Do you still hate me?"

"I don't hate you." she said then clarified seeing an eyebrow raised in question. "I hate what you did."

"You do know that I won't apologise that I did it, don't you?" He said not looking at her. He wasn't sure he could. "I'll apologise for doing it but not that I did it."

"I know." she agreed. She did know. It wasn't something Sasuke would do. "I get it."

"Do you?" he asked genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected that.

"I understand that you thought you were doing the right thing." she said with a shrug before adding wistfully. "I like to think that it hurt you at least almost as much as it hurt me."

"It did. I didn't want to hurt you." he stated honestly. Hinata could feel it in the solemnity of his words.

"Then why?" Hinata asked with a frown.

"I'd rather you hurt than dead." He said simply. Hinata looked up at him as they came to a stop before a shallow pond. "Ultimately perfectly fine would be best but it doesn't seem likely."

"It really doesn't seem likely." Hinata agreed.

"You said you would stick to me," Sasuke said turning to face her. She returned the favour. "Are you sure you still want to do that?"

"Yes. This is something I have thought about." she said firmly. She held a hand out to him. He took her hand into his. "I want to be there with you. Stand by you."

"Thank you." he said encasing her hand in both of his before giving it a kiss. He might not have said it in as much words but she understood he was saying 'thank you for a second chance.'

She smiled at him.

"You're beautiful." he said softly. Hinata blushed before clearing her throat and looking away but she didn't let go of his hand.

Now for the other reason I wanted to talk to you." Hinata said getting her face back under control. "I figured out a way to help you with Hebi."

Sasuke watched her with furrowed brows. "Um. I really don't think you can help with that. I'll find a way to deal with it."

"You said it yourself; you can't just get out of this." Hinata said turning back to him. He nodded. He did remember saying that. "I have an idea of how we can help you out of Hebi."

"Ok. What is this idea?" Sasuke asked still frowning. He personally didn't believe there was any way to fix his problem with Hebi.

Hinata strengthened her resolve. This was the hard part. "We form a gang."