"Your meeting has been rescheduled for lunch time, and Mr. Sabaku would like to know when that report will be sent in to him. His company's waiting list has a deadline, it seems." The short brunette placed a package of paperwork on the desk before her before rubbing her eyes wearily. "Naruto also wants to know if you and Sakura want to go for lunch at that Greek restaurant over by the hotel. I told him that Wednesday would probably be best."
The young assistant took the low grunt from the lowered head as a, "Gee, thanks so much Hinata. I'm really grateful that you're such a dedicated and hardworking assistant. I think I'll give you a raise!"
Well, perhaps not the last part.
But the meaning was still there.
Just as Hinata turned to leave, a firm hand reached across the desk to grasp her wrist. Startled to say the least, she turned around and asked quietly, "Yes, Mr. Uchiha?"
The young Uchiha president flickered his dark gaze up to her almost hesitantly before tugging her around the desk so she was standing over his sitting form (a mighty, mighty impressive form, even sitting down…Hinata quickly squashed that thought. This was her boss. Her married boss. Her married to the beautiful, strong, intelligent, former model, Sakura Haruno boss.) and tugged her slightly so her ear was a breath away from his ever so soft looking lips.
"Come have coffee with me…during lunch today."
"Wh-what?" She breathed and jerked back to stare at him, waiting for some sort of offhanded joke at her expense, or a chortle of laughter that she believed him, but found nothing. He looked absolutely sincere. Straightening up properly and staring out the vast window next to her, she tried willing the stain of red on her cheeks to just disappear. "I don't think…I don't think that would be…appropriate."
Raising his eyebrow, Sasuke perked the corner of his lip up ever so slightly that if Hinata did not see him every single day and tended to his everyday work needs, she would have just recognised it as an annoyed tick instead of the amused smile it was. "Hinata, I need to discuss the advertisers' demands with someone…I was going to ask Shikamaru to come with me, but I figured that after all this time working here and wanting to become a magazine owner yourself, it should be about time to get you introduced to the ropes of things."
"O-oh," Hinata stuttered and turned a flaming red shade. Dear God, there she goes assuming and making an ass out of herself…Of course Sasuke wouldn't be remotely interested her other than he was a kinder boss than most and wanted to help her get a grasp on the way of how things went in the company. "I…uh…I'd l-like that." She covered her face with her hands for a moment before straightening up and biting her lip. "I'm going to, um, go now."
"I'll see you at lunch, then." A smirk was placed upon his chiselled face as he returned to the mountains of paperwork placed on his desk.
After she closed the door behind her, Hinata leaned back against it and placed a hand over her wildly thumping heart. This was not good at all…
--
"Atlantic Airwaves wants two full spreads in the upcoming issue, but I'm not sure if--" Sasuke stopped full in his tracks and stared right in front of him as they began walking into the café. Hinata collided with him before recovering and peering around his massive form to see what had her boss so worked up.
Oh.
In the back corner under a dim light sat Naruto and Sakura laughing together quietly. Hinata had to admit to herself that the two made an attractive couple, even if it was just a friendly coffee date they were on. Feeling her boss's muscles tense beneath the arm she was clutching onto from behind to have better leverage to peer around at, Hinata tugged him back a step and murmured, "You know what? This place isn't all that great…there's this place I went with Kiba two weeks ago just around the block…"
"No." Sasuke growled and shook her hand off of him to storm over silently. Oh, boy…
The two bright haired friends looked up, startled, as Sasuke stood towering over their table as his meek assistant hovered behind him nervously biting her lip. Hinata watched for a moment as panic and shock flickered across Sakura's face before sinking comfortably to mimic Naruto's cheery and friendly one. "Sasuke! What're you doing here?" Naruto grinned and took a sip of his coffee.
"I could ask the same thing." Sasuke hissed and glared down at them, his hands slowly curling into fists.
"We were discussing the plans to your guys' anniversary that's in a couple of weeks." Naruto blinked in surprise. "Did it…did it look like something else?" He asked innocently and looked back and forth between the uneasy stare Sakura was giving Sasuke and the glare he was giving her. "You wanna join us and we can talk about other things instead?"
"You…" He looked down at Sakura's face which up to this point had been fairly stone like and betrayed little of her emotions, now wavered in a state of guilt.
"No." Hinata quickly chimed in and took a light grip of her boss's arm and back peddled slightly. "We…we should go now. My lunch break's almost up and Sasuke has a meeting soon with his brother."
With a happy wave, Naruto grinned and said, "Okay, I'll see you guys later!"
--
Back in Sasuke's office, Hinata suddenly regretted volunteering them to leave and be stuck with him in such a confined space.
"She's cheating on me!" Sasuke growled and picked up a ceramic paperclip holder before hurling it at the wall where it crashed into an explosion of splinters with a violent noise. Flinching, Hinata stood stalk still and waited for him to complete his rant, knowing that only terrible, terrible things would occur if she left before it was over. "With my best friend!" He snorted and glared down at his hands that were leaning his weight against the desk. "Best friend, my fucking ass."
"Maybe y-you're taking this too seriously…they were talking about your anniversary. I'm sure that it was all strictly…platonic." Hinata assured none too confidently.
With no warning, Sasuke sunk into his chair, cradled his head in his hand and looked up at Hinata with dull eyes. "I don't know why I'm getting so worked up over this. This is Sakura we're talking about." He scoffed and ran a long fingered hand through his hair. "Sakura, always playing the field, Sakura who had Naruto there willing at her heels any time of day…" At Hinata concerned face he shook his head and scowled. "Our romance ran out of our marriage a long time ago. I suppose I'm just mad she had the gall to be unfaithful instead of just outright asking for a divorce." He growled to himself, "Fucking gold digger."
Hinata walked the small distance between her and her boss before kneeling in front of him and lightly gathering his large hands in her small and slender ones. "You guys should talk about this…together." She watched as he turned his head to look out the expanse of the large window and felt her heart thrum fast enough she thought it was vibrating as he absentmindedly stroked her hands clutching his with a strong thumb.
"We were nineteen when we married." He muttered and furrowed his aristocratic eyebrows together before looking down at her kneeling form. With a firm jerk, he pulled her up to her feet and continued to play with her hands as she stood over him.
"I know." Hinata whispered. She had been there at the wedding. It had been beautiful and it had broke her heart as she watched the two exchange their wedding vows and it would've killed her if she had stayed the entire reception watching them in their wedded bliss, sharing kisses, cake, and dances. Instead, she had stolen a bottle of wine from the bar, drove home right away, proceeded to get drunk out of her mind, and then cry herself to sleep.
"I don't know what I was thinking when I asked her to marry me." Sasuke grunted and ran his fingers up and down her wrists, leaving goosebumps in their trails. "We were both too young, she was always entirely too interested in my money, and I'd barely even started university."
With all the courage she had, Hinata reached down and pushed back the hair brushing against Sasuke's eyebrows gently. He needed a haircut, it had been a month or two since Hinata last remembered having to schedule one. To her surprise, he leaned into her touch and tugged her closer to him. Taking a deep and unsteady breath, Hinata whispered, "I don't know wh-what to tell you other than…work it out with Sakura. And although I'm very much against anyone breaking wh-what are supposed to be eternal vows…I d-don't want you to be unhappy, Sasuke."
"I know. You're always getting into my business when I don't want, meddling in affairs that you needn't be in, and poking your nose in where it's not needed." Hinata shrunk into herself at this and attempted to back off, only to be held tighter by his hands and pulled closer. "…But you care. You look out for me when I don't want someone to."
With a small smile, Hinata gripped his hand back and felt a rush of warmth at his tilt of lips that was for a rare occasion, not a smirk.
--
"Sasuke?" Hinata asked horrified as she pushed her way past a large and stumbling drunk man who had been in the process of trying to get a hold of the number of the blonde sitting next to him at the bar. With little success.
"Hinata!" Sasuke greeted with slurred words and threw an arm around her neck to pull her in. "Have a drink. Bartender!" He barked and glared at the man. "Bartender, get her…get her something to drink…like…something with…with vodka…"
"Miss, would you be Hinata?" The bartender ignored Sasuke who had turned his attentions back to his own drink in hand.
"Yes," Hinata answered breathlessly as Sasuke pulled her into his lap and patted her arm almost in a manner a parent would do to an upset child. "That's me."
The bartender handed her a familiar slim Blackberry and frowned. "This guy's had way too much to drink. Anymore and I think he'll start trashing my bar. You were the most called contact on his list. Do me a favor and take him out of here, okay?"
"Yes, of course." Hinata quickly agreed and placed the phone into her pocket before pulling Sasuke to his feet by the arm still slung around her shoulder. "Come on, Sasuke. I think…I think we should go now."
"Hinata…" He muttered and staggered next to her. "Hinata…I think I did good. I got myself really…really drunk."
"Sasuke," Hinata grunted in exasperation as she staggered under his weight and wrestled the two of them out of the crowded doorway. "Please don't tell me you meant to end up like this."
"Don't worry, Hinata. I won't--I won't tell you." He patted her cheek reassuringly and attempted straightening himself up as they crammed through the doorway.
Hinata groaned and gave him a good smack in the ribs as he admitted this. "Sasuke, you--you can't do this to yourself!" With a sigh she smoothed back the hair that was falling haphazardly into his eyes and said, "We're going to sit down and you're g-going to talk to me, okay?"
"Mm, okay, Hinata." He slurred and leaned against the hand still hesitating on his forehead. "Let's…let's talk. I'll talk with you, and you alone."
She finally managed to drag him over to an empty bench facing an equally empty park to which Hinata noticed in vague horror was the exact location in which Sasuke had proposed to Sakura. Quickly, she dropped him onto the bench and stood facing him and hoped that he wouldn't be able to piece two and two together. "N-now. I need you to start t-talking, Sasuke."
"Hinataaaa…" He moaned and pulled her onto his lap much like he had in the bar. "Why are you so good…so good to me? I mean…you were always--no, you were never a stupid fan girl and you treated me the same as everyone else." His eyes widened in dawning realization before grasping her shoulders and asking in an incredulous voice, "Why didn't I…didn't I marry you? My god, life would've been so much sweeter…"
"Sasuke!" Hinata shrieked and hid her red face behind her hands as she forced herself to remind the loud voice screaming for joy and parading around in her mind to shut up because Sasuke was shittered beyond all comprehensible belief and probably would never remember this in the morning.. "Stop. You promised you would explain to me what happened." She attempted half heartedly to stand up off his lap before his arm tightened considerably and pulled her into an intimate position on his lap.
"You smell…real good…" He murmured into her shoulder. "That's one thing I could--could appreciate about having you as an assistant. Your very, very good hygiene."
"Sasuke," Hinata could feel herself deflate in his grasp. It was starting out to be a very long night. "As flattering a-as this is, I'm just going to point out that y-you're drunk and I'm still waiting for an answer."
There was silence as he continued to breathe into her shoulder where his face was pressed against before he began mumbling, "She broke up with me." He breathed a vicious profanity before squeezing his eyes shut. "I went to her office today…to end it…break off…break away…and there she was…with Naruto. With fucking Naruto." He laughed and snorted before correcting himself. "I mean she was there fucking Naruto."
"Oh, Sasuke," Hinata murmured and ran her fingers through his hair. "I think it's time to go home. I-I'll take you." She was almost ready to leave before Sasuke gripped her hands and drew them to him as he hid his face in them, reminding her so much of a lost little boy.
"Haha, I managed...I managed to break away from her...finally..." He slurred into her hands and peered up at her. Hinata supposed she looked decently upset because he smiled goofily and murmured, "…thanks. I know I'm only saying this because I'm drunk, but thank you, Hinata. For always being here."
And she knew, right then and there she always would be. She'd always be there to pick up the pieces and help deflect the pain when he needed it.
Because she was Hinata. Good old, dependable, and very hygienic Hinata.
UM. This was NOT supposed to have angsty feelings on Hinata's part originally. But whatever, I liked how it ended up, having always gone for the happy endings myself. You can come to your own conclusion on how this ends. I figured there was enough SasuHina fluff in there anyways.