"What are you doing?" Hanabi watched in amusement as Hinata's head snapped up from her previous engagement.
"Oh, Hanabi," Hinata breathed out, placing a manicured hand on her chest. "It's only you." She turned back to the Swiffer mop in her hand, shuffling along the floors of her townhouse. "I was just doing a little cleaning, that's all."
Hanabi raised a plucked eyebrow at her, slipping off her mustard yellow trench coat to reveal a light gray hooded sweater dress with a red patent leather belt hanging loosely on her hips and red cotton leggings with Uggs. "Uh-huh."
Hinata tugged on her overgrown bangs, dressed simply in a loose white t-shirt and blue short shorts with her blue house slippers. "It's gotten messy . . . actually, it's been messy for a while, but I haven't had the time to really pick it all up. I sort of just threw it somewhere and forget about him- er it!"
Her cheeks turned crimson as Hanabi's pale eyes widen in amazement. "Who's him, onee-san?" She flopped down on her sister's sofa, kicking off her gray to-the-knee Uggs. "You can tell me. Your secret is safe with me."
Hinata bit her lip, fidgeting with her loose bun. "Ano . . . I don't know."
"Onee-san!" Hanabi whined, making puppy eyes at her. "Just tell me. I won't tell anyone, I swear!"
Hinata shook her head, pushing her mop back and forth over the already mopped bamboo floors. "You shouldn't swear. But it's . . . really private . . . And it could ruin me if even one word gets out . . . You have to be extremely careful for me." She hardened her eyes and thinned her lips, catching Hanabi off guard. "You can't tell a soul, Hanabi, not a soul."
Hanabi held up her hand, nodding gravely. "I understand, Hinata. I won't tell a single soul outside of this place."
Hinata sighed before smiling softly. "Thank you for understanding."
Hanabi smiled back. "I know you are. Now spill."
-
"No way!" Hanabi slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. "No. Fucking. Way!"
Hinata blushed furiously, fidgeting with her hands. "Please don't say that, Hanabi. I know it's bad. I understand that. But you have to understand, it was only building momentum from the start."
Hanabi fell back on the sofa, pulling a gold throw pillow over her face. "Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! No fucking way! NO FUCKING WAY!!!!"
Hinata smiled as Hanabi kicked her legs in the air and screamed into the pillow. Why shouldn't she? Her sister had had a very intimate relationship with one of the most eligible bachelors in Tokyo. Quite possibly in Japan even. But notice the key word "had". That's all it really took to know she wasn't in it anymore. But she'd still be put in the spotlight for having it in the first place. Office relationships just weren't meant to be.
She kicked her slippers off under the low sitting table and pulled her knees to her chest. She had liked to believe she loved him in only that month, but that was just stupid. You can't get to know someone then fall in love with them in only a month. It wasn't logical.
Or, that's what she was telling herself these days.
But if that was true, did that mean she didn't love Gaara, like she thought she did? Was it just her imagination when she thought they had a special connection that she and Sasuke didn't? Did she just believe he liked her just as much as she liked him?
She closed her iris-colored eyes and sighed into her creamy knees. Life was so much easier when she just was fighting with Sasuke over stupid memos and her father and his stupid partner-in-crime wasn't up her ass and down her back about taking the company global. Russia was just barely on the border of overdoing it with their contract and Italy was all too eager to swoop down and take it from them. She didn't need a fucking love life right now.
Too bad she wanted one anyways.
"Hey ya'll!" Temari's blond head popped around the corner, her sea-foam green eyes sparkling as Hinata nearly fell to the floor in her astonishment. She held aloft a grocery bag, swinging it excitedly. "I brought sushi!" She quickly ducked around the corner as Hanabi jumped up and ran after her.
Hinata quickly untangled herself from the table and ran after them. "Temari-san! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be at a fitting for your wedding dress!"
Temari nodded, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I was supposed to be! But they canceled on me because some other quick-to-bitch mother-in-law was getting pissy about her soon-to-be-daughter's dress and how the damn pearls were falling off. So, Hinata-kun, how was your day?"
"I have a secret to tell you!" Hanabi grabbed her newest friend's navy off-the-shoulder sweater sleeve. "It's about my dear older sister! And her dirty, dirty secrets!"
Temari gasped dramatically, her eyes wide with shock and amusement. "No way! Ms. Perfect has skeletons in the closet! Spill!"
"No!" Hinata blushed as she tried to stop Hanabi from telling. "Please, Hanabi! You said you wouldn't tell!"
"No," Hanabi shook her head, smirking victoriously as tugged Temari towards the living room. "I said I wouldn't tell anybody outside of this place. As in your house."
Hinata brought a hand to her face, realizing the loophole her sister was always creating a minute too late. "Fine. Tell her. But do not make it sound as if-,"
"Hi guys!" TenTen and Sakura came through the front door. TenTen unwrapped her brown-stripped scarf, looking to the three girls. "What's going on? I didn't know everyone was meeting here today."
"Hinata has a dirty, dirty secret!" Temari bounced on her toes excitedly as Hinata's face paled. "Hanabi was just about to spill some major news worth lots of Cool Points!"
Sakura's jade eyes went to Hinata as TenTen and Temari squealed in the background. "Are you okay?" She pressed a hand to Hinata's forehead, her eyes turning army green with worry. "You don't look so good, Hinata-kun. You feeling okay?"
Hinata nodded, shuffling after Temari and the others. "I'm fine, Sakura-chan. Just don't hate me afterward."
"Why would I hate you?" Sakura tugged off her white ski jacket and turned to follow an excited Hanabi to the living room.
-
Stunned silence.
Hinata twirled a loose thread from her t-shirt around her index finger, a curtain of her indigo hair protecting her face. The other girls were so shocked their sushi fell from the chopsticks and landed with a plop in their sauces. No one was even breathing loudly. The shock of things was just too great.
Temari was the first to recover, coughing lightly into her hand and placing her chopsticks down. "May I just say this? No . . . fucking . . . way."
TenTen laughed brightly, almost as if she were relieved it wasn't something else, a hand on the chest of her magenta turtleneck. "I can't believe it either! There's no way Hinata could have fallen for jerkface Sasuke!" She shook her head. "And Ino missed it!"
"Missed what?" Ino dropped down beside Temari in a turquoise sweater dress with white slacks and pulled the extra sushi case towards herself, looking to the other girls. "Come on! Own up! What the hell did I miss?"
Hanabi reached across and excitedly whispered in her ear. Both erupted in a chorus of "no way" and "seriously". Sakura shook her head, tugging her pink ponytail tighter and tighter. After a moment, all four were squealing the same thing, laughing and carrying on. Finally, all four girls looked up to see Hinata's shoulders rising in quick breaths, as if she were crying.
"Onee-san?" Hanabi bit her lip, feeling somewhat guilty. "Are you . . . Are you okay? Was I not supposed to tell anyone, like no one at all?"
Sakura rubbed Hinata's back in slow soothing circles, looking sorry. "We didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Hinata-kun. We're sorry."
"Yeah," TenTen pushed her plate of sushi away, guilt over taking her appetite. "Do you prefer we don't talk about it all?"
All four of them leaned in to hear Hinata, each looking guiltier than the last.
"No," Hinata sniffled, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. "No. That's not the problem."
"Then what is it?" Temari asked in a soft voice, reaching across and patting her hand like Ino was. "Can you tell us? Because I hate feeling guilty."
"Temari!" TenTen giggled out of anxiety rather than the funny factor. But it died down after about two seconds of no one else joining.
"It's just that," Hinata closed her head and rested her head on the table, muffling her words.
Sakura's eyes widened and the girls looked to her in confusion.
"She misses him."
Holy Crap! There's a twist for you! XDD Yeah, I know, this chapter was kind of sucky (I think it went by a little fast. And there wasn't nearly enough information to really keep it interesting long enough)
So, like I was saying, it's gettin' there! You gotta give me at least 3 more chapters and you'll have to go and find something else to read, because I'm about to end this baby.
Actually, I'm quite surprised with myself. This thing is nearly 20 (quite possibly 23 with the way I'm going) chapters long and I've never written something past 15 chapters! I'm so immensely amazed with myself, I think all my ideas are being sucked out of my damn head!
I will warn you, after this story, I will be working on Harmony. Net (if you haven't read the first chapter, you should) and Those Sweet Moments (These are all AU. I'm trying to think of things that aren't AU. It's gettin' real old, real fast)
R&R Please and Thank You! :3