This is what y'all have been waiting for! And I know you have because you've been asking for it. So I'm excited to say (drum roll please)

Hinata's POV.

Enjoy :D

I stared sullenly at the documents in front of me. I had been so caught up in Temari-chan's wedding, what with trying to find the perfect area for the wedding at Aspen over the phone and internet, and the flower girl dress, and the flower girl and the ring boy and ugh, my head was just seriously spinning with everything. And then, today, I had documents, after memos, after data to check over, to have Ayame pass out and to sign. My hand was cramping and I could see carpal tunnel in my future.

Underneath my desk, I stretched my legs out in my favorite modern clean rinse True Religion boot cut jeans, stuffed in Hanabi's teal Marc Jacobs boots, with pointed toes. Only Hanabi would make me wear such a ridiculously bright color to work, in autumn.

There was a knock at my door and I sat up straighter, happy for the distraction from my paperwork. All the work I had to do was seriously depressing, but I would have rather had paperwork than have to face my frowning father, who at the moment, was standing in front of me, all six-foot-two inches as tense and narrow as a man can be. Ayame stood beside him, shrunken and small next to his big and bad self.

I cleared my throat, pulling out a polite smile for him. "Hello, father. How can I help you?"

"We need to talk," he said, nodding to Ayame who bowed and quickly scurried out of the room. Lucky. "About you and Uchiha's son."

Quickly, my smile fell upside down and I sat completely straight, perched at the edge of my leather seat. "Oh? And what problem is there?"

He eased himself into the leather seat across from me and I didn't dare tell him that maybe an hour before lunch, Sasuke had been right there, talking about our plans. He could suffer for a little bit. "You two are much too cozy for my liking, especially at in the office."

I gathered my papers up, straightening them studiously as I talked. The sound of rustling gave me some courage to talk back to him. "Well, father, I'm sorry to say that no one has complained yet. I trust that my employees will be more than willing to tell when we have sex on the conference table again."

I could hear him tense up, it was so sharp. And in my sick and twisted way, I loved the fact that I could dig under his skin, make him think that I was just as slutty when he wasn't around. No wonder Hanabi got kicks out of saying disgusting things around, especially when we were younger.

He barely scowled at my words. "Hinata, please, your jokes are not appreciated right now."

Carefully, I laced my fingers together on the glossy top of my cherry wood desk, looking him right in the eye. "Father, I would appreciate if you didn't dig your fingers into my personal life. What I do with my love life after work is none of your concern."

He narrowed his eyes, thinning his lips. "On the contrary, I believe I have entitlement to know what my daughter is doing with her life, because she is my daughter."

I would have barked out a laugh, but I guess that would have shown Sasuke was seriously getting to me. So instead, I thinned my own lips, our eyes locked. "No, you do not. You had that right before I was eighteen. But it's past that, in fact, ten years past that, and you didn't care then. So why, especially now that I am dating Sasuke, do you care now?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Hinata," he sighed, lifting a hand to brush his long ebony hair over his shoulder. "I cared for you then as much as I do now-,"

"Which wasn't a lot," I snapped out, surprised at myself. But I was feeling anger bubble and twist in my stomach, a hot flush creeping up my neck. Not a good sign, but I was never good at reading signs. "You call ridiculing me, admitting how ashamed you were, how embarrassed you were of me in front of everyone, caring for me?" I stood up, leaning over and slamming my palms against the desk to drive it home. "You NEVER cared for me, Hiashi! All you cared about was looking good in the public eye, donating hundred of thousands of money so you could get street credit! Helping orphaned children find happiness instead of helping me with my Calculus! All that is fucking bullshit! You have never cared for me, or Hanabi or Neji! ALL YOU CARED ABOUT WAS YOUR PRECIOUS MONEY!"

He stared at me as I turned on the three-inch heel of Hanabi's boots, my body trembling with rage. I was on the verge of tears, my vision blurring. "Please, get out of my sight so I can work. I don't ever want to hear you say anything about me and Sasuke again, understood?"

I barely heard the door closing, because by then, I was already crying. I hated Hiashi at the moment. He couldn't possibly understand what I've gone through. The stupid, stupid man. Honestly, my heart went out to him. At least he was trying. Though sometimes, his effort was absolutely pathetic.

-

The hot, sudsy water of Sasuke's sink washed over my fingers. It was probably seven at night, because we had left the office early to enjoy ourselves. Plus, it was a day before New Years Eve, which meant that Temari-chan was throwing a party at some large café, flaunting her and Shikamaru's money. Honestly, I wondered where all her money was coming from, because I didn't know what she did for a living.

I sighed, my body feeling heavy and tired, like I had just had a really good cry. And I had, about three hours ago. Sasuke was . . . oh, I don't even remember where he went. He was just gone. And I was happy for this silence. It was lonely, not comfortable like what I and Sasuke had. There wasn't this extra party there to ruin my sulking, my get-together with an old friend called self-pity.

Washing dishes was just what I needed. They had been stacking up all week, and of course, all we come here for is to sleep, eat, hang out and occasionally have sex. We rarely cleaned and with Sasuke out, I could get that done. I remembered now. He was with Naruto-kun, Shino-kun and Kiba-kun, out having a beer. They were probably at Shino's favorite country club, sitting under that glass dome in luxurious chairs, sipping the best beer.

I chuckled softly, remembering when Shino first found the place. You couldn't get him to leave unless he had another continent to go to, to discover more species of insects. But at least he was doing something other than sitting around and reading up on things he already knew. I guess it was probably better he gulfed and such instead of staying inside. He was much too pale during those in-between research and exploring times.

A bubble floated through the air as I scrubbed plate after plate, remembering what foods we had as the colored the water dirty. Spaghetti, stir-fry, bass, lime-kissed chicken, some grilled salmon, order-out. That was weeks and weeks of food. A month to be precise. We were disgusting, my honest opinion. But that's how life is sometimes. You just get too caught up in things, and then suddenly, you take look around and roll up yourselves, ready to clean up.

I didn't hear the door open, nor did I hear Sasuke's soft "Ohayo" or anything. But I did jump as he wrapped his arms around me, kissing my neck. I could hear the chuckle in the back of his throat, down in his chest. He didn't know about what Hiashi had said earlier and how I had accused him of being a deadbeat father. He didn't know about Hanabi walking in to find me sobbing at my desk, tears splattering my paper work. He didn't know it was Neji-niisan who suggested that we leave work early, covering for us as we left.

The lump in my throat grew as we swayed to some silent beat. Sasuke was talking, remembering all the silly/stupid things Naruto-kun had said, all the smacks Shino-kun had given Kiba-kun, all the perverted jokes they had laughed over. I shoved my emotions aside, laughing along, smiling and nodding like the good sport I am. I could have stayed there, in his arms, carefully moving so that I wouldn't lose the fit of his body against mine. I would have stayed there forever, in this calm abyss of naivety. I was happiest here.

Then I heard it. It was soft, whispered, his breath sweeping across my ear and down my cheek. But I know I heard it. Plain as day. Those three simple words that meant so much.

I stopped moving, breathing shallowly. He had said; I was absolutely sure of it. I couldn't have been mistaken. The tears built up as I turned to face him. His obsidian eyes, so dark, so wonderfully holding the ability to get lost in them, watched me, careful about their ways. He had said them, it was written all over his face, no matter how hard he had tried to hide them.

At that moment, I slumped against him, feeling happy and freer than when I was a little fourteen-year-old girl, learning I was getting better and better because father wasn't telling me what was wrong so much as adjusting here and there. I wrapped my arms around him, my head resting against chest, breathing in that oh so familiar smell of his. I didn't want to let go. I didn't have to let go. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let go.

"I love you too," I sniffled, no, more like giggled. "I love you too."

-

New Years Eve, 9: 35 at night

"Sasuke!" I called, running a hand down the side of my black silk gown, an H Designs, aka Hanabi's clothing line. I frowned as he poked his head out of the bathroom, face dripping with water from the shower. "We have to hurry or we'll be late."

He rolled his eyes, walking back in just a white towel. "Oh, please, Hinata. We can afford to be late. This is Temari we're talking about. She'll be late to her own party."

I sighed, turning around to face the mirror on the closet door. It was practically the closet door, it was so huge. The dress was one-shouldered, showing off the paleness of my skin. It hung to the floor, with barely noticeable slits so that when I walked, my legs shown throw. It would have been see through, save for the purple satin sleeveless down underneath, which reached my knees.

Carefully, I placed in a pair of gold chandelier earrings, matching my charm bracelet. I would have worn the key, but I couldn't because it (Hanabi's words; not mine) clashed hideously with my gold jewelry and having the two together was just beyond tacky. But what did I know about fashion?

Finally, Sasuke stepped into the oversized closet (it had a marble island, just for holding jewelry) slinging his towel onto the counter and not bothering with words. I sighed again as he dressed, as slow as he possibly could, just to annoy me. But whatever. When we missed the best of the champagne, he'd be sulking about his own impudence.

As I finished up, making sure the updo my hair was in stayed up, Sasuke carefully eased on a white button down, threw a black tie around his shoulders and walked out. I scowled, for a millisecond, before grabbing his shoulder, carefully so I wouldn't ruin the Calvin Klein, and managed the tie, all the while muttering, "Honestly. I can't trust you to do anything without my help."

He bent down and kissed me, long enough to take off all four layers of my lip gloss before grabbing his shiny Gucci shoes and a pair of black socks. "You're absolutely right. I'm a good for nothing."

I turned and glared at him, holding my black Chanel compact, not even in my shoes yet. "You're just saying that."

"Yep." He stood and shoved his hands into his pocket, his black suit jacket already on. "You should hurry up. We're gonna be late." He smirked as he walked out of the closet, fully dressed and I scowled again, finishing with my red lipstick and pulling on my metallic gold Mui Mui strappy peep-toe sandals. He, sometimes, was very annoying.

-

New Year's Eve, 10 'o' clock

The Mazda pulled up to the harbor, a large white, majestic-looking yacht sitting at the edge, bobbing up and down in the sea's black waves. I sighed, trying to shift a raven-dark corkscrew from between my eyes to my updo. "We are so lucky we got here on time."

"Yes," he said, slipping out, his sunglasses still on. "Because I could have made us so much more later." He probably punctured it with an eye roll, but I couldn't see it because of his glasses and the night sky, despite the golden glow coming from the oversized boat.

I frowned as I stepped out, watching him hand the teenage valet the keys and a warning: "Scratch it, dent it, or ding it and I will make you pay, with serious interest." Only Sasuke could make a kid like that flinch and carefully pull out. But that's who I was dating and I didn't have much control over him.

He slipped an arm around my waist and dropped his glasses in the hands of the man who stood by the dock, in the ridiculous uniform of a doorman, who nodded stiffly and placed them in the pocket of his uniform, which looked warm in the December/January air. I shook my head at Sasuke. "You are too much."

"And yet you're still here," he replied, walking in his slow swagger, the one I had to match with a soft job to catch up.

I pursed my lips as we walked up the metal door of the yacht, entering this amazing foyer with a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the surprisingly high ceiling, couples streaming in behind us. I stared around in amazement, completely blown away. From the glossy parquetry floor to the Picassos on the wall, it was truly gorgeous.

"Goddamn, how much money does that lazy bastard and the loud-mouth have?" Sasuke muttered, looking around with me.

I couldn't help it, I laughed. He smirked down at me and soon, we were facing a wave of people, all wanting to kiss our cheeks, shake our hands, and know how well we were doing. It was like the high school reunion, only there were more faces that we did know who didn't go to school than the actually faces that did go to Konoha Academy. Not that we had much choice. It was New Year's Eve and I was in a good mood.

Not an hour into our games of Who's Richer than Who, the lights dimmed and two people appeared in the middle of the floor. No, it was more like the crowd parted and they walked through, hand in hand. I smiled, clapping with the others as Shikamaru-kun and Temari-chan showed up. They looked wonderful, Shikamaru-kun in a simple black Kenneth Cole tuxedo and Temari-chan in a black Pucci backless halter gown, the neck plunging to her toned stomach. A wide metallic gold band cinched her tiny waist and there was a small train behind her. With her, it was go big or go home.

"The paparazzi are going crazy over these two," Sasuke said beside me as they began talking, probably a welcoming speech for the crowd and cameras.

I nodded and was about to say something when I heard a familiar voice, Sora-chan's to be exact. "Yes. They are quite the pair. Especially after this night. No one has ever thrown a party this magnificent, especially for New Year's."

We turned to see her and Shino-kun, with out his usual glasses, revealing his steely gray-blue eyes. "I didn't know you were here."

She smiled, her ocean blue eyes sparkling as she turned to face Temari-chan and Shikamaru-kun. "Split-second decision." She self-consciously ran a hand through her hair, the large ebony waves rippling around her shoulders. In a short, flouncy chiffon backless Dior minidress layered a tight black floor-length skirt underneath, she looked fabulous, but standing next to Shino in his black tuxedo, she looked better.

I watched silently as Shino-kun and Sasuke shared a knowing look, Sasuke raising an eyebrow at my best friend. But I wasn't going to say a word. Shino had just as much right as anyone to date. I was just being snooty and jealous, sadly. I have issues, major issues.

"Anyways," I smiled, clapping my manicured hands and smiling brightly. "Let's grab the others and have a drink."

Sasuke eyed me was he made our way through the crowd's current, who had surged forward to congratulate Temari-chan and Shikamaru-kun on getting engaged. "Sounds like you grabbed something already."

I wrote all this, Hinata's POV let me remind you, for you! I should have the reviews rolling in! And constructive critisim is always welcome^^

Also! I have hit almost one-hundred reviews! So, when I do, I have a special gift for all of those. I will come out with 2 chapters. Yes, that's right, 2 chapters! For the single price of 1 XD

Now, getting cracking. 'Cause you ain't seein 2 until I see 100+ :D ~CocoaAngel95