Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to Danish78, Sachiko Heiwajima, H. M. Akhlys, wolf-enzeru, crimsonkira, xlyphiechanx, CrimsonNight41, imatwilightfan, Stormy Cloudz, MuffinMan9223, Tamani, NeverInUrWildestDreams, Petunia, TheValkyrieGladiator, ImCutePoison, BekotaTheMonsterHuntress, meadora-chan, stasoft, and Dani Stark for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who has added this to their favorites and alerts lists - we've broken 100 for reviews and follows, and 50 for favorites! Wow!

Author's Note: I got such a spectacular response for the last chapter - thank you all so much! It's been a hard week for me, so seeing all the support has really helped me power through everything. A few reviewers have asked if certain other characters will make appearances in this story - and I believe this chapter will answer your question to satisfaction. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

*~Chapter IX~*

~Contemplations~

When Hinata finally dragged into the condo at ten minutes until ten, she found Tenten sitting on the couch with two pints of ice cream on the coffee table in front of her and the opening image of their favorite chick flick paused on the TV.

Despite herself, Hinata smiled. "You figured it would go that badly, did you?"

Shrugging, Tenten picked up a spoon and the mint chocolate chip ice cream. She held the two objects out toward Hinata. "I didn't figure it would go that badly, per se, so much as I knew it would go that badly." As Hinata accepted the gifts, Tenten reached for her own ice cream and spoon, saying as she did, "I know how you feel about certain authors and their 'contributions' to literary society in general."

Tucking her feet beneath her on the couch, Hinata ran her spoon across the undisturbed top of the ice cream - soft enough to eat without being half-melted, just the way she liked it - and said, "Literary society is where this guy thinks he belongs." And yet he'd still been able to quote Poe to her, word for word.

Obviously he knew true literary genius when he saw it. He just chose not to pursue such lofty heights for himself.

"Seriously," Tenten mumbled around her spoon, "how bad was it?"

After savoring her first bite, Hinata answered her friend's question as she ran her spoon through the chilled decadence again. "It could have been worse," she admitted. "Plenty of people came, so it was a resounding success on that front. Tsunade is over the moon." She took another bite, trying to work out her own feelings on the subject as she allowed the dark chocolate chips to melt on her tongue. Swallowing, she continued, "But I have to admit, Uchiha Sasuke is nothing at all like I thought he'd be."

Tenten wrinkled her nose over her toffee ice cream. "He's even creepier than his poster?"

"No, actually. He was dressed quite respectably, and when he talked to me for a minute, he didn't say or do anything creepy at all. He was very - gentlemanly." It still surprised her, put her off-balance. She knew logically just because the man wrote the thriller/horror genre didn't mean he was anything like his characters, but she'd expected to see something dark or disturbing, something somehow off-kilter, in his eyes or expression. But nothing like that had been present when he spoke to her, or during the couple of times she glanced into the room to make sure everything was going smoothly. "And he quoted Poe to me," she added in a rush.

Eyes widening dramatically, Tenten planted her spoon in her ice cream as if it were Excalibur in its rock and breathed, "Really?"

"Word for word." Hinata drew little shapes in the top of her ice cream, wishing she could just forget the whole encounter. As well as hoping Sasuke (and when, an insidious little voice whispered in the back of her mind, had she started thinking of him as "Sasuke"?) had hated the entire night so much he'd call tomorrow to cancel his other two appearances. "He's nothing at all like I expected him to be. And I don't like it."

At last picking up her spoon again, Tenten said hesitantly, "Well, it's not really feasible to pack people into nice, neat little boxes. We're complicated."

And oh boy, how well Hinata knew that one. "At least everything went smoothly," she said, deliberately avoiding Tenten's comment. "Hopefully the other two appearances will work along the same lines."

"You have to work for them, too?" Tenten licked her spoon, watching Hinata shrewdly.

"Unfortunately. But at least Tsunade is not only paying me by the hour for this; she's paying me overtime." Her boss was rough around the edges, but she really did care about the fact she had pulled Hinata into working an unusual night - and only a few days from her best friend's wedding. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though. So I don't really mind." Just so long as Sasuke kept his distance, and continued his non-creepy behavior.

Setting aside her ice cream and spoon, Tenten picked up a piece of heavy, pretty, red-and-gold patterned paper off the table and began folding it into a paper crane. Several others rested neatly in the box next to the couch, and Hinata finally realized what her roommate had been doing all evening. "Don't you already have them all done?"

Tenten shook her head. "I'm only up to nine-hundred-fifty-two," she said. "I still have forty-eight left to fold to make a thousand." Tenten, who was also of Oriental descent, had decided to fold a thousand paper cranes for decorations for the reception. Not just for the beautiful touch they'd add, but for their cultural significance. "I think I can handle that before Friday night, don't you?"

Hinata politely refrained from offering to help her friend, knowing Tenten needed to fold them all herself. "With plenty of time to spare." Many of the cranes were already threaded and ready to hang in the reception hall, but she knew there were still over three hundred left to do, and only two days in which to do it.

"I don't know about the 'plenty of time to spare' part, but I should have them done by tomorrow." She set aside the crane she'd just finished and reached for another piece of paper. "Ino and Sakura are going to meet us at the reception hall Friday after they get off work to help us finish stringing them and getting everything set up."

She already knew the blonde would be in charge of the floral arrangements and their pink-haired friend would try to take over everything else. But Hinata appreciated the help, especially since it would be the last time all four of them would do something like that together as unmarried females. "That should work out well. Do you want me to pick up some food so we can all grab a bite before we start decorating?"

"Sakura's going to pick up something from The Yellow Flash before she comes over," Tenten said, completing the last fold and yet another crane. Setting it in the box, she continued, "It's on her way."

Hinata bit her lower lip. The Yellow Flash, the café owned and operated by Namikaze Minato and his wife and son, was also on her way to the reception hall. She'd hoped to be the one to swing by and pick up the food - not to mention see Naruto, Minato and Kushina's son and the man on whom she'd had a crush since middle school. "All right," she said softly, trying to hide her disappointment.

Tenten started on another crane, thankfully not seeming to notice her friend's sudden depression. "Did you confirm getting off early tomorrow with Tsunade?" she asked.

"Yes, while we were cleaning up. I reminded her we're supposed to have the rehearsal tomorrow, and she said again it would be no problem for me to leave a little early." In fact, Tsunade had offered to let Hinata have the entire day off, but Hinata hadn't wanted to take advantage. Plus, she knew Shiho had classes at the community college three counties over on Thursdays, which meant Tsunade would have to run the library by herself all day. It just didn't seem fair. "We're all supposed to meet at six, right?"

"Yes." Tenten's fingers finally stopped their busy work. The brunette looked up with an breathless smile and excitedly shining eyes. "I'm getting married in just a few days," she whispered. "It's finally almost here."

Hinata smiled and nodded, happy for her cousin and best friend, but unable to smother the small prick of jealousy in her heart which yearned for what they had for herself, too. "Yes, it is. And everything is going to go just fine."

Sasuke scrubbed his hand over his eyes as he waited for the pills he'd just taken to kick in and relieve his headache. The night had gone better than he'd thought it would, but he still wished he could have avoided the entire experience altogether.

Though he'd gotten to talk to Hinata again. That had been nice.

Except for the part where she told him he didn't write real literature.

But he'd been able to quote Poe to her verbatim, and he'd read several of the authors on her "true literary geniuses" lists. So maybe he'd managed to salvage the first impression after all?

Jiraiya lumbered into the kitchen and squinted at Sasuke. "Headache?"

"Yeah." Hopping onto one of the bar stools across from the doorway, Sasuke propped his elbow on the counter and pressed his forehead into the cup of his hand. "All things considered, I suppose it went well enough."

"Well enough? It was a resounding success!" Jiraiya's thunderous voice certainly wasn't helping the pounding pain in Sasuke's head. "I can't wait to see how next week's session goes."

Sasuke started to mutter a noncommittal response, but then his aching brain caught up with his agent's words. Lifting his head, he looked at Jiraiya, and said, "Wait, you're going to be here for next week?"

Suddenly looking uncomfortable, Jiraiya opened the fridge door and leaned over to peer at the contents, conveniently placing his back to Sasuke. He mumbled something under his breath and pushed a jar of pickles out of the way to get to a stray orange.

"What was that?" If Sasuke wasn't mistaken, the name of the woman in charge of the library had just been prominently mentioned in that mumbling.

Straightening, Jiraiya shut the door to the fridge and dug his nail into the orange peel. Avoiding Sasuke's gaze, he said, "I thought you wanted me here?"

Oh, Jiraiya was not going to make this about Sasuke. "Funny, I could've sworn I heard you mention Senju Tsunade's name."

A rather interesting shade of red burst to life across Jiraiya's cheeks. "Ah - I might have mentioned her name, yes." He tossed part of the peel into the trash and went to work on the rest of it. "She's an - interesting woman. Didn't so much notice it over the phone, but now..."

Sasuke thought Tsunade's rather - ahem - ample assets also probably had something to do with it, but refrained from mentioning it. "In other words, you're not coming back here to support me, you're coming back to see Tsunade again, aren't you?"

Jiraiya grimaced. "Not so much see her again as try again to convince her to go to dinner with me."

So that's what was going on. Jiraiya had been rejected, and Sasuke knew his agent didn't like to be turned down. The man liked a challenge, so Sasuke knew he wasn't going to let it go until Tsunade finally agreed.

Which meant Sasuke's guest room would probably have a permanent guest for the forseeable future. Not that he didn't have plenty of room, but... "Don't you have responsibilities in New York?"

"Of course I do," Jiraiya rumbled, giving Sasuke a reproachful look. "I'm not just going to drop everything with my job. I'm flying back to New York as planned in the morning, and then I'll be back next Tuesday."

Well, at least Sasuke would have his house to himself for a few days. He glanced at the doorway to the kitchen as Ninja came in, looked around, and then made a beeline for his food bowl, which Sasuke had refilled before taking the pain pills (which still didn't seem inclined to help). "You'll stay here, of course?" It was more of a perfunctory question than an actual desire for company.

"Thank you, my boy. I'll enjoy the time out in the country again." Jiraiya seemed pleased as he popped an orange slice in his mouth.

Sasuke didn't think it was so much the country he'd enjoy, but again held his tongue. "Well, I think I'll head to-" He was interrupted by the sound of his phone, still on vibrate, buzzing its way across the counter.

Jiraiya stopped chewing as Sasuke picked up his phone and glanced at the caller ID. Immediately he felt his mood plummet further as he glanced at the calendar across the room: July 16. It's almost... He sighed. Of course, how could I have lost track of the date?

For a moment, Sasuke entertained the thought of punching the reject option. It wouldn't be the first time.

But he knew better than to do so, especially in front of his agent. Closing his eyes - which still afforded him no relief from the increasing pain in his head - Sasuke drew in a deep breath (and a healthy dose of fortification) before answering it. "Hello?" His voice sounded raspy and thready, almost as if he were sick.

There was a momentary silence on the other end, and then a familiar male voice queried, "Sasuke?"

The futile hope the caller ID had been wrong was blasted into nonexistence now. Sighing, Sasuke confirmed, "Yeah, it's me. What do you want? I've had a long day, and was just heading for bed." It was almost midnight, after all. Even with the time difference, his caller should have known that.

Probably did, and just didn't care.

Uchiha Itachi cleared his throat slightly and said in his mellow, cultured voice, "I'm in London right now. I need to book a flight back, and I was wondering if I should do it to home, or to the airport near there...?"

Sasuke considered the pros and cons of his older brother's question. Of the former, there were few; the latter, many. Perhaps if he hadn't been so distracted he would have been expecting this, and it wouldn't feel so much like a punch in the solar plexus. "I'm guessing this is a package deal?" The words came out sounding a lot colder than he'd intended.

A pause, then, "Yes." As always.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed and tried to ignore Jiraiya's inquisitive looks from across the kitchen. "How long will you be here?"

Itachi sounded a little more hopeful when he said, "Probably about a week. There's a flight early Friday morning we can catch. Be there around six or seven that night."

So his older brother would be here during one of Sasuke's sessions at the library. Wonderful. He'd might as well open up his house as a bed and breakfast, because his guest rooms seemed to be rapidly filling up. Especially considering he didn't like company, and usually went out of his way to avoid having people stay at his home. "You going to get a rental car and drive out here?" Please don't make me have to drive to the airport and pick you up, too.

"Yes. I'll arrange that when I book the flight." The hope in Itachi's voice was growing stronger by the minute.

"Fine." Sasuke very deliberately didn't say he looked forward to seeing his brother.

There was a definite smile in Itachi's voice when he replied, "Thank you, Sasuke. I'll see you in a couple of days."

Then the brothers hung up, and just like that, the conversation was over. Sasuke wished he could forget it, pretend it had never happened.

Jiraiya cleared his throat and ventured around another slice of orange, "Bad news?"

Most people wouldn't think so. "I suppose not." Without offering any further explanation, Sasuke asked, "When does your flight leave in the morning?" It wasn't that he was trying to get rid of his agent - well, not too much - he just hoped to distract the man.

Frowning, Jiraiya shot him a I know what you're doing and I don't like it, kid look before responding. "Flight leaves at 9:15. I have to be at the airport by eight."

"Great. I'll see you in the morning before you leave, then. We'll have breakfast and a cup of coffee." Sasuke wished Jiraiya a good night and beat it out of the kitchen before the older man could fire off any questions to assuage the burning curiosity in his eyes.

Sasuke had too many things on his plate to deal with the way it was without rehashing things better left in the past.

-And he still hadn't gotten rid of his blasted headache.

-And it sure didn't look like he was going to any time soon, either.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: A few people have asked if Itachi was going to make an appearance at some point in this story - I didn't answer your question before now, because I knew we were almost to this chapter. He'll be showing up in a couple of chapters, and we'll get to find out what Sasuke is so bent out of shape over soon, too. As for Sasuke and Hinata's next encounter - well, let's just say I'm very much looking forward to the next chapter! I've had a bit of a rough go of it this week, so seeing all your support (100+ reviews and follows, and 50+ favorites, wow!) has really helped cheer me up. It seems like I get a new alert in my e-box just when I need it most, and I appreciate all of you so much. Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you again for next week's chapter!