Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to CrimsonNight41, Tamani, Guest, Sachiko Heiwajima, Renoa Heartilly, wolf-enzeru, Heavenly Swirl, Divine Glory, abbyciel, ImCutePoison, and rao hyuga 18 for all your reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this story (and me!) to your favorites and follows lists!
Author's Note: Eek, so many exciting things coming up in the next few chapters! Things are really starting to kick into gear and get moving now, so I'm really looking forward to getting to those developments! Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
*~Chapter XII~*
~Pact~
Even though Sasuke always dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn, he still didn't beat his sister-in-law. When he got to the kitchen, Temari already stood there, wearing shorts and a sleeveless tee, gulping down a bottle of water. She still wore jogging shoes; a sheen of sweat sparkled on her face and arms.
"Jogging already?" Sasuke felt like he could barely keep his eyelids pried open. The thought of doing any sort of demanding physical activity so early in the morning made him want to curl up in bed and hide for the rest of the day. He was in pretty good shape, if he didn't say so himself, but he worked out at a far more reasonable hour. Like, in the afternoon.
Resting the sweating bottle of water against her forehead, Temari grinned wryly. "I just never got out of the habit. I'm not really playing a lot of tennis anymore, just the occasional celebrity exhibition, and I wanted to get back in shape after Karura was born. So I started jogging. And of course I strength-train as well." She held out her arms, as if to demonstrate how muscular and fit she was.
Sasuke bit back the urge to snark back, "I'm not your husband, go look for appreciation elsewhere." He shuffled to the fridge. "Help yourself to anything for breakfast. I'm having coffee, toast, and eggs and bacon." His usual. Perhaps not the healthiest of breakfasts, but he liked it and didn't see a reason to change his diet just because his health-nut sister-in-law was in for a visit.
"I'm not ready to eat yet, but thanks." Finishing off her water, Temari recapped the bottle and tossed it into the recycle bin next to the door leading from the kitchen to the garage. "See you in a bit." The blonde wagged her fingers and left the kitchen; a moment later, he heard her soft footsteps jogging up the stairs.
"Crazy morning people." Yawning, Sasuke turned on the skillet to heat as he started the coffee and got out his mug, plate, and silverware. As the scent of percolating coffee filled his nose, he got started on his morning protein.
After breakfast, Sasuke put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher, poured himself another cup of coffee, and went to his office. Ninja followed him, not seeming bothered in the least that the usually empty house had three guests. As long as no one made any threatening moves toward him or his master, Ninja was perfectly fine with guests. Most of the time, Sasuke considered this a good thing; right now, he felt it was more of a downside.
While he waited for his computer to boot up, Sasuke stared out the window into the backyard. The grass glittered wetly from the storm the night before. Though the power hadn't actually gone out, it had flickered a few times. Sometime after midnight he'd heard Karura run past the door to his bedroom, and knew she must be going to take refuge with her parents. Poor kid, being so afraid of thunderstorms.
Then again, his big brave guard dog half-crawled under the bed to try to hide from the nasty thunder, so perhaps he shouldn't be so judgemental of his niece.
Scratching behind Ninja's ears with his left hand, Sasuke used his right on the mouse to click open the folder for his newest, untitled project. Selecting his research document and the tentative outline, he brought them up the screen and critically eyed the latter. Things were shaping up nicely, but he still didn't actually have enough to start the writing process.
He could practically hear the clock in the back of his head ticking away, threatening him because he was running out of time. Sasuke's books always released at the same time every year. He would have to hand in his replacement novel very soon to have a prayer of keeping publication on track.
Around nine, Sasuke heard the sounds of Itachi, Temari, and Karura in the kitchen. He thought about going out to talk to them, or fix their breakfast, or just say good morning, but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't a good host, and never pretended to be. They could fend for themselves; after all, they'd already made themselves at home.
Ten-thirty brought his niece into the office. Sasuke saved his work and just managed to close out the document before Karura reached him. Itachi and Temari would kill Sasuke if their kid was exposed to anything even remotely resembling what her uncle wrote for a living. She could already read several steps above her grade level, and he knew she'd not have much trouble at all deciphering what had been on the screen a second ago.
"Hey, short stuff." Pulling Karura onto his lap, Sasuke gave her a hug and smiled as Ninja licked the girl's bare feet, making her laugh and squirm. "Good morning."
"Mornin'." Karura leaned down to pat Ninja's head, then glanced over her shoulder. "Whatcha been doin', Uncle Sasuke?"
"Earning my keep," he replied. "I'm working on plotting out my next novel."
Karura wrinkled her nose. "I keep begging Mama and Papa to let me read your books, but they keep telling me no. I don't know why not!"
Sasuke did, but he wasn't quite sure how much Itachi and Temari shared about his writings with their kid. He didn't dare inadvertently give her a little too much of an education without consulting with them first. "I write books for adults, and even though you're grown-up for your age, you're not quite to that stage yet."
"Aww." Karura folded her arms across her chest and pouted. "You need to write some kids' books, Uncle Sasuke. Not like little kid books, but something I could read. I want to read what you write. I like having a writer for an uncle. I tell the kids at school about you all the time."
He blinked, feeling oddly flattered. Sasuke had no idea his niece - who really only knew him as a voice on the phone twice a year until now - felt that way about him. He wasn't quite sure what to say.
Looking at him over her shoulder, Karura wrinkled her brow and said, "Did you hear me? You need to write books I can read. Now. I don't wanna have to wait until I'm older to read your books. It's forever away, and that's too long."
Sasuke hugged his niece again, his throat suddenly hot and tight. Karura had grown up so much, so fast, from the last time he saw her. He wanted to put on the brakes, to be around her more so he didn't miss so much of her life. He wished he could tell her she was growing up plenty fast and not to be in such a hurry, but his voice didn't want to cooperate with him.
"Tell you what," he finally said, voice hoarse, "I'll see what I can do about that book for you, okay? I'll work on it. I can't promise anything, but I'll give it my best. Okay?"
Karura grinned, and he saw she was missing one of her teeth. When did that happen? "Thanks, Uncle Sasuke!" After turning around, she wrapped her skinny arms around his neck, hugged him fiercely, then squirmed off his lap and ran for the door, Ninja hard on her heels. "Mama, Papa! Uncle Sasuke is gonna write a book just for me!"
Oh, great. Both Itachi and Temari knew very well what he wrote. Sasuke knew he'd have both of them breathing down his neck in approximately five seconds. He hoped they'd give him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt; he wouldn't write a thriller for his five-year-old niece, no matter how grown-up she seemed.
Turning back toward his computer, he smiled slightly and shook his head. A kid's book, huh? Well, it's not my usual fare, but I made a promise, so I have to give it a try.
Sasuke opened a fresh window and settled his fingers on the keys, closing his eyes so he could concentrate better. Who knows? Maybe I'll discover something new. Never hurts to try, right?
Hinata woke to her alarm, wishing she could get about four hours of extra sleep. The storm had kept both her and Tenten awake far later into the night than they wanted, and the power coming back on had wakened them again around four in the morning. Thankfully both women's cell phones were charged so they could use the built-in alarms to wake themselves.
She met Tenten in the kitchen, where her soon-to-be-cousin-in-law was just finishing up a pot of tea. "Here," the brunette murmured, holding out a cup toward Hinata. "Tea. As in, the caffeinated kind."
"Thank you, Tenten." Hinata could stand neither the smell (like skunk) or the taste (like motor oil) of coffee, and Tenten felt the same, so the two women kept several different kinds of teas on hand for all their moods - and times of the day. "What time is our appointment at the hairdresser's?"
Tenten consulted her phone. "Eleven-thirty. We'll all get that done, then grab a quick lunch of sandwiches before heading over to the park." She shot an anxious glance toward the window. "Sakura texted me a few minutes ago to let me know she was headed over there to check out the place and see how wet things are." She set aside her steaming mug of tea, rubbing her arms as she paced around the kitchen. "I'm not sure I want to know."
"It stopped raining around one this morning," Hinata said. "And the wedding isn't until six this evening. Reasonably, things should be dry enough by then. The decorators can hold off on setting everything up until around three or so, which gives the place fourteen hours to dry out."
"But only a few of those include sunlight." Tenten nibbled on her thumb knuckle, her eyes narrow as she stared out the window. "I know I'm just overblowing this whole thing because it's my wedding day, I'm nervous and excited, and I want everything to be perfect. But I can't help it."
"You're not overblowing things," Hinata said, carrying her cup to the toaster. She knew her friend wouldn't want much for breakfast, and to be honest, she didn't either, really. There were too many nerves and too much excitement in the hours to come to eat anything significant.
Tenten's phone rang, and she immediately answered it and lifted it to her ear. "Hello, Sakura? Thank you so much for going over there and checking, and getting back to me so quickly."
Hinata sipped her tea and watched the changing expressions on her friend's face, feeling her heart begin to sink as it went from hope, to disappointment, to despair.
"I - I don't..." Tenten trailed off, took a deep breath, then began again. "Thank you, Sakura. I'll call you back as soon as I know what's going on." She hung up, then cupped her forehead with the hand not holding the phone, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I don't believe it," she whispered.
Hinata ignored the bread's popping out of the toaster and went to stand next to her friend. "It's too wet?" she asked.
"No, that's not it." Tenten pinched the bridge of her nose, then dropped her hand and stared at Hinata with tear-filmed eyes. "During the storm last night, one of the trees close behind the gazebo got struck by lightning. It sheared in half, and fell right on top of the gazebo. It's pretty much crushed, thus unusable. The building booked for the reception is fine, but the scene of the wedding is not."
Hinata hugged her friend tightly, sensing how close to out-of-control Tenten felt. She knew Neji and Tenten had made a back-up plan for an indoor wedding, but it didn't seem fair to make them do it that way when they wanted an outdoor wedding so badly.
A few seconds later, Tenten pulled away from Hinata and headed toward the doorway to their spacious sitting room. "I'm going to call Neji," she said. "At this point, I don't think it much matters one way or the other if he talks to me before the wedding." She vanished.
As soon as her friend was out of sight, Hinata turned her gaze toward her own phone. There was one thing she could do to try to salvage her friend's and cousin's wedding, but she knew it would have repercussions. All she had to do was make sure the backlash landed on her, not them.
Picking up her phone, she dialed a too-familiar number and waited through the ringing for the person on the other end to pick up. When he did, Hinata closed her eyes and said, "Father? It's Hinata. I - I need your help."
The back garden of the Hyuuga estate looked absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. Hinata stood in the upstairs bedroom she used to call her own and looked down at the stone path leading from the back verandah to the large space in the center of the garden where the gazebo stood, nestled in a cocooning circle of rosebushes. Chairs had been set up on the perfectly manicured ground in a half-circle on either side of the place where the path met the clearing, giving the already-arriving guests a perfect view of where the wedding would take place.
The air was heavy with humidity, but weather reports indicated the coming storm would not arrive until after dark. For now, the sun still shone warmly on the garden, illuminating the perfect setting for Neji and Tenten's wedding. It had been no problem for the decorators to take what they'd intended for the park and move it to the Hyuuga estate. Hinata fought against a feeling of resentment that everything looked even better than it would have in the original location.
Wearing a plain white wrapper, Tenten stepped up next to Hinata, her hair styled into an elaborately braided twist atop her head, her nails painted with beautiful shades of carmine and gold. Though she would be wearing an American-style dress for the wedding, she'd chosen a Mandarin dress for the reception and had had her nails painted to match. "Everything is so beautiful," she told Hinata softly. "Thank you so much for calling and arranging everything with your father."
Hinata smiled down at the spectacle below, hearing everything Tenten didn't say. She knew Hiashi had banned her fiancé from the Hyuuga premises, and for Hinata to have arranged for the wedding to be in the garden meant things neither woman wanted to discuss - at least not right before such a happy event.
Ever since arriving, Hinata had tried to avoid Neji. Being closeted with Tenten and her other attendants in her old room helped, but she knew her cousin would corner her at some point to talk about the ramifications of her actions. It was not a conversation she anticipated joyfully.
"Father did most of the work arranging for everything to be brought here on such short notice," Hinata said, trying to deflect attention off herself. "He also arranged for a limo to take you and Neji over to the reception. Father's secretary took care of alerting the guests, and now here we are." She held up her hands with as happy a smile she could muster. "It's amazing what connections-" and money "-will accomplish."
Tenten accepted Hinata's words - both audible and not - with a nod. "Still - thanks for everything, Hinata. Neji and I will never forget this. If you ever need anything..."
Smiling again, Hinata hugged her friend and said, "Just consider this a part of my present to you both." She didn't want either one to feel guilty, or like they owed her anything. She'd rather they all moved past this as quickly as possible.
Sakura slipped into the room, a big grin on her face. "You ready to get into your dress, Tenten?"
As the brunette left the window to put on her dress, Hinata took one last look at the lavish display below - expensive in more ways than one - and went to help.
It didn't take long to help Tenten into her gown; then her three attendants hurried into their own. The Mandarin-style dresses, all done in shades of red, black, and gold, looked even more dramatic against the paleness of Tenten's white sheath. After helping Tenten with her veil and picking up their individual bouquets, the four women were ready for the bridal procession.
Only a few moments later, Maito Gai, Tenten's martial arts sensei and the closest thing she'd had to a father since her own family passed away, knocked on the door. All the guests had arrived and the wedding was set to begin.
Hinata went downstairs with Sakura and Ino, butterflies jumping and swirling and diving around in her stomach. She wasn't even the bride, and she felt so nervous she thought she might faint. There were a thousand things running through her mind, admonitions not to trip over her own two feet, or walk too fast, drop her bouquet, forget to smile, and most of all don't faint, don't faint, don't faint!
Wouldn't that be a good way to ruin the wedding - the groom's cousin and bride's maid of honor fainting dead away in the aisle?
Schooling her face against the flinch which wanted to creep out, Hinata stood at the top of the steps leading to the path from the verandah and listened for her musical cue. While she waited, she did a final checklist to make sure everything was all right - her hair, dress, shoes, flowers...
The music changed to Pachelbel's Canon. Ino stifled a nervous giggle before she headed down the aisle, her yellow hair gleaming even brighter in the sunlight. Sakura started counting almost inaudibly under her breath. When she reached ten, she put her shoulders back and followed after.
Hinata began her own count. At the end of it she drew a deep breath and straightened her spine. As she drifted down the path, she could see the top of the gazebo over the bushes. When she entered the clearing she saw the guests, Neji, his best man, and the groomsmen and bridesmaids.
The faces of the guests on either side of her blurred as she passed by, while she tried to keep her focus forward and the smile on her face. She stepped past Shikamaru and Ino, standing opposite each other on either side of the path, then onto the first step, where Lee stood grinning across from Sakura, and then stopped on the last step, where Naruto gave her a wink and a covert thumbs-up.
For a moment, the music stopped, and a hush of anticipation fell over everyone in the clearing. Hinata felt her stomach twist, and she glanced up at Neji, who was focused on the path between the bushes, a look of such longing on his face she wanted to cry.
And then the bridal march began, and Tenten appeared.
The wedding had finally, truly, begun.
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes: I love weddings! I had so much fun writing the lead-up into Neji and Tenten's, even despite all the scary and stressful things that happened. But everything still managed to go off without a hitch! But at a price... But before you all freak out too much, let me just say - I have a plan! And I like to think it's a good one. And I'm a huge fan of happy endings, so take that as you will. I promise it's not too many more chapters before you find out the cause of all the tension between Sasuke and his brother and sister-in-law. Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for the next update!