Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to DUH BOMB, Sachiko Heiwajima, Danish78, RikuDai, mangetsu no hime, Tamani, SasukeXhinataXOC, and Break Blade for all your reviews! Also thanks to everyone who favorited and followed the story!
Author's Note: And then there were two... Been looking forward to sharing this chapter with you all, I hope you enjoy it!
*~Chapter XLIII~*
~Renewed~
A headache needled behind Hinata's eyes, but she refused to give in. As she and Hanabi rushed about the kitchen, getting everything ready, she kept one ear tuned toward the front door. The knocks would soon start, and she hoped to have everything mostly ready by the time that happened.
Neji had come home from the hospital the week before, and was now feeling well enough for his cousins to throw him a "get well soon" party at their condo. The table was set for six, since Hinata had invited Sasuke and Hanabi, Konohamaru. The party had another purpose as well; it was a farewell for Hanabi and Konohamaru, who would be leaving for the East Coast and college in just a few days.
As Hinata opened the oven door to check the Dutch apple pie baking there, she thought back to her recent encounters with Sasuke. He'd already sent his newest book to Jiraiya, who had loved it and even now was setting things in motion to get it ready to hit bookshelves in mid-December. Hinata expected to see more of Sasuke after he got the book ready, but to her surprise, she saw less of him. They'd talked on the phone a few times, but he always seemed distracted, nervous, distant.
Was he regretting asking her to marry him? Hinata's eyes drifted to her promise ring, which gleamed burning red in the sunlight coming through the kitchen window. She'd thought about asking him, but had always chickened out before the words passed her lips.
On the other hand, Sasuke sounded almost enthusiastic when Hinata called to invite him to the joint party at her and Hanabi's condo. There had been a definite smile in his voice when he said he'd come, and he even volunteered to bring the fresh spinach salad she'd enjoyed so much during the dinner when he'd asked her to go with him to New York.
Hanabi slid a glance in Hinata's direction from her spot at the sink, where she washed fresh veggies for the platter they were putting together as a centerpiece for the table. "What's eating you, sis?" she asked. "You've been jumpy all day. The party's going to go fine, you know. It's really not even that much of a big deal - it's more just a family gathering than anything else."
"That's not what's bothering me," Hinata said honestly. Everything had gone smoothly when the same six people had gathered at Neji and Tenten's, so she knew everyone would get along well this time, too. At Hanabi's doubtful look, Hinata insisted, "Honest! It's really not."
"Then what is? You've been creeping around like a ghost for the past week and a half, looking worried and mopey and like someone shot your dog. What is going on?" Hanabi put down her knife and propped her fists on her hips. "I can't go off to college and leave you like this, big sis. I'm too worried about you. I-"
"Sasuke asked me to marry him." The words tumbled out of her mouth without permission. Hinata promptly slapped her hand over her mouth in mortification, feeling her cheeks flush hotly. Oh, why did I have to blurt that out? What if Sasuke's changed his mind?
Hanabi's face lit up like Konoha's town square at Christmastime. "Really?!" She squealed and bounced across the kitchen, snatching up her sister's left hand to look for the ring. When she saw Hinata's promise ring still adorning her finger, she looked up with puzzled eyes. "Where's the engagement ring?"
"That's just it." Hinata slumped back against the fridge and bowed her head, pulling her hand out of Hanabi's. "Sasuke kind of proposed on the spur of the moment, the same day Neji woke up. But he hasn't said anything since then, and he hasn't given me the ring, and-" She felt her lower lip quiver slightly, but she drew in a deep breath and forged onwards bravely. "And now I'm afraid he's changed his mind. What-" she took a deep, shaky breath "-what if he was only caught up in the glamorousness of the moment in New York, and then the whole, intense, life-is-so-short situation with Neji on top of that, and is now finding he just got - got carried away? What if he's come to his senses and realized he really doesn't love me?"
Hanabi regarded her for a long moment, her fists on her hips. "Hyuuga Hinata," she said firmly, "don't you dare go back into your insecure mouse mode. If I'm sure of anything, I'm sure Sasuke loves you and hasn't changed his mind about wanting to marry you. He's probably trying to come up with some extra-romantic way to give you your ring since, like you said, his proposal was kind of impromptu."
Though she wanted to, Hinata couldn't muster a smile for Hanabi's reaction. "That's probably it," she said. The comment was more an effort to soothe her sister than give herself any hope (she'd already been down that road countless times and had run out of energy long ago). "He has been busy recently. So have I, for that matter. We haven't had time to talk that much, let alone see each other."
"There," Hanabi said with a satisfied nod. "He's probably just waiting to give you the ring until he can come up with something really special, like you deserve. Not to knock Sasuke's proposal or anything, but Konohamaru's was far more romantic." Her eyes bulged suddenly, and she slapped her hand over her mouth with a horrified look.
Jarred out of her miserable contemplation, Hinata felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Konohamaru proposed?" she asked. This time it was her turn to grab Hanabi's hand and look for a ring, then be surprised when she encountered a bare finger.
Pulling her hand back, Hanabi sighed through her fingers. "I didn't mean to say that," she muttered. "We were going to wait until the dinner. Promise me you won't let it slip?"
Shoving aside her own unhappiness, Hinata smiled widely and pulled Hanabi into a hug. "I'll try," she hedged. "But seriously, when did this happen? And where is your ring?"
Snagging the silver chain around her neck, Hanabi tugged on it until a ring slipped free from beneath her blouse. "He proposed three days ago," she admitted. "He was going to wait, but then the whole thing happened with Neji, and..." She trailed off and bit her lip.
"Life is uncertain," Hinata said, reading the words on her sister's face. "And he wants you both to live it to the fullest." It was a thought she'd had herself, and she wasn't surprised Konohamaru had thought of it, too.
"Exactly." Hanabi let out a long breath and pulled her necklace off, dangling it in front of her sister so Hinata could see the pretty pearl ring, different from the usual but certainly well-suited to Hanabi. "We're planning the wedding next summer, during break, so we can come home to get married. Then we'll find an apartment or something close to our colleges so we can finish up our educations."
Part of Hinata wanted to point out how young Hanabi and Konohamaru were, but she just couldn't. From the moment she'd first seen them together, she knew the two were right for each other, and anything could happen. They still intended to pursue their educations, which would have been her only protest, so Hinata smiled widely and drew Hanabi into another excited hug. "I am so happy for you, little sister," she said honestly.
"Thanks, Hinata." After pulling free, Hanabi slid the chain back over her head and tucked her ring safely under her orchid top. "I always figured you'd be long married by the time I got engaged," she said as she went back to the sink. "But I am glad to hear you got engaged before me, as it should be."
Considering Hinata had given serious consideration to becoming an old maid, she didn't figure she should say anything on the subject. And then there was the fact the status of her engagement was in question, since Sasuke hadn't really said anything more about it, let alone given her the ring. It didn't exactly make a promising scenario.
Hinata had just pulled the pie from the oven when the first knock sounded on the door. She hurried to set the pie on the cooling rack she'd placed on the counter, but Hanabi dropped the last handful of baby carrots onto the platter and called, "I'll get it!" even as she breezed out of the kitchen.
A few moments later she came back, Neji and Tenten right behind her. The former settled on a chair with a mostly-concealed flinch of pain, and the latter hurried to help her cousins-in-law get things ready for the forthcoming meal. Two more consecutive knocks on the door, only a few minutes apart, heralded Konohamaru's and Sasuke's arrivals.
Hinata felt her mouth go dry at the sight of Sasuke when she opened the door to him. He wore the khaki cargos she'd grown used to seeing him in and a plain black t-shirt, the wings of his equally black hair framing his face - even more handsome than she remembered. Hinata opened her mouth to say something - anything! - but couldn't seem to get her throat to work.
"You look beautiful." Sasuke spoke without preamble, and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead, hand settling comfortably on her shoulder as he did so. "It's so good to see you again. I've missed you."
Suddenly she felt like her own gauchos and dark purple tunic top were fitting far too tightly, stifling her. "I, ah - thank you," she squeaked. Then, remembering her manners, she stepped abruptly back from beneath his hand and made a nervous gesture with her left hand. "Please, come in."
Sasuke stepped past her into the entry hall, and she closed the door behind him as he slipped off his shoes. "Here," he said, handing over a bowl full of the baby spinach salad he'd promised to bring, which he'd been holding, previously unnoticed, in his free hand. "It smells great in here."
"Thank you." Hinata trailed him to the dining room and set the salad bowl in place on the table as Sasuke reached into one of the many pockets of his pants and produced the accompanying bottle of dressing.
"I can see from the parking lot I'm the last one here." Sasuke tucked his hands in his pockets and watched as Hinata nervously fussed over the place settings, tweaking a knife straight here, or giving a glass a slight turn there. "I'm sorry I'm late."
"You're not late," Hinata protested. It had been, after all, three minutes until four when he knocked on the door. He wasn't as early as everyone else, granted, but neither was he late.
"Jiraiya called as I was going out the door." Sasuke blew out a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "He's expediting the process of everything to get the new book published. I start working on the galleys for Darkness Descending early next week."
"So soon?" The question escaped Hinata's lips before the full scope of what Sasuke had just said sank in. "Oh! You found a title!" Snapping straight from where she'd been leaning over Hanabi's place setting to straighten one of the trivets on the table, she clapped her hands in excitement. "That's great!"
Sasuke shrugged, looking a little embarrassed at her enthusiasm. "It just came to me the other night as I was falling asleep. I texted it to Jiraiya, and he agreed the title was perfect. It's the longest I've ever gone without titling one of my projects, and I have to admit, I was getting worried about coming up with one at all, let alone on time."
Hanabi breezed into the room just then, carrying the vegetable tray she'd been busy assembling. "Time to eat!" she declared. "Come on, you two, stop being lazy. Come help me carry things!"
Hinata shot an apologetic glance at Sasuke, who shrugged and smiled. Then they followed Hanabi into the kitchen, his hand briefly, warmly, intimately brushing hers right before they came into view of the others.
Blinking, Hinata turned to look at him as she wondered, Does that mean you still love me? Still want to marry me?
She took the bowl of sesame seed corn Tenten handed her and followed Sasuke back into the dining room. Looking at his broad back, she wondered for the hundredth time, If you do, then where's my ring?
The ring was burning a hole through his pocket and into his skin. If Sasuke didn't find a time to give it to Hinata soon, he was going to have a permanent imprint on his leg.
Really, he thought as he carried a platter into the dining room, it was his own fault. He'd been the one who decided to wait for "that special time" to give Hinata her engagement ring. But then things had happened, and they hadn't even really had time to talk on the phone, let alone see each other face to face.
Hanabi would be leaving soon for college, and Sasuke knew Hinata would want to show her sister the ring. Since galleys were starting for his newest book, there likely wouldn't be another time to give it to her before her sister left.
It was now or never. But with all these people and Hinata hosting the event, would Sasuke have a chance to spirit her away to give her the ring in private? He didn't want to do it in front of everyone else - it just didn't seem right. It would be like he was showing off or something, and he didn't mean it that way.
Konohamaru came in right behind Sasuke carrying a big bowl of hot rolls. Then came Hanabi, Tenten, and Hinata, carrying the meat platter, a pitcher of lemonade, and a tray of ice-filled glasses respectively. Neji trailed behind, looking disgruntled that the only thing he'd been allowed to carry was a stack of napkins.
Sasuke thought the man looked remarkably good, considering he was still recovering from two gunshot wounds and surgery, besides. Only a hint of tightness around his eyes and the corners of his mouth indicated he was in any pain at all.
Everyone sorted themselves out around the table, seating themselves next to their respective partners. Sasuke saw a flash of Hinata's garnet promise ring out of the corner of his eye. It made him feel even worse, knowing she was anticipating getting her engagement ring, and he hadn't given it to her yet.
Surely there would be a point somewhere during the day where he could give it to her in private.
After the serving dishes had been passed around and people started to eat, their conversation settled on the New York trip. Neji and Tenten, especially, hadn't had a chance to hear many stories, and eventually Sasuke was able to relax as he and Hinata shared fun details about the trip.
"I've got a ton of pictures," Hinata added after taking a sip of her drink. "I've organized them into a slideshow, so I'll show them all to you after we eat." She smiled excitedly, and Sasuke was relieved to see a spark of true excitement in her pale eyes. "There were just so many things to see, so I only photographed about half the things I wanted to, but I'm definitely planning to go back in the future, so I'll get more then."
Hinata's use of the singular I, instead of the plural we to indicate Sasuke, too, struck his heart like a spear. Perhaps she didn't mean anything by it, and he was blowing it all out of proportion, but he knew in that moment he'd unintentionally hurt her by keeping her engagement ring to himself all this time.
He gripped the edge of his chair with his left hand to prevent himself from grabbing her right then and there and dragging her out of the room for some privacy. Tenten was giving him weird looks already, and Sasuke knew his face must be giving away at least some of his struggle. He attempted to smooth out his expression, but doubted the effectiveness of his efforts.
"Next time I'm in New York," Hinata was saying when Sasuke tuned back in to the conversation, "I want to go to the Museum of Natural History. I got to go to the Field Museum in Chicago when Father went there for his business trip, but the one in New York is even bigger! I've heard so many good things about it, so I want to go and see it for myself." She smiled and sighed dreamily. "I'm just glad we got to go to the top of the Empire State Building this time. I've wanted to do that forever, and it was even more amazing than I'd dreamed." Hinata cut her eyes sideways and smiled at Sasuke, her face alight with the memories of their visit. Thanakfully the good memories seemed have stuck with her, and the bad ones had dimmed.
As the last few bites of the meal were being consumed, Konohamaru and Hanabi exchanged a significant look. "Before we leave the table," the former began with a nervous smile, "Hanabi and I have an announcement to make."
The ring in Sasuke's pocket seemed to burn a little hotter, and he felt his stomach churn anxiously.
Reaching under the neckline of her top, Hanabi pulled out a ring dangling on a silver chain. After pulling it over her head, she held it up so the light reflected off the pretty pearl.
"We're engaged," Konohamaru said with a wide grin.
"We're planning to get married next summer, during break from college," Hanabi added. She took the ring off the chain and allowed her fiancé to slide it home onto her left ring finger. "While we're there for the fall and winter semesters, we'll both take rooms on our respective campuses, then look around for an apartment to get for the rest of our schooling."
Clearly, they'd been planning this for a while. At first he'd thought Konohamaru and Hanabi were too young to think about marriage, but their plan made it clear they both had good, responsible heads on their shoulders. The fact they'd talked things over and come up with such a solid plan indicated they were definitely old enough and responsible enough to make it work.
While Tenten and Hinata exclaimed over the ring, Neji and Sasuke congratulated the groom. Konohamaru grinned widely and rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed at the attention but excited by its cause.
As Sasuke and Neji were talking to Konohamaru, the women managed to pick up dishes and escape into the kitchen, still excitedly talking about flowers, and catering, and guest lists, and a million other things having to do with weddings. Sasuke stared after Hinata, frustrated that he'd missed his chance to waylay his own fiancée. But there would be others, hopefully...
The women reappeared to get some more dishes, which gave Sasuke the opening he wanted. Tenten took her husband's uninjured arm and guided him, protesting, into the living room. Konohamaru winked at Hanabi and then followed, undoubtedly to help keep Neji occupied. Sasuke wavered, feeling torn in two directions.
Hanabi picked up the mostly-empty vegetable tray and headed for the kitchen just as Konohamaru, Neji, and Tenten vanished into the sitting room, leaving Sasuke and Hinata by themselves in the dining room. Perfect!
Reaching out, Sasuke snagged Hinata's hand as she reached for the pitcher of lemonade. She gasped as he pulled her after him into the hall, then toward the front door. "Sasuke!" she hissed under her breath, casting a glance over her shoulder. "What are you doing?"
Opening the front door, Sasuke pulled her out onto the landing and shut the wooden barrier firmly behind him. Now that they were alone (he looked over the railing, just to make sure, and was relieved to see no one hanging around), he reached into his pocket and pulled out Hinata's engagement ring. "I'm giving you this," he said. "I should have done it before now, and I'm sorry I haven't. But I've been looking for a chance all day to give it to you, and I finally decided to make one myself since another one didn't present itself."
Hinata blinked up at him, looking startled by his admittedly jumbled explanation. Then she looked at her ring, and her entire expression shifted from confusion to delight. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" She cupped his hand between hers before he had a chance to get it on her finger. "Sasuke, this is incredible."
The half-carat round brilliant cut red diamond solitaire in the center of the ring caught the sunlight and flashed, sending crimson sparks dancing everywhere. The white diamonds marching down the shoulders, forming an additional fourth of a carat, gleamed like small round chips of ice. The moment he'd seen it, he'd been able to picture it on Hinata's hand. He'd intended to keep it longer and propose later, perhaps in the spring, but he was glad he hadn't waited. Now felt right.
"I'm glad you like it." Sasuke gently extricated his hands, then captured her left one and slid the ring home on the base of her left ring finger, after removing the promise ring. "As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the right one for you."
"The colors - they're from your clan crest," Hinata said, smiling down at the ring. "It is absolutely perfect." She turned her hand, watching the ring flash and spark as it played with the sunlight. "Beautiful."
Yes, you are. Clearing his throat, Sasuke mirrored her earlier position by taking her left hand in both of his. "I know we got off to a rough start, but I think I've known for a while that you're the one for me. Our journey hasn't necessarily been easy, but I wouldn't trade a single minute of it for anything."
A wry smile kicked up the corner of Hinata's shapely mouth. "Not even when I was such a snob and called your books a 'sorry excuse for literature'?"
Allowing a teasing smile to curl his own lips, Sasuke rolled his eyes with mock thoughtfulness and said, "Well, maybe that."
She chuckled self-consciously. "I was never so glad to be proven wrong," she said softly. "You know that, right?"
Looking down into Hinata's earnest face, her beautiful eyes, and her breathtaking smile, Sasuke knew that and so, so much more. He truly looked forward to sharing the rest of his life with this woman, no matter how long or short a time they were given. "I love you." Swooping down, he kissed her, tasting her response as she met him halfway.
As soon as he finished the galleys of his new book, he had a wedding to plan.
He could hardly wait.
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes: Only two more chapters after this one, including the epilogue. Gah, I can't believe it's almost over! This is one of my longest stories to date, and I had such a good time writing it, and sharing it with all of you. But fortunately this isn't the end yet! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you again for next week's update!
Q & A: I've had a few people ask me about what my next project will be, since I usually just jump straight into it after I finish the previous. I am planning on doing that again this time, yes. I'm cutting it a tad close (I'm actually still working on it, since I've been so busy lately), but I'm not planning on letting that delay my posting. I'll give you all a better idea of timeline (I might take a week off between the epilogue of this one and the first chapter of the next, depending on what's going on, then keep up with the same schedule of posting one chapter a week on Fridays) when I post the epilogue of Entanglements. As for its subject matter... I don't want to give too much away yet (I'll give bigger clues with the timeline post at the end of this story), so for now I'll just say it's in the same universe as Entanglements. Other than that, sorry, you'll just have to wait until the big reveal at the end of the epilogue! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you all again next week!