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

Special Thanks: goes out to rao hyuga 18, DarkAnonymous324, Glitterthorn, Saphira113, and Celtic-Memories for all your amazing, thoughtful reviews, and also to everyone who's put this story on your alert and favorite lists!

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the late update! This chapter (and Hiashi in particular) were both particularly ... reticent, and it took us a while to get them to cooperate again. Thank you all so, so much for your patience, and for reading this story, and I hope this update was worth the wait!

*~Chapter XII~*

~Heat~

Hinata took a long final look at herself in the mirror - lavender cropped leggings; short full skirt, its triple flounce alternating white-lavender-white; lavender and white hoodie over a lavender top with a softly draped neckline - and bit her lip.

Ino's reflection suddenly appeared beside hers, making her jump. "Don't even think about wearing something else, Hina," she said firmly.

Tenten's reflection appeared on her other side. "You know, I didn't really pay attention to what you were wearing the day we met. But Ino is absolutely right: That outfit looks like it was made for you. It's adorable! Now then, Ino, what about her hair? Should we just leave it down?"

What kind of hairstyle says "biddable little mouse?" The thought skittered through Hinata's mind, surprising her with its bitterness. As her two friends experimented with her long blue-black locks she squeezed her eyes shut against a sudden strong urge towards tears. She was only dimly aware of Ino and Tenten murmuring suggestions back and forth, of their busy hands gathering, flipping, twisting her hair this way and that. It's only an attack of nerves, she told herself over and over. I keep expecting Father to come in and rescind his permission for me to go into the village. Of course if he knew the reason we're going- She shivered.

"Oh, Hina, I'm sorry, have we been hurting you? You've been an absolute angel, but I think we're finished." Ino's anxious voice and hands on her shoulders made her open her eyes again. She forced a smile.

"N-no, I'm just j-jittery." Hinata let her gaze wander back to the mirror and, "Oh!" she exclaimed as she saw her reflected image. Her hair had been parted in the back, then gathered into two loose, shining tails confined just below her ears by narrow lilac ribbons, flowing over her shoulders and down her chest. "I l-like it! Thank you!"

While Ino beamed with pleasure, Tenten briefly pressed her cold fingers. "It's going to be all right, Hinata," she said softly. "Ino and I will be with you the whole time. This visit to the village will be absolutely safe."

"It's n-not that." Hinata started tapping her index fingers together, not realizing what she was doing until she saw her mirrored self echoing the movement. Drawing a deep breath, she forced herself to stop. For so long she'd yearned to be able to go outside the compound walls, to be free even if just for a little while. She'd gotten her wish, but in such an unexpected way. How could she possibly find words to explain how utterly terrified she felt?

She staggered a little as Ino grabbed her in one of her impetuous hugs. "You absolutely do not have to go through with this, Hinata!" her friend whispered fiercely. "We can just go into Konoha, have a pleasant evening out, and nothing more!"

Oddly enough, Ino's very vehemence steadied Hinata's nerves. She gently pulled free and smiled mistily at the blonde. "Yes, I d-do," she said. "I do have to g-go through with this - f-for Konoha. That's the whole p-point."

Ino looked ready to burst into tears for a moment, but quickly got herself under control. Resolutely putting her shoulders back, she nodded briskly. "All right. I said I would support you in every way possible. It's almost time for Shikamaru to get here, so," she tossed her long yellow ponytail, "let's go knock 'em dead!"

Even with Tenten to guard her, and Ino and Shikamaru as additional escorts, Lord Hiashi had flatly refused Hinata's suggestion that she simply walk to the village. The four young people rode in a horse-drawn litter, which Shikamaru remarked suited him just fine. As he settled himself comfortably beside Ino, he told the girls the exact number of steps it would save him since he'd be walking home after escorting them back to the Hyuuga estate.

"Oh, n-n-no, please, forgive m-me for not thinking of that!" Hinata exclaimed hurriedly, her cheeks growing warm. "I will be glad t-to tell the driver t-to take you home!"

Ino promptly smacked her boyfriend sharply on the arm. "Shikamaru! You promised you would behave youself!" she scolded. Smiling lazily, he looked at Hinata and closed one heavy-lidded brown eye in a wink. She hesitantly smiled back.

As they traversed the market district, Hinata felt like a tourist in her own village. She wanted so badly to jump from the litter so she could absorb through every pore the sights, the sounds, the very essence of Konoha. A hot wave of protectiveness swelled outward from her heart. This was her village, her people, their welfare and safety her entire reason for being. Though part of her still quailed at what she'd agreed to do, she resolved she would not fail in her duty to them - no matter what.

"Here we are!" Ino said brightly as the litter halted in front of Akimichi's. Tenten lithely slipped out first, scanning the area while Shikamaru assisted Hinata and Ino to alight. As they entered the establishment the owner, an extremely large man Hinata instantly thought had to be his restaurant's best advertisement, hastened forward to greet them.

"Ah, Lady Hinata!" he boomed, bowing deeply. "Welcome, welcome, a thousand times welcome, daughter of my old friend Lord Hiashi!"

A soft sighing murmur spread through the patrons, beginning with those nearest the door waiting to be seated and rippling deeper into the establishment. Fabric rustled as everyone within view also bowed, then straightened as Hinata bowed in return. Good manners prohibited open staring, but she still felt herself to be the target of many sidelong curious glances as she followed Akimichi Chouza to the semi-private alcove reserved for them. Calm, calm, calm, she concentrated on the word like a mantra. Just pretend you do this every day and stay calm.

"You're doing great, Hina!" Ino whispered once they'd ordered.

Hinata nodded in acknowledgement while keeping her eyes down. "D-did you s-see if h-he is h-here?" she asked softly, dreading the answer.

"Not yet," Shikamaru replied just as softly. "We decided it would be better if he comes in later."

Thinking, Better for whom? she nodded again as Tenten and Ino both gave her sympathetic looks.

The first course arrived. Hinata forced herself to act as though this was just another meal. In complimenting the presentation and flavors, she managed to get through it, and the second course as well. In the lull before the third, a shadow suddenly fell across the table. Beside her, she sensed Tenten going into a higher state of alertness as Ino and Shikamaru glanced up. Her heart immediately began to pound uncomfortably. Knowing that sliding under the table and throwing up was not an option, she somehow managed to look up as well.

A tall, smartly dressed woman with luxuriantly waving dark hair had stopped next to their table, a bearded man just behind her. They both bowed briefly, the woman saying in a low, rich voice, "Please forgive this intrusion, Lady Hinata. My name is Sarutobi Kurenai. Many years ago your mother was one of my closest friends." She smiled down at Hinata, her warm cinnamon eyes looking misty. "I just wanted to tell you: Seeing you is like seeing my dearest Hiromi again. I hope we will have the opportunity to meet sometime, and remember her together." With another sweet, sad smile she moved on, obviously not expecting Hinata to respond - for which mercy she was profoundly grateful, since she felt perilously close to tears again.

Behind her the man amiably nodded to Hinata before switching his attention to her dinner companions. "Ino," he said. "See you around, Shikamaru."

"Yeah, see you, Asuma." As soon as the couple were out of earshot, he flicked a sharp glance over her head and muttered, "Are you going to be okay, Lady Hinata? Because-"

Another shadow fell across the table.

Naruto roamed restlessly around the house. He paused briefly in the kitchen, trying to decide if he felt like eating anything; decided against it and wandered into the family room again; stopped to gaze out the big windows toward the center of Konoha. Shikamaru, Ino, Lady Hinata and her bodyguard should be getting to Akimichi's right about now. . .

Part of him - a really big part, if he were perfectly honest - wished he could be there, too. But it was September third, and this was where he needed to be.

For about the twentieth time that day his feet carried him over to a corner niche filled with framed photographs chronicling family events. He reached out to trace a sad finger down the frame of his parents' wedding portrait. Fifteen years ago today, not long before his fourth birthday, they'd been brutally murdered. To this day no one knew precisely why; though there was speculation that, since they'd been reporters for the Konoha Daily when Old Man Sarutobi was in charge, it might have had something to do with their jobs. It remained a complete mystery, their killer or killers unknown.

Naruto heard heavy steps descend the staircase, then scuff tiredly across the family room floor. A moment later, his grandfather's arm landed on his shoulders.

"Is she asleep?" he asked softly without looking around.

"Finally." Jiraiya released his breath in a long sigh. "Fifteen years now, and still she can't forgive herself."

Though Naruto had a few hazy, confused memories of the horrible night his parents died, Jiraiya had told him about them when he got old enough to ask why it was always his grandfather who patched him up when he hurt himself, when his grandmother was an actual Healer. "She fought so hard to save them," he'd said, his body sagging with grief, his big hands gentle as he cleaned and bandaged Naruto's scraped knees. "Just as she would get one almost stabilized, the other would go into cardiac arrest and need her attention - she couldn't choose between them, you see - but they'd both already lost so much blood. Even your grandmother's skill couldn't repair all the damage. The sight of blood takes her back to that time, and she can't bear it. It's also why she drinks too much sake, especially on that day every year. She's desperate to numb the pain."

And so things had gone until Naruto was eight or nine years old; he couldn't remember exactly which. He'd always seemed to be accident-prone, but on this particular occasion he'd outdone himself. Not only had he fallen out of a tree and broken his collarbone; he also managed to gash his calf to the bone on the jagged point of the limb that had broken under his weight. Jiraiya hadn't been home that day. Tsunade had heard his screams and come running, initially freezing when she saw him. He remembered being distantly sorry as his vision started to fade that his grandma would have to feel guilty for his death too. But Tsunade had somehow pulled herself together and saved her grandson's life. Shortly afterward, she had returned to Konoha's hospital and her work. . .

. . .Except for this one day, when she holed up in her and Jiraiya's room and drank herself into a stupor.

"Mom - was really beautiful, wasn't she?" Naruto asked wistfully, looking now at a photo of a very pregnant Kushina standing in front of Minato, laughing over her shoulder at him as he curved his hands over her distended belly.

"Almost as beautiful as your grandmother," Jiraiya agreed, his eyes on a snapshot of himself grinning hugely while hugging a laughing Tsunade from behind. "And you look more and more like your dad every passing day." He patted Naruto's shoulder and pulled him to his side in a brief hug. "Hungry?"

"I guess so."

Neither man said much beyond the necessary as they prepared and ate a light meal. Not until they'd cleaned up after themselves and Naruto started to leave the kitchen did his grandfather abruptly say, "Naruto-" and then break off, looking troubled.

"Yeah, Grandpa?" He turned back inquiringly.

His grandfather stared intently at him from under his thick silver brows. "Naruto," he said again, more slowly, "you know I'm the last descendant of the only Hyuuga-Uchiha union, don't you?"

Naruto's heart suddenly jerked and his breath caught in his throat. "Yeah, I think I've heard you mention it," he said, he hoped casually. "Why?"

"I want you to be careful. Linked as I am to both of Konoha's most powerful clans, I'm particularly sensitive to the present tension between them. Political marriages normally spell trouble, especially when it involves a powerful clan from another village. This alliance between Uchiha and Sabaku-" He shook his silver-maned head.

"You're saying it could cause a war in Konoha: a civil war between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha," Naruto said steadily.

Jiraiya's brows drew together. "More and more like your father every day," he muttered under his breath. "Aye, and your mother too." He raised his voice again. "Listen to me, boy. No need to get offended with me but you're still no more than a cub reporter at the Daily. I know you went to school with Uchiha Sasuke, and you had that interview with his older brother and his bride-to-be. But with things as uncertain as they are, this is not something you want to be dragged into the middle of. Stay clear of it. I'm going to sit with your grandmother again." With a final sharp nod, the older man left Naruto, who soon heard him going back up the stairs.

"Too late, Grandpa." It was the blond's turn to mutter under his breath as he thought of the meeting even now taking place at Akimichi's and of what it was meant to promote. "I'm already in the middle of it."

The expected summons came unexpectedly early the next day.

After a breakfast Hinata barely touched, Tenten persuaded her to practice her shuriken-throwing. The first three throws went so badly astray, she made Hinata look her straight in the eyes before casting the fourth. "If you ever need to use these skills for real, Hina," she said firmly, "it will be in a high-pressure situation where you'll have to be able to control your nerves. As Kakashi taught me, keeping your hand and your eye steady, no matter what is going on around you, is the literal difference between life and death. Learn to control your mind and your emotions, and the rest will follow naturally."

When the brisk knock came on the suite's outer door, Tenten went to answer it, Hinata following as far as the sitting room. Returning a few moments later, she met the heiress's anxious eyes and said, "Lord Hiashi commands you to present yourself in his office immediately, even if, um, still in your nightclothes."

Sympathetically she watched Hinata clasp her hands together, drawing and releasing three deep breaths before saying, "F-fortunately I am n-not." She gave Tenten a shaky smile. "S-so, you were s-saying something about l-learning to c-control my n-nerves in high-pressure s-situations? D-does this qualify?"

They walked from the main house to the Tower in silence, Tenten's stomach trying to knot up in apprehension on Hinata's behalf. As on her only other visit, once they'd passed the guards at the outer door Lord Hiashi's assistant immediately and silently ushered them into the cold whiteness of the inner office. Time looped back to the day she'd first met Hinata and dizzily forward again as she dropped to her knees slightly behind and to one side of Hinata and echoed the other girl's bow. Straightening she saw a brown-haired, kindfaced man kneeling at right angles to the desk, midway between their position and the lefthand end of it. Her eyes sought further, to where her brother knelt watchfully.

The oppressive silence stretched out as before. "Hinata," the Hyuuga lord finally said, the icy snap in his voice even more pronounced, "it has come to my attention that Uchiha Sasuke visited your table at Akimichi's last night. Is this true?"

Unease raked tiny claws along Tenten's nerves. Remember, she told herself, he's obsessively paranoid, seeing threats everywhere and in everything. But Hinata has had to deal with him for years. She won't be tripped up so easily.

And indeed, Hinata serenely replied with no discernable hesitation, "Why, yes, F-Father, right after Sarutobi K-Kurenai and her husband p-paused to speak to us on their way out. Lord Sasuke is a f-former schoolmate of Ino and Shikamaru's, and was there to d-dine with another friend from their c-class. They b-both stopped at our t-table just l-long enough t-to exchange greetings and chat f-for a b-bit." Then, to her bodyguard's secret delight, the heiress ventured a small counterattack of her own. With perfect innocence, she inquired, "Should I have openly s-snubbed them, F-Father, by not returning their b-bows?"

Nice touch, Hina, by not differentiating between Lord Sasuke and Kiba, Tenten thought admiringly, and also linking them with the Sarutobi.

Hiashi's brows twitched together as he glared at his daughter. "No," he said abruptly. "It is the most frequented dining establishment in Konoha." Which, as Tenten knew, was precisely the reason Shikamaru had chosen it. "Insulting the Inuzuka in so public a forum would have been inadvisable." He finally indicated the unknown man. "This is Yamato Tenzou, who is here in his official capacity as negotiator. He has been sent by Uchiha Fugaku to suggest a marriage be arranged for his younger son, Sasuke, and you."

Tenten found it hard to breathe, even though she wasn't the focus of that oppressively icy regard. She tried to will silent support to Hinata, who managed to respond with only a natural degree of surprise, "In-d-deed? M-may I ask why h-he has d-done so, F-Father?"

Lord Hiashi's white eyes cut sharply to Yamato, who promptly spoke. "Lord Fugaku's greatest desire is to encourage peace and harmony within Konoha as well as between its two greatest clans. He proposes an alliance of those clans, in the persons of yourself, Lady Hinata, and Lord Sasuke as an excellent way to bring lasting stability to our village."

"Hn." Hiashi slapped a hand sharply on his desktop, giving Hinata no chance to speak. Tenten nearly jumped. "I," he said harshly, "take a different view of the matter. Having blatantly overstepped his bounds in so imprudently arranging a marriage for his elder son with Lady Temari of the Sabaku, he now acts in fear to avoid enduring the justified consequences of his rash action."

"Lord Fugaku deeply regrets this unfortunate and unintended misperception," Yamato countered calmly. "It is precisely to alleviate any tensions inadvertently caused by Lord Itachi and Lady Temari's wedding that he offers his younger son to be the consort of your heir, thereby reinforcing the precedence of Hyuuga over Uchiha."

"Which he does the very day after his younger son just happens to stop at Lady Hinata's table during her first informal visit to the village." Hiashi's tone dripped derision.

"As you observed yourself, Lord Hiashi, Akimichi's is the place to go in Konoha, especially in the evening." Yamato made a deprecating gesture. "The timing might be - unfortunate - but it truly was no more than a coincidence, a brief interaction among school friends. Lord Fugaku engaged my services nearly two weeks ago. Today's appointment was the first opening in your understandably busy schedule."

Hiashi's upper lip curled. "Uchiha Fugaku may consider his offspring to be no more than pawns to further his own ambitions," he said haughtily, "but I do not regard my own so lightly."

Oh, that's rich, coming from you! Tenten practically had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting out that scathing observation, remembering Hinata's tears as she confided her fear of her father's plans to marry her to the lord of Suna. She prudently concentrated on following her own earlier instructions to her mistress on maintaining self-control in stressful situations.

"Lord Fugaku admits he allowed pride to sway him in consenting to the marriage," Yamato said in his imperturbable way. "It is a brilliant match, strengthening the ties between Konoha and Suna. But however great your personal displeasure, the betrothal is binding. It cannot be broken without seriously damaging, or even breaking, those ties."

"Uchiha's overweening pride will be the downfall of him and his clan," Hiashi said grimly. "For all his grandiose talk of peace and harmony, it is indisputably not his place to make decisions that arbitrarily affect the well-being and stability of this village. I would be well within my rights as the leader of Konoha to have him tried for treason. Much good his 'brilliant' matchmaking will do him without his head."

Tenten's breath caught in horror. She snatched a quick glance at Hinata, knowing she also had to be thinking about Neji's father. How much more, she wondered, could her sensitive nature and overstrung nerves bear?

Yamato's expression turned extremely grave. "I earnestly hope you are not serious about pursuing such a course, Lord Hiashi. There is no question Lord Fugaku acted pridefully, even unwisely in this matter - he admits it himself - but to the ultimate benefit of Konoha after all. Initiating an accusation of treason against him would surely throw the village into turmoil, causing dissension and strife, and casting you, its leader, in an unfavorable light." He paused to let his words sink in. Hiashi's glare intensified to the point Tenten expected the negotiator to transform into solid ice. Apparently unmoved, though, he went on, "You are, of course, within your rights to reject Lord Fugaku's offer to restore balance to the situation by a union between your clans. However for the good of Konoha I urge you to refrain from compounding his error by also acting in unwise haste."

Both law and tradition proclaimed negotiators to be sacrosanct while in the performance of their duties, yet for a dreadful moment Tenten feared Lord Hiashi was hovering on the verge of striking Yamato down; or, even worse, ordering Kakashi to do so. The Hyuuga lord's nostrils flared once, twice, a third time. In a voice all the more terrifying for its frozen control he finally said, "Are you actually suggesting the best solution for this situation is that I should emulate Uchiha Fugaku's insanity by throwing Lady Hinata into marriage with a boy she does not know?"

If Yamato sensed how close he'd come to death, he gave no outward sign of it. "No, my lord. As a compromise I do suggest a time of reflection; a cooling off period to give Lady Hinata and Lord Sasuke opportunity to become acquainted with each other. Even if no marriage ultimately results, Konoha - and her allies as well - still will be reassured that her two greatest noble clans will always act together in the village's best interests."

In the crackling silence that followed Hinata surprised everyone in the room by suddenly bowing low. "M-may I have your p-permission t-to respond, F-Father?" she said softly.

From the look on Lord Hiashi's face, Tenten thought sourly, you'd think his desk had just spoken. "You may," he said curtly.

"Th-thank you." Hinata sat back on her heels again and turned slightly toward Yamato. "As h-heiress of my c-clan, I learned from m-my honored father that we Hyuuga have n-no greater responsibility and p-privilege than serving Konoha. Out of the d-deep sense of d-duty I feel to my p-people, I would n-not be - averse - to b-becoming acquainted with L-Lord S-Sasuke."

Even as Lord Hiashi's expression turned thunderstruck, Yamato bowed very deeply to Hinata. "I applaud your wisdom in heeding Lord Hiashi's teachings, Lady Hinata," he said warmly. "I would expect no less from the noble daughter of a noble house."

Tenten saw a vein throbbing on either side of Hiashi's neck as well as over both temples. For a few seconds she entertained the uncharitable wish that he would just topple over from a stroke. However he managed to say with a creditable appearance of calm, "My daughter has been strictly reared in our traditions and is an ornament to our house. I am sure the Uchiha boy and his father can have no objections to Lady Hinata's bodyguard being present at all times?"

"None whatsoever, Lord Hiashi. All propriety will be observed." Yamato bowed to the village leader. "Konoha is truly fortunate among all other villages in its leadership."

Hiashi's blazingly white eyes flicked over Tenten and Hinata. "You will be informed of the details of your first meeting later. You are dismissed."

Tenten wanted to grab her friend and flee as fast as possible, but followed Hinata's demure and decorous example. As they stood to leave she allowed her eyes to drift in her brother's direction. To her equal surprise and disconcertment she found Kakashi steadily regarding her with that look in his dark eye: the one he always used to tell her he so knew she was up to something.

What am I going to tell him? she wondered in one part of her mind even as, once back in Hinata's suite, she dealt with her inevitable nervous collapse. He is of Konoha. If I tell him the truth, will he feel compelled by honor and duty to tell Lord Hiashi what we're doing? Tenten wanted to break down herself, having never had cause since he'd adopted her to doubt that he would always act for her protection and welfare. Because if he does- She stared straight into the dismal, dreadful possibility. If he does-

-We're all dead.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: So, to reiterate from the author's note above: I'm so sorry for the late update! This chapter (and Hiashi in particular) were both particularly ... reticent, and it took us a while to get them to cooperate again. Thank you again for your patience, I hope this update was worth the wait, and I'll see you next Wednesday!