Dreamcatcher

By Airyo

This Lonely Fortress - 1

Hinata walked down the hall, lost in thought.

She had difficulty wrapping her mind about what had occurred. Her body throbbed. Particularly her nose. After running into three doors/walls over the span of a few hours, Tsuru had raised one no-nonsense eyebrow and sent Hinata to bed. Everyone else thought it was a reaction to another long-running nightmare that impaired her ability to avoid hard objects. But this time, it was the exact opposite. It was the sweetest dream, the most improbable fantasy that Hinata had never allowed herself to have until...

Until after Itachi had…

after he had…

Her mind blanked as all the blood rushed to her face.

"Careful!"

Hinata caught herself just in time to spare her nose of Door Number 4. She placed a hand on the frame, and laid the other on her chest to calm her heartbeat. When her heart wasn't about to jump out of her throat, Hinata turned to face her younger sister.

"Thank you for warning me, Hanabi-sama."

The younger girl studied her with sharp eyes.

"So, was it consensual?"

Hinata's eyes widened. "P-pardon?"

The girl glared and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I saw you," she accused, eyes narrowed. When Hinata tried to look confused about their topic, the younger added the classy description of "Sucking face." She rolled her eyes when Hinata checked for eavesdroppers in panic. "There were no witnesses. Not when this is probably the juiciest piece of news since it was discovered that Ayame was pregnant with Kakashi's son." There was a flash a teeth that could be misconstrued as a smile. Hinata recalled that Hanabi had been the center of that wave of gossip.

"Does anyone else know about us...about us k-k-…" Hinata gestured helplessly for a few moments, gave up, and reverted to tapping her indexes finger together, face flushed an even, perfect tomato-red.

Hanabi smirked. "I'll interpret that as a 'yes, and I enjoyed it too'." Hinata couldn't disagree, but it was difficult to do much of anything. She forced her thoughts away from the actual events and focused on damage control. She needed every distraction she could find.

"But did anyone else know?" she pressed. Hanabi shook her head.

"Of course not. It wouldn't be juicy gossip if everyone actually knew the truth."

Hinata had to smile in relief. "Thank you for not telling anyone," she whispered. Her little sister scoffed, but the faint tinge of pink on her cheeks belied her pleasure.

"Don't take me for granted. Next time, I suggest, find a less public setting. I don't need to see that again and it is undignified for a Hyuuga."

"Of course, Hanabi-sama," Hinata said, suppressing a chuckle. "I'll be more careful."

"But even if there are no witnesses, you are Hyuuga," Hanabi said, frowning with careful determination. "If he forgets, he will need to be reminded."

"Reminded?" This time Hinata was truly lost. Surely, Hanabi was not implying that she would be attempting to beat up Itachi he did something wrong. Despite Itachi's steady temper, Hinata doubted being reminded of anything by a snooty teenage girl would go over well.

"Just…" Hanabi clenched her fists. "No ramen. Okay? The restaurant must be worthy and up to Hyuuga standards. Plus, since our clans are not allied yet, diminishing the Uchiha coffers is a good thing."

Hinata tried not to think too hard about what Hanabi was implying. While her sister's support made her unspeakably happy, she wished said support wasn't so...presumptuous of certain events involving a certain Uchiha heir.

"Okay…" Hinata agreed, hoping it was some moot promise that would never be relevant (even if she wanted it to be). This whole conversation was making her lose her tremulous hold of reality (and sanity). She made the vague motions of politely excusing herself.

"Just one more thing," Hanabi added with a stern expression. It did nothing to hide the wicked glint that appeared in her pale eyes. "Tell me, did he use tongue?"

Hinata didn't have time to shake her head before she blushed so hard she fainted.

AN: Updates are going to slow down a little next week, but there will still be updates. :D