family affair

twenty-four:

doomed from the start

The car rocked unsteadily down the road. Everyone was nervous, and Sakura was driving, thought she was the only one who had never been to the Estate before.

"What's about that park?" Naruto asked Hinata. On the ride up, he had started asking her questions about places near the Estate. "Like a game," he had said, but she didn't know who for. It wasn't fun. But everyone dealt with their anxieties in their own ways, and it was nice to talk about something that was not what was about to happen.

The low thrums of a bass played through the car speakers, curling around their stiff-scared bodies. Some radio station Sakura had jabbed on. Hinata's hand throbbed when she answered, "I went there as a child before I was k-kidnapped. After, I wasn't allowed."

She was proud of herself for not wincing when she thought of it. At this point, she'd probably gone through worse. She leaned her body onto Sasuke's sure one, feeling his warmth, and wanting to be folded into him. Ten miles to go, she thought, looking out the window at the trees, stores, and houses that raced by. She wanted to tell Sakura to slow down. She was going far too fast.

"Ever been to that izakaya over there?" Naruto pressed his finger to the window. Hinata looked over Sasuke's shoulder, and he rested his chin on the top of her head. They stayed that way for a few long moments.

The Izakaya was on a block with several businesses, but it had its doors shuttered, unlike the others. Hinata scoffed, "No, no. It's closed now. Closed before I was old enough to go, but my mom used to spend almost every night there, towards the end of her life."

It was a negative note to end off on, but Hinata had no responsibilities to their feelings at this point. As a young teenager, Hinata had followed her mother to the izakaya, and watched her sit with Hizashi over drinks. It was disappointing that they would do such things so close to home, but they had gotten wreckless.

"Oh," Naruto said, then hummed a little line of the song that was playing on the radio. Sakura continued forward. Sasuke tightened his arms around her. She could feel his heart beating.

Five miles to go, she thought, tracing the buildings with her eyes until they all fell away and were replaced by acres of land. Parks, grass, and small lakes covered these last few stretches of miles until they would reach the private estate of the Hyugas.

"What about that lake?" Naruto asked between the start and end of a song.

Hinata looked over, Sasuke's chin rubbing her skull gently. Her hand throbbed. "Oh," she said when she laid eyes on the pier where she once sat with Gaara, when they were young and she was not able to leave the boundaries of Konoha without being discovered. "Yes, I w-would meet Gaara there sometimes. We'd go mushroom hunting so that nobody would find us."

The thought of Gaara sent a thrill of anxiety through her, and Sasuke squeezed her, though she wasn't really thinking about Gaara or anxious about him at all. She was worried about Sasuke. She worried about what would happen when her family saw him if they would give him a chance to speak or––

"Calm down," his mouth at her ear. He could feel her breathing. His hands were on her shoulders. "It's going to be okay, Hinata."

"I shouldn't have let you come," she whispered back as if worried Sakura and Naruto would hear––though they surely could. They were trained listeners. And yet, she did not feel bad for her selfishness. She couldn't afford to. "I shouldn't have. This was a mistake. We need to––"

Two miles to go.

More trees. All going quickly passed the window. They would be coming up on cameras soon. A shiver went up her spine. Home never felt so wrong.

"Of course, I'm here with you, Hinata. We're a team," Sasuke said. He enterlaced their fingers.

"Yeah, but––"

Sasuke shook his head. He removed his chin and made her sit up so that they were facing each other. Eye-to-eye, Sasuke said gently, "Be wise, Hinata. I have to be there. If I don't go with you and only show up when it's safe, they won't trust me."

He was stern but honest. His eyes were hard, stubborn, but kind. "I can't have them thinking I'm a coward. I'm not. Besides, you know what my priority is."

"And what is that?" Hinata asked, eyes on him for once, and not on the speeding terrain, the familiar territory, the green in the sky.

"It's you," Sasuke said. They enterlaced fingers with their unwounded hands, holding tight. "It's been you for a while. Let me be there for you, Hinata."

"I l––"

"––guys!" Sakura shouted suddenly, cutting through their quiet speech. They were hit. The car lurched forward and then swerved dangerously off the road, a squealing sound piercing the air.

Behind them, a black SUV appeared and it went forward, without stopping until it plowed into the back of their car. Hinata remembered opening her mouth, widening her eyes, and grabbing onto Sasuke, before everything went dark.

-:-

Hinata woke up panting with severe back pain. She was laying on a bed in a room she recognized. She was in the theatre. She was sweating, terrified, but otherwise unharmed.

She was alone.

Neji was standing at the other side of the room, looking at her. He wore no expression. His clothing was dark, neat––unbothered. He looked unbothered. It sent her into a strange rage, seeing him that way, standing as if nothing was happening.

"Neji!" She yelled as she got up, climbing upwards with all her limps––her knees on top of the mattress, then her feet on the ground, then her arms pushing off from her knees, righting her body, ignoring the pain, bolting off the bed like she has just lost her balance. "Neji!" She said again.

Neji did not move. He just looked at her. He looked disgusted. It felt like a dream.

"Neji––where is he?"

Neji's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Hinata––hush! Haven't you learned your lesson already?"

Hinata jumped back, suddenly frightened. Her calves hit the bedframe and she fell back onto the mattress. Neji's fists tightened at his waist.

"Haven't you learned from your stupid mother?" he continued. "My disgrace of a father? Some things are just not worth it."

Hinata shook her head, "That's not-–that's not what this is about, Neji. You have to listen. Where is––" she looked around frantically as if this room in the Theatre would give her an answer. "Where is Hanabi? Is she gone? Am I too late?"

Neji shook his head. "It is no longer your business, Hinata. You might have had a chance––you might have if you didn't bring him. What the fuck were you thinking?!"

He seemed genuinely disappointed, strangely sad, and distant all the same. "I love you, Hinata, I love you like a sibling, but I already vouched for you once. Why would you come here?"

"Because Hanabi––"

"Enough about Hanabi!" Neji shouted, startling her again. His anger was real. He was wounded. Distressed. "She is doing her duty! What you should have been doing! You know she's too young––"

Hinata shook her head. This was going nowhere. She needed to be in control of this situation. She felt hysterical, she could not stop thinking about Sasuke, Hanabi, Sasuke, Hanabi and yet, Neji was here. Not listening to her. What could she do to get him to listen? What could she say to assure Hanabi and Sasuke's safety? Her heart thundered against her ribs.

Quickly, she unwrapped her bandaged hand. It was felt, bulging, and swollen where the missing digit used to be. She thrust it towards Neji, whose horror was so severe that he stumbled back, repulsed.

"I have taken the knife to myself to prove my loyalty to this family. I have reason to believe that we––and more importantly––Hanabi are in danger from forces bigger than us. You need to let me speak to Father as soon as possible. You may outrank me, Neji, but you are not his child."

Neji stared at her. Stared at her hand. Looked into her face.

"Take me to him."

-:-

He dreamed of Mikoto brushing his bangs from his eyes. They sat at the outdoor dining table. She was shucking peas. His father was teaching him how to scratch yen. Sun streamed through the trees. It was quickly becoming night.

"Your turn, son," Fugaku said. He was handing Sasuke a knife.

Sasuke raised his right hand to grab it, and a bleeding gaudy thing rose to the table, purpled and yellowed around where half of his pinky should be. Mikoto jumped back from the horror, and Fugaku frowned.

"Ah," Fugaku said. "You've learned what loyalty is."

"My boy, you're so young," Mikoto said. She was crying. She brushed his bangs once more. "We love you so much."

"Yes," Fugaku agreed. He put the knife down on the table and raised his hand. He put his pointed finger on Sasuke's forehead––rested it there for a while, and then: "Now wake up."

Sasuke woke up violently, vomiting blood. A kick hit him in the stomach. He doubled over, body falling out a chair he hadn't known he was sitting in. He landed on his side, gasping for hair. He convulsed in pain. His head hurt––his entire body ached with something severe.

"Get up," a Hyuga he had never seen before was growling. "You're some sick fuck, showing up here. Entitled pig. You must be one of those freaky masochists, showing up here. Your death won't be an easy one, Uchihah bastard."

Sasuke gasped for breath, clawing at the ground through his fingertips. He could barely concentrate. In flashes, he thought of Hinata: how her hair caught light, the curious look on her face before she burst into laughter, the dimples that appeared on her cheeks when she was experiencing joy. Would he get to see her again? He coughed, his vision was blurry. How long had he been there? How long had this gone on? He climbed onto his feet unsteadily, and then fell back down, his center for balance off.

The Hyuga advanced, holding his arm up as if about to deliver a final, devasting blow––and then the door opened. Light poured in. Hinata came running into the room, pushing the man aside. The man let out a sound of confusion, but Hinata ignored him, charging forward.

Behind her, Hiashi and Neji stood in the doorway, watching. Hinata dropped to her knees and pulled Sasuke's broken body into her lap, his head on her thighs. He stared up at her, eyes foggy. She looked beautiful as big tears rolled off her chin and onto his cheek. So beautiful.

He felt her pull his arm up, and she unwrapped the bandage from around his hand. Proudly––hurriedly––she extended his hand, showing the missing finger, pushing it towards them as if saying look! look! It's here! look!

Sasuke hoped it would be enough. It had to be enough.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of her lap, how good her body felt, how nice it was to be at her side.

He had been doomed from the start.

an. a short chapter that packs a punch. only a few chapters left, my lovelies.

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