"Are you going to tell them?" Hinata wondered as the car stopped in front of the restaurant.
Sasuke's hands fell off the steering wheel as he parked. "Haven't decided yet."
Hinata gave him a look. "I feel like you should before we go in, so I can at least have some clue how to act."
"Look, if I tell them I knew, they will all act like this was a big non-issue." Sasuke waved his hand at her. "And I'm a little pissed that they roped you into this."
Hinata puffed out a breath, looking away. "Yes, I know, but I am not part of the family. I understand why keeping me out of the loop was necessary."
"Stop letting dad do this to you." Sasuke suddenly barked.
Hinata whipped her head back at him, surprised and irritated by his outburst. She didn't want to roll over and take it either, but what she said was true. This was not her family, therefore, not her problem to bear. As much as she could be upset, it wasn't her place. Itachi, while misguided, thought he was protecting his brother. She understood, but she certainly wasn't happy about it. "I don't understand why you are more upset with them lying to me for the last few months than attempting to lie to you for years."
"I am used to this. I know my father is a bastard. I know my brother is self-destructive. They are my family. I deal with it by being an apathetic asshole and not doing what dad wants unless it benefits me. They know that about me. You do not deserve to be wrapped up in that bullshit." Sasuke put his hands back on the steering wheels to ground himself and attempt to keep his voice from raising higher. "Dad wants to treat you like family, but I don't think that means you should be sucked into this trash. You weren't raised with it. You don't need to learn to deal with it. I don't want you to."
Hinata pierced lips together. They were on the same page, even if they had different approaches. At least they agreed on something. "I guess… but this situation is about you. Not me. They lied to you. I was just a chess piece to keep the lie going. I probably overreacted and…"
"No." Sasuke inputted. "You didn't."
Hinata rolled her eyes, pointing at him. "Stop looking at me as your fiancée for a moment. I am your father's assistant. He should be able to lie right to my face about family matters, and it has no effect on me."
"Then why did it have an effect?" Sasuke looked back at her, knowing the answer. Because Hinata did like him, and she cared about his family, and she was struggling to separate that at this point even if she kept telling everyone else. Sasuke lowered his head to look into her face, softening his face. "Even if we aren't engaged tomorrow, dad will still see you as family. Itachi will still call you for help when he's sick. You're in a little too deep now to hide behind that anymore"
Hinata puffed out her cheeks. Maybe.
"Which is why…" Sasuke grew a smile. "We should let them squirm a little."
"Is that not pulling me into the bullshit?" The stress lifted from her face with his attempt to make her smile.
Sasuke laughed. "Did you just swear?"
"I was quoting you. But your family makes me want to frequently." Hinata countered, feeling her cheeks heat.
"Good, channel that. Let's go." Sasuke opened his car door, rounding to her side while she grimaced at him.
Hinata rubbed the corner of her phone anxiously, as no one chose to speak about the issue while they waited for their last member. Mikoto rattled on about her usually debutant weekly events. While Sasuke and Fugaku actively ignored each other, only answering directly to Mikoto and Hinata, respectively, if spoken to.
She checked her phone again. With no black car bringing Itachi, she had no updates, and something about it was putting a pit in her stomach. The wait for whatever this argument was going to be was making her reluctant even to sip water, let alone wine. Which Mikoto almost directly took offense to, despite what it resulted in last time.
Hinata did not see drinking with her mother-in-law or when she was nervous to be a habit she formed.
Hinata flattened her hands over her phone to keep herself from fidgeting, but only then did it give her a notification. Hinata turned it over. Itachi was calling her. She let out a breath. At least he had the mind to report that he was going to be late. Hinata excused herself for a moment to answer the phone.
She held the phone up to her ear, only for her stomach to knot back up. It wasn't Itachi.
Hinata walked back to the group with her phone still to her ear, snapping her hand in the middle of the table to stop Mikoto's talking. "Itachi-san is being rushed to the hospital."
"What happened?" Fugaku asked, sitting alert.
Hinata held her hand up, so she could hear the other side. "We're on our way." She answered.
Hinata looked up at the concerned faces of his family. "Itachi-san collapsed on his way out of the office. He was holding his stomach. They aren't sure if his kidney or not."
"Why would they call you?" Mikoto demanded, grabbing her coat and purse up.
Hinata let out a breath. "I am the emergency contact on his phone, apparently" She didn't know why either. She was the point of contact on all his paperwork, but why was she the emergency contact on his phone when he was found?
Fugaku grab his things and followed his ex-wife out the door.
"Is he okay?" Sasuke wondered openly.
Hinata felt her heart sink. "I don't know."
Sitting in a hospital waiting room with his parents and Hinata was almost as uncomfortable as sitting around a table with them, except his mother was a lot quieter. Well, now she was. She already threw a tantrum trying to see Itachi, but it hadn't worked. Now all she could do was pout and wait. He was just waiting for the inevitable moment when she started shit up just to make herself feel better.
"Why is she on his paperwork." Mikoto, not so quietly, whispered venomously at Fugaku. There is was.
"Because I needed someone to look after him when I am unavailable," Fugaku answered coldly, not indulging his mother's temper.
"Why am I not on his paperwork? I am his mother." Mikoto spat back.
Fugaku side-eyed her. "You are unreliable."
"Excuse me?" Mikoto barked back, raising her voice.
"You are not, nor ever were you, a reliable mother." Fugaku's eyes glared at her, challenging her. "Even when the boys were young, you would drop them to go on your latest excursion or trip."
Mikoto sputtered like she didn't expect him to say it outright. "How dare you!?"
Fugaku looked away from her, keeping his tight face calm. "I am no better. I put everything into work. I needed someone who could and would put down everything."
Mikoto angrily scoffed. "This attachment you have to a dead woman who never loved you is clouding your judgment."
Sasuke heard enough bickering from his parents, he turned to snap at his mother, but Hinata grabbed his arm tightly, keeping him forward. He glared back at her. She gave him a firm look and a shake of her head. She knew that his mother was insulting hers, right? Sasuke turned his attention back to the fight as Hinata slid her hand down to take his, it was a nice gesture, but it was more to continue to communicate that he shouldn't get involved.
Sasuke was expecting his dad to lose his temper like he usually started to when Hinata's mother was brought up, but Fugaku turned to Mikoto. "Case in point. You're more interested in starting a fight than being concerned about your sons."
Mikoto's angry, pierced lips quivered.
Sasuke felt Hinata's hand slide out of his. He tightened and looked at her with his eyebrow twitching together. He wasn't supposed to get involved, but she was going to? Hinata pulled her hand from his and stood up. "Would you like to get some coffee, ma'am?"
To Sasuke's surprise, his mother shot up, grabbing her purse, taking a moment to glare at his father before snagging Hinata's arm and dragging her away. Wasn't she just pissed that Hinata was Itachi's emergency contact?
His father let out a long breath and deflated as she was out of sight. "Your mother likes to fight when she's stressed out because she thinks if she stops the fight, she'll break down, but I really can't entrain it right now."
Did Hinata know that? Did she just want the fight to stop, or did she know what she was doing? Sasuke looked at his dad. Sometimes he wondered if Hinata knew more about his father than he did.
Hinata set a coffee in front of Mikoto. She angrily dumped sugar in it and stirred. Should it concern her that they took their brewed coffee the same? Black with sugar?
Mikoto sipped the coffee, and her posture faltered. Her perfect eyebrow fell down on her face, showing her distress. "You would think after nearly thirty years he would know better."
"The director needs to keep his blood pressure down." Hinata excused, sipping her own coffee.
Mikoto ignored her excuse. "Itachi always had the worst timing. I went into labor at a Gala I was presenting. Two weeks early, and he came out with a full head of hair." Mikoto sniffed, but her eyes didn't water as she stared at the steam coming out of her cup. This was something Hinata could actually understand in her. Raised to be the perfect daughter, you do not cry when things go wrong. You solve them. If her father put that pressure on her, she couldn't imagine what the public eye could do to harden that lesson. "Sasuke was late, of course." Mikoto painted lips twitched into a sad smile as she thought about it.
"Where is your husband? Should I call him?" Hinata lowered her head to level with her.
Mikoto waved her hand. "No, he's on a trip, don't bother him. He doesn't care much for the boys."
That hit Hinata's heart as Mikoto look out at the cafeteria of the hospital. This woman had tormented her, but these were her kids, and she couldn't even turn to her husband to comfort her right now. But Hinata was here, and there was one thing she could do. "Did they fight a lot when they were little?"
Mikoto let her eyes fall back on her, waiting for a moment before taking the distraction. "The two of them used to drive away nannies by that week, some time of the day." Mikoto looked up with a small smile at the memory. "They were monsters."
Hinata rested her elbows on the table, readying herself for the story.
