"Why are you coming?" Hinata asked as Sasuke followed her into Lee's apartment building.
"I want to see what if his apartment matches the rest of him." Sasuke opened the door for her, faining innocence.
Hinata gave him a look. "Lee-san is just… eccentric."
Sasuke nodded sarcastically. "He's been drug tested, right?"
Hinata swatted at him as she knocked on the correct door, glaring at Sasuke's smile until it completely dropped when the door opened. Hinata followed his eyes. She was sure that he had the same thought she was.
Why was Neji opening Lee's door?
Neji looked more shocked than she did. His eyes flicked between them, his mouth gapped to explain, but he short-circuited. His eyes dropped to the floor. "I can explain…"
"Hinata, thank you!" Lee popped up from behind Neji to take the folder. "Oh, I think you've met my boyfriend, right? I saw you two have dinner with the director." Lee smiled cheerfully, not at all reading the situation.
Hinata put on a smile. "Actually, we grew up together." She filled. "He's my cousin."
"Oh?" Lee blinked innocently at Neji's red face. "Small world."
"Hinata." Neji breathed as his face started to go from red to purple as he panicked.
"I have to get to the hospital." Hinata waved her hands. "We'll talk tomorrow. Thank you, Lee-san."
Lee dragged Neji back inside and closed the door leaving silence in the hall until Sasuke snorted.
Hinata shook her head, heading for the car. "Please, don't."
Unfortunately, he was thinking the same thing she was. What an odd couple.
Hinata sat in the car, dazed. The signs were there. Neji spoke about wanting them to meet someone, but she doubted that he wanted her to find out like that. He was vague and careful. He was scared.
Oh, Hanabi was going to be so upset that he didn't tell her.
"You okay?" Sasuke asked.
Hinata rubbed her face. "Yeah."
"It's fine, right?" Sasuke asked cautiously.
"Of course. Of course." Hinata stopped her hands on her cheeks. "I just didn't know. Neji-san just got back. I can't imagine how he even knows Lee-san."
"Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure a good meal with the brat, and we'll know more than we ever wanted to know." Sasuke chuckled. He was enjoying this too much. Something he probably got from his mother.
"What did your mother want?" Hinata set to work taking her hair down.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Nothing important. She wants to coddle me to make me feel better for being lied to."
"Did you tell her you knew?" Hinata asked with pins sticking out of her mouth.
"Yup," Sasuke said with a pop. "Don't think she even processed it."
"She has a one-track mind." Hinata collected the pins and put them in her purse. "And right now, it's on me getting pregnant."
Sasuke nodded. "That explains why she wants to know how quickly I can move in."
"She's feeding me a fertility diet," Hinata whined. "I'm almost reminiscing on when she hated me."
"Appreciate the mild meddling. If she still hated you, she would have hit you with her car or something else drastic at this point." Sasuke gave her a side-eye. "Your hair looks cute like that."
Sasuke got a small bashful smile out of her. Hinata knew she probably looked worn down and tired, but at least he still thought she looked cute despite it.
Hinata flinched awake with a small cold hand on hers. "Hmm?"
"Did I bore you?" Itachi chucked.
"No. No, sorry." Hinata sat up, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Being dad wearing you out?" Itachi folded his hand across his chest.
Hinata stood up to keep herself awake. Sasuke and Fugaku were nowhere to be seen. They must have stepped out. "It's making me mean. I spent most of the day reprimanding people."
Itachi shrugged. "Now you know why he's such a bastard." Hinata nodded, then paused. She shouldn't agree with that. Itachi chuckled. "Hinata." He reached out to her. Hinata let him pull her closer, encapsulating her hand. "I know you're probably still upset with me, but I need to ask you another favor."
"No." Hinata snapped, making Sasuke pause at the door. "Absolutely not." Hinata reeled back from Itachi in disgust.
"Hinata…" Itachi begged.
"No. You want that? You can talk to your family." Hinata aggressively grabbed her bag and coat.
"They don't understand." Itachi tried to sit up.
Hinata stopped so he wouldn't get up. "I don't understand."
"But you'll respect it." Itachi rested back, his eyebrows knitting together. "Please."
Hinata chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head. "Your mother already went postal because I was your emergency contact. What do you think…?"
"Please," Itachi begged.
"You'll regret it," Hinata whispered.
"I can't." Itachi shook his head.
Before Hinata could start crying, Sasuke revealed himself, with an obvious smile. "I brought coffee."
Itachi relaxed back into his bed, and Hinata ruffled her hair and took the offered cup. She looked like she had just woken up. "Thank you." She whispered.
"You ready to get out of here?" Sasuke asked, nodding to her coat.
"Oh, yes. I have another long day tomorrow." Hinata excused side eyeing Itachi. Itachi turned his head. Whatever they were arguing about, Itachi looked like he was actually upset about it. "I'll be back tomorrow." Hinata waved and took the out Sasuke offered.
Hinata set her hip on the guest-room-soon-to-be-Sasuke's-room doorway in her pajamas. "Would Saturday work? I'm going to be in the office, so I'll be out of your way." Hinata rubbed the point between her eyebrows with her eye closed.
Sasuke sat down on the bed. "I can do that, but why would you be in the office?"
Hinata's entire being shrunk against the door frame. "Damage control. We can't miss releases on top of all the other garbage in the press right now."
Sasuke rested back on the headboard. At this point, he didn't know what he expected. Hinata was too much like his father when it came to work. It was a miracle that his father was taking a few days off to stay with Itachi now. Nothing he could say was going to make her take a break or slow down.
Sasuke opened his arms to her. Hinata considered him for a moment and crossed the room toward him. Sasuke pulled the covers up, kicked his legs under, and held them up to her. Hinata didn't hesitate. She dropped her phone on the bedside table, crawled under, and buried her face in his chest to close her eyes. A grin spread across his face as he readjusted to curl around her. "It'll work out," Sasuke said into her hair.
Hinata made a noise but nothing intelligible, halfway to sleep.
Neji's eyes glued themselves to the pavement as he held the door open for her the next morning, holding out a cup of coffee. Hinata thanked him as she got in, but Neji only closed the door behind her and went around to the driver's side.
Neji glanced at her in the rearview mirror before starting the car.
"Are you planning on ignoring me?" Hinata sipped the peace offering.
Neji cleared his throat. "I don't want to talk about it."
"We should." Before Hanabi found out. "This is why you didn't go home, isn't it?"
"This is why I left," Neji admitted. "If he's going to hate me, might as well be for a choice."
Hinata's heart ached. Her father really had a talent for tearing their family apart. "How did you even meet Lee-san?"
"We were stationed together," Neji explained, turning a corner. "We kept in touch."
Lee? In the military? "I didn't even know he served."
"He got out a year before me," Neji explained. "We kept in touch."
At least he was talking about it now. "I would keep him away from Hanabi-chan. The two of them will torture you." Neji cringed. "I understand," Neji's eyes flicked to the mirror. "Why you didn't tell us." Neji looked ashamed, his hand tightening on the steering wheel. "But don't worry about it anymore."
Lee was all too happy to know that Hinata was related to Neji. Not that it changed him much. Honestly, as much as most people found his chipper unrelenting energy annoying, Hinata appreciated it. It was a constant reminder to push through and get the next thing done.
A migraine could be fixed with medication. Fatigue could be fixed with a cup of coffee and a snack. Meetings could be moved, and schedules rearranged. As long as she didn't stop, then it wasn't over.
"Hinata," Lee put his hand over the phone. "Sound again, they're complaining about their contract, and they don't want to talk to legal about it."
Hinata closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. "You know what?" Hinata took the phone from Lee's ear and hung up the phone. "If they don't want to talk to legal, they can either stop upholding their end and get sued, or they can wait out their contract and not work with us again."
Lee nodded. "I will fence their calls."
Hinata leaned her hip on his desk. "Thank you. I still need to schedule something with Gaara next week, and the sales department wants to have an emergency meeting. I'm just hoping it's not to tell me we tanked after all this press."
"I can schedule those." Lee pulled up his phone.
Hinata pressed her lips together. Yeah. That was his job. Maybe she wasn't diverting enough to him. Trying to play both Fugaku's role and her own. "Can you order dinner, and have something sent to the hospital for the director? I think I'll skip my visit this evening to get the last of this paperwork done."
Lee perked up. "Late-night snack party?" Hinata blinked at him. "Sometimes, when departments have a deadline, we all crowd into a conference room with snacks and won't leave until it's all done."
Like a cram session in university that she was never able to attend. "You want to do that, you and me?"
Lee nodded furiously. "I'll arrange it."
