Sasuke hated himself right now. "I refused to be just another assignment, and I am done with dad's plans."

Hinata's face washed clear of expression as she stared at him. Only the sound of passing cars and wind came between them. "I…" Sasuke feared what she was going to say, but he needed it to be over. He couldn't take it anymore.

Sasuke felt every painful moment of silence from her. He couldn't read her face, but he knew the look in her eyes. Hinata was trying to find a way to fix this. Why? Why did she want to fix it? He was giving her a way out. "If we aren't engaged anymore, then you can't use me as an excuse to the media to explain why someone who isn't part of the family is taking over. You can go."

"I thought…" Hinata blinked with her mouth open like she would say something, but she just sighed.

"I love you, but you'll never see me as anything more than part of the job." Sasuke felt a tear run down his face as he admitted it.

Hinata's lip quivered. "Is that what you think?"

"Did you ever even think about it?" Sasuke accused.

Hinata suddenly yanked the ring off her finger and held it out. "Uchiha men believe what they want." She forced it into his hand and turned to walk the other way.

Sasuke tightened his hand around the ring. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Hinata's head whipped back over her shoulder. "Tell the board to find someone else. Nothing is keeping me at Uchiha anymore." Tears ran down her face as she hugged herself, waiting for him to say something else. Did that mean she was really quitting? "I would have quit when Itachi-san asked me to be his power of attorney or one of the times in the last few months when your mother dragged me around the city like a pet." Her voice cracked. "I put up with it because I wanted to keep you!"

Quitting meant giving up more than a job. If Hinata quit, there would be no reason to keep the engagement. Once Fugaku found out, he might have broken it off himself. She knew the type of grudges he held. She came home every day knowing Sasuke was waiting for her, and if she held onto that, it was worth it because she didn't feel accomplished anymore. Coming up with endless solutions felt like she was putting out a wildfire with a bucket. The world was crushing her, and now… now it was finally collapsing in. She ruined the one thing she was holding on to, trying to keep a hold of it.

Hinata turned her head back away to hide a sob as it came. She should just leave. Sasuke made his decision. Her hands tightened painfully on her own arms. It hurt. She wanted everything to stop hurting so much.

Hinata felt a rush of air leave her Sasuke's chest hit her back, and his arm captured her shoulders. His face fell into her neck as he held her there. Hinata choked out another sob as she raised her hand to grip his coat to keep him there. This didn't mean he didn't still want her to leave.

"You don't need to do any of it to keep me," Sasuke whispered into her neck. "You never did."

Hinata fought to get out of his arms and turned to his crushed expression as he thought she was trying to get away from him. She reburied herself in him and her face into his chest to hide her sobs. Sasuke sighed, relieved, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tightly, so she couldn't pull back and scare him again.

Hinata sipped a coffee, getting a little color back in her pale face. Between the crying and the fighting, they were both worn out. Sasuke watched her look out at the water, sitting on the trunk of his car, with her heels kicked off and her hair ghosting past her shoulders in the wind. A quiet place for them to talk.

What now?

"Should we go back to the office?" Sasuke sighed.

"Why?" Hinata asked. "I quit."

Sasuke blinked at her. "Really?"

"I can't do it anymore." Hinata pulled a knee up to rest her face on it. "The director will have to find someone else."

Sasuke crossed his arms and rested on the car next to her. "If he's not your boss anymore, should you be calling him that?" Hinata side-eyed him. "I guess the board is just going to go further into the family then."

"You won't take it?" Hinata laid her head to the side to look at him.

"Not qualified," Sasuke repeated back at her.

"That will matter less if you are the only one left." Hinata hummed.

Sasuke sighed. "I don't want it."

"It's your family business." Hinata reasoned.

Sasuke shrugged. "I have more family, cousins. They will figure it out. I wasn't raised to care about it. Itachi was. I can't say it's ever done me any favors."

"We met because of it." Hinata absently smiled at him.

"I can't argue with that." Sasuke looked up at her. "Now what?"

"... I don't know. Your father might be furious with me. We might have trouble seeing each other after he finds out." Hinata's face fell.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You think I give a shit what my dad thinks about who I am with?"

"Your father just had a stroke." Hinata scolded. "And the way your mother was acting at the hospital, she might have one before long too."

"They like to act like they don't care until something goes wrong." Sasuke knew they never loved each other, but it was hard to spend twenty-some years together and then not care when that person ended up in the hospital.

"I hate your mother." Sasuke snorted. Hinata said that so casually. "I don't like her liking me. It feels fake." That might be the most realistic his mother's emotions got. "The one thing I kept thinking when she pestered me about having a wedding was her face if we just went to get it done legally."

Sasuke tilted his head. "We could do that." Hinata gave him a look. "You want to avoid all the fanfare and give the press something to focus on instead of dad and the company."

Hinata sat up and put her leg down. "Didn't you just accuse me of using our relationship as part of my job?"

Sasuke rolled to settle between her knees. "This is different. I just selfishly want you to marry me." He rested his hands on her thighs. "I'm just listing benefits, so you'll say yes."

Hinata set her coffee aside to lean her face down to his level. "Was that another proposal?"

"I still have the ring." Sasuke leaned up just shy of her lips.

"I think that ring is cursed," Hinata told him.

"I'll get you a new one." Sasuke tightened his hands on her thighs to pull her closer.

A smile spread across Hinata's face, and she closed her eyes as their noses ghosted each other. "And we can have cake."

Sasuke chuckled. "Whatever you want."

Hinata closed the distance, sliding her arms around his shoulders as her eyes closed.

Itachi rocked back in his father's office chair. The day was over, and Hinata never returned to the office and turned off her phone. That must be her answer. He laid his head back with a smile. Good. Hinata didn't need to be dragged any further into this mess.

What would his father say when he discovered his loyal shadow had finally been pushed past her limit? He should have seen the coming. He got close to pushing her off the cliff one too many times to think that it would be too much someday.

Itachi expected something more explosive or a single professional email, but the dead silence when she knew they were waiting for her, and she was normally always available, spoke volumes, to him at least.

Itachi pressed the intercom button on the phone. "Lee, make me a meeting with the board of directors tomorrow morning."

Itachi collected his coat and looked at Hinata's office as he left. Things were going to be different.

Fugaku rubbed his temple looking at the simple message Itachi already told him was coming.

'I resign.'

Fugaku knew that his relying on her would come back to bite him at some point. It took him being in the hospital for her to quit. She finally put her foot down.

Now what?

There was only one thing he could think to say back.

'I am proud of you.'

Sasuke's face twisted as he pushed the cake closer to her. She didn't expect him to like it. "You can finish that."

"You don't like chocolate. What did you expect?" Hinata giggled.

Sasuke sipped his drink to wash the sickeningly sweet flavor out of his mouth as Hinata took another bite and bliss washed over her face. That was better than cake.

Sasuke wanted a picture. He dug into his pocket for his phone but found the Uchiha ring first. The realization hit his face, making Hinata tilt her head. He abandoned looking for his phone and held his hand out. Hinata curiously gave him hers.

Sasuke wrapped the paper from his straw around her ring finger, tying it into a bow. "There, we have your fudge cake and a ring."

Hinata giggled, looking at it. "I like this one better."

"All we need now is to get married." Sasuke joked, but the more he said it, the more it felt like he shouldn't keep saying it. He kept thinking that one of these times, Hinata's face would fall again and tell him to be serious.

Hinata sighed with a smile. "I wonder when the notary office closes."

Sasuke blinked at her.

**Author's Note**

For updates and asks my tumblr: lavender-long-stories