Day 3 - A glance that reveals everything
Hinata POV
Everyone walking around in a frenzy. The other clan heads are meant to arrive soon enough.
Yet another clan gathering she must attend. Yet another clan gathering in which she will be simply treated as a pretty girl that the old man can ask for drinks despite being the heir of her clan.
Her grandfather, father and cousin are all discussing important clan information while she is in the room over, having her hair brushed, her lips dusted with red and her kimono arranged properly.
It's infuriating. The way in which she's not treated fairly.
Often she has good ideas, helpful ideas she wishes to share but the moment she opens her mouth someone cuts her off.
Too scared to talk to her father. Too scared to ask to be treated at least equally with Neji. She isn't even given the proper education as future head.
"Hinata-sama, you look stunning"
It's always the same. They praise Neji for his mind and abilities, while they praise her beauty and silence. As a child she basked in any sort of praise, but the older she got the more it bothered her.
"One last detail and you are ready"
They're placing a beautiful pin into her hair.
"This belonged to your late mother"
The servants start gushing around her, one talking after the other.
"She wore it at her engagement with your father"
"She was just as beautiful as you are today"
"She would have loved to see you my lady"
…What? Alerts going off in her head. Why are they talking this way? What's going on?
Heart pounding suddenly. But she can't ask the servants because the door opens and her Father tells her it's time. That she should come join them.
Her mouth is dry. Something's wrong. She can feel it now. Their gazes are all weird.
No, no. She's imagining it. It's all the same. It's all the same.
Standing up on unsteady legs. Her father reaches out for her. He never does that. He never holds her hand.
Looking at the extended hand. Why?
"It's time to go Hinata"
Eyes up onto him. He looks…kinder. He never looks kind. He never interacts with her that way.
Letting out a shaky breath. Her eyes feel teary.
"Daddy?" Trembling voice. She hasn't called him that since she was 6.
"It's time to go" he repeats himself.
They're stuck. In the door. She's not moving. Not breathing.
There is noise coming from the front door. They're here.
"Daddy?"
Asking again. Begging him to tell her what's happening. To say anything.
Sasuke POV
His father is a bit…annoyed. The Hyuuga Elder and Neji have been trying to act like this is how things were meant to go. But the Head isn't present so that's an obvious lie. The future bride is not there so that's an obvious lie once again.
He found out about the engagement 2 weeks ago. But it really doesn't have much to do with him. It is his brother's wedding after all.
Itachi smiles politely and is the one keeping the conversation light from the Uchiha side.
"The Wedding should take place at the Uchiha estate. Hinata will after all be welcomed within our clan. So, it just makes sense to do it there."
There's a silent fight going on between his father and the Hyuuga elder after that statement. He's bored. Yawning, not even bothering to hide it.
Looking outside, it's rainy and gloomy. Very fitting for this meeting too.
Finally, the door opens. The Hyuuga head enters. Alone.
Sasuke takes this opportunity to sit up as well, asking a servant in the room about a bathroom. Asking loud enough for others to hear so they know why he got up, but quiet enough so he appears to be discreet; as if he doesn't mean to disturb the meeting.
Walking down the halls 'looking' for the bathroom. He can hear soft murmurs from one of the rooms. Steps coming closer and closer to the door.
Hinata Hyuuga opening it, glossy eyes. Ruined lipstick, her pretty kimono has a red stain on her sleeves.
Their eyes meet for a second and he can see it. The unwillingness. This is no happy future bride.
The eye contact is cut short by the girl turning away from him, running towards the back door. Holding onto the kimono so she doesn't trip over it.
Unsure why he follows closely behind her. Watches the girl step barefoot outside in the muddy rain, ruining the expensive fabric even further. He doesn't know what the girl is trying to achieve. A ruined kimono won't stop the wedding.
The servants come from the room, a bit too late. They all gasp at the sight of Hinata.
Sasuke follows her still. He did stop to put shoes on, unlike her.
The rain is pouring and it only makes things more difficult for her, the already heavy fabric gets wet and she can barely move. He sees it happening in slow motion, as she trips and falls face first onto the ground.
Almost on instinct he runs to catch her, hand extended gripping the liliac kimono, but it's wet and it slips through his fingers, Hinata falls with a big splash.
Cringing internally at the thought of having mud all over his face. He crouches next to her and helps her up, wiping her face.
"You ok?"
She can't be. But still…
Her eyes are closed and he thinks for a second she has mud in them, but they open and they're just…so defeated.
It feels wrong to see her this way, it's so intimate and totally not his place.
She clears her throat and lets out a tiny 'thank you'
He looks away from her face. She's just so expressive, everything she feels is so easily deduced. For him at least.
Her hands are gripping fist-fulls of mud.
"Maybe we should…go back to the estate?"
But eh feels that was a mistake the moment her breath hitches and her shoulders shake.
Looking up at him. "Is it you?"
He doesn't understand.
"Is it you? The one he sold me to?"
…
He feels…oddly shaken by her question. By her tone. By the use of the word 'sold'.
Unsure what possessed him, he nods.
Finally, his brain catches up with what he did. "I mean to my family. Not me, me"
Clearing his throat too, he reaches for her hand, trying to be unbothered by the mud. He'll wash his hands. It's fine.
"Let's go back. Before they see you"
It seems the girl's flight left her, she simply nods and follows behind. He's holding the muddy hand of Itachi's future wife. The rain helps clear away some of it at least…
He walks Hinata back to her room and he leaves the Hyuuga estate to go home. He can hardly sit into the meeting drenched and muddy.
Hinata's eyes haunt him for days to follow. His father bad mouths the Hyuugas. Itachi tries to calm him down. He's going on and on about how they can't appreciate the favour he is doing them letting one of theirs be the wide of the future Uchiha head.
…
"Maybe I should marry her"
He says one random day, over a week since the incident. His father, mother and Itachi all staring at him in shock.
He shrugs.
"Or not…
I'm her age. Maybe she would find that…more comfortable."