Sasuke crossed his arms, waiting for Itachi to make his point, particularly unhappy with him using their mother to separate him and Hinata. Sasuke didn't have any idea what Mikoto might say to her.
Itachi sighed, looking over at Hinata. "You're making a mistake."
"That's all you have to say to me?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
Itachi sipped his drink. "What do you want me to say?"
Itachi's nonchalant tone was making Sasuke's blood boil. "You could apologize for going around me. I don't know why you think you can twist Hinata's arm."
Itachi looked into his cup, disappointed. "She did tell you."
"You're a dumbass for thinking she wouldn't." Sasuke accused. "Stay out of it."
"This won't end well. You should be focusing on your future." Itachi's eyebrows knit together, showing only a drop of his actual anger.
"I think you've already made it, so I don't have one." Sasuke didn't care if it hurt. He didn't care if it was mean. He was still pissed. Being ill didn't excuse him from being a meddling prick. "At least I can have one thing I want."
"The Hyuga isn't going to let this happen," Itachi warned. "You are opening a can of worms that is going to make everything so much harder than it has to be."
Sasuke's eyes slid to Hinata. He wasn't going to out her losing her position. "We will deal with it."
"You should end it before this gets out of hand. She isn't worth it." Sasuke's eyes snapped back to Itachi. The urge to punch him was overwhelming. His rage was not something Itachi wanted to stoke right now. Sasuke made a lot of dumb decisions with his rage.
In fact, he might make one right now.
Sasuke ignored his brother calling after him as he stalked toward Hinata. Hinata blinked widely at him as she read his body language. He snagged her hand and pulled her up toward the front. She trailed behind him without asking him what he was doing. She probably wasn't going to like the answer.
Sasuke pulled her up on the stage and gave her one look to ask for permission. If she pulled him off right now, he could probably calm down. He could probably be talked out of it. Hinata just waited with her hand tightly clasped onto his. Her eyes flicked to the crowd that was becoming curious as to why they walked up on the platform but returned to lock on him, waiting for him to make his decision.
Sasuke took the microphone. "I would like to announce that I am officially in a relationship with Hinata Hyuga."
The few press cameras that were allowed inside the event started to flash. Sasuke could see Hinata's heart rate go up as her hand tightened on his. He needed to get her off the stage before she fainted, or he did. Sasuke put the microphone back in its place and pulled her down through the crowd ignoring passing questions and his brother's furious glare.
Hinata kept up with him until they found a side exit where Sasuke took a moment to take in the night air and calm down. Hinata slipped her hand out of his and placed it on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"It was either punching Itachi or announcing our relationship. I think this caused less of a scene." Sasuke huffed a few times before the rage dissipated.
Hinata didn't ask why Itachi incited such a reaction, and Sasuke really didn't want to tell her. It would break her heart to know Itachi said something like that, but if she asked, Sasuke wouldn't lie to her. "Well, if those were the options, then I am glad you didn't punch him." She wasn't even going to lecture on how the subtle way would have been a better choice? Hinata really shouldn't be excusing this behavior because if he could use that as an excuse, he would, and she would get sick of it.
Hinata's thumb slid back on his shoulder. She was comforting him. He should be comforting her. She was the one he was affecting by doing that. He didn't even ask what his mother said to her.
"Hey." Hinata got his attention, moving her hand from his arm to his face. "It's okay." She was seeing more than he wasn't. Sasuke was still breathing heavily, and the rage that he thought he let go of was still there, twisting his insides. He must be wearing it all over his face. Sasuke closed his eyes to focus on actually calming down, using Hinata's hand to ground him.
This wasn't the first time this had happened.
Sasuke slammed the door to the roof, but it just bounced back open, long since broken because of the amount of time someone had locked themselves out. He turned the corner around the structure over the stairs to hide from anyone who came looking for him.
He puffed out angry breaths, crouched down with his face turned toward the wall, wiping his face. He felt stupid thinking that his brother would make it, but he was more pissed that Itachi kept assuring him he would definitely make it, only to flake at the last minute.
Why did Itachi have to get his hopes up? Why did he keep having hope that this would be the time that his brother would put him first?
Sasuke flinched as he felt weight pressed against his back. Why couldn't he be left alone?!
"It's a nice day out," Hinata sighed as she sat with her arms around her legs and leaned against his back.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder. Hinata's hair fluttered around her cheeks in the passing wind as she looked out at the sky, giving him privacy but staying there to comfort him. He sniffed and whipped his face, relaxing back on her. Hinata annoyingly wouldn't let him brood alone.
"Here." Hinata reached back to hand him an unwrapped lollipop.
Sasuke made a face. "I don't like sweets."
"I know, it's sour." Hinata shook it for him to take, looking back at him.
Sasuke opened his mouth. Hinata broke into a smile, putting it into his mouth. He immediately scrambled to pull it back out. "Bleh! What the hell?"
Hinata giggled. "I told you it was sour."
Sasuke glared at her and tried to put it back in his mouth, but it was painfully sour. Hinata's eyes glittered knowingly. He didn't feel so bad anymore.
Hinata couldn't be upset. They meant to announce their relationship, just more subtly. This skipped a few steps that she wasn't going to miss, but it also presented new problems. People would want to know the story, how long they had been together, and if their families approved.
Their families were a whole other problem. Her father may have quietly accepted, but Sasuke's parents only knew what they saw. From Mikoto's prodding, it was clear she didn't know. Itachi wouldn't have told them if he was trying to make it end before it started.
Without knowing that Hinata was stepping down, Sasuke's stepping up was going to be an internal issue for the relationship.
Hinata's entire thought process stopped. She realized why her father was being quiet about the situation. Hiashi could use her relationship with Sasuke as an excuse for her stepping down. It gave him a clean reason to discard her that he wouldn't have to explain, and even if their relationship didn't work out, he could still use it as a reason because he could argue that she would cause tension with their biggest competitor.
Clever bastard.
Hinata frowned at the thought. Her father was always playing five steps ahead of her. How did Sasuke think that she was going to be any help to him if she was this slow at picking up the intentions of the man she had spent her whole life learning from?
"Are you trying to look mad at me?" Sasuke whispered with a smile in his tone.
Hinata blinked out of her thoughts and back at the crowd that had long since moved on from them. She straightened her face. "No, sorry."
Sasuke's hand slid behind her back, something she was becoming surprisingly comfortable with despite what the butterflies in her stomach were trying to tell her. It didn't feel forced. It felt like he wasn't thinking about it, which was either a testament to his acting or maybe his commitment. "How long do we have to stay here before we can disappear?"
Hinata pressed her lips together. She made them come back in because disappearing like that would have become more of an issue than dealing with the few aunties that wanted to gush and the reporters who pushed their luck by asking questions that could get their insider status revoked. People who had an actual stake in what the after-math would know better than to talk about it here.
Sasuke set himself up for a nasty talk with his father later, she was sure.
Sasuke's head came down on her shoulder, making Hinata stiffen. She forced herself to soften with a breath. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" His hand and head started to retract.
Hinata could kick herself. Of course, he could feel that. "No, I am fine. I'm just not used to it."
"You don't have to get used to it." Sasuke's hand hovered shy of her back. Hinata could feel the heat of it there, asking for permission. Asking her if it was safe to come back.
Hinata turned her flushed face to Sasuke, and a thought crossed her mind that she was forced away before she could act on it. She swallowed and looked back away. "I think it should be fine for us to leave now." She needed some fresh air.