Hinata set her bag down by her bed and flopped back. Between her sessions with Naruto, the weird posts about her relationship, and Sasuke twisting knots in her stomach each day, it was becoming exhausting. She flinched up as she heard her doorknob turn, and her father stood in the doorway waiting to be acknowledged. Hinata sat up straight and waited for what he had to say.

"Does Sasuke Uchiha know that you are stepping down?" Hinata nodded. "You intend to follow him to Uchiha." Hinata pushed down the feeling that she knew that her father thought this was her trying to climb back up the ladder. Just another reason to look down on her like he wouldn't have used her to do the same if he had the chance to. She nodded again. "Then you should hope for a proposal before your graduation so there are no complications with you transferring from Hyuga." With that, Hiashi closed the door.

Hinata blinked at the back of the door and sighed, flopping back, feeling her chest clenching painfully. She knew he wanted to get rid of her, but did he have to be so blunt about it? Couldn't he act like a normal father who wanted to know if the man her daughter chose was good enough or would treat her well?

At least now Hinata could be sure he was approving of them getting married. Would he act this indifferent at her wedding?

Hinata's typing echoed through the quiet library. There weren't a lot of people here this late when exams weren't close enough to make people panic. There were other places on campus to meet up if all research could be done on a computer.

Naruto looked over her shoulder and flipped their notes for her as she typed. He was trying to help, but it was clear that he was much more creative than a researcher. He would handle writing a lot of the wording to tie the paper together once she had collected all the data they needed for now.

Hinata got to the end of the page and flinched as a hand came between her and Naruto and set down a coffee. She tipped her head back as Sasuke leaned down over her, flattening his hand out by the coffee to see the screen, fully putting his back to Naruto. "Are you almost done?"

A smile spread across her face. Was this meant to be possessive boyfriend behavior? "This is just collecting our points. We haven't even started to make sense of them yet."

Sasuke tilted his head to her. Was he getting too close on purpose? "You don't have to come to her for that, right? You can just do that online."

Naruto prodded him in the back. "We should eat together. Since you started dating, you haven't been hanging out with me."

Sasuke leaned his face impossibly closer. "Because I am hanging out with my girlfriend."

Hinata gave Sasuke a face, knowing Naruto couldn't see her, pulling back and closing her laptop. "Thank you for the drink." She sipped side, eyeing him as he pulled back.

"Let's go." Sasuke started gathering her things.

"You know I have to finish this before I get on the bike." Hinata held up the drink.

"We can still leave." Sasuke slid her laptop into her bag.

Naruto looked between them with a smile on his face despite being ignored.

Hinata blinked at an unrecognized number on her phone. Sasuke leaned over to look when she didn't answer. "Ugh, mom asked for your number."

"This is your mother?" Hinata's heart rate shot up.

"Are you going to answer it?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Hinata pressed except before holding up to her ear. She got up and left the table to talk on the phone, which was polite, but Sasuke wanted to know what his mother said. Sasuke watched the cake that had two spoons in it that he knew he wasn't going to eat half of until she got back with a huff. "That bad?"

"She wanted me to meet up with her." Hinata stabbed her spoon to get a bigger chunk of cake to drown her stress in.

Sasuke knew that was going to be a shitshow. "Good luck."

Hinata squeaked a whimper, having her fears confirmed. "Is she bad?"

"My mother is… interesting," Sasuke admitted. "It's hard to know what she is thinking, and she can be a sugar-coated bitch when she wants to be."

Hinata frowned at him. "Don't call your mother that."

"Wait," Sasuke warned.

Hinata shrank, digging out more of the cake.

Hinata was expecting Sasuke's mother to be the typical high society mother, chic, perfect, personable, manipulative, and snobby. And to be fair, she was all those things. What Hinata didn't expect was the feeling that Mikoto was beyond happy to spend time with her.

Hinata kept waiting for the moment that Mikoto was going to let the mask slip and threaten her with keeping the family image. Maybe Mikoto knew that since Hinata grew up in the same circle, she knew all those things, but this buddy-buddy attitude just wasn't what Hinata thought was going to be at her core.

"I think you would look wonderful in this." Mikoto held up a hanger in front of Hinata in the mirror. "Your cool tones go so well with pale colors. I need warm tones."

Hinata accepted the hanger as Mikoto placed it in her arms. "You always look wonderful in red."

"It's a curse." Mikoto waved her hand. "A powerful woman needs to look approachable. Bold colors give you power, but soft colors give you poise." Hinata felt like she understood everything Mikoto said to a painful level. They were both women in the public eye. Their image was everything, and they had to play to their strengths, but that also meant that sometimes their strengths weren't what a situation needed.

Mikoto and Hinata were on opposite sides of the same spectrum. Their natural looks put them there. Maybe Hinata was judging the act that they all put on.

Mikoto held up another hanger. "I always wanted a daughter. I was losing hope with Itachi turning down so many blind dates and Sasuke being my little heartbreaker." She took the hanger away and pulled out another color. "I was worried I would be old by the time I would see grandchildren."

Hinata did everything in her power not to clear her throat uncomfortably. High society moms moved fast. Just don't engage with it. Don't think too much about it. Hinata didn't want to faint.

"Don't look so flushed, dear." Mikoto patted her face, startling her. "I'm not that prude."

Hinata was. "Sorry. I haven't really spoken to a mother in a while."

Mikoto pursed her lips for a moment, remembering why. "Well, you have me now." She held up another dress. "I think this one is a wonderful match for you."

Sasuke curled around Hinata's waist in the grass as she balanced her schoolwork on her knees. He was being clingy. He would like to say it was an act, but at this point, he didn't think much about it. "Are you almost done?"

"I need to finish this." Hinata hummed.

Yeah, he asked if she was almost done with finishing it. It was clear that she wasn't actually listening to him. Sasuke should be more sympathetic. Hinata was juggling a lot with her assignments, studying, and his mother, who was determined to make sure they were best friends. Mikoto was taking her out multiple times a week for shopping, coffee, and meals, anything she could do to pull her away.

Sasuke actually found that he was spending more time back out with Naruto out of sheer habit because Hinata wasn't around. He had to admit that Naruto was a lot more grating on his nerves since he got used to Hinata.

Sasuke groaned and laid his head down.

Hinata dipped a hand behind her to put in his hair. Great, now she was treating him like a pet, begging for attention.

Sasuke laid his head back in the grass and waited and waited. If he acted like he was aloof and didn't care, maybe it would make the amount he actually cared disappear. Maybe he could deal with irritation with sheer willpower.

It wasn't working.

He heard the grass crunch beside him, then felt the light shift and a cool shade dip over his face. If he acted like he was asleep, would they go away?

"You're going to get a sunburn if you sleep out here." Hinata hummed. Sasuke didn't reply. He didn't want to talk to even her. He wasn't in the mood to be lulled into a better mood.

Sasuke heard her steps crunch away, but the shade stayed persistent. He peaked to see the edges of an umbrella set between him and the sun to keep him in the shade while he 'slept.' Damn it. Why did the silly little things she did always work on him?