Kisame tapped his pen on his notebook impatiently as he waited for Hinata to come in. He wished telling himself that this wasn't the part he should be worried about would make him less nervous. Hinata came in at her usual time, surprised to see him already in his chair, but her face twisted for a flicker before she straightened it as she sat down. "You feeling okay?"

Hinata nodded, wrapping her fingers around the ends of her jacket, betraying her answer.

Hopefully, this wasn't a bad time. "I'm off Saturday. I thought we could spend a day out." Kisame felt heat rush to his face. He felt like an idiot asking her girlfriend out so awkwardly.

Hinata was effectively distracted by the notion. "You actually have a day off?"

"I thought I would pick you up, and we could go out and have lunch and maybe dinner." Kisame pressed the tip of his pen into his notebook to focus his attention on jamming it through the paper instead of the absolute stress he was feeling at the moment. "I wanted to talk to you about something." Idiot. Don't tell her that she is going to think it's something bad.

"Me too…" Hinata pressed her lips together.

Kisame wondered if what she had to say was bad, but the smile she put on when he looked at her put him at ease for now, even if it did look a little forced. Maybe she was just nervous too.

Hinata laid, looking at her shark plush, staring back at her accusingly as she rubbed her thumb over the fish charm on her necklace. Should she have told Kisame already? Was it cruel to wait until Saturday? Would it ruin whatever day he had planned?

If she told him at the end of the day, she would spend the whole day thinking about it. If she told him at the beginning of the day, he would spend the whole time thinking about it. She would rather suffer alone. Maybe she could just forget and enjoy herself for a few hours before she had to tell him because it might be the last time.

If Hinata knew that her father would make her break up with him, would it be better to do it now so that he could move on quicker? The more time they spent together knowing it wasn't going to work, the worse the heartbreak would be when she would be forced to let him go.

Hinata pressed her face into her pillow to hold back the building tears. She felt like the worst person. She should have known that her father was never going to really let her go. She should have never told Kisame how she felt, and they wouldn't be in this mess. She should have sucked up her schoolyard crush so it didn't turn into something real where she was looking forward to having a future with him.

Kisame had probably thought about it, too, and that just made her feel so much worse. Hinata deserved to have her reckless actions come back to bite her, but Kisame didn't have any idea what he was getting into. She never told him much about her father, and she was sure Itachi was keeping the finer details away from him to be respectful to her.

Hopefully, Itachi would make Kisame understand what happened because she was sure he wasn't going to understand if she explained it to him.

It was rare to see the mouse out of her uniform. With graduation creeping up on them, Kisame realized that soon out of uniform would be her default. There was something particularly cute with an oversize black club bomber jacket over her light pastel outfit. He kind of missed the days when she would constantly wear his.

Hinata looked intently at her phone, looking for a place to eat, analyzing menus to look for something that she knew he could eat. Kisame couldn't stop her from making all the effort, so he didn't, but he did think it was a waste of time.

Hinata's hand came up to fidget with her necklace as they walked to the place she picked out. This kept him from being nervous about what to do with his hand since both of hers were full, but it did strike him as odd because he couldn't remember her doing it before this week.

Hinata double-checked the menu when they got there, knowing damn well that he wouldn't, and even gave a stern look when he offered to just have a side so she didn't have to put in so much work. Her angry bunny look was beyond cute, but there was something about how quiet she was that was bothering him.

Normally he would just dismiss it as her usual quietness, but it just felt off. Like she was more nervous than normal and not in an 'I am on a date and embarrassed' way like he would have hoped for.

After they ate, he led her to the spot that made her nervous face crack into a smile, the fountain they sat under all night playing cards. "I would call this the place of our first date." Kisame waved his hand at the fountain.

Hinata walked up to it to stare into the spray of water. "I guess you could say that."

Kisame watch her eye glaze over as she thought about that night, but he didn't want her to think too far into it.

Hinata squeaked in surprise as he lifted her off her feet and placed her back onto them on the edge of the fountain. She turned to stabilize herself with his hands.

"Look, you get to be tall for once." Kisame gave her a big toothy grin. Hinata's face flushed. Say it now while she's distracted by the moment. "I applied to a trade school." Hinata blinked at him. "I've been working so much to cover the cost of the first semester in case I don't get a scholarship. I don't know what I am going into yet, but… I" Spit it out. "I wanted to be more than the deadbeat dead-end bouncer boyfriend that made you worry about every bruise I came home with."

Hinata's face told him everything Kisame need to know about the statement, but he wanted to say it anyway. He wanted to be honest about what he felt. He didn't want to be left behind while she went to university. He didn't want to become a burden when she was going off to better things because he knew that she would be too nice to ever think that, even if he was dragging her down. "I've never been ashamed of you."

Kisame tightened his hand on hers as he looked up at her heartbroken face. He knew that she was going to say that, and he wanted to hear it even if he didn't think that was the only problem.

Hinata's heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. Kisame worked so hard and worried so much about telling her. How could she crush him now with her news? She never wanted him to think he was less than her. He wasn't. She never wanted him to think that, but now if she told him about her situation and what her father would do if she found out about him, that was exactly what he was going to think.

Hinata felt a tearful hiccup in her chest and watched Kisame's face become flustered as she started to cry. "Hey, hey. Come on." Kisame let go of one of her hands to wipe her face. "It's not that serious."

Hinata couldn't deny it to herself anymore. She loved him, and leaving him was going to rip her heart out. She wanted to stay with him. She wanted to have that stupid quiet life away from the corporate iron fist and media.

Kisame's hand paused on her cheek, looking up at her as she sniffled. "It's okay, mouse."

No, it wasn't.

Hinata dropped her umbrella and let it clatter off the ledge as she took his face in both hands and closed the distance. She could feel him freeze up, and she could feel the tears run off her face. She was awful. She just wanted to stay. Lying by omission was still lying.

Kisame took a moment to respond, but when he did, his arm came around her back and took her off her feet. He could easily hold in the air against his chest with just one arm wrapped around her back.

Hinata broke the kiss to whip the tears from her face and wrap her arms around his shoulders, and buried her face as her anguish got more intense. Kisame arms wrapped around her as he comforted her in what he didn't understand. "I didn't think you were going to be this broken up about it, mouse."

She was a monster.