Sasuke waved a lollipop in front of Hinata's face as she continued to ignore him. He knew she was mad, but it was hard to take her seriously when her face lit up like a stoplight every time she thought about it, and she was trying to look as mad as he was sure she felt. "Come on, it's cinnamon."
Hinata pressed her lips in a line, and he snorted. It wasn't helping that he thought this was funny. Her face shifted to a tired pout. "I am very upset."
Sasuke pushed the lollipop into her mouth before she could finish scolding him. "I know, but you're really cute when you're upset." Hinata made a face, rolling the lollipop in her mouth. "I did warn you."
"I didn't think you meant during!" Hinata snapped at him.
Sasuke shrugged. "You should have assumed the worst."
"I will now." Hinata countered.
"I don't have anything else. You're safe." Sasuke put his hands up.
"I don't believe that." Hinata pouted. "Now I am worried about the wedding."
"Hey." Sasuke lifted her chin as she puffed out her cheeks. "I promise I won't do anything more to outwardly embarrass you." Hinata blinked at him, not believing a word. "I keep my promises, don't I?"
Hinata's face flushed again, and she pulled her face away.
Sasuke sat back and let her mope. "I wanted you to have a moment you could point to when people asked how I proposed. So we can keep the pier to ourselves." Hinata turned to look at him. "And I selfishly wanted to piss off Itachi." He admitted.
Hinata's shoulders dropped as she understood his reasoning. It wouldn't make her happy, but she might feel better now that she knew he wasn't just torturing her, to torture her, at least.
Hinata pulled the lollipop out of her mouth and sighed. "I'm still upset with you."
"I'll make up for it," Sasuke promised. Hinata held up the lollipop. "No, I'll make sure it's better than a single sweet." Hinata popped it back in her mouth. Sasuke knew that it probably was all she needed to forgive him, candy, and promise not to do it again, but he could do better than that.
If there was something that Sasuke should make up for, it was giving her phone number to his mother. They had been publicly engaged for less than a week, and Mikoto was already planning when, where, and how they were going to get married.
Hinata was going to grin and bear it while she could because it did seem to make Mikoto happy, but she really didn't care what the cake was decorated like or who was coming. She wouldn't see most of it anyway.
Mikoto handed her a coffee and tucked one leg over the other as she flipped through the wedding planning book she had made. "Oh, we should have a family dinner. Get the parents together. Toasted to your engagement."
That was going to go terribly. "Uh… I guess."
"Now, if we can just put Fugaku and Hiashi at different ends of the table." Mikoto pointed out her perfectly painted nails in opposite directions. "So they don't hiss at each other all night."
Hinata covered her mouth to not outwardly laugh at the picture of two grizzled old cats angrily hissing at each other that she had painted.
"Oh, that reminds me, we will need to make sure they are not sitting across the aisle from each other if we want to keep the peace." Mikoto hummed. "Hmm. Maybe a beach wedding."
"I burn," Hinata replied quickly.
"So does Fugaku." Mikoto scribbled down. "Inside venue then, Uchiha flagship hotel will do nicely." She tapped the page with her pen when she was done with a smile.
Hinata realized Mikoto was good at tricking her into participating.
Hinata wondered if Sasuke's goal in life was to upset other people. She stepped off the back of his bike, and she could feel her father staring at a disapproving hole in her back as she straightened her nice dress that she tucked around her legs to keep down and out of the way on the ride. He helped her fix her hair as the helmet came off. "I like the helmet and dress combo, actually."
Hinata didn't even comment. He knew what he was doing coming on his bike to their family dinner. She tucked her arm into his elbow as they made their way up to the restaurant, where her sister waited for them as her father had already disappeared inside.
Hanabi looked past them. "Do you think dad will let me get a motorcycle?"
Hinata shook her head, but she thought the answer would be implicit.
"You get a license. I'll let you borrow mine." Sasuke waved his keys.
Hanabi's eyes lit up. Hinata sighed. Oh, no.
Sasuke was regretting this now that they were inside. He didn't know who decided on the seating, but the only open seats together were between Itachi and his mother. Hinata spared him, taking the seat next to Itachi, who side-eyed her as she sat down.
The table was tense. The room was full of new and old bitter issues that were unresolved. The only two who didn't have outstanding grudges might be Hanabi and his mother and that was debatable.
The meal was presented, and Mikoto tried to break the tension, putting her hand on her husband's arm to keep his attention from glaring across the table. "I will have to sit you down and have you look at the wedding plans we are making. Hinata still needs a dress, but I think she will be just lovely in anything we put her in, hmm?"
Hinata ducked her head as Hiashi's eyes snapped to her. Hyuga still had traditional marriages, and Hinata mentioned that her father hadn't asked about any of the wedding prep, so she hadn't told him about it.
"Have you picked out bridesmaid dresses yet?" Hanabi wondered.
"Someone." Mikoto gave Hinata a look. "Picked out 'bridesmen' color's not bridesmaids' dresses."
"Shino-kun and Kiba-kun are my best friends. I would prefer they be in my wedding." Hinata said in a tone that told Sasuke this was not the first time they had this argument.
"Darling, I know you have some lovely ladies as friends." Mikoto used the voice she had on him when she was ready to send him off to boarding school.
"And they will not be in the wedding." Hinata agreed.
"Does that mean Sakura is going to want to be on my side?" Sasuke grimaced.
"Not if you don't want her to be," Hinata answered before his mother could.
"I could be," Hanabi added, making both his mother's and her father's face twitch.
"Excuse me." A staff member bowed her head as she interjected. "You have another guest."
The room looked up to a woman Sasuke didn't recognize, stepping in with a gentle smile that made the rest of the room become cold as she came to sit in the empty seat next to Hiashi, who didn't even acknowledge her as she settled herself in.
"Hiroko… dear." Mikoto greeted with a tight smile that told him this woman was not welcome more so than her tone. "I don't believe I invited you."
"This is a family dinner," Hiroko answered in a tone that was either so confident in the fact she didn't care that she wasn't welcome or completely oblivious to the obvious tension she gave to the room. "My daughter was engaged. Why wouldn't I be?"
Wait… This was Hinata's mother? Sasuke had never heard about her mother. He assumed she died years ago.
Hinata locked eyes with Hiroko across the table. Her hands made fists under the table into her skirt, knuckles turning white from the pressure.
A slid over hers and tightened to give her support, but it wasn't his. It was Itachi's. It broke her stare as she looked down and back up at him. Itachi gave her a solemn look as he thumbed over her hand.
Itachi knew what was going on. Was he the only one that didn't?
Sasuke took her other hand, and Hinata slid the one Itachi was holding away to ball back up in her skirt.
Hiashi turned to whisper something harshly to Hiroko. She responded out loud. "I assumed telling me it was happening meant you wanted me to come." Hiashi set his jaw, looking at her, effectively making it clear that it was bull shit.
"Well, you walked out once. What is stopping you now?" Fugaku, of all people, said snidely.
"Charming, Fugaku." Hiroko shot back, keeping that painfully sweet smile on her face. It was actually starting to creep him out.
Hanabi glared forward, not looking at her mother, searing into the table like she was waiting for it to set on fire. Sasuke wasn't sure there was a time that she could hold her tongue, maybe this was it.
Who the hell was this woman, and what did she do?