Hinata walked along the empty street. Any direction other than home would do. Soaked through and dripping from the rain, her feet dragged as her heart became heavier and heavier until she leaned into a wall. That was it. The last of her was crushed. She couldn't take it anymore.

She slid down the wall, her bag falling off her shoulder. She pushed her face into the wall, but it brought her no comfort. Nothing was going to. What could anyone or anything offer her now to make it better? Every dream she had was now unreachable.

Her father's approval, her place in the family company she worked so hard to prove her worth for, and the love she held so close to her heart were all things she could never have. This final blow was more than she could take.

Hinata felt herself shiver as the blank face she held for weeks crumbled away, and she drugged herself into a ball to cry. Her phone fell out of her hand with its offenses. She wanted to disappear, just like she wished the messages would.

She wasn't so lucky. "Hinata?" Hinata felt another sob hit her. "Hey." He asked again.

Hinata covered her head with her hands. She wanted to be left alone. Why wasn't she allowed even that? Did the universe hate her this much? She felt a weight be placed over her head. She shivered, hazarding to look past her knees to see that fabric blocking her vision.

"Come on, before someone else comes along," Sasuke dragged her up, holding his umbrella over her head. "I'll buy you a hot drink from the vending machine around the corner."

"Sasuke-san… I don't want your help." Hinata whispered.

"Well, I'm not leaving you on the floor to cry over that idiot." Sasuke pulled the jacket down over her shoulders and pulled the hood up to hide her face. "He's not worth it."

Hinata pulled back from him. "What would you know?"

Sasuke's face twitched into a pained scowl. "Not everything we love we get to keep."

Hinata gaped at him. "What would you know about love, Sasuke-san?" She snagged up her bag and brushed past him shoving her way through the main door.

She didn't realize, until far too late, she still had his jacket tucked on her shoulders.

After two days in bed, Hinata still felt too sick. The clock warned her it was time to get up. She just wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep. She preferred just not to wake up.

Hinata wasn't allowed to be so selfish. She dragged herself out of bed, to school, to class, to lunch. She felt eyes on her. She couldn't hope for the right reason. She was sure, at this point, everyone had an opinion on why she was out after such a public conversation. It didn't matter if it was true or not.

Hinata deliberated on bringing Sasuke's jacket back. It was taunting her. She shouldn't have been so mean to him, but she also didn't want to explain why she had it. She would have to meet him privately to give it back. Until then, it burned a hole, neatly folded, in a bag by her bedroom door to mock her for how far she had fallen.

A snap in front of her alerted her to strawberry milk, and an energy-boost cold medication appearing in front of her. She followed Kiba and Shino's eyes to find Sasuke sitting down at the other end.

Sasuke was trying to make up for it. Hinata wasn't sure why he would think he needed to, but she wasn't a stranger to not understanding why Sasuke did things. But she should be the one to apologize.

"What was that?" Kiba asked.

Hinata opened the milk. "He's just being nice."

"Why?" Kiba asked. "He's not the one who…." Shino elbowed him in the ribs.

Hinata kept her eyes down on the boost drink. It felt nice to have someone think of her, even if it was just pity. She knocked back the boost and sipped the milk. Sugar might help the heartbreak.

Hinata sat on a park bench, staring at the stars. The cool breeze brushed past her shuffling the leaves on the trees and dusting strands of hair into her face. She was going to be in trouble. She should have been home hours ago. What did it matter? What was she going to do to become more of a disappointment? Was it even possible? She was already cancer in her father's eyes, and now not just his…

Hinata let a tear fall freely from her cheeks. The pain was immeasurable. She just got used to it, or at least she thought she had. This new cut was deep, and it was bleeding out the last of her hope of being happy.

She didn't deserve happiness. The universe was telling her that every day.

"Here." Hinata jumped. A prepackaged treat was held out by a somber-looking Sasuke.

Hinata didn't take it right away. She felt bad for Sasuke being in the middle of this. Due to their parents' jobs and social status, the two of them were pushed together at a very young age. They avoided each other at school, so people never really knew how well they knew each other.

Sasuke shook the package. "Don't be stubborn." He opened it and held it back out to her.

Hinata took it. "I appreciate your effort to make me feel better, but you don't need to make up for things you didn't do."

Sasuke sniffed as he sat down beside her. It sounded wet. Maybe he was sick, his nose was raw, and his eyes looked red. "Naruto isn't going to be upset that I'm making you feel better. If anything, he's mad at me for not telling him, so he wouldn't have hurt your feelings so publicly."

Hinata bit into her treat to avoid responding. Sasuke didn't need to know what she was really upset about.

"Has…" Sasuke paused. "Have you spoken to Itachi lately?"

"Not since summer, when father had me following him around for meetings. I've seen him in passing, but we haven't talked much since we started this semester." Hinata told him.

Sasuke's face shifted, pressing his lips together. "He's not said anything about his health?"

"Is he sick?" Sasuke was starting to worry her.

Sasuke rubbed his hands together forcefully, taking a shaky breath. "He's… dying."

"What?" Hinata squeaked.

"He has an autoimmune disorder. He picked up something on a trip a few years back." Sasuke licked his lips uncomfortably. "I just found out about it."

Sasuke wasn't sniffling because he had a cold. "It's not treatable?" Hinata asked.

"It will damage his lungs and heart until they stop working. There is nothing they can do but manage the pain and slow it down." Sasuke rubbed his nose with a sniff. Hinata's chest burned with a new sorrow. "I told him he was a selfish asshole." Sasuke glared at the concrete. Hinata's jaw dropped. "He is."

"Sasuke-san, he's dying." Hinata reminded him.

"And he's leaving me with his job!" Sasuke snapped back. "You were raised to be the heir of your family. I wasn't!" The built-up rage poured out of him. "I have been told my whole life my job was to not cause problems for Itachi! He's training. He's studying! No, he can't come to your birthday. He's in France for a business trip!" Sasuke doubled over and shouted at the ground.

The guilt built up over time for not being there for Hanabi burned in her chest. In the end, Hanabi resented her for it.

"Now I have to pick up his job, and I didn't do any of that training shit he got! We have one more year of University! Then I'm CEO of a company I've never worked in!" Sasuke violently ruffled his hair in his spot and just stopped moving. All the energy left him just as it came.

Hinata rested her hand carefully on his back. "I know it won't make you feel better, but Hanabi-chan wasn't trained either, and she'll take over the company when she graduates. She's fast-tracking her University. She'll be meeting you in a few years."

Sasuke's head popped up. "What?"

Hinata gave him a sad smile. "I'm not the heir anymore, either. I'm not hiding in the park because of Naruto-kun. I just don't want to go home."

"They can't do that." Sasuke rationed.

"They already have. It'll be announced before I graduate. I'll never spend a day as head of Hyuga." Hinata picked up her phone and opened it, scrolling up to show him the messages that set her off before. "Hanabi-chan's made it clear she doesn't need my help." Sasuke further scrolled up through the nasty messages her sister sent her. "I suggested spending a year after college training her, and she's made it clear she doesn't need me."

Sasuke scoffed in frustration, setting the phone down. "What is going on?"

Sasuke had crisis coming off him in waves. Hinata felt the same thing last week. Her father finally rejecting her as his heir was what pushed her to confess to Naruto. She might as well get all the rejects out in one go, and it gave her an excuse to look depressed at school. "Don't tell Kiba-kun and Shino-kun. I am happy with them, thinking I'm just heartbroken."

Sasuke sat back. "This isn't fair."

Hinata brought her knees up to her chest, her treat half-eaten and forgotten on the bench. "I'm glad you were here." Hinata broke the silence. "It's not often we get to be honest with others like this." They were never allowed to talk about their clans. It could hurt the company or the family if others knew what went on.

"It's bullshit that it keeps happening," Sasuke grumbled.

Hinata let a few tears fall down her cheeks as the pain bubbled over. It would just keep happening.

"You know we could make this all end, and it would never happen again." Sasuke ruffled his hair painfully. "You know you're smart, beautiful, organized, driven…" He pointed at her angrily, making her flinch. "You're just too damn sweet and innocent."

Hinata blinked at him. Sasuke was a full force again.

"I know I'm a disconnected, uncaring, spoiled piece of shit." Sasuke barked out. "But I have to take this huge responsibility, and I know nothing! And I'm going to admit right now, I'm scared." His eyes filled with tears, and his face turned red from yelling. "I am fucking terrified! I'm not him!" Sasuke's voice cracked. "I can't be him." He sniffed. "He's dying and leaving me with his fucking job, and I don't want it!"

Hinata pierced her lips together, shivering under the cold and weight of his words.

"If only…" Sasuke lost all his energy again. "We could just take the best of both of us and make one person."

"Sounds like marriage," Hinata let out a sad half-laugh. "Sorry, that sounded bad."

"No, it doesn't." Sasuke's face shifted from rage to astonishment, like he was putting puzzle pieces together.

"What?" Hinata asked.

"That's what we could do. Get married." Sasuke said.

"What?" Hinata asked again in disbelief.

"Not really, but that would be part of it," Sasuke mumbled at her horrified face.

"We can't just get married." Hinata waved her hands.

"Just listen. You're good at business. You've spent your whole life training. You have been tossed aside, demoted, dishonored, dethroned, and your sister has turned the other way." Hinata didn't need any reminders. "I am about to be handed a job that I was told I didn't need to worry about because my perfect big brother had it covered, and he won't live through the year. You're too sweet. I'm too bitter. Somehow, we've never hated each other. It's not perfect. We aren't what siblings are. But together, maybe we are something."

"You want me to merge with Uchiha? I would be a traitor." Hinata whipped her face clear of her tears.

"I want you to merge with me, a marriage of two people. You protect me. I will protect you. Through sickness, health, our failings, and our skills." Sasuke explained.

"Sasuke-san, you have no idea what you are saying." Hinata shook her head. "I can't help you. I can't help myself…"

"That's just it. You can't help yourself, but you can help me, and I can help you." He told her. "You and I would run Uchiha. You are the brain and the heart. I'm the force and power."

"Sasuke-san, we've been avoiding each other in public for years. I honestly don't think I could ever convince any one of our friends that you like me, let alone want to marry me."

Sasuke got up and got down in front of her. "But I could."

"What?" Hinata asked.

"We understand each other. What more do you need? You know more about me than every fangirl in the school, better than Itachi knows me. I know you do. We don't have to love each other, but I know we at least have a very odd friendship." Sasuke waved his hand around them. "One that has both of us crying on a bench in the park at midnight." Hinata pushed her fingertips into his shoulders, pushing him away from the idea, and he simply stood up.

"Sasuke-san, I've had my title ripped from me, my heartbroken, and my sister wants me to die." Hinata waved her phone at him. "You couldn't possibly offer me anything that makes this insane idea of yours make sense." She whispered, but it sounded like a cry for help.

"Alright, if it's not all you want, what do you want then?" Sasuke huffed.

"I want… loved," Hinata admitted before reburying her face.

Sasuke felt his stomach bottom out. They were so similar but different. Their hearts and family were ripped away, and after that, what did they have? Friends, would they lose touch within a couple of years? Friends they couldn't even complain to? They both wanted love and support and never got it. It made her work harder for a title she would never receive, and he slacked to the point that stepping into his place would make Uchiha's home tower crumble.

"I will… love you." Sasuke offered.

"What? Sasuke, now you're just saying things." Hinata raised her face to look at him.

Sasuke flung his arms out. "I'm scared." He demanded. "I never felt like my parents loved me as much as Itachi, and until yesterday I didn't think he gave a shit I existed. Fangirls don't love me. They love what they think I am. Your father's treated you like trash for so long that you are starting to believe it. And you have spent your life looking at a man that is looking the other way. So Hinata Hyuga, I will love you if you love me."

"You can't promise me that." Hinata looked away.

Sasuke sniffed, pacing back and forth angrily, and then forced his hand out in front of her. "I promise you, Hinata."

Hinata's lip trembled.

"We are both lying to the world that we don't mind what shit we have been dealt with. I want to not lie to just one person. I want someone to help bear the weight, and in return, I will bear yours. Hinata Hyuga, will you marry me?" Sasuke's eyes bored into hers so Hinata could see his fear of everything he was about to take on, his actual sorrow for her, and his heart.

They were just the same in the end, weren't they?

Hinata reached out her hand and met him. "Yes."