Hinata stared at her plate. She couldn't even force herself to pick at it. She hadn't thought about her mother in so long. Why did she have to show up now?
Itachi coughed beside her a few times before putting his hand on her sleeve. She glanced at him, and his eyes flicked away, covering his mouth with his napkin. Was he asking for help?
Hinata slipped her hands away from Sasuke before turning to him, and he knocked his water over onto the table. They both jumped up. "Excuse us," Itachi said quickly as he grabbed her elbow and pulled her out.
Hinata was expecting him to bolt to the bathroom to throw up or something else to do with his condition, but he stopped just after turning the corner in the hall. "Are you okay?"
"That's what I was going to ask you." Itachi left his hand on her arm.
Hinata felt tears well up as this felt very familiar.
Hinata fisted her hands in her party dress. She didn't want to be here. Why did her father drag her out when she just wanted to stay in her room and cry? Hanabi was allowed to stay home with the nanny. Why couldn't she?
Hinata felt a tug on the back of her skirt. She looked at the table she was beside and back up to her father to see if he was watching before lifting the tablecloth to see who was under it. Itachi waved her in, and she shook her head.
"He's not paying attention. Come on." Itachi reached for her, pulling her under the table.
"I can't upset my father right now… my…" Hinata snapped her mouth together. She was supposed to act like nothing happened, but she didn't want to. Her lip trembled.
"I know." Itachi put his arm around her shoulder. "As long as we're quiet, I don't think he will mind if you're gone for a little while."
Hinata ducked her head as the tears started to fall on their own.
Itachi brushed back her hair from her face. "My mom packs up and leaves when she's upset, too."
Hinata shook her head. "She's not coming back."
"You don't know that. Hanabi is just a baby." Itachi offered.
"She's not coming back," Hinata repeated, looking up at him. Maybe… it was okay if she told just one person what her mother said. Even her father didn't know.
Itachi waited unprepared, with a gentle, reassuring smile on his face that she was about to whip away.
Itachi's hand on her arm grounded her as she breathed and realized what he saw that she hadn't. She was about to have a complete breakdown there at the dining table. She was so shell-shocked she didn't even realize it.
Hinata crouched down to her knees, and Itachi followed her to the floor as she covered her face with her hands. "How could she come here?" She squeaked.
"She doesn't care who she hurts." Itachi spat, reigning in his anger. His hand ghosted to push her hair back, trying to soothe her without making her feel more overwhelmed. She dug her fingers into his hand on her arm. She just wanted the pain to stop.
Footsteps made her tighten into her ball, wishing she could be invisible. "Is she okay? What's happening." Sasuke came down to their level in a rush as he rounded the corner.
Itachi put his hand up. "Just let her breathe."
"What happened?" Sasuke snapped at him again.
Hinata dug her face into her knees. She didn't want to explain this to him. She didn't want anyone to know this shame. She felt Itachi tense up more as he gave Sasuke another signal to stop.
A sob racked through her. She just wanted everything to stop.
Sasuke hands hovered where Itachi's hand snapped out to stop him from holding her. Hinata couched there on her heels with her face in her knees and cried while Itachi slid his hand down over her hair.
Sasuke felt like shit. He thought they knew everything about each other because they spoke so freely growing up. They had grown up in similar circles, but he didn't remember her mom, and he never thought to ask about her.
He had never seen her broken like this. He had no clue what to do. He was useless in this situation. If Itachi knew what he was doing, then Sasuke's instincts to hold her would have just made her feel worse.
Once her crying stopped, her miserable face lifted from her knees, he looked at Itachi for what to do next. Itachi gave her the handkerchief from his suit pocket to wipe her face with. "Go put cold water on your face."
Hinata nodded, taking his hand up, and pushed toward the bathroom.
The brothers watched her as her heels clicked in small steps until she disappeared to clean up.
"Don't hug her, you'll overwhelm her. She just needs to cry." Itachi sighed, turning his hand to look at the marks where Hinata dug her fingers. "If you ever see her make a face like that again, get her out of the room to breathe and make decisions until she calms down."
Sasuke stared at the closed door down the hall and ran a hand back through his hair. He felt like punching something. How did he not know?
"I don't suggest inviting that woman to your wedding." Itachi turned to head back down the hall.
Sasuke caught his arm. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Hiroko Hyuga filed for divorce when Hanabi was only a few months old." Itachi frowned down the hall. "You probably don't remember her. You were young when she left."
"That's not it, is it?" Sasuke knew that this all wasn't over a nasty divorce. At least not Hinata's reaction to it.
"If you want to know more, Hinata will tell you when she's ready." Itachi put his hands in his pockets and nodded toward the bathroom. "If dinner isn't done by the time you get back, make an excuse and take her anywhere but home."
Sasuke frowned at him. Why was he being helpful now?
"I told you she would cause problems." Itachi gave him a final look as he had down that hall.
Sasuke glared at his back. Right back to being a bastard.
Hinata was happy that she returned to everyone getting up from the table and insisted on politely staying a moment despite Sasuke trying to drag her away toward the safety of his bike. Hinata regretted not letting him as her mother appeared beside her and lowered her head to her ear. "I will be in town for a few more days. This is my number." Hiroko slipped a paper into her hand, and Hinata immediately crushed it with her stress. Her mother stepped past and got into a stopped cab without looking back.
Sasuke gave her one more tug, and she gave up all resistance to follow him.
Hinata held on to his ribs as tight as she could as she held her eyes shut. They had rode too long for him to be taking her home. She wasn't sure where they were going, and she didn't care. Just not home.
Sasuke finally stopped them and turned off the bike. Hinata hesitated to open her eyes and find her house waiting, but did when she realized in the silence, she could hear water.
Sasuke waited as she released him to look up at their usual spot to look out at the ocean, and she took off her helmet to properly take it in.
Hinata sat herself in the grass, looked out at the waves, and waited for Sasuke to join her. He wrapped something warm around her that she thought was his jacket at first, but she looked down to see a blanket.
"I'm glad I put that in the compartment," Sasuke commented as he adjusted it around her.
Hinata tucked her legs in and lowered her face to the edges.
"I didn't know your mom was alive." Sasuke finally said what was on his mind the whole time.
Hinata pressed her lips in a line. Should she say what was on hers? "I forget she is."
"You've never talked about her." Sasuke prodded gently. She just wished he came out and said it.
"She hates me," Hinata said bluntly. Sasuke fell silently. What would he say to that? If she just told him her secret, she wouldn't have to hold on to it anymore. "She told me… that I am the reason why her life was miserable." Hinata looked at him to watch his eyes widen. "That she should have never had me, but because she did, she didn't leave earlier. That I was making it harder for her to leave because she would be judged for leaving me behind."
Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a breath of his disbelief.
"She abandoned me and Hanabi-chan and didn't look back." Hinata's voice cracked. "Never once did she call on our birthdays or check on us when we were sick. My father may not like me, but my mother never loved us."