"How many?" Hinata pulled the presented folder closer.
"Most of them," Neji explained. "Sponsors are dropping out one right after another. They are all claiming that you being there poses a risk to their safety."
Hinata frowned. "If that were the case, they would have dropped out weeks ago."
"Or they know something we don't." Kisame's deep voice chimed in.
Neji snapped up to glare at Kisame for interjecting, but then he shifted his eyes away as his glare got deeper, realizing he could be right.
"I think they do know something we don't, but I doubt it's a threat. I think they are using me as an excuse to hide the real reason they are pulling out." Hinata closes the folder. "I will look into it. I am going to one of the companies today for a different project."
"Don't assume that this is over just because they haven't tried again recently. The protesters are getting more restless with time."
"We aren't even sure if they were responsible. I am not convinced that it's not some unrelated that used the convenience of the bad press to throw off the police." Hinata looked out the window where floors below, the protests were still going strong and were falling on the deaf ears of their board member. They knew the company was too big to be severely damaged by this, even if it went on for months. The corporation had its hands in too much of the public's daily lives. It was nearly impossible to cut purchasing from them out entirely. "It would be clever to use all this rage as a shield."
Neji shook his head but didn't voice his disagreement. He collected the folder and his things. "Just be careful."
"That's what I have Kisame-san for." Hinata smiled over her shoulder at him.
Kisame watched Hinata's face fall as she spoke to the executive. She forced a smile back on her face, bowed her head, and returned to him. "Everything okay?"
Hinata looked behind her and let her disappointment show on her face. "Apparently, some of the companies that have been sponsoring our public works projects have been receiving threats of their own for working with us, but it seems that the threats are only for this one event at the moment." She knotted her fingers together. "I hope that is the end of it."
He could see in her face that she didn't think that it would be.
Hinata folded her hands in front of her as she listened to the speaker. Events still happened even if they didn't have the money and support they had before. Some companies ignore the threats, but she understood the fear of backlash their peers had. The cold breeze was making her wonder if Kisame was getting cold.
She flinched as she felt a raindrop run down her face and held her hand out. A few more fell on her hand. Kisame and a number of other people opened umbrellas. The attendees were told to expect a drizzle.
Kisame held the black umbrella over her head but not his own. She backed up. He moved it back. She backed up again. He held it to the side to keep it from running into him. She backed up one more time, and he got the point, holding it over both their heads while she stood nearly between his shoes.
Hinata suppressed her smile as she glanced over her shoulder at him. His face was a deep shade of purple as he avoided looking at her. Maybe he would include himself the first time next time.
As the speaker finished, Hinata clapped with the rest and took a few steps toward the stage as they descended to congratulate them before her shoe seemed to completely fall out from under her. She squeaked as she fell forward, but a frantic hand hooked her up from falling flat on her face.
Her back hit Kisame's chest, and she locked her arms around his hand that splayed across her rib cage until she was sure she wasn't going to fall over. "I am going to sit you down." He helped her limp to the nearest seat, a rock wall to the public garden they were in.
Hinata looked down at her shoe to find the heel entirely snapped off. That was going to be embarrassing to hobble around with.
Kisame held the umbrella over her head and tried to ignore the heat in his face and the uncomfortable feeling in his hand. Hinata didn't seem to notice, but he definitely noticed that the way he caught her, his thumb was inconveniently right between…
He really should have caught her any other way. He felt like such a creep, and he didn't even do it on purpose.
"I don't think I can walk in these." Hinata pouted, pulling the shoe off and putting her toes on the cold, wet concrete to examine the break.
Kisame looked over at the car. It was right there. He could just carry her, but the last thing he wanted to do right now was touch her. Wait. "Hold this for a moment."
Hinata took the offered umbrella and watched him as he ran to the car and dug into the trunk before returning and kneeling down to her feet with slippers. "Why do you have those?"
"I thought you could use them if your feet hurt too much. You might want to take your shoes off after a long night," Kisame explained, setting down the flat slippers in front of her feet and collecting the heel she slipped out of to put them on.
"That's very sweet of you." Hinata smiled at him.
Kisame cleared his throat and took back the umbrella as he stood up.
Kisame leaned back on the office couch and scrolled through his phone. There wasn't much else for him to do while she was at her desk. She was rarely in her office for more than an hour or two, but it left him without much to do unless someone came bursting through the door.
He rubbed at his stab wound. It was healing up well, but sometimes that meant it itched like hell.
"Stop that." Hinata hissed from her desk. Hold her hand over the receiver.
Kisame flinched at looked at her to receive her frown. Yeah. He wasn't supposed to rub at it.
Hinata was silent for a while longer, waiting to be brought off hold. "Oh, yes. I am here. I had a message from your office that you wanted me to call?" Her tone changed. "I… we got a cancelation on your end."
Kisame turned to see the face crinkle up in distress.
"No. I mean, someone from your company called to cancel… No, I am not sure who… I…" Hinata snapped her mouth shut to keep from interrupting. Kisame could hear the yelling on the other side from all the way over here. "I wasn't accusing you." Her voice got impossibly softer. "I am sure we can get something back on the calendar… I…" Her eyes ghosted over to him, and she looked down, ashamed.
Kisame blood boiled. That is not an emotion she should have to feel while someone was screaming at her. It was taking everything in him not to rip the phone away and correct their tone.
"I will personally call you," Hinata promised. "Thank you." What the hell do they deserve a thank you for? "I will make sure… of course. Have good…" She held the phone away from her face. "He hung up."
"You should have the moment he started screaming," Kisame growled.
Hinata looked up at him with a miserably tired look on her face. Kisame pushed down his anger. He wasn't going to make her feel any better by showing her how pissed off he was. She felt the need to fix everything. "My job is to keep people happy. Sometimes that is assuming fault and taking the occasional hostile phone call."
Kisame sat back further into the couch.
Hinata set her face up in her hand with a pout. "I want another coffee."
"But you try not to have coffee after three." Kisame reminded her, but he could see in her pout that this was an extenuating circumstance. "I'll order you something."
"Thank you." Hinata rested back in her chair and sighed. "I feel like I am being punished."
Kisame paused, typing her order into his phone. "For what?"
"Nothing, ignore me." Hinata sat back up straight and went to her next task, giving her office phone a worried look as if to ask it how else it could ruin her day.
** Lavender Long Stories **
Hey, with how many issues has been having I would like everyone to know I cross post to AO3 under Lavender_Long_Stories and I have an active tumblr lavender-long-stories