Chapter 7: A Midnight Rendezvous

The night before they set out to meet the daimyo, Kakashi had come to the Hyuuga Estate to talk to Hinata. His presence there would raise no flags and there were likely to be fewer prying eyes despite the Hyuuga clan's known kekkei genkai. From what he heard, it was frowned upon, forbidden even, to use the byakugan within the residential grounds. As a formal clan with clear guidelines and traditions, it was unlikely any of them would break the rules to spy on them.

He hadn't told her he was coming, and she wasn't dressed for visitors, but one would not turn away the Hokage, though he was hardly trying to use his position to his advantage. It was Ko that answered the call at the main gate, and while reluctant to welcome a man into Hinata's presence at such an hour, he acquiesced knowing that this wasn't just any man. In the days since the meeting with the council, Hiashi and Hanabi had been needed away from the Leaf Village. He was to watch over Hinata, and though she was more than capable of fending for herself, it was a duty he took seriously. Yet he knew that if he denied the Hokage entry, Hiashi would certainly be displeased.

Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck throughout his internal debate, he guided the Hokage to Hiashi's study.

'Better here than her bedroom,' he decided as he went to fetch Hinata. 'Really…a man fourteen years her senior.' He just couldn't wrap his head around it. He was only five years older than her, and even that felt significant. There was a big difference between them when she was eight and he was thirteen and already a chuunin. The same was true when she had graduated from the academy at twelve and he was a seventeen-year-old jonin. Kakashi would have been twenty-six and her crush's sensei. He rubbed his neck some more. 'Really…when did she stop chasing after Naruto?' It didn't make sense, but neither did her crush on Naruto. 'Why are women so hard to understand?' Accepting that he may never understand, he proceeding to knock on Hinata's door and inform her of her visitor.

Kakashi glanced around the study, waiting for Hinata. There was a lot to discuss if they were going to fool the daimyo into believing their scheme. But when he saw Hinata enter the study, her eyes a little drowsy and long hair draped over her shoulder in a simple braid, he momentarily forgot all of what he planned to say. Unlike the clothes she wore during the day which were loose and shapeless, her nightwear left a little less to the imagination.

Her attire was slightly boyish, a rather fitted pair of pink capris and a cream-colored tank that dipped just low enough, the thick strap slipping down her right shoulder some. He could see very clearly the shape of her breast and that she was, quite obviously, not wearing a bra.

'How…unexpected.'

He knew that had he not arrived so late and unannounced, it was unlikely he'd ever see her in this state. Though complaining he was not.

"Lord Hokage," she bowed in greeting, more cleavage becoming apparent. Kakashi tried to avert his gaze.

'Is it really all that wrong to ogle my fiancée?' he questioned. 'But somehow, I really do feel like a perv now. I should probably let her know her top is slipping…. probably.'

Taking one last glance, he cleared his throat. "Ah, sorry to drop in like this, but there's a few details we should iron out before tomorrow."

Hinata nodded her head. "It's okay, I-I was just—"

"Sleeping?" he guessed.

Hinata sheepishly nodded. "Y-yeah." She briefly paused, pushing some stray hair away from her face and behind her ear. "B-but, please…please make yourself at home."

Taking her up on her offer, Kakashi took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Hiashi's desk and motioned with a tilt of his head for Hinata to join him.

"S-so…what is it you would like to discuss, Lord Hokage?" she inquired, still a little sluggish.

"For starters—that. You're going to have to stop calling me by my title if we're to be lovers."

'L-lovers? I-is that what we're supposed to be?' The term was not one she had been accustomed to using. Fiancé. Partner. But not lover. It implied so much more—more than she had experience in, which truthfully was nothing. Even in the privacy of her own thoughts she couldn't help but stutter over the notion that to the rest of the world, that's exactly what they were. She could feel her face growing hot at just the mention of the word. It was the one, and perhaps most important, caveat to their arrangement that she hadn't considered—that they'd have to play the parts of two people who were genuinely in love with one another. Sure, they had subtly done so in the presence of the council, but in the moment, that story and act all seemed so temporary. Yet it wasn't. It was very much a permanent part of this arrangement.

Seeing her sudden flush of color, Kakashi tried to soothe her mind with a business minded approach. "Think of this like a mission. You and I will be undercover as lovers, there to convince everyone of our relationship." Unfortunately, these efforts were a bit misguided. Rather than ease the situation, it only brought her into a mild state of panic.

"B-but I…I've never been on that type of mission," she tried to explain. "The girls who are sent on those types of missions…they're pretty and-and confident…like Ino," she emphasized. "L-lord Hokage I—"

"Kakashi," he corrected. "Not Lord Hokage. Not Lord Kakashi. And definitely not Kakashi-sensei," he iterated. "That may send a completely different kind of message."

He watched as she opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came. She was like a fish out of the water, only fish didn't have breasts competing for his attention. Much like the late Jiraiya, and maybe a reason why he found his novels more enjoyable, sizable boobs were his weakness.

"Lovers don't call each other by title, Hinata. Not only will the daimyo be suspicious, but so will everyone else. You've said my name before—its easy. Ka-ka-shi," he said breaking down the syllables. "There, now you try."

"It-it was different when calling you sensei," she sighed. "Calling you by name…I haven't even…I've never even seen your face." She didn't mean to say that, but in her half-awake state, it just slipped out.

Kakashi eyed her a bit surprised. Maybe he had taken his teasing too far, but it was true what she had said. To her knowledge, she hadn't ever seen his face. He found himself smirking. "Did you want to?" he asked. "I've a normal face, you know. No buckteeth or jumbo lips as some genin may have guessed."

If it were even possible, Hinata found herself even more flustered. "W-well…I mean…if you…I guess I'd see eventually…not that I would make you…but I just…I just assumed—" she didn't know where she was going with any of this. It was late and she was tired and there he was telling her to call him by name in her father's study just hours before they would travel.

'Is this even really happening?' a part of her wondered. The sound of Kakashi laughing snapped her out of her own world. She had never heard him laugh before. It wasn't a heavy laugh, but a deep chuckle.

"Then I'll show you another time," he said, deciding he could tease her no longer. "Let's just go over our story one more time."

"Ah, y-yes."

For the next two hours, they went over their story, how it was Hinata who wanted an early summer wedding, and that it was Kakashi who said "I love you" first. All questions Shikamaru said nosey people were bound to ask, at least from his experience around Ino. And that had led to some personal questions, things that couples would know about each other.

Kakashi noted that Hinata's favorite color was yellow. 'Go figure,' he thought sarcastically. He easily drew his own reasons why. And while he wasn't quite forthcoming about his own likes, he did share his dislike of sweets and fried foods.

'That's a little disappointing,' she thought as she happened to love sweets, though she never pictured him being the type to enjoy zenzai, even if it was technically a soup.

By the time he was prepared to leave, he could say that he learned more than a few new things about his bride. With Ko having long since fallen asleep, something he'd hate himself for in the morning, Hinata walked Kakashi out of the compound.

"I'll see you in a few hours. Try to get some sleep," he suggested.

"Y-yes," she nodded. "Y-you to, Kakashi." She said it so softly, he almost hadn't heard, and the main door to the compound had closed quickly after, but she had said it, and never had his name been called so sweetly.

-End Chapter 7-