Chapter 2: The Counteroffer

The office of the Sixth Hokage was eerily silent. Shizune stood wide-eyed and frozen in place with her pen held above her notebook. Kakashi appeared to have a subtle twitch to his left eye, which Hiashi vaguely pondered he was imagining. This was the reaction he anticipated.

'His daughter's hand? That's awfully bold.' Kakashi contemplated whether or not Hiashi had gone mad. Perhaps an undisclosed head injury in the war. But before he could inquire about the man's sanity, Shizune beat him to it with a sudden outburst.

"You can't be serious!" she yelled in a panic, her notebook falling to the ground. "What would you even hope to gain by marrying Hinata off like this?!"

Kakashi stared back and forth between Shizune and Hiashi. He appeared to be mentally sound, but there was one way to find out.

"You…you did mean Hinata, right?" Kakashi asked.

The austere composure Hiashi entered with had been lost. "Of course I mean Hinata!" he asserted. "Hanabi is barely 12 years old. That would be absurd. How you could you even suggest—"

"Either daughter is absurd!" Shizune interrupted. "Hinata is barely even 18! Surely there are… agreeable suitors?" she offered, her hands gesturing all around at a loss.

'So, he is in the right state of mind. But what the hell prompted this?' Kakashi watched as Shizune and Hiashi went back and forth. Shizune was usually much calmer than this, but this offer was certainly a permissible reason to lose one's composure.

"It's precisely the suitors that are the problem," Hiashi stated firmly.

"If a boy is troubling Hinata there have to better ways of securing a more appropriate partner for her than this." Exasperated, Shizune spoke faster with each passing word. "Have you tried talking to her? Surely whoever has captured her interest cannot be so terrible that you've come to this. I know Naruto wouldn't quite fall in line with the Hyuuga clan but he—"

"Would you be silent for a minute!" The clan head exclaimed. "It is not a matter of a crush or boyfriend or the typical things you speak of. I've received proposals —numerous proposals—from powerful shinobi, wealthy merchants, and other influential men—and not only from Konoha. Maybe some of them find my daughter…" He searched for the word. "… attractive. But what really attracts them is the byakugan."

"But why would you need to—" Shizune began before Kakashi held his hand up to silence her.

Hiashi sighed. This woman. He took a breath and began again, passing the adorned scroll to Kakashi. "This last one came from the Fire Daimyo himself, on behalf of his son."

The daimyo? Kakashi contemplated the implications as he read through what could only be interpreted as a demand for Hinata's hand in marriage.

"We have maintained peace for nearly a year now, but inevitably there will be future conflicts. Political marriages have always occurred. Shinobi clans have often arranged such marriages to establish warring alliances. But this would be linking political power to shinobi power. With the byakugan at their disposal, who knows what the future daimyo may try to accomplish? Even other daimyos. The new Water Daimyo is even closer in age to Hinata."

"I suppose it was a matter of time." Kakashi stated calmly. "As the Hidden Villages have formed this Shinobi Alliance, it has in ways, tied the hands of the daimyo. But if they had their own shinobi bloodlines…" he drifted off. "But to deny the daimyo could mean dire consequences for the village."

"Not if Hinata were already promised to another in a blood contract. Even the daimyo would honor that…provided it was before his offer."

'I don't like the sound of any of this. Future daimyo with powerful bloodlines. Hell, they might not even be future daimyo. She could just as easily be a broodmare concubine offered to anyone they see fit for procreation.'

The thought of it all made Kakashi sick. He knew Hinata personally, having worked with Team 8 on numerous occasions, especially during Kurenai's pregnancy. He watched her grow from a shy kunoichi watching his blue-eyed student from the distance to someone willing to stand front and center and defend her home. To see her become nothing more than a broodmare was disconcerting to say the least. But to marry her—to take her as a wife and all that it entailed—that didn't bode well either.

Hinata was 18—an adult—and unquestionably beautiful. The younger men in the office spoke fondly of her and contemplated aloud the exact size of her bust, though Shikamaru often put a stop to it. Kakashi knew of his own reputation as a lecher and while he couldn't deny his interest in lewd literature, he would never take a woman against her will or touch a former student. And undoubtedly, there would be certain… expectations.

'There's no way Hinata would have agreed to this,' Kakashi reasoned to himself.

"Are you suggesting that Lord Hokage sign a backdated blood oath to marry Hinata? But why Lord Hokage? Couldn't it be anyone else—someone of interest, perhaps?" Shizune offered, still trying to avoid what was starting to seem like the inevitable.

"To my knowledge, there isn't anyone with whom she has a mutual interest." The emphasis on "mutual" did not go unnoticed.

Shizune sighed. It was no secret that Hinata had loved Naruto for years. It seemed that the only one foolish enough not to notice was the boy himself.

"Regardless, Hinata will have little choice but to enter an arrangement. Protecting this village and the byakugan are her duties as a Hyuuga and while my daughter may no longer be heir to clan, she knows and honors her duties. But to marry a man of a lower status than a daimyo, they may still insist on breaking an oath. We only have one chance to deny him."

"And what does Hinata think of your plan?" Kakashi asked, his hands now folded over the scroll.

"She doesn't know," was Hiashi's simple response.

'So… he hasn't even offered her a choice. Well, an unwilling bride isn't an option' Kakashi mentally noted.

"Talk to Hinata first. She should hear it from you rather than at a council meeting. If she has no objections…if it's her choice," he rephrased, "I'll marry her."

Of the three in the office, Shizune was perhaps the most surprised.

-End Chapter 2-