The Bachelor Button

By: Vexitoire

Chapter 2: An Interlude

(In other words, I can't find the right flower to use for this chapter)

It was all over the news the next day:

"HYUUGA HEIRESS: ENGAGED!"

"LOVE AFFAIR? SUDDEN HYUUGA ENGAGEMENT!"

And the likes.

Hinata was sleeping soundly in her room in her large apartment when her father had awoken her with a phone call at 7 in the morning. And it was her day off too.

He called, asking her about her engagement and why he had not be informed of it ahead of time. There was so much planning to do! If he had actually seen this coming then he wouldn't be as stressed as he was now! He mumbled something about having to get a tailor, talk to a wedding planner, and come up with ideas for the honeymoon before hanging up the phone.

Hyuuga Hiashi wanted his daughter's wedding to be perfect.

The Hyuuga heiress's eye widened. An engagement? She got out of bed, walking around and dressing herself in a daze. Just as she was getting ready to go brush her teeth, her cousin, Hyuuga Neji, burst into her room.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Her cousin didn't look too well. He was in a frenzy; he was talking so fast his words were slurred together, he looked like he hadn't had enough sleep, and his hair was not in its normal neat pony tail. Hinata knew something was wrong.

"Neji-, Neji-, NEJI-NII-SAN!" A very uncharacteristic shout from Hinata finally caused her older cousin to calm down, like she had expected it would.

"Here!" he passed newspaper after newspaper into his younger cousin's arms. "Look!" The Heiress's eyes widened in shock (and terror) as she read the headlines. So this was what Otou-san was talking about!

"N-Neji-nii-san? What is this about? Why does the press think that I'm getting married?

"Err well…" Neji's eyes looked everywhere but at Hinata as he handed the TV remote to her. "See for yourself."

Hinata looked skeptically at her cousin before pressing the power button on the remote and the dark screen of the television set in her room lit up.

A very flustered Neji was seen outside the building of the Hyuuga Corperation with a bouquet of bright yellow roses in his hands. Hinata assumed that this was after she had found the flowers in her office and asked for Neji to dispose of them.

The camera-men and the reporters immediately came down on him like hounds; they knew something was up.

"Hyuuga-san! Hyuuga-san! A word please?"

"Why are you holding a bouquet of roses?"

"Who are those roses for?"

Neji looked around from one camera to the next. Normally he was able to hold his composure when faced with the media. But with all the questions that were being thrown at him, the fact that was trying to get rid of some flowers that no one were supposed to find out about, and his growing dislike for whomever had sent said roses, had caused his normal thinking capacity to decrease…dramatically.

"Uh…" Neji replied back ineloquently. "These roses were found in my cousin's office."

"But why are the roses yellow?"

"Do you know who gave them to your cousin?"

"Why are you throwing them away?"

There was a slight pause as the reporters waited for Neji to answer them. But a dull silence, pierced only by the flashing of cameras, lulled over them.

"Wait! I remember! Yellow roses can signify sunlight!" came the voice of one reporter.

"Ah yes! Sunny flowers for the Sunshine of the Hyuuga Company?" There were murmurs of agreement between the reporters. Despite being a pretty strong businesswoman, Hyuuga Hinata was a favorite of the media for a gentle personality and kind words.

"But were the roses for Valentine's Day?"

"Hyuuga-san! Did you give those to Hinata-san?"

"Did she reject your feelings?"

"Is that why you're throwing them away?"

"Wait WHAT?" Neji broke out of his momentarily stupor. "No! I do not like Hinata that way!"

"Are you saying that you don't think your cousin is pretty?"

"I'm sure she is a pretty sought-after woman!"

"No, I don't think she's ugly or anything," Neji responded lamely, "Someone else gave them to her!"

"Do you know who it is?

"Were there more bouquets?"

"No I don't!" Neji growled out. "But when I do, I will kill whomever did!" The camera didn't much to extenuate the murderous glint that gleamed in the Hyuuga's eyes.

One of the reporters suddenly lunged forward, his hand diving into the yellow flowers. Neji, who was momentarily distracted by the mention of the one unlucky person that had given Hinata flowers, had not noticed what the reporter was doing.

"Look a note!" That reporter's hand reemerged from the bouquet with a small card in his hand. He had a very triumphant smile on his face. All the other reporters and cameramen crowded around the small white card in an attempt to get a better look at it.

"What does it say?"

"For my beautiful Angel… That all I can read. The second line probably had gotten wet from the water and it smudged!"

"These flowers are from the Yamanaka Flower Shop!" One reporter turned away from the small group around the card and his attention was focused on Neji.

"Hyuuga-san! Did Hinata-san ask for you to throw away these flowers?"

"Um… yes." Neji replied slowly, in a daze. He hadn't noticed the card there.

"Studies have shown that when men get Yamanaka Flowers is when they are proposing."

"For Hinata-san to want to get rid of these flowers mean that she must be hiding something!" All attention turned back to the Hyuuga that was cornered by the press.

"Is Hinata-san is engaged?"

"Yes," The Hyuuga responded immediately, not really thinking about what he said before he had said it. He really needed to get back inside the building. Immediately the chatter of the reporters intensified. Neji froze on the spot, suddenly realizing the repercussions for his words. "What? Wait! No-"

Neji was swallowed up by the reporters and the cameramen as questions of "Who is it? Who is it?" filled the air.

The scene of the media attacking Neji had disappeared and been replaced with the smiling face of the news broadcaster in the studio appeared on the screen.

"Well you saw it here, folks! Hyuuga Neji of the Hyuuga Corporation has confirmed that their beloved heiress is engaged! Check back after the traffic report as we run down a list of the possible fiancés!"

"Nii-san!" the loud outburst could be heard throughout the Hinata's entire apartment complex, followed by another strangled cry.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama!" The heiress's eyes narrowed. Neji only used that suffix when he was trying to get away with something.

"We need to figure out who gave you those flowers before the press does and blows it out of proportions!" he suddenly said, in an attempt to quell Hinata's anger.

The Hyuuga woman sighed. "Of course. But I would greatly appreciate it if you stayed away from the press for now, Neji-nii-san. I'm going to call Ino-chan."

End of Chapter 2

A/N: I'm not much of a humor person. So this chapter might come off as a bit… stupid.

This was a lot longer than I intended, but was fun to write.

…Sasuke hasn't seen the news yet… has he? Don't you just love the media?

Vexitoire