103A/N: Hmm, it's been a while. I hope my writing style is still somewhat compatible with this story?
Also this chapter is a bit longer than normal. I think I was just a bit too enthusiastic to write today, haha. Also forgive me for any writing/typo errors.
Love Me, Hate Me, Want Me
Chapter 4: Deranged Families
Hinata's eyes shifted around the room. First to the grandfather clock in the hallway, then to small clock above the mantel, then finally to the small wristwatch that her sister had given to her as a birthday present last year. Her eyebrows crinkled in confusion. It was 6:05. Uchiha Sasuke was definitely late. She sighed; he was lucky that her father and her cousin had already gone ahead to the function to make sure that everything as in order. The Hyuuga heiress stood up and gracefully walked over to the large windows of the sitting room, peeking out the slight part between the curtains. The sun was beginning to set.
Though there was nothing wrong with not being exactly on time, Hinata knew that her father valued punctuality greatly. As the Hyuuga was lost in thought, a sudden yellow and orange blob appeared out of the shrubbery and adhered itself to the window. The aforementioned Hyuuga jumped back, using her hands to muffle her shriek before it disturbed the entire household.
"Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" Hinata asked exasperatedly as she hurried to pull open the window. Her boyfriend was looking a bit worse for wear; his normal bright orange shirt had collected a number of leaves and twigs (as did his hair…) and his jeans had various grass stains here and there. He had evidently been crawling along the ground to avoid being detected by her family.
"Wow, you look great, Hina-chan!" Was the first thing he said when he was able to get a good look at her. She blushed at his compliment.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him again. He really, really shouldn't be here. What if one of the servants came by and saw him?
"I came to see you of course!" He stated as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. "Do you realize that I haven't seen or talked to you in two days?"
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." She gave him an apologetic smile. "It's just so hard with trying to keep up appearances for Father."
"Nah, that's alright." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Say, could I at least get a hug from you?" Hinata giggled to herself. She found it endearing whenever Naruto would nervously ask her for the smallest and simplest things.
"Of course you can." Naruto started to climb in through the window but at that moment a limousine rolled up onto the driveway. Hinata panicked and shut the window in a hurry, accidentally causing her boyfriend to lose his balance and fall back into the bushes. "I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun!" the Hyuuga whispered at the window, unsure if he could actually hear her.
The doorbell rang and Hinata went to go answer it, expecting to find Sasuke there. Though when she opened the door, she was greeted with a red rose. She stared at the flower, bewildered, before her eyes moved upwards and met the face of an older tall, black-haired man who looked like Sasuke yet wasn't him. He was dressed in a nice, clean tux with his long, ink-black hair pulled into a loose ponytail.
"Good evening, Hinata-san. May I say that you look quite stunning tonight?" He smiled at her, though his eyes held a gleam that Hinata couldn't quite place.
"Um, thank you?" She returned, shyly brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and reaching her hand forward to take the offered flower. "I'm sorry but, who are you?"
"Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself earlier! My name is Itachi! I am Sasuke-chan's elder brother!" His eyes closed as he smiled. He immediately pulled Sasuke into a sideways hug. Hinata blinked. He hadn't noticed Sasuke.
"Don't call me that." Sasuke all but growled at his older brother as he pulled himself out of his brother's forceful embrace. "You look nice." He grumbled out at her, refusing to make eye contact with Hinata, obviously displeased by the display his brother had made. He reached forward and grabbed her hand before pulling her along with him. "Come on, let's go. We're already late." As they neared the door of the limo, with Itachi trailing far behind, Sasuke pulled her up against his body, his arm wrapping around her waist. Hinata found herself warm up a bit at the close contact.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to her. Hinata looked up at him in confusion be he still refused to make eye contact. As he opened the limousine door for her to step in, she realized what he meant.
"Where is she?" Neji impatiently paced around the large ballroom. "She should be here by now. She has to be here. Did she get lost? Did the chauffer forget to pick her up? Or worse, did she get kidnapped? Maybe she got into an accident and-"
"Calm yourself, Neji." Hiashi told his nephew. The function had only begun a half hour ago and many people were still trickling in, since dinner would not be served for another thirty minutes. He decided to take a little tea break from greeting all the guests. The Hyuuga coorperation head was the picture-perfect definition of poise and level-headedness as he casually picked up the teacup before him and took a small sip. Though, on the inside, he was in turmoil. Where is that Uchiha? He better not have forgotten about this function. He probably picked her up… Inner Hiashi thought to himself. Wait, he better not be making out with my daughter. That punk! Inner Hiashi's eye gleamed with a hateful fire.
"But Hinata-chan is never late." Neji stated as he took the seat next to his uncle. A waiter came forward and poured him a cup of hot tea. He nodded his thanks before taking his first sip. "She is always on time."
"Don't worry, I'm sure her escort will get her here on time."
"Her what?!"
"You look so beautiful Hinata-chan!" Uchiha Mikoto gushed at the young girl. "I'm so happy that you and Sasuke are spending some time together! You know your mother and I were always great friends…"
Sasuke tuned out his mother's ramblings as he slinked further into his seat in the limousine. After he had run into his parents at the store—or rather he had ran away from them—his annoying older brother had told his parents everything.
When his family had finally tracked him down, his mother enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. While his parents expressed their happiness for Sasuke's relationship, they weren't particularly pleased with him becoming involved with the Hyuuga heiress without their knowledge. Granted, anything was better than that obsessive pink-haired stalker that took to, essentially, living in their backyard; not that it was a particularly inconvenient issue as they did have a huge backyard.
His mother, though, was particularly ecstatic about Sasuke's relationship with Hinata. Something with her being friends with Hinata's mother or something like that. Sasuke found himself tuning her out as they had walked back to the tux rental store.
"If you're going to the function, then we should all go together then!" His mother had proposed. Before Sasuke had been able to turn down her offer, his meddling brother had enthusiastically agreed. It had been a while since they had a family outing. His father was stoically silent, as always.
So that brings us to where they are now, in the Uchiha company limo. Sasuke and Hinata sat on one side of the limo while his family sat across from them. His mother was still talking quite animatedly at the Hyuuga heiress and Sasuke was impressed that the girl could maintain such a calm and pleasant composure. While his father and brother casually drank some of the champagne and discussed about Itachi's life, the Uchiha stock shares, and what not, the youngest Uchiha took this moment to study the girl that he was sitting next to.
He had meant it when he said that she looked nice. Though 'nice' was definitely an understatement. He did not understand how the Hyuuga could take something as simple as a floor-length white dress with a sweetheart neckline (Sasuke knew his dresses thankyouverymuch) and make it look into a sophisticated ensemble. Despite only being 15, the young Hyuuga heiress had a very mature air about her.
"-such a beautiful necklace, Hinata-chan! Where did you get it?" Sasuke's attention moved with his mother's to the sliver necklace around her neck, bearing a small blue stone.
"Oh, this?" Came her soft, hesitant voice. "Um, Na- uh, Sasuke gave it to me for our one-month anniversary." The aforementioned Uchiha looked at her as she mentioned her name. He tried to keep the confusion hidden from his face as not to give them away.
"Oh, Sasu-chan!" His brother moved forward and encircled him in another forceful hug. Sasuke grimaced as he tried to remove himself from his brother's vice-like grip. "You're becoming so grown up! Buying gifts for your girlfriend!"
"Get off!" Why must his brother insist on these public displays of affection? Out of the corner of his eyes he could see laughter came from both his mother as Hinata as their eyes closed in mirth. To the side, his father just sighed to himself as he poured another glass of champagne.
It wasn't long after that before the limousine had arrived at the headquarters of the Hyuuga Corporation. Bright lights lit up the building as cars after cars moved to get their passengers into the building before rushing off to find good parking spaces. This was, without a doubt, one of the biggest business gatherings of the year.
The youngest Uchiha stepped out the door of the family limo and turned around to help the Hyuuga heiress out. Hinata encircled her arm around his as they walked behind his family up to the entrance. As they neared, he could feel his heart pounding through his date was in no better condition if her vice-like grip was any indication of how she felt.
"Hey, relax." He whispered to her. She tilted her head upwards to meet his eyes. "Don't worry. Everything thing will be alright." He gave her a small smile of reassurance, which she returned. Her grip loosened as they entered the building and, subsequently, the ballroom. Sasuke was impressed that the Hyuuga were able to convert their lobby into an appropriate gathering space.
"Name?" asked the man at the front podium. He regarded them with calm eyes.
"Uchiha Fugaku and family." Came his father's cool reply.
"You and your family will be seated at table 2." Not the head table, but not a bad table either. So the Hyuuga didn't want to get on the Uchiha's bad side. As it should be. As Sasuke moved to follow his family, the man stopped him.
"Ah, Hinata-sama!" he greeted the heiress with a small bow and she smiled in return. "You and your date are actually going to be sitting at the head table." Sasuke gulped. This meant...
"Hello Sasuke-san. How nice to see you." As the pair neared the head table, they meet the calm stare of Hyuuga Hiashi and the less-calm face of one Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke had almost forgotten that Hinata's cousin was the Hyuuga Neji. First in his class, head of every atheletic team and every martial… arts… club…
Shit.
Sasuke didn't particularly like the manner with which Hinata's deranged cousin was twirling the butter knife between his fingers. Even if it was just a butter knife. As he and Hinata walked took their seats at the head table, he couldn't help but wonder to himself, are all successful families this deranged?
A/N: Alright, so how was that? Returning to fanfiction writing was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The good thing is that I do have another chapter planned (or rather, I have a general idea about what it should be about) so that'll come eventually (soon?)? I hope it's even remotely close to how funny I used to be able to write?
Vexitoire