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“Excuse me… We need to get through…”

“Get out of the way!”

Hinata looked up towards the commotion and blanched. A tiny voice in her head urged her to turn around and run, but Hinata dug her heels in and prepared for the worst. She had to face her friends and their questions at some point, and she knew they were probably concerned after she had refused to let them contact her in any way. She had been hoping that Hanabi would succeed and she could tell her friends that everything they had heard was a huge misunderstanding.

Soon Ino and Sakura were standing in front of her. Hinata couldn’t take her eyes off her feet. She resisted the urge to fidget under their questioning stares and tried to think of a way to explain the situation without making them worry too much.

“Um… Ino… Sakura… Hello?”

“Don’t even try!” Ino looked furious, but she managed to keep her voice low. “We know you’d never agree to this farce willingly. We all know you’re in love with—”

“Guys! I finally found you!” Tenten meandered her way through the crowd towards them. “Hinata! What’s going on? Neji didn’t tell me anything about you getting married to Sasuke Uchiha! And they’re also ending his sentence? What’s up with that?”

“Tenten!” Sakura hissed.

“What? Oh — am I being insensitive?” Tenten smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Hinata! But… are you really marrying him because you want to?”

“Um… yes…” Hinata winced at how her pitch went up at the end. She didn’t even sound convincing to herself. The three girls facing her looked at her dubiously.

“Hinata please… Maybe we can help?”

Hinata finally looked up at Sakura’s words. Could she have helped? Maybe her relationship with Lady Tsunade gave her leverage, but would it have been enough to get Hinata what she wants? She didn’t think so…

“Lady Tsunade asked my father if he would give my hand in marriage to Sasuke. It was my honor to accept the request of our Hokage.”

Sakura gasped on hearing what Hinata said, forcing the girls’ attention to her.

“Sorry… but Shishou asked me a few months ago what I thought of you two as a couple. With you two now getting married, I thought she asked me because she knew something about your relationship that we didn’t… Now I know she was asking me to see if you guys would be compatible.”

“What?” Ino screeched. The people around them looked at Ino reproachfully. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

“What did you say?” Tenten asked over Ino’s outburst.

“I told her…” Sakura looked like she was about to vomit up her breakfast. “I told her that Hinata likes Naruto, but if it weren’t for that, they could potentially be a good couple… ”

Ino and Tenten stared at her with wide eyes and mouths hanging open. Ino was the first to recover.

“What do you mean a good couple? They’re nothing alike!”

“Well, I mean, they’re both introverts… and…” Sakura’s eyes were starting to shine with tears.

Taking pity on her, Hinata turned to Ino and said, “It’s alright, there’s no way she could’ve thought that conversation would lead to this. Lady Tsunade probably would’ve gone forward with her plans despite Sakura’s answer.”

“No! No… Shishou isn’t like that! If I’d said that you guys don’t get along or something like that she would’ve never asked Lord Hiashi and you about Sasuke…” Sakura unsuccessfully tried blinking back her tears. “I’m so sorry Hinata! This is all my fault!”

“It’s okay Sakura, I don’t blame you! Please don’t cry!” She came forward and wrapped her arms around her. “You can still try to convince Lady Tsunade that this isn’t a good idea? Or something like that, if possible?”

Sakura pulled back to look at Hinata hesitantly, and then nodded her head with a determined look in her eyes. “Of course, Hinata. You can count on me!”

“I still don’t understand why Sasuke is being pardoned though.” Tenten pondered. “Is Lady Tsunade letting him go because she thinks you and your family will be able to keep an eye on him? Literally?”

Hinata didn’t really understand either. “I don’t think we’ll be staying on the compound. No accommodations have been prepared as is typical for a newly wed couple. So I don’t think it has anything to do with my family keeping an eye on him.”

“Ugh! I wish we could just run away with you somewhere far away…” Ino grumbled as she flipped her hair back in irritation. “Sasuke is the last person on earth you should be forced to spend the rest of your life with!”

Hinata huffed out a laugh. "I wish I could run away with you guys too..."

Ino's eyes softened. "Hinata—"

“It’s time to go.” Hanabi had quietly appeared at Hinata’s shoulder without any of them noticing. She was staring off to the side with a deep scowl etched into her face.

Hinata sighed and started to turn away from her friends.

“Hinata!”

She twisted to look back at Sakura.

“I’m sure Hanabi’s great company, but please don’t shut yourself away from us like that again.”

Hinata felt tears prickling her eyes but managed to keep them at bay. She nodded and quickly turned back around to follow Hanabi.

“I still don’t understand how you could say those two would be good together.”

“Oh drop it! I didn’t think of it too much! They’re both quiet, and if Sasuke had any hobbies besides fighting they’d probably be similar to Hinata’s. I just thought they’d get along well! It was all hypothetical!”

“Sakura,” Tenten interrupted. “Aren’t you supposed to head to the shrine with the rest of them? I thought you were going with Sasuke?”

“Oh shit I forgot!” With that Sakura sprinted off in the same direction as Hinata and Hanabi had gone as fast as her heels allowed her.