She Holds the Cards |SasuHina|

Part III: The Signs She Saw

9:42 on a Saturday morning, eighteen minutes before the . . . the . . .

"Date!" Hanabi bellowed from the bed as Hinata sat at her vanity and combed her hair. "I can't believe you got asked on a date before me — and by Sasuke Uchiha, no less!"

Hinata tried to steel her expression as she sent her little sister a warning look, but it was not very effective — probably because of the massive blush on her face. "H-Hanabi," she said, placing her comb down and standing from her cushioned stool, "it's not a d-d-date. It's just a . . . hangout between . . . f-friends."

Hanabi snorted and kicked her feet off the side of the bed. It looks like she was doing a bad job at convincing both of them.

"Yeah, sure. A totally platonic outing to the amusement park — cuz that doesn't just SCREAM romantic!"

"I've been to the a-amusement park with Tenten and Sakura p-plenty of times," Hinata said.

Hanabi flicked her long hair over her shoulder and shot her an unamused look. "Yeah," she mused, "well Tenten and Sakura aren't romantically interested in you."

Walking across the room to her walk-in closet, Hinata felt her heartbeat tremble. She scoured through her closet, pushing past tank tops and skirts to get to the turtlenecks and jeans. "S-Sasuke isn't —"

"But you'll keep me warm, right?"

"Can I have your number?"

"There's a poem that reminds me of you."

"That day. Should we find it tomorrow, Hinata?"

Hinata snapped her mouth shut and yanked a pair of jeans off the hanger. Even she didn't know Sasuke's true intentions — or maybe she did, and she just wasn't ready to face them yet. Either way, the clock was ticking, and she still had to get dressed. "Hanabi," she called, throwing a white sweater over her arm and walking out of the closet, "I need to get d-dressed."

Hanabi sighed and hopped off the bed, and went pale upon inspecting the clothes Hinata had chosen. "Really?" she asked as her sister placed them on top of her purple comforter, laying them out to get a mental image of how the articles of clothing would look together. "You're wearing that? Are you trying to bore him into asking you out?"

Hinata pursed her lips, not seeing anything wrong with what she chose. Even though the weather was supposed to be sunny that day, it was still the middle of October, and she — despite liking the cold weather — didn't want to get sick. "He's not going to a-a-ask m-me out." He's not actually, right!? "And what do you expect me to wear? A dress?"

Eyes lighting up, Hanabi ran into the closet, only to return with just exactly that in hand. "Just look at this." She flung it over the planned outfit, grinning. Hinata peered at it nervously. She appreciated that her sister picked one with long sleeves, but the skirt was still a bit short, and — and they were going to an amusement park, for goodness sakes! If she wore a dress, he'd think she was . . .

What? Trying too hard? Trying to seduce him? All of the above?

With a squeak, Hinata threw the dress to the other side of the bed and grabbed her white sweater and pulled it to her chest. "Hanabi." She sent her little sister a sharp look. "Out!"

Practically shoving her little sister out of her room, she slammed it shut and sighed. On the other side, she heard Hanabi groan and say, "Don't blame me if he takes one look at you and leaves you on the porch!"

...

At exactly 10:00, the entrance way was full with the rhythmic ring of the doorbell. At exactly 10:00, Hinata rubbed her fingers into the hem of her sweater and saw fuzzy, dark spots creep up on the edges of her vision.