"Colorful, Sasuke-san," Hinata said with an amused smile playing on her lips.
Sasuke raised a delicate eyebrow at what came out of his wife's mouth, his expression one of confusion and slight annoyance. He abandoned his bowl of ramen and turned to Hinata, feeling wary at what Hinata was up to. Hinata was not as innocent as she seemed, Sasuke knew. His little wife was an angel in disguise...but he loved that about her, not that he would admit it out loud. He heaved a sigh at this.
"What are getting at?" he bluntly asked. "I'm not in the mood for any games."
"I-It's just a riddle," she covered her hand with her own, stroking his knuckles with the pad of his thumb. "P-please, Sasuke-san? I-It'll be fun!"
Sasuke's eye twitched at the pleading look on Hinata's face. He knew that if he refused her whimsical request, she'd have another pregnancy-related mood swing and Jyuuken'd his ass all the way to Suna. Not to mention he would be sleeping on the couch again. Sasuke didn't want to sleep on that damned piece of crap again, so he figured he had no other choice but to play along.
"Fine, fine..." Sasuke heaved an irritated sigh. How hard could solving a riddle be anyways? "Give it to me."
"O-ok!" a smile broke out on her lips. "'What three words, when mouthed, sounds like 'colorful'?"
Sasuke blinked slowly, his mind processing the riddle at a snail-like pace. His eye twitched in annoyance as he mouthed the word 'colorful' a few times. Nothing came to mind what the answer could be. Hinata's smile widened. "Do you n-need a hint?"
"No," his pride wouldn't allow any assistance whatsoever. Especially not from his wife. "I'm fine."
Just as Sasuke was about to lose it, Shikamaru lazily walked in the ramen bar, his posture relaxed. The first thing he noticed was Sasuke sitting at the counter with Hinata. His eyebrow rose at the tense, frustrated expression playing on the Uchiha's face. Casually, he walked toward them to hear what they were saying, unnoticed by either of them.
"Say the riddle again."
"O-Ok," she giggled softly at her husband's frustration. "'What three words, when mouthed, sounds like 'colorful'?"
Sasuke muttered irritably in response, which startled Shikamaru. He really couldn't solve this simple, no-fuss riddle? Shikamaru smirked, shaking his head as if Sasuke was a hopeless case. And indeed, he was. Shikamaru figured Sasuke could use a little help and walked over to the couple.
"Hey," he lazily greeted, masking his smirk with a small smile. "What's going on?"
"Oh, I-I just gave Sasuke-san a r-riddle," she replied, smiling in return. "He, um...seems to b-be having trouble."
"I am not," Sasuke seethed, restraining the urge to Sharingan the answer from her. His hand balled into a tight fist, clenching tightly. "Leave us alone."
"I can't believe this," he laughed. "The answer's obvious."
"What?" Sasuke growled, his eyes swirling into a crimson storm directed at Shikamaru. Just when Sasuke was about to Chidori the chuckling genius, the next three words that came out of Shikamaru's mouth literally shocked the hell out of Sasuke.
"I love you," Shikamaru said.
All at once, plates fell from the waitress hands, falling to shatter on the floor; shocked gasps swept across the room and a blonde customer choked on his ramen, falling out of his chair, arms flailing. Sasuke looked on at Shikamaru, Sharingan eyes wide with shock and his mouth was agape, trembling.
"What?" Shikamaru made a move to step closer. "All I said was--"
"Get the hell away from me!" Sasuke stood from his seat, sending the chair toppling over. "Not one step closer!"
Hinata's shoulders quaked with silent laughter, her bangs covering her face and eyes. Sasuke figured dimly that she was crying, which angered him even more. He was about to strangle Shikamaru when Hinata suddenly couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Sasuke blinked, his eyes wide with shock again. Hinata slammed the counter with her hand, making her ramen bowl jump at the force.
"H-hinata?" Poor Sasuke felt so confused. "What the hell's going on?"
"Aha ha, n-no..." Hinata broke out in another fit of laughter, "Sasu...Sasuke-san, ha ha...'I love you' was the a-answer to t-the riddle."
Sasuke paused, taking all of this in slowly and then he finally understood. His eye twitched, his mouth hanging open in dumb shock. Dazed, he sat down in an unoccupied seat and stared ahead, his cheeks stained with a faint blush of embarrassment. Slowly, he folded his arms on the counter and laid his head down on them, hiding himself. His voice caught Hinata's soft laughter.
"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke-san," he felt her hands on him; one in his hair and the other on his shoulder. "I-I didn't mean for that t-to happen."
'Yeah, sure you didn't,' he thought bitterly, burying his head deeper. He wanted to crawl into a dark corner and never come out. He never felt more humiliated. He felt Hinata kiss his hair, wrapping her arms lovingly around his neck.
"Colorful, Sasuke-san."
Sasuke inwardly groaned.
A/N: A friend gave me that riddle once. Needless to say, I didn't get the answer right away. XD Poor Sasuke wasn't lucky either.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, ok? =D