title: falling stars
genre: romance. fluff? is that a genre?
rating: T for... i don't know how to rate things
word count: 1,195
headnote: inspired by the song of the same name from eminence.
i really should be studying.
warning1: OOCness?
warning2: i think this is AU-ish. i don't know. pretend everything is peachy.
disclaimed.
falling stars
X
He wasn't entirely sure how he got himself in this particular predicament.
One moment he was sitting under a tree next to the lake, just outside the village, stargazing lazily and the next, a small body was slumped next to his, its head resting on the crook of his neck. He found it fascinating how harder it was to breathe normally with Hyuuga Hinata of all people sleeping soundly, pressed against his side.
It all started with a quiet "H-hello, Uchiha san."
When he opened his eyes at the sound of her soft voice he found himself surprised, to say the least. She was the last person he expected to see. But there she was, small and timid, with a natural blush dusting her round cheeks.
And then, "Can I join you?"
He could only numbly nod and pat the ground next to him – which was so out of character for him that even she looked startled for a moment – in a silent invitation. She accepted it, and sat down obediently.
"What are you doing here?" he asked finally, unable to stand not knowing the reason behind her sudden appearance and the awkward silence that started to stretch (or maybe it was awkward just for him – she seemed unaffected by it, or simply chose to ignore it).
To his surprise, the smile on the Hyuuga heiress's face fell. She stared into the distance, observed the rippling water in front of them like it was the most interesting thing in the world, before taking a deep breath.
It must be important, if she has such a dramatic look on her face, Sasuke mused, unaware that while her attention was elsewhere, he was quite openly staring at her face, taking in the curves of her profile, the tip of her nose, the thickness of her lower lip, the length of her lashes. When she finally spoke, he snapped out of his mirage and promptly looked away.
"I-I… confessed to Naruto-kun."
That almost had him rolling his eyes, but he sustained himself. He didn't want to upset her – and that fact alone should've alarmed him, but he paid it no mind. "Right. Finally. The dense idiot was probably the only person in the village that didn't know." He smirked at her appalled expression.
"U-Uchiha-san! What do you mean?" she pouted cutely – had he actually thought that? – and he suppressed the urge to laugh – seriously, what was wrong with him tonight?
"I mean everyone knew." He answered, biting the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't laugh in her face. "Well except the object of your affections." And somehow the last sentence made his amusement drop a bit.
The blush on her cheeks only intensified and she looked absolutely mortified. "O-oh my…"
"Right. What did he say?" Sasuke found it kind of annoying how he was, in fact, curious about the dobe's answer to Hinata's confession.
"He… he didn't say a-anything."
She wasn't looking at him – he guessed because she didn't want him to see the hurt in her eyes. Something inside of his stomach stirred at that sentence and he recognized it as anger – directed at Naruto? But… why?
"I-I'm not sure if h-he even heard… it."
His ears perked up, and he averted his gaze in confusion at her small form. "How could he not hear it?"
"W-well, we were at I-Ichiraku's and t-there was a lot of noise a-and I sort of j-just… blabbed it out and ran away as fast as I could!" she squealed and hid her face in between her hands.
Sasuke sighed, covering his eyes with the palm of his right hand. "Woman… what kind of a confession is that?!"
It took him a whole second to realize it was him who said that.
She startled at the tone of his voice – he admitted it was a little loud and scolding, but he wouldn't care – and looked up at him through the holes between her fingers.
"You're supposed to do it in a quiet place." He continued, even though his mind screamed at him to stop. "With just the two of you. And you're supposed to look him in the eye and just say it." Why was he spurting all that nonsense? He mentally slapped himself, waiting for her reaction.
She didn't say anything for a long time, resting her head against the tree and observing the sparkling stars quietly. His gut turned and his scalp itched for her answer, but she remained silent and he found himself again taking in her appearance, this time moving past her face to the loose clothes she wore, most likely to hide her figure in self-consciousness, to her long, indigo hair, her arms, her legs.
And then she finally looked back at him.
Just in that moment, warm wind blew through the air, slapping him in the face and gracefully lifting the locks of her hair. She smiled at him, then, lifting her hand up to remove lost strands of hair that got caught in the corners of her mouth, but he beat her to it.
And suppressed the urge to scream until his lungs broke, because what in the god's name was he doing?
He brushed the hair from her cheeks with his thumb, the pad of the damned finger lingering on her soft skin longer than necessary.
When he looked up at her, and saw her eyes twinkling in a strange way, he got lost for a moment. Damn it all if she wasn't the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes on. How he hadn't noticed it before was beyond him – but then again, it wasn't like he paid attention to any girl in the village. More than a little confused, he cleared his throat and scooted back to his place under the tree.
Her voice was a quiet whisper. "Thank you, Uchiha-san."
He simply nodded, crossing his arms in front of him and turning his gaze back to the clear night sky. The stars seemingly mocked him – for his strange behavior, for the stupid heat gathering in his cheeks.
And then, he felt something pressing against his side. A weight rested on his shoulders, warmth enveloping his whole being. Confused beyond belief, he stared at the calm form of Hyuuga Hinata, closing her eyes and making herself comfortable on him.
"What are you doing?" he asked but the question was too quiet for her to hear. Or maybe she heard it, but chose to ignore it. He didn't really want to know the answer either way.
When he was sure she fell deep into her slumber, he allowed himself another moment of weakness – his right arm, the one she was sleeping on, crawled around her body and nested on the curve of her hip covered in thick clothing.
Leaning his head on the hard tree, he sighed, following the path of a shooting star across the sky.
He was done for.
footnote: it really irks me when people spell hinata's surname as 'hyuga'. is it just me? i hope it isn't.
