Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor any places, things, characters, or ideas therein. The aforementioned belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Viz Media, Shounen Jump, TV Tokyo, etc. I am writing this fic for entertainment purposes only, not monetary gain.
Summary:Hinata is tired, hot, and harried. Sasuke is calm, cool, and composed. But things are heating up - in more ways than one. :Sasuke x Hinata: :written for SasuHina month on dA:
Rating: K+
Warnings: Some fluff, some crying, and a couple of very nice kisses
Pairing(s): Sasuke/Hinata
Spoilers: None
Universe: Alternate
Author's Note: And here's my second fic for SasuHina month over on dA! It's actually my favorite of the two - I had such a great time writing it! It's actually the brainchild of both me and my beta - I was going through a dry spell as far as inspiration, and then my beta mentioned this scenario. It was perfect! I volunteered for the 12th later, but I originally chose the 18th so I could celebrate two things on the same day - my birthday, and one of my favorite pairings! Thank you so much for reading Heat, and I hope you enjoy it!
*~Heat~*
.:fyd818:.
Blessedly cool air washed across Hyuuga Hinata's face as she stepped into the restaurant's interior from the hot, humid August air outside. She took a discreet moment to lift her heavy blue-black hair off her neck as her fiancé of six months, Uchiha Sasuke, spoke to the hostess, confirming their reservation.
Since the heatwave began, she reflected, she'd tried to beat the heat by cutting out any extra traveling she did - just going from home to work, doing some grocery shopping, and then going back home to stay in at night, unless she and Sasuke had a date. That was, until the air conditioner in her house died a less-than-graceful death, and the repairman told her he'd come out on Thurday to fix it.
It died on Saturday night. It was now Monday evening. Since then, Hinata had spent all day Sunday at the mall; then seen not one, but two movies that night with Sasuke, who'd urged her to take a hotel room until the unit could be fixed. Her frugal streak rebelled, though, so she dragged back to her super-hot home. She even took clothes with her to work today to change before meeting him for dinner. She didn't want to go back home until she absolutely had to.
The hostess picked up two menus and led the way to their table, breaking Hinata out of her train of thought. She and Sasuke followed the slender redhead through the maze of tables to a cozy booth in the back, as far away from both the front door and the kitchen as they could possibly get.
It was perfect.
As they settled into their seats, Hinata let out her breath on a long, contented sigh. "It feels good in here," she confided as she opened her menu. She scanned it, though she already felt reasonably sure she knew what she intended to get.
Sasuke looked up from perusing his own menu, frowning slightly. "I still don't like the thought of you staying at the house in this heat. Do you think it would speed things up if I called and talked to the repairman?"
"Thank you for the offer, but no. I'm not the only person in this city with this problem, and Thursday is the soonest he can get to me. The others I called had even longer wait times." Hinata closed her menu and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and tilting her head minutely toward the cool draft wafting in her direction from the nearest vent. "That's only a few more days, though. It's fine, I can make it."
"This is the hottest summer we've had in a long time." Sasuke sounded concerned. "I wish you'd let me pay for a hotel room for you. I feel guilty sleeping in a nice, cool condo while you're sweltering in your house."
Opening her eyes, Hinata caught a glimpse of a waiter winding his way through the tables toward them. "Father invited me to come back and live at home with him and Hanabi until it's fixed." She shuddered delicately. "I'm not that desperate. At least not yet."
Sasuke hid his chuckle behind his menu as the waiter glided to a stop next to the table. "I'm Menma and I'll be your waiter this evening. Could I interest you in starting out with an appetizer?" He held his pen poised over his notepad, his head of shaggy brownish-blond hair tilted to the side almost like an inquisitive puppy's.
Hinata shook her head at Sasuke's questioning glance. "No, thank you," her fiancé answered for both of them.
"All right then. What would you like to drink?" Menma arched one eyebrow, altering his otherwise bland expression.
"What are you planning on getting?" Sasuke asked Hinata.
"Salmon," she answered immediately. She'd tried many different dishes at Akimichi's, but the salmon had quickly become her favorite.
"How did I know you were going to say that?" Sasuke shook his head with a fond smile and looked back to their waiter. "We'll go with the 1999 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet, then, please."
"Very good, sir. And are you ready to order?" Menma spoke without looking up from scribbling on his notepad.
They agreed they were, and Sasuke nodded to Hinata to go first. She ordered the salmon, then laughed when Sasuke did the same. They handed their menus back to Menma, who disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, and turned back toward each other.
"It's not that I don't appreciate Father's offer," Hinata began, picking up where she left off earlier, at the same time reaching into her purse for the bottle of hand sanitizer she always carried with her. "But once I moved out when I was twenty-one, I determined I would never go back." With a control-freak as a father and a wild, party-loving sister, Hinata hadn't really fit in very well at home. Moving out had removed a ton of stress from her life; which she discovered, once free of it, to be the root of a lot of the illnesses she'd struggled with growing up to that point.
"I can understand that." Sasuke accepted the droplets of gel she dripped into his cupped palm and rubbed his hands together as she sanitized her own. "I was pretty much the same way. I have no problem getting along with Mom and Itachi, but Father and I have never really seen eye-to-eye. I think he's mad, too, that I didn't follow in his footsteps and become an officer. In his eyes, practicing corporate law doesn't qualify."
Hinata tucked the bottle back into her purse and shook her head. "He shouldn't be mad at you for that," she said, voicing a thought she had often. "It's not like you were the only one to pass by that career choice. Itachi did it, too - and before you, even."
"Yes, but Itachi's always been the golden boy of the family. I think he could have said he wanted to move to Hawaii and sell coconuts and bananas on the beach, and Father would've been fine with it. But me? Becoming something other than a police officer wasn't in his plans, so he got mad." Sasuke shrugged. "When I was younger, I used to be jealous of Itachi. But I see now he was just as miserable as I was growing up, but because he got all of Father's attention, instead of none of it like me. But regardless, we're both doing what we want to do, and Mom's happy, so it's all good in my opinion."
Their similarites in upbringing and controlling fathers were two of the things which helped Sasuke and Hinata get along so well. They had many things in common, both strongly agreeing on the subject of nurturing any children they had, instead of either trying to control or ignoring them. Hyuuga Hiashi had always intended his elder daughter to pursue a medical career. When Hinata voiced her desire to be a music teacher instead, he'd nearly hit the roof.
They now existed in an uneasy truce, the only thing holding it together the fact they didn't see each other often. Hinata knew moving back in with her father, even if only for a couple of days, would spell nothing short of disaster.
Menma brought their wine. He poured Sasuke's glass first, waiting until he approved it to pour Hinata's. Once the waiter had gone again, she changed the subject. "I had to retune the piano again," she said. "I don't know who's messing with it, but at least once I week I come in and find it terribly out of tune. I had to use the extra one, mine was so off."
"It's probably a student playing a prank." Sasuke smiled at her over his wine glass. "But you should feel flattered. I only ever played pranks on the teachers I liked. Or maybe whoever it is is testing to see if you really do have perfect pitch."
Hinata made a face, then took a sip of her wine and rolled the rich liquid around her mouth, savoring its full flavor. After swallowing, she replied, "I really do wish they'd stop, though. Once or twice would be funny - but every week?" She shook her head. "School hasn't been going on that long, granted, but if this continues all year..." She trailed off and groaned.
Their food was delivered a few minutes later. The two lapsed into comfortable silence as they enjoyed the salmon, grilled to perfection and accompanied by a crisp, colorful salad and a baked potato apiece. Interspersed by sips of wine, the meal - along with (mostly) Sasuke's company - was enough to help Hinata's tension smooth right away.
A little over an hour after arriving, they left. Sasuke held the passenger door of his car open so she could slide in, then came around and got in next to her, after removing his suit coat and tie, tossing them into the back seat. He reached for her hand after starting the car, and steered for the exit of the parking lot.
Smiling, Hinata glanced down at their hands. His large right hand folded comfortably around her small left one-
Her bare small left one.
"Sasuke!"
He jumped and jerked the wheel, making the tires squeal slightly as the car swerved sharply. "What?"
"My ring!" As Sasuke corrected the car's position on the road, Hinata pulled her hand free and anxiously began to paw through her bag. "Where's my engagement ring? I can't have lost it, no no no!" Her breath came out in short, ragged gasps as she shifted things around, watching for the sunlight to glint off the beautiful red and white diamonds on her ring. Nothing. No no no no no! I can't have lost it, it can't be possible, it's got to be here somewhere!
Sasuke quickly pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store and put the car in park. "Calm down, Hinata," he said, turning toward her and rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "Where did you last see it?" Leaning over, he scanned the floorboard of the car, his dark eyes looking for the same sparkle she sought inside her purse. "Start with this morning, and just go forward from there."
Pressing her shaking hand against her forehead, which was beginning to throb viciously, Hinata closed her tearing eyes and thought back through her day. "I know I had it on when I left this morning. I also know I had it on during my music classes, because I love sneaking peeks at it while I'm playing, and one of the students even made a comment on it." The ring had taken her breath away the first time she saw it, with the cluster of red diamonds in a flower design around a beautiful half-carat white solitaire. It was gorgeous, and very expensive; she even lay in bed at night and stared at it prior to turning out the light. "I-I don't remember after that." She'd been in such a hurry to change clothes and meet Sasuke at the front of the school, she didn't remember if she'd seen it since then or not.
"Call the school," Sasuke suggested, putting the car into gear again. "I'll drive over there while you do."
Hinata misdialed the first time, and had to hang up and try again because her fingers were shaking so much. She closed her eyes and prayed while she waited for the night guard to pick up the phone in the security office.
Her breath whooshed out in a rush when she recognized her good friend Kiba's voice on the other end of the line. "Kiba, I'm so glad it's you. Listen, I can't find my engagement ring. Is the custodian still there?"
Kiba was quiet for a second, presumably while he checked the security cameras. "Yeah. He's actually just now getting to the music room. I'll radio him and get him to look for it. Want me to put you on hold, or call you back?"
"I'm on my way over there with Sasuke. We'll be there in just a few minutes." She hung up, anxiously rubbing her naked finger while her calm (how could he be so calm when it felt like her entire world was coming apart at the seams?) fiancé navigated the familiar roads leading to the Konoha Academy of the Performing Arts.
Hinata barely spared a glance at her car, which she'd left parked there when Sasuke picked her up. She hardly waited until Sasuke stopped the car before she opened the door and jumped out. Kiba waited at the front doors to let them in. She gripped Sasuke's hand tightly as they headed to the music room.
There they met with the custodian, whose wild bleached blond hair flopped around his face as he shook his head. "Sorry," he apologized. "As soon as Kiba radioed me I started looking. I've been over that room top to bottom, looked in the corners, under everything. I even checked the trash. No ring."
Swallowing back the urge to cry, Hinata turned to Sasuke. "Where else did you go?" he asked, rubbing her shoulder soothingly.
"The ladies' room. I changed in there..." With the three men trailing her, she hurried down the halls, then burst through the door and began frantically scanning the floor, the counters, the sinks, the stalls. Kiba and the custodian hesitated outside the door, but Sasuke rolled his eyes at them and followed her in, helping her look.
"Nothing." Threading her fingers through her long hair, Hinata clutched her head. "It has got to be here somewhere! I can't have just lost it!"
"Don't give up yet. Maybe it's in your car. It could've slipped off your finger as you put your day clothes inside."
The custodian went back to work, but Kiba followed Hinata and Sasuke out to the former's little purple four-door. She unlocked the doors, then checked the floor, the dash, the seat, the cupholder, while Kiba searched the backseat. Sasuke rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and checked under all the seats.
Nothing.
"It must not be at the school," Kiba said apologetically. "I checked the lost and found box, too, before you got here, but no ring. I even called the principal, thinking someone might have turned it in to her, and she took it home with her for safekeeping."
Hinata winced. She could only imagine what the esteemed Senju Tsunade must think of her piano teacher, who lost a very expensive diamond ring so easily. Fighting back a useless urge toward tears, she turned her wide, desperate eyes on Sasuke. "The restaurant is the only place left where we haven't looked yet," she said. Even as she spoke, a memory trailed hazily through her mind, making her gasp. "The restaurant! I think I remember taking it off to sanitize my hands, but I - I don't think I remember putting it back on again. It must be there! We have to go back!" With shaking hands, she fished her keys back out of her purse; fumbled and dropped them clattering onto the sun-heated asphalt of the parking lot.
Sasuke quickly bent and scooped them up. "We'll go back to check," he said, "but I'll drive. You're too upset. You call ahead, okay? Kiba," he turned to address the guard, "is it okay if we leave Hinata's car parked here overnight? I'll pick her up in the morning and drop her off on my way to work."
"Sure, no prob," Kiba replied easily. "Hope it's at the restaurant!"
After thanking Kiba, they climbed back into Sasuke's vintage cherry-red sports car and headed away from the school. Hinata tried to keep her voice calm as she spoke to the hostess, thankfully the same one who had seated them.
"Oh, I remember that ring," she said once Hinata had explained the situation. "It's really beautiful. And you said you can't find it now?"
"No." Hinata covered the mouthpiece of her phone and said, "The hostess remembers seeing it on my hand when we got there. So I must have lost it there." She just hoped she hadn't lost it in the parking lot, rather than leaving it on the table.
"Did you visit the powder room while you were here?" the hostess queried.
"No." Hinata shook her head even though the other woman couldn't see. "I stayed at the table until we left. My fiancé and I are on the way back there right now."
"All right, ma'am. I'll look for it and alert the rest of the staff to keep their eyes open, as well. I'm sure we'll find it." The two women hung up with each other just as Sasuke pulled into the restaurant's parking lot for the second time that evening.
The hostess met them at the door, her expression switching from polite welcome to concern when she recognized Sasuke and Hinata. "I'm sorry," she said in an undertone, guiding the couple away from the front of the establishment into the narrow hall hiding the entrance to the kitchen from the tables. "The table was still empty when you called, so I had one of our waiters look it over. We checked through the dishes and the trash, we've looked all over the floor, and one of the waitresses even went out to look in the parking lot. But we've not found it."
Hinata wrapped her arms around her stomach and swallowed back the urge to scream. Or cry. Or both. "Those are red diamonds," she couldn't keep herself from whispering. "Do you know how rare red diamonds are? How exclusive, and expensive?" She turned her tortured eyes to Sasuke, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke. I never meant to lose it. I'm so, so sorry." She clutched the strap of her bag as if hoping it would ground her, save her from drowning in a sea of loss and despair. Unable to hold them back any longer, she burst into tears.
Sasuke immediately wrapped his arms around her as the hostess slipped tactfully away. "Sh-sh, love, don't cry, it's going to be okay," he murmured into her hair as she sobbed against his chest. His voice sounded a little husky itself. "Let's go back out to my car and get you home, 'kay?"
Hinata nodded, her face still buried in his sodden shirt front, and allowed him to guide her stumbling steps out past the reception area and through the doors. She sensed curious glances following them, but was too lost in her misery to feel further embarrassed. After all, the situation couldn't get any worse, right?
Sasuke settled her into the passenger's seat, then went around to get in on the driver's side. As soon as he'd started the car and put it into gear, he reached to take her shamefully naked left hand in his right one, his thumb moving in soothing patterns across the backs of her fingers. Hinata bit her lips against little hiccuping bubbles of sobs, and slumped bonelessly in her seat. She wanted to pull her hand away and hide it. Instead she just sat passively, thinking increasingly bleak thoughts.
When they arrived at her house, Sasuke handed her tenderly from the car, keeping an arm around her slender shoulders as they went up the walk to the front door. Hinata started to reach into her purse for her keys, but he squeezed her shoulders a little more tightly and reminded her, "I've still got your keys, love, from when you dropped them at the Academy. I'll get the door."
A wave of heat not many degrees off the outside temperature met them when he opened the front door. Sasuke recoiled with a mild oath. "This is totally unacceptable, Hinata. It's got to be in the mid-nineties in here. You can't sleep here tonight. If nothing else, I'll get the hotel room and you can stay at my place until your air is fixed."
"I won't sleep anyway, no matter where I am," she replied dully. Somehow she managed to find the strength to step away from him. His handsome face blurred as tears filled her eyes again. She drew a deep, shivering breath and put her shoulders back resolutely. "How c-could I have been so c-careless with my engagement ring? You've been so calm, and so sweet about it, but I'll understand if you - if you want to c-call off the wedding." If she couldn't be trusted to keep track of her engagement ring, what made her think she was responsible enough to get married?
"Hina. Sweetheart." Taking her hands in his, Sasuke guided her to her couch and, after urging her to sit, crouched down in front of her. "Darling, I would never call off the wedding, especially not for something like this," he said, gazing up at her earnestly. "I love you, don't you know that?"
"I love you, too." She shook her head. "But I lost the ring you gave me. That beautiful ring. And it's so expensive..."
"No amount of money in the world is worth losing you," Sasuke replied firmly. He gave her hands a little shake as he leaned a closer to her.
"But you trusted me to keep it safe," she half-sobbed. "And I lost it."
Reaching up, Sasuke cupped her face in his hands and tipped her head until she had to meet his eyes. "I still trust you," he said, the expression in his midnight black eyes nothing but warm and loving.
"How can you say that?" Hinata wrung her hands anxiously. "I lost my engagement ring!"
Taking one hand away from her face, Sasuke reached into the pocket of his suit trousers and pulled out a very beautiful, very familiar ring. "No, you didn't."
Hinata stared at the ring for a long moment, the diamonds sparkling and winking at her the same way they had the first time Sasuke held it out to her. And now here he was offering it to her again, though her emotions were on the opposite end of the spectrum from where they'd been the last time he did so. "Where - how?" Ignoring the sweat prickling along her hairline, along her upper lip, between her breasts, she raised her trembling hands and cupped them around his fingers, still holding the ring. She couldn't tear her gaze from it.
Sasuke nudged a loose lock of her hair off her damp face with the index finger of his hand still cupping her jaw. "You took it off to sanitize your hands before we ate, just like you always do. You set it on the table, and I watched as you put the bottle away, but never slid the ring back on. So while you were distracted, I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket."
Torn between relief the ring was not lost after all, and fury that Sasuke had played such a trick on her, she wondered if she should laugh, cry, or punch her fiancé in his aristocratic nose. "You - you've had it all this time." Her breath caught for a moment, and she had to swallow hard before she could continue, her voice shaking now for an entirely different reason. "And you let me think it was lost all this time!" Her temper rose to match the temperature of her house. Oh, yes, she was definitely going to punch him.
-Or bite him. His left hand still conveniently cupped her jaw, putting it in the perfect place for her to turn her head slightly and chomp down-
He seemed to read the impulse to do so in her eyes, because Sasuke withdrew his hand before she could follow through on the silent threat. "Hear me out," he said. Shifting to sit beside her on the couch, he massaged her rigid fingers soothingly while he spoke. "You can be a bit absentminded. And before you scream, let me say that is part of your unending charm. When I saw the ring there, and that you weren't picking it up, the urge just kind of came to me." He eyed her warily. "I'm sorry you got so upset over it, but I thought it would be better this way, than if you were out with Tenten, or Sakura, or Ino, or all three, and. . ." He let his voice trail off, his intense gaze catching and holding hers.
Hinata processed his words silently, turning them around in her mind while she tried to detect any teasing or deception in them, or his expression. But she could see and hear his sincerity, so she blew out a breath. "All right," she said reluctantly. Her anger faded away. "One of these days, I know I'm going to thank you for this."
Sasuke's expression cleared slightly. "So I'm forgiven?"
"I didn't say that. Just consider yourself lucky that my temptation to punch you - or bite you - has eased a bit." She shifted her fingers under his, reaching for her ring.
He obliged, taking her hand in his and sliding the ring comfortably back onto her finger. They admired it for a moment before he lifted his dark, heated gaze to hers. "I don't know," he said, a hint of a crooked smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Biting me could turn out to be interesting, if you want to go all Klingon on me."
Hinata felt her cheeks flush bright red "You," she huffed. But she couldn't help the responding smile which tugged at her own mouth.
Leaning forward, Sasuke kissed her. "I love you," he said softly, intensely. "Always, no matter what, even if the ring had truly been lost. You know that, right?"
Hinata closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, thumb rubbing across the band of her ring, safe and sound where it belonged. "Yes. And I love you too, even when you do things like this to drive me crazy."
She didn't protest when he slid an arm around her waist and drew her closer for a long, deep kiss. Just as Hinata's head began to swim - either from the kiss, or from her overheated house, she wasn't sure which - Sasuke groaned and pulled away from her slightly.
"It's too dang hot," he grumbled, resting his sweaty forehead against hers. "Hina, my sweet love, you can't stay here until your air conditioner gets fixed. It isn't healthy, or safe. So do you want to stay at a hotel, or shall I?"
Much later, savoring the wonderful coolness of Sasuke's condo, Hinata snuggled into the bedding that still held a delicious trace of his clean, slightly woodsy, masculine scent. She held her hand out in front of her to admire the glittering gems of her engagement ring in the light from the bedside lamp. It would not leave her finger again, she vowed sleepily, until the day of her and Sasuke's wedding.
And she stuck to that promise.
*~The End~*
Author's Ending Notes: This fic was also partially inspired by a true story, like the one I posted on the 12th. My honorary Japanese aunt and grandmother used to have a habit of putting their purses in their shopping carts while at the store. My father slipped them out and hid them - which sounds cruel, but he didn't mean it that way. He knows some people who've had their purses stolen that way, and he didn't want it to happen to my aunt and baa-chan. To this day, as far as I know, they've never put their purses in the cart again. I also have a tendancy to take a couple of my rings off when I sanatize my hands (the solution can build up on the bands and turn the rings dull), but I haven't (yet) forgotten to put them back on. But Hinata strikes me as a somewhat absentminded type, so the idea for this fic was born. (It's the brainchild of both me and my beta, Mama Jo!) We thought Sasuke would be the type to watch to see if she picked up her ring again, and when she didn't, swipe it. Not to be mean, but to help her avoid such a scenario in reality. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!