Not So Sweet, But Sweet Enough, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Not even Sasuke.

a/n: This is a Valentines Day treat. I wrote it quickly, so excuse the errors. It's supposed to be a slightly bitter, but mostly sweet Hinata x Sasuke one shot.

ENJOY!

Not So Sweet, But Sweet Enough

A pair of pale, but lightly scarred fingers closed around the tea pot to pour tea into her husbands cup. It was routine. She ignored the curtain of black hair that made its way over her shoulders, shielding her face. As she sat down, she too sipped her herbal tea quietly, her eyes on occasion flickering to the man before her. From his face, her worried gaze lowered to his mostly bare chest, except for the bandages that covered his body from a recent solo mission.

She took note of the healing scars that were scattered across his chest. Even after years of training outside, his body never had toned accordingly. But his skin was no longer pale white, but instead a light cream, evidence of his interaction in the sun. She let herself smile gently as she met his dark eyes. He didn't smile back. But it wasn't expected. Because everyone knew that Uchiha's didn't smile easily, let alone Uchiha Sasuke.

Hinata reminisced about how she and Sasuke came to be. It was quite a shock to her, and her acceptance in the marriage was evidently reluctant. Typically, it was arranged. As the last remaining Uchiha, descendents of the Hyuuga clan, the elders had seen it fit to take him in as theirs, by honouring the last Uchiha with the daughter of the main branch. But it didn't go smoothly. This meant that Hinata had to give up her position as clan heir to her younger sister who now ruled the Hyuuga clan. Hinata would no longer be a Hyuuga as she would now don the Uchiha name. But there were more complications. The reason why Hinata had accepted the marriage was to save her younger sister, who had so much more potential than her to escape the fate of having the caged bird seal implanted on her. Instead, Hinata took her place, and with that came the burning sensation of the seal implanted on her forehead.

Hinata, consciously ran her fingers across the seal that was visible on her forehead. For months she was subjected to the pain that followed, but she remembered the pain to be most excruciating when she refused to marry Sasuke so soon. To refuse orders made by the elderly was instant punishment. Without Neji's support, she didn't think she would have ever been able to overcome the presence of the seal.

Hinata's eyes flickered at the sound of clothing being shuffled. She began to rise in sync with Sasuke. He would not be completing any missions today as the Hokage's right hand man, instead he would be attending meetings with the Hokage, along with all the other clans.

Hinata no longer sighed sadly at the mention of Naruto. No, it had been years since she had felt that way towards the present Hokage, who was betrothed to his former team mate and long time crush, the soon-to-be Uzumaki Sakura. She wouldn't lie to herself and deny the fact that it had hurt her right to the core when she found out that the two were courting, or the fact that she watched the two with envy. But what perhaps stung the most was that Hinata was never destined to be with Naruto, but instead exchange vows with his best friend. Fate was so cruel.

The first year of marriage was purely awkward, silent and unbearable. For weeks Hinata felt out of place and truly lost. The Uchiha Manor was mostly silent, only to be disrupted when she received visits from her former team mates, who tended to wreak havoc, or Naruto and Sakura themselves. It was during that period that Hinata ashamedly would be glad that Sasuke was away on mission, in order for her to escape his intense presence. The evenings were perhaps the worst. Hinata felt stifled by the silence, by the lack of conversation, the lack of companionship, the lack of a husband. Sasuke barely acknowledged her. She couldn't even find comfort in her sleep. The two Uchiha's would each sleep a respectable distance from each other on the futon.

It had taken months for some sort of relationship to form, which she had Naruto to thank for. Constant outings were organised, missions were manipulated, in which Sasuke and Hinata had to undergo the cover of a married couple. Countless attempts and countless schemes. As a result, in truth, Hinata was able to slowly loosen up around him, in which she didn't feel the need to leave the room whilst he was in it. While Sasuke too had learnt to tolerate the timid woman he had wed.

It wasn't until the two, along with other Jounin, were in a battle against missing-nin, in which Hinata was fighting an opponent that out matched her. She was losing, she knew that. But she wouldn't give up. It wasn't until she was pushed to the ground and had the enemy stand not so far away, with his large katana raised above his head, ready to swing it down on her neck that hope began to evade her. Hinata did not close her eyes in defeat, but instead kept them open, attempting to move. As the katana came down on her, she watched horrified as a body blocked its path. She remembered till this day the shock and thudding of her heart beat as her eyes met onyx. She still remembered feeling Sasuke's body knock her to the floor as he lay unconscious, his blood drenching her. She'd watched as Kiba and Akamaru had torn her attacker apart. But she remembered most clearly the stubborn expression her husband had on his unconscious face as she carried him back to Konoha.

It had taken him 3 days to recover from the wound and thanks to Sakura's intense healing. It was a miracle that Uchiha Sasuke had not been transformed from the most elite Ninja, to a cripple. It drove Hinata crazy, why would he do such a thing? It wasn't that he loved her, and no she wasn't even attempting to be modest. She also didn't think he held her safety as a priority…but boy did he prove her wrong.

Hinata was sitting beside him when he had awoken for the first time. She was instantly at his side, but at a respectable distance, with her arm outstretched and a cup of water waiting to be accepted. She waited patiently for him to recompose himself. When he struggled to lift his body into a sitting position, Hinata timidly approached him, gently placing her arms around his bandaged body, moving him into a comfortable position. She hid her surprise at his lack of refusal and the fact that he remained silent throughout the ordeal. It was the first time that she had felt like she was his wife.

Hinata remembered the both of them sitting in silence, until she could no longer remain patient.

"Why?" she'd asked. It was obvious as to what explanation she was demanding.

Sasuke had remained mute, but his gaze didn't leave hers. He looked at her as if the answer was obvious, as if she should have already known.

"Because no one harms Lady Uchiha"

At that blunt statement, Hinata felt her cheeks heat with warmth from the embarrassment of the strange compliment. It wasn't a declaration of love, but it was something.

Luckily, Hinata had been saved from further awkwardness from a knock on the door. Konohamaru entered with a small smile on his face.

"The Hokage requests your presence, Uchiha-san" He said formerly, his gaze resting on Hinata.

"Hai." replied Hinata, she still felt weird being addressed by that name.

Konohamaru turned and took leave. Hinata cast Sasuke a look. His gaze was now focused outside, through the window on the other side of the room.

Watching him, Hinata felt that she too needed to try and make this relationship work. She felt guilty at her lack of determination. He had saved her life. And she wanted to repay him.

Gingerly, Hinata stood up silently and walked to his bedside. She applied a small amount of chakra into her fingertips and placed them onto the back of his neck. She felt him stiffen at the sudden touch, but once again didn't protest. She let the chakra flow through his shoulders and untie the knotted muscles in his back. Hinata smiled as she heard him sigh as his muscles no longer ached. She moved to stand infront of him and placed her hand on his thighs, right below his shorts. It took her longer to relieve his muscles in that region, as he had dislocated joints. After finishing, she lifted her head to meet his gaze. He looked so tired and weary. Hinata allowed herself to smile as she leant in towards him, and bravely allowed her lips to brush his cheek, whispering a "thank- you" into his ear before walking out to seek the awaiting Hokage.

Hinata, at present, blushed till now at her boldness and bravery. But, she thought to herself, it was bound to happen.

After that incident, their relationship didn't kick off to the point in which they were hopeless romantics. In fact, Hinata could barely look her husband in the eye after that incident. It was only when the two were seated together on the couch at Naruto's- days after the incident- that Hinata knew that what she had done was accepted. How? Because when Sasuke went to sit down near her, he did not sit on the other side or 3 feet away from her. But instead, placed himself right next to her, in which their elbows would occasionally bump and Hinata could catch his scent without trying.

Not only that, but after returning from missions, Sasuke always returned home first thing after reporting to the Hokage. And standing there, waiting for him, would be Hinata, with her medical kit already set out, waiting to heal his wounds. She would gently tend to his wounds as he would fall into slumber. What Hinata didn't know was that Sasuke would on occasion feign sleep and instead listen to her gentle voice thank god that her husband had returned home safely and ask for strength and protection for her family and future family and then would softly plant a kiss on his forehead as a sign of love.

While Sasuke remained impassive the majority of the time, he would on occasion converse with Hinata, and had learnt to slowly make conversation with his wife. He had also learnt, surprisingly, that he didn't even have to try. He would discuss the clan meetings with her, and she would help him resolve clan problems as she was all too experienced in that area, among other things.

Their relationship had improved to the point in which Sasuke had invited her to train with him. Hinata knew that he didn't go at her with all his might, and spared her during their spars. But she appreciated his invitation. Perhaps the most intense spar that had occurred between them was when both had used their bloodline limits. Hinata had blocked off a few points of her husbands chakra, but wasn't fast enough to win. The battle had ended when Sasuke had trapped her into his sharingan. Hinata prepared herself for the worst. She watched as her haunting past involuntarily flashed before her, which left her on the floor gasping. Then all of a sudden, it had stopped and she was no longer trapped in a nightmare, but instead being picked up by Sasuke. When she regained her footing, she used his shoulder for support as her body was still shaky and the two wordlessly returned home. A sign of reconciliation.

Hinata knew that her relationship with Sasuke was peculiar. That no one knew whether or not they were intimate. She and her husband were not like Naruto and Sakura, they did not wear their hearts on their sleaves, nor did they express intimacy in public. But rather, the Uchiha's were formal and stoic in the eyes of the public. However, this didn't mean that Sasuke was consistently impassive towards his wife. He was still a man, and as a man, he would occasionally give in to his needs.

* * *

When Sasuke returned from the meetings, supper was already on the table, awaiting him.

Hinata greeted him warmly, to which he nodded in response. They both ate in silence, only to be broken when Hinata would ask him the occasional question, in which he would reply back with an informative answer.

It had become a ritual that after Dinner or supper, Hinata would pack away the table and brew some tea. Then she would take it outside under the night sky and wait for her husband. It would be then that Sasuke would take his place beside her and sip his tea quietly, while Hinata massaged his shoulders and removed any stiffness and stress from a days hard work.

While Hinata knew that such a thing to take place was far from what she had ever imagined to be doing with Sasuke Uchiha, she knew that after living with the man for so long, she learnt that he was a loyal, stoic, and mostly inexpressive husband who had a soft side to him that he reserved for his wife only.

How did she know this?

Because when the two would go to bed, to their respectable sides, the distance between them was no longer wide. Of course, there was still a distance, but it was minimal. But that wasn't the sweet thing. It was the fact that Hinata had learnt that Sasuke Uchiha, her husband, would wait for her to sleep before moving towards her and placing his arm around his wife to whom he had grown to cherish, symbolising his intimacy and affection for her, which would be evident in the morning when the two awoke entangled in each others arms.

END

a.n: I hope I was able to pull it off. Anyway, wishing you all a Happy valentine's in which you spend it with someone as affectionate as Naruto or someone as sweet as an Uchiha can get, Sasuke.

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