Evanescent and Enduring
Chapter Two
He did not come to see the baby. He had no intention of seeing the baby. He had arrived under false pretences just to see her, but his mother didn't need to know that as they entered the Hyuga Main House. He supposed he should have known better when the Lady Hyuga said that she was in the nursery… with the baby he did not want to see. Thwarted, he supposed, in trying to avoid the newborn, but as a consolation prize he would get to be alone with her… sans the baby, of course.
She was by the crib, watching that… thing sleep, and he felt himself soften and his expression grow gentle as he slipped his hand into hers, so easily and so naturally that she did not even startle. She was used to it by now, his warmth, his touch, his presence like glowing coals in the hearth. And he smiled, knowing this too, and pressed his forehead into her shoulder when she did not acknowledge him.
She was too focused on her baby sister, had been too focused on the baby for months, to either give his hand a squeeze or to turn her smile to him. He would never say it, but he was beginning to feel like she didn't care about him at all… not that he was expecting her to feel for him like he did for her. He believed that no one could feel for another like he did for her, but still… he only wanted a warm caress or for her eyes to fall on him, however briefly.
The baby moved in her crib and she watched her sister move with awe, her eyes wide and round, and her mouth in an "o" shape. She was really pretty, he knew, and had been growing even prettier as the months go by. He could imagine her being beautiful in a few years and his hand tightened around hers at the thought, for surely others would find her beautiful too.
She giggled when her baby sister's feet kicked at her small pink quilt, and he felt a shiver run through his small body at her laugh. It was like wind chimes in spring, or snowfall in winter, or that irrevocable warmth that settled over him just before sleep overtook him.
She gasped when his lips brushed against her cheek, and he was finally rewarded with her attention when she faced him in shock, her face growing red just as his grew hot. But he smiled – smirked – when all he could see in her eyes was him, finally.
He breathed her name and then kissed her again on her other cheek, a soft touch that left his toes curling and heart jumping and his fingers to weave ever tighter around hers. She smelled wonderful, a tingling of rain and lilacs and everything good in the world… a warmth that made his chest hot and his lungs wanting to burst.
A minute later and he was holding his throbbing cheek.
He supposed he had deserved the slap.
He smirked again at her blushing face and upheaval appearance, disregarding his equally blushing face and upheaval appearance.
But it had been worth it.
xxx
the point
