{| SASUxHINA: Owned by Masashi Kishimoto. :3 Sequel to If It Had Been Hinata. Actually, this sequel will be a collection of oneshots, all focused on Sasuke's promise. Yes, Sasuke's OOC. |}
"Sasuke-kun and Hinata-chan?!" Yamanaka Ino screamed. "You're kidding!"
"Nope, not kidding Ino-chan, I saw them together with my own eyes," Haruno Sakura said, feigning excitement. "In the middle of the night, together, talking."
"No way, I never thought of pairing them up with each other, actually," Ino said, placing a finger on her chin, going into her thinking stance. Ino had long gotten over Sasuke when she discovered the man who she really did love and loved her back as well. Sakura? Not really.
Sakura had been bitter since she saw them together one night. Extremely bitter. But she didn't want to show it, since Ino was taking it so amazingly well. She didn't want to come off as the sore loser, which she actually was in this situation.
Away from that side of town, Sasuke and Hinata were taking a little walk around. Since Hinata had been having good sleeps most nights and barely woke up to meet Sasuke at midnight anymore, they were taking their friendship outside now. This was Hinata's idea, surprisingly. She may be the quiet type, but she wasn't the type to just let go of people like him. They continued to try to keep incognito though, but people were definitely going to notice now.
They were walking in silence for a few minutes now, until Hinata eyed her favorite candy store coming up. She smiled to herself, and looked at Sasuke, who was stoic again. It took her a lot of her nerve to ask to stop for a moment.
"Uh, Sasuke-san?" she said. "Do you think we could stop by the candy store for a while?"
Sasuke looked at the girl, seeing the light dance in her eyes. Who knew it took candy to make her look this giddy? He found it… cute of her. So he obliged without a second thought.
The bell above the door rang as they stepped inside, alerting the man behind the counter that there was a customer. The smell of sugar clung onto the air and to their noses. Sasuke felt like vomiting, honestly, but this was for Hinata.
"Well hello there, good morning, Hinata-chan!" The shopkeeper greeted with a big smile. Then he nodded towards Sasuke. "Good morning to you too." Sasuke didn't flinch, and instead replied with a grunt. The shopkeeper didn't seem surprised though.
Hinata scanned through the rack filled with lollipops, her favorite. She took one of them, careful not to cause any racket with the other lollipops. It was a big swirly one with strokes of red, blue and green. She handed it to the cashier and reached into her pocket, before Sasuke stopped her.
"I'll pay," he simply said, as he brought out some money from his pocket.
"N-no, that won't be necessary, Sasuke-san," Hinata quickly stuttered out, but it was too late. He had already handed his money over and gotten his change.
"Th-thank you, Sasuke-san," she said, blushing.
Sasuke just smirked, the closest he could get to a smile, and nodded. "You're welcome, Hinata."
He watched her intently as they walked out of the store, noticing that she only let out a little bit of her tongue to lick her candy. He watched as a blush stayed on her cheeks, making her look prettier than ever. The slight pink turned into a red though, as Hinata noticed she was being watched.
"Sasuke-san," she said, smiling, "why are you staring at me?"
He smirked again and brought his hand up to ruffle her hair, making her flinch a little.
"Because," he said, "you're amusing."
Not to mention cute, he thought to himself. He immediately gave himself a mental slap for thinking that about Hinata. Thinking she was cute, pretty and amusing. Which she was, actually.
"Hey, isn't she that Hyuuga loser?"
Sasuke's head instantly snapped up, surveying the area. First, he looked at Hinata, who was still happily eating her lollipop. She probably hadn't heard that. Then, he spotted a group of scruffy-looking, older shinobi ganged up ahead. They were whispering to each other, but Sasuke could hear everything they were saying about his companion.
"Yeah, didn't she lose to that Hyuuga brat, but genius, Neji?" One of them snickered.
Okay, Sasuke told himself. Keep it together, Sasuke, you don't want to fight with these losers.
"Yeah, she lost pretty badly too. Lost her life in the process, almost. She should have just quit, maybe then she wouldn't have gotten so humiliated, and in front of a crowd too man," one of them said.
One more and I swear they're going down, Sasuke thought, obviously on edge.
"Please, I already saw her as a useless weakling shinobi the first time I saw her. Just gave off that air, you know. I almost feel stupid for calling her a shinobi. That weakling doesn't deserve royalty." They all burst out laughing. All of them, laughing away like cocky bastards. He looked at Hinata again, seeing the blush was still there, but this time her eyes looked different. Sad.
This made something snap in the Uchiha.
"Will you shut up?!" He stomped over at their little circle and screamed. He activated his sharingan, causing their eyes to grow wider. Causing Hinata's eyes to grow wider, petrifying her. "One more, just one more stupid, arrogant remark, and you won't live to tell the tale."
He just stared at them all for a few minutes, putting on the most menacing look he's put on since he was faced with his brother some time ago. Then he turned on his heel and left them, quickly walking towards Hinata, who was shivering in fear now.
"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and whisking her away in the opposite direction, towards the training grounds. He was sure no one was training right now and felt like they needed to talk. Alone.
He let go of her hand once they got there and promptly plopped down under one of the trees, waiting for her appeal. He was sure she was going to say something. Something that would ultimately bring him down for scaring her back there. But instead, she sat down next to him and smiled.
"Th-thank you, Sasuke-kun," she said bashfully. "No one has ever done that for me before."
Sasuke looked at her, showing the slightest hint of shock on his face. He had expected her to say something, but what he had been expecting was a lecture, not gratitude. He knew though, looking beyond her, that she was a bit rattled from that encounter, but didn't want to mention it.
He was staring at her again. No, they were staring at each other. Their gazes seemed to have been locked to each other, and neither looked away. Hinata thought that Sasuke was handsome indeed, but never noted it before. She was too distracted, she thought. At this point, Sasuke was too distracted to look at any other girl besides Hinata. He couldn't imagine talking to someone other than her. She knew how to listen, and she was a beautiful sight to boot.
Sasuke found himself falling for her, slowly but surely.
The sun was setting already, meaning they had to go soon or they would raise suspicion. So, he broke his gaze and abruptly got up, holding out his hand to help Hinata up. Ever the gentleman.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
She nodded in response, smiling at him. He noticed she was smiling more now when he was around her, and that made him smile. Not a smirk or a half-smile, but a real smile, spreading on his lips like a contagious disease.
Without thinking, he grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead, causing her to blush violently. She looked up at Sasuke, a confused expression, mixed with shock, on her face. Before she had the chance to say something, Sasuke rested one of his hands on her waist, the other held her chin. His expression had gone from glad to serious, again.
"Sasuke-kun," she said slowly. "I don't understand."
"Am I making you uneasy, Hinata-chan?" he asked her, looking directly into her eyes. It felt different now, being this close to each other.
She shook her head. "N-no, you aren't, but why? Why me?"
Sasuke smiled and stroked her hair. "Just hold still, my reasons can wait."
And with that, he slowly closed the distance between them, gently brushing her lips with his. She placed her hands on his chest, showing no resistance, and kissed him back.
This was the happiest she had ever been.
