Sasuke's Muse

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

AN: This is another fic for elsiecchi for Sasuhina Secret Santa. This was the original idea for my fic. This one is happy! Even some fluff. Neji is alive because this is my fanfiction and I didn't want Neji to die.

Prompt: Sasuke is an artist and Hinata is his muse.

Rating: K+ just in case

Sasuke sighed in frustration at himself. He didn't know what he had been thinking. He couldn't get her off of his mind. He turned to look out the window as the snow fell to the ground. After a few moments of contemplation, he looked back at painting he had just done of a violet haired girl that seemed to have become such a focus in his mind without even trying. He turned back to face the window as he tried to figure out why he couldn't stop thinking about her, but truthfully he knew that he had fallen for the girl, Hinata.

It was the way her smile could bring warmth and happiness to everyone even in the deepest of blizzards,

It was the way that her hair glistened like how snowflakes looked like jewels in the light before they melted away,

It was her light laugh that lifted his heart every time he heard it,

It was her patience that allowed her to stay in his company even when he was impatient, angry or sad whenever she stopped by to visit him at his had he been thinking when all he could think of to paint was her. She stood smiling in her winter jacket with a few trees that glistened with ice in the background, her eyes ever so carefully painted so that they had the slightest purple hue but still glistened with like the bright white moonlight that he saw whenever he looked into them. She had become his inspiration, his muse, even if she didn't have a clue. Even if she didn't know that that day when she first entered his gallery that he built next to his house away from the street enough so that his friends couldn't just see it by walking by. He told everyone that it was a shed to store supplies so that it wasn't of interest.

Hinata had entered the Uchiha district, uninhabited besides Sasuke. He had built a house only a block or two from the entrance in an empty plot of land. He couldn't return to stay in his house, but he had still wanted to be in the Uchiha district. He had obviously been busy trying to clean up the district as well, much of the area near the gate was cleared of weeds and any debris there had been. Even though Sasuke had cleaned up the district a little, the complete silence and emptiness unnerved Hinata a little. She approached the front door of Sasuke's house and knocked gently. She was going to invite him to the celebration she was throwing to celebrate the beginning of Fall. She had already invited the rest of the rookie 9, Team Gai, and Sai, but she had not seen Sasuke around the village, so she had gone to find him. She was determined to invite him to celebrate as well, even if she wasn't sure that he would go. She was slightly intimidated by the Uchiha, but she would not show it. She was not a scared young child anymore, she was strong and confident. She also thought that Sasuke seemed a little lonely, even if he would never let anyone know.

When Sasuke didn't answer the door, Hinata knocked one more time. After waiting around a minute, she decided that he probably wasn't home. She frowned slightly, having hoped to be able to ask him before the others told him about the party and he thought that she hadn't wanted him to come. It was then that she remembered that she had made a a few invitations in case she couldn't find someone that she wanted to ask, so she pulled one out of the ninja tool pouch on her leg and slid it under Sasuke's door. She then walked away from his door and headed towards the entrance of the compound. As she walked away from the door, something caught her eye: the entrance to Sasuke's shed was open.

'I wonder if he is in there' Hinata thought and then changed her course so that she was walking towards the shed and she noticed his chakra, which seemed to be slightly suppressed but she was very good at sensing chakra. She approached the door and knocked softly but the door opened and she saw Sasuke looking at her as the door opened. She didn't think about the fact that it was surprising that he hadn't noticed her approach, but then again he did appear to be heading to the door so maybe he had sensed her chakra.

"There you are Uchiha san!" she said in her cheery tone, glad that she had found him.

"Why are you here Hyuuga?" Sasuke asked, a not so faint tone of a annoyance in his voice. Approaching her slowly and passing her to leave the shed, shutting the door behind him, thinking that she had not looked around the shed enough to notice that there were more art supplies than building supplies. Hinata was surprised slightly but tried to stay cheery and not be intimidated or annoyed by his response.

"I wanted to invite you to a celebration for the beginning of Fall, the others are going." she answered after a few seconds, knowing that he would know who the others that were coming were, and then decided to follow him as he walked towards his house. When he didn't respond she decided to say a few more things. "It is at a field about a 5 minute walk from the Hyuuga compound" she said "but the rest of my clan isn't coming." she added, hoping that it might reassure him a little bit.

After a few seconds, Sasuke responded with a "hn." Hinata didn't know what to make of his response. She knew that that was how he usually responded to a lot of things based off their few interactions and from talking to Naruto and Sakura when they mentioned Sasuke sometimes, but she wasn't sure how to interpret the response. She followed after him, silent for a few steps while she tried to think of what to say. Sasuke seemed to sense her confusion and also wanted her to leave him alone, so he answered another way.

"I will think about it Hyuuga." Sasuke said in his deep voice. It was a short statement, but Hinata would accept that response from the Uchiha, even if it wasn't a yes for certain. She didn't want to push the subject too much and annoy him even more.

"Thank you Uchiha san, the celebration will be the first day of Fall at around seven at night. I hope you will come." she said as they arrived at his door and she bowed slightly in appreciation before standing up straight to face him. "I'll leave you now, sorry for any inconvenience." Hinata said and turned to leave, taking a few steps. Sasuke watched her for a moment, wondering if she was going to mention the shed at all. She sensed that he was watching her and seemed to be waiting for something, so she turned back around. "Did you want to ask me something Uchiha san?"

"No."

"Okay, then have a nice day." she said with a smile and turned around again, catching a glimpse of the shed and standing still for a moment facing the entrance of the Uchiha compound

"Oh, and Uchiha san, you're art is beautiful. It seems like you don't want others to know of your hobby, but you are very talented. I won't tell anyone else though, and I'm sorry that I disturbed you. I'll leave you now and I hope that you will come to the party. You might have some fun or at least have a distraction from other things if you need a distraction." Hinata said, trying to compliment him while letting him know that he could trust her. She also tried to understand him a little more so she mentioned that he might need a distraction from something. Sasuke was slightly surprised by the comments of the Hyuuga, the one that was very shy and quiet the last he saw her before the war, and he didn't really know what to say. His initial response was anger, but she had been very kind about it, so his next response was annoyance. Gratitude didn't cross his mind because he was still not sure if she meant what she said but he couldn't say anything further because she had already left the compound. Even though he didn't really know her that well, something told him that he could trust her. He found Hinata mysterious, even though it didn't seem like anyone else did, but it didn't really matter to him either, so he just turned and entered his home, noticing the invitation on his floor so he picked it up. The invitation read:

You're invited to come to a celebration of coming of Fall on the first day of Fall at seven at night. It will be at a meadow about five minutes southeast of the Hyuuga compound. I hope to see you there,

Hinata Hyuuga

It had become a given that she would let herself into the gallery and watch him work, sometimes even making art herself, drawing or painting, or making him a small trinket of an infinity loop with two small charms on it, one hanging from each of the loops, one a cinnamon roll and the other a tomato, which they had accepted as their symbols. Hinata was a cinnamon roll and Sasuke was a tomato, in regards to their favorite respective foods. The trinket hung from the lamp over his easel and it symbolized their close relationship. Whether that relationship was a romantic relationship or just one between friends was something that had remained undefined between them.