Chapter 4:

Soy Sauce

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The morning began slowly, as Hinata rose out of bed at nearly eleven thirty. After making sushi, she had told him, sternly, yet quietly, they were to go shopping to fill his empty kitchen with respectable food items. She shuffled to her kitchen, remembering this. She frowned at herself and began a pot of hot water to begin her morning tea. Watching the pot as she waited for it to heat faster, she wondered what they should buy.

She turned her back to the teapot and pulled a pad of sticky notes and a pen. Clicking the pen open, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and began at the top. After a few moments, she nodded contently to herself. Rice, honey, fish, milk, noodles, flour, sugar, broth, seasonings, salt, pepper, and seaweed were all on the list so far. Nodding once again, she listened to her teapot whistle. She turned off the pot and poured out a cup and set in a teabag.

Hinata licked her lips and pondered the night before. Sasuke was so… odd. He was trying to be nice to her. He was trying to whisk her off her feet. Or, maybe it was just her overactive imagination. She shrugged and picked up the tea, taking a sip before hissing at the too-hot tea. She pushed the cup away, frowning pitifully at herself.

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Sasuke was up bright and early. Actually, the truth was, he never went to sleep. His stomach was betraying him, or the Aburame had put butterflies into his stomach when he wasn't looking. He highly doubted it, but he wasn't about to blame Hinata. He wasn't about to ruin whatever he'd just created. He hoped she felt whatever electricity he'd felt that night.

He stared up at the ceiling, too groggy to get up and make tea, to groggy to go over to her… Never mind. He wasn't too groggy to get up and stalk to her apartment. He jumped off the couch and began his walk to her apartment. If they were going to go shopping, he thought, they might as well leave early so that they didn't run into anyone.

In front of her apartment, he wondered whether he should knock or open the door and call out 'Guess who!' He decided the first, knowing it would confuse her to no end if he opened the door and giggled out those two words. He shuttered, thinking it reminded him of Naruto. After a few moments of trying to erase the Sexy no Jutsu from his mind, he knocked on the door.

She didn't answer right away. He wondered what she was doing, and hoped it had nothing to do with looking out her window to see him blushing softly and attempting to regain his stoic features. He glanced at the window, just to make sure, but didn't see anything. The door opened as he was looking at the curtained window. He turned and looked down at her.

"Good morning, Uchiha-san," she smiled sweetly, her cooled tea in her hands.

He nodded at her and glanced inside of her apartment. It looked the same it had last night, not that he had expected it to look any different. He looked back down at her and nodded once again.

"Would you like to come in?"

He smirked and stepped past her. His arm brushed against the plush fabric of the robe he gave her. "You must really like it," he pointed out.

She crimsoned quickly and looked away from him. He walked to her couch and sat in the same spot he'd sat in when he'd given her the gift she was wearing. She nodded a little then walked to her kitchen quietly. She picked up the pad and pen and slipped them into her pocket. She, then, poured a cup of tea for her guest.

Both cups in hands, she walked back to the sitting room and handed one to him. "I… ano… I started a grocery list," she mentioned quietly, sipping lightly at her tea.

He nodded, the idiotic butterflies in his stomach acting up when she sat beside him. He took the pad from her hand when she dug it out of her pocket. Glancing it over, he stated quickly, "You didn't write down butter, ketchup, mayonnaise, bread, lettuce, any sort of meat, other than fish, or fresh fruits and vegetables."

She looked over his shoulder at the pad. "I guess I didn't," she murmured to herself. "Here," she pulled out the pen and scrawled down what he'd said over his arm.

The Uchiha flushed and didn't say anything about the situation that was at hand. After all, her chest was pressing against his shoulder and his hand was dangerously close to her thigh. He glanced over at her, who was thinking nothing of their close proximity. He watched her push the pen behind her ear and glance at him.

"I… ano… I haven't gotten dressed or bathed or eaten yet," she admitted bashfully.

He raised an eyebrow, confused with why she was telling him that. Then, it hit him, she wanted to take a bath, put clothes one, and eat. He blushed, imagining her in her tub filled with bubbles, cheeks flushed. Shaking that stupid thought from his head, scolding himself for developing a teenagers mind.

He turned his gaze from her and nodded. "I can wait."

She blushed furiously and set her teacup down with a nervous clatter. "I—I'll be about a-an hour…" she murmured, walking to her room in a daze.

He sat down and let out a relieved sigh. He hadn't realized how much tension had developed between the two of them during the course of one night. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up, pacing back and forth trying to come up with a way to make their shopping trip not embarrassing.

His thoughts were interrupted prematurely when he heard a knock at the door. Taking a deep breath, he went to the window and peeked through at the blond kunoichi on the porch. He murmured how she shouldn't be there, but finally opened the door and frowned at her. "What are you here for?"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," she began, her old habit kicking in, "Where's Hinata-chan? You aren't keeping her away from the world, are you?" she asked teasingly, drawing to the conclusion that they were dating. After all, he was in her apartment at noon.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm waiting for her, myself."

"She's not home?" Ino pouted. "Well, in that case, I'll come in and wait for her too!" Ino pushed past him easily and looked over her apartment. "I don't see any pictures of the two of you or any of your stuff in here…" she remarked offhandedly.

"I don't live here."

"Oh? Well, why not? You two are obviously close. You're in her apartment, and she usually locks it when she goes out."

"She's not out."

"Oh, really? Then where is she?"

In the background, the water in the bathroom began to run. Then, Ino giggled. "You were going to walk in on her bathing? Hah, and I thought Sakura and I were bad!" she laughed. "We always planned on walking in on you going to the bathroom or sneaking into your house while you were sleeping and stealing your clothes!"

The stoic boy's face went rigid. That knowledge just made him nearly gag. He set down his tea, knowing he would never be able to take even one gulp with Ino in his presence. "Great…" he thought aloud. "I used to think Itachi was my worst problem."

"You were so wrong," she laughed, stressing the 'o' in so.

He groaned to himself and shook his head. "You probably shouldn't have told me that. I'd have to tell Sai about Sakura's stalker side."

"Nah, he knows all about that! He says it's a 'turn-on'. I don't think so. Naruto doesn't think so either. Of course, other than me, he only thinks about ramen and how to get back at you and say 'ha ha, sucker!'"

After twenty minutes of 'complete hell' for Sasuke, and a regular conversation for Ino, Hinata emerged, cheeks flushed from the warmth of her bath clad in a pair of long shorts and her jacket. She glanced between the two of them and smiled at Ino. "Good afternoon," she said sweetly.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" she squealed loudly, running and hugging the girl. "Sasuke-kun, here, tells me that he doesn't live here with you. You don't even have pictures of the two of you together. What kind of couple are you?"

"Aa… Ino-chan, we're not a couple," she whispered, almost as if she said it too loudly Sasuke might notice what she'd said and call her on it and tell her something she was all to ready to hear him say. "We're just friends. I'm teaching Uchiha-san to cook."

"Ugh… You two are truly boring. When will you get together?" she asked herself, almost as if Hinata and Sasuke weren't in the room with her. "Anyway, I dropped by to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner with Naruto-kun and I. What do you say?"

"Ano…" She looked to Sasuke with pleading eyes. "I don't… know."

Ino pouted cutely. "Come on… I'll even let you bring Sasuke-kun with you. It'll be sort of like a double-date!" She was obviously excited, but Hinata wasn't. She didn't want to say yes and admit she had a crush on the Uchiha.

"Demo, Ino, why don't we have lunch together some other time…" she murmured.

The blonde whipped around and looked at Sasuke. "You'll go won't you?" she asked.

Afraid for his underwear, he nodded coolly. "I wouldn't mind. Will it be at Ichiraku's?"

The blond laughed easily and nodded. "You obviously know Naruto too well," she remarked. "Come on, Hinata. You have to go now. I even have a date for you!" She pointed at Sasuke.

The dark-haired girl sighed and nodded. "I'll go."

"Yay!" Ino jumped up and hugged her friend. "Don't worry about what to wear, okay? It's not like a big fancy, shmancy date. It's small and quiet. We may even go to Naruto-kun's apartment later and watch scary movies." The girl then waved to the pair and bounced out of the room.

"…You did that on purpose," Hinata murmured, taking the cups of not-quite-finished tea to the kitchen.

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The duo arrived at the grocery store at one forty-seven. Hinata pulled out a cart while Sasuke looked over the list a fifteenth time, just to make sure that they didn't leave anything off. She pushed the cart around, going slowly so he could follow her. She pulled out good articles and put them into the cart as he read off the list.

Of course, when Sasuke mentioned that soy sauce wasn't on the list, they had already passed that aisle. "I'm not going back," she said, looking through bags of rice for the type that she used in her own home.

"You'd better."

"I'm not. If I go back, it'll put me off, and I won't remember what I was looking for."

"We have a list," he pointed out, waving the paper before her.

She frowned and stared up at him. "Well, I don't care. I'm not going to the previous aisle for soy sauce." Then, she knelt down and picked up the bag of rice she wanted and put it in the cart. "I'm going to get bread next, not your silly sauce."

"You're being irrational."

"No, you are. Only people who don't like flavor put sauces on their food after the cook has prepared the meal. It shows how well the chef did. You don't need soy sauce."

"I do need it. What if I make bad rice?"

"Then I'll make you remake it."

"You won't be at my house all the time!" he remarked quickly.

She looked away from where she was walking and glared at him. She wasn't going to remark. After staring at him for a minute too long, she was interrupted by Lee, pushing a cart with a big cake. "Ah… young love… How I wish I had your ability to achieve such passion!" he called out.

Hinata took a deep breath, set her jaw, and stalked away from him. She turned down the bread aisle and pulled out two loaves. Then, she turned around, and went down to aisle five and picked up the Uchiha's beloved soy sauce. The rest of the shopping experience, Hinata ignored Sasuke and continued to pick out what he needed, if only it was on the list.

At the end of the trip, Hinata was carrying two bags, neither containing the sauce. Her jaw was still set, and her eyes had developed the look that Neji's had when he was irritated. Once at his home, she pushed the bags at him and walked away. "Stupid Uchiha," she had murmured under her breath.

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I'm so sorry for the wait! I am very sorry! As you can tell, I've introduced two other characters. Of course, thanks to all you reviewers, and all of you who tend to remind me I need to update. –cough- -cough- Em –cough-

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter more than I do. By the, way this chapter was broken up, so I'm giving you a taste of this day.

Dinner is bound to be tense when Sasuke asks Hinata to pass him the soy sauce.