Standard Disclaimer
Cantabile
Chapter Seven: Understand Me
01:
The next couple weeks pasted without incidents. Things went back to normal, with the only difference being that Hinata's class was larger. Sasuke still brought her lunch when she overworked herself (which was basically everyday) and Hinata's students would sometimes stay back during lunch to see if they would suddenly declare their undying love for each other. They didn't.
Naruto would sometimes stop by Sasuke's apartment to chat, occasionally finding Hinata there, cooking food. He would sometimes bring Sakura for more company. The two were become increasingly closer, Sasuke noted. He wondered if he would have to watch Hinata cry over her lost love.
Hinata was comfortable with how things were now. If Hinata had to be only one thing it would be a creature of habit. She hated change. And to confess to Naruto, and then turn him down, then confess to Sasuke…that included a lot of change. And courage, which she felt she lacked. Despite the glaringly obvious evidence that Sasuke loved her, Hinata still felt doubt. After all, it was Uchiha Sasuke we were talking about.
Sakura had somehow found out and kept on reassuring Hinata but years of self doubt and family pressure made itself known. There was only one person who could get through to Hinata during her times of stress and he obviously couldn't help her on this one.
So she did the most Hinata thing. She procrastinated. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Then, it was summer and somehow, when Naruto came over to visit Sasuke and Hinata, he brought the whole staff of Konoha Academy, excluding the headmistress and her assistant. He brought Neji from conductor's apartment, Shikamaru from percussion and band, and Ino from beginning orchestra.
As usual, Sakura was ever present.
Oddly, Hinata wasn't surprised when Sasuke appeared at her doorstep, asking for her help to get some "freaking people with no lives" out of his apartment. With Ino and Sakura's persuasion, Hinata had somehow been appointed the job of cooking a feast for the bunch.
She was fine with the arrangement; Ino and Sakura were helping her after all. Still, she poked her head outside the kitchen door many times to check on Sasuke. Naruto was currently trying to braid his hair.
She sighed and popped her head back in, and was quickly fixed under the stares of the two older women. Sakura grinned and set down a pair of gloves. They were preparing curry for the guys, despite Naruto's objections stating that "Ramen is really good!" The meat and veggie filled substance was currently bubbling in a pot nearby.
"Hinata-chan…" Sakura sang, doing some weird dance. Ino rolled her eyes and flicked the woman's forehead.
"Don't scare her away, idiot," Ino murmured. She then coughed and gave Hinata a sweet smile, officially scaring the heiress away.
"I think someone's calling me!" Hinata shrieked, ready to bolt out of the kitchen but was rudely grabbed by Sakura.
"Ooh, Sasuke calling you?" Sakura stated suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows. Hinata found the sight very disturbing. She decided to play dumb on this one.
"Err, yes, he wants more wine! I'll go--," Hinata turned around to be cornered by a blond haired beauty. Scary.
"Sit down, young lady," she growled.
"Okay!" She gulped. Hinata slid into one of Sasuke's leather kitchen chairs, staring at the clear glass of the kitchen table. How modern… Ino and Sakura slid into the chairs also, fixing Hinata with a firm stare. She couldn't help but wince. She knew Sakura knew but Ino too?
Life sucked.
"You see, honey, when a woman loves a man--," Ino started.
"Oh, get to the point. Hinata, you need to hurry up and get your ass in gear. It's been six months! Six! What have you been doing? Soul searching? Are you done yet? Because really, this is getting old. You know, if you keep doing this, I'm going--," Sakura blabbered on. Ino slapped her across the head.
"Don't scare her!" Ino yelled. The living room got quiet and then the deep murmurs of the guys began again. Hinata decided she would just fess up and get this over with.
"But…I need to tell Naruto of my…past feelings before I tell Sasuke of my current ones…" Hinata replied gently. She knew she would regret everything she said now. But there wasn't a lot to lose anymore. Sakura smiled.
She lightly flicked Hinata's forehead. "Ow!"
"Why don't you hurry up then? Sasuke won't wait forever, and I know for sure that if you don't get this over with now, you'll never finish what is needed," Sakura explained. Hinata blinked in reply.
There had been a question that was bugging her since that day in the coffee shop. Sakura was sure to love Sasuke…why was she doing all of this…it had almost been a year…but love doesn't fade does it?
"And I know what you're wondering. If you must know, I do still love Sasuke. But he doesn't love me. So what's the point? I knew he loved you since the day he came to Konoha. And being like a little immature girl I clung to him. So I let go," Sakura replied, looking unfazed.
Hinata hesitated. "Why would you do that?"
"Hun, I confessed to him not too long ago. He said he loved someone else and he said…thank you. That wasn't enough for me, so I planned a date. And he brought you. It was really clear what he was trying to show me. Still, throughout the date, I tried to make it seem like you weren't there…he got annoyed and…" Sakura trailed off and started laughing. Ino, who was listening patiently, frowned.
"Huh?"
"Do you remember when the busboy knocked the whole cart of food on you?" Sakura asked, something sparkling in her eyes.
"Yes…" Hinata replied cautiously.
"That was Sasuke. I don't think he knew that the cart was filled with so much food so I guess that's why he was yelling at the busboy. Poor guy…anyway, even after that stunt, even after Sasuke wanted to go home, I clung to him. And he made it very clear it wasn't happening, and yeah. What's that saying? If you love something, let it go. If it was meant to be, it'll come back." And with a flourish, Sakura stood up and began bowing to her audience. Hinata laughed goodheartedly.
Perhaps things were all right.
"I don't want to break up this heart to heart session, but the curry pot is overflowing!" Ino shrieked, standing up and knocking her chair back.
Perhaps not.
02:
Sasuke's eyes twitched for the third time that day when he heard the girl's squealing in the background. Naruto was currently resting his feet on his 300 dollar coffee table. His bare feet. His stinky bare feet. It was more disgusting to look at than to smell…
"Get your feet of my table. Now." Sasuke growled.
"Why?" Naruto smirked.
"Because I'm going to shove--," Sasuke started but was rudely interrupted by Neji.
"Do you have intentions with my cousin?"
A long silence stretched between the four of them. The word "troublesome" was muttered, and for good reason. Neji eyed Sasuke carefully. He had met Sasuke on the few occasions that Hinata had been picked up from the Hyuuga estate. When she moved out and soon came to work at the same school as Neji, Hinata had finally decided to introduce them formally. It was a chilly meeting and although Hinata itched to smooth over the friction between the two, she knew better to kick the bear between the legs while it was sleeping.
Perhaps it was because Neji knew in some twisted brotherly kind of way, that Uchiha Sasuke had the potential to take away his cousin. He was ecstatic (in the inside, we're all sure) to know that Hinata was about aware of Sasuke's feelings as Naruto's green wallet.
Still, Sasuke hated Neji for different reasons. Sasuke had known Hinata since junior high and he was also quite aware that Neji was her cousin; the exact cousin that stood on the sidelines and watched Hinata break down every time a brutal elder trashed her verbally. When Sasuke voiced his complaints, Hinata spoke of how Neji had no choice to keep quiet, as well as Hanabi. Both were branch family members and any speech on their part was complete suicide, not only to them but to the people around them. Sasuke did not find this fit for an excuse. He pardoned Hanabi, she was a girl (Hinata frowned at this) but Neji…Neji could have done something. And the fact that he didn't the ten years before Sasuke arrived was enough of a reason for Sasuke to hate him.
It was only fair.
Right now…Sasuke was a tad surprised. Apparently, the cousin finally got it through his thick head that the last decade or so of affection that Sasuke had shown to Hinata wasn't just "kid friendly". He didn't see how the "Hyuuga genius" was so a freaking--
"Are you going to answer my question?" Neji asked. Sasuke was about to snap before Naruto swooped in and saved the day in the usual idiotic fashion.
"Of course Sasuke has 'intentions'! Dude, he's like this close," Naruto raised his hand and showed the tiny amount of space between in index finger and thumb to Neji. "He's that close to proposing to her. And I'm betting fifty bucks that she's going for it too!"
Another uncomfortable silence seeped through the space between the four men. The word "idiot" was muttered along with "troublesome".
Neji's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that true Uchiha?"
Sasuke played with the idea of saying "No, who would want her?" but he had a bad feeling that the statement would make its way to Hinata some way…
"Yes. I do."
Silence stretched over them for the third time.
"I smell something burning."
03:
Thankfully, for a good couple weeks, Naruto did not pay anymore visits. The apartment complex Hinata and Sasuke lived in became peacefully quiet and the landlord thanked the gods for answering his prayers to get rid of the "blond haired demon". Sasuke went into a pleasant hum of habit. He would wake up shortly after Hinata arrived in his apartment to cook food. She did it every day without him asking, even though Sasuke was perfectly capable of cooking a breakfast himself. They would both leave for a quick run around the park. They returned and went their separate ways, doing whatever the rest of the time before lunch. Then Hinata and food would both magically appear. Then, they parted ways until dinner, when Hinata would return to make food.
"I think I'm your cook," Hinata mumbled while they sipped cool cucumber soup one lunch date. Sasuke blinked.
"I guess you are…"
"I think you should pay me."
Sasuke did not pay her for her future services but the thought of him becoming increasingly dependant on her did enter his mind. Before the orange thing, they never did this. Yes, Hinata would occasionally visit his apartment every few weeks with a hot pot and they did catch coffee often after school. During summer the coffee breaks and hot pot visits were few and far in between. After Naruto kept on visiting, Sasuke found an excuse for her to come over. Cooking?
One night, there was a summer thunderstorm, unusual but then, it happened. Hinata had stated that it was far to cold to go out into the hall and she camped at his place. Sasuke didn't bring up the fact that it would have taken her a couple seconds to go from his apartment to hers. He didn't mind seeing her blurry eyed face in the morning though.
Then, one morning, when he didn't see (or smell) food and Hinata in the kitchen he realized how he really had become dependant of Hinata. It was like they were d--,
Nevermind.
All that was left for him to eat was a note that stated that Hinata needed to "visit someone" and she would be back for lunch.
Sasuke blinked and wondered if he should attempt to make scrambled eggs.
04:
Hinata sighed. She was in her bed, staring at the ceiling at four a.m. Ever since sleeping over at Sasuke's apartment last week she felt…
Different?
More in love?
…Perverted?
Hinata groaned and stuffed her face into her soft pillow. She attempted to breathe through the little holes in the pillow. She failed and raised her head and gasped for air a minute later. She knew that procrastination would bite her in the ass sometime, but couldn't it bite her in another year? It would have made her life that much easier… Hinata blankly decided she would fire life on the account of not being fair. Yeah, a good idea. Hinata stood and slipped out of bed, leisurely slipping her fuzzy bed shoes over her socks and her lavender bathrobe over her pajamas.
She'd do it today.
Well, she kinda had to; she had just broken into Sasuke's apartment to the sticky note on his fridge…
Naruto's apartment was a little across town, near the school. She would take the subway there; it was slower to take that than her car. She didn't want to rush the whole thing! She had promised Sakura and Ino she would call over both of them to her apartment so they could have some "sister time". They also invited Hanabi…
She really didn't want to go anywhere with this, but that night in his apartment really pushed her. After all, she was doing this for Sasuke…
Hinata nodded to herself as she sipped her coffee and stared out the window.
She would go through with this. Definitely.
Chapter Seven End.
Beta.
Thank you for reading!
