A/N: Sorry for the long delay on this chappie. Something happened to me that made it really hard to concentrate on writing. It's really hard for me to write while I'm upset. Anyway, chanpuru is an Okinawan dish my mama-san would cook for us when we were kids. It's one of the few things we brought over with us from Okinawa. It's very delicious, especially if you season it right. I like to eat it with shrimp or chicken.

Chapter 10: Love Has a Voice

Suki growled in frustration as she crumpled up yet another piece of paper. She threw the crumpled ball into a nearby waste basket with a sigh. She had made five attempts at writing a love poem for Hiashi. She was going to slip it under his plate so he would find it, but she couldn't write a poem she thought was decent enough for him to read. She tried a sonnet but wracking her brain to find words to fit the rhyming scheme and the line count was more than she wanted to deal with. She even tried her hand at haiku, but it just came out sounding strange to her. Poetry was never her strong point. Neither was expressing her emotions. She looked up when she heard a voice calling to her. She pouted a little when she saw the young Hyuga servant girl, Momoe.

"Suki-san, are you all right? Did you need help with something?"

"Actually...yeah, I could use your help! Take me to the kitchen!" Momoe got a look on her face that showed she didn't think that was such a good idea. Momoe listened as an excited Suki explained her plan.

"I'm going to cook for Hiashi-sama! Something special...I think I'll make him chanpuru!"

"Ano...all right. I'll get the ingredients. But are you sure you don't want me to cook it?"

"Iie! I will cook for my beloved with my own hands."

"Ok, Suki-san. I'll go get the ingredients from the market." The Hyuga headed out but didn't look too enthusiastic about it. Suki was known to be good at some things, but cooking wasn't one of them. Half an hour later the young girl returned with some tofu, chicken, eggs, moyashi, and a variety of vegetables. Momoe watched as she helped Suki chop up the ingredients for the stir fry. She couldn't help but smile at how excited and happy the young woman seemed as she prepared the dish for Hiashi-sama. After all the ingredients were ready to be cooked Suki shooed Momoe out of the kitchen.

"Suki-san, I think you should let me stay and help you..." Momoe insisted as images of the kitchen becoming a blazing inferno popped into her mind.

"No, no! I must do this myself. I want him to enjoy something made with my own hands," Suki pleaded sounding almost desperate. Momoe finally conceded with a sigh, but she didn't go too far from the kitchen. Ten minutes later the Hyuga's worst fear came to fruition as she heard cries for help coming from the kitchen. She gently pushed the unskilled cook aside and put the flames in the pan out with some baking soda. The commotion had gotten the attention of the lord of the house who rushed to see what the problem was.

"What in Kami-sama's name is going on in here?" Hiashi asked as he looked over the scene. Momoe was cleaning up the mess on the stove while Suki stood off to the side looking miserable and ashamed. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she apologized for the mess.

"I...I wanted to make you dinner and serve it to you with my own hands, but...I ruined the meal!" Suki was now sobbing. "Why can't I do anything right? I just wanted to..." He words were cut off by more weeping as she hung her head and pressed her hands against her tear stained face. She felt so embarrassed and ashamed that she couldn't even cook a simple dish for her beloved. As her tears soaked her hands she felt someone embrace her. She lowered her hands to lean her face against Hiashi's chest. She calmed herself by taking deep breaths as he gently wiped her face with a kerchief. Momoe left the kitchen to safely dispose of the burned food as Hiashi took Suki into the living room. He sat down then pulled his woman onto his lap. She snuggled against him with her head laying on his shoulder.

"Suki-chan, why would you put yourself in danger like that?" Hiashi was fully aware of Suki's lack of cooking skill and was concerned that she could have been burned.

"I...just wanted to somehow...express my feelings to you. I tried poetry, but I suck at that more than cooking. I figured since chanpuru is such an easy dish to make I couldn't fail at that, but you saw what happened." Her bottom lip began to quiver as more tears welled up in her eyes.

"Suki-chan, why don't you just tell me how you feel?" Hiashi asked, his voice as gentle and soft as newly fallen snow.

"Because talking about my feelings is something else I suck at. I was never very good with words."

"Just tell me in your own words in your own voice. That's more than good enough for me." Suki sat up, took a deep breath, and looked Hiashi straight in the eye before speaking once again.

"Hiashi-sama, I want you to be happy with me. I'm grateful for everything you do for me and sometimes I don't feel like I deserve it. I'm a bit of a klutz and I'm so afraid of saying the wrong thing..." Hiashi cut her off with a light kiss on the lips.

"Enough of the Suki bashing. Now tell me what you really wanted to say." Suki leaned forward until their foreheads touched and they were eye-to-eye.

"Hiashi-sama...I love you, and yet I'm so afraid of disappointing you." Hiashi could tell she was about to slip back into her self-bashing so he silenced her with another kiss.

"You should have stopped at 'I love you.' That's all I need to know, really." With a sigh of relief Suki hugged Hiashi around the neck and kissed his cheek. In spite of her making a mess of things this wonderful man still accepted her and that did her heart good.

After cleaning up the kitchen Momoe cooked an edible dinner for the Hyugas. Hanabi joined them for dinner causing things to feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable. She would talk to her father but didn't even acknowledge Suki's presence. After the meal was over Hanabi asked to speak to her father alone.

Their pearl-like eyes met as they sat across from each other in the living room. Father and daughter held each other in a stern gaze for a few moments before Hanabi spoke.

"Father, how long is that woman going to be staying here?"

"I was under the impression you already knew this was a permanent arrangement."

"What? But why?"

"Hanabi, you and Hinata are grown women now. Hinata is married and you will be married off soon. I think it's about time for me to focus on myself for a change. I've been single long enough. Just because I'm a widower doesn't mean I have to be alone for the rest of my life."

"But Father, she's younger than me! Why not be with someone older and less...strange?"

"Hanabi, that's a deeply personal question that I don't want to address with my own daughter..."

"Father, a woman your age is perfectly capable of doing whatever she can do in the bedroom too, so that's no excuse for bringing a nineteen year old whore into our home," Hanabi grumbled. Hiashi's eyes narrowed as one of the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Daughter, I will not allow you to disrespect Suki." His tone was firm and his voice was as cold as ice.

"What is there to respect?"

"The very fact that I brought her into our home should suffice."

"Why did you bring her here, Father? She's not even worthy of taking mother's place!" Hiashi was silent for a moment. He figured out why his daughter hated Suki so much. Now was the time to set things straight.

"Hanabi, I did not bring Suki here to replace your mother. No one could ever do that. However, Suki is Suki, no more no less. She's here because I want her to be here, and you will show her respect. She has never done anything to disrespect you so you have no reason to behave badly towards her." The icy tone was now gone from his voice and his expression had softened. He thought that he and his daughter had finally understood one another when it came to Suki, but Hanabi's response told him otherwise.

"Father, you are very dear to me so I must say this and say it clearly. You have obviously been blinded by those massive breasts of hers to the fact that she is nothing but a gold digging, useless whore. I won't give up until you see the truth." Her comment was met with a cold stare from her father. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Hanabi, leave my presence now before I say something we'll both regret."

"But Father..."

"I SAID LEAVE!" Hanabi nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. She had seen her father get angry before but he had never shouted like that. At least not at her. A wide-eyed Hyuga scrambled to her feet and scuttled out of the living room. His reaction let her know that he had become quite attached to Suki. She didn't like this change in her father so she decided to confront the younger woman once and for all. She found the Miyamoto sitting on the porch facing the courtyard gazing at the sky. The Hyuga activated her Byakugan and crept up silently behind Suki. She focused on a point in Suki's chakra network in her neck then quickly jabbed it with two fingers. Hanabi's eyes grew wide with shock when Suki didn't fall over paralyzed. The Hyuga slowly began to back away from the other woman as Suki turned to face her.

"Why did you do that, Hanabi-sama?" Suki asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"You...you shouldn't even be able to move!" When Hanabi got a closer look at Suki's chakra she noticed it fluctuated between white and green. By now Suki was towering over her and looking straight in Hanabi's face. The heiress gasped when she saw a flash of something odd in Suki's face. It was like for a brief moment she had another face. A face that didn't look quite...human. "What are you ? How are you able to do that with your chakra?" Hanabi begged for an explanation as she backed away from the strange sight. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hanabi, what are you babbling about?"

"Father, I told you there's something strange about this woman! Look at her chakra!" Hiashi hesitated and looked over at Suki who merely shrugged her shoulders. With a sigh he activated his Byakugan to see what his daughter was talking about.

"Hanabi, I see nothing strange about her chakra at all. What sort of nonsense are you trying to start?"

"It's not nonsense! I saw it with my own eyes! Her chakra was fluctuating between two different signatures and for a moment she looked like she had two faces..." Hanabi's voice trailed off when she realized how ridiculous she must sound. Hiashi was clearly losing his patience.

"Daughter, I'm going to retire for the night. Come, Suki." Suki happily obeyed as Hiashi took her by the hand. Hanabi just stood there staring at the spot Suki once stood. She briefly wondered if Suki had used some sort of genjutsu on her.

'No, that can't be it. I've trained so that I won't be vulnerable to such a thing. My Byakugan would have been able to see past that." The young woman soon began to realize that there was more to Suki than meets the eye. Even her advanced eyesight couldn't figure it out. Something was telling her that she didn't want to cross Suki or get in a fight with her. The fact that she wasn't able to paralyze Suki with that jab to that pressure point terrified her. She decided that she wasn't going to mess with Suki anymore. Warning her father about what she saw wasn't going to do any good unless he saw it for himself.

All was pretty much quiet in the Hyuga compound. Hiashi kissed the temple of his sleeping lover. He thought her already adorable face looked even sweeter when she slept. When he leaned over to kiss the birthmark on her left breast she stirred and began to mumble in her sleep.

"Mmmm...Aishiteru (I love you), Hiashi-kun," he heard her say in the sweetest voice he'd ever heard. He could see her eyes darting back and forth under her eyelids, which let him know she was truly asleep. He held her close until his lips were millimeters from her ear.

"I must be pretty special to you for you to call out my name in your sleep," he whispered before lightly kissing her ear. He smiled at the fact that even in her sleep she responded to his touch. He watched the subtle twitches in her face as he flicked her clit with his index finger. A mixture of her juices and his seed spilled past his fingers as he gently stroked her folds. He felt a twinge of guilt for fondling her in her sleep, but that feeling went away when he noticed the happy expression on her sleeping face. As long as she was getting some enjoyment too he decided it was alright. As he slowly slipped inside of her he bit down on his bottom lip to keep from moaning. He didn't want to wake the sleeping angel from her pleasant dreams. Between the feeling of her silky, tan skin and the adorable sounds she was making in her sleep, Hiashi was finding it very hard to hold back his passion. He pulled out of her then very gently repositioned her so that her head was still against her pillow. He had her on her stomach with her thighs spread wide. Her soft snoring indicated that her sleep hadn't been disturbed. Hiashi gently laid across her back and reentered moist warmth. He felt like he was melting into her. With each slow stroke he would kiss her face and whisper softly into her ear. Soon he had her moaning in her sleep and he could see her eyelids begin to flutter. He felt his release come just as her eyes fully opened. Suki sat up slightly as she looked over her shoulder to give Hiashi a sleepy smile. He leaned forward to give her a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Sumimasen. I didn't mean to wake you, Suki-chan." She chuckled as she laid her head back on her pillow and gave him a coy smile.

"So that's why I was having such a beautiful dream," she mumbled against her arm as her eyelids became heavy again. Hiashi laid back down next to her as she fell asleep once again. He smiled to himself as he admired the sleeping beauty next to him. He had to admit he did love her, but he'd rather tell her when she was fully awake. He sighed with contentment as he laid against he sleeping form and breathed in her scent before he fell asleep with his lips gently pressed against her shoulder.

Next chappie: More wedding bells and more chaos!