The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit

chapter ten; out of sight, on the mind

Hinata flicked on the light to her apartment as she entered the door, her backpack flung over one shoulder. She let out a heavy sigh as she took in the familiar sight of her bachelor apartment; a bed off to the corner, a small kitchen with a small table to match. She missed having a whole mansion to herself, then again, at least she was comfortable where she was. It felt like forever since she'd slept in her own bed.

As she dropped her bag on the ground and lazily stumbled to her bed, she noticed something was... Off.

A sudden sense of paranoia rushed through her veins. She could sense no presence yet she felt like she wasn't alone, much like when she had discovered the Uchiha hiding in her closet back at the hotel.

...Wait a second.

She sighed and relaxed her body. "Sasuke?"

"Hey." His voice uttered from outside. She looked over and saw him casually leaning on her balcony beyond the screen door, wearing that forever apathetic expression.

"W-What are you doing here now? How did you get in my house?" She was freaked out, but at the same time, after everything that had happened the past few days, she wasn't surprised to see him lurking around yet again.

"You left your balcony door unlocked, idiot." He scoffed as he entered, closing the sliding door behind him.

"Why are you here? The mission is over, you don't need to follow me anymore. This is just plain weird."

"I thought we were drinking more?"

"W-What? W-When did I make those plans?" Hinata's face turned beet red as she recalled their conversation from earlier that day. Even still, she definitely did not agree to drink with him that night.

"Remember earlier?" Sasuke helped himself to sitting on a chair at the table.

"I didn't mean tonight... I thought that was obvious."

"Well I'm bored and I'm in town, so drink with me now."

"N-No, I'm tired."

The man appeared irritated. "I want to now."

"Then drink by yourself." The Hyuga herself was now getting annoyed. Sasuke was being a pest.

"I don't want to."

"Then don't drink at all." The girl sat opposite of the small room on her bed.

"But I want to."

Over the years, Hinata had become a lot better at asserting herself. She wanted to tell Sasuke to get the fuck out of her house, but she couldn't do that; not while those eyes stared at her. "Not tonight. I'm too tired, and it's too late."

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest like an a displeased child. "Tomorrow night then."

"If I agree, will you please leave and let me sleep?"

"Yes."

Another exasperated sigh escaped her lips. "Okay, fine. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow it is." And with that, the Uchiha had disappeared off the balcony as quickly as he came. She walked outside and stared in the distance, seeing that his figure was already out of sight, though not out of mind.

The next night came too quickly. Hinata spent the day normally; she slept in too late, went grocery shopping, and said hi to a few friends in town. Around seven o'clock, she returned home from her errands and made herself a quick meal before the inevitable arrived. She wasn't sure when, but she knew he was coming, and she had dreaded it all day.

She felt like she was disobeying some sort of rule by being associated with Sasuke, considering the only person left in town who actually was in contact with him was Naruto. Sasuke didn't speak to Sakura, Kakashi, no one.

But now he was speaking to her.

She allowed her forehead to slam against the table. Why me?

"Long day?"

Hinata jolted up in her seat and squealed a bit, swirling around to meet his eyes. "S-Stop sneaking up on me like that!"

"Hn." Sasuke smirked at her, letting himself in through the balcony. "Do you ever lock this thing?"

"Yes... But I knew you were coming, so I left it open."

"How considerate of you."

She rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone, before noting the bottle he was holding. "Are we not going to the bars?"

"What a stupid question." He scoffed. "If I show my face in town, people will come up to me."

She blushed a little. "Oh yeah..." Great, so I'm drinking with him alone in my apartment.

As rude as ever, Sasuke helped himself to a seat. Hinata hesitantly sat back down. "I brought sake, no whiskey." He said, shoving it in front of her.

"Good, because I wouldn't have drunk the whiskey."

"Yeah, well I like you more when you're actually coherent."

She ignored his comment, though for unknown reasons it made her heart race. She went to the kitchen for a moment and returned with two glasses, in which Sasuke filled both cups instantly. "Why are you always so eager to drink?" She inquired, taking a sip.

"Because alcohol is one of the few pleasures I have left in this life."

"Oh." Depressing... Hinata pondered for a moment how Sasuke and Naruto could have ever even became friends, considering their polar opposite personalities. The Naruto she knew and loved was so happy and optimistic about life. This strange man was always so bitter and negative.

"You have to catch up with me." His voice ended her thoughts, and she looked at his already empty cup.

"I don't want to chug it..." She peeped.

"Just do it, you'll get drunk a lot faster."

Hinata couldn't help but eye the Uchiha with suspicion, but regardless, for whatever reason she gave in and chugged the rest of her cup. Sasuke instantly gave her a refill, and repeated the same process. Half an hour later, Hinata was already drunk past her comfort level. She did drink a lot on a regular basis, but she wasn't much of a binge drinker. Sasuke had convinced her to chug four cups consecutively.

And so there she sat, red-faced and tipsy, struggling to act normal within her mind. Sasuke knew she was plastered and smiled to himself. She was cute when she was drunk.

For the most part, their conversations up until that point were dry and rather awkward. Sasuke didn't mind, but Hinata was a ball of anxiety when it came to speaking to him. He admired how she was so soft-spoken, and how unlike all the other women he'd met in his days, she wasn't obnoxious or loud.

And of course, the drunker he got, and the longer he was around her, the more in-depth his thoughts about her grew.

Sasuke wasn't much of a thinker when it came to women; the routine usually was to scope out an attractive one, seduce her and leave before she wakes up. He'd never been attracted to a person he actually enjoyed company with.

I wonder if I could seduce her... He wondered, staring at her beautiful face beyond the rim of his cup. And if I did, would I even want to leave in the morning?

"You should drink more." He smirked deviously.

Hinata hiccupped cutely. "I-I don't know, I'm pretty drunk."

Sasuke slid his chair slightly closer to her; he had the idea implanted in his brain now. Hinata noticed this and started fiddling with a strand of her hair. He stared at her face, but her eyes averted him. "Just one more and I'll leave you alone."

"I don't know why you want me to get drunk so bad."

"Because I don't want to be the only one."

She shrugged and took a sip. "Fair enough."

Sasuke's constant stare on her was making her uneasy. She wanted so much to know what was running through his twisted mind, but had no idea how to ask even though she was drunk. As Hinata put the cup down, she was shocked to feel a hand run through her hair. She looked to the man with shock, who wore a content expression as he ran his fingers through some of her hair.

"S-Sasu- W-What are you doing!?" Her face hadn't been so red since the first time Naruto kissed her on the cheek.

"I just admire your hair." He spoke casually, as if this were normal. Hinata thought differently.

"U-Uh, thanks..."

"You know, I can't stop thinking about something..." He trailed off and dropped his hand, bringing it back to where it belonged; not touching Hinata.

"W-What's that?" She queried unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I'm saying it anyway. I can't understand why Naruto-baka would leave you in general, let alone for someone like Sakura."

Hinata's heart felt like it was going to tear a hole right through her chest and run away. "What do you mean..."

"You just seem like the perfect woman to me."

Hinata's head started spinning. "I-I do? Why are you saying this?" This is so incredibly wrong, I have no idea what's happening but I do know it shouldn't be! Her mind screamed at her. She wanted to leave but she was in her own house.

"I don't know, I'm drunk." He leaned back in his chair and stretched. "Just speaking my mind. I'm like that."

"O-Oh. Well, thank you... But I'm really no such thing as that."

"Perhaps not. But you're the first person I've met in a very long time that I actually somewhat enjoy spending time with."

"Why is that?"

Sasuke noticed a spark of interest glow in her nearly blank orbs, and in his drunken mind, he took this as a sign. "Does it matter?" He slid closer to her and put his hand on the back of her head, and pulled her face closer to his...

Smack.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Hinata screeched, jumping away from him. A fresh hand print was implanted on his handsome face. Sasuke's expression, needless to say, was priceless, but Hinata wasn't concerned about that.

"You slapped me." He stated, standing up and looking to her with anger. "Why did you slap me?"

"Y-You just tried to kiss me!"

"Well yeah, so what?"

"What do you mean so what? This is totally wrong..." She placed her hand on her sweaty forehead. "Is this why you wanted to come over and drink with me? So you could try to sleep with me?"

It fully hit Sasuke then, even harder than Hinata's palm had collided with his face, that he was being rejected. "N-No! Don't flatter yourself, woman."

"I'm not flattering myself, you literally just tried to kiss me."

"It would have been just a kiss, I wasn't trying to sleep with you." He lied.

"I don't care... Please get out."

"Seriously?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "You're actually gunna kick me out?"

"Yes!"

"No way."

"Sasuke, get out." She pointed to the balcony, no longer caring that his dark eyes were ripping holes through her skin. "N-Now."

"No."

"Yes! Go!"

"Hn." Sasuke stood there for a few moments, taking in exactly what was happening. He sent her one last death glare, and muttered bitch under his breath as he took off into the night.

A/N: Heh, this chapter was entertaining to write. Thanks so much for all these reviews, if you have the time, please drop another! :)