Hers
CHAPTER 10
Things happen that make life more difficult. It's the little things like hanging clothes on a clothing line, only to have a spontaneous summer rainstorm hit three minutes later. At this moment, there was nothing more difficult that being married. Sasuke didn't understand much of what he was supposed to say or do in many situations, which was evident with how often his wife has been pissed at him. He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned quietly. Wasn't he supposed to care about anything and everything?
He stared at the open medicine cabinet. Brightly packaged pads, deodorants, feminine products, facial scrubs and soaps stared back at him. In a tiny corner, he could see his toothbrush, dark blue razor and its accompanying shaving cream. That's it. That was all that was his. Lightly moistening the toothbrush bristles, he applied a strip of minty gel paste and brushed his teeth.
He was not used to sharing a bathroom, or any room for that matter, with anyone. He felt like he had to walk on fucking eggshells all the time, worried about how his wife would react to his actions and words. She never came right out and said she was angry; she just did small things that suggested it. He didn't care that she was angry, who wanted a passive wife? It annoyed him because it meant he had to pay attention and make sure to explain himself or suffer with the awkwardness.
After vigorously wiping his mouth with his hand towel, he placed it back on the rack and took a deep breath before opening the adjoining door to the bedroom they shared. He glanced at the bed fleetingly, taking in the blob indenting the left side of the bed. He never did understand why she decided on sharing a room with him, not that he was complaining. Or, maybe, he was.
It has been weeks since their wedding. Their relationship was, for lack of a better word, asexual.
Turning off the light, he laid on the right side of the bed on his back, over the covers. They were always careful to never touch. He had his side and she had hers.
They had touched today. He had hugged her, trying to comfort her after he pissed her off.
He curled his arm under his head and twisted his neck to look at her. She had cocooned herself in the comforter, covered from head to toe. His gaze traveled to the ceiling and he furrowed his brows. She was soft. He remembered softness and the smell of clean linen. He didn't dislike it.
Honestly, he didn't dislike much about Hinata. Just the fact the he felt like an asshole whenever he was around her.
He turned his body to face her. Gingerly tugging on the top of the covers, he slowly revealed her face, being careful not to awaken her in the process. Her hair was disheveled and face a little flushed; he didn't understand why she was so bundled when it looked like she was hot. He smoothed the errant wisps of hair off her face.
His hands paused as her lilac eyes opened and met his.
He finished his task of tucking her locks behind her ears before returning his hand to his side.
They said nothing to each other but stared in silence.
She looked at him questioningly, but he just stared back mutely.
She let out a quiet breath and slowly turned so her back was facing his front. It was a little unnerving to be facing each other, breathing in the same air in such close proximity.
She curled an arm under her head and stared hard at the white walls.
He stared at her hair, shining like black waves in the midnight light. His hands itched to fun his fingers through the silken strands, but he knew she wouldn't take it very well.
Sighing, he flipped to his back and folded both arms under his head.
Sleep was not coming easy to anyone that night.
He absently counted the beams on the ceiling. He had gotten to forty when he gave up, it was a useless task.
Listening closely to her breathing, he noted that it was still a little erratic. She was still awake.
"Awake?" he inquired in a low tone.
"Hai" her soft voice barely traveled to his ears.
Grunting, Sasuke abruptly got up from bed and walked over to her side. His shadows cascaded over her body, preventing moonlight from illuminating the room.
Squinting, she peered up at him in question.
His hand reached out to touch her shoulder lightly, "come on."
Swinging her legs over to the side of the bed, she groggily sat up and self consciously tugged on bottom of her shirt, to make sure she was decent.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she arose from the bed and slightly stretched her torso.
"Kitchen," murmured Sasuke as he led her out of their room by lightly tugging on her sleeve.
She carefully gripped the handrails of the staircase as they descended, her legs were still a little wobbily and they were walking in the dark.
As she reached the landing, bright lights suddenly cascaded around her, momentarily blinding her; she raised a hand over her eyes in defensive.
"Tea?"
"Hai."
Sasuke filled the tea kettle with water and placed it on the hot burner. He lazily placed loose tea leaves in two mugs and poured in the hot water once the kettle had whistled.
Sitting down across from his squinty eyed wife, he placed a cup in front of each of them and then rubbed his face warily.
"Hinata.." Sasuke paused, not sure of how to proceed.
"Are you… content?" he asked as he turned his cup in a clockwise fashion.
She placed her cup down with both hands and folded her hands, and studied the Sasuke.
"Content…?" She wasn't sure where the question was coming from.
He nodded solemnly and returned her stare.
His face was blank but she could see shadows of creases at the corners of his mouth and slight bags under his eyes.
"Are you?" Perhaps this was his way of expressing his discontent. But discontent in what way- their marriage, her, both?
Sasuke smirked slightly, of course she would throw the question back at him.
"I want more." Sasuke blatantly stated as he watched her carefully for a response.
"More…" Her brows furrowed as she allowed a finger to press on the corner of her mouth.
"How much more?" she quietly countered.
Sasuke allowed his gaze to follow line from her arm to her finger to her mouth.
"A bit more," he responded while swallowing hard.
"More of what ?" Hinata didn't know what to make of all of this. He was being very vague.
Sasuke cursed fluidly in his head.
"I want us to be closer."
"You want to spend more time together?" She cocked her head at him, even more confused than before.
He nodded.
"Ano, we can go to the market together tomorrow?" she asked as she ransacked her mind for ways that they can do things together.
He nodded again distractedly, "We can go tomorrow. "
She smiled shyly at him, she was happy she could do something to make him happy. She realized that she could be a little unfair at times, and she had a tendency to jumping to conclusions whenever he said anything. She was actually a little glad that despite all that, he still wanted to spend more time with her.
After seeing her smile, Sasuke abandoned any other plans he had in clarifying his previous statement. This would have to do for now.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sasuke hammered against the wooden post in the alcove behind his home. Pulling on the protruding hook, he tested its strength. Grunting in satisfaction, he moved on to the other side. The sun was hot and bearing down on him, trickles of sweat ran down his temples and matted his hair.
Hinata slid open the sliding shoji doors, and stepped out. Sasuke glanced at Hinata and nodded in recognition and continued on with his task. She pulled the heavy mats out on the deck and vigorously shook the sand out. It amazed her how much dust accumulated in their home. Laying the mat across the mini fence enclosing the deck, she beat the sand out of the mats. Dust exploded out of the woven fabric, causing her to squint and cough from the sudden assault. There was a reason why she only did this once a week.
"When do you want to go?" asked Sasuke as hung the hammock on the hooks.
"In an hour? I want to shower before. " She wiped away the drops of sweat from her brow as she leaned on one of the wooden columns.
She watched as Sasuke tested the hammock by sitting in it. He was swinging back and forth but didn't seem too happy.
"Is it too low?" he asked as he extended his hand out, allowing his fingers to whisper against the ground.
He gestured for her to join him in the hammock .
She hesitated, she was covered in dust and didn't want to carry all of that to the hammock.
Brushing off her clothes, she gingerly sat about half a foot opposite her husband. As she loosened her grip on the edges of the hammock, she wasn't expecting to slide down to him.
He grunted as her body collided with his. It was definitely not hung tight enough. She tried to separate herself from her husband but elbowed him in the side by mistake. Sasuke let out a whoosh of air and sucked in sharply.
Hinata jumped up, afraid of causing more harm. She knelt in front of him and her fingers traveled to his torso to where Sasuke was holding his injury.
"Let me check," she murmured as she gingerly raised his shirt. She sucked in quietly as she saw the red bruise that was forming and slowly becoming more and more apparent.
Her hands glowed green as she focused to healing the capillaries. Sasuke could feel tingling where her chakra flowed into him. The redness was slowly fading and the intensity of the chakra flow was diminishing. As he was about to pull his shirt back down, he was startled when her finger lightly caressed where it was previously red.
Her touch tickled him.
He stilled her caress by placing his palm over her wandering finger.
"Gomen," she whispered as she blushed and smiled up at him.
Sasuke stared down at her. Her long hair was pulled into a loose bun at the base of neck, there were loose tendrils cascading around her rounded face. She looked flushed but fresh, as if she had just taken a bath, though she hadn't. She didn't smile at him very often, and when she did, he felt good.
She was perspiring quite a bit beneath the hot sun. His free hand reached out and wiped her brow. Her skin was dewy from the morning's work.
He tilted her neck up and his thumb followed the trail of a bead of sweat from her jawbone down the column of her neck. He felt enraptured by its journey.
Hinata stared at him wide eyed, one of her hands was still entrapped under his palm by his side. Feeling a little off balance, her free hand grabbed on to the front of his shirt.
"Come closer" he whispered as he leaned down towards her.
His lips lightly touched hers, nudging them playfully. She gasped as she felt his tongue reach out and lick her cheek.
"Salty. A kiss makes all better, " he muttered against her before he quickly planted a chaste kiss on her lips and swiftly got out of the hammock.
She stared off at him in disbelief. Her knees collapsed beneath her as she sat fully on the ground, with a dazed look as the pads of her fingers touched her lips.
"Let's go Hinata, the market will close," he called over his shoulder as he headed back into the house to take a much needed shower.
Sasuke smirked as he walked inside. With his hands in his pockets, he felt a sudden urge to whistle up the stairs.
Hinata shook her head and rose slowly. She was lost in her thoughts as she headed up to their bedroom.
What had just happened? Sasuke kissed her. He kissed her. Why? She stood in front of the dresser and stared at herself in front of the mirror. She wasn't sure how long she stood in front of the mirror, but soon the adjoining bathroom door opened causing hot steamy air to escape.
Sasuke stepped out. His hair was wet, leaving a trail of water all over his torso. His torso was bare.
Squeezing her eyes, she swiftly turned back to the dresser.
Sasuke ran the towel through his hair roughly and then threw it on the bed. He eyed the ramrod spine of his wife before standing next to her and running a brush through his hair.
"Bathroom's free" he murmured.
She nodded and refused to look at him. He watched her through the corner of his eyes while she pulled out random items from different drawers, scurried into the bathroom and locked the door.
He had finished getting dressed and straightening up the room but she still had not come out.
He laid on the bed and closed his eyes as he waited.
He heard the bathroom door open a few minutes later but kept his eyes closed. He listened as she moved around in the bedroom.
"Sasuke?"
He opened his eyes at her voice.
"I'm ready," she whispered as she headed out the room and closed the lights.
Sasuke sat up and shook his head, not quite.