you thought you could just joke and tease your way into my heart

...and you were right.

-maggie eileen

"Did you send the warning, boy?"

The two men holding the boy, tossed him harshly onto the floor, near their leader's polished boots. Their leader had his legs crossed, staring down at the boy at his feet with a bored look.

"Y-Yes, I did! She saw it, okay?" The boy complained, rubbing his bruised knees. "Now let me go! And my family and friends!"

"Don't speak until you're told to do so!" One of the men kicked the boy, causing him whimper out in pain.

After several kicks, the man in the chair motioned him to stop with a flip of his hand. "That's enough." He told him.

Standing, he bent down to the boy's eye level. "I'll let them go, sure. But I'm not done with you yet. I have another mission for you, boy."

The little boy gulped worriedly.

A loud squawk from a particular annoying bird startled Hinata awake, interrupting her from surprisingly blissful sleep. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, Hinata fluttered an eyelid open to see Hikaru somehow gotten himself locked out, pecking the window from the outside with his little beak.

"Just stay out, Hikaru..." She groaned, stretching. Yawning, she turned her head on her soft pillow to see Sasuke still fast asleep beside her. He had an arm slung over his eyes, still shirtless despite her firm complaints to get dressed if he was going to sleep beside her on the bed. The blanket covered half of him, reaching halfway up his exposed stomach.

It felt like an unbelievable fantasy, one that Hinata never imagined to experience in all her life. Who would have thought that one day she'd wake up next to shirtless Sasuke Uchiha? Hinata knew that if news of this would get out, a hoard of frantic girls would swarm her and bite her head off in jealousy.

Hinata smiled softly. It was funny how she used to practically hate him, dread his indirect fault at forcing her to abandon everything she loved to in order to capture him. She hated him for being too strong and skillful. For making it difficult for her to accomplish what she set out to prove, that she was a capable heiress of her clan. But now her determination had faltered. She never expected how life would slap in her in the face the way it did after meeting Sasuke. Really meeting him and knowing him.

He looked relaxed, Hinata thought. Sleeping on the couch was definitely out of the question. Helpingher out with the mission and training, he deserved a good night sleep at the very least.

It wasn't dark and dim like last night, giving her the opportunity to see how he looked. Without worrying that he would notice, she let her eyes wander.

Unable to suppress to the urge to look away, Hinata found herself staring. He wasn't wrong when he said that he wanted to keep in shape. He looked good. The arm over his eyes displayed his stretched, buffed bicep. The toned six-pack abs and built body, was enough to make any women swoon. She was never one to care about physical attractiveness, after all, she loved Naruto who wasn't necessarily on the level of attractiveness Sasuke was, as considered by her female friends.

I don't like Sasuke for his looks! Hinata pushed her nagging thoughts and peeled her eyes , she focused on the scars that covered his chest and arms. Some were faint, while others more prominent.

He had so... many.

Some looked new and fresh, while the rest looked like he received them long time ago. She wondered the story behind each one. Will he tell her someday?

Hikaru started to resume his persistent pecking, causing her to unable to stand it anymore. Sighing, Hinata removed herself from the bed and twisted around toward the window, frowning at her annoying bird friend. He better not interrupt Sasuke's much-needed sleep and wake him!

She was about to slip out of the bed, when something wrapped around her waist, pulling her back.

"Ah!" She gasped out in surprise, her bum falling back on the bed.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke murmured lazily into her ear. He sat up on the bed, pulling her in his lap, his face buried at crook of her neck.

Hinata could feel his lips brush her neck, her heart pounding in her chest uncontrollably. "I didn't w-want to wake you..." She answered.

"Mmm." Sasuke tightened his hold around her hip, laying back on his pillow and pulling her along with him. "Alright, then let's go back to sleep."

Pushing herself, she looked down at him. His eyelids were slightly open. Hikaru continued pecking the window. He was going to break the glass at this rate. "Ano, Sasuke-san..."

"Shut up, Hinata." He guided her head back on his chest.

Blushing she lets him lay her head back on his hard chest, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. It would have been a peaceful, contenting moment if not for Hikaru. After ten pecks, Hinata bit her lip. "He's going to break the window..."

"Arghhh! First the dog. Now the bird." Sasuke growled, completely annoyed.

Hinata giggled, remembering how even the cute, little puppy managed to get on Sasuke's nerves. "Sasuke-san, I think you have bad luck with animals."

"You think?" He snorted, opening his eyes. His dark eyes met hers. "Nah, I just have problems with some. Like i'm okay with birds, I have a hawk of my own in fact, but I hate dogs. I can tolerate some animals if need be, but most of the time, I don't want near me."

"You have a hawk?" Hinata asked eagerly, wanting to know more.

"Yeah, but he's only a summoning." Sasuke replied, a sly smile creeping on his sleepy face. "Besides, I already have my own pet."

Hinata peered curiously at the grin forming on his features "What pet? I never saw you with one...?" She asked confused, but he didn't answer. He waited until she finally understood what he meant. Hinata recalled what he called her occasionally from time to time, without her giving it much thought until now.

...Kitty.

"I am not your pet!" She frowned, slapping his arm playfully.

"But you act just act like a kitty, and resemble one." He smirked defensively.

"I am not a kitty!"

"Let's see...you're short."

"I am not! You're just too tall!"

"And you have the eyes part down, the spooky white pupils."

"They are not spooky!"

"Not to mention the purple hair and your clumsiness."

"No. No!"

"And your pale skin that gives off a look of a creepy white-furred cat in the night."

"Sasuke, stop it already! I AM NOT A PET."

Hinata quickly covered her mouth with her palm, eyes wide. Did she just blurt his name out loud without the honorific? She didn't mean to say it, it slipped out before she could think. It...It was okay, right? They were more than just friends by now, right?

While she was flushed in embarrassment, Sasuke was looking at her with both an amused and pleased look. "Well, about damn time. I thought you'd still shy away from calling my name without honorifics even after we get married."

"M-M-MARRIED?" She burst, scrambling off him, putting distance between them on the bed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her reaction. Sitting up, he mused, "It was an exaggeration. Relax, are you seriously that scared of the thought of marrying me?"

Hinata chest tightened. She didn't realize that her reaction might have offended him, however, his eyes thankfully only showed humor.

"Oh." She played with her fingers in her lap.

"Looks like we won't be getting sleep now." He sighed, frowning at the window. "You should let him in."

Nodding, she ignored the beating in her chest as she moved to slid open the window. As soon as she opened it, Hikaru jumped off the window sill and into the room, flapping his wings.

Cool morning air filled the room, causing her to shiver a bit at it's chill. She quickly shut the window.

"Hey, check his claws." Sasuke ruffled his bed hair, while looking for his tossed shirt.

Hinata blinked. A message from Hokage-sama? It has been some time since she received one.

Obeying, she managed to settle the flapping bird on her arm, while using her free hand to pull out the attached piece of paper.

She opened it, eyebrows rising. This handwriting...

Twelve miles west from the fat shopkeeper, behind the burning building.

W-What is this? She sat at the edge of the bed, rereading the message. Once. Twice.

"What? Another mission?" Sasuke peered over her shoulder from his side of the bed, curious to why she was silent.

"No..." Was this another warning? And how did they manage to use Hikaru to contact her? He was trained to serve Konoha Shinobi's only. "They are finding ways to contact me..."

"Who? Let me see." Without waiting for her to reply, he snatched the piece of paper from her hand, sliding off the bed and standing in front of her.

Hinata watched a surprise look flash over his face and then replaced with a dark one as he read the message.

"Fucking bastards." She heard him mutter quietly.

"Do you think it's a trap?" She pursed her lips, looking up at him.

"Obviously." He scoffed, giving her the paper back.

"What should we do?" She thinks, taking it from him. "If we follow this lead, we might be running into their very hands...but that also means we don't have to keep searching for them, so it may not be a bad idea...however we lose the advantage of attacking them in surprise and having the upper hand since they will be expecting us." They had searched the village the other day but found nothing, and now the enemy gave them his very location.

"Yeah, you're right about that." He replied. "This is your mission, so it's your call. Go after them or wait and see what happens. Whatever you pick, i'm with you."

Hinata felt touched by his firm declaration and confidence in her. Not once did he give off an impression that he wasn't serious about aiding her on her mission. It felt nice to have the extra support.

"I don't think we might be able to find them at this rate. We should follow the warning, but-"

"But stay alert at the same time?" Sasuke finished her sentence.

She nodded. Whoever this man was, he clearly knew that they were after him. If they were to capture him, it was wise to play his game until the perfect opportunity comes for them.

Sasuke was pissed. He didn't know why the Hyuuga wanted him to come with her to return the damn dog, but after some convincing on her part (of which he pathetically caved in easily to), here he was. Surrounded by freaking barking pups, running around maniacally as if they were high on meth. Or maybe he only thought they were, since they were so freaking loud.

"How the fuck do you sleep at night, old man?" He sneered, questioning the gramps who was busy greeting Hinata. They were standing in the old man's living room, or what was left of it.

Put Sasuke in a closed room with these monsters for an hour, he'd never come out alive. One thing was for sure, though. Either he'd go mad eventually, or those pups would be trapped in genjutsu for a very long time, succumbing them to eternal silence. An idea that Sasuke was seriously considering asof the moment.

"Sasuke!" Hinata scolded him, slapping his arm. "Don't be so rude!"

"Yeah, Sasuke. Stop being so negative all the damn time." The old man jeered, cracking a grin.

Sasuke was about to retort with a nasty insult, Hinata's influence on him or not, when he felt something rub the back of his legs. Twisting, he found one of the pups staring up at him.

Ugh.

"Get away!" He snarled at it, but the pup only stood there panting, wagging its tiny tail.

Hinata pulled at his cloak, looking displeased. "Oh no you don't! Don't yell at the poor animal! Calm down, okay?"

The old man continued to snicker, while Sasuke continued to feel enraged and annoyed.

"Well, are you done? Cause I'm not staying h-...Ah shit! Fuck! FUCK."

Sasuke jumped two steps back, face curling in disgust. That...

That

fucking

dog.

Did it just piss at his foot?! And she's telling him to calm down!?

The old fart started to howl out in laughter, Sasuke reaching his limit.

"I'm going to kill it. RIGHT NOW." He declared, ruthless.

Before he could reach for his katana, Hinata moved to stop him. Tugging at his cloak from behind, he looked back at her angrily. "Let me go!"

"No! I'm not letting you hurt the poor dog!" She tugged, while Sasuke pulled.

"POOR dog? POOR? How is that thing poor? It's a damn four-legged devil." He jabbed, irritated. How dare she not side with him? Did she not see the little monster take a leak on him?

"You're overreacting!"

"I am not! Let go dammit!"

Sasuke glared at her, while she looked back at him reproachfully, both unwilling to yield to each other's wishes.

"Well, I'm happy you two are finally getting along, but let's not fight on something stupid as this." Hoshi interrupted them, extremely amused at their little argument. "How about we go outside and relax? I need to let the pups run around outside anyways." He suggested.

"I think that's a wonderful idea." Hinata beamed, helping the old man gather up the pups and opening the front door. As soon as the door opened, cool air splashing in, the pups scrambled past their legs and running out to freedom.

The old man grabbed his cane from the side of the couch, and followed, Hinata trailing behind. She looked back.

"Aren't you coming, Sasuke?"

Hearing her say his name without hesitation made him feel all kinds of weird inside. "Yeah, but first i'm going home to change." His lips curled in disgust, peering at the wetness on the back of his leg.

"Okay, I'll wait for you. I'll be outside with Hoshi-san." She told him, standing by the door.

He nods at her, barely looking at her. Instead, his focus is on his pants, his thoughts centered around how much he loathed dogs and their very existence. Damn. She was right. He was overreacting.

"So tell me Hinata..."Hoshi began, watching the girl bend down and pet the female pup. He didn't really know all the different genders of the pups, he didn't bother memorizing which dog was male or female. Except the one the girl was petting. That was the only pup that had white fur and was youngest from all of them.

"Yes, Hoshi-san?" She looked up at him, smiling kindly. She really was a beautiful young lady. Polite, gentle, with strange but alluring white eyes.

"How long have you and that stupid boy been together?" He asked.

The girl froze before collecting herself. Did she think he would not notice? That last time he saw them together, the atmosphere between them was more tense and awkward. This time, they looked more at ease and with more comfortableness. Not to mention, she called the boy by his name.

"Three days." She answered, blushing. She continued to pet the female pup, the dog barking happily at her touch.

"He finally confessed?" He asked, inwardly proud that the boy finally mustered up the courage to tell her. He remembered how the poor bastard looked like a lost, depressed puppy after "something" happened between them. Well, more like a in denial boy that he was hurt at her possible rejection so he punched a wall or something, instead of admitting he was upset.

"N-no...um, I did. Kinda." She muttered, eyes dropping.

That weak bastard! Making the girl do the confessing! So he didn't have the balls to do it himself.

"You should have saved your feelings to someone more dependable..." And less of a pussy. "Like that Tsumugu guy." He grunted.

"Ah...me and Tsumugu are just friends..."

That girl didn't even realize that she was stuck in a love triangle! He was first rooting for the stupid, glum boy, but after meeting Tsumugu, he realized that that boy was the "better" choice. Of course he had no say in the matter, and he could tell that the girl was what that glum boy needed.

"Bah!" What was he doing? His wife was probably laughing hysterically in her grave right now. Matchmaking? This is how he is passing time doing near the end of his life? "Anyway, whatcha two doing here? Beside dropping off the dog, which I did make clear to you that you can have..." He pointed out.

"I did want to keep him. But he wouldn't let me...you saw how he acted around the dogs just now..."She frowned, probably rethinking the incident.

Did not confess his feelings for her, did not let her keep a dog, what's next?

"Oh right, I almost forgot what he's like around animals. Like a freaking idiot." He snorted. The girl looked past him, making sure Sasuke wasn't around to hear him say that. "What are two doing today?" He asked, curiously. He never asked what they did do in this village. Hoshi knew that Sasuke probably wasted all his time training, but all he knew from the girl was that she came to this village looking for a mysterious someone. "Hey...you finally found that person you were looking for?"

"Person, who..."

Hoshi widened his eyes.

"Oh, ha...ha, yeah, I, um...no I didn't." She faked a laugh, Hoshi seeing through her lies clear as day.

What's she hiding? He wanted to ask, but he saw the raven-haired boy walk up, drawing near. Oh well, it wasn't his business anyway.

Seeing the emotionless face of the boy, he suddenly had an idea.

No confession, no dog, huh?

"Hey Hinata, if you two are going out, then doesn't it mean you two should go on a date first?" He told her, innocently.

She stood up. "I...uh yes, but we don't have time for...any of that." A sad expression crossed her face, before disappearing.

"Why not? Nonsense! If he really did care for you, he'd be with you properly. Right?!"

The girl heard Sasuke walk up, a couple of feet away now. She frantically turned around toward him, trying to hush him. He raised his eyebrows.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, looking between them.

"I was just telling Hinata-chan, how-"

"How we had plans today, so we couldn't stay for dinner." She intercepted, pushing Sasuke back. Sasuke glanced down in surprise at her brash move, but allowed himself to be pulled along. "We should go, thank you for everything Hoshi-san!" She waved at him.

He gawked at her. He was only trying to help!

What? No dates too?!

"Hey, stop pulling at my cloak."

Sasuke basically told her the other night that their relationship wasn't going to be like the normal ones. Dating, flowers, all that fluff. It wasn't happening. And she didn't mind. But why now, when Hoshi-san mentioned it and how incredulous he looked when she told him that she was the one who did the confessing, did she suddenly feel upset?

She shivered slightly, regretting her choice this morning to go out without her purple jacket.

"Oi, you're tugging too tight, it's going to get ruined."

She needed to take the date idea from her head, but she couldn't help herself. It was the first time she ever been in a relationship. She had always envisioned it to be much sweeter. They would go out and kiss on the second date. They would hold hands and would eventually confess their love to each other. It would be fun and they would be a happy couple, enjoying each other's company.

Except, all she got was this impossible boy who teased her nonstop and refused to be lovey dovey, except when they kissed.

It was too bad that she had to fall for this one.

There's no helping it. He may not be the perfect package of a partner she wanted, but he was her Sasuke.

"Hey, let-"

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

She quickly let go, stopping. She forgot what and who she was clutching on to.

Hinata rolled her eyes, when he moved to fix his precious cloak. She eyed his warm, soft cloak. She really should have brought her jacket. Instead, she settled for a navy-colored sweater and simple pair of jeans. Sigh...this village and its unpredictable weather.

He must have noticed her eyeing his precious cloak, when he frowned at her. "What? You want to wear it?"

"No!" She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Good. Cause i'm not letting you borrow it after you hugged those beasts." He even took a step back from her as he spoke, disturbed by such a thought.

She couldn't stop the words from slipping past her lips. "The brave Sasuke Uchiha. Afraid of dogs."

Sasuke threw her a dirty look. "What did you say? I am not afraid of them." He scoffed, unamused.

She continued, the words flying out. "He can fight off a hundred men, but cannot even stop one puppy from using the bathroom on his feet."

"Hyuuga..." He warned.

Hey! Why does he get to tease her only? Besides, she was having fun!

"He even threatened to kill the puppy, an animal! That is how much of a threat it was to him!" She declared, pretending to be shocked by such a revelation.

Sasuke watched her in dismay. "Ha ha ha, very funny." He remarked.

"Sasuke plus dogs equals disaster!" She concluded, walking away from him. That's enough teasing. She wasn't very good at it. He was clearly the master at it. Besides, it only made him slightly mad. Her teasing didn't affect him as much as his teasing to her did.

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. Yep, definitely slightly mad at her.

"You mean, Sasuke plus Hinata equals disaster." He leered, not letting her get away.

Hinata discovered that she didn't like it when he got mad at her. Pushing herself on her toes, she kissed his cheek gently, planting them over the healing scar on his left cheek.

Just like she thought, he eased up immediately, taken aback.

"I'll stop now." She told him, grinning.

"Oh? So you enjoyed it?" He blinked with realization, smirking. "Wanted to try teasing me yourself, eh?"

Hinata nodded, sheepishly.

"Heh. Don't get used to it, kitty." He pulled her to his embrace, Hinata almost tripping over her feet in surprise. She quickly grabbed onto his cloak as support, catching herself in the nick of time. "I do the teasing in this relationship."

She was about to protest, when he smashed his lips to hers, cutting her off. She moaned softly when his demanding lips slid over hers deliciously, her toes tingling from his kiss.

He pulled away to let her breathe, his lips trailing down her throat and to her neck. Hinata felt like she was going to faint from his touch.

She laid a shaking hand on one of his cheeks. "S-sasuke, we're in public."

Sasuke only grunted, pushing her sweater to the side, so he could land another kiss on her shoulder. Hinata jumped at the foreign touch, feeling nervous, her heart beating frantically. He grabbed her hip, hands on either side, and pulled her tighter against him.

"S-Sasuke..."She complained. Oh god, what was he doing? What was this feeling inside her? His kisses were causing a strange feeling to burst within her.

However, she was the reasonable one here, so she had to stop him before someone saw them and then she'd really faint.

Groaning, Sasuke laid his forehead against her shoulder in frustration. He detached himself from her reluctantly.

"Alright, let's go finish this stupid mission of yours first before I drag you back to my apartment and finish this." He sighed deeply.

Finish this.

She could feel her heart almost leap out of her chest, her cheeks heating up. Hinata only nodded, awkwardly, following him.

She finally knew what that strange feeling bubbling inside her was. She saw it in his eyes as well. It

was...

Hunger.