BH: So much has happened since I last updated! For starters, I keep inundating myself with new stories, and I'm so overwhelmed and it's just hard to write at the quality that I want when I'm stressing. Some other IRL stuff getting in the way too, nothing particularly interesting or important, I just think too much and it's totally bad for my mental health. I hope I can travel in the near future or at least go to a freakin' amusement park. I haven't had real fun in over a decade. I know, I know, who knows when this Corona thing going to actually let up, but if not next year, then surely the following year.
On another note. I revised this story over on AO3. It's not a huge, huge difference, but it's just enough. I was bothered by some things, particularly Hinata's characterization, so that's fixed. Anyhoozits, I haven't updated any of the chapters here as of yet, so just keep that in mind. It's something I will have to do soon. It's going to be a bitch, though.
21 Days
Chapter Twenty-One, The Time For Being Sad Is Over
"I was drunk and it didn't mean a thing,
Stop thinking about,
The bullets from my mouth,
I love the things you hate about yourself,
Just finished a daydream,
Who were you trying to be?"
-Panic! At The Disco "Hallelujah"
With her back flat against his chest, she is unable to focus on the drama streaming on his laptop, because in a careful, absentminded manner his hands keep smoothing up and down her upper arms.
And she's becoming intoxicated by the security of his touch.
Melting and blooming all at once, a million meadow flowers opening in greeting to the sun, drinking him in.
Hinata allows herself to tuck her temple against the curve of his neck, and his body rumbles with a honeyed chuckled. She can't stop the way her lips curve into a tiny smile.
It's been forty minutes and she hasn't experienced anything yet, not a single symptom.
For once, she is… cautiously optimistic.
But that still leaves her with the responsibility to begin birth control, and she hasn't her own gynecologist yet.
But going to her mother's should be fine, right?
Patient-Doctor Privilege, after all.
No way her mother will find out.
Perhaps Hanabi wouldn't mind leafing through their mother's planner, to ensure that they're never at the office at the same time.
Emboldened, Hinata decides that this is what she will do.
"Feeling okay?" He asks, tilting his head to get a look at her.
Aside from the feeling that her vagina seems to have grown hair-thin thistles which occasionally grazed her tender walls with every minor shift of her hip, she felt wonderful.
She knows after having awkwardly waddled into the ofuro that the sex had been too fast.
She knows after aiming cold water onto her aching vulva that the sex had been too hard.
She knows now that alcohol is not a deterrent for Naruto.
No, it may in fact be a catalyst for him.
And she may want to curb his consumption in the future, at least to where he can go longer than normal and no longer than that.
She sinks against him further, if that's even possible. "I'm fine."
No symptoms. That went for everything.
For both their sakes she was going to be an untroubled Hinata; purified by love and devoid of demons.
Which meant she would endure this until she had the privacy to look into 'rough sex aftercare'.
His arms slowly enveloped her, clasping her close, warmth sinking in, firm muscles pressed against her delicate frame, and he nuzzled his nose against her hair. Their faces inched closer like magnets searching for their true north, and their gazes held one another, sinking deeper into the thick of their feelings. In their trust for one another.
His right hand cupped her cheek and their lips met, softly at first, like the careful removal of one's shoes at the door, then firmer, fuller, a whole-hearted greeting - because he's home and she's there to welcome him into the wet, wanting recesses of her mouth.
Hinata turns on her knees and secures her arms around his neck, and he sinks back against the tatami, pulling her down with him.
Exchanges of breath, noisy through their noses, desperate to receive the exhalation of their regard. That headying carbon dioxide, nourishing to plants but suffocating to lungs, their tongues slithered and swirled as they steadily grew dizzy from insufficient breath.
He refuses to live without this, the sacred love that she has been so terrified to give.
And she refuses to witness him not living.
She'll reflect back his love, like the shy moonlight.
He makes her believe that it's enough. That he doesn't need someone as bright as himself.
They just might outshine him.
She understands this about him.
He cannot be outshined, not ever.
His left hand found its way beneath her shirt, two blunt fingers plucking at her bra strap when the violent vibration of a phone breaks the haze that had conjured around them.
They stared at each other in reluctance.
Climbing off of him, Hinata wiped at the moist corner of her lips as he sat up and reached for his phone.
She hoped it was important.
They had interrupted her halfway through dessert.
She watched as Naruto switched from his phone to his laptop. He opened up Kaohon, his fingers flying across his keyboard, and his was face softened with a certain happiness.
When she scooted around him, she saw just what that source of happiness was.
Sasuke looked damn good in that police uniform. The pride and ecstasy on Sakura's face in the photo glowed in agreement.
Naruto basked in the image, but the happier he felt the sadder he felt too. He couldn't forget his childhood friend in all his stages of life, even the stages missed, and he couldn't believe all those moments were gone.
They happened.
And now other things were happening.
Like growing up.
Typing out in Messenger, Naruto sent out a quip.
Naruto: Oh wow you succeeded at something? Zzzzz.
Sasuke: Bitch. I can detain you under reasonable suspicion.
Naruto: Hahaaa. Call me when something goes wrong for once. I'll congratulate you when you stop being so predictable.
Sasuke: Still more than you've ever gotten. By the way, our fearsome leader is going to call you.
Naruto stiffened slightly.
And just like, Sakura was calling him.
Naruto swiped and put the phone to his ear. "Yeah, wassup?"
"I'm planning a party for Sasuke-kun tonight. Not that it's gonna be much of a secret." Sakura said.
"Oh… Is that so..." His tone clouded over with mixed feelings as he processed what this meant.
It meant leaving Hinata behind for hours.
He quickly turned towards Hinata with his left hand vertical in front of his face.
She blinked once like a nonplussed cat, and he took that as a nod. Naruto got up and headed for the genkan.
Naruto slipped on his shoes and exited his apartment, the door clicking shut like he were locking up a precious jewel inside a safe.
He trodded along the breezeway, heading for the stairs at the end.
Unconsciously, he wanted to assert some distance, as if she could hear him, as if she could be hurt before he had the chance to do it himself.
"How soon is the party?" He asked, a part of him wringing with anxiety, another part overly cautious.
"We're starting at nine since that's what works out for everyone. Feel free to extend the invite to Hinata."
Naruto paused as his feet met concrete.
That was seven hours from now.
His mind immediately jumped forward to the part where he came stumbling home at three in the morning, where poor, lonely Hinata helps him to bed, and he helps himself to her.
She might not appreciate that.
Sakura continued. "It's fine if she doesn't want to. No hard feelings."
Naruto lifted his head, his feet shifting from foot to foot.
"Yeah, I think it's too soon right now," He can picture her avoidant, downcast face, how she keeps her silence until he relents. She would. He's still kind of gobsmacked he ever got through to her last night. He wasn't proud of having been so pathetic, but he really needed her to understand him. His nights have been moonless for so long, he can't endure it anymore. "Don't be afraid to ask again, Sakura-chan."
"Of course," Naruto could practically hear her smile. "By the way, how've things been since the art museum?"
Memories of that afternoon flash before his eyes, and so do the powerful feelings that seem to override the best of him.
But something had finally planted that day. Something had finally begin to bud, and he wanted to keep tending to that. He wanted to nourish Hinata's trust in him.
Because he sees her.
A beautiful silhouette at the end of a misty silver fog.
He'll clear that distance, and the thick mystery around her.
And she won't have anywhere to hide. No reason to anymore, either.
He'll make sure she loves herself just as she wants to, and it won't happen without him.
But to Naruto's chagrin, he wouldn't have known to take Hinata to a place like that.
"It was a good call."
Eventually he'll be making good calls.
"That's great. Well, just hit me up if you're at a loss, and-"
"Thank you. Sakura-chan." He winced at his quick tongue. But he's Hinata's boyfriend, not Sakura.
There was a pause on the other end. "Of course. Well, see you tonight."
"Yeah. See you."
They hung up at the same time, and the emptiness settled around him.
He needs to figure out what Hinata needs, what she truly likes and will appreciate. So much so that he can surprise her and get it right every time.
That aside, he felt himself standing on a bridge between two continents, the one in front being Hinata, the other behind him his friends.
Who knows how long it'll take to unite them under his banner.
Naruto returned to find her resting against the kotatsu, with her arms folded beneath her head.
Kicking off his shoes and flying across the room, Naruto circled around her and scooped her up, holding her against his chest just like before. But this time he was nuzzling his cheek against her crown and rocking slightly.
"Wh,What's with you?" She asked, sounding winded.
He smiled a smile that felt permanent. Even if he never wore it on his face, this feeling would be permanent in his heart.
"This is how I feel when I see you, that's all."
"I,I see." She breathed, he loved that, loved how stunned he made her.
Naruto craned his head to get a good look at her flaming face, and his grin stretched wider.
"Were you bored without me or something?"
Hinata's cheeks puffed up and he felt like deflating them with a kiss.
"Hey, let's finish our show-" He reached for his laptop, but Hinata pushed his arm down and he stared at her, waiting and confused and a small amount worried.
Maybe she knew, after all.
She was frighteningly intuitive that way.
Even if it took her this long to understand his feelings for her, all those words last night cut skin and bruised his ego.
Things even he didn't know, she knew.
Things he didn't want seen, she saw.
But that was okay.
He liked a challenge.
"Did you want to talk?" She asked.
"Talk? 'Bout what, babe?" Shit, she knew didn't she?
Her gaze drifted to the lower left. "Sasuke-kun becoming a police officer. That's amazing."
Naruto frowned as he scratched his cheek, his eyes darting around for a distraction or an answer. "Kind of. It was already going to happen, so I guess I'm not that hyped up about it."
Hinata tilted her head and searched him with her large eyes, and he could almost see the sky of her mind, thoughts like clouds drifting towards each other, attaching into a single conclusion.
It left him naked when she did this, it also kind of made him feel important, worthy of her attention.
Heat rose up from his chest to his ears, like the sunrise warming the earth.
"He's going to be busy from here on out." She said.
Naruto sank his canines into the inside corner of his mouth and reluctantly nodded. "Yeah. That's why…" He shut his eyes and sighed. He needed these last three weeks with Hinata. He gave all his time to his friends already. But this was a special event. Sasuke would only graduate from the Police Academy once. Naruto looked Hinata square in the eyes. "That's why I need to go to this party tonight."
Her gaze dropped, taking his heart down to the floor with it.
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. You know I don't want to leave you. Hinata…
"I'm sorry," She mumbled, lancing him with apprehension. Then her eyes lifted and turned towards his laptop screen. He followed her gaze. "I was being nosy."
Indeed, she had been.
There on the screen was the selfie video he took when he finally got off the plane and landed in Tokonoha months ago.
The selfie video he took two months before making that post. The post that reunited him with Hinata.
Down below in the comments was an array of elation and warm welcomes and two jokes from Ino and Sakura for the tell-tale shimmer of unshed tears, not to mention his 'stupid grin'.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, now feeling warm with embarrassment.
"Did you watch it?"
"I'm sorry," She reiterated, and Naruto clasped his neck with both hands. "I didn't realize you missed them so much," Like a cold drop of water on his neck, Naruto jolted and looked up at her with questions swirling inside his head. She met him with sad eyes and a sad smile, and he could see she had a lot of questions too. "What else did you miss?"
Naruto's eyes widened. It all came crashing into his brain at once.
The things he wanted to say.
The things she wanted to know.
He didn't even know where to start.
BH: Ahhh, I know, it's short. It's still longer than the last one though, right? Next chapter focuses on the party, so it definitely should turn out to be a long one. Also my first drafts are just... so devoid of description at first. It'll definitely take me some time to make it as good as possible.
Thank you for reading!