Chapter 12:

Sasuke and Hinata held onto each other. Sasuke rested his head over hers. Hinata could feel his breathing on the top of her hair. The sensation made her feel ticklish and more sensitive than ever. At that moment the whole world surrounded them. Nothing existed outside of their hotel room. The covers surrounded them, giving them warmth from the cold that was around them. Sasuke had never felt this kind of joy or connection with anyone. The euphoria filled his lungs and ran through his veins. His heart pumped happiness all throughout his being. Hinata felt the same way towards him.

They kissed each other before a deep sleep engulfed the two of them. Once the night turned into day, they both began to wake up. Still in each others arms, Hinata looked up at Sasuke in admiration. Sasuke was still lost in sleep, unaware of her stare. She couldn't believe they had done what they had done, that they were united as one. Her love bled into her so much that she pulled him in and squeezed Sasuke tightly. The sudden pressure wakes him up. He clears his eyes with his hands and says:

"G-good morning, Hinata." his voice shaken with nervousness.

"Good morning!" She says with a pep in her voice and a big smile in her face. "So tell me, what plans do you have for us today?"

Sasuke sits himself up and replies, "Well… one thing is for sure, we're gonna have to go home. We can't runaway forever."

Hinata nods her head and says, "I know."

"Another thing, I believe that we should go out with a bang. Lets have some fun before we go back."

Hinata grins and bumps him his back with her fist. "I thought we did go out with a bang already!"

Sasuke burns up and turns red. He covers his face and replies, "That's not what I meant! I mean something memorable, something fun, recreation-wise."

He walks away from the bed and goes up to the faucet. He fills up one of the complimentary disposable cups with water from the tap. Some of the water spills out from the edges of the cup and hit his finger, trickling down back onto the sink. This causes him to get an epiphany:

"Hinata. Why don't we go to a water park?"

She uncovered herself to reveal the burn scars on her stomach. Those scars held her back from so many things. Whenever she wanted to do cosplay, it had to be a full body costume that covered her burns. Hinata felt uncomfortable going to the beach and showing off her skin. The self-consciousness ate her up.

"I'm not sure." She says, with a shake in her voice.

"Hinata." He says as he draws closer to her and puts his hands on her lap. "I don't want to push you to do anything you don't want to. But today would be good since it's a school day so that means not too many people will be there."

He then puts his other hand on her cheek and kisses her. "Plus..." he adds, "I know you can do it."

The touch of his lips made Hinata feel wild. Her insides turned with love and uneasiness at the proposition.

She takes a deep breath, summons all the strength in her body and says, "You're right, Sasuke. Lets go to the water park!"

The two of them get dressed up and bring a change of clothes. Since neither of them can drive, they take to bus to _ville, a touristy area filled with attractions and parks. The bus ride is around one hour. Once they arrive they take the local trolley from state highway 66 to the local lodge that is a block away from the indoor water park. Once they arrived, they were dumbfounded by the views inside. Plenty of tube slides, body slides, wave pools, tornado vortex rides, all with a nature theme that looked like a mountain resort. The park had a retractable roof that was closed for the time being.

Sasuke looks around and sees more people than he expected. This actually surprised him, causing him to check in on Hinata, who was clinging to his arm.

"Hinata, we don't have to if you feel uncomfortable. We can just-" he says.

Hinata interrupts. "No, Sasuke. I'm going to be fine. Especially since I'm with you."

Sasuke looks deeply into her eyes and can see her determination. They both go into the changing rooms to get into their swim suits. Sasuke finishes changing his clothes first. His get up is simple, just a pair of trunks. Hinata then steps out from the changing area and sees him waiting for her. When Hinata goes up to him she has two towels with her, around her shoulders. This makes it hard for Sasuke to see Hinatas swim suit.

She pulls the towels aside and says, "This is for drying ourselves up."

As soon as the towels are put away, she reveals the bright purple bikini she was wearing. His heart skips a beat. The scars and burns on her stomach brought a beauty to her that he couldn't describe. From the below her belly button to the top of her abdomen, the marks of her past faced him and caused him to reflect on her own position in life. This girl, who was so strong and happy on the outside, had so much more to offer, from first appearances. She had put herself in his life, much to his dismay in the beginning, but he no longer felt like that was the case. He couldn't imagine living without her. Now, that could've been the teenage hormones or the fact that they had bonded so strongly recently. Sasuke didn't care, this was everything to him. Hinata filled his mind. Sasuke filled her mind.

They spend the entire morning and early afternoon riding on slides and going down tube rides together. While they were going down the wave pools, they held each others hands in the doughnut floaties. Sasuke would swim down into the water, hiding himself from her. Then, when her back was turned, he'd sneak up behind her and jump scare her. Hinata aimed one of the water guns at Sasuke and shot the water in his direction, and he'd splash the water at her in retaliation.

Once they got tired they decided to go to the stand and get two icees. Hinata waited for Sasuke at the bench facing the stand. He brought her drink over and handed it to her.

"Thanks Sasuke!" she gladly says while taking a sip of her frozen drink.

"Sure thing."

"So, what now?" she asks him, with a mouth full of cherry icee.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, about us. What do we do now?"

"You mean once we get home?"

Hinata nods her head and drinks some more out of her Styrofoam cup. Sasuke thinks for a while then sets his cup down to his side and asks:

"Do you love me, Hinata?"

"What do you mean? Of course I love you." She puts her hand in her chest. "I love you so much, I don't even know what to do with myself."

"Well then..." he takes a big chug from his drink and quickly says, "Then lets get married!" He drinks through what he says. He felt embarrassed at the idea. Sasuke wasn't sure how she would react, so he looks down at his cup while he waits for her response.

Hinatas blushes, while her heart skips a beat. "Let's do it." She says.

Sasuke stood up and got on his knees, in front of her. He takes her hand and kisses I, looks up at her and says, "Hinata, will you marry me?"

She perks down to his face and kisses his mouth. Sasuke could taste the cherry soda flavor from her drink still in her mouth and Hinata could taste the remnants of his cola flavored drink in his. After their passionate, heart felt kiss she says:

"Yes! Of course! I want to be with you forever."

The two of them walk, hand in hand, back to the changing room stalls, dry themselves up and change back to their outside clothes. They go and take the bus to the downtown area of the tourist town they were in. After checking some shops around and looking at some attractions, they go to an antiques/jewelry store.

Sasuke points at the rings and says to Hinata, "Go ahead, Hinata. Pick out whatever you'd like."

She scans her eyes through the rings and points at one of the cases and says to the tattoo covered lady behind the counter. "This one." She says, pointing to a silver mood ring.

Sasuke feels slightly worried and replies, "Hinata, I'm not that broke. You can get something a little more expensive if you'd like."

She shakes her head and says, "No! This is perfect. It doesn't matter what ring I have. As long as I have you, nothing else matters."