A/N: Hello! As I work through all my projects (and oh boy, do I have a bunch), I'm using SH Month as a warm-up. I'm rusty as heck :) I'll be posting everything here and in Tumblr! My username is Fher43, in case anyone wishes to follow!
DAY 1: Cafuné: Running Your Fingers through the Hair of Someone You Love
Rating: T
Warnings: None aside from tender SH and some implications.
.XXX.
.
.
Maybe it's the storm ramping outside the windows or the fact that the missions demanding his skills have finally been concluded. Whether it's the weather or finished reports that make him return as promptly as he does is irrelevant to his mind. Regardless of the circumstances or the cause that indirectly led to them, he stands by the bedroom door, observing her keenly as she sits up in bed, bringing a pillow to her chest.
"Sasuke?" she questions, a passing strike of lightning illuminating her face, only to almost immediately cast it in shadow once again.
It was just for a moment, but he manages to see the inquiry in her eyes, the slight parting of her mouth. "Ah."
"Did you just arrive?" she squeezes the pillow, leaning her chin on top of it, her gaze never leaving his, even in the darkness.
"Yes," Sasuke sighs. The small gesture tells her more than his words will ever do.
Abandoning the pillow and the warmth of her bed, she gets to her feet, her long nightgown shimmering a gray pearl. The lights aren't turned on and the indigo clouds unwinding outside the window don't help in the slightest.
Hinata doesn't mind any of this as she approaches. Her hands seek his shoulders and he leans down in instinct. This isn't their first encounter nor their last and although not many would believe it, he's picked on a few things.
Like the way she looks at him through her lashes with a soft smile that says 'Welcome back.'
Or the lingering fingers on his chest that say 'It's been a while.'
Or the knitting of her brows and the pout of her lips that say, "You're soaked," as reprimand.
"It's fine. I won't get sick." Not from this.
But she's having none of that as he knew she would. "I'll start the shower." She breezes by, her touch leaving him lukewarm and then cold. The sound of water pipes groaning with effort arrive from the bathroom and Sasuke follows its trail, his feet dragging.
He finds her sitting at the edge of the tub, a hand testing the water coming from the facet, a thoughtful look on her face. She blinks as he comes into view and turns the water off with a metallic creak of protest. "I…just realized. It's probably not a good idea for you to shower. Not right now. Not with the lightning."
As in cue, a deep rumble of thunder is heard in the distance, rattling the small house. Her eyes observe his reflection in the mirror that is, in return, gazing back at her.
A slight tug of his mouth and, "That might be best," make her cheeks redden in embarrassment and she's forced to look anywhere but up. She'd been a bit too hasty and he'd just let her. She wonders if blaming this slight slip of judgment can be blamed upon her grogginess and decides that it doesn't. Not when he's giving her that look.
Opal eyes catch the movement of water dripping from his clothes and onto the floor, a small pool already forming underneath him. "Well," she says softly, "at least change into dry clothes."
He flaps his unusable forearm. "Mind giving me a hand?"
Hinata gawks. Then she bursts into a fit of giggles that is only made worse by his blank stare. "Since when do you jest?"
It might or might not be a rhetorical question. He chooses to shrug and she smiles in the way that causes her eyes to crease, in the way that makes his heart beat faster and purr louder than a chidori. Shaking her head in mirth, she makes her way to the cupboard above the sink. He steps back to give her the needed space, but he doesn't go far.
Getting two towels down, she places them to the side and says, almost in a whisper, "Come here."
The distance he relented is retaken in an instant. He sees the bob of her throat as she swallows but her eyes don't dart away as they did two years ago and her hands don't tremble when they start untying the sash on his waist. However, some things are consistent and when her fingers part his shirt open, exposing pale, muscular skin that is freezing cold, her breathing becomes unsteady and her cheekbones obtain color.
The warmth of her palms when she makes contact sends pleasant shivers down his spine and instant goosebumps erupt on his flesh. She hesitates. "Is this okay?"
He can barely hear her, but when her meaning sinks, he nods. Of course. Of course it's okay. He wants to say this, but he's physically unable to. It's been a long journey to her place in the eastern mountains and he's a bit more worn out than usual.
She must discern it, for she asks, "Have you eaten?"
He nods again.
He has, yet his body is heavy with exhaustion that someone at the age of twenty-three shouldn't be feeling in times of peace.
Hinata hums. "I see. Let's get you ready for bed."
As she peels his wet clothes from his person and writhes the excess of water in the sink, his eyes follow her motions and the little details that keep bringing him back to her.
The long indigo hair, the pale of her skin, the curve of her waist as she stands on tip-toes to hang his clothes on the tub's screen rod. The calm silence that accompanies her as she works. The way she shyly looks at him from the corner of her eye and startles when she realizes he's been watching her all this time, the towel she'd offered him wrapped around his hips.
The soft pink that already dusts her cheeks deepens and she tilts her head to the side, chin pointing at one of the bathroom's cabinets. "Your clothes are there. I left a new toothbrush for you, too." She grabs the remaining towel from the top of the sink and walks around him to the exit. "I'll…dry your hair. In the bedroom. Come when you're finished."
Sasuke watches her go longer than necessary and then rummages for the brush.
Moments later, when he enters the only bedroom in the house, dressed in comfortable sweats but no shirt, the lights are still off but she's opened the curtains all the way and the skeletal fingers of potent electricity crawl across the night sky. They seem surreal when she's present. As if Mother Nature wasn't as tangible as Hinata was.
He wonders when his perception turned like this, always yearning, constantly thinking of the day he'd see her again. His mind offers no answer.
She sits in the seiza position in the middle of the bed, the towel she'd taken with her neatly folded on her lap. Her head turns when she senses him, her eyes molten silver against the surrounding shadows. Air gets stuck in his throat as if he's seeing her for the first time, although he knows it's been four years since that happened.
Both were out of Konoha then and they're out of Konoha even now.
Sometimes he wonders if she'll ever return to the village, and if she did, whether he would visit still.
They aren't married but they have crossed beyond the line of lovers and friends and anything in-between. No, what they have is a soft and gentle intimacy that he doubts can be defined by any terms of society.
She pats the open space in front of her and he does as silently asked of, sitting with his back presented to her. The mattress sinks under his weight and Hinata scoots over on her knees, angling herself better to reach his head.
Instead of the towel he was expecting, slim fingers sink into the raven locks and Sasuke's shoulders lose a tension he hadn't realized had built there. Her blunt nails scratch the nape of his neck gently and he quivers.
"Coming all the way here…I'm sorry the terrain is so rough…"
Sasuke grunts softly. "That's not it."
Her left hand trails a path across his shoulder blades, feeling the jaunt of curved bone. "It isn't? But you're tense…here. And here. Also here." With each of her words, she presses a chakra point and Sasuke bites down the moans that wish to follow each brush of her digits against strained muscles.
"It," he gasps, coming undone. "It was a long mission. This time around." He didn't get many nowadays, but when he did, they tended to take months.
The one he'd just completed a week ago had been no different. It had kept him away for four months.
She exhales, the hot of breath heating his cold skin. "Then I'm glad it's over. Tomorrow, after you rest, I'll take a closer look at your system," she offers and it's a deal Sasuke could never refuse.
"As long as you don't use that green mud anymore, I'll accept whatever."
"Green mud? It's medical clay!" The sound of her laughter makes his muscles relax further and he leans into her. She takes on his weight, positioning his head on her lap.
Sasuke sighs deeply.
This…he had missed this.
"Your hair," she mentions quietly. "It's really growing out."
"…It makes my neck itch when I travel," he comments, his words slow, almost lazy.
Hinata chuckles and tucks a slightly wet strand behind his ear. Sasuke closes his eyes.
"Then…I may give you a trim tomorrow, too," she muses, patting his hair dry in diligent intervals, the towel greedily soaking most of the moisture.
"Hmm."
The sound of falling rain keeps the room from falling into silence, but neither mind. Not the rain. Not the silence between them. Tomorrow, they will sit at the kitchen table and drink tea or coffee and talk about their findings since they saw each other last.
He'd tell her of any information gathered on Otsutsuki Kaguya, the mother of all chakra, or lack of.
She'd tell him of her experiments on the Cursed Seal that subdues most of the members of her clan, the results, or lack of.
They will not speak of Konoha, or the teammates they both left behind, and that's okay.
For now, the rain will continue to fall and her fingers will pave imaginary roads on his scalp and Sasuke will welcome her touch because her touch was tender and delicate and gentle and nurturing and he's gone without it for longer than he'd like.
For now, his head rests on her lap and her hands comb his hair, deliberately. Fondly.
When he peeks up at her, her face is serene and she hums in question at his glance.
"Hey," he says, "…let's go to sleep."
"Mhm."
And just like that, they get under the covers and although he's taller than she is, he places his head under her chin, his only arm draped over her waist. She sighs at his touch, finally warm, and cradles his head. Brushing ebony tresses aside, she murmurs, "Good night," and kisses his forehead.
Sasuke angles his neck up, looking at her expectantly.
The white of her eyes seems to glow in the darkness and he can't look away.
"Kiss me."
She does.
One of her hands grabs the back of his neck, bringing him close, the other cups his cheek, tilting him in the direction of her mouth.
'I missed you,' her lips confess.
'I missed you too,' his respond.
They fall asleep, her fingers tangled in the disarray that is his lengthening hair.
Warm. Peaceful. Always.
.XXX.
.
.
A/N: The world is such an ugly place most of the time, so I find solace in writing peaceful and quiet night scenarios. Before, my writing was dark and twisted and full of painful fantasies. I'm in a better place now and I hope it shows.
I also hope you guys enjoyed this! I will be posting all my entries here. Thank you all for reading!
6.1.20