II. True Love's Kiss

The next morning, only Hinata could take Toneri's offer on a ride back to the hotel. The others had slept in late. They had been "too wild" accordingly. Hinata didn't doubt it for a second, imagining her friends dancing like they had been electrocuted like their limbs were about to fall off as they do on Friday nights after finals. They must've danced the night away while she stayed inside the room.

"Think about my generous offer..." Toneri clasped her hand after they've arrived. "Can't you accept now? But I don't want to seem too imposing. Ah, this is torture. What's your number?"

"I... don't have a phone," she said, and Toneri seemed genuinely surprised about this.

"How can I call you then?"

"Tenten, Karin, Ino... either of them."

Toneri chuckled, shaking his head. "Alright, alright. I get it. I'll look into their submitted resumes. All for you, princess." He then kissed her hand. In a split second, the look in his eyes shifted. He fell silent, looking deep into Hinata's eyes, mesmerizing her.

Just before he could reach out for her face, Hinata withdrew her hand and deeply bowed, her heart thumping hard in her chest.

"Thank you for your kindness," she said.

Toneri seemed amused, gazing at her contemplatively. "Am I being rejected right now?... And I was being such a good boy last night."

"Um... um... I'll ask my teacher first what is a good decision for me. Until then, I cannot give you a yes."

"That's not... That's not it at all." Toneri laid his head on the steering wheel.

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata, tilting her head curiously.

"It's nothing. I'll see you some other time. But this doesn't mean I'm giving up, okay?"

He sent her off with a pitiful smile.

After she dressed in more comfortable clothes, Hinata packed up and checked out of the hotel. She walked to the station blankly at first. Then her pace picked up, uncaring of her shoelaces untangling. Soon she was running down the stairway, heaving as she reached the ground.

Toneri wanted to kiss her. She wanted to cry.

I want to see him. I want to see him. I want to see him. I want to see him...

She could head home, take a shower, soak in a hot tub, and make up for lost sleep. She would stop feeling like a mess. She'd be in a better state of mind. Instead, she went to school while the chirping of the birds can still be heard and the air, cool and crisp.

It wasn't certain she'd find him there. But her feet knew where to take her, her heart anticipating, shedding off layers on the way, melting all residues of her loneliness and longing.

Knowing Sasuke, he'd be sleeping in the studio, working overnight on his Graduating Students Exhibit pieces.

Among the rows of machines, on top of the tables, by the window - Sasuke wasn't there. Behind the mannequins, the hanging clothes on racks - not there too.

Oh, she must be crazy. Making herself sad over something like this. She could head straight to his dormitory. There was no need to be down, she kept telling herself as tears budded in her eyes.

As she was about to turn, among the dumps of scrap fabric, the form of a man lying on one side on flattened carton boxes, sneakered feet jutting out a spread of muslin.

There she found Sasuke underneath, peaceful as a babe, hands tucked to himself for warmth. She laid beside him and took his hand with both her hands, holding it against her cheek, relishing his heat, the happiness spreading and radiating from within healing all her heart's maladies. She watched his eyes slowly open, his dark brows scrunching as she came into focus.

"Good morning," she said warmly.

"Hinata." He stretched, getting up, rolling his neck. "Since when... Oh, that ended yesterday." He kept massaging his right shoulder, wincing.

"Does it hurt? Please turn back," said Hinata, and Sasuke did. She started working on his nape, his hair tickling her skin, and slowly worked palm and knuckle down the muscles on his back, and he made small groans of relief.

"That's enough," he said, rolling his shoulders to loosen out his back muscles a bit more.

"How is it coming along?"

Turning to her, Sasuke's face was mirthless. "Far from finished. I need help with my Tambor beading components. I'm halfway done. But I coulduse an excellent hand."

"O-of course, gladly." Hinata sounded almost breathless, twiddling her thumbs in excitement. "But Tambor work on a graduation exhibit..."

"Is that asking for too much?"

Hinata shook her head. "I think it's very much like you." She smiled. "Detailed and ambitious."

"My instructor advised against it - too much work for little effect. But it wouldn't feel right..."

"... You're just being true to yourself."

He then fell silent, reading her eyes.

"... It's for my silk piece... inspired by the clutch piece you made back in freshman year..."

"Oh..."

"..."

He kissed her. A peck. Just how he knew she liked it, the threshold where his urges are tolerated. Twice. Thrice. And when this left him unsatisfied, the final one was a semi-open mouth kiss, a caress of hot moisture along her lips, enough to bear restraint.

As he was about to pull away, she got on her knees, pulling him back to her, and she caught his mouth in hers.

She had never done this before. This newfound boldness. She doesn't know how to do it the way he liked to do it, but she could try, hinting at it with the sweep of her tongue, and he eagerly deepened the kiss.

Teeth, tongue and tender flesh rubbing, making ignition. She was faint, lighted up, flames trickling her fingers, grazing her arms now wrapped around his neck pressing her to him, her nethers wanton.

This is what she wanted. Nothing else, nobody else's. His hands roaming the bare skin of her stomach, his fatigued fingers feeling through the lace of her bra, pinching, squeezing her breasts. His scent, the pines in his sweat, the sourness on his tongue, his breath on her face as she panted when his hands drifted below, grabbing her buttocks, reaching deeper, drawing circles through her jeans.

Sweet things bloomed from within her with every stroke of his fingers. Like sweet nectar to the butterflies and bees were his hot kisses along his neck. This must be wrong. But she can't get enough.

Freshman year, he kissed her first. She didn't know what hit her then, didn't know what to make of Sasuke intruding her mouth. She couldn't stop thinking about it for months, tried to evade him - ended up making him lunched boxes to make sure he was eating properly as Aunt Mikoto requested. She told him upfront the way he kissed scared her. That didn't stop him, though. He knew she liked him since they were kids. He took advantage of that and asked her for sex; offered to teach her. He couldn't understand what held her back.

Never wander off things intended for marriage. Her father had warned as he drove her in his truck the first time he sent her off to the big city.

She had no problems abiding by her father's rules, firm as an arrow, not knowing how to kiss or respond.

Somewhere along the line, she changed.

She learned to crave. Her pure desires and childlike imaginations grew carnal as Sasuke got busier, pushing his dreams to completion.

The whole time, she had not officially confessed, neither did he. They meet up now and then, in places without eyes watching, kiss at a children's park at night for an hour if he had time, Sasuke making a pillow of her thighs. But as lovers? Girlfriend-boyfriend? None of those labels.

Sasuke moved back, his cheeks flushed.

"We're at school."

He looked away, knuckles pressed against his lips. He escaped to the washroom and ran water on the sink.

Was he disgusted by her? Of her moaning? Wetness pooled between her legs - how embarrassing indeed. She tingled, throbbing still. What must she do with herself? Humiliated, left alone on the floor while wanting to do relieve herself. But this, too, she knew not. They had never indulged this far. She squeezed her thighs together, drew up her knees, and buried her face. How can she stop this unease?

Once again, she wanted to cry, even more so now that her tiredness began setting in. Hearing her whimper, Sasuke went out of the washroom and took her with him.

His hair was wet like he had run the tap over his head. He dried his hands with a white towel on the rack and removed his shirt.

"Pull down your pants."

She froze at his command. Sasuke smoothly unbuttoned her jeans, kissing her gently, and sneaked his fingers down her underwear.

The sharp scent of dyes, perhaps bleach, or was it Sasuke's wet hair and the soap he thoroughly washed his hands with that colored the moment she came undone? She couldn't pinpoint exactly. She was ecstatic when he couldn't seem to get enough of her, to feel him fully absorbed by her, his fingers in his mouth, tasting her. His flushed face, his concentration, unable to do away with the urge to create more friction between them.

Too much friction.

Her legs were trembling on the train home, but she dare not sit, not with the slick sensation between her legs.

Then she feared a lot of things, feared people noticed what they did inside one of the Fashion Design department's washrooms, feared the passengers on the train could smell her... Feared what her father would say if he knew.

Then Sasuke squeezed her hand and everything was alright. After all, this was the man who boldly claimed in freshman year that he'll marry her if she graduated top of the class.

They got off the station holding hands, Sasuke not letting her go on one hand and on the other, carrying her bags.

"I'm fine here." Hinata stopped by the stairway. "... Y-you should head back now."

"Your bags are heavy."

"It should be alright."

Though hesitant, Sasuke handed her back her bags. His eyes seemed to have a lot of things to say, but he spoke none. He ran a hand on his nape, red in the face, and mumbled, "Take care."

"Sasuke Kun... wait."

He turned back.

"Where are you headed?... After graduation." Hinata bit her lip expectantly. "I hear a lot of students are applying at Boutiqlo. They say three got in last year. I'm sure you have a good chance."

Sasuke scoffed. "Not over my dead body... I'll be apprenticing at Alexander McKing. In London... I'll fill you in on the details later. In the meantime, prepare your visa requirements."

She almost fainted. "W-wh-"

"Need you ask. You're coming with me." He smirked.

Undoubtedly, Sasuke thought this a good thing. Hinata let him leave with that assured state of mind.

Her soul seemed to have left her body on the way home.

Now, what the rest of the world doesn't know, tucked in the privacy of their rooms, herein lies the true colors of a girl, her secret thoughts, her innermost life.

The moment Hinata stepped in and closed the door hung with a collage of her name and cutout hearts on all sides, her secret also stepped out, spilling out of her cabinet.

"I thought you were Ayame," said the secret. "She almost found me out. I could die of heart attack from all this hiding."

The secret was every bit of Hinata, her hair, her face, only a bit more mature.

"Did you ask him yet?"

Hinata didn't answer immediately. Her head hung low. "Lon..."

"Don't whisper."

"London."

"Thought so..."

"You knew?!" Tears fell from her eyes.

"You can't be serious thinking he worked so hard in undergrad and not aim as much."

"What about Pa and Ma? Hanabi? Elder Brother Neji? He can't possibly leave Aunt Mikoto and Uncle Fugaku."

"Don't try change his mind. You'll look like a fool."

"I... I can't leave Japan!"

The other Hinata merely deadpanned. "Don't chicken out now. I didn't do all the things I did for you these past two years just so you could rot here in Tokyo... I don't have much time left."

In her inner wrist showed flashing orange numbers on a countdown:

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