Chapter 1
Shoved against the kitchen countertop, Hinata gasps when a chilly hand slips under her lavender hoodie. A warm mouth covers hers and she moans into it when the hand fondling her breasts begins to explore her behind.
Pulling away from the kiss, Hinata places a halting palm against the broad chest and breathily protests, "We shouldn't be doing this. Sakura is in the next room."
"We can be really quick and quiet," the raspy voice responds impatiently as its owner begins unzipping the oversized hoodie.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Despite her scandalized tone, Hinata's stomach twitches in excitement.
Mischievously smiling, he responds, "I'm opening my birthday present."
Hinata pushes him away gently but he pulls her back into his embrace, the motion is rough and yearning. Overwhelmed with desire, her mind begins to short-circuit as she considers giving in. As his hands are about to slip under her bra, she notices that the pot of soup on the stove is bubbling over.
"Oh no." Moving away from the privacy of the kitchen pantry, Hinata rushes to lower the heat on the stove. This doesn't dull her pursuer's determination as he once again presses his body against hers while she tends to their dinner.
The brief moment apart is enough to restore Hinata's decency and strengthen her resolve. In a hushed tone, she tells him, "Stop! Not now, Naruto!"
Under the dim lighting of the chandelier in the adjacent room, jade eyes unobtrusively observe the fiery interaction between husband and wife.
Sakura doesn't consider herself a deviant, far less a voyeur, but she is unable to look away as Naruto grinds against his wife and pushes her dangerously close to the lit fire on the stove. She has to convince herself that the envy brewing is unwarranted. Her feelings for her former teammate aren't romantic and she is married to the man she has loved since her teenage years. So, why does she feel like something is missing in her life; that her fairy-tale is nothing more than a farce?
Aware that she is no longer hidden by the walls of the pantry, Hinata peeks over her shoulder. Jade eyes meet opal; both women blush and look away at the realization of being caught.
Naruto pays no heed to his wife's feeble protests but flinches when he hears the ominous sound of cracking knuckles. Arms held high in surrender, he mumbles a quick apology to his female teammate, then sways the bottle of sake in his hand, taking another swig.
Hinata offers a silent "sorry", to which Sakura shakes her head in an attempt to casually dismiss Naruto's drunken antics.
"Naruto-kun, I think you had enough." Hinata tries to remove the bottle of liquor from her husband's hold, but he dodges her.
With a pout on his face, he explains, "It's my birthday, Hinata. It's not everyday I turn 32." The declaration carries no weight since both Sakura and Hinata have been hearing this same line for the past ten plus years.
"You're going to regret it tomorrow," Hinata tries again to snatch the glass bottle out of his hand, but Naruto lifts it above her head.
Chuckling, Naruto teases, "Can't reach this high?"
A stern voice intercepts from the dining room, "You know you can't hold your liquor, Naruto."
Naruto whines, "Now you're both ganging up on me? Where is Sasuke when I need him?"
Glancing at her watch, Sakura shrugs her shoulders defeatedly. Her husband is over two hours late for the annual private dinner to celebrate Naruto's birthday.
Hinata takes a seat next to Sakura and reassuringly squeezes the woman's forearm. Optimistically Hinata says, "I'm sure Sasuke-san will be here soon."
"You're lucky, you know," Sakura states with her attention focused on Naruto who is now seated on a dining chair with his legs spread wide apart and his torso slouched.
Hinata slightly tilts her head in confusion, but quickly puts the pieces together as she notices the wistful look painted on Sakura's face.
A forlorn gaze darkens Hinata's features. "Things aren't always as they seem, Sakura-san."
Sakura is about to chide Hinata's lack of appreciation of her husband's affection, but a knock at the front door signals Sasuke's arrival. The candid discussion is left unfinished.
Unassisted and unsteady, Naruto manages to rush to the front door without tripping over his own feet.
"Sasuke!" he throws a heavy arm around his best friend which Sasuke immediately removes.
"Get off. You smell like you drank an entire liquor store," Sasuke remarks with his nose wrinkled in disgust.
"None of you are fun," Naruto frowns exaggeratedly.
Seeing his friend staggering, Sasuke breathes in deeply then places Naruto's arm back around his shoulder. He leads the drunken man back to the dining room.
Before taking his place at the dining table, Sasuke approaches the housewife to hand her a brown paper bag.
Sitting up straight, Naruto energetically inquires about the contents in the bag, "Is that my gift?"
The outline and type of bag is a dead giveaway of the contents inside, but Hinata peels the paper away to appease Naruto's curiosity.
"Is that Junmai Ginjo sake?" Naruto's head quickly moves back and forth from his wife to Sasuke.
Reading the white label with green writing, Hinata confirms, "Yes, it's from your favourite bar in Rice Country."
Slapping Sasuke on the back, Naruto loudly declares, "Well damn, I never thought I would see the day when Uchiha Sasuke would come bearing gifts. Poor us a drink, Hinata."
Now seated next to his wife, Sasuke is about to tell the housewife that Naruto looks and sounds like he has had enough. Before he could form the words though, Hinata interjects, much to his relief. "I'll store this away for another special occasion but thank you, Sasuke-san."
Still unable to get over his friend's thoughtful gesture, Naruto continues, "Seriously, Teme. That was very sweet… a little too sweet. Did a certain someone make you do this?" With a grin on his face, Naruto winks at Sakura and clumsily cracks his knuckles. "How do you get it to sound so loud?"
Sakura rolls her eyes at his pathetic mimicking. Placing an approving kiss on her husband's cheek, she says, "I didn't have to force Sasuke-kun. He bought it on his own."
Both teammates direct their appreciative gaze toward the stoic man, who has kept his gaze straight ahead without acknowledging their praises, stifling in a grimace.
Annoyed of her husband and his former teammate treating Sasuke like a trained puppy, Hinata interrupts by loudly placing a metal tray filled with an assortment of cooked food on the table.
Next to a bowl of steaming vegetables, Naruto picks up a uniquely shaped onigiri. Smiling, he lightly turns it around in his palm, feeling the texture of the golden pineapple slice that's carved in a design similar to the hairstyle he used to have in his younger years. "Is this supposed to be me?"
Hinata demurely covers her mouth while giggling. "Yes. Well, a younger version of you, Naruto-kun."
"You even got the whisker-marks correct," Sakura remarks, pointing to the rectangular pieces of nori.
"Didn't you make me something similar before?" Naruto inquires and Hinata nods her head in agreement. "And I told you that you would make someone a good wife!" Shocked at the re-emergence of the memory, Naruto stares at the edible version of himself and the truth in his past words.
Sakura gushes at the sentimentality of the gift. Directing her attention to her husband, she remarks, "Isn't that the sweetest thing ever! Subconsciously, Naruto must have been in love with Hinata all along. They are just like us."
"Hm," Sasuke offers a mere grumble as a response.
He doesn't know much about Naruto's relationship with the ex-heir to the Hyuga clan, but from what he remembered, Sakura was the only female Naruto fawned over. He highly doubts Naruto had buried romantic inclinations for a little girl who could have easily been mistaken as a boy with her baggy hoody and unflattering haircut. This was just another attempt of Sakura's to convince herself that her husband was in love with her since their childhood.
"Stop playing with it and just eat it already," Sakura scolds Naruto, who's still admiring the onigiri.
"It's too cute. I'll keep it for Himawari-chan," Naruto muses and places a quick kiss on his wife's cheek.
After dinner, Naruto excuses himself to use the bathroom. Several minutes pass and Hinata and Sakura share a look of concern, but their worry turns to laughter when a sound of loud snoring emanates from the living room.
On the long, brown couch, Naruto dreams of overcoming adversaries with the use of brute force instead of pen and paper.
"Do you want Sasuke-kun to help him upstairs?" Sakura inquires as she watches Hinata covering Naruto with a soft blanket.
Turning off the light, Hinata smiles at her friend. "No, thank you. I don't want to wake him or bother your husband."
Sakura nods. "Well, we should be off. Thank you for having us."
Hinata bows deeply with respect to her guests as they exit.
In silence, the Uchihas walk back to their home. Finally, as the couple enters the privacy of the kitchen, Sasuke turns toward Sakura. "Are you angry? You're unusually quiet." Watching her intently, he explains, "I got held up in a mission."
Since his return to Konoha, they have rarely argued which is mostly due to Sasuke's adhesion to fulfilling Sakura's needs and desires, as best as he can.
Words fade into the background as Sakura's penetrative stare appreciatively roams Sasuke's body. Remembering her former teammate's inability to keep his hands off his wife, she tries a re-enactment with her spouse.
Pushing Sasuke's back against the counter, Sakura latches onto his neck; pulling him down so that their lips meet.
Upon initial contact, Sasuke's mouth and body become rigid. Seeing the frown forming on Sakura's face, he averts her scrutiny by asking, "Where is Sarada?"
"Don't worry. She won't disturb us. She is sleeping over at Chocho's."
With Sakura's gaze briefly away from him, Sasuke uses this pause to cajole his body into reciprocating the intimate contact. He allows Sakura to guide him into giving her what she desires.
With his mouth glued to hers, Sasuke unzips Sakura's white trousers. Sakura wastes no time in assisting him, by slipping out of her pants and removing her underwear. She moves forward to relieve him of his clothing, but he stops her when long fingers reach out to massage her lower folds.
Gasping, she begins moving in rhythm with his ministrations. Eyes squeezed shut and mouth partly open, she reaches her peak.
Even with her mind in dazed ecstasy, she lowers herself to her knees. Hurriedly, she fumbles with her husband's belt.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke grumbles as his fingers close around Sakura's thin wrists, effectively stopping the manicured fingers from getting farther than the buckle on his belt.
Looking up at him with lust-filled eyes, she states, "What does it look like I am doing? I am trying to suck my husband off. You didn't finish."
With her free hand, she begins stroking him through the exterior of his clothing, then seductively sucks the juices off his fingers. She moans at the taste of herself on him.
Not wanting to throw her off balance with a sudden shift in position, he uses his hand to tilt her head to meet his.
"I'm tired," is the best excuse Sasuke can come up with.
Although humiliated, Sakura still smiles and whispers, "Okay."
It bothers him to see the look of rejection on her face, but he knows that tonight, his body is not in compliance with his mind.
As she watches him walk away to their shared room, she reminds herself to be happy; for he is offering all that he is capable of.
She knows she is fortunate to be with a man who puts her physical needs before his, but often this behaviour is interpreted as forced and borne out of duty. What Sakura really desires is for her husband to act selfishly by ruthlessly taking what he wants.
Hinata places a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water on the side table closest to the couch Naruto has chosen as a bed for the night. She would've preferred if Naruto was sober enough to at least make it to their bedroom. Mainly because she desperately wants to avoid the confrontation that will ensue if Boruto finds his father drunk and sleeping on their couch.
Slipping into a pair of flannel pajamas, her mind replays Sakura's brief assessment of her marriage. Sakura, like so many, was under the impression that her relationship with the village's leader was picture perfect and still full of unbridled passion. Only a few knew that the passion in their marriage fizzled out the day Naruto accepted the title of Nanadaime Hokage. The choice resulted in a drastic decrease in time spent with his family and a surge in time devoted to work.
But it was ingrained in Hinata that a good wife never complains, instead, she remains steadfast in her duties and subservience to her husband. However, she has desires and needs like any other woman. Cravings she isn't allowed to feed because of her husband's perpetual state of fatigue. A part of her, one she has buried deep down inside, wishes she allowed Naruto to have her right there in the pantry. Maybe they could've been discreet enough to not get caught.
While fantasizing about being taken on up against the pantry shelves and on the kitchen floor, a tingling feeling begins pooling in her lower regions. Now as an adult, she understands this feeling well, but it isn't welcomed tonight. Unwilling to give in to her baser instincts, she pushes back the desperate urge to dip her fingers under her pants. Instead, she douses herself with the closest thing she can find to cold water; counting the dirty dishes in the sink that needs to be washed.
One tray.
Two plates.
Three sake cups.
Four bowls.
On and on she goes until she falls asleep.
TBC