Lists
*** A List of the Many Ways to Thank Sasuke Uchiha***
Sasuke Uchiha had a small, short - honestly, not even all that necessary - list of things he kept quietly tucked away from his wife:
1. His utter hatred for the smell of mango - because she loved mango, and she loved slicing it up and walking about their home during the summer, eating it as she traversed from room to room, filling every room with the sweet smell of mango.
2. His utter infatuation with eel. Or, well, perhaps infatuation was a stretch. He simply enjoyed it - very much - and he also knew well of Hinata's burning disdain for it, how just the sight of it makes her sick for hours. Sasuke enjoyed having a healthy wife, so if he ever delved into the pleasure of eel for dinner, he made sure to do so out of the house and alone. And -
3. The fact he's been taking confidential writing classes with her cousin.
Hinata absolutely, under no circumstances, was allowed to learn of these things - especially that very last point - because not only was this for the sake of Sasuke Uchiha's pride, but it was also for the sake of Neji Hyuuga's pride. Because Neji Hyuuga knew the best way to cut blood circulation to the heart. He knew how to poison food without any traces or taste. He knew how to perfectly remove both eyes of an enemy in under three minutes.
He also knew how to write a damn good haiku - but that was the part of Neji Hyuuga that was meant to be kept under lock and key, away from the eyes of Konoha - especially away from his growing admirers.
It was mere coincidence Sasuke had found out about Neji's hidden talent for the written word.
Actually, it had been on the night of his wedding. Half of the room was filled with the stark, bland Hyuuga that made you feel like you were talking to yourself, or to statues; the other half was full of the likes of Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka: loud, drunk morons who forgot how to speak in an inside voice. Sasuke needed a break. His wife - finally, he can call her that! - seemed perfectly happy chatting with Ino and Tenten, so Sasuke took the only opening he got that late evening and snuck out into the streets to take a breather.
And he wasn't the only one.
Neji Hyuuga sat out on the bench at the front, bent over, too absorbed in something to hear Sasuke's steady approach. And it wasn't so much that Sasuke was trying to snoop! He wasn't the kind. It was just, well, his eyes just happened upon the little notebook, and he just happened a glance at the poem being sketched out before Neji snapped it shut and glared at him like he was determining the best way to kill one of the two surviving Uchihas and make it look like an accident - and on his wedding night, no less!
Sasuke, really, wasn't too sure what to do at that point. He thought about going back inside. He thought about waving it off. He thought about feigning ignorance altogether. But Neji was standing before he could say a word, and with that normal, serious, Hyuuga stare, he said, "One day."
Sasuke, of course, matched that with his own, serious, Uchiha stare. "Speak normal, Hyuuga."
"You get one day," Neji continued, "to figure out what it is you want from me in order to keep this thing just between you and me. That should be enough for you."
And if Sasuke were who he had been five years ago, he would have willingly abused the power that Neji so easily gave him. But he is not that man anymore. He is Hinata Uchiha's husband now, and it just wouldn't be right to hold such leverage over her own cousin's head.
But Neji was off before he had a chance to explain such, and that night, when Hinata slept soundly next to him, curled up against him, he stared at the ceiling and thought about that poem, those words, the way they flowed, the way the spoke from the page.
So he had asked Neji to give him writing lessons in the hopes that, maybe, he'll get a little better with expressing himself to his wife. Sasuke had always been a strong believer that action spoke louder than words - but when it came to his actions . . . well . . . sometimes they spoke the wrong words. Sometimes they got all confused and muddy. So it wouldn't kill anyone if he, perhaps, learned a thing or two about voicing himself better.
" . . . For every insignificant con she has, there are a million pros, and if I marry her, I'll spend the rest of my life finding more."
But - goodness - now he's gotten himself sounding poetic, too!
*** #1 - Stock Up His Mission Supplies ***
Naruto sure felt like he had it all figured out, like he was some god or something.
Two weeks ago, it was check for cracks in any of the watchtower foundations.
Four days ago, it was help in rebuilding one of the many barns out by the cow pastures.
Today, it was to escort a family of merchants to Suna.
He was still in the middle stages of his Hokage training, but if anything, that scared Sasuke more than anything. Because if this was the power he had over his missions now, how much worse would it get when he was actually Hokage?
And it was all so frustrating because:
1. He was one of the best ninjas in Konoha.
2. Even with the era of peace after the war, there were still plenty of dangerous missions out there.
3. And thus his talent and efforts were being wasted in him doing these mundane tasks, because -
4. He was one of the best ninjas period.
So it wasn't a stretch to say Sasuke didn't wake up that morning in the best of moods. Hinata's spot in bed was still slightly warm, and he could hear her moving around in the kitchen. He got up, dressed, and made his way across the hallway to where his office was stationed to fetch a piece of paper and a pen. Then he made his way to the supplies room on the other side of the house, and Hinata paused in her cooking when he came through and gave his paper a glance.
"A list for the supplies?"
He grunted, and she pulled her pan off the heated range and turned to completely face him. "Not that I think I'll need them," he muttered, his sour mood shoving its way into his mouth before he could stop it. "With the missions I've been given lately, I'm surprised I need to restock at all."
"I'm sure Naruto will come around." He heard Hinata follow after him. He wasn't exactly sure why she stopped cooking to follow, but he didn't stop her. "Sasuke."
"It will take a miracle," he said. His hand grabbed the side of the sliding door, and he pushed it open with perhaps a little too much strength than was necessary.
"Sasuke."
And he was definitely not looking forward to the next mission to come, after this "escorting" trip. Sasuke had been holding his tongue for the past few months, but he never really had all that much patience to begin with, so if Naruto really thought he could get away with this for much longer, he -
"Sasuke."
He stopped, taking in the look of the room.
Everything was perfectly full and perfectly organized. The kunai sharpened and gathered in their respectful drawers. Bandages and ointment tucked away in the cabinets. Pouches hung on the wall. A collection of maps in the corner, new and wrapped in a thin, waterproof casing. The room was stocked to the brim, and Sasuke really couldn't remember leaving it like this since his previous mission.
"Sasuke," Hinata said in the doorway, "I was trying to tell you - um, I went to get the supplies last night." He sort of just … stared at her. Not in any sort of fashion. It was just a normal stare, and his wife's face turned a light pink as she motioned a hand down the hallway. "Let's go back to the kitchen. You have time to sit and eat before you have to leave, so -"
"Hinata."
All his frustration gone, he joined her in the hall and rested his hand on the crown of her head, and she smiled up at him before taking both of them back to the kitchen.
...
She was stood in the entryway, watching him pull on his sandals, not at all bothering to hide her somber expression.
"The most it will take me is nine days," he told her.
But her expression didn't change. When he stood, she looked up at him, and her hands twisted at her front. "A week," she said. "Make it a week, and I'll be perfectly fine."
He did the math in his head before nodding. "A week," he agreed.
He opened the front door, and Sasuke grabbed the back of his sleeve. "Are you sure you have everything?"
"Hinata."
"What if you get hungry? Let me make you something before -"
"Hinata." His hand lifted to rest gently against her elbow. "A week."
In the two years of them dating, she hadn't often acted like this. She worried and missed him if he took longer missions, and he knew this well, but she did not often hold him at the door and beg him - perhaps not with her words, but with her eyes, her mannerisms, her hands - to stay. But he understood why. He married her two weeks ago, and this was the first mission since then that required him to leave the village. Perhaps, if it were the other way around, he would react like she was.
Slowly, her hand released his sleeve, and his hand dropped back to his side.
"Alright," she said. "Be safe."
It didn't seem right to leave it like that, with her still gloomy and hovering like a phantom in the entryway. So Sasuke hummed and leaned down and kissed her mouth three times: one for the right corner, one for the left, and one for the rest of it. He kissed her this way because she always smiled when she did, and he was glad to hear her giggle and her hands touch the edges of his jaw; and when he pulled away, her face was glowing, and her eyes sparkled, and he knew she would be alright.
...
But now … there was a new question.
Would he be?
He was barely down the street when he stopped and sighed, hand covering his eyes, then slowly wiping down the rest of his face.
A week.
Seven days.
Gods, give him strength.
*** #2 - Kiss Him Until He Is Breathless ***
Neji once told him that when it came to the art of poetry, sometimes the best way to get a point across was to stay simple. Long, eloquent, complex words weren't always necessary to get an idea across, to express a feeling, to describe one's self.
So …
A list of what Sasuke felt after seven days of travel to and from Sunagakure with perhaps one of the most annoying groups of people he has ever had the displeasure of meeting:
1. Tired.
2. Tired.
3. Damn tired.
...
When his home came into view, he nearly collapsed.
When he pulled open the door and saw his wife's shoes placed neatly to the side, he nearly cried in sheer relief.
The past week had been torturous, to the point where Sasuke had spent all of yesterday trying to think of a recent interaction with Naruto where he somehow pissed him off - because this sure felt like he was getting back at him for something.
To put it into simple terms - because, sometimes, that was the best way to put things - it was the latter half of spring, it was Suna, and it was a family of merchants who had a thousand things to haul. For five of those seven days, he hadn't a second without being bothered or annoyed, and for the last two, he was so tense and wound up and frustrated that he couldn't enjoy those moments of peace, either.
So - to, again, put it simply - Sasuke was very happy to be home.
"I'm here."
And he was quite certain Hinata would be happy, as well. Naruto had told him he would give him a four-day break from missions, and Sasuke had been so pleased at the idea of being home and gardening with her at his side that he didn't even feel the need to curse Naruto out anymore. And if he was being honest, he was looking forward to telling her, to seeing her face bloom with a smile.
But her normal, quiet "Welcome back" never came.
Sasuke slipped off his sandals and stepped up onto the floorboards, glancing around, honing in on his senses, feeling for her presence, her chakra, listening for her steps and breathing. He thought he heard something from the den, so he turned the corner and found her curled in the corner of the sofa, asleep, breaths light.
Sasuke left to change out of his mission clothes, to clean himself of the grime and sweat he collected from the mission. When he returned, she was still asleep, and he tried to determine what the best course of action would be: to let her sleep, or to wake her and let her know he was home. He was stuck hovering over her, contemplating, when she stirred, eyes twitching. "Sasuke," she murmured, rubbing at her eyes, before blinking and peeking up at him.
He knelt in front of her and rested his hand on the cushion next to her. "I'm home."
And then - well - it was kind of a blur. At one point, he was crouched on the floor; the next, he was sitting on the sofa, pressed against the back, and Hinata was on top of him, and her legs were on either side of him, and he suddenly -
He really came to terms with how much he had missed her, and how much she must have missed him, because when she kissed him like a desperate woman, he wrapped his arm around her like a desperate man. There was absolutely no way for him to escape. Not that he wanted to, but she had him fully against that sofa. One hand rested against the back while the other brought his face closer to her, and she kissed him and kissed him, and for the first two minutes, he kissed back with as much vigor, with as much energy. He challenged her some, pushing his mouth hard against hers, giving him a little space between neck and sofa; other times, he went along with her, he leaned back and savored every aspect of her.
Three minutes passed, and the middle of his brain began to tingle. His hand slid down her neck, down her spine, and rested against her hip. He rubbed his thumb against her hip bone, his quiet way of telling her that he understood she missed him, that he missed her, that it was okay to take a breather now, that he wasn't going anywhere.
But she didn't stop.
Another minute passed, and Sasuke couldn't remember a time where he felt so thrilled, so absolutely loved, and yet so lightheaded at the same time. He had made the mistake to try to say her name, to get her attention, but that only took more of his breath away, and it gave her an opening to deepen the kiss.
After a while, he couldn't keep track of how much time had passed. He was completely lost. The back of his skull leaned against the back of the sofa, his face arched to the ceiling, and now Hinata had both hands on his shoulders to keep herself perched over him so that her mouth could still suck and brush and taste every inch of his own. At some point, his own hand had fallen to the sofa, gripping onto the edge of the cushion, trembling with the need for oxygen but - mostly - from the overwhelming pleasure he was experiencing.
When Hinata finally pulled away perhaps seven minutes later, Sasuke choked on his first breath, grappled with the second, and panted through the next fifty. All energy gone, he was just sloped against the back, barely keeping himself up. His throat felt tight. His mouth was numb. As was his mind.
When he felt like he could maybe, one day, breathe normally again, Hinata tucked her arms around him and hugged him close, her body against his, light and warm and gentle. She sighed against him, her smile touched his shoulder, and Sasuke was, once again, very glad he would not have to leave for another four days.
*** #3 - Make Sure He Knows I Love Him ***
The next day, they had spent the entire afternoon gardening, and by the time the sun had set, Sasuke felt like he had been on another mission. Only this one was much more pleasing, thankfully, as his wife was at his side the entire time, laughing and humming, telling stories of what had happened while he was gone in Suna.
"Go ahead and shower first," she had told him. "I'll be with you in a bit."
And you can't really blame him for assuming that this meant she would be joining him in the shower. As in showering with him. As in together. And Sasuke had no complaints, naturally. Who would? So he had nodded and left, stripping himself in their shared bathroom, making sure the water was at the right temperature, because Hinata didn't like it as hot as he did. He scrubbed himself of soil and sweat, and when he heard the door open, he was already moving to the side to give her room.
But, strangely, Hinata did not join him.
Instead, she had herself sat on the counter next to the sink, from what he could make out through the foggy glass.
"A list," she said, voice loud enough to be heard over the running water, "of things that I love about Sasuke Uchiha."
That made him squint a tad, and he stayed quiet and listened.
"I love his passion, and how he puts himself into everything he does. If he starts something, he will finish it, and he will finish it with the effort and perfection he finds fit, no more, no less."
He gave her another minute, waiting, wondering if this is what she meant by "joining him". When she kept reading, it was safe to say that that was the case, and Sasuke began to pour shampoo into his hair.
"I love his voice," she continued. "I love how it is a perfect, Sasuke Uchiha voice. It fits him. It is low and serious because he is a serious man; but it is also teasing, and it is also determined, and it is also loving. Sasuke Uchiha has a very loving voice that he only ever uses around his wife, and for his sake, he should keep it as such."
His mouth twisted into a smirk as he rinsed his hair before turning the water off. "Hinata," he said as he stepped out. "Towel."
She handed it to him, then turned back to her reading. Now that he was out, he could see that she had written all of these points down. "I love his arms. I love how they can lift me. I love how they can protect me. I love how they burn with his chakra."
Sasuke dried his face, then his body.
"I love how he wakes up in the morning, with his hair a bit messy and his face fresh from sleep. He moves slowly because he does not want to wake me up, but sometimes, I wish he would, so that I can enjoy the entire morning with him."
After that, he pulled on his clothes and kept his towel wrapped around his neck so his still-dripping hair did not soak his shirt.
"I love that he eats my food without complaint, though it sometimes bothers me. I'm scared I'll make something he hates and he will not tell me."
At that, he snorted and leaned over the sink to brush his teeth.
Hinata kept on reading, one leg folded under her and the other draped over the counter. "I love that he lets me hold his hand. I love his eyes, and the way they look at me when it's just us. I love that he gardens, and that he's already so good at it -"
"Hinata," he mused.
" - and I love that he writes lists, that he is always looking out for me, that he buys me sweets from the bakery, that he married me of all people -"
He stopped his brushing to give her a look. "Who else would I marry?"
Hinata looked up, blinked, then blushed and went back to her list again. "Nevermind."
"Hinata."
She laughed, "Stop distracting me! I'm not even halfway done!"
He washed out his mouth, wiped it dry with a towel, then gave her another, glinting look.
"If you really loved me, you would have showered with me."
Her mouth opened, as if to speak, but he wrapped his arm under her and picked her up off the counter, and she squealed and gasped and held onto him. "Sasuke!"
"Enough of that," he said as he carried her into their bedroom. "Look at me."
She huffed, at first, but quickly forgot all about her list when he pressed his nose against her neck - and for the rest of the night, she looked at nothing but him.
*** #4 - Stand Up For Him ***
"Recently, Hinata has been acting strangely."
Neji's immediate reaction was, "No. I don't want to hear it." But then a moment passed, and he squinted and added, eventually, "Strange how?"
They were sitting in one of the great trees to the north of Konoha, high enough so no one could spot them in the midst of their lessons. Neji had his small, little notebook perched on his knee and his pen in his right hand. Sasuke hadn't even brought his with him. He was too busy thinking about Hinata to give any attention to writing.
"Well," he said, after a passing second, "yesterday, she wrote a long list about me."
"Mmn."
"And the day before, she kissed me for seven minutes straight -"
"Uchiha." Neji's eyes were closed, brows furrowed. "Does that sound like something I want to hear about my cousin?"
Sasuke didn't budge. "Maybe you should get used to it, seeing as she is my wife now."
"A tree still stands tall / No matter wind or great storm / A tree it remains."
That had been a haiku Neji wrote the day after their wedding, and he liked to repeat it often in occasions such as this; that being occasions where Sasuke reminds him that his dear, little cousin happens to be Uchiha now.
Scoffing, Sasuke said, "It feels like she's treating me differently." Not that it was a bad thing. He just didn't know what was the cause of this behavior.
Neji opened his eyes, stared off at the scenery, then returned to his writing. "It's still the honeymoon stage."
"That's not what I mean."
"Is she sick?" Neji asked.
Sasuke, a bit caught off guard, blinked. "No."
"Is she putting you in danger?"
"Of course not."
"Then what is there to be concerned about?"
Concerned was a strong word. Curious, maybe. But concerned?
Sasuke grimaced. "I just don't understand."
"Thin the apple's skin / Red wall, the insect is stopped / But man still breaks through."
"Alright," Sasuke said, "that one doesn't make sense at all."
Neji frowned at him, then scribbled something in his book. "Then how about this one: You are a moron / An Uchiha with no brain / Leave, or I'll kill you."
...
Before he had left to meet Neji, Hinata had told him she was going to go visit Naruto, so instead of heading home, he made his way to the Hokage Tower. Right as he arrived, she just left the gates, and she smiled at him as he approached.
"Where were you off to?"
"Nowhere important." He glanced over her shoulder. "How was Naruto?"
"Go see for yourself." She stood on the tips of her feet to kiss his cheek. "He wants to see you now. It's good that you're here. I'll see you at home."
He was about to say that she ought to just stay and wait for him, but she was gone before he could get out a word.
...
When he entered the office, Naruto looked …
Well, beyond himself didn't cover half of it.
He looked like someone from the academy who was trying to pretend to be Naruto, because he was so un-Naruto that he almost looked fake. But he was the real one. That was his chakra. That was his stupid face.
"Oi," Sasuke droned a minute after entering the office. Naruto had been standing by the window, a blank look on his face, and he didn't react or anything when he had first come inside. "Idiot. Stop spacing off."
That finally got his attention, and Naruto practically jumped three feet into the air. His eyes were wide and giant, and then he had a lopsided, awkward grin on his face as he rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Sasuke! Hey - er - look - about your missions."
Sasuke frowned. "Missions?"
"I'm sorry, alright!? It was all just fun! I won't give anymore to you, alright? From now on, serious missions, alright? Class A - no! S!"
Sasuke let the information filter through his head, and then he asked, "What did Hinata say to you, exactly?"
Naruto's face went white, and he bent behind his chair. "H-H-Hinata!? Hinata's coming back?"
"I didn't say that."
That didn't make Naruto relax at all.
"I promise - no more weird missions for you. Alright?"
Though not fully understanding the specifics of what, exactly, his wife could have said to the Hokage-in-training to make him act in such a way, Sasuke still had a good idea, and he hummed and moved back to the door. "Fine. We done here?"
"Yeah. Y-Yeah. Have a good one. Heh."
So Sasuke left, and he made a mental list of what to pick up from the list to thank Hinata for her hard work in getting Naruto to change his ways.
*** #5 - Cook Him Eel ***
"What?"
That night, Sasuke found a rather interesting list on the kitchen counter. One titled A List of the Many Ways to Thank Sasuke Uchiha; and if that hadn't gotten his full attention, the content of the list certainly did.
But especially that fifth point, because as stated before, there were very few things Sasuke Uchiha hid from his wife; one being his love for eel. She was not supposed to know he liked it. So why was it on this list? And why was she stood next to him, with half an eel prepared on the cutting board in front of her? She looked positively disgusted, but she kept herself there, and Sasuke was -
Well. Simply put: stunned.
"Hinata . . . ." Slowly, he ripped his gaze away from the list to look at her. "Why?"
She turned away from the eel and wiped her hands on her apron. "Well," she mused, "because you've been so good to me, so I wanted to thank you."
So that's what this was all about? The thing with Naruto? That kiss?
He gave the list a look over again. "How do you -"
"Ah." Ah!? "The eel thing. I've always known you liked eel."
What?
"And I know you don't like the smell of mango. That's why I haven't bought any recently."
What!?
"And I know you and Neji meet every so often to write."
"How did -"
She tapped a finger near her eye.
Right. Byakugan.
"Really, Sasuke." She laughed, pulling the list from his frozen hands to kiss each of his knuckles. "You didn't actually think you could hide anything from me, did you?"
With a twitter, she went back to preparing the eel, and Sasuke stood there, still stunned, still frozen, for the next five minutes.
After that, he fell back into reality and sent her into the den, telling her that she'd get herself sick with the eel, that he'll finish dinner; and when she said she had to do it because it was on the list, for the first time in his life, Sasuke couldn't give a damn about lists.
End