Written for 5-prompt writing challenge (thanks PianoCoat for the prompts) in SH Month discord server. It was supposed to be Sasuke's b-day challenge… but… *sweat drops*
Prompts
- Candle
- Blizzard
- A lost shirt
- Train station
- "Wait. Who are you again?"
Ink on the Skin
"…It is a record-breaking blizzard, bringing Tetsu no Kuni their largest two-day snowfall on record, and Yuki no Kuni their second-largest January snowfall on record…"
Dark eyebrows arch, the eyes below moving slowly to heed the running news program he didn't bother to listen after he pressed the on button. Alone in his apartment, it had felt too silent. He had needed noises coming from the TV to fill the quiet small space after spending the day at work. It is the second winter he doesn't appreciate the silence in his apartment any more.
With a hand reaching out to his phone atop the coffee table, Sasuke rises to his feet, then stretches a bit before making his way towards the bigger bedroom. This cold weather… and the long hours he had to spend at work with his head flexed to 30 degrees in long sessions, sometimes with the help of hunched shoulders, are wearying his muscle to an almost unbearable degree. Yet, despite all the disadvantages his profession brings, he loves every second spent inside the quaint one story studio.
Hinata answers after the third ring when he is about to open the closet.
"Where are you now?" he asks as he proceeds to open the closet. Placing his mobile on the middle shelf, his eyes are already at work to look for a shirt to change into.
Her voice arrives on speaker. "Uhmm… I'm ten minutes to the station, why?"
"I'll pick you up," he answers simply, eyes still looking for a shirt… the one he was so sure he had placed on the third row first column of second shelf the night before. It isn't there though and now his eyes are sweeping across each row, each column of each shelf…
"You finished early?" comes her answer. He doesn't need to see her to know that she is smiling.
The thought brings a smile to his own lips. He hums playfully as a reply.
"Ok. I'll be waiting."
He still hasn't found the beige shirt. Now frowning, he replies rather distractedly. "See you there."
Sasuke doesn't bother to end the call, Hinata already did. At the conclusion that in fact… his one month aged shirt is now but a lost shirt, he merely scoffs. Not out of annoyance, it was filled with such fondness that even if there was a chance anyone passing him by, they could and they would notice it easily.
After slipping into the other shirt he hadn't worn in months, because this particular shirt was a gift from Naruto, and for the love of God, the idiot only knows how to pick the most ridiculous sort of shirts, Sasuke gears up with more layers and a Hinata's hand-picked coat and a Hinata's hand-knitted scarf to yet again off against the cold.
When he arrives, hordes of ever busy people spill out from the train station, indicating a recent arrival. Sasuke storms in against the outward wave, hands secured inside the coat pockets rendering his arms into a shield against human jolts sideways.
It was all worth it—all the hustles. He's always known it.
At the sight of his Hinata, wrapped in too much layers of wools and the padded coat she's always worn in the winter since he first met her, seating quietly between other awaiting passengers, his feet pick up speed to reach her. When her eyes finally find him, creases soon form on their corners as she smiles.
She stands slowly, carefully, and his heart swells with something warm that he can't help the twitch on his lips as the muscles around them begging to tighten. He can't just ignore the urge to smile at the sight of her being very careful with herself, as she has been since she decided to cut her work hours into thirty per week.
So he smiles. It was well worth the trouble after all.
Sasuke reaches a hand, and Hinata, with a smile so bright, takes it.
Interlacing their fingers together, Sasuke slips their hands inside his coat pocket. "Did you wait long?"
Hinata hums, shaking her head. "You picked me up."
Sasuke flashes her a glance.
"That was rare," she says, her tone playful.
Sasuke merely tightens his fingers around her much smaller gloved-hands. "Just wait. From now on, I'm cutting down my customer slots per day."
Hinata halts, her upper body inching away from him, eyes sizing him curiously, yet her lips betraying her attempt to feign impudence with a smile. "Wait. Who are you again?"
At her attempt to jest, Sasuke too comes to a stop and seriously makes the effort to tilt his head so he can see her face in its enterity.
Her face is glowing.
Sasuke has always known that Hinata is a beautiful woman. Since she doesn't wear sophisticated make-up and suiting clothes to accentuate her beauty, only a few of her closest persons could have had the chance to truly appreciate it, with him being the most fortunate to be the closest of the closest.
But now, she is glowing… her beauty is showing… when she only wears rose tinted lip gloss and her clothes are much too comfortable and rumpled to be called modish.
They are already out of the train station, and outside, people scatter the streets and sidewalks in groups, couples, and not just a few minding business on their own. The dark haired pair is just another couple out of many others, minding their business, in the midst of people scurrying about in the heart of Konoha.
One corner of his lips rises up in a lopsided smile. His free hand reaches out to brush her red cheek with the thumb while the other fingers curl around her right ear exuding warmth. Ears red, cheeks even redder, and nose red with a string of mucus hanging on one nostril, she is breathtakingly beautiful.
"I'm your husband."
His wife's smile grows. "Are you? My husband is happy with his work. He doesn't cut down the slots."
Sasuke lets out a snort. "Well, I'm still happy with my work and someone has filled the assistant position, so now I can cut down my slots."
Rose-glossed lips part and Hinata's feigned expression breaks into an unrestrained astonishment. "Sasuke-kun! Oh my, that's… that's just wonderful news!" She runs a gloved hand on his biceps in firm strokes. "I'm so happy for you!"
The hand that was once on her ear slips to weave between strands of midnight hair. "Hn, a long time coming." Inside the warmth of his pocket, Sasuke gives a light squeeze to her hand. "Let's go?"
Hinata gives a light nod and a pull to his hand when she starts walking, the smile remains.
After the first half distance of walking towards their apartment, Hinata snuggles closer to his arm. "Hmmm, I'm hungry."
Sasuke echoes the sentiment. "What should we eat?"
"Uhmm, I've been craving this… you know, this takoyaki place in Yuki no Kuni..."
He tries to swallow. Sasuke doesn't know if it's a good thing that he has heard the news. "There is ongoing blizzard there…"
At the hesitancy of her husband's reply, Hinata giggles. "Anata… It's two-hour flight away! I was joking, you know."
Sasuke breathes in her laughter. "Even if there isn't any blizzard, we can't afford the tickets anyway."
His wife snuggles even closer, still giggling. "Exactly." There is a pause after her giggles stopped. "Wait, how did you know there is a blizzard?"
Sasuke gives a nonchalant shrug. "I watched the news."
Hinata looks up at him. "Are you really my husband?"
The taller man by a foot merely lets out a snort. That's when her eyes catch the little blue fire below his right auricle. The art is red-rimmed since his skin around it looks inflamed. She tiptoes to give the fire a full attention, her fingers twitch to have a taste of its texture.
"It's new," she comments, keeping her free arm on her side. She will have plenty of times to touch it.
Sasuke is quick to understand what she meant. "Do you like it?"
"I love it."
The rest of the walk, Hinata's eyes keep finding their way toward his new tattoo. Hinata loves Sasuke's tattoos. The Hinata three years ago used to think she didn't like the idea of ink on the skin. She couldn't care less the shapes, colours, or their places on the body. To her three years ago self, tattoos were all the same, an unnecessary pigment on pristine skin.
She doesn't remember when her opinion reformed itself, she just knows that she has always loved his tattoos. They filled the spaces hidden by long-sleeved shirt and pants, but at home, she can see them all by herself. From the first one he got after meeting her, a cuff of monochrome snake scales on his left upper arm, the recent one before the blue fire, the eyes of a hawk between the shoulder blades, the first tattoo he got in his last year of high school, the fan of Uchiha below his right clavicle, the largest one, a colourful illustration of Susanoo no Mikoto over the whole span of his back, to the tiniest one on the left side of his chest, a white sun, and a lot more others. She can name all their shapes, their colours, and their places by heart.
The Hinata now isn't the Hinata three years ago.
As of late, Sasuke also started experimenting on piercings too. Everytime he made her sleep with his arm as the pillow, her eyes would easily find their way to the cartilaginous part of his left auricle full of heterogenous black studs. Every week they changed, every other weeks they didn't. She had pulled away in surprise when she first met with the cold sensation from his lips' left corner. Now she always looks forward to the thrill everytime they kiss.
She loves everything. She loves everything Sasuke's.
Once arrived, Sasuke helps Hinata off her shoes while she untwines the scarf around his neck. He then removes her sling bag over her head while she unzips her coat. The weight of her bag strikes him as odd, considering the size doesn't provide much volume.
"You bought one today?" he asks, swinging her bag on his raised hand.
Hinata smiles brightly, inching closer to open her bag. Her gloved hands pull out a transparent packaging box. Cradling the box with both hands, she lifts the item close to his face so he can inspect the content.
It is a big candle, of the size he's grown to be accustomed to for the last two years. Today's candle is sage tinted, he can only guess the scent would be something related to forest. He's become smart at this he realises. Last week's was brown and he guessed the scent right.
"It's tea tree scented this time. Have you lit the sandalwood one in the parlour?"
Sasuke nods, reaching out a hand to receive the candle. "The customers were wild for it."
Her smile grows. "I knew it!"
They hang their coats and scarfs, and Hinata's sling bag on the wooden stand and that's when he finally finds it.
The lost shirt.
Sticking out under her plum sweater, is the hem to his beige shirt. Even rumpled and practically hidden, he would recognize it easily any day.
Sasuke merely eyes the stuck out part of the shirt pointedly. Understanding slowly seeps into Hinata's brain, and when it did, the red on her cheeks intensifies in shade and area.
"It… It smells like you…" she reveals, her eyes downcast, voice despondent, "I feel like you're with me when I work if I do this." It isn't because she has been found out that she looks so dispirited. Since it isn't the first time. He didn't find out immediately four months ago when she stole his shirt for the first time, not until days later. It took five times more until he managed to realise sooner. He always found out and he always let her.
The reason is because the truth weighs on every word she spoke, every single time, and it doesn't get better with repetition. That's why.
Sasuke takes her hand and gives it a light squeeze. "I'm not saying anything," he says in response. Really. Although at first his eyes pointedly staring at his shirt on her, they now has found comfort in admiring the bump on her tummy, covered by layers of clothes, protected under his shirt.
Pale eyes look up under thick dark lashes. "You're salty about it. I know."
Holding her gaze, Sasuke smirks. "I didn't say anything…"
"This is your favorite shirt…"
"I'm not denying that…," he chuckles, "but, I'm not against you wearing it either." He pulls her with him to go deeper inside their apartment. "It must be the cold, your emotions are not in place."
Hinata huffs, pouting, but following along obediently. "It's the pregnancy."
Sasuke succeeds in hiding his smirk since he is the real cause of her inconveniences lately. He can't be smug about it.
He pulls her toward the couch, but she pulls him toward the dining table.
"Are you going to write?" Sasuke stalls the force, an eyebrow rising. They both now extend their joined arms to full length. Like the lovebirds they are.
Hinata nods, pulling along her husband with her. "I have to submit the revised manuscript by the end of January."
Sasuke glances at the calendar as he places his new scented candle on the kitchen counter. "It's the day after tomorrow."
Now seated, Hinata rolls her—his sleeves and gets to work with her laptop. "Really?!"
"Really," Sasuke echoes, tying her hair into a low ponytail from behind. His movement's gentle, slow, deliberate. After satisfied with his work, he leans in near her ear, then whispers, "you're my only favorite, you fool."
Hinata shivers. "Sasuke-kun! I… I'm trying to write. Don't… don't disturb me."
He merely backs away, a smirk on place. "Hot chocolate?"
Hot chocolate.
The keyword to rectify any problems.
Hinata looks up at him over the rim of her laptop, eyebrows squiggling merrily as if she hadn't been victimized by him just moments before. Sasuke doesn't need to flip her laptop close to know that she is smiling.
A short minutes of adding and stirring ingredients together later, his voice returns from the kitchen, smooth and full of merry.
"Hinata, there is this takoyaki place in Hi no Kuni, cooked by the hands of a tattooist. How does it sound?"
Still stirring, Sasuke inclines his head to the side, searching for her eyes. When they lock eyes, he smiles.
Her eyes glimmer.
"Pretty please!"
One week later, Hinata wears the orange striped shirt from Naruto…
More weeks later, and weeks to come, Sasuke decides to wear the shirts he hasn't worn for the longest time so she can wear them and he doesn't lose the shirts he can actually wear.
She wears everything with no complaints, until even his largest shirt can no longer fit her.
Uchiha Hiromitsu is born in the first day of summer. Hinata has quitted her 30-hour per week work at the bookstore two months before. Now, she writes her stories and takes care of her baby boy at home.
At the start of autumn, Sasuke takes in another two assistants. But because his wife has lost her monthly pay, he can't reduce his slots any more. Uchiha Parlour becomes busier than ever.
Years to come, Hinata manages to publish her works annually, sometimes with a little project in between, or a larger one that takes two whole years to finish.
When Hiromitsu turns five, the three of them book a flight to Yuki no Kuni.
Finally, finally, a pregnant Hinata gets to eat her takoyaki.
They come in the summer, so there is no risk of a blizzard.
The End.
Author's Note :
After indulging myself in writing *cough* a lot of steam and spice *cough* for the longest time … this is such a breather… really.
Little fact, I'd always wanted to write Sasuke as a tattoo artist… and now my wish has been granted (...and yes, I have absolutely zero knowledge about tattoo).
Kindly check my other works,
1. Fated Pair - Omegaverse x Anbu AU - ongoing
2. Subclinical Manifestation - Medical School AU - ongoing
3. Winding Road - SH Month drabble series - ongoing
Alrighty, take care!
- Crowds