Sasuke, on the other hand, was driving himself insane. For the sake of his experiment, he kept himself inside the house. Like a scientist exploring undiscovered laws, he was testing himself to see how far he could go without any contact with Hinata. It wasn't easy. He was locked in a furious battle of wills between his Hinata-crazed state and his logic.

He tried to let himself out of the house, but as soon as he felt the cold metal of the lock, he would come back to his senses and run upstairs to his room, hiding himself under a sea of blankets. Several times this happened, and he felt his sanity slip away with every second that passed.

Strange. He felt empty and mechanical, when he pushed away the impending insanity. He missed Hinata's smile, her warmth, her sighing, her staring out at the horizon, her eyes—everything about her.

He tried to keep himself busy, and that was a little success, at least. He had managed to clean the house in between bouts of deep thinking and distractedness. He had started out at seven, and it was now eleven forty-five. Eleven-thirty was when their patrol would end.

Finally, when he got sick of scrubbing, he settled for watching the TV, bundling himself up with blankets from his room. Strange. Aside from feeling deranged, distracted, empty, and mechanical, he was also feeling cold. There was a keening coldness that haunted him, even if the air conditioner wasn't on, and the windows weren't open.

"Remember," he muttered to himself. "Once Hinata shows up, this madness ends."

He opened the set and surfed the channels, finally resting on a noontime variety show. The annoyingly cheerful voices of the hosts were nothing but a mere buzz in his ears as he lapsed into thinking about Hinata again. A timer had gone off from the TV, and he was brought back to reality again. It seemed that this was a mini-quiz show, and the timer was ticking away while the contestant was sweating profusely under time pressure, trying to think of an answer as best as he could.

He focused his attention on the TV. The question for the next contestant was flashed on the screen: What is the plural from of walkman? "Walkmen," the contestant proudly answered. "Sorry, that's not right," the hosts told him. Odd, what was the plural of walkman? And discman, for that matter? He never heard the answer as he got out of his comfort zone to answer the door when the doorbell rang.

He walked lazily, missing the comfort of the couch with the blankets. The clock read exactly twelve, but he couldn't feel his appetite. For a second, he played with the idea of not answering the door and staying where he was, but the person ringing the doorbell surely should have heard the blare of the TV.

He threw the door open, not bothering to look at the peephole first. In his current state, he couldn't care less if it was Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki. In fact, he had hoped so and maybe he could invite the S-class criminals to tea at the Japanese restaurant he and Hinata had eaten in the day before…

But it wasn't Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki.

It was Hinata herself, his Hinata, Hyuuga Hinata, with a rather large container in her hands, smiling at him in the way which always made him feel warm all over. The chill he had felt earlier dissipated.

"You—you," he stuttered out, for a moment, surprised, shocked, happy, relieved, elated, his control of speech lost for the moment. "Hinata-chan!"

"Sasuke-kun! I missed you at patrol today. I was worried when you didn't come, so I went and cooked a little something before coming here. Did you already have lunch?" Hinata said all these with the ease she felt whenever Sasuke was around.

"I—no, I haven't had lunch yet, I didn't prepare anything… Did I worry you? I'm really sorry," he said, still amazed and surprised. He was too busy thinking about his Hinata-less day that he forgot she would actually come and see what was wrong with him.

"Don't worry about it," she smiled at him. "Good, I haven't had lunch too! I made chicken curry for us." She held up the container. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, of course…" he said, opening the door wider. Ironic, he thought. The roles were reversed: he was the one who was bewildered and stuttering, and she was the one who was cool, calm, and collected.

She went inside, and looked curiously at the TV, which was turned up to unnaturally loud. She turned her eyes around the room, which was sparkling clean. "Is this what you did while you were here? What happened to you anyway? Are you sick?" She fired a barrage of questions and felt his forehead. "You are a little hot. I'll open the windows so that fresh air can come in," she said, while already on her way to open the windows.

When this was done, she turned and smiled at him again, but then her smile was replaced by a worried frown. "Sasuke-kun, is something wrong?"

"I… no, everything's fine!" he exclaimed as he ushered her to the kitchen. "Wait there!" he exclaimed, as he rushed outside and leaned on the door, sliding down. He took several deep breaths to steady himself. Hinata was here! They were going to have lunch in his house!

Calm down, baka! How many times have you had lunch with her? This is just one of those times!

She—she went… I can't believe she went!

Of course she would, teme! She's your best friend, isn't she? Of course she'd be worried! It doesn't necessarily need to be translated into anything!

She cares about me… I'm important to her…

Of course, dammit! Is her presence so unnerving that you unravel before her?

Yeah, she is! I can't help it! She's the most important person I've come across in my life since… since Itachi… and the clan…

Well… Good! Now, get your butt in there before she starts to wonder what happened to you! You damn floundering idiot!

How dare you talk to me like that!

Get your butt inside! Move!

Alright!

He took a deep breath, and went inside again. When he was inside, he was Sasuke again—cool, unruffled, and not in the least flustered. He leaned against the wall and watched her.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata turned to him with a smile. "I hope you don't mind—I've prepared some rice to go with the curry."

"Oh, do whatever you want," he waved a hand. "Just don't get yourself burned."

She turned back to her task again, but he could feel her smiling. "So, what happened to you? Why didn't you show up for work today?" she asked while washing the rice.

"I—I don't know," he said. "When I woke up this morning, I decided to do some cleaning.

"You didn't leave a message," she said, with a hint of a reprimand in her voice.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I'm sorry. But I just felt that I had to do it right away. Anyway, most of it's done now, so I'm just going to finish it up later."

"Oh, I see," she said, as she placed the pot of rice on the stove and turned on the stove. "I'll help you, then!"

He sat down on a chair. "Thanks Hinata-chan, but I think—"

"Oh, no buts," she told him firmly. "This is the least you can do for me, as you left me to patrol alone!"

He winced, at the last part of her words. Hinata had patrolled alone, without anyone. It made him feel guilty. But backpedaling to her whole statement, he was surprised at her. Really, she was extraordinary, so unlike the other girls. His payment for letting her do a two-person job alone was to let her help him clean house? He repeated this to her, and she chuckled.

"I love cleaning the house," she told him, sitting down in front of him. Then she started as something entered her mind. "Do you have teabags or leaves, Sasuke-kun?"

"Um… none. I only have water," he said sheepishly.

"That's alright," she smiled at him. She stood up and began to look for the teakettle. When she found it, she washed it and filled it with water, then placed it on the stove.

Looking at her, as she bent over the stove, one thought entered his mind—'domesticated.' It certainly fit Hinata, as she had a caring nature. He smiled at the thought. She would make a great wife someday, and her husband would be lucky. Very lucky.

But wouldn't you like to be her husband?

Shut up! We'll get to that in the future. It's too early to think about that.

But wouldn't you?

I said it's too early.

But wouldn't you?

All right! I would, all right! There, are you happy now!

Hinata sat down again, while his face remained as impassive as ever, revealing not a single hint of an inner conflict that was taking place.

"What about tea?" he asked, looking at the kettle heating on the stove.

"Oh, I have tea bags with me," she said, holding out five packets from her pocket. "I brought some along just in case."

He smiled at her. She truly was a wonderful young woman. Just then, the rice began to boil as the doorbell rang.

He sighed. Who was it? "Don't move," he told her. "I mean, don't set the table! I'm going to set it as soon as I come back here. If I find the table set, I'm not going to forgive you… no! I'm not going to let you help me finish the cleaning," he threatened.

She went to the stove, pouted at him, and he chuckled at her, and went to open the door.

He was smiling as he opened the door, which revealed Kakashi (sent by Kurenai, of course). His eye was twinkling; behind the mask was a smile. "Hello, Sasuke," he said. "Care to let me in?"

"All right," Sasuke said grudgingly, his smile vanishing. He hoped Kakashi wouldn't stay long; he still had Hinata in the kitchen.

Kakashi stepped inside and Sasuke closed the door. "I heard you were absent at the patrol today," he said. "I just came to check up on you."

"It's all right, I'm fine," Sasuke said.

The kitchen door opened. "Sasuke-kun, all I did was put the rice into a bowl, I promise!" Hinata stuck her head out the door. "Oh! I'm sorry, that was rude!" She stepped out and bowed. "Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good afternoon, Hinata-chan," Kakashi greeted her. His eye twinkled brightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I fixed lunch for Sasuke-kun," she replied politely. "Would you like to join us?"

Sasuke turned to her helplessly. He wanted to tell her no, don't ask him that, but Kakashi said, "that's great! I hear your cooking is really famous, Hinata-chan. I'd like nothing better than to sample it."

Hinata smiled, and led him into the kitchen. Sasuke followed inside, and started to set the table for three.

"Oops, it looks like I'm interrupting something. A lunch date, perhaps?" Kakashi asked mischievously.

Hinata blushed. "Oh n-no, nothing at-at all! Isn't-isn't that right, Sa-Sasuke-kun?" she stuttered out, unnerved.

Sasuke was surprised. Hinata had unraveled faster than a spool of silk at the mention of a date. "Right," he answered slowly.

"Good, good!" Kakashi rubbed his hands.

Sasuke finished setting the table, and poured the curry from the container into a decent bowl. He sniffed the aroma. "Mm, smells great, Hinata-chan! I can't wait to eat."

Hinata smiled at him, and began to help, but Sasuke stopped her with an "uh-uh-uh. No helping! Later!" She smiled even wider as she shook her head.

He sat her down the gentlemanly way, earning another smile from Hinata. Then he and Kakashi sat down, and piled rice on their plates.

Sasuke spooned some of the curry soup, and tasted it. "This is so delicious!" he exclaimed, his dark eyes lighting up.

"I'm glad you like it, Sasuke-kun," Hinata replied cheerfully as she put some rice on her plate.

Kakashi also tasted some. "Mm, really delicious, Hinata-chan! Your future husband would be proud." He looked slyly at Sasuke.

Hinata blushed and began to eat.

-o0o-

A/N: Hello, dear readers! You've really made me happy with your reviews. Keep reading and reviewing, and I'll keep writing! I'm doing this for all of you! XD Especially for the SasuHina shippers out there! -points at the number of reviews- Well, whaddaya know! I've already passed the 50 mark! Wow…! XD

Anyway, I've made a new fic, The Best Things in Life. It's a SasuHinaGaa high school fic. I've always wanted to do high school fics! XD If it's not too much to ask, please read it too! Anko, our scary dango-eating Jounin is a Math sensei, Kakashi is an English sensei, Iruka in Science, Kurenai in Home Economics, Gai in Health and P.E., and… I forgot the rest. Teeheehee! There's kind of a major Neji OOC in there, but what the heck. –gets whacked for shameless plugging-