CHAPTER 3

The table-read passed rather uneventfully, much to Sasuke's relief. He could not wait to get out of the room the moment he entered and realised that the pretty demon had saved a seat at the table next to her. This led to him inadvertently breathing in her floral-scented perfume everytime she leaned in towards him to double-check the page numbers. However, the moment everyone started reading through their lines, Sasuke was – thankfully – able to focus on the task at hand. He was, after all, capable of professionalism.

The chattering of others in the room during short breaks also served as a helpful distraction from Hinata's presence next to him. Inuzuka Kiba, the man that was casted for the second lead role, was an exuberant brunette who made an effort to engage everyone in the room to lighten the mood. In some ways, he reminded Sasuke of Naruto.

After slightly over three hours of discussion over the details of the script, the meeting was adjourned and a few of the cast members were scheduled to meet within the next week for their first shoot. Sasuke made sure to bow politely to everyone in the room before taking his leave.

However, right after he crossed the threshold of the room, he felt a familiar tug on his sleeve. He turned around to regard the petite bluenette, this time with a new level of resignation, since all the pent-up frustration that he had towards her seemed to have evaporated over the course of the laborious discussions.

"S-Sasuke-kun," she began mousily, "will you be going back to Konoha?"

He nodded wordlessly.

"Kurenai-san just texted me to say that she had an emergency family matter to attend to. Will you be okay if I followed you back?"

Sasuke stared at her for a moment, trying to process the fact that by agreeing he would end up spending time with her outside of work. He sighed and extracted his phone from his pocket to drop Kakashi a text.

"Yeah. I'll let my manager know."

Hinata's entire face lit up, and with a quick word of thanks, she hurried back into the room to pack up her things. Sasuke waited for her at the doorway till she was done, and the two of them strolled towards the lift leisurely. The producers and directors remained in the room to finalise some details, so only the cast members were dismissed from the meeting. All of them had left beforehand because Hyuuga Hinata was a slow poke, but when the pair approached the lift lobby, they realised that they had company.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Kiba asked. He must have waited around for them.

"We are going back to Konoha," Sasuke replied.

"Ah, I see! I'm actually from Konoha as well but I'm a new actor! This is my first project. I am so honoured to be acting alongside both of you."

This time Hinata stepped forward to reply, "I-It is our first time acting too. I hope we can all learn from each other."

"Aw, you are so sweet, Hinata-chan." At this moment, the lift doors opened and the trio stepped inside. Kiba effortlessly filled up the silence by telling them a bunch of random stories. Hinata was very engaged in the conversation, whereas Sasuke stood at the corner of the lift with his hands in his pockets, content to provide minimal input. Neither Kiba nor Hinata seemed to mind his reticence anyway. They parted ways at the ground floor.

Sasuke was left standing at the entrance of the building alone with Hinata, because his manager was once again late to pick him up. Hinata laughed heartily when he told her about Kakashi's lateness streak, and his perpetual excuse of getting lost on the journey of life. Well, at least Hyuuga Hinata was becoming more tolerable over time. He could almost ignore the damage that she had caused to his reputation if he got lost in the sound of her melodious laughter – almost being the key word once again.

"What are your thoughts on Kaito?" Hinata asked.

Kaito was Sasuke's character, and he detested him for falling head over heels for some girl in his class. It felt so shallow. "I'm not a big fan," he replied honestly.

"W-What? But you are playing his character."

"So? I can grasp his motivations, but it doesn't mean I have to like the way he thinks."

Hinata let out a contemplative hum. After a short pause, she replied, "Which parts do you not like?"

"The fact that he became such a simp for one girl. He was supposed to be independent and level-headed. I suppose in theory I can understand why people do stupid things for love, but it still…boggles my mind."

Hinata giggled at his honest appraisal of his character. "F-Forgive me for saying this, Sasuke-kun, but you are not a very romantic person are you?"

Sasuke fixed her with a glare. How dare she make it sound like that was a bad thing? He was Team 7's new fanservice king! Even if he had no prior dating experience, he was at least competent when it came to the art of flirting – which he assumed was a natural step of the way when it came to dating…

When she received his glare, Hinata shied away and began to fidget on the spot. "I-I'm sorry if I have offended you… I didn't mean for it to sound like it was a bad thing at all."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself. "I assume you like romantic guys?" he asked after a pause.

A blush made its way onto Hinata's cheeks. Sasuke noted absently that she looked prettier when she blushed in real life as opposed to when he saw her on screen, but he immediately expelled that thought when he realised where this was going. No, Hinata being pretty could only be a bad thing. She was evil.

"I d-do… I think I relate to Yui quite a lot in this regard. Kaito was more attractive when he started doing nice things for her. He was such a bully before that…"

Sasuke did not know what spirit possessed his body, for he began to take step after step towards Hinata until she was cornered against the wall with his shadow looming overhead. She was so small and vulnerable, and she stared up at him with big doe-like eyes while her hands rested protectively over her chest. He stopped when their shoes brushed against each other, and he smoothly placed a hand over her head to cage her in. The blush that dusted her cheeks intensified.

"So you like it when a guy does this?" he murmured lowly, referencing a scene from the drama which he suspected would blow up the view count despite how cliché the move was.

Hinata squeaked in embarrassment and averted her eyes to glance at the sidewalk. She stammered here and there but no coherent response came out, which led Sasuke to the natural conclusion that he was right. Tch, this woman was so basic. Just one more thing to add to the list of reasons for why she was not attractive. Why did he even think it was a good idea to say that she was his ideal type? He was flooded with regret now.

"I-It is n-nice…only when two people are already in a relationship." Sasuke pulled himself out of his thoughts to listen to her finally succeed at stringing words together to form a comprehensible sentence. "It is…c-creepy when you do it like this…"

Sasuke immediately retreated and gawked at her in astonishment. Did she just say he was creepy? How dare she! Nobody had called him a creep before this!

"So the relationship makes all the difference?"

Hinata nodded.

Sasuke shoved his hands back into his pockets and gave this some serious thought. Much as he hated to admit it, he had barely interacted with females growing up and he never bothered trying to understand them, which led to him knowing close to nothing about how to win over a woman's heart. After all, he never seemed to have a problem with this until Hinata, and prior to her he had always assumed that women simply fell for good-looking men who were polite enough to them. Apparently he was wrong, and somehow being wrong about this only aggravated his negative feelings towards this bluenette.

"Well," he finally said after recovering from the blow to his ego, "at any rate, you have to get used to doing these things with me even though we aren't in a relationship."

Hinata pouted for a second, but she quickly wiped that morose expression from her face and replaced it with something neutral. However, Sasuke caught her pouting from the corner of his eye and he could not help but feel annoyed again. Was he really that undesirable to be around? Hurt coursed through him for a second but he quickly quashed that feeling.

"I understand… It is part of acting," she said diplomatically.

Sasuke's eye twitched at that. Sure, it was part of the job, but he was still in disbelief that he was unable to charm this woman. Most of his fangirls would have killed to be in her position.

Somewhere between the time she said this and the time Kakashi arrived in his black SUV, Sasuke made a resolution to himself: he was going to become the most romantic guy that walked the streets of Japan. And in doing so, he was going to make Hyuuga Hinata fall in love with him by the end of the filming season. Then he was going to break her heart with a rejection. This was the best revenge plan he had come up with so far, and the woman would not even know what hit her when it came.

Now maybe he was being petty. In fact, he knew at the back of his mind that that was exactly what he was. However, he reminded himself that this woman made a complete fool out of him on national television, effectively leaving a black mark on his pristine reputation as the nation's highly desired but untouchable bachelor. He might never even recover from this, as he imagined that show hosts would be ready to tease him about his unreciprocated confession years down the road!

Well, all things considered, he might as well have fun since he was going to be stuck with Hyuuga Hinata for the next few months. As he opened the door of Kakashi's car to let the pretty demon enter before him, he made a mental note to commence his research tonight. He was going to study the art of romance like how he studied for his examinations in the past – and like those exam papers, he was going to ace this.

On second thought, Sasuke might not ace this.

He was three-quarters through his first ever romance anime series, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, and he was already losing his mind. Naruto had already given him hell for binge-watching the show in between their breaks in the dance studio, but he was not about to give up. Yet, the thought of quitting was becoming increasingly tempting.

"What the heck am I watching…" he muttered under his breath for the umpteenth time. He was not sure what he expected to learn from this farce. In the end, he approached Kakashi in the evening with no small amount of reluctance.

"Why are you asking me for tips on how to attract women? You're doing a splendid job yourself."

Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms. "I am trying to understand my character better. He spends a good amount of time trying to earn the affections of the female lead, but I need to know the rationale behind certain things he does or I may not execute the acting part well. As you know, I'm not exactly seasoned in this regard."

Well, that was a genuine reason for asking Kakashi for help, although Sasuke would die before he revealed his secondary motivation. The older man nodded in acceptance of this and moved to fetch something from his shelf. He returned with five volumes of Make-Out Tactics and all but shoved them into Sasuke's face.

"I think you may find some things in these books insightful. Have fun, but not too much fun!"

Sasuke held onto the thick stack of books with trembling hands, mentally cursing at his insufferable, perverted manager. He was carrying five whole volumes of softcore porn back to his dormitory, and if that was not a reason to feel ashamed he did not know what was.

He waited for the lift to come down, and when it finally arrived at the ground floor, Sasuke hastily stepped forward to enter the lift. The plan was to swiftly enter the lift, close the doors, and dash back into his shared lodging with Naruto and Sakura. However, his plan was unfortunately intercepted by none other than an emerging Hyuuga Hinata, whom he almost crashed into when he tried to push his way into the lift.

The woman let out a startled gasp at the unexpected intrusion, but Sasuke was more focused on clutching the books to his chest to make sure that they did not topple over from his sudden jerk. When Hinata directed her attention to him and let out an 'oh' sound of recognition, Sasuke immediately turned around so that only the book pages were visible to her. This was a life-or-death situation; if Hyuuga Hinata discovered what he was carrying in his hands, he might as well end his career.

"S-Sasuke-kun! Do you need help with those books?"

"No," he bit out, perhaps with more venom than he intended.

Hinata flinched at his outburst and took a step back. The lift doors almost closed to save his dignity, but being the pretty little demon she was, she pressed onto the lift button to open the doors again.

"Ano… I was just thinking, since you are back in the dormitory… W-Would you like to go out for a walk with me? I c-can wait for you here."

Sasuke paused to contemplate his options. On one hand, this was a golden opportunity to seduce her since they would be alone; but on the other hand, he did not know what he was going to do if he was alone with her, as he had learned absolutely nothing from Kaichou wa Maid-sama apart from how to be a patronising man with no conception of personal boundaries.

In the end, he shook his head but shot her his best impression of a teasing smile. "Sorry, I have things to do tonight but I will catch you some other time."

He mentally cheered when he saw a light blush appear on Hinata's face. She gave him a polite bow and waved him goodbye just as the lift doors closed. Sasuke leaned against the wall of the elevator and exhaled slowly, feeling the tension leave his body after the close shave. He then balanced the books in one hand and reached out to press the lift button for his floor with his other one. Now all he had to do was to safely and inconspicuously transport these books to his room.

To his immense relief, this was a smooth process. He slammed his bedroom door shut and tossed the books carelessly onto his bed. Now he could finally get started on his education.

This better not be a waste of my time, he thought as he picked up Volume 1 and flipped to the first page. He sat down on his bed and began to peruse the material with the diligence of someone cramming for their final exam.

It turned out that Make-Out Tactics actually had some useful tips. Maybe, just maybe, Sasuke could get behind this – although he would never allow Kakashi to find out that he had anything but disdain for this collection.

"Girls like guys who are gentle with them," he recited to himself thoughtfully. Hm, he could understand why. That was a pretty common-sensical concept that was applicable inside and outside of the bedroom. He caught himself in his ruminations right there and felt the tips of his ears begin to burn. Since when was he even considering anything inside the bedroom? He most certainly was not going to get that far. It was plain unnecessary to go to such lengths in his seduction, especially for a prude like Hinata.

He decided to redirect his attention to the contents of the book to avoid thinking about Hinata. This was all pure theory to him, and he was confident that he could memorise it all. "It also seems that girls like it when guys give them gifts…but not just any gift. It needs to be something customised to their liking." Sasuke decided to bookmark this point in his head. This was easy. He just had to find out more things about Hinata by sliding in those questions during a conversation. Surely that would be considered a smooth move.

"Handwritten notes…" Sasuke frowned. He did not write notes for people that he cared about. He stopped writing cheesy letters to his brother ever since he hit puberty, because he was conditioned to believe that it was embarrassing for boys to show affection by writing letters to others.

Well, it's just another symptom of toxic masculinity that he has to fix, he decided. Sasuke walked up to his desk and picked up a pen to scribble out a draft confession.

Hey, Hyuuga. I think you are pretty. You should feel flattered because I never say this about any woman other than my mom. You also have a nice voice. It sounds best when you say my name.

He stopped himself before he could continue. What on earth was he thinking? He must be going crazy. With an uncharacteristic hysteria, he tore the piece of paper out from the notepad and crumpled it viciously. He decided with finality that he was not going to attempt to write any letters to Hinata. Not even on her birthday. He would simply have to compensate for this in some other way.

With that last thought in mind, he retreated to the bed to pick up from where he left off. His ears began to burn when he read the next few pages, which comprised advice on how to make out properly. Sasuke loathed to admit the fact that he was terribly inexperienced in this department and needed the insight.

I am just studying, he chanted to himself. This is education on practical matters.

It's not that deep.

Besides, you have to kiss her for the drama sooner or later. You can't afford to let her think you suck.

He did not know what compelled him, but he picked up his bolster and held it up against his wardrobe. He adjusted the bolster till it was approximately Hinata's height. While he held up the bolster with one hand, he referred to the book with his other hand for the exact instructions.

"So…I cannot kiss her immediately. I have to tease her a bit to build up the tension." Sasuke took the time to internalise what he just inferred from the contents of the book. Hm, perhaps he could hold her hand. Girls liked guys to hold their hand, right? Gently. Yes, that was important too. He was not about to make the fatal mistake of holding a girl's hand like how he wrung out sweat from his towel after his toughest training days.

"The inner part of the wrist is an erogenous zone," he read out loud. Oh, now that was an interesting fact. If she does not resist him at the first instance, then he is not likely to face dire consequences if he simply slides his hand up slightly to touch her wrist. He mentally added that to his checklist of steps to seduce the demon.

Sasuke read through the page a few more times and tossed the book aside. Now all he had to do was rehearse this. He felt like a character straight out of a comic novel doing the most asinine thing conceivable, but there was a common saying that practice makes perfect. At the end of the day, he could not help the fact that he had no experience with girls, so he had to gain experience in some other way that did not compromise his career.

Once. Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled slowly in mental preparation for the silly thing that he was about to do. If I get it done right once, I don't have to do this shit again until it's the real thing.

He pretended that the bolster was his pretty little demon, and positioned himself carefully such that he was not standing too far or too near. He realised belatedly that their height difference might pose a bit of a problem, seeing as it made kissing more difficult, but it was something he had to learn to deal with.

Or I could just carry her- NO! STOP! What the fuck, Sasuke! That's not in the script!

He shook his head violently to expel those vile thoughts. He had to focus on the task at hand. This was a simple practical experiment, like what he used to do in a science laboratory eons ago. There was nothing to be ashamed of.

He swallowed a newly formed lump in his throat and slowly bent down.

I should…probably touch her face…

One of his hands slid up to stroke the side of the bolster. Just as his lips were about to make contact with the fabric, his door burst open.

"Sasuke! Wanna play Overwat- WHAT THE HELL?!"

Sasuke almost gave himself a whiplash from the sheer force that he used to pull away, and he swivelled around to give Naruto his most menacing glare. "NARUTO!" He ground his teeth together to control his fury, albeit to no avail. "How many times did I tell you to knock before entering?!"

As he said this, he hurled the bolster at Naruto with the strength of his entire being, and it smacked him hard in the face and neck.

Naruto reeled back from the force of the unexpected attack and rubbed his cheek. He was about to yell back at him, but when he made eye contact with his groupmate and saw an unusual splash of red across his cheeks, he immediately broke out into a wide, playful grin. "Were you trying to make out with your bolster?"

"No!" Sasuke yelled indignantly even though it was a lie.

"Kami, that is a new level of desperation right there…"

Sasuke made an anguished noise at the slander. "I am not desperate, usuratonkachi! This is…practice for my drama, that's all." His voice trailed off by the end of his sentence and he was left standing there looking small and sheepish. The full weight of his actions from the past 15 minutes suddenly bore down on him, and he wished the ground would open up to swallow him whole.

Naruto seemed to sense his vulnerability as he decided not to tease him any further. He turned to walk out and scratched the back of his head while doing so. "Teme, maybe you should get a girlfriend for real, since our contract technically allows us to date after the third year."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the ludicrous suggestion. "That's not happening anytime soon. You know it isn't on the agenda for me."

Naruto waved him off and disappeared from sight, leaving Sasuke with his own deafening thoughts.