CHAPTER 7
"Hinata-san."
Hinata whipped her head around upon hearing her makeup artist's voice. "Sai-san!" she greeted cheerily. The man gave her a large smile and handed over a box.
"Someone dropped this off for you," Sai said humorously. Upon hearing this, Kiba jumped up from his seat and ran towards the pair out of sheer curiosity.
"Does Hina-chan have a secret admirer?!" Kiba hollered.
Hinata accepted the box from Sai with no small amount of nervousness due to the overwhelming attention that the two men were showering on her. She opened up the box and gasped when the sweet scent of cinnamon rolls wafted through her nostrils. She definitely recognised the smell of her favourite pastry before she even registered the sight of six cinnamon rolls lying snugly inside the box she was holding.
"Oh! That smells really good!" Kiba commented. "Who is it from?"
"About that, there is a card," Sai said and handed a small card to Hinata. Kiba automatically took the box from Hinata to allow her to read the card, and the moment she did a blush rose to her cheeks. She stood as still as an ice block, reading the words over and over.
Kiba nosily peered over Hinata's shoulder and read the contents of the card: "Sorry about your forehead."
"What's wrong with your forehead?" As he said this, Kiba put a hand on her forehead.
Hinata squeaked when she realised that Kiba had read the card, and quickly shoved the card into her sleeve. He retracted his hand and looked at her questioningly, but Hinata refused to answer him. All she did was respond with a vehement shake of her head.
"Kiba-kun, you should have one!" she finally said in an attempt to evade his question. She beckoned Sai over and invited him to try one of the cinnamon rolls as well.
"You're so generous, Hina-chan! Thanks!" Kiba gave her a wolfish grin and extracted one cinnamon roll from the box.
"Do you know who it's from?" Sai asked slyly as he took out his share from the box.
The deepening blush on Hinata's face was all the answer that he needed. Kiba chuckled amusedly and let out a dramatic sigh. "Man, if only Sasuke was here. He doesn't know what he's missing out on."
Hinata let out a secretive smile upon hearing those words.
"Teme! Are you done taking a shit?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes from inside the cubicle. The truth was that he only escaped to the toilet to avoid having to interact with people since he was feeling rather antisocial, but Naruto just had to jump to conclusions. He did not know what Naruto could possibly mean – Uchiha Sasuke was a true idol who did not defecate.
"Teme! Answer me or I will kick down the door!"
"I will make sure you regret it if you do," Sasuke replied threateningly.
"Okay, okay! Good to know you're alive. See you outside in 5! We can't keep old man Jiraiya waiting, can we?" He heard Naruto whistle a happy tune right before he exited the toilet, leaving Sasuke alone again. Well, at least this toilet was not particularly stuffy because it had a functional air-conditioning system.
Sasuke refreshed his Instagram page once more in a desperate attempt to procrastinate. He was most certainly not looking forward to seeing Jiraiya after the sheer humiliation that he and his editing team had caused him previously. In fact, the moment Kakashi announced in their Telegram group that he had scheduled an interview for Team 7 with Jiraiya, Sasuke went all up in arms. He stormed into Kakashi's office that same day and pointed an accusing finger at the silver-haired man while making a passionate case for why the interview should be cancelled. Yet, no amount of reasoning – or expletives for that matter - that he hurled at Kakashi could sway him into cancelling the interview.
So here he was, soon to be trapped in the old pervert's clutches like a little baby bird, on national television. He knew that Jiraiya was going to ask him about Hinata in one way or another, and he was not sure if he was prepared to answer his conniving questions.
Sasuke's scrolling began to take on a frantic pace in reflection of his anxious state of mind, when one particular post caught his eye. It was a selfie of Hinata holding a large cinnamon roll next to her cheek. The caption bar was filled with a mix of hearts, stars and candies. His eyes flitted down to the timing of the post, and he noticed that it was only uploaded a few minutes ago. Without giving much thought, Sasuke double-tapped the photo and switched off his phone to prepare for the torturous interview up ahead.
Team 7 kicked off the episode with a live performance of their comeback single. To everyone's surprise, Sasuke abandoned the choreography in the second half of the song to flirt with the front-row audience when he was doing his verse. The crowd went wild at his ad lib, and Sasuke could not help but grin in return at the energy his fans were exuding. He even made strong eye contact with one of the fancams and ripped the microphone from his mouth for a second as if to make a statement before he jumped back into the centre for the dance break.
At the end of their performance, the trio seated themselves comfortably next to each other. Jiraiya jogged up to the stage and fist-bumped each of the group members before taking his seat at the opposite end.
"It's nice to see you three again! Come, let's all give Team 7 another round of applause for their wonderful performance!" The audience erupted into another round of cheers at this, which prompted all three group members to bow their heads in appreciation of their support.
Jiraiya let out a large, radiant smile at the audience till they quietened down. He then directed his attention back to the group and spoke into the microphone, "Now, when was the last time you appeared on this show? It feels like too long ago."
Naruto was the first to speak up. "It must have been our last comeback. That was almost a year ago!"
Jiraiya let out a dramatic sigh. "You promised that you would go out and get ramen with me one day, young man! It has been a year and you haven't acted on it!"
In response, Naruto let out a dramatic wail, which earned the audience's laughter. "I'm sorry! I was really busy preparing a bunch of things for our fans, including this comeback!" The blonde then shifted his attention to the audience and held out a finger heart. "Did you like it?" As expected, the crowd began cheering again. Sasuke and Sakura could only shake their heads in amusement.
Jiraiya smiled proudly at Naruto and continued after the applause tapered off, "So, tell me about your new single." Without hesitation, Sakura, the leader of the group grabbed hold of the microphone and began to rattle off about the meaning behind the song and some of its lyrics – all of which were things that she had memorised beforehand.
A few more questions and answers were bounced back and forth till Sasuke began to zone out, but it appeared that Jiraiya noticed this as he finally directed his attention to the most reticent member of the group – much to his misfortune.
"Sasuke-san," he began, which promptly jerked said person out of his daydreams. He gave Jiraiya a respectful nod in acknowledgement. "A little bird told me that you are in the midst of filming for a drama?" Upon hearing this, the crowd went absolutely crazy.
When the cheers died down, Sasuke brought the microphone to his mouth and replied neutrally, "Yes, that is correct. I believe the promotional posters will be released soon, but till then I don't think I should reveal too much."
"Oooh, keeping us in suspense now, aren't you?" Jiraiya ignored Sasuke's tight smile and continued, "Will you tell us just one thing about the drama that we can look forward to? Just one teeny weeny little thing?"
There was a pregnant pause where Sasuke contemplated how to answer that question. Eventually, he lifted the microphone to his lips again and said, "It's a romance drama." Apparently that was all that needed to be said, as the volume of the audience's cheers hit a record high at this disclosure.
Jiraiya hyped the crowd up further by standing up and cheering. Sasuke could not help but facepalm at the amount of attention he was getting for his role in the drama. He did not know how he was possibly going to survive the press conference, or any of the variety shows or talk shows that he would inevitably be forced to attend in due time.
"So, what's it like filming a romance drama?" Jiraiya asked after the applause died down. "Keep it real with us."
"It's…not easy," Sasuke admitted. "I have never acted before, and playing a major role in a romance drama feels like a big leap. I can only do my best and hope it turns out well."
Jiraiya nodded empathetically. "I'm sure you will do well, Sasuke-san." The raven-haired man felt himself calm down at his kind words, so he shot the older man a thankful smile.
"After all, I am sure you are no stranger to harbouring crushes."
Sasuke's smile immediately cracked. The audience burst out laughing, while Naruto and Sakura struggled to maintain their composure. Sasuke dearly wanted to strangle the old man, or at least yell in his face that he was misrepresenting everything, but he knew that doing so would only hurt Team 7's image. In the end he could only sit there and put up with the teasing grins that were shot at him.
As if things could not get worse, Naruto began to speak into his microphone, "Did you know that all three of us watched that interview?"
Jiraiya began chortling at this revelation. "Oh, what an honour! I hope it was a fun watch."
Naruto began cackling as he pointed at Sasuke. "It was fun for Sakura-chan and I, but Sasuke was so upset that he left before it ended!"
"I did not!" Sasuke replied indignantly. Yet, the crowd clearly chose to believe Naruto over him as their cheers easily drowned out Sasuke's subsequent protests. The tips of his ears began to burn. Uchiha Sasuke sure as hell did not train for five years and perform for four only to be ridiculed on stage like a middle schooler, for allegedly harbouring a childish infatuation for a classmate.
"There there, maybe Sasuke-san did that, or maybe he did not. What I'm curious about is whether you managed to speak to Hinata-san since that interview. Do share some stories with us, won't you?"
Sasuke let out a defeated sigh and replied, "Yeah. We see each other more often nowadays – as friends, that is." He decided to keep things as vague as possible lest any of the details come and bite him in the ass sometime down the road.
Some of the audience members began to coo at this statement, and to his disgust, Jiraiya began to do the same. "Just friends?" he asked teasingly.
"Just friends," Sasuke confirmed.
"That's alright. I'm sure you have a beautiful friendship with Hinata-san now. I believe you mentioned this in your Instagram live, but I think we all want to hear you say it here: do you consider yourself a fan of her music as well?"
There was a long pause where the auditorium was filled with nothing but cheers. Naruto had the audacity to stand up from his chair to hype the crowd up. Jiraiya raised his voice to speak over the noise, "It would be very fascinating if you were, because the type of music that she does is very different from what you perform."
Sasuke was truly stumped now. This was a question that only had one right answer, and that was a yes. He could not possibly say that he was not a fan of his labelmate, much less his friend. That would be straight-up humiliating for Hinata. And while the sadistic part of his mind considered saying "no" just for the sake of humiliating Hinata as part of his revenge plan, an overwhelming part of him preferred to avoid dealing such low blows.
In the end, he settled for an honest response. "Yes, I like listening to a wide variety of music and Hinata's is no exception."
Sakura nodded in approval at his diplomatic response, but Jiraiya seemed to have one more trick up his sleeve. The old man jumped up from his seat and announced loudly, "I guessed as much that Sasuke-san would be a very cultured artist, which is why I have prepared something very special for him."
Naruto and Sakura gasped in unison as two staff members appeared from behind the scenes and followed Jiraiya to the centre of the stage. Sasuke gaped at the three of them in abject horror. One of the staff members was carrying a gaudy flower garland, which Jiraiya picked up and tossed over Sasuke's neck. Jiraiya then picked up the second item, which was clearly a signed album, and shoved it into Sasuke's twitching hands.
"As you may already know from your very new friend, she had recently released a mini album containing a series of original soundtracks, so just in case you did not manage to get a copy of it, I decided to specifically request for an autographed one from Hinata-san herself! I hope you will like this gift from me and my crew members!"
The heat in Sasuke's ears began to spread to his cheeks. This was utterly embarrassing. What must he have done in his previous life to be faced with a ridiculous situation like this on national television, not once but twice? Yet, he had no choice but to bow to Jiraiya and his staff in gratitude for the gift that they had painstakingly gotten for him.
When the applause finally died down, Sasuke took a seat and subtly began to read the words scrawled on the album cover in permanent marker. It read: "Dear Sasuke-kun, thank you for listening to my music. This makes me very happy! I am a fan of yours. *heart shape* Love, Hinata"
Before he could get carried away by reading her message over and over, he peeled his eyes away from the album and focused on Jiraiya once again, who thankfully steered the conversation back into safe waters. There was a little anger bubbling within him at the thought of Hinata conspiring with Jiraiya to humiliate him like this, seeing how the album was directly addressed to him, yet he did not have it in him to plot his revenge seeing how sweetly she conveyed her gratitude.
If anything, he was a winner, wasn't he? She told him that she was his fan. Yet, a tiny little part of Sasuke remained hollow inside – because what now?
As per his usual habit, Sasuke headed straight to the dance studio after the day's events to unwind. He did not do much dancing today as he was rather tired from giving his all at the live performance earlier in the day, but he brought his drama script down to keep himself occupied. This studio was his sanctuary after all, and everyone knew better than to trespass.
Well, everyone except one person.
The door creaked open to reveal Hyuuga Hinata in her short, smiling glory. "S-Sasuke-kun!" she called out.
He decided that it was pointless at this stage to ask how she knew that he was here, so he settled for a grunt of acknowledgement. He scooted to the side of the cushioned bench to allow her some space to sit, and she accepted his offer with grace.
From her handbag, she then pulled out a cinnamon roll that was wrapped in plastic and handed it to Sasuke. He blinked at the roll in confusion.
"I saved one for you today," she said.
He let out a tiny smile at this. "You didn't have to."
In response, Hinata waved a hand in the air and scooted closer to him. "It is really good, you should at least have a bite…" She unwrapped the roll and put it close to his mouth. Sasuke let out a resigned sigh and let her feed the pastry to him.
"D-Do you like it too?" she asked excitedly as he munched away. Well, he was no expert when it came to the sweet end of the culinary spectrum, but he could appreciate the texture of the cinnamon roll at least. He was also glad that it was not nauseatingly sweet. It was after all an important factor taken into consideration when he looked up more than half a dozen websites to find the best gift for Hinata – but make no mistake, he was doing it because he was a diligent food manager, and not for any other reason at all.
"It's not bad," he finally said. Hinata gave him a starstruck look, and Sasuke almost could have turned emotional had she not looked away in the last moment.
"Do you want the rest?" she asked as she unwrapped the cinnamon roll further for him. To his surprise, however, she did not pass it to him. Instead, she held it to his mouth again. And for the second time, Sasuke relented, allowing her to feed him. It struck him as rather odd, the fact that the cinnamon rolls he bought for Hinata were meant to be a form of apology to her, and yet here she was offering them back to him and looking elated as she did.
After his third bite, Hinata asked him, "Ne, Sasuke-kun, how did you know that I liked cinnamon rolls?"
Oh, snap. He did not prepare a response to this.
Sasuke gulped down his mouthful and turned his head to the side to avoid her stare. "I have my sources…" he muttered vaguely. Hinata must have smelled a rat, but thankfully she did not push the matter.
She nodded and held out the cinnamon roll to him again, but this time he gently pushed it back to her. His fingers caressed hers as he pulled away, and it felt like an electric current had just been sent through his body from his fingertips. The warmth that bloomed in his core made him feel uneasy.
"You should have the rest since you like it," he finally gathered his wits to say.
Hinata eyed him carefully for any hint of reluctance on his face, but when she found none she happily agreed and began to chew into the pastry. With one hand holding onto the cinnamon roll and another holding her phone, Hinata began to scroll through her social media feed.
Sasuke watched her quietly from his corner of the bench, in awe at how easy it was to be around this woman. She did not occupy much space at all, and she was quiet. Yet, her presence was not small. He found himself hung up over the strangest details about her, from the way she would tilt her head sideways when she read a long paragraph on her screen, to the way she stuck out her right pinky like a princess whenever she consumed food. Some days she would look more tired than on others, but the sparkle in her opal eyes was always there. She looked at everyone and everything with such fondness that it made him shrivel up inside from how completely pure-hearted she was.
Somewhere between the rhythmic whirs of the air-conditioner, Sasuke came to the staggering realisation that he probably really did like this pretty demon. But that was terrible news for him, because it meant that his revenge plan would have to go up in smoke.
And where would that leave him? Second place, next to Uzumaki Naruto, probably.
Just as he was cursing himself for the seventh time, Hinata let out a sudden giggle. He allowed himself this brief distraction and blinked at her in perplexity, silently inquiring into the reason for her amusement. Hinata scooted even closer to him till their knees were touching and she showed him what was on her screen.
It was a picture of Sasuke wearing an ostentatious flower garland that was greatly mismatched with his all-black costume and choker. In his hands was the signed copy of Hinata's album. Sasuke had a very contrived smile on his face which ended up being crooked to one side, but apparently fans found his expression more memeworthy than rude so they began to spread this image around like the coronavirus.
"Why are you laughing at my face?" he deadpanned.
This only caused Hinata to break out into another round of laughter. "You look like a petulant child in this photograph," she teased.
"Is that so?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Hinata nodded excitedly and even had the gall to zoom into his face. "Your cheeks are puffed up. It makes you look so cute, like a little boy."
Sasuke harrumphed and got to his feet immediately. He knew that his pride was getting to him again but he was not about to take that offhand remark lying down. Without waiting for Hinata's reply, he walked to the mirror where his bluetooth speaker was and switched it on.
He swivelled his head around to look at her and said, "Give me a song."
Hinata hugged her knees to her chest, suddenly filled with uncertainty as to what was going on. "W-What song?"
"I'll play your latest one then," Sasuke said with finality and hit the 'play' button. A slow, sensual melody began to reverberate within the four walls of the studio. He took a few graceful steps back till he was in the centre of the room while Hinata watched his every move unblinkingly. Sasuke may have been covered from his shoulders to his toes in loose clothing, but there was a calculated kind of poise in the way he moved. Right before he began his freestyle dance, she caught him smirking at her through the mirror.
Let's see if you still want to call me a child after this.