Chapter 6:
Flirtatious Kisses
XxXxXx
When the downtown grocer opened, Hinata was the first to peruse the aisles. She began her morning pulling items from grungy shelves and setting them none-too-gently in the basket that hung from her elbow. At the end of her exploration down the tidy but not clean aisles, her basket was filled with the baking necessities they hadn't purchased for her home during the trip she and Sasuke had made. The cashier rang up her total too slowly for her liking, but Hinata said nothing. She allowed her mind to bounce in her skin.
The woman behind the register mumbled the costly amount, and Hinata paid without delay. She left with her bags in hand, not bothering to wait for her change. She lugged the groceries through town, taking a couple breaks along the way. The bags were heavier than they appeared while they were on the counter. She sat on a bench, both bags at her feet. She crossed her ankles behind the bags and stared at the printed logo on the brown paper.
She glanced up ever so often, watching early-risers groggily make their way to the nearest cafe. With a soft smile, she watched Naruto make his way in the opposite direction, toward Ichiraku's ramen shop. Deciding not to take a trip back in time, to the previous evening, she picked up her bags and hustled home.
Hinata opened the door clumsily, fighting to make sure the bags didn't get the better of her and knock her off balance. The door creaked open and she waddled to the kitchen, keeping hold of the handles as best she could. Once in the kitchen, she noticed a kettle on a lit burner. She dropped the bags and peered over her shoulder to the sitting room. There, in the middle of her couch, was Uchiha Sasuke, holding a steaming cup of tea.
"Good morning," he greeted.
She rested one of her aching hands on her hip. "What are you doing in my apartment?"
"Well," he twisted on the couch to face her, "your landlord let me in. He has this strange idea that we're dating."
Hinata couldn't fight the soft smile appearing on her lips, and turned to face the counter. "So, you came into my apartment, started tea, and made yourself comfortable?"
She heard him hum in agreement from the couch, and began unpacking her things.
On the counter, she set the chocolate chips, a couple bars of unsweetened chocolate, marshmallows, coconut, vanilla, shortening, peanut butter, honey, corn syrup, butter, milk, and nuts onto the counter. After emptying the bags, she folded them neatly and tucked them under her kitchen sink. She began to pull several other ingredients from the cupboards.
"Well, since you're here," she began, turning to look at Sasuke over the kitchen's island, "and I'm here, do you want to make something sweet?"
She smiled at the back of his dark hair, waiting for him to turn. Instead, she was caught around her waist and pulled against someone's chest. She let out a soft squeak and craned her neck to look over her shoulder. The tall boy smirked down at her. His lips were nearly close enough to kiss.
"Is that a yes?"
The shadow-clone on the couch poofed, leaving the pair alone in her apartment. "It could be," he murmured.
She turned to face him and pressed her hands to his chest. She would resist the temptation to kiss him. After all, he hadn't turned to kiss her goodbye a few nights prior.
"Then, let's go." Once she had a several centimeters of space, she took his hands in hers. "We're going to bake today," she told him. "I think, since I've taught you some of the basics, we're almost finished."
She tugged him to the kitchen sink, and didn't look at his face whilst she washed her hands. He was pouting, or whatever it was that Uchiha's did when disappointed. She only glanced his way when she stepped away to dry her hands. When he turned to take the towel, she watched his face. If he was pouting before, he wasn't anymore.
Once his hands were dry, he moved to the ingredients on her counter and began arranging them. He caught her stare after a couple minutes, waiting for instruction.
He found the moments of not knowing whether she liked him the same way he liked her excruciating. He hadn't kissed her good night after their date, but she hadn't kissed him either. She hadn't kissed him only minute ago, when she was held against her chest, and she wasn't going to kiss him now.
Hinata's gut wrenched as she peeled her eyes away from her house guest. He hadn't kissed her since that night in the barbecue place, and he hadn't asked her on another date. If he didn't offer soon, she was going to have to ask him.
She looked over the things in front of the two of them, and held out her hands as if weighing which to make first. As though he had finally figured out how to read minds, he cleared his throat. "Let's make something with coconut in it," he told her, his tone soft and warm.
She met his eyes and nodded. "Alright. Kitchen sink cookies."
After a few minutes of measuring, mixing, and mashing, Hinata was giggling at Sasuke. It was evident she wasn't about to stop either. He frowned at her, holding the wooden spoon in the mush dough. He let go of the kitchen instrument and stared at her. Then he looked at his clothes.
He was coated in flour, and from how much more pale his hands were, he could only guess as to how his face looked. His frown deepened, causing the girl to bite her lips and stare at him with wide eyes. That was the moment he dipped his hand in the bag of flour and sprinkled it atop her head. With the back of his wrist, he smudged the powder on her cheeks and forehead.
Mouth agape, she pushed him away. It didn't take long for her giggles to start up again. She scooped a small handful of flour into her fist and threw it at him. To hide from the onslaught that would follow his hand disappearing into the bag of flour once more, she ducked behind the island in her kitchen. Her laughter only grew more joyous the longer their chase lasted.
After he ran out of flour in his hand, he turned his back to her. She bolted from the kitchen to the sitting room, where she hid beneath the low table. Sasuke set the bowl aside and filled both his hands with flour. He sneaked around one side of the island and turned over his palms. His face contorted into a frown.
For a bit of a laugh, he checked beneath the kitchen table, behind the couches, in the kitchen drawers, inside the cupboards, and finally, in her bedroom. Hinata didn't once peer out from her hiding place to watch Sasuke walk into her bedroom and stay in there longer than he ought to have. It wasn't until the apartment was completely silent that she slid from under the coffee table and stepped into Sasuke's chest. She blushed under the white flour on her cheeks.
"I found you," he whispered, gently cradling her cheek in the palm of his hand. He leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers.
Hinata snaked her arms around his waist, pulling him flush to her chest. Their chaste kiss was soon over as they parted for a pair of warm smiles. She only opened her eyes for an instant, before closing them again to rise on her tiptoes. This time, she kissed him.
They stood, with Sasuke in her arms, for a bit longer, before he mumbled something about baking cookies. Hinata gasped as she pulled away. Her hand took his as she raced to the kitchen. He followed her effortlessly.
She flushed red and looked to the Uchiha. "We still need flour," she mumbled, struggling to fiddle with her fingers with her hand in his. "I don't have a change of clothes for you, so we'll have to go... like this."
XxXxXx
They reached the market in record time. It was 11:15AM when they arrived. They entered the shop and bee-lined for the baking aisle, where Hinata cradled a bag of flour to her powdered chest. They walked side-by-side to the registers. She steered Sasuke from the cashier she had met earlier in the morning. Instead, they stood in front of a familiar face while their singular item was scanned.
"What happened to you two?" the lanky young man asked the pair.
Hinata glanced up from her feet for a moment, then returned her gaze down. "I-it was nothing."
"Tch. Obviously." A couple seconds passed as the cashier waited for further explanation. "Well?"
After another moment without an exchange of money, she pointed beside her to Sasuke. "He did it," she accused quietly.
"Oh? Ino told me something weird was going on with you two. Troublesome..." He rattled off a total, and Sasuke passed over a few coins.
Hinata took the flour from her friend and smiled. "Thank you, Shikamaru-san."
"Yeah, yeah. You two remember to be careful," he said before they left.
The pair sprinted from the market, both red in the face. They didn't stop until they made it to Hinata's apartment. They hadn't bothered locking the door, and walked inside, aimed straight for the kitchen.
"That was... exciting," she huffed with a smile.
Sasuke nodded and took the bag from her arms. "Let's finish this up," he stated, setting the bag of flour on the counter and opening it with ease.
Moments later, the couple was working on the cookies once more. The dough was mixed, and Hinata took the spoon from Sasuke's hand. She opened the container of uncooked oats and began scooping cupfuls into the bowl. She told him to use his hands to mix the oats in, and Sasuke gave her an odd long. She took his hands in hers and pressed them into the sticky dough. She mashed the dough between her fingers and instructed him to do the same. In no time, the mixture was complete. He spooned cookie dough on the cookie sheet she greased for the occasion.
Cookies in the oven, Hinata told him of their next task, and pulled two saucepans from the cupboard. She looked at Sasuke, whose eyes lit up at the sound of fudge. She didn't peg him as a chocolate person. In fact, she didn't think he liked sugar.
She began to put away a few ingredients they didn't need anymore, leaving out only the necessities. From the cupboard, she pulled down her trusty book of recipes and flipped open the pages to the one she needed.
He looked between the two pans, and waited for her to rattle off ingredients to go in the second pan. "400 grams of sugar, 48 grams of unsweetened chocolate, 15 milliliters corn syrup, and 1.5 grams of salt. Put those in the first saucepan and heat them until the chocolate is melted."
He did as he was told. He had learned quite a bit from following Hinata's instructions over the past several days. Measuring with the scale was becoming second nature to him.
She looked over his arm once the saucepan was over a low heat. "Don't forget to mix it," she reminded him, pulling a spatula from one of her drawers.
While he slowly stirred the chocolate and sugar mixture, she dumped three handfuls of marshmallows into the other saucepan. Using a second spatula, she stirred the melting sugar puffs. She watched him mix the chocolate mixture every so often. She glanced at the recipe.
"Could you get out the candy thermometer? It's in the second drawer to the left on the island." She took the spatula from his hand, grazing her hand over his in the process. They had grown more and more intimate over the time they'd spent in her kitchen, but she still blushed with the contact.
He disappeared from her view for a couple moments, then returned with the thermometer she requested. "Perfect," she murmured. She set it into the chocolate mix and waited. "When the temperature reaches 112C, shut off the stove and put in the butter."
She turned off the heat to the marshmallows and continued to stir long after the flame was gone.
"Alright. How much butter?"
She set the spatula in the marshmallows and cut a cube of butter for Sasuke. He dropped it into the chocolate. The instant it touched the hot sugary mixture, it began to melt. As she told him to do earlier, he continued to stir while he watched her read the recipe.
She hadn't put her hair up, leaving her long hair hanging over her shoulders, even after she pushed it behind her back. She looked cute with her face a soft shade of pink and a few white streaks of flour on her cheeks and forehead. In his mind, the smudges of flour looked as though someone had been touching her face lovingly while they stared into her pale eyes. He continued to watch her until she caught his eye and instructed him to mix in the vanilla. She measured it for him and poured the 5mL of vanilla into the saucepan.
He continued to watch her, tracing her form with his eyes. She had decided earlier in the day not to bother with looking as put-together as other Hyuuga family members might have. He found her in a long T-shirt and a pair of long shorts. She looked comfortable and soft. He turned his eyes away before he disregarded the fudge and dipped into kiss her.
No matter how romantic it might have seemed in his mind, he wasn't going to do that. It would win her heart, but he didn't want to win her like a game. He wanted to earn it. He looked down at the molten chocolate. "How's this?"
The previously glossy mix was now thick and heavy on the spoon. She nodded and smiled proudly. "Perfect."
Hinata picked up the saucepan filled with marshmallow and poured the melted, sticky mess into the chocolate. He continued to stir while she set the other pan into the sink. When she returned to his side, she held up a greased baking dish. He understood immediately. He poured the half-mixed goop into the dish, and handed over the spatula when she held out her palm. She spread the chocolate-marshmallow mixture into a marbled beauty in the pan.
She raised the spatula to her mouth and licked a corner. She hummed in pleasure. Sasuke took the spatula in his hand and kissed her, brushing his tongue over her lower lip where she had smudged the dessert.
"Mm," he mumbled against her mouth. He kissed her once more, his free hand sliding up the base of her neck.
Her hands found the back of his head, sliding her fingers through his hair. This was perfect. The desserts were nearly ready. They were kissing. They were alone. They were kissing.
The pair stumbled to the couch, where Hinata was pressed against the seat cushions, pinned beneath the most handsome young man in the village. Minutes passed before they broke for air. A few gasping breaths were taken before they returned to kissing.
Hinata's heart was thudding away in her chest. Her mind kept telling her to stop, to think this over rationally, but when her lips were taken for another kiss, she told that voice to shut up. She wanted to feel.
As soon as the voice echoed 'you asked for it,' there was a singular knock before the door opened. Whoever was in the doorway only saw what looked like Sasuke wrestling with the couch.
