Chapter 7:

Busted!

XxXxXx

"Please tell me Neji-nii-san didn't see me kissing Uchiha-san," Hinata quietly begged the blond boy in her kitchen. "Did he see us kissing?"

She looked distraught. After all, her cousin walked in on her and the Uchiha kissing on her sitting room couch. Her bangs were sticking up from her big escape from the front room. Her clothes were ruffled and still had spots of flour on them. Her hands were going back to her old habit of pressing the pads of her fingertips together. Compared to the grinning blond, she looked a mess.

"You know, Hinata-chan, I probably shouldn't lie to you. When he saw you two, his face was so priceless!" He was caught up in laughter, but the exuberance diminished when he spotted her lowered head. "Aw, c'mon, Hinata-chan! I bet he's over there right now thinking of a way to tell you how proud he is of you!"

She reached out her arm to the cookies on a cooling rack. With one in hand, the anxiety in her expression softened. "I hope so, Naruto-kun."

She took a bite of the hot baked good, then proceeded to fan her mouth.

XxXxXx

Naruto wasn't right. Neji was in the sitting room, seething. He was glaring at The Uchiha, byakuugon activated. Though he was brought here by Ino and Naruto, he had no intention of paying attention to Ino's pleads for him to listen. His little cousin was involved with a guy. He wasn't just any guy.

The Uchiha.

In his thoughts, that counted as kidnapping and assault. His innocent little cousin wasn't one of those people that had boyfriends. He leaned back on the recliner, eyes still glued to The Uchiha, though Sasuke wasn't glaring back.

"Sasuke-kun," the ponytailed girl started, "You should leave the room. Neji won't listen to anyone while you're in sight."

The young man stood, shooting a quick, smug look at his girlfriend's cousin. He turned and left for the kitchen, leaving the blonde girl and brunet alone.

The Hyuuga prodigy shot an angry look at Ino. "He was going to admit."

Shooting him a dirty look, she practically spat her reply. "He didn't do anything."

"He was trying to rape her," he hissed.

"Did you even ask Hinata if that's what was happening?"

His eyes became wild and frantic for a moment before his glare returned full force. "What did you say?"

"Did you ask your cousin if Sasuke did anything inappropriate?"

"No."

"Well, since that's settled, you get to apologize to Sasuke-kun."

"No."

Her smirk vanished and her features went dark. She stood from the plush couch. "You will apologize to him, and you're going to do it now."

She grabbed a handful of his hair and the shell of his ear and pulled him toward the kitchen.

XxXxXx

"He's angry," Sasuke stated, when Hinata asked her question.

"No, he's not. He couldn't be mad at you two," Naruto quickly told Hinata.

"He's not. He's mad at me."

Coincidentally, Ino entered the kitchen with Neji in tow. "Sasuke-kun, Neji has something he wants to tell you," she said without a hint of anger in her voice. "Right?"

She looked at the Hyuuga boy, who was still glaring at The Uchiha. She tightened her grip and pulled both his hair and ear toward her. Her voice took on a dangerous tone. "Right?"

Hinata, standing to the side and closest to the cookies, had no idea what Ino was doing. It was working very well. She watched in awe as her elder cousin mumbled an apology. Ino released her fistful of Neji's hair and ear and patted him on the head.

"Good job, Neji. Now, give your cousin a hug so she doesn't think you're mad at her."

He shot a glare at the blonde and glanced to his cousin. His pale eyes were pleading.

"It's alright, Ino-chan. I'm alright."

"Nonsense." She brushed off the placation. "Hug her."

Neji glared at Sasuke, blaming The Uchiha for his embarrassment. He took a step toward Hinata and patted her on the back. When he glanced over his shoulder, Ino shook her head and kicked the middle of his back. He was shoved into hugging his cousin.

"Neji, I know you were deprived of affection as a child, but what you did before was not a hug. What you're doing now, that is a hug." She folded her arms, a smug grin settling on her lips as she walked to Naruto and leaned against his side.

The older Hyuuga was a familiar shade of red, more often seen on his younger cousin than himself.

Hinata stepped away from the forced embrace, inching toward Sasuke. Her cousin still scared her, even after she became a chuunin. He had threatened her during her first attempt at the exam, and he was always better than her at anything he tried.

A few silent moments passed. Naruto cleared his throat to break the quiet, and broke into a wide grin. "Can I have a cookie?"

Hinata nodded and looked to Sasuke with a bashful smile. "Sasuke made them."

Naruto spat out the bite he took from the cookie. "Never mind," he muttered under his breath.

The blonde at his sid snatched the sweet from his hand and took a bite. "Hn... Not bad. Actually, better than not bad. They're good."

The Uchiha blushed and scratched the back of his head. This was weird. First, Neji, Ino, and Naruto walked into the apartment without permission. Second, Neji apologizedto him and hugged Hinata. Third, Sasuke was blushing. Naruto looked around the room, waiting for something awful to happen.

He pointed at his girlfriend's former crush, his mouth falling open in surprise. He looked at her, then in the direction of his rudely pointed finger. "What do you mean, 'they're good'? You never say anything like that when I cook!"

"That's because you don't cook. You heat up instant ramen. If I didn't like you so much, I'd probably dump you right now and jump Sasuke-kun," Ino stated, matter-of-factly. Her eyes closed as she took another bite. "But I bet Hinata-chan isn't interested in switching boyfriends anymore.

She opened one of her eyes to smirk at her shy friend. "Right, Hina?"

Hinata nodded quickly. She felt Sasuke's hand cover hers.

XxXxXx

After roughly half an hour of awkward conversation, Sasuke decided to leave. He dragged a cursing Naruto behind him while Ino said her farewells. While hugging Hinata, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'll make sure he comes back here. You two probably have a little unfinished business left."

She winked as she pulled away and tapped the side of her nose.

The independent Hyuuga collapsed into her chair from exhaustion, a hand over her eyes. She heard her cousin sit on the soft a few steps away.

"Are you angry with me, nii-san?" she asked quietly. As her hand fell away, she trained her eyes just over his head.

"No, however, I wouldn't have been so furious at The Uchiha if you had told me of your relationship with him before your... friends told me about it. I am not angry with you. It's... complicated." Neji relaxed into the couch, slouching as much as he could before he had to return to the Hyuuga estate.

"You mean the way I reacted when I found out about TenTen and yourself?"

"It's possible."

"Neji-nii-san, that's unfair! It's different."

"It is not different. You were angry with me. You didn't talk to me for days, but you did talk with her."

"It is very different," she argued. "You didn't tell me about it, and TenTen deserves better."

"Hinata-sama," he stated her name as a warning.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Hinata spoke quietly.

"Eh?"

"I don't deserve that title. It was taken when I moved from the estate. Remember? You were there when I left and Hanabi took my place. You should know that by now."

"Yes, well, you'll still be Hinata-sama to some of us. You may not be as physically strong as your sister, but you are more prepared for the position than she is." Neji stood and moved to the door. "I should go. Take care, Hinata-sama. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

XxXxXx

The rest of the day seemed to pass at a crawl. Her mind wandered throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, though it never went far. She kept her hands busy with cleaning her apartment while her mind pressed through the mind-boggling beginning of her day. Once the clock struck 6, she moved on from cleaning to another mindless task. She cut, poured, kneaded, and stirred.

By the time a knock on her door broke her from her rhythmic trance, she had a four-course meal prepared. She brushed her hands together and washed them in the sink. When she opened the door, she expected an apologetic Ino, though she knew that was as farfetched as her cousin willingly hugging her. She wasn't greeted with a cheerful 'hey, Hinata! Sorry for dropping by so late, but I just wanted to know if I could borrow a such-n-such'.

She was greeted with a soft kiss to her lips. The tall boy who kissed her stood up straight, hands held behind his back.

"Hello, Hinata-chan," he murmured, reaching up with a hand to rub the back of his neck.