Chapter 15
Sasuke searched her from head to toe, eyes darkening with each wound on her body. She shivered, completely drenched, dark wet hair sticking to her cheeks. His eyes narrowed on the angry red scratches on her arms and neck. His fingers hovered over the cut on her temple, but he stopped himself from touching it. Dried blood lined the side of her face. Her wrists and ankles were red. He ground his teeth. Someone had bound her.
Sasuke drew on all the patience he had to stop himself from hunting down the fuckers who dared to touch her – hurt her – and smash their teeth in. Immediately.
"Hinata." He pressed his warm palm to her cheek. "Look at me."
Her eyes drooped. "I'm trying."
He put his hands around her waist and set her back against a tree. Her blue dress looked black in the rain and clung to her skin. He shrugged off his leather jacket and arranged it over her head and shoulders to shield her from the rain.
"I'll be back. Keep your eyes on me."
He turned to the fighting, his back tense. The muscles in his arms tightened as he clenched is fists. He saw red. Sasuke stormed into the fray and grabbed Kankuro up by the neck. Kankuro choked, sputtering and scratching at Sasuke's fingers. Then he threw Kankuro down, face-first.
Hinata winched as his nose crunched.
"Kankuro!" Temari shouted, but Sakura gave her no time to help her brother.
Sasuke stomped his boot on top of Kankuro's head and grounded his face into the mud. Kankuro's attempts to turn his face away and gasp for breath gave her flashes of brown and red. Fury burned in his black eyes, unbridled rage working the muscles in his jaw.
Hinata didn't realize she had closed her eyes, or that silence blocked out all sound for a moment. The cut on her temple gave a violent throb that blanked out her senses. She came back slowly, first to the familiar sound of wood hitting wood and falling rain. She thought for a moment that she was back in her middle school gym, sitting out during kendo practice.
A loud grunt jolted her back completely. The number of Suna grunts had thinned. The Senju girls all looked winded, chests heaving and breaths gasping, but they bore the same unwavering, determined expressions.
However, their strikes didn't hit as hard.
Temari landed hits on Sakura. Ino struggled against two Suna grunts.
There was another group of girls. They wore Kumo headbands and fought with the energy that the Senju girls no longer had. Karui struck one of the Suna grunts attacking Ino, her fiery hair slashing like her bokken.
She shifted her attention to Sasuke. Kankuro laid limp on the ground, his face in the ground behind Sasuke. He struck down his opponents with more speed than anyone on the battlefield, with calculated, violent grace in his movements. The ferocity in his face was the strongest expression of emotion she had ever seen from him. Dark eyes darted to her as her eyelids fell again.
"Hinata." His voice carried despite being low. "Look at me."
Hinata forced her eyes open. Sasuke, with the power of both girls kendo teams, made quick work of the Suna gang. Hinata sagged with relief. Shino, Lee, and Kiba were all safe. Sasuke was here. Ino was here. She was safe.
It needled at her. She relied on them too much. Shoving that train of thought away, she tried to focus on Sasuke. He wiped a streak of blood off his cheek as he kept his gaze on her.
lllllll
"Hinata, damn it, open your eyes."
Someone shook her. Her head rolled back, then thumped forward onto a hard shoulder. Hinata recognized his scent. Clean. Boyish. A little smoky. A little like rain.
"Sasuke?"
His body stiffened. The haze lifted from her mind. "S-Sasuke-san? Where are we?"
Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair. It was damp from the rain and sweat. He carried her on his back, his hands supporting her under her thighs. She indulged in the heat from his hands on her cold skin. Her head nestled on his shoulder. For once, she didn't question the light feeling in her stomach that she got when she was with him.
"On our way home," he said.
Hinata pressed most of her weight on his back. The rain lightened to a drizzle now. Warmth curled inside her at the word home.
He shifted her on his back.
"I can walk if I'm too heavy," she said.
He scoffed and said, "That's not it."
"What is it then?"
Sasuke shifted her again. His ears went bright red and his hands tensed under her legs. His back muscles pushed into her chest.
"Oh," she said, lifting her chest off of his back. "Sorry,"
She turned her red face away. She never thought their position bothered him, since she held onto him the same way when she rode with him on Amaterasu.
He cleared his throat. "It's fine."
"Sasuke-san," She moved her hair away from where it hung over his shoulder. "I thought you were going to Hong Kong to see your family,"
"I couldn't go. Not after your bratty sister told me my gang was in trouble."
"I-I apologize for her rudeness," she mumbled. She perked up as she said, "I managed to gather some information. I believe the Suna have seized our base."
He sighed. "I figured."
"Shouldn't we figure out what to do about it?"
His jaw tensed. "The only thing I care about right now is making sure everyone is okay. That includes you."
Hinata reeled a bit at his honesty. That was the nicest thing she'd ever heard him say. The fluttery feelings made her lightheaded. She felt warm all over, that he accepted her now.
"The base is just a shitty old building. As long as I have my gang, we can make base anywhere."
She couldn't help but smile.
Sasuke stopped abruptly. Hinata slid down his back and looked up at him, puzzled. They were on a path alongside a stream with red lotuses drifting in the murky green water.
He then lifted her up into his arms, bridal-style.
Hinata squeaked.
"You're less distracting this way," he muttered.
Her head went fuzzy, as if her body was trying to save her from further embarrassment by knocking her unconscious.
"Um, so where are the girls? Are they safe?" she said.
"They finished off the rest of the grunts. Naruto is on his way to escort them home," Sasuke snorted. "Not really sure why you asked for a bodyguard for Ino after that."
His amusement switched to anger. He narrowed his eyes at her, his grip tight. "And you. You're either a combat genius or a reckless idiot."
Hinata gaped. "Wha-"
He shot her a piercing glare. "You tackled him," he said, as if he still couldn't believe it.
She crossed her arms and said, "Temari was going to hit Sakura's wrist. I-I reacted without thinking."
Sasuke huffed. "It worked out this time because I came in the nick of time, but don't make it a habit."
Hinata stared at his jaw, her mind slowing down and blanking. She looked away, twiddling her fingers. "I was thinking that maybe I should take up kendo again."
She distinguished his silence as encouragement. She swallowed and said, "I lost at my middle school tournament. Badly."
Sasuke nodded.
"I wasn't too close to anyone on my team either," She paused. Being on the team had made her feel isolated and scorned for her poor performance. "B-But I feel like – if I'm going to be friends with everyone, then I need to learn to protect myself."
"I can help you," he said. "If you want me to."
"Really?"
"Consider my services as payment for the work you've done for me."
"Speaking of, why would you leave a paper trail for um, illegal activities?"
He shook his hair out of his face. "The paperwork is for legal activities. Didn't you read any of the documents?"
"Oh. I thought they were forged or something," she said, shocked. He was the busiest high-schooler she knew. "What if they find the papers in your office?"
"My office has a security system. If anyone other than me tries to force the door open, it triggers a detonation,"
She gasped. "A bomb?"
"Not a big one," he said. "All my documents and files are backed up and I have copies of everything, so it's fine."
Figures he was two steps ahead. The trickle of the stream and his footsteps crunching over leaves framed their silence with a soothing lull. His body was warm, his skin was smooth, and his arms were firm and strong. Hinata had spent one night sleeping in his shirt to catch his fading scent, but the real thing paled in comparison.
Her head bumped against his shoulder as she fell asleep. Sasuke debated flicking her cheek, but got distracted by the softness of her skin. Hinata looked like a doll mistreated by a sadistic child. He wanted to get home as soon as possible, so that he could clear the blood and mud from her skin and patch her up. He nearly stumbled over a branch, enchanted by her face. He still didn't understand why she still looked pretty to him in her present state. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her.
lllll
Hinata woke up to the sharp swing of the Uchiha's front gate. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the evening sky. Her mind scrambled to track the time. The full moon gleamed and stars winked in the black sky.
"Finally awake?" Sasuke said.
"Mm," she said. She lifted her hand to rub her eyes and suddenly felt every ache in her body, every sore, twinging muscle, every bruise, every stinging cut, and the throbbing headache pounding her head.
"What time is it?"
He glanced at his watch. "It's almost nine."
She sighed. "I hope Hanabi came up with a good excuse," She sighed again. "I can't believe I'm encouraging my little sister to lie."
"She's gotta start somewhere," Sasuke stopped in front of the door. "Can you stand?"
Hinata nodded. He set her down on her feet, keeping his hands around her waist to steady her. After making sure she was stable, he unlocked the door. Then he scooped her up again.
"I-It's not that far from the couch," she muttered. "I could have walked."
"Hinata," he said, looking her straight in the eye. "I am not a man who half-asses anything."
She would have rolled her eyes if he wasn't taking care of her.
Instead of the couch, Sasuke took her to the bathroom. He set her down on the closed toilet seat and turned the bathtub faucet on. He tested the water with his fingers, brows tense with concentration. His shoulders were tense under his wet shirt.
Hinata startled when he grabbed her arms and led her to the bathtub. He nodded towards it.
"B-But –"
"You can take a proper bath later. I just want your wounds clean."
"Why can't you use rubbing alcohol for that?"
He shook his head as he helped her into the tub. Warm water puffed up her clothes.
"Alcohol doesn't sanitize wounds and it just gets in the way of your blood clotting. And I do want you to stop bleeding."
Sasuke washed his hands and she followed suit. He wove his fingers through her hair, pausing over the bump. His frown deepened. He took the first aid kit out of the cabinet, then stalked off to the kitchen. After the sound of rummaging, Sasuke returned with an ice pack, a glass of water, and painkillers.
"Hold this." He led her hand to the ice pack, placing it on her bump.
Sasuke stared at her, a stormy expression crossing his face as he looked her up and down. He ran a washcloth under running water and then held her chin. With the other hand, he swept her hair away from her temple and carefully wiped the cut. Hinata tried not to wince, instead focusing on the strong line of his jaw and the intense darkness in his eyes. She knew how the anger would flare in his eyes if she recounted how Nozomu clipped her head with the sharp edge of a shovel.
His breath was warm on her face as he wiped the dried blood down her cheek. He had touched her face before, but not as gently as he was now. He swabbed ointment on the cut on her temple and finished with a bandage. He ran his eyes over the scratches on her arms and neck, his face darkening at each sweep over her skin.
He lifted her wrist up, his thumb brushing over her wrist as he treated the scratches on her arm. The white washcloth turned gray and murky reddish brown. He slipped his hand through her hair to tilt her head back and reach the scratches on her neck, his hot breath on her cool wet skin.
She caught flashes of anger on his face. Hinata chewed her lip.
Sasuke reached down to her scratched knees and pulled her skirt up to her thighs. She
squirmed at the brush of his fingertips on her legs.
A soft whimper snapped him out of his concentration when he lifted her legs up.
He met her eyes.
"Sorry." His movement stretched the stinging skin on her knees.
He shook his head and looked away, returning his attention to her legs.
Sasuke focused on her wounds, shoving away thoughts of how soft she was everywhere he touched. The reality did not compare to his fantasies – she exceeded them. He compartmentalized that thought for later. Preferably when he was alone and Hinata was feeling better. He forced himself to be as gentle as possible. He didn't want to hear her cry out in pain again. He didn't want to see her in pain at all, yet he was the reason why she was sitting in a bathtub in her clothes and his jacket. Her red knees, dashed with scratches and bruises like black holes that widened every time he looked.
"Sasuke-san?" she said, shifting and splashing the water. "Are you – are you mad at me?"
He eyed the deep cut on her temple. Despite his patchwork, he could still see it; the blood slashed down the side of her face. He looked away and clenched his fists.
Her face fell. "You are mad," she said, in a small voice.
Sasuke didn't know anyone who wore their hearts on their sleeves as plainly as she did. He used to think she was bad at reading people. Bad at figuring out motives. He was wrong. Hyuuga eyes did see through everything. Her eyes were warmer, softer around the edges from how much she smiled, but they still saw through him.
She infuriated him when she had accused him rebelling because of Itachi. Still unnerving was when she shared stories about her siblings, because he knew exactly why she was telling him about them. Hinata didn't know everything about the dynamic between him and Itachi, but she knew enough.
Now Hinata looked at him with the same penetrating Hyuuga stare and said, "It's okay. You wanted to see your family, right? You had to choose between your family in Konoha and your family in Hong Kong. You could have guessed what happened, but you couldn't have known. And – And it's not your fault that I got hurt. I chose to help Shino-kun and Kiba-kun even when I knew I'd be in danger. I wasn't even thinking about my safety. I just wanted to save everyone."
Sasuke's hand stayed on top of her knee, washcloth clutched between his fingers. His hands trembled. He returned her gaze. The intensity in his eyes stunned her, her breath catching in her throat. She expected his rare warm expression, something like amusement mixed with endearment, like after she kicked Nozomu in the balls, or when she narrated embarrassing childhood stories right before they shared the couch.
Instead, she saw his heated gaze on her. He looked at her like he was burning every detail of her to his memory. She found hunger in his eyes.
When he spoke, his voice was lower and strained. "And you did. You bumbled through a rescue operation, but you did help save everyone."
Hinata couldn't keep a steady gaze. She stared at her knee instead, noting that his hand completely engulfed her knee. His long fingers could easily span across both knees.
"You're right," he said.
She glanced up, but only up to his mouth, which twitched at one side.
"I do have family in Konoha. They're obnoxious, they destroy my house every time they come over, and they can't stay out of trouble, but I would kill for them and they would kill for me," His gaze was steady as he looked her in the eyes. "They are mine to protect."
The promise and the threat in his voice sent a chill down her spine. Hinata shivered. Sasuke dipped his hand into the water and turned the hot water on in response. He finished bandaging her knees and her shins. Then he moved his hands to her shoulders to help her out of his jacket.
The sleeves were halfway down her arms when he said, "They almost died for me."
At her puzzled look, he continued.
"When they got me back from Orochimaru."
Sasuke turned her so that her back was against his chest. She pulled in her knees so that she could fit in the tub. She heard snipping and a quiet apology before cold air hit her back.
She jumped, but he kept her still he cleaned her back. She caught the fabric of her dress, where he had cut open the back, and held it to her chest.
"I was happy at first," he said. "It was the first time my father paid so much attention to me. He praised me. Said that I would become the greatest heir to the Uchiha clan. I didn't understand why Itachi would ever want to run away from that. But then I did. And I could always tell that Father was comparing me to Itachi. That was the closest I ever came to hating my brother."
His hand stopped on her shoulder blade, his thumb running over her skin in the same distracted way as before.
"Uchiha's love and hate with the same passion," he said. His breath was hot and ragged against the back of her neck. "My mother didn't sleep because she waited up every night for Itachi to come back home. My father tried to groom me into Itachi. I hated them all. That's when Orochimaru got me. Itachi was in the rival gang messing with the yakuza's business, so Orochimaru hit him where it hurt most.
"Naruto and the others brought me back before I got in too deep. I fought them at first. I hated Naruto. But in a way, Orochimaru did get want he wanted, because he got Itachi out of his business. Itachi came back for me. Itachi and Naruto and the rest of the boys protected me from the fall out. It's not easy to escape the yakuza, let alone from Orochimaru."
"Sasuke Protection Squad," Hinata said, smiling. "That's what Kiba-kun called it."
Sasuke rested his forehead against her shoulder.
"Yeah," he said, breaths short, shuddering. "And once Itachi came home, Father went back to grooming him like he never left. My brother wanted to take me to Hong Kong to get away from Orochimaru, but I wasn't going to leave the boys to his mercy. I have no doubt he would get revenge by hurting them. They almost died saving me and I would die protecting them."
Hinata sucked in a breath. "Sasuke." she said, her voice soft.
He pushed his face into the crook of her neck.
"Thank you for sharing that with me. I-I know it was hard for you to talk about, so thank you."
He went still behind her. She couldn't feel his breath anymore.
"Hinata," he said, his voice strained. "I –"
He stopped himself and moved away from her.
"I'll get you dry clothes. Finish up."
Hinata remained in the same position, curled up and facing the wall. He closed the door behind him, his light-footed steps fading. The water started to fill up past her shoulders when she moved to turn it off. Phantom feelings left traces of Sasuke's touch, as if he was still pressed to her back. His body heat still warmed her body as she sunk into the water.
Hinata undressed, hanging Sasuke's jacket up to dry. Her dress was beyond repair. She drained the tub and washed her hair, the gray water swirling leaves and twigs down the drain.
Sasuke knocked once, then walked away. She dried herself with clean towels from the cabinet, then opened the door. He had put the clothes on the handle. The shirt was a Senju Boys kendo t-shirt that came with a pair of sweatpants. She sniffed his clothes. After the day she had, she felt she deserved to indulge a bit. It was the scent she chased in his other shirt, which now smelled more like her. His scent cocooned her. She tightened the drawstrings on the sweats and rolled up the legs. The shirt hung off of her loosely, but nothing felt more comfortable to her then.
Hinata crept into the living room. She heard rapid footfalls from Sasuke's room that sounded like pacing. She chewed her lip. She hadn't expected an emotional outpour from Sasuke, especially not to her. When Neji faced his feelings about her, he had acted awkwardly, bouncing between going back to his old behavior and overcompensating by being overprotective and overly present in her life. She knew her cousin was embarrassed and wanted to make up for lost time with her, but he just didn't know how to express it yet.
Sasuke wasn't the emotional iceberg Neji was. Uchiha emotion ran high, and more like wildfire. She didn't know what to expect from his behavior, and from the agitated noises from his room, neither did he.
She sighed and picked up his house phone. Just as she was dialing her home number, the phone rang.
"Hell-"
"HINATA! ARE YOU OKAY?"
"Ino-chan? Are you okay? Did you get home safe?"
Ino gave a breathless chuckle. "Girl, I'm fine. I was worried about you. You were holding on for dear life when Sasuke got you out."
"I'm fine now. Sasuke patched me up." She drummed her fingers on the spotless table. "Did you talk to Hanabi?"
"Don't worry about that tough little brat. She told your dad that you were staying over at my place because I had an emergency and needed your shoulder to cry on," She laughed. "She's a good liar."
"I'm afraid so," Hinata said, sighing again.
Sasuke froze when he spotted her in the living room. Hinata stiffened, mouth flapping as she struggled to reply. All she could think of was his hands on her skin, the vulnerability in his voice –
"I'm – everything is okay. I'm staying with him," she said, dropping her gaze from his face.
Her words thawed out his tension. His shoulders relaxed and he went past her to slouch on the couch.
"Okay. Call me in the morning?"
"I'll talk to you then. Goodnight, Ino-chan. And thank you so much for helping today."
"No problem, Hina. Goodnight!"
Dark eyes followed her, travelling to the shirt precariously hanging off of her shoulders, and the long sleeves she was fidgeting with. His brows pinched together as he brooded, though he still took in every detail of her like he'd never see her again; like a flower turning towards the sun after being in the dark for too long.
"I can make dinner or something light," Hinata said. "So you can have a shower too."
"No."
He stood up. Her heartbeat deafened her as he stepped towards her.
Sasuke took her wrist and brought her to the couch.
"You need to rest," he said.
"But I feel okay now."
"Take a nap. We can eat later."
Sasuke found a bundle of blankets in the closet and dumped them on the couch. Hinata sat down. She tried to assess this mood of his. He was still in nurse-mode, though storm clouds still brewed behind his eyes.
He propped her legs up to the couch, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, laid her feet in his lap. He stopped smothering her with blankets when he noted that her hair was wet.
"It's bad to sleep on wet hair," he said.
Hinata smiled when he once again went hunting for something in another room. His single-minded determination to make her feel better was…cute. This time, he came equipped with a blow dryer and a paddle brush. He sat behind her and dried her hair.
Hinata dozed off to the warm buzz of the dryer and his gentle hands in her hair.
lllllll
Sasuke's phone startled them awake.
Hinata's head was on his chest. She slept to the rhythm of his heartbeat and the warmth of his body. His arms wrapped around her, holding her to his chest. His buried his nose in her hair. Their legs tangled together in their sleep. She had been half-awake for a while, slowly gaining awareness to the rise and fall of his breathing.
Sasuke grunted, his arms tightening around her. He lifted his face away from her hair. She smelled so good, even after using his shampoo. He would have stayed like that forever if he could, her small body intertwined with his. The moments when she had pressed her curves against him while they rode his bike, or when he carried her on his back, were nothing compared to feeling her curves while she slept on top of him. It blindsided him, how good she felt. He forgot that being close to another person didn't have to be an annoying experience. He had gone so long without intimacy – physical and emotional – that he felt a desperate need to make up for missing out. His hand had wandered under her shirt at some point, brushing against the velvety skin of her waist and back. His mental functions sputtered and lagged, though his body stirred in response to her. Hinata wasn't quite awake enough to notice.
Sasuke slipped his hand out and fumbled with his phone, careful not to move against her too much.
"What?" he snapped.
"Let me talk to my sister!"
He dragged a hand down his face.
Hinata blinked her sleepy eyes at him. His mind blanked as he stared at her.
Not cute not cute not cute not cute-
"Your lovely sister," he gritted out.
He almost groaned when she sat up, unwittingly straddling him. He threw an arm over his eyes.
"- Yes, yes, Ino-chan told me. Are you okay?"
He chose the moment to peek up at her when Hinata was biting her lower lip.
Fuck.
"Oh, he did? Father usually doesn't question it when I stay with Ino-chan…Neji-nii's home?"
Whatever deity that put her on his lap was apparently done mocking him, as Hinata absently slid off of him and paced. Sasuke threw the blanket over his lap, willing his hard-on away.
"Would he really come here to get me after coming all the way back from Hokkaido? He wouldn't, right? R-Right?"
Hinata quietly wished her sister goodnight and faced him with knitted brows.
"What?" he said.
She shook her head with a shaky smile. "I'll make dinner."
Hinata returned his phone to him, their fingers touching. Sasuke suppressed a shiver. He even liked the size of her fingers. They looked delicate and slender against his. Her touch was always soft and fleeting. He quickly made his way to the bathroom. A cold shower and brooding were in order.
Hinata scavenged cold rice, eggs, and vegetables from his fridge. She recalled what was in the kitchen cabinets and found a frying pan. She smiled to herself. She had signed up for cooking club, and it was only now that she making her first meal. Her mind wandered back to Hanabi's phone call.
After their father interrogated her, Hanabi told her that she heard him on the phone with Neji. Both of those things disturbed the Hyuuga sisters.
As Hinata beat the eggs, she felt eyes on her and turned to find Sasuke watching her, though his heavy expression had lifted. His towel draped over his shoulder to catch the water dripping from his hair. He looked at her ponytail and the strawberry-patterned apron with longing. Something lightened on his face, as if he had made a decision. Her stomach twisted, half in nerves, half in anticipation.
The shower helped.
Sasuke assessed his feelings. Analyzed it. Picked it apart. He was good at that.
He dissected every feeling he experienced when he was with Hinata. In the beginning, she annoyed him. Another girl infiltrating their ranks to get to him. Then she interested him. This girl was the Hyuuga heiress, who was eerily like him. Her all-seeing, creepy Hyuuga eyes held an understanding in them that he only saw before in Naruto. Observing her and her mannerisms while they worked changed things. His eyes wandered to find her like a habit. He got used to her weight behind him on his bike, her arms wrapped around him. His ears perked every time he caught her soft voice. He hung onto every word.
Hinata always took him by surprise with her kindness. She treated the boys better than they deserved. Her tenderness towards her sister struck a painful, familiar chord in him. If she physically resembled his mother, then she resembled Itachi in spirit. His empty house felt like home when she filled it. When she was besides him on the couch, or puttering around in his kitchen, his house didn't feel empty. Despite her mousey, wallflower-presence, he was hyperaware of her and attuned to everything she did – every gesture, every shift in her expression.
When she wasn't there, he felt it like he was missing an arm. He slept on their couch now, with her school uniform top he kept from her. When her scent was stronger, it made for vivid dreams and even stronger jerk-off material. Her scent was fading from it, but he had it memorized.
The connection he felt between them mingled with sexual attraction towards her. Was he confusing hormones for genuine feelings? Was it just the proximity between a hormonal teenage boy and a beautiful girl who didn't annoy him? Did his feelings go deeper?
The Uchiha clan was many things, but half-assed was not one of them.
The twisting in his gut and the fluttery (but certainly not butterflies. Uchiha Sasuke did not get butterflies) feeling he usually got when he saw Hinata flared up when he saw her in the kitchen. He rarely saw her hair tied. The low ponytail granted him the view of her elegant neck. He fixated on her nape, where his face had been not so long ago. He had wanted to kiss her there.
It was Freudian, but his chest swelled at the familiar image she made; the same dark hair and the same motions as his mother's. He rubbed his eyes. Pearly Hyuuga eyes – soulful, expressive, beautiful eyes – Hinata's eyes – created a different image that drew an aching longing from his chest.
Sasuke was going to chase this feeling and figure it out.
Analyze it. Pick it apart. He was good at that.
His mouth curled up on one side.
"Honey, I'm home."
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A/N: Hey yall it's been a WHILE I know! Lots of Life Tingz happening ofc – I'm officially finished with my undergrad and I'M GRADUATING YAY! Anywho, here's an extra long chapter to make up for the wait! This one's got more of Sasuke's perspective, which may or may happen more bc I want this to be more Hinata-centric in terms of narration/inner monologue.
I hope you're all doing well! Thanks for reading :3
Special thanks to my Writing Playlist for making the writing process more fun:
Cut to the Feeling – Carly Rae Jepsen
No Vacancy – OneRepublic
Some Love – Red Velvet
White T-Shirt – Jonghyun (rest in peace bb this one's for you)
Follow me on tumblr (golden-gengar) for writing schedule updates and progress ~