Chapter 4: Dream of Dates, Ripe and Sweet: Steps to Conceiving an Heir; The Fated Meeting?
Step One: Spending time together on mundane things.
"Y-you can leave for work already, Sasuke-sa-kun, I can wash the dishes by myself. It doesn't really matter." Hinata said nervously. Sasuke ignored her. "Y-you might b-be late if you--"
"Shut up and dry the damn dishes." Sasuke cut her off with a glare.
"H-hai!" Hinata squeaked turning back to the growing pile of wet dishes. "Ah, you missed a spot here." Hinata said, pointing to a spot on a seemingly spotless plate.
"I don't see it." Sasuke said, staring at the plate.
"It's right there."
"I still don't see it."
"But it's right there!"
Sasuke frowned at the plate; he still didn't see anything. "You're imagining things." He muttered to his wife before wiping the plate one last time before handing it back to her.
Hinata gave an exasperated sigh and muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like men.
Step Two: Public displays of affection. (?)
"I'll be late for dinner today." Sasuke stated. "Don't wait up for me."
"Okay. I'll leave your dinner in the oven then." Hinata replied, staring at her feet. Sasuke grunted.
Sasuke had decided that he should accompany her to work as a 'public display of affection', though Hinata doubted that walking ones wife to work could be counted as that. But then again, her husband was Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't really fall under the category of a normal husband.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun." Hinata kept her eyes averted to the ground.
"Nani?" Sasuke asked, he kept his eyes to the side.
Hinata pushed her two pointer fingers together, she really needed to break that habit again. "A-ano,"
"Stop that."
"E-eh?" Hinata looked up, embarrassed. She crossed her arms over her chest. "S-stop what?"
Sasuke rolled her hands. "You were playing with your fingers again." He said. "It's annoying, stop it."
"O-okay." Hinata said, blushing.
"What were you going to ask me?" Sasuke spared his wife a glance to show that he was interested in what she had to say.
Hinata turned a darker shade of red. "W-what would y-you like for dinner?" She asked. "I- I don't k-know wh-what you like t-to e-eat s-s-so I've b-been ma-making thi-things that I-I like, b-but t-th-that isn't fair to y-you, s-so I th-thought I should a-ask." Hinata said shyly. She kept tripping over her words in nervousness though, making her feel even more embarrassed than she already was.
"Stop stuttering; that's annoying too." Sasuke said. "I'm not that scary am I?" He raised a brow, as though threatening her to answer.
Hinata wasn't sure if that was suppose to be a joke, or if she really was suppose to answer the question. "A-ano..."
Sasuke sighed and ran a pale hand through is dark hair. "I don't care either way what we eat. It's better than my cooking." He said. Hinata nodded. "Ja." With a single nod her way he disappeared.
"Ja ne." Hinata whispered, though she was sure he had missed it.
Step Three: Showing thanks through simple things.
Sasuke got home a little while after Hinata fell asleep. He padded silently through the not so empty halls of his home, careful not to wake her up. He had entered through the window to their bedroom; a habit of his, to find Hinata snuggled up on his side of the bed, the covers pulled tightly around her; she was a blanket hog after all Sasuke had thought blankly.
After carefully removing his armor and changing into more comfortable home attire he stealthily exited the bathroom in search of food. Dimly he remembered Hinata saying something about the oven, so he checked there first. Waiting for him was a bowl of curried chicken with rice and vegetables, still warm. Sasuke ignored the vegetables and pulled out the curried chicken. It was delicious.
Sasuke left the bowl in the sink before slinking back up to his room. He was about to open the door when he decided he should wash up his mess and put away the vegetables he did not eat. Grumbling to himself Sasuke descended down the stairs. A little while later, after he finished cleaning after himself, he entered his bedroom ready to do battle with one innocent looking blanket hog. Sasuke had a feeling that he was going to sleep cold tonight.
Hinata woke up late the next morning, and was immediately bombarded by the feeling of lacking blankets. Too lazy to open her eyes she searched the bed with her hands.
"Stop that." A voice next to her muttered after she gave a forceful tug on what she thought was a blanket.
Hinata bolted upright with a blush on her face. Sasuke was laying next to her, one arm thrown over his eyes, and the other reaching out towards her. She had been tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. Mortified, Hinata scrambled to get out of bed, but Fate was in a mischievous mood today, and she nearly ended up falling to the ground. Sasuke's hand clamped around her wrist prevented that from happening, but the forcefulness of his tug sent Hinata sprawling on top of him.
"A-ah! Gomen!" Hinata cried sitting up and scooting as far away from her husband as possible.
"You're too light. You should eat more." Sasuke commented with a yawn.
"I-I-I'll go make breakfast!" Hinata yelled as she scrambled out the door. Sasuke shrugged off her weird behavior before deciding he had enough time to complete a few exercises before breakfast was ready.
Hinata was still reeling from her embarrassment as she headed downstairs. She could still feel Sasuke's hand around her wrist, and his body under hers. Mentally Hinata slapped her self for allowing her thoughts to roam. Sasuke was her husband, but she still didn't think of him like that. It was like... It was like imagining herself proposing to Neji-nii! Just plain disturbing!
Hinata peered into the refrigerator; there was a bowl of left over vegetables, milk, eggs, and a stick of butter. Sighing, Hinata closed the fridge door and leaned against it. It was like they were moving one step forward and five steps back! The only way she could conceive would be if she was deathly drunk and if Sasuke was un-gentleman enough to take advantage of a drunken woman (Hinata slightly debated Sasuke's personal morals and came to a conclusion that no, he wouldn't, unless he was deathly drunk himself). She turned back to the refrigerator, this time opening the freezer; breakfast was always a hassle on her nerves.
The changes in the Uchiha compound following his marriage was subtle, but to Sasuke's trained eyes they were very noticeable. At night the street lamps were lit, and the windows to once empty homes were bright. In the mornings there was the bustle of occupants getting ready for the day's work, and the cheerful morning greetings to him and Hinata. The private Uchiha training grounds, which were usually empty and slightly overgrown, had a few visitors (not just shinobi) and were now neat and pristine, without any deadly left over kunai hanging around in the tall--now short-- grass.
"Uchiha." Neji greeted civilly when he noticed the master of the compound entering the training grounds.
"Hyuuga." Sasuke greeted back in a similar tone.
Once the other knew that there was nothing more to say, they each retreated to their own morning training.
Hinata prepared a simple breakfast of fish, rice, and vegetables. When reheating the cold greens Hinata couldn't help but grin. Just like a little boy, she had said to herself, to not have eaten his vegetables. She set the table before going upstairs to see if Sasuke was still in bed; she highly doubted it-- he didn't seem like the type to sleep in when there was training to be done.
"If you have something to say just say it." Sasuke said coldly to Neji after feeling the other man's attention focus on his own exercises.
Neji was quiet for the moment; he was slightly surprised that Sasuke had noticed. "You wish to have a child with Hinata-sama." He stated.
Sasuke grunted.
Neji narrowed his eyes as he concentrated on the wooden post before him. "Do not hurt her." He activated his Byakugan immediately searching out the tiny millimeter wide indentures he had made with the tip of his kunai, fluidly he threw the said weapons at the spots; they all hit their intended mark.
Sasuke, who had been watching the Hyuuga out of the corner of his eye, was mildly impressed by the other man's skill. "I do not intend to." He replied quietly.
"Good, because it will not just be me who will be after you if you do." Neji said.
Sasuke did not doubt that.
Breakfast was not the usual silent affair as Hinata chattered on about the list of groceries they needed, and all sorts of other things that needed to be attended to in the compound. She spoke in a voice slightly above a whisper so it seemed she was muttering to herself an obscenely long to-do list but her eyes occasionally flickered to Sasuke, waiting for his approval.
Sasuke watched his wife speak in an almost amused fashion. Hinata liked to used her hands a lot when she spoke he noted, and her questions seemed like statements and her statements seemed almost like questions.
"I was thinking also of converting the lower gardens into a farming area." Hinata started. " The soil there is suited to corn and cabbage, as well as some other vegetables. It'll be small at first, but with time, and more people, we'll have enough to support ourselves through lean times. Of course we'll have to work out a distributing rate to the family's. I think it should be based on how many mouths they need to feed. I was also thinking of hiring more gardeners for the fruit orchard." She began clearing the table in a distracted fashion after they finished their breakfast.
" I've been down there recently and it is an outright mess; plenty of fruit but everything is so deathly over grown. We could pay them a steady fee of money as well as a basket of fruit for their labor, there's enough to go around." Hinata listed a number of other things needed to be fixed within the gardens that Sasuke agreed to with a nod.
"We also need to start rebuilding homes." Hinata broached the subject swiftly. She had spent some time thinking of how to phrase it before coming to the conclusion that she just had to rip it off, like a band-aid. "The upper compound will have to be rebuilt from scratch, those houses there are un-salvageable, but the rest only need to be repaired and cleaned of any mold and toxins. It'll cost a lot so I thought we should start around this area and slowly move outwards." Hinata glanced at Sasuke before putting the rest of the plates in the sink. He seemed to be submerged in his thoughts.
"Give me a time line of what needs to be done first and I'll work on it." Sasuke said. He rose to help her with the dishes. "How troublesome." He muttered too himself.
Hinata hid a smile. Had her husband been hanging around Shikamaru lately?
Once they were done with the dishes and suitably dressed for a day in town Hinata and Sasuke mentally prepared themselves for an afternoon at the marketplace to shop for groceries. They linked arms, more for show than for the sake of touching each other, and slowly made their way out of the compound. Usually, the shopping would be taken care of by the servants, but Sasuke had decided, with Hinata's meek agreement, that the two of them should be seen together in public more often. The more they were seen the more chance there was of reviving the Uchiha clan back to its former glory.
Naruto was out with Sakura, who was buying some medical ingredients for Tsunade, when he noticed the Uchiha couple strolling calmly down the market lane. Hinata and Sasuke had the same pale skin and dark eyes (technically Hinata-chan's eyes were white, but they had always seem dark to him for whatever reason), and in Naruto's mind, made the perfect picture. As they passed, people pointed and whispered to each other, even the shop owners were gossiping excitedly, though they seemed eager to have the Uchihas stop by their humble store.
Sakura was busy bartering for herbs so Naruto took the time to observe the couple silently. He didn't understand why Hinata agreed to marry Sasuke because even though they were walking arm in arm they seemed to dismiss the each other; they might have well been walking on opposite sides of the street! At least that was what Naruto thought until he saw Hinata gently tug Sasuke into a nearby vegetable stand.
The shop owner was a wrinkled old lady who was aided by a rather 'flirty' young girl. The girl was eyeing Sasuke with obvious infatuation; she didn't care that he was married and that his wife was right there. Hinata, busy bartering with the old lady, didn't notice the young assistant trying, and failing horribly, to flirt with her husband. The old lady said something and Hinata turned to Sasuke, with a small frown on her lips. Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes as he peered over his wife's shoulder to look at the merchandise. He said something to the old lady, who nodded and smiled. Wait, was Hinata giggling?
Naruto glanced at Sakura who was still arguing with the herbalist. The pink haired medic-nin's cheeks were flushed an angry pink and her jade eyes were bright with emotion. Naruto sighed. Even if Sakura was acting like Sakura she still wasn't the Sakura he knew. This Sakura was still moaning over Sasuke; even though the quiet man was already, seemingly, happily married. Naruto turned his attention back to Hinata and Sasuke who had moved on to the next shop.
Hinata was smiling brightly now as she chattered on about something. Every once in a while her head would turn up to Sasuke who would either nod or shake his head. When she frowned and her hand went to her chin Sasuke would say something and the smile would return again.
"They look happy." Sakura sighed wistfully.
"Sa-Sakura-chan!" Naruto jumped in surprise. "Hehehe, are you all done, Sakura-chan? Here! Let me carry those for you!" Naruto took the bags without much hassle. Usually Sakura would hit him over the head for trying to carry her bags. "Sakura-chan?"
"Let's go Naruto." Sakura said abruptly turning around. Naruto followed quietly; he had seen the tear she had shed.
Neji was stealthily following the Uchiha couple. No, that was a lie. He wasn't actually following Hinata, they had merely crossed paths and just happened to be going in the same direction. Honest. Plus, if stealthily meant stumbling around fruit stands and having fellow teammates yell his name for all the world to hear, then he was doing the best job an ANBU member could do. Really.
"Neji-san! Konnichiwa."
Neji sighed mentally, just how many people were looking for him? Neji turned to find the Kurosu girl looking up at him with a bright smile. "Konnichiwa, Saya-san." He greeted.
If it was possible (Neji was very sure it wasn't) Saya gave him an even brighter smile. "I just got enrolled at the Academy! I had a talk with Otou-sama and he finally let me apply. It's hard, and there are only a few students around my age." Neji had continued to walk, hoping the girl would get the idea to leave him alone (Lee had stopped him earlier and he had just managed to get away from his energetic 'friend') but Saya fell into step beside the stoic Hyuuga male, ignorant of his wants.
"Becoming a shinobi isn't easy." Neji replied.
Saya laughed. "I know! But that's what makes it worthwhile, don't you think so? However, my teacher doesn't know how to deal with my extra chakra storage, and though Otou-sama agreed to let me apply, he won't allow any one within the clan to assist in my learning. I believe that he is hoping I will drop out."
Neji did not say anything, but Saya continued talking.
"I guess Otou-sama is still getting over Maya-chi's death. Maya was my older sister, and I think she's part of the reason why he won't let me become a kunoichi. I just wish he would get over it! Maya's been dead for ten years already, but he still hasn't gotten over it! I miss her, even if I can't remember her well. I managed to get over it! Why can't he?" Saya's eyes flashed angrily, but here voice remained stable and calm.
"He wishes to protect you because he could not protect your sister. It is understandable." Neji said.
Saya sighed. "You're right Neji-san. Thank you! I have to be going now, it was nice chatting with you!" Saya flashed him another bright grin before bouncing away.
Didn't a conversation need two people? Neji thought to himself as he continued on his way.
As the afternoon dragged on Sasuke began to lose all feeling in his arms. Sure, he was a shinobi, and shinobi were always in perfect physical health, but they had been walking around for hours, and Hinata just kept buying things. He didn't even know what the purpose was for at least half the items he was carrying, much less what they were! And his wife continued on her 'shopping spree', ignorant of his obvious annoyance.
Sasuke held in a sigh as Hinata exited the shop with even more bags. She smiled brightly at him. Sasuke scowled. Hinata's smile turned to a slight frown. "Are you tired, Sasuke-kun?" She asked gently. Sasuke just glared moodily at the people passing by.
Hinata refrained the urge to roll her eyes. "Let's go back. I think we have enough supplies to last us a week."
A week?! Sasuke mentally yelled as he followed Hinata down the busy street. With the amount of items she had bought it would only last them a week?
Sasuke was not looking forward to their next grocery shopping day.
Neji entered the office calmly, his face betraying neither nervousness or confusion. Tsunade sighed, of course the boy wouldn't look nervous! Confused, maybe, but nervous? Definitely not.
"Hokage-sama." Neji greeted with a formal bow.
"I have a mission for you Neji." Tsunade said, cutting to the chase. "It's a very important one." She waved a manila folder around to emphasis the importance of said mission. "One that only the best of the best are chosen to fulfill. I want you to--" She was interrupted by the sudden explosion of the far wall of her office.
"Ow! Sakura-chan! I'm sorry! I didn't mean too!" Naruto cried as he flew through the opposing wall of the office with such force that it was reduced to a pile of rubble and he was lying in the remains of a broken desk with Tsunade hovering over him annoyance clearly written on her face.
"NARUTO!" Two voices cried out in anger. Neji rolled his eyes, but it was barely noticeable as he quickly exited the half destroyed office, his mission file safely tucked in his vest. He would look over it when he got home. But first he had to go buy some aspirin. A lot of it.
KairaKi: Thanks to all the readers here who have previously reviewed and who are planning to review. I've received a wide range of different comments on this story. Such as Sasuke actually being nice (is he?).
This chapter was fun to write, especially "Steps to Conceiving an Heir". I thought that the beginning sounded almost one-shot-ish. There you have a small view into what Sasuke and Hinata talked about after he dragged her out of the restaurant. Sasuke, to Hinata, is no longer 'san', but 'kun'. They have a 'bonding' time ('Spending Time Together on Mundane Things'). Sasuke is acting his part by walking Hinata to work ('Public Displays of Affection'), and helping out even when he's not asked ('Showing Thanks Through Simple Things').
You even have Neji warning Sasuke not to hurt Hinata-sama or else he, and everyone else, is going to gang up on the poor Uchiha to kill him. I didn't give Neji an over-bearing 'You-Hurt-Her-I'll-Personally-Hunt-You-Down-to-Kill-You-By-Castration' aura. He may not like Sasuke but in the social order of things Sasuke is of higher ranking and is therefore entitled to a degree of respect. No outward I'm-going-to-kill-you aura from Neji around Sasuke!
Naruto and Sakura make an appearance and you get a peek at what Naruto feels. Does he still have a crush on Sakura? Or is he feeling sorry for her? Who knows? He hasn't done anything 'love-dovey' yet, such as going up to Sakura and saying: "I know you're still in love with Sasuke, but I'm in love with YOU!" Will Naruto even confess, or will he find someone else? Ooo, mysteries! Sakura's starting to get over Sasuke... Maybe. She's definitely not mad at Hinata, there's no jealously going around, no soap opera materials floating around here. At least I don't think so...
Sasuke's such a kid. Feeling grumpy about walking around with his arms full of bags. I found that adorable though. I couldn't help myself, that's how I pictured Sasuke to act. At least Hinata and Sasuke's relationship with each other is starting to progress forward! What will happen next? And just what is Neji's ultra-super-important mission? What will happen to Naruto and Sakura? Will Hanabi make another appearance with Hiroyuki? What did Hinata REALLY buy and for what purpose? Who knows...
Ah, I couldn't help myself. Thanks for all your reviews again! Chapter four isn't as light as chapter three, but I hope you enjoyed it, even if the humor was tone down to a minimum! Can you tell me which meeting was fated and which was not? I'd like to see what you all think about that!
R&R