Ch.7 Back To Normal…Or Not.

"Bye…Sasuke-kun." She said breathlessly as she could still see a warmthness in his eyes that made her breath hitch.

"Goodbye…Hinata." She was just about to close the door behind her, when she suddenly poked her head back in.

"Oh and…could you…not tell anyone that I was here? Thanks Sasuke-kun. I'll see you later." She said quickly before closing the door and missing the scowl slowly forming on Sasuke's face.

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He didn't know why her question made him so angry, but it just did. For some reason it just made him think he was the one nightstand. Damn it, why did he had to feel like that! He hated how he cared, he hated how vulnerable she made him feel, he hated how much he loved her. Sasuke's hands curled into fists as his anger grew, boiling and filling his body. Suddenly with a growl he slammed his fist into his wall, making a rather noticeable dent. Staring at it with his dark angry eyes, he turned back to his bedroom to get his packed things for his mission. He hadn't told her he would be gone for a week, and right now was very grateful that he would have time to cool off before he did something he would later regret.

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Hinata was walking back to the compound in the morning with a small giddy smile on her face. For the first time in months, her heart felt light, her world seemed brighter, she was able to smile easily. She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool morning air into her lungs, feeling refreshed. She felt like she was suffocating for months and now it felt like she was taking a deep breath of wonderful life-giving air. Too busy with her thoughts she had failed to hear the distant call of her name until the person was right in front of her.

"Hinata-chan! Hello! Earth to Hinata-chan!"

Startled, Hinata suddenly looked up to a pair of pretty blue eyes.

"Ino-chan!" she cried. Ino placed her hands on her hips and gave Hinata an exasperated look.

"I've called your name for, like, twelve times now. Where were you, Lala Land?" Ino asked, lightly scolding her. Hinata blushed from embarrassment.

"Sorry Ino-chan…I uh…have a lot of things on my mind." Hinata said gently, hoping that her friend wouldn't press her. It would be too embarrassing to say what she was really thinking about…or who she was thinking about.

"Oh…sorry." Ino apologized guiltily, thinking Hinata was still thinking about the wedding incident. Ino had heard that Hinata wasn't taking it very well, she didn't want to hurt the other woman anymore than she already was.

"It's ok Ino-chan." Hinata said with a soft smile. Ino frowned slightly. She doesn't look all sad and depressed…maybe she wasn't thinking about the wedding day.

"So…uh…where are you headed?" Ino asked, still feeling uncertain with how the other woman was feeling. Hinata gasped and her eyes suddenly widened as she suddenly remembered why she was walking around the village so early in the morning.

"Oh that reminds me!" Hinata exclaimed, then suddenly blushing a deep red she turned to Ino. "Can I uh…ask you…uh…to do me a big favor?"

"Sure, what's up?" Hinata's pearly eyes moved away from the woman as her blushed maintained scarlet.

"If anyone asks…can you say that…I spent the night at your house?" Hinata said so softly that Ino almost didn't hear her. Almost.

A slow smile spread across Ino's face as Hinata's words started to sink in. And here she thought Hinata was sad because of the wedding. Ino suddenly started poking Hinata with her elbow.

"Ahhh who is it? Do I know him?" Ino asked with a bright smile and a glow in her blue eyes. Hinata gulped as she still kept her gaze to the ground.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hinata said quietly.

"Aww come on Hinata, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone." Hinata looked up at Ino with a brow quirked, obviously not believing her. Ino ignored Hinata's look and just wrapped an arm about the small woman's shoulders.

"My little Hinata…no longer a virgin." Ino said with fake sniffles and tears. Hinata's eyes widened and if possible, her face turned a deeper shade of red.

"W-w-wh-wh-what are you t-t-talking about!" Hinata cried, her stutter coming back from totally embarrassment. "I d-d-didn't do anything like that!"

"Sure you didn't." Ino said sarcastically. "You used protection right?" Hinata just gave her a look like she couldn't believe Ino would ask her such a question.

"Did you use birth control? Do you have birth control? Here you can use mine, it works really well." Ino stated, not giving Hinata a chance to say anything. Not that Hinata could speak right now, she just felt like crawling into a deep dark hole and dying right there. Meanwhile Ino fished in her pack and pulled out a small case and putting into Hinata's hands.

"You can use the rest of that, Choji and I are fighting right now, so I won't need it." Ino continued, Hinata looked at the case in her hand with a horrified look. She could hardly believe that she was holding onto birth control.

"So who is it?" Ino asked eagerly again. Hinata looked up at her with the same unbelievable/horrified expression.

"Ok ok you don't have to tell me who it is…but you know…I'll get it out of you soon or later." Ino said with a wink.

"I have to go." Hinata suddenly said, she loved Ino, but sometimes she was just too much for Hinata to handle.

"Ok bye Hinata-chan! I won't forget, you were at my house last night!" Ino called as Hinata walked quickly away.

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Hinata collapsed onto her bed with exhaustion, and breathed in the clean smell of her sheets. Clutching her pillow and turned her head, she thought about how she woke up this morning, with the scent of Sasuke filling her nose. She sighed remember how good he smelled, and how she almost missed it already. It was so different, just like his kisses. Most of Naruto's kisses were playful, but some were passionate. But Sasuke's were darker, hotter; she could taste the mysterious and dangerous aura that surrounded him. It was scary yet thrilling at the same time. Is this was lust feels like? Hearing a knock on her door, Hinata turned her head towards it.

"Come in." she called, stilling lounging in her bed. The door opened slowly as her cousin walked in.

"Hinata-sama where were you?" Neji asked in a hard voice, trying to rein in on his anger. Hinata blushed a light pink as her eyes lowered to her pillow.

"I was at…Ino-chan's house." She said softly, hoping that he would believe her. Neji stared hard at her as he walked towards her, then sitting on the bed he grasped her chin between his fingers and forced her gently to look at him.

"Are you telling me the truth?" He asked her, holding her pale eyes with his. Hinata gulped as tried with all her might to look guilt free.

"Yes Neji-nii-san." She said quietly. Neji held her gaze for a while longer before releasing her gaze and lowering his hand back to his side. Hinata breathed a mental sigh of relief, he believed her.

"You shouldn't do that Hinata-sama, how can I protect you if I don't know where you are?" he lightly scolded her. Hinata lowered her eyes again.

"I'm sorry nii-san." Hinata apologized, feeling bad for lying to him. Neji's eyes softened slightly.

"It's…ok." He told her, softening his tone. "It's just that…well…I was…" he turned away from her, "worried for you." he said so softly Hinata could barely hear him.

"What?" she asked, a frown knitting her face. Neji suddenly stood up.

"I said that you're father wants to watch us train today." He said clearly. Hinata bit back a groan as she turned and buried her face into her pillow as she collapsed on her bed once again. Resisting the urge to scream into her pillow, she looked back up at her cousin.

"I'll be ready in a moment." And with that, Neji nodded his head and left. Hinata sighed as she slowly got up to get ready to train.

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The forest was silent and the sky was dark, a cool breeze blew threw the trees creating a gentle noise by the leaves. The night sky was dotted with millions of stars and the moon was almost full, glowing softly and casting shadows on the land. Sasuke leaned back against a tree trunk, his black eyes absorbing the dark yet beautiful scene before him. Soon however, his gaze turned inwards as a picture of a certain Hyuuga woman flashed across his mind.

He knew people thought of him as a dark and cold person, still unwilling to trust him fully, still afraid that he would leave the village, still afraid that he would turn out like Orochimaru or Itachi. He knew that he was the exact opposite as Naruto, who was the light that shone like the sun, who was the underdog that proved himself to be a good candidate for Hokage, the one who was friendly and reliable.

And then there was Hinata. Sasuke sighed as just the thought of her made his heart ache. A gentle and serene soul, she was everything that he wasn't. Attracted to the light, she grew blind to the darkness, to him. He remembered when they were kids, she was just the weak Hyuuga girl that was the only one who wasn't his fangirl. She was different, weak, but different. When he had come back, he noticed the changes in her, and watched with interest as she continued to change herself. Yet she still avoided being in the spotlight, being the center of attention. He started thinking of her like the moon. Softly glowing, shining a light in his dark night life, illuminating a path for him to walk on when he got lost.

However, the sun outshines the moon, making it disappear and seem forgotten in the day time. But, the darkness, the night compliments the moon. The two go together, hand in hand, not able to have one without the other. And so she grew to become a part of him; his moon, his light, his life. But he knew of her love for Naruto, the hope of being with her, living with her, loving with her, was always something he never allowed himself to feel. Why bothering hoping in a hopeless situation?

But now he felt it, that hope had snuck into his heart, like his love for her. As soon as she ran from Naruto, that hope was there. As soon as he felt her kiss him back when he retrieved her from the river, that hope was there. When she had bandaged his shoulder, that hope was there. As foreign as these emotions were for him, he knew what they were. He knew it wasn't lust, he'd felt that enough times to know what that felt like. But this was different, like her. It was deeper somehow, more meaningful, sweeter, softer. Commanding his thoughts, his heart, his soul. But how was he to win her heart? He had to admit, his people skills have much room for improvement. Women had always come to him, like bees to a honey pot, he had never had to work for a woman's affection before. If only he could be more like Naruto for her, if only he could be the type of man she wanted, but changing himself that much is about as easy as turning a chicken into an eagle.

Sasuke's black eyes slowly lifted to the moon in the night sky, shining softly down upon him. The whiteness of the moon reminding him of Hinata's pearly eyes that were too blinded by the sun to see the darkness, to see the night, to see him.

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Hinata was looking up at the moon from her bedroom window as she laid her sore body down upon her bed. Because her father was watching her and Neji train, they had worked harder, moved faster, she wanted to make sure that everyone would continue to see how much she had changed from when she was a little girl. Turning to her side, Hinata clutched her pillow, her thoughts once again returning to a man she had never before thought of that much, until recently.

Her face turned red, remembering when she found out it was him that had rescued her from the drowning in the river. She could hardly believe she had done something like that, and with him no doubt. She could remember wanting to feel wanted, wanting to feel the heat of sensual passion, wanting to feel what Sakura had felt when she was with Naruto. And Sasuke had made all those things come true, he made her feel like he wanted her, he made her feel hot and passionate, and she could only imagine that this is what Sakura had felt.

Hinata shut her eyes tightly as she held her pillow close to herself. What should she do with Sasuke? She didn't love him, she supposed that she liked him. She had loved Naruto and he was the only one who had kissed her besides Sasuke. But she didn't love Sasuke. She had temporarily agreed that maybe being with Sasuke would take her mind off of Naruto, maybe even help her move on…but that also sounded like she was using him. But she wasn't a mean person who was willing to use another for their own purposes. I'll just go over to his apartment tomorrow and thank him for his hospitality and pretend that the rest never happened. And if he brings it up…I'll…I'll…just say it was because I was lonely. Hinata sighed, why did that sound bad? She just didn't want to use him, she was just doing it for him, so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt him.

Hinata put a hand over her heart, the beatings feeling painful while sadness crept into her eyes. Why did she feel slightly sad at the thought of not being with him…was she that lonely?

She got up early the next morning, wanting to make sure that no one saw her walking towards Sasuke's apartment. But after fifteen minutes of knocking on his door with no one answering, she frowned. How come he wasn't home? Was he on a mission? Feeling disheartened Hinata made her way to the training grounds before returning back home. She was hoping that she would find him there, but to no avail. Walking back home, Hinata spotted some fangirl's of his.

"Awww where's Sasuke-kun! I can't find him!"

"He's gone for a week on a mission, duh! Don't you know anything!"

"Shut up!"

Hinata wouldn't exactly call it eave's dropping since they were talking so loud, but she was grateful for what she heard. So he'll be back in a week…I guess I'll tell him then…yeah…I'll tell him then.

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AN: Woah! Yeah! I busted this chappie out like there's no tomorrow! (Probably because I was threatened by one of my reviewer's and get my "ass fried off" by one of their jutsu's. LOL) I hope you guys are as excited as I am about getting this chapter up so soon. I know it's kinda boring right now, but I need kind of like a filler chapter for the things that are going to be going on next chapter. Hehehe so sit back and wallow in anticipation for what will happen when Sasuke comes back from his mission. Will Hinata tell him that their night together was a one time thing or will she put that birth control to some good use? And what about our #1 Hyperactive Knuckle-Headed Ninja? I guess we'll find out next time! Ja ne!