Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

His fingers caressed the skin of her collar bone as they brushed up and down her neck, "Hinata…" Itachi breathed her name; as he leaned down closer to her in a silent question for permission to kiss her waiting lips. Hinata's eyes fluttered closed as she consented in the only way her body would allow for fear of stuttering…

"Hinata-sama!"

Wait…

Hinata's eyes blink open quickly in realization that she was just dreaming. What in the world was that? Her mind screamed as she looked at a branch family member peeking through her door way.

"It's time for you to wake up Hinata-sama."

"Y-yes of course."

Still feeling flustered because of her random dream Hinata got up as the branch member left her to her own devises.

Maybe I had that dream because of the fact that we're going to go on a date today? That still is no excuse for such a thing though! The woman shook her head to try to get rid of her strange thoughts.

She got ready to go meet her old team at the training grounds. Deciding to wear a tank top with a fishnet shirt and her usual hoodie and blue capris, she glanced at her reflection in mild approval.

Now all I need to get is the lunch I made for the three of us and I'm all set! Hinata thought as she rushed to the kitchen area to retrieve her previously made lunch from the refrigerator.

"Going to go train, Hinata-sama?" Neji asked as Hinata reached the entrance of the compound.

"Yes Nii-san," the bluenette answered as she tried to leave, "Allow me to accompany you then, I wish to have a word."

The tone in Neji's voice left no room for argument, so all Hinata did was incline her head in a silent consent.

"I would like to know what is going on with you that Uchiha."

"We've been going on a few dates at the moment, other than that I'm not sure that's entirely your business." Hinata shot her cousin a weary look not wanting to lie to her overly keen family member.

"What will your father think?" Neji watched as an annoyed look flashed on his cousin's face. He almost stopped the conversation there, upon being startled at her unusual outward negative reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Hinata closed her eyes and pulled out a hair tie to put her hair up into a pony tail in order to busy her hands as she spoke her opinion, "Nii-san, I have no intentions of mentioning anything to you, father or anyone else about my time with Itachi-san. I believe that there isn't anything worth mentioning unless there is something really serious. Until then can you please stifle your urge in asking a lot and assuming even more?"

Lavender eyes fixed onto paler ones upon finishing her inquiry. Neji sighed and looked away. "Just know that I will support you as long as you are happy. I still wish to find out what that Uchiha's intentions are with you though. I have no interest on just handing you over and letting him play with your feelings."

Saying that earned him a giggle from his dear cousin. "As long as you back off for now then I am content with that answer."

Hinata sent her cousin a smile and a wave as they neared the training grounds and headed towards her old teammates.

Unbeknownst to them, a certain Uchiha matriarch had overheard their whole hushed discussion.


My son is interested in the eldest Hyuuga daughter?! Mikoto Uchiha was a bit surprised that the heir to the Uchiha clan had his sights set on such a prize.

Thinking back on it, she had noticed her son seemed to show more interest when things concerned the bluenette.

The idea of having Hinata become a part of the family pleased Mikoto. She thought the girl had the perfect air about her to the wife of a leader. Not to mention the young woman was the spitting image of her dearly departed friend, Hyuuga Hitomi, in both looks and her gentle nature. So if this is the woman that her son has chosen to woo then by all means she was going to have Hinata as a daughter in law and she was more than willing to want to help that happen.

Mikoto just needed to get a little more information on the situation to make sure that her son and Hinata might actually have a chance. The only person that would know for sure is her soon to be daughter in law, Yamanaka Ino.

As soon as the raven haired woman entered the shop, she was energetically greeted by the same exact blond lady she had been looking for.

"Ino-chan!" Mikoto rushed to the girl's side and in a hushed voice continued with her probing of the younger woman's knowledge, "So tell me what is exactly going on between my oldest son and Hinata-chan."

Ino's eyes widened at what the woman was asking. Normally both Itachi and Hinata were pretty good and staying away from the rumor mills and so no one would really know to ask about them. Then thinking back on the wedding yesterday Ino smiled knowingly.

"I'm guessing you've heard how they were each other's dates to the wedding then?" Ino's bright blue eyes widened and the perplexing look that crossed Mrs. Uchiha's face.

"You haven't?" The blond exclaimed, and received an incredulous shake of the head in response.

"Give me five minutes then, I'll take a break so we can go out and exchange notes." Ino then left the Mikoto to go and finish her duties at the flower shop before coming back and linking arms with the older woman and headed towards a small tea shop nearby.

Once the two females were able to find a seat and place their orders, Mikoto asked Ino to tell her what she was talking about when she mentioned her son and Hinata being together at the wedding the previous day.

"Well I said exactly what I meant." Ino replied, "Itachi-kun and Hinata-chan were each other's dates for the wedding! I mean it came as a shock to me when I saw it, but Sasuke-kun said that Itachi-kun felt that Hinata-chan should have a date to the wedding and so he asked to accompany her."

"So was it a pity date?" Mikoto was incredulous, if she knew anything about her sons it was that neither of them could even stand in being affiliated with pity; let alone showing it towards others.

"No…I don't think that was Itachi-kun's aim." Ino drawled while getting lost in thought as she tried to explain the feeling she got from the couple the day before, suddenly her face lit up.

"That's it! So I don't think Itachi-kun can do pity dates even as nice as he can be at times, and that was definitely not the vibe I got from him when he was around Hinata-chan. I mean the way he looked at her was so intense almost like she was the only woman in the room! Do you think he was using the idea of a pity date as an excuse to try and go on an actual date?"

Mikoto shook her head. "No I don't think that he would do that either. There has to be more to this. Especially after what I heard when I happened to walk by Hinata-chan and her cousin during their conversation."

"And that is…?" Ino looked at the older woman expectantly as Mikoto began to explain what the two Hyuugas were talking about.

"Interesting," the blond looked perplexed. What would attract the two quietest people she knew to act like they have been recently? Not to mention she's noticed that Hinata has been more snappish recently; maybe the older Uchiha noticed this too; and wanted to try and figure out what has been causing the bluenette to act out of character and now he is trying to get closer to her.

The blond voiced her thoughts to her future mother in-law.

Mikoto chewed her lip mulling over the possibilities, "That could be it. I'm not quite certain though, that's a pretty roundabout way to do things and both my sons have a habit of being straightforward."

Ino nodded thoughtfully when Mikoto gasped suddenly struck with an idea, "We should have a family dinner!"

"OK?" Ino wasn't quite getting where the other woman was going with this.

"It's so everyone can get to know one another better, and so you and I can observe Hinata-chan with Itachi-kun!"

Blue eyes sparkled mischievously, "That's brilliant! That way we can see body language and asses what is going on between the two!"

Mikoto nodded, "Now all I have to do is invite Hinata-chan over for dinner, would this coming weekend work for you?"

After figuring out dates and times for their conspiratorial dinner, the two women parted ways.


Hinata felt way better now!

Recently she's found herself to be more irritable and it was starting to show, but after he training which proved to be the ideal exercise that she had needed to get rid of all her pent up stress, Hinata felt that she could now be her normal sweet and caring self again.

Just in time for her to get home and take a nice relaxing shower before her date too!

All she needed to decide now is what to wear…

"Onee-chan," Hanabi called through Hinata's bedroom door, "What are you doing this evening?"

The younger girl opened her sisters door to and let herself into the room. She was greeted with the sight of her sister still wrapped in a towel as she looked at her clothes for something to wear.

"Shouldn't you have waited for me to answer, imouto?" The older Hyuuga daughter turned to her sister with a raised brow and a half smile in mild amusement at her sister's lack of manners.

Hanabi only shrugged. "Are you going out?"

Hinata nodded and then turned back to her clothes, "I'm going out with Itachi-san tonight, but I'm not sure what to wear."

The younger woman rushed to the older one's side, "A date huh? Well then you should go with this."

Hanabi pulled out a deep V-neck blouse and a short skirt to match much to Hinata's horror.

"That is too revealing!" The younger sister just clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

"Then have a tank top under it and wear pants instead of a skirt like the modest person you are," she retorted.

Hinata seemed to accept the idea while ignoring her sister's tone and quickly changed into her black pants and lavender tank top under her white deep V-neck blouse. Opting to keep her hair down, she used a lavender hairband to pull it back and let her bangs frame her face.

Just as she finished getting ready, one of the branch members notified Hinata of her date's arrival.

Itachi was waiting at the main gates of the Hyuuga compound when she arrived; he wore a black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back with gray pants.

The poor bluenette couldn't help but wonder about how he still managed to look so attractive even in simple clothing like he wore at that very moment.

Shaking her head of the strange thoughts that keep seeming to infiltrate her mind; Hinata smiled and greeted the man before her.

"I hope you like sweets," Itachi said once they started walking.

"I love sweets!" The raven haired man couldn't help but feel accomplished as he saw the woman's face next to him light up at the mention of desserts, "Good," he said, "I was thinking of a place nearby that serves wonderful pastries and small entrées. That is, if you don't mind?"

Hinata shook her head, "That sounds wonderful!"

The pair soon arrived to a small shop and found a place to sit.

They ordered miso soup, sushi and some white tea shortly after the waitress came by to take their orders. The couple wanted something smallish for dinner so they could gorge themselves on sweets with enough room to spare in their stomachs.

Hinata and Itachi spoke softly telling one another about their uneventful days until the food came.

That's when Itachi had the absolute pleasure in watching Hinata's facial expressions change as her thoughts and emotions where registering too quickly for her to conceal her reaction to the cutesy display of food.

Well until she looked him dead in the eye and asked in an extremely serious tone, "Itachi-san are you gay?"

The hell?! That wasn't the thought he was trying to get across…

His face switched from amused to an emotionless mask as he covered up his panic to her alarming question.

"What would lead you to think that Hinata-san?" Itachi questioned back.

"Um, well, I mean it makes sense for a g-good l-looking guy like you t-to not already h-have a girlfriend let alone be m-married right?"

Well it seems like her stutter returned due to his intense staring…

"I honestly thought women liked this sort of thing. I found this place purely by accident when I was craving something sweet. The; as you would say, 'cutesy' atmosphere was completely coincidental."

Hinata's face changed a brilliant shade of red at his explanation.

"S-so you're interested in women?" The lady just wanted to clarify to be sure about what he was saying.

"Yes," the poor raven haired man all but shot back at the startled girl in an attempt to try and hide his horror at the misunderstanding of his attempt to impress her with something cute. He had wanted to come across as sensitive or even communicate that he was fine being around extra girly things.

Girls liked that…Right?

They continued to eat in an awkward silence until Hinata started to giggle.

Upon seeing Itachi's raised brow in a silent question, the bluenette answered, "Even though y-you're eating g-girly looking food you, you still managed t-to l-look m-manly doing it!" Hinata had a hard time not laughing in between her words and then she proceeded to giggle even more once she tried to demonstrate how Itachi looked.

The man across from her couldn't help it when he began to chuckle at her antics. She looked pretty funny at trying to make a scowling face while trying to eat and giggle at the same time.

After the very much needed ice breaker, the couple began to talk once again after ordering their desserts.

As soon as Hinata tasted her dessert, she immediately understood why Itachi was willing to come here. The sweets this place served were absolutely amazing!

Itachi gave her a relieved smirk after she voiced her opinion on the food.

Stating that she could most likely trust his judgment, Hinata started to ask Itachi's opinion on books and training techniques and then the conversation progressed to why they certain things or preferred one thing to another. They were able to talk for so long that the employees had to kindly ask them to leave.

Itachi offered his arm to Hinata who politely took it as they headed back to the Hyuuga compound in the moonlight.

"I had a lot of fun, thank you for taking me to such an interesting place," the midnight haired beauty peeked through her lashes as she quietly thanked the Uchiha.

"We could go out again if you are willing," Itachi suggested; he really had fun being around her and she was opening up to him more so maybe if things went on like this for a little while longer, then she would surely be his without a doubt.

Hinata bit her lip in thought, "I would like that. Um remember when you also said you'd be willing to train with me?"

The man beside her nodded, "Well I like to train every morning around seven at the training grounds, so if you would like…"

She let her sentence trail off unsure of how she wished to invite Itachi to train with her properly.

The bluenette peaked up at the man's expressionless face as he slowly nodded. "I can meet with you then," Itachi spoke thoughtfully, "I may not be there every time because of missions and such but-"

"No, no same with me!" Hinata quickly interrupted, "I was just letting you know what I would normally do if I don't happen to already be busy."

"Alright then, we'll train together if we aren't already busy." Itachi agreed and then bowed his head as he bid the fair maiden goodnight.

Hinata couldn't help the smile that spread across her face once she got to her room only to find Hanabi sitting on her bead grinning cheekily, "O.K. Spill."

Hinata bit her lip once again, "I have no idea what you are talking about, "she fibbed, "Like hell you don't!" her sister exclaimed grabbing hold of her onee-chan.

"I want every detail of what happened stat."

That's when Hinata told her sister of the strangely wonderful night she just had.


Thanks again for reading! I apologize ahead of time of occ ness!