Chapter 16
"You don't have to do this Hanabi-chan" Hinata said for the hundredth time with a sigh.
"I know I don't have to do this, you owe me this!" Hanabi responded and continued to brush her sister's long hair.
"I-it's no-not such a bi-big deal Hanabi-chan" Hinata said flinching when her sister unconsciously tugged her hair hard with the brush.
"Not a big deal? Not a big deal!? You are dating Uchiha Sasuke and you say it's not a big deal?!"
"Hanabi-chan, quieter; someone might hear you."
"Let them hear! Everybody but me already knew anyway!"
Hanabi hadn't taken the news of her sister dating Sasuke too well; probably because she heard from a maid that heard from the guard that informed her father. Afterwards she went to Neji to confirm it and was enraged to find out her cousin already knew too.
"Not eve-everybody knows Hanabi-chan"
"Yeah right; next thing I know the little brat from Suna knows already too." Hanabi said with a huff while finishing putting Hinata's hair up in a high ponytail and leaving her bangs fall over her face. Hanabi could dress and act like a tomboy but she knew plenty about fashion; she just figured if she dressed overly nice it would get in the way of her fighting.
"Ac-actually…" Hinata stammered uncertainly while Hanabi rummaged trough her closet for something nice for her to dress.
"You have got to be kidding me!! The midget already knows too?!" Hanabi screeched almost ripping one of Hinata's shirts in two.
"Well… He was with Tomoyo-san when I to-told her that I wa-was going out with Sasuke to-tonight."
"That means Tomoyo-san knows as well doesn't she?" Hanabi said looking deadpanned at her sister.
"We-well…"
"You are wearing a dress today." The younger Hyuuga said looking back into her sister's closet.
"Bu-but Hanabi-chan!"
"Where is that strapless white dress with the black ribbon under the bust line that only reaches your knees that I gave you once?" Hanabi said looking at Hinata with a mischievous smile.
"No-not that one. It-it's too revealing"
"Nonsense, just because your shoulders are bare it doesn't mean it is revealing; I actually thing you look quite nice in it. Either way you owe me so you can't complain. Maybe I should redo your whole wardrobe." Hinata didn't even answer; she knew better than to discuss with her little sister, besides Hanabi had been looking for an excuse to redo her wardrobe for ages.
"Hanabi, I think this is too much." Hinata said looking at herself in her full body mirror once her sister was done dressing her up.
"No it's not. You look beautiful; people on the streets will wonder why you're with Sasuke when you obviously could have done better."
"That is not true Hanabi-chan" Hinata said blushing slightly just at the thought of Sasuke
"Well, you are obviously biased. At least he is not Naruto" Hanabi snorted and rolled her eyes. "It's almost time for him to be here; why don't you go downstairs and wait?" She continued before Hinata could even open her mouth to defend Naruto in some way.
"Fine. Even tough you practically forced me into this dress Hanabi; thank you" Hinata said while leaving her room and missing the smirk on her sister's face.
Hinata walked trough the hallways of her house holding the black doll shoes with a black ribbon on them that Hanabi had almost threw at her. She tried really hard to ignore some of the glances she was getting from her relatives she passed in her way to the entrance; the people in her family seemed to be too used to seeing her wearing the same clothes over and over.
"You look nice" A familiar voice said from ahead of her and she looked up to smile at him.
"Th-thank you Gaara. How was your meeting with Tsunade-sama today? Does she have job for Tomoyo-san like we hoped?"
"Yes, she said it would be nice to have someone who actually does some work over there besides Shizune."
"That's good. I found a place for them today; it's near the academy and that's good for Kyo-kun. He seems really excited to start and prove Iruka-sensei he is strong." Hinata said smiling at the memory of Kyo and Iruka together; Kyo really needed an adult male presence in his life just like Naruto.
"Hinata-sama, Uchiha Sasuke is waiting for you in the gates." One of the guards said bowing at her and Gaara.
"Thank you. I see you later Gaa…" She was about to finish when Gaara leaned down and kissed her forehead in a brotherly way Neji sometimes used.
"Have fun with the Uchiha, Hinata" And he left without another word leaving behind a blushing Hinata and a little stunned Hyuuga guard. After regaining her senses Hinata nodded towards the guard and made her way to the gates of the manor. When she got outside she was breathless when she put her eyes on Sasuke; she definitely understood why so many girls liked him.
"You look nice" She heard for the second time and it made her heart flutter a little
"Th-thank you. It's Hanabi's do-doing"
"Shall we go?" He said holding his arm up for her hold. She smiled and laced her arm o his.
"Where are we going?" She asked after a while of walking and getting stares from the people they passed; by tomorrow everyone in the village would definitely know that Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata are an item.
"Can't you wait a little bit more? We are almost there." He said smirking down at her and obviously amused by her antics.
"I've been wondering the whole day where we are going; you can't blame for being curious."
"We are here" He said stopping in front of a homey looking restaurant. She had passed this place several time but never really eaten in it because she would generally have ramen with team 7, barbeque with team 10 or simply make bentos for herself and her team. She could hear people arguing inside and when Sasuke pulled her inside her eyes widened when she saw a woman throwing a frying pan at a guy that should be around hers and Sasuke's age. Fortunately he dodged it easily and turned to them with a smile. (a/n: They are not crazy people who throw pans around for fun. I'm inspired in Italian families for this oc's. If you are somehow offended by this; I'm sorry)
"Hey there, Sasuke! Your table is ready. Wow, your date is cute!" He said all that in one breath and still smiling. He was about to pat Hinata on the head when Sasuke caught his wrist.
"Keep you hands to yourself, Ryu." Sasuke said narrowing his eyes slightly
"Fine, geez; just trying to be friendly." The guy named Ryu said rolling his eyes and motioning them to follow him to their table. After they were sat he gave them the menu and quickly went back to the woman they saw earlier that was currently screaming something about him not helping her.
"It's a family restaurant; they argue a lot." Sasuke said when he noticed the astonished look on Hinata's face.
"I thought you didn't like loud people." Hinata said trying not to let the amusement in her voice show too much. She knew that after so many years having Naruto as a friend must have made Sasuke immune to other loud people as well.
"I couldn't live with ramen for the rest of my life and I'm not the greatest cook in the world." He said rolling his eyes making her giggle. "Besides, is nice in here"
It really was, there was nothing particularly extraordinary about the place but that made it cozy. The arguing on the other room she assumed was the kitchen also contributed to give the place a nice aura. She guessed that normal families should be like that. She also knew that Sasuke should come to this place exactly for that reason; to have a view of what a family should be like. Coming from a family with way too many cold people Hinata thought it was quite a nice change.
They ordered after Ryu had returned; the place dishes consisted mainly of different kinds of pasta and Hinata had a hard time figuring out what she wanted, everything sounded good. After finally settling for a dish Ryo went back to the kitchen and quickly enough he came back with their orders.
"Did you like it?" Sasuke asked after they were finally finished; Hinata made a mental note he seemed to specially like the tomatoes in his food.
"Yes, it was all very delicious. This place really is quite nice" She said smiling and looking around. Sasuke then called for someone behind Hinata for the bill and this time instead of Ryu it was the woman from earlier.
"You let Ryu in the kitchen?" Sasuke said while pulling the money to pay for the food.
"Yeah, let my little brother do all the work for a change. Hey there sweetie, Ryu told me you are cute. I'm Akane by the way." She said smiling at Hinata
"I'm Hinata, it's very nice to meet you." Hinata said bowing slightly once she and Sasuke were up since he had finished paying.
"She is cute and polite. You don't deserve her Sasuke."
"Whatever Akane." Sasuke said putting one of his arms on Hinata's shoulders and leaving the restaurant.
"Come back with a better boyfriend Hinata-chan!" She heard Akane say before they were outside.
"They are fun. I like them" Hinata said smiling up at Sasuke.
"They are annoying"
"You like them too" Hinata said grinning widely.
"Tch. Whatever Hinata"
"Sasuke-teme! Hinata-chan!" A familiar voice said from behind making Sasuke sigh and Hinata turn around to see what Naruto wanted. However barely had she turned and she was swiped off her feet into a bone crushing hug.
"Na-Naruto-kun I-I can't breath"
"I'm sorry. But thank you so so much Hinata-chan" He said releasing the girl and given her his trade mark grin.
"Thank me for what?"
"For not showing up at Ichikaru's today."
"Oh… th-that…" She stammered and blushed
"I should be mad at you for tricking me Hinata-chan" Another voice said from behind Naruto making Hinata tense.
"Bu-but you are no-not, right Tenten-chan?" Hinata said unconsciously stepping closer to Sasuke.
"Hn… Not at the moment." She said smiling brightly at the other girl. "Now, if you excuse me Uchiha, I need to talk to my friend so I'm steeling her for a bit. You two may follow and walk us home afterwards." She said smiling at Naruto and grabbing Hinata's arm and walking a few feet away so the guys could follow them without listening.
"So... how was your date with the Uchiha tonight Hinata-chan?"
"It was very good. He took me to this restaurant and there were very interesting people there... How was it today with you and Naruto?" Hinata said blushing slightly and trying to change the subject.
"It was...good" Tenten said turning her head away from her friend so that the blush on her cheeks would go unnoticed.
"Did he figure it out by himself?" Hinata asked truly curious; she couldn't really imagine Naruto figuring out that Tenten likes him by himself.
"Well... I guess it would be hard for him not to figure it out after I kissed him." She said still not looking at Hinata if she had looked at her friend she would have seen the look of total astonishment.
"Yo-you really did th-that?" Tenten nodded and turned to look at her friend so that she could explain everything that happened between her and Naruto.
Meanwhile with the boys...
"So you finally figured out that Tenten likes you"
"Yeah... wait! You knew?!" Naruto said pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke
"Yes"
"Man... am I really that dense?"
"Do I really have to answer that?" Never mind the fact that Sasuke only knew because he heard Tenten screaming that she liked Naruto that other day.
"So, did you take Hinata-chan somewhere nice today?"
"You seem too unsurprised by the fact that Hinata and I are together." Sasuke said glaring suspiciously at his blond friend.
"We-well... It's just that you and Hinata seem to fit well together. That's all" Naruto said in a hurry and felling sweat starting to form on the back of his neck fro nervousness; he didn't want to imagine what would happen if Sasuke knew he was meddling with his life.
"Hn..." Sasuke sad still glaring suspiciously at Naruto but letting the subject drop; he would find out eventually.
"You better treat her right you know. Hinata-chan is much loved and practically everyone we know will come after you if you hurt her somehow."
"I know that already"
"Good. 'Cuz Neji alone counts as ten man's wrath and that is a scary thought. And there's Gaara also. And her teammates..."
"I get it Naruto!"
"Okay, okay. Geez, trying to warn you and this is what I get." Naruto said feigning offense.
"Hey you two! You're walking too slowly! Come on!" Tenten called ahead of them after she and Hinata were done talking about what had happened on their day. After a blink of their eyes the two boys were standing right in front of them.
"You called my lady?" Naruto said bowing comically at the two girls making Hinata giggle and Tenten and Sasuke to roll their eyes.
"You are such a dork" Tenten said after the blond was standing straight again.
"You know you love it" Naruto said giving her his trade mark grin and making her blush slightly.
"Whatever. We have to part ways now. Don't you try anything funny with my friend while you are alone Uchiha" Tenten said while faking to glare at Sasuke
"Te-Tenten-chan"
"You don't have to worry about that. Neji is probably watching them since Hinata left the house." Naruto said grinning slyly at Sasuke and making Hinata's blush deepen
"Na-Naru-Naruto-kun..."
"You are right. Gaara is probably watching with that sand eye of his. And Hanabi-chan also..."
"Would you two stop doing that or else I'm going to end up caring Hinata home instead of walking her" Sasuke said making the other couple look at the girl and see that she looked like she was about to faint.
"Oh! I'm sorry Hinata-chan. It's just so fun to tease you." Naruto said patting Hinata's head.
"I'm sorry too Hinata-chan. We should get going Naruto. Remember Uchiha; there are eyes everywhere." Tenten said grabbing Naruto's hand and walking father away from the other couple.
"Lets go before your cousin comes looking for us" Sasuke said putting one of his arms on her shoulders and beginning to walk towards the Hyuuga manor.
"Sa-Sasuke!"
"The dobe is right. It really is fun to tease you." Sasuke said bringing Hinata even closer and making her blush.
"It's no-not funny. Neji-niisan wouldn't do that." Hinata said a little uncertain and Sasuke merely rolled his eyes. He could already see the gates of the huge Hyuuga manor.
"We-well. Goodnight Sasuke, I had a wonderful time tonight." Hinata said getting off under Sasuke's arm and standing in front of him.
"It was my pleasure." he said caressing her cheek making her lean into his touch. Slowly he put his and on the back of her neck and brought her closer; Hinata already had her eyes closed and he was a breath away from her lips...
"Ew! Get your hands off my sister!" Hanabi said suddenly coming from behind the gate. Hinata instantly pushed herself away from Sasuke who merely sighed angrily and glared at the little girl.
"Ha-Hanabi-chan. Wha-what are you doing he-here?"
"I'm waiting for you to come home. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"A quarter to twelve?" Hinata said tilting her head in confusion.
"Exactly! You should be home and sleeping already!" Hanabi said glaring back at Sasuke
"Ha-Hanabi... I'm seventeen not seven." Hinata said thinking how fast her sister changed her mood; earlier she seemed even more excited than Hinata about this date and now she was acting like she was Neji or something.
"Whatever. You should be happy I'm the one scolding you; Neji-niisan and Gaara are busy playing shogi."
"Hanabi-chan, could you go back inside? I'll be there in a second."
"So that you can make out with the Uchiha? No way, Neji would kill me if he knew."
"Ple-please? I'll le-let you change my wardrobe an-and I won't even complain." Hinata said blushing just because her sister had said 'make out' so bluntly. Hanabi on the other hand became excited and began nodding.
"Okay. But if you1re not inside in five minutes I will call Niisan and Gaara." She said glaring one last time at Sasuke and walking back inside.
"I'm so-sorry about that. Hanabi is a bit protective of me."
"Everyone seems to be protective of you." Sasuke said sighing and closing his eyes.
"I'm sorry…" She said blushing and coming closer.
Sasuke was about to open his mouth to tell her it wasn't her fault but Hinata had just stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently making him speechless and wide eyed.
"Go-good ni-night Sasuke" Hinata said looking up at him shyly trough her bangs and running inside her house afterwards.
Sasuke stood there for a minute before he smirked and turned around to go to his place. Maybe a few annoying Hyuugas where worth the look on Hinata's face after she kissed him.
The days passed by quickly but even so the talk of the village was still about how Sasuke and Hinata had gotten together; or at least what people thought how they got together. There was some saying that Hinata was being practically sold of to Sasuke by her family, others said Sasuke had cast a genjutsu on her to make her believe she loved him, there was even some that said an ugly fight between Sasuke and Gaara had happened to see which one of them got to keep Hinata for himself.
"People in this village are really stupid." Sasuke said between the kicks he was throwing at the training posts. He and Hinata had been avoiding being in public too much because people didn't even care to lower their voices to talk about them anymore.
"I guess the just don't want to think we just got together because we wanted to. There has to be an intriguing story behind it." Hinata reasoned looking up from an antique scroll she was reading.
"I guess. What are you reading anyway? You've been caring these old scrolls with you everywhere these days." He said stopping his assault on the training post and sitting himself next to her.
"I'm doing research on my clan history." She said sighing tiredly and leaning her head on Sasuke's shoulder
"Why? It seems awfully boring." Sasuke said looking at one of the scrolls; just looking at it made him tired.
"I'm trying to move my leadership to Neji; and that's going to take a lot of work and time."
"You don't want to be the head of the clan? What about your sister?"
"Neither I nor Hanabi want to lead the clan. I want to be a medic nin and I'm too forgiving to lead the Hyuuga, Hanabi's dream is to become an Anbu and she is too stubborn to lead the clan. Being head of the clan forces us to stop any ninja related work to be fully involved in the clan. Neji really seems to like being a ninja but I can see that if he could he would want to lead the clan. He is the best person for the job anyway."
"I guess the elders in your clan won't be very pleased by that."
"No they won't; but I have five years to get this done perfectly."
"Five years? It seems plenty of time."
"I have to wait until Hanabi is eighteen and she can refuse the title of heir legally."
"Hn"
"I've come across a lot of things about the Uchihas in these scrolls. It seems the Sharingan was originally Byakugan."
"Really? So we are related?" Sasuke said looking amusedly at Hinata that had gotten of his shoulders and was stretching.
"I guess. This relationship became so incestuous all of a sudden" She said smiling amusedly at him
"Like that would stop me from being with you." He said gently grabbing her arm and pushing her against him so she had her hands on his chest and was sitting on his lap.
"Another thing I noticed is there was never a record of an Uchiha and a Hyuuga ever being together."
"So there is no idea how a child of an Uchiha with a Hyuuga would be like?" Sasuke said smirking and leaning closer to Hinata's face.
"I-I gue-guess no-not." Hinata said feeling her face get hot and her heart beating frantically on her chest
"Maybe we should try one day and see how it would." He said inching even closer.
"Hinata-chan!!" A familiar voice called from not too far from them. Hinata mentally sighed in relief because she felt like she was about to faint.
"Impeccable timing as always." Sasuke said sighing in defeat and resting his head on top of Hinata's shoulder.
"Ten-Tenten-chan"
"Hinata-chan, what are you still doing here? Hanabi is looking all over for you to get you ready." Tenten said not even minding the glare Sasuke was sending her way.
"Ready? Re-ready for what?" Hinata said pushing herself of from Sasuke and standing up.
"For the festival! Remember? The whole reason why you went to Suna?"
"Oh my! I completely forgot!"
"I noticed. Anyway Hanabi is still looking for you and we have to go. Bye Uchiha, make sure Naruto doesn't go with an orange kimono to the festival." Tenten said grabbing Hinata's hand and dragging the girl with her.
"Why would I do that?" Sasuke said while getting up too.
"Because if you don't I'll kidnap your girlfriend for the whole time of the festival and you will be stuck with an orange wearing Naruto." She shouted over her shoulder leaving Sasuke behind.
"Great, now I have to go see what the dobe is going to wear."
"Hanabi overdid it again" Hinata said trying to ignore the stares she and Tenten were getting while walking to the festival. Hinata was wearing a powder blue kimono with white butterflies on the hems and a pink obi. Her hair has loose and draping over her shoulders.
"This time I agree with you." Tenten said brushing a strand of hair away from her face; Hanabi had insisted on dressing Tenten up too. Tenten was wearing a maroon kimono with a golden dragon on the side and it had a black obi. Hanabi had also absolutely demanded to put her hair down and straighten it so now it was past her shoulders.
"You look very pretty Tenten-chan. You should let your hair loose more."
"No way; it gets on the way on a fight. It's just troublesome"
"Hey, that's my word." Said Shikamaru from behind them. He and Temari apparently had decided not to wear kimonos
"What's up pineapple; kimonos are too troublesome for you?" Tenten said turning around and placing her hands on her hips
"Not even in a kimono and with your hair down you can be a girly girl can you?" Shikamaru said sounding as bored as usual
"No way in hell. Let's go Hinata; I can see your boyfriend's chicken butt hair over there."
"Ten-Tenten-chan!"
"How did those two became such good friends?" Temari said watching Tenten drag Hinata with her.
"Aren't you friends with Hinata too?"
"Good point. Now lets go; I want candy corn" And she pulled him before he could even say 'troublesome'
"Good to see you're good with treats Uchiha." Tenten said smirking while looking at Naruto. He was wearing a simple dark green kimono that was slightly open in the front making able to see the necklace Tsunade gave him.
"Hn" Was all Sasuke said glaring slightly at Tenten. Sasuke was also wearing a simple kimono but his was black and had the Uchiha fan o the back.
"Yo-you have you hair down." Naruto said looking at Tenten like he had never seen her before.
"Yeah… does it suck?" Tenten said lightly pulling on a strand of her hair.
"No, no, no! It looks very good" He said grinning at her.
"Good. Now let's go; you two are buying us things!" She said grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the festival.
"You look pretty." Sasuke said once Tenten and Naruto were ahead of them.
"Tha-thank you; you look ve-very nice too" She said blushing while Sasuke got closer to her.
"Hey you two! You're going to fall behind!!" Naruto screamed from ahead of them making several people turn and look at him.
"Shall we?" Sasuke said giving his arm to Hinata to hold.
"Sure" She said smiling and taking his arm. When they entered the festival Hinata was marveled by it; Tsunade had outdone herself, probably trying to impress Gaara and his siblings.
While walking around they found a lot of their friends and they all began walking together; it was quite a crowd. Lee was talking enthusiastically with Neji and Gaara, Ino was trying to get Sai's attention while also making sure Choji didn't eat her candy. Shikamaru was looking like he'd rather be anywhere but that and Temari was eyeing a stuffed bunny while Kankuro and Kiba was on a one sided argument with Shino.
"You guys, there is someone missing" Hinata said quietly but managing to shut everybody up to look at her.
"There is?" Shikamaru who was one of the only ones not looking around for the person who was missing asked.
"Yes; where is Sakura-san?" Hinata asked looking between Sasuke and Naruto expecting them to know where their teammate was.
"You guys don't know?" Ino asked looking at them curiously
"Know what?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his neck.
"She is out on a mission"
"Oh, that's it? She'll be back soon then" Naruto said sighing in relief.
"No she won't. She specifically asked Tsunade-sama a long term mission some days ago. She looked a little shocked and was saying something about moving on. She went to a small village to help train medical ninjas there. It will take a long time until she comes back." Ino said sadly to Naruto who looked at her unbelievingly. By the reaction she got of the others no one knew about Sakura leaving.
Sasuke stayed silent next to Hinata and she could fell he wasn't taking the news very well either. She tugged slightly on his sleeve and motioned for them to go to a quieter place.
"Sasuke, what's wrong?" She asked once they were on a little hill away from the festival.
"It's my fault" He said simply not looking at her.
"How can it be your fault?"
"That night we went out on a date I met with Sakura before. She threw herself on me like she usually did but I told her to get away from me because I was with you now. I was too harsh on her."
"That really does sound rude. But is not your fault she left the village" Hinata said coming closer to Sasuke and putting a comforting hand on his arm.
"How come is not my fault?"
"You didn't tell her to leave. And you heard what Ino-chan said; Sakura left because she wanted to move on, it was her decision. "
"You are pretty smart you know." He said smirking down at her and cupping her cheek.
"Well, I'm flattered" She said smiling amusedly and leaning into his touch. He leaned his head down so that his mouth was on her ear and she felt shiver down he spine.
"Thank you" He murmured on her ear before kissing her lips under the starless sky and the colorful fireworks.
The end
Almost. There's still the epilogue.
Sorry for the long wait but I'm having a hard time parting with this fic. I really like it; it's been fun to write.
Hope you liked the long chapter (I think I can't make shorter ones anymore)
Please do review so I can know what you think.