Chapter Four

Hinata was locked in the bathroom, had been for the past twenty minutes in fact. She sighed. In the awkward silence after the owner had left, Sasuke had not offered to let her have the bed. Of course if he had, she would have politely declined and let him have it. But it hadn't happened. So now here she was, delaying the moment she would have to return to the main room.

She sighed again. What would Neji say now if he knew?

'This is not proper behaviour for a person of your station, Hinata-sama. That Uchiha has no sense of decency. Hinata-sama, you should not associate with him. He is nothing but a-'

Hinata cringed at the thought of the lecture she would most likely receive if he ever found out. Nobody knew besides her and Sasuke right now. Sasuke wasn't on any kind of personal terms with her overprotective cousin and she doubted he would tell Naruto. Maybe… So the only way Neji could find out was through her.

'I don't like to lie, besides he'll know if I do,' She thought ruefully. 'So if he doesn't ask, I wont say anything.'

Satisfied, she nodded her head then stopped mid-motion. In all the fuss and worry over the 'Sasuke situation' she had only thought about Naruto once.

"Oh my…"

Sasuke would have sighed right then, but we all know that Uchiha Sasuke does not sigh. So he certainly did not sigh, but, he would have if he could have when Hinata bolted mumbling something about cleaning herself up.

The lock had clicked audibly in the silent room. It would not keep him out if he wanted to get in, but the fact that she knew that and still locked it was…disturbing? Maybe…

'She's definitely not letting this go the way I wanted it to go.'

He had been quite happy that they were having to share a room, it would make getting close to her that much easier. So he thought… Well, he was wrong.

You'd think that by now he would figure out that Hinata was not like any other girl he had known before. For one thing, she wasn't obsessed with him, which meant she wasn't going to throw herself at him. She also put a major priority on improving herself as a ninja, probably as much as even Naruto. She wasn't loud and annoying like either of his former team-mates. On top of all that she was kind and nice, not mention cute and lets not forget that killer body. Certainly not.

'Damn, I really need to get her comfortable around me if this is going t work. She's been in there for a long time, what is she doing?'

Sasuke waited patiently for another five minutes before he decided to put a stop to it. He went and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Hinata called through the door.

"Hinata, I need to use the bathroom."

The door opened quickly and only Sasuke's quick reflexes saved him f4rom falling embarrassingly. Well, the would have if he hadn't slipped on the carpet landing in a very undignified heap. One look at Hinata's expression had his own flaming. She looked like she was fighting between concern, guilt and amusement.

'Well…at least I didn't squeal or anything…'

"Oh, Sasuke-san, I'm so very sorry." Hinata rushed over and proceeded to check him over with light, professional touches all over his head and chest. "Are you alright? I didn't know you wanted to use the bathroom, if I had I wouldn't have taken so long, is your head ok, you should stay down for a little while just to be sure, I'm so sorry."

Sasuke merely blinked up at her. How she said all that without pausing OR taking a breath was beyond him. It was the most she had spoken to him in one go since…ever. And, on top of all that she was touching him…of her own freewill. It felt good. Really good.

When Sasuke didn't berate her for her clumsiness, as her father or even Neji were wont to do, she released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and relaxed a little.

Inside, Sasuke was cheering.

'Who knew that looking like a fool in front of her would make her relax a little…but then she doe- did like Naruto…'

"I think I'm fine now. Forget about it."

Sasuke got up slowly, milking it just for Hinata's benefit. It worked too. Hinata quickly helped him up.

"Thank you," he mumbled and closed himself in the bathroom. 'So…acting like a fool…not going to happen.'

Outside the bathroom, Hinata sat down at the low table, studiously avoiding the bed or even looking at it. She looked out the window thoughtfully.

'Sasuke-san, doesn't seem like a bad person or anything like I expected him to be… He's been quite nice actually. He's…human.'

She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to look at the bed.

'Maybe I should just ask him what happened and get it over with. It wont be so bad…I hope. Yes, I will do it. I'll ask him toni-,' Sasuke walked out of the bathroom and their eyes locked, '-morrow.'

Hinata pinked and looked away first so she didn't see Sasuke's smug smirk as he walked to the bed, plopped himself down on it and promptly went to sleep with his back to her.

Hinata hesitated for a minute just to make sure he really was asleep, his even breathing confirmed it, before she slipped between the covers as far away from him as she could possibly get without falling off the bed. Then it was surprisingly easy to fall asleep.

Sasuke tensed awake, he was a very light sleeper, though he didn't move when he realised that it was just Hinata moving in her sleep. She was really close now, so close he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. He slowly and carefully rolled over to face her. Everything was looking really good.

Though they had the mission to consider, Sasuke didn't think that it would be much of a barrier since they would be playing a couple. He smirked.

The sun started to push itself through into the room. It was time to get up. Sasuke was already clean and changed when he shook Hinata awake.

"Hinata."

She looked up at him blearily for a second, then she looked slightly panicked before she calmed down Hinata nodded and made her way to the bathroom, picking up her pack on the way.

Just a few minutes later they were on their way. Though, they had met the owner, who had taken in Hinata's still sleepy feature, patted Sasuke on the back with a wink and sent them off with a cheery 'Good luck'.

They made good time and Sasuke said they would probably be there by nightfall.

"It would be best to get changed before we reach the mansion. Your eyes are a dead giveaway, you'll have to cover them up."

"Yes, I've got something for that."

Sasuke raised a brow slightly, Hinata shook her head and smiled at him.

"Later."

She took of ahead of him this time.

About thirty minutes walk away from the city limits they stopped to change clothes. The political stability in Bird country was very fragile and if it was found out that their Hime had gone missing it was would likely to cause a civil war.

That mean that Sasuke and Hinata not only had to hide their reason for being in Bird country, they had to hide their names and appearances and names as the Uchiha and Hyuuga were not unknown outside of Konoha. They were playing the role of a semi-affluent couple, Kenji and Miaka Kazuo, looking over Bird country as a place to possibly set up a chop while also being on a holiday/honeymoon. Kenji was an eccentric who did not believe in bodyguards and also liked walking, a lot. Under the guise of doing all the things that tourists do they would search for the Hime. It was a reasonable enough cover, one which would hopefully not attract the wrong kind of scrutiny.

They separated to get changed. Sasuke changed quickly into a simple black haori with black pants and went back to wait for Hinata.

Hinata took longer to get changed into her yukata. Her clothes too were simple, just a pale green yukata with big red flowers and a pair of geta. She needed help getting her obi tied so she had to ask Sasuke for help.

"Sasuke-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you come help me with my obi, please?"

"…sure." Sasuke came forward to help. Hinata had her back to him. It quickly became apparent that Sasuke had no idea what he was doing. Twenty minutes later he swallowed his pride and asked for help. Five minutes later, with Hinata's guidance, he had succeeded in doing a fairly reasonable job.

'If anyone asks, I'll just say it came loose and I couldn't retie it properly.' "Thank you, Sasuke-san…"

If Sasuke thought she was just being polite, he didn't say anything.

For the first time she turned to face him and anything he had been about to say dried up in his throat. Her hair was longer than he had thought, he'd always like long hair. Her fringe and side bangs floated softly about her face while the rest of her hair was tied in a low ponytail a little like Neji's. The green of the looked great against her pale skin. But the thing that really struck him was her eyes. They were a stormy grey now instead of the usual pale lavender. It was like looking into the sky just before it rained. Sasuke thought he caught a peek of the lavender under the grey. All in all she was…

"Wow…"

"What was that, Sasuke-san?"

"Nothing." He turned away with the slightest hint of flush on his face. " We'd better get going if we want to get there before it's too dark."

"Yes."

(A/N) Wanted to have this to you by thursday but I didnt have the time, so late but here. Enjoy!