Just A Little Guidance
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Summary: Eventual SauHina AU Hinata, a counseller, has a new client who refuses to talk to her. Will this improve with their weekly appointment, or wil he continue his silence?
Chapter 2
Juggling her grocery bags, Hinata tried to relocate her keys from the depths of her shoulder bag. Barely managing to do so, she unlocked the front door. Shoving her keys into her coat pocket with a little difficulty, she sighed.
If only the instant ramen hadn't been on offer! At such great value, Hinata would've been a fool to ignore it and even she had days when she didn't feel like cooking anything from scratch. Besides, the last time she'd checked, ramen supplies were running generously low…
Stepping inside gingerly, Hinata pushed the door shut. She'd just began to shuffle towards the kitchen, when she was greeted with an enthusiastic "Arf!"
"Akamaru!" Hinata exclaimed. The little dog wagged his tail. His hind legs began to bend and the Hyuuga could only watch in horror as he sprang into her already full arms.
Unable to regain her balance, she and Akamaru toppled over, the contents of her bags scattering themselves across the floor.
Hinata smiled none the less. Giving him a quick rub between the ears she tried to gather the dropped groceries into their bags again.
"Akamaru? Where the heck are you? I don't care if you hate baths, you're having on anyway!"
A brown haired young man marched down the stairs, almost tripping over Hinata – he scarcely regained his balance in time to stop him from falling onto the Hyuuga. A hand went behind his head as he looked at the scene before him.
"Woah, sorry Hinata. Did Akamaru do this?"
"It's okay Kiba-kun. Please, don't worry about it…"
Leaping off the stairs, Kiba helped to pick up the remainder of the fallen shopping, and insisted on carrying it into the kitchen for her. He talked non-stop all the way, informing her about Akamaru's latest 'strategy' to get out of having a bath.
After dumping the bags onto one of the worktops, he apologised again.
"Do you want any help with making dinner?" asked. There was a grin plastered across his face, slightly obscuring the red triangular tattoos on each of his cheeks as he reminisced; "It was so much fun last time!"
Hinata glanced up at him – she'd been stocking up the fridge with the new supplies. She hadn't realised that he was coming so dangerously close to that topic. Truth be told, Kiba and food did not go well together. Or rather, it didn't unless Kiba was stuffing his face with the food in question. In short, he wasn't such a great cook.
Hinata struggled to form words. Even if he was like a brother to her, how could she put this without being mean?
"Hey, Dog-boy." Hinata started a little; she hadn't realised that was anyone in the adjoining living/dining room. "Don't you have a mutt to wash or something? I don't want it to stink the house out or anything."
"Oh yeah!" It seemed that Kiba had momentarily forgotten about the chore. With a thunderous bark of "Akamaru!!" he scrambled back into the hallway to find his beloved 'mutt'.
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed as though they were safe. For now. Turning to the previous speaker, Hinata smiled.
"Thank you Temari."
"Don't sweat it. I can still remember the last time Kiba tried to 'help' in the kitchen. It was enough to convince me to never let him come even a meter near the kitchen, even if I have to guard it myself, for his own safety as well as ours!" She shuddered at the less than pleasant memory.
Hinata rinsed some vegetables and began to chop them. "Neji nii-san and Tenten-chan will be joining us today… you don't mind do you?"
Temari had just been tying her blonde hair into her four customary ponytails when she gave her housemate a strange look.
"Hinata, you pay just a much rent here as I do, so it's up to you. But I don't mind. It'll be nice to catch up with Tenten. They haven't been over for ages."
Hinata nodded. Her cousin had been so busy recently that he and Tenten hadn't come over for the weekly Friday dinner for a while now…
"Is Shikamaru- kun going to come?"
"Pfft. Too 'troublesome.'" Temari rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics. "Stupid, lazy idiot. I'll probably go and see him later on though."
Hinata nodded absently. She'd make some extra anyway – Temari could take some of the food to Shikamaru since he'd probably find it too troublesome to pick up the phone to order some take-out, let alone physically getting up to make something to eat.
Smiling to herself slightly, she turned on the oven.
'Preheat for 10 minutes… or was it 15?'
-Knock- -Knock-
He groaned. Maybe if he just ignored it, it would go away.
-Knock- -Knock-
Apparently not.
Still, he was unwilling to acknowledge the presence on the other side of his apartment door.
-Knock- -Knock-
So persistent! Nonetheless, he wouldn't budge. He was in the middle of reading a very important report that needed to be replied for tomorrow. He absolutely refused to be distracted.
"Oi Sasuke. I know you're there. Open the door already!"
Well, so much for that idea. Sasuke groaned again. "Get lost Naruto." He said this half-heartedly though; he knew his plans to finish his work were literally down that drain, and that he'd certainly not get any more of it done now…
Removing his laptop from his knees, he sighed and made his way to the door. Reluctantly, he pulled his door open, though only very slightly. Peering around the edge, he was greeted by the sight of a disgustingly-happy-looking (to him anyway) blond.
Sasuke glared at him. "What do you want?" he demanded rudely.
"Huh? No, hi Naruto, how are you doing?"
Sasuke continued to glare at the 'intruder' (of his work, that is). Naruto tried again.
"I come bearing gifts..?" He thrust his very full arms forwards, revealing a few carrier bags; each full enough to rip them with the amount that had been stuffed into them at any second.
Sasuke scowled. He did open the door, however. He hadn't the time to be loitering in doorways talking to people. Or rather having people talk to him – he generally gave less response than a plank of wood.
Naruto waltzed into the apartment. His effect was immediate (as always). Hurricane Naruto had hit the building, and now there was takeout all over the table, a selection of DVDs strewn across the floor and a few rattles and chinks could be heard from the kitchen.
Sasuke trailed in behind Naruto and dismissed the mess that he'd made – it was to be expected. Flopping onto the couch again and gluing his eyes to the laptop's monitor again, he repeated his question (although he had some idea of what to expect).
"What do you want, Naruto?"
Naruto's features lit up with a bright grin that made his electric blue eyes shine. "We-ell, you were refusing to come out (unlike any normal person on a Friday evening) so I thought that since you seem to want to be a hermit so much, I'd join you! Plus, Ichiraku's was on the way so I picked something to eat up."
"Naruto, Ichiraku's is on the other side of town," was the Uchiha's flat response.
Still, Naruto remained unfazed.
"Ah, but when you own a car, everything's on the way."
Well, there was no arguing with that.
"What's with those?" Onyx eyes glared at the DVD cases littered across his floor.
"They're called DVD's. They have movies on them. You know what movies are, don't you?"
Sasuke scowled at him.
As Naruto marched back into the small adjoining kitchen, Sasuke turned his attention back to the report.
He scanned rows of text, all various letters and numbers, enough to make any normal person feel as though they'd been running continuously, head-first into a brick wall for several hours at a time. But not Uchiha Sasuke.
Scrolling down, he shook his head and growled in frustration. There were parts missing! Punching in letters on the keyboard furiously, he noted the bits and pieces of information that needed to be added as well as some corrections. It was a good thing that he'd insisted on proof reading the report before anyone else had seen it. He could understand that Udon was having problems at home (no doubt from his girlfriend) but that was no excuse to be using the wrong figures, omit vital details or such. Having a place at "Sharingan" was a privilege, not a right. Sasuke would have to take Udon aside and inform him that his carelessness would not be overlooked and to pull himself together. Sasuke couldn't afford to employ anyone who would contribute to the company slowly fall into ruin once agai-
Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts by the appearance of a tanned hand dancing between his face and the laptop's screen. Naruto shook his head as his friend blinked bright spots from his vision.
"Tear yourself away from your beloved girlfriend a while and have some ramen before it gets cold. And pick a film already!"
Sasuke glanced at Naruto pointedly. Lately he had been calling anything even remotely work-related his 'girlfriend'; including the laptop, piles of paperwork, and even the satellite navigation system on occasion.
It was slightly irritating to say the least.
"If all you're going to do is babble about my supposed girlfriend you can get lost and take your ramen with you."
Although his tone held some bite, he hadn't really completely meant it. He hadn't had enough time to order any groceries so food supplies were low in the apartment. And although he wasn't quite as ramen-crazed as the blond, he did like the taste of it (not to mention that he hadn't had any for quite a while). Even worse was the fact that Naruto knew this. It was apparent by the way he was grinning as he shoved a filled bowl at Sasuke's nose.
Inhaling the scent, he gave up. Finally clicking the 'send' icon, he dug into his dinner, glancing at the variety of films on offer.
Hinata fluttered about the kitchen; stirring here and garnishing there, pouring the various delicacies into their respective dishes whilst taking care of any spills in the process.
Apart from the occasional sizzle from the hob, the house was relatively quiet – after successfully washing Akamaru, Kiba was towelling the dog down. Temari was trying to persuade her brother to come out of his bedroom for dinner and to only do work at work. The only reason that this was done fairly quietly was that her brother, Gaara, could have quite the temper when distracted from his work.
Well, all was quiet until a certain someone got home. The front door burst open. Hinata jumped. Gaara ignored it. Temari paused, and then began to drag her brother down the stairs. Kiba peered around his bedroom door curiously. Akamaru began to bark (again).
"I'm ba-ack!"
Kiba turned his attention back to Akamaru. Temari continued pass the door without looking up and Gaara remained indifferent. Hinata began to set the table.
There was an indignant huff from the door (which had been slammed shut. One can only wonder why the door deserved such abuse).
"What, so is no-one going to ask how it went? Or did you all just forget?"
There was no response.
The blonde stalked sulkily to her room and took her jacket off. Loosening her tie, she un-rumpled her blue skirt, feeling a little hurt.
Marching down to the kitchen, she greeted the occupants (Hinata, Temari, and Gaara) with icy glares.
Hinata (who hadn't even noticed) asked as she did every day,
"How was your day?"
Ino looked up.
"It was great! That Maeko – when she heard that the entire thing had been caught on CCTV, her case completely collapsed, and so did her client! I mean I know that we won't hear the verdict for a while, but come on. You can't get any guiltier than that!"
Beaming, Hinata congratulated her, then set about retrieving the 'good plates'.
Temari just shrugged at the news remarking,
"You got lucky. Not every case will be so 'exciting' or straight forward. And since this is your first independent case, you'll be expected to live up to it-"
"And I will," interrupted Ino. Although it was clear to everyone else that Temari was trying to tell her not to get too ahead of herself, Ino remained (or chose to remain) totally oblivious.
To this, Temari rolled her eyes, thinking 'Typical Ino.'
Ino continued to bounce around the kitchen, attempting to help Hinata but instead, she only got in the way. Of course, Hinata didn't tell her this; she was just happy that Ino was in such a good mood – recently Ino had been having to stay up pretty late in preparation for her first case (although she didn't really show it, she got nervous and being a bit of a perfectionist, she liked to look over every single possibility) so Hinata thought she deserved a little limelight.
Coming out of her reverie, Ino turned her attention to her best friend,
"How was your day? Anything interesting happen?"
Hinata opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the doorbell. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, Hinata rushed to get everything onto the table, whilst telling Ino,
"That must be Neji nii-san and Tenten!"
"Ok, I'll get it." Ino disappeared up the stairs.
A/N: I had to stop this chapter here since it was getting so long, and I wanted to make sure I had another chapter up before my birthday (11 days to go!!). Hope you like the chapter (even though it was a little slow - this is just so that you can see what they are like at home...), please remember to leave a review - whether you love it or hate it! Thanks and have a great new year!
Hollyrose