Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.
In The Eyes
By RC Mason
2.
~ Darkness ~
They have the temerity to arrive late, bringing the dobe in too.
The evening sky, a dark violet-blue tinging pink where it meets the earth, casts its last cerise strands over the figures climbing, ambling, their way up the hill.
Their silhouettes face him, darkness obscuring all but the outlines of their features, but he doesn't need to see their faces to know whose arm is wrapped around whose waist, with the former belonging to a spiky-haired someone guffawing loudly in the darkness and the latter belonging to a delicate figure giggling softly alongside him. There is a third figure too, trailing, almost considerately, behind them, but at this point Sasuke is too annoyed to figure out who this might be and wills his attention back on the targets in front of him.
His kunai slashes the air and lodges itself with a violent thud into the wood. Dead centre.
The laughter fades; they veer off to the entrance of the Hyuuga compound instead of continuing on course that would have brought them face-to-face with him.
Which is just as well, because at the moment, with him slashing angrily away at the wood, he does not have anything nice to say to them, he doesn't even want to talk to them to be honest.
But why then is he perking up his ears, straining to catch the wisps of their conversation and trying to judge exactly how close the stupid dobe is standing next to her, and, because of this, is relegating himself to easy target practice that does nothing to further his skills, as his fiftieth bulls-eye in a row attests?
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
He ignores these riling thoughts and continues to throw the kunais. With increasing force.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
There is a howl of laughter from the kitchen and, suddenly, each of the circular targets transforms itself into a certain blonde's face. Sasuke flings the kunais faster, hitting
THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
Every. Single. Damned. One.
'Sasuke?'
'What!'
He is shouting and furious, not because the last kunai strayed off-target in the last millisecond thanks to the intrusion, wedging itself into an adjacent board and striking it at such an angle that the board promptly shatters and sends wooden shards everywhere, but because Hinata's voice doesn't croon, nor would she stand so close to him, the smooth curves of her breasts just brushing the arch of his back-
(oh what would he give for that?)
-which could only mean …
'Sasuke, what are you doing here all by yourself?' Sakura says, her pretty green eyes peering up at him through thick, dark lashes.
She has her hands clasped in front of her and a red skirt that rides too high up her thighs, and she is bending forward, ever so slightly, so they stand nearer than what they should be and he is given, should he choose to look down, an ample view of the cleavage of her breasts and the tops of the black lace bra that supports them.
She is looking at him, all wide-eyed and innocent, as though she just chanced to find herself and, more importantly, himself in the private courtyard of the Hyuuga compound.
Sasuke sighs a long-suffering sigh and tries not to roll his eyes.
'What do you want?'
There is no point in evading her. It is times like these when he wonders why Sakura is not in Team 8, the tracking team, where all her honing skills indicate that she would have been a perfect candidate.
(All the more reason to swap her with Hinata).
'Don't look at me like that,' she giggles and playfully slaps him on the arm. 'I'm just checking up on you, like a good team mate should.' Suddenly, she grabs onto that same arm and points to the sky, now totally dark and glittering with stars. 'Isn't it a beautiful night? All the stars out and just you and me-'
He doesn't let her finish and abruptly makes his way to the Hyuuga house, leaving the discarded kunais behind and figuring he could collect them tomorrow anyway.
He hears Sakura protest behind him and the shuffle of her feet against the gravel pavement as she struggles to catch up. He quickens his pace, but leaves his face as stoic as ever. He gives silent thanks when he finds the front door unlocked and, in his haste to be away from the pink-haired girl, flings it wide open.
A sigh of relief is just on his lips when he catches sight of something in the corner.
For the first time in Sasuke's entire ninja life, he blanches.
The sight freezes him on the spot and leaves him dazed, suddenly unable to draw in breath. He feels he has been hit on the head with an invisible blade, the world around him spinning, or stunned with a powerful jutsu that renders the whole scene simply surreal.
Hinata is leaning against the kitchen counter, her fingertips white as she grips its edges, and Naruto has her face in his hands, cupping her chin gently as he leans in.
Kissing.
Naruto is kissing Hinata.
Hinata is kissing Naruto.
Shock subsiding, a new urge kicks in. An overwhelming compulsion to Chidori Naruto into smoldering ash.
'Sasuke-?' Sakura stumbles into his back just as the tiny lightning sparks fly from Sasuke's clenched fist. Her eyes widen as they peer over Sasuke's rigid shoulder. 'Oh!'
Now alerted to the fact that they have an audience, Hinata and Naruto spring apart, blushes taking bloom over both of their faces. Naruto grins sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in a very cat-like way, and Hinata nervously licks her lips.
Sasuke's eyes are automatically drawn to those lips and, suddenly, the crazy urge to pound Naruto – his best friend, his comrade-in-arms – into the ground is there again.
He is no longer aware of what is showing on his face. Disbelief? Horror? Disgust? All he knows he wants to get away, go far away …
But where?
To go backwards would mean bumping into Sakura and probably her following him outside again, burbling over some goddamned stars (which he was definitely not in the mood to hear about right now).
But to go forwards would mean walking past the now official couple and he didn't trust that his lightening-sparking fist would leave Naruto completely (if at all) unscathed.
At the same time, he is gripped by a desire to just stay here, to stay put on the spot with his arms crossed, and ... This is where flinging them apart also sounds like a good idea and presents itself as a viable option.
As always, Hinata finds a solution.
'Perhaps you should go home now, Naruto?' she says gently, almost shyly, as she touches him on the arm. 'It is getting late and Sasuke's very tired from training all day. You live close by to Sakura, so perhaps you can also drop her off?'
Naruto looks into Hinata's pleading eyes and nods. He makes a motion to kiss her on the lips, his farewell, but sensing the audience behind him, opts to take Hinata's delicate wrist instead, turning it upwards and then leaving a soft kiss on the tender skin thus exposed.
Hinata blushes, more furiously than ever, which brings another grin to Naruto's face and a noticeable bounce to his steps as he walks past Sasuke (playfully punching his motionless best-friend on the shoulder by way of greeting) and out into the night where Sakura is waiting for him.
The wide grin on her face exposes her intentions of extracting all the juicy details from Naruto on their way home – by force, if necessary.
They call out their good-byes, Hinata waves, and the door shuts, leaving the two of them alone in the room.
Hinata looks nervously up at him, holding one arm in another, and tries to give him a smile.
'Sorry that you should see that,' she manages to get out. 'I-'
'I bet you two had a great time,' Sasuke says and it comes out all sarcastic and biting that Hinata actually looks hurt.
A part of him kicks himself for saying that, and he feels a twinge of guilt, but he pushes it aside, so angry and fed-up with any part of him that has anything to do with Hinata.
'Sasuke-'
Why does she feel all guilty and exposed, as if caught in the act? She supposes that, technically, she was caught in the act, but what is so wrong with kissing your boyfriend, even if he is a new one?
She cannot bear the thought of ending the night with him in a dark mood, so she tries to reach out to him.
'Sasuke…'
But he has already walked past her and up the stairs, so her hand contacts thin air and she is the left in the cold departing draft of his wake.
'Goodnight' is all he says before his bedroom door slams with a resounding thud.
And Hinata is left in the darkness, still staring at the place where there had been a boy whom she was sure that she had known like the back of her hand.
Like a brother.
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Thanks for all your kind reviews. It helps me update faster, spurring on my muse ;)
Like I said before, these are just glimpses of what-could-have-beens and can be read like one-shots, though there would be continuity between the chapters.
So what are your thoughts on this chappie? I don't intend for the chapters to be so dramatic, as I'm quite fond of humour myself, but I just need this to play out before working on the next scene.
As always, reviews are love and thanks for reading this!
~ RC Mason.