What Happens Next?
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 12
"Why is it every time I see you two, at least one of you is half naked?" Tsunade asks with amusement when Hinata and Sasuke arrive in their office.
"It's a long story. I was out at the market. A married couple was fighting. The woman threw a glass bottle and it hit my arm. It was bleeding profusely. So I went to the hospital. Hinata treated it. It was easier to treat without my bloodied sleeve in the way and then Sakura came in. Didn't want to keep you waiting." Sasuke explains in a rush, trying to save Hinata from further embarrassment.
Tsunade shakes her head in amusement. She knew that he was telling the truth for obvious reasons. Still it was funny. Oh well, if they wanted to play doctor, let them. She couldn't outright forbid such a relationship and it might even help improve relations between the Clans.
"Very well. I suppose it's a good thing you two are becoming so comfortable around each other. This mission will require you to work closely together. A powerful criminal ninja has been spotted in Eros. " She explains.
"You w-ant us to go there?!" Hinata asks and blushes redder than…well actually Sasuke didn't know that shade, but it was really, really red.
He was surprised that apparently Hinata had heard of Eros. To put it mildly, it was hotel that catered exclusively to ninjas. This was particularly true for ninja couples. Some of which could be far more adventurous than civilians.
"How do you know about Eros?" Sasuke asks the bluenette, genuinely curious how his innocent Hinata knew about such a place.
"Probably the s-ame way you do." She stammers and blushes such a deep shade of red, that Sasuke had no name for it..
He was overwhelmed with the impulse to pull her into his arms. Sasuke wanted to let her know that it was okay, even natural to be curious about such things. He knew he couldn't though. Tsunade was right there. Besides, Hinata would likely only become even more embarrassed if he did so.
"Anyway, I know it's a bit exotic." The busty blonde continues explaining their mission.
"Exotic is putting it rather mildly." Sasuke mutters and Tsunade gives him a dirty look that told him to shut up, so she could finish.
Sasuke wasn't an idiot. He wisely shut up. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of her legendary temper. No one with any sense of self preservation did.
"You would be posing as a couple and expected to share a room. But I have every confidence that you are mature enough to handle this undercover assignment." She finishes.
"Would this be a capture or kill mission?" Hinata asks softly.
"Preferably capture, but if necessary you have my permission to do what needs to be done. The man is page 28 in the Bingo Book. That should tell you all you need to know about him." She states.
Sasuke looks at Hinata. He really wasn't sure if someone who got flustered over the sight of a man shirtless, was the best choice for this mission. She was just so innocent. The fact that Hinata knew about this place at all was surprising enough. Still he can't imagine her actually going there.
Could she really do it, Hinata wonders. The bluenette looks at Sasuke. Could she actually share a room with him and not embarrass herself? She'd already admitted to being distracted by him being shirtless. He probably thought she was some kind of pervert by now.
"If Sasuke's okay with it, I am." She says, summoning up all her courage to do so.
If he had been Shisui, he would have made flirtatious comment. Probably something like, "Of course I'm okay with sharing a room with a beautiful woman." If he was Itachi, before he fell for Izumi, he would have said something smooth. But Sasuke didn't want to risk blowing this, so he just nodded his consent.
"Excellent. We don't know how long this mission will take. You will set off tomorrow. Tonight you can pack and inform your families." She says with a wave of her hand, dismissing them.
Tsunade shakes her head, remembering how she got into this. She couldn't believe it. The two heads of the largest Clans were attempting to play matchmaker.
"Thank you, for agreeing to see us so swiftly." Hiashi greeted her politely and Fugaku nods.
"What is this about? I must admit that I've never had the leader of the Uchihas and Hyugas want to meet with me at the same time." She asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
"We would like for you to assign Hinata and Sasuke a mission together." Fugaku states.
She blinked. They wanted her to assign Sasuke and Hinata a mission together? But why? That didn't make any sense. Usually, Hyugas and Uchihas would request not to be assigned together. What in the world was going on here?
"Why?" She asked simply, somehow managing to maintain her composure.
"We believe that they have feelings for each other and such a match would have long term benefits to both Clans, if it was a happy one." Hiashi replied.
She shook her head as if to dispel a strange daydream. This couldn't actually be happening, could lit? Hiashi Hyuga and Fugaku Uchiha were essentially asking her to set Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga up on a blind date, under the pretense of it being a mission?
"I understand why this situation must look very confusing from the outside. But we do believe it would be in the best interests of our Clans and of the village as a whole." The Uchiha Patriarch continued.
"Confusing is putting it mildly. Usually your Clans request not to be paired with each other, despite the advantages such squads would have on missions. This is certainly a first. But I suppose, I can humor you. We will see if anything comes of it. But if they find out that you were meddling in their love lives, you are on your owns. I had nothing to do with it." She put her foot down firmly.
Tsunade was not going to get caught up in some teenage drama. The blonde conceded that the two men did have a point. A marriage between two members of their Clans would likely go a long way towards soothing tensions. This was especially so because they were two such high profile members. But still, it was playing with fire. She couldn't say that she liked it.
"Of course, Lady Hokage." Both men agreed quickly.
"Good. I'm not sure how you two came up with this idea in the first place. But I wish you luck. I have had it with this Cold War going on between your Clans. This has to end. You are all Leaf Villagers first and Clan members second." Tsunade decided to remind them of that fact.
They nod. Tsunade sighed as she dismissed them. She knew they were humoring her. If it came down to it, they'd likely both support their Clan over the Leaf. That thought secretly terrified her. But she knew there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.
"So I'll see you tomorrow." Sasuke whispers to Hinata as they leave the Hokage's office.
"Yes. I'm not really sure how my father will feel about me going to a place like that though." She mumbles.
"It's a mission. He'll understand. If he has that big of an issue with it, he can speak to Lady Tsunade about it. I doubt even he is stubborn enough to argue with her." Sasuke says and offers Hinata a smile, hoping to soothe her nerves.
She nods and heads off. Sasuke heads off in the opposite direction. Truthfully, even he had some doubts about how his family was going to react to this.
He really hated the Truth Jutsu sometimes. The members of his immediate family, all knew he was attracted to her. Sasuke wouldn't put it past them to think he requested this mission. He hadn't. But he wouldn't blame them for thinking that. As inconvenient as it was, it was a logical assumption.
"Mother, father, I'm home." Sasuke says as he walks into his house.
"Sasuke, why are you shirtless?" Mikoto asks in confusion.
He sighs. It was a very long story. He decides to give the honest, though short version.
"A married couple were fighting in the market. One threw a glass bottle. It hit me. So I went to the hospital and got treated. The shirt was too bloodied to bother saving. It was a white shirt. Figured it was better to walk around this way than in clothes covered in blood." He explains.
"Well that makes sense." Fugaku says.
"Yeah. I have to leave for a mission tomorrow. Going undercover to catch a criminal ninja in the Bingo Book." His son says.
Mikoto raises an eyebrow when she saw her husband smirk. Hmm what was he up to? He'd been plotting something without her knowing. She'd find out later.
"Alright. Be safe, baby." She says and kisses his forehead.
"Mother, I'm not a baby." Sasuke protests the nickname and Mikoto shakes her head in amusement.
"You will always be my baby, no matter how old you are. When you have children, someday you will understand." She says with a small smile.
Fugaku nods. That day might be coming sooner than his beloved wife might think. He was confident that this mission would do the trick. He knew teenagers. Put them alone together and nine times out of ten, after much awkwardness, they would act on their attraction.
"Anyway, I should go pack. Night, mother. Night, father. We don't know how long this mission will be. So don't worry." He says as he heads off to his room.
"Did he just tell me not to worry?" Mikoto asks in amusement.
"I believe he did. Foolish boy, he should know that a mother will always worry about their child." He chuckles and wraps his arms around his beautiful wife.
"Mhm and you are equally foolish. I saw that smirk. Fugaku Uchiha, what did you do?" She demands to know as she leans into his hold.
Fugaku rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He wasn't entirely sure if Mikoto would approve of his meddling in such a fashion. But he knew that the Truth Jutsu would pull the answer from him anyway.
"Hiashi and I asked the Hokage to assign him and Hinata mission together. We believe that this will encourage them to act on their feelings and would help to bring our Clans closer together." He replies.
Mikoto blinks. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but that certainly hadn't been it. She had never known her very practical husband to meddle in anyone's love life before, much less for Hiashi to do so. The Uchiha Matriarch wouldn't have believed him, if it wasn't for the Truth Jutsu.
"Not only does he approve of the match, he's actively encouraging it in a sneaky way?" She asks and Fugaku nods.
"Pigs really do fly. I never thought I'd see the day." She says with a giggle.
Meanwhile Hinata heads back to the Hyuga Estate. She quickly goes to her room and begins packing. She smiles when she sees her little sister and greets her.
"Sister, where are you going?" Hanabi asks.
"I'm going on a mission tomorrow. We have to catch a Criminal Ninja. We are going under cover. I don't know how long it will take. But don't worry. Sasuke will be with me." She assures her.
Neji had been walking by, when he caught the end of their conversation. It wasn't that he had been trying to spy on them. It was just that he wasn't deaf. When he heard the name Sasuke, his fists tight in frustration. Not again.
"Did you say you are going on a mission with Sasuke?" He asks.
"Yes, I am. The Lady Hokage assigned us. I know that you don't like him, Neji. But he is a strong ninja. We will be able to keep each other safe. Don't worry. Besides, even if he was the man you think he is…he's not stupid. He wouldn't dare try to hurt me. It would trigger a Clan War." She says in a rush, sensing that Neji was going to want to argue with her over this one.
Neji frowns. He couldn't argue with Hinata's logic. But that didn't mean he liked it. If he had his way, Sasuke Uchiha wouldn't be allowed within 1000 feet of his cousin.
"Very well. I can hardly argue with orders from the Hokage." He says with a sigh.
"I know you worry about me. I appreciate it. But you are worried over nothing in this case." She says and smiles, trying to reassure him.
The next day, Sasuke meets with Hinata. He blinks when he saw her outfit. On anyone else, it probably wouldn't have been outrageous. But on Hinata, well it was decidedly less conservative than she normally wore.
She was wearing a sleeveless lavender top that caressed her breasts in a way that Sasuke thought should probably be illegal in public. The bluenette was also wearing a pair of white shorts that hugged her firm backside and showed off her legs. He could already feel his Sharingan activating. Damn it.
"I kinda thought we should dress more casually considering what kind of pl-ace it is." She mumbles and feels embarrassed, when she saw him in his standard Jonin uniform.
"You were probably right. I can always change later. Let's go." He says and heads off with her.
"You should probably deactivate your Sharingan." She suggests.
He shakes his head. It was pointless. Sasuke was too well known. A Hyuga and Uchiha going undercover as lovers, would certainly get the criminal's attention, hella fast. It was better this way.
"It'll away on its own eventually. Besides, we are both too well known to go undercover without a disguise. This place caters to ninjas. So there's no need." He says.
They head inside the hotel. Sasuke walks over to the check in. He gets them a room.
"Since it's your first stay, you can check out the Clone Room for free. It's a new special." The clerk says cheerfully.
"Clone Room?" Hinata asks.
"Maybe later. It's been a pretty long trip." Sasuke says and practically drags Hinata off.
Hinata frowns. She wanted to know what the Clone Room was. It seemed like Sasuke knew. Why had he dragged her off like that? Like he didn't want her to know what the receptionist was talking about.
"Sasuke, what's the Clone Room?" She asks.
"I think you are way too innocent to know. Just file it under the You Don't Want to Know Category." Sasuke replies simply.
"Sasuke." She says firmly.
"Alright. But I warned you. Some ninjas like to use clones during sex. For anyone with voyeur and exhibition kinks, but too possessive to share, supposedly it works out great." He says.
THUD. Yep, there went Hinata. Fortunately, Sasuke caught her before her head hit the floor. He tried to warn her. Maybe next time, she'd listen to him instead of being stubborn.
"Such an innocent kitten." He mutters and carries her to their room, Bridal Style, feeling a bit awkward as he did so because people were staring at them.
He knew it was to be expected. An Uchiha carrying a Hyuga Bridal Style was going to raise eyebrows. That didn't make it any less awkward. He heads to their room and locks the door behind them. Sasuke gently sets her on the bed.
"Honestly, how do Hyugas ever manage to have kids? Are they all this shy?" He mutters to himself as he glances down at his arm.
He had to give Hinata this much. She knew what she was doing. The bluenette was a damn good healer. Sasuke would never have guessed that his arm got sliced up by glass recently, if it hadn't happened to him. Her chakra control had to be exceptional.
Hinata wakes up not long after. Her eyes flutter open and she looks around in confusion. Sasuke thought she looked adorable. Which was generally not a word in his vocabulary.
"So kitten, what have we learned?" He asks.
"K-itten?!" She asks in confusion.
"We are pretending to be lovers. Lovers generally have nicknames for each other. If you don't like it, I can come up with something else." He says with a shrug.
"Oh um kitten is fine, I guess. What do you mean by what have we learned?" She asks in a baffled tone of voice.
Sasuke shakes his head in amusement. Yeah, there should be some sort of law about the maximum amount of cuteness one person could display per day. She was over her limit.
"When I say you don't want to know, you don't want to know. It's really that simple. I know you. I knew that knowing what the Clone Room was for would fluster you. I didn't think you'd actually faint. But I probably should have seen that coming." He answers.
Hinata blushes. Sasuke probably thought that she was some sort of child. She really need to stop fainting around him (and everyone else for that matter.) This was getting embarrassing.
"It ju-st surprised me is all." She mumbles.
"Clearly." Sasuke says and his eyes dance with amusement.
Sasuke wasn't cruel enough to tease her about it directly. But he couldn't hide the fact that he was clearly amused either. He was only human after all, despite his ninja training.
"Did anything happen while I was out?" She asks and Sasuke shakes his head.
"You weren't out that long. You alright?" He asks.
"I think so. I guess we should probably practice though. I can't blush or faint when we are together. Otherwise no one is going to believe our cover. We are already pushing it by being from rival Clans." She points out and Sasuke nods in agreement.
He sits behind her and wraps his arms around the flustered Hyuga. Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the squirming. Damn she really was innocent.
"You've never been held like this before." He whispers in her ear.
"No. I liked Naruto and didn't mind waiting for him to notice me for a long time." She admits.
"About that. Let's not mention him again while we are on this mission. It's not really believable if they hear you talking about another guy." He gently chides her and "punishes" her by lightly biting on her neck, causing her to gasp.
He briefly contemplates he might have gone too far with that. Sasuke told himself that he had nipped more than anything. He couldn't possibly have hurt her badly. She was a ninja. Hinata had to have a higher tolerance for pain than that.
"Al-right." She agrees and Hinata shivers.
"Did I bite you too hard? I was just practicing. I don't want to make you uncomfortable for the sake of the mission." He tells her.
"No. You just surprised me is all." She says and Sasuke nods, believing that because he was going on the assumption the Truth Jutsu was still in effect.
She couldn't believe he had done that! Hinata told herself to get it together. They were posing as lovers. Considering how exotic this place was, a little necking was nothing. The bluenette needed to get over her shyness.
She had already seen him shirtless before. Was necking really that much different? That's when she realized there was only one bed in this room.
"Sasuke? What are we going to do?" She asks.
"What do you mean?" He asks in confusion.
"There's only one bed. I could take the floor if you like." The Hyuga Heiress suggests.
He shakes his head. There was no way he was going to make her sleep on the floor. If it really came down to it, he'd sleep on the floor. Sasuke had certainly slept on worse during his time as a ninja.
"If you're uncomfortable sharing a bed, I don't mind taking the floor. I'm used to sleeping on the forest floor anyway. This is actually a step up from most of my missions. Don't worry about it." The Uchiha states with a shrug.
"I'd still feel guilty. I can take the floor. It's not an issue." She promises him.
"Hinata, I'll take it. You can take the bed. I really don't mind." Sasuke says.
"But you might hurt your back." She argues and Sasuke shakes his head. He wraps his arms around her tighter and sighs.
"Look there's really no reason to spend all day, debating about this. We can just share the bed. That way no one's back gets hurt. There's no reason to be embarrassed. We are both adults. Besides, if someone walks in and one of us is sleeping on the floor, it would blow our cover." He reasons.
Hinata blinks. Then she slowly nods. He had a point. They had to keep their cover on this mission or there was no way they were going to complete it, without destroying the beautiful hotel.
"You're right." He says.
"Your life will be so much easier, once you realize that the first time." He chuckles and pins her to the bed playfully.
Yeah that was probably a mistake. Seeing her eyes up close was nothing short of memorizing. He had always thought of the Byakugan having a rather cold appearance, like a glacier. But her eyes made him think less glacier and more fairy tale princess.
He didn't think about what he did next. Sasuke later supposed you could say he acted on instinct. The Uchiha wasn't sure when or how it happened exactly, but the next thing he knew…he was kissing her.
Sasuke was vaguely aware of Hinata gasping. But he was too distracted by the feeling of her soft lips against his. They were like rose petals. She tasted sweet like honey and vanilla.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He mutters and begins to pull away.
"It's okay. You surprised me, but if we are going to convince them…we probably should practice anyway." Hinata mumbles shyly and captures him in a shy kiss.
Sasuke hadn't expected her to kiss back. Her kissing back, made it feel even better. He smiles into the kiss and deepens it.
Cinnamon. He tasted like cinnamon. Hot, but not overpowering. His lips were rough, but she liked it. Then she felt him grow bolder and begin to seduce her with his tongue dancing along her own, as if beckoning her to join him.
Hinata moans into the kiss. She'd never been kissed like this before. The bluenette arches against him and thinks that if anyone walked in on them now, they would never know they were just "acting."