White Lace
Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews. I really appreciate how many people weighed in on what should be Hinata's kink. Unfortunately, because the reviews are still screwed up…It's a little hard to do any sort of tally. So we'll hold off on that for a bit. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter ^^.
You Saved Me: I just posted a new story. It's a female Sasuke x Naruto. I think most of my Hinata x Sasuke shippers tend to be almost exclusively in that camp, but for those that are interested, I'd love it if you'd check it out.
Chapter Eight
"He practically worships the ground you walk on." Hinata remembers Mikoto saying, as she walks next to Sasuke back to the house.
She couldn't help but blush. She glances at Sasuke? Was that actually true? Sure he had danced with her, but that wasn't exactly worshipping. Shisui also seemed to delight in teasing her for some reason. Maybe it was true and Sasuke was just the type who was subtle about his feelings?
"Hinata?" Sasuke asks.
"What is it?" She replies.
"Your face is turning red. Are you alright? Do you have a fever?" He asks and presses his hand against her forehead.
"O-h, no I don't have a fever. I think the heat is just getting to me is all. Th-ank you for asking though." She stammers.
"Well you don't feel warm. So what are you blushing about?" He questions.
"Oh um…just seeing Kurenai Sensei like that surprised me." She lies easily.
"I don't see why. She's a mother. She's been in relationships before. Though seeing my brother shove his tongue halfway down someone's throat is…an image that I can't unsee." Sasuke states dryly.
Hinata couldn't help but giggle at that. She smiles as they walk inside the house. She could see Mikoto was looking at a rather elegant invitation of some kind.
"Oh there you are. It seems Kitzu can produce a fireball now. They are having his ceremony next week." She says happily.
"Ceremony?" Hinata asks in confusion.
"Our clan doesn't consider anyone an adult until they can produce a fireball. When a child is able to make one, they have a Ceremony. It's kinda a big deal around here." Sasuke explains.
"Oh well that's sweet! How old is Kizu?" She replies with a smile.
Sasuke tilts his head. It looked like he was trying to remember. Likely because the Uchiha clan was huge.
"I think nine. He's nine, right mother?" Sasuke asks.
"Yes, he just turned nine two months ago. I remember because his mother wanted help baking his cake." She says with a smile.
"Right. The big chocolate one." Sasuke says with a nod.
"Nin-e and using fire ju-tsus?!" Hinata asks in shock.
"Most of our clan can produce fire before they become Genin. Usually somewhere around age 10-12 is when they have their ceremony. Kitzu is a slightly early bloomer. Sasuke and Itachi were much younger though when they made theirs." The ebony haired woman says with motherly pride.
"A nine year old that can make fireballs. I can only imagine what would happen if he had a temper tantrum." Hinata muses.
"Yes, that would be a concern if his parents couldn't make bigger ones and faster." Mikoto says with a wink.
"Plus his mother's secondary nature is water." Sasuke offers.
"Really? That's unusual to have two opposing elements like that." The bluenette muses.
"It's because she's crazy." Sasuke whispers into Hinata's ear.
"SASUKE! That wasn't a nice way to talk about your aunt!" Mikoto says.
"What? She is crazy." Sasuke says.
"She's not crazy. She just is…well her mood can change quickly." The older woman tries to explain.
"She's crazy. One second she's all smiles and the next second she's trying to strangle people. It's weird." The younger Uchiha continues.
"You know, you should probably visit my family's estate again." She murmurs.
"Yeah. I guess it's only fair. I imagine you miss your family." Sasuke agrees.
"Yes." She admits.
"Great. We'll head out tomorrow." He tells her.
Meanwhile with Kurenai and Itachi, they both rub the back of their heads sheepishly. Oh yes, they definitely had an audience. It included every Uchiha that happened to be out on the street. Well maybe they had gotten a little carried away there.
"That should sufficiently traumatize my foolish little brother." Itachi says with a smirk.
"Mmm you are horrible. Do you know that?" She asks with a chuckle.
"Maybe a little. But it is my job as his elder brother to mess with him. It is a sacred duty." Itachi says in such a somber fashion that Kurenai couldn't resist cracking up.
"I see and it is one that you enjoy immensely." She adds.
"Oh yes, yes I do." He admits.
"We should go and pick up Mirai from the day care." She tells him.
"Alright." He agrees and lets her lead the way.
He smirks. Itachi greatly admired the view from behind the beautiful female ninja. Thankfully, she either didn't notice him taking advantage of this or didn't care.
At the same time, Fugaku returns home. He frowns. He was positive that he had seen something. But he hadn't been able to track who it was. Someone had entered the district.
He recognized every chakra signature of every member of his clan. It wasn't an Uchiha, Kurenai, or Hinata. That could only mean one thing, they were being watched. This wasn't over by a long shot.
His mood was lightened a bit when he overheard part of the conversation. It was mostly his wife and son talking. But Hinata was as well. The topic was most amusing.
"SASUKE! That wasn't a nice way to talk about your aunt!" He overhears his wife huff.
"What? She is crazy." His youngest son defends himself.
"She's not crazy. She just is…well her mood can change quickly." The older woman tries to explain.
Fugaku had to agree with his son on this one. He loved his wife. She was possibly the most even tempered woman, he had ever met. But her sister, was volatile. She was a volcano. She'd lie dormant for awhile, but she would always explode sooner or later.
"She's crazy. One second she's all smiles and the next second she's trying to strangle people. It's weird." He smirks as his son continues justifying his assessment of his "eccentric" aunt.
"You know, you should probably visit my family's estate again." His son's intended states.
He chuckles at this inwardly. Fugaku doubted very much that Hinata was even aware of Sasuke's feelings for her. But his youngest son was smitten years ago. He remembered when Sasuke came home that night with his Sharingan activated.
"Welcome home." Fugaku greets him, looking up from his newspaper.
"Thanks." Sasuke says, seeming distracted by something.
This was odd behavior from his son. Normally, Sasuke gave him his undivided attention. While Itachi and he often butted heads, Sasuke had always sought Fugaku's approval and attention.
He decides to look at Sasuke. Was something wrong with him? Ah his Sharingan was activated. But he had gone on a simple errand for Itachi. He had to get rid of some snake Summon in the Hyuga Estate. Surely this was not a task that required the Sharingan. That could only mean one thing…
"Which Hyuga did you save from the snake?" He asks.
"Hinata." Sasuke answers, not realizing what his father was really asking.
"Ah. Sweet girl. Probably frightened half to death." He muses.
"You could say that. Found her hiding on top of her bed." He states.
"I see. Well best eat your supper before it gets cold. The others are out tonight on missions or in your mother's case she is visiting Kushina. I do not want to involve myself in their…female bonding time." He says conversationally.
Sasuke should have known he was fucked. His father was not a particularly affectionate man. Him asking Sasuke to eat alone with him, should have set off alarm bells. He completely missed Fugaku's slightly sadistic smirk as he sat down and drank some coffee.
"I see your Sharingan activated. I assume that removing a snake was not a particularly taxing task for someone who has a Snake Contract. Thus, I am led to conclude that your Sharingan activated for Hinata. Have you made her aware of your…appreciation for her physical charms?" He states as if he was asking if Sasuke remembered to take an umbrella out into the rain.
Sasuke chokes on his coffee. He didn't see that one coming. Fugaku smirks. Ah mission accomplished. Embarrassing one's children was one of the greatest joys in life. The only thing that could really compare was Mikoto in some nice leopard lingerie…
"I'll take that as a no then. Well you are still quite young." He says with a shrug.
"Yeah. I guess it's only fair. I imagine you miss your family." He hears Sasuke agree and thus was snapped back into the present day.
"Yes." He realizes that Hinata had answered Sasuke's unspoken question.
"Great. We'll head out tomorrow." He tells her and Fugaku decides this was likely the end of the conversation.
"I'm home." He calls out.
"Oh welcome home dear. How was work?" Mikoto says and walks over to greet her husband.
"Paperwork. Lots of it. We are still recording all the captured kidnappers." He says with a sigh.
"I suppose it is to be expected." She muses.
"Yes." He says and tilts his head to the side, cracking his neck.
"You were never a ninja suited to paperwork. Let's see what we can do about that." She says and leads him off.
"Good night, Hinata." Sasuke says.
"Night." She says with a blush and heads off, it didn't take a genius to realize what Sasuke's parents meant by Lets see what we can do about that.
Meanwhile back at Akatsuki headquarters, Pein was not happy to say the least. Deidara had failed in his mission. Oh well, no matter. It would have been easier if the Leaf was dealing with rescue missions. But they could still accomplish their goal. They'd get the tailed beasts one way or another.
"Did we learn anything potentially useful, at least?" He asks.
' "Looks like the Uchiha brats are pairing off. Don't know if that means anything." Sasori offers.
"Hmm well that could be something. An easily exploitable weakness." He agrees.
Elsewhere, Aiya is changing Kenji's bandage. He smiles. No matter how many times he told that woman he would be fine, she refused to listen. So he decided to allow her to make her fuss. It would make her "happy."
"There. That's better." She murmurs.
"You are fussing more than expected. Is something on your mind?" He asks.
"It just seems too easy. We were able to deal with the kidnappings far too easily. It makes me think that maybe, it was just meant to be a distraction. But for what I'm not sure." She frowns.
"You've always had good instincts. We should let the Hokage know about this theory of yours." He replies.
"Yes, of course. Now get some rest. We shall do it the first thing in the morning." She informs him.
"Alright. Stop worrying so much." He says with a smile and holds her.
The next morning Sasuke heads off with Hinata to the Hyuga Estate. He was a bit nervous about this. The Hyugas were such a formal clan.
"Daughter, it is good to see you. What brings you back so soon?" Hiashi asks with concern.
"Hinata missed her family." Sasuke answers.
"Oh of course. Come, Neji and some of the others are training while the rest of us have our afternoon tea." He says and starts off, clearly expecting them to follow him.
They follow him. Soon enough Hinata and Sasuke join Hiashi on the tea mat as they watch some Hyugas train. After awhile, Neji beckons Sasuke to join him.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. He figured he would be expected to train using Hyuga Style tactics. He had learned quite a bit about them because of Hinata. But that didn't mean he had used them himself. He'd be at a disadvantage, if he didn't use the Sharingan. If he used that, Neji might take it as a threat.
"It is alright." Hiashi assures him.
Sasuke nods. He couldn't exactly say no. It'd make him look weak, rude, or both. He joins Neji.
"I know you have feelings for her. I have to say this. If you hurt my cousin, you will regret it Uchiha." Neji says and goes in for an attack.
"If I hurt her, you have my permission to kick my ass as many times as you deem necessary." He replies smoothly and dodges.
Hiashi watches the fight with interest. It seemed that Sasuke was at least attempting to use Hyuga techniques and without the Sharingan. Considering that Neji had been trained since he could walk in the form, Sasuke was holding his own admirably enough. His form was crude, but effective enough not to get knocked out.
Hiashi takes this opportunity to observe his daughter. She was watching the match closely. He noted that she seemed more worried about Sasuke than Neji.
While he would like to believe this is because she was aware her cousin had the advantage of experience over Sasuke, he didn't delude himself. This was based on affectionate feelings towards the Uchiha. How affectionate, he was not entirely sure.
The fight goes on for awhile. Neji wins. But Hiashi wasn't entirely certain if it was a hollow victory or not. Surprisingly, Sasuke hadn't activated his Sharingan. A gesture of respect perhaps?
"You did well. With some training you would have mastered our style quickly, I believe." He states.
"Thank you." Sasuke decided to take the compliment and not risk drawing his ire, if he said something "stupid."
"Come. Let us go and eat breakfast." He says and heads off.
Sasuke didn't really like this whole follow the leader thing. It reminded him too much of a dog following their master. But he knew better than to say anything. Besides, Hinata was walking beside him. So it wasn't that bad.
"Your family is well, I trust?" He asks.
"Very well. Thank you for asking." Sasuke replies formally.
"Good." He replies.
Hinata sits down at the dining room table. It was a strange experience. Seeing her father and Sasuke sit across from each other. Unlike Sasuke's family, which was normally fairly loud, you could have heard a pin drop at that family meal. Hyugas tended to eat in absolute silence unless the clan head asked you something.
Hinata sips her tea. Sasuke seemed to be taking the icy atmosphere about as well as could be expected. Still, she felt bad for him. This definitely wasn't the type of environment that he had grown up in. He probably felt like a fish out of water. She decides to offer reassurance, by squeezing his thigh under the table.
Sasuke blinks. He places his hand on top of hers. Of course, being a healthy young man…having a woman's hand on his thigh, that close to a certain area was bound to draw a reaction. His Sharingan activates almost immediately. He quickly blinks to turn his eyes back to their normal color. He was sure that Hinata saw, but thankfully Hiashi hadn't. Great. Now Hinata was going to think he was some kind of pervert.
"Is everything to your liking?" Hiashi asks.
Hell, yes everything was to his liking. Well as long as Hinata didn't start thinking he was like Shisui or something. Oh wait. Hiashi meant the food.
"Yes, it is." He replies.
Hinata tries not to blush. If she blushed, her father would definitely notice. It was hard not to though.
Sasuke's Sharingan had activated. That meant that her innocent gesture of reassurance had…excited him. Mikoto and even Shisui's words rang out once again in her head. It was true then. Sasuke liked her, he REALLY liked her judging by how fast that Sharingan had activated. That had to be some sort of record.
"Good. Your father heads the police force. Have you heard anything regarding the kidnappers?" He asks.
"No. He hasn't mentioned anything other than they are still recording all of them." Sasuke admits.
"I see. Unfortunate."
Sasuke nods in agreement. What was really unfortunate was the fact that he was going to need an ICE COLD fucking shower as soon as possible. Dammit.
When breakfast was dismissed, Hinata summons up all her courage. She follows Sasuke as he was on his way to his room. Her heart was pounding in her chest rapidly. She had never done this before. How did someone even going about…commenting on something like this?
"Hinata? Your chakra signature is erratic. Are you alright?" Sasuke stops walking in the hallway and turns around to look at her in concern.
"I'm fine. I…" She trails off.
"Would you feel better if we were to talk about it in private?" He offers.
"Yeah." She admits and follows him into the guestroom he was going to be staying in for the time being.
"Is this about my Sharingan? Because I swear I can't control it. It just kind of happens. I wasn't going to try anything. Your father was sitting right there!" He rushes out his defense.
"What if I w-anted you to?" She mumbles.
"Wait what?" He asks.
"What if I wanted you to try something? Not w-hen my father was there obviously…but you know when we w-ere alone?" She shyly.
"I'd say I'd be more than happy to try whatever you want, when we aren't in the same building as your father who can see through the walls." Sasuke answers honestly.
"Good point." She agrees shyly.
"I thought so." He states smugly.
"When you said you wanted me to try something, just so we are clear…did you mean kissing or something more?" He asks.
"Kissing at least to begin with. See if we both like it and go from there." She answers.
"I can work with that." He says.
"Good." She smiles shyly.
"Very good." He agrees.
The next week, the Uchihas had all gathered for Kizu's Ceremony. The little boy was wearing some rather impressive navy blue robes with the Uchiha symbol on the back. His parents were beaming with pride. There was a lot of sake rolling around…
Hinata smiles. Sasuke looked so cute. Kizu was tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. Sasuke leans down and the kid whispers something in his ear. Sasuke looks at Hinata, then back at Kizu and says something. She wasn't sure what exactly he had said, but she knew it was about her.
"Yes, she's my girlfriend." He murmurs to Kizu so lowly that only the little boy could hear.
While Sasuke and Hinata, hadn't had time to "try anything," Kurenai and Itachi was a little bit further in their relationship. Kurenai was leaning against Itachi and he had his arms wrapped around her. If that wasn't making an "official statement," Sasuke didn't know what was.
Sasuke was happy for his brother. Really he was. But he couldn't help but be a little jealous. Hinata and him hadn't gotten a chance to "try" anything. There were always other people around. It was fucking frustrating actually.
"Their so cute." Kurenai murmurs.
"Dancing around each other, yeah. Though I'm never going to be an uncle at the rate he's going. Maybe I should explain the facts of life to my foolish little brother." He says with a smirk.
"Itachi, I'm sure he already knows." She laughs.
"I know. But it would be fun to embarrass him." He admits.
"You are a little bit sadistic sometimes. You know that right?" She asks.
"Oh, I'm well aware. I wouldn't be a very good ninja, if I wasn't." He counters.
"Good point." She concedes.
Kizu takes the center of the large circle. He puffs his little chest and lets out a fireball. The other Uchihas all applaud and cheer.
That's when his mother lost it. She had been beaming with pride one second. But now she looked positively furious.
"WHO ATE THE CAKE?!" She growls.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hinata notices scales slithering off. An extremely large snake and toad were trying to slip off undetected. Their mouths were covered in frosting. Uh oh.
"YOUR DAMN SUMMONS ATE MY SON'S CAKE!" She shouts.
"…We can get another one." Sasuke says.
"Jeez. Sorry. I didn't realize he'd gotten out." Naruto apologies.
"TAKE THIS!" She says and blows a giant fireball at the two boys who were trying to get the fuck out of the blast zone.