It had been approximately one month since Hinata found herself living in the Uchiha household and was finally starting to adjust herself to her surroundings. Over the past few weeks she had convinced Itachi to let her help out in the bar to make up for his hospitality. He refused her offer for almost a week when he finally gave up, however even to this day he still was not satisfied with her willingness to help.

As her relationship with Itachi grew closer, it seemed that her relationship with Sasuke grew even sourer every day. From death glares to ignoring her existence, Sasuke clearly made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her at all. But, it wasn't all that bad since the only time she would see him would be at the bar and occasionally in the mornings.

Hinata also grew fond of a few female friends as well. Itachi had decided she needed to be a part of a female "click" and introduced her to Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno, and Tenten. Of course, Hinata didn't reveal that she wasn't from their dimension and it made it better that Itachi mentioned beforehand that she was a family friend who had come to help out with the bar. At first the girls didn't seem to believe it at all, especially with Itachi's flirtatious encounters with her, but after a while they either accepted it or just put it all behind them.

Kurama had adjusted to the new environment as well. Although he remained cautious of almost about everything, he became a little more lax in the situation they were in and had miraculously become a favorite of Sasuke's. Itachi had joked it was because they shared the same interests and emotions, but Hinata knew Kurama was nothing like Sasuke.

Speaking of Sasuke, today Hinata was in a sort of awkward predicament. Itachi had stepped away to run some last minute errands while leaving the two of them to man the bar for a while. It was the first time Hinata was alone with Sasuke and since Kurama could only take the form of a human child, he was not allowed in the bar at all. To make things worse, that night it was incredibly slow. There were only a few returning customers sitting at tables chattering amongst each other leaving Hinata and Sasuke with nothing to do.

She leaned against the counter and blew a piece of her out of her face. How long is Itachi going to take? It's been over an hour.

She glanced at Sasuke who was busy in his phone. Of course he hadn't spoken to her at all since his shift started and you would've thought she would be used to it by now, but something about him made her squeamish.

Instead of doing nothing Hinata decided she had to do something. Taking out a few ingredients, she prepared to make a simple Mai Tai. She was still learning how to make drinks, but it was a bit difficult to remember which items went into each drink.

As she shook the concoction in the shaker and poured the liquid into the glass she noticed something was missing. What is it? Argh! Why can't I remember? I don't want to ask Mr. Grouch either.

"You're missing the cherry grenadine."

Hinata jumped at his voice and looked at him. Sasuke had been watching her all along.

When she didn't respond, he sighed and walked over to her and handed her the grenadine. "This gives it the color. You're missing it."

"Oh…thanks." She responded quietly and took it from him. As she quickly splashed the drink with the final ingredient she felt his cold, dark eyes watching her. It was both nerves wrecking and irritating. Before she could address him, he grabbed the glass and took a sip.

"No! Don't drink it!"

Sasuke set the glass down and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "You're missing the sprite and Amaretto as well. If you're going to work here, you should at least know that. It's been over two weeks now, right?"

Hinata gritted her teeth. Who did he think he was? Ignoring her existence and now being snooty with her. He made her blood boil whenever she saw him.

Sasuke tilted his head. "Oh, did I make you mad?"

"No."

"Good, make it again." He said, shoving a glass against her.

When he turned her back to her to converse with a customer, she stuck her tongue out at him. How dare he boss her around. Just because Itachi was not there didn't mean he could talk to her that sort of way. Nether less she made the drink over again, not because he told her to, but for her own benefit.

"Let me see." Sasuke took the next drink she had prepared. Eyebrows raised he snorted. "Added a cherry to it this time, eh?"

"You didn't give me the chance to do it last time." She mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have remembered it anyway" He retorted.

Hinata glared at him and he glared back before throwing his head back and drinking the full glass in one gulp.

Hinata's mouth popped open. He didn't even taste it to see if it was good or not. He just took it like it was a shot.

Sasuke fell silent for a while and put the glass into the dishwasher. His silence made her anxious. Did he like it or not? What was going on through his head?

"It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing." He finally spoke.

She sighed.

"I'll show you how to properly make it just this once."

The distance between them shrunk. He had moved over beside her and was now making his own drink. He smelled clean like soap but rich and musky. His cologne was intoxicating.

"Drink it." He handed her his glass.

Hinata took a sip and blinked surprised. It was good. Really good. It was even better than Itachi's version. No wonder Sasuke got a lot of business aside from the women who were fawning over him.

"It's amazing!" She exclaimed.

Sasuke's shoulders bounced up and down as he chuckled. "I know it is." He smiled.

Hinata couldn't believe it. This was the first time he had smiled to her, or better yet, had even laughed. So he is human after all.

Clearing his throat, Sasuke stepped away from her and began talking to another customer. Hinata couldn't help but smile to herself. It was the first time she had seen that side of him even when he spoke to Itachi. He was always so serious. She wondered if he had any friends or even a girlfriend.

Ha! A girlfriend!

"You should smile more often." She said when he returned by her side to clean up after himself.

Sasuke didn't respond.

Hinata placed her hands firmly on the counter drawing his attention.

"What is your problem? Why do you hate me so much? It's not my fault that I am stuck her with you."

Sasuke crossed his arms against his chest. "Why do you care so much of how I feel about you?"

"Because we are currently living together and we are now working together. At least acknowledge my existence."

"Oh, I acknowledge you alright when you nearly cracked open my skull."

"I said I was sorry."

"And do you want an apology from me for something?" He asked.

Hinata stared at him. He remained expressionless. There was no way she could understand him. No way to get through to him.

"Can we at least be friends?"

His eyes scanned her body frame causing her to shift awkwardly to the side.

"It's almost closing time. We should start packing up." Sasuke turned away.

Hinata rolled her eyes. Of course he would avoid the question. There was no way to reconcile with Sasuke. He was a stubborn as an ox and very, very obnoxious. How could she have even thought about trying to be friends with him? What was she thinking?

It was two hours after the store had closed and there was still no word from Itachi. Hinata was worried, but Sasuke apparently was used to his brother's sudden disappearance for hours. All he did was disappear in his room leaving her with many questions to ask.

Hinata sighed and flopped face forward onto her bed. Closing her eyes, she twirled her ring around her finger pondering where Itachi could be. She knew it really wasn't any of her concern, but she was still couldn't shake off this bad feeling in her gut.

"You should just get some rest." Kurama said.

Hinata peeked up at him. "Aren't you supposed to be more worried about your caretaker Kurama?"

Kurama snorted. "My only concern is for you Lady Hinata. I do not care so much about the Uchiha's."

Hinata didn't respond to him and looked opened door. She knew that what Kurama said was half true. He did take a liking to Sasuke and on some days he even didn't want to kill Itachi. He just never wanted to admit it.

"What is that?" Kurama asked, hopping down to the floor from her bed.

Hinata sat up and squinted her eyes at the dark hallway where a hand was beckoning her to approach it.

"Itachi..?" She questioned.

"Smells like blood." Kurama added.

Hinata gasped and ran towards him, making sure to close the door behind her so Kurama would not follow. She heard him growling from the other side and knew he would be too angry to think about transforming to open the door himself.

As she reached Itachi she saw him slightly bending over with his hand on the upper part of his thigh; His face full of pain and discomfort.

"What happened?" She asked.

Itachi laughed lightly. "It's not as bad as it seems. I just got into a little fight."

"Not as bad?!"

Itachi hushed her softly and wrapped his arm around her neck to gain some control over his movements. "It's just a slight cut. I really can't handle seeing my own blood so could you help me out?"

Hinata nodded and led him to his bathroom where she helped him remove his pants to get a better view of the wound.

"This would be way better if I were completely naked and so were you." He said half-jokingly, half serious.

Hinata's cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Now isn't' the time for your flirting."

"Every moment I get to flirt with you is well worth it." Smiling, he removed his shirt and tossed it to the ground.

Hinata stared at his perfectly defined upper body in awe. There was no way she had seen anything better than his body since she's been there and she had seen countless of shirtless men running around the city.

"You can always touch it." Itachi said.

Hinata quickly looked away and reached for the peroxide, disinfecting his wound. Itachi winced in pain and shifted his body.

"How did this happen?"

"I was on the way back to the bar when I had a confrontation with an old..." He paused. "An old friend who's boyfriend wanted to get a little physical. It was nothing too serious."

"It was obviously serious if you ended up being hurt." She snapped back slightly angry. Itachi frowned at her reaction and she shook her head embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I was just worried." She replied more softly.

Itachi brushed her cheek softly. "I should be the one who's sorry. I should've called."

Thump Thump

Hinata pulled away from him and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Um, I finished cleaning it. It really wasn't that bad so I can put a bandage on it if you'd like."

Itachi stood up facing away from her. He obviously didn't like the way she had responded to his advances. "I got it covered here. Thanks for your help."

Hinata stood up as well. "I uh…tried Sasuke's Mai Tai today."

"Did you now?"

"Yeah, and he actually smiled."

"Sasuke isn't a bad guy you know."

"But he hates me."

Itachi looked at her. "He doesn't hate you. He just doesn't like to show weakness."

Hinata shrugged and he pointed to his jagged shaped scar on his side.

"You see that?"

"What happened?"

Itachi grabbed a shirt and began to put it over his body, covering it before Hinata could examine it further. "A few years ago I was struck by lightning. I fell into a coma for about a year. You could imagine how Sasuke could have felt."

Hinata covered her mouth in horror. "You? Struck by lightning?"

Itachi nodded his head. "Odd, right? Well, before that Sasuke was less of a dick. I was more of the serious older brother." He explained. "Our parents died in a fire when we were still young so I had to play that role of the serious brother to keep Sasuke from cracking, but I guess I failed when he I got hurt as well. When I woke up, my precious brother wouldn't smile anymore and I thought life was too short to be serious all of the time. See how our roles changed?"

It all made sense now on why the two brothers acted the way they did. Why Sasuke acted like he didn't want to get near anyone and why Itachi took things for granted.

Itachi stepped towards Hinata. "You know, today when I got hurt all I could think about was you."

Hinata met his eyes which seemed like they were searching for something in her own. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I knew you would be mad that I got hurt once you found out, but I was worried you would think I had ditched you to be with another girl."

Hinata laughed lightly. "That thought did cross my mind, but I know that's just something you do."

Another step towards her.

"No." He responded firmly, rubbing his thumb against her cheek. "I haven't thought about another girl once since I've laid eyes on you."

"Itachi I—" Her voice cracked. She could hear and feel the sound of her heart beating erratically in her chest.

"God, I want to kiss you right now." He said softly.

Hinata froze. Her heart was now in her throat. A little voice in her mind was telling her to move away, but her body remained glued to the spot.

Itachi inched forward and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "Good night, Hinata." He whispered.

With that Hinata was in control of her own body again. She let out a deep breath and forced a smile which he returned. "Good night, Itachi." She said before leaving his room.

As she turned the corner she stopped and noticed Sasuke at the entrance to his door watching her. She lifted her hand slowly and waved at him. He frowned in return and closed his door firmly. She knew then that he had either seen or heard what happened between them and was almost afraid of how he would treat her from then onwards.

Oh, boy…

She clapped her hands on the side of her cheeks and breathed in and out. She really needed to figure out who she was fast, or there was no telling on what would happen in the days to come.

A/N: Due to work, I wasn't able to update last week. I hope you forgive me with this update .