OPrincess ShinigamiO here! Hello one and all! Glad to see that lots of people enjoyed Lee in the last chapter! I'm glad to see that I did justice to his character, so thank you for your support! And I'm also proud to say that my drabble has already reached over 5000 views! *Sob* I'm just so happy! *cough*

So about this chapter, expect very little communication. Hinata takes over most of the chapter, but Sasuke will appear, no worries. In fact, it's his turn to give Hinata a sweet surprise, and I think you could guess from the title if you haven't noticed! XD Expect some OOC mostly in Sasuke's part, but oh well! He's a sweetie deep down anyway! ;)

Of course, my beloved reviewers! I can't go on without mentioning these awesome readers who took their time reviewing for me! Thank you Jeabird, Saki-Hime, StarDustX, mariarassie, ZoMg1010, Serene-Aspiration723, Hinata-Rae 7-3.15, and the other Guest reviewers! Glad to still have your support! ;)

Disclaimer: Why do I even bother?...

H- Herbarium

…

Hinata Hyuuga was confused.

It's been two whole months since she last saw Sasuke Uchiha. Three months ago, Tsunade informed Hinata and her teammates Kiba and Shino, that Suna's Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, was currently looking for the perfect bride from the Hidden Leaf in order to increase the trust and alliance between the Fire and Sand Nations.

Well, in all honesty, it was Temari and Kankuro's idea to find someone who's willing to hook up with their lonely little brother, who was unfortunately (or fortunately?) still single at the age of eighteen. Temari has been going back and forth between the Leaf and Suna more often because of a certain lazy shadow-jutsu expert (and if the rumors from Ino were true, then it won't be far off when a traditional Nara ring would be sitting on Temari's finger soon), and Kankuro who was more of the party animal between the three siblings has finally gotten serious with a mystery girl in Suna, leaving poor Gaara alone at his office with no one but paperwork as his only companion.

It's not that no one liked the Kazekage. On the contrary, there were several women, old and young alike, who would desperately pine over the handsome and reserved Kazekage, whether they're from Suna or not. Why, he even had his own giant fan club in the Sand Villages! It's too bad for them, since his siblings were looking for someone more prestigious, refined, and FOREIGN.

The reason why Tsunade called Team 8 was because one of the bride requests from the Suna council was the former Hyuuga heiress, Hinata Hyuuga. Because Hinata no longer needed to take the biggest responsibility of leading the Hyuuga clan which therefore made it easier for Hinata to switch her loyalties through marriage, it made sense for a former heiress who was beautiful, well-mannered, and coincidentally single to become eligible for Suna's most sought-after bachelor.

Of course, Hinata was beyond shocked. But luckily, she wasn't the type to make a raging outburst unlike one of her teammates (Kiba was in a great fit and almost got a free ticket to the hospital if it weren't for Shino controlling him)

In all her life, Hinata has never imagined herself to become the young Kazekage's lover, what more his wife. And she suspects that he doesn't even remember who she is since the Chuunin exams almost six years ago.

The former heiress refused right away, much to the fifth Hokage's expectation. Therefore, Team 8 was instead sent to escort another princess from a less known but still ancient clan of the Hidden Leaf in place of Hinata. But before doing so, the Hokage and Hiashi Hyuuga had to finish some paperwork in order to convince and appease the Suna Council into reconsidering the young princess instead of the former Hyuuga heiress. This took up a whole month, and it wasn't long before someone leaked rumors about the Kazekage and the former Hyuuga heiress' claimed engagement in Konoha.

Of course, the last Uchiha was no exception. He wasn't one who believed or much less cared about rumors. But somehow, this one was different. And for some reason, this made his stomach sick.

Since then, he avoided Hinata as much as he could. He busied himself with several missions outside of Konoha, and when he did take some time to rest, Hinata would find that he wasn't home. Even Naruto and Sakura didn't know where to locate the Uchiha when they aren't on a mission, but what made Hinata sadder was when Kakashi told her that he's been sulking a lot more than usual when they're on breaks. The only curious thing that the sharingan-wielding sensei also mentioned was that the Uchiha has been randomly asking him about his knowledge on plants. Hinata thought that if Sasuke has finally found interest in herbs like her, then why couldn't he straight-out ask her instead? But she eventually forgot about it since it seemed that Sasuke was still avoiding her, much to her chagrin.

This continued on until the next month and a half when the Suna Council finally agreed to take the princess. Team 8 escorted the Kazekage's possible bride to Suna, which took almost a whole week. Their whole stay in Suna took another three days due to the Sand Siblings' insistence.

To this, Hinata and Gaara finally met each other properly, exchanging apologies about their cancelled engagement, and had their first friendly conversation, mostly about Naruto's current doings and progression on reaching his goal. Gaara even joked that he would probably grow old already if Naruto wasn't progressing fast enough to finally become Hokage!

("Wow, so Gaara can joke around, huh? And to think he was like some emotionless killing machine six years ago…" Kiba cautiously whispered to Shino with Akamaru whimpering in agreement. It wasn't long though before the Inuzuka earned a huge bump on his head thanks to Temari's giant fan.)

Another week was taken during their trip back from Suna to Konoha, with an additional two days since they were ambushed by some bandit ninjas.

They came home safely, though not unharmed. A day was spent in the hospital to recuperate their wounds. The day after, they were released and allowed to go back to their homes.

To this, Hinata took another chance to see if Sasuke was home, but the results were still in vain.

Crestfallen, the former heiress trudged (as graceful as a Hyuuga goes) back to the Hyuuga Compound, saddened by Sasuke's apparent ignorance of her presence.

She nodded at the Hyuuga guards and the servants in the front yard when she entered. She then headed afterwards to her father's office to announce her return (she could've sworn that her father was looking quite amused). Then after leaving and seeing no one in the halls to greet her, she concluded that Neji was either on a mission or on a date with Tenten or his team, since he was usually the first to welcome Hinata by the time she entered the compound.

Hanabi, however, greeted Hinata with a suspiciously sly grin. She then began dragging her to Hinata's room, blabbing about how lucky her older sister was for having a handsome guy decorate her own room. To this, Hinata began walking faster, curious if maybe, just maybe, a certain Uchiha had something to do with it.

As Hinata entered her room, she had the biggest surprise waiting for her.

On every angle of her bedroom walls, several pieces of colorful preserved leaves and flowers flattened in sheets of clear paper decorated her whole room, not leaving one space for the wall to breathe. They varied from red and brown maple leaves to pink and purple flowers and twigs. Even the ceiling was concealed in gradient-colored leaves and branches, and the light coming from the windows made them look even more enchanting.

It was like having a real magical rainbow garden that she thought would only exist in her fairy tale books!

Hinata stared in awe at her beautiful bedroom, then turned to ask Hanabi who planned it all, only to see that she has disappeared and that the very special Uchiha of whom she wanted to see the most was standing there with a tiny proud smirk on his face.

And what's even more surprising was that a book of what seems like a herbarium instruction manual, and a single yellow tulip sat on the Uchiha's arm.

"I figured that I had to return the favor for the tomato garden you gave me," Sasuke began, handing the book and the tulip to the shocked Hyuuga, "And to celebrate the cancellation of your supposed engagement with Gaara."

"Gaara-kun and I were never engaged to begin with," Hinata giggled as she playfully twisted the yellow tulip before smelling its light fragrance, "But thank you very much, Sasuke-kun. You have no idea how h-happy this makes me feel."

To add to her surprise, the Uchiha suddenly caught her arm and slowly pulled her close to him. She stiffly dropped her new book to the ground. Her lavender-white eyes widened as she made contact with his hard chest, blushing hard like a real tomato when she caught the tantalizing scent of her companion. She froze in his arms, completely shocked at Sasuke's uncharacteristic boldness and affection. She could feel his breath warming her neck as her heart pounded dangerously against his chest.

"… Don't make me say this ever again, Hinata," he whispered tensely, "Because I've never told anyone, and you will only hear this from me this once."

Hinata could feel her breathing hitch. Her heart that was already pounding like crazy even pounded faster if possible. She could feel her blood rush on her face, and she swore that if anyone saw her right now, they'd mistake her for a human torch.

She was embarrassed, yes, but she couldn't find it in herself to faint. It's been a while since she last fainted, which was a huge improvement in her part. But now, she swore that her legs were starting to feel like jelly, ready to break down anytime soon.

"Please don't scare me again."

Hinata frowned. How in the world was she scaring him? Of all people, Hinata was probably the last person in the world who could scare Sasuke Uchiha. But to her surprise, he told her otherwise. And it made her feel incredibly guilty yet giddy at the same time.

But his voice pleaded her to understand, and she did. She suddenly remembered why he created a garden in her room, and why he avoided her in the first place. She understood, that maybe, just maybe, he did felt affection towards her, whether it's temporary or not.

And that was enough for now.

Slowly and shyly, she wrapped her shaking arms around Sasuke's back, the yellow tulip on one hand and the book forgotten on the floor. She giggled when she felt the tension wear off Sasuke as she returned his affectionate gesture.

"… Never again."

...

Reviews are ALWAYS welcome, thank you once again! By the way, can you guess the meaning of the yellow tulip? ;)

As for the next chapter, I'm sure you'd love to know what Konoha's favorite gossip girl has got to say on SasuHina! XD