OPrincess ShinigamiO here! Giving y'all the last chapter of the year 2012 before going home to celebrate the holidays with my family!
Unfortunately, it is also a very sad day for me, manga-wise. In this week's chapter of Naruto *spoilers if you haven't read* it has now revealed the death of one of my most favorite characters in the Narutoverse, the one and only Neji Hyuuga. :,(
RIP Neji (and to my NejiTen dreams *cries along with all the avid NejiTen fans*) We'll miss you very much! You have grown and became a very strong and wise ninja, and your death shall be avenged (NARUTO, YOU BETTER MAKE IT UP TO US!) In all of this, you have died with honor of saving the hero, and for that you become a hero yourself. Rest in peace with your father (and mother?) and be finally free from the wretched Narutoverse. (The only thing I hate about you is for leaving Tenten all alone.) The Might Gai team, as well as the rest of the groups, will never be the same again. :,(
*Phew* So! Let's lighten things up by reading this little chappy! I tried finishing it before I left for home, and I'm glad I did it in time. I might have a little mistakes here and there (I'm a bit rusty these past few weeks), but I still hope you'll enjoy! Of course, Neji's death has nothing to do with my world, so of course he's still here! (REJOICE NEJITEN FANS! WE STILL HAVE FANFICTION!) And of course, a little bitty SasuHina fluff in the end? ;)
Also, thanks to all the reviewers who participated into giving me questions to go on with this chapter. I'm sorry to not have included a lot (partly because I kinda felt lazy, ehehe), but I appreciate all your enthusiasms! Thank you very much and I hope you'll continue to support my story! ;D
Disclaimer: If I owned, I would NEVER EVER kill off Neji! Kishimoto-sensei, you bastard! DX
It was one winter evening when Naruto invited himself (ambushed) into Sasuke's home, his hands full of boxes of ramen and buckets of sake, much to the latter's disdain. Since Hinata was helping out Ino and Sakura, Naruto wasted no time to plan the perfect BNO (okay, more like a Boys' Night In), inviting all the other boys from their batch. Of course, the lone Uchiha wasn't happy with this arrangement, vowing to murder the blonde dunce one day. But the Kyuubi would not take no for an answer, as always.
So there they were, circled around a tiny round table in the Uchiha Mansion's spacious living room, with a tiny fishbowl and a bunch of papers sitting on the table.
"Naruto, what is the meaning of this?" Neji asked, raising a delicate eyebrow as the blonde started handing out pens and papers to each person.
"Yeah. I thought we were here to interrogate the Uchiha?" Kiba asked, ignoring the death glare coming from the said person.
"We are!" Naruto grinned slyly. "I'm just taking precautions."
"You dobe. I will seriously consider killing you in your sleep." Sasuke growled.
"What? And make Hinata hate you for life? Not a chance, Sasuke-teme!"
"Hahaha! Nice one, Naruto!" Kiba laughed, slapping his thighs in pure glee. Sasuke clenched his fists, chanting to himself that Hinata wouldn't appreciate seeing blood all over his living room.
"How troublesome. Let's just get this done." Shikamaru yawned from his lying position next to Choji, who was enjoying all the ramen Naruto bought in place of the absent chips.
"I don't understand." Sai commented, staring blankly at the pen and paper on his pale hands. "How is this supposed to be a precaution?"
"Well, it's true that we're going to bombard Sasuke with some questions." Naruto paused to give a short evil grin at his best frenemy. "But having to ask him personally wouldn't make us entirely safe, if you know what I mean."
"Aha! I believe I understand, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed, holding up his pen and paper like sacred sacrifices. "We write down our questions in this paper and mix them up in this beautifully-fragile fishbowl! That way Sasuke-kun will not know who wrote what!"
Naruto grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Exactly, Bushy-brows!"
"You can't really call it a precaution though. Even if Sasuke doesn't know who's writing which, he'll probably attack us all anyway." Shino said.
"Eh, Shino has a point, Naruto." Kiba nodded, reaching to scratch his face tattoos. "He'll probably murder us all for agreeing to sabotage his quiet night alone."
"Oh come on, spoilsports! We can deal with that later! Right now, let's start thinking of a question, dattebayo!"
"Hold it, dobe." Sasuke frowned. "Who said that I'm agreeing to all this? Like hell I'm going to answer any of your questions, which I'm suspecting is mostly perverted."
"Oh come on, teme! Just let loose for tonight!" Naruto pouted for a second, before quickly transforming his disappointed face with a smug one. "Besides, I don't think it'll look manly of you if I tell Hinata all of your most embarrassing secrets. And some I even have photos to prove that they really did happen!"
Sasuke growled exasperatedly. Although being embarrassed in front of Hinata was nothing new to him (especially with Naruto around), he knew that the blonde dobe and his friends would always find an alternative to back up their blackmails, may it be locking the Uchiha in his bedroom for all eternity or snooping around his home for more blackmail material.
And it's not that he could freely massacre them either. One wrong move seen by the villagers, and he will be reported to the Hokage for returning back to his violent roots. Not to mention, he'll be in hot water when Hinata returns.
Sasuke sighed in frustration. Shikamaru was right. This was definitely troublesome. It's better if he got over it quickly before any damage could be done.
"Three questions only. No more and better if less. I can choose whether to answer them or not, especially when it concerns anything perverted."
"But, teme! If we agree to that, we'll never get any answers from you!"
"How about a deal, Uchiha?" Kiba smirked. "Five questions, and everything should be answered clearly. In exchange, we won't bother you and Hinata during your free time for the next five months. Unless if it's important of course."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "A question a month? And how am I supposed to know that you'll keep your word, Inuzuka?"
"Look, I never break my promises, and so does Shino. Ask Hinata herself. She'll tell you that we're perfectly honest people." The dog-lover grinned smugly, showing off his canine fangs.
"I'm still not quite satisfied." Sasuke murmured loud enough for everyone to hear. To this his eyes crawl to Neji's direction.
The Hyuuga glared dangerously at the Uchiha. "Normally, I wouldn't agree to this nonsense. But Tenten and I will soon have our baby to take care of, so consider your five months free of our time." His eyebrows dig deeper as his white eyes nearly go into Byakugan mode. "But that doesn't mean that I will stop watching over Hinata-sama's well-being. Even if you are already planning to have her hand in marriage, I will not allow you to let Hinata-sama get into harm's way. Or I promise you, I will castrate you, rip out every single organ of yours, and burn them until you become nothing else but filth on the ground."
The Uchiha returned the glare, then rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Geez, thanks for your unending trust, nii-san."
"I suggest you never ever call me that or I will have your head rolling."
"Good. Coz saying it like some respectful little boy gives me shudders on my spine."
"Wait wait WAIT! HOLD ON! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Naruto screamed out, flailing his arms in shock. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his blonde teammate.
"What? Were you deaf the whole time, dobe?"
"I HEARD EVERYTHING, DAMMIT!" Naruto pointed accusingly at the Uchiha. "WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL TO HINATA?!"
"That's because it didn't happen yet." Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Besides, even if it did happen, you're the last person I'd ever want to find out."
"WHAT?! BUT I'M YOUR TEAMMATE! I DESERVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR PLANS WITH HINATA!" Naruto wailed exaggeratedly, then turned to Kiba and Shino. "What? Did you both know about this too?!"
"Nope. Found out the same time you did, but less surprised." Kiba snorted, then pats Sasuke hard on the back, much to his chagrin. "Congrats, Uchiha! I always knew that you had it in you!"
"Yes, congratulations Sasuke. You have both our blessings as Hinata's teammates." Shino adds, nodding his head slightly at the Uchiha.
"I don't need both your permissions to marry Hinata, but thanks I guess." Sasuke replied.
"Ah! How wonderful! Another one of our fellow youthful allies is going to marry the love of his life! Hinata-san will surely blossom like a beautiful rose during the wedding!"
"Doesn't she always?" Sasuke mumbled to himself.
"Yeah, that's great. Now can we get over this interrogating thing and go home? I still have a lecture to attend tomorrow afternoon." Shikamaru droned, scratching the back of his head in disinterest.
"What?! I'm surprised that you aren't even blinking an eye, Shikamaru!" Naruto complained.
"What can I say? I already expected this." The genius replied.
"WHAT?!"
"Come on, Naruto. You know him." Choji smiled with his mouth full of noodles. "He always knows when something big's going to happen. Besides, Shikamaru's getting married himself, so it's no surprise for him to know whether another one of us is planning to go down the aisle. With a large wedding buffet, I hope."
"It's not as simple as that." Shikamaru replied lazily. "I just heard it from Kurenai who's already expecting the proposal for the last four months. Guess now I have some good news to stop her overexcitement."
"Smart bastard…"
"I hate to interrupt, but I also have some clan business to deal with this morning. So can we please start already?" Neji said, crossing his arms in impatience.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh!" Naruto rolled his eyes, calming down from his initial shock. Plastering up a grin, the blonde ninja raised his pen in the air like a flag.
"Alright! Let's begin our question time with Sasuke! Time starts now, dattebayo!"
And then they wrote. For the next three minutes, the sounds of tapping, scribbling, and munching were the only sounds heard from the men. Until finally, all the men placed their pens down, folded their papers, and dropped them into the fishbowl.
Naruto grinned excitedly as he lifted up the bowl to shake it.
"Alright! I'm picking the first question! Who's gonna read it?"
"I volunteer." Everyone looked at Sai, surprised that the emotionless ANBU decided to speak up. But nobody prodded him for his reasons.
"Um, okay then. Alright, Sai! Here's the first question!" Naruto held out a tiny folded paper, handing it to the pale ninja.
Gently, Sai unfolded the piece of paper, scanning the tiny scribble of words imprinted on the grainy surface. Sasuke sighed in exasperation, expecting the worst.
"What makes Hinata-san a much better match than Sakura?" (butterflyV)
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his face mixed with annoyance, surprise, and disbelief.
"I think I don't need to answer that."
"Oh come on, teme! We just want to hear it from you!"
"Yeah, Sasuke. I mean, Hinata's smoking hot and all (please don't kill me, Neji and no, Sasuke, I'm not in love with her) but you could've had anyone in your obnoxious little (okay, ginormous) frilly-dilly fan club anyway. What? Was she just a challenge for you at first or did you really just plain like her?" (RenjiRulez5986)
Sasuke smirked, observing everyone around the table. Seems that everyone was curious with his answer, even if Neji and Shikamaru weren't really obvious.
"Hn. Let's just say that Hinata's someone who makes life a total breeze for me. I don't mean it in an abusing way, mind you. All I'm saying is that she's the only one who could make me relax and not worry about anything else despite everything. Except for her, that is."
"Aha, so you really did like Hinata-san then!" Lee exclaimed with a proud thumbs-up.
"I'm glad to know that. Otherwise…" Neji said pointedly, giving a warning glare towards the Uchiha, who returned the glare in turn.
"Yosh! I'm next!"
After shaking up the bowl with much enthusiasm, Lee dipped his hand down and pulled out another piece of paper, handing it to Sai with a grin.
Nodding politely, Sai opened the paper, his face still betraying no hint of emotion.
"How far have you and Hinata-san gone?" (Milladragon)
To this, half of the group began coughing awkwardly, while some resorted to scratching their necks or blushing slightly.
The Uchiha, on the other hand, was trying to debate whether or not to use his Amaterasu on that dreaded bowl of paper. Neji began cracking his knuckles, threatening everyone around him with his activated Byakugan.
"… "
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand." Sai commented, clear confusion written on his face. "What does this question mean?"
"Um, er, eh… oh, how should I explain this?" Naruto mumbled, scratching his head awkwardly. "Shikamaru! You're the genius! Go and explain to him!"
Shikamaru frowned, sighing lazily as he sat up from his lying position before turning to Sai.
"I guess you're still not up to date with the terms here, huh? Basically, someone in this group was brave (or foolish) enough to ask Sasuke whether he and Hinata have already gone so far as to have sex."
"Oh."
"Let's move on."
"Wait! Sasuke, you haven't answered yet!"
"Is it so important that all of you should know about my sex life?" Sasuke growled in frustration. Really, these boys are such… boys.
"Just spill it out, Sasuke. Everyone here's probably done it before. Well, maybe except for Lee, Naruto, and Shino." Kiba said.
"Tch, you want to know so bad? Fine. We've only had our first real kiss two weeks ago."
Unmanly gasps could be heard around the table, mostly coming from Naruto, Lee, and Kiba. Neji humphed in hidden relief.
"… Sasuke…. You've never had sex before?" Naruto asked.
"Why? It's not like you had either, dobe."
"That's not the point! You, on the other hand, already have a super nice girlfriend! You don't really have an excuse not to get her laid!"
"Naruto…"
"Oops! Hehe, sorry Neji- Ow!"
"Moving on. I will be next." Shino said. Sasuke sighed in relief, thanking the weird bug-user silently for stopping this nonsense.
After dipping his hand inside the bowl, Shino brought out the third paper, handing it to Sai who smiled pitifully at his blonde friend.
"Since it's revealed recently that you are planning to propose, when do you plan to wed Hinata-san?" (supremekikay24)
"That, I'm not entirely sure, though even if I am, I'd rather not tell." Sasuke said.
"Come on, Sasuke! Even so, you can't hide it forever! At least tell us how early you'd want it to be!" Kiba said.
"I'd prefer to marry her as soon as possible, if that's what you'd like to hear."
"That's so corny, Sasuke. Just tell us what season you're most likely gonna marry her?"
Sasuke frowned. "Probably during the spring, since Hinata loves that season. But as late as it is, I'd prefer it to be winter, more specifically a blizzard, so that no one would be able to go."
"Yeah, right. We'd probably elope to a far away place where none of you could disturb our peace." Sasuke thought smugly to himself.
"You're so cold."
"Thank you very much."
"Alright! Neji! It's your turn!"
Neji frowned, annoyance obviously plastered on his face.
"Hn, fine."
Unfortunately, it took him about three cruelly torn papers to finally land a good question ("If I find out who asked when, where, or how the Uchiha sleeps with Hinata-sama, I will lock them up in the same room with a VERY pregnant Tenten for the next twenty four hours." "Ouch. Moodswings and weapons in one room. That sucks…")
"Here it goes, Uchiha. if you had to explain how much you love Hinata-sama, then how? (The Masked Idiot)"
….
"What did you say then?" Hinata asked, amusement showing through her soft giggles.
The pair was lying around the couch, with the tired Uchiha's head on the Hyuuga's lap. Luckily for Sasuke, the former heiress's mission was a breeze. So when Hinata arrived at the Uchiha compound to give her beloved a surprise visit, the former avenger was so grateful to have a reason to kick out the annoying men out of his home.
It wasn't long before a slightly surprised Hinata convinced Sasuke to tell her everything that happened during the boys' night in his house.
"I didn't say anything, thank Kami. Those annoying brats really need to grow up and stop playing these stupid games."
Hinata sighed, pouting to show a bit of her disappointment.
"That's when I arrived, wasn't it? Oh, I'll apologize to Naruto-kun and the others for interrupting."
"Hinata, there's nothing to apologize about. Believe me when I say that I'm absolutely grateful that you interrupted the stupid get-together."
"Now, Sasuke-kun. They're still your friends you know."
"Hn."
A few silent moments went by as Sasuke closed his eyes in relaxation while a thoughtful Hinata continued softly combing the Uchiha's dark strands.
"… Sasuke-kun."
"What?" Sasuke murmured, a bit annoyed at the broken peace.
"What would you have said. I-I mean, um, how much do I really mean to you."
"I don't think you're ignorant to the answer."
"I-I know!" Hinata exclaimed in embarrassment, a tint of pink sprinkled on her pale cheeks, "Um, I-I just want to hear it straight out from you."
The Uchiha was silent, his dark eyes opening to look at Hinata's pearly whites in deep thought. Finally, he sighed audibly and closed his eyes again.
"… In this life. You're the one I truly care about." He murmured in a very inaudible tone, which Hinata luckily heard.
The Hyuuga sighed, knowing that Sasuke was never one who will ever speak in romantic poetic verses. But she smiled anyway, because those little words that might not hold much meaning to others, were enough to see how much Sasuke loved her. Hinata slowly leaned down, giving a tiny soft peck on the tip of the Uchiha's nose. In turn, Sasuke's lips slightly turned upward in satisfaction.
After all, making the supposedly cold-hearted Uchiha tell someone else out loud that he cared was something nobody else could ever do.
By the way, for those who cared, Chii-kun (their cat) has died after being sick so many times, approximately maybe a month ago. Hinata built a tiny stone memorial in the Uchiha compound's garden. At the same time, it's also to commemorate Neji's death in the latest manga chapter of Naruto. *sniff* RIP again Neji Hyuuga *runs dramatically and cries in a dark corner*
For the next chapter... I think it'll be something you all would be excited about!
Merry Christmas again everyone! Even after all the tragedies that happened this month, I hope all your Christmases and New Years be merry and bright! ;D