Hinata stared at the copier, barely focusing on the files she was supposed to be dealing with. Her mind was on the number circled on her calendar on her desk, in her office, at her house, on her Blackberry Storm (an earlier gift from Hanabi). Her birthday, smack dab in the middle of December. Just when everything was cold and crisp tasting, when the trees were bare and couples were nestling down each other's arms at night, feeding off each other's warmth.

And at that, she remembered that she and Sasuke had been dating for exactly three and a half weeks. That was probably worth celebrating, but really, it was just a term. They were "seeing" each other before. Now they were officially "dating". What dating really meant was after hours, they'd go to some fancy, smanchy restaurant and eat, then flirt, then kiss, then cuddle with each other at Sasuke's place.

No sex, no during hours play, no anything. Just a regular, normal, official, non-affair like relationship. And she had to admit, even though the other was more exciting, she could definitely see this one going somewhere. Slowly, a smile fell on her lips. She definitely liked where this one was going. Much better than the other "relationship".

Hiashi and Fuguka, to say the least, had been furious. They were totally against their relationship, and were even more against it when Sasuke calmly told them that four months ago; they had been having an affair. Hiashi looked ready to shut down and quite possibly cry in a corner from anger and frustration and Fuguka look ready to explode all over the most comfortable space, which was the upstairs, which was also where Fuguka and Hiashi resided most of the day.

Then Itachi and Neji were betting on the date of when they first began having sex and this time, Neji actually won. Hinata of course, threatened to reduce his salary and make sure TenTen never looked his away again, so the twenty dollars was given back effective immediately. If she didn't know how to threaten properly back then, she knew how to now. Sasuke wasn't just a hot hunk; he was an intelligent hot hunk.

Speaking of relationships, there was Temari and Shikamaru's wedding. Which was going very smoothly by the way. Hanabi had decided the blond was officially her favorite person and was, at this very moment, designing the perfect wedding dress and bride's maid dresses as well. Temari had said one word to her: timeless. Meaning Hanabi was to take no risks and she was to be classy. And indignant Hanabi had said she was never one to do that. Temari learned a new trick: how to make Hanabi crumble.

Hinata was Temari's official planner, which included everything from how the rehearsal dinner would go and how the reception would end. She had Choji catering, Ino getting the floral arrangements, and was booking their flight to the Bahamas for a week and three days. And she didn't mind either. Everything was going steady with the company's campaign to go global. At this very moment, in America and possibly all over, their commercial was airing and everyone was getting a glimpse into their possible future. If they didn't know who Hyuga and Uchiha Co-Op. were before, they did now.

She barely noticed as the door opened, and Sasuke walked in, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. He quickly walked over to her and slipped an arm around her tiny waist, which was decked out in a royal blue off-the-shoulder long-sleeve sweater and gray slacks, her hair pulled back in a ponytail with her bangs swept to the side.

She gave a soft smile, fitting against him perfectly, happily. "Hey. How was the meeting?"

"Boring as hell. I thought I would have to shoot somebody just to get a reaction," he said, dropping into a seat and opening the window. A gust of cold air blew into the room and Hinata poured herself a mug of hot green tea before sliding in across from him. The office was always at a balmy seventy-five degrees. Hiashi and Fuguka normally said this was the perfect temperature, but everyone else was hoping that one day, they would turn the heat down.

"It's your birthday today, isn't it?" He raised an expectant eyebrow, hand dangling out the window, a lazy smoke trail leading upwards.

Hinata nodded and suddenly, her most favorite thing to shop for, a blue Tiffany box appeared before her. Her iris-colored eyes widened as he quickly slipped the charm bracelet off her delicate wrist and flipped open the box. And just as quickly, in one smooth, fluid motion, he was adding a gold, swirly letter H to her bracelet.

She smiled as he gently slipped it back on. "Thank you."

He turned back to the window, saying to the wind, "Happy birthday."

For a moment, they sat in silence, Hinata sipping on her tea and Sasuke smoking his cigarette. For a moment, Hinata could smile and enjoy just being in his presence, not shoved out of the way by his ego. For a moment, she could see the ghost of a smile on his full lips. For a moment, she could pretend they were a regular couple, like she used to fantasize about before, and they were this time.

Setting the cup down, she smiled as his fingers easily laced with her own. Then his dark eyes focused on her, like they were zeroing in and taking a direct course to her heart, sending out an electric shock that zinged through her body.

"Let's go for a walk."

She cocked her head, furrowing her brow. But nodded anyways, their fingers still laced together as he stood and both left the room.

-

If she had known wearing his too-long-for-normal-five-foot-five-people scarf was going to cause the hidden paparazzi to go crazy, like they were now, she would have never done so. But she had been cold, in her favorite long black pea coat and leather gloves, so of course he would be nice enough to let her use his scarf. She could smell his Old Spice body wash and shampoo and cigarette and cologne and tomato and just Sasuke smell on it. And she found it extremely delicious. Which is why it was wrapped up around her mouth, sitting just under her nose. And it wasn't even itchy.

Their fingers were laced together through the black leather of their gloves, their shoulders nearly brushing. Sasuke's eyes were focused lazily on a stop sign a few meters away. She was busying herself by taking big whiffs of his scent and letting it out slowly. So far, he hadn't even turned to look at her, just a glance to see how she was faring in the cold weather before his attention was on something else.

Others would have taken this as offensive. Here they were, holding hands, and he wasn't even bothering to look at her. But really, it was just how he was. He wasn't likely to swoop down, wrap you in his strong arms and begin an intense game of tonsil hockey with you at random, in the street. And that's how she liked it. It just wasn't her style to suddenly have dry sex on the bench in the park behind her favorite tree. That's not how she pictured a healthy, normal relationship would go. In fact, any sane relationship wouldn't even do that, but hey, kids were getting older these days.

His fingers gently squeezed hers and she looked up at him. He was probably five-nine, five-ten. Meaning he was tall. She was like a bug to him. He towered over her. Did she necessarily care? No, not really.

His face was set in a light scowl, directed right above her head. Slowly, she turned and was staring right at a big group of press. Bad move. Suddenly, they were all calling out, asking what they were doing, where they were going, why they were going there, what was going on.

And just as suddenly, she was tucked against his side, his arm around her shoulders, and they were walking, fast. She reached up and touched his arm, feeling his fingers slip between her own, creating those links that she loved. With a smile, she glanced over her shoulder to see the paparazzi following. She looked up to Sasuke, seeing his obsidian eyes set forward, face determined to get away and find somewhere where he didn't have to deal with a camera in his face.

"I'm cold," she announced loudly, and to her secret amusement, she looked to him, wide-eyed and innocent-looking. "And hungry."

The paparazzi went quiet as they stopped, Sasuke looking down at her, Hinata looking up at him. This was the moment where they found out where they were going and what they were going to do, so that they could follow oh-so-happily along.

Sasuke patted his jacket, then his pants pocket, then his back pockets. With a scowl, he pulled her close against him, her head resting on his chest comfortably, and rubbed her arm. "We can go to my place. I'll cook you something . . . or something."

She smiled, nestling against him. "Okay. I want something hot. Not that instant stuff."

He made a face. "I don't do instant. I, unlike Naruto, know how to cook."

"He's not even here and you're insulting him." Hinata chuckled softly into his coat, purely happy to just float in this blissfulness of his cologne-body-wash-cigarette-tomato-shampoo-Sasuke smell.

They began walking again, or as smoothly as people could when wrapped up in each other. She giggled as they stumbled in the cold, her cheeks turning pink as the scarf slid down. Her lips were curved into a smile, her lips sticky with lip-gloss in the cold. He was scowling, then not scowling, then ghosting a smile, then trying to keep from snickering as they stumbled around like lunatics.

"We look like idiots," he muttered and she smiled up at him, her eyes glinting in the early evening sunlight. "Do you honestly believe I care?"

For a moment, they stared at each other, stopped in the middle of the streets, others walking around, the paparazzi behind them, the sunset to the right of them, the park to the left of them. And Sasuke watching her with a smirk.

His hand slipped behind her head, resting on that special spot on her neck where his fingers were able to tell her pulse and how quick it was going. And then they were kissing, right there in front of the paparazzi, who were having a fucking field day. And it wasn't the kind of kissing where they were practically attacking each others mouths either.

It was soft, smooth, buttery. It fell in line with all those kisses she read about at night in romance novels. The kind of kiss she had always wanted, the kind that made your lips tingle and your heart melt and your stomach get butterflies and your mind stop and your breathing slow. It was sensual, wonderful, delicious, beautiful, all of the above.

And she absolutely adored it.

-

She watched as the last golden rays of sunlight disappeared from the floor-to-ceiling windows of Sasuke's bedroom, lying on her bare stomach under his black satin duvet and charcoal gray Egyptian cotton sheets. After their field day with the paparazzi, they had bolted, taking a secret, quicker route to Sasuke's apartment and had another make-out session, only this one went much further. And she was just fine with that. It wasn't like they were having sex every other day or something like that. And besides, it was her birthday. She deserved it.

"I thought you were hungry." She sat up and leaned on her elbows, her hair rippling down her shoulders and pale skin, contrasting beautifully. Sasuke stood in the doorway, only in his favorite dark wash Capezio jeans and opened gray oxford, which was his outfit for the day. It was the most casual-office thing she had ever seen on him, since he was usually all Armani suits and Gucci ties.

"I am," she said softly. "Just that I'm in need of clothes before I do so."

He rolled his eyes and tugged a gray Henley shirt from his closet. "You can wear this. Now come on. I didn't make food so you could sit around and be lazy."

She tugged the shirt over her head, getting a whiff of the mountain breeze and swallowed her giggles. He glanced over his shoulder at her, seeing the Henley shirt fit over her curves and barely graze her thighs. If she looked this good in his clothes, he might as well let her keep it.

Hinata slipped under his arm, so that his arm rested around her shoulders, her arm around his waist. "Arigato."

"Whatever." He smirked.

No! This is not, I repeat, IS NOT, the end. I would never . . . Okay, I won't end like this, not to you guys, my loyal readers who greatly adore me (XD).

Why? Because the ending- The Ending, doesn't that sound so . . . endful? Is that even a word? Now it is XD- will have a surprise that will shock you out of your minds. I'm talking BAM! IN YO' FACE! OUT OF THIS WORLD! Okay? Kewl^^. And then when this is done, I'll have to go with Harmony. Net and God knows what else I'll do . . . That actually sounds like a good title . . .

Maybe something non-AU? Wouldn't that be nice? Just a thought^^

Tis CocoaAngel95 and I is out. Holla! XD