Lesson Five: he has no idea how to confront his feelings.
The proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back comes in the form of the strange greeting Hinata receives upon returning from an exhausting month-long mission.
After they enter the gates, she wearily parts ways with her teammates, promising to meet up with them later to head to present their report to the Hokage. Hinata considers stopping at a restaurant to get a meal, but her sore muscles are crying out for her bed. She is about to turn onto the road towards her home when the sensation of two disturbing, ghastly auras nearby makes her pause.
"Hinata…" moans a familiar voice, cracked and hoarse. "You're finally back…"
Hinata swings around, wincing at a crick in her neck, and stares in horror. Naruto and Sakura are slowly walking towards her, both looking like they haven't slept in days. Maybe it's the lighting, but their eyes seem to have an eerie glassy sheen to them.
"What…took you…so long?" The way Sakura is drawing out her syllables is really creeping Hinata out.
"…Sorry?" The Hyuuga coughs into her sleeve. "I'm, um…glad you missed me, but…I'm really tired, and was on my way home, so…"
"You're tired?!" Naruto flits up to her in a sudden burst of speed and clutches the front of her green jounin vest. Hinata suddenly has a faceful of tanned skin and cheek whiskers. "Have you even seen what we look like?!"
Hinata tries to squirm away, feeling that all too familiar, uncomfortable blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Err, Naruto, you're too close…"
Naruto sighs, and releases her. "You have no idea what hell we've endured," he states, having suddenly decided to drop their melodramatic front.
"Sasuke was so annoying!" Sakura moans, coming over to lean her arm on Naruto's shoulder.
"I don't know how you put up with him all the time," Naruto tells the Hyuuga. "Without you around, he just drove us crazy. Seriously, we're sick of him."
"You have to marry him, Hinata!" Sakura implores. "Or something. Anything. Just so he'll leave us alone…"
Hinata can't decide if this is funny or tragic. The dark shadows beneath their eyes really do lend some credence to their words, though. Things are worse than she thought. Maybe it is time for a change in their relationship.
Yet the next time she sees Sasuke he doesn't mention a thing about her absence, in rather stark contrast to the theatrics of his old teammates. Instead, he just demands a larger bento box from her tomorrow and, like an afterthought, asks her how her mission went. He doesn't even seem too upset that she missed his eighteenth birthday.
So there it is. She's going to have to be the one to initiate the change, because Sasuke clearly has no idea how to confront his feelings. And if you're more passive than a Hyuuga, you know something is wrong with you.
...
To be entirely honest, she's not sure when to make her move. Even if she has decided to do something, it doesn't make her any less hesitant. And somehow, she knows that confessing to him after a spar or over lunch or something won't cut it. It has to be…special.
As luck would have it, a mission arises – a delegation must be sent to the Land of the Snow to celebrate the ascension of their princess to the throne, and Tsunade is not about to think too hard about who to choose to go. She selects the Konoha 12, because they're "already some kind of group anyway and have a lot of pretty faces." The men are too busy celebrating their newly assigned vacation to be offended about that second remark.
Princess Koyuki has a much warmer personality than one would expect from a princess of snow, though her hospitality is tempered by the ever present fact that the delegation's presence and her impending ascension to the throne only exist because of her father's failing health. But it is clear that she loves her people, and does not resent her fate. Hinata can't help admiring her. They have a lot in common, although she was given a choice where Koyuki was not.
The delegation from Konoha is given rooms at Kazahana Castle and, after settling in, decide collectively to go exploring. Following much deliberation (more or less faked for Sasuke's benefit, because the rest of the Konoha 12 sans Sasuke have been plotting an easy setup for Hinata's confession for a while now, much to the Hyuuga's embarrassment), Shikamaru makes the executive decision to visit some nature park apparently famed for its beauty.
Hinata is far too frazzled to appreciate any of it. The eyebrow wiggling of Kiba and Naruto is not any help on her nerves. Next to her, Sasuke is grumbling about ice melting in his hair and everything being too white around here. She bravely takes a look at him to discover that he's been eyeing her scarf the entire time and sighs and hands it over.
Shikamaru, who is just about as eager as Hinata is to get this over with, gives Ino a nudge. The blonde reacts immediately, saying something about wanting to go see the visitor's shop, and Sakura decides to go with her. Chouji adds in that he really wants to see if they are selling any snacks, Neji makes up a half-hearted story about some winter training exercise Gai recommended he and Tenten do, and Lee, Naruto, and Kiba announce their intentions to find some hill to slide down while riding Akamaru. Shino walks off with much less fanfare, whipping out a magnifying glass. Finally Shikamaru coughs and remarks not so subtly something about the view being lovely to the north and slinks off into the white trees without further ado.
It's just her and Sasuke now, the white glittering expanse of the park stretching out around them. The sound of Naruto blabbering on fades into the distance and for the first time since entering the park Hinata feels aware of the vast, quiet nature surrounding them, cool settling onto her skin.
Sasuke is not nearly as impressed. "Let's go look at this view, then," he says with a sigh that crystallizes in the air.
Hinata nods her assent. As they begin to walk, boots crunching on the uneven ground of the trail leading into the trees, the banality of it all strikes her again. Sasuke alone could devastate this entire park in a moment if he so chooses, but instead he's slogging through the snow like a civilian and complaining about how cold it is. Her scarf is more pink than red, though he'll deny it to the end of time, and around his neck it makes him look…silly. Hinata looks away, thinking that peace is worth all the tedium.
Sasuke notices her scrutiny, and frowns. "Is something wrong?" he asks.
Hinata blinks, and feels her cheeks starting to warm. She's not that obvious, is she? "No?"
He wrinkles his nose at her. "Answering a question with a question? Didn't they teach you anything at the academy?"
Hinata breathes out in relief. He doesn't suspect a thing. "I'm fine."
The Uchiha still won't stop staring. She marvels at how easy it is for her to read him – he's puzzled, but then a subtle shift in the shape of his eyes and she can tell he thinks he's on to something.
"You're cold," he says at last. "Aren't you?"
She can't help but smile at his misplaced concern. He probably feels guilty about the scarf, but she's used to giving to him. "Really, I'm fine. The cold is…kind of nice."
Sasuke accepts her reassurance with a shrug as they follow the trail to its conclusion. The trees on either side of them clear away as the ground sprawls onward, ending in a cliff cordoned off by a pale white fence. Far below past the edge is another sea of trees all topped with white. The full blue of the sky seems deeper against all the silver below it.
It is a lovely view after all. Hinata can't help running over to the fence and leaning out over it, drinking in the sight before her. Sasuke is slow to join her, but unconsciously eases closer till their arms touch.
She glances at his profile and suppresses a sigh. The Uchiha features are made for this kind of weather. The sharp angles of his face and his wind-tossed dark hair against the cold white and light blue of the landscape have a very classic appeal.
She opens her mouth to speak but before she can, he does.
"Hinata."
"Yes?" she whispers, tense with anticipation. Her heart pounds in her chest. Is this it? Will he lock his dark eyes to her pale ones, gaze burning with intensity, and say the words she's been waiting for after all?
Sasuke looks deep into her eyes just like she wished. He leans down, parts his lips, and says, "Could you put less wasabi in my bento boxes from now on?"
Hinata's mouth drops open from shock. It's only her good upbringing that stops her from slapping her forehead.
He's dense and stubborn and completely uncool, but that's why she likes him. How could she forget?
Taking a slow breath, she says quietly, "Not until you kiss me."
The ensuing silence is painful.
Hinata resists the urge to cry, and chances a peek at him. He's staring out at the sky ahead with a bemused expression.
"What?" It's a miracle her voice doesn't waver.
Sasuke still doesn't turn to her. "Don't you remember what happened the last time I tried?" he mutters. "You ran away and avoided me for days."
You were an idiot then, Hinata doesn't say. "I think…the circumstances are pretty different this time around, Sasuke."
He finally turns to her, disbelief written all over his face. "So you do like me."
He looks so suspicious that Hinata feels like she's some sort of criminal being forced to defend herself. "Is that so hard to believe?" She sniffs and wishes she had her scarf to hide in, feeling her cheeks starting to burn. This wasn't supposed to be so awkward. Then again, Sasuke has a habit of making everything difficult.
He's silent for a while more, and Hinata has to stop herself from gnawing on the inside of her cheek. Then he raises his head and the embarrassed look on his face is so charming she feels appeased.
"I really don't deserve you," he admits. "All I do is take advantage of your niceness. …You spoil me."
"I know," Hinata says, a smile twitching at her lips. "I kind of like it. You need me."
Apparently Sasuke is satisfied with this, because he leans down to kiss her in response.
This time, Hinata lets him. His touch is hesitant, so she stands on her toes to place her hand on the back of his head, threading fingers through his hair, and pull him closer.
The rest of the Konoha 12, who are all perched in the nearby trees, burst out whooping and clapping. "Finally," mutters Shikamaru, who is comfortably situated along the length of a branch.
Hinata and Sasuke break away from each other to stare at them.
"You were…spying on us?" Hinata nearly sounds accusatory.
"You're all dead." Sasuke's tone is a little less ambiguous.
"Aha…er…congratulations?"
Ninja go crashing in all directions as both bloodline limits activate in tandem. All that one-on-one training really did pay off in the end. Later, much to her consternation, Tsunade is forced to write several letters of apology in response to the damage suffered by one of the Land of the Snow's most beloved parks.
So let me explain a couple things.
First off, I started this two years ago, ran out of steam halfway through the cooking scene, and abandoned it. It was supposed to be funny, I think? And they were supposed to stay young throughout the whole story. But anyway, fast forward to now – I had a shipping itch to scratch so I picked this up again. Somehow it turned into being more centered around their families and them understanding each other, which is not quite as funny as I probably previously intended. (Past lessons I was planning to write: Sasuke being unable to sing, Sasuke being unable to ask for a favor, Sasuke being unable to dance…)
As you may have noticed, and as I have mentioned before, I am a hundred percent incapable of writing anything within the actual Naruto universe, or any plot involving something remotely resembling conflict – I mean, this is the first story I've actually written where they're actually ninja. WHOA. So this is about as close to true Naruto lore you will get from me! (For the record, in this universe, pretty much everyone is alive, including: Hizashi, the Uchiha clan, and Minato and Kushina. Lame, I know.) If you found Hinata to be a little out of character (not liking Naruto, etc.), Neji to be a little too nice, Sasuke not the angsty teenager you know and love, that's why. And I know having Hinata choose to cede the title of clan head is sort of a cop out, but in this universe, I would say it holds less significance in general. (In other words: I'm too lazy to write conflict.)
What else? I have way too much fun writing Hanabi. In fact, I think I have an easier time writing a conversation between Hanabi and Itachi than Hinata and Sasuke. I'm weird.
Oh! As to the gifts in the first chapter – Tenten gave Shino winter melons because they're his favorite food (according to those data books). Shino gave Lee a paper bag to put over his head. Shikamaru got Ino a gift card to her favorite store, a gift which makes so much sense she is baffled by it. As for Sakura's present to Kiba? We will never know…
As for the bento boxes – Hinata did refuse to make them for Sasuke in lesson two, but sometime in between lessons two and three he finally cajoled her into making them for her. That was intentional.
If you're confused about ages, in lesson one they were thirteen, lesson two they were thirteen/fourteen, lesson three they were fifteen, lesson four they were sixteen, and lesson five they were eighteen. I probably mentioned Hanabi's age a bunch of times, because it's the easiest way to make some context. She's five years younger than Hinata.
Oh – and this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I've decided to write one more…