Title. Odette
Disclaimer. Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. If I owned them I wouldn't have to slog this hard at a desk job for money. ;w;
Summary. A story of love and courtship set in the medieval times. She fell for him at first sight, which amused him to no end, and her reactions when he courted her was far more entertaining still. SasuHina. M rating for future sexual content.
Chapter Summary: Sasuke begins to feel deep passionate stirrings in him, tries to deny it and suppress it, but by the end of the fic comes to realise what he cannot brush off.
AN. For this chapter i just wanted to highlight that although Hinata typically wears baggier covered clothing to hide her body, that is not typical of clothing during the medieval times. Medieval clothing tend to have lower necklines, corsets and tight fitting lace up dresses to showcase the curvy silhouettes of females.
Chapter 3 - Changes
Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.
- Bruce Lee
14 years old
They were teenagers now, and the differences between them were growing.
Each time they met after the months apart, he would notice how much more different she had become; how much more womanly she had become. Her hair, now grown out, flowed down her back like an indigo waterfall, the straight smooth locks accentuating the curves her body was developing. He came acutely aware that he was a male, and she a female, and the twisting feelings that that realisation brought on unsettled him.
He had always known she was a girl, of course. How could he not, with her obvious blushing infatuation with him? What he wanted to know, was when she had started developing into a woman. She was still more girl than woman, with the baby fat clinging onto her round cheeks, and her body still filling out, but Sasuke was well aware that she was amply blessed with certain… assets. Hell, even at fourteen she had more pronounced assets than some of the female help at Sharingan or Hyuuga Castle who were in their twenties or thirties.
It hadn't helped that when he had arrived at Hyuuga Castle earlier, she had been waiting with her family in the foyer, face aglow with happiness at seeing him again and body encased in a snug fitting dress that enhanced the new curves her body was developing. Going from child to woman meant that she had discarded the tunic dresses and adopted lace up velvet dresses over corsets. The dress she had worn today had been of a rich dark purple velvet, contrasting beautifully with her flawless fair skin and opal eyes. The bodice was adorned with gold trimming that had drawn Sasuke's eyes before he hastily averted them.
Now, slumped on the bed in his guest room, Sasuke laid his arm across his eyes tiredly. He had retreated to his room shortly after their arrival, needing to escape before he developed a problem in his pants. Linen was not very effective in hiding appendages should they decide to proclaim their existence, after all. During the entire welcome and greeting, he'd had to consciously strain to keep his eyes from wandering over to tempting low neckline of her dress. He felt sickened with himself, he knew the hormones he was becoming affected by in the process of going through puberty - even had to deal with them a couple of times already - but this was his childhood friend, for crying out loud. So why was his body not obeying?
Groaning, Sasuke decided that he needed to work off some steam before the problem decided to present itself and then he'd have trouble making it go away. He pushed himself off the bed and changed into more comfortable and lighter clothing. Making his way over the Hyuuga Castle's garden, Sasuke heard hesitant footsteps trailing behind him. Mentally he sighed, even in trying to prevent the problem from occurring, the cause of said problem had to show up. How was he supposed to work it off if the stimulant for the problem was there?
'You are an Uchiha. Uchiha are stoic and have a firm grasp on their emotions, hormones be damned.'
Firming his resolution and pushing her out of his mind, Sasuke stopped abruptly before the large glass doors at the end of the corridor. He heard the light patter of feet behind him halt and felt the petite girl crash into his back with a soft "eep!" as she couldn't stop herself in time in her scramble to catch up to his long strides. Turning around, he saw her blink dazedly as she rubbed her little button nose that was now red from the impact. Grasping her hand in his - warm; it was so warm and soft - he pushed open the doors that led out to the expansive backyard. The gentle breeze that welcomed them was warm and carried the scent of blooming flowers. Tugging her along behind him, Sasuke made his way towards the exercise corner of the garden he often frequented. Stopping before the wooden training dummies, he chose the one nearest to the flower beds.
"I'm going to practice some new moves that Itachi taught me a couple of days ago," Sasuke informed her, as he deposited her at the edge of flowers. "You can… I don't know, watch the flowers here or something. I know you like them." Hinata blinked at him, then lowered her eyelashes, hesitating.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked, recognising that the girl wanted to speak but was too shy to do so. Hinata hesitated a moment longer, before speaking up softly while fidgeting with her fingers.
"C...Can I watch you t-train instead…?" She had to fight off a blush threatening to take over her cheeks as she asked. Sasuke frowned. However, he supposed that as long as he didn't need to see her, and could work off his frustration in peace, it didn't matter if she wanted to watch. He nodded stiffly then turned his back on her, pushing all other thoughts from his mind and he began to train.
Hinata fiddled with her fingers in her lap absently while watching him go through his practice. Sasuke was handsome, that was widely acknowledged, but seeing his fluid motions as he trained, the way he dipped, weaved, and struck with precision and power, Hinata thought he was beautiful, almost as if he were dancing, but crackling with raw power.
After some time, Sasuke finished his training routine, and the result was liberating. He felt as if a great weight had lifted from his chest, and his muscles felt free and loose despite the power and adrenaline coursing through them. The tension and frustration he felt had all melted away. He smirked in satisfaction, patting the training dummy before turning back to Hinata. She was still sitting there obediently, enraptured by his display. Sasuke revelled in the admiration in her eyes, and rejoiced in the fact that her visage no longer caused the twisting in his loins and heat within him. She still looked tempting, of course, but he was in control of himself now.
'Yes, that must have just been a moment of weakness to the hormonal changes I'm going through, and nothing more.'
16 years old
It was getting harder to brush it off as moments of weaknesses.
The more she had developed into a woman during this time, the more acutely aware he became of this fact, and the harder it became to view her purely as a childhood friend. Over the last few years, his thoughts had often been plagued by thoughts of her, even when they were apart. He'd even had to relieve himself to thoughts of her when the image of her refused to leave his mind. After he came down from his climax, he'd feel disgusted for using his friend like this, even if it was in thought only, but the next time his thoughts turned to her would have him hardening again and he couldn't stop himself.
Sasuke didn't know which was worse, that he was having lustful thoughts about his friend, or that his thoughts about her went beyond the physical. Her girlish laughter, light and tinkling, evoked feelings of warmth within him. Uchihas didn't get warm and fuzzy, they weren't supposed to. Her blushes and stammering, which used to be pure amusement, now stirred something deeper beyond. When he teased her, it was no longer just for fun, but induced a euphoric feeling when she would blush and get embarrassed. Outwardly though, Sasuke managed to keep his indifference, all arrogant smirks and cool confidence. But inside, foreign feelings unknown to him twisted, snaking their way into his system and his heart, and trying to squelch them was proving to be an arduous task.
Sasuke didn't know why he was resisting the feelings, he just knew that he felt a compelling need to deny and suppress them. He didn't need women, he didn't want women, he didn't have time for women. His time was better spent training and studying to be stronger and wiser like his father and his brother. Women were silly creatures who flirted with him too much and threw themselves at him. With the other guests who brought young daughters that his parents had entertained, the girls had flirted outrageously, trying to entice him with their bodies and putting their hands on his arm, and each time he would shake them off and give them the cold shoulder, but still they would persist. Hinata had been the only one who hadn't been aggressive in her affections towards him, and he'd come to be grateful that there was at least one sane female his age that he could be friends with.
That brought him back to the problem at hand, where he was faced with the growing realisation that it was getting harder and harder to see Hinata as only a friend. If he developed feelings for her, what would that mean for their friendship? They had a good easy relationship going on now, horse riding across the meadows, quiet study sessions and insightful discussions on political theories, would these feelings change that? A large premise of their friendship had been her one sided feelings for him and his teasing her on that regard. If the feelings became mutual, would he still be able to tease her, or would he lose some standing ground in their relationship?
It was all too troublesome to think about. The Hyuugas were due to arrive for their visit in a few days and with each encroaching day Sasuke felt more wound up about the issue. Itachi and Mikoto had noticed the rising tension in Sasuke and had enquired if he was alright, which he had brushed off. Worrying over a girl would make him seem weak and he was sure Itachi would never let him live it down.
The day came all too soon for the Hyuugas to arrive. Grumpily, Sasuke stomped into the main hall to take his place beside his family, both excited and dreading seeing Hinata again. As the Hyuugas descended upon Sharingan Castle, Sasuke couldn't keep his eyes off her. She was all sweetness and femininity with her creamy skin and ruffled pale pink dress. The quickening of his heartbeat made him feel foolish, stuff like that were for fairy tales and naive romanticists. He frowned heavily, and the scowl on his face deepened. He didn't like how much of a wuss he was becoming, or how his emotions were so affected by this one girl. Hinata approached Sasuke with a soft smile on her face, but as she came closer, her smile faded away into a look of concern.
"Sasuke-kun, you're upset." She placed a hand on his arm, her voice laced with worry. Isn't it funny how he didn't seem to mind her hand on his arm? Sasuke frowned further at that thought, and forcefully shook off her hand, turning away from her. Immediately, Hinata's face fell, her pale eyes widening in hurt. Sasuke immediately felt like a jerk. It wasn't her fault but his own disconcerting feelings, and his coldness was hurting her. However, he didn't know how else to suppress those feelings than to distance himself from her.
Hinata hesitated, then dropped her hand to her lap where she clasped them tightly till her knuckles turned white. She turned her face to the ground, feeling the heavy weight of sadness at Sasuke's rejection crushing her chest. Hinata was confused, she didn't know what she had done to warrant this treatment from Sasuke, he had been aloof and indifferent before, but never so outrightly cold. Mumbling an apology for whatever it is she must have done, she gave him a slight bow and shuffled away from him as quickly as she could. Sasuke's hand twitched, wanting to grab her arm to stop her from going, to keep her with him, but he did not move.
Over the next few days, Sasuke and Hinata skirted around each other, as if treading on thin ice. Whenever they encountered each other, Hinata would murmur a brief greeting, Sasuke a curt nod, and then they would part ways. The only time they spent together was during meals when everyone would gather, but even then they did not converse. It was killing Sasuke. She haunted his thoughts even more than ever, wanting to talk to her, to spend time with her, to hear her laugh, to see her sweet smiling face, that adorable blush of hers and that weird habit of fiddling her fingers. He hadn't wanted to acknowledge that his feelings for her were changing because change was scary, and that change might ruin their friendship, alter the way they behaved around each other. But this, wasn't this destroying their friendship too? Sasuke was frustrated and wanted to tear his hair out. A deep guilt gnawed at him everytime he saw her despondent face and downcast eyes, knowing he was the cause of her sadness, and he wanted so desperately to make her happy again. Finally, unable to withstand this any longer, Sasuke sought Hinata out, unknowing of how to resolve this, but unable to sit and not do something about it.
He found her in the library, curled up on a chaise lounge by a large window. The sunlight filtering through shone upon her dark hair and fair skin, making her seem almost ethereal in her cream dress of ruffles and lace. Her long dark lashes were lowered over her half lidded eyes that flitted across the pages, engrossed in her book. When had she become so beautiful?
"Hinata," Sasuke called, stopping before her and stuffing his hands into his pockets. Hinata jerked, startled from being too absorbed in her book, and looked up at his in surprise. "Sasuke," she breathed. She hadn't expected him to approach her. Her eyes followed him, blinking owlishly as he sighed exasperatedly, raking a hand through his hair before plopping down onto the chair next to her. She waited for him to speak, but Sasuke just stared at her for a few moments before dropping his head into his hands in frustration.
"U-um, Sas… Sasuke? D-did I do something wrong?" Hinata asked timidly. "That's the thing!" Sasuke exploded, frowning fiercely. Hinata recoiled, taken aback by his sudden burst of anger. "That's just it! You didn't do anything, and it makes me feel like an ass!" Hinata said nothing, feeling her confusion worsening, a bewildered expression on her face. As if a dam had exploded, Sasuke leapt up from the couch, pacing in front of it as he ranted.
"I thought that it would go away if I just ignored you but it didn't, it just made things worse, and now I have to deal with feeling like a jerk on top of this stupid, stupid feelings, and I can't even talk to you or see you and it just makes me want you more and it makes me feel vulnerable to need you so much and I hate being weak!" Sasuke stopped, panting and balling his fists, glaring at nothing in particular, his whole body feeling tense as if coiled up for a fight.
"Sasuke," His eyes snapped up to look at her, as she placed a gentle hand on one of his fists, her eyes creased with worry. "I don't understand, Sasuke, but whatever is wrong, you don't have to deal with it alone. Please don't push me away, talk to me and let me help you." And Sasuke looked at her, really looked at her and the concern and love for him shining in her eyes, and her pureness and innocence and all the goodness in her he had come to so desperately need. And at that moment, Sasuke realised that he never wanted to be without her, male pride and ego be damned.
So Sasuke acted on impulse and pulled her into his arms, crushing his lips to hers in a fierce, bruising kiss.
So that turned out more adult than what I had planned in my head. hmm.
I don't know how or why the more adult aspects slipped into the story but well, I think it kinda works, so heh.
Somehow my chapter planning got bumped up as well, so we're gonna get into the SasuHina next chapter rather than Chapter 5 as originally planned! :)
I know it isn't very long compared to some of the other authors on this site, but I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my fics haha
Hope you enjoyed, and please do leave a review to let me know what you think. Reviews make me happy!