Day 29

- An Excuse to Pull You Closer -

Sasuke's things that are moved into Hinata's house are as follows:

1) A small, cardboard box half-full of photographs and a few noteworthy things from childhood, like the bracelet his mother made him when he was four and a few coins from the Land of Tea and the Land of Water that Kakashi saved for him. He has a few photos from his genin years in Team 7, a map of the old Uchiha estate grounds, and the weathered picture of his parents' wedding. Hinata stores this in the trunk where she keeps her own nostalgic items.

2) A hamper of clothes, including his uniform, four shirts, a jacket, five pants, and three pairs of socks. Hinata quietly notes that they'll have to go out and get him a few more articles of clothing as he puts his stuff away in her closet.

3) Mission gear and equipment: his forehead protector, a flak jacket, kunai, bandages, pills, a pocket knife, and his sword. Again, frightfully slim, and Hinata thinks he'd be more pleased to go shopping for weapons and tools than for clothes.

4) And, finally, two books that she let him borrow.

This is all Sasuke brings on the day he moves in. They put it all away in fifteen minutes.

Hinata had sort of thought that the house would be different once he was officially moved in; like it would feel full, or cramped. But it feels almost entirely the same. It feels like her house with a few, extra items. It feels like she just came back from the store and now has a fridge full of groceries.

"You need more things," she tells Sasuke, looking into her closet. Just that morning, Hinata had made a great effort to organize things and leave room for his stuff. Less than a sixth of the space she made for him is now filled with his stuff. "Lost of things. You didn't bring anything."

Sasuke, on her bed, crosses his legs and flips to the next page of his book. "I'm a minimalist."

She muses over that for a while, then turns to him. Despite it being mid-afternoon, the sky is a dark gray. She turns on the lamp to give him better light to read. "I thought you liked to splurge." He snorts, and she adds, "You spent so much on fugu at Choji's."

His face falls at the mere memory, much to Hinata's amusement.

"I did that to impress you," he says.

"No!" She flops on the mattress next to him. "You didn't."

The corner of his mouth lifts in a half-smile. "Yeah. You're right. I thought you were flirting with me, so I wasn't paying attention."

She remembers that night, but she remembers better the next day, when the realization of what just had transpired hit her fully in the face. It is just as she had expected. He thought she was being flirty. Hinata was being flirty, but it hadn't been purposeful. Or maybe it had been. But it was a playful flirty.

Right?

Now, looking back, she's not sure. But it had led Sasuke down a path, no matter what her intentions were.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"Why?"

"For leading you on."

Now he scoffs. "You just made me more determined."

Heart flittering, Hinata circles her arms around his neck, planting kiss after kiss on his chin. It gets in the way of his reading, but Sasuke doesn't care.

"Welcome home, Sasuke," she whispers.

His chin rests against her shoulder. The book is left forgotten on the comforter.

"I'm home."

...

Outside, the sky turns black, and a great blizzard hits Konoha.

One minute, they're talking about dinner; the next, the power flashes out, and they're bathed in darkness. Hinata finds the flashlight under her bathroom sink, then goes around lightening candles so the kitchen and living room is lit in a warm, orange glow. Sasuke stuffs towels under the door to keep any cold from leaking in, and then they scout out canned pears and bread and jam to eat for dinner. It's thrilling, almost, like children making up games to pass the time. They eat on the floor and play 20 Questions. Hinata guesses senbon in thirteen guesses. Sasuke guesses Hanabi in five.

There's no chance of a bath before bed, so they scoop snow in cups and brush their teeth when it's melted. They tuck under bed when the house grows cold, and they lay across each other, tracing the outlines of one another's faces.

"Good first day," Hinata murmurs.

"I'd rather be here than with Kakashi," Sasuke says.

Her body is warm. She almost wonders if steam is coming off her skin, but when she lifts her arm into the air, nothing is coming from it.

"I feel like I'm melting," she says.

Sasuke's hand slips across the sheets to feel her shoulder. His hand, freezing, makes her jump a little.

"Kami. You're cold."

"I'm surprised you aren't."

Hinata slips out of bed, and her legs are shaking, and her heart is thundering, and her chakra feels like strings pulling her back to Sasuke. When her hand touches her stomach, her insides flutter, and she recognizes this sort of heat very well. Slowly, she lifts her shirt, pulling it over her head, before stepping out of her sweats. She sees Sasuke's outline lift into a halfway-sitting pose, curious about all the noise coming her way and why she's gone out of bed.

When Hinata is naked, she lifts the heavy comforter and sheets and crawls in all the way until she's on top of him, letting it all hang off of her shoulders. She presses her whole body over him, warming him up, and begins to rock against him. His hand feels the bare line of her spine, and she shivers.

"You don't need to go to Kakashi anymore," she says from above, barely making out the whites of his eyes through the dark. She feels his light breath against her chin. "I can have you now, and I can have you at dawn, and I can have you late morning, and you won't ever have to go back."

He hardens under her. Hinata's hand slips under his shirt, folding it to his collarbone so her breasts push against his chest.

"This is your home now," she tells him.

He cranes his neck and fits his mouth under her jaw. There's no lube around, so they touch each other and rock and shudder. Every noise and breath coming from beneath her shoots an arrow of arousal through her body, and Hinata soon sits up, feeling herself, hoping she'd wet enough.

"Patience," Sasuke assures her.

Hinata, usually the more patient of the two, barely recognizes the word. But she moves his hand to palm her clit, and when he slips in a finger to loosen her up, she lulls her head back and gets his boxers out of the way. When she sinks down on him, his chin thrusts to the ceiling, and he groans long and low. His hand is now on her hip, pushing her down, helping her find her rhythm as she rides him.

"Ka—" struggles from his throat.

Now his body is rapidly warming up, their skin stuck together, their thighs slick with sweat. The sheets slide off her back, and Hinata hovers in the cool, dark air, lifting, then falling. It feels —

It's incredible.

It's — it's definitely — and she — kami — she never wants to —

"Stop."

She does, and Sasuke sits up.

"Wait," he pants. "Wait." His hand slides down her hip, down the front of her leg, where thigh and pelvis connect. "I'm not wearing a condom."

. . . And, for some reason, Hinata does not panic. She does not move, as asked, of course. And maybe it's the adrenaline. Maybe it's the arousal. Maybe it's the fact that she's so, so close, or maybe it's because it's Sasuke's first night here after completely moving in and it's all affecting her more than she thought it would — but Hinata thinks about him cumming inside of her, and it makes her tighten up. Sasuke gasps, and his fingers spread out.

"I'll . . ." Hinata bites the inside of her cheek. "I'll get off."

Not a word — until she starts to do exactly that, and it makes them both shutter before she can fully get on her knees. Sasuke's hand squeezes down. Not stopping her, just . . . there.

So she pauses, thinks for a second, then rocks. Another storm of pleasure makes her rest her hands on his shoulders. She doesn't go down on him. She just stays a little over him, and she rocks back and forth, and he holds her and sways with her, daring reality with her. When he stops, taking deep breaths, Hinata stops with him; then, they move a little more, then stop again.

And this, they know, is exactly what they shouldn't be doing. All they have to do is grab a condom and continue.

And it isn't the risk that's thrilling and making them go and stop and go and stop. Not for Hinata, at least.

It's because it's Sasuke, and because he's here, and because she loves him entirely that, maybe, Hinata doesn't fear where this could lead.

But . . . what about Sasuke?

This is something they haven't discussed before; children, that is. Trying for them. Raising them. Being parents.

She doesn't know what he thinks; all she knows is that he's not stopping her. A heat of the moment sort of think, maybe. Something he . . . might regret later.

So Hinata removes herself from him, sitting back.

Through the dark, they look at each other, and they think, and they wonder.