Bright and early the next day, Sasuke was eating a small breakfast while his friends got ready under his demanding glare. He hadn't come to Aosta Valley for nothing––he was ready for the Dolomites.
Sakura had been slow to wake––citing too much rum for dinner––and had passed on breakfast, but she knew how important it was to him (and was secretly extremely competitive on her on own) so he was satisfied when she showed up once he was done, dressed in her all-pink snowsuit, her goggles already perched on top of her head.
"Well," Ino said, also finishing her meal right as Sakura walked in. "If you go missing it won't be hard to fuckin' find you, Forehead."
"Oh shut up, Pig. I'm going to demolish you on those slopes."
"You wish."
"At least they're chipper," Shikamaru said, next to Sasuke. He inclined his head towards Naruto, who was holding his temples like one would hold a small child. "He's hungover."
"Loser," Sasuke teased as Naruto groaned at them, making a crude gesture with his middle finger raised. "Go get a hangover cure from the bar. We'll wait for you."
"We will?" Shikamaru looked up from his phone, surprised.
"No," Sasuke said as he looked up and spotted Hinata entering the breakfast hall. She was wearing her new snowsuit––an all black coat, and all black pants that made her look mysterious. Her snow goggles were sitting around her neck, and she played with them idly as she ordered a cappuccino with the server in quiet, cautious Italian. He didn't know she could even speak Italian.
"What?" Shikamaru's gaze followed Sasuke's, and he looked back at Sasuke with a slight squint; perplexed.
"You'll have to wait for Naruto without me. I've got to teach Hinata how to snowboard before you guys run her off the mountain."
"Okay…" Shikamaru said agreeable, leaning back in his seat. Then, he shrugged. "More rest for me. I'll get the idiot that 'cure' you speak of."
Ten minutes later, Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata were waiting at the Gondola outside of the hotel. Behind them, Shisui and Sai stood silently, twin bored expressions across their faces as they held their ski gear. It seemed perfunctory for them, this trip, the sport, the ride up the mountain, but Sasuke wasn't going to let them ruin his fun.
As they joined the lift line, Sasuke explained how Hinata should walk with one foot strapped in, one foot out, like skating, to practice her balance. When the lift came, she would be expected to jump off with both feet on the board, so she'd better be ready.
"C'mon, Sasuke we're next," Sakura said, putting her arm through his as they approached the top of the line. Hinata's face flashed with concern with her teacher suddenly ahead of her, but she hid it well, turning to Ino to spark up a conversation. It would be useless for Sasuke to argue, so he sat on the lift beside Sakura and turned his head to make sure Hinata got on okay.
Ino grabbed her arm, and showed her how to squat just enough to make her butt hit the seat, and eased them both on. Satisfied that Hinata was safely on the lift, Sasuke turned to face what was in front of him. Beautiful, white mountains began to reveal themselves to him. He was reminded of his mother, who would hold his hand as they went up and up and up. She always snowboarded too-–her favorite––while Fugaku preferred skiing.
"Don't you love it up here?" Mikoto would say to her sons as they stared down the face of the mountain. "The crispness of the air, the sun on your noses, how the snow makes little crunch sounds every time we walk?"
"––She's grown, Sasuke. You don't have to be so worried about her," Sakura said, knocking Sasuke out of the bright memory of his mother. She had a hint of jealousy in her tone. It wasn't unusual for Sakura to get jealous but this time it felt different. It felt personal.
Sasuke merely shrugged, "She could sue me if she got hurt and call it company negligence."
"I might not be a lawyer, Sasuke, but that sounds like bullshit to me."
Sasuke was silent. A tension filled the air between them. Sasuke felt Sakura look at him out of the corner of her eye as they went up and up and up, but Sasuke didn't bother dignifying her with a response. If she wanted to behave that way, then so be it. Sasuke wasn't in the mood to be sucked into one of her games. This was supposed to be his happy place.
A few minutes later, Sasuke floated off of the lift, and tried to keep his amusement to himself when Hinata tripped and Ino steadied her around the waist. The women laughed quietly to themselves until Sakura inserted herself, and demanded that Ino race her down the most notoriously difficult path. Sasuke didn't even know if Ino had ever skied before.
"You're so on, bitch," Ino said––apparently she had skied before, and she skied away to the start of the path.
Furiously, Sakura went after her––not even telling Sasuke goodbye. Her competitiveness was getting ahead of her, but for once Sasuke felt grateful.
He turned to Hinata as she was staring down at the mountains, then up, in wonder, at the blue of the sky and the taller mountains around them. Pine trees lept from the ground like talismans. They were surrounded on all sides, and the wind was a blissful sort of quiet.
"It's so crisp up here," she hummed as she leaned down to adjust the feet of the snowboard. Then, she turned her head anxiously in the direction of the most difficult path. "Do you think Sakura and Ino are going to be okay?"
"Sakura is a pro," Sasuke said, as he joined her. He tightened his straps and noticed where hers were still loose, reaching out and pulling the boot snug. Hinata looked up, embarrassed to find his face so close to his, but smiled nonetheless and thanked him once she was secured. "Nice and tight?" He asked.
"Couldn't move 'em if I tried," Hinata affirmed as she sat back in the snow. She looked up at him then, "But––um, how do I get back up?"
"Here," Sasuke stepped on her board and made sure it wouldn't move, and grabbed her arm to pull her back up. She sprang up with a swiftness he wasn't expecting and he jumped back, surprised. "Okay, great enthusiasm," he chuckled.
"Sorry," she said.
He taught her the basics: Heel-sliding, which mostly dealt with positions of the feet: close to the snow you go fast, far from the snow you slow down; then sliding on your toes; then turns. She was surprisingly…very good. Sasuke only had to catch her a couple of times when her heel-sliding became unruly, but overall, she was very well balanced and a quick learner. Sasuke was impressed as he released her hand, and she went sliding down the training lawn without so much of a frown.
"Are you sure you haven't done this before?" He asked skeptically, as they made their way back to the summit so that they could choose their actual route now that the training session was over.
"Not once," Hinata said, grinning. Her hair flew in the wind around her––her smile was bright, excited, and it was hard for Sasuke to look away. The sun caught her eyelashes and Sasuke was pulled in. "But this is so fun!"
"My mother loves snowboarding," he found himself admitting. Though it wasn't a secret by any means, he still wasn't used to volunteering information about his parents to just anyone, especially without being asked. Together, they stood at the lip of the summit, the sun beaming on top of their dark heads. "She was––and probably still is––better at it than both Itachi and I. My father is a skier. I never liked the poles."
"The poles seem complicated," Hinata agreed, her fingers coming to pull her half-mask that rested just under her chin, up above her mouth as a gust of wind passed between us. Sasuke had to lean close to hear her better. "B-but Sakura-san seems to like it. Do y-you ever ski together?"
Sasuke didn't want to talk about Sakura, so he pretended he hadn't heard her as he pointed out the different paths down the summit. Easy, medium, hard, difficult, and maximum difficulty. He recommended the easy path, and Hinata frowned––mostly through her eyebrows, expressive little things Sasuke noticed suddenly, since her mouth was still covered. Why hadn't he noticed how Hinata wore so many of her emotions in her eyebrows before?
"Easy is boring," she said, surprising him, as she nimbly braided her hair––that hair, that dark, thick hair––down her back and tucked it into the neck of her snowsuit. Her face was pale but blemish free, pinkened at her nose and cheeks. She had never been more clear to Sasuke than she was in that moment, her chin to the sun, her eyes determined and energetic, her hair pulled back. She looked every bit the heiress she was as she pulled her mask back down and grinned. "We should do hard––if you want. I––I um…d-don't know how good you are at it."
"Are you teasing me, Hyuga?" Sasuke said, laughter bubbling out of him as she blushed heavily, her entire face turning the same pink color as her nose. "Me? The person who just taught you how to stand up straight?"
Hinata paused as she knelt down to make sure the steps of her board were tight, angling her face so that the sun shined on top of her cheek bones––and smiled. "What? Are you…scared?"
"Don't worry about me, Hinata," Sasuke said as he jumped, putting his non-dominant foot first and leaned forward towards the sign marked Hard! When he got to the lip of the first hill, he looked back at the woman––at her wide-eyes, her surprised smile, and her open mouth––and dipped down the mountain. "Worry about yourself!"
Refreshed, Sasuke felt the wind on his face. He hadn't bothered to put on his mask as he bent his knees and leaned forward, zipping from side-to-side. He was avoiding the jumps, because he wanted to keep track of her, and was pleased when he heard her small yell of excitement when her board hit the snow behind her.
"Still alive back there, I hope?" He yelled.
He received an affirmative yelp back as Hinata boarded down the mountain, coming quickly beside him, her braid escaping from her suit and flying in the air like a whip behind her. He eyed her––how'd she get there so fast?––as she leaned forward, her arms at her sides to steady her. Damn. She was actually really good. How was that possible? Wasn't she supposed to be clumsy?
"Avoid the kickers," Sasuke said, gesturing to the small hills that popped up every once in a while. She may be fast and quick on her feet, but she was no professional––he hadn't taught her that yet. "And I'll race you to the bottom."
"Deal," Hinata said, an edge of competitiveness Sasuke hadn't been expecting entering her voice as she leaned forward beside him, forcing the board forward, her braid hitting him in the nose on her way down the mountain.
Perturbed by the gesture––and the smell of her hair––Sasuke almost let her get ahead, but he quickly gained his bearings and veered to the left, towards the nearest kicker. He may have told her to avoid it, but he wasn't going to. He finally settled his goggles over his eyes and flew up the side of the kicker, lifting his legs under him, and touching the board with the bottom of his left arm. He got a solid five seconds of air time before he landed in front of Hinata and zipped down the mountain.
She was frozen by the time his board kissed the snow. Loser, he thought snidely, winking at her as he bent his knees to keep pushing. Snow flew into his face and hair, and the sun on top of his head felt like a blessing. The two of them were 3/4ths down the mountain already.
He guessed hard hadn't been so difficult for the Hyuga after all. He was beginning to wonder if she had played him by making him think she was new to the sport, when she actually wasn't, but he quickly discarded that thought when he watched her wobbly board accidentally go up a kicker a little ways behind him. Hinata gave a feeble attempt at a jump mid-air, but her arms flailed comically at her sides, and her board barely lifted off the hill––she'd lost control.
Sasuke didn't even have time to laugh as her body was sliding towards him, her arms thrown up in the air––all skill, or pretense of skill, vanished the moment Hinata's board sliced into Sasuke's ankles, toppling him, too. Together, tangled now, they slid into a pine tree. Hinata's board hit the base, shook the thin bark, and caused a fluff of snow to flutter on top of them like a mini avalanche had occurred.
"Who the hell told you you could do that?" Sasuke swore, reaching for his ankles once he finally gained his bearings. They burned, but nothing was broken, so he couldn't be too mad. Grumpily, he massaged them with gloved hands, his butt firmly in the snow. Luckily, he'd purchased the most cold and wet-resistant snowsuits there were.
Hinata was practically laying face down in the snow. Cautiously, Sasuke reached for the woman's shoulders, and when he pulled her up, he was surprised to see her bright-red face, with small tears curling around the corners of her eyes. Was she…was she crying?
"I'm s-so sorry, Sasuke-san!" She said, raising her gloved hands to wipe her disturbed bangs from her eyes. "I hope you're not hurt! But um…um that was r-really fun."
She was so strange, and Sasuke told her as much, shaking his head as he leaned back into the snow on his elbows. He watched her reorient herself: meticulously re-braiding her hair, checking the straps of the board, wiping the fallen snow off her shoulders. When she noticed him looking, snow still on his shoulders and head, she dutifully reached across the space between them and took a cautious hand across his torso, disrupting the snow. Sasuke, being the nuisance he was, lowered his head as she did this and shook it rapidly––sending snow right into her face.
She sneezed as she recoiled.
"That's what you get for trying the kicker," he said, laughing as he watched her wipe her face. "I didn't know you were crazy."
"It was an accident," Hinata said, trying to hide a smile. "I became distracted by––um––and so I didn't see it coming up beside me. When I realized it was too late I tried to copy your jump but I guess I didn't have the mental faculty."
"Pft, mental faculty?" Sasuke snorted. "It's called muscle memory, and you don't have that yet. I'm just surprised you made it down the mountain in one piece. You were so focused on beating me before––what distracted you?"
He was surprised to see her eyebrows lift and her cheeks pinken, but she said nothing to his question and he had the sneaking suspicion that it was something he did. He remembered his wink and how she froze in place like a statue, like she'd just turned to stone. Did he have that effect on her?
Something thrummed through him: a memory. Finding Hinata standing in his suite, her back to the bathroom door, clutching that paperweight. Another one: earlier that day, when he tightened his sweatpants around her waist and accidentally pulled her closer. He felt something in his chest shake loose.
Interesting.
He leaned forward––testing it, whatever it was––and was amused when she jumped back, almost frantically––and hit her head against the trunk of the tree.
The amusement dispersed at once when her face erupted in pain––Sasuke reached out almost immediately, cradling the back of her head, that long braid, in his palm. Her eyes fluttered to his, and they were so close he could feel her breath, but still he held her as confusion suddenly mixed with the pain.
"Are you okay? Do you think you have a concussion?"
"I think––I think––umm," Hinata stuttered and then closed her eyes as Sasuke took away his hand. She took a long, deep breath that seemed to fill the depths of her lungs, in through her nose and out through her mouth. For a moment, it seemed like she had just pulled the confidence from an entirely different place. "I just need a second. I'm sorry, I think I'm just frazzled from the adrenaline rush from…all of this."
Sasuke leaned back into the snow, letting the sunlight cloud his vision with sunspots. He was in no hurry.
"Take all the time you need, Hyuga. I'll be here," he said. And meant it.
-:-
Back warm and safe at the resort, Hinata groaned as she wrapped her ankle in a bandage. She'd landed from the kicker harder than she thought, and when she finally took her snow boots off, there was an aggravated swell to her ankle.
Sasuke whistled when he saw it. He allowed her to lean on him as he guided them to the small infirmary beside the equipment rental shop, and requested bandage from the owner. He told Hinata to sit on the counter as he propped her leg up on his thigh, peering at it with an intensity that Hinata was slowly getting used to. It still managed to make her somewhat uncomfortable, but of course, there was a…different feeling under that discomfort.
Like a shock, or a reminder of a different world, she remembered the stitches he'd put in her arm just a few days ago, and how they were already dissolving into the home of her skin. Sasuke was careful––diligent––as he touched her swollen foot.
"I think it's just irritated," she suggested. She knew far more about the body than Sasuke did, but still––that was something he did not know about her, nor would it be something he could understand about her. "I'll need ice."
"Mhhm," Sasuke nodded, but her foot remained on his thigh. Hinata was just grateful she'd managed to get a pedicure before the baby shower. He put the end of the tape in his mouth and stretched it arm-length, then snapped the piece off. "I'll get you ice soon. One step at a time, Hyuga."
Everyone else was still out on the mountains, Hinata imagined. She hadn't seen anyone since the training course Sasuke took her on. Personally––and physically––she was done for the day. She'd had enough excitement for the next ten years of her life, and that was saying something, for a spy. She daydreamed about spending the rest of her evening in the Turkish baths, her thoughts only interrupted by Sasuke placing his warm hand under her calf as he steadied her leg against him.
She ignored this––this warmth, the heat, the tingling––and pretended to be preoccupied with the Italian news playing on one of the flat-screen televisions above their heads. Sasuke wouldn't let her.
"So," he said, as he wrapped the tape, his head lowered. "I thought you should know that I've finally processed it."
Hinata tilted her head, her hands wrapping around the counter as she squinted at him. "P-processed what? The Kaguya case?"
They still hadn't signed off on that. Hinata frowned as she made a mental reminder to put a virtual meeting in their calendar to finally close that deal. It had gone on too long, and she worried that they would back out because of––
"No," Sasuke chuckled, finishing the wrap. He taped the end, just like he had fixed one of her injuries before, and gently set her leg down. "It's always work with you. No, that's not it. I've processed that…you were trying to protect me. And I think it's very…sweet of you. Sweet, but perhaps…misguided."
Now Hinata was utterly confused. So confused, in fact, that she forgot about her throbbing foot. So this wasn't about work? What on Earth had she protected him from recently? She chewed on her lip, trying to recall their trip down the mountain when Sasuke finally spoke again.
"Naruto and Sakura. I know about them. I always had my suspicions, but I finally connected the dots right when we arrived in Rome. That's why I wanted to come here so badly all of a sudden."
Hinata felt her mouth drop a little, but she was quick to mask her shock. Strangely, she felt guilty for lying about it. She challenged herself to look into the man's eyes, and saw that no sadness lived there––there was, perhaps, a sense of betrayal, a hardened edge to be covered up, but no grief.
"I'm…I'm sorry for lying to you," Hinata said, feeling his eyes on her, and not being able to stand them. Why did she feel so guilty? Her stomach churned. "I guess I…there was s-some part of me that didn't want to see you hurting. I didn't know what to do and everything had happened so fast and––"
"You can't control other people, Hinata. You're not the one being deceitful."
Ah. Now that was a punch to the gut. Hinata's fingers tightened around the counter once again as she looked everywhere but Sasuke's eyes: at the television, at the medical tape beside the snowboard, at Sasuke's hand coming to rest beside hers. He was trapping her: both hands sitting against the counter, just centimeters away from her own.
"I didn't bring that up to talk about Naruto and Sakura, though," Sasuke said, peering up at her. It unnerved her: his stare, their closeness, the way she could see his chest rising and falling. Heat spread through her chest. She needed to think of ways to escape––ways to get out––
"Do they know you know?" She questioned, a distraction from the heat rising between them.
"No," Sasuke said shortly, impassively. "But we can talk about that later, if you would like."
Once again perplexed, Hinata blinked down at him. "We can talk about that later…?" Why would he need to talk about that with her?
"Yes, Hinata, we can talk about it later. I imagine we will have some things to figure out between us because––"
Hinata opened her mouth to ask, but he stopped her with a look, his thumbs beside her, brushing her pinkies. Neither of them moved. Hinata resisted the strange urge to push her hands closer, to burrow her skin against his skin, to feel the sear of his hands. She thought of what he would say next: we'll have to figure out what happens to the law firm, we'll have to figure out the rest of the trip, we'll have to figure out your pay after I promote you because I have to fire my best friend––
"Because it's clear that we––you and I, Hinata––feel something for each other. And I am not at liberty to ignore it anymore. Life is too fucking short and I have tried to do the right thing for far too long. Please tell me if I am wrong."
The blood raced to Hinata's head. Her pulse quickled. Without thinking, she took Sasuke's hands into hers, and squeezed them. She was looking everywhere but him, once again: at the tiled floors, at the Dolomites outside of the floor-to-ceiling windows, at their fingers––interlocked. She could feel him close to her, between her legs as she sat on top of the counter, his dark eyes searching for hers.
When she didn't answer for too long, she felt him move his hands, she felt him begin to step back, she felt the loss of warmth before it had happened.
Her voice cracked, but she was confident when she said, "––You're not––wrong. Y-you're not wrong, Sasuke. I…feel something for you, too, and I've been trying to ignore it because, well, because everything––"
"Let me kiss you," Sasuke said, when their eyes met and Hinata stopped talking, losing her words at the depths of his gaze. His hands slipped from hers and went around her waist, slowly––cautiously, more gently than she had ever known from him. "Can I kiss you, Hinata?"
Hinata nodded shyly as he eased her off the counter from her sitting position and onto her one good foot, leaning her back against the edge of it, and arm still around her waist. Her braid was coming loose, so he tucked the strands behind her ear. "You have to tell me," he said, his mouth close, and shivers went up her spine. "Can I kiss you?"
"Yes, Sasuke," Hinata whispered, and not a second later her hand was curling around the nape of his neck, rustling the soft hairs there, bringing him closer. "Please."
When Sasuke finally kissed her, one hand cradling her head, one around her waist––his lips a prayer, a breath of fresh air, and a sigh amongst the clouds all at once––she realized how really, truly, deeply fucked she was.
And yet she pulled him closer. She opened her mouth to him. She let their bodies fill with light.