Chapter 10: A First of Many
It had been some days before Kakashi saw Hinata again. The end of spring was fast approaching and that meant there was little time to plan a formal wedding. He heard that most weddings could take a year to plan, but here they were with their ambitious deadline. Consequently, there was a small rumor circulating that Hinata was already pregnant.
'Won't they be surprised.'
While they agreed that it would be small, and that few people would be in attendance, there were still formalities and plans to be made. Between his duties as Hokage, which seemed to be endless, even he was slated to complete a number of wedding related tasks. There had been letters of invitation to high-ranking officials, fittings for his Montsuki haori and hakama, and matters of security. It wasn't every day that a sitting Kage was getting married—the majority had ascended into the role with wife and children in tow.
'Children.'
Kakashi wasn't opposed to the idea. He had been rather fond of his time as a jonin instructor to Team 7. He sighed. 'They were cute back then. Reacting with amazement to everything I did and said.'
The problem was not with raising children so much as producing them—another thing he wasn't quite opposed to. His bride was sufficiently attractive, and he didn't imagine remaining celibate for the rest of his life. It was just another factor of their marriage that they had yet to discuss. While he had assured her that he had no expectations of her, he wondered what that would mean for their living arrangements. Were they to sleep like roommates? Like his young, spiky-haired advisor, did she anticipate him to keep mistresses who remained out of sight? Would she retain some sort of secret love affair? That he could not imagine, but it did make him wonder about her expectations of him. To quote his advisor and assistant, the situation was troublesome indeed.
He had already sent his other assistant, Shizune, with a message for his fiancée to come to the office. He would have liked to go to her himself, but he and Shikamaru still had to review the rosters for the academy among a number of other things. He had a small window where Shikamaru would be at the academy and Shizune following up with plans for the hospital renovations, just long enough for the two to have a private conversation. The gentle knock at the door assured him that Hinata had received his message.
"Come on in, it's open," he called from his desk. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to open the door for her and pull out a chair, but he really was surrounded by paperwork and didn't want to waste time on unnecessary chivalry.
"L-lord Hokage," she greeted softly with a bow, then shut the door behind her. Kakashi was staring at her.
'Back to Lord Hokage are we?'
Ever observant, she could read his thoughts from the look in his eyes. "S-sorry. I just thought that in professional capacities, I should probably still…still call you by title. It may be inappropriate otherwise."
There were far more inappropriate things they could be doing in his office than her calling him by name. He wanted to tease her but had the feeling she just might faint at the thought, joking or not. Deciding against it, he chose to carry on with his original intention.
"I really don't think anyone will mind you calling me Kakashi," he offered first. "I don't think Naruto has called me Lord Hokage even once." He watched her face, awaiting a blush at the mention of the boy who held her attention for so many years. Yet no color came, at least not until she spoke.
"T-then Kakashi it is." There really was something special about the way she said his name. He couldn't describe it, but it was there. He smiled beneath his mask.
"Hinata," he started again, a hint of seriousness in his tone, "would you consider going on a date with me?"
More of that rosy color had come to her cheeks. "A d-date?" she questioned. 'Is that the reason he called me here? To ask me on a date?' The thought was almost preposterous. She assumed this visit to be about the wedding, or even a mission—she was still a kunoichi of the Leaf after all.
Kakashi watched amused as she fiddled with her sandy white skirt. "A date," he reiterated. "You know, dinner, a walk…a normal date." As she grew even redder, he had a sudden realization. "Hinata, have you ever been on a date?"
"Uh, well…no. This would…this would be my first," she confessed, her hand combing through her eye. Kakashi noted that she did this whenever she was embarrassed.
Kakashi chuckled. "Then allow me to take you on your first date."
What followed was astonishing—a large and bright smile that could have lit up the room. "Y-yes."
They had agreed to meet in front of the building at 7 P.M. With any luck, Kakashi suggested they might be able to try a restaurant that some of the ladies in the Hokage building had been discussing. They were famous for their crab kamameshi and shabu-shabu. He thought she might like it. She had made a strange face he couldn't really decipher but she then smiled and agreed.
Shikamaru must have passed Hinata on his way back to the office because he asked about her when he came in. Pridefully, Kakashi said he would be taking her on her first date and offered up the name of the restaurant.
Shikamaru smirked and chuckled. "You should know," he started, "Hinata hates shellfish."
'That explains the face.'
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Hinata waited outside the administrative building, slightly self-conscious in her appearance. Her younger sister had insisted she wear a light bit of makeup and pull back her hair. She was used to having her locks flow freely over her ears and down her back, so it was strange to have nothing to run her fingers through. She even wore a dress, a relatively plain one in a pale yellow. It reached just below the knees and was worn with a long off-white knitted sweater—the layering made her feel more at ease.
She was early, which she inwardly admitted wasn't very wise as she knew he would be late, even though she were meeting him.
"Waiting for your boyfriend, Hinata?" came the teasing call of Genma as he approached the building, a report in hand.
Though her face had flushed, she greeted Genma and affirmed his suspicions. "Y-yes. We…we have a date."
"Ah, going totally public now," he continued to tease her. "Try not to keep him out too late, okay?"
"R-right," came her nervous reply. 'Going public…almost like a real couple.' Everyone thought they were much closer than they were, had done more than they had. She wasn't deaf to the rumors that she was "with child."
Only minutes later, Kakashi had finally come down, completely punctual. It only furthered her childhood theory that he was late not because he was unambitious or indifferent, but because he was always preoccupied elsewhere.
"Kakashi," she greeted with a smile, one he had grown rather accustomed to seeing over the weeks. "Sh-shall we go?" She still stuttered around him, but he liked to tell himself she had grown more relaxed in his presence. They weren't strangers to begin with—he had even led her team once upon a time. Those were the kind of memories he like to push aside though. It was still a little unsettling to think of her as a former student.
"Before we go," he prompted, "it was brought to my attention that you might hate crab."
Hinata froze. "Hate…hate would be a strong word. Least favorite maybe?" she offered, pursing her lips.
"Regardless. Is there anywhere else you'd like to go?"
Hinata thought about it. There wasn't anywhere she had in mind, so she shook her head. She was willing to try the restaurant that Kakashi had suggested, but he refused to go. He explained that this was a date and that it meant that it should be somewhere they could both enjoy. Unable to decide on what place that would be, Kakashi suggested they skip right to the walk then extended his hand out for Hinata to take. They had only held hands the one time before, but finding it to be comfort, she complied with his silent request.
They strolled through the vibrant downtown of the village, paper lanterns lighting their way. Idle small talk filled their initial steps—the mountain of paperwork Kakashi had completed, the pin pricks Hinata had suffered at the hands of the seamstress, and the way Mirai had peed on Chouji the day before. Nothing of any true significance was said, but somehow that made it all the better. There was something charming about the way she'd smile and subtly cover her mouth when she laughed, which she had done quite exuberantly when telling the story of Mirai's ill-fitted diaper and Chouji's unsuspecting hug and whirl. It was incomparable to missions reports and budgetary planning.
The sight of the pair holding hands as they walked through the village had taken many onlookers aback. Stories of their engagement and love affair were widespread, but there was never a formal announcement made. There was a difference between rumor and visual confirmation of the facts. Feeling Hinata start to shrink away under the curious eyes of the villages, Kakashi began to brush his thumb along hers. He acknowledged that most girls did not have their first date surrounded by an audience, but everywhere they went, there were people watching. It would be hard not only to ask her the questions he'd been internally compiling, but to build any sort of rapport with her if she spent the whole night feeling insecure.
"Hinata, would you like to go somewhere more private?" he asked, knowing how inappropriate sounded, but truly, he held good intentions.
Without regard for what more private may have implied, Hinata vigorously nodded her head in earnest agreement. "Please," was all she said.
There weren't many places he could take her that would keep them out of the public eye, so he reluctantly settled on his apartment. Along the way, they passed many familiar sights—the training grounds, the shinobi memorial. As they passed through, hand-in-hand, he wasn't quite sure if it was imagination or an unlocked memory, but he could see Hinata's younger self leaping through the area in haste. 'Had she traveled this way?' he wondered. It was one of the many questions he had for her, but before he could prompt her, she was inclined to address it on her own.
"Wh-when I said we first me here…it was a truth within a lie you could say. We didn't meet—I never spoke to you—b-but I saw you here…every day." She kept her eyes averted from his gaze, choosing instead to stare back at the memorial they were passing by. "It's not like I was…I wasn't looking for you, but you were always there—E-except when you weren't. I didn't even know who you were, but I guess…I guess I got used to seeing you. When we did meet, you…you thought S-Sasuke and I were…"
"Ah." 'So that was it. She really did pass by here.'
"Umm..but we-we weren't anything like that!" she added quickly and defensively, pulling her had from his to wave out in front of her in violent denial.
Kakashi chucked at the familiar words. Those words he recalled, and so he told her before taking her hand back in his. No one was watching anymore, and they didn't need to pretend to be together, but he missed the warmth her hand brought, and so he kept it held secured.
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When they arrived at his front gate, Hinata shifted awkwardly. 'Well…it is somewhere more private,' she conceded. Choosing to trust his intentions and accepting that this would very likely be her future home, she hesitantly followed him inside.
Unlike the previous Hokage, Kakashi did not live in the Hokage Mansion. The mansion, or what was left of it, had been demolished after Pain's invasion. Re-construction had started and ceased numerous times to allow for efforts to be concentrated elsewhere such as the hospital, academy, and greater residential units. Few people knew where Kakashi had resided, and he preferred it that way. He kept a small studio in the jonin barracks where he stayed most of the time, but still retained his family home. Having not been there in a while, he was certain it would be dusty, but he couldn't exactly take Hinata to his single room with nothing more than a bed for them to sit upon. If anything were to give her the wrong idea—and test his own limits—it would be that.
True to his speculations, the home was dusty—dusty and rather barren, or lacking a woman's touch as they say. The last woman to set foot in the home was Rin in the days before she passed, and prior to her, it had just been his mother, but she was gone long before that.
"I'm home," he greeted the empty house, a habit he never lost, and proceeded to remove his shoes. Hinata followed suit, squatting down to unbuckle the small block heeled sandals she was wearing. Though her attention was turned to her feet, having deduced that the home laid empty for some time, she chose to tell her companion, "W-welcome home, Kakashi."
Her words caught him off guard and he stopped what he was doing to turn to her, her body just starting to rise from unfastening her shoes. Just as her words were unexpected, so to was the sight of his face with his mask lowered to his neck, still within the grip of his hand.
"What did you say?" He was hoping to hear her say it again, but for the second time that night, she too had something simultaneous to say.
"Y-your face…" It wasn't a full thought, but it was all that she could muster. She never imagined that he would be ugly or that he would have disproportionate features, but she also didn't imagine she would be so instantly captivated by him either. He had a youthful face, with a masculine jawline and mole just above the left-side of his chin. Why he covered his face she couldn't understand, but perhaps he didn't want the attention. She turned away under his gaze, feeling an unprecedented about of heat in her face. Idly she started to wonder if her face might just permanently take on this color.
"I don't always wear a mask at home, but if my face is that frightening, I could put it back on," he quipped.
Hinata shook her head. "Ah, n-no…it's-it's…I just…I wasn't prepared." She struggled to find words in her flustered state bringing a smile to Kakashi's face.
He led her to the kitchen, and they talked for what seemed like hours. Kakashi was finally able to ask her all the things he wanted starting with her birthday. As he surmised, she had already known his. They spoke of their plans for the wedding, the growing guest list and his fears that much like his Hokage robes, his hakama would be half finished on the day of wedding, held together with pins and bits of fabric. The lightheartedness of it all made Hinata smile. But more serious matters were still to be discussed, namely living arrangements.
He broached the topic gently, starting with a tour of the home. Leading her by the hand again, he took her from room to room. She showed no signs of opposition to his grip and relaxed her hand within his hold. The bedroom was saved for last and they never stepped inside, but through the doorway she could see the ample space and large bed. Now would be a better time than any for him to ask the deeper questions that had plaguing him.
"Hinata," he voiced her name aloud. "I said I'd hold no expectations to this marriage, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on living arrangements and lifestyle. There's a second bedroom here, quite a bit smaller. It was mine in my youth. And if you tell me you wish to keep a lover—"
"L-lover?" she pulled her hand from his. "I-I don't have…anyone like that."
'Did I offend her?' he questioned. That wasn't his intention. He only wanted to give her an out, to tell her she had no obligations.
"Hinata," he said more sternly this time, bending down to look her in the eyes and recapturing her hand. "I'm just trying to give you a choice. I won't force myself on you, but truthfully, I'd prefer not living double lives."
Finding all the courage she could, she met his gaze. "I…I'd like to give the marriage an honest try…as a real husband and wife."
At those words, he decided he could resist no longer. He pulled her close and tossed caution away, capturing her lips with his.
It wasn't love, but there was attraction, and that was a start.
-End Chapter 10-