Day 10: Kissing in the rain

Sasuke was angry… and frustrated.

He kept sending Hinata baleful glances all throughout the stupid birthday celebration, but the girl consistently ignored him, something that didn't help his frustration.

It's not like he asked for a lot, right? She was the one that offered to help in the first place…

And, ok, maybe it was too much asking her to… help him that way… but come on! What was wrong with a little more of contact? Izumi had told him the other day that couples were supposed to be comfortable touching and hugging. She couldn't behave like that every single time.

"It seems you started without me" at the new voice, the two teams and Kurenai turned to the entrance, finding one Hatake Kakashi unabashedly entering the hall without a care in the world. Naruto and Sakura quickly ran towards him.

"You're late!" they yelled, a routine that had become commonplace, and that Sasuke never participated in.

The jounin raised his hands, his only visible eye crinkling as if he was smiling apologetically. "Maa, no need to yell like that. You see, I had a very good reason for arriving late."

"What, some black cat attacked you or whatever?" Naruto crossed his arms, glaring.

"It wasn't a black cat, actually, I crossed paths with Gai and…"

"Kakashi" Kurenai interrupted, coming closer. She was also frowning. "The mission is almost over" she admonished, crossing her arms. At her stern gaze, the man actually seemed a bit mollified.

"I apologize. You know I usually like to arrive fashionably late…" he ignored the snorts coming from his two students, "but this time it really was because of Gai. He challenged me to run a hundred laps around the village, and it took me more time than usual to trick him into doing it alone."

"Kakashi…" Kurenai sighed, but said nothing more. Sasuke just rolled his eyes. Whatever, they pretty much completed the mission anyway.

And that meant…

"Hey" he decided to approach Hinata before it was time to wrap things up and leave, so she didn't have a chance to escape. She jumped, surprised. Sasuke clicked his tongue. She's a shinobi, why was she so easily scared?

"What… what is it, Sasuke-kun…?" she asked shyly, glancing down, her face becoming a bit red.

"After this, come with me."

"Eh?" she looked up, confused. "W-Why?"

"I want to do something with you. I remember you still owe me a training session" he answered coolly, hands in his pockets. She fidgeted, playing with his patience when she didn't respond immediately with a positive. "What? Do you have something to do after this?"

"Well… I was planning on training with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun…"

"They can wait. I've been wanting to train with you since long before they even came in the picture" he complained. Hinata sighed.

"Alright…" she finally gave in. He nodded, satisfied, but before he could turn around to leave, she spoke again. "And… this… I'm sorry for earlier…" she couldn't hold his gaze, her face just becoming redder. "I… I panicked and… I shouldn't have thrown the rice at you like that…"

"You certainly shouldn't have" he affirmed. She winced at his tone, so he softened his voice. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so… forward. But my brother's girlfriend says that a couple should be used to touching. You need to fix that."

"…I… I'm too…" she gulped, starting to tremble. Sasuke sighed.

"I know you're too shy. I guess in that case… we will need to get you used to it."

"H-Huh?" she exclaimed, hands fisted in front of her chest while an expression of both surprise and incredulity formed on her face. Sasuke huffed.

"Why are you so surprised? This is just natural!"

"Yeah, b-but…"

"Here, look" he stepped closer, pleased when, even though it was obvious by her body language that she wanted to get away, she remained in place, "it's simple. All you have to do is…" he raised his hand and put it on her shoulder, attracting her to him until her head collided with his chest, "this. And then you pull your arms around me…" he did as he said, embracing her very lightly. Hinata stayed still, frustrating him. "You have to hug me back" he reminded her.

"Ah…! That's…" she slowly raised her arms. He could see that they were trembling, but he didn't give her an out or called the thing off. It was important she got used to it, after all. Just when her hands touched his back, a strange sensation filling him from head to toe at her contact, the inevitable happened.

They were interrupted.

"My, my, look at our cute little genin getting all affectionate over here" the two quickly jumped away from each other, seeing not only Kakashi, Kurenai and their respective teams staring at them with amusement, but all the kids as well as Takeo staring attentively. "But I'll have to ask you to leave any displays for later. It's not very professional doing these kinds of things while on the job."

"It's not very professional arriving late every single time" Sasuke bit back, seeing the way Hinata was fumbling, the distance between the two apparent again now that they were interrupted. Ugh, just when he was getting her to open up more to the idea of touching him!

…then again, maybe he shouldn't have done it here, in front of everyone else.

"Angry, Sasuke?" Naruto laughed, attracting all of his attention to him. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tightly. "Really dude, there's a time and place for everything."

"I don't want to hear that from you!"

"Sasuke's right, you're the last person that can say that" Kiba snickered, before walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "But really, there's a time and place for everything dude."

Sasuke slapped his hand away.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" he heard from behind. When he turned around, he found Sakura and Shino around his girlfriend, who had her head bent down and looked about ready to faint… again.

"Hey, stop crowding her, you'll get her worse" he stepped forward, but was stopped by Kurenai, who got to them before he could.

"Hinata" the older woman kneeled next to her, a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with hugging your boyfriend, so please don't be so embarrassed. I promise no one will say anything else, right?" she said the last thing while sending a pointed glare at Kakashi, Naruto and Kiba, who all gulped and nodded their heads obediently. Kurenai turned back to her student. "Breath, Hinata."

"Y-Yes…" she nodded, doing as her sensei told her. Sasuke walked closer, and when she was calmer, the two crossed eyes, with Hinata quickly staring away.

"Alright, let's continue. There's nothing to see here" Kurenai stood up, clapping her hands. She looked at Sasuke, giving him a kind smile. "Better to leave it for later, ok?"

He pursed his lips, unhappy with being told what to do, but he nodded anyway and walked away. He spared a last look at Hinata, who went away with Shino to play with some of the brats, and calmed down by telling himself they would have time alone after this joke of a mission was over.

Hinata took a deep breath when she and Sasuke stopped at one of the many training grounds littering the village. What was she honestly doing? Her original plan of allowing him to break up with her after getting bored seemed farther and farther away with each day. Worst of all, she was shifting in her decision as well. Just a little bit of attention and she was already considering actually staying in this relationship, even when she wasn't truly in love with Sasuke.

Despite that, there were some things that were truly too much for her. Sasuke insisted that she needed to get used to touching, but why? And for what? She never pegged him as the touchy feely type of guy.

"Alright, let's start. Taijutsu?" he asked, facing her when they were settled in the middle of the training ground. Hinata nodded, getting into position and willing all those thoughts that always crowded her mind whenever Sasuke was involved out of her head.

The spar was similar to the one they had the day of their graduation. This time, however, Hinata didn't allow herself to become distracted. His style was also slightly different than back then, she supposed because now he was allowed to implement all the particular moves the Uchiha most likely used in taijutsu. Seeing this, she also fell back on her family's techniques, with which she was more familiar, although without activating the Byakugan.

Sasuke dodged to the right when he saw she was going to hit him on the shoulder, but she quickly changed course and instead grabbed his left wrist and pulled him to her, using her other hand to deliver a punch to the stomach. The boy coughed at this, but quickly managed to get away with a shake of his arm and a jump back, putting distance between the two.

They stared at each other appraisingly, Sasuke with an arm softly holding his middle, before he pulled it down and ran towards her again, his other hand going to his kunai pouch and…

Hinata managed to reach for her own kunai in time to block his, surprise evident on her face at this move of his she was not expecting.

"S-Sasuke-kun…!"

"We never said anything about not using weapons!" he shouted as justification, slashing at her again. She frowned, raising her kunai and going at him as well. If he didn't care about using weapons, then so didn't she!

But, as it turned out, he was better than her when it came to it. In no time, he had a kunai against her throat while standing behind her, and she raised her hands in a sign of defeat. He pulled the weapon down and took a step back, nodding to himself.

"Your taijutsu's good, but we'll have to work on your weapons' technique" he said as he put his kunai away. Hinata frowned, turning to look at him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You have the basics, but it's nothing to write home about" he explained, causing an invisible arrow to pierce her heart. "It's obvious weapon mastery is not one of the Hyuuga's strong points, right?"

"Our… our gentle fist is enough to compensate any deficiency…" she whispered what her father always told her, affected by his blunt words. Sasuke clicked his tongue.

"Keeping to only one thing's never enough. Luckily the Uchiha are experts when it comes to weapons like kunai and shuriken. I'll teach you. In fact, there's this really cool technique my nii-san taught me that…" he was getting excited, pretty much talking to himself at that point while Hinata simply stared. Sasuke really liked training, didn't he?

At that, she felt something cold and damp landing on her nose. She looked up, at the sky that had suddenly darkened without any of the two noticing, and just as she did that, more and more raindrops started to fall, until it was raining heftily.

"Damn it, when did the weather become like this" Sasuke complained, taking her hand and running with her until they were standing under the shadow of a big tree at the outskirts of the training ground. Hinata hugged herself, trembling. Even though they had been under the rain for just a little while, she had gotten pretty wet, and the chilly wind of the end of October was more noticeable with the sun hidden behind the clouds.

"It's autumn… these rains are just going to become more and more common as the season advances" Hinata answered. Sasuke spared a glance at her, frowning when he saw the way she shook softly.

"Hey, come here" he motioned for her with his hand. Hinata didn't obey, instead just sending him a confused look. He rolled his eyes. "You're cold, aren't you? Come here so I can warm you up."

Hinata's face heat up at his suggestion. "It's… it's not necessary…"

"Do you want to catch a cold or what?"

"You're wet too, Sasuke-kun, you're definitely not…"

"It will still be better than just standing on your own" he argued, stepping closer. Hinata stiffened, and Sasuke stopped. He frowned. "Is it really that bad?" he asked then, voice soft as a whisper.

For some reason, the way he said that made Hinata feel self-conscious. "N-No… it, it wouldn't be bad…" she mumbled, glancing away. Sasuke waited, showing a patience she hadn't seen on him before, and that gave her the courage to finally speak her mind. "You know I don't feel comfortable with this…"

"And you know you have to get used to it" he retorted, although more subdued than before. Hinata sighed.

"I know… but, maybe we can try, ehm, going slower?" she asked, starting to play with her fingers while glancing to the ground. Although she still didn't understand why they should touch at all, Sasuke seemed to know a lot more than she did when it came to relationships. Or, at least, he had people he could talk to about this.

Internally, she couldn't help but bang her head against an imaginary wall, realizing that asking to go slower was pretty much agreeing with him about the importance of contact. And agreeing with that also meant she was opening herself to the possibility that this was to become something real. But hadn't she been wavering to begin with? From the moment she decided to heed Ino and Sakura's advice, and actually give Sasuke a chance, she had signed herself up for this. For a true relationship with Sasuke.

So lost in her thoughts she was, she couldn't help but jump and squeak upon feeling Sasuke's hand on her wrist. He pulled her softly, and she tumbled onto his embrace despite the tug not being strong enough to actually force her close to him. The temperature in her body rose when he surrounded her with his arms, and he snorted, before asking "was that so difficult?" with more than just a little bit of irony.

Hinata shook her head. "Sasuke-kun, this…!"

This was the opposite of slow!

As if hearing her thoughts, the boy sighed, tightening his hold on her. "We're not doing anything weird. It's just sharing some warmth because of the rain" he explained patiently. Hinata let out a pitiful moan, however, for some reason she couldn't understand, she allowed this contact, going so far as to even raise her arms and placing her hands carefully on his shoulders.

She felt him tense under her, but before she could pull away and apologize, he relaxed, and they remained like that for a little more in peaceful quiet.

At least until she felt the way he started fisting the material of her jacket. "This thing's soaked" he commented when she looked up at him with curiosity, only to immediately pull her eyes away when she noticed how close he was. "No wonder you're shivering like this… take it off" he commanded, pulling at the garment with little strength. It was more like a request, the way he did it. Hinata still took a step back, disentangling herself from his hold while shaking her head vehemently.

"I-It's alright! It's not really that wet…"

"Then why are you trembling so much? Don't be stubborn and just take it off."

"But…"

"Come on!" he took a step closer, starting to frown. Hinata's eyes widened. She backed away from him, something that seemed to bother him. "What's the deal with taking off your jacket? You always use this thing, even when it's summer. Don't you feel hot with it?"

"I… it's none of your business if I want to keep my jacket on or not" she said firmly. The truth was; the jacket was a protection charm. Both metaphorically as well as literally. It made her feel safe, less seen, but it also hid away a pair of… attributes she had suddenly developed in the course of the year.

It was embarrassing because, even though Ino and Sakura were older, they didn't have them. Not like her at least. She didn't want Sasuke to look at her, it would be too embarrassing!

And then, the unthinkable happened. As she continued to back away, her foot caught on a wet patch of leaves, causing her to lose her balance. Sasuke quickly reached out for her, pulling her towards him to keep her from falling, but in doing so, he also tumbled backwards on the muddy ground. Just like in some cliché shoujo manga, she fell on top of Sasuke, the two landing with a loud huff, limbs twisted around each other and her lips ending dangerously close to the corner of his mouth.

The two remained still for long seconds, their eyes wide.

Hinata was the first to react, pulling away as if she had been burned. "I-I-I'm so s-s-sorry…!"

Sasuke didn't say anything. His face was just as impassive as always when he, with deliberate slowness, reached out for her, grabbed her from the back of her head, and pulled her down to him, his mouth pressing against hers in a small kiss.

When he pulled back, Hinata was left in a state of shock, her mind completely disconnected from her body. Sasuke allowed his head to rest all the way on the ground, uncaring of the mud dirtying his hair.

"So that's what an actual kiss is like…" he whispered while she was still frozen. Distantly, she noticed the way his hair was plastered to his forehead, the rain somehow managing to reach them under their supposed safe place under the tree. Drops fell down his cheeks, and he was looking at her with hooded eyes, the sight of it having the unfortunate effect of causing her heart to flutter.

He was a beautiful boy, is what her mind came up with, unbidden.

"Let's try it again" he said then, licking his lips. He pulled her down once more, soft lips touching her own and moving feather-like over hers, and that was the moment Hinata finally woke up, the whole situation hitting her like a thousand bricks.

She fainted on the spot, her body so overheated she wouldn't be surprised if there was steam coming out of her ears.