Title: Speak Up
Disclaimer: I’m not entirely sure if Sasuke and Hinata have even officially met in the series.
Rating: G ( K+ ) - For nothing but fluffy insinuation and a bit of violence against Ichiraku’s ramen stand. (Rating subject to change.)
Spoilers: Umm...I guess I’ve given away that Sakura becomes a medic-nin, does that count?
Summary: Naruto shook her off and confronted Sasuke again, “Not until he apologizes and promises to leave Hinata-chan alone!” SasuHinaNaru.
Back by popular demand...(Beware: Un-beta'd)
Link to Chapters one and two on ff.net:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3206798/1/ Chapter Two: Speak to Me
“W-wait!” Hinata squeaked, pushed backwards by a rude shoulder as she attempted to fight her way through the midday Konoha crowd. She reached out to the dark figure making quick and confident progress through the multitude of people, but he moved further and further away from her into the distant miasma of winter coats. “S-Sasuke-san! Please, w-wait!”
The dark figure ahead didn’t stop, didn’t even pause to look back, but continued to fight his way through the masses and away from his pursuer. He wove through the crowd without difficulty or mercy, practically pushing others out of his way as he made his escape.
Hinata’s breath visibly bloomed from her lips in flowers of mist as she wormed her way through the crowd. The blossoms shattered into a thousand little wisps of cloud and vanished, absorbed by the November cold. Hinata’s voice, carried by the petals of warm breath, floated above the bustling crowd and wasted away with her half-hearted attempts to grab her quarry’s attention. “S-Sasuke-san...”
The fan on Sasuke’s back flitted to and fro amongst the people as he dodged left and right through any opening, almost taunting her by giving her something to reach for while staying well out of her grasp. Hinata may have imagined it, but she could have sworn that the symbol gave her a cheeky wave as Sasuke was finally absorbed into the hoarde.
In desperation and out of breath, she finally cried, “Sasuke-san!” as loudly as she could, stumbling to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”
Hinata stumbled to the side as she was shoved out of someone’s way, thrown into the rough wall of the nearest building. “Ah!” she squealed, clenching her eyes shut as her body suffered impact with the coarse brick. Her head bounced once against the stone and she slid down to her knees, unable to support herself.
Hinata held her palm to her forehead where the throbbing was the most intense, applying pressure in the hopes that it might alleviate the dizzy wave of nausea that was overtaking her. The area beneath her hand felt strangely warm compared to the rest of her body, though she couldn’t fathom why that might matter.
“Serves you right, you id - Augh!”
Hinata jumped as the person who had shoved her suddenly landed in a heap beside her, crumpled and whimpering in pain. The numbing effect that had been a symptom of her own injury lifted as the newer, stronger feeling of surprise overwhelmed it.
“Serves you right, idiot,” a cold voice sneered just before a heavy, boot-clad foot came down upon the rude person’s head.
Hinata squeaked and moved away from the assault, drawing her knees up against her body for rudimentary protection.
The attacker removed his foot from the man’s skull and stepped closer to Hinata. In reflexive fear, the Hyuuga heiress flattened herself against the building and activated her Byakugan, hoping that it might be enough to scare him away. As he squatted down to her level, Hinata instantly and visibly relaxed.
“You alright?”
The veins around her eyes were reabsorbed into her face as Hinata deactivated her blood limit and forced a wavering smile. “I-I think so, S-Sasuke-san.”
Though his cornea were tinted slightly red around the rims, Sasuke observed her with his usual dark, stoic calm, roving his probing gaze over her figure. “You’re bleeding,” he noted, reaching out to brush her bangs away from her injury.
“I-I am?” Hinata asked, cutting off his hand to feel her injury herself. She brought her fingers down to properly inspect them and found his assertion to be true. “I g-guess I am.”
“Does anything else hurt?” Sasuke continued, using his rejected hand to tilt her face up by the chin. He positioned her head to his liking as he searched for injuries, guiding her gently from side to side.
Hinata felt more blood rise to her face. “N-no,” she stammered, forcing her eyes to look down.
“Look at me,” Sasuke demanded.
“A-ano...I...”
“Look at me,” he insisted again, this time with less patience. He lifted her face so that he could intercept her gaze with a red-tinged glare. “I need to check for a concussion. Let me see your eyes.”
Ensnared as she was in his web, Hinata gulped and did as she was told. “O-okay...”
Sasuke leaned in close, brushing the tip of his nose against hers, and stared unblinkingly into Hinata’s eyes. “I don’t think you have a concussion,” he concluded finally, though he didn’t release either her face or her eyes from his influence. “But you might want to go to the hospital. Sakura could diagnose you better than me.”
“Y-yes, Sasuke-s-san,” Hinata said, finally allowing herself to blink. The tips of her eyelashes brushed his nose in the barest of butterfly kisses.
“Sorry for not turning around sooner,” Sasuke breathed against her mouth. Their thick clouds of breath mingled between them to the point that they were indistinguishable from one another. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“O-oh...”
Sasuke’s head tilted a little to the right. “Does anything still hurt...?”
“Um...”
It was odd, but Hinata couldn’t hear the loud hum of voices from the marketplace any longer, only the steady rhythm of Sasuke’s breathing and the fluttering beat of her own heart. Everything was becoming all muddled again, but somehow...clear at the same time. While the world around her was dissolving in a haze, the man moving closer to her by the second was as vivid to her as if she were using the Byakugan...
Sasuke’s eyes drifted closed and Hinata became vaguely aware of what was coming next. Just as darkness obscured her consciousness, she felt a plush warmth swallow her lips.
- - -
Authors Notes: Oh fu - er, crap. I think I’ve started an epic @@
Lord, save my sanity. *FACEPALM*
I’ll probably fix some things later and re-post. Un-beta’d.
. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .
- Love can be black and white. SasuHina.