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"Please get me away from him. He hasn’t left me alone all night and I am this close to committing a murder," Sakura said, clutching Hinata's elbow close to her.
Hinata felt herself flush but held steady, tilting her head ever so slightly towards the man Sakura was glaring at. He was on the other side of the bar, his eyes obscured but leery grin visible nonetheless. It was clear what he wanted from Sakura. It appeared less clear, at least to him, who Sakura actually was, and what she was capable of.
Hinata knew very well what her friend was capable of. She activated her Byakugan, partly to threaten the man, partly to assess how drunk he was. Quite, by the looks of it. She hoped it would not come to bloodshed tonight.
Still flushed, she turned back towards Sakura and rested her palm in the crook of Sakura's back, receiving a bright smile for her effort as Sakura snuggled in closer.
"Has he really been approaching you the whole night?" Hinata asked, ignoring the uneasy flutter of her stomach at Sakura's proximity.
"More or less," Sakura grumbled. "He even followed me here. I was at the Sharpened Kunai and planned on staying there — alone! I only really came here looking for someone familiar because he would not get off my case," she huffed.
Hinata nodded and smiled, encouraging Sakura to go on. Although she was interested in what Sakura had to say about her work, of course, over the next twenty minutes Hinata found herself getting distracted by Sakura's closeness: the way her hand lingered on Hinata's arm, Sakura's warm breath when she leaned in to whisper something she didn't want others overhearing — brands on Hinata's skin that made the heat spread all over.
She must have been silent for too long, or staring off into space, because Sakura poked Hinata in her side, startling her. "World to Hinata? Are you there?"
Hinata giggled, covering her mouth and looking up at Sakura under her eyelashes. Sakura was taller and more muscular, years of training having honed her body into a veritable powerhouse. It was a sight to see. "I'm here," she whispered. "Just a bit distracted."
"You were alone here, too," Sakura pointed out after a while, the drink she'd gotten almost empty. "Any reason?"
Hinata thought about it for a moment, for her thoughts, which were usually sharper than this, refused to move at a pace beyond sluggish. "Not really," she ended up saying. "I just didn't know who to call. But now you're here," she giggled again.
Sakura laughed, throwing her head back and exposing her neck, and Hinata wanted to lean in, to kiss the smooth expanse of skin, to breathe Sakura in, all of her.
"That drink must be getting to you," Sakura finally said, after looking at Hinata a bit oddly. "Let's take a walk, clear our heads."
A wonderful idea, Hinata thought, but didn't say — merely watched as Sakura took her silence for agreement and paid for their drinks with a pointed glare in the direction where the annoying man was.
“Thanks for playing along, Hinata-chan,” Sakura smiled once they were out. The night was crisp and cool, a pleasant contrast to Konoha’s sweltering summer days. Hinata didn’t feel it at all. Her whole body felt like it was on fire.
“I-It was my pleasure, Sakura-chan,” Hinata answered, blushing.
That was the whole truth — as Hinata matured, as did their whole generation, every small moment spent together was cherished like it was the first and like it would be their last. No longer was following behind Naruto something that interested Hinata — instead, she wanted to search for something more exciting, something that wasn’t, as she’d found out after analysing her feelings, based merely on respect.
Something like the feeling she got recently, any time she was around Sakura: this white-hot electricity jolting through her every time she saw Sakura fight, help someone, frown, laugh. Hinata had found herself looking forward to every chance meeting, still not brave enough to seek out Sakura’s company.
Maybe that’s why Hinata had gone out alone tonight, hinging her hopes on a desperate wish, on the unlikely occurrence that this night would be a chance meeting, too.
Well, Hinata didn’t gamble much, but when she did, she was damn good at it.
“You’re really cute when you blush, you know,” Sakura said after a beat of companionable silence. “I always envied that, back when we were younger. It looks so nice on your skin. Ino always says when I blush, it clashes horribly with my hair,” she continued, pulling a couple strands of her hair forward to look at them. “I don’t care much about it lately. Or, well, I don’t really think about it at all,” Sakura shrugged. “Your pretty blush reminded me of it, though.”
As Hinata’s heart stuttered, the only response she gave to Sakura’s compliment was to flush even further and look down, unable to form words. She willed herself to calm down with all her strength as a shinobi, the newborn headstrong part of her screaming in her head to get something more out of Sakura, to seize the opportunity.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up to find Sakura looking back at her, smiling gently.
“Do you really mean that?” Hinata asked after mustering up the courage, her hands moving to clasp in front of her in a gesture of anxiety she still hadn’t managed to rid herself of.
Sakura’s gaze darkened at Hinata’s words, and as they walked through the streets of Konoha, Hinata felt the heat radiating from Sakura increase. Sakura had moved closer.
“Of course. It’s a compliment,” Sakura said. “Each one you receive is well deserved, believe me.”
This was all new, wholly unexpected, uncharted territory. Hinata was terrified, but she’d long learned from Naruto and her teammates that being terrified didn’t mean she was incapable of taking action — quite the opposite, it was when you were terrified that your actions meant the most. So she smiled at Sakura, although the corners of her mouth trembled a little, and moved her arm to purposely brush the backs of their palms together.
She heard Sakura’s intake of breath, felt Sakura shift as her friend responded to the movement in turn and clasped their hands together, until they were walking hand in hand under the clear night sky, not saying anything, just being with each other.
Hinata’s heart was in her throat, but not just there — she could feel its beat in the tips of her fingers, and she wondered if Sakura could feel it too.
They didn’t say anything for a while, not until they came near the Hyūga compound. Hinata unclasped their hands and turned her body towards Sakura, not wanting the night to end. What if it never happened again? What if a chance meeting was doomed to be just that; chance, unrepeatable? Unthinkingly, Hinata moved forward and grasped the front of Sakura’s shirt, looking up at her friend and hoping to convey everything with her gaze, because she didn’t trust her voice not to waver.
“Hinata-chan,” Sakura said, leaning down slightly. Hinata could feel Sakura’s breath again, could smell the slight tinge of alcohol and smoke that stuck onto the skin after visiting a bar, and she wanted Sakura even closer. “Thank you for the wonderful night. It was better than it would have been, had I spent it alone.”
Hinata smiled gently, a pleasant buzz not unlike the one of tipsiness surging through her body at Sakura’s words. “Thank you as well. I-I had hoped to see you, actually.”
“Oh?” Sakura said, pressing herself forward until their chests were touching, and Hinata felt like she’d run out of breath any second now. “And if I tell you I’d been seeking you out as well?”
“I’d say we were both f-fools for not approaching each other directly,” Hinata declared, now on a roll. Her boldness was rewarded with that beautiful laugh, ringing out pure and clear in the night. Sakura always laughed with a little restraint, as if she was afraid of letting herself go or looking a certain way, and Hinata loved when those restraints loosened up a little, until Sakura was giggling and laughing without inhibitions. “You’re beautiful, Sakura-chan,” Hinata breathed.
Sakura blinked and flushed, a pink darker than her hair spreading across her cheeks.
“Also, Ino-san was wrong. Your blush is b-beautiful as well.”
Sakura tucked a stray strand of hair behind Hinata’s ear, making her heart flutter once more. “Call me Sakura. We don’t need honorifics, now that I’m going to kiss you,” she said, leaning down and doing just that.
The press of their lips was sweet and chaste — Sakura’s were dry and warm, and she held Hinata close by the waist. It felt like being enveloped in a cocoon of safety. Hinata never wanted to leave.
As Sakura pulled back, Hinata stood on her tiptoes and pressed back in, this time deeper, emboldened by Sakura’s unexpected willingness. She felt herself being lifted by Sakura’s strong arms just slightly, so that it posed no trouble staying in that position for a while, as she opened her mouth and licked at Sakura’s lips, needing more — more heat, more closeness, more time to enjoy the reality of this actually happening.
Sakura opened her mouth immediately and they stood there kissing, occasionally breaking apart for breath. Hinata watched as Sakura didn’t even open her eyes before they kissed again and again and again, and it was only after ten minutes had passed that Sakura actually pulled away, leaving Hinata to shiver in the cool air, feeling the absence of Sakura’s body heat keenly.
Grinning, Sakura reached out to wipe Hinata’s chin. Hinata didn’t know it was possible, but Sakura now seemed more beautiful than she had ever been. Maybe it was the way she was looking at Hinata, with all the words in her gaze that Hinata had been unable to say, or maybe it was the flush, or the wild quality of her smile and her still-laboured breath — but she was so beautiful, and Hinata knew that she did not want to let this go, not ever.
“You know, I’m going to be here tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after,” Sakura laughed.
“Sakura,” Hinata tried it out, unaccustomed to being so familiar with someone. “Would you like to come by for tea sometime?”
“Finally!” Sakura leaned in and pecked Hinata before pulling back and starting to walk away. “I was waiting for you to ask. The answer was always going to be yes,” she said and turned away, her retreating form slowly becoming smaller and smaller, and Hinata watched until all that was left of Sakura was but a pink speck in the distance only her Byakugan eyes were able to see.
A trembling hand pressed up against the door, Hinata flared her chakra and unlocked the Hyūga compound, but she couldn’t move from her spot for a while. She stood there contemplating until her heart finally relented from its frenzied staccato beat, until she felt calm enough to face whoever was inside without giving everything away.
Her father didn’t like gambling, after all.