Title. Strawberry Shortcake

Disclaimer. I don't own Naruto or the fan comic that inspired chapter 1

Summary. Everyday, he came in and ordered a cup of black coffee and a slice of strawberry shortcake. And everyday, he only ate the strawberry and left the cake untouched.

A.N. It seemed like quite a few people would like to see more, which made me really happy that people enjoyed it. Hope you like this 2nd chapter too!

The next day, Hinata couldn't stop herself from lifting her head or rushing out of the kitchen whenever she heard the bell chime. When she saw that it wasn't who she was looking out for, she'd exhale disappointedly before resuming her task. Ino and Sakura exchanged glances, while Shino simply adjusted his glasses thoughtfully.

"Hey, Hinata-chan? Are you waiting for someone to come today?" Ino piped up, with Sakura looking on questioningly.

"Eep! N-n-no one!" Hinata squeaked, before diving back into the kitchen. She continued, however, with her bizarre behavior throughout the day.

In the evening, a familiar figure entered the cafe. This time, he didn't head straight for his usual seat but instead paused by the doorway to glance around as if looking for someone. He spotted a head of indigo hair peeking over the top of the cake display, and nodding to her, proceeded toward his usual seat. Sakura, back from the table she was serving, was giddily beginning to leave the counter to go over when Hinata placed a hand on her arm.

"Umm... Sakura-chan," she said softly, "d-do you think you could let me handle his table today?"

Puzzled, Sakura asked, "But Hinata-chan, didn't you want to avoid his table yesterday?" Hinata blushed hotly.

"Y-ye-well, yes, but, um, I realised I being rude yesterday by doing that so I wanted to make it up to the customer..."

Sakura smiled and patted Hinata on the shoulder. "That's just like you, Hinata-chan. Sure, go ahead."

Hinata smiled her thanks requested a cup of black coffee from Shino, then retrieved a new item from the cake display.

"Uh, Hinata-chan, that's not his usual order," Sakura reminded, feeling confused with Hinata's curious behaviour today.

"I-I know." Hinata murmured, flashing Sakura and Shino a nervous smile before bustling off with her tray.

"Uh-um, hi." Hinata spoke softly, hands clenching around her tray and wishing they were free for her fingers to fidget in her nervousness. The customer arched an eyebrow, his eyes flickering impassively to her tray before resting on her face.

"Hn. I don't remember ordering yet."

Hinata nodded timidly. "T-t-this is on the hou-house…" She began placing the items onto his table. "Um, it's your usual black coffee, and th-this is a l-lemon tart. Y-you said you don't like sweets b-but you seemed to be f-fine with the strawberry so I th-thought you may like t-to try something t-tangy…" She blushed, wondering if she was being too presumptuous. She clutched her tray tightly, fingers picking at the lace hem of her apron, and peeked at him from under her bangs. The customer was looking skeptically at the lemon tart, but then caught glimpse of Hinata's hopeful expression and nodded before bravely picking up his fork. Spearing a small forkful of the pastry and thick lemon curd, he glanced at Hinata again before popping it into his mouth.

Hinata leaned forward in anticipation, and a bright smile lighted her face at the slight widening of his eyes. "It's smooth on my tongue. The lemon thing is tangy without being overly sour. And there's some slightly bitter but lemony bits…" Hinata nodded happily. "I folded s-some grated lemon zest into t-the curd, i thought it w-would help make the curd less sweet and a-also add to t-the aroma. I-I hope y-you l-lik-liked it…" She flushed a deep red, realising that this was the most she had ever spoken to him since the day he first visited the cafe. She shrank into herself at having blabbered on so much, fearing she had overstepped her boundaries when he just wanted to enjoy his coffee alone. She was about to flee in nervousness and embarrassment when a low voice stopped her.

"It's good." was all he said, his dark eyes staring unwaveringly at her. He popped another forkful into his mouth, still watching her as he chewed. Hinata was sure that the blood vessels on her face were about to burst from how hard she was blushing at his intense look. She squeaked and turned to escape, but a hand landed softly on one of hers.

"What's your name?" He asked quietly. Her hand trembled violently under his.

"Hi-hi-hi-hinata!" The words tumbled out of her mouth. Her head swam and she felt dizzy.

"Hinata…" For a moment she thought she saw an almost imperceptible smile flit across his lips. "Thank you for the tart." He murmured, then dropped his hand from hers.

"Th-thank you! I mean, Y-you're welcome! I-I mean, um!" Hinata squeaked, and ran away from the table, almost slamming into the swinging doors in her hurry to hide in the kitchen.

He sighed, watching her disappear into the kitchen yet again. "I didn't even get to tell you my name yet." He lowered his eyes back to his table, and a smirk rose unbidden on his face at the half eaten lemon tart on his plate.

sorry that this chapter's a little short, but i felt it was a good place to stop.

next chapter, we'll see Sasuke taking action for some SasuHina progression! ;D

special shoutout to nuriiko for the suggestion on Hinata making a flavour of cake for Sasuke that is not sweet ;D I'll be using that idea in the future, but for now I thought of using something tangy first so as not to jump straight into the "obvious choice", to add a bit of a twist haha.

i'm a hugeee dessert person so i'll think up of some non-sweet desserts! If anyone has some ideas or suggestions please feel free to leave them in your review as well :)))