A/N: I was surprised at how many people were wanting some SasuHina action in my NaruHina multichapter, Hinata: Sweetheart of the Allied Nations. So, since they will only be friends in that story I got the idea for this and wrote it out. I hope you like it!

Well Suited

The first time Sasuke noticed her was right after the war.

He was surrounded by shinobi, mainly kunoichi, congratulating him for a victory against the last two of his remaining family members. People were crowded around himself and Naruto, singing their praises and recounting specifics from the battle in awed voices.

Uchiha Sasuke had grown up used to looks of worship and adoration. The older villagers looked at him as the last scion of the powerful Uchiha clan, the younger ones looked at him as one of the most talented and worthy of their generation, and the female population literally stalked him. Even after he left Konoha, women had constantly thrown themselves at him. If he really cared he may have felt bad for their husbands and boyfriends, but it's not like he enjoyed it either.

Yes, he could say that he was very much familiar with looks of awe, worship, and mindless devotion. The look he saw on the Hyuga's face, however, was something that almost left him breathless.

Hyuga Hinata was actually easy for him to notice because she was off to the side instead of in the crowd pushing her way closer to the heroes of the day. What he truly noticed, though, was the look on her face. In contrast with the expressions surrounding him, her face positively glowed with pride, adoration, and love. Really, with her pale skin, flushed from battle, and the sun the way it was, she actually looked like she was glowing.

That look on her face, it was so personal and so emotional he knew it came from deep within her, not some brainless devotion. Not one to call much of anything beautiful, he thought she was just that. The expression suited her much more than the shy, timid one he vaguely remembered from their academy days.

However, that expression was not directed at him. No, the Hyuga heiress was radiating love in the direction of his blond rival and best friend. Shrugging it off, he went back to grunting responses and formulating a plan to get him away from all of these people.

The second time he noticed her, his friend Suigetsu was visiting.

Once everyone had returned from the war, Sasuke had seen Hinata around the village a few times, but he never bothered speaking to her. They weren't really acquainted, though they had a few friends in common. She was always wearing this bulky lavender jacket and baggy blue capris, different than the uniform she was wearing when he had seen her in the war. It swallowed her and made it seem like she was hiding.

It was the height of summer and the temperature was stifling. After getting tired of Suigetsu's constant complaining, Sasuke decided to take him to a lake in a rather secluded area a couple miles from the village. There was no way he would risk swimming with his shirt off anywhere within the walls of the village without setting up a multitude of traps and he was just not in the mood. Not to mention, Suigetsu would just tease him through all of it and not even bother to help because he thought the fangirl issue was hilarious. Some friend he was.

Anyway, being the gracious host that he was, they were heading to the lake. As they got closer, he heard some sounds of splashing and gestured for Suigetsu to be quiet as they hid their chakra signatures to see who was in their spot.

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he didn't hear any voices so it was most likely not a group of people. It definitely wasn't a group of women as, in his experience, they never stopped talking.

As they came to the edge of the forest, where it opened onto the expanse of water, Sasuke's jaw dropped, actually dropped, as he took in the view before him. The Hyuga heiress was on top of the water, performing katas and manipulating the water around her. He wasn't surprised to find her training, she seemed to be a fairly competent kunoichi after all. The cause of his shock was her attire. Hinata moved gracefully, swirling water around her, wearing a two piece swimsuit.

Now he knew what she was always hiding. She was rather petite, but her legs were long and lean, from training he was sure. Her slim, toned stomach and arms were other indicators of a strict training regimen. Sasuke could not find any sign of body fat in those areas and he had to wonder if it was because all of it had accumulated elsewhere, namely her chest. They were huge and he found himself pondering if part of her grace was born from years of trying to balance her petite figure with such large breasts threatening to topple her over.

This wasn't to say she was disproportionate, however. Her hips widened enough to give her a lovely hourglass shape and her toned behind was neither too big nor too small. Needless to say, Uchiha Sasuke was quite stunned by the sight before him. Before he could register that he was ogling and remind himself that Uchihas certainly do not ogle, an obnoxious voice broke him out of the Hyuga's spell.

"Holy shit, what a babe!" was Suigetsu's response to the sight before him. Unfortunately for them, Hinata heard the exclamation and snapped her head in their direction. When she saw she had been found and by whom, her eyes widened in a manner Sasuke likened to a deer catching sight of a hungry predator. Only a couple of seconds passed before she disappeared completely from their sight.

"Tch, pervert," Sasuke said to his watery friend while doing his best not to give away the fact that he had been thinking something similar. The two former members of Team Taka spent the next few hours swimming and exercising in the lake while the last Uchiha attempted to get visions of a sweet face glowing with love and a body to kill for out of his mind.

The next time he noticed her was at a tea shop.

As a child of the head of a noble clan, Uchiha Sasuke had been raised with an appreciation of the peace of mind a good cup of tea could provide.

Thus, one afternoon Sasuke entered a tea shop and saw Hyuga Hinata sitting at a table with a girl, who he deduced was likely her sister. The younger girl did not look particularly like Hinata aside from her Hyuga eyes, but she was the spitting image of Hyuga Hiashi in female form and he remembered hearing something about Hinata having a little sister.

The last Uchiha did not ruminate on Hinata's companion for long, however, because he soon caught sight of what Hinata herself was wearing. He was relieved to see that it was not nearly as revealing as what he last saw her in. Not that he expected Hinata of all people to walk around town in a swimsuit (Ino, maybe, but not Hinata), but he had spent the last few weeks randomly distracted by unsolicited images of the well-shaped young woman and was not enjoying the experience. He refused to become some pervert like Naruto and Konohamaru - though he was sure that he could win those stupid Sexy Jutsu competitions hands down if he transformed into what he had seen that day.

This outfit suited her much better than that bulky jacket she usually wore and he found he had to make a conscious effort not to stare.

Hinata was clad in a silk blue ombre kimono that started out a pale blue at the top and gradually deepened into a navy blue at the bottom. Her obi was also a deep blue. It complimented her natural coloring, causing her skin to glow beneath her silky tresses. Sasuke suddenly realized that the color complimented her hair so well because her hair was actually a midnight blue, so dark you would only notice it wasn't black if you were looking carefully. Which he wasn't. He just had good eyesight, being an Uchiha and all.

Anyway, instead of looking like she was hiding like she always did in her baggy training clothes, the kimono seemed to have a positive effect on her posture. She looked poised and graceful, every bit the beautiful heiress that she was. Speaking of beautiful, Sasuke found himself admiring her pale skin, delicate features, the way her hair shone in the sunlight that filtered in through the windows, and the way the corners of her eyes would crinkle slightly when she ... he really needed to stop staring and get himself some tea.

The next time he noticed her, he actually said something.

Naruto had somehow convinced him to go to a gathering of the Rookie Nine plus Team Gai. Most of the guests had arrived and were getting situated when Hinata walked through the door. Yet again, Sasuke found himself staring at the heiress who was wearing a lavender kimono with white swirls. She was breathtaking and he could not come up with a valid reason as to why she would ever wear anything else.

"Wow!" exclaimed Naruto, rather loudly, when he looked towards the door where she had just entered.

Hinata's eyes widened and she could feel herself begin to blush, thinking she had finally gotten Naruto to notice her when he finished his statement:

"Sakura-chan, you look awesome!"

It turns out Sakura had walked in right behind her, clad in a revealing green dress that matched her eyes.

Sasuke's eyes never left Hinata, however, so he was the only one who saw the brief look of pain and hopelessness cross her face before she settled it back into her polite social mask. He was rather impressed by her composure as looking at her now, he would never have guessed she was feeling so conflicted had he not seen it for himself.

Sakura bypassed Naruto entirely and sauntered up to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, do you like my dress?" she asked lasciviously.

"Hn," he grunted in response. Sasuke shook Sakura off the arm she had latched herself onto as he continued to gaze at the pearl eyed kunoichi.

Sakura huffed at being brushed off and went to commiserate with Ino who was trying her hand at Sai for the evening.

When everyone finally got settled, Hinata found herself seated between her teammate Kiba and the Uchiha. She blushed hard when she recalled the day Sasuke had seen her in such a state of dress, or rather undress. Kiba noticed this and inquired, "Hey, Hinata, you okay? You're turning really red and usually I would blame Naruto, but he hasn't spoken a word to you all evening."

Hinata winced at the impetuous statement, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Uchiha, and just smiled sweetly at her teammate, telling him not to worry about her. Kiba smiled widely, unaware of the emotional turmoil he had caused, and turned back to the rest of the table, assured that she was not feeling unwell.

The Hyuga focused her gaze on the food in front of her, fighting back tears as she thought about how her efforts to dress up for the occasion had gone completely unnoticed by the object of her affections. Rather, she herself had gone completely unnoticed. Again.

Suddenly she heard Sasuke's velvety smooth voice in her ear saying, "Kimonos really suit you. You should wear them more often." It was spoken so low that Hinata would have thought she had imagined it were it not for his hand lightly touching her arm as he leaned over.

Startled, she looked up at him, a blush lightly dusting her cheeks. Sasuke smirked when he saw the reaction his words had caused. 'Take that, Dobe,' he thought to himself. He just nodded at her and went back to eating his food, causing her to do the same, both suddenly painfully aware of how close they were sitting.

A little later, Naruto was asking Sakura for help with chakra control as he had decided it was time to learn how to create a rasengan without the use of a shadow clone.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, you've always been good at chakra control! Just help me out for a few days! I can make it worth your while," he said cheekily.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and replied, "You Baka, I'm already very busy at the hospital. And I doubt you have anything that could make it 'worth my while'. Why don't you ask Hinata to help you? Hyugas have great chakra control and I'll bet her Byakugan would come in handy,"

The Hyuga heiress had been listening in on the conversation and nearly choked on her food when she heard Sakura recommend her to help Naruto. 'This could be my chance!' she told herself.

Naruto looked a little upset that Sakura had turned him down, but quickly put that aside as he realized that Hinata would indeed be perfect to help him. Her Byakugan could see chakra and the rasengan was pure chakra. It would help tremendously! He shot the shy kunoichi a dazzling smile and asked, "Well, how about it? You think you could spare some time to help me with my rasengan?"

"S-sure! I'd l-love to help you, Naruto-kun!" she managed to say, chastising herself for stuttering. 'Come on Hinata. We've been working on that!' Though she knew she was helpless when it came to Konoha's Number One Knuckleheaded Ninja.

Sasuke saw her blush and her excitement to spend time with the blond and found himself suddenly wanting to stab his best friend with a kunai.

Naruto, however, remained oblivious to the death glares his teammate was shooting him across the table and finalized a time to meet with the heiress for training.

Soon the evening was over and the friends all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Sasuke found himself walking beside Hinata as their clan compounds were in the same direction. He figured Hinata must have realized this as she did not question his place at her side. They walked in comfortable silence until reaching the gates of the Hyuga compound where he mumbled a goodnight and was thankful that the darkness of night hid the pink tinge in his cheeks at Hinata's soft smile in reply.

About a week later, Sasuke had just come back from a particularly uneventful mission and found himself searching for Naruto in order to spar. As he came to Naruto's usual training ground, he found the blond with the dark haired kunoichi who had been on his mind throughout the past week. The peaceful mission had left the Uchiha with some much undesired down time which had led to more unsolicited thoughts of the beautiful young woman. So, he found himself hanging back to see what the two were up to.

The original plan had been for Hinata to help Naruto for a few days on perfecting his rasengan technique. However, thanks to Naruto's shadow clones and Hinata's Byakugan being able to pinpoint exactly where Naruto was going wrong, they had extended the training to include his elemental rasengan. Thus, after a week, Naruto had perfected his regular rasengan and only had to practice to have his elemental rasengan variations down perfectly.

Hinata had known that today would be her last day meeting with Naruto and had been working herself up to making a move all week. She remembered Naruto's comment years ago about how good her cooking was and so she had made up a couple of large bentos that morning that she thought they could eat for dinner. They had not had too much opportunity to just talk this past week since Naruto was a very focused individual when it came to training. She figured eating with him would be her last chance to really get him to notice her.

Sasuke watched as Hinata pulled two good-sized bentos out of her bag and held them up to Naruto. They had stopped a little earlier than one would normally eat dinner, but she was sure he would be hungry after such an intense training session.

"Um, N-Naruto-kun, I thought, well, I made a couple of bentos this morning and, um, I thought m-maybe we could eat dinner together? You know, t-to celebrate how well you did?" Hinata exhaled a large breath, elated that she had been able to suggest dinner together, even if it wasn't a date.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "Well, Hinata, the thing is I kind of finally managed to convince Sakura-chan to meet me for ramen for dinner. She won't let me call it a date or anything, but she'd kill me if I showed up having already eaten. I'm really sorry you went through all that trouble!"

The last Uchiha narrowed his eyes and stared at Naruto as if trying to light him on fire with his gaze. Unfortunately, Sasuke was capable of doing that so he found himself having to consciously suppress the black flames of Ameterasu from engulfing his best friend. Her suggestion had obviously been difficult for her and it's not like Sakura would notice if he ate ten bowls instead of fifteen. In fact, she'd probably appreciate it.

Sasuke watched as Naruto apologized again and walked away towards Ichiraku. He stared at the obviously heartbroken girl for a minute after Naruto had gone and found himself uncharacteristically wanting to cheer her up. He figured he would help himself to what his best friend was too blind to see.

He waited a minute or so after he was sure that Naruto was gone since he didn't want Hinata to know he had seen what happened. She had put the bentos back in her bag and was wiping the tears from her face when she heard a deep voice greet her from behind.

Startled, Hinata turned around and Sasuke was surprised at how much her sadness was affecting him. He was torn between trying to comfort her or ignoring her distress and trying to distract her from it instead. He eventually decided on the latter as he knew he was no good at being comforting and would probably end up making her feel worse.

For her part, Hinata was feeling rather embarrassed that the famed Uchiha Sasuke was seeing her in such a state. She found herself hoping that he would ignore it as she didn't want to have to explain crying over yet another pathetic attempt to get his friend to notice her.

"Hey."

"Hello, Uchiha-san."

An awkward silence ensued for a minute or two before Hinata asked, "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke attempted to think of an answer that wouldn't give away the fact he had been creepily standing there watching her for a while. Hinata took his silence as offense at her question and quickly followed up with, "N-not that you're not allowed to be here or anything! I didn't mean to make it sound like that. I just wasn't expecting to see you. Um, not that I wouldn't want to see you, but -"

"It's fine." Sasuke cut her off before she could finish rambling. He wondered if she was always this nervous or if it was just him.

"Oh, okay."

She was quiet for a few more seconds before Sasuke decided he should probably answer her original question.

"I was just getting back from a mission and contemplating dinner."

There. That wasn't technically untrue. He was just getting back from his mission and she didn't have to know that his thoughts about dinner revolved around her rejected dinner proposal for Naruto.

"Oh." Hinata contemplated something for a moment before turning back to her bag and retrieving the two bentos she had just put away.

"Um, Uchiha-san, if you - "

"Sasuke."

"Huh?"

"Call me Sasuke."

"Um, okay, Sasuke-san, if you would like, I made these this morning and will not be able to finish them both by myself. You could take this one home if you like."

"No."

"Oh. Sorry. I just thought... nevermind." Rather upset at having her food rejected twice now, Hinata turned to replace the bentos in her bag again, aiming for a hasty exit.

"No. Sorry. What I meant was, I'd rather eat it here. With you. If you don't mind. I don't really eat with company very often."

Pale eyes widened and Hinata grew a little flustered at both her misunderstanding and him expressing a desire for her company. It was well known that the last Uchiha never asked for anyone's company, including Naruto who was his best friend. She nodded silently in reply and Sasuke inwardly smirked at the pink he saw creeping into her cheeks.

Reaching into her bag yet again, Hinata suddenly stood up and turned to Sasuke. Looking a little embarassed, she placed a finger on her lip in a gesture he found adorable despite himself. "Um, Sasuke-san, it seems I forgot a blanket this morning. I'll understand if you don't want to eat with me anymore if we have to sit on the ground."

Sasuke was bewildered by her concern. They were shinobi. They ate on the ground all the time. However, he decided to use this situation to his advantage. "If you really don't want to eat on the ground, my house is not far from here. We could eat there."

Hinata couldn't believe it. Uchiha Sasuke had not only asked her to eat with him, but was inviting her to his home. Not many even dared come near to the Uchiha compound and she knew for a fact that the only people consistently invited into his actual house were Naruto and Kakashi. And that was mostly because he knew it would be useless to try to keep them out. Suddenly she realized that if she accepted, she would be dining with the Uchiha in his home, his isolated home, alone.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was afraid he may have broken her, with her face turning as red as it was. He realized he could be scaring her off, which was the opposite of what he wanted. He had to think fast.

"I don't mind eating here if my house sounds that horrible to you. You just seemed so averse to eating on the ground... I have tea..." he finished lamely. He didn't know what it was about this girl that made him feel so damned awkward. He knew his social skills weren't the greatest, but awkward was not the usual term applied to his demeanor. Cold or rude, yes. Awkward, no.

Hinata looked at him questioningly after his last statement and seemed to pick up on the fact that he was feeling awkward. Feeling bad for making him uncomfortable when he had just offered her hospitality, she managed to form her lips into a small smile.

"That sounds nice, Sasuke-san. I'm sure the tea in the thermos I filled this morning is lukewarm by now so fresh tea would be lovely."

Twenty minutes later Sasuke and Hinata were seated across from one another at the Uchiha's kitchen table. Each had a bento and cup of hot tea in front of them and were quietly eating. The air was a little tense as Hinata was nervous about being alone with Sasuke in his home and Sasuke was not really sure how to start a conversation. Almost any woman he had ever met would throw themselves at him and talk his ear off. He was half convinced that Hinata didn't really want to be there.

As Sasuke tried to think of something to talk about, Hinata surprised him by speaking first.

"Um, h-how was your mission?" she asked.

"Hn. Boring," Sasuke replied.

"Oh. Um, what were you doing?"

"Escorting a rich merchant back to his hometown. They were expecting bandits, but none showed up."

"Hm. They were p-probably scared off when they saw you escorting him. You do have a pretty f-fearsome reputation."

Sasuke was surprised at how good it felt to come home and talk to someone at the end of a mission. Sitting here, eating dinner with Hinata and discussing his time away with her just seemed natural. He could tell she was still a little nervous, though, and couldn't resist teasing her a bit.

"I have a reputation, huh? You do realize that you are all alone with said 'fearsome' shinobi, in his own home no less? Tsk, tsk, what would people say?"

Although Hinata blushed furiously, he was surprised by her quiet response: "I don't care what people say. Sasuke-san is not so scary."

The blue haired girl was unable to look him in the eye, having surprised herself with her response as well. She had meant it, though. Sasuke had actually been much nicer to her in the little time they'd interacted than anything she had ever heard about him. She focused on the food in front of her as they lapsed into a more comfortable silence than the previous one.

Sasuke took this silence to contemplate the young woman in front of him. She was certainly full of surprises. She was quiet and shy, but he could tell she had a backbone. He really enjoyed her company. Although he considered Naruto and Kakashi as a sort of makeshift family, they were very good at pushing his buttons. Hinata's presence was soothing and he felt a kind of peace being near her that he hadn't felt in a very long time. Not only that, but the young woman sitting across from him was very beautiful. Her face was soft and regal and her curves were stunning. He knew this even if she was hiding in those bulky clothes.

"I thought we agreed you would start wearing kimonos more?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata looked up at Sasuke with comically wide eyes, unsure how to react to his statement.

"Wh-what? But you - I mean, y-you just said - I, um, I didn't think..." She couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence. Hinata remembered when he told her a week ago that she looked nice in her kimono, but she hadn't taken it as any kind of agreement. She hadn't even responded to his compliment! Suddenly she heard a chuckle and noticed he was smirking. He was teasing her!

"Relax, I was just giving you a hard time. It's pretty funny to see you all riled up."

Hinata just humphed in response, embarrassed that he had been able to get such a reaction out of her.

"I'm serious, though. Why do you wear that? You look much better in kimonos."

She was flustered by both his question and compliment, but she was still a guest in his home and felt like she would be rude if she didn't answer his question.

"Um, well I don't feel very comfortable in the kind of kunoichi clothes that Sakura and Ino wear. And the Gentle Fist requires a pretty wide stance which is a little restricted while in a kimono. Also, I don't really like shopping so I just kind of picked something that would cover me in a color I liked..." Hinata was a little embarrassed to admit the last part. Most women she knew loved shopping so it made her feel less feminine to admit that she was not fond of the experience.

"Hn," was Sasuke's reply. This girl was certainly interesting. She was nothing like other females he knew, which was a good thing in his opinion.

They ate the rest of their meal in a comfortable silence, both thinking about the person sitting across from them. When they were finished they both got up from the table and Sasuke took the empty containers, promising to wash them and return them to Hinata despite her protests.

"You really don't have to do that, Sasuke-san."

"It's fine. You made the food so I can do this."

"Um, i-if you're really sure."

"I am."

While Sasuke cleaned up, Hinata sat back down at the table, too timid to explore the house without an invitation to do so.

Sasuke was finished in just a few minutes and gave the dried items to Hinata to put in her bag. Once she had done so they both got up and walked to his front door. Hinata started to say goodbye, but Sasuke just opened up the front door and walked outside. She followed him out and was confused when he kept walking to the compound entrance.

"Sasuke-san, what - "

"I'm walking you home."

"Huh?"

Sasuke looked back at her. "I'm walking you home."

"Oh, you don't have to d-do that!"

"You argue too much."

"I'm not arguing! I just don't want to bother you..."

"If it bothered me I wouldn't do it."

"B-but, I just - "

"Look, I'm walking to the Hyuga compound. It would be ridiculous if you didn't come with me."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you had business there."

"I do. I'm walking their heiress home."

"But you don't have to!"

"You've made that clear. I'm doing it anyway."

"B-but - "

"Tell you what, if you feel that bad about it you can make it up to me."

Hinata blushed. "Um, how do I do that?"

"You said you made the food we ate for dinner?"

"Y-yes."

"It was good. You can make me some more."

"Oh! I'm glad you liked it... um, when do you want me to give you more?"

"You can come over tomorrow and make dinner."

Hinata squeaked in embarrassment. "Y-you mean you want m-me to come to your house to cook?"

"Is that a problem? You were the one who wanted to make it up to me. You don't have to if you don't - "

"I'll do it!" Hinata blurted out. Sasuke smirked at her outburst and Hinata hid her blush behind her hair.

"Good."

"Oh! B-but I can't tomorrow."

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow in question.

"I, um, my team leaves on a mission tomorrow."

"Hn. When do you come back?"

"It should just be a few days. Four at the most."

"Fine. Come over when you get back."

"B-but how will you know when to expect me?"

"I'll know."

Not one to doubt someone who sounded so confident, Hinata just nodded her agreement.

A couple of minutes later they reached the front gates of the Hyuga compound. Sasuke leaned forward so that his mouth was right next to Hinata's ear and whispered, "You do know that I will just walk you home again when you cook for me which means we'll be doing all of this over again. It looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, Hinata."

He brushed his lips against her crimson cheek and disappeared, leaving a stunned Hinata standing in front of her compound. She brought her hand up to her cheek, still very aware of the spot where his lips had touched. She turned and walked inside, completing her nightly routine in a daze until falling asleep.

Three days later Team Eight walked through the gates and Hinata bid her teammates goodbye before heading towards the Hyuga compound. She knew something was up when Hanabi greeted her at the front door with a wide grin on her face. Hinata was an expert in all of her younger sister's facial expressions and this one was more impish than welcoming.

"Welcome back, Nee-chan!"

Still unsure of what to expect, the eldest greeted her sister somewhat hesitantly. "Hello, Hanabi, were you waiting for me?"

"Yup! You have something waiting for you and I was not going to let you open it without me," replied Hanabi as she dragged her sister to her room.

"Something waiting for me?"

"Yeah. A package. From a boy. Now, hurry up!"

At this Hinata blushed a hundred shades of red. "A b-boy?"

"Nee-chan has an admirer!" Hanabi exclaimed gleefully.

"Shh! Hanabi, don't say that so loud!"

"Oh, you're no fun! I know if I had an admirer everyone would know about it."

Hinata just rolled her eyes at her younger sister's antics. There was no doubt in her mind that what her sister said was true. However, she was a much more private individual.

"Hanabi, I am allowing you to be there when I open the package. So, I expect you to repay me with what little discretion is left."

The younger sister just giggled and Hinata knew that was the closest thing to an agreement she would get.

As the blue haired girl slid open the door to her room, she saw that there was indeed a package sitting on her bed. She walked over and picked it up as her sister jumped onto the bed to sit as she opened it.

A little nervous, Hinata unwrapped the paper slowly until a card fell out. Hinata set the item down and picked up the card. It read:

Now you don't have an excuse. Wear it when you come over tonight. I'll be expecting you.

-Sasuke

Hinata smiled a little to herself. She didn't know him very well yet, but that note seemed so like him. She unfurled the object that had been wrapped up and both she and her sister let out a gasp.

Sasuke had sent Hinata a navy blue kimono with a pattern of red rose petals along the bottom. The sleeves and neckline were trimmed in red and there was a red obi to go with it. The material was soft, but hardy enough that she wouldn't have to worry about damaging it while training or working. There was a slit up each side of the dress that would go to about mid-thigh which would provide enough range of movement for the Gentle Fist stance. Probably knowing she would feel nervous about the slits being so high, Sasuke had also provided bandages to wrap around her legs for extra covering.

Hanabi was the first of the two to speak.

"Wow, that's really pretty, Nee-chan."

Hinata found herself agreeing with her sister. The outfit was lovely and it seemed that Sasuke had been paying close attention to her objections the other night about wearing a kimono regularly as he had taken care of all of those problems. She was both flattered and incredibly flustered by his gesture.

"Are you going to try it on or not? Apparently he's expecting you to wear it tonight so you should probably shower and everything first. You don't want to smell like mission for your date tonight."

At this Hinata blushed yet again as she said, "It's not a d-date! I'm just making him dinner at his house."

Hanabi just laughed at her sister. "I hate to break it to you, but that sounds a lot like a date. He even bought you an outfit."

Hinata was in a permanent state of blushing as she shooed her sister out of her room so that she could shower and change. She still had to pick up ingredients for that evening, but promised to stop by her little sister's room beforehand to show her what the kimono looked like on.

Two hours later a blue haired girl in a new kimono holding a couple bags of groceries knocked on Uchiha Sasuke's front door. When he opened the door and saw her dressed in his gift, he smirked.

"I'm glad you like it. I have two more of the same design inside for you."

"B-but I didn't even say anything! How did you know I liked it?"

"You're wearing it."

"Um, you told me to wear it."

"Well I like it. And I can tell you do, too so stop with the arguing. You do that too much."

Hinata humphed and followed him inside. He had to be the only person to ever accuse her of being argumentative. She followed him into the kitchen and set the bags down on the counter. As she began to get things ready to cook she started to worry whether he would like what she planned.

"Um, I wasn't sure what you liked so I brought stuff to make onigiri and miso soup. Will that be alright?"

"Hn," was his response and she took that to mean that her choice was acceptable. Inside, Sasuke was jumping for joy at the prospect of more of Hinata's onigiri. He had been wanting more ever since that bento the other day.

"Do you want any help? I'm not hopeless around the kitchen; I just don't ever cook anything complicated. After living on the run for so long, all the food I make is simple and fast."

"Well, if you want you could chop up these tomatoes. I wanted to use them for the filling."

When Hinata saw Sasuke's face she mistook his wide eyes as an indication of a dislike of her choice in fillings.

"S-sorry, if you don't like tomato I can just make the onigiri without a filling."

"No. My mother used to make me onigiri with tomato filling. It's my favorite."

Recognizing the longing in his voice for his lost mother, Hinata felt her heart go out to him. To have lost his entire family like that and to be living now in the house where it all had happened must have been difficult for him. She decided right then to do her best to be there for him.

"In that case I have enough to make a little extra. We can put what's left into your fridge and you can have some tomorrow."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but she could tell that he was pleased with her suggestion.

A few months passed and Hinata's cooking for Sasuke became a regular occurrence a couple of times a week unless one of them was on a mission. Additionally they would meet up to train or grab a bite to eat at a restaurant. Rumors began to circulate regarding the relationship between the Hyuga heiress and the last Uchiha, but no one seemed to be able to say anything definitive.

Very few people were not privy to these rumors and one such person was a certain unpredictable blond ninja. Naruto had spent almost all of his spare time for the last few months perfecting his elemental rasengan variants. Hinata's advice had helped immensely, but the ninjutsu were both volatile and self harming so he had to pace himself so that he didn't injure himself. Tsunade had been hinting at Hokage training and he did not want to piss her off by being reckless.

After his ramen non-date with Sakura three months ago, Naruto had been thinking more about a certain pale eyed kunoichi. He had turned down her food that day because he didn't want to make Sakura angry, but she had just gotten angry about something else. And the last few times he had seen her she seemed to be even more irritable.

Naruto hadn't actually seen Hinata since that day, but about a month later he had woken up in the training ground where he had fallen asleep, exhausted after a long morning of training, to find a small jar of ointment next to him. There was a note telling him that the ointment should stimulate the chakra flow along his arms and hands so that Kurama might have an easier time healing the damage his training was causing. About a week after that he had found a very large jar of the same ointment in front of his door with another note saying that she was sure he would need more as she knew he wouldn't give up until he had accomplished his goal.

All of this made him realize that while Sakura was pretty and seemed to care about him as a teammate, she violently rejected any attempt made to be more than that. Meanwhile, here was a cute girl who had already admitted to having feelings for him and she seemed to go out of her way to help him. He figured he should at least give things a try with her and the best way to get that started would be to take her out for a meal.

After an hour or so of not being able to find Hinata, Naruto thankfully ran across her teammates. He asked them if they knew where he could find her. Shino meerly looked at him while Kiba replied, "Tch, why don't you go ask your Uchiha? I'm sure he'll know."

Confused by this, but not one to turn down a lead, Naruto made his way towards his dark haired teammate's home.

When he arrived, he burst through the door as usual, but his usual boisterous greeting died on his lips as he took in the sight before him.

Hinata was lying on the couch with Sasuke on top of her and they were obviously in the middle of a heated make out session. Hinata's head was tilted back, her dark hair cascading over the edge of the couch. Her pearl colored eyes were half lidded, her face was flushed, and her lips were red and swollen from kissing. Sasuke was placing kisses along her pale, slender neck and Naruto couldn't help but notice that her kimono had come a little loose, exposing part of her shoulder and some cleavage. He took notice of an ample bosom that he would never have dreamed existed under that lavender jacket. He realized that 'cute' had been a serious understatement in regards to Hinata's appearance. She was hot. If his godfather had still been alive, Jiraiya would have had his notebook out and been scribbling notes as fast as he could.

Naruto only had a couple of seconds to take all of this in as his loud entrance had caught their attention. Hinata eeped in embarrassment and buried her face in Sasuke, who just looked annoyed at being interrupted.

"What do you want, Dobe," Sasuke asked as he got up from the couch. Hinata stood up behind him, adjusting the collar of her kimono so that it was no longer showing her shoulder. Her face was almost as red as her obi and she was doing her best to hide behind the young man in front of her.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Well, uh, I was kind of looking for Hinata-chan and Kiba told me you might know where she was."

"Obviously you found her. What business did you have with her?"

"Uh, I was actually going to ask her to dinner, but it looks like she already has plans..."

"Yes, we do."

Naruto didn't miss his friend's use of the word 'we' instead of 'she'.

"Oh, well, sorry to bother you guys. I'll just get going."

Naruto turned to leave, thoroughly confused as to how he felt about this situation, but Hinata spoke up: "Um, i-if you want you can stay. There should be m-more than enough stew for all of us."

The blond perked up at this, but saw the warning glare his friend was giving him and responded, "No, thank you, but I think I'll leave you guys alone. Uh, see you later, I guess."

Once Naruto had left, Sasuke turned to Hinata with a frown. "Why did you invite him to stay?"

"Oh! W-well he came all this way to ask about dinner and we had more than enough so I thought..."

"You still like him."

It was said as a statement, but Hinata could hear the question behind it. Their relationship was still relatively new and Sasuke was a little insecure about Hinata's feelings toward his teammate. She herself had been surprised at her change of heart, but apparently years and years of unrequited love had allowed her to open herself up to the possibility of someone else. Sasuke had been just as ardent and focused in his pursuit of her as he was with everything he did and she found herself falling for the ex-avenger as time passed. It was nice to be the pursued for a change and she relished the experience of having her feelings returned.

"I do, but not like you are thinking."

"Hn."

Hinata could see he still needed some convincing.

"I still admire him, as I always have, but you convinced me to direct my affections elsewhere and they are now yours."

Sasuke didn't say anything in reply, but he wrapped his arms around her frame and pulled her close. His spontaneous acts of affection never ceased to surprise her.

"Besides, I think we're better suited for one another, don't you?"

He still replied with a "Hn," but Hinata could hear the small smile in his voice.

Later, as Sasuke watched Hinata bustle around the kitchen, he thought the only thing missing was the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of her kimono. The colors of her outfit were already perfect for it. He smirked and mentally patted himself on the back for his ability to think ahead.