The Tomato Conqueror

Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto

The Tomato Conqueror © fhclause

Anko's Cake House, a place where teenage girls and boys liked to hang out not just for its famous desserts, but also because of its charming and good-looking waiters and waitresses that these young people secretly dubbed the place as 'The Host Club'.

Anko's Cake House, a place where classy gentlemen and gentlewomen like to stop by not just for its famous tea blend, but also because of its superb display of Eastern garden that these gentle people proudly called the place as 'The Tea House'.

Anko's Cake House, a dessert shop owned by Mitarashi Anko, the infamous wayward daughter of Orochimaru, who changed her last name to her mother's maiden one because she justified that the pun in her name can help to promote the already famous shop.

Anko's Cake House, a shop that was chosen—out of any shop or place that could help poor (not!), young college student to gain better experience and money—as the one and only working place by none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Why?

Because Hyuuga Hinata also worked there.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he took in the duty roster in front of him. At last, after reducing himself to bowing to his moronic of a best friend, which led him to begging to a lazy-ass genius, which led him to the crazy search for dozens of sweet bean soup cans for a week for his sadistic manager-to-be, had finally paid off. He found her.

Actually, he knew she worked here; had been for the past five months. But the reason why he too worked here now and was looking for her was because that girl with pearly, white eyes and a pair of tomato, red cheeks named Hyuuga Hinata was too. Damn. Stubborn.

Being a genius that he was, Sasuke got a light-bulb moment.

Girl ran away=Stalk…err, Chase the girl

It had been ten years—a hundred twenty months or three thousand six hundred and fifty days, mind you—since the 'research'. The research that had him discovered the greatest discovery ever.

Hyuuga Hinata was the Queen of Tomato.

Or at least, that was what his nine-year-old self thought. Not to say he was wrong or silly—because the Uchihas were neither of those—but Hinata's cheeks were so red, she very well could be the Queen of Tomato. Didn't matter how logical and objective person he grew up to be; he still saw those so round, so soft, so red, so—cheeks!—as tomatoes.

He supposed first impressions were most lasting, no matter how hard he tried to change them.

And tried hard he did.

After his very eloquent demand for the Hyuuga to be his girlfriend, the girl suddenly ran off from the class as if he just threatened to kill her. Then, to make the matter worse, the tale of his 'confession' spread like a wildfire. Even his family heard about it, much to his horror. His brother kept teasing him with that knowing smirk that annoyed him every time the Hyuuga was seen or mentioned. Hinata sprinted away from him every time she saw him in the hallway. The self-proclaim bodyguards—the male Hyuuga, the dirty mutt and the creepy bug-boy—hung around Hinata and glared at him as if he was going to jump in and took their precious cousin/friend/whatever and eat her.

Personally, he didn't mind being ignored, especially if that person was a girl. In fact, he was more than happy to give Hinata Hyuuga the space she needed. After all, biting her cheeks was merely a part of his research; something to satisfy his curiosity. It wasn't as if he was in love with her or anything. He was just nine after all.

Then again, there was also a point where normal humans who have emotions—as subdued as it were—can feel angry by that kind of treatment. Biting her cheeks might have crossed the line for her, but was it necessary to hold a grudge against him for that long?

And so, because of her unfair treatment, he somehow developed a bitter feeling towards her. Not hate, but enough that it almost made him want to strangle her if he get close enough to her to do that.

He did get close one day, but strangely enough, he didn't choke her. It happened on the start of their second year of college, where they randomly got paired up for a project. They tiptoed around each other, avoided looking at each other and then somehow sat opposite of each other in the library, fidgeted because of the awkwardness, coughed to dispel the awkwardness and ended up having a proper and professional conversation.

Then he learned that she wasn't as spiteful as he thought she'd be and she learned that he wasn't actually a closet pervert.

And then, like how all clichéd love story—no, he didn't read romance; it was all Sakura's doing—of teenagers coincidentally paired up for a project, they ended up liking each other more than they should.

And because he was a logical and sensible man, Sasuke asked her to go on a date—it was also the best revenge on his brother after those long years of teasing—by reminding their mother that Itachi still had not had a proper girlfriend while his little brother had. Or about to.

They went to watch an over-hyped movie that tend to be bland in the end, a not-so-fancy but delicious restaurant, and lastly to the sky garden, where they can silently watched the stars, but still enjoyed each other's company.

Then he turned his head and she turned her head and they both leaned closer…

And he did that biggest, stupidest, fucking mistake.

He bit her cheek instead.

He swore it was an accident. Sasuke wasn't even sure what he did until Hinata suddenly jumped out of her seat, looked at him in horror (but with a face redder than usual that he could cook an egg on it), and ran away.

It felt like one of those out-of-body experience he watched in movies. Like he was doing something he wasn't aware of. Like his body moved on its own.

That's not important! What's important then, was he had to go apologize to her, because this time it was a mistake. Not that he didn't enjoy biting her; it just wasn't a part of his plan.

The first thing he did was to call her. When she didn't pick up, he tried to confront her at school. When that didn't work out either—seriously! How can she ran away so easily? Can she see through walls or something!?—Sasuke decided he cornered her at her workplace instead.

Getting into Anko's Cake House wasn't easy. Actually, it could be easy. Sasuke could have come in as a customer instead. But, he reasoned that that would be too easy and easy was beneath the consideration of an Uchiha.

"Oi, Uchiha. Your shift is up."

Sasuke turned with a raised eyebrow at Shikamaru who was leaning against the door. "I know. I was about to go."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow back at him. "You know, Naruto mentioned that you can be off your rocker sometimes," he remarked, well aware of the reason why the young Uchiha was here. "Is this one of those times? Coz if Anko got the wind of this, she's going to triple our shifts. And that's troublesome."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke snapped, insulted for being called crazy and careless. "Who do you think I am? There's a reason why I bribed that sadistic woman with those horrible sweet bean soup cans. Now, excuse me."

Shikamaru stared after the stomping Sasuke with a roll of his eyes. Regardless of how meticulous the Uchiha thought he planned, Shikamaru could see all went down to hill. The real problem here wasn't Anko per se, but the goal of Sasuke's pursuit. As docile as Hinata was, she was also a loose cannon.

Yup, everything was not going to go according to Uchiha's plan.

Huh, better fake an illness. That's less troublesome than triple shifts.

"Welcome to Anko's Cake House!" Hinata smiled stiffly as she greeted the band of customers coming through the front door. As soon after she guided them to their table, she quickly burst towards the kitchen and hid behind the kitchen counter.

Wh—what is he doing here!?

Her workplace was supposed to be her haven. Sure, Anko could be a difficult manager sometimes and some customers have wondering hands, but Hinata was happy. She was surrounded by different sorts of dessert. As someone who has a sweet tooth, even the smell of burning sugar can lift Hinata's spirit up.

That was why, after that thing happened with Sasuke, she had high hopes that today would be a normal, if not wonderful, workday.

But it wasn't.

She didn't know how Sasuke got in. Anko was very picky in choosing her workers and Uchihas were the very last people on the list—if they were even on the list to begin with. What she did know, was that Sasuke Uchiha was here.

After that incident, Hinata revaluate what had happened. When she thought it over, instead of being upset like she did in the past, Hinata felt…giddy. She didn't understand why she felt that way. What's worst, every time she saw him at school, her cheeks started burn on their own accord. She really wanted to talk to him, to ask his reasons and to work out her weird feelings, but it was embarrassing to talk to him when her face look like a boiled octopus. Until she could calm down, she would hide from him.

She wondered if her cheeks were some kind of Sasuke detector.

Hinata flinched when she heard the door swung loudly. She curled deeper into her knees, hoping that the floor would swallow her up. But judging by the familiar, confident footsteps that stopped beside her, Hinata wasn't very lucky.

"If you're going to run away from me, and take another ten years to talk to me again, I'll seriously strangle you, Hyuuga."

Hinata peered out of the safety of her arms with a glare. "And whose fault w-was that?"

Sasuke grimaced, unable to say anything to that. He offered his hand instead. "Sorry?"

Hinata stared at the hand for a while, but then, her mind wandered. Her face suddenly became uncomfortably warm, so she quickly raise to her feet. Sasuke who guessed what she was about to do, grabbed her shoulders. "Look, I won't do it again!"

At that, Hinata froze. "You…won't?"

"No. I promise."

A blink. A pause. Then, a quiet, "Oh."

…Oh? Just that? 'Oh'? Sasuke frowned at her forefinger. Them poking at each other relentlessly proved that Hinata had more to say, and her hiding her face with those long locks just confirmed it even more. "Are you still angry?"

She shook her head.

"Are you going to avoid me again?"

"N-no!" Hinata protested, her face visible for a second until she hid it again. "I-I just…"

"You just…?"

Hinata took a deep breath and actually leaned towards Sasuke that he had to release her from his grip. He blinked at the determined look on her face. "I disagree."

"Huh?"

"I—I actually don't mind y-you…biting my …biting my cheeks."

Sasuke blinked rapidly, still processing the weird, hot feeling he got from the look on her face. When he understood what she was saying, he frowned. "…You don't?"

Hinata frantically shook her head, ducking her face again which made him felt strangely disappointed. "N-No. I actually…I actually l-like it. I thought I minded…I mean, I was a-a bit upset that you bit me instead of k-k-k-k-k—"

Even without seeing her face, Sasuke could already imagined how red her face was. He pinched his lips together—whether to stop himself from laughing over her adorableness or biting her definitely warm cheeks, he wasn't sure. He went to help her instead. "Kissing you?"

Her shoulders hunched at the word, then relaxed. "Y-yes…"

He stared at her, dumbfounded. Then, he grinned, pulling her face upwards. As he thought, she was red. "Well, don't mind if I do then…" As he trailed kisses on one of her delectable, warm, sweet cheek, slowly moving towards her lips, Sasuke got a light-bulb moment.

Hinata=Queen of Tomatoes

Bite Queen of Tomatoes=Become Tomato Conqueror

.

.

.

Then, Anko caught them smooching. They got punished; their shifts tripled.

Shikamaru was nowhere to be found.

There you go. The sequel. It took a while, because I wasn't sure what to write. In fact, I'd prefer NOT to wrie a sequel to any of my fics.

But then...Muse hits. And so you got this. Hope it's to everyone's satisfaction.

Thank you for reading and kindly leave a review.