Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, the anime manga or any other aspect of it's media.

Title; The Hazard's of Waking Up

Chapter Seven;

It wasn't that she was hungover often, not at all really. But Hinata had been drunk enough times to recognize the throbbing pain behind her eyes as the beginnings of a likely really bad hangover.

So she did what any sensible person would do, she groaned lamenting her fate quietly and proceeded to bury her face back in her pillow. She also ignored how the pillow didn't exactly smell like hers usually did. She reasoned that it had to have been the new detergent, even if it was weird how it smelled suspiciously like men's cologne. Quite nice cologne actually, Hinata would need to get more of that detergent.

Fate was not on her side though, as if it ever had been as the bedroom door cracked open and soft footsteps padded into the bedroom. She stifled a low whine in her throat wondering just how the kids had gotten home so earlier, they weren't due back until two...of course with her hangover it actually could have been past two now.

"...Hinata?" a voice questioned, far too high for so early in the morning. It took until the usually sharp Hyuuga had freed herself from her impromptu pillow fortress to realize that the voice speaking to her was definitely not either Himawari or Bolt, it took until she was staring Sarada in her dark eyes to put it together.

"Sarada?...W-what are y-you doing here?" asked Hinata smiling slightly pained despite herself as she tried to comprehend what was happening. The Uchiha girl still had a key, Hinata had insisted on it nearly squeezing the life out of the girl in an embrace when she'd tried to return it.

"That's my question Hinata." remarked the young girl flashing the Hyuuga a grin very reminiscent of another Uchiha as she straightened out her pyjamas and climbed onto the bed herself. As she pulled herself further free from the covers Hinata made another strange discovery, namely that she had elected to wear her favourite dress to bed.

Also her covers were the wrong colour.

"You know you're in my house right Hinata, in my Papa's bed?" Sarada offered dangerously close to sing-song as she grinned at Hinata, her expression shifted more into worry though when the Hyuuga's eye's widened dramatically and she fell back into the covers tugging them up over her nose.

"S-s-sasuke's B-b-bed!?" stammered Hinata her mind reeling as a memory made itself known to her. Namely of her own voice whimpering a needy 'Prove it' and a certain dark haired man looming above her just before he...

"D-dress still on, d-dress still on." muttered Hinata to herself shaking her head as Sarada watched the woman's mild breakdown with rapt attention.

"Yeah that's actually a little weird, you should have worn one of Papa's shirts to sleep. I stole his red one to sleep in...don't tell him though." Sarada shared with the mortified woman doing entirely nothing to help her cause. Hinata simply let out a delicate squeak blushing furiously at her thoughts...mostly because she already knew exactly which shirt she'd want to steal to sleep in.

"S-Sarada I-I'm not, w-what I m-mean is. Y-you shouldn't um." Hinata wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to say but she was becoming increasingly aware that she was still cuddling the Uchiha's duvet. With a reluctant languish she pulled herself out from the warm covers finding her shoes neatly set aside as Sarada tried to make sense of what the Hyuuga meant.

"Oh I understand, we should keep you and Papa quiet right?" the young Uchiha reasoned pouting, she could understand why Hinata wouldn't want Naruto or Sakura knowing. Or Himawari, Hinata would probably break it to her easily.

"W-we're n-not...Y-yes, we s-should keep it q-quiet." Hinata answered after a moment fighting off the urge to simply cry to herself about the situation for awhile.

"Still this is great! I-I mean like, you and Papa together. It's great!" the young girl celebrated to herself rocking herself and grinning cheerfully. It was such an honestly gleeful reaction from the normally reserved girl that Hinata felt her stomach twisting itself into a thousand knots.

She'd been thinking of how to explain what had happened to Sarada every way except when confronted with excitement, how she'd explain a one night stand to one of her own children if they caught her on a walk of shame. Hinata hadn't been expecting Sarada to be so enthusiastic, and all her original explanations became obsolete.

Hinata didn't even know how Sasuke felt, he had kissed her...or she'd kissed him. There had been a lot of kissing anyway, good kissing but then her drinking had caught up on her and she'd...needed the restroom. It was hard to decipher someone's feelings like that, was the Uchiha holding her hair back a positive sign, was giving her his bed one? She blushed as she wondered if he'd joined her but just awoken before she had.

"W-well h-honey. Y-your d-dad and I, we'll have to t-talk a-about all that." Hinata offered gently cringing when the girl's glee took a clear hit, her dimples vanishing as the smile became much more fragile.

"Of course, I mean yeah. Are you staying for breakfast?" Sarada asked hesitantly tugging at the Hyuuga's heart strings more than she could know. In honesty Hinata had been considering escape routes, climbing out the window had it's pros and cons but it mostly came down to either the front door or the back door.

"I g-guess I c-could stay for c-coffee." Hinata found herself answering, picking up her heels and trying to straighten out her dress so it looked at least a little less slept in...not that she had much success. At the very least she knew she wouldn't be able to eat anything for awhile.

"Cool." Sarada cheered brightening back up immediately as she hopped off the bed pulling a lightly protesting Hinata along with her. The Hyuuga still had major concerns, like potential panda eyes from her mascara and slightly less pressingly just what she'd say to Sasuke.

It hadn't been Sasuke she had needed to worry about though she realized once she reached to bottom of the stairs. The front door clicked open to allow entry to another pair, equally as hungover as Hinata felt. Only Sarada remained remotely relaxed as pale eyes met bright blue and green.

"Hinata?" Naruto croaked stiffly echoed by his pink haired friend as they stared at the Hyuuga with her heels in her hands, with her messy bed-hair and crinkled dress. For her part Hinata wanted the earth to swallow her up, the deeper the better she thought. But whatever else she thought of the man these days she was Hiashi Hyuuga's daughter and that had left it's mark.

Hinata straightened herself up nobly, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin. She took a moment to rub Sarada's shoulder and offer the girl a smile and a soft excuse before she turned back to the gaping duo.

"Naruto, Sakura." the Hyuuga greeted in her best impression of her father nodding to both as she strode past them. It wasn't until she heard the door shutting behind her and she was sure no one could see her that Hinata let her shoulders sag and she took off down the road to her own home her mind buzzing brokenly.

He wasn't a morning person, Sasuke would be the first to admit that much. But even then there were good ways and bad ways to start a morning. Being awoken to two high pitched voices arguing in confused whispered shouts went on the list of bad ways, and discovering his daughter sat munching away on cereal watching said argument with rapt attention only made it worse.

"Morning Papa." greeted the girl her legs curled beneath her on the armchair as she watched Naruto and Sakura bickering through the alcove that lead to the kitchen. The older Uchiha blinked his sleep filled eyes for a few moments rubbing his hair from his eyes as he returned the greeting.

"Don't argue in front of my daughter." The dark haired man chastised his friends rising from the couch and making his way for the kitchen. He had a feeling what might have sparked the spirited debate but he wasn't ready to deal with it until he had some coffee in him.

"Hinata didn't stay for breakfast." Sarada offered up as she sat up and followed him into the kitchen. Idly Sasuke couldn't escape the impression the girl was following him to back him up in some weird form of protectiveness, that much at least uprooted his bad mood more than a little and cracked his scowl.

"You slept on the couch?" Sakura asked smiling a little and shooting the still clearly agitated Naruto a some look. Sasuke did little more than shrug as he clicked his treasured coffee maker to life.

"And Hinata was here, why?" but in the Uzumaki folding his arms in an almost sulking manner, Sasuke would have answered but Sarada beat him to the punch.

"She spent the night, obviously." the younger Uchiha offered up throwing Naruto a condescending look of sorts.

"Well yeah, but, I mean why?" amended Naruto sheepishly. Most of his ire seemed to vanish with the more obvious presence of an impressionable mind, or it could have been Sakura elbowing him in the side.

"We'll talk about that later." The Uchiha returned taking a seat next to his daughter as the coffee machine hummed with life. The callous response though seemed to reignite some of Naruto's annoyance as he frowned darkly his brow screwing up tight.

"The fu- What's that supposed to mean?" grunted the Uzumaki releasing a pitched whine as Sakura elbowed him again cutting off his near curse. Sasuke just shrugged again though, not even remotely certain what he did mean by that.

Ideally he would have liked to talk to the Hyuuga herself about just what happened last night before he figured out just what he was supposed to be apologizing for. As it stood he didn't know himself what it had meant, and what it meant bore a lot of relevance to how he'd approach Naruto with it.

"Um Papa, Hinata wanted to keep you two quiet for now...just so you know." Sarada had leaned in to whisper her advice but Naruto's keen hearing had picked most of it up anyway. The look on the blonde's face clearly announced that he had and Sasuke forced himself to stifle a groan.

"You two?" Sakura spoke up her green eyes slightly wide, undoubtedly remembering her own early suspicions. Sasuke climbed out of the chair though deciding it was time for less delicacy. He'd never been good at it anyway.

"We'll talk outside Naruto." ordered the brunette giving his almost finished coffee a last look of longing before he lead the way to the back garden. It wasn't a large garden by any standards, barely anything really but the solid door clicking behind both men ensured that at least their conversation would be private.

Unless it devolved into a shouting match of course.

"Seriously Sasuke, explain this to me because I...I just have no idea what to think right now." the blonde offered almost gently after a moment seemingly forcing himself to calm down and even out his breathing. Blithely the Uchiha suspected that the calm wouldn't last all that long.

"Hinata was out with a friend, she turned up here late. She was drunk and upset." started the Uchiha folding his own arms as he went on a pre-emptive attack.

"Upset?" murmured the blonde blinking in confusing.

"Something about you returning to see Sakura, or at least that's how she saw it." snapped Sasuke wondering if it was a good idea to be so sharp given the rest of the story.

"But I, I mean it wasn't just to see Sakura." offered the sheepish blonde effectively scolded it seemed.

"Tell that to her, not me Uzumaki. Anyway, she wasn't in her right state of mind exactly...she kissed me, threw up and passed out." he'd muttered most of the end but as he knew he would Naruto had easily heard the most important part and locked onto it.

"You kissed her?" he paraphrased some of his earlier anger flashing in his eyes again. Sasuke considered correcting him, that he hadn't initiated anything. But he sort of had, the first kiss had been most certainly mutual and he hadn't considered stopping it even once.

"Yeah." the Uchiha let the words ghost out awaiting a reaction that didn't come, instead of taking a swing at him or shouting Naruto had went suddenly pensive his lips pursing tightly.

"And what's that mean then?" asked the Uzumaki his expression clouded and unreadable.

"I don't know." The Uchiha answered honestly sighing to himself, somehow he missed the blonde moving until his knuckles connected with Sasuke's cheek sending the Uchiha stumbling.

"The hell do you mean you don't know! You kissed Hinata and you don't know?" raged Naruto his breathing ragged as he twisted his arms around his torso in a frantic display of emotion, Sasuke shoved him back with a glare.

"I don't know what it means to her idiot. She was drunk, she mightn't even want to talk about it." Sasuke growled back rubbing his cheek with the back of his good hand and pinning the blonde with an angry look. The Uzumaki at least deflated a little.

"Well okay, I guess. But Hinata's not like that you know, if she did something she meant it." responded Naruto evenly despite his earlier start. The Uchiha doubted it though and let that show with a frown.

"Why would she Naruto." he answered honestly. This was the Hyuuga after all, a woman he could still remember trailing after his blonde friend silently for years and more than that she was nothing like the women he'd been involved with before. She was soft and gentle, maybe not fragile but nothing like the temperamental sort he'd always found himself drawn to before now.

"What am I, a mind reader? You'll have to ask her bastard. But if this is something, I mean something something then you should man up!" put in the blonde earning himself a glare as he leaned against the closed door barring any exit from the awkward exchange.

"Wouldn't that bother you, Naruto?" asked the Uchiha suspicious at his friends change. He had sucker punched him just a moment ago, this understanding side was confusing even by the Uzumaki's general standards.

"Well, of course it would. It bothers me to see her with anyone, but that's all primal lizard brain shit. I know she's got to move on with someone sometime. I mean, I did." continued the blonde his round features creasing up as if he'd eaten something less than pleasant but felt he had to finish.

"You're with someone now?" asked Sasuke wondering how long the blonde might have kept that from him otherwise.

"Sort of...but don't change the subject bastard. What I mean is, if Hinata does move on with someone I need to know they're good for her. And the kids...and that is gonna be so weird." some of the seriousness seemed to drop out of Naruto as the mental image of Sasuke trying to be a stepfather or honorary uncle to his children settled into his mind, it should have bothered him but he couldn't help just finding it funny.

"So you'd be alright with it? If anything were to happen between me and Hinata." Sasuke asked waiting again just in case putting it into words upset his friend. The unsettling grin that drew over Naruto's features was much worse though.

"Yeah, I mean as long as you don't hurt her, or try getting my kids to call you 'papa'. But you'd better spoil them rotten too. Or I'll kick your ass!" ranted the Uzumaki this time playfully tapping the Uchiha in the arm with his knuckles.

"That's fair, I suppose." admitted Sasuke reluctantly not arguing the ass kicking point.

"And you need to make Sarada be nice to me! That death glare of hers if terrifying." continued Naruto less seriously drawing a wiry grin from his dark friend.

"I'm not a miracle worker, but there is something you could do..." returned Sasuke allowing his chapped lips to crook into a grin that seemed more a predatory smirk, the inoculated Uzumaki didn't seem to notice it though reaching for the door handle.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" asked the blonde almost carefree. There was still a lingering in the back of his mind, an urge to warn off Sasuke from doing anything and to keep his hands to himself but he knew it was ultimately Hinata's choice how things went from here. He'd lost the right to meddle any more than he already had a long time ago.

"Visit Karin with us, Sarada wants to see her somewhat regularly." explained the Uchiha watching as his friend's face drained of most of its colour quite rapidly. Naruto had been close to Karin in their youth the same way he had been close to Sasuke himself, it tended to involve a lot of bickering and name calling from both parties. But once the woman had taken a turn for the worse much like Naruto's own mother...

"Em you know, I kind of just visited her and...well." bubbled the blonde pausing still just outside the doorway.

"I checked the registry, you haven't seen her in years." corrected Sasuke more than a little unhappily. It had been disheartening when he'd signed himself and Sarada into the hospital book to see that the name just before it was his own from before his accident.

"Shit. I mean really, do I have to?" moaned Naruto pushing into the kitchen and ignoring Sakura's expectant look, he'd worry about explaining that later. For the moment they were fine and that was enough.

"Yes." growled his friend following him inside and tilting his head in confusion when Sarada immediately scurried up to him almost as if she were checking him over for injuries. He really hoped she hadn't over heard anything.

He felt like a creep.

In any other situation he'd have called it quits by now. He'd rung the doorbell, seen the woman's shadow appear through the frosted glass and then he could almost swear he'd heard a feminine squeak before the same shadow had vanished back further into the house.

Maybe he should have given her a few more days, but leaving it unresolved was driving him crazy so he'd called over once Sarada had been sent on her way to school.

"Hinata, can we just talk?" he tried feeling stupid as he spoke to the door's blank gray glass. Another five minutes and he really would have to call it quits before some concerned neighbour decided to call the cops.

The shadow reappeared but the door still didn't open so hissing a breath through his teeth Sasuke tried again.

"I just want to talk about it, to clear the air Hinata." he cursed the way he said her name, the way he'd been saying it since his talk with Naruto. Once that obstacle was gone he'd suddenly found it impossible to think a spare thought without the Hyuuga drifting into his mind. Earlier impressions and thoughts of the woman seemed tainted now that he knew what her lips felt like.

He said her name possessively, with a shaky need that he hadn't felt in a long time.

The door clicked and swung open slowly revealing Hinata bit by bit. She was dressed in a long sleeve cream top and black jeans her hair set in a low ponytail, her hands were clenched at her waist and her eyes were set on her feet painting an image of a beautiful woman, but one awaiting reprisal. It didn't sit well with the Uchiha.

"Can I come in?" He asked gently drawing the woman's eyes up to his own, she really had been expecting something harsher it seemed as the confusion swam in her eyes and she nodded slowly. He followed her at a respectful distance out of his depth when it came to comforting or reassuring such a self conscious introverted soul.

"I'm sorry." she spoke sharply turning so quickly that Sasuke almost walked into her. It drew him closer to her than he'd meant to be but he couldn't bring himself to move back either.

"Sorry, what...no why are you sorry Hinata?" he returned wrong footed. He should have just been demanding to know whether she'd meant the kiss or not, but that seemed entirely too hostile an approach.

"F-for everything. C-calling late, t-throwing up and taking y-your b-bed. And e-everything else." she answered her eyes drifting down again as she tugged the fingers of one of her hands with the other.

"What about kissing me?" he asked his voice dipping unintentionally as he watched her pale features staining bright red, she didn't move away though.

"Um t-that was..." she started and he knew instinctively that she was going to just apologize for it and try to brush it away. Naruto had been right, he needed to man up and make the first move for once.

"I don't regret it Hinata, I just wish you'd have been sober so I could know you meant it." he cut her off watching as her chin immediately raised, her eyes bright and confused as her soft lips parted wordlessly to mouth a forgotten sentence.

"That's what I want to know Hinata, if you thought that was a mistake." he clarified again suddenly aware of the proximity. The room was filled with cool autumn air but he could feel the heat drifting off the other warm body as the Hyuuga shook her head.

"Y-you don't m-mean that, I k-know y-you don't Sasuke." she seemed more like she was trying to convince herself than him in any meaningful way. She was still flushed and breathless and the Uchiha wondered if kissing her now would convince her he was being honest or ruin what he was trying to achieve.

"Why wouldn't I Hinata?" he asked huskily cursing his own voice that betrayed him only in his own ears, he couldn't help but hear every undercurrent in his tone that revealed the depth of his feelings.

"It's j-just p-pity, i-isn't it? I'm j-just me. I'm nothing s-special." she answered after a drawn out moment wringing her fingers some more as Sasuke realized she was just as self conscious as he had been, maybe more so. Something about her despairing brushed him the wrong way though and he fixed the girl a glare.

He was not a liar.

"You're an idiot. A wonderful damned gorgeous idiot." growled out the Uchiha startling Hinata with his aggressive insulting compliments. He took her chin in his good hand before she could say anything.

"And you are very damn special Hinata Hyuuga." she might have objected if he'd given her the chance but before Hinata could find her words the dark man had dipped forward pressing his lips over her own softly.

It was a short kiss but it had said a lot. When they pulled away Hinata's pale eyes were half lidded as she cast her gaze from the Uchiha's own lips up to his eyes, he was smirking down at her like some kind of satisfied cat and Hinata knew this was no act of pity. Lust shun in his dark eyes, passion and desire that she couldn't imagine faked but did cause her to blush prettily again.

"O-okay s-so then, where do we go f-from here?" asked the woman still unsure of herself, almost more unsure of herself now that they'd kissed again absent liquor. There were still plenty of potential problems with what was going on between them that a simple kiss couldn't fix.

"Can I take you out, for dinner?" asked the Uchiha still high off the feel of the Hyuuga's lips on his own.

"D-dinner? I guess I could c-cook, maybe Friday?" the thought had Hinata smiling shyly, it would be their first real date not counting the outings with their children or her sister's engagement party.

"No. I want to take you out properly Hinata...dinner at a nice restaurant and, whatever else people do on dates." announced Sasuke tempted to plant another kiss on the blushing girl. He wasn't really certain what people did on dates anymore, or what someone his age was meant to do. The last time he had dated, going to a grunge gig in some dive bar and Burger King afterwards was a perfectly acceptable evening.

Though seeing the Hyuuga in a denim skirt and fishnets, dancing to some noisy band certainly held an interesting appeal.

"H-how about you handle the r-restaurant, and I'll get u-us tickets to a s-show." offered Hinata her eyes crinkling a little as she enjoyed the division of labour. She'd appreciated dates where she was led around for the effort involved put in but this seemed like a much better way to start between them, mutual shared control.

"Okay." agreed Sasuke readily smirking down at the woman he was now involved with. Where Hinata had been considering the equality of the shared responsibility Sasuke couldn't help but see it as a challenge, not in a 'the man' should decide everything kind of way but rather more like a contest. To see who could impress the other more with their half of the evening.

"Okay...can I k-kiss you again?" Hinata offered after a moment indulging her body's constant demands to mark her new territory. The Uchiha dipped again but she started the kiss this time surging up on her toes as she laced her fingers behind his neck. This time as their lips met it was a full embrace, her body mending against his as they wrapped one another in a tight embrace their eyes shut tight.

Okay that's us almost at the end of our story now. Only one more chapter, I think, to go though that might be split into a chapter and an epilog depending on how long it gets drawn out. Hope everyone's enjoyed up to now and have a good weekend.

R&R