-1Thinking of you, wherever you are

Chapter X: my Treat

"Alright, Hinata, is there somewhere you want to go?" Sasuke asked, watching her slowly walk into the room while trying to zip up her jacket. "Well, a-anywhere you would like to go is fine with me, Sasuke." He nodded and hn'ed. "Then I guess we'll just trail through town. But first, why don't you take off your jacket? It's getting to be real hot outside and I'm sure you'd feel a lot more comfortable without it." Hinata bit her lip on Sasuke's suggestion. She never took off her jacket when she went outside. Not that she was always cold, it was more of a security than anything. Smiling, she decided she didn't need it. Sasuke made her feel safe, and he was right about the weather.

"I guess you're right," she answered, "O-okay, let's go". She left her jacket on the hanger next to the door and the two were out. It didn't take them long to make it into town. And when the road showed up, luxurious scents and smells from different restaurants surfed through the air. But over the road was even better, they could see everything cooking from outside the shops and suddenly Hinata grabbed Sasuke's hand. "Do the red bean soup a-and dumplings sound good to you?" She didn't stutter too much in her sentence so Sasuke knew this was exactly what she wanted. But what caught his attention the most was the warmth around his hand.

After the raven-haired teens extended silence, Hinata realized what she was doing. She apologized and let go of his hand, stuffing it into some non-existent pocket on her pants. "Yeah, that sounds good." Sasuke replied, looking at anything else but Hinata's face. He recovered himself quickly and made a light, sarcastic chuckle. "Well, are you coming?" He walked a little in front of her and gestured for her to follow. She smiled coyly and caught up with his steady pace.

When they found a place to sit down, Sasuke found Sakura and Naruto were there too, seemingly taking advantage of the free day Kakashi-sensei had given them. But the younger Uchiha chose to sit away from his classmates and eat with Hinata somewhere a little less…judging. He knew having Sakura around while they were talking wouldn't make Hinata feel so comfortable. They took a seat in the corner of the restaurant, making sure they were out of view from the orange and pink blobs. Sasuke sighed.

"I-If you don't want to be here, Sasuke, we could just go somewhere else." Hinata replied to his sigh. Sasuke looked up, "huh? No, it's fine. I'll go and order our food now since the service looks a little busy." Without another word from Hinata, Sasuke stood up and walked over to the front table. The Hyuuga heiress lowered her head and closed her eyes. She thought to herself while he was away, 'I better be careful what I do when I'm with Sasuke, I think he's starting to think I'm becoming another one of his fans…I can't believe I held his hand, what was I thinking? I'm not starting out very well…' She sighed slowly.

"SO, Hinata, what are you doing here all alone? Did Sasuke give you the slip?" Someone interrupted her thoughts and she lifted her head up. "By the look on your face I'd say you were dumped pretty hard!"

"Don't be so mean, Sakura-chan!" rang Naruto's voice behind his girlfriend. The pink kunoichi had found their hiding spot, Sasuke wasn't going to be too happy about this. Hinata whimpered a little, the last thing she wanted was to fight with Sakura again, "I-I just want breakfast…please…j-just l-leave me alone…" She looked down again through navy blue bangs and hoped the two would go away.

"Hm! Figures! You couldn't get who you REALLY wanted so you went for someone else and got dumped! Sasuke is WAY out of your league, Hinata, I don't know what you where even thinking!!" Sakura chimed.

Sasuke slammed an empty cup onto the table, "Maybe we weren't thinking, maybe we were just talking--"

Hinata made a small gasp at the sudden noise but was relieved to see that Sasuke was back. "Maybe we decided we would talk for a while and get to know each other. Never really talked before, and Hinata never came to the conclusion that she needed to love me undyingly to get my attention." Sakura's eyes grew wide and she took a step backward, "Sasuke? But I thought--?!"

"And you were thinking of leaving…right now." He added with a smirk of authority.

"But, how did she…and you! Why would you and her still be--?!! You could do SO much bett--"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes to slits, "If you finish that thoughtless sentence…that single word…you wont be conscious enough to think anything anymore. Go. Now." Sakura gulped, as did Hinata, and turned around to leave the shop. She smiled a little before leaving and let out a quaint giggle from fear. "C'mon, Naruto, we should get back to training, we don't want Kakashi-sensei to think were slacking off, right?!"

The two watched as Sakura and Naruto left and began to relax. "S-Sasuke, I'm sorry. I k-keep messing up this morning." Two steaming plates were brought in by a waiter and set down in front of them. Clutching his chopsticks over one of the dumplings, Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at Hinata, as if confused. He lifted the chopsticks into his mouth and chewed. After he was done, he held in a small laugh, "Kiba was right, you ARE weird."

She lifted her head and made a slight, "huh?"

Sasuke had to fight the laugh again, "Don't worry, Kiba wouldn't say something like that. But nothing this morning was your fault. You didn't yell for Sakura to come over here. You didn't throw the plate to the ground to intentionally brake it…did you?!"

Hinata's eyes grew wide, "NO!"

"Hinata, it's okay, I was only joking! What I'm trying to say is, you need to stop blaming yourself, this whole "wrong place at the wrong time-thing" is just the way my life goes." He went in for another dumpling to dip in the soup. "oh…You should eat before it gets cold."

Hinata smiled at Sasuke and nodded, "Right!" She picked up her chopsticks and dug in herself. The meal was quiet and pleasant, just how they wanted. And when they finished, Hinata sighed happily. "Had enough?" The Hyuuga heiress nodded and began to feel around for pockets on her shirt. "oh no! I left m-my jacket and your house and…it had m-my wallet in it…" Sasuke left the money he brought out in the black pen book on the table, "That's okay, It's not like I was going to make you pay. It's my treat."

"Thank you" Hinata said with a smile. Sasuke smiled back, "Hey, you're getting better at accepting things from me. I'm glad."

Hinata stayed with her same smile, "And I think your smile is beginning to become a permanent stain. For that I'm glad too."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

k-san: ok!! Another chapter done!!

Sasuke: are you even going anywhere with this?

k-san: what do you mean?

Sasuke: well, is there going to be something between Hinata and I in this story or are we just going to be like…best friends or something?!

k-san: well….I want to ease that love thing in a little slow, you were never one to be too fast in a relationship, Sasuke.

Sasuke: I guess you're right…just hurry it up and get on to your other neglected stories! You havent been writing in forever!!!

k-san: give me a break! I'm also doing illustration's for a story on my friend's deviant art! And do you know how long that takes?! I already have three pics due that I havent even started yet!!! She's pushing these due dates a little fast, I'm not a speed artist, you know!

Sasuke: ((dials number on phone)) ……

k-san: uhhh…what are you doing?

Sasuke: ((someone's on the other line)) yeah, hey Naruto. Hey--yeah, that's great, listen, k-san has been neglecting that sequel of your's and Hinata's, right?

Naruto: ((on the other end of the phone)) well, yeah! She hasn't written it for a friggin long time!

Sasuke: ok, so this is what we do, we're going to sneak into this "friend" of hers house who's making her draw and we're going…to kill her!! ((hangs up)) there, k-san, all done. Now that you're out of a job, looks like you can get to all your stories again!

k-san: . . . . . . . . You---I'LL KILL YOU!!!! YOU CAN'T KILL KERI!!! SHE OWES ME MONEY!!!

Sasuke: ((gets chased by unemployed authoress)) Hey, I'M DOING YOU A FAVOR!!! OW!

k-san: ummm…remember! Reviews are like kiwi birds; they may be small or they may be big or they might not even have much to them…but I love them so much I just want to chase them everywhere!!! For miles!!! Okay, so maybe you cant chase reviews but…you can chase Sasuke for killing your boss!