A/N: To those who actually read the author's note of my story: this is the promised OneShot
Disclaimer: Not mine
Need a host?
Hinata sighed deeply. The bartender gave her a sympathetic look. She noticed and blushed a little. "W-Whatever cocktail I order next, please just give me an orange juice" she slurred and gulped down the rest of her drink. She hadn't come here to get drunk, tomorrow would be bad enough without being hungover.
Yes, her father, a quite successful - and snobby - businessman forced her to go to a ball. Not that Hinata didn't like dancing but she was afraid of crowds and what's worse, she didn't have a date. Heck, she didn't even have a dress...
She sighed again and stole a glance at the bartender who was currently wiping some glasses. Oh how she'd love to ask him to go to the ball with her! She loved his happy smile, his beautiful sparkling blue eyes, his tanned skin, blonde hair... He was pretty much the reason why this was her favourite bar. Plus, she was sure that he would look plain gorgeous in a tux.
"Hey, be my host tonight?" a sexy voice to her left said. Hinata who had previously ignored all other people at the bar turned her head to listen to the conversation that was going on next to her. A stunningly beautiful woman with long blonde hair was casually leaning against the bar in a way that allowed everyone a good view of her cleavage, especially the young man she spoke to.
"Hn. I already have an appointment tonight" was his blunt reply. He turned his head away from her to emphasize that their conversation was over. "Aww, too bad..." the blonde lady sighed wistfully, took her drink and left.
"Hey, can I have another orange juice?" the man asked. While the bartender prepared the drink and muttered something like "What's with all those people ordering orange juice in my bar? The cocktails are perfectly fine!" Hinata gazed at the other man. He had silky black hair, pale skin and dark, dark eyes. Hinata gave him the credits of being very handsome, not that she had a chance anyway. But since she had never met a host before she was curious and decided to talk to him.
"Uhm, excuse me, you're a host?" He nodded in reply, grabbed his orange juice and turned around to face her. Hinata wasn't very good at dealing with undivided attention and blushed a little. She wasn't sure how to continue this conversation but he seemed to expect her to say something. "Oh, uhm, I guess you have a lot of customers. I mean... you're handsome and..."
"Che" He shrugged it off. "Really, I hate those girls who just want me for my looks. I'm a host, not a prostitute. And who would honestly prefer the 'dark and stoic' type over the 'cute and shy' type or the 'funny and entertaining' or the 'nice and conversational'."
"B-But I'm sure there are such girls. And you have an appointment for tonight" she said, as if to prove her point.
"I lied to get rid of her" he shrugged again and gestured in the general direction of where the other woman had left. "Well, that's the advantage of being a much saught-after host, I can pick my customers" he laughed. Then he leaned towards Hinata with that sexy look on his face which made her blush instantly and lean back, away from him. "Need a host?" he asked with a husky seductive voice.
Hinata gulped and croaked: "N-No." He smirked and sat back in his chair. Hinata was relieved to get her personal space back. With a meaningful glance at her three empty cocktail glasses he said: "But you do look kinda desperate." He was teasing her and his choice of words made Hinata blush even deeper (she was NOT desparate, damnit!) but she could also hear the honest concern in his inquiry so she told him about the whole ball-dilemma-thing.
He stared at her blankly with one cocked eyebrow. "The ball is tomorrow" he said, not really asking but rather repeating the facts. She nodded. "And you don't have a dress." She nodded again and felt even more stupid than before. "P-Please stop repeating everything I just told you" she begged in a hushed voice. She didn't want anyone to overhear their conversation, especially not that hot bartender.
"What's your name, by the way?" he asked casually. The sudden change of topic surprised Hinata and she blinked a few times before she could give her name: "Uh, it's Hinata, excuse my bad manners." "Okay, Hinata-excuse-my-bad-manners, I'm Sasuke." Hinata couldn't help but chuckle and she punched his arm playfully. Well, she WASslightly drunk. "Hinata" he repeated to calm her down and continued in a business-like tone, "Pay your drinks, we're going to buy a dress now."
"Huh?" She looked quite dumbfounded when she stumbled behind Sasuke through the crowded streets. There were a lot of bars, clubs, restaurants and shops in this part of the city. It was very popular among young people.
Sasuke dragged her into a small boutique most people didn't notice because of the big store across the street.
"I don't want anything too... uhm, obtrusive or flashy. And I don't have that much money so it can't be very expensive and - "
"Oh, shut up. I know what I'm doing. Try this one."
He handed her a soft pink silk dress with spaghetti straps. When she came out of the little changing room, she had her arms crossed over her chest and covered the view on the low-cut neckline. She shook her head to signal 'I'm not wearing this'. Sasuke shrugged and handed her the next dress. He would have liked to see her in the silk dress. He didn't understand why she didn't want to flaunt that killer body. Which she undeniably had, even though she did her best to cover it in plain, rather baggy clothes.
The next dress was light green and strapless with dark green seams. It hugged her body just right but she didn't want it, he could see it in the doubtful expression with which she was eyeing herself in the mirror. He sighed. Damn, this girl was kinda complicated.
Half an hour later, he was convinced that she was totally complicated, and annoying, too. What was wrong with her? Weren't girls supposed to be into this beautiful-dresses-stuff? By now she should have thousands of dresses she would insist on buying but she didn't even have ONE.
Currently, she was wearing a breathtaking black long dress which was rather plain but had a slit on the left side almost up to her hips. He surpressed a smirk and decided it was the perfect moment to lose his temper.
"You will wear that dress or I'm not coming with you!"
"I'm not - you - w-what?"
"Go change!" he ordered in that NO-discussion-voice and shoved her back into the changing room.
When she got on the bus home, she had a dress and a date for tomorrow's ball (even though she still regretted it that her date was not the bartender). Sasuke had been very amused by her naiveté when she had told him that she honestly hadn't thought about paying him as a host to accompany her to the ball. She had blushed and said she didn't have enough money to afford his services. He had smirked and told her to pay him by installments. And that she had to admit that she didn't really have a choice. She had been surprised and more than just a little taken aback by his pushiness but now she was relieved.
When she woke up the next day, she was a nervous wreck anyway. She just couldn't help it. The idea of dancing in front of people scared her to no end. She was jumpy all day long and almost broke her neck when she put her elegant high heeled sandals on.
In her nervousness, she almost told the taxi driver the wrong adress but finally, she arrived at the high class hotel and found the ballroom. It was huge and looked like a room of a palace. There were red velvet curtains draped along the windows and walls, huge glittering chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, and everything was illuminated by the soft glow of thousands of real candles. The wooden floor was polished and shiny.
Hinata stopped in her tracks and gazed in awe at the lush beauty which surrounded her. She felt like in a dream. She was a princess and her prince was coming towards her, - he had blue eyes and blond hair, of course... she frowned a little, it surprised her when she saw that in this dream the prince had black eyes and black hair - but anyway, he was coming towards her, then he would take her hand and lead her to the middle of the dancefloor and they would dance and kiss and he would ask -
"Marry me."
"Oh please" an annoyed voice answered and jerked her out of her dream. Sasuke put his finger on her forehead and poked her. "A ring would be bad for business, don't you think?" he added with a smirk. Hinata didn't really hear his words because she was dying of embarrassment.
Sasuke noticed her red face and miserable smile and rolled his eyes. "Come on. Sit down over here. I'll get you a drink."
"O-Orange juice, m-maybe" she stuttered and was pushed down on a chair by Sasuke. She tried to wrap her dress tighter around her leg. "Stupid dress" she muttered to herself "stupid ball, stupid me, stupid, stupid, stupid -"
"It wasn't that bad. Actually, it was quite flattering" Sasuke cut her off and put a glass of orange juice down in front of her. He really wasn't keen on sitting next to a sulking beauty all night long. So he sighed and decided to use all his conversational host skills on her. Of course, she wouldn't be able to resist.
After a while, she warmed up a little and Sasuke started to enjoy talking to her. She was still shy and withdrawn, to be honest, but she had a warm heart and was intelligent and thoughtful. Sasuke had enough experience with all kind of women to know that these qualities were rare and precious.
When Mr Hyuuga entered and the guests stood up to applause politely, she had a genuine smile on her face. After listening to several obligatory speeches, Sasuke and Hinata continued their conversation. Both relaxed in each other's presence. They didn't notice how fast time seemed to go by, until Mr Hyuuga came to their table and asked Hinata for a dance with a reproachful look. "This is a ball and as my daughter you have a reputation to hold up" he scolded her. Hinata nodded and tried her best to perform the dance without mistake, silently praying for anyone else to ask her to dance to the next song.
Her prayers were heard. "May I?" The deep voice sent a pleasant shudder down her spine and she saw Sasuke bow to her father and extend his arm to take over. She took his hand and blushed when he pulled her closer. It was a slow dance of all things. But it was so much more fun than dancing with her father whose light touch was difficult to follow. And when she didn't manage to read his motions, her father would give her a little painful push nobody else could notice. But Sasuke's firm hands were guiding her easily. Maybe she could even dance with closed eyes. This was something she wanted to try ever since she was a small child. To just close your eyes and get carried away by the music and the swaying motion.
She peeked around cautiously. Nobody was paying them any attention. The other guests were either busy dancing or conversing. And Sasuke? He was on auto pilot. Hinata chuckled, leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes. It was a little awkward at first, being that close to a near-stranger but he didn't notice and soon, Hinata forgot and just felt the music and the warmth.
It was perfect, better than she could have imagined.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked with a hint of surprise in his voice when his eyes fell on her. "Dancing" she sighed happily without stopping. She didn't even open her eyes. Out of habit, she added (in the same dreamy voice): "Sorry if I cause you any inconvenience." Sasuke shrugged and let her continue. Being the perfect host, he even gave the musicians a sign to play another slow song. But Hinata still didn't show a hint of coming back down to earth any time soon and Sasuke had enough.
The dress was really tempting and it gave him an idea. Slyly, he took his hand which was currently resting on the small of her back and let it run down her hip. Her skin was as soft as it looked. To his surprise, his actions didn't have any effect at all. He was pretty much at a loss. "Hinata" he said and observed her face. No reaction. She was weird. Usually, he could read women like books and it was boring but now... this was fascinating. He decided to keep her for experimantal purposes.
He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers for a second. Instantly, her pale eyes jerked wide open. But instead of a sexy smile he recieved a horrorstruck stare.
"Y-You kissed me?!"
"You ignored me" he said with a playful scowl.
Obviously, she didn't see the fun in the situation. It dawned on Sasuke that this had probably been her first kiss. And he could tell that she was the helplessly romantic kind who thought kisses held a meaning. Woops.
"Look, I'm sorry" he said honestly. She gulped and shook her head. "It's okay" she said "uhm... it felt.. nice, I guess." Sasuke tried to ignore the slight feeling of guilt. She was trying to make him feel better, even though it was his fault and her words were embarrassing her deeply, judging by her red face? She was just too nice. Damn.
"Let's have a cocktail, okay?" She nodded and he pulled her to the bar. It was decorated with bottles of expensive wine and all kinds of exotic fruit. Hinata made a perplex face. "I choose" Sasuke said (in a pretty cocky voice) and ordered two drinks. Hinata smiled at the beautiful colours in the glasses. One was red and creamy, the other a bright orange. They went back to a table and sat down. To Hinata's surprise, Sasuke pushed both cocktail glasses in front of her. She gave him a questioning look. "You have to try both."
She chose the red one first. It smelled sweet and fruity. "Hmm, strawberry!" Her eyes lit up. Sasuke watched her drink slowly and appreciating the taste. "I didn't know they had drinks like this" she said with a happy smile when she had finished the glass. "Do you like it? It's called 'First Kiss' " Sasuke said with a smirk, observing her reaction. A blush rose to her cheeks and she simply nodded but the smile remained on her face. Good.
After a while of savouring the taste of the first drink, Hinata took a sip of the second one. It tasted more of alcohol but she still liked it because it was fruity at the same time. "What's this called?" Exactly the question Sasuke had been waiting for. He leaned towards her and whispered in her ear: " 'Sex on the Beach' " Hinata almost choked and her face turned bright red. Sasuke looked deep into her eyes with half-closed eyes and his best seductive gaze until he was sure she forgot how to breathe.
The he said nonchalantly: "It's just a name." "R-Right" she squeaked and tried to catch her breath unnoticed. Sasuke saw her chest rise and fall rapidly and had to struggle to surpress his laughter. The blush remained on Hinata's face as she finished the drink - too fast maybe. Sugar and alcohol happened. She enjoyed the rest of the night much more, talking and dancing with Sasuke wasn't so bad, even though he was still a near-stranger. She mildly wondered why her father didn't keep bugging her. She could have sworn that he had come by to talk to them now and then. But oddly enough, he never reprimanded her or reminded her of all the duties as his daughter. She failed to notice, though, that Sasuke had an unfailing talent to steer every conversation in the direction he wished and even charmed her rather icy father.
When the first pinkish grey light of dawn fell through the high, crystal clear windows and the guests started to leave, Hinata felt melancholic. Initially, she had dreaded this ball and then she had enjoyed it so much that she wished the night would last a little longer. But she was tired and her feet hurt from the high heels.
Sasuke was glad that it was over. He just wanted to get rid of the damned necktie. But apart from the uncomfortable elegant clothes and this whole glamorous atmosphere he wasn't too fond of, the night had been quite amusing, he thought as he led Hinata to one of the waiting taxis. He had a lot of posh food, met an interesting and beautiful person and to top it all, he even got payed for it. Now that he though of it, he had to admit that he would have accompanied her without charging money but this was even better.
"Remeber that you still have to pay the fee" he said with a smirk when she climbed into the taxi, the dress giving him a good view of her perfect legs. He definitely planned to see her again. Her thoughts were going in the same direction, just a lot more hesitantly.
"Uhm, will I see you again? I mean, after I've paid off my debts?"
"Whenever you need a host, baby."
A/N: Yeah, I know Sasuke is ooc. I even thought of changing his part to be another character but I just love SasuHina, besides, I couldn't think of anyone who could fit in his role better, and I mean come on fellow fangirls, imagine Sasuke as a host, that's just too perfect :drool: I had to write it! :3