Swoon
» (o1: the accidental kiss)

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan, watch!"

Hinata indeed watched, bleached opalescent orbs gleaming with uncertainty as the blond-haired boy she so adored flipped in the air, twisting his tanned body into graceful contours. Then he was plummeting into the water, his entire body swallowed into azure oblivion. Hinata's heart skipped beats as she raised one hand up delicately to shield her gaze. The ocean was an unpredictable, wild thing after all — what if the current proved to be too much for him? What if he drowned? Out there even he was comparable to a rag doll, vulnerable and at the complete mercy to the elements. Hinata could already see his fragile body being churned this way, thrashed that way, before disappearing within the frigid depths of stirring blue forever. These horrible thoughts and more twirled through her already bewildered mind, and Hinata readily parted her rosy lips to bid him back to the shore.

"He doesn't need saving. Calm down, Hyuuga," commanded an aloof voice, its gruff baritone startling the bejeezus out of the poor girl. It wasn't as if she forgot that the Uchiha prodigy was there. The dark-haired boy was hard to miss; currently he was lying down beside to her, eyes closed and hands behind his head on the white sand.

The fact that he actually had spoken to her was what was truly shocking. While every other teenager had wasted no time shedding their clothes and running into the frothy, aqua waves, yelling and laughing and generally having a good time, it was Sasuke and Hinata who remained behind on the glittering grains of sand. Other than the bikini-clad girl tanning here or there, they were left completely secluded on the shoreline. Yet, the entire time they had been at the beach, Sasuke had not once directly addressed her.

That is, until now.

Shifting slightly, Hinata tried and failed to gain the courage to meet his eyes. She ended up merely casting her gaze downwards, nipping her bottom lip nervously. Cheeks of porcelain hue bloomed a light pink. "B-but Naruto-kun . . ."

"Is not going to drown," Sasuke stated carelessly in response. "Look for yourself."

Sure enough, Sasuke Uchiha was right. Only seconds later his best friend resurfaced, gasping for air and guffawing with adrenaline between breaths. He waved cheerfully at Hinata then, before diving right back into the freezing waters, seemingly heedless of the icy temperatures. That was definitely comforting for Hinata, who even managed a small, genuine smile of relief. What wasn't comforting was the way that those frosty coal-colored eyes were now peering at her, examining her every movement pointedly. The murky, inklike depths swirled with unnamed emotions.

Insecurity wormed its way into her delicate features. She couldn't help but fidget uneasily underneath Sasuke's powered stare, feeling especially self-conscience in her current state. A sunhat sat atop her head, strands of dark indigo tresses tumbling past her exposed milky-white shoulders. The simplistic sundress she donned felt like it clung too closely to her skin, accentuating every curve of her body. Even her dainty toes felt vulnerable in the elegant sandals she had on. Her arms protectively folded across her chest as she once again lowered her head, letting a curtain of satiny hair fall into her face. She felt naked.

"S-sorry, U-Uchiha-san," she stuttered apologetically. She didn't know what else to say, and she was at a loss for what to do. Confrontation had never been her strong point.

"Quit apologizing." The spiky-haired boy next to her sat up fluidly in one, graceful motion. The agile silver-slicked movement stunned her. It was unnerving considering the fact she was not used to being the center of anyone's attention. Now here she was, like a fawn caught in beaming headlights. "It's stupid considering you didn't do anything wrong."

Blood rushed to Hinata's face and she blushed so hard she no doubt resembled a cherry-red tomato. She began to say, "I'm s-sor — " before abruptly stopping, and meekly glancing at Sasuke. She shrunk back a little in the face of his irritation. It was wiser to leave her apologetic sentence incomplete.

Instead, she contented herself to sit and and focus her attention on the shore. The waves churned, pulling back and rolling forward, curdling tiny seashells and foaming up like light whipped cream. Pouring beams of glittering shine fell through dissipating fleecy, white clouds, bathing the world in the colors of honey, peach, and tangerine. Iridescence basked the beach, casting long shadows against the sand dunes. The occasional languid, sea-salt breeze greeted her a fine evening. She could even make out Naruto floating on the surface of the ocean in the distance. The image was a tranquil one that set her heart at ease. Then it was ruined by a cackling Kiba, who had stealthily swam up and dunked the unsuspecting blond underwater. She actually almost rose to her feet to call out, but held herself back at the feeling of probing eyes digging into the side of her skull; really, she was aware of her surroundings, or namely Sasuke's every move, the entire time.

"I don't understand," Sasuke agitatedly stated after a while.

She blinked. She hadn't expected him to say that. While she had been afraid of what he was thinking, positive he found her presence to be irksome, Hinata did not dream he would say that of all things. "U-m." Fiddling with her fingers uncomfortably, she hesitantly questioned, "What do you m-mean?"

He snorted derisively under his breath. "Why you like the dobe. And don't deny it, because it's painfully obvious," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes at her, daring her to challenge his words.

Hinata reddened. Something in her chest tightened. A bloodcurdling wave suffused through the rest of her lithe frame in response. No one had ever so bluntly pointed out knowing this fact about her before. It flustered her. Even the tips of her ears were glowing a vivid shade of red. "I-I don't . . ."

"You're a terrible liar." Sasuke stared at Hinata point blank. A disapproving frown etched itself across his features. "I'm not stupid," he told her.

It took her a few seconds to respond. When she finally realized the full implication of her own words, she sheepishly exclaimed, "Of course not, U-Uchiha-san!" The indigo-haired girl quickly tucked a wayward strand of hair behind the shell of her creamy ear. "I-I didn't . . . mean to i-imply that . . ." Her gentle voice trailed off. The flustered girl swallowed nervously and sheered her vision away, shoulders falling like overripe roses. She knew Sasuke was far from unintelligent. It was no secret the he was a genius with a calculating mind.

"It makes no sense."

Shaking her head, she wringed her hands as she stared down at her lap silently. Just as always, she was hiding. It had become her default defense mechanism. In this moment, she was hiding from the truth, but now there was nowhere to run. Not with those intensely dark ebony irises decorated with crimson flecks fixated on her, challenging her to speak up for the first time. The question was merely if she would rise to meet it — or not.

"You two are complete opposites."

"I-I know . . . " she struggled with her words, but trailed off there, discomfited. She wanted to summon the words to express herself, but she just couldn't. They were akin to grains of sand slipping through her fingers.

Sasuke raised a neat raven eyebrow in disbelief, and she took in a shaky breath. Hinata hadn't ever thought she would be having this conversation, especially with the dark-haired and equally dark-eyed boy sitting beside her, and much less on a beach during the sunset. It could be considered almost . . . romantic to any unknowing bystander. The thought alone made her heartbeat race. She drew her legs up against her chest self-conscientiously, immediately hiding her hot pink pace against the tops of her knees. Finally, she peered through her midnight-blue bangs. Her crystalline gaze once again settled on the object of her affections.

Hinata knew she had always simply been gazing at the contrastingly bright-haired and bright-eyed boy from afar, bathed in the sunny aura, admiring his courage and ambition. Yet, in all that time of liking him she had never found the strength to vocalize her thoughts or feelings. For Naruto, she had never found her voice.

"Well? Why do you like him so much?" Sasuke demanded gruffly, the barest hint of impatience lining his tone. It was his insistence and refusal to let her off easy that gave her the push she needed.

More astonishingly, it was thanks to Sasuke that she found her voice.

Breathing in deeply so as to calm her wildly drumming heart, Hinata parted her petal-pink lips at last, knowing full well that she had his full attention on her. Willing herself to continue, she began to say, mild voice sounding soft and fragile, "N-Naruto-kun. Is . . . " Swallowing, she sat up slightly, color sweeping over the entirety of her face. "Someone I've always a-admired for his strength." She admitted in a humble way, "I'd like to be that strong, s-someday."

"Hn," he grunted. That was the only lackluster response she received.

Hinata chanced a shy upward glance after the silence that followed. The warm, citrus-tainted air whirled around her, playing with her flowing amethyst locks. Sasuke's face was averted from her, his solemn gaze staring off into the distance. The sun was dipping below the horizon, leaking the last remnants of its pink and orange light. Glittering rays of twilight revealed that his eyebrows were furrowed. The normally stoic countenance Hinata was so accustomed to seeing was then replaced by something less hard. Gone was the stormy look in his opaque orbs, the trademark scowl on his pale visage. Instead, there was what appeared to be the subtle upward curving of lips into an almost elusive smile. His heavy gaze flickered to Hinata for a brief second; a faint radiance shone in the cornea of his pitch-black eyes. "You underestimate yourself, Hyuuga," Sasuke told her, his voice going uncharacteristically soft and low.

Her eyes widened imperceptibly, glimmering with surprise. If Hinata had been blushing before, she was positively bright scarlet now. Her pulse accelerated even further. He couldn't have just complimented her. "Eh?" she replied breathily, unsure she had heard him correctly.

"You really do." An actual, genuine chuckle escaped Sasuke. It was a surprisingly pleasant sound, despite knowing the fact that it was released at her expense. Hinata blinked uneasily, milky cheeks flushed. She felt a tiny shiver chase up her spine as he continued to stare at her unflinchingly; his unmoving stare was bewildering.

"Oi, Sasu-keeeee! Hina-taaaaa!"

Suddenly jolted out of her thoughts, Hinata's head snapped up, her heart going wild and about to burst in her chest.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

It all happened too fast after that.

She immediately tensed up, appearing to be a merely carved statuette of her former self. A wave of horror and embarrassment washed over the Hyuuga heiress, resulting in a ghostly white complexion. I don't want him to see! she thought, rather frantically. Before anything else registered in the wild chambers of her spinning mind, Hinata hastily scrambled away from the boy she had been sitting so unknowingly close to in physical proximity before. In her desperation to put distance between herself and the Uchiha, she then proceeded to jump to her feet. Of course, all of her efforts proved to be in vain. When attempting to stumble clumsily away, she ended up instead letting out a shrill squeak of surprise, and tumbling downwards.

"U-Uchiha-s-san," she stuttered out in utter shock of her predicament.

She felt feverish, as if she were about to swoon. Hinata's blush intensified tenfold; ivory orbs flashed wide open upon realization that she had fallen right into Sasuke's waiting lap. Sasuke looked to be faintly blushing as well, caught off guard by the embarrassing turn of events. His eyes had widened considerably, and he was simply staring down at her. If it had been at all possible to shield her face from his view she would have; but that simply wasn't an option, what with said face only mere inches from his lightly muscled chest. She breathed in and out rapidly, unable to comprehend how this had exactly happened.

Hinata's oncoming lightheadedness distinctly showed through her brightly colored cheeks and increasingly erratic breathing. She was trembling violently now, and her vision was blurring in and out of focus. Trying not to think, trying not to apologize, trying to ignore the delirious beating of her own heart, Hinata lifted her hands from his body and placed them on either side of the Uchiha to regain what was left of her precious balance. She sought to untangle her limbs from his as soon as possible, and preserve any shred of dignity she had left. Then, she mused, if she was lucky the earth would swallow her whole.

Thankfully, Sasuke's own shock seemed to have finally subsided. At the exact same time Sasuke suddenly and quickly sat up again, Hinata accidentally slipped. The event that occurred next seemed to unfold in horrifying slow motion — they met somewhere in the middle, lips on lips, and hands reflexively rising to catch their fall.

Everything seemed to suddenly spin around her after that. Hinata's eyelids fluttered from the dizziness — dizziness from the immense embarrassment, dizziness from the rapidly ensuing chaos around them, and finally, dizziness from Sasuke's mouth firmly pressing against hers.

A pair of swirling, gleaming obsidians was the last thing Hinata saw before she fell into the ebony-black of unconsciousness.

► Okay, so this is first and foremost dedicated to the amazing Rainy Lady. She's the reason this story came into being after all, so you can all thank her. ;] Second, I'm having a serious dilemma. I'm actually thinking of continuing this, and even making it into a multi-chaptered story. I don't want to say I will definitely though! The very idea both excites me and makes my stomach do cartwheels. I have no experience with writing other than the odd one-shot. So, I'm going to leave the decision up to you as the readers . . . I trust your guys' opinions.

Edit: I appreciate everyone who has been so kind as to give me their feedback! Rest assured, Chapter 2 is on its way. It's going to be a retelling of Chapter 1, but from Sasuke's POV. Then the story will continue after that from Chapter 3 onward.^^; I'll try not to disappoint~!

E› tifa .