CYPHER ~ Naruhina

Chapter - 16

Without any further thought, he knelt down onto the ground directly in front of her, clasped her face between his big palms, and wiped away the flowing tears from either side of her face. Her lips were almost red from biting, and he grazed his thumb over her lower lip in an attempt to free it from her teeth. "Stop hurting yourself, look at me..."

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And then a random epiphany suddenly dawned upon him. Here he was, at night time, alone with the girl he liked, in her house, her lovely face cupped in his palm, while caressing her plush, rosy lips with the touch of his thumb. Originally, there was no meaning to it other than to keep her from biting her lip almost until the point of bleeding, but now, it felt like it had been suggestive. His hands still placed right as before, the blonde just couldn't help himself from staring at her intently, as the image of her tear-soaked, glimmering, lilac eyes tempted him. The alluring lavender scent staining the air around them made him feel like he was transcending into heaven. He could feel his breaths getting shorter and heavier. It was getting hot, but perhaps that was also because he was dressed in a full suit. Fuck, this is bad. He knew. At this point, he knew that he was walking on thin ice. I should stop. But he didn't.
Slowly but minutely, his crafty thumb started laving at her lower lip. His heart was banging against his chest, and his desire for her resembled a tenacious, shackled monster, threatening to break away from its chains. He gulped as if to silence it, but that hardly served even as a tranquilizer. He was playing a dangerous game. Grappling for the last strand of reason within him, Naruto pulled his hands away just in time. Phew, that was close.
 "...Don't bite on your lips. They'll start bleeding." His voice, devoid of emotion, had considerably dropped a few octaves. "Give me a minute. I'll be outside." He then promptly stood up, and went outside, leaving behind a puzzled Hinata. That was the most serious he had ever been with her. He had also failed to notice how much she was blushing from his actions. He was in such haste to de-escalate the situation, that he almost ran away in order to douse the fire in him.

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Truthfully, Hinata had never fathomed that he would touch her lips, of all things. Naruto had always maintained decent skinship with her. She had never once felt his touch to be uncomfortable in the least. But something was different in his touch this time. Though it was considerably cold around her, his fingers felt flaming hot. She felt his cool blue eyes staring at her abysmally, with such profound staidness, that pearls of tears on the edge of her eyes, froze in place. Perhaps she was exaggerating a bit, but his look and his touch gave her uncannily pleasant shudders— shudders of refreshing thrill; shivers of expectant excitement. Naruto had in fact, just kept her from biting herself until she bled, yet she couldn't help but be enthralled by his caress.

Thankfully, he left before he could see her turn red as a tomato, else it would have been awkward to explain. Though she was glad that he hadn't seen her curl up in embarrassment, somewhere along the lines, Hinata had surely lost herself in his touch. They were short, probably well-intentioned, caresses out of concern for her, but she couldn't forget the feel of them. If anything, she was left wanting for more of those. She quickly realised how unseemly her thoughts were. I should really stop deluding myself. There is no way Uzumaki-kun meant anything by that. I should stop thinking of him that way. He's being his usual, caring self. That's right... That is all, that is all... She tried to convince herself over and over again, as her ears grew steaming hot, unable to process anything else. Most miraculous of all, was that she was no longer mulling over her fears. She listened to her heartbeat softly thump away, realising he was wonderous how he could easily keep things on and off her mind, as he pleased. No fair. 
 He had also just left her all by herself all of a sudden to wait for him.  She was a little upset about it. How rude. She pouted a little, and then proceeded to huddle herself up in the cold night.
Regardless  of all the other things, she could comprehend why  she was feeling so cosy and secure. He was with her, at the moment, giving her the timely affection and strength she needed, ensuring she was alright. That was all that mattered.