Without Warning (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Confirmation and Confession

WITHOUT WARNING CHAPTER 16
CONFIRMATION AND CONFESSION

It had been a few days since their last interaction, so both Hinata and Sasuke had spent their time avoiding each other as best as they could to not further the awkward air. Hinata had woken up the next day with a jolt, remembering she had fallen asleep at the training grounds but finding her new room around her in the Uchiha compound surprised her. She had initially wondered if she found her own way home sleepily. But she had been able to conclude it was Sasuke's doing when she found a tomato bitten into on the floor beside her bed. It had begun crumpling in on itself when Hinata woke but she distinctly remembered smelling tomatoes and seeing a few with Sasuke the night they spoke.

She remembered a younger Sasuke who had a fondness for tomatoes -- even eating them raw the way she would a strawberry. She smiled to herself thinking he has been showing parts of himself that she had once known. She appreciated it amidst the sudden change she has had to undergo with transferring homes, and being in the company of three people she wasn't always very close with.

Hinata had kept busy by making her new house in the Uchiha compound as home-y as possible with a variety of plants and flora. She enjoyed taking care of these back at the Hyuuga gardens. Among the houses in the Uchiha compound, hers was the one with most life.

For the past days as well, neither of them had seen the red-haired kunoichi who had been Sasuke's former Taka teammate. Hinata was curious about Karin's sudden absence. She found a topic she actually wanted to ask Sasuke about but she kept her mouth shut as she moved thoroughly around the garden situated in front of the house she was provided for.

He, on the other hand, kept an equally neutral expression as he worked on repairing parts of the house he had long vacated. He was working with a hammer so it was the only sound filling the gap in their silence. He had kept himself busy as well since the night he and Hinata had spoken.

He wasn't actually avoiding her. In fact, he was waiting. He knew he had left her with confusion from their last conversation but in honor of their childhood friendship, he had wanted to give her the chance to refuse the mission if she didn't want to follow through with it. And he waited for her answer.

He glanced at her a couple of times, but still, she remained occupied with her plants. At one moment his eyes decided to linger.

For that second Sasuke was reminded of his own mother in Hinata's actions. His mother had been equally gentle and elegant in her movements. The image of his mother suddenly looked at him and he blinked to find Hinata watching him with a concerned look.

"Sasuke-kun? Are you all right?" Hinata's soft voice filled Sasuke with warmth. He didn't expect being deprived of it for the past days would cause him to yearn for it.

He realized he had been staring when he initially only planned to glance at her.

"Hn," was his only response before turning back to his work. He didn't mean to be cold but at the moment, anything but coldness felt like unfamiliar territory to him and he tried to avoid that path.

At that moment, Karin and Naruto walked into the Uchiha compound giving Sasuke more reason to avoid Hinata's gaze.

There wasn't exactly an air of friendliness between the two who had just entered, but Naruto was being his usual kind self opening small conversations with Karin to which she answer in short and clipped responses. Karin did her best to show how displeased she was with the conversation, but she wasn't at all bothered to being accompanied, no guarded, by the Leaf's hero. She knew it was something he did out of obligation rather than actual pleasure. But to her, with was as good company as she can get.