DISCLAIMER: All characters in this story belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

+ SASUKE +

PEOPLE DO CHANGE… JUST NEVER THOUGHT IT'D BE ME

She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5

I've taken countless women to hotel rooms before. Sure, those hotel rooms weren't as expensive as this one, but this is the Ritz-Carlton (and it's a suite), so. People would throw us knowing and curious looks. I didn't care. So did the women I've been with. As a matter of fact, they all but paraded me through the lobby. I didn't mind. To be seen walking alongside me should be one of the proudest moments of their lives.

Right now, though, the woman I'm escorting up to the suite is acting like she's doing a walk of shame. Which should happen the morning after, but whatever. We've already established the fact that Hyuuga Hinata is not most women. However, I think this is a little too much. For my ego, that is. She's walking a few feet behind me and keeps looking around with a scared look on that beautiful face. She flinches every time she peeks at me. And I don't even get why. It's not like I forced her to come with me.

Okay, so 'take me away' may not necessarily mean taking her to a hotel room. Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Take her to an amusement park? When we're dressed like this? Do I take her to my apartment? It's not that far from here. But I've never taken a woman to any of my apartments. So, what? Do I take her back to her apartment? No, I don't think so. I feel like this is it. After so many weeks of dancing around each other. I'd be a total idiot if I let this opportunity pass.

I step inside the elevator and wait. A few moments later, Hinata appears. She looks at me nervously. She's hesitating. I lean back against the wall with my arms crossed, doing nothing but wait for her to make the move. It's her choice. Get in or not. Up to her.

The door starts to close. And then Hinata rushes inside hurriedly. She stands stiffly and as far away from me as possible. I press the button to our floor without saying anything. I won't say this ride is awkward. The tension is so thick that I'm pretty sure one of us will snap any moment now. But we arrive to our destination immediately with neither of us spontaneously combusting.

I step off the elevator and lead the way to our suite. I don't turn around to see if she's following me. I can tell that she is. That dress of hers makes noise. But not an annoying kind of noise. It sounds like wind chimes, but soft. I don't fucking know what I'm talking about. I reach our suite and open the door with the key card. I get inside, leaving the door wide open. Again, her choice.

I head straight for the mini bar. I need a drink. I'm taking a swig from a beer can when I hear a thud. I look over by the couch. Hinata dropped her clutch bag on the table and is now removing her shoes. Okay. We're Asians. We remove our shoes when we enter – holy fuck. I stop breathing as Hinata starts rolling the glove she's wearing down one arm and then the other arm. I feel like I should sit down and enjoy the show or whatever the hell is happening right now. Instead, I remain standing here gaping, not daring to believe what I'm seeing. Hinata notices me staring like a creep and turns around. Her back to me.

Guess the show's over.

I take another long drink from the beer to lessen the sudden dryness in my mouth. Which is a mistake because I almost spit out everything when Hinata reaches for her zipper and I fucking swear everything turns into slow motion. She unzips her dress agonizingly slow and I could do nothing but stare. There's no doubt in my mind now. About what's about to happen in this room. It was silly of me to even question what we're going to do in here. There's only one thing that happens when I bring a woman to a hotel room – sex.

I frown. Somehow, I can't shake the feeling that something's not right. I try to gather my thoughts, but I keep getting distracted by Hinata shimmying out of her dress. Slowly. I place the beer can on the countertop. Weeks of brushing me off and now suddenly she's stripping for me? Part of me is saying who the fucking cares. What does it fucking matter? She's here now, isn't she?

But, then again. Why is she doing this now? What made her change her mind? It can't be because I'm all dressed up like a fucking penguin. Does she have a weird kink or something? Well, if I had known, I would have done this sooner. Attend whatever bizarre party her mother decides to throw… wait, her mother. Her mother who basically humiliated her all night. Her mother who just announced another divorce.

Well, shit.

Hinata is now in nothing but her underwear. I take a second to appreciate the view, even though there's absolutely nothing special about her underwear – plain white bra and panty. They are these generic ones that I'm pretty sure women use every day. They are cotton, for crying out loud. Nothing sexy about those kinds of underwear at all, but with Hinata wearing them… She is flawless everywhere. Even the scars that scattered across her back are oddly appealing to me. Makes me wanna trace them all, one by one, with my tongue. I snap out of the trance I'm in when Hinata reaches back to unclasp her bra.

"Stop," I say quietly. Hinata jumps a little at the sound of my voice. "That's enough."

I almost waver from my resolve when she turns to face me, her hands clenched at her sides as though to keep them from covering her body. And yeah, what a body. I force my eyes away from her breasts.

"W-what?"

"Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to do," I mutter, acting all nonchalant when all I really want to do is pick up where we left off in that garden some couple of hours ago. We definitely had a moment back there.

"W-what makes you think I'm forcing myself?"

"Aren't you?"

"I – I want this,"

"Do you?" I counter a little amusingly.

She glares at me for a few seconds before huffing and bending down to retrieve her dress from the floor. Fuck, that cleavage. I look away.

"I thought you wanted this," she grits out.

Yeah, but you're more than just some cheap lay I picked up somewhere and took to a place as impersonal as a fucking hotel. I don't say that, though. "More than anything else."

She scoffs in disbelief as she hurriedly redresses herself. She struggles a bit in zipping it up, so I step forward to help her of course. My hand lingers on her bare skin a tad bit longer than necessary. I'm trying to be a gentleman here, but I can't help it, okay?

"What are you playing at?" she asks quietly.

"I'm not that much of an asshole," I explain. I should probably move away since I'm still pretty much just hovering behind her and maybe sniffing her a little. I take a couple of steps back. "You're upset. You're not thinking straight."

She stiffens. "And you care because?"

"I don't. I just prefer having my partner's undivided attention when I have sex with her. Not on some family drama." My phone vibrates on my pocket with a new message. I take it out to check. Sure enough, my mother's asking where I am. Sighing, I put it back on my pocket. Hinata's now sitting on the couch and shoving her gloves inside her clutch bag. "I have to go. You can stay if you want."

I want to say something cool. Or maybe cheer her up a little. But all I can manage is, "If tomorrow you still think you want this, you know how to contact me."

And with that, I take my leave.

V^^V

"Sasuke."

I know I'm dreaming the sweetest dream. I dream that I stayed in that hotel suite. Hinata and I were in bed. Cuddling. That's how I know I'm dreaming. I don't cuddle. She was upset, so I was comforting her with some words I would not normally say.

"Sasuke."

That voice sounds annoyed now. Which is weird. I know this is a dream, but… why does Hinata's voice sounds so manly? "Hinata?"

Someone sighs. "Foolish little brother."

And then I literally get dragged out of my bed. "WHAT THE FUCK!" I struggle with the blanket I'm tangled in and look up to see Itachi standing next to me with that judgy face of his. "What the fuck, Aniki!"

"Good morning to you, too." Itachi deadpans. "Get dressed. Father wants to see you."

He leaves without further ado. I grab my phone from the nightstand to check the time – 8:15. And I have like, a hundred messages and notifications. Fucking shit. What the hell is going on? If Father told Itachi to come get me personally, it must be something bad. No, worse. I've only ever been summoned like this twice – the first time I got wasted in public and when I got caught up in a brawl outside the school. I get dressed hurriedly and find Itachi waiting for me in the living room.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it."

Itachi raises an eyebrow.

"Wait, did I even do something?"

"You left that party with Mother last night."

"Yeah, that's right," I confirm. "We left at around 10? I dropped her off at home. After that I went straight here. I drank some beer and then went to bed. I didn't do anything else, I swear."

Itachi fixes me with a penetrating look. "So, you didn't book a suite in the Ritz-Carlton with Hyuuga Hinata?"

I collapse on an armchair in relief. "That's what all the fuss is about?"

Itachi, still looking unimpressed as fuck, tosses a newspaper at me. There, on the front page of all places, is a grainy picture of me and Hinata on that bench. When we were kissing. So, someone did see us. And even snapped a picture, the creep. I throw it aside. Trash like that isn't worth reading.

"I don't see what the big deal is."

"It is a big deal," sighs Itachi as he stands up. "It's Hyuuga Hinata, after all."

June 26, 2020 – I finished this chapter last month, but hesitant to post it because the next chapters are going to be around the same timeline or happening at the same time kinda. And I don't wanna subject the readers to long breaks in-between those chapters… Also, I've been focusing on my other story – Life, Unexpected. It's about to wrap up, so gotta give it my all.

Apologies for the mistakes. Thank you for the patience. Thank you for reading, following, and reviewing.

Stay healthy. Stay safe. Wear your masks. Wash your hands.

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