青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 34

Summer
Tuesday—7:45PM

Her laughter rang in his ears as she rested her chin on his shoulder. His legs were wrapped around her waist, stuck in place by her hands that crawled up his thigh until they rested underneath his shirt. He didn't know when things turned out like this but he wasn't one to really complain unless he was against it. Sasuke wasn't used to being the one who would be the focus of attention, especially when that role was automatically taken by another throughout his life. He gladly gave it up each time too.

So, he sat there on the counter, mentally marvelling at how she managed to convince him to sit there while she pressed her hands against his back and abdomen. This was usually Naruto's thing—Naruto would hold him in place like this while they spoke, and he would be the one laughing his ass off while the conversation went all over the place—but he supposed that they've picked up a few things from each other.

It looked a little comical; she was significantly shorter than him, and he had to bend forward a lot more for her to rest her chin on his shoulder. If he had stumbled across such a sight, he would have laughed at how stupid it looked.

"You're so pretty."

Those words were awfully reminiscent of Naruto's own. Sasuke didn't understand why exactly they had a fascination with his looks. He got complimented tremendously by all sorts of people, yet it felt different hearing it used the way they used it. They spoke it as if they were looking at something so ethereal, something out of this world that one had to pause to fully appreciate it. It wasn't the shallow compliments spoken just to get a rise out of him. It was like adoration for a divine being.

If he said it made him feel like he was some sort of god, he was sure Naruto would beat his ass and drag him right back to earth.

It was nice though—that was the point. It made his stomach twist and a small smile appear on his face every time they looked him in the eye, knowing that he could capture them in a genjūtsu with just a blink, muttering about how pretty he was as if they had gone mad.

They used words like that; pretty, beautiful, lovely—never handsome. Never strong. Never overconfident. His mother was described as such, and Sasuke always thought that he took after his mother more than his father. The only reminder that his father was his were the lines forming beside his nose bridge and his strong jaw. That too they found pretty.

She stood up straight and cupped his face, pushing his cheeks together to get him to pout. Her eyes sparked, if that was possible with how opaque and pupil-less they were, and traced over his face as she smiled widely.

"What's gotten into you?" He finally asked, closing his eyes when she kissed the tip of his nose with a giggle. "I'm not sick, you're not sick, that loser is tossing and turning outside with his younger summons, so what's in the air?"

"Nothing." Hinata tilted her head, then tilted his to follow her line of vision, "you look a little older."

He raised his eyebrow, "and?"

"It makes you look pretty."

He rolled his eyes, "I hear it all the time." His ego would have gone through the roof if he let it, yeah, he was pretty, they always reminded him that he was. Shit, he started to like hearing it too.

"I have to say it again." She kissed his cheek. "Ya'know, I didn't like you before."

"Way to kill the mood." He pulled back a little bit with defiance, putting some space in between them although he was currently attached to her waist. Even if he wanted to, she wouldn't let him untangle himself...Her knowledge on all the chakra points had its disadvantages.