Navigating this mess

Part 4

Sasuke's head was spinning as he stared down at the paperwork before him. Hinata had long ago crawled into bed after giving him a tense goodnight.  (The tense goodnight stemmed from the fact Hinata felt Sasuke was slipping away at night.) It had been months since their engagment and it was still months away from their wedding. Yet the two operated more like business partners then anything. They avoided each other as much as possible. (Or more Sasuke couldn't deal with the guilt of taking this woman from a deserving man.) 

Sasuke groaned as he leaned against the chair in his study. Hinata and himself had agreed to move into an actual house after the marriage was over but that was as far as they had gotten into their future plans. The wedding details were a mystery to Sasuke as he had nothing to do with those. 

He sighed as he made his way to the couch to sleep. The thoughts of the wedding and future weighed heavily on his mind. 

In the room not far from him, Hinata laid away, staring at the roof. She was determined to figure out what happened while she was asleep. Last week she had awoken in the middle of the night to find Sasuke was not in bed. This fact honestly didn't surprise her as he always went to bed after her and awoke before her and his side of the bed was never a mess in the morning.

 But what did surprise her was he was asleep on the couch. She had tried to hide her blush as he was only in his underwear, something she was not prepared for. Hinata then scolded herself for blushing as they had been living together for months  and this was not the first time she had seen him half nude. 

No the first time was still fresh in her memory. 

Hinata hummed to herself as she stirred the tomato soup cooking on the stove. She had learned that it was Sasuke's favorite from his older brother after she asked for advice as to how to get her future husband to open up.  

She smiled to herself. Future husband had a nice ring to it. She still hadn't accepted the fact that a man she had known all of  four months would be her husband. A chuckle escaped her throat and died on her lips as she realized just how crazy the whole situation was. 

What normal woman would be okay with marrying a man they barely knew for a company they possibly wouldn't even inherit? 

"Hinata!" Sasuke's deep voice boomed from the bathroom. 

She glanced in the general direction  and yelled, "Yes!"  Then she turned back to the stove. 

"What's for lunch?" his reply came back much closer then before. 

This time she didn't turn and said, "Tomato soup and grilled cheese." 

Then she felt a back press against hers as a hand reached around her to grab spice off the rack next to the stove. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the muscles that poked out below the skin. 

This was the closest they had been since her small break down over  dinner not being on time. This was the first time she was able to take a good look at his arm. How odd, Hinata thought. There was a small scar just below the bend of his elbow. Almost as though he had been poked with something. Or stabbed. 

Hinata shuddered at the thought.

 As the arm retracted, Hinata turned to begin setting the table, only to be stopped in her tracks. Leaving the kitchen was a half naked, soaking wet Sasuke in nothing but his towel. 

One heart beat. He was in the hall. 

Two heart beat. She couldn't see him anymore.