Chapter 37

It was two in the morning when Hidan pulled into the driveway at home. Hinata fumbled to unbuckle her seatbelt and got out of the car. She was still teary-eyed and emotional. The most minor thing would likely send her into sobs again.

Only once she was on her feet, closing the door to the car, did she realize she wore an oversized jacket over her bathing suit, 'Is this Hidan's?'

Turning to begin walking toward the house, the memory of the silver-haired man helping her with her injured hand in the girls' bathroom and giving her his jacket to wear crossed her mind. A small yelp passed her lips when she drunkenly stumbled.

Just before she completely lost her footing, an arm came around her waist.

If things weren't so tense between them, Hidan would likely either complain that she was annoying or tease her for drinking too much. Instead, he remained completely silent, taking on some of her weight while they climbed the steps so she wouldn't trip again.

The same couldn't be said for Hinata. The fact that he was quietly taking care of her pushed her to tears again, and she sniffled pitifully, apologizing a few times in a slurred voice.

Since leaving Sasuke's house, she'd come to her senses enough to feel guilty for dragging Hidan out to pick her up in the middle of the night. She hadn't sobered enough to feel embarrassed. The fact that drunk and terrified, Hinata could only think of him probably confused the man, but she didn't realize that, either.

Wiping at her eyes with the too-long sleeve of the jacket, Hinata sniffled while watching Hidan kneel to remove her sandals by the door, a hand holding hers so she'd remain stable and upright.

'He hasn't met my eye once. Is he angry? I think he is.'

Remembering how angry he'd been when yelling at her in that church, the Hyuuga girl's tears picked up to the point that she was sobbing. That made Hidan come to stand, saying in a hissed voice, since it was the middle of the night and everyone else was likely asleep, "What's wrong?"

Like earlier, she threw her arms around his middle to hug him tightly, burying her face in his shirt, "H-Hidan…." He hesitantly lay a hand on her shoulder, obviously not knowing how to respond. "You're angry because you had to come get me, right? I-I'm sorry!"

Hidan paused before sighing in defeat and carefully removing her arms from his torso while turning toward the staircase, "I'm not mad, so stop cryin'."

After the tedious job of helping the drunk girl upstairs, he guided her into her bedroom, which used to be Konan's, but Konan moved into Yahiko's after Hinata's return. The Hyuuga woman held a handful of the man's shirt as he helped her to the bed.

To her surprise, while maneuvering her so she'd sit on the bed's edge, Hidan asked, "What'd Naruto do to you?"

Sober Hinata would've refused to answer because of the man's violent tendencies, but she was trashed, and hearing Naruto's name ruined any progress she'd made in calming down. Hiccuping, she rested a hand on Hidan's shoulder as he knelt before her, using her other one to shakily rub her cheeks, "He kissed me!"

The silver-haired man's eyes narrowed, jaw flexing, "He did what?"

Unaware of how pissed off he was, the woman continued, her pulse soaring as she recalled the event, "A-A-And I told him only you're allowed to kiss me, no one else, but he'd already done it by then! I-I was scared!"

Remembering, again, how he'd come to pick her up, her fingers clenched the shirt on his shoulder, her shoulders shaking as they caved in, "I'm sorry."

Hidan slowly placed a hand on top of hers, guiding the fingers to release his clothing before holding it, eyes finally searching the woman's face after weeks of avoiding it, "Stop apologizing. I already said I'm not mad."

"B-But you don't like being around me anymore, so I know you didn't want to come."

"That's not true."

Hinata's eyes lifted from her lap to lock onto his, thick tears rolling prettily down her pale face, "Huh?"

He frowned, voice softer, "I don't hate being around you. Don't think stupid shit like that."

Somehow, her drunken thoughts went hectic, which resulted in an unexpected question, "Why did you hit me?"

The silver-haired man's jaw flexed, eyes dropping to where he held her hand in his much larger one. For a minute, he didn't say anything, but eventually, he said, "Because I was scared."

Even sober, the girl would've asked for elaboration, and he must've known that because he continued after taking a moment to choose his words, "I know you didn't, but at the time, I thought you'd…and I'd never experienced that type of hurt. Even seeing my piece of shit dad doesn't compare to how I felt when I got that letter."

He shook his head with a grimace, "I thought you were trying to…. It doesn't matter what I thought. I promised you I wouldn't do something like that again, and I did." That's when his eyes drifted slightly to the side before widening.

Hinata was confused, "What're you looking at?"

"Those earrings…."

The Hyuuga girl, in a moment of clarity, blushed. In an attempt to comfort herself, she'd taken to wearing the earrings she'd received with that awful letter in the mail. Hidan's earrings. It didn't hurt anyone, and he didn't know, so she didn't hesitate.

"A-Ah, well, I…. I've missed you, is all," she mumbled bashfully, fingering the piece of jewelry with her free hand and averting her gaze from Hidan's stunned face.

'I needed something to keep me from running to you without properly thinking things over first.'

"I miss you, too," he said.

When she met his eye in surprise, he quickly added, "I don't expect you to forgive me. This isn't me trying to guilt-trip you into anything. It's just that you probably won't remember any of this in the morning, anyway, so….fuck it, right?"

Scoffing, the man lowered his head and covered his face with his free hand, shaking it, "What the hell am I doing?"

"Hidan," Hinata whispered, voice wavering with emotion.

Magenta eyes, bright even in the dark room, locked onto hers, and the woman did what she'd wanted to do since they parted in December.

She kissed him.

It was passionate and emotional, and she lost her balance upon leaning forward, which knocked Hidan onto his bottom as he tried to catch her. Ultimately, he sat on the floor, and she was on her knees between his legs. It resembled the kiss they shared in the cave at the beach house before things took a turn for the worse, though this one held a lot more meaning.

Large hands held her waist as he obviously tried to convince himself to push her away and failed. Hinata had an arm around his shoulder, fingers tangling in his hair, while the other rested against his chest. 'It's warm….' she thought happily, relieved to learn that kissing Hidan still felt incredible.

When she tried to deepen it, he finally snapped out of his stunned daze and pulled back, their noses touching, "You're drunk. We shouldn't."

Hinata's hand lifted to cup his cheek as she kissed him again, staring into his surprised eyes with a drunken, determined look. She was sobering up pretty quickly, but he didn't have to know that because then he'd leave, so she masked it.

"Do you still love me?"

Hidan's fingers tightened around her tiny waist, his lips moving against hers moments later as he spoke in a low, threatening tone, "Hinata, don't."

She repeated, kissing him before and after ordering, "Tell me if you love me."

"You fuckin' know I do. Stop, Hinata, I'm serious. Don't make me into even more of a bad guy for messing around while you're drunk."

The Hyuuga woman relented, sitting on her knees with a frown, but not because she was angry at him.

'I wanted to see if he'd do it. If he did, I was going to break up with him for good,' he brushed her hair from her face, wiping at a few stray tears that continued to fall with a tortured expression. 'I knew all this time, didn't I? I knew I'd forgive him in the end.'

Suddenly feeling sad, Hinata leaned forward, pausing when the man bristled as though preparing for her to drunkenly attack him again. Then, she gently grabbed his jaw and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, too."

The next thing Hinata knew, she was waking up in bed with a massive hangover. Groaning, she rolled over to check her phone, seeing it was barely seven in the morning and that she had multiple texts and missed calls from Naruto, plus a few texts from Sakura and Sasuke.

Sitting up, the woman recalled the rollercoaster ride that was last night. Glancing at her nightstand, she realized a glass of water was there and sighed.

'How is he going to act after all that?' She didn't regret what she did, kissing him like that, but she also hadn't thought about what'd happen afterward. All she knew was that she couldn't hold it back anymore.

Drinking slowly, Hinata decided that her subsequent actions would depend on Hidan. 'I'll see how he reacts to seeing me and go from there.'

So, she quickly showered before dressing and going downstairs to prepare breakfast. The only person in the dining room was Tobi, to her disdain. Despite the sort of uncomfortable way he made her feel, Hinata didn't want to be rude and softly greeted him.

He was typing away on his laptop, offering a big grin as she passed, "Good morning, Hina. How was the party?"

"It was fine," she responded shortly. Opening the fridge, she asked, "Would you like anything specific for breakfast today?"

"Everything you make is great!"

Hinata smiled softly, 'Maybe I've misunderstood him all this time. Maybe his personality's just more eccentric than I'm used to?'

She started making coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast. Once enough was done for one plate, she prepared it and a mug of coffee for Tobi, sitting them wordlessly near him before returning to stand before the stove.

Tobi took a sip, speaking without tearing his gaze from the computer screen, "If you and Hidan don't make up, I might ask you to marry me just so I can keep eating your food."

She shook her head with a warm face but didn't say anything.

"Good morning, Hinata. Do you need any help?"

The woman looked over to see Itachi approaching. He still wasn't a morning person, so he didn't smile at her, instead pouring himself a cup of coffee with a sleepy face. When he looked up, she shook her head, making a shooing motion with one hand, "Go sit. It's alright." He nodded, trudging over to fall lifelessly into a seat.

One after another, the core members of Akatsuki arrived, and the woman quickly ensured everyone was fed before leaning against the counter to chew on a piece of toast, feeling a little nauseous after drinking so much the night before.

Pearl-colored eyes were glazed over as she stared at her bare feet on the kitchen linoleum, 'Hidan didn't act any different, but he was up just as late as me, so it might be that he's just not fully awake yet.'

The man had made a sound of thanks when she sat a plate and mug before him but didn't look up or say anything. That was how he'd responded for the past few days, so nothing had changed.

"Hina, will you go to the mall with me today?" Hinata nodded absently to Konan's question without breaking her trance.

"That must've been some party. You look beat! Did you have fun?"

That snapped the soft-spoken girl out of it. She turned to grab her coffee, eyes lifting to see not only Konan looking her way but also a few of the others. Hidan wasn't, but he did seem more alert than before, with his eyes trained in a glare onto the table.

'He probably doesn't want me to say anything about what happened.'

"Sorry. I'm a little out of it. I went a little overboard."

The blue-haired woman laughed, "You know, we haven't officially had a welcome home party yet. Should we do it next weekend?"

The doorbell rang, and Hinata nodded as she walked toward the exit. Tying her long hair into a ponytail, she padded barefoot down the hall and opened the massive door, only to freeze with wide eyes.

There, with flowers, stood Naruto Uzumaki.