Archive of Our Own ^beta

Pink. 

And soft, so very soft. Hinata clamped her hands at her side, resisting the urge to reach out and weave her fingertips through the gentle curls that had formed at the nape of Sakura’s neck. The short, delicate strands had slipped away from the rest of Sakura’s hair when she’d tied it up, defying the uniformity of the longer sections that she’d oh-so-carefully pinned together at the top of her head earlier that day. The small curls had forged their own little paths on this particular evening, softly twisting away from a head of hair that was entirely too straight and too confining to truly hold them the way that they needed to be held.

Hinata smiled to herself from where she stood on Sakura’s doorstep, feeling an absurd sense of camaraderie with the freshly-liberated strands of spiraling pink hair. It was time for her to step outside the bounds of her usual expectations as well. 

“I didn’t know you’d be joining us for dinner this evening,” Sakura said, standing across from Hinata in the doorway to her home, her gaze following Hinata’s eyes as they continued to explore the little curls against Sakura’s skin.

“I wasn’t planning on coming over,” Hinata replied with an easy smile, “but I bumped into Sarada at the market, and she asked me to tell you that she’d be staying at ChoCho’s tonight.” 

This, of course, was a lie, but it certainly wasn’t one that Hinata was about to waste her time feeling bad about. It was true that she’d spoken to the preteen Uchiha girl at the market, and it was also true that she’d encouraged the young thing to spend the evening at her friend’s place, but it was very much not true that Hinata hadn’t planned on stopping by. 

Her true goal for the evening was straightforward enough; seduce the beautiful woman whose doorway she was standing in. The one who she was certain felt the same way that she did. 

“That girl,” Sakura said with an exasperated sigh, spinning around in her entryway, already loosening the knot of her cooking apron as she shook her head in disappointment.

“I can—“ Hinata stopped herself short, wondering if being completely forward about her intentions was the correct approach in a situation such as this one. She truly didn’t know, having never really done this type of thing before.

Sakura also paused, her fingers twisting nervously around the long strings dangling from the centre of her apron.

“I can join you, if you’d like?” Hinata finished her question. She’d asked it in her nervous voice — the high, squeaky tone that she could never quite shake whenever she was feeling a bit flustered about something personal. And Hinata was definitely feeling flustered about this, having arrived at Sakura’s front door with much more of an agenda on her mind than simply sharing a home-made meal with the other woman.

“That would be nice,” Sakura replied softly, before casually slipping down her front hallway, back towards whichever dish needed tending to in the Uchiha family kitchen. 

Hinata could have sworn she’d noticed a little smile tugging at the corners of Sakura’s lips as she’d spun around. Perhaps an indicator that Sakura knew what she was really there for? There was truly no way to know without asking, and the front doorway, with all the exposure to the public street beyond, certainly wasn’t the place for that.

Hinata followed Sakura into her home, taking her time to quietly remove her sandals and hang her jacket up in the front closet. She looked around at the bare walls and the lonely wooden table next to the front door, trying her best to make sense of the uninviting space as a family home. It was enormously different from the chaos of her own front entryway, if only for the fact that every surface was perfectly clean, with not a bit of clutter in sight; a product of Sarada’s labour no doubt, with Sakura being busy at the hospital most evenings. There wasn’t even a set of keys on the key-hook, or a piece of unopened mail sitting on the tabletop. Truthfully, Sakura’s home had always struck Hinata as being a bit stiff in its design — hard and angular and silent. Similar to the patriarch of the household, she supposed.

Sakura was pulling the last of her home cooking off the stovetop when Hinata made her way into the kitchen.

“What about Boru and Hima?” Sakura asked over her shoulder.

She was making herself look busier than she really was: stirring a pot of curry that didn’t need to be stirred, checking on the rice that was already finished cooking, and fiddling with the knobs on the vent above the stove, indecisively switching them on and off as she nervously shifted from foot to foot.

It was a domestic performance that Hinata immediately recognized — the exact same one that she performed whenever she really didn’t want to talk about whatever topic was sitting right at the very front of her mind. 

Hinata wasn’t the slightest bit deterred as she moved across the kitchen towards her goal. She’d taken Sakura’s back being turned for the invitation that it hopefully was, stepping right up behind the pink-haired woman as she continued to fiddle away at the stovetop.

Doing her best to ignore the enormous red and white emblem embroidered across the back of Sakura’s blouse, Hinata ghosted her hands up the back of Sakura’s arms and leaned in close. 

“They’re at their grandfather’s,” Hinata whispered against the back of Sakura’s ear, her lips dragging softly against the sensitive curve of skin. Sakura stilled at the touch, and Hinata thought she could almost sense the woman leaning backwards for a moment, her whole body relaxing into the small gap of heat that radiated between the two of them. 

“Hinata,” Sakura whispered her name apologetically, before spinning around, her cooking spoon held up defensively between them. They stood impossibly close to one another for a moment, completely still, the air between them fragrant from the sweet curry spices still clinging to the spoon.

“Do you know why I’m really here?” Hinata asked, gently.

Sakura shook her head and averted her gaze, the scrunch of her features acting as a last defense against the onslaught of emotion bubbling up right behind her eyes. She looked torn, shifting uncomfortably where she stood, trying her best not to get overwhelmed by her words or her emotions or some devastating mixture of them both. 

“I don’t,” she lied.

It wasn’t the reaction that Hinata had been expecting. A bit of resistance?  Maybe. A light flirtation back? Ideal. But feigning ignorance about the whole matter? Hinata stepped back respectfully, widening the gap between the two of them, a confused look sweeping across her face.

“Oh, would you like me to leave?” Hinata asked, her voice even softer this time. 

“No, not at all. I just… I’m not sure that this whole thing between us is a good idea,” Sakura replied, her eyes distant, focused on some unseen detail on the other side of the room.

“You don’t want to do it again?”

Sakura nodded, her lips tight, and Hinata felt the lump that had formed in the back of her throat drop into the pit of her stomach. 

Sakura’s complete rejection of her advances was not the outcome Hinata had been expecting when she’d cleared her day of commitments, lying to her husband about having no particular plans for the rest of her evening. It was not the outcome she’d been expecting when she’d pushed Sarada to stay out with her friend, maybe a bit more aggressively than the trusted parent of a school classmate should have been in such a situation. And it most certainly was not the outcome Hinata had been hoping for as she’d spent her day fantasizing about her impending encounter with Sakura, her mind playing and replaying every tantalising possibility that came with carving out a little alone time between the two of them.

“Because you didn’t like it?” Hinata asked, her voice squeaking out — smaller still.

Sakura’s empathetic green eyes snapped over to Hinata in an instant. “No! No, it’s not like that at all. Definitely not that.” It was Sakura’s turn to let her eyes wander along Hinata’s gentle features. She looked nervous, panicked even, as she searched Hinata’s downturned face for some reassurance that she hadn't pushed her away entirely. She reached forward for a moment, her fingertips trying to tilt Hinata’s face back up towards her own. 

“It’s because of him, isn’t it?” Hinata asked.

Sakura paused, her face falling as she dropped her hand back to her side.

“Yes, it’s because of him. Of course it’s because of him, Hinata. You should know that better than anyone.”

Sakura stiffened and pulled away from Hinata after that, deliberately distancing herself from the uncomfortable line of questioning as she spun back around. She grabbed a set of glass containers from her countertop to spoon the freshly-cooked curry into. 

Hinata thought that it was a fitting act for the moment, packing away the leftovers before anyone in the home had actually been given a chance to eat. 

Even in the crisp, electric light of the kitchen, Hinata thought that Sakura looked radiant. Her movements were so precise, soft hands sliding across the kitchen surfaces, each step back and forth causing the little strands of pink hair to float gracefully behind her. Sakura’s face was flushed red with emotion as she moved single-mindedly through the task before her, ignoring Hinata entirely despite what Hinata could only describe as a mutual chemistry.

Hinata considered the unexpected rejection for a moment. Sakura’s avoidance of her was a completely understandable reaction in the face of the weighty conversation that sat unfinished between them. It was a hard thing to be honest about, their husband’s ongoing affair, and their own… Hinata paused her train of thought. She wasn’t sure what to call what had happened between the two of them, but she knew that Sakura could be afforded some empathy as she grappled with the painful truths that lay in her path. Even in Hinata’s own life, there were still so many moments where she preferred to play pretend: packing lunches, stirring curries, and playing with her kids as if nothing had ever changed in her marriage.

But it had, and that was a fact that Hinata could no longer ignore.

Sakura’s situation had always seemed a tad bit more desperate than her own, in a way that Hinata could never quite put her finger on. From day one of their domestic lives as wives and mothers, Sakura had always seemed so preoccupied, her attachment to her long-absent husband often keeping her from fully connecting to the other mothers in their generation. It was a sad position to be in, trying to build a family on her own, and it generated a heavy air of desperation around Sakura’s attempts to fit in around the village. The word ‘abandoned’ was not one that anyone dared utter in front of Sasuke Uchiha’s bride, but it lurked behind everyone’s gazes all the same, especially whenever Sakura and Sarada were out alone together in the community.

Hinata wanted so desperately to comfort her. She wanted to take the cooking spoon out of Sakura’s hand and hold her close, force her to face the crushing reality of their situations together. But Hinata was also empathetic enough to know that there wasn’t a point in pushing the issue this time. Sakura wasn’t softening to Hinata at all, her body still rigid with tension as she continued to spoon out perfectly measured portions of curry into her glass containers. She wasn’t ready. It really was as simple as that.

“I can go,” Hinata offered in defeat.

She sounded meek — not exactly brimming with the confidence that she’d been hoping to embody on this particular evening, but Hinata could at least say that she’d tried. 

It was a strange thing to walk away from the object of her affection so soon after arriving at her destination. Leaving Sakura alone in a cold, empty kitchen to finish her dinner by herself was far from ideal in Hinata's mind. It felt like the very act of abandonment that she'd always detested about the other woman’s husband. But Sakura wasn’t relenting. She seemed hell-bent on avoiding the topic, preferring to pretend that playing the role of the forgotten housewife was all that she’d ever wanted in this life.

So Hinata turned, crossing the kitchen in a few quick steps, her head hanging low with regret as she made an embarrassed exit back towards her shoes at the front door. 

“Wait.”

Fingertips grasped at Hinata’s shoulder, clinging to her with a strength that at times seemed a bit inhuman when she really took a moment to think about it. Hinata snapped her head up, locking eyes with Sakura in the middle of the Uchiha family dining room. Sakura’s face was splotchy and pink, desperation swimming behind her eyes as all the emotion that she’d been holding down finally broke through to the surface.

“Are they together? Tonight, I mean?” Sakura asked, sounding small in the very same way that Hinata sometimes did.

Hinata wasn’t exactly excited to break the news about Sasuke and Naruto’s current whereabouts to Sakura, knowing the heartbreak that would inevitably come at the tail end of her words. If anything, she felt angry that she had to be the messenger of such a terrible thing. Wasn’t it Sasuke’s responsibility to bear the burden of such truths to his wife?

Hadn’t it also been Naruto’s responsibility? 

Hinata looked deep into Sakura’s teary eyes as she reflected on the first time she’d realized the truth about her own husband’s infidelity. Her intuition that ‘something was wrong’ had been triggered on quite possibly the first day that Naruto had strayed from his vows, his guilty demeanour giving him away almost immediately. 

Hinata remembered that evening in the way that one remembers flipping through an old photo album. Flipping, that is, one snapshot at a time in the depths of her memory. The static scenes trapped in the back of her brain would haunt her at times, coming in so crisp and clear that it made her wonder why bad memories never benefited from the blurry fog that time usually painted over the good ones. 

The scene was still perfectly clear in her mind’s eye — a random Tuesday, in the spring, the time of year when it was a bit too hot in the day and a bit too cool at night. Naruto had come home late from work that day, his tired blue eyes filled to the brim with guilt, and Hinata had just ‘known’. He was always so god-awful at hiding his emotions, a trait that had never changed even in his adulthood, and in this instance, it had betrayed his lies immediately.

Naruto had spent that entire evening following her around their family home, looking at her with those sad, blue, puppy-dog eyes, not saying a word as he watched her pack up the leftovers from dinner, put the kids down for bed, and tidy up the kitchen. She’d waited all evening, giving him the space that he needed to say whatever it was he needed to say, but he’d remained silent, a wordless shadow following her around as she went about her domestic tasks. 

Before sleep, Naruto finally spoke, whispering a small ‘I love you,’ before rolling over on his side of the bed. It had sounded more like an apology than a statement of devotion, and in that moment Hinata had known that her intuitions had been right. Her husband was in love, but not with her, and for the first time in their life together he was prepared to lie to her about it.

‘Goodnight’, she’d said in return, and she’d let her heart break to the sound of him snoring gently beside her.

And here was Sakura, on the receiving end of that same enormous, world-shattering realization, prepared to have her heart broken in the same way that Hinata’s had that night, but without the physical comfort of having someone she loved sleeping next to her.

Hinata thought about Sakura’s question again, are they together tonight?

Yes, they are, is how she should have replied.

You already know they are, was another option.

A simple nod would have done the trick, too.

“Kiss me,” Hinata said instead, a bit surprised by her own brazenness as the command abruptly popped out of her mouth. It was all she could think to do, to remind the teary woman in front of her that she was wanted by someone. Sakura was beautiful, she was desired, and she was more than enough in Hinata’s eyes, and Hinata would prove all of that to her if given the chance.

“What?” Sakura’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“I said, kiss me.” Hinata stepped closer to her, hovering her lips in front of Sakura’s face. She smiled invitingly as she moved, doing her best to entice the other woman with her eyes. It was enormously convenient that they were both roughly the same height, their bodies lining up with an ease that made accepting the invitation that much more simple.

“I don’t see how doing that changes anything,” Sakura said with a sniffle.

“It won’t,” Hinata replied, “but it’ll change our situation enough that we might forget about it all for a moment.”

Sakura paused, unsure, but not backing away this time. “Just a kiss?” she asked, and Hinata nodded, acting as though the question itself didn’t immediately imply that they’d both been thinking about doing so much more than that.

Sakura took Hinata up on her invitation slowly, closing the gap between them tentatively at first, her eyes half-closed and fluttering as she leaned in. Hinata was struck by the sweetness of the moment as their mouths brushed up against each other. She didn’t push for any more contact than Sakura was willing to give, letting the soft caress of their lips linger as the other woman chose to simply breathe against her. Broken hearts and fresh wounds always required a tender touch, and while Sakura may have been the doctor in the room that evening, Hinata felt like she was the one doing the healing.

They’d kissed before of course.

Hinata wouldn’t have gone out of her way to invite herself into Sakura’s home, her sights set on seduction, if there wasn’t already a precedent set for this sort of thing. It had been Sakura’s idea originally. She’d come on to Hinata so subtly at first, stealing little kisses whenever she could, inviting Hinata to explore parts of herself that she’d never really considered before.

But the playful, non-committal kisses that they’d previously experimented with felt entirely different from the emotion-laden kiss that they were sharing now. Sakura and Hinata had never been quite this alone together before, having all the time in the world to explore each other’s lips and bodies. There was nothing to interrupt them this time. Nothing that needed tending to. Their homes were clean, their kids were accounted for, and their husbands were conveniently distracted with their own infidelity for the entire evening. 

Hinata and Sakura were, for the first time in a long time, completely free to do as they pleased.

Hinata deepened the kiss slowly, pressing her tongue, slick and soft and curious, against the soft gap between Sakura’s lips. She wondered briefly if it would be possible to taste the colour pink on Sakura’s lips if she kissed her hard enough this time. Hinata pressed her tongue in deeper, gently rolling it against Sakura’s as she searched for her answer. Would the depths of Sakura be sweet like strawberry sponge cake? Or floral like trees in springtime? The prospect of finding out was more exciting to Hinata than anything else had been in a very long time.

Sakura reached for Hinata as she accepted the deepening kiss, her strong hands grasping at Hinata’s shoulders as she searched for an unspoken something in their union.

Perhaps comfort, Hinata guessed as she let Sakura pull her closer. She kissed the other woman back eagerly, more than happy to accept the reversal of her fortunes for whatever the reason.

“I needed that,” Sakura whispered, breaking their union with a smile against Hinata’s lips, small tears still drying in the tightest corners of her eyes. “Is this why you came here today? To do this?” she asked. It was a quality that Hinata had always admired in the other woman; Sakura’s ability to intuit and subsequently address the needs of the people in her life was unmatched by anyone Hinata had ever met.

Hinata nodded in response, feeling her cheeks burn with a vulnerable flush now that her ambitions for the evening were so obviously exposed.

Sakura cupped Hinata’s face, searching her eyes as they stared into each other for a moment. 

“I understand,” Sakura replied with a gentle smile, “I’m glad you’re here.”

Hinata watched as the tension in Sakura’s shoulders slowly uncoiled. She closed her eyes and breathed, deep and intentional, one, two, three times, before opening them again. There was a renewed expression on Sakura’s face, the cold walls and nervous energy from before steadily dropping away with each breath.

“Come, follow me,” Sakura finally said with an inviting tone, tugging at Hinata’s hand, pulling her down the long hallway towards the back of the family home.

The tumble towards Sakura’s bedroom was awkward, both of them far too aware of their surroundings to do much more than clumsily press their open mouths together and playfully slip their hands around each other’s waists. Sakura managed to strip her cooking apron off at one point, forgetting it on the floor behind her as they moved towards their destination.

They burst through the bedroom door in a flurry of heated kisses and exploratory grasps at each other’s skin, not bothering to flick the lights on as they stumbled into the middle of the room. Finally breaking the kiss for some air, Hinata took an opportunity to look around the space she’d been led into. She’d never been invited into the master bedroom of the Uchiha household before, and she was a bit shocked by the decor, to say the least. There wasn’t a single trace of the bare walls and severe furniture that defined the rest of Sakura’s household. Hinata’s mouth dropped open as she was struck once again by the colour that seemed to permeate every square inch of the woman she’d been longing for.

Pink.

Hinata spun around, eyes wide with delight. Everywhere she looked: fuchsia cushions, dusty pink curtains, well-worn rugs in every shade of magenta. The bedspread behind them was dyed that soft, juvenile pink that one generally reserves for little girls, but it didn’t look out of place in the slightest, looking just about as soft as one might expect — a cloud of cotton candy, waiting for someone to sink into it.

Along the walls were family photos in gold frames, stacked against entire rows of medical books, well-read from the state of their bindings. Clothing lay crumpled in an enormous pile by the closet, with mountains of hair ties and other accessories threatening to overflow from the dresser drawers that Sakura had hastily stuffed them into.

Despite the chaos of the room, it was immediately apparent that Hinata had just been invited into a sacred place. If the rest of the home was a presentation space, meant to impress an absent husband who rarely returned home, then this was the heart of the home — a sanctuary away from the expectations of the rest of the world. The entire room breathed, feeling alive with the same radiant, welcoming energy that Sakura took with her wherever she went.

“Sorry about the mess,” Sakura said sheepishly as she joined Hinata in her observation of the colourful space.

Hinata shook her head. It really was beautiful. She was almost a bit jealous that anyone other than her had ever been invited into the special little room before. The idea of Sasuke spending his nights there left a particularly bitter taste in Hinata’s mouth; she wasn’t sure the man had done enough good in his lifetime to have earned the right to such softness.

Hinata smiled at Sakura. “It’s beautiful in here. You’re beautiful. It’s all…”

“Beautiful?” Sakura guessed at the last word playfully.

Hinata nodded, leaning back into the other woman as she gently kissed her way along the edge of Sakura’s jawline. She slowly trailed her way down Sakura’s neck, planting a long chain of kisses against Sakura’s soft skin as she picked up right where they’d left off. Hinata wrapped her arms around her new lover tentatively, feeling exhilarated as her fingertips unexpectedly found their way towards the expanse of skin at the bottom of Sakura’s blouse. Full of curiosity and feeling a bit bolder now that they were officially on the same page about their evening together, Hinata quickly crouched down onto the soft carpet in front of Sakura and leaned in.

She took her time from there, softly pressing her lips into the gentle curves of Sakura’s stomach and hips, savouring the intimacy of their stolen moments alone together.

Sakura didn’t say much as Hinata explored, choosing to simply watch her from where she stood, curiosity mixing with lust deep in the back of her pretty green eyes.

Hinata rolled her face against the warmth of Sakura’s stomach, breathing in the heat and the scent of the other woman in a way that was far more intimate than anything she’d ever anticipated. There was something addictive about running her mouth along Sakura’s skin, the long lines of contact making her own lips tingle with pleasure and anticipation. Sakura had always smelled ‘warm’ to Hinata, like spring sunshine and fresh blossoms, the flowers of her namesake somehow permanently pressed into the very make of her being.

Sakura’s body tremored, her eyes locked onto the spot where Hinata’s mouth made contact with her stomach. “Maybe, maybe we shouldn’t… This is a lot. We really shouldn’t do any more than this.” Sakura’s breathless words were delivered with uncertainty, coming out shaky, less than a whisper above the crown of Hinata’s head.

The slight shift of Sakura’s body against Hinata’s mouth told another story, though. Sakura’s hips rocked gently towards Hinata’s touch, a wordless request for ‘more’ in the quiet bedroom space. 

Hinata continued to caress Sakura, half of her lost in the blissful exploration of the hot skin beneath her mouth, and half of her listening, mindful that her actions might actually prove to be a little bit too much to process for the other woman. Hesitation was understandable, logical even, in the face of what they were doing together for the first time. Hinata was gently pushing them both towards a level of infidelity that they’d never even remotely approached before, much less had a chance to talk about with any sort of seriousness.

Sakura lifted her hand, her cool fingertips slipping through the fringe of Hinata’s hair before gently sliding down the length of her cheek. It was a gentle gesture — a request for them to halt what they were doing and reassess whether or not they should even be doing it at all. 

Hinata turned into the soft touch, pressing warm kisses against the open palm that was so delicately presented to her.

“I just don’t know, Hinata. This is starting to feel like a mistake,” Sakura whispered with a shake of her head, the warmth in her expression going cold as her mind once again disappeared to some unseen place. “Besides, tonight’s really not a good night for this. My husband, he… I mean, Sasuke, he returns to the village tomorrow. What if he comes home early? Nothing's ready. I’m not… ready.”

Hinata frowned against Sakura’s palm, disappointed that the other woman was returning to her usual worries instead of acknowledging what the two of them were preparing to do together in her master bedroom.

“Would Sasuke even notice that I’d been here?” Hinata asked in response, knowing full well that Sasuke wasn’t home often enough to know where his own sock drawer was located, even on his best days. There wasn’t a single chance that he would return home and immediately notice the smell of sex lingering in the air from the night the two of them had spent together. Nor would he notice the lightness in his wife’s footsteps as she moved about her day. He’d probably walk right past the crumpled ball of messy sheets in the laundry hamper, deeming it beneath him to even acknowledge the menial household task. Sasuke would miss it all, every little detail; so focused on hiding his own infidelity that he’d be unable to see the truth laid out before him in his very own home.

Sakura was quiet, probably thinking the same thing, but not admitting to it right away, still so desperately attached to her crumbling domestic fantasy.

“You really want me to stop?” Hinata asked teasingly, running the tip of her tongue against the sensitive spot right at the centre of Sakura’s palm.

Sakura hissed to herself quietly, clenching her eyes shut in a desperate bid to distract herself from her own enjoyment of the act. 

“Hinata,” Sakura silently mouthed the name before interrupting herself, “I mean, yes.. we have to, we should stop. We have to-” Sakura snapped her hand back, looking around the room as though she was bound to be caught at any moment. 

She continued, “There’s just so much to do, in preparation, I mean. The shopping, the kitchen, the washing, and then there’s Sarada. I need to talk to her about her father, so she knows what to expect when he arrives. I need to know when he’s coming and where he… where he is,” Sakura took a deep breath and trailed off, her face heavy again with the thought of what the answer to that question clearly was.

Facing another round of rejection, Hinata paused what she was doing, lifting her gaze up to meet Sakura’s from where she was still kneeling on the floor. The light in the room was diffuse now, the glow from the lights outside the window casting a soft shadow across Sakura’s frozen expression. Hinata sighed to herself and knelt back against her feet. They were simply going to have to face it head-on, the single biggest obstacle blocking the two of them from indulging in their mutual desires — Sakura’s incessant need to make everything in her life about Sasuke. 

Hinata had always tried her best not to judge Sakura for her erratic behaviour regarding the man, figuring that she was probably exhibiting the very same obsessive quality that had made her such an accomplished doctor, but her stubborn attitude was becoming a bit of an ongoing hindrance in Hinata’s attempts at seduction. Thoughts of long-absent husbands simply had no place on Hinata’s list of priorities, and the Sasuke-centric behaviour would need to end if Sakura ever stood a chance of prioritizing her own needs in her own life.

“I’ll stop if you want me to stop,” Hinata finally said to Sakura, looking her directly in the eyes to convey how serious she was about the offer, “but only if that’s what you, yourself want.”

“I… I….” Sakura stuttered and paused, her eyes darting back and forth between Hinata’s face and the open doorway at the other end of the room. She shook her head out, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as the burden of the decision seemed to overwhelm her.

“There’s no pressure here,” Hinata quickly added, “any answer is the right one, but it should be your answer. Not his. Think about it for a second. Then, if you ask me to, I’ll leave right away, and we can pretend this evening never happened.” She tugged at the seams of her clothing and fixed a few loose strands of her hair back into place, a gesture that somehow made her feel a touch more in control of the situation.

What Hinata had just put on offer was nowhere near her ideal outcome for her evening, and she wasn’t all that confident that she could even follow through with a promise to ‘forget this ever happened’, but she figured it would only be fair to give Sakura a chance to think things over before they went too far. It was hard to know what the right thing to do was in a situation such as theirs. The two of them were technically in a love affair of their own, whether or not they chose to admit it. And in time they would likely put their husbands through the same feelings of hurt and betrayal that they were currently feeling. 

Sakura needed time — a moment to breathe and to think — before making her decision. 

Hinata shifted and crossed her legs beneath her, relaxing into the soft pink carpet as she watched Sakura pace around her bedroom, fretting about her options moving forward.

It was a funny thing for Hinata, to be the calm one in the room while a major decision was being made. She’d spent the greater majority of her life being so anxiety-ridden about everything going on around her: her father, her clan, her duty to her village. Hinata was supposed to be the one who stuttered, and fainted, and backed away from everything that she’d ever wanted whenever it benefited the group, making herself infinitely smaller in order to make everyone else that much larger.

But she’d changed since her marriage to Naruto. It had begun slowly at first, with Hinata taking every opportunity that she could to mimic the confidence that he so naturally embodied as he went about his day. It had been a clumsy personal journey after that, running around the village trying to talk to people she otherwise wouldn’t have, taking on new responsibilities as a mother, and representing the entire population as the wife of the Hokage. Looking back, it was a wonder to her how difficult simple things had felt to her at the time: asking for directions when lost, telling someone her order was wrong, or saying that she’d ‘perhaps been overcharged on her grocery bill.’ 

Then, months ago, upon first finding out about Naruto’s infidelity, Hinata had made an enormous leap forward. She’d finally snapped, her mind tuning in to some previously unheard voice, so deeply buried in her psyche that she’d had no idea it was a part of her. 

This voice played an incessant message back at her, repeating itself at all hours of the day, reminding her that this was it. Hinata wasn’t going to get a redo in this life. There wasn’t going to be a second chance. There was no award for good behaviour, and there was certainly never going to be any recognition for a life built on sacrifice. The simple truth was that Hinata was the only person who would ever control whether she lived her life quietly or out loud. It was her choice to make, and she knew in the depths of her soul that she wanted more.

It had been a liberating change, reframing her entire life like that, but it had also taken a great deal of time to learn how to think differently about herself – to know herself outside of him. Sakura simply hadn’t been afforded the same amount of space to settle on who she was and what she really wanted yet, so patience and a delicate touch would be Hinata’s best option as they navigated their way forward together.

Sakura paced, touching the picture frames lined up along her shelves, her fingertips lingering on the picture of Team Seven as children. She tapped the frame a few times, a deep frown on her face as she studied it.

“Are they together then? A couple?” she asked over her shoulder.

“I don’t know. I think so.” Hinata replied.

“For how long?”

“Months now it seems, maybe years.”

Sakura rolled her head back and laughed coldly to herself. “They beat me to it again, Hinata. They always do this. Every time I think I know what’s going on with all of us, they turn a corner together and I’m just stuck here, in whatever they left behind – like some sort of fool.”

Hinata grimaced, but stayed where she was. Best to let the woman process her thoughts without interruption. 

“I feel so stupid for not seeing it,” Sakura whispered, and then paused. “Or perhaps I did. Perhaps it was always there, and I just hated the idea of it.”

“You’re not a stupid, and you’re certainly not a fool,” Hinata replied.

“I sure feel like one.”

“Well, if you are, then so am I. A bigger one, in fact. I think on some level you at least understood that you would be left alone at the end of all this.” Hinata’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest as she spoke. There was a brutal truth in her own words, one that she was certain she hadn’t fully processed yet. Hinata really had expected to be the center of Naruto’s world when she’d gotten married, so imagine her surprise when she’d realized so many years later that she wasn’t even the center of her own. 

Sakura stared at her, wide-eyed for a moment, a look of deep empathy flooding across her face.

“I want us to continue, with uh, with this,” she said, gesturing between herself and Hinata as she made the uneasy declaration across the room.

“You’re sure?” Hinata asked.

‘I mean, I think so.”

Hinata frowned, expecting a bit more enthusiasm from her prospective lover at the idea of spending the evening with her.

Sakura probably sensed the rejection on her face. She scrambled, quickly adding, “Yes! I want to. I mean, I want you." Sakura crossed the room in a few steps and sank down onto the carpet next to Hinata, cupping Hinata’s face as she continued to repeat the phrase, ‘‘I want you. I want you. Please believe me. I’ve wanted you for a while now. I’m just a bit nervous about what we’re doing here,” Sakura paused, shaking her head out with a sad smile and wide, honest eyes, “for so many reasons.”

“Tell me about them,” Hinata replied empathetically.

“I mean you-you’re Naruto’s wife,” Sakura stuttered and laughed, gesturing outwards to the rest of the room. “This all feels so, so…”

“Illicit?”

“Yes! Like a secret affair. Like it’s something I’m not supposed to have,” Sakura replied.

Hinata chuckled. “Tell me about it.”

“And you’re gorgeous. I mean, really ethereally beautiful. I get this rush of sensation just standing next to you,” Sakura admitted.

Hinata blushed and smiled to herself, happy that their experience had at least been mutual in that regard.

“And uh, I mean ultimately, I don’t really know… what I’m doing,” Sakura confessed with a nervous laugh, gesturing sheepishly to Hinata’s body, her hand floating through the air, tracing Hinata’s curves.

“Neither do I,” Hinata replied, laughing right along with her, “but I know it feels right.” She placed her palms onto Sakura’s, guiding their interlocked hands back down to rest casually on her lap. There was something indefinably sweet about just holding onto Sakura’s hand as they both sat next to one another on her bedroom floor. They were like a couple of teenagers, tentatively holding hands as they basked in the not-so-secret crushes they had on one another.

They sat like that for a while, resting in the simplicity and the comfort of each other’s presence, until, rather unexpectedly, Sakura softly asked, “Hinata, will you kiss me again?” She looked nervous about the question, her cheeks burning red with embarrassment as she avoided making eye contact with Hinata. “I promise I won’t talk about the two of them anymore,” Sakura added with a shy turn of her head.

Hinata paused for a moment, her eyes wide with surprise as she took the time to memorize the way that Sakura looked in the midst of her request. Blushing, with little pieces of pink hair falling out of the bun at the top of her head, Sakura looked breathtaking as she finally put into words what she desired.

“You can talk about them if you want to,” Hinata replied cautiously, not believing that she'd heard the last about the Uchiha man for the evening.

“I don’t think that I do.”

Sakura took the opportunity to answer her own request, quickly leaning in, capturing Hinata’s lips in an eager kiss, resolution in her movements as they came back together. With a tilt of her head, Hinata slipped her tongue back into Sakura’s mouth, eliciting a small groan of approval from the woman next to her. Hinata pulled Sakura closer, her impatient hands dipping beneath Sakura’s blouse all over again as she resumed her exploration of Sakura’s skin.

Hinata still wasn’t sure how to fully describe her attraction to Sakura. She’d never really considered herself to be someone who was interested in women before, but something about Sakura’s glittering green eyes and gentle smile had drawn her into the other woman so completely that she’d had trouble shaking Sakura from her mind even on her busiest days. For months she'd watched Sakura at a distance, the question of how exactly to define her own sexual preferences sitting heavy in the back of Hinata’s mind.

It was a confusing situation to be stuck in. Hinata was still married to a man after all, one whom she respected and loved with all of her heart. But Naruto, with all of his charm and boyish good looks, had never truly set her senses alight the way Sakura had. All Hinata could really say with any certainty was that it had always felt good to pursue the woman in front of her, and she wasn’t about to let anything get in the way of what made her feel good anymore.

Hinata desperately, feverishly, foolishly, with all of her being, desired Sakura. And she was finally ready to be honest about exactly how badly she wanted her. 

Hinata kissed Sakura with abandon, tasting her, sucking at her lips, running her tongue in twisting circles around Sakura’s mouth as she pressed for more. She drank Sakura in, surrendering her senses to the way that the other woman tasted on her tongue. Hinata couldn’t get enough of it, the way Sakura’s soft lips slid back and forth against her own. The way Sakura’s long, pretty eyelashes tickled the tops of Hinata’s cheeks as they moved against one another. The way she smelled, sweet and floral on the tip of Hinata’s nose. Hinata felt like she couldn’t breathe, her chest constricted, overwhelmed by her own excitement as she pressed herself deeper into the kiss.

The intensity was electric, though not entirely unexpected on Hinata’s part. Her body had reacted with a similar jolt of adrenaline several years ago, the first time they’d taken a public bath together as young mothers, their babies in tow right along with them.

Upon seeing Sakura that day, wrapped in a big fluffy towel, skin pink from the heat of the water, Hinata’s body had burned with something new. It was as if a fire had been lit inside of her, finding its fuel for ignition in a place that she never knew she had, deep in the basest, most sacred part of her being. As she’d watched Sakura move through the motions of bathing herself, Hinata had finally understood what other people had meant when they’d said they were ‘turned on’. Surprisingly, they’d meant the phrase rather literally, describing the sensation of an electric switch being abruptly flicked on in the depths of their anatomy.

Hinata had found herself stealing glances at Sakura the entire time they’d been relaxing at the baths together, and to her great surprise, she’d been receiving shy little glances right back.

So they’d decided to make the trip to the bathhouse together a regular thing, for the children, of course.

The feelings that Sakura elicited from her had been so strong at the time that Hinata hadn’t questioned their actions at all the first time they’d kissed at the public bath, tucked away behind a small partition of tiled wall, hiding their indiscretions from the babies who couldn’t make any sense of their actions anyway. Nor had she questioned it when it happened again, months later, the two of them losing track of time as they kissed like timid teenagers in the corner of the local park. Soon enough, what had begun as merely a heated curiosity had snowballed into something much larger and more meaningful than either of them had anticipated. Neither one of them had ever been brave enough to escalate their physical experimentation beyond a bit of secret kissing, but they had continued with their secret rendezvous anyway, categorizing their behaviour as a bit of ‘harmless fun’ between two overworked mothers.

Still sitting on the bedroom floor, Hinata took a moment to admire Sakura's lean body as she kissed her way back down her lover’s neck. Sakura curved inward, her body dipping and rolling like a valley in all the places that Hinata’s own body surged outward like the hills that surrounded it. They were different in that way, inverse pieces of the same landscape, their soft curves meant to roll together as one complete picture.

“I’m going to touch you,” Hinata whispered, and she meant it. She was going to touch every inch of Sakura’s body if the other woman would let her. Hinata reached over, tugging Sakura’s blouse up over her head as Sakura nodded in approval. She looked embarrassed, her cheeks flushed and her eyes uncertain, but still eager to explore in the very same way that Hinata was.

Hinata pulled both of them up to their feet, guiding Sakura back onto the bed behind them, both of them sinking into the soft pink duvet in a pile of smooth limbs and soft hair.

Lying next to Sakura, Hinata’s mouth quickly found its way to the thin layer of fabric that still covered Sakura’s breasts. The bra she was wearing fit her perfectly, suiting her in a way that made Hinata’s heart sing.

It was pink, of course. 

But also cotton, and well-worn, the seams where the bra had been stitched together barely holding the fabric in place. It wasn’t the expensive lingerie you saw in the advertisements posted around the village, young kunoichi baring it all in an attempt to entice young men into stupid purchases. This was underwear worn to get someone through her day, full of the wear-and-tear one would expect from a woman who didn’t have the time nor the mental energy to consider replacing her undergarments all that frequently. But that being said, the scrappy pink bra was all Sakura, making it the sexiest outfit Hinata could have ever imagined her lover wearing.

“I didn’t know I was this kind of person,” Sakura admitted between little breaths as she watched Hinata explore her body.

“And what kind of person is that?” Hinata asked. She didn’t pause between words, still kissing Sakura’s collarbone and playing with the edges of her undergarment. “Someone who likes girls?” Hinata guessed.

“Yes, I mean, no. Not exactly that. I mean, I’ve never seen myself as… as a liar before,” Sakura replied.

Hinata paused, sitting up on her elbow as she searched into Sakura’s beautiful green eyes for the source of her fear. Her apprehension was understandable given the nature of their present activities. Sakura was bringing up a valid concern, one that Hinata had also grappled with as she’d started to explore who she really was.

Sakura sighed. “I just feel like I should have known, about all of this. About this, preference.” She grimaced on the final word. “I mean, who doesn’t know themselves well enough to figure this sort of thing out?”

Hinata nodded knowingly. “You feel like you lied to yourself.”

“To everyone! To Sasuke, to Naruto, to the village. I mean, we both got married, Hinata. Publicly.”

“Some things just take a bit longer to figure out,” Hinata offered.

“But this long? We built entire lives already, children and everything.” Sakura frowned, looking down at her hands as she started to pick at a hangnail that clearly wasn’t there.

"You should be patient with yourself," Hinata gently replied, knowing that her sentiment was largely going unheard.

Sakura tugged at her cuticle again. "I really don't feel like I deserve that right now."

“Well you do."

Sakura looked back at her with sad eyes. "Was it all fake, Hinata? Just an illusion in my mind?" She looked defeated as she asked the question. "It's like I've never even met myself before. I'm just a stranger in my own head."

Hinata placed her own hands over Sakura’s, gently stopping her fingers from their destructive actions against her skin. “I think if your goal is to meet yourself then there's only one way to do that. You need to start telling the truth.”

“The truth?" Sakura balked at the suggestion. "I barely know what that is. And even if I did who would I be telling it to?”

'Mostly to yourself,' Hinata thought.

“To everyone,” she replied instead.

Sakura turned her head towards Hinata slowly, her brows furrowed together as she thought over the proposition. “Everyone?” she repeated the statement back to Hinata. "You're suggesting I just go out there and say 'hey, turns out I like women' to the entire village?"

"I mean, you could start closer to home," Hinata replied.

“With Sasuke?” Sakura asked, her eyes going wide at just the thought of being radically honest with her husband about something so deeply personal. “I don’t know what I’d say. I don’t know how I’d even begin to explain it.”

“Just tell him that you want to be happy,” Hinata offered. 

Sakura smiled up at her. “Well, that’s easy for you to say. You’re the one who makes me happy.”

“I make you happy?” Hinata asked.

“You always have,” Sakura added. She looked beautiful, her shy eyes evading Hinata’s as she confessed her feelings out loud.

“Then you should probably tell Sasuke about me too,” Hinata replied with a little glimmer in her eye. “In fact, I want you to tell him the truth about us.” She lowered her voice seductively in the other woman’s direction. “I want you to tell him everything.”

“You do?” Sakura’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“I want you to tell him all about the way that I kiss you.” Hinata gently kissed each of Sakura’s cheeks as she spoke, dragging her heated lips across Sakura’s skin as her own silky, dark hair fell around them like a curtain. 

“I want you to tell him about how I touch you,” Hinata whispered into Sakura’s ear, her fingers tracing the lacy, rounded edges of Sakura’s bra against her chest.

“I want you to tell him about how I make you feel.” She grazed Sakura’s nipples through the fabric. 

“I want him to know exactly what you sound like when you’re completely satisfied,” Hinata finished with a seductive smile, planting a quick, delicate kiss on the center of Sakura’s lips.

Sakura stared up at her, her chest rising and falling in time with her shallow, rapid breaths. “I want…” Sakura started, before licking her lips, her eyes glazed over with lust. “I want to feel you too,” Sakura finished, her body rising up to meet Hinata’s gentle touch.

Hinata smiled and pushed Sakura fully back into the bed, holding her new lover against the nest of pink blankets and soft pillows that surrounded them. She climbed onto Sakura, straddling the thinner woman seductively as she stripped her own blouse off over her head. Sakura’s breath hitched in appreciation, her worries forgotten, her green eyes glued to every one of Hinata’s movements as she watched her undress.

The clip to Hinata’s bra came next, located at the front of the garment, sitting right in between the squeeze of her breasts. Hinata would be lying if she said she wasn’t entirely aware of exactly how sexy she was when she did this. She’d worn her front-clasping bra for a reason on this particular night, knowing that Sakura was in for a fairly magnificent reveal as Hinata undid the small metal clip, letting her breasts fall free from the confines of the garment. Hinata remembered the first time she’d done it for Naruto, his wide, innocent eyes looking like they were about to burst from his head as he struggled to maintain some sort of composure beneath her. 

It was a memory that somehow seemed duller in the face of all of these new, intimate moments with Sakura. Something about pleasing her husband had lost all of its charm over the years, especially as it had become more and more evident that there was never going to be a reciprocal level of sensuality on his end. It would forever be her job to entertain him during their intimacy, and Hinata truly couldn’t think of anything more boring than that.

Sakura gasped, loud this time, heat burning in her eyes as she took in Hinata’s half-naked form for the first time. Her protests long forgotten, Sakura leaned forward aggressively, sucking Hinata’s soft pink nipples into her mouth one at a time.

“You’re so beautiful,” Sakura whispered against her skin. 

Hinata groaned, her mind razor-focused on the pleasure coursing through her body as Sakura gently kneaded at her breasts. ‘Sensitive’ was all she could think of as Sakura played with her, though ‘exquisite’ was another word that immediately came to mind. Hinata’s breasts had always been overly sensitive, so much so that she generally avoided brushing them against anything throughout her day, always careful to give herself a bit of extra space when she leaned over the counters in her home. And forget about letting Naruto touch them during sex. He was too rough, his fingers too calloused, and his hands too greedy for his touch to properly stir any arousal in Hinata’s depths. 

But this? This soft, tender, pink tongue lapping at her nipples? It was a type of heaven that only Sakura could give her, and it sent chills down Hinata’s spine.

Hinata reached forward, tugging Sakura's bra off of her so they could share in the novel experience together. She played with Sakura's nipples in rhythm with her own, letting the arousal in the air take on a particularly heated feeling as they explored each other’s naked skin for the first time.

The room was quiet after that, little hushed gasps the only sound between them as they moved against one another, exploring all the little spots that made each other tick.

Their fingers danced across each other’s skin, and Hinata found herself lost in their connection. She arched her back, her hips thrusting forward in small circles as her arousal grew. Touching Sakura was intense. If Hinata had been a bit younger, she might have even confused the overwhelming physical sensations with a type of romantic love.

Maybe this actually is what love feels like? Hinata wondered in her mind, and she’d just never experienced it in its full breadth before.

It wasn’t that Hinata didn’t love Naruto. She did. Their marriage had been a real one, and on the day that they’d wed, she would’ve gladly told anyone that it had been the happiest day of her life. Hinata had loved him — she still loved him, or at least she was mostly sure that she did. 

It was a funny thing, really; profound feelings of admiration had a strange way of mimicking romantic love over a long enough stretch of time. Hinata often found herself thinking that the love that she shared with Naruto should have been enough for one lifetime. He was kind and sweet to her, and surprisingly respectful of her opinions, where other husbands wouldn’t necessarily be. Hinata was deeply, eternally grateful for her husband and her little family unit. But there was one thing that her love for Naruto was not – thrilling. It was comforting at times, often very playful, but mostly predictable, marked by the endless cycle of the daily needs that defined their domestic routine together.

Their love was safe and secure, and definitely not capable of eliciting the little sparks of arousal that Sakura pulled so easily from Hinata’s body with her every touch.

Hinata’s train of thought paused as a coil of electric heat wound its way up her spine. Sakura had been sucking at her breasts long enough that her nipples had become almost painfully stiff to the touch, the overwhelming pleasure already dropping down into the depths of Hinata’s pelvis, spreading heat into the base of her, making her want more.

Feeling bolder, Hinata pulled away, sliding down the bed as she hovered over Sakura’s body. Being as precise in her movements as a shinobi of her caliber should be, she tugged Sakura’s bottoms right off of her, leaving her lover completely naked, exposed to the night air as she lay back on her bed. Hinata followed quickly, stripping off what remained of her clothing and tossing it onto the floor behind her.

Nobody else would have been able to see much in the dimly lit room, but thanks to her extraordinary vision, Hinata could see it all. She could see Sakura: every beautiful roll, every muscle, every patch of pink hair. She could even sense the flush of Sakura’s skin, the hottest parts of Sakura's body shimmering somewhat differently in Hinata’s vision.

Sakura spread her knees open voluntarily, holding her breath in embarrassment as she covered up her face with one of her arms. It didn’t take long for it to dawn on Hinata that Sakura probably knew. With her background in medical science, Sakura probably had a very clear understanding of exactly how well Hinata, as a Hyuuga woman, could see in the dark. Which of course meant that the slow, sensual spreading of Sakura’s legs had been a deliberate act. 

Sakura was inviting her in, showing Hinata exactly what she desired next.

Hinata leaned in and gently dipped the end of her finger along the length of Sakura’s labia, unsure of what type of touch would suit her new lover best. She didn’t really know what she was doing, having never made love to another woman before, so she decided to go with the strategy that had suited her best when she’d first shown Naruto how her own body had worked. Hinata lay down next to Sakura, resting her entire palm against the other woman’s vulva, letting Sakura set the pace with the rhythmic thrusting of her own hips.

Sakura let out a little moan as she squirmed against Hinata’s touch. Her arm was still draped across her face, hiding her embarrassment about such a vulnerable and intimate act. 

“Are you going to hide under there all night?” Hinata asked with a laugh as she reached for Sakura’s arm, pulling it away from her face. She guided Sakura’s hand back towards herself, each of Hinata’s fingers commanding each of Sakura’s as they slid together down into the space between her thighs.

Sakura watched with fascination as their hands ran the length of her body together. She shook her head out, looking up at Hinata with uncertainty as she answered, “No, I’m not hiding. It’s just a bit overwhelming, is all.”

“I know,” Hinata replied empathetically, “but you’ve touched yourself before, right?”

Sakura swallowed and nodded, her gaze locked onto the spot right above her vulva where their intertwined fingers had come to rest.

“This is just like that. All you have to do is show me what you like.” Hinata whispered the words into the other woman’s ear, taking her time to blow a long, cool breath across Sakura’s heated skin. ”Show me how you touch yourself, Sakura,” she added in a low, sensual voice.

Hinata activated some of the chakra around her eyes as she waited for Sakura to take the lead. They started slow, their hands moving in unison, sliding in a long, deliberate line, up and down the damp folds of Sakura’s labia. Sakura’s breath quickened, and her legs fell open a bit further, her hand starting to move with a bit more pressure and insistence as she showed Hinata exactly how she liked to be touched. The chakra in Sakura’s body also started to flow in rhythm with her hand, moving like gentle tides through the base of Sakura’s body, turning her into an ocean of pink energy right before Hinata’s eyes.

Hinata halted their movements when she thought the timing was right, one fingertip from each of their hands pressed directly against Sakura’s clit. 

“Just a little bit now,” Hinata whispered as she released the chakra point in Sakura’s finger. The energy that was normally bottled deep within her lover spilled forth, exiting from the very tip of Sakura’s middle finger before dropping down into her body like a waterfall.

Sakura bucked, the sensation entirely too much despite Hinata’s gentle approach. “Wha-what was that?” she gasped, snapping her legs shut as she stared wide-eyed at Hinata’s hand.

“Just a little trick I figured out,” Hinata replied with a gentle laugh, already wrapping her fingers back around Sakura’s as she guided them back to where they had just been, “once you get the chakra flowing at just the right angle, it can get pretty good, pretty fast.”

Sexual experimentation had been fairly high on Hinata’s priority list after her sex life with Naruto had died. For months, the married couple hadn’t really touched one another outside of the mechanical little kisses that signaled ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ at the bookends of their days. Their lack of marital intimacy suited Hinata just fine, though. She hadn’t been able to look at Naruto the same way that she used to after she’d figured out his heart lay with someone else. He’d morphed into something new in her eyes, his nudity often just reminding her of what she couldn’t see rather than what she could. So, still having a rather insatiable libido, she’d taken to touching herself whenever she’d found a moment alone, often thinking of Sakura as she experimented with her own body.

“It looks like we might need to be a bit more precise for it to work, though. If only there was a world-class surgeon in the room with an unmatched level of chakra control,” Hinata jested, waving her hand in Sakura’s direction.

Sakura laughed, resting her damp forehead against Hinata’s bare shoulder. “If only,” she replied, looking up at her with a flushed face and a genuine smile. 

They both breathed together for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes as they gradually returned to their arousal at the pace that suited each of them best. Sakura was the one to kiss Hinata first this time, rolling her naked body eagerly against the soft, tender touch of Hinata’s hands.

They squeezed their bodies tightly against one another, their hips rolling, moving both of them in a soft, rhythmic slide against the sheets. Hinata pressed Sakura’s hand into the mound of skin directly above her clit, directing the top of her finger to the exact spot they’d been in previously. “Let’s try it again,” Hinata whispered, and Sakura focused this time, narrowing the stream of chakra coming out of her finger, her control exquisite as she zeroed in on what felt best. She started to squirm against the bed as the flow of energy increased, locking her eyes onto Hinata’s as they explored her pleasure together.

Hinata could feel the soft undulations of Sakura’s body beneath her as they played. It was intoxicating watching the other woman chase her own arousal right in front of her, with Sakura’s whole body shifting in an erotic rhythm that begged Hinata to investigate closer. Hinata slid back down the bed and dipped her head into the gap between Sakura’s knees. She was mesmerized as she watched Sakura pleasure herself, her fingertips dipping up and down the length of her sex, getting wetter and stickier with each pass. Sakura panted as she moved, her smooth thighs lifting her hips up off the bed in a needy rhythm to match the pulsing movement of her fingertips.

“Can I?” Hinata asked, mouth dry, body thrumming with arousal as she watched Sakura move.

The question was followed by a pause from Sakura, her hand halting the soft rubbing of her clitoris, breaking from the intensity of the moment entirely.

“Can you what?” Sakura asked, uncertain.

“I want to taste you.” 

Sakura clenched her legs together a bit at the suggestion, the same embarrassed flush of her cheeks spreading across the rest of her face as she registered exactly what Hinata was asking for. 

“Isn’t it dirty?” Sakura asked incredulously, glancing down at the mound of coarse, curly pink hair that lay beneath her fingertips.

Hinata laughed a bit more broadly than she probably should have in that moment. While she may not have appreciated the way that Naruto had lied to her about his affair, they’d still had their fair share of exploratory nights together in the bedroom when they were young. And for that, she was suddenly feeling the tiniest bit grateful. Hinata had learned a long time ago that there wasn’t the slightest thing ‘dirty’ about what she wanted to do to Sakura, and if anything, it was an experience that every woman was owed at least once in her lifetime.

Hinata sighed and shook her head. She would simply have to show her.

Not that introducing Sakura to the world of oral sex was a burden in Hinata’s mind. It was actually a fairly coveted position to be in, by her own estimation. The prospect of bringing the other woman to orgasm with her tongue had Hinata immensely excited, her mouth tingling with anticipation as she dipped lower between Sakura’s knees. She truly wanted to please Sakura. Hinata thought of it as a healing act; her own personal way of making up for all the times that Sakura had been left alone, for every unforgiving night she’d spent as a single mother, for every time she’d reached for the warmth of her partner and found only cool, empty bed sheets beside her.

Hinata leaned forward and ran the first long, flat swipe of her tongue up the length of Sakura’s labia. Sakura gasped in response, one hand still firmly rooted to her belly while the other grasped at the fabric next to her head.

Sakura gasped again at the second swipe, her back arching as she squirmed in pleasure at the intensity of it all. One of Sakura’s hands quickly wove its way into Hinata’s hair, gently pulling at her head as Sakura spread her legs open a little bit further — an invitation. Hinata set herself to work after that, slowly running her tongue in long, flat passes across the length of Sakura’s sex.

The taste of her was addicting, rich and complex, a bit metallic against the tongue, but still sweet in the exact way that the rest of Sakura’s skin had always been. Hinata sucked gently on Sakura’s clitoris, feeling for each sensitive jump of Sakura’s hips as she navigated her way towards the sweet spot that lay between ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’ physical touch. 

“Oh my god,” Sakura whispered above Hinata’s head, the sound muffled from the arm that she’d crossed back over her face in embarrassment. In any other situation, Hinata may have stopped at the sight of Sakura hiding like that, worried that she was pushing her too far, but Sakura’s hips started to rock rhythmically up against Hinata’s face, a sure sign that she was enjoying the experience immensely.

Hinata brought her hand up as she continued to work her tongue against Sakura’s clitoris. She dipped a single finger inside of her lover, curling it in rhythm with the pop of Sakura’s hips into the air.

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and groaned, her thighs contracting around Hinata’s head, pulling Hinata deeper into the wet mess that she was making above the sheets. Hinata could feel Sakura’s skin throbbing against her tongue, her entire pussy pulsing in a hot, steady rhythm as Sakura squirmed beneath her in satisfaction.

“Hinata,” Sakura moaned, her name coming out breathy and broken as Sakura clenched her eyes tightly shut and gripped Hinata’s hair tighter with her hand.

Hinata dipped her tongue in further, pressing it into the depths of Sakura before sucking at her clitoris one more time. 

“Hinata,” Sakura gasped her name this time, and Hinata knew that she must have been doing something right.

It didn’t take long after that, with Sakura as sensitive as she was, to make the final ascent towards orgasm. Hinata found herself lost between Sakura’s thighs as they moved together, her senses consumed by the steady dip of her tongue and the taste of Sakura as she drank her in. Of course, she was still a bit out of her depth from the newness of it all, but more turned on than she’d ever been before, relishing in the idea that she was the one bringing pleasure to the other woman.

Knees shaking, Sakura’s body abruptly curled up around Hinata’s head, her mouth hanging open. She grunted, breathy, somewhere between a groan and an exhale, and Hinata swore she could feel Sakura’s toes curl behind her as her orgasm enveloped them both.

A flood of wetness hit Hinata’s tongue at that same moment, filling her senses with Sakura’s flavour and scent all over again. Hinata stayed in place as Sakura’s body pulsed beneath her, the other woman lost in the explosion of pleasurable chemicals coursing through her body. Hinata watched quietly, recognizing this as a sacred moment, her eyes bearing intimate witness to something nobody else had ever had the privilege to see. Maybe the gods, Hinata thought, in those private hours of the night when a woman touched herself only for herself, but certainly no one else.

Sakura may not have remembered it, but a few years back, she’d made a rather revealing drunken confession to both Ino and Hinata about her sex life. After downing one too many glasses of saké at the local inn, she’d turned to both of them and said that she’d had a secret to share. She’d slurred her way through the rest of her tale, gradually opening up and revealing to both of them that, despite being married, she’d never experienced an orgasm with her partner before. 

Hinata remembered exactly how outraged she’d been at the time, though she hadn’t said much in response, being as timid as she was.

Ino had been the one to break the tension when Sakura was done, laughing broadly as she’d responded to the unexpected confession as though it were a joke. It seemed unfathomable to Ino that anyone as good-looking as Sasuke would be unable to provide a fully satisfying experience in the bedroom. But Hinata, her face red in embarrassment, and her mind stalled from social anxiety, had taken the time to actually watch Sakura’s face, and there was no doubt in her mind that the intoxicated woman had been entirely honest with her words.

Of course, they were younger then, less observant, and enormously sleep-deprived; just a group of young mothers out for a drink after months of trying to find a night where they could all get childcare simultaneously. It was probably a moment that was long forgotten in the other’s minds, but Hinata remembered that night so vividly. The look in Sakura’s eyes had been so vulnerable at the time, so full of regret. It had made Hinata question whether or not her friend had ever felt any pleasure at all when she’d lain with her husband, or even with herself.

But she’d experienced pleasure this time, Hinata was sure of it.

Hinata tried to lift her head to check on the other woman, but found herself stuck, Sakura still holding her hair in a vice-like grip as she rode out the experience. She chose instead to settle in, watching as Sakura continued to clutch at the blankets with her other hand, her eyes shut, her face scrunched up as she followed the waves of pleasure wherever they led her. 

Sakura lay back, panting, her hair splayed out behind her in a tangled, sweaty halo around her head. She looked awestruck as she navigated her way through the pleasurable oblivion that Hinata had just provided for her, and Hinata found a deep swelling of pride growing in her chest at the thought of being the first one to provoke such a response from the other woman.

In time, Sakura unfroze her legs around Hinata’s head, releasing her fingers from Hinata’s hair. She took a shuddering breath, eyes still closed, as her body lightly spasmed, tensing and untensing from the deep waves of pleasure still in her system. Sakura sounded gassed, as if she’d been running for a while. She took a few deep, calming breaths and cracked her eyes open for the first time, meeting Hinata’s gaze as she looked up from between her thighs.

Hinata could relate, feeling as though she’d been running for a while, too.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry..” Sakura started suddenly, a whole slew of apologies tumbling forth as she fully untangled her fingers from Hinata’s hair. Her hands both reached out to cup Hinata’s face and smooth out her bangs as Sakura came back to herself entirely. 

Hinata stopped her, kissing Sakura's palm with her still damp lips, the smell of Sakura’s arousal clinging to everything she made contact with.

“I’m so sorry,” Sakura managed to say again, tears at the edges of her eyes, and it dawned on Hinata that the words probably had nothing to do with Sakura pulling on her hair a little too hard in the midst of her orgasm.

They were the words of someone who was never supposed to feel the way she just had. The act of pleasure they’d just partaken in had been a transgression against everything that Sakura was supposed to be — a loyal wife, a mother, an icon of the shinobi world. She wasn’t supposed to need anything, ever, so letting her guard down and getting lost in her own desires functioned as a deep betrayal of everything that she thought she was. 

“I’m so sorry,” Sakura repeated, little apologies falling out of her mouth just as quickly and as easily as her tears.

Hinata understood the rush of emotion intimately.

She untangled herself from Sakura’s legs slowly, crawling up the bed so she could lie next to Sakura and hold the overwhelmed woman in her arms.

Sakura looked into her eyes, her face still flushed and sweaty from the exertion of her orgasm. “I didn’t… I didn’t know,” she said in broken words as her tears continued to slip from her eyes. 

“I’m so sorry,” Sakura whispered again. She rubbed at her eyes, making the salty drops cling to her long eyelashes like the drops of moisture that collect on the petals of a flower. Sakura stared into space for a while after that, her breath hitching in small sobs, her face nestled into Hinata’s chest.

“I don’t even know why I’m apologizing to you right now,” she finally whispered from her spot against Hinata’s skin.

Hinata smiled at her, pulling her in closer so that Sakura could rest her head in the nook of her shoulder. Hinata wouldn’t need to say anything in response. Just the act of holding Sakura would reaffirm that in this place, she was safe. Here, in Hinata’s arms, Sakura was free to be more than her sacrifices. She was not a mere convenience, or a trophy to be collected and left alone on the shelf as some sort of prize. Sakura had needs, and Hinata would be there to bear witness to those needs every time that Sakura reached for them. 

The pressure of the full-body hug seemed to do the trick. Sakura’s breath slowly evened out, little erratic sniffles the only thing remaining from her emotional outburst as she held onto Hinata like a child.

“I thought I loved him,” Sakura whispered as they lay together.

Hinata nodded. “I know.”

“I still love him,” Sakura whispered again.

“Me too,” Hinata replied, thinking of the boy with the bright blue eyes who’d promised her everything so many years ago.

‘But I love you more’ was the statement that should have come next, from either one of their mouths. But the timing wasn’t right, even if they were feeling it. What they’d just done had been a complete betrayal of their marriage vows. And while those vows didn’t mean all that much anymore, with both of their husbands having thrown them right out the window in the midst of their own desires, it still turned what would regularly be a very intimate moment into something incredibly bittersweet. 

And, if they were being truly, deeply honest with each other, they’d been the ones to stray first. They’d both logicked it away over the years, treating their meetups as a fun bit of experimentation between friends, but it had been so much more than that from the very first day they’d locked eyes in that bathhouse. Their attraction was deeper than a passing curiosity, more than a physical need, more than a strategy to fill the lonely holes in their broken hearts.

“I want to keep seeing you,” Hinata whispered against Sakura’s pink hair.

Sakura nodded happily and hugged Hinata tighter, slipping her legs between Hinata’s so they were entirely pressed against one another within the sheets. “Not letting you go,” she mumbled sleepily as her entire body relaxed in Hinata’s arms. She fell asleep soon after that, spent from the exertion of her orgasm, and the emotional toll that it took to get there.

Hinata curled into her lover, pressing her cheek into the top of Sakura’s forehead. She mouthed her words of appreciation across Sakura’s skin in between gentle kisses, hoping the message would somehow seep through and warm her from within. 

Hinata wasn’t exactly sure what they were to each other in that moment. Girlfriends? Affair partners? A convenient sexual outlet to process emotional pain? She had no idea. Their situation was an amorphous one, growing and changing as they both grew and changed. And that would simply have to be enough for the time being. Certainty, clarity, and labels were something for the future. They would need to practice following their intuition first.

The two of them fell asleep like that. Sakura nuzzled against Hinata’s chest, tears still drying at the edges of her eyes, and Hinata tucked into Sakura’s hair, her face gently nestled into the sweet pink curls that she’d first admired on the front doorstep earlier that day. It was peaceful, and it felt right, which was all either of them needed to know as they drifted off.

————

Pink.

Hinata could feel the colour on her face before she was even fully awake. It was all around her, warming everything it touched. She cracked her eyes open, finding herself surprised at just how bright the large bedroom space could become in the glow of the early morning light. The impending rise of the sun filled the entire room with a soft rose colour, making it feel as though she were safely tucked into the soft petals of an enormous pink flower.

Hinata snuck out of Sakura’s bedroom shortly after she regained her bearings, her bare feet slipping along the wooden floorboards without making a sound. She wasn’t worried about anyone else being at home to hear her, but Hinata still limited the amount of noise that she was making as she exited the Uchiha family home. She just couldn’t bring herself to disturb her lover so early in the morning. Sakura had looked so peaceful in her sleep, curled deeply into her pink sheets, her face serene and untroubled for the first time in months.

Hinata had opted to leave the sleeping woman where she lay, a note on her dresser, and a gentle kiss pressed into her forehead as their final sweet goodbye for the day.

Hinata quietly grabbed her jacket and her bag from the front hallway, only pausing to fix her bangs in the mirror mounted by the front door. She stared into her own face as she tidied herself up. Did she even recognize herself anymore? She didn’t feel like she was looking back at the same woman that she was accustomed to seeing every morning. This new Hinata felt much more confident; she was a triumphant figure, still drunk on the chemicals of sex and connection, feeling like she’d conquered something within herself. And at the same time, she could see the guilt written all across her face, little flashes of fear popping up behind her eyes whenever she paused too long to really stare into her own reflection.

Admitting defeat, Hinata let her hair fall where it may and turned to leave. She would have greatly preferred to have showered, or at least to have washed her face after how messy things had gotten the night before, but she figured she could do that at home. Besides, the likelihood that she would run into anyone in the village at such an early hour was almost non-existent. 

Hinata opened the front door gently, taking care to undo the lock without a sound. 

As the door slid wide open, Hinata’s shinobi senses kicked off in the back of her mind, alerting her of another presence in the vicinity. She snapped her head up and her palms out, her whole body shifting at once into the ready position for whatever came next. Her eyes were prepared to engage if needed, but what she found before her wasn’t a threat at all. A surprise, to be sure, but not a threat. Hinata’s hands dropped, right along with her jaw, as she stared through the open doorway at the person standing on the other side.

It was Sasuke, paused on his front step, their positions oddly reversed as they regarded each other with stunned expressions from the incorrect sides of his front entryway.

“Hinata.” He greeted her with a polite nod. 

“Sasuke.” She nodded back to him, her mind racing about just how she was going to explain exiting his house at five in the morning.

True to form, the proud, ever-silent man didn’t bother to enquire, instead stepping past her as if she didn’t exist at all. Sasuke crossed the threshold of his family home with a blank look held tightly across his face, far more interested in his return home than what he’d unexpectedly found when his front door had popped open right in front of him.

He only paused after looking around his foyer for a moment, a strained look of confusion playing across his face. Sakura hadn’t immediately run to him like she normally did, and he looked a bit bewildered about where exactly to hang his jacket, being so accustomed to just handing it off to his wife on the exceedingly rare occasion that he actually returned home.

Hinata smiled to herself, wishing that she could somehow document the dumbfounded look on Sasuke’s a-bit-too-perfect features.

“Did you just get into the village?” Hinata asked. She knew that wasn’t the case, but curiosity about her husband’s lover was leading her in this moment, and she found herself following him a few steps further into the house. She watched as he located and then carefully opened his family’s front closet. Maybe for the first time ever, Hinata thought to herself as she watched him tug the closet door in the wrong direction before correcting himself. 

“Yes,” he nodded in affirmation as he struggled to figure out exactly where his family placed their personal effects once they were removed.

“Was it a long journey?” She followed up, feeling no desire to leave as she watched the impromptu comedy act that played out before her. A man lost in his own home was not a show that a person simply walked away from, and there was something deeply satisfying about witnessing Sasuke’s alienation from his own life.

“It was.” He answered curtly again.

“Are you back for long?” she asked.

“No.”

“Do you have plans for your time here?”

“Not really.”

“And has Naruto eaten yet this morning?”

“He has.”

Sasuke paused, the knuckles on his one remaining hand tightening against the sleeve of the coat that he’d just hung. He genuinely froze on the spot, realizing the gravity of his error only after the words had left his mouth. Sasuke didn’t turn to her, but she could practically feel the panic surging off of him in waves as he struggled to find an explanation for how he could have possibly known that Naruto had already eaten breakfast when he’d just told her he’d only arrived in the village moments ago.

“Fantastic,” Hinata replied, grinning smugly up at Sasuke from where she stood in his doorway, “it really does take a lot off my plate when my husband’s needs are already met for the day.” She gave him her most saccharine smile as she turned to leave, satisfied with having the upper hand over her husband’s lover for maybe the first time ever.

“Hinata…” Sasuke started, hesitantly reaching his hand out towards her as if to halt her retreat.

“Surely you understand exactly what I mean, Sasuke?” She cut him off with the loaded question, daring him to get closer to her with her tone. “Positions reversed, I’m positive you’d appreciate Sakura’s needs being met in your absence as well.” 

Hinata hadn’t intended on being quite so direct with her words as she’d addressed him, but she also hadn’t intended on bumping into him right after sleeping with his wife either, so she gave herself a pass for being a bit rude to the man. 

Sasuke nodded slowly, confusion pinching his perfect brows together one more time.

Then the realization set in. Sasuke cast a quick, curious glance back down the hallway of his home, before finally double-checking the time on the clock mounted to the wall next to him. Hinata had a front row seat, watching in real time as the pieces all came together in his mind.

“I see,” Sasuke replied, “so then you…?”

Hinata nodded. 

“And Sakura, she...?”

Hinata nodded again, feeling a twinge of regret about being the one to break the news to the man. Standing in his home, at five in the morning, with her hair a mess and her skin still smelling of Sakura’s sweat, Hinata was certain that this was not the right time, or place, or circumstance to be informing Sasuke about his wife’s infidelity. Sasuke would likely be extremely confused, having little to no context about what had just happened, or why it had happened, or what it might mean for the future of each of the married couples involved. But the truth was out, and there was no going back once the idea had planted itself in his mind.

Besides, seeing Sasuke stumble over the idea that his wife might have a life outside of him was so deeply and unexpectedly satisfying that Hinata figured it had been worth playing messenger just for the show alone. 

Hinata eyed him as she waited for a response, taking her time to examine his expression for any sort of reaction, be it good or bad. Sasuke couldn’t have been more different from Naruto in Hinata’s estimation, lacking all the warmth and expressiveness that had made her own husband so beloved by the entire village. Truthfully, she’d never been all that impressed with Sasuke in the first place, thinking of him as being mostly overrated while everyone else had swooned over him back in their academy years together. His presence had always had a way of unnerving her at a foundational level, his flippant attitude and penchant for trouble-making eliciting a deep, jealous madness in the back of her mind. He’d always made her feel irrationally territorial, an emotion that made a lot more sense now that she’d become aware of his intentions towards her husband. Hinata had often found herself struggling to maintain her usual quiet composure around Sasuke, usually choosing to purse her lips with contempt in his direction, rather than greet him as the old friend he was meant to be.

Sasuke stalled, his mouth pulled into a tight frown as he processed the news. “And you know about...” Sasuke paused again, his lips pressed into an even thinner and tighter line.

“For someone so intelligent, you’re moving a bit slow this morning, Sasuke,” Hinata replied with a snip to her tone, “yes, I know about you two. I’ve known for a long time.”

“Did he tell you?” Sasuke asked.

“No, I figured it out.”

“Do you hate m—“

Hinata interrupted him, not willing to entertain the idea that this entire situation should be centered around what he needed to hear. “No, Sasuke, I don’t hate you,” she snapped, “all that matters is that I love him, and I want him to be happy.”

Sasuke’s eyes darted back down the hallway towards the bedroom again, his expression a strange mixture of shame and relief as he regarded the direction where his sleeping wife lay. “I feel the same,” he confessed.

Hinata nodded, feeling for the first time like she might actually have something in common with Sasuke (aside from their mutual interest in a very charismatic blonde-haired, blue-eyed Hokage). It seemed that there was a small part within Sasuke that actually recognized Sakura’s isolation, and while it was nowhere near the amount of awareness he would need to truly make amends to her, it was a solid first step towards centering his wife’s needs over his own.

“Are you two together?” he asked, looking uncertain about how exactly to refer to the affair between the two women.

“I think so,” Hinata replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. She didn’t have a whole lot of answers for Sasuke, given that she’d only taken her relationship with Sakura to a more intimate level a few hours before. “Well, are you two together?” Hinata asked instead, gesturing in the general direction of the Hokage’s office as she threw the question right back at him.

Sasuke nodded, a shy, barely-there smile playing across his lips before he righted himself and abruptly returned to his usual stony expression.

“Are you in love with her?” he asked.

“Maybe, are you in love with him?” Hinata threw it back to him again.

Sasuke’s entire body stiffened up, his face burning hotter than she’d ever seen it before as he struggled to respond. 

“I see…” Hinata said, trailing off into an uncomfortable silence as she reflected on exactly what Sasuke’s reluctance to speak probably meant about his personal affections.

She frowned as she examined Sasuke all over again. He looked a bit powerless; just an ordinary man grappling with the burden of love in an environment where it never should have blossomed to begin with. Hinata sighed. There truly was no bad guy between the two of them. No one to point fingers at. No one to blame for all their wrong turns. They were both human; just two strangers, each of them in love with the other’s partner, each of them equally guilty of sabotaging their marriages. The two of them stood across from one another for some time after that, marinating in their mutual discomfort about wanting what the other had, and what it might take to get it.

“So then, is this a suitable ‘arrangement’ for everyone?” Sasuke spoke first. He looked up at Hinata with hesitation, his one uncovered eyebrow raised high with curiosity as he proposed the unexpected question.

“It’s seeming that way,” Hinata replied hesitantly.

Sasuke nodded slowly, processing her answer before finally meeting her eyes with an appreciative look. The guilt and the shame of his infidelity still lingered on his face, but there was an additional warmth underlying it all. Sasuke looked sincerely happy about the new development in Sakura’s romantic life; Hinata could tell from the crinkle at the edges of his eyes.

“I thought you’d be more angry,” Sasuke said, “This is a lot calmer than I imagined this sort of conversation would go.”

“Oh, I am angry. Believe me, I’m angry, but not for the reasons you might think,” Hinata quickly replied.

Sasuke cocked his head slightly to the side — confused, a few steps behind her all over again.

“You think it’s because of the cheating. It’s not. Clearly, I’m not the one to cast stones about that particular topic,” she said, gesturing down the hallway towards the bedroom. 

“It's just that… he lies to me now, Sasuke. He never used to do that.” Hinata’s face burned as she struggled to maintain her composure. Crying in front of Sasuke Uchiha was not something that she was willing to concede to on this particular morning. Hinata continued, a crack in her voice, “You made a liar out of the boy who never lies, and a widow out of the one woman who loved you. I don’t know what sort of spell you cast on the two of them, but what a terrible thing to do to the people most devoted to you. That is why I’m angry with you, Sasuke.” 

He stared at her, hard and unblinking. “I see that I’ve hurt you too,” he added softly.

Hinata paused, taking a deep breath to recenter herself in the midst of the lecture pouring forth from her lips. Her heart felt like it might explode from within her at any moment, tearing right out of her chest with every sentence.

“You’ve hurt all of us,” she snapped, “but I suppose you already know that, Sasuke. You’re off on your ‘redemption journey’ after all. I only hope that some of that penance gets directed towards the two of them someday. They deserve it, and you know that they do.” She stared at him with a bitter expression, tasting jealousy on her tongue as she finally said the words she’d been holding down for so many years.

Sasuke blinked, his expression tightening up in nearly the same way that Sakura’s had right before she’d cried on Hinata’s shoulder the night before.

It was true that Hinata had always envied the man standing before her, always assuming him to be somehow stronger or smarter than her because of the way that people talked about him. But somehow, finally speaking her truth had made him seem so much smaller than she’d always made him out to be in her own mind. He looked entirely too thin and too pale, completely out of place in his own home. She decided that there was something deeply sad about a man who belonged nowhere, and something even sadder yet about stealing away the last bit of familial and romantic love his wife might have had for him.

Hinata felt like a thief looking into his sad, dark eyes.

She stood there for a while, taking in the entirety of the man before her, with her concentration only being broken by the lightest creaking sound somewhere in her vicinity. Hinata could hear it, the gnawing squeak of tension across wooden floorboards; there was a third presence in the family hallway.

Hinata lifted her gaze, making eye contact with Sakura as the other woman slowly made her way up the hallway behind Sasuke, her bare feet hitting all the loudest parts of the floorboards. She was awake now, and not hiding her presence as she walked directly towards the two of them. Sakura looked a bit like she was still in her bed as she approached, her pink bedsheet wrapped tightly around her body from head to toe. Her face was serene, her expression not betraying any particular emotion about the unexpected circumstance that she found herself in so early in the morning.

Hinata wasn’t sure what to say as she stared past Sasuke into her lover’s eyes.

“Did you… did you hear that?” Hinata finally asked.

Sakura nodded, speaking softly as she stopped at the front landing, “I did.”

“All of it?” Hinata asked.

“Enough to know what was said,” she replied.

Sasuke spun around to face Sakura, though he didn’t greet his wife in any of the ways that Hinata expected he would. The man simply turned to Sakura and gave her a courteous nod, his face set with a warm expression and his eyebrows slightly lifted. The only giveaway that the whole situation was as emotionally loaded for him as it was for her was the slight nervous give of his knee as he stepped back and made way for Sakura’s approach. Hinata thought that it might have been a muscle reflex from their days training together as children; best not to be on the receiving end of one of Sakura’s infamous blows to the head.

“You’re awake,” he said, meeting Sakura’s gaze.

“Yes, I’m very awake now,” she replied.

The two of them stared into each other for a long moment, and Hinata frowned. She wasn’t entirely certain what was happening, though she knew at some fundamental level couples could have entire conversations with just their eyes alone.

Not wanting to interrupt what was sure to be a lengthy and illuminating conversation, Hinata decided to push the process along. She interrupted their standoff with an offer. “We’ll have you both over to dinner this week to lay out some ground rules, ok?”

The pair of them snapped their heads towards her, clearly surprised by what she’d just said.

“No children, of course,” Hinata continued, “I’ll line up somewhere for them to be for the evening. And I’ll let Naruto know as well. I’m sure he can find time in his busy schedule to accommodate such an important conversation.”

Sasuke nodded in surprise, looking eager to accept the unexpected offer, his eyes shooting back and forth between the two women with cautious excitement. Sakura smiled, looking softly into Hinata’s eyes as she nodded in affirmation. “That sounds like a great idea,” she replied.

“You’ll be staying in town for longer than a few days this time, correct?” Hinata turned to Sasuke, pressing him with her tone about what the correct response ought to be.

Sasuke nodded, giving her that slight crinkle of his eye in lieu of his words once again.

“Excellent. I’ll message you both later to confirm a time,” Hinata finished.

And with that, Hinata knew that it was time to go. There was simply nothing left to say without their final counterpart also being present, and she had some organizing to do if she was going to follow through with her own suggestion.

Hinata turned to leave, slipping out of the open doorway in yesterday’s clothes, leaving a trail of Sakura’s perfume lingering in the air behind her as she crossed the grassy yard. The heavy front gate opened with ease under her fingertips, her every movement guided by a brand new sense of confidence within her. Hinata wasn’t sure if she was experiencing the high that a person felt after a night full of passionate sex, or the liberation that one felt after finally speaking their truth to their rival, but she knew that she felt strong, much stronger than she had in a long time.

Hinata didn’t look back at the Uchiha couple. She didn’t wave goodbye or glance over her shoulder to see how long Sasuke had stood there with a dumbfounded look plastered across his face. She didn’t care. She was leaving with something precious, and she’d be damned if she let anyone take away the peace that she’d been working so hard to cultivate for herself.

Deciding to take the long way home, she meandered through the quiet village streets at her own pace and in the direction of her choosing. The world around her hadn’t quite woken up yet, leaving everything still and quiet, giving her an unexpected sensation of privacy as she went.

Hinata reflected on what was yet to come. She had a routine day ahead of her: picking up the kids from their grandfathers, cooking, cleaning, then cooking again, and ultimately cleaning again. It would be an entirely ordinary day for a village housewife: repetitive, boring, routine. 

But things will never be quite routine again, will they? she thought to herself with a smile.

It truly was a new day, full of new possibilities. Hinata didn’t have all the answers about what the future held, but she could sense a great weight lifting up off of her shoulders. It was as if she was coming up for air for the first time in a very long time. 

Whether or not her marriage survived the impending changes was almost irrelevant to Hinata at that point. The idea that she was free to be completely honest with Naruto felt like a blessing. This would be a much more authentic version of their marriage than playing house ever was, and Hinata was grateful for the opportunity to drop all of the pretense that they’d accumulated over the years. The impending conversations were bound to be difficult ones, but at least she’d finally be able to speak her truth to the man.

And then there was her new relationship with Sakura; finally, something to look forward to that was entirely hers. Hinata’s time with the other woman had made her feel alive, selfish in the best of ways, and capable of anything.

The idea that this all might work out in the end was deeply liberating for Hinata. Of course, there was a great deal of discussion to be had about whether or not they would be public about the changes to their respective relationships, but for now, they could at least find some acceptance in the arms of the only other set of people who knew exactly what they were going through.

Hinata looked up into the early morning sky as she walked. The soft pink hue of the morning clouds started to melt into the bright sky blue colour high above the horizon. It was subtle at first, but it was also unmistakable. The entire atmosphere slowly lit up with something new right above her head.

Lavender.

Hinata’s colour.

There’s something honest about it, Hinata thought to herself as she walked. It was neither the pink of Sakura’s pretty hair, nor the blue of Naruto’s earnest eyes, but somewhere in between. A colour that took a great deal more effort to mix, with all its subtle variations.

Hinata decided that it was undeniably rarer to see a sunrise such as hers.

The lavender tone expanded high above her, stretching across the rooftops and dimming the mountaintops in the distance with its purple hue. Hinata felt a profound sense of resolution studying the cool morning light. She decided that she was just like the morning sky, a mix of so many colours, changing and evolving with the same dogged inevitability as the roll of the sun across the horizon.

Hinata hummed to herself as she continued on her path, thinking of those small pink curls at the nape of Sakura's neck, and when she would get to run her fingers through them again.