IV
The Cherub

Very early in the morning, Karin rapped at her door.

“Get your frigging ass up, you lazy bum,” she said, not in a way that would give people incentive to get up quickly from a cozy bed. “He’s beckoning for you.”

Hinata really didn’t prefer getting a wake-up call in such a rude way. And furthermore, by an individual who clearly had taken an instant dislike towards her for having something she rather not touch with her bare hands. But Sasuke’s beckoning for her, and that was enough for Hinata to scramble up and prepare herself as decently as she could.

This was proved hard, for the only clothes that had fit her had been torn by her husband. Other women would probably giggle at this condition. Such a passionate night, they might say, your best clothes getting ripped off because your husband couldn’t want to get a taste of you.

But Hinata wasn’t any other woman and Sasuke wasn’t any other husband. He was a vampire, and that part clearly dominated the other part of him as a male. He might had a secret lust for her body, but Hinata knew that his biggest temptation was for her blood.

Get marital-raped daily or killed and get it over with. Such a hard decision to choose.

Hinata finally decided to use the one that wrapped her body so tight she felt her stomach contorted. It was the most decent she could have been this morning, but still she felt underdressed by the time she passed Karin’s scowling face and Suigetsu’s clearly lewd gaze.

“Looking good there, ‘wife’,” Suigetsu catcalled. “I see your breasts heaving very invitingly everytime you move. Is that intended?”

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and tried her best to regard Suigetsu’s verbally abusive comment as mere breeze. It could had gone smoothly had the white haired vampire didn’t keep hovering around her.

“So what happened, woman?” he asked, keeping pace with her. “I know something happened between the two of you last night. I saw his face.”

The way his tone suggested something licentious made Hinata forgot to be properly flattered. So she could have effect on Sasuke after all. “Nothing. And don’t call me woman. It’s degrading when it comes from your mouth.”

“Vermin, then?” without waiting for her confirmation, Suigetsu already aired. “I’ll wager it’s something dirty. My master has always have a dirty mind. Do you want to know how the fourth died?”

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut again, her temper bubbled at the end of her head. She was not sure how much longer she could stay calm. Especially with the vampire’s eyes occasionally, if not most of the time, focused on her cleavage.

“What? You’re offended with vermin, too? What do you want me to call you then?” Hinata was about to answer ‘my name’, but the sudden appearance of two long fangs before her took her aback. “You didn’t protest when I called you wife. I assume that’s how you want me to call you, eh? Wife…”

His mouth parted and behind it was a flicking tongue. Hinata’s jaw dangled at its loose ends for a good three seconds. “Shut-up!” she demanded. “Shut up, won’t you? Or I’ll-“

“Or you’ll what? Kill me? Oh, you’re absolutely free to try, wife. But I need to inform you that I’m already, and have been long, dead. Besides, I doubt you have the ability, much less the courage, to do that.”

“Well,” suddenly another voice joined them. Suigetsu’s face contorted as Sasuke put a hand around Hinata’s waist in a way that a small, romantic part in Hinata’s head would have called ‘protectively’. “while I admit she might lack at those particular areas, I, as her lawfully wedded husband, am not. And I will happily rip your throat out, eviscerate you,” his voice now dropped into a hiss. “and force-feed you your own guts an inch by an inch every bloody day.”

And then, in a unnaturally ghastly speed, Sasuke’s tone oozed cheerfulness. “That won’t count as death, but it’ll give you a pretty good idea how to serve the hell. Imagine spending the rest of your life, which would be pretty much an eternity, without a body and with a mouth full of your own insides.”

If possible, Suigetsu’s face wore an expression that would had gotten him mistaken as a gargoyle. Hinata wondered if such contortion in a face was possible for simple humans.

Sasuke seemed enjoying this thoroughly. “Of course, I will only do so if my wife,” he emphasized the word. “approves of it.”

For the first time since she met him, Suigetsu’s eyes showed a semblance of total capitulation. Mercy, she practically heard him screaming. Mercy!

“N-No. That’s.. that’s sweet, but uneccessary,” Hinata tried to stretch a smile. Failed. She thought for a second, and then added. “-yet.”

There was a proud smile on Sasuke’s pale lips. “Good answer.”

“And while the two of you start getting all lovey-dovey, I will go to search for food,” Suigetsu said, dismissing himself.

Hinata’s heart skipped a beat as the white haired vampire’s presence faded away. She fumbled at her fingers, and at her words, too. Sasuke’s eyes wandered around the room, never meeting her. Good, good. She didn’t want to meet those eyes, too.

“S-So, Sasuke,” she squeaked. “w-what did you call me for?”

“Clothes.”

“Clothes?”

He only bestowed her a second of his glance. “You’re not decent.”

Hinata raised both of her hands in a futile attempt to cover her breasts. “I suppose.”

“I hear there is a new dress model for women in town,” Sasuke coughed and then looked at her again. It only lasted for a second, for now his eyes started wandering again. It’s almost as if he avoided seeing her. “I want to take you to buy some that would fit you.”

That made Hinata give her second ‘O’ for the day. “Th-That’s very generous of you.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m currently trying my best to be a decent husband .”

It was hard not to smile. “But is it really okay with you to go out in the middle of the day? I-I thought vampires hates sunray. Sunburn’s bad for you, no?”

“Yes it is,” Sasuke sighed. “But it’s pretty much okay, really. Those people are exaggerating when they said we’re going to get burn or anything severe. We only get exponentially weakened, that’s all. And even then, I'll still be stronger than you.”

“No cursed stones? No dramatic demolishment?”

“Bloody myths.”

“Oh-“ Hinata wasn’t expecting that. “W-Well, I don’t know what to say.”

“You can start with ‘Thank you’.”

“Thank you, then,” Hinata said, and she wasn’t faking it a bit.

The new model for women that Sasuke mentioned required a corset. A very tiny corset that would only fit had Hinata lost twenty pounds and had a body figure like a stick. Nevertheless, the shop clerks insisted that the corset would work just fine with her and she should try it.

When three women pulled the strings of the corsets on her back, all Hinata could think was ‘torture’. It was not enough for the society to force women to lay low under their husbands’s armpits and marry the men they did not love. It also needed to invent a new form of torture that came with corsets.

“Oh, my lady, you look so gracious!” one of the clerks said when they were done with it. Hinata could hardly breathe as she needed to pulled as much air as possible from her stomach. Her eyes only half opened as they measured her waist.

“Only eighteen inch! That’s a great improvement!”

Now, that explain a lot why she feels very faint.

“Now, it’s not done. Try this out, come on, don’t be shy. Try it try it try it. I’m sure your husband will love it.”

“Huh?”

“By the way , that’s a very handsome man you have.”

Then, giggles. Gossips. Dilly-dally. More giggles.

Ignoring the sharp pain on her ribs, Hinata succumbed to the three ladies and put the dresses on. When she went out from the changing room, Sasuke had been waiting. His face brightened a bit as he examined her.

“Very lovely, Kaede,” he said.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Kaede let out a hearty laugh. She looked at Hinata wistfully and then said. “With a face like her, I’m sure she’ll look lovely even in a rag. Not that I will dress her in such ugly clothing. She doesn’t deserve it.”

Sasuke chuckled. He actually acted civilized. They bantered for a while, before then Sasuke asked Hinata to pick out more dresses and then went home.

The people on the streets kept looking at them. Not many of them knew that Sasuke was a vampire or a mercenary. The name ‘Uchiha’ might be widely known, but most of the time, people would expect Uchiha Sasuke to be a beardy man with a lot of body muscles and stood over eight feet tall. Surely they weren’t expecting an angelic faced young adult with an ever-present smile.

“Why are you smiling in public?” Hinata couldn’t help asking.

Sasuke’s smile seemed instilled on his lips as he answered. “There’s audience here.”

“There’s an audience in your house, too. Me. Am I not enough to trigger a smile from you?”

“Don’t start now, vermin.”

“You’re starting to use species basis to address me again. Are you angry, vampire?”

For a moment there, Hinata saw a glimpse of a gleaming fang behind his locked smile.

“Vampire?” she pressed.

He didn’t answer, he handed her the shopping bags and left her. Hinata furrowed her brows as she saw Sasuke just scurried away from her, leaving her alone in the middle of the streets. The corset obstructed her walking, but she finally managed to catch up with him. Turned out that he wasn’t really leaving her, he was just helping out some little girl who fell.

Sasuke was kneeling, in his hand was the girl’s hand, and in his other was a candy bar. Of course he was still pale and Hinata could still sense the killing aura that radiated from him, but somehow, there was another part of him that shone through it all. the one part that made him looked almost angelic. And not just because of his face.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Sasuke asked, his fangs had gone.

“No, mister,” the little girl said. Her knees were skinned and she had a large bruise on her arm, but she was smiling at him. The kind that would stretch your whole face and went from one ear from another. “Thank you very much for the candy, and for your help, and for...” she seemed confused as what to say next. “umm, anything, really. I’m just so happy that you came up to me and helped me up.”

“No problem.”

The little girl grinned, showing him a set of messy white teeth. Then she hugged him for a while, before she ran to the crowd.

In a moment Sasuke’s smile changed. His mouth still curved the same way, but the light that had shone from it faded. He approached her, dusted off his jackets, and then reached out his hand. “The bags?”

Hinata gave them to him. They resumed their trip to his house.

“Your smile’s different now,” she intoned.

“No, it’s not.”

“You were… happy when you helped that little girl.”

“I was.”

“But now you’re not.”

“I’m feeling pretty ambivalent right now.”

Hinata contemplated for the next question. “Do you like kids, Sasuke?”

“Yes, I suppose I do. Although I will generally like people who like me,” Sasuke’s tone had no inflection. Like it’s something he had spoken from time to time. “Though kids have easier time liking me.”

“So you-” Hinata stopped herself. What she wanted to say was very rude, and not to mention offending. She wasn’t sure if Sasuke would respond kindly to that.

“Yes. I smile to make it easy for people to like me,” Sasuke finished her sentence himself. There was still no remarkable change in his tone, but faintly Hinata noticed the imperceptible tremor. “You see, in your place, people have known me before I know them. My reputation precedes me. They won’t give me any chance to mingle with them. Here, however, not many knows about me. They know my name, but my face they don’t recognize. I have chances here.

“Maybe in home I can practice smiling, too. But a constant audience will eventually know how to differentiate the real one and the fake one. Being constantly presented with the fake one will make you get tired of me fast... And I wouldn’t like that.”

He searched for her eyes and then looked her intently. “Or will you hug me like that little girl everytime I smile at you?”

Hinata didn’t answer the question. Sasuke too, didn’t press her, and the rest of their trip was pretty much silent.

Even until dinner, it was still very silent. Sasuke’s apprentices didn’t join them this time, and with only the two of them non-talkers, the atmosphere was this close to being asphyxiating.

On Sasuke’s side, was a glass filled with red thick liquid that Hinata didn’t prefer to know where it came from. He was sipping it slowly, eyes closed, face unemotional. He acted as if he was the only person in this room.

On the table was a vast variety of food, and to avoid awkward moments, she filled her plate with as much food as she could. She ate very slowly, too. With the corset still wrapping her stomach, she wasn’t sure if she could do anything efficiently at all.

How would she answer Sasuke’s question, anyway? He sounded desperate back there, so vulnerable. Either it’s the sun or he’s opening up to her. He did say he wanted to be loved, and if this was his way to get her love, then he’s sure as hell walking in the right path.

But still there was still a tiny hatred for him. He stole everything from her. Her future, her friends, her family. If only she wasn’t to wed him, she’d be in home now, joking with her fathers, reading books, laughing with the people she knew. Instead now she’s stuck with a vampire who could only smile at kids.

Suddenly furious, Hinata stuffed a large chunk of steak to her mouth. She hadn’t chewed it well when Sasuke surprised her with an inquiry:

“Are you ever going to answer my question?”

The effect of this question was immediate. Combined with the corset and hours of air-deprivation, Hinata choked on the meat and doubled over. Her eyes bloodshot and her throat jammed. She raised her hands to her neck, trying to claw out the meat. She was not getting enough air and the longer she waited, the more painful it became.

Slowly, however, all feelings started to go away and she was losing her consciousness. Right the moment before she closed her eyes, she felt two hands pushing through her diaphragm forcefully. They continued to push, and push, and push, until finally she threw up a big chunk of meat and fell to the ground.

Or rather, two a pair of cold hands.

Her husband’s face was only inches before her, and he was adopting her most favorite expression by far: brows knitted, eyes darkened and narrowed in concern, his mouth was parted in a way that could make any other man looked ridiculous. Sasuke was concerned to death, and this expression couldn’t fool her.

“Hinata?” he asked for her.

She chuckled. Darkness seeping to her. “There are a lot of stars in your eyes…”

He smiled. Not just a half-smile that didn’t stretch his lips at all. also not the closed one. It was a big smile, all teeth, and that made his starry eyes crinkled on the sides. His brows were now raised and there was a faint dimple on the right cheek. Sasuke had always been a handsome creature, but never he looked more handsome than this.

Unfortunately, the smile only lasted two seconds. He turned her around and started undressing her. “Damn that dress,” he muttered.

Hinata knew she was supposed to be scared right now. Is now finally the time for’It’? was she really ready now? But thank God her mind’s so foggy right now that her attention span didn’t allow her to dwell on that for too long.

“Why d-don’t you just rip it out like you always did?” she asked, not fully regaining her consciousness.

“Don’t tempt me,” Sasuke said as he unfastened all the knots and ribbons. He pulled away her dress and now started unfastening her corset.

“This damned little thing,” he whispered.

This time, after the failed fifth attempt to open the corset properly, Sasuke resorted to a way he was so familiar at.

Hinata gasped as much breath as she could. Ah, that felt good. She groped at her back and found broken ribbons from her corset lying around lifelessly.

“Great,” she said. “now I’ll look flabby in this dress.”

“I should had known,” Sasuke ignored her, then turning her around again so now they’re facing each other. He wasn’t sweating but had he could, he’d be drenched in sweat right now. “This thing always torture women of all ages for ages.”

“Does it?”

“When I was alive I used to have a friend who wrap a tight clothing to make her waist look smaller. Around her waist and stomach was bruises and gashes.”

Hinata moaned. “I thought it’s supposed to make us look ‘lovely’.”

Sasuke gave her a look. “You’re almost dead back there because of this.”

“But you saved me,” Hinata breathed, now words kept coming out from her mouth without her permissions.

“But I saved you,” Sasuke nodded.

“How many times have you been saving my life now?”

There was nothing funny on her sentence, but somehow it made Sasuke let out ‘that’ kind of smile again. “I honestly have no idea. I’d lost count since yesterday.”

“It must be hard, isn’t it?” Hinata said. “to have your personal damsel in distress.”

The smile broadened. “I don’t mind, though.”

Hinata watched him, her chest heaving so hard she was so sure she looked ridiculous. Whether it’s because of him or because of her subconscious wanting to suck in as much air as possible, she didn’t know. She couldn’t think straight right now, and she was glad of this condition. Had her common sense was with her now, she would had already fainted since minutes ago.

And that would mean missing this amazing view.

“B-By the way, Sasuke,” Hinata said as she slowly raised herself, “I’d already have the answer to your question."

Sasuke thinned his lips, waiting.

“As much as huggable your smiles are, I guess I prefer to hug you so that you can smile, really smile, at me.”

Hinata was sure her face wasn’t in the natural shade of red anymore, but she had gone this far. Might as well be thorough with embarrassing herself.

“Sasuke, you have a really great smile…”

And again, he bestowed her another of it.

“Is he there?!” the red-furred wolf demanded, its hackles rising high and its eyes yellow with rage. His two companions bared their teeth behind him. “Is he really there?!”

“Patient, patient, Gaara,” Suigetsu raised both of his hands. Baby werewolves might be his weekly meal, but it’s best not to mess with the grown up ones. They could shred you to pieces and dance with your blood.

“How can I be patient?!” the wolf made a motion of biting the air. A loud cackles boomed as his teeth grounded against one another. “Our friend is missing and you said that he’s there, with the dirty assassin, getting tortured everyday for being what he is. What we are!”

“Well, that’s what I saw,” Suigetsu said smoothly. He ruffled his white hair and then continued. “My master is very cruel to your kind. Even I, cold-blooded I should be, is horrified everytime I see him treat the likes of you.”

More roars came from him and his companions. “Despicable bloodsucker!”

“Why are you telling us all these?” the blonde-furred asked.

Suigetsu had prepared well for this question. “Because I’m tired of all the pain. I might be a vampire, but I feel for werewolves, too. My heart clenches whenever I see them getting killed in front of me, by my own master! And now he holds hostage your friend. I can’t stand it anymore!”

The three of them looked at each other, there seemed to be a fleeting telephaty had just passed between them. Suigetsu didn’t exactly know what they’re saying to one another, but it must be good, because up until now, none of these dogs had tried to claw his eyes out.

“Are you absolutely sure that our friend is with him?” the raven one asked.

Suigetsu didn’t have any idea who their friend might be, but he gave away his best convincing face and nodded enthustiastically.

They all howled, more roaring came, before they ran back to the forests. The Sabaku siblings had been infamous for having the strongest bloodline in the werewolves species. A lot of vampires had been dead, and the remains of them, if there had been remains, were inside their bellies. It was absolutely not safe for anyone, especially if you’re a vampire, to mess with them.

Which was why Suigetsu hoped, as he rubbed his indext finger to his teeth, that Sasuke should be ready when they crashed the gate soon.

To be Continued

AN : I admit I'm surprised myself. Ho ha! See? There's a plot in this story! And yeah, probably a lemon coming, too. Hopefully in the next chapter. Or the one after next. Probably won't post it here, though. It's very embarassing!!