She was weak. The way she lumbered around his apartment made him knew that she was one of them.
He was infuriated. The moment he stepped into Konoha after a couple of years, the villagers as well as those shinobis grimaced. He could not care less. He expected it.
The sun drowned into the mountains slowly, casting light shadows on the walls of his apartment. Two shadows. He could not be bother about her. She was one of them who disliked him and probably grimaced when his back was facing her. He was just too tired to be bothered about anything.
Looking at the sun through his bow window, he noticed the first snow had fallen. He could not believe he spent the first snowfall of the year with someone.
Everything happened so smoothly ever since. Naruto dragged him to Ichiraku Ramen every single day for the first few weeks and never once stopped talking about his old time crush. He was sick of ramen and sometimes he would just sit there and spaced out. Naruto never changed.
The thought of every fight still lingered in his mind. From the beginning he left with Orochimaru till the last fight he had with his best friend. He regretted every single one of them. However, the battle was over. Everyone grew up including him.
The shinobis pretended like nothing had ever happened. It seemed to Sasuke that it was as if he did not leave Konoha to kill his brother, tried to destroy Konoha and nearly killed his comrades. Everything stayed the same. Ichiraku Ramen was still there and he wondered why did he not destroy it back then. He was sick of being dragged to that place by his best friend.
Nobody talked to him besides Naruto and Sakura. The others of the Rookie Nine spoke to him so rarely that sometimes he thought that they did not acknowledge the fact that he had indeed returned back to Konoha and was now currently living under the same area as them. Kakashi was still reading his pornography comic. Everything stayed almost the same.
Except for one.
Tsunade took a while to convince the villagers for allowing Sasuke to stay. Sasuke did not care at all and intended to leave, not wanting to trouble anyone at the moment. Villagers still shooting looks of disgust towards him every single time he walked on the streets. Sometimes he would just glare at them but it came to a point where he would simply just ignore them because he was used to it. For once, he knew how Naruto actually felt like but it definitely did not make him suddenly want to do something good for the village so that everyone would acknowledge him.
The thoughts of leaving doubled when Tsunade assigned someone to look after him. At first, he thought it was the Anbus who would probably stayed around the trees outside his apartment and looked at him everyday. He knew he could take them down within a second and he wanted to. Their presence irritated him. He was just too tired; the villagers would feel safer anyways and again, he did not want to trouble anyone at the moment.
Then when the busty woman said it would be his friend, he thought it would be Naruto. That was worst because he knew that the blonde would not stop talking and complimenting the pink haired kunoichi and he would be forced to go to Ichiraku with him every single day. He might even mess around his neatly packed apartment. At the thought of it, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
Tsunade then added on saying it would be nice to have his friend to look after him because either way, he would be more comfortable and he would not in any other way, feel lonely. Sasuke ignored her words. He did not need anyone's sympathy. He was fine doing all alone.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto barged into his apartment and greeted the dark lavender haired woman the moment he saw her.
The female Hyuuga was the one that Tsunade assigned to him. When she said his friend, he thought it would be Naruto because the loud blonde was his only friend. The others he would say they were simply just acquaintance. Her presence was something he had never really acknowledge before. He had seen her once or twice back when they were in academy but he did not really care for all he thought was revenge and revenge back then.
She was quiet. Too quiet in fact or perhaps he just hung around Sakura too often. It was nice though. She did not talk to him besides the greetings.
Her face turned red instantly at the sight of the loud blonde. She bowed ninety degree and greeted him with her soft timid voice, which annoyed him the most.
"You're leaving already? It's really cold outside." Naruto questioned, moving his way towards the mini kotatsu that was facing the opened bow window. Sasuke was sitting there, sipping his tea.
"Yes, it's a-already sunset." She mumbled while playing with her index fingers.
"Oh," Naruto turned to look at Sasuke for a few seconds, expecting him to at least look at her and give her a nod or something. He did not. "You're not sending her off?"
"It's o-okay." She smiled and shook her head. "I'll leave n-now, Naruto-kun. Bye, U-Uchiha-san." She bid her goodbye and exited the apartment.
"You don't seem to know Hinata." Naruto said, sliding his leg into the kotatsu and immediately felt heavenly. "Jesus, the cold is killing me outside. I wonder when winter will end."
"Why are you here?" Sasuke questioned.
"I'm here to visit you!" Naruto grinned and laid his back down to the floor, sliding into the kotatsu even more.
"My house is probably nearer that's why you decided to drop in for this god damn warmth you're having now." Sasuke postulated nonchalantly and finished his cup of tea.
"No!" Naruto protested. "I'm here to visit you."
"Whatever." Sasuke made his way towards the kitchen and washed his cup.
Ever since the female Hyuuga stepped into his apartment, there was always a scent of lavender lingering around. To be specific, it was the kitchen. It seemed natural on her and he liked the smell much more than cherry blossom or sunflowers or camellias.
"Anyway, how is Hinata?"
Sasuke placed the cup back to its place and dried his hand before making his way back to the kotatsu. He sat beside it, giving Naruto all the space he wanted. "No idea."
"I thought you guys would have know each other pretty well at this moment." Naruto reckoned.
"We don't talk." Sasuke shrugged and laid himself down, his right arm over his eyes, blocking every ray of lights from entering.
"Why?"
"Just because." He replied softly. "She's here for her mission and that's it. I don't think there's a need to talk."
"But you talk to Sakura when she's here. You like Sakura?" Naruto exclaimed and Sasuke could feel a soft kick at the side of his hips.
"Shut up." Sasuke sighed softly. "That's because I know Sakura and she wouldn't stop talking. She never stops talking."
"That's what I like about her," Naruto chuckled. "Hinata talks too."
"I don't care."
"You should care,"
Sasuke was too lazy to reply to his sentence so he just kept mum. Hinata was just different from Sakura. She was quiet and never initiated a conversation before. She was polite and respected everyone that was around her. Frankly, he was comfortable around her. It was like as if no one else was home beside him.
"Because I heard that her father wants to marry her off to you."
Sasuke immediately dropped his arm and look at the loud blonde. "What the fuck?"
Naruto nodded. There was silence for a few seconds before he burst out in laughter. "You should totally see that face of yours!"
Upon realizing that it was a joke, the Uchiha grunted and turned himself so that his back was facing the currently laughing hysterically.
"You need jokes in your life. It's too dull." Naruto said. "But really, I would never think of you marrying Hinata."
"I don't even know her. She's weak, for all I know."
"Hinata's not weak!" Naruto snapped instantly, shocking Sasuke for a moment. "She fought Pain and in the Fourth Shinobi War. She is strong."
"She's one of them."
"What do you mean?"
Sasuke opened his mouth but closed it the next moment, deciding not to tell the loud blonde or he would go all over again about no one hated him and it was just his paranoid thinking taking over him. "Nothing." He mumbled.
"There must be something!" Naruto asked as he sat up.
Sasuke let out a sigh, loud enough for Naruto to hear. "I'm going out for a walk. Stay here if you want but not overnight."
"On such a cold day?" Naruto cocked his brow.
He put on a thick jacket before exiting the apartment, totally ignoring the blonde's words. Tucking his hand into the front pockets of his jacket, he made his way towards the street. The floor was freezing. His hot breath was visible in the cold and no one was on the street beside him and those bright street lamps. He could see from windows that families were together and he envied them.
Taking a deep breath in, he ambled down the streets of Konoha.
The air was colder than usual. He brought his hands up and breath into it, hoping to keep them as warm as possible, only deciding to give up after countless of fruitless attempt. Somehow, he loved the cold against his body and the smell of snow. Snow was falling gently from the dark sky and as far as Sasuke could see, the floor was soon covered in thick blankets of snow, making anyone to have difficulty to walk through it. It was terribly cold.
Sasuke glanced up towards the sky, noticing that the snowfall had gotten heavier. Letting out a deep breath, he made his way towards a tree and leaned against it. He did not want to go home and for some reason, he was craving for some hot miso soup.
"Uchiha-san?"
A soft voice made him opened his eyes. Turning towards the direction of the voice, he knitted his brows together.
"What?" He hated her voice for some reason he could not even explain.
The female hyuuga was standing in front of him, clad in only her usual oversize jacket. Snow had fallen onto her hair, making her looked like as if she had aged a couple of years. She was shivering from the cold for she was continuously breathing into her tiny hands. For a moment, she looked like she was the snow goddess because of her lavender tint eyes. "What is Uchiha-san doing here?"
"I came out for a walk. Go home." Sasuke said offhandedly and looked away from her, hinting her to leave him alone.
"It's too cold for a walk, you s-should go home too." She breath trembled under the cold.
"I want to stay here for a while. Why aren't you home yet?" He questioned softly and glanced at her a few times.
She was shivering so much from the cold yet she was still standing over there, talking to him like as if he would kill her if she did not.
"I left my kunai at your apartment." She replied.
"I suggest that you should go home and come tomorrow to get your kunai. It's too cold."
"It's okay." She smiled.
"Go home, I'm not going to carry you home if you faint. It's too cold and Naruto is in my apartment now."
Sasuke could not differentiate whether was her face red from the cold or his words. Either way, he was annoyed with her obstinacy. She was always so hard headed on everything. She tried too hard and never once will she be appreciated or acknowledge. He never understood why she would not stop doing things for others when she received nothing in return besides simple gestures like giving her many sweet potatoes, which ended up in his place somehow.
She never listened to others and insisted to do things by herself when it was obvious that she could not handle it alone. He was annoyed with this side of hers somehow.
"It's j-just Naruto-kun." She lowered her head, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Just?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, getting even more annoyed by her actions and words. "You obviously like him. Why are you avoiding it? Coward."
She lifted her eyes to meet him. Her brows furrowed. "I'm not a coward." Her voice hardened.
"Then why don't you just tell him? Your actions and everything annoys me so much. Stop doing things for him when he in the first place doesn't even appreciate it." He straightened up and glared at her.
Her eyes never left his. "I just want to do something for him."
"Then why don't you just confess?" His voice got a little louder and he never understood why would this conversation even lead to both parties getting so worked up.
"He likes Sakura-san, isn't it obvious?" Hinata snapped after a few seconds of silence.
It was not like the usual her where she was just speaking in her timid voice and agreeing with everything everyone said. Yet, she raised her voice at him and he was the Uchiha.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and tucked his hands back into the pockets of his jacket. "Shut up and go home. I won't dirty your kunai."
"It's okay, I can – "
He cut her off immediately. "I won't fucking accept visitors after sunset."
"I've the rights to go to your house."
She was still so stubborn. He was getting even more annoyed at that moment. Suddenly, she was already pinned against the tree he was leaning against by him. His grip around her collar tightened when she winced at the sudden pain hitting her. "Go home."
"Let g-go, Uchiha-san." She placed her hands on his.
Her hand was cold but it felt like he was holding onto something so fragile and vulnerable. His grip loosened up immediately and he let her go, pulling his hands back and watched as she supported herself by holding onto the tree. He glanced over at her tiny hands. That pair of hands looked as if she had gone through too much in her life.
He pulled his kunai out. "Take mine first, if you needed it so badly."
"I don't need it." She replied softly.
From her words, Sasuke was sure that she was one of them. "Go home before I kill you."
She looked at him. Her eyes showed no fear. She coughed a few times before turning her back against him and making her way towards the direction opposite of his house. He assumed that she decided to go home and wondered would she be okay wearing only her oversized jacket.
AU: This story I had posted on my cousin's account my mistake, thinking that the acc was mind... Anyway! It's been so long... Still have countless of stories not finished yet and on. I'll try to finish those up but in the mean time, this is my new story..!