Notes: I don't like NaruHina idc idc idc. If you're looking for a NaruHina lovechild then guurrllll. Get ready for disappointment.
The rating will probably change too who knows.
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Sasuke had been walking at a pace fit for an abandoned cub; because not only was he alone, but in no hurry to get anywhere in particular. He'd just finished a mission and he enjoyed his solitude on the way back to the village, and the joys that had come thereof was precious time used to think.
About the village and its future; Naruto was to be Hokage.
As he trekked along in the sunset he thought about his future after everything he'd done to procure revenge to the nth degree.
It truthfully exhausted him to think about his past, it felt as though his emotional capacity had reached its peak—fatefully injuring the means for him to feel anything ever again. Not to say he didn't have emotions, his humanity's hold on him was painful, as much as he tried to throw it to the wind in his adolescence. He just had difficulty 'emoting', as it were. Everything tasted bland to his emotionally seasoned palate.
It left him in a confusing purgatory—perpetually in a state between not minding anything or not caring about everything (that is, if the hypothetical topic on which he neither minded nor cared about was something that drew his attention at all, which was also seldom, but that was particular to his one-track mind).
The predicament of reflection upon his every action during adolescence made him sigh, but he could not think about the future without inspection of his turbulent past.
And the person at the forefront of his mind when he thought about said future was Sakura, and their subsequent relationship.
Their past was ugly and overflowing with the awkward, desperate, unrequited love that Sakura radiated through thick and thin. He felt guilty for the way he treated her, brushing her aside and thinking her and the way she felt to be disgustingly pathetic. Sakura was someone that he thought to be beyond help, and he'd always hoped she'd move on, because deep down the recesses of his mind, he admitted to still caring deeply for her.
But his feelings toward her had never completely mutated into anything remotely romantic. Then again, he doubted he could feel that way.
He hadn't thus far.
Still, he did want a semblance of normalcy regaled upon his life, and she was all he could think about when he thought he would start a family.
So perhaps he would talk to Sakura when he returned from his mission—as slowly as he walked.
These were his thoughts, and his mind was nearly set before he sensed it.
There was thick forestry around him, and the chilly air that was signature to autumn whispered along his ears and his wide eyes when he registered the chakra signature.
She'd left the village a while ago.
It wasn't too faint, but it wasn't strong, and it was…mixed, or rather diluted with something else that he couldn't recognise, but he knew what he sensed and he understood the familiarity of it—Hyuuga energy was strong. It made him pick up his speed in its direction, adrenaline jolting him awake as he began to bolt towards her.
And then her heavy breathing and pained, tiny whimpers could be heard so stopped and listened.
Sasuke walked through the thick forestry, surveying tress up and down when he thought she might be near.
Sasuke frowned when her breathing turned hollow and the surrounding nature almost drowned the volume of her voice.
"Hello?"
Sasuke turned to the direction of the voice and his eyes immediately widened a fraction of an inch.
He was caught by the generously overwhelming, dazzling gaze of her white eyes, wide and frightened like a dear in the headlights.
Her voice was panicked and out-of-breath but she was only a tree away. Sasuke approached her, the darkness that came with the setting sun engulfing her figure as she sat on the ground. Exhaustion haunted her posture as she slumped against the tree, her legs perched and apart in front her, a blue nightgown slicked with sweat clung to her, and so did her fringe, but the rest of her hair was tied back. It was odd that she would be sweating in the dry, cool atmosphere, and Sasuke was only momentarily phased by the largeness that was her pregnant belly, even with both her arms strapped around it protectively.
Hinata inhaled deeply before her tired eyes actually took in the man in front of her with a slight frown.
"Sas…ke-kun?"
It was a daunting realization when he noticed the lower half of her nightgown was covered in blood—and suddenly there was no time to waste.
The Uchiha approached her with haste, peeling off his cloak so as to provide warmth and covered her with it before scooping her up by cradling her neck and firmly grasping her knees. She was hot and she was shivering lightly—her skin slick with fever.
Hinata hissed, wincing at the involuntary movement and quickly rested her head on his shoulder while using the other to grip the fabric at her abdomen, exhaustion and excruciating pain borderline killing her inhibitions.
Not once did her eyes leave his face, suspended by the combination of shock and relief.
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Sasuke had luckily passed a small village not too soon before entering the forest.
It wasn't Konoha, but it was close enough that Hinata might not die. He had doubts about her survival when he felt the burning temperature of her skin.
He'd gotten her to a small clinic—really just a tiny building full of beds and medics.
After barking a few instructions to what Sasuke presumed to be her underlings, a midwife took Hinata to a small backroom, where they'd locked her as well as themselves in for several hours—promptly keeping Sasuke in the dark. Not that he necessarily minded, as long as they did their jobs.
He'd just sent word to Konoha and was waiting on the porch when a meek girl hesitantly approached him.
"Uhm…ano…sir?"
Sasuke blinked.
"Yes?"
She swiped a stray hair out of her face before looking at the ground, and the back at him. "Y-your wife's fever has broken and-and she's giving birth."
"OK."
The girl stared at him for an entire minute before turning on her heels and scurrying away.
Sasuke leaned onto the railing. It was odd that'd called him sir, but he decided to ignore it. He'd been coming to that same conclusion in regards to a lot of things as of late, things he couldn't deal with, or rather; didn't want to deal with.
Brushing that aside, he focused on the fact that he had found the previous heir to the Hyuuga clan pregnant and bleeding all over a forest floor miles away from Konoha. It was, in all honesty, a perplexing turn of events.
It was already dark outside, the evidence of his day had already set with the sun, and the moon was making her appearance, gradually. Sasuke watched her disappear and reappear from behind clouds, reminded of the roundness and shallow depth in the white shade of her eyes.
They were sans pupil and devoid of life up close—but Sasuke could've sworn that they glowed…
"Excuse me, sir?" a stern voice presumably called out to him.
Sasuke turned and was face to face with and old woman in nurse's uniform. She regarded him as one would a naughty child, but Sasuke felt that way because the hard lines in her face resembled a maids' at the orphanage.
"Yes?" He regarded her in the unfazed calculated manner he did with basically everyone.
"This birth is…problematic. I assure you that there's no need to worry, though. This will just take time. Would you like a bed?"
It suddenly occurred to Sasuke that he didn't really care to go 'home', and he still hadn't received any word from Konoha about what was happening, and quite honestly it was none of his business. He'd done his part in everything.
He still didn't really have the patience nor the mood for Konoha, its residents, and its misgivings—and its persistently petty grip on his own.
Black-clad shoulders shrugged and the nurse raised a brow at the noncommittal gesture but remained silent, apparently awaiting a verbal answer. Sasuke's brow ticked.
"Yes."
The nurse bowed stoically and her shoes clacked all the way to Hinata's room.
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The bed was nothing to write home about—not particularly comfortable, but he wouldn't complain. Sasuke had slept on worse, and sometimes nothing at all. He doubted this box of a village could afford much more, anyway.
He laid himself down atop the sheets, rusted springs creaked with the motion.
Upon entering the place he'd realized there weren't many patients in the room; there were three. They busied themselves with reading, or sleeping while completely ignoring the agonized groans that would occasionally leave (what Sasuke would've liked to think was) the Maternity Room.
Or maybe they couldn't hear it, what with their sporadic placement around the room.
Being the closest to the door, Sasuke could hear, and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
Those noises had to do with a journey he wasn't ever a part of, and he was bathing in the sound of something that should've been intimate. Suddenly Sasuke regretted not correcting any of the nurses in their foreword assumptions about his relationship with Hinata. Then again; he truly didn't give a rat's ass at the time—it was even almost amusing watching their confusion.
Nevertheless he felt like a trespasser, but there was no guarantee that this would end anytime soon, so leaving the room to later return seemed redundant. Perhaps if he were younger he'd waste all that energy.
He sighed and waited, concentrating on the crickets rather than Hinata's pain as time headed deeper into the night.
All he knew about the woman was what Naruto had blabbered about. She was kind, beautiful, and the 'one that got away'. He hadn't expected…honestly anything of her, but least of all this. He didn't listen well to Naruto's ramblings, he had a limited capacity, and these days instead of hitting him or anything childish of the like, he just ignored him. This was karma, obviously, because he couldn't for the life him figure out why she was in the middle of nowhere, in labour, and quite possibly dying.
If his memory was half a millimetre less astute then he wouldn't have recognised her faint chakra traces at all, never mind that it was linked to a similar and yet completely different chakra source that had muddied the waters—the baby.
Heaven forbid the father be present for the birth, whoever he was.
It dawned on Sasuke that he might never know; and he had no right to.
A few minutes had passed before Hinata's tiny wailings ended, and a few more before a nurse actually decided to inform him on anything, but as he lazily gazed upon the old woman he barely listened.
He nodded at her while she spoke.
She told him something along the lines of Hinata wanting to see him, and he couldn't entirely fathom why, but he didn't mind.
"Would you like to hold the baby?"
Sasuke frowned at her.
"No." He deadpanned.
Taken aback as she was, the nurse reserved comment and lead him to the Hyuuga's room. Once there, she politely excused herself, closing the door behind her.
Hinata looked weak. Strength and resolve had completely left her face, an imprint of exhaustion was what remained. The nightdress she wore had been replaced by a tan hospital-like gown, but she sat upright with her hand in her lap and steady breaths.
"Sasuke-kun."
She was absolutely drained, the way she spoke was meek and breathy.
"I sent word to Konoha." He informed her instead of returning her greeting.
Mild surprise and panic flooded Hinata's eyes, and Sasuke involuntarily felt as though he'd overstepped.
"I'm sorry," he wasn't insincere, but he only meant that he was sorry for assuming she wanted to be there. He'd also just assumed she wanted to survive, which this place could not promise.
"No…no, it's alright." The woman leaned back into the pillows and focused on the hands folded in her lap. "I'm just not ready to face Konoha yet."
With an understanding that was more heavy and guilt-laden than she'd know, Sasuke nodded.
"I just wanted to thank you, Sasuke-kun. You saved my baby's life, and I couldn't possibly repay you for that." Her eyes crinkled in the direction of the corner of the room, where the tiniest person he'd ever seen was nestled in a cot. The baby had midnight blue locks and a squashed, red face.
Sasuke thought it was ugly, but then again, it was stuffed in a tiny vessel for its entirety. He belatedly came to the conclusion that Hinata was quite tiny.
His attention was back on her.
"You don't have to repay me."
"That wouldn't be right…I didn't even expect you to stay."
Come to think of it, neither had he. It wasn't necessarily out of the goodness of his heart, but he was in front of her nonetheless. He didn't feel the need to mention that, though, so he just remained silent.
And what ensued from that decision was the third time in a single day that Sasuke felt uncomfortable. The silence was awkward but not unbearable until eventually Hinata looked at him kindly and said:
"Sasuke-kun, excuse me, I'd like to feed my son."
The Uchiha 'hn'd' and strode out of the room back onto the porch with a speed that wasn't entirely required. She spoke in soft tones, but there was a strictness there that was probably beholden of all mothers.
It was a light command, there was no room to argue—her every word held power.
The power of experience and pain, but an unbroken spirit.
Perhaps it was because he'd seen her at a weak point and her psychological recovery had remained undefined, if not more mature. Nonetheless, Uchiha Sasuke was intrigued.
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The next morning Sasuke was on the porch precisely at the moment he'd woken up.
The wind was soft and the morning was early. Twilight dusted his cheeks and the decision to head back to Konoha had been set in his mind.
"Would you like some tea, young man?"
It was the old nurse that had approached next to him, leaning on the railings at a respectful distance.
"No, thank you." Sasuke said, musing at how impolite he would've been in his pubescence. Time had powers greater than he'd ever know.
The nurse got a pack out from her uniform pocket and dug a cigarette out. "How about a smoke?"
Sasuke shrugged and took one. She then dug out a box of matched and lit it and then her own. He didn't mention the irony of a medic smoking because he didn't feel the need to, but the old woman blew out smoke and furrowed her brows.
"I'm too old. I've run out of reasons not to."
One would usually want to get a few more years behind them…but then maybe that wasn't enough. As for himself, Sasuke was extremely cautious about smoking, but he had tried it when the edge became too jagged. It helped. It had no long after effects such as drunkenness—but it worked for the moment.
"You seem like you keep to yourself, so I won't pry, but you seem too young to have run out of reasons yourself."
The nurse was sceptical but sincere.
"That isn't my child." Sasuke deadpanned, whether it was or was not her business wasn't on the table as a reason anymore.
"Oh, I know. Couples don't behave in that way." She waved her hand dismissively. "Tochunomura is small and unsatisfying, but it's a good rest stop for ninja, so if anything, I'm used to these kinds of things. That and, I've been a midwife for twenty-three years, I've heard every tale in the book…." She glanced at Sasuke for a moment. "You're wondering why word hasn't been sent to you, but rest assured, you can leave." The nurse exhaled loudly before jutting thumb in the direction of Hinata's small maternity room. "This woman's sister will arrive to pick her up, I was informed that she and her child will be taken to Konoha's hospital. So if you'd like; you can leave."
"Ah."
Sasuke knew he wasn't getting word because Tsunade was petty.
He turned to face her and found her less serious than she originally was.
"You want to leave too."
The woman's eyes crinkled at the corners and she laughed a short bitter laugh. "I did. I have. But home never moves with you. Eventually the wind blows strong enough to take you with it and you end up right back where you started."
"Hn."
Sasuke nodded, because out of anyone, he understood, and the old lady crushed the butt of her cigarette under her foot and went back inside.
He turned to leave.
Then he hesitated, only slightly, one foot on the first stair of the porch, because…
"I'm just not ready to face Konoha yet."
Perhaps she felt the same way too.
He took another step, and that momentum was enough to keep on going, if only because he'd long since needed a kindred spirit for his dubious feelings towards his home. All the friends he had, he needed, and he couldn't manage to give a fuck about anything else, much less a grown woman, who obviously had everything together, the support structure of her family, and a child.
"I didn't expect you to stay."
One of the many conclusions Sasuke had drawn about Hinata was that she had her every priority straight, and she understood that he had his, and he could appreciate that about her.
He could.
But she had come to the conclusion on her own that he was decent. It wasn't that he thought she wouldn't understand if he left, it was that that's where her every opinion on him would end. And he had too many about her for no reciprocity.
The very same momentum that took him away had driven him back to the uncomfortable bed outside the maternity room.
"Sasuke?" It was her soft voice, coming from a room he'd presumed was the bathroom.
"You sister will be here shortly."
Hinata's face wasn't as pale as when he found her, and the colour in her cheeks had been restored, pinched by her warm smile as if she knew he'd keep her company until then.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun."