*Reupload
Visiting
Rating: T:Teen
Pairing: Sasuke U./ Hinata H.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters. Just throwing that out there.
Summary: ...Because every time they met, they visited unknown territory...
••••••
Death was something she was used to seeing. In her line of work it she was all too accustomed to dealing with it. It was nature's way of getting rid of things that didn't need to be here anymore, even if some of it was predetermined by her hands, and others like her.
But the killing never seem to get any less painful, she had just killed someone's fathers, a son, a brother or maybe even a friend. She was taught It was either killed or be killed, and she understood.
She understood well.
No emotions should come from a kill, the killed was just the lesser skilled of the two. Their fate was determinate before they even put up their weapons, 'Have no mercy for the weakly skilled, Hinata'. She remembers her black op's captain telling her time,and time again.
And she understood, she understood well.
But when the killed is a fellow comrade, a fellow friend, but when the killed had been no one other than the knuckleheaded loud mouth, dim-witted, kind hearted, hero. When the less skilled of the two had been no other than Uzumaki Naruto.
How did one go about throwing away their emotions so quickly, so coldly. How did one simply get over the love of your life, when his funeral was just days away. Hinata ponders this as she sits alone in a bar asking the bartender for her sixth, maybe seventh shot of vodka.
She wonders if she continues to consume the alcohol will she be able to drink herself numb, will her feelings be gone,when she wakes in the morning with a regretful hangover, or will her misery consume her to the point of her not wanting to breathe, just to lessen the pain?
She decides to drown the shot in one gulp, and find out tomorrow.
••••••
It wasn't until late in the afternoon of the following day had Hinata decide to wake to the silence of their-her apartment unwillingly. There was a heavy knocking at the door. She took a glance towards the door ,and wonder was it really worth it to get up, and go see what the person wanted on the other side of that door.
Hinata wasn't in the mood for any more condolences, and sad smiles. She was tired of the hand holding ,and the small gestures that did nothing to fill the hole in her heart, that seemed to be growing with each passing second.
The banging on the door hadn't decrease, in fact it seem to have got louder. Hinata sighed ,and sat herself up to a sitting position. Whoever it was wasn't going to go away, at least not for awhile.
Raising herself up ever so slowly off of the loveseat that shared more memories than she could count, Hinata stepped over the wastebasket that sat at the head of the loveseat ,and proceed to the door.
She wrapped the silk robe, that Naruto had given her for one of their anniversaries, closer to her body, and she unlocked the bolts on the met eye to eye with none other than her ex-teammate.
She could say she was happy to see her ex-teammates after their year long mission from Europe. She should grab them by their collars,and hug them too they ran out of oxygen. But she would rather just give them one of the smiles she been practicing in the mirror for days, and tell them that shes not in the mood for company at the moment. But, by the way Kiba is looking at her,he wasn't going to take no for an answer,and Shino was firmly standing his ground right behind Kiba, and how was she suppose to say no to Akamaru as he stood next to his master with an equally determined face.
She couldn't, so instead of a wasted protest, Hinata moved to let her ex-teammates inside her apartment.
••••••
Kiba and Shino stayed the night, offering comfort words, and gestures. They watched a few movies, listen to Hinata somewhat tell how she felt, but it wasn't in her nature to tell how she was feeling, so they got close to nothing about how Hinata was actually feeling.
It hadn't surprised them, they knew it would take time, they would try their hardest to be the shoulders she could cry all her tears on, they could always buy new shirts.
Hinata had cried herself to sleep that night, Shino knows this because when she thought that both Kiba and him had fallen asleep, she let the tears flow freely, and tried to keep her whimpers as quiet as possible.
He wasn't sure what he should do, he wasn't the one for intimate hugs and sayings, but he didn't have to ponder long because it was Kiba who offered Hinata that shoulder to cry on as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her for the rest of that night.
They only fell asleep when she did.
••••••
When Hinata had awoken to the absence of her ex-teammates, she wonder if maybe, just maybe them visiting her had been a trick her subconscious was playing on her, but then she had noticed the steam coming from the mug sitting on her coffee table. She weakly sat up right on the loveseat, the blanket pooling around her waist as she grabbed hold of the mug. Hinata criss-crossed her legs as she brought the mug to her nose and inhaled it deeply, it was her favorite tea.
As she took her first sip she also noticed the note that was beneath the mug. She wasn't sure if she wanted to read it or not. As happy as she was or rather could be at the moment that her ex-teammates were back, she was sure that note contain some type of condolence about Naruto. She wasn't sure if she wanted to read it or just leave it where its lies.
She decided she wanted a hot bath instead, so pulled herself off the loveseat, and began to strip away her clothing as she walked down the hall.
She didn't make it halfway before she hear a loud knock on the door. She paused in mid-step, again wondering was it even worth it to go see what the person on the other side of that door wanted, there was a hot bath calling her name, and she was already striped to her undergarments.
Sighing, Hinata picked up the robe off the floor, and wrapped it tightly around her petite frame, before slowly walking back to the front door.
It was Sakura, that was at the door with tears running down her smooth face. Hinata had only known Sakura because of Naruto, they worked together, they were partners. They had this type of connection that no one could break, and for that Hinata was a little envious, because she saw how they interacted like there was no one else in the room whenever they spoke, or the silent stares that would happened when they laughed about some inside joke, that they only understood.
She was always insecure whenever Sakura was around, or when Naruto brought up her name, it unsettle her. She had wanted to ask Naruto, numerous of times, if there was something more to just their friendship, but she didn't want to hear the answer; because part of her didn't think it would be good news, so she settled for asking TenTen, a childhood friend, if her insecurities were just self enhanced if it was just apart of her imagination.
TenTen had told her that she had nothing to worry about, that Naruto was her husband, and he came home to her every night. That he truly love her and no one could change or destroy the love he had for her and she was beautiful, and Hinata clinged on to that, she still does.
So when she stepped aside to let a very distraught, tearful Sakra into her apartment, she knew it had to do with Naruto, they had been partners for over ten years, she must have been in a rough place as well.
"Would you like some tea?" Hinata offered as Sakura sat down.
She slowly nods her head as she takes in the surrounding of the messy apartment.
"Sorry about the mess I-"
"There's no need to apologize Hinata, you just lost your husband, the mess is irrelevant." Sakura assures her.
Hinata just nods as she sets the tea kettle on the stove, before she takes a seat across from Sakura.
"So what brings you over here." Hinata asks as she pulls the robe tighter around her.
"It's um... Well... I, it's about Naruto." She finally admits.
Hinata nods her head, while handing her a tissue," I thought as much, you had to be going thru a rough time, considering he was your partner, you guys have a lot of-"
"-I'm pregnant." She interrupts and Hinata's mouth has stopped in the formation of the next word, and for some reason her pulse has quicken.
She swallows the lump that formed in her throat as she gets up to get the tea bags and another coffee mug.
"That's wonderful!" She says in fake glee, and she wonders if Sakura caught on to that.
She hadn't seen Sakura get up from her seat, but she heard the footsteps as they stepped closer to her,"It's his." She says this as if she hadn't just destroy the little pieces Hinata had left of her.
••••••
It had been nearly two hours later, Sakura was long gone, the water in the tea kettle had long since cool down, and Hinata remains in the same spot that Sakura left her in, when she dropped the news.
It only starts to settle in when she lets herself believe that this is very much true, that she knew there was more to just there "protecting the city" partnership bullshit they were saying.
She knew there was more when he would stumble into the house at around two in the morning with a very wasted Sakura, both trying to keep the other up. Theses were the times that Sakura would crash over at the apartment because she was afraid of what trouble Sakura could get into with her state of mind. And she wonders if those times were they both sloppy drunks did they always make it back to the apartment, if maybe they went to Sakura's apartment instead. Did they do this often when she was away on black ops missions; she wonders if he was always alone when they were on the phone with each other. If the 'I love you's' were just some line he used when he felt the need ,too.
She doesn't want to think about it, so she grabs her coat and plans on heading to the one place you don't have to think at all, all you do is drink.
•••••••
This is where the first encounters happens.
She had walked in, hair a mess,dressed in a silk robe, and large coat throw over the mess that was her life.
She tries to forget that this in the second time she has been to the bar in three days, (all because of one person) as she takes a seat at the counter.
He had seen her from the moment she walked in, and he kept his eyes on her until the moment she orders a rum with coke.
He faintly wonders if someone her size could handle such a strong drink,but he pushes the thought aside as he begins to make it for her, keeping a side eye on her shaking frame.
"You alright?" He asks as he sits the drink in front of her.
She sniffs and nods her head silently as she drinks the glass down in one gulp.
"May I have another." She stutters out as she pushes the empty glass towards him.
He eyes her as he makes her another drink, and those drinks turn into three more drinks before he decided that its enough and he starts pouring her water inside of vodka.
"I was good to him." She slurs out. "Really good to him, but does he care. NOPE." She says loudly causing a few heads to turn.
"Mmm, I think its time for you to go home, miss."
"It's Hinata." She corrects him."I'm tired of hearing this and Mrs. Uzumaki that." She turns as she tries to get off of the stool, her legs buckle under her and hes there within seconds as he carries her to a vacant couch.
"You're really nice to me, why are you so nice to me." Hinata trips over her words as she tries to keep her eyes open.
He doesn't answer, he just looks on.
"There are so many fake people that are nice to me, my parents, my boss, some of my friends." She hiccups."But-But you are really nice to me, and I don't know why."
"You should get better friends." He comments are he tries to give her so more water.
She laughs at this and nods in agreement,"Yes, I should." She takes a sip."Hey..what's your name."
"I'm Sasuke."
She smiles,"Sasuke, that's a nice name...for a nice man." She manages to get out before she lays down on the couch and goes to sleep.
••••••
A/N: This was originally a one-shot, but I don't really like writing long one shot yet along reading one. So I decide to make two or three more parts to this story. Tell me what you think.