Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of these characters.
"Sasuke..."
Her eyes were as translucent and glassy as shards of pale lavender glass that surrounded her in the sunflower field.
The sun was setting, casting a sharp beam of light that silhouetted her ghostly pale features and Sasuke's face that expressed bewilderment and awe.
It all happened in a flash. The discovery he made...of what was always rumored to be a lore, a midwives' tale...in the field of sunflowers he stumbled upon at dusk.
The Waker's Pearl-the rumored greatest wonder of the world-as the legend said, the pearl housed a powerful spirit, a genie as some called it, who will eternally serve the mortal who discovers her.
Many overqualified, daring warriors, kings, and dragon lords searched the nook and cranny of the earth for the Waker's Pearl, but failed-never knowing that they will be beaten by a Leaf Village child.
Sasuke didn't even mean to find the powerful treasure. He just happened to stumble on it after a day of frustrating training and then saw this glowing thing amid the sunflower field atop of the mountain. When he approached, he saw a round pale purple marble the size of a yuzu fruit, but what caught his breath was the beautiful figurine of a woman with long dark hair, seeming to be asleep in the marble. In her arms was a long sheathed sword.
Then he felt he saw lightning flitting fast across his vision, and now he was in front of the woman, except she is full sized-taller than him by a head, staring at him with what seemed to be pale, pupil-less eyes fringed with long dark lashes.
She looked at the younger boy with surprise, as if he was some unexpected visitor.
"Sasuke"
He blinked. And then his eyes glared in suspicion. Are his stupid friends playing some elaborate prank on him?
"...How do you know my name?"
She was older than him. She looked like she is twenty at most. He was fourteen. She wasn't one of his female peers who annoyed the hell out of him back at home.
She was obviously a lady of high rank-her fine, smooth hands spoke of a pampered lifestyle, and her complexion must have never felt the glare of the sun. And the long sword in her hand, Sasuke thought, it looked expensive-more expensive than the treasured family heirlooms of the leaf village's elite.
For a second, he could have sworn that her inhumane pallor seemed to take a few notches up-paler and paler. For some reason, he felt a mysterious, sharp pang in his chest, but he couldn't tell why.
He didn't like the feeling. But for some unknown reason, he couldn't leave her either.
The sky was darkening fast, and he scowled, looking up at the crescent moon. It was not a good idea to be in the mountains in the dark.
"Ah...you really should go home."
He tried to soften his tone, but it still came out as somewhat insolent.
She just stared at him, but now with some calm as if she is studying him for the very first time.
"Wolves like to come out. And rogue ninjas. They like to traffick kids like me and rich looking girls like you."
He expected her to show fear and take haste to leave. But she stared at him, almost owlishly, like she was hearing his language for the first time.
Not being a very patient person in the first place, Sasuke sighed and turned around. He glanced back at the young woman, warning her with his onyx eyes that she should leave.
"I'm going to go ho-" But he froze. Her pearlescent eyes turned cold, even hostile.
And she rose at an incredible speed that Sasuke hasn't even seen from his village's jounins or anbu guards. He would have never expected a lady like her exhibiting such prowess.
Her long sword was unsheathed, and he saw the menacing glint of silver under the moon.
Reflexively, he ducked.
Hinata
That is what he decided to call her. After the sunflower field where she saved his life.
She saved his life from a band of rogue ninjas known for committing some of the most heinous crimes like child trafficking and illegal human experimentation. About five fell, and the rest of them ran away.
She followed him to his abandoned home, a moderately sized shack that was deemed fit for a orphan child by the village council.
What Hinata learned from her little master was that he nor the villagers knew where he came from. He was just randomly discovered as a baby by a ninja called Kakashi. He lived with him until he decided he wanted to move out and live his own life at the age of fourteen.
Sasuke watched Hinata move about in his kitchen-if you can call that cellar with a barely working stove a kitchen.
With amazement, he saw her blow fire into the stove, making the water bubble with her mere touch, and carry the sword that looks far too heavy for her frame. She did it with much grace as if these actions didn't take much effort.
"Who are you?"
She stopped and then turned, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.
"...what?" Sasuke asked, his eyebrows knitting close to each other in annoyance.
She had that unnerving habit of staring at him silently whenever he said something to her.
She then turned around, held a bowl and spilled its content of white rice and peas into the boiling water.
"I am..."
He looked at her, pretending to be as indifferent as possible.
She deadpanned, "someone you woke up."
He gave her a look that said "Seriously?" but she remained silent. She might be even quieter than he is-and that speaks a lot.
Now she was dicing onions, zucchini, and carrots with a knife on a cutting board.
He looked at her sword that was tied securely to the string of her apron that she cut from her long train of robe.
He pointed to the weapon with his finger. He was never the talkative type-but he can't help but ask her question after question.
"Is that thing yours?"
Slam-
Sasuke flinched-at the abrupt sound of a kitchen knife harshly set down on the board. He couldn't see her face because she still had her back turned to him.
"..This..."
She slowly turned toward him until she faced him completely. In contrast with what Sasuke expected, she looked deep in thought rather than angry or indignant. She seemed to be pondering her words carefully.
"This...is Kusanagi."
She spoke to him as if he was her student. She held the sword up and gazed down at it as if the sword had a life, a soul.
"Kusanagi belonged to a man I-" she paused, catching herself mid-sentence,
She continued, "someone I knew…five thousand years ago."
Crazy, she was crazy, Sasuke thought. It was a pity to see someone, old enough to be his teacher, to be demented. His thoughts ran like a hamster on a spinning wheel. Why did he let her in his house again? Oh yeah, he remembered sourly, because of the bag of fresh ingredients she mysteriously was able to purchase in the market by selling one of her rings.
She must have noticed his thoughts but she continued speaking anyway, turning back to the kitchen sink where she washed some tomatoes.
"He locked me in the pearl. I survived in it for five thousand years, breathing in the chakra he provided."
The silence afterwards was filled only with the sound of bubbling water forming droplets under the lid she placed over the pot.
By the time Sasuke finished his fourth bowl of rice, Hinata laid her chopsticks down on the table.
When he rose to help himself to another bowl of the gourmet, home-cooked meal, Hinata stopped him with her hand on his arm.
"It's not wise to train with a full stomach."
"Excuse me?" He looked down at her incredulously.
In a patient tone that he was learning to hate she said, "You'll learn to fight with kusanagi…starting right now."
"And…now you want to be my sensei, after playing mom" he spat out spitefully. Just who does she think she is? Marching in his home, playing babysitting.
She closed her eyes and emitted a soft sigh that gently rustled her strands of hair around her face.
She rose and took her dishes and didn't forget to take away his empty bowl as if he was a little baby. Mortified by her dismissive attitude, Sasuke glared at her—well, glared up at her because she was a head taller. He didn't trust her. Everything about her was suspicious—from her superhuman agility, her superb control of chakra and use of jutsus, and… her eerie good looks.
Soaking the dishes, she said as if she was giving him an ultimatum, "If you hit me even once…I will do whatever you say."
A look of surprise-then he soon felt rage. How dare she insult him? He is one of the most promising young ninjas the village had to offer. She didn't need to save him from those rogue ninjas. He could have handled it himself.
"You better not take that back," he said, making his warning loud and clear.
Having already washed the dishes, she wiped her hands with her apron and looked at him, and for the first moment, which made his breath hitch, she smiled.
Taken aback by her smile at first, Sasuke quickly wiped the look of surprise before stepping out.
He always thought girls were weird, but he bet on his Chidori that she has no precedent.
In a huge, dark cave, Naruto looked up-the droplets of stone hanging precariously from the arching ceiling. The blond boy shifted his view forward and saw a tall man with black hair radiating some dark, loathsome energy, holding a long sword charged with fuming black , this swarthy angel of death was the only source of light in this cold, dark, wet cavern. Naruto couldn't see the man's face clearly because he was a good distance away, but he can still feel, prickling his skin-the stranger's intent to kill.
He was going to die any second, but he just lied on the stone floor, bleeding profusely, and he never felt so helpless in his life. He squinted his eyes shut and ground his forehead to the unforgiving stone, praying that this nightmare would end...
Then he heard a voice, soft like a caress of an imagined mother's touch.
"My sovereign."
Naruto raised his head and saw a woman standing with her back towards him, blocking the stranger's way.
All he can see is her long, silky black hair flowing behind her slender back. Even though he can't remember seeing anyone with such hair, for some reason, some soft whiff of nostalgia just sent a strong punch to his gut.
"I just can't bear to see the death...of the love of my life."
As soon as her silvery voice fell on his ears, Naruto felt a strong sense of dread and stretched his arm out,
"Wait...!"
Her ears deaf to Naruto's desperate call, the woman continued imploring in that heartbreaking way that seared through his chest.
"Please forgive my cowardice."
A gasp and the sound of choking rang in the walls as she made a quick movement that embedded something sharp and lethal into her body-probably a kunai-and she fell-her dark hair descending like butterfly wings as her body lied limp on the ground.
"No...no!"
After tossing and turning on his mattress for a while, Naruto finally woke up on his own little shack.
Beads of perspiration fell from his tan face, as he panted-his blue eyes widened in shock as if he can still see the color red. The dreaded red blots that bloomed on her white robe.
Three fourteen year olds were striding in the middle of the busy, bustling market street of Konoha.
"Gosh, teme! I had this really weird dream last night!"
"Nobody cares about what dream you had, Naruto!" A pink haired girl could barely contain her annoyance at the blond boy in the orange training suit.
Naruto still went on about his weird dream about almost getting killed in the hands of a psychopath.
Sasuke, as usual, stuffed his hands in his pockets and scowled.
Civilians in rustic garbs passed by, bargaining with merchants and running errands, but the three weaved through the traffic like the promising young ninjas they were.
Not paying much mind to Naruto, Sasuke reminisced about his prior interaction with his unwanted female guest in the morning.
-Flashback-
While Sasuke was still working on his breakfast, Hinata emerged, wearing her new attire she must have acquired sometime before sunrise-a tight fitting, light purple tank top with a traditional styled collar and dark navy training pants that covered up to her knees. She wore lightly as it was still mid-summer in Konoha.
'Where are you going?' he asked absent-mindedly as he chewed on the food-he was too sore and tired from last night's training that he no longer cared about things like 'pride,' as he uncharacteristically initiated the conversation.
'To the hokage.'
'For what?' he raised one eyebrow. His cheeks were round like a chipmunk's from eating the food.
'I'm going to ask him to make you my adoptee.'
Psshhhwwww-
She stopped still from walking right out of the door and glanced back, her delicate eyebrow rising in question.
After wiping the rice bits that just flew from his mouth with the back of his hand, Sasuke balked.
'Ha! Good luck with that! The hokage will never let 'a nobody' adopt me You don't have anything to prove yourself!.'
She bent down to put on her black sandals. 'Hmm, you think so?' She responded as if he just said that the weather might cool down a little.
Not caring if he looks completely apeshit frantic, he yelled at the calm woman.
'You just woke up from a 5000 year sleep, AND you didn't even have a name until yesterday!'
Hearing this, she straightened her back and glanced at him, and he was surprised to see her usually thoughtful eyes gleam with mischief.
'What?' Sasuke asked, suddenly feeling at edge.
'So you do believe in what I said.'
'...No!'
'Make sure to put everything back in the fridge. It'll go bad if you don't.'
And she quietly shut the door at his gaping, blushing face and left.
-End Flashback-
"Sasuke, are you okay?" the pink haired girl frowned in concern as he pinched between his eyebrows, a habit that comes out whenever he is intensely frustrated.
"Leave him alone, Sakura. It's not like he's never a moody bum!"
Ignoring the minor squabble going between Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke tried to keep a straight face as they walked in the direction to the forested training grounds at the periphery of the village.
They still needed to walk a good mile and a half to finally leave the populated area.
The civilians and ninjas they brushed pass were out eating street food like takoyaki, steamed pork buns, or salted cucumber bars, or purchasing daily commodities like cooking oil or soap.
"He breathed black demon fire, and he really wanted my ass," now Naruto went back to talking about his strange dream he didn't give a damn about.
"and I had nowhere to run because we're in a damn cave, but then-"
Naruto uncharacteristically fell silent, and it was that abrupt silence that caught Sasuke's attention. Sasuke looked at what Naruto was staring and he halted at his steps.
...Midnight black hair that held a blue sheen. But it was now cut. Before, her long hair almost touched her ankles and swept Sasuke's floors. Her hair was still long, but it looked more manageable and practical than the curtain-length hair.
She was talking to someone standing before a cart full of wigs, assortments of blond, ginger, chestnut, or jet black wigs that lined up like freshly caught hunt.
The wig merchant's beady eyes gleamed in excitement as he respectfully handed her a bunch of money with two hands and snatched the coiling shimmering black braids, lest she changed her mind about the price.
A several feet away, the three stared at her and the wig merchant.
Naruto couldn't take his eyes from the back of her head...He scratched the side of his head that had the leaf village plated head band. That back...it looked so familiar. Where did he see that again?
When the merchant tried to persuade her to sell the rest of her hair at double the price, Sasuke stomped toward their direction.
"Sasuke-!" Her eyes widened in surprise.
The merchant looked at the boy, "Oh! Sasuke! I just purchased this fine specimen from your sister!"
Oblivious to Sasuke's WTF face, the merchant twittered on-"I have never seen such hair- so fine and luminous! You are very lucky to be adopted by such cultured lady!"
"...Do you even know who she is?"
He quirked his eyebrow and stared hard at Sasuke, as if he was asking something ludicrous.
"Of course! Lady Hinata is most worthy of the townsmen's respect, and please correct me, my lady" he stole a sweet glance at the beauty, "she is now the official keeper of the Uchiha mansion!"
At this, Sakura's mouth dropped to the ground.
"The...the Uchiha mansion? THE Uchiha mansion?...I thought that place was practically abandoned for centuries! You can buy it?"
"If you came from such wealthy family, like lady Hinata, then yes!" the merchant answered, preparing to push his cart to somewhere that can attract more attention.
"But..." Sakura couldn't calm down her surprise. She turned to the mysterious lady with long hair, "But...who are you?"
The wig merchant looked at the young trio weirdly, because they were a bit too old to play "pretend."
"You are all native to Konoha! Don't be silly. I have no time for you, kids!"
And with that, he scurried off.
After staring at the merchant's vanishing form, Hinata turned to Sasuke and said, "I got both the adoption and property papers. We have somewhere to go."
"Hold on a minute, lady! I don't know who you are, but you're not taking my Sasuke-kun!"
Peering down at the seething girl for a moment, Hinata smiled-an unexpectedly warm smile,
"Oh, excuse me. I was rude." She placed her smooth hand over her chest and slightly bent her head and smiled.
"My name is Hinata. I am Sasuke's sister...from now on."
Her pearlescent eyes looked into Sakura's emerald ones, as if she was looking at a dear friend whom she hasn't seen in a really long time.
Sakura wasn't a bad girl at heart, so she couldn't resist but stare wide eyed. She was beautiful-not just because of how she looked, but her voice, her manners-they all added to her unique beauty. And then she felt uncomfortable. It didn't sit well with her that Sasuke will live with such a grown-up, admittedly attractive woman.
As if she noticed Sakura's apprehension, Hinata smiled,
"Please come to the Uchiha mansion whenever you want. You're always welcomed. You are Sasuke's friend."
At this, Sakura's face perked up and her emerald eyes shone brightly, "Really?"
Hinata nodded, and then she felt someone approach so she looked to the side.
Her eyes widened and if Sasuke wasn't close to her, he would've missed the quick sound of sucking in air that she made as she saw Naruto.
Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked sideways, standing awkwardly in front of the woman who was taller than all of them by a head.
"Uh, hi...Umm, I'm Naruto."