SasuHinaShika

In which: ShikaHina were lovers, but then Hinata was sealed and given to Sasuke by her father as a bride instead.

She sat alone with her legs dangling off the porch, staring at the darkening sky, the different hues of twilight painting the Konoha horizon as she sipped on her favorite herbal tea. The air was cool on her cheeks, her hair laying free around her shoulders, still wet from her bath. It had become her favorite time of day-the end, the beginning of night. It was her special time alone when her thoughts would settle enough for her to sleep, when she could welcome the stars one by one. Tiny swirling wisps like curling fingers began to sneak their way up, obstructing her view and interrupting her absentminded thoughts.

She frowned.

Not that she minded the smell, really. She dreamed of it sometimes. It caused her gut to churn, bringing back memories that she had tried to repress.

"I wish you'd stop that." She turned to meet her visitor.

Same intelligent eyes, same tired face. Same lazy posture, same haphazard ponytail. Skin a bit more weathered from Suna's sun, cheeks a bit more grizzled, casting an appealing shadow and sharpening his already angled jaw. The corners of his lips turned up in a wry smirk, the cigarette dangling lightly, as he leaned against the edge of one pillar. "Hmm. If you were my wife, maybe you'd have a chance to tell me what to do."

Her eyes tightened, and she clutched at her yukata, pressing her lips together as a pang shot through her heart. "That's not funny."

He grunted. "Sorry." He made his way towards her. "Failure at lightening the mood, as always."

White, inexpressive eyes gazed up impassively. "How is she by the way?" The tips of her fingers traced the edge of the teacup.

"Fine."

"Who let you in?" she frowned again. Genjutsu barriers were usually enough protection that she never bothered to be wary of intruders.

"Your husband. I walked him home."

"How kind."

They stayed like that for a while. Her, staring up at him, and him, staring down at her, counting all the ways they had changed and the ways they hadn't, and all the things that were so familiar about each other that caused a sort of longing and nostalgia, wondering how long it had been since they had last been together like this.

He broke the dream-like haze first, somehow reaching her during the time she had been engrossed in her memories of him.

For him, her biggest change was the first one anyone would notice. He bent down to her height, before reaching out and caressing her face with his hand, long fingers entangled with her hair. The tip of his thumb brushed the bright green etched on her forehead lightly, and she could almost see its reflection in his brown eyes. "You were sealed because of me, weren't you?"

She closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar scent, unable to stop herself from leaning into his touch. "I was going to be sealed, regardless. You. Him." She shrugged. Her lashes fluttered for a moment, as she blinked to stop the tears that threatened to slip down her cheeks, before she opened her eyes slowly, raising her face up at him. The tiny smile she gave him was full of pain not quite forgotten.

He let her go, his hand balling into a fist as he willed himself to forget the feel of her skin underneath his touch. He took another drag of his cigarette, his fingers trembling almost imperceptibly as he stepped away from her. "If you had married within your clan..."

Something like a scoff escaped her lips. "If I had married Neji, we could have had more of a chance to change it. Without him, what else could I have done? I barely had a voice." She swallowed thickly, and with as equally shaky fingers as he had, raised her teacup to take another sip of tea. "Now I have none. Naruto had promised to change the Hyuuga, but the words he said were just that-words." Her hair fell forward, hiding her face. "He didn't even try to prevent the sealing."

There was the sound of him exhaling the last of the smoke, the wisps climbing up into the air to chase the others, before the floor boards creaked as he put out the cigarette.

He had taken her face again in his large, comforting hand, raising her face up at him once more, wiping away the tears that had escaped then and pushing the rest of her hair away with his other hand. "Forget about them. You are an Uchiha." It was meant to be encouraging, but still the regret in his voice and his eyes seemed to dull his words.

She flinched slightly, and her eyebrows turned down. "Any child of mine who has the byakugan, you know they will try to seal."

"I have a hand in aiding the Hokage's decisions now. Perhaps we can change that."

"Are those just words, too?"

The lump in his throat he couldn't get past. "I...already made that mistake with you. I'm not going to do that again."

He had pressed his lips tenderly to her forehead, and she closed her eyes, clutching at his shirt as she leaned into him once more, catching the sobs in her throat.

They looked up to the sound of a new presence joining them on the porch. "We have an early day tomorrow."

"So we do," he grunted, stepping back and pulling her to her feet with him. "I should be off then." He steadied her, eyes taking in the expanse of the protrusion of her belly for a quick second, that same pain she had had flashing through his eyes for only a moment, and then dropped his gaze to floor.

Her husband placed a hand on her back as she inhaled sharply, arching her back. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," she smiled shakily, a hand running down her abdomen once as she regained her footing. "I'll walk our guest out."

"I can do it," he responded smoothly. "Go ahead and rest on the couch for now. I'll help you to bed."

"Thank you," she murmured, a hand sliding down his arm to squeeze her husband's hand gratefully. Her white eyes raised up to meet her guest's once again. "Feel free to stop by anytime, now that you're back." She managed another one of her small smiles-it never quite reached her eyes anymore-before turning into the house ahead of them. He watched her trudge carefully over the threshold, sliding the door behind her. The last sight he saw was her thick, indigo hair, pulled forward over one shoulder, the white and red emblem embroidered on the back of her yukata searing his eyes as brightly as the seal on her forehead. He closed his eyes and fumbled around in his pocket, fingers searching for the comforting cold metal and cardboard.

"I understand you loved her."

The lighter flicked once, twice, before igniting the fresh cigarette between his teeth. He took a long, calming drag, closing his eyes, before answering, "Yes."

"And she loved you."

Shikamaru exhaled the smoke, watching it rise, disappearing into the air gradually above them. Just like many things in his life. "Yes," he answered truthfully, shoving his lighter and box of cigarettes back into his pocket, then stuffing both of his hands into one on each side.

The Uchiha remained silent, watching his visitor, his arms folded like the patriarch he would be.

The Nara took another drag, watching the light of the cigarette glowing in Sasuke's blacker than black eyes, and then, with an exhale of smoke, "Does she know that you were granted permission to stay in Konoha because of your marriage to her?"

"Yes."

He studied the other man's face, but as always, it betrayed no emotion. "Does she know Naruto wanted it?"

"Yes." The corner of his lip turned up in a sarcastic grin. "There are none of us who are not a little bit unhappy." Sasuke reached out to take the proffered cigarette, inhaling and exhaling without the slightest grimace. He watched the smoke, imagining it to be like the ghosts in his life, surrounding him in his own clan's compound now, and hovering above him. He flicked some of the ashes onto the grass, before handing it back to his guest. "If you couldn't help her then, what makes you think you could help her now?"

"Naruto is the Hokage now."

The scoff that escaped Sasuke's lips was so bitter it made Shikamaru wince. "You understand now that there are more issues that need to be resolved. The Hyuuga were only one family that holds Konoha's ugliest secrets. The Uchiha are another."

"What does that mean?"

Sasuke reached out to take the cigarette once again. "You'll find out soon enough." He took a drag, and then, exhaling towards Shikamaru, "By helping her, you'll help the both of us. And it starts right there in the Hokage's office."

Shikamaru drew his head back, waving off the smoke that had engulfed his face.

"I hope you enjoy history." Sasuke threw the cigarette on the floor and grinded it under his heel. "Also, stop this disgusting habit. It's going to kill you."

Shikamaru snorted. "What do you think I've been trying to do?"

"Hinata needs your brain cells, and she's pregnant, fucking genius."

He grinned wryly. "Calm down, I don't resent you for being the father of her child so much that I would screw up your unborn baby and its vastly superior genetics."

Sasuke sneered. "Let's work well together, comrade." He turned, reaching the door with a few long strides, sliding it open and holding it open for his guest. Shikamaru followed him through with an equal amount of contempt on his face, but was quickly erased at the mere sight of her again.

She lay on the couch, fast asleep, yet the tears on her cheeks were not quite dried. He fought the urge to rush to her side, instead allowing Sasuke to beat him to it. Shikamaru watched her husband brush her hair softly away from her face, stroking the green on her forehead just as tenderly as he had. He saw Sasuke's eyes narrow for a fraction of second as the seal stared back at him, before pulling the thin blanket at her feet over her and tucking it around her shoulders.

"We don't love each other in the way you both did," Sasuke murmured, turning towards the front of the house and leading Shikamaru with him. "Maybe we never will. But I will take care of her."

The Uchiha clan's emblem glared at him once again, instead on a wider, broader, taller back that he followed out the front door. It was almost taunting him, warning him of things that had passed and things that were to come. With another tender glance over his shoulder to the woman on the couch, Shikamaru's voice was rough and throaty as he answered, "I know."

There was a reason he continued to smoke. He thought about it now, walking home slowly, staring at the same sky she had been watching. It was completely dark now, with a few smattering of stars that were dimmed in the light of the street lamps. He raised the cigarette to his lips, sucking in the poisonous toxins, feeling the nicotine and menthol spread through him as he held smoke in his lungs for a moment, before parting his lips. It became an addiction, more so watching the smoke blur his vision, like watching the clouds with her in the past. And like their love, even if the smoke was long gone, it still lingered enough to stain every inch of him, from the outside of his clothes, his fingertips, and his hair, all while simultaneously eating him up from the inside, killing him slowly.

She was his disgusting habit and old habits die hard.

A/N: lol idk where this was going. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Shikamaru eventually helps Sasuke with his revolution and changing Konoha with Naruto as hokage as he learns the secret of the Uchiha massacre which leads to him helping Hinata find a way to undo the caged bird seal and cause the Hyuuga to collapse and Sasuke exposing the truth of the Uchiha massacre to the rest of the world which causes Naruto to question the title of Hokage and its meaning which causes Konoha and other hidden villages to crumble with the uprising of shinobi. The end. Or something.