Across the Sky
by Tianshii
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Tragedy
Rating: T
Summary: This is a story about a girl who can read flowers and a boy who came from the clouds. "I…I wish we had more time." Sasu/Hina. AU. Oneshot.
Characters: Hyuuga Hinata, Sasuke Uchiha
"The ability to read flowers brings peace to all but the one who wields it."
Pale fingers skim over the fading yellow pages of the tome. The owner of the fingers lingers on a particular word printed on the page before sighing and shutting the book. She leans backwards on her chair and places her hands over her eyes.
"Is there really no way to get rid of it…?" The dark haired girl asks herself.
Two days she had wasted. Researching the topic in the village library and her own smaller one. After all that, nothing. She had even turned to the village elders, who she absolutely detested talking to.
A gentle knocking sound stirred the girl from her thoughts. She tucks her chair in, ivory coloured eyes shifting towards the aged book sitting on the wooden table one last time. Finally, she turns around and walks towards the door.
"Lady Hinata!" She looks down to see a young boy, tanned from working in the fields, emerald green eyes wide with curiosity.
Hinata loves children. Unfortunately, she hardly sees them as her house is deep in the forest. Most of the time, if the villagers are in need of her, the adults would come. Hinata suspects that they don't trust her but doesn't really mind. Well, it does get a little lonely. She bends her knees until she and the boy are eye to eye and smiles shyly.
"How may I help you?"
The child blushes at being so close before holding out his hands which look like they've been run over by a horse. Along with the wagon. Hinata holds his hands gently, her expression one of compassion.
"Momma said I should ask you if it will heal," the boy says nervously, hiding his hands behind his back as soon as she let go.
Something so small… She muses, her lips pressed together tightly. Is it worth it…?
The boy immediately sensed her discomfort and stepped backwards, "I-If it's too much trouble for you, Lady Hinata, you don't have to do it!"
"No, it's my responsibility," she murmurs. "I can do it." The reading will be small. It probably won't even affect me.
The girl beckons him to follow her behind the house. There is a large lake, underneath a massive tree blooming pale pink flowers the boy had never seen before. As soon as the petals hit the water, they disappeared, instead leaving a wonderful fragrant scent that caused the boy to sniff in delight.
"Lovely, isn't it?" Hinata says, picking up a petal that had missed the lake.
He nods enthusiastically picking up one himself and watching it disappear as soon as it came in contact with his hand.
"What are they called?"
Hinata walks into the lake so gracefully that the boy gapes slightly, her motions creating ripples on the surface.
Another petal makes its way between her fingers, "They don't have a name."
Finally, Hinata reaches the middle of the body of water, which only comes up to her hips. Her lavender dress flows around her and entwines with her dark hair. She closes her eyes and lifts her hands up into the sky. Suddenly, there was a strong breeze and all the flower petals went hurtling straight towards the girl standing waist deep in the lake.
The dark haired girl opens her eyes and spoke with a tenderness that made the boy feel like he was watching a mother and her children.
"It's okay now. Everything will be alright."
With that, the wind slows down and the petals along with it. She reaches a hand in front of her, towards the boy and for a second he thinks that she is calling for him. But her eyes have shut again and her lips remain silent. Then, a petal floats down from the tree's canopy and lands in the middle of her palm. Hinata examines the petal, still with her eyes closed and smiled.
"They'll be healed next month. If you avoid working too hard, they'll be all better in three weeks."
His face brightened and he beamed, "Really?!"
She nods and walks out of the lake, the bottom half of her is completely soaked. There is something off about her though, the boy notices. Her body movements are stiff and lack the gracefulness they held before and her eyes look dull and tired. Feeling perturbed, the boy thanks the girl before running off towards the village.
He looks back once, to see the girl gone.
…
Hinata looks down at the thin book in her lap and feels bitter when she realizes the date of her death has moved closer.
"But the reading was so small," she mutters under her breath.
It is dark now, the only light coming from the moon beyond the window and a small flickering candle situated on a table next to Hinata. It has been hours since the boy had asked for the reading and still, her body and mind aches in pain. A side effect I have to live with for only a few more months, She thinks to herself and clutches her chest. Only a few more months left. Should she feel happy that the pain was going to end? Or sad that her life would too? Hinata didn't know anymore. She did know that she had nothing to live for anyway. The villagers would be annoyed when she is gone but eventually, they will learn to live by themselves. Her existence was essentially meaningless.
All of a sudden, a loud crash came from outside her house.
Startled, she stands up, grabs a heavy coat from her closet and slips her feet into a pair of winter boots. Is there an animal outside? A raccoon looking for food maybe? Or perhaps…a thief? Her hands immediately go to the dagger she kept under her dress at all times at her cousin's advice. She had never had to use it before but…
She opens the wooden door, and is immediately buffeted by the forceful wind. It's colder than I thought. Hinata hugs her coat closer to her body before staggering towards the side of her house, struggling against the gusts of air. At last, after a few painful minutes, she reaches the scene.
Stuck headfirst in her garbage bin is a man with giant white wings protruding from his back.
Hinata screams. The man screams. Though it is significantly muffled by the bin.
"Wh-what are you doing in my trash?!" She cries, too afraid to help him.
He growls, "Don't just stand there! Get me out of here!"
"W-wing - there are wings coming out of your back…!" Her hands go to her mouth and she continues to stare, wide-eyed at the struggling body inside her rubbish bin.
"Gee, are there really?!"
As suspicious as the man seems, he didn't appear to be much of a threat to her. Rude, but not dangerous. Hinata steps forward hesitantly and pushes the garbage can with her foot. The garbage can falls onto its side and the man howls, feet kicking wildly until they come into contact with the ground. For a short amount of time, the man is the most amusing thing Hinata has ever seen. His feet are constantly trying to get a good grip on the grassy surface but keep missing due to the garbage bin rotating round and round.
Hinata finally feels pity for the man and grabs hold of the bin.
"One…two…three…!"
She pulls the garbage can towards her and he pulls out of it. There is a soft 'pop' before they both fall to the ground.
He is beautiful, she doesn't deny that fact. Spiky ebony hair frames his face which is as pale as the snow, and dark eyes bore into her pearly ones. The man dons a white shirt which seems to be made of some kind of incredibly soft fabric, matching white pants cut off under his knees and no shoes. As he stares at her, he seems so outwardly that it scares her a bit because he reminds her of herself.
"What are you…?"
…
He introduces himself as Sasuke and says that he has been kicked out of his home.
That's it, that's all he tells her. He doesn't even elaborate on those giant wings coming out of his back. Then, he has the gall to demand that she lets him stay at her house. She's about to refuse but he gives her a look that's so spine-chilling she feels like she has turned into ice. So that's how Hinata ends up giving her bed to the man because he argues that his wings would hurt from sleeping on the couch. He really was such a gentleman.
As she lays on the couch, uncomfortable and sore, she thinks about what she has gotten herself into. He's an angel isn't he? I thought they were supposed to help humans, not cause them trouble. Her eyes flicker to the book lying on the table beside her head. Three more months. Sleep then consumes her and she is grateful for the distraction for she doesn't want to think anymore.
She wakes up to his face, irritation and boredom contorting his handsome features. A shame, she muses.
"What do you want?"
"Food," he replies as if it were obvious. "Make me something to eat."
Hinata is about to tell him to do it himself but then becomes worried about what might happen to her kitchen. She yawns and sits up while he makes himself comfortable beside her. Up close his wings don't seem that big. Suddenly, he turns to look at her and she startles.
"Wh-what?" Hinata asks, averting her gaze to look at something else.
"Food," he repeats, impatience lacing his voice.
She sighs in frustration but stands up anyway and heads towards the kitchen. Hinata is about to start cooking before she realizes she has no idea what type of food he eats. She's too lazy to ask so she just begins to make fried eggs and toast. It's so ordinary, what can go wrong? When she places it in front of him on the dining room table, he looks at the dish in horror.
"You…eat eggs? That come out of birds? That create birds?" Sasuke chokes out, his pale face going even paler.
She stares at him. Pearly orbs filled with amusement.
…
He wants to watch her read.
When she tells him she can tell the future he doesn't believe her. "No human should have that kind of power!" He tells her.
Despite his doubts, he willingly followers her to the lake when a villager requests her services. His wings are hidden inside a coat she lends to him which annoys him but he endures it. When she opens her eyes after the reading, he is looking at her in a whole new light. She's surprised that he believes it so easily. After the villager gives her a bag full of gold and leaves, he approaches her and asks her to read him something.
"How badly do you need to know?" She inquires, still waist deep in the lake.
He doesn't answer for a moment and turns away until she can't see his face.
"I need to know how long I'm going to stay here," he murmurs.
She would like to know that as well.
Instead she says, "The future isn't set in stone. People change their minds all of the time."
Sasuke pauses then and he appears to be deep in thought.
"Tell me if my brother will die then."
What a big reading. But so important…to this man at least.
"I'll make you a deal, if you help me with my work for two months, I'll read for you."
His eyes narrow and he folds his arms across his chest defiantly, "That's a big price, just for a fortune telling session."
She smiles. This reading will most likely cost me a month. "Take it or leave it, Sasuke."
…
He takes it.
Sasuke is a surprisingly good worker, Hinata notes. She finds that he is particularly good at cleaning the house and doing other domestic chores. She can't send him on errands in town however as he tells her he doesn't know about how the money here works. Despite not appearing in town often, only when Hinata needs a hand, Sasuke still manages to have a fan club created for him, which annoys him and amuses her to no end. Hinata also finds out that he is a better cook than she is, which she is a little bit bitter about, but won't touch eggs at all and most of his dishes involve tomatoes.
"What's wrong with eating eggs?" She asks one day only to be silenced by his hands.
He hisses at her, a slightly deranged look in his eyes, "Be quiet! They might be watching!"
After he removes his hand from her mouth, she steps back tentatively, a little paranoid herself.
She learns never to mention eggs or birds in front of him again.
…
The first month passes by uneventfully. Hinata only accepts small reading requests now, which she announces in the village square. The villagers were furious, they screamed at her and threw rotten vegetables at her and cursed at her and it made her so sad. Hinata stumbles home that day, covered from head to toe in things that made her want to vomit. She tries to sneak into the house in order to take a bath but is almost immediately caught.
"You're a mess," he tells her flatly and she laughs nervously.
"Y-yes, I stink. I'm heading towards the bath now – "
"Who did this to you?" Sasuke interrogates. And his pristine white wings unfurl, spreading out behind him.
She doesn't want to tell him.
Instead, she says that if he doesn't get out of her way, she's going to vomit all over his feet.
…
He saves her.
She hasn't slept in weeks. Nightmares plagued her every time she closed her eyes and she awoke every night, panting and sweating on the couch. During a reading, she dozes off and collapses into the water. The girl waiting for her reading begins to scream in shock while Sasuke immediately wades into the lake. The lake has never been deep but Hinata couldn't feel her limbs, her legs were sleeping and she was going to be soon as well. She was so tired that she didn't notice a strong arm hook around her waist and drag her out onto the surface.
He's about to perform mouth to mouth before she spits water into his face. The village girl has run off and Hinata notices that he's still wearing the coat which is soaking wet. She also notices something else.
His face is full of worry.
And she's so surprised that she almost forgets to breathe.
"Sasuke…?"
…
He finally relinquishes ownership over the bed.
But on one condition.
"You have to sleep with me," he tells her in a serious manner.
She chokes on the piece of toast she is chewing on and he has to thump on her back.
"Wh-what, what are you saying?"
He raises an eyebrow.
"It's too cold to sleep alone," Sasuke replies nonchalantly.
Then he pops an apple slice, which he had requested that she always cut into rabbits, into his mouth. After finishing off the rest of the apples, he cleans up the plates excuses himself from the table. Hinata still hasn't moved from her seat and seems frozen in shock.
From the kitchen, he pokes his head back into the dining room and says, "If you're worried about my wings, don't. They fold up when I sleep."
…
In the middle of the second month, he kisses her. She was tending to her garden, dressed in a big floppy hat and clothes she wasn't afraid to get dirty in. He came up behind her, for once not wearing the coat, just a black shirt she had bought for him and a pair of beige pants. No shoes as always.
"What are you doing?" He asks, kneeling beside her.
"Watering them, otherwise they'll die," she says while looking over the plants fondly.
Sasuke picks at the grass at his feet, "Why do you treat them like people?"
She remembers when the villagers rioted against her and still came to her for readings. Of course, she hadn't felt angry. It wasn't like Hinata to feel hostile towards another being. Because…
She was like that.
"Everyone deserves to be treated as a person," she finally says, her lips stretching into a smile.
For a while, it is quiet. She wonders if he fell asleep and turns to face him, shocked when she sees that he is looking right at her.
"Sasuke, were you starin-"
Then, he kisses her.
It's her first kiss and it's so gentle and soft that she melts into it. But it is also chaste and over almost immediately.
Sasuke stands up and leaves without saying a word.
…
He tells her about his family.
"I was kicked out of my home because I was accused of murdering my brother."
Hinata looks up at him, and her face distorts into one of sorrow.
"I'm sorr-" she begins.
"You don't have to apologize," Sasuke interrupts. "It's not your fault."
And she doesn't know what to say. So she wraps her thin arms around him and they watch the sun set together.
…
He tells her he loves her.
And she's not shocked at all. But is instead saddened because it's nearly the end of the second month.
"You should have told me earlier," she says, tears welling up in her eyes. He immediately moves towards her, brushing the tear away with a long slender finger.
"Better late than never." A human phrase he must have picked up while he was at town.
Hinata shakes her head and holds his hand against her face.
"No, it's not." He looks at her in confusion.
There is something she needs to tell him.
"After I do your reading, I'm going to die," and she wishes they had more time.
Sasuke is livid, his wings unfurl and block out the sun rays, casting shadows across her face. "Don't do it then!"
"I'm going to die either way!" She screams and her tears became a waterfall, dripping down her chin and onto her dress. "Do you know, how ready I was for death before you came?!"
He doesn't know what to say.
"I was ready for the pain to end! I-I was ready to disappear from this world as Hinata and be reborn again as someone who doesn't have this godforsaken power!"
Sasuke had never heard her scream this much. Each shriek tore at his heart but he knew that it did a lot more to hers. He crushes her into a hug and lets her tears soak into his shirt and his into hers.
"I…I wish we had more time," she chokes out.
…
"If I stay for another month, it will hurt so much more," she whispers and he understands.
A/N End.