A/N : Glad the first few reviews I got were positive! Ill try to update on a weekly basis, maybe a bit faster depending on how many people like it. Oh, and I have enabled anonymous reviews, didn't know I kept them locked this entire time… (If ignorance was truly a bliss, I'd be the happiest person in the world!)
I'm still figuring how the site uploads and etc. work, so forgive me if updates take a bit longer than normal.
3. Ikimasho (Let's go)
Sasuke stood out in the open, in the center Training Ground No.3, a light sprinkle of rain was once more coming down, cooling the heated summer air that was rising around Konohagakure. Hinata saw him, standing straight and tall, and looking straight up at the sky letting the water fall onto his face and slide off of his hitai-ate leaf headband. She wouldn't have suspected anything if it hadn't been for the backpack he was lugging around on his shoulders. 'Extra training equipment?' she thought at first, but then immediately shook the idea from her head, 'No, if he was going to bring more training equipment he would have told me.' So then… What was it?
Sasuke slowly turned to face her, eyes red with live Sharingan, two tomoe spun around each pupil as he met her puzzled eyes. "Yo…" he waved to her with two fingers and she nodded to him, "Hi Sasuke-kun… Is there something wrong?" she asked as she walked up to him. Hinata watched as he turned his head back towards the sky, debating on whether he should tell her what he was planning. In the last few weeks, the shy strange girl had become his closest friend, more so then Naruto even, and he had no doubt that she probably saw him the same way. Tonight was the night he would leave Konoha, everyone was recovering nicely, so he wouldn't have to worry about his bonds in the village, but still, Orochimaru was going to pay for everything he did… Naruto… Sakura… Lord Third… Yes, his lifelong quest for vengeance had a new objective, and it was no longer solely for him. Itachi had to wait, as much as he loathed to admit, this one was far more important, more than family honor, and personal satisfaction, by doing this he would do his part to guarantee that this would never again happen to his comrades or him.
"S-S-Sasuke-kun?" Hinata was becoming nervous, she had never seen him act like this, even before they started talking to each other more often. She could sense the mental conflict raging inside his head, and that it somehow concerned her in some way. Her nervousness continued to build slowly as she took another step towards him.
Sasuke turned his entire body to face her, he had made up his mind, he was going to spill it right there and hope she would not be angry with him. This quest was a fight he took up on his own free will and because he had helped her for a long while, she deserved to know why he would have to stop training her from that point on. "Hinata-" he closed the remaining space between them, causing her to blush "I cant train you any longer." Hinata looked straight into his Sharingan, and brought her Byakugan to bear. "What, why?" she sounded sad, despite her pouting features. "I'm going away." Hinata reversed her eyes back to her normal state in her openly expressed confusion. 'What does he mean going away?' "I'm going after Orochimaru-" she recoiled at the sound of the cursed Sannin's name "- and once I find him, I'm going to kill him so that he cant do anything to harm anyone anymore." he finished, his eyes darkened and until they were once more in their normal state as he waited for what she might say. Hinata closed her eyes and turned away from him, forcing herself to clear her mind and listen as the soft patter of the light rain around them.
'What am I going to do, just let him run off and probably die?' she softly shook her head 'I know that there is no way that I can stop him, but if I were to go with him… I cant just leave Konoha behind though.' She needed time to think about this, and judging from the fact that he had already packed his things, he would end up leaving tonight, and that didn't allow much time for thinking. The two of them stood there for 10 whole minutes, Hinata with her back towards Sasuke as he continued to stare softly at the back of her head. Hinata walked away from him, every step slow and painful. He watched her go, not making a single motion to stop her and concentrated instead on keeping the hurt from emanating from his body. 'So its decided then… Maybe its for the best.' Sasuke decided to burn the remaining time practicing chakra control and reviewing the extent of knowledge he had gained about Jyuuken. 'The moment the sky darkens, I'll head for the main gates.'
4 Hours later, darkness enveloped the village, having been visited by Kakashi once and teased for some unknown reason, and questioned slightly at the presence of a backpack loaded with different items, but didn't press him for details. Sasuke decided that he had aroused no suspicion of his intentions, he mostly had packed loads of shuriken and scrolls so it looked like training material when one first opens it, and it seemed that Hinata had not told anyone of his plans. 'Maybe she really is willing to let me go.' he put up a painful smirk and proceeded to jump from roof to roof to the southern side of Konoha. The rain stopped long ago, and a cold breeze swept by him. Still slightly wet, Sasuke allowed himself to shiver a little as he dropped down the roof of the nearest building to the gate. The gate guard was dozing off, so he didn't have to knock him out like he expected. Sasuke stepped forward and was standing right underneath the arch of the gate, one footstep away from being officially outside the village, when a small hand clasped his left shoulder.
Sasuke slowly turned around, he didn't have to look to know who was there, he had grown almost too familiar with the person's presence in the past 8 weeks…
"Hinata…" he whispered. The Hyuuga heiress stood behind him, looking down at the ground, almost refusing to meet his eyes. 'Hn, so what now? Is she going to stop me?' Sasuke turned his body to face her completely. That was when he noticed that she was carrying a backpack too. Disbelief flooded his features and his mouth hung open slightly when she raised her eyes to look at him. "You didn't think that I would allow you to run out there by yourself did I?" she whispered softly, and smiled at him. Hinata turned to look at the gate guard, and Sasuke followed her gaze.
The guard wasn't asleep, he had been knocked unconscious, and now that Sasuke had a proper angle to examine him in the moonlight, he could make out multiple ugly bruises across the poor man's face. Hinata had propped him up in a wheelchair and turned him around so that it looked like he was just sleeping should someone come out and so happen to look in his direction. Hinata turned to look at Sasuke straight in the eyes and waited for a few moments, letting him examine the guard and regain his composure, the look of disbelief didn't really suit him. Sasuke turned to look at her, he had regained his normal face, but was still shocked at what was happening. 'Is she leaving everything behind to come with me?'
"Are you sure you want to do this?" his coal eyes rested on lavender
Yomichi ni ukanda suigintou no hikari
Namida mo nai no ni nazeka nijimitatsu yo
Yomichi ni hisonda boku kuroi kage
Nasake mo nai no ni nazeka amiably ni
Senaka ni mou hitotsu knamida no nioi
Tsuitekuru tsuitekuru
Tsuitekuru tsuitekuru
Senaka ni mou hitotsu kokoro no mayoi
Nigeteyuku oikakeru
Nigeteyuku oikosareteku
Hitotsu futatsu kage kasanari
Gusari to mune hitotsuki
Futatsu no kage tokeru seignior no yoru ni
"Of course I am…" a single tear slid down her cheek
The light of the mercury lamp that emerges in the night streets
Even if I don't have tears, it still somehow runs down
My black shadow that hides in the night streets
Even if I don't have any sympathy, somehow my walking pace is fast
On my back there's one more scent of tears
That follows me, that follows me
That follows me, that follows me
On my back is the single hesitation of my heart
That flees, that I go after
That flees, that goes right past me
One, two, the shadows combine
And stabs me through the heart
The two shadows that merge together
In the evening of the mercury lamp
Sasuke allowed himself a small smirk "Hn, well then-" he turned around "Ikimasho…"
Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuuga left Konohagakure: The Village Hidden in Leaves.
Song : Suigintou no Yoru by Noriaki Sugiyama
A/N : Thanks for the reviews, and I'm glad you like it, heh.
