Note: "Murasaki", Kiba's nickname for Hinata (He refuses to use hime as it's what the Hyuuga now call her) means purple or violet. Murasaki is also the name of a character in The Tale of Genji, which is what many people consider to be the first novel ever written. The same novel also contained a chapter called Kumogakure. I didn't even know until I looked up purple in Japanese and found a link to the Wikipedia article. Ironic, no?
Also - I freaking love yakisoba.
TITLE:Hyaku no Kotoba
Chapter Two: Dark
Author: Dreameratheart
Pairing: SasuHina
Theme: 4. Dark
Summary:
Dark:
- "The absence of light."
- "Characterized by unhappiness, misfortune, or pessimism."
"Hinata….Hinata….Wake up, Murasaki-chan…"
Hinata's eyes flicker open and she yawns, arching her back so that her body elongates. She curls her toes and stretches her arms above her head.
"There you are." Kiba's wolfish grin hovers above her face. She blinks once, twice and then rubs at her eyes to get rid of the crusty feeling from having her eyes closed for so long.
"W-what time is it?" She asks while she stretches out her arms, lacing her fingers together and pushing her palms outwards. She glances at the open door, and the light that streams through is soft yellow. So, day then.
"It's five thirty, I think. You slept the rest of yesterday and most of today…I figured you might be hungry." Kiba lifts up a bag of what smells like her favorite yakisoba dish from the Paper Lantern.
Hinata can't help but grin. He's the sweetest friend she could possibly have. She gives him a grateful smile and swings her legs over the side of the bed, grabbing the nightstand to help steady herself as she stands up straight.
"You ok?" Kiba sounds concerned, and she shushes him with a wave of her hand. "I'm fine. Just a little woozy."
"Probably from sleeping for two days straight." She thinks. Then she shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
"If you say so - now you want some yakisoba or what? Uh, and there are some cinnamon buns too, they're out in the kitchen." He smiles sheepishly and something inside of her, something that has hardened since Shino died, melts just a bit.
Hinata fights the tears threatening to slip down her face and manages to squeak out "Thanks, Kiba-kun." Then she smiles again and gives him a fierce one-armed hug as he is holding their lunch-dinner - linner? Dunch? - in one hand.
"Just let me change and I'll be out in a second, ok?"
Kiba nods and closes the door behind him on his way out. She can hear him arguing with Akamaru about something – who gets the bigger bowl, it sounds like – and she laughs. It feels so good to laugh that she does it again and shakes her head, laughing at herself this time.
Kami, she loves her team.
Then she turns to her wardrobe and draws out a plain, light blue yukata with a white obi. She shakes out the dust and sits down on her bed, stroking the soft blue fabric that reminds her so much of her precious mother.
It's kind of ridiculous how many yukatas and kimonos she has, ranging from everyday to wedding in every color of the rainbow. The only reason she keeps them is because they were left to her by her mother.
Hinata presses her nose to the fabric and inhales deeply; they still smell of grapefruit and oranges. Her mother had always smelled faintly of fruit - she had once attributed it to the hours her mother had spent in the gardens, trapped by both her father and her pregnancy with Hanabi.
Haruka had been the perfect Hyuuga wife - poised, elegant, skilled in negotiating with politicians and soothing bruised egos. She could cook, play a number of instruments, was a master in the art of tea, could put on the most complicated of kimonos on in a number of minutes, gardened, and on top of all of that, she was an excellent kunochi before she had decided to start a family.
And she was kind. Extremely so.
Sometimes she misses her mother's kindness so much she thinks it might kill her.
Hinata shakes her head, trying to snap herself out of that train of thought. It'll just make her depressed and Kami knows she doesn't need to be popping anti-depressants alongside her sleeping pills.
Sighing heavily, she strips off her wrinkled tank top and struggles out of her pants, hopping from one foot to the other as she makes her way to the attached bathroom. Kiba has already turned on the shower for her – she thanks her lucky stars for him once again – and the water is already warm when she steps in.
The hot water beats down on her sore muscles, and she rubs at her back and sighs once more while the soap suds slide down her body, the lavender vanilla scent of shampoo filling the room.
She closes her eyes now and thinks back to her dreams. She doesn't know when they started, but she remembers the graphic nightmares that had her screaming in terror – at least, inside her head.
They change on a regular basis. Sometimes it's Kurenai, crying out as the undead Kakazu plunges his arm straight through her chest. Or it's Shino, his glasses crashing to the mossy forest floor as he reaches for her, dazzling blue eyes glistening with tears as he chokes out a confession she never expected. Other times, it's Hanabi, chained to a prison cell wall and staring up at her with empty eye sockets.
"But those aren't even the worst," she muses to herself.
No, the worst nightmares are the ones where she is trapped. Alone. No light, nothing but her and her thoughts. And a voice…
A terrible, horrifying voice that reminds her of everyone who has ever hurt her…or anyone she's ever failed. Hiashi, Neji, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Hanabi, Shino, Kurenai, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sai…
"You've failed."
"You're pathetic."
"You're a poor excuse for a kunochi…"
"For a Hyuuga…"
"For a person..."
Complete darkness and voices confirming her worst fears.
Hinata lets out a choked sob and wraps her arms around herself, pressing her back against the shower wall and sliding down so that she is sitting on the shower floor. The water runs over her hair and trickles down her face so that the water mixes with her tears and they both flow toward the drain. She halfheartedly wipes at her eyes with the back of one of her hands.
"Look at yourself, Hinata." She laugh-sobs, her body shuddering. "How pathetic. Crying over a dream."
She slowly stands back up on shaky legs and turns off the water. The last of it turns cold and drips onto her shoulders. She winces, then grabs for the soft towel on the wooden stool outside her shower.
The towel is soft and warm, and it smells like Kiba, who had put it there, of course. She presses it to her nose for a moment and inhales. Pine. Salt. That smell that comes off of those jerky sticks he's always munching on. She loves that smell.
She finally dries herself off and slips on her dry yukata. The silky cloth sticks to her damp skin, so she rolls up her sleeves before towel-drying her hair and throwing it into a bun.
Hinata ignores the wet footprints she's probably leaving as she exits her room, and when she enters the main living area, Kiba is setting two bowls of yakisoba down on the table. A third bowl – an Akamaru sized bowl – is on the floor, and Akamaru appears to already be half done with it.
Kiba's eyes crinkle up when he smiles at the sight of her. "Enjoy your shower?"
"Yes." She gives him a weak smile. She won't – can't – worry him with her nightmares; he's barely hanging on as it is with his mother having been killed in the war. And then there's his sister, the new clan head, and the awkward tension between the siblings.
Hinata curls up on one of the silk red cushions that sit on the floor surrounding the table, and Kiba takes his own seat across from her. Her manners finally kick in: "Thank you for picking up the food, and for the towel." Then she smiles a little more sincerely, because really, she owes her survival to the man-boy sitting across from her.
"No big deal." He shrugs his massive shoulders, and then begins to pick at his food, flicking away a vegetable and impaling a piece of chicken with the end of a chopstick before he sticks it in his mouth.
"So," He says after swallowing. "You sleep ok?"
Hinata nods – another lie, but they're both used to that by now – and begins to slurp up her own noodles. The end of one of the noodles flicks against her nose and she looks cross eyed at the drop of miso soup that sticks to her skin.
Kiba suddenly bursts out laughing, and though she knows her face must be flushed pink, she starts to giggle until they're both rolling on the floor laughing, a reaction that she suspects in the back of her mind has more to do with their pent up stress rather than the food.
Eventually, they both calm down, and while she dabs at her face with a napkin, she sees that out-of-it look creep onto Kiba's face and she knows something is wrong. Her heart begins to pound so hard that she swears she can feel it in her eyelids.
"And you, Kiba?" She asks softly, twisting the napkin up in her hands. "Are you ok?"
He hesitates for a moment, and her heart skips a beat before he speaks. "I'm ok. A couple of clan guys -Fumio, Kurou, Madoka - stopped by and tried to get me to come back. Apparently Hana thinks getting my old friends to tell me I'm being a coward is a good way to get me back. Fat chance that's gonna happen." He snorts, but Hinata knows he's just trying to cover the hurt with the witty comments. It's how he's always been.
"Why don't they get that I need to be here?" He continues with the makings of a snarl in his voice. "Kami…" He runs a hand through his shaggy hair, which he hasn't cut since the end of the war. He looks as if he'd like to punch something, and his eyes dart back up to her. "Oh, by the way, the Hokage said he was stopping by. Probably pretty soon - he said around sixish. Bastard said something about a new mission." He makes a face. "Can't he let you have a fucking break?"
Hinata can't help but giggle at her teammate's crude language. He's always been good at making her feel better. So much so that once upon a time, they might have ended up lovers, but now…Still, she can't help the errant "what if" though that flies through her head at that moment when he gives her that heart-wrenching grin when he waits for her response.
"Perhaps he has a stick up his ass?" She tries to say it with a straight face, but they both end up roaring with laughter again.
Then there is a knock at the door, and she struggles to get her laughter under control as she goes to open it.
"I bet it's the old stick-ass himself." Kiba whispers mischievously, and that that sends her into peals of laughter once again as she slides open the door with a bright smile on her face and for once, laughter in her eyes.
She tries to compose herself. "I apologize, Hokage-sama, I-"
Then she freezes.
The scarecrow man stands on her front porch with a wry smile of his home, and next to him, a smirking Uchiha.
His coal black eyes rake up and down her body, not even trying to hide his outright leering. "You clean up nice," He says, though his voice is dark and not humorous like the way Sai once said the same thing. "Perhaps this roommate thing won't be so bad after all."
She isn't going to faint. She isn't going to faint. She isn't going to faint.
Instead, Hinata's fingers clench around the fabric of her yukata so hard that without looking, she knows her knuckles are white.
"Kiba." She whispers almost inaudibly, but Kiba is Kiba and he'll hear her.
Which is good, because she needs him right now.
"I am not doing this. No way in fucking hell."
Kakashi rolls his visible eye and crosses his arms over his red and black Hokage robes. "Get over it. They want you looking presentable – the Kages from the other villages have a say in your…punishment. Want you to make a good impression and all."
"I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck." He hisses.
"Stop being such a lard-ass. Put on the damn thing and get over yourself."
Sasuke snatches the dark colored garments and growls at Kakashi, stalking over to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him as he goes to change.
"Deer and Butterfly will escort you to the meeting when you're all done." Kakashi calls through the door. "And don't try anything funny – Hinata trained them both herself on how to activate your seals."
Sasuke doesn't bother to respond, and instead turns up the cold water as far as it'll go.
He doesn't shiver when he steps in, and the ice-cold water drenches his black locks so that they stick to his skin. He had been forced to train in freezing water with the snake bastard. Now, hot water feels almost unnatural.
He stares straight ahead at the hospital-white tiles of the shower walls, barely containing his anger.
He had been rudely and roughly poked and prodded by a Hyuuga medic and had been given a clean bill of health. Then he had been told that he would be meeting with the Konoha council and the Kages of the other villages to decide his punishment.
He already knows that he isn't going to jail. They don't have any use for him there – he'd be better off dead, really. Not to mention that he doesn't have much patience for jail cells. Kabuchimaru tried to keep him locked up after he had discovered the snake's deal with Tobi.
"Perhaps if you try this time, you won't fail your brother – he wanted you to be happy, you know."
Happy. Psh.
What does that fucking scarecrow know, anyway? He doesn't know his brother. Not even he knows Itachi.
But then again…
"I never wanted it to be this way."
Sasuke snorts. "We all want things."
"I wanted you to go back to Konoha - not go on a damn rampage. This isn't why I made sure you'd live. What you're doing…it isn't living at all. I never intended you to find out."
Sasuke shoots his undead brother a dark look before snorting again and setting his sights back on the dark ocean. They're resting in the tree tops now. Kabuchimaru is dead and now Sasuke is just waiting for a moment to strike. But in the meantime, he's got his brother.
"It's not I have much of a choice now anyway. And that village is the reason you had to do what you did-I swore I'd avenge our clan, and I'm going to do it."
Itachi sighs, resting his elbows on his thighs. "Sasuke, even if I hadn't been ordered to…I would've killed our clan either way. I would've spared Kaa-san, of course. The children – the ones I knew weren't corrupted already. And maybe some of the women Kaa-san trusted. But Otou-san…He was evil, Sasuke. I know you didn't see it. But I did - he wanted to take over Konoha simply because they didn't trust him, and for good reason."
Sasuke's eyes widen and he stares at his elder brother. "W-what?"
The long haired man-boy let out another deep sigh. "Sasuke…look. When this is over, try to get on Konoha's good side. Rebuild your life. Rebuild the clan, damnnit! You've got girls chasing after you - pick one and start the clan over. Don't let it get corrupted by power again. Find a girl to love. Build a family. Though don't just knock her up - do it right. Get married, then have some kids."
Sasuke can't help but laugh. "Me. Knock a girl up. You know I'm a virgin, right?"
Now it's Itachi's turn to laugh. "I figured as much. You don't have much time for that with Orochimaru, and he didn't have the patience for kids - he wouldn't want you knocking some girl up either."
"What about you?"
If the undead can blush, Itachi does. "Ah – well - ANBU are encouraged to have lost their virginity. Rape risks. Something about the psychological effect."
"EH?" An uncharacteristic sound comes from Sasuke. "You were thirteen!"
"….Hn."
"Wow. Shit. Who was it?"
There's that blush again. "Ah…."
"Itachi…"
"I don't remember…"
"….Who was it?"
"Er…"
"Who. Was. It?"
"Fine. It was an Inuzuka. Her name was Hana."
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "I know of her. She was the older sister of one of my classmates. Seriously, Itachi?"
"She was attractive, ok?"
"…You have strange taste in women."
"It's not like I was in love with her!"
"Hn."
"Sasuke…" Itachi sighs for the third time. "But I'm serious. Despite what Obito thinks, you're going to lose. You'll probably end up in the hands of Konoha. And when they offer you a deal - you know they will - make one of your own. You'll become a Konoha shinobi. You'll even become an ANBU. But when you decide to rebuild the clan - stop giving me that look, brat – leave. I don't care where you go – maybe Oto would be good after this – but do not let Konoha have your family."
He hates being spoken to like he's a kid. But to have this kind of moment with his brother…
Maybe he'll let it slide.
"Tch. Whatever. It's not like they'll be able to touch me in the first place."
Itachi laughed and dragged his brother into a headlock. "That's what I thought, brat!"
Sasuke rubs at his neck with one hand and methodically massages shampoo into his hair with the other.
"Heh. My old shampoo." He wonders briefly who brought it to him. "Sakura, most likely."
It smells like trees and peppermint, and lavender, maybe. Some herb his mom used to grow. She was the one who made his shampoo in the first place. Her stuff was pretty famous, sold throughout the village. She had left several crates behind, but he had been down to the last couple of bottles when he left. This could be his last bottle.
His last connection to his mother, maybe.
Musing over his mother makes him think about the village and therefore the hearing, and that just pisses him off. Zen mood ruined, as soon as the soap is gone he turns off the faucet.
Sasuke steps out of the shower and shakes his head, water droplets flying through the room. He rubs at his head with the rag-like towel they've given him and then dries off the rest of his body.
Then he stares at the damn kimono they want him to wear.
Someone's been in his house, and his first thought is to kick somebody's ass for being in the Uchiha district. Then he remembers it's probably technically not his anymore, and he sighs.
It's plain in color; the dark Uchiha blue. There are three Uchiha fans on it – one on either shoulder and one on the back. Probably Fugaku's – Itachi had never been this big and Sasuke had been eight at the time of the massacre, after all.
He sighs again and pulls the silky sleeve over his arm. It snags on his rough scars he fights the urge to just rip the damn thing. Finally dressed, Sasuke slips on his shinobi sandals – he's not about to wear those formal sandal thingies – they're called zori, he recalls.
Then he looks in the mirror, and he tries not to pale in horror.
He looked amazing, of course. Every girl's wet dream. They had kept him well fed while he was in the coma, apparently. His hair had grown out and the ends brushed the point between his shoulders. And the lone, silvery scar across his left cheek only made him look more rugged. Add a katana and he might look like some sort of noble knight-in-shining armor.
He looks amazing, of course. Every girl's wet dream. They've apparently kept him well fed while he was in that coma, and where he had been a tad bit skeletal in appearance the last time he looked in the mirror, he's now solidly built. His muscles haven't deteriorated that much and his hair has grown out so that the ends brush the point between his shoulder blades. And the lone, silvery scar across his left cheek only makes him look more rugged. Add a katana and he'd look like a shinobi from the cover of one of the scarecrow's Icha Icha books.
And his eyes. There are so many asinine metaphors, so many beautiful analogies for his eyes. Dark as a starless night. The deepest part of the ocean. The smoothest, richest, dark chocolate.
His eyes aren't dark, and he might be the only person that knows that.
They aren't dark, not at all. They just…aren't light.
Damn. Damn it all to hell.
Sighing, he runs a hand through his now-long hair. Sometimes he wishes he were ugly. It's not like the Konoha females won't recognize him now.
He's not about to cut his hair - it reminds him a little bit of Itachi - so instead he draws it back with a scrap of fabric from black t-shirt he had been wearing before.
Then he swings open the door and his light-lacking eyes dare the ANBU watching him to say something, anything. They wisely keep their mouths shut, and he resists the urge to fight when they chain his wrists behind his back before escorting him to the meeting.
"And here he is." Kakashi grins as Sasuke stalks in, the ANBU at either side.
"Do not flick off the Hokage. Do not flick off the Hokage. Do not flip off the-oh, damn it."
He flips off the Hokage and takes his seat in the center of the room.
He has to give them credit – it's all very interrogation like. The Konoha Council and the various Kages surround him from every angle. It's enough to make any shinobi tremble, if not piss themselves. But he's Uchiha Sasuke, so it hardly fazes him.
"Let's get this over with." He mutters. With any luck, this will be over in time for him to go find a little dinner before he falls asleep. He's tired as shit despite the coma he just woke up from.
"See? His attitude is shit! Just throw him in prison for all I care."
A man, Onoki by the sound of it. The ancient Tsuchikage.
Damn man wouldn't die, would he?
"I beg to differ. I find his attitude…a turn on, really." A sultry, female voice. Which meant Mei, the beautiful-but-creepy Mizukage. She flirts with him every time she shows up.
"I'd rather go to prison, if you don't mind." He crosses his arms over his chest. If he's going to go through this, it's going to be on his terms. "Can we get this over with? You all know you won't send me to prison. I'm not much good to you there. And the same thing applies if I'm dead, so that leaves you with one choice:" He can barely stomach the next words. "Make me a Konoha shinobi."
Sasuke pauses for a brief moment. He really hates talking – it's a hassle he likes to avoid. But when no one interrupts…
"Some of you may ask why I deserve to become a Konoha shinobi-I ask, why does Konoha deserve me? My brother was ordered - by the Konoha Council - to eradicate the Uchiha Clan."
Ew. It sounds like Itachi speaking instead of him. And though it's not exactly new news, but whispers break out above his head.
"He spared my life not to torture me, as I was originally told - he spared my life because he could not bear to kill his baby brother." Now he's angry, and the anger makes him smarter. He knows exactly what to say. "And then, driven mad by guilt, he used me as a tool in his own suicide. He could not even tell me what had been done – Obito did that. And although I swore on my brother's grave that I would wipe out the village responsible for my clan's destruction, I will settle for Danzo's death. You know I killed Kabuchimaru myself - he intended to trade me to Obito."
"I am not telling you this because I expect some sort of mercy for my sob story. I am telling you this because I am offering you a deal:
"If I become a Konoha shinobi, I will be loyal. I will become an ANBU. I will follow the restrictions and instructions of my Hokage. I may not like it, but I will. However-if and when I decide to marry and start a family, no village, kage, council, or clan will lay claim to my children or wife. No one will interfere with our relationship. If I choose to raise my family outside of Konoha, I can and will. Those are my conditions."
He falls silent after that, and he sighs while the whispers above him fly back and forth. It's up to them now, but it's likely that they think he'll never have a family. They know of his history with the female persuasion.
That would be Kakashi with his "formal voice" on. Tch.
"The Konoha Council and Kages of the Shinobi World have decided your fate." His voice echoes out over the court room, and Sasuke doesn't bother fighting back a smirk. "We accept your conditions. Here are the conditions of your Hokage: You will live for a six month period with an assigned guard. You will serve as a Genin for the first three months. If you pass a psychological evaluation after the three months, you will be promoted to Chunin. A second evaluation will be given after the second three months. If you pass, you will be promoted to Jōnin and will become a full Konoha Shinobi, thought you will be on trial period for the first six months and the first year of being a Konoha Shinobi. You will be permitted to live on the Uchiha Clan grounds. You will be treated like any other Konoha Shinobi. However, if you attack a Konoha shinobi with malicious intent during your trial period, you will be put on trial and will be sentenced appropriately."
Sasuke mulls over the conditions for a moment. It doesn't seem like a bad deal. The Hokage probably figures that if they put him in prison he'd escape.
Well, the Hokage is probably right.
And he knows that they'd never put him under the care of Naruto or Sakura, so he'd be able to avoid them. All he has to do is play good for the Council for maybe a year and a half.
"Fine."
"Welcome back to Konoha, Sasuke.".
The ANBU come up behind him and unlock his chains, and he discreetly rubs his wrists. They certainly didn't care for his comfort.
"Hokage-sama will escort you himself to your living quarters." The leaner ANBU with the dark hair – the one who Kakashi referred to as Deer- speaks, and his voice sounds vaguely familiar.
"Hn." Sasuke grunts.
A moment later the scarecrow ninja exits the meeting and jerks his head at him, motioning for him to follow.
He briefly wonders what that indigo-haired bitch will say when she realizes that she has to watch him yet again. The image of her face paling from fear in his mind is one that excites him.
They walk in silence for the most part. It's only when he can actually see the Hyuuga compound that Kakashi speaks.
"If it were up to only me," His voice is quiet, but it shakes with anger. "I would've had you killed for everything you've done."
He doesn't bother responding. That pang in his heart is just from his old wounds, not from words.
When they reach the gate of the Hyuuga compound, the guards nod somberly at Kakashi and send Sasuke what he suspects is the Hyuuga Death Glare™.
Well, isn't that a warm welcome.
"She lives with her teammate, Kiba - you think I'd leave you alone with her? - and she may have a child moving in with her soon. Her old sensei's daughter. The girl's father was the sensei of Team 10-one of the members of Team 10 will probably move in too, to help Hinata take care of the girl."
He ignores most of Kakashi's babble, though it's interesting to know that at least one other person is living in the house. And for it to be Kiba…He wonders if they're lovers.
Kakashi stops suddenly outside what seems to be the clan head's apartments – it looks similar to his own old home in the Uchiha compound – and knocks on the door.
"Try to be civil." He shoots Sasuke a final glare.
He can't fight back a malicious smirk and he leans against the doorway. This is going to be fun.
The door slides open and a slim figure appears.
"Sorry Hokage-sama, I-"
His first reaction is to gape. The bitch doesn't look so raggedly tired anymore – she's slept and bathed, for certain. Her hair is still slightly damp and is pinned up in a loose bun. Several loose strands frame that pale, pretty face, and her eyes – those eyes he sees in his nightmares – are bright with laughter. The light blue yukata she wears flatters her generous curves and more than generous breasts. He's seen many female bodies in his eighteen years, but this girl…
And her smile. She's clearly been laughing, as her cheeks are flushed an appealing red and she's smiling like she's won the lottery.
So for about half a second he considers holding back the next words that come out of his mouth, the ones that make her smile go ice cold and cause the light to drain from her eyes.
"You clean up nice," He says, not bothering to hide his leering. "Perhaps this roommate thing won't be so bad after all."
Her face turns so white she looks like a corpse, like how is looked in his mind. He watches as she grips the cloth of her yukata tightly, so tight that her knuckles turn white. For a moment, Sasuke wonders if she's going to faint. That would certainly be amusing.
But instead, she keeps her eyes trained on his and rasps out a name.
"Kiba."
Her darkness is an all-encompassing fear.
His darkness is simply the absence of light.
The facts, however, remain the same.
A part of them is dark. And they cannot avoid that darkness.