First day of Sasuhina Month! Whoooo!

Prompt: First Encounter


Contrary to popular belief, Hinata and Sasuke did not meet at a Hyuga-Uchiha gathering or at a formal party. Their first meeting place had been much more humble: the playground.

It'd been the type of day that made shut-ins consider going outside for a walk instead of wasting their day on the computer—in other words, bright and sunny, with cloudless blue skies stretching as far as the eye could see. It was so beautiful that even Hiashi couldn't bear to keep his princess cooped up inside. Grudgingly he allowed her to leave the ivory tower and explore the outside world.

"Let's go to the park, okay Hinata-sama?" Ko asked as he took the little five year-old's hand and lead her out of the Hyuga Complex. Hinata nodded silently, clutching Ko's hand tightly as she hid from the stony gazes of the guards at the Hyuga gates.

This was the first time she had ever gone on a "casual" trip out of the Hyuga Complex. She'd only ever left on official clan business, such as visiting another clan.

What would the park be like? she wondered. Maybe it was filled with pretty, delicate flowers like the Main House gardens. But then would she even be allowed there? The Branch servants always yelled at her if she took so much as a step into that flower paradise, surely the village gardeners would be just as protective.

As it turned out, the park was nothing like she imagined. The only flowers were the hardy, ubiquitous dandelions and the occasional wildflower. Other than that, the ground was covered with bright green grass. In the middle of the park was a small pond, with a stone path winding around it. Ducks and geese swam lazily in the middle of pond, on the lookout for anyone bearing bread.

But what grabbed Hinata's attention was the playground off to the side of the park. She stared wide-eyed at the colorful plastic equipment and the children climbing and screaming and laughing. She'd seen playground equipment before in the Branch grounds, but it was been nowhere near as large, and there certainly hadn't been as many kids playing there.

"Why don't you go play with them," Ko suggested, smiling down at her.

Hinata bit her lip and hid her face in her caretaker's clothing. What if they didn't want to play with her? The other Hyuga children never seemed to.

Ko sensed his young charge's trepidation. Hinata had never been the type to just approach others and ask if she could join in. She was probably extra wary too, since none of the Branch children were comfortable enough around the young heiress to let her join their games. Scanning the playground, his pale eyes immediately spotted the spiky dark hair of the youngest Uchiha child, Uchiha Sasuke. He was kneeling in the sandbox, a comically serious look on his face as he gathered the sand into a bucket.

"Look Hinata-sama, Uchiha-sama is playing at the sandbox. You can go play with him."

Hinata peeked her head out from behind Ko's robes. She didn't recognize the dark-haired boy, but she remembered the Uchihas visiting the Main House from time to time. The stern man looked as scary as her father, but the lady had been nice. She'd even smiled and stopped to talk to her. Maybe this Uchiha boy would be nice like that lady.

Once she'd been but pried away from Ko's side, Hinata trotted off toward the sandbox with great reluctance. Ko let out a breath of relief and went to go sit at the nearest bench, half of which was currently occupied by the elder Uchiha sibling.

"Hello Uchiha-sama," he said, nodding respectfully

Itachi glanced him and returned the nod before going back to his meditative stupor. He'd just returned from an exhausting mission a few days ago and still had not recovered. At least taking Sasuke to the park required much less mental effort than trying to train him and posed less risk of accidental murder.

As for Sasuke, he was diligently building a sandcastle. This was mission that his big brother Itachi had tasked him with, and he was going to do the best job ever.

"Um, c-can I j-join?"

Sasuke raised his head. The pale-eyed girl standing in front of him was staring at the ground, clutching at the sleeves of her white summer yukata, and blushing so furiously her head looked like a ripe tomato. Her eyes were pale and pupil-less, just like that of the scary man who sometimes came to his house and talk to Father.

The Uchiha boy pondered her request. He didn't really want to let her join. But the last time he said that to a girl, Mother had gotten mad and scolded him. Never mind how annoying those girls and their loud voices and persistent comments were ("What are you doing Sasuke-kun?" "Wow, you're so amazing Sasuke-kun!"), he was supposed to be polite and gentlemanly. He could only imagine her anger if he told this nervous girl to leave him alone. Especially if she told her the Scary Man and then he told Mother and Father.

"Okay…" Sasuke said reluctantly, moving aside to make room for the newcomer. She didn't seem too annoying, and his mission could use a second member. Besides, this way, he'd finish faster and then Itachi would be super impressed and train him instead of sitting on a park bench staring into space.

Hinata could hardly believe that someone actually wanted to play with her and hurriedly sat down on the sand next to the Uchiha boy before he could change her mind.

"We're making a sandcastle, see?" Sasuke patted the large mound of sand in front of him. It looked nothing like the castles in the fairy tale books Hinata's mother read to her, but she refrained from pointing that out. "Here," he handed her a bright blue plastic sand bucket, "fill it up. I'll do the rest."

Hinata nodded vigorously and quietly got to work, diligently filling up the sand bucket and then dumping it wherever Sasuke ordered her to. They didn't talk much beyond orders and eager-to-please expressions of agreement, but there was a comfortable atmosphere. It was nice.

And then it happened. The fateful incident that ruined this otherwise peaceful first encounter.

Sasuke noticed a spider on Hinata's shoulder.

Now, Sasuke wasn't scared of spiders. But he remembered the fear and worry in Mother's eyes as she flung a kunai at a spider crawling near him. So Sasuke naturally assumed, with his extremely limited experience with girls, that if his mother was afraid of spiders, all girls had to be afraid of spiders. (Unbeknownst to him, Mikoto had no such fear. That spider had been one of the few poisonous species found in Konoha, and it'd been too close to her son to be allowed to live.)

He had to get rid of the spider before Hinata saw it and got scared. Sasuke looked around and saw a large rock lying outside of the sandbox. It wasn't a kunai, but it'd have to do. The Uchiha boy surreptitiously reached for the rock and took aim. Shouting a battle cry, he threw the rock with all his might.

The large brown and grey stone flew through the air. Time seemed to slow as it headed for its target. But instead of annihilating the spider, it hit Hinata smack in the middle of her forehead. With a muted thud, the rock bounced off her head and landed onto the sand next to her.

"Ahhh," Hinata yelled, clutching her forehead. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes as she wailed in surprise and pain.

Faced with utter failure and a crying girl, Sasuke did the first thing that came to mind: he ran away. Well he tried to anyway. A terrified five-year old was no match for a high-level shinobi. Sasuke had barely taken ten steps before Itachi caught him and dragged him back to the crime scene.

"I'msorryIdidn'tmeanittherewasaspideranditriedtokillitpleasedon'ttellMother," Sasuke blubbered, mashing and tripping over his words.

"I'm sorry for what my brother did," Itachi said, bowing. He wasn't even sure what had happened, but he figured it was better to apologize than accidentally cause a clan feud.

Ko, who'd shot out of his seat like a rocket, held the crying girl close as he glared at the Uchiha brothers. What had he been thinking? How could he have let Hinata play with a boy uncouth enough to throw a rock at her head? He should have just had her feed the ducks instead. "Good day," he said hotly, deliberately ignoring the apology. The caretaker bowed stiffly before rushing off towards the Hyuga Complex to have Hinata be tended to.

Itachi straightened and looked around. The playground was dead silent. Everyone was staring at the remaining duo with a mixture of curiosity, disapproval or amusement. Being at the center of attention defeated the point of coming to the public playground, where the great number of civilians made it one of the few places Itachi could go and expect to be ignored. He sighed, took his little brother's hand and guided the him home.

In the end, Mikoto didn't scold Sasuke for making a girl cry like Sasuke had expected. Instead, she laughed so hard she had to take a minute to catch her breath. Meanwhile Hinata's "injury" (nothing more than a shallow scape) had been quickly bandaged. Still, Ko never took her back to the playground again. Or allowed her within ten feet of another Uchiha.

Hinata and Sasuke didn't see each other again until they both entered the Academy. There Sasuke actively avoided her and Hinata covered her forehead whenever he was up for weapon aiming practice.