Hypothetical

She sensed him coming long before he rounded the corner. He didn't break his stride when he saw her, but she remembered how he had the first time they ran into each other outside the Hokage's office. He had been waiting for a mission assignment; she had just returned from one.

"Hello, Sasuke… kun." Hinata's voice faltered slightly when she noticed the streaks of blood on his white mask. It was the first time she had seen him like this, the uniform she hung up for him caked with crimson.

He noticed her staring. "It's not mine," he said, shrugging it off. At his voice, her eyes rose to his face – his mask. Pausing, he took it off, shaking out his dirt-matted hair. "ANBU agent Hawk, reporting," he said to the Hokage's chuunin assistant by the office doors.

Hinata shuffled along the waiting bench, even though she was already sitting on the edge of it. Sasuke found the ball in his court. He wasn't about to sit right next to her, especially not when he reeked of blood. Sitting at the opposite end seemed too distant and would probably encourage the aide, who was pretending to be immersed in paperwork, to spread nonsense gossip. His brow twitching, Sasuke planted himself in the middle of the bench with a little more force than necessary, making the wooden legs rattle. He was running on too little sleep to be over thinking.

The aide shuffled some papers on her desk. The sound seemed to reverberate. That was what happened when Sasuke and Hinata were alone; silence followed them. Sasuke had learnt that Hinata could practically make herself invisible; he usually had to rely on her chakra presence to tell if she was home. In a way, it made it easier for the two of them to share the apartment; they couldn't pretend but they didn't need to be reminded. They came together when they had to and made small talk when they both happened to be home for mealtime, but those exchanges held the value of a half-hearted greeting on crowded streets. They communicated marginally better with silence.

Yet today, Sasuke found himself clearing his throat. "Summoned for a mission?"

Hinata snapped out of her vacant gaze at the opposite wall and blinked at him. When his question sank in, she shook her head. "I'm seeing Tsunade-sama about my medical ninjutsu progress. I think she also wants me to deliver a message to my father."

Hyuuga Hiashi. Sasuke was not up to dealing with that man today. "Medical jutsu. Sakura mentioned something about you learning."

"It's very useful. I'm far behind Sakura-san, though." It probably wasn't the best time to notice it, but Sasuke idly realised that Hinata did not flush easily around him. Even though she was far more confident than she had once been, any personal attention – especially from Naruto – would knock her out of her comfort zone. Yet around him, she was quiet but calm, self-conscious but controlled.

"Sasuke-kun?" Now she was looking at him, her lavender eyes on his face. "Are you okay?"

Coming to his senses, Sasuke straightened up and flexed his tense neck muscles. He had zoned out there. A two hour nap in a hard tree tended to do that. "Just tired," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Did you say something?"

She smiled patiently. "How was your mission?"

"Fine." It was his standard response to any such inquiry. Anything else would mean he had screwed up. Which hardly happened – and if it ever did, no one but Naruto and Sakura dared to ask.

Hinata knew these facts as well as everyone else. Except she didn't turn her gaze away from his, like she was expecting him to continue. Eventually, Sasuke sighed. "A-rank missing-nin. Chased him for twenty-seven hours."

"How much was he worth?"

That got him smirking. Sasuke played deaf to Naruto's bounty boasts but the truth was he was just as proud of his own prizes. "I'll show you," he said. He retrieved his battered copy of the bingo book from his pouch and flipped to a folded-down page in the middle. "This guy." Hinata leaned in. "Cocky one. He was stupid enough to look into my eyes."

She glanced up at him. "I'm glad you're alright," she said quietly.

Sasuke just shrugged. He ripped out the page and set it aflame. An eliminated target was a useless one. The orange embers flickered in Hinata's pale pupils. "How much are you worth, Sasuke-kun?" she asked curiously.

Sasuke's eyebrow arched. It was an unexpected question. At the same time, it put a small grin on his face. Sai had said the expression looked as creepy as a grandmother peeking in the men's bath; he made a similar comment every time Sasuke did something other than glare. He had a reason to be proud though. Flipping towards the front of the book, Sasuke stopped on a ten month old photo of himself and tapped it.

As Hinata stared at the figure, it suddenly hit Sasuke that his head seemed clearer, lighter. It was a sensation he commonly got after Sakura talked him through a post-mission medical check up. After spending treacherously long hours alone among the enemy, balancing their life and their opponent's in their own hands, some ANBU craved the simplicity of hearing another human's voice. Sasuke had never considered himself one of them, but right now Hinata's gentle conversation was kind of soothing.

"Hey." He gestured at the bingo book. "Are you in it?"

Hinata hesitated, looking embarrassed. She gave an evasive nod. He wasn't surprised; she was the future head of the Hyuuga clan, after all. But he was surprised when he started from the back and hadn't found her page by the halfway point of the book. "You're an A-class?"

"Um, closer to… high B?" Sasuke skipped a dozen pages into that range. "M-My lineage is expensive," Hinata added hastily.

"So is mine." He had found her page, which was much closer to his than he had thought. Sasuke studied her from the corner of his eye. High B. Her stats said otherwise. Being the Hyuuga heir no doubt raised her bounty, but family name alone did not make a mid A-rank shinobi. Hyuuga Hinata was not a pushover. Sasuke had never thought of her as such but realising the price on her head changed his view of her somewhat.

They both looked up as the office doors swung open. Shizune carefully stepped out, arms laden with papers that almost reached her brow. Tonton trotted at her heel. "Next," Tsunade's voice rang out.

Her assistant looked over at the waiting bench. "Uchiha-san, Tsunade-sama will see you now."

Sasuke got to his feet. His back ached slightly, the muscle behind his shoulders burning. He really needed to lie down. And preferably stay down for the next forty-eight hours.

The chuunin looked at him, then back at her list. Sasuke frowned, sensing something amiss. Then he realised the chuunin had her eyes on Hinata.

She came to the same realisation a beat after him. Confusion masked her expression. Then her eyes fell. An ANBU was never summoned by name. "O-Oh," she said quietly. Her gaze went distant for a few seconds. They were only slightly more focused as they met Sasuke's. She smiled forcedly. "You can go first, Sasuke-kun. Your report is more important."

Sasuke looked back at her, his eyes narrowing minutely. Then he strode through the open office doors.

Tsunade didn't look like she was expecting an ANBU report when he stopped in front of her desk. She caught a glimpse of Hinata on the bench before the doors closed. "I didn't think you were interested in medical jutsu, Uchiha-san," she said amusedly.

Sasuke ignored the jibe. "I want to discuss a hypothetical situation with you."

The Sannin's brow inched higher, this time with interest. She reclined in her armchair. "Shoot."

"Hypothetically, the heirs of clan A and clan B have a political marriage arrangement. The heir of clan B takes up her husband's, clan A's, name."

"As per tradition."

"Hypothetically-"

"Hypothetically," Tsunade cut in, her eyes on Sasuke's, "an autonomous decision to allow the heir of clan B to retain her clan name would raise controversy. Firstly, clan A will not be pleased. Secondly, clan B will suspect you are looking for something to hold over them. Thirdly, it will seem like you are renouncing your relation to her, which will create direct friction between both clans."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It was hypothetical."

"And I'm impressed you considered it." Tsunade smiled faintly as he scowled. "I know what you're thinking, Sasuke, and I would do the same thing. But you're looking at a politically unviable move and as Hokage, I advise you to leave it alone. Hinata knows this. She won't mind."

Wrong. She did, and no one understood more than Sasuke. The two of them had been born, raised and defined by their clan. Their name chained them to unwanted destinies. But they had spent their lives growing into those cuffs and snapping that chain would leave them with nowhere else to go. It was as cruel as it was inevitable.

Their names were the reason she had become chained to him.

"Hypothetically," Sasuke said, his voice detached, "you could have stopped them."

Tsunade made a snorting sound. "And lose control of two of the village's most influential clans, forcing the council to become unpopularly totalitarian in order to keep the other clans in line." She laced her fingers together. "Yes, hypothetically I could have stopped them." She paused. "But you're only asking this because you know, hypothetical or not, that I couldn't have saved Itachi."

His eyes flashed, jaw clenching. "You could have."

"Maybe, eventually, I could have saved your brother's life, but that would have been condemning him. He chose."

Sasuke breathed loudly through his nose, eyes closed. Everything wound back to this, always. He was snared right in the middle of it. Tightening his grip on the cold ceramic, he lifted his mask to his face. "ANBU agent Hawk, reporting. A-rank missing-nin eliminated."

Tsunade's hazel eyes brushed over his mask as if attempting to penetrate it. She didn't try for long. "Casualties?"

"None."

Her pen scratched across the paper. Without looking up, she said, "I meant it, you know. I'm impressed, Sasuke." He didn't say anything. She signed the document, stamped it and closed the folder. "Dismissed. Go get some sleep. You look dead on your feet."

Hinata was waiting by the door when Sasuke stepped through. She kept her eyes on the floor. He didn't look at her, not even when he called out to her halfway down the hall.

"Catch."

Hinata reflexively spun and snatched the ball of paper from the air. Puzzled, she opened it. Her eyes widened. "Sasuke?" she questioned uncertainly.

He kept walking. "That's your bounty, not Uchiha Hinata's. Remember that." He disappeared from her sight.

The chuunin assistant looked bewildered by the exchange. "Uh, the Hokage is ready for you, Uchiha-san."

Hinata looked down at her own face, staring back from the crumpled page. A few moments passed. Then she smoothed out the creases, carefully folded the paper, and slipped it into her pocket. She smiled at the chuunin. "I'm ready too."

A/N: These oneshots are actually turning out to be longer than I expected. You can tell I'm in exam period by how much I write. How I wish my mind could detach from my willpower and study for that psychology exam...