Thanks for the reviews! They really helped me notice on what I was lacking. The story is going to unfold soon, just hang on tight. I put extra effort on this chapter, hope it pays off! Enjoy :)
Hinata had to push herself harder in order for her to match Sasuke's pace, her bare feet touching the damp tree branches as they leaped from tree to tree. He was going really fast. As they traveled through the small forest that divided the land between the Hyuugas and Uchihas, no sooner than later did they eventually reached a big gated area, the Uchiha compound. A tall brick wall surrounded the area. As Hinata looked up the gate, lightning appeared to colour the sky above them.
"Let's go," Sasuke said and walked in.
*BOOM!*
A thunder was heard. Hinata hurried to catch up to Sasuke. She hates the sound of thunder, but she likes the rain. It's funny how one thing can stimulate two opposite feelings.
"I thought about talking somewhere else, but I don't wanna risk anyone hearing our discussion. At least here, I know it's safe." Sasuke said as he walked down a pathway leading to what seemed like a big old tree.
Inside, it was like a mini Konoha. It began with rows of what looked like small houses and stalls on either side. The path then circles around the big tree which happened to be in the middle of four junctions. It was a round-a-bout. They headed towards the 3 o'clock direction.
"Oh, "Hinata said lamely as she was distracted looking at the rows and rows of empty houses as she walked alongside him. It must be lonely to live here all by himself, Hinata thought as she gave him a side glace. She was trying to read his emotion but half of his face was covered by his bangs that grew till his chin level and all she could see was his dark eye focusing straight ahead before turning to look at her. Hinata looked away, embarrassed. They continued walking in silence.
Eventually, they reached a much grander looking house, which was wider than the small houses they walked by earlier. Inside, Sasuke took off his sandals and headed down the hallway. Hinata wanted to follow him in but hesitated because the soles of her feet were so dirty after all the walking, she sat down and was about to take off her jacket to wipe them clean but Sasuke returned with a pair of slippers.
"You can wash them inside," he said.
After washing her feet in a toilet, Sasuke lead her towards a room with tatami mats. On the way there she looked around the big house. Most of the rooms were either empty or lightly furnished. A mop was leaning against a wall next to a pail. He wasn't done cleaning all the rooms too. As they reached the room, Sasuke began to kneel by one of them and removed it like how one would with a piece of jigsaw puzzle. There was a stairwell leading down. And down they went into a tunnel-like path that eventually branched out to what seemed to be an underground room.
With a simple hand seal, Sasuke lighted the torches on the wall, brightening the room instantly. Down there, the ceiling was low. Against the wall, in the middle of the room, Hinata could see a stone tablet with inscriptions written on it. Sasuke went in front one of them and motioned for Hinata to come close with his hand.
"You know why I believe what you said about what happened in the graveyard?" He turned towards her, the fire from the torches casting a shadow on his face.
"Not really. Why do you believe me?" Hinata replied, feeling intrigued.
"Over here is the stone tablet that Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki created. It has been passed down generations after generations in my clan." Sasuke explained as he pointed to the piece of stone. "But only people having the sharingan or rinnegan can read the real messages on this tablet." Sasuke paused to see whether Hinata was following his explanation or not.
"You mean to say that this stone contains… hidden secrets?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, exactly. However, just recently when I moved the stone tablet here from its original position, I came across another message that I could now read with my rinnegan. But before that, I need to ask if you still remember what you saw back in the storage room."
Hinata was silent. She stared into his eyes. Of course she remembered. No one would forget that kind of event, ever. Even Hinata herself was unsure of what she saw. But she could swear there was someone hovering behind Sasuke at the time.
"Hyuuga," Sasuke said impatiently when Hinata didn't respond.
Feeling suddenly distraught, Hinata rubbed both of her eyes hardly before cupping her face in her hands.
"…There was someone," she mumbled.
"Huh?" Sasuke asked not understanding her muffled voice.
"It was behind you..," again she said behind her hands.
Sasuke, feeling annoyed because he couldn't understand what she was saying grabbed one of her hand and pulled it away from her face, and bent down till his eye was on her eye level. Hinata squeaked at the sudden contact.
"Hyuuga, you got to speak up,"
"I said it was behind you! Or someone. I don't know… it just felt weird. I couldn't move but I was aware of you and Ino-chan. I felt bounded." she finally said aloud, strangely finding it comforting looking into his eye whilst doing so.
Still holding her hand, Sasuke pulled her towards the stone until they were semi-crouching in front of it. He shifted his hold on her hands until he was holding only her fore finger and pointed it to a part of the inscription on the stone.
"There, this is exactly where the message is."
"When the moon embraces the sun?" Hinata read the part of the inscription he was pointing at.
"That's what is appears to say, but with my rinnegan I can see it says 'The black rinnegan is the only sight'
Dropping Hinata's hand he pushed aside his bangs to show her his other eye, his rinnegan eye.
"—A rinnegan isn't black." Sasuke said matter-of-factly.
"But what's that got to do with me?" Hinata asked, confused by his explanation.
"Before you more or less fainted in the library, your eyes turned exactly like mine only it was in the shade of black. I can take a wild guess here that this is exactly what the stone is talking about." Sasuke continued explaining.
"You mean to say I have something similar to a rinnegan? I don't know Sasuke, this all seems a bit too much. But I can tell you one thing, I don't want to see whatever it was back in the library because—"Hinata looked away and bit a thumb.
"Because what?"
"This may seem crazy… but it felt like I was seeing a ghost- Please don't look at me like that!" Hinata stopped suddenly feeling angry.
"Like what?" Sasuke asked bewildered. "I was just thinking that… this message is unfinished. There should be more to it. Your byakugan means the all-seeing white eyes… right?" Sasuke said trailing off as he went back to the stone to read the inscriptions once again.
"Yes," Hinata said as she too crouched down next to him.
"I want you to read it with your byakugan. And tell me everything that you see." Sasuke ordered her.
Hinata did as she was told.
The stars are always covered
Under the painting of the light
When the byakugan is clouded
The black rinnegan is the only sight
"It doesn't make sense. To decipher this inscriptions can take forever. They're like ancient riddles!" Sasuke said exasperatingly.
Hinata looked surprisingly at him. She never saw this much emotion from Sasuke. He looked exactly like a little boy whose toy has been taken away. So very frustrated… and Hinata. Well Hinata wanted to remove that frustration somehow.
Taking a deep breath she said, "Sasuke-san, what is it do you want to find out?"
Sasuke looked at her, flames dancing in her white orbs, her eyes were focused on him and he suddenly felt calmed.
"What happened to just Sasuke? She said it yourself just now."
"Sasuke-san just answer—"Hinata was cut off with his glare.
"Sasuke… please just answer the question." She finally compromised.
"I don't get it. You were scared to death seeing whatever it was you saw and you're just fine not knowing? Aren't you slightly curious about what happened at all?" Sasuke got up and started to pace around to small area. "And it clearly states that there's something more about the byakugan. Your clan's most precious asset. Don't you want to know?"
"It's not that. It's just…. Well. Why do you care?" Hinata said not meaning to sound harsh. But she just hated it when people mention her needing to care more about the byakugan. But hate is a strong word, Hinata more or else feels frustrated whenever the name is thrown at her. It just reminds her about the irony of her very existence, born with said powerful eyes of a noble clan, and yet she was just failing. Weak, nothing but a hindrance.
"Fine." He said, cutting her from her self-pity before heading back upstairs.
Hinata waited until he was upstairs before bracing herself to apologize to him. She hurried back up the stairs, careful to not trip on any uneven steps. When she reached the tatami mat room, Sasuke has already gone. Slowly retracing their steps earlier she found herself back in the room with the cleaning equipment. Sasuke was vigorously moping the floor on one side. At least as vigorous as a one-armed man can go.
"Gomen Sasuke," Hinata started whilst walking towards him. "I didn't mean to offend you earlier but… I just get a little bit... well..." Hinata paused before continuing saying her next words shakily, "…overwhelmed whenever the byakugan is mention."
Sasuke stopped mopping and looked up at her
"How can you be overwhelmed by something you've had since you were born?"
"It's not about the eyes actually, it's what my clan does about it. To preserve it and- Gomen, Sasuke. But can we just leave it at that?" Hinata said quickly after realising what she was saying. Tears were starting to form and she was using all her will to not let it spill.
"Hyuuga, if you have something to say, you should just say it." Sasuke said as he placed the mop and pail back at the wall before turning towards her.
Hinata shook her head lightly. "There's nothing to say," she said softly. Her body was shaking as she was suppressing her tears. She wasn't going to cry. Not here, not in front of him. But her tears were betraying her as they began to spill.
Before Hinata knew it, a hand was on the side of her face and her tears were slowly being wiped away by a thumb. Sasuke was in front of her. Yes, he was that fast.
"Sasuke?" Hinata asked, surprised by his action.
"What's bothering you, Hyuuga?"
And just like that, Hinata was crying. Sasuke's simple question was a like a magnet to her tears. It felt like it needed to be out after being held back for so long. Sasuke hugged her until she was weeping into his chest. Hinata was out of control, she didn't care anymore who she was with. All she knew was that it felt comforting knowing that someone was holding her reassuringly as she cried her heart out. They lasted like that for a few minutes until Hinata eventually calmed down.
"You really don't remember do you?" Sasuke suddenly said,
"Eh?" Hinata asked confused as she lifted her face from Sasuke's chest.
"The spot where our mothers used to take us? We were about five years-old and would go there at least twice a week. And you used to call me duck-butt because of my hair." Sasuke said, placing his hand on Hinata's head as she looked at him with her puffy red eyes.
"We would always play hide-and-seek or if our mothers were up for it, we'd play tag... At least up until your mother passed away that is."
Hinata was silent for a moment, trying to remember such memories as her eyes searched Sasuke's half covered face. Sasuke and her were childhood friends? Where did that come from? Yeah their clan compounds were pretty near to each other. It's possible they've bumped into each other before but being told that her mother always brought her to play with him and his mother. And to joke about his hair? Hinata would never joke about anyone's hair. That seemed too unlikely.
"Why don't I remember any of this?" She asked, bewildered by the sudden information.
"Well… for starters," Sasuke shifted his weight onto his other leg. "Kaasan told me that you were really upset when your mother passed. We rarely get to see each other after that, at least not until we entered the academy. But even back then, I seemed invisible to you."
"Gomen… But I really don't remember anything." Hinata withdrew herself from Sasuke, feeling guilty that she did not remember such memories.
"Don't be sorry, we were just children back then. You're right, we barely know each other. And I… I was pretty occupied with my own agendas too back in the academy." He replied stoically.
Hinata looked at him, at his expressionless face before he turned to look out the window. Even if Sasuke tried to emit this blank canvas of a personality that seemed intimidating to most people, Hinata somewhat found it familiar, familiar enough to make her feel calm. She didn't feel like a nervous wreck anymore and it felt refreshing. Hinata smiled to herself, before saying
"Then let's get to know each other again."
With that, Hinata headed straight towards the mop and pail he left at the side earlier and headed towards the next room.
"Where are you going with that?" Sasuke asked surprised of her actions.
From the next room he heard her yell, "Helping you clean before we start figuring out what's going on with my eyes!"
Sasuke smirked and went over to where she was, passing the clock on the wall which stated that it was already 12 o'clock in the middle of the night.