Sasuke and Hinata walked down the streets of Land of Green.

"What do you know about Kori?" Hinata asked.

"Not much. Like I said, he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to join his team. I simply said I wasn't interested and left it at that."

"You're telling me that all this time that you have been out on your own, you have never even heard of the guy?" Hinata looked at him in disbelief.

Sasuke shrugged. "I try not to get into anyone's business, like how I want people to stay out of mine."

"I guess I can understand that."

"You would be the only one."

"I'm going to assume that you are talking about your old team."

"You mean the dobe, the hot-head, and the perv…yes I am."

Hinata felt a little bad laughing about the others, but Sasuke's nicknames did fit them. And that showed her that Sasuke knew his team better than he would like to admit. "What did they do to get on your nerves so much?"

"Everything. Sakura and Naruto are way too loud and annoying. Kakashi is not as bad, but he has his own more secretive ways of getting on my nerves."

Hinata gave him a look. "There is more to it." Sasuke looked at her with a glare, telling her that the conversation was over, but Hinata did not back off. "Let me guess… your old team gets on your nerves because they don't listen. They would just run you over as if you never said anything at all. If they had only listened to you, and not assumed, they would have realized that you can handle things on your own. If they had listened than they would have realized that you are quite content with being alone all the time and that is when you can work to your best ability."

It took Hinata a few steps before she realized that Sasuke had stopped walking. She turned her head and saw Sasuke looking at her oddly. "What?"

"How did you know that?"

Hinata turned around and gave him a sad smile. "Because I have been there myself." She walked over to stand directly in front of Sasuke. "I don't think you remember my old team but I was on a team with Kiba and Shino. They were complete opposites. One loud and one quiet, but they were very much alike in some aspects. Because I use to be so quiet and shy, they would do what they want and not really listen to what I had to say. It wasn't until I got a little more confident that I finally stood up for myself and even than they would do what they thought was best. It wasn't until I was promoted to ANBU that they finally saw that I could take care of myself."

Sasuke was surprised. Hinata and his stories were not the exact same but maybe they had more in common than he thought. But still, she would never truly understand him or accept him. No one has in the past and no one would in the future.

"Well now that we are all done with the story, shall we more along?" Hinata stepped to the side. "The bars won't really get busy for some time, so we might as well enjoy the festival."

"Hn." Now most girls would give him a coy laugh and grab his arm to drag him somewhere and pretend they were on some date. He waited for Hinata to do the same thing but she simply stood next to him and watched people walk by, waiting for him to make a decision. He finally gave in. "Fine, where should we go?"

"Are you hungry?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"I think we should get something to eat, if we are lucky we might run into Kiro early."

The two walked in silence to a small bistro.

"I'll have some dango and he will have some onigiri with tomato." Hinata ordered at the counter.

The two than went and sat at a table by the window.

"How did you know what I like?" Sasuke asked. He was genially surprised but didn't show it.

"Oh, I just remembered when we were little that you didn't like sweets."

"But how did you know about the tomato part?"

"Sakura asked me once a long long time ago, when we were just out of the academy, that she wanted to make some onigiri but with tomato. It wasn't hard to figure out who she was making them for."

"She remembers something from that long ago? Something so small and pointless? Everything about this girl surprises me."

"I hope that I wasn't wrong and that you still like that. If not, I can go and order something else for you."

Sasuke smirked. He could see she was getting a little frazzled and worried. "So there is still some of the old Hinata in there after all."

"I don't know what you are talking about?" Hinata was putting up a front but Sasuke could see that he hit a sore spot. He should have let it go but that wasn't him.

"There is still some of that shy and timid Hinata in there that just wants to come out."
Hinata gave Sasuke a look. "Of course there is still some part of the old me. It will always be there no matter how much I want it to go away."

Sasuke watched the Hyuga. She wanted to get rid of her past, he knew exactly how that felt.

Soon the waiter came and dropped off their food.

"So what's your story?" Sasuke asked. "Since we are on the subject of your old self. How did a shy girl like you become an ANBU?"

"Why does everyone ask this question?" Hinata sighed. "There isn't really much to it. I finally decided I had enough and wanted a change, so I found a sensei that helped me to become the person that I am today."

Sasuke took a sip of his water and looked at the girl sitting across from her. She had changed a lot that was sure.

"So what about you?" Hinata looked back at him. "What is your story?"

Sasuke shrugged. "You know it. The old bag allowed me to be free of past crimes and I have been living on my own ever since."

"No, I mean the other stuff like why? And what have you been doing since you have been 'set free'?"

"I've just been going from town to town without worry of somebody coming after me or the dobe trying to convince me to come back to that god forsaken town. And as to the first question, there was nothing in Konoha worth me sticking around for."

"So there was nothing, not even your friends?"

"Not even my so called friends."

"They do care about you, you know. They were never the same after you left and when you asked to be left alone after the war, they were more than disappointed." Sasuke didn't respond. "But I think that they should be happy as long as you are happy. They shouldn't push you into something that you don't want to do."

Sasuke was so surprised that he actually chuckled.

"And what did I say that was so funny?"

"I just never thought that I would hear you actually disagree with the dobe. After all, you had been drooling over him since we were all kids." Hinata just sat there and gave Sasuke a glare. "So what happened with you and Naruto?"

That angry glare quickly dissipated to a look of almost sadness. "Nothing happened. I don't think you know this but back during the Pain invasion, so many years ago, I had confessed to Naruto that I loved him. It was during a stressful time and he didn't have time to respond, which I totally understood. But after the threat was over and after everything had settled, he had still not told me how he felt. I waited and I waited, and years went by and he had never responded to it, never even mentioned my confession. Instead he put distance between us. We no longer hang out or really talk."

"Idiot." Sasuke couldn't believe how stupid his former teammate was. To not respond to a girl's confession was wrong. Girls use to confess to him every single day, and even though he never felt the same way about them, he still had the decently to answer.

"So eventually I just gave up on him. A little while later I decided to make a change and I became more confident and a stronger person. When that happened boys started to take a real interest in me. Soon, even Naruto came up to me and asked me out."

"And you said yes and now you two are living happily ever after." Sasuke finished for her.

"Far from it. I said no. Naruto was only interested in the new me. He never took interested in me before than so it never felt real."

"I'm impressed Hyuga." Sasuke smirked. "You actually came to your senses and saw what an idiot he is."

Hinata smiled but shook her head. "Sure he might not be the smartest person in the world but I still admire him. To grow up the way he did and still carry a smile on his face takes a lot. I don't know if I would have been that way if I went through what he did. So I might not be interested in him romantically but I hope one day we can get past the awkwardness and become friends again."

"Well like I said, Naruto is an idiot. If I know him like I think I do, he will eventually realize that he was wrong and come and apologize and won't leave you alone until you forgive him."

"Maybe, we will have to wait and see, but for now how about we get going with the mission?"

The two left the bistro and headed back to the streets. The sun had set and the streets were now packed with people. The two headed for the section that had all the bars.

Sasuke motioned to one of the more crowded bars. "This is the place that Kiro tried to recruit me."

"I guess we will start there then."

"How do you want to approach this?"

"I was thinking you go in first and I will go in a little while later. I need to go back to the room and change."

Sasuke gave her a look. He did not see what she would need to change clothes but didn't ask. He simply shrugged and headed for the bar.

The Uchiha nodded towards the security guard who nodded back and opened the door to let him in, It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. He made his way to the large bar on the other side of the room.

The place was pretty decent like Sasuke remembered. It wasn't like the cheap scuzzy bars that he was use too. This one had large couches for the customers to sit on, the bar was polished wood, and the waitresses were all good looking young woman with shorts that were too short and too tight shirts. The place only let in the best looking and the wealthiest customers.

Sasuke leaned against the bar and ordered a simple sake. He sipped the beverage as he scanned the room. His eyes soon landed upon a man with ice blue hair, dark eyes, and a scar across his face. Just like he was hoping for, Kori Okamaru.

Standing behind his couch were two men with their arms crossed.

"Security." Sasuke continued to observe the target.

Also with Kori besides his security were a few other men sitting at the couches around him. They looked tough with tattoos and scars as well. Sasuke could only assume that they were shinobi as well. Kori also had two women on both sides of him. Waitresses were constantly stopping by his table and refilling.

"It seems like this guy is pretty popular. But where's Hinata?" Sasuke looked around but couldn't find his new partner anywhere. Deciding to move on with the plan without her, Sasuke downed the rest of his drink in one gulp before walking over to Kori and his gang.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous Uchiha." Kori smiled. "Now what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I'm here for the offer you made me a while ago. I changed my mind."

Kori gave him a questionable look. "What caused this change?"

Sasuke simply shrugged. "I've been pretty bored lately. Figured you could offer me some excitement."

There was a moment of silence and Sasuke was worried that Kori wouldn't fall for his story but then the moment past and Kori broke out into laughter. "You are an interesting one that's for sure Uchiha. I am sure I will have no problem offering you some excitement. Come! Have a seat!"

Sasuke nodded and took a seat on one of the couches. He glanced over at the other men who were staring him down. No doubt, sizing him up.

"Can I offer you a drink Sasuke?" Kori asked.

"Sake is just fine."

"Very well. Keke," Kori said to one of the women. "Go and fetch Sasuke here a bottle of the finest sake." The woman simply obeyed and walked away without a word. "They don't have much of a brain." Kori went on. "But they are nice to look at." He laughed.

Sasuke's fists tightened. He hated how this man demoralized women. He acted like they were some play thing. Sure he let women down coldly and without emotion but he still treated them like humans. If Sakura or Ino were here they would have surely punched this guy's lights out.

"Of course, these have been my entertainment for quite some time now and I am getting rather bored with them." Kori continued. "But it is so hard to find new play things that are of my standards."

Just than the door at the other side of the bar opened and Sasuke nearly choked on his drink.