Chapter 7: Healing

A piercing scream jolted Hinata from sleep. Byakugan activated reflexively, Hinata leapt from the bed and sprinted soundlessly through the bathroom and to the door that connected Sasuke's bedroom to hers. Standing in the doorway to Sasuke's bedroom, Hinata gasped and froze in momentary shock. Before her was a sight she hadn't seen in seven years and she thought she'd never see again.

Sasuke was having a nightmare.

A very violent and emotionally damaging nightmare by the way he thrashed around gasping and groaning on the sweat soaked sheets.

Hinata mentally slapped herself out of her stunned stagger and rushed to Sasuke's side. "Sasuke. Sasuke!" Hinata tried to keep her voice calm but loud enough for him to hear her as she leaned over the bed slightly, knowing better than to try to touch Sasuke when he was in this state.

Sasuke's eyes flew open, black swirling in a red sea, and he bolted upright as he panted and tried to separate the dream from reality.

"Hi… nata…"

"Yes, Sasuke. I'm here." Hinata sat on the edge of the bed, still uncertain about touching him.

"He… he's dead. …I killed my brother." Sasuke suddenly sounded very young and very lost, tears streaming silently down his face.

Hinata's arms reached out and wrapped around Sasuke in a comforting hug without a second thought. Hinata rocked back and forth gently as she hummed a lullaby like she used to do when she was a nurse in the pediatrics ward.

It wasn't until she was halfway through the final chorus that her mind caught up with her and she realized she'd have to say something soon. How do you comfort someone who'd just accomplished their life's goal of killing their older brother? Justifiable though it was; this was the same older brother who'd mercilessly murdered their entire clan after all; it was still fratricide.

What was she supposed to say? There, there Sasuke. So you killed your brother (after leaving the village to join public enemy number one), no one will look at or treat you any differently… especially not Naruto (your "brother") or Neji-nii-san (my "brother").

In the deepest part of her, a small voice wished that Sasuke wouldn't want to discuss anything. The moment the thought flitted across her consciousness, Hinata banished it. Tightening her arms around Sasuke, she flushed, feeling tremendously guilty. What kind of fiancée; what kind of friend; what kind of person was she to make such a selfish wish while another human being was in such astounding emotional pain?

Mentally shaking herself from her thoughts, Hinata leaned back and wiped some hair from Sasuke's eyes. Gently moving her fingertips across his brow and down his left cheek in a comforting caress.

Sasuke leaned into her hand, his eyes closed, as his breathing calmed.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Hinata asked quietly, knowing from experience not to presume that Sasuke would want to talk about such a painful (and traumatic) event.

"No."

Considering her previous train of thought, Hinata assumed she'd feel relieved upon hearing Sasuke's answer. Only she didn't; she felt hurt.

She must have tensed or something, because Sasuke quickly elaborated on his answer. "It's not that I don't trust you. I do, more than anyone else. Its just… there are some things… about that day… that I'll never be able to talk about."

Hinata stared at Sasuke. "You feel guilty." She knew she hit the nail on the head when Sasuke's shoulders' tensed. "He committed a horrible and unspeakable act. But he was still your brother. It's ok to feel guilty for killing him. Frankly, I would be disturbed if you were indifferent to his death." When Sasuke started to pull away from her, Hinata grasped his shoulders firmly and turned him to face her, staring at him intently until he met her eyes.

"I love you." Hinata declared, trying to force the words into his skull and shove away the darkness clinging inside of him. "And your family loved you. Your parents would be proud of you, I know it, and they would want you to be happy. You have honored them by avenging their death and now you have come back to defend the village that they helped to establish, watched over, and died to protect. Fighting for Konoha and its citizens is the only other duty you have as an Uchiha."

Sasuke smiled, weakly, "Your forgetting one other very important duty, Anata."

Hinata-the-fiancée-to-the-last-of-the-Uchiha-clan instantly became Hinata-the-human-tomato. Sasuke had only used that endearment once (as it was almost exclusively used by married couples) when he returned from Team 7's famous mission to the Land of Waves.

Hinata was strolling through the market, carrying her woven basket to help accommodate the herbs she needed for her newest poultice. As she neared her favorite shop, she heard Ino's voice shouting accusingly above the crowd.

"What?! You have to be joking!"

"Get real!" Another girl's voice shouted back defensively, "I'd never joke about something so serious, Ino-pig!"

Hinata sighed, shaking her head lightly. Gossiping was so– wait! Hinata froze, her heart pounding in her ears. Only one person called Ino, 'Ino-pig'. Sakura-san. That means…

"Sasuke almost died! Well, technically, he did

Hinata didn't wait to hear the rest. Abruptly turning, she half-walked, half-jogged toward the training grounds, trying desperately to keep herself from running.

She soon found herself on the outskirts of Sasuke's favorite training ground, where, sure enough, she saw a young ninja with his back to her, tell-tale Uchiha fan staring at her. Startlingly, her fiancé wasn't training. He was just staring at the log that, as Kiba animatedly told her, Naruto was tied to during Team 7's genin test.

Sensing he wasn't alone, Sasuke half-turned so he could look over his shoulder at who dared to intrude on his solitude. Recognizing her, Sasuke fully turned to face her, his face instantly losing its glare.

Hinata gasped, eyes wide at the numerous bandages adorning nearly every inch of Sasuke's visible skin. Dropping her basket lightly on the ground, she tentatively walked towards Sasuke. She had desperately hoped that Sakura was just being over-dramatic, as she usually was when Sasuke was concerned. Seeing the evidence in front of her, she was getting the sinking feeling that Sakura had been telling the truth.

"Sasuke, I-I heard…" Hinata trailed off as she stood in front of Sasuke, gingerly resting her palm against his left cheek, fingers lightly brushing the edges of the bandage there.

Without warning Hinata found herself inches from Sasuke, one of his arms wrapped around the her lower back, his hand on her opposite hip and his other hand tangled in her hair, guiding the back of her neck up and a little to the right. As Hinata's mouth opened to let out an instinctive gasp, she suddenly found herself unable.

Sasuke's mouth was demanding and passionate, his hands never idle. Hinata and Sasuke had kissed before, having been together for years, but never quite this… hard, this desperate. It was like Sasuke was trying to devour her; branding the dimensions of herself into his memory using his mouth and hands, vigorously. She frantically tried to keep up as Sasuke lips massaged and sucked her own. His hands ran through her hair, cradled her head, and caressed her neck, back, sides, and thighs. She gasped at the hand sliding up the length of her thigh, from the back of her knee all the way to just under her bottom.

Sasuke took the opening and slipped his tongue along her bottom lip before delving it past her parted lips and caressing her tongue. Hinata moaned, her hands grasping her fiancé's collar desperately as his tongue coaxed hers into playing with his. When her tongue followed his back into his mouth she heard (more like felt, really) him chuckle before promptly sucking on her tongue and lost all fuzzy thoughts still clouding her head. He finally released her tongue and detached his lips from hers and rested his forehead on hers, lightly, panting for breath. His black pearl's stared into her white ones. The intensity in his eyes took away what little breath she had reclaimed.

Sasuke maneuvered her around until her back was resting on the training log he had been staring at so intently only moments before. When he kissed her this time, he didn't wait for her to open her mouth, he licked the seam of her lips. And this time when his tongue entered her mouth, she sucked on it, hoping it would give Sasuke the same tingles it gave her. She guessed it did, because Sasuke groaned and pressed himself closer to her, pushing her back into the log harder, one of his legs thrusting between hers, and one of his hands reaching up and unzipping her jacket.

Sasuke pulled back to stare at her, searching her face. He seemed to be checking to make sure she was ok with what was happening.

Hinata smiled, her left hand reaching up to caress his unscathed cheek while her right hand tugged on his collar, trying to send him the message to continue kissing her (she wasn't entirely sure her voice would work). Her right leg lifted and moved against the thigh that was in-between her legs. Truthfully, she had just been trying to find a more comfortable position, but apparently it was the right thing to do.

Sasuke smiled and leaned in close to her. His hands slipped inside her jacket and under her shirt, caressing her stomach and sides. She shivered lightly at the sensation and her back arched reflexively. Sasuke groaned again, deep in his chest, and bent forward and surprised her by bypassing her lips completely and attaching his mouth to her neck.

Somewhere in the back of Hinata's mind, a part of her was speculating if gasping so frequently in such a short amount of time was healthy or not. However, when Sasuke moved from lightly kissing to sucking and delicately biting her neck, she decided she would just have to risk it.

"Sa-a-suke," Hinata moaned when said ninja sucked on her pulse point vigorously before nipping at the flesh with his teeth and immediately soothing the bite with languorous sweeps of his tongue.

Kissing his way back up her neck, he paused a beat to affectionately nip at the sensitive skin just behind her ear before continuing to her lips. He lingered just shy of fully kissing her to whisper "Anata".

And for the next half hour she found her mouth too preoccupied to gasp.

That had been the first time they had made-out (that day was also the reason she decided to forever wear her Konoha headband around her neck) and the memory still made her flustered. At age twelve, she hadn't been entirely sure what the sparks in the pit of her stomach had meant. At age fifteen, she knew exactly what the heat from that recollection meant and it made her already blushing cheeks even more pronounced.

"Hinata?" Sasuke's tentative voice permeated her muddled thoughts of what Sasuke's lips and tongue could, and did, do. She responded by squeaking and trying to dispel the naughty thoughts in her head by shaking it quickly.

Sasuke chuckled, his smile genuine and unforced this time. Seeing it had Hinata returning the smile reflexively, her shoulders losing the tension she had unknowingly built up.

"You were spacing out. Care to share your thoughts, hime?" Sasuke purred the last sentence. His words sliding sensuously into her mind, dragging her thoughts back to where they had been only moments before…

Hinata pursed her lips slightly and pouted at Sasuke. "You're a very wicked ninja to tease me so." Of course the cretin knew exactly what she was thinking. After all, he was there!

Sasuke smirked and held up his hands in surrender. "You're right; but it's just so easy to tease you sometimes. I can't- " a yawn forced him to pause, " -resist."

Hinata smiled gently at the cute picture Sasuke made when he yawned. "You could try to withstand the temptation. Go to sleep, Sasuke. Your ribs are still healing and you are exhausted." Hinata braced her arms on the bed so she could stand and return to bed herself when Sasuke's hand grabbed the wrist closest to him.

"Stay with me tonight. I've never had a nightmare when you sleep next to me. And… I don't want to have another one tonight." Sasuke stared intently at his knees under his sheets, embarrassed to be admitting to a weakness even if only to Hinata.

"Ok, Sasuke."

The last Uchiha moved over so Hinata would have adequate room and immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her snugly into his embrace.

Hinata sighed as Sasuke's warmth quickly spread to compensate for the cool sheets below her body and wrapped her right arm across his chest and placed her head on Sasuke's shoulder.

And in the comfort of each other's arms, they slept.


The morning was clear, the sun was bright, and the birds were chirping. It was as if the angels were flying around saying, "Good mourning! Life is be-u-tiful."

And it pissed Sasuke off.

It wasn't the bird songs or the sunshine (per say), rather the lack of curtains on his bedroom window. He'd had a set of very nice royal blue, light blocking blinds before he had left when he was twelve. But apparently they had somehow vanished from existence during the course of three years.

Ooooo, spooky.

And once again, Sasuke seriously pondered if killing his rabid fans was truly a crime. He hadn't even opened his eyes yet and he was pissed off.

Sasuke sighed and sat up, turning to glare at his uncovered window. It really wasn't the sunshine's fault. After all, he didn't mind sunlight and it wasn't like he liked the rain. The rain made his already obsessive fans go ape shit over him. They all lost their minds at the thought of him walking alone in the rain. Mysterious, they called it, enigmatic and exotic (and sexy from the older fans). They said he was so deep.

Seriously. Wouldn't it be more humane if the Hokage just let him put his fans down? You know, eternally.

It wasn't like he walked, talked, or acted any differently when the weather changed. It was just the climate.

He was sure if he asked, Hinata would explain it, or at least try,after all, Sasuke still wasn't completely convinced that his fiancée and, oh say, Sakura, Ino, and Karin were the same species.

Really, he was still waiting for Shikamaru's analysis.

'Speaking of Hinata,' Sasuke thought as he walked into the kitchen. There was his beautiful fiancée, mumbling to herself as she looked for the pots and pans needed to make breakfast.

"Need some help?"

Hinata jumped at the sound of Sasuke's voice. "Good morning, Sasuke." Hinata walked over and gave Sasuke a quick peck on the lips. "I was going to make us some breakfast, but…"

"But? Did you forget where the pots and pans are?" Sasuke prompted when Hinata trailed off.

"No, I didn't forget. It's just… they're all… missing."

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

Hinata sighed and took his hand. She brought him over to the kitchen cabinets and started opening all the doors, revealing the dust coated, empty space inside. "Everything was fine the last time I was here-"

'Over three years ago' was left unsaid.

"-but when I started looking this morning, ever cupboard was empty. Look, you can still see the indentations of where appliances sat, where the dust is thinner."

And the day just got better. "My curtains are missing as well. The blue ones my Aunt Misaki embroidered my initials into the corners of. They were also here when I left. Dammit, I could've sworn I locked all the windows before I left!"

Hinata's eyes widened, one of her hands rising to cover her mouth. "You don't think… a t-thief?!"

"Of sorts." Sasuke sighed, "Why won't those psychotic, fanatical, kleptomaniac fu-"

"Sasuke!"

"Sorry. But they are-"

"Sasuke."

"I know, I know." Sasuke sighed at the warning tone in her voice. Somehow he nearly always ended up the bad guy whenever the two of them discussed his following. "Even if I don't like them, I should respect them as fellow human beings and members of the same hidden village. Yes, hime. However, when said… people, steal my clothing and worldly possessions, constantly follow me around, try and take pictures of me bathing, break my eardrums and shove food and gifts in my face, and even break one of my windows, sneak into my bedroom, and try to cut a lock of my hair, one tends to be more than a little intolerant."

Hinata raised one fist up to her face, hoping to conceal her growing smile. "They," her cough sounded dubious to Sasuke, "they tried to cut a-a lock of your hair?"

Sasuke pouted at her twinkling eyes, which only seemed to encourage her. "Yes, they tried to cut a lock of my hair. One silver lining of leaving when I did is that, thankfully, most of them hadn't gone through puberty yet so at least they didn't try to rape me."

Hinata knew he was serious. Really, should understood the truth in his words and the weight of the subject, but it was just too much. Sasuke gave her a mild glare while she giggled.

"I… I'm sorry, Sasuke." She said when she calmed down.

Sasuke sighed, already forgiving her. "Come on. Let's go see what else is missing."


"They took… my clothes."

"Well, they wouldn't have fit you anymore so-"

"THEY TOOK… my clothes!"

Hinata sighed. There would be no reasoning with him at this point. "Hai, Sasuke. They took your clothes. And all of your bed linens, aside from the ones we slept on, the curtains, all the towels, any shampoo or lotion you left, the kitchen appliances and crockery, and a few of your baby photos and other memorabilia." Hinata watched in concern as Sasuke started to literally shack in anger. Should she call the Hokage or try and calm him down first? Just because a few of his ribs were bruised didn't make her believe his skills were substandard.

Hinata took a deep breath and plunged ahead, "Sasuke, what are you going to do? Please remember your ribs are still healing…"

Sasuke's expression changed from malice to annoyance to contemplative and, finally, to sly. "I'm going to hire some ninjas…"


Sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoyed! ((Muwah))