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Cantabile
Chapter Six: Dream of You
01:
Kami, if he was confused before, he was completely brain dead right now.
"Sasuke, wake up."
"What now?"
He knew it was unhealthy to hope. He didn't realize it also killed him not to feel as if maybe, possibly, she felt the same way to.
"C-could you peel this orange for me?"
"You woke me up for that?"
He knew that throughout the years, through junior high and high school, through her family's coldness and his brother's arrest…
He knew that he loved her.
He never would have thought that perhaps…
"Sasuke…I need to ask you something."
Perhaps, throughout the chaos that was their lives, Hyuuga Hinata may love him too.
"Hmm?"
"Sasuke…w-why do you do these things?"
"What things?"
Since he met her, he had been subconsciously doing little tiny things; a brush of the shoulder, a little touch of the hand. Why? Because, subconsciously, he wanted her to notice it, and blush and be flustered over it.
"T-these things…even when I yell, you listen…even when I ask you to do something you don't want to do, you do it. W-why?"
He wished he could take back his answer.
"What do you think, Hina?"
She ran. Her eyes widened, her jaw slacked, and she ran.
She knocked over a crate of oranges over in the process.
He was left to pick up the pieces.
Sasuke dragged himself to his room, and collapsed on his bed.
Only dreams would take him now.
02:
A ten year old Sasuke sits in front of the television, casting his eyes to the window, to the pouring rain outside.
"Aniki…"
His mother and father paced the floor in another room, constantly glancing at the door, praying for one man, boy actually, to walk through the door.
The news on the television buzzed.
"Yesterday, a mobster fight took place in a playground near Konoha High. Blood and rain poured last night and many bodies were found. Those alive sustained fatal injuries. However, a few who are well enough to speak have been taken into custody for interrogation."
Sasuke clamped his hands over his ears.
His mother and father's voice still seeped through the cracks.
"If Itachi gets arrested one more time, they'll throw him into prison! What if he killed someone in the mob fight? Kami, he'll--,"
"Shh…calm down dear…I'm sure he didn't do anything foolish."
Suddenly, the door banged open, nearly breaking the hinges.
Sasuke ran to the door, expecting to find his brother there. He expected him to have his snowboarding clothes on; because that was what his brother said he was going to do. He was going to snowboard in a faraway city Sasuke never heard of.
Instead, he found his brother in his uniform, bleeding heavily, with a tiny, frail little girl holding him up.
She couldn't be any older than he was.
Blank white eyes locked onto black, obsidian ones.
"I found him on the street."
A few months later, after everything had cooled down, after Itachi was arrested, Sasuke met the girl again.
It was raining. Like it always did when they met.
He was walking home from school, umbrella in hand, shivering from the cold.
He turned the corner and ran straight into a wet obstacle.
"Oof!"
They nearly fell, but Sasuke managed to steady them both.
When he realized his arms were wrapped around her, he pulled them back and blushed.
Only them did he notice that droplets were still flowing down her face, even underneath the umbrella.
Motherly instincts kicked in.
"You know…I have hot cocoa at my place."
Sasuke sat upright, sweating from one horrifying nightmare and one bittersweet dream.
"Sasuke!"
For the thousandth time since they met, their eyes locked.
Hinata sighed and continuing patting his forehead with a cool, wet towel.
"You were heating up. I think you have a fe--," Hinata began. Cold fingers pried her hands off his forehead and held them in his own hands.
"Hina…we need to talk."
03:
They sat across from each other, neither one speaking.
Who would want to speak first anyway?
Sasuke sitting on the bed, fingers entwined together, staring at Hinata, who was looking very frightened in a little stool beside his bed.
The very first threads of light were seeping through his windows, hitting them both.
Kami…
"A-ano…"
"Why did you ask me that yesterday?" He wasn't going to stop now. She was either going to take it or leave it.
If all else failed he could move to Chicago.
Hinata's face was bright pink, if Sasuke had bothered to look. His eyes seemed to be fastened to her toes, painted bright blue, most likely by Sakura or Hanabi…
He loved the little silly things she did.
He even loved the fact that she was too naïve to know he loved her, as hard as it was to believe.
"I…Nao asked me something…whether I assumed that you…that y-you did those things for me because you w-were me friend or…gomen…I shouldn't have asked…" Hinata mumbled, suddenly very interested in her fingers.
Sasuke sighed and let his head fall.
So someone put that thought in her head.
Hinata blinked back tears as she stared at her cold, slender fingers.
She was such a coward.
She really did love him!
She knew he would never hurt her. He had the power, the strength to break her into a million pieces, to break her heart to a million pieces…
And yet, she knew he never would.
He was a knight in armor, but she was just a spoiled brat of a princess.
What was stopping her?
Naruto-kun…
Hinata blinked once, and tears fell.
She decided.
She would solve her problem with Naruto before telling Sasuke. Sasuke didn't deserve to have a half confession just because she didn't have a clear conscious.
She would tell Naruto of her old feelings, but assure him that that was all that they were. Old.
Why was she doing this?
Because she needed to assure herself that what happened with Naruto had ended.
That what will happen with Sasuke will last.
Finally, Hinata smiled bitterly against her tears.
Taking a deep breath, Hinata lifted her head.
"Let's go cook breakfast, ne?"
He thought she didn't care.
But the fact was that she cared too much. So much that she was going to try and go against her demons.
It was a shame he didn't know that.
It would make their life a whole lot easier.
Chapter Six End.
Beta.
Thank you for reading!