TO PROTECT
CHAPTER 9
Hinata was nervous. She had agreed to meet Sasuke at the training grounds yesterday and had felt strangely fine then. Aside from a little confusion she had actually been looking forward to the prospect of an intense training session, so why the nervousness now? The flutter inside her belly was sickening, as likely to form frowns than smiles, and when she did end up smiling she had to force herself to stop. Whatever this feeling was she could not place a name to it. With Naruto there was absolutely no room for speculation, and this was not the same. Ever since that kiss . . .
Packing a lunch made for a nice distraction. If their training carried her through the entire day—as she hoped it would—then they'd need plenty of nutrition to help them through it. With two of them it was necessary to pack more than usual, especially since Sasuke ate like, well . . . a guy. She did not have to meet him for another half hour, which meant that the servants, who were trained to wake up early, hadn't even dressed for the day yet. Hinata planned it that way. Cooking was a type of mediation for her, so she preferred to be alone.
Needless to say she had not planned for an interruption. When the pricks nipped the back of her neck she spun around. "G-Gaara-san!" The bag of chilled shrimp nearly slipped from her hands. He eyed it with boredom, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe. There was a difference about him this morning, something mellow and inquisitive. "Y-You're up early," Hinata said.
"I do not sleep." Kami, the way he stared . . . She tried her very best to avoid any sort of contact with Gaara. He was so mysterious, an enigma not really meant to be studied. The one comfort she had was that he would never try to approach her in the Hyuga home, but here he was. Was Neji-niisan even up at this hour?
"E-Everyone sleeps," she said. A practical response.
"He doesn't allow it." Hinata cocked her head. Was he playing with her?
"He?"
"Shukaku." Hinata had never heard of Shukaku before. Gaara detached himself from the wall, startling her.
"He's a sand demon." He said it so casually, and yet the drop in Hinata's stomach was sickening. "I wouldn't expect you to have heard of him before. He was created from the ashes of a monk, initially used to protect the very village he now threatens." All right. If Gaara was going to pursue this, it wasn't really in her power to derail him. She wouldn't even know how to go about it. So she entertained him.
"So . . . how does he prevent you from sleeping? I-Is this a person we're talking about?"
"He lives inside of me." Gaara tapped his chest with the tips of his fingers. "In my head, bound to my soul. He does not sleep, therefore I do not sleep."
"I don't understand," Hinata said, shaking. "If he is in your body then you must sleep. Can you really not . . ."
"I meditate." The lunch was forgotten for the moment. This was the most absorbed she had been in any conversation in a long time. Even though she did not fully grasp what he was telling her, it was obvious how heavy a matter it was and how dangerous it must be. 'This is it,' she thought in awe. 'This is what I'm always feeling from him—what everyone feels from him. This is what makes him dangerous.' Balling her hands together, she gathered her courage and said, "A sand demon, you say? How does one infuse themselves with—"
"I was born this way," he said flatly. "My father." She blanched.
"You're father?"
"He made me this way. My curse. It killed my mother, invoked the hatred of my entire village, and my uncle. Do you understand?" He delivered the facts so calmly, but Hinata thought she could sense something a bit more rash, a bit more eager—an urgency. This couldn't have been something he shared with everyone, so why her? "Well," he continued with a pique of interest. "Am I a monster? Do you see why my siblings must be here, and my mentor? Didn't you think it was strange that your father agreed to take strangers into his house by request of your Hokage?"
"I . . ." Yes. It was strange. Hanabi thought it was strange, and Neji certainly had no love for their guests. If this is what made Gaara dangerous, if this is what prompted the Hokage to take such unusual precautions, than what in the world was her father thinking letting them stay here? Hiashi must have known what he was taking in. If that was the case, Hinata may have been the only other person besides her father and the Hokage that knew the truth; that there weren't just four guests, but five.
Hinata realized all this, but was not anywhere near as afraid as she should have been. She knew the Shukaku must be dangerous, even though she didn't exactly know how dangerous. But this was Gaara's burden more than anyone else—that was obvious. What a devastatingly lonely occupation, being the vessel for a demon. It was evident in every word he said. "It must be lonely," she said aloud. Gaara raised his head at her. She blushed. "Wh-what I mean is . . . well, I would feel awful if my own father betrayed me like that."
"Betrayal?" he echoed darkly. Well, that's what it was, wasn't it?
"Fathers don't do things like that to their sons," she said. "Certainly not their babies." Gaara turned thoughtful. He studied her with a scrutiny that made her look away.
"Is this what one calls pity?" Hinata let her eyelids fall. Yes, it was pity. She had been born a sympathetic creature, untainted by the biological possession of hatred. The desire to relate to others was too strong in her, so naturally she found herself finding empathy with Gaara. She was lonely as well.
"You are training with the Uchiha today, are you not?" Hinata's eyes flew open.
"H-How do you know that?"
"I take interest in him. He is like me; I see it in his eyes. Do not think that you can change him, or that he will change on his own. That severed heart of his, that parched vengeance, all of it is something I recognize. He aches to kill too."
Now the fear did come. She had not been through what Sasuke had been through, or Gaara. She was in no position to argue, to cast judgment. Her eyes, shining with fear, seemed to appease Gaara, as if he'd been waiting for something to sink in. "Do not allow yourself too get close to him," he said, turning to leave. "For an avenger has no room for love."
Sasuke was waiting for her when she arrived. He was leaning against the target post tossing a kunai in the air. When Hinata showed up he was instantly aware, and snatched the kunai out of the air. "Glad you could make it," he said, removing himself from the target. "You're late."
"Y-Yes, I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "I was talking to—I was making lunch. For the both of us. I-It seems you're here early."
"I'm an early riser," he replied, eyeing the bentos suspended from her hand. "Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
Sasuke had a meeting with his team later on. He told her that. The hours left to them would be scarce in comparison, no more than six hours. That was good enough. It was his intention to start with weapon handling. Projectiles like kunais and throwing stars were a simple mastery compared to her Gentle Fist, a technique she knew more about than him to begin with.
They started with the targets. They worked on precision before distance, and when distance was achieved they worked on strength. Hinata retained Sasuke's pointers from last time, so it was not difficult for her. To Sasuke's pleasant surprise she was quick to adapt. Maybe it was because she spent so much time training on her own that she learned to be so ambitious. Genetics played no small part either. Hyuga's were born to be fighters, like the Uchihas.
From their short time together Sasuke was able to learn a lot about his companion. She had an unexpected acumen in battle, and her spirit was solid. Her desire to improve was admirable. However, even though her spirit was strong in ambition, it did not thirst for the blade like his did. If there was a way to circumnavigate a fight, she would do it. She was meek and kind, a rarity amongst humans in all her purity, and although this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it wasn't exactly a good thing either. Not when it came to tournaments.
In terms of the Hyuga standard, Hinata did not come anywhere near close. The Hyuga clan was full of stiffs, devout worshippers of honor and status. Cold individuals they were, even more than the Uchiha's had been. Hinata wasn't like that. The desire to become strong and the desire to become a true Hyuga were two completely different things in her mind. It didn't consume her. Not only because it couldn't, but because she wouldn't let it.
This was something Sasuke had never observed in anyone before. He valued strength as much as any Hyuga. The desire to not only meet, but exceed the Uchiha standard is what made him who he was. Therefore it was odd to him that he would find Hinata, in all her opposing nature, to be admirable. He liked it. It suited her.
That is to say, there were things he didn't like. That she was forced to act a certain way, to compete in an environment she had no business competing in, made him angry. Furious, actually. For reasons he couldn't fathom he was concerned for her wellbeing, and obsessively so, if he was being honest.
They stopped for lunch about four hours in. The sun was beating down on them at this point, making them tired and thirsty. Sasuke consumed his share with even more fervor than before, only offering Hinata one muffled compliment. Hinata appreciated it. Any compliment from Sasuke was worth ten from another. He wasn't the complimenting type.
When lunch was over, they stretched. Sasuke related to her the basics of stealth and evading projectiles. Despite being so nervous in the beginning, there did come a point where Hinata was having fun. Sasuke was an amazing teacher. Thinking of training in the future under his care excited her. When six hours just about fell to seven, and Sasuke realized that he was going to be much later than he planned in meeting up with his teammates, he stopped.
"That's enough," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "You did well, but you still need to work on your footing. Your Byakugan will help you a lot with dodging, but it hardly means anything if you're not quick enough. Always remember, a good offense is a good defense. If you don't want to be attacked then don't give them the opportunity." He smirked at that. "But easier said than done, right? If you practice this hard every day, I think you'll ace the preliminaries no problem."
"Thank you, Sasuke-san," Hinata said. Nothing compared to the afterglow of an intense training session. She was happier than she had been in a very long time, and never so satisfied with herself. The only other time that had come close was when she first achieved the Byakugan. "You're a great sensei."
Sasuke was a little surprised by the compliment. "It's not a big deal. If I was that good I wouldn't need a sensei myself, after all. Thanks anyway. And about tomorrow; we'll have to start earlier than we did today. Skip the lunch if you have to. This'll be my first offense with the team, so Kakashi will let me slide. I won't always have the luxury of being late, and I don't want him snooping. This is our project. No one else's." Hinata couldn't help the crash of guilt. He was sacrificing time with his own teammates to train her, and now he was risking getting in trouble, too?
"I-I'm sorry," she said, cradling her forehead. "I promise I'll be here on time and still have lunch. It's dangerous to train without eating properly. I just got caught up talking to Gaara-san, so . . ."
Oops.
The middle of Sasuke's brow twisted. His pupils dilated, and for a second it looked as if he had stopped breathing. "What did you say?"
"U-Um, well, I . . ." Oh no.
"You were talking to Gaara?" He came closer, his expression snarled with a livid urgency. "Did you meet him here or did he follow you?" Hinata was never one for telling lies. If they didn't work on Shino, they were even less likely to work on Sasuke.
"Gaara-san is . . . s-staying with me—us, the Hyuga's—at the, um . . . estate."
"What?" he exploded. He grabbed her by the shoulders, squeezing. "Is your father out of his mind? Does he invite every foreign weirdo into his home, or just the really dangerous ones?"
"H-Hokage-sama—"
"Figures!" Sasuke threw his hands up angrily. "It's always politics, isn't it? Two relics conspiring together to—"
"I'll have to ask you to take a step back, Uchiha." Hinata's heart clawed into her throat.
"Niisan!" Sasuke turned on him with his raging eyes.
"Neji Hyuga?"
"Yes," Neji said tightly, mockingly. "And you are the Uchiha. I am Hinata's cousin. I've come to retrieve her at the request of her father, not that it's any of your business. If you'll excuse us—"
"I don't think so." He boldly pulled Hinata behind him. "Just what the hell are you stiff-necked Hyuga's thinking, bringing someone like Gaara into your home? Are they suicidal?"
"Insult my clan one more time and it'll be your last." Hinata was accustomed to Neji's anger, but even she rarely heard him sound like this. He really meant it. "And the reason behind Sabaku Gaara's stay is no concern of yours. Kindly step aside, if you please, before I make you." He thrust his eyes on Hinata. "Hinata-sama, enough of this foolishness. Come with me." Sasuke was still holding her arm.
"No. She will not go back to that house where Sabaku is." Hinata yanked her arm away and stepped between them.
"S-Stop. Thank you for worrying about me, Sasuke-san, but I can't just not go home. Gaara-san hasn't been a problem, and I don't think he will be. M-My father is there after all, and Hokage-sama is keeping close watch over him. It will be fine."
"You can't know that," Sasuke said without deliberation. "You don't see what I see when I look at him. He is dangerous and can't be trusted. His own village booted him out. You were there when he explained why there were only three competitors from Suna. It's because they didn't want to die competing against him." Hinata folded her lips in, biting into them with her teeth.
"E-Even so, where could I go?"
"You could stay with me." Everyone, including Sasuke, was taken off guard by that one. Neji, who was getting angrier and angrier by the second, looked like he might jump into battle stance.
"That's hardly appropriate," he said. His pupils were tiny dots of mists. "Hinata-sama stays in her own house under my watch. I am her guardian and so I will protect her without fail. Do not interfere."
This was unexpected. When it came down to it, Sasuke knew relatively little about the Hyugas, and maybe even less about Hinata. He'd had no idea she had a cousin who was . . . like this. It was a painful reminder that he had no family anymore. There was no one for him to protect in it. The only other Uchiha he promised to kill. "If you think you can," he acceded, stepping away, "then I guess I have no choice but to trust you. But believe me, if you go back on your word, if it looks like you won't be able to handle the job, I will have no choice but to 'interfere.'" He made sure to say these words with clarity.
He cast one last glance at Hinata and departed from the two. "Five-thirty!" he called behind him. "Be there early."
*AN*
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