--10--

Eyelids were heavy, but a particular airiness in her head was persistent enough in telling that she had enough of rest. She whined and squirmed around, burying her nose into a soft and tender pillow. As slumber was slowly retreating, Hinata took a deep breath and her brain clouded over, as if she had just inhaled some hallucinogenic substance. As if there was a special pressure at the top of her head, which squeezed her brain and pulled a dark curtain over her conscious. And the bizarre thing was – she liked this sensation.

She took another deep breath, absorbing greedily this strong yet fresh scent, trying to bury herself completely into the woolly pillow. He resembled a cat, stretching and rubbing into a toy she loved. Hinata whined again and opened her eyes slowly. And an alarm went off in her head.

The pillow was dark and inwrought with various shapes. Hinata knew for sure that her pillow was white. A bird chirped above her head and Hinata sat up in a flash. She blinked rapidly as there was a bright light, penetrating her eyes, and her face was slightly swollen. A few black-blue strands were wildly dishevelled at the top of her head.

It was green all around. Flowers of various colours were blooming. Feathery light butterflies were fluttering around them. The garden, Hinata remembered and looked down. She had been lying on a lush lawn, in between flower and vegetable beds, and her right hand was clutching… a dark sweater. It took a fractional part of a nanosecond for her to realize, whom that sweater belonged to. Hyuuga sprang back from the garment as if she'd got burned.

But her right hand kept on clutching the sleeve of the sweater. Hinata blinked and reached out her left hand, feeling slightly at ease. Gripping the garment firmly, she drew it to her face and, her suspicion growing; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. Her senses were taken over by the same scent and she pulled the sweater away surprised. It was neither perfume nor naphthalene. Just some natural scent soaked into the garment. And she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Hinata stood up with the sweater in hand, looking around. She couldn't remember properly when and how she'd fallen asleep, but the fact that she'd dragged Uchiha into her haven, remained deeply engraved in her memory.

Compared to her first journey to the garden, when everything had happened so quickly, when everything basically had blurred in front of her eyes, yesterday them both crossed the forest slowly and carefully. As she led him, keeping a hold of his hand, Hinata could feel how tense Uchiha was.

It was a strange tension, because his muscles were relaxed, his breath and steps were even… One wouldn't have even thought that this individual was blind. But that weird tension was suspended in the air, as if it was electric and one could expect sparks any minute.

She then had tried not to notice it and just kept on moving. Passing the more complicated obstacles, and warning Sasuke about pits and humps in the way. Apart from those few words, which saved him from stumbling, they didn't talk at all. They were followed only by the sounds of occasionally cracking dry branches and the crunching snow beneath their feet.

Even when they were finally in the garden, Hinata hadn't explained anything. She just wobbled over to the lawn in between the flower and vegetable beds, and collapsed there, losing her conscious. She didn't know what happened to Sasuke.

She gripped the sweater tightly and left the lawn, walking down the lush beds of flowers towards the exit. She stopped after a few more steps and started down at the dark ground in between the beds. Her right foot was standing next to a deeply imprinted footstep. And it was too big to be hers. Following the elaborate footsteps with her eyes she noticed that they rimmed every single bed and every single path. As if the owner of the footsteps had been trying to measure the garden and form a general image of it.

Sensitive ear caught a faint sound and she looked up in a flash only to see Uchiha flying into her at full speed. She didn't release a sound. Her eyes turned the size of her fists. Her head still ached a little bit, but she perked up immediately and an entity, hiding in a dark corner of her brain, took over her body.

The foot shod with white boot was almost there, when Hinata threw the sweater up and, once Uchiha's right foot was caught into its folds, she pulled the garment down. Sasuke had no other option left than to somersault above Hyuuga and reach out his right hand forwards, in order to buffer the impact.

He turned over suspended above Hinata and fell straight headfirst onto the ground. But once his right palm reclined against the ground, he pushed off the surface like on a spring. He turned another 360 degrees air-borne and landed some 10 metres away from her, ploughing deep tracks with his feet.

Hinata turned to face him immediately. The sweater was down on the ground already and she was ready to defend in any way possible. Her heart was beating like a bird, locked in a cage tad too small. She felt as if she had been kicked out of the bed into a battlefield. Well, it was something like that anyways. Hinata eyed Sasuke from head to toes.

He was kneeling on his right knee, his left leg was pulled back right under him, his right hand was leaning on the ground. Soil was collecting beneath his fingernails. Left without his sweater, he was now wearing a dark tanktop, which only emphasized his pale skin and it seemed it was shining. Hinata shook her head, bending her fingers and getting ready to fight in the Hyuuga style. She didn't want to fight him. She didn't even want to train with him. She had no idea what was wrong with him. On the other hand, Uchiha was prone to the weirdest provocations ever – it could've even been a butterfly landing on his shoulder.

The raven-black hair was damp with sweat and stuck to his forehead. His eyes were open and they stared at something right in front of him, but Hinata could see he was listening. Hinata felt a nerve twitch somewhere deep inside. She couldn't tell exactly what nerve it was. Her mind told her that she couldn't fight Uchiha, because:

* he was too dangerous; and

* he was blind and it would've been unfair to use byakugan against him.

But her whole body was basically shaking in excitement, eager about the oncoming clash.

"U…" she sighed. "Uchiha-kun… why? How?" she blinked.

"You breathe too loud," Sasuke breathed and pounced forward, like a cat chasing a mouse.

Hinata crossed her arms and fended his attack, jumping backwards and avoiding his foot, targeted directly at her face. While she was thinking feverishly, what the hell was wrong with him, her body did the entire job automatically, trying to avoid Uchiha's attacks. It was strange, but Hinata had no fear. She just didn't want to train so early in the morning.

She looked up, trying to make sure through the glassy roof of the garden, whether it was really morning, and exactly that moment Uchiha gripped her shirt firmly. Hinata gasped realizing her mistake tad too late, but he was entrenched already and, twisting his arm, he tore her up from the ground and flung her over himself as if she was as light as a feather.

Hinata had had way too many training sessions with Neji to give up just like that now. Her pride flared. That nanosecond when she was falling down, her scorn flared. Emotions surfaced. And once they submerged again, she could think logically and assess her opponent properly. When Hinata landed on her feet firmly she decided not to use byakugan.

Sasuke wasn't using any ninjutsu and he trusted only simple moves of taijutsu. She could never rival him in physical strength, but it was her garden, and she was agile. And she could see.

Perhaps she only saw things, but Hinata could swear that the moment she attacked, she saw Sasuke smile wryly. Even if he did smile, that smirk disappeared the second her palm hit his chest and he bounced back coughing.

"Hyuuga…" he gave a low growl. "What's this? Resistance?"

Hinata frowned. The last few days had been too burdensome to welcome his jokes at ease.

"You're in my territory. You're my guest," she said calmly. "I've just woken up. My stomach is churning…"

"Just don't puke…"

"It's not funny!" Hinata exclaimed unexpectedly and she cupped her mouth with her hand suddenly, surprised at her own outburst.

"Oh…" now Sasuke really smirked. "Then what is funny?"

Hinata frowned and lunged forwards. She couldn't believe it, but she was the one attacking. Uchiha had to defend himself. It was hard. Hinata thought that, if a blind Uchiha was making his opponent sweat like mad, then a totally healthy Uchiha must've been a real monster. She tried to imagine herself stuck in Uchiha's genjutsu and missed a blow to her shoulder.

"Stop daydreaming," Sasuke suggested.

"Shut. Up." Hinata pushed his hand away and, bobbing suddenly, she struck her foot over his ankles.

Sasuke flopped down on his back into the flower bed, but at the last second he grabbed Hinata's hand and it all ended in her knocking her jaw hard into his chest. She thought that somebody hit a drum in her brain, when her teeth clattered formidably. Hyuuga closed her eyes tight, checking with her tongue (which she, luckily, hadn't bitten) if all of her teeth were still intact. Uchiha closed his eyes tight, rubbing the bonked head of his. It had the honours of checking the density of the garden ground. And then he felt it…

Well, he realized he fell into the flower bed with Hyuuga the moment he grabbed her hand. Though to be more exact – with Hyuuga on top of him. At first he wasn't disturbed by such a thought, but now…

"Ow…" Hinata said, raising her head and rubbing the swollen chin, not paying attention that she was lying on top of Uchiha – hunger was far too prominent right now, and other matters just disappeared from her perception.

"I'll definitely get a bruise from this," Sasuke declared, keeping in mind his breastbone.

"Then you shouldn't have grabbed me," Hinata ground her hands into the soil at the both sides of Uchiha, and lifted herself up. She tried to sort of entrench her feet into the ground, as if she were to do push-ups, and as a result; she touched everything in her way.

Sasuke opened his eyes in a flash and took a deep breath.

"Don't move," he hissed through his clenched teeth.

"What?" Hinata blinked and looked down at him.

"DON'T. MOVE." he repeated emphasizing every syllable.

Hinata was staring at his pale face totally clueless, watching his skin gather some sort of a hue for the first time. His sudden mood swing was something unbelievable. They were definitely in no danger in this garden. They were completely alone. Then why was he….

The shifting colour of his face finally guided her towards the right direction and she transferred her focus from environment onto what was right beneath her. Her fingers dug into the soil like cat claws. A whole gallon of blood shot into her head and she swallowed hard.

"Is… is it really?" she stuttered.

"Did you sleep through your biology lessons, Hyuuga?" Uchiha said with a mock.

That was enough to make Hinata jump off him as if he were burning. Sasuke sat up slowly and weighed down his head. Hinata's stomach growled.

They both were hungry. But probably not for the same thing.

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To be continued…

(I will also post an author's comment in regards with your comments. *.* I love you guys, I haven't expected such attention… =3)