disclaimer: I do not own Naruto~
summary: This is not a love story, but it is a story about love. —Sasuke/Hinata
notes: Guess who has a day off today and slept in until one o' clock? That would be big ol' lazy me.
When it starts to get dark, Sasuke stretches and straightens, dusting himself down—Hinata is muddy and dirty, but there's the biggest smile on her face, and he waves her goodbye, watching as she disappears into the distance. He thinks maybe he should have walked with her. He remembers how his Ma is always saying it's not safe out when it's dark, and that he should always come back before it gets too dark, and he wonders if maybe it's not safe for Hinata either, when it's dark, and if maybe he should have walked her back until it was safe—but then he shakes his head and puts the thought out of his mind. He's got to go back home, after all, and Mikoto is going to be furious; Sasuke's caked in mud, and he's going to trek water all through the house, but he smiles as he walks back, with his hands tucked into his pockets. When he gets back to the Uchiha compound, Itachi is just on his way out and his eyes widen slightly when he sees the state that Sasuke is in.
"Ma is going to be angry," Itachi scolds gently, and wipes a smudge of mud away from beneath Sasuke's eye.
"I know," Sasuke frowns.
"What were you doing?"
"Feeding ducks," he explains, vaguely, and then walks past his brother. Then he grins back over his shoulder and says, "I saw a ghost, too."
"Hm? You'll have to tell me all about it."
"I can't—I've decided it's a secret, just like your secret missions. She's my secret ghost."