Chapter Ten: Looming Trouble

AN: There is a complex story behind a "certain character's" failures revealed in this chapter. You will learn more about them as the story progresses.

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A whole day had passed by in training. Hinata thought it would be easy but it was not. She remembered when she and Miyuki first cut a swathe along the small pathway that led to her new home. Her fingers had hurt, and the bones felt brittle beneath the skin. A deep ache had set in. But this was . . . much more difficult!

She sat in a large wooden chair in Sasuke's office and looked down to her deeply bruised palms. They were green with swollen veins popping out of the soft skin. When she tried to curl her fingers, a sharp pain ran through her whole arm. Sasuke had given her a very hard time. She did not understand him at all. It was as if he had a different face for everything—a new façade for all occasions, and she could only hope to peel it away completely before a new one resurfaced in its place.

Hinata sighed and slumped over the table, gazing down at her dirty nails now. Her white eyes wandered off left and right and outside the window, which was left slightly open across from the large table. A cool and gentle breeze lightly touched her face and moved the yellow leaves outside. Sun had dipped below the horizon, and a red hue was beginning to spread across the sky.

Sasuke had told her to wait in the office, and she had been sitting here obediently for the past fifteen minutes. The rest of the team completed tough exercises one after another; she was glad this was her first day. Today, she felt a pang of guilt for Naruto's daily routine. Sasuke had denied him his Jōnin position because he was falling behind; his family had forced her upon him, and Sakura probably added to his worries.

Hinata did not know what to feel for him. Maybe these thoughts were the last dregs of her love for him that made her feel unwanted remorse. She was slowly letting go of it, steeling herself for what was to come. The quietness of her thoughts was constantly disturbed by the noises outside, but there would always be the comfort and loneliness of her home—it was her sanctuary and her prison.

She sat up straight when she heard the soft sounds of steps on the wooden floor outside, and within seconds, Sasuke entered the room, leaving the same vague smell of something fragrant and musky in his wake. It lingered there, persistent, not ready to leave despite the steady draft pouring into the warm room.

He put the scroll on the table and pulled down the zip on his jacket, taking it off and throwing it on the back of his chair. His shirt was unbuttoned at his throat. It was glistening and sweaty, drying in the warmth the fireplace exuded. He pulled the heavy chair back and sat down. Not a second passed when he raised his hand and took off his headband and threw it onto the table. It clanked on the hard veneer there. After that quick ritual, he leant back into his chair and closed his eyes as he took in a long intake of breath. He looked tired.

Hinata kept looking at Sasuke's calm face covered with a thin film of sweat. The dark hair around his face clung to the skin. He just sat there, eyes closed, arms resting on the armrests, not looking at her or anything—he was just quiet as if sleeping in the big chair. Moments passed and he finally opened his eyes, bringing his gaze upon her curious face. There was a sweet bloom in her cheeks. He held his gaze for a moment and watched as her cheeks began to redden.

"How was your first day?" he asked and leant his head back to look up at a few cobwebs hanging from the side of the still ceiling fan. A look of displeasure flickered across his face, but he quickly schooled his features.

"I-It was good," she said in a very small voice and fiddled with the button on her jacket in nervousness.

Sasuke let out a soft laugh and sat up straight. "You don't have to lie. There isn't a single shinobi on my team whose first day was ever good with me," he said with a playful expression on his face and grabbed the scroll from the table. "So how was it?"

"I . . . " she paused and mustered up a bit of courage to speak again, "it was a very d-difficult day. My hands are bruised and I can't feel my fingers." She quickly looked away when she saw Sasuke smiling at her confession with his eyes on the scroll.

"Get used to it. You've been out of practice for so long. This was bound to happen." He looked up for a fleeting moment and then dropped his eyes to the scroll again. "I'll tell Yuu to heal you before you leave. Your performance was barely adequate for a newcomer. You need to step up your game if you want to stay in the team. Right now, you're just in the trial slot."

"Trial slot?" Hinata asked and quickly wiped her sweaty hands on her pants.

"Yes, a trial slot," Sasuke replied and rolled up the scroll and met her eyes. "I plan on throwing one free-loader off the team. He's been getting on my nerves for quite a while. The bastard didn't even perform well today. So better you, a new chick I can guide than an old cock that has outgrown its warranty."

Hinata did not say anything and bent her head to look at her hands again.

Sasuke tapped the table a few times with his knuckle. "Pay attention, Hinata. You'll keep on repeating the same exercise every day until you learn something. Clear?" he asked and slapped on the table lightly.

Hinata nodded and rubbed her palms on her dirty pants again. They were starting to itch now. "I will have to come d-daily?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Sasuke looked at her with an incredulous expression as if that was not obvious enough. "Of course," he paused, stood up, and made his way around the table towards her chair, "you won't get any special treatment . . . just because of the nice time we had together." He looked down at her, wearing a wisp of a smile on his handsome face.

Hinata averted his heavy gaze upon her and looked outside the window again. There, on a supple tree branch, sat that tiny hawk Sasuke called Kirin. It was sitting there obediently, cocking its head and craning its neck to look left and right as Sasuke walked around in the office to get another scroll. Hinata thought it looked lovable! She had this urge to grab it in her fist and stroke its flecked feathers.

"Your bird," she said and pointed at the window.

Sasuke walked to the window and looked outside. It let out a melodious sound and flew to him when he made a small hand gesture. It landed on his shoulder and bounced excitedly as he reached into his pocket and fed him.

"I told Nii-Sama not to send you here so early," he said in a gentle voice and stroked his feathers lightly. "But I guess he knows that I get so lonely without you." He let out a little laugh and leant against the table.

Hinata smiled, admiring the softness of Sasuke's features. He looked happy today—his countenance serene, undisturbed by any burden. A small part of her envied him so. He did not know remorse the way she did . . . tasting it every day like a poison that ate her insides and made her façade crumble to reveal a telling, wistful smile that hid nothing.

But Sasuke always knew how to hide his heart. Perhaps, staying close to him, she would end up learning the art of secrecy—something she could never learn in her home. Her eyes were still transfixed on his face that she did not realize when he had started looking back at her. "Something wrong?" he asked, breaking her out of her quiet thoughts.

"N-No," she said quickly and turned her gaze slightly to look to the hawk again that had hidden well behind Sasuke's jaw-length hair. "I—what are my chances to clear the trial period?"

"That's up to you. If you work hard, nothing is impossible. I can ask Neji to help you out because I'll have my hands full with a few missions for a week. I won't be around anyway," he explained.

Hinata's heart began to beat with longing, and her untrained, honest lips moved before she could stop them, and she whispered, "when will . . . I-I see you again?"

A subtle, playful expression scurried across his face before it disappeared behind his well-guarded countenance. "If you want, I can come see you tonight," he said in a deep, husky voice and leant down to meet her passion-filled eyes. "Naruto will stay at the academy again. Aren't you naughty, Hinata?" He backed away and left behind that same lingering scent in the air.

Hinata bent her head down and peered through the curtain of hair over her eyes at her shivering hands again. What was she doing? This was not right. Out of the corner of her shy eyes, she gazed at his face again. The allure in his eyes was gone, vanished behind the same mask he always wore. His eyes took on that ferocious red colour and turned to look at the door. Three perfect Tomoes moved in a circle before coming to a halt. "Go home," he said in a low voice, and his eyes locked on the door. "I'll come by after I'm done here."

"Yes," Hinata said and stood up, moving her aching fingers a bit. They still hurt, but, at least, the itchiness was gone.

"Yuu should be done with his work by now. Ask him to heal you," he said and folded his arms across his breast when he heard the knock on the door. "Come in, Sakura."

The door opened and revealed the pink-haired woman who wore that same odd expression on her sweaty red face. It lost its intensity almost suddenly as her green eyes turned to Sasuke; her tight expression softened and eased. Hinata did not understand her. She made her way quietly out of the office and closed the door behind her.

"Office hours are over," Sasuke said and watched her as she made her way around the table and stopped close to him—too close. "Leave, unless you have something important to tell me."

"I came to give you this," Sakura said and produced a scroll out of her jacket's pocket. She was smiling heartily.

Sasuke took the scroll from her hand and unrolled it. A subtle 'hmm' sound escaped his lips before he rolled it up again and threw it onto the table. "I don't approve of these results," he said, and his features hardened into a look of irritation.

"What are you saying? Hokage-Sama took the test. You have to accept these," she protested, looking helpless.

"No, I don't," Sasuke replied with a hard look plastered on his face. "I'm the team's Head Jōnin, and it's up to me to accept your results or reject them. That's what the rules say anyway. And guess what? I don't trust your mentor."

Sakura backed away a little, impatient. "What do you mean?" she asked and bit her lower lip in anxiety.

"I don't know, maybe, because you're her student that she feels the need to throw you in the best team in Konoha? You know, to exalt her own reputation and that of your clan's, as well. After all, Haruno Clan is unheard of," he said, his voice full of reproach.

"That's not true!" Sakura denied, raising her voice.

"Lower your voice—this is my office," Sasuke said with a heavy accent and clenched his teeth in a way as though he wanted to say more.

"I've worked hard to get here and stay on this team. You know how good my chakra control is. It's the same as Yuu's. I have good Taijutsu and tailing skills. You just—don't see it," Sakura accused, her voice shaking with emotion now.

"You take me for a fool?" he asked and pushed himself off the table to tower over her, his expression contorting with a large flare of anger. "You know damn well how you got here. Your parents pleaded before the Hokage, and she practically told you the Jōnin Team test—you sly little cheater. I had to give you countless extensions, work around the test timings, group you up with Yuu, and send you off to that damned woman's office almost daily so that you could make up for your training. Don't you dare mock my intelligence." He breathed heavily, seething with rage.

Sakura fell silent. She knew he would never fall for her denials. It was no use, and she could not tell him the truth. It was better to lie for now. "It's true," she began another lie and looked down to her feet, "I didn't come here on hard-work alone. It was Hokage-Sama's love for me and my parents' prayers that I am where I am today. But that's also true that I've worked hard since then. I've done everything you have ever asked of me. I passed all the exams! Sasuke, I have done whatever you asked. Don't be so cold-hearted." Her breath caught in her throat came out as a few sobs. She moved her hand up and wiped her tear-filled eyes vehemently as if to push her burdens down.

Sasuke's expressions softened just a bit. "What do you want? I'm tired of coddling you," he said and kneaded his brow. "I don't care what your reasons are to stay here. I won't accept your test results. The Team Exams will take place a week from now, and Yuu will oversee the Medical Divisions' Tests with a few other Ninjas from my Clan. If you fail those, then I don't care what you do, I'll throw you out faster than you can grovel before your persuasive mentor. That's my final word."

"I will have to give the tests again? And Yuu is a Chūnin—he can't oversee anything!" she said with an accusatory expression.

"You damn well will if you want to stay on the team. And Yuu gave Jōnin Exams two weeks ago. I sent his letter of recommendation to the Anbu Division. The approval letter just came in today," Sasuke said and there was a clear note of triumph in his sly voice. "Is that all? If it is, then you can leave. I have work to do."

Sakura inched closer and leant up to press her cold cheek against his jaw. "You know—you know I didn't just stay to preserve my Clan's honour. I stayed here for you, too," she whispered in his ear and then left the office in silence . . .

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Hinata sat in the shadows of the room. A lone candle sat on the table; its flame danced on the wick, threatening to go out any second as the wind outside picked up pace. She had just made it home when Miyuki gave her the message from Minato. She did not even have time to rest. Next to her sat her husband—his head bowed and his face tense. He was silent, unable to answer his father's questions.

"Naruto, your father has asked you something," Kushina said and adjusted the shawl draped around her small shoulders with delicate hands. Her long red hair hung down her back like a smooth curtain. They were spread on the floor behind her, wispy and numerous on the shiny wooden floor. She was an uncannily young looking woman—pretty with a sprite-like appearance.

Naruto raised his head up sluggishly, his eyes tired and weary. He looked very ill. "I . . . I don't have anything else to say. I already told you, it's—it's just not working," he said in a weary voice and raised his hand to palm his face.

"Perhaps you are not trying hard enough," Minato said heavily and turned his blue eyes just a little bit to look at Hinata. He was still very youthful and handsome for someone just a few years shy of fifty like his wife. "You will turn twenty-five soon. I married you off five years ago in hopes of preserving our Clan through you. The Hyūga Clan wanted the same, and yet, here you are, sitting before me with nothing but excuses."

"Father, I—" Naruto protested but clamped his lips tightly together when Minato raised his hand.

"I do not want to hear anything more. How hard is it to impregnate a healthy woman," Minato said, his voice heavier than before, laced with authority despite what had become of his Clan, but his wife was enough to anchor his name. She was an Uzumaki, and despite the mass-slaughter of her clan a few decades ago, they were still many in number, living in Eddy Village under the protection of Konoha. They were famous for their sealing techniques and medicinal herbs—an asset for Konoha's growing military might.

"Did you go to Shizune, Hinata?" Kushina asked, clearing her throat. "I made an appointment for you yesterday, but she told me you never came. Why?" Her greenish eyes were dark and inquisitive in the shadows.

Hinata looked up at her and avoided Minato's crystal blue eyes. She could see a bit of Naruto in him. "I-I joined Sasuke-Sama's team. I just forgot. It's not like I haven't gone there before m-many times. She doesn't have anything new to say to me anyway," Hinata said and drew in a deep sigh.

"You joined that Uchiha's team? Why?" Minato asked, looking stern now.

But before Hinata could say something in her defence, Naruto forestalled her loudly, "and what's wrong with that? It's not like Sasuke would ruin her family's name or anything. He just wanted a new hand for his team with Neji. It would benefit Hyūga Clan to be under the Uchiha anyway." He looked away, huffing.

"I know Sasuke means a lot to you, Naruto. But your wife needs to be home if she is to raise a child," Kushina reasoned and looked calmly from Naruto to the quiet Hinata.

"Not to mention that daemon incident. Sage knows what these Uchihas are planning," Minato accused with a slow shake of his head.

"Have you invited me here to accuse and insult Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his temper flaring. "If it wasn't for Sasuke, I was done for. No one would take me into their teams. It was Sasuke who looked out for me. No thanks to you, father."

"Naruto, behave yourself. You are talking to your father. Apologise, now!" Kushina said in a disapproving voice and placed her hand tenderly on Minato's shoulder.

"And you, mother? You didn't stop being a ninja when you married father, and even after you had me. Are all your rules for me—to make my life even more miserable?" Naruto said in a loud voice, not backing down.

"No one is making your life miserable, Naruto," Minato said in a calm voice and closed his eyes, his countenance weary. He looked hurt by his son's honesty. "But you know how the Uchihas are and how Hinata would suffer if she failed to bear us and her own family an heir. Neji would have been an apt match, but he is from the Branch family. You know how it is. The Head family's few sons are already betrothed or wedded off within the Head family. Hiashi had little choice in the matter. His own family line was dying. Try to understand things. You are not a child."

The thought of Neji came suddenly to Hinata's mind. That was true—she desired Neji so long ago. It was just a girlish desire. He was a kind and handsome man—sober, loving. If her father had wedded her off to him, she would not have been plagued by such a lonely and shameful life. Just today, when she saw him looking at her again, she felt a sudden jolt of that old longing rise within her with such vehemence that only the thought of Sasuke quelled it.

"There you go again. You just can't stop accusing the one person I care about the most, don't you?" Naruto said and leant forward, the whiskers on his face standing on ends. He looked livid. "Your accusation got half of his clan killed. Don't deny it. As for an heir, then you'll get it when I feel like going near her!" He hastily got to his feet and glanced down at Hinata for a fleeting moment.

"Naruto, do not shy away from your responsibilities and do not forget the hardships faced by your parents. Do not be . . . selfish. This is not just about you—it is about us as well. Think about it," Minato said in a heavy voice, holding Kushina's hand in his.

"I'm going over to the academy. I've got to prepare for the Jōnin and Team Tests in the coming weeks. I really don't have time for this," he said without turning around and left all of them silent in the living room.

"He has grown into such a spiteful child," Minato said aloud and heaved a painfully long sigh. Then he raised his eyes to look at Hinata still staring down at her healed-hands. "If he does not come near you, then you as a wife can do so. You are a woman and the daughter of a respectable Clan. It is not just Naruto's responsibility to shoulder his own Clan's honour. It is yours as well."

"Minato is right. Think about your Clan and the shame your father will face if people find out that Naruto does not care for you. Or Sage forbid, they start thinking that you are a barren woman. You have no idea what that would do to your father," Kushina said with an air of her Clan's superiority over hers. Hinata did not like her tone, but she stayed quiet.

"I will ask a servant to escort you back to your home," Minato said and rose to his feet. In the light, Hinata's eyes fell upon his Hakama that still bore the red patterns of his Clan since his Hokage days.

"It's all right—I-I'll manage," Hinata replied and stood up, too. "Thank you for the dinner." She bowed down and turned around to leave the mansion.

It took her a good thirty minutes to make it back to the familiar verges of the forest that marked the start of the moors. The night was quiet today, broken just a little by the wind. Somewhere an owl hooted, and a few crickets made a little noise, but because of the light rains, the forest fell asleep so soon before the moon even had a chance to shine down upon it properly.

Minato's and Kushina's words hurt her deeply. Naruto did not want her, even they could see that much. How could she ever pursue him to bed her? He never made love to her. It was always a responsibility, a ritual for him, which he tried to complete without leaving his seed inside of her. He wanted his parents to break off this marriage. This was not the first time they were called before them. They were always the same questions and the same answers that always left her humiliated.

Hinata walked slowly along the snaking brook that led to her house. Her eyes were downcast, looking to the vegetables poking out of the scraped soil. She had planted new seeds a few weeks ago and small buds were reaching out above the ground now. The recent rains had been beneficial. It would just be Miyuki now as she would be working hard to gain that spot on the team. When she would get it, she would try and break free. She just needed that little reassurance.

With that thought, she raised her eyes to look to the door. She stopped in her tracks, and her cheeks flushed: Sasuke was standing on her doorstep, gazing at her with a soft smile on his face. He had not forgotten that she had invited him to her place. After that gruelling humiliation at Minato's home, the thought of making love to him filled her with such profound happiness!

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