Faith, it drives me away
But it turns me on
Like a strangers love


As she watched the Uchiha meditate beneath the Falls of Truth, the dark haired beauty reflected on the year that had slipped through her fingers since her defection from Konoha. Today marked the anniversary of Neji's sacrifice and she could not express into words the feelings that bubbled inside of her. She could feel the shame of living coursing through her veins, the disappointment of betraying Neji clutching at her heart, and the guilt of his unreciprocated love aching through her bones. She sighed, running her fingers through her newly chopped locks, and felt the insatiable desire to shorten its length even more when the tresses brushed against her shoulders. It had been a spur of the moment decision when they had first decided to rest their nomadic ways temporarily some months ago and make the Island Turtle in the Land of Lightening their home, finding that the isolation and hazardous environment would mean that they would be free of both shinobi and the trials and tribulations of being homeless and on the run. Of course, that was not taking into consideration that Killer B had his own vacation home here and that he would pose a problem if he ever happened to appear and come across their chakra levels, but that was a discussion for another day. A discussion that Hinata was certain would never happen in a million years even if the situation did present itself.

Uchiha Sasuke was sometimes the most insufferable of company when he wanted to be; antagonistic whenever he wanted to get a rise out of her, a show-off whenever trouble crossed their paths so that he could later gloat, and childish whenever dusk slipped in because he was no match for Hinata's insomnia. And that was simply to name a few. Rolling her pearl laced eyes, she was unsurprised when she noticed that the very teenager in question went from an unmovable trance at the twenty yards below her to soaking wet beside her. She held her breath, waiting for some snarky remark about her break from training or some slick jab at her watching him half naked beneath the cascading water. She waited for a few minutes and hesitantly exhaled after noticing that he seemed far too content to be concerned with annoying her. She closed her eyes in relief and turned to look out at the large, green expanse of spikes that littered the area before her, relaxing her posture as she listened to the sounds of nothing more than the quiet hum of the land's various species mulling somewhere about. This place had its many dangers, but it too had a quality of life that she found somehow irresistible. It allowed her to reflect on her life, on herself, on what she wanted out of life. She often thought of all she left behind, but today she thought solely of Neji and of all that they had accomplished and left untouched. Her heart ached immensely as memories poured through her mind, and those memories were so vivid that she felt as if she was reliving every single one of them. The sights, the smells, the tastes –all of her senses became activated with each memory that slipped from her mind into reality, and yet she knew that in the end they were but mere fragments to a history she had buried and left time ago.

"Tch. You're still way too soft Hime." As terrible as he was, Sasuke was the one that always grounded her, making her reclaim all of the progress that she had made. She frowned and turned her head away from him so that he could no longer read her expressions like an open book. Today was a day where she felt no need to hide behind the aloofness that he so easily equipped himself with on the normal day to day basis, and she made a note that that was perhaps one of the few ugly habits she had picked up from the Uchiha. "And you're still way too nosy Teme." Rudeness was also one of those ugly habits, but she could feel his smug satisfaction burning into the back of her head. She once again sighed, completely drained and unable to keep up the usual banter that passed between them. "Sasuke-" "Today is special," His interruption was soft and unexpected, making her turn to look at his profile with suspicion, "and I'm not going to give you the third degree about all your moping and procrastination considering the remaining 364 days of the year you've been almost as fanatical and obsessed as me when…" He shook his head, drawing his mouth into a frown as deep creases began to reveal themselves in his forehead. "Neji is worth the contemplation and acknowledgement, but the guilt and shame are things of pure selfishness and needn't muddle any thoughts or memories that may be drudged up. He chose to live his life according to his nindō, and questioning that is the most disrespectful thing you can do." His dark eyes spared her a thoughtful glance before returning to their sight into the distance, "It's a waste for your reflections to be clouded by bias as they cannot completely become full circle or transparent. The past is the only thing that is completely set, so use the time that you have to instead shape what you'd like in your immediate future."

She looked at him in complete disbelief, unsure how to go about his statements and the subliminal revelations that he had made. "I cannot contest what you were like growing up Sasuke," She closed her eyes, tilting her head and allowing herself to fully enjoy the feel of the rays of the morning light penetrating her flesh. "As we weren't even real acquaintances, but I thank you for trusting me to travel this journey of self-discovery with you, for being as vulnerable as me despite our differences, and for just being here." She heard him grunt in discomfort and couldn't help but allow a small pearl of laughter to escape her lips. "Although you can be creepy, narcissistic, petty, arrogant, incorrigible-"

"Okay, Hyūga."

She smiled brightly and tilted her head towards him, studying the tip of his tense posture to the ridiculous furrowing of his eyebrows. "You seemed so unhappy with compliments, oh mighty Uchiha, so I was merely adapting to better suit you." He gave her a sharp glare for a moment and then went back to brooding. "Oh I'm sorry, but really Sasuke…"She turned completely towards him, seriousness overwhelming her features, "Why did you return to Konoha without bringing about Armageddon, and why were you so insistent on stalking me?" She watched him slowly relax his form, although his face did not lighten as he thought. These were questions that had no simple answers, and the answers that he could provide perhaps would not be found suitable enough. He was certain that Hinata could almost see the very gears of his brain clicking together, and fought down the slight annoyance that came with knowing just how intimate that miniscule detail was. He exhaled loudly and frowned, turning to meet her expectant gaze with those penetrating eyes. "The truth is…" Unconsciously, she leaned in just a bit closer, nowhere near close enough to break his personal space bubble, "that I could hear that hidden desire that you have burning for me and decided it best to harvest your chakra and hold you as leverage should I ever run into the improbability of needing an escape."

She stared at him, blinking once, twice. She then clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth and closed her eyes to return to basking in the sun's rays. "You would not be able to have me even in your Sharingan induced hallucinations, Uchiha." She heard a nearly inaudible chuckle and felt a feathery strum of large fingers on her knuckles. When she opened her eyes to catch him, Uchiha Sasuke had disappeared from her side and once more was mediating beneath the cold waters of the waterfall.

She was no longer heiress Hyūga Hinata of Konohagakure, and somehow he was now no longer the avenging Uchiha Sasuke- sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. She wasn't sure of what they were now, or when the changes had truly begun, but as she looked down upon his still frame and saw a thin, tiny smirk on his lips –she knew that at least they were glorious.


It rockets through the universe
It fuels the lies, it feeds the curse
We, too, could be glorious

And that is all everyone, I really appreciate you all for riding along with me and leaving comments and just reading period! You guys will never understand just how much those things mean to me. Hopefully I've satisfied everyone with this one, and if not maybe I'll be able to with another story in the future. Especially ones that may be longer, this was my 'if I can do a short one then maybe' piece. ;) See you guys on the flipside.