Timeless
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Past Sasuke and Hinata: Speak in italics.
Present Sasuke and Hinata: Speak in regular font.
Future Sasuke and Hinata: Speak in bold font.
Chapter 13
In the morning, Sasuke and Hinata find their older counterparts. The two of them were possibly the only people on Earth who would know how to deal with Hiashi Hyuga in this situation. So it was imperative to get advice from them.
"How did you tell father that you and Sasuke were together?" Hinata asks shyly.
"Well Sasuke was rather blunt." Hinata says with a giggle.
Hinata gulps. Blunt? Uh oh. Blunt could mean a million different things and she doubted most of them were good. She just hoped that Sasuke's bluntness didn't end in disaster.
"What did he say to my father?" The bluenette asks nervously.
The elder Hinata looks at her husband. She wasn't entirely certain she should be the one to tell Hinata and Sasuke that. It was after all, his story to tell. (And what a story it was!)
"My older counterpart may have informed him that we were going to be married in the future with children. So if he tried to stop us from being together, he was really attempting to murder his own grandchildren in a way. He was much more reasonable after that point." Sasuke says with a smirk.
Hinata looked like she was close to fainting. Luckily, Sasuke gets behind her just in time. He wasn't going to have her fall and hit her head because his older self wanted to be dramatic.
"I can see that you broke the news to him gently." Sasuke mutters sarcastically as he supports his future wife.
"Father can be very stubborn sometimes. It's best to be firm with him really." Hinata says sheepishly.
Sasuke shakes his head. Well firm was one way to put it. He couldn't believe that his older self had basically accused Hiashi of murder. Apparently, neither could his Hinata.
"Are you alright?" He whispers softly.
"I think so. It was just difficult to process that. I always knew that you were a brutally honest person. I just didn't think you were that brutally honest." The Hyuga Heiress mumbles.
The raven haired man shakes his head and wraps his arms around her waist. It was probably smarter to keep a firm hold on her, just in case. Hinata had a history of fainting when she got flustered.
"Understandable. Are you ready for this? We can wait a bit longer if you like." He inquires gently.
"I'm as ready as I'm going to be. He's going to find out sooner or later. At least this way, we have backup." The bluenette says with a shy smile.
Sasuke nods in agreement. Well he supposed that was one way to look at it. Their future selves had clearly told Hiashi that they were together and lived to tell the tale. Obviously, that meant that they would too.
"Alright. Well I suppose there is no time like the present." Sasuke says as he walks off with his Hinata and the elder set.
"That was a very bad pun. It was bad when I made it and it's still bad when you are making it." The Uchiha Patriarch tells him.
It didn't take them long to find Hiashi. The man was just innocently going about his morning training routine. Sasuke felt a stab of pity for him. He had no idea what was about to happen. Maybe they should tell him to sit down first.
"Father, do you have a few minutes to t-alk? It's important." Hinata calls out softly.
The Hyuga Patriarch quickly pauses his training. He nods and walks over to his daughter. Well perhaps daughters would be more accurate. Honestly, this entire situation was extremely chaotic and confusing!
"Of course, I do. I always have time for you. What would you like to discuss?" He asks.
"Sasuke?" Hinata asks as she looks at her husband.
She felt sorry for her father. This was going to be one shocking morning for him. It had to be done though. The mother of four wished that her husband was a more subtle man, but he wasn't.
Sasuke had his own unique style of communication. So she had to let Sasuke be Sasuke. (If she didn't, they might damage the timeline.)
"You may wish to sit down first. This is probably going to come as quite the surprise." The eldest Sasuke warns Hiashi.
Thankfully, the Hyuga man took his advice. He quickly sits down and looks up at the four of them. Suddenly, a feeling of dread formed in his stomach. He didn't like where this was going in the slightest.
"What is going on? Why do all of you look so somber?" The lavender eyed man inquires cautiously.
It was more a matter of formality than anything else. Unfortunately, he had a pretty good idea where this was going. Naruto had warned him awhile ago about their heated kisses. So in a way, he had been bracing for this "confession" for quite some time.
"It's good news, father. It just might be a little shocking at first." Hinata says.
Hiashi wasn't entirely certain that them being together counted as good news. Still he nods his head encouragingly. He had to at least pretend that he didn't know what was about to happen.
"Sasuke and I are married in the future and our younger counterparts are now courting." The elder Hinata says.
Damn it. That's what he had been afraid that she would say. He couldn't for the life of him understand how Hinata had ended up with Sasuke!
Hiashi frowns as he considers the best way to respond to that. Clearly, in the future the two of them were still together. He must have still had at least a cordial relationship with Hinata. Otherwise, she wouldn't bother to inform him of what was going on.
"I can't say that I entirely approve of this match. Sasuke, you've done a lot of horrible things. You've betrayed this village once, I don't see why you wouldn't do it again. I have no doubt that you do care for her in your own way, but you aren't an easy person to love. You're still battling your own demons. Perhaps that isn't your fault, but it is still a fact." Hiashi replies in what he perceived as being a tactful fashion.
Unfortunately for him, the elder Sasuke had known this was going to happen. He was ready for it. What stung is that he knew what Hiashi said was all true. Any intelligent man would be nervous about allowing their daughter to be courted by him. He couldn't entirely blame the Hyuga Patriarch and perhaps that's why he responded as viciously as he did.
"I can understand your concerns, but I hope you realize that you are attempting to murder your own grandchildren now. If you keep us apart, they will never be born. There's no real distinction between that and slaying them by your own hand." Sasuke hisses at him.
Hiashi was sitting down, but he stumbles back as if he had been struck. He'd always been a fair skinned man, but his face turned white as a sheet at that reasoning. He felt as though he was going to be sick.
Sasuke was right. If he prevented them from being together, that would be "murdering" innocent children. He hadn't known for a fact that children were involved, but he had suspected it. Sasuke wanted to restore his Clan after all and Hinata was certainly not barren. It was just logical to assume they would have children together.
"You do not fight fairly." He mutters.
"At the moment, I do not give a damn about what is fair and what isn't. I will do whatever is necessary to protect my family. If that means being brutally frank with you, I will do so. I'd rather not have to be this cruel to you, but I will. I will, if I have to be." The eldest Sasuke says.
Sasuke watches his older self and Hiashi engage in their battle of wills. He glances at his Hinata. The younger Uchiha wraps his arm around her comfortingly. This couldn't be easy for her to watch.
Hiashi sighs. He knew that Sasuke had the ultimate trump card at the moment. His grandchildren. He might not entirely trust Sasuke, but he wouldn't stop his grandchildren from even being born. He wasn't that cruel.
"Very well. Though if you hurt her in any way, you will regret it. I do not care how powerful you are. A father's love will more than even out the scales." He warns him.
"I would expect no less. You can ask her yourself, if you need proof. She's happy with me." Sasuke replies.
The Hyuga Patriarch sighs as he looks over to his daughter. Lovely. The present day Sasuke had his arm around her. It was as if he was trying to support her through this entire ordeal by holding her.
Hiashi was not a man who gave up easily. That simply wasn't in his nature, but he was also a practical man. Practically, he knew when he was "beaten."
"Hinata? Is what he says true? Are you happy with him in the future? I know that you can not risk giving away too many details, but I do need to know. If you are unhappy, we can change it." The lavender eyed man asks.
"I'm very happy with him, father. You don't need to worry about me. Truly, I will be alright." Hinata says as she offers him a reassuring smile.
Hiashi sighs. His daughter would never lie to him. So if Hinata said that she was happy, she was happy. For the life of him, the Hyuga man couldn't understand how any of this was possible. Perhaps he didn't need to. He just needed to accept reality.
"Hopefully, the children will take after you in temperament." The ninja says with a heavy sigh.
This drew dirty looks from both Sasukes. That had been a poorly cloaked insult and they all knew it. The two of them were obviously debating whether or not they should issue a scathing retort to that comment.
"Sasuke, be nice. It's a lot to take in." Hinata lightly chides her husband.
"I suppose you are right. Do you accept the fact that Hinata and I are going to be together?" He asks his father-in-law.
The Hyuga Patriarch sighs. It seemed like he had no point. He had to. If for no other reason, he had his grandchildren to consider.
"I might not be entirely pleased by this development, but Hinata's happiness and my grandchildren come first. I will not stand in the way of your relationship." He states.
Hinata smiles and walks over to her father. She embraces him in a comforting fashion and stands on her tip toes to whisper into his ear. After all, she had to offer him some sort of reassurance and this was the best way that she could think of.
"Thank you, father. I know this is hard for you, but I love you. You've made me very happy. I didn't want my relationship with Sasuke to come between us." She whispers.
"I love you too, daughter. I just wish that your taste in men was a little less exotic. Though I have to wonder how you went from admiring Naruto to marrying HIM!" Hiashi whispers back and simply shakes his head.
"It's a long story and I've only read the beginning so far." Hinata tells him with a smile.
Oh boy. Hiashi sighs and looks up at the sky. Why him? Why couldn't Hinata fall for a nice boy. Well he supposed Mini Sasuke was a nice boy, but Middle Sasuke?! That was really testing the limits of what he could condone.
"I know that you'll find this hard to believe right now, but I do love her. Hinata, maybe we should check on the Minis." Sasuke says as he extends his hand to her.
Hinata's eyes widen at what he said. Sasuke loved her?! Well it was somewhat of a given that he would eventually. They were married in the future with children, but he didn't think he was in love with her yet.
"You love me?" She asks in a stunned voice.
"Of course, I do. How else do you think that I resisted the impulse to Chidori every man that danced with you or thought about doing so? I knew it would upset you, so I didn't. If I didn't love you, do you think I would have risked telling Hiashi about us? I meant it when I said that I wanted to take care of you." Sasuke tells her.
"…" Hiashi is speechless and so was Hinata.
He didn't doubt that Sasuke was sincere in his odd declaration of love. The Uchiha was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them as far as he could tell. Still it was disturbing.
"Curbing your impulse to indulge in violence is what counts as love in your world?" The Hyuga Patriarch asks incredulously.
"Well there are other signs, but yeah." Sasuke says as if that should be self-explanatory.
Hinata shakes her head. She smiles and kisses her husband on the cheek. Sasuke would eventually get a little bit better at social etiquette, but in the end Sasuke would always be Sasuke.
"I still don't know why he found that odd." Sasuke mutters as Hinata just laughs.
"You're right. We should probably go check on the Minis." Hinata says as she takes his hand and the two of them walk off together.
It didn't take them long to find their younger counterparts. Together. Sasuke must have snuck into Hinata's room at some point. The two children were currently sprawled out on the bed together and sleeping.
"That's adorable. Though I am very relieved father didn't find them like this." Hinata says.
"Me too. It's hard." Sasuke mutters.
Hinata looks at him in confusion. What did Sasuke mean by that? What was hard? It was a bit of a paradox. With some things, Sasuke was extremely blunt. When it came to expression most of his emotions though, he was frustratingly cryptic at times.
"What's hard?" She asks.
"Seeing him. Not telling him. He has no idea what's about to happen to him. His entire world is about to change and I can't tell him the truth. If I do that, we might never get together. There's so much pain that he's going to go through and it's possibly preventable." Sasuke says with a sigh.
Hinata sighs and wraps her arms around him tightly. She understood. There had been hundreds of times where she had almost warned Mini Sasuke about what was going to happen, but she hadn't. She couldn't.
"It will get better for him one day though. You know that." She says.
"I know that. You know that, but he won't know that for a very long time. I feel like I'm betraying myself in a way." Sasuke whispers.
"It will get better one day. Just think, someday he'll get to see me in lingerie too." Hinata whispers into his ear.
Sasuke smirks. Well that was a good point. That would go a long way towards mending his broken psyche really.
"Well that's definitely something for him to look forward to. So is that your only exotic piece or is there more?" He asks.
Hinata blushes. She wanted to make him feel better. She didn't expect Sasuke to go from somber to frisky so quickly. Then again, she probably should have. Apparently, they did have children in the future together.
"R-ight now that's my only set like that." She admits with a blush.
"I figured as much. You really are such an innocent Lily. I guess it doesn't really matter. The wrapping paper is very nice, but it's what is underneath it that really matters." Sasuke informs her smugly.
The Hyuga woman could only blush more in response. Really, she was grateful when she noticed the Minis were beginning to stir. It provided her an excuse not to respond directly to that.
"Uh oh." Sasuke mumbles when he wakes up and sees the Middle Sasuke and Hinata in the room with them.
"What's wrong?" Hinata asks with a yawn as she stretches.
The young girl blinks when she saw the other two. Uh oh was right. They were probably in big trouble.
"Don't worry. You aren't in trouble. We were just checking up on you to make sure that you were okay." Hinata says with a smile.
"Let's get you both some breakfast." Sasuke adds.
The mention of food certainly perked up the Minis. They quickly follow their older counterparts down the stairs and towards the Dining Hall. Few things were more motivating than food when it came to children.
It didn't take them long to be seated at the dinning room table and for the Minis to begin chowing down. Sasuke smiles at the adorable sight.
"These are really good. You should try one of these muffins, Hinata." Sasuke says.
"Yeah. I like the blueberry muffins best too!" She agrees as she grabs one and bites into it.
"They really are too cute sometimes." Hinata whispers and Sasuke nods in agreement.
That's when their quiet morning was interrupted by Naruto barreling in. Sasuke raises an eyebrow. God only knows what the idiot wanted now.
"Naruto, you better have a good reason for barging in before nine in the morning. What's going on?" He demands.
"Come on. We need to get going. It looks like the Daimyos sent a representative to the Leaf. Something big is up." The blonde exclaims.
Sasuke blinks. That was rare. He'd never heard of the Daimyos doing that before. Naruto was right. Something was going on.
"Alright. We'll be back later. Stay safe and whatever you do, don't leave the Estate. Stay with the oldest set." Sasuke instructs the Minis.
"What's going on?" Sasuke asks in confusion and his playmate looked equally as baffled.
Hinata didn't understand what was going on. Why did the adults look so serious? What did the Daimyos want? She sorta knew who they were. They were very important people. Like the Hokage!
"Maybe you shouldn't go. It could be dangerous." The youngest Hyuga Heiress argues.
Hinata smiles and pats her younger self's head. She was worried about the same thing honestly. Still one didn't keep the Daimyo's representative waiting. That was just a recipe for disaster.
"We'll be back soon. In the meantime, you and Sasuke can have fun all day with our older selves. Alright?" She asks kindly.
The Minis were looking at them both skeptically. They might only be seven, but they knew when something strange was going on. Right now, something very strange was going on.
"Alright. We'll stay here." Hinata says as she glances at the younger Sasuke, who nods in agreement.
"Good. Hopefully, this won't take too long. I'll let them know that we are leaving and then we'll meet you at the Estate's exit, Naruto." Sasuke says.
"Got it. We better hurry though. I think whatever is going on, is probably a really big deal." The blonde says as he darts off.
Hinata and Sasuke quickly dart off to find their future counterparts. Well at least they would be able to watch the Minis. So that was a relief.
"The is sent a representative. Everyone is supposed to attend. Can you watch the Minis while we go and see what is going on?" Hinata asks.
"Of course, we can." Sasuke says and his wife nods in confirmation.
Sasuke tilts his head as he considers this. Well maybe they'd at least be able to get some good training, while the middle Sasuke and Hinata were out with the Daimyo representative. That'd be good.
"Thank you." Sasuke says as he heads off with Hinata.
About ten minutes later, the trio arrived in the Village Square. The representative was standing in the center of it. There was no need to guess who was here on the Daimyo's behalf. The man's clothes probably cost more money than most people made in a year.
"Good morning. I am so happy that you were all able to be here. I know that it is short notice, but I think you will all agree that it was well worth the inconvenience." He says.
Everyone watches him curiously. Not a single person knew what was going on. You could have heard a pin drop as the representative continued.
"The war is over. In order to ensure that the ties between the different nations and their representative ninja villages remain strong, the Daimyo's have devised a tournament. Each village will choose up to 10 ninjas to compete. When you enter, you will be randomly put onto a team with ninjas from different villages. There will be three separate competitions going on. Individual scores, team scores, and village scores. At the end of the tournament prizes will be awarded." He explains.
Everyone blinks. Whatever they had been expecting, that had not been it. An international tournament? Suddenly the crowd began to erupt in a chorus of gossip.
"That will be all. You have a week to select up to ten ninjas you want to compete. Send your scroll filled with your selections to the Fire Daimyos. Thank you." He says as he departs just as suddenly as he came.
Sasuke frowns. A tournament for all the different villages? A tournament where you would be randomly assigned to work with foreign ninjas? What sort of game were they playing.
"You think something strange is going on as well, don't you?" Hinata asks softly and Sasuke nods in agreement.
It didn't make any sense. What was the point? The representative had said that it was to strengthen ties between villages, but if that was true why would they have individual and village scores? It would make more sense just to have team scores or even just team and individual scores. Adding a village score was an unnecessary element. A potentially dangerous one.
"I do. I just don't know what. It looks like the announcement is over though. We should probably get back to the Minis." Sasuke says.
"You're right. We probably should, but first I want to talk to Kurenai Sensei. She might know something more about the tournament." Hinata says as she strides over to the Genjutsu Mistress.
Sasuke nods in approval at this. Of course, what he didn't know is that Hinata didn't want to just talk about the tournament with her Sensei. She also had more personal matters to discuss with her.
"Kurenai Sensei, do you know anything about this tournament?" The bluenette asks.
Kurenai shakes her head. No. She was just as stunned as everyone else. Even the Hokage looked stupefied. That was generally never a good sign.
"I'm afraid that I do not. I haven't heard anything about this before five minutes ago." She admits.
Hinata bites her lower lip. That was ominous. Kurenai was a Jonin and had been for years. She was respected and usually briefed on anything important that was going on in the village.
"That doesn't sound good. I wanted to thank you. It's a very long story, but Sasuke really did like the lingerie you got me." She admits with a blush.
"No, it doesn't sound good. I am glad that things are going well with you and Sasuke though. Is that all you did? You just modeled it for him? I shouldn't expect to see a baby Uchiha in nine months or so, should I?" Kurenai asks and Hinata blushes scarlet.
That was all that they did. Mostly because her father had walked in on them. Idly, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened, if he didn't.
Sasuke was certainly not shy and now that they knew they were together in the future, there really wasn't a reason to be nervous. As long as the timeline didn't alter, they knew that they would still be together for at least a decade. They'd be married with children. Modesty seemed a little pointless when one factored those things into the equation.
"No! No, mini Uchihas. Well at least not yet. I mean he liked it, but haven't been intimate yet. My father almost walked in on me wearing that. It's a good thing that we heard him coming down the hall. Sasuke had to hide in the closet." She admits.
Kurenai laughs. Ah yes. She remembered those days. Some things never changed. The boy would always hide in the closet when the Papa Bear came to visit his princess.
"Well at least it's a very nice closet. I remember when I had my first boyfriend. My closet was really small. He barely fit in it." Kurenai says with a wink.
Hinata blinks. It was difficult to imagine her Sensei doing something like that. Then again, she had never thought that Kurenai would buy her racy lingerie either.
"Did you get caught?" She asks.
"Yes, he got caught. Poor boy was traumatized pretty badly. My father also specialized in Genjutsu." Kurenai informs her.
The Hyuga Heiress tries to process that and shakes her head. That poor boy. God only knows what Kurenai's father had made him see.
"I guess it didn't work out?" She asks.
"Oh we dated for a few months, but he ended up getting transferred to another village. He took my father's threats in stride though. I'm glad that Sasuke didn't get caught though." Kurenai says.
"Me too." Hinata says with a smile.
If Sasuke had gotten caught, she was pretty sure she knew what would have happened. Her father would have used his not so Gentle Fist below the belt. Then she might never have had children with Sasuke. Just thinking about it was enough to make her shiver.
"Well you better hurry, I think he's waiting for you." The ruby eyed woman notes in amusement.
"Yes, I think so too. Thank you, Kurenai Sensei. For everything. I mean it." Hinata says as she races back over to Sasuke.
Sasuke smiles at her and wraps his arm around her waist. The two head back towards the Hyuga Estate. Neither of them was aware of the rest of Team Eight watching them.
"Did you see that?" Kiba growls in annoyance.
"Yes, I saw that. It doesn't seem like Hinata has an issue with him holding her as they walk. Leave it alone, Kiba." Shino says.
"You're kidding me, right?! I'm going to give that jerk a piece of my mind. I'm not going to let him hurt our teammate!" He exclaims.
Shino says. He wasn't sure if Kiba was playing the part of an overprotective brother or an unrequited lover. He did know one thing though. He was going to have to keep Kiba as far away from Sasuke as possible. It really was for everyone's safety. He sighs as he realizes that was easier said than done.