Okay, so here's a quick warning. I kinda suck at writing action scenes and uh... ghost!

Enjoy :)

The sky was white and the air was light as it turns into delicate flakes that each carry their own individual pattern. Snowflakes are not so different than us, humans. Everyone is built unique, and everyone has their own tale to tell before they disappear from the surface of the earth like melted snowflakes. The strong gush of wind that blew confirmed that winter was finally here.

Sasuke walked towards the blue-haired girl who was waiting in front of the Konoha gates. She had her back to him so she didn't notice him approaching her until he was near enough for her to hear his deliberate footsteps causing her to turn around.

"Ohayou Na-" she started her greeting before her brain registered who was before her. "S-sasuke-kun?" she ended up saying instead, her face was clearly surprised.

"Ohayou,"

Hinata's expression slowly turned into a slightly crestfallen one as her brows furrowed deeply. Sasuke laughed inwardly on how transparent her feelings were towards other people.

"Disappointed?" he asked as he simply walked passed her and later kneeled down to place his backpack down on the ground. There was something in his backpack that was poking him, he needed to rearrange it.

"Ano… Sasuke-kun. Are you going on a mission too?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, still rearranging his stuff.

He wasn't usually this unorganized. But last night after confronting Kakashi of his secret engagement, they all went out for a drink. At least the men did, since both Ayame and Sakura had things to do. Ayame with her wedding preparations which will be held sometime after the inauguration of the sixth Hokage. While Sakura had to go back to the hospital as usual to resume her duty.

They had a couple of drinks talking about how Ayame and him came to be. Sasuke had to admit, that it was sort of nice catching up with his former sensei. However, what happened later that night when Kakashi had a little too much to drink was the problem. This is because it left both Naruto and him to the task of dragging a drunk soon-to-be Hokage back to his apartment and it wasn't good for the public eyes to see Kakashi in that particular condition. So, they had to be discrete it bringing him back to his home. It was a tedious job and hence, the journey wasn't pleasant. Therefore, when Sasuke got home later that night, he straight away went to bed without packing for the next day.

"Are you coming with Naruto-kun and me to Suna?" Hinata asked, her head slightly tilted in his direction.

"No,"

"Oh…" she started to say and Sasuke could sense her relieved sigh before saying,

"I'm replacing him as your partner to Suna."

"Really?!"

"Yes, and I hate to burst your bubble but Naruto was tasked to do something else, so here we are, " Sasuke said as he stood up, backpack properly arranged and turned to face her whilst looking her up and down. "That's not such a smart choice of clothing." he simply said.

Automatically, Hinata's hands went over her body cautiously shielding it from Sasuke's view.

"It's freaking snowing and that's all you have on?" he continued saying, clearly annoyed.

Hinata was wearing just a lavender sleeveless jacket-like tunic with long socks that ended just beneath her small black shorts. Her hair was down, her usual style. And unlike her, Sasuke had on a thick brown poncho over his usual dark clothing. He also had his usual scarf- which he had several others of the same purple colour, wrapped around his head.

Feeling offended, she took a deep breath and adjusted the straps of her own backpack before walking straight ahead. She didn't need to justify her choice of apparel to him.

It's not that Sasuke was bothered by her contradicting choice of clothing over the freezing weather—well to be frank, he actually was, as Sasuke was a practical man. But on the other hand, it clearly showed that Hinata was trying a bit too hard 'dressing up' for her original mission partner. And that thought alone, annoyed him. It was pathetic.

"You don't need to expose so much skin just to get a man's attention you know," he said as he fell into step with her.

Hinata puffed out angrily to the Uchiha's still ongoing rant, her brows furrowed deeply, as she shot him a pointed stare. She walked faster, distancing herself from him again.

They travelled like that, Hinata ahead of Sasuke who followed from a short distance behind her for several hours. Suna was rather far, it was going to take them two to three days depending on the weather.

Eventually, they found a cave to settle for the night. Snow and darkness was not a good combination. However before they settled in, they went about to look for woods to build a fire. As they piled up the woods Sasuke went out of the cave to take a quick leak. When he came back, he was surprised to see that a fire was already burning in the center of the cave, enlightening the previously dark cave.

"How did you do that?" he asked Hinata as he was just about to Katon it.

"The fire?" she asked back nonchalantly, obviously still peeved at him.

"Yes." he said curtly.

And at that precise time, Hinata gave out a small squeak- she sneezed. And a small puff of smoke came out of her mouth.

Sasuke looked at her incredulously, an eyebrow arched.

"I didn't know you mastered a fire element." he commented.

"I didn't master it, I was born with it. It's my chakra affinity." she said after wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

Hinata then started preparing her sleeping bag. As she was doing so, something heavy covered her a whole. Peeking above it as she pushed it off her she found that it was Sasuke who had placed his poncho over her.

"You better wear it if you don't want to travel sickly tomorrow," Sasuke as he walked towards his bag.

"Arigatou, but I think I'm fine without it." she said as she took it off her.

Stubbornly polite. Sasuke thought to herself.

"You can hold a grudge."

Hinata looked up to him at his comment.

"Why do you wear like that anyways?"

"Gomen, but I don't think I need to explain myself to you." she said as she slowly folded the poncho and later walking towards him. "Here," she said as she handed him back his apparel.

Sasuke ignored her as he took out his sleeping bag preparing his side of the fire.

"I'll put it here then," she continued talking to herself as she placed the poncho next to him on the ground.

After they ate their dinner silently, they slept.

Later that night, Hinata woke up. She had to train her byakugan. It was routine for her as it was the best time for her to practice her eyes with through the limitations the darkness had to offer.

Walking a few hundred metres away from the cave, she nestled herself comfortably on a boulder somewhere in the forest.

Sitting cross-legged, she did a short meditation before activating her byakugan. Zooming in and out of her vision, she scrutinized everything from the hundreds of trees that lay in every position to the individual snowflakes that fall from above. As she tried to increase her vision magnification, it blurred. Concentrating harder, it still blurred.

To be honest, Hinata wasn't really concentrating enough. Her mind was elsewhere. It was still lingering on Sasuke's words earlier that day.

"You don't need to expose so much skin just to get a man's attention you know,"

It wasn't that she purposely tried to show off her body to anyone. But his words stung her hard. All she did was a little wardrobe make over. A change of her usual loose clothes to something more… appealing.

And by looking at her other close circle of female friends she was inspired somehow. At least those who had men waiting in line for them. Hinata had to admit, she has reached that state in life. The stage where she starts trying to look for her other half.

Hinata shivered. Now that she think of it, her attire do lack purpose in this weather.

Rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself, she took a deep breath before activating her byakugan once again. However, an instant shadow appeared before her eyes.

Sasuke has always been a light sleeper. Living on his own has made him develop that habit. He realised the fact that in the midst of the night, Hinata had woken up and went outside. He figured that maybe she had to use the 'bathroom'.

But the strange thing was that she was gone for quite some time. He knows this because Sasuke just happened to have a hard time falling back asleep. Intuition told him to check up on her. But he knew the Hyuuga was still pissed at him. No need to add fuel to fire.

Speaking of which, Sasuke was actually quite surprised the timid Hyuuga held a fire Chakra affinity. Just like him. However, it didn't fit her though. Sasuke wondered how much deeper is he able to probe into this pale-eyed girl's story. As of now, he has a feeling he was only seeing the surface.

Putting on his poncho that the stubborn Hyuuga returned earlier, Sasuke stepped outside the cave. He looked to the ground before him, and saw faint footsteps left in the snow-covered ground.

At first he walked, following the footsteps, but as the trail stopped abruptly, Sasuke jumped onto the tree branches above him and continued his path. The Hyuuga went far, was she leaving him behind?

Sasuke shook out the thought just as fast as it popped into his head. She couldn't have, her things were still in the cave. She won't survive the cold just like that, at least not in her skimpy attire. But then again, why was she so far away from their camp, then?

Later on, Sasuke stopped at a clearance. There were more of her footsteps here. He followed them until it stopped just before a big boulder. Sasuke glanced up before jumping onto it. No sign of her.

Being on the boulder gave him better view to the surrounding. As he looked around, he found that not far from the boulder, there was a trail in the snow. Instead of that of a footstep, it appeared deeper and bigger. As if someone was dragged through it.

Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke followed the trail. Something was off.

Suddenly, he heard something or rather someone not far from him. It was faint, but he heard it. As he walked slowly towards the sound, he could sense the Hyuuga's Chakra.

There was a repeated thud.

Knowing that he was getting close, his senses heightened.

"S-sas… ke—" someone called out to him.

Looking up, Sasuke was shocked to see the Hyuuga pinned to the tree above him. She was dangling, but had both hands to her throat.

Without wasting time, Sasuke concentrated some Chakra on the soles of his feet and ran up the tree. As he neared her, he could see that an invisible force was choking her against the tree, thus pinning her there.

He grabbed her, trying to pull her away, but failed as she whimpered in pain. It was as if she was glued there. A sudden idea popped into his head. Sasuke grabbed her legs, supporting her weight and told her to concentrate some Chakra on her back and feet. Therefore, she won't need to dangle while being choked at the same time.

She did as she was told as her wild frantic eyes looked to him and to whatever it was in front of her back and forth.

"It's a spirit, isn't it?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata was suffocating. The entity that was crushing her windpipe was surprisingly strong. It was the fact that it caught her off guard resulted in her current condition. She could vaguely see it, but she can sure feel it. And, hear it.

"My, my… an Uchiha came for you." the spirit said in an alarming raspy voice as it stopped knocking her head onto a tree.

This allowed Hinata some breath to call out to the dark haired boy below. And not later than that, he was there with her, his face ever blank despite her illogical condition.

He held her as she matched her weight perpendicular to the earth's gravity, relieving some of her torture.

After Sasuke asked whether it was a spirit that held her down did she knew, that Sasuke's help was limited. He can't see, hear nor feel it. In short, he can't stop it. The dead was a blind spot even for the Uchiha.

She could, however.

Knowing that she had to act fast before the spirit actually manages to break her neck, Hinata activated her rinne-byakugan. And it came easier than expected.

And there, finally she was able to see the spirit clearly.

"Give me, your body!" it screeched before laughing hysterically, piercing Hinata's ears painfully.

Placing a palm on the spirit's what seemed-to-be chest cavity, Hinata sent it flying off with a gush of wind.

Finally, Hinata was able to take in deep breaths of air. Without wasting time, she made a series of hand signals to activate her twin lion fists. But as the file blazed throughout her forearm, she noticed that the flame wasn't the usual blue colour, but black.

Trusting her gut instinct, Hinata leaped off the tree and headed towards the spirit that was now flying around randomly around the forest, taunting her.

"Catch me, catch me if you can…!" It shrieked again popping right in front of her face before disappearing again.

"Catch me before I catch you," it whispered harshly in Hinata's ear before again, it disappeared.

The game was on. Hinata knew she had to catch it first. And… well since it's already dead, she hasn't really thought about that part yet. But having that 'thing' in her hands will at least prevent anymore further attacks. She was just relieved that the entity was only aiming her and that it wasn't harming Sasuke.

She was its sole focus.

Therefore, focusing her vision, she was able to detect the spirit leaping off from tree to tree. It was fast. But a she observed the spirit's movement, she found that it wasn't that random, it had momentum, a pattern. Doubling her speed, she pursued it, pushing herself off the snowy-ground.

Hinata managed to intercept it at one point, piercing one of her lion fist straight through its body. The spirit howled in pain. But then as fast as light, smacked the side of Hinata's head causing her to hit a nearby tree.

Although in pain by the sudden force, Hinata was able to land on her feet but just barely as her body contacted the tree. However, right at that moment she was pushed back on the tree and then downwards, as the spirit grazed her against the bark of the tree. Hinata winced in pain as splinter after splinter entered her skin.

"Pretty girl, so sad. But I want you dead more than pretty." The spirit said before laughing maniacally.

Just before she crashed to the ground, Hinata flipped over so that she was on top of the entity. They crashed down on the snow, her knees hurt as she crushed the spirit with them on the snow.

"Go to hell." Hinata said softly before she manifested black flames that blew like wildfire from her palms onto the entity.

She can hear it screaming in pain. A noise that was so surreal, Hinata knew she would remember it for quite some time before finally as if burnt into ashes the spirit was gone.

Hinata was panting on her hands and knees now that the spirit was gone. The snow beneath her blackened and felt hot despite the snow, she was sweating.

A pair of feet suddenly appeared in front of her. Looking up, she saw a hand extending out towards her. It was him.

"Get up." Sasuke commanded.

Back in the cave, Hinata staggered towards the fire and sat down in front of it as the heat welcomed her. She hasn't remove any of the splinters in her skin. At least the cold weather helped her in that sense though, numbing the pain.

Sasuke looked at her, but she was just staring into the burning fire before her. The event that just occurred left the atmosphere darker than the night itself.

"You should heal yourself," Sasuke said as he moved to his side of the fire. Comforting people, is just not his forte.

Hinata got up and walked towards her bag, taking out her medi-pack. She laid down a cloth on the ground before gently placing a pair of tweezers and scissors, some gauze, bandages and a small bottle of alcohol. It's better to heal simple cuts the manual way to preserve chakra.

Sasuke who was warming up by the fire glanced at the Hyuuga who had her back to him. He could see she was struggling with the splints that were on her back. She was pulling down her collar with one hand and held the tweezer with the other. He didn't know why, but the sight of her sad attempt on pulling out her splints bothered him.

"Give it to me," he said as he stood behind her.

"W-what?" the Hyuuga asked back dumbfoundedly.

"The tweezers," Sasuke said with a heavy sigh and sat behind her. He swiftly took it from her hand.

"W-wait, what are you doing?" Hinata stuttered as Sasuke held her shoulder to move it in the direction of the light before he meticulously began pulling the splinters starting from the back of her arms.

"This is why you shouldn't wear sleeveless top," he said as he pulled out one particularly fine splinter.

"Hai," she replied in a small voice.

Sasuke knew it wasn't his place to tell her off. But he just felt like he needed to. He wasn't one to care of others, but somehow he wanted the Hyuuga to know his thoughts even though he knew she would be annoyed. But at least, the message would get through.

It took him a while to remove the splinters on her arms but eventually, he managed. He allocated all the splinters on the piece of cloth she put down earlier.

"Take it off," he said putting down the tweezer momentarily.

"W-what?" Hinata stammered as her back stiffened, surprised of his instruction.

"Your top. There's more on your back."

"You want me to u-undress in front of you?" she said her voice becoming shriller.

"Look, it's just your back. I won't touch elsewhere. We still have a long way to Suna. This is the only way to travel there fit, Hyuuga." Sasuke explained monotonously.

He didn't get why she was so shy. The cave was so dim he barely can see her skin. And she had her back against the fire, so her front would be covered by the shadow it emitted. It's not like he's going to do anything to her.

After a moment of contemplating her options, Hinata wiped her forehead. The Hyuuga is thinking hard. And in the end she slowly unzipped her tunic.

"C-can you close your eyes for a while?" she said softly, almost a whisper.

Sasuke turned his back on her as she removed her top.

"O-okay. I'm ready." She said.

Sasuke faced her back again but there was a bandage wrapped around her thoracic part, a style most kunoichi usually do to cover and support their chest. Hinata had pulled her hair to one side and brought it in front away from her back. She was also covering her front by hugging her tunic tightly against her chest, clearly she was embarrassed.

"I'm going to need to remove your bandages." Sasuke said impassively.

Hinata nodded.

And so with the scissors he cut them off her back, revealing a canvas of smooth milky skin to him. Hinata shivered slightly. She has nice skin, he'd give her that.

"Ano… is it… is it bad?" Hinata asked softy.

Sasuke hadn't realised he was staring at her back for some time before she spoke.

"They're deep, so it's going to take some time." He said casually.

Afterwards, Sasuke had successfully removed all the splinters out her skin in silence, and afterwards washed her skin with alcohol which she whimpered as it stung upon contact with her multiple cuts. The alcohol also helped clean the black soot that covered her forearms. The origin of the black soot was one of the hundreds of things that needed to be discussed about but the Hyuuga still appeared to be phased out from what just happened to her. Therefore, Sasuke was going to give her some time to mentally recover.

Okay, maybe not that much.

"What were you fighting with?" he asked.

Hinata's head snapped up upon hearing his question as she was sitting in front of the fire again, staring aimlessly into it.

"It was one of those spirits. But it was stronger." She said, hugging her knees tighter.

"Did it had a name?"

"N-no. It looked like a woman, but I think it was a man." She explained.

Orochimaru's face popped up in Sasuke's mind.

Wrapping herself tighter in Sasuke's poncho—which she had eventually worn after she cleaned herself up, she said "It wanted my body. It wanted to live."

Again, this was beginning to sound too much like Orochimaru. Sasuke wondered if that creep was dead.

Sasuke was about to ask her more but she suddenly began to say, "Sasuke-kun, ano…" she looked at him briefly before her gaze fell.

"Is it okay if I sleep next to you tonight?"

That was unexpected. Not after their awkward moment where he had to clean her bare back earlier. It was Sasuke's turn to feel surprised.

"I won't be too close, I promise." She added confusing his brief silence with hesitance.

"Go ahead," he simply said.

He could see her being grateful of his answer in the way her pale eyes glinted before she stood up to drag her sleeping bag on the opposite side of the fire to be next to his.

"Arigatou, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said as she crawled into her sleeping bag. "For helping me tend my injuries earlier." She added with a small smile.

"Hn,"

"Oyasuminasai."

He guessed he had to wait till tomorrow to properly discussed about the abnormal event that just took place then.

Spirit, entity, ghost... I'm sorry, but Halloween inspired me to write a spooky chap! Please please review, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And those who has reviewed, thanks a lot! Your opinions and CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms are taken into consideration. They help me notice my flaws. But being a SasuHina shipper isn't a flaw! So buzz off, if you ain't shipping them!