WARNING: This chapter contains a major manga spoiler concerning Uchiha Itachi. If you haven't read up to the point of Sasuke/Itachi fight in the manga and further... well, you've been warned.
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--14--
Hinata blinked when his words rebounded from her wall of a brain and echoed down the spacious convolution corridors. The sound turned into an image and she sprang back from him immediately, blushing more densely than the tomato he had just crushed.
She wiped off her cheeks feverishly with her blouse sleeve and got down to cleaning the messy table.
"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I've lost self-control a little bit," she wiped the wet tabletop with toilet paper, taking hold of the tomato remains with her left hand. "I've been having a pretty hard time recently."
"What kind?" Sasuke scoffed. "Rut?"
Hinata almost flopped down on the floor. She would get thoughts like that from time to time, but to go as far as expressing it out loud…
"I shall not comment on that one," she said, throwing the remains of tomato into the bin.
Sasuke couldn't help it. He grinned, revealing only the upper grid of his teeth, but Hinata stopped dead in her tracks, seeing him smile. Basically she should've felt offended at least a little bit, as he was obviously amused by her lamely constructed answer, and it only helped her run away from the truth, but it was the first time she saw Uchiha smile. It was a real, genuine smile, which gave his usually cold and scornful face some cosiness. He even looked cute…
Hinata shook her head. Uchiha + cute = x__x
She put the plate (it was still dripping wet with tomato juice and the paper bag got soaked through, but she didn't care about that now), the knife and the cutting board into her bag, put on her jacket, grabbed Naruto's notebook from the chair and turned to leave, afraid she might commit something more interesting if she stayed.
"You're leaving?" Sasuke asked still smiling, leaning his elbow onto the table. If his eyes had been alive, they would've had mischievous sparks in them right now.
Hinata gripped the notebook firmly, feeling the blouse wrists, which were drenched with tomato juice, stuck to her skin.
"I'll be back," she said opening the door and leaving the ward in haste.
Finding herself in the corridor, Hinata leaned against the wall and cupped her mouth with her hand, totally horrified with herself. The good thing was that she finally found out where that dream scent had come from. The bad thing was… it was affecting her way too much.
--
The smile disappeared from Sasuke's face immediately. As if it was gone with the wind. He groped the table with his left hand and, feeling a dry piece of toilet paper, he leaned forwards with intention to wipe off his wet fingers. He stroked his thumb over his other fingers remembering the way they were touching Hinata's skin. A wish inflamed inside of him and Sasuke frowned, because he didn't like it, not by a long shot. He wanted to see her.
***
She began reading while she was still walking down the stairs in the hospital. She did that in order to shoo away certain thoughts. She thought that concentrating onto a totally different topic would help. By the time she was at the exit she could no longer take her eyes off the notebook and she was walking down the brightly lit streets, so she would be able to discern Naruto's cranky handwriting. The point was that the most interesting things were hiding in the margins and above the main lines. They were Naruto's personal jottings written down in an ink of a different colour.
Ever since she was little she knew this story by hearsay, she knew as much as she was allowed to know. And now the story was unfolding in front of her in a full-fledged Technicolor. The person, with whom she had no emotional attachments whatsoever just a few weeks ago; the person, who was about to arouse a wild beast in her these days… he was beginning to look more like… a human being. As if she had finally noticed the reasons behind this big opaque shield. Yet regrettably, the reasons which made him look more like a human were totally different from his kind smile.
She finished reading when there were only a few blocks left to the Hyuuga mansion. She closed the notebook the moment she noticed tears dropping on the inky lines. Hinata blinked rapidly, trying to suppress the oncoming flood, but the tears were falling like rain and she changed her mind. She would never go home like this. She made up her mind in a flash, turned around and headed towards a completely different district, with only one person in mind.
She was running as fast as she could. The tears on her cheeks gradually encrusted with an icy skin and if it had been a little bit colder, the salty waterworks would have turned into ice immediately.
The bag was thrown away near the grocery store. She was flying down the cold streets of Konoha, but Hinata didn't feel her run; she didn't register the efforts she put into this action, because erratic lines from Naruto's notebook were flashing through her mind. They were painting her world in new sharp colours and their combination wasn't too positive. Official report was mixing with Naruto's comments. The longer she ran, the longer those comments became.
--
Uchiha Itachi
Birth date: 06 09
Highest rank: ANBU
Class: S
Double agent
Sometimes I think I've been so wrong in telling Itachi I'm a better brother to Sasuke than he'd ever been…
Pacifist. Entered ANBU under the influence of Uchiha Fugaku. Became an ANBU captain at the age of 13. Uchiha spy. Was supposed to help prepare a mutiny against Konoha, but crossed over to Konoha's side and became a double agent. Eliminated the whole Uchiha clan under the orders of Konoha, leaving alive only his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke.
He loved his brother more than Konoha, more than his village. He must've been rather formidable; cuz the heads of Konoha didn't finish Sasuke off themselves after he'd left. He also must've hated war a lot, if he could sacrifice his whole clan for the sake of peace.
Sometimes I think that he was planning to be killed by Sasuke even then…
Akatsuki member. In the last years of his life smitten by a complicated illness. Eventually killed by Uchiha Sasuke.
Most probably Itachi was the mightiest shinobi of all times. But everything was hidden cuz of one simple reason – Sasuke. I'm frequently being reminded these days that my father sacrificed his life for our village, but the way Itachi ruined his life for the sake of his younger brother… it's just unreal.
The Uchihas were traitors. Basically cuz of Madara's provocations. Sasuke grew up believing his clan was great and honourable. He's been driven forwards for years by the thought of defeating Itachi. Sasuke totally lost it when Madara revealed him part of the truth after Itachi's death.
I'm not blaming him. Itachi had an impact on my life as well. Kyuubi isn't the only thing people are afraid of these days…
--
It was really bright in the room. The warmth wafted upwards from the heated floor, and he was walking satisfied in his apartment barefoot, making the flaps of his robe flutter. He was pretty close to singing something stupid. Like Oh!Enka.
Sometimes the people coming over to his place would say that he was supposed to economize on the heating, but warmth was necessary in winter. When it was so cold outside that his bones hurt, there was nothing better than the hot floor once you were back home.
He was simply standing on the floor, letting his treads absorb the warmth and wriggling his toes, when he heard a quick and nervy knock on the door. Naruto blinked and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a little bit slanted on the right. Who was there at this time of hour?
Uzumaki tiptoed towards the door and opened it in a broad swing, totally ignoring the fact that he let in a big gust of winter air as well. A shiver ran down his spine – after all, he was wearing nothing but his underwear and his robe. But his got a bigger shudder because of the image right in front of him.
Hinata-chan stood on his doorstep. Her cheeks were doughy; her eyes were bloodshot because of tears. Her long black hair was dishevelled and some stray strands were flapping at all directions possible because of the wind in the corridor. She sniffed taking deep breaths, clenching the dark notebook to her chest.
Naruto gasped.
"Hinata-chan…" he pursed his lips. "Just don't cry…"
But she couldn't take it anymore, choking on the wail she'd been repressing for so long she snuffled and stormed into Naruto's apartment, basically headbutting him in the chest.
"That…" her shoulders flinched as she tried to speak. "This. It's too much…"
Naruto closed the door in a robot mode and patted Hinata's head ungracefully. She like totally turned on the waterworks. He hadn't thought that a simple report on Uchiha Itachi would affect her this much. He'd just wanted her to know more of Sasuke. So that she could understand him better. Or at least so that she would realize why he was the way he was; how he'd become what he was now. Naruto didn't want to make her cry. He knew Hinata was sensitive, but as to that much…
Nerves, nerves…
I bet she's totally lost it cuz of Uchiha, Kyuubi entered the flow of his thoughts.
The girl's really upset and you… Naruto frowned.
Come on, Uzumaki, give in. Let's bet. For a bottle of sake. Naruto could basically see a widely grinning Kyuubi in his mind. The flashy fangs were making his eyes hurt.
You're bust already as it is, retorted Naruto and hugged safely the weeping Hinata.
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To be continued...