Leavetaking

The time had come for Seito to set out on his next assignment - to join up with his brother and make arrangements for the rest of Sasuke's entourage to relocate to this location as their new base of operations. Hinata was amazed by the sense of sadness she felt knowing that he would leave them that day. His presence with them the last two weeks had changed the dynamics between herself and Sasuke - they both seemed more at ease with each other when he was around. Hinata was concerned that Sasuke would go back to his terse and aloof self once Seito was gone. For a brief time they had seemed like their own family.

"I'll see you soon, miss," Seito said addressing her and bowing.

Hinata looked at Sasuke and then rather awkwardly bowed back. It felt strange, their status to each other was somewhat muddled up. As a servant, chattel even, she was certainly lower than Seito and yet he sensed there was some other dimension to her relationship with Sasuke.

"Sasuke-sama," he turned to the other man and bowed more deeply.

"Take care, Seito. Remember, discuss things only with your brother first. Get his assessment of the trustworthiness of all the others before you confide in them."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama, I will do that," he replied.

"We will see you at the appointed time. No communications before then, no baza hawks or other communications that might be intercepted."

"I understand."

"Well, then," Sasuke hesitated and then committed, "farewell."

With one final nod, Seito turned and left toward the south.

Wistfully, Hinata watched him disappear and then with a start realized that Sasuke was watching her. She cleared her throat and said, "I, um, I should get back to work."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed, "I should as well."

Hinata turned and quickly made her way down to the creek bed. With Seito's help they had finished their mapping and identified a rather large area where Sasuke felt comfortable allowing her access at will. There were chakra alarms at the perimeter ostensibly to keep both herself in and others out but Hinata felt they were more clearly aimed at keeping others out.

There was a certain bend in the stream where the water was quiite shallow and clear spilling over small, golden pebbles worn smooth by the water all these years. It was a good area for collecting fresh-water mussels. Hinata had a bucket with her and planned to gather a quantity to use for supper tonight. As always there was more than enough dried and preserved food in the stores but it was always better to have something fresh. You never knew when you might need the preserved supplies and besides it was such a lovely, perfect day to be outside in the warmth of one of the last few days of summer.

The air was already cooler in the mornings, it had been quite crisp when she woke up this morning. The days were shorter too, they were almost at the fall equinox. Which meant the water would be cold, very cold. She would have to be very efficient with her collection efforts.

Setting the bucket down she activated Byukugan to more efficiently identify her prey. A clump of the little mollusks were quite near her and she plunged her hands into the water, sifting through the pebbles to procure them. Contentedly she went about this activity as she worked her way down the banks of the stream.

After some time she thought she had a reasonable number for dinner tonight and then realized she had more than enough because it would only be the two of them this evening. Across the way she saw a patch of watercress and decided that would go well with the dinner tonight. Kicking off her sandals she braced herself and stepped into the cold flow. She gasped briefly but it wasn't as bad as she expected and she hurried across the smooth pebbles to pluck up the watercress.

A step or two away there was a small sandbar that had formed and the current split into as it flowed around on either side of the sunny little level patch. The sun was high in the sky and warm by now and Hinata decided to take a little break. Settling herself down on the little outcropping she considered the current status.

It was going to be lonely. She missed Shikamaru terribly and admitted that she would miss Seito a great deal too. And Sasuke was Sauske. She thought back to what things had been like the few days the younger man had been gone when it had only been her and Sasuke Uchiha here. Things had been tense and for the most part quiet. Hinata could handle the solitude, but companionship was so much more pleasant.

Tense. Things had been rightfully tense because of her actions, her pregnancy, her child. Their child. They had not discussed it much while Seito was with them but it would undoubtedly become a topic again now that he was gone.

The child.

There was one indulgence she hadn't permitted herself while Seito was here. She couldn't explain why, she just had not wanted to take a chance on him accidentally discovering her while she was doing it.

Hinata positioned herself more comfortable sitting on the plateau. She ducked her head and activated her jutsu and smile. The simple chakra presence had changed dramatically. She was now nearly nine weeks along and the baby had grown significantly. "Hello," she whispered and marveled at the miracle inside of her, that her body was able to do something as infinitely complex as producing another human being.

"Don't worry," she whispered again, "It will all work out." She fell back to silence and just appreciated the moment.

"Hinata," she heard her voice called and her a crackling of brush as someone walked along the creek looking for her. "Hinata," Sasuke called again. She opened her eyes, roused from her peaceful reverie and started to get up.

"I'm sorry," he said uncharacteristically, "I didn't mean to disturb your meditation."

"Oh," she was embarrassed that he had found her, "I wasn't meditating, I was just...," she floundered not exactly sure how to explain it to him.

"Just what?" he asked more curious than annoyed.

"I was just...checking on the baby."

"Oh." Awkward pause as he shifted his weight. "And you had Byukugan activated?" Again he sounded genuinely curious.

"Yes, I was ...looking."

"Ah. You can...do that?"

She smiled. It was...cute...seeing him so discomfited. It reminded her of Shikamaru's treating her like a porcelain princess when he realized she actually was pregnant. She was amazed at the pregnancy, Sasuke seemed both amazed and befuddled. On a whim she said, "I could try to show you how."

He stiffened then and a cold note crept back into his voice, "Hinata, with Sharingan I cannot copy a bloodline jutsu."

She shook her head. "No, what I mean is...if Sharingan is a specialized and closely related form of my jutsu then I might be able to teach it to you. We could try." Reluctantly she admitted to herself that what she was in effect stating was that if the entire premise for her reason for the pregnancy in the first place was sound then she might be able to teach it to him. Otherwise what had been the point of her trying to do this back in Konoha.

Sasuke knew it without her saying anything. The entire reason she was pregnant with his child was because their jutsus were so closely related. Still, he was curious. "We could try," he agreed to her relief.

Kicking off his own sandals he crossed over to join her, settling down by her side. Vainly Hinata tried to teach him but he could never master anything close to the super-acuity she had.

After several more tries he shook his head and looked up at her. "I don't think it's going to work. If they were stronger I might be able to sense chakra flows but I can't actually 'see' the way you do."

"If they were stronger? Do you think you could sense them by touch?" Sasuke looked away at her question and Hinata did too as soon as she had voiced it. The last time they had talked about chakra flows, Sasuke had threatened disrupting them to terminate the pregnancy.

"I might," he answered without looking at her.

"Do you want to try?" she asked softly.

"I wouldn't ask." And he wished he could apologize for threatening such a thing earlier.

"I wouldn't mind," she said. And she wished she could add that she knew he had been hurt when he said it. That the Sasuke who had secured this perimeter and taken such pains with Seito and his mission had been doing so for the purposes of protecting this unborn child and she knew that he wouldn't harm it now.

"You're sure?"

She nodded and felt him gently place his hand at her abdomen. "Here," she whispered, gently positioning his hand a little further to the right.

Sasuke considered for a minute, then exhaled. "So small," he said softly. He withdrew his hand and she found that she missed the basic human contact. Then in a normal tone he asked. "And you're well?

Hinata nodded again. Briefly she envisioned how Naruto must have swooped Sakura in his arms at the news. Someday in the future, she imagined, Shikamaru would do the same when his wife told him the news. She and Sasuke were left with the fragile, brittle peace between them.