"Yo. We need to talk."
Sasuke blinked slowly in response, sighing hard enough to rustle the origami birds that nested in his arms. "You look...well rested." He muttered in reply, bending down to drop the pile of paper cranes into the basket at his feet.
Naruto ignored the jab at the dark circles under his eyes, focusing instead on the important things. "You are getting married in two days."
"Ah." Sasuke hummed, crouching to gather more intricately folded paper. "You would think you were my personal assistant, with the way you go about reminding me of things."
"If anything I hired you as mine." Naruto threw back. "But since you seem incapable of doing the job-"
"It was Shikamaru you hired for that. Don't even pretend otherwise."
"Speaking of Shikamaru." Kicking a bird at Sasuke's face earned the Hokage one tepid glare before the Uchiha continued gathering birds. "I had to call him back."
"From?"
"From?" Naruto allowed himself to gape mildly. "From Suna, where else would he have gone?"
"How the hell should I know where pineapple head goes?" Sasuke frowned at him. "I have my own problems to deal with."
"Yes, you do. Which you have not been dealing with." Naruto's tone lowered to a conspiratorial whisper tinged with frustration, his blue eyes shifting through the house. "You told me you were going to deal with the Hinata thing. You told me to trust you."
Sasuke's frown went from uninterested to focused. "Does this constitute you trusting me? Because bursting into my house early in the morning is not-"
"I just saw her walk in before I did."
For a moment the blood and oxygen within Sasuke's body stilled, as did the wind and light in the world around him. Naruto pierced him with two laser beam pieces of sky and slowly he closed his own eyes against it, looking down at the crumpled origami cranes between his palms with drooping shoulders.
"I am the closest thing you have to family." Naruto's fervent whisper rebooted the world to movement once more, his proximity encroaching as his whisper became more urgent. "You have never invited me to just walk into your house, and I know Hinata." Blue eyes sharp as split ice slowly sliced him apart. "She probably knocks on her own door before walking in, let alone yours. What is actually going on?"
"You don't know her." Sasuke grumbled, shrugging off the hand Naruto tried to place on his shoulder sharply. "If you did you would not be insinuating anything."
Rebuffed, and standing stiff shouldered Naruto frowned more intently. "I am not insinuating anything. You're in love with her and I am seeing a lot of very alarming behavior. I had to call back Shino and Kiba because of you, a thing which might chill the warm relationship we have had with Suna up until now-"
"Why would that have anything to do with-?" Sasuke didn't get another word out, not when Naruto's temper finally flared, along with the spitting gold of his chakra.
"Because if you're going to mess up her life I want her friends here!"
The creak of floorboards on the second floor made Sasuke close his eyes, a show of disinterest in the monumental threat that was the Hokage and his Uzumaki chakra growing in his living room. More important was the ears that might soon be listening.
He was running out of time.
"I told you that I would take care of it."
"You are not doing-"
"I told you that I would take care of it. And I am. You have trusted me with more daunting missions and my judgement in them before, why is this different?" The hiss at the end of the question was underlined by the sudden flashing sharingan eyes.
Naruto shook his head, ignoring the threat of the Mangekyo that rotated before him. "Do you think that the Hyuuga are going to just roll over if you drop their heiress at the altar? Or that they won't tear Hinata apart? I have trusted you many times Sasuke, but if there's anything I know about you it's that feelings are sometimes tricky for you. Having dealt with the consequences of you not knowing how to feel I think I am entitled to be wary."
It was hardly a wince, but the ghost of something painful flitted over Sasuke's features, as fast a shooting star, as quick as a snuffed out candle.
"You can be selfish when something you love can hurt you."
The tiredness which had been clinging to his limbs upon waking, only banished at the sight of Hinata's pale eyes in the morning light now came flooding back, bleeding the crimson from his eyes.
Absently he pressed a hand to his chest, feeling always for that wound which did not show but which bothered incessant through the days and nights. Sofly, voice roughened by something primal he sighed, "I will concede that point."
Surprise lit Naruto's gaze for a moment, allowing his chakra to recede to a dimmed glow, hardly more than the touch of the early morning sun. "Oh."
"You know though... despite what you might think, I understand what you are saying. Still, perhaps you have not had the chance to see that I am ...maybe not better, but at least different." Sasuke shook his head at the confused frown on Naruto's face. "You are a better teacher than you think..." then as an after thought, "...dobe."
The creak of hinges upstairs made Naruto start, looking up the staircase in surprise almost matched by Sasuke's panic.
"Hanabi and I have an understanding. Please," fervent now Sasuke's hand clasped at Naruto's shoulder, the firm grip transmitting his panic. "Hinata doesn't know."
"What don't I know?"
Together the two men turned to look at the topic of their conversation, standing with hands clasped neatly before her and eyes shifting sharp from one to the other.
"Hinata," Naruto began shakily, a half laugh making the name wobble. "Good morning."
"Lord Hokage." Hinata nodded. "I thought I felt...chakra, earlier."
"Ah, yes." Naruto scratched at his chin. "Sometimes Sasuke likes to push my buttons. We're good though, don't worry." A laugh, fake as balls of cotton for clouds escaped him. "I was just here to let him know he needs to get his butt to work more often, wedding or no wedding, ya know?" A slap on Sasuke's back sent him forward a step where he stood. "Lazy bum."
"Hm." Hinata blinked, her pale face uncertain as she peered at Sasuke's unresponsive gaze.
"What are you doing here though? This early too? Aren't guests arriving or anything?" Naruto swung his arms awkwardly, already stepping backwards towards the door.
"I..." Hinata began, pale gaze flicking over the house and finding a crane she shrugged. "We need to finish the origami for the ceremony. I came to help with that."
"Ah." Naruto nodded, rubbing at his neck hard. "Makes sense. Anyway, I should run. Hokage things, and stuff to get done. I'll leave you to your paper...folding thing..." With one last look brimming with sympathy at Sasuke the Hokage stepped out of the house, waving briefly before closing the door.
In the silence Sasuke clenched his teeth on his cheek, waiting with back turned for Hinata to ask something, anything that would end him there and then when all he hoped for now was a couple more days of peace.
Her relieved sigh finally released him to turn, watching the Byakugan fade from her face at the same time that she slapped a hand to her heart. "Wow... I can't believe how close that was."
From upstairs a tiny Uchiha voice called out. "Is it safe?"
Sasuke felt like a liar, even as he nodded and called up, "Yes," while his gaze traced the way Hinata's eyes lit up as she laughed in relief that infected them all.
He had thought that the walk would have been easier than the spar. That had been the intention. There had been enough worry lines on both the Hyuuga Sisters' foreheads and enough sobering silence from Lord Hiashi at the mention of the dreaded Grandfather to merit being gentle in the morning.
Gaara had forgotten, however that Hanabi did not often know how to be gentle and instead of a calm walk through the gardens he found himself trekking briskly through the woodland on the other side of the Hyuuga Manor wall where the trees grew tall and lanky and the light filtered in strange intervals of paling yellow through sparkling dust.
"Hanabi." Gaara called. Ahead of him the Hyuuga heiress marched on, steps hurried and back straight as thought carving a way through invisible obstacles. Despite the immaculate shape in which the Kazekage always kept himself he could feel the first trickles of sweat gliding down between his shoulder blades.
"Hanabi." More sternly now he stopped and ahead the Hyuuga continued, paused and finally sighed, hanging her head with hands on her hips in defeat before turning to look at him.
"What? Have I exhausted you already?"
Gaara tried not to let the rapid rise and fall of his chest show as he threw her a look. "You aren't walking. You're running."
It was true. Already they had left the gates behind, and only the distant wall at the very outskirts of the Hyuuga Manor could be seen through the trees and bouquets of ferns in big plumes along the forest floor. Hanabi smiled without mirth, taking a deep breath that admitted to the strain she had been putting herself under despite the banter.
"You would be running too, if you knew who was arriving today."
"I have no experience with grandfathers." Gaara admitted, walking slowly towards her in the hopes that she would not take off at a trot again. "But I feel like this reaction is not...normal."
"Neither is my grandfather." Hanabi muttered, as she scrubbed a long line into the pine needle covered ground with her boot. For a moment there was hesitation to say more. Grandfather was no secret, but then he was also not spoken of, like the boogeyman. To suggest he did something improper was to be hushed by the Hyuuga relatives who surrounded her at all times. To say anything of the sort to someone outside the family was grounds for exile.
It had been tempting for a time, to think about being left out in the cold without her family's backing. But in the end she had like every Hyuuga before her admitted she would rather face the monsters she knew, than those out there without names or faces.
That, however was what she had thought as a child. Now she lifted the curve of her brown hair not pulled back into a ponytail to display the white scar often hidden by her fringe. "He did this to me when I was five."
Gaara stilled completely as his eyes took in the scar, too pale to be seen without being pointed out and bared but clear as day once naked.
"I was tired, somewhere in the middle of morning training." Hanabi explained when his eyes slid from the old wound to her face. "He has a cane he favors when annoyed."
"Hanabi-"
"When Hinata was little...he would make her train with me. She would fall, you know, right before I did."
Anything Gaara was going to say slid back down his throat, tightening around his vocal chords as he watched her looking back at him as if expecting something, watching for the moment when his face would betray whatever she was expecting him to feel.
"He would hit her, hard. Once he broke a rib that way, and he would tell us how in battle a mistake could mean our undoing. How he was teaching us how to survive." She breathed in deep then and let her mouth turn into something that should have been a smile but with the words that accompanied came out sour.
"I never asked her if she did it on purpose or not. When he decided she was not worth training any longer I actually feared that I wouldn't survive without her there to take the brunt of it. Doesn't that say something awful about me?"
And there, blooming in the green of Gaara's eyes she found not the pity she had been expecting, but fury.
It was startling enough that she paused in surprise, letting out a sigh that was too much like a mewling cry. Slapping a hand over her mouth she blinked, and blinked again to keep the wetness of her tears from reaching her lashes.
Unlike the look in his eye Gaara's voice was soft, his touch gentle on her arm as he tethered her to the earth beneath her feet. "It's all right... It's all right that you were scared. It's all right that you are scared now."
Shaking her head was all Hanabi could do in reply, struggling against the knot winding tighter and tighter in her throat.
"Yes." Gaara's firm reply came with his hands on her shoulders, gripping tight, the tickle of his wild hair against her forehead. "Yes, it's all right. You have to be afraid, you have to, because you need to be brave too."
Gently his hands moved from her shoulders, smoothing up her neck and to her face to hold the cheeks now drenched in the tears she had been unable to hold. "That is all that I just learned about you, Hanabi. I learned that you were a little girl who was afraid and brave. Nothing else."
Trembling visibly Hanabi sucked in a shaky breath, letting him wipe at her cheeks with his thumbs for a moment longer before remembering who she was, and who he was in turn. Stepping back slightly she laughed, kneading at her eye with the heel of her palm awkwardly.
"You probably didn't know you would be getting such a mess of a little sister-in-law, did you?"
Gaara's face closed like a book at her words, mouth pressed tightly into a thin line before nodding, just once in agreement. "I will admit... I did not expect you."
Before Hanabi could look at him a moment longer, she turned to head back the way they came.
Susa's grin was manic.
Row upon row of teeth glistened white and sparkling in a mouth too small to contain them all. Feral and otherworldly he smiled, and despite it's horrific nature the smile had more beauty in it than anyone deserved.
Anyone but a god, at least.
He could hear her coming, through the dimensions of time and space, plowing through the realm in a heated lava storm.
Darling sister that he had.
Before her imminent arrival he dropped himself backwards, knowing that the clouds around him would gather to sustain his tall languid form and as she burst like a star in his world, all fiery rage and indignant spark he laced his hands behind his head and grinned some more.
"Sister dear."
"You are a disgrace of a god!" Her scream had a thousand voices in mourning, one throat for a choir of scorn. Beautiful face pinched to show the raw molten power beneath the smattering of freckles across her smooth nose. Between each spark on her skin light flared and she glowed. It would have been a fearsome thing to behold, enough to reduce a normal man to trembling, a strong man to gawking, the strongest to wincing.
Susa was no man.
Baring his teeth, less in a smile and more in a growl he sang. "Shall we scrap the wager, and fight this out?"
Ama panted before him, her hair a mane of swirling gold like the licking flames of fire from the sun. Her kimono, usually so beautiful and calm raged with volcanic eruptions across it's artfully stitched expanse, rippling in the tide of her frustration.
For one second, just the smallest moment between breaths he thought perhaps she might lash out, might take him up on the challenge but then rationality cooled the exploding stars within her eyes and the power dimmed, reducing her once more to the calm deity he loathed.
"No." she shuddered as the world released a sigh of relief. "No, too many innocents would be taken, too many lives lost." She glanced out of her periphery towards the earth where the world continued to turn and despite her usual self control her eyes burned.
"Careful." Susa sang, all teeth gone and replaced by the overwhelming serenity of his usual smile. Leaning back again now that the threat of a fight was gone he closed his eyes. "If you scowl too much you'll burn their crops to cinders."
"How did you manage to get that old Hyuuga corpse from leaving his den to haunt her?" Ama snarled, ignoring his warning. "Why do you destroy everything? Why must you?"
Susa made a face as though she had asked him a rude question. "Are you truly seeking answers? Please, tell me no."
Ignoring him some more Ama paced back and forth among the clouds, leaving sizzling scorch marchs where she touched atoms.
"It is in everyone's best interest that they fall in love, that they learn to trust others, that they open up to hope. Everyone wins."
"Blagh." Susa gagged. "How boring."
"Boring? Boring?" Ama took a breath, hearing a high pitched ring in her voice that made her back pedal. It was her fault, in the end. She had allowed the indulgence of the Uchiha spirit into the fray. She had thought that Neji who now owed her the saving of his soul would encourage them to seek affection from each other if the Suna Kage and the younger sister proved inadequate. It made the most sense, of course it made the most sense for them to live happily ever after with those they were previously engaged to, but if that did not work she had been certain that the two ghosts would do what they could to fix them with each other.
Susa had clearly known otherwise, and agreed happily to the meddling of their elder brothers only because it would serve his purpose. Only because he knew their goals differed.
"I do not care for happily ever afters." Susa drawled, studying his finger nails. "What is there for us to do in a happily ever after, Sister dear?"
Simmering visibly beneath her goddess skin the sun deity snarled, feral as the fox she had placed within her chosen sun-child ruling below.
"This is not the end of it." Turning to leave she cast one more glance at the earth below, wincing at the heat her anger had induced and with a wave of her hand tried to draw it back as she disappeared, not caring enough to see if her attempt worked.
No sooner had she vanished in a flutter of embers through smoke than Susa snapped his fingers, forcing like unwilling dogs on leashes a raven and a sparrow to appear on his arm.
"You two." Susa murmured softly, stroking first one head then the next of the unnaturally still birds upon his arm. "Go about your business. I love watching you both argue back and forth about what's best for those two children- oh and..." He smiled wide, wide enough for them to feel the possibility of fitting within that razor sharp mouth in one bite should he feel like a morsel. "...don't let me catch you wandering from realm to realm poking your little beaks in other people's business,yes? You wouldn't want to remain feathery for the rest of eternity, would you?"
Neither bird replied, or moved a muscle as he stroked them. They watched him instead, the raven's glowing red eyes rotating black flecks and the sparrow with unnaturally white pupils lacking in iris but filled with something akin to terror.
It was going to be the hottest day so far, judging by the heatwaves rolling from the dirt road. Sasuke winced against the scorch, rubbing a trickle of sweat from his eye only moments after stepping out of the coolness of the house into the blast of the summer sun with pack on his back and Hina's tight grip on his hand.
"What is wrong with the sun goddess today?" He muttered, glancing up with a glare at the heavens where the light nearly deigned to blind him.
"It's a pity," Hinata sighed. "I used to enjoy rain and sunshine alike but now..."
"Hm." Sasuke's agreement was absent minded, watching as she led Sasu by the hand off the dirt road through the tight deer path that twisted between encroaching walls of blackberry bush and into the thicket.
"Are we going to the pond, today?" Hina asked, her little mind noting the strange direction with a quickness Sasuke appreciated. A shake of his head was all he replied with before Hinata ahead called out.
"Today we are heading to a waterfall. Wouldn't you like to catch some fish?"
"For lunch?" Hina piped up, tickling a laugh out of Sasu with her never ending appetite. A little embarrassed Hinata laughed as well. "Yes, for lunch."
"Won't this be a long hike?" Sasuke tried and failed to sound casual. In his mind there were a lot of things Hinata had on the schedule. The wedding being the least of her priorities. Only the night before she had cried into his clothing at the imminent arrival of family. She had also been pleased to hear of her friends Kiba and Shino.
There was as well Hanabi in the final fits of pre wedding chaos, and Gaara with his sappy puppy dog eyes following her everywhere.
The feeling in his chest would have confused him a month ago, and in a fit of impatience he would have called it distaste at the thought of even having so many people vying for his attention. Now he knew to call it jealousy.
Jealousy for they had a legitimate call on her time, whereas he was trying not to point out the fact she shouldn't be here... lest she leave as she should.
"Probably most of the morning." Hinata admitted, her cheery voice on the verge of over doing it. "But we're up for it, aren't we, Sasu-kun?"
"Yes!" Sasu hopped two of his steps, swinging her hand wildly before rushing off in a run. At Sasuke's side Hina fretted, her body poised to follow only to snap to a stop with a squeeze to Sasuke's hand, her big eyes beseeching.
"What?" He smiled, thumbing her nose gently. "Go on, I'm not going to stop you."
Allowing herself a grin she took off, little legs pumping hard up the slow sloping incline of the hill they would be climbing to reach a small enough waterfall for them to enjoy in the blazing summer day.
"She didn't want to hurt your feelings." Hinata mused, nervously rubbing the sweat that had nothing to do with the sun from her palms on her thighs.
"She worries too much about feelings in general." Sasuke grumbled good naturedly, waving a hand in a shoo fashion at Hina who stopped to look back with a moment of indecision on the crest of the first hill.
Hinata laughed without much humor as she silently agreed with his assessment. Hearing that tone, that slight uncertainty Sasuke paused, lifting a hand to block the sun as he studied her more frankly.
"Why are you here?"
Like Hina earlier, Hinata snapped to a stop at his words, turning to look at him with the same wide eyes, mouth parted in surprise as she stared.
"D...don't you want me here?"
This was not the response he had expected, and so he balked for a moment, catching his definitive and damning "Of course I do," from escaping his mouth.
"That's not what I meant." He tried, succeeding just barely in sounding calm. "Yesterday everyone was in a panic about your Grandfather. And then there was Kiba and Shino... the Kazekage-"
"I know." Hinata sighed deeply, burying her face into her hands to hide the shame. "I know... I should be home. I told Gaara to take care of Hanabi and I left..." Slowly she turned, looking in the direction the children had gone and towards the sun still aiming to rise to it's noon position through the tops of the trees, setting everything to shining emerald glory.
Among the shadows, in the coolness of the dark Hina and Sasu's little shapes fluttered like birds from one side of the path to the other, finding toadstools to inspect, butterflies to follow, their hopping feet a rhythmic beat to the melodic sing song of birds happy in the trees.
"I know it's selfish." Softly whispered, he would have missed the admittance if he had not stepped closer without thinking, feeling the tingle in his hands that always overcame him when she held still long enough for him to feast his eyes on the quiet of her emotions swimming beneath the surface of her skin.
"I am an expert at selfish." Sasuke dared, drawing her pale eyes to him finally, her mouth pressed into a thin line as she contemplated his words. "If...this is where you want to be, I don't think that counts as selfish, considering the circumstances." He tried, for all he was worth not to sound relieved, not to let the tremble of something that might have been delight shake his voice at her revelation.
Hinata's lips pulled slow into a smile full of knowing, brows rising. "I don't think I have ever considered you selfish."
It took some effort not to gape openly at her. Letting out a scoff he raised both brows right back. "Liar."
Offended, though mostly bemused Hinata stepped back slowly in the direction the children had disappeared to. "I am not lying!"
"We found a creepy bug!" Sasu's call drew both their attention and he waved his hands frantically, as though they couldn't see him from their short distance away. "Big and squashed and spotted!"
"Speaking of bugs." Sasuke continued, following after Hinata's energetic steps again. "What about Shino, and Kiba?"
For a moment she said nothing, walking with head down towards the children's excited chatter where they crouched with sticks with which to poke at the new creature they had discovered.
"They can wait." Softly said the statement felt like she was proclaiming something to herself. "It's okay for them to wait...considering."
One glance at him let her know he had questions and she sighed, reaching out to run her fingers through Sasu's hair the moment they reached the little duo. "Considering how long they decided to make me wait too."
Every window in the Hokage Tower was flung open in an effort to let cool air in. It was a misguided attempt, considering that the air outside was hotter than the already sweltering air inside.
"Tch." Naruto hissed as he stormed through into his office. Shikamaru who sat in his chair with feet raised on his desk didn't bother moving from his comfortable position, eyes focused on a short scroll with the Suna insignia stamped on it's back.
"Good morning." Naruto snapped without humor, hands on hips as he waited for Shikamaru to move. His friend hummed a reply but didn't bother raising his eyes from the paper. "Temari says there's trouble. There's going to be more soon too, once the enemy realizes that Kiba, Shino, Kankuro and my darling wife are all leaving Suna on it's own." Finally flitting his eyes to the Hokage he raised both brows. "One would hope it's all for a good reason."
"You can keep doubting me all you want." Naruto didn't have the heart for banter as he shook his head, rubbing at his eyes as though to wipe the last few hours from his mind. "But you are wrong. I spoke to him this morning."
Shikamaru finally dropped his feet from the desk, pulling the cigarette from his mouth to put out in one fluid motion. "And?"
Naruto's head shake didn't bode well. Blue eyes cloudy with worry he shrugged. "He says he and Hanabi have an understanding... And that I should trust him."
It looked as thought Shikamaru had taken a bite of glass, the way he worked his jaw for a moment before glancing out the large windows at his back to the village he and his comrades worked so hard to protect. "Trust is a big word, with someone like Sasuke."
"It was not a demand." Naruto continued, trying and failing to explain the feeling of having Sasuke look him in the eye with panic at the sound of Hinata's steps down the stairs. "I do think he is trying to do the right thing, Shika."
"Sasuke Uchiha's version of right and our version of right has not always been the same." Shikamaru glanced at him sternly. "You have a blind spot for Sasuke that has no match."
"Give me a break." Naruto growled, pulling his chair away from Shikamaru possessively before flopping onto it in exhaustion. There had been no sleeping for him all through the night despite his attempt to get to bed at a reasonable time. Instead he had thought about the many people he cared for and how they would all of them feel the impact of Sasuke's decision one way or the other. Gaara, for one kept coming to mind. It had been days since he had last seen the Kazekage, and Naruto was shamed to feel glad. The idea of keeping these things from his friend had made him sick enough to skip breakfast.
"I need to have damage control set up." Shikamaru murmured, pressing a clenched fist to his mouth as he thought. "If Temari were here I would be able to count on her keeping Gaara calm."
The insinuation that Gaara might have good reason to lash out had Naruto burying his face in his hands, ending with the palms of his heels digging into his eyes. "I wish I knew what was going on in Hinata's head, too. Sasuke, I think I understand, but with her-"
"What about Hinata?"
The knock came a second after Kiba's voice broke through the conversation and Shikamaru turned with Naruto to find the doorway filled to the brim with Akamaru's large girth and Shino's palm raised to the wood frame. "Sorry for intruding." He added gently, shooting Kiba a look that Kiba ignored.
"Not sleeping in?" Naruto blinked. "Shikamaru said you all got in late last night I thought for sure all three of you would be out until noon today."
"We would have been, but right after I had fallen asleep your strategist showed up at my window to let me know it was imperative we spoke to Hinata early in the morning." Kiba scowled, arms crossed with his sleepless displeasure. "So again, what about Hinata?"
"Did you in fact talk to her?" Shikamaru ignored the question smoothly for the second time, leaning against the window to try to show disinterest when his brain was so busily dissecting Kiba's tone of voice and attitude for clues on how the meeting had gone.
"No." Shino put in before Kiba could reply with something else testy. "We went to the hospital looking for her...but they told us she had not been on the schedule for several weeks."
Shikamaru's head whipped to Naruto who ducked into his shoulders as though anticipating a blow to the back of his blonde skull. "Oh?" Shika tried, sounding terse. "Is that so?"
"Stranger still, when we went to the Hyuuga Main House her father told us she was at the hospital."
Shikamaru, Shino and Kiba's eyes were boring a hole into Naruto's head. He could feel it even through the palms he pressed to his face and the chaotic ringing of his ears as he pictured Sasuke's gaze again, dark eyes more human than he recalled them being for many months, perhaps even years.
"Naruto." Kiba finally piped up, turning to look at him with wariness he could not hide. "Why are we here?"
Long missions were not uncommon for shinobi, but Shino and Kiba were in a different caliber. Besides anbu hired for extended periods they were the only pair in the last decade that had been sent out for such long assignments. It was assumed this was a requirement of the job, a clear sign of need by Suna. Naruto allowed the rumor to take hold and encouraged it when he heard it by not denying it.
The truth, however was that Kiba had requested to be allowed to stay on in Suna. And, as per usual Shino had decided to stay with him for the time being. One month had led to two and then six, and then the year had gone by without either of them showing their faces in Konoha.
Ino had even commented to Sakura more than once that she thought Hinata had stopped receiving letters, if there had been any exchanged in the first place.
As a result the scroll asking for their return had not been a request. It had been an order.
When Naruto did not re-emerge from behind his hands Shikamaru sighed, wishing for the moment that he had not just put out his cigarette although too lazy to bother lighting it again now. "We need you to check on Hinata, discreetly and without causing her alarm."
Kiba's face twisted into something sour as he turned away, busying himself with petting his hands through Akamaru's broad furry side. Shino's pinched mouth telegraphed his hesitation before he murmured. "Are we looking for anything in particular?"
"Something off." Shikamaru shrugged. "Something... unsettled."
"You know there's going to be plenty off about me talking to Hinata. Why are you even pretending you don't know. Everyone knows."
Shino flinched, raising a hand to place on Kiba's shoulder that his friend shrugged off. "No, I just want to know. I've been avoiding her for over a year for a reason. Tell me why you're forcing us to talk to each other. What is wrong with her?" This was directed at Naruto who now looked back at his friends with a tiredness that was unmistakable.
"I am hoping that there is nothing wrong, actually." His offer only made Kiba turn away again, exasperation making him throw his hands up.
"And anyway." Shikamaru added when Naruto did nothing to defend himself again, "why are you complaining about us making you talk to your friend? Isn't a year long enough to be pouting, Kiba? Get on with it. Shino, talk some sense into the man."
Softly Shino sighed, shoulders drooping with defeat. "I have been trying."
"Go." Shikamaru waved them off before Kiba could continue to protest. "Go before this gets tiresome."
There were mutters from Kiba and a few growls of agreement from Akamaru before they exited the office, Shino shutting the door quietly behind them and finally left alone Naruto turned to Shikamaru, waiting for the verdict.
"If he proves untrustworthy..." His friend began, picturing the redhead and piercing green eyes of his brother in law, the furious glare of the Lord Hiashi and the many other guests entering Konoha for a celebration that may not even happen. The thought of just his brother in law alone had his stomach rolling.
"Don't tell me." Naruto sighed, clenching and unclenching his hands on the tabletop as he thought, contemplating again the choice he had decided to make. "Don't tell me, Shikamaru. I already know."
Breaking the branches Hina and Sasu had gathered felt a little like snapping bones. Brow furrowed Hinata focused on the creak and crack of the sticks in her hands before stacking them carefully for the fire that Sasuke was starting.
At his side Sasu watched with chubby fingers on Sasuke's knee, eyes intently focused on the cupped palms Sasuke offered between them. "You breathe, the bigger the breath, the bigger the flame, so long as you focus your chakra right."
"Oh." Sasu whispered, watching intently as Sasuke pursed his lips and focused, half whistling a lick of flame from his mouth in a kiss. Without thinking Sasu's own mouth pursed into a kiss shape and Hinata found herself smiling.
"That's it." Sasuke nodded, lowering the dancing embers that had caught the twigs in his hands to the hole Sasu and Hina together had dug. "You'll have it in no time."
"Katon." Sasu whispered, like casting a spell, his dark eyes mesmerized by the frolicking flame. Bemused, Sasuke ruffled his hair. "Go on. This will be useless if you and Hina don't catch anything to cook on it. She doesn't seem to be having much luck."
Despite their short legs the children were making due. They had made quick work of the hike. In the heat, the shadows of the trees were a welcome reprieve not just for their vulnerable skin but for their eyes. Bright as it ever got the very grass shone a neon green in the direct touch of sunlight and so together the four hugged the tree line up and up the curving path on the hills until the sound of pouring water reached their ears.
The thought of a dunk in chilly water had had Hina and Sasu squeaking with delight, scrambling haphazard over softened fallen tree trunks covered in carpets of lime green moss, falling through the ferns and lichen strung branches of the underbrush until they reached the banks of a smallish creek frolicking down the hill in twisting curves.
In the spring the water level rose to hug the bank walls now dry and sandy where the trees held back the stones, but in the heat of a boisterous summer the water was a less threatening ribbon through the gray of the flat slimy stones.
Following the glitter of the liquid through the evergreen and roan red hues of the trees the spray of the waterfall could be felt dampening the dry air with a mist that was delicious on the skin as it was to the nose.
Thick as perfume the scent of the trees lifted in the humidity, making Hina pause with eyes closed, perched on a bleach white stone with nose in the air, dragging air into her lungs deeply for the pleasure of the resin. "Clean." She had whispered, and Sasu had grinned. "Race you to the waterfall!"
It was there, at the base of the cascading river that a pool had been carved by the ever pounding splash, darker green as it deepened with the flick of fish tails and the shadow of their passing to entice. With legs crossed and tongue sticking out Hina sat dangling a long string weighed down by an unfortunate worm at it's end. She had for the better part of an hour sat perfectly still, but for a sneeze that had startled the one interested fish right back into the shadows of the pool.
"Right." Sasu nodded, straightening his spine in determination as he watched the object of his affections sigh with slumped shoulders. "I'll get plenty!"
With the swish of the ferns against his legs he was gone, shouting at Hina that he was coming. Her giggled reply and the wave of her hand the only thing Sasuke and Hinata could hear from a distance.
It never ceased to stun, the way Sasu moved around Hina. What Sasuke now felt like an agony he handled with a comfortable ease that left him both envious and proud. The thought of what he could have been had never lingered in his mind. Living in the past was exactly what he had been trying to avoid doing since his tenth birthday and so it came as a surprise to look back now and find that perhaps he could have been a different more caring person.
A more likeable person.
A better person.
Hinata watched, not Sasu and Hina but Sasuke as the flames danced. On him the mottled black of the tree canopy shadows flickered and swayed in rhythm with the breeze through his hair. And her eyes, so gifted as they were could see the elegance that was the features of his face, the long extend of his neck and the hard pleasing angle of his jaw and still, it was the expression that he wore which gave her pause, igniting the warmth in her belly that made her hands shake.
"He might have made a good big brother." Sasuke's whisper surprised even him, the thought coming out unrequested and Hinata stilled, for fear of startling him into quietness with her movement.
"Yes. He would have." Hugging her knees to her chest she waited for Sasuke to turn to look at her finally, and when he did his eyes did not linger, focusing instead on poking the juvenile flame they had lit between them cautiously.
"You make a lot of very assertive statements about me, you know." This was said teasingly but it had the effect of making Hinata's face burst with heat rather violently.
"I-I'm... I'm sorry! I just... I just - you're right! I don't know why I do that- it's not my place to-"
"Hinata." Her name was half a laugh, forcing her to stop by pressing her mouth to her knees hard. "It's fine."
Small as she became with her limbs all tangled defensively Sasuke wondered how easily she would fit into his embrace and looked away again, blinking the thought out of his head like trying to plug the river.
"You know more about me than I realized. But then, I suppose most people do." He thought back to the way the village looked at him in the days after the massacre, how women paused to whisper softly to each other, how hands sometimes landed on his head in pats like those offered to stray dogs.
Like a stray dog he had learned to growl and bite after a time, it was easier than always weeping.
"Hyuugas are taught to be secretive." Hinata admitted, once she had breathed herself to a reasonable pink shade and her tongue once more allowed itself to be useful.
"That would be why no one mentioned the Grandfather, then?" Sasuke dared look at her again, glad that with her own attention focused on the fire she was easier to study. The smoke that billowed from the younger greener branches Hinata had just snapped travelled in elegant plumes up, making the world shimmer in the heat so that for a moment she wondered if she was dreaming.
Thinking of grandfather, however brought her firmly back to reality.
"Hanabi should have told you." She murmured, thinking of the scar that hid behind Hanabi's wild hair. Unwilling as he was to blame Hanabi for anything Sasuke let out a sigh.
"Perhaps she would have, had I given her a chance."
Hinata did not look at him still, although the knowing smile that graced her features told him she was listening intently. "No... I don't think she would have."
Sasuke savoured the word before offering it, "Why?"
This had the desired effect of lifting her pale eyes to him, weighing the question and whether he really meant to get an answer. Stubbornly he pushed on.
"What is it he did?" What could anyone do to someone like you to make you so afraid?
With her fingers she twisted and untwisted the coil of dark hair at her shoulder, winding and unwinding as she let her legs relax, tapping her toes together in a way that made him instantly think of Hina, her nervous twitches and the way she turned her mouth to the side when uncertain.
"I... I was ten or so. Hanabi had only recently began training in earnest, and perhaps because he was disappointed in me, or determined to make her a stronger fighter he gave her no slack." Watching the fire, her gaze shimmered without seeing, focused on the floorboards of the training room where she had spilled so much sweat and blood and tears through her younger years.
Sasuke remained still as he watched her, intently enough to see the first gathering dew drops at the corners of her eyes.
"I...I had begun to get scared that one day he would hit her so hard she would not get back up. Maybe I was treated more gently at that age or I have simply forgotten but I felt... I felt like he was being so much harsher with her." Closing her eyes Hinata breathed in the smoke, let it burn in her lungs, breathed it out and told herself that's why she wanted to choke.
"So I began to fall, before she did."
It had never occured to Sasuke that this was how the story would go. Never in all the years he shared with Itachi had his brother slowed, or withdrawn for his brother's sake. No, in him was the epitome of excellence, a goal post set ever further back for Sasuke to aim for. This was the opposite. This was deliberate failure.
"I don't know how he figured it out." Hinata kept her eyes closed, in the hope of the tears not overflowing, but they always did. For that reason alone the memory was often buried somewhere in the depths, somewhere along with Hina and what she had once been before the breaking began.
"I fell, I could see Hanabi shaking she was not going to last and he had already lost his temper... so I let myself fall, pretended to trip over the footwork, something...and he turned..." Licking her lips she sighed, listening for the shrieking laugh of the children by the waterfall, squeaking out as a fish flailed to get away.
"I closed my eyes because I thought the cane was going to hit me right on the head. I was so sure." Hinata blinked, looking up to find Sasuke standing, frowning at her from across the flames.
"He hit her so hard the paper screen got splattered with it- with her blood, I mean. She didn't cry out, not that time. He hit, and she was silent. I thought...for a second I thought she was dead." Hurriedly, before she could stop herself Hinata plowed on. "Y...you know, I don't think I have ever told this to anyone, I'm... I'm sorry if I'm not making sense-"
"Shut up." Sasuke's order was too gentle to be coarse, followed as it was by his side coming to rest against her own. "You make sense."
With her eyes blurry from smoke and tears she didn't make complete sense of the picture until his hand gripped her wrist, until the feel of his other palm slid across her shoulder blades and startled the strangled sob in her throat out of her mouth.
It wasn't until his body cradled her against him, until the shift of her limbs accomodated to his lap, fitting where she had not let herself wonder if she fit that her heart took up arms and began a pounding protest in her chest.
Face buried within the folds of his sweater she gripped tight the hands he offered to hold, aware that her face was heating at the same tempo as the fire, even as something in her began to slowly shatter.
Because she had found, finally the one way she could stay. The one way that perhaps she could keep her sister from facing it all on her own and it filled her with dismay.
I can break again. It pulsed through her as his arms tightened around her, as his breath warmed the curve of her neck and her thoughts drifted to how his mouth might feel if he kissed there.
I can do this. I can do this. It's okay, I can. I can...
When her whimpers turned to sobs Sasuke didn't question why, not with the picture he had in his mind of Hanabi's blood splattered on the pristine white of sliding doors. He let her weep into his clothing, let her grip him tightly even as inside her a pain familiar to his own began to burn.
*throws belated chapter and runs*
Much love,
Inky