Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
AN: Aww no...of course, when I wanted to draw on my tablet, I had to lose my stencil lighting adapter ; w ;
So just a caveat, I don't hate Sakura at all. But sadly for the sake of the story flow, there's gonna be quite some Sakura bashing. Also other female characters bashing(cries*). My heart breaks. I'm so sorry TT TT
It was raining all day. Sounds of clapping thunder erupted occasionally in the distance. Sitting on the wooden porch, Sasuke lifted his face to look at the water that accumulated into heavy droplets at the edge of the roof overhang. He can hear the sound of water running downward from the slanted traditional roof tiles. Instead of kusanagi or a kunai, a silver needle and a shirt were in his rough, pale hands. He was sitting comfortably with his left leg bent in an outward angle and foot planted by the side of his inner right thigh. A pin cushion and a box of thread rested on the porch next to him. On his lap was an another article that needed mending. Sounds of rain falling on the tiles above him echoed, clear and pristine. After looking at the accumulated rain drops that took their time to fall from the overhanging, he bowed his head and stared down at his threadwork. His spine curved slightly like a cat's as his long, coarse fingers fumbled around with the shirt. His dark eyes fluttered as he absorbed how much he has to do to repair the damage to the fabric of his armor.
The pad of his right thumb pushed the butt of the needle into the fabric as his left fingers deftly pulled the needle out from the other side. Almost in a gentle manner. His thick black hair caressed his cheek as they fell by the side of his chin.
Next to him, Hinata was standing on the porch, her hands hidden behind her back as if she was hiding something. She looked at the grey sky that accentuated the green trees and the drops of rain that formed puddles at the main courtyard. Then she looked down at her young master and dare she say it, lover. There was not much difference to their lives after they accepted the different label of their relationship. Except for one big difference and that Sasuke was far less restless and pent up than before.
It was not known to many but Sasuke was actually a good tailor. What started as stitching in a lost button developed into detailed needlework that came as a surprise to Hinata who can barely loop a thread through the needle despite her byakugan. His steady hands delivered simplicity and artless precision to his work not unlike the way he wields his sword. Since he was with Hinata at the age of thirteen, he shared the household labor by mending damaged articles and occasionally sewing in something special if she asked for it.
His dark eyebrows knitted together in focus as he absorbed how much he has accomplished to repair the damage done to his armor. He flipped the sleeve inside and out, checking to see if he accidentally left out any detail and pursed his lips together when he concluded he was done.
When she saw him folding his completed threadwork to his side and turning his attention to the next patient on his lap, she gently smiled. It really shouldn't surprise her that Sasuke liked needlework due to his love of detail and isolated, quiet work, but it still does.
She knelt beside him and spoke up quietly, "Sasuke."
Her soft voice caught his attention and he turned towards her and stared at her blankly.
He merely looked at her, and that was his way of asking her what she wanted. His calm, weighty mannerism struck her as resembling a beast, like a panther or a wolf.
Her hands then shyly delivered a pair of pale pink ballerina flats that were on the worn side.
Her cheeks turned red and her light colored eyes darted here and there in visible embarrassment, "The soles fell off, so I tri-tried to stitch it back but...it seems that I am making it worse."
He looked down at her ballerina flats in calm scrutiny and took them with both hands. He stared down at them as he slouched forward again comfortably. The soles were in bad shape due to overt wear, but nothing serious, he thought.
His dark eyes still pinned at the pale flats that looked almost tiny in his rough, pale hands. Then he nodded and pulled out another needle from the pin cushion and rummaged his box for a fitting thread.
When he was turning away from her in his effort to look for the right thread, he felt a quick peck on his cheek and froze. Then he felt a pressed nudge against his right shoulder. When he looked back, he saw her resting her forehead on his shoulder and her tiny hand grabbing the edge of his sleeve. Her eyes were downcast, and he saw a sweet, bashful smile drawn across her lips.
As if he got an idea, he went back to rummaging for the right thread for the shoes. Then he pulled a black roll of thread.
He looked at her seriously, "Do that again."
She looked at the black thread in his hand and pouted, "Sasuke, that's black. It won't look good with the shoes' color."
He eyed her quietly, "Do that again."
She stared at him with momentary surprise. Then she quietly pressed her lips against his soft cheek. Her kiss was gentle but deliberate. She then slowly distanced herself but kept her eyes on him, studying his face.
He then placed the black thread back into his box and fished out a white thread roll.
As he started his work on her left shoe, he stated, "I'll keep that in mind before I fix the other one."
She nodded, "Yes," and rested the side of her head to his right shoulder, staring at the rain forming tiny rings of water on the ground. His shoulder was strong and warm and comforting. Her eyes took in the sight of snapped necks of tulips that has grown over spring.
Suddenly rain started to come in a downpour, and they were forced to leave the porch and go inside.
All night they listened to the deep rumble of thunder and the clapping sounds of rain falling on the ground beyond the window. The sound of thunder came in waves and occasionally the night will blink in the light of illuminative lavender. The sound alone almost transported the listeners to a space where they were cutting through billowing volumes of air like a flying jet, so loud was the sound. The rippling sound of thunder tore the air bit by bit, disintegrating the clouds. Then the clear downpour of rain that hit the glass pane. It was so dark that it was impossible to see the rain drops forming deep puddles on the ground. Only the blinking light of the thunderstorm above can show the rapidly forming rings of water. Small eddies formed on the soil. The sound of water tapping and pitter-paddng on the window filled the household, banishing the need to speak or utter a word from the thoughts of its inhabitants. The sound of trickling was coming from somewhere, bubbling, echoing, flowing.
But for Hinata, nothing was louder than the sound of curses coming from deep within.
The Kurama whom she struggled to banish to the depths of her mind would scream how she still belonged to Uzumaki, heart and soul. In all his fiery glory, the gold fox would condemn her beyond the bars she locked him in- I allowed you to serve the Uchiha only because he was the one to 'wake' you. And now you give your heart to him and decide to wholeheartedly forget Uzumaki? Uzumaki was the one to give you new meaning to your existence. When all Uchiha did was to plot your demise for his selfish agenda, all your twin jinchuriki wanted was to give you life and power. But this is how you repay him?
On her bed, she writhed and cried, "No, leave me alone." The monster grinned, baring its dark gums. 'How lucky,' the sly demon thought. 'Previously, I couldn't get my voice to her through my seal. But now that guilt is eating at her, she has no way to block out my voice!' After Uchiha sealed him away when Hyuuga was sustained in the pearl, Kurama had no way to voice its angry protests against his indigo haired jinchuriki. Even Kurama can't have power over its host if she doesn't allow him such power. But now, Hyuuga was vulnerable. Her guilt of loving a man who killed her past master gave free rein to the remorseless beast.
Silly girl, the fox demon cooed, it is a matter of time you unleash me and Uzumaki returns to his true self. You deny him his power, his lineage, and look at him, an ignorant village boy destined for mediocrity because of your selfish reasons.
"No," she shook her head, "Naruto kun said he was happy. He said he was happy the way he was. Happy to be a ninja of Konohakagure. He'll be hokage someday!"
The monster scoffed. The boy's happy in his ignorance. And you're letting him dwell in his ignorance.
She shook her head and challenged the monster, "He wasn't happy as a Waker. He was miserable. He always missed Konoha."
You speak as if you're letting him wallow in his cluelessness for his sake. So why don't you conjure him and ask him for yourself? If it's okay for him to sit back and watch his Waker's Pearl serve the one who murdered him in cold blood?
She froze. Kurama cackled. You can't, because you're afraid. Because you know that you've given Uzumaki the ultimate betrayal.
This went on and on since her budding happiness with Sasuke. She just couldn't sleep. Almost every night, she dreamt of the nine tailed monster coming to exact its vengeance in the vulnerability of her slumber. And reproachful blue eyes. She would half wake up, sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't...hurt him."
The seven tail sneered, showing no mercy. Even now, you still worry about Uchiha's life. If you weren't the key to retrieving my vessel, I would've enjoyed suffocating the life out of you. But one day, you will become 'Hyuuga' again. It is destined.
"No," she cried, "I'm Hinata. Hinata. Not Hyuuga!"
"Hinata!" She heard a familiar voice call her, and she opened her eyes. Sasuke barged into her room, shocked by her desperate cries, and she sobbed in relief in his arms as he did his best to soothe her.
She leaned into his arms and wept, "I'm not Hyuuga. I'm Hinata."
Sasuke buried his lips into her dark hair of the crown of her head, "Yes, you're Hinata." His voice was low, husky, and affirmative. He slightly tightened his arms around her.
She felt tears rolling down her cheek as she buried her nose between his full bosom.
When she calmed down a little bit, Sasuke ventured-"Hinata, it's getting late, and we both need to sleep."
She looked him up. Then she bowed her head in resignation, "Yes, Sasuke. I'm sorry for bothering you." She knew he had just returned from an important mission past midnight, and he needed to catch up on some needed sleep.
"Hinata." He called her name, and she looked up at him in question.
His dark eyes stared into her lavender ones, "If" he paused, looking uncertain, "you're still feeling uneasy about nightmares..." He finally bit the bullet, "Do you want me to sleep with you?"
Her eyes widened. He held out his hand and carefully sorted her unruly strands of black hair with his fingers, "We're only going to sleep." His dark eyes flitted slightly as he separated some hair that stuck to her moist cheeks. Her cheeks burned at his words, and he can feel the heat transmitting to his cool fingertips.
She looked up at Sasuke's face. For a moment, she thought about it and nodded. He was a man of his word.
She scooched over to the end of her bed to give him some space on the mattress. It took several attempts for him to adjust to a relatively comfortable position on her twin bed. Then finally he lied on his side facing Hinata, resting his head on his bicep as his lean torso twisted a little uncomfortably. He had to bend his long legs, bumping into Hinata's legs. Soon, Sasuke fell into deep sleep. Hinata watched how his stern dark brows relaxed over his closed eyelids, and his lips slightly opened like a kid. She waved her hand over his features at first, checking if he was really sound asleep. Then she carefully leaned forward and kissed him. After her light kiss, she giggled as she looked at him continue to sleep with the same innocent, boyish expression. His nose crinkled slightly as his lips pursed and then opened slightly again. She looked down at him lovingly. How funny was it that she was the one to breach the 'just sleep' rule. It made her feel naughty.
She whispered with a sweet smile on her face, "No matter what happens...I'll keep you safe, Sasuke."
Sasuke smiled slightly in his sleep as if he understood what she said.
The coming morning Sasuke and Hinata spent their day as usual. Hinata cooked and meal-prepped. Sasuke washed the dishes, and they went grocery shopping. They trained. And read. But Sasuke noticed how Hinata was trying to be overly cheerful. It didn't sit well with him. He sensed that she was hiding something.
"Sasuke," he looked at her sitting on the porch. He was sweeping the main courtyard. She was holding a wide box that she enwrapped in a purple silken wrap, a traditional way of delivering a gift to someone of high status.
She put on her shoes, "there is something important we must both attend this afternoon. I'm going to Hanabi and Neji sama to borrow some needed outfit to visit the hokage sama."
He looked at her, holding his straw broom as he studied her. He idly wondered what she was up to this time, "Should I wear something formal as well?"
She held out her hand, "No, Sasuke, you don't need to. Your genin uniform should do." She looked up to him as she prepared to walk out, "I'll see you in half an hour."
He nodded. He rested his broom by the side of their main deck and went in to take a shower.
When he waited for her in front of the Hyuuga's gate, he saw her exit the wooden door gracefully. Her dark blue hair was into a traditional updo, and his kanzashi was inserted sideways in the orthodox style. What was most astonishing was her regal yellow kimono with a subtle golden sheen and the patterns of dragons across her garb. Her little pale hands carefully balanced the gift that she brought with her to give to the hokage. It seemed that she was aiming to look serious.
His eyes widened as he took in the sight. Now he felt severely underdressed, in his white collar t shirt and usual dark maroon pants wrapped with a thickly braided light purple obi.
He looked down at her, "Are you about to get married?" He frowned, not too happy about how he has no idea what she was up to. He just hoped that she wasn't trying to impress Hatake when they get to the hokage tower. Kakashi was already acting too leery to be on Sasuke's good side.
She looked up at him and smiled, "No, Sasuke." She beamed as she felt her heart swell at his words. Then she stared straight ahead at the street before them and assumed a serious tone, "We're visiting the hokage to...revoke our adoption papers."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked down at Hinata. Because that means he and Hinata are going to be officially unrelated. Was she really going to sever the tie that he was never happy to begin with?
She looked up at him once again and bowed her head, her sleeve rising to hide her mouth as she blushed, "I-I didn't want to give an impression that this is a flippant decision, so...what can I say, I overdressed...a bit."
Sasuke groaned. This girl. He swung an arm around her neck and tugged her to his chest and breathed in the scent of her hair. His eyes gleamed as he took in the red stone of her kanzashi. She wanted to show the Konohans that she was serious in every way. She didn't want to be his adoptive guardian or sister figure anymore.
Her breath seemed knocked out of her when he suddenly crushed her in his embrace, her sandal clad feet rose in tip toes to catch up to his height. When he placed his hands on her shoulder and stepped back a little, she saw him bowing his head slightly to prevent her from seeing his eyes. A slight dust of pink suffused over his cheeks and the ridge of his nose. She saw his pale lips that were neither too thick nor too thin crinkled as if he was holding in something he wanted to say in the moment.
And they walked side by side. Because she was holding the gift box respectfully with two hands, he couldn't hold her hand as he would prefer. When he happened to steal a glance at her, she would look back at him and smile brightly with love in her eyes. Then he couldn't help his mouth twisting into a smirk.
"You should've told me," he stroked the front of his shirt, "compared to you, I'm slovenly."
Hinata giggled, "You don't need to worry of that." Because Sasuke was undeniably breathtaking in himself. 'No need to attract further attention,' Hinata thought as she gazed up at his gorgeous profile.
Maybe because they were too absorbed by their own world, they were a beat too late in noticing an egg that was thrown in Hinata's direction.
Crack-
And it was raw.
"Sasuke kun, your arm!"
Sakura paled as she saw the purple bruise that held a greenish tint on the part of his arm that wasn't concealed by his t shirt sleeve. Around his t shirt and arm were splattered bits of white egg shells and dried up sticky yoke that looked disgusting despite being largely harmless.
Sasuke couldn't keep the scowl from his face as he and Hinata accidentally bumped into his Team 7 teammate in the corridor to the hokage office. He understood that she deeply cared about him, but it didn't mean she had to fuss so much about such injury and side-step Hinata in favor of his attention. He also questioned what is it she might be doing at this part of the hokage tower. He knew the emergency care infirmary in the hokage tower was ground level, and nobody as medically skilled as Sakura should be spending too much time in the tower, especially if it is not around the infirmary. If, she was pursuing his whereabouts for unnecessary reasons, he really didn't feel like indulging her.
She reached out towards his injured arm, "Please let me take a look, Sasuke kun."
He bluntly replied, "No." He meant it. Not when Sakura refused to notice the crackled shards of egg shells that were all over Hinata's hair and shoulder and asked her if she was okay. Even if he and Hinata weren't in a relationship, he'd much rather prefer Sakura to make her favoritism less obvious and start noticing other people. A lot of times, Sakura's glaring favoritism would create some uncomfortable situations, even when it's just him, Sakura, and Naruto.
She protested, "You'll get a bruise!"
He stared at her evenly. "I'm fine."
Sakura's eyes showed that she was hurt at how he could put up such walls of ice around him.
"The egg might be poisoned or something. You might get an infection."
At Sakura's words 'poison' and 'infection,' Hinata's face paled. She gently touched Sasuke's gripped fist, her touch ghosting over the back of his hand. He snapped his cold gaze to her, and his eyes softened in a way that was barely noticeable.
"Sakura chan is right. We're still early for the hokage's appointment."
"Hn" Sasuke grunted before grabbing Hinata's hand in his and later intertwining his fingers with hers, much to Sakura's surprise. Sakura quickly spun and led them in haste to the infirmary. She kept her eyes pinned straight ahead as she was struggling to keep the sour look away from her face.
In the infirmary, Sakura made him take a seat in front of her chair. Her careful hand picked up a tweezer and plucked a white fluffy cotton ball from one of the glass jars. "How did this happen?"
After a momentary hesitation, Hinata started speaking "Someone...threw eggs at...me."
Sakura's head jerked up and she stared at him, wide eyed in disbelief"So Sasuke, you got the blow instead of Hinata?"
Sakura's green eyes settled on Hinata momentarily before flitting to Sasuke again with tenderness.
Hinata couldn't forget that look on her face. She bowed her head and started clutching the purple silk wrapped box closer to her chest. She suddenly felt ashamed of her elaborate dress up for no reason.
He could barely contain his sneer. An immediate tension fell between all of them.
"Ugh, stupid girls," Tsunade suddenly appeared out of nowhere and clucked her tongue as she saw the red bruise on Sasuke's left arm, "when will they ever learn?" As Tsunade delegated her responsibilities as hokage to Kakashi, she spent most of her time commuting between the hokage tower's infirmary and the medical center. Sakura was still Tsunade's apprentice.
Sakura didn't say anything as she poured her green glowing chakra that slowly erased the sign of the bruise on his arm. Hinata's eyes narrowed slightly in pain as she saw Sakura's pale, healing fingers drift over Sasuke's muscled arm. Her small fist clenched. Seeing Sakura's pale, slender fingers graze over his skin made her eyes twitch and lips purse. Hinata quickly chastised herself, this isn't the right time to feel jealousy. Sasuke got hurt and egged in public because of her. She shouldn't be so upset that Sakura thought it was her fault. Because...it kinda was.
The sense of guilt that Sasuke got hurt because of her started to bother her. Even though Sasuke assured her it was nothing serious, Hinata felt strangely on edge and uncomfortable. Maybe if she was stronger...
Seeing Kakashi in the white cape and shrouded cap that symbolizes the hokage's authority suddenly reminded Sasuke and Hinata of the fact that he was now the most powerful ninja in Konohakagure.
Kakashi was working on his grey laptop, and he raised his eye to see the dark haired couple entering his office.
"Oh," Kakashi looked down at the screen of his laptop again, "Do come in. I was just wrapping up."
Hinata bowed deeply. Her long lashed eyes lowered respectfully as she held her box. Sasuke merely grunted, Show off. He was sure Kakashi was indulging in one of his eroge books and just started pretending to be busy once he felt their chakra.
When they took a seat before them, Kakashi asked "So Hinata san, I believe you brought your legal stamp and needed documents like your application?"
"Yes, hokage sama." Hinata started unwrapping her silk wrapped box, untangling the knot that held the fabric together. When she fully unfurled the purple wrap, Kakashi and Sasuke saw the clipped documents lying on the dark wooden box.
She held out the documents with both hands to Kakashi. He took the papers and flipped through them and nodded.
Then he pulled out his metallic drawer from underneath his desk and pulled out a yellow paper folder.
After checking off some clauses on his paper, he looked at Hinata and Sasuke.
"I would like the proof of your oath with your blood."
Hinata and Sasuke solemnly nodded. When Kakashi handed each a kunai, they enwrapped their fingers around the silver blade and pulled the kunai out with a quick swipe. A scroll flew toward their direction, and Hinata dropped her blood first and then Sasuke.
When the scroll flew back to Kakashi, it snapped close and Kakashi grabbed it and placed it back to his file organizer.
"So, now we got the adoption paper covered. Now you Hinata san and Sasuke are unrelated in the eyes of law. So now..."
Kakashi started rubbing his hands together, "Now we should talk about the property rights to the Uchiha mansion."
Sasuke's eyes widened by a fraction, but the midnight blue haired lady next to him looked calm.
"Hokage sama, regarding the property rights," Hinata glanced at Sasuke, "I would like to rewrite the property claim under Sasuke's name."
Both Kakashi and Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
She raised her hands to her lips and smiled, "It's just...Sasuke's now an adult, and...I would like to see how he manages his own property."
When Kakashi and then later Sasuke blinked their eyes, she blushed and waved her hands, "Of-of course, I have no doubt about Sasuke's responsibility! It's just..." she paused and covered her eyes with both hands, "I wo-would...like to help him be more independent." She started stammering, "I-I have no-no debt or bad credit and the-there's just a few months' worth of mortgage left, bu-but I am willing to help him."
Kakashi raised his flattened palm to his masked lips, "So that's your thing, Hinata sama. If I had known-"
Suddenly Sasuke's eyes glowed into an eerie red color as he glared with all the killing intent he can muster in a second.
"Okay, so it is," the hokage dropped it in a second and started crossing lines across the property claim on his paper.
"Here, I'll need your signatures or stamp marks," he handed the paper to them.
Sasuke rose and snatched away the paper and placed it on his left lap. He pulled out his small cylindrical wooden stamp from underneath his collar and clicked on the butt of his stamp. The red tip of his stamp propelled, revealing a sliced fan symbol. He remembered how he got his stamp carved with Hinata's suggestion.
After surveying the carving of his stamp, he pressed his customized stamp on his paper. The indention of the stamp marked a split red fan, the upper half was colored red and the bottom silhouette was outlined red.
He never had to use the stamp before, and it gave him an odd sense of pride.
Hinata smiled with fondness as she saw the slightly excited expression on Sasuke's face. Then she pulled out her own stamp from inside her long kimono sleeve and made her own legal mark. She smiled even brighter as she saw the mark of a smiling sunflower with the split fan. She preferred to make her customized stamp casual and light hearted.
Sasuke looked at her smiling down on the paper for a moment and turned his eyes back to the two stamps placed close together.
"Hinata san," Hinata snapped her attention back to Kakashi, "I was wondering...what is that chest you've brought?"
"Oh, ye-yes," she acted as if she didn't know Kakashi was there for a moment. She held out her dark wooden box to Kakashi, "I wanted to show how much we thank you for allowing your time, hokage sama. It's nothing extravagant, but...I hope you like it."
Kakashi reached out his hand and received the box. It was heavier than he expected. When he opened the lid, his eye widened again at the content.
In the box were mini sized fresh and ripe pale peaches with a slight flush of delectable pink.
He smiled at Hinata, "Hinata san, thank you. Peaches are very costly these days. I appreciate it."
And of course the grey haired hokage had to add another remark that stirred the ire of the raven, "They're the color of your cheeks." He waggled his eyebrows that were invisible under the hokage cap, "Both cheeks."
After they cleared up some paperwork including property rights to the Uchiha mansion, Hinata and a begrudged Sasuke thanked Kakashi and started walking home. Now their house belonged legally under Sasuke's name. But both knew it was their home. As they walked together, Hinata glanced at Sasuke. He looked a little agitated by the way his fingers pressed on her hand at intervals and how he would glance down at her and quickly avert his eyes when she happens to catch them.
"Sasuke."
"What." He was still seething inside even though Hinata happened to stop him in time by closing his chakra points in his right arm. His right arm was flopping lifelessly by his side.
She stroked her fingers across the length of his right arm and unlocked the shut down chakra points. He started to feel life coming back to his arm by slow, tingling sensations. He sighed in relief as he rubbed his wrist.
Hinata smiled, "You...are quite sensitive." She can identify with Kakashi in some aspects. Sasuke was quite fun to tease.
"He doesn't mean any harm. Hokage sama just likes to rile you up every time." She glanced at him with a mischievous glint in her pale eyes.
Sasuke looked down at her, his eyebrows rising in surprise, as he kept rubbing on his banded wrists. She kept giggling discreetly.
"I can't take it anymore." When she heard his raspy utterance, she looked up to him in question.
Suddenly he grabbed both of her shoulders and shoved her to the dark alleyway. Flustered and blushing, she looked sideways as she was caught in his grasp, "Ah-ah, now is not the time to-"
When she tentatively opened one eye, her eyes widened at what she saw. Sasuke was standing in front of her, with his eyes closed in a squint, his face blushing with a soft color of pink. His hands were still grabbing her shoulders. The way he squinted his eyes shut and his lips crinkled reminded Hinata of a child trying to look brave as he got his first shot in the hospital.
She looked up to him, but he kept closing his eyes. His closed eyelids seemed to relax a bit but still remained shut. There was still some tension in his shut lips.
"Sasuke, daijobu-yo?"
He still stood upright, his hands over her shoulders. His lips crinkled slightly, and he breathed deeply through his nose. His shoulders fell at his exhale.
"Did something get in your eye? Let me see!" She rose on her tip toes.
"I'm fine." He groaned with his eyes closed. "It's just...Don't look." He looked like he was willing the pink of his face disappear with meditation.
Hinata started to feel anxious. "Why? Are you hurt?" Maybe he overexerted his sharingan? She started feeling the creeping fear that he might turn blind or worse by exhaustion.
But she didn't expect him to say what she heard.
"No, I'm just...really happy."
Then he opened his eyes and two sharingan eyes reflected back at her with their deep carmine light. He looked down at her tenderly.
"I find it embarrassing to be this happy."
"Sasuke…" Now it was her turn to feel the temperature of her face rise and her heart palpitating.
His eyes blinked lazily as he looked down at Hinata. She was slowly becoming entranced by his red eyes framed with dark lashes that gazed at her.
Then he stretched out his hand and his fingers lightly and slowly wrapped around her neck. His palm felt the beating pulse of her soft, creamy neck. Her breath stopped as she observed how he looked like he was about to choke her but he was smiling, his eyes dazed and lips drawn into a smile. She suddenly became aware of how dangerous he was. How for Sasuke, violence and sensuality always came hand in hand. She couldn't understand that side of him logically, but she couldn't help but be helplessly drawn to his dark sexuality. She felt as if she was pulled to a magnetic grove of red roses in the pitch black dark of the night by herself.
He tilted her chin up with the way his fingers single-mindedly but delicately guided her throat. Then he leaned forward for a kiss. Entranced by the way his fingers curled around her neck and his eyes bore into hers, Hinata unconsciously opened her lips and their lips touched in the middle of the afternoon at the shaded alleyway.
When his lips wrapped around hers nicely and he captivated her attention, he withdrew his fingers and they continued talking in their own language.
His lips were warm and soft on hers despite their sculpted, firm impression. Soon slight vapor came between them in the moist, cold air, and Sasuke pressed his lips on hers firmly for one more time before reluctantly drawing back as he felt the icy tips of her hands on his collarbone. When she panted, he kissed inside reddened shell of her ear and told her, "It's getting cold. Let's go home."
"Sakura chan, are you alright?" a kunoichi who wasn't part of the Rookie 9 stopped Sakura on her track. Sakura looked listless even though she shook her arm.
Tenten crossed her arms, "I heard the news just now. Is Sasuke kun serious? He is going to choose his adoptive sister over you?" After seeing how incest worked in Neji's family, Tenten became obstinately adverse to any kind of incestuous relation, even unrelated ones. Even though she only knew the story from Sakura's side, she cannot help but feel put off by the change in Hinata and Sasuke's relationship.
Ino put her hands on her hips and yelled, "But you said you were going out with him!Explain to us, Sakura!" Because Ino was secretly infuriated by Sakura's declaration of her relationship with Sasuke, she was especially pissed. She spent nights getting drunk crying and now she heard this. She vaguely wondered if Sakura was just so full of confidence and bubble gum pink hopes that the thought of them not being together didn't even cross her mind.
Sakura looked at her friends around her. Suddenly she started tearing up.
Ino disentangled her arms in shock, "Sa-Sakura-" Maybe she was being too pushy? But usually Sakura wouldn't be this easy to upset. She must be so heartbroken.
Sakura wiped her flowing tears, "How...could he-how could she do this to me?"
Soon news of Hinata's questionable motives for approaching the raven orphan started to buzz. There were already controversy about the beautiful, mysterious woman who adopted a wayward boy. But news of Sakura's broken heart made her an unequivocal target of the village girls' hate.
"How could she?"
"How could she be an older sister to Sasuke kun and then just push him into a relationship?"
"I bet the sweet sister act was just a ploy to get closer to him."
"She acted all the sweet and angelic but she was just waiting her right time to steal him away."
"And Sakura thought so much of her."
"Yeah, remember how Sakura took care of her when Sasuke kun was gone?"
"Girls like her don't care about loyal friends. They just want the guy."
In the midst of this chaos, Hinata tried to keep her head high.
It didn't take long for Hanabi and Kurenai to figure out who threw the egg at Hinata. It happened to be one of Sasuke's severe fangirls who were already against the idea of the handsome orphan living with the woman. But Hinata asked them to keep it a secret. She didn't have any compassion for the fangirl who would take her obsession to such extremes, hurtling an egg at Sasuke, but she knew that if she confronts her, the girl will not be free from Sasuke's wrath. At least, she doesn't deserve to die.
She knew this would happen, sooner or later, if she accepts Sasuke. Her fear of being publicly shamed and ostracized as when she was a teenager was one of the reasons that kept her from accepting him. But now she didn't want to give up on what her heart always wanted because of people who don't know the entirety of their story. She told herself, I'm not afraid.
She looked down at the gravely steps to the Uchiha mansion. She was going to the main street of Konoha to do some grocery shopping, but then she saw on the steps, words marked with red chalk, whore, thief, freak, bitch, liar.
As she shuffled her feet and tried to wash out the words with her watering can, the red chalk started to bleed.
She murmured, "I'm not afraid..." But she felt the suffocating urge to run fill up her chest. A heavy weight of peoples' hate bore down on her.
Then she heard a familiar gruff voice, "Hey, Hinata!"
She lifted her head to see her blond friend walking up to her, waving his hand.
"Na-Naruto." It was uncanny of how the sunshiny dispositioned ninja always happened to hover around her in midst of trial and danger. Like the night of the cherry blossom festival where she saw Karin and he appeared right out of nowhere. And even now when she just felt like tearing her heart out at the fact that the malicious girls even came close to her door steps.
When he looked down at the words that had yet to be effaced, he froze in shock and stared at her as if blood left his face.
"Hinata..." he stared at how she looked like she was going to cry to the half erased word "bitch" that she was shuffling off with her foot. Then suddenly it occurred to him, everything. He's been there before. He kinda knew. He looked at her, "Are you...okay?"
"A-Ano..." she averted her eyes as her face tensed, "yes..."
Then she crouched over and started sprinkling water again, but the chalk didn't fade so easily.
"Hinata, I know a better way."
When she looked up to him in question, he smiled widely and gestured her to stand aside.
When she did, he suddenly swiped his right foot across the entire foot step that was littered with the red chalk marks.
She felt her dark hair fluttering a bit by the impact of his movement, and when she looked down at the door step, she saw that he swiped the gravelly top off, revealing a clean slate of stone underneath.
When she looked at him in surprise and awe, he raised his two fingers in the shape of a V next to his winking blue eyes.
"No matter how much people suck and try to bring you down, you can always start again fresh, dattebayo Hinata."
She stared at him in surprise. Then she smiled with genuine gratitude in her eyes. But her smile seemed to falter a bit as she looked down at her water can.
Naruto frowned. Not in criticism of Hinata's inability to cheer up but in deep thought as to how to dispel the gloom.
Then a light bulb went on.
"Hey, Hinata. If you're not busy, I have some place to show you," He pointed a thumb's up toward his chest,
"Um, Naruto kun...I...don't really feel like leaving the house." She didn't feel like the leaving the comfort of the house when she can literally feel the slap of peoples' eyes against her face.
When she expected him to give up, he instead gave her a look of deep understanding, "I'll always be by your side, so don't worry."
Hinata froze. She turned to him. Did she just hear him right? "Naruto?"
He grabbed her hand, "Come on! It's a place that was important to both me and Sasuke!"
Her lavender hued eyes widened, and before she can say anything, she found herself moving according to Naruto's directions. Naruto had that magnetism with people, sweeping them off with the current of his outgoing personality that made everything seem not so serious.
Where he took her was a playground near the academy where young ninjas are trained before they move on to more developed levels.
She saw the children running by the monkey bars in the playground while others play soccer in the sandy plains demarcated by strings of rope.
Naruto guided her to a group of large trees that provided shade by the side of the sandy soccer field. Then he stopped by a tree that held a lone swing, just a wooden plank supported by two ropes. There he flopped down on the wooden plank seat, and the metal hinges that connected the plank to the rope squeaked in protest.
"So this is where Sasuke and I spent most of our childhood!"
Then he assumed a more serious tone as he sat slouched on the swing.
"I know, Hinata, that it hurts to have the villagers turn against you like that. I've been there. So let me tell you a little bit of how Sasuke and I went through it. Well, from my perspective."
She nodded,
"Yes, go ahead, Naruto. I would like to hear it."
He smiled. Then he looked down at the sandy ground as he rested his elbows on his knees,
"I never really understood why the villagers hated me so much. I was alone a lot, and it was the worse feeling to be sitting by myself on the swing, wishing that there was someone to approach me and just say anything. I never really wanted to admit that I wanted a friend out loud, but whenever I walked home from school, I would...wish for that."
He made a slightly whimsical expression that was rare on Naruto's ever cheerful face
" But it was such a small, simple thing to want that I never really wanted to admit that it was a wish. Saying that you wished for a friend...it made me feel like a loser. But my attempts to hide it were pretty much useless anyways, and I'm glad I'm bad at hiding what I think. I guess anyone can tell by my face when I just sat here. Iruka sensei told me that."
He looked up at the sky. It was still pretty grey from the days of heavy rainfall. But he looked determined and optimistic.
"But I always told myself that I'll prove them some day. It's just that they can't see what I'm really made of right now. Sasuke always told me that I was just trying to rise to the top because I was desperate to prove myself but-"
Hinata balked, "He-he did? Oh, Naruto..." she slapped her hand against her forehead and shook her head, "I'm so sorry..." She was mortified by Sasuke's brusqueness. Sometimes his lack of filter when it comes to Naruto was too much for her delicate sensibility.
Naruto laughed, "Don't sweat it, Hina, I had it worse from the bastard. And he was right. Until I really learned what it was to sacrifice myself for my friends, I just wanted to be someone who can outshine others. Quite lame, huh?" He made a sheepish grin and glanced at her.
His fingers halted at her word, "No."
She clenched her fists and looked up to him, "If you get hurt so much, there comes a point where you dream of being someone so important that nobody could question you...that everyone is forced to acknowledge you." Because I've been there. She told herself.
He looked up at her, his bright blue eyes dilating in a way she has never seen him do. Then he quickly turned his face and blushed, scratching the back of his neck, "Wow, Hinata. You suddenly...looked like a different person right there. Almost made me wonder if you were the same Hinata I've always known."
At his words, she was drawn from the reveries of the Waker's Pearl competition and the spell broke. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, Naruto. Please tell me. What helped you to overcome the villagers' unreasonable hate"
He scratched his whiskered chin with his index finger and deliberated for a bit, "Umm, I...didn't."
"Don't get me wrong, Hina chan. I'm good friends now with the kids who used to bully me, and I get that the villagers' feelings weren't personal. They just didn't like a loud, attention seeking orphan boy causing trouble everywhere. And when I began to show that I was a capable ninja, people began to see me differently. Some began to say 'hi.' Some offered to give me gifts. I don't know why they're girls though."
Hinata smiled at him. His cluelessness looked endearing to her, now that she wasn't so infatuated with him as before in her past.
"But I just want to let you know, Hinata chan. Keep being the awesome person I know you are, and some day people will see you and Sasuke for who you guys really are! It happened with me, so of course, it will turn out like that with you. You're the nicest lady in the village. I was just a little street brat."
She looked down at him fondly, "Thank you, Naruto...for your kind words."
But slowly she felt her heart falling in dejection. She grabbed one of the ropes holding the swing Naruto was on.
"Naruto."
"Yeah?"
"Th-thank you for telling me your story. But..."
She hung her head low, "I used to be in a similar situation as yours. So when I heard your story...I couldn't help but wonder..."
After a long hesitation, she finally asked, "How do you forgive the villagers who treat you well only after your success?" Hinata wanted to be at peace too. At peace with people who condemned her as useless and forced her to internalize their negative beliefs. How did Naruto do that, she wondered
"What," his eyes widened, "do you mean, Hina chan?"
Her eyebrows furrowed at the bitter recollection.
"A long time ago, I used to be bullied as a child. But when I became...'special,' things changed...for the better. But my heart was still in a dark place. When the girls who abused me flipped their attitude upside down...it only made me despise them." She spoke a bit darkly as in anger, Naruto felt he could see her self-loathing in the way she looked down and bit her lip.
Hinata felt a slight tremor in her voice, "How could you be...friends with those who hurt you? Who spoke such vile things of you? How could you treat them as the same as you treat...me, Sakura, or Sasuke?"
Suddenly Naruto raised his voice, "Oh hell no, are you kidding me?" He almost flipped off of his flimsy swing at her words.
"Hinata, I need you to listen." He looked at her, his thick brown eyebrows furrowed over serious blue eyes.
"I don't really think of big, lofty words like 'forgiveness' when I deal with the villagers. I put what they did behind, but hell no, they're not on the same par as my friends. There's no way they can compete with you or Sasuke."
He folded his arms over his chest and spoke lightheartedly, "Just because I decide to be good sport with them, it doesn't mean I have to be buddy buddy with them. And it's nothing personal. I've just moved on to better things than striving for popularity."
When he saw Hinata look at him wide eyed, he mussed the back of his blond hair, "Hey, sorry, I think I rambled too much." He grinned, "You wanted to hear about Sasuke, right?"
He turned his gaze to the playground, "For as long as we can remember, Sasuke and I were treated as outcasts. But it's funny how we never really became friends until we were in the same team."
He remembered how they were, him with his goggles over his head and Sasuke in a dark grey t shirt with the collar up to his chin. "I always tried to go up and talk to him and get him to join me in games and pranks, but he was never up for it. But I went on hard. It took years for him to finally even notice my existence. But just a little bit of training under Kakashi for him to hand me a bit of his lunch. Now, even though he swears that he hates me, I know we always got each other's backs."
His eyes narrowed into friendly double crescents as he continued,
"I still remember seeing him turn his back and walk ahead away from the rest of us when we were little. For some reason, I couldn't just ignore him. And I'm glad I didn't! And now he brought you into my life, Hina chan. For that, I'm really happy."
Naruto was expecting his words to cheer her up, but strangely, Hinata didn't say a word.
Until she bowed her head and said,
"Naruto...Please say it again..."
"Uh, what? Did I say something weird?"
"Are you...happy?"
"Yup!" No hesitation.
"Uh, Hinata? Are you crying?" He leaned over as he held both of the ropes of his swing, tugging himself over to her.
When he saw her face from beneath, he balked and stood up from his swing, not knowing what to do, "Uh, crap! Sasuke's gonna kill me. Please don't cry, Hinata. I don't know why me being happy should upset you, but sorry anyways!"
She still tried to cover her face with her hands, "Naruto..."
"Yeah? What's up, Hinata?"
She covered her eyes with her hands and murmured
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
The look on his face faltered. It upset him how he always manage to make Hinata sad even though he was trying his best to cheer her up. And he can't understand why she keeps saying sorry. What does she have to apologize for? It was insane!
He asked curiously, "For what, Hina chan?"
She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeves and cleared her throat, "No-nothing..."
"Huh? Well, don't cry, Hina chan. And you have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing that beating Sasuke up won't fix, haha..."
And without saying much to another, he walked Hinata home to the Uchiha mansion despite her reassurance that she is okay. There was just something about Hinata that made him protective of her.
The following night, Sasuke heard a series of light padded footsteps trailing to the end of the corridor where he was sleeping. He just came back from his three day mission, so there was still tension that had yet to leave his system. He felt something-a dangerous aura of someone who just drank in the heat of battle like oxygen and was coming towards him with vague intentions. And the smell of blood that shouldn't be in his cherished home with Hinata.
At the sound of the door creaking open, Sasuke bolted up as the sense of urgency coursed through his veins and he was about to detach kusanagi that was standing by his he noticed it was her, he stared at her, "Hinata?" He was slightly surprised. Never in their life, has she ever initiated seeing him in the middle of the night. And he never saw her like he did right now.
She was standing in her outdoor apparel that she would wear during their sparrings. Her hand rested on the doorframe as she looked at him with sorrow and deep confusion. Water dripped from her long black hair, and under the moonlight that filtered through his window, he saw various shaped flesh wounds and gashes on her arms and even some scratches on her face. Her lips were busted, but her pearlescent eyes were the most haunting. She stared at him as if she was some lost soul.
Her lips let out a sound that was between a gasp and a shudder, and her lavender hued eyes widened and then squinted shut. Then in an instant, she rushed to him and buried herself to his chest, her arms encircling his waist. Sasuke stiffened at first at her unexpected motion and also the unmistakable metallic smell of blood. Then he slowly encircled her shoulders with his strong muscular arms. His forearm rested on her upper back where her dark hair was plastered. Her hair was wet. As if she has just tried to wash off the stench of blood from her body. His hand carefully pressed onto her back, not knowing how to give comfort but desperately wanting to give her the reassurance that he was there for her. That she can depend on him even if she is terrified by the idea of involving him or laying her burdens down. He just didn't want her to have to face things alone.
But when his splayed hands added pressure to her upper back, she flinched, "Ah!"
He quickly gripped her shoulder and moved away from her, studying her features, "Hinata-" He urgently whispered.
He didn't add force as to hurt her, but she was pale and panting. But there was a strange, deeply satisfied and content smile on her bruised face. She sighed and held him closer to her.
Then she suddenly sucked in some breath and grabbed her left shoulder, stretching her hand over to her upper back. She bit her bottom lip. He couldn't tell if she was battling an internal turmoil or physical pain.
He asked, "What happened?" Hinata was a strong fighter. She trained him when he was a young fledgling ninja. She was capable of bringing down the Hyuugas with her own gentle fist prowess. Who could have inflicted such damage? He felt his eyes burning like red coal. "Who did this to you, Hinata?" His voice was slightly shaking.
When he tried to strip her of her light purple jacket, she quickly detained his hands.
"Don't look, Sasuke," she looked up to him, "please..."
He stared at her. Then his eyes blazed in anger, "Let me see your back." His even tone forbade her from crossing him.
She hesitated. Then she bowed her head in defeat and slowly she took off her jacket. The transparent fishnet part of her sportsbra revealed her upper back.
There was a mark that was undeniably a seal, with a pattern of a swirling goblin fire. The silhouette was bleeding through.
Hinata answered what Sasuke was afraid to ask. Seeing her in pain that he has no idea to fix scared him, terrified him. She spoke through even breaths, as calmly as she can. "It's... the seal...acting in revolt...against me."
Sasuke asked, trying to temper the anger of his voice '
"Why do you have this seal, Hinata? Who did this?"
"I...did," she made a sad smile, "I...wanted to have strength and power to protect the ones I loved so badly...and I thought it was the right choice at the moment. But now it's my burden."
Burden. It looked more like a curse. He stared and his heart clenched at the sight of the seal on her back.
His fingers tried to reach and touch the seal, but she weakly stopped him, "No..."
Then she collapsed lightly into his arms. He panicked at first, thinking that she fainted out of pain, but he heard her soft whisper, "Stay...like this with me. If you're by me..."
She smiled, as sweat beaded on her temple, "I'm strong."
She cast a sedating genjutsu on Sasuke before she rose to leave Konoha once again in the middle of the night. Sasuke was a heavy sleeper, but she didn't want to take a chance of him pursuing her. How ironic. For her to use Uchiha's 5000 year worth of chakra to knock Sasuke unconscious.
She looked at his sleeping form in his bedroom, "I'll be back, Sasuke..."
When she rested her hand on his rising and falling chest, she gently smiled, "Before I go...I just want to say...'thank you.'"
She leaned forward to give him a gentle kiss on the side of his lips, "You're the second person...who taught me love."
With that, she left his bedroom. As she closed the door behind her, she took one last glance at the man she loved.
The sound of the wind slapping through her clothes attested to the high speed with which she was flitting through the trees.
In the deep forests, Hinata felt the familiar stabbing pain on her upper back.
Her upper back where she still had the seal of kurama was burning like fire. It has been stinging and burning since her nightmare.
She heard a familiar, sly voice as she entered the middle of the forest grove, "Finally you reveal yourself, Hyuuga."
Hinata stopped on her tracks and gracefully landed in the middle of the opening. She straightened up as soon as she finished landing.
The dark haired girl spoke toward the direction of the voice, her pearl eyes full of challenge, "I didn't know if it would be fair to show myself when all I can see are your shadow clones."
Then from the shadows emerged an attractive girl with red hair and eyes, "Didn't know you had a sense of humor now, Hyuuga." The red haired beauty crossed her arms, "And that you would so mercilessly kill all my little friends I sent you."
Hinata closed her eyes as in pain and opened again. She didn't want to be reminded of the reasons she comes home late at night, smelling of death.
Karin then salaciously licked her lips with her tongue, "Or what does Uchiha sama call you now...' Hi...Na...Ta?'"
All blood seemed to drain from Hinata's face. But she fought to maintain her composure.
Hinata raised her voice
"I won't be undone by your dirty tricks!"
Karin snarled, "To think that you were keeping Uchiha sama all to yourself. You, snake. You're the ultimate dirty trickster."
Hinata slid her left heel back and assumed her fighting stance, her voice lowering dangerously, "I don't know what you're talking about."
A/N: Sorry for my late update. Just really crazy about work and life in general. Sooo I really want to edit some of the past chapters, by adding more subtle chemistry for past!sasuhina scenes, but gosh, I have this urge to just focus on keeping the plot rolling. I love reviews, so please get it coming! Let me know about what you think of this new plot development and what might need improvement, because there def is (sigh). Have a great weekend!