Chapter 28
Sasuke rushed through the streets, chakra pulsing through his feet to gain speed. He didn't know why someone would directly go after Hinata unless it was to get to him. He had enemies—more enemies than he could count. That crazy lady, had she threatened him after all? She was not going to get her hands on the only thing that was precious to him.
Hinata wasn't home. "Hinata!" He yelled, rushing through the house. No response. He ran to Neji's new house. No one was there. He ran to the Hyuuga compound, being denied entrance by some bratty Hyuuga guy.
"It's an emergency."
"Sorry, she's not taking any audiences."
"Have you seen Hinata? Please, just tell me." The man's eyes softened.
"She was here earlier today, but she already left. I would check the park—she would always go there as a child."
"Hey!" Sasuke looked over at a girl who had called out. He had seen here before, when he was first searching for the girl from the journal. He had sought out the heiress of the clan in hopes it would be her. Sasuke didn't respond to her. "You!"
"Me." The girl narrowed her eyes.
"I have unsettled—"
"I'm busy." With that, Sasuke was gone and Hanabi was left sputtering like an idiot. Sasuke scanned the crowd, searching for Hinata's face. Nothing. Where was she?
Hinata nearly had a heart attack when Sasuke appeared in front of her, sharingan eyes activated and flaring. "S-sasuke!" She gasped out. The man beside her focused on him also. Sasuke finally looked over at the man, the unease in his gut disappearing.
"Sasuke."
"Kakashi." Hinata glanced between the two warily. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard a little rumor about an Uchiha and Hyuuga getting comfortable. Thought I would check it out for myself."
"Former Hyuuga. I was dis—"
"She dropped her clan." Sasuke cut in, making Hinata glance up to meet his eyes. Her eyes lit up when she realized that was his way of protecting her. "Now that you've sated your perverted curiosity, you can leave."
"Now that you mention it," Kakashi said, stretching and standing up. "I have a new book to read. See you around, Hinata."
"Bye," she said in response. The silver-haired jounin disappeared and Sasuke plopped himself down in his stead.
"What's wrong, Sasuke?"
"I was worried for you."
"W-why?" Sasuke opened one eye to glance at her, before closing it again.
"Is there anything that someone would want to kill you over?" Hinata bit her lip. She was sure she had some people somewhere who hated her. She had a kumo ninja try to kidnap her as a child.
"W-what are you t-talking about?" That traitorous stutter. Sasuke opened his eyes and sat up straight, turning toward her. She couldn't look away from his eyes.
"Hinata, you need to trust me." Was this some kind of genjutsu?
"I do trust you." She did, even if he scared her sometimes. Even if he used to be purposely cruel to her.
"Prove it." Hinata averted her eyes, taking a deep breath. She didn't know how to sum it all up.
"M-my sister asked me to move back to the Hyuuga compound. My cousin asked me to become clan head. I don't know what to do—it's all so confusing."
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to—"
"What would make you happy?" He rephrased, already knowing she was going to say "make everyone else happy."
"I want to stay living with you, but I want my sister to be happy. I want to be able to take care of my clan, but I don't want my sister to get the curse seal."
"How would you be able to be clan head?"
"If my sister gave up the title." So she wasn't the heiress, not in the most literal sense of the word. She was next in line, though.
"Does your sister want to give up the title?"
"I don't know."
"Ask her," Sasuke said, leaning back on the bench and breaking eye contact. Hinata nodded, glancing out at the park in front of her. It really was beautiful out.
"How do you feel—about everything, I mean?" Sasuke waited a moment, choosing his words carefully so as not to hurt her feelings.
I don't want you to leave, but I want you to be happy. Would you be able to be happy with just me? "I think you would make a great leader." Hinata nodded, making sure to cover the hurt she felt.
Sasuke glanced out in front of him, at a couple with a young child wrapped up in the mother's arms. Sasuke wanted that—he wanted that desperately. He looked over at Hinata. But he would give that up for her.
"I want you to be happy, but I'm selfish and don't want you to leave. It's…nice having another presence in the house. Isn't not as—" lonely. "—quiet." Hinata looked over at him, showing him a little smile and wrapping her arms around him. Sasuke stiffened at the contact. She didn't notice.
"Then I'll stay," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. Slowly, Sasuke relaxed in her hold. Hinata would give up something she wanted because she could tell it would make Sasuke happy. She wanted to be able to help her clan—wanted it desperately. She looked up at the apathetic face that was starting to look more full of emotion. She would give up everything for him.
"So what happened at your meeting? Or is it top secret?" She said with a giggle.
"You know, I kind of left right during the middle of it." She laughed at this. Sasuke found himself smiling a little in response.
"Must have been pretty boring."
"You have no idea," he responded.
Hinata found that she couldn't stop smiling as she picked up a large paper brown bag full of tomatoes. She didn't know any recipes that used tomatoes as a key ingredient, but she would find one. She was determined to do so.
Sasuke, in very few words, had brightened her entire day. He answered questions so simply. He gave her answers that were so obvious. Did she know if Hanabi wanted to be clan head? No—then go ask her. It was so simple it was humorous how it had evaded her for so long.
It was this particularly bright and happy day—that had not started out quite as happy—that Hinata decided she loved him irrevocably. She had once read in a book that "a soul mate is someone who will make you be the most 'you' that you can possibly be." Sasuke never asked her to change anything about herself. He was accepting of every one of her flaws. That did not mean that he did not try to help her grow—grow into the person he saw that she could become.
Sasuke was perfectly imperfect. He had nightmares. He had his own long list of problems that he had to deal with everyday—probably for the rest of his life. But he was so beautifully perfect for her. She was brighter, more confident with him. She felt pretty, beautiful even, when she was with him. She felt funny, she felt adventurous. Anything that she had pushed off in the past as "just a dream" suddenly didn't seem so far fetched.
She felt like the entire world was right at her fingertips, waiting for her to grasp it in her hand.
She felt powerful. It was his image that kept fluttering at the edges of her mind as she argued with the Hokage. She could still not believe she had done that, but it felt so wonderfully good! It made her feel uncontrollably happy afterwards. Why? Because she knew she had done something right. Not easy, but right. It was hard when she had done it, yet it felt as easy as breathing when she looked back at it.
Sasuke made her feel like she could handle her problems. Every. Single. One. He made her feel like she could lead her clan. Like she could help those most dear to her. Like she could face her father and all of the clan council.
She walked home, paper bag in tow. She smiled so brightly, that unbeknownst to her, people in the streets stopped to stare at her. They saw the happiness bubbling inside of her, and they couldn't stop the lightness they suddenly felt. They wanted to feel the way she did. They wanted to understand how it felt to be so uncontrollably and irrevocably happy. A sort of happiness that could not be taken away by burnt food or dark rain clouds, but would jump for joy at every opportunity—at every leap and curve.
Hinata did not know it, but she was a true leader. Not because she could bark commands like a drill sergeant, not because she was outgoing and charismatic, and definitely not because she was seen as powerful and deadly. She was a leader by example. She lived simplistically, and contently. She was powerful in her own way, because of the unknown affect she had on others. Because of the power she brought out in them. The kind of power that could change the world.
Sasuke had once attacked the Hidden Leaf Village. However much he may or may not have regretted it, it was fact of life. What had changed? That's what everyone wanted to know—Naruto, Sakura, the Hokage, her advisors, and everyone else in the village. Why did he suddenly feel like protecting it?
There were two reasons. Each as important as the other. The first was because he had personally watched as the light left Naruto's eyes. Never in his life had he seen Naruto lose faith until that moment. He had lost anything resembling hope. That's when all of Sasuke's defenses faltered. That's when Naruto finally won their seemingly endless battle.
The village believed that Naruto had come out the victor because of his strength and the strength of the nine tailed fox. Only Naruto and Sasuke knew the truth: Sasuke had let him win. He had let Naruto's hope swell in his chest, starting small and growing rapidly.
It was hard for Sasuke to accept life in Konoha at first. He had blamed everything entirely on Naruto and Sakura for working so hard to bring him back. But slowly, as he matured, he realized that though he had lost one reason to fight, he had gained another. He would put all of his time and power into helping Naruto accomplish his goal of peace. He knew it would probably not happen for awhile, maybe not even in his lifetime, but he still fought. They would have to work hard—overthrow the current authority figures in Konoha with ones that could be trusted. They would have to cleanse the village of the corruption that had grown within its walls. But Naruto would not rest until his dream became a reality, and so neither would Sasuke.
The other reason was one he had gained only just recently. That reason could be described in a billion words, or in just one name—Hinata. He was going to protect her with his life, or die trying. She had easily become the most important person in his life—seemingly overnight. Everything about her was beautiful—her unending kindness and forgiveness, gentleness, compassion, humility, and all around personality.
He had heard of people referred to as beautiful because of their outward appearance…because of their attractive features. Hinata's beautiful personality made her outward appearance beautiful. Her gentle, graceful features were attractive because they never scowled and were always openly caring for each and every person. She went out of her way, causing physical harm to herself, to make someone else's life even just a tiny bit easier.
A story he had heard from Naruto once was that there was a boy that had been so hurt and angry that he would physically harm himself. Hinata heard of this and sought him out—stutter and all. The boy had been sitting in one of the unused rooms at the academy when she had found him. His kunai sat ready in his hand. His eyes widened to saucers when she came over and sat down right beside him.
"A-are you angry?" He did not respond, turning to a vacant wall instead. "I-I used to be angry—very a-angry. Not a-at other p-people but myself. I t-thought I was w-worthless and wanted t-to just e-end it—the suffering, the p-pain. I-I almost d-did."
"What…what stopped you?" the boy asked hesitantly.
"I-I realized that i-it wasn't m-me—it w-was the other p-people. Just b-because I didn't meet their p-personal standards, d-didn't mean I didn't meet my own. I realized i-it was mine that were i-important, not theirs. Every s-scar is beautiful. E-every inch of y-your personality is w-what makes you, you."
She turned to the boy then and he finally met her eyes.
"S-so if you n-need someway to vent, v-vent on me!" His eyes grew wide when she held his hand in her own, cutting it into her own wrist.
"B-but—!"
"I-I am part of the p-people who hurt you! I j-judge you without e-even knowing you! I am a-at f-fault for all of y-your pain just as m-much as them! I d-deserve every cut, e-every drop of l-lost blood, e-every scar t-that will n-never fade!"
"No!" the boy yelled, yanking his hand and the kunai out of her grasp, watching as red slowly trickled from her arm. The kunai spun out of his hand and landed somewhere in the room. "You did nothing wrong! You don't deserve to pay for someone else's mistakes!"
Hinata smiled at the boy. "Then w-why should y-you?" The boy was unable to answer, tears running down his face at this point. She pulled him into her arms, rocking him back and forth. The boy latched onto her as if she were his only form of support, as if he would be unable to breath without her.
That boy had been Choji Akimichi.
