AN: Ahhh, I really love Team Taka + Hinata hehe. Not going to spoil the chapter with the authors's note so... here you go! Let me know what are your thoughts and views hehe. Honestly to be fair, I really was a little disappointed when Karin did not end up with Sasuke, or the fact that they did not even get a proper development about her feelings at least. It pained for that her love was being placed aside a replaced with sakura's. I mean no hate, but when i put them side by side it just doesn't add up for Karin and it's not fair :(

Enjoy and review!

.::.

"Confessed?" Karin choked.

Suigetsu almost grimaced at her reaction but chose to focus his attention on the Hyuga. "Did he confess his sins?"

Hinata stared at the big figure male, slightly appalled by the fact that he knew what was going on. She had known him to be an observant person as comparing to everyone else in Team Taka but not to this level where she had not even spoken about anything regarding Sasuke liking her.

"H-How did you know?" She managed; her eyes locked onto his.

"We had a conversation on the day you were supposed to join us for breakfast." Jugo said. "You left with just a note, and Sasuke was at the inn too."

"What did he say, then?" Hinata continued to probe. She needed to know.

"He admitted that there were feelings involved, indirectly. But he's too obvious." Jugo shrugged. "I don't see how nobody notices him around you."

"So saying you had something on urgently, was a façade?" Karin quizzed.

"Hey, I noticed it!" Suigetsu argued. "I was the one that says the bracelet was gifted by Hinata. It was you, right?"

Nodding her head, Hinata continued. "Gomen guys, for not keeping my promise on breakfast. And yes, that bracelet was gifted by me, but he isn't w-wearing it now."

"Really?" The pale male lifted his brows. "We searched the entire mud field for almost an hour to look for the bracelet. I thought he would care too much not to even let it off his wrist."

"An hour?" Hinata cocked her brows. She was clearly confused. "Mud field?"

"He helped ojii-san to plant the rice fields. The bracelet got lost in the midst of it and yes, we spent almost an hour to look for it." Jugo explained calmly and flashed a small smile. "It's obvious he likes you."

Karin chuckled softly. "So he does have a heart."

"I'm surprised too." Suigetsu agreed. "Glad he didn't target you." He smirked sheepishly, only to earn a soft hit on his shoulder. The two were definitely in love.

Hinata never thought Sasuke would hold such high regards to a small item she had gifted him, out of appreciation for saving her father. It wasn't even a planned thing! She did not go out of the way just to get that bracelet, she just so happened to have it in her bag, and it was the perfect timing and perfect gift for him.

Her fingers clenched into a fist, annoyed by herself for not noticing the small little details he may have shown throughout their conversations. Like how he would complement her subtly or being extra patient with her when it came down to her constant crying. But he was such an indefinite person and reading him was like herding cats, impossible.

"I need to talk to him." Hinata spoke softly. "I… haven't been nice."

"Hinata, you've always been a nice person. What are you saying?" Karin had made her way towards the blue head. "Was it a rejection from you?"

"It's not… but it is too. But it wasn't exactly!"

"So what is it?" Karin continued. "Did you tell him off? Is he avoiding you now?"

Hinata nodded. "The last time we spoke, he made a point. I never once r-regarded his feelings, and only thought about everyone else's. I thought if he could accept Sakura, things will be fine." She could feel her voice starting to shake, and everyone seemed to have noticed it too. "It's clear that he's mad at me."

"Hinata…" Karin muttered as she grabbed her arms. "It's not your fault."

"No, it is." She replied with a smile. "And its obvious. Sasuke-san has always been nice to me, but I haven't been exactly doing that to him. I need to find him; can you help me?"

Raising her hand, Karin gave the female a soft pat on her head. "I guess it's a blessing he did not reciprocate my feelings. Liking the Uchiha is a chore but being liked back seems pretty troublesome too."

Hinata chuckled softly. "He isn't expressive."

"Clearly." Suigetsu added in. "So, I guess Team Taka is going for a mission hunt again huh?"

Karin smirked. "It's been a while."

.::.

Hinata laid quietly, feeling the heat emanating from the fire in the middle of the circle they had subconsciously created as they slept through the night. Suigetsu was a snoring softly and Jugo was buried deep into the sleeping bag. As much as they were pro scouters, often scouting for the people to kill before the war, to seek for the Uchiha was a different case. He probably knew how to keep himself hidden from the rest of the world.

They had a long day indeed and even though they were all fighters, it must had been a while since they actually head out in full seriousness to accomplish a task. Their body was completely drained from the long hours of hunting. Karin was burned out by using an excessive amount of energy just to sense for the well-hidden Uchiha's chakra as well as sharing some with Hinata to extend her vision.

Hinata winced a little as she felt the dryness of her eye hit. The feeling was a familiar when the sight of the fire took a blurry turn. Her eyes were starting to strain from the hunt today, as she managed to extend her vision to almost thirty kilometers, three times of her usual.

Sasuke Uchiha was still nowhere to be found.

"Can't sleep?" Karin whispered as she popped her head out of her sleeping bag.

"Yea." Hinata chuckled softly. "You too?"

Pointing towards Suigetsu, Karin sighed. "That idiot snoring is kinda bothering me." She wriggled herself closer. "What are you thinking of?"

"Nothing." She muttered. "Do you think he's hiding himself? Or maybe did something happen?"

Suicide sounded insane but there was still a possibility. "He's the last of the Uchiha clan, I'm sure he wants to at least populate before he passes."

"That's true." Hinata blushed a little. "He must be hiding from me then."

"Bet he is. When he hides, it's really hard to seek to be honest." Karin nodded, closing her eyes a little. "But I believe there got to be little clues he leaks."

Feeling a sense of hope from her words, Hinata smiled. "Thank you, Karin-san. You must be tired from today."

"Not as tired as you. You extended your vision tripled today. You need to be wary of your eyes from now. Sasuke overused his eye during a battle and he got blind for a week."

She knew how exactly it felt but her priority was to get to him. "I will." She assured, blinking slowly to ease out the mild burning of her eyes. "How long did you like Sasuke-san?"

"Long." Karin replied with a smile. "Since the Chunin exams, I'm sure you're there too."

"Does it feel horrible when it wasn't reciprocated?"

"I didn't exactly tell him how I feel. I just assume he should know by my actions. And I can tell from his that he never once viewed me in that manner. It didn't exactly hurt me until I realize that he was going for Sakura – which he surprisingly isn't. But we all thought about that. So it burned a little, for days? Maybe weeks but it will eventually grow out." She chuckled. "Sasuke-kun and I shared a lot, and I can't disregard that either, even if my affection wasn't reciprocated."

Would Sakura feel the same way as Karin? "Do you hate Sakura-san previously?"

"For a brief moment. But realize it was a little stupid to be fighting over love, right?" She flashed a quick smile. "It's not that confusing. When you like someone, you kinda just want them to do what makes them happy."

Hinata turned to face the sky, pondering over Karin's words. Letting Naruto go was perhaps one of the best and right decision she had made. It wasn't for her, but mainly for Naruto to fulfil what truly made him happy. "How do I get Sasuke-san to stop being mad?"

Karin let out a soft laugh. "I don't know. I just hope you don't go the same path as Itachi."

"I can't win a fight with Sasuke-san." Hinata whined.

"I bet you can. He's going to let you. It's obvious."

.::.

The last thing Hinata remembered was standing on a tree branch, byakugan activated despite the constant waves of pain hitting her eyes as she tried her best to extend her vision further than thirty. Karin had suggested to split up to maximize the time they had on hand and as much as Hinata wasn't very keen on the idea since she knew that if she was to finally find him, he would, without a doubt run further away from her. She needed someone not herself to stop him.

Deciding to work with what she had, she managed to extend her vision to fifty kilometers, reaching a certain village she could not really determine as the vision nearing the edge was a haze. She just needed to look for familiar faces, maybe at the teahouse, Hot spring? Along the streets? But before she could even notice that the vision was rapidly altering to a blurry one, she was greeted by sudden pitch-black vision.

The next thing she knew, she was laying on a wooden cold floor with a blanket over here as the sound of rain pouring filled the atmosphere. She brought her hands up to feel for her eyes and instead, felt the rough texture of the bandage that was wrapped around. She felt a sense of nostalgia rushing in her as she got reminded of the day Neji took care of her when she lost her sight.

She sat up slowly, wishing to take the bandage off but was interrupted by an old raspy voice.

"Ah, you're awake?"

"Who's that?" She asked curiously. She could tell that the voice belonged to an old lady.

"You fainted by the forest. I was trying to get some medicinal herbs and brought you back here to my home."

She had fainted. How long had that been? "For how long I was out?"

"Four hours. You have blood in your eyes, so I decided to wrap them up. I hope you don't mind that. I'm Enju, by the way."

"Blood?" She tried squinting her eyes within the bandages. "Gomen, Enju-san. I need to go. I've been probably look for me. I can't let them be too worried." She needed to go. Team Taka would be worried sick if she did not return to the campsite by night.

"You can't go anywhere without your eyes, lady." Enju said. "Give yourself some time to rest. If you friends are capable, they will be able to look for you. You seem strong."

"Where am I?"

"A little out of Mizu. Just a few kilometers north from where I found you. Were you in a fight?" Euju quizzed and grabbed onto Hinata's hand, giving a cup of water to soothe her raspy voice. "Drink up."

"Thank you." She nodded, putting the rim of the cup to her lips as she took the first sip. "Ah, not really. I was looking for someone." She muttered. "Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I don't get names; I only give mine." The elderly replied. "Seems like he's important."

Hinata could hear the wooden floor creaking, signaling that Enju was standing up and perhaps preparing to leave her alone. As appreciative as she was towards the old lady, she still needed to send a message at least. Something that could ease the trio. "Enju-san?"

The door sliding opened was heard. "Yes?"

"Do you have a pen and paper?"

"I'll get someone to pass you that." With that, the door closed, and the sound of footsteps disappeared.

She dropped herself back down to the wooden floor, head resting on the really thin pillow as she allowed her body completely loose. The last time she overused her eyes, it took her about two weeks to see again. She felt a wave of timorous feeling hitting her as she thought about the amount of trouble, she would bring to her friends in Konoha. Sakura would potentially try her best to solve her eyes, her former teammates would put time aside to visit her and her father might send some of the branch members to retrieve the eye medicine.

And how would she explain to them the reason why she overused her eyes? To search for Sasuke Uchiha? She did this willingly, but no one would care knowing how everyone's personality was like. The blame would be thrown to him. Because to everyone else, she was the princess of purity and kindness but for Uchiha Sasuke, he was tainted with revenge. The world just wasn't fair to him with this prejudice.

The sound of the door sliding opened again travelled to her ears, breaking her away from her thoughts. "Enju-san?"

The footsteps were heavier this time round and Hinata could determine it was a different person. She sat up slowly and waited patiently for a reply, but there wasn't any. A pen and a rough piece of paper was placed on top on her hand that was resting on her lap. She turned to face the direction where the items were from.

"Did Enju-san ask you to pass me this?"

The silence was a killer, causing Hinata to be nervous at the slightly intimidating atmosphere of not knowing the silent stranger. There was no presence of chakra, allowing Hinata to perceive that this person wasn't a ninja, perhaps a family member of Enju. She then felt a hand grabbing onto hers, for some reason a sense of familiarity washed over her.

Fingers started tracing her palm. Confusion hit her until she began to realize that the person was tracing kanji characters onto her palm as a form of communication.

Yes.

Was he lacking the faculty of speech? "Thank you." Deciding not to probe and assumed that would be the answer, she continued. "What's your name?"

Shin.

"Gomen, Shin-san. I can't really write without be able to see right now. Can you help me craft a message?"

What do you want to write?

"I need to send a message to my friends. Tell them I am safe. I am at a place resting, a little out of Mizu. My name is Hinata, can you sign my name off?"

She could hear the scribbling of words. She just needed to an animal messenger. Bringing her hands up to her chest, she performed a few hand seals, releasing a pigeon. Feeling a rolled-up paper poking her, she smiled unconsciously. "Do you mind helping me tie to the pigeon? She will send it to them."

The flapping of the wings was heard. She heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Shin-san."

A hand grabbed onto hers again. Is there anything else?

"Ah, not at the moment." She said softly. "I heard Enju-san mentions about picking medicinal herbs, do you help her with it?"

Sometimes.

"Are you guys healers?"

Enju is good with medicines.

She nodded. Perhaps there was something that could aid in the recovery of her eyes. "Do you have anything that can help with eye recovery?" She muttered as her hands were lifted to touch the most important feature on her face. "I still have to look for someone."

There are a few herbs that may help. I will talk to Enju about it.

"Thank you, Shin-san!" She beamed slightly.

Why are you looking for him?

Hinata chuckled softly. "It's a long story."

I've some time to spare.

"Really?" Somehow the feeling of his fingers against her palm was soothing the pain in her eyes. "It's a friend of mine. I haven't exactly been a nice friend to him. I just thought I should apologize to him."

You hurt your eyes, just for an apology.

"It's more than that." Hinata softened. "Sasuke-san has been through a lot. And being classified as a friend to him means a lot, because he rarely opens up. I haven't been a good friend and I want to make it up. I need to."

You should have waited.

"I think he's avoiding me." She shrugged. "I don't want to be too late to tell him how I feel."

Feel about what?

"Everything?" She giggled. "He had helped me a lot, too much in fact. And I think his words to me regarding my previously relationship had finally hit. Took me a while, but I am able to see where he was coming from. I needed him to know that too."

I hope you'll find him.

She subconsciously gave his finger that was on her palm, a grip. "Do you think I will find someone who's avoiding me?"

Maybe.

"Hm… I hope so."