21

"My mom is..." he paused over his words, considering this for what felt like the first time in his life. In the greenhouse, an early sun rose from the east, tinting every leaf in brilant golden light. Sasuke thought of his bright mother's chatter...and how he'd hung up on her an hour ago. He winced, then admitted: "My mom is sort of my hero, I guess."

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. He had never really talked about his mother with anyone, let alone a strange girl with opal gemstones for eyes. He was prepared for a judgemental gaze or a breathy laugh at his rare show of humility, but instead Hinata just smiled gently to herself and rubbed a dazzling green leaf with the flat of her palm. "How come?"

This, too, was a strange question to the Uchiha. He opened his mouth to respond but Hinata began to stumble- "I-I mean, there doesn't have to be a r-reason, I guess. She's your m-mother."

"No, it's an okay question," Sasuke found himself grumbling, despite himself. "Not everyone's got an amazing mom. I guess I'm lucky," he was still uncomfortable, but he tried not to show it. "My mom is fussy, and dramatic, and loud, and excessive and nothing like how an Uchiha should be."

Hinata said nothing. For once Sasuke thought it was better that way.

"But those are all things that make her a good mom, too," he cleared his throat. Now he felt really bad for hanging up on her earlier. Annoying. "Not only that, but she's an amazing business woman, I could learn from her. Not many people know, but she has her own company, and she's a gallerist."

"A g-gallerist?" Hinata's voice tipped up a bit slightly, and Sasuke raised his eyebrow. He'd never heard her express interest in anything like that. He filed this new information away for later.

"Yeah," Sasuke drawled. He nudged a tiny white flower with his index finger. "It's kinda boring, but she's an art collector and curator in her spare time. Our place is littered with random, tacky sculptures. I don't see how father allows it. I guess he loves her."

This, he hadn't expected to say out loud either. He loves her? Where did that come from?

"Hm," Hinata looked away, her eyes taking her somewhere different for a moment. Far away from him. "Now that s-seems rare."

Sasuke let that comment hang in the air between them, wondering what she was thinking about. He thought of his best friend laying in a hospital bed a few floors underneath them. He thought of how frail and tiny his body had looked when they found him. He thought of him a couple of years ago, at 15, holding up a picture of Hinata on his phone and jeering, "this is my new fiance. Ain't she cute?"

Sasuke had barely looked at the photo. He was smoking a joint, "looks like Neji." He shrugged.

"Neji's twin," Naruto said. He had been frowning. "I never wanted the guy for a brother-in-law." He scratched his cheek.

"You never wanted to be married," Sasuke amended.

In the greenhouse, Sasuke said: "Sorry you're marrying an asshole."

Hinata's face cycled through a few different emotions. Surprise. Sadness. Determination. And then, amusement. That one, the Uchiha was shocked to see. She smiled this half smile Sasuke did not know existed from her. It made her whole face light up in silly irony. "i-is that any way to talk a-about a friend?"

Sasuke scoffed. "He'd say worse about me."

"Y-you're both troublemakers," Hinata said boldly. She pushed a hair behind her ear and looked at him as another surprised smirk made its way across his face. She found herself entranced, for a moment, by the way light was playing on his face. It made everything softer. Tangible. He looked so much like boy here, rather than hardened man.

"'Troublemakers'?" Sasuke jeered. "Really?" He leaned forward, got really close to her face so that he could see a tiny indigo eyelash that had fallen onto her cheek. When he breathed, he could smell citrus, eucalyptus, sweet. "And what does that make you? Saint Teresa? Mother Mary? A 60 year old woman?"

Hinata blanched at his proximity, his words. She colored in the face, not able to tell if he was kidding or not. She tried not to scramble away, not to let her limbs take her to safety. She was tired of safety, she was tired of playing it safe. So she remained in her position, but could not look him in the eye.

Instead, she focused on his ring-encrusted hand that rested on the stone bench beside her thigh. Close. She trailed her gaze up shakily, taking in the starch-straight shirt he wore. It was pushed above his elbows and she paused on his veins, he was still human. Hinata kept looking. She paused at the visible piece of flesh where he'd left three buttons undone at the top. She blushed. Against the hollow of his neck, a heavy black chain rested. She dared to keep looking. His smirking lips. His left dimple. His straight nose. She couldn't bring herself to his eyes.

"N-no," she whispered, without knowing why. "I'm n-none of those things."

"So what are you, Hinata?" Sasuke challenged her. Always challenging her. Always asking her the uncomfortable things. She felt his hand shift beside her thigh; it brushed her and she jolted as electricity shot through her body. He did not move his hand.

"I-I'm Hyuga Hinata," she swallowed hard. Then, to both of their surprise, she met his gaze straight on. Black to opal. Without noticing, Hinata found herself leaning forward so that if either of them moved an inch, their foreheads would surely collide. Their knees touched. Sasuke's hand fisted. She smiled, then. A bright-pink, cheeky smile, and said, "and I'm an artist."

"Well Hyuga Hinata, the artist," the sun lifted over both of their heads, and they glowed inside of their hidden greenhouse. "I'd love to see your work."

-:-

"We have to go," Ino burst into the waiting room frantically. "-or, I have to go. Sakura, you have my keys."

Sakura barely looked up from her place on one of the hospital waiting room's goose fathered couches. She had been multitasking; holding a bowl of steaming hospital-grade gourmet ramen in one hand, and a calculus textbook in the other. "Huh, what're you talking about? Doncha wanna wait 'til Naruto wakes up?"

"Ino, a-are you okay?" Hinata had entered the room and set her eyes on her friend. She rushed forward, wanting to do anything to help her the way that Sakura and Ino had helped the night before. "You look-"

Hinata trailed off uncertainty, not quite knowing what exactly Ino looked like. Disheveled. Hair undone from its usual ponytail. Clothing half undone. Her neck looked red and angry. Worse, her facial expression was miserable.

Sakura finally looked up at Hinata's halted speech. She blanched at Ino's appearance, and closed her textbook and one swift and final motion. "Ino, baby, what happened to you? I just saw you 45 minutes ago with Shika-"

Another sentence left to dust. Sakura tried not to groan in disdain. She said nothing more as she dug around in her tote bag, searching for Ino's keys between notebooks and calculators. "Ino-"

"Forehead I do not need that tone right now," Ino breathed through her mouth. "I just need to go home and take a shower. It's been a long fucking day and it's only 7 in the goddamn morning."

"Okay, okay," Sakura stood. She gave one lasting look in the direction of Naruto's hospital room before schooling her face. One thing at a time, and right now, Ino was taking priority. The girl was one breakdown away from disaster, Sakura has known her long enough to tell. "I'll drive you home, we can talk about it if you want."

Ino made a vague noise and pulled her sweater tighter around her body. As she and Sakura turned towards the door, she drew her head over her shoulder, inquiring: "Hinata? You coming?"

While Hinata was more than delighted at the request, a pregnant red-headed woman had set her eyes on her after exiting the elevator and was making several quick steps in her direction. Hinata tried to smile like everything was going to be okay, "I-I think I have to pass, unfortunately."

-:-

Hinata wasn't quite sure what to feel first. Perhaps it should be anger. Naruto had done much worse than her, and no one talked about sending him away. Perhaps it should be pity. His eyes were ringed red with sorrow. Perhaps it should be tenderness. His body looked frail and broken. Perhaps it should be compassion. She knew better than anyone how much pressure their parents put them under. But mostly, she just felt distracted.

Kushina ushered her into the room, and Hinata kept thinking about how close the Uchiha boy's face had been to hers. His hand beside her thigh, and the whoosh she had felt in her gut when their foreheads had almost collided. A little closer and...

"He's awake!" Kushina exclaimed. "Oh, you're so cute, Hina." She said about Hinata's pinkened cheeks. Yes, totally about Naruto and his newly awakened body. Totally.

Naruto stared at her from his hospital bed. She didn't want it to, but her heart panged heavily in her chest. Goddammit, after all this, she still loved him. She looked at him and wanted to run her fingers through his hair, wanted to wipe the tears from his cheeks, wanted to bring him the sun and stars for him and it wasn't fucking fair!

The silence stretched and stretched. Hinata wanted to think about other things. Sasuke's hand brushing her thigh. Sasuke's hand on her thigh. Sasuke-

"I'll just leave you two alone," Kushina chirped from the doorway. God. Hinata was doomed.

-:-

Neji was surprised when the two of them pulled up to a normal, if not disgusting, apartment complex. Tenten instructed the driver to park a block away with an ease and confidence Neji was surprised by.

"That bag of yours stays here," she said in a monotone, and Neji grunted in response. They had already gone over this.

When they stepped out of the car, they were two inky stains under the light of the sun. It was too bright for this type of work. What if someone saw him all the way out here? What if those cops-what if they were watching him somehow?

Teten seemed immune to Neji's growing concern. She had schooled her features so that her expression was a picture of complete calm. She crossed the street, leaving Neji to scurry after her like a lost child.

The lobby of the building was seedy and green. The windows were fogged over with dust and vague graffiti. When he stepped inside, he felt his shoes sink into blue carpet that smelled vaguely of mothballs and marijuana. There were three men sitting on a lone futon that sat against a wall covered in fliers. When Tenten and Neji crept in, they looked up from the card game they had been playing.

Neji swallowed hard. One of them sat their glass of brown liquor against a cardboard box acting as a coffee table. He didn't fail to notice the rifle leaning against the wall beside him. The room brightened; the sun had just peaked its head from under a cloud. Everything was crystal clear, and frankly, terrifying. Was that dried blood on the wall, or just a trick of the eye?

Tenten elbowed him hard in the ribs. She stepped forward, hands empty and outstretched. "Hey," she spoke calmly.

"Hello, little girl," the man with the drink said. "What brings you?"

"Excuse me?" Tenten had the nerve to sound angry. She crossed her arms as Neji started behind her, panicking slightly. Should she really be talking to a man with a rifle and whiskey on the breath like that?

The man scoffed, "I wasn't talkin' to you, sweetheart." He inclined his head towards Neji, who was all but shuffling behind Tenten.

Neji cleared his throat. Tenten did her best to not laugh. He said, "Uh..." Wow. Neji never stumbled in thought. "Danzo asked me to come."

"Danzo-sama," one of the men leered. Tenten jabbed him in the rib again.

"Right," Neji muttered. "Danzo-sama."

The men ignored him and consulted amongst themselves. They poured more libations and played a couple more rounds of Go Fish ("-No kings, Niko." "Fuck you, you fucking liar!") After a few minutes of low chatter, they started laughing loudly. "Oh!" They said robustly, "This is the little Hyuga bossman wants to talk to so badly. Doesn't look like much to me."

"Oh but his pockets are deep, ain't that right, sweetheart?" the one with the drink addressed Tenten.

She scoffed, "I wouldn't fucking know. This has nothing to do with me." And oh, how she wished that were true.

-:-

"Hinata," Naruto blurted suddenly. It was like he was trying to speak underwater. Big, comical tears started to leak from his face. "I am so sorry. I am so so so so sorry. I was angry and I was-"

"It's f-fine, Naruto," Hinata muttered, her mind drifting and coming back to her like the sea.

"It's not fine," he said. He swallowed hard. "It's not. I got you sent away and then I...and then I went and did the same thing you got sent away for. It's fucked up."

Hinata wanted to go hide in a corner. She just escaped rehab, and had not had a single moment of rest. She could use another xanax, at this point. She played with the little tassel that opened the blinds in his room. "Y-you're right. Y-you're a s-snitch."

Naruto winced. He looked away as a pained expression made its way across his sunshine face.

Hinata sighed. She said it to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him. She had never wanted to do that to someone before.

"I-I'm glad y-you're b-better," Hinata said, now she was looking at the door. It had a clipboard with his vital written on it in red ink. "B-but y-y-you-"

She was beginning to feel overwhelmed. She wanted to think of other things. Things that felt good. A spring breeze. A fountain. A garden. A hand brushing her thigh...what are you, Hinata?

"...you don't know what it's like!" She exclaimed, suddenly, and both of them jumped.

Naruto's eyes widened. He had never heard Hinata yell before, let alone speak without stuttering.

"You don't know," she started to wheeze. Her eyes felt heavy. His hospital bed became blurry "Y-you don't even know who I am, Naruto, and I have l-lo-...I have liked you for so long. W-when we were e-engaged I was so happy."

A sob broke in her throat. Oh no, not this. This was not what she meant to happen. "A-and I've just been invisible to you this whole time. To you, to my father, to everyone! I h-have never wished you h-harm and you just..." she hiccuped. She held her head in her hands. What are you, Hinata? She did not look at him, "Y-you disposed of me s-so easily. Like I was nothing. D-dirt under your shoe."

For a moment neither of them spoke. Neither of them dared to take a breath. Then, Hinata looked him in the eye for the first time. Naruto was shocked silent at the pain that lived there.

Hinata breathed finally. She said, "I am not nothing, anymore."

-:-

They were instructed to go to the top floor. When they reached the 12th floor, two guards were standing at the end of the hall, handguns tucked into their waistbands. Tenten did not even blink when they ran their hands down her sides, patted her back, and tugged at her waistline.

Neji followed her lead in silent awe. How did she know what to do? Why was it so effortless for her? When one of them slapped her ass as they opened the door for her entrance, she didn't not even frown. She kept an even face, a hell-raising fire in her gaze. It did not soften as she watched Neji step into the apartment after her.

Her jaw didn't even drop, but Neji's hit the floor as he took in his surroundings. Creamy, luxurious carpet. Some sofas covered in snakeskin leather, others in red satin. A waterfall in the middle of the room. And...and...he nudged Tenten in his desperate awe, "is...is that a tiger?"

"It doesn't like it when you stare," Tenten whispered hastily. Wait. She knew about the tiger? Surely she had never been here before. A guard shoved Neji in the back, and he and Tenten walked passed the caged-tiger that sat lazily in the corner. It watched them as it licked its paws.

They entered an office where a scantily-clad woman was licking cocaine off of a pocket knife. She was sitting shirtless on a tiger-skin rug. Neji swallowed hard again, wondering if the tiger knew its fate-and did he? When she saw him looking, she covered her breasts with her hands like she was teasing him. "Hi cutie, enjoying the show?" she laughed.

Tenten huffed a little beside him. The dark haired woman turned to look at her, a wide mocking smile working its way across her face, she opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a gruff voice.

"Leave us, Anko."

Across the room, at a large glass desk, empty of any material object save for a single cup of water, Danzo sat. He was a middle-aged man with a displeased expression. His face was heavily scarred. His left eye was the same, its pupil heavily clouded over. Blind in one eye.

"No fair," the woman named Anko protested. She stood up, throwing her hands on her hips, done pretending to be coy about her upper body nudity. Despite this, she had a mass of dark, spiky hair that fell across her chest so it was easier for Neji to look away. He was afraid he would turn red so he tried to find something else to hold his attention. Instead, his eyes focused on the red silk booty shorts she was wearing, and the loaded gun garter that sat boldly against her thigh. "C'mon, Danzo-sama," when she said it, it was like she was mocking him, but her voice was deep and sultry all the same. "I haven't seen my baby sister in two years, and now you kick me out?"

Neji frowned. Baby sister? When he looked over at Tenten, her lips were pressed together in a thin line. Her hands were fisted. Her left foot was bouncing the way it did right before she was preparing to launch her deadliest right hook. It was here where Neji noticed the similarities. They shared the same lean figure, the same tilt of lips, the same tense jawline.

Tenten did not meet his gaze. "It doesn't matter," she said to the woman, who was now playing with the knife. "I'm not here to see you."

"No, I guess you wouldn't be," Anko signed haughtily. She pocketed the knife in one swift gesture. "I've taught you all that you need, and look, you've caught yourself a big fish. A little young, if you ask me, but..."

Danzo sighed through his nose. "Enough, girl, enough," he shooed her out. "Exchange familial pleasantries on your own time. I've got business to do."

Anko left, but not before draping a matching red silk robe around her bare shoulders and rubbing a smooth hand across Neji's shoulder. She winked at him before scurrying out of the room.

He heard Tenten let out a breath he hadn't realized she was holding. She was becoming more and more complex right before his eyes. Something strange and new warmed in him. He called it pity.

"Danzo-sama," Tenten said, stepping forward. "I bring you Hyuga Neji. If this is all you request from me, I'd love to be on my way..."

Danzo laughed. "Oh dear girl," he looked between the two of them. "This is only just beginning."

This was so so fun!1 Someone commented that this looked like it would be SasuHina slow burn and omg, that was not my intention! There's so much happening. Hopefully u will forgive me

~till next time !