The Next Morning
Morning came much faster than Sasuke would have liked. There was a soft pitter patter of rain on his old bedroom window and the beautiful song of a bird who was clearly perched on the roof. After letting out a yawn and rubbing his eyes of any remaining sleep he remembered that he had spent the night with a certain Hyuga Heiress. Looking down he found Hinata peacefully asleep on his chest 'she is so beautiful..' he ran his fingers through her midnight hair wishing he could stay here in this moment forever; no animosity, no war, no rivals.. just peace and happiness. This is all he wants now but the voice in his head is screaming that The Leaf Village Elders do not deserve to be alive right now. Flashes of his horrifying conversation with Madara fly through his mind. Flashes of Itachi and of course the night of the Uchiha Massacre that constantly plagues him swirling and drowning him in his thoughts.Trying to push this out of his head he brought Hinata up closer to him and pulled her into a hug, gripping her tight inevitably waking her up. "Sasuke..?" a sleepy voice came through "sorry Hinata I didn't mean to wake you" Hinata pulls back a second to look at Sasuke, lavender eyes roam the Uchiha's facial expression, eyes shut tightly closed and slightly elevated and shallow breathing coming from the avengers lips "Did you have a nightmare? Are you okay?" Sasuke buries his head into the crook of her neck and a muffled "I'm okay" came out. Hinata clearly knowing this isn't the case "do you want to talk about it, or do you just want me to hold you?" Silence came over the couple for a moment and then came a small "please.." Hinata wrapped her arms around the Avengers broad shoulders and pulled him closer to her, they lay this way for a while both losing track of time. Hinata would never leave when she can so very clearly see the mental distress Sasuke is in "you're not alone, I got you, it's okay."
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Hiashi walks out into the courtyard to see Hanabi training alone "where is your sister? Where is Hinata?" Hinabi doesn't stop training and huffs out "don't know, don't think she came home last night" Hiashi visibly looks mad now. How dare the Heiress of this clan just disappear? How is this going to look to his subordinates if he can't keep track or control over his own daughter? "Go find her now!" The youngest Hyuga grunts "fine" and takes off gliding on the roof tops of the compound.
It has been twenty minutes of running all over the village looking for her useless sister "this is so stupid I should be training!" while looking Hanabi sees a familiar blonde-haired idiot that she knows her sister has a crush on "Naruto!" landing abruptly in front of him, "oh hey Hanabi!" Naruto says with his signature smile. "Have you seen Hinata?" now worry takes over Naruto's blue eyes "no? is she on a mission?" the youngest Hyuga rolls her eyes "no she went for a walk last night and never ended up coming home, father is making me look for her even though she is probably fine." Naruto shifts uncomfortably "let me help! I'll find her for sure!" without waiting for a response he busts out his shadow clone jutsu; ten more Naruto's appear and scatter along with the original. Hanabi smirked and went her own way also. "father is going to punish her.." Hanabi grimaced at the thought.
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Afternoon sun rays are now coming through the Uchiha home and Hinata and Sasuke had found their way to the kitchen having some old tea that they had found. "isn't you father going to wonder where you've been?" Sasuke asks while blowing on his hot green tea. Hinata placed her tea down on the table and averted her eyes to the open window where she could see a beautiful cherry blossom tree in the backyard blowing peacefully after the morning rain "Maybe… when I left last night father barley looked my way. He's extremely focused on my younger sisters training" Sasuke studied Hinata as she was very obviously avoiding looking at him, her pale eyes full of sadness and slight fear? Her pale pink lips stuck in a straight line. "I sympathize" Hinata looked back at Sasuke questions filling her pale eyes. "When my family was still alive my father was heavily focused on Itachi and his future. Anytime I asked to train with my dad it always came back to Itachi and I was ignored." He had no idea why he was sharing this with Hinata, did he want to help her feel better because she had done so for him? "really? That's awful…" Sasuke grunted and shrugged his shoulders. A peaceful silence came over the two as they drank their tea together. Hinata thought to herself "I want to stay in this moment forever.. how is it that Sasuke makes me feel this calm? Safe?" A summer breeze came through the open window and Hinata smiled to herself and closed her eyes to fully enjoy the moment. Sasuke's heart stopped, and his stomach erupted in butterflies as he watched the breeze flow through Hinata's indigo locks, he couldn't help but smile along with the beautiful woman in front of him. Maybe revenge wasn't worth it, maybe he should just listen and learn from Itachi and not continue this never-ending cycle of violence.
After cleaning up their cups and kettle the duo agreed it was probably time for Hinata to get back to the Hyuga compound. "What about you Sasuke? Will you stay or, are you heading out?" Hinata's worried gaze met Sasuke's seemingly cold onyx eyes "I will be heading out again. I will find you though the next time I come back" Hinata nodded her head and went to slide open the front door of the abandoned Uchiha home "wait" Sasuke placed his hand over Hinata's "thank you" Hinata smiled and laced her fingers through his "it's really no problem" Sasuke pulled her into his cloak for a hug, he bent down and whispered in her ear "you are a strong and beautiful kunoichi, don't let your father tell you otherwise" a blush spread across Hinata's porcelain cheeks as she pulled back a bit to meet Sasuke's gaze, their faces were so close she could feel his breath on her face. "Thank you Sasuke" she breathed out. Sasuke brough his hand up to tuck a loose strand of Hinata's hair behind her ear, he then cupped her face and placed a light kiss on her pink lips, just like last time. When Hinata opened her eyes, he was gone.
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Hinata took her time walking home, she wanted to replay the last twelves hours in her mind on repeat. Butterflies fluttering their way through her stomach and a small smile stuck on her face. She hasn't felt this way in awhile now, her seemingly strong feelings for Naruto had fizzled since the first night with the Uchiha avenger. She didn't know what it was about Sasuke but, she never wanted this feeling to end. Bringing her out of her daydream was a familiar voice yelling "HEY HINATA!" The heiress looked up and saw Naruto with his bright blue eyes and goofy smile waving profusely at her, he started jogging up to Hinata. This was the first time she was able to look at him without becoming a blushing mess. "Hey Naruto" she smiled "what are you doing out here?" Naruto looked puzzled for a minute and said "well looking for you.. I ran into Hanabi who was looking for you. I guess your dad made her go looking for you." Fear immediately filled Hinata from head to toe "oh no…" Naruto noticed "hey are you okay?" he placed a hand on her arm. Hinata brushed this off and started running towards the compound "sorry Naruto! I have to go!" Naruto looked down at his hand and then he looked up watching Hinata run towards her home "that was weird.."
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AN: I hope you've all been well and safe during this dumpster fire that is 2021. Please wash your hands and mask up. We must take care of each other during these trying times. I was inspired to write; my husband is currently out of town for work so here we are. I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Tamara