"How did you get in here?" Bewilderment only lasted a moment, the warmth of his body curling around her own was too welcome for such nebulous confusion. Sasuke's little shoulders shrugged, his tear smeared face pinched tight as he settled in her futon with her.

"I snuck."

Hinata pondered if snuck was a word, allowing his breath to tickle her bangs as he looked resolutely anywhere but her eyes.

"The patrols might catch you." she whispered, thinking of what a mayhem mess that would create. Not only for the Hyuuga guards, bested by a little boy not yet in proper training, but between their families, so long at odds.

Sasuke frowned, as if this had not occurred to him before. "Not if I am careful."

Settled in Hinata's futon together the children gazed back and forth, Sasuke forced to look back when Hinata's eyes bore too long into his.

"You were crying." Softly, she lifted a hand to push away the last of the wetness on his cheek. "Did your Papa get angry again?"

"He's not angry, really." Sasuke whispered back, because it was impossible not to answer her when her attention was so focused, her expression so tender.

"No?" Hinata wondered if like her own father he was simply icy in his countenance.

"He is disappointed." This new big word was one Sasuke had learned that day. It had been described in detail to his Mother, by his father while he did the thing he had been told not to do and eavesdropped.

Hinata knew this word, had known it all her life. The edges of her mouth turned down until her eyes filled with tears of her own.

"Oh, Sasuke."

It was all she needed to say, for him to know she understood.

She did not wake from the dream with a gasp in her throat or the lurch of panic that nightmares bring. Instead she lay quiet on a futon much larger in size than those of her childhood, cuddled by the endless sea of white sheets and comforters that she favoured.

Above her the rafters glinted gold with the dawn light, hinting at the coming morning so quick to leech away the night. There were things to do, if she wanted to be ready on time. Still, Hinata remained where she was remembering the dream.

It had all the sharp focus of a memory. She could almost smell the slightly smoky sweet of the little boy's scent in her nose, the salty tang of his tears.

Pressing a hand to her face Hinata breathed in, breathed out and sighed. Of all the things she needed, thinking about Sasuke Uchiha was not one of them.

Resolutely, she got up and made a decision to put him from her mind.

Outside the chill of late winter still lingered, hinting at the bite of it's comeback in the next year. At the same time spring beckoned, with buds already glowing green in the morning dew as she walked past the windows towards the dining room. Soon the roses would begin to bloom, turning the gnarled twisted browns on the trellis into thick green leaf and bouquets of perfumed flowers.

Through the halls servants nodded their respect, their smiles tentative. Hinata forced her lips to turn up, despite the weight that seemed to force them down as eyes turned away.

Some eyes, however didn't spare her such reprieve.

"You look glum." Hanabi commented as her elder sister stepped into the dining room where she and father sat. "Bad sleep?"

"No." Hinata lied, wondering how believable it was before throwing in the towel. "Maybe a little."

"Perhaps a break is due." Hiashi murmured, looking up from the letters which he had been inspecting over his morning tea. "You have been working quite hard lately."

Settling across from her sister's voracious attention the elder Hyuuga daughter maintained her face perfectly calm. "There is work to be done, and anyway… It assists me in maintaining my skill set." She nodded her thanks as tea was offered to her. "I would not want to become lax in my training."

"Of course not." Hiashi nodded, watching as his eldest sipped at her tea. "No one would accuse you of that, Daughter. We see you."

There was much hidden in the last sentence, the heaviness of the implication forcing Hinata to study the swirling greens in her tea in order to avoid her family's focused attention on her.

"Is there news? You mentioned Suna had been in contact of late." She mused, glancing up in time to catch her sister and father exchanging subtle looks before Hiashi nodded. "The Lord Kazekage has need for more hands. Between the rebels in the desert and the weather that poor man has his work cut out for him."

"No rest for the weary," Hanabi mused, sounding not at all dejected. Hinata ignored the splinter of distaste at her sister's lack of sympathy.

"The weather, Father?"

"There was drought, through the winter." Hiashi passed her the letter, letting his eyes focus on the garden beyond the engawa's lip where soon the green would be overtaken by the vibrant colors chosen so long ago by his wife. "Now it appears as spring comes so do floods. It is no wonder that your team has made a point of staying on to help."

Hinata's gaze stilled on the letter in her hand, the pause brief but duly noted by both her companions.

"How are Shino and Kiba?" Hanabi dared, despite her Father's warning glance. "I miss them."

"Fine." Hinata's reply left no room for more questions. "Father… " she looked up at him questioningly. "This says an envoy is coming? Here?"

"Yes." Hiashi sighed. "We are to discuss terms. They need more than just shinobi, of which the village will provide them plenty. They need workers. Those agreements will be settled between our clan and Suna Village."

"It's a pity the fighting is not closer." Hanabi sighed when Hinata looked back down at the letter, worry nagging at her mind for the dangers which now plagued her friends in Suna. "I wouldn't mind having a hand in cutting down defectors."

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the ever arching feeling that weighed so heavy on her bones, but before Hinata knew it her hands had folded up the letter and handed it back to her Father as she stood.

"Leaving already?" Hiashi blinked up at her. "You haven't even eaten."

"I will get something from the kitchens on the way out." Hinata smiled wanly. "My appetite is not yet woken this morning."

"Oh please." Hanabi sighed. "You're not offended by what I just said, are you? They're defectors, and traitors. Even you would rid the world of them without blinking, surely."

Hinata looked at her sister long, studying the beautiful braided knot on her head and the jingling pearls that decorated it before sighing back. "Just be wary what you wish for, Hanabi. Everyone has a reason why they do the things they do, including traitors."

"Yes." Hanabi frowned, annoyed by the gentle reprimand. "Their reason is they were cowards."

"Enough." Hiashi snapped, shooting a glare at his youngest that made her color pink. "Hanabi-"

"It's all right, Father." Hinata soothed, stepping out the door. "She doesn't yet know."

As the door slid closed Hanabi let out a breath through her lips in a huff, taking full offense. "What don't I know?"

Her father closed his eyes, wondering if he had the time to explain the many wisdoms learned through life with the few years he had before he died.

The morning unfurled like a lazy adolescent, taking its time as the sun rose and began to warm the chilliness of the night away. Through the slap of cold Hinata followed the engawa's smooth wood path around the house towards the back of the compound. The gardens gave way to the smooth grass and eventual sweep of earth that was the Hyuuga training ground outside their dojo.

Even from a distance the tempo of the forms called out by instructors could be heard, the hissing breath of each of the Hyuuga trainees lifting like a breeze rustling through the trees. From a distance Hinata could make out the lines of students from youngest to oldest, their arms in fluid motion as their feet shifted their weight from one position to another with the instructor's melodic call.

"Stance one, two, three, four- lift your arm, Kiri. Higher. Yes. Stance five, six…" Neji's voice followed the tap, tap, tap of his cane on the tile which he stood upon, his face pinched at the sight of a young one struggling to maintain balance before finding it again. "S...seven." he sighed, glancing back to find Hinata smiling shrewdly at him.

"Eight," Hinata breathed as he called the instruction out again, standing beside him to watch the students dance through the motions of what would one day become the Hyuuga's deadly gentle fist.

"Nine, ten. Some of you forgot to wake up before coming to class. Off you go, take a lap around the compound and come back with your training brain on please." Neji waved at them, the sternness in his face thinly veiling his amusement. "Shoo."

Sighing to keep their groans from escaping the students bowed and took off at a trot, their amiable chatter bouncing from one to the other as they left, giggles and laughter beginning as races were set and challenges sought. Hinata watched them go, her pale eyes contemplating how laughter now mingled with their determination and discipline. What a different life they led than her own.

"Difficult morning?" Turning with a smile to her cousin she watched him lean on the cane, eyeing her with a rueful smirk.

"For them. Especially if they don't wake up soon, that last round was sloppy." Neji said.

"Mm." Hinata hummed, folding her arms carefully behind her back. "How about you? How are you feeling?"

Neji shrugged then, his smile wavering between amused and irritated. "Same as always. I keep telling you it's fine." He tapped his left leg with his cane idly, feeling none of the contact. "I could be dead in the ground instead of here. This is hardly a burden by comparison."

It had taken time to get to that place, Hinata knew. Years of silence and grief. The wounds sustained during the war had nearly ended him, and the thanksgiving was too sharp and poignant for Neji or anyone who loved him to really acknowledge what the loss of feeling in his limb would mean.

In the end the damage had been beyond repair, even by Tsunade's unstoppable chakra, or the Byakugan's careful eyes. Sakura had done all she could, in the field of battle and preserved his life, even if not every part of him worked as it should.

Still, a day didn't go by that Hinata didn't resent herself for the choice she had made on that day, or rather what it had cost to achieve it.

"I just worry. You haven't come to have it checked at the hospital of late. I have noticed it in the records." Hinata pointed out, following as he began the slow and painful walk back to the dojo's doors where inside the more advanced students sparred in handfuls. The familiar tang of sweat and the harmonizing echoes of their exertion followed them as Neji led her along the training floor's edge, the cane tapping with each step he took on the left.

It was strange even now to see him with the cane, moving with the slouching shifting gait of an unfamiliar man. But if there was one thing Hinata appreciated, it was the staccato song his cane made and how it cheered her. Canes had never been a source of smiles before. This change was welcome.

"You have been snooping in my medical files? I thought that was prohibited, even for someone like you." He chidded, though not unkindly.

Hinata colored briefly, though her mouth remained resolute. "You left me no choice, every time I offered to do an evaluation you told me you had recently-"

"Tenten has been doing them." Neji admitted finally, half a laugh tingeing his words so that Hinata choked on the last of her sentence. He glanced back over his shoulder as he passed into his office to catch the wide eyed expression on her face.

"Oh." His cousin offered, and then more deeply. "Ohhhh."

"Don't you Oh me." Neji defended sharply, face coloring to match her own pink hue. "It's nothing."

"Right." Hinata nodded, lips quivering as she bit back a smile. "Of course."

"Do you know something?" Her cousin began, pointing at her with his cane where he had settled carefully onto the cushions on the wooden floor. "You smirk, which in case you hadn't noticed, Hyuugas are not meant to do. Smirking is for the likes of… Uchihas, for instance."

This wiped any smile or smirk alike from Hinata's face. The memory of a dream snapping into focus in her mind with enough force to make her turn away, glancing at the sparring students at her back to hide her gaze.

"Uchihas?" She breathed, listening as Neji accepted the tray of tea from a servant at her back.

"You've never seen Sasuke Uchiha amused?" Neji continued, happy to drag the irritating Uchiha through the mud if he could. "It dampens my day."

"I didn't think you had cause to see him much, let alone amused." Hinata admitted, while in her mind the flash of a little boy's dark eyes crinkling into a full blown smile ripped like a shooting star through her thoughts.

"It's an unfortunate thing that I have to attend meetings with him on occasion at the Hokage Tower." Neji explained, frowning slightly as he caught the blank expression on her face as she studied the students through his doorway.

"Hime?" More softly still he whispered, "What is wrong?"

Turning to him Hinata forced a smile on her face, sitting across from the steaming tea and the laquered table that took up most of what he liked to call his office though Hinata knew to be more of his bedroom. There was a futon he had tucked into one of the closets behind a sliding door, and when he wasn't working on training schedules or meal plans for his students he was there, writing out their reports. If he had a bedroom in the Hyuuga Main House she wasn't sure where it was.

"We got a letter detailing some requests from the Kazekage." She folded her hands on her lap as Neji poured the tea, watching the tendrils of steam rise elegantly through the still chilled morning air. This topic was easier to discuss than the writhing feeling of disquiet that always plagued her. It was that which Neji sensed, like a hound on a scent and which she was unwilling to let him capture. This she could talk about. The other feeling… thinking about it alone was painful. "It appears things are getting difficult, despite the coming of spring. After a winter drought they are facing spring floods, and the rebels remain elusive."

"Even with Kiba and Shino's tracking to help?" Neji allowed himself to look surprised. "I wondered that they stayed on so long. It's been nearly six months, has it not?"

Hinata adjusted her yukata sleeve minutely before taking the warm tea in her hands, blowing on its smooth surface to watch the ripples before answering. "Yes. I'm thinking Father is considering sending me."

Neji let the tea scald his tongue before replying with the obvious. "But you do not want to go."

"No." There were many different layers to that one word answer, delivered with a soft whisper past her pursed lips.

Neji pursed his own lips in return. "I had heard… a rumor regarding Kiba...is that why-?"

"I have my own missions here." Hinata interrupted, gently as she could so that the words which she knew were coming would not be spoken. "There is a whole stack on my roster, I intend to finish them before the year's end if possible."

Neji paused like examining an exploding tag he had not noticed before getting too close, eyes shifting over her face as she gazed out again at the training floor instead of him.

"You have been working quite hard, according to your Father." He hedged. "Perhaps… too hard?"

Hinata's smile was both gentle and exasperated. "Father thinks I work too hard even in my sleep."

"He is concerned for you. This should be a welcome change from time's past." Neji's scolding was as elegant as the arch of his brow. "But regardless, I would have thought that getting out of Konoha for a time might suit you." He waited to see her turn, waited to see anything on her face change but she remained still before him, eyes focused on the training. Finally daring to diffuse the exploding tag he said, " Especially given that it appears the Hokage and his wife are pregnant."

This finally had Hinata looking back at him, her pale eyes a looming pair of moons swimming in the emotions her mouth refused to convey. Slowly hanging her head to hide behind her bangs she sighed, shoulders drooping.

"I am happy for them, Neji-nii. I really am."

Neji didn't have to say it out loud, although the thought rolling through his head might as well have been spoken.

You just aren't happy for yourself.

"Sasu."

"Hina-chan. Stop it."

"Sasu."

"Stop it, I said."

"Saaaaasu."

Laughter, echoing through the halls of the house as he rushed on short legs down the stairs, jumping the last three with a cry.

"You're all sticky!" His voice shrill and high and young as it had not been young in many years. The innocence and joy too fleeting in his memory, but too sharp to forget altogether. Like a slice of blazing sun to the eye he remembered Hinata's honey covered fingers aiming to tickle, and the taste of it as he turned the tables and licked her cheek to stun her into stopping.

He woke with the taste of the honey still in his mouth, overly sweet and organic. It lingered, as he dragged his sore body from his bed to the sink, and hung on even as he splashed cold water on his face to rid himself of the sleep that clung so firmly to his senses.

In his ears the laughter still rang, the little girl's squealing giggles punctuated by his own young voice.

"Got you!"

Sasuke studied himself in the mirror, analyzing the darkness of his gaze, the paleness of his skin and the downward turn of his mouth before shaking his head.

That was another life.

The coffee hardly did anything to sweeten his mood, although stepping out into the biting sharpness of a very early spring morning helped at least to make him feel less like his brain was strung out with cobwebs.

In the face of the sun's light rising and the greens and blues of the earth and sky battling it out on the horizon he could at least put aside the strange memory that still lingered too sweetly in his mind.

There were other things to think about. The path to the village centre always had a way of making him remember there were things he had left undone. Once upon a time there had been homes in long stretches on either side of the road he now walked empty. Only the blackberries curling in menacing tangles on either side could be counted as neighbours. Beyond them the woods had overtaken the Uchiha's ancestral land. Bracken and grass rose up and trees had sprouted and stretched so that even the basic outline of the old Uchiha houses was gone, hidden by the vegetation and the passage of time.

It suited him, living far from the village proper. There were too many stories of ghosts and murder for anyone to want to come out to the outskirts where he resided and if the ghosts and murder wasn't enough deterrent he himself posed enough of a challenge.

Dark eyed and silent he moved through the village streets like a shadow, aware of the careful bubble of space that all residents afforded him unless they knew him personally from time's past. It had become a subtle nuisance but one he could handle easily enough, having eyes on him at all times.

What grated more were the glares, or from those that found him particularly offensive the insults. Even if he found they were deserved.

"Yo." Naruto called as Sasuke stepped through the door of the Hokage's office, facedown on the desk surface with Shikamaru, arms crossed and smoking like a chimney at his back.

"Good morning." Shikamaru offered past his cigarette. "Or it would be, if this idiot-"

"I am not an idiot every time we disagree, Shikamaru." Naruto grumbled, lifting his tired face up from the desk to glare at Sasuke who looked painfully blank faced and innocent. "Or when you and I disagree either, you bastard."

"I didn't say anything." Sasuke defended, sitting on the chair across from the desk with an air of dignity. Turning to Shikamaru he added, "What is he being an idiot about?"

Throwing his hands up Naruto turned to the window at his back, gazing out on the waking village with a sigh.

"Suna. We just got word that things are getting rough again. Which, I had mentioned to the Hokage before, but he has yet to make up his mind on what to do. I feel it's rather obvious." Shikamaru continued. "They need more hands and feet on the ground. The Hyuuga have plenty extra. Why not send Hinata out there with a large enough envoy? She can even settle whatever part of her family moves there. She might even have a chance to see Kiba and Shino. And of all the people we could send I say she's the one Gaara would be most pleased with besides you or I, Naruto."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders in reply, uncharacteristically silent enough to make Sasuke pause. It felt strange, hearing Hinata's name mentioned when the dream that had woken him so sharply still lingered at the edges of his mind.

"Why… is this a problem?" Sasuke hedged carefully, rummaging through the files that Shikamaru offered him regarding the Suna requests.

"Because Kiba." Naruto muttered, burying his face into the folded nest of his arms so his words came out muffled. "Because Kiba- who, by the way, is the real idiot-"

Sighing, Shikamaru let his head hang in defeat. "I knew that was why you were hesitating. You can't do this. Hinata is fully capable of-" Shikamaru stopped, as though considering his own thoughts at the look Naruto threw at him over his shoulder.

Conceding a point Shikamaru sighed. "I'm going for coffee. I need to think this through." Nodding at Sasuke as he passed he left the office strangely quiet, the click of the door closing harmonizing with the chirping cries of birds waking on the other side of the Hokage office window.

Still studying the files in his hands Sasuke considered the problems plaguing Suna, a land he had spent time in only briefly while on travels he rather tried to forget, relegated to his memory as penance for things he was unsure he could be forgiven for.

"Sakura told me today the baby keeps her awake." Naruto's voice came out rougher than Sasuke expected, looking up to find him gazing out into the brightening day over Konoha with arms crossed. "She can feel the chakra that doesn't belong to her, and she can't help but over analyze it as she tries to sleep. She's just showing now and yet…."

Sasuke did not respond, noting with the instinctive feel of an animal the quietness in his friend that signalled deep things shifting in his mind.

"I hesitated to announce the pregnancy, you know."

This was a surprise. Naruto's joy regarding his coming offspring had been hard to ignore, despite his best intentions. He bubbled over with happiness, throwing an arm over Sasuke's shoulder that jostled any sense of seriousness from his friend's face as he firmly called him Uncle.

Uncle Sasuke.

Sasuke had tried to smile, aware only that a pit of despair with no right to exist inside him had opened up at the announcement. What he was despairing at he did not know.

Stop it, Hina!

Or perhaps he rather didn't want to know.

"She's working like she doesn't sleep." Naruto continued, bothered little by Sasuke's silence. "She works mission after mission, bidding on all new posted assignments. Sakura sees her at work almost as much for appointments as she does for shifts."

This at least caused Sasuke to frown. "What do you mean?"

"Hinata lets herself be torn up. She's up to par with the requirements of all her missions, I know she is…" Naruto breathed in through the nose and sighed. "But she comes back bloody, pale, bruised… "

This was an unnatural image in Sasuke's mind. Blood, dirt, sweat all these things were so unlike the Hyuuga Clan. He tried to erase the frown from his face but could not and after a moment Naruto glanced at him.

"It's been so long since I turned her down, Sasuke. I thought she would move past it, but lately I'm worried she's-"

"You think the reason she's letting herself come back shredded is you?" Sasuke caught the edge of irritation in his voice too late, but considering how often he was irritated with Naruto he figured it would hardly matter and to his relief it didn't.

"She began this right after we announced the pregnancy, I'm just saying-"

"Don't give yourself airs." Sasuke grumbled, tossing the records in his hands onto the desk between them so he could comfortably cross his arms. "Shinobi return bloody and bruised all the time."

"Not Hinata." Naruto snapped. "You don't know her."

This forced Sasuke to pause, swallowing a knot in his throat.

"Shikamaru wants me to send her to Suna."

The knot was not getting easier to swallow. "So I heard. His reasons seem sound. What else is in Suna?"

"A lot of need, for one. Need she could fill- also Gaara. Not that she knows he's interested. I hardly know if Gaara himself knows he likes her."

The conversation was not becoming any more pleasant. In fact, Sasuke considered getting up to leave when Naruto said.

"She won't go though, I know she won't. Kiba- the moron- asked her to marry him awhile ago and-"

A short bark of a laugh escaped Sasuke then.

"Don't laugh. He was worried about her. We all were- are- we all are. Except for you, apparently." Naruto leaned an elbow on his desk, rubbing thoughtfully at the stubble on his chin. "You've barely even spoken to her."

All amusement was suddenly gone from Sasuke's body. Instead his placid calm face examined his Hokage without emotion before raising his chin slightly at the scrutiny. "I have no reason to speak with Hinata Hyuuga."

This was true, he told himself. Then he also tried to convince himself that it had always been true. Memory of a dark wood where his fingers curled around an origami crane fluttered through his mind, peevish with it's determination to thwart his denial.

"I know." Naruto nodded to his relief, chewing on his cheek as he thought. "Which might make you perfect."

Just as he said this the door opened behind them, with Shikamaru's cigarette smell heralding his return. "I have an idea!"

"Me too!" Naruto began excitedly, sitting up.

Ignoring him Shikamaru walked back around the desk, carefully monitoring his coffee as he went. "What about sending Hanabi? She's been biting at the bit to get some work done and we could present it as a chance for her to test her skills as a diplomatic Hyuuga leader in Suna to their father."

"Sure, whatever-" Naruto waved that away. "I was thinking about Hinata."

"The reason I was thinking Hanabi though," Shikamaru continued, as though Naruto had not spoken. "Was because we know Hinata wouldn't go anyway and she has all those missions you're scared she's going to get herself killed on right? So why not send-"

"Sasuke with her." Naruto jumped up. "I thought of it! I thought it first!"

Shikamaru's raised brows and surprised eyes drifted between Sasuke and Naruto for a moment before he breathed out a long puff of smoke. "I was thinking I could go with her but I suppose-"

"Sasuke is a much better option." Naruto interrupted. "She can't say no to him, she's too polite."

"True, true…"

"And to anyone else she knows she would assume it's because we're babying her, but this way-"

"No."

Shikamaru and Naruto turned then in surprise at Sasuke who stood, smoothing out his shirt idly. "I am not doing it."

"What?" Naruto balked, watching as he began to walk towards the door. "Why not?"

"If she's a capable shinobi this would be an insult, and I haven't had to do a regular on record mission in-" Sasuke shrugged at the door with his hand on the doorknob. "Too long. It's too obvious. Besides, I don't want to."

Naruto let himself glance at Shikamaru briefly, catching the same guarded slightly irritated look on his face as he felt himself.

"We are wanting to make sure that one of our top intel gathering shinobi is in a fit state to do their duties and you as the Hokage's right hand-"

"Ahem." Shikamaru frowned at Naruto sharply.

"-left hand- whatever, appendage, is being given the mission of finding this out. Are you turning down a mission from your Hokage?" Naruto continued, hands on hips for good measure.

Sasuke stared at them both for a moment, jaw tight. "If that's how you want to view it."

"Thanks for coming in on such short notice, Hinata." Naruto smiled as Hinata entered the office. Outside the day had turned to glorious sunshine. It was too bright for her eyes with the windows all along his back and yet she had to admit the effect was well done.

With eyes as blue as the sky behind him Naruto looked like something elemental trapped inside a body. She wondered if the idea to place his desk where it was had been Shikamaru's or Sakura's.

"It was no trouble," She lied thinking of the appointments at the hospital she had had to reschedule and the packing she had been hoping to do prior to her hospital shift now getting pushed into her evening training hour.

"I just wanted to chat quickly. Why don't you have a seat?" Naruto motioned to one of the two chairs in front of his desk.

Hinata didn't move, forcing instead her fingers to remain loose and relaxed even within the flowing sleeves of her gray yukata. "Chat?" She blinked a moment. "About?"

"You have a mission deployment tonight, is that correct?" Naruto replied, rummaging for files among the disordered piles on his desk until he found what he was looking for.

A bird shot through the square of sky caught in the window at Naruto's back and Hinata let her eyes flicker there for a moment wondering briefly why she felt so trapped.

"Yes."

"Excellent, we caught you just in time then."

The idea of being caught did not escape Hinata's notice. At Naruto's back Shikamaru looked out the window, the smoke rising from his cigarette tainting the air in a sour ashy haze. Somewhere behind her a shadow lingered she preferred to ignore. It didn't escape her notice however that the dark Uchiha eyes there lingered on her spine. "I suppose. Is..is everything all right?"

"Oh yes." Naruto waved away her question and motioned once more to the chairs in front of his desk. "Come now, sit."

Reluctantly Hinata lowered herself into a chair, folding her hands in her lap to keep from moving.

"Excellent." Naruto pretended not to catch the silent tone in the room. "Hinata we're just wanting to have a meeting because after re-evaluating the missions on your roster we feel it would be best to find you a partner."

"I have done fine without a partner through the last dozen missions if not more." Hinata replied gently, letting her gaze go from Shikamaru to Naruto and back. Sasuke she ignored where he stood a little at behind her, aware despite all attempts of his every breath. "Or...or did I make a mistake I was not aware of?"

"No," Shikamaru shook his head. "Except for perhaps we are concerned with your medical records." He flipped through a file. "It says here you have had to go in for major rehabilitation work for ten out of twelve missions in the last six months?"

"Yes." Hinata murmured gently, face turning a faint shade of pink. "I suppose that must look like some form of incompetence."

Shikamaru and Naruto both blanched. "No!"

"That's not it!"

"Hinata, we're just trying to-"

"Your Father has begun talks of marriage for your sister." Sasuke's voice cut in from the back suddenly, and although the two men turned to look at him Hinata remained stock still in her chair, eyes ever focused on her fingers. "But someone must go to Suna from your Clan and if you refuse then she must. There are only two Hyuuga heirs. With neither safe at home some sort of assurance must be made that at least one of you returns."

Shikamaru tapped his cigarette free of ash with a nod, erasing the wide eyed expression from his face smoothly. "Exactly."

"Yeah." Naruto cleared his throat. "That. Unless you'd rather go to Suna, of course."

It was minute, but Hinata was unable to keep her shoulders from tensing. "No, Hanabi would be… much better suited, I believe."

"Excellent. Then I suppose you and Sasuke are good to go then tonight."

It was only then that Hinata realized why she had felt caged all along. She had walked right into a trap.

Hi guys, it's been awhile!

Thank you for all your lovely messages and reviews. It has been so encouraging to see. I have been battling some mental health issues and burn out due to the general state of the world and also the taxing job I do. But I think now that the sun is coming back to the great white north I may be on the upswing.

I think I thought that I could wrap up this fic in a chapter or two. I wrote many of them. Versions where I fought through plot points in short paragraphs but I felt like this was less fun than what I wanted to do, which was to let the story tell itself.

I do this for fun, I have to remind myself that sometimes when I'm stressing about it and really taking criticism to heart. I enjoy writing when the story flows fast and inhibited. Switcharoo has been that only when I stop thinking about what I am doing and let it guide itself.

The truth is I want to find out what is going on just as much as you guys. i like finding out slow . and since this is for fun I am going to essentially write a whole other fic to answer the questions left at the end of the last chapter.

This is not what I would do if this was a book I meant to publish , but that's not what this is. This is a fanfic and Im doing what I want because its fun.

I hope you guys have fun with it too.

Much much love,

Inky

ps. I will likely be switching to AO3 in the coming months. Reposting everything and reconfiguring it for the other website takes time so I have a feeling I may end up writing this on there. I will give warning when I switch permanently but know that this is coming. You can find me under the user name Ink_Child on there or Inky Child on tumblr.