My One In a Million
Chapter Two:
Rain was falling in thick sheets when they finally came up to Konoha's gates. Naruto was soaked to the bone, Sakura was wringing her coat under the protection of a tree and Sasuke was the only one with the sense to draw the coat over his head and so was generally dry. "First mission since coming back, eh?" The blond grinned, liquid running down the bridge of his nose and hair. "How's it feel?"
"Wet." He replied simply, tugging at the hood to cover the damp ends of his fringe.
Naruto laughed and waved to the guards who were pushing the heavy gates open. "Old hag will be glad when she finds out you've come back! She was totally against taking you with us to the Cloud Country; she thought you'd run away again."
Sasuke easily stepped on the surface of a large puddle as he kept in step; his sandals dry. "Believe me, when I want to leave, I'd be gone so fast you wouldn't even know where to start looking."
The other boy grumbled with narrowed eyes. "Don't say it like that, it'll bring bad luck. And the guys can hear you; they'll tell old hag." The guards jumped and said no, but Naruto gave them a funny frown anyway. "See, they totally will."
"Whatever." They ducked under the front of a closed shop and Sasuke pulled his hood down. "Sakura really messed up, be sure to mention that to Tsunade."
"She didn't mean to!" He defended. "You make her nervous! She says you glare a lot."
"This is the face I was born with." He shifted the luggage over his shoulder and shook drops of water out of his hair. "She's incompetent and slow, I don't want to be on the same team as her again, alright?" The woman with the pink hair had been approaching them, but heard this and pretended to have been aiming towards the main road.
"Aw, look, she heard you! Stop being such a bully!" Naruto said with a punch to the shoulder, and launched himself after the girl. "Sakura chaaaan-"
He watched them disappear beyond a corner and directed his attention to a four-man group of hooded figures; they exited the gate's checkpoint and passed in front of him on their way out. A giant dog tagged along which indicated an Inozuka family member was with his team on a mission. A girl with an umbrella followed the overgrown dog and spoke to it softly. One of the hooded figures stopped right there in the middle of the square, turned to him and stared through impenetrable dark shades. The girl hiding under her gray umbrella spoke to him, too soft to pick up through the rain, the boy was obviously of the Aburame clan; he went on his way after a short pause and joined his team outside. Whoever he was, he was probably a close friend, the body language said it all.
The girl made her way to him and he had half the mind to turn away and go home; he was tired and dirty, but decided it would be good entertainment to watch whoever she was make a fool of herself.
Once under the protection of the shop front, she put away her umbrella to reveal herself as Hyuuga Hinata. "Good afternoon." She watched the guards push the gates shut after the exiting team. "You worked hard."
"Not really." He quipped and pretended to be interested in the gates.
Her shoulders squared. "I- It's just a phrase…" there was a stretch of uncomfortable silence before she finally spoke again. "Well, I'm going home."
"That's none of my concern." He said and pulled the hood on, picked up his heavy bag and stepped into the rain.
He did not care for her as a person, not her, not anybody other than Uzumaki.
Sure, he'd spent his free time during the mission trying to remember her. Eventually, it was fruitless as he could barely recall any interaction between them from when he was a schoolboy. Back then, he'd had other things to worry about. He'd thought about her a lot, but it didn't mean he was interested in her personally, not at all.
It was just that picking apart the dull parts of his childhood memories seemed like a better waste of time than reliving the eventful ones.
In a way, it was keeping him sane; for several years his life had been about death and fights and the anger.
The all-consuming anger that nearly ate him alive.
It was almost a relief to just sit back in wait, and let his thoughts wander to that time he had been a boy who worried about homework, who feigned sickness on field trips to spend the day reading comic cooks at home. A boy who joined his friends on peeping escapades, who received childish love letters from girls he didn't know and who once classified his female classmates into categories based on their eligibility to bear his children.
In the end, he couldn't remember her at all even though he had very good eyes; so he decided that Hinata had not been in the same school building as him.
He could hear footsteps behind him, for the longest while he ignored them but they were still following him even into the dark, neglected part of town. "Why are you following me?" He turned to glare at her.
Her eyes were wide. "I- I'm sorry…My house is…" She stopped mid-sentence and continued to walk, head down and umbrella slightly slanted. She sped forward passed him and took a right turn into a lantern-lit road.
Oh, the Hyuuga district must be that way.
Wait, that means he'd passed the apartment complex a couple of blocks back, the way was still unfamiliar and he often got sidetracked when going back to his apartment.
He was still uncomfortable about calling it 'home'.
Sasuke glanced at the familiar stretch road ahead, at the end of it there would be a turn left, which would take him to the edge of the village where the mountains curved around the wasteland.
The Uchiha District.
His wasteland.
He adjusted the bag over his shoulder and took that road, he wasn't allowed any training at night and going there alarmed him to the feeling of several eyes on him, he couldn't see their owners but he knew they were there.
Who knows, maybe that Hyuuga girl was supposed to spy on him, too. He wouldn't put it past Tsunade to get someone like her to befriend him to make it easier to keep an eye on him. He'd seen it happen to his brother, the same suspicious skulking of guards and sudden friendliness of his classmates, right before everything happened.
In this village, the only excuse they need is a shred of doubt, to treat you like a criminal, and yet they still expect you to be loyal and help around with rebuilding and pretend you lived for the sake of the community…
Even now, the interrogation squad set no limits to the methods they used on him, they literally tried everything and when it seemed like his soul was about to depart, they'd heal him back to life. Madara's seal on the roof of his mouth was stronger than anything they'd ever dealt with and kept him conveniently quiet whenever the topic regarded the Uchiha secrets. He could utter vague things: where they'd camped once, and what they were up to in the past, but their hiding quarters or allies were still a mystery to the Konoha people.
He knew, but couldn't be bothered to get between them anymore, the war is over and he intended to keep it that way.
It was what Itachi wanted, it was what Naruto fights for everyday. It was the way of the Ninja he chose for himself.
Tsunade almost gave the OK to send him out on a mission to raid possible locations to flush out Kabuto, but was too afraid he would disappear and never return.
Maybe now she will let him go.
Some days he wondered if Konoha wanted peace at all, maybe the Hokage council was still as corrupt as it had been before; maybe they're not listening to Naruto at all. After all, they are still sending out fighters to different parts of the world.
He was alright with peace treaty missions like the one he just came back from, but if they intended to send him out to trigger another war, he would tear them apart one by one and set their torn limbs on fire.
Hot chakra stirred in his gut, he suddenly wanted to hit someone, to break arms and demolish villages. But no, not today, not anymore.
He rubbed his eyes to clear away haziness and dropped his bag at the clearing.
His body was at it's limit, if he fought with all his power the next time, it might just be the last. Either he would die, which was fine, or he would loose his eyesight, which was unacceptable.
He'd experienced the feeling of being blind for the shortest while, two weeks, they were the weakest he'd ever been his entire life. He'd had to depend on others to do everything for him; to take him where he wanted to go, put the spoon in his hand and open doors for him. They had to be with him every minute of every day.
He hated it.
The district in front of him was nothing but a stretch of dirt, not a single piece of wood or stone remained; the Uchiha district was completely demolished.
Sasuke glanced up, the rain had thinned noticeably but the sky was still dim. It was probably sunset because the lights on the streets were being lit one by one. He flopped onto the ground, mud and soil and all, in return for a clear view of the endless sky.
He closed his eyes and let the cold rain wash over his forehead. Right here in this very spot, several years ago, was a boy who lay face-up on his bed, daydreaming about meaningless things while waiting for his mother's voice to call him down for supper.
"Sasuke san?"
His brows furrowed. His mother would never call him san. He let his eyes slide open to glare at the person who did.
Hyuuga Hinata was standing over him with her umbrella tipped to shield his face. "Are you alright?"
"I was, and then you showed up." He shut his eyes and hoped this was enough to chase her away.
She was quiet for a moment. "W- Well, Hokage-sama wants to see you."
"I know where her office is."
"Actually… She and my father… They're inviting you for dinner…"
He puffed a deep sigh. "What does she want?" It must be something ridiculous if she wanted to smooth it out with a dinner.
"I don't know."
"Where is she now?"
"In our house." She was leaning forward slightly. "Would you like me to guide you?"
He hated the words 'guide you' so he sat up without a word and brushed his coat. He picked up his bag and walked straight ahead towards the Hyuuga district with her tagging along behind him. They passed by several houses before he stopped in the middle of the road to take a better look around. Every house was exactly identical to the other, there weren't any nameplates and the only indication that someone lived in those traditional wooden structures was the occasional sentry passing them on their patrol around the neighborhood. The lanterns lining the roads gave the area an eerie orange glow and some houses even had their family gravestones right there in the front yard. He turned his glance to the girl and she wordlessly led the way to the house a few blocks ahead. Hyuuga clan members probably felt deprived of privacy here, having to live amongst others who can see through walls and all…
Her hair swayed back and forth in front of him, which got him wondering about how she could be a fighter and still keep her hair that long without chopping it off in a fit of frustration.
Unlike the last time he'd seen her, the edges that brushed her lower back were different, straight. "You cut it." He said to the rain.
Hinata glanced back, a worried expression disappearing off her face. "Hm?"
"You cut your hair." He remembered looking at the frayed edges when she walked away on that first day they met.
"Just a little, no one else noticed." She turned away when a small smile crept it's way to her mouth. "I- It was splitting at the ends so…"
"So just cut it all off." It'd be faster if she just chopped the whole thing off like Sakura did, it wouldn't get in the way, and it would make an impression on boys.
"It was short when I was younger, I didn't like it much…" Her smile was both relieved and apologetic. "My baby sister set off a prank seal under my pillow, there was gum everywhere." As if remembering something important, she shook her head and pointed to a low gate that led to a house identical to the others in shape, but larger in size. "Please, come in."
He couldn't picture Hinata with short hair, for some reason he imagined she'd look even more breakable if she exposed the back of her neck the way Sakura and Ino did.
Wait…
An image came to mind, of a little girl with pale skin, Hyuuga eyes and ridiculously short hair- almost shaved bald- who'd always followed Naruto around and hid behind inanimate objects.
He turned around in the middle of the stone pathway and just stared at her face, trying to find a connection between the weak little girl he remembered, and the woman standing in front of him now with polite curiosity in her eyes and the guts to stand up to him when nobody else could.
No way, they couldn't be the same person, he probably remembered another Hyuuga girl, maybe that baby sister she spoke of.
Once at the entrance, one Hyuuga guard with a permanent frown took custody of his bag while the other gave him dirty looks for stepping into the manor with that filthy jacket.
Or probably because he was Uchiha Sasuke.
Sasuke didn't even acknowledge their displeasure when he dropped his muddy sandals at the door and followed the young woman. She, too, had taken off her sandals and arranged them carefully before placing her folded umbrella in it's stand. Hinata offered him slippers and guided him just a little bit further ahead; she stood at a traditional sliding door and announced their presence. "Hokage sama, Father."
"Come in." A male voice said which, upon sliding the door open, appeared to be the Hyuuga clan head whom he couldn't be bothered to remember the first name of.
"You wanted to see me?" Sasuke stepped out of the slippers and into the room; the feel of warm tatami mats under his feet was almost pleasant. It's been ages since he'd been in a traditional house, it smelled like altar candles and green tea and arrogance.
"Yes, why didn't you come see me when your team came back from the Cloud?" Tsunade said from where she sat at the low table.
He shrugged. "Naruto said he'd take care of it." More like, he told Naruto to take care of it.
Tsunade's thin brows furrowed. "He barely stuck around long enough to hand me the mission report before he disappeared somewhere. Did something happen?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and glared at the curious Hinata who was standing two feet away from him with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. "Sakura accidentally knocked out a guard on our way in and caused a village-wide siege. We barely slipped by unnoticed but a squad was sent after us later on and we had to hide our tracks. That's why we were a week late. She's probably throwing a fit about it and Naruto was in a rush to be the hero again."
She nodded. "And the message?"
"Delivered."
Her massive chest expanded with a relieved sigh. "All is well then. Did any of you get hurt?"
He fought the urge to scoff at her. "We'll live." He shifted his weight and glanced around the room before crossing his arms and stating. "So I'm trustworthy now? Can you call off your Anbu spies?" He shot a pointed glance at the girl.
"What spies?"
"The guys that are always breathing down my neck, I know why they're there and I want them to find someone else to eyeball."
The older woman shot a glance at the Hyuuga leader. "They're guarding the village, Sasuke, I can't tell them to stop doing their job just because you're paranoid. Why would they want to watch you, anyway? That's ridiculous."
He wasn't buying it, but decided it wasn't important to discuss it right now, as long as she knew that he knew, the topic will come up again later. Right now, he was absolutely starving, tired, wet and cold, and just wanted to go home. "If we're done here." He turned to leave.
"Did you have dinner?" Tsunade suddenly switched to pleasant-mode. "Please, Join us, Hiashi would like to discuss something with you."
"What, now you're playing Mom?" he uncrossed his arms and turned to slide the door open, not interested in their bribery.
"Uchiha." The man finally spoke. "Hokage sama and myself have been discussing a mission only you can perform, it will save lives and uproot evil around the world."
He wasn't interested in saving the world. "Just leave things the way they are, saving the world isn't your job."
The older man was offended, almost as if it was the first time in his life that someone interrupted him or expressed their opinion. "My, what awful manners you have; just as expected from an Uchiha child."
The Hyuuga had always quarreled with the Uchiha, but this was overkill. "I'm sure your son will turn out just like me if you've had your whole clan wiped out on orders of the very person you have at your table." Anger churned at the bottom of his throat. "Oh wait, you don't have a son. I guess that makes you the last branch of the family tree, just like me."
Hiashi attempted to sit up but Tsunade held her hand up. "Sasuke, we're trying to fix things, alright? I know you're not the best of friends but if you have a Hyuuga on your team you could accomplish more. You'll have a better chance with someone looking out for you, or maybe several ones, Hiashi san agreed to loan us the strongest men of his clan for this mission."
"Not interested." He slid the door shut behind him, it slammed into the frame with a loud slap! He stomped across the narrow path, wood hissed under the massive pressure of his slippers on the floor, and headed straight to the exit. Someone opened a door and was running towards him so he turned around to turn them into ash if they intended to attack him.
Hyuuga Hinata stood a few feet away from him, catching her breath. "Sasuke san, please wait a minute."
"What, did the old bag give you more orders?" He pulled on his sandals with more force than needed, fighting back the blinding anger. The Guards on either side of them exchanged glances.
She blinked. "What? Why would… I just hope you'll reconsider. Maybe not today…" She fidgeted. "T- The enemy is active in a country far away, I heard my father talk about it but no one outside the Hyuuga is supposed to know. Please, it's important to defend Konoha."
He straightened up and glared at her. "Tell me one thing that's great about this village of yours." He could feel the tense chakra of the guards standing two feet away on either side of him, but he went on. "You fight to the death and for what? For a circle of crippled, selfish council members that will sooner tuck tail and run off than support you in a fight."
Her lips were pressed together tightly.
"When Pein wiped off half the village, who died? The innocent townspeople. When I went in to find my family's murderer, do you know who fought back? The leaders of other countries! Where was the precious council when you needed them the most? Hiding in holes and praying for a miracle, that's what. I'm only here because of my loyalty to Naruto, it doesn't extend any further, princess."
For some reason, tears were pooling in her eyes; he could see she was trying to hide it and wondered why she wasn't trying to use them to persuade him. "I- I don't know any members of the council." She took a shaky deep breath; her voice came out steady the next try. "But I know that the children need food and school, and mothers need safe homes and fighters need hospitals. I- I don't care about death or what it means to anybody other than the people we love; teachers and families and friends. Maybe… Maybe there's another side to it, but it doesn't matter! If they're not safe, then I must do something about it, even if I die!"
Sasuke tugged his bag out of the hands of the guard at the door. "Go ahead and die then." He shoved the door open.
"At least take some dinner with you, please." She said after him, her hands were fisted in the air as if she was trying to stop herself from hiding her face.
"I don't need your charity." He spat and exited without another word.
"It's not…" Her voice trailed off as she watched him cross the stone path to the main gate and hop over it into the main street, then disappear into the misty night.
"I just wished you'd have some while it's hot…" She gently slid the door shut and pressed her sleeve to her face.
Notes: I'm sure many of you know this, but San and Sama are honorifics in Japanese, they indicate respect from the speaker to the one addressed. Sasuke doesn't follow this code with anybody, it's considered disrespectful XD Thank you for all the reviews 8D