My One in a Million
Chapter six:
His eyes were trained to read people and gauge their intentions in a split second; it was the difference between friend and foe, life and death. He was capable of activating his sharingan to look into their inner flame, true, but their souls were much more complicated than chakra streams, and more often than not he needed more than a split second to pierce their depth and decide if they would attack in the next hearbeat or not.
So he spent his free time roaming the streets and polishing this important but dormant ability when he wasn't allowed to train his muscles.
The woman sweeping snow off the shop front, for example, was young and if he conformed to cultural standards she might even be beautiful; but the look in her eye when she caught sight of him resembled that pointed towards an insect crushed under her sandal. She was obviously a woman with children and a husband, the worry had etched thin lines into her face to prove that, but he knew she would rather drive her shovel into his ribcage than sell him one of her shop's ointments.
His feet took him down the road further.
The girl walking in the opposite direction with a plastic bag in her arms met his eyes for an instant, took a right turn and disappeared. In that single instant he could clearly read what she was thinking about, and it relieved him to know that his abilities hadn't dwindled as the dull life of the civilian dragged on and on. The girl thought he was attractive but her parents have warned her of him so thoroughly, that she is too scared to even cross paths with him. The boy trotting behind her obviously liked her. His eyes were soft and his face was relaxed, but the minute their eyes met he pretended to be brave enough to not follow his girl's escape and instead, decided to take a chance by looking at him pointedly and keeping the pace. He didn't show fear when they finally passed by each other, several feet of road between them, and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk when the boy released a relieved sigh when he thought no one was looking.
Little achievements, some people still had them.
For one who'd already achieved the greatest power possible and had his main ambition fulfilled, he no longer cared for little children's equivalent of successfully finished challenges.
He could, at any moment, pull a string of chakra and make the boy fall face down in the fresh snow. He briefly considered trapping that old man hobbling down the ally in a prank genjutsu where he got pummeled with spoiled fruit all day. He could also spout the smallest ball of flame into the flower shop ahead and watch people scramble in surprise and it wouldn't bother him one bit.
But all of that was boring.
He was bored, and it was making him feel lethargic and detached.
Well, at least more detached than he already is.
Naruto was away training as the boy was insistent on succeeding Tsunade directly despite the old lady's doubts, so Sasuke was left without a training partner. Sakura was in the hospital with Tsunade's assistant, aiding with the increased number of patients because some nearby villages were having internal conflict, he assumed the girl would welcome him with a smile anytime but they both knew she would prefer it if he didn't talk to her unless he was gushing blood from every orifice. Even Kakashi, the least pleasant of his acquaintances, was too busy to spare him a minute; planning dispatches here and there around the country and eventually setting off with a team of Anbu for an S ranked mission that took them miles away from Konoha.
That meant there were fewer eyes on him now, but it also meant all the people who tolerated him in this town, as few as they were, are now null.
It didn't hurt, he didn't feel betrayed or lonely or left out; just bored.
Sasuke made his way towards the small bridge above the frozen stream that crossed downtown and pushed snow off the ledge; he hopped up and made himself comfortable to watch the world pass by. Children made snow nin, girls showed off their jackets and gloves, boys had ninja fight simulations with snow and couples crossed the bridge looking uncomfortable and intimidated with him watching their every move.
It was borderline amusing.
A familiar bundle of chakra exited the flower shop and headed his way, he tipped his head to study the shell it occupied even though he knew exactly what it looked like, the girl climbed the arch of the bridge but was too preoccupied with the arrangement in her arms to notice him sitting a foot away on the stone, so he spoke.
"Hyuuga."
She looked up, a smile dying on her lips. "S- Sasuke san…" She bowed hastily and he came to realize that, day after day, she would increasingly treat him with less regard and more familiarity; as if he was slowly descending off a hypothetical pedestal and joining the ranks of the commoners such as her teammates.
It was both comforting and unnerving. "Buying flowers on the first day of snow, you've got things reversed."
Her eyes smiled but her mouth was still set into a straight line. "Flowers are a must in Hyuuga celebrations."
"What are you celebrating?" a soft gust of wind filtered through his bangs and tugged on the ends of her hair.
She glanced ahead and her smile blossomed. "Her." Following her line of vision, he watched her sister jog up the bridge to them, face flushed. "Hanabi, they didn't have hydrangea so I brought Carnations, I hope you don't mind."
The birthday girl shot Sasuke a dirty look, huffed a 'fine, whatever.' And then turned around to stomp back the road she came from, declaring that she will meet Hinata at home.
"That's my sister, Hanabi chan." Hinata explained in an apologetic manner.
"I remember her." The resemblance was scarce but he recalled catching the smaller one in his arms not too long ago. "I've pissed off a lot of people in different ways, saving their lives wasn't one of them."
Hinata actually held back a giggle. "She doesn't hate you."
"Whatever you say." He hopped down and dug his hands in his pockets. "Enjoy your celebration."
"A- Ano Sasuke san…" She stuttered before he took a step further, albeit unsure if she should be saying it. "I might not have the right to tell you this but…" She was too busy picking at the flowers to notice the knot of his brows. "M- Maybe I shouldn't but if today…"
"Spit it out."
Her brows hid under long bangs when she finally looked up, embarrassed. "Hanabi… Please don't misunderstand her, she just thinks… She admires you."
He rolled his eyes. "How shallow of her." The change on the girl's face was minimal, but he caught it nonetheless. "Oh, I forgot, you have a crush on someone, too."
"P- Please don't say that out loud!" The bouquet in her hands made an annoying stream of scratchy noises when it slipped, she caught it just before it hit the snow. "D- Don't tell anybody, please! Okay? It- it's just, I'm ok with it and…"
His breath was white when he scoffed. "Announcing it is not my business. But I think it's obvious. Anyway…" Deciding to change scenery, he paddled down the slope of the small bridge and pulled his scarf closer to his chin. The hairs on the back of his head stood on end as the girl followed him down the road, he knew her house was in the same direction but couldn't help but look back and frown at her. She wasn't looking up, though, too busy pouting at the flowers in her arms.
Deciding that crossing the road together shouldn't be so depressing, he stopped long enough for her to catch up and then fell into step. "Alright, I'll bite. Did you tell him?"
Her head snapped up in surprise. "Ah uhm… What?"
"It's Naruto, isn't it? Did you confess to him yet?" He didn't care, actually, but watching her struggle was fun.
He'd expected her to flush and stutter and get her bouquet in a twist, but she didn't; she simply smiled wistfully at the flowers in her arms and said yes.
"What was his answer?" He couldn't picture her confessing to Naruto under any circumstances, Naruto calmly giving a reply was even harder to imagine. Her only reply was a shrug, so he pushed another button. "Seeing as he's spending more time with Sakura, I'm guessing he said no."
She finally looked up, not angry. "It was… I chose a bad time, we couldn't talk… He never gave me a clear answer… It's alright, though! I don't- I don't mind, he doesn't need to…"
This situation confused him. "You're saying you confessed to the boy you like, he didn't even acknowledge that, and you're okay with it?" He stopped walking so she did as well. "Unless the building was on fire, why wouldn't he?" It was strange; Naruto was a person who liked things to be clear, so why didn't he just tell her 'No'? He obviously likes, and is probably dating Sakura, so why didn't he just make it simple for both of them?
He never understood love and categorized it as a waste of time because of the stupid things people did in its name, but unrequited love was even sillier, why bother loving someone when they don't even know you exist?
Hinata smiled down at the flowers for a long moment before finally answering. "It was a life or death situation, I thought… I thought it was my last breath so…" Her eyes wandered away from his face and then shifted to look at something behind him. "Please excuse me, I need to pick something up from this shop."
He knew she was trying to end the conversation, and decided to keep out of it after all; why did he care, anyway? Did he want to understand Naruto more? No, he could simply ask the boy, their friendship was strong enough to talk about these situations and then some.
That would only indicate that he wanted to know her more, and that confused him to no end.
He found that glaring at passersby made time go faster and helped diffuse some of the messy thoughts in his head, by the time the girl made it out the door, thanking the shopkeeper and balancing boxes on her hip, his nose had already gone numb. "Need help, princess?"
Her eyes, that were naturally wide and hard to read, studied him in surprise. "Y- You waited?"
He shrugged a shoulder without answering. The bouquet slipped off the top box when she shifted the boxes but he easily caught it with one hand. "Those look heavy."
Hinata's face went through a transition of expressions, first there was confusion, then there was a 'oh we've had this conversation before' smile, and then there was a general air of worry as she bit on her lower lip for a second. She let him carry the heavier boxes and took the flowers in her arms, but only spoke her mind when they were walking again towards the Hyuuga district. "Is it lonely without Naruto kun?"
"Not lonely, just boring." His work in the hokage tower's book chamber was dull, but the days off were even duller.
"It's the weekend."
"To me it is, to others it's a birthday."
Her expression was unreadable. "I- I'd ask you to come to the celebration, but you probably wouldn't like it…"
What little cold he felt on his skin suddenly dimmed, as if his body had been swallowed by a protective shell. "You mean I'm not welcome; It's ok, I can drop these off and leave without killing anyone." The stuff inside the lower box rattled when he shifted them to the other hip, as if there were toys inside.
"It's not that…"
"Don't' bother." He hated excuses. "Why are you out shopping alone, anyway? Don't you have a thousand cousins and an army of slaves to carry stuff for you?"
The glass mask she'd been wearing began to crack, her jaw was set but her eyes remained soft. "No, not really."
"Hm?" He couldn't help the curiosity that overtook him at the reply that didn't answer anything. "So you have a chef that doesn't need to cook and a branch family that doesn't have obligations, remind me again, what makes you an important person?"
"I'm not." She shifted the flowers and nodded to the Hyuuga shinobi guarding the entrance to the district. The man eyed the Uchiha but said nothing, so did the other three guards they passed after him. There were several others patrolling and even more guards hidden above rooftops here and there.
"Sasuke san…" She started when they were at the entrance to her house.
"I know." He said and handed the boxes to the scowling guard, "Bye."
"P- Please come in." She told him without looking him in the eye.
For some reason, his temper flared. "I have work to do." He didn't, not really.
Hinata looked up, an unspoken plead in her eyes. "You could spare thirty minutes, right? P- Please, I insist."
He didn't really give an answer as a young, more familiar Hyuuga slid the main door open and crossed the small front lawn towards them. The boy, whose name was Hyuuga Neji, had grown to be a tall, intimidating man. Sasuke recalled a hazy image of him in the group dispatched to bring him and Naruto back after the fight with Madara. Right now he could tell that Hyuuga Neji had grown not just in both body, but also in ego; he literally looked down his nose at him. "Hinata sama, we have been waiting for you. Hanabi sama is preparing for the ceremony and would like you to be there." He nodded to the shorter one to be on her way, but she didn't move.
"Neji nii, Sasuke san will be my guest today." Even as she said it, they could both detect a little bit of worry in her voice, as if she wasn't sure she was allowed to do that.
"I understand." He assured her after a moment, and stood aside to allow them to pass. "Any guest of yours is to be welcomed and honored."
The house was just as he remembered it to be the last time he went in, but this time security was tighter and he wasn't wearing a muddy jacket. They passed by the door to the left, the one he'd been allowed through the first time he visited, but he didn't notify her of this and instead decided to follow her to her destination. Who knew, maybe they had different guest rooms, rich families had the privilege, didn't they? The hallways were dotted with rushing house maids and delivery boys. "Is it always like this on birthdays?"
Hinata spared him a glance, her face tight with worry but forcing a smile on her lips. "A lot of important people are attending, we couldn't possibly be careless. Besides, Hokage Sama will be here, too."
"So stock up on sake." He was nearly pushed into a wall when a lady passed through with a wide tray balanced dangerously on her arms.
"We did." She took him down another mazy of hallways, this time with more women and less maneuver space. She finally stopped at a wide door with a simple design of tree branches and ocean birds. "Hanabi, I'm coming in."
"Finally! The flowers fin-" The door slid open and the girl he'd seen previously dressed in a standard-issue black turtleneck and spandex pants, came out wearing an elaborately threaded kimono with several accessories in her up-turned hair and a matron still tagging along to keep the unfastened Obi from unfurling. The younger one's eyes drifted to the male and a shriek died in her throat. "F- F- F- FORGET IT! Why is he here?" She pulled her sister by the sleeves and shut the door in his face with a loud slap!
It was the very first time in his life that he wished he was born with a Byakugan, just for five minutes; if only to see what kind of expressions they were making behind the door. He heard whispers and strangled cries that suspiciously sounded like 'mind bleach' and 'kill me now' but didn't linger long enough to decipher it as a female, middle-aged Hyuuga approached him and informed him that he was lost and that the guest room was in the other direction. He followed the lady back all the way until he found himself being guided to the exit door but before he could feel kicked out, she took a turn and slid a door open, yup definitely the usual study, but this time it was chock-full of Hyuuga elders and the few Konoha VIPs that survived the war.
Everyone shot him death glares and Tsunade actually asked what he was doing here, her assistant placed a hand on her arm before declaring that the ceremony was about to begin.
Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned against a wall in the back, he could see dark-brown and gray hair on the back of every Hyuuga's head, but knew they were watching him closely. It was both interesting and creepy, but he wouldn't let it show on his face and give them the satisfaction of getting under his skin.
Nothing on the outside scared him anymore, come what may, what's in his head was more frightening than any ability or monster.
An old, shaky old man with white eyes sat up- with some help- and encouraged everyone to have a seat. Everyone except for Sasuke were sitting down with their legs respectfully folded beneath them, they remained still even as the old man hobbled to the head of the room and began a boring, monotone speech of how much Konoha meant to the Hyuuga and what an important role the family played in the village's rich history and the army of powerful shinobi it supplied every generation to the village's force.
Sasuke hadn't attended many parties, but he had to admit; Hinata was right, this had to be the most boring birthday party he'd ever attended. If his family hadn't been brutally massacred, he would have been glad they were too dead to pull off something as boring as this for their heirs.
Maybe this was why Itachi killed them all, as heir, maybe he didn't want boring birthday parties…
Just when Sasuke thought he would die of boredom, the old man wheezed and introduced the birthday girl: The Young Heiress.
Surprised, Sasuke turned his head to the sliding doors to look at the approaching heiress, surely Hinata would have mentioned it was her birthday they were attending, didn't she? Why didn't she? Then again, just fifteen minutes ago she was in a jacket and track pants, did she even have enough time to dress during the droning speech? He was even more surprised when Hinata stepped forward into the room, wearing a simple pink kimono embroidered with a soft floral ensemble and her hair straight, free of any glittery objects. It dawned on him then that the actual heiress was the one entering the room after Hinata; dressed in the flowing Kimono with elaborate colors and tightly-wrapped obi of many stitches, and hair heavy with studded, jingling accessories.
Hinata stood besides him as he was right besides the door and introduced her sister, scooting as close to him as possible to allow space for her sister's long sleeves to brush the floor freely as she proceeded to where the Hyuuga elder stood. The crowd was silent and attentive when the elder began reading from an old, torn scroll a declaration of the rights and duties of a Hyuuga Heir or Heiress towards the Hidden Village of the Leaf in his monotone, hypnotic voice.
"I thought it was a birthday party." Sasuke leaned closer to whisper in the ear of the subdued girl next to him.
"In a sense, it could be." Her mouth was smiling but her eyes were sad. "I did mention you weren't going to like it."
That irritated him. "Aren't you the older one? Why aren't you fighting for your rightful place?"
"This is my rightful place." It was said quietly but with finality that indicated her acceptance of the matter, that he shouldn't cause a scene by interrupting the ceremony to express his displeasure when it wasn't his business.
That much was clear even though she said none of it, he knew.
So he left.
He was aware of several pairs of eyes on him when he squeezed through a crowd of teary-eyed maids blocking the open door, but he didn't care. The bitter feeling in the back of his throat hadn't been anger, he knew anger all too well; what he felt right now was misleading.
He felt disappointed, and he didn't know why. He barely knew the girl or her family and it wasn't like he had been to enough parties to feel disappointed by this one, so then why was he?
Was it because he had thought it was a birthday but it turned out to be something different, something more depressing? A person giving away the only position of power they'll ever achieve, and still be there to clap their hands and wish their predecessor luck?
Or maybe because he didn't want to spend the rest of the evening in a room full of hypocrites, celebrating something that didn't make any difference? Their father was still alive, even their elder was still alive and the Hyuuga had their own Council; why bother with celebrating a new Heir when they were obviously nothing but a puppet on strings?
There were many 'why's he would like to have answered, but most of them seemed like a waste of time… It ate at him though, that Hinata insisted on inviting him… Was she alright with not being important anymore? Was she going to quit being a fighter, too? Why did she want him to see it all, to gain his sympathies? For free food? To apologize for something she did wrong that he didn't know about yet?
She didn't make sense, and he knew that every time they talked she would do or say something completely foreign and he would spend the next few hours trying to make sense of it. It would be easier to just avoid talking to her from now on, wouldn't it?
Yeah… That should be easy, she probably hates him now that he dishonored their all-too-important ceremony.
Maybe that's better, maybe now she will find a reason to snap at him and then she will be exposed as being just like everybody else and he will lose interest.
He pulled the flap of his jacket closer around his neck and trudged snow back to his apartment, done thinking.