Hallo, dear reviewers!

It is only eight in the evening here, but seeing as I am being tested for mono because I'm so disturbingly tired all the time it feels like it should be around one in the morning.

HOWEVER, here I am writing a new chapter, for all of you! Actually, this is the second version of this chapter. The first one is pretty much trash ((bangs head on desk)) I couldn't believe the stupidity of it.

Please read, and review. The hits are somewhere along 8500 and something. So SOMEONE is not reviewing.

Enjoy!

-inky

"Ano…S-sasuke-kun?" Hinata managed to ask, feeling a lot lighter since the weights were not dragging down her step. Though, after a while she had grown accustomed to the old ones. It didn't feel like she was carrying them half the time.

"Hn?" He asked, glancing back, looking bored.

"S-should I-I maybe go back and..uh… and get the o-old weights?' She blinked at his back. "I…l-left them at home."

The words were out before she realized their implication. She had not called his house 'home' before, at least not out loud.

And certainly not around him…

Coloring rapidly she lifted her hands up to her lips, wide eyed as she waited for his reaction.

Surprisingly it didn't come. As if he hadn't noticed anything wrong with the sentence he shook his head.

"No, you will be training with Ino today." He glanced over at the Hyuuga heiress, pondering why she was still so red. Was it possible that the incident in the blacksmith's shop was still making her blush?

It wasn't that bad… was it?

"Oh!" she blinked, letting her hands drop as the earlier comment was washed away and she concentrated on something more interesting. "Ino-chan? Demo… why?"

"I'm busy today." He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets just a bit deeper than usual. That signaled the end of the conversation.

And though Hinata was still curious she withheld all questions. Some of the rules she knew were set up for her own good. Sasuke-kun was a very private person, and she knew this the moment she was told she would be staying at his house. Nothing in the deal stated he would change, so she assumed the role of a polite guest and bit her tongue… forcefully.

"You will be back on the weights tomorrow." Sasuke stated suddenly, surprising her by saying something else, breaking the silence that they had begun to get accustomed to.

"H-hai." Hinata nodded, looking down at her hands clenched in front of her.

They didn't really go out into town often, not together, at least. She left to buy food, usually, on her own. The vendors knew her as the pretty little lady that would shop every week for the groceries.

Somehow the fact that her eyes stated Hyuuga blood didn't occur to any of them.

At that moment as she glanced around past the long curtain of hair in her way she noticed the watching eyes and the stares… as well as the whispers.

"…it's true…"

"An Uchiha and a Hyuuga?"

"She's not wearing the Hyuuga emblem…"

Heat rushed to her face as she walked, head down, a few steps behind Sasuke, listening to her heart pounding so rapidly in her ears that it was drowning out their words.

What kind of disgrace have I brought upon my family…?

Breathing slowly she clenched her hands, digging her nails into her palms, feeling her heart slowly sinking as the whispers reached for her ears.

It had been a long time…since her heart had felt that heavy in her chest, hurting with each beat, the shame making her face warm and her eyes sting.

It had been a long time since she had thought of mother…

Oka-san…

"Hinata?" Sasuke stopped, turning to look at her, his expression not at all what it usually was.

The girl looked up, blinking back the stinging tears pooling in her pale eyes, unclenching her hands forcefully.

"H-hai?' she whimpered, flinching at the betrayal of her voice.

His expression changed slowly from puzzled curiosity to confusion as he turned to scan their surroundings…and the looks.

Realization slowly came to sit upon his shoulders. The whispers that he was used to ignoring weren't about him alone this time…

Slowly he closed his eyes, letting out a soft breath he had been holding while warily examining the world to see what was causing her so much agitation.

"Come." He muttered shortly, taking her wrist gently, turning around to lead her away.

It was one thing to be whispered about in mild pity and confusion, it was a different thing to be whispered about because your father was a bastard who could make up rumors about you, sacrificing you like a lamb for the family's honor.

The anger he had been ignoring for the situation was gnawing at the pit of his stomach as he pulled her away, eyes locking onto the weaker gazes of others that eyed them only long enough to feel the bite of his anger from a distance.

"S-sasuke-kun…" Hinata whimpered again, rubbing her eyes to rid of the tears.

Oto-san…would be ashamed of me, crying like this in public for no good reason…

"Quiet." Sasuke sighed, feeling more tired than if he had just done all of his training routine. It was always this kind of thing that made him tired. Thinking about his past… and now her past too. Maybe because he couldn't change it, no matter how hard he trained…

It was strange…

Hinata watched the leafs as they flew by, dancing by them as they slipped off into one of the allies, heading towards the less crowded side of town.

They had been okay, for months. She had been so busy not thinking, just concentrating so fully on doing what he asked of her.

Her eyes widened, remembering a moment where his voice had betrayed more emotion than she had ever heard him express.

"...ano... just..." Hinata frowned at herself. It wasn't so hard to say, she was struggling so much, and he was being so helpful. Swallowing her nervousness she mumbled. "M-my sister... she is stronger... I-I have to find a w-way to-"

"Beat her?" Sasuke finished, stopping his walk suddenly. His voice was suddenly different and Hinata shivered slightly in the cold, staring at their shadows on the ground.

"...well...h-hai."

"Why?" he asked softly, eyes focused on the ground.

Hinata's eyes suddenly became worried. He sounded so sad.

"...she will take away my clan... i-if I can't."

A shiver passed through him, and she felt it against her chest. "...ano...Uchiha-san...a-are you...are you o-ok?"

"Fine." he muttered, continuing on in silence.

He hid his own troubles from himself, the same way he had been hiding hers. The training, it was a distraction, a reason to forget for days on end what the reality of the situation was like.

Suddenly his grip on her wrist wasn't burning so much. She glanced at the grip there, it was tight enough that it wouldn't slip… yet hardly there.

Why haven't I been watching you from the start?

Her eyes examined his stance, the way he walked, the way his eyes flickered past each street and each face as they passed by.

You're not what you seem at all…

He stopped, having passed the last little shed before reaching the dirt road leading towards the training site where he had found her the first day.

He let go of her wrist, nodding towards the road. "Ino is waiting for you." He muttered, pulling the bag of training equipment off his shoulder and handing it to her silently. "Here."

Blinking rapidly from both the light of the quickly rising sun and the fact that the tears were gone and drying around her lashes she took the bag blindly, looking down at the ground and their shadows stretching oddly from the dawn.

"Hai, Sasuke-kun." She mumbled.

Wordlessly he turned around, heading right back into the nightmare he had just dragged her out of.

Hinata watched, feeling something start at the base of her throat. Words, but she didn't quite know what they were.

So she held them back, caging them like birds.

No, she couldn't say whatever it was yet.

"It's about bloody time, dattebayo…" Naruto grumbled, pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against. "Christ, you and Kakashi, I swear…" he gave Sasuke a look.

"Please do not tell me you're gonna end up like that weirdo."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted irritably, walking up the seemingly endless stairs towards the Hokage's office.

Naruto followed behind him, eyeing the morbid shinobi distastefully. "What the hell's up with you? You're even more irritating than usual."

"Shut up, dobe."

"See what I mean."

"I said, shut up."

Naruto blinked, rubbing the back of his neck confusedly. Whatever the hell was wrong with the teme he was obviously not willing to talk about it.

"…fine." Naruto sighed, finally weary of trying to irritate the answer out of him. Deciding on a new tactic the usually blonde blonde stated thinly. "Sakura said she needed to talk to Hinata after her training today, but seeing as you're here… I didn't know what to tell her. When is Hinata free?"

"I'm not her babysitter."

"The hell, you're the only one that keeps tabs on her nowdays." Naruto snapped, suddenly irritated as well. "She doesn't do anything without bloody well consulting you first. No offense but that's annoying."

"For you?" Sasuke enquired, turning to look at him suddenly, eyes narrowed. "Is it more sake talking, dobe?"

Naruto froze, looking away despite himself. The memory of what he had said then was something he tried not to think about.

Sakura had blabbed about Hinata's vague obsession with him months ago, when she had been drunk out of her mind and admitting that she had obsession with Sasuke herself.

But Hinata had vanished off the face of the earth and with Sasuke pulling all the strings there wasn't even the slightest chance that he would be able to talk to her… and perhaps apologize.

For what, he didn't even know.

"That's not what I meant." Naruto snapped, frowning at the steps. "…I'm not interested that way."

"Really." Sasuke enquired quietly, making Itachi's name flash through Naruto's mind. There were moments when the darkness that was in Sasuke's past was hard to forget.

"The hell." Naruto snapped again, turning to look him in the eye. "Why do you think Tsunade called her to her office yesterday? You and Hinata have vanished off the face of the Earth. You come out even less than you did before."

Sasuke turned away, looking at the fully risen sun and the village below full of people living out their lives without much of a care to any troubles he might have.

Sometimes it was amazing to know just how unimportant his life was.

"It's none of your business." Sasuke finally replied, turning to look back at the blonde calmly.

It was true though, what he had said. Before he had gone out each night, and spent a few hours at least drinking until he could go home and sleep, as dreamless as he could manage to make the sleep with sake.

But then he hadn't had a girl at his house who he had to respect- and who cooked well enough to keep him tethered there. Not that it mattered, he didn't miss drinking that much. He hadn't had a nightmare in months.

"Like hell it's not." Naruto muttered, sounding for some reason more mature than he had in years. Silently he pushed past the Uchiha, pissed off and obviously tired of the conversation.

Glad that the useless squabble was over Sasuke followed, clenching his hands slowly within his pockets.

Whatever Tsunade had to say, he somehow knew he wasn't going to like it.

"Hinata-chan!" Ino waved, standing the moment the girl came into view. Hinata waved back half heartedly, her mind still feeling clogged from the many events of the morning.

"Hi, Ino-chan-" she began gasping as Ino grabbed her into a bear hug that would have crushed normal people.

"I haven't seen you in MONTHS! Where the heck have you been? Sakura and I can hardly stand each other again, just because you're gone- you're like the glue that keeps us together!"

Hinata gasped, pulling away gently, blushing and smiling despite herself. "Eh, gomen, Ino-chan. I've been very busy."

"Does he push you hard?" Ino asked, eyes widening as she leaned into her friend. Hinata blinked, drawing back gently. "Nani? Well… yes…"

"Not too hard, I hope?" the blonde grinned, patting her on the head the way she often did before. "I don't want you to break."

"No no." Hinata shook her head. "Not too hard." Deciding not to mention the vomiting, shaking and passing out she smiled. "Just… h-hard enough, hai."

"Sure." Ino muttered, waving away the conversation like a bothersome fly. "I was worried about you though. No one sees you anymore. You should have seen Kiba and Shino when we were at Tsunade's office the other day. They wouldn't stop talking- well… Kiba wouldn't, Shino just nodded to everything he said, so I guess Kiba was saying the right things."

"Oh- hai!" Hinata nodded, watching as her friend started to wrap her hands and forearms slowly with training bandages. "Tsunade-sama t-told me… I'm sorry, for making you all worry like that…"

"It's all right." Ino shrugged. "It got you out, our worry though, didn't it?" she smiled. "You saw your sensei and now you get to see me." She grinned, falling into battle stance.

"Let's see what you've learned then, ne?"

Hinata blinked mildly, dropping her training bag to the ground, surprised by how quickly Ino decided to start training.

She had supposed somehow that she would want to talk for a while before hand, but apparently not.

"Hai." She nodded, rotating her shoulders slowly. "…Ino-chan… do you know what Sasuke-kun is doing?" the words came out quickly enough not to stutter, trying to catch the blonde off guard.

But once in battle stance, even Ino couldn't be shaken. She smirked. "You'll find out."

And then she launched forward.

"Hello Sasuke." Tsunade smirked, twining her fingers together in front of her as she watched the two shinobi enter her office silently. "It's been a long time since I had the pleasure."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, eyeing her with obvious distrust, hands stuffed so deep in his pockets that you couldn't tell he was clenching them.

"I'm glad you chose to come, however." Tsunade admitted, pulling a cup of what looked like tea towards her.

Somehow both young men didn't think that was tea.

"I have a few things to discuss with the two of you. But I'll start with the tricky bit, shall I?" she smirked, glancing over at Naruto who was looking gloomily at the ground, being quite a bit more silent than usual.

"The Chuunin exams are coming up again." She muttered, finally taking on a more serious tone that didn't involve mocking the young Uchiha in front of her. Everyone knew the delicacy with which the Chuunin exams had to be handled when speaking to Sasuke… or any of the Rookie Nine.

"So?" Sasuke grunted when silence took over the room and neither of the two blonde's present bothered to speak. Tsunade looked at him silently over the rim of her supposed tea, eyes narrowing slightly as she studied his expression, coming to no sure conclusion as to what he was thinking.

"We are still low on available shinobi, and though there hasn't been a lot of trouble lately… you know the possibility of someone finally attacking is higher when we are receiving contestants from all shinobi villages… I need a full security team stationed at the village to keep things under control. Because my first pick have been issued missions during this time I am required to find suitable substitutes…" she looked intently at the two shinobi in front her, daring them to rebel at her words.

"I have decided to make the two of you head of security."

Naruto finally looked up, showing for once some interest in the words. "Wha- Me?"

Sasuke sighed, looking at the ground irritably. Shit…this is going to take time right out of my training schedule…

Tsunade smirked at Naruto, her glance flickering over the Sasuke questionably. "Under your command I am putting the highest ninja available, most of who you know, the original rookie nine and some extras to keep the security in top shape. You will also be working with the other villages and their representatives."

"Whoa." Naruto muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, looking puzzled. "Hell… when are the exams?"

"Exactly one month from today."

Sasuke glanced out the window, past the Hokage's shoulder, staring at the sky and it's slowly darkening hue. It was going to rain… He would have to get home soaking wet after this.

Hinata would probably get sick if she trained too long with Ino. He closed his eyes, looking for all the world as though he were bored and he hadn't been assigned one of the most important tasks that a shinobi could be given.

"So, what do you both say?" Tsunade finally asked, sounding impatient as usual. Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever."

Naruto grinned fully. "Sweetness! Shino and Kiba are gonna fall over dead when they hear that I'm in charge-"

"Co-captain." Tsunade corrected irritably. "Don't let the title of captain rush to your head, twerp."

Twitching irritably Naruto stuttered, beginning another pointless argument with the blonde hokage. Sasuke tuned them out, thinking over how he would have to schedule his and Hinata's training in order to compensate for the loss of time.

"Enough!" Tsunade snapped, standing and giving Naruto a glare to cut off his arguing.

"I also had something else to discuss with Sasuke in private. Naruto, you are dismissed."

Frowning obviously the blonde opened his mouth to argue and was met with a wave of the Hokage's hand. "Shut up, and leave now before I beat you out the door!"

Growling the blonde shut his mouth hard and stepped out, slamming the door closed behind him.

Sasuke didn't bother to look back, instead he waited patiently for the Hokage's eyes to focus on him again.

Finally the woman sat down, sighing heavily in aggravation. "How is Hinata's training doing, then?" she looked up, swirling the contents in her tea cup in a manner that stated for sure it wasn't tea.

"Fine." Sasuke retorted thinly, eyes narrowing slightly at her.

"I need more of a report than that." Tsunade snapped, rubbing between her brows irritably. "I don't understand why all of your generations has to be so bloody defiant, honestly."

"She is gaining speed, and some confidence… She has a long ways to go still." Sasuke replied slowly, hoping that would be enough to get her to let him go. He was tired of listening to this shit. He had better things to do. Though, if someone asked him at that very moment what kind of things he probably wouldn't have been able to answer.

"Speed, hm?" Tsunade replied, leaning her chin on her hands. "Do you think that will be enough to win against her sister?"

"I have no studied the girl's fighting capabilities." Sasuke replied, giving no real answer to the question.

Frowning slightly Tsunade sighed, closing her eyes to calm herself.

"Hanabi has been training just as hard as Hinata, harder… possibly. Her father is refusing to let the title go to someone who is weak. Hinata has to get it. That clan will die under the ruling of Hanabi." She opened her blue eyes to stare at him.

"I need Hinata to win."

Sasuke stared back silently, trying to remember if he had ever heard anything concerning the younger sister of the Hyuuga heiress.

Truth be told, aside from hearing that she was 'capable' and 'able' he had heard nothing. There was nothing special about someone who was able… everyone was able. And with Hiashi's pressuring as her drive to use her abilities it was even less impressive to know she was a 'capable' ninja.

"What will happen if she looses?" He asked slowly, pondering over the fact that he would have a stain on his pride. He had more or less promised Hiashi that his oldest daughter would win, so now his own honor was on the line.

Regret wasn't something he felt very often but right then he was regretting quite acutely the fact that he had stuck his nose where it didn't belong.

"The youngster Hanabi will take the title of heiress and then Clan head." The hokage muttered, glancing over her shoulder at the dark rain clouds forming over her village.

"She will be manipulated by the useless elders that have made the clan rot from the inside out." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on from all this thinking.

"The clan is already dying…"

"And you think someone like Hinata can save it?" Sasuke scoffed, making the blonde turn sharply to look at him, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"She's not even certain if she wants the title." Sasuke retorted thinly, irritated. "As a leader she would be useless."

The hokage smirked. "Not if she has her friends to help her."

"Interference." Sasuke grunted. "Family business should remain within the family."

"As did that of your family?" Tsunade murmured, watching as his eyes widened and then closed sharply, hiding the emotion there.

It had flickered by too quickly for her to realize exactly what it was, but it had been there. He had felt 'something'.

"This is different."

"Nonsense." The hokage muttered. "There is no difference, your family was rotting just like the Hyuuga clan. I do not want the same fate to come upon Hinata as it did to you."

"You are exaggerating the situation." Sasuke muttered, sounding bored.

Paying him no heed the Hokage continued, pressing on as if he had said nothing. "I need you to continue pushing her. The reason I have put you as captain is so that she may learn. She needs to learn to do more than just strike quickly, she needs to learn to speak and command attention upon entering a room. I need you to teach her that."

"You want me to give her confidence." Sasuke smirked, this time the chilly amusement forcing the Hokage to bury her face in her hands impatiently.

"I need you to."

"Hn." The Uchiha grunted, turning to slip out the door despite the fact she hadn't dismissed him. Tsunade refrained from arguing, watching as he stepped outside.

"Oh and Sasuke." She called, forcing him to turn to look at her, frowning with impatience. He had been within her office for far too long already.

"…don't you dare hurt her."

"Hn." He grunted, vaguely irritated as he closed the door.

More problems… great.

I am very sorry to inform you that Filler #2 will be held back a few release dates, lol.

I just reread the thing, and I decided that it was crappy and I am rewriting it. For some reason I've been utterly blocked lately. I think it might have something to do with Naruto withdrawl.

Please leave a message and let me know if maybe I should fix some stuff on this chapter, it'd be lovely to know.

-inky