"You're alive!?"

Hinata looked into Neji's eyes, behind his activated byakugan they were flaming with rage. Before she left the village, she would have cowered under his angry gaze, but now as he glared her down she felt oddly serene. It was almost comforting to be reacquainted with the eyes she had feared for so long.

"Yes." She responded calmly.

"And?" Neji snarled, "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

Hinata noted his anger was a different temperature than usual. He had always been cold in his anger, calculated, not letting the emotion control him. Now his anger felt like a hot fire burning recklessly. It seemed that in her absence they both had changed.

"Not to you."

Naruto hurried in between the two of them, "Heyyy! Neji, just calm down, okay?"

This only seemed to infuriate Neji further, "Calm down?! Naruto, when Hinata ran away she wrote that she killed herself because of the injuries I gave her!" Hinata thought back to the note she had written those years ago. She hadn't mentioned Neji by name, but she did say that the injuries she sustained during the chuunin exam prevented her from being a ninja anymore, and that's why she saw no reason to keep on living. At the time it was a convenient and convincing reason. "People blamed me for her death! I…" Neji trailed off and broke eye contact with the both of them, scowling. He snapped his head back towards them, "And now she just walks back into the village, alive and well like nothing happened?! Explain yourself, Hinata!"

Hinata scoffed at the words 'like nothing happened.' Nothing happened? So much had happened, so much was different, she was so different.

"Why don't we all go sit down and discuss this peacefully?" Naruto said, placing a hand on Neji's shoulder, Neji shrugged him off.

"Leave it, Naruto, this is a matter for the Hyuga clan!"

Hinata let a haughty breath pass through her lips, "I'm not a Hyuga anymore."

"What!?" Hinata had never heard Neji's voice reach such a high pitch before. He gaped at her in disbelief, "What do you mean?"

"I've been legally emancipated from the clan." Hinata watched Neji as he processed this information, his face flickering through several emotions. As a member of the branch house she imagined it must be aggrieving for him to hear she had just escaped the control of the Hyuga clan without a caged bird seal. "Didn't Hiashi tell you when he sent you here?"

Neji's eyebrow twitched. "Hiashi-sama didn't send me. I've been searching for you with my byakugan for the past hour after Shino came to apologize to me."

Apologize? Hinata thought, What happened that merited an apology?

"Why's the door wide open?" Hinata distantly heard Sakura say from the other room, "Is everything alright?" She called out.

"We're in here, Sakura." Naruto called back.

Sakura entered the room with a soft "Oh," as she saw Neji. Hinata noticed Sakura's eyes looked puffy, her meeting with Sasuke must have gone poorly. "What are you doing here, Neji?"

"I'm here for an explanation from Hinata." Neji spat, he snapped his head back towards her, making eye contact. "Well?"

Hinata grumbled, it seemed that she was going to have to deal with a lot of angry interactions like this, first Sasuke, now Neji, her father was probably next. "I left to infiltrate the Sound and bring Sasuke back. I left the note because I didn't want to risk another fiasco like when Sasuke left." Hinata saw Neji upper lip twitch, he had nearly died on that mission, it was probably a sore spot for him.

"And?" he sneered.

"And what?" she shot back.

"Why would you do that!?" he demanded, "You've always been weak and cowardly, what possessed you to do something so reckless? You risked yourself, risked the byakugan, to bring Sasuke back? What are you, in love with him?"

An involuntary and loud "HAH!" escaped Hinata's mouth before she could suppress it. Her, in love with Sasuke? Neji thinking that is almost worse than him knowing the actual truth, Hianta thought. She wasn't going to share the actual truth with Neji, especially not in front of Naruto. Hinata had only shared the truth with Sasuke, and that was because she thought it would make him feel guilty hearing about Naruto. It had been a pleasure to hear Sasuke yell at her to stop. Knowing Sasuke and his tight lips, she didn't worry about her secret getting spread.

"I did it because someone needed to." She told him as she regained her composure from the involuntary laugh. "Allowing Orochimaru to have the sharingan would have meant Konoha's demis-"

"So you gave him the byakugan?" Neji interrupted. "How could you be so stupid to think that saving the sharingan was worth risking the byakugan!?"

Hinata scoffed at the insult, she was over this conversation. "You're the one so conceited you forget the byakugan is just a tool, and that the sharingan is a powerful weapon. The two are not equal. I'm done talking, get out."

Neji opened his mouth and closed it again a few times over in offense. "That's it?" he finally spurted out, "You're not going to apologize?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed. "I have nothing to be sorry for."

"People blamed me for your 'suicide' because of what you wrote!"

"You tried to kill me. Why should I feel sorry you faced the consequences of succeeding?" Hinata could see emotion rush over Neji's face, but she couldn't identify which it was. "Now go."

Neji was silent for a moment, then deactivated his byakugan. It occurred to Hinata that this was the first moment in their encounter that he was properly able to see her face. He stood still for a moment, glowering at Hinata, then turned around and left.

Stuck in an uncomfortable silence, Sakura and Naruto both stared at Hinata. Hinata wished they wouldn't. Finally Sakura spoke softly. "Naruto, would you give me and Hinata the room? I need to talk to her."

Naruto left the room, closing the door behind him, and Hinata sat down on one of the futon mattresses on the floor. Sakura sat down on the other one.

"So Hinata- Naruto! I can see your shadow under the door! Go to your own room!" there was a huff from behind the door, and a moment later they both heard the sound of another door slamming shut. "Sorry about that. I just wanted… I just wanted to ask…" Sakura trailed off, she was avoiding eye contact with Hinata, instead just looking at the ground below her.

"Wanted to ask what?"

"Well… I went to talk to Sasuke, and…" Sakura was fiddling with the hem of her clothes, Hinata could see her eyes begin to water. Sakura looked up, making eye contact. "Why didn't you tell us that he was the one who gave you those injuries? That he tried to kill you?"

Before Hinata could even think about it, she reflexively said "Oh." It had crossed her mind that Sasuke had intended to kill her back when he attacked her at the Sound base, but now that she had confirmation she wasn't sure how to feel. Sakura was staring at her now, waiting for answers. Hinata was getting sick of having to give answers.

Sakura spoke up before Hinata could muster up a response, "Is it… are you trying to protect him from punishment? Are you… are you in love with him?"

"No!" Hinata blurted. Was this her life now? To be endlessly accused of being in love with Uchiha Sasuke?

"So why?"

Hinata sighed. "I put in a lot of effort to bring Sasuke back here. It would be a waste if that was all just for him to end up in prison." She lied to Sakura. In truth, she hadn't told the others about what Sasuke did to protect Naruto from the cruel reality of who Sasuke was. Hinata didn't want to shatter Naruto's hopes like hers had been.

"But he intended to kill you, doesn't that bother you?" Tears were beginning to drip down Sakura's cheeks. "It bothers me, and I only saw your injuries. And you were mad at Neji for trying to kill you, so why not Sasuke?"

Hinata sighed, it was time to feed Sakura a convincing combination of lies and truth. "I didn't say I wasn't mad at him. I…" Hinata searched for an appropriate word that wasn't too harsh, "...dislike Sasuke, I just don't want him in jail. I also doubt he was trying to kill me, in my entire time with him at the Sound he never killed anyone, even when it was easier to. He always went out of his way to keep the people he had to attack alive."

"But," Sakura blubbered, "But he said-"

"Sakura, he was probably trying to push you away by lying about that. That's what he does, push people away."

"But- But your injuries-"

"Aren't that bad, I received a lot worse while I was at the Sound from people with a lot more cruel intentions than Sasuke."

Sakura opened her mouth as though to say something, then closed it again. They were both quiet for a minute, the only noise being Sakura occasionally sniffling. Eventually Sakura sharply inhaled and said "It's been a long mission and we're both pretty dirty, why don't you go and take a shower?"

Hinata knew she was pretty gross at the moment. She had not washed herself in the better part of two weeks, since before she left on the trip with Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke to another Sound base. But the idea of taking a shower was immensely unappealing to Hinata. "I would, but I only have these clothes to change back into, and they're just as dirty," she told Sakura.

"Oh, you're right, "Sakura laughed faintly, "I don't have any clean clothes either. How about you take a bath, and I'll go run and pick up a few changes of clothes from my family's house? It's nearby so I'll be back before you're done."

Hinata hated that suggestion. "Yeah, sounds good." She gave Sakura what she hoped was a convincing smile.

"Alright, I'll be back soon." Sakura said and left the room, leaving Hinata sitting on the futon. With a sigh she looked over at the bathroom door. In the distance, Hinata could hear Sakura talking to Naruto, telling him she was going out and that Hinata would be taking a bath.

Deciding she couldn't avoid it any longer, Hinata stood up and strode into the bathroom. She turned on the bath, watching as the water filled up the tub. Seeing a cabinet, Hinata opened it to find towels and washcloths, she took out one of each. When the tub was only half full Hinata turned the water off. After getting undressed, she dipped the washcloth into the water and wrung it out, quickly flicking the excess water off of her hands as she did. Hinata ran the washcloth over her body to clean herself, occasionally dipping it back into the water and wringing it out. She winced as she cleaned over her abdominal bruise. After thoroughly scrubbing herself with the washcloth she toweled herself dry.

Hinata got on her knees outside the bathtub. She took out her hair tie, letting her hair down in undignified, greasy clumps. Leaning over the edge of the tub, she lowered her hair into the water, trying to get as much of it submerged without letting the water touch her scalp. Hinata wrung her hair out and- realizing as she looked around there was no soap or shampoo- began to massage the wet strands between her palms. She repeated this process a few times, dipping, wringing, and massaging her hair until she was satisfied with its cleanliness.

"Hinata?" Sakura said from the other side of the door with a knock, "I've got clothes for you and some toiletries."

Hinata grabbed the washcloth and hit it on the bath water, making a sloshing sound like someone moving in a bathtub. "Thank you, just leave them outside the door and I'll be out in a minute." She called out to Sakura.

As she toweled her hair dry, Hinata looked at the bathtub and saw the plug had no chain to yank it out with. Taking a deep breath, she reached her hand out over the water where the plug was. Hinata tensed up for a long moment. Finally she dunked her hand into the water and pulled out the plug as quickly as possible, as though the water was boiling. Dropping the plug, she threw her wet hand into the plush towel and dried it. She took a few shallow breaths as the room echoed with the sound of draining water.

Later that evening Hinata, Sakura, and Naruto sat in the living room in silence. Naruto had tried to engage Hinata in conversation, but after a few curt replies from her the conversation faded off into an uncomfortable silence. Hinata had her arms crossed in front of her in what looked like a defensive posture. In reality, she had her arms covering her chest because in the change of clothes Sakura had given her the bra was several sizes too small, and didn't fit Hinata. The issue of clothing would be remedied tomorrow, but for tonight Hinata was keeping her arms tightly crossed for the sake of modesty.

Sakura had set out some tea for the three of them, Hinata's cup was now untouched and probably cold. Hinata stared idly at the full cup, she could tell Naruto and Sakura were making occasional glances at her.

There was a knock at the door, causing all three to look up at the door then back at each other. "I'll get it," Naruto said as he stood up and walked over to the front door. A Hyuga man stepped in and turned to Hinata.

"Miss Hinata, Hiashi-sama is requesting your presence." He said with a bow. "Please come with me." Wordlessly, Hinata got up and strode over to the man. As he straightened from his bow, Hinata reached out and pushed him, causing him to stumble backwards out of the front door. "Miss Hina-" Hinata grabbed the door and slammed it shut, interrupting the man. She locked it and turned around. Naruto and Sakura were staring at her, flabbergasted.

Hinata crossed her arms back over her chest. "I'm going to bed," she grumbled, and went into her room.

It was mid afternoon and Tsunade looked over the mission reports with dismay. Hinata and Sasuke were currently being interrogated separately and Tsunade would get a report on each of them by the end of the day. However, in the morning, Team Kakashi had submitted their written mission reports, which included an account from Yamato, Sakura, Naruto, and Sai. Tsunade was looking over those reports now, her eyes were stuck on something Sai had written.

"After I entered the Sound base with Orochimaru and Kabuto, we entered the training room where we encountered Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata. Hyuga was keeled over on the floor and Uchiha was kicking her in the gut. Uchiha activated his chidori and Orochimaru stepped in and made him deactivate it."

Tsunade put the paper down and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew something was off when Hinata had said that her injuries were from training, but Tsunade hadn't expected this. What was she supposed to do about reintegrating Sasuke into Konoha now? Could he really be trusted after trying to kill another Konoha shinobi? As Tsunade pondered this, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." She said, Sakura entered with a polite bow. "Ah, Sakura, what brings you here?"

"Well, Tsunade-sama…" Sakura gingerly walked over to Tsunade's desk. "It's about Sasuke and Hinata." Sakura paused.

"Go ahead." Tsunade encouraged.

"I discovered yesterday that Sasuke is the one who gave Hinata her current injuries. When I asked him about it, he…" Sakura's voice cracked, "he said he was trying to kill her, said that he did it on a whim." Sakura paused and swallowed. "Then I talked to Hinata about it and she dismissed it like it was no big deal. She said she put in too much effort for him to go to jail, that Sasuke didn't intend to kill her and that he was just lying to me, and then she said that much worse had been done to her by crueler people." Sakura sniffled. "I don't… I don't know if we can trust Sasuke."

Tsunade sighed, "Thank you, Sakura, I will take that into consideration. Is there anything else?"

"There is, have you read my mission report yet?"

Tsunade grabbed Sakura's mission report out from the stack, "Not yet, I always save your reports for last as they're the best written."

"Oh." A pink tinge touched Sakura's cheeks, "Thank you. Um, so when we encountered Hinata, she had blue eyes-"

"Yes, in Yamato's report he says her eye color was the result of a henge jutsu."

"-But that's the thing, it wasn't." Sakura said, shaking her head. "I spent the first night alone with her, and she gave me her eyes in a vial. I had to replace them for her, then the following morning she did the henge trick because she thought the truth would worry them." Tsunade clenched her jaw at this information. "When I did the procedure to replace them, I noticed a lot of scar tissue, some of it recent, some older. I think she had eyeballs removed and replaced multiple times."

Tsunade interlaced her fingers and brought them up to her face, covering her grimacing mouth. "Do you think we should trust her?"

"I… I don't know." Sakura responded. "Everything she's said hasn't quite lined up, but I've read about victims of violence protecting the people who hurt them. I'm more worried for her than untrusting of her."

"I see. I appreciate you bringing this to me, Sakura. You may go." Sakura bowed and left the room. Tsunade sighed and continued on with reading the mission reports, now knowing that after that she would need to interrupt the interrogations with some questions of her own.

A half hour later, Tsunade was outside of the interrogation room that Hinata was currently in. She knocked on the door and signaled the lead interrogator, Morino Ibiki, out to talk.

"What do you have to report so far?" Tsunade asked once they were in the hallway alone.

"Not much, we've spent the past three hours going over the experiments Orochimaru put her through." Ibiki responded with a frustrated sigh. "Has she had a medical evaluation since she's returned? She probably needs one based on what she's been through."

"Not a thorough one, we only patched up her broken ribs." Tsunade crossed her arms, "Has she mentioned anything about the incident where they were broken?"

"No, though we haven't asked."

"And anything about Uchiha Sasuke?"

Ibiki shook his head, "No."

"Do you mind if I go in and ask a few questions?"

"You're welcome to." With that Ibiki and Tsunade entered the interrogation room. The room was nothing fancy, but also nothing particularly intimidating for an interrogation room. There was a table with three chairs around it, in one of them was Hinata, in another was a Yamanaka man using a lie detecting jutsu. On the table were three tea cups, the two interrogator's cups were near empty while Hinata's looked like it hadn't been touched. Hinata looked up as they entered the room.

"Hello, Tsunade-sama."

"Hello, Hinata." Tsunade sat down in the vacant seat, Ibiki leaned his back against the wall. "I have a few questions for you."

Hinata nodded, "Of course, go ahead."

"Did Uchiha Sasuke give you those injuries?"

Tsunade picked up on the way Hinata's expression subtly changed, like a small shift had occurred in her muscles she couldn't control. "...Yes." Hinata finally said.

"She's telling the truth." The Yamanaka confirmed.

"Why didn't you tell me he did when I asked you about them originally?"

Hinata sighed. "I didn't want my efforts to bring him back just result in him just going to jail."

The Yamanaka frowned, "She's not lying, per say, but I can tell she's withholding information."

"Well, Hinata, what aren't you saying?' Tsunade insisted.

"I, um…" A slight tinge of pink encroached on Hinata's cheeks. "It's just that… Naruto holds Sasuke in such high esteem. I thought if he found out it would… change him."

The Yamanaka nodded. "She's telling the truth."

"Did he ever attack you before this?"

Hinata shook her head, "No."

"Truth."

"Do you think he was trying to kill you?"

"I…" Hinata paused, clenching her jaw for a moment. "I don't know." She finally admitted with a sigh. "In our time at the Sound, Sasuke hasn't killed anyone. He's put a lot of effort into not killing, so when he attacked me I didn't think he had any killing intent behind it. But then he activated his chidori while I was prone and… I don't know."

"She's telling the truth."

"Do you think we can trust Sasuke after what he did to you?"

Hinata frowned, "I never trusted him in the first place."

"Truth."

"But do you think he's a threat to our village? We need to take an attack on a Konoha shinobi seriously."

"Well," Hinata's mouth thinned, "If your metric of trust is based on whether someone attacked a Konoha shinobi or not, you can't trust me, either."
Tsunade's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Hinata's lips almost disappeared entirely as she looked down at the table. "About three weeks ago, I… murdered Hyuga Koji while in service of the Sound."

"Truth."

"You did what?" Tsunade exclaimed as Hinata's posture shrunk. Tsunade had been well aware of the disappearance of Hyuga Koji and the Suna team he had been lent out to. It had been a contentious point of discussion between the village and the Hyuga clan. When Tsunade had summoned Hiashi last night he had started the conversation assuming that the meeting was about Koji's disappearance. And now Tsunade had unknowingly given his murderer a pardon.

"He had been injured, the rest of his team was dead, and he couldn't evade capture." Hinata fiddled with her fingers as she said this. "I gave him a quick death so he wouldn't become one of Orochimaru's experiments."

"Truth."

"What about the other Suna ninja he was on a mission with?"

"I killed them, too."

Tsunade gaped, that had been a jonin team. "Alone?"

Hinata shook her head, her eyes shined a little brighter than usual due to the tears welling up in them. "No, Sasuke injured one of the Suna shinobi and Koji, I finished them off."

"Truth."

"And their bodies?"

"Kabuto has them." There was a slight crack in Hinata's voice.

"Truth."

"Do you know what he's doing with their bodies?"

Hinata shuddered. "No. I don't even want to think about what Kabuto's done to them. I have notes on some of the experiments he did with cadavers, if you want a general idea of what he might have done to them."

Resting her elbows on the desk, Tsunade interlaced her fingers and brought them to her mouth. "I see." She said with a heavy sigh and stood up. "Ibiki, you may continue where you left off, pardon the interruption." With that, Tsunade left the room.

Tsunade crossed the hall to a door with an ANBU standing guard in front of it. He stepped to the side to allow her in. Inside the room, Uchiha Sasuke was handcuffed to a table with a blindfold covering his eyes, Yamanaka Inoichi was sitting in the chair opposite him.

"Tsunade-sama." Inoichi greeted with a nod of his head.

"How's the questioning going?" Tsunade asked as she sat down in the chair next to Inoichi, Sasuke scoffed as she did.

"He's being cooperative, even if he does have an attitude about it." Inoichi answered.

"Tch." Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth.

Inoichi chucked, "See what I mean?"

"Yeah. Do you mind if I ask him some questions?"

"No, go right ahead." Inoichi said.

"Thank you. Uchiha," she said, directing her gaze at Sasuke. "Did you try to kill Hyuga Hinata?"

Even with the blindfold over his eyes, Tsunade could tell Sasuke had frowned at this question. "Yes." He finally said through gritted teeth.

"Truth." Inoichi confirmed.

"Why?" Tsunade asked.

Sasuke smirked, "It was on a whim."

"Lie." Inoichi interjected. Sasuke scowled.

"Why did you try to kill ker?" Tsunade pressed.

"Because I found out she was infiltrating the sound." Sasuke spat.

"Lie."

Sasuke's teeth were bared, "Because she annoyed me."

"Lie."

"Stop that!"

"Uchiha, we can do this the easy way where you tell us, or the hard way where I enter your brain and go through all your memories and personal thoughts." Inoichi threatened. Sasuke pursed his lips.

"Fine. I did it because…" Sasuke's mouth shut in a grimace, then he let out a frustrated sigh. "...Because I heard Hinata saying Naruto's name in her sleep, and it pissed me off."

"Truth."

Tsunade felt her gut drop. "In her sleep? What were you doing with her while she was sleeping?"

A faint pink encroached on Sasuke's cheeks. "Nothing. She fell asleep in the training room."

"Truth."

Tsunade tried to suppress the sigh of relief. "What was your relationship with Hyuga Hinata?"

"She was an acquaintance, we always sparred whenever we were at the same base."

"Truth."

"Are you in love with her?" Sasuke's entire body jerked in response.

"No!"

"Lie." Inoichi's eyebrows were raised in surprise.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Lie."

Sasuke huffed and slumped back on his chair.

"Well?" Tsunade asked.

"Are you really going to make me say it?" Sasuke groaned.

Tsunade nodded, though Sasuke couldn't see her nod. "I really am."

Sasuke's expression soured. "I… love Hinata."

"Truth."

"Crap." Sasuke said.

"Why say that?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't want to be in fucking love." Sasuke spat. "I need to get revenge and these feelings for Hinata are getting in the way."

"Truth."

Tsunade frowned. "Do you have any intention to harm Hinata?"

"No."

"Truth."

"Do you have any intention to harm anyone?"

"Only Itachi."

"Truth."

"Okay." Tsunade said as she stood up. "Thank you for letting me interrupt, Inoichi. Uchiha, we're giving you a second chance, don't screw it up. And… Try to be nice to the girl, maybe she'll actually start to like you back."

Sasuke scoffed. "Do you have her getting this 'truth' and 'lie' treatment, too?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Then ask her if she's planning on massacring the Hyuga clan."

At the end of the day of interrogation, Sasuke was surprised to find he was getting sent to the apartment with Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata, and not being thrown back in his cell. After he was questioned by the Hokage and had to admit that he tried to kill Hinata, he thought his chance at freedom was done for. Now he was embarrassed that he was forced to admit something to strangers that he had not even admitted to himself. He was in love with Hinata.

What a sickening thing. He thought grimly. Sasuke didn't have time to be in love, especially with an unsuitable marriage candidate like Hinata. Sasuke needed to get revenge and continue his bloodline. Hinata's inability to fit the role as wife was something he had thought about a few times before. With an ocular kekkei genkai, her genes would compete against his, increasing the risk of offspring with no sharingan. Additionally, her clan would doubtlessly want to involve themselves in the affairs of whatever children the two of them could have. And how could he marry someone that hated him, anyway?

"We're here!" Naruto exclaimed. "Welcome to our new home, Sauske!"

"Hn," Sasuke responded, reaching out his hand to feel his way to the door. Sasuke was still blindfolded, he had been instructed by Tsunade to keep wearing it until he entered the apartment. Suddenly he felt a pair of hands clasp around his arm and tug him gently.

"Here, Sasuke," Sakura said.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, following where he was being tugged until he felt himself go over the threshold. Shaking Sakura's arm off, he reached up and pulled off the blindfold, taking a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness his eyes had been deprived of. His eyes darted to the new mark on the back of his hand, a seal that alerted ANBU if he left the Konoha perimeter. Sasuke looked around the apartment, it seemed small for a place four people were going to be living.

"Isn't it exciting? Our own place to stay!" Naruto said, plopping down on one end of the couch. Behind Sasuke, Sakura closed the front door. Sasuke didn't see Hinata, she had been with them, had she wandered off before he could take his blindfold off?

"I guess." Sasuke mumbled, taking a seat in the single armchair next to the couch. He sunk into it slightly.

Sasuke saw from the corner of his eye Hinata walking out of the kitchen, a glass of water in hand. She sat down on the opposite end of the couch as Naruto, Sakura sat down between them.

"So, Sasuke, how have you been all this time?" Naruto asked. "We've really missed you!"

Sasuke grumbled, "I've been fine, dumba-" Sasuke was interrupted by a knock on the door. Everyone exchanged glances.

"I'll get it!" Naruto said, jumping up from the couch.

"If it's another Hyuga messenger, don't let them in." Hinata called to him as he darted past.

Naruto swung the door open, "Hello- oh!" A Hyuga man brushed past him and entered the living room, Hinata stood up and moved away from the couch to the open floor.

"Hello, Hinata, I've missed you." The man said.

"Get out of my apartment, Hiashi." Hinata demanded, pointing to the door.

"I wanted to see you, to see my daughter I thought was dead." Sasuke gaped at the man, this was Hinata's father?

"You've seen me, now leave." Hinata hissed.

"Hinata." He took a step closer to Hinata, causing her to take a step back. "I've realized in your absence that I was a terrible father. I treated you poorly and you didn't deserve that." Hiashi bowed to her, "I am deeply sorry for what I've done. I never intended to drive you away from the Hyuga clan. When your probation is over please, please return to the Hyuga clan as its rightful heir."

Sasuke looked at Hinata, her face was blank, almost expressionless. She stood there frozen, looking at her father, who had not relinquished his bow.

Finally, Hiashi spoke, "Do you have nothing to say to your father?"

Hinata's lips thinned. "I have something to say to the head of the Hyuga clan." Her father looked up at her. "Koji is dead. I had to kill him to prevent him from becoming a live experiment to the Sound." Sasuke's mind flashed back to the Hyuga man Hinata killed, the way she had stared Sasuke down as she did it still bothered him.

Hiashi was silent for a moment, straightening himself out of the bow. "I see." He finally said. "How was your time in the Sound? I want to know everything."

Hinata scoffed at him and walked past him and into one of the bedrooms, slamming the door behind her. Sakura sprung up from her seat and followed her in. Hiashi looked over to the closed door and sighed, then turned to look at Sasuke.

"Uchiha," He said, a stern look on his face, "from what I understand, my daughter undertook infiltrating the Sound to retrieve you. She saved your life, I hope you're grateful to her." Sasuke scowled at him, he should be grateful she dragged him back here? "Please look after her, you owe her that much." With that, Hiashi turned around and left, leaving a shocked Naruto still holding the door.

Naruto closed the door. "He's gone." He called out to the room Hinata and Sakura were in. The door opened and Hinata and Sakura walked out.

"Good," Hinata said. "Can we go to the training grounds? I want to hit something."

Wow, this is my longest chapter yet! Thanks to everyone who has read this fic so far! Comments are appreciated! If you like what I've written here, you might enjoy my other fics! I have one fic, The Two Avengers, that I'm only posting on Ao3 because of how explicitly violent it is, you can go to my profile for the link to my Ao3 account.