**A clarification: In this story, Sasuke does indeed only have one arm. I apologize for any confusion and for not truly considering how a person with one arm would go about their daily business.

Hello again. Enjoy.

oOo

Bushido Virtue: Loyalty

Sasuke lazily inspected the two men standing outside the door. He did not know much of either of them, save for the run-of-the-mill gossip. It had been years since the Chunin exams where Neji had been "that Hyuga bastard." The rumor went like this:

For six years, Neji was groomed to be the next Hyuga clan leader. He was a clear genius, who managed to rise above his branch status. The world was his. They did not seal him.

Then Hanabi was born and proved herself adept. Perhaps she would even surpass Neji. So, he was sealed, far later than recommended. Some said this sealing affected his brain, turning a kind boy into a bitter young man. Others said he was disappointed in having a chance at freedom, then losing it.

Whatever happened, Sasuke knew that Neji was cold, and a pain in the ass to deal with. Sasuke did not know too much about Hizashi.

The man in question inclined his head in welcome.

Sasuke grunted: "She's over there." He closed the door behind the two men when they entered and they waited for him to close the door so they could follow him.

He took some satisfaction in the fact that his black turtleneck had his clan's fan embroidered on the back. Seeing as he had taken point, the people trailing him were forced to look at it.

Their steps were silent, betraying the fact that three killers were slipping through Hinata's house. Sasuke briefly reflected on that. He could always hear Hinata, but she was always wearing her armored boots around him, causing her steps to be heavy.

How was this straight forward woman supposed to flourish in a village full of deceivers?

When they entered, Hinata was standing. The Hyuga bowed in greeting and she mirrored them.

Sasuke's eyes slipped over her veil and mask and he recalled the conversation they had not even half an hour before.

"And what's going to stop the Hyuga from just activating the Byakugan and taking a peek at whatever's going on with your eyes?"

Hinata reached up and tapped at her mask. It surprised Sasuke when he heard her nail hitting something solid. "It's the same material as our armor. It doesn't conceal our chakra all the way but… obscures most of it."

He could not help but lean in. Before, he had not cared about her veil. But now he was getting curious. "But if you can still use your chakra, how does it not dull your senses?"

Hinata gave a wry smile and lifted her hands in a shrug. "The technology has never been explained to me."

Of course. Hinata was never privy to anything useful. Another confirmation that Mifune was planning for her to come back, or at least considered it as a possibility.

He sat back and studied her. Allowing himself to be more candid than usual, he asked: "If I cannot figure it out, are you going to tell me how your eyes work?"

Her spine stiffened to an intense degree. Her head turned to face the sliding door that had been left open and faced a small garden. A breeze shuffled through the yard and disturbed the bushes. "I won't begrudge you an answer if you ask a question."

"But it has to be the right question for the answer I want." He asserted.

Her voice fell to almost a whisper. "They're almost here."

She sensed the approach of the Hyuga almost a second before he did. He allowed her to redirect the conversation.

Which brought them to this moment. Hinata exchanged bows with the two Hyuga as she re-met them for the first time. As the host, she settled at the head of the table and gracefully distributed the tea. If she was nervous, Sasuke could not tell.

"Thank you for allowing us into your home." Hizashi said just a touch above a murmur.

Hinata inclined her head. She was wearing a much more ceremonial veil than Sasuke had seen before. The thickest part, the armored part, was a solid black, concealing most of her face and it dipped lower at her cheeks to wrap around her head at the jaw. Above it was a lace veil that was so purple it was almost black and cascaded to her waist. Beneath it, she traded her usual clothing for a kimono and even though it clung to her figure, she still managed to make herself look like a sheathed blade.

Compared to the austere Hyuga robes and Sasuke's casual clothing, she was the most formal of them all. She was more akin to a princess in the capitol than shinobi royalty in this dusty village.

"The village has seen to all my needs and I am very grateful." Hinata responded to Hizashi.

Neji cut in. His posture was perfect, but he leaned forward like he wanted to assert his presence. Hizashi and Sasuke had settled to either side of Hinata so Neji was the farthest away.

"If I may, we are here on business." Neji asserted.

The tightness around Hizashi's eyes was the only sign that he was annoyed by the interruption.

"Forgive us," Hizashi smoothly resumed the dance. "My son is a consummate shinobi, but it can be said that the war has made us forget our manners."

Neji sat back and directed his glower at the table. Sasuke hid his smile behind his teacup. He at least, could pretend to behave.

"No offense taken." Hinata demurred. "I admit that I am at a loss in regard to the purpose of this meeting."

Hizashi canted his head to the side. For a Hyuga, every micro expression was a sentence. A gesture: a shout across a room.

Hot damn, if Hinata was not playing the Hyuga like a fiddle. Something approaching appreciation for her technique rose in Sasuke's chest. She wielded her words like he wielded his katana. If Team Taka was still functional, he would have added her in a heartbeat.

Jugo knew a good thing when he saw it.

Hizashi smoothed his palms over the fabric on his thighs. More performative than anything. "Pardon me, but it was my understanding that our missive outlined the need of the Hyuga clan to inspect your Caged Bird seal."

"Oh." Hinata's hand slipped up to the spot where the curve of her mouth met the veil. It was astounding how this woman could look both like a weapon and so fragile at the same time. A part of Sasuke bought the lie and his stomach clenched. He inspected his tea as an excuse to gather himself.

He threw it back once Hinata started speaking again so he could have no distractions.

"Indeed," she said. "I understand the need of the Clan to protect its interests. If I may be so bold, and I apologize, but the message may have been more effective if I could read."

Neji snapped his gaze up to her.

Hizashi gave a long, slow blink. "The Hyuga clan would have taught you to read before you left…" He said.

Hinata sprung the trap. Her shoulder blades snapped upwards and her head dropped as she curled into herself as if embarrassed. "One cannot read if one cannot see, Huyga-san."

The silence was still and oppressive. With trained ears, Sasuke monitored the heartbeats of the people in the room. Hizashi's and Neji's were steady but Sasuke could hear the sharp intake of breath from Hizashi. And the momentary stilling of Neji's. But for some reason, he could only focus on Hinata.

Calmer than a sea with no wind, her heart pumped steadily. He peeked out of the corner of his eye and while her act was physically immaculate, the rhythm was hypnotizing. It was pulling him in, urging him closer… Her tongue flicked out to lick at her lips and Sasuke could not look away. His breath fell into sync with hers without any conscious thought on his part.

Hizashi spoke and the spell was broken. His voice suddenly was too loud in Sasuke's ears. "I beg your pardon?"

She ducked her head, and this was not the woman who dispatched the bandits with cold efficiency. This was a different woman. It was a performance worthy of an opera house. She looked scared and alone. Sasuke clenched his fist underneath the table. She was a consummate liar.

"… For most of my life…" She raised a trembling hand to her temples before dropping it abruptly in her lap. "General Mifune and others… w-wondered about my seal. A series of experiments… rendered me blind."

Despite himself, Sasuke wondered at how much of this was the truth. Her Cursed Seal had indeed been removed, which did suggest tampering… possibly experimentation. But blind?

He highly doubted it. Yet, something was wrong with her eyes.

But what?

Hizashi shuffled on his knees and inclined his head in a facsimile of a bow. Neji gave a tiny jerk as if he had been struck.

"I apologize, Hinata-sama." Hizashi intoned.

Even Hinata paused. Sasuke felt struck dumb. What was going on?

Hizashi continued. "I have never had the opportunity to ask for your forgiveness nor had the opportunity to thank you for your sacrifice. We had hoped… I had hoped you were still Hyuga enough to rejoin the family." He bent until his forehead was touching the tatami. Neji was so agitated he was practically vibrating. "As Branch members, we are indebted to you. If you are in need, we hope you do not hesitate to call upon us." He smoothly got to his feet and his son followed.

"We will report your status to our Head. No further action will be taken. Our apologies for disturbing you. Hinata-sama. Sasuke-sama."

In unison, the Hyuga gave small bows and silently left. In shock, Hinata and Sasuke sat in silence until she finally tilted her head towards him.

"That… was not supposed to happen, was it? Were they saying… what I think they were saying?"

"He was… very particular in letting you know that the Branch supported you."

"That…" She placed her hands on the table and knotted her fingers together. Her show of nerves soothed Sasuke. Even though she was a consummate liar, he was able to identify what was the truth. Or she felt safe enough to show her real feelings to him.

If she was false with him, he would know.

"That was not what I had expected," she admitted.

Sasuke would have to reconsider if Naruto suspected anything. However, Sasuke allowed himself to be honest with Hinata as well.

"I did not expect that either."

Later, Sasuke lay in bed, staring at the shadows. He contemplated what would have happened if he allowed himself to be weak and asked: "What will you do with that opportunity?"

And in his mind, she would have turned her head towards him and said through the lace: "Your advice would be very much appreciated, Sasuke-san." Even if she had no obligation to follow it. But she would. Because she trusted him.

He hissed and rolled onto his stomach, firmly pressing his hips into the mattress.

oOo

Not more than a week later, Jugo let Sasuke stew for half a day. Sasuke turned his head to the doorway where the other man was wringing his hands together.

"Do you want food? Water?" Jugo asked quietly.

Sasuke did not bother to lift his head off the pillow before turning his gaze back to the celling.

"Sasuke… you've been getting worse." Jugo tentatively shuffled in further. "The tea didn't help?"

Sasuke did not answer.

"I'll get Hinata." Jugo decided.

oOo

Sasuke slouched forward on the stool in the kitchen after Jugo had poked and prodded him down the stairs. Hinata stood next to Jugo explaining… something about the chakra pathway system and chakra build up. Sasuke could not bring himself to care.

He could feel Hinata slip her arm around him to place a hand on the middle of his chest. Jugo slightly pulled Sasuke up. Chakra pulsed through her hand and practically instantaneously, Sasuke felt like he could take a full breath for the first time in weeks. Possibly since Hinata first gave him that tea.

Hinata's voice came back into focus, like tuning into the right station on the radio. "The Harm Gate, Death Gate, and Life Gate are very concentrated in this spot in the body. His Initial Gate," Hinata carefully cupped a hand over the Rinnegan, "is also blocked."

She instructed Sasuke to take a breath in and in a second, a headache that had been simmering without his conscious knowledge dissolved.

Lastly, she placed a firm hand on the base of his spine. "Lastly, most of his chakra is pooling at this Gate. The Wonder Gate." She released her chakra and Sasuke had to frantically bite back a loud and unexpected groan.

It was crass but honestly, arousal rushed through him as if being released along with his chakra. The tips of his toes and fingers tingled like limbs being filled with blood for the first time in a long time. He felt lighter and had to reign in the extra energy coursing through him. Everything seemed lighter and more intense than before.

He was so fucking turned on. Sasuke hunched over further and covered his smile with his hand.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke?" Jugo bent over to peer into Sasuke's face.

Amused at his body's reaction to feeling like a regular human being again, Sasuke nodded his head. When he wrestled his emotions back into those suited for polite company, he was going to have to break the news.

Jugo was never allowed to help Sasuke out with this.

oOo

Sasuke ran into Yamato at the library. Sasuke was leafing through a book when he felt a presence on his left. Flicking his hair out of his eye, he glanced at the person standing next to him.

Yamato reached over and pushed the cover up so he could see the cover. "Construction." He hummed and glanced at some book spines around them. "Home improvement."

Sasuke allowed himself to roll his eyes. Yamato and Kakashi really should not spend so much time with each other. "Your point?"

"Most people would just ask one of their former team members to help them build a new house." Yamato intoned seriously, almost like he was offended by the oversight.

Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh. Of course, people already knew about Sasuke's plans. There was no privacy in a village of nins. Snapping the book shut, he said: "You would just put traps in it or rig it to fall down when I was inside."

Yamato smirked. He pulled out a selection of tomes and stacked them on Sasuke's original book. "I had to try."

"Anything else?" Sasuke asked drily.

Yamato clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll go with you to the lumberyard." He turned to go. "Orochimaru was dead for at least a while because of you. I can manage to help you find some lumber."

Sasuke watched the other man disappear behind the shelves before looking down his stack of books. This time he allowed himself to sigh. Time for some reading.

He was dropping them off in his bedroom when Jugo appeared at the doorway.

"Hinata's going to fight Tenten!" The redhead announced.

oOo

Sasuke settled himself in some branches above the training ground and took stock of other people doing the same. Jugo was right next to him and there was a flash of gold and Naruto was settling himself on a branch nearby.

"What's happening?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's brow furrowed. "I remember something about Tenten asking Hinata if she would want to spar but…"

"This doesn't feel like just sparring." Jugo said.

And it did not. Most spars did not have half the village ringing the clearing as spectators. The tension hung over the clearing almost like killing intent. Hinata stood on one end, her naginata behind her back and her short sword strapped to her waist. She had her hakama tucked into her armored boots, gauntlets on her forearms, her chest plate over a yukata, and the eyeless helmet. Underneath the helmet her hair fell down her back in a slim ponytail.

Tenten was on the other end, in her classic sparring outfit and scroll behind her back. Her Bashōsen was nowhere to be seen.

Jugo shifted nervously and clutched his hands together. A bird floated over to land on his shoulder.
"Is Hinata a good fighter?"

Is that why the audience was here? "She fought in the war. She survived." Sasuke shrugged. For him, that was good enough.

A nearby nin picked up the gossip and it spread around the clearing in a wave. Hinata was not an honorary samurai. She was a warrior, like them.

The anticipation ratcheted up to an almost oppressive degree.

Hinata raised her naginata and the whispering ceased. Sasuke could almost hear her foot as it slid over the grass as she sunk down into position. With an echoing shout, Tenten launched herself into the air. A flick of her wrist and the scroll opened.

Hinata did not move until the weapons were almost on top of her. Jugo grabbed Sasuke's empty sleeve.

Sasuke reached around and placed the hand on his triceps right before the arm ended. Jugo squeezed once in thanks.

When he did so, Hinata swung her naginata and body in a circle. It almost reminded Sasuke of the Hyuga's 8 Trigrams Palm Rotation. But Hinata did not stay still. Like a cyclone, she moved forward, knocking away kunai and hatchets.

Tenten was not done. She sent another barrage of weapons Hinata's way then disappeared. Hinata stopped her forward movement but she was still working on repelling the attack. She stopped moving in a circle and planted herself facing forward. Tenten, with a mace in hand, reappeared behind Hinata and bore down from above.

Still busy with knocking spears out of the air, it looked like Hinata would not notice the attack from behind. Tenten almost even seemed to hesitate when she was practically on top of Hinata.

Hinata flipped her spear and planted the blade of her weapon in the ground. Leaving it for a moment, she reached over and behind her with both hands and grabbed Tenten's wrist.

With a shout that was eerily filtered through the respirator, Hinata threw the other woman over her head in a show of sheer strength. Hinata had to crouch at the end so Tenten's legs would not impact the ground first.

Tenten landed on her back. Hinata sprung up from her crouch and sprinted to the other woman. Tenten jumped to her feet and Hinata threw herself into a slide on her knees. She unsheathed her sword and slashed at Tenten's calves. Tenten jumped over the blade and used her chakra to once again disappear out of existence in a puff of smoke.

She reappeared in a pile of weapons and grabbed a handful of kunai. She threw them at her opponent as a distraction as she moved to pick up Hinata's naginata. There was an electrical whine which visibly confused Tenten. Until, it let off a bolt of electricity.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. The weapon did not do that when he touched it.

Tenten was thrown backward into a tree. Hinata sheathed her sword and calmly paced over to her spear. She grabbed it and headed over to her partner. Hinata had the confidence of a predator, but she did not care if her prey saw her. She was so unlike a shinobi, Sasuke felt a strange sort of thrill watching her fight.

One of her sleeves was torn, her chest plate and knees were caked with mud. Tenten pulled herself up the tree. Once within striking distance, Hinata thrust the blade forward. It stabbed through a small log. She thrust her spear straight backwards. Hinata had guessed the location of Tenten correctly. Tenten dodged, grabbed the handle in a gutsy move and kicked Hinata in the back, pinning her to the tree.

Jugo's grip tightened. Naruto hissed.

Hinata grunted and let go of her weapon. The warning sound of an electrical blast began again. Tenten dropped it in a panic. In her distraction, she let the pressure off her foot and off Hinata.

Hinata pulled out her sword once again and reached up to stab it into the tree. Using it to pull herself up she scrambled up the trunk a bit then pushed off in a backflip. Leaving the naginata behind, Hinata ran to get some distance. Tenten followed her.

Hinata slid to a stop, anchoring one of her boots in the mud and flipping an axe into her hand with another, she threw it at Tenten.

Tenten dodged and then they were sparring hand to hand.

It was a magnificent display of skill. And every time Tenten moved to grab her scroll, she would get distracted by a well-aimed kick or Hinata would pluck a weapon off the ground. At some point, Tenten must have thought a long-range attack was not worth arming her opponent further.

Tenten managed to get her hands on a hatchet and she jabbed the handle underneath Hinata's jaw. Hinata cried out as her helmet was knocked off, revealing her eye mask underneath. She stumbled back and caught her headgear midair. When Tenten moved forward, Hinata swung it across her body and smacked Tenten in the face with it.

Tenten's head snapped to the side as blood spewed out of her mouth. Everyone froze as the strange atmosphere dissipated.

Hinata fell to one knee, leaning on her helmet planted in the ground to keep her upright. Tenten staggered away a couple of steps and brought a hand up to her jaw.

She prodded her mouth for a couple of seconds. "Ow."

Hinata tugged a bit at the bindings covering her face. Then she touched her neck. "Me too." She breathed around a small smile before letting out a cough.

Tenten laughed and leaned forward resting her hands on her thighs. "Cleanup is gonna be a bitch. I don't know if I have enough chakra yet to get all of these things back in my scroll."

Hinata giggled. "Good luck with that, I'm going home."

"Aw man."

Sasuke was not surprised when people eagerly started volunteering to help.

oOo

Jugo insisted that Hinata come home with them so he could fuss over the cuts and bruises she received. He had been practicing his healing techniques and was eager to help her out. Unknown to Sasuke, Jugo volunteered Sasuke's clothes as a replacement for Hinata's ripped and bloody ones.

Sasuke passed Jugo in the hall. Jugo smiled around his armful of dirty laundry.

"I told her I'd wash and mend it." Jugo said shyly.

"You like her that much?" Sasuke murmured.

Jugo blushed. "She's nice. She's… like us." He ducked his head down but clearly fought to meet Sasuke's eyes. "She should be one of us."

Longing stabbed through his chest so sharply it felt like he needed to catch his breath. Sasuke faced forward and continued to his bedroom. The screen was not shut all the way and Sasuke accidently saw through the gap. Hinata's back was to him but she turned her head to the side as she pulled the yukata over her bare shoulders. It was one of his plain ones, with no clan insignia on the back.

Pity, Sasuke thought. Then was immediately embarrassed.

Ears hot, Sasuke did a quick about face and went to go hide with Jugo.

oOo

Coming up: Sh*t gets romantic, yo.