Hey, I'm making my chapter dump. For those of you how don't know how I write. I usually post a lot of chapters at once, then you won't hear from me again for a while. Also for the random person that PM'd me asking if I was black because of my profile picture and the way I write, yes I am. In this 'post racial' world it may shock you that black people love anime just as much as everyone else. My Vice President is black, and my chevy cruze is silver, deal with it.

Chapter 4:

Ghosts were the least of Sasuke's worries.

What the hell was wrong with him, he blamed his years of exposure to that orange jumpsuited idiot. Sasuke didn't feel bad for people, because Sasuke didn't feel. If by chance he did happen to feel something for some doe-eyed chick, it would be one that didn't have his eyeballs surgically implanted in her skull.

He didn't need a servant; his day consisted of training until he blacked out, two hours of sleep tops filled with shacky nightmares, and then his midday appointment for self-loathing which he could not miss. He was booked. He didn't need distractions or fangirls.

However, Sasuke had to admit Hinata didn't seem like other women. She didn't harp on maddeningly, although Sasuke would need to add additional training to fix her stutter before he was forced to cut her vocal cords. It also surprised Sasuke that she didn't seem intimidated or scared of him. Most women were attracted by Sasuke's looks but terrified of his aura, an occurrence he loved to watch unfold when he and Naruto went to get drinks. Women would see him across the room, approach and when they were about a foot from him, they could sense the dark aura that surrounded Sasuke. He found the looks of terror on their faces priceless.

The Hyuga woman, which he guessed wasn't really a Hyuga now seemed to hold a general unease with herself, but she was able to exist within close proximity to him, which made Sasuke curious.

Curious enough to now be living with the woman apparently.

He looked down at the now-empty crystal glass that once held sake in it only moments ago. Sakura harped at him constantly to stop drinking, therefore on days where he had the social allotment to actually hang out with her, he would drink even more just to watch her face turn the same color as her hair.

Sasuke winced as he watched the sun climb slowly over the hillside that obscured the Uchiha district from view. So, he had sat at his kitchen island the entire night it seemed. Fantastic.

Maybe he could go back up to his bed and close his eyes for a brief-

"O-Ohayo Sasuke-kun," he heard a small voice. He turned to look at the girl who possessed his eyes and gave her a curt nod. She studied him for a moment, taking in the clothes he still wore from yesterday and his stoic face which showed more signs of the dead than the living. Finally, they traveled down to his hands and stared at the now-empty drinking vessel.

Sasuke smirked. Of course, she would say something, every woman felt some Kami given urge to fix a man that drank and wasn't screaming his feelings every five seconds.

Funny enough, the pale woman didn't speak. Clad in thick nightwear of purest white, she crossed the kitchen toward him. Her hair was long and braided behind her and as his eyes flickered faster than anyone would be able to see them and saw that her cheeks were flushed, maybe from washing her face with water that was a little too hot.

Her feet, which were bare and neatly manicured, made surprisingly no noise as she glided across the cool dark granite floor of the kitchen.

Her hand, which was so tiny Sasuke dreaded having to teach her to hit with something other than an open palm, reached out and gripped the sake bottle. For a moment Sasuke dreaded that she would pour it down the sink, it was good stuff. However, in a swift graceful motion, as though she had been pouring tea and serving all her life, she tipped the rest of the contents into the glass and threw the bottle into the waste bin.

"I-I w-will pick up some m-more for you when I go to the market today," the woman stuttered lightly.

"Hn," Sasuke found himself grunting in acceptance.

This might be a better arrangement than he thought. He hated the village and its people and the less he had to go into it the better. Hinata seemed to be thrilled at the concept of visiting an area where the family that disgraced her frequented. Maybe she didn't mind getting gawked at for having the rarest eyes in all the hidden villages, maybe…

On second thought, maybe he would just go with and show her where all of his favorite food items were located, once she knew, she could go alone in the future with no issue.

Plus, the former Hyuga had a bleeding heart, she might give all their food money to some bum who told her she smelled nice.

"Get dressed, we'll go now I have a few things I need to pick up for your training."

Hinata looked shocked but nodded regardless and turned toward the stairs. "Y-you u-uh y-you may want to change too Uchiha-kun."

Sasuke eyed her glaringly, however when he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective metal of the refrigerator he winced slightly. For once in the sad woman's life, she may have point.

"30 minutes, then we leave."

The girl nodded, flushed faced as she ran upstairs to her room.

Or should he say Itachi's room? He pondered this as he ascended the back flight of stairs. His right eye twitched at the mention of its former owner. With the obscenely common way, the Uchiha passed around their eyes, honestly, something like Hinata's case was inevitable.

His room was only a hallway corner away from the woman's, though she probably didn't know it. When Sasuke was smaller, he would get nightmares, because of this his room was placed closer to Itachi's. Being next to his big brother had always made him feel better, even in the end.

Sasuke scoffed at the sentimental thought as he placed the now empty glass down on his bedside table. There were bigger rooms in the house. His parents' room was a suite with a sauna in the shower and rolling heated tub that his father installed to relax when he had to work late nights policing Konoha. Despite the luxury, he couldn't bring himself to sleep in the room his parents had. Their clothes still lined the closet and his mother's jewelry still lay in a box covered in a thin layer of dust.

Truthfully, when he had left his home to learn from Orochimaru, he had not thought he would ever live long enough to return there again. After his fight with that baka Naruto, he had come back in the middle of the night, unlocked the door, and felt the crushing emptiness that laid within. If he was being candid with himself, he still felt that feeling; maybe it was the reason he had allowed the girl to stay.

He scoffed as he turned the nozzle on in the shower and then used his good arm to undo the buttons on his high collared shirt. He didn't know what he had expected when he returned to the compound. The ghost of Uchiha's past walking around the compound as if nothing happened maybe?

He shook his head as he stepped into the warm spray. His mind unwillingly flashed to Itachi's last moments. He blinked away thoughts of trembling bloody fingers reaching up to tap his forehead for the last time. Itachi had told him to live his life, restart the clan.

Sasuke had purposefully done everything in his power to avoid doing that very thing. People fought, killed, and ruined their lives over the Sharingan bloodline limit. He didn't think himself particularly fond of children, but even he knew they didn't deserve that fate.

Yet, despite his efforts, somehow there were now two Sharingan users in the world right now.

"Tch," he scoffed. Itachi, that manipulative bastard was probably Kami knows where smirking as his plan unfolded. The only saving grace in the whole situation was that the girl had once been Hyuga. She had been raised in a clan with eyes almost equally as powerful and knew what to expect. In essence, she had just traded one valuable set of eyes for another. Sasuke briefly thought back to what the girl had said earlier. She wasn't a Hyuga anymore, to clan's as powerful as theirs, visual prowess was everything, especially for heads of clans and their children. The Uchiha had been much more progressive than the Hyuga, but Sasuke imagined his father would have treated him a lot differently if he had lived long enough and Sasuke had not developed the Sharingan.

Still, Sasuke wanted about as much to do with his new housemate then he wanted with the rest of these blind Konoha sheep.

Once he was clean and had washed his shoulder-length hair, Sasuke stepped out of the shower. Drying himself off with a nearby towel, he noticed his hair was getting too long for function. How Madara Uchiha walked around with waist-length hair was beyond him. He would have to get it cut again but cutting it himself had proven difficult with one arm and no one in town would touch him with a six-foot pole.

Going to his closet, he pulled on a similar shirt. Tucking the sleeve of his missing arm into the shirt for a better appearance. He hated to have the sleeve dangle beside him, moving every which way and getting caught on things. He foregoes his vest, but clips on his cloak to better conceal the blade he always carried with him.

Dear Kami, what would the dobe say about him taking the girl in? He finally remembered vaguely who she was, and that she and Naruto had a brief history of some sort, but he didn't know what the status of that was after Naruto confessed his love for the weapons mistress after the war.

As he descended the stairs, he decided he didn't know, and he didn't care. All the annoying people that kept hanging around in his life would just have to get along.

Sasuke had to give it to the petit woman, she moved with purpose.

She had changed into the shinobi clothes she had donned previously. Sasuke figured based on the fact that she had not come with luggage or even a mission pack, that she had no other clothes to change into. Part of him wanted to make the girl sweat, see how long she would wear this one outfit before she either asked Sasuke for money to buy more, or she stuck up a jewelry store. Sasuke hoped for the former as it seemed more entertaining.

She could always try to procure her things from her family. However, he remembered what the girl used to wear in her academy days, and he didn't believe those clothes to be worth it.

Sasuke was simple, he liked this shirt, so he bought twelve of them and called it a day. He was not seen very often so when people saw him again, they just assumed he had worn several different outfits in the meantime, he was crafty that way.

The woman seemed to be crafty as well. She flowed through the aisles of the small Konoha market with ease. She smiled shyly at each vendor as she grabbed assorted vegetables, rice, and nori. Sasuke loomed silently in the background like the shadow he was so great at being.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Due to the fact that the blue-haired woman never looked people directly in the eyes, not many even noticed the intense black orbs that matched Sasuke's uncovered eye. Unless she felt strong emotions and activated the dojutsu, they shouldn't have any issue concealing it. Sasuke was starting to think he could have stayed home when he heard a high-pitched squeal.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke instinctively clutched the weapon he hid under his long black cloak. However, he relaxed his grip when he saw it was just the other bane to his existence.

Sakura Haruno came bounding through the semi-crowded market, arms raised as though it would keep Sasuke from escaping anywhere before she could reach him. He sighed.

Hinata turned around as well, looking for the source of the racket. Part of him wanted to take the woman's arm and run back to the safe retreat of his district, but he stood his ground.

He and Sakura were complicated. Before he had left, he had felt a sense of obligation to the girl. She had stuck by him through so much that it felt selfish, and almost evil of him, to not placate her romantic wishes. There had been a few kisses exchanged, maybe even some light petting, however, once he had begun his travels his mindset changed. Sasuke was not too proud of a man to admit he had been childish. Orochimaru had prayed on his childish tendencies and used them to almost gain Sasuke as a vessel. All those times that Itachi refused to fight him seriously were not only because he lacked skill, but it was also because, despite everything Sasuke had been through, he had not matured worth a damn. It wasn't until his journey that he started to realize a lot of his flaws, he atoned for his sins the best he could, but he was tired of placating those around him. Just because the war was over, didn't mean that Sasuke was going to be this miraculous new person who shook hands and kissed babies. It just wasn't who he was.

However, based on those moments they'd shared, Sakura viewed the possibilities in their relationship as endless, Sasuke begged to differ. However, Sakura wasn't one of those people that you could be straightforward with; he had tried blatantly telling her to kick rocks, she laughed him off clamming that Sasuke just needed time to get in touch with his "inner feelings." The only "inner feeling" Sasuke had was indignation, and he was pretty sure he didn't need Sakura for that.

"S-Sakura-chan," Hinata said greeting the pink-haired woman shyly, but with a slight fondness. Sasuke silently thanked Kami for the former Hyuga. If Hinata was here, then Sakura could not talk about what she really wanted to, which was their non-existent relationship.

"Hinata-chan, it's good to see you, I heard about you…" Sakura trailed off awkwardly. Her pink haired head snapped up to look Hinata in the eyes. The look there was an unmistakable pity. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He had to train the girl fast, he would not have his bloodline limit looked down upon, and no shinobi deserving of jonin status deserved that look either.

"Sakura don't you have somewhere to be, or do babies deliver themselves now?" Sasuke stared at her blankly. Despite all the things that Sakura had helped him through, she still had not mastered tact. Sasuke was a rightful bastard, but he knew when to shut his goddamn mouth about certain stuff.

Sakura smiled, "The clinic is slow today so Tsunade has given me the day off, Kakashi-sensei is taking office tomorrow and she's giving him time to get used to the office."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, no wonder he hadn't seen the dobe in a while, he was most likely preparing with their former sensei.

"I was glad to run into you, I was wondering if you were hungry, we could..." Sakura trailed off silently, her face lighting up red.

"I can't, I'm grocery shopping and then headed over to the garment district to get her some new clothes."

Hinata perked her head up as though she hadn't heard him clearly. Come on Hyuga, take a bribe.

"H-hai Sasuke-s-san if you want to go-"

Sasuke glared at her and she looked confused for a moment before something registered in her eyes.

She nodded silently and turned to Sakura, "I-I apologize H-Haruno-chan, Lady H-Hokage has ordered me n-not to leave Uchiha-san's side."

Sasuke tried to conceal his smirk. Maybe the girl wasn't useless after all, Sakura would never argue an order from Tsunade.

The pink-haired girl blushed meekly and nodded, "Of course."

Sakura's smile was tight, and Hinata blushed under it but didn't look away. Good girl.

"If you'll excuse us, I have some rather important matters to attend to," Sasuke murmured, pushing the blue-haired girl toward his favorite liquor store in Konoha.

"Sasuke, you really should stop drinking."

Sasuke let out a sigh. If he wasn't hearing an ear full, it was Naruto that Sakura was screaming at. However, since Naruto had a whole fiancé now Sasuke was the lucky recipient of the extra nagging.

"And you should really stop telling me what I should stop doing," Sasuke hissed back, he felt the familiar bristle in his spine that usually came before he and Sakura duked it out over his drinking, his sleeping, his arm, his life, or even the way he breathed which was "to quiet to be human".

"Sasuke, I'm just saying-" Sakura starts, however, Sasuke raised his eyebrows as Hinata interjected.

"It was lovely to see you again Haruno-chan, but I have chores to attend to in the Uchiha district and we must be getting back for lunch, perhaps we can do this another time."

Hinata's voice is crisp, firm, and without a stutter. Her tone is eerily dismissive, it reminded Sasuke of his mother acting as head of the clan and when she would have to "handle" men that were twice her size when she was on the police force.

Sasuke blinked at her but said nothing as he watched her face down Sakura with her back straight and her head tilted up, looking slightly above Sakura, but not meeting her was a stature of royalty, Sasuke felt his chest tighten.

He watched Sakura searched her mind for something to say.

"You're living at the Uchiha district, that's right."

Sakura looked down, biting her lower lip. Sasuke knew that look, he knew what the girl wanted to ask, and it was guaranteed to make the former Hyuga blush.

"Uchiha-san and I have an agreement, nothing more than that," Hinata stated, as though anticipating Sakura's question. Who was this girl in front of him? It sure wasn't the shy bumbling girl that had dropped a tray full of pastries on his floor yesterday, that's for sure.

"We really should be going," Hinata smiles wide, interrupting whatever Sakura was about to say next. Her tone, sickeningly sweet left no room for argument. Hinata spoke with the commanding aura of a clan head, an aura that Sakura was not used to as she was not a part of one of the ancient and noble clans like Hyuga, Uchiha, or Aburame.

Sakura begrudgingly nods and gives him a small wave and one last look between the two of them. Sasuke gives her a curt nod. Sasuke would tolerate Sakura as a friend a little bit more if her focus were to stay a friend. However, she pestered him consistently for more. Despite how Sasuke treated her, she wanted more.

To be honest, Sasuke wouldn't want to be friends with himself, let alone fight for said friendship. However, Sakura and Naruto had fought tooth and nail for the hurricane that was Sasuke Uchiha to be returned to their lives. Sasuke was a bastard, but he wasn't an ungrateful one. He tried his best to give Sakura what she wanted. Unfortunately, Sakura held this romanticized notion of him. One where he didn't drink or have issues, held her hand, and taught gawky-eyed academy kids how to throw shuriken.

He snorted, also not to forget the pink-haired children she wanted them to have. Sakura wanted wholesomeness and domestication, after years of nomadic wildlife, he couldn't give her that assurance. He had told her so, but she was hell-bent on wasting her time "persuading" him.

Hinata smiled till Sakura disappeared into the crowd and then turned to look at him. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her.

"What do you want, a pat on the head?" Sasuke asked her, his voice at his normal monotone.

"N-no U-ch-chiha- san, I j-just want to k-know if you're serious about the clothes." Her eyes were downcast as her two index fingers tapped together. So, we're back to stumbling, mumbling Hinata, he thought. For some reason this disappointed Sasuke. For a second, she was almost like… for a second, she had held a fire like an Uchiha. However, Sasuke had confidence in his ability to correct this behavior, hopefully before he chopped her fingers off and punched her in the throat for that annoying ass stutter.

Sasuke looked up, running his hand along the back of his head. "Eh, yeah whatever I'll give you the cash, go nuts, make sure you get clothes for training, standard shinobi gear should work."

Sasuke reaches his hand into his pocket and gives her a wad of Konoha currency. "I'll meet you back at the district in one hour, we're starting training tonight."

Hinata says something about giving her too much money. Sasuke ignores her as he heads toward his favorite store.

He sees the store owner, Yen, behind the counter as the bell rings. A normal civilian would miss the slight flare of Yen's nostrils as he smells the air, but it makes Sasuke smirk.

"Uchiha," Yen smiles, looking in Sasuke's general direction. Sasuke briefly takes in the man's milky white eyes as he looks at Sasuke with his usually amused expression. Yen is old as dust and missing most of his teeth. What hair the man had left turned white and was in wispy disarray on top of his head. His deep yellow sweater didn't match his forest green pants, either because of his lack of sight, or the fact that he didn't give a shit about what he looked like.

"Old man," Sasuke mumbles in greeting as he makes a beeline down the aisle he knew too well. Picking out two bottles of sake, he walks up to the counter with his purchase.

Yen throws a sack at him and Sasuke bags the items with his one arm, an act that Yen always finds funny even though he can't even see it.

"You got a girlfriend yet," Yen asks. It's his usual line of questioning. 'When are you going to marry a nice girl?' 'You know Uchiha, a nice girl will make sure you don't drink so much'

Sasuke rolls his mismatched eyes. "No, you got one?"

The old man barks out a laugh as he takes Sasuke's money. Even though Sasuke gave him more than the bottles are worth, Yen doesn't give him change back. Sasuke doesn't mind, every time he goes anywhere, the store tends to lose business while he's there because people don't want to be in the same vicinity if they can help it.

"If I were young and handsome like you Uchiha, I'd have a line of ladies out the door. I'd be getting in all sorts of trouble." The man laughs and stares off into the distance as though it were an attainable future.

"Looks aren't everything old man," Sasuke says wearily. Kami had blessed Sasuke on the outside, even with the missing arm. However, it was the inside that that got Sasuke in trouble.

The man laughed once more, it boomed off the concrete walls of the hole in the wall store.

"You're telling me, kid," he laughed harder, waving his hands in from of his face to emphasize the blindness and the irony of Sasuke's remark. Sasuke felt a smile creep onto his lips.

"You and your brother are polar opposites, Itachi had too much luck in that area. For such a smart boy, he thought a little too much with his other brain if you know what I mean."

"Hn." Sasuke's smile disappeared, and he grabbed his bottles and left the store without a word.

Yen had known Itachi in his academy days and would always bring him up to Sasuke. Sasuke didn't want to hear about his dead brother didn't want to think about being the last Uchiha and for damn sure didn't want to be pestered on his obligation to find a woman to restore his clan with.

That was what he was to Itachi and Yen. To Naruto, he was a friend, fellow soldier, and the only one who could equal the might that was his power. To Sakura, he was supposed to be a lover and dotting husband. Tsunade wanted him to be a weapon and Hinata…

She wanted him to teach her how to use his sacred family bloodline limit, and spot in his district.

Her request didn't make him as annoyed as all the others in his life. He had given her a hard time, but an uncontrolled Sharingan was not only dangerous for her, but for anyone that possessed the dojutsu, even if it was just himself at the moment. It was also dangerous for everyone around her, the Sharingan had different abilities for each user and who knows what the girl would be capable of. She would need to be taught, and unfortunately, there wasn't anyone but Sasuke who could do it.

She also had a right to live in the district. All Sharingan users did, regardless of the last name. He also had a selfish reason for agreeing to her request. One that Sasuke had only thought of recently, one that he had always thought would happen all along, but he didn't know-how. For him to fulfill Itachi's wishes, the Uchiha clan would need to be revived and back in Konoha. Hinata wanted to live in his district, wanted to make a life there, just because Itachi had relayed the goal to him didn't mean he had to be the one to fulfill the request.

Sasuke didn't believe in coincidences, that girl, out of all people was the one that could fully access the bloodline, had received his eyes. Hinata desired a place to belong, wanted a purpose, he could give that to her. Hinata could bear children, not his, and carry on the way Itachi wanted. He would give her the Uchiha name and she could have everything, the title, the district she could have it all.