Chapter 5

All of Hinata's nerves were at an end.

In the span of 48 hours, she had been rejected and accepted by the ill-mannered man Sasuke Uchiha. She had also stood up to one of Konoha's strongest members on his behalf. Why had she intervened with Sakura she wondered?

Maybe it was because she didn't like the way that she talked to Sasuke. Sasuke and Hinata weren't exactly friends, more like beast-of-burden, but she sympathized with Sasuke. After the war, everyone moved on with their life. Everyone professed their love, had children, made careers. They mourned loved ones but moved on. Then there were people like she and Sasuke. People whose lives were so affected by the war that they were unable to move past it.

Sasuke had betrayed his village. That was a fact he could not deny. He had tried to kill the very people he once walked beside as a child. Though he had made the right choice in the end, saving everyone, and returning to the village; there were certain things you just couldn't escape. Hinata didn't know the full extent of the reason he had done what he had, she doubted that Sasuke would ever tell her, but she knew that nothing small could have been the catalyst for such blind rage. Sakura meant well, but the pink-haired woman just wanted Sasuke to act as though nothing had ever happened. She wanted him to take her out on dates and smile and laugh.

Hinata knew that would never be quite possible for the man. She felt a similar weight on her own soul, it was a weight that prevented her from simply smiling as well. It was a heavy pressure that could not be alleviated, so one simply had to move with it. People like Sakura, who had been afforded so much during and after the war didn't understand that crushing burden. She hadn't lost anyone close to her; she hadn't really sacrificed anything. She was lucky; Hinata envied her.

When Neji had died, she had lost one of the only parts of her that linked her to her clan. She wasn't as naïve as people perceived her to be and knew that since she was no longer next in line for her clan, she would either take the caged bird seal or be married off to some shinobi in a far land. This future was more foreboding after the harsh rejection from Naruto who her father would have accepted as a fitting suiter. Yes, she still had her sister, but at that point, she was fully consumed in taking over the clan that the tight bond they shared when they were small frayed and broke apart. She didn't like to compare loss, but she didn't think she had gone through nearly as much as the dark-haired man had.

In the midst of her pain, Hinata had thrown herself into being a shinobi, this had gained her the rank of Jonin. It wasn't enough, it would never be enough. Part of Hinata, the part that ached, wanted to lose herself in battle until one day she didn't come back. Honestly, that part of her was still there. An even quieter part didn't understand how her predetermined useless life had been traded for life that shined as bright as her cousins.

On top of all this, she had risked her life for a man who and laughed nervously at her affections. Affections she had cultivated and nurtured for most of her childhood. She had nothing against Tenten, she was Neji's old teammate and had always been very nice to her, but Hinata couldn't be around her after the war. The bun-clad woman had come to Neji's funeral and attempted to cultivate some form a friendship in the aftermath of his death, but Hinata just…she just couldn't. She was selfish in that regard, she was sure Neji would have wanted her to take care of his former teammates, but Tenten reminded her of a sacrifice made completely in vain.

She didn't know what she felt for Naruto now. Regardless, with all the things going on in Hinata's life, her feelings for Naruto ranked at the very bottom of an extremely long list.

Clad in her newly purchased mission gear Hinata waited for the ornery Uchiha to grace her with his presence. It was now two hours after the instructed time he gave her to be in the field for training. She had opted for mission gear that varied between black and the navy-blue color of her hair. Autumn was upon Konoha, so she favored a long navy high collared jacket over her black mesh shirt. She also wore black compression style pants that were a bit tight, but she was told that they provided the optimum wind resistance. They were easy to tuck into her combat shinobi sandals, the one thing she had not replaced. That, and the Konoha headband resting on her cleavage.

Her fingers absent-mindedly traced the symbol that adorned the cold metal. It felt heavy on her neck as she remembered the foreign hand clasping it, using it as a tool to leverage her closer and smear a bloody hand across her face.

"I'm going to ruin you," he had whispered. Hinata had no idea what that meant until she had felt the sting of the acid and the searing of her flesh.

She felt the shudder go down her spine. Before these familiar feelings could creep over her, Sasuke walked casually across the grounds, just as the sun was starting to go down. There was a drink in his hand that he set down on a small table that was on the training grounds. The Uchiha training grounds were vastly different from the Hyuga. The Gentle fist and Rotation fighting styles needed a lot of space and were often done at higher levels of altitude for better breath control.

The Uchiha training grounds were large, but also very flat and congested with practice dummies and far distance target boards. Hinata was no stranger to training, despite her meek appearance, but the lack of familiarity put her out of her element.

"U-Uchiha-k-kun -"

Hinata had started, Sasuke put his hand up to silence her as he approached. Taking one last swallow of his drink, he discarded the glass on the ground. Hinata kept note of its location so that she could retrieve it for washing later.

"Give me your hand," Sasuke grunted. Hinata did as she was told, not quite expected the training to start with no formal instructions. Sasuke grabbed her hand firmly with his only hand. His fingers were long and dwarfed her smooth uncalloused digits. Hinata felt her face heat as he regarded what must seem to him as a hand that had never punched or labored in its life. His hand, however, was rough and seemed as though it had multiple healed burns. Hinata had seen him channel lighting and fire and everything else, she did not need to ask how they got that way.

He forced her fingers open and her palm up. Quicker than she could make out he weaved a series of signs and pressed his thumb into the middle of the palm on her right hand. As the tip of his thumb connected a spiral about the size of a small coin imprinted itself in black.

Hinata yipped as she snatched her hand back from the man who seemed to find her reaction funny as she watched a small smirk appear on his lips.

"U-Uchiha-k-kun-" was all she was able to get out before she felt an electric shock journey up her arm. It wasn't a blinding pain, but a noticeable one, and left her arm with a buzzing feeling.

"So, it works," the man smirked, "good."

Hinata looked at him wide-eyed.

"I took a page from Orochimaru's handbook. I placed a seal on you, to control your stutter."

"Y-YOU CAN'T J-JUST-" there it was again, the sharp feeling that ascended up the arm that Sasuke had placed the sealing jutsu on.

He looked at her pityingly, "Orochimaru liked to call it 'corrective action', your pain is only about one-tenth of what mine was."

Hinata chose not to reply, just looked at him in disbelief. When he elicited no further response, he moved on.

"Since you no longer belong to a clan, I'll call you by your first name; don't think too much into it. You can call me Sasuke, no honorifics are necessary even in regard to status."

"I don't know if I feel comfortable with that." Hinata breathed slowly, looking down at her toes as she spoke slowly, careful not to stutter.

"I don't give a shit," Sasuke replied blankly. He took a step closer to her, invading her personal space as if to make a point. Hinata kept her head down, Sasuke reminded her an awful lot of her father.

"Let me make something perfectly clear to you." He spoke his tone even and unflinching. "We're not friends. From what Tsunade informed me of you, you seem to be used to being taken care of, coddled. However, I want you to know if you died, or disappeared tomorrow, my existence would not change for a second.

What we do have is an arrangement. You would prefer to one day be able to return to whatever existence you called life before and I would like to be unstrapped of a certain burden. Once we achieve those goals, I doubt you and I will have much need of each other after that. Understand?"

Hinata's fist clenched in embarrassment. She didn't know what the bigger insult was, calling out her insecurities, or blatantly referring to her as a means to an end. Though he was outrageously crass, was he wrong? Hinata knows this arrangement was odd but beneficial. She didn't know what 'burdens' Sasuke was talking about but the fact of the matter was that Sasuke was her last resort. He was the only one that could get her back on track, back to the missions that distracted her from what she was feeling.

Truthfully, the arrangement she had with Sasuke was not completely different from the arrangement she had with everyone in her life. She had an arrangement with her father to represent the clan. She had an arrangement with her sister to step down and let her lead. She had an arrangement with Kiba and Shino to be shy, quiet Hinata and fade into the background.

The only difference between her and Sasuke was that he was not willing to placate her by giving her value or worth. No, Hinata would have to find that on her own.

She rolled her shoulders back and looked Sasuke in the eye. To this, he raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

"Understood, Sasuke."

He blinked at her once more. Then nodded his head and stepped away.

"We'll have to start you where most Uchiha began as children," Sasuke muttered. "Usually, one of the stipulations of wielding a Sharingan is a fire or lightning style chakra nature, do you know which nature you possess?"

"Many Hyuga possess a water nature, this allows fluidity of movement. My mother had an affinity for fire, and I inherited her chakra nature." Hinata responded slowly.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as though confirming what he already knew.

"I had the feeling," was all he said. "Teaching you my clan's fire release should be relatively simple then… hopefully.

"As far as the Sharingan, there are two parts, I'll teach you one, I'm not that great at the other one but I'll try." Sasuke's words were blunt, but Hinata nodded in understanding flexed her muscles in anticipation before relaxing them. She trusted Sasuke's bluntness and though his demeanor was nonchalant there was an air of seriousness in his bored tone.

"Let's work on your control, from what I understand the activation of the Sharingan should be similar if not the same as the Byakugan, channel an even amount of chakra into your eyes. The only difference is that it's also affected by the heightened emotions, stress, fear…anger."

Hinata saw the dark tint behind Sasuke's eyes, however, she didn't need a dojutsu to know that some doors were best left unopened.

"The Sharingan is fueled by these emotions, the more intensely you feel them, the more powerful the dojutsu is, and the more it will take you over."

Hinata let out a sharp gasp, unable to contain the chill that went down her back as she recalled the ebbing in her mind whenever the Sharingan was activated.

"Do it now, channel the chakra into your eyes," Sasuke ordered curtly, coming to stand in front of her.

Hinata hesitated, only for a moment, before she inhaled deeply closing her eyes while doing so. When she felt the flow, she snapped them open as she exhaled. The world took on a red haze and she noticed everything, every shift of grass and motion of the wind, there were 22 squirrels with a 50-mile radius.

"Focus."

Hinata snapped her eyes toward the ill-tempered man. His only hand was tucked in his pocket as he leaned in toward her to get her attention. Everything about him was a threat to Hinata, she could see his stance, seemingly casual but poised. He had multiple weapons that Hinata could detect based on slight shifts of fabric and the small lean that favored them.

Danger.

"Good, I have your attention." He muttered, righting himself from his bent position.

He regarded her for another moment before he smirked. "We're going to go through some drills that my father went through with Itachi when he was young."

Hinata wondered if she should pry and ask about Itachi's learning but decided against it. She patiently waited for the man to continue.

"Well start of easy, I'm going to give you a number 1 to 5, I want you to tell me what the number is."

Hinata looked at him curiously but nodded.

"Ok, go ahead."

Hinata looked at him strangely, "S-so you w-want me to g-guess?"

Hinata flinched slightly at the stinging in her arm as Sasuke rolled his eyes, "What did you think I was a math tutor? I want you to tell me the number before I give it to you."

Hinata stared blankly at him. "You what?"

Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh. "Hinata, use your eyes and tell me what numbers I'm going to hold up. The Sharingan has the ability to predict and copy, I want you to use that ability to tell me what numbers I'm going to hold up."

"How?"

Sasuke's hand flinched as though he needed another drink. She heard the grit of his teeth. He was as frustrated as she was confused.

He took a deep breath before he continued. "Hinata…just watch me. Look at my movements, my facial features."

Hinata did as she was told, focusing on the shift of Sasuke's long bangs and the subtle twitch of his face as his hair grazed his cheek uncomfortably. His posture was stiff, and he seemed to lean a hairs inch toward the side of his body with the missing arm. At first glance, it seemed as though it was his weaker side but Hinata knew for some reason that she was wrong on that front.

She studied the slight tense of his muscles which she could see through the light silky material of his shirt. He was at least a head and shoulders taller than her and she blushed at the feeling of safety she got from that.

"Focus, Hinata."

Hinata blushed deeper but focused her eyes on where they needed to be Sasuke's arms and hands. She noticed a slight twitch of his hand, she could follow from the veins to the ligaments in his arms.

"Two."

It was a light whisper; she wasn't sure that Sasuke even heard it.

Just as she breathed the number, he held up two fingers.

"Hn, again."

Hinata did as she had before, watching his lip twitch slightly to the left, analyzing his muscle movements and twist of his veins.

"Four."

Hinata said with a little more confidence as Sasuke held up four fingers.

"Alright, good, no use wasting more time on that. Try this."

Sasuke weaves three signs with one hand and Hinata's hand instinctively moved to mimic his movements. In tandem, they both place a hand to their mouth and exhale.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!"

Twin blasts of fire explode into the air and Hinata feels an exhilarated warmth, unlike anything she had ever felt before. Was this what it felt like to perform a jutsu that was a part of her chakra nature?

For that moment, as the flames came to an end, she felt…strong.

Her father had always required she exclusively learn the gentle fist as it was the clan's birthright. Hiashi had said that any other jutsu practice disrupted the balance, especially with Hinata who was not naturally attuned because of her difference in nature.

However, doing this jutsu that Sasuke probably knew when he was ten, it was the strongest she had ever felt. She knew the jutsu was weak in the face of everything Sasuke knew and had to teach but she couldn't help the hope that welled in her stomach at finally being about to see her life in a new way for the first time.

Her breath was heavy as she looked at Sasuke with a huge smile. For the first time since she had met him, she didn't let his grumpy attitude phase her, she had made progress, she was proud.

He gave her a strange look before he shook his head. "Chill out, I could do that at like 7 years old."

Hinata still smiled at him, breathing hard, even as the edges of her vision started to blur.

"Kami woman, now let's work on-"

Hinata didn't get to hear the rest of his sentence as the world started to fade and she felt her body give out.