Disclaimer : I do not own the characters or the story of Naruto.
A/N : This fic is going to be a long form story with two parts. If you haven't read my previous fic In Another World, Somewhere, it's highly recommended. That story sets the tone for this one. The main pairing is Sasuhina and it will become darker as the story progresses. I will try my best to compliment that with humor. Yes, there are already many wonderful SH fanfic out there and some elements of this story will be inspired by them. This story will closely follow the events we know in canon, except the pairings of course. What you won't find is, common SH tropes. No arranged marriages, no training sessions and no missions together. Those have been amazing themes and many writers have explored them very well. So to challenge myself, I will try something rarely explored. There will be only brief fighting scenes in the future. Also, fair warning, this story will contain some dubious consent in later chapters and not just of the sexual variety, if that is bothersome to you maybe skip this story. Please read and review if you enjoy. Thanks!
Part I
How to pursue the girl of your dreams?
Relentlessly
How to make her fall out of love with him?
Cautiously
How to make her fall in love with you?
Deliberately
Prologue
Nine months till she says yes
Sasuke was ready. He had been ready for quite some time now. A few months had passed since the end of the war, most of which he had spent chained in one of Konoha's prison cells, as his mind was probed every few days, while people he didn't know, decided if he was worthy enough to live or not. He knew, at the end, Konoha didn't want to lose one of the greatest warriors it had produced, the last of the powerful Uchiha clan. He would have accepted whatever fate had in store for him. He had already given up all notions of vengeance towards the world or Konoha after his almost deadly fight with Naruto. All he wanted after that was to see her and he had achieved that, catching glimpses of her long hair, or her pale eyes or enchanting smile as he was taken to his cell out of his own free will.
But, once he found out that he was pardoned though, he had been excited to see her again. After bearing through the customary lectures on friendship and thinly-veiled threats about his loyalty from Kakashi with more patience than he thought he could possibly muster, he had swiftly made his way through the village, his heart beating rapidly at the prospect of being near her. Now that he had finally accepted to himself that he loved her, that it wasn't just a passing phase, he had no reason to avoid her, like he used to when he was younger. That is, until he had stumbled upon the scene in front of him. He was still hidden on the top of a nearby tree, deliberately suppressing his chakra to remain unnoticed, watching from the shadows.
His position was such that he could clearly see the large crowd gathered in front of the Konoha hospital, people chattering amongst themselves in hushed tones as they seemed to be waiting for something to happen. None of it would have mattered if not for the person his eyes immediately zoomed in on. Away from that crowd in the sidelines, stood the girl of his dreams with a bouquet of sunflowers in her hands, a soft blush coloring her cheeks and eyes averted to the ground. She seemed nervous, slightly fidgeting as she was almost trying to hide herself in the shadows cast by tall trees that lined the boundaries of the hospital. Sasuke felt a frown furrow his brows as he waited in the shadows for whatever event that was clearly about to take place, his curiosity peaked.
Everything in front of him seemed to move in slow motion, as he felt his rapidly beating heart ringing loudly in his ears, the loud cheers of the crowd as the hospital doors opened seemed to be coming from a great distance. Then he saw Naruto step out of the doors in the open, talking animatedly to Sakura behind him, waving his left hand wildly as he spoke, while his seemingly brand new right arm, wrapped in bandages, hung limply at his side. The idiot finally seemed to notice the crowd after he was finished blabbering about whatever nonsense that had caught his attention that morning, when he turned to the mob, giving them a wide cheery grin and waving at them as he walked closer to the gathering. The acknowledgement from the blond only seemed to trigger even louder cheering from the crowd, as they rushed to him, picked him up, and started tossing his carelessly in the air.
Sasuke had realised what was happening the first moment when Naruto stepped out of the building. The implications of the girl he was looking for being there also didn't escape him if his thumping heart was any indication. Apparently the villagers had been getting antsy to see their hero while he was in the hospital. It would have hardly been any concern to him if not for one of those villagers waiting for him as well. He saw as she looked at the ugly orange blob, being flung into the air repeatedly by the crowd, with a gentle smile in her face. Her beautiful eyes shone brightly, brimming full with love and admiration, as she tightly clutched the bouquet in her hands to her chest, still standing in the shadows, content with just watching from afar. She made an exquisite sight, enrapturing him in her charm, and all would have been perfect in his world if only those light eyes full of emotions were looking at himself instead.
Sasuke had assumed she would have been over the blond by now. What with the guy being a complete moron, who spent the majority of his teen years chasing after his teammate. It didn't matter that the teammate was him or that that moron had saved his life, at least it shouldn't have mattered to her. The idiot was apparently completely oblivious of her feelings for him as far as he could tell. He was sure his only friend would have chewed his ears out blabbering all about her if something were going on between them, like he always did, uncaring of the fact that the person he was talking to was behind prison bars. He felt the familiar pricks of irritation under his skin when he wondered how could the guy not see what he, plainly and painfully, saw in her eyes. A moment later, he felt his irritation melt away as he saw the answer in front of him.
He watched as Naruto, finally having made his way away from the crowd, noticed her and moved to stand him front of her with his arms behind his head in his usual casual posture, as he spoke to her. She couldn't bring herself to meet his blue eyes the entire time, as she abruptly pushed the bouquet into his chest, muttering something to him, then just as quickly stepped back, bowed slightly and rushed out of his view. Even though she no longer fainted, she was still painfully shy around the object of her affections. He was surprised when he realised that he didn't feel any resentment towards the guy for having her affections, maybe a bit of envy but that's it. If anybody else had witnessed the scene, they probably would have found the whole situation extremely amusing. But not him. No, this was far from funny to him, as he raised his only arm and rubbed his aching chest with his hand.
He had left shortly after she did, feeling the need to be able to think. He didn't need any distractions at the moment, he had too much on his mind as his heart felt heavy in his chest. He quickly made his way outside of the village boundaries into the forest in the surrounding area. Once he was sure he was far enough from the village and completely alone, he found a tree, sitting at its base with his elbow on the knee of his leg bent in front of him. He leaned his head backward to rest it against the bark, closing his eyes as he allowed his thoughts to consume him.
Out of all the chaos of emotions he had felt witnessing the scene, the one that had felt the most intense, he realised, was longing. He longed for her attention, her veneration, her respect and, most importantly, her affection. He had to find a way to impress her enough to earn these things he wanted from her. 'But how?', he wondered to himself. Clearly aesthetics did not impress her, if her fondness for Naruto was any indication. Neither did his stoic personality, that had charmed many a fangirls in his younger days, so completely opposite from the loud and annoying personality of the guy she admired. He briefly wondered if he could alter his demeanor to closely resemble that of the blond and quickly cringed at the thought. 'Even I couldn't keep that up for very long', he realised. No, there had to be something else.
He was lost in his thoughts as he tried to find some clue in all the handful of significant memories he had of her from their childhood. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him as he recalled the painful memory of her from right after the Chuunin exams. That's when he realised, that the girl he was in love with had a hero complex. She admired people who were the good guys, who sacrificed themselves for other's sake, the way Naruto had done for her when he fought her cousin in her honor. But he was no good guy. Even he couldn't deny the darkness that lurked within him. 'The Uchiha evil' was what the second Hokage had called it. He didn't like it but he recognised that there was some truth to it.
Nevertheless, he could become one though, for her. He would do almost anything for her. He let these thoughts marinate in his mind as he opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He realised that it was actually nice to be there, out in the open, away from people. The natural scenery was soothing to his mind, the sounds of the forest scarce, he was actually able to think for once. This, led him to yet another thought. Which finally allowed him to make up his mind. With his decision set, he had made his way back into the village to make his preparations for his journey.
Chapter 1
Six months till she says yes
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but quickly clamped it shut when he realised no words were coming out. His lips pressed together into a thin line as he tried to suppress the frustration he felt, from showing on his face, at his inability to think of one single thing to say to her. He watched her looking up at him with curious eyes as the pale orbs went back and forth between his eyes every couple of seconds, as if she couldn't decide which eye she should focus hers on. At least she didn't seem to be scared of his eyes. He took that observation he had made as a win, in the middle of this encounter which was quickly turning into an epic failure.
This encounter was no coincidence of course. He had planned it out meticulously a long time ago, using every trick up his sleeve to set the perfect scenario for them to meet, without it seeming too obviously forced. It had to be balanced out just right, reasonably believable. This was, after all, the first time the both of them would have come face to face. This was going to be the time when he finally befriended her, then they would get closer till he confessed his feelings for her. 'Or maybe she would confess her feelings for me', he had thought, hoping for just that. Either way, the end would be the same, she would be his.
He had spent the last week following her around the village, diligently memorizing her comings and goings, noting down her schedules. It had been a very useful exercise for him. He had been able to gather quite a few interesting bits of information about her life, filing them away in his mind for use later. He had also learned all the people she considered herself close to. As for people who fancied her close to themselves, the list of those people was too long even for him to bother keeping track of. Almost every single person she had come in contact with in the village, he had discovered, adored her. A fact that hadn't surprised him as much as it should have.
Since the demand for shinobi to undertake dangerous missions outside the village has been low during this time of peace, most of the village's manpower had been diverted on rebuilding projects. Being the village sweetheart that she was, obviously she volunteered her time, every single day, at the camps set up on the outskirts of the village for the people who suffered in the war. She would spend her days in the medical camps, occasionally in the community kitchens, seemingly always helping out people, offering everyone a sweet smile. He had noticed how the people in those camps were always seeking her out. He had watched as one day, a young mother had waited for two hours outside the camp, for her to finish assisting in a difficult surgery, to get her child's illness treated just by her even though other perfectly capable medical shinobi were present already. Another day he had seen an elderly couple offer her sweets and call her their granddaughter.
It wasn't until the fourth day of his personal project, that he had figured out why the people in the camps loved her so. He had seen her shuffling through the markets all morning, as she seemingly had bought random items before making her way to the camps. The kids living in the camps had immediately surrounded her as she slowly distributed what had been gifts from the heavy bags she had been carrying. After that incident, he had paid close attention to all the conversations she had had with people there, who came up to her every few minutes, with their requests and problems. She would never turn them down, always reassuring help and she meant it too. She had even gone to the Hokage's office to make requests for more drinking water containers to be added to the rations that Konoha was aiding the camps with.
Other than the camps, she seemed to spend most of her time with the members of her team. He was aware that Team 8 was Konoha's elite tracking team, so he had been forced to think creatively in order to keep an eye on her movements without being detected. At the end, he had used his summons, snakes around training grounds were hardly suspicious. He couldn't gather as much information as he would have preferred, but there wasn't much he could have done after the one experience when he was almost caught following the group of three, as he had made the mistake of getting too close to one of Shino's bugs. He had trained all his life for strength and speed, stealth apparently wasn't his strongest ninja ability. Fortunately for him, the loudmouth of her team had distracted the group long enough for him to quietly slip away.
Other than her team, she spent her time with her former sensei and her daughter on a regular basis. She was also close with her younger sister, Hanabi, with whom she would often train in the evenings. He had been mildly surprised to find out that she was well liked among her clan members. From the little details that he had reluctantly memorized about her, listening to other people's conservations around him, when he was still in the Academy, he would have thought she would be rejected by her clan for being too weak in their rigid perception. She had been somehow able to overcome those misgivings of her clan, despite her not being the heiress anymore.
Out of all the bits and pieces of information he had been able to gather over the week, the most irksome part had to be the seemingly endless number of men, civilians and shinobi alike, who held more than friendly interest in her. He couldn't help the scowl that had formed on his face in his irritation every time some guy would stop her on her way to talk to her, hoping to catch her attention, despite her feelings for Naruto being common knowledge at this point. She, of course, would always politely brush the attention off of her, which would end in the man walking away with a dejected face. That, would further annoy him to the point where he had almost considered abandoning this project of his several times. Almost.
After he had enough information on where she was most likely to be at any given time on any particular day, he had taken his time to arrange for a 'coincidental' meet here, in a rarely traversed street while she was on her way home from the training grounds. He had made sure to time it perfectly as he casually walked down the road in the opposite direction to hers with his hands stuffed in his pockets, seemingly after having been out for a walk, making his way back home. The idea had worked out exceptionally well, they were alone at that time of day, no distractions to be found around them. That is, except for one small detail.
He had been so focused on how they would meet that he had spent almost no time thinking about what they would talk about after they do meet. Well, he had thought about it, he just had been too late in doing so. He had spent the time while he was following her here thinking about what he would say to her but it had been difficult to think straight, specially when he felt jittery on the inside with nervousness. He could only stare back at her when he had stopped right in front of her.
He had heard her ask in her soft melodious voice, "Good evening, Sasuke-kun. Did you need something?" quite a few moments ago. How long he had spent trying to think of an answer standing in front of her, he did not know. Feeling the pressure to give a reply, any reply, weighing heavier on him every passing second, he did what came instinctually to him, out of force of habit. "Hn", was all he could apparently manage. He watched her eyebrows furrow in confusion, after her "Ok", as another few seconds passed by without any other comment or request coming from him.
He watched as her eyes widened slightly as seemingly some kind of realisation dawned on her and she quickly looked down at his newly functional left arm, with concerned eyes. "Is it your arm? Do you want me to have a look at it?", she asked looking up at him once again. He felt his heart skip a beat and his chest fill with an unfamiliar warmth when he realised she was looking right at him. Gazing directly at him with her mesmerizing eyes, filled with concern for his well being. Once again, he found that all he could get out was "Hn", as the daze, her eyes were slowly hypnotizing him with, blocked out everything else around them from his view. All he could see was her.
He was snapped out of the daze when her brows furrowed again in confusion as she asked, "Are you feeling alright, Sasuke-kun?" Yet again, all he could answer her with was "Hn". However, this time, the furrowing of her brow deepened as she seemed to get even more concerned about him, her eyes roaming his face looking for something, what, he had no idea. He understood what she wanted when she gave up trying to guess what's wrong and just asked, "Your arm? Could you raise it please?" Suddenly, feeling foolish for losing his focus, his lips curved downwards as he mechanically took his left hand out of his pocket and raised it in front of his chest.
He felt the unfamiliar prickling of goosebumps up his arm as she clasped it carefully in her small hands, roving her eyes up and down the arm, looking for any obvious physical injuries to the arm. He couldn't take his eyes off of her face, watching her focus her complete attention on his limb, which was completely wrapped in bandages, a fact he was grateful for, since it allowed her to remain ignorant of how deeply her innocent touch affected him.
He felt himself quickly falling into another trace when suddenly her face contorted into a frown of deep concentration as chakra veins popped out of the sides of her face, reaching up to her eyes. She continued to examine his arm, completely unaware of what being so close to her like this was doing to him as his heart was trying its best to beat right out of his chest. He couldn't help but stare at her, his eyes taking in every detail of her beautiful face since this was the first time he had been able to witness her activating her bloodlimit up close. The irony of the situation didn't escape him, apparently all it took was her looking at him for him to fall into a trance, dulling his senses, no chakra or genjutsu required as his own powerful eyes did nothing but watch, falling victim to her spell.
He had to force himself out of his state when he heard her speaking to him, looking up at him as she deactivated her Byakugan and her face returned to her usual relaxed state with a small smile gracing her lips. He realised she was no longer touching him, a beat too late as he lowered his arms back at his side. "Your arm looks like it is coming along well to me. The chakra networks are developing well. It should be okay if you try to mold chakra in that arm a few days later", he heard her say, offering him her sweet smile and kind eyes. "Hn", came the only reply once again.
"Did you need anything else, Sasuke-kun?", she asked softly and Sasuke knew he had to say something. This opportunity might not come another time. He averted his eyes from hers to look at something above her, slightly off to the side, as he straightened his frame, hoping not to fall into another daze where his mind completely blanks out. Not having to look at her seemed to help, as his thoughts started flowing more smoothly, more naturally. His goal for this entire thing was clear; he had to befriend her somehow. His eyebrow started to twitch slightly when he realised he had no idea how to make friends. The only person who he would deem as his friend was Naruto, and even in that relationship, he was more or less forced in tenaciously, just like everything else the blond liked to do. Clamping down his annoyance, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes to figure out how to circumvent yet another issue with his supposedly brilliant plan.
He could feel his face slowly contorting into a scowl, as each second passed by, as his frustration with himself kept growing. Finally, opening his eyes, when he felt he had reached his limits, he started to feel a mild sense of panic as his scowl vanished from his face. There she was, with one of her fists raised close to her face, leaning away from him, looking at him with apprehension and confusion. He knew she was going to run out on him any second now, if he moved a muscle too quickly to startle her. 'Great, now I am scaring her', he thought. He knew he had to do something urgently. He didn't want her to be scared of him, that was the last thing he wanted, it was the exact opposite of what he did want. But if he didn't say something to reassure her, he knew the impacts of this encounter would last for a long time. The impression she shouldn't have of him from their first direct interaction was being scared. He wanted her to love and adore him. He wanted to have a future with her. He wanted her to want to have a future with him as well.
As his panic grew inch by inch, creeping up his body, consuming everything in its path, he felt his tongue move, his throat vibrate and his lips form the words. "Marry me", is what he heard being said in his own usual monotone even though it seemed to have come from faraway. As soon as those words had escaped him, he knew he'd fucked up somehow. He watched as she froze in shock, her eyes widening and her jaw slacking, in slow motion. He felt a cold sweat break out above his brows as light-headedness made him wish he was not standing at the moment. His mind shut down as he felt the slight palpitations of his heart and he could gauge his chances slipping out of his grasp like sand.
'No, I have to fix it', the thought came to him as he grit his teeth and pumped chakra into his eyes. Right as he was about to activate his bloodlimit and cast the genjutsu to make her forget this whole encounter ever happened, an idea occurred to him. "Memory. I said memory", he quickly blurted out. He watched all the range of emotions that flicked through her face as she tried to make sense of his latest attempt to save his reputation. First, her brows furrowed slightly as she tried to process the excuse, next her eyes lit up in understanding and an "Oh.." escaped her lips with a sigh of relief, followed by another frown of confusion. He had managed to keep his face straight through all of this even though he felt anything but calm, waiting in anticipation to see if his lame attempt was successful or not. She stared at him for a couple of beats before her frown cleared out and a light blush took its rightful place on her cheeks as her eyes turned downcast. The fist she had raised, moved closer to her lips to hide herself in her embarrassment.
"Gomen, Sasuke-kun. I thought I heard something else", she apologized as the blush on her cheeks darkened. He watched as she took a few moments to compose herself, shaking her head slightly, her frame straightening out and her hand lowered back at her side. Then, she looked up at him with the same kind smile on her face as she said, "I don't think this treatment should affect your memory but I will ask Tsunade-sama about it for you." Since he had his eyes on her again, he didn't trust himself to reply with anything but a "Hn". So that's what he did.
She seemed to be completely content with accepting his grunts as answers. "If you have any other discomfort, please let me know", she said as she patiently waited for a reply from him. When Sasuke continued to blankly stare at her with a seemingly bored look on his face, she knew he was done speaking to her for the day so she quickly decided to make her leave. She clasped her hands in front of her and bowed to him. "Ja ne, Sasuke-kun. I hope you feel better", she said and turned around to make her way back to the Hyuuga compound. Sasuke watched her leave till her form had vanished from his line of sight, a heavy sigh of relief escaping him as he pressed his hand to his chest to calm his racing heart down.
A few moments later, he felt his fingers clasp tightly into a fist, clenching the fabric of his dark shirt with it as he heard his teeth ground out, glaring hard at the small pebble on the road a few steps away from him. He took a step forward and kicked the pebble hard and watched as it zoomed away from him, lodging itself on the trunk of a tree with a thud, scaring all the birds perched on that tree enough to fly away. He felt his frustrations calm only slightly at that and he realised he needed a heavy workout. With that, he quickly straightened himself out, taking a deep breath of composure and made his way towards the Hokage tower. Whether it's a mission he could force out of Kakashi or a session of roughing up Naruto that they liked to call sparring, it would be just what he needed to distract himself from this episode, which he begrudgingly admitted to himself, had been a complete failure, much to his annoyance.
A/N : I hope the format is not too confusing for people. There will be some back and forth with each chapter but I will try my best to progressively move forward in time as the story progresses. Updates will come within one to two weeks, depending on my workload. Lastly, Hinata will be in character (to the best of my abilities), if that is upsetting, maybe try another fic.