The Fool

The Konohagakure Cemetery laid especially barren today. As the diurnal cycle changed from one phase to the next, the civilian villagers of the Hidden Leaf that remained would sporadically leave the skeletal plot of land that served as the resting place to their departed loved ones to return to their residences, to their lives.

No amount of grief could stop the passage of time – soon steel would need to be forged, rice cooked, tempura made, and children would need to be tended to. Aside from yokai and grave robbers, only a foolish person would choose to spend the twilight of the day in the midst of the lingering malevolent emotions and unrealized dreams of the dead.

And Hinata Hyuuga was not a foolish person.

The shinobi alliance had been successful. In one of the inflection points of the history of the world, the shinobi nations momentarily shed all bitter memories of war, political conflict, covert assassination — instead choosing to link arms together in order to prevent the end of the world. The sacrifices were monumental. Everyone, civilian and soldier alike, sacrificed a part of themselves.

A cold evening wind shook the barren cemetery, brushing Hinata's body, ruining her bangs. Her hand reached for a leaf that had blown onto her cousin's head stone. Her fingers delicately tracing over the midrib of the plant appendage, still the yellowed and stiff margin, crumbled at the slight touch from her hands and she tossed the whole thing aside.

Prior to the war, the aspiring shinobi of the Konoha Academy would perform cemetery maintenance as a form of community service but the village was still recovering, the Academy had not reopened its door and frankly, how could they? It had only been a couple of months since the end of the conflict. Mothers clung to their children harder than ever. No one foresaw the extent of immiseration that would follow the end of war as nations looked inward to rebuild.

Sure respects were paid immediately following the end, funerals and a period of mourning were held but that time had passed. It was time to rebuild from the bottom up.

The dead would simply have to wait.

Having paid her respects, Hinata stood from the traditional seiza style. Only someone as perceptive as her would notice the slight red discoloration creeping up on the grave. She sighed, making a mental note that for her next visit to bring some cleaning supplies with her.

Hinata took a look around her, the cemetery empty save for her, the sun setting and with it the absence of light, the chill of night time was made more pronounced by the coming change of seasons, she wrapped her arms around herself shielding her slightly exposed collarbone and she made the decision to begin her journey home.

She bowed her head towards the headstone one final time and on the way up her eyes became transfixed to the words written on it.

Hyuuga Neji,

"Fear. That is what we live with. And we live it everyday.

Only in death are we free of it."

Hinata's body was begging for repose, the shifts were long and the work was never ending. She was not a particularly prideful person but she had safely assumed that having been a shinobi by trade then shifting to relatively banal manual labor that she would never experience exhaustion again, but the ache in her knees said otherwise.

"See you Monday, Hina-chan!"

"H-hai!"

Hinata waved to her coworker as she made her way out of the Konoha General Hospital. Making her way towards the Hyuuga compound she became aware of the lack of sensation on her right shoulder and she rotated her arm.

Crack!

Ouch. Whatever that sound was, it probably wasn't good. She cursed inwardly as her plans detoured, a stop at a convenience store wasn't in her original plans but a sudden and urgent necessity for pain pills and bandages can do that to your schedule.

Having walked this same path from work to home six to seven days a week for a couple of months now, she knew there was a shop up ahead.

She walked in, the fluorescent lights differentiated from the dusk building outside and she scrunched up her eyes as she walked in, the air conditioned building a distinctly sharp contrast from the humid summer cooled the sweat on her skin.

"Hina-chan!"

"N-Naruto-kun"

When her eyes adjusted she saw the subject of her affection, a wide dumbstruck grin that accentuated his whiskers painted his face, hand frozen in the air as he was handing money to the cashier, instantaneous ramen on the table.

The two shared quick pleasantries and began a conversation before being interrupted and hurried by a clearly annoyed cashier as the two friends were holding up her line with their conversation. She saw Naruto step out of the building and she hurried with her shopping, hoping that with any luck Naruto would still be in the vicinity.

She paid for what she needed and hurried out to find him leaning up against the walls of the store. Trademark grin as they met each other's gaze.

"Heh. Looks like we had the same idea"

She giggled and nodded agreeingly.

Lost in conversation, the pair of young adults walked through the streets of Konoha side by side at a steady pace on a sidewalk too small to accommodate them both, forcing her to be closer to the subject of her affections than she would normally be accustomed to.

"...and don't tell anyone about this but Baa-chan has submitted her resignation and Kakashi-sensei is the frontrunner to be her successor except he doesn't even know that he's the frontrunner and I made him promise that if he wins he'll appoint me as Hokage's assistant and sure I would have liked it to be me but how ready am I really, ya know? Can you imagine me dealing with the geezers on the council and the geezers that are heads of clans and the geezers of other nations?" the boy said excitedly, not taking a single breath.

He ran up slightly ahead and turned around to look at her, pressing the bottom of his right thumb over the tip of his nose. "But just you watch Hina-chan, I will be working hard assisting sensei and as soon as I'm ready I will force him into retirement and then it will be me. Believe it!" He said, stretching that same arm out and giving her a thumbs up.

She smiled after hearing his catchphrase that she swore she hadn't heard since they were children.

That was one of the things she loved about him — that she admired about him since they were children. His ability to be optimistic and energetic no matter how difficult the past had been or how precarious the future might look.

"Ow-ow" he said, pulling his synthetic arm back and giving her a sheepish smile. It hadn't been long since the boy had been dispatched from the hospital and he was still bandaged. She covered her mouth to hide a small giggle.

Sure the Kyuubi sped up his healing process but his team's fight with Kaguya had been just that apocalyptic.

"Hinata…" said the blond haired boy with an uncharacteristically serious tone as he reached out and wrapped her hands in between his.

"...I've been thinking about the things that you've said to me and I've…umm I think I have made you wait long enough"

Her breathing stopped and the color of her cheeks became a deep shade of red as she futilely tried to read the expression on his face. This was either going to be something good or something bad.

At that moment, the inner monologues of her psychic apparatus were having heated debates within her. The logical part arguing that because he would be so busy this could only be rejection, while the emotional aspect refuting that he wouldn't be holding her hands if this was a rejection.

Her ego decided that arguing about which was more likely was meaningless, in the end it was fifty-fifty: It either happened or it didn't.

A tint of red highlighted his cheeks. "I-I love you too–but I'm not – but I can't give you what you want…at least not yet"

Her face instantly drained of color. The blush that previously adorned her cheeks, gone without a trace.

She wasn't going to cry.

"Please don't hate me, Hina-chan." Naruto said after noticing her physiological response. A hint of melancholy stained his words, If anything could be stated it would be that Naruto was truly regreful.

"-It isn't fair to you. You've waited so long for me …before I even knew, I don't want to tell you to wait for me ..." his voice cracked, the depth and tenor of his voice making way for something far more juvenile and squeaky as his eyelids began to quiver.

"Please don't hate me…"

Her lungs contracted, her stomach twisted, goosebumps rising along every part of her body, her legs were telling her to run as fast as she could, somewhere safe, somewhere that wasn't here.

She wasn't going to cry.

"Hina-chan…"

Her mind was completely empty, every thought having disappeared from her mind as if all her brain cells were shadow clones.

"Hina-chan…please…I-I'm sorry…" Naruto slowly let go of her hands as he turned around and started to walk away with a hastened pace.

It was her respiratory system that broke her out of her stupor. Hinata became acutely aware of her physical needs as her lungs began to burn and she finally let go of the air she had been holding. She reached for his lagging arm and gave his hand a slight pull so that he would at least face her.

"I-I could never hate you, Naruto-kun" she tilted her head slightly, reassuring her statement to him with a slight smile.

He pulled her into a tight embrace and she let the boy hiccup apologies into her ear.

Hinata was a shinobi, years of physical and mental training must have prepared her for this…

She. Wasn't. Going. To. Cry.

They embraced for a couple of seconds but to them it lasted for a couple of hours before the duo pulled away, she could see the tear stains that adorned his eyes. They both stared into each other's eyes and then smiled at one another.

"I-it's getting l-late Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

Naruto turned away from her and ran through the night in the direction where his apartment was. When he was but a speck on the horizon, obscured even further by the darkness of the night, he turned to face her, and gave her a wave.

She needed to get home, Hinata looked around to locate where in Konoha she was and found herself directly beneath the Hokage Tower.

Above her, the visages of the previous leaders of the village looked on omnisciently, overlooking the red building that towered over the former Hyuuga heiress and made her feel so insignificant.

It had only been a couple of weeks since the war ended, raw material and trade between nations was strained and the village was severely rationing electricity.

Hinata was not going to cry but at that moment she was a little glad that the streetlights shut off and the darkness of the night enveloped her as she walked towards the Hyuuga compound.

She placed the palm of her hand on Neji's headstone and whispered. "Neji-nii. I'm so sorry.".

She turned and began to walk the path by which she came. She reached the steel gate that guarded the cemetery and closed it.

The collective sacrifice of the village yielded something in return. For the civilians it was their lives, for the shinobi it was their future. Yet here at the dawn of the night in the Konohagakure cemetery where Hinata stood alone she looked up at the faint shine of the stars and wondered. Was she selfish for believing that the part that she sacrificed was greater than others'?

Hyuuga Hinata was confident she was no fool and she headed home.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Uchiha Sasuke was a fool.

Not only was he breaking house arrest and curfew, If any unsavory rumors were to start spreading of him walking around the Konoha cemetery at night it could, no would, unravel into more punishment.

Who knows what the trigger happy elders in the council that governed the village from the shadows would do once rumors began to prop up amongst the populace that the Uchiha was ransacking corpses in order to perform Edo Tensei.

Had it been up to them, they would throw him into the deepest bowels of Konoha Correctional, chain him up with chakra binding chains, and turn him into a living medical dummy. His eyes, stolen and studied by the best medical ninjas of the village, then given to whatever ANBU poodle they deemed most worthy.

In front of him, the headstones of two Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku. Sasuke sat down, soles on the ground, knees up as he rested his arm on his kneecap. Many times throughout his life he would find himself in this same spot. As a boy, he would look to them for guidance.

Now? to retrospect and meditate.

The silence and solitude that could only be found at a graveyard at night calmed his scattered thoughts, always oscillating between the two extremes of war and peace. He paused all sensorium to the extent that a living person could, holding on to that numbness for a few seconds until it became painful and then he opened his sensory organs again.

The wind prickled his skin and he took a deep breath letting that cold early autumn air fill his lungs, oh how it differed from the nauseating, headache inducing humidity of the sweltering Konoha summer.

Exhale.

He ran his hand across the grass underneath him, letting his fingers intertangle and play with the matted growth of leaves. Clearing the tangles, his index finger moved up the vertical to the apex of a blade of grass..

Inhale.

A rustle.

Exhale.

His arteries contracted and his heart rate began to rise. Meditation ruined, he looked up at the early October sky, noting the positions of Orihime and Hikoboshi. Has it really been that many months since the end of the war?

He let his memories overtake him.

The first thing that he became aware of when he awoke was the four…no five people that had never learnt to use their "inside voice". His temples were throbbing and his ears were ringing. The darkness that surrounded him wasn't all enveloping. It was the type of black that would allow some light in. It was as if someone had bandaged his eyes multiple times then placed the bulb of an interrogation lamp directly in his face.

"Uzumaki, your reputation can only take you so far you know." said the voice of a shrill old woman, a condescending tone carried her words almost as if challenging the subject of the sentence to take the bait.

He looked for his hand, he tried to move his pinky slightly but he couldn't tell if he had actually done it. The connections between his brain and the rest of his nervous system was interrupted. Best case scenario, he was still waking up; Worst case scenario, they cut off his limb and he was laced with nerve agents.

"Even if we were to be moved by your words, convincing the rest of the villagers is nigh impossible. The crimes of Uchiha Sasuke are far too numerous, if we were to hold a democratic vote, I would wager a majority of the village would be in favor of his execution…"

The shrill voice continued with the auditory torture, If the worst case scenario is his current reality he'll make sure to petition that they also take out his ear drum as soon as he regains control of his speech.

"Really, think of this as mercy. Not only will he never be accepted by the village, he will be treated as an outcast for the remainder of his days."

The room went quiet and Sasuke would have thanked Kami, but alas He is cruel and the silence did not last for too long. A voice he could never mistake spoke up.

"Mitokado-Sama, Utatane-Sama, Tsunade-Sama please I beg you to reconsider. Even if that were true it wouldn't be an issue for him. Kakashi-Sensei and I petition for his life not just as a result of our feelings towards him but to honor the legacy of Uchiha Itachi!"

Naruto's voice had become raspy and despite the formality of his words, the tone of his voice betrayed his true feelings of frustration. Had he been crying? How deeply pathetic.

"Enough Uzumaki," the elder gentleman spoke gruffly and firmly.

"Our votes have been decided."

There was a hard slam on a table that caused Sasuke's fingers on his hand to flinch. Wait, was his sensation of touch coming back?

"If it were not for him, we would all be dead at the hands of Kaguya"

"And if it were up to him, everyone in the village would have been dead long before the Otsutsuki revealed herself"

"And if it were up to the villagers I would have been dead before I even graduated the Academy!" Naruto yelled through gritted teeth.

Silence.

Not only was Naruto getting heated but Sasuke's headache was intensifying at a rapid pace as a result of all the yelling.

"Naruto calm down"

"Watch your tongue, Uzumaki. You may be the hero of Konoha but you're no Hokage yet."

"Be grateful we're even giving you a word on this"

"I promise if you decide to execute him, I will do what I must to ensure his escape" Naruto's voice deepened. This was all too much, it was getting to the Jinchuriki. Sasuke could feel his extremities now. He was on his knees and his right arm and what remained of the other one were crossed behind his back, restrained by chains. He tried to tap into his chakra to no avail. No surprise really, it would be grossly incompetent if they hadn't sealed him.

"Oh is that so?" the old man said mockingly

"Enlighten us, and what exactly does that entail, Naruto?"

"Do not underestimate my limits, within a day I can make sure every person in the village, every head of every clan, becomes aware of the complacency you two shared with Danzo."

The atmosphere in the room had changed, even if he was closed off from his chakra, Sasuke was now aware of the many other shinobi that inhabited the room they were in.

"Ohoho~ Should we skip all the formality and trial you for attempted treason now?"

"What will it be, Naruto?"

This was excruciating.

"Naruto, behave yourself!"

He must be under Tsukuyomi

"What a disgusting display of insolence from you, Naruto…"

This has to be one of Orochimaru's torturous training methods.

"I think you've said enough, Uzumaki."

Every sound

"...Naruto."

They made

"Naruto."

Was like

"Naruto?"

Explosive tags

"..., Naruto"

Going off

"Naruto–"

Next to

"Naruto; "

His ears.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke used all his strength and pulled at his chains, "Enough! "

Everyone stopped what they were doing, frozen. The room became completely silent.

His fingers clenched. Whatever. As if they could ever stop him, Naruto was the only person in the world capable of restraining him and if he knew anything about the Uzumaki is that he would never do that at the behest of old kooks…and if for any case Naruto did, Sasuke made a vow to turn Indra's Arrow on himself.

The Uchiha clan was not known for its mental stability and as that thought ran through his head he gave a quiet, yet accentuated laugh.

Everyone had gotten what they wanted.

Naruto had gotten the acceptance of the village he always wanted (only Kami knows why he would ever want that), he had gotten him back to the village even if he had to do it by dragging his unconscious body face through the Konoha gate by the ankles, and his eventual ascension to Hokagehood was nothing short of inevitable.

The council had won, the Uchiha clan was dead, their complacency in genocide wiped off of every record, every book, their position above everyone in what they deemed as natural hierarchy secured.

Even postmortem, Itachi had gotten what he had wanted. Konoha was safe and his little brother was able to "live" out his life.

His jaw clenched and his fingers dug deep into the skin and flesh of his palm that they began to bleed.

Everyone had gotten what they wanted, everyone except him.

How ironic that no matter how far he went, how fast he fled he was always a pawn in someone else's scheme. A minor character in his own story.

He smiled sardonically at the thought that If five or so generations from now a vaudeville theater group decided to adapt his life as Ninjō-banashi he was confident it would sell out theaters and quickly be recognized as a masterpiece in the genre of tragicomedy.

Illuminated only by the light of the moon he stared blankly at the headstones of his two parents. The headstones weathered, the lettering faded and the area surrounding them overrun with grass. The headstone for his father chipped on the top right side. He had nothing to say that he hadn't said already.

House arrest. What a preposterous name for his punishment, the Uchiha couldn't help but think. A house implies a home, a place to return to at the end of the night, a place of safety, a place of confirmity. It would be akin to referring to the death sentence as the "ultimate freedom". If there was anything that Uchiha Sasuke was certain of was that Konohagakure was not his home.

He heard the rustle again and Sasuke decided this had gone on long enough. He groaned loudly, his discontent obvious. His body remained still but his head rapidly moved to where he last heard movement. "What do you want?" he said monotonously.

"..."

Nothing.

As he stood, he sighed then activated his bloodline limit. Reeling in the familiar acerbic rush that came as he flooded his eyes with chakra, optic nerves set ablaze. He moved his neck slowly scanning for another chakra signature. While not as gifted as the Hyuuga in the art of chakra tracking, the Sharingan was a more than capable alternative in mid to low range situations.

Sure enough, there behind the large oak tree in the center of the cemetery. The other had tried to camouflage their chakra signature behind that of the tree. Sasuke smirked. Whoever this was had some knowledge of chakra and the abilities of his Kekkei Genkai. A shinobi most likely. Was this some disgruntled ex soldier out for revenge? Was it an ANBU tailing him under orders from Kakashi?

He kept walking towards the tree, Sharingan locked on to his stalker's chakra signature.

"Assassination is one of the fundamental basics of what a Shinobi should be able to do." Sasuke said plainly. "I would tell you that you already missed your chance, but the truth is you never really had one."

Bloodlust seeped from him and it silenced the nocturnal fauna. His arm reached for the Tsuka of his katana to be greeted with…nothing. Right…house arrest…prisoner.

He put up both his right and the stump of his left arm up and stopped his advancement.

"Listen, I'm on good behavior watch right now. You'll have to try again some other day". The other's chakra signature had become less erratic. He stifled a smirk. If his assailant was watching him he didn't want to give anything away.

"Just so you know…" The Uchiha turned around and began walking away, the right side of his face craned towards the tree.

"It's disrespectful to attack someone when they are…". He twisted his neck so that the side of his face with the Rinnegan would face the tree and he looked for something, anything.

There! He activated Amenotejikara and teleported to be within arms reach of his assailant.

In an instant Sasuke was right next to the other. His opponent, however, was no amateur as the fingers of his would-be assassin were already darting towards his chest. Either the stranger saw through his feint, or their reflexes were much faster than anticipated. Had it been anyone other than him, the attack would have certainly landed but this time he just had too much experience.

Just a couple of centimeters away from his chest, Sasuke's remaining hand grabbed the wrist of his attacker, deflecting their attack to his right side simultaneously using his superior strength and pulling the person towards him. His right leg sweeped theirs and they fell.

"...Paying respects." Sasuke finished his sentence as his shadower fell face down on the ground.

"G-gomennasai Uchiha-San–" A female said in a squeaky and breathy voice as she slowly pushed herself up and turned her face towards him..

Speak of the devil.

"Hyuuga"

This was…unexpected to say the least. If you had given Sasuke a thousand guesses as to who had been following him since he walked into the Konoha cemetery, a Hyuuga would not have been in any of those guesses..

As the girl wiped the dirt off her pants, Sasuke went through whatever knowledge and memories he had of the Hyuuga clan in an attempt to make sense of this situation. He vaguely remembered "the other prodigy" from his youth that was enrolled in the academy. A fair skinned boy with long black hair, his headband would hide the Hyuuga family cursed seal that separated the members of the main family and the branch family.

She turned to face him, and Sasuke stepped back a couple of feet. Antagonism was not yet outside the range of possibilities so if she began to attack him he wanted the space to flee

A quick glance at her forehead and its lack of any seal made it clear that this Hyuuga was a member of the main family.

Sasuke cursed inwardly. It was bad enough that he had been seen outside of his curfew; he also attacked a member of the Hyuuga main family. Every single worst case scenario that could happen to him was happening. How much worse could this get? Was she also the heiress?

"State your business, Hyuuga." Sasuke demanded..

He studied her body language, her Byakugan was not active, her legs stood straight, and her arms were limp. Everything about her posture indicated that she wasn't trying to fight, but call it paranoia or discipline from years of training, Sasuke was not going to ease up. Jūken only needed a single touch.

"I-I-um..." the girl fidgeted with her hands.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. Talking was not her strong point, that much was certain.

The female Hyuuga looked at the ground and took a deep breath. "I-I was leaving the cemetery when I heard the gate opening. T-there has been a string of grave robberies recently and I-I decided to investigate for any suspicious activity."

That was reasonable enough. He could have parsed her further and asked her why she didn't leave as soon as she saw it was him but that answer was made redundant by his own thoughts. He was "suspicious activity".

He furrowed his brows; If he were a betting man he'd wager that the moment she heard the cemetery gate open her Byakugan had been activated. She had long been well aware it was him from the very beginning but decided to keep an eye on him anyways.

Still, an opportunity had opened itself. If a clarification of the events that transpired would prevent the Hyuuga from spreading the news of his nightly escapade, he would take advantage of the situation.

The air of hostility that permeated the cemetery was gone, replaced by awkward silence as the duo faced each other, both completely unaware of how to continue. The longer it went on, the more Sasuke thought that the opportunity he had clearly seen in his mind just a few seconds ago to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. He considered leaving when after a couple of seconds, the Hyuuga cleared her throat and spoke.

"I-I'm sorry for intruding, Uchiha-san. I umm…didn't know you were visiting your parents" the Hyuuga said apologetically, bowing slightly.

Sasuke walked towards her and sat next to where she stood, back leaning against the large oak tree that had previously served as the Hyuuga's camouflage. "You were leaving the cemetery when you heard me."

She nodded, pearl eyes blinking in affirmation.

"I always come late. Why did you?"

"I work a lot…the hospital is understaffed."

The Hyuuga sat down and continued, "S-Sakura-san is a very capable medic. We rely on her as much as we do on the Godaime..." From the corner of his eyes, he noted the change in her composure. Her shoulders relaxed and she brought her knees up to her chin.

"B-but even with their help, we are still overwhelmed. T-there's just too many patients…between the soldiers who need long term t-treatments and now an uptick in civilian cases as well from the rebuilding efforts."

She turned to look at him and gave him a slight smile. "...It almost makes me wish that it were Sakura-san who could create hundreds of shadow clones." She giggled at her own statement.

If that was a joke he didn't find it particularly funny. He met her gaze straight-faced, Sasuke was not the type of person to give anyone a courtesy laugh. Noticing his reaction or lack thereof, she rescinded her smile, turning her gaze back towards the ground.

Silence had fallen upon them once again. The wind picked up and rustled the tree they were sitting under. The tacet of the night was interspersed by the hooting of an owl somewhere in the distance and the grass danced along with the movement of the wind.

Staring off into the foliage of the trees that surround the cemetery, Sasuke continued. "That's not an answer to my question."

Opalescent eyes blinked in confusion for a couple of seconds, then trepidation when she got what he was getting at. Inwardly, she would probably debate how much to share, if anything at all.

She laid her head on her knees forlornly. "I lost my brother during the war."

His ears perked, relative indifference turning to slight interest.

"I noticed an attack aimed for Naruto-kun and shielded him with my body but before it could land, Neji-kun did the same for me. He went to the academy with us, I don't know if you remember him."

The vague snippets and flashes that name elicited combined would hardly constitute a memory. "I do not."

"Oh"

The chill of the night coinciding with the change of the seasons couldn't have made the temperature any colder yet the air was unceremoniously thick. Prior to this, Sasuke didn't know much if anything about the female Hyuuga, had they ever even shared a word as kids? Yet here she was baring her trauma to him. He couldn't get annoyed though, it was his question.

"S-say Uchiha-san, d-do you think I'm to blame for his death?"

He slowly turned his gaze and stared blankly at her. In the quiet of the night he could hear how hitched her breath had become, she was trembling either from the cold or the recollection of painful memories or most likely both. The girl's gaze was planted firmly on the ground, but her eyes were hidden from him by her lids.

Such a poignant question resonated with him, more than resonating it was a mirror image of his own experiences. Many nights he had stayed up pondering the same thing, sleep not serving as a means of escape, consistently haunted by nightmares of his brother; Ruminating on hypothetical worlds and timelines where his brother did not spare him, worlds where Itachi chose to not be a sacrificial lamb, worlds where Itachi was the villain that Sasuke's pubescent mind was confident he was, their brotherly bond ultimately being the stamp on Itachi's life that did him in. If he had never been born would Itachi still have gone through with the task that Danzo placed upon his shoulder? Would he have run away from the village and the clan with that girl that would hang around him and live a mundane domesticated life?

Awaiting his response, the female Hyuuga raised her head and met Sasuke's gaze, lips quivering, her eyes– slightly hidden by her bangs, slightly glazed with a patina of tears. He didn't want to deal with a crying woman, especially one that he had literally just met but still, what would be the point of coddling her? His brutal and often crude honesty, what many considered standoffish, he considered a point of pride. If she didn't want an answer, she shouldn't have asked.

He turned his face away from her line of sight.

"Yes–." Plain and simple.

Dejected and forlorn, she gulped. "O-oh".

But Sasuke wasn't done. "You shouldn't feel bad about it."

"...?"

"You didn't force him to sacrifice yourself for you, did you?"

She shook her head.

"Blaming yourself doesn't accomplish anything."

The fraternal bonds that formed between Sasuke and Itachi came about naturally and how any individual chose to act as a result of those bonds was ultimately up to them.

Silence followed, after a minute he turned to gauge her reaction, and what he saw took him slightly aback. The female Hyuuga was using her sleeve to wipe her eyes and when she lowered her arm she tilted her head slightly and met his gaze with a smile.

"You're surprisingly p-pretty e-easy to talk to, Uchiha-san" she said in between hics.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Tch" he turned his head away from her.

Sasuke stood and looked up, noting the position of the moon and concluded it was time to go home. He had spent more time here than he originally planned, so he began to walk away from the Hyuuga.

"U-Uchiha-san–."

He didn't really have any interest in what she had to say, and he was going to make no effort to humor her.

She called after him. "I-it's not any of my business–"

He kept walking

"-b-b-but you really should maintain the headstones of your loved ones."

Sasuke stopped for a second and turned to look at her one final time, a large part of her face hidden by her knees, her eyes only slightly visible peeking up at him from her safe fetal position.

He smirked, briefly thinking about what a foolish person this female Hyuuga was

In a flash he disappeared, forgoing the carved path out of the cemetery and favoring to move through the trees.

A/N:

I wrote this chapter before googling "When did the fourth shinobi war end" so for the sake of the story please pretend the Fourth Shinobi war ended sometime in the early spring/very early summer. Arigatou *bowing emoji*. Sasuke's flashback takes place a couple of days after Kaguya's defeat, Hinata's about a month after the war ends. Everything else is happening around Early October. Feel free to point out any inconsistencies in regards to that.