Disclaimer: All characters used belong to Kishimoto Misashi
AN: Damn; I thought I could never write for this pairing again considering that I'm still agonizing over my chaptered fic of this pair. I've flipped back to S-ai for the past few months and though I have to do my other fic, I just read Cookie6's "Even If I Don't Show It, It's There" and felt inspired to write something for this pair again. My friend would probably call it blasphemy for pairing Sasuke with someone other than Naruto but I've joined this series longer than she has so ner.
I believe that the beginning, they are 14 or so. By the end they should be 16 even though there is no indication.
WARNINGS: There's a lot of time jumps but they really shouldn't be that hard to follow. And obviously AU-ish (same world, but it doesn't follow that timeline). OOCness and there's probably inconsistent grammar and spelling problems. But, Enjoy.
B R E A T H L E S S
And Many Other Chanced Meetings
By: Naito Kiseki
Light and easy breezes blew over the land as it swayed the lush grass in a breathtaking ripple effect of softness. Leaning against the shade of a tree with his eyes closed in meditation, Sasuke waited for his teammates to appear. His head was dropped forward at a seventy-five degree angle causing long ebony bangs to cover his stoic expression. His arms were crossed at the top of his abdominal area, pressing against the soft cotton of his navy shirt in a relaxed and calculating manner.
He felt the rough of the bark of the oak through the back of his shirt and the force of the wind pushing him against the base of the tree. There was an oddly tranquil feel to the natural forces but Sasuke did not give it a second thought. He did not think but stared at the back of his eyelids with a blank and relaxed mind, concentrating only on his breathing.
A moment later, a loud crack from behind him brought an instantaneous reaction of snapping his eyes open as it disrupted his focused breathing and left him confused while he struggled to deepen his sudden short gasps of air.
Sasuke's dark charcoal eyes narrowed as his head rotated itself toward the direction from where the sound emitted. He slowly ambled around the oak and into the grove of trees. He followed a chronic pounding as his eyes habitually scanned his surroundings.
The dull crunch of broken twigs and rocks rang silently through the vast woods but the sound of pounding masked it into a soft padded trot. Sasuke pushed past bushes with arm-like branches that latched on his shirt and shorts. Giving a grumbled curse at the shrub, Sasuke hopped on a low branch of one of the trees and jumped to a higher branch of the next till he was hidden in the tops of the trees.
He jumped from one tree to the next, never stopping for a rest until he came to a small clearing littered with bits of wood over the forest ground.
Off to one side of the opened area stood a girl with dark blue hair cropped shortly at the base of her neck. Her profile revealed pearl white eyes as the large tan coat around her petite torso flew up and down, back and forth unzipped and unconstrained with her movements.
She jumped to and fro, attacking a battered log before her sending a sequenced pattern of punches and kicks though she was a little clumsy and missed a few hits. Her heavy breathing was hitched at the throat, floating out in sharp gasps but she still persisted in her actions. She did not frown when the log spilt under the strain of her attacks and she did not smile when she moved to a new log.
Sasuke saw an unwanted conflict flash in her eyes as she persisted with her barrage of attacks. She moved around it as if she were dancing performing strike after strike. He watched her for a long time and when she finally stopped he realized that the sun had turned to the fiery red of dusk. He saw her stop and turn so he only saw her back. She stood erect, facing another log as she regained her breath. Moments later, she resumed her performance.
Sasuke felt himself break into a small grin as he turned around. He glanced at the silhouette of the girl out of the corner of his eyes before retracing his path. His realization of being extremely late with his meeting amused him to a certain extent but his thoughts continued to drift to the girl with the grim white eyes, still wrapped in a surreal disbelief that he had spent so much time just staring at her.
How interesting, he thought.
-
Hinata splintered another log and cringed at the shots of pain from her wrists. She closed her eyes, willing the pain to desist while she took slower and deeper breaths. When her eyes fluttered open, she gazed at the smooth surface of the unbroken log. It was worn and sanded from use but it still had ways to go before it was broken.
She glanced at the broken pieces of wood that were strewn about the clearing and squatted down to pick up a piece of broken wood chip. The lines of age entranced her as she slowly moved the piece between the tips of her fingers. She dropped the chip and watched it fall to the floor, bouncing once on the soft floor before its velocity was absorbed and stripped.
The only sound that greeted her was silence and the early evening. She stood up and tilted her head back while she looked at the hazy pink sky. She let her heart rate return to normal taking slow and deep breaths of air.
Opening her eyes in a slow and lazy fashion, she turned her head to the side and took a small step turning at a 90 degree angle, staring at the treetops that were behind her. She ducked her head back down and turned to the road by the side of the clearing. Then she left.
-
Hinata swayed warily against the wind, lightly grazing her cheeks in the twilight. She sighed in a grim satisfaction while she slowly made her way home, quietly taking in the scenery of the shops preparing to open or close for the evening. Shaking her head to clear the fluffiness in it, she leaned a hand on a gray bricked building wall to stabilize her shakiness. She took several slow deep breaths only to feel slightly better but more lightheaded.
A sudden darkness engulfed her consciousness as her weakened knees gave out from under her and she fell.
-
Hinata's pearl eyes gradually opened to find herself by the shade of a building. A sudden rush of memories played back as she remembered loosing consciousness on her way home. She let out a soft groan as she tried to stand only to fall back down. Pushing aside the pain, she sat up and stood, making her way home in the darkening evening.
She walked shakily before she stumbled, wheezing heavily; a third hand steadied her as she woozily looked up to find dark onyx eyes watching her.
"You're really pale," he said carefully letting her stand on her own.
"I'm fine," Hinata reassured him as she clenched her callused hands and leaned her weight on her hand resting against the wall, "I just, need to rest for a moment."
"Do you have to push yourself like that?" Sasuke asked watching her in a slightly patronizing way, "You obviously cannot even stand let alone force yourself to walk home."
"Yes," She whispered quietly to him taking another wavy step.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. In a very uncharacteristic manner, Sasuke took her arm and draped it over his shoulder to help her keep her balance. When Hinata tried to catch his eyes in question, Sasuke's only response was, "You'll take ten times as long to get home if I don't help you."
If Hinata wanted to protest, she thought better of it for in the back of her mind, she knew that he was right; maybe not completely, but he wasn't far off. So leaning her weight against Sasuke, Hinata made her way home.
-
Pulling on the olive green vest, Hinata smiled, pleased. Her hands roamed over the stiff but soft cotton of the fabric, stopping at the vest pockets. When she opened the pocket she pulled out a small first aid kit and looked over the contents of it. A moment later she placed it on her dresser and pushed it away from her. With a smile, she nodded to herself and left the room with an energetic spring in her step.
-
There wasn't anything that Sasuke really wanted. Well, there was but not anything that was easily obtainable. But at the moment, what he really wanted was just to shower and sleep in his bed. A few days' mission was not exactly the easiest thing. Although he enjoyed his missions now, it doesn't mean that he doesn't get tired.
So treading on the streets in a tired saunter, Sasuke maneuvered his way around people who were enjoying their night. And then he saw Hinata.
"Ah, good evening, Sasuke-kun."
Making an unresponsive sound of greeting, Sasuke stopped before the girl. He noticed that she stood a little straighter and even held her head a little higher. The confident gleam in her eye added a slight sparkle to the smile on her face and Sasuke realized in surprised that she was happy. It was quite different from the last time he saw her, a few months prior, and he wondered what made her so pleased. Then he saw her vest.
"You're a chuunin now."
A jerking nod came from the girl before she informed him in her quiet voice, "Yes, I was just promoted. Will you come celebrate with me?"
"Celebrate? How?"
"I don't know, but I'm much too filled with adrenaline to just stay still."
Sasuke sighed and shook his head to decline, "No. I'm dead tired right now."
The girl nodded and bade him good-bye. Later that night he lay awake in his bed, unsure of why he was pondering over the Hyuuga girl. In vain attempt to sleep, he pushed the girl out of his conscious mind and fell to sleep only to have her appear in his bizarre dream that night.
-
"Oh, you're on this mission too?"
Sasuke glanced up to see Hinata crouched on the floor, talking to Kiba's dog, Akamaru.
"Well, you should take it easy now, right Akamaru? Kiba-kun said that you'll reopen those internal wounds if you push too much." She petted him to get a barking response.
"Stop spoiling him, Hinata. Akamaru still has a few years left in him," Kiba remarked, standing behind the dog. Hinata got up and grinned in her customary shy grin at him. Kiba flushed a little, turning away from the girl who cocked her head in puzzlement.
"-suke-kun? Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke snapped out of his stupor and turned to his pink-haired teammate, "Yeah?"
"I was asking whether you wanted to go home to pack or are you okay?" Sakura asked expectantly.
He peered over Sakura's shoulder to see Naruto engrossed in heated debate with Kiba about whether it's better to raise plants or animals while Hinata shook from suppressed mirth. He shook his head indicating no and said that he was ready to leave.
"Okay, can you and Naruto please wait? I left some things at home that I want to go get."
Sasuke nodded noncommittally and watched the girl retreat to the door. Refocusing his attention on the argument, he realized that somehow they had pulled the just arrived Shino into the altercation in which both Kiba and Naruto had somehow teamed against the nonchalant boy.
"I would say that you should join their argument but I don't think it'll be very interesting to you."
"Naruto is just being an idiot. No surprise there."
"Naruto-kun is just enjoying himself."
"He's being an ass while doing so."
"You're not a very easy person to speak to, Sasuke-kun."
"Then why the hell are you talking to me?"
She was silent for a moment and then shrugged, quietly answering, "I don't know," before she ambled back to the trio.
-
Trailing after his excited teammates, Sasuke gazed at the stars, bored to tears.
Naruto was trying his luck at catching fishes in a wide tub of water with a net and failing, skillfully breaking every wand that he paid for and soaking the sleeve of his forest green yukata. Meanwhile, Sakura was berating him that he was forcing it too much and the game was supposed to be done with grace and agility. After a while of Naruto's failure, Sakura rolled back the sleeve of her red and pink patterned yukata to "show him the proper way of doing it." But to her dismay, her net broke and after several more tries, she snapped screaming that the game was fixed so that all the nets would break.
Ordinarily, Sasuke would have participated in such a game just to show that he was better than Naruto but he was not in the mood for it. The only reason that he had even gone to the festival was to stop Sakura and Naruto's whining about him being dull as a brick (actually, the comment only came from Naruto) and pulling at him till he finally gave in to their demands. He had thought that that was the end of it but somehow they had managed to get him to wear a yukata like they were.
So there he aimlessly wandered amongst the many vendors until a loud tonk caught his attention. He looked up to search for its source but the only thing that caught his eye was a navy haired girl with silver eyes smiling in satisfaction.
He made his way to the stand and came behind the girl. She pointed to a small orange cat that the vendor took down and gave to the girl. Sasuke tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around, the prize in her arms.
"Sasuke-kun," Hinata exclaimed soft enough so that only he heard her. She smiled and bowed saying, "Good evening."
"Are you here by yourself?" Sasuke found himself asking after a few painstaking seconds of silence.
Dark blue strands shook back and forth as Hinata said no as she fiddled with the ends of her coral orange and goldenrod patterned yukata sleeves and shifting the stuffed animal. "Neji-niisan is here."
"I see," Sasuke said before they lapsed back to silence that seemed deafening considering the amount of noise that escalated around them. The brunet glanced up at Hinata to find that she was staring him up and down. Feeling a little defensive at her scrutinizing, he snapped at her, "What?"
"Nothing," she quickly replied looking around as if searching for something, "It's just that I've never seen you in a yukata before. It looks strange."
"I don't ever come to festivals and Sakura and Naruto made me wear this."
"I didn't mean it in a bad way," Hinata softly said, trying not to meet his eyes lest she offend him any more, "I think it suits you."
"Oh."
"I should go," Hinata said after more uncomfortable silence. She stared down at the toy, "Neji-niisan is looking for me," she looked past Sasuke's shoulders and smiled, "And I think Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan are looking for you too. Well then, good bye."
With one last bow at Sasuke, Hinata turned and quickly blended in with the crowd.
-
Sasuke pulled open the doors of the supermarket doing his weekly shopping for the random necessity called food. Putting a variety of fruits and vegetables in his blinding red basket, Sasuke proceeded to getting dried seaweed and then the fishes and meats. When he was done, he walked to the checkout counter and placed it on the conveyer's belt, waiting for the person in front of him to pay. And whilst he waited, a familiar voice called him from behind.
"Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke turned around and stared blankly at the girl before he finally said, "Hinata." When he saw the look that Hinata gave him he frowned with a short, "Why at you staring at me like that?"
Shaking her head, Hinata replied with a light giggle in her tone, "Sorry, you don't seem like the type to go shopping; but I suppose you must eat too, right?" Sasuke scowled, irritated by the girl's childish thought process.
He watched the bag boy pile Hinata's groceries into several bags, slightly surprised at how much the petite girl had to carry. Before he realized what he was doing, he had her bags in his hands and was carrying them out the door despite her protesting.
The girl held two bags in her hands for Sasuke had insisted on carrying the other two for her in addition to his own groceries. She idly wondered what she would do when she got home and what to make for dinner and then her thoughts jumped to the boy following her. She supposed she could see why so many girls were attracted to him.
She hated to admit it but he was pretty, maybe even more so than a girl, but he had sharp handsome features that made him acutely male. He wasn't exactly the greatest conversationalist nor did he have the best personality. If she thought about it, he was really arrogant and snippy and surprisingly defensive for someone who was so sure of himself.
When they reached her home, he accompanied her inside and followed her to the kitchen. After having placed her bags on the counter, Hinata walked him to the gate with a grateful bow.
"Thank you for your kindness," she said, glancing at him.
"It wasn't a problem."
"You really didn't have to though, I could've carried it home myself."
There was another traditional moment of silence between the two he finally said, "That's true. I wonder why I did."
Hinata looked at him in surprise and then gave a small smile, "Yes. But nevertheless, I thank you."
And then Hinata froze when she felt Sasuke tilt her chin up and saw him lean down, pressing his lips on hers. It was but a brief moment of contact and then he was gone. She stood at her gate staring blankly ahead, her fingers touching her warm lips. And when she realized he just stole her first kiss, she flushed a bright crimson as she ran back into her home, hands covering her face in embarrassment.
"He really didn't have to do that," she muttered into her hands.
Somewhere in the roofs of a building, Sasuke sat on the floor, his back against the wooden door that led to the stairs while his bag rested on the floor, next to him. With one cold hand covering his dark burning face, Sasuke muffled words that were barely distinguished, "I wonder why I did that."
::owari::