Naruto and everything affiliated with it does not belong to me. We know this. God knows all the changes I'd make if it did would cause the world to implode. It'd be exciting. :mad giggles: people are asking me what the Raikage is plotting... dude no.. way too much character development required. Kaemon is really only a tool for my nefarious purposes (read: hooking Sasuke and Hinata up). Kaemon fans will... umm... just have to enjoy what few cameos he has. Unless both my muses are off in Tahiti... in which case, yeah, Kaemon may have to filler.

Have fun children, and don't pull the cat's tail.

Hidden in Plain Sight

She was reading when he came in. She was always reading, becoming a little more stressed as each day went by and all her research led to nothing. The lavender tones in her eyes were brought out by the lavender smudges around them.

Warm hands on her shoulders made her jump. "Sasuke-san!"

"Surely you knew I was here." The hands started massaging her shoulders.

"I… yes but I was going to get the medicines as soon as I finished the page and-"

"Che, I didn't get hit any today. The higher ranks were all on duty. Besides, you look like you need it. I know you go to sleep later than I do, and I know you wake up earlier to make meals. So just relax, before I call the Raikage to charm you into doing so." His hands almost imperceptibly tightened when he mentioned the Raikage, but she was too tired to notice.

"I- alright. Thank you." She leaned forward to continue reading, as he continued to knead. He didn't know how long they'd been doing this, but finally, she slumped forward, fast asleep. The chink of metal reminded him that she was still wearing her forehead protector. She'd started wearing it around her head as opposed to her neck since the beginning of the mission, and he had yet to see her without it. As he intended to carry her to her bed, he gathered her hair, and undid the knot. The motions were …sensual. His hands in her hair felt strangely good. Carefully, gently, so as not to wake her, he lifted the band away from her, and had to force himself not to drop it.

She woke to a feather light touch on her forehead. "Sasuke-san?" she asked sleepily.

"This is wasn't there before." The light touch was tracing her forehead, in a pattern she knew… she started. She'd forgotten about the fake seal. She'd been trying so hard to go to bed after him, but she'd been so tired today. "Ano… it's…"

He leant down and whispered in her ear. "Tell me in the morning."

"But your training… I- eep!" He'd picked her up. Bridal style. She covered her mouth with her hands at the thought.

"Not important." He carried her to her room and dropped her a few inches above the bed. "Sleep, we can talk over breakfast."

When she came out of her room, she nearly walked into Sasuke, who was leaning on the wall opposite her door. His mouth twitched a little, fighting a smirk as she squeaked over her near collision. He followed her into the kitchen and helped her prepare breakfast. When she reached for ingredients for his lunch he stopped her.

"I'm not going to train today. And you aren't going to the hospital. Have you forgotten that it's a day of rest?" Sasuke gave in to the mouth twitch and smirked good-naturedly as she turned pink, confirming that she had indeed forgotten, so caught up was she in the flurry of research. He carried breakfast out to the table they'd moved in front of the couch. She sat down, very primly, entirely too self conscious. Sasuke draped himself over one end, and began to eat. Hinata eventually followed suit. When she put down her bowl, she was pulled into lying across his lap, head resting on the sofa's armrest.

"Now about this seal on your forehead…"

"It's not a real seal." Hinata offered weakly. "It's just paint, sealed with chakra."

"Why would you need a fake seal, which you keep hidden, that you didn't need to have in Konoha?"

Hinata made herself comfortable, as she might be there a while. Sasuke's heart did something… weird. It was too fleeting, and too unknown, but he noted it. She began talking, and the pleasant fall of her voice relaxed him, even as the story she told made his fists clench.

"You know the Hyuuga have a Main House family, and a Branch family. I am of course, of the main house; Neji-niisan is of the Branch family. The Branch family is supposed to protect the head family. Every member of the Branch family is sealed when they are four. The seal is like a cage for them. If a main family member uses a seal I never intend to learn, it causes the branch family member targeted a great deal of pain. It attacks their nervous system… I saw it used first when I was three… on my uncle, Neji's father." She tried not to think about how much Neji had hated her after then.

"Anyway, the seal prevents the Byakugan from leaving the Hyuuga family. If a sealed person dies, the blood limit dies with them. So it is understandable that I was a target for kidnap. I was the weakest, and yet I was the heir. I would be an easy kill, and they'd still have the Byakugan for their troubles." Hinata paused to keep herself together. Sasuke was staring at the wall, listening intently to what she said nonetheless. His hand had started stroking her hair at some point during her narrative, but it just felt so… right that she didn't want it to stop. She sighed softly and continued. "It was around then that the Kumogakure and Konohagakure signed a peace treaty. As a sign of trust, the Kumogakure envoys were put in the Hyuuga compound.

"That night, I was kidnapped from the Main House. My father detected the intrusion and killed the nin. It was Kumogakure's ambassador. They had managed to find information enough to try and steal the Byakugan away from Konoha, from the Hyuuga. Kumogakure however refused to acknowledge that, and demanded that Konoha pay them back for that life, with the life of my father. He was quite prepared to go… but Hizashi-sama, my uncle, my father's identical twin, demanded to go in his place. He had the seal because my father was born first, which automatically made him Branch family. Funny how a few minutes can change your entire life. Hizashi-sama chose to die, not for the Hyuuga clan, but for his brother's sake. Neji-niisan was so bitter about it for years. I'm kind of glad the Chuunin exam turned out the way it did." She smiled softly. "Neji-niisan finally found out what happened to his father, was acknowledged by the Main House, and found his destiny is his own to shape. That made me happy, seeing him feel so free. He did apologize for hurting me, and he fought so well against Naruto-kun, what I saw of that match at any rate." The hand in her hair stilled for a few seconds.

"So you have the fake seal in case some Cloud nin remember what happened; and to prevent a fight, you'd pretend to be Branch family, useless to them even in death."

Hinata nodded slowly, Sasuke could feel it.

"Yes… I was relieved when I saw that Kaemon was so young. He couldn't have been more than ten when I was kidnapped, so he probably doesn't know anything about this. It would be uncomfortable to say the least, if the previous Raikage knew I, Huuuga Hinata, was the medic nin Konoha had sent them." She sat up, giving Sasuke a look of gratitude, before it took on a hint of mischief. "Your turn." Before he could protest she'd pulled him into the same position, one hand splayed on his collar bone to prevent him from leaving. "So what stories does the Great Uchiha Sasuke have for this small medic nin?"

He could feel the heat of her fingers through his shirt. It was rather distracting, truth be told. However he replied as blankly as he could. "Uchiha Sasuke is just a ninja, with a much publicized life. What could this medic nin not know, seeing as she helped him with his cursed seal, which few enough know about."

Hinata kept her gaze on him. "Maybe, if someday he was willing, he could tell her why he chose his seal over his hitai ate. But perhaps not today. Maybe today, he can help her research."

He looked at her at last, mockingly. "And why would he do that? In fact, why would he even allow her to research at all, when those books seem to be sucking the life out of her?" He reached up; thumb gently tracing the darkness under one eye. "These were not here before either. If all you're going to do today is research, I'm not moving, and we will see how useful the Byajugan really is. Like can it help you read the scrolls that are all the way over on that table."

She pushed at him ineffectually, squirming a little underneath his back. He just lay there, arms tucked behind his head, looking at her, with that insufferable smirk on his face. She huffed slightly, before smiling at him. It was amused, resigned and so warm. Sasuke wanted…

The masks finally came off.

"So if you're going to keep me here all day, what did you intend to do for lunch?"

Sasuke bit back on remarking that he could just as well eat her, that thought needed to be squashed, and it was, very quickly, so he simply shrugged. "Well if you promise not to move, I could fix lunch."

"But Sasuke-san, I only just got the records for the events, and I'm curious. Please?" If she couldn't fight him, she could try diplomacy.

Sasuke saw it in a different light. Using that timid appeal to his inner gentleman. He sighed and went to her desk. He tossed the latest scroll to her, and set about making lunch. When he came back to the couch, Hinata was sitting very stiffly, the scroll in her lap very carefully folded, her hands were wringing each other.

"Hinata? What's wrong?"

"Sasuke-san?" Her voice was even, if tense. "Was I the only one who thought that each seal victim was the only casualty of these attacks? Because apparently they weren't. I… so many died… and only one person came away with the seal. Even if there were other nin, some of high ranks… only one was sealed each time… I… but so many witnesses weren't ninja. I- I just…"

Sasuke set down the tray and sat next to her. "Care to calm down, read more and explain to me?"

Hinata slowly turned to look at him. "The numbers are… incredibly high." She looked down at the files in front of her, skimming the contents. "What!" Her eyes went wide, fixing on a set of characters, characters she was familiar with. "Sa-suke…" One hand shakily clutched his sleeve. "The ninja… each time were identified as…" she gulped, "Hoshigake Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, S-rank missing nin." She looked at her partner. His face was unreadable, but the hand that removed hers from his shirt was steady. He didn't release the hand, but motioned her to continue. "They… the victims' accounts all agree that someone they later identified as Hoshigake Kisame took out most of the people. Then they saw red… and apparently blacked out." Sasuke tensed. Hinata forced herself to continue. "After they recovered somewhat they were able to identify their attackers from the bingo book." Hinata didn't look at Sasuke, trying instead to objectively read the reports of the survivors.

"All the parents and teachers know… guess they didn't want their precious children knowing that such evil could exist. Itachi is my older brother." Sasuke's eyes were hidden by his bangs. Hinata put the scroll on the desk, and scooted closer. "When I was little, he was my mentor, I wanted to grow up and be as much like him as possible, if not better. One night, I came home from the Academy late… and the streets of the Uchiha compound were dark and empty, and I was afraid. I found my brother in our house… he'd killed my parents… our parents… he'd killed everyone… that's why I'm an Avenger. That's why I came on this mission… because my brother had been seen here… and because I hate him, I will stop him, and I will kill him."

"Sasuke…kun." Sasuke looked at her, the suffix change registering. She clung to his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. "Promise me one thing… that if you ever meet him, you'll come back to Konoha with me. I couldn't bear to lose you to someone like that… you're my friend and you're so strong…"

"If I ever meet him here, close your eyes, close your ears, close your mind. The red… is the Mangekyou Sharingan. I never want to see you have to suffer that, no matter what happens to me. It's my life, and if I have to give it up to avenge my family, I will. I made a vow to…" To kill a certain man… and to revive my clan… Hinata seemed not to have noticed he'd left that sentence unfinished, she didn't move, just sat with him, in the silence that only two people who understand each other know.

authoress would like to note that she is fully aware characters are a tad OOC... she would also like to point out that it'd be really boring for her if they weren't. authoress suggests anyone who has a bee in their bonnet about it to play in traffic and drink bleach.

authoress is on a real roll here... authoress asks that you check out the companion pieces for Hidden in Plain Sight, by clicking the little link to Revealing Moments. Arigatou!