Sasuke ran in from the rain trying to shield the decoded scrolls in his arms.

"Welcome home." Hinata opened the door for him. She was finally up and walking about. Finally Sasuke got to notice how comforting that pair of lavender eyes was, compared to the shadowy silence he was so used to greeting him instead.

"Sas..Sasuke c-can you please help me with something?" She obviously forced herself to immediately get this out of the way first before she has the chance to chicken out, and then silently took the scrolls he was handing her.

"What is it?" Sasuke inquired and began taking off his drenched cloak.

But before she could answer, she hurried to the study to put them away and returned shortly after following Sasuke into the kitchen. She quickly opened the wall sized doors that separated it from the living room and then opened the ones separating the living room from the front porch. Fresh air burst in momentarily cooling the whole place as the sound of the rain outside just got a lot louder.

"Hinata." He called as he observed her now work around the fire pit, quite red, not managing to say a word.

"I need my bandages changed." She blurted out without looking up.

She was obviously mortified of having to ask him. "Why didn't you ask Sakura?"

"She's out on a mission."

"And Ino?"

She managed to look at him again. "Ino doesn't know we're not really married…"

Sasuke stared not quite grasping what she meant.

She quickly added. "Families are in charge of home care, I can't just ask…"

"Fine." He mixed a bowl of vegetables, picked up the rice and brought them over to the living room table.

Sasuke has never had a family member tend to his injuries after a mission so he didn't know about the practice. It made Hinata somewhat sad to realize it ad Sasuke peeked in her direction, wondering if she's actually feeling bad for him right now? Sensitive...

She closed the porch door and joined him shortly after. "Thank you for the meal."

He now openly scanned her not seeing any of the old band aids she had on her neck, face and arms for the past week. The skin was left smooth and clean. Sakura really went out of her way when fixing up women. Rarely was one left with a scar. "So where are the bandages?"

The food got stuck in her throat and she turned a bit blue as she struggled to swallow.

"I see." Sasuke tried not to smile, but failed.

Her eyebrows furrowed for she didn't enjoy big teased and she looked at him protesting. "Mean."

This made him smile even more...

"Did Naruto find out who attacked us?"

"No. All communication is cut off with the capitol. Technically we're on lock down again."

"And your teacher?"

"Missing."

"I'm sorry..." She was genuinely surprised by the news and stopped eating to express her remorse.

Sasuke looked up. "I tell you too much." He concluded.

She blushed. "I-I won't tell."

-…bedroom; soon after…-

"I have to take it off." Sasuke concluded and tried to pull her shirt over her head.

"I can!" She flinched at his touch and ran into the bathroom. Way too long after that Hinata finally came out, her shirt spread over her naked breasts that she pressed on very tightly, hair high in a bun, bandages covering her middle back exposed. She approached and sat down on the edge of the bed in her usual straight posture, looking very graceful, yet way too far for Sasuke to even reach her.

He smirked and climbed on the bed sitting right behind her. Her smooth, pale skin exposed right in front of him, the familiar scent. The arousal he only struggled with in the morning was now returning. He swallowed irritated. Why did I sign up for this? He slowly cut through the bandages that wrapped around her and pulled them out from both sides. Hinata loosened her hold on the shirt covering her breasts allowing him to do so.

Now all his excitement drained away. Here Sasuke realized he never actually saw Hinata as a shinobi. The wound turned his stomach and what was done felt fully immoral. Trough all the things he did, Sasuke wouldn't have been able to live with himself without sticking to some basic principles, not killing the innocents if you can help it, being one of them. And those breaking such rules deeply disgusted him.

To him, seeing the wounds tarring her soft, pale skin across most of her small frame, felt as if they've assaulted a young, helpless civilian, not a fully trained shinobi. So when he then remembered he wanted to take her off duty, guilt seeped in through the cracks of all the logic and strategy that justified it.

Mid work, while trying to stop struggling with thoughts of not letting her go back on the field, he finally noticed Hinata was no longer blushing. A sight he's never actually seen from this girl around another person, which included most of her own family. And she was half naked right now. Her shoulders lowered, her chest and arms relaxing even though he sat right behind her applying the ointment.

She chose to trust me...

Fuck.

-…Hokage Mansion Lounge, 2nd floor; the next day, 12:00 pm…-

Sakura abruptly crashed on the couch, her baby blue hospital scrubs still on, complete with the white overcoat, arms folded, planting herself right next to her blonde former teammate who seemed like he was about to choke on a bowl of microwaveable ramen. Naruto stopped eating and looked at her sit there nervous and quite angry.

"Whpaath?" He said, his mouth still full.

She waited sulking in silence, until the one other person in the lounge besides them, finished using the wending machine and left.

"Is your shift over?" Naruto looked at her outfit. The scrubs are normally turned in at the hospital before the medics can go home. He's never seen them outside.

"Do you think Sasuke could like Hinata?" She said staring ahead.

"Of course, Hinata is cool." He smiled and kept eating.

"You're such an idiot." She looked at him annoyed.

He laughed and swallowed before he could choke. He hasn't eaten breakfast, which was very hard on Naruto. "I don't even think Sasuke knows how to like girls that way."

"You think he likes guys?"

"What?! No!" Naruto jumped up disturbed with the thought, seeing how their apparent tsundere bromance could easily be misinterpreted by people.

"He came to visit her in the hospital." Sakura explained, not paying attention to Naruto's outburst.

"I wanted to as well, but there was no time." Naruto shrugged.

"Apparently he wanted to, more." Her sadness came through in the sound of her voice.

He looked at her sit there so agitated. "Sasuke is a bit high strung. When normal people slept, he was working and trying to torture Shika and me."

And Sakura was suddenly visibly relieved. "Oh I see…" She slowly uncrossed her arms placing them in her lap.

Naruto smiled nostalgically, his smile fading in a way that was quite out of character for him. He wasn't eating anymore. This got her attention. He prepared for this already, but getting it out wasn't as easy with those beautiful, green eyes looking back at him. Finally his gaze fell to her lips and neck, breaking eye contact. "You know Sakura you have to stop coming to me with things like this..."

She was caught off guard. He seemed hurt and overworked and tired, yet the love she saw in his eyes still lingered there just as much as it did when they were children, just as much as all those times when he stood between her and mortal danger, smiling at her trough the pain, hoping to encourage her to not be afraid. That same, tender, kind smile…

"I'm sorry!" Slipped out as she suddenly felt ashamed she deepened her friendship with Naruto in this way, hurting him in the process. As if somehow, the rules of the human heart didn't apply to him when he listened to her go on and on about Sasuke, asking about Sasuke, worrying about Sasuke…

He smiled all of a sudden. "It's ok." He even cared to cheer her up. "Hey, don't worry now!" He bent following her gaze, hoping to see a smile as well.

She forced it to appease him. "You haven't been sleeping." She observed his overall disheveled appearance, even messier than usual, hoping to take focus off herself.

"Being hokage is a lot more work than I thought." He stretched his upper body, fell into the couch and then turned his head to Sakura. "Also when I said Sasuke is high strung… He's actually been driving me so insane lately, I had to force him to take the rest of the day off." Naruto sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I guess I picked the right man for the job." He smiled. No matter how many other feelings were in the mix, he didn't have an ounce of animosity towards the two people who meant the most to him.

"Well Shikamaru certainly wasn't going to push you to work harder." Sakura joked and admired how strong a man he really became, from that reactive, sensitive, stubborn little boy she used to know. She quickly wiped the little tear in the corner of her eye. "Thank you Naruto."

"Hmm? For what?" He looked at her.

"Being my friend all these years." She couldn't hold back the tears the second time.

"Hey!" He suddenly sat up straight.

She laughed a bit and wiped her eyes again. "It's nothing."

Naruto smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her look up at him. "I'm grateful I am your friend as well!"

Sakura laughed, mostly at herself for crying so easily.

-…Uchiha household at the front door; 04:00 pm…-

"Spare keys." Sasuke handed them without asking where Hinata was going, wondering if she was going to tell him herself as they both dressed in the hallway. He of course said nothing about his destination on his rare Sunday off, so asking wasn't an option, even though curiosity was killing him. She was unusually quiet, even for Hinata. Something was off. He snuck glances at the blue haired girl who quietly buttoned up her long, light purple jacket that gently blended with her eye color.

"Have a good day." She bowed politely.

"Hm." Sasuke nodded and they proceeded to walk out the front yard together and then he turned left in the same direction as Hinata. It made her feel somewhat awkward having said goodbye too early. They walked in silence, both expecting the other person to eventually go a different way at each crossroad in the streets of the once densely populated Uchiha district, but they kept on going side by side. Hinata looked around, anywhere but at her accidental companion, still somewhat embarrassed and confused as to what Sasuke was doing.

It finally clicked when they approached the last of the crossroads. She looked up at him unable to hide the sadness she felt, only to see the familiar dark gaze already set on her. Nothing had to be said and after a few moments of this wordless exchange between these two who lost so much in this life, Sasuke slowly took her hand and led the rest of the way towards the graveyard. Soon feeling stupid for not noticing the long white lilies peeking out of Hinata's bag.

-...-

He stood in front of his brother's grave stone. A place he's come back to so many times, he actually had to leave the village after he first "returned". Until Naruto asked for his aid, Sasuke felt his entire world came down to this rock with only the words "Uchiha Itachi - KIA" inscribed in it. Slowly Hinata approached behind him and then past him, placing a single white lily on Itachi's grave.

She then prayed and bowed. "Thank you."

Sasuke observed her. "Who were you here for?"

"My cousin."

After a while… "What was he like?" Sasuke didn't know exactly why he asked.

"He was kind. And proud." She smiled all of a sudden. "And quiet… Too serious, very strong, smart, patient. He protecte…" She didn't want to cry so she suddenly went silent.

"They weren't that different." Sasuke noticed staring at his brother's grave.

"Actually, he was very much like you." Hinata responded quietly, and smiled with melancholy still facing Itachi's grave.

She didn't notice the brief blush, the widening of Sasuke's eyes when he wondered why the hell that electric sensation in his stomach and chest is back.

-…on the way back…-

"He felt so guilty for hurting me after Naruto fought him, that he never left my side after that. Now I owe him my life many times over. "

"Guilt's a funny thing." Sasuke responded.

"It changed him." She nodded.

"I almost refused to have the artificial arm attached."

"Why?" Hinata asked surprised.

"I didn't think I deserved it. I needed a reminder of what I was? Some shit like that I don't even know anymore."

"But you did get it." Hinata added.

"That was also Naruto's doing." Sasuke briefly closed his eyes.

"Naruto?" Hinata blushed.

"The idiot got drunk, called me a scared whiny bitch and I realized I couldn't kill him with only one arm."

Hinata smiled turning her head away.

"You'll laugh at me?" Sasuke fixed his eyes on her, lowered his eyebrows feigning irritation, but still couldn't help slightly smiling trough his efforts.

"Mother?" Hinata was shocked, looking at the lady who was waving from across the street. Sasuke stopped, calmly looking at her as well.

She ran across. "Love." And hugged her daughter who blushed, before she returned the gesture. "Oh don't tell your father, but I had to hug you!" She touched her face. "I want to visit grandpa and Neji. I brought them candles."

Hinata looked into the bag.

"They are certainly bored of flowers." She added smiling.

"Maybe." Hinata laughed and Sasuke wondered how he failed to notice this woman was a bit… Goofy.

"Sasuke." She looked at him and bowed. "You guys already went?"

Hinata nodded. "We can go with you too." She first felt guilty for leaving her mum alone, and then felt guilty for accidentally volunteering Sasuke without asking. The conflict was very apparent on her face.

"Oh no, you're still in honeymoon, I shouldn't even meet with you love." The woman gently caressed a lock of her daughter's hair. "We'll come visit you guys when it's time."

Come again? Sasuke's eyes widened. He didn't like the sound of that.

Hinata nodded hugging her mum one last time. All three bowed and the woman hurried to get away from them as if she was an intruder being chased.

"Visit us when?" Sasuke's irritated glare welcomed Hinata when she turned around.

Hinata innocently stared back as if he had no effect. "It's tradition. We're on our own for 50 days and then our..My parents visit." She quickly corrected herself.

Sasuke now remembered he never paid attention to this woman because before, he hadn't learned the most important part. "You never told me your mother was a spy." His tone suddenly changed.

Hinata nodded. "I didn't know your brother was either."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Hinata. "I just told you that."

"Sasuke she works for you..." Hinata was confused. Is this an accusation?

"And how would I notice?"

"You work hard. I thought..!"

"You hid it." He stepped closer, that cold expression in place, staring into her eyes like an interrogator.

"That's not true!" She exclaimed. Being accused like this was so unfamiliar to her she didn't know what to say.

"I know." Sasuke suddenly smirked, really confusing the poor girl.

"Why then?!" She exhaled still upset.

"I wanted to see you defend." He explained with that smirk still on his face.

"Why?"

"Because I knew you would."

Her eyebrows furrowed. This sudden change in character really distressed her.

"You stopped stuttering Hinata." Sasuke's face seemed mild all of a sudden.

The realization really surprised her. "I-I did?"

He shut his eyes tight, tilting his head away, that little stutter like nails on a chalkboard, and after she was doing so well. But an amused smile reappeared on his lips.

Hinata looked down embarrassed, then started laughing at herself and covered her mouth, as she suppressed the giggles and blushed.

Even her laughing was ridiculous. Sasuke had to look away again.

She finally exhaled with relief, a smile still on her face. "So you know all about my mum?" She seemed willing to fill in the blanks.

"Hm." Sasuke nodded and took her hand. They stopped for way too long. The short fall day was already flirting with the dusk, the temperature dropping. They slowly kept going. "You grew up without her." He added.

"Mother was sent out soon after my little sister was born."

"The clan leader's wife..." Sasuke noted what he found most absurd about this.

"My mother is not from the main branch… Father had no choice."

"What a dumb system."

Hinata remained silent.

-…Uchiha household, bedroom; 00:00 pm…-

Hinata was lying on top of the blanket next to Sasuke who was sitting up, leaning against the headboard. "So I'm convinced he wanted to use me to have sex with himself and then experiment on the result." Sasuke described Orochimaru, his stomach still turning at the thought.

"Hahaha!" Hinata suddenly laughed, rolled to her side and quickly covered her mouth trying to stop before she inhaled calming down, with a grin still on her face.

"You're not as naïve as you look." He was amused.

Hinata turned red. "I know things..."

"What things?"

"Like, where babies come from…"

"Where do they come from?" Sasuke bit his lower lip trying not to sound like he's mocking.

"You know…" She couldn't make eye contact.

"I really don't." He finally managed to straighten his face.

"You know… There is a stork… And delivers it, and then mommy and daddy write a thank you letter…" She fumbled with her fingers.

"You actually think that?" Which he once assumed, since he saw so little of her personality. Sasuke suddenly felt really dirty for ever feeling anything sexual for this girl.

She slowly lifted her upper body, pressing her palms into the mattress. Her breasts accidentally squeezed in between her outstretched arms, fortunately covered by a loose bunny pajama, her messy hair falling over one shoulder, a big blush on her face. "I-is that not correct?" She tried so hard to maintain eye contact, but was in fact a horrible actress.

The accidentally sexual pose she was in snapped Sasuke back to reality who realized she understood him talking about sex just a moment before and remembered no one over the age of ten is this naïve. "I told you to never to lie to me." He was surprised by the sudden boldness.

"You lied to me too!" She protested.

His mouth dropped, he didn't know what to say and really didn't want to smile, which is what he was doing immediately. "I don't like this. Go back to stuttering." His eyes widened threateningly.

"I don't want to." Hinata said plainly while shaking her head and gave him a big smile.

Sasuke tried to respond, but immediately covered his eyes and forehead with his palm turning his head away from her, breathing, attempting to calm down, when his body started shaking with restrained laughter. I created a monster. And then he couldn't stop laughing...

Hinata was making a joke, but wasn't quite sure why it was this funny to him.

Truth was mostly, that he was just happy.

-…Uchiha Household; 1 am…-

Hinata went to sleep that night without fear of moving, since Sasuke concluded her body has healed sufficiently to put the restraints back on and finally get some rest himself. He left her like that while taking an unusually long shower and she fell asleep in the process. Sasuke finally got close to her, when her scent resurfaced the images of her bare back and smooth, slender neck into his mind. That combined with vulnerability of restraining her at night, that he now had to admit to himself, really provoked him. He was aroused again, but also way too tired to go back to the bathroom, so he moved the girl on her back and released her binds, the ropes evaporating into thin air. He sighed looking at her stretch a bit in her sleep and mentally scolded himself, noting he'll soon have to change this arrangement.

It was becoming weirder by the day, as he now finally realized he was, for some weird reason, just happy in her presence at times. This came as a welcome change, but also poked at his fear of needing anyone you can easily kill. That fear was why he never deepened any of the relationships with other people in Konoha, besides Naruto.

On top of that, lately his body was randomly reacting to the mere thought of any part of this girl at all, including the most random shit like her ears, or hair. As if he was a teen boy again, his brain flooding with dopamine for no apparent reason. Finally he's never even felt this new electric sensation mixing, even replacing arousal, somewhat reminding him of excited blood lust that once drove him in the deepest pits of his insanity... Yet also causing him to grow genuine affection for the girl that he couldn't prevent due to the crippling proximity. That too disturbed him, so having her in his bed much longer, he concluded, was leading him down a painful road. He drew her close into a hug to at least make sure she stops moving towards him, and for the first time, her small arm wrapped around his neck. It was like taking one of those Orochimaru's medicines that quickly hooked you into becoming an addict surging power, energy, excitement and pleasure throughout your body. Sasuke never walked back to his former teacher asking for a hit like many of his other test subjects, but it took him years to let go of the addiction in any real way. And here he was replacing that with whatever drug this was.

Sasuke wasn't particularly sexual and interested in such things, seeing it only as a nuisance he would occasionally have to get out of the way, refusing to risk involving himself with any girl at all, no matter how attractive she looked. He knew well enough Uchiha bastards are never safe for very long, and the once powerful clan went out of its way to discover them and protect them whenever a sharingan popped up in some orphanage. He also realized early enough that he had a thing for polite, humble, graceful, proud women. The kinds of girls who were once raised in his own district, by the rules he himself never had to follow after his home was destroyed. The type who would maybe give him a glance or two, but he was sure, would reject his advances if they later learned who he was. Then he once again cursed himself, for still thinking sleeping next to Hinata of all people would be doable in the long run.

In his defense, he didn't think he'd end up having to hold her down, because the girl fidgets like crazy.

They weren't that different Sasuke and Hinata, in the way they perpetually blamed too much on themselves. It's one of the few reasons Sasuke of all people had the most compassion towards the way she acted, even admiring how honest she was with her dislike of her failings, or how she was ever so stubborn in trying to change them. Neither of which Sasuke himself felt he did enough of. So mere moments after, the thoughts about separating from her distressed him so much, he was immediately trying to justify why all he concluded so far was just nonsense.

Are we friends now? An unsettling fear of rejection came over him as he watched her.

That night Sasuke didn't wake up. Maybe the hug they were in gave neither a reason to really move, maybe when she inevitably did so, a part of Sasuke's brain alarming him to intrusions, had properly mapped out the exact position of her body? Maybe because he finally trusted her? Or maybe…

-...-

She was gradually pulled onto his chest, by morning her upper body not even touching the bed.

Sasuke woke only when she was already dressed, headband around her neck, jacket on, packing her backpack for the mission trip. He was covered with a blanket up to his chin. Obviously Hinata did that, projecting her habit on him. He suddenly sat up and startled the poor girl who turned completely stiff.

"Morning." He said trying to figure out what she was doing.

She breathed in and out deeply and turned to face Sasuke, her face much whiter than usual. "Morning! I-I have a mission."

"I can see." Sasuke looked up and down her body very aware something was off.

"I-I will put your clothes in with the rest of the laundry too if you want..." Her voice died down towards the end making it barely audible, while her face suddenly flushed bright red. She seemed as nervous, as if Sasuke caught her breaking in and robbing the place.

"Why are you talking about laundry?" Sasuke's eyebrows lowered in suspicion. She was trying to hide something.

Hinata turned ever so slightly more red and swallowed. "Ehh.. Look under the blanket." She failed to maintain eye contact.

Sasuke did, and to his shock, another flashback from his teenage days was there to surprise him. A big, wet stain on his crotch that, despite his hopes, didn't smell like pee. Obviously neglecting to even understand his own sexuality, or any other feelings towards women for all these years, was now coming back to really bite him in the ass. He was actually not as uncomfortable, but so amused by the situation and how much he must have freaked her out, he struggled with containing his smile for fear of making the whole situation worse. Don't be a twisted fuck. He inhaled telling himself. "Did I ruin your clothes?"

Hinata nodded, standing there so red and stiff, Sasuke even felt a bit bad for her at this point.

"I'm sorry." Fuck don't smile! He apologized and quickly fixed his face back into the original position. He now realized this was probably the reason she was up and about so early, and not caring if she might wake him in the process.

"You wash them then." She suddenly looked at him completely serious about it, but obviously still very uncomfortable.

Is she trying to scold me?! Hah, we mustn't cum on people Miss Hyuuga? It's not polite. "I will."

"And the sheets." She added a bit more quietly despite herself.

Cute. He nodded, corners of his mouth already twisting against his will.

Hinata smiled back not aware of the deranged mental process in Sasuke's head. "I'll be back by tonight." She bowed calmly and left the room happy, as if nothing happened. Facing him was the hardest part and she actually took the time to process this and forgive him for the incident, before Sasuke even woke up. As soon as she was gone, he collapsed back into his pillow allowing himself a wide smile.

Then he noticed the clock on his nightstand. I'm late for work?!

-…Konoha Cryptanalysis Team Offices, 1st floor meeting room; 7:14 am…-

"I don't know! He just randomly changed his mind about Hinata going on missions..." Naruto shrugged just as confused about Sasuke giving in to him a few days ago.

"There he is." Shikamaru warned Naruto when Sasuke walked in.

"You're late!" Naruto grinned pointing at him. "And I… Am not!" He tried to "smack talk" while standing up as tall as he could. The team around them stared at Naruto, slowly realizing their hokage was actually a bit childish.

"Sir, we've prepared the meeting." Shiho approached Naruto and notified him discreetly, to which he nodded.

Sasuke smirked and walked past him towards his spot at the table. "Fine dumbass."

Shikamaru's curious eyes followed him discreetly, before Naruto and he joined everyone.

-…-

"According to the last one, Master Kakashi is still missing and we have no way of knowing where he went. All reports indicate we can safely assume he hasn't been captured, but nothing more substantial than that Sir." The head of the team, a stocky, brown-haired man in their signature lab coat handed Naruto the scroll in the form it came in, and then the translation, printed out on two sheets of paper.

"And this is the last of them?"

"We normally correspond with captain Sasuke Sir, and before him Master Shimura. They allow us to discard the ones we aren't sure of."

Both Shikamaru and Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"I don't work with hunches." Sasuke explained.

"I want them." Naruto turned to his decoders.

"Right away sir." The man responded and the girl placed a huge tower of paper right in front of Naruto.

Naruto gulped and smiled nervously. "T-thank you?" He stuttered beating himself up for not inquiring how much of this stuff there really is.

Sasuke almost laughed at him, but contained his joy to a mere smirk. Shikamaru stared at him again, only he got caught this time. Sasuke's glare made him uncomfortable enough to give it up for now.

"That will be all." Naruto looked at the team and everyone stood out of their chairs bowing. Then the decoders left the room.

"What?" Sasuke asked Shikamaru immediately after they left.

"You're smiling." Shikamaru explained.

Sasuke just looked at him for a while, sitting in his chair, arms crossed, not a hint of joy on his regular resting bitch face.

"Sasuke's smiling?" Naruto turned peering into Sasuke, squinting, annoying him even more than Shikamaru. But Naruto was far better at this than Shikamaru. Sasuke didn't look as dead and dark as usual, and the smiles that just flashed on his lips, still lingered behind a calm, and an actually healthy, rested looking face. "What's wrong with youuuu?" Naruto narrowed his eyes comically and stuck out his chin, a very, over-the-top obvious look of suspicion directed at his friend.

"I think he either paid for a hooker, or a therapist." Shikamaru grinned.

Silence wrapped the room.

"Nothing is wrong." Sasuke briefly closed his eyes, his face mild, starting to find the situation more absurd than anything.

"Shame... A hooker might actually do you some good." Shikamaru teased and Naruto kept eyeing his friend, surprised with what he was seeing.

Sasuke stared back at them for a few more seconds, and finally got out of his seat. "Good luck with the paperwork Naruto." He was smirking again.

His two comrades just watched him bewildered as he put on his cloak in the silence and went for the exit.

"Hey! … Hey! Hey asshole come back and tell us!" Naruto yelled at the already closed doors.

-…Uchiha household; 7 days later, 2:33 pm…-

„And then we can try scaring him!"

„Kato you'll have to train really hard to scare Sasuke." Hinata smiled reminding the boy to prioritize his education, while spreading open a borrowed textbook on the living room table.

„We can pretend we're monsters!" He jumped around excited, arms flailing, before he, just as abruptly, landed back into his spot. Halloween was approaching and Hinata almost forgot what it meant to be a kid and actually get excited about it.

"True, we could..." She laughed.

Kato lifted the pencil lying next to his open textbooks pressing it into his cheek way too hard.

"You promised you'll try on your own." She warned when he opened his mouth, obviously about to ask for help before even reading the thing.

"What are you studying?" He leaned over peeking into an anatomy textbook laid out in front of Hinata.

"Kato…" She widened her eyes warning him, being careful not to smile. She really tried for this kid always induced a smile on her face. "We said if you don't study you can't come here after school."

Kato pouted and returned to his assignments mumbling under breath. "You said."

"What are you studying?" Sasuke's voice startled both of them. The guy moved like a ghost.

Kato turned to Sasuke, stretching his neck almost like a little owl, obviously intending to tell him a story, but Hinata put her palm on top of the small green head, and rotated him back to his homework. "I mean it Kato." Now she finally looked a bit strict and angry. The expression captured even Sasuke who hasn't seen this side of Hinata.

Kato pouted, but continued to solve math equations.

Sasuke approached them and leaned over Hinata, his face next to hers, to her discomfort, carefully staring into her textbook.

"Are you hungry?" She asked giving him a sideways glance.

"You want to be a medic?"

Kato immediately lifted his head again and now both Sasuke and Hinata shot him a warning glare, scaring him into quickly returning to his original position. Hinata put a pen in it and closed her book, slowly standing from her spot and walking out into the kitchen with Sasuke.

"I just study it on the side." She blushed admitting, while taking out the kitchen utensils. "Father never approved so I did it in my free time..."

"He has a problem with medics?" Sasuke distributed little bowls of food and sauces.

"Father considers them mere support, a position far underneath any properly trained Hyuuga."

"I saw you aid healers on missions, that was self taught?" He was actually impressed.

"It's not a big deal." Hinata blushed.

"Bullshit." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her, just holding his chopsticks, delaying his meal. He was sure that was more of her overt humility he considered lying.

"It's true!" She waved her hands embarrassed and shook her head. "A medic's job is to know how the body looks and works and then to control their chakra to be able to heal it! You see, I am already highly proficient at chakra control and most of the time, I really didn't need to learn anything because I can already see what is happening inside the body..." She confessed. "All I really needed to learn was the basic technique itself."

"Why the textbook then?"

She sat next to him about to start her meal as well. "I can only do so much using my eyes. Studying would expand my ability. Thank you for the meal." She began eating hoping he'll change the subject.

"You can study now." Sasuke still didn't start, or take his eyes off her.

"Now?" She looked at him.

"Become a medic."

"Father would never..!"

"Do I look like your father?"

She turned away nervously. "It's not so simple."

"I'm your clan leader, you have to obey me now." He smirked, half joking.

"I know, but…" She played with her food unsure how to defend her fear of trying to go against her clan's tradition. To Sasuke at that, who has by now let her know, he found 90% of it (all the non training parts) very annoying.

Sasuke's eyes widened and a small blush came to his normally pale face. He didn't think I know would be the response. He observed the girl who struggled with the idea of ignoring her father's wishes on such a trivial matter. Sasuke wondered if she was ever allowed to do what she wanted. If he would have become like her if Itachi had chosen a different path. Raised so differently…"I'll deal with your father." Sasuke reassured her.

"Please don't." She faced him. "He's my father. I-I'll do my best!" She looked afraid of her own statement.

"But I hate him more." Sasuke quickly objected. He was messing with her again and it came to him he wasn't normally like this. It's almost like she provokes it…

"I don't hate him, I… I do want to go and study." She admitted.

Her persistence was even cute. "Fine." Sasuke turned away and began eating. "But if you cry when he comes after you, I'll have to kill him."

"I won't cry!"

Sasuke was smiling again.

This of course didn't make Hinata feel any better, since many statements she heard said trough that smirk over the past few weeks, turned out to be legitimate.

A few minutes of silence later, Sasuke finally confessed what was really on his mind. "I wanted to take you off missions."

Hinata stopped eating and stared at him in shock.

"Two weeks ago. You were almost killed, and I was responsible for preventing it." He didn't look at her.

She looked down. "If I died, Naruto would lose everything." She responded giving away the thing she too has been feeling guilty about, her face calm with understanding Sasuke didn't expect to receive at all.

His eyebrows furrowed, eyes growing in surprise. "You wanted that?!"

She nodded. "Of course. Even you told me not to get hurt, and I really tried, but..! But I still almost ruined everything."

Dammit Naruto...

"I was actually thinking to ask for reassignment, only I didn't know… Where I could go." She pressed her soft pink lips tightly together and looked down.

Her sadness really made Sasuke uncomfortable. He didn't know what to do with other people's negative emotions when they actually influenced him, handling it as awkwardly, as a sack of radioactive potatoes. "If you can become a medic, I won't have to consider that option again." He looked away and started eating, still quite tense.

Hinata nodded. "Hm.. Medics have the highest survival rate."

"Hinataaaaaaa heeeeelp!" Kato complained from the other side of the large sliding doors.

"Annoying." Sasuke was tired of Kato who was here almost every day and constantly vied for Hinata's attention... Now actually interrupting the one meal they ate together!

Hinata reached for the doors, but remembered. "Uhm Sasuke? Why did Naruto keep me on?" She looked genuinely confused, not realizing the power was entirely in Sasuke's hands.

"..." Sasuke filled his mouth with more food than is proper at the same time, and she was now confused by what seemed like irritation on his face.

"Hinaaaataaaaa." Childish screechy voice called the second time around and she left the room.

Good kid. Sasuke smiled.


- Author's note -

1st dear readers, this fanfic (despite the overall misconception I myself may have caused) is being rewritten, not because of the smut itself, but because of the smut for smut's sake in its previous iteration. So I don't wish to mislead anyone about the nature of the story because it IS for adults only and the rating is VERY LIKELY to change.

2nd please consider the following a TRIGGER WARNING (the real kind):

When writing a character like post-war Sasuke, I believe people tend to either completely break his personality down, leaning to a PASSIVE numbed, stoic, shadowy broken version of a human being in order to describe the change occurring from the monster he used to be to who he is now (more like the Boruto version of Sasuke), or they attempt to breathe life into him by retaining ACTIVE psychologically accurate elements of his old personality, that would naturally go with the character profile, as he attempts to adapt who he really was as a person throughout the entire manga.

I've read absolutely brilliant stories, AND God awful ones, with both versions of this character type (rarely they mix), so I sincerely hope this story will fall into the "doesn't suck" category.

BUT…

Since I do intend to (and do already) deal with the ACTIVE form of the post - war Sasuke character development, I may end up writing parts of him into the story that may be weird, off-putting, or downright disturbing. I cannot be more accurate than that as I haven't actually written it yet, and may even end up choosing to make this entirely fluffy, having to remove this warning later on. But, if you have any intention to keep on going as the chapters come out, yet have personally had traumatic experiences with abusive, disturbed, or otherwise broken people, and reading about them might be damaging to you, I want to be responsible and tell you ahead of time, you might read that here and I might not post further warnings after this one, since I cannot always know what will be triggering to individuals.

Like always, thank you for all your comments, follows and favorites.

You guys make me better, and make this a lot of fun. :3