Day 10


Sasuke arrived at the training ground to Hinata practicing taijutsu. He made no secret of it, but she did not see him until she was finished with her warm-up kata.

She gasped and wrung her hands together. "H-hi."

"Hey." He shoved his hands into his pockets.

He looked at a group of targets. Itachi had not explicitly allowed him to use the area for years, though he figured being in ANBU made Itachi busy, and used it anyway. He ignored the irritation at Hinata being given a key. Whatever the reason, it wasn't her fault.

"W-would you like to train? I can go if you want…"

He shrugged. "You can stay. I don't care."

Hinata continued her hand-to-hand exercises while Sasuke began throwing kunai and shuriken at the targets.

"Would you...Would you like to spar?" she said, after a few minutes of this.

He narrowed his eyes. "Sure. No jutsu."

They circled each other in the main clearing. Neither wanted to make the first attack. A shift in footing, and they flew at each other, Hinata angling for vital areas, Sasuke trying to find an opening for projectiles.

Even without Byakugan, she dodged everything with the ease of dance. But his taijutsu was stronger. She was playing it like she was using gentle fist, swooping around and around for the perfect strike. It was so easy to push her arms and legs aside, but she managed to flip it back around on him somehow.

In the end, it was a draw. Sasuke stuck his hands back into his pockets. He pretended like an idea hadn't just jumped to the surface of his thoughts like an electric arc.

"That was fun," he said, extending a hand up as he walked out. "Seeya."

He took the longer path home to suss it out.

Hinata wasn't taking on missions. He knew because he had checked the schedule at the Hokage tower yesterday. Last one had been right around when the whole engagement thing went public.

What was her deal, then? Itachi was still on active duty with ANBU. Of course, their parents would probably pressure Tsunade to retire him from the roster soon. Maybe the Hyuga clan had forbidden her from taking on missions.

She used to take assignments back to back, so she wouldn't just stop on her own...Would she?