Chapter 5

For some time no one followed him.

He jumped from one branch to another.

Hinata Hyuuga asked him to meet her at Ichiraku Ramen, but the people who surrounded her at the venue, created a barrier of sorts; the one he could not cross, or he could not cross the way he wanted. He abruptly stopped, when a single harmonic Chakra pattern did appear to vanish just as quick. Without turning back, he proceeded to his destination, much slower though.

A kilometer further Hinata sighed inwardly, thinking of some lady, who took too much of her time. She quickly, but gracefully disappeared in the narrow street which led her to the woods, stepping on the last Uchiha's footprints.

Knowing she is alone, Hinata went slowly trying to relieve the tension from her stiff, noble posture by reaching her arms to the blue sky. It was a beautiful morning.

Life of the forest was vivid. Birds' songs were soothing her senses and the familiar scent of earth made her relax. For the briefest moment she felt as if she was back on the White Mountain... Far from people. Far from expectations. Far from responsibilities. And then she looked upon the flowers she received. There was much to do...

True, she had expected some chaos in relation to her return, but she had never thought her presence would result in such an uproar. She could have chosen another date than Naruto's birthday… Naruto's leaveday.

It was full of accidents.

First, the house on the fire. She wanted her return to be peaceful, not so eventful, despite the festival, of which she almost forgot. Second, she thought she would have at least a day or two to accommodate again in her house. Forget it. Instead, she was forced to struggle against the Hyuuga council. They were cunning as always. She had to play all the cards she had in her disposal. Third, she was to become a leader in the near future, she was always surrounded by the people. She could not truly decide what was worse, the constant prison of her house or the constant attention from her fellow villagers.

She had a plan how to face all her responsibilities, but as Tsunade had said, she wouldn't have a life.

Hinata sighed again and focused on the bushes before her to avoid ruining her yukata. Her life in those four previous years was not easy. It was harsh and full of obstacles she had to overcome. She had to become a leader one would want to follow. And it is very likely she had succeeded, but… She was afraid. Will she manage? Will she make it in time…?

Hinata breathed out heavily and looked far into the clearing where the dark-haired man stood expectantly, waiting for her to catch up.

Will she be able to reach Sasuke? Will she succeed in becoming friends with him? She must do it, for the sake of their future. For the future of the village. But, who was Sasuke Uchiha? Who was this tall man with the past as dark as his hair and eyes? Is he more bad than good? Or maybe he is rather good; or at least slightly better than he was in the past? What did he like? What did he dislike? What could he tolerate? What was unacceptable for him? How was he feeling about the end of the war? When Naruto left, it must have shaken him to the depth she was not aware they existed. How did he manage to move on? Did he even?

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun." she said politely again, properly this time, joining him in the sun.

They looked at one another, white eyes into black eyes. They were so different from each other.

The heiress and the ninja. The princess and the warrior. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha. The woman and the man.

"Morning." he replied slowly.

The wind was caressing the leaves, the sunlight was dancing with the shades. The birds were singing to the tune the bugs were playing.

Hinata and Sasuke watched one another, not knowing where to start.

They were supposed to speak about so many things, but both felt they were not at the right place and the right time of their relationship, whichever it may be. They were unable to start a conversation. They were strangers who were supposed to be partners of great compatibility, they were supposed to be close by the sheer amount of emotional situations with war and Naruto's departure, which they were unable to share. It seemed like they only were able to work together when the crisis hit, when the world came to an end, when the villagers' lives were threatened.

"How are you, Sasuke-kun?" she tried.

"Fine. Yourself? The council is still troublesome?" Hinata hearing this could not restrain from breaking a smile.

"Troublesome?" she repeated with a laugh in her voice. "Looks like someone spends long hours in Shikamaru-kun's presence."

"Che. Don't know who is worse sometimes, he or Tsunade," he replied, at her face with a pleasant expression.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she replied to his previous inquiry with a tilt of her head. "I'm sorry I was not reachable earlier, Sasuke-kun," she said, looking at the ground. When the silence turned out to be her answer, she lifted her head to see Sasuke analyze her with scrutiny.

From those two days she had encountered him, even though for a short period of time, but still, she could tell he was very intelligent. He was also a powerful shinobi, immensely prideful at this point. Sasuke Uchiha was not one to forgive easily and his ability to understand others was as slim as the chances for keeping one's life if you made him angry. The last Uchiha was very suspicious and detecting lies was his forte. Sasuke Uchiha was not the most sociable person alive; the truth speaking, he was quite the opposite. He didn't like to be at the centre of attention. It was something they both had in common. He didn't speak much, but when it was necessary his explanation was short yet more than sufficient.

"You wished to speak with me about some issues… appointments…," she trailed searching for something in his eyes. Sasuke seemed unresponsive, also drowned in her eyes, looking for something. It would be best if he remained silent. His thoughts were mingling, trivial matters entangled with the issues of highest priority, multiple questions, unexplained mysteries.

"I don't know where to start," he admitted flatly.

Me neither, thought Hinata, glad that he felt the same about the whole situation. She noticed they stood in quite a distance from each other. She took several steps closer.

Small steps.

She could reach him in small steps. She knew they could not allow this inaction to stretch into eternity. Small steps, then.

"I think it would be best to start from the beginning," she said softly.

"Or, from the very first issue at hand," he countered flatly, indicating the purple bouquet. Hinata looked at it and smiled thinly. "Could you tell me what is going on with your clan?"

She had this look again. She was analyzing him: his words, his intents, his purposes, and the reply she would give him.

"Is this place secure?" she asked after the heartbeat of silence. His brow arched on the forehead in surprise. He could not shake the idea of how familiar it sounded in relation to his duties to Hokage.

"You have some secrets to share, Hime?" he asked before he could stop himself. He barely noticed she moved closer to him. Now there was a metre of space between them.

"Can I trust you with them, Sasuke-kun?" was her reply. His facial expression hardened.

He had no reason for being angry with her. He could even understand on some level this secrecy of hers. What began to infuriate him was her impossible carefulness. She trusted no one, even though she helped to save all the people. She saw enemies everywhere, when there were enemies no more. He was not her enemy. Still, she acted as if she expected the ambush any moment.

And because he was not her enemy, his Sharingan activated. The ruby red eyes with black tomoes spinned in his once black eyes, making her almost take steps back. He then glanced around them to finally focus on her. He nodded his head and suddenly the sunny place was replaced with the black and grey dimension of the totally barren desert.

Hinata swirled nervously around herself, alarmed. Sasuke stood before her with the red eyes being the only colour in this dull world.

"What is this?" she demanded, before he could utter a word of explanation.

"You are inside my Tsukuyomi. You wanted it to be secure," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Tsukuyomi? The genjutsu?" she asked much calmer, seeing his non aggressive attitude. He nodded, watching her carefully. Hinata turned around to look for something in this weird world, but apart from them both, there was nothing sparking the interest.

"How long do we stay here?"

"As long as we want. I can make it days here, barely a few hours there. Don't worry, Princess, you will be back to your little palace for another tea soon," he said accusingly, thinking she was impatient to return to the mansion.

"You don't understand," was her indignant reply. He did not understand a thing, he knew nothing.

"Then, start talking. You have returned several days ago to the village, and since then there is so much shit going around I have difficulties to catch up, especially when everything is being kept away classified as 'the clan matter'. Believe me, Hime, I am tired of not understanding."

This she could understand.

She hesitated, but then lowered and sat on the ground, which neither did make her garments dirty nor did probably exist. Surprisingly, he joined her, sitting next to her and both faced the great nothing. She gathered her thoughts and exhaled.

"Sasuke-kun, you weren't there in the village the moment we learned of the upcoming war," she started, looking at him. He watched her intensely, but it did not bother her. "

Naruto-kun wasn't there either," she added and witnessed Sasuke's mild surprise.

"He was training outside of the village. Kyuubi was making his life difficult and Akatsuki were after him and other Jinchuriki. We kind of knew it was arriving, but still the mobilization of the shinobi forces, especially in our clan proved to be difficult. I am not sure how much you know of the Hyuuga clan, but we are divided. The main house, of which I am part, together with my sister, father, and the council, and the branch house, where Neji, and hundreds of our clansmen are on our orders due to the Seal on their foreheads."

"The Cage Seal," he confirmed, nodding.

"That's right. The Cage Seal procedure is something I have been wishing to abolish for good for as long as I could voice out my opinion. And this opinion is not on the way with my council doings. The esteemed council of the Hyuuga clan had secured their positions and rights through the suffering of my family and of my clan via this Seal. They can control adults and children, they think they can control my father, the Head. A few months before the war I noticed that the council had been pushing to enforce the directive to put the seal on very young children, saying that the earlier the seal is put on them, the less trauma they have. What they don't want to acknowledge is that placing a seal on the infant's forehead fries their brain." Hinata said through the clenched teeth.

Sasuke saw the sheer powerful anger in her eyes directed into the space, which was burning her enemies, her council, far beyond the horizon of the unreal world. Sasuke silently waited for her to collect herself and continue, he knew it was only the beginning.

"The Hyuuga council consists of twenty members, with my father, Hanabi, and myself included. The leader of the council is my great grandfather, who even though advanced in years was very clear and adamant to collect all the members and to hide them together with Hanabi, the spare heiress, when the call to the war service arrived, while the Head, the Heiress, and the whole branch house was to represent the mighty and ancient Hyuuga clan in the battlefield," the venom with which she said those words made Sasuke wonder if she would spit it.

"They hoped for you to die," he concluded, which focused her angry eyes at him.

"Of course they did. This war was a godsend. If my father died and myself, the only person in line would be Hanabi, who has, even now, no idea what is happening. She would be perfect for the role of the new head, so inexperienced, she would rely heavily on the council assistance at all times. It did not hold any importance to how many of the Branch House members would die. They are but servants."

"But you survived. Your whole clan returned."

"Yes. My whole clan returned from the war, but me. I moved somewhere beyond their reach to train."

"So you gained the authority in the world, helped save it, and left to train some more with the Tigers that Naruto connected you with..."

"And the Hyuuga council knows nothing about it," she cut in.

"What?"

"My father and I agreed before I left, it would be much better if the council did not know anything about what happened during the war, my part in it, the people who died and came back to life," they both sat in silence for the moment.

"You want to have the element of the surprise on you side," said Sasuke analyzing everything she said, "If they don't know what happened, they don't know how much support you have in the world, how you fought in the war, how it made you, us, the new Hokage."

"That's right. And once I stepped into the Hyuuga compound once again, I was informed of neglecting my duties as the Heiress, because I left without their consent to god knows where, where I must have brought dishonour to the clan and myself. And because they couldn't control me then, they threw everything they can in to control me now."

"This is what you talked about during the meeting with the Kages."

"I am suspended in the duties as the heiress and as the shinobi, because I am waiting for the council to choose my husband, so I can become imprisoned by his will, the will of the council and the duties of the Head of the clan."

"They want to marry you off?" he asked in a careful voice, that made her look at him again. Her solemn puzzlement was his reply. "When?"

"Next month," Sasuke sucked in the nonexistent air through his teeth.

"What the fuck?"

"If I pass their evaluations, I will get the Seal and the husband. If not, I will get the Seal and they will disown me."

"Evaluations? They want to seal you one way or another."

"Yes."

"But you said that the seal damages the infants brains, how…," her large white eyes looked at Sasuke meaningfully. "They really want to remove you."

"One way or another, using your own words, Sasuke-kun," she smiled thinly at this.

"What will you do about it?" he asked sincerely.

"I am looking out for allies. Everyone tells me, they are my friends, but can I really tell who is and who isn't working with my council? It seems many people are offended by my lack of trust, but I cannot make a mistake. My father consulted the Nara clan in secret and I have made a request to this clan through Shikamaru-kun. The bouquet from the Yamanaka clan is their reply. I have at least two clans behind my back."

"You have three." he said simply, shrugging his shoulders when he felt Hinata's eyes on him and met her surprised gaze. "I will help you in any way I can."

"You don't know me, Sasuke-kun," she said in a worried voice, uttering her most truthful concern.

"Naruto knows you. He burdened you with the safety of his village. He trusts you, as much as he apparently trusts me to do the job. And even though I don't know you as a person, I know your clan, I know Neji. I want to help save them. There was no one there to save my clan. This way I can be the person I wanted to be there for me. Besides, it is Hokage's duty to save his citizens, isn't it?"

Hinata looked as if she saw him for the first time.

Then, she smiled gratefully, and this smile conveyed to Sasuke more than she realised. She laughed shortly:

"That's right, Hokage-sama," Hinata winked at him, making him grin driely.

"Naruto was right about you all this time." she said with nostalgia after a short pause, gaining man's attention more than ever.

"Naruto? You… you spoke with him, right?"

"Yes, not so long ago," she absentmindedly touched her forehead, "He told me that the Uchiha are the clan who love deeply and they protect what's theirs, and you are the Uchiha. He feels peaceful knowing you are to have this village and these people in your care."

"I am not sure that the people of Konoha share Naruto's ideas," was all he said, not knowing what to do with the information his best friend still contacted this woman.

"This reminds me of our bet," she said confidently.

"You still remember?" he asked.

"Of course, I do, Sasuke-kun."

"Did you… Were you able to become a sage?" asked Sasuke, checking her reaction. She only smiled, but she did not answer that, instead she continued in confidend manner:

"I will help you win the hearts of the citizens, Sasuke-kun. And I thank you for your help. It means a lot."

"Whatever you need, Hime."

"I think I would need to know you better, if you allow me, Sasuke-kun," she said and extended her hand to him.

"Likewise," he accepted her hand in a short handshake.

Suddenly Hinata blinked her eyes, as they were blinded by the sunlight.

She never realised that genjutsu could be released this quickly. She was surprised to find their hands still connected, even in reality. Sasuke's hand was large and warm, even if hard, it was still a man's hand. She fought a small smile, when her gaze moved to his face. The ruby eyes of activated Sharingan were still piercing through her. Those were marvelous eyes. Powerful eyes.

Naruto trusted this man…

She could too, she decided.

"I asked the Nara clan for a favour," she whispered standing much closer to him, their hands still connected, "The moment I will know when they wish to meet with me, I will let you know so you could join us. Please, make sure you bring Naruto's cloak with you then."

If he weren't Sasuke Uchiha, he would have to deny that he heard a word she said.

He could feel her light breath on his face, she was so close. Her small hand fitted unsettlingly well in his own. She was a Hyuuga, this hand could bring him death, instead she held it tightly, as if he was her anchor, before a tide took her away.

Hinata Hyuuga was in grave danger, after all.

He heard her perfectly. There was an important meeting with the Nara clan. Looks like the next stop of his would be the house of his troublesome, lazy friend.

But before that, he needed to coax himself to let go of this woman's hand and make sure she returned home without any problems.

However, she was the first to break their touch and their proximity. She declined his offer to bring her home, saying it would draw unnecessary attention, and promise to reach him soon.

And then she disappeared in the shadows of the woods, her curvy silhouette fading in the greenery.

He did not understand it.

He was left to stand alone in the sunlit place, but he felt as if the sunlight left him and he was the one to dive into shadows. Not her.