Author's Note: A lot of my effort is going towards maintaining point of view.
Sasuke opened his eyes, roused from his sleep by a familiar spike of chakra. He came face to face with Kasai's small feet. She was sleeping backwards on the bed, lying on her stomach, her legs across her pillow, arms spread, flat on her face. It was a wonder that she could breathe. Everything that she did was done chaotically. Dismissing it, Sasuke turned away, onto his opposite arm, to see Hinata curled up in a tight ball on the bedside chair. Her brows were furrowed and the byakugan was activated despite her eyes being closed. Hinata's tenseness was a sharp contrast to Kasai's ease. Propping himself up on his elbow, Sasuke reached out and couldn't quite touch the Hyuuga's shoulder. "Hinata."
She was on her feet in a fighting stance in the same instant that Sasuke's sharingan activated in his surprise. He quickly closed his eyes, his body too weak to support the technique. A tremble ran through him, but he was otherwise alright.
Hinata blinked around for a moment. "Sorry." She sat back down.
Opening onyx eyes, Sasuke frowned at her. Bad dream?
Bad memory, she responded, and he understood. She drew up her knees and stared at the wall.
Naruto, Sakura, and Kasai stirred. Their sleep was being disrupted. Sasuke and Hinata broke the telepathic connection.
"This wouldn't have been your choice time period to visit."
Hinata did not respond. Every part of her demeanor seemed to indicate that she was slowly closing herself off.
Sasuke sat up farther. "What did I miss while I was out?"
Hinata shrugged. "Just Naruto and Tsunade-sama going back and forth. She says that time travel is wrong. He says it's right. She says that we can change everything."
"That's the point," said Sasuke gruffly.
"We'll change our paths, she said. We've already started. We've…negated things from ourselves."
The offerings.
"We didn't use chakra to come to the past. We're negotiating with, who – Kami?" Hinata looked down, a frown on her face.
Sasuke was silent for a moment. "I don't think it was Kami." He had not believed in these things until he saw it for himself. "Just some spirit or another. Or a manifestation. I don't know. The purpose of the technique was to reach him...her—it was a woman."
"You remember?"
"Vaguely. She had red hair." After Naruto had executed the final seal, Sasuke had been thrust into a vortex of shadow, suddenly alone save for a figure…the woman. The apparition then requested something of his.
"We each had to sacrifice something to get here," said Hinata blankly. "I didn't feel afraid, or sad, or…anything. I just gave the woman what she wanted."
"I think we all did."
She looked up at him. "Your wrists."
Sasuke examined the scars that crossed the radial artery of each of his wrists. "She wanted my blood." He threw a glance at his daughter. "It was vague."
"Did you intend to kill yourself?"
"Yes," Sasuke admitted. "She wanted me to sacrifice Kasai." Hinata put her face in her hands, and Sasuke softened somewhat. "Hinata."
"I'm just glad you're both alright."
"Come here."
Hinata didn't raise her head. She just shook it.
The mattress creaked. Hinata looked up to see that he was climbing up. "Sasuke…" she protested.
As he planted his feet on the ground, he stumbled somewhat. And then he sunk down to the floor, knees drawn and back to the bedframe. But he was at least close enough to offer Hinata his hand. She hesitated, and took it.
There was a rift growing between them and he didn't know how to stop it. "Tell me."
She blinked back her tears.
"What did you sacrifice?"
Hinata weakly smiled. "The woman wanted my eyes."
Sasuke continued to stare up at her, scrutinizing her gaze for the first time since they had gotten to the past. Had Hinata been blinded?
She shook her head, as though reading the question on his mind. "I offered something else. Something more valuable."
"The – spirit was going to take something from each of us whether or not we wanted it to," Naruto said the next morning. He was seated on his bed beside Sakura. "Sasuke sacrificed his blood. And I sacrificed…heh…my greatest dream."
The others looked at him in surprise.
"It was…everything I'd ever wanted. But its run its course, I guess. I will no longer be Hokage when we return to our time." He forced a smile as Sakura squeezed his hand.
"What did you sacrifice?" Sasuke directed his attention to Sakura.
"I don't know," said Sakura, looking genuinely uncertain. "I don't remember."
Naruto frowned at her. "Hinata?" he said, shifting his gaze to the Hyuuga.
"I don't remember either," said Hinata aloofly.
"Oh," said Naruto. "Well…maybe that isn't a bad thing. Maybe it won't be missed."
I doubt that, said Sasuke, staring straight at the Hyuuga.
It occurred to Hinata that Naruto was still talking. Neither he nor Sakura seemed to have heard Sasuke's remark. Kasai was still soundly asleep, and didn't stir. Meanwhile Sasuke didn't even notice that he had blocked them out of the telepathic connection. The man was truly a genius.
Looking away from the Uchiha, Hinata tried to ignore him, but she could still feel him watching her, dissecting her slowly. Would you prefer if I became blind?
No, Sasuke admitted. Though I thought that you would.
Then you were wrong, she said, absently watching Sakura's lips move.
You're a coward, Sasuke noted.
Hinata's face burned. "Baka."
The room became silent, Naruto and Sakura halted in whatever they had been communicating. They looked at Hinata in surprise.
"E-excuse me?" said Sakura, offended.
Her eyes widening, Hinata got up and walked out of the room. She heard Sasuke follow, and she walked more briskly, but he caught her wrist before she could make her way down the corridor. He pulled her back, guiding her against him. "You're terrified," he accused against her temple.
I'm not, she thought, because she knew her voice would be unconvincingly weak.
"I'm taking control of this mission," he said, causing her eyes to widen. "I'm making the calls."
"Who says?" She tried to pull away from him, but not with ambition. Maybe she liked being locked there in his arms.
"You've been compromised."
"It's the exact opposite. I'm the only person who can handle this with neutrality. It's the reason I made my sacrifice. It's why I gave up my love for my—"
"Good morning."
Sasuke and Hinata looked up to see Tsunade in the corridor. The Hokage scrutinized them and their position against each other, as though they were full of secrets she wanted to know.
"So you're…together?" said Tsunade blankly.
"We're married," muttered Sasuke, not letting Hinata go.
Tsunde's jaw fell slack. After a moment, she collected it, awkwardly clearing her throat and sipping her coffee. "I hope you're not busy," she mumbled into her cup. "I'd like to introduce you to some individuals with certain…commonalities."
Kakashi stood discretely in the corner of the room. It must have been the first meeting he'd been on time to; but maybe his curiosity had gotten the better of him. The Hokage never summoned anyone this early in the morning. Alcohol and sunlight just didn't mix.
It explained why the curtains were drawn, the room dark and shadowy. White lamp light, however, shone on new faces.
Cluttered inside of the tower's large meeting room stood Kiba, Shino, and Hinata, tucked within their private circle. Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru took their usual stance, Ino front center, Shikamaru slouched to the left, and Choji munching to the right. Toward the front of the room, Tenten and Lee flanked Neji like an entourage. Alas, in the back, stood Naruto and Sakura. In his boredom, Naruto had folded his arms behind his head, squinting around oddly. Sakura peered at him as she adjusted one of her gloves.
Among the chuunin were their families, their teachers, and other residents of Konoha. Kurenai stood nearby her students, and Kakashi was situated not far from her. Gai was toward the back, his eyes wary like Kakashi's, and even the Hyuuga clan head had made a turnout, where he was perched on the roof just outside the open window.
Sasuke was kneeling in the shadows away from his teammates. At fifteen, he wasn't the most socialable. His head bowed, he activated his sharingan as he made a single-handed seal and a soft utterance of, "Dispel."
But when Sasuke raised his face, nothing had changed. It meant that no person in the room was using a henge. What he was seeing was authentic...yet it made no sense at all.
So the young Sasuke joined everyone else in staring at the five strangers standing in the front of the room. There was an unidentified Hyuuga, a man with coal eyes and long bangs. Clutching one of man's pant legs was a child with dark hair and eyes. She resembled the man, though her face was softer, and her eyes, larger. The child took to hiding behind the man, peeking out in curiosity. She was staring straight at the young Sasuke. But the teenager's attention shifted to the pink-haired woman standing on the coal-eyed man's other side. Finally, there was a blonde-haired man with blue eyes and whiskered cheeks. Much as he scrutinized the quartet, Sasuke couldn't make any sense of them.
"Uzumaki Naruto," said Kakashi, finally pushing himself off the wall. "Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and...Hyuuga Hinata?"
The Hyuuga woman's mouth twitched, like she found amusement in Kakashi's uncertainty about her.
Kakashi continued, "Don't tell me that you're from the future?"
The young Sasuke's eyes widened. He had always thought time travel to be restricted to children's stories and television shows. The young Naruto and Sakura took to gawking while the young Hyuuga Hinata started to fidget madly. As the fifteen-year-old Sasuke scrutinized his supposed counterpart, he suddenly noticed that the child had disappeared. Distrust consuming him, his onyx eyes darted around the room. He felt a tug on his right sleeve, and his eyes snapped downwards.
It was her.
The girl's eyes truly were huge, and purely onyx. Her hold on his wrist had grown quite tight, and she had somehow weaved her way beneath his arm. Gum, Sasuke thought. The child reminded him of gum. Slowly she smiled, an intense smile, one that left him a little stunned.
He shook his arm.
She did not release him.
"Otousan?" Kasai said, her head tilted to the side. "It's me." She hugged his legs, causing young Sasuke's heart rate to quadruple in his panic. "Your Kasai."