Genzai Hinata arrived at team eight's meeting spot that afternoon, still confused as to how she had become Kasai's babysitter. The child in question shadowed the Hyuuga like a hatchling. Poor thing probably misses her mother.
Despite Hinata's sympathy for Kasai, she sort of wished she had one of those queer child-leashes. Kasai could barely restrain herself from hopping up and down.
"O-Otousan! Tousan! Tousan!" Kasai tried to escape Hinata's grip.
Genzai Hinata was not sure what team seven was doing at team eight's meeting spot, but the infamous trio was huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. Phobic of drawing their attention, Hinata clamped her hand over Kasai's mouth. She then dragged the child with her over to Kiba and Shino on the other side of the field. "W-where's Kurenai?" She attempted to come off as casual but probably just looked insane.
Kiba took to staring at her, his jaw hanging slack. Lightly shaking himself, he crossed his arms. "Where were you, Hinata?" he said accusatively.
"Yesterday," Shino added, as he inspected an insect on his hand. "When you left training to be with—"
"Him!" Kiba snarled, pointing a trembling finger at team seven as though they were a sole, reprehensible, entity.
Hinata winced at Kiba's inevitable loudness. The members of team seven were now looking their way. Hinata's eyes caught Naruto's for a moment, and she felt an arbitrary rush of giddiness. She belatedly noticed that his fists were gripping the front of Sasuke's shirt.
"Tell me what happened, teme!" the blonde demanded.
Hinata felt her face turn red.
"None of your business," said Sasuke, removing Naruto's hands from his collar.
"Answer us, Hinata!" Kiba snarled.
Hinata resented that everyone was assuming that something lecherous had occurred. Feeling her breathing grow thin, she tried to set things straight. "He—ano—w-we just—"
That's when Kasai finally broke away from Hinata's grip. The child raced off and collided high-speed with Sasuke, successfully head-butting him in the torso as she did.
Sasuke gasped, paled, and teetered, looking like he might keel over. Kasai stood there proudly, wearing a grin.
Hinata's breathing became yet thinner. There's just too much going on.
Suddenly Kiba was popping solider pills, and Shino was being swallowed by a hoard of bugs. Naruto was assaulting Sasuke with awkward questions, and Sakura was struggling not to sob. Team seven and eight were officially blowing things out of proportion.
"Stop it!" Hinata cried out, causing everyone to freeze. "We don't owe you an explanation! It was private!"
A number of birds vacated the surrounding trees as five teenage shinobi stared at Hinata in shock. Kiba approached cautiously, now extending his arms. "Hinata, you have to calm down. I think you're—"
Hyperventilating. She knew that. She could also tell that it was too late.
Pale eyes rolling upward, Hinata collapsed.
The group crowded around the unconscious heir, their expressions ranging from horror to glee.
Genzai Sasuke wrinkled his nose, as though disturbed by the Hyuuga's shabby emotional constitution.
"What should we do?" whispered Naruto, poking Hinata with a stick.
"Just give her some space," Kiba hissed. Strangely, no one moved an inch.
Kasai leaned down and kissed Hinata's cheek. At the confused looks she received from the group of chunnin, the child explained, "It works when tousan does it."
What? thought Sasuke, as Kiba punched him in the stomach.
"Whenever my tousan kisses my kaasan, she always wakes up!" Kasai elaborated.
Naruto pumped his fist into the air. "Dammit, I'll kiss her!"
The blonde was promptly knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of his head. Shino nonchalantly tucked his fists back into his pockets.
"I see you started without me."
A poof of smoke signaled Kakashi's arrival. The jounin was hours late (as usual) but had shamelessly shown up anyway.
There was an uncomfortable silence as Kakashi examined the situation.
"Ojisan!" Kasai proclaimed.
"Niece?" Kakashi countered casually, kneeling down beside Hinata. He pressed the pressure point at the end of her jawline, causing her eyes to flutter open.
"Sakura, please heal Naruto."
"Ano—right." Sakura got to work on the lump at the base of her teammate's skull.
"Kurenai-sensei took a personal day, so team seven and eight will be training together this afternoon," Kakashi said, whipping out his trashy novel. "Being that you all are so eager to spar, I suppose I'll go along with it. Sakura will be matched with Kiba. Naruto and Shino can fight together. And Sasuke, I want you with Hinata. Hand to hand. Strictly taijutsu." Kakasi began to walk off.
Hinata abruptly sat up, alarmed by her match-up.
"Hinata, if you faint again, you will spend the rest of the day reading to me." Kakashi took a seat on a log at the perimeter of the clearing and patted the spot beside him.
Hinata climbed to her feet. "Un."
Hinata watched as Naruto and Shino walked to the opposite side of the field to face each other. Between them and her, Kiba and Sakura assumed fighting stances.
Biting her bottom lip Hinata turned to face her opponent.
She supposed that she liked Genzai Sasuke's counterpart better. Mirai Sasuke was nicer, with fewer extremes. He was aloof, but tactful, and even respectful. Hinata also found Mirai Sasuke to be quite handsome. It wasn't that she liked him or anything like that. She admired the jadedness that dulled his coal eyes. Though she knew Mirai Sasuke and Genzai Sasuke were very much the same, Mirai Sasuke far surpassed his counterpart in experience and maturity.
At present, Genzai Sasuke was pulling off his shirt. His wristbands remained, if only for the important sake of style. He was wearing black pants and sandals to match. His fingernails were gnarled, his teeth, perfect, his eyes, dangerous, stature, intimidating. His physique was breathtaking.
Her eyes drifted toward Naruto as she wondered whether he'd take his shirt off as well.
Kasai had taken the empty seat beside Kakashi. She leaned over him to peer into his book. "Kyaaa, pictures!" she said excitedly.
Sasuke and Hinata circled each other, both wondering how to approach. Naruto's best friend. Neji's younger cousin. Both were defined by the company they kept. It wasn't unusual that they had only recently become acquainted.
Hinata swung back, barely dodging the flash of Sasuke's sword. As he spun, she had to jump back to avoid a swift kick. Sasuke wasn't dawdling.
He swung for her throat, but at too tight of an angle. Hinata ducked beneath the sword and redirected his arm, throwing him off balance. Veins rising on her temples, she raised her palm to his chest, and just before she could strike—
She remembered the rules and deactivated the byakugan. This match was strictly taijutsu.
Catching Hinata's neck on the inside of his elbow, Sasuke pulled her down with him, Hinata grunting as her back slammed to the earth.
Ignoring his fallen sword, Sasuke leaned over her, his hand pressing her throat and pinning her to the grass. She fought to breathe, the veins on her temples returning.
"That's enough, Sasuke," called Kakashi from a few yards away.
Sasuke released her, and Hinata inhaled.
Gasping for breath, Hinata climbed to her feet. By then, Kakashi had become absorbed in the matches. Kasai, meanwhile, was immersed in his book.
Hinata shuddered.
"Let's go," muttered Sasuke.
Hinata turned back to Sasuke, who had already resumed his stance. Some yards behind him, Sakura kicked a huddled Kiba in the ribs.
Round two.
As Sasuke kicked off his sandals, Hinata couldn't deny how bulky her clothes felt when she wasn't utilizing her flowing palm-strikes. This match was haphazard, no-nonsense, team-seven taijutsu. She was left at a disadvantage as she condescended to a chaotic style scarcely used by her. It wasn't as though she had a choice. Her traditional technique had been banned.
Hinata rolled her sleeves to her elbows and her pant legs to her knees. Sasuke had better grounding. She couldn't afford to lose any speed.
Just as Hinata straightened, she quickly avoided two of Sasuke's swipes. The third was an eye jab, which she caught with her hand. Their fingers became intertwined as Sasuke eyed her, more curious than cautious.
Her free hand moved up to touch his bare chest.
She thought that Sasuke must have spent a lot of time in the forest. He smelled of soil, cedar wood, and cool water. Her eyelids lowered as she mused on these scents.
Then she disrupted the chakra over his heart, causing the organ to jolt and his eyes to flash red for a reactionary instant. Sasuke staggered back, their fingers breaking apart. He held his ground for a moment but then dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.
I cheated, Hinata mused, her eyes wide as the veins on her temples sunk back beneath her skin. The only reason Sasuke had left himself open was because of the specificity of the rules.
"No ninjutsu," Kakashi called airily.
He's going to kill me, Hinata thought. She watched Sasuke bow his head and could sense his anger brewing.
Survival instinct kicking in, Hinata swung her leg into the air. She brought her heel down toward the back of Sasuke's head, hoping that if she won by knock-out, she wouldn't have to face the consequences of his acute rage.
Sasuke caught her ankle without looking up. "You're going to die," he assured her, roughly twisting her foot so that she had to fall to avoid breaking her ankle. She cried out as Sasuke seized a chunk of her hair before he took to repetitively smashing her face into the grass.
Kakashi watched the spar with mild interest. Sasuke's going easy on her. He winced at the Hyuuga's muffled shrieks.
As Kakashi's eyes trailed over the matches, he found himself astonished by how truly terrible his students were at taijutsu. Shino had an unconscious Naruto in a choke hold and Sakura was pelting Kiba with large rocks and uprooted trees. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Hinata had resorted to grappling.
"Wrap it up," Kakashi called.
Sasuke tried to ignore the fact that the Hyuuga's hair was in his mouth. He tried to overlook the fact that her breasts were pressed to his arm and her back to his chest. They were getting wrapped up in awkward holds and Sasuke found himself mostly focused on not getting distracted.
He just reminded himself that kunoichi looked like this specifically to be a distraction to their opponents. He couldn't imagine why else the Hyuuga would grow her hair so long, or wear her hitai-ate at her throat where it drew attention to her cleavage. And so Sasuke tried not to get caught up in it, even as his body got tangled with hers.
As they continued to struggle, the Hyuuga spun, creating a faint spiral of chakra that pushed him away. It was another of her family's signature moves that wasn't supposed to be allowed. Her face was determined, her jaw set, her teeth clenched, and she had depthless, unreadable eyes.
Her fingernails were smooth, subtly manicured—she had very meticulous fingers, Sasuke mused. She was fallible, but careful, human, beautiful, intricate, unnerving, like a harbinger of several uncertainties.
He staggered back as she cuffed him twice in the chest in quick succession.
The Hyuuga bent backwards to avoid his comeback, but rose just in time to catch another—
In the face.
She fell to the ground, watching the world darken and spin.
Sasuke's face appeared above her. She felt his knee press her abdomen as he grabbed her jacket and pulled her forward.
"What if this was real, Hyuuga?" His nose brushed hers. "Just what would you do about it?"
"That's enough!" Kakashi choked out.
Hinata fell back to the grass as Sasuke released her. She clasped her head, holding in a groan. She was hefted to her feet—prematurely, she determined—by Kiba who was muttering obscenities, and Shino, who had a few anxious bugs crawling across his cheek.
"Just say the word," said Shino.
"I'll kill him," Kiba snarled.
Kakasi joined them in the center of the clearing, the six chunnin in various levels of dishevelment. Naruto was entirely conscious, courtesy of his famous stamina. Sakura was habitually adjusting one of her gloves. Sasuke seemed to become aloof, his hands pocketed as he looked away.
Kakashi just looked intrigued. "That's it for today," he said. "But I have to thank you. This was...enlightening. Meeting adjourned."
Kasai looked up from Icha Icha only as Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke. "Oji?" she frowned. "Tousan." She grinned as Sasuke approached her.
Hinata opened her mouth helplessly as Kasai attached herself to the Uchiha's arm. There would be no separating them now.
"Coming, Hinata?" said Kiba.
The others were watching her as Hinata stood there in turmoil. "I...ano..." She knew she couldn't abandon Kasai. "I...I'll catch up."
She walked off to join Sasuke and Kasai. And maybe they had been waiting for her. She swallowed, and exchanged Sasuke's nod with her own. In tandem, they walked towards the village, Kasai grasping each of their hands.
"Maybe he does like girls with long hair," Naruto remarked behind them.
She didn't know why he continued the game. He had clearly drawn as much information as he could from the child.
They had reached the academy, that empty, darkening, classroom, where Sasuke was free to continue his interrogation of Kasai.
Yet strangely, things had inexplicably digressed.
"Repeat after me," said Sasuke.
He had an apple, and she found that watching him eat it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," he said.
"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," Kasai echoed.
Hinata fidgeted in her seat behind the desk. She failed to see how this was relevant. "M-my—my n-n-name—"
Sasuke smirked. He was enjoying himself. "I'm trying to help you."
"N-n-n-"
"I've heard you speak without stuttering. What's so different now?"
Perhaps it was his proximity—the fact that his face was inches from hers. Or maybe it was the way he gave her his undivided attention.
"Kasai stutters occasionally as well," he said thoughtfully, dropping his apple core into the garbage bin beside the desk. "What are you always doing with Kasai?" he added, and withdrew his scrutiny of her, at least for the time being. Sasuke walked to the blackboard and idly examined the scrawl.
Kasai attached herself to Hinata's arm. "She's my best friend!" she cried.
Hinata's blush deepened. "I've b-b-been – w-watching her," she managed, unlatching Kasai's hands from her arm and setting the child on her lap. Hinata took a deep breath. "For—her—father."
"Hn."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"You become a b-better person—in the f-future," Hinata said. "I think."
"Aa?" Sasuke didn't seem too interested in that. He was still eying Shikamaru's gruff handwriting.
Hinata nodded, and the silence returned, suffocating as it was. Kasai's eyelids were wavering. It was getting late. Hinata didn't want to lose the one thing that divided her from being alone with Sasuke. "So have you found your dream girl yet?" Hinata inquired before she could stop herself. She looked down at Kasai, urging the child to stay awake. It's probably Sakura-san... she thought. Or Ino...
"I'm beginning to have my suspicions," said Sasuke. She felt his gaze on her head.