"You missed breakfast." Hanabi was perceptive, as always. She subtly accused Mirai Hinata of sleeping late.
"Mmmm." Mirai Hinata lifted her tea from the kitchen counter, opting not to pay much mind to the preteen. She was not even sure what qualified as "late" when one was misplaced in time. She lowered her tea and picked a loose thread off her robe sleeve.
Her husband entered the kitchen, looking clean cut and completely composed. There was no indication that he had only just woken up. He poured himself the remaining coffee in the pot and nodded towards the two women though he barely looked at them.
"You missed breakfast too." Now Hanabi's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Mirai Hinata finished her tea and placed the cup in the sink. She then strolled off and went upstairs, walking along the corridor to the left of the landing until she came upon a very familiar door. She turned the knob—as always, it was unlocked. Then she walked inside and gave the room a once-over. It seemed that she and Sasuke weren't the only ones to have slept late. The heap of sheets on the bed shifted, and a face peeked up. Genzai Hinata had not been unconscious—just curled up there, unmoving. The teenager climbed upright and crossed her legs on the bed, her sheets still wrapped around her shoulders. She blew a strand of disheveled hair out of her face.
Mirai Hinata walked over to the bureau and began to search the items that littered it for makeup—but she didn't see any. Perhaps her counterpart didn't wear it at this time. As she looked, Mirai Hinata could not help noticing how disorganized everything seemed. She began to move things around, arranging items in a way that made better sense. It was more productive to do things this way. In a few years, Genzai Hinata would agree.
Mirai Hinata paused, and glanced back at her counterpart on the bed. The fifteen-year-old was blankly staring at her.
Mirai Hinata sighed. "What's wrong?" she asked reluctantly.
Genzai Hinata tensed. "N-nothing. I'm just s-surprised that you're here," she squeaked out.
"That's all?" said Mirai Hinata, though she was not sure why she pressed. She mused on her counterpart's meticulously straight cut bangs, not overgrown and uneven like hers. Mirai Hinata turned back to the dresser and continued to reorganize the belongings.
"S-Sasuke," said Genzai Hinata.
Mirai Hinata's eyes briefly widened. Calmly, she turned back around. "Hm?"
"T-the young one. Ano…he's a-always around. He q-questions Kasai. He wants to know his future."
"What do you tell him?"
"What could I? I don't know any m-more than he does."
"Is he threatening you?"
Genzai Hinata quickly shook her head. "N-no. It's j-just uncomfortable. At first I was s-scared of being alone with him. But I guess he's not that bad."
"Oh." Mirai Hinata again returned her attention to the dresser, for a lack of knowing what to say.
"Mirai Sasuke said to stay away from him…" Genzai Hinata mused aloud.
Mirai Hinata spotted a container of salve. "You said it yourself. He's not so bad." She caught herself belatedly. She knew she shouldn't have said it, but it was too late to take it back. Grabbing the salve, Mirai Hinata left the room.
Going back downstairs, Mirai Hinata got showered and dressed, and applied some of the salve to her throat. She then left the Hyuuga house and walked through the village, absorbing the structural differences that roused more nostalgia than she wanted to deal with.
Finally, she came upon the largest building, which was just as bright and pristine as it was in her time. As Mirai Hinata regarded the Hokage tower, she heard someone call her name. She turned around as she sensed Mirai Sasuke. It seemed that the Hyuuga house had loaned him some robes, though it looked more like something that her father would wear than anything Sasuke was usually comfortable with.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke questioned.
Hinata recovered from her surprise. "Waiting for you," she said sweetly.
"Funny," he spat.
The two entered the tower together and started up the stairs.
"You haven't been sleeping," Sasuke noted. Maybe he noticed the shadows beneath her eyes.
Hinata purposely gave him an incredulous look.
"In the past couple of days," Sasuke elaborated, because neither of them had gotten much sleep last night.
Hinata abruptly turned in front of him, causing him to halt. "How are you doing?" she asked with tender sympathy.
Sasuke's cheek twitched. "Uncomfortable," he said. So he didn't like it either.
Hinata slowly smiled, making his heart pound.
"Can I help you?"
It was only then that the two noticed Shizune standing behind them. Hinata turned back around.
"We were hoping for an audience with the Hokage," said Sasuke.
Shizune hesitated, then nodded. "Come right in."
As they entered the office, Hinata bowed her neck, not that Tsunade could see. The Hokage lifted her head from her desk, one hand covering her eyes. She opened her fingers to peek at her visitors, though it was still hard to tell whether she was drunk or hungover. "Oh." Tsunade lowered her hand. "It's you." Despite Shizune's welcoming, Tsunde did not seem pleased to see them.
Sasuke spoke, "I'd like to enroll Kasai in the academy."
Tsunade raised her eyebrow, not toward the request, but at Mirai Hinata. Amber eyes took in the bandages around Hinata's throat. "I don't see why not..." Tsunade said, then to Hinata, she asked, "Were you injured?"
"No," was Hinata's response.
"Because if you were…" the Hokage continued. Like most medics, she was inclined to intrude.
"It's fine," said Mirai Hinata, but Tsunade did not look satisfied.
Hinata reached up and began to unravel the bandages around neck. She threw her hair over one shoulder, exposing her throat. The bruises were already starting to heal. "As I said, it's fine." As she rubbed her neck, she caught Sasuke's eye. "My old salve works wonders," she said gently, as if to forgive him for losing himself the night before. "It's a shame I stopped making it."
Tsunade briefly scrutinized the injuries, satisfied to see that they were superficial. She was too corrupted to really care about where they had come from. "Anything else?"
"I was hoping to receive a new hitai-ate and uniform," said Mirai Sasuke.
"Oh?" said Tsunade. It seemed that the Uchiha wanted the authority behind an official ranking. She knew better than to ask questions. "I'll start the paperwork. What rank?"
"Jounin."
Hinata raised an eyebrow. The jounin status was not Sasuke's ordinary ranking. In their time, he was an ANBU operative.
"Un," said the blonde as she unrolled a scroll and jotted something down. "I'll send for you to pick up your uniform later."
"I actually came for the same thing," said Hinata. "Prior to coming here, I was an ANBU operative," she lied.
Tsunade pulled out another scroll. "I'll arrange for your uniforms. Anymore paperwork?" she asked bitterly.
Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other. Both shook heads.
"Then you're dismissed."
As the pair walked out of the office, Hinata threw Shizune a forced, but appreciative, smile. Then she and Sasuke started down the stairs.
"The academy is a good idea for Kasai," Mirai Hinata said conversationally. "It should keep her occupied." The five-year-old always had a lot of energy to expend.
Mirai Sasuke nodded. He was careful with his next words. "You were always a strong candidate for the ANBU. Notwithstanding that you haven't been on a team in years."
"Mmm," Hinata agreed, as they walked.
"It's not very easy to fall back into," Sasuke elaborated as they exited the building.
"I can be a team player." She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, stopping him for a second time. She came to face him, reaching up to fix his bent collar.
"Are you sure about that, Hinata-sama?"
She didn't like when he called her that. It was how the Hyuuga clan addressed her, but not her husband.
"You got comfortable being in charge." Sasuke reached up and purposely wrinkled his collar again, holding Hinata's gaze as she frowned at him.
There was the sound of footsteps. The two looked up to see Ino and Neji approaching the door. Both teens paused to stare.
Mirai Sasuke and Mirai Hinata awkwardly parted, and curtly nodded to each other. Then they walked off in opposite directions, the whole thing very unnatural. Hinata bit the inside of her cheek. They weren't being very discreet at all.
She took a roundabout route back to the Hyuuga compound, if just to ensure that she didn't bump into her husband again.
She wondered if they were messing up the timeline. Just their everyday exposure to the people here was sure to leave an impact. Hanabi's look of suspicion. Ino and Neji's stares. Everyone seemed to sense that she and Sasuke had a balance. For a shinobi, she was making a poor demonstration of tact.
And then there was the fact that Genzai Hinata and Genzai Sasuke apparently knew each other.
Instead of entering the Hyuuga compound, Mirai Hinata leapt onto the wall, and took a seat. It was high enough that no one would readily notice her, and it was a good vantage point to see those who came and went. She drew her knees to her chest and sat unmoving, minutes turning to hours as she idly spied on the passing villagers.
When she saw her counterpart, Mirai Hinata's lips formed a frown. The teen in question strolled through the gates, Kasai gabbing after her, content with this version of her mother that allowed her to get away with too much. Interestingly, Genzai Sasuke was following close behind, but then he stopped in his tracks when he sensed her chakra. His eyes darted up and he impulsively drew his sword.
His stance relaxed when he saw who she was. Despite that, he stared.
So they really are spending time together, Mirai Hinata mused. It was inconsistent with how things were supposed to be. At this point in time, Genzai Sasuke and Genzai Hinata were not supposed to know each other. It wasn't good or bad, just…incorrect.
Genzai Sasuke failed a few attempts at sheathing his sword.
Mirai Hinata wanted to leave, but she found herself growing agitated by Genzai Sasuke's blatant scrutiny of her. She leapt down from the wall the twenty feet to the ground, and landed knelt before him. And then she straightened, challenging him as she rose to her full height. Genzai Sasuke did not move an inch, he just held her eyes. Her husband had told her that his fifteen-year-old self was unhinged. But as Mirai Hinata surveyed Genzai Sasuke, her prejudices weakened, and she could not help feeling intrigued.
His fiery eyes were a depthless onyx, volatility swirling within them. She could not tell what he was thinking, she could just feel his inherent unrest.
She had never seen Mirai Sasuke like this before. Genzai Sasuke's face was blank, staring. She could see herself reflected in his black eyes-not absorbed in them, as she was by her husband's. This Sasuke was weighted by his burdens but not hers. Not yet. This was the Sasuke before her. He was more fascinating than she had initially realized. When she had first met her husband, he had been tempered, meticulous, he treated her with care.
Genzai Sasuke's eyes flashed red then black again, so quickly and imperceptibly, that even he did not seem to notice. In that instant of fallibility, he reminded her of Kasai. "Mirai Hinata," he said coolly, any indication of agitation or excitement smothered as he glowered. Though his breathing remained even, it was a fraction of a millisecond off its normal rhythm. He was good at his façade, but not as good as his counterpart.
"Uchiha-san," she responded.
Her husband had always claimed that he'd been manic ages twelve to fifteen, until he had begun to readjust to Konoha and a difficult experience had sobered him. But for some reason, this Sasuke drew her. She wanted to probe his brain. She wanted to know everything about him.
The gate swung open. "Teme, good to see you." Mirai Naruto amiably slapped Genzai Sasuke on the back of the shoulder, the force nearly thrusting the teen to the ground. Mirai Hinata blinked out of her reverie. "I just saw her in the living room." Mirai Naruto winked to the young Uchiha.
Mirai Hinata and Genzai Sasuke slowly put together the implications in Mirai Naruto's remark, Mirai Hinata's eyes widening as Genzai Sasuke straightened, with difficulty.
Sasuke took a moment of deliberation before carefully saying, "Why do you think that I'm looking for Hinata?" He maintained a painfully aloof demeanor.
Mirai Naruto blinked, realizing his err. "I, um, I was talking about Kasai." His smile didn't flicker, but now it seemed forced.
Holding his shoulder, Genzai Sasuke peered at the blonde in irritation. "Hn." He walked off.
In his wake, Mirai Hinata exhaled and Mirai Naruto shrugged in guilt.
Part 2
"If you want to come in you'll have to lose the shirt, Uzumaki."
Mirai Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Right, right, Uzumaki," he retorted, pulling off his jacket.
"The shirt," Mirai Sakura reiterated.
Eying the woman, Naruto pulled his shirt up over his head and handed it to her. Sakura smiled impishly as she admired his tan, muscular body. "What's this about?" Naruto asked as Sakura allowed him to enter her room. Mirai Hinata was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, a black tank top leaving her arms exposed. Mirai Sasuke was standing by the wall, leaning on it.
"I need to see this." Sakura lightly tapped the ANBU insignia on Naruto's left shoulder with her pointer finger. "I'm giving Hinata the tattoo. She's ANBU now. And Sasuke's being a prude."
Still by the wall, Sasuke crossed his arms, clearly displeased by what was transpiring.
"Then why is he here?" said Naruto, baiting him as usual. "He serves no purpose." He spoke as though Sasuke could not hear him.
"Moral support?"
Naruto snorted.
"Can we just get started?" said Mirai Hinata gently.
The Uzumakis exchanged a grin and joined Hinata on the floor, where Naruto proudly modeled his well-defined arm. In a triangle, it was an almost childish arrangement. But the bed was unsteady and certainly wouldn't have sufficed for such an intricate task.
Sakura lifted a needle and reached out for the dye. "Have you chosen a mask?" she said idly as she started.
"Maybe the raven," said Hinata.
"Isn't that Sasuke's?" said Naruto.
"Not for another few years," Hinata mumbled.
Naruto and Sakura glanced at the man in question.
Sasuke's face remained apathetic, but he unclenched his jaw. "Does it hurt?" he asked coolly.
"A little bit," said Hinata.
Baby.
Baka.
Is that the best you can come up? After-what-eight years?
Hinata did not respond but closed her eyes. It was hard to believe they were only twenty-five. Her eyes shifted to the tattoo forming on her shoulder. She had claimed to be in the ANBU and now she just needed the mark to prove it. She didn't have any regrets about lying to Tsunade. Being a member of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai would offer her the versatility she needed to get by in this world.
Hinata...
"What happened to your neck?" Sakura unknowingly cut Sasuke off as she peered at the bandages that encircled Mirai Hinata's throat.
The Hyuuga blinked. "A training accident."
Sakura lowered the needle. "Let me have a look see—"
"It's okay, it's healing fine," said Hinata hastily.
The room fell silent and an offended air hung over the seated trio as Naruto and Sakura glowered at Hinata in disapproval. Sasuke sighed.
"Hinata—" Naruto started.
"It's my fault," Sasuke mentioned. "I did it. Last night."
"Oh…" said Sakura, returning her attention to the tattoo. She was as dismissive of it as Tsunade had been. "Just bruises then."
"Love bites." Naruto grinned.
"You should try to be more gentle," Sakura informed Sasuke. "She has very soft skin."
"Her skin is soft," Sasuke agreed, not knowing why he was joining in the immaturity. Perhaps because he hadn't seen his wife blush in a while, and he derived a strange pleasure in watching one blossom on her face, as it did at that moment.
"Hinata, stay still," said Sakura.
"Un," the Hyuuga assented.
It was subtle, but now that Hinata was embarrassed, her posture was deteriorating. Sasuke pushed himself off the wall and approached the trio, taking a seat behind Hinata so that his back was against hers, keeping her spine erect. The back of Hinata's neck felt hot on his. Relax, he said.
The tattoo didn't take long. Sakura's work was impeccable, as always. Upon completion, she healed Hinata's shoulder. The curved red insignia conflicted with Hinata's light skin.
Naruto and Sakura exchanged a peck on the lips before parting. Mirai Sasuke almost envied their normalcy. He followed Naruto and Hinata out of Sakura's room.
Naruto turned to them as the door closed. "We have to be a team," he said firmly.
Sasuke raised a brow.
"Hokage-sama." Hinata nodded.
"You don't have to call me that anymore." Naruto flashed a grin. "I'm asking this as a comrade. We can't afford to make any mistakes here. So we have to work together."
Perhaps even Naruto noticed the tension growing between them.
"And you're up first, teme. You wanted a week, ne?"
"Aa."
"Don't think I forgot the village history," said the blonde. "The Hyuuga lineage will be irreparably damaged by three events next week."
"Hiashi's death," Sasuke noted.
"Hanabi's injury," Naruto continued. "Genzai Sasuke and Genzai Hinata meeting."
"Che." Sasuke shook his head.
"Just be careful," said Naruto. Sasuke eyed him as he left.
"He's an idiot," muttered Sasuke.
"He's right," Hinata disagreed. "We ruined Hyuuga." She didn't seem to mind it.
Sasuke trailed after Hinata as she went to her room. She walked straight to the window and gazed down on the courtyard. He couldn't tell whether she was searching for something or just avoiding his eyes. Despite it, he walked up behind her, and began to unravel the bandages around her neck.
He examined the fading bruises. He pulled back her hair and kissed her there, gently this time. Hinata closed her eyes.
He kissed her again, now on her tattooed shoulder. He noticed the way it complimented her lips.
Then he stopped, fully aware that Hinata had not moved an inch. He lifted his face from her shoulder, and stood there, indulgently watching her. She was so beautiful, it was almost painful. But she looked tired. Bitter as well. Sasuke took a step back. The potency of their discord wasn't fading, it was just getting stronger with time. Last night had been a favor. He knew that. "We should be discreet."
"Un," Hinata agreed.
Sasuke left the room. As he stepped into the corridor, he saw Genzai Hinata, who stopped in her tracks. She had some linens piled in her arms.
She blinked up at him, innocently confused. "A-ano, I thought this was M-Mirai Hinata's room?"
Mirai Sasuke sighed and leaned on the door. "You're mistaken," he folded his arms against himself, allowing his long bangs to hang in his face. "It's mine."
"B-but—"
Sasuke lifted his head and gave Genzai Hinata a hard stare.
She backed off, like he knew she would. Nipping her bottom lip, Genzai Hinata hurried off with the linens. Then Mirai Sasuke lowered his head, feeling incredibly weak. She made him weak. It was getting hard to face the girl. Half the time, he couldn't even face his wife.
But somehow, he straightened, and turned back to the door.
As he walked into the room, Hinata looked up from the window. She turned to him, looking upset. Her arms trembled, but then relaxed, and she approached him. She peered up at him, and seemed to get lost, perhaps examining his variations from his counterpart. "I changed you," she reflected.
"You improved me," he corrected her. He lowered to his knees, and wrapped his arms around her hips. "If I hadn't met you, I'm not sure where I would be now," he mumbled against her navel.
Hinata stared off. "Same," she mused aloud.
"You're the first good thing to happen to me." He glanced up at the Hyuuga with his weary eyes. He watched her white ones look away, though he could still see as they filled with tears. "Nothing else matters."
Hinata inhaled. "Nothing else matters," she agreed.
Mirai Sasuke awoke late at night, cool, and apart from her. He sat up and looked down at his wife, who was curled up, facing away from him, her body shaking.
"Hinata."
She was asleep, likely dreaming. He pulled back her hair, to see that her byakugan was activated despite her eyes being shut. Sasuke leaned against the headboard and watched her for a while. Seconds turned to minutes, and Hinata remained like that, draining chakra as she slept.
He gently shook her, but she began to struggle. He pulled her against his lap, until her eyes fluttered open and the veins on her temples receded.
"Why are you using your power?" said Sasuke hoarsely.
But Hinata was drained and disoriented, her mumbles not making much sense, "Sasu…I think you're…I think we have to…" Her eyelids started to sink again. As they did, the veins began to return.
Sasuke lightly shook her. "Look at me," he urged her.
Hinata's eyes opened narrowly, this time meeting revolving sharingan that made her white orbs go wide. Then they lowered, the veins on her temples sinking with them, until she fell into a deeper, if artificial, sleep.
Sasuke sat there and continued to watch her. He did not like what this mission was doing to them.