The Chaos Theory
He couldn't explain his feelings of tension that night.
Sakura asked him to join her for training, and he had felt obliged to accept. After all, it was time to start thinking about the future he suddenly craved for. Family. Children. Aspiring for greater things than the suffocating loneliness which had become his norm. He had never thought he'd admit it to himself. And yet, now he was.
"Sometimes I need contact," Genzai Sasuke mused aloud.
Genzai Sakura roughly bumped her shoulder against his. He threw her an annoyed look which she exchanged with a grim smile. She leaned heavily against his side as both returned their attention to the lake water.
Contact.
Sakura was strangely quiet that night, her body rigid, and it was discomfiting. He could sense that something was wrong but didn't know how to inquire about it. It was another level of intimacy that remained a challenge for him.
So they stood there, against the ledge, neglecting their purpose of meeting there, just staring down at the water. They ignored the hoots of owls, the scuffling of animals, and the faint echoes of laughter coming from the opposite side of the water. They even ignored the sounds of sandals creaking on the bridge, to pass them, until a feminine voice cut through the silence.
"Shouldn't you be looking for Hinata?"
Genzai Sasuke turned to see Mirai Sakura glancing back at him from over her shoulder. She was accompanied by Mirai Naruto, whose hand she grabbed as they headed towards the tower.
His gaze lingered on their interlocked hands.
It was such an arbitrary thing to say yet it had potent meaning behind it. Sasuke stood frozen, his mind reeling as he tried to make sense of the remark.
"Maybe you should," Genzai Sakura said in a voice that was almost identical to her counterpart's, if somewhat airier. She gave a tight smile and a shrug. "Maybe you're not supposed to be here right now."
Lips pressed, he left.
Chapter 16
He was in the largest tree, knelt in a high branch, idly observing the chaos around him.
Mirai Sasuke's eyes were narrowed, sharingan revolving. He observed the chakras of the figures far down below them, blues and whites clashing, just as history had determined they would.
He dropped to a lower branch, watching as the first Hyuuga raced towards the village border. That had to be Hanabi. If he could capture her before someone else did, it was guaranteed to resolve everything.
The two sisters were several meters away from him, which allowed him to follow them through the forest while maintaining a distance. He moved nimbly from branch to branch, keeping parallel, while making sure not to intercept any shinobi from Kumogakure. He remained undetected, yet close enough to intervene when necessary. Just before he could cross the village border-
Seals flared into existence on his wrists and ankles.
He collided hard with the scorching wall he'd endlessly dreamt of crossing.
Mirai Sasuke dropped to the grass and stared up at the canopy of black leaves above him, momentarily paralyzed by his own shock. He forced himself to his feet, his pulse pounding in his ears as he tried to recollect his composure. He jerked down at his collar and stared at his chest, at the single character imprinted there. Fuck.
The seals were back. He was bound to the village again. It meant that saving Konoho was dependent wholly on Tsunade's death. And now he was stuck.
When he heard Genzai Hinata's first scream, he felt the world narrow, the darkness blooming around him as he struggled to breathe and hear over the pathological suffocation.
He couldn't just stand there, useless, listening. Things were worse this time. She was his wife this time. "Naruto."
His inquiry was answered by a wave of Naruto's aura, but then a repression of it that felt deliberate and perpetual. Naruto! But if he was Naruto's brother, Tsunade was Naruto's mother, and the man would never entertain a request to let her die. Even if it was the answer. Even if Hinata was on the ground and screaming and—
"Sasuke!" she cried.
It wasn't logical. Nothing made sense at that critical moment. His resolve broke, as he'd always known it would. Mirai Sasuke pressed his hand against the barrier. Hinata.
She lifted her eyelids, pupils meeting the wall clock. It was just moments till midnight. She forced her body into a sitting position, leaning on her arms despite the way they shuddered and threatened to give way.
Hinata, he repeated.
Mirai Hinata bit her lip in concentration. Sas…Sasuke.
I need your help.
Her vision went in and out of focus. She didn't dare activate the byakugan. Instead she climbed to her feet and staggered to the window, then gripped the frame before her legs could buckle. I understand.
I'm sorry. She could feel his desperation and anxiety throbbing through the connection.
I love you, she assured, raising a foot to the ledge, her body still reluctant to humor her.
I love you, Sasuke countered. Come to me.
And she leapt into the night.
Genzai Sasuke's search brought him to the forest, which was, ironically, where he usually ended up on nights such as this one.
"Shouldn't you be looking for Hinata?"
The words reverberated like an unpleasant mantra. He grimaced. His personal pink-haired prophet.
When he found Genzai Hinata, she was, also ironically, beyond the border and his reach of her. He lingered there, feeling petulant. He didn't know why he and the Hyuuga were constantly being pushed together. It was almost as though…as though…
There was a crack of bone. She cried out in pain. He could hear clothes tearing. Groaning, screaming.
Blood running cold, Sasuke shoved at the barrier, which was stubbornly resilient. He pressed his hands against it, listening to it crackle, feeling his skin burn just as it always did.
His chest heaving, he pressed forward, even despite the hopelessness of the enterprise. He raised his fists, attacking the wall, even drew his sword to it.
But precious seconds were becoming minutes, and he couldn't afford to be helpless a moment longer. Crimson tomoe spun wildly in his eyes, black seeping into the whites of them.
He had to reach her. There was no other option. Being bound by Tsunade's seal was no longer an option for him. Reaching the Hyuuga rested in his priorities alongside breathing, because she was Hinata, and he—fucking—had to get to her.
He was barely conscious of the burning sensation behind his shoulder, or the muddled markings crawling across his face. He'd never deliberated on whose seal was stronger: Tsunade's or Orochimaru's. But he was going to find out.
Fingertips oozing blood by then, Sasuke continued to press into the wall. Though he had vowed never to use the cursed seal again, he succumbed to it, consciously...eagerly; feeling his body bulk and canines lengthen, watching his skin tone deepen to shades of ebony. He challenged the wall, pressing it with blackened claws.
And felt himself breach it for the first time in several lifetimes. Slowly, he pulled the barrier apart, golden eyes keen on one thing. Hinata.