The journey took them five days as Sasuke said. Hinata wanted to see the bride she's heard Sakura talk about with Ino before the war. Sakura seemed to have witnessed something bad there. She hoped there would be something that could explain what it was that Sakura saw. But there was nothing. At least nothing she was able to see. Sasuke knew about what has happened here. Orochimaru and Kabuto were talking about it when they came back one day.

„Why did you want to come here?" He asked.

„I was curious. Something happened here when Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato-san were on their mission." She replied. „I thought that maybe there would be something to tell me about the incident" there was. He.

„Naruto fought Orochimaru here" he answered her question. „To my knowledge if it weren't for Yamato Naruto would have lost control completely" what a strange time. She stared at him. She remembered when Pain stabbed her and Naruto lost control. She was almost dead but she sensed this enormous, fearsome power. So Sakura witnessed it here first. She have been left out of so many things.

When they reached the village they went straight to the nearest restaurant having not eaten for a long time. They ate as always in almost complete silence both thinking of something else. She was deep in her thoughts about her friends back home. They all were probably angry with her for leaving without any word. She pondered for a moment what would her father say to her if he saw here here with formerly most wanted missing ninja - Sasuke Uchicha. He wouldn't be too pleased with her for sure, but was he ever?

When they went into the hotel nearby they were informed that due to repairs taking place in the facility there were not many rooms to chose from and they would have to sleep in one room but, to their relief, with two separate beds. They went into the room exhausted from the journey, took turns in the bathroom and went to beds. He felt asleep faster this time. She lay in her bed, turned face to the wall.

Hinata was still thinking about her past. How different it was to be at home. Harder. She had to control herself in every situation and it stayed with her till now. She had always wanted to be free of this restrictions but feared that being a Hyūga took this possibility away from her forever. There was not one person in the entire clan that had seemed to be free and truly happy. This was her biggest bream, goal if she could name it that way, to change the way her family was, always has been. But she had no power anymore. She never had any power, unlike the Uchiha that was sleeping now. Non the less, she didn't envy him. He looked as if regrets were everywhere he went. He had no family now apart from his teammates. She did remember how it felt to lose a close family member. When her mother died she was just a child but it still hurt to this day. It had to be so much worse for him. Hinata suddenly had the need to just hug him. She really felt for his loss. She turned around and looked at the outlines of his posture. He lay on his back and breathed deeply. There was some connection between them, however they looked and acted so different. She inspected his face more. His face had still the beauty all of the girls talked about but his experiences made it more definite. There was hardly ever any emotion to be seen in his face unless he dropped his guard but even then it was mostly his eyes that spoke. Sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking there was this abundance of emotions. She had difficulty reading them because they mixed so often. That was something that connected them, these feelings hidden from the world. Was there something she could do to help him with them if she couldn't help herself with her own feelings? Maybe it was time to focus on someone else than herself? She had plenty of time to sort herself out but in vain. Maybe they could help each other. He did reach out to her once, it was time for her move.

The next morning she was still determined to find a way to reach out. This was no easy job with him. If it was about Kiba or even Shino she would have so many ideas because she knew them. But she wasn't sure how Sasuke would react to just talking, would he even open up? Or would he close even more and end any discussion on the matter? She won't know unless she tried. Now she had to gather up enough courage to do so.

Sasuke was suspicious of the way she was that morning. She looked at him more often but was more silent than usual. Something was going on in her mind and he wanted to know. There was no place for surprises or unknowns in his mind. He didn't like that kind of things even though he never made any plans. They ate breakfast in silence. She didn't event say anything about what she would like to do that day. Strange. Should he ask if everything was alright or just let it go? Could he even let it go? It bothered him. But before he could say anything she spoke.

„I think we should just relax today. We have a long way ahead of us and it's going to be good for us." She smiled and added „What do you think about that?"

„Works for me" he was still curious as to what was going on but when she spoke he somewhat calmed. She came up with a plan to spend the day at the river that was half an hour away from the town. It was hot outside so he was pleased with the idea.

They chose a place away from other people who decided to go to the river as well. The water was flowing slowly in here and the trees secured them from any sounds. She had a little of food with her which she put in her backpack. She was glad that the forest covered them from the sun cause she didn't bring sunscreen with her. They sat on the grass. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air but felt her eyes on him so he looked at her. She didn't avert her gaze.

„What is it Hinata?" He asked after few seconds of silence. She seemed uneasy.

„Well" she started and lost any confidence she had. „I was thinking about what you said a while ago. Or rather about our conversation." She gulped. He noticed she was nervous about was she was about to say and wrinkled his eyebrows. „I t-thought" there was her stutter, after almost a year „well, you reached out because you were worried about me… I-I think. And, I think what I want to say is, I am here if you would like to talk to someone about your worries or anything" she quickly looked down at the grass. She didn't say it the way she had planned to but at least she did say something. Progress. He was amazed. Was she worried about him? When he didn't answer all of her courage just vanished. Has she destroyed whatever bond they had? She looked at him and saw that he still had his eyes fixed on her. Question in his face. Was he surprised? About what? She was opening her mouth to say something but he reached for her hand that was picking the grass nervously. When he took it in his hand his eyes closed.

„My past will haunt me forever Hinata. I suppose yours haunts you as well. That's probably what makes us comfortable which each other" he said and opened his eyes. She saw every emotion in them now. Did he take his walls down? Willingly?

„I'd like to know how I could help you" she barely spoke, it was so quiet. He smiled sadly.

„And if I can't be helped?" He didn't believe in miracles and it would take a miracle to make him better. „I've done so much wrong in my life. I have so little connections in this world" she looked genuinely heartbroken and he would prefer her to laugh and be happy.

„I can't let myself believe that there is nothing that can be done. If this is true that I'm just as lost as you are" she said. What surprised her was that she didn't have tears forming in hey eyes. „Maybe we could help each other?" There was hope in her voice. Hope he wanted to have. There was only one thing he could think of. How much he didn't want to let go of her hand, of her. Not right now, not ever. Their eyes locked and he could feel himself being drawn to her. She was being pulled as well. And they kissed. It was slow and neither of them wanted it to stop. He wasn't capable of holding back anymore. When their lips parted they both were out of breath and didn't know what to do next. In that moment he felt that maybe they really could help each other. Hope. A feeling he forgot a long time ago.

For quite some time they didn't talk at all. Not that they felt weird about what just happened but there was a lot of thinking going on in both theirs heads. Hinata was mostly in awe of what has happened. She never expected for this conversation to end the way it did. Was it something bad? Should she have stopped it? Still she was joyful and had this feeling in her stomach she hasn't felt in so long. But after a while she thought about what would people think and her mood instantly dropped. There was not one person in her mind that would be truly happy for her. Was she really thinking this way still? She was a grown woman and didn't need anybody to approve, yet she wanted it. She looked at Sasuke who was laying on the ground looking at the sky and she smiled. Other people didn't matter now, they were so far away from here.

He was content about that kiss. Most people, without doubt, thought that he had practice with this kind of stuff but that was not the case. He has never had time or interest in girls up until now. His doubts from few days ago now vanished. There was nothing he wanted more than to be with Hinata now. He grimaced because of how cheesy he felt right now but it was how it was. He'd heard once that nobody loved as Uchichas did and he wanted to explore this emotion to the bottom. He still felt the was she tasted.