Hi! Sorry for the late upload. I got busy with the new book series and couldn't think about anything else. Hope some of you understand.
When Kakashi saw a hawk with a message from Suna he didn't question it for a second. It was a common thing for this messages to come at least twice a month. But once he saw what was in it he was curious. When he had asked Kazekage for informations about these two he never imagined that they would have come there together. This wasn't that much alarming to him but it would definitely make some people angry, confused or even sad. He pondered for a second if he should tell someone this but decided not to. A simple information to some interested people would be enough so he sent a message to Naruto and Sakura about Sasuke and to Hiashi, Kiba and Shino about Hinata. It was not his job to tell anybody that they supposedly are traveling together. Kakashi has always been rather discreet when it came to personal lives of other people, even more so when it came to his own.
But the thought of this information and its implication couldn't lead him alone. He had more than a few regrets in his life and Sasuke Uchicha was one of them. He'd let him down when this kid'd needed him the most. There probably had never been an option for him to not do so but he still felt it'd all been partially his fault. Once the war had ended he'd knew that his former student would never be the same as before. So right now he felt some kind of peace. Maybe this broken boy's found something though Hinata. Maybe she was the opportunity for him to be happy. He didn't want to guess what type of relationship they had but either one was a bond and Sasuke desperately needed one.
After a really short while he could hear noises outside of his office. He knew who was the cause of it and his head instantly burst with pain. Naruto Uzumaki was now a grown man, one that had reputation and power but he's never changed one bit. He still was a noisy, impulsive, extraverted Naruto all of Five Great Shinobi Nations got to know and grew to admire and respect. Not that Kakashi would change him but he wanted to put a little more of filter on his actions and words. So when the door opened with a loud thud he simply looked in their direction. There he was - out of breath with a smile on his face and wide open eyes. But he wasn't the only one there and that was simply not what Hokage's expected. There were three people at the door. Naruto, as expected, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka. The other two he didn't expect to come right away. There was no invitation in the message he's sent.
„Suna?" Naruto simply asked loudly. And Kiba looked in his direction. He didn't really know what the other two were doing here, especially Sakura.
„When was it?" Kiba asked when Kakashi nodded his head.
„Two days ago" he wandered if he could answer their questions without any of them knowing about who he was talking. But this was suddenly impossible due to next question that popped.
„You care where Sasuke's been?" It was Sakura. And Kakashi wanted to just run away from this conversation.
„Sasuke?! No! Hinata's been seen in Suna" Kiba was almost as loud as Naruto. But this short conversations caused all three of them to freeze and look in his direction which unspoken question in their eyes. Ant there it was. Sudden sadness in green eyes, shock in blue ones and disbelief in black. As he's expected these reactions were different and all of them caused by emotions.
„Sasuke and Hinata were both in Suna?" Kiba was the first one to speak. „Together?" He asked when the Hokage nodded.
„It appears so" he focused on Sakura. Her reaction was the one that bothered him right now. It was well known fact that she still felt strongly for the boy and still hoped for him to see her and come back to her. It's always been that way even though Sasuke's been awful to her on multiple occasions. „But that's all I know. So don't jump to any conclusions right now. Let's just wait and see what happens next, okay?" All three of them nodded and slowly exited the room. He's going to have to speak with Sakura soon.
When the three of them were outside of the Hokage Tower they were still all in shock. Kiba was questioning every possibility inside of his head and went away from the two to think. But Sakura and Naruto stood there longer. There is a lot one can say about Uzumaki, he was loud, sometimes out of place and didn't have much tact but he cared and had a lot of empathy in him. So when he saw how Sakura looked he knew he couldn't just leave her now to be alone. Her whole posture changed once they learned that their friends were together. He didn't pay much attention to the fact, they could have simply met outside of the village but to her it meant one thing. It was like that when you were in love with someone who didn't feel the same, everything means either that they love you or that they don't care.
„How is this even possible?" She asked, not particularly him just the world. He hated seeing her this way. He has accepted that she didn't love him long ago and now they were simply friends, best friends but still only friends.
„They may have just met there" he said quietly. But she didn't believe it. She knew it wasn't possible. If they have just met there it wouldn't be stated in the message that they came together. There was something more and she wanted to know what it was. She needed a closure. But once she realized that them being together together was a possibility she felt something else. She felt hurt by Hinata. Maybe they have never been best friends but they were quite close. If this was true that meant that Hinata's betrayed her in some way. Of course she knew it wasn't that simple and that Hinata was too good to be deliberately mean to her. She was saved from these thoughts by her responsibilities in the hospital and her shift started in just fifteen minutes so she said goodbye to Naruto and rushed to the hospital.
When Shikamaru came back to the village the rumors were already spreading among his friends and he knew that he had some informations that were wanted by most of them. Although he didn't know if he wanted to add to the fuel. He quickly realized that there were mixed emotions about the two. Ino was pissed because of the way it affected Sakura. Kiba was getting angry as well but it was because of Sasuke. Most of their friends didn't believe them to be really together in any way. He also promised to tell Sakura that they would be back and right now he regretted making that promise.
He met with Choji. He had calming personality and gave a lot of perspective even if he didn't know that. He also was a good friend and Shikamaru knew he wouldn't tell anybody a thing if he didn't want him to.
„You should say something" Choji said after he told him about the encounter in Suna. „The rumors are getting ridiculous and are causing emotions that can become dangerous" he was right, Sasuke thought.
„How do I do that?" He was intelligent above average but his social skills were not that great. Strategy was something that couldn't be applied here.
„They wanted you to deliver a message to Sakura so I'd just go to her. And then people will come to you for answers" Sasuke exhaled loudly. He had to talk to the only person that he didn't want to talk about that but it was probably the right thing to do.
So the next day he went into the hospital and asked for Sakura. She was covered in paperwork right now so he went into her office. She looked tired. He concluded that she was working more than usual now and she's already worked her ass off before. She stopped working when he came in.
„What is it Shikamaru?" She asked and smiled sadly.
„I came back from Suna yesterday." Her eyes widened.
„Did you see them?"
„Yeah" he felt uneasy about this conversation. „They'll be back but they don't know when."
„Together?" Her voice was getting high.
„I'd think so"
„Thank you for informing me" she had a tight throat. There were no tears in her eyes but it was because she's learned to stop them.
„I'm sorry" he said and escaped the room. He hated being the messenger.
When her shift ended she was more tired than even and she went straight home. Its emptiness hit her hard, harder than usually. She knew that this relationship she's longed for was nothing sure but now it was different. It was not only not sure it's become impossible. He was taken and it was Hinata that was with him. She's even forgotten about the meeting with Ino she's agreed to so when the doorbell rang she groaned. She wanted to be alone.
When Sakura opened the door Ino was shocked by her state. She looked miserable and Ino knew exactly why. She came in and didn't even say anything. They both sat on the couch and she simply took her hand.
„You know already?" Sakura asked after a long while.
„What?" Ino was not sure what her friend was talking about.
„Shikamaru didn't tell you?" Ino sat up straight. She knew that he was in Suna but didn't think twice about it.
„No"
„He saw them. Together" her voice was on a verge of breaking so she stopped talking.
„What?" Ino was convinced till this moment that there was no way that these two were together.
„They wanted me to know that they'll be back" she was crying now. Ino hugged her but was shocked herself. She would kill Shikamaru for not preparing her for this. But she was mostly thinking about how impossible was the relationship that Sasuke and Hinata apparently had now. But this was not the time to discuss this. She was here for Sakura and that was it.
This time rumors didn't spread this quickly. Ino was a gossip but it felt inappropriate to gossip about this. She waited for Sakura to be ready to talk about it. And when she was the first person she talked to was Naruto.
„Together?" He still couldn't believe this. If it wasn't for Sakura he would be happy even. He knew that Sasuke needed someone in his life, some other bond than the one they had. But it broke Sakuras heart and it hurt him. They should have done this differently. And there was a hint of disappointment in him. He still thought that he would have the chance to see if there was something between him and Hinata but it wasn't hard to accept for him that there wasn't.
Once Naruto knew everybody knew. Shino and Kiba were now sure that the encounter with Sasuke was the thing she's written about in her letter and both of them were pissed now. Shino at her. Kiba at Sasuke.
Shino felt like Hinata had no consideration for their friendship. The fact that she was with Sasuke wasn't even that important to him. But he still felt that she was going the easy way and didn't care for them. He wanted her to be back so he could ask her some questions. And there were a lot.
Kiba was angry because he was one of the people that still didn't trust in the change of the heart of Sasuke Uchicha and he was worried about his friend. He wanted to go to Suna and drag her back home to make sure that she was safe and away from the danger that Uchicha was. He simply didn't trust him and didn't know how their relationship was possible.
But there was one other person whose opinion on the relationship was strongly negative.
Hiashi Hyūga.
