I probably will post next chapter in a few hours since it's almost finished and I can't wait to post it. Thanks for all the reviews.
Sasuke was rolling his eyes when he heard the tree coming at full speed towards them. He squeezed Hinatas hand. She was debating throwing herself off the cliff to be honest.
„What are you doing here?" He asked when they were in front of them.
„Oh you know. Looking for you two" Naruto grinned and looked at them both. „It's good to see you both" Hinata wanted to hide behind Sasuke now. It was bad. Her throat was tight and her stomach felt ill. She looked at the faces of her friends. Naruto hasn't changed an ounce. He still was over energetic and first to speak. It was Kiba and Shino's reactions she was more uneasy with. They were quiet and stood further away. Kiba was staring at her and Sasuke with question and maybe disappointment? Shino wasn't looking anywhere in particular he was just there. She felt guilt all over her. She definitely deserved this treatment but it didn't make it easier to bear. She felt Sasuke slightly squeezing her hand once again. She felt better instantly. She wasn't alone in this.
„Hinata?" She heard her name coming form Naruto.
„H-huh?"
„Your father sent two members of your clan to bring you home" he repeated. She almost stopped breathing. She's been expecting such actions a year ago but now it felt unexpected. Then she understood. She looked at Sasuke for the first time since they showed. Hid brows were frowned. He knew as well.
„Let them come" Sasuke said with coldness in his voice she hasn't heard in so long.
„You see we're here not to let you harm them" Naruto said. She felt Sasuke tense.
„Not your problem" he said. She didn't want them to fight not here not anywhere. She grabbed his arm with her free hand.
„It's okay"
„It's not okay Hinata" Sasuke looked at her and his face softened. „Do you want to go back to Konoha?"
„No but if me being gone is causing problems I'll go" he closed his eyes for a few seconds.
„No. You have the right to make your own choices" he said. „ So let them come" he repeated towards Naruto.
Kiba was confused when he saw how Sasuke acted towards her. Was he… soft? He was also sad when Hinata said she didn't want to come back. It was just sadness. There was no room for anything else between sadness and being glad to see her. He was glad she was okay. She looked different. She was more skinny and her hair was shorter a little but still long. Her face was now full of pain but it was probably caused by seeing them. She almost didn't stutter. Her hair was wet so she must have been in the see. When their eyes met he smiled uncontrollably. She smiled back softly. Maybe they still could be close.
„Can we talk Nata?" He tried to sound sure of himself but it came out not great. She nodded and let go of Sasukes hand. Uchicha looked as she left his side and escorted them with his eyes when they went towards the edge of the cliff. Shino followed them. „How are you?" Kiba asked now that they were almost alone.
„I'm alright. How are you guys?" She looked at both of them. Kiba had longer hair now and more mature face. Shino was taller and had more slim face now but he still covered most of it so she couldn't see the change that sure happened.
„We? Apart from dying to see you? Good" Kiba said and smiled. „It's so good to finally see you, you know?" Than Akamaru started sniffing her and after a while his tail started wiggling. She scratched him behind his ear.
„I was going to come home eventually, you know that right?" Kiba just shrugged his shoulders.
„How could we know that Hinata?" Shino said. His voice was harsh and she shivered. „You took off without a word. We had to find out through Hokage. And when we almost met you just run off" Shino was always quiet but now he was speaking his mind and Hinata was taking this hit knowing she deserved it.
„I had to go."
„You could've told us that. We would have accepted that" Shino said still angry.
„I know I acted childish. I just knew that if I told you I wouldn't have left this easily."
„So you chose an easy way out" she just nodded.
„I'm sorry I caused you pain" She looked towards Sasuke who still was watching them from afar.
„Uchicha, huh?" Kiba asked when he saw her looking at him. She turned and gave him a cautious smile. „How did this happen?"
„Well we met in the Land of Snow and we're traveling together ever since. It was spontaneous" she said. There was a lot more she could say but she knew how Kiba especially felt about Sasuke.
„We better go back there or he starts a fight with Naruto" Kiba joked. She laughed mildly. When she was once again next to Sasuke he instantly put his hand around her waist. It left Naruto with a weird expression on his face.
„You know that Sakura is here, right?" Sasuke asked him. From the look on all of their faces they had no idea. Hinata saw her when she had her Byakugan activated but didn't pay much attention because of the appearance of her teammates. She wanted to get away from Sasuke. Some distance from them was advised when it came to meeting Sakura. She was after all probably still in love with Sasuke and Hinata didn't want to cause her more heartbreak than necessary. But Sasuke didn't want to let go of her.
„Sakura?!" Naruto yelled at the forrest. And after few seconds the pink haired girl emerged from it. She was looking at them and slowly came closer. Hinata felt more guilt coming her way. „What are you doing here?" Naruto asked when she was close enough to hear him when he was not yelling.
„Just wanted to see what was it about" Everybody knew it was a lie. „Hi Hinata, Hi Sasuke" her voice almost broke when she said his name. Hinata knew what she felt and tried to step aside once again. This time Sasuke let her go but his eyes landed at her instantly.
„Hello" Hinata tried to smile welcomingly but the look on Sakuras face stopped her. She was glaring at her with her eyes full of anger and utter sadness. Hinata felt as if the girl has slapped her. Unconsciously she reached out to Sasuke and he brought her back to his side.
„So are you coming back?" Naruto asked her and she just shook her head. Right now she had another reason not to go with them. If it were up to her alone she would never go back there after seeing the look on Sakuras face.
„You can go now then" Sasuke said. He saw how Hinata reacted to Sakura and he mostly wanted her gone. He's always knew how his friend felt about her but he's also never showed any interest in her. So her heartbreak wasn't their fault. But he also knew Hinata didn't see it that way.
„We can't. If you're not going than we have to wait for the Hyūgas and ensure they leave here untouched." Naruto was now getting angry at the situation. He hasn't thought it would be this difficult to convince Hinata to come with them. And he also started to feel angry at the way she and Sasuke acted.
„If they don't attack us I won't do anything to harm them" Sasuke said. But it didn't change anything in Naruto, that's when Hinata understood what they meant by bringing her home. She exhaled loudly.
„We want to be left alone" she said. It was shocking to all of them. Even Sasuke raised his brow and almost smiled. „If you have to be there when they come than fine but I want you to stay away for now" her voice didn't flinch and her face didn't show any emotion when she was talking. When she finished she took off leaving Sasuke with them she went straight towards their camp and went in to a tent.
„You've changed her" Naruto said. There was still shock all over his face.
„No. She's just changed" but neither one of them believed him. „You've heard her. We want to be left alone" it was getting hard for him to stop a smile from forming on his face.
„You don't have anything to say to me?" Sakura spoke when he was turning. He turned his head to her.
„Not really. Sorry you're hurting but this is not your business" and he went off. When he entered the tent Hinata was sitting there with her eyes closed. „How are you?" She opened her eyes and he saw that she was close to crying so he sat next to her and brought her on his lap to hug her. When he did that the tears started flowing.
„She was so hostile" she whispered. She didn't trust her voice to speak normally. „And they were so disappointed" He kissed her forehead.
„They are still your friends and they are just sad" he whipped her tears from her face. „And don't bother yourself with Sakura. She sometimes doesn't think"
„She was my friend and I'm with the boy she likes. I brought it on myself" she looked at him and felt so lucky that he was the way he was.
„You know she doesn't really know me, right?" She was looking at him and shook her head. „We were in the same team wen we were children. I left soon after and from then forward we haven't talked much. She is mostly in love with the idea of me and that doesn't count"
„It still broke her heart." He nodded. They didn't talk about the scouts coming to get her or anything else. She just hugged him and after a while drifted off to sleep.
When Sasuke left all four of them were stupefied. Naruto was the first one to move. He came to Sakura and hugged her from the side. He didn't want her here for this reason exactly. He knew Sasuke was cold and he would make things worse and Sakura was rush to act on her feelings. He was surprised it was the only thing she's said there.
„So we wait for them to come" Naruto said and everybody looked at him. Shino just nodded.
„Yeah" said Kiba. His voice sounded defeated.
„Are you staying with us?" He asked Sakura. He wasn't going to send her away simply because he wanted to be a good friend but he hoped she would go on her own.
„I'd like to" she said and he exhaled.
„So let's set our camp further away from them. They don't want us close so let's respect that." Kiba and Sakura looked at him surprised.
„Are you being mature right now?" Kiba asked.
„I suppose so" he grinned and walked towards the trees. He may have appeared collected but there was so many questions in his head. Hinata was with Sasuke and they seemed closer than he expected them to be. He wanted to know how it happened. He wanted to know what it could mean for well… everybody. But most importantly he just saw his best friend in love with the first girl to ever say that she loved him. And he blamed himself for not responding to her then.
Kiba and Shino stayed up to be on guard for the next couple of hours until it was time for Naruto to change them. Kiba was mostly pleased that he got to meet and talk to his friend but he could tell Shino was still angry at her.
„Can't you let it go?" He asked him after a long period of silence.
„If I could I would. It's not that I'm not glad she is okay and happy to see her. But it doesn't change the fact that she let me down" Kiba understood that. That's how he's felt when she's left. But he also wanted to just go back to the way things used to be. All that was lest was to wait for scouts to come and see how things would escalate.
They didn't know that their wait wasn't going to be long. Hyūga shinobi were approaching Village Hidden in Valleys and it would take them only another day to get to the seaside where all of them were now waiting.
