„So you were going to sleep there?" He almost laughed once she was done telling him how she ended up there.
„What else could I do? I knew you were going to be home soon so I decided not to get paranoid" she shrugged her shoulders and looked above him not to burst out laughing which she knew would happen if their eyes locked.
„Sure, trapped in an underground room in the dead zone where nobody would come looking for you, why would you panic?"
„I knew you would look for me"
„A… there's that" he didn't think much about what would have happened if it was two days earlier, or on his first day of the mission. He was just so happy to see her at last.
„There are scrolls there, you know?" She said and picked up a new cup of a tee he's prepared for her. „I think they are stories of your ancestors" she went back to the story she'd read. It was so mundane and she knew for sure that Hyugas didn't have such scrolls. They would not document anybody who wasn't exceptional. She's always thought that Uchichas were more or less the same in this matter.
„I gees they are but reading them isn't something I want to do. I remember people who I want to remember and their scrolls aren't there."
„Everybody in Uchicha clan has a scroll?"
„No" he laughed. „This would take so much space"
„So who gets a scroll? Why are they in this room?"
„I guess if someone wants one he can get one, or the family of this person can order one. I don't know why they had put them there but maybe some of them suspected that they might not make it and wanted some memory of the clan to stay somewhere"
„And you don't want to read them?"
„Why would I want to?"
„Something there might be interesting"
„Was the one you read?"
„Not particularly"
„Most of them are like that. Like I said families ordered them to memorise their sons and daughters. And most sons and daughters are boring people with little to no accomplishments" he knew it sounded not very good. He sounded cynical and egoistic.
„Not all have to be groundbreaking" she smiled with only half of her lips. It was her lack of belief in herself taking hold of the conversation. And he wanted to curse himself. Of course she was going to take it personally.
„What were you up to when I was gone?" He asked in order to change the subject.
„Oh the usual. I trained. I met with Kurenai. Nothing much really so don't order a scroll on me" she laughed without sadness. It was a true joke and somehow he didn't want to laugh at it.
„Don't joke about it"
„Why?"
„These are sometimes written post mortem. Just don't joke about summarizing your life" he wanted to laugh with her, to joke and just have the best time but somehow he got really melancholic. He rarely ever got melancholic in his life. Maybe it was because of the talk he and Naruto have had.
„Did something happen when you were on a mission?"
„Not really I just talked to Naruto"
„About?"
„Aaa… just the future, doesn't matter now" he took her hand in his and looked at her. He was so very lucky that she was there with him. „Do you want to go out and eat something?" She nodded and they began getting ready to leave.
The next few days were very tranquil. They both were glad that the other was close by. She didn't realise how much she's missed him for these five days. It was almost dangerous to realise that.
„Can we leave for a while? Like for two weeks" He asked her one afternoon when both of them were just lying on the couch.
„We can, where would you like to go?" They both have seen a lot of places already.
„I don't know maybe going back to the Village Hidden Among Snow? It is the first place that comes to mind"
„A memory lane of sorts?" It was one of the places she had seen the most of but going back there somehow sounded like such a great idea.
„If it's too kitschy we can think of something else" he felt hot with embarrassment.
„Oh no! Let's go there" she kissed his cheek. And so they've made the decision to go away from Konoha again, even if it was only for a brief time.
Due to the fact that both of then were mostly free form any obligations they were able to leave the day after. It was almost refreshing to leave the gates behind them walking hand in hand. It was so much easier to go away from this place than it was going back.
„Sooo… what do you want to do once we get there? There are some places I haven't shown you the last time. There was so little time." She was overjoyed to be on the road again. She'd changed. She no longer was a timid girl that could sit in the garden for the whole day every day and just do weeding in there. Sure it was still something she enjoyed doing but going out there to the world, seeing things, observing people and just living the life was so much better.
„I'll go wherever you want me to go Hinata" he looked up at the sky that was partially covered by the clouds. It was so good to go out of the village. Although there was something heavy resting in his pocket and he felt it's weight the whole time. How does one ask anybody to spend the rest of their life together? How to find the words to ask something like that? He didn't want it to be stiff. He didn't have to do this during this trip. He could just take the ring back to Konoha in his pocket. So he tried to tell himself to just chill. If it would come naturally he would do it but nothing is set in stone.
„Oh you don't mean that. You know I can make it a very tiering trip if we go wherever I want to"
„Okay so not wherever but you can make the plan. You know much more about this village than me" she seemed happy, free. He loved seeing her that way. Most of the time in Konoha both of them were occupied with other people, repairing the house or training. There was not so much to do besides that. Neither one of then got missions and it seemed that it was going to stay that way so he knew they would have to think of something else to do in the near future if things didn't change. And he didn't really see himself doing anything else.
„It's so good to be away" she said quietly.
„It is" he smiled widely. „Did you talk to your team and family before leaving?"
„I did"
„Good, I wouldn't like them coming after us"
„They won't, I'm not making the same mistake twice" her hand brushed across his and he felt the lightning like sensation going from this place to the whole body. So he took her hand and squeezed it.
„Are you happy Hinata?" She was surprised at that question. She turned her head to see his and looked into his eyes that didn't leave her face.
„Sure I am, I truly am Sasuke" she smiled reassuringly.
„At Konoha?"
„Wherever we are together" she laughed „How cringe am I?" He knew she was trying to change the subject. Staying at the village was something that both of them agreed to but it was more and more obvious to him that neither of them felt that it was the best idea anymore.
„I'm just making sure that you still want to live there. That you want to build your future there."
„Oh… MY future?"
„You know what I mean"
„You worry about whereabouts of MY future it seems" she was still smiling and her tone suggested that she was in a joking mood.
„You're killing me, you know that?"
„Honestly, I don't know if staying there is what I'll want in the next couple of years. I feel obligated to be there. But we don't have much of roots back home. Sure we have friends but I feel alienated when I'm alone in the city. It isn't my home anymore or yet. But I still want to see if it can be, if we can make it good for ourselves" and this was a serious answer he was looking for.
„Okay so we'll keep on trying"
„Being back there is weird" Hinata paused for a moment. „It was obvious that being back there won't feel like we've never left. It's so much different, people look at me differently. I know most of our friends want us to feel normal but there is tension and I feel it every time I see them. But I still want to try my best to make it feel like home and I'm so happy that you are here with me" she looked at him with her brows furrowed. „How do you feel there?"
„Better than I've expected to feel. But to be honest I wouldn't be there if it weren't for you. I would have left the day we came back" It wasn't so much as a surprise to her that he felt that way but she was suddenly hit by the guilt. Was she keeping him there selfishly? She kept thinking being social was something all people should want to some degree. Maybe not all people had to be socially active like Naruto but she did have an established conviction that it was important. Did this belief make her want Sasuke to be something he didn't want to be? Maybe it made her be someone she wasn't?
When she exhaled a large amount of air through her mouth he knew she was deep in her thoughts. Nonetheless there was nothing else he could think of to say to her. The thing he told her was true. Konoha would always be his family home, his origin. But he didn't feel in place there. Whatever he did, whoever he met he just felt out of place. He liked their home, he liked making it their own but it was tainted with so much past emotions and he knew she wanted him to feel good in there. But when she wasn't there these walls surrounding him seemed to be closing in on him. That was it, he felt trapped. But that would be alright, he would stay in this prison if it only made her happy. Except she didn't really seem happy. She did smile and she was energetic. In the first days, maybe weeks of their return she was ecstatic, she seemed so happy to be back and now it was fading day by day. Or maybe he was imagining it because he was scared of growing attached to one place and to people that were there? Being friends with Naruto was easy when they didn't really spend any time together. He could always think they were like brothers and do nothing to maintain this relationship. Now it became clear that being in Konoha meant having to be more attentive to this bond. And he was somewhat afraid it would break from their closeness. He didn't want to open up completely and during their mission he saw that it wasn't okay with the blonde. Naruto wanted this friendship to be closer and more open. Was he ready for that? Was he even able to be that person?
„We need to think more about all that, don't we?" He heard her voice. It was quiet and the playful tone was long gone.
„It seems that way"
