Hinata looked out over the backyard and stared out at the newly built buildings that replaced those that used to be in the Uchiha district. "You said there was an attack." She hummed, setting her gardening down. "What happened."
"Akatsuki." He said, looking at her. "I won't go too far into that. It doesn't matter. It's over now. What you should know is both me and Naruto were thrown into this area." He pointed to where the gauge on the ground used to be. "I went through there, and he went through somewhere that way." He lifted his head to see further between buildings. "And there was a sizable crack from someone's attack somewhere that way."
"Were you hurt?" She wondered, settling her harvest in her basket.
"Yeah, I had been skimping in real combat for a while, so I wasn't as seasoned as I should have been to be up against nin like that, but I could have been worse, honestly." He turned his arm over to look at some scars. "You know that was the first time I had ever really seen you fight. Not just train, but set to kill."
Hinata looked up at him, and he grinned. "It was a complete turn-on." She squeaked, turning red.
Hinata stepped through the rubble that was left of the right half of the Uchiha district. Their home and a few of the smaller outskirts houses had made it unscathed, but his childhood home and most of the large manors in the middle had not. Her face scratched, and her eyes tired, she looked over the destruction with a frown.
Sasuke watched her, holding his likely broken arm pushing his chakra into it to ignore the pain.
"What do we do with it?" She wondered.
They were a tired and low priority for medical care. Hinata had wandered into the ruins to get away from the crowd of pain and disorganization.
"Well, I guess we don't need to have it leveled," Sasuke said, kicking a rock into the ditch we were relatively sure was made by his back. "Maybe a landfill."
"So many homes were destroyed today." She sighed. "These were empty, but what about the rest of the village?"
He trekked over the rubbled to sit with her. "I was the king of a ghost town, now I'm the king of a scrap heap. I say it's an improvement."
Hinata smiled weakly at his joke. "Well, maybe it needed it. No one would have ever used them."
He stared down at her as she stared at her hands. "Yeah."
"How did people come to live here?" Hinata wondered.
"Naruto asked if he could clear some of the rubble and use the far side as a refuge for the people who had lost their homes. You and I had talked about it, and we had decided that while they were there, they could keep clearing the area and began rebuilding homes here. I still technically own the land. It can't be removed from the Uchiha district easily. But Naruto takes care of all of it, so I'm a landlord of sorts. I don't need the money it makes, and we hired someone to keep track of it." She smiled. He hadn't had to agree, but he had.
"I think it's nicer than a ghost town." Hinata hummed, looking over the new homes.
"Yeah." She heard him sigh.
What kind?
Sasuke knew she had said it. Why couldn't he remember? He stared, annoyed at the stupid 4 types of cucumbers. Why was there one used for sushi and one for pickling? They had a science that could make massive watermelons in the wrong damn climate, and they couldn't make a cucumber that could do both?
Sasuke glared at the vegetables with determination to remember which one she had said, and he knew he probably looked pissed, which he would have hoped would have made him unapproachable. Apparently not.
"You know it didn't hurt you." He heard from his side, he turned his hair to pink and annoyance. The last person he wanted to talk to. He was already angry for dumb reasons. He didn't need real reasons to be angry.
"Yet." Sasuke spit out. He looked at the signs trying to pull the right name out of his head so he could get out of here.
"Hinata came to me for treatment for heavy bruising. You want to explain that?" His eyes flicked back to her. He didn't know of any bruising.
"She just came home from a mission." He growled. She came home in the middle of the night and went straight to bed when she had gotten back, so if she was hurt, he hadn't noticed. She had left in the morning to do her reports. He knew she might have gotten treatment then.
"She came bruised hours after she reported back." She snapped.
"I wasn't even awake when she got home. She didn't say a word about it. If you're accusing me of something, say it, I hate this bitchy dance of topic." He growled back.
"If you're hurting her, I will make sure Naruto knows." She bit out.
Since when did she give a shit. "If I was hurting, I would tell him myself so he can smash my face in. In fact, you know damn well she could."
"She wouldn't." Hinata was right, but that wasn't the point.
Hinata wouldn't take it. She would paralyze him. She may not leave him, but that was a character flaw of being simply too caring to abandon his sorry ass.
"I'm not hitting my wife." He laid his point out flat.
"You've hit me." She glared with her lip pierced.
"No, I tried to kill you." Sasuke moved his face to make his point. "Different." He picked one of every damn cucumber and handed it to the attendant to pay. "And if you gave a shit, you would have reported it or asked her, you wouldn't have gone to the abuser." He grabbed his bag and headed out of the shop, trying not to break the door on his way out.
"She never comes out well in this story." Hinata looked at Sakura sitting next to Naruto, surrounded by different peace delegates.
"At this point, I would be happy to give you one in which she did, but the best I have is subpar anger and petty jabs." He rubbed his thumb over her hand as they laid clasped resting on his hip. "Though when you found out, you were pretty upset that she thought I would raise a hand to you."
She made a face. That was a story she could ask about another day she didn't like the implementation now. To think this man could hit her out of anger, he was a nin. He had self-restraint. He was also a good man, even if he didn't always like to show it. "Maybe not to you, but I hope I'm just forgetting sometimes she didn't let it get to her." She sighed. "She's so passionate. She doesn't hide her feelings. I admire that."
"I don't," Sasuke said bluntly.
She couldn't help but laugh.
Hinata frowned as she looked across the room at her father. She had put it off long enough.
"You know we could just send them a note," Sasuke whispered.
"That would defeat the point of a public approach." She giggled.
"You and your politics." He grumbled.
She felt a hand on her butt, pushing her forward, and she flushed slightly, smacking his hand. She got it.
She crossed the room, bowing her head slightly in respect she didn't have to the confused glare of her father. "Hyuga-san, I believe we need to talk."
"I have nothing to say." His voice was low and in his way, threatening but not disrespectful. He couldn't do that here.
"I do." She had her head up, glance over at her sister, who had striated entirely and looked at them quickly, not sure how to defuse the situation.
"Do I need to hear it?" He questioned with his nose up.
"Yes." Her lips came into a line, and she could feel her face nearly twitch with annoyance. He knew well enough she wouldn't come to him unless she thought it necessary. He knew if she had something to say and it was unimportant, then she could come to the compound. He was making this difficult despite the fact he could see what she was doing. She deliberately sat down without being asked, and Sasuke followed.
Her father stared her down, and the air around them grew cold as she stared back.
"What's wrong." Her sister interjected quietly, trying to push past the tension.
"I fear that there is a potential risk to the Hyuga. I think you should be aware of." She furrowed her eyebrows, not taking her eyes off her father. She wasn't going to cower. She had no reason to cower. She was doing the right thing.
"What risk?" Her father said in his all but commanding voice.
"There are people who present looking for information that they wouldn't if they had good intentions." She looked down and to the side the village official that had approached her, pointing him out without his notice.
"What makes you think we are worried." He asked darkly, snapping his glance to him and then back.
"Because he assumed I would be the source." She informed him.
Her father's gaze darkened on her.
"I will not endanger the Hyuga. I want it to be known that though I may not be a Hyuga anymore, that does not mean I would betray my blood so much to give away their weaknesses, especially as it is also my weakness." She stood. "As a personal matter, I should tell you the interest seemed to be on you. I recommend you do not find yourself alone, father." Sasuke stood with her setting hand on her back as they walked away.
He leaned over and whispered. "You know, I don't think I knew a way to say 'I wouldn't wish you dead, but go to hell' with politics."
"I hope it came across clear enough." She frowned, not feeling amused enough to smile, but she appreciated his attempt at a joke.