UPDATED 04/13/2022


The place where Hinata was staying was mostly bare with the exception of necessary furniture. Sasuke supposed those were the quarters Suna offered traveling shinobi, they didn't need much else as they were expected to carry all necessities on them.

She gestured to the living room. "Please make yourself comfortable."

Sasuke nodded at her, musing whether her words were sincere or mere formalities. Not that it matters, he snatched the bag from her hands and headed to the kitchen where he left it on a counter and proceeded to look for a knife. Kunais were not meant for the kitchen. He learned the hard way, in case anyone was wondering. And no, he was not inclined to share that story.

If Hinata's eyes were considered large then they were the size of a plate as she watched him snatch her bag of rations and saunter around the kitchen as if it were his own. After a moment of processing what had happened she raised a hand to her mouth, trying and failing to hide her disbelieving laugh. She almost envied that confidence that bordered on being rude, though she understood his intention to be helpful.

Hidden from her sight, Sasuke's lips pulled into a small smile. A small girl with wide, melancholy eyes extending a bento flashed through his mind. Despite his many misgivings, he was not completely ungrateful after all.

Shaking her head after wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, Hinata pulled out a large pan on which she poured the rice, mixing it with a small amount of oil. She had heard from Kakashi to always expect the unexpected, but she was sure he was most certainly not referring to this. Even so, she was once again pleasantly surprised by the Uchiha. He had truly gone a long way from the last time she properly interacted with him.

Speaking of which, when was the last time they spoke before he left? A click echoed in her mind. While rare, they did have an occasional mission together as genin along with another teammate or two who would accompany them. Not that they talked much, but she liked to think that she had some sort of understanding with her fellow introvert every time they had to talk (or beat in Sasuke's case) sense into the brash and hot headed Naruto.

With an unsure glance at him Hinata takes a calming breath and pulls out a kitchen knife from her oversized scroll. It wouldn't be fair to make him cut up everything, especially when it was supposed to make up for her earlier discourtesy.

Now beside him, Hinata allowed herself one more glance at Sasuke only to find him staring right back with a raised eyebrow. She cracked in a matter of seconds, raising a hand to her cover to cover her giggles. "I– I'm sorry, it's just, I didn't expect you to do this."

He nodded at her explanation and turned back to chopping the vegetables before him. Hinata shook her head and her chopping became slower. If he only considered her a little strange before then now he probably thought she was a nut. Not that it was untrue, but she had hoped to fool at least one person.

"Are you uncomfortable?"

Watching a former missing-nin do something so trivial like cooking was… it made her feel strange, to say the least. Just like the time Neji had somehow whipped up a soup in the middle of nowhere when she got sick during a joint mission. Strange yet fitting for characters like them.

"Not at all, I was trying to thank you for escorting me and– and well, to compensate for my impoliteness and yet here you're helping me again."

"It's faster this way," he said nonchalantly.

She nodded with a thankful smile, her mind settling with the rhythmic chops. She remained beside him and unwilling to ruin the steady sound, doing her best to match his pace. In one swift motion he took the tray and slid its contents on the pan before adding water.

Hinata unfurled her oversized scroll. After a small poof, bags of dough and cinnamon were summoned and she placed them on the counter that had been cleared of chopping boards and vegetables. Without skipping a beat, Sasuke placed a newly washed tray and roller before her.

"You know how to bake too?" Hinata looked up at him with newfound awe. "No one in my family really likes sweets, so they don't bake these too often."

Sasuke being Sasuke, only grunted in what she interpreted as a 'yes.'

With practiced swiftness she divided the dough into two pieces and extended them with the roller before sprinkling cinnamon and rolling them up. She passed them to her companion who held the knife as she too had learned the hard way that kunais were not meant for the kitchen.

In all honesty that was Neji's fault back before the chunin exams but that's another story.

As he cut the cylinder of dough and cinnamon into smaller pieces and Hinata observed beside him, Sasuke's mind once again drifted off. After first finding out that the Sharingan was available to him, his first thought was training. Once he returned to the village after some days of travel with his team, his next thought was books.

After all, learning a new skill should be easier if the theory of it was firmly ingrained in his mind with the help of his Sharingan. In his frenzy to go through every relevant material, he failed to notice the assortment of cooking and baking books he added to his arsenal until he surprised himself, Sakura, and Naruto with a dinner worthy of being on the menu of the Akimichi clan's restaurant during a mission as a genin.

Not that Hinata needed to know that either.

After a comfortably silent meal Sasuke immediately left, to what Hinata assumed was the Kazekage's office. Even if it was Konoha who had sent him, the problem that Sasuke dealt with was in Suna and he needed to report it at some point.

oOo

It seemed that his efforts to not make a sound had been wasted. Instead of sleeping as she had been before he left, there sat Hinata on the long couch with a book in hand. She raised her gaze to him when instead of going to the second room, Sasuke stood before her.

"When are you returning to Konoha?"

She raised an eyebrow at the intrusive question. After a moment she sighed with a shrug. What harm could Sasuke knowing that do? "I'm not returning. But I do plan on visiting later on, I just want to take my time for now."

"How?"

Hinata shrugged, her eyes shifting questioningly. "Well first I had to speak with my father and then I asked some friends to cover for me since I would be removed from the mission roster," she said. "And then… I left my hitai-ate with Tsunade-sama since Hokage-sama is out."

He didn't twitch, only tilting his head pensively. With the aid of her trained eyes Hinata caught the downturned twitch in his lips as he processed her words. Perhaps there was a tinge of envy in his gaze though it disappeared as soon as it came.

Was there something wrong with what she said? Maybe it didn't bode well with him who skipped everything she mentioned when he was younger. Sasuke left with no authorization and when he returned, his only way to relative freedom was to do the most dangerous of missions for the village. Hinata knew. She was one of the biggest advocates for Sasuke's pardon along with Sakura and Naruto. It didn't hurt their case to have a big name such as the Hyuuga to side with them.

On the other hand, she let the greatest authority in Konoha know about her departure and received permission to wander as she pleased… maybe Sasuke missed the freedom that he was stripped of? Despite the way he looked and behaved, he was most certainly a human with desires of his own.

"You left without telling the idiot," he finally concluded. Running a hand through his hair, Sasuke's next words came out in a rush. "How very lucky, here I need to let him know of my every move or else my dear village will send me ANBU and hawks with all types of threats– I never knew how creative they could be with those.

"What more do they want? I've already proven myself time and time again and yet it seems that asking for one miserable week for myself is too much," he finished breathlessly. After a moment to compose himself he continued, "but anyway, guess who is asking for you?"

"I'm sorry–"

"It doesn't matter, I will not take you back against your will."

"You spoke to Naruto-kun?" Hinata lowered her head in hopes of hiding her sheepishness. "I didn't mean to lie to him, I was just waiting for the right moment to tell him that I was leaving…"

"You say this after you left," Sasuke said unimpressed. "Good for you, you'll need that head start before he starts yet another manhunt."

Hinata giggled at this though her grin slightly fell off at the seriousness of his expression. "Oh… I thought you were joking."

"I am," he sighed. "For the most part."

"Well thank you for the heads up." The serene smile returned to her face. She sincerely doubted that Naruto would do anything remotely similar to what he pulled when Sasuke left but even so, the Uchiha was kind enough to make that joke. "I think I'll hide out in Cha no Kuni for a while. Where are you going after this?"

He hadn't been assigned a new mission yet, leaving his mind with a blank. Sasuke's gaze drifted to the window behind Hinata in silent contemplation. Where was he to go now? He hadn't received a new… mission.

Perhaps if he were younger he would've blown a fuse at the realization, but his current self only stared at the sand in the wind through the window. How low he had fallen. To think that the day would come when he had no aspirations in life. Only traveling as his missions guided him.

His eyes snapped to Hinata who had shifted closer, peering intently at his face. "Are you alright?"

Sasuke nodded, taking a seat beside her. "Since you don't wish to return, I've no plans for now."

Hinata's eyes lit up. "Then… if you don't mind me saying, I recommend that you visit Cha no Kuni when you're up to it, too. I think it would be very relaxing after going through so many stressful missions like you have."

"I just might," he murmured.

Hinata dipped her head, pleased with herself. While they were not precisely friends, it didn't hurt to offer life improvements. Sasuke's everything was training– to better himself. It was the way of his clan. Even Itachi, who turned out to be well intentioned (though she found his methods to be rather questionable). She remembered very well the slight fear that crept in her heart as the elder Uchiha approached her during a gathering, silent as a feline. The fear was foolish as he simply wished to offer a respite from the monotonous conversations of clan heads. He was actually nice to talk to.

Everything in the existence of an Uchiha seemed to be oriented to combat.

In a way the Uchiha clan reminded her of her own clan. Combat was also their way of life. Hinata herself was made to train the moment she was able to walk. The same way Sasuke fought for his family's approval, she fought to gain her father's trust and respect, to make Neji acknowledge her. The same way Sasuke was pitted against his brother, she and Hanabi were forced to fight.

She could empathize to a certain extent with many of his experiences, but there were also many other aspects that she couldn't begin to imagine. The most harmless thing that came to mind was Sasuke's popularity in the academy. Hinata could understand why many girls liked to look at him, he had always been good looking and the years hadn't failed him.

Maybe he was a bit unkempt, but that was to be expected after extensive traveling and it didn't hide his aristocratic features. Though it truly was a pity that he had to hide his eyes. It may have been her Hyuuga heritage talking but they were surely his best features, and she was not referring to their combative qualities.

Hinata recoiled with an inaudible gasp as her eyes connected with her companion's. It seemed to be a wonderful moment for the ground to swallow her up, but when did things ever go her way? She sighed in relief when Sasuke didn't seem to be bothered by her fixed gaze, merely pensive. Perhaps he didn't notice.

Murmuring a quiet good night, she left for her room.

oOo

Hinata woke up to a brief spike of chakra. Her breathing was immediately forced to remain calm and without the aid of seals, veins extended by her eyes and her sight stretched throughout the room. Sasuke was missing and more notably, a foreign chakra signature was approaching her with careful steps.

Still feigning sleep, she remained motionless. In Hinata's vision, all her surroundings disappeared and green seals, reminiscent of the cursed seal's green, replaced the floor. As soon as the shinobi's feet landed within her range Hinata jumped to her feet.

The shinobi audibly gasped, taking a step back. Before her chakra laced hands could reach him the shinobi pulled out an explosive tag. "One more step," he said shakily, "and– and I'll blow everything close by."

Hinata's eyes darkened, veins receding and she slowly loosened her posture. If an explosion that is bound to hit Suna natives is traced to her room, well… it wouldn't benefit Konoha, her clan, or herself. "What brings you here?"

Using what she had seen of the intruder her mind sped through every detail she could remember. First of all, the fact that he gave himself away by the sound of his footsteps meant that he was either chunin level or lower, or he was too anxious to be truly stealthy. The shinobi's chakra was flowing in an erratic manner and Hinata did not need the Byakugan to see it.

He was in no state to be a threat if it weren't for the explosive tag. Maybe he was part of the group that Sasuke had taken out earlier, that would explain his jitteriness. Sasuke was indeed a terrifying force, though she felt no pity for someone who was most likely a bloodline thief. After all, their biggest targets were the untrained or newly minted children of shinobi clans.

The intruder didn't answer, instead taking slow steps to her. One unsteady hand reached for her face (her eyes) and the other clenched the crumpled tag. In one quick motion, Hinata grabbed the wrist with the explosive tag and intercepted the incoming chakra with her own, stopping the detonation.

The shinobi cried in pain and jumped back. His uninjured hand scrambled to find something in his bag. Immediately Hinata rushed forward, disabling all major chakra points. As the man collapsed a kick to the head left him unconscious.

Hinata crouched by his side and the veins around her eyes returned. Behavior aside, there was nothing suspicious about the intruder. All he had was a standard bag with kunais, shurikens, and wires, everything that any ordinary genin would have.

She got back on her feet as a familiar cloaked figure made its way to her. Hinata eyed the motionless lump on Sasuke's shoulder without a comment as he threw it beside the unconscious shinobi.

"Were you attacked too?"

He shook his head, forming various seals. In a puff of smoke a hawk appeared and promptly flew away with a note attached to its leg. "I noticed that we were being tagged last night, but I was unaware that it was more than one person," he said gesturing to the two unconscious shinobi.

Within record time a team from Konoha arrived at the outskirts of Suna and picked up their captives. Hinata glanced at her companion as the team walked away, merrily discussing dinner plans.

"Well, thank you for everything. I wish you safe travels, Sasuke-san."

He dipped his head and Hinata turned away, moving far slower than she should have. It felt strange. Hinata left the village after much time of deliberation and she knew exactly what leaving implied. Even so, she couldn't help the slight pang at leaving Sasuke. They weren't friends, but it was comforting to have another presence close by.

Crunch.

The feeling didn't last long because he didn't leave. She turned around with a questioning gaze.

"I decided that I'm spending my vacation in Cha no Kuni."

Hinata's eyes widened as she tilted her head. "I didn't know you were finally allowed a break… that's great!"

"You could say that, I suppose," Sasuke murmured with a shrug. "What Konoha does not know won't hurt them."

"Oh…" To think that he would actually take her advice, it was rather flattering but more importantly, she genuinely believed that it would be good for him. If he was going then she might as well tell him about the few excellent tea houses that she knew of.

But first of all, would he prefer thin tea or thick tea? Hinata couldn't just send him off to whichever tea house they found first. Sasuke had trusted her advice so it needed to live up to standards. What type of companion would she be if she couldn't do at least that much?

"If you're uncomfortable traveling together, I–"

"No no! I– I don't mind, truly," Hinata waved her hands in denial. "I was just thinking about where I should take you."

Sasuke waved his hand in dismissal as he caught up with long strides. "It's on me, I forgot to tell you."