Long time no see! I wanted to upload this story at least twice before the end of the year, and I managed to do just that so I'm happy. Hope everyone is staying safe during this time and thank you guys so much for the sweet reviews. I really do hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto if I did it would've ended in 2015. Seriously, they are butchering the characters at this point.

Chapter 18: Free Fall

"All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the moment of freefall." -Meghan O'Rourke

Sasuke watched as Hinata took in his home with great wonder. Even though he was anticipating what she had to say to him, he still couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed as her eyes moved from corner to corner.

He wasn't exactly keen on decorating the house that his family was murdered in, most of it was bare with little furniture besides what was necessary and no personal touches except for two photos, one that was taken while he was in Taka, and the other of him and Team 7 taken just before he left Konoha after the war. He didn't hang any photos of his family up. Sasuke was sure he didn't have the mental strength to see their faces every day.

She fixed her mouth to say something and then quickly thought against it as she probably remembered what happened there. He was grateful for the hesitation.

Giving him a terse smile Hinata wrung her hands in front of herself. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

Stopping just short of slapping himself Sasuke gave her a nod. Of course she wouldn't want to say something so secretive in the hallway. He frowned wondering if they'd indeed had the conversation there if anyone would've tried to spy on them.

"Follow me."

He led her up to his room and promptly closed the door as Hinata looked around for a place to sit. Motioning toward the edge of his bed, Sasuke gave Hinata an apologetic look as he sat down.

"Sorry, this is the only place in the house I can guarantee us some privacy."

Taking a cautious seat at a reasonable distance from him, Hinata shyly smiled. "It's okay." She wrung her hands on her lap as she begun to get noticeably tense.

Sasuke couldn't help but think that she was similar to how Naruto had looked hours before. He sighed as he realized just how long his past 24 hours had been. He knew that whatever happened between them was intense, but he didn't think it would be this draining. He had no one to blame but himself either way, so he wasn't too annoyed by the circumstance, although he was tired of running in circles between the two.

Hinata would have to lay it all on the line for him here and now. He didn't want to have to go looking for answers anymore.

Sasuke fixed her with a serious expression, "I'm not the type to let things go, you know that right? So just be straight with me."

Nodding her head Hinata pursed her lips before deeply sighing. "It's not that easy. Talking about your mistakes."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" He smiled slightly, trying to lighten the mood. Hinata shyly reciprocated but quickly her smile disappeared as she avoided his gaze.

"First I'd like to apologize." Her silver eyes drifted to different corners of his room, never once landing on him. "For letting it get this far. I never wanted it to-"

"You know I'm capable of making my own decisions right? Stop patronizing me." He couldn't help the coldness in his voice. He was tired of people implying he wasn't thinking for himself.

Giving him an understanding expression, Hinata shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I was in the wrong for using you in the first place." She spoke as he opened his mouth again, "I know I already said sorry, but I want to say it again. It was really wrong of me."

Sasuke gruffly crossed his arms as he fought the urge to roll his eyes. He felt that she was skating around the topic, but he didn't want to push her, he knew how hard it was for Naruto to talk about it. And the way his best-friend spoke of things painted a nasty picture.

He watched as Hinata's brows dipped lower and her eyes glossed over. She looked uncomfortable and a part of him wanted to reach over and tell her that she didn't have to say anything, that they could work through it regardless. But the other part, the more selfish one, wanted to hear Hinata's side of the story so it could stitch together the entire picture, so he could know every part of her. That selfish side of him was stronger.

"When the war ended, I felt numb. I didn't want to do anything, I thought it was just a by-product of fighting in such a long drawn out battle. Of seeing so much death at once. As shinobi, it's something we should be used to, but seeing it done for a reason I couldn't justify somehow made it harder. And-" She breathed a little before continuing, "Seeing someone you loved die like that, because of your own selfishness…"

Hinata's hands wound tightly into a fist, Sasuke reached over to place his hands above hers as she tried to hold back obvious tears.

"You don't have to talk about that part. Naruto told me."

"But I do." She looked up at him. Her normally still face was pained in a frantic expression he recognized all too well. "It's the reason, for everything. My weakness."

Sasuke said nothing. He didn't think there was anything he could say. She had probably thought about what happened until she could no longer think. The powerlessness that comes with not being able to protect the ones you loved was something every shinobi especially had a hard time coming to terms with. He understood better than most.

"I tried to move on, but I couldn't. I even started getting closer to Naruto-kun and for a while it was okay, but then even that didn't help. It was like I couldn't get past the idea that I wasn't supposed to be there. All the things I got to experience Neji nii-san never did. I felt guilty. I was always the reason for his pain and now I was the reason he wasn't here anymore."

She paused for a second having said the name that so clearly haunted her.

"Naruto-kun gave me some of the happiest moments of my life." She thoughtfully smiled, as Sasuke couldn't help the bitter taste that filled his mouth at her words. "But what we had wasn't enough. And we tried so hard to make it work but like always I messed everything up." Hinata scoffed, and then let a humourless laugh fill the air. "I couldn't even get that right and I had waited my whole life for it."

She took another deep breath as Sasuke stood still. He took in her every word with care, following along and piecing together what he already knew with the new information she was providing.

"After the war I started to have nightmares. They were terrible. I had to move to another end of the house just so my family could get some sleep at night. They were always about Neji nii-san, watching him die because of me over and over. Watching him tell me it was all my fault, like he was haunting me."

"When I started to spend more nights at Naruto-kun's," She continued, "The nightmares became worse. It was so bad that he would rush home after missions, and then eventually he stopped taking them so frequently. I felt like such a burden. I knew how much I was inconveniencing him, but he always assured me that it wasn't true, that he loved me, and we could get through it. I believed him, and I loved him so much that I tried but soon I found that it just wasn't working out, so I was the one who started taking more missions. For a while it helped."

Sasuke raised a brow, Naruto hadn't said anything about that. Was that the reason he thought it was his fault?

"Was it because he wasn't there?" He asked, despite the rudeness of the question.

With a pointed gaze Hinata grimaced at him. He had never seen her wear such an expression before.

"Of course not." She replied. Her tone was curt, and she sounded slightly annoyed. "It wasn't Naruto-kun's fault."

"That's what I thought," He said. He watched her intently as he anticipated how she would respond to his next sentence. "I was asking because that's what Naruto thinks."

"He said that?" Her voice was introspective as she looked away from him, and Sasuke couldn't help the fit of jealously that sat deep in his stomach at her reaction.

He hoped he wasn't just some sort of counsellor for her to work her relationship issues through. He wanted, no needed, more than that from her.

"It isn't true. The only person to blame was me, and I feel awful that I made Naruto-kun feel that way. He wasn't anything less than perfect to me. I just…I just wasn't in a space that I could love him like I thought I could."

Sasuke waited until he caught her eyes before he spoke. "So what? When you feel ready, you'll try to work it out?"

He couldn't help the bite in his words. It wasn't a secret how he felt about her.

Smiling humourlessly Hinata shook her head, "I don't even think that's possible."

"Why not?"

"I ruined it."

Sasuke gave Hinata a dubious look, as far as he knew it wasn't unfixable. Though he wasn't exactly advocating for her to go back to his best-friend, her reasoning for not being able to was ridiculous. "They were nightmares, I'm sure he would understand."

"No." She shook her head even more. "That's all Naruto-kun told you because he wanted to protect me."

Though he figured that was the case he didn't say anything, instead he let her take a moment to recollect her thoughts.

Sasuke didn't want to provoke her. He just wanted to make sure that he wasn't wasting his time. Getting his hopes up for something that could never happen.

Hinata's hair tumbled across her shoulder as she focused her attention on her lap. Her fingers poked together repeatedly, a habit that he watched her revert back to whenever she was troubled or stressed.

"When we were together I used missions as an excuse to not sleep and escape my problems. Whenever I would come back home and get some sleep the nightmares would get worse, but even with all his begging I refused to listen to Naruto-kun and get help for it. Sakura-san even offered to use some medical ninjutsu technique she created to ease trauma in the brain. But I didn't want it. Part of me felt like I deserved to live like this. At least I was breathing, Neji nii-san wasn't. There's not a jutsu that can help me with that."

Sasuke was surprised to hear of Sakura's new jutsu, she had never told him about it and she always told him everything. There was always a tight seal about the details in Naruto and Hinata's relationship. He was aware that Sakura always knew more than she let on, but he wasn't exactly sure how much she did. She was far more involved than she led him to believe, however.

But if that was the case, he understood even less now why was she helping him.

"The nightmares got worse to the point that sometimes it was hard to tell if I was dreaming or not. Eventually I was deemed not fit to take missions." Her jaw clenched as her hands that remained twirled in her lap clasped tightly together. "Soon I started to feel physically sick. Naruto-kun at that point had gotten tired of me refusing help and at one particularly bad episode he and Sakura-san had made me go to the hospital. He also told my father what was happening, so I was forced to stay there for a while. I was so mad at him then. I couldn't see that he had done it to help me. All I felt at the time was just an indescribable anger."

Hinata breathed a heavy sigh and leaned backward, Sasuke watching as her head fell back to look at his ceiling, waiting for her to continue.

"When I went back to Naruto-kun's I was a different person. More secretive, less trusting of him. I didn't care that what he had done had helped me for a little while, helped us. I was just too selfish in my grief. I started to hide things from him even more and when he found out I would lash out at him by disappearing and wallowing in my hurt. I was a terrible girlfriend. Naruto was too good to me and in a way I took advantage of that kindness. Then one day was really bad."

She wrung her fingers. "I came back to his house after ignoring him for a while, of course like always Naruto-kun welcomed me with open arms even though I didn't deserve it. But I had gotten worse than I had ever been. When we were going to sleep I had one of the worst episodes I ever did, all I remember is blacking out. When I had come through all I saw was a destroyed room and Naruto-kun looking over me with the most heartbroken expression. He had brought Tsunade-sama over to heal me, but he refused to tell me anything. When she had gotten me alone she told me what happened. I was trying to hurt myself, and Naruto-kun had stopped me while I was screaming from the top of my lungs, wrecking everything in sight in my mania. It was then that I had realized I had finally broken us. I ruined it, like I ruin everything I ever love."

"Hinata…" Her name softly escaped his lips despite himself. She had to know that wasn't true. He bit his tongue before speaking his objection, he didn't want it to seem like he was pitying her.

She turned her face away from his as her voice started to shake.

"I was a wreck then, and Naruto-kun wasn't any better either. But we tried to brave it. Shinobi's endured right?"

He hated that saying. His brother had taken it on like a cross and it did nothing but make his life hell. But again he stayed silent, allowing her to free the weight from off her shoulders.

"Naruto-kun, he tried to pretend to be strong for the both of us, but it was obvious how much pain he was in. It was my fault and I hated myself for it, for constantly hurting him. We weren't working anymore. We were too broken. After that day I knew he was better off without me so I ended things and tried to stay out of his life. But-" her voice broke. "All I did was hurt him even more, I just keep hurting him. And I can't forgive myself for that."

Sasuke didn't know what to say, choosing to sit still as Hinata reached up to wipe at her blurry eyes.

It explained so much. Why Naruto was never the same after their breakup. Why Hinata couldn't stand to be in the same room as him for more than a few seconds. It also explained why she refused to use medical ninjutsu despite the graveness of her injuries. Like she was constantly punishing herself.

Like that day.

He frowned thinking about it, stopping just short of remembering. It was an image that he tried to forget.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, motioning towards her dishevelled state. "I didn't want you to see me cry."

"Do you think that really matters to me," Sasuke said. Why was it that she insisted on considering his feelings above her own? He paused a bit before speaking, not wanting to sound patronizing. "Are you okay now?"

Hinata shrugged her shoulders. She acted fine but he knew better. At that point she was trying to hold it together. "The nightmares aren't as bad. What I'm most ashamed of is the way I handled it with Naruto-kun. I can't find the strength to talk to him after everything even though he deserves an apology. That's kind of why I tried to get closer to you. You were the closest thing to him. But I was being selfish, and I didn't expect to feel this way about you."

His mind raced far ahead of himself. With the story complete Sasuke still wasn't sure that Hinata wasn't using him as some sort of emotional crutch. Up until that point he was also being selfish, letting those two relay their trauma just so he could get closer to her.

"Now you know everything." Hinata looked at him with an expression so consuming. Her silver eyes were still brimming with unshed tears as they bravely held his gaze. "Are you sure you can keep your promise?"

Sometimes the truth wasn't what you wanted to hear. He knew what the right thing was to do, though it filled him with unease.

"Hinata, you have to talk to Naruto."

Blinking she furrowed her perfect brows before searching his face.

"I don't understand?"

"I meant every word that I said, and this doesn't change anything but," He sighed as an uncomfortable grimace marred his features. "You guys clearly need to work this out."

"Sas-"

He interrupted her before she could refuse.

"It's the only way you can start to heal from what happened." And the only way he could allow himself to pursue her with a guilty free conscience. "You said you came to me because I would understand right?"

Nodding her head, Hinata sniffled as she regarded him tensely.

"Then trust me. You both need the closure." And he knew what he was talking about, he had gone through the same thing. Though he still wasn't exactly where he wanted to be, the fact that he was able to say a proper goodbye to Itachi was one of the reasons he wasn't still hellbent on revenge.

Hinata and Naruto needed to talk things through in order to move past it. There was no other way she was going to heal. No other way Naruto would find closure and stop making himself miserable. He wanted his best-friend to have that.

Thinking of what she said that day, Sasuke looked at Hinata with a questioning glance, "The blood on your hands, you weren't talking about Neji were you? It was Naruto."

Hinata shifted slightly away from him at the question. "He's not the same. And it's my fault." She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers as she frowned. "You're right. I should talk to him. But I'm too scared that I'll hurt him even more. I don't even know if anything I say will do any good."

"Like I said you'll have to trust me."

Sasuke pulled her hands into his own and waited for her to look at him. When she did he gave her a small smile that he hoped was reassuring, though all it did was make her even more teary-eyed. With a sniffle she fell into his arms as he awkwardly sat, unsure if he should hug her or if it wasn't what she wanted. In the end he settled on wrapping one arm around her.

When she was done and his shirt was thoroughly soaked, she leaned back to rub at her eyes.

"I'm sorry," She croaked, gesturing to his top.

Sasuke shrugged. It didn't really matter to him. He wasn't really vain in that sense.

As Hinata got up to use the bathroom after shyly asking him if she could, he took in just how late it had gotten.

When she emerged, with a clean face and an embarrassed glow Sasuke was sure that now wasn't the time for her to be walking back alone. If he walked with her however and people saw them out at this hour it would only cause rumours.

The best thing for her to do was just sleep over. Even so, it was still embarrassing for him to suggest.

With red ears Sasuke ran a hand through his hair as Hinata made her way back to sitting on his bed.

"I think it's best if you sleep over," He quietly said, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. "You can take my bed, and I'll just sleep either on the floor with my extra mat or downstairs if you're uncomfortable with that."

Hinata's brows lifted in surprise as a bright red blush even evident in the dim lighting of the room, ran across her skin. "I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"I don't want people to think something happened when it didn't if they see me walking you home and I'm not letting you walk alone either so, it's the best option."

Biting her lip, she nodded her head in agreement while he stayed still, "So is it okay if I sleep in here?"

"Of course," She sputtered, nervously smiling not soon after. "You don't have to sleep on the floor though. I don't think that's fair and as shinobi its not weird if we share a bed. I've shared even less space with strangers before."

Sasuke hesitated. Though true as that may be, he knew that this was a different case.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." It was obvious why, so he saved the embarrassing details.

Hinata simply whispered a small 'Oh' as she became more red.

When he laid down on his mat after she had helped to set it up, Sasuke didn't fall asleep. When he didn't hear any indication that Hinata had either he sat up to get a look at her.

Hinata's pale eyes travelled to his, holding him like gravity.

"I can't sleep." Was all she said. And he felt the same. Wordlessly he watched as she slipped out of the bed and laid down beside him.

They turned toward the other, taking in each other with great care. He kept his hands to himself despite his desire to reach out and fan his fingers across her jaw. He didn't want to invade her personal space. Hinata, however had a different idea, moving in closer to him she laid her head against him, Sasuke took that as an invitation to hold his arms around her just as he had done outside.

"Thank you," she breathed against him, looking up not soon after.

Sasuke simply hummed an affirmation in his throat and pulled her closer, shutting his eyes as he did so. He wasn't sure when it was but eventually he was able to fall asleep with her in his arms.

It was the best sleep he had ever gotten in a long time.

When he had woke up that morning Hinata was gone and he was left feeling a bit disappointed. Though he wasn't exactly upset, he wished he had been able to see her longer.

To wake up next to her.

Though he guessed he was asking for too much.

After getting himself ready he went downstairs and was met with the usual smell of Karin's breakfast greeting him in the hallway. Sitting down in his spot he thanked her and joined the rest of Taka in eating.

With a satisfied sigh Suigetsu leaned back in his chair and then without warning he gruffly pushed himself away from the table and moved to clean up both his and Sasuke's mess.

Watching the swordsman with a quizzical expression Sasuke arched a brow when he came back.

Offering a cheeky smirk, Suigetsu motioned his head toward the door, "Let's go speak to your Hokage."

…..

Sasuke walked with the rogue nin to the academy building as said main held a couple of heavy files within his grasp. Though he offered to help carry some, Suigetsu refused, stopping every so often to blow his white hair out of his face as the front of it had now gotten long enough to get in his eyes.

"So are you going to tell me why we have to speak to Kakashi?"

"Not really." At the glare Sasuke shot his way, the swordsman obnoxiously chuckled. "It's just that I need his permission for something."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, you'll see."

Sasuke stopped, crossing his arms as an unamused expression sat on his face. "Suigetsu."

"Come on Sasuke, don't be like that." Suigetsu whined with a childish pout. "You're ruining the fun."

The Uchiha didn't budge. After their last conversation he didn't want to see his old sensei even more than usual. It had to be a damn good reason for him to even step foot inside the academy.

"Okay, if I tell you on the way will you start walking? It's kind of time sensitive."

Tentatively catching up Sasuke looked at Suigetsu expectantly to which the man pursed his lips.

"Its about what's in these files, I think I made a connection that might explain why we're having these problems but in order to move forward in my investigation I need your Hokage's help."

Rolling his eyes Sasuke gave the man a pointed look, "And again, what does that have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you." He didn't say much more than that, but it was enough to get Sasuke curious enough to keep walking.

When they arrived outside his old sensei's door Sasuke didn't bother knocking, he didn't care what the old man was doing he just wanted to get it over with so he wouldn't have to be in his presence for long, when the door creaked open two familiar set of eyes greeted him.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, slightly surprised.

"Sakura." Sasuke's eyes shifted from her to Kakashi, wondering what it was they were possibly talking about.

"Sasuke," Kakashi greeted, then with a swift sweep of his eye gave Sakura an indescribable look.

"I'll take my leave then," Sakura awkwardly said, stopping just short of Sasuke she placed a friendly hand on his shoulder and offered him a smile. "I haven't seen much of you, so when you're free we should catch up."

"Sure." He responded, to which she smiled even brighter.

When the door shut not soon after, Kakashi already had a script prepared for him.

"Whatever you're about to ask is probably none of your business."

Admittedly, he childishly crossed his arms, offering a quick 'humph' as a retort.

"Now," Looking at Suigetsu instead of his old student, Kakashi's eye closed in amusement, "How can I help you? Though I would prefer if you scheduled a meeting with me ahead of time. For future reference."

Suigetsu sheepishly smiled as he placed the folders he carried on top of the Rokudaime's desk, "Sorry bout' that. It's just that this is really important."

"Oh?" Kakashi hummed.

"I've been looking over the files you sent, to try and get a lead and I think I finally found the connection. Though, I wouldn't say I'm happy about it."

Sasuke simply kept quiet as he watched Kakashi intently skim over each word. His old sensei made no indication of what he was reading.

"You see, something about the jutsu those guys used while attacking us was familiar, and then it hit me. I've heard of them before. Back when I was sealed up in a tube in that old creeps lab, I would hear him and his little assistant talking about his latest finds. Forbidden jutsu and all that. The ones these guys are using were some of them."

Sasuke stilled as he turned toward Suigetsu in disbelief, "Don't tell me."

The Hozuki frowned as he gave Sasuke a knowing look. "I think these Abyss guys somehow managed to find that creeps research."

"Orochimaru." Even in death Sasuke couldn't escape him.

"So what now?" Kakashi laid the rest of the papers down having already gone through them in incredible speed. "What will you do?"

"Well that's why I wanted to speak to you," Widening his stance, Suigetsu folded his arms. "I want Taka to explore Orochimaru's old hideouts, see if we can find any clues."

Kakashi nodded his head, "Seems like a good plan."

"I mean all of Taka."

"I see." The Hokage gruffly leaned back into his chair.

"He's the only other person Orochimaru would take between his hideouts." Suigetsu quickly added.

Sasuke watched annoyed as the two sized each other up and talked about him as if he wasn't there.

"So, Hokage? What will it be?" Suigestu acted tough but the Uchiha could tell that the man was nervous by the shaky grin he wore.

"It doesn't matter what he says," Sasuke interjected, "I'm going."

Kakashi let out a deep sigh as he regarded his student with nonchalance, "Well that would be a problem. Lucky for you Sasuke-kun, I'll allow you to go."

"Thank-"

"But on one condition." The Hokage interrupted Suigetsu without missing a beat. Standing up from his seat he placed his hands on his desk before shifting his hitai-ate to reveal his second eye. "I'll be going with you."