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I don't own Naruto, if I did I'd have toilet paper.
Chapter 5:
Hinata dreamt she was back in Konoha that night.
Neiji had not been killed in the war. He had fallen in love with his former team mate Tenten and they had a child together that Hinata often baby sat between missions. A child that had Hyuga eyes and long beautiful brown light colored hair. Kiri, they had named the girl. Instead of Hinata, it was Neiji that had become ANBU and while he was away on missions, Hinata would worry about him, but knew he was more of a capable shinobi then she'd ever been and allowed those worries to fade.
However, slowly a darkness seeped into the dream. Like black ooze or fungus that because of the visual bumpy, scaly texture, made her skin crawl. It was a horrible feeling, and because of it bile began to build in the back of her throat. Her Neiji-nii lay on the floor gasping, eyes as wide as their sockets would allow them, he gazed into oblivion. In between instances of choking on his own blood he called her name, short and raspy, but he called out to her. Pale Hyuga eyes fixated on her as she did the only thing she could, watch.
Eventually Neiji's voice faded into nothingness. Hinata watched in horror as she stepped toward his still body and knelt down next to him. With long, cat-like claws, she began tearing away pieces of her cousin's flesh and consuming him. She could hear Kakashi-sensei's voice, "Ugly thing about cats…" It was just as all her other sensei had said, Neiji was her biggest weakness, and her guilt ate her alive.
. . . . . . . .
Hinata awoke to Sasuke sitting next her on a stool, eating a tomato.
"You're loud." He simply stated.
She rolled her eyes, " Good mor-" she paused. The stone home allowed for little light so she couldn't make out what time a day it was or how long the Uchiha had allowed her to sleep.
"What time is it? Is it my turn to take watch?" She asked, slightly worried that she had slacked on her duties.
Sasuke just kept eating those god damn tomatoes, not salt or pepper or anything.
"You talk too much," he stated.
This is what he said whenever she asked him simple questions that he didn't want to answer.
"How much longer on the map Sasuke-sama?" "You talk too much" "Do we need to restock the water?" "You talk too much"
How could a man beloved by three fourths of the women in Konoha be this insufferable she wondered. She got up and opened the door and stepped out.
"Good," she sighed. At least she hadn't slept past her time for watch. There was still a dense darkness around the house. Without all of the technology and lights, the stone village had an excellent view of the stars.
She stepped back into the house to let Sasuke know that she was taking the next watch. As she entered she found the man sprawled leisurely on the bed. She had to cover her mouth to suppress a giggle. The Uchiha was a little over 6ft tall, and the bed was a tad bit shorter. From his mid calf down hung off the bed at an awkward angle.
"Not a word," the seemingly unconscious Uchiha muttered.
Hinata snickered once more and retreated back outside before he threw a fireball at her again. Her bangs were still slightly uneven from the time he had done it on their travels.
Once outside she placed her back against the door and exhaled.
This trip had not gone as she had planned and honestly she had been thankful for that. Uchiha was not nice to her by any means, but he wasn't mean either. He treated her with indifference. To him, Hinata was a necessary evil and, to his benefit, would not allow him to die of boredom. This was fine by her.
Now that she was alone she decided to do her exercise and recall the mission report. Nakamura, she remembered, was a behemoth of a man. Known as the "Impassable Mountain" his mother had been from Konoha, his father was an S-class assassin from the land that they were in. Kakashi had gathered intel that his master Doshin lived here, the one that taught him some kind of forbidden technique.
Hinata still had issues with the plan, though she had not voiced them at the time. They were to use a forbidden technique that the Hokage came up with to put them back into their slumber and transport them to the Kage of the land that they were captured in to arrange transfer. Hinata had several issues with this. Morally they were using forbidden jutsu to catch people whose crimes had evolved around using forbidden jutsu. She also didn't have faith that the jutsu that had failed the first time would be wholeheartedly successful this time around. Not to mention these men's lives were very detrimental to the safety of Konoha, was it not wrong to put them in the care of Kage from foreign lands, especially Iwa who they had rough relations to begin with?
Hinata had wanted to question her Kage after reading his plan, but Kakashi-sensei took few things seriously, she knew the things he did take seriously he often thought threw to the point that she might have figured out the reason he had white hair at such a young age.
The only issue is that she did not know the type of forbidden jutsu that these men practiced. From evaluation, there was knowledge on style but that was all there was as the victims didn't really last long enough to reveal that information.
Her train of thought was thrown off track when she got the same feeling she had felt before. It was a chill that graced the back of her neck as she felt eyes on her once more. This time she could not shrug it off. Someone was watching her.
Activating her Byakugan once more she scanned the perimeter. Toward the north there was a cavern of rocks that led to a pathway Hinata had yet to explore. Near the passage she could see a cloaked figure.
"Why the hell is it always a cloaked figure," she sighed. She stood her post, waiting to see if it was some villager was playing some kind of trick on her.
"You can feel it too," she heard a voice come from her right shoulder.
Only Sasuke could succeed in sneaking up on her and scaring the shit out of her.
She turned back to look at the cloaked figure, only to see that he disappeared. Something was obviously off otherwise Sasuke would have never woken out of his sleep. Hinata had been shocked to learn in the three days they traveled together he was a surprisingly deep sleeper.
"Yes, I've only made out one suspicious character so far," she said quietly, because they were still listening.
"I felt it on my watch as well, and in the market, someone is scouting us. Most likely they're in ties with Nakamura."
It was a sound theory. Nakamura didn't have any listed accomplices except his old master, so maybe it was him. The frame of the cloaked figure didn't match the pictures that Kakashi had given them.
"Come inside Hyuga, it's safer if you finish your watch where I can see you," Sasuke muttered.
Hinata eyed him suspiciously. Was he… worried about her?
She followed him back into the stone house and took the chair closest to the window as he positioned himself back into the ill fitting bed. Silence ensued and Hinata for some reason was restless. Though Sasuke's eyes were closed she knew that he was still awake. No one that had been a shinobi as long as they had would be able to sleep after discovering a perceivable threat.
"What did you think our next course of action should be?"
Her voice bounced off the stone walls. Throughout their travels they had never stayed up at night and talked about the mission or what they had planned to do to defeat such notorious shinobi. She had figured it was always more of a 'we'll figure it out when we get their situation.' She figured now, with the enemy most likely breathing down their necks, it was a good time to go over somethings.
"Does my posture invite conversation Hyuga?" Sasuke answered. He was relaxed, his hands behind his head, his ankles crossed. His dark locks splayed across the pillow. If it were any other shinobi she would consider them a little too open to attack.
"Nothing about you invites conversation. I assure you Uchiha-sama," she snorted. Residing to use her Byakugan to watch for danger through the stone wall as the structure conveniently had no windows.
Sometime passed, this time it was the Uchiha who spoke.
"What to do you propose we do Hyunga, isn't your clan known for your strategic thinking?"
Hinata smirked, "My clan is known for many things. Coming from an equally noble clan I'm sure you can relate."
She had meant the comment as a conversational topic, however upon further thought she realized that maybe she should not have mentioned the fallen clan of a man who had felt the need to murder his own brother in revenge.
She had expected him to have some sort of retort, but instead he simply said, "Yeah I guess I can."
She shook her head, "You're not at all what I expected Uchiha-sama."
She had not meant it as an insult, simply more of an observation. He shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes closed. "Yeah, well you haven't mentioned the dobe once since we've been out here and that's about the sum of what I remember about you. That, and that horrible haircut you had."
Hinata blinked. So he did remember her? That was unexpected. She shifted toward him a bit in her chair to give her eyes a rest.
"Just as little girls grow out of their fascination with shiny dolls, I grew out of the admiration I thought was love that I held for Naruto."
"Hn," was all he grumbled.
"However, I see nothing has changed with you and Sakura Haruno."
Hinata was not sure why she brought Sakura up. Maybe she held some sort of fascinated curiosity about her partner. Maybe boredom and set in.
Sasuke scoffed at her statement, "In the sense that I continue to reject her misguided crazy feelings for me, and she continues to have them then yes, everything's the same with Sakura and I."
"Your goal is to achieve the regrowth of your clan, Haruno-san seems as good a way as any to go about doing that." Hinata pointed out.
"I need a pink haired kid like I need a second asshole," Sasuke spat. Hinata raised an eyebrow.
"Besides I tried to kill the girl and she still has an obsession with me, what kinda craziness is that?"
"There are such things as unconditional love Uchiha-sama." Hinata stated, looking down at her hands.
Sasuke opened his multicolored eyes, just to roll them at her.
"Geez Hyuga, do you wanna be a bridesmaid that bad?" He chuckled. The Uchiha laughed, Hinata hated to admit it but it was a nice sound.
"The truth is," he said, closing his eyes once more. "Sakura represents a time in my life where I didn't have control of myself and had turned into the very thing that I was trying to destroy. I took a pilgrimage for years to right the wrongs that I did to myself and others. While it did jack shit for the way I feel about myself, it helped me put some things in perspective on how I treated people who actually might have given a shit about me at one point."
"I don't hate Sakura, but I don't want my past following me everywhere I go."
It was the most the Uchiha had ever confided in her. She wasn't sure why he had, but it placed a small amount of hope that their future partnership might be one of at least stoic companionship.
"Now would you shut up, I'm trying to have at least a few moments of peace before we get started on the plan tomorrow."
"WHAT PLAN?" Hinata yelled.
He feigned sleep again and didn't answer her.
On second thought, she devised that her partnership with the Uchiha would be nothing but frustration and she would be happy if she had any of her hair left before it ended.
Thanks guys, hope your staying safe. I don't have toilet paper, so I'll settle for reviews instead?