Hey everyone, thank you for the reviews. I read everyone and love them all. I slid a little Boruto reference in this chapter if you don't mind.
I own Naruto. Happy opposite day.
Chapter 8:
Instead of her usual nightmares, Hinata woke to something tickling her face.
She was laying on her left side, arm tucked under her head. Her hair was usually splayed behind her but to her dismay, and almost panic, something had pinned it. There was something heavy that lay over her waist and there was an overall warmth surrounding her body.
Long story short, it was not how she expected to wake up.
So... she panicked.
Darting out the bed she yanked the covers with her in her haste, sending whoever was lying next to her hurling over the opposite side of the bed.
She stood, kunai in hand, waiting for the perpetrator to show themselves.
She heard Sasuke groan.
"Hyuga, you have terrible ideas on what a wakeup call is," Sasuke groused, getting up running his fingers through his now shoulder length black hair. It was getting way too long and starting to look a little crazed. There was also the small matter of him having no shirt on. That particular fact was making Hinata's eye twitch just a little.
"What were you doing in the bed?" she asked. Unwrapping the covers, she threw them away from her in a huff. However, she forgot she was only wearing a pair of shorts that she was pretty sure only covered the essentials, she blushed.
"I think it was obvious that I was sleeping Hyuga," he murmured, observing her state of dress. He was giving her "that" look again, and she could have sworn she saw his eyes flash red for an instant. However, she had woken up rather alertly, she was willing to attribute that to her grogginess.
"Weren't you supposed to be keeping watch." Hinata yelled at him.
"I..have not been sleeping the best," he admitted. Looking anywhere but her he continued to rub the back of his head. "I stationed a shadow clone and have only been asleep for the last two hours."
Hinata instantly felt bad.
"Sasuke I'm sorry," she muttered. "I think you just scared me."
She wasn't necessarily lying. They had to deal with a foreign ninja, and on top of all that Orochimaru had waltzed in on Sasuke like he owned the place. Why the leaf had pardoned him, Hinata would never know. As far as she knew, he had come to see Sasuke, it seemed to Hinata that the man might still be ...fond of the Uchiha. Whatever the reason, the sannin seemed happier with the information he received when he left more than anything else.
"My apologies Hyuga," was all he said before he sat back on the edge of the bed. Hinata checked the nightstand for the time and found that it was just past 8 am. She had slept longer than she usually did, which was odd, but she also felt great.
"You should get more sleep Uchiha, I'll keep watch and wake you when the event starts." she offered.
Sasuke rejected her offer. Hinata sighed. She watched Sasuke run his fingers through his hair again and stepped closer toward him.
"If you won't sleep, at least let me give you a trim," she said, pointing to his hair.
"Are you a hairdresser now Hyuga?" he dead panned.
"No, but I doubt you're the type of person that would stress over a botched haircut." she countered.
The Uchiha shrugged his shoulders. "Touché."
Conceding, Sasuke allowed Hinata to lead him toward the bathroom. Sitting him down on the toilet seat, Hinata grabbed the scissors that Sasuke had given her from his bag.
Turning around she started to get to work but realized that even sitting, she still could not see over the dark-haired man's head. She gently placed her hands on his shoulder and eased him into a slouch. He grumbled but allowed her to do it.
She picked up the scissors once more and began to trim the hair so that it came to just above Sasuke's neck. She smiled, she remembered cutting Hanabi's hair in a similar fashion when she was younger. She chided herself, making a promise to at least visit her sister when she returned to Konoha.
"Itachi used to cut my hair when we were small," Sasuke remarked, as though he could read her mind. "He said Uchiha men were half deadly skill, half deadly good looks."
Hinata snorted, brushing the hair off of Sasuke's shoulders.
"Were you two close? I mean before…" she started, maybe regretting her question.
Sasuke was quiet for a moment in thought. "I don't think that you can hate a person, as much as I hated Itachi, without loving them equally as much first."
Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Neji used to say you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain," Hinata smiled. "I think he stole it from one of those moving pictures Naruto used to obsess over, he was always trying to sound smarter than he was."
Sasuke chuckled, "Itachi was like that too. He was one of the smartest people I know, don't get me wrong, but he thought his way was the right way for everything. In the end I think that's what cost him his life."
Hinata nodded. Neji had died saving her, but something she was slowly coming to realize in her time with Sasuke is that everyone makes a choice. Just as Itachi had made his choice to sacrifice his clan, Sasuke had made his choice to avenge it. Neji had also made his choice to sacrifice himself for Hinata, and in return Hinata had made a choice to dedicate the rest of her life trying to trying to write the wrong of that sacrifice, even if it meant loosing herself to do it. .
Hinata trimmed a little of the hair out of Sasuke's face but made sure that he still had bangs long enough to cover the Rinnegan. He seemed to like to keep that one under wraps a little more.
Hinata leaned in closer to his face and ran her fingers through his hair on either side to make sure it was relatively even. She had been surprised at the softness of his hair to be honest. She didn't think a formidable opponent like Sasuke would have something as mundane as soft hair.
"So, what's the verdict, how do I look Hyuga?" He whispered; she was close enough to feel the coolness of his breath on her face. She drew her attention to him and gave him a once over. She wasn't blind. She knew how attractive the Uchiha was. His dark features against his pale skin was the talk of many Konoha females. Hinata would be lying if she said she was not physically attracted to the Uchiha.
However, what secretly attracted the Hyuga more, was that the Uchiha didn't give everyone his effort. He unconsciously made sure that the people that were important to him knew it.
"I -uh… see for yourself," she muttered. She pointed toward the hotel mirror. Reaching for the broom to sweep the hair she just cut. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the man stood slowly, and looked at the mirror regarding himself.
"It'll do Hyuga, but don't quit your day job," he murmured.
She childishly stuck her tongue out at him.
"You wouldn't survive if I quit my day job," she shot back.
"Fair enough," he responded. Throwing his cloak on he moved toward the door. She followed and they made their way toward the town.
Hinata led Sasuke to the barbeque restaurant she had pulled the flyer from.
They arrived just on time and as soon as they entered, the owner, a large man with a thick beard approached them.
"Are you here for the contest?" he asked.
"We were hoping to spectate," Hinata answered. She flashed her best sweet and innocent smile. It apparently did not work.
"Sorry little lady, no spectators on this one," the owner laughed. "Maybe your friend can enter."
The owner pointed at Sasuke who looked as though the owner had just called him fat.
Sasuke was going to speak up, but Hinata caught his wrist and shrugged.
"I'll enter," Hinata answered back. The owner gave her a look that questioned her sanity, Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"Are you sure little lady? This is a lot of food these men will be eating," the owner questioned.
Hinata turned her gaze to the men. There were only three others besides her, and they ranged from different body types. Her eyes however zeroed in on the one that looked like the picture she had been handed. Bingo.
"Oh, I'm sure," Hinata smiled sweetly. The owner shrugged and walked over to the other contestants.
"What are you doing Hyuga?" he whispered.
"He's right there Sasuke, we can't lose him." Hinata stated hurriedly. "Besides, I don't think a picky eater like you is up for the challenge."
Sasuke bristled a bit, but the thought of the Uchiha doing a food eating contest was laughable to Hinata. How would he maintain that cool Uchiha veneer if he was shoveling food into his face?
"I don't have to win; I just have to keep an eye on him until you find a way to move the pedestrians out of this part of the city."
Hinata had thought about it and realized they would not be able to push this fight anywhere else. The best they could do was contain it to the block.
"How am I supposed to do that Hyuga?"
"I don't know, with your calming disposition," she offered.
"Miss, if you're in this you need to be over here, your friend will have to meet you outside."
"Coming!" Hinata called. Turning back to Sasuke one last time she whispered, "figure it out."
She then turned and walked over to the table, when she looked back over, the Uchiha was gone.
Set up on the table in front of her was a large pile of raw beef and a smaller pile of veggies. She had also received a couple of glasses of water. She smiled. This reminded her of the time she spent in Kumogakure, having to outpace Killer B and is brother A. She hadn't told Sasuke this, but they had a nickname for her in that land. Queen of Glutton.
Her hot pot had already been turned on to boil. There was one man sitting between her and Onagi. She imagined that if she won, the man would not be too happy about it. This was exactly what she was banking on.
. . . . . . . .
56 minutes and 32 seconds was how long it took Hinata to make and eat 6 lbs. of beef, and an additional half pound of vegetables. In the end Onagi had been her only competition and it had taken him 56 minutes and 38 seconds. Hinata chuckled as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. The only thing worse than losing, was losing by six seconds.
The man was furious and had spent the last 20 minutes cursing at the owner as he gathered Hinata's cash prize. She was honestly disappointed. With the diet Killer B had her on when she was in Kumo she had eaten her meals for three days' time in one sitting. Jinchuriki did not need to eat nearly as much as normal people did because they fed off of chakra. Naruto was the exception to the rule. She had eaten a lot faster than; she must have been out of practice.
Hinata walked to the door once she collected the cash and bowed to the man thanking him for the meal. As she expected Onagi followed her out the door.
"This isn't over,'' he called. His voice was loud for such a small frame. Hinata had been shocked to learn that the man was not at least as big as Nakamura. He was for all intents and purposes, a little person. How was a person that size able to eat so much? She looked down at her own small frame though and retracted that question.
"It's over cause I won," she called back in her best nonchalant tone, which happened to be her best imitation of the Uchiha.
Walking slowly down the street. She was pleased to see that Sasuke had succeeded in evacuating the village. There was not a person in site, including Sasuke himself.
"I need that money, you don't understand," he snapped at her.
She raised her eyebrow at his tone. The man sounded desperate.
"I do too, I need new shoes," she called, which made the man seethe even more.
She activated her Byakugan while her back was turned to him. Sasuke where are you?
"Sorry about this lady," Onagi said. Hinata heard before she saw it, the blades flying toward her.
"EIGHT TRIGRAMS: ROTATION."
The kunai fell with a thud on the ground and she faced her opponent. It looked like she was going to have to start without Sasuke.
"It's you?" Onagi said. His small face scrunched in confusion as he regarded her. It was the same way most people regarded her, with confusion as to why she was in front of them. She had learned a lot of jutsu and technique in her training. However, her biggest asset was something she held all along, an innocent face. No one expected anyone with a face like Hinata's to pack a punch. She often made them regret that assumption.
"I expected the Yellow Flash, or his son, what was his name… Boruto?" he quipped. "I've been trying to get money to go on the run and all they were sending, was you?"
"You've been sleeping too long. The Fourth has been gone for a while now, and Naruto is a lot to expense for the likes of you." she said confidently. On the inside, she steeled herself to take on one the most powerful opponents she would face without Sasuke who was for some reason MIA.
"Your right, I have been sleeping too long. Lucky for me though it doesn't look like I'm going to have to go back."
He shifted into a fighting stance, but Hinata didn't waste time. She released an array of the shuriken that whistled in the wind as they rushed toward her opponent.
"WOOD STYLE: TREE WALL BARRIER."
Hinata watched in horror as wood weaved itself together and formed a wall which expertly caught her shuriken.
"You can use the First Hokage's Wood Release? How?" she stated in pure confusion. There was only two people she knew that could use that jutsu, and one was dead.
Onagi smiled. "It's the reason why I'm here after all, to finally kill that bastard Orochimaru who did this to me."
Hinata must have looked even more confused. "There was not just one child who survived Orochimaru's insane experiments that day. Although you'll find that I'm a little different then...what does he go by now...Yamato?"
The wood release was the fighting style of the First Hokage, a wielder of said jutsu also had the ability to control tailed beasts. This man could do all that… plus more?
Her only chance was to keep him here until Sasuke showed.
Running toward her opponent she formed 6 hand seals.
"LIGHTNING RELEASE: THUNDERBOLT."
Lightning crackled in her hand, and she hurled it at the wall. Hinata had hoped it would impact the wall and destroy it, but the wall dispelled. Instead of her jutsu hitting it, Onagi dropped his defense and... ate the lightning.
Onagi, "the glutton", had not earned his name because he enjoyed several pounds of the steak.
It was because he ate chakra.
Hinata cursed, hitting the ground and rolling out of the attack.
"LIGHTNING STYLE: THUNDERBOLT"
It wasn't her this time; the man had not only eaten the chakra from her attack, but had the ability spit it back out at her. It was too quick to block, she braced herself.
"WOOD STYLE: TREE WALL BARRIER," a deep voice called. The next thing Hinata knew, she was on the other side of interwoven trees.
Sasuke stood above her as his cloak blew behind him in the wind that had been created from the sudden release of chakra. His sharingan flared, he did not look happy.
"Idiot Hyuga, you started without me," he muttered.
Hinata breathed an uncontrollable sigh of relief. Sasuke had shown up in his usual dramatic fashion, which normally would have aggravated her, had she not had an opponent that could literally devour chakra. She decided she was going to let it slide.
Besides, Sasuke had watched long enough to copy Onagi's wood style with his sharingan, so he couldn't give her too much shit about being reckless.
"Yeah, well I saved plenty for you," she hissed back.
Sasuke smirked, "being able to absorb chakra, that's an issue."
"Taijutsu?" Hinata suggested.
"Worth a shot." He stated. His hand gripped the handle of his sword. It was still damaged but Hinata imagined it would still be effective. "I'll engage, you try to block any chakra you can to keep him from using his wood release."
Hinata nodded, running forward. Sasuke flickered out of existence and when he reappeared, he was next to Onagi. If she had time, she would laugh at the height difference. Hinata jumped forward and tried to attack from above. She aimed a kick at his face and was dismayed when a vine came up and defected it. She attempted from the right and the same thing happened. She saw that he was engaging in taijutsu with Sasuke, while his trees provided a defense against her.
This might be the opening she needed.
"WIND RELEASE: AIR BULLETS."
Pellets of air shot out in rapid succession. Sensing them, Onagi managed to push Sasuke off long enough to turn around and catch the pellets in his mouth.
Hinata cursed and back flipped to retreat. Sasuke closed in once more and engaged in blindingly fast taijutsu. At this point the target was literally eating up their chakra, they needed a plan and they needed it fast.
"WOOD STYLE: GREAT TREE."
Before she had any chance to counter, several trees erupted from under Hinata in rapid succession. She went to form the hand seals for jutsu that would release her, but the vines wound around her hands and started to pull. Hinata had a crippling fear that the branches were going to tear her limbs apart.
"WOOD RELEASE: GREAT SPEAR TREE."
It was too late; she knew it was too late but Sasuke tried anyway. She saw him charge forward and he only made it halfway before two spiraling trees shot out of the ground at breakneck speeds and crushed her.
Hinata felt her bones snap like twigs. It was quick, it was sharp, and it was painful. After she had been hit the trees dispersed. She thought she might have heard Sasuke say her name. She moved her head toward his direction, and through blurry vision she could see that Sasuke was inside what looked like purple body armor and had gained a hold of Onagi. It looked like Sasuke was funneling chakra into him…too much chakra.
"AMATERASU." She heard. The man wanted to eat chakra and Sasuke seemed to be giving him a more-than-you-can-eat-buffet.
She was gripped with panic.
"Don't…k-kill him," she managed to get out.
Sasuke seemed to hear as he stopped the jutsu and Onagi pummeled to the ground, his body cackling with lightning.
"Your chakra is disgusting," Onagi spat. He was crawling along the floor, spitting what looked like black liquid from his mouth.
Sasuke stood over him contemplating before he formed the necessary hand symbols.
"FORBIDDEN JUTSU: ETERNAL SLEEP."
Sasuke's posture was rigid and his sharingan swirled. He looked like he did when he had the curse seal. Once he made sure the enemy was down, he approached her. Hinata was finding it hard to breath now, she wanted to cry. She had come so far, but it wasn't enough.
She tried to move her fingers, but she found that they were broken.
"Sa…Sasuke, the j-jutsu. I c-can't move my fingers."
It was ANBU code that no body be left behind when you died. To do this she needed to be able the perform the jutsu. If not, her partner had to. This is why it was against ANBU code to work without a partner, why Sasuke had received a hard time from Kakashi about working with her.
"Shut up Hyuga." She heard him whisper. It sounded different, but she didn't have the mental factions to figure out why.
"Sas-" she tried to say.
Instead, her world turned to black as she felt her body be lifted into strong arms.
. . . . . . . . .
Her world was nothing but white.
White floors, white walls, and white ceiling. It was both peaceful and maddening at the same time. Standing up she felt… shorter. She felt wind on the back of her neck and realized her hair was in the crop she had worn when she was a chunin. She looked down at her small frame and saw that she was wearing her yellow jacket as well.
"You're finally awake," she heard a voice say and she froze.
She hadn't heard that voice in five years.
"Neji…" she breathed out quietly. Looking to her left she saw that her cousin sat comfortably in a white chair that was next to a small white table and another empty chair. He was just as she remembered him. His long mane of dark hair hung over the chair behind him.
"Come sit Hinata," Neji murmured. He waved his hand to a vacant chair in the white room. Hinata made her way over to him. Pulling herself up into the chair she smiled at her Neji-nii-san.
"Am I dead nii-san?" she asked. Her voice was as small and as quiet as it had been when she was a child.
Neji just smiled at her.
"It's good to see you Hinata-nee," he reached over and ruffled her hair fondly.
"So much has happened since you've been gone, I've grown. I-I've changed a lot for you Neji-nii," she stammered.
Neji regarded her small frame, "Have you?" Hinata felt ashamed by that sentiment. "You look the same to me."
She looked down at her small frame and felt tears starting to well in her eyes. She was the same, she was the same Hinata that had faced him in the chunin exams and lost. She was…she was weak.
"Neji, I- "
"Calm yourself nee-sama," Neji gave her another smile and her eyes watered even more. "You have been through a lot. I understand that. But in an effort to honor me you attempted to become me."
Hinata looked down at her hands.
"You're what I think of when I think of strength Neji-nii…" she trailed off.
Neji laughed heartily. "That is funny cousin, because you are what I think of when I think of strength."
Hinata's eyes shot up to look at him.
"Your capacity to love and become stronger because of it is something I have always admired. For years I held onto my hatred about my status in the Hyuga clan, I hated them and by extension myself. It was you Hinata, not Naruto, who made me see the error in my ways."
Her tears fell as she listened to Neji's words.
"Anyone can learn a number of jutsu Hinata, but not everyone can inspire others to believe in them enough to teach it to them. You have come further then you know. However, you have to let go, Hinata. Of the guilt, the self-hurt, and of me. I would give my life a thousand times over, not for you to be stronger as a ninja, but to be happier as a person."
"Nii-san." She cried, throwing her body at him. She found that she was her full size and Neji chuckled as he hugged her tight. She had wanted this for so long. She needed the chance to say goodbye to her cousin.
He untangled himself from her embrace and they looked eye to eye.
"Besides Hinata, only a strong person like you has what it takes to love a man like Uchiha Sasuke."
She wanted to defend herself. She wanted to say she had no feelings for the Uchiha, but she wasn't going to lie to her Neji-nii if this was the last time she would see him.
She wanted to tell him that she loved and she missed him. She wanted to ask if he was happy where he was. However, she realized that some questions were not meant to be answered.
The light in the room got brighter, and as it did it faded Neji from existence once more.
. . . . . .
Hinata awoke to talking.
"She's stable," someone spoke. Hinata could only discern that it was a female voice.
"Thank you, Karin," she heard Sasuke chime in slowly.
"You're lucky we were tracking Orochimaru or else I wouldn't even be here. Not that I'm complaining, it's always nice to see you Sasuke."
"Ah yes, your never-ending assignment."
"Eh what can I say, the leaf pays more than being a rogue ninja does these days."
Sasuke chuckled. The way they talked was very familiar. Not intimate, just as though they had spent a considerable amount of the time together and there was nothing really to be awkward or withholding about.
"I should be leaving though, that idiot Suigetsu probably got his head stuck in a hole or something. Before I forget, something has made the snake excited," she murmured, "Any way you know what that might be?"
Sasuke was silent and Hinata felt eyes on her.
"He saw me and the Hyuga together. He is likely excited about the possibility of possessing an heir that wields both the Byakugan and the Sharingan."
"Is that so?" Karin said quizzically.
Karin then burst out laughing. "Sasuke Uchiha in love, never thought I would have seen the day."
She heard Sasuke scoff. "You haven't."
"Right, so you met up with a team member you said you would never see again for a girl you don't care about…interesting."
"I never wanted to see you again because you're annoying," Sasuke dead panned.
Karin laughed again, "You men are all still stupid, enjoy being grumpy and alone then."
The woman left. Hinata, not knowing how to feel about this information felt her body drift back to sleep.
Hope you liked it. Reviews please:)
Stay safe.