Summary:
The eyes of the Hyuuga are as cold and glittering as the iced-over snowflakes. Are the minds, the hearts, the souls any different? [AU] [Hinted SasuHina] [Non-Chronological Linked Drabbles]
General Disclaimer For The Entire Story:
I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd clean up the rough designs in Part I with a re-release or something, because it just gets on my nerves whenever I compare those episodes with the glossied-up Shippuden ones, and the even shinier and polished movies. I know, I know, art evolution and technology improvement, but still. I cannot control the wince. The cover picture isn't mine, either.
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(impressions impressed upon the unimpressed)
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[Age 8]
"How!? How are you so- so- so- so much stronger!? Tell me how to get stronger!" he demands, eyes alight with fury and fists clenched shakingly at his sides, bruises and wounded ego forgotten, tossed aside in favor of attempting to seize the answers he seeks.
Hinata has no obligation to answer the Uchiha, spoiled, coddled, ungrateful little brat that he is.
He's in no position to start barking demands, either.
And, since they were alone (more like, he had tracked her down after-school, during her usual personal practice time) in the empty Academy sparring grounds (she had checked with her Byakugan, of course, and they were assuredly the only ones in a one mile radius), there was no one to watch them. Meaning, there was no one to report to her father, so she didn't have to be mindful of catering to his orders, his fixed ideals of how a Hyuuga heiress should act.
(Probably along the lines of, "The Uchiha are beneath the Hyuuga, and as heiress, you must reflect that fact. Defeat the Uchiha boy soundly, impress upon him the superiority of the Hyuuga, and leave.")
But disregarding his words, because words are oft worth less than the breath needed to produce them, there is something in his voice, in his stature, that she finds startlingly similar.
'Ah,' she thinks.
'He wants to become strong as well.'
The key question was, 'Why did he want to become strong?'
More importantly, 'Is his reason for becoming strong a good enough reason for her to aid him?'
Hinata blinks, long and slow and unreadable, as she weighs her options, and observes the Uchiha further, to assess his motivations.
.
.
.
She will not deny that at age 8, she believes his attitude to be disgusting, his personality disappointing, and his desperate arrogance canceling out his skills combined.
Many would say that she has grown up as privileged as he, as they are both set to be inheritors of their clans, although she actually has one left to inherit in something other than name, while his own merely consists of himself and his rogue ninja actual-heir elder brother.
Hinata disagrees; she fought and fought with hurt and pain and teeth so gritted she's half-amazed they haven't eroded away yet, she fought to earn and keep her position.
What has he done?
Still, perhaps she is too quick to judge, perhaps the hurt and pain from his loss of a clan is equal or greater than her hurt and pain from suffering to gain a clan.
Perhaps.
For 'reasoning,' the most obvious reason is to kill Uchiha Itachi, the renown traitor genius, and the one implicated for the Uchiha Massacre.
That is, after all, the reason he clearly and often states during the Academy psychoanalyzation tests masquerading as 'group bonding activities.'
"I will be strong, because I have someone I need to kill," he answered, one time when they were in the same assigned group, to the question of 'how do you see yourself to be like in the future, and why?'
And what, she wonders, will he do if he succeeds in the increasingly unlikely task of killing the older Uchiha?
Will that satisfy him?
Will he ghost around like an empty shell, devoid of a life's meaning then?
By basing his life on killing his brother, that leads to the conclusion of him not knowing how to live without his brother to fixate on; what makes him think he'll be fine when he's gone?
… Of course, Hinata never told any of her musings to the Uchiha.
He'd probably take it as a patronizing preaching, one of the many he'd undoubtedly received in the stretch of time after the Massacre to this point in time, and obstinately ignore her advice.
(Besides, her reputation in the Academy is that of a quiet, clever, answer-ready, capable Top Kunoichi who is very firm on nobody bothering the unpopular blond she associates with.
Half the class might just faint from surprise if, out of the blue, she suddenly chats with the Uchiha like they were close friends.
Or if she spoke even a fraction of her, at times, surprisingly sarcastic thoughts and comments.
Well, she's sure that the Aburame probably spends all his time thinking snarky remarks as well.
Perhaps the Nara, too, when he's not sleeping or complaining about 'troublesome' matters.)
But then again, the Uchiha had never so purposely sought her out for a confrontation.
.
.
.
Sasuke mistakes her silence for condescension, and interprets her stare as a mocking one.
He 'hn's' and turns, scowling darkly to himself, ready to leave.
Not saying 'wait', since Hyuugas didn't say wait (which was her mental excuse, anyway; truthfully, as there was no one other than Sasuke around to note down her 'un-Hyuuga' actions, she simply didn't want to appear like she was the one asking for help), Hinata starts speaking behind him.
Clear and concise; Sasuke stiffens as he listens, slightly hunched over in a slouch.
"Take advantage of what is offered to you. Do not be prideful; there are people willing to give you instruction."
Then she steps lightly past him, heading for the Academy exit.
'Two lines?' he thinks in irritated disbelief. 'Two measly lines?'
It is more than she's said to him all year, actually, but he dismisses that.
He does notice her voice, however: a matter-of-fact, mildly chiding alto, low and smooth and cultured.
More emotion and inflection than her usual bland, coldly courteous mezzo-soprano, neutral and crisp and detached.
As if reading his thoughts (reading his body language, actually; Hyuuga upbringing emphasized good manners, clan loyalty, and lip-reading/body-reading as tools to couple with the Byakugan), she adds, purposely pleasant, "You have detained me past my normal time. I am expected at the compound. I shall see you at the Academy on Monday, Uchiha."
Sasuke opens his mouth (to say what, he wasn't sure, although it'd probably be something that's simultaneous tsundere and offensive and socially awkward to the point of dorkdom), but the infuriating Hyuuga had already left.
Then he tints an embarrassed pink as he realized he was still thinking over her voice.
And the fact that she'd dropped the -san.
.
.
.
The next day, he boldly changes his seat, taking the always-empty chair to the Hyuuga's right, if only to see how she reacts.
(The blond boy in the lower grade-ranking percentile - Uzumaki Naruto, he recalls - who often bothers him with silly challenges, for some reason, takes the left chair every day.
The Hyuuga, for some reason, lets him take the left chair every day.
It is strange, and odd, and not something he has properly taken note of until now.)
Sasuke has purposely timed his seat-change during the period when all the students in remedial classes leave, and the ones left are permitted to have a quiet sort of 'study hall'.
Which means they're alone the classroom right now, except for a napping Nara, and a napping Nara is usually treated as a sort of non-sentient furniture, anyway, because, in terms of usefulness, that's what they are.
Most of his fangirls are in the remedial classes, as is Uzumaki Naruto, so they are guaranteed some measure of peace. The Yamanaka fangirl and the pink-haired fangirl, his two more annoying and likely-to-graduate fangirls, are using their 'study hall' to have a contest of unspecified sort out in the courtyard, where occasionally faint echoes of yells filter in. The Aburame, Akimichi, and Inuzuka, who are the remaining non-remedial students, have also gravitated outdoors, for personal, individualized reasons.
She merely glances at him, imperturbable, somehow silently acknowledging his new position at her right, giving a polite nod.
"Ohayō gozaimasu, Uchiha-san."
'Ah. Back to her neutral 'public' voice, is it?'
This is something he's noticed before.
Her politeness, that is.
Before, it is a strange habit that he doesn't care about, other than to feel minorly grateful that at least she's not another overly-intimate fan.
Even when he's furiously trying to one-up her in their one-sided rivalry.
(One-sided, because it's really just him attempting to prize the status of first-place everything away from her, while she continues to ignore their entire class' existence [with the infamous exception of Naruto] in an aggressive sort of serenity, like the 'Ice Queen' she's known to be.
Less commonly stated is her unofficial title of 'female idol', alongside Sasuke as 'male idol'.
Not that Sasuke will admit that it's one-sided.
Or that it's even a rivalry at all.
[Hinata is heiress, she must be first.
"I expect you to do as well as your Branch House cousin, Hinata. Nothing less is expected, or tolerated, of a Hyuuga heiress. Unless you believe Hanabi to be a better fit?"
She cannot lose, so she doesn't.
It's as easy as that.])
Now, he finds it to be an odd mixture of a confusing, amusing quirk, and a confusing, irritating annoyance.
As is a specialty of his, he dismisses the squirmy-fuzzy positive and zeroes in on the comfortably-familiar negative.
"Don't call me Uchiha-san."
The Hyuuga ('Hinata', he reminds himself, kami-sama knows he's seen it enough times on the Rankings Board, heard it enough times announced as victor of a spar) blinks, and otherwise has no expression-change whatsoever, which is now mildly unnerving, and mildly reminiscent of…
Itachi.
"Very well, Uchiha," Hinata intones with another dip of her head, bringing him back to reality.
She does not say anything else, does not linger on his face, does not remark upon the twisted scowl that must've been marked on his lips from the reminder of that man.
Illogically, he is not satisfied with this, and smooths out his features.
"Hn. Spar with me later."
Her book, a thick tome (from the Hyuuga library, actually, on recorded incidents of Byakugan breakthroughs and innovations) crawling with squished kanji fighting for space on the dusty pages, is carefully marked with a thin bookmark made of clumsily pressed white orchids between thinly-sliced transparent sheets of plastic.
(A present from Hanabi, which Hinata treasures; the bookmark, not the book.
Although, it's not as if she'll be tossing the book in a lake or anything [and the only lakes in Konoha are either inside Compounds, in the Forest of Death, or in a select few training grounds].
The bookmark is simply more personal, even if the book is more important in the eyes of the Clan.
Years of hardening herself has taught Hinata to cherish those bits of softness she has left, and when it comes to Hanabi, she has a whole vat of it reserved especially for her.)
"Have you improved enough in the last day to warrant a rematch that will end differently?"
Fancy way of saying, 'What makes you worth my time?' without breaking her omnipresent verbal politeness.
Sasuke grits his teeth but doesn't quite grind them, and bites out his answer grudgingly.
"I have... considered your words. Several jounin and Academy teachers have agreed to instruct me further, as well as advise my personal training."
Hinata peers at him critically, noting his body language and tonal inflection, not quite willing to risk using her Byakugan to examine his chakra's fluctuations.
"You're lying."
.
.
.
He is, and that's the flatly told, straight-up truth.
Sasuke corrects himself, practically feeling his eye twitch in irritation.
"I have sought out a few Academy teachers to instruct me further and advise my personal training. Some have agreed."
"That will not yield noticeable differences in the span of a single day's time. Much less in the span of 19 hours."
Observations.
Factual statements.
Noncommittally said, left to him to interpret his own meanings.
Absolutely anger-provoking, is what it is to him.
So he's forced to say outright what he wants, to admit he needs something of her.
(Kami-sama, his Uchiha pride is being reduced from Kage-level to something vaguely approaching a well-functioning ANBU.
Any more deflating, and it might actually reach Academy-student level of pride!
Oh, the horror...)
"A sparring partner will be helpful in measuring my progress and aiding in training."
'I want to redeem myself by beating you' is left unsaid.
"A sparring partner is usually quite helpful, yes," Hinata agrees ambiguously, civilly adding, "I wish you good fortune in your quest to find one, Uchiha."
Okay, so not outright enough, it seems.
"I want you to be my sparring partner," he emphasizes.
"Humans each have their own wants," she acknowledges, quite obviously being purposely obtuse.
Sasuke wants to growl in anger, but he suspects that that won't help his case.
Taking in a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down, he rephrases his words using as much complex vocabulary and Uchiha formality and manners that he remembers, no matter how it rankles him.
"Will you, Hyuuga Hinata, grant me the pleasantly requested boon of accompanying my ascent to becoming a shinobi, in the role of an ally who shall increase our capabilities together?"
She snaps her book shut with a startlingly decisive sound, and smiles pleasantly at him, the first smile he's seen her make in the Academy.
"Yes."
The first smile he's seen her make... ever.
It's sharp and satisfied and severe, smoothed over by the intended pleasantness, but nonetheless, it softens her entire face, crinkling her nebulous eyes, lowering her sleek lashes, prompting two dimples to appear, and bringing out the deeply-buried possibilities of kindness and gentleness in her fair skin.
Instead of cool and distant, 'Ice Queen', 'idol', Hyuuga Hinata suddenly looks... human, warm.
(In the very recesses of his mind, in the back where his childish innocence is locked away, dare he venture to think that she even looks a bit... cute?
Adorable?
Ridiculously 'moe' and not 'kuudere'?)
A second and a blink later, the smile is gone and she's flipping through her book, clinically courteous and distantly detached once more.
"I will not object to sparring with you, Uchiha, if that is what the instructors have decided upon for the afternoon matches."
He wants to drop his jaw and gape; however, such acts would be unbecoming of an Uchiha, much less the last (loyal) Uchiha.
Then the instructors come in to announce the beginning of the lunch-break.
Sasuke averts his gaze for one moment to retrieve his bento (made and gifted by one of the sympathetic, cooing civilians; he hates charity, yes, but he's... not the best at cooking, let's put it that way, and wasting tomatoes is an utter travesty of everything the glorious tomato stands for), and she's gone.
A piece of innocent-appearing folded paper on his desk is what stops him from hounding her during lunch and throughout the rest of the day.
Unfolded, it reads, in precise, perfect handwriting, the letters starkly standing out like solitary soldiers on a desolate snowy landscape:
I will be at the Academy Training Grounds afterschool from 3:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. If our paths cross, I may be amenable to a casual spar between acquaintances. The Training Grounds are open to anyone.
It is not signed; it does not need to be.
The sender is clearer than crystal.
He is somewhat sated, by having gained what he set out to gain.
Somewhat sated.
The other part of him, despite his best efforts throughout the day, consistently, persistently, lingers upon the note and mulls over how Hinata's signature would've looked like.
.
.
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(Unnoticed, when the lunch-break is over and the students are filing inside in spurts and fits, the 'napping' Nara hazily lifts one eyelid open half-way, to peer narrowly at the two heads of black and blue-black hair seated side-by-side, soon joined by a spiky head of blond hair.
He thinks over what he overheard, because it was too troublesome to move outside.
He wants to groan.
"Even more troublesome," he predicts in a grumble.)
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For the afternoon spars, he is not matched up against Hinata again.
Last time had been a special circumstance, since there was an uneven number of girls and boys (Namika and Arashi having gotten the flu), and thus the Top Kunoichi had been matched against the Top Shinobi, if only to resolve the instructors' idle curiosity.
(Rumors of betting occurred, especially after Suzume-sensei triumphantly burst into their classroom mid-lecture to shake Mizuki-sensei vindictively by the collar until he handed over a firstful of ryo to be submitted for close scrutiny.)
He considers taking advantage of his 'Last Uchiha' status, despite his professed hatred for taking advantage of it, but he senses that Hinata would dislike him using it like that, despite her professed advice for taking advantage of it.
The last thing he needs is for her below-neutral opinion of him to chill even colder, and possibly back out of their agreement, thus wasting all of his time and pride-humbling today.
So he settles for beating Naruto as quickly as he can, exiting his match after a measly quarter-minute (new record, he notes), and closely watches Hinata's match while pretending that he isn't.
(Naruto's glare is expected. Hinata's blank stare is not. She almost appeared to show an expression, but it was wiped off before he could read it.
Does she know the Uzumaki?
Come to think of it, he can remember her sometimes leaving things on Naruto's desk, or calling out the teachers on ignoring him with the excuse of her sitting next to him, and he's seen them sitting together sometimes for lunch.)
She finishes her match in roughly six seconds, one for the Seal of Confrontation, two to dodge the weak, textbook-perfect strikes the pink-haired girl throws at her, then two more to twist around and shove an open-palmed but chakra-less smack into her solar plexus, the last second expended on the Seal of Reconciliation.
Her blank stare lessens slightly after she walks off the sparring field.
.
.
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Their 'casual sparring' that day consists solely of her defeating him rapidly, then, as he struggled to get back on his feet, questioning him, "Why do you want to become stronger?"
His answer is always, "To kill my brother."
She does not comment, only lays him flat in the next round and questions again, "Why do you want to become stronger?"
"To kill my brother!"
Dodge, duck, punch.
"Why do you want to become stronger?"
"To kill my brother."
Bend, snap, kick.
"Why do you want to become stronger?"
"To kill," breathe, heave, "my brother."
"Why-"
"To-"
At the end, he is sore and tired and feeling that vaguely pleasant sort of bone-beat hollowness, taking pride out of her slightly ruffled appearance, even if it is vastly less worn than his.
He glances up when a shadow casts over his face, Hinata towering over him.
"Tomorrow," she says, and walks away.
Sasuke throws an arm over his face to block out the setting sun.
He is not sure what he's improved on during this series of successive spars, but he's pretty sure he's just passed some sort of test, and he's equally sure that Hinata's opinion of him wasn't altered in any way by the test.
Also, he's starting to sense a pattern here, with the 'talk and walk' routine...
A blink, and a grunt, and he rises to do some warm-down stretches.
They won't stop him from experiencing nine kinds of hell tomorrow, yet, with any luck, they should at least let him move more or less regularly when he wakes up to the new day.
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This was actually mostly-written a few weeks ago; I just reread it and edited it and added some stuff today [10/24/15].
I tried to put it like how he'd react to someone like Academia!Hinata when he wants to ask a favor of them. I'm not sure if I succeeded. As for the start of his minor crush, it may be a long while until he recognizes it for what it is. He might not even recognize it as anything other than the urge to gain her recognition as a worthy opponent. In my train of thought, I believe he started reciprocating Canon!Sakura's affections only after he saw how strong she had become.
A few days ago in the Academia timeline, Hinata beats him in an Academy spar almost effortlessly, which deeply angers him, especially after their one-sided academic rivalry. So he seeks her out to try and learn how she got so much stronger than him (which is mostly because Sasuke's 'drive' for revenge isn't found until he's 8, while Hinata's 'drive' to be strong is found at age 3, and she still has her clan while he doesn't, which only enlargens the skill gap), they start spending more time together, tentative-awkward mentorship-friendship-of-sorts.
Hinata's connection to Naruto is briefly mentioned.
I'll post the referenced fight as a chapter, yes.
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-Please Review.-
