Melting Spring
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DISCLAIMER: I think you guys all know the drill by this time.
XXX
February
Night was approaching quickly, and Uchiha Sasuke found himself staring dumbly at the vacant side of the bench, eyeing it vainly.
Where was Hyuuga Hinata?
Was she coming tonight?
He hadn't seen her in the past two nights. Maybe she was really sick…
Sure, every now and then he'd have a quite bad coughing fit, but it wasn't anything to stay in bed over. He'd cough for a few seconds until his eyes began to water, maybe sneeze a few times, wipe his nose and done.
Then again, she was the Hyuuga heiress…maybe the elders had decided to keep her inside for the time being.
She was pretty weak.
For an heiress, that is, which was strange…shouldn't an heir to a clan be strong, versatile, vigilant, determined? He was, and he wasn't even the official heir! She seemed more cut out to be a princess in some far away castle other than a strong, noble clan head.
What did the elders think of her?
She was pretty small.
It must suck to be alone all the time like she was…at least he had acquaintances at school, more or less his peers. The poor girl, she had to be around adults all day and learn pointless historical facts that would be drilled into her mind, day after day after day…
She was pretty quiet.
Well, she had been. This was one of her more ladylike traits, along with how he noticed how she'd smooth wrinkles out of her kimonos and girlish frocks when she sat, stood or kneeled, or how she'd bow whenever she approached him.
The young girl would stay put, shut up, and rarely make a peep outside of their more in-depth conversations (of which they'd had very few of).
Now dusk had settled across the town, stars brimming across the sky's surface. There were more stars out tonight than there had been the past couple of evenings, and it made the atmosphere seem eerily lighter. It was as if the universe's light bulb had been changed. Clouds spun by like a mobile, due to the harsh wind that had decided to stay after the snow's passing.
It was a moonless night.
The Uchiha was getting aggravated, where was that stupid girl? For once he was actually looking forward to talk to her. He had stories from inside the Academy to share, and he worried if he kept them bubbling up inside of him, he'd collapse. The young boy had stuff to get off of his chest—and no matter how horrible they were; the little girl had listened the previous nights as if it was nothing.
Sure, there was always the option of talking to himself, or this relentless wind that kept shoving his overgrown hair into his face, but if anyone happened to casually walk by, the embarrassment would be great.
Not to mention they'd spread a rumor faster than a wildfire in the summer, and the Hokage's servants would come interrupting his solitude to make sure he didn't need a bone crushing amount of therapy.
One hour of therapy had been enough to last him a good fifty years.
He didn't need any more.
An agitated groan left the young boy's lips, as he slouched on the bench, exceedingly bored.
Before he had begun talking to this girl, he had been perfectly fine with the solitude. He would sit thinking about the day's activities, lost in his own world—daydreaming mostly, about what it would feel like to defeat his elder sibling, those sorts of sick fantasies.
However, after she had begun showing up, he found himself dreading their encounters less and less. The young boy did mind her stuttering when she talked, and how timid she seemed to get—Hinata let him walk all over her sometimes, and it was very annoying. Of course, he realized, the more they talked the less he noticed her weak personality traits and rather her stronger ones. Also, her stuttering seemed to dissolve, bit by bit.
A loud group of ninja's passed by him, joking drunkenly about going to the newest brothel in town and getting 'some'.
But the young boy shrugged it off.
Why were elder males so…disgusting? Was he going to be like that one day? Going to visit GIRLS to get kissed?
He never wanted to kiss a person.
EVER.
That was just gross.
Especially a girl.
Uchiha Sasuke folded his arms stubbornly.
But…what if this Hyuuga girl was really sick? What if it was partially his fault? She had said the reason why she kept coming back to the bench was so she could spend time with him?
Wasn't it horrible, being all alone all the time, with people who didn't understand you?
The young boy stood up, knowing exactly what he should do. It had come to him in a jolt, like many ideas do, only instead of a light bulb alerting him; it was more like a lightning bolt.
He wasn't really in the mood for walking, especially all the way to the Hyuuga compound, but it was better than sitting here in silence.
XXX
December, 10 Months Later...
Hyuuga Hinata sat perched on the bench, neatly groomed, swinging her thin legs back and forth as she waited for nightfall to approach. Her small hands were cupped neatly on her lap, and she was layered thickly with coats and jackets to protect her from the winter's chilly bite.
Everything around her was drenched in a dusky glow, as if it had been dusted over with gold from the setting sun.
Snow was melting along the crevices of the sidewalk parallel to her, and the slush light enough to be carried away was floating along its merry way into the Konohagakure drainage system.
Today had been an exceptionally good day, all things considered. The young girl had eaten a generous breakfast, tea and supper, although surrounded by the elders and her entire family—her father and her younger sister (who made a large fuss and was promptly scolded and chastised, despite her rather young age).
She had gotten presents, only a few though, and mostly silly things that children shouldn't receive, like large history books and scrolls, paintings, flowers and silk evening kimonos that even the young girl wasn't allowed to touch in fear that she'd ruin the fine material.
But nonetheless, she had gotten presents, and that was enough to completely and wholly brighten her day.
Nine year olds, although one large step forward to becoming a teenager, delighted in getting anything presented towards them, no matter how useless or dull they seemed to be.
Hyuuga Hinata wondered what Uchiha Sasuke would do when he found out it was her birthday.
He'd never asked her about it before, nor had she asked him about his, it was the polite thing to do. Maybe he'd just wish her happy birthday and that would be that. It had almost been a year since they met, and they were still just bordering on friendship status. Although he visited her a lot, especially during the time when she was ill, there was nothing more than just 'company' that rested between them.
But he was the closest thing she had come to a friend, and that was good enough.
Lights flickered on around the bars, stalls and restaurants, as did the streetlights, illuminating the street as it grew dark. Not many people were out; there had been more bodies out during the day, relishing the sunlight, but now that it was beginning to get cold again, they had all busied themselves going back home to prepare for the New Year.
What if the young boy had known it was her birthday today?
What if he had gotten her a present?
The young girl sighed and shook her head.
He didn't even know what month it was, let alone would he know when her birthday was, especially if she hadn't told him.
Hinata began humming a light tune, waiting for her companion's arrival.
XXX
The last time, sneaking into the Hyuuga compound had been a lot easier.
This time, however, it was a lot more "funner".
Slowly, the young Uchiha padded down the hallway, counting the doors as he did so.
"One..." Not her room.
"Two…" Not her room.
"Three…" …was this her room? She had said the third room, right?
Or was it the fourth?
He eyed the third and fourth doors precariously, and instead, slowly opened the third door, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw a large white bed, just how he recalled, with a small lump in the center.
Sasuke tiptoed into the room, sliding the door back into place as he approached the bed.
The young girl's hair, which had usually been pulled up away from her face, was loose and scattered around her, like a soft crown.
Tendrils slipped off her pillow and shoulders as she lightly moved her head.
Her breathing was even, he noted, but every now and then she'd sniff, and then cringe. She was breathing shallowly through her mouth.
The young girl's nose was red and sore, as were the rings around her eyes. Red, swollen, and glossy. Her fingertips would grip the sheets every now and again, and the young boy found himself sucking in a breath, worried that she'd awaken and find him here.
Sasuke had never really admitted it before, but she seemed like an ethereal fairy. Small, delicate, skin soft and pale it was almost translucent and eerie, features minute and slightly angular.
The young boy wondered how sick she really was. How long had she been sleeping for? Did she even wake up that entire day? Did she awake once within the past two days? Or did she just sleep? She had shown up the evening after, but there was a good chance she had slept since then.
She was so different than him. He was constantly muddy and always needed a good scrubbing, and she had been polished and flawless.
Was this girl even real? He'd touched her hand before; he'd carried her on his bag and lifted her also.
But was she even alive?
All that told him that she was still breathing was the sound of her exhaling, and the sniffing she did every now and then.
If he touched her cheek too forcefully, would it crack like a doll's? Would he smear it with his dirty fingertips?
Tentatively, his fingers found her cheek.
Then fleetingly, left it…but soon flew in for another touch.
It felt warm.
Too warm, a sickly warm—but altogether warm, and it felt really nice against his frostbitten fingertips.
Her face twitched and contorted, and he withdrew immediately as her light eyebrows furrowed. When she relaxed again, he laid his entire palm on her cheek again, the warmth seeping into his already calloused skin.
Her face didn't contort, but instead, her delicate hand came to rest atop his, securing it on her feverish cheek. The young boy didn't draw back; too stunned that he hadn't noticed Hinata's own hand slowly approaching his.
It seemed like a taboo, her hand over his. His young heart's pace quickened, and his hand trembled.
Pulling away, he began to leave, but her quiet muffling stopped him.
"Misa-san, why did you do that…" her voice trailed off, soft as a feather in the wind.
It took the young boy a few seconds to gain his composure and find his voice to answer her back.
"Do what?" He padded back over to the young girl, still asleep in her bed.
"Take away your h-hand…my head…it hurts…" her voice was nasally, but demanding.
"I'm sorry."
"Misa-san…is it m-morning yet?"
Now it was obvious the girl hadn't arisen, at least for that entire day.
"No…it's just become nighttime a few hours ago."
"A-ah…" she coughed hoarsely into her left hand.
The hand she had touched him with.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. They were clouded over by tears of pain, pain from her headache and her cold.
Her eyes opened wide, allowing tears to escape.
"U-U-Uchiha-san…" she coughed again, this time more brutal than before, "w-what…what are you d-d-doing here?"
Hyuuga Hinata was extremely shocked to see the young boy here, why, she was positively sure that she was going insane, and felt like screaming and dashing to hide in her dresser.
But, she was in a lot of pain, and the young girl was pretty sure her mind was playing tricks on her again.
Earlier that day she had awoken with a start, thinking that there was a giant snake slithering around her room. But instead, it was just Misa-san placing a tray of tea and Hinata's painkillers onto her bedside table.
"I came to…" if he said he came to check on her, his pride would diminish greatly. He wasn't ready for that.
"I came…because…ah…it…" he came up with an excuse, "because it was boring at the bench, and I figured that you must have been really sick."
"H-hai…" she murmured, closing her eyes again, wondering when this hallucination would end.
The young girl would most likely wake up and see her elder cousin, Hyuuga Neji glaring her square in the face, and then lecture her for waking him up at such an indecent hour or disturbing his studies.
"U-Uchiha-s-san…"
"Hai?" He asked, watching as she gripped the sheets tighter in her grasp, "c-can you k-keep your hand on my forehead…p-please?"
Even if it wasn't Uchiha Sasuke, Hinata still wanted that lovely, bitter cold to be placed onto her skin again.
"H-hai…" the young boy stalled, slowly letting his palm rest against her forehead.
He had to lean across the bed to reach her, like before.
It was strange, now HE was stuttering. There must be a horrible draft in her room.
She pressed both of her small hands onto his one, savoring the feel of cold against warmth.
However, it was becoming uncomfortable for the young Uchiha and he instead tried to pull away, and slowly, the younger girl let him.
Once he was sure he was still alive, the young boy sprinted out of that room, and didn't stop running until he reached his home.
XXX
It had been about three hours.
Three hours, Hyuuga Hinata had been sitting on the bench, and humming to the wind.
It had gotten gusty within the past 45 minutes, and clouds had rolled in diminishing the moon's glow.
Skeletons of tree's whistled and cooed at the bursts of wind, and the puddles along the streets with fully liquidized water rippled excitedly.
Hyuuga Hinata was a very patient girl. She tended to have a high tolerance level, wasn't one to hold a grudge, and usually kept to herself a lot.
This was natural.
But inside the deepest, farthest, blackest pit of her stomach, something tweaked.
She felt sad.
Where was her companion tonight?
Had he not shown up tonight purposely—he knew it was her birthday? Maybe Neji had told him, and Sasuke just avoided this night for that sole reason, to not have to face her on her birthday.
'He probably just doesn't know…simple as that…it's not like he has to see you every single day of your life…'
Her thoughts trailed.
The moon revealed itself again, as the large mass of gray clouds passed by, and the young girl decided that, although it was her birthday, it would be in her best interest to get a full night's sleep.
Uchiha Sasuke? Well, that was okay. He probably had important Academy stuff to do…important Uchiha stuff to do.
She had to remember that, the world did not revolve around her, but instead, she revolved around the world, just another human being, another soul, passing the world by.
XXX
Morning lights were sheathed beneath the young girl's blinds, but a few rays still managed to dissolve through.
Her nose was plugged, her throat was dry and scratchy, and she had a slight headache, but other than that…she had felt the best she had in the past couple of days.
Moaning as a figure entered the room, Hyuuga Hinata sunk deeper into the covers, raising them far over her head in an attempt to shield herself from whoever was coming to wake her.
With her luck, it would most likely be Misa-san, bringing her morning tea and medicine.
Hinata hated that medicine.
But, apparently, it was going to make her better, and she obediently took it every morning or evening.
"I know you're awake, come now Hinata-chan, time for the medicine," Misa patted Hinata's head above the covers after she had lain a tray just below the young girls feet.
"I don't like the taste of it…" Hinata murmured, coughing atrociously to state a point that she felt the medicine wasn't working.
"You're in a stubborn mood today, aren't you?" there wasn't an answer, "come now, Hinata-chan, that's why I put sugar in your tea when you have to take it so that it isn't as vile."
The young girl whined some unattainable words.
"What was that?" Misa sighed, beginning to walk to the door.
Hinata threw the covers off of her,
"It just makes the tea taste bad, Misa-san," the young girl groused, but regretted using so much energy as she fell back onto her mattress, her head aching.
Misa-san left it at that and closed the door.
As Hinata took the small cup of medicine, she grimaced and threw it down her throat, refusing to move her tongue in fear of tasting the atrocious liquid.
The tea wasn't scalding, but lightly warm, so it was easy to drink as she tried to remove the taste of the medicine from her mouth.
"I hate medicine…" she whined, curling into a ball under the beds covers again.
"Too bad, you have to take it."
The young girl's eyes widened and she gradually lifted the covers from her form.
"A-ah…Uchiha-san…what are you doing here?"
It was utterly amazing how fast her stammer came back, full force, whenever she was with him. He had heard her talk to Misa perfectly normal, and he bet that she could converse with any family member and talk fluently and without stuttering once.
But yet, whenever he came around, she would slip up every now and then, but especially when he first greeted her.
Plus, she had talked fine last night…why was she stuttering now!
"Hai," He acknowledged her acknowledge of him, "I'm here because…"
Then the young boy stalled.
She had questioned him this same ponder when he had visited.
Did she even remember his visit?
"…you haven't been at the bench, so I guessed that you were really sick."
She nodded, sitting upright in the bed.
Uchiha Sasuke had not actually meant to come here again. Instead, it had been his own brilliant idea to completely avoid the younger girl on the whole. She was a girl after all, why should he hang out with her? And as far as he was concerned, it was all a dream when he touched her cheek.
A dream, simply a dream, nothing more and nothing less, and it only proved his point further since his companion had seemed to forget it also.
Had she not forgotten it, he would have probably ignored her for the rest of the year and then when he couldn't stand the Academy any longer, would eventually come around to her at the bench.
He'd still sit at the bench, but only at specific times when she wasn't around.
"So, why do you hate the medicine so much again?" He asked, picking up the cup her dose had once been in.
"It t-tastes h-horrible…"
The young boy grimaced, feeling a twitch coming on,
"Stop stuttering! It's so annoying! You sound so helpless when you do that!"
If the young girl had been taken aback from the young boy's honesty and hostility, she didn't show it.
There was a beat of silence.
"Well?"
"W-well what, Uchiha-san?" The young girl looked up at him with naïve eyes.
If he stared into her eyes too long he'd probably see his reflection staring back.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Hyuuga?" he demanded, hands folded across his chest, glaring at her.
"N-nothing, Uchiha-san…May I ask why? Should I have s-something to s-say?" Her eyes blinked back at him mockingly and he grumbled, droning on under his breath about how this was a large waste of his time.
The young girl, instead, motioned for him to sit on her bed.
He just stared at her, and there was a long beat.
Then he sat, but only because he had been running all morning and was slightly fatigued.
Slightly.
"You're sweating and breathing hard, Uchiha-san," not a single stammer, and because of this, Sasuke relaxed emotionally—but not physically. He was as stiff as a board sitting upon this girls mattress.
"I just ran around the city."
"Y-you…you ran around K-k-konoha?"
Ha! She was shocked!
Why should she be though? He could do anything.
"Yeah, I do it, like, every day," he smirked smugly, feeling rather full of himself.
"I-I wish I could…" she sighed, playing with her fingers in her lap.
"Well, you're the Hyuuga heir…aren't you supposed to train and stuff to be really strong?" His smugness had evaporated and instead he was interested on what she had to say about being a female Hyuuga heir.
"H-hai…b-but it's just me and my father the majority of the time…I'm a female, we aren't given much…thought." Hinata kept staring at her fingers.
"But there are Kunoichi…"
"None are Hyuuga heir Kunoichi…"
This too was true.
There weren't a lot of Hyuuga's at the Academy, bar Neji and a few others.
Speaking of Hyuuga Neji…
"Where is your cousin?"
"A-ah…Neji-nii-san?"
"'Nii-san'?" His eyebrows rose at the suffix, "so he is your brother?"
"No…he's…like a brother," although this was slightly true…he at least treated her like a little sister. He found her bratty, insignificant, whiney and childish.
Probably how the Uchiha saw her.
It was also how Neji saw Hinata's younger sister…but Hinata, somewhere, in the tiny crevices of her mind, thought that too.
But she'd never voice that opinion until she was about thirteen years old.
Slowly, the young girl began to close her eyes, the medicine making her feel heavy and drowsy.
"Hyuuga…Hyuuga!" Sasuke barked as her head lolled next to his arm.
She didn't answer, and instead, let it lay there as she began to fall back to sleep.
There was no movement, no talking, complete nothing for about six minutes.
Uchiha Sasuke sighed, and instead stood on all fours on the bed, kneeling as he pulled the covers up to the younger girls chin.
He sort of understood that the way he felt around this girl, was the way his elder brother had felt around him. Saw him as a festering sore, a burden…but still felt a pang of loyalty and companionship anyway.
And that's why he was pretty sure he'd not leave her, at least until summer came calling.
XXX
As Uchiha Sasuke left the Hyuuga compound, large pebbles of hail began to fall.
Neither he nor the young girl had noticed that beyond the door to the room, three beings had their ears pressed against the doors form to try and listen into the young children's conversation.
XXX
NEWSFLASH!
Ahh, wow, this took forever to type…but I did it!
And it's only twelve pages, how disappointing. :(
But it's got lovely, bubblegum-cherry-ice-pop-unicorn-fuzzy fluff, right at your service.
Anyway, hoped you enjoyed it enough to leave a lovely review—please, I LOOVVEE reviews, they keep this particular story thriving. (:
Show some love.
Thanks again!
p.s. Yes it jumped again. It switched between when it was Hinata's ninth birthday, and back to a few days after they had met. Ugh. Sorry it's so sloppy. Also, this chapter is VERY raw, I have to check it over. (:
UPDATE: Yeah sorry about the horrible confusingness that was the time skip. :( Sorry guys, I decided to give you some help with some indication of when the timeskips are happening. They meet in February, then it timeskips to December on little Hinata's birthday (chorus of AW's). All I can say is that...blame my IB English World Literature book-Pedro Paramo. If you haven't read it you probably don't want to and I won't even tell you to go and read it. However, I've taken a strange liking to it. :D