The Sun and The Moon
-Sunpies-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto et al.
"You know, I should hassle the person who's gonna marry Sasuke but mostly I just feel like I should be asking you why you're going through with it." Naruto discarded and drew another card from the deck sitting between them. The jounin lounge was unusually quiet that evening. It was just the two of them sitting around the beaten and worn old table playing cards so he felt comfortable talking about the upcoming wedding. Not that a lot of other people being there would have stopped him, but he might have hesitated ever so slightly.
Hinata blushed. He wasn't from a big clan - he didn't understand. She worried her lower lip between her teeth. Oh how she wished she was Naruto; if she had the young hokage's courage she would tear off her wedding kimono and leave Sasuke at the altar. But somehow she couldn't see the blonde being in her predicament in the first place. The thought of Sasuke and Naruto sitting for mi-ai made her lips tremble in a weak smile.
"It's what my family needs." She answered gamely after some thought.
Naruto snorted. "You sound like the bastard. You know I could still beat him up until he finds someone else to make babies with."
Hinata colored unhappily. She was torn between feeling used to the idea of only being fit to rear children and shamed that she was not able to make more for herself as a person and a kunoichi. Her family expected her to be as talented a shinobi as Neji and a political breeding machine. She failed on both counts.
Sasuke's resignation indicated he felt likewise obligated and that he likely thought of her the same way her family did - if even that personally. It was also not news to her that he was looking for a Hyuuga to overide his bloodline. That he might pick her only because she could erase his heritage, not even because he was interested in the byukagen, only made the whole situation worse.
Unlike many of the girls she knew, she had never toted the Prince Charming fantasy around; she knew that was impossible. She glanced at Naruto – she would have settled for a toad with a heart of gold. Still, she had also hoped not to marry a man who might despise her for her weakness as her family had or care only that she was able to bear children and no more.
"Thank you for your concern, Naruto-sama, but this is something I need to do."
Placing his cards on the table, Naruto sighed gustily. "That's pretty much what he said too. Well… he swore a lot more, but it's basically the same idea, right?" He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. When she returned his brilliant grin with a smile that never quite reached her eyes he sobered. He focused on her as if she were the only person in the world. "Just promise you'll let me know if he's bothering you, all right? Sasuke's not… he's not the easiest guy to live with."
Hinata smiled and tentatively placed her cool, pale hand over the massive back of his tanned, calloused one. "I will. Perhaps someday though, he won't be so hard to live with?"
Naruto snorted quite gallantly. "Cha, right. He wouldn't be Sasuke if he wasn't a dick, no offense."
"None taken Naruto-sama. It's your turn."
-
Sakura ducked out of the door and into the hallway again. She knew that Naruto knew she was there. He must have been tired from his new duties if he wasn't jumping on her the moment she walked near enough, she thought with a troubled frown.
As she returned back down the hall to deal with the budget reports for the new chuunin gear in his stead, she thought about Hinata and Sasuke. A small part of her had been jealous when she'd heard, but just a small part that had sprouted out of nostalgia and habit for the most part. She almost surprised herself when she realized that if given the opportunity to marry her friend and teammate, she would have passed. These days she liked a different kind of man.
But Hinata might be good for Sasuke, she thought to herself... which might be good for Naruto too, if Sakura thought about it. The door to the hokage's office was open. Inside someone had turned the lights off, the only sound was that of Shikamaru sleeping quietly in the chair by the door; the newspaper tented over his face rose and fell with his breath.
Sakura smiled tiredly. She would never admit it, but being one of Naruto's main advisors was wearing on her too. Bracing herself with her hand, she slid down to sit -just for a moment- on the carpet by the tactician's chair. The shallow in and out of his breathing was soothing. It was fall already in Konoha and the nights came early. From where she sat the rapidly coloring trees were wrapped in shadow as light fell away until tomorrow.
Without meaning to, her breathing began to match Shikamaru's -slow and steady. The folders in her lap looked less important by the second. Finally she closed them and as her last vestiges of consciousness drifted away, she thought that Naruto had been Sasuke's sun and his only celestial body for so long. Too long, maybe.
Massive, burning, and powerful, the sun and the never ending day or complete dark were all that Sasuke had ever had, that she could remember. Hinata was gentle, quiet, and she pushed in a different way than Naruto did. She believed and she asked that you did too. Maybe Sasuke and Naruto both needed a moon hanging in Sasuke's sky.
The Sun and The Moon
-Sunpies-
Dedicated to Goosegurl
