What Happens Next?
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 15
Hanabi was utterly exhausted when she finally drags her tiny feet into the Leaf Village, still lugging Kita behind her. It was a good thing he was only a boy of ten. If he was any bigger, she didn't think she could have managed to get him back.
She eyes the Uchiha District warily. Hanabi had never been inside it before. As far as she knew, no Hyuga had. But something was wrong. Where was everyone?
"The Uchiha Clan has hundreds of members, there should at least be a couple people out and about on the streets." She mumbles, feeling uneasy at how quiet the place was.
"Han-abi?" Kita asks when his eyes slowly flutter open.
"Oh NOW you wake up! After I dragged you all the way from the Sound to the Uchiha District! Kita, was your family planning a trip or something? No one is here." She demands.
Kita looks around in confusion. She was right. Even at this hour, there were usually a few people on the streets. Something must have happened.
"No. They weren't. Hanabi, we should go back to your family's estate. Maybe Lord Hiashi knows something?" He suggests.
"Yeah. We should. Do you think you are up to walking?" Hanabi inquires, her voice softening slightly.
The young Uchiha considers her question. Honestly, he didn't really know. But she looked so exhausted. He had to at least try. His family might be in danger and it really wasn't fair to make her drag him around more.
"I'll try. If I can't, we can rest for a bit. You barely look like you'll be able to limp there yourself." He says.
"I'm a Hyuga! I can do anything!" She snaps at him.
"Including shrieking like a banshee. Sheesh! I wasn't trying to start nothing!" Kita says in a rush.
She shakes her head. Uchihas were so weird. Hanabi waits for him to try to walk. The young Hyuga could tell his legs were still a little shaky, but it looked like he could manage the trek back to the Hyuga Estate.
"Let's go. I have a bad feeling about this. I think something happened." She mumbles and stumbles off with Kita.
"You are so bossy." The young boy mutters and follows after his classmate, deciding it must be a Hyuga thing.
She gives him a dirty look as they head to the Hyuga Estate. Hanabi sighs in relief. They were finally home! Maybe now they could save the others. Neither of them was aware of the chaos that was going on inside the Hyuga Estate at the moment. But they were about to find out.
"DID YOU, UCHIHAS HAVE TO BRING YOUR ENTIRE DISTRICT WITH YOU? WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO PUT ALL THIS STUFF?!" One Hyuga Main House member roars.
"I thought Hyugas were a quiet Clan. Quiet! Some people are trying to get our beauty sleep!" An Uchiha woman snarls right back.
"You need all the beauty sleep you can get, you old hag!" The Hyuga snaps right back at her.
"What did you call me?! Time for you to learn some respect for your elders. FIREBALL JUTSU: PHOENIX FLOWER STYLE!" The Uchiha screams and hurls the fireball.
Fugaku and Hiashi sigh. They just look at each other and shake their heads. Having a meal to together was one thing, living in the same estate was another. Of course there were going to issues. They were just hoping that it wouldn't come down to fireballs and gentle fist attacks on the first night.
"You will both stop attacking each other immediately. This is ridiculous. You are not Academy children." Fugaku says and drags his Clan member off, embarrassed at her behavior.
"Pft. You are an Uchiha! You have no authority over me! I'm a Hyuga!" He says smugly.
Fugaku was tempted to tell him that his authority would be established via a fist in the man's face, if he didn't shut up. But thankfully, Hiashi stepped in. It seemed the Hyuga Patriarch was eager to avoid a bloodbath.
"He may not. But I do. If you continue to behave in this fashion, I will make you a Branch Member and promote a Branch Member in the Main House. Perhaps they will conduct themselves more properly than you have. You are bringing dishonor to our family by behaving like a child." He informs him and the other Hyuga gulps.
The Uchiha Patriarch smirks. He had to admit, that Hiashi was very good at scaring his Clan members straight. Fugaku could respect that.
"I apologize Lord Hiashi. I was not thinking clearly." He stammers and Hiashi nods, heading off with Fugaku.
"I am sorry about that. I suppose it's only natural. Hostilities have existed for generations and to be forced to share a home with a rival Clan, is jarring for most of them." Hiashi says.
"And I apologize in advance for the future skirmishes that are likely going to happen. It's only temporary. We'll find a way to make it work until our families are safe again." Fugaku assures him.
Hiashi nods. Quite honestly, he was really happy that his home was fireproof. He anticipated many more skirmishes as Fugaku called them.
"I see that your wife wandered off with my daughter. Did you…tell her about our plan?" He inquires.
The Uchiha Patriarch rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He hadn't meant to. The man couldn't lie to his wife, but he could have kept his mouth shut. But Mikoto was a very persistent woman when she desired to be.
"I didn't intend to. It was that damn Truth Jutsu." He mutters.
"It's alright. If my wife were still alive, I'm certain she would have found out somehow as well. What was her reaction?" Hiashi asks.
Fugaku chuckles as he remembers his wife's reaction. He wasn't sure how Hiashi would take it though. The Uchiha hoped he wasn't too offended.
"She expressed surprise that you would engage in sneaky matchmaking and observed that pigs really do fly after all." He replies honestly, because he had no other choice.
"Well I have to confess I am also surprised that I did it as well. In any case, I take it she approves of the match?" Hiashi questions.
"I think so. She expressed concerns because of our Clans' rocky relations. But he's darting off with Hinata, so I suppose this is just her way of getting to know her better to see if she thinks it's a good match or not." Fugaku says with a shrug.
"I do hope she doesn't embarrass my daughter too much. Hinata has always been such a shy girl and your wife is under the influence of a jutsu that makes her, well decidedly not shy." He observes.
Fugaku couldn't disagree with that. Then again, he knew his wife. A sweet, demure housewife in public, but in private…not so much. He shakes his head in amusement.
Meanwhile Sasuke was helping Itachi with moving some boxes. The younger Uchiha would much rather be snuggled up to Hinata, but he knew this was important work. They had to move their stuff.
"Forgive me, I know it's evil. But what happened on the mission?" Itachi asks.
"We established that the physical attraction is mutual. DAMN IT, ITACHI! You know that isn't fair. I can't not answer you because of this stupid Truth Jutsu." Sasuke scowls at him.
Itachi raises an eyebrow. Well he was curious now. He wondered just how exactly they had established that?
"You know you aren't getting off that easily. What happened?" He asks in amusement.
"We had to go on this mission to Eros. We had to put on a good show. We didn't couple. It was just some teasing. But it's nice to know that she liked being touched, almost as much as I did. And GOD DAMN IT, ITACHI! STOP IT!" Sasuke snarls at him.
Itachi blinks. In a way, he was impressed. It took guts to hit on the daughter of Hiashi. He wondered if they were actually going to try to court each other officially.
"And are you going to act on this mutual attraction?" He inquires.
"I want to. I don't know if she does though. Plus we are kinda in the middle of a crisis." Sasuke says.
"That's why it's the best time to ask. Hiashi's focused on protecting his family. He will consider it a lower priority issue than otherwise. I'm sure father would go with you if you want. It would make it more official." He offers.
Sasuke considers this. It would. But still, he doubted Hiashi would take him seriously, if he had to lean on his father for support.
"He'd respect me more if I did it man to man, I think." The younger Uchiha replies.
"You're probably right. I suggest you got talk to your princess and figure out what she wants to do or doesn't want to do." His brother advises and Sasuke heads off to find Hinata.
"Damn it. I didn't mean right now. Now I'm stuck with all these boxes." Itachi says with a heavy sigh.
Back in the Sound Village, Orochimaru curses. Damn it! They had escaped. He couldn't believe this. He had been outwitted by two school children!
"Lord Orochimaru, please stand still while I heal your eyes." Kabuto murmurs as he continues the medical jutsu.
A child had attacked Orochimaru and lived? The silver haired medic never thought he'd see the day. He supposed that was a valuable lesson though. Never underestimate your opponent, no matter what their age is.
"When I get my hands on that brat, he is going to suffer." The legendary Sannin hisses in irritation.
"Of course, My Lord. He got lucky. That's all it was. What are your orders for the 23 remaining Hyugas and Uchihas?" He inquires cautiously.
Orochimaru frowns. The wisest course of action would be to leave this base. There was the chance the children could tell the Leaf Villagers where they were. But moving that many hostages would make them sitting ducks.
"I want this village to go into emergency defense mode. You may also begin conducting eye exams. I want to know who has the Sharingan and Byakugan and what their capabilities are at this stage. Those two things take priority over everything else." He instructs.
Kabuto nods. He heads off to begin the defense preparations and begin cataloguing everything. He didn't like the fact those children had escaped. They could be leading them right here.
He knew that Orochimaru had sent out a team to find them. Kabuto doubted to kids could evade a skilled team of criminal ninjas looking for them. But one never did know. Anything was possible.
"Lord Orochimaru wants us to put up our best defenses around the village, the Leaf may find us and attack. This is not a drill." Kabuto says to one of the Sound Villagers who darts off to do as he was told.
"Ah good day to you." Kabuto says as he walks into the room and sees the elderly couple.
"Get away from us and we might let you live." Aiya, Sasuke and Itachi's grandmother, snaps at him.
Kabuto chuckles. It seemed the famous Uchiha pride lasted well into old age. Still they were both restrained. Neither of them were any threat to Kabuto at the moment. Let her bark at him, if it made her feel better. It truly made no difference to him.
"You can make whatever threats you desire. We both know you can't carry them out. Luckily for you two, I am only doing an eye exam at the moment. I have no real desire to harm either of you. You're too valuable to do so, without good reason. So if were in your position, I would make sure not to give me one." He says as he takes out a device used to see inside an eye eternally during your standard eye exam.
"And if I were you, I would be getting my final affairs in order. Because if you even think about touching my wife, your days are numbered. I will make your death particularly agonizing." Kenji hisses at him.
"It's cute. Such devotion after how many years?" He asks as he looks at Kenji's eyes.
"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND!" Aiya roars at him.
Kabuto ignored her threat. Hmm how strange. There didn't appear to be any damage to Kenji's eyes, other than what would be expected from the normal aging process. He would have thought that by now, at least some damage would have been done from overusing the Sharingan. Interesting.
"Forgive me. I realize women can be rather sensitive about their age." He mutters.
"You are most certainly a dead man now that you have tried to incorrectly imply that my wife is old." Kenji mutters and spits at him.
The silver haired medic growls. He spit at him?! How dare he spit at him?! He was Lord Orochimaru's most trusted advisor!
"I hope the Hyugas have better manners than you do. For their sake, I hope they are smarter as well." He says and strikes the old man.
"KENJI!" Aiya calls out.
"It's alright, my love. This man hits like a Genin." Kenji says and spits out some blood.
"You really do want a beating. Fortunately, I see what you are trying to do. You are trying to distract me. Most likely hoping you can stall for time until you are rescued. A clever plan, but it won't work." Kabuto says as he continues examining their eyes.
Meanwhile back at the Hyuga Estate, Sasuke finds Hinata. He blinks when he saw her and his mother, alone. Damn. That couldn't be good.
"Mother, do you mind if I borrow Hinata for a moment?" Sasuke asks. "Of course, dear. She was just helping me with some of the boxes." Mikoto says with a deceptively sweet smile.
Sasuke knew that smile. His mother had definitely been up to something. Even if he hadn't recognize it, he would have known something was up by how red Hinata was blushing. He thanks Mikoto and leads Hinata off to one of the few empty rooms.
The Hyuga Estate was truly massive. But even an estate this big, was being stretched to the limits to accommodate two very large Clans. The chance to get much privacy in this situation was very slim. So Sasuke was grateful almost everyone was distracted by bringing in boxes and unpacking them.
"Hinata, what did my mother say to you? Why are you blushing like that?" Sasuke asks.
"She offered to let me borrow her fuzzy handcuffs because she said men need you to spell out things clearly for them sometimes." Hinata mumbles and blushes even more.
"She said what?!" Sasuke asks in a completely mortified voice as Hinata repeats herself.
Sasuke sighs. He blamed the Truth Jutsu. Mikoto might meddle a bit without it, but she wouldn't have been that outrageous. Anyway, "helpful mother" or not, he had to ask Hinata something.
"Nevermind. I know that things are a little chaotic now. But I have to know." Sasuke begins.
"Know what?" The Hyuga Heiress asks in confusion at the Uchiha's cryptic beginning of the conversation.
"If you want to be with me. When we were on the mission, it felt like you weren't just pretending. Because if you do, I'll ask Hiashi if I can formerly court you. It'd be better than sneaking behind his back. Doing that would probably trigger a Clan War." He says in a rush.
Hinata blinks. She hadn't expected Sasuke to ask that. He wanted to be with her?! He wanted to be with her badly enough that he was willing to risk her father's wrath?
"But if you don't, I understand. We can just forget this conversation happened." Sasuke continues, taking her stunned expression for rejection.
It only made sense, he supposed. Things were already tense between their Clans. Them being together, might actually make that worse. He couldn't blame her, if she wanted to find someone to be with, that would blend in with her family better.
"I do." She whispers, cutting him off from further babbling.
She had never seen Sasuke babble before. It was cute. In a way, it was nice to know that she wasn't the only one who was nervous. On the mission, he had seemed so sure of himself. Here, he was an awkward teenager, just like her.
"You do what?" Sasuke asks.
"I want to be with you. Do you really think my father would allow it though?" She asks nervously.
"He's allowing us all to live here. I think so." Sasuke says and pulls the blunette into his arms for some much needed cuddling.
"Do you want me to go with you, when you ask?" Hinata inquires.
"If you want to. I don't want to put you through anything, you don't feel comfortable doing. I think he might react better if it's just me and him. But he'll probably want to talk to you about it either way. It's up to you." Sasuke replies.
Hinata considers it. He was probably right. Her father would want to speak with her anyway. It was probably better to face the music.
"We should go together. It will show that we are serious." She says and shyly kisses Sasuke's cheek, causing him to smile.
"Alright. When do you want to do this?" Sasuke asks.
"Now is probably best. He might be exhausted from orchestrating the move and less…shouty." Hinata mumbles.
Sasuke couldn't disagree with that logic. He takes Hinata's hand in his own and the two start down the hall. It didn't take them long to find Hiashi.
Both of their hearts were pounding, when they saw not one, but both patriarchs. Sasuke and Hinata look at each other uncertainly. The last thing Sasuke wanted was to see a battle of the fathers. Damn it.
"Lord Fugaku, I think Lady Mikoto was looking for you. She mentioned something about looking for the handcuffs?" Hinata offers.
Sasuke blinks. That was brilliant. Fugaku raises an eyebrow, but thanks Hinata heading off.
"At the rate your parents are going, I am surprised you only have one sibling." Hiashi says and shakes his head in amusement.
"Yeah. I'm a little psychologically scarred from this Truth Jutsu." Sasuke mutters.
Hiashi nods sympathetically. He could only imagine what it was like to hear such details about your parents' love life. Thankfully, he wasn't in the younger man's position.
"Did you wish to speak with me about something?" He inquires.
"Yes. Well actually we both did. I know this might not be the best timing, but Hinata and I would like to officially begin courting. With your permission of course. My father and mother already gave their blessing, in their own way…" Sasuke says.
Hiashi knew that he had to at least appear skeptical of the relationship. If Sasuke and Hinata found out about his little scheme with Fugaku, they probably wouldn't react well. He was grateful that being the leader of a large Clan had its advantages. One of them was you became quite a skilled actor.
"I would have concerns given the histories. But I assume you know you are under the Truth Jutsu, if you are plotting anything…I would find out about it. It wouldn't end well for you. I will approve of this match for now, with some…caution. Should you upset my daughter in any way, I will lock up all of your chakra points. You will never be able to have children, when I get to the southern ones." He warns him and Sasuke gulps.
"A-lright. I understand." Sasuke says and Hiashi nods.
"Father! I can't believe you threatened him like that." Hinata says and kisses Sasuke's cheek reassuringly.
"You are my daughter. Sasuke will understand someday, if he ever has children, why I needed to ensure he understands the situation. If he upsets you, you are to let me know at once. Then I will correct the situation. We can make the official announcement at dinner." He states and heads off, leaving the two stunned teenagers behind him.
"Well that went better than expected." Hinata says.
Sasuke blinks. He shakes his head. Better than expected? Hiashi basically threatened to castrate him through locking up his chakra points!
"He threatened to have me fixed like I'm some kind of dog and that's your idea of well? What's your idea of it going poorly?!" Sasuke asks in disbelief.
"Him actually dong it." Hinata replies and Sasuke gulps.
Hinata rests her head under his chin. The bluenette wraps Sasuke's arms around her waist and leans into him. He looked a little terrified and the Hyuga Heiress could hardly blame him. Her father was not the type of man who often made idle threats.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you. I'd quite like to have you fully functional." She says.
"Well that's a relief." Sasuke says with a smirk and kisses the top of her head.
It was at that moment, that Neji rounded the corner. Sasuke didn't see it coming until it was too late. Neji threw the punch.
"GET OFF OF HER!" Neji roars as he gives Sasuke a rather wicked looking black eye.
"NEJI!" Hinata cries out in horror and rushes to help Sasuke up.
"It's alright, Hinata. I will make sure he doesn't bother you anymore. Damn Uchihas. You'd think they were animals with no self control whatsoever!" He says.
Sasuke twitches. That was it. He'd had it with Neji's prejudice against his Clan. He gets up and starts charging up a Chidori. It was time to teach him some fucking manners.
"For a genius, you are pretty stupid. If I was doing something she didn't want me to, would she help me up?" Sasuke growls.
"Of course, she would. This is Hinata. She helps everyone, even if they don't deserve it. Stand back, Hinata. I don't want you to get hurt." Neji says.
Hinata watches in horror. This wasn't good. They were going to kill each other if she didn't do something.
"Neji! Stop it! Sasuke is my boyfriend. He just asked father for permission to court me and we are going to announce it at dinner! It's alright. It was only a chaste kiss on the head!" She tries to explain.
"You've got to be kidding me. Lord Hiashi actually approved this match?" Neji asks in disbelief.
"That's right and if you attack me again, I won't hold back." Sasuke warns him.
"Has everyone in this estate gone insane?!" Neji asks with a heavy sigh and looks up at the ceiling, as if to ask, "Why him?"