AN: To those of you read chapter 24 before I posted this chapter, I added a few paragraphs to the end of the previous chapter to clarify some things. Nothing new, but certainly helpful in emphasizing the importance of Shin.


Once upon a time, there was a prince who was alone.

After his brother had shown him the ravages of war, the prince knew he had to become stronger. And stronger, he did become. His mysterious headaches ceased, and the pressure of his bloodline drove the prince beyond what any of his teachers had imagined for him. He graduated from the Academy early (but not as early as his brother).

"What a waste," members of the royal council muttered. "Such a strong warrior, and yet he can't be used to his full potential because he must be protected as a member of the royal family."

It was only a formality that he was placed on a team at all, and it was just his poor luck that he was placed with an idiot, a fangirl, and a perverted teacher who was always late. The prince hated the three annoying individuals who just wouldn't let him be. Every mission, they followed him, getting in his way whenever he tried to take enemies head on.

Until his arrogance nearly killed him.

He laid on the ground, staring as his teammates did not hesitate to bleed for him. It went beyond mere duty.

"Bastard!" screeched the Idiot by his hospital bed. "Don't make stupid decisions on your own!"

"Silly," scolded the Fangirl with a blush. "We are your teammates after all."

"..." his perverted teacher said nothing and only eye-smiled over the garish orange of his porn.

"Don't hold me back," the prince reminded them with a smirk. Because even if the prince would never admit it, a part of him began to believe that they would become one of the greatest teams in all the Sun Kingdom.

And so, the prince found precious people to protect, and to be protected by.


Prey for the Hunted

By Airyo

Chapter 25


"I need to ask you a favor, Sasuke."

He turned, even though he had felt her chakra minutes earlier. Hinata stood at the doorway of his temporary tent, her face tilted down to the side to avoid his eyes. The searing mid-day sun cast her silhouette in sharp relief. But Sasuke still forced his eyes to focus on the shape of her.

"What is it?"

She didn't answer at first. He watched her frown, thin fingers curling deeper into the fabric of the door flap as she held it up.

"Do you remember much of your childhood?"

Sasuke frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Kimimaro said something strange." She looked to the ground, hugging herself as if chilled by the thought. "He said he remembered seeing me with Sai." Sasuke waited, knowing she wouldn't bring it up unless the timing was odd. "When we were children."

"You never visited the Sun Kingdom as a child."

"Not that I was aware of, anyways." Hinata stepped further inside, clasping her hands in front of her. "It's strange, isn't it? That Sai and I were at the same place. Uchiha and Hyuuga, children of two of the most powerful eye-techniques of the three kingdoms."

"Are you referring to your kidnapping?" he asked. "But we already know he is a traitor. He would be about seven when we were five...we've had younger betray us. But...many always thought it strange that someone like Sai never activated his Sharingan..." Sasuke had to remind himself not to look into Hinata's eyes as the thrill of the puzzle sang through his veins. "He must also be a victim of this plot...if he wasn't already traitor back then."

"If there was a plot at all," Hinata reminded him. "My kidnappers were of the Sky Kingdom, so they could have hid out in the Sun Kingdom in order to-" Sasuke shook his head in disagreement.

"Kimimaro had already joined Orochimaru at that point, and he was sent out to do a lot of his dirty work." Sasuke sneered at the memory of the Snake-nin. "If Kimimaro thought to mention it to you, he was trying to hint to you that it was indeed more than a mere coincidence."

"That's what I was afraid of," Hinata murmurred. "Sai should have the Sharingan."

Sasuke got the sense he was missing an important bit of information. He thought of his own miraculous recovery from using Izanagi even though Itachi had warned him it was a one-time deal...Sasuke shook his head, dismissing the vague memories of pale hair and kind green eyes. It was probably because he didn't use a full form of the technique.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"The seal that your brother placed on me…it activates when I look into the eyes of anyone who's ever possessed the Sharingan. He told me specifically." She took a slow breath to clear herself of her doubts. Sasuke held his tongue, not daring to disrupt the moment when Hinata was sharing something she deemed a secret. "But when Sai tried to kill me, Itachi's seal activated. The very seal meant to curse me saved me instead."

If it had been anyone else, Sasuke would have dismissed it as mere coincidence. But a lifetime of hero worship was enough to curb his disgust with his brother, just enough to think more clearly. "Do you think he knew? About Sai's Sharingan?"

Hinata hesitated. "Yeah," she said in a soft voice. She folded her hands in front of herself. "And do you think he sent Sai?" To assassinate me?

They both knew she already had her own opinion, but she was laying a sensitive topic out for discussion. More importantly, the subject was someone directly related to their own falling out. But Hinata wasn't the type to go looking for confrontation, only peace.

Maybe it was a roundabout way to breach the subject of them. Sasuke had learned not to presume to understand her. She wasn't a straightforward person. Some called it diplomacy, but it was simply the caution of someone traversing a field of traps and pitfalls. She survived as long as she had by evading her obstacles, dancing sideways and backwards and very rarely forward.

But it was also his failure to read between the steps she took.

"Yes, he wanted Sai to go after you," he said after a long moment. Sasuke saw her tense in surprise out of the corner of his eye and smirked. She believed the best in his brother, even after all this time. So did he, Sasuke realized. "If not Sai, then Danzo would have sent someone else after you. Sai was the most predictable."

"I think Sai was also a victim in this," Hinata said. "He had the Sharingan, but didn't know."

"What if he was simply acting?" Sasuke countered. He needed to be sure, that it wasn't just Hinata trying to believe the best in someone.

She shook her head, a hint of a small smile on her lips. "The shock of knowing he had it and lost it distressed him enough to let me escape."

"It wasn't the first time he let you escape. How do you know it's not a ruse?"

"How do you know it is?" Hinata asked. Sasuke curled his lip in frustration. He wondered if she was being purposely obtuse. Sai was an established spy - giving such a person the benefit of the doubt was absurd.

"Because people aren't as good as you think they are," he said. It was like she'd learned nothing from the experiences in her life.

"And they are not as evil as you think they are," Hinata said, her voice tight with displeasure.

"Assuming that someone is good because they are 'not evil' is the height of naivety. Should I invite Danzo to a tea party and explain how it was all just a big misunderstanding about his evil-ness?"

Sasuke knew he misspoke even before Hinata flinched. "You think me naive, but you are jaded." She shook her head, turning to leave. "I should have discussed this first with Gaara," she muttered.

With a single name, she took away all the air in the room. Jealousy weighed at the bottom of his stomach like a lead ball. "Ah yes, your red headed lapdog. Panting after you and so eager to please."

Hinata paused by the door. She turned around, head bowed. "Please don't speak of him that way," she said in a low voice. Sasuke blinked. He didn't catch all the words, but he could guess. "What?"

"Please don't," she reiterated, biting her words as if in agony, "speak of Gaara that way. I know you don't like him, but..." She was fighting to keep from glaring at him, given the stark white of her knuckles.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"He helps me. He is a precious friend. He protects Nori, dotes on her. He protects Seidou. I trust him." Hinata curled her fingers into loose fists. Even in the dim light, he could make out the calluses on her hands - many more than he remembered. "You can rail at me all you want, Uchiha Sasuke, but he and the others are off limits."

I trust him.

Sasuke flinched. His name had slipped from her mouth like a curse. The first in his memory. Sasuke was not one for self-doubt, but like any emotion he experienced, it was in a crushing wave that obliterated all other reason. And Sasuke was not a graceful loser. He fell hard, and dragged those involved down with his last breath. Always had.

"Am I speaking to the martyr or to Hinata?" It was her turn to flinch. "Why is it that you can be so strong and fight so hard for everyone else, but not for yourself? For us? We could have figured something out five years ago - we really could have. Yet you reject this idea again and again in all your actions. I know Nori is your priority now, but do I have no place at all in your eyes?"

Hinata inhaled a shaky breath, and hesitated. He didn't dare word the real question he wanted answers to - do you even love me at all? The words he had so arrogantly spoken years ago clanged in his memory. Armor up, Hinata. His anger simmered in the back of his throat, overworked, overcooked until it was too tough to do anything but spit it back out.

Before, he would have, eager for any substitute for the hollow ache inside him.

Instead, Sasuke choked back the poison of his words. "I'm sorry you think that way of me," he gritted out. So much for helping. How did their conversation twist into a fight so quickly? It was like lancing an infected wound - the tiniest poke, and all the ugliness inside spilled forth. He had more to say but he was too proud to plead, too hurt to let himself remain vulnerable. Instead, Sasuke sighed. "I'll talk to Kimimaro."

He brushed by her and exited before he could say more.


Sasuke couldn't find an empty training lot quickly enough. With a yell, he let loose of bolt of lightning chakra, shocking the sand at his feet into a column of scaley glass. When it did little for his frustration, he did it again. Again and again until the tips of his fingers tingled from the abuse. But the sick pressure in his chest remained. Sasuke scoffed and kicked sand at his creation. It stubbornly continued to stand, looming over him like a twisted dragon.

A few Seidou residents paused to stare at him. Sasuke stared right back until they grew uncomfortable and returned to minding their own business. One person, however, took his hostile demeanor as an invitation to approach.

It was a boy with smiling crimson eyes and eyelashes so full he appeared half-asleep. Dark curls framed a face rounded by baby-fat. Something about the emerging shape of the jaw and the tilt of the nose, however, seemed familiar. Though he could be no more than ten, Sasuke half expected the boy to whip out a cigar and start blowing smoke rings in his face.

"Didn't anyone tell you that approaching someone training is dangerous?"

"Hello, Sousuke," the boy greeted. "You were already aware of me, so I thought it safe." Sasuke recognized his voice. It was Oushou, the boy that Nori was always talking about.

"Suit yourself, Jojo," Sasuke said, eyes narrowed. Oushou frowned at the unflattering nickname.

"Please don't call me that. Nori is a child, and she calls me that because she couldn't pronounce my name when she was younger."

Sasuke huffed. "Tough luck. You'll be called plenty of names throughout your life." Oushou smiled, calm unshaken.

"Hopefully more good than bad," was the boy's cheerful response. Sasuke decided he didn't like Oushou. He will need to talk to Hinata about keeping this kid away from Nori. He'll find her another rival. Maybe a nice, safe toddler to not be corrupted by.

"What do you want?" he asked, daring him to request anything beyond an excuse to leave.

"Can you teach me what you just did?" Oushou pointed to the sand snaking from the ground, locked in explosive motion.

Sasuke turned away in a clear dismissal. "No, go away."

"Then something like it," Oushou pressed, walking around Sasuke to face him. "I need more powerful moves." Sasuke tried to ignore the brief memory of another obnoxious boy, this one blonde and squinty-eyed, begging a Sharingan-user for more powerful jutsu.

"No." Sasuke glared down at the boy, daring him to keep asking. Oushou stared back at him with steady crimson eyes. The skin on the back of Sasuke's neck prickled from something not quite killer intent, but just as frightening. If he wasn't so intimately familiar with the feeling of lightning, Sasuke would have likened it to the presence of an incoming storm.

"I'm good friends with Nori. And so my mom with hers."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" Sasuke asked. Curious, he pushed back with his own chakra. The strange pressure of Oushou's presence dissipated like bad gas.

"No!" the boy blurted. He blinked, thinking over his words. "Yes? I guess so." He scratched his head of dark curls with an uneasy smile.

Sasuke studied him. That hadn't been a fluke. Looking at the brat piece by piece, he was beneath notice. But the way he held himself made Sasuke think twice - and it wasn't just the strange sense of deja vu.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're a genjutsu user who can defeat someone like Orochimaru." Sasuke raised one eyebrow. The fact that he defeated Orochimaru wasn't the common knowledge the kid made it sound like. Either someone's been whispering in his ear, or he had a future master spy on his hands. "I will be a genjutsu user so I want to learn from y-"

"You're what, eight? Nine? Don't worry," Sasuke said as he reached out to pat Oushou on the head, "you have a few years before-"

"No I don't," Oushou snapped as he jerked out of reach. The same pressure in the air was back. Sasuke waited. "Not out here. Look what happened with that Kaguya guy." The frantic expression on the kid's face was much more appropriate, instead of that unsettling calm. Sasuke fought the urge to smirk.

"I have a bloodline limit," Sasuke informed him. "Can't teach you that." He crossed his arms, waiting for the next ridiculous reason Oushou would spout out. The boy pursed his lips.

"But you can't just rely only on that," he said as though the very idea of it was ludicrous. "Wouldn't you just stand there and glare the enemy to death then? That's like something Nori would do." Sasuke attempted to do exactly that.

"Excuse...me…?" he asked, voice soft and dangerous. Oushou swallowed, but didn't step back.

"But that's what it would look like," he said, hands out in front of him as if to ward away Sasuke's evil eye. "Not that you do that anyways. But I'm just saying that only doing one thing is kinda stupid - NOT stupid, I mean dumb...no..." Smart enough to realize that he had dug himself a neat little grave, Oushou groaned and covered his face. He had yet to take a step back.

Sasuke snorted, unable to suppress his amusement.

Oushou peeked out from between his fingers. "Is that a 'yes'?" he asked, voice muffled by his hands. His visible eye shone with hope.

"Does it mean you'll listen to everything I say?"

Oushou dropped his hands, making a show of readjusting his clothing. Sasuke didn't miss the wily look in his eyes. The kid was stalling, trying to negotiate something better than the slave contract offered to him. Not bad.

Nori did not keep ordinary company, did she?

It was a shame that Oushou hadn't been tempered by the political environment of the palace. The harsh desert lifestyle probably helped, but this was training that only came from experience. He was used to manipulating with half-truths and logic, except Sasuke had grown up being jerked around by Itachi, the ultimate master of manipulation. For puppies like Oushou, it was all too easy to turn the technique on him.

"If you trust me enough to learn from me, " Sasuke said, "you will need to trust me enough to accept my guidance." He leaned down, placing himself at eye level with the boy. "Do you trust me?"

Of course, Sasuke did not act under altruistic purposes. Nori hung around Oushou, and the stronger her bodyguards, the better.

"No," the boy said bluntly. "But I don't really have a choice."

Sasuke stood back up with a huff of approval. Then he smiled in a way that made Oushou cringe. "Let's see what you've got." He flickered behind Oushou and punted him across the field.

Oushou yelped in surprise, but twisted mid-air in a motion that was purely Hinata to land in a crouch facing Sasuke.

Facing where he had been. In the critical moments as Oushou blinked at the empty space in front of him, Sasuke reappeared at his side, leading with a flurry of punches. The boy barely batted away the worst of the attacks, darting between the ones he had no chance to block. But he held his ground. He set a rhythm.

Sasuke broke it with a knee to Oushou's gut with enough force to fold him in half. He tumbled back head over ankles with all the grace of a limp rag. Sasuke stepped back, watching as his opponent struggled to his hands and knees.

"Wait!" Oushou wheezed, spitting out a mouthful of sand. "What are the terms of this sp-" He rolled out of the way of a blast of fire, one sleeve smoking. Oushou opened his mouth to protest, but then he met Sasuke's dark, unforgiving gaze. He shut his mouth with a clack of teeth, comprehension settling his features.

Oushou stood, balancing on the balls of his feet with his hands brought up close to his face.

"Quick learner," Sasuke said. "Good."

He attacked.


Hinata felt Sasuke approach. He didn't bother knocking before he stuck his head into her tent, knowing that she was aware of him.

"I spoke with Kimimaro. Meet me at the infirmary after dinner tonight," he said. Before she could reply, he let the door flap drop back into place and left.

Hinata blinked. Sasuke had been angry with her. But he had grudgingly agreed to help with Kimimaro, almost more out of spite than goodwill. But that was Sasuke, proud and prickly especially when he shouldn't be. Which gave her more reason to be alarmed by his calm, smug demeanor.

She had plenty of time, but Hinata decided to check in early, fearing that she would need to also apologize to a victim or three. Distracted as she was, she paused when she glimpsed Kurenai's son walking gingerly back to his tent.

"Oushou!" she called. The boy turned and greeted her with a bright smile. It might have been convincing if his face wasn't a mess of sand and sweat, and if he wasn't swaying from exhaustion. "What happened?"

"Ah...I overdid it a bit with training."

"A bit?" Hinata echoed skeptically. "And just why would you suddenly deviate from your normal routine, young man?" Though her voice was firm, she gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders to guide him the rest of the way to the tent he shared with Kurenai. Thankfully, his mother wasn't around to worry.

"I am weak," Oushou said as she deposited him in a chair. Hinata considered telling him that he was quite strong even when compared to children several years older. Despite his matter-of-fact tone, it was telling that the boy waited until they reached the privacy of his tent. Platitudes of relative achievement would only work on the likes of her daughter, who sought out victory against Oushou like a bloodhound.

She offered him a damp towel. He thanked her, and cleaned his face with small, neat strokes. He looked weary, the kind that reached the soul.

It wasn't difficult to make the connection when their camp had been attacked by someone like Kimimaro. Being stronger than his peers was useless in the face of someone like that. Oushou was so young, but he already understood that neither life nor death measured mercy by years. There were plenty of enemies out there who would kill (have killed) children simply because it was easier. While death may be called the great equalizer, it was never very fair.

Hinata shook her head, avoiding thoughts of all the people she'd left behind her, and ruffled Oushou's sand-filled curls. He gave her a petulant look. The uneasy feeling in her chest faded a little.

"So what did you do in training?" she asked.

"We sparred...no, we fought. Then we learned ninjutsu. And then after that, I was told to sprint as quickly as I could. I guess it's to condition my body to perform even when I'm tired. Afterwards, there was strength conditioning. Then there were laps while performing the ninjutsu and then..."

Hinata frowned. While it was Oushou's habit to seek out training from whomever had a free moment, no one in Seidou would ever dare to push a child so hard...except for...

"Who is teaching you?"

Oushou remained silent, eyeing Hinata carefully because he knew he couldn't fool her. His reticence told her many things. One, he was determined, even when faced with the possible disapproval of a trusted adult. Two, he was already loyal to his new teacher, as Oushou had no reason to lie about the training itself.

Hinata bit back a smile. Sasuke had a way with kids, even if neither party would ever admit it. He treated them like young adults probably because he simply didn't know how to address them any other way. But for children vying for credibility, his attitude towards them was a boon.

"Work hard, Oushou," she said. "Your new teacher may seem cruel, but he understands your desperation. He won't fail you in that regard."

This time the boy gave her a genuine smile bookended by dimples. She had implicitly told him that he had made a fine choice in a mentor.

Hinata really, really hoped she was telling the truth and not lying about how Sasuke was looking for a reason to torture the boy that Nori called her best friend.


Hinata ended up skipping dinner when she received word that Anko had woken.

Unlike Team 7, with whom her emotions had been hopelessly entangled, Anko "Mattress Dango" was a complete stranger. They had never met, only passed by one another in a pivotal moment of Hinata's life. Yet Anko had been with her during one of the darkest times of her life, when she was numb and alone in the dungeon. She had almost given up - would have given up, if Anko hadn't been there.

How does one greet a savior?

Hinata paused outside the entrance, taking a deep breath before she raised her hand to knock on the doorframe.

"We know you're there, Lady Hinata," Kimimaro called from inside, amusement making his vowels curl. Hinata retracted her hand, blushing as she drew aside the door flap and let herself in. Of course they could sense her.

Anko was propped up by rolled blankets and pillows. Kimimaro sat at her side, and Jugo held vigil in the corner. Sasuke must have told them to guard Anko - no one in Seidou could have missed the way Kimimaro and Jugo had followed him around like lost children.

"Good afternoon," Hinata said. "How are you doing?"

"Kinky!" Anko chirped her cheerful grin belied how close to death she had been, but her sallow complexion told another story. Years of imprisonment had weakened her into a wraith of a woman. Knowing didn't make it any easier to take in. Her gaze lingered on the strangest aspect of Anko's appearance - the swath of bandages covering her right eye.

"Is something the matter with your...Byakugan?" Despite Hinata's best effort, she couldn't quite hide the hitch in her voice.

"Sometimes it activates when I forget to control it," Anko said as she tapped her cheek with one finger. She offered an apologetic smile."Just a reminder that I only have one of my eyes."

"Lady Hinata, Anko's Byakugan was forcibly implanted in her," Kimimaro said bluntly. He regarded her with a steely expression. "She is not at fault." Hinata shook her head and approached Anko's bedside. She sat by Anko's legs and took one of her hands. It was like holding a sparrow with bones so brittle. Hinata feared she would crush it.

"I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I don't blame you. It's just that...the idea of someone doing that so needlessly…" Hinata bowed her head, willing away the phantom sensation of cold fingers prying back her eyelids. It made her ill. Anko gave her hand a comforting squeeze, even though it should have been the other way around. Hinata looked up with an embarrassed laugh. She met Anko's eye with a firm expression. "Regardless of how you got them, you need your eyes for the basic act of seeing. You have every right to that."

Anko turned her head, blinking away the shine in her eye. Then she glanced back at Hinata with a wide smirk stretched across her face.

"Just make out with me already," she drawled as she fluttered her eyelashes and interlocked their fingers. "But I need to be wooed like a lady before I let you do anything kinky." She puckered up her lips, and made little kissy noises.

"Geh…?" Hinata said. She glanced at Kimimaro and Jugo for help, but they were turned away. Their shoulders were shaking in a manner that could only be construed as poorly repressed laughter. Hinata sighed and extracted herself from Anko's grasp.

"It's good that you are in such fine spirits," she said. "But please don't make such bad jokes with my previous alias." Anko gave her a grin reminiscent of Naruto's mischievous grins.

"What bad jokes?" They all looked up as Sasuke stepped inside the infirmary tent. Anko looked as if she'd smelled something fetid.

"You," she sniffed as she waved him away. "Kinky's wooing me for my affections. Your face is ruining the mood."

Sasuke twitched. "Oy. You. Say that again," he challenged.

Hinata gulped. Anko was incredibly...Naruto-ish. Including her ability to rile up Sasuke with only a few words. While the real thing could survive the violence Sasuke directed towards him, Anko would not fare as well if Sasuke snapped and punched her.

"Sasuke…" Hinata stood, intercepting before he approached Anko's bed. He paused but kept glaring at Anko. Kimimaro tensed, torn between conflicting loyalties.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Anko just woke up from her fever. Please be nice."

He looked like he caught a whiff of the same stench Anko had.

"Nyyaaaah," Anko taunted and stuck out her tongue.

"You were right," he muttered to Hinata. "You said that this idiot saved you that night. I didn't believe you then...but now I understand how the mere sound of her voice was enough to pull you from death."

"Oh, it grew teeth. Last I saw you, you were an ugly little raisin." Anko pinched her thumb and index finger together and squinted.

"Rai...sin…." Sasuke looked pained. "You saw me less than two months ago."

Anko ignored him. "All you did was go WAH and WAAH and WAAAH!" Her imitation of a child's cry also sounded like someone was stepping on said child.

Sasuke took a step towards Anko, hands already forming the most effective position to strangle her. Hinata snagged his sleeve, but turned to the woman behind her who was now pulling down her eyelid at him.

"Anko, please stop harassing him."

"Psh, your big brother's been on the throne for a year and you think you can lord it over everyone."

Sasuke puffed up like an angry bird. "He's held the throne for eleven years. Since he was nineteen."

Anko stared at him for a long moment. "Good for him," she said in a sing-song voice, but her accompanying smile made Hinata's chest tight and cold. She knew homesickness. She knew relief and she knew the yearning of someone ripped from a beloved kingdom no matter how much she tried to hide it.

"Did he know?" she asked. Anko glanced at her, ready to deflect with another bad joke. Hinata didn't give her a chance to speak. "Itachi, did he know about your imprisonment and your Byakugan?"

"No, he didn't," Sasuke said. "We all thought she had willingly followed Orochimaru."

All expression disappeared from Anko's face. She looked away.

"Anko?"

When she refused to reply, it was Jugo who leaned forward and answered. "She didn't." He glanced at Sasuke for confirmation, continuing only when he reaffirmed his orders with a nod. "Lady Anko was forced to take his seal. It was…" Jugo looked down. "It was modelled after my condition."

"Condition?" Hinata prompted when he paused.

"Sometimes I get angry," he whispered. "I become a monster and hurt people. And I can't control it."

He wasn't going to say more. Hinata watched the others react to Jugo's pained explanation: Kimimaro frowned in disagreement throughout but did not refute his words; Anko started shaking her head when Jugo called himself a monster; Sasuke tilted his head, annoyed by what must be an old scene. It was lonely, realizing that what they had were in a world that she knew nothing about. She didn't know enough to absolve nor to condemn Jugo, but everyone else did. She was the outsider here, though it was quickly becoming less so as their secrets spilled out.

"But you control who is around to help you," Hinata said, because men and monsters were the different edges of the same blade. "You don't need to try to distract me from Anko's history, Jugo." She ignored the shock on his face. "There are a lot of suspicious coincidences in our lives that we are trying to understand, not to accuse anyone of anything. We all have our burdens."

Jugo ducked his head, cheeks red even in the dim light. "Sorry, Lady Hinata."

"Nothing to apologize for," she replied with a smile. "Our focus right now is regarding mine and Sasuke's past. But from what it sounds like, Anko and Jugo are both pieces in the puzzle as well."

Kimimaro shifted, understanding her underlying question. "They are just as trustworthy as I, however much you judge that to be."

"They can stay," Sasuke agreed. He sounded like he was glaring at Anko.

"Then, Kimimaro, please tell us everything you remember about us."

"My head hurts…" five-year-old Sasuke grumbled. He pulled his chubby hand from Shin's grasp and rubbed his eyes. Tears clung to his lashes. "Why do I have to come down here? It's dark here in the dungeons. I don't like it."

"I'm sorry, young prince." Shin turned and squatted so he was at eye level. He offered Sasuke a small, kind smile. "The dark is the best hiding place. And you get to meet a beautiful princess today."

Sasuke pouted. "So?"

"She needs your help. Don't you want to save her?"

Sasuke gave him a suspicious look. "Not really…"

Shin coughed, trying to disguise his snort of laughter. "She's not here for your brother - she's actually about your age."

"Oh, okay, I can help her then," Sasuke agreed, brightening at the thought of a playmate. "What's her name?"

"Hinata."

Sasuke nodded approvingly, though his attempt to look solemn was foiled by his round cheeks. "Sunflower, or sunlight. Like our kingdom."

"You could say that," Shin murmurred.

They walked down the corridor, just the two of them, though the torches made it appear like shadows were trailing after them. Shin's footsteps were soundless, but Sasuke's echoed around them, giving further credence to their imaginary companions.

Sasuke dragged his feet despite the incentive of a potential new playmate. The older boy paused, ushered Sasuke onto his back, and continued down the seemingly endless hall.

"Itachi used to do this," Sasuke said. He rested his cheek on Shin's back. "He's busy now because the Moon Kingdom is looking for the prin-" Sasuke pushed himself upright, nearly unbalancing himself out of Shin's hold. "Is Hinata the missing Moon Princess? Why is she here in the Sun Kingdom?!" Sasuke squirmed like a fish until Shin let him down.

"Why are we really here?" Sasuke's tiny features pinched together in fear as he backed away from the pale-haired boy. "...who are you?!"

Shin formed a seal and then prodded him in the forehead with two fingers. "Sleep, young prince." Sasuke's eyes rolled back and he collapsed into Shin's arms.

The next day, they walked down the same corridor.

"My head hurts…." Sasuke protested. "Do we have to go this way?" Shin managed a smile. Only the flickering shadows of the torches hid the tinge of pity in his expression.

"We're going to meet a lost princess - she needs your help to find her way back home."

Sasuke turned sharp, slanted eyes towards him. "She's the Moon Princess, isn't she? The one my brother's fighting for."

"If you help her, you can help your brother come home sooner."

"Yeah!" Sasuke grinned. "Then let's go save her!"

Cold fingers traced down Hinata's spine. "Can...can you demonstrate the hand seal you used on Sasuke again?" she asked. Kimimaro raised his right hand in front of his chest, index and middle finger upright. Just like the Main Family seal for punishing the Branch family. "That's...the seal for...and Orochimaru taught you that?!"

"He did."

"So a Caged-Bird Seal was placed on Sasuke?" she whispered.

"A variation, I presume. He did not see fit to give me more than the seal to activate it."

Hinata bit the inside of her cheek as she dared to glance at Sasuke. His body language was unreadable and his eyes unfocused on Kimimaro - he had stopped seeing him long ago. Sasuke looked down his own hand, formed the Caged-Bird seal for punishment, and touched it to the center of his forehead. Then, he formed a fist.

"So where does Sai fit into this?" he asked Kimimaro. Hinata winced at the apathetic chill of his voice. She could guess how he had been during his tenure as Orochimaru's man. That Sasuke terrified her.

"He…" Kimimaro frowned, as if his emotions were a puzzle. Anko reached out, and he grasped the edge of her sleeve like a child. "My mission was to befriend Sai." He spoke in monotone, but he gripped Anko's sleeve ever tighter. "I am still unsure if I accomplished it, as I was ordered away from the Sun Kingdom without time for farewells."

"But why was your mission to befriend Sai?" Sasuke asked with a harsh twist of his lips. He did not miss Kimimaro's distress, but Hinata suspected he also did not care. Kimimaro met Sasuke's gaze with one just as cold.

"I don't know," he said. "A good tool does not ask questions," - Kimimaro lifted one pale eyebrow mockingly - "does it?" The air around them pressed in until it was difficult to breathe. Sasuke stared down Kimimaro just long enough to make it clear he was unaffected, and then headed for the door.

"Hinata, we need to talk," he said over his shoulder. "Privately." The door flap shut behind him. She stood after several breaths, reluctant to be alone with Sasuke right now.

"Wait, Lady Hinata." Jugo, and even the slighter Kimimaro, filled the small space of the tent as they copied her action. "We will accompany you."

Their concern only confirmed her suspicions about Sasuke, but it also strengthened her resolve. She half-smiled. "Thank you, but Sasuke is correct. This is private."


The moon was suspended in cloudy wisps as fine as spider's silk, and provided ample light to the clearing behind the infirmary. Sasuke stood at the center with his back to Hinata as she approached. He was surprised to hear only her footsteps - he'd expected Jugo or Kimimaro to accompany her out of concern over her well-being.

She stopped walking, but didn't pollute the silence with unnecessary questions.

"I used to have headaches," he admitted. "Headaches so terrible they rendered me bedridden. I'd lose hours, sometimes days." Sasuke hunched his shoulders, curling into himself. "Worse was that no one believed me. The medics could find absolutely nothing wrong with me, so everyone concluded that it was just a child's antics to garner attention since everyone was so focused on Itachi and the war. Only Itachi ever believed me."

"That's good."

He shook his head in a violent motion. "It isn't." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Please. Listen."

"I'm listening," she said.

"He was the only one who believed me….and that's the thing. That gesture - poking me on the forehead - it was something only between us. At least I thought it was."

Hinata gasped. "You think that he knew about what happened to you?"

"I…" Sasuke closed his eyes. "I don't know who to blame anymore."

"It doesn't change what has been done." She stepped forward, and touched his shoulder. "What needs to be done."

"Yes, it does," Sasuke said wearily as he pulled away from her. Cognizance was the difference between a brother and an enemy. And enemies couldn't betray him once he knew they can't be trusted.

"But you don't know it's him. Sasuke please don't -"

"Why are you defending him? Even now?!" Sasuke snarled. "That man sent you out to die." The last word was a guttural snarl, twisted through clenched teeth. It lingered between them like the stench of a rotten wound. Hinata took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Because you're family," she whispered, voice hoarse. "Has your relationship become so poor that you can readily assume he would betray you?"

Sasuke grimaced. Years ago, the Hyuuga had condemned Hinata with the same awful assumptions he was making now, and ultimately, it was them who betrayed her. Their situations were similar, but Sasuke's was far more tangled and twisted with what could have been. What had been. The years he'd spent chasing after his big brother were spread out like a map of veins and arteries in his body - it was impossible to survive ripping them out, even if the blood running through them was like poison.

Sasuke gave a groan and sat on the ground, elbows propped on his knees. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hinata copy his action. He sighed as he looked up.

Stars were scattered across the space like salt, sharp against the canvas of the night. The chill of the desert was settling in Sasuke's bones, and he felt powerless between the endless sand and sky. He had looked up at the night sky so many times during the past five years thinking of them, of her, of the mistakes he had made. It had been a cold, lonely endeavor, but he had felt calm. Quiet. He could live with himself during those moments.

But tonight, he felt frantic. His mind buzzed with a thousand mad prophecies of how Hinata and Nori could be broken. Sasuke had thought himself strong, but he hadn't been strong enough soon enough. Entire segments of his memories, his mind, his sanity, were taken away and he never knew.

And why would Itachi stop at just Sasuke?

"I'm tired of overturning shit only to find more shit," he confessed. "Underneath the underneath…maybe that's what Kakashi was actually talking about." Sasuke snorted.

They sat in companionable silence.

"Aren't you tired of running? Is there anywhere that's safe?"

"No," she answered. "Not unless we make it so."

"Thus the existence of Seidou."

She hummed in agreement.


Sasuke leaned against a boulder at the edge of the training lot, arm propped up on a bent knee. He watched as Oushou ran through his newest kata, a set designed to incorporate explosive jutsu. It was eerie how smooth his movements were considering it was his fifth time practicing it.

Oushou finished and looked to him for critique. "Sousuke?" He tilted his head, making his curls flop to the side like the ears of a dog. It would have been cute but Sasuke had already decided to dislike him.

"You can start adding the jutsu," Sasuke said as he stood. "See if you can figure out where and be ready to justify." Oushou watched him as he approached the rectangular rock slowly inching its way onto the field. Sasuke stepped in front of it.

"There are no such things as square rocks, brat. Stop insulting all ninja in existence."

Nori-the-rock froze, and then climbed out from under her disguise sheepishly. "Mama said that's what castles are made of. And you lived in one."

"That's not…" Sasuke broke off as he realized that Nori had grown up in the desert. In the scope of her knowledge, a square rock was brilliant. Even though it might kill Sasuke just to admit it out loud. "You've never seen a castle, have you?" he asked. He put a hand on Nori's head and directed her back to the shade.

"I'm not a princess," she muttered. "Princesses live in castles. I live in a tent."

"A lot of people live in castles."

"And they all wear pretty dresses," Nori said glumly, not listening to Sasuke's logic.

His eye twitched at the mental image of Team 7 members in ballgowns. The most terrifying of them was the blushing Princess Kakashi, who flicked open his garish orange fan to hide his masked face.

Sasuke clapped a hand over his mouth, but a loud snort of laughter escaped from between his fingers.

"P-papa…?" Nori said with concern. Sasuke caught the slight stutter, and tried to force his features into something more gentle. "Do you need Mama to heal you?" He scowled.

"We have been in the sun for a long time," Oushou added helpfully.

"Oushou, since you are clearly finished with your assignment, I suggest you go run laps," Sasuke said. "Let's start with 50."

"Bu-" Sasuke lifted one eyebrow. "Yes sir." Oushou made himself scarce.

Sasuke looked back to Nori with a flat expression. He pointed to himself, mourning the loss of his dignity. "Do I look like I wear dresses?"

"...I'm getting Mama…"

"The correct answer would be 'no'," Sasuke said, tightening his grip to keep her from running for help. He did not want to explain to Hinata why their daughter thought he was having a gender identity crisis.

"My point is that you don't have to be a princess to live in a castle, nor do you have to live in a castle to be a princess. 'Prince' and 'Princess' are ranks like 'Jounin' or 'Chuunin'. Just a way for those around them to measure their value to the kingdom."

Nori thought over what he said. "So the most important people are King and Queen, then Prince and Princess?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I suppose so." It was a viable approximation of the battle royale many called politics.

"Then I can be a princess?" Eyes were not supposed to sparkle like Nori's did as she looked up at him. Sasuke winced. It would not bode well if she ran around claiming she was a princess. He thought Hinata would be the last person to romanticize the title of 'Princess'.

Sasuke scowled, trying to impress on her how bad the 'princess' rank was. "Of course, but it's dangerous to tell people you are one. People like to capture princesses."

"Like with Kamikami? He took me cuz' he thought I'm a princess?"

Sasuke thought back to their conversation, wondering how the hell they'd ended up discussing Kimimaro. Why was Hinata always so conveniently absent during their conversations?

He sat down, placing himself at eye-level with her. "You're not a princess, Nori," he lied, making his face as open and trustworthy as possible. "And a princess has a lot of difficult responsibilities that you are not ready for."

Nori's whole being wilted - even her spiky ponytail drooped. "Then I'll never be a princess?" she asked, gray eyes enormous and shiney. Sasuke leaned back.

Don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry...

"I didn't say that."

"But you said princess is like jounin and I can be jounin." Her voice was getting squeaky, as if she was trying to suppress sobs. Not good. "Why not princess?"

Sasuke licked his lips. "Princess is even more difficult than jounin."

"Why? Jounin protect the princess."

"Because she leads them. She doesn't fight because it's too dangerous -"

Nori made a disgusted noise as she wrinkled her nose. "That's stupid. I'll be jounin then. I can protect the princess and she'll give me dresses. Can Jo and me protect the princess together?"

Sasuke repressed a sigh of relief. "That's a great idea. Wonderful. Yes, you can. You should do that."

Nori grinned. "Then you will train us together?" He balked. Between Nori's competitive nature and Oushou's doormat tendencies, they'd accomplish nothing.

"I can train you separately," he offered. Nori puffed her cheeks, unimpressed.

"But I want to train with Jo!"

Sasuke massaged his temples and considered his options. "Go...ask your mother first." [2]

"Okay! I'll be right back!" Nori said. She pointed at Sasuke. "You wait here, Papa!" She scampered off, presumably in search of Hinata. Sasuke slumped back against the rock, feeling like he'd just fought Orochimaru all over again. And lost.

Oushou was rounding back from his first lap around the field. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but upon witnessing the gimlet eye Sasuke directed at him, he shut it and continued onto the next lap.

Kurenai chose that moment to make her entrance. "If it makes you feel better, it gets easier," she said as she approached. Sasuke whipped his head up.

"Why didn't you come earlier?!" he snapped, eyes wild with hysteria. She hid her smile behind her hand.

"And miss that disaster?"

"You could have helped." Sasuke turned back to watch Oushou make his way across the far side of the training lot. To her credit, Kurenai didn't push the banter and let a long, neutral silence fall over them. Just as Sasuke was about to demand what her purpose was, Oushou came jogging by.

"Hello, Mother." Oushou gave a wave and Kurenai returned the gesture. "Goodbye, Mother."

Sasuke waited until Oushou was out of earshot. "I expected you earlier."

"His teachers usually give up after a day," Kurenai said. "No one likes being shown up by a child."

Sasuke huffed. "More like no one likes a show off."

"Oh? Is that what you see it as?"

"Don't twist my words - that's what it's perceived as."

Kurenai's expression tightened. "I'm not here for a lesson in philosophy, Uchiha." She was trying to be civil, but she still mouthed his family name like poison. Sasuke looked up at her with a sideways glare.

"Then why are you here? Afraid I was stringing him up on the torture rack? Can't say I wasn't tempted."

Kurenai gave him a narrow-eyed look. "It's not necessary to try to anger me. I-"

"Trying would imply that I actually care. Which I don't. Now tell me why you are here or go away."

She didn't answer immediately. She was trying to measure him, decide if he was good enough for whatever expectation she held for him. Manipulation, assessing, using - those were fair play because it was a means to an end - but judging the nature of his existence was something that made Sasuke's skin crawl. It was worse with genjutsu users because they understood the subtleties and employed it for their benefit.

"You should leave," Kurenai said. "Before it becomes difficult."

Only her weary tone stayed his immediate objection. "Why?" She crossed her arms, leaning back against the tall face of the boulder.

"Your presence distracts Hinata. She's making mistakes trying to cover for you and losing sight of her goal. Our goals. And having a missing-nin from the Sun Kingdom around will not endear her to the people of the Moon Kingdom. She's...we've all worked too hard and too long to accept failure so easily."

"If you're expecting me to assure you that hard work can overcome anything, you'd have better luck asking the Mooners to throw you a birthday party."

"I'm not expecting anything from you," she said evenly, refusing to react to his barbs. "I just want you to leave. Before you turn her back into the mess she was. She's better now with Gaara by her side than with you around."

It was a lie, a desperate lie. They both knew it the moment she opened her mouth. But empty words could hold just as much venom. They both knew that, too.

Hinata hadn't been a mess. She hadn't needed Gaara's help to become who she was. Possibly never needed Sasuke's either.

"What if I wasn't Uchiha?" he murmured, more to himself. "What if I wasn't from the Sun Kingdom?" The look she gave him was full of pity.

"Does it matter if the rest of the world disagrees?"

Sasuke sneered. "I thought you weren't here to talk philosophy."

"I'll humor you if you leave," she offered.

"No thanks." Sasuke folded his arms behind his head in a show of nonchalance. Inside, he was shaking, teetering between anger and despair. Hinata valued Kurenai's opinion, and the woman loathed him. Before he arrived in Seidou, he had the authority to injure or kill anyone who gave him lip. Now...he was suffocating in Seidou like a trapped beast snarling and snapping uselessly behind bars. All he had were his words. "Everything is philosophical if all you do is sit around and babble about it." He smirked in a way he knew was infuriating, because if she hated him, he'll make sure she did it in the full. "I think, therefore I don't care."

Oushou was nearing them again, his face redder. He didn't greet them, but managed a weak wave before continuing.

When he was again out of earshot, Kurenai rounded on him with eyes narrowed. "Don't you understand that you're detrimental to Hinata's goals?"

"That is where we disagree." He looked at her, and remembered how Kurenai never returned to the Moon Kingdom. She had let Hinata believe she was dead, had let Hinata believe it was her fault.

Sasuke tried not to remember that Hinata had subjected him to the same agony. How she knew exactly how it felt, and still left.

"All your reasons might have been valid in the past," he said. "But you invalidated yourself that day you abandoned your genin team." The flash of pain on her features was gratifying. "Until Hinata tells me to leave herself, I'm not going anywhere. My goals align with Seidou."

"Don't think you're so secure in your place because Hinata vouched for you to be here." She hesitated and then her expression became cold and still. "Sasori's coming back soon."

Sasuke tensed. Crimson bled into his irises as he looked at her, measuring her words. "Sasori of the Red Sand died nearly a decade ago." Sakura herself had witnessed the blades splitting his heart.

Kurenai smiled in the gentle way of someone who knew she was about to deal a killing blow."Yes, Sasori of the Red Sand. He's coming back to Seidou soon."

This time, she wasn't lying.

It was a play to estrange him from Hinata, to make him feel small and unwanted. Just an annoyance on the sidelines who wasn't privy to such an important fact, yet another secret.

...and it was working.

"I don't believe you."

"Find out for yourself if our goals align as much as you think they do." She pushed off from the boulder they were both leaning against and dusted her hands off on her hips. "We're due out for a big mission next week. Where are you on the roster? Or are you just going to rot here?"

She waved to Oushou one last time and walked off the field. A breeze caught the soft curls of her hair, lifting it like a dark banner of triumph.


[1] See Chapter 17 for explanations of my breakdown of the uses of the Caged-Bird Seal.

[2] Sasuke officially dad'ed. Next thing you know, he'll be making dad jokes.

AN:

- Thanks to Rhinst for betaing...even after all this time.

- I may as well say this right now: I am forever sorry. Because I have the attention span of a gnat on speed and the writing speed of a gnat trying to...well...write. (Coherency is only mostly guaranteed in my actual prose, not my notes).

-So...much...dialogue...I can never look at a quotation mark again.

-I love writing Nori/PapaSoso. All the affection pent up between Hinata and Sasuke is diverted to their daughter. It also gave me so many SasuHina Family feels I keep posting dumb thoughts to tumblr.

- Sasuke and Kurenai scenes are surprisingly fun to write. I guess it's like the bad boyfriend confronting the protective mother-figure. They've both let Hinata down, so neither have a stable argument to hold against the other. You'll see more of their little spats, for sure.

-I'm really trying to develop the characters rather just throwing them together and screaming 'now kith'. Though there will that too once I get sick of Hinata and Sasuke's angsting. Review and help me get there. ;) The kind tumblr messages are also very uplifting! Thank you!