PART 15

Hinata was exhausted. Being ANBU was strenuous especially when both Hokages keep sending you on missions.

At least her partner was Sasuke. Having him working with her helped her a lot.

[Flashback

Tsunade turned to Sasuke and Hinata.

"I don't want to break up the ANBU into large groups. It's more risky, so from now on, we'll be doing it by twos. So that means, I want you two to work together on missions from now on."

[End Flashback

Hinata ran her hands over her eyes and began thinking about Sasuke. Lately her thoughts always somehow involved Sasuke. For a moment, she thought that maybe, just maybe, Hero was alive. And Sasuke was Hero.

But when she took him to the hill, he showed no sign of recognition.

Hinata had never taken anyone to that hill. Not Neji, or even Naruto. It was a sacred place to her. But in a way, it didn't bother her that she had shown it to Sasuke. She didn't want to know why.

XXXXX

The last of the Uchiha was taking a walk around the village to relax. It began raining, so he headed home. He had been bombarded with endless amounts of missions, but at least he didn't have a useless partner.

Although she couldn't heal wounds or concoct antidotes, she would bandage his wounds efficiently. Her Byakuugan and Sense were also handy.

But the thing was: everytime he was around her, his mouth would open to speak the truth, but he'd catch himself and shut it.

When missions were over, he tried to avoid her as much as possible, which really wasn't that hard. Well, ok. Maybe it was, what with her Byakuugan and Sense.

"Sasuke?"

Great, she found him again.

Hinata was sitting on a bench in the rain. The rain on her face almost made it look as if tears were seeping out of her eyes.

"What is it?" Venom was obvious. Why couldn't he ever get away from this girl?

She looked stunned at the tone of his voice, and shook her head as in "never mind".

Hinata sat there uncomfortably, and Sasuke stood there staring straight ahead.

Finally, Hinata had the courage to break the silence, "Sasuke, why are you in the ra-"

"Why is it, that I seem to find you everywhere? Wherever I am, I see you," Sasuke had a rash harshness in his voice.

A puzzled look. "Really? I…I never really noticed, since I was always with Naruto-kun."

It hit him. She had been with Naruto. He just wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. But how could that explain the fact that she was always near him?

Changing the subject, to hide his embarrassment, he asked, "Why are you in the rain?"

She blushed. "I was waiting for Naruto-kun. He told me to meet him here. You?"

"I'm on my way home. I'll talk to you another time," Without he turned his back on her, and continued his journey home.

He felt Hinata's smile on his back, and when he was out of her sight, he realized how much he had missed her presence. Calming, warm, soothing.

It was only when he got home, that he wished that he could have told her to go home, and not wait for Naruto. Especially in the rain, she could get sick…

He dismissed the thought. Oh well, I don't care. She can wait her whole life for Naruto for all I care. Speaking of Naruto, he's giving us a mission tomorrow.

XXXXXX

Sasuke arrived at the office to receive his mission from Naruto. He had expected Hinata to be there before him, but, well, she wasn't there. This confused him since she was always early.

Naruto came through the door behind Sasuke, and his face brightened, smile grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh! Sasuke-teme, what are you doing here?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "For the mission, dobe."

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto's face fell a little bit. "You see there's been a problem, and…" His voice trailed off.

"And what would that be?"

"Hinata's sick."

Sasuke froze. "And why would she be sick?"

Naruto had a guilty look on his face and he explained, "Well, you see. I asked Hinata to meet me, but then the elders pulled me away for a conference, and then it started raining, and then she waited there the whole time, and by the time the conference was over, it was drenching outside, then Neji passed by and saw her, carried her home, and then yelled at me-"

"Naruto, you're speaking in run-on sentences." Sasuke interrupted.

"Yeah, so basically, she caught a really bad fever because of me," Naruto said sadly.

"Tch, I guess the mission was given to someone else?"

"Yeah, sorry Sasuke. Go home and take a day off. You need it."

XXXXXX

Sasuke did take the day off, but he didn't go home. Instead he went to the hill. Where his favorite memories were.

He lied down on the soft ground, and his fingertips toyed with the necklace beneath his shirt.

He thought about why he always saw her wherever he went. Was it just coincidence? Or did they like the same places? Then the answer came to him: she didn't come to him. He came to her.