Chapter Fifteen

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

A/N: Long chapter. Sit back and relax.

The bell dinged over the door to the Yamanaka Plant and Flower Shop and Ino looked up to see Sakura backing in with her arms full. Dexterously, she dragged a stool that was in the corner and sat on it tiredly. As soon as she sat down she heavily dropped the shopping bags on the counter.

"Hey! Watch the trees." Ino shouted as she just barely moved a bonsai plum tree out of the way.

"Sorry."

"Busy morning?"

"Busier than yours." Sakura teased as she noted that the shop was filled with dozens of impossibly miniature plum trees and no customers.

"Ha. Ha." Ino reported drily and stuck her tongue out at Sakura. "You just missed the rush actually. Most people came early to buy their trees. The rest of these plants are orders that have to be delivered or will be picked up later this afternoon."

"Meh. Ume matsuri was never my favourite."

"Hmm. I wonder why." Ino gave Sakura a pointed look before she bent low to continue trimming a branch of the bonsai ume tree.

"No, no. It has nothing to do with the fact that my birthday falls during Sakura festival. It's just that plum blossoms are not remotely as spectacular as cherry blossoms. A single tree doesn't have as many blossoms, the trees don't bloom en masse at the same time and it's usually freezing cold with a depressing grey sky in February."

"Yeah, I know. It's usually a different atmosphere from sakura matsuri. It's quieter. But I still like it. My Dad used to say that plum blossoms serve as a reminder that better things are coming, that there will be sunny days again."

The atmosphere grew a bit heavy as Ino seemed to shrink into herself for a moment, no doubt remembering her father and his legacy as she worked on the tree.

"Where are you coming from?" Ino asked with fake cheer. Sakura pretended not to notice the water in her friend's eyes.

"Oh. I just bought some new outfits for the boys and me for tomorrow's festival. Naruto couldn't make up his mind about what he wanted so he took the boys and he's still looking. My parents want us to go to Baji Koen for the plum blossom festival. Hopefully, if we go early we can make it back for our festival here."

"Oh you're going to Baji Koen? The boys should like the horses there." Sakura nodded and watched as Ino gave her a sly side eye, looked away and then with deft delicacy pruned a branch.

"You got something you want to ask me Ino-pig?"

"So…you're going with Naruto too, huh?" She rest down the shears and stood up straight to give her the full gossipy gaze.

"And why shouldn't I? He is my husband."

"Well, I mean…"

"Yeah?"

"It's not like you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"I mean, it would be eating away at me if I were you, you know."

Sometimes Sakura hated Ino when she was in this gossip gopher mood. She sometimes hated her passionately then.

"Just ask me what you want to ask me, Ino. You know I hate this fishing thing you do."

Ino opened her mouth, closed it, picked back up the shears, turned to the plum tree then straightened up again. "Okay, everyone's saying that Naruto and Sasuke were…well that they got into that fight because of Hinata." She rest down the shears with a bang as if the shears had somehow held her back all this time from making her point.

Sakura was trying to keep her face impassive, but she was unaware that she was grinding her teeth and blinking a lot more. She made quite a show of arranging the shopping bags into a neat stack before she answered Ino.

"Yeah, that's probably true."

"WHAT?! And you – you just –"

Sakura let out a sigh that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside her. Ino waited for a moment, but read the situation and decided to give her friend some time. She turned back to her pruning and when a minute or two of silence passed, after Sakura had collected herself, sure enough she was ready to speak.

"You know what I like most about Naruto? I like that he never really gives up on people. I think that's something that has bonded us over the years as friends. When I told Hinata that I needed a guy like Naruto the thought hadn't even occurred to me before. It was just something that I said when I was drunk."

"Yeah well, they don't call it truth serum for nothing. The sake just gave you the courage to say what was in your heart all this time." Ino said with complacent amusement as she straightened to face her friend.

"Probably. Naruto and I have always been there for each other. After my drunken episode with Hinata, I went to visit him the next day, but he'd already left. You remembered that he went away for a little while? He just up and left. That was a few months after the divorce. I felt so horrible. I wasn't there for him. I felt like a failure again. When I visited the house, it was a mess. It wasn't in the usual bachelor-mess. No, Naruto-kun was seriously depressed and it was showing everywhere, yet Team Seven wasn't even there to pick up the pieces. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei were out fighting a war in Mori no Kuni and Naruto didn't even care. I was the only one here. I was supposed to be the one that held him together when everything fell apart for him, but instead I was focussed on the fact that Sasuke left for this mission in the Land of Forest and didn't even tell me goodbye. When I found out that Naruto left, I felt an ache in my stomach. It was worse than when Sasuke-kun left. Never before had I felt like I failed as a teammate and a friend. I started to give serious thought about what I'd told Hinata."

Sakura paused for a while. In her mind she was recounting all the moments of ritual humiliation and disgraceful failures. At the time she was so focussed on Sasuke leaving for Mori no Kuni, completely terrified that he would choose to stay away from Konoha, that he'd leave and she'd never have a chance, that she utterly ignored her friend in his most trying of times. She had begged Sasuke not to leave, but did she beg Naruto? She hadn't even known that he was thinking of leaving! It was negligence of a kind that made her feel like she couldn't even lift her head. But like Naruto, she was not someone to give up and as soon as Naruto returned with Sasuke in tow, she went to him, not Sasuke.

"He must have been really surprised." Ino noted. She remembered when Sasuke and Naruto returned. Sakura was right here in this shop when the news broke that Naruto had emerged from his self-imposed exile to go testify in Sasuke's trial for crimes against humanity. As soon as those two were back in Konoha, everyone knew. Sakura jumped up and said that she had had to go to Naruto. Ino had been flabbergasted.

"Actually, at the time he didn't look particularly surprised or happy or anything. He'd been to see Hinata first. I think that he was expecting a different reception from her. It was nearing the death anniversary of their son. She was in a state. He was in a state. But that day was going to be a bad day no matter what because it was also Neji's death anniversary. When I got there to visit him, he was drinking and sitting around wallowing. He didn't ask me to, but I cleaned up. I washed all of his clothes. I bought groceries and cooked for him. I sat down next to him on the couch and he looked up at me as if seeing me for the first time."

"I'm glad that you're back, Naruto-kun. Everyone missed their Hokage . . . and . . . I missed you."

"He gave me this weak, watery smile and said, 'Aww shucks Sakura-chan. You'll make me blush.' He tried to keep up his jokes, but he just couldn't make, so we sat there in silence for a while. I don't know what he was thinking, but I was trying to get the nerve to say what I had to say."

"Naruto, I thought that you were going to be all alone on a day like today. I'm really glad that you're back. I don't want you to think that you don't have anyone."

He didn't say anything, but I could see that he was listening. I tried to apologize for…well, for everything I'd ever put him through.

"I'm…I'm really sorry for how I've treated you. I should have been there for you when you needed me the most. Well I'm not going anywhere this time, okay. You're not going to push me out, are you? I hope that you won't push me away because of wrong reasons."

He turned to look at me. Sometimes, he's not as daft as everyone likes to think.

"What are you trying to say?"

I didn't know how to answer him, but he knew a way to bring it up without really bringing it up.

"I went to see Hina this morning. She looks better, but I can tell that she's not doing too well. But she's trying, you know. I'm glad for that. She asked after you. Told me that I should check up on you, make sure that you're okay. She said that I should try to keep up with you. She was saying things, but underneath the underneath as Kaka-sensei would say, she was trying to drive home a point, you know?"

"I was totally blown away. I couldn't believe that Hinata was basically telling him to start afresh with me. Hinata of all people! She said that she wasn't upset that I told her that I wanted a guy like Naruto, but for she to start giving us her blessings…Well, I was amazed."

"You didn't think that was odd?" Ino asked with a perfectly arched eyebrow hovering.

"I did think so, yes. I mean, this was Hinata. But I think that I was being selfish again. I let myself believe that she was being honest, that she truly wanted him to be happy. She knows how he felt about me for so long. And after I had some time to think, it's just like what you said. The alcohol only brought out what I'd had in my heart for a while now."

"I understand what Hinata's saying. I think…I think that we should try."

"Sakura-chan…I…I don't feel the same way."

"Naruto–"

"Maybe you should go."

"I got a bit angry. You know me."

Ino nodded vehemently and Sakura laughed.

"Naruto, do you know how worried I was about you when you disappeared for a month? I feel like I failed you when you needed me the most? I know that I didn't try hard enough. I wondered if I would ever see you again. Hinata is telling you to move on. I'm willing to move on from Sasuke-kun. Now that I can like you all that I want because you have no one by your side you still push me away. You look horrible, but you keep saying that you're okay. Let me stay next to you."

"Sakura-chan . . . I'm a bit uncomfortable about you acting this way . . ."

"I didn't give up on him. I just kept coming around until he changed his mind about us, until he was ready."

Ino looked doubtful the whole time that Sakura was talking and ended up saying,

"Hmm."

Ino went about pruning her plant while Sakura waited for her to elaborate. She didn't. Finally Sakura lost her patience and said,

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." Sakura gave her a look. "Well, it's just that to me it seems that guilt was the motivator in you finally coming to accept Naruto...and maybe for Naruto as well."

Abrupt and absolute anger stung in Sakura's eyes. "How can you reduce it to that? Even if it is so, how can you reduce it like that?"

The mood soured and Sakura took up her bags and without a word was out of the shop in an instant leaving Ino with a what-the-heck-just-happened expression.

Kurenai had a lot of experience dealing with Hinata. The girl was an open book that was being read out loud when it came to her emotions. That was generally not a good thing in the ninja world and to be honest, a lot of people looked at Hinata with scorn in that regard. Her mealy-mouthed behaviour made most folks think her tiresome what with the stuttering and the blushing and the fainting and the inability to maintain eye contact. She was so shy that she seemed incapable of holding an expression for too long for fear that her cough would make someone else sneeze.

But Kurenai had witnessed Hinata's progression over the years. She had personally seen her student evolve from an exasperatingly shy little girl to a woman who could hold her own in battle and command attention and respect as the leader of her Clan. She didn't make a complete 180. No, Hinata was still very much the same, but she had learned to settle herself into a more positive mould and not be so extreme. She was reserved, cautious and caring instead of reticent, fearful and a complete bleeding heart.

And that was all thanks to the men in Hinata's life. Hiashi, Neji, Kiba, Shino and of course the biggest influence, Naruto, had a hand in shaping Hinata's behaviour and outlook on life. In the last two years however, the death of one male drove Hinata nearly to her extremes again.

But one person was trying again with her. One man was slowly driving Hinata and Kurenai could hardly believe the effect that Sasuke Uchiha, of all people, was having on her favourite student. However, at the moment, it seemed that Sasuke Uchiha was slowly driving Hinata insane.

In the last three weeks, Kurenai watched as at least five different emotions would flicker across Hinata's face at the mere mention of Sasuke's name. Worse yet, if she thought that he was going to show up in front of her, the girl made an instant calculation of all escape routes. Hinata seemed intent on avoiding Sasuke in any way. There were times when Kurenai would notice that Hinata would be using her Byakugan. Her student's intention was to look like she was scanning through the files, but Kurenai suspected that Hinata was spying on the Uchiha. Her expression gave her away – a mixture of regret, confusion and contemplation. And for whatever reason, any talk of the upcoming ume matsuri seemed to set her off in a distracted trail of depression. Kurenai had had enough.

"Let's all go get something to eat." Kurenai suggested. They'd worked non-stop for the last six hours and they were all hungry.

"Barbecue?" Kiba suggested and Kurenai and Shino agreed. Kurenai watched surreptitiously as Hinata dropped her pen, bent to pick it up and then agreed that yes, barbecue sounds like a lovely idea. They all pretended that they didn't notice the brief spike in her chakra as she no doubt had briefly activated her Byakugan.

Tomorrow would be the start of the plum blossom festival. The Village seemed to be transmitting a low hum of excitement and though it wasn't the frantic hysteria to be found with the sakura festival, the buzz was still there.

They sat near to a wall at the innermost part of the seating area of the mostly empty restaurant. The lunch rush had ended and the two o'clock scene was sparsely populated. Kurenai made sure to box Hinata into the booth while Shino and Kiba sat opposite. The thinly sliced beef and vegetables arrived and Kurenai and her team decided to launch their attack.

"Hinata-chan, did something happen between you and Sasuke?"

Hinata froze with her choptsticks hovering over a piece of carrot. She seemed to be weighing how best to lie.

"Don't lie to us." Kiba jumped in, fixing her with a pointed stare.

"We know that something has been going on between you and Sasuke." Shino stated. "How? Because I have seen that your interactions with him have diminished compared to the last few months. Plus, you react strongly against Sasuke's name as you're doing now."

Hinata tried to rearrange her face into a more neutral expression of I-am-obviously-trying-to-hide-something.

"It started right after you heard that Naruto and Sasuke got into that fight…over you." Kiba accused.

They sat back and waited in a very much 'There, deny that!' sort of way.

Hinata contemplated jumping behind the booth and making a run for it, but she knew that she wouldn't get far, not if she didn't incapacitate them first and she could never do that against her teammates.

She took a while, but after a minute she near whispered,

"Umm…uhh…I think that Sasuke-san is…courting me."

They all knew it already, yet to actually hear confirmation sent them into shock. They were all wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Then they collected themselves enough to stare at her eagerly, clearly demanding that she tell them everything.

Hinata couldn't quite muster herself up to do that, so she resorted to telling her story in parts with few sentences as if she were giving them a story outline and she wanted them to fill in the details.

"He started talking to me more last year. I sometimes help him with his new house. He doesn't really like strawberry picking, but I do. He likes to tease me. He bought me a really expensive kimono after he threw up on my mother's."

They took a deep breath because they had experience with Hinata and loved her and knew that she required patience from them. Anyone else and they'd be on murder charges.

"Okay, Hinata-chan, what happened the day after Naruto's fight with Sasuke? You seemed to have…taken that a bit hard."

Hinata looked uncomfortable by her former teacher's question. Her entire body was clenched with anxiety, but she was trying her best to keep it cool. She went back to grilling a piece of meat and they followed suit, knowing that one had to give Hinata just a bit of time.

"I…I overheard a conversation. Hokage-sama accused Sasuke-san of pursuing me because I was just a goal to him. He didn't deny it." It was said in a rushed whisper. She was looking down at her plate, picking at her vegetables desultorily, her eyes focussed on that day.

"Hmm. Sometimes, being someone's goal isn't a bad thing." Shino said and Hinata looked up at him curiously and he continued,

"Sasuke Uchiha is a man known for his unwavering pursuit of his objectives. He's had many objectives over the years that were all part of two goals – avenge his Clan and restore dignity to the Uchiha name. From what everyone knows, he's never had an object of affection. If he's pursuing you, the evidence shows that it will be serious. Sasuke Uchiha is not known for his sense of humour or his interest in wasting time."

Hinata didn't really know what to say. She felt an unease in her heart.

"You really doubt his intentions?" Kiba asked, but she couldn't answer him. Her mind was on Sobetsu and all of the other times that they spent working on the house and that intimate moment they shared in his office. She could still feel his fingers on hers.

"Hinata," Kurenai said gently, forcing her former student to look up, "I was never a fan of Sasuke. He's easy to admire, but very difficult to like. But what we're working on, searching the archives… There are field nin and there are desk nin and I think that Sasuke is wise enough to know the difference. We might not necessarily be the best people for this job. We're all Jounin level nin and there are other trusted researchers who have more experience in burrowing. Yes, Sasuke has known us for years and that would factor into his reason for choosing this specific mix of people, but I think that he chose us to work with you for other reasons. You know that you've fallen away from us recently. He's being very considerate of you."

Hinata hadn't even recognized that. She was too busy being angry with him. But another little dissenting voice piped up in her head.

"Is it consideration or pity or something far less admirable?" She said quietly.

"You wouldn't be feeling so betrayed if you didn't initially think that he truly cared." Shino said.

"And you wouldn't be feeling so betrayed if you didn't care so much."

Hinata never thought that Kiba would be the voice of reason, but his statement made her check herself. The problem wasn't Sasuke. It was her. She didn't really doubt his sincerity. She doubted her ability to reciprocate and not hurt him. And then, there was Naruto…To know that he wasn't happy with Sakura made her emotionally regress. She just wanted him to be happy. She had done so much to him. It made her frighten how much she cared for him still. What did that mean? What were her feelings for him?

Of course she couldn't properly articulate a fear so deeply personal, but she didn't have to. They seemed to already know what was holding her back.

Lunch was a quiet affair after that. Hinata seemed to be lost in her thoughts, weighing what she should do.

The sky was a sullen, leaden grey; impenetrable to sunlight. Low, grey clouds clung to the horizon portending a torrential downpour. Baji Koen was a spacious park with playgrounds scattered about for the children. There were dressage tests for the horses, so families could sit back on stands and watch that parade of precision. There were also more than one hundred beautiful plum blossom species in the plum grove that filled the air with their faint fragrance. Despite the melancholy weather, the park seemed idyllic.

Sakura's mother had spread a blanket on the grass for a picnic, determined to make their family outing a success despite the very real threat of rain. Naruto's father-in-law was trying to stay out of his wife's line of sight lest she fix him with something to do and had gone for a walk around the park to take pictures of the plum blossoms and the horses. Like Naruto, he just wanted to relax. Sakura was with Teinosuke who was being rather clingy to his mother today, while Ryuichi was a bit more adventurous. His bright blue eyes were alight with wonder and excitement at the horses. Eventually Naruto carried him to the stables. The little chubby fingers kept reaching out to touch the jet black mane of the animal.

"It's like Hinata-san's hair, isn't it?" He murmured to his son. Ryuichi looked up in confusion. Naruto smiled.

"Hinata-san is big brother's mummy, remember? Big brother had hair like this. It was smooth, not wild like ours." He ruffled his son's hair and the baby giggled as his fringe tickled his forehead. He reached up to pull on his father's hair.

Naruto always marvelled at how his children were so different. The twins were the spitting image of him; Sakura having not much input in the final product really, while Hinata's blood was a lot stronger as his firstborn looked a lot like her with her eyes and the trademark smooth, dark Hyuuga hair.

In his private times with the boys he liked to tell them of their big brother. He regaled them with tales of their brother's antics and mischief, his intelligence and curiosity and all of the potential he had. He compared and contrasted his children: you two are so different from him; he hated bananas, but you boys love them. He held them up to his first son's scrutiny: you really shouldn't hit your brother because you know that big brother is looking down on you and he wouldn't like it if you fight. In his really quiet times, like when he visited the grave, he'd lie back on the soft grass of the hill overlooking the Village and just gab about all of the things his twins got up to.

Of course he didn't do any of those things in front of Sakura! He didn't do that in front of anyone. Nearly two and half years had passed since his son died and less than a year since the twins were born and he had yet to get caught. Usually he activated his sage mode when he did such things and even if he didn't, his unusually sharp ninja skills meant no one would ever sneak up on him and overhear him, unless he was mightily distracted. He supposed that he was either distracted to the point that his brain was in another dimension or that Sakura sneaking up behind him and overhearing his conversation was part of some subconscious effort on his part to allow that to happen.

He turned around with a start to see her standing right behind him at the stables. Teinosuke wiggled in her arms.

"Ah! Sakura…"

She did not answer, only stared at him and he felt his heart rate quicken. He began to speak to her in a manner best for trying to talk a person off a building ledge – rambling in a soothing tone as the content didn't matter, only the apologetic and mollifying pitch.

"I was just telling Ryuichi here about the horse's hair. He really seems to like the animal. And I could understand that. There's a certain power underneath. I mean, they look really royal. They're kinda calm and friendly, yet the danger's there, you know…"

"Hmm."

He wished he could shut up. What was he even talking about?!

They left the stables and ambled in awkward silence around the spacious park eventually coming upon the plum blossom grove. There were so many different varieties! Naruto took in the sweet fragrance of the grove. Finches, robins, blue warblers and nightingales whistled and trilled and worked their way among the branches and flowers, flitting in and about. Naruto stopped and let his eyes go unfocussed. For one brief moment he was actually able to enter Sage Mode and feel nature's energy around him. There was a peaceful resonance about the grove, so Sakura, who seemed to emitting a frequency of disappointment and regret and anger stood out to him like a candle in a dark night.

He opened his eyes and turned to her and it seemed that she had finally made up her mind to talk to him honestly.

"Naruto…I spoke to Ino yesterday…"

Oh boy, Naruto thought, this could never end well for me, but he kept his face neutral.

"I want you to answer me honestly." Naruto felt his heart clinch. "Did you and Sasuke get into that fight because you're jealous of Sasuke's interest," She faltered at the word and was unable to hide her discomfort at the thought, "…in Hinata?"

Naruto considered his wife. She didn't look like she was going to hit him. But to be fair, he was an idiot at most times when things seemed obvious. He sighed and opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off.

"I know that you were. Ino said something to me and she got me thinking." She swallowed hard and shifted her focus to her sons. "We have unfinished business with Hinata and Sasuke-kun and until we settle those things we won't be happy."

Naruto's eyes bulged. "What? What are you trying to say?"

"I'm giving you permission."

"Per –, P-p-p-" He couldn't believe he was stuttering! "What?!"

"Listen to me. I'm giving you permission to see if you can settle things with Hinata. No matter the outcome, these are your boys and nothing will stop that."

"Look Sakura –"

"No, Naruto. I'm serious. Until everything's been settled…we won't be happy…with or without each other."

She looked up at him, her face an illustration of grim determination. She turned and walked ahead of him.

Naruto was flabbergasted. He seriously needed to have a talk with Ino!

Rain was falling. It was nearing two in the afternoon and the heavens had opened up and were letting bucketfuls of water fall to the earth below. Sasuke stood leaning on the door frame of his unfinished home and listened intently to the raindrops dropping from the eaves of his house and seeping into the grass. When the wind blew, it brought a light mist that sprayed onto the wooden frame of the house and the piles of firewood leaning against it, raising the scent of fresh cut wood and forest. The front yard was now a soupy mess of mud and patches of lawn. After he finished the plumbing, he'd turn his head to the electricity and putting in a stone pathway, he thought.

The scents and sounds took him back to childhood places. His own front yard where his mother grew a few pots of red rose plants; the patch of woods where he and his brother chased that boar; the strong scent of pine trees; the warmth of stained, dark wood under his cool feet when he came in from the rain. This house and Hinata's house always seemed to take his thoughts back to a time before everything went to hell. What surprised him was that he didn't mind it. Before, he would have eschewed all thoughts on the past, before the massacre as it only fuelled his depression and not his rage. Instead for the longest while he would myopically look back on only That Night because it lit a fire under his need to avenge. But now, since he had this house and since he'd started talking to Hinata, he felt a calmness that inspired him, that made him want to reconnect with the past intimately. He feared that he was getting old. He was quite "along in his years" for the ninja world. Kakashi disagreed and said with a knowing smirk in his eyes that he was wearing rose-tinted glasses due to other reasons…Sasuke didn't bother to ask him to elaborate.

The overgrown bamboo patch that led to Hinata's house swayed violently in the wind, noisily battling with the rain for making its presence known. Hadn't he ask her to trim that bamboo patch, he thought. It was getting out of hand to the point where it was almost completely blocking the path. One had to move the branches out of the way to gain access to the pathway, all the while the spindly branches actively pushed at you, trying to prevent you from going further.

Sasuke wasn't one to give much thought to symbols and signals outside of ninjutsu, but lately the overgrown bamboo was bothering him. In the last three weeks, the bamboo seemed to have grown vexed and eremitic, thorny and reclusive. Yes, he was quite aware that he was giving way too much credit to a bamboo having so many humanistic traits. He was not stupid. He knew that in his mind, the bamboo seemed to be mirroring Hinata in the last three weeks. The bamboo displaying emotional capabilities was all in his mind. Hinata was actually demonstrating such behaviour.

He had gone directly from the hospital to her house after his argument with Naruto and had seen her entering the Hyuuga Compound. He was just about a hundred yards behind her. The morning was foggy, but he could make out her walk, the indigo patina of her hair and of course the rather bulky silhouette she cast with those baggy, formless clothes. By the time he reached the gate, a bit slower than he'd like since his ribs and chest were still achingly sore, she had already gone inside. When he called on her, he was about to be let in because by now everyone knew him, however, a messenger interrupted the guard at the gate from admitting him entrance. The messenger whispered into the guard's ear and soon Sasuke was informed that "Hinata-dono was not at home and was not expected to be home soon today." Sasuke found it odd, but shrugged it off. She was probably tired. She had no doubt worked a twenty-four hour shift and had to get up in three hours to head back to the Hokage Tower.

He had left and returned three days later when he spotted her leaving work at a respectable hour at five in the afternoon. He followed her intentionally this time, again seeing her enter her house, and again was told that she was not at home.

The next day he decided to call on her from the West Gates instead. He started down the stone pathway, but the bamboo branches nearly took out his eye and he slashed at it with his kunai, all the while wondering since when had the bamboo grown so out of hand. Knowing for a fact again that she was in the garden since he could sense her chakra signature, he was a bit annoyed and a lot confused as to why she was not receiving his visits.

He could have confronted her at work, but he decided to keep his personal and professional life separate in this instance. He had no reason to interact directly with her seeing as how Kurenai was the group leader and he got all reports from her.

Had he crossed some invisible line of manners with the kimono gift? He had proceeded with all of the politesse of gift-giving and she had as well in the gift-receiving department, so it must be the connotations of the gift itself. She was smart and savvy to subtle; she would figure out what he was saying with the gift. The pale outlines of his intentions and his courtship of her were not there for all to see, just the two of them. He thought that there was something there between them – the potential, the sensuality, the attraction, the tranquillity – drifting right under the surface of their interactions. Is it that she disagreed with his intentions? The ume matsuri was being held today, later in the Village. The plum blossoms that were delicately painted on the kimono were to serve as her deadline. Would she give him an answer tonight?

The thought of rejection gave him a sense of uneasiness. One half of him bristled from the anger and the indignation at the thought of her rejecting him. The other half, the half that held his indefatigable drive, urged to keep chasing her. A small part of his brain kept reminding him of Naruto's accusations – she's just a goal to you. He forcibly stifled the thought.

He looked out onto the bemired yard. The rain now fell aslant and was starting to wet him. He would have to install a porch too, he thought. But his drive to work on the house was less than zero. It always was when she was not around to help him. He needed her to say yes to his unasked question. He would just have to wait and see.

Sasuke dressed very carefully – dark blue hakama, grey kimono and dark blue haori with the Uchiha crest prominent on the back. He went to the festival expressly for the purpose of an answer to his question. The rain had stopped, but the sun still hadn't burst through the clouds, instead thy sky guaranteed only more rain.

Sasuke walked down Pond Street, instantly regretting his wardrobe as it seemed to set his fan girls into a dizzy. They seemed to pop up from behind every tree and dustbin taking photographs and cooing and ahhing and blushing. He met up with Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin. Karin cooed, ahhed and blushed, but at least there was Suigetsu to bark at her for her nonsense and distract her. They walked up the steps leading towards the festival that was being held at the park next to the red caterpillar bridge. Karin and the others went to the food stands to snack on okonomiyaki, takoyaki, soba noodles and get tipsy off the ume wine. Karin of course offered him wine, but he refused. There was no way that he'd let himself get drunk near her. Besides, he couldn't eat or drink a thing. He couldn't remember a time that he felt so nervous. He stepped away from the group and went to stand on the bridge, his sharp eyes scanning the horizon for a particular presence.

Sasuke realized his situational disadvantage when he noticed his gaggle of fan girls had cornered him on the bridge. His only saviour was the intense amount of killing intent he was giving off. The more time that passed, the angrier he got.

The crowd picked up when the omikoshi came resting on the shoulders of many. Men and women dressed in white yukatas came down the steps in a throng of more than a hundred strong. The golden, divine palanquin rested on the shoulders of strong men as they swayed the omikoshi up and down and left and right. The noise created quite the hubbub what with the whistles and the clapping and the shouting. As they neared the festival they beckoned people to join them and Sasuke supposed that even his fan girls got caught up in the sweeping arms of the excited crowds. He hated crowds.

In his disgust he turned toward the water, looking into its murky depths. The place was a bit cold and the clouds turned from heather grey to gunmetal and dreary grey. Long reflections of the ume trees were mirrored at the water's edge and Sasuke thought of the ume blossoms that he expressly instructed the kimono designer to incorporate on the kimono he gave to Hinata. The water was smooth like black glass and he felt like sinking into it just to disturb the pattern of stillness.

He first saw her by her reflection in the water. She was standing right next to him. He looked up and regarded her in the kimono that he had bought her. He had never complimented a woman before in his life and he had no idea how to go about doing that and not sound like a completely different person to himself. He wanted to tell her that she looked absolutely stunning, but he settled for,

"Where the hell have you been?"

She looked shocked, but then noticed that he was trying to bring down the corners of his mouth and next thing she knew she was fighting the urge to smile too.

She had so many things that she wanted to say to him: that she wasn't completely ready, that she hadn't sorted out all of her feelings for him or Naruto; that there was no guarantee that she could be better, but she was willing to try. But she supposed that she would tell him in time.

An old, civilian couple saw them talking and the lady came up to politely ask if they could take their picture. Sasuke opened his mouth to refuse, but Hinata graciously accepted before he could rudely dismiss the couple. Though she didn't like pictures herself, the couple was old and quite polite. She stood next to Sasuke with her hands clasped demurely in front of her and a slight smile as she fixed her sight on something far in the distance. Sasuke leaned on the railing of the bridge and cleared his throat rather loudly. Hinata looked up at him in quiet curiosity and the old lady snapped the picture right then. Hinata didn't even get time to protest that she wasn't ready before the old lady thanked her and said that she'd mail the picture to the Hyuuga Compound soon.

Hinata turned to Sasuke in annoyance. "Why did you do that?!"

"Do what?" He gave her one of those rare smiles and she felt a heat run up her entire body.

"Never mind. D-do you want to get something to eat?"

"Hn. Nothing sweet, though. And none for you either. You eat too many sweets."

"There're never enough sweets in a person's life. Maybe you should have more sweets in your life, Sasuke-san. Then you wouldn't be so grumpy and going about spoiling people's pictures." She murmured the last part.

"I have enough sweets in my life." He gave her a pointed look and she blushed. He smirked, feeling self-conscious at his flirting. He was not very good at it.

Naruto and Sakura entered the festival from the other side of the park as the crowd with the omokoshi were coming across the bridge to the other side. They were grateful that they'd left the boys at home with their grandparents as they knew that the crowds would be too much for them. They could see Sasuke on the bridge with Hinata. Hinata was blushing at something Sasuke had said. The crowd had reached the bridge and a bottleneck of people was created. Naruto witnessed Sasuke gently take Hinata by her arm and steer her away from the crowd, protectively (but not being too obvious about it) standing in front of her. Hinata blushed some more.

Sakura watched as Naruto's eyes hardened. Naruto noticed that Sakura kept clenching her fists as she stared and stared at Sasuke and Hinata.

"Remember what I said, Naruto." She whispered and he looked away conflicted.

A/N: Takes a strong man to handle a fragile woman. Sasuke isn't known for being gentle though…Comments please!