Missing the Green
Chapter 2: The Complex
A/N: Hi, back after four years. Most of this chapter was actually written not long after the first chapter, so it won't be until next chapter (if it's ever written and published...) that any differences/improvements in my writing will be made apparent. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: All rights to Kishimoto and whoever else has the Naruto rights.
Sakura found herself chattering away to her willing-eared companion, who nodded and smiled and added brief commentaries here and there. They strolled in a seemingly random pattern through the Hyuuga gardens, until Hinata came to a stop in front of a large complex that was just a bit more elegant and larger than everything else.
"It's my… house." Hinata explained. "But Father lives here too. Hanabi could, but she chose to live with Konohamaru." Sakura choked. Has everyone hooked up with someone while I was gone?!
"K-Konohamaru?!" Hinata looked amused.
"My father's thoughts exactly." She sobered. "There isn't much left for her here, anyways; if she had stayed, there was still the off-chance that she could be branded with the Branch Seal." Sakura nodded.
Even with all of Hinata's tireless working to get rid of the Branch Seal, old traditions die hard, and Hinata didn't have absolute power. Many of the Hyuuga elders probably opposed reform to the Branch Seal tradition, however horrific it was.
"Don't you ever get lonely?" Sakura stared up at the enormous building.
"I try to fill it with people," Hinata said simply. "But I only sleep here; most of my time is spent in other parts of the Hyuuga complex." They lapsed into silence as they went in, and Sakura took in the sparse decorations and wondered how anyone could make white and lavender seem like such a depressing combination of colors.
Hinata turned an almost-hidden corner, and Sakura followed in her wake. They came upon a room that was, like the rest of the house, excruciatingly elegant and well-kept, and had a low center table with seat cushions.
"Please, sit." The Hyuuga gestured towards a cushion. "I'll go brew some tea."
"Okay, I'll just amuse myself by staring at these fascinating white walls." Sakura silently congratulated herself on coaxing a tiny smile out of her friend.
"You're welcome to."
The pink-haired kunoichi found herself zoning off into space, as the muted clinking from the adjoining kitchen went on and on. Did it really take this long to make tea? Oh well, they probably had some sort of elaborate secret Hyuuga recipe…
She failed to notice the sound of the main door sliding open, then close. But a good ninja wouldn't actually ever be fully out of it, so Sakura's blood still froze as she heard,
"Hyuuga-sama, your father accosted me again. He seems to be under the impression that I am courting you." That voice. That voice. Low and velvety in an unintentionally sensual way, brimming full of self-assurance to the point of arrogance… Neji? No, no, Neji's voice was lower in pitch… (And he was dead…) So that must mean…
Her heart leaped into her throat and she nearly forgot how to breathe as the light, feathery footsteps, a graceful shinobi's traipse, came closer and closer to her.
Sakura vaguely noticed that she was gripping her white dress by the front so tightly the stiches were popping.
"Hinata? It's considered rude to not come greet guests–"And now he was in the doorway and she actually had forgotten how to breathe and his face was openly shocked (she hadn't seen this expression since a time that she wanted to forget) and obsidian black eyes met malachite green eyes and he opened his mouth and closed it and the feeling swelled up in her gut and…
"Sakura." She visibly tensed up, but it was just a statement, his voice not devoid of any emotion but not containing any emotion either and on reflex, she grabbed the vase on the table, almost shattering it with her grip alone.
"Are you going to throw that at me?" Sasuke asked nonchalantly, raising one eyebrow. But Sakura didn't answer, her head bowed in her hands and body shaking, the vase forgotten.
And only when her palms were wet did she realize she was crying again and Kami knows why but she always cried in his presence, even last time, three whole years ago when she left him alone in his apartment and the tears starting streaming and she was always so ashamed of them because she never exactly knew why she was crying. She didn't know why she hated him and she didn't know why everyone was dead and she didn't know why Naruto left her to go play hero and die and she didn't know why going back to Konoha was like ripping open and grinding salt into an old wound-
The crying only got worse when she felt another weight fall lightly next to her on the sofa, but after an indefinite amount of time had based, the tears gradually subsided. She half-opened her eyes, to a tray of tea and delicacies on the table.
"Hinata handed this to me and then disappeared…" that dumb voice was back, coming from her right side. "Sorry. I know you don't really want to be alone with me…" And now she felt guilty. Well hell, she was guilty. She had ignored him, ran away from him, screamed at him… so maybe that gut feeling was guilt, not anxiety? "But you don't have a choice. I've decided that we need to talk. Or have a one-sided screaming fit. Whatever works." Sakura had an odd, aching urge to roll her eyes. She could freaking hear the smirk in his voice.
"And why do we need to do that?" She nearly winced at how harshly it came out. But as expected, Sasuke was unfazed.
"Because bottling up emotions is bad for your health and mental stability." Sakura snorted. She couldn't help herself.
"I don't think you really have any right to lecture me on that topic." Sasuke dipped his head once in acknowledgement.
She felt akin to a child throwing a tantrum, and conversely Sasuke was the exasperatingly patient parent. This was definitely not how their meeting had gone in her mind… then again, she had sort-of planned on never seeing him again. And then there was the fact that this was so suspiciously coincidental with her visit to the Hyuuga…
"Did Hinata send for you?" he didn't reply. Her suspicions were confirmed. "You two are really chummy, aren't you?" Sakura cursed the trace of bitterness in her otherwise light tone. I'm not bitter… So why do I sound bitter?
Maybe you are bitter, Sakura. In addition to being childish and unforgiving and a crybaby.
Just shut up, you.
"Hn. Is that a note of jealousy I hear?" Sasuke's tone was light like hers, but careful and reserved.
He didn't trust her.
It was probably just her imagination, but Sakura felt a twinge of disappointment.
However, now she didn't feel sad or angry so much as indignant, which was a much easier emotion to deal with.
"Listen up, Uchiha-sama." She fixed him with a glare that would've sent Naruto cringing for the incoming blow, but which Sasuke met with an even gaze. "I am not in love with you. I have not been in love with you for a long, long time. I don't even like you. To me, we are on worse terms than two random strangers on a street." She silently congratulated herself on her steely tone, mentally pumping her fist at how professional she sounded.
"No one said you were in love with me." Sasuke said calmly, raising an eyebrow. Sakura blinked. Dammit, he has me trapped in a hole of my own creation.
"Well, I'm not."
"You're lying." He said coolly, in the same tone as one remarks on the weather in. Sakura shot him an insulted look.
"Am not."
"You're transparent, Sakura." She seethed internally at his condescending tone, but let him go on out of pure curiosity of what this new, relatively rather word-vomit-prone Sasuke would say.
"You never stopped caring about me. You just hid from your feelings in a pitiful attempt to grieve for Naruto; and your marriage to Gaara? Well we can just call it a political union, rather conveniently perfect for strengthening the bond between our two villages. The only man you have ever loved is me."
What the fuck.
Sakura openly gawked at him, and then all she knew was one minute she saw blood red and heard unbridled rage pounding in her ear and the next instant, her hand had shot out on it's own accord and slapped Sasuke, hard enough to send him reeling. (Inner Sakura Sidenote: Oh my God, I landed a hit on Sasuke wow left-behind who?! HAH)
Her knuckles stung and her palm was red, but Kami did it feel good to see him clutching his cheek in pain. Pain that she had caused. And she wasn't even a (certified) sadist.
Sakura had never before hit Sasuke-kun, and she decided now wasn't a bad time to start.
"You went too far." She said simply, and stood up and left.
She ignored the man's lingering indecipherable gaze, and stalked, rather dramatically, out of the Hyuuga compound.
"Sakura."
"Don't talk to me!" she was storming around the hotel room, throwing random clothes and objects and banging the walls as Gaara watched, slightly annoyed but mostly amused. "How dare he! 'Political union'?! 'The only man you've ever loved is me'- MY ASS, that bastard… and why aren't you mad?! He definitely insulted your manhood!" She pointed an accusing finger at the red-headed man, who was still serene as a swan.
"He didn't mean it."
"Like hell he didn't! Sasuke means every single thing he ever says!" Sakura was outraged that Gaara was actually siding with him. What was supposed to happen was that Gaara would indignantly agree with her account, and together they'd march over to wherever Sasuke lived to give him the beating of his life.
"The Sasuke that you remember. From when he was approximately twelve. People change, Sakura."
"Not Sasuke!" her fiancé sighed with exasperation.
"Wel… all that aside, at least now you're on semi-talking terms, and that's all Hinata and I wanted." Gaara's tone was oh-so-casual, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"'Hinata and I'… oh, I see, this was all a conspiracy theory to piss me off, wasn't it? You… I understand why," Gaara coughed. "But Hinata?!"
"It wasn't to piss you off… it was to reunite you and Uchiha-sama."
"…" Sakura looked extremely dubious. "'Uchiha-sama'… wait don't tell me…"
"The council finally let him back on."
"But you can't have one-person clans… and how would they even know that he's trustworthy?"
"You voiced the exact concerns of much of the council. You know, you sound an awful lot like them, for someone who despises those 'ancient wheezebags'." There was an undertone of accusation in Gaara's voice, and she flinched.
When did I become so horrible?
A while ago. You've been acting like nothing but a sulky brat during this entire trip.
But Sasuke has been a total moronic blockhead!
So? His goal was to get you to stop ignoring him. Well, now you have!
He never does anything just for attention.
Well, this time what he actually wanted was your attention, wasn't it?
"Sa-ku-ra." Gaara waved his hand in front of her face, and she blinked out of her stupor (otherwise known as conversation with a voice inside her head). "I hope you have come to a conclusion in your silent debate with yourself." She scowled at him.
"I was just thinking," she protested. "Why would he target you to get my attention, though?"
"Hn, the man probably knows what's most important in your life," Gaara smirked, and Sakura rolled her eyes at this blatant display of male smugness. "But in all seriousness, you need to meet with him again. And not stomp out in the middle."
"No way!" she squawked.
"Why ever not? Do you really want to leave for Sand, with him still blindly believing that you are pining after him?"
"He doesn't actually believe that."
"So why are you so mad about it?" Sakura was silent.
It's easier to be angry than anything else.
"Everything aside, dinner. Tonight. Hyuuga compound. 7 o'clock. And you and Sasuke-san are going to clear everything up, or we're not leaving."
"Stop bossing me around, that's extremely sexist."
"Stop changing the subject. Be there. Before then, I have a meeting with Tsunade-sama, so you can do… whatever you want."
"You're acting like my dad, Gaara."
"Sayonara!" Sakura glared after the closing door, and decided now wouldn't be a bad time to pay Ino a visit.
She did miss their bitching sessions, after all.
"… and after all that, I get home and I find out that my dearest fiancé orchestrated the entire thing! And thinks I'm a hypocritical child!" Ino was impatiently drumming her fingers against the table, evidently not used to being the ear instead of the mouth, but Sakura went on. "So that is why my trip to Konoha so far is rather terrible."
They were in Ino's small apartment, directly above the Yamanaka shop. It was simple, but definitely not sparse like the Hyuuga rooms; piles and piles of plain stuff haphazardly decorated the flat, many of which Sakura nearly tripped over. She decided that she liked it much better than Hinata's place.
"You seem to have taken a liking to complaining." Ino smiled cheekily at her companion, who bristled with indignation.
"Don't you dare, you bitch all the time, Ino-pig."
"Don't call me that, forehead girl."
"Have I ever done what you say? Anyways, if I took all of your ranting and raving about your shitty life over the years with relative patience, you can hear me through on this."
"So are you done yet?" the blonde examined her nails, and Sakura huffed in annoyance.
"Hinata is a much better listener than you."
"Then why don't you go to her?" Ino snapped, and Sakura blinked at her friend's suddenly poisonous tone.
"I can't complain to her about her own plans, Ino."
"Okay. Okay, great." Ino mumbled. "It's wonderful knowing you were second choice, it's a real ego booster." Then it dawned on Sakura.
"Are you… mad at me?" she asked tentatively.
"No, Sakura, of course I'm not. I'm definitely just going to be ecstatic that you're back, I'm just going to ignore the fact that you never wrote, you never told me you were going, you never visited… And you. Never. Mention. You. Were. Engaged. Ever." Ino looked fairly livid, and Sakura shrunk back. It wasn't like she didn't deserve this tirade, after all. "You never said you even talked to Gaara! Or that you were friends! Or that you were in a freaking relationship!" she added, after taking in a breath.
"Sorry, sorry…" the pink-haired kunoichi said apologetically, but Ino was still glaring balefully at her. "I really am. Sorry."
"That's not going to cut it, Sakura." She said coolly.
"Then what is?"
"… attending this dinner tonight."
"… this is all a fucking "torture Sakura-chan!" conspiracy, isn't it." Sakura glared daggers at her blonde companion, who returned her look with a roll of her eyes.
"A conspiracy by people who love you, Sakura. Even though you didn't write for three years." Sakura winced. She's using this against me. Manipulative bastard. "It's just a teensy little dinner."
"'Teensy little dinner, my ass."
"Oh, don't be such a coward."
"I hate you, Ino." Sakura crossed her arms and pouted. It didn't have any effect, as Sakura was 20 and not 2, and Ino gently punched her friend's side.
"Well, if you're quite done blabbering on," Sakura snorted ("You're such a hypocrite"). "It's my turn to talk. You've heard about the whole Hanabi and Konohamaru thing, right? Well, if you think that's shocking, wait 'til you hear this…"
Sakura had been in a lot of awkward situations in her 20 or so years of being alive. With both Kakashi and Naruto on her genin team, public embarrassment had been sort of a daily event.
But all the things those two had made her go through could not hold a candle to this dinner. Not a single fucking candle.
Somehow, the Powers-That-Be had decided it would be a good idea to stick her, Gaara, Hinata, and the bastard at a four-person table to eat extremely expensive food prepared by the Hyuuga kitchens, in an atmosphere of silence that was louder than noise. Three of the quietest people, in all of Konoha and/or Suna and possibly the entire fucking world, and a fourth person who had decided to sulk and not say anything more than "Pass the vinegar, please," the entire evening. All having dinner together. Satan himself couldn't have orchestrated a better scenario guaranteed to elicit prolonged torture.
The soundboard of the entire meal had basically consisted of soft clinks of porcelain against wood, porcelain against porcelain. And it was driving Sakura crazy.
But interestingly enough, Sasuke had barely noted her presence all evening. Something that in (what seemed like) a past life, would've irritated her, but now she was just oddly grateful for it.
Gaara cleared his throat. Sakura gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. Don't do anything you're going to regret when I beat your skull in. He ignored the look.
"So… I heard from Tsunade that you two," he gestured to Sasuke and Hinata, both of whom glanced up at the same time, "are dating?"
Sakura choked on her food. To avoid her three companions newly trained gaze on her, she grabbed the glass of water next to her plate and chugged it down as if her life depended on it.
"Konoha is a relentless rumor mill." Sasuke remarked idly, his tone almost amused.
"Ah, but the Hokage isn't the primary proponent of this mill, now is she?" Gaara retorted calmly, raising his nonexistent eyebrows at the two dark-haired people across from him. Neither of them so much as blinked.
"Sasuke just calls in a lot at my house. If he weren't a bachelor and/or male, people would think nothing of it." Hinata took a sip of her tea.
"Hinata's my only friend." Sasuke said simply, his tone emotionless. Sakura felt her stomach twist with something that was unmistakably guilt. But she ignored it. "Enough about 'us', though. What about you two?" His gaze flickered towards Sakura for a moment, but was trained back on Gaara again in the flash of a second.
"Oh, just imagine the classic Kage-and-foreign-diplomat storyline in a standard romance novel." Sakura started violently coughing again, and Gaara patted her lightly on the back. "Sparks flew instantly, all that good stuff." Hinata snorted lightly into her teacup, and then gracefully passed it off as a ladylike cough.
"Actually, Kazekage-sama, I don't think Sasuke does know the 'classic Kage-and-foreign-diplomat storyline in a standard romance novel'." Hinata cast a mildly amused side glance at the person in question.
"Actually, I do." All three of his fellow diners mysteriously succumbed to coughing fits at this point in time. "So what you're trying to say is… you had steamy sex on top of the Kage desk, tried to forget that you had steamy sex on top of the Kage desk, and then somewhere in the middle of your raging hormones and emotions realized your true feelings for one another?"
"Exact-" Gaara's monotone answer was cut off halfway by his fiancée clapping her hand over his mouth. Granted, it was over the layer of sand that had shot up to cover his mouth, but now he had sand in his mouth and couldn't speak, so that was good enough.
"Ahem. Ahem. So uh, nice rice your cook made for tonight, Hinata. Really…. white." If Sakura was looking at Sasuke she would've seen him rolling his eyes ever so slightly but she was pointedly not looking at him. But her sixth sense (of course) felt it, so she sent him a poisonous glare, which he didn't see because he was turned towards Hinata.
"Thank you, Sakura. Your culinary appreciation of Hyuuga dishes will be remembered in this household for generations." The planets aligned, and both Gaara and Sasuke chuckled. Out loud. For the first time in five years. Simultaneously.
"You're so full of wit, Hyuuga-sama." Sakura grumbled, stuffing seaweed salad in her mouth. Hinata's eyes twinkled at her.
"If only you were half as witty, Sakura. Maybe this wouldn't be so––" That's it. Sakura turned towards her newly wisecracking fiancé and spit her mouthful of kelp onto his shirt. Or, protective layer of sand, but to Gaara it was equally horrifying. He narrowed his eyes at her (his equivalent of flipping some major shit). "Oh, sorry, I choked on some of it. You wouldn't want me to die because of food lodged in my throat for the sake of dinner manners, now would you?" Sakura smiled sweetly.
"Not at all, not at all… say, Sasuke, what happened to your face?" Gaara innocently gestured at a red mark on the dark-haired man's right cheek. Gaara, you little shit…
"Oh, this small scratch?" He lightly touched the cut/bruise with his fingers. "Mishap with an angry cat this morning. It barely hurt, so all good." Gaara was drinking tea as if his life depended on it. Which it probably did, because if Sakura caught him laughing he was dead meat, impenetrable sand armor or not.
"Why was the cat angry?" Hinata asked, gracefully fidgeting her teacup between her fingers. People who could gracefully fidget made life unfair.
"Isn't that the question of the century?" Sasuke looked straight at Sakura, his onyx eyes boring into hers. She looked back at him, her gaze hardening. Do you really not know?
"The cat probably wanted to wipe that expression off your face. You know the one." Her eyes narrowed. "The one that says, 'Everything is as I know it to be. I know not my wrongs, the things I should apologize for, the things that should make me beg on my knees for forgiveness. I know only how others have wronged me, and nothing of how I have irreparably, devastatingly wronged others. I know not how or when or why I should apologize. Even worse, I don't even want to.'" Her voice never wavered, but Sakura felt the angry, stinging pricks smarting up at the corner of her eyes. She didn't dare to blink, her gaze fixated on the silent man across from her.
He looked back at her.
Her eyes widened, unable to process what she saw there, in the pair of eyes impenetrable as the cold black of the Konoha night sky. A sky that had watched over, in all its impassable indifference, hours and days and weeks and years of pain and growth and heartbreak, that all intertwined brought them back here, to this stupid, awful dinner. In those black Konoha eyes, tiny but unmistakable pools of wetness had formed, which, she faintly acknowledged in the back of her mind, mirrored her own.
Then he blinked, and the pools collapsed, running down, down, down the sharp and smooth plane of his cheeks, down and down an unfamiliar path
Uchiha Sasuke, the Uchiha Sasuke, was crying.
A/N: What will happen next? Stay tuned...