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"Hi," she whispered.
"Hyuga, then?"
She nodded. "You're Uchiha."
He smiled. She liked it. It made him look warm. The men who were older than her, Neji, her father, the elders, never smiled at her like that. Only Iruka-sensei did.
"I heard you're going to live in the palace from now on. We live here too."
Hinata risked crawling forward. She settled on her knees in front of him and he tilted backwards to sit cross-legged.
"Who are you talking to?" Sasuke raged, before coming to a stop. He stood over them, his hands clenched in fists. "Who are you?"
"I'm Hyuga Hinata."
Sasuke's brows furrowed.
"The Hyuga are a clan from Konoha, Sasuke." Itachi quietly explained.
Sasuke's eyes widened. He fell to his knees and scrambled forwards. "Are you a ninja too?"
"Um," Hinata said, unconsciously pressing a hand over her damaged heart. "I'm m-medically retired."
Itachi's face softened while Sasuke's scrunched up in confusion.
"Why-" Sasuke tried to say, but Itachi laid a hand on his shoulder.
"A shame." Itachi said.
Hinata looked down at the ground. Yes. It was a shame. She was a shame.
Her father sent her all the way to the Fire Nation capital because she could not even win a fight with Neji. She had been weak, and paid the price.
Before she could slip into a spiral of despair, a frantic voice cut through the air.
"Lady Hinata!"
Hinata's head rose and she looked behind her.
"Looks like it is time to go back," Itachi said mildly.
"Do I have to?" Hinata wrinkled her nose.
He chuckled and got to his feet. He gestured for his brother to stay put, then guided Hinata upwards and towards a path and the increasingly hysterical calls of her name.
"You know Sasuke and I are here now. Show them what a kunoichi can do." he said.
Hinata looked up at him in confusion. "I'm not a kunoichi anymore."
"Once a kunoichi, always a kunoichi." he said with a wink. "You found us, didn't you?"
The boulder that sat heavily in Hinata's belly since the chunin exams felt slightly lighter. A tiny smile, the first since she got here, grew on her face.
"Yes. I did."
They did not say anything else. Itachi only escorted her to her minders and saluted her before he left, making her giggle.
The old women were beside themselves and livid. Hinata did not even mind. She let them exclaim their horror at her dirty hems and hands. One of them moaned at the sight of a cobweb in her hair. Soon, they would realize she was not a spoiled child. She was a kunoichi.
She could take care of herself.
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Word count: 450
Coming up: Sasuke makes a new friend the only way he knows how.