That night, she was back to training. She went over her katas automatically, warming up her body before reaching over for her shuriken. Getting into position, she aimed and then threw, the weapon barely landing on the edge of the target.
She huffed.
She took another one, this time adjusting her posture slightly, but took a little more of time to decide to throw it. When she did, the shuriken didn't even grace the target, falling to the side with a dry thud.
Hinata sighed.
The Hyuuga clan's main form of combat was by using their Byakugan. The gentle fist was the result of combining their eyes with their own fighting style. The body of a Hyuuga who was proficient at it was a weapon in itself, honed and deadly. Therefore, other weapons such as swords were considered unnecessary, and a downgrade to their style if ever they were implemented. However, even the most skilled of Hyuugas was expected to be able to utilize both shuriken and kunai with ease. It was a basic skill that they should excel at.
And Hinata was anything but excelling on it. Taking another shuriken, she positioned her body like she remembered they told her in the academy, and zoned in on the target. She bit her lip, her grasp on the star-shaped weapon trembling, before throwing it once she felt slightly secure about it.
Another miss, although this time it did manage to grace the side of the target.
Hinata let her hands fall to her sides while she simply stared at the target and littered shuriken with blank eyes. She was so bad at this. Why was she even trying? Maybe this should not be her focus. Maybe she should focus on her gentle fist. But if she couldn't even aim a shuriken correctly on a still target and with plenty of time to adjust her aim, what hope did she have for more advanced forms of combat?
"You are really bad at this."
Hinata jumped, her breath catching in her throat. Her head snapped in the direction of the voice, and was shocked to find one Uchiha Sasuke leisurely making his way over her, hands in the pockets of his shorts while he sported a bored gaze. Hinata quickly lowered her head, feeling a blush creeping up her face. How long had he been there? Enough to see and comment what she already knew: she was horrible at shuriken throwing.
And probably everything else.
Sasuke continued walking until he stopped in front of her, then turned his head to look at the target with a sole shuriken imbedded in it. He raised an eyebrow, before turning his gaze to her.
"So night training takes place in the training fields. Doesn't your family have a personal dojo?"
Hinata lowered even more, if that was possible. "T-This is so I w-won't disturb t-their sleep if I make t-too much noise…"
"And not so they won't know how much you actually suck?"
Hinata shook her head, feeling her eyes become wet at his cruel words. While it was true the training grounds granted her a reprieve from the all-seeing and all-judging eyes of her clan, she was being sincere. Her main reason was not to disturb the main house members.
…and maybe also not have them put her down like they always did whenever she trained in the compound. Though her thoughts, she realized, were almost as damaging as their words.
Sasuke didn't say anything else, and Hinata didn't look up, wondering what he was doing here at this hour of the night. Gathering a bit of her courage, she asked him that question, and he huffed, finally gazing away and allowing her to breathe again.
"I also come here almost every night" he confessed, surprising her. "Sometimes, it is difficult to sleep… and so I train… but I never saw you or heard you before" he commented, frowning. "Maybe I was too caught up on my own training…"
"T-That might be the c-case… I, too… become too a-absorbed when I'm t-training…"
Sasuke nodded, though Hinata thought he might have wanted to say something else. He remained in his spot, glancing down with furrowed brows and the appearance of someone deep in thought. Hinata shifted nervously, wondering when he was going to leave so she could continue training.
When he spoke, it completely took her aback. "Come on, I'll show you how to properly throw shuriken."
Hinata blinked, her mouth opening as she saw him reach for his pouch and take out three shuriken, expertly, or at least it looked that way to her, holding them between his fingers. He positioned himself in front of the target, before directing his glare at her.
"So, are you going to pay attention or not?"
That certainly shook her awake. "W-Wait, Sasuke-kun… y-you don't need to…" she said, holding up her hands with an anxious expression, but she shut up when the boy narrowed his eyes, making his glare look all the more menacing.
"I have to. Shuriken throwing is… was a specialty of my clan" he said, biting his lips with the change of word as if to hold himself back, "I won't tolerate seeing you make a travesty out of it anymore."
"T-That…" Hinata wished to protest more, but she was unable to. Nervously, she watched as Sasuke took the proper position and threw the shuriken one at a time, making sure he was being slow enough for her to catch up on what to do.
"Hold your elbow at a ninety degree angle from your body. Try to aim with your elbow and when you pull your arm back, you have to do it only halfway before taking impulse. Do not look at your hand, concentrate only on the target. And don't forget to keep your feet slightly apart, to aid your balance. Like this."
He demonstrated. All three hit the center.
Hinata was impressed. "Y-Yes!" she took out more shuriken and imitated the position Sasuke showed her as he took a step back. However, before she could implement what she just learned, she felt a hand being placed on top of hers.
"Your form is off. This is not how you hold a shuriken" he moved her fingers, adjusting her hold, apparently forgetting everything about his unwillingness to be touched by others. Hinata blushed. In her childish mind the touch was far more intimate than it was supposed to. His hand was warm, she noted, but made herself pay attention when he pulled back and took a step back. "This is how you hold it. Try to remember it. Now throw it."
Hinata nodded, taking a second to memorize the positioning of her fingers before throwing the shuriken. It flew, gracefully gliding like a miniature saw until it hit the target near one of Sasuke's shurikens. She blinked, barely believing it, before a smile appeared on her face.
"I-I did it."
"Good. Just don't forget what I showed you and you will be able to progress in no time. Don't limit yourself. When you feel more confident, you can even try to throw more than one shuriken at a time" Sasuke explained, his voice even, almost like a teacher. Hinata nodded, though the boy didn't see it as he walked briskly to the target and collected his shuriken. Once done, he turned to Hinata again.
"After this, are you going to practice your family's technique?" he asked, blunt as always. Hinata blinked, pursing her lips in a line. He wasn't going to ask if he could see it, right? After all, even if he didn't have the Byakugan the gentle fist was the signature technique of her clan. Sure people saw it when it came to battles and missions, but it was different to specifically watch as she trained it. She tilted her head, thinking how to respond, before Sasuke raised a hand. "I'm not asking if I can watch. I have my own training to do and, honestly, I wasted enough time as it is" his words were not meant to hurt, she knew, but they did nonetheless, "I just wanted to say… that maybe you shouldn't practice that tonight."
"Eh?" Hinata was astounded. It was definitely not what she expected. But, why?
Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes as if exasperated. "Look, if you keep mangling your hands like this without letting them rest, then it will come a time when they will break completely and you won't be able to use them ever again. Besides, what's the point of keep training while injured? You're not going to make any progress because of the pain, and if you do it will be all wrong. So" he let out a breath, opening his eyes and staring seriously, "rest. Give your body time to heal."
And with those words, he turned around and left, his pace brisk almost as if he was running away. Hinata stared after him, her mouth hanging open. Now he really did talk more than ever before.
She looked down once the boy was gone, and bit her lip while thinking over what he said.
Maybe… he was right. Maybe a night of rest would do her good.