"You don't have to come see me this year."
Hinata stopped in the motion of throwing a shuriken, her eyes widening as she turned to look at Sasuke, who was standing by her side, watching everything she did.
It was another of their late night training sessions. Hinata had already watched him throw his own batch of shuriken, landing on every target, including those he had put in apparently impossible to reach places. She wasn't still quite advanced for that though, and so along with Sasuke, they had placed her targets where she could still see them, but in a way in that they were a little more complicated to reach.
She was on her fourth one when he uttered those words all of a sudden.
"What… what do you mean, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, lowering her arm and paying her whole attention to him.
He shrugged. "I'm talking about the anniversary of… of what happened to my clan" he clarified. His eyes were fixated on some point beyond the trees, very purposely away from her. "You always come, but that isn't necessary this year."
"Ah."
So it was that time of the year again. Hinata had not noticed how fast time seemed to be running. Was it really going to be three years since that horrific event took place?
"It doesn't bother me, Sasuke-kun" she said, trying to sound encouraging instead of simply polite. "If it's because of me that you're saying this, then you must know…"
"It's not because of you" he interrupted, finally looking at her with a serious expression. "I don't want anybody with me on that day" he said, firmly.
Hinata was surprised, but after a moment of hesitation, she nodded, and then they continued with their practice, not touching that subject again.
The day of the massacre came, and as every year, Sasuke was absent from class.
Of course, the girls wondered outloud what could be the reason behind the boy's absence, and Hinata realized that event, despite having occurred only three years in the past, was already far away from everyone's minds. Or, at least, the minds of those not belonging to a clan.
Ino shared a look with her when some of her female classmates came to her to ask if she knew anything, and although it wasn't exactly a secret, Hinata found it hard to relate the reason behind it.
"Leave Hinata alone. Just because she's friends with Sasuke-kun it doesn't mean she'll know everything" the blond girl said, stepping up towards the small circle of classmates that had formed around her. Because Ino was seemed as a figure of authority among the girls, they all dispersed after this, although they were all mumbling unhappily for not being able to gather answers.
"Thank you" Hinata said to Ino, who simply huffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"I didn't do it for you" she declared haughtily, before softening. "I just don't think this is something Sasuke-kun would like everyone to talk about, you know?"
"I think so too" Hinata nodded, and the two parted ways after that. For all of Ino's overbearing personality, it looked as if she had at least a bit of sensibleness. She couldn't help but feel grateful.