Sasuke and Hinata go on a mission, with a brief appearance from Naruto.

Chapter 9: Have heart, my dear

Hinata woke with a scream trapped in her throat, Neji's name on her lips. Sweat dotted her temples and she put a hand to her chest, trying to calm her racing heart without disturbing any of her sleeping clansmen in the dormitory.

It was early, the sky a dull grey. Hinata showered and changed into her gear: a long-sleeved mauve turtleneck, black shorts, fishnet thigh highs and dark black boots. She packed her backpack and kunai pouch before fastening the latter around her thigh.

There were cooks in the kitchen and she tried not to get in their way as she prepared two bentos. By the time she left the Hyuuga compound, her long hair was mostly dry.

When Hinata arrived at Konoha Hospital, she found Sasuke waiting by the entrance. He looked even more tired than he had last night. Hinata refrained from saying as much, but her expression must have given her away.

"I'm fine. You're the one hobbling," Sasuke said, leaving Hinata gaping at his back. She ended up needing to jog after him, right knee mildly aching.

Requesting to see an iryō-nin with Sasuke looming behind her was a bizarre experience. There were fewer patients at such an early hour, so the staff were less stressed and preoccupied than usual. It seemed like every woman they passed took a second glance. As Hinata filled out the handful of questions on the sign-in form, the nurse at the front desk was staring dazedly at Sasuke. Hinata was taken back to their academy days: Sasuke responding to a question from Iruka, Hinata trying to note down his correct answer while tuning out the girlish squeals.

When Hinata tried to turn her form in, the nurse didn't notice. Hinata turned her gaze awkwardly to the clipboard she was holding only to see a pair of large hands take hold of the edges to lift it out of her grasp.

"I'll take it from here, Io-san." A brown haired man nudged the nurse with his elbow. He was wearing the hospital staff uniform, a blue pen tucked into his shirt pocket.

The nurse, Io, dragged her eyes reluctantly away from Sasuke to shoot a disdainful look at the man before flouncing off.

Unfazed, the man turned to smile genially at Hinata. "Hyuuga Hinata-san, you're in luck, Mayumi-san is almost done with her patient," he said while scanning over her paperwork. "She's one of the hospital's best iryō-nins." There was a slight blush on his cheeks. When he looked up from the clipboard, their eyes met and his brows raised. Leaning forward, he said, "We don't get many Hyuuga in here. Your eyes really are as captivating as they say."

There was a grunt from behind her. The man jerked back, spluttering nervously. "Ah! I mean — that is — the byakugan is captivating, not you! Not that you aren't! But Mayumi-san is more —" The man cut himself off abruptly, face red.

Hinata noticed that he avoided looking at Sasuke. She wasn't sure if it was out of nerves or if he held a negative impression of the Uchiha like many of the villagers. She hoped it was the former. She felt a kinship with the man and his embarrassment, somehow not feeling flustered by his comment. Smiling kindly, Hinata said, "Thank you for your help…"

The man blinked, before pointing at himself. "Me? I'm Genji."

"Genji-san, then. Should we wait here?"

"Ah! You can wait in room six," Genji said, gesturing down the hall.

Genji's high opinion of Mayumi was well-deserved. She looked a little older than Hinata and Sasuke, wearing the standard uniform with comfortable but stylish shoes, simple makeup and her light brown hair swept up in an elegant up-do. Hinata thought she looked rather lovely and felt every bit the awkward teenager standing next to her.

After a head-to-toe sweep of Sasuke that somehow made Hinata blush, the iryō-nin turned her full attention to Hinata, asking if she'd prefer him to stay. Hinata could only shrug helplessly. The sole reason she'd come to the hospital for such a minor injury was because of Sasuke and the thought of leaving him outside alone to face the gawking of the staff and patients alike seemed too mean.

In the end, Sasuke sat in a chair in the corner of the room, staring at the wall while Hinata sat on the hospital cot with Mayumi methodically healing her knee and each scrape and bruise from her fight with the white zetsu. Hinata felt a little silly, but as she was already here she figured she might as well get everything taken care of. Mayumi, for her part, treated every injury with the same care regardless of how minor it was.

"You're all set, Hinata-san," Mayumi said with a cheerful smile and a small pat to Hinata's bare knee. "Take your time and head out when you're done. Have a good rest of the day!" She turned her smile on Sasuke and it seemed to get a notch brighter. "You too, Sasuke-san."

Hinata thanked her as she left the room. A sidelong look at Sasuke's irritated frown had Hinata hurriedly turning away. As Hinata was rolling her fishnet stocking back up over her knee and up to the middle of her thigh, the door slammed open.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto was grinning, one hand on the door the other wrapped around the stems of five white lilies. In the next second the lilies were on the ground, Sasuke's arm was outstretched, a kunai was protruding from the door frame and the sound of a kage bunshin dispersing was ringing in Hinata's ears.

Hinata blinked rapidly.

"Sasuke-san," she started, keeping her voice as steady as she could manage. "I'll meet you at the Hokage's office." Hinata couldn't bear to look at him. She could feel a red heat spreading across her face and tears of humiliation pricking her eyes. Shutting them tightly, she counted to ten in her mind.

She wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

When Hinata opened her eyes again, she was alone in the room.

Hinata spent a few minutes collecting herself before heading to the Hokage Tower. She arrived in time to see Naruto and Sai walking down the steps. The blond ninja tripped down the last step and visibly gulped when he saw her.

Hinata couldn't even muster a smile at Naruto being so…Naruto.

Sai smiled placidly between them until Naruto explicitly told him to leave.

"Hinata-chan, listen, about earlier — I just really wanted to make sure we could talk before the mission! But Kakashi-sensei kept us pretty late last night and then he wanted me to sit in on a Konoha Go-Ikenban meeting this morning, and I just didn't have any time! So I thought I'd just sneak a clone out to catch you before I left. I didn't mean to scare you." Naruto blurted out his explanation in a single breath. "I hope the flowers are okay," he added, scratching the back of his head.

Hinata spared a moment of thought to the lilies lying in a waste bin at the hospital. When she'd gone to pick them up, she had found them carelessly stepped on and a kunai shaped hole in the door frame.

"Naruto-kun…were you intending to have your clone have a conversation with me?" Hinata asked carefully.

"Well, yeah? I'm not sure how long this mission will take. At least we could talk now instead of later."

"Have you…have you done that before? Spent time with me as a clone?" Hinata bit her bottom lip, bracing herself for the answer.

Naruto's brows shot up in surprise. "Ah…no? I hadn't really thought of it before. But you seemed kind of upset about our date and I felt really bad! And then you said you wanted to wait until you got back to talk about it, but all this other stuff came up. And I couldn't miss any of the mission stuff or the Konoha Go-Ikenban meeting, but I also wanted to see you!" He stepped closer to her, taking her hands in his as he stared at her earnestly.

Hinata looked at their joined hands. Naruto was warm as usual, but his touch didn't ease her unsettled heart.

Somehow her mind had conjured up the idea of a date spent entirely with a clone and Hinata felt horrible to have even thought it. Everything Naruto was saying made sense. Hinata had gone home instead of speaking with Naruto after their failed date and then when he'd come to find her in the morning she'd asked for time to think. Of course Naruto couldn't skip out on meetings with the Hokage, nor would Hinata expect him to. If anything, Naruto sending a clone to her to make sure they spoke even though he was busy just showed his dedication to her.

Naruto was right about everything.

Maybe that's why Hinata felt so wrong.

"I..." Hinata stared into Naruto's brilliant blue eyes. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. "I…"

"Naruto, stop delaying my partner." Sasuke's cold voice rang out from above them.

Naruto dropped Hinata's hands, turning bodily to face the Uchiha who had just stepped out of the Hokage Tower. "Sasuke! I thought you wouldn't be back till afternoon?"

"Some of us work faster than others, dead last."

"Bastard, don't forget we made jounin at the same time!"

"Whatever."

Hinata was still staring at her hands.

Suddenly a pair of hands were on her shoulders, a quick kiss pressed against her temple. "Hinata-chan, I'll head out now. Be careful and I'll see you soon." Naruto raised his voice to yell at Sasuke, "You be careful too! And take care of Hinata-chan!" And then he was running off. Hinata finally looked up to see the familiar sight of Naruto's back as he raced forward.

A fleeting touch to the top of her head drew her attention back to Sasuke. Hinata frowned at her scattered thoughts and forced herself to focus.

"Sorry for the delay, Sasuke-san," she said, "Did you get the scroll from Hokage-sama?"

Sasuke's expression when he looked back at her almost seemed concerned. Quickly enough it retreated to its usual impassiveness. He grunted in agreement and pulled a scroll out from somewhere within the confines of his black cloak.

Hinata took the scroll gingerly and read through it. There was a little more background information on the Mogami, Tokugawa, Chiba and Goto clans. They were all influential families with ties to the Fire Daimyo. Some had dealings with each other, but nothing particularly noteworthy. There was also a map of the area rolled up with the scroll.

"I've been in that region before. I can get us close, but it'll still take a day to reach the Mogami house," Sasuke said.

Hinata nodded in understanding. Even at a ninja's pace and without stopping at the capital, Hinata would have predicted somewhere around three days of travel. This would certainly speed things up. "Definitely a useful jutsu," she said, more to herself.

Sasuke's lips twitched into a brief smirk. "Let's go," he said.

Hinata followed Sasuke as he walked around the Hokage Tower, but hesitated when he stepped into an alley. Turning to look at her over his shoulder, Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled her by the arm. Just like last time, his grip was solid but not harsh. He guided her right through the portal he had opened in the alleyway. The two of them stepped from the streets of Konoha into the middle of a forest. Hinata watched curiously as the portal closed, leaving them surrounded by coniferous trees characteristic of the north of Hi no Kuni.

Hinata had all the makings of a good mission partner. She was quiet and focused. She had no compulsions against deferring to him, but could think for herself and voice her opinion when needed. She activated her byakugan periodically of her own accord and would let him know if they needed to veer a little more east or west from the path he was setting. Even her habit of trailing behind was curbed when on-mission and she kept up with his rapid pace.

Her calm presence should have had him forgetting she was even there, but Sasuke was very aware of her. She never stood close enough to touch, but even the space between them felt tangible against Sasuke's skin. It felt like his academy days all over again, but amplified.

Hinata had obviously compartmentalized her encounter with Naruto. Her mind was entirely on the mission. It was a sign of a good ninja.

So why was Sasuke still stuck on the distress broadcasting from her face while Naruto's hands held hers?

Sasuke subconsciously clenched his right hand into a fist.

They'd been running through the forest for hours when Sasuke decided it was time to take a break. He deliberately slowed his movements, landing firmly on a tree branch. He heard Hinata land softly nearby. When he angled his face towards her, she was already looking back awaiting his command.

"Let's rest," he said. Sasuke dropped to the ground easily and Hinata followed suit. He slipped his backpack off his shoulders, pulling out a canteen and taking a hefty gulp of water.

"Sasuke-san, here."

Turning around, Sasuke found an obento thrust out at his chest. His eyes widened at the sight of Hinata's bowed head, her small hands holding out a lacquered wooden box with a very recognizable engraving. It was like stepping into a memory.

But then Hinata looked up and met his surprised gaze with sweet smile and Sasuke was brought back to the present.

He took the box in hand almost reverently. "Thanks."

When Sasuke first started at the academy, though the admiration of the girls and the envy of the boys in his class had been undeniably annoying he'd still been flattered. At home Itachi was the prodigy, but at school Sasuke was number one. It was nice to be the center of attention for once, even if there was one stubbornly oblivious girl who refused to look up from her notebook at his correct responses or watch him win his spars.

Then his clan was annihilated and Sasuke went back to school devoid of any positive emotions. What used to be annoyingly flattering was now just annoying. Suddenly all the girls and boys that had been clamoring after him were hanging back, afraid to face his biting anger.

Except her.

Hyuuga Hinata, the girl who sat at the back and never raised her hand and ate alone in the classroom and never, ever looked at Sasuke.

With shaking hands and timid but determined eyes, she delivered a homemade bento to him every day for a week.

And every day for a week she would immediately run off leaving a seven year old Sasuke sitting under a tree in the courtyard, staring down at the bento and wishing she'd stayed so he wouldn't be alone.

Sasuke blinked, realizing he was still staring down at the Hyuuga emblem engrained in the wood. Hinata was already seated, her own bento laying open in her lap. Sasuke sat down next to her, maneuvering his things with one hand in a practiced manner. The bento was filled with chicken katsu, rice and a tomato and corn salad. Chopsticks in hand, Sasuke saw that Hinata was waiting for him.

"Itadakimasu," they said together.

Though the food was delicious enough to keep him occupied, Sasuke couldn't stop stealing glances at the girl next to him as he marveled at the fact that, over ten years later, they were finally sharing her homemade bento.

"It's good," he said when he'd finished.

Hinata looked down at her own empty bento with a pleased smile.

Mood bolstered from the food, he teased, "You wouldn't happen to have any tea in your pack?"

Hinata's head shot up, mouth parted in surprise. "How did you know?"

Seeing her wide-eyed expression, Sasuke started to snicker into a closed fist.

Hinata's brows pulled together in confusion. "Why is it funny? Does Sasuke-san not want any tea after all? Then why did you ask?"

Sasuke only laughed harder. "You really take the saying 'a ninja must always be prepared' seriously."

"If you're going to make fun of me then I don't feel like sharing."

Laughter petering out, Sasuke turned to face Hinata, a smile half hidden under his hand. She was pouting, her face turned to the side. He studied her profile, his smile lingering.

"My deepest apologies, Hinata-san," he said, with particular emphasis on the honorific as usual.

She looked back at him, curious opal eyes scanning his face slowly. The smile slowly slipped off Sasuke's face, lips slackening under her scrutiny. He felt the tips of his ears start to heat.

"What?" he grunted out, voice harsher than he intended.

Hinata didn't flinch at his tone, but a pale pink flush did settle at the top of her cheekbones. "N-Nothing. Let me get the tea."

The smell of matcha spilled into the air as Hinata poured the tea from her thermos. When Sasuke leaned forward to take his cup he caught hints of lavender and chamomile, recognizing the scents from Hinata's garden.

For a moment, he was back at the Hyuuga compound, watching the peaceful look on her face as she gently plucked out herbs. Another hazy memory overtook him: sitting in the Nara's overgrown yard, weeds clutched in his dirty hands, staring at sunlight bouncing off indigo hair and small hands plucking out weeds. Then an even older memory, the restrictive silk of his kimono as he ran around the garden, stopping every now and then to glance back at the girl sitting quietly by the flowers and running her tiny fingers across their petals.

When he sat back again and leaned his face into the warmth of the tea Sasuke only smelled matcha.

With the mission on their minds, they couldn't savour the tea as they would in Konoha, but the heat that the beverage seemed to spread into their bodies was appreciated when facing the sting of the cold December wind.

They ran for hours, stopping periodically to drink from their canteens. The sun was split by the horizon when they took a break by a bubbling creek. Hinata refilled both their canteens with cold spring water as Sasuke surveyed the map from the treetops.

Sasuke jumped down and took his full canteen from Hinata. "We're about thirty klicks out."

Hinata remained kneeling, screwing the cap of her own canteen closed. "This would be a good place to set up camp," she observed.

Sasuke craned his head back. The stars were just barely visible in the darkening sky. He activated his sharingan. "I work best in the dark." Without turning his head, he tilted his gaze to look at Hinata.

Hinata nodded. With one long blink, the veins by her temples enlarged. When she opened her eyes, byakugan met sharingan.

It was dark when they came upon the Mogami household. They split up, Sasuke going inside and Hinata circling around the perimeter. They both kept their chakra suppressed. Unlike Sasuke, this wasn't something Hinata normally did. When she left his field of vision, his inability to sense her left him unsettled.

Sasuke went through the estate systematically. When he came upon the bodies stacked in a backroom, he didn't falter. He saw nothing that hadn't already been included in Hinata's report. The shape of the wounds and the small particles of white roots made the cause of death undeniable.

He turned his back on the room. The Fire Daimyo would take care of the burials.

Despite the age of the bodies, the house showed evidence of being lived in. There was food waste in the bin from as recently as a yesterday.

Sasuke met Hinata outside on the engawa. She was standing still, byakugan scanning through the walls of the house.

"The ground in the back was disturbed," she said, still perusing the house as she spoke, "And the white zetsu can travel through the earth."

"Did they take anything?" he asked.

Hinata shook her head. "Nothing seems to be misplaced."

Sasuke traced the delicate lines of her veins with his eyes until they disappeared under midnight blue hair. He had never seen her dōjutsu before. She never used it when they trained. "Exactly how far can you see?" he asked.

Hinata turned to him, byakugan still activated. Sasuke felt the disquieting sensation of her looking right through him in the most literal sense. "About twenty kilometers," she answered.

He raised his brows, impressed. "See if you can find a dark place with plenty of room, preferably underground near vegetation and a source of water."

Hinata nodded and stared into the distance. The only movement was the veins around her eyes tensing and relaxing by turns and her long hair dancing in the wind.

"There," she said, finally deactivating her dōjutsu. "It's a cave system. The stream we saw flows into. It's big, I can't see all of it. But it's not entirely on the Mogami land."

Sasuke retrieved the map from his pack and pressed it into the wall with his one hand, allowing it to unfurl. The edges curled stubbornly and Hinata stepped closer, using one hand to flatten the edges and the other to point to the area next to the Mogami lands. It was a small square, too small to be labeled, demarked by a faint line and a footnote. Sasuke followed as Hinata's finger ran down the scroll to tap at the appropriate line of text.

"Fujiwara," she read.

"Lead the way."

More tension with naruhina and more sasuhina cuteness.

Also an actual plot continues to work its way into the story.

MVH