Hinata and Sasuke landed with a thud as they came out of the portal. They both were drained as none of them could move. Hinata, on the other hand, was having trouble breathing. Not because of the recent injury that she had sustained but because a certain someone was crushing her under his weight.
The situation was like this actually: when they came out of the portal, Sasuke landed on top of Hinata and he didn't even realize that he was currently on top of the poor Hyuga as he found himself drifting off to oblivion. A soft groan was heard as he opened his eyes slightly.
"S-s-sasuke-kun, you're crushing me." The lavender eyed kunoichi groaned out and a cough followed behind. Sasuke then realized that and forced himself to roll over. He was completely out of chakra after using his Rinnegan. He had covered a lot of distance from that temple to where they were right now. It was a random place in the forest that had popped up in his mind at the time.
He wanted to put a great distance between him and those pale bastards. They were strong. Sasuke could tell. Even though he didn't faught the other one but he could tell from his chakra that he was way too damn stronger than that Kinshiki Otsutsuki. Sasuke was already running out of chakra after he had exchanged Hinata's place with that stone statue. Hinata was just an excuse to back away from the fight, it was his Rinnegan that made him retreat. He still didn't have enough control over his eye. It consumed alot of his chakra whenever he used it. That's why he always refrained from using it.
Meanwhile, Hinata helped herself into a sitting position. She winced as pain surged through her body at the movement. Even breathing deeply hurt as she was running out of breath and tried to take a deep breath. She again winced.
She placed her hand on her chest and a faint green light glowed from her hand. After the war, Hinata had helped in the hospital where staff was really short at that time so she knew a little bit about medical ninjutsu. She could feel the effects as the pain in her chest started to lessen and her breathing became normal. She took a deep breath and exhaled. It still hurt a bit.
She was running low on chakra but she just couldn't bear the pain so she healed herself as she looked at the Uchiha beside her. His eyes were closed but the blood running down on his face didn't go unnoticed by the young Hyuga. It was his left eye, the one with Rinnegan, was bleeding.
She stopped healing herself and moved to where Sasuke was layed on the ground. She shook him and tried to wake him up. He groaned and opened his right eye slightly. He couldn't open his other one as it hurt too much, and found Hinata's concerned face looking down at him. He just wanted to sleep for now. She huffed out a relieved sigh.
"Are you alright?" she spoke in a soft and gentle voice, concern evident on her face.
"Hn." He grunted out.
"Your eye is hurt." She stated as she moved her one hand towards his left eye. But Sasuke grasped her wrist tightly as Hinata looked wide eyed at the Uchiha. He looked like he came out of a daze and blinked. Once. Twice.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he looked dead in Hinata's lavender eyes.
Hinata's wide eyes became soft as she offered him a smile.
"Trust me." There was only quietness around them with the exceptional sound of the leaves rustling in the wind and birds singing their melodies. After a moment of silence, Sasuke loosened his grip on her wrist but did not let go as he sat up into a sitting position. He closed his eye and that was the cue for Hinata.
Hinata's hand glowed green and Sasuke could feel his pain subsiding. His shoulders slightly slumped as he relaxed a bit. A soothing feeling suddently creeped up into his eye. After sometime, Hinata sighed and chirped in her sweet voice, "All done."
Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Hinata, his eye no longer hurting. He muttered his thanks under his breath but Hinata heard him and said with a smile, "No problem, Sasuke-kun."
She then looked at him and a faint blush made its way to her cheeks as she chuckled nervously and said, "A-And you can let go of my hand now."
Sasuke blinked at her in confusion. What was she talking about? Her hand-- Oh. Sasuke realized that he had been holding her wrist this entire time. He let go of her hand and cleared his throat.
"We will start moving tomorrow morning. Rest for now." He said as if he was giving orders, which Hinata thought was true. Everytime he talked to her, it was like he was a commander and Hinata, a rookie soldier. A cold and harsh commander. It really made Hinata agitated but Hinata always ignored that feeling. She was a very patient person afterall.
Nonetheless, Hinata nodded to Sasuke and she made her way where her things were currently resting. She saw Sasuke going to sleep where he was sitting before, not even bothering to lay his bedroll. Hinata was exhausted too. She sat down against a tree as she felt way too tired to move. The rough bark of the tree pierced into her back but she didnt move. She was really tired. She stayed like that and after sometime, she drifted off to sleep right there against the tree.
Next morning, Sasuke woke up to a sound of a yelp. His hand immediately went for his sword as he stood up and looked at his surroundings for any danger. He realized that Hinata wasn't there with him but her bag was still there. He again heard a yelp with wood hitting the ground. He made his way to the source of the sound and found Hinata sitting on her knees as she held her right hand tenderly.
Hinata winced in pain but stood up and took her fighting stance. She activated her twin lion fists but this time only in one hand. Sasuke watched her from the shadows as he heard her talking to herself.
"Concentrate. Take a deep breathe, Hinata and concentrate." She said as the sound of lightning crackling filled the surroundings, she took a deep breathe and then attacked a nearby tree.
As soon as her lightning fist made contact with the wood, it brusted and the shockwave sent Hinata flying as she hit the ground with her back. Her breathe was knocked out of her lungs at the impact.
The smell of burning wood reached her nose as she sat up and looked at her hand. It was burned and it hurt.
Very much!
It felt like someone was prickling her hand with thousand needles. She unconsciously blew at her hand as she tried to soothe the pain but ofcourse it didn't work.
"Damn it!" she said as she cursed herself for not doing it right. "What am I doing wrong?" she whispered softly and looked at her burned hand as she felt utterly defeated. No! She will not give up. She will never give up. She must get stronger because one day, she will change the Hyuga clan, she will no longer stay back and watch as the branch family suffers that awful fate. It was neji's wish and she will fulfil it no matter what!
She wipped a tear which had escaped from her lavender eyes, with the back of her hand and stood up. She again took her fighting stance and repeated her earlier move but again like before the results were the same. But she didn't give up, she again stood up and went ahead anyway.
Sasuke sighed as he saw Hinata struggling. He knew exactly what she was doing wrong or how to help her. He decided to show up and made his way towards the heaving Hyuga who was sitting on the ground, healing her burned hand. She turned her head towards Sasuke as she heard his footsteps. She gave him a smile and stood up.
"Good morning." He didn't answer but nodded.
"How is your eye? Does it hurt?" she asked with a smile.
"Good." He answered shortly. He then eyed her burned hand. "You are not doing it right."
Hinata looked at him, confused. Then she realized what he was talking about and looked at him eagerly as she waited for him to continue.
He stood in front of her and said, "You need to clear your mind. Let the energy flow through your body then make a pathway for the lightning to flow directly out of your hands."
"Then," he went on, "You can shape it in whatever way you want."
Wow. He made it sound so easy. Hinata thought.
Hinata nodded, as she realized that she was doing it wrong from the start. She needed to clear her mind but how she'd do that? She thought but soon enough Sasuke's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"But," Sasuke said in a cautious tone as if giving her a warning, "Don't let it pass through your heart. It can cost you alot if you aren't careful."
Now Hinata realized that she actually was playing around with death. If she had taken a wrong move then she would have been dead by now. She started to sweat as she realized how dangerous it was. But it was a good thing that she had control over her chakra. She gulped as she looked at him.
"I will keep it in mind." She smiled at him, "Thank you." Sasuke only nodded and walked away saying that they would be leavimg soon. So Hinata quickly went to their campsite and started packing her things.
Not long after, they started their journey back to Konoha. Or alteast Hinata thought so. It seemed that Sasuke had other plans before going back to the village. When Hinata asked where they were going, he merely said, "A village."
It was really annoying how he didn't answer fully. Every time, he would give her a short answer, which didn't really help but popped up more questions in her mind. She knew that Sasuke lived and travelled mostly alone and wasn't used to talking to people alot but still he could atleast put his old ways aside and give Hinata proper answers.
But Hinata being Hinata, she could only say it in her mind. She didn't dare to criticise the almighty Uchiha. And she was sure that she still had a alot of indurance left in her and she wouldn't be brusting out anytime soon. She could only sigh as they walked through the dense and quite forest.
Looking at the Hyuga girl beside him, Sasuke could only be amazed at how she still hadn't brusted out in anger and saying that how he was being a cold and arrogant jerk. He noticed that she sighed alot and after everytime they finished a conversation. Although, those conversations included only three to four sentences.
He knew he was being a bother by just replying with only one or two words but it was just a drag to talk much. He really didn't like explaining himself or saying long sentences. It was really easy to reply in one word, such as 'hn'. It was short and simple. Talking too much was a drag. Now he sounded like that lazy Nara but it was really how he felt. Nonetheless, he sighed and turned to Hinata who was quietly walking beside him.
"It is a small village I stumbled upon four years ago. The people are mostly refugees of the villages that were destroyed by Akatsuki."
Hinata remained quiet for a moment. She smiled inwardly, knowing that Sasuke had finally started to open up a bit. She asked a question to continue their conversation.
"Do you visit this village often?" she asked softly and was really looking forward to visiting the village Sasuke spoke of.
Sasuke nodded and looked ahead as if in a deep thought. "Well atleast more than Konoha."
He went on, "Last year when I came back to Konoha, it was because I wanted to discuss the village with Kakashi."
"I see," she said as she recalled her meeting with Sasuke at the graveyard last year. She had heard from Sakura that Sasuke had left the village next morning without even saying anything to her and he only greeted Naruto when they'd met in the Hokage's office. She was reminded of something else too.
"Speaking of last year..." she trailed off.
She stopped walking and quickly turned to Sasuke and bowed deeply. Sasuke was a bit confused as he wondered what had gotten into the young Hyuga all of a sudden. Then Hinata spoke up.
"Thank you so much for saving my father, Sasuke-kun. You saved his life. I and the Hyuga clan will always be grateful to you."
Sasuke stared at her for a moment then shook his head and said in a monotone.
"You don't need to do that. Your father has already thanked me with something I wanted."
Hinata looked up at him, surprised and curious at what Sasuke could ask from her father. Hinata blinked and found her composure. She smiled at him as she shook her head slightly.
"I want to thank you anyways," she said as Sasuke said nothing and walked ahead. Hinata soon followed behind and silghtly ran as she tried to match with his pace.
After a few hours, they stumbled upon two big green gates, with a Leaf Village symbol painted on it. Hinata for a moment thought that they actually were outside the gates of Konoha. Although the gate resembled the Konoha's gate but it was slightly small in comparison of those huge gates back home.
"Uchiha-san, you are back!"
A voice was heard from above as the doors of the village opened. Hinata looked up as she saw a tower at the left side of the gates. A man with brown hair was grinning widely as he waved his hand at them. Sasuke gave him a nod and with that, he and Hinata entered the small village. As soon as she entered, her eyes widen at the sight before her.