Day 16: I missed you
Sasuke was honestly tired.
There was a time, when he was very small, where he wholeheartedly believed his older brother could do no wrong. That he was perfect, every thought measured and every action in complete control.
Of course, that notion had been dropped as he grew and became more aware of his surroundings, and especially his family situation. It began a few years ago, with the obvious animosity that had started to make itself known between Itachi and their father. His older brother wasn't as controlled as he had first believed, but this, instead of turning him away, had only endeared him more to Sasuke. It was nice, knowing Itachi was capable of… well, being human, honestly.
What wasn't nice was finding out, at the age of twelve, just how… petty his beloved older brother could truly be.
"Is this the letter Hinata sent you?"
"I said to give it back!"
Sasuke jumped, trying to regain possession of the letter he had stupidly left on his desk after reading it once more the night before, while Itachi, very effortlessly, extended his arm high away from him, pressing the hand of the other against his forehead, keeping him at bay and making him groan.
"I have to say, this is very sweet" he said, his eyes expertly reading sentence after sentence without being bothered at all by his little brother's attempts to bite him. Then, he frowned, changing his open-handed grip on Sasuke's head to instead poke him on the forehead and getting him away, all without turning his eyes away from the letter.
"Ouch! Why do you always have to do that-?!"
"What's this about people whispering behind your back about how you'll never live up to your family's legacy?" Itachi asked, turning around and holding out the letter so Sasuke could see, but without lowering it so he wouldn't get it.
Sasuke clicked his tongue, glancing away and crossing his arms stubbornly, even if he could feel himself blushing in embarrassment. "It's nothing, now can you just please-?"
"Sasuke."
The boy closed his eyes. He hated that tone. It reminded him so much of their father, in all the worst ways possible.
"Are people talking behind your back?" Itachi demanded, finally lowering his arms and crossing them, but without letting go of the letter. Sasuke didn't even attempt to grab it this time.
"I don't know, maybe? Look, it's not important anyway, so…"
"It is important. Whatever it is these people are saying, they're wrong and you should know…"
"It's nothing, really!" Sasuke huffed, wanting to be done with the subject. However, under Itachi's piercing gaze, he had no option but to relent, uncrossing his arms and sighing in resignation. "Sometimes the uncles and aunties say things like how at my age you were already in the ANBU, or how you activated your sharingan at the age of seven… before asking me if I've already activated mine…" he glanced down, raising his right hand to scratch at his head awkwardly. "I don't think they mean anything bad with it, but…"
"I understand" Itachi interrupted with a sigh of his own, before glancing towards the letter still in his hands. "Listen, Sasuke, you know that…"
"I know, I have my own worth and I shouldn't be comparing myself to you or whatever" Sasuke rolled his eyes, recovering his petulant attitude from before. "It's not like it really affects me though, you know? Besides, I'm quite content with the way I am, so stop making that face as if I'm gonna burst into tears at any moment. It's offensive."
"I remember when you used to be cute…" Itachi lamented, folding back the letter and pushing it inside one of his pockets. Immediately, Sasuke jumped, but his older brother was faster, swiftly stepping away from the boy's trajectory and making his way unencumbered to the exit. "I'll return the letter once I've thoroughly taken a look at it. Please be patient."
"Whatever do you want to look at it in the first place!" Sasuke shouted, to no avail. He could never hope to match Itachi in speed or strength, and therefore, any hope of recovering the letter was moot.
As he saw the older boy calmly waltzing out of his bedroom, even having the gall to hum under his breath as he went, Sasuke decided that this had been enough. He knew why Itachi was behaving like a brat with him, and he also knew the way to finally make him stop.
He would have to talk to Izumi, and get her to forgive him for being such an awful boyfriend.
"So… why am I coming along?"
Hinata could understand, up to a certain point, what Sasuke was trying to do. From what he had told her, Itachi and his girlfriend Izumi, whom Hinata had never met or even heard of, if she was being honest, were fighting because of Itachi's unwillingness to admit the two were in a relationship to begin with. Apparently this situation came to being after Sasuke had voiced this same thing while Izumi was in earshot, and since then, Itachi had been a real annoyance to him, something the boy had already grown tired of. Sasuke planned to talk to Izumi and get her to forgive Itachi, thus taking him off his back once and for all.
All this Hinata could understand, what she couldn't understand, was what her role here was.
"I figured I needed a girl to help me talk to Izumi-san, in case she gets difficult" he explained with a shrug, as he guided her through the village towards… the Inuzuka compound?
"I… I don't think this will work the way Sasuke-kun expects it to" Hinata said carefully, glancing around and reaffirming that they were, indeed, on their way to Kiba's home. "And why are we here…?"
"Izumi-san is friends with Inuzuka Hana, and I heard from her mom that she would be visiting her today. You said Kiba will be away with some other members of his clan?"
"Yes…" Hinata's eyes widened slightly. Was this the reason he had asked her about Kiba's whereabouts earlier today? "You don't want Kiba-kun to be there when you talk to Izumi-san?"
"Obviously not. This is private."
If it's so private then maybe we shouldn't meddle Hinata thought with a frown, but said nothing. She had learned long ago that, sometimes, it was better to just let Sasuke crash and burn all on his own. Still, it would have been nice if he didn't drag her with him…
She could also have turned around and left, but doing so would have caused another problem entirely, and honestly, Hinata could do without the extra headache.
Soon enough, they came into view of a house that was more or less familiar to Hinata. She had only been there once, when she and Shino had come to pick Kiba up after he had taken a little too long to arrive at their designated meeting spot. It was weird, being here while knowing her teammate was not home.
Sasuke walked decidedly towards the front door and knocked, crossing his arms as he waited. After a few seconds, and the barking of what sounded like dozens of dogs, Hana opened, looking first at Sasuke and then at Hinata with surprise in her eyes.
"Hinata? What are you… that is, what are the two of you doing here?" she asked, glancing from one to another with a small frown of confusion.
Hinata bowed and quickly spoke before Sasuke could. "Good morning, Hana-san. I apologize for coming without announcement, but we were told that Izumi-san was here? We need to talk to her" she explained, straightening and giving the older a girl a polite smile.
Hana frowned even harder, turning her eyes definitely towards Sasuke, who simply looked back after nodding gravely. Finally, she sighed, opening the door wider and letting them in.
"It's this about Itachi?" she asked as she guided them inside, towards what Hinata assumed was the living room. On the way there, at least ten dogs ran towards them, sniffing them all over and making Sasuke pretty uncomfortable as he tried to get away, to no avail as the more he pushed them, the more they tried to get on his face. "Hey, stand down! The kid doesn't like it!" Hana reprimanded the dogs, who backed away immediately after hearing the order.
Sasuke clicked his tongue. "Thanks, but I'm not a kid."
"Suuuuure you aren't" she rolled her eyes, stopping just short of the living room. "Then, it's this about Itachi or not?" she asked again, hands on her hips. Sasuke groaned before nodding heavily.
"He's been annoying me more than ever, lately, and I know it's because Izumi-san has been giving him the cold shoulder. I want to talk to her so she'll… I don't know, reign him in or something?" he said with a sigh of pure weariness.
Hana regarded him with a raised eyebrow, before looking at her as if expecting she'd have all the answers. Hinata could do little but shake her head as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I know that Itachi can be pretty annoying when he wants to…" she started, rising a hand to her chin. "But whatever's been happening between him and Izumi is better deal with only the two of them. You don't really have a say on this you know? No matter how much he's been bothering you."
"It's actually kind of my…" Sasuke bit his lip, stopping himself short of whatever he was going to say, before shaking his head and staring at Hana determinedly. "I know what you mean. Regardless, I need to…"
"If what you were going to say earlier was that it was your fault…" a new voice interrupted, seconds before a woman with long dark hair and eyes appeared from the doorway of the living room. She had a single small birthmark at the corner of one of her eyes, as well as a kind and demure demeanor. Hinata thought that she was very, very pretty. "Then rest assured, Sasuke, it is not. Whatever Itachi does or doesn't do has nothing to do with you. You were only saying the truth" she spoke with a small sigh.
"I know it's not my fault, but…!"
"Did you come on his behalf?" Izumi asked, cutting his complain off. Sasuke huffed, before shaking his head.
"I came on my behalf. As I've been telling Hana-san, Itachi's been a pain in the ass these last few weeks, ever since that incident. I was hoping that maybe you could…"
"Ah, I see" the girl nodded, before frowning. Then, she glanced to the side, finally seeming to take notice of her. She gasped, one of her hands flying to her mouth. "Are you perhaps…?"
"Hyuuga Hinata" Hana presented her before she could speak, signaling her with a casual gesture of the hand. "She's Kiba's teammate."
"As well as my girlfriend" Sasuke declared with a frown after hearing Hinata being associated with another boy before him, causing Hana to blink in surprise and Izumi to squeal a little.
"It's so nice to finally meet you! Uchiha Izumi, although I'm sure Sasuke has already told you about me" Izumi said with a small bow that Hinata quickly reciprocated.
"N-Nice to meet you."
"I didn't know the two of you were dating…" Hana said with a frown, crossing her arms. "Aren't you two too young for that? Moreover, an Uchiha and a Hyuuga…"
"Oh shush" Izumi slapped Hana's arm playfully, before turning back to the small couple. "I think it's adorable, really. Also, you wouldn't believe how much better little Sasuke is in comparison to his brother. When they first started dating, he actually came to me for advice on how to be a good boyfriend! Can you believe that?"
"Izumi-san!" Sasuke complained loudly.
"I can believe that, but to be fair, it doesn't take much to be better than Itachi at this stuff. I swear the guy's helpless with anything unrelated to the ninja lifestyle" Hana said while shaking her head.
"Anyway" Sasuke said with emphasis, cutting off their little back and forth. "Hinata and I came because we wanted to talk to you about Itachi" he looked at Izumi, who became serious again at the mention of the boy.
"Yes, I gathered that… Sasuke" she started, but then stopped, frowned, glanced down, and then sighed. "This thing… it has been going on for too long, you know? So while what you said did trigger this situation… it was going to happen sooner or later, and it's all on Itachi, not you or Hinata, to fix. Do you understand?"
Hinata glanced at Sasuke, expecting him to argue with Izumi and convince her to talk to Itachi anyway… but to her surprise, he was actually staring at the ground, biting his lip with a pensive expression.
After a while, he looked up. "I… understand. But I also think you need to take into account Itachi's personality."
"…what do you mean?" Izumi asked while frowning.
"Itachi always does things for a reason. He's the kind of person that thinks his way is always the correct one, and then goes and imposes that on others. If he keeps denying your relationship… there must be a reason. A reason he decided not to share because he never does and then just went and did things as he thought them best without consulting you."
Hinata stared at Sasuke, surprised by his analysis. She had honestly thought he would… pushing the thought away, she turned towards Izumi, who seemed deep in thought after what Sasuke said, and decided, since she was already there, to add a little something.
"I… might not know Itachi-san as much as Sasuke-kun, but I believe he's right when he says there must be a reason… I know it must hurt having your relationship denied like that, but I think that if the two of you speak… if you confront Itachi-san directly, then something good might come out of it."
Of course, she didn't know if that would actually be the case, but maybe speaking up and being sincere was better than being trapped in this limbo? At least she thought so.
"That's right" Sasuke nodded, more determined than before after hearing Hinata talk. "Itachi's an idiot, but he wouldn't even consider spending time with you if he didn't like you."
"That's… true" Izumi said slowly, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face. Suddenly, she laughed, though it sounded watery, and Hinata and Sasuke panicked thinking maybe they have gone too far. But then, she raised her head again, and although her eyes seemed a bit wet, she was smiling, happy and wide. "I'm sorry, it's just… I know you're right but… I, I miss him, despite it all. And if there's a chance of making things right and finally get a direct answer as to what we are, then…"
"Do you want us to ask Itachi-san?" Hinata heard herself asking before she could even realize what she was doing. When not only Izumi, but also Hana and Sasuke looked at her in shock, she felt her own face getting warm, but didn't take it back. There was just something about Izumi right now, the way she spoke of Itachi…
…it reminded her of herself, though if in relation to Naruto or Sasuke, she couldn't be sure.
Wait, Sasuke-kun? Why would I…? she thought, her eyes wide.
Her imminent meltdown was cut short by Hana's loud laugh.
"Oh my…! I can't…!" she bent over, one hand on her knee while the other slapped the wall next to her. "Izumi! Can you believe it? These twelve year olds are miles ahead of Itachi when it comes to romance! And now they're even going to save his relationship! How hilarious is that?"
And she kept on laughing, under Izumi's pout, Sasuke's annoyed glare, and Hinata's embarrassed blush.
I know the 'I missed you' isn't SH, but it still counts, right? Right!