Day 19: Even shame can turn into love

Hinata woke up in the middle of the night and, doing as little noise as possible, slipped away from the room she was sharing with Sakura and Kurenai and went outside.

It had been a few days since they arrived at Takumi Village. There wasn't really a lot to do other than train and relax, and although for Hinata that was just fine, she could see that for some of her teammates the slow pace was killing them. More vocally Kiba and Naruto, but specifically Sasuke.

She would sometimes see him wandering off alone, kunai pouch firmly attached to his thigh, and he would disappear into the wilderness for hours without anyone really knowing where he was. He was restless, although for what exactly, she wasn't sure.

He was still there, every morning and evening, sharing meals and sometimes even engaging in conversations with the others. Hinata knew he was a quiet person, but she never truly noticed how at ease he was with himself until… until now, that she started to pay more attention to him.

She gulped, her footsteps soft and inconspicuous as she reached the exit of the building they were staying at. Because Takumi Village was such an unreachable place, it didn't have any inns or places meant for tourists, but it did have a specific lodging for travellers like them. Shinobi that came for a mission and needed to stay for a few days.

Hinata knew it was also the place where the villagers could account for and keep them under watch, so she was a bit nervous as she made her way towards the surrounding forest, in the direction of the waterfall she had seen during their first day here. Sasuke went off on his own every day, and no one had raised any objections so far. Surely her doing the same wouldn't be a big problem, right?

His advice about how to find her elemental affinity had been a good one, and after speaking with Kurenai, she had promised her to find some chakra paper for her as soon as they returned to Konoha. Of course, this didn't mean she had an excuse to skip on her training.

She first heard the sound of flowing water, before the waterfall came into view. It wasn't a very big one, the one from Konoha easily dwarfing the one here, but it was big enough, and, most of all, it served its purpose.

Hinata glanced around, nervous as she always was whenever she did this in Konoha. There was no one around, as far as she could see, and a quick activation of her byakugan confirmed this, but still, it was impossible not to feel nervous as she peeled off her clothes until she was left in nothing but her underwear, paranoid as only she could be that somehow her eyes had not been thorough enough in their search for interlopers.

She stepped onto the water, shaking at the coldness that was expected considering they were in late December. But she was a shinobi, and this was nothing, so she went on, allowing a fine layer of chakra to coat her feet, preventing her from sinking to the bottom.

And then she started to dance.

Water droplets floated around her as she gathered her chakra, creating different shapes with it and allowing them to hit the surface of the water as she moved. The push and pull of it, the ripples created when her feet landed on a different place… Hinata closed her eyes and allowed herself to bask on the sensation of it all, with the sound of the waterfall resonating like bells in her ears, the cool shower dampening her skin, and her chakra, moving freely around her, creating a cocoon of tranquility that was almost enough to lull her into a state of apostasy.

Hinata had, of course, investigated about the manipulation of elemental chakra before immersing herself into her training. She knew that, for water manipulation specifically, it was necessary to mold your chakra in such a way that could serve as a container for the water. It was another reason she had opted for water ahead of any other elemental natures. The Hyuuga style was precise enough for this kind of thing, and so she should be able to do it…

She furrowed her brows, concentrating. The chakra took form, small needles forming around little amounts of water. She imagined them shooting off towards the waterfall, fast and deadly, but they barely held their shape above the ever changing surface of the pond before they collapsed, earning a huff of annoyance from Hinata.

It was too difficult, but even this was better than what she had been able to do just a mere week ago. Slow progress it was, but it was still progress.

Hinata kept on dancing, allowing her body to bend and curve just as the element she was trying to control, trying again and again to form the water needles. She didn't know how long she kept at this, couldn't have been more than an hour, but by the end of it she was tired, more tired than when she did any physical training. Chakra exhaustion was a different kind of animal than the physical one, and she knew that after this, she would need a good rest in order to recover enough to keep on going tomorrow.

Sighing, she opened her eyes, turning towards the shore to put on her clothes again and return to the lodging, but was stopped short when she saw him, standing there with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Sasuke.

She yelped.

Sasuke reeled back.

Hinata fell into the pond, all concentration lost at the sight of him.

He yelled her name, but she could barely hear it while underwater. Quickly, she resurfaced, coughing and wheezing once she broke through the water surface.

"Hinata, what the hell?! Are you alright?!"

She blinked numerous times, water staining her vision and hanging from her eyelashes. There, still at the shore, just slightly in the water, Sasuke was standing, staring at her with a frown of concern.

"Hey… are you alright?" he asked, cautiously.

Hinata bit her lower lip, her arms coming up to hide her chest despite it being covered by the water. It wasn't a very deep pond, her feet able to touch the sandy bottom, so there wasn't any real need to worry about her drowning or anything, but…

"H-How long have you been there?" she demanded, or at least tried to. Her teeth were chattering and it was not only because of shame. The water was very, very cold.

"I…" he started, then looked at her, frowned, opened his mouth, and then seemed to realize something, because his eyes widened again. He turned around, giving her his back as he crossed his arms. "I don't know."

The girl frowned in pure disbelief. "H-How can you n-not know?"

"I don't…" he shook his head. "Aren't you gonna get out? The water must be freezing. At this pace you'll die from hypothermia" he said, taking the first few steps out of the, as he aptly described it, freezing pond.

Hinata trembled but she refused to get out, even with Sasuke looking away. She wanted him gone. She wanted to know why he was here. She wanted to know how long he had been staring at her and why.

But most of all she wanted him gone.

"P-Please l-leave…" she asked.

"Huh?" even without seeing his face, she could imagine his frown by his tone of voice. "I'm giving you my back. I'm not looking at you. Besides, I've already seen plenty so…"

"Leave!" she shouted then, startling him. For a moment, he seemed to be at a lost, fidgeting and grumbling, but after a while, he finally, thankfully gave up, and walked to the edge of the forest, disappearing from view quickly after.

Hinata wasted no time getting out of the pond and putting her clothes back on, even though she was still soaking wet. The protection her jacket provided was welcome, even with it becoming wet, and for a moment she simply hugged herself, her eyes closed and her heart a hummingbird inside her chest.

Sasuke had seen her…

Sasuke had seen her…

Hinata covered her face with her hands and screamed.

Sasuke took a deep breath, his whole body still burning.

It wasn't like he was trying to spy on her or anything, but…

He had been returning from the bathroom when he saw Hinata at a distance, walking quietly towards the exit. It had, of course, caught his attention, wondering just what could she been doing sneaking out at this hour of the night. But then, he had shrugged it off, thinking that whatever she was doing was her business alone, and so had returned to his room to continue sleeping.

Except, when he lied down on the futon, he was unable to fall back asleep. He wouldn't ever admit it, but the curiosity was killing him. What could Hinata possibly been doing outside, so late? Why was she sneaking out?

He turned and tossed until Naruto kicked him on the side telling him to stop moving, wondering about it, before he couldn't take it anymore. He got up, went out and…

…and had no idea where she could possibly be. There was the possibility she had returned to her room as well, seeing as it had been a while before he finally decided to seek her out, but of course he had to try to at least find her first.

And so he had thought of the waterfall, and her words about training her elemental affinity. He had also thought of himself, getting up in the middle of the night back home when he was feeling restless, and going out to one of the training grounds to throw kunai and shuriken until he could think of nothing else.

It had been a hunch, a hunch that turned out to be right. And what he found when he arrived was…

Sasuke coughed, feeling hot and so completely out of his depth. To be honest, while he did notice Hinata's state of clothing and… well, thought about it even still, what had made him stay, staring as if under a spell, was the way she moved.

He had, of course, mastered the ability to walk up trees. Itachi had showed him, long before he had ever finished the academy. Walking on water, however, was a completely different matter. It required a lot more concentration, and a precision he was still unable to achieve.

Hinata had no such problems. She had glided, eyes closed, while droplets of water danced around her. The liquid flowed, pushing and pulling at her command, while needles of pure chakra shone all around her, making her look like, like…

It reminded him of Itachi, somehow.

Of course, Itachi was swifter and deadlier, whereas Hinata was graceful and elegant. Still, the energy he got from Hinata, as she moved above the water, frown of concentration firmly on her face and half-formed needles rising and falling back into the pond, was very similar to the sensation he would get on his chest when he saw Itachi aptly and efficiently throwing kunais and hitting every single one of the targets.

It was that, more than her state of undress, honestly, what got his heart beating almost out of his chest.

Of course, just because that was what caught his attention it didn't mean Hinata still wasn't horribly undressed for this time of year, and that he had been staring at her for who knew how long.

Pervert!

He gritted his teeth, already hearing her voice throwing that accusation at him. He wasn't a pervert! It wasn't his fault she decided to prance around in nothing but her underwear as she trained! If anything, this was her fault for doing it outside, where anyone could come and see!

Without even realizing it, he was becoming desperate, thinking of excuses and explanations to tell Hinata when she confronted him about spying on her… even though it wasn't spying at all as she was in plain sight for anyone to see, when the crunching of dried leaves underneath dainty feet brought him back to reality.

He turned… and there she was, glancing at the ground, hands clasped in front of her and that ever present ugly blush staining her face.

For a while, none spoke, Hinata still facing the ground and Sasuke staring at her, lump in his throat preventing him from uttering a word… until she finally opened her mouth.

"What were you doing here?" she asked, a lot calmer than when she first noticed him at the shore of the pond. Sasuke pursed his lips, before sighing.

"I saw you leaving the building when I was coming back from the bathroom… at first I just returned to my room, wanting to give you space to do whatever it was you wanted to do, but then I became too curious and…" he didn't finish, realizing how… creepy his behavior actually was. Following her in the middle of the night because he wanted to know what she was doing all by herself? That was too…!

"Why…?" Hinata cleared her throat, and Sasuke paid attention to her once more. She was still not looking at him. In fact, she seemed to shrink into herself even more, if that was possible. "Why didn't you say anything? You stayed there, who knows how long, and…"

She couldn't continue, and honestly, at this pace Sasuke was almost sure it would be better if she didn't. A little more and she might just combust, or worse… faint.

However, that last question… it was a difficult question to answer, at least for Sasuke. He had just been thinking about it, before she came, but it was different admitting it to himself in his own mind and saying out loud for her to hear…

Regardless, he now knew how she was, and how she would interpret his silence, and he could very much do without her pouting and assuming things or accusing him of things like she tended to do when he chose not to say anything… and so, with a dejected sigh, he decided to tell her what he could.

"For a second there, it was like watching Itachi" he admitted, blushing despite his best efforts not to.

Upon hearing this, Hinata widened her eyes, looking up at him with a surprised expression. "I-Itachi-san…?"

"His element is fire, like almost every Uchiha" he explained, not wanting her to get confused on his brother's behalf. "So it wasn't the water manipulation what made me think of him. Rather, it was… I don't know, the way you moved? That dedication and determination that's the exact same as Itachi's when he's training by himself? I thought…" he cleared his throat, feeling it clogging up as he fought to reach the end of his chain of thought. "I thought, for a moment, that it was incredible… and that you could do all that, even without knowing if water is your elemental affinity or not… made it even more incredible."

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply and feeling incredibly… exposed, after he was done. But on some level he thought he had brought this upon himself, being too curious for his own good and following Hinata to a secluded place for no other reason than…

A thud interrupted his self-deprecating thoughts. He opened his eyes, alarmed, only to find Hinata, once more, on the ground, steam coming out of her ears and her face so hot it could rival the sun.

Sasuke stared at her body, noticing just now how her clothes were soaking wet, likely from her putting them on in a hurry without properly drying off first, as well as the mud and dried leaves that were tangled in her hair… and he groaned.

She fainted.

She fainted.

And she was an absolute mess on top of that! There was no way he was going to be able to drag her back to the building they were staying at without waking up someone, and then people would ask what the hell they were doing outside this late and why was Hinata all wet and…

Sasuke shook his head, before resigning himself to his fate and going to pick up his unconscious girlfriend.

Why the hell did she even faint this time?

Sometimes, Sasuke really wanted to know what was going on inside this strange girl's head.