Chapter Text
Her presence irritated him.
What was with her?
He could feel her lurking presence in the shadows wherever they went. It was bad enough he was forced to participate in team seven meetups. He hated crowds, hated going out for barbecue, karaoke, or whatever dumb idea Sakura came up with next, but his guilt was enormous. It was part of his penance to agree to whatever they asked. He had led them on a wild goose chase for three years, nearly killed Sakura twice, and left both himself and Naruto crippled after their final battle.
He had traveled the world searching for repentance. It was only during his stay at Mount Myoboku, while he sought the meaning of inner peace, that the Great Sage Toad told him he would never find peace until he forgave himself for who he had become and returned to those he had left behind. The old frog spoke almost entirely in parables, and it took Sasuke months to understand the message. He figured that he could not make peace within himself until he received forgiveness from his team.
Forgiveness came quickly. There was no bad blood left between team seven, but the guilt he carried for the pain and suffering he caused them motivated his newfound attempt at sociability. There was a lot of lost time to make up for, milestones he had missed and memories he could never share, but Sasuke was determined to honor his brother's dying wish and find happiness.
Did that happiness lie within the walls of Konoha?
Sasuke doubted it.
Still, the only way forward was through.
That was how he found himself in a bar, deep within the shinobi district, surrounded by his drunken teammates and the rest of the rookie nine. The energy around the table was vibrant, loud, and overflowing with alcohol fueled confidence. He hated every second of it.
Yet strangely enough, he found himself enjoying Naruto's obnoxious volume. The blond was enthusiastically explaining a new taijutsu move he had created while Kiba, who was just as loud as Naruto, kept telling him to shut up while simultaneously insisting he had invented an even better technique.
It was entertaining watching them bicker from the comfort of his seat.
But those eyes unnerved him. Those pale, soulless eyes belonging to that Hyuga girl.
It wasn't the first time he had caught her watching him. A few days earlier, Naruto had dragged him to the grand reopening of Ichiraku Ramen after its expansion. Sasuke had felt her gaze from two tables away. She sat in a booth facing his direction, her eyes flickering between her companions and him.
Sasuke hated being stared at. Too much of his reputation had been torn apart and rebuilt from scratch. He hated the whispers that followed him through town and the wary looks some vendors still gave him whenever he entered their shops.
Her stares were different. Unapologetic.
Her gaze lingered even when he stared back, as though she were looking through him rather than at him. It didn't matter where they were or how many people surrounded them. If the Hyuga was present, he could always count on catching her in the act.
Tonight was no different. Between the roar of the music and Naruto repeatedly slamming his shoulder into Sasuke whenever he got animated, her stare felt unbearable.
"Excuse me." He stood from the table. Naruto spared him a glance before diving right back into his argument. The bar was packed.
It was a Saturday night during a new era of peace. Shinobi now worked rotating schedules with weekends off, and perhaps by coincidence, or because the Hokage happened to be their former sensei, all of the rookie nine had ended up sharing the same weekend off.
Sasuke made his way to the bar and ordered a double shot. He didn't care what it was, he simply told the bartender to make sure it was strong.
He saw the slender arm before he felt it drape across his shoulders. Perfect pink nails brushed against his arm. Strength capable of shattering boulders hid deceptively within Sakura's slender frame. Her breath reeked of liquor, but that didn't stop her from smashing their cheeks together.
"I know I'm drunk," she slurred, "but is that a drink in your hand?"
"Hm."
"I thought you didn't drink?"
Her free hand pulled his closer and she sniffed his glass. She winced. "Smells strong."
"Hm."
"Hm," she mocked before laughing at her own joke. "What got you drinking all of a sudden?"
He shrugged. "It was getting too loud at the table. Naruto and Kiba are even louder when they're drunk."
It was true. Their voices carried over the music even from across the bar, but it was only half the truth. Sasuke couldn't exactly tell Sakura he had fled because of the piercing white stare he'd been receiving from the Hyuga girl. Would she laugh? Would she even believe him if he told her he'd caught Hinata staring at him multiple times?
Sakura was far too drunk for a serious conversation, and Sasuke wasn't interested in becoming the punchline of a joke. He finished his shot and turned toward the exit.
"I'm tired. I'm heading out."
"Wait before you go!"
Sakura grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. She immediately began steering him back toward the table.
"Hinata's ready to go home too. Do you mind walking her?"
If Sasuke had been the man he was a few years ago, he would have activated amaterasu directly on Sakura's hair. To his immense displeasure, Hinata happened to be the exact Hyuga he had been trying to avoid. But now that he had been put on the spot, he couldn't refuse the request and Sakura knew that.
The pink-haired medic was one of the smartest kunoichi of their generation. Beneath her drunken stupor, Sasuke could see the sly smile lurking underneath. He didn't know what her angle was but he swore revenge then and there.
"What do you say?"
"Hm."
Sakura slapped him hard on the back, sending him stumbling forward. "You're such a team player, Sasuke. We're so glad to have you back."
She turned toward Hinata. "Sasuke's ready to go whenever you are." She said before sliding into the seat next to Naruto.
"Bye you guys!" Naruto stood and waved as though Sasuke was already halfway down the road. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Hinata kept her head lowered and quietly moved to his side. After another round of drunken goodbyes, the two finally separated from the group.
Tonight was particularly windy for May. Sasuke was accustomed to extreme weather after spending years traveling alone through the wilderness. Rain, blazing heat, and even the bitter cold barely registered anymore.
He glanced sideways at Hinata when another gust swept through the street, she tightened her cardigan around herself. They walked in silence.
Every now and then Sasuke would peek over, expecting to catch her watching him again but every time he looked, her eyes remained fixed on the road ahead. With each passing minute, his irritation grew.
Why had she been so bold at the bar, yet acted so indifferent now that they were alone? Earlier she had stared shamelessly. Now she walked beside him as though nothing had happened.
He didn't understand it.
The longer they walked, the more frustrated Sasuke became. It wasn't until the Hyuga compound came into view that he finally snapped.
"Why are you always staring at me?"
Hinata stopped walking. Her eyes widened into an owl-like stare. “Huh?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to let her play dumb.
"I've caught you staring at me across the table. Not just tonight, a lot of times. I can feel your eyes burning holes into the back of my head, and it's irritating. I want to know why you're always staring at me. Is there something you want to say to me, Hyuga? Then say it now."
"I was... staring at you?" Her expression cycled through several emotions before realization suddenly dawned. Her face turned bright red.
"I-I wasn't staring at you, Sasuke. I'm sorry if it looked that way. I didn't mean to offend you." She bowed quickly, her bangs hiding half her face.
Sasuke watched her play with her fingers. The nervous, awkward girl from their genin days had returned. Her eyes darted between him and the compound gates as though calculating whether she could outrun him.
But Sasuke wasn't finished. He grabbed her arm.
"You're lying. I saw you a few hours ago staring directly at me, and now you want me to believe you weren't? The Rinnegan can record movement and break it down to a fraction of a second. I saw your eyes. You were sitting directly across from me. If I asked Naruto, I bet he'd back me up."
Her face went pale. "Please, Sasuke, don't tell Naruto-kun. I beg of you."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"B-Because..." She swallowed hard. Her expression became impossible to read. "I wasn't looking at you, Sasuke. I was looking at N-Naruto-kun."
Her face turned crimson, the nervous fidgeting resumed. And suddenly Sasuke remembered.
The ramen shop, the bar, and the karaoke lounge. Every time he had caught her staring, Naruto had been sitting right next to him. Sasuke released her arm and rubbed his hand over his face. He felt like an idiot. He had been so accustomed to the way girls looked at him, Sakura, Ino, Karin, and countless others that it never crossed his mind that Naruto, dead last Naruto, had a secret admirer.
Of course that idiot would attract a weirdo like her. The shy girl always fell for the loser type of guy. The realization was almost funny. Instead of laughing, Sasuke simply shook his head. The knot of anxiety in his chest loosened. She wasn't another admirer and she wasn't a hater looking for revenge. She was simply another misguided girl in love.
"You know he'll never look at you the same way.” he said. “He's still in love with Sakura."
Her face fell but just as quickly, she hid the expression behind practiced indifference.
"I know," she whispered. "I confessed once before."
"What did he say?" Sasuke wasn't sure why he asked.
At this point he was just being nosey, and feeding his curiosity.
"He... never responded." Ouch.
Sasuke nodded. "So you're trying to win him over by staring?"
"No!" She practically shouted the word before shrinking into herself.
"I-I like looking at him. Kiba-kun says I stare too much. I don't mean to. Sometimes when I look at Naruto-kun, I can imagine a life with him. I see it so clearly. The house, the children... I've even picked out their names."
She was pitiful. Painfully pitiful.
If Sasuke remembered correctly, her crush probably started around the Chunin Exams. Sakura had once told him about her fight with Neji and how Naruto had encouraged her to stand her ground. Looking at her now, Sasuke suspected the true reason she had fought so hard was because she wanted Naruto to notice her.
Again, pitiful.
Yet he couldn't walk away. That small spark of curiosity had grown larger.
"What if he never returns your feelings?" Sasuke asked. "What if he spends the rest of his life chasing Sakura? Or fall in love with someone else?"
Her gaze drifted as though she had already asked herself that question countless times.
"Then I'm content with loving him from afar." She smiled sadly.
"I love him to the point of selflessness. If Naruto-kun is happy, then I have everything I need."
Sasuke scoffed. "A love like that is pitiful. What is love if you're not willing to risk everything to achieve your goal?"
Hinata worried her lower lip. She didn't answer. Sasuke wondered if she secretly agreed. Did she think she was too pitiful to deserve the love she wanted?
He knew her story, how her clan had ostracized her and treated her as nothing more than a failed heiress. He knew how it felt to be hurt by the ones you loved, how even though time passed and things changed those old wounds. The festering ulcer that their hatred has created, that never goes away. The self doubt, the problematic self-worth never heals correctly. Hinata probably wasn't aware of it the way Sasuke was aware of his own flaws. But the signs were all there. He knew, just by looking at her, that she would probably never confess again.
She would never demand an answer, it wasn't in her nature. She would spend the rest of her life carrying a self-inflicted wound and convincing herself she deserved it. Sasuke knew this because he was exactly the same.
He couldn't leave her like this. If he caught her staring again, and he had no doubt he would, he wouldn't feel annoyed. He would feel pity, and pity would follow him every time he saw her and gnaw at him like a disease.
No, he couldn't let her live like this. He would never find inner peace if the image of the Hyuga girl's hollow stare haunted him every time he closed his eyes.
"I'll help you confess to Naruto."
The words left his mouth before he could stop them. The moment they were spoken, he knew there was no taking them back. His conscience wouldn't allow it.
"Um... thank you for the offer, Sasuke, but I'd like to decline." She bowed politely with all the grace of a well-bred Hyuga. But Sasuke wasn’t well-bred, not anymore.
"I wasn't asking."
Her eyes widened.
"Let me rephrase. I'm going to help you get over this pitiful crush you have on Naruto. If you refuse, I'll tell him myself. What you have going on is weird and disturbing. I don't think I can sleep at night knowing what I know now. Either you accept my help and confess, or I'll do it for you."
She gasped. Her owl-eyed stare returned only this time it was filled with horror. "Are you... threatening me?"
"Tomorrow at sunrise, training ground b."
He didn't wait for an answer. Sasuke flickered onto the nearest rooftop and headed toward his apartment. Hinata was close enough to home that she no longer needed an escort. Besides, the only danger she faced tonight was herself.
Sasuke would either help her confess to his best friend or force her to move on.
Either way, it felt like a step toward penance.
~ ~ ~
Hinata could not sleep. Her mind was an anxious mess as she watched the sky slowly brighten with the first hint of dawn. She felt like an idiot.
Why had she told Sasuke Uchiha about her crush on Naruto?
Now he was using it as material to blackmail her under the guise of helping. She had felt trapped last night after he accused her of staring at him. Her mind had gone completely blank. She wanted to deny the accusation, but he had caught her at least twice to her knowledge.
She hadn't even noticed him at Ichiraku's grand reopening. Naruto had just returned from a mission, and he had come back different. His hair was cut short, almost to the root, and he had replaced his usual hitai-ate strap with a snug black band. He wore a fitted black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing toned forearms.
He looked so handsome, Hinata had gotten lost in his face. She could see their future so clearly. They would live in a large house in the middle of the village. Every day he would leave the house dressed in that beautiful black outfit, and every evening she would be waiting for him at the door. He would sweep her off her feet and kiss her breathless, only pulling away when a chorus of horrified "ews" erupted from their children.
She imagined they would have two. A boy first, with bright blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Then a little girl with midnight blue hair like her mother and either pale eyes like hers or bright blue eyes like her father. Either way, they would be beautiful because they would be loved.
She wasn't sure how long she had stared that day, but Kiba eventually snapped her back to reality.
The same thing had happened last night.
She didn't think she had stared for very long, but most of her memories from the evening existed within her daydreams rather than reality. She hadn't noticed Sasuke's discomfort at the bar, nor had she noticed it at the ramen shop. But he had noticed her and he had confronted her about it. Now he knew.
Sasuke, Naruto's best friend. The man that Naruto had spent three years chasing across the continent. That man knew about her crush, and if Sasuke told Naruto about her infatuation, Naruto would undoubtedly listen, and that was not how she wanted him to find out.
Hinata wanted Naruto to notice her because of her own merits. So far, nothing she had said or done had been noteworthy enough to earn a response from him. Confession or rejection, that answer was hers to hear alone.
That was why she arrived bright and early at training ground b. The lone Uchiha was already waiting by the bench. When he spotted her, he moved to sit down, silently commanding her to do the same.
Hinata sat several inches away, enough distance to communicate that this was not a friendly meeting. She was only here because of his threat, and she had no desire to make him feel welcome in her presence.
"G'morning, Sasuke."
"Morning. I had half a mind to believe you wouldn't come."
"How could I not show up when I'm being threatened?" she shot back.
Sasuke rolled his eyes as though he were the one being inconvenienced.
"In order to help, I first need to know about your first confession."
He moved on as though it were the most natural progression in the world, but Hinata refused to budge. "Why would I tell you something like that and give you more ammunition for blackmail?"
He clicked his tongue. "I was never really going to tell the idiot anything. But you did show up, which means some part of you knows you need help. Your unrequited love is pitiful. Borderline desperate at this point. What exactly do you have to lose by accepting my help?"
As much as she hated to admit it, Sasuke had a point. She had tried things her way for fourteen years, and not once had Naruto truly noticed her. She had reached a point in her desperation where she convinced herself that loving him from afar was enough. But it wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want the only intimacy in her life to exist inside her daydreams. And she knew she would never truly move on until she knew how he felt about her.
So she told Sasuke everything, about the Pein attack, about rushing in to save Naruto. About confessing her love at what she believed would be her resting place. She told him how, after everything was over, Naruto ran straight into Sakura's arms.
How he never came looking for her in the hospital, or how he never sought her out afterward. How he had left almost immediately for the Land of Iron and the Five Kage Summit. By the time she finished, Sasuke's normally blank face finally displayed an emotion. Pity.
"You told him you loved him as your dying wish and he never responded."
Sasuke dragged a hand down his face. He looked as though he had aged a year in the span of minutes. "I can't speak for Naruto's mindset, but the man is an idiot. And I don't mean that affectionately. He's a fantastic shinobi, but his social skills are almost as bad as mine."
Sasuke continued. "You confessed completely out of nowhere during a life or death situation. He probably thought you meant you loved him as a friend and couldn't bear to watch him die."
This was a perspective she had never considered. For years she had treated his silence as an answer.
"S-so I should confess again?"
"No."
She winced at the abrupt response.
"No, because first you need Naruto to actually see you as a romantic possibility. Random confessions like your first one would confuse a normal person, let alone that moron. If you confessed right now, he'd probably think you were saying you loved his shirt or something."
"Oh."
Hinata nodded slowly, trying to absorb every piece of information. Maybe her confession hadn't failed because she was unlovable. Maybe it had failed because, from Naruto's perspective, it had come completely out of nowhere.
To her, she had loved him forever, ever since she was five years old. To him, it had probably sounded sudden, confusing, and entirely disconnected from reality.
"So what should I do?" she asked.
Sasuke didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stared toward the tree line, his face settling back into its usual emotionless mask while he thinked.
Finally, he spoke. "First, I'll talk to him and figure out where he stands on dating. Whether he's still obsessed with Sakura or not."
Then he glanced in her direction. "As for you, get some new clothes. Naruto likes confident, loud girls who show a bit of skin. Wearing a baggy tracksuit in the middle of summer practically screams insecure. Get a makeover or something."
"Oh." She struggled to find a response. Did she really look that bad?
She was due for some new clothes. She had been wearing variations of the same purple outfit since she was thirteen. Meanwhile, the rest of the rookie nine had gradually updated their wardrobes over the years.
Hinata was a creature of habit, if she wasn't given a reason to change something, she rarely did. Still, she had started feeling a little too grown up for her old sweats. She just hadn't found a reason to replace them.
"I guess I could go shopping when the stores open."
"Good." His tone left no room for further discussion. Then he stood. "Now we spar."
Hinata nearly choked. "Excuse me?!"
"Hyuga, we've known each other for almost all our lives and never exchanged for more than a handful of words until yesterday. Now we're meeting up alone before sunrise at a training ground. If we don't train, it'll look suspicious."
He stated. "The last thing we need is Naruto finding out about this meeting and assuming something is going on. That wouldn't help your case."
"Oh." She blinked. "Yeah... you're right."
She rose to her feet and mirrored his stance as he moved into a kata.
"I don't think I'll be much practice for you. I'm not as strong as the other kunoichi."
He hummed. Hinata expected that to be the end of his response, instead he said, "I know. But I've always wanted to spar against a Hyuga, so you'll do."
After the warm up, they moved directly into a sparring match. It went unspoken, but neither activated their kekkei genkai.
The fight ended almost as soon as it began. Hinata found herself flat on her back staring at the sky. Sasuke's missing arm proved to be no handicap whatsoever. His adaptation to the disability was astonishing. Still, neither of them had expected a different outcome.
Without another word, not even a goodbye, Sasuke disappeared in a blur of movement.
Normally Hinata would have found the lack of manners irritating. Instead, she was simply relieved that the meeting was over. As much as she hated to admit it, he had given her some good advice.
She would never have imagined in her wildest dreams that somehow Sasuke Uchiha would become her unofficial wingman. What he hoped to gain from any of this remained a mystery. But if his help brought her closer to the boy of her dreams, she was willing to accept it.