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The moon has disappeared behind the clouds and the animals of the night had come out to prowl.
Lilac eyes stared at the stars, that were mere freckles in the sky.
The sheer silence was enough to calm her mind. Even after hours of travelling and the encounter at the village earlier that day, she wasn't exhausted at all.
Turning back, the Uchiha lay against a rock and was asleep, not a sound came from him. Seeing his relaxed face brought a slight blush to the hyuuga's face.
"Your weak."
The words rang like a non-stop buzz. It was less than a week ago that he said that and it was true to her. It was the same thing that her father said when he was driven to the point where he gave up on teaching her. Her sister pushed her to the shadows.
Hinata never hated her, only envied her ability to be out-going and recognised. Neither of which she could be.
There was one thing she wanted. Validation. Not from anyone. From her father. She was nothing but a disappointment to him.
Hinata lay her head back and closed her eyes, letting her thoughts drift her consciousness.
~
An image of a child came into her dream. The child's face was nothing more than scribbles. She fell to the ground, shattering as she did so. Hinata's dream self got to her knees, and picked up a piece that still lay on the ground.
'I̶ L̶O̶V̶E̶ Y̶O̶U̶'
Hinata stared at the other pieces, they all had something engraved in them. 'I hate you, Your a failure, You are too weak'
It was only then did she realise that the child was her. The pieces were her self consciousness. She let out a single tear, staring at the broken pieces.
A voice called out from everywhere and nowhere. Deafening her.
"Hinata. Hinata are you alright?"
~
Hinata opened her eyes, fear written in them. She sat up and faced the Uchiha who stared at her. She couldn't read his face but the Uchiha could read hers.
He understood that face, that look. Countless nightmares was all it took to engrave that feeling deep into his heart. The scream of terror and guilt every night.
Yet he could only sit hopelessly infront of the girl who must have had countless dreams like that.
~
"2 more days till we reach the Village." Sasuke said to no one. In fact, he was trying to get Hinata involved in some short talk conversation but her mind seemed to be elsewhere.
Sasuke walked a few steps behind the Hyuuga, his eyes on her hair the whole time.
He admired the shine it gave off in the sun and without thinking, he raised her hand up to feel it. Its was soft and silky. Like his mothers.
Hinata snapped out of her trance and turned her head slowly. Sasuke immediately pulled his hand down.
"Its soft.." He murmered, trying to make the situation less awkward.
Hinata blushed and turned back, playing with her own hair between her fingers.
An awkward silence separated the two, both embarrassed. Until Sasuke broke the silence once more, "Before we left the leaf, you were eager to leave as soon as possible. Why?"
The question caught Hinata off guard but she kept walking. She wasn't sure whether she should keep her burdens to herself or rip off the happy mask she's been wearing for the past 3 years.
"I guess..I just wanted to get away from everything,"
Sasuke didn't press on, instead waited, letting her reveal herself slowly.
"Father's disappointment from his elder child. The envy of Hanabi having the natural gift I don't have. All my friends moving on in their life and I'm still here treading on a thin piece of thread, threatening to split if I don't play this charade."
Sasuke listened in silence and after some thought replied, "To play the role fate gave us. Accept whatever is too come."
A buzzing connection flew through them. A unknown warmth brand the two of them together.
"Have you ever felt this way?" Hinata asked, turning back to look at Sasuke.
"When I heard everyone in the Village was getting married I felt...frantic. I didn't wan't to get left behind," Sasuke cut himself off, looking for the right words to say, "It was foolish but I imagined we would stay forever young. Me and Naruto with our everlasting competition. Sakura still head over heels for me."
Hinata slowed her pace and walked side by side with Sasuke, whose mask was being ripped off.
"I thought that one day I would be with Sakura and have a girl and Naruto..well with you. That reality was smashed in my face. I then realised I was living in a world of make-belief. A world I wanted. Not what fate wanted."
Sasuke, for once, has his guard down. His hands trembled and his stone-like face crumbled. Revealing the real him. The guy who wanted nothing more than love.
Hinata held onto his hand and they stopped moving. Her warmth spread into Sasuke, his heart beating louder.
Hinata chuckled in disbelief. "Who would have thought we would every have this time together," she had a softer tone, "Perhaps fate is the one who brought us together."
~
AUTHORS NOTE:
Hope you didn't find this chapter crappy, Some romance will finally start in the next chapter!
