After

Thirty-two

He was standing still on the side of her doorframe, watching as Ino Yamanaka applied chakra to Hinata's wounded palm. She still hadn't said a word to him, not even spare a look in his direction.
After her first hit, the man fell heavy on the ground. The rest of the group stayed still, surspised even, at the way the situation was unfolding. She had heard her voice speaking low of something he didn't know, but it seemed it had angered them. One raised his hand, but one block from her left it lifeless. He hadn't realised when his hand had reached for his sword, or that he was already pointing it at the men's direction. It could be worse if Shikamaru Nara didn't block his path. He came to be at Ino's yelling at the group of shinobi. They were the ones hurt, but for the blonde it didn't matter. She shouted that Hinata was a civilian and how disrespectful was of them to attack one. They argued that she attacked first, but it didn't matter. The woman took her friend's side. He was left out of the discussion that unfolded inside the Hogake tower. He couldn't ask on the way to her house, because the two walked them there. Was it because of a punishment or for safety, he didn't know.
"It's fine now, but don't push it too much." The blonde said as the chakra dissapeared. "Seriously you are rusty. Hurting your hand from just a punch." She laughed it off, earning a small smile from Hinata.
"I am sorry for the commotion." Hinata said.
"One that shouldn't be repeated, if I may add." Nara responded from the other side of the table.
Ino hit her hand on the wood.
"Seriously Shikamaru? It wasn't Hinata's fault."
"I didn't say it was. But Hinata was a shinobi, now a civilian. And that alone could cause some problems. I don't even add her name and her relationship with Naruto in the equation."
"So? She should just sit there and listen to whatever those bastards would say? You heard it right? What they said about.."
"Ino." Hinata stopped her just before she finished her sentence. She stopped her from saying what Sasuke wanted to hear about the most. What they said that would cause her to discard her previous demeanour, that her continuous ignore would fade and crumble.
That was all that he cared about. Because whatever the advisor said, mattered little to him. The next time he would sense even a slight look from anyone, Sasuke would act. He was never a person that followed rules and regulations, especially when it came to people that he held dear.
"And Hinata knows better than to let herself be swapped with idiotic comments. She is more smart than you." He said and Sasuke damned him. From the little he had seen the woman a full blown anger was sure to burst. And that wouldn't help him. He was already angry himself.
"Do you want to fight me? Is that it?" She got up.
"Shikamaru is right." Hinata spoke lowly. "I warned them though." She added. "I asked if they knew who I was before I attacked to give them the chance to refrain. They knew about my abilities." She said timidly.
The black eyes of the man widened, before he laughed.
"They thought you showed off as a Hyuga."
"No, I wanted to give them a chance to apologise if they didn't want to fight me." She smiled half embarrassed. "But you are right. I should have behaved differently. I put you in a difficult position yet again Shikamaru-san. I am sorry."
Sasuke thought that she shouldn't be sorry. She had done nothing wrong. Nothing that he wouldn't have done.
The advisor brought out a pack and put a cigarette to his mouth. How he too wanted one.
"I'll be back in a second." The man said and got up.
"It's no need." She said, but her jaw clenched slightly.
She moved to the kitchen where she had left the ashtray the day before and brought it back for the man to smoke. He looked at her for a moment but said nothing.
The voices died out eventually, only Ino looked at him from time to time. It felt as if she wanted to say something, as if he would be her only ally. He grabbed onto that.
"So?" He spoke for the first time. "Is that how is going to be from now on?"
The two of them turned to look at him and Hinata finally followed after.
"Do you think that they are going to harass her and I will stay silent, unbothered? Tell me mister genius, what do you believe are the chances for that to happen?"
"Is that a threat?" Shikamaru asked almost bored.
"Take it as you wish." Sasuke answered.
Shikamaru sighed.
"I can't exactly fire everyone, can I?" Shikamaru said.
"Did you fire them?" Ino asked, earning a glance from the man.
"What did you expect? Those aren't the people I want to sent for a mission under Konoha's name." His tone was flat. "Neither does Naruto."
"So, Sasuke what do you want me to do?"
"Shikamaru-san you don't need to do anything more. It's not.." Hinata answered instead.
"If you can't do anything about it, be sure I will." Sasuke answered. "Tell Naruto I said that."
The white eyes looked at him.
"Sasuke enough." They both realised what that meant. It was pretty easy for the harassment to stop. Just a few words and everything would end.
She caressed her wrist and turned to the advisor.
"Naruto shouldn't be involved any further than this. It will be considered favouritism." She said seriously, absolutely.
Sasuke glanced at her.
"It's not like that Hinata and you know it. If anyone was in your position..." Ino tried to reason with her.
"But it's not anyone Ino. It's me. And it's Sasuke. And the people will say that their Hogake is not unbiased." Hinata continued.
"I don't care." Sasuke responded instead.
"Well, I do." She answered back.
Shikamaru tapped his lighter on the table. Once, twice until he had their attention.
"Gaara came to the village a few weeks before. He is a smart guy, dedicated to peace." The man started. "He had heard from Temari about the project that Hinata had taken change of. And he is interested. He even suggested that we should expand it with Suna's help. Print the books in more than one copy, share them among the villages. Write about the Sand too. I was planning to ask Hinata if she's interested after she finished her, your current work. But I guess it's fine to bring it up now."
"So you want us to leave?" Sasuke's anger didn't ease.
"I am offering an alternative."
"Fuck you and your damn village." Sasuke said and brought out his cigarettes.
Shikamaru smiled.
"I thought you were always eager to leave the damn village." He pointed at him. "It stresses you out enough."
He opened his mouth to curse him once more.
"You are not going to be casted out." He turned to Hinata. "And I am not forcing you to do anything that you don't want. Your house will be here, you can come back whenever you want. It's just.."
She smiled.
"You are a good person Shikamaru-san."
"Ah, don't say that. It makes me feel more like shit."
She laughed. He looked at her and then at him.
"You sure know how to pick them." He said and got up.
"Come on, we are leaving." He said to Ino and walked out, waving with his hand like he had no care in the whole world.
The woman gave a kiss to the blue hair of Hinata's head, a side look at him and followed her comrade.
The departure brought silence. She had averted back to the avoidance of any look, making Sasuke drown in agitation even more.
"I will make some tea." She spoke first, perhaps in a last attempt to distract him, to buy herself some time.
"Is he your first priority?" Sasuke asked, shattering her evasion.
"It's not fair. What you are asking for him to do. It's not right." She answered.
"It's the truth. I thought you always demanded that. Hell, even your work demands that." He almost accused her.
"That is different."
"Different how?" He said again.
"It's something completely personal Sasuke. You do realise that." She was irritated too.
"Yet it's affecting you. Us. Me."
She sighed.
"I had warned you about the consequences of us being together."
"This has nothing to do with it. This...It's just you protecting him again. Him instead of.."
"It's me protecting a friend." She stopped him. "No matter what happened, Naruto was a dear person for me. I will not break his trust, just so I can be better."
"He isn't your friend." Sasuke raised his voice.
"No. But he is yours." She spoke coldly.
"I will not abandoned him. He hasn't committed a crime, you know." He felt offended.
"How do you think it will seem that the man that brought you back, the one that helped greatly at you walking out as a free person is in love with you?"
"We weren't exactly strangers." He mocked her.
"Yet I am sure that that though will be forgotten. And I am against of putting someone out to reveal anything that he isn't comfortable with."
"So? Is that it? We will continue like this?" He asked, but didn't get an answer.
Hinata stood still watching him. He wanted a moment to breath. So he turned and walked outside. Another cigarette was on his lips and as he inhaled he considered the options. He knew what she meant, he wasn't comfortable either with putting his best friend on the spot, but it would be worse for her for now on. It angered him, her stubbornness to protect Naruto at all costs. It made him jealous. She would laugh again if he told her, or it would make her furious. Perhaps she would think that he didn't trust her. It wasn't that. Not really. Still.
He thought that no matter the years, no matter how she had changed, in some parts she was the same as before. As the girl that preferred to take the blame, to be hurt instead of hurting others. Hiashi Hyuga had said that she was a lot to handle and he had agreed. He knew it from the start. He had loved her for that. He smiled on that thought.
"I thought you left." He heard her saying.
Leaving. To where when she was here.
"What did they say?" He said instead.
For a moment she paused.
"It was nothing. I was just tired of hearing the same gossips again and again."
"You are lying." He responded. "I already know that it must have been something despicable, since you lost your calm. So tell me."
"What's the point?" She tried to seem tired.
"Hinata look at me." He raised his voice.
She stubbornly refused.
"I was patient until now, but I won't be any longer. You do realise that I will find out." He was losing his patience.
"Can't you leave it be? It's unimportant." She answered with her low voice.
She walked at the start of the flowers, touching a leaf, then the fabric of her shirt. She was thinking about it.
"I don't mind." She said then. "About the things they say about me. I don't. I was expecting them."
"But?" He was imagining the way they would suffer so he would sound more calm than what he really was.
"I can't stay silent when they talk about you." She spoke and Sasuke watched her.
"Yet you demand the same thing from me." He told her and her head turned to him. "What did they say?"
"That you deserve all the things that happened to you. That..In the end it's good because your line will finally end with you."
She paused for a moment.
"I'm sorry."
"Why the apology?" He asked.
"Because you came back searching for a home and peace and now you don't have it."
"I came back not knowing what I wanted and yet I found it. This village was never my home. But at least it gave me you."
She was sad, as if she was to blame.
"So you punched him for me." He said to erase that expression of her face.
"Sasuke."
"Don't be mistaken Hinata. They already hated me. I just gave them another reason to."
She walked to him and raised her hand to touch his face.
"You don't deserve it. You know that right? None of it."
He smiled.
"And it's not your fault." He said. "Neither your burden alone. So don't hide from me."
She bit her lips.
"About Shikamaru's proposal.."
"You don't want to leave the village Hinata. I already know that. You said it yourself before, everyone you love is here."
"That was then." She simply said and Sasuke wondered if she knew, if she could even grasp the hold she had of him.
"Do you like my house?" She asked absurdly.
He frowned, not understanding.
"It's not much. I made it to my liking. For it to be warm and isolated at the same time."
"The bedroom is small, but not too small and the living room is not meant for a big gathering. Just for a selected few."
"Are you presenting me your house?" He asked half amused. "I have spent most of my time here, I know it very well."
"So would you live here?" She asked and then breathed a little louder than usual.
Sasuke observed her.
"If..If we were going to leave for a while, would you like to stay here when we returned? Stay with me?"
She let a little laugh.
"I don't know why I am so nervous. It's not as if anything will change if you refuse."
He...How she knew to freeze him like that.
"It's a suggestion. And it's probably early. We...I..I am rushing things." She caressed his skin. "I am always choosing you. So don't ever think otherwise." She smiled. "Asking you to move here, it is something I have thought before today. Every time you leave. But today, I thought I should say it, so you don't misunderstand. I am always thinking about you, in everything I do." She looked  away. "I know you don't want to be bind to the village. I know that is the reason you haven't bought a home yet. So don't think of it as such." She laughed again. Because of the nervousness or the relief, he didn't know.
"I'm lying a little." She said and looked at him. "I'm scared that you will grow tired of me."
"Nothing about you is tiring." He finally found his voice.
"Not even my demands? My stubborness as my sister is constantly saying?" She covered her giggle with her finger. "I made you angry."
"Yes."
"Are you still angry?" She asked.
"No."
"I am thinking about taking upon Gaara-san's offer." She said lowly. "But I don't want to bind you with that. It will be really time consuming, since I am not familiar with..."
"Bind me." Sasuke said. "With the project, with the house, with you."
She smiled.
"I might so don't.."
"You already have." He told her.
She kissed him and he still felt the smile on her her lips.
"We need to discuss it some more." She said as she moved away. "Ask about details and.."
"We need to finish the book about my clan first."
She seemed excited. He knew he was.
"Can you do me a favour?" He said and she nodded. "Bring out my brother's dairy. It's time to put a closer in the last chapter."