Distant Echoes

50 - Split

The fire burned, the flames gestured like busy people. Utside it was dark and it was snowing, it was early evening. Both were sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace in the large hotel room. There were other guests chatting, but the atmosphere was warm, pleasant. It had been four days since they were in that village. They had dined an hour earlier, Sasuke carried the cup of tea to his lips, watching Hinata now bite perhaps the third piece of cake.

Sasuke thought that all that zuccero in her stomach was not good for her, but he, distracted by her smile, she preferred not to expose a judgment that would surely make her pout. Hinata felt complete in those days, she was living her dream of love, she woke up with him next to she, they joined carnally before falling asleep, then they had breakfast, they went out, they had lunch and after dinner if time allowed they walked.

- I'm so happy to be on the road - he said, sounding warm as summer seawater. - I never hated Konoha so much, as when you left. -

Sasuke looked into her eyes.

Hate?

Years ago, he really hated everything. Konoha remained the place where his brother had carried out the massacre of his clan, saving the entire village from Uchiha's plot. He still hated that place, where corruption reigned in the shinobi system. He had done everything to get revenge, hurt and destroy, and then he ended up with nothing but ashes in his hand. He had then detested what he had become: a wrecker, a monster. Orochimaru had said that it was the worst part of Konoha, the violent part, the critical part. Sasuke agreed with him, but maybe he calmed down a little.

At least.

Her eyes glided over the long hair that Hinata refused. How did he like the look and also the way of doing that woman who had come to make such a lonely and long journey alone to reach him? His crazy fans were chasing him, stalking him was the right word. But there was a difference. Those women ran after him to abuse him, for their selfish interests, idealized him, but Hinata instead really knew him, she had known how to live without him, but she wanted him in her life, in her bed, in her inner world, in their bubble, because she loved him. Sasuke at that renewed awareness felt tangles at the bottom of his belly, and at the same time he felt annoyed, perhaps not quite by her, but by the person he became when the ivy was around him.

Hell, he was so used to being insensitive that it seemed strange to find himself analyzing her fascinated. Before her, he had spent most of his life alone. And in those days, getting back to sharing all that time with her was so in line with how they spent their days in their first year of their story. The difference was subtle, at that time, he did not know he loved her, he just thought that initially Hinata was a distraction from her boredom, a harmful habit, a beautiful woman who set her hormones in motion and with whom he liked to have sex, someone of corrupt like him.

Slowly, being with her had begun to give him nostalgic feelings, even protection, it was as if she made him feel safe. He could not logically explain that feeling, since Hinata was weak in comparison to him, so having serious emotional blocks, he was told to be attached to her as a sort of relative, realizing that he loved her differently only when the shock of having believed in her death had ignited her ancient trauma.

Hinata put her face on the palm of her hand. - The magnets I bought are nice, I could give them to the rest of my friends - you guessed it.

- For them you are engaged in mission - Sasuke pointed it flat.

- However, in theory I'll have a few hours, right? - she e took five out of his pocket. - And this with the hawk and the mountains we could put in your house! -

Sasuke, at the umpteenth confirmation of Hinata's attachment to him, took a wide breath without answering her, but Hinata did not worry.

- It was really amazing to catch up with you, you know - he said it again. - I talked to a lot of people, and I saw a lot of particular places. -