sasuke / uchirite.
no form of dōjutsu was needed to know she wasn’t as “alright” as she claimed to be ; none of them were. himself included. children thrown into war. into atrocity after atrocity. just barely managing to stumble past all the destruction &. loss to claw their way to the light at the end of the tunnel that seemed to merely taunt them every step of the way. but they were survivors. able to surpass the long night &. make it to the brighter tomorrow. there’s a breathy ❛ hm … ❜ that follows as she speaks / half lidded gaze towards horizon shifting towards corners to once again catch a better glimpse of heiress.
just as adversity had strengthened him , it had done so to her as well. for all her could recall before exiling himself from the leaf village , THIS was the most he’d ever heard her speak without turning into some stuttering mess. without flaring up the same colors of his eyes out of sheer embarrassment. so much has … changed since his departure.
❛ if you say you’re fine. ❜ he starts , knowing not to press any further. ❛ then i’ll take your word for it , hinata. ❜ for a moment , he honestly forgets that she even took his hand in her own. so used to calloused palms , the sting of electricity &. the burns of flames. this sensation of touch other than his own was … comforting ? no. numbing.
❛ home —————- for awhile now , i’ve been trying to figure out just what that was. i’ve been so blinded by my own hate that i couldn’t see what i had in front of me. only what i lost. ❜ there’s a pause , thumb absentmindedly rubbing against her hand while brows began to knit &. crown gave a slight shake. ❛ like i said. i know that look. i’m not leaving again. or i’d have you , naruto &. the entirety of the leaf trying to drag me back. ❜
a sigh emits from the hyuga. there’s a part of her, a far off distant visage of her youth where in which she stood opposed and at odds with her father. ---------- with her now late cousin. despite the effort she had weaved into her daily life to better herself. to raise herself to their standards and expectations, and it was that child who had distinctly looked out at the other children and thought: why.
it’s not the same, she knows. the paths in which they took from then to now are vastly different, but all the same, there’s still that little part of her. that little girl with the meek voice and hesitant mind that emphasizes because she could oh so easily slide herself into his shoes and see the world from his perspective. ------------ and in many ways, she still can.
so, her crown tilts. locks of azure ebony spilling past her shoulders as hand embraces hand. her own thumb kneading ---- returning the absent calming stroke in which he’s bestowed upon her. unwittingly or not.
“i don’t ----” she starts then, once the dust has settled and the weight of his words has sunken into her skin. “there was a time, where i didn’t know ----- what that meant.” she hates this. despises the fact that the second she tries to open up to anyone outside of her team is the moment in which the words get stuck in her throat.
a hand, the freed one, finds a gentle perch against his crown. kind, chakra worn hands carefully pushing sweat-slicked strands from the uchiha’s forehead. “i didn’t understand it. ------- but ---- after shino and kiba and their companionship.” a smile breaks, small but warming at the mention of her best friends, and their constant needling and refusal to ever leave something be. “i learned that my home was with them. ---- my friends. ----- and i think.” she pauses, weight adjusting to rest more comfortably against her shins as gaze sweeps to meet his. steady and clear. “that maybe yours is too.” a laugh comes. one that’s immediately overshadowed and whisked away by the sweeping winds, but there all the same. “and i think, if history were to repeat. we’d all come running for you. naruto and sakura especially.”











