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xpastelberriesx · 4 months

Text

Fateful Dots

„Ko.”

Hinata’s small fingers closed around the hem of the sleeve of her bodyguard’s loose kimono. Gently pulling at the piece of clothing twice, she directed Ko’s attention to herself.

Looking down at the young child with a smile, Ko squatted down to bring his eyes to the same level as hers. “Yes, Hinata-sama?”

Without saying a word, Hinata stretched out her arms, letting the sleeves of her elegant kimono slip back, revealing her wrists. Letting out a small gasp, Ko’s fingers softly closed around the thin bones, his fingertips brushing over the black dots that hadn’t been there a few hours ago.

“What are these?” Hinata whispered.

Taking a deep breath, Ko stood up and held Hinata’s hand, directing her out of the crowd of the hall they were currently in. Obediently, Hinata let him guide her, not turning her eyes from his back even for a moment.

She sensed that Ko’s behavior changed—the playful glances were replaced by a worried glimmer in his opalescent eyes. Turning down her gaze, Hinata suddenly regretted showing the curious black dots to him.

Stepping out under the moonlit sky, Ko gently pulled Hinata toward a tree that seemed to be avoided by the guests who had arrived for the annual, formal gathering of the village’s clans.

Once they were under the protecting leaves, Ko bent down once again.

The serious expression on his face made the corner of Hinata’s lips turn downward.

Noticing the tears of fear pooling under the child’s eyes, Ko softened his features. “Don’t be afraid, Hinata-sama. The marks that have appeared on your skin are a natural part of life.” Emphasizing his statement, Ko lifted his own hands and pulled back the fabric of his shirt to reveal the exact same marks on his own skin.

Her irises widened and Hinata quickly counted the number of dots. “You don’t have as many as I do.”

His smile faltering for a moment, Ko nodded. “The number of the marks is different for everyone, but we all have them.” Hiding the marks again, he continued, “Has anybody told you about soulmates, Hinata-sama?”

Hinata shook her head but didn’t pose a question.

“In this world, everybody has a soulmate. Someone who can be their lifetime partner.”

“Like Mother and Father?”

Ko shot a wide smile toward her. “Exactly, like your parents. These marks appear when you cross paths with your soulmate for the first time.”

Hinata tilted her head to the side. “I think I forgot to say hi.”

Ko softly laughed at the childish comment and reached for Hinata’s hands.

“May I?” he asked, only touching Hinata’s skin on her left arm once she shyly bobbed her head. Turning her wrist upward, he pointed at the nine, organized dots on her wrist. “These marks signal the length of life. The number of dots here shows the length of your own life. Congratulations, Hinata-sama. You will live a long life.”

Her eyes sparkling, Hinata let her lips quirk up in a smile. However, her smile quickly flattened as she remembered the one single mark on her right wrist. “What does this mark mean?” she asked, pushing her wrist close to Ko’s face.

His face darkening, Ko explained in a flat tone, “The number of marks on your right wrist is connected to the length of your soulmate’s life.”

Blinking, Hinata muttered, “But there’s only one dot there.”

Ko stayed silent for a few minutes while Hinata examined the sole dot on her right wrist. Once Hinata’s posture stiffened, realizing what exactly having only one dot meant, Ko spoke up again, “There’s a reason why you see both your own and your soulmate’s lifetime. When your soulmate’s last mark is about to disappear, you can choose to give one of your own to them.”

Staring attentively at the hypnotizing dot, Hinata let out a thoughtful hum. “I want my soulmate to live a long life. I will give them my marks.”

“Be considerate though, Hinata-sama. If you give too many marks from your own, you will shorten your lifespan by a lot.”

As if she hadn’t heard Ko’s warning, Hinata turned and took a step toward the crowd of important guests. “Can we find my soulmate now, Ko?” By the time she finished the question, she was already hurrying toward the hall, leaving Ko behind.

Letting out a sigh, he mumbled, “How do you figure out who your soulmate is when today you’ve crossed paths with half of the village?”

///

Hinata couldn’t sleep. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, but dreams avoided her.

Sighing, she slipped into her slippers and as silently as possible, sneaked out of her bedroom.

Her heart was pounding—for her, this was a rebellious act. Her father didn’t like it if she left her quarters during the night. Even if she just needed a glass of water, she had to call for Ko. But she was seven years old already, old enough to fetch herself something from the kitchen alone.

The Hyuuga residence was eerily silent during the night. The shadow of a branch outside made Hinata jump back as she turned a corner, but luckily, her small eek didn’t pick the attention of any of the guards.

Proudly standing in the kitchen, Hinata poured herself a glass of water.

And then, her eyes caught sight of her right wrist.

The one dot that she was so used to seeing there looked somehow different than in the past two years since she had it. She needed only a minute to figure out why—it was fading.

Surprise and fear meshed together in her heart and her body suddenly felt weak. She heard the loud noise of her glass breaking, but she wasn’t aware of dropping it.

“What do I do?” she whispered to herself. “I don’t want my soulmate to die.”

Even if her brain didn’t, her instincts seemed to know exactly what to do. As soon as she pushed the thumb of her left hand against the last black dot on her right wrist, a painful, unexpected sting made her hiss.

“Hinata-sama?” Ko hurried into the kitchen, quickly screening all corners of the room. “Everything is alright?”

Without an answer, Hinata turned her arms toward him, showing one black dot on her right wrist, and eight on the other.

///

By the time Hinata graduated from the Academy, she saved her soulmate’s life twice already. For the first time on that particular night, and for the second time on a strangely chilly afternoon.

Even though she was already twelve and still didn’t have a confirmation of who her soulmate actually was, she didn’t mind saving him. Especially because she had a strong intuition about the identity of her perfect partner. In fact, she was standing next to him right now.

“It will be a piece of cake, right, Sakura-chan?” Naruto screamed so loud that probably the entire Land of Fire could hear him.

“Just stop screaming already, you will deafen everybody here,” Sakura screamed back, just as loud.

“The both of you should just shut up,” Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and walked further away from them.

Hinata watched as both Sakura and Naruto rushed after him, one apologizing all the way and the other screaming childish insults.

She couldn’t help but smile. Naruto was obnoxious and hyperactive, but Hinata knew his soft and caring side—she had watched him feed stray dogs and build shelters for injured birds enough to know that Naruto was a good person.

And Hinata was more than sure that he must be her soulmate.

When she was around him, she felt a strange, warm sensation in her heart, and she couldn’t stop blushing whenever he was in sight. Even though she was young, she had read about this feeling in books, and she knew it was love. Naruto didn’t only make her feel giddy, but his aura also gave Hinata an inexplicable confidence that flashed through her veins as if she could be capable of anything.

Of course, Naruto had to be her soulmate.

Besides, he was the only person Hinata could imagine getting into so much trouble that his lifespan would manifest in one sole dot on her right wrist.

“Hinata, don’t daydream,” Kiba shouted at her.

Hinata blinked, snapping out of her thoughts just in time to jump away from a boulder falling from above. They were in the Forest of Death, trying to pass the chuunin exams, but she was so lost in her own thoughts that the last thing she remembered was watching Team Seven search for their entry gate.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled as her feet touched the ground.

The fight that followed was short and easy—Kiba and Shino had set up a trap previously and an opposing team walked right into it. Her teammates quickly searched the bags of the defeated competitors and Kiba exclaimed a shout of joy when he found exactly what he was looking for.

In a few hours, they reached their destination in the middle of the forest without any hindrance.

“We did it, guys!” Kiba laughed as they walked through the doors. “I bet Naruto and his lousy team are still struggling.”

Hinata glanced at her wrist, just to make sure everything was fine with her soulmate, but instead of the relieved wave of emotions she had been expecting, anxiety twitched in her stomach. As if Kiba’s words had drawn in some bad luck, the dot on her right wrist had almost faded to the point of nonexistence.

Without thinking, she offered yet another portion of her own lifespan on the spot. The stinging ache that accompanied losing one of her marks would possibly be dreadful to others, but not to Hinata.

Watching the black dot quickly filling up again on her right wrist, she couldn’t help but smile.

///

She had heard the news, of course she did. Everybody in Konoha was talking about Uchiha Sasuke leaving the village, wounding his own teammate almost fatally in the process.

Hinata glanced at the sleeping Naruto in the hospital bed. He looked so pale among the white sheets. Suppressing the urge to gently pet his blond hair, she placed the flowers she had brought for him in the vase on the nightstand.

Nobody would ever know she was the one who had left these lilies here.

Just as nobody would know that she had once again shortened her own life to save him from his demise.

///

“He’s dying,” the thought raced through her mind as she was watching Naruto trying to fight off Pain in the middle of the village that had been destroyed to dust. She saw it with her own eyes, and yet, the situation didn’t seem that clear—Naruto was obviously dying, but the single black dot on Hinata’s right wrist didn’t seem to start fading.

“It means he can fend him off. There’s no real danger,” she assured herself, whispering.

Ko suddenly jumped next to her, grabbing her by the arm. “Hinata-sama, we need to go.”

Glancing at the dark black spot on her wrist, Hinata decided to trust the universe and Naruto’s capabilities. She slowly bobbed her head and turned her back to the fighting scene.

Just as she was ready to follow Ko, Naruto’s scream filled the air. Jolting her head back, her eyesight was filled with the horrendous scene of Naruto being pinned to the ground by strange-looking rods and Pain towering over him, ready to strike the final blow.

With no time to think, Hinata’s limbs moved on their own, and suddenly, she was staring into hypnotizing purple eyes.

“Hinata, leave!”

As if she hadn’t heard Naruto’s yell, Hinata took an offensive stance. “I will protect you.”

“You can’t! Leave before you die!”

“It’s not my first time saving your life.”

Naruto gasped. “What do you mean?”

Hinata turned her body just enough for Naruto to see the dots on her wrist that had been revealed by the sleeves of her jumper slightly slipping down. “I used to have nine dots, now I only have five. I already gave four to you, and I’m ready to give you all that I have left.”

She heard Naruto’s surprised grunt, but before he could object further, she launched an attack toward the emotionless face of the enemy in front of her.

And the last thing she remembered before her world went dark was the dizzying circles in those purple eyes that had intended to take the life of her soulmate.

///

The sterile white light came through in the form of stabbing pain in Hinata’s eyes as she opened them for the first time. Quickly closing them back, she let out a faint whimper.

“Hinata,” came a soft whisper from a familiar voice that made Hinata’s heart beat faster.

“Na-Naruto-kun…” her voice came out hoarse, but she couldn’t care less about it when the memories started flowing back as clearly as if she was watching a movie. “Did I succeed? Could I save you?”

The weight of Naruto’s body pushed down on the mattress as he sat on the edge of the bed. Blinking to make her eyes get used to the blinding light, finally, the smeared spots of shiny blond hair and ocean blue eyes became the face Hinata had always been dreaming about.

Her heart skipped a beat as Naruto locked his fingers around her right wrist and slowly turned it around, revealing the sole dark spot on the flawless skin.

Words got stuck in Hinata’s throat as Naruto fixed an attentive glare on her. She had imagined this conversation a thousand times at least—the things she would say, how she would say them. And yet, now she was unable to utter the carefully crafted words.

“Naruto-kun, I—”

“Hinata.”

Naruto’s stare was firm and warm at the same time. Hinata swallowed, anticipation tearing her apart from the inside. She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for, a confession of love or just a friendly admission of them being soulmates, but all her ideas and dreams came crashing down on her the moment she glanced down at Naruto’s left wrist that he placed next to her right one.

His left wrist, the one that showed the length of his life in the form of neatly placed dots.

His left wrist, the one that had seven dots, when it was supposed to have only one.

///

Smile. Clap. Say congratulations and share your good wishes. Repeat.

Hinata attended the fourth wedding this summer. All her friends seemed to have found their soulmates. She was happy for them, truly—but she couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that the universe had made a grave mistake when it assigned her soulmate.

A soulmate she still hadn’t found but had saved six times already. The dots on her left arm used to be nine, but now they were only three, while the single dot on her right arm almost burned a hole in her skin, constantly reminding her that she was dumbly saving someone whom she didn’t even know.

After she learned that she had been mistaken, and Naruto wasn’t in fact her soulmate, she swore to herself that she wouldn’t give away any more of her own life for a stranger.

And yet, since that, she had saved this person twice more.

She couldn’t find a logical explanation for it. Perhaps she was curious to know who her soulmate was before he inevitably passed away. Or maybe she was just extremely afraid of needing to spend the remainder of her life alone, without a partner. A life that she willingly cut so short that now she possibly wouldn’t even see her own kids grow up.

“Hinata, drop the sad face, we’re here to celebrate!”

Thin, long fingers clasped around her shoulders and a cheerful laughter echoed in her ears. An honest smile spread across her lips, and she reached out to hug her dear friend.

“I’m so happy for you, Ino. You look stunning.”

“This dress was the perfect choice, wasn’t it?” Ino spun around, the small, elegant jewels on her wedding dress sparkling as the sun reflected on them.

“It was, definitely.”

“We should choose something similar for your wedding,” Ino said, winking at her.

“I should first find the person I can have the wedding with,” Hinata muttered under her nose.

“What? Speak louder!”

Hinata let out a small laugh. “I just said I would like to have something simpler.”

“Ah, Hinata. Your wedding will be the best day of your life. You have to go extravagant, it’s tradition!”

Hinata covered her laugh with her hand and gave a hand mirror to Ino so she could look at herself one last time before she went out and showed herself to the few hundred guests she had invited.

The wedding and the reception following were just like Ino—sparkling, dazzling, energetic, and somehow unconventional, but still elegant and enjoyable for everyone.

At least Hinata thought it to be enjoyable for all the guests until she spotted Uchiha Sasuke standing in the farthest corner with his only arm grabbing onto the loose sleeve of his lost other limb.

Before she knew it, his mismatched eyes stared down at her with a swirl of annoyance as she stopped in front of him.

“Hi.” The word came out sounding high-pitched and a bit childish, and Hinata could immediately feel her face turning red in embarrassment.

“Hi.” The deep, firm voice created a clear contrast, only deepening Hinata’s uneasiness.

She was considering escaping the situation and pretending she had never even tried approaching Uchiha Sasuke when he broke the awkward silence. “Himeko, right?”

“It’s Hinata, actually,” she mumbled, putting a strand of hair behind her ears to ease her discomfort.

“Sorry.”

Swinging back and forth on her legs, Hinata gathered all her strength to sound confident as she tried moving the conversation forward. “So, umm… are you enjoying the reception?”

“Not my style.”

“Well, it’s truly a bit… unique, but it fits Ino for sure.” Hinata waited a bit for Sasuke’s answer, but his lips remained pressed together, so she continued, “Kiba’s wedding was a bit similar two weeks ago.”

“I can’t know because I wasn’t invited.”

“Oh.” Hinata was now sure that nobody would mistake the redness on her cheeks for a blush but rather, a fever. Hastily trying to find a new topic to talk about, her gaze landed on Sasuke’s fingers closed strongly around the fabric of the empty sleeve of his shirt. “Does it hurt?”

Sasuke’s stare suddenly made Hinata wish to bite off her own tongue for asking something so invasive.

“It doesn’t hurt, not in the way you think. But sometimes I forget that I don’t have it anymore.”

“I see.” Hinata bobbed her head and paused, waiting to see if Sasuke would continue, but he just placed his hand on his hip and continued staring at the dancing guests of the reception. Trying to lighten the mood, she said, “At least you don’t have to stare at your own life expectancy all the time.”

“That damned soulmate mark,” he grunted. “If anything, I’m grateful to Naruto for removing it, otherwise I would’ve cut off my arm myself.”

Not knowing how to respond, Hinata only muttered a faint sound of comprehension and joined him in watching the other guests enjoying themselves on the dance floor.

///

Hinata peacefully slurped on her ramen at Ichiraku’s when a body slipped on the empty seat next to hers. Glancing sideways, she almost choked on a piece of vegetable when she caught sight of the unmistakable black hair.

“Nice to see you too, Hinata,” he commented with a slightly mocking undertone.

Hinata quickly swallowed the food in her mouth, trying to ignore the burning of her cheeks. “Sasuke-kun, I didn’t know you liked ramen.”

“I don’t.”

Hinata blinked, confused. “So, are you not here to eat?”

“I am.”

She bobbed her head to the side slightly, not knowing how to proceed with this surreal conversation.

“Ah, Sasuke, I haven’t seen you here since you were like… twelve, I guess?” Ichiraku joined in with a wide smile. “What can I serve you with?”

Sasuke glanced at Hinata’s half-empty bowl. “Whatever she’s eating.”

“I’m not sure you’d like it because what Hinata-sama is eating is actually—”

“I don’t care, just bring it.”

Ichiraku bobbed his head with a respectful gesture and turned away from his guests to prepare a bowl of ramen for Sasuke.

Still not understanding what exactly was happening around her, Hinata stared at Sasuke with a questioning shimmering in her eyes.

“Is there a problem?” he questioned, turning toward Hinata with his full body.

“No,” she muttered, grabbing her chopsticks tightly as if they could help her hide from Sasuke’s gaze. “I was just surprised to see you here, that’s all.”

“Is my presence bothering you?”

“No, not at all.”

After a few seconds of silence, Sasuke spoke again. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something.”

Glancing up at him from under her bangs, Hinata moved her head into a small nod. “Of course.”

“I’ve heard you’ve officially resigned from your position as the Hyuugas’ next clan head. Why is that?”

Hinata gave a small smile while she explained, “I had to admit that I was simply not fit for the role. I wanted the best for my clan, and it was clear that the best would come under my sister’s leadership. And this way, I also have fewer obligations and I can live my life more freely.”

“Freedom of choice over power, you say.”

Hinata patted on her chin with a finger. “I have never thought about it that way, but yes, that’s right.”

“Interesting,” Sasuke commented. “Most people would stick to power, no matter what.”

“Most people would, but not me.”

Ichiraku placed the bowl full of hot ramen in front of Sasuke with a loud exclamation of enjoy your meal. Sasuke stared into his bowl, but a dark cloud of disgust quickly distorted his features.

“There’s tomato in this,” his complaint came out of his mouth in the form of a grumble.

Ichiraku shrugged his shoulders. “I tried to warn you, young man.”

“Who puts tomato in their ramen?” Sasuke asked, more so to himself than the two other people around him.

“Me.” Hinata let out a small laugh as she picked up a slice of tomato from her own bowl and put it in her mouth.

Letting out a sigh, Sasuke picked up his chopsticks. “You’re really one of a kind, Hyuuga Hinata.”

///

When Hinata split a tree trunk in two with a particularly hard blow, birds flew up from the tree’s branches with a loud flapping of wings. Panting, she hopped down in the grass, massaging the edge of her hand.

“Remarkable,” a deep voice came from behind her, making her head flip toward it.

“Sasuke-kun,” she panted out in surprise. “Can I help you with something?”

As though he hadn’t heard the question, he walked up to the tree, inspecting the deeply carved line running through the middle of the thick trunk.

“A blow like that can easily kill your enemy. It’s a shame it’s unusable in combat.”

“It… it is usable.”

Sasuke’s narrowed gaze turned away from the tree and focused on Hinata. “You cannot gather enough chakra in time.”

“I can if I stay in place for a few seconds and—”

“Do you think your enemy would just wait patiently while you gather enough chakra to kill them? In real combat, your opponent is moving around, they’re not an inanimate object.”

“But if I pair up with a Nara, then—”

“If you need a specific team composition and the coordination of several people for an attack to work, then that attack counts as unusable.”

Hinata swallowed. “I… I disagree.”

Sasuke’s eyebrows lifted.

“I disagree, because…” Hinata pushed herself away from the ground and stood up slowly. “Isn’t this exactly what teams are about? To cooperate and enhance each other’s abilities? To give opportunity for attacks to work that wouldn’t work without backing up each other?”

“Then what are you doing when you’re alone and can only rely on yourself?”

“I just… I just use another type of attack.”

Sasuke turned his body toward Hinata and unbuttoned the clasp of his cape, leaving it to fall on the ground. “Show me then.”

Before Hinata could reject the sparring opportunity, Sasuke had already launched himself forward, but Hinata successfully ducked the unexpected blow. Forearms clashed against forearms, and as the sparring slowly turned into a serious showcase of moves, Hinata found herself enjoying the challenge more and more.

Suddenly, Sasuke’s hand closed around the delicate bone of her right wrist, the strength of the grip surprising Hinata. With a hiss, she was forced to kneel in the grass.

“What is this?” Sasuke asked, his voice simultaneously calm and menacing.

Hinata’s eyes quickly found what Sasuke was referring to—the soulmate mark with one single dot.

“My… my soulmate mark.”

“Have you ever offered one of your own marks not to let this one fade?”

“I…”

“Answer me,” Sasuke’s tone became even firmer, along with his hold around Hinata’s thin wrist.

“I… I have, but why—”

“Damn you, Hinata,” Sasuke grumbled, and he disappeared as abruptly as he had appeared only a few minutes ago.

///

“I’m really worried about Sasuke-kun. It has been a month since anyone saw him. Not even Naruto’s spy frogs can locate him.”

“Don’t worry, Sakura,” Ino put her hand on the woman’s shoulder, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Yeah, you know he has a habit of disappearing,” Sai commented but swallowed his further insights when Ino’s death stare focused on him.

“I just don’t understand.” Sakura lifted her head and looked at Hinata. Concern etched on her face, Sakura pressed, “Hinata, you were the last one who saw him. Are you sure you didn’t notice anything strange about him?”

“Yes, there was nothing strange. He gave me some advice while I was training, and then he just left.” Instinctively, Hinata started massaging her wrist. “That was all.”

Sakura buried her face into her palms. “I don’t understand.”

Guilt bubbled up in Hinata’s chest while she was looking at her clearly distressed friend. Her lips parted, ready to confess that she might have played a role in Sasuke’s sudden disappearance, but before a word could form, she pressed them together.

She had kept her mouth shut about the unusual interaction she had with Sasuke. She couldn’t confess what really happened anymore, her friends would think she had kept it a secret intentionally. When in fact, she just didn’t know what to confess. She herself didn’t understand what she had done to anger the Uchiha so much, causing him to seemingly go rogue once again.

As she was walking home, she once again found herself thinking about the one possible explanation that she could come up with—that Sasuke must possess the mirror image of her own soulmate marks.

She shook her head. Although it was the most likely explanation, it still seemed impossible. How could Sasuke be her soulmate?

The thought kept her awake that night. She stared at the reflection of the moon on her room's wall, as though expecting answers to emerge.

A sudden wave of wind brushed her upper arm, and she bolted up in her bed, her head turning toward the open window.

Unexpectedly, instead of the glowing full moon, her eyes captured a dark figure sitting on the windowsill, one arm resting on his leg pulled up to his chest.

“Sa-Sasuke-kun? Where have you been?”

“We need to talk.”

Hinata pushed her blanket against her chest as an unconscious defense mechanism. Her voice barely above a whisper, she questioned, “Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t know anymore.”

Hinata blinked but remained silent.

“You know who I am to you, right?” Sasuke continued.

“My soulmate,” the word rolled off Hinata’s tongue with such ease that she shuddered in surprise.

Sasuke’s nod was almost invisible. “Since when do you know it?”

“I…” Hinata felt her lips becoming dry. “I think I just realized it now.”

A single eyebrow arched high on Sasuke’s forehead. “You say you didn’t know it before?”

Hinata shook her head.

“You say you didn’t know who your soulmate was, but you still decided to repeatedly give them portions of your life?”

“I… Yes.”

“I can’t decide if you’re too compassionate or too stupid.”

Hinata pinned her gaze to the ground. “Maybe both.”

She heard a faint thumping noise as Sasuke jumped off the windowsill, placing himself fully inside her room.

“You first saved me on the night of the massacre. I hated you for not letting me die then and putting me through so much suffering. Then you didn’t let me leave this world when I was an overwhelmed kid who missed his parents and all he wanted was the river to take him to them. I hated you even more at that time. In the Forest of Death during our chuunin exam, you helped me survive Orochimaru’s marking. That was the first time I actually felt a bit grateful to you. Then I hated you again when I deserted the village and only survived Naruto’s attack because of you, not because of my own strength.”

With every instance Sasuke mentioned, he took a step toward Hinata.

“Once Orochimaru tried to kill me in my sleep. He didn’t succeed because of you. After that, I became careless with my actions, also because of you. I knew that I could do whatever I wanted because you’d save my life anyway. I was reckless, but you also gave me strength. As years passed, I wanted to know you more and more. But then, I almost died in a fight with that fool of a jinchuuriki of the Eight-Tails. You saved me, and I realized that I depend on you too much. So, I hated you once again.”

Hinata took a deep breath when Sasuke stepped next to her bed.

“I never wanted to learn who you are,” his voice cut into the silence. “I felt like you had too much power over me. I thought you knew that it was me and you were kind of playing with my life. I decided to punish my soulmate, whoever it was, by never letting this connection come to fruition. This was the only way I could feel some power over you too.”

“I didn’t know it was you,” Hinata whispered. “I wasn’t playing any games with your life. I just… I just wanted my soulmate to live.”

“The ridiculous thing is that whatever I did, you still ended up having power over me.”

Hinata’s head snapped up, her eyes staring into Sasuke’s. “How?”

“I didn’t pay much attention to you before you came up to me at Ino’s wedding. But after I noticed you, you occupied my mind. At first, I was trying to ignore it, but then, I decided to give in. I figured that if I pursue you, I can finally sever all my ties with my annoying soulmate.”

“It didn’t even cross your mind that I could be your soulmate.”

“Did it cross yours?”

Hinata stayed silent for a moment before she answered, “No.”

“When I realized you’re actually my soulmate, I felt so much anger that I could’ve easily killed you on the spot. Whatever I did to avoid you, you still ended up having power over me. I couldn’t let you have the upper hand.”

“Why did you come back then?”

The question lingered between them, the silence becoming more and more suffocating with each passing second.

“I will give you the power.”

Hinata’s eyes widened, and her lips parted. “What do you mean?”

“You can have the power over me. I’m tired of resisting this that seems to be my fate.”

Hinata’s heart pounded so aggressively that she was worried Sasuke could hear it clearly. Thoughts rushed her mind and the world suddenly felt unreal. She wanted to turn her gaze away from Sasuke’s mesmerizing eyes, but her body didn’t obey her brain’s instructions anymore.

“If you accept me, of course,” Sasuke added, and Hinata wasn’t sure if she only imagined the faint insecure tone in his voice or it truly was there.

“I saved you so many times without knowing who you are,” Hinata mumbled, but she heard her own voice as if she were only an outside observer in the situation. “Now that I know who you are… I would save you a thousand times more.”

The corners of Sasuke’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “I will count on you even more from now on.”

The moon seemed to shine even brighter as two souls merged tenderly under its light with a passionate kiss and a tight embrace.

#sasuhina #sasuke x hinata #fanfic #fanfiction #soulmates #soulmate au #pastelberries

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xpastelberriesx · 2 years

Text

恋の予感 | Koi no Yokan

“A premonition sensed by two people that they will one day fall in love.”

Arranged marriages are bad by nature.

That was what Sasuke had always believed in. He wasn’t convinced about either the arranged or the marriage part.

To him, marriage meant nothing more than a weakness through the woman who would become his wife. Not because he thought a woman would be weaker or an easier target than a man, but because having someone to keep from harm inevitably would create a crack on his precious self-protecting shield.

But even if it came to marriage, arranged ones were, without a doubt, the worst. In his mind, arranged was just a softer word for forced.

Sasuke adjusted the slightly curled-up sleeve of his black kimono. The faint murmur of the crowded sanctuary painted a grimace on his face, but he stubbornly kept staring at a small hole in the wooden floor. As though relentlessly glaring into the cavity would cause it to grow and suck him in, teleporting him into another reality.

The hem of a white, richly decorated kimono suddenly hid the hole from Sasuke’s eyes, but his gaze stayed pinned on the spot.

As the owner of the kimono slowly got closer, more and more details of her body came into Sasuke’s vision—porcelain skin, moderately long, almond-shaped nails, shiny indigo hair, elegant red lipstick.

She reached out her tiny hand and instinctively, Sasuke’s calloused fingers touched velvety skin. He helped her step onto the podium that was too small for the two of them, and as they turned to face the shrine, their arms brushed together.

Her hands trembled.

Inwardly, Sasuke scoffed—the podium was useless. It was too low to make a difference for the onlookers in the back of the crowd, so its only purpose seemed to be to force them to stand close together.

Without thinking, his lips opened in a scarcely audible whisper, “You can still refuse.”

The woman next to him took in a deep breath but stayed silent.

“Hinata.”

She seemed unfazed by his voice.

Sasuke's gaze swept over the hand-painted, newly created clan sigil hanging on the wall. The Hyuuga flame inside of the Uchiha fan. A pattern that he would be wearing on his clothes from today—a clear symbol of unison and moving forward.

Slight annoyance flared up in his chest.

“Hyuuga,” his whisper had more edge, but he made sure nobody else besides the two of them could hear it.

“The ceremony is about to begin,” she whispered back. Her voice could’ve been a lullaby if the circumstances were just a tiny bit different.

“So, this is your very last chance to refuse.”

Hinata wrapped herself in silence and Sasuke suppressed a remark. He directed his attention back to his own thoughts when the soft voice spoke up once again. “This is your very last chance to refuse, too.”

Sasuke silently clicked his tongue. “Your father didn’t give me much of a choice.”

“Exactly.”

No more words were needed from either of them.

That night, when Sasuke escorted his bride to the huge house that had been given to them as a wedding gift by the Hyuugas, he was convinced his soul had long left his body. His muscles put one leg after the other without his command while his mind bathed in the embrace of the deep quietness between them.

He glanced at the white cheeks glimmering in the moonlight next to him. The strained smile that had been present on them all day, while Hinata chatted with people Sasuke had never seen before, was long gone by now.

Weirdly, the second thing that Sasuke noticed was that her red lipstick had matted, and it faded to a deep pink hue as compared to the crimson shade she wore earlier.

“I wish they could’ve been there,” the pinkish red lips unexpectedly moved, and Sasuke felt his legs stumble for the sliver of a moment. This was the first time she had directly addressed him. Ever.

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?”

“Sakura-chan, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, Naruto-kun…” Sasuke didn’t miss her gazing up at the starry sky for a second before she continued, “And everyone else, really. It was a lonely event without them.”

The abrupt feeling of agreement that swept through Sasuke’s body made him choose silence as an answer. Her thinking that he was rude sounded way better than admitting that, in fact, Sasuke would’ve preferred to see familiar faces over the crowd of pupilless eyes. But the Hyuugas were old-fashioned, and no one was allowed at the wedding who didn’t possess the famous kekkei genkai.

Their wooden slippers knocked on the ground all the way through as they strolled down the narrow streets. Finally reaching the gate of their new home, Sasuke laid his palm against the hard surface and pushed the gate open.

Hinata slipped inside, but instead of going straight toward the traditionally built house, she turned around and stared into Sasuke’s mismatched eyes.

“I’m glad you were there, Sasuke-kun.”

And with that, she swirled inside with the grace of autumn leaves picked up by a gentle breeze, leaving Sasuke to part his lips upon the unfamiliar feeling of warmth inside his chest.

///

They had been married for six days when, as usual, Sasuke was preparing his bed in the guest room. Unusually, Hinata appeared in the open door, pulling at a loose thread at the hem of the long sleeve of her nightgown.

“Sa-Sasuke-kun,” her voice was low and uncertain and still, it blasted through the stillness of the night with the force of a paper bomb.

Sasuke calmly placed his pillow in its designated place before he straightened up and looked at the figure on the doorstep, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

They had been married for six days but they barely were roommates. They lived in complete neutrality—Hinata cooked and Sasuke ate everything on his plate, Hinata cleaned and Sasuke took care of the garden, Hinata went out to get groceries and Sasuke helped her put everything in its place once she returned. In Sasuke’s mind, it was better like that—he was not the type to be good at small talk. And as much as he knew Hinata, neither was she.

He stared at her without saying a word and she cast her eyes down while a faint blush crawled onto her cheeks.

“Yes?” he asked finally, realizing that she wouldn’t continue until she got some kind of a reaction.

“You should sleep in your bed.”

Hinata didn’t look at him, but her voice was devoid of unsureness. Sasuke wondered how many times she had practiced this one sentence until she could say it without her voice shaking.

He turned back to the bed, reaching for a thin blanket. “That’s your bed.”

Sasuke heard her take a step forward. “It’s our… our bed.”

With the blanket in his hands, he turned his whole body toward Hinata. She put a wisp of hair behind her ears and even though she tilted her head downward, her face was visibly burning.

Letting out a hissing tsk, Sasuke threw the blanket on the bed. “I prefer cold rooms.”

“I opened the window an hour ago. It’s quite chilly now.”

During the entirety of that night, Sasuke pondered on what spirit had possessed him as he lay in their marital bed, listening to the soft breathing next to him and making sure that none of their body parts were touching, not even by accident.

///

They had been married for nineteen days when Sasuke first touched his wife with a touch that wasn’t unintentional skin contact upon the both of them reaching for the same bowl on the dinner table, or a leg reaching too far to the side during the night.

He had just returned from a discussion with Kakashi and as soon as he stepped inside the house, he sensed a cloud of oddness around him. The sweet smell of dinner that he got so used to in the past few weeks now wasn’t lingering in the air.

His legs quickly brought him to the living room where he found who he was looking for—Hinata, but her usual small smile was nowhere to be found when she lifted her head and quickly wiped away the wet trail running down her cheeks.

“Welcome home, Sasuke-kun,” she greeted as she got up from the sofa with wobbly moves. “I was just about to start preparing dinner. I’m sorry it’s not ready yet, I didn’t expect you to return so early.”

The recently shed tears had carved lines on her fine skin and Sasuke felt an invincible urge to put his hand on her shoulder as she tried passing him. She stopped, although definitely not from the force of the touch but the surprise that came in the form of a calloused palm.

“Did something happen?” The corners of Sasuke’s lips twitched as soon as he posed the question. Of course something had happened, otherwise, he wouldn’t have found Hinata crying on the sofa.

A few moments passed without Hinata’s answer as though she was contemplating lying that everything was fine, but eventually, her lips moved, and her low voice filled the room. “I had a visitor.”

“I guess it wasn’t one of your friends.”

“No. It was my father.”

The last word hovered between them like a haunting ghost and Sasuke had to gather all his self-control not to squeeze the delicate shoulder under his hand. “If he—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hinata interrupted, but there was no tint of anger or annoyance in her tone. “I’ve dealt with it all my life. I can keep dealing with it. But…” she laid her hand on Sasuke’s, the gesture prompting him to suck in some air. “Thank you.”

Hinata’s hand was small and warm, and her skin was smooth even though Sasuke had expected it to be hardened by past scars. But her hand was silky and warm, and long-suppressed memories danced to the surface from deep inside Sasuke’s brain from a time that was long gone.

///

They had been married for twenty-six days when they first joined their friends on a get-together where they celebrated Ino and Sakura becoming a jonin. Sasuke would’ve preferred to spend the evening sharpening his sword, but when he noticed gifts neatly wrapped on the dinner table, he put on his cloak and waited for Hinata by the door.

“Sasukeeeee,” an arm hooked around his neck as soon as he stepped inside the small bar. He didn’t even need to catch a glimpse of the blond hairs on the tanned arm to know to whom this annoyingly high-pitched voice belonged. “I was waiting for you so long I started thinking you wouldn’t even come.”

Sasuke forcefully removed the limb that uncomfortably clutched around his neck. “You stink of sake,” he scoffed, but Naruto didn’t seem to hear.

“Hinata-chaaaaan,” he rushed to hug her, and as soon as his arms closed around her, Hinata’s face reddened.

A strange, squeezing sensation started throbbing inside Sasuke’s chest as he watched his blond teammate suffocating his wife with his bear hug. He concluded that Naruto got on his nerves more and more with each passing day.

Naruto dragged Hinata inside and made her sit between him and Sakura. As soon as he pushed her down on the seat, Sakura’s jade gaze found Sasuke’s with a curious gleam.

“Naruto,” she called out without turning her head in his direction. “We should let Sasuke-kun sit next to Hinata.”

“It’s fine,” Sasuke interjected before Naruto could start his drunk rambling and hopped down on an empty seat at the end of the table, at a safe distance from the others.

His dark eyes locked with Hinata’s pearly ones and he read concern out of her glance.

Tilting his head slightly to the side, Sasuke glared at the pink and purple gift boxes in Hinata’s lap, communicating without words that there were more important things than where he had been sat. Hinata must’ve understood the gesture because she gave a small bob of her head and reached for the gifts to congratulate her friends on advancing in their ninja careers.

The night was rather uneventful from Sasuke’s point of view. He drank some sake, enough to help him tolerate the constant noise and all the jokes that were meant to be funny but were not funny at all. However, it was not enough to become drunk and be able to ignore the pitying looks his so-called friends shot in his direction.

Arranged marriages were bad by nature and everybody was aware of that. The gloomily lingering looks that sometimes stopped at Hinata, sometimes at him, suggested that people felt some kind of sorry for the situation. That the two of them were forced to live together, to have their lives forever intertwined, to lose the privilege of marrying for love.

Arranged marriages were bad by nature and Sasuke knew it, but he was a man of logic and as his gaze wandered over the girls present, he didn’t doubt his own choice of accepting the offer he had got from the Hyuugas. Hinata, by far, was the best option for him. She was calmer than Sakura, quieter than Ino, and less wild than Tenten.

Besides the rational part of his mind, another part of him that Sasuke was not familiar with, also whispered to him that being married to Hinata wasn’t as torturous as others probably imagined.

He was so lost in trying to locate the source of that vexing whisper that he jumped in surprise when someone slid onto the chair next to him that had been left empty the entire night.

“Are you enjoying the party?” she asked with a smile.

Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes. “You don’t have to babysit me, Hinata. You can go back to your friends.”

“But are you enjoying the party?”

Sasuke opened one eye and stared at the genuinely curious face leaning toward him. “I don’t like parties.”

Hinata hummed and reached out one hand but stopped herself midmotion as though she had realized what she was doing. Her hand unsurely froze in the air for a few, sluggishly passing seconds before her muscles moved again and she gently placed only her fingertips on Sasuke’s forearm. “Let’s go home then, Sasuke-kun.”

It was either the soft touch or the thoughtfulness of that one sentence, but after such long years spent in utter hatred, the gratifying feeling of not being annoyed by the person he was talking to completely engulfed Sasuke’s soul.

///

They had been married for forty-one days when Hinata first left for a longer mission. She stood in the entryway in her mission gear and with her backpack on, counting on her fingers as she repeated the information needed for survival for the hundredth time that morning.

“I left food in the fridge that should be enough for a few days. After you eat it all, you can go to the shop that’s two streets away. Don’t be lazy and go there instead of the one on this street because even though it’s closer, the ingredients they sell are not fresh. I washed and ironed each of your clothes. They should be enough but if you need them washed, I asked Hanabi to help so you can go to her. We have some medicine in the cupboard in the bathroom, they are in a small, white box. Don’t forget to—”

“Deliver the documents on the coffee table to Kakashi by next Monday at the latest,” Sasuke finished the sentence instead of her. “Thank you, mother.”

Hinata’s lips curled into a pout. “These are important.”

“You do realize I successfully lived on my own for most of my life, don’t you?”

Sasuke’s eyebrows arched as a shadow of sorrow passed through Hinata’s face.

“Right, you will be fine,” she bobbed her head up and down twice and Sasuke wondered if she was simply agreeing with him or was trying to convince herself that indeed, everything would be fine.

“Alright. Take care on your mission,” he said and balled his hand in a fist.

Hinata followed suit and pushed her fist against his. “Thank you. See you soon.” And with that, she turned around and walked out the gate.

For bystanders, it could’ve been strange that a married couple said goodbye to each other with a fist bump instead of a peck on the lips or a hug. But for Hinata and Sasuke, the fist bump was an affectionate sign that they were caring for each other—more so as friends than lovers, but in Sasuke’s mind, that was a compulsory side effect of an arranged marriage.

They came up with it two weeks prior when Hinata was asked to participate in the upcoming chuunin exams as a proctor. She came home with starry eyes and shared the news with a voice trembling with joy, and for the first time, Sasuke felt as though words were too simple to congratulate with.

He awkwardly lifted his fist and gulped when Hinata pinned her gaze on the limb, confusion swirling in the opalescent eyes.

“I saw this from Naruto,” Sasuke hardened his voice in an attempt to hide the fact that at that very moment, he wished for nothing more but for the ground to open and swallow him whole.

Hinata giggled and reciprocated the gesture. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun.”

Since then, the fist bump was what they used when other couples would’ve kissed or hugged.

The first few days of Hinata’s absence passed quickly—Sasuke kept himself busy with training, sharpening his weapons, and harassing Kakashi to finally give him a mission.

After the fourth day though, he noticed a drop in his mood when he returned home and nobody greeted him. His nose started longing for the smell of freshly cooked dinner. His lips tingled with the urge to complain about the village still not trusting him enough to let him out of the walls. His hands were reaching toward the empty space on the other side of the bed during the night.

However, he would’ve rather died than admit that, in fact, he was missing the woman he had been living in an arranged marriage with.

Because arranged marriages are bad by nature and that meant they could’ve never brought any kind of pleasance with them.

///

They had been married for sixty-five days and Hinata had been away on her mission for twenty-four days. Not that Sasuke counted the days, he just happened to know.

The day had started out as usual—he woke up, ate breakfast, and pretended that he wasn’t home when Naruto was banging on the front door. When he finally left, Sasuke put on his training gear and headed for the door, but it magically opened before he could reach the doorknob.

The dainty figure in the doorway wore a smile reaching from one ear to the other as she lifted up the box closed with a ribbon in her hands.

“Happy birthday, Sasuke,” she sang.

The absence of the honorific behind his name sent a warm wave of belonging through his body. He knew that Hinata only addressed people without any honorifics to whom she was really close.

Sasuke didn’t care about his birthday.

He didn’t care for any birthday gifts either.

He only cared for one thing—that Hinata had come home safe.

Hinata must’ve thought that Sasuke hadn’t even noticed the birthday gift because she shook it gently. “I hope you will like it. I was rushing my team so I could be home on time for your birthday and—"

She couldn’t finish the sentence she started.

The gift box fell from her hand.

Sasuke pulled her close and tangled his fingers into her hair.

His lips found the softness of hers and she responded by hooking her arms around his neck, pressing her body into his tight embrace.

Perhaps, not all arranged marriages are bad by nature.

This oneshot has been written for SasuHinaMonth 2022 - Day 12 (I know, I'm in the future) and it was a good opportunity for me to dust off my fingers and return to the fandom. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Huge thank you to LavenderEyedAssassin who beta read this story for me.

#shmonth2022 #sasuhinamonth2022 #day12 #koi no yokan #i know im in the future #fanfic #sasuhina #sasuke x hinata #arranged marriage #pastelberries

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