A Hawk But No Longer A Hatchling
Not for the first time, but finally in a way he could put it into words, he realized that Naruto and Sakura were trying to be his parents.
Not intentionally.
They were just wrought with overbearing tendencies.
Checking in on him more than once or even twice a day. Looking through his fridge. Trying to cook food for him. Dropping prepared food off for him. Dragging him off to Ichiraku.
Dropping by late at night to make sure he was still at home.
They even tried to pry with his work schedule. More than once he had seen them riffling through his mission logs, and even going to his superior for him.
That had been the last straw.
"Hyuga,"
When Sasuke had returned to the village, after his lengthy trip of atonement, Kakashi had allowed him to start at Chunin level. A probationary period. To prove to his fellow ninja that he was trust worthy.
It was tedious.
He was being babied. Again. Just like with Naruto and Sakura. Only it felt worse coming from his former sensei.
"Uchiha-san," She greeted.
Sasuke had never been a Chunin before defecting. Before the war. But he had heard that the system they had now was new. More organized. Designed so details wouldn't slip through the cracks. Everything was accounted for. Made to weed out things like Danzo's Root, or any unsanctioned missions and the like.
Every single mission had to be audibly reported, and then written, by every individual of the team, every single time.
Sasuke's team reported to Hyuga Hinata.
She was sitting in her office, dressed in Chunin gear, as per requirement. Black long sleeve, black pants and green flak jacket.
Sasuke was dressed casually. Well, casually for him. Dark colors, baggy, but definitely not his uniform.
Hinata noticed. Her eyebrow quirked fractionally, her white eyes darted to his attire for less than a moment before returning to his face. She was very respectful, he had noticed this before. Her manners and habits were trained, razor sharp, as expected from someone from her background.
There was an underlying of something else. Someone, soft. Forgiving. When he had first spoken to Hinata, he thought he had sensed the same thing. The kind of coddling he could feel in his older team. He took it as a slight, a disrespect. It had taken him months, months to realize Hinata was different.
She was something completely foreign to him. Something he had rarely encountered, if ever.
A genuinely kind person, with no ulterior motive.
"I don't believe I have your team scheduled for anything today, Uchiha-san." Her voice was even, soft.
Sasuke nodded, stepping into her office anyways and shutting the door behind him.
She set down her pen, and gestured for him to sit across from her.
She was left handed, he noticed.
"You've come for something else?" She prompted after he settled across from her.
"Hn." He nodded. "My file."
"All files must remain here, cataloged. There are no exceptions, Uchiha-san." Her voice took on an ever so slightly firmer tone, though her body language remained relaxed.
She had always been serious about protocol.
"Fine." Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I just don't want anyone messing with it."
She raised an eyebrow at him, but kept her questioning of him silent.
"Sakura and Naruto. They've been trying to rearrange my schedule, change my mission placement."
Hinata was quite for a moment, staring at Sasuke.
He hated her eyes. All seeing. Without a pupil, it was hard to pinpoint where exactly she was looking. She could've been looking back into his own eyes but instead it looked like her eyes saw all of him. Every inch. Nothing was hidden from an all seeing eye.
Perhaps that's what he was most afraid of. Afraid she would see the things, the dark things he wanted to hide the most.
Things like how her hair, long and dark, laid on her back, reminded him of his mother. How her quiet, dismissive professionalism reminded him of his father. How her soft, overly formal way of speaking was so much like his brother.
He didn't want her to see that he recognized things in her that weren't there.
He didn't want her to see that maybe he didn't find her eyes ugly. Not at all.
"Uchiha-san," She began slowly. "Your file stays in the building, and is only removed by myself and my superiors, solely for the purpose of mission assignment. Neither Naruto-san or Sakura-san have clearance for that."
"Tch." Sasuke scoffed. "You don't think Sakura and Naruto can get what they want. They're war heros."
"What they did in the war doesn't come into account for protocol."
"Not even if they're friends?" Sasuke's question was pointed, accusatory.
"No, Uchiha-san."
"Not even for Naruto?"
Sasuke didn't know why he kept probing. She had albeit promised that his friends wouldn't be able to mess with his job. Why was he so insistent on wondering if she would allow Naruto access?
He could remember her blushing and stuttering around Naruto, back in the day. A far cry from her blank face and clinical speech she had taken on now.
"No." She answered, clipped.
Sasuke continued to stare.
"One day, Naruto-san will have the proper access to all the files. Until then, as I previously stated, only myself and my superiors have access to your file and it is strictly for assignments."
Sasuke finally sat back in his chair, continuing to stare at Hinata.
She waited a moment, to see if the conversation was finished. After a beat, she reached for her pen.
"If there's anything else I can help you with, Uchiha-san..."
She was dismissing him?
Not that he should be surprised. She had never been anything but professional and on topic when he encountered her during work hours.
Was he really being so smothered by his friends that a normal interaction with another adult was so blatantly refreshing.
He stood to leave but as he reached the door, he could feel that perhaps that not quite what he wanted. He couldn't falter though.
Her eyes.
He licked his lips.
Byakugan. All seeing.
Something snapped in Sasuke, like it had that morning about Naruto and Sakura. He had felt smothered. He was an adult. He didn't need them babying him. So he had come straight here, to amend the situation.
Sasuke was tired of her eyes. Of what they could see. Of trying to hide from them.
But there would been nothing to hide, nothing to look for if he kept it out in the open.
Sasuke had never been good with his feelings, though.
"Hyuga,"
She looked up from her paperwork, not exactly startled, she was a ninja after all. A sensory ninja. She knew he hadn't left her office yet. More curious as to what exactly he was doing.
He wasn't sure. He didn't like that. He had always been so sure about everything. From a child. He had specific plans and goals. To best his brother. Then to kill his brother. Avenge his family. Train with Orochimaru. Kill Itachi. Then his plans went off the rails; destroy Konoha, become Hokage. Even misguided, he had very specific goals. Then his atonement.
Now?
He was floundering more than he liked to admit. It was time to grow up, time to make new goals.
"What are you doing for dinner?" A part of him felt pathetic for asking that. He was Uchiha Sasuke. He couldn't have come up with something a little better?
Her eyes widened. "E-excuse me."
He didn't miss her little stutter, just as she surely didn't miss the quirk of his smirk.
He didn't add any clarification.
"I'm working." She gestured to her desk, full of neatly stacked papers, mission folders and scrolls.
"What time are you done?"
There was a long, long pause between them.
They were both adults now. Serious individuals. He knew for a fact she wasn't the type to waste time on frivolous outings, but neither was he. He was looking for something new. Something specific.
Hinata was one of the only people to give him the respect that he had been trying to gain back.
He respected her in return.
He couldn't help but watch as her cheeks ever so slowly warmed from pale petal pink to a deeper, rose color, flushing slightly. Almost glowing.
"That would be inappropriate, Uchiha-san. I am your superior."
Not only did she hold him at a respectful distance, but she was actively trying to push him away?
She had practically nailed her own coffin.
That was the type of behavior he just couldn't pass up.
"I'll be here at six."
She gaped at him as he left.