A/N: Yes, I'm alive. Holy crap.
I apologize for the really slow update. I've been busy. And I've had a brief reprieve from the research I've been doing for an English paper. I haven't written it yet, of course, and it's due next Monday. So this will probably be the only update until quarter ends. Continue checking my bio page for status updates on my other stories. You will find information there and not in author's notes. That's too much of a hassle to do.
I also have three other stories currently in the works. They will not be posted until I have finished at least one of the stories that has not yet been completed. And it will only be one of the stories. So that's about all I have to say. Enjoy! (And yes, I realize this is short.)
Disclaimer (because I keep forgetting if I've done one or not...): I do not own Naruto. Obviously.
Chapter 11:
"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so,
apologize for truth."
-Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881)
Hinata had dressed in a winter kimono that morning. Earlier that week she had gotten into another argument with her father. He refused to let her venture out of the mansion on the grounds that she would go off and visit Sasuke. Needless to say, that was true. She would have gone, but having been prohibited from stepping one foot out of the Hyuuga compound for the duration of the blizzard unless on the Hokage's orders, Hinata was confined to the main house.
She was sitting in her room merely staring out the window listlessly. The snow was swirling past it gently. It had finally started to die down. None the less, it was still beautiful. It had only been a month, and yet it felt like years to her.
She missed Sasuke. Hinata loved to see his rare, tiny smiles. Their conversations always flowed so easily. It was as if she had none him for years. And without his presence, the simple conversations had vanished. And with it, came the loneliness. Hinata felt strangely unwanted again. As if her company was merely a burden and superfluous.
The garden below her was withered and covered in a thick blanket of snow. The koi pond was frozen, the fish flitting lethargically beneath the ice. Despite the frigid weather, the dead garden retained its beauty. Strangely, Hinata didn't mind the garden's lack of life. She knew it would be alive again by springtime.
Below her, voices were raised. She wondered what the council was arguing about this time. However, her instinct told her that it was not the council this time. Though the voices were muted by the shoji doors, Hinata knew she recognized the voices. One of them was definitely Neji's and the other sounded strangely like Sasuke.
Hinata's eyes widened. Sasuke was here. She scrambled to her feet and slid open her door with a clatter. Stumbling over her own feet, Hinata rushed down the stairs nearly colliding with one of the maids in her rush. As she reached the landing, Hinata hear her cousin and Sasuke arguing heatedly. Neji sounded as if he was accusing the Uchiha of something. Hopefully, his accusations had nothing to do with Sasuke's betrayal. Hinata came around the corner and stopped in her tracks.
Neji and Sasuke were still arguing, and the fight looked ready to turn to blows. Hanabi was standing behind Sasuke, staring at her feet. An expression of shame was on her face. Her hand was on her arm, pressing a cloth over a bleeding wound. "Hanabi-chan!"
Hinata rushed forward to her younger sister, panic clutching at her stomach. What happened? Sasuke and Neji fell silent as their eyes felled on Hinata. The young medic pried away her sister's hand from the wound to examine it. It was then that she noticed Hanabi was soaked and shivering. Angrily, Hinata rounded on Neji.
"Neji-niisan she's bleeding and frozen! And you're arguing with Sasuke-san instead?!" Neji fumbled for words. He was shocked. Hinata was usually so meek. Her verbal rebuttal had left him bereft of any words.
"Hanabi-chan, what happened?"
By now, the commotion in the foyer had drawn servants to the ongoing spectacle. Sasuke was silent under the stares of shock. One of the servants slipped discreetly away to alert Hiashi to the commotion. Hanabi bit her lip. "Nothing happened, Aneki," she lied. "I was being careless while training."
Hinata stared at her sister. Her eyes narrowed, but she did not question her sister. At that moment, Hiashi came forward silencing an outburst from Neji. He surveyed Hanabi critically. No doubt he had heard her response to Hinata's question.
Hiashi's eyes fell upon Sasuke who stared back at him without flinching. "Come with me, Uchiha-san."
Sasuke bare feet padded silently after Hiashi down the wooden floorboards to his office. Hinata stared wide-eyed after her father. Sasuke had said not a word to her, and he had not negated Hanabi's obvious lie. His silence had stung. Hinata felt tears prickle in her eyes. Wordlessly, she guided Hanabi passed a stunned Neji and up the stairs.
Hiashi slid open the door and walked inside. Sasuke wordlessly closed the door behind him. The Hyuuga leader walked back to his desk, sitting down and fixing Sasuke with a blank stare. It did not faze the Uchiha in the slightest. He stared right back.
"Uchiha-san, why don't you tell me what happened?"
Sasuke raised one an eyebrow. "I believe I am correct in assuming you do not believe your youngest daughter?"
The elder man merely nodded his head in response. Honestly speaking, Sasuke was not entirely sure what happened. He had simply found Hanabi struggling to get out of the ice on the Nakano River, a kunai embedded in her arm. "I'm not sure."
There was an uncomfortable silence. The elder man's expression was unfathomable, but Sasuke had an inkling of what he was going through his mind. It was an accepted idea that Sasuke had no control over the curse seal placed on him by Orochimaru. On the contrary, Sasuke had perfect control, but the elders were only to happy to allow the masses to believe what they wanted even when there was substantial proof to negate those ideas.
"I sensed a presence on the Uchiha grounds that I did not recognize and went to investigate," explained Sasuke after a few moments silence. "When I reached the Nakano River I found your youngest daughter struggling to get out of the ice with a kunai embedded in her arm."
Sasuke fell silent. He hated talking for more than two sentences having never truly excelled at making conversation. Monosyllables and short comments were enough for him. Hiashi continued to stare at him. If the Byakugan was truly capable of seeing everything, then the clan leader would know he was telling the truth. The middle-aged man before him sighed. "Do you have any idea how that could have happened?"
"No."
"Very well."
Sasuke turned to go, not caring whether he insulted Hiashi or not. He did not want to stay in the Hyuuga compound longer than was required. However, Hiashi spoke before he could walk out of the room.
"Since you helped both of my daughters my perceptions of you have started to change," Hiashi told him quietly. Sasuke turned and stared at him with the same scowl he always wore. "Maybe its not such a bad idea to allow Hinata to visit you."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Come for tea sometime, will you? I'm sure Hinata would like that."
"I may take you up on that offer, Hyuuga-san."
As quietly as he had come in, Sasuke left. He left a pensive Hiashi in his wake. Now that he had time to reflect, the Uchiha didn't seem as terrible as the villagers – and Hiashi – had originally believed.