Me: Don't be scared if it looks like I took down some chapters. It's a double update – one chapter at the beginning and one at the end. I've always wanted to redo the first three chapters – I just didn't know how. So I made them into one! Everyone gets a POV! POVs for all! You, and you, and you get a POV!

Enjoy.

"How are you doing?" Naruto asks.

Sasuke very slowly raises his handcuffed wrists, and Naruto produces a wincing smile. "Yeah, well. Other than that."

"Your Anbu tell me I'm waiting for execution."

Naruto is caught off guard for a second by the sudden subject change, but recovers quickly. Sasuke had always preferred The Point to appear early in the conversation. Naruto sets his jaw. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Touching."

"I mean it, Sasuke. That's not happening, not while I'm around." Naruto stands, looking very much the determined hero. Sasuke idly wishes his hands were free so he could strangle him.

"I didn't bring you back so they could kill you," Naruto says, frustrated, talking only partly to Sasuke. "Sakura and I didn't spend years chasing you to watch you die. I brought you back so you could live. With us. Like before."

It's not that Sasuke doesn't believe him. It's that he is extremely tired of being Naruto's purpose. Sasuke half-rolls his eyes, the action concealed in the dim light of the holding cell. Naruto isn't looking, anyway. He's looking at somewhere far beyond, grimly determined.

"I'm getting you out of here, teme."

And of course, like every other well-intentioned, misguided promise Naruto has made, he makes good on it.

Naruto is wearing the world's biggest grin. Nothing can bring him down.

"Dobe, you look like a serial killer. Wipe that stupid smile off your face."

Not even Sasuke.

"Oh, come on, teme! Aren'tcha glad to be back?"

"No."

Naruto rolls his eyes, but a possible retort is lost as they shuffle awkwardly around an immobile group of women. They're walking side by side on the main road, which in retrospect wasn't a great idea; they're attracting quite a bit of attention. Naruto ignores the whispers, but Sasuke sends each villager a glare that could freeze hell over. Twice.

Tsunade was quite lenient with his punishment, considering the crimes Sasuke racked up in the years he spent with Orochimaru. Of course, this is mostly due to Naruto's lobbying, and not any real desire on Tsunade's part to go easy on him. Had the village elders decided they wanted Sasuke dead, Naruto doesn't think the Hokage would have been too beat up about it. What they decided in the end, after days of debate, was to put Sasuke on parole for one year. He always has to be accompanied by a trusted Leaf shinobi, and cannot use his Sharingan or activate his Curse Mark. Naruto thinks that's fair. Sasuke disagrees.

They've engaged in their normal rapport, like nothing happened, but under all the name-calling, each casual insult, every loose-knuckled shoulder punch, is the quick-glancing, muscle-tensing adrenaline of their last fight, the one that nearly killed them both.

Spying a head of indigo in the crowd in front of them, Naruto's mood lightens. No one else has hair like that, and it means good things. "Hey, Hinata-chan!" he shouts, craning his neck to see her better. Sure enough, she turns around, curious, and when she sees Naruto her face lights up. "Naruto-kun!" she greets, making her way back to them against the flow of citizens. Sasuke and Naruto move off to the side of the road, crowding against the store fronts. When Hinata reaches them Naruto throws his arms around her, hugging so enthusiastically she is lifted off her feet a few inches. She gasps with laughter, and when Naruto sets her back down he sees her cheeks are cherry red. She doesn't faint from physical contact anymore, but she isn't immune to it, either, Naruto notes with satisfaction.

"I'm so glad you're back," Hinata says breathlessly. That look – relief and adoration, familiarity, hope, longing, joy, love – is all for him, and he thinks he might be staring a little too long, but he wants to drink it in for as long as he can. She endures his gaze for a few moments, then fidgets, as if she can't quite handle his undivided attention. Naruto wants to take her face in his hands and make her look at him again, but he stands still. "W-we visited you in the hospital," she is saying. "We were so worried. For a while they thought you might not wake up." He had known this before, known that he was close to death, hadn't known she had visited. He imagines her standing with Kiba and Shino beside his bed, solemn but hopeful, and his heart twinges. "I knew you would," she says, quiet, a little self-conscious, but determined to say it.

Sasuke, seemingly unable to help himself, makes some sound from the back of his throat that could be amusement or disgust. Hinata's eyes flick to him, startled, and Naruto blinks, having momentarily forgotten he was there.

"Uh, Hinata-chan, you remember Sasuke, right?" He turns to his best friend, knowing she does. Everyone does.

Thank Kami Sasuke isn't glaring poisonously at her like the few other Rookie Nine members they have met so far. He's not even glaring mildly. And while this is an improvement, it is also slightly alarming, because the current look on Sasuke's face is indecipherable.

Hinata nods, sobered, formal. "W-Welcome back, Uchiha-san," she says, bowing a little, and Naruto is actually relieved. They'd run into Team 10 the other day, and while Naruto was greeted with hugs and good-natured reprimands, the welcome for Sasuke had been less than warm. Ino had offered her hand, smiling hesitantly, but retracted it when all Sasuke did was stare. Chouji muttered something that might have been "hey" but the greeting was lost in the suddenly vigorous munching of potato chips. Shikamaru had taken a drag of his cigarette, unafraid to stare Sasuke down in return, and simply said they should be going.

Naruto is pleased that Hinata isn't tripping over herself in fear (although Sasuke would probably assume it was love, wouldn't he?) She looks mildly uncomfortable, but Sasuke has that affect on people. Overall she's responding much more positively than he's come to expect from their peers. But, of course, she always has. She's much changed, Hinata, but at the same time much the same.

Sasuke, as is his custom, doesn't say anything in reply. He stares at Hinata, whose smile turns nervous as she shifts her footing. Naruto steps forward slightly, effectively blocking their sight, and cups Hinata's elbow, guiding her gently into walking with him. Sasuke silently falls into step.

"So where are you headed?" Naruto makes himself remove his hand from Hinata's arm.

"Home." Hinata's eyes fill with warmth. "I was at Kurenai-sensei's house, watching Nomi. She just learned how to hop on one foot. We played hopscotch all day."

"What?" Naruto exclaims. "I can't believe I missed her first steps! If Kurenai ever needs a babysitter, I'm her man! When I'm not babysitting Sasuke, of course." He leans in conspiratorially. "Full-time job."

"And what a fine job you do," Sasuke says.

"Damn right! Where would you be without me?"

"Free," Sasuke says, as another person might say "the weather is nice today". Naruto's grin, rather than falter, brightens to an almost uncomfortable level. "You'd be dead," he says, looking straight into Sasuke's eyes. Seconds tick by.

Hinata pipes up, voice a tad louder than usual. "W-where do you live, Uchiha-san?" she leans slightly around Naruto to look at him.

Sasuke gives her one of his looks, and she tries a different approach. "I mean, where are you staying now?"

"My old apartment in the South district. It was never sold."

Naruto scratches his cheek, his anger simmering down slowly. It's surprising, a good surprise, that Sasuke is talking to her, albeit flatly and without really making eye contact.

No, it never sold. It was never on the market. After Sasuke left, the Anbu closed it down and sealed it off, like it was a crime scene. He imagines Sasuke came home and was surprised to see everything exactly where he left it, the only new additions a fine layer of dust and a team of Anbu across the street. Or maybe he accepted it, as he has everything else, with a numb indifference.

"Is it lonely?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke stare at her. She flushes, but doesn't retract her statement, and Naruto is about to steer the conversation in a different direction when Sasuke answers her. "Iie."

She smiles, a little uncertainly. "W-Well, if you ever want…to talk? We live in the same district now," she points out.

Naruto clears his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. The thought of Sasuke and Hinata hanging out, becoming friends, even, is as unwelcome as it is ridiculous. "You moved out of the compound?" he asks, instead of voicing this opinion.

Hinata, oblivious to his misgivings, nods happily. "A few months ago. I'm excited to have my own apartment." Her eyes light up. "And my neighbor thinks he's the Fire Daimyo!"

Naruto snorts a laugh, too shocked to respond, and it falls to Sasuke to ask the obvious, inflectionless. "What."

Hinata launches into an excited speech about her elderly neighbor, and his insistence that she address him as "Dono", his requests that she write down his many decrees, which range from "all rice paddies must be fertilized with soap" to "no person may allow a horse to sleep in their bathtub". She is giggling, affectionately rather than cruelly, and as Naruto laughs along he wants more and more to pull her to his side and walk like that, an arm around her shoulders keeping her close, let her laughter soak into him.

Sasuke listens to her soft, unassuming laugh and wants to drink it from her, drain her, until she has no more. The sound of it both irritates and draws him in, but he pushes that thought from his head. He puts his hands in his pockets and ignores the two of them, and they reciprocate, lost in their own world.

Unfortunately he cannot tune their conversation out, and has to walk beside them while they play out this nauseating, prosaic courtship. Naruto asks about her work at the hospital. Hinata wants to know about his travels. Naruto marvels at the changes he sees in the village, and Hinata reports the changes she sees in her own clan. They talk excitedly about Tenten's plans to open a weapon shop, and gossip about Shikamaru's frequent visits to Sunagakure.

Sasuke loathes every minute. These events and people mean nothing to him, except that they used to, and every twinge of his memory is a knife to his frontal lobe. But more than the reminders of the past, he is sickened by the two of them, their smiles and long looks, their not-quite-but-almost touching hands, the inevitability of their union.

It's strikingly obvious how delighted Naruto is; his happiness is tangible. That is what bothers Sasuke the most. But he doesn't want it for himself. What he wants, with a burning he thought himself incapable of anymore, is that Naruto not have it.

At last they have reached a parting point – Hinata's apartment building looms ahead, casting its shadow towards them. The sun has begun to set. Goodbye, Hinata says to Naruto, her hair glinting red in the dying light, a painting. Portrait of the Faithful Lover. Naruto hugs her, wrapping her in his arms instead of throwing them around her. Sasuke, though scornful of the entire display, glances away, as if he is witnessing something private.

"Ja ne, Uchiha-san," Hinata says when they separate, warmth in every word, although it is not for him. She lingers in the imaginary circle of Naruto's arms. Sasuke chooses not to acknowledge her, and she, in her joy, is unaffected. She looks at Naruto one last time, then turns and walks toward her apartment. She is halfway up the stairs before Naruto seems to come back to himself. "Wait, Hinata-chan!" he calls, loud as always, and Sasuke exhales in irritation. Hinata stops her ascent, listening. "We're meeting up at Ichiraku's the day after tomorrow, you should come! Bring Kiba and Shino too, I haven't seen them yet!"

Even from here her smile is visible. "Hai! I'll see you then!"

"Bye!" Naruto shouts unnecessarily, his grin irrepressible. Sasuke begins walking away, and after a moment Naruto jogs to catch up. "Wow," he says after a moment. "Hinata's really different."

"I wouldn't know," Sasuke says.

"I mean, not just from how she used to be, but from everyone else."

Sasuke hopes silence will stop this conversation, and it works for a minute or two, but Naruto starts back up again suddenly. "She's really nice, isn't she? She even tried to talk to you. Even though you're a grumpy bastard."

"She's not so annoying," Sasuke concedes. He stops walking, and Naruto doesn't notice immediately. The blonde looks over his shoulder, confused, and Sasuke inclines his head towards his apartment building. "We're here."

Naruto looks surprised, and then, for a fleeting second, troubled. It doesn't escape Sasuke's notice. "She was right," he observes, casting a brief glance back in the direction of her apartment. "We do live close."

Naruto's frown deepens, a shadow passing over his eyes, and Sasuke feels, for the first time in months, the faintest trace of satisfaction.

Naruto knocks again on his door the next day, wanting to train. "Not like a serious spar or anything," he says as offhandedly as he can, "just hand-to-hand."

Ah. Sasuke's suspicions are confirmed – they are going to ignore their last fight. They are going to shove it under the carpet and pretend Sasuke came back willingly and that they are sparring hand-to-hand because they want to and not because they have to.

It is not much of an exercise for Sasuke, because they are fairly evenly matched physically, and even after all this time know each others' fighting style so well it isn't much of a strategical challenge either. The hits he does land on Naruto are somewhat gratifying, but not as much as he thought they would be. Wounding Naruto physically is a temporary outlet for his hatred when Naruto gets jabs in nearly as frequently, when the boy seems to recover as fast as Sasuke can hit him, when he just leaps back to his feet and grins his happy grin, certain in the knowledge that Sasuke did not mean him real harm.

When they are finished they walk back, Naruto carrying the conversation as usual, and even though Sasuke was expecting it earlier, the topic of Hinata does come up eventually. "Do you…" Naruto sounds almost tentative, a word never before used to describe the boy. "Do you think Hinata is single?"

Sasuke shrugs.

Naruto measures his next words, which is new to Sasuke. He had thought Naruto incapable of tact. "She loves…" He stops, starts again. "She loved me, when we were kids. And for a long time after. When Pain attacked the village, she told me so." He kicks at the dirt. "Do you think she still does?"

"Did you ever answer her?" Sasuke asks instead of replying. The answer to the blonde's question is obvious, but it would make Naruto happy, and he has no interest in that.

Naruto looks up at him, startled. "I…not really…no."

"Hn."

Naruto crosses his arms over his chest, shoulders hunched. "Do you…" he starts to ask, but trails off. The doubt radiates off him in waves.

Sasuke realizes after a few moments that this, this stupid teenage turmoil over a shy, bland girl, is much more satisfying than watching Naruto's head snap back. He can see he's planted the seeds of doubt, and it makes for a much better show than a temporary bruise and a friendly smile. A new plan is in order.

Automatically, mechanically, Sasuke takes stock of his weapons, building his strategy, preparing, as always, for war.

They gather at the ramen bar, because it is Naruto's favorite place to be and he is the nucleus around which they all orbit. Team 10 is there, as well as Team 7, and Hinata brings Kiba but explains that Shino is on a mission. Shino, Sasuke can stand; Kiba is one more loudmouth in a town full of idiots. Luckily Kiba ignores him, heading straight for Naruto. After greeting Kiba joyfully, and then getting into an argument with him, and then making up, only then does Naruto turn to Hinata.

Sasuke watches.

Naruto squeezes the life out of her, grinning wildly, and Hinata laughs and hugs him back as much as she can. But this time, after he lets her go, he swoops in and places a kiss on her cheek, which immediately flushes red as she gapes at him. She automatically shrinks a bit, shielding herself with hands clasped tightly to her chest, wide-eyed.

Sasuke glances over at Kiba, who everyone knows has a big-brother complex for the girl, but the wolfish boy is already engaged in a drinking game with Ino. Shikamaru is watching, but disinterestedly, as if he has calculated the odds and has a good idea of who is going to win. Chouji sits beside him, encouraging Ino between slurps of ramen. Finally Sasuke looks at Sakura, and sees that she too is watching Naruto and Hinata, with a strange look on her face.

Naruto laughs elatedly at Hinata's blush and tells her she's too cute for her own good, smiling that sunny smile. Sasuke can practically see her hopes rise.

What happens next, Sasuke couldn't have planned any better. It's as if Naruto is reading from a script Sasuke gave him, playing the lead in a movie about a boy who does everything absolutely wrong. Naruto turns to Sakura, and asks her on a date.

Sakura's answer is an automatic "no", like always, but this time she looks appalled. She knows Naruto isn't serious. She knows she is a tool in Naruto's ploy to make Hinata jealous, to make her want him more.

Not for the first time, Sasuke marvels at Naruto's capacity for cruelty.

And, even more perfectly, it's working. Hinata bites her lip, an overwhelming sadness seeping into her eyes. Naruto, now pleading and listing all of Sakura's virtues (with a wide smile on his face), does not turn back to her once. He doesn't want to give the game up. So he does not see Sasuke slip off his barstool.

This has to be quick.

He takes Hinata by the wrist, ignoring her flinch, leading her away from the others. Sakura's eyes flick to them as they pass. Sasuke would like to think that the shock, the outrage on her face is not even half of what Naruto will feel, but it's a good start.

He leads Hinata to an empty street, boarded-up shops and long-settled dust. He sits down on a bench, and she hesitates for a moment before she does the same, sitting about as far away from him as possible. She's afraid, not because he's who he is, but because he is male and he's not Naruto and she is hurt.

They sit in silence for a moment. "How long?" he asks, knowing the answer but wanting it from her.

When she looks up, her eyes are shining with unshed tears. "W-What?"

"How long have you been in love with him?"

Hinata presses her knuckles to her mouth for a moment, as if drawing strength from them. "Since we were very young," she whispers.

Memories have been coming back to him of this quiet, unexceptional girl; when he looked at his classmates, they looked back at him. She didn't. She was staring at something else. Something just to the left, or just to the right.

He glances over at her. Her moonstone eyes are lowered in her unhappiness, hands in her lap, weepy and vulnerable. She toys with the fur hem of her jacket. He doesn't think she knows why he brought her here. There is no nervousness, no anticipation, just simple and uncomplicated heartbreak. She doesn't know what happens between boys and girls on empty streets when the sun is just sinking below the horizon. She chews her lower lip, and he watches it swell with blood, red just under the seashell surface.

.:He's going to bite her, break into that perfect seashell, make her bleed:.

"He doesn't love you," Sasuke comments.

She looks up, startled.

"You're wasting your time," he continues.

Hinata's chin quivers. "I know," she whispers, but he thinks she doesn't, not really.

"He'll only ever love Sakura."

"I know," she repeats, and a single tear slips down her cheek.

He moves closer to put a hand on her shaking shoulder. "Does it hurt?" he asks quietly.

A tiny sob is wrenched from her, bringing with it the last of her strength. She nods.

"It doesn't have to."

She looks up again, not seeming to notice that he is closer still, all her thoughts focused on how her heart is tearing and how much she wants it to stop. Save me, her eyes say.

He gives her no time to rethink, to back away. The hand on her shoulder slides to the back of her neck, and he pulls her to him.

At first it is feather-light and barely there, a brush of lips, so brief that she doesn't fully understand what's happening yet. She is lulled by the contact, the warmth. It is a nice kiss, until it isn't.

The press of his lips becomes firmer, and then it is hard as he moves his mouth. Now she knows what is happening and it is too late. He swipes his tongue across her bottom lip, and she doesn't understand what that means, confused and a little frightened. He does bite her then, harder than he should have, lighter than he wants to, and she finally opens her mouth. His tongue pushes in, and she makes a small noise at the new sensation.

And then, it is no longer his kiss but theirs as she attempts to match him. The delicate, tentative brush of her tongue makes his fingers twitch on the back of her neck, a bolt of heat streaking through him. She tastes not sweet, like he might have imagined, but like tea and cream and innocence. The kiss becomes bruising.

He pulls away abruptly and she follows him a little, her eyes fluttering open dazed and dreamy. Her mouth is red and wet, out of place on her otherwise pale and innocent face. She absently licks her lips.

.:Did you like that because it was nice? Or because it wasn't?:.

Sasuke stands, offers her his hand, and she takes it trustingly, hesitating only because she is still dizzy and disorientated. They walk back to the group, not saying a word, and he drops her hand before they are spotted. As they approach he is pleased to see that only two people have noticed their absence, the only two that matter.

Sakura stares, disbelieving. Naruto is glancing around, frowning, but upon seeing them his expression is wiped entirely blank. Hinata fidgets, highly distressed now that reality has come back to her, but Sasuke takes her wrist again and guides her to the far end of the bar, away from his teammates. When he sits down he brushes shoulders with Kiba, who looks at him, then Hinata, cheeks flushed with sake and eyebrows drawn. He's trying to decide if they've always been there, and opens his mouth, but his attention is diverted when Shikamaru and Chouji erupt in cheers as Ino downs three shots in a row.

Hinata sits rigidly beside him, barely managing a "no thanks" when the ramen girl asks for her order. "Share with me," Sasuke commands more than asks. With a helpless glance to Naruto, she nods miserably. They eat udon from the same bowl. Isolated from the others, Hinata has no choice but to talk to him.

"When are you free?" Sasuke says, low enough so that Kiba wouldn't hear even if he wasn't wasted.

Hinata pales. "I, I can't," she says instead of answering his question.

"Why not?"

"I…" she glances again to the other end of the bar, but Sasuke is blocking her view.

"You don't like me?" Sasuke murmurs, and stops himself from smirking when she panics.

"No – I mean yes, I mean – I just – "

"I want to go out with you again. I'm taking you to lunch."

Hinata's mouth moves soundlessly, but he can see the words she can't quite seem to form. An endless loop of But I love Naruto-kun. All she manages is the name. "N-Naruto-kun…"

"Naruto would be unhappy that you insist on loving him when he can never love you back," Sasuke says bluntly, and she flinches. Interesting. Has no one ever told her this before? Have they just let her think it's a good idea to faithfully devote her entire life to a boy in love with someone else? What great fucking friends.

He inclines his head towards the other end of the table, listening but not looking. Among the dissonance of slurred teenage voices he can't find Naruto's distinctive raspy tones. He pictures Naruto sitting there beside Sakura, silently, staring at Hinata and wondering why she isn't sitting beside him, quietly loving him with all her heart, like she's supposed to.

Hinata looks up at Sasuke, and he looks back, willing her to listen to him. Be grateful, Hyuga. I'm doing you a favor.

But her deceptively blank eyes shine with emotion, and he already knows what she's going to say.

Hinata looks up at Sasuke, and for the first time in her life sees him wholly as himself, not an extension of the man she loves. He is a separate entity with his own thoughts and feelings, and he wants to see her again. And he maybe even likes her. He kissed her. They kissed.

The thought makes her light-headed and she distracts herself by chasing noodles with her chopsticks. It hadn't mattered before that Naruto would never love her, because she was happy to be his friend and admire him from afar, just knowing that he knew her feelings. She finds comfort in the fact that her love might make his life better. But if her love makes him unhappy…

She can move on. She has to move on, for his sake.

"Okay," she says quietly.

"Hn." Sasuke steals a noodle from her. His response throws her off. No fanfare, no jubilance, like there would be if he was Naruto and she was Sakura. But they aren't, and she can't keep thinking like that, using them as her measuring stick. He is Sasuke, and she is Hinata, and they are going to lunch together.

Okay.

Naruto walks with Sasuke to his house. He is seething.

In the dark, Sasuke's lips curve into a momentary smile. He can taste Naruto's anger, bitter and righteous and just a bit perturbed, and he inhales it and holds it in like a smoker on a good drag.

"Where did you go with Hinata?" Naruto's voice is deceptively quiet. Again with the tact. Or is it that you're afraid?

"The next street over."

"What were you doing."

"Talking."

"About what?" He is getting impatient.

"You."

This must have surprised Naruto, because he doesn't say anything for a minute. "What did she say about me?"

"She was hurt." So far none of this is a lie. Naruto would be proud if he knew. Or not.

Silence again. "I didn't mean…I never wanted to hurt her," Naruto says, softened.

Liar, Sasuke thinks amusedly, you're a sadistic bastard and you like it when she cries for you. Naruto doesn't speak again until they reach Sasuke's house, where he leaves him with a quiet, "Night, Sasuke."

Sasuke nods once in response, which is rare, but he's in a good mood tonight.

"Wait," Naruto says plaintively before he can even take the first step up the stairs.

Sasuke turns, waits.

"She knows…she has to know…?"

Sasuke waits.

"I..." Naruto swallows. "I like her. A lot. She knows that, right?"

Sasuke's smile is unexpectedly full blown, stretching unused muscles. The air is suddenly cooler, the stars brighter, the angles and lines of the buildings around them more stark; everything is made hard and bright and sharp. Naruto doesn't love her, not like he once claimed to love Sakura, but it's enough. It's more than enough.

"Maybe," Sasuke says. "Ask her." Because he knows Naruto won't.

"Yeah," Naruto says softly.

Sasuke walks up the stairs to his apartment and knows this is the closest thing to happiness he will ever feel again. He holds onto it for as long as he can.

Me: Like it? Hate it? Offer unto me your thoughts.

P.S. Autocorrect wants "Sasuke" to be "Sapsucker".