Sorry for the delay,

I do rather have a lot of stories on the go. This one had me stumped for a little bit. I hope that perhaps I did the Sakura and Naruto aspect a little more justice this time around, but I'm unsure.

Helo Belo, your very sweet review helped me keep trying with this. It's a learning process so , I appreciate the reviews that are insightful and kind as well as critical.

Much love,

Inky

In the darkness she stayed still, listening to the sleeping sounds of the house. Itachi had been up late, she had heard him at around midnight finally dragging his body to bed, closing the door with the same careful quietness that he used for everything he did.

Sasuke had disappeared into his room early in the evening and not come out since, only the occasional tapping of a pen on a hard surface made her aware that he was still awake even as she had drifted off to sleep within the covers of her own bed.

The last few weeks had been glorious and as a result she had been sleeping better than she had in some time. Waking was something she did when her body was anxious and restless. Those were words that Sakura did not often associate with herself, but then she tried hard to keep it under control. Sometimes by running early in the morning, breathing in the freezing autumn air. Other times by taking the pills in her nightstand drawers.

The sharp sound of her phone vibrating once ripped the stillness and her eyes widened although she didn't move her limbs. So that was what had woken her. She had missed a call.

Slowly, after the flash of white from the cell phone faded and her room was once more engulfed in the darkness of very early morning she sat first on her elbow and then up, looking at the foot of her bed.

How her day was going to go relied a lot on what her phone said, and she knew it. For a moment she debated not looking at it. Turning it off with her eyes closed, leaving it dead until after school.

But that wasn't going to happen, she was sure of it the way she knew she needed to breathe. The curiosity would turn to nail biting anxiety and eventually fear throughout the day. With the buzz of the device on her nightstand the streak of goodness in her last few weeks had ended.

Closing her eyes she reached out and took the cell phone in her hand, pulling it to her knees over her covers. With a sigh that was too heavy for her 18 years of life she pushed her pink hair back gently and stared at the screen.

Missed Call from contact: Mom at 3:35 am on Tuesday

Text Message from: Mom

I'm going to bed, so please don't call back if you happen to see I tried to call you today. I'm rather tired.

Breathing very slowly Sakura lowered her forehead to her knees. Pressing hard against the bones beneath she let her phone drop out of her hand, and then slide off her bed with a clatter, almost hoping that one of the boys would hear and come to ask her what was wrong.

But no one did and instead she let herself sit there, wondering if she was going to let herself cry or not until she fell back asleep with her teeth clenching and her eyelashes wet.

It was the first time either of her parents had bothered to contact her in over eight months.

The sounds of Sasuke getting up and Itachi shouting that he was off to work didn't do much to get her moving. It wasn't until five minutes before they had to leave the house to get to school on time that Sasuke finally gave up shouting for her from downstairs and eventually knocked on her door, peering in when she didn't answer even that.

"You better be dead or unconscious because I'm late for first class now and-" He stopped, just in time to see her shoulders shake with another sob, the last in a long series that she had been trying very hard to stop for the last half hour.

"Sakura." His voice was flat, the way it always seemed to get when something was important. Which should have made her feel better but didn't. In that moment she just wished he would go away and leave her to cry for the rest of the morning. Maybe if her face wasn't too puffed up and awful by the time lunch rolled around she would be able to drag herself to the last of their classes.

Instead of listening to her half angry mostly bitter thoughts he wandered into her bedroom, something he rarely did nowdays. The moment she had got boobs he had made it a point to only ever visit at the threshold. At first it had annoyed her to death, and then it had made more sense, when the boobs came with a present of bloody weeks every month and mood swings.

Now it felt strange to have him wander over to her bed, sitting at the edge with his backpack and jacket on looking out of place and smelling clean from his shower.

"Go away." She whispered, and her voice came out thick like syrup only less sweet and Sasuke scoffed. "You've been channeling the Uchihas a little much this morning. What's going on?"

He had never really been one to hug and comfort so she scoffed back, trying and failing to banter.

Instead she whispered. "My mom called."

He sat still, studying her pink head resting on her forearms with her knees drawn in and her pajamas rumpled. She still smelled warm and fruity from her bath the night before. It made her seem small, and therefore her tears were more discomforting. Sakura sniffed a few times, trying to gather herself under some form of control before continuing.

"It's... the first time she calls in over half a year and I missed it."

She had been expecting (although why she couldn't say) a sigh or a hug or even a pat on the head like he used to do when they were younger but instead he grabbed her phone from beside her on the bed and flipped it open to look at the log. Peering through her tousled hair at him she studied his frown as he stared.

"Three in the morning?" The way he said it made it sound like the words left a taste of earwax in his mouth. "She called you at three thirty in the morning?"

"Don't be mad." Sakura whispered, peering at him finally with her green eyes swimming in pools of her feelings. "Please, I don't think I can handle mad right now."

Sasuke stared at her, trying to restrain the panting that was wanting to accelerate his heart beat to a pummeling rage in his rib cage. How could he not be mad?

It had been more than half a year. He had been keeping track, even though she said she didn't. Eight months, two weeks and three days since her last call, that's how long it had been. Her dad's last mode of contact had been more recent in a short text about her using her cell phone too much and the bill being over the top that month. Before that he couldn't even remember the last attempt he had made at his daughter.

Sakura stared back at him, and a weak smile lit her features. "I guess mad's all you've got right now though, huh?" She almost laughed, but the wet painful sound turned into a whimper and she buried her face in her arms again.

His hand finally came down on her shoulder then, warm and firm. "Sakura, this is bull shit. She can't call you at three in the morning and expect you to pick up. That's ridiculous."

"Yeah." She sobbed. "I know, but I... I am so sad I missed it. What if she had been... in a good mood or something?"

"Or something." Sasuke grunted, standing up and dumping his bag on her floor with a nerve wrecking thump that signified he probably carried too much in there for his back to be healthy.

"No." Sakura waved at him. "I don't want you to stay. Go to school."

"You're sobbing." He motioned to her soaked face like that was a good rebuke for his actions as he began to take off his coat.

"I don't want you here." She snapped, and he blinked at her, surprised to find her brow furrowed with actual irritation. "I'm mad enough already I don't... I don't need you here telling me how much my parents suck, I know already." She waved at the door again. "I'm... I'm... I'm sorry." She sobbed again. "I just wanna lay here and cry and eat ice cream for breakfast okay?"

For a long moment he stood there and she counted her breaths, feeling the stuffiness of her nose and the thickness of her lashes coated in the salt of her tears until he finally said softly.

"I don't think we have ice cream."

An actual snort escaped her then, and she waved at the door. "You, get out."

"Fine." Sasuke muttered, grabbing his bag and heading towards the door. "I'm coming home at lunch if you don't reply to my texts." He paused at the door then, looking at her with a growing frown on his face.

"Also... what do I tell...?" he began and stopped.

Sakura looked up from dabbing at her face with a tissue from her nightstand, a little frown on her face, although she wasn't sure what it was from, crying or trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

"The school will just call Itachi and when he freaks out that I'm missing school he'll call me and I'll tell him." She shrugged.

"No, the...Ino, and the... others." He shook his head at her. Sakura paused, scrunching and smoothing up the semi wet tissue in her hands until it began to fray. The others.

Naruto.

"Um, nothing. Just... I have a cold or something." She shrugged at him, and tried her best to look pleading. Sasuke frowned a bit more. "You know the whole lying thing..."

"Yes, you suck at it." She nodded. "I know, but please."

"Sakura."

"If you want, tell them you have no idea." She threw her hands up a little and her voice shook with her next words making her want to throw something in frustration at the wall. Her phone being the nearest thing wasn't really looking at a long lifespan.

"Fine." Sasuke snapped finally, shaking his head and slamming the door. Sakura stared at it for a long moment and then curled back into her bed tightly, hugging her pillow, wondering what kind of detergent her mom had used when she was little and if maybe she could find it to make her pillows smell like that again.

Then her thoughts fluttered to Naruto, and the way he had smelled shoved up against her on the couch the night of the pies while everyone watched a movie. She had not been sure what it was but it had seemed clean, and boyish and subtle and she had had to restrain herself from burying her nose into his shoulder more than once.

Pondering what kind of detergent he used instead she closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, trying to keep the sobs from rushing back up her windpipe.

"Oh shit."

It wasn't that Sasuke Uchiha didn't curse, rather that cursing seemed a lot less useful than say, a scathing come back involving more brain cells and maybe a thesaurus. In moments of frustration it did seem to do the trick however, which was why when he stubbed his toe (rarely) or when he had Sakura punch his arm like she wanted it to fall out of the socket (more common) he usually did allow a select colorful set of words to escape his lips.

It didn't often happen when meeting people walking down the hall innocently at school though. But there he was, late on a Tuesday morning, trying to figure out if he should just skip the rest of English to avoid Naruto and Hinata for the morning until lunch or figure out a good enough lie that it wouldn't matter if he saw them.

Instead of being in class like he was supposed to be though, the Idiot was careening down the hallway, looking wide eyed and painfully concerned. "Yo!" He yelled when he saw him. In the stillness of the in between class silence the sound was too loud and it echoed off the lockers and shiny high school floor. Sasuke winced internally and turned to his locker, flinging open the door like a shield against the anxious blue gaze on the blonde's face.

"What do you want?" Sasuke stalled, ripping his back pack open and keeping his fingers occupied with as much fiddling as he could so his eyes wouldn't have to rise.

Lying was not his forte. Not because he cared about lying to people, that didn't matter, it could be rather useful he figured. But he rather didn't care what people thought, he cared what he himself thought and always had. So when people asked him something he told the truth, and never really cultivated the ability to lie about things as a result.

Now he wished he had been even just a little bit more evil and maybe fibbed once or twice a year as a little kid. Just for practice.

"I just texted Sakura asking where you two were, you're literally never late. You guys okay?" Naruto looked puzzled as Sasuke straightened and kept his eyes on the locker, tucking books in slowly.

"I'm fine."

"Where's Sakura?" The blonde turned slowly, as if she were hiding in the empty hallway behind the garbage can or the poster of some pop star pointing at the kids that weren't there with the words "Stars Read!" in big letters above their head.

"Home." Sasuke continued, his thoughts skittering around like a big pawed puppy on a slippery floor trying to get traction. Part of him wanted Naruto to back off, leave him and Sakura alone to deal with it. He and his brother were always a keep it in the family kind of pair. But Sakura wasn't like that.

Probably because her parents had not even bothered to keep her in the family.

Maybe it would be better if he knew?

"Is she sick?" Naruto cocked his head at his tone, and there was a slight note of annoyance in his question that actually made Sasuke a little relieved. Fighting he could do. Fighting made lying easier. If he decided he was going to go that route.

"Yes... no..." he paused for emphasis and looked at him questionably, a little bit knowingly too. "Why do you care?"

It was the right thing for the fight route to be selected. Naruto's brows raised in a "You're kidding me." expression and he lowered his chin just enough that if they had been dogs it would have protected his neck. Sasuke was never great with words, but body language he understood.

"Unlike you when one of my friends is not feeling great I tend to want to see if they need me." He muttered, obviously trying to restrain himself.

Sasuke latched on to the parts of his words that had bitten the ends off the sentence instead of releasing them into the air. "Right." He huffed. "Sounds exhausting."

To his credit Naruto leaned against the locker beside him, arms crossed. Sasuke figured, if it were him he would have had his arms crossed to hide the way he was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"She's not answering my texts. And you're acting like a nut job. What's the matter?"

A nut job. How articulate.

Sasuke shoved a book into his locker and it made a satisfying ringing sound. He pictured Sakura's cell in his hand with the solitary three in the morning phone call and shoved another book in, using the memory to fuel his frustration.

"If she's not answering your texts then maybe she doesn't want to talk right now."

In a very unexpected show of gentleness Naruto took his shoulder, not hard or aggressive but kindly, making Sasuke turn in surprise that he couldn't quite film over with frustration fast enough. He ended up instead looking honestly back at Naruto's face and seeing the concern. Not just for Sakura.

For him.

Puzzlement blooming in his brain like a cancer, and with his guard down the worry lined his face.

"Sasuke. What's wrong? You sound like someone ran over your dog or something worse." Naruto's blue eyes studied him intently. "What's up?" There was no pressure, not even self serving curiosity. Just open, to the point worry. Worry for him, not just Sakura. Sasuke blinked at him a moment longer realizing the only other people in his life who looked at him that way, ever were Sakura herself and Itachi.

And just like that, words were coming out of his mouth.

"Sakura's mother called her in the middle of the night, the first time in over eight months since either of her parents tried to get in contact with her and she's upset because she missed the call." Slowly the words gained traction, his frustration sharpening with each breath he took to continue. "Like she was supposed to be sitting by the phone on a random weekday morning with school the next day waiting for her idiotic mother to call at twilight."

Naruto looked at him, listening intently, hand still on his shoulder. The weight of it made Sasuke shrug him off and the blonde helpfully took a slow step back, the little frown marring his brows looking less forced and more genuine than the $250 dollar an hour shrink his brother had taken him to after the death of his parents.

"That's... a lot of shit to go down before eight in the morning." Naruto stated, and something about the simple acknowledgment made Sasuke smirk, shutting his locker with less bang than usual.

"She was upset." Sasuke shrugged. "Upset enough that all she wanted was to stay home and eat ice cream for breakfast." He lifted his bag to his shoulder and frowned a little. "But we don't have any." For reasons only brothers would understand it was bothering him that she was home crying wishing she had ice cream, with an empty freezer instead.

"Why did her parents... ?" Naruto began to ask and Sasuke shook his head. There was no point asking about the stupid parents, the stupid 3 am call, the only not stupid thing being Sakura crying. "Not my story."

"Right." The blonde reached up to ruffle the mess of gold hair on his head, making it seem even more like he had just woken up. "Well. I can't get ice cream in time for it to be for breakfast, but I bet you I know who can make it happen for lunch."

Sasuke allowed himself a surprised raise of his brow.

"Yeah." Naruto looked irritated by Sasuke's reaction. "Duh. Wouldn't you get it for her if you could?"

The brunette bit his lip. Touche.

Naruto smirked widely at his silent reply. "Thankfully, I have a really rich, really kind friend who cares about everyone. And she has access to a car service she usually refuses to use."

Sasuke felt his tummy settle further down into his body than it usually should and didn't have to ask although he sighed mentally at himself.

Let me guess...

She didn't even ask what was the matter, she didn't even ask him why. Hinata stared with wide eyes at Naruto, who simply explained that Sakura was really upset by something and that she needed ice cream.

"Like you need cinnamon rolls sometimes." He had smiled knowingly at her then and Hinata's face had flamed red and she had stuttered out something and wandered away with her phone to her ear, one pale hand pushing her hair back from her shoulder as she hunched into the wall of the hall while the rest of the student body wandered around happily oblivious.

Sasuke stood beside Naruto who stretched and looped his arms behind his head, eyeing Hinata with him, the only two frozen people in a sea of swirling teenage bodies.

In the chaos of the changing classes Sasuke wasn't sure that he would hear him but he asked anyway, not caring if he got an answer or not, just articulating the thought out loud to make it real. "Why didn't she ask any questions?"

Naruto didn't look at him, studying the line of Hinata silhouetted against the sunlight coming through the doors at the end of the hall. Her dress was an off white creamy color and made of something light and airy belted at the waist with a thin black material that accented her tiny frame and delicate bones. The blonde smiled fondly, wondering if she had picked the dress out herself or if it was one of the things that her sister arrived from the mall armed with, determined to get her to wear it.

"Hinata doesn't ask stupid questions." He laughed. "Someone is sad. They need ice cream. I asked her for help. If she can't do it she says so."

Sasuke frowned a little. It all seemed like a bit of an over simplification. People were not like that. There was always something in it for them when they jumped to help without questioning, without wanting to know the full picture. No one was that saintly. Right?

His dark eyes watched as she hung up the phone and wandered over, pale gray gaze flickering from one pair of blue eyes to the distinctly darker black of the Uchiha.

As her pink mouth opened and she moved to speak Sasuke pondered if she would have been so quick to agree to help if it had been him asking. Thinking that made him uncomfortable. And then, to his chagrin, being uncomfortable by the thought made him even more uncomfortable. It was all going to hell.

"The car will be here in a few minutes." She told at Naruto softly. "It'll take you to the grocery store and to her house, but please ask Ko to not mention the trip to my dad." She winced a little as she looked down. "I have a feeling he might not like this plan as much... as I do."

Something about the way she said it made Sasuke think she didn't like the plan at all either. Suddenly he realized, "You're going to my house?" He turned to Naruto, eyebrows pulled down in a distasteful fashion. Naruto blinked back at him. "Just to drop it off, don't get your underwear in a knot."

"I can't skip this next class, there's a test." Hinata quickly put in, seeing the irritation on Sasuke's face and although not sure about it's reasoning she felt alarmed by it.

"By the time you get there it should be lunch time and then we can join you." Sasuke said in response, and then froze.

We? His eyes flickered to the Hyuuga, realizing that he had had to invite her or else her kindness to Sakura would have in turn looked like cruelty to her. He had no choice, really.

No choice at all.

"Oh that's sounds good!" Naruto nodded, "Maybe I'll grab some stuff for lunch then too."

Hinata was blinking back and forth at them, her time suddenly being taken right out of her hands without anyone asking.

"Bring your violin." Sasuke added suddenly, and before he could change his mind he was off to class through the now emptying hallway. "Meet me at the front of the school when the bell rings." He half shouted over his shoulder.

Hinata watched him go, then turned to Naruto, her confusion evident and clear. He blinked at her a second and smiled. "Looks like you made a new friend."

Gently he tugged on her arm, pulling her towards Calculus, missing her tiny voice as she glanced over her shoulder after the disappearing shape of the Uchiha further down the hall.

"Did I?"

Laying in bed crying and sleeping only worked for the kind of people that didn't notice things like the pretty rainbow that flattened itself right on her wall where she was staring. The light coming through her window divided itself into beams of color and smiled at her shrewdly while she sniffed and wiped at her puffy eyes.

A little irritated with the splash of happy on her wall she stuck her tongue out at it and pushed herself slowly to a sitting position. "Okay. So you're cute, and I'm crying and it doesn't jive. Got it." She stared at the smiling rainbow for a moment longer with a frown then glanced at her alarm clock.

She had got herself up long enough before to wash her face with freezing water in an attempt to get the puffiness to go down somewhat. Thankfully she wasn't a particularly ugly crier but when she had changed into a t-shirt and bothered to put a bra on she had lost steam and ended up back in her bed with her watermelon pajama pants still on and her hair in a ponytail that had been neat until she lay her head on the pillow and messed it up.

On her nightstand her phone buzzed again and again and she pondered if just ignoring it would be okay. Sasuke had said he would be back if he didn't get a reply to any of his messages and maybe that was a good thing.

But then, that stupid rainbow smiled at her from the wall and she sat up, wondering why if she was so upset she couldn't stay in that upset place longer to get all the crying out at once. Every few minutes she was noticing things like the way the light shone or remembering things like the color of Naruto's eyes matching the color of the sky outside her window. Then, without any warning the tears would start again, like they had just been playing peek-a-boo.

Swallowing hard she stood again and faced her closet, aiming to get it to surrender pants that were acceptable for outside venturing. Digging through the pull out drawers she paused, hands slowing on the tights she had favored during warm ups before practice downstairs in the studio.

Her eyes lingered for a moment on the black material, remembering the feel of them both like armor and like a second skin as she shifted through movements that made people wince with pain just looking, or sigh with awe.

Sometimes both. Usually both.

I could really use some armor...

Slowly she pulled the item out of her drawer and slid her legs into it, discarding the watermelon pajama pants on the floor and heading downstairs with her phone in hand, trying not to think about what she was about to do and whether or not it was a good idea.

A half dozen texts blinked at her as she flung open the door beside Itachi's office. At the end of the hall on the main floor it led to the staircase lit softly in faded gold light meant to soothe. For a moment Sakura stood there on the threshold, trying to remember the last time she had been down in the studio where Sasuke often practiced his cello pieces and the stereo was hooked to the brick wall that was the foundation of the house and the only part of the giant room that wasn't sound proofed to make the ringing melodies stay within it's four walls.

On the other side of the brick and stereo system was the rows of framed mirrors that Sakura had got for her birthday nearly two years ago now from Itachi and Sasuke combined, along with the ballet bar that trimmed it the entire way, professionally installed while she was out with Ino for a weekend.

It seemed like such a crappy way to appreciate an expensive gift like that, ignoring it and letting it collect dust for over a year.

Nervously her leg twitched, and with the knot of tears in her throat she stepped slowly down the stairs. Selecting the song on her phone that she had heard Sasuke and Naruto play together the very first time they had attempted a piece. Blatantly ignoring the texts she hooked the phone up to the stereo and tried to breathe normally.

The song had got inside her bones that day, made her muscles tremble and her limbs start to lift until she had held on to the door frame in defiance. Now her nerves were jittery with anticipation, her tears on the back burner of her mind as she shifted from one bare foot to the other, feeling her weight spread on the flats of her soles, anchoring her to the ground.

In the familiarity of the open studio space she walked and listened to the smooth hiss of her skin against the cushioned surface below. Reaching up high to the ceiling she stretched her arm with a frown while she pondered when Sasuke had last spent time in the studio himself. She couldn't recall and something about that made her almost as sad as her own silent treatment towards the place.

Looking up she paused, startled by her reflection in the mirror. Her mouth was tinged with a twist that was either a half grimace or a half smile. It was undecided. Her hair was a wild knot on her head of cotton candy pink and her eyes framed by the bangs along her forehead glimmered back still wet with moisture. But besides her expression her body was already moving in slow long movements. Her toes pointed, her hands loose.

Even if her head wasn't sure about what she was doing, it appeared her body was already teeming with an all limb grin.

Slowly, experimentally she stretched and lifted her right leg while firmly planting her left to the ground the way a tree sets down roots until her fingers were holding her thigh gently to her collarbone and her toes were pointed up to the ceiling where the muted lights glimmered.

As the stretch of her muscles intensified with the ballet pose she felt the overwhelming sigh of her body giving way to the familiar freedom of movement. The song began pounding out on the speakers of the stereo, the cello jolting through the ground where her one foot was firmly rooted, soothing the frolic of the piano above it's musing darkness. Together the beats and time pounded up her limb, getting inside of her skin, pouring up her body, crawling through her molecules until her heart was in rhythm with the harmony. She closed her eyes and felt a smile slide, true and without hesitation onto her face.

And then, ignoring all manner of good sense, without allowing herself time to warm up, she began to dance.

"Dude. She's not answering the door." Naruto peered at the house again, trying to peek through the peephole which was absolutely useless and he knew it but he had had to try. He wondered if Sakura was standing on the other side of the door watching his enlarged blue eye through the curved glass.

"It shouldn't be locked, just go in." Sasuke muttered finally on the phone, sounding less patient than usual. In the background the sound of lockers slamming and the familiarly irritating grind of the high school breaking for lunch echoed.

Naruto eyed the door handle like it might have teeth. "I dunno... She hasn't answered my texts either. Maybe she's in the shower?" His face took on a pink coating that was right out of Hinata's book in that moment and wincing he added. "I don't really think I should go in there."

"I'm hanging up." Sasuke grumbled suddenly. "If you won't go in just wait there. We will be there in about ten minutes." And he was gone, abandoning the blonde to stare at the door again suspiciously.

Despite his height and the broadness of his shoulders he felt small standing on the door step wondering if the girl he had been worrying about all day was in there, just on the other side of the wood and glass that made up the door way. With a bit of discomfort he shifted and leaned against the wall, adjusting the bag of groceries he had on his arm, hoping it was chilly enough in the early November afternoon to keep the ice cream from becoming soup cream.

He really didn't want Sakura to have to deal with soup cream on an already bad day.

"Argh... what the hell." He muttered, and drinking in a lungful of cold air he pushed into the house, wincing a little as he peeked first just his head and then his shoulders and then the rest of him into the calm quiet environment dimly lit with only the kitchen light on.

"Hello?"

Nothing replied but the buzz of the fridge humming and slowly he closed the door, hearing the click of it as he leaned back with his back pack on his shoulder. Removing his shoes he wandered to the humming fridge and threw the ice cream tub in there as hello before placing the rest of the groceries on the table and looking around, listening.

Everything was quiet and still and when the fridge toned down the awful one note song it had been humming he could suddenly feel, coming from beneath his feet the pounding of some other song, one much more interesting. He could tell just from the beats pulsing through the flat space between his heel and his toes.

"Hm." He pondered and glanced down the dark hall just out of the kitchen entry to a door glowing with dim light around it's edges.

He paused then at the top of the stairs, feeling something in his veins hitch a ride on his blood cells with anticipation, adrenaline eager to enter his brain as he took first one and then two steps down before slowly coming around the corner of the stairwell and stopping, eyes widening and mouth parting as though to welcome what he was seeing, even though he was having a hard time processing.

It hit him hard, the way the sight of her did, that this was a song he knew, because he had been playing it over and over with Sasuke for several weeks. The cello and piano were not them, they were cleaned and smoothed by the recording studio that had obviously put this beautiful piece together but even still. They had nothing on her.

She was the sound in a body of smooth shining skin, strong lean muscles elegant extensions and breathless twists. As the piano danced, she gave it form, her arms dripping like silk in the breeze while they lifted through the air, and then as the music soared her legs did the impossible thing of throwing her as though gravity didn't matter, heels over head, landing like a bird with her back to him, eyes closed as she lifted her arms again and let the cello guide her through.

Everything about her seemed made of out something simultaneously harder than steel and more delicate than the dew covered spider webs of the early spring mornings. With her hair dancing over her face he slowly lowered himself down to the step he had been standing on, transfixed.

He had known it... seen it in the twitch of her fingers, in the curve of her body and the way her eyes faded to a far away place when she listened, really listened to the heart beat of a song he loved. There had been music in her all along.

How could he have not known about this?

His mouth was dry, and if he had not been watching her so intently he would have missed the moment when she spun in a twirl that reminded him of the ballerinas that he always felt were too perfect for real life.

And then her eyes opened, meeting his blue astounded ones with his heart beat bleeding through the azure hue. Like puppet strings slashed by a blade her limbs dropped and she stood, just a girl again, letting the music roar away without her, an ocean wave pulling ever outward. Wide eyed and stunned she heaved for air, the only sign that she was human and not melody her gulping breaths that hinted at mortality.

Naruto swallowed, studying her studying him in the mirror until he realized the glitter he had seen on her face as she twisted into a pirouette so clean it made swans envious, was actually tears.

The song's end came so abruptly that in the silence his eardrums ached and slowly he stood. This was the moment for words. He was good at that, words were his easiest thing. Words and his hands on the piano, but nothing came to mind. How could he speak to this being he had thought he knew but only now realized was an echo of the actual girl he'd somehow noticed beneath the facade.

In the silence he was worried she'd hear the organ in his chest trying to get out.

"Sorry." She whispered first, raising her hands up to her face as her shoulders began to shake with tears. "I...wasn't expecting... you, I would have stopped crying."

It was the most ridiculous thing to say, and usually would have made him laugh but he just moved, taking the last three steps down into the smooth white expanse of the floor she had dominated with the heat of her body and the gasp of her breaths before taking her into his arms from behind, peering at her over her shoulder in the mirror, watching her green eyes blink at him through her fingers, wet and glittering.

"I'm not scared of tears." His breath lingered on her cheek as he studied her, "You don't have to worry about not crying around me, Sakura-chan."

She blinked several times at that, lowering her fingers just enough that he could see her surprise and then relief, right before she buried her face in her hands again and turned around, allowing herself to sob again into his chest as he held her. When the song started up again he lowered them down to the ground, pulling her gently into his lap while she wept, letting the music block out her tears instead of asking all the millions of questions trampling through his mind.

"Are you going to look terrified the entire time?" Sasuke's voice made her jump as she turned to look over her shoulder, gray eyes staring at him with wide owlish surprise.

"N-no! Sorry! I'm not... " she stopped, watching him walk right past her into the parking lot that led out of the school grounds towards his house.

When she didn't follow Sasuke glanced back, stopping right in the middle of the way as cars driven by excited teens inched around him, aiming to get off campus for lunch as quickly as possible. "You coming?"

She jumped forward then, clenching her jaw hard as they wove through the vehicles in the bite of the cool November day. Eyes darting left and right she stayed right behind him, making some serious effort not to step on his heels until they got to the sidewalk and she was able to step back a little without fear of being hit by a new driver.

He walked fast, his legs longer and his stride more purposeful and as a result she was always two steps behind, running a little every couple of steps to catch up.

"Naruto is already there." His voice was quiet but in the stillness of the suburbs at noon only the breeze climbing through the rickety winter trees competed to be heard. Hinata blinked at his back. "Oh good."

Turning onto the long winding street where his house was she paused only a moment to note that the trees were finally at a loss for leafs completely. Soon the cold would turn into a slap and walking to and from school would require a fifteen minute preparation of scarves and sweaters and mittens. As it were, she was regretting not grabbing something to keep her fingers warm and with her hand exposed to the bite of the air she could see the tips turning bright pink where they gripped her violin case.

"Um... S-Sasuke?" she hopped over a little puddle then and he glanced back momentarily, watching her gray eyes trained on the path she followed. "Why... did you want me to bring my violin? Will we be practicing?" she glanced up and caught him staring, forcing him to spin his head around hard, glad to see the house coming up with it's promise of loud mouthed blondes and his adopted sister to buffer some of the awkward.

Who knew there would be a day when he was glad for extroverts?

"I was hoping to." He replied simply.

"But.." Hinata glanced at her cell phone, drawing it from the pocket of her jacket. "We've only got about twenty minutes before lunch is over and then..." she paused, watching him glance over his shoulder at her again, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, you guys are all skipping the rest of the day." she whispered, feeling stupid. Of course they were. Why had she not thought of that? If it had been Naruto upset at home she would have skipped the rest of the day as well, just to make sure he was happy.

"I figured you would also." Sasuke retorted then and she started, realizing suddenly that her mistake had been on two levels. One, that they were skipping for Sakura and she had not thought of it and two, that she was expected to be part of the plan.

She wasn't sure why this made her simultaneously happy and wary. "Oh... well.." she began, following him onto the driveway of his house. "I... I...I don't know if Sakura would want me to-"

"Forget Sakura." Sasuke waved a hand hard, as though pushing the thought right out of her head. "I want to try something."

Hinata stared at his back as he opened the door and stepped into the house, kicking his shoes off and dumping his backpack unceremoniously onto the ground.

Forget Sakura. I want...

"Sakura?" Sasuke's voice seemed to fill the house, and Hinata thought for a moment about how deep it was. If his cello were a person, it would look just like Sasuke.

Frowning a little he looked around, noting the backpack he recognized as Naruto's in the kitchen and the grocery bag with deli sandwiches and chips on the counter.

For a moment his dark eyes flickered up the stairs and he pondered what kind of repercussions he would have to lay down if Naruto had had the stupid idea of walking into Sakura's room while neither he or Itachi were in the house.

A bloody nose for instance seemed like a good way to start.

Thankfully, before he had to drag himself upstairs to make sure the blonde had not taken liberties a door down the dark hall opened and Naruto stepped out, with Sakura right behind him.

Hinata watched with interest as Sasuke's body seemed to stiffen, his eyes widening a little before he clenched his jaw and very carefully called out. "Hey."

Sakura seemed to jump at his voice, and Hinata watched then too as her hand snatched at the edge of Naruto's sweater, her cheeks pink and streaked with rubbed off tears, her hair a disarray that looked unintentional and pretty.

"Hi, I'm sorry I haven't been replying to texts- oh!" her green eyes slid to Hinata then and she smiled weakly, attempting her usual welcoming grin. "Hinata, hi."

"Hina-chan wanted to make sure you got ice cream." Naruto put in suddenly, flashing Hinata a grin. "She sent me off to get it because she couldn't miss a test in class."

Sakura's eyes stayed still on the gray gaze of the Hyuuga, the girls looking back and forth quietly for a moment and then Hinata smiled, just a tentative turn of her lips. "...I was hoping... I could have some ice cream too."

"I think I owe you some." Sakura swallowed the knot in her throat and let go of Naruto's shirt suddenly, rubbing her hand on her thigh like she was trying to get the evidence of the touch off her skin. "I'm feeling kind of gluttonous, so I wasn't planning to share much. You can have all the stuff I might have shared with the boys, yeah? It's officially girl ice cream."

"Like I would have asked for any." Sasuke muttered, walking past her into the kitchen to fill the kettle with water.

Hinata stood stiffly in the hall suddenly, feeling a little like a planet with no sun as Sakura and Naruto settled on stools on the island with their backs to the living room. Slowly she lowered her violin case to the ground, leaning it against the wall and keeping her eyes down. Sakura really did look upset, the kind of upset that would have had Hinata mortified to be seen by people she didn't know very well.

But the grip she had had on Naruto's shirt a moment ago said something, something that was loud and made Hinata's ears ring. Breathing in slowly to keep herself calm and her stomach from hurting she jumped at the feel of someone right near her, looking up to find Sasuke's dark eyes studying her again.

It was like he was always watching, catching her with her emotions raw on her face. Pressing her lips together firmly she waited, hoping he would say something.

"What kind of tea do you want?" His words were short and clipped, a mug in his hand. "Your fingers look like they're going to fall off."

Startled again she looked down at her hand, slowly and painfully thawing in the warmth of the house.

"Oh." she breathed, turning to back to him curiously. "I... whatever you're having."

"Okay." He turned away quickly, banging around in the cupboards and drawers. On the island Naruto was dividing up the lunch, popping chip bags open and dumping them into a bowl Sasuke provided. "Is anyone anxious to go back to the school? Because honestly, I'm feeling an unexcused absence coming on." He commented. Blue eyes cautious he glanced at Hinata, opening his mouth to explain he understood if she had to go back, knowing that skipping was not her way only to stop abruptly in surprise when Sasuke said, "Hinata and I were already staying."

Still looking slightly more morose than usual Sakura grabbed a chip from the bowl in front of her. "Oh yay." she sighed, a little relieved.

"Yeah..." Naruto's blue eyes lingered on the silent Hyuuga just outside of the kitchen light, curious to see her staring at her shoes, cheeks pink. "Yay."

It was only after he watched intently for Sakura to take at least two bites of a sandwich and a sip of water that Sasuke allowed the ice cream to be brought out.

Sakura gave him a look like she thought he was a cockroach but when he finally handed over the tub with the spoon in hand she had smiled through the tear stains on her face and patted the space beside her on the couch. "Hinata, come on."

Opening her mouth to answer Hinata's shoulders had tightened and Sasuke noted Naruto already sprawled beside Sakura, trying to figure out the movie that they were planning on watching.

"Actually..." he cut in and Hinata's face turned to him with a swirling mixture of relief and trepidation. "Perhaps we could run through that piece again."

"You're going to practice?" Sakura inquired through a mouthful of cookie dough ice cream. "We can watch the movie later, if you need all three." she added, glancing at Naruto.

"No...this is Passacaglia, there's no piano."

His words had an effect on the room that he felt was a little over the top. Hinata's head snapped to him with evident surprise on her face and Naruto turned with the exact opposite slowness, blue eyes wide. "Huh. Really?"

There were a lot of different things loaded onto his reply and Sasuke chose to ignore them. "Yes. Hinata?"

"...R-right. Okay." snatching up her violin Hinata followed as he headed down the same hall that Sakura and Naruto had come from earlier.

"Answer Itachi's texts!" Sasuke added over his shoulder as he opened the sound proof door with a grunt. "We're leaving our cell phones upstairs."

Sakura pulled her ice cream spoon out of her mouth slowly, her brows pinched together with interest at his voice. "...okay." she called, listening to the slam of the sound proof door before turning to Naruto who was still trying to figure out the remote for the TV.

"Has he mentioned wanting to do that song for the show?" she inquired softly, watching as Naruto's lips pulled into a slow knowing smile. "Nope."

"Hm."

"Hm, indeed."

Downstairs Hinata followed Sasuke's broad shoulders into the brightly lit space and paused at the sudden sight of herself in the full length mirrors. Sighing internally she turned her eyes to the ground.

Oh great.

The wind had buffeted her outside and her black hair usually a neat waterfall around her face and down her back was a little on the wild side. Slowly she removed her scarf, unwinding the teal fluff from around her neck before folding it neatly onto a chair that Sasuke brought forward from the corner of the room.

"I don't have music stands down here, but then, if I recall correctly I was the only one that needed the score for this one." he commented.

Hinata froze, remembering her tone of voice that day and even though she was trying not to look at herself in the mirror she could see that what had been a smudge of pale white out of her peripheral vision on the reflection was now turning pink.

"I... I'm sorry, I was...I... I'm..." she began pushing her fingers together hard.

Looking up she froze in time to see him smirking a little. That shut her up faster than if he had just told her to be quiet. Unsure of what to do in response she grabbed her jacket and placed it on the chair beside her scarf. With a few expert twists her hair was up in a black bun and with the familiar click of her violin case locks opening she grabbed onto her instrument's neck.

And the world changed.

A deep breath entered her lungs where air had refused to linger, filtering through her veins with the calmness of oxytocin. Her muscles, usually tense and rigid relaxed and her wrists danced within their joints smoothly as she grabbed her bow, shifting her weight on her feet for a moment. The blurry edged reality of her music began to weave its way into her limbs, feeling more relaxing than wine, more comforting than her bed.

The girl in the mirror was inconsequential all of a sudden with the strings so close to her fingers. Turning with mounting impatience to Sasuke she paused, frowning a little.

He had yet to move from his crouched position on the ground beside his cello case, his pale hand wrapped around it's neck but not moving, dark eyes trained on her with the intensity of a hunter.

Quietly still, but anxious to start Hinata motioned with her shoulder at him. "Aren't we going to play?"

Blinking his dark eyes slowly as though he were just waking up he stood, dragging the cello with him. "Yes." he sat on the other chair then, fiddling with his bow for a moment before adding. "Sorry."

Unsure of what he was apologizing for Hinata frowned again, waiting until he raised his dark eyes with a silent "okay" within them and she finally smiled, lifting her violin to tuck close under her chin, taking a deep breath with him that bound them together into one intricate being with two hearts beating in tandem.

As the notes began in sharp frantic tempo Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to calm his equally frantic breath.

Oh ...damn.

He listened more than watched although he wanted to be able to do both at the same time with equal focus and had to instead make due with one or the other, breathing in deep before opening his gaze and watching her turn again into someone he did not recognize.

She had no need to battle him this time and so instead she had her eyes focused on a distant place within her mind as her violin danced, her eyes half closed listening with everything that made her up to the melodies twisting and turning coming from the extensions of their bodies in their instruments.

He had noticed that unlike Sakura who was more comfortable in a pair of jeans or tights Hinata wore dresses and today was no different than the first time they played this piece, her skirt danced with her swaying, the white waving as she snapped her wrist, as she breathed in deep, closed her eyes and slowed the tones to sighing.

He was doing a mediocre job of keeping up with her, and he didn't even care. His cello breathless as he was as she slammed through the rapid fire melody, opening her gray eyes after a moment again and turning to him with half interest and confusion.

She had noticed his fumbling, and with a surprise akin to being thrown in a pool unexpectedly he felt his cheeks heat and turned sharply away trying once more to focus, grounding himself down into the fibers of his cello and the vibrations of his strings.

The piece picked up speed and shakily he caught his footing, following her through to the last argument between the two instruments, his fight half hearted even as she ripped through the harmony, her gray eyes a laser beam on his form he couldn't shake.

Swallowing hard he struggled and fumbled and just barely made it to the resolution with some of his dignity intact when the silence bit into the room, broken only by their soft but slightly labored breaths.

Hinata lowered her violin with a frown, opening her mouth to ask what was wrong only to startle into silence as he looked up at her, panting and pink cheeked and confused, the puzzlement so obvious on his face it was almost a slap.

"Who...who are you anyway?" His voice didn't sound like Sasuke, but an unsure and slightly panicked version of him she didn't recognize.

It wasn't the first time a companion musician had asked her such a thing, and so she wasn't completely thrown, although seeing his own shakiness she worried for a moment.

"Sorry.." she began softly, licking her lips, trying to understand. "I... I was dragging you through and I-"

"No." He snapped then, some of the old Sasuke she felt she knew better coming back in the bite of his tone. "No, I screwed that up, it was me. Don't start with excuses- how...how come you play like that, but you can't even..." he paused, as though suddenly realizing where his sentence was going.

The adrenaline and comfort of her violin had not worn off quite yet and so Hinata looked back at him steadily, swallowing the anxiety before murmuring. "I can't even...?"

His dark eyes sized her up, seeing something she wasn't sure she would be able to identify herself. Whatever it was, he decided it made her capable of handling his next words. "You can't even tell him you're in love with him."

Her violin and bow lowered to her sides and with her shoulders loose she felt naked. Her face betrayed her, as it always did, heating to a pink sheen until she lowered her gaze to the floor, unwilling to move.

So he had seen, he had noticed. Of course he had.

He was always watching.

Words fought to get out of her mouth. First denial, amusement tinged with panic and finally acceptance. He was no fool, to lie to him would be an insult and if Naruto was right he didn't deserve that. A friend didn't deserve that.

"...p..please don't tell him."

Sasuke's face changed then to a mild form of surprise, as though he had not been expecting that reply. Hinata's gray eyes looked tired as she studied him, like the song had been a marathon sprint. Softly, hardly audible she whispered. "Please."

And Sasuke made a mistake with her right then, watching the soreness of her heart through her pale eyes as she begged. Letting out a very heavy sigh he pressed a hand to his face, not wanting to see anymore.

"I promise."

Even as the words left his lips he could see relief flood her face.

"...thank you." she managed after a moment. Then even more quietly, "I thought you might figure it out." She shifted a little, her knuckles white on the violin. "No one else is quite as...o-observant."

Letting out a sigh again Sasuke leaned against the chair back feeling like perhaps her comment gave him a pass in observing her openly. Shifting under his intense stare Hinata tried to keep her eyes on his face managing it only for a moment before glancing at the ground again.

"Do you need ice cream now?" His question was surprising, and Hinata looked back up at him then, wide eyed.

Something about the tension and his very calm expression seemed so out of character that she felt her abdomen constrict and next thing she knew she was laughing.

Maybe it was the magic of her violin still in her hand, or perhaps she had decided to trust him, but whatever it was he was thankful. A Hinata that laughed was a mess of bubbles, sunshine and wind chime bells through an early spring breeze. He could almost smell the wild flowers and even he couldn't help a small quirk of his lips in return.

"Let's... run it one more time, but then yes." She admitted, lifting the violin close enough to kiss, gray eyes tinged with both mirth and quiet sadness, giving them depth he appreciated. "I would like some ice cream."

"Okay." He sat forward, sliding his hands over the familiar strings, feeling the touch of his bow against their smoothness. "Just once more. You'll be surprised how fast Sakura can consume ice cream."

"...I...I don't think so," Hinata allowed, hovering her bow over her strings. "All girls have that ability."

Sasuke hummed at her bemusedly. "Learn something new everyday."

And then they started again, this time the Uchiha holding his own better despite the distraction before him.

leave me some love, ne?

Inky