OPrincess ShinigamiO here!

Heya! It's been a long time! Just so happened that I had free time, and by some miracle, the God of fanfiction gave me enough inspiration to write a new fanfic chapter. Forgive me if my rustiness (in writing) shows. I worked hard on trying to finish this before the mood leaves, and so voila! Finally, we get to SasuHina meeting for real in the present, and then see a little bit of SasuHina!family moments for the first time. ;)

To all the loyal readers/reviewers and newbies alike, thank you for taking time to read! I probably lost a lot of followers after my hiatus, so to those who waited for a long time, thank you for keeping the faith! You all deserve more SasuHina goodness! XD

Masayume Trivia:

1. No surprise here, but Yume loves wearing Tenten's eyepatch day-to-night, before and after sleeping/taking a bath. She chooses to cover the black eye because she finds her white eye prettier. Even if she chose the other, Hinata would've convinced her to wear it the other way anyway to conceal her Uchiha identity. Even though Hinata dislikes it and worries about what it would do to her daughter's eyesight, she eventually becomes relieved once she realized that it would somehow protect Yume in case familiar people identify her and put two and two together.

2. Just like Naruto and Hinata, Konohamaru once dated Hanabi after harbouring a long-time crush on her since they've graduated from the Academy. Unfortunately, things also didn't work out between them, mostly because Hanabi realized that he was a total idiot, not to mention she's less tolerant to immaturity than Hinata.

Enjoy reading! :D

Masayume

…

7th Stop

…

The Encounter Pt. 2

…

"Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha swerved his head towards the Hyuuga's direction, ceasing the lightning from his sword for his warm-ups.

Hinata expected to find him in her usual training spot near the waterfalls in the forest, which led them to have the spar yesterday for the ownership.

Instead, she found him in one of the usual training areas in the village in front of the Forest of Death, where they had their second Chuunin exam task several years ago.

She couldn't tell whether he just decided to switch training posts in a whim or because he felt even the slightest bit guilty.

In her hands was a thin, neatly folded package tied up with a red string.

He looked back at her nervous face.

"I take it your family's not very happy with last night's predicament."

"A-Ano…" she bit her lip, unconsciously clutching the shirt in her hands. "I'm sorry for troubling you like this, Sasuke-kun. You're already suffering so much for-"

"Suffering for what?" His dark eyes dared her to continue what she was going to say.

Instinctively, she remained silent.

The Uchiha studied her in silence before turning away and swinging his sword.

"If don't you have anything else to say, I suggest you leave before I repeat what I did to you last night. Not to mention before that cousin of yours drops by for another surprise sparring again."

Hinata snapped her head up.

"N-Neji-nii-san attacked you?"

Sasuke grunted. It was then Hinata noticed the dark bruise under the Uchiha's collarbone hiding behind the collars of his shirt, of which she was pretty sure she didn't embed on him yesterday.

"What do you think?"

Immediately she bowed her upper body to a 90-degree angle, her face turning red in embarrassment.

"I'M SO SORRY! I-I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD GO THIS FAR!"

"Cork it, Hyuuga. I don't need your pity."

"B-But-!"

"I told you to shut up. If you're feeling sorry for me at all, then don't appear in front of me ever again. I'm sick of all the pitying looks you give me, as if you could understand anything I've been through. We may have survived an ordeal together, but so what? The only reason I've decided to stay is to repay a debt to Naruto, not to make friends. I don't need you, your sympathy, and your family to burden me any further."

"Now get out of my sight."

In finality, he turned away and went back to his warm-ups.

The heavy silence that followed afterwards rang loudly in her head.

Hinata didn't move from her place, her upper body still bowed down, her hands still clutched tightly on his clean shirt.

She knew that he was not the nicest person on earth, and yes maybe it was all her fault and that she did plan on never interacting with him again.

But his words still hurt all the same.

Because in her heart, after all the things they've been through together, she thought that even in the miniscule he'd grown to at least care for her as a comrade.

Why did he even bother to carry her all the way home yesterday?

She must be getting full of herself.

She hated misjudging people, and she definitely didn't want to hate the Uchiha, not after she knew how much he's suffered under angry eyes.

But that didn't mean that he had the right to belittle her.

It was then that she realized that her father was right; it was wrong to ever think that he'd change.

That day, he proved to her that Uchiha Sasuke would never have compassion for anyone else save for Naruto and his teammates.

Hardening her resolve, she lifted herself up, her face showing little expression.

But instead of leaving, she took a small step forward the Uchiha, who still had his back on her and swinging his Kusanagi in swift slices through the cool air, and bent down to place his wrapped shirt on the grass.

"Thank you for your time, Uchiha-san. And I'm sorry for all the troubles I've caused you. I can assure you that we won't ever need to cross paths again."

To that, she turned and walked away, leaving the Uchiha and the lone package on the ground.

"…Tch."

…

A resounding screech woke him up.

Blinking his eyes, he moaned as he started to get up, only to hiss at the throbbing pain his head suddenly made as soon as he moved.

"Ugh… Shit." He murmured.

He couldn't remember what happened at all the night before, and even if he tried, racking his brain up for answers would only make the pain grow.

It wasn't just his head that hurt. His whole body ached whenever he tried to move. Most especially his left arm.

Not to mention, the screeching that still didn't stop wasn't helping his head at all.

Still, he bore the pain enough to at least manage to get up to his elbows.

His nose wrinkled as he took in the stench of dried blood mixed with medicine, and he realized that his head, chest and arms were covered in neatly wrapped bandages.

Suddenly, he heard a scuffle of footsteps, and in a second, the screeching slowly came to a stop. But not soon long after, chopping sounds followed stead.

After a few moments of calming his head, his eyes cleared and then he began to take in his surroundings.

The edge of a small couch sat beside his futon. On the other side, a small round window shone with the early morning sun, giving light to the otherwise dark living room. Under it stood a tiny mahogany stand displaying a clear blue vase with some sort of yellow flowers in it.

Not far behind him was a large counter, which separates the living room and the kitchen. Behind that counter, a woman, with her dark-blue hair tied up in a messy bun and donning a yellow-white sweater and light blue apron, has her back on him, her right elbow moving back and forth as another chop resounded the room.

A steel pot sat on a plain old stove beside the chopping counter, with steam coming out from the lid and sizzling sounds echoing lightly.

Suddenly, the smell of miso soup hit his nose, and he realized that his now grumbling stomach has been quite empty for a fairly long time.

Struggling to lift himself up despite the shooting pain on his head, he groggily managed to support himself using the sofa's arm and successfully balanced himself on his feet.

Slowly, he took small staggering steps forward, towards the stranger behind the counter.

She seemed to not notice his presence, as she continued on chopping what seemed like carrots on a scarred wooden chopping board.

That is, until he accidentally tripped on his own feet and stumbled on the counter separating them with a loud thud.

The woman jumped in surprise, but managed to stop herself quickly before she could turn her head towards the culprit. The chopping sounds came to a stop.

"… You're awake?"

Sasuke shakily lifted himself up, his dark orbs turning towards the back of her head.

"Who are you?"

He noticed the woman stiffen, as if he'd just asked her what color her panties were.

Wait, what?

"Your companion, he will back any time soon." She avoided his question, still not turning to face him. "Why don't you sit back down and rest while waiting? I'll serve your breakfast in awhile." she said in such a soft, airy tone that he almost didn't catch them.

He did catch on that this woman was trying to avoid him somehow.

Why in the world was she not looking at him?

"Hey." He spoke impatiently, rubbing his bandaged forehead. "I asked you who you are. And what the hell am I doing here?"

The woman ignored him and went back to chopping the carrots.

"Please sit, Uchiha-san."

His eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

"How do you know my name? Do I know you anywhere?"

She paused midway from slicing a thin piece of carrot. She seemed to be deep in thought. "Your friend, Konohamaru, he told us your name. He brought you here in the middle of the night when you collapsed from your wounds."

"Damn brat." He scratched his head, cursing the younger ninja for easily revealing their identities to a stranger. He's really gonna get it when he returns. "And he's not my friend."

The faucet began running as she began to rinse her knife.

"Hey, your name. What is it? Since you apparently know mine, it would be fair enough for you to at least tell me yours."

"I'm not inclined to say anything." She replied coldly, turning the faucet off. "We don't owe you anything. In fact, we saved your life, and even let you stay over for the night. But for all we know, you might actually be criminals who were lucky enough to stumble here and later on ambush us."

"Tch, what is up with this woman?" the Uchiha thought to himself, starting to feel anger bubbling up his chest. He was itching to have his hands on Kusanagi, but unfortunately, they've taken off his weapons and hid them Kami knows where.

"… We're here because of Hokage's orders. Back-up for the Fire Daimyo." He stated, seeing that there's probably no point in keeping secrets when Konohamaru probably told them everything anyway. Although he was surprised for even bothering to explain himself.

She didn't reply at first, as she opened the cupboard above the sink and took out four bowls and chopsticks.

Frustrated and too exhausted to argue, he gave up and decided to follow her advice after all, turning back to rest on the sofa. What did he care anyway if she's not going to show her face? This weirdo's obviously not going to say anything.

"… I see." She finally replied just as he was going to walk away. Her suddenly speaking made him turn his head back towards her back, just as she closed the cupboard and reached for the rice cooker. Before she closed the cupboard, Sasuke spotted on the corner of his eyes a pink and painted with purple-spotted kittens, containing matching utensils with heads of smiling kittens on their handles.

A child?

"Oh, by the way, that kid-"

"AH!"

The woman jumped away from the rice cooker, shaking her hand before bringing her fingers to her lips to blow them. Distracted, she must've accidentally touched the burning rice pot.

"Are you alright?"

She yelped as she turned her head only to realize that in a flash, his face was inches close to hers. Her lavender-white eyes widened in shock while his dark eyes were focused on her red fingers, his hand roughly yet carefully touching hers as he brought them closer to his face, unconcerned about their closure.

"S-S-Sasuke-kun?!"

She could feel her face heating up from her neck till the tips of her ears. Not only that, she felt that familiar tingling sensation all over her body as the side of his body touched hers. If he just didn't mention Yume…

She hadn't felt this flustered for years. She could feel the walls of her resolve start to break. And yet, he still hadn't noticed her embarrassment and didn't even bother to move aside.

"Ice."

"… H-Huh?"

The Uchiha frowned impatiently. "You need to counter the heat."

"O-Oh, oh!" she stuttered, snapping back to her senses. Sliding herself away from him, she quickly fled to the small fridge on the corner of the kitchen and took out a pack of ice, her face still tomato red. She couldn't bear to face the Uchiha.

Somehow, she knew that it wasn't her burnt fingers that needed to be cooled down.

If she were alone at the moment, she would've slapped herself and hit her head on the wall repeatedly.

"Get a grip of yourself, Hinata! Imagine how Father and Neji would act! You're supposed be tough towards him! We're trying to make him leave as soon as possible right?!"

On the other hand, the Uchiha had just realized what he's done, slapping his right palm on his forehead (and then wincing at the pain). It was a relief that he was able to get back to his senses and told her to get ice before he'd do anything stupider. Why in the world did he even feel concerned for her? Moreso, he even rushed to her rescue. What was he gonna do? Blow her fingers?

The only person he ever did that for was Sakura, and that was only one time when she accidentally touched a hot frying pan.

But this stranger… for some reason, he helped her even after she tried to avoid him.

And then there were her eyes…

There was no mistake; she was a Hyuuga.

Her white eyes, unlike the regular stingy Hyuugas back at Konoha, had a different feel to them. They had a subtle purplish tint, and in those few seconds when their eyes met, he felt as if her large eyes were capable of melting him because of the fragility held within her stare.

Confusion? Fear? Longing?

Another flash of white pierced his vision. He couldn't exactly tell what the image was as the white light darkened. It was blurry lavender and blue, raindrops clouding the image. A flash of lightning, and then a flustered face looking up to him, and light foggy eyes shadowed by her long lashes.

And then it all disappeared. Again.

He stumbled backwards, leaning on the sink as he rubbed his face roughly as his head began to ache.

"… Crap."

To that, the blue-haired woman turned and gasped as she saw his face sweating in agony. She quickly sped towards him only to hesitate before she could touch his face. She forced herself to clench her hands together, crushing the ice pack between them.

"U-Uchiha-san? Are you alright?" she whispered, afraid if speaking loudly would only make the pain worse.

Groaning, Sasuke took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, willing the pain to go away. After a few seconds of silence, he wiped the sweat off his brow and smirked at the Hyuuga's worried expression. It seemed so genuine. It's kinda… cute.

"So you're concerned now, Hyuuga?" he teased.

She lifted an eyebrow in inquiry before realizing what he meant.

"Oh… my eyes."

"Yep." Sasuke clicked his tongue. "Not hard to figure out. I never knew there were Hyuugas outside of Konoha. Then again, I'd probably understand why you ran away from that stiff clan."

Turning her eyes away to the ground, she bit her lip solemnly.

"You have no idea…"

Suddenly, the realization hit her hard. All this time, she kept pretending that she was a stranger towards him, and for some reason she wondered why he too played along with her game.

Except now that she observed closer, looking into his eyes and seeing the indifference in his expression, it seemed clearer than ever.

His casualty and wariness towards her, his realization of her identity and his careless comment about the Hyuuga…

It was never a game. Not for him.

To him, she really, truly was a stranger. Not just someone he didn't want to acknowledge. No, he really wasn't joking. Uchiha Sasuke was never the type to joke around.

He doesn't know her. Hyuuga Hinata, she was just someone who helped them out the night before, someone he formally met that very day.

Her heart felt heavier. Not noticing the confusion on the Uchiha's face, she slowly placed the melting ice pack beside the rice cooker and returned back to her old task of preparing breakfast, her eyes still in some daze.

This was supposed to be a good thing. This was what she wanted; for him to forget his past and to never feel any pain from their separation. She wanted to keep Yume's identity a secret because of the burdens they might cause him. This loss of memory, it was supposed to be the best outcome right? Right?

"Hyuuga."

Hinata snapped out of her daze, pausing midway as her hand scooped up a second large serving of rice on the same bowl.

"… Sorry, Uchiha-san. If you don't mind, would you please return back to the living room and wait there? This won't be long…" her voice was hollow and cold, if possible colder than awhile ago.

If the Hyuuga was acting strange awhile ago, this time the Uchiha became even more puzzled. Was she having some sort of mood swing?

"Hey-"

"PAPA!"

A flurry of black and pink suddenly flew inside the kitchen and almost immediately clung itself to the Uchiha's right leg, much to the latter's shock. Staring up at him was a little girl in fuchsia pink pajamas, with messy black hair and a right white eye and a weird-looking eyepatch concealing her left eye.

"G'morning Papa!"

"… What the f-"

"Yume! Where are your manners? Uchiha-san is injured."

"B-But Hina-Mama!" the child pouted. "Yume wants to give Papa a good morning kiss!"

Sasuke's brows deepened in annoyance. "Give me a what?"

"Yume." Hinata turned and gave a dangerous look to her daughter, which made her flinch behind Sasuke's leg. "This man is not your father. I told you that your real father is doing his mission far far away. Now stop being a nuisance to Uchiha-san and sit down for breakfast."

Hesitantly, the little girl let go of her hold towards the irritated man. She didn't like being scolded by her mother like that, especially when she was being extra cranky in the mornings, which was quite rare altogether. With her lower lip shaking, she silently obeyed and climbed up her chair on the dining table.

Sasuke didn't know why, but even after that weird and awkward moment, he sort of felt sorry for the child.

"You too, Uchiha-san. Please sit down. You still need to rest before you leave."

He frowned again, not liking how it sounded like a command, but didn't bother to argue. He made sure to sit on the chair furthest away from the annoying kid, who was still looking at him with teary puppy-dog eyes while fiddling with her pajamas.

Ugh. He hated handling children.

"..re…real….my…..pa?" she mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Yume gingerly peeked at her mother, and after checking to see that she was busy wrapping some sushi rolls together, she carefully slid down her chair and crawled underneath the table until she reached the puzzled man, climbing up to the seat next to him.

"Are you really my Papa?" she whispered, her eyes cautiously pinned towards her mother.

The Uchiha grimaced. Could this day get any weirder?

"What in the world makes you think that I'm your father?" he inquired, not bothering to hide his irritation.

Unoffended by his reply, the little girl shyly fidgeted with her fingers. "Hina-Mama said that I look like Papa. But Hina-Mama doesn't have very black hair like mine."

"A lot of Hyuugas have black hair like yours." Sasuke said, resting his chin on his hand as his elbow rested on the table.

Suddenly, Yume's eyes (or eye) lit up, her jaw dropping at the newfound information.

"THERE ARE MANY YUMES AND HINA-MAMAS?!"

"Uchiha-san."

The Uchiha winced, not knowing whether it was because Yume's sudden outburst made his head ache again or because of the threatening tone of her mother. He slowly turned his head, only to see what he expected; a disapproving, warning look from the older Hyuuga whose hands were resting on either side of her hips.

He didn't understand what's wrong with what he said. He only told Yume a fact-

Oh, now he got it.

"You didn't tell her." He stated matter-of-factly, smirking when her frown only went deeper.

"I believe it's not your place to interfere in such personal matters." She retorted in annoyance.

"Well, as I've said before, I understand why you wouldn't want her to meet them-"

"Uchiha-san!"

"Why? Why? Hina-Mama don't want Yume to meet more Yumes?" Yume exclaimed with another pouty face, targeting her question towards the Uchiha.

Seeing Hinata's expression darken, he was almost tempted to tease the frustrated Hyuuga (he just found her motherly attitude very entertaining), but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. Instead, he decided to divert the kid's direction back to the main question.

"Nothing. Yume, right? So what about your dad again?"

"Uchiha-san-"

"He's currently working undercover in the Land of Snow, which is none of your concern, Uchiha Sasuke." A low, gruff voice answered for him.

Sasuke turned to where the voice came from, entering eye contact with another pair of stern, white eyes. The man had long dark hair tied into a ponytail on the nape of his neck. He wore a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of loose black shorts and had wrapped bandages on both arms. He had an interesting mark on his pale forehead, and as mentioned, his eyes were pure white, maybe in a grayer tone than the others.

Another Hyuuga, obviously related to the mother and daughter.

"What? Are you Yume's father?" Sasuke inquired. "You've got the black hair like hers."

"What?! NO! I would never-!" the male Hyuuga roared, his cheeks dusted pink in a mixture of embarrassment and horror. "Hinata-sama is my cousin! Yume-sama is-"

"-Your niece, right right." Sasuke waved a hand carelessly, turning his head towards the other aghast Hyuuga. "So, your name's Hinata. I was wondering why Yume kept calling you Hina-Mama."

Neji turned away if only to avoid the glare targeted towards him by his cousin.

"Uncle Neji!" Haru sprung down from her chair and dashed towards him. Her uncle smiled softly at the sight of his precious niece and caught her in his arms before lifting her up to rest on his hip.

Sasuke gruffed. Even the kid who's been calling him "Papa" all day has finally abandoned him.

Suddenly, the door behind Neji swung open, revealing Konohamaru with his arms occupied by backpacks and a bunch of wrapped packages. Tied behind him using his scarf was the sheathed Kusanagi.

"Sasuke! You're aliiiiiive!" he cried out, dropping the packages on the ground.

"Yeah, alive enough to kill you." Sasuke glared at the young chunin, cracking his knuckles and starting towards him. "What gives you the right to bring me all the way here and then spilling our identities? Are you really that much dumber than Naruto?"

"W-Waitasec! Shouldn't you be grateful that I saved your life?!" Konohamaru flailed in disbelief. "Besides, these people aren't bad guys!"

"How the hell would you know that? You've barely even known them for a day." He was getting dangerously closer. The Sarutobi yelped and slid behind Neji.

"I-I-I just know, okay! Trust me!"

The Uchiha grunted, slapping a hand on his forehead for the umpteenth time before snatching Kusanagi from Konohamaru (and almost choking him) and picking up his pack from the floor. He took out a clean white shirt and draped it around himself.

"Let's go. We still have a mission to fulfill."

"What?! B-But-"

"Wait, Uchiha-san, Konohamaru, your breakfast?" Hinata called out worriedly, holding two bowls of warm rice and sushi. She may have wanted them to leave as early as possible, but that didn't mean they had to leave with an empty stomach.

But Sasuke didn't bother turning back.

"We've received enough hospitality from you. It's best we leave now. Konohamaru."

"B-B-But-!"

The younger man scrambled to pick up the packages on the ground and bow simultaneously in apology to the Hyuugas.

"S-Sorry Hinata, Neji! We'll be leaving now!"

"Remember your promise, Konohamaru!" Neji shouted at the boy who scurried off to follow his surly companion, almost tripping at the tail of his long scarf. The older Hyuuga made him promise the night before to never reveal their existence to their friends and family when they return. He could only hope that Naruto's disciple wasn't much of a clumsy blabbermouth like his idol.

"Bye Papa!" Yume waved, unfazed by what just occurred.

"… You really are incredible, Yume-sama."

"Heehee. Papa's just having a bad day, just like Hina-mama!"

"You have to stop calling him that."

Inside the kitchen, Hinata remained at her place, the two bowls on her hands growing cold, staring at the door where they left.

He was gone. No, he was the one leaving this time.

She might never see him again. Again.

She sank on the chair. She thought she had become stronger. She thought that after all the pain, after all the happiness they've experienced in years without each other, it'd be easier for her to let go.

But why was it harder to believe that this was the last time their paths would cross?

For the first time in ages, she silently let herself weep again for the love she had lost.

...

Thanks again for reading! Terribly sorry if it's not to your satisfaction, but that's the best I could do for now. Let's hopefully meet again soon on the next chapter! :D