Timeless

Author's Note: In this time travel story, there will be a past, present, and future Sasuke and Hinata. If any of that bothers you, you might want to turn back now. For those of you still here, I hope you enjoy the story and reviews are always appreciated.

Past Sasuke and Hinata: Age 7. Their words are in italics.

Present Sasuke and Hinata: Age 17. Their words are in regular font.

Future Sasuke and Hinata: Age 27. Their words are in bold.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit off of any of my stories.

Chapter 1

The war was over. He knew that he should feel happy. They were victorious and he had gotten his revenge. Sasuke didn't though. He just felt numb.

His revenge had been a hallow victory. One that left a bitter taste in his mouth. Itachi hadn't been the villain. He had been the martyr.

"Sasuke, when are you going to accept the arm transplant? There's no point in going without a limb for no reason. Yeah, you did a lot of bad stuff. But you aren't the same person anymore. You don't need to punish yourself." Naruto says.

Now that Itachi was dead, Sasuke felt aimless. He had so much to make up for. He didn't even know where to begin. The last Uchiha was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost didn't hear what his friend was saying.

When he does, he couldn't help but smile. It wasn't anything that the blonde hadn't said a thousand times. Sasuke would never understand how he did it. Naruto seemed to possess an endless capacity for forgiveness. Sometimes he envied the other ninja for that.

"Naruto, I don't deserve another arm. I'd rather go without it. It's a small step towards paying for my sins." He mutters.

"You're being so stubborn! Hinata, will you tell him that he's being stupid?" Naruto exclaims as the new medic walks by them in the hall.

Hinata shakes her head and tries to stifle a giggle. It was bizarre. She was watching arguably the two most powerful ninjas in the world, bickering like Genin.

"Naruto, I don't think telling him that he's stupid is going to make him change his mind. I do need to change his bandages though." Hinata says.

"Alright. Make sure to give him more pain meds. He's way too stubborn to ask for them himself." The blonde says cheerfully as he heads off.

Hinata watches as Sasuke glares daggers in his back. It was obvious that Naruto was right. The last Uchiha was far too proud to ask for the pain medication that he desperately needed.

"He means well and he's right. You want to protect the Leaf now, don't you?" She asks softly as she undoes his bandages.

"Yes." Sasuke answers as he watches the Hyuga woman slowly unwrap his bandages with the greatest care.

"Don't you think that you can do that better with two arms instead of one?" The lavender eyed ninja inquires tactfully.

Sasuke smirks. Hinata was smart. He might not know her that well, but that much was obvious. She certainly believed in a honey approach. Naruto was all vinegar.

"That's a good point. Though I think that I can handle any threat with only one arm and I do deserve to pay some sort of price. I put a lot of people's lives at risk needlessly and did a lot of horrible things, Hinata." He says.

The raven haired man couldn't for the life of him articulate exactly WHY, he was explaining himself to the quiet medic. He supposed that she just had a friendly face.

That and she was the closest thing to a neutral party he could get in this village. She was the only one who didn't look at him with awe, fear, hatred, or lust. (Sometimes people looked at him with all four emotions at once, actually.)

"Sasuke, we all make mistakes. You made a lot of them, but you did so because you thought it was the right thing to do. You have a lot of people who care about you here. You can make up for what you did, but first you have to try to forgive yourself." She says as she cleans the injury.

"You know, I think this is the longest we've ever talked and I just noticed something. You aren't stuttering." Sasuke notes in amusement.

He wasn't sure why, but he delighted in the fact that she was suddenly blushing. It was cute.

Sasuke mentally scoffs at himself for using that word. Peopled like him didn't use the word cute. They shouldn't even think it. It was far too innocent of a term for someone like him to use.

"I only stutter when I'm nervous and I've mostly outgrown it, but I think you're right. This is the longest that we've talked." She mumbles.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. Hinata wasn't nervous around him then. He didn't know how to take that. On some level though, he felt relieved. There was at least one person in this village besides Naruto, who wasn't terrified of him.

"Why aren't you nervous though? I hope you aren't foolish enough to think that the fact I have one arm, means that I couldn't kill you with ease." Sasuke says.

"You won't kill me. You've rarely killed for no reason. You have very little to benefit from by killing me and everything to lose. Besides, you came to this hospital willingly. It wouldn't make much sense to kill someone for giving you the care that you wanted in the first place." She says with a small smile.

The raven haired ninja blinks. Well that was true. He didn't expect her to realize that though.

"You're perceptive." Sasuke was forced to admit.

That's when Sasuke's eyes narrow. He had seen a flash in the mirror of the room. The man felt a strange chakra signature.

"Hinata, did you see that?" Sasuke asks.

"I did." The bluenette says as she gets into a fighting stance.

That's when the mirror suddenly ejected four lights. Two of them were dark purple, one was blue, and the other was violet. They got hurled straight out of the mirror and towards the Hyuga District.

"What was that?!" They both ask.

"Sasuke, are you well enough to track whatever that was? I have to inform Tsunade, Kakashi, and Naruto." Hinata says.

Sasuke nods. He quickly gets out of bed and sprints off. Despite the dangerous situation, she still had to admire his speed. Though she soon raced towards where she knew Tsunade would be.

"Lady Tsunade! Come quick. Something strange just happened. Four chakra signatures just were thrown out of a mirror. I sent Sasuke to follow them. They were ejected towards my family's estate!" Hinata says desperately.

Tsunade frowns. She had felt something odd a few seconds ago. Strange chakra. All of it was familiar somehow and yet not.

"We have to let the rest of the village know now. I don't know what's going on and until we know, there is no way of knowing what the best way to proceed is. At least the Uchiha will be cautious in his approach. He can give us a detailed report." She says as she heads out of the hospital and summons one of her giant slugs.

Hinata follows Tsunade. She couldn't help but stare in awe at the other woman's summon. It was so large and well it wasn't everyday you saw a slug the size of a two-story building.

"I need you to go to the village square and tell everyone that four strange chakra signatures have been ejected from a mirror. DO NOT ENGAGED until we have more information. That is the order." The busty blonde instructs the slug and it heads of surprisingly swiftly.

"I didn't know that slugs could move so fast." Hinata murmurs.

"Oh well regular slugs can not. Summon Slugs are another matter." Tsunade assures her.

Meanwhile Sasuke arrives at the Hyuga Estate. His eyes widen at what he finds. The Hyugas were all utterly baffled at the arrival of the newcomers. So was Sasuke for that matter. He knew that he was likely staring just as much as the Hyugas, but he couldn't help it.

He recognized a younger version of himself and a younger Hinata. There were two other people. One looked a great deal like him, but the other looked like an older Hinata.

"Sasuke Uchiha what is the meaning of this?!" Hiashi Hyuga thunders.

"I don't kn-ow. Where am I?" The younger version of himself says.

Sasuke watches anxiously. While the child was extremely confused and perhaps a little fearful, his older self looked completely confident. It was as if he expected this to happen.

"It's a long story. I speak for only myself, but I wouldn't mind having my mind probed by Ibiki. That is, if it will put all your minds at ease." He states.

He notices that the younger version of Hinata was looking scared and close to tears. Sasuke couldn't help but smile when his younger self whispers something to her. Clearly, it was some attempt to comfort her. It must have worked because she looked a little less panicky after that.

"Father, it's alright. It's me. Well me, as I'll be in ten years. I'll also agree to be probed, if you like." Hinata says.

"Did you know about this?!" Hiashi seethes at Sasuke.

"What? No! Of course not! I'm just as surprised as you." He defends himself.

That's when the slug's instructions bellowed throughout the entire Leaf Village. Sasuke blinks. He had to hand it to Tsunade's Summon. She certainly knew how to get everyone's attention.

It didn't take long for Tsunade, Hinata, and Naruto to arrive. The present day Hinata stares in shock at her other selves and the other Sasuke's. Tsunade and Naruto looked equally stunned.

"Um so what is going on here? Is it just me or are there three Sasuke's and three Hinatas?" Naruto asks in confusion.

"It's not just you. Four balls of chakra came hurling into our gardens and when the smoke cleared, these four were standing here. The oldest counterparts have agreed to have their minds probed." Hiashi explains smoothly.

"Well that's good. Let's get the older Sasuke and Hinata to Ibiki for interrogation. I can't condone interrogating children under the age of ten, if it isn't absolutely necessary. Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Tsunade says.

The mini Sasuke and Hinata seemed to have decided that it was safe. Currently, the youngest Sasuke was showing something to Hinata in his hand. Whatever it is, it apparently was delighting the other child.

"What's that you got there?" Naruto asks as he walks over and kneels down so that he was eyelevel with the younger version of his friend.

"Butterfly!" Hinata says.

"Awe. That's cute. Look bastard, he found a butterfly for Hinata." Naruto says.

The children's eyes widen to the size of saucers. The blonde looks at them in confusion. What were those looks for?

"You said a bad word!" They both exclaim and Naruto rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yes, watch your mouth around the children. Honestly, you are setting a horrible example for my daughter. Well at least I think she is my daughter." Hiashi says.

The older Sasuke snorts in amusement and Hinata giggles slightly. This earns funny looks from all the Hyugas. They were wondering what she was giggling about. None of them found anything amusing about this strange situation.

"Right. Well Sasuke, Hinata come with me." Tsunade says and immediately three sets of Hinatas and Sasukes begin to follow her.

She sighs. Oh geez. This was going to get confusing. They were really going to have to come up with a way to distinguish between the sets.

"I mean the OLDEST Hinata and Sasuke." The busty woman says with sigh.

The younger versions hang back. The twenty something Hinata and Sasuke quickly follow the Hokage. The Hyugas watch as they leave and all look rather shell-shocked to put it mildly.

"So this is really weird. I wonder why the mirror spat out copies of you guys." Naruto says.

"I don't know. I think it might have been reacting to our chakra though. We were the only ones in the room when the mirror decided to act strangely." Sasuke muses.

Hinata nods. It made as much sense as anything else. She watches her younger self and Sasuke closely. The last thing they needed was for them to run off. Which naturally was exactly what they did.

"Big sister, little sister and mini Sasuke are missing." Hanabi says almost at the same instant Hinata noticed.

Seven year old Sasuke had found the best hiding spot ever. It was in plain sight. He was currently sitting on a tree branch, hidden in the leaves. This place was so big! There were so many places to play Hide and Go Seek!

Hinata was it. The young Sasuke had decided this was all a strange dream. So he might as well have some fun. That's what he told his frightened classmate too! That seemed to calm her down.

"Byakugan!" Hinata cries out after she counts to 10.

She looks around for Sasuke. Eventually, her eyes come upon the tree and she smiles. She climbs up the tree and tags him.

"I found you!" She says.

"That's cheating! You used your Byakugan." He grumbles.

"It's not cheat-ing. You didn't say that I couldn't use it." Hinata counters.

Sasuke sighs. Well that was true. He just figured that it was kinda given. Though it was fun to see all the adults freaking out down below though.

"Byakugan!" The older Hinata says as she looks around frantically and sighs in relief when she saw they were just up a nearby tree.

"Damn. I expected kid Sasuke to be a handful, but Hinata?" Naruto asks.

"Loser, just go get them." Sasuke says and Naruto quickly scales the tree to do exactly that.

It didn't take him long to get down. The blonde had scooped up one child in each arm. The Hyugas all breathe an audible sigh of relief.

Meanwhile Tsunade takes Hinata and Sasuke to see Ibiki. Even the experienced interrogator was more than a little baffled at seeing an older version of the last Uchiha and Hyuga Heiress. The former Hokage sighs and explains quickly.

"That's the strangest thing that I've ever heard, but alright. Let's get to work. Who wants to go first?" Ibiki asks.

"I'll go first. I doubt you'll need to peek inside her mind, after you see mine." He states as he allows himself to strapped up to the machine that would make it easier for the other ninja to probe his mind.

Ibiki finds the entire situation rather bizarre. Still he was a trained professional and conducts the probe. Once he finishes, he gapes at Sasuke and Hinata in utter shock.

"Well, Ibiki? What did you find out?" Tsunade asks.

"They aren't a threat to us. It seems that there is a mirror in the hospital that has a jutsu attached to it. To put it simply, the jutsu is designed to help people with introspection. Your past and future self will materialize and stay until they help you face whatever issue brought them here." He explains.

Tsunade raises an eyebrow. She wasn't entirely certain that she bought that line of reasoning. Why hadn't it worked for anyone before in that case?

"If it is activated by someone needing help to deal with an issue, then anyone that walked by it should have two copies of themselves running around. That's obviously not the case." She states.

"The jutsu in place appears to make the mirror to a certain extent self-aware. It will only activate if someone has a particularly pressing issue. In this case, it looks like Sasuke and Hinata both fit that criteria. I've searched his mind from top to bottom. Neither of them are planning to attack the Leaf and he appears quite confident that they will simply return to their time when the "problem" is solved." The interrogator explains.

Tsuande sighs. Well that wasn't terribly reassuring. Ibiki still hadn't told her what issue the Hyugas and Uchihas hadn't addressed. Still Ibiki was the best in the business. If he didn't sense a hostile intent from Sasuke, there clearly wasn't one. (She found it doubtful that Hinata would be more likely to have a hostile intent than Sasuke and didn't think it was worth a second probe.)

"Very well. Come. We should get you back to the Hyuga Estate until we figure out what to do. Your younger selves are still there." She mutters.

"Of course, Lady Tsunade." They both chorus together as they follow her.

Ibiki could only stare at their retreating forms. It wasn't relevant to the safety of the village, so he hadn't told the Hokage everything he saw. In the future, Sasuke and Hinata were married.

It didn't take long for the trio to make it back to the Hyugas. Tsunade sighs as she rubs her temples. The busty blonde could already feel a stress headache coming on. How was she supposed to explain all of this?!

"Lady Tsunade, thank goodness you are back." The Hyuga Patriarch says as he strides over to her.

"Well Ibiki has conducted the mind probe. Where are the other Sasukes and Hinatas?" She asks.

"The children are asleep. My daughter is in her room. For the time being, we have given our Sasuke a guestroom, just as we have done for the children." Hiashi explains.

Tsunade nods. Well that made sense. She takes a deep breath and prepares to explain.

"Apparently, there was a jutsu on that mirror. It's designed to summon your past and future self to help you address a problem that you are facing. That is why it only activated for Hinata and Sasuke. They are both facing some problem and need their counterparts to assist them in this matter." She admits.

Hiashi frowns. He wasn't sure what problem Hinata might have that would merit some magical mirror activating and ejecting her past and future self. This was a most disturbing turn of events. Even more concerning was the fact that somehow, Sasuke was involved.

"For now you are both welcome to stay here for the time being. It would probably make your mission easier." Hiashi says.

"Thank you, father. That's very kind of you. We'll just find a couple of spare guestrooms." Hinata assures him.

The Hyuga Patriarch simply nods his head in agreement as the two walk off to do that. It was bizarre. Sasuke didn't walk like someone who was entering the Hyuga Estate for the first time. He seemed perfectly at ease with his surroundings. That was certainly not something you would expect from a ninja in unfamiliar territory.

He was actually walking IN FRONT of Hinata. It was though he already knew his way around. That was impossible though. Sasuke had never been inside the Hyuga Estate before today…or had he?

"I know what you are thinking. He's too familiar with his environment. Whatever happens in the future, clearly involves him getting rather familiar with your family's home." The busty blonde observes.

"Yes, that's what concerns me most at the moment." Hiashi mutters.

Meanwhile the older Sasuke and Hinata find guestrooms that were next to each other. The husband and wife were rather unhappy about this arrangement. Unfortunately, it had to be done. Sharing the same room would raise too many suspicions.

For a moment though, they decided to risk it. Hinata darts into Sasuke's room. They could hardly have this conversation in the hallway.

"I wish that we didn't have to stay in separate rooms." She whispers.

"I feel the same way. Hopefully, it doesn't take them as long as it took us to realize why we are here. Don't worry though. I'm only one room away." Sasuke says as he caresses his wife's cheek and kisses her forehead affectionately.

Hinata smiles. Sasuke could always make her feel secure. The blunette knew that she wasn't going to be able to sleep properly until she was back in his arms. She had grown rather spoiled since their marriage. Theirs was a very warm martial bed.

"I know. Our younger selves will be demanding answers soon, particularly you." She says with an amused smile.

"Yes, I realize that. What should we tell them?" He asks in concern.

"The same thing our older counterparts told us, ten years ago. Good night. I'll see you in the morning." She whispers as she places a gentle kiss to his lips.

Sasuke smiles and returns it. He knew that he should keep it chaste. The eldest Uchiha had a habit of getting carried away when it came to his wife. She'd end up in his bed, if he dared to do anything more with her.

"Sometimes, I really wish that your family couldn't see through walls. It would make our stay much more comfortable." He states with a smirk.

Suddenly, Hinata's eyes widen in horror. Sasuke blinks in confusion. He didn't think he said anything that offensive.

"What's wrong? I'm just saying that at a time like this, it's inconvenient. You know that I love your family. I didn't mean anything by it." Sasuke adds quickly.

"No! No! It's not that. It's the Byakugan. My Byakugan can see through walls as well. What if my younger self was spying on us and saw us kiss?" His wife demands.

Damn it. Good point. Thank goodness that Hinata was the one with the Byakugan and him. He definitely would have been on the look out for their return and seen everything.

"They didn't see it. If they did, you would have remembered it and probably would have told me. Remember, this is their present but our past. We have every advantage over them." Sasuke says as he briefly embraces his wife and Hinata nods in agreement.

"You're right. It's just all so surreal. Good night." She says, just before Hinata slips out of his room and enters her own.

Meanwhile present day Sasuke, sneaks into Hinata's room. Inwardly, the fact he was doing so amused him. He was sneaking into the Hyuga Princess's room. Naruto would laugh his ass off.

Her door was locked. Of course, that was more out of the principle of the thing than anything else. Hinata surely had to know that a locked door wasn't going to keep out any decent ninja. (And it was especially useless in her family, if they really wanted to pry.) Still he supposed that he should at least try to be polite.

"Hinata." He calls out as he knocks on the door.

It didn't take long for her to open the door. In some back corner of his mind, he notes that she was just as surprised by him coming to her room as he was to go there. Good. At least they were on even footing.

"Sasuke?" She asks in confusion.

"Their back. I heard their voices. Their just down the hall. What's your Byakugan's range?" Sasuke inquires.

"A lot further than that." She says with a smile as she gestures for him to join her inside her room.

It was a little awkward to talk to him in the middle of a hallway. That would attract way too much attention. The bluenette was relieved after he was inside her room and she shuts the door behind him.

"Byakugan!" She says as she looks through the walls.

"What are they doing?" The last Uchiha asks.

He frowns as he debates whether that title was accurate. Currently, there were three Uchihas inside the Hyuga Estate. (Yes, he was going to ponder THAT irony later.) Sasuke shakes his head. It was still accurate, they were still him. Just older and younger.

"Oh God! I'm so sorry." Hinata says as she quickly deactivates her Byakugan and blushes scarlet.

"Hinata?" Sasuke asks.

"He's getting ready for b-ed. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to catch you while you were un-dressing." She stammers.

Oh. Sasuke didn't even know how to respond to that. Hinata clearly hadn't been trying to get an eyeful, but she had.

"It's alright. So she's, well you're, not with him?" The raven haired ninja asks.

"No. I'm not with you. So they must be sticking to the separate rooms. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to." She mumbles.

"Hinata, it's fine. You're a medic. You're a professional. I know that you aren't some deviant trying to use your Byakugan for less than…honorable purposes. Besides, how much did you see?" He asks a bit warily.

He had never been shy about his body. Still it was a little embarrassing. Sasuke might have accidentally flashed the shyest woman that he had ever met. He barely knew Hinata, but he knew that she was definitely shy. Frankly, he was grateful that the Hyuga Heiress was that way. It was a relief because he was really tired of women trying to steal his toothbrushes and other crazy things to get his attention. At the very least, he could be confident that Hinata wouldn't do anything like that.

"Well you still had your box-ers on." The bluenette replies.

"That's something at least. Well it doesn't look like our older selves are conspiring with each other. It might just be a coincidence that they came through the mirror together." Sasuke reasons.

Hinata tilts her head to the side. Did Sasuke really believe that? She certainly didn't.

"Do you really think that's the case?" Hinata inquires.

"Not for a minute, but it sounded good. We'll get to the bottom of this. It can't be that hard. They are us. We know how their minds work." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke, their us in about ten years. A lot can happen in a decade. We can't assume anything." The bluenette says.

Sasuke sighs. Hinata had a point there. Still they had Hinata's Byakugan and his stealth skills. They'd figure it out sooner or later.

"We'll figure it out. At least our younger selves seem to be doing okay." He says and Hinata sighs in relief as she agrees.

Elsewhere in the Hyuga Estate, the younger Sasuke and Hinata had found each other. Sasuke didn't want to scare his classmate, but he was starting to get worried. This was a very long dream

"Hinata, I don't think we are dreaming anymore." He mumbles.

"I don't think so either. Everyone looks the same, but older. We look the same, but bigger." She observes.

Sasuke nods. That was true. He just knew somehow that those other Uchihas were him. He couldn't explain it. He just knew it.

"Can your Byakugan see through walls? Want to play Hide and Go Seek some more?" He asks slyly and Hinata nods.

"Yes, we ju-st have to figure out which rooms are older selves are s-taying in." Hinata says.

Sasuke nods. That was a good point. He gestures for Hinata to follow him. The children proceed to start searching the massive Hyuga Estate.

They were going to get to the bottom of this one way or another. Adults always thought they were so sneaky. Well they'd show them! They were smart too!