Where Hinata tracks down Sasuke's traveler ass and tells him off.
... Except she has responsibilities and can't leave the village for that long so she tells him off as soon as she possibly can.

aka how I hoped their first interaction would go down

(probably OOC, takes place after that ridiculous epilogue)

edit: as my dedicated flamer pointed out, Sasuke wasn't gone for 12 years, but according to the Naruto wiki, he left "early in her childhood." eh, semantics. if anyone knows, i'm curious to know how long he was actually gone.

"Welcome back, teme!"

Naruto jovially clapped his best friend on the back, with a large Uzumaki grin plastered on his face.

The stoic man merely grunted and nodded to acknowledge the boisterous crowd of people gathered for his welcoming party, obviously organized by the idiot and Sakura.

After being greeted personally by many of his peers and acquaintances, he tried to covertly sneak off to an unoccupied chair in the corner. Social events had a knack of exhausting the Uchiha more than intensive training, even more so because he became accustomed to the peace and solitude of his lengthy journey.

Before he could successfully tuck himself away into a corner, Hyuuga- no, Uzumaki Hinata intercepted him.

"Hello and welcome back, Sasuke-san." The Hokage's wife politely smiled and inclined her head towards him.

"Thanks." He was trying to work on speaking more instead of grunting, to articulate his thoughts properly.

The air between them was somewhat stagnant. The two never had a real conversation before.

Sasuke began to feel awkward and stared blankly at her, as if waiting for her to leave or to state her purpose.

"May I have a word with you in private?"

Curious as to what she could possibly want, he arched a brow and gestured for her to lead the way to a more secluded area.

When they reached their destination, her friendly attitude was immediately replaced with one laced with killer intent.

Sasuke stiffened and prepared himself for battle. Was this really the dobe's sweet wife? Or an enemy using an advanced henge jutsu? It couldn't be; someone would have noticed the imposter in a party full of high ranking ninjas, including himself and Naruto.

While Sasuke was improvising a strategy to take down the potential enemy, Hinata began to speak in a calm but chilling tone.

"You leave the village for twelve years."

He paused, somewhat thrown off by her obvious allegation.

"Yes," the Uchiha stated impassively.

She took a step towards him, in an intimidating manner.

'Not entirely successful,' Sasuke thought, as he was a good foot taller than her.

Her expression was cold and humorless and… was that a slight sneer on her face? It was the strangest thing to see her acting aggressively, it seems she did inherit some classic Hyuuga traits after all.

"And you don't even have the decency to make an effort to be a part of your family's lives."

The nerve of this woman, it wasn't any of her damn business.

He opened his mouth to say something harsh but she narrowed her eyes and held up a finger, indicating her intent to finish her rant without interruption.

"I'm telling you this because I know, as much as Sakura and Sarada have suffered from your absence, they won't say a thing about it. They're just happy you're back in their lives, and I'm happy for them."

"But don't you dare, not for a second, think you're off scot-free."

"Through your absence, you were awful to them, and incredibly selfish. You were a neglectful husband and father, and trust me - I'm all too familiar with neglectful fathers."

At the last sentence, her expression hardened with old, but not forgotten memories.

"I would have personally tracked you down if I didn't have my own precious family to take care of."

Her normally gentle eyes were on fire and now she was spitting words like venom.

"Do you know how many times I've comforted Sarada because she was upset over you? A little girl shouldn't have to worry about her dad not loving her because he never reaches out to her! Do you know many times Sakura has cried on my shoulder because she wasn't sure if you'd ever come back, or that maybe you stopped caring about her and Sarada? Did you know that Sakura would have fainting spells because she was so stressed out with anxiety and raising Sarada alone and running the hospital?"

Sasuke froze and his breathing hitched.

"You're damn right you didn't know. Because you were never around."

At this point, her anger receded a bit and fatigue and worry took its place.

"I understand you were on a classified mission… But twelve years, Sasuke? Not one message in twelve years?"

A pair of weary lilac eyes bore into his charcoal ones. He guiltily averted his gaze, unable to shoulder the accusation her eyes conveyed.

Heavy silence hung in the air for a few moments before the Hyuuga cleared her throat.

"And another thing! If I ever catch those sweet girls crying again because of you…"

Hinata just shook her head ominously and looked him dead in the eyes. In her frosty orbs, there was the promise that she would drag him to hell but bring him back, only for the sake of his family.

A small shiver traveled down his spinal cord. She might have been a head shorter than him, but she could stop his chakra network with the lightest of touches. Not to mention, a gentle fist to his heart would kill him within seconds.

Interrupting thoughts of his violent death by a relentless woman, a reprieve arrived in the form of one tiny Uzumaki girl.

"Mama!"

A much younger (and whiskered) version of Hinata dashed over to her mother, who proceeded to pick her up and spin her around.

"Hi, baby! How's my little cinnamon bun?" The woman cooed lovingly and kissed her child on the cheek.

"Stop it, Mama! That tickles," Himawari giggled and pushed on her mom's cheeks.

Grinning at her child's antics, she said, "Let's go find Papa and Boruto, baby."

The pair headed back towards the party, but not before Hinata turned her head and gave him one final look that screamed, "Watch your fucking back, Uchiha."

After she left, Sasuke let out a shaky breath he didn't know he was holding in. He also failed to realize when his blood pressure had become abnormally high or when the cold sweat accumulated on his forehead.

"Shit," he muttered to himself.

He took a minute to regain his composure before stiffly walking over to his family.