This story is set after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Everything up to this point has proceeded as canon.

There will be romance in this story, but the first arc or two will be simply bonding. Lemons, if there will be any far down the road, will be put on another website for those who wish to view them.

Be sure to leave a review if you like this story, as those will prompt me to write even more stuff like this for you guys, :).

Enjoy!

He rubbed the skin underneath his eye, a dreary look on his face.

Prison was a boring place. A very, very, very boring place, where he spent most of his time either sitting in stony silence, guards armed with wicked looking katanas standing outside his door, or being bombarded with dialogue by Naruto and Sakura or a combination of the two. Sometimes, even Kakashi paid the occasion visit, though it was merely to lean against a corner of the cell and read that damned book of his.

The chain that connected his wrist to the wall clinked. For Uchiha Sasuke, this kind of containment was almost torturous, especially to someone who had a good portion of the last year of his life on the road. But even if he could break out (which, even if he did manage to escape, Naruto would inevitably track him down), he knew he shouldn't. Sasuke was well aware of the fact that he likely belonged in prison, regardless of what his former team thought. He had defected from Konoha. He had killed his brother, and vowed to annihilate the village.

But it didn't matter what he thought. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were all fighting for his innocence - and no amount of convincing would allow them to simply let him rot. And so, he had to wait.

Waiting, however, had never been his forte. He was a man of action. Not hot headed like Naruto or Sakura, but still, he despised sitting on his heels and being reactive. When he had wanted Itachi in the ground, he had sought out any method he could to bring him down. When Sasuke had wanted Konoha burned to cinders, he'd done everything in his ability to do exactly that. And when Sasuke had wanted to revolutionize the shinobi world, it'd taken Naruto - someone who was just as hard headed as he was - to bring him to his senses. It wasn't in his nature to wait. Despite that, he bit his tongue.

'You've already forsaken the village once.' he told himself. 'Don't do it again.'

The real problem that he had currently was just how tough it was to judge the passage of time, while the days whittled by in his cell. Sure, he could look at the blues of the sky through the thin window he was provided - but without the sun in view, he was left clueless as to the actual time. He was pretty sure it was… Wednesday? The guards weren't forthcoming with that kind of information, and Naruto was more focused on reminding him on how many days there were to the trial instead of giving him any specifics. Which made things complicated, especially when Naruto couldn't make one of his typically daily visits.

The fact that they - they being the elder council and Tsunade - hadn't even allowed him to go to his trial was irritating. Downright dictatorial, if you asked Naruto or Sakura, though Sasuke wasn't surprised by what Tsunade had decided. He was a nukenin. Really, if she'd had her way, the guillotine would have long since been set up for his private use.

But that wasn't going to happen. Sasuke knew the trial was a forgone conclusion - Naruto was beloved by all, and they most certainly going to go against his vehement insistence that Sasuke had changed. And even if they came back with a guilty verdict, Naruto and Sakura were going to do everything in their power to prevent his death and permanent imprisonment. There was nothing he could do.

So, he waited.

And waited.

Finally, the day, or to put it more clearly days of the trial came. The details of it were not divulged to him - though he was aware that several of the Kage had been called to Konoha in order to stand witness against him. The trial lasted a full twenty two, and each time Naruto came back to visit him at the end of the day's proceedings, he looked increasingly ruffled, though his smile was as bright as ever.

Then, the verdict came.

Not guilty. Not that he wasn't actually guilty - everyone and their mother knew that what he had done warranted a death sentence under normal circumstances, but unfortunately for his opposition, saving the world and helping to free the world from the Tsukiyomi was enough to sway the jury to vote in his favour. Even then, it had been close.

Naruto was the one to deliver the news. And the keys to his shackle. Sasuke repressed a sigh as the wrought iron was removed from his wrist, really, he almost wished he could massage it, but even if he tried the most he could get was his stump that was formerly his left arm to twitch slightly.

Predictably, the first place they went was Ichiraku's.

Sakura had been right behind Naruto when they came into the cell, a dazzling smile on her pretty, heart shaped face. Her healing hands had gone straight to work, easing the aches in Sasuke's legs and remaining arm, allowing him to move around freely without his limbs crying out in protest.

Naruto slung an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke noticed that his other arm - his right one - was bandaged heavily, and seemed a little stiff for the blonde to move. "I knew you were going to get off!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning wildly.

"Mmm."

"You should have seen the look on the elder's face when they came back with the verdict." Sakura said, giggling slightly. "Those old geezers really thought they were going to convict you!"

"Not with me around." Naruto said vehemently. "Even if they had tried to lock you up, I would have broken you out myself!" His grin widened. "Now, maybe as a token of your overwhelming gratitude, Sasuke, you should buy Sakura-chan and I's meals…"

Sasuke's mismatched eyes flickered to Naruto. "I don't have any money, idiot." he said, calmly prying Naruto's arm off of his shoulder. "And even if I did, there's no chance I would buy you ramen."

"Sasuke!" naruto whined. "What, just because I kicked your ass you're going to be all mean to me? What the hell?"

"It was a draw." Sasuke said.

Sakura laughed. "I don't know…! Naruto was back on his feet in two days flat." she said. "And you took a whole week to get out of the hospital, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke muttered something under his breath that sounded vaguely like "Fucking Kyuubi.".

"Don't be a sore loser, Sasuke. It's not flattering." Naruto grinned. Sasuke's hand twitched at his side, and only his desire to remain safely out of the dog pen for the rest of his life prevented him from punching Konoha's hero right then and there. "But fine," Naruto continued. "Sakura-chan, you wanna pay?"

"After last time? No." she said.

"How about we go splitsies?" Naruto said. "I'll pay for me, you pay for yours, and we can both pay for Sasuke's."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Who said I wanted ramen?" Though he couldn't help the smirk that curled his lips.

"You do look twenty pounds skinnier, Sasuke." Sakura pointed out. "What did they feed you in there?"

"Food." he said vaguely. It was nothing dissimilar to the slop that he'd eaten with Orochimaru. Though it was a little more difficult to eat with one hand, especially considering he continually had to adjust how he sat, in order to accommodate the chain that bound his wrist. It wasn't an abnormally short one, maybe a meter or so long, but just the process of grabbing his tray off of the floor was an ordeal on all its own. "Alright…" Sasuke said. "I suppose I could go for some Ichiraku's."

They ate.

Sasuke remained mostly quiet throughout the meal, while Naruto and Sakura chatted adamantly about one thing or another. Of course, being who they were, the two tried to drag him into the conversation every now and then, and though he gave them the answers they wanted, he never remained in the discussions for long

He took a sip of the glass of water that he'd ordered.

There was a loud screech, and what sounded almost like a cat's tail being trodden on. The three of them - Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto - whirled around.

"Ino-buta… did you just-" Sakura began, her emerald eyes widening slightly

"No!" Ino said quickly, though her cheeks seemed slightly pink. "I was just- um…" She swallowed. "… so, so they finally let Sasuke-kun out?"

"They sure did!" Naruto exclaimed, beaming at his fellow blonde. "Don't spread it around, though. We want to keep it on the down low until all of the legalese crap gets settled."

"Of- of course." Ino said. "No problem at all."

Sakura shook her head, muttering something under her breath.

Sasuke was well aware why not a few hours later.

Predictably - Ino being Ino - by dusk, everyone in Konohagakure knew that Uchiha Sasuke had been declared not guilty, and released from prison.

If there was one thing Hyuga Hanabi was sure of, it was that she didn't envy her sister.

Hinata had changed. That much had become clear, not long after she had returned from the Fourth War that had rocked the Elemental Nations, spreading death and destruction, upending long since practiced traditions, and afterwards, spearheaded for the world a new era of peace between the great villages.

She wasn't sure about the details of what had happened in the war, having been confined to the village like the rest of the academy students and genin had been at the time. But she heard bits and pieces. The casualty rate had been astoundingly high - half of the Shinobi Alliance's forces had been wounded or killed on the first day alone, and by the end of the second day (and the war itself), over eighty percent of the Alliance lay dead or writhing in makeshift hospital tents.

Hanabi couldn't even imagine what her dear older sister had seen. And that wasn't the worst of it, either. Hinata had come home in tears - catching her little imouto in a tight hug, burying her face into the crook of Hanabi's neck and sobbed, sobbed harder than she had ever before. Hanabi had been perplexed, but then, when Hinata had calmed down slightly, she'd broken the news.

Neji was dead.

Perhaps, Hanabi hadn't been as close to Neji as Hinata was. But she still grieved. She felt his loss almost every day, for Neji had been like a brother to her and Hinata, despite his branch status. She had sat through his funeral, a stony expression on her face. The sight of Hinata's face, glistening with tears, had remained with her for much longer than she'd like to admit. Hinata was a sweet, soft angel, and she didn't deserve to cry, she didn't deserve to be in pain, she didn't deserve… any of this.

But time passed. Days and weeks ticked by, and soon Hanabi could say that things had gotten better. Hinata didn't constantly come out of her room with red eyes and stuffy nose anymore. Her father's face didn't grow quite as stoic whenever his gaze flickered over the image of his own brother in a picture. And Hanabi herself felt considerably lighter as well.

Regardless of that, Hanabi could honestly say that she didn't envy her sister - despite the fact that it seemed as if she had it all. A beautiful smile, hair that gleamed in the sun, a curvaceous figure that would make all men desire her, and a shy personality that endeared nearly everyone she met. But she was weak. Hinata had said it herself to Hanabi, how it had been her fault that Neji had died, for he'd been forced to step in and stop her from throwing her life away.

Hanabi knew Hinata wasn't going to get any stronger. Her sister, in all actuality, was done with the shinobi life. She had seen too much death, too much destruction, and she had lost her taste for it. Where before, Hinata had spent long hours in the training grounds practicing her Gentle Fist, she now spent it doing other, more menial things: reading books, cooking, wandering about the house, or even simply lounging around in her room.

She just didn't get it. Well… she could get why Hinata had decided to effectively stop being a kunoichi, but Hanabi just couldn't rationalize why she would choose to do it now of all times. There were still enemies of Konoha out there. Eighty percent of the Elemental Nation's shinobi had been killed, maimed, or put of out of action. Bandits, nukenin and the like had free rein over large swathes of the countryside. Even someone as powerful as Uzumaki freakin' Naruto couldn't contain all of them on his own. There still had to be kunoichi out there to defend the village. Maybe her sister wasn't up to the task… but damn it, Hanabi just knew she had to be.

Hanabi had to be stronger. She couldn't- she wouldn't let a tragedy like Neji's death happen to her family again. It wasn't going to happen. She refused to let it happen.

But she had to be frank with herself, she couldn't do it on her own. She wasn't Neji. The idea of her, Hanabi, being able to learn things like Kaiten on her own was… laughable at best. She was strong, she was smart, she was talented, but she wasn't a boundless prodigy like Neji had been.

And her list of potential 'trainers' was embarrassingly short. Her father was swamped with work, having to negotiate and deal with all sorts of things. The Hyuga clan's death toll in the war had been massive, and even now they were still working through inheritances, funerals, death certificates… it was an absolute mess. Hinata had given up the kunoichi trade. There was nothing else she could really learn from any other Hyuga, and she didn't want to work with them anyways. Neji, the best option for something like this, was… well, dead.

Briefly, very briefly, she considered a trainer that was outside the Hyuga. It was unheard of, really, for a Hyuga to receive instruction from an outsider - but then again, this was a new era. Being unique was Hanabi's forte after all, and she loved the mental image she painted of the elders' reaction when they found out what she had done.

Who outside the clan would train her, though?

That was something that took quite a bit more thought.

For some reason, a brief spell of something resembling temporary insanity overcame her. What about Uzumaki Naruto, one of if not the strongest shinobi in the world? He was perfect! Somehow, she had deluded herself into thinking that Naruto would actually train her… but she stopped herself just in the nick of time.

It was ridiculous to assume that someone like him would train her. She was young. And he was too busy, far too preoccupied with his new found duties to worry about an twelve year old girl's desire to get stronger, even if that girl was related to one of his friends.

But, when she had stopped herself, she had only been a scant ten meters behind Naruto. And who else would be flanking his sides, but Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke.

The nukenin, Uchiha Sasuke. The one who had just been released from jail only a few days ago.

The man who had broken into a Kage Summit and walked out alive, and relatively intact.

The man who had helped to save the world from the clutches of his crazy family.

Hanabi knew that she was acting crazy.

She was absolutely, positively, freakin' totally crazy for thinking, for even considering something like this. But he was perfect, wasn't he? There was no one in the world quite like him. And she knew that unlike Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke didn't have much to occupy his time. And, now that she thought about it, if there was anyone who could match or at least come close to matching Uzumaki Naruto's position as the strongest shinobi in the world, it was him. If she wanted to be stronger, if she wanted to become powerful, then no one else alive was as perfect a choice as Sasuke was.

Her feet carried her forward, Hanabi seemingly unable to control herself. She trailed behind the three of them, Sasuke visibly remaining silent while Sakura and Naruto's loud voices carried even to Hanabi, who was still at least five to ten meters behind them.

A hawk cawed loudly - swooping down and landing on Naruto's shoulder. The blonde pulled a scroll from one of the hawk's talons, reading the message. He said something to Sasuke, and then both he and Sakura leapt onto a nearby rooftops, quickly disappearing.

It was now or never.

Just as Sasuke was turning around, Hanabi caught up to him. She tried tapping him elbow in order to get his attention - only to realize she had accidently hit the empty sleeve that belonged to his side that was missing an arm.

He still noticed however. Sasuke turned, those mismatched eyes staring down at her, as if they were looking into her very soul.

"What do you want?" he grunted, his voice low.

Hanabi swallowed down her fear. Her pale eyes were filled with a courage that had been passed down by generations of Hyuga. And then, she opened her mouth.

"I want you to train me!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

That was the only emotion that he allowed to flicker across his features. Otherwise, he remained stoic, staring at the girl that was blinking up at him.

'White eyes.' he thought. 'A Hyuga.' The same, eerily pale eyes that he remembered from the chunin exams all those years ago, possessed by the boy that they had called a prodigy. There was a girl too, that Sasuke vaguely recalled, who had been in his academy class with those same eyes.

She was small, much smaller than he had been at that age - what, she had to be… eleven or twelve, or at least that was his best guess. Despite that, he could see the thin muscles that ran along her arms, the graceful pose in which she stood, both of which told Sasuke that she already had the makings of a kunoichi.

But, the very idea of him - Uchiha Sasuke, murderer extraordinaire - training somebody was… laughable at best.

He let out something that half resembled a snort.

"I'm not training you." Sasuke said. Then, he turned, and walked away.

Sasuke had barely made it ten paces before a scatter of tiny footsteps behind him told Sasuke that the girl was once again following him. He frowned, stopping in his tracks as she skidded around him, stopping dead in his path, blocking him.

"You are not going to blow me off that easily!" she declared, pointing a 'threatening' finger at him.

He repressed a sigh. Persistence was never a bad thing, but in this case, it served to be a rather small annoyance for him. Right then and there, he was tempted to simply shunshin away from her, and leave the girl behind… but… well, to be frank, he was bored. There was no harm in entertaining her offer, even if it was almost certain that he was going to say no.

"Name." Sasuke grunted.

The girl blinked. "Huh?" she said, head tilted to the side with curiosity.

"I said: what is your name?"

She seemed dumbfounded for a second, as if she hadn't even anticipated getting this far. He watched her swallow harshly, her gulp noisy enough for even him to hear. "Hyuga Hanabi." she said, her voice strained, yet firm. "Is… is that a yes, then?"

"No." Sasuke said. "But I won't deny that I'm curious. Why exactly, do you think that I would want to train you?"

"Uh…" Hanabi scratched her cheek. "I'm not gonna lie, but I was kind of hoping that you'd do it… well, just for the heck of it."

"'For the heck of it.'" Sasuke repeated.

She nodded. "I mean… what's the harm in it?" Hanabi said. "I'm awesome, I'm funny, I'm cute, I'm not annoying-" Sasuke had to hold back a snort. "- and plus, I'm a Hyuga! What ever happened to like, eye jutsu kinsmen and stuff like that?"

"I think that went out of the window when two of our 'eye jutsu kinsmen' conspired to erase the world as we know it." Sasuke said softly.

Hanabi blinked. "Whatever. I didn't try to erase the world!" she retorted. "And you- well, I mean, I guess you kinda tried to erase Konoha… but I'm sure you didn't really mean it. And plus, you're like, reformed now, aren't you?"

"... sure." Sasuke said vaguely.

"Yeah!" Hanabi declared. "And I bet that if you wanted to like, make everyone see you as 'changed' and stuff, you could train me and that would help."

"Mmm. That's a fair point." Sasuke admitted.

"So you'll train me?" she asked, her eyes wide, grinning up at him almost like a puppy.

"No." Sasuke said.

Hanabi deflated. "Why not?" she asked. "Come on, pleassee? I promise I'll be a totally awesome student. I'll… I'll clean your shuriken, I'll carry your sword, I'll-"

Sasuke raised a hand up, and Hanabi stopped immediately, as if her voice had been cut off.

"I get the impression that you're not going to stop irritating me until I say yes." Sasuke murmured. "So I'll cut you a deal."

"Really?!"

"I'm not done talking yet." he said darkly, and she quieted down once more. "First of all… what is your primary affinity."

"Like… like my element?" Hanabi said. "'Cuz, I don't need one. Hyugas don't need elemental jutsu, that's what my otou-sama always told me."

"If I am… potentially going to be training you," Sasuke said. "Then you won't be learning as a Hyuga." For the first time, something other than bland stoicism crossed his face - the ghost of a smirk appeared, reminiscent of his youth. "You'll be learning as an Uchiha. Or at least as close as to one as you can get."

It might seem that the idea of being trained as an 'Uchiha' would be downright offensive to a Hyuga. And maybe it would be, had she been older, and exposed for several more years to the propaganda that her clan regularly pumped out. But to Hanabi, the idea of being trained as an Uchiha was brilliant. After all - it had taken two Uchiha to nearly bring the world to its knees. And only the timely intervention of Sasuke and his cohort, according to Hinata when she'd given Hanabi a vague recount of the war, had saved the Shinobi Alliance from certain defeat.

The testament of the sheer power difference was clear to her. Neji was a prodigy of the Hyuga, the strongest in a thousand years, with limitless potential and a gaze so clear that it could almost be perfect. And he had been felled by one of the Juubi's 'standard' attacks, where Uchiha such as Sasuke could go toe to toe with tailed beasts and Hokage alike.

"Okay, okay!" she chirped. "I'll learn as an Uchiha, awesome. But, um… I still, uh, kinda don't know what my affinity is."

"Forget it then." Sasuke muttered, shaking his head. He turned - but she stopped him, running up and seizing his armless sleeve.

"Wait! How- how can I learn it?" she asked.

"Specialized paper that you can buy from any shinobi store." Sasuke murmured. "Don't bother me again until you know your affinity." He shrugged off her arm, and then disappeared in a poof of smoke. Hanabi was left staring at the place where he had dissipated, blinking with awe and… irritation in her eyes.

'He's a jerk!' she declared. But a powerful jerk. And if he was going to give her a chance to be his protege… well, then she'd just have to try her absolute hardest to do exactly that! With a grin on her face, Hanabi raced off, intent on finding the nearest shinobi supply store so that she could scrounge up some of that chakra paper he had talked about.

It didn't take her long. Less than five minutes, in fact, before she had barged through the front door of a rather small 'mom and pop' style store. A kindly, middle aged woman with her hair tied into a messy bun greeted her.

"What can I do for you today, Hyuga-sama?" the woman asked.

"I need chakra paper!" Hanabi proclaimed.

Hanabi doubted that was the actual, standardized name for it. But apparently, the lady knew what she had been talking about regardless. She reached a hand under the counter, and withdrew a small pack of thin white papers wrapped in plastic.

"Here you go," the woman said, offering them to Hanabi, who accepted them. "Using them is easy - all you have to do is put a little chakra into the paper, and it'll tell you what your affinity is."

"How will it tell what element is mine?" Hanabi asked.

"There's more instructions on the back." the lady said kindly. "Now, how will you be paying for it, sweetie?"

Hanabi jammed a hand into her pocket, thin fingers fishing out some pocket change and slapping the crumpled rolls onto the counter. "There you go, thanks!" Hanabi said, dashing out of the store, her long brown hair swinging behind her.

She didn't bother to wait to make it to a training ground or whatever. She tore open the pack, pulled a piece of paper out, and held it in front of her. Hanabi's nostrils flared for a moment. And then, she put a bit of chakra, just a tad, into it.

The paper sparked before her eyes. Red, yellow, orange, and blue reflected off of the glossy white that were distinctive to the Hyuga. She hadn't even bothered to read the 'instructions' on the back… but there was no need to. After all, there was only one thing that this could be, and it didn't take a genius to figure out it.

"Fire…" Hanabi whispered, feeling the strange urge to giggle. How ironic was it, that someone whose name quite literally meant 'firecracker' would have fire as an affinity? She'd never heard of any Hyuga being attuned to fire, but then again, she'd never heard of a Hyuga being attuned to anything, not really.

She grinned.

Now, all she had to do was find Sasuke, and tell him the news.

The question was… where was he?

In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have expected any less.

After all, what else would someone like Uchiha Sasuke do with his spare time? His only friends - well, friend was Uzumaki Naruto. You could count Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi as… acquaintances, which for Sasuke, was as good as it got, if you weren't a certain blonde idiot who had a tendency to befriend even the most hateful of people. Neji when he had still be a vengeful adolescent was a prime example, Hanabi thought.

He was just sitting there, alone in the clearing. His legs crossed, his arm resting on his knee, his eyes closed. Sasuke had tensed slightly - Hanabi was well aware that he had easily felt her presence from the very moment she had stepped within fifty yards of him. He didn't say anything, perhaps hoping that she would leave him alone.

Hanabi being Hanabi, however…

"Oi!" she shouted, landing in front of him, pointing a finger at Sasuke that he couldn't see. "I did your stupid affinity test!" Hanabi declared.

Sasuke sighed. "Okay." he said blankly.

Hanabi blinked. "Well… you're going to train me now, aren't you?" she asked.

"I never said I was going to train you just for knowing what your affinity was." Sasuke said. "I simply said don't bother me until you do know what it is." He gave her a pointed look for a moment, but she simply blinked back at him, confused. Another sigh. "What was it, then?"

"Fire!" Hanabi declared.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Fire." he said. "That's not something I would have expected from a Hyuga."

"Who cares?" Hanabi said flippantly. "Isn't that good news? I mean, you're an Uchiha and all, wouldn't your affinity be fire?"

"No." Sasuke said. "It's lightning."

She blinked. "But…"

"That doesn't mean I'm not a master of both elements." Sasuke continued. "But lightning was my natural affinity." He rubbed the bridge of his nose for a minute, before climbing to his feet. Hanabi was astounded by the difference in height between them. Sasuke wasn't the tallest man out there, but at seventeen, he cracked at least five foot, nine inches. Compared to him, Hanabi felt puny, not even four foot, six. "Alright." Sasuke said, startling her slightly. "Like I said, I'll make you a deal. If you can learn the jutsu I'm about to teach you in about an hour, I'll take you on as my protege."

"And if I don't…?" Hanabi hesitated to ask.

"Then you're out of luck." Sasuke said. "Follow the seals," he said softly, turning so that he was facing away from her, yet still allowing her to see his fingers. Her pert white eyes watched attentively, Sasuke going through the seals for the technique slowly enough for her to memorize them. He went through them with his single hand, but told her the names as he went through the various seals that encompassed the jutsu.

He pulled his head back, puffed out his chest, cupped his fingers around his lips and blew. Hanabi gasped, as a fireball burst from his mouth - as tall as the trees, and the width of her bedroom two times over. It slammed into the forest arrayed in front of him, scorching tree bark, and turning canopies of leaves into little more than ash. Hanabi stared at him in astonishment, not saying anything as he did a simple water technique to put out any small fires that had sparked from his original technique.

"Did you get the seals?" Sasuke said.

Hanabi nodded.

"Then you have sixty minutes."

He went and sat down, leaning against a tree, his mismatched eyes watching her intently. Hanabi swallowed, closing her eyes, bringing the memory of him going through the seals for the fireball up to the forefront of her mind.

She was a Hyuga. Hanabi had been trained almost from birth to be top-notch with her eyes, and remembering that small sequence of hand seals was a cakewalk, even for a girl who was not yet even a genin. But, she was kind of nervous, she would admit.

'You only have an hour!' Hanabi warned herself. 'Get going!'

She took a deep breath.

And then, she flashed through the seals. She fumbled the first time, accidentally substituting the Tiger seal at the end for the Ram - which resulted in literally nothing happening - but the second time, she got it.

The first fireball she was blew was… pathetic. Compared to Sasuke's earlier one, it was like comparing a water balloon to a zeppelin. Hanabi visibly deflated, but she didn't let that get to her, and soon she was throwing herself through the seals once more, not even wiping away the soot from the corner of her lip.

Her first attempt was better than his first ever attempt had been, all those years ago on that dock. Sasuke had to begrudgingly admit that. But, considering she was near twice as old as he had been… it wasn't all that impressive… right?

'She's never had any fire affinity training before.' a nagging voice in the bagging of his head (that sounded suspiciously like Sakura) said adamantly. 'Sure, she's much older than you were, but that doesn't make it any less impressive now, does it?'

He seriously needed to get himself checked out. All these annoying voices in his head, whether they were real, some mental disorder, or his imagination, were starting to get on his nerves.

Hanabi tried the fireball jutsu, again and again. Her chakra levels were miserably low, but thankfully, Hyugas always had a good grasp of chakra control. She made sure to pace herself - but throughout the first half of her allotted hour, she managed to make… decent improvements. Enough that her fireball could actually reach the tree line before it dissipated, before it fizzled out."

She turned to him, a pout on her lips. "How am I supposed to know when I've 'learned' it anyways?" Hanabi whined.

Sasuke looked up from his current activity - which was cleaning his sword with the end of his shirt. "I'll tell you when." he said curtly. "Thirty minutes to go."

Hanabi groaned.

Again.

She gave herself a moment to rest, panting, smoke filling her nose and an awful ashy taste in her mouth.

Again, she flew through the seals.

Hanabi doubled over, wheezing.

Again, she went through the seals, blowing a fireball from her mouth.

Her knees shook beneath her, and she plummeted to the ground in a heap. Hanabi groaned weakly. Dimly, she heard footsteps. A foot nudged her side, rolling her over onto her back. She couldn't make out Sasuke himself, but those mismatched eyes placed him anyways.

"Alright." Sasuke said. "Good enough, I suppose."

She coughed. "Screw… you…" Hanabi wheezed.

He shook his head softly. His hands reached into his pouch, and he pulled out something small, mushy and brown. Sasuke crouched, grabbed the back of her head and pulled her up, and then held the brown object to her lips. Obediently, she took it into her mouth. Her face scrunched up. "Swallow." he said. She whined, but did some reluctantly, forced to gulp three times to get the mushy brown ball down her throat.

"Disgusting…!" Hanabi groaned, wiping the back of her mouth with her hand. Already, however, she could feel her strength returning. A soldier pill, but a foul tasting one. "Where did you get that from?" she groaned, panting.

"Sakura." Sasuke said, a thin smirk on his lips. He stood once more. "Alright… I'll train you… for now." he said. "You're in no condition to get started now, however. Rest up, and we'll get started then."

He turned, and made to leave.

"Wa- wait!" Hanabi said, forcing herself into a sitting position. "What time am I supposed to meet you?" she asked.

"Surprise me." Sasuke said.

And then, he walked off, leaving her feeling very sore, her mouth choked with ash, her chakra levels near zero, and her hair in disarray.

But she felt good. Because Hyuga Hanabi had just gotten the Uchiha Sasuke to crack, and take her on as a student.

'Score!' she thought, grinning triumphantly.

One for Hyuga Hanabi, zero for Uchiha Sasuke. Not that she was keeping track, of course.

Sasuke paused for a moment, on the edge of the clearing. He cast one glance back at Hanabi - just able to make out the almost crazed grin on her face. He suppressed a groan. 'What have I gotten myself into?'

Glossary:

Otou-sama, a way to pronounce 'honorable father'. Tou-san would be just 'father', and Tou-chan would roughly be 'daddy'. The first being most common in prestigious clans such as the Hyuga.