AN: Hoolaalaa, guess who's back again with a new story! Okay so this story is going to be about Hinata taking basically like a gap year to see the outside world where she bumps into Sasuke once in a while. This is set POST WAR and POST THE LAST so Naruto and Hinata are like a couple.

Sasuke is definitely nicer in this story of mine because I choose to believe that after the war and everything, he must had at least taken some form of niceness and human emotions within him. I tried to make this story as accurate as with the shippuden series - but of course, before anyone ever gets married or have kids. And guys... Neji is not alive is this story... URGHH i know i know its painful for me too but i really want to be accurate... URGHH CURSE YOU KISHI WHY YOU GOTTA TAKE NEJI AWAY FROM US!

Hiraeth the title is basically a home sickness, a home which maybe never was, the nostalgia, the yearning, the grieve for the lost places of your past. I feel it kinda resonates a little here and there PLUS ITS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL WORD AIN'T IT?

Hope you guys can enjoy this story and please do review and tell me how you like it! I kinda really enjoy writing this story here and there hue hue. I know i said I wanted a high school fic BUT this story came to my mind as more of an intriguing one so I decided to pen it down first... SORRY BUT I PROMISE ILL WRITE HIGH SCHOOL FIC DON'T HATE ME PLEASE (｡•́︿•̀｡)

.::.

The first time Hinata finally got to speak to Sasuke was noticing him at the gates of Konohagakure when she was on her way to the river to join Shino and Kiba. He was clad in a long cloak, bidding goodbyes to his former sensei, as well as his former teammate. She thought she could head up to them, to project her gratitude to the Uchiha for having a change in heart to protect her home but felt it would be best to allow the trio to have their time as a team.

She then managed to bump into him once more nearing the river. She greeted him nervously, still not used to his intimidating presence. The two heroes who fought side by side sure had a difference vibe towards their chakra nature. For the Uchiha, it was tinted with tenebrosity.

"Thank y-you for protecting the village, Uchiha-san."

"Hn."

Hinata thought it must had been nice, as she watched his figure became smaller the moment he was further from Konoha. To be able to travel and see beyond the place they grew up in. When the figure seemingly had completely disappeared out of her sight, she made her way towards the river as she pondered about the existential crisis in her current life, wondering about the possibility of being able to venture out. The Hokage had just announced that missions had been reduced greatly to majority of D ranks since the war had pretty much cleared up the tension between many villages. It wasn't like she hated helping the elders of Konoha or retrieving pets, but the humdrum routine would eventually catch her up.

Her eyes lit up when she noticed her teammates by the river. Shino was calming sitting under the tree, and the sound of water splashing made her smile when she noticed how happy Akamaru was to be playing with Kiba. Making her way towards Shino, she continued watching the duo played.

"You're here."

She nodded, apologising softly. "Sorry I am a little late."

"Don't think he minds." Shino said, signalling towards the direction of the dog tamer. "What's next for you?"

"What about you?" Hinata quizzed, her feet tapping lightly on the ground.

The Aburame leaned back against the tree, arms crossed as he followed the gaze of the female Hyuga. "Still thinking."

Being stripped of the heiress position had definitely earned her a beneficial amount of free time. "I'm considering maybe t-travelling?" Hinata replied softly with a small smile.

Despite her soft voice, Kiba's ears perked up. He definitely had the senses of a dog. "Travelling? Where to?"

Hinata shrugged lightly. "It's just a thought. Maybe alone!"

"Like Sasuke?" Shino asked, adjusting his glasses.

Hinata nodded. "Something like that."

"What? Doesn't sound like a good idea Hinata." Kiba remarked, observing his female teammate.

"Kiba-kun, it's just a consideration." Hinata said, chuckling softly at her teammate's stubbornness.

"I know the war has ended but I am pretty sure there are some jerks out there still trying to conquer the world and probably starting themselves by killing a bunch of shinobis and kunoichis." Kiba growled, exiting the river and making his way towards the duo. "I know we didn't make a promise with Neji when he passed, but it's an unspoken promise from us you know?"

Hinata's eyes softened, as she watched the dog tamer shaking himself dry.

"You're looking down on Hinata."

"I'm not!" Kiba protested. "She's our teammate. And it's normal for us to protect her like how Neji usually does."

"Kiba, it seems like you're using the unspoken promise with Neji to keep Hinata here." Shino spoke nonchalantly.

"What? That's not what I mean! Come on, are you serious too about her travelling alone?" Kiba clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed the fact that his closest buddy was not on his side.

Shino turned to face Hinata as she felt her head resting against his shoulders. Hinata had always been under their care, be it in missions, wars or even as simple as helping her build her confidence towards her long-time crush. Noticing how she had had already matured, he nodded lightly. "Let her consider."

Kiba let out a soft grunt. "It's a dangerous consideration." He turned towards his shy teammate. "I always thought you wanted a family, Hinata. I don't feel safe to have you travel alone."

She tilted her head and let out a soft audible sigh. "It suddenly occurs to me that recently things have b-been rather dull. Naruto-kun will be getting busier with Kakashi-sama with the Hokage's duties so I guess m-marriage won't come any time soon."

"So, you're thinking of taking the time to yourself." Shino said.

Hinata watched the both of her teammates continued bickering as Akamaru laid his head on her lap. She averted her gaze towards the sky, a gloomy smile came into sight as she missed her cousin.

.::.

"Will you w-wait for me?" Hinata asked, her head hung low to cover her perpetual blush that was tinting her cheeks.

Naruto sighed, his hands ruffling through his hair. "I thought we could spend more time together." He said.

Standing in the middle of the streets conversing over it was never in Hinata's plan. She thought she could have talk over their ramen date at Ichiraku, but with Ayame constantly talking to them and the sudden appearance of Sai and Ino made it hard.

The intention of bringing it up to Naruto when they were finally back in his apartment came crushing with her sudden slip of tongue that had caused the man to be slightly unhappy about the choices she was making, thus making them having the serious conversation in the middle of the market.

"It's the potatoes season! Grab your potatoes now!"

And the constant screaming of bargains was not helping much either.

When the events of Toneri took place, she wondered why she had not taken the chance to actually do the things she had always wanted to; have a proper confession to Naruto and visit places out of Konoha. Hinata blamed herself, for not mustering up the courage to get herself out of her comfort zone, and she came to acknowledge that was the main problem. She needed a change and all she needed right now was the support of her friends, family and... Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, I thought this will be a g-good time for you to assimilate with the duties of what was upcoming for you; Being the Hokage." Hinata said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"How am I going to know that you're going to be okay?" Naruto questioned, worry filling his gaze. "What if – "

"I will be okay," Hinata said, smiling. "The promise everyone had made, spoken or unspoken with Neji nii-san will never be b-broken."

Naruto bit his lips, hands tucked into pockets as a sigh escaped his lips. He kept silent.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata took a step forward closer to her boyfriend. She raised her hand to place it on his cheeks, and soon after feeling his hands on hers. She smiled warmly. "I'm s-strong right? That's what you said."

"I know you're Hinata. I just thought I could finally be able to spend time with the person I love." Azure eyes met the lavender ones. A smile slowly crept up onto his face as he took the warmth of her hands against his cheeks. "When will you come back then?"

Hinata's eyes softened. "I'm considering going for a year."

"A year?" The loud blonde exclaimed. "Aren't you even going to be back for…" his voice trailed off as he looked away from her. "My birthday?"

How could she not? She responded silently as she tipped her toe and quickly brushed her lips against his. Both of their faces caught a hue of redness. The foxy male stared down at her, wide eyes and appalled by the fact that his shy girlfriend had actually kissed him in public when even simple hugging to her felt 'too much'.

"Of c-course I will be back for that," replied Hinata.

Naruto grinned, placing both his hands on her shoulder. "What about your birthday? The Konoha's fireworks carnival? Your dad's birthday? Kiba's birthday? What about Shino's? We can't forget about him or he will start sulking again. What about Christmas?"

Hinata giggled. "Naruto-kun, if that's the c-case, I don't think I am able to travel if I'm returning to Konoha so often."

"I really want you to stay, Hina-chan." Naruto said, pouting.

Hinata grabbed onto his hand and subconsciously guided him out of the market. "I am staying Naruto-kun. I am never running away."

Naruto continued following her and was silent throughout the entire walk back to his apartment. He mentally groaned, wondering should he actually beg her to not leave. He could perhaps follow her along with her self-discovery journey but Konoha needed him, and he had to stay and be prepared to take the duties of what was coming.

His eyes lit up a little, as it dawned upon him that if he could be at home, chasing his forever dream of protecting the people of Konoha, what selfish rights he could possibly have to stop his girlfriend from chasing what she wanted. If she could have waited years for his blur head to finally realize she was having feelings for him, he should be able to wait for just a year.

"Hinata," his tightened his grip. "Let's get food at Hana restaurant when you're back!"

"It's a promise!" Her lips curved into a smile.

.::.

Kiba gritted his teeth as he avoided looking Hinata. They were standing at the gates of Konoha, along with Shino and Sakura bidding goodbyes to the shy kunoichi. He was never really able to comprehend Hinata's idea of taking a year off as a kunoichi. He thought she would be able to do so, once she got married and settled herself as a homemaker because that was supposed to be the plan.

"Are you going to just be sulking all the way?" Shino questioned offhandedly.

Hinata turned to face Kiba, the smile on her face not disappearing as she waited patiently for the dog tamer to finally give in the way everyone knew he would eventually. And he did, with a loud grunt escaping his mouth, arms folded and his gaze still not meeting hers.

"Did you bring along the food me and Shino got you?"

Hinata nodded, giggling softly to herself. "Yes, I did." She said. "I will be back faster than you think."

"Kiba, you're just not used to not having Hinata around." Sakura chuckled with her arm placed around Hinata's shoulders. "You just have to get used to it."

"He just didn't want to admit that he is going to miss her." Shino exposed, causing the Inuzuka to jump and attacked him. Shino calmly avoided his fist. "That's evidence."

"Kiba is definitely a tsundere." Sakura teased.

"I am not!" Argued Kiba.

"Kiba-kun, I am going to miss you." Hinata spoke, catching her teammate off guard. Kiba sighed, his hands resting on his hip and with Akamaru barking in the background, his features finally softened.

"Please stay away from the boys." Kiba said, reminding himself of Toneri and recently a surge of comments he heard about Hinata's beauty from the males of Konoha. "You're Naruto's girlfriend, and people are noticing you for that. But that doesn't mean they will stay away you know?"

A blush crept to her face. "Hai!"

"Ne Hinata, you have gotten all the things you needed?" Sakura questioned, eyeing the bag she was carrying onto.

"Um! I will be stopping by Mizugakure so the food prepared will be enough to last me throughout."

"It's so nice to see all of us growing up," Sakura said, her voice softened as she continued. "I really hate this spot."

Hinata took notice of the place they were standing at. It was where Sakura had bid her goodbyes to Sasuke constantly so how could she not? Goodbyes were never easy even though it wasn't a permanent leaving anymore for the Uchiha hero. Hinata brought her hand to rest onto Sakura's shoulder. "He will return soon."

"I hope he does," she muttered, a small blush spreading across her cheeks. "There's still so many things I have to tell him."

.::.

Lost, was the only way to describe her state of being.

The one thing Hinata hoped for was to get out of the densely populated forest she was in.

Her byakugan activated, but there was still no sighting of human life forms within the premises of five kilometers. She leaped off the branch and landed on ground, deciding it would be best to head towards the river for water, since her bottle had chosen to spill all over her bag pack.

Despite venturing out for almost a month and a half, she still hadn't really gotten use to deep forests causing her to be constantly losing her way in an attempt to get through it. It was indeed not as glamourous as how she had thought it would have been but the idea of independency and having all the time to herself made her knew that the decision she made was right.

Noticing the sky was appearing an orange hue, she decided to settle herself down for the night. She piled the branches she had collected for the night fire that was going to keep her warm. Feeling the summer's heat dissipating as the night began to fall instantaneously made her regretted not packing her old oversized mission jacket along. Her current kimono styled sleeveless top was definitely not an aid during such weather.

She opened up her bag to search for the box of matches she had brought along and when her hand came in contact with a moist rectangular box, she pressed her lips, almost cursing. The water that was spilled in her bag must have dampened the matches.

She could make fire the traditional way, but it wasn't something she knew how to other than the basic common sense of rubbing two sticks together. She thought she could try, and when after half an hour without making any progress, she dropped the two branches in her hand and sighed.

Hinata activated her byakugan again, in hope to be able to catch sight of any potential abandoned or dropped tools by shinobis nearby but instead what captured her attention was a greyish sight of flames. She felt the tension within her loosened up, as she subconsciously thought about a warm night. Her attention diverted towards the silhouette of a person next to the flames of fire, seemingly male in physique, meddling with his footwear along the riverbank just about a mile away from her.

Her eyes narrowed as she was unable to detect the person's chakra. Perhaps he was just like Lee, who happened to have a really small amount of chakra within him making it harder to detect from a distant – or maybe he could be a criminal on the loose. Hinata flinched at the thought.

Torn between approaching the mysterious individual for fire and risked being attacked, or sleeping through the night coldly, she managed to find herself already making her way towards the direction of a dim light emitting. Guess sleeping warmly was the priority.

The veins around her eyes became more distinct, as she kept her vision on the male individual. His back was facing her, making it impossible for her to determine the appearance. The chakra flow was calm and... familiar? She cautiously approached the silhouette while surveying the environment, just in case. There was nothing in sight other than the fire and the –

Hinata's eyes widened as she noticed the person poof off into thin air. Shadow clone? She brought herself to a halt, extending her vision further. Black figure leaped from branches to branches, causing her to pull out the kunai that was in her thigh bag.

So fast – too fast indeed. She lost the vision of the person, causing her to stiffen. She had never met anyone or anything like that. She could feel the slight chakra energy from a distance. A sense of familiarity and before she could even determine who it belonged to; she could feel the coldness of a metal blade on her shoulder.

"Move and I will slice your head off."

She could feel the breath against the back of her neck. The chakra was starting to allow Hinata to ascertain who it was, but her byakugan did the job instead. From the back of her head, she could see.

"Uchiha-san!" She called, finally being able to comprehend the fact that the second time she actually spoke to the Uchiha hero was him having his katana against the side of her throat.