AN: I am sorry this took about 203483 years. I'm not sorry for my approximation of fluff, threadbare chronology, nor that fact that this is easily 20x longer than any of the actual chapters. Shit (more like ship) happens.

Dreamcatcher

By Airyo

Epilogue

Hinata ducked behind a tree, trying to keep the breaths scraping the inside of her throat from giving her away. Sweat tickled her temples, cold on her skin like fear. Her limbs felt as if someone has wrung all the strength out of them, and she was working through the dregs of her chakra stores.

The odds were not in her favor. Her opponent was a weapons specialist - a student of Tenten's actually - and rumor was that Gai and Lee had declared themselves godfathers. A long-range fighter with the stamina (and taijutsu) of a monster.

Hinata held her a breath, caught for a moment. She only had enough chakra for one technique. She could use it find her enemy - show her cunning, as slippery as a snake - or make sure he was a little worse for wear.

"Pretend this is a mission and the opponent is an enemy-nin. But as this is an internal promotion exam, so don't leave any permanent damage."

A mission.

They already knew she was sneaky. Even if she didn't demonstrate it here, the foreknowledge would color their decision. Given her unique capabilities, she would never be assigned a solo mission of this nature. She would be support for a team. A team that could go on to complete the mission without her.

The hiss of wires sung around her. She had run out of time for thinking.

She could hear the odd cadence, feel buzz in the air like electricity...She'd seen some of Tenten's techniques, with the weapons mistress dancing in a maelstrom of blades. How does she keep track of - Her fingers flew through the seals before her idea solidified into coherent words.

"Summation no jutsu," she said. She poured her focus into throwing the numbers off just enough to-.

A strangled yelp. A muffled thump, followed by a cacophonous clatter of metal.

Hinata winced in sympathy. Miscalculated jutsus were nasty business, even if she had the been the cause of it. She held her breath until curses curdled the air, and then let out a little sigh. Her opponent was still alive.

He was also very, very angry.

Her gamble had failed. The smartest thing would be to forfeit. But how many times had she already stepped back? How many more times did the judges suspect she had given in?

She couldn't give up.

Hinata jumped out from hiding with chakra sputtering at her fingertips. She darted within reach, deflecting his fumbled katana attack with a kunai. She was smaller, weaker, but she knew her body - her limits, her strength - while he was still growing and uncertain of his ever-changing reach.

She parried several more hits, her hands going numb with each singing blow. But she was wearing down his defense. He faltered and his defense cracked -

There.

She realized her mistake even as she attacked.

He caught her arm. A deft twist forced her to drop the kunai. Before she could retaliate, he kicked her in the stomach so hard she folded in half. He let her stumble away. Something slammed into her back, sending stars streaking across her vision. It took her a moment to focus her eyes and recognize the sky between the lacey silhouette of the leaves.

She watched the clouds, tracing imagined shapes as they floated past her. The summer breeze lifted the heat from her sweat-slicked skin, rustling the grass that tickled the back of her neck. The referee's voice was a distant thought as her swaying opponent was declared the winner.

Complete, utter defeat.

But she gave him hell for it.

Hinata wiped the sweat from her brow and grinned.

"It's been nearly a year since your last evaluation," Ibiki said. He stepped in without knocking.

Itachi ignored Ibiki and continued working his way through the stack of recent mission reports. Since they were all nearly A-class or above, he was required to handle sensitive information inside the more secretive ANBU headquarters. Naturally, that made it all the easier for the Head of Interrogation to track him down.

Ibiki sat in the free chair, settling his large form into a semblance of nonchalance. It was unbefitting for a man whose job was to be paranoid.

"Ibiki-san, I am busy. Please find another time." Itachi wanted to clear away all paperwork before tomorrow, the start of his three month break from missions. He hadn't seen Hinata, nor his family and friends, in weeks, and due to the nature of Hinata's work for the Ibiki, there were few details to be heard about how she was settling into her promotion to Chuunin.

Ibiki didn't move. "I'm going to have to evaluate you if you want to even be considered for candidacy for a full-time position within Intelligence," he added. "Especially considering the danger to your 'validity as an elite soldier of Konoha' when a certain young lady is assigned to the same division."

Itachi set his pen down and turned around with an inward sigh. "Ibiki-san, I am a professional. You are cognizant of my record." The large, scarred man crossed his arms and gave him a flat stare. "Very well, you were correct on all aspects of my psyche." Ibiki didn't respond. This time, Itachi's sigh was audible. "And I concede to your expertise and will no longer question your evaluations on these reports."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were being sarcastic, Uchiha."

"Entirely possible." The interrogator snorted. He stood and made his way out of the room. At the doorway, he paused, and Itachi knew he was going to reveal the real reason he'd stopped by.

"Inoichi and I will approve the transfer on two conditions, Uchiha. You remain as captain until you can recommend and personally train a suitable replacement to lead your squads, both ANBU and for the daylight teams." Itachi withdrew a scroll from his sleeve and extended it to him. "And no, you can't pick Kakashi. He's off the roster on Jounin sensei duty. He just accepted today."

Itachi frowned, unrolled the scroll, and crossed off the first name on the list. He offered the edited document to Ibiki, who accepted and tucked it into his coat. "And the second condition?"

"Don't make me regret it. Namikaze is too much of a fangirl to do anything but approve your request, but Intelligence doesn't answer only to the Hokage."

"Thank you, Ibiki-san," Itachi said with a nod. Ibiki had to pull more than few strings - basically unravel an entire swath of the tapestry of his network - to smooth out the idea that a Sharingan user would have clearance for every bit of dirt the village was planted in.

"Yeah," Ibiki said with a dismissive wave that signaled that he understood the target of Itachi's gratitude. "Hurry up and finish your paperwork so you can see your lady love. She completed her work, so I sent her home early."

Itachi ignored him. But his pen moved a little faster when he resumed working on his reports.

Hinata was on her way to a status meeting with Inoichi when Hawk stepped out in front her, blocking her path down the shadowy hallway.

"Good afternoon," she said. "How can I help you?" He gestured to a door to the side that Hinata hadn't noticed until he pointed it out. She studied the pale, porcelain ANBU mask, already guessing who it might be behind the mask, and followed him into the bare room. He was careful to position himself so she had a clear path back to the door. She appreciated the consideration.

"Hinata-sama." Hawk lifted his mask, revealing Neji's familiar features.

She frowned at the unusual suffix. "Neji-nii-san," she replied, a deliberate reminder that they were equals. She took the hunched way he held himself, as if he were a lost teenage boy again, which was a sharp contrast to the too-blank expression and the ANBU captain uniform. "He told you?"

Neji nodded once. "Hyuuga-sama...Father…" He grimaced at the odd way the word rolled over his tongue."...did when I came back from rotation." She waited for him to gather his thoughts. He shook his head. "They say to be careful with what you wish for. I wished for my father. But even when at my worst, I never wished for him at the cost of yours."

"Of course not," she said. "You are silly for thinking you need to clarify that." But despite her assurances, the last scab lifted from her conscience, revealing pink, new skin underneath. The scar would always be there, but it would be okay. It was okay. Neji glanced down, not missing the way she unclenched her hands in relief.

"Sometimes it still needs to be said," he said gently. Hinata blinked, not quite sure why she was tearing up. "I've asked your forgiveness, and I can only ask it of you again."

She gave him an uncertain smile. It should have been the end of that conversation - a confession, an apology, a pardon.

He turned to leave.

"Neji, your children…" she said. He stopped. He slowly turned back to her. For all his training and self-control, he couldn't hide the glint of faint, wary hope in his eyes. "I don't want them to bear the Caged-Bird Seal."

He stared at her for a long time. Her sentiment was unoriginal, but it had been something whispered behind curled fingers as a dirty secret, not so simply stated as she did. Like the seal was a choice.

"Me neither," he agreed.

Though it was no longer part of her duties, Hinata still found it relaxing to wander the morning markets from time to time. The ebb and flow of people helped put a lot of things in perspective, and it was still a source of familiar routine for her.

Hinata caught sight of a young woman with a silver-haired boy at her side. They were turned away, leaning over a vegetable stand to inspect the produce, but Hinata recognized them immediately.

"Ayame, Sakumo-kun, good morning," she said.

"Hinata!" Ayame whipped around with a wide smile and she gave Hinata a quick one-armed hug. She nudged her son, who rolled his eyes but offered Hinata a polite smile.

"Good morning, Hyuuga-san," young Sakumo said.

"You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you," Hinata said. "If your father is nearly as handsome as you, I can see why your mother is so smitten."

Ayame snickered as Sakumo wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I start this fall," he said, thin chest puffing up with pride. "My teachers wanted to enroll me in early, but Father said no and looked at them funny until they promised to never ask again. That way I don't need to leave my friends behind."

"That's my boy," Ayame said with a grin. She patted his mop of silver hair. "Now go pick out our day's tomatoes so I can catch up with Hinata."

"Yes, Mother," Sakumo droned. But the tall set in his shoulders belied his pride in being trusted to a key task.

"He tries to act like Kakashi," Ayame said with a fond grin. "Keeps trying to steal his dad's masks as well, even though they're too big. Everyone just thinks he's really into loose turtleneck shirts." Hinata smiled at the adorable mental image. "So it's been many, many months since I last saw you at the morning markets. How have you been?"

"It's been busy," Hinata admitted.

"That's putting it lightly…" Ayame scoffed as she tapped her cheek with one finger in thought. "Let's see...I heard that you helped take down a missing nin, attracted the attention of the most eligible bachelor of Konoha." She eyed Hinata with displeasure. "And conveniently, that was the time that you started coming to the market at strange times to avoid him. But that kept him interested enough that he spun some big farce about experimenting on genjutsu. Said bachelor decided it wasn't enough time together so he concocted some bigger farce so he could take you on as his apprentice. Then there was a big hush-hush revolving around a traitor that you helped reveal, so I'm sure you and Itachi saved the village from some horrible fate. And now Itachi's courting you, wowed by your secret ninja skills and kind heart and beauty." Ayame placed her hands on her hips. "Am I missing anything?"

"That's...not how it occurred...at all?" Hinata said. She fiddled with her index fingers, unsure where even to start to correct the other woman's summary.

"Everything I didn't hear from the gossip mill here, I heard from Kakashi," Ayame assured her with a wink. "And he's all about seeing underneath the underneath."

"I...doubt that was Hatake-san's intended meaning." Hinata was all for looking underneath the underneath, but there was also such a thing as diving in too deep. Ayame was mistaking dirt for reality. Or was teasing her. It was hard to tell with the ramen waitress.

"You can't convince me otherwise." Ayame waved away her misgivings. Then her eyes widened. "Oh yeah, congratulations on your promotion. I heard you nearly took out your opponent with a cooking jutsu!" She clasped her hands together in glee. "I'm so proud."

Hinata sighed and shook her head fondly. "Actually, it was a calculation jutsu for numbers, though mostly used for inventory of produce and the such."

Ayame gave her a grin that was outright Naruto-ish. "Even better. Can you imagine trying to explain that one on your evaluation?"

"Naruto already made the pun about it being a weapon of math destruction," Hinata said quickly. The waitress stared at her for a moment. Then she puffed her cheeks in irritation and crossed her arms.

"It's like you don't even like puns. Who do you think gave Naruto his love of them?"

Hinata raised her palms in surrender. "I am not doubting you, Ayame-san."

"Good," the other woman said with a dramatic sniff. "So how is your cute ninja boyfriend doing?"

"Itachi's doing well. I worry that he tries to finish his missions too quickly."

"Kakashi won't stop complaining about it," Ayame shared conspiratorially. She stepped back, slouching with one eye closed and one eye half-lidded. It was an expression that only Kakashi (and his wife, apparently) could pull off without looking like someone who'd taken one-too-many blows to the head.

"Maa…" she mimicked her husband's low, nonchalant tone. "Itachi-kun's making me look bad with all that multi-tasking; saving the Hyuuga and winning the girl in the same act, finishing all his missions at top speed and still planning ways to woo Hinata. All I can do is read porn when my beautiful, forgiving wife isn't looking and pretend to train my genin."

Hinata covered her mouth, but the gesture was in vain as laughter escaped from between her fingers. "So Kakashi has taken on another team?"

"Yeah, he finally gave in. I think Naruto's set up one too many chalkboard erasers in our doors. Or the whole Hokage-sama thing. That helped too."

"Why was he reluctant before?"

"It's been eight years but he's still sore that Itachi-san poached his first genin team."

"Oh." She'd thought it was a trait specific to her clan...but it seemed that all ninja could be silly and petty and so, so human. "That's wonderful," she said with a sigh. Even now, she found herself caught in moments of insecurity about her worthiness of the positions everyone around her seemed to let her occupy. "I keep forgetting," she admitted with a soft laugh when Ayame gave her a questioning look. "Everything's changed, and yet I feel like everything is the same in some ways. It's very disorienting."

Ayame glanced behind them and her eyes widened. She patted Hinata's arm absently "Agreed, we'll talk more on this! Bye!" She jogged down the street, shouting, "Sakumo! Get your butt back down here right this moment. What did I say about chakra walking without supervision?! No I don't care if they think you're a genius, you little dolt, if you break your leg I'm going to help you break the other one!"

"I'm already regretting it," Ibiki snarled as he burst into Itachi's office. "Don't you think any of us would notice the pattern of what files you're checking out with your new clearance?" He dropped a thick stack of files onto Itachi's desk, the force of his throw making the pile sway. Itachi caught the top few before they toppled to the ground and began flipping through the source of his supervisor's ire.

"Good afternoon, Ibiki-san," Hinata greeted. His harsh expression softened and he offered a quick nod of apology for interrupting.

"Inoichi was quite pleased with your help yesterday. Prisoner 384-B did not expect a secondary layer to the genjutsu and provided Inoichi some good information."

"Thank you," Hinata said. "I'm glad. Excuse me." Ibiki raised a hand, stalling her motion to stand.

"No need, Hyuuga-san. This is in relation to your boyfriend's unauthorized investigation into the Branch seal." Ibiki shot a glare at Itachi, who regarded him with an unrepentantly blank expression. "You couldn't go two months without sticking your nose into some puzzle?"

Hinata tilted her head with a hint of worry creasing her brow. "But my father did authorize it. We had to keep it secret."

"You'll go a lot further if you use the resources available to you," Ibiki groused. "You don't think you're the only people disgusted by that crude, archaic system?"

"We were only trying to minimize rumors as best we can," Hinata said. She offered him a shy, sweet smile. "But we may have need to rely on your expertise very soon, so please don't be angry."

Ibiki studied her for a moment. "I can't tell if you are just offering me lip service. Damn, you're good. Are you sure you don't want to do a round in Infiltration? Uchiha, stop glaring at me, it's her choice." He gave Itachi a warning look. "She's good. Let this one get away and I'll assigning you to Kakashi's genin squad. As a genin."

"Noted," Itachi replied. "I'll return your files by -" Ibiki made a gesture like he was trying wave away a rotten stench.

"No need. They don't track what information I look at or copy."

Itachi paused and this time, he gave Ibiki the respect of his full attention. "Again, I am in your debt. Thank you."

"Just get it settled quickly before I get more council members nipping at my heels," Ibiki muttered as he left. Itachi looked up when the door closed behind him with a click and studied Hinata.

"We had no intention of involving him," he said.

"I did not want him angry."

"So you impressed him instead. He is a good ally." He smiled as she covered her red cheeks. "But please don't take him up on the Infiltration offer," Itachi added. "Kunoichi with your appearance invariably receive missions to seduce targets. It is your choice, but..." He frowned, searching for a better way to phrase it. He quickly gave up. Hinata limited her amusement to a faint smile as she feigned introspection.

"It sound rather interesting and could be useful for my career," she said. She glanced at Itachi with wide, questioning eyes. "What is your opinion?"

"I am already entertaining strategies to incapacitate your targets well before your arrival," he said flatly. Itachi was well aware that Hinata was teasing him, but he did not find this particular joke funny.

"I would be truly awful infiltration specialist if that were the case." She smiled at Itachi. 'Well, if that is my fate, then I should avoid infiltration." She reached across the table and laced her fingers with his. He gave her hand a squeeze.

"A wise decision."

The sky matched Naruto's eyes on the day of his inauguration - a blue that was impossible to measure how far it extended. It was a color full of possibility.

Hinata sat alone, but she did not shrink into herself. She was the only Hyuuga in the enormous section reserved for Naruto's family, and even if she stood out, Hinata delighted in the distinction. She smiled, raising her face to feel the sun warm her skin. She looked to the sky more and more these days, as she turned her face up towards people who stood so tall.

Hearing Sakura call out to her, she turned and greeted Sakura with a smile. She gestured to the seat beside her in invitation. "Good afternoon, Sakura. How are you?"

"Great!" The medic swept her up in a big hug, which Hinata accepted with a soft pat on the back. "I'm just so excited that Naruto is finally becoming Hokage. Took him long enough, the dummy. When we were genin, every other sentence out of his mouth was "Imma be Hokage, believe it!"." Sakura laughed, jade eyes lost in distant memory. The wind whipped her pink hair around her face. She blinked, and then she gave Hinata mischievous look. "Before we truly became a team, Naruto tried to use that as a pick up line on me." Sakura squinted her eyes in an eerily accurate impression of Naruto and began to speak in squeaky falsetto. "'Neh, neh, Sakura-chan, I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever. Don't you want to be the Hokage's girlfriend? Believe it!"

A shadow fell over them. They turned to see Sasuke, who gave them a wave as he settled into a seat behind them. Itachi had to remain in the Uchiha section to represent his clan, but as the younger brother, Sasuke was able to wrangle freedom to sit where he pleased. "The worst part was that he actually sounded like that," he said. "And it got higher when he was screaming challenges. At Itachi or me. Sometimes at the same time."

"You must have been very patient," Hinata mused. Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance, and then burst into snickers.

"It's more a point to Naruto's durability than to our patience," Sakura admitted with a flush on her cheeks as she brushed some of her stray bangs behind one ear. She looked like a contrite child, caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Hinata remembered that said "child" could (and had on many an occasion) split the earth with her bare hands.

"He deserved it," Sasuke said with a sniff. "Itachi told him he was welcome at the Uchiha estate anytime, and Dead-Last took it literally." The expression on his face could only be described as a 'pout'. Hinata got the distinct sense that while Sasuke did not mind his blond teammate nearly so much as he pretended to, he did mind very much when his time with his older brother was cut short. "A freaking barnacle, that one."

Sasuke didn't blink when Naruto appeared next to him with a barely-detectable spark of chakra and a glower on his face. "Oy, talking behind my back, huh? Bastard!"

"Not just behind your back," Sasuke replied with a sneer. "There are so many facets to your flaws that I wouldn't have nearly enough time to pick just one side."

"Do you stay up late at night to think of ways to get my attention?" Naruto pretended to toss back his hair in an eerie mimicry of Ino. "Stop falling in love with me."

There was a pause. Both of them turned green, though Sasuke kept his composure and stepped closer to his teammate. "It's almost like you wish there was something…" Naruto barely suppressed a shudder. "I see the way you've always watching me.".

"It's like a particularly spectacular accident - I can't look away," Sasuke replied. Naruto leaned in, towering over the slighter frame of his teammate. Sasuke stiffened and refused to give. They were nearly nose-to-nose, sparks or something flying between their eyes. It might have been romantic if both boys didn't have tortured expressions on their faces that normally only adopted by the seasick. Hinata shot a questioning glance to Sakura, who rolled her eyes at their game of chicken.

"They're starting the ceremony," Sakura interrupted, pointing one finger to the main platform where Tsunade stood with arms crossed, tapping one foot. "You should probably be there."

"Oh shi-" Naruto reappeared in the center of the stadium behind Tsunade, neatly dodging her punch and then clasping his hands together in front of his chest in apology. Sakura sighed and shook her head.

"He has instant teleportation, and he's still late. We had Kakashi as jounin-sensei for a total of 3 weeks and that was the main habit that stuck…"

The ceremony, thankfully, was a short one. Tsunade gave a quick speech thanking the village and then handed the Hokage hat to her successor. "I present to you Namikaze Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage!" Her jutsu-enhanced voice boomed across the stands, sending shivers down the spectators' spines as they realized they were witnessing an eerie echo of the only other hand-off from Hokage to Hokage in times of peace - when the Sandaime declared the Yondaime his successor. Some had to wonder if it was an ill omen.

Then Naruto stepped forward, his tan face solemn. He tilted his new hat back, letting the sunlight illuminate his sky eyes and bisect his face in shadow and light. He cleared his throat.

"Ah…" he started. He stopped, and smiled as he scratched the top of his hat. Of all things, Naruto apparently had developed a fear of public speaking.

He scanned the crowd until he found Sakura. He met her eyes, and then Sasuke's, and then Hinata's, and Kakashi's and Ayame's and Sakumo's and Iruka's and every person in section. Then he scanned the Uchiha section until he found Itachi's calm, steady gaze.

Naruto took a deep breath and turned back to face the crowd. "When I was Genin, even before I knew that my father was the Yondaime...I dreamed of this day every night. When I was down, I'd imagine my precious people telling me "you can do it, Naruto" or "have some more ramen, Naruto"" - a laugh rippled through the crowd, as his love for Konoha was only rivaled by his love for ramen - "But when our enemies...Orochimaru, Akatsuki, Madara, the other villages…." He looked down, clenched a fist full of his robes. "When they threatened our home, our precious people, I stopped dreaming because it hurt too much to think that any one of you not present. Instead, I could only cling one goal - get stronger, get stronger, get so damn strong no one could hurt my precious people."

He ground out his last few words between clenched teeth, his love and fury and pure determination holding the crowd captive for a long, breathless moment. No one needed further reminder that this was the man who forced the Kyuubi itself to bow to his will. This man was not one to bow to something so silly as fate or superstition. Then Naruto grinned until his eyes were little crescents, and the pressure of his enormous aura eased. "I had a lot of help, of course, and I would stand here for days listing all the names. But I'm glad, so glad, that you are here with me today. It means I succeeded in my dream, and it is better than I ever imagined. Because I stand here, having protected you as Genin, Chuunin, Jounin...and I will continue to protect you, now as your Rokudaime Hokage. Thank you."

He ducked his head, pretending to get the dust out of his eyes though everyone knew he was tearing up. The crowds roared their approval, and the stadium reverberated with their cheers.

"I missed you guys…" the Rokudaime Hokage whined. He gave them a pitiful look before resting his cheek on the table, squishing his face in a rather undignified way next to the rice.

"That's your freedom you're missing, not us," Sakura said with zero sympathy. "Sasuke and I have been both popping in and out of the office. To help you."

Naruto gave a half-sob. "But there's no end to the paperwork…."

"There's the real reason," Sakura muttered. Naruto made a noise that was more bovine than human.

"Good thing Yamato's a forgiving person," Sasuke said with a smirk. "Or he'll be hunt you down for killing so many trees."

"He'll have to get in line if he wants to revenge," Naruto said, as if it . "Speaking of which, I thought they banned us from this restaurant."

"I promised the owner that we wouldn't cause much damage this time," Sakura said. She looked down, green eyes locked on her pointer finger as she drew little circles on the table . "AndIbribedthem."

"Ah," Itachi said. He took a sip of his tea. Early on in his career as sensei, he'd requested extra budgeting for paying back angry civilians. While all shinobi paid an additional percentage in taxes to cover any damage (which was inevitable when puberty occured in a demographic that could level sections of the village if angered), Team 7 had an additional fee as they were particularly calibrated for destruction.

Hinata glanced at the clock, barely keeping her attention on the conversation before her. Almost time.

"Excuse me," Hinata said as she slipped out. Itachi met her eye and offered her a nod of support.

She found them in the adjacent room.

"Hikaru." The girl looked up, her eyes just wide enough that Hinata realized she'd surprised her. Hikaru turned back to Kiba. "Celebratory dinner my ass," she said, tone as flat as her expression. Hinata blinked at the rough language, but then shrugged because 1) she spent many of her formative years with an Inuzuka as a teammate 2) Hinata also carried herself very differently within the walls of the Hyuuga compound. She's never seen Hikaru interact with her teammates, and even though she's long made her peace, there was still a slight pang in her chest at the realization.

"Holler if either of you need anything," Kiba said as he turned to leave the room, blatantly ignoring Hikaru's displeasure. She sighed, and shifted to face Hinata with resignation on her shoulders.

"Please don't blame Kiba-san," HInata said. "I asked him as a favor to me."

"Oh," Hikaru said after a moment. "I thought you wanted to talk to me out of some twisted sense of duty and if I made some effort to avoid you, you'll feel better and stop trying."

Hinata was speechless, because Hikaru laid it out like she was discussing literal laundry, not the metaphorical sort. Given that Hikaru had kept some steep secrets, it was jarring. A vindicated smile flitted on her cousin's lips. "I did a lot of thinking while I was locked up. I'm going to be more straightforward and honest. If no one else but the people who still actually talk to me outside of necessity. So basically you, my team, and Old Man Ichiraku." She tried to sound more bitter than forlorn, but her voice wobbled.

Hinata couldn't think of anything to say that would help. They glanced at each other, both a little bit at a loss on how to sidestep their past with the other, even though it was their only connection.

"How have you been?" Hinata asked after a long moment. "Other than the silent treatment, they're not bothering you?"

Hikaru shook her head. "Nothing worse than expected. A few cold looks. Some conversations I'm meant to overhear." Neither of them mention the cruel echo of HInata's own experience in the Hyuuga halls. "I'm on probation. It's not so bad though, since it just means I can only take missions with members of my team."

Hinata studied Hikaru. It was easy to make her villain or the victim, when she deserved to regarded as both. The first time Hinata confronted her outside of her mind, Hikaru had been chained and stripped down to the bare bones of her vulnerabilities.

"What you did was no petty crime." Hinata held her gaze. "And I'm not underplaying it as such. I discussed with Itachi in length about my thoughts about this. It is not easy to forgive you. It is not easy to unravel years of learned behaviors." She stopped, and then offered Hikaru a small smile when the other girl didn't look away. Hikaru scratched her cheek.

"We should spar sometime," she said. It took Hinata moment to identify the expression on her cousin's face. It wasn't just respect or awe, because Hinata got plenty of that from those who had an ear to the more flattering side of the rumor mill. It wasn't desperation either, because even if Hikaru had wronged her, it was tedious to be pleaded for mercy she'd already given. "Chuunin on chuunin."

Hikaru was approaching them as strangers, both on equal footing on a blank slate. Erased but not forgotten. She smiled.

"I would like that. Very much."

Itachi wondered if Ibiki had been lying to him. Maybe he'd gone insane years ago. Because despite all his internal and external monologues about the danger of excessive tree-perching...he was hiding in a tree. Not lounging in, but curled up like Tora in the highest branches that would bear his weight.

Hanabi stepped under said tree. Even though she didn't look up, the hair on the back of his neck rose to attention. He didn't need to try peer at what she hid behind her mess of bangs to know that she was watching him with the Byakugan.

"I will leave if I am intruding," he said.

Even though Hanabi kept her head tilted down, Itachi glimpsed a half-smirk on her mouth. "No, stay. You are exactly where I prefer you to be."

"Hyuuga-sama told you," he concluded. She twitched her shoulder: More or less. She wasn't about to give him more information than necessary. It was disconcerting to be the one in poor graces. While Itachi was not arrogant, the natural hierarchy of things tended to place him in the position of power.

"Hanabi-san, why do you dislike me?"

"What ever gave you that impression? I don't dislike you in particular."

"Then the idea of me. The role which I fulfill. The circumstances of our relationship," Itachi said. Hanabi crossed her arms, nodding her head.

"Those could have some bearing," she mused. She tapped one finger against her chin. "Actually, it's just you. Everything about you. Especially how you won't shut up. You must really enjoy the sound of your own voice." Itachi didn't roll his eyes only because he knew Hanabi would see.

"Hinata is not defined by me," he said.

Hanabi snorted. "Obviously. If you didn't think that, Hinata would never have given you the time of day." Itachi inclined his head in agreement. Hanabi was waiting for a specific answer from him, which did not include petty assurances of loyalty and unrealistic promises of blind love. Words were easy to spin, and like a spider's web, just as easy to rip apart. If all his actions up to this point was not enough, though, how would words suffice?

"It will not be easy for her, because others will see Hyuuga and then they will see Uchiha and they will see a victim of her circumstances. They will forget her and those that don't will try to anyways. If I promise her anything, it is that I will always try to see Hinata before whatever role she has, be it Uchiha, Hyuuga, shinobi, or even sister." The implicit 'you should too' seemed to roll off her shoulders like water as she shrugged.

"We all have our problems," she said primly. She paused in thoughtful silence. "For example, I don't want you to marry her." Then she looked up with a saccharine smile that made her eyes into little crescents. "But I hate it even more when you stand her up. Don't even think about chickening out of this."

"Hey, Hinata."

Hinata offered Sasuke a smile as he sat down by her on the grass. "Good evening, Sasuke." He nodded, more uncomfortable that he'd been with her in a while. "What did you want to speak to me about? I'm not sure how I can assuage your misgivings with words."

"Creepy," Sasuke muttered. He raked a hand through his hair, a common tell for his irritation. Though usually it was aimed at his teammates. "You've been hanging out with Itachi too much." Hinata laughed, and it was a sweet sound unlike his brother's. Sasuke managed a more genuine smile. "It's not misgivings," he added after a moment. "I...He…Itachi's so strong that people just assume he can take care of everything. That everything's peachy unless he's in the hospital wing with more blood on the bed than inside his body." Hinata wondered if Sasuke realized the irony behind him accusing her of mimicking Itachi when Sasuke dropped Sakura's words like "peachy" without so much a twitch.

"You want to be sure it's what Itachi wants, not what Uchiha Itachi wants. And that I love Itachi more than the Uchiha," Hinata summarized. Sasuke thought over her words, and then bobbed his head like a child in agreement.

"Yeah. That's a better way of wording it. Do you love Itachi more than his family name?"

"I don't," she said. His eyes widen, and the air thickened with a spike of killer intent. Hinata fought to breathe, to keep her sanity. "Will you let me explain?" she said, voice soothing, if a bit strained. Sasuke studied her, a hard edge of cruelty to his expression. She never forgot the kind of power in Team 7, but sometimes she was fooled by their silly demeanors. He nodded, once. "I don't know Itachi without the Uchiha that shaped him. No-name Itachi would not be a brother, a son, a pacifist. If I had to surmise a guess...he would go mad. Orochimaru...he was a genius not unlike Itachi. Sometimes I wonder if he hadn't lost his family when he was so young, maybe things would have been different."

Sasuke gave her an incredulous look. "You think Itachi could have turned out like Orochimaru if he'd had the same history." He made a sound that was dangerously close to being classified as a whimper. "You just compared my brother to Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin."

"And I don't love Orochimaru," Hinata said. "I love the Itachi that had the Uchiha and your parents and you and Team 7. Still has them in his life."

Sasuke stared at her so long that Hinata wondered if she was in genjutsu that she'd been too distracted to detect and he was already slitting her throat. Then the younger brother shook his head in resignation.

"Creepy," Sasuke reiterated. "Now I'm sure you're meant for each other - you turned a simple question into a goddamn philosophical thesis."

"He has that effect on people," Hinata agreed with a sigh. Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah."

She was waiting for him at the Uchiha training field, leaning against their tree and soaking in the last of the evening sun. The sunset cast her unbound hair in an orange glow. She turned when she heard him approach and smiled.

"Itachi."

"Do you know what my question is?" Hinata nodded. Despite his marked success at identity theft, Hizashi was a horrible liar. He'd been doing everything but outright waggling his eyebrows at her the past week. The odd expression on Itachi's face, however, gave her pause. "Strange," he mused. "I had expected it to become easier after affirming your awareness."

Hinata said. "I acc-"

Itachi shook his head. "I should follow with standard procedure lest I am berated by our eavesdroppers."

Hinata glanced behind him, eyes resting on a patch of the shrubbery that gave off a distinct feeling of...nervous glee. She had no doubt that it concealed three individuals that never seemed to follow far after Itachi. Hinata was a little worried that a chuunin like herself could detect kage-class ninja, but then again, Itachi had that effect on his students.

Itachi's eyes flicked to something past her shoulder. Hinata's range with her Byakugan wasn't useful for much, but she didn't need it to guess a certain little sister was the target of Itachi's attention. And the killer intent her sister focused on Itachi was a dead giveaway.

Itachi and Hinata glanced at each other, and then burst into soft laughter.

"This is what it'll always be like," she said with a sigh. But she was smiling, and even the warm cast of the sunset could not disguise the flush on her cheeks. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Good." He extended his hand to her. She took it. "Regardless, do not let it pressure you-" She wrinkled her nose at him and his words faded.

"Stop stalling, Uchiha Itachi," she said. He looked at her, as if she were the air he breathed, the sunlight he felt, the sound of laughter he heard. For all his masks presented to the rest of the world, he was never afraid to bare his heart to her. And Hinata had to wonder how anyone could think Uchiha Itachi only a soldier.

And she looked at him, eyes unwavering because even though he was like a dream, he was also a dream come true - a reality she would fight to keep. For all her subtle mannerisms, she was never afraid to tell him in blunt (though still polite) terms what she wished of him. And Itachi had to wonder how anyone could think Hyuuga Hinata was weak.

"Marry me?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

He took her hand and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. She lifted the same hand to cup the side of his face, reveling in his reaction. He was smili-no, grinning, his eyes nearly closed to make space for it. And she couldn't help but mirror his expression. Not when she had the power to give him such joy, not when her heart was so full and light. Not when he would show her such a breathtaking expression even though they had witnesses.

Neither of them were shocked when Team 7 burst out of the bushes, cheering wildly. Nor when Hanabi approached, using two fingers to point at her eyes, and then back at Itachi, followed by slashing motion across her throat.

They were, however, mildly surprised by Naruto's confetti.

Mikoto greeted them at the door of her home, smiling so widely and so knowingly Hinata's cheeks hurt in sympathy. Itachi's grip tightened around her hand. For a moment, she thought he would pull her back outside.

"You asked her?" Mikoto asked. Itachi nodded.

"Yes, but Mother, please refrain fr-"

Mikoto ignored him, grasping Hinata's free hand between her own. "So when am I getting grandbabies?"

"Ano…I don't think that…we haven't...it's not…." Hinata looked down, fascinated by the sheen of the floorboards. How did Mikoto get them to shine so brightly? It was a work of art that required much contemplation...

"Oh silly me, you need to be registered first. Understandable." Itachi narrowed his eyes. Hinata was naive enough to relax and look up in time to see Mikoto pull a scroll from her sleeve. "Fortunately, I already submitted it for you. Rokudaime-sama was so very eager to accept my request that he personally saw it through the proper channels. I've never seen paperwork processed so quickly."

Hinata managed a mumble of terror. Itachi studied his mother with suspicious eyes.

"The esteemed Hokage-sama was crouched in the bushes at the time of my proposal."

"Nothing was signed until after Hinata-chan agreed," Mikoto assured him.

Itachi scowled. "That's not the point, Mother."

"Exactly. The point is now that you're registered, we need to move Hinata into the Uchiha complex. The ceremony is important but more importantly, we need to settle her as a future Uchiha matriarch -"

It was the current Uchiha patriarch who rescued them. Fugaku stepped near Mikoto, a gentle hand cupping her elbow. "I just got the budget approved for the wedding; fifteen percent above your 'minimum', actually. Did you want to review the numbers before delegating?"

"Thank you, darling," Mikoto said, eyes lighting up. She gestured to Hinata and Itachi as she walked down the hall. "I'll find you two later when I have the guest list."

Fugaku studied them. Then his stern expression eased, a smile almost pulling at the corners of his lips. "Kyokki-san would be proud," he said. Hinata nodded slightly at him in gratitude - both for his intervention and for the subtle sign of approval. "Though if she were here…I'm sure she'd be just as impatient as Mikoto to meet her grandchildren."

Itachi stared at him. Fugaku smirked and excused himself.

"Thank kami you're the firstborn," Sasuke muttered as he slunk out from behind the door. Itachi gave him a ruthless look. He had not missed how his little brother conveniently waited until their parents' departure.

"Father and Mother will be even worse when you get married," he promised Sasuke.

"You're the heir," the younger brother said with shrug. "By the time I get around to anything, there'll be plenty of babies for them to coo over."

"Not if they think you're secretly in love with Naruto," Itachi pointed out. "Just the sheer relief would be enough for excessive celebration."

"You wouldn't…"

"I wonder if they would go as far as banning the Hokage himself if he was half of the forbidden couple. Is it considered rude?" Itachi mused. Sasuke gave a Hinata a look of wild desperation. She took pity on him and put a restraining hand on Itachi's upper arm.

"Go easy on him," Hinata said. Sasuke opened his mouth to thank her, but instead gaped at her in betrayal when she smiled apologetically and added: "Sasuke is already under pressure since he's still keeping such an important secret from your parents."

"I'm not...but.." Sasuke shook his head and shuffled away from them, face still slack with shock. "She was supposed to be nice…" he whispered to himself in horror.

Itachi and Hinata lasted three more days before losing all patience with their well-wishers. With a sharp smile that reminded Team 7 of numerous commitments that required their presence immediately this momentrightnow, Itachi wove a genjutsu so complex and so subtle Madara would have wept with pride. Or with horror at the abuse of it to escape from one's own engagement party.

Under the cover of his chakra, Itachi threaded his fingers through Hinata's, and led her through crowd, ghosting down the shadowed halls of the Uchiha complex, and finally, into the side garden where the wisteria trees were in full bloom.

Hinata's formal kimono was too restrictive for them to take to the branches, where they could tuck themselves behind the veil of blooms, but its lavender hues helped them blend in. Itachi ducked behind one such tree, guiding Hinata to his side.

"No one around?"

He shook his head. She slumped against him, burying her face into his chest. "Thank kami," she murmurred. He hugged her close with one arm, resting his cheek against the top of her head. Only then, did she feel him relax.

"That was more taxing than anticipated," Itachi admitted.

"If I didn't like you so much, I might retract my acceptance of your proposal," she muttered. For all her sweet-temperedness, even Hinata could only withstand so much questioning of her womb's ability to uphold Uchiha and/or Hyuuga honor.

"Please don't," he said, wrapping his other arm around her waist in a gentle, but unbreakable hold. "I doubt my ability to endure another courtship. The backlash from my family might actually drive me to rid Konoha of the infestation known as Uchiha."

She gave a soft huff of amusement. "They're not so bad if you came from them." Though the flattery pleased him, it did little to soften Itachi's annoyance.

"One of my aunts cast genjutsu on you, and when you impressed her by shrugging it off, she tried to slip you an aphrodisiac," he said. His voice was even, but Hinata could detect just a hint of petulance. "To 'speed up the process'."

"At least she's supportive," she said with a laugh.

He pulled back and looked down at her with a faint smile. "They have no other choice."

On a rare whim, he broke off a sprig of wisteria from a nearby vine and with a slight frown of concentration, tucked it into decorative comb in her hair. He let his hand fall away, tracing the flyaway strands framing her face. The perfume of the flowers around them was heady and intoxicating, but they barely even noticed.

"I love you," he said.

Those were simple words, uttered again and again through the course of history, spanning the full range of sincerity. For some, love was a lie, tucked in the negative space of loneliness. For others, it remained only a dream, wrapped around twisted reality. And even when love was to be found like a small gem in the cavern, it was unearthed from between blood and betrayal and the ugly crevices of humanity.

But sometimes, love was like the first waking gasp of spring, one solitary blossom followed by thousands more in the blink of an eye. It was a wash of pink across stark branches - quiet, maybe too easy, but also an immutable fact of nature that everyone simply learned to accept it.

For Itachi and Hinata, it was the final - the only - option.

"And I love you," she replied.

He kissed her.

The maternity ward of the hospital was a little too-well lit for Itachi's taste. Sakura had rattled off some explanation about mood-enhancement and orderliness, but Itachi suspected it was more to help her soldier through her long shifts.

"Good, you're here, Uchiha." Hanabi scowled as she walked up to him. "I'm going to punch you." Itachi gave her a slow blink.

"No Jyuuken," he said. The heiress snorted and rolled her eyes. Which Itachi took as an affirmative, but he kept an eye on her chakra nonetheless. True to her implied words, Hanabi did not let any brilliant blue chakra leak into her fist. Itachi tensed his abs just before she hit, and barely swayed from her strike to the gut. He refused to allow her the satisfaction of any sound.

"Better?" he asked.

"Meh," Hanabi said. "Again?" Neji looked up hopefully from his staunch effort in propping up the wall.

"Absolutely not," Itachi said with a flare of killer intent. Neji shrugged and bowed his head again in meditation, his long hair curtaining his face.

"Then what are you doing here?" Hanabi stepped in front him, frowning and arms akimbo on her hips. No one had gotten around to telling her that while her aura was intimidating, the expression made her cheeks puff so she looked more twelve than seventeen. Hinata had laughed when he mentioned it and told him if that if she had yet to master the unique properties of her round, Hyuuga face by the time Hanabi was declared Clan Head, Team 7 had her express permission to taunt her for it until she did. Itachi looked forward such a scene, and so kept his expression impassive as his little sister-in-law tried to lecture him out of building. "Just because the vote on banning the Cursed Seal is tomorrow and you have blackmail on portion of of the counsel that haven't handed you their balls on a silver platter does not mean you should be twiddling your thumbs."

Itachi acknowledged her opinion with a slight incline of his head but made no movement for the door.

"I came as quickly I could," Hinata said as she approached them at a brisk pace. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion and her braid a little mussed. Itachi reached out and resettled a strand of hair that stuck up oddly from her bangs. She flashed him a smile, though it was tight with worry. "How is she?"

"Last Sakura said, she was doing we-"

"FUCK YOU, HYUUGA NEJI. I'M GOING ….SPLEEN...TARGET PRACTICE...USE INTESTINES FOR DOUBLE DUTCH..."

Everyone paused as they considered the fact that there were muffling seals in each room that made it theoretically impossible to hear the creative ways women threatened the men who put them there. Which meant either Tenten was loud enough to overload the seals. Or she/Sakura disabled them so Neji could hear the full degree of her displeasure.

"Less well now," Itachi amended. Neji groaned and his head dropped further into his chest, giving a distinct aura of trying so hard to meditate that he ended up focusing even more on the stream of incomprehensible but clearly angry words from Tenten. If it wasn't absurd, Itachi could swear she was threatening to string Neji up by his nose-hairs.

Hinata thread her fingers through his and squeezed. Itachi exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Despite his amusement at the mental image of Neji strung up by his nose hairs, the reason for her discomfort worried him.

"Tenten can be a very vocal person in general," she said. His eyes flicked to his wife's flat stomach. "Sakura is a very capable medic."

"You are well aware that anesthesia doesn't work well for shinobi pregnancies due to the enhanced chakra and blood flow."

"We also are stronger of body," Hinata said. She took his hand. "I am not even pregnant yet, Itachi." The furrow between his eyebrows smoothed.

"To think, grandma had to push out two of them," Hanabi cut in. Hinata gave her sister a look that did nothing to quell her smug grin. The new Uchiha head was beginning to look distinctly green.

Hinata grimaced. "I think it's good idea to take Neji and spar with him a little."

Itachi agreed.

Hopefully they could knock each other unconscious.

When Hinata told them Sakura confirmed that no, her nausea wasn't due to disease but rather twins, fifteen weeks, Hanabi ranted at Itachi for several minutes before any of them realized he was in shock. To the Hokage's eternal sorrow, he regained his senses before Naruto could finish drawing whiskers on his face with permanent marker.

Itachi did not even notice the three extra lines on his left cheek as he placed a gentle hand on Hinata's stomach and stared her in wonder.

AN:

I have two great regrets for this:

1) I took so damn long with the epilogue. There was apparently a whole colony of plot bunnies hiding in the epilogue. I'm determined not to write a sequel, because despite these plot bunnies, Hinata and Itachi's character arcs have been beaten to death with a dead horse at this point. Or however that saying goes.

2) I didn't write Ayame in the actual story. Ramen chef lady + Hinata at the marketplace for food. How did I not think of this back then?! *gross sobbing in the background*

Finally, thank you for all your support. Thank you to Aurora0914, corpsedollie, kudos, makotwisted, R0ow'z, swallowinthetwilight, alee26606, kenni no. 1, heza-chan24, evilbananalol, CrystalBud, Sana, and everyone who reviewed for your support. I know I forgot a few, but...well, there's a lot of chapters.

Until next time,

Airyo