Hinata was running.

The branches were scratching her face, the cold air bruised her cheeks and caused tears to form in her white eyes. But she couldn't give up. She had never been so close to her goal before. The veins on her temples were strongly visible. Her Byakugan was fixed on the person in front of her.

That person was a few kilometers away. She had to catch up.

"Hinata, wait up!"

Kiba was trying his best to keep her pace, but was failing miserably. Even Akamaru was struggling to catch his breath.

But she couldn't wait up. She had to hurry.

Hinata had been going back from a mission with Kiba, Shino, Tenten and Lee when her chakra had met a strange, strong aura. One she could not mistake. The raven-haired kunoichi had taken a sharp turn to the east and was now chasing this feeling. And to be absolutely sure, she had activated her kekkei genkai. The hooded figure could actually be anyone, but she needed to check.

The Hyuuga heiress had been running for hours. The person she chased was obviously aware of what she was doing, as he tried, and almost succeeded, in running away and hiding a couple of times. But her special white eyes did not fail her. Her determination did not let her down. Her friends and ex-teammates were running as fast as they could, chasing after her, as it was obvious something was not right.

She was getting closer. Yet, she could no longer hear the huge dog's distinctive panting, and his owner's voice was so distant she could barely notice it. Even Shino's bugs struggled to follow her. Hinata was known as one of the fastest kunoichi in her clan. She took another sharp turn and dug herself into a thicker forest. She was not very sure where she was at the moment, but this seemed like the far eastern part of the Land of Earth.

After the last Shinobi War, the ninja world was quite more peaceful. The nations had gathered together to fight Madara and Obito, all men and women had forgotten their grudges for the world's greater good. And after almost 3 years, the countries were still pretty much at peace. She was not worried to run in a distant and unknown land where even as an heiress, she had no jurisdiction. She was only worried that she might fail at what she was trying to accomplish right now.

Her throat hurt, her face hurt, her whole body hurt but she was not giving up. Stepping on a tree's dead branch, she almost lost her balance. Jumping at the last moment, she managed to save her foot from probably breaking. Raising her eyes again, she realized she could no longer see her prey. Her eyes were sore, the Byakugan was a heavy gift to use for too long. She lowered her eyelids and rubbed them with her bruised fingers.

No.

The Hyuuga took a deep breath and activated her gift again. She ran ahead, reaching a high pine tree. The Land of Earth barely had any trees, and yet, she had managed to get lost in one of the few existent forests. But the wall of trees in front of her was almost to an end. She ran more, and then more, until she reached the cliffs. But she couldn't see him.

Closing her eyes again, she concentrated. Searching for his chakra was a good idea, as it was too strong to be concealed easily. Catching its trace, she immediately followed.

The girl could have been running for hours, she couldn't tell anymore. The stars above her were bright, it was the middle of the night.

Suddenly, Hinata stopped. On the clearing in front of her, in the valley between two mountain-like cliffs, stood the hooded figure she was chasing after. His back was facing her, she could not see his face clearly. It was too dark and the hood was not helping. She was panting. And he seemed so still, she couldn't tell if he was breathing at all.

"You are not giving up, are you?"

The voice was hoarse and different than the one she remembered, but there was no mistake. Uchiha Sasuke was standing before her, his chakra pouring through his pores.

"S-Sasuke..."

Hinata was not one to skip honorifics, but she was not sure how she could address him. The Hyuuga watched as he slowly turned to her and took the cloth off his head. His red eyes were glowing in the dark.

"You are good, I'll give you that. Now leave. I don't have time to waste on you."

"I... I'm not going anywhere," the heiress took a step forward, immediately regretting her decision. "You are coming with me."

She watched as a crippled smirk appeared on the man's face. With a sharp movement, Sasuke took the long cloak off of him and threw it on the ground on his far right.

"From all the people I have battled, I've never had the chance of killing a Hyuuga. Should I consider this an honor?"

The Uchiha also took a step forward and watched the girl in front of him widen her pale eyes. She was stubborn though, as she did not move.

Sasuke couldn't handle such encounter right now. He had already been spotted in Iwagakure and was in a hurry to get back to hiding. He expected an Earth shinobi to be after his trail, so the Hyuuga really did surprise him with her presence. The Uchiha survivor had not seen a Konohan ever since his final battle with Naruto, back when the last Shinobi War was just going to an end.

Let's get this over with, he thought, raising his hands. In a second he had performed all the signs needed for a perfect Chidori and was already running towards the girl in front of him. For a moment he was certain he would hit her, but she managed to slip away from him, her huge chakra blast attack almost knocking him to the ground. A cyclone formed around Hinata as she swirled. The vortex was so strong, it sent little stones in the air.

She was thinking of a strategy. She had to disarm the man, and to possibly knock him unconscious, but this was too tough to even imagine. She also did not want to risk wasting too much time, as he could run easily. He obviously knew the land here and had an advantage. But she knew him well enough. Sasuke was not one to back away from a battle.

And she was right. With a second Chidori in his hand, he jumped at her, but managed to barely scratch her left arm. Yet, the electrical current shocked her and burned her painfully. Using the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm technique, The Hyuuga heiress managed to almost push the Uchiha against a cliff. The blasts of her hits tattered one of his sleeves. He eyed his shirt with irritation. The fugitive was getting fed up with this game. This kunoichi was obviously using her bare hands for everything, and this was a huge disadvantage for her.

He reached behind him and drew the famous Sword of Kusanagi. The silver blade shimmered in the night, lighting up the valley as his chakra poured through it. Electricity buzzed as it coursed through the special iron, causing Hinata to shiver, but she was not scared in any way. She had enough knowledge of how to battle an Uchiha since the Fourth Shinobi War when she faced Obito and the revived Madara.

Hinata lowered herself a bit, bending her knees for more balance. She clenched her fists and gathered as much chakra as she could.

Using the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists technique, she attacked the man with full force. His blade crashed with her right fist, but her power was too strong to let it harm her. Sasuke had underestimated her. She had more power than he had thought. Yet, this was only child-play for him. Putting just a bit more muscle force in his sword caused the girl to fly back as she had to avoid getting a finger chopped off. She took out a kunai from the little bag attached to her thigh and attacked again. The blades crashed, but her weapon was too little and soon the electricity burned her skin. With a hiss, she ducked and managed to kick the blade out of the man's hand.

The Uchiha looked genuinely surprised. He had not battled since the war itself, but had he lost his shape? Or was she simply too good for his expectations? Yet, this had to end. Activating his Sharingan, he stared right into her eyes.

"Amaterasu."

Black flames appeared on the girl's jacket and she immediately felt the strong pain caused by this unnatural fire. She somehow managed to take it off and threw it at the man. With a blink the fire was already gone. Bloody tears appeared in his eyes.

This is a waste of time.

Hinata watched as the man before her suddenly stood still. He looked calm, almost as a statue in the dim moonlight. His emotionless face was scaring her, but the awful smirk that appeared on his face was even more terrifying. He tilted his head to the right and in an instant was surrounded by a purple-colored ghost giant. Hinata had never seen it herself, but she had heard enough stories about the famous Susanoo to know exactly how bad her situation was.

The face of the creature looked like a skeleton. Its horns were long and freaky.

"You should be the one feeling honored, Hyuuga, for you will die by my hand."

Hinata knew well enough that she was probably about to sacrifice her life for this. Yet, she did not feel remorse, or even the slightest sadness. She was finally going to meet Neji nii-san.

Gathering her full strength, she ran towards the man.

"Byakugan."

The Uchiha moved just in time before her palm could strike him right in the center of his chest. The giant above him wielded his sword, cutting through her cheek, then swung again, tearing her lower abdomen. But she had done what she wanted. Sasuke's left arm hung lifelessly next to his torso. He observed the numb limb and touched it with his other arm just to confirm that he could not feel it at all.

Guided by his chakra flow, Hinata had actually managed to succeed in her attack. She had deliberately aimed for his heart just to confuse him, and he had let his guard down enough for her to strike the most important chakra points of the arm. Such an issue could easily be fixed by a Hyuuga, but could also take months if the victim recovered on his own.

Hinata panted, pain darkening her sight. She held her stomach, trying to stop the excessive bleeding but to no avail. Her vision was hazy by the blood loss and by the overuse of the Byakugan. And still, she watched as the blurry figure walked to her slowly. She was pushed to the ground and fell on her knees. The cold blade touched her throat. She tried pulling away, but her attacker grabbed her by the hair and adjusted her so she would not move.

She was cold. The night was cold. This man was cold, his eyes red as fire, but freezing as ice. But she had accomplished enough. She had managed to cripple the Uchiha and the next one who met him would probably be the one to get him back. Back to Konoha, to Naruto. She was glad of her progress. And yet, she felt ashamed for not being prepared enough. The reason she had managed to even get close to him was simply because he underestimated her. Just as everyone else in her life had always done.

Hinata closed her eyes, listening to the cold wind.

"Hinata!"

White eyes snapped open as she recognized Kiba's voice and Akamaru's bark. Still, her vision was befogged and she couldn't see much. She felt as something collided with her head and she drifted away.

Note:

This is the long desired and severely postponed story that was living in my head for some time now. SasuHina is my favorite OTP :3

I hope you will like the story, things are yet to be revealed. I will try to upload the next chapter pretty soon. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

P.S. I hope my battle scenes don't suck too much. :)