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chaoticproductivity · 3 years ago

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Love in 3 A.U. - Beginning

[1/6]

I've got myself just a little bit of love that I wanna spend on you But baby, I'll never get that chance to dance that romance with you Oh, no, 'cause you're always hittin' And kickin' And putting me down

The old lady owner of the vegetable stand almost missed the time when the Fire Country was ravaged by wars, when very few ninjas stayed behind to defend the citizens of the Village Hidden in the Leaf. Those were difficult times, of constant worry, hopelessness, loneliness, but since most battles took place at the borders, they were also quiet times.

"Haaa~" She sighed, bent over the broom she used to sweep the few leaves in front of her store. "People decided to have too many children at the same time..."

The noise coming from the front of the store next to hers, a tiny cafe, was almost deafening due to the high pitch of their voices. A dozen girls and boys surrounding a gallant Uchiha Sasuke, with his ever-present smirk on his handsome face, the easy flirtation that seemed to trickle from his lips like nectar to attract bees, every gesture and movement calculated to look the most natural possible , all part of the character he had created for his little play.

There are lots of young people nowadays, yes, especially hanging around the shopping district's main street.

Young people, in the old lady's humblest opinion, who could learn to have a little more self-love and understand that as much as the youngest of the Uchiha's main family was a tremendous flirt, lavishing everybody with smiles, compliments, winks and rosebuds, those to whom Sasuke paid such attention were just momentary distractions.

If even a septuagenarian starting to go blind from cataracts in her left eye was able to see the truth about that boy, so should these young men, women, and all in between and around.

The scene that betrayed the young Uchiha's true interest had been going on for nearly two years whenever a certain kunoichi was patrolling around the village, rather than traveling on missions, at that very moment after sunset, in that same place, because both the old lady and Sasuke knew that that was her designated route.

The old woman rested both hands on top of the broom and waited.

With clockwork punctuality, Hyuuga Hinata rounded the corner between the udon restaurant and the convenience store. She was wearing her signature red lipstick, brow furrowed as if she were mad at the world, hands tucked in the pockets of her open white and lilac jacket, head held confidently high.

With the precision of a compass, Uchiha Sasuke's attention turned in that direction, his studied smile turned into genuine content by the gush of serotonin he received by the sight of the girl.

One moment the Uchiha was in the middle of the group of fans – if they could be called that – and in the next moment there was only a dissipating cloud of white smoke. Meters away, the shinobi appeared in front of the Hyuuga girl with a cheerful:

"Yo, Hinata-chan!"

"Tsk." The old woman laughed to herself at Hinata-chan's contemptuous look. The frequency with which it was used, especially when directed at the youngest Uchiha, had caused the girl to perfect it to masterpiece level. "You again, Bakasuke."

Sasuke's rather genuine smile widened, obviously taking the insult as an affectionate banter. It was not.

As fun as the interaction was, the old lady still found this form of courtship rather strange. Young people still did it like that, courting?

"Boo, Sasuke-kun~" The old woman pulled away from her broom, attention captured by the small group of young people in front of the cafe who had been left wanting while their object of interest was showing interest in someone more interesting.

"Come on, Minori, we can't compete when the princess appears." One of the boys gently escorted one of the girls away, as cue for several of the others to disperse as well. There were two girls and a boy left with their arms crossed and looks, as well as their postures, unfriendly to the scene of Sasuke trying to play his charm on Hinata, with success rate so far below zero.

"Ugh, thar again!"

"Who does this Hyuuga think she is?"

"Sasuke-kun runs up to her every time he sees her only to be treated worse than a nasty bug."

It looked like the nasty bug of jealousy and envy had bitten those three a few times.

Sasuke's apparent fascination with the Hyuuga heiress wasn't old, but it wasn't exactly recent either, having been occurring intermittently for a couple of years, if the old woman's memory was not failing her just yet. At first it was sad to see those teens, so obviously rejected, getting upset with the boy's very public and blatant display of preference every chance he had. Until then, it was Sasuke's unspoken general rule to give everyone a chance, therefore they kept on surrounding him, pestering him for the crumbs of little flirtations and promises - that he also kept on spreading, due to his need of attention -, but that would no longer lead to anything. Now, after enough time passed for them to realize who Sasuke really liked, the useless persistence was just pathetic.

"If you already know that he doesn't want anything to do with you..." The old woman raised her voice so that the three could clearly hear her words over the whining. "...go away and get on with your lives."

"What did you say, hag?" One of the girls asked in an outraged tone. Who did that old rotten lady think she was to lecture her unfavorably on her love life?

"Get out of here!" The old woman raised her broom, as if she was about to hit them. "I'm tired of hearing your unfounded, endless complaints!"

"You witch! Ouch! That hurts! Ouch! Stop it!"

"Shoo! Go away now! Get lost!"

The old hag reached them and was using the broom's stiff bristles to nudge their shins and calves. The three left in a hurry before the prickly nudges became whacks over their heads, and the old lady was able to return to observing the main attraction. She had missed the cheap pickup line Sasuke had used that day thanks to those silly, noisy kids. She liked to memorize them and tell her husband when he got home. If it made him laugh, it was an especially bad one.

At that moment Hinata had one of her hands up, as if she was going to punch Sasuke – as was not uncommon practice when he pissed her off enough – but her posture was paralyzed. The brunette boy, who had closed his eyes and gritted his teeth waiting for the blow – a blow that, they both knew, he could dodge easily, but he never did, and so the girl never hit him full force – opened them, trying to figure out what had happened that he wasn't bruised yet.

Sasuke registered Hinata's expression first, quick emotions that painted the Hyuuga's expression as watercolors spreading on water in the ten seconds it took him to look in the same direction as her: surprise, pain, anger, frustration.

When he looked behind him nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening on the main street of the shopping district at that time. People and shopkeepers chatted, families shopped, some students tried their luck at gashapon machines, couples walked hand in hand...

Oh.

Sasuke spotted them due to Menma's vivid hair, the yellow highlighted by the lights in the candy shop window where they had stopped to peek at the sugar-pulling machine, him and Sakura. He had one hand in his pocket, a bag in the other; she had her left arm intertwined with his, pulling slightly, as she pointed at something.

Hinata didn't know.

Menma and Sakura had finally established a relationship for the whole Village to see, but Hinata didn't know because she had been away on a mission for over a month. And that was how she had to find out.

"Hinata..."

Sasuke turned back to her, calling her name as he moved his body to stand between her and the couple, raising his hands in case he needed to hold her. Knowing her, it wasn't hard to predict that she would fly at Sakura's neck to threaten to kill her for daring to touch Menma, her man, as she had done hundreds of times before. Sakura, generally calm and amiable due to her status as the Village hero's daughter, thus having a reputation to uphold, was hardly intimidated by the Hyuuga heir, responding to Hinata's threats condescendly, one hand waving the air dismissively, saying "sure, sure, sorry". Menma would stand to the side, smirking, Minato's placating and diplomatic temper dominating Kushina's recessive traits of impulsiveness in his personality.

The Hyuuga didn't do anything that Sasuke predicted she would.

For the eighteen years they'd known each other due to the proximity of the Uchiha and Hyuuga Clans – Fugaku and Hiashi were frequent drinking partners and “inter clan meetings” was code for “come by for a drink” – he'd never seen Hinata cry. Shedding tears, yes, because that was an involuntary body reaction to pain and anger, but crying because she was sad or desperate or unable to contain her emotions, no, never.

And, after all, there it was.

Sasuke realized, horrified, that he had the best spot in the house to watch Hinata's heart break.

The tears had not yet fallen, pooling on her lower lashes.

Sasuke wanted to touch them.

Kiss them.

Drink them.

He wished he could absorb that pain, drop by drop.

Hinata acted first, lowering her head so that her bangs covered her eyes, rubbing them hard with the sleeves of her jacket. As she lifted her head again, redness in and around the beautiful pearly eyes, the familiar expression of irritation had come back.

"No more playing around today, Bakasuke."

"Hinata!" He called when she turned to leave. She paused when he snatched her wrist, his fingers closing over the damp fabric. "Are you giving up?"

She could. No one would blame her.

She should. They might look at her with pity, but they would understand.

"Tsk." She clicked her tongue. "Of course not." Sasuke felt her trembling before Hinata managed to pull her arm away from his grip. Her fists were clenched, whitened at the knuckles with the strength she was having to gather to keep herself in check. "But today… Today I l-lost."

"Sasuke, you were here?" Menma's voice from behind startled the young Uchiha and made him turn around again, the split second the Hyuuga heiress needed to jump onto the nearest marquee and flee.

"Uhn, who was that?" Sakura asked, approaching.

The old woman sighed listening to young Sasuke lie about who was the person who had just left, miss directing them by asking Menma and Sakura what they were doing at the market, when they had arrived, if they wanted to have dinner, distracting them, hiding her.

In the end, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha weren't all that different from those other kids she'd shooed away earlier, running around in circles for their own love interests, feeding on crumbs of affection, watering the little plant of hope with what was left unsaid. A heartbreak was the most effective remedy for a platonic crush or unrequited love where one person insisted on clinging to the 'buts and ifs'.

She tapped the broom's bristles on the ground to loosen the little leftover dirt before heading back inside her vegetable shop just as the street lamps began to light on, the businesses neon signs coming to life. Her husband would have to make do with the sad story she had witnessed rather than another bad pickup line.

#love in 3 a.u.#tilim #translation #fanfiction #sasuhina #sasuke #hinata #naruto #ff.net #ao3 #fanfic #rtn #road to ninja #au #alternative universe #gif not mine

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