Distant Echoes

13 - Only with you

The days went by with that new work and home routine of theirs. The rainy weather had accompanied those evenings.

Hinata had taken to cooking in her house, they had dinner together, then she took a tea with some concoction inside for menstrual pains, and he washed the dishes, in an unspoken agreement.

Sasuke was fed up with the compulsion of rest, but with the days his state was clearly restored.

In fact, on Thursdays, not caring what the ivy said, she was apprehensive about her rest, she went back to read in the library, receiving grim looks from her.

The Sabbath came, they were both standing in front of each other in the early afternoon in the woods. The cloaks on them and the backpacks on their shoulders.

Hinata had come out of the Academy, had written to her father to have to work there even at night, to update the student cards and the new inventory to be made.

And part of it was true, she'd been in there since dawn, walking back and forth from the warehouse.

Looking forward to the future, she then pointed out that she would get those extras at least once a month so as not to arouse suspicion. Her father would never go there to check, the excuse of work was feasible, maybe later she could invent plans to do with the teachers. He would later think about what to write to him. However, it would have been different to tell him to go to one of his friends. Then it wouldn't have taken him long to figure it out. Sasuke was enthroned in front of her, and Hinata with her eye power scanned all of his wounds to verify his current state.

- Everything seems fine, but are you sure you're okay? - she asked worried.

- Yes.-

His response was not enough and he continued to probe every vein, every possible damage. Sasuke looked at her, crossing his arms. She was more thorough than a whole team of medical ninjas. Was she still insisting on that check? The last time he lied about his condition was you, not him. After a week of housework, she couldn't wait to leave the village.

- Has anyone ever told you that you're stubborn, woman? - she asked silently.

- I am just checking your situation - he replied, continuing to examine you.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, a clear sign that he was annoyed by his response. Now she had to punish her, she could not bear another second of that fixation that had come to her in verifying her condition.

- You haven't been running for a while - he said smiling. - Let's see if you can get out of the other side of the woods before he catches you. -

- Go out the other way? - 

- Hinata, you have five minutes. -

Sasuke's face was as expressive as a statue carved in stone. Only long black hair moved in the wind, escaping the immobility of its characteristics. Sasuke raised his fist, opening one finger at a time. He opened his mouth. He was counting.

- Run away. -

At that point, Hinata didn't take long to understand that he was challenging her. She was stubborn, but he was even worse.

Losing rid of his backpack, hat, scarf and cape, he began to enter the woods quickly. Luckily her period had passed the day before and she was definitely at the best of her form. By activating her eye power, she verified that he was still there. And it was like that. He was keeping his word. He was not moving from where he had left him. Jumped from one branch to another of the trees. It gave her a five-minute head start that was a lot. And maybe because of what he'd done six days earlier, there might have been some hope of winning. She wasn't even too far from the exit. But his heart trembled when he heard him move. The five minutes had passed. Sasuke's movements were very fast, too fast, the distance between them was always shorter. He squeezed his lips and tried to push himself harder. Faster, more, more, more. But despite his efforts, the signature of the Sasuke chakra appeared in its narrow extension. Alarmed, she used even more force in her legs as her byakugan warned her of the further approach. How can he be so fit? She had been training seriously with him for months. It was inhuman. There was no way out. Hinata's breath increased, her forehead felt full of sweat, but at least she had to make a good impression. With conviction he gave himself even more thrust with the branches.