Distant Echoes

18 - Confidence and insecurity

Sasuke squeezed the seals and bit his thumb, the next instant the hawk appeared. This time Hinata stopped in front of him, resting her shoulder on his chest. It was strange to hear that she was so comfortable with him that she could terrify everyone with one look. Maybe deep down he had almost forgotten what it meant to receive warmth and give some of it, perhaps because his experiences had left him that lesson. After all only the first years of his childhood, he had received affection.

Itachi took him on his shoulder, when he was a child, then his brother had left him alone in Konoha, after having carried out a massacre and having become the scapegoat of the dirty side of their native village. In the Academy, he could not understand the words of Naruto and Sakura, Naruto was even more accustomed to being alone, he was born there so, while he did not.

He had gone from having everything to nothing in an instant. At school, the girls chased him screaming for a place near him, he wanted to kill them all at that moment. They were annoying, what did they see, her beauty, when inside she bled at all times? Every day he woke up wanting to go home, but he didn't have it anymore. Maybe deep down, after what happened to him, he started to fear giving and receiving heat. Nothing lasted at his side.

Maybe sometimes he thought that whatever he touched would fall. He had completely lost his smile when he left the Leaf, there was no reason to smile, the only goal was revenge. Then, later, if Orochimaru who had infected his body with that curse had obtained it, it would have mattered little. His life was a complete tragedy of loneliness and torment.

She turned a glance to Hinata who had taken her arms to put them on her belly and be tight in her grip. She, at least had a comfortable place to return to even though she had voluntarily isolated herself from everyone.

- For you - she said as soon as she had reached him in the woods, pulling out a band from a cardboard bag. - How is it? -

He had worn it directly without comment, but she didn't seem to have been hurt, if he had put it on, it just meant he liked it. It was as if he put his trust only in him and that awareness put him back in that floating bubble of increasingly cryptic perceptions that he removed shortly after seeing her. He almost gave in to accepting that heat from her when it took him years to resign himself to not having it anymore.

- Look, Sasuke - she said, spirited. - It's really colorful that place. -

Color?

He promised himself he'd try to see something. He doubted that it would be easy, but at least an effort could be made. She had jumped down from Garuda enthusiastically. There was a huge pagoda on the mountain, it was a tourist place, there were stairs on a twisted wooden bridge suspended in the air.

- He's very tall here - he said, looking out over the bridge. - The air is so fresh. -

Hinata looked at the man who took photos of the families and couples around, then looked at Sasuke, she was standing next to her, only her hand radiated warmth, her expression was always so cold, unshakeable. He chewed his lip and grabbed a piece of his black cloak.

- Hmm? - he mumbled, looking at her. She frowned, looked at him, then looked behind him. - What? - he chased her.

- Um - she took several breaths. - Would you like to take a picture with me? -

Nothing leaked from his expression, but for a moment Sasuke was shocked by that request. She reached out and passed her index finger on Hinata's right cheek. The longer he waited for her to answer, the more inflamed his cheekbones became. Sadistically he has not yet responded, by now they were turning red almost like his Sharingan those cheeks.