Forced Paths

Untypical

He didn't like the silence. Nor the feeling that the house's only resident was him. He wasn't fond of the darkness that hit him when he arrived home. But the thing he absolutely hated was the quiet sobs that came from outside. She never talked about her sister's sudden departure. A few words left her mouth in the days passed, the bare minimum that needed to not become mute. Her eyes were always red, smaller than usual as the skin had swollen from the cry. Whenever he was home, she was in that bench on the back garden she created on her own. He didn't know if it was a move as to not disturb him or she just wanted to be alone. He didn't ask about her sister, she said her business urged her to return. He neither asked about the sad state she was in, she said she was down because the girl left. The bare minimum to stop any probing.
His father was upset with the sudden exit. It was uncalled for, not to inform them. They came and gone as they pleased, like they owned the grounds, as if they owned them. After his complete opinion of the clan he chose to align with, he said something that made Sasuke almost laugh. He told, as his eyes was on nowhere in particular, that he was glad they got the other one. He didn't like the brat that was meant to be the leader, but part of him was rested that she was it. She was rude and spoiled, he said. A person that doesn't count its words. Sasuke just nodded in agreement and kept his amusement for himself. He knew his father never liked Hinata. It was the nicest thing he ever said that included her.
He no longer shared the view for his wife, but he agreed on the evaluation of her sister.
Hanabi Hyuga. A woman that if anyone looked from afar would seem completely different than she was. Her posture correct, her head high, a person that knew her value. Yet she was simply misguided. She spoke for herself more highly than she should. Maybe she spent her life on praises that she came to believe. She tried constantly to open a conversation with him and she failed. Everytime his wife left her to do anything, the woman tried. She spoke of his clan, everything she had learnt from her books and stories, she spoke of him, of the reputation that followed him before he got married, as the most handsome man in the world. An exaggeration to compliment him. Yet she never asked about Hinata. That, he didn't appreciate. Because the woman that had decided to share her life with him, constantly talked about her sister.
The other thing that he found odd, infuriating even, was the belittling of Hinata's fighting skills. He knew that she was the victor of their fight and he also knew that neither of them could say it. But the way she spoke of it, made Sasuke ask himself if she really remembered that the only reason for her position, for not be the one next to him on that chair on the dinner table, was the love the blue haired woman had for her. He understood the necessity of her behaviour, yet he was sure in his gut that his wife would never act this way. She hated the formalities, and the presentation of one's self that was false.
Sasuke was glad when they left. The house found its previous peace, along with him. He was tense for the little time the Hyugas spent there. He became more quiet than usual, observing the slightest details that would explain the unerving feeling that had grew inside him. Something that was more than the intrusion to his house and the annoyance he felt on foreign people's presence.
But his inner calm was disturbed by her cries. He could no longer share the relief he felt when they departured. Her sadness made him confused. He didn't know what to do, or how to help her. And he didn't know if she wanted him to. So he let her be.
A week passed and she didn't seem any better. He opened the front door and darkness hit him as usual. It reminded him of the days before she came, before the house became alive. He took a bath and changed. He walked to the kitchen, opened a drawer and closed it again. A meaningless move, product of his uneasyness. He thought if she had eaten anything. She should have. She liked to eat. Always talked about the importance of meals for a healthy body. She wasn't starving herself, she wouldn't, would she. He could not say. He was gone all week and noone was here to watch over her. He standed in front of the window and looked outside. Endless fields and a light from a house afar. His breath heard in the quietness of the night, along with the constant noise she was making. He exited the kitchen first and then the house all together. He didn't know if she heard his steps on the stony path but as he turned, she was wiping her eyes. She casted a shadow of a smile that made his frown bigger. He observed her, silent for the moment.
"Is there anything you need Sasuke-kun?" She was barely heard. The lack of words and the state she was in made her feel foreign, a voice he wouldn't recognise if he didn't see the person that spoke.
"This has to stop." He spoke with strictness.
Her head fell, her hair wild and free covered her face.
"I upset you. I'm sorry." She spoke with whispers again.
"Yes. So end it. Now."
"I understand. I will be more discreet from now on." Her fingers were tangled together. Her thumps touched each other, separated for only a moment before they collided again.
"No." He said with a voice that made her turn. Her eyes were sparkly again. "I want you to stop not to hide."
She just nodded like a child and the tears that she was holding fell on her cheeks. She quickly turned to conceal her face.
Sasuke moved towards her. He towered the woman that sat on the bench before he bent his knees to see her face. Her gaze on her hands rested on her lap, an expression of shame and sadness painted her features. His hand moved, his finger brushed her tears.
"You are not stopping." He said and a new wave reached both their skins. He had left his palm resting on the side of her face as if he knew that more tears would emerge that he needed to wipe.
"I hate it when you cry."
She nodded again and he wasn't sure if she was there, hearing him or she was trapped inside the thought of her brain, her head moving only in a reflex in the sound of his voice.
"So please stop." Only then she raised her gaze. He understood why. He spoke in a manner, he himself didn't recognise. A foreigner stole his voice and yet it seemed to come from deep inside him.
She looked straight at him. The purple of her eyes more distinct than usual. No move was made, except the thumb on her cheek until the tears slowed down and eventually stopped, leaving only his skin brushing over hers.
A while passed before he was sure her eyes were dry.
"Good." He said and retreated his hand. His body straighten only to fell again on the bench beside her. His head moved backwards, his gaze on the starfull sky.
"Thank you." She spoke after a while.
"Hn." A small noice to aknowledge her words.
A cricket heard and as a response another.
"You are sad because she left. Is that the only reason?" His hands crossed on his stomach as he kept staring to the dark blue.
It took her some moments to respond.
"I feel like I abandoned her." She answered.
"You did what you thought was right. For her."
"I know." She sighed. "But was it right? Maybe she would be better if she was here with you."
He pressed his hands more.
"I believed I was protecting her." She continued. "But she didn't need protection after all, not from you."
"You could not have known that." He spoke in a steady voice that didn't match his insides.
"But I chose to bent on my father's will. I did exactly what he wanted me to do. And now she is there all alone." Slowly she was finding her voice again. "I don't know what to do." She admitted.
"Show her that you care. That is you after all."
Her lips raised in a bitter expression.
"That is all I can do, right?"
"Yes. Sometimes that's enough."
"Do you really believe that?" She asked more eagerly as if his confirmation would calm her.
"I do."
She smiled for the first time with her eyes fixed on the sky.
He kept staring at her before he followed what she was seeing.
"If you could, would you changed it? If you knew everything that you know now. Would you stay there and let her marry me instead?"
A pointless question. He was never a person that worked with ifs. He hated wasting words on things that had happened in a certain way and nothing could change it. And yet he waited for her answer.
"Yes." She said quicker than he wanted. "I would not prefer it, but I would do it."
He let a breath escape from his lungs with a nervousness that he didn't know he had.
"Or better, I would take her with me." She continued.
"So I would have two wifes." He joked. Her answer pleased him more than it used. Maybe because the scenario of the little brat living to his house made him irritated.
"My house hasn't have many rooms. One should share the bed with me." He picked on her as they turned to look at each other.
Her hand slapped lightly on his arm.
"Stop it." She said as she laughed. "I reconsider my idea."
"I didn't say it had to be you." He continued. He liked the sound of her laugh after so long.
"That is worse." She answered with a frown despite the fact she wasn't upset.
"Why? Would you prefer it if it was you?"
Her cheeks painted red.
"No. But you are talking about my little sister."
"I would wait for her to get older." He smirked and a second poke on his arm came.
She turned her head in the direction of the fields. Her frown dispersed when she giggled.
"Thank you Sasuke." She said when she stopped. "I really am grateful."
They spoke of nothing more, yet they stayed watching the shine of the moon on the land.
He thought how she changed from serious grown up to a child, and then again on a endless loop. How truthful her voice sounded on her words of gratitude. She deserved his help. She had rightfully earned it.
His mind drifted to the night before her sister's departure. He left the house after the suffocating atmosphere that dominated the whole dinner. He had to escape for a while. To vanish the words of his failure against the Hyuga prodigy. His father's eyes met his for a moment and he almost read the disappointment. He had to erase it. He could not wait for the day they would leave. But then it would not change the fact they mocked him in front of his parents, nor the failure he was. Itachi would have charmed the girl and made the man bit his tongue. He could not do it.
He thought of going to her. His feet walked to the direction of her house for a while. He remembered how light he felt when his wife hugged him the night he spoke of his secret. How without saying a word, she lifted a small burden. He stopped and turned. A meeting with his lover would not help him. Maybe being in the presence of his wife would calm his nerves. He returned to his house, only to find it empty. A panic rose and he exited again to search for her. Had they done something to her? He heard someone's voice from the back garden. He approached but stopped when he heard the girl talking about him. A hunch made him hide behind the wall.
How is he treating you?
He is nice. He is nice to me.
He smiled on her words. He thought about leaving. He had no right to listen to their private words. Then the conversation between the sisters moved and he caught on the intentions of the Hyuga heiress before his wife did.
He heard her struggling. He almost felt the pressure on her chest as her sister, the person for whom she decided to throw her whole life away, was asking her to commit treason. It was an easy decision. A foreign clan against her sister. Yet he felt empty. She knew, more than she should. Like an idiot he was, he told her.
I won't betray the trust that was given to me. She said then, and his heart flattered. The girl didn't know, yet he did. Maybe she thought that his wife was talking about the clan but she wasn't. She was talking about him.
Do you love him? He will leave you.
He wouldn't. He won't.
He looked back at the woman, seating on his side. It was that night, a week ago that he understood clearly what kind of person Hinata was. He had been in thoughts if he should tell her that he knew why she was truly crying, or how much of traitors her clan really was. But she would drown in anxiety about her sister safety even if the girl didn't deserve neither her love nor her loyalty. Their mysterious departure gave him the chance to plant the seed of treason to his father without actually tell him what he knew. It was his gift to Hinata. Or as he liked to address it, a dept dealt.