Forced Paths

Cryptic

She had sent her letter a few days ago. It had troubled her at first as to how it would arrive, as she was supposed to be in the Uchiha grounds by now. Kakashi reassured her that it didn't matter, he had his ways. Then when an answer hadn't come, she feared that it would fall on the wrong hands, her father's in laws perhaps and everything would be destroyed. The silver haired man said that it wouldn't be a problem. He never shared anything more about how exactly he would make it work, still she suspected of the many spies that lived under both roofs, of the anxiety they would be sure to share, how much of a weight it must have been, a weight she couldn't imagine she ever could handle.
Yet she was putting herself into a very similar position. If her father took the bait, she would have to lie to both ends and she would have to do it effectively.
She rubbed her eyes and prepared for yet another day on this strange household. They spent their time with the masters of the house, mainly with one or the other. She didn't know if that was because someone had to prepare for things unfamiliar to them or as a way to contain Sasuke's temper. They educated them and testing them all the same, with little pieces of new informations each day. Much like they were children and if they behaved correctly they would be rewarded. She didn't mind. This fragile trust should be nurtured constantly if there was a chance for it to be strong.
They were training too. How much she had missed it. To move around freely, without the fear of getting caught, without the hiding that spoiled the process.
The two men were better than her. It was easy to tell, but she tried to learn their patterns, their weak points, she examined their moves and sometimes she was getting the upper hand.
Sasuke refused to join her. He refused to even speak, or share a look at her direction. As if she was invisible, or she had already left. It had bothered him, her plan of what comes after, even when she believed she had set him free. That was what he wanted. To have a life of his own measures, to be alone, to spent his nights as he wished. And despite how much it had angered her when he compared her to leftovers of his brother life, Hinata chose to understand.
Perhaps he found it impossible for something like this to happen. But nothing was impossible if you tried.
Maybe he felt patronised, she hadn't discussed it with him, yet she had saved him the trouble. She had found a solution to their problem. His problem. She wasn't sure. There were many things that needed fixing before that and she didn't want to leave her mind to travel to that moment where she would have to pack her things and leave the house. Their home.
She walked to the study late. The deafing silence warned her that the other two had already arrived. When there was one or another, she could trace a page on a book turning, a cup clicking on a plate. She walked and her affirmations were confirmed.
Sasuke was seating on the couch, his arms crossed, the table on his front was receiving his angry look. Itachi sat on the chair behind the desk, seemingly reading a book, but she was sure he wasn't.
"Good morning." She said with only the older brother returning the welcome.
She sat on the chair opposite of him and waited to listen for the plans yet to form.
The man got up and filled her cup with tea. If she recalled she hadn't seen a servant yet. And the ones she had mistaken as such were the same people with masks.
"Aren't there any people help you with the house?" She asked.
"Me and Kakashi take care of it ourselves." He responded as he took his seat again.
"Proper housewives." She heard Sasuke saying and she turned.
He avoided her gaze, his eyes rested on his brother.
"Is it below you Sasuke? To take care of a house?" Itachi said.
"My status, both in the clan and as a warrior doesn't allow me."
He lied. Because Hinata knew for a fact that he didn't let anyone else come to his house to clean. And the place was tidy from the moment she had set her foot inside.
Only then he looked at her. Because he understood as well that she knew. Perhaps it was a glance of warning to not contradict his statement.
"It's difficult to bring a lot of people you don't know inside your privacy." She said and his brows furrowed. Itachi didn't understand, he thought she talked about him, making a confirming sound.
"Let's begin." Sasuke said to stop her from saying anything more.
"We don't have much to say. Hiashi hasn't answered yet and that troubles me. Maybe we should reconsider your plan Hinata-san."
"He will answer." She said. "I am sure."
"Why hadn't he still?" He was puzzled about her confidence.
"To punish me." She answered. "He wants to be sure that I would be in great despair when he approachs."
The man stared at her with the same black eyes he shared with his brother.
"My father doesn't tolerate defiance. And I have defy him greatly until now."
"I have my share of that. Still.." Itachi spoke again.
"Don't compare our father with him." Sasuke cut him. "He sent you away. He didn't.." He looked at her again.
There was a moment of silence.
"You defend him still. You are a truly kind child."
"I am not a child. And stop speaking to me like that. You lost your privilege to act like my brother."
It was a normal occurrence. For them to fight. It would never stop to pain her. It was a shame. Because there was love underneath the insults. It was obvious for her to see.
"I am here to prepare you for what comes next. You should act more of your age and the status you speak of." Itachi scolded him. "Don't become like him." He said in the end. "You have the potential to be so much more."
"No." Sasuke smiled bitterly. "You had the potential. I worked hard to stand where I am today."
"Hinata-san, I am sorry for our manners." Itachi ended the conflict.
"Don't talk to her like she is yours. She is my wife. She had seen me angered before." Sasuke wasn't ready to stop.
"I am sure of it." Itachi warned him with a look. "Perhaps you should learn to be more consider, since you decided to be married."
She saw the outburst that was about to happen.
"I am thinking of telling him that I am pregnant." She interrupted.
They both turned to her.
"Not now. Maybe after a letter or two. It will give him a false sense of security."
"That is not a bad idea." Itachi responded. "We will have to think about it. Maybe you will be by that time."
She held her breath. And watched Sasuke doing the same. Perhaps it was the whole atmosphere, essentially he was his brother and not a stranger, that made them sloppy.
Because the man across them didn't miss the change in their faces.
"Is something the matter?" The suspiciousness in his voice reached her ears. He probably came to a different conclusion, since he spoke again.
"Is something that I should know? There is no point in keeping secrets now."
"No. It is as you say. Maybe I would be by that time. I would not have to lie." She answered, yet it didn't reassure him.
"Nevertheless if that happens we have to consider again of the fact of sharing an information like this. It would be endangered your child."
She pressed her lips. There was no reason of discussing it, it was a waste of time, since that scenario was impossible.
"Hinata-san what are you hiding? Are you perhaps pregnant right now?"
She felt the heat on her cheeks.
"No she isn't. And stop talking. It's none of your business." Sasuke answered angrily, but his voice held no malice, only embarrassment hiding behind the irritation.
Itachi stared between them, with his calm expression and his interrogating eyes, resting his gaze at Sasuke at last.
"We will address the matter another time." Perhaps he felt his brother's embarrassment and chose to be kind.
"Are there any more allies we should be expecting? If things comes to worst." She said to confirm her husband's suspicions that there were not.
"Not really." He said tired. "We probably could contact the Uzumaki, but as a last resort. Kushina won't bring her people to war unless she has to."
"I can contact Karin." Sasuke said. "To see if they already know something."
The mention of the woman's name left a bitter taste on her mouth.
"Not yet." Itachi answered. "She is fond of you, but I don't want to test the limits of her fondness." He turned at her. "Do you perhaps not like the Uzumaki clan Hinata-san?"
She was taken aback. What kind of expression she had on her face to raise a question like this.
"No, nothing of that sort." She said, moving her hands in front of her. "I haven't been familiar with them enough to feel one way or another."
She tried not to look at her husband's direction.
"Have you heard anything from father?" Sasuke asked and she was thankful for the conversation drifting away.
"Hinata-san is sick as I hear." He barely smiled. "She is out with a cold. Noone visits the house, except from her husband who is staying there all the time." He crossed his arms. "But there is another rumour that lingers, that the chief's son is very upset about something she did. That's why noone had seen them." He looked at him directly. "Because you can't be a caring person. In his ignorance he gave the perfect excuse."
"Why is it wrong to be strong?"
"Strong?" Itachi said with mockery. "Our dear father purposely implied that you have locked your wife in the house, disciplining her for whatever reason. Do you find that to be strong or powerful?"
"He can't actually say that I am staying to take care of her illness." Sasuke replied.
"Why? Is it less manly?"
"Because the people will say..."
"Oh, of course, the people. The people will say that the boy is weak for being a caring husband."
"You know how things work in our clan. Don't pretend otherwise." Sasuke got up.
"How do you find your position in the clan? Considering that you had been a warrior before, it must have been insulting to not be able to weild your sword." Itachi completely dismissed him and turned his attention to her.
"It is." She said and heard Sasuke's feet moving towards them. "But anything can change even if one person behaves differently."
"Is that what you think?" He asked intrigued.
"It is not a matter of belief. I am here talking to you, aren't I?"
She could not understand Sasuke's insistence to appear loyal to every view and rule that his clan shared. Because he wasn't. He had given her the sword, they trained together whenever they had the time. He hadn't touched her.
Perhaps it was to hurt Itachi or he was doing it unconsciously. Yet if she ever wished for anything to change, for her plan to work, for him to be free they had to move past it. They had to begin working on a mutual ground.
"Because my brother allows it?" He asked.
"In a way, yes." She answered.
"As if you wait for permission." Sasuke addressed to her for the first time. He talked mindlessly, she was sure as she turned and saw his face. He wanted to take it back. His statement, the casualty of his tone that was evident.
There was a chance in that moment, while he was still confused.
"Where did you and Kakashi-san meet?" Hinata asked the man sitting across her. For a second he didn't hear, his eyes were on the other person in the room. For a second she believed, he had seen too that his brother wasn't a lost cause, that he had beliefs of his own, that there were much under the anger he was constantly seen.
"In one of my travels." He answered, yet his attention wasn't entirely on her. "I was on a journey, my father had sent me, to talk with Tsunade about the borders of our clan. I had the ability to push her for them to broaden, he had said. And she was a woman alone after all. I could find a way to pursuade her. Instead I met him." He said and his tone changed to softness.
"I don't need to hear that." Sasuke raised his voice.
"I would have left either way." Itachi responded a little lower. "Don't blame him."
Sasuke looked back and for a moment it seemed he wanted to say something.
"I want to train." He spoke to her instead. "Let's go."
It seemed like a command, yet Hinata felt as if he was asking for her help to escape.

____

She watched walk to the other side of the house, where the room for training was. He didn't ask for directions so it seemed that he was training on his own. For a person that didn't skip work even while sick, it was expected. He opened the door and she followed behind him. This place was similar to one they had on the Hyuga clan. Dull weapons and training swords hung on the walls and nothing more. A big door on the other side let to the back garden. Yet here the wood smelled fresh with its brown colour vibrant in contast to the painted white. There was a servant back to her family house whose job was to paint again and again the places where the white fainted after the long training sessions. She always found it unnecessary.
He picked a weapon of his choosing and stared at her as if to promt her do the same.
"I wanted to hear your brother's story." She said as she walked closer to the wall.
"Do it on another time. When I am not around."
"Aren't you at least curious to know what was on his mind then?" She asked and picked a sword.
"He had his chance to tell me. I am not interested now."
He looked at her.
"But since you are, you can spent all your time with him if you want to. You can learn all about Itachi's complex nature."
"I don't think it is that complex." She answered. "He was living an unfulfilling life and decided to change it. Unlike me." She concluded.
"Unlike us." He corrected her. "But don't worry. Not everyone can be like him." There was a tone of mockery that coloured his words.
"Itachi has always been special." He said and he rushed to attack her.
She blocked his sword with her own.
"Special how?" She asked even though she knew that she shouldn't. In a fight words were unnecessary, forbidden even. The breathing should be controlled, the focus should be only in the opponent's attacks.
He took a step back and measured his next movement.
"He can convince anyone about anything." He said and rushed again, but in the last minute he bent his knees and stroke her feet.
She lost her balance and fell on her back. He tried to immobilize her but she kicked him away.
"Is that why you refuse to talk to him?" She said as she tried to get up.
"It doesn't work on me anymore." He said with his hand on his stomach. Maybe she had kicked him too hard.
"So listen to what he has to say." It was her turn to jump to him.
"One of us ought to have a clear mind." He said and threw his weapon away.
She had her on his throat, his hand around hers. It didn't feel like training anymore. It seemed more like a fight on the streets, unorganized and raw as if to determine who would prevail.
His grip was loose, he wasn't putting much strength, only when her free hand touched his palm, the pressure around her throat rose.
"Why aren't you making my hand unable to move? You can do it. I am wide open." He spoke.
"I wouldn't do that to you." She responded and removed her sword of his throat.
That upset him. The look on his face told so. He broke their contact, taking a step back.
"Why? You are willing to leave. We are but mere strangers living under the same roof, both serving the role that has casted upon us."
"We are not strangers Sasuke." She said.
"Don't start. Being and team and such. You are ready to form a new team when it suit you better. When someone tell you a nice story."
"That is what you think I am doing?" She closed their distance a bit. "That I am being swept away by Itachi and the others?"
"Before coming here, you seemed fine being stuck with me." He said.
"You said I was left overs, remember?" His eyes widened only for a moment before he catched her fist that was ready to strike. "That if you could, you were never going to marry. You pointed out how unhappy you are. I am giving you the chance to not be anymore and you don't want to take it. You even seem angry about it." She pushed back him back, relishing her arm. "You think what I am doing is because of something someone said. You are right. You did."
He seemed distracted for a moment and she was on her limit. No more silence. He had to speak and say what was on his mind. She pushed him once and twice, kicking his feet enough make him fall. She moved quickly, jumping on top of him, restraining his hands. She wasn't going to let him escape.
"So what do you have to say?"
He breathed. As if the next words would be painful. For that sear moment she hesitated, she thought of running away, she feared that he would confirm on what she had already concluded.
"I want to see the scars on your back." He said seriously, unexpectedly, making her lose her words, perhaps something more than that.