Distant Echoes

48 - Together again ( first part)

A giant falcon appeared in the sky and a black figure jumped on the snow. Was she really awake? Hinata looked at she stunned, fearing that she was dreaming again. But nothing happened, he was really there, he came and smiled at her. And those eyes shone in the darkness of the night, magnetic, two-tone and so beautiful. He had come to meet her and embraced her, finally she felt so warm even inside. Hinata had ears infested by her heartbeat. There was something different about Sasuke's two-tone eyes, in her smile. And maybe there was a change in her, too. There was a new crescent moon in their soul, similar perhaps to the one that illuminated both their figures.

She laid her head on her chest, hoping to hear the sound of her heart despite the heavy poncho. The scarlet redness of her cheeks gave her a slight sensation of pleasantness and part of her soul welcomed her, as if she were the most beautiful gift to receive. Hinata raised her head slightly, her cheeks red like the first time they kissed, Sasuke stroked her head and immediately found himself immersed in her steel eyes.

He remembered that color every time he looked at the sky near sunset. Hinata's gaze had always had a different effect on him. Observing her was like admiring a hidden part of herself, a fragment of her spirit, a mirror as she had said months before. Her irises were gentle, but as merciless as a blade, when she wanted to do so, her lips curved in a loving smile. It seemed that he was spreading life again in what in that month and a half away had been a corpse. She realized how empty her life was without her.

Sasuke noticed that Hinata's face was wet with tears, her cheek soft and warm, touching her fingers. It was the first time that his girlfriend traveled alone for so long and fortunately had reached safely. What would they do now? He was a miserable, an outcast, but he was also a fucking teacher, a shinobi who had really struggled to improve and live that life that Itachi hoped he would enjoy. Now look where it was. All right, at least he had a woman, but they were all alone in the middle of nowhere, and all because of an asshole clan chief, a clan chief who was nothing but the father of his girlfriend.

He had left Konoha more than a month earlier with regret, because he knew how much Hinata would suffer. Years before he had always thought that having a romantic love bond with a woman weakened him, for years he also thought that even having a friend weakened him, yet Sasuke in time with her had always felt strengthened. Perhaps because in his eyes he had identified the love, gratitude, relief and joy of when he was a child still free from trauma. There had been no quarrels, no insistence, the two were at peace and were well in silence and dialogue, but together.

- Hinata - he only muttered, as if she could explain how she felt when he repeated her name.

She squinted when she listened to her voice, as if she had suddenly come out of her trans state, as if it were the last proof that guaranteed the veracity of her presence.

- I found you - Hinata smiled. - Finally.-

- Hmm - Sasuke muttered. - Wrong, I came here. -

- Were you near this village? -

- Yes.-

- I was almost there - said Hinata.

- What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere? - she asked.

Hinata blinked several times.

Ah, yes.

He didn't know what was inside.

- I - she answered, biting her lip. - I wasn't alone until recently. -

- Hmm? -

- I fought with some shinobi who were chasing me - Hinata said softly.