Den of the snake -

１０：Feelings

"I wouldn't have chosen you to be the mother of my children, if I found you ugly, princess".

The words that came out of the Uchiha's mouth left Hinata with her mouth hanging, her eyes were shocked beyond her belief, even her being naked right now wasn't in her mind anywhere. All she could focus on was those few words that he just said. His haunting purple eye was staring right at her, and her lavender eye's were staring back, lost in his soulful gaze. His face remained the same, his stoic self didn't faze an inch, but for those few moments, Hinata believed that he had healed her. Her eyes slowly watered up, but for the first time in a long time, they weren't tears of sadness, but they also weren't tears of happiness, it was somewhere in between. And that was enough for Hinata right now. Sasuke slowly turns back and walks out of her room, closing the door after he leaves, leaving Hinata alone in her room. And in that moment, for the first time in her life, Hinata feels a warm feeling inside her, a warm feeling for the cold-hearted Sasuke Uchiha. Shortly a small smile forms on her face as she stares down at the ground, her mind still lost in his words. But from the bottom of her heart, she says only these three words.

"T-Thank you.............S-Sasuke-kun".

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The next few days after that night, went really good for Hinata. She felt better about herself, she didn't hate seeing herself in the mirror as much as before. She felt lighter, she cried lesser now, and surprisingly, her desire to leave Konoha actually grew less. She realized that instead of crying and whining about things that would never happen, it would be better if she came to terms with her condition and tried to live as best as she could.

Even Kagura and Shinpachi had noticed that the Hyuga princess had gotten alot more active in the past couple of days. She started smiling a little more, and she started to come out of her room. Now, she was helping the Maids in the kitchen every day, making food, not only for herself but also for everyone in the slave quarters. Everyone treated her like she was royalty, but her comforting and friendly behavior allowed others to be comfortable with her.

Kagura was also helping her with her vocal problems, helping her to make her stuttering as less as possible. And in some part it was working, her stuttering had gotten alot less in front of the people she interacted with everyday, including, Kagura, Shinpachi and the maids and butlers. She communicated easily, her sentances becoming perfectly clear and sharp. But unfortunately, in front of strangers and people she wasn't used to, her stuttering still remained.

But all in all, Hinata Hyuga was adapting perfectly to her new life. She was determined to not cry and make herself feel less. Especially now that, she knew that there was someone in the world who valued her, that there were people in the world who gave her importance and most of all, she found someone who didn't look at her with hate-filled eyes.

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But, today was a very important day for Hinata. Maybe the most important since the day she had been brought back into the Leaf village. Kagura already told her that Sasuke gave her free will to go anywhere in the village, wherever she desired, as long as it was within the village borders, it was perfectly fine with Sasuke. But she was nervous, and afraid, therefore she had not stepped out of the Hyuga household even once. Her day began and ended within the walls of the Hyuga residence.

However, that was going to change today, because today Hinata was going to visit her dear cousin, and the man who sacrificed himself trying to save her. The pride of the Hyuga, and a prodigy of the Hyuga, he was called a genius for his keen intellect and strength in battles.