Forced Paths

Return

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Perhaps she had guessed wrong, because the silence on the room was only covered by a heated argument outside. They weren't near, she couldn't untangled the exact words that were spoken, but their voices reached the room she and Sasuke were at the moment.
Even if she could not understand what the voices were saying, the argument itself was revealing the fact that Itachi Uchiha was considering Sasuke's suggestion.
"Aren't you going to ask?" He said with his gaze on the door, as if he could almost see the other two fighting.
When she didn't respond, he turned his stare at her.
"If I am actually going to betray them."
"No." She answered. "But if things go wrong..." She continued.
"If things go wrong I will help him flee once more." He said deprived of any emotion. "And he will take you with him."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Last night you said.."
"I am not going to flee. I will take responsibility for my actions. Whatever my father decides as a punishment. I am betraying him this very moment." He looked at the door again. "I said I will protect you. I won't be able to do it in that situation."
"I agreed to this willingly. I should..."
"We will not talk about this further. If you are with him, with them, they will keep you safe from both ends."
"But I can fight." She responded. She was suddenly in a panic.
"I am not underestimating your skills Hinata. We are way past that. But you can't fight against a whole clan on your own. And I don't want you to. They are my people after all."
He wasn't looking back. He was explaining his plan as she assumed he would do when he was training his soldiers.
"You don't believe I will leave you to fight alone." She said.
"I am not planning on fighting."
"Sasuke." She said seriously, sternly.
"It's not very different from what you had proposed. Living a life like my brother. He can help you with it." He was calm, his tone monotonous as if he knew that this was not just an alternative, it was a definite fact, it was what was going to happen.
"So it's okay when you say it?" She asked and he finally turned. "You were mad just few hours before that I proposed something similar, but now that you say it, I just have to agree?"
"This is different. I think you are pretty clever to understand it. We are not discussing any further."
He got up and opened the door slightly. It appeared that the argument had died out, but as the wood cricked, it was evident that it was not the case. They had calmed down, but their voices were still high enough for them to hear. He closed it again.
"We aren't, because I won't let you." She said.
"Listen to me.." He said and this time he was angry.
"I am a traitor too, at both ends." She replied.
"Can you observe the situation for what it is, for once? Can you not make my life so hard and just agree for just one time to listen without arguing?" He raised his voice.
"Agree on what? Let you die?" She said coldly. "Rot in prison? It will not happen. So if your plan is based on that, go downstairs and cancel it. It will calm them down at least."
"It is crucial for what I proposed, yes, and it will happen exactly as I say it will."
"Since we are talking about me and what I will do, I don't think so." She said flatly.
He took a quick breath as if to stop the yell that was about to emerge. And it worked. Because his voice sounded deadly but not louder than a whisper.
"I didn't keep you to let you die."
"You didn't keep me." She said higher. "I chose to stay. Now and..for the years to come."
For a moment he tensed and she felt awkward for her statement. It almost seemed like a vow.
She searched for something to say, to follow her words, to cover them, but failed.
"You realise we are behaving like them." He stated calmly.
"That is what happens when someone cares." She answered.
He sat back down and this time he stayed quiet.
They didn't speak, not even move much after that. He was sitting on his chair and she at the end of the bed across him. At one point she got up and opened the window, letting the breeze flow inside the room. It was summer, yet it wasn't so warm in here. Not like the summers back at the Hyuga grounds, when the night breeze was almost cold, but still it was barelable. When they would go back home, the days would be filled with sweat and the nights would be much the same. She suddenly realised that she never asked where they were. She turned at him and he was looking back.
"Were are we?" She said and his expression betrayed his surprise, forming a second later to a frown.
"Have you lost it entirely?" He asked.
"I mean where is this place located." She replied.
His eyes raised slightly. He hadn't thought about it too.
"It must be northern than home." She put her finger on her lips.
"It can't be. The temperature is more hot here." He responded.
They both stared each other for a moment.
"You don't mean the Hyuga grounds." He said almost unsure.
She nodded in denial.
He turned his gaze quickly and she stared back outside.
A thought popped in her head. Something that she didn't know where it came from, but when she repeated in her mind, it seemed too real, too truthful to discard it.
She gave him a pick. Home is where you are, she thought and bit her lips.