[closed; Sept 2/3/4]

[not_thedragon]

Who: Sasuke and the Hyuugas (not in fact a terrible band), also Kakashi
When: Sept 2, 3, and 4
Where: Various places in Konoha
What: There's a good chance that the reason Sasuke hasn't much questioned his own clan is because his bff's clan is so much more messed up.

[Top threads in post. :B]

Comments

09/02 Hinata

[not_thedragon]

Even if Sasuke has gotten used to going on separate missions and having separate training sessions since he made Chuunin before his teammates, he can't actually remember a stretch of uninterrupted time when he hasn't seen Hinata regularly. Even if it's only been a month or so, it feels like so many things have happened that he can't justify lazing through another day of Mikoto's congratulatory cooking (no matter how much he sort of wants to); he's loitering annoyingly at the gates of the Hyuuga compound early enough that even the annoyed guard just rolls his white eyes and agrees to find Hinata rather than putting up the usual token suspicion.

It's not just that Sasuke has his own news to share -- he's aware that he's been out of the village more often than in it recently, and he feels vaguely guilty about having started seal training with Hinata only to abandon it midway through.

Re: 09/02 Hinata

[gentledheart]

When the guard came knocking, Hinata was at a loss. Did she forget that she had training scheduled with a teammate? That didn’t seem very likely since she was generally on top of when her team agreed to get together and train. Needless to say, her confusion showed when she passed through the gates of the compound. Pale eyes falling on Sasuke loitering against the wall, her brows wrinkled in further confusion.

“Did I forget we agreed to train?” Her head tilted to the side. If that was the case she would apologize even if her forgetting could be almost understood. She just needed to work up the courage to actually tell Sasuke that her life has spiraled entirely out of her control since the last time they really got to talk.

[not_thedragon]

... for Hinata to be confused about whether they'd planned to meet or not was unusual. Sasuke frowned, giving her a long look, and then decided that his own news could wait: he knew her well enough that it was obvious he'd missed something in the time he'd been out of the village.

Ignoring the disapproving look of the guard, he reached out to touch her shoulder lightly, reassuring, before turning to indicate that they should walk away from the Hyuuga's gates.

"No, it's just been a while since we've spoken," he said. "How are you doing?"

[gentledheart]

It's been a long couple of weeks. Most of which was spent hiding as far away from her family as she could get without it looking suspicious. And she follows if only because the guard has probably seen enough to realize she hasn't told one of her closet friends yet, but how do you put that in a letter to a person you know is going to try and fix it? 'Hi Sasuke. I'm engaged to Neji, we have to stop being friends now'?

She smiles at him briefly before turning her gaze back to the ground as they walk. "It's complicated."

[not_thedragon]

The answer is no less than Sasuke expects, really, but he spares a moment to heave an internal sigh: when is it ever not complicated? He glances back at the guard just long enough to ascertain that they're not being followed, because it wouldn't be the first time the long looks of suspicion translated into an unofficial escort, but it looks like they're in the clear this time.

Still, he asks just to make sure: "Too complicated to talk about while walking?"

The unspoken question: do we need to find somewhere we can't be listened to?

[gentledheart]

Her mouth quirks into a barely amused smile as she shakes her head. Considering she'd already done all her crying, it shouldn't be too hard to just say it as they walk, but she doesn't. She'd rather they be farther away from the compound. Far enough that Sasuke couldn't easily slip away once he knew. He would, she imagined, not take the news entirely well. If only because it wreaked of underhanded manipulation and an obvious lack of choice on her part.

"It'd be better to be further away." She hadn't been sworn to secrecy, but she was certain the elders had plans of their own for making the engagement public.

So his unspoken question was met with an equally unspoken answer: yes.

[not_thedragon]

As if the secrecy and the atmosphere at the Hyuuga compound weren't suspicious enough, this last is a thorough indication that there is nothing but bad news on the way. Sasuke resists the urge to sigh and maybe break the walls of the compound a little -- those will likely only turn out to be unproductive actions that get Hinata in trouble.

For now, he just nods and heads for the training field they'd once used as children, close enough to the village to be reassuring to parents and far enough to be relaxing for them.

He's quiet once they reach it, waiting for whenever Hinata is ready to talk.

[gentledheart]

She follows, quiet. Barely a sound coming from her feet as they walk and even less so once they reach the training field. For a long time Hinata doesn't say anything. Doesn't move either and that would have been so much better if she had paced. Instead, she pulls at the cuffs of her jacket or shuffles her feet all the while never leaving the spot she'd stopped in.

She almost starts talking a couple times before she changes her mind and stops. This shouldn't be so hard. Not when the hardest part had already been done nearly a month earlier. Honestly, she didn't think telling her best friend would be more difficult than getting Neji to talk to her again.

"I'm engaged." she finally blurts those two little words slamming together in an almost hysterical cry. She was not going to end up crying again. She was resolved and she and Neji were going to find a way out it was just that simple.

[not_thedragon]

Hinata's always been quiet, but this is the final piece of evidence that there is something seriously wrong. Sasuke doesn't try to start conversation as they walk, knowing from experience that it's better to give Hinata the time to find how she wants to express herself before trying to pry. So he waits, glancing at her the few times it seems she's about to speak and letting the silence grow as companionable as he can until they've reached the field.

He's almost beginning to worry that something has happened to someone she cares about -- and other than Hyuuga, nearly everyone Hinata cares about is someone Sasuke does -- when those words finally hit the air, and caught in the middle of wracking his brains for anyone they know who might be in hospital, he just stares at first, not sure he heard right.

"Engaged," he repeats, slowly. "How?" And then, mind catching up to the situation with a growing sense of anger: "You were forced?"

09/03 Neji

[not_thedragon]

The thing with Hinata, however much Sasuke valued her as a friend and a shinobi, was that she was ultimately too nice. Sasuke was of the firm opinion that her life as a whole would benefit from a few fuck yous in the right places, or at least strongly-worded disagreement, but for all that Sasuke knew that there was steel in Hinata he also knew that she'd rather smooth out a problem than make a spectacle.

It didn't help that house Hyuuga apparently had no problems with forcing an arranged and cousin marriage, between the children of twins no less. Part of Sasuke was tempted to ask Hiashi if he was trying to ruin his bloodline through inbreeding, but that was obviously going to be of very little use.

What remained was to try and get a bead on the character of this cousin, someone Sasuke had heard about more than really met. He knew that Hyuuga Neji had been a year above him in the Academy, had made jounin precipitously and was generally considered a genius with his clan's doujutsu -- none of that made Sasuke inclined to expect cooperation or reason out of him, whatever Hinata might say.

The problem, though, was finding him. Finding a Hyuuga in Konoha was eaesy. Finding a particular Hyuuga was a pain in the ass. Sasuke had taken to the rooftops after giving himself a promised twenty-four hours of thought, skimming over the streets, and had already stopped to frown at a half-dozen shinobi with long dark hair and pale eyes before deciding that they weren't the right one.

oops a teal deer ran through im sorry

[heavenly_earth]

A habitual creature, Neji didn't consider himself a difficult person to find. He preferred a particular training ground by the river, drank tea at a specific place, ordered lunch from the same soba shop, and could otherwise be found at the Jounin station or the Hyuuga compound on a mostly reliable basis.

Except he avoided the compound more often than not these days and only sometimes stayed in his childhood home because of his father. More and more, he'd come to feel like a stranger in that house, and he wasn't sure if it was ANBU or the clan politics fueling those estranged feelings. It was likely a combination of both. And now there was a political marriage seeking to bind him just as he'd begun to break free..

But with three mentors to occupy his time and a Hokage to guard, Neji found his schedule erratic at best. He started each day with only a vague plan and adjusted as necessary, ended nearly all of them feeling exhausted, but that was getting better. Maybe it was the years spent under Gai, but he relished the worn, tired feeling, greeted it with a smile and will to push just that little bit more to call it 'improvement'. A little more, everyday..

Neji stared hard at the grass beneath him, felt the weight of his arm on his back, and the strain on the other as the limb trembled, fighting to keep his chest from touching the ground. Sweat dropped from the edge of his nose and onto a blade of grass centimeters from his face, rustled the greenery with a labored breath as he set his jaw and mustered the final dregs of his strength to gradually lever himself back up a final time.

Gasping, the Hyuuga rolled onto his back, eyes closed and sprawled out in the grass as he breathed in summer's lingering warmth. Strength training was Gai and Lee's forte, their fighting style one that utilized brute force, whereas Jyuuken was softer and harder hits didn't equate to better effectiveness. But for his developing style, he'd taken up wrist weights and lighter ankle weights and he could certainly feel them now, pinning his limbs to the ground lying underneath him.

He wanted little more than to stay that way for awhile longer, but chakra hummed on the edges of his senses, and the Byakugan came lazily active as he levered himself into a sitting position.

"Uchiha," he called from the ground, not bothering to stand and instead reached for his bottle of water. The veins faded, the identity of the mysterious source of chakra solved. "Can I help you?"

catches all the teal deer

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke had been hovering in the trees, trying to decide what percentage chance there was that this was the right Hyuuga. Hinata would likely give him one of those reproachful looks if she ever found out how much difficulty Sasuke had had separating her first cousin out from the rest of their clan, but it took assessment of a few factors -- skill level and age included -- before Sasuke decided that this was most likely Hyuuga Neji.

That he'd been recognized as an Uchiha without being seen helped confirm the impression of skill, and Sasuke dropped to the ground once his presence was verbally acknowledged. It was tempting to let the Sharingan flicker into his eyes once he registered the fading vestiges of Hyuuga doujutsu, but he wasn't here to fight.

Yet.

"I'm Hinata's teammate," he said by way of introduction, tone flatly businesslike. "Sasuke. I want to talk to you."

pets them

[heavenly_earth]

Neji raised an eyebrow, appraising Sasuke through a quick glance. Stance rigid- uneasy? And an edge of impatience bled through his tone. The initial introduction itself was telling, and he already had a niggling suspicion for what this was about. But no need to start off on the wrong foot; he had enough of that dealing with Itachi.

"Of course," he returned in greeting, feeling no need to introduce himself given that Sasuke had come all the way out here searching for him. What the younger Uchiha didn't know was that they'd met before- unofficially.

Neji pushed himself to his feet with a grunt, swiping his shirt from the ground as he went. He promptly dropped the article in the river, then fished it out and twisted it between his hands.

"What would you like to discuss?"

builds them a farm

[not_thedragon]

That was an easier agreement than Sasuke usually got out of the Hyuuga. He'd arrived expecting an initial refusal, or at least stubbornness, and it took a second for him to adjust.

Once he did, though, he gave the surrounding training field a long look, not bothering to let the Sharingan filter his vision, before turning back to the Hyuuga before him. He needed somewhere that would make it harder to eavesdrop on them without being forced to use a private space that would doubtless put the man on the defensive. He needed something comfortable, or at least innocuous, in order to wrangle as much of an impression as he could without resorting to combat.

"A topic that needs a less obvious space," he answered, and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Somewhere in town, where it'll look like a chance meeting."

feeds them prose

[heavenly_earth]

Neji frowned to himself and pulled the wet shirt over himself, idly tugging down the resisting folds then turned back to his unexpected visitor. Caught at the end of an exhausting day and in need of a shower, he didn't relish the idea of a public appearance. He almost resisted, not in the mood for Sasuke's paranoia, but this was Hinata's teammate, and he had some queries of his own. If he went along with it, he might not even have to ask any of them.

"In that case, I'll track your chakra to wherever you decide you'd prefer to meet up. I'm going to detour to my apartment to avoid coincidental timing." But mostly to take a shower.

it is how they grow big and strong

[not_thedragon]

That was an interesting claim, to be able to track him so easily through the village after meeting just this once. Sasuke took the Hyuuga at his word, though; no point antagonizing Hinata's cousin before he had a good cause to.

And he fully intended to find out if he would have good cause.

"Very well," he said, turning to leave. "I'll expect you within the hour."

He assumed the time given was generous -- if Neji was anything like Hinata, he would likely want to present himself in as well-kept an appearance as possible in public, and that Hyuuga hair was something Sasuke had learned to budget time for over the years.

As for meeting spaces, he had one in mind already. There were places in town that one got to know as a student of Tsunade's. He'd had plenty of confidential conversations with his sometimes-master in the darker, busier bars in Konoha's entertainment district, and while he'd at first been deeply skeptical of the privacy afforded by such an environment, he'd learned that drunks in the safety of a protected village were rarely willing to interrupt their night's plans to eavesdrop.

It didn't hurt, of course, that the waitstaff at this particular bar were unlikely to ask questions of someone they'd seen before in the company of a Sannin. Sasuke chose a table in a shadowed corner and ordered tea as he usually did, keeping a watchful eye on the door to see if the Hyuuga would keep his word.

09/04 Kakashi

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke was never drinking again.

He'd thought that after the first time he'd gotten drunk and suffered the subsequent hangover, but this time he was dead certain. It had been nightmarish to balance his splitting headache with the careful timing needed to make sure he didn't sleep so late that Mikoto came looking for him, but didn't rise so early that he stumbled on anyone else in the household eating breakfast, and the rustling chirrups of the chicks hadn't helped.

Admittedly, he was somewhat grateful for Hoori now. The youngest of the clutch had slept through the night and was perched on his head as he wove through Konoha in a non-clan shirt for once, keeping carefully to back alleys less likely to result in Uchiha alcoholic running as an article in the next issue of the stupid gossip rag. The bird did double-duty, shading him from the sun and keeping his face from any really curious stares.

The goal of this excursion wasn't particularly high: all Sasuke wanted was a corner out of sight to clutch his head and bemoan his life choices in peace.

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi had a knack for running into trouble in Konoha. From quests to retrieve lost pets and other errands that would definitely suit Obito better than him, to more serious civilian matters - you name it, he'd probably find himself exposed to it, and while excellent for gossip, sometimes he needed a break.

Today was one of those days.

Downtime to him was more like a constant game of dodge and weave, all in the faint hopes of a little respite to read in... So when he veered down a back street to put distance between himself and the unpredictable throng of the village, and glanced up to see the incredibly disheveled form of his not-student shuffling towards him, he wondered how he'd categorize this particular brand of trouble.

Ah, he thought, now I remember why I took so many back-to-back missions... He seemed to constantly fall right into the midst of drama whenever he was around - if the last few days were anything to go by, at least - and though it would be easy to spring onto the nearest roof and be away before Sasuke even noticed him, he supposed he at least owed the Uchiha a hello. There were worse kids to bump into, after all, and he couldn't help but be curious over what might be ailing him.

"Sasuke!" he called, hand raised in a wave. "Long time no see!"

[not_thedragon]

Oh, hell, the last thing he wanted right now was to hear his name shouted so familiarly -- Sasuke ducked under Hoori's protective, still-fluffy feathers for a moment before he registered the actual owner of the voice. Reaching up to push the goshawk's wing out of the way, he squinted (and glared) up into the light to confirm that it was indeed Kakashi standing in front of him.

It could be worse, he decided after a long moment of squint-glaring, and let some of the glare relax out of his face. Kakashi was discreet, if nothing else, and it wasn't as if Obito wasn't going to hear about this whole business anyway.

"Kakashi-san," he croaked, and then cleared his throat to repeat it with something at least approaching dignity. "I've been out of the village a great deal lately. How are you?"

[scarecrowboy]

Hand already tucked back into his pocket, Kakashi rose a light eyebrow at Sasuke's greeting, instantly warranting his intention to be as nosy as possible despite the ever inevitable threat of his plan back-firing.

"In rather the same boat," he confessed, keeping his distance and not getting too close to the younger man as he didn't exactly like the idea of chancing the little face he was showing with the beak of the bird sitting atop Saskue's head.
... Why did he have a bird on his head again-?

"I haven't seen the village for a while, either. I suppose you're not the best place to look for a catch up then, hm?" An light-hearted chuckle later, and his expression turned a little more serious. "..And how are you?"

[not_thedragon]

Not having been in the village for a while was at once a good sign and a bad one; if Kakashi had managed to somehow catch wind of the Hyuuga issue, Sasuke wouldn't have had to explain himself. On the other had, since it was most likely that he hadn't yet had the time to update himself on sordid clan gossip, Sasuke wouldn't have to think about it, or what he was going to do about it. And thinking hurt right now, alongside daylight and loud noises.

"Depends what you want to be caught up on," he said finally, noncommittal, and reached up to shift Hoori to his shoulder instead of his head in a last-ditch effort to regather some dignity before admitting, in response to that question:

"I'm hungover." With Tsunade out of the village at the moment and Obito just reminder that there were Problems happening with the team, Kakashi was probably the only adult he knew well enough and suspected of enough knowledge in this vein of things to admit it so blatantly: "Very hungover."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi's face fell into a sympathetic frown, Sasuke's admission one he'd quietly suspected but hoped against, somehow. That was to say he wasn't appalled - plenty of shinobi used alcohol as a coping mechanism for various reasons, he just wondered which ones had gotten bad enough to ensnare even Sasuke.

"Ah," he nodded, not pushing the issue and even lowering his voice a little. "Things are that bad, huh?"

[not_thedragon]

That bad -- ah, Sasuke realized after what was probably an unacceptable amount of thinking. It was hardly unusual for shinobi to drink in order to handle missions, but as much of a mess his last few missions had been, they'd been more or less successful with a minimum of casualties. This was all because of what was happening close to home, some combination of concern for Hinata and a certain amount of empathy for her unwilling intended.

That, and the fact that apparently when Hyuuga Neji got to drinking, he really got to drinking. Sasuke scrubbed at his face in a frustrated attempt to see if it would help clear the headache. (It didn't.)

"It's not about missions," he said out loud, making a vague hand gesture that probably didn't make anything clear. "Stuff -- village stuff." He paused, then with an expression that made it obvious what he thought about it: "Clan stuff."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi let out a breath at that. Being out of Konoha so often himself he'd missed out on an awful lot of nosy report-peeking and Gossip 101's with the various blabber mouths dotted about the village, and so wasn't as clued up as he could be on Sasuke's recent ventures. So he was definitely relieved to hear that his missions hadn't drove him to the bottle.

At his elaboration, a pale eyebrow raised and disappeared under his headband.

"Your clan?" he asked. It wouldn't surprise him if Sasuke confirmed - after all, Kakashi himself had felt the cold, strict glare of the Uchiha more than once for his borrowed sharingan.

[not_thedragon]

"My --" Sasuke's expression grew blank with confusion for a moment before he remembered just whom he was talking to and a hint of colour hit his ears. He hadn't been around for the actual event, but he'd heard enough dark murmuring from elders in the clan and an equivalent amount of irritated grumbling from Obito to get an idea of how Kakashi was viewed. And now that he knew the full story of how the eye had been given ...

"No, not the Uchiha," he said, clarifying with a hasty shake of his head. Hoori chirruped a low disapproval and buried his head under one fluffy wing, as much to say I'm ignoring you since there are no rodents as anything else. In tones that made it clear that he thought that they were significantly more of a pain than his own clan, Uchiha standoffishness about bloodline notwithstanding, he added: "It's the Hyuuga.

"Have you seen the official announcement about Hinata?"