A strange new life

Deer in headlights. That was me, alright.

“You’re hurt.”

Mikoto’s eyes landed on my palm, on the red seeping from my skin. She stepped closer, took my hand, and rinsed it in the flowing water.

“It’s not deep,” she said after looking over the cut. “I’ll bandage it for you.”

I was so bewildered that I didn’t even react when she dragged me out of the kitchen and to what looked like a bedroom of sorts. She sat me on the bed, turned around, rummaged through drawers and boxes until she found herbal-smelling pieces of fabric. I was still catatonic while she cleaned and tied the cut.

“A future marriage agreement would make things a lot easier for you, I think,” Mikoto said, tying the bandages. “It ties you directly to our clan, and any action against you, can also be considered an action against us.”

She finished arranging the fabric, cupped my hand in both of hers.

“I don’t want you thinking we’d only help if you accept. We’ll do our best, no matter what you decide, but think it over?” She patted my hand. “You’re young, and any marriage is still years away, but the engagement might help your council problem.”

The broken pieces of my mind grasped for anything I could say. I wanted to flee from here so bad.

“What’s Sasuke’s opinion on this?” I croaked out.

Mikoto laughed. “He’ll never admit it, but I think he’ll be the happiest if you say yes.”

Unwanted and uninvited thoughts barged into my head. In them I was older, carrying a toddler in my arms, with Sasuke by my side.

.

..

…

….

…..

Delete, delete. God fucking dammit, delete!

Mikoto leaned over, kissed my forehead. “Now, let’s see what the boys are up to?”

She led me toward the yard, and each step I took was heavier than the last. Dammit. What the fuck was happening?

Outside, One Naruto held a complete Rasengan while another taunted Sasuke. Emosuke tried to look indifferent, but the line of his jaw and the set of his shoulders told me he wanted to do something silly. Thankfully, Itachi was there to keep the situation under control.

I didn’t miss the knowing glance he threw my way. 

Yeah, right. This marriage thing wasn’t a spur of the moment decision then. Did Sasuke also know? Was that why he’d been acting even more brooding than usual?

What the hell was I going to do?

I was back in the apartment.

Karin caught me in a tight hug before I even stepped inside. Thank god she didn’t say anything or ask questions. She just held me, and I did my best not to bolt. I didn’t even know where I would go.

The redhead guided me to the bedroom, and put me in bed, and settled by my side soon after. My brain just wasn’t working right now. There were a lot of thoughts clamoring for attention. Most of them were a variation of something drastic and disproportional.

It was so bad that I had to get up and bake the moment my brain asked: ‘Should I do a Danzo and go on the Uchiha extermination route?’

After that, I clocked out. I disentangled from Karin’s grabbiness, went to the kitchen, baked until morning. No thoughts, no strange ideas, just baking and more baking.

Karin was still asleep when I left to meet Ino for our morning training.

I met the blonde in front of her house. The sun peeking from behind the horizon.

Ino yawned. “Good morning, Hinata-chan.”

I gave her a tired wave. “Morning, Ino-chan.”

We walked in silence for a few minutes. Peace didn’t last.

“How was the dinner?”

Something ugly escaped my grasp and crept into my face. Ino noticed before I could hide it away.

“…They won’t help?”

I shook my head, nodded, shook my head again.

“They will help,” I said.

“That’s good!” Ino cheered, saw my face. “It isn’t?”

“It’s good,” I said.

We walked a few more minutes in silence, until we arrived at the training field. Ino kept sneaking glances my way. Training proceeded in tense silence, broken only by grunts of exertion and sometimes pained whimpers.

Ino was abusing the weights again. Silly girl. She didn’t learn.

The basics of our training was a mix of muscle conditioning, followed by practicing jutsu or taijutsu.

When training was over, Ino lay on the ground, groaning, but also tapping over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes. Was I hooking her into post training relaxation the same way she was now hooked into sweets? That was a scary thought.

Ino’s distracting noises kept my mind off things while the session lasted. In the afternoon, I had yet another trouble ahead. The Hyuga compound visit.

The night without sleep was now catching up to me. I leaned against the wooden dummy, looking at the training field entrance trying to muster the motivation to get on with my day.

Ino sat by my side, leaned against me. “What happened? You’ve been acting strange.”

I didn’t want to tell Ino, but her question was a good one. Why was I acting strange? There was no way I was marrying Sasuke. Not even for political advantages. I knew I was overreacting. I just couldn’t control it.

No, enough being silly. “Uchiha Mikoto asked if I wanted to marry in the Uchiha clan,” I said, my voice flat.

“Marry Sasuke-kun?” Ino asked. Her voice sounded strained. I didn’t look at her. I didn’t want to see whatever face she was making.

“I don’t wanna.”

A hand grabbed my shoulder. Squeezed hard. “Why? It's Sasuke we’re talking about!”

I made sure my eyes were focused anywhere but Ino.

“I don’t wanna.”

“But won’t that help you? They are strong and have a lot of influence.”

I didn’t say anything. Kept my mouth shut. There was this tense moment of silence where no one spoke. The hand left my shoulder. I heard movement, and Ino’s head leaned against mine.

Minutes stretched into eternity.

In the original story, Ino had a crush on Sasuke for a long time. Things only changed after the time skip when she met Sai. In this timeline, I knew she wasn’t as obsessed with Emo boy as she once was. Even Sakura was moving on, setting her sights on Konoha’s Beautiful Green Beast.

“I think you should accept,” Ino said. Her voice was low, hesitant.

“I don’t wanna,” I whispered back.

“Why?” She asked.

Before my brain could process, my mouth acted.

“I like girls.” I heard my voice saying.

There was a soft gasp, “Oh.”

My insides churned, I felt immediately sick. Why the hell had I said that? That was game over, wasn’t it? I didn’t even know if same sex relationships were a thing here.

Ino moved. Her head found a more comfortable spot on my shoulder. “So that’s why you never showed interest in Sasuke-kun?”

Confusion hijacked my panic. Brain OS was still frozen, but my traitorous mouth kept running. “I know he’s handsome, but I don’t like his personality, and all the brooding.”

Ino giggled. “What’s your type then?”

I didn’t get the chance to answer.

“No, let me guess.” Ino cut me off. “It’s blond,” my heart tried to flee from my chest. The butterflies rebelled, toes tingled. “Small, very loud, and loves ramen!”

The feelings died a cruel death.

“Denied!” I growled.

Ino burst out laughing, then into fits of giggling.

This was… nice. I wasn’t happy to admit it, but I might have overreacted to his whole marriage thing.

We stayed there in comfortable silence. This was very nice.

“Was that why you kissed me?” Ino’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “And what did you mean by favorite in the whole show?”