“You still need to return my umbrella.” She tells Sasuke simply, wide eyes blinking up at him from behind a ridiculous attack of papers. “Besides that, do you have an appointment?”
Her usually careful voice is clear as glass, syllables rounded and pleasant in what he’s come to associate with forced professionalism.
Still, she looks a little ill at ease behind the welcome desk of Konoha’s small courthouse. Her hands are steepled in front of her, but the tips of her fingers keep pressing together with nervousness.
He doesn’t really want to say much, and no he doesn’t have an appointment, but her presence here is very confusing.
“Aren’t you on duty? Why are you here?” He asks simply, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dark pants. There is no accusation here, merely curiosity.
She seems to grow more uncomfortable, stiffly shrugging in that nicely ironed white blouse of hers. Her hair is shiny and pulled back into a sleek bun. She looks trapped.
“I’m…taking a break for personal matters…they needed someone for this administrative position, so I took the job.” She says quietly, not entirely sure why she’s answering such an intrusive question. Then she quickly tries to justify herself. “I like it. I get to talk to people.”
He snorts.
“You mean sniveling lawyers and criminals.”
She frowns and shakes her head.
“No. People who need help and who are seeking justice and truth. People who are innocent until proven guilty. Now, how I may help you?” She says that last bit with iron in her tone, polite and cold.
Her cheeks are flushed with her emotion, and he finds himself mildly amused.
“I am a person seeking justice and truth…I wanted access to my court case documents before I go on trial.”
That seems to wake her up, causes her to slump forward in her seat in bright shame. She opens a drawer in her desk and starts making a show of rummaging through it with absolute concentration. Something tells him it’s because she hadn’t been expecting him to be one of the so called criminals she was defending.
“Oh…I see. Umm…do you…have permission from your lawyer? Or the Hokage? Either one works.” She says quietly, finally locating a series of release forms he needs to sign.
“Hokage. I fired my lawyer.” He says blithely, almost cheerfully handing her a neatly folded permission form. She takes a quick look and confirms Kakashi’s lazy signature with a quick flash of her Byakugan.
She nods and tucks it away into a folder, before finally looking up at a Sasuke to hand him his documents. And she finds the dark humor in his eyes disconcerting and sad. She could almost mistake the graceful smirk as a grimace.
“Oh…do you mind my-”
“They were grossly incompetent and I overheard them saying they thought I was guilty.”
“I’m sorry.” Is all she says.
Somehow this doesn’t annoy him as much as before. He’s heard her apologizing to her best friends, in passing. And they seem to wave it off. It’s not entirely pity in her eyes either. It’s genuine sympathy.
So he lets it go. Or rather he would if she wouldn’t keep pursuing the subject at hand.
“Wait…I uh…I have a cousin…she specializes in your kind of case…she might uh…be a better fit?”
Surprise colors his usually shuttered expression before his brows dip again, and slight anger pricks in his chest.
“I don’t trust anyone.”
She nods her head again, fingers twisting around each other until he feels they’ll stay in everlasting knots…he almost wishes that would happen…let her try and use her gentle fist ever again. Would serve her right for prying.
“I get that. I understand but…representing yourself in court…doesn’t usually turn out all that well. There’s loopholes and things you should and shouldn’t say and-”
He cuts her off.
“I don’t care. I did everything they’ve accused me of…I’ve threatened the village, killed a high ranking official, attacked the Kage, collided with a rogue ninja, attempted murder of the village’s darling child…I’ve done all of it.” He lists it all off so easily, so non-chalantly, that it sends shivers running down her spine until she tears her gaze away. “I have no use for people who can’t see why I did what I did.”
She looks saddened…tired to hear it all. But she persists.
“I…can see why…I can see it, and I promise…” She raises her head and her knuckles turn white as they grip the desk in front of her. “I promise I’m not the only who does…you need to have a fair trial.”
Her wavering voice grows stronger, and he finds himself vaguely impressed.
“And I think you should place a counter suit. The village hasn’t made reparations for what it’s done to you and your family. You’re not the only they’ve hurt…please, if anything talk to Sai-San…you’ll learn…that you’re not entirely alone.”
He stares at her in disbelief, his mouth actually open in shock and his dark brows raised high. She fidgets again, and busies herself with organizing the already neat stack of papers on her desk.
He can argue back that Sai hadn’t his whole family killed…can say that even if Sai lost much because of Danzo, he never attempted to kill Naruto or the Kage. Never turned on the village to pursue power…but for some reason…he’d like to let her dream on a little. Let her meander in her world of naïveté.
If it hurts her in the end, that’s on her. He wants to see her broken, just a little, when she realizes how cruel the truth can be…
But then she offers him a small smile and says-
“Even if he didn’t do all the things you said you did, he didn’t redeem himself. Didn’t destroy a mortal enemy and unlock us all from the dreams that Kaguya had put us in.”
Her eyes are earnest, shining with swirling hints of silver under the wan fluorescent lights…he would never compare her to Kaguya…he can’t reconcile the fact that this small soft girl is a descendant of that cold, alien princess…but something in her confidence makes him more scared of Hinata than he ever was of Kaguya.
He argues back.
“Sai didn’t have to redeem himself…he didn’t do anything wrong.”
She is adamant and he is fearful that she may be able to pierce into his thoughts with those scary eyes of hers. Too bright, too hopeful, too earnest.
“You’re not Sai-San. You did those things and they were choices you made…but saving us all was also a choice and you’re trying to make up for it now. That’s what matters.”
He doesn’t bother answering that, merely turns on his heel, documents in hand and heart hammering in his chest.
He ignores the apologies she whispers to him, slamming the door of the courthouse on his way out. There’s some sort of vindication for him when he gets home and sees her umbrella leaning against the side of his door.
She’s never getting that back, he decides.
—He goes through the trial, and much to his consternation, he is ordered to accept his new assigned lawyer.
Hiromi Hyuuga, a strongly speaking woman of forty who walks in her suit and skirt ensembles with authority. He wonders if that’s what Hinata had been aiming for when she’d worn the starched white blouse for her job.
To his ever increasing chagrin, Hiromi argues his case well. He tries being smart with her, making snide comments and threatening to plead guilty to all accounts.
She has about as much backbone as Naruto, and that’s made evident by her careful words and threats punctuated by a flashing Byakugan.
After a harrowing few weeks, and avoiding the front desk almost entirely, he is found guilty for somethings and is found innocent for others. The general consensus is that they wouldn’t be here had it not been for his intervention and that he deserves a pardon.
Kakashi-bastard was all too happy to give it, on the condition that Sasuke help out with community service for half his time.
She had been right…she wasn’t the only one could see why he did the things he had done. Although the reasoning behind the light sentence causes him a bit of chagrin, he has a hard time arguing against the “mentally unstable due to past trauma” aspect.
He just feels so tired. Exhausted and worn hollow, and somehow, he finds himself feeling heavier even though the case is over and he’s a free man…sort of.
He mulls over his thoughts, unable to stop her earlier advice from leaking in and making sense. He wants to ask her a few more questions, perhaps begin filing that counter suit she’d suggested.
But when he gets to the front desk, he is greeted by an older lady with a sharp smile and blue eyes peering up from behind silver lenses.
She looks at ease here and when she asks him what he wants, he blurts out stupidly and uncharacteristically-
“The girl that was here before…where…” he trails off, realizing with horror just how much expectation he’d been placing on seeing her again. How much her words had dug deep and made logic out of dark thoughts.
The lady chuckles and says very straightforward-
“Dear Hinata has decided to take up a teaching post in Kusagakure. It suits her…she’s such a sweetheart to everyone and I’m sure she’ll be happy there.”
Somehow he feels even more exhausted now as he trudges away from the courthouse. Irritation sparks in his throat and he’s unsure why, but he really wants to hit something.
“Good riddance.” He says out loud, not quite sure if this is true or not.
Yep. Will definitely be following this. Fantastic use of the prompts. Really concrete concepts every time, lovely poetic delivery. Thanks for sharing, dear!
Ink Child Writing 