FicWad

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Sasuke heard the approach of someone behind him, but didn't turn around. He waited until he had cleared the bit of moss and dirt from the corner of the plaque which contained Naruto's name, stroking the glossy stone with his fingers, feeling the smooth coolness which wasn't like Naruto at all.

The person behind him waited--silently, patiently. Sasuke thought it must be Kakashi again, but when he finally turned he discovered that it was not his ex-sensei who stood so quietly behind him, a bouquet of white lillies in her hands, but the Hyuuga heir.

"Hinata," Sasuke said, trying to control the biterness in his voice and looking everywhere except the gently rounded stomach of the woman, which was proof that Sasuke had come back to Konoha far too late.

The dark-haired woman bowed her head and clutched her flowers a little closer to her chest, but her voice was steady as she murmured back, "Sasuke-kun."

He stepped aside then, so she could lay the flowers at the base of the monument. She bent carefully and caressed the letters that made up Naruto's name, tracing the "u" of "Uzumaki" with the finger that wore a simple gold band. Sasuke's jaw twitched, but he said nothing.

There was really nothing to say.

He turned to leave, but Hinata said his name again and Sasuke stilled, wondering what she could possibly tell him that wouldn't destroy them both.

"He was gentle," Hinata said, her hand rubbing the fullness of her stomach absently, "with me. Always gentle, and I knew that was a kind of love. Maybe the only kind of love he could give me."

Sasuke waited and Hinata gave him a watery smile.

"I always wondered though," she said, "what it would be like to have his passion. That part of him..."

Sasuke thought back to days of rough tumbling between sheets, of bites and bruises and his hips being squeezed so hard he thought he'd break into a thousand pieces right there. He thought back to sweat slicked thighs and nails raking lines down his back, and heat filling him until it spilled over into sparks that licked up and down his legs until they shook and trembled and sent him crashing to the ground, the air so hot it choked him and stopped his breath.

"It burned," he whispered, "It was like burning to be with him."

Hinata still smiled, but it was the kind of smile Sasuke was used to seeing on the faces of those he'd driven swords through or pinned with kunai. A smile of pain recognized and owned and cherished because it's the last real thing you can own and cherish. Sasuke knew Naruto would have punched him for making Hinata smile like that.

'You shouldn't have left us here then, asshole.'

"I thought so," was all she said. Then she placed a hand on the ground and tried to push herself up on her legs. The girth of her pregnancy made the movement awkward, and she stumbled back wards, onto her rear.

Sasuke sighed and crouched down in front of her. He had only meant to help her to her feet, but somewhere between placing a hand on her arm and another around the small of her back, some mad desire sparked in his belly and ached in his throat and he found himself crushing her face to his, sliding lips and tongue into her mouth with a hurried impatience. If he could just get deep enough inside, maybe he could taste him, taste where he had been, where he had strayed after Sasuke left.

Hinata made a small noise of surprise, but her tiny hands moved up to cup the back of Sasuke's head and the patient, gentle motions of her lips soon calmed Sasuke's ferver. Sasuke felt moisture on his face and neck and couldn't tell whether it was his own or hers.

A tiny thump against Sasuke's hand, where it rested on Hinata's stomach, made him pull away in surprise. She smiled and threaded her fingers through his, keeping him trapped against her womb while the life inside battered against him with a strength and tenacity that was all Naruto.

"You know," Hinata started, "if it was a boy, he wanted to name it after you."

Sasuke swallowed hard and lifted Hinata to her feet. His hands left her slowly but resolutely.

"No," he said as he turned to leave. "Not me."

Hinata watched the man walk away as a soft rain began to fall. She reached out once again to slide her fingers across the letters of her husband's name. Perhaps it was selfish, but she felt better.

She wouldn't have granted Naruto's last request anyway.

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fin.

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