Work Text:
Theirs is a world of terrible visions when you close your eyes.
The life of a shinobi is one wrought with difficult choices, and living with the consequences of your actions. Deaths of comrades ride heavy on your shoulders, scars are a sign you got off light. Memories are both a blessing and a curse. Horrors manifest in their dreams: a blend of recalled battles and terrible what-ifs.
Sasuke’s began before hers.
Tsukuyomi was enough to give him nightmares for a lifetime. Hours and hours of replayed images: bodies, blood, screams, pleads. A recount of his brother’s actions, delivered to every minute detail, amplified and burned into his brain like hot irons.
For weeks he slept little, if at all. Too frightened that - out of the dark - a pair of strange red eyes, unlike the Sharingan he’d come to know, would be staring at him, the glint of a blade flashing before it sunk into his flesh..
But eventually his body would give in, giving him a few fitful hours of rest before his mind would resurface back into his waking nightmare and paranoia. A kind of numbness grew, a necessity to survive. For years they plagued him, slowly subduing to an ache, like a wound healed over that would complain with stormy weather.
Hinata’s were sparing as a child. At times she would see her mother, only for her to disappear...or suffer the disappointment of her father she couldn’t escape even in sleep. But it was only after her battle with Neji that true fear bled into her dreams. Of her heart bursting, stopping...a terrible pain in her chest that felt like her body was splitting in two.
Thankfully they didn’t last too long - as her body healed, and as Neji changed after his battle with Naruto, the fear greatly lessened...but would still haunt her on occasion when stress was high.
Then...there was her battle with Pein. Nightmares of losing control of her body, of being puppeted through the air, thrown to the ground, impaled with those strange black rods...they’d always find her waking abruptly, dripping with sweat and heart fluttering in her chest.
For the longest time, neither of them spoke of these dreams. Or any that came after: Sasuke of staring his dying brother in the eyes, Hinata of watching Neji’s body be punctured by mokuton. It was normal, they knew. Everyone had nightmares. Everyone carried visions that haunted them at night.
After the war, after Sasuke’s return, he found himself crossing Hinata’s path more and more often. Already lacking friends after all that had happened, he fell in with her so naturally. Similar natures, similar experiences...and they each found someone who just felt so easy to talk to. So it wasn’t long before they breached the topic of night terrors.
And what a relief…! To finally speak of what haunted them, and find no judgment, no dismissal...and no write-off pity. Just a somber understanding.
If anything, baring such wounds to each other only made it all the easier to get closer. Shared secrets, so personal, so painful...was a wordless pact they made without even realizing it.
“...do you still see them?”
“...sometimes. It’s gotten better since aniki was brought back, and Shisui returned. I think...having them around makes me feel more...at peace. It’s not the whole of my family, but...it’s more than I ever expected to have.” Sasuke’s lips flicker. “...my niece and nephew help, too. It’s so...calming to be with them. To see new blood after so long. The way my brother looks at them…”
Hinata smiles softly. “I’m so glad you have them, Sasuke-kun. And I’m glad the nightmares are easing up.”
A nod. “...you?”
“...I still have the Pein dream sometimes. I think...it’s because I feel so directionless right now. So I fall back into that m-mindset of being so...easily thrown about. And Neji’s death still, um...still comes up sometimes. Even after he’s been back for so many months. I think...I’m just scared to lose him again. But at least with his position as Hanabi’s advisor...he’ll be a lot safer.”
“True...but just because we logically know those fears aren’t a reality anymore doesn’t mean we can’t still feel them.”
“Yes...I think you’re right. But…” A slight pause. “...I think...talking about them helps. Whenever I talk with you like...like this, I always sleep well the next night.”
“...me too.” Eyeing her carefully, Sasuke admits, “...I...appreciate that, Hyūga. Being able to...talk to you.”
Hinata blinks, and then softens. “...I’m glad we’re friends too, Sasuke-kun.”
“...yeah...friends…”
“...yeah.”