AN: I know, I know, another embarrassingly late update. College-aged life is hard, people...without further ado

chapter 5

all characters (C) Masashi Kishimioto

"Dah...…"

Sasuke's pitiful search for words ended as Hinata rolled out from underneath him with surprising grace, standing and bowing with all the neccessary formality needed in front of one's future father-in-law.

"I'm sorry if we've disturbed you in any way, Uchiha-san, but as you know, I am nowhere near as strong as I should be in order to represent your, uh , honourable family name, and so Sasuke was helping me relearn my basic teqniques. They say the devil is in the details after all." She finished off her sentence with a smile worthy of a magazine cover.

Sasuke was quite floored to note how free and loose with words she could be in such an awkward and sticky situation. Was the insecure crying and stuttering all some big, clever act? Whatever it was, his normally dry and stone-willed father seemed utterly smitten and taken in by it. Perhaps the old rumor that Itachi used to tease him with when they were little was true after all, and Fugaku had hoped that his second child would be born a daughter instead of the troublesome and rebellious son which he ended up with.

"Why that's noble of you Sasuke, doing something selfless and helpful for once."

Sasuke noted with some annoyance the emphasis that his father put on the words "for once," almost hissing them really. So what if he had been a selfish brat for most of his years. Nobody would've noticed him behind the blinding glare of Itachi's brilliance otherwise. Still, he knew that he should be thankful that he was being accused of mere chivalry and not outright sexual assault.

As though reading his younger son's mind, Fugaku's gruff voice cut through Sasuke's thoughts once again.

"Perhaps it would look just a little more befitting if you held these lessons somewhere other than in your room."

"But of course," Sasuke replied, doing his best imitation of Itachi's creepily angelic smile.

"Well that settles it then, enjoy your day, my future daughter-in-law."

Sasuke stared at his father's haori clad back until he heard an oddly adorable sigh escape Hinata's mouth. Just why did she have to be so damn perplexing and yet so adorable at the same time?

"Let's go outside."
Even her voice, full of an odd sense of urgency which proved that she had indeed been playing an act for her future dear father-in-law, sounded to Sasuke haunting and melodious. However, he wanted to hold off any further conversation with her if he could.

"It's getting dark and it's starting to rain."

"All the better for our 'training,' remember?" She pursed her lips and turned away without a word, exiting his room and walking past his parents as she made her way to the house's back exit. Her shadow against the house's pale shoji screens appeared fairylike as it mimicked her movements.

Sasuke followed her like an obediant puppy dog. Why does she have so much power on me? Sasuke knew that by this point, he should tell her to leave him the hell alone and to go crying back to Itachi and have him sort through all of her fickle female issues. Still, he followed her and watched how the various blue shades in her hair changed when exposed first to the artificial lighting of his home and then to the brilliant natural light of the moon.

"Listen," she told him once she was sure that they were out of earshot, clutching his shirt so hard that it was probably stretched permanantly. "I just needed someone that I could tell this to, and I know that you're not too happy about me marrying your brother in the first place, so I..."

She looked down at the ground and released his shirt as though ashamed. "I thought that I should tell you is all."

"Just go on already," Sasuke replied, a little ashamed himself that she'd been able to tell just how uncomfortable he'd been with the idea of giving his brother away, so to speak. Had he been that obvious?

Hinata smiled sweetly, almost maternally as she spoke the words that she'd been so eager to say. "Itachi inspires me so much. He's quiet and sensitive just like I am, and yet he's so projects so much power and respect."

Sasuke understood her all too well, but still he didn't like hearing her praise him so. When will somebody speak of me like that?

"I'm not like Hanabi and Naruto or even Neji-niisan. They grab what they want without even thinking about it, and they fight for it. They're strong. I knew I could never be the type of leaders that they aim to be, so I took the easy way out."

Sasuke remembered how his brother told him that she had been disowned for refusing to accept her position as heiress of the Hyuuga family, and for shaming them with her timidity and wish to live a normal, non-shinobi life. One in which Itachi would handle most of the dirty, bloody work just as his own father did with their mother, despite her own elite status. "Go on," he said, getting just a little more intruiged.

"Being with Itachi has shown me that I don't need to be loud or overambitious, I don't need to be something that I'm not. I can command power in my own way, with dignity and a quiet sense of self."

"Okay then, congratulations. Do that then."

Hinata shook her head before crumpling down to her knees as though she had been wounded.

"It's not that simple, Sasuke. Can't you see? I...I...I want to go back home. I want to show them that I can be a leader after all. I don't want to give up anymore."

As understanding slowly poured rainlike into Sasuke's consciousness, he resisted the urge to shake this woman who stole his brother's heart only to decide to break it in the end.

"I see. So you're going to call off the wedding."

"I just don't know what to do," she said as she gulped down her words with a large helping of salty tears.

"Don't do anything," he answered with a mocking smile, suddenly finding himself (or at least the cynical part of himself) again.
"With respect,I think that I know my brother much better than you do. Just pout, be annoying and try to restrict all his freedoms, and he'll call the wedding off for you."

"With respect," she answered in a peeved imitation of him, "this is not a joke, Sasuke."

"I'm fully aware of that." He was the one getting in her space with a wicked grin now, making her feel uncomfortable.

"If you're so sick of being a coward, then leave him, just like that. We'll all be there to pick up the pieces." He strolled over towards the direction of his family home as he spoke just to make his point clearer that blood truly was thicker than water.

"And of course, he'll find someone new before the end of the week, I'm sure. There's over a dozen better women all just waiting for him to drop you."

Sasuke barely felt the biting sting of the slap she gave him. In fact, he rather enjoyed the scrunched and swollen look on her enraged face. It looked more like it was she who had been slapped, to be frank.

Perhaps things were going to go back to normal after all, he thought as she ran off and her skirt flipped to and fro with the breeze.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Sometimes Hinata liked to cry for no apparent reason. During these times, Itachi simply held her and said nothing else at all. He held her as they lay beneath his sheets and wondered just how she found the will and boldness to leave his parent's house and come running to his place in the middle of the night; not that he minded. Tradition be damned, he thought as he savored the way in which her warm legs got tangled with his own. However, as her tears drenched his chest and dripped onto the mattress, he couldn't help but wonder just what she was leaving left unsaid.

Simply holding her didn't seem to be enough to calm her deep well of pent-up feelings anymore.

"Hinata. Talk to me. You can tell me what's wrong. I won't be annoyed by you. You know that I never would."

She only shook her head and buried it beneath the covers in reply.

"Is it my family? Have they been bothering you?"

"No. They've been wonderful, except for maybe..."

Itachi frowned and clenched tightly at the sheet which covered Hinata's body.

"It's Sasuke, isn't it? Don't let him get to you? He hates anything that's new or different. He's immature; he always has been."

"No." She just shook her head, over and over. "No. No. It's not him."

Itachi pulled the blanket roughly up from over her head, sending her dark hair flying cutely up and over her face. He tilted her face towards his so that she was forced to look him straight in his eyes. He was perfectly aware that his particular pair of eyes could be pretty intimidating to have to stare into.

"Tell me what's on your mind. Please."

"I...I,"

END OF CHAP.

AN:Tis all for now. I've been busy this year but I'm enjoying 2011 so far...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone...

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