Me: I'm stuck. My creativity has temporarily left me. And this is what I come up with...huh. I'm not abandoning Tsuki no Hanayome; in fact, I had half of the next chapter done. Unfortunately, while I was at work, my computer decided that it was in my best interests for it to completely restart and wipe out whatever I was working on.

This story is a bit sad, and it might be somewhat confusing. Ah, well. I'm pretty proud of it. I hope you like it!

Warning: Non-graphic lemon. Read at your own risk. XP

The sky is gray, and they are alone.

She feels trapped and free at the same time, trapped because his arms are around her, he is not letting her go, and free because she is no longer bound to her village. To her clan. At least, in one aspect, she is free. They have her mind. They have her soul. They have her heart. But they cannot have what she has so willingly given away, hours ago.

He feels empty and full at the same time, empty because that is how he always feels, nothing changes that, full because she is here, with him, and she has given him something that no one else may have now. He will be the only one.

"This is wrong," she says into the semi-darkness of the room. Her voice is soft, little more than a whisper. He does not reply. In the rare moments when they are together, she tries to convince both herself and him that what they do is not right - he doesn't listen. Right and wrong have no place in his world anymore.

Sasuke's world is quite narrow, actually. People accuse his best friend of having tunnel vision, well - he has it worse, and it is all the more dangerous. For her, anyway. She has been let into his narrow world, and now, he will not let her go. Right and wrong...they don't belong. But she does.

"I h-have to leave." It's a whisper. She stutters much less these days, only when she is anxious, or troubled.

His arms, wrapped around her in what can only be described as a possessive embrace, tighten. "No." There is no room for discussion. She tries anyway.

"P-Please...I need t-to leave..." She is facing away from him. They fell asleep this way, but he prefers her to be looking at him; so that he can see her eyes, so that she can see his. He knows her weaknesses. Looking into his eyes crushes her resolve, leaves him unfairly victorious. Which he knows is wrong...but, as mentioned before, right and wrong don't matter.

"Hinata," he says quietly, and as expected, she turns to him, questioning - he traps her with his gaze. She falls for it every time, and now she cannot look away. He turns her body around, careful not to relinquish his hold on her, and is pleased when she shivers as her skin brushes his. He doesn't wait for a meaningful look, or any kind of romantic moment; his lips crash onto hers, and she whimpers...but that only spurs him on. Her hands push against his chest, feebly, and he ignores them.

When they break apart, her eyes are glazed over in desire and mental pain. He presses her body to his, lowers his head to her neck. "You are mine," he tells her, even though he knows it scares her. She trembles in his hold. "Sasuke..." she whimpers, and her can tell that she is frightened and confused and almost there, just a little push, and she will break...

"Please." He says it in a husky voice, which is actually not of his own volition. He wants her just as much, if not more, than she wants him. But he could never tell her that, he could never tell her how much he wants her...she might leave him. He will not tell her of the power she holds over him.

Sasuke lays kisses to her bare neckline, and she melts, sighing against him. He nearly smirks in triumph, but stops himself. He rolls on top of her, liking, the slightest bit, the torn look on her face. As he kisses her again, his hands slide up and down her body, enjoying her full womanly curves. Hinata moans softly, no longer torn, only wanting to feel what she felt last night, what he made her feel.

They are both unclothed from hours ago, and her own hands wander across his abdominal muscles, which clench under her ministrations. He kisses her again, slow but heated, before he shifts his hips and slides into her. She moans and he grunts at the feeling, so new but oddly familiar...like they had known the sensation once, long ago, and only rediscovered it now. He repeats the motion, eliciting another moan from her.

Last night, she had come to him for comfort - her clan was pressuring her to get married away, to leave Konoha, to give herself to a man she didn't know...of course, he couldn't allow that. She was his. They'd been meeting for just under a year now, but he'd been watching her for much longer. And she had looked at him, pleaded with her eyes, and he had been all too willing to accept her unspoken request.

She had given everything to him, and he had taken it.

That was how it was; Hinata was a giver, and Sasuke was a taker. In a twisted way, that was what made them so compatible. Hinata gave and gave and gave, a never-ending resource of love and compassion, and Sasuke took all that he could, like a black hole that would never die, never disappear.

There was no doubt in his mind that she now regretted giving him her virginity. And he didn't quite know why she had done it, either. Desperation, was his guess.

Hinata, and Hinata alone, knew. Yes, she wanted to take it back...but how could she not have done it? She did not love him as one should love another - love was Naruto, love was Konoha. But her love for Naruto, although very real, was childish, a thing of whimsy. Her love for Sasuke was deeper. Older. Mature. But not necessarily good and acceptable love. Maybe she only desired freedom, something that her clan, Naruto, and Konoha could never provide. She has given Sasuke her first time, because she loves him in a dark, fake, beautiful kind of way.

She is close. He can feel it. He has learned from now and last night that when she is close, her nails dig into his back, pulling him closer to her, as if he can anchor her to the real world as she goes over the edge. He is close, as well...his head drops onto her neck, where he bites her as a particularly sharp wave of pleasure hits him. "Mine," he growls ferally, as he soothes the wound with his tongue. "Say it."

Her thoughts are completely scattered. It might have been her inexperience, but Sasuke makes her lose her breath, makes her forget everything that is not him. She can't even string together a sentence. "I-I-ahhh-I'm - " she tries, but he thrusts hard inside her, causing her to throw her head back, crying out in ecstasy.

"My name, Hinata, say it," he demands, his voice rough.

She closes her eyes. "Sasuke!" she calls out, her orgasm wracking her body, and he groans in approval as his own follows soon after. He lowers himself on top her body, careful not to crush her with his weight, too tired to even roll over.

In the wake of their coupling, Hinata flushes in shame and hides her face in his chest. She has done it again. She has given in to him, he has won. Like he always would. His fingers idly stroke through her hair, and it does little to comfort her. She feels disgusting, and wonderful, and alive.

"I hate you," she whispers into his skin, though there is absolutely no venom in her voice. His answer is calm and assured. "No, you don't." She suddenly feels as if she can not stand him, can not stand the sight, the smell, the feel of him any longer. "G-Get off of me," she whispers, and to her surprise, he does, lifting himself off of her with no problem. She practically flies out of the bed, searching frantically for her clothes, gathering them up and studiously ignoring the stare he is giving her.

She dresses self-conciously, trying to be as quick as possible without stumbling or tripping. When she is somewhat decently clothed, she makes for the door, only to be none-too-gently shoved against it, her face and body pressing into the cold wood. This time, Hinata does not demand that he let her go - she is tired, and sore, and she really only wants to fall back into bed. She isn't very surprised to learn, as Sasuke presses himself against her, that he is already half-dressed. He is fast, she will acknowledge that much.

She only asks one question. "Why w-won't you l-let me leave?"

He is tall enough so that he can rest his chin on top of her head, and he does just that. "I don't know," he says honestly.

She takes a deep breath. "I am g-getting married. My husban is a k-kind man. I am g-going to have his children. I'm going to be...happy." It sounds rehearsed, which it is. She had been chanting this to herself ever since she had found out about the engagement, until she couldn't take it anymore, until she had come running to Sasuke's cabin, nestled in a valley where no one would think to look.

His hands grip her shoulders and turn her around. She stares up into his eyes, her visage determined, until a smirk craws across his face. "You're a terrible liar," he drawls, and her determined look is replaced with one of helplessness. For the second time today, she presses her face into his bare chest, feeling safe when his arms automatically wrap around her. "I don't want to leave," she says quietly. She can hear Sasuke's heartbeat; reliable, steady, always there. "Then stay." He says. A simple solution.

Hinata allows herself to think about it. Wouldn't it be nice...to never leave? To stay with him, wherever he went? He wanted a family. She could give him that. She could give him herself, she could give him children. She allows herself to admit that she does love him, or she has come to, with their brief meetings and quiet conversations. If she stayed, she would never have to marry someone she didn't know. She would never be bound to someone she didn't love.

But she would have to leave, anyway. She would have to leave her father, her sister, her cousin, her teammates, her friends, her sensei...her village. And she would have to leave Naruto. All these people that she does not think she can live without. Yesterday, she was blissfully unaware of her engagement. Yesterday, she had been cooking for her family; Hiashi, Hanabi, Neji...yesterday, she had been training with her teammates, laughing with Kiba, smiling at Shino...yesterday, she had been giggling at Ino and Sakura's attempts to outdo each other at the hospital...yesterday, she had been visting Kurenai, gazing in wonder at the swell of her stomach that signified her love for Asuma. Yesterday, she had been happy and safe in Konoha, Sasuke at the back of her mind, Naruto at the front. Yesterday.

Today, she was considering leaving them all. And for once, Naruto was nowhere on her mind; Sasuke was ruling her thoughts. She could not leave Konoha, could she? She couldn't leave them all. Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Sakura, Ino, Neji, her father, Hanabi, Tenten, Kurenai...and so many more.

But then Sasuke leans down, his cheek against hers, and murmurs in her ear, "Stay with me." And no one else matters.

The sky is gray, and they are alone.

Me: Voile! It is done.

I have a good idea for a story, but I don't know what pairing to make it. It's basically a runaway story set in the real world, completely AU. The plot is:

The guy (the main character) is bored with his going-nowhere life, and decides to run away. He doesn't want to do it alone, though. For his runaway buddy, he picks a girl from school he barely knows, who he's always been mystified by. She agrees to go with him. They leave, and bit by bit, she reveals her strange story, and he finds himself etranced by everything she is and everything she stands for.

Yup, it's another poll. Don't you guys just love me?

Suggest a pairing! And don't fret if your pairing is not picked...first-runner-up gets a special appearance in the story. Unless, of course, you picked someone who was also in the winning pairing. If that is the case, I'll just pick SasuHina as the runner-up.

Reviews = love. Tell me what you think!