Frozen

By TheCrackShipper

A Prologue: Shocking isn't it?

The company country club was lavishly decorated, so opulent that it was almost too much for the eyes. Hyuuga Hinata sighed, and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her silk, lavender cocktail dress. She was alone. It was as though an invisible force field prevented anyone from seeking her company even though the gala was thrown in her honor. As the heiress to the Hyuuga Finance Corporation, her father was finally stepping down. The position had originally been intended for her business savvy cousin, but an unusual course of events had dropped the unwanted position into her hands.

Up until a few weeks ago, her family had thought her lost, or dead, and she had been contentedly working in a coffee shop with her close friends, with aspirations of being a teacher for young children. She worked part time to pay for her degree, she studied hard, and she volunteered at her favorite orphanage. She had been a simple, naïve, girl who was blissfully unaware of the evils of the corporate world. She took a sip of her champagne and wrinkled her nose in distaste. Oh how she missed the comforts of coffee. It was perfect for her extra boost. It warmed the insides and it was cheap. The bubbles in the champagne tickled her nose. While she had been introduced to her relatives it was often muttered that she lacked class. Well if class meant preferring champagne to coffee Hinata could honestly say she was a classless girl.

"Would you give me the honor of your company?"

She looked up into the dark eyes of the man who had broken her heart. It was a shame, really, that she couldn't persuade her father to keep him off the guest list. It was true that he had been the one to find her, but he had also been the one to shatter her complacency for his own selfish gain.

She nodded, the lump in her throat making it difficult to speak. He put his hands on her tiny waist, and she placed hers on his broad shoulders. She could feel the shoulder muscles underneath his tux and reddened slightly.

"You look lovely tonight." He complimented her conversationally.

She refused to meet his eye. He still knew how to be a gentleman.

"Thank you," she whispered, mortified. It really was amazing how he was still able to be so casual after what he had done, "Sasuke."

"I mean it," and suddenly his eyes were so dark, and intense that she could feel her face heat up to the extreme.

For some reason, she was angry. Angry that he could still do this to her, when she knew that it was all an act. That it was all just a desperate attempt to save a dying Uchiha corporation.

"You can drop the façade, Sasuke," she could hear the bitterness in her voice, and was embarrassed by it, "Hyuuga has already agreed to merge with Uchiha, you've already gotten your reward."

Sasuke pulled her closer, and she stiffened in his embrace. "I'm sorry."

Hinata hated him for making the tears well up in her eyes, for his out of character concern, and his out of character tenderness.

"No you're not," she whispered angrily.

He did not answer her, but continued to hold her a little closer than was necessary. She did not move away from him but she didn't relax either. They swayed to the faint slow song. It seemed so far away. To the onlookers of the tense, unhappy situation it was almost sweet, if the hardened associates remembered what sweet was. To many it was evident that the Hyuuga heiress and the Uchiha heir would merge more the company names. They happened to be very much mistaken.

"I don't know if I'm happy or not," he murmured into her ear, sending chills up her spine, "Even though I've gotten everything I've set out to get I'm still unsure."

He really was more clueless than he let on. She wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but she did understand emotions and this usually cold, stoic young man she had come to know and resent was emotionally and socially retarded.

"I would tell you why," she answered him, breathless because of his proximity, "But I think you have to figure it out on your own."

Sasuke's eyes held hers, "You've changed Hinata, though I can't say that it's for the better."

She was mesmerized by his eyes, "And whose fault is that?

They remained in tense silence. Suddenly he released her and stopped a waiter.

"Champagne," Sasuke ordered. The waiter bowed respectfully and turned towards the direction of the bar.

Typical, of course he would like champagne. He was her antithesis, classy, sophisticated, greedy. He hated children, and he hated coffee, and he loved the corporate world and all its cold traditions. It suited him because he was cold, colder than anyone she had ever met. Wordlessly he took her back in his arms. She didn't protest.

"You don't like champagne do you?" it was more of a statement than anything else.

"It's too sophisticated for my classless upbringing," she replied curtly.

He studied her with his dark eyes. The waiter returned promptly with his alcohol. Sasuke instructed him to keep it, leaving the poor man rather disoriented and rather disgruntled.

"That was unnecessary," she reprimanded lightly, "What a waste."

He didn't answer her; his eyes still held that passionate quality, "I miss how you used to be soft."

He was full of surprises. His complexity was often too much for her to bear. He was an enigma and a puzzle and a riddle she knew she could never solve. Anyway, she was no longer under any obligation to understand him. Very soon she would be back among her own kind, with the simple people she cared about and the ones who cared for her in return.

"Attention please!" Neji, her cousin, called from a podium at the head of the room.

Sasuke did not release her completely, but held on loosely to her elbow.

"Sit with me," he demanded in that arrogant manner that he had always retained.

She followed him resignedly; comforted that this would be the last night she would have to deal with his overbearing peculiarities. He led her to a table in the corner, where her younger sister Hanabi was having a heated discussion with Sasuke's good-natured best friend, Naruto. They both turned, startled when Sasuke and Hinata approached them.

"Congratulations Hinata," Naruto gave an admirable attempt at a greeting, but he was still breathing heavily from his argument with her sister.

Hanabi smiled weakly up at her, and threw a resentful glance at the blonde man.

Sasuke, indifferent to the awkward state of things, took a seat next to Naruto, and Hinata sat herself beside Hanabi.

Her father, Hiashi, was speaking.

"It is my pleasure to introduce my eldest daughter, Hyuuga Hinata,"

There was the sound of polite, if unenthusiastic, applause. Hinata rose from her seat, and for the first time, firmly made her way up to the podium.

"I would like to thank my family, for bestowing this honor upon me," Hinata's voice was loud and clear, "This has truly been enlightening experience for me, and you can rest assured that Hyuuga Corporation will remain in good hands. I am relinquishing all claims to the Hyuuga Corporation to my cousin Hyuuga Neji. I know he will do great things, and I trust him completely. The paperwork has been signed by me, and my lawyer, and all it needs his Neji's signature."

There was a collective gasp. She would have laughed at being able to wheedle some emotion out of the rigid employees of her father's corporation. Neji was staring at her with a mixture of awe, and gratitude. She threw him an encouraging smile.

"I know that I do not have what it takes to run such a large scale enterprise, but Neji has been studying for it all his life. I on the other hand wish to return to my dull life as a college student, and a coffee shop worker for reasons you will never understand. So I bid you all adieu."

Hyuuga Hinata made her way down from the podium with her head held up high, and her gaze never leaving the door. No one rose to stop her. She maneuvered passed the stunned faces, and threw open the mahogany double doors. It had been the most successful dramatic exit of her life.

Her purposeful strides made no noise on the carpet. It was raining outside. She tilted her face upward, and shivered in the light drizzle.

She was finally free.

A/N: Hello and welcome to the prologue of Frozen. This was the upcoming story idea that was most popular in the polls so here it is! I hope you enjoy it and I hope this first chapter wasn't too confusing.

Reviews would be very nice :)

Much Love

TheCrackShipper