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Sadness.

Pain.

Sorrow.

Was all she could feel at that moment, she kept on running, she didn't care where she would go, or what she would do, she felt her whole world crashing upon her shoulders because she saw the one she loved being with another person.

Her father called her useless, weak, a disgrace of the hyuuga clan. He told her that Hanabi would be the new heiress to the clan and she would be a mere member of the sidebranch.

She couldn't take it. She did what she would always do. Run, Run away from everything. The heartache, the pain, the sorrow, the loneliness.

She was already outside of Konoha, not caring if someone would kill her, or maybe even do something unforgivable.

Hinata cried deep within the forest, trying to calm herself but it wouldn't stop, the words she told to herself kept repeating in her head…….I am worthless, he doesn't need my love. She was already shivering in the cold, she couldn't run anymore, she couldn't take it anymore. She felt weak, useless, pathetic.

She was shivering continuously, She had a few scratches on her arms from the field of roses she passed by. it seemed so useless, nothing would change the way naruto felt for sakura, nothing would change her father's point of view of her. She felt like ending her life.

She was far away from konoha, far away from the person she loved and from her family.

In a few hours later, she fell asleep lying beside a tree. trying to erase the memories that had just entered her mind.

And in the midst of the night, a certain dark avenger stumbled upon her and thought to himself what's she doing here? So far away from konoha? He thought of leaving her until he saw how bad her condition was. Then putting her on his back, he took her to orochimaru's lair, explaining to his master that he couldn't leave her out there.

"you are becoming quite soft now, aren't you, sasuke?" orochimaru teased.

"lord orochimaru, even though I could care less about my former friends in Konoha, I believe that she doesn't deserve to die like that"

Orochimaru thought to himself Although I think that his feelings for this particular girl will make him weak, If I insist on throwing her out, I may not remain in his favor, which means that I cannot have his body…very well, for now, I shall let him keep her as a…pet.

"Hmm.. very well, but you are to make sure that she is not to leave this lair."

"yes, lord orochimaru." Sasuke replied

"then I am leaving her in your care. make sure that she behaves herself properly."

"very well." Sasuke nodded and he took her to a bed where she could rest for the night.

She slept throughout much of the next morning. It was already noon and she still wasn't awake. Sasuke wondered why she had left the village, then suddenly, he heard something crash and realized it came from where hinata was.

He suddenly ran toward the door and saw hinata trembling.

"I-I-Im sorry…I didn't m-mean to b-break the glass…g-gomen" her knees were still shaking from the shock she had suffered from last night.

"hn." Was all he said, he didn't know how to explain to her about her predicament, that she would have to remain in Orochimaru's lair for the rest of her life.

"W-why am I-I here?" she asked.

"I found you outside in the forest last night and you were loosing a lot of blood so I took you in."

"Arigatou…" was all she said, she wasn't used to his accompany and he was like a complete stranger to her.

"M-may I-I please leave?"

"No, you can't. once inside Orochimaru's lair, you are never to leave." was all he said, trying to be gentle with her but he knew he was doing a horrible job at it.

…there was silence in the room, she couldn't take it…Orochimaru's lair?... be here? Forever? No..it cant be…I…I just cant!! Tears fell from her eyes and sasuke was quite surprised that she was crying so hard…even for the hinata that he once knew.

She ran far away from sasuke, just trying to heal the emotional pain that she was experiencing. She stumbled outside upon a huge rock and curled up… sasuke followed her just to make sure she wouldn't leave or try anything stupid.

He was looking at her with sympathetic eyes, trying to figure out what was going on with her head…she was mumbling incoherent words, so he tried to get closer to hear her…

"the pain will go away… the pain will go away… the pain will go away…" was all she was saying, trying to calm herself, but realizing the sad truth and down to earth reality of the situation.

She remained there for about an hour, Sasuke was already getting bored with the simple chore of just making sure that she wouldn't escape…

He had enough, he jumped down from the tree he was perched on, and grabbed her. she was trying to fend him off, but he was too strong for her. She silently resigned herself to fate, and quietly let him take her back to her room.

"You should eat already, it is 1:00 in the afternoon and you still haven't eaten anything."

She calmed herself down. She knew he was right, she was starving to death! She hadn't eaten anything since her last meal from yesterday. He brought her a bowl of chicken broth to eat. She was hesitant to take even a sip.

"You know, it isn't poisoned. It's not like I'm trying to kill you." Sasuke said

"g-gomen…i-i-it seems I spaced out…"

Sasuke couldn't help it anymore, He had to ask her why she had run away. So, he decided to finally ask her about it.

"Hinata…what happened last night?..."

Suddenly, she stopped eating, a tear rolled down her face…

"I-I-I found Naruto kun with Sakura…they were making out a-a-and I j-just couldn't take the pain…and m-my father called me a disgrace and was going to make H-Hanabi the heiress…"

Sasuke was shocked, He never guessed that Naruto and Sakura would ever be that close to each other…

"b-but it's okay…i-i-its not like he loved me or anything…" wiping the tears off her face…

"No, I understand. That idiot is so insensitive to what others think about him."

Sasuke went over to Hinata and gave her some spare clothes. he told her to take a shower and change, so that she would be at least presentable.

"a-arigatou Uchiha-san"

"no need for formalities, just call me sasuke."