Author's Introduction

Hi there! Welcome to Yours for the Taking, a Sasuke x Hinata story which, consequently, is the foundation for a six-part AU romance series I'm writing titled One World.

On updating: the schedule will be rather erratic so please don't press me for quick updates. Not to worry, I'm actually enjoying writing this that it's on my priority list (the list that contains to-do other than writing).

For more details on the One World series and a glimpse of the future parts, please check my profile.

Without further ado, I bring you…

Yours for the Taking
by Arethusa Fellini

Part I

He absolutely hated this kind of party. But he had no choice. When you've reached the top of your game in your nature of business, you had to be everywhere. Then again, he could have elected not to attend this function but his secretary had cleared all his other appointments for the day, thinking that what he meant by 'wanting to relax' was by going here.

He could have made the most of the party and circulated but he didn't want to talk business. He had found out years ago that entrepreneurs were more interested in how he got rich—his rags-to-riches story—than any other topic when he was around. It must have slipped their notice that he inherited his starting money – not started from scratch. But that was to be expected because, as far as everyone knew, his family had left him zilch.

He moved his eyes disinterestedly over the mass of black gowns and black tuxedos and a few other splashes of colors until one woman wearing a silver sequined gown came to his attention. She leaned on a bare wall away from most of the crowds, with her hands lightly held on a glass of sherry that didn't seem to have been drunk. With her dress and her long midnight blue hair left loose, she looked like anything but a wallflower. He noticed that her eyes, unusually pale lavender orbs, seemed to be trained on a particular point on the far side of the room.

"Sasuke, my boy! How are you?"

The old man—the host of the party he recognized—voiced out the greeting and gave him a smack on the back, making him wince not out of pain but of him taking for granted their closeness – which was as close as Pluto was to the sun. He turned to face the host of the party and muttered a polite greeting in return (much to the delight of the old man). He moved his eyes back to the woman.

"Oh? Interested in her?"

Sasuke, who didn't think he was that obvious with his veiled observation looked back at the host with mild irritation.

The host smiled broadly. "An artist. Watercolor, I think, is her forte, though she usually commissions for oils and a little sculpting. Hinata Hyuuga is her name," he informed the young man with a wink.

Recognition entered his eyes at the mention of her surname.

"Yes, she's from those Hyuugas. There's also her cousin over there with her," he pointed to a lithe man with straight brown hair (that reached well over his shoulders) who was currently surrounded by a couple of people that were laughing at something he was saying. "Neji Hyuuga. But six years ago those two disassociated themselves from the illustrious family. They're living together—still—if I remember correctly. Those gossip columnists had a field day with those two," he chuckled at the memory.

Sasuke concluded that that was where her eyes were trained on – on her… cousin. The old man's piece of past news hadn't sat well with him.

"So? So? Do you want an introduction or not?"

Persistent senile bastard…

-

She absolutely hated this type of party. But she had no choice; those who were willing to spend on painting commissions, upper class clientele to be more precise, usually partook on exactly this type of social function. She should be grateful she had access to most of the elite parties. No. She should be grateful to her cousin, Neji, for taking her to this kind of social function whenever he was given an invitation, plus one of course.

But that didn't mean that he brought her here just for the heck of it. She was here for a cause, well, two causes since one was to find potential clients. The other one was to look after her older cousin who—for all the superiority that he aired—couldn't hold his liquor very well. That, of course, wasn't the main problem but, according to the words of her cousin, "when you're at a place where refusing a drink is rude, it's bound to get exciting than usual when my mouth starts wagging from all that booze."

That hadn't been a problem before. He always got away with not drinking more than a glass of champagne or martini or whatever was being offered. He, a talented and, so far, the youngest editor-in-chief of a continuously-growing newspaper publishing company (50,000 copies in circulation everyday), could stand in a crowd and, with a few worded phrases, would successfully garner all their attention. His dark humor plus his devilish charm reduced people into a laughing mess, even if the topic was a public figure he was shredding to pieces. And did she mention how women seemed to flock around him for his feminine good looks?

The host of the party appeared beside her. Vaguely she heard him say, "Miss Hinata, may I introduce…"

She wasn't really listening but she gave out the pretense that she was, offering a courteous smile and a hand in the direction of where she thought the man (the one she was being introduced to) was. It hadn't registered in her mind that her hand had been taken but it had occurred to her that the host had already left. She moved her gaze back to her cousin, trying to watch his movements for any signs of intoxication.

She blinked. She wasn't really slow on the uptake at things but her preoccupancy failed to notice that there was a warm hand still latched on to hers. She looked up, her eyes focusing, and found herself the bearer of the brunt of hostile black eyes.

If she was still what she was when she was inside the prison called Hyuuga she'd be a stuttering mess before this man. "May I please have my hand back? I find that life is usually easier when I have two," she smiled sheepishly. She let out her breath as he let go of hers. Almost at once she turned her gaze back onto her cousin's as she let her hand fall limply to her side.

She was aware of a voice speaking beside her so she unconsciously smiled and nodded as if she was listening. She wished the stranger would leave. But that was just trivial matter so she shoved the thought to the back of her head, forgetting about the man beside her, forcing her attention back on the task at hand. So, it was to no surprise that she gave out a shocked—but subdued—yelp when her hand was yanked hard, making her swing around to face the instigator.

"You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?"

She immediately felt the rush of blood to her neck and face at the fair accusation. She was forced to look at the man in front of her properly and was (pleasantly) surprised by what she saw. He was… gorgeous, for lack of a better word. She was an artist, not a writer. But from what she had seen, she would enjoy painting him immensely. His eyes gave her the chills though. She mentally shook her forehead. This wasn't the time for admiring probable subjects!

"I must apologize Mister…?" She flushed as she broke off. She couldn't remember his name.

His face darkened as he understood her predicament. "Uchiha," he supplied exasperatedly. "Sasuke Uchiha. I seem to remember it was just a few moments ago that we were introduced. Obviously, you haven't noticed."

She decided to ignore the remark. Instead, she placed a smile on her lips. "What do you do, Mr. Uchiha?" She went for one of her usual tactics when conversing with rich people like him: make them talk about themselves. She found that they loved doing that. So, if he went for the usual monologue she would be able to watch her cousin uninterrupted while still keeping an appearance of listening.

"Why should I tell you? You don't give a damn what I do," he retorted bitingly.

She didn't. But he was breaking the rules of polite talk by saying it openly. She couldn't stop a feeling of apprehension when she met his brooding eyes with the whole of her attention. Okay, so this wasn't working. She gave in; though at the back of her mind she was wondering why this man found her so interesting. Oh, yeah, she was a Hyuuga – only in the legal sense but that didn't stop men from coming at her even with her average features.

"I'm sorry. I was a little… distracted." She plastered a smile onto her face as she looked him in the eye to tell him he had her attention. "So, what is it you do?" She made a play of sipping her sherry but beneath her thick lashes, her eyes turned towards the far side of the room.

He moved right in front of her, resting his hand on the wall beside her. "I understand you do paintings. What do you paint?"

Her lips compressed. She had the sudden suspicion that he had blocked her view and was copying her tactic of letting him talk about himself deliberately. With the satisfied little smirk she could see on his mouth she resigned to herself that his action was in fact deliberate. "Little green men," she tried for flippancy to hide her growing irritation.

"Hn. Quite the clever one, aren't we?"

She gave him a beaming smile. Persistent, aren't we?

From the corner of her eyes, she saw her cousin laugh with the people he was with. But then she watched in horror as Neji's hand grabbed a flute of champagne from a waitress passing by and tip its contents down his throat with one go; maybe he even swallowed it by one gulp.

"Much as I enjoyed the conversation—" not really, "—I have to take my leave, Mr. Uchiha." Without a backward glance she left. If she had looked behind her one last time she would have been alarmed at the scowl that had formed on his face.

As quickly as she could, she went to Neji's side to take another glass he had taken from the waitress' tray. "Thank you, darling," she drawled, issuing the false gratitude with a smile as she gently pried it away from his hands. She took a small sip of the alcoholic drink while she entangled her arms with his.

"Keeping count, darling?"

"Of course, love."

Up close, Neji seemed to be far worse than she had thought, not that any of the people in the room noticed. She was after all, the closest person in the world to him. She tugged at his arm.

"My apologies to everyone. Cinderella has come to fetch me back to our castle. You see, I'm turning back to a rat in an hour."

There were many protests after that. Especially one catty woman with red hair that seemed to be washed out; she wished she didn't remember her name but it rang clearly on her mind: Tayuya. But she discreetly pushed Neji to the direction of the door.

"You know I'm not even drunk. Write me a chalk line and I'll pass it with flying colors!"

"I'm sure you will. I'll go get our cloaks."

"I need to go to the john."

"Oh… okay. Well, take your time," she advised worriedly as she noticed the sickly pallor on his face. She presumed he would be a few minutes there so she delayed getting their cloaks.

Left to her own devices for the time being, she couldn't feel but be conscious about being left alone. With nothing to watch over she felt absolutely out-of-place in such a posh environment, never mind that she had grown up in one. She and her cousin had left the comforts of this exact environment. It sickened her how she had to go to places like this one to earn a living. Warily, she walked out of the small corridor and into the main circulation of the party. She was partly relieved that the hostile, arrogant man from before was not in the vicinity.

"Hinata Hyuuga."

She stiffened and whipped her head to the direction of the man's voice. She let out the breath she was holding when she recognized that the man behind her wasn't the one she was avoiding. Henry Nakashima, she identified.

"Your cousin has a nasty tongue."

Crap. He must have been the unlucky target of Neji for tonight. "Oh," she laughed uneasily. "You shouldn't take what Neji says seriously."

"I could sue him for all of those things he said to me. He isn't by any chance drunk, is he?"

"No, he isn't. And about those, that won't be true Mr. Nakashima—"

"Henry," he intruded with a gleam in his eyes.

"—if that was the case, why would he bother with such an unbeneficial act from such an important person? If you really knew him, Mi—Henry," she corrected herself but inwardly she shuddered in disgust at the name. "He'd be milking you behind the scenes, not in front of the party."

That wasn't entirely true. Neji was drunk; a few more and he'd be out of it. But it was rather easy to smooth down the feathers of someone as simple-minded and self-absorbed as Henry Nakashima. A few veiled compliments and they'd be reading it as if she was toning the truth down when in reality she was exaggerating it.

"I suppose," he said with a trace of relief in his voice. Deeming the problem unworthy of his time anymore, he leaned over Hinata, getting too lose for comfort. "So I heard you are an artist, a… sculptor," he said with a smirk, the last word drawled out with sexual innuendo.

"Yes," she gave out a hollow laugh, thinking that he would think she was flattered he knew as much. The way he said it, that made her seem like she was some sort of easy woman, she decided to ignore entirely. Hinata stopped herself from scrunching up her nose from the smell of alcohol in his warm breath as he spoke close to her face. She mentally patted her own back as she even stopped herself from visibly recoiling in front of the disgusting man.

Heaven help me from these rich bastards!

"But that's only partly right. I'm more of a painter than a sculptor," she corrected him with a forced smile, leaning back on the wall behind her to relieve the space between them.

What she didn't expect was for Henry Nakashima to lean even closer to her, the lower half of his body lightly pressing against her (how she wished she was wearing a thick pair of jeans and not the thin silver gown she was wearing) as his lower arms rested on the patch of wall just beside her head.

"I could forget about filing a law suit if you make it worthwhile. You," he raised his arm to trail his forefinger on her bare arms, making her shiver in disgust. "Me. Alone," he said as his eyes gleamed lasciviously.

Oh, God. He's back to that again.

-

Damn woman.

Sasuke took a large gulp of the scotch he was drinking, closing his eyes as he felt the liquid burn a trail down his throat. He had received his fare share of refusals during his lifetime – and that was when his older brother was still around. After that, it was as easy as raising a lazy hand to get what he wanted. But her… she hadn't even batted an eyelash when she looked at him. Hell, she hadn't even noticed him! She infuriated him – completely. He was mad, but he wanted to know her all the more.

He stood up, the stool he was sitting on scraping on the marble floor. He walked towards the direction of the rest rooms. On his way, he couldn't help but notice her with some other guy. God, it hadn't even been half an hour since she left him standing there fuming. The guy seemed to be pretty cozy with her which just angered him more. He wasn't jealous now, was he?

Damn these feelings.

It was then that he noticed her hands were actually fending the guy off and not inciting him to do more. Her face looked like she was at a loss at what to do.

Tch. Let her suffer.

He walked away without giving them a second glance.

-

"You know, Neji will be back any second now," Hinata threatened through gritted teeth. She was holding on to the man's arms, more to stop him from his physical advances than from any actual need to touch. "And he wouldn't like it if he saw you in a compromising position with me."

"Don't care. I'm richer than him, or hasn't that thought gotten into you?"

Mentally, she vomited.

"Henry, right?"

She titled her head to the left at the sound of a man's voice – Sasuke Uchiha's voice she learned with a pang.

A look of irritation passed over Henry's face as he turned his head towards the intruder. "Yeah, so—Mr. Uchiha!" He recoiled away from Hinata.

"I was going to speak to Ms. Hyuuga here about a painting I wanted her to do."

"I see! Well, I was just going to the bar to fetch our—I mean my drink."

If she wasn't at such a classy place she would have stuck out her tongue at him childishly as he left at a hurried pace. Still, she couldn't ignore how Henry Nakashima had reacted at seeing this man. Just who was this guy?

"Yes, I'm richer than him," he answered the unspoken question written in her eyes.

She felt her face redden in embarrassment. She was unused to a man like him. Sasuke Uchiha was outspoken and direct to the point. It unnerved her.

She was more used to the ways of her cousin. Neji was into flippancy and mockery, hiding his real thoughts with his usual charm and wit. She had learned a thing or two from him, but mostly it was his confidence that rubbed onto her. But that didn't mean she was as good as him at wordplay.

"T-Thank you."

"Have dinner with me."

She gave out a surprised "What?—" followed by an immediate "—no."

"Do you have something going with your cousin?"

That question made her remember those nasty gossips that had been spread all over the city six years ago. She looked him in the eye through narrow eyes. "Of course… I don't think you've ever heard of it. It's called love." There she said it, and he could interpret it any way he wanted.

"Hinata…?"

She turned her gaze to her back, releasing a deep sigh as she saw Neji standing at the corridor. She stiffened though when she saw he was looking at the man beside her rather than at her. She compressed her lips. Courtesy wins again!

"Mr. Uchiha, this is my cousin, Neji Hyuuga. He's the editor-in-chief of the Tribune."

"Sasuke Uchiha – owner and president of UGC. Quite the catch there, Hinata," Neji spoke before Hinata could continue with the introductions, his voice teasing as he finished shaking hands with Sasuke—to which said person quirked a brow in her direction.

She blushed. There goes my cover-up.

-

"The treatment's working," Neji said as soon as Hinata went out of the shower in her pajamas – a mix of oversized t-shirt and short shorts.

"Oh my god, Neji that's great!" She exclaimed as she ran towards her cousin, plopped down on the couch he was sitting on, and hugged him in relief. She was happy she couldn't feel nor see the stiffness that had been governing his body since this morning. Though she knew that a few weeks from now this was bound to happen again, she decided not to ponder too much about it.

"How was she?"

"Fine," he answered a little too casually as he sat up from the couch.

"So are we going to visit them?"

"No."

"What? Why!?"

"Easy there, 'cuz. I asked them to stay the week here. You do remember the elevators in their apartment are still being repaired. It would be too hard for Tenten to mobilize Lee that way."

"That's nice. But is that okay with you?" She asked softly. Lee and Tenten were his close friends since college. The reason why Neji was intent on getting drunk this night was to drown his apprehension on the treatment of his best friend, Lee, who had a high chance of getting a negative reaction according to his doctors. But that wasn't the only reason. The fact that Tenten would have been, by this time, exhausted and probably drained of life hurt him terribly – especially when he knew he couldn't show her how much he cared.

Those two had been with him even after graduation. Two years after that Lee had married Tenten. Lee had started his own school of martial arts as soon as he married her but two years ago, he was struck by a progressive illness, leaving him severely crippled. His wife had never left his side ever since. It was obvious how much Tenten adored him. She could safely say Tenten thought of Lee as her life.

Neji was in love with Tenten. Hinata felt it ironic that someone so self-possessed, so clever, so strong had fallen hopelessly in love with someone like her. Ever since Neji had blurted out to her, that one time he had gotten drunk, about his deep feelings for Tenten, she had closely watched the two. Sometimes, she thought that her cousin's confession had been a figment of her imagination. If it weren't for that stack of pictures of Tenten he kept hidden that told her he was really in love with her, she really would have thought it was all a dream. He kept his feelings hidden so well. But there were times, times like this one, that he would show how anguished he really was with the whole situation.

He truly cared for Lee, but it hurt him to see Tenten suffering from taking care of her husband. That was why, as much as he could, he helped the couple. She had lost count of the number of times she had seen her cousin look like he was being torn into pieces.

"Yes. You'll be here with me, right?"

She smiled at him. "Of course!"

"So what is this with Sasuke Uchiha, hmm? He seemed quite smitten with you."

"Neji!"

"What…?"

"If you wanted to change the subject so much there are always my paintings, you know! Besides, it's not as if I'd ever see him again."

He laughed, though Hinata wasn't deceived by the seemingly relaxed voice. "I have an early appointment with the pack of wolves tomorrow, so goodnight love."

"G'night," she echoed as she watched him go out of her apartment. Dimly, she heard him go up to his own floor.

-

She really shouldn't have spoken too soon about not seeing Sasuke Uchiha again because, contrary to her expectations, he was here – now. Right in front of her apartment, at her door, holding her door handle hostage.

Why had he come? Surely not to see her? Was she surprised? She was more than surprised. She was stupefied.

"H-H-how'd you get my address?" See? Stupefied.

"It's nice to know you remember me."

"Well—of course." She mentally smacked her forehead. She shouldn't have said that. She shouldn't have let him know that she found him quite interesting after some thinking last night, even if all her attention was constantly swinging between Neji and the glass he was holding.

He raised a brow at her words. "You surprise me," he drawled. "I got the impression you didn't even notice me last night."

She ignored the remark. "What do you want, Mr. Uchiha?" She immediately saw the glint in his eyes so she forestalled him. "No, don't answer that."

"Not quite confident, are we?"

Truthfully, yes. But she wasn't about to let him know that. More so the fact that Neji wasn't here and that she was all alone. "I'd like to call it please-don't-take-it-as-encouragement tactic," she answered with a forced smile.

"I mean to have you, Hinata," he said as his face took on a serious look.

How could she have forgotten the fact that he was a jerk?

"Sorry, not for sale. Not a free toy either," she said as she gave him a huge grin. God, her jaw was killing her from all the smiling she was doing.

"Take me seriously," he said in a warning note.

She was starting to feel uneasy with the situation. She was out of her league in this sort of thing. Never in her life had she been proposed to in such a short time, and with such intensity. Her average looks didn't grant her that kind of attention. She had her share, but they were all gold-diggers. So, she decided to bail out. "I'm sorry, Mr. Uchiha, but you'll have to leave."

She watched as his lips thinned into a compressed line. She could feel the sparks of anger his gaze threw her. She badly wished he would stop with the 'evil look' already.

"Walk me to your gate."

She was about to protest but she thought it was the least she could do for him. Taking a deep breath, she went past him as she walked down the stone path of the house's garden. She turned towards him when she had opened her gate. "Good—!"

He had bent his head and taken her mouth violently, surprising her lips into parting for him. He took advantage of her open mouth, entering her with an act of dominance. He raised both his hands to the sides of her neck to hold her close to him.

Her heart was beating so fast she wondered why he couldn't hear it. Her blood seemed to roar in her ears as she lost all sense of what she was doing. She felt so warm. Hesitantly, she raised her own hands to him, her lips moving of their own accord to kiss him back.

Her own action seemed to trigger her to push him away with all her might – which was exactly what she did.

He gazed at her silently, his eyes holding a violent storm of emotions. Without further word, he turned around and walked away, his heavy footsteps resounding on the concrete walk.

She stared after him, a hand to her throbbing mouth, as warmth slowly crept out of her head – making it tingle in heated response. The last thing she remembered was darkness creeping at the corner of her eyes.

Disclaimer: This fiction is written for entertainment purposes only, thus, the authoress will not be profiting from this. Naruto and its characters are owned by Masashi Kishomoto.

Credits go to Shiranui the Brave for doing a wonderful job in proofreading this chapter.