Fortuitous

Chapter One

-Damsel in Distress-

A strong wind blew as Talia continued on her way back to Konoha. She looked around, her golden blonde hair whipping around her face. The wind died suddenly, making her hair fall back around her to her waist. She shivered, getting the heebie-jeebies. "I hate traveling by myself." She grumbled, brushing some of her bangs from her face, since they were falling into her amber eyes. They were almost the color of liquid gold, sparkling in the brilliant sunlight.

She was wearing tight black leggings that stopped mid-calve, a tight white skirt over them, just long enough to cover her rear. Her shirt cut off just above her belly button and was sleeveless, the top almost acting like a turtleneck. It clung to her like a second skin, and over it she had on a white halter-like vest on that fastened in the front. Over her shoulder was a messenger bag filled with herbs and medicines that she'd traveled very far to get for the hospital and the greenhouses.

Despite the fact that she wasn't a ninja, she'd volunteered to go. She had always loved adventure, and thought it a great opportunity to serve her village in the small way she could. She stopped suddenly, hearing a small cry. The blonde looked around, trying to locate the sound. When she did she hurried off the path and pushed through the brush. "Hello?" she called. "Is someone out here?"

"Help!"

Talia searched once more, finally seeing a young girl on the ground with a wounded leg. "What happened?" she asked, kneeling beside her and examining the damage. Unfortunately, once she was face to face with the girl, she saw that it wasn't in fact a little girl, and she moved to slice Talia with the sharp knife she had in her hand. "Ah!" she flinched back, going wide eyed.

The woman stared at her, a bit angrily, "Why won't you help me?" she tried to sound sad.

"Because! You have a kunai in your hand and you were about to attack me!"

The woman glared at her, "What?" she seethed. "How could you possibly have seen through that?"

"Seen through what?" Talia swallowed. But the woman was done talking, and was soon joined by two other men.

"No matter. Let's just grab her and see what we can find out." One said.

The other male nodded. "She's definitely from Konoha, I can smell the leaves on her."

Talia's eyes widened and she tried to scoot back. "I'm not anyone important! I just work at the hospital." She tried to tell them, but they didn't seem to care, because the next thing she saw was the taller man launching at her with a sword in hand. But he never made contact, because just as he was about to reach her, he was hit off to the side. And the next thing Talia saw was a tall dark haired man standing between her and the other ninja.

He was dressed in the tight uniform that was Anbu, though his hawk mask was resting on top of his head and off to the right a bit. Through his black spandex, Talia could see the clear definition of all of his lean muscles not covered by the white armor he wore over it. "You should never attack a defenseless woman." He said, his voice deep and firm. "You may not like the consequences."

"An U-Uchiha!" the woman shrieked, going stark white with fear. But before either could run, they let out terrified screams that filled the woods. Talia clapped her hands over her ears, watching their terrified faces contort into agony before they fell to the ground lifelessly.

The blonde stared at them and it was then that she realized she was crying and shaking. The man turned to her, his sharingan fading into dark pool of green. He walked over to her and squat down to her level before gripping her chin lightly, tilting her face up to him. "Are you alright Miss?" he asked, sounding kinder than he had before, though it was slight. Behind him she could see sand gathering, forming a large gourd on his back.

"Oh my God." She breathed out, turning a dark red. "You're Uchiha Sanosuke."

"Yes." He nodded. "Judging by that response, I assume that I got to you in time." He said, glancing behind him at the bodies. "Wait here." He instructed, releasing her and walking over to examine the dead nin. Getting whatever information he needed from them, his sand flowed and covered the bodies. Another sliver moved towards Talia, and covered her eyes so that she didn't see anything. She heard what sounded like a crunching sound, and when the sand left her eyes, it was to rejoin with the rest at Sanosuke's back. It was then she realized that the bodies were no longer there. Then he walked back over to her as if nothing had happened. "May I ask your name?"

"Utagawa Talia." She said quickly, taking his offered hand and helping herself up. She tried not to think about the fact that there wasn't even a trace left from the people who had attacked her. After all, this was the son of her Hokage and the relentless Sabaku no Natsumi. That woman was known for her merciless killing, hence why she controlled the Anbu next to her husband. "How did you-" she pointed at him and then around. "Why were you-" then she blushed once more, giving him a small smile. "You have great timing."

"I was on my way back from a mission and sensed a sinister presence." He informed her. That was when I heard the cry, and knew something was up." He frowned slightly then. "You saw through her genjutsu, how?"

Talia just shrugged, looking confused herself. "I don't know, she just attacked me. It's not like I'm blind. She just went for it and acted as if I wasn't supposed to see it."

"You weren't." Sanosuke stated. "It was strong by normal standards, any civilian would have been tricked by it." his eyes changed back to his sharingan then, and he stared at her. When nothing happened, he leaned closer, so that their faces were inches apart as his red eyes bore into her amber depths. "Hm."

She looked off nervously, swallowing hard as she wet her mouth so when she spoke she wouldn't sound so affected. "What are you doing?" she asked, sounding small.

He gently gripped her chin and turned her head back towards him. "Checking something. Now look at me please." He said, his sharingan swirling into the Mangekyou.

Talia blinked, staring into the blood red eyes of the Uchiha's. She'd never seen them up so close before, and they were absolutely amazing. It was mind blowing how the pattern changed and moved, but he was still just staring at her. She let out a small breath and after a while her gaze turned into a glare. "Okay. You can stop your freaky eye twirl thing now."

He didn't respond, and the blonde deadpanned before she did the one thing no one had ever accomplished before. She slapped the Uchiha. "Stop it already! It's cool and all but it's still creepy! I don't want to watch your eyes get all teretzy!" she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sanosuke stared at her in shock, his eyes fading back to green as he placed a hand over the sting on his cheek. "It doesn't work. Amazing." He breathed out, not even upset that he had been hit. He had invaded her personal space, after all. And his mother had told him many times before that not everybody would go along with his silent, non-explanation giving behavior as well as his family did. It seemed she was right. As always.

"What doesn't work?" she demanded, giving him another glare before her eyes widened. "You just tried to put me in a genjutsu didn't you!" she accused, pointing her finger in his face. "The nerve! Just because you're an Uchiha and extremely gorgeous to boot with muscles that would make any girl swoon doesn't mean you can just willy nilly do as you please. You got that bucko?" she huffed, poking him in the chest. "Cause' I ain't having it." She poked him once more for emphasis, though he grabbed the digit before she could retract it.

"First of all, it didn't work, so you're fine." He said, looking like he wanted to roll his eyes. "You should be glad that you are unaffected by genjutsu and can see through them. It is a trait that any ninja would kill for, so I would recommend not leaving the village alone any longer. Or even at all. Second of all, never call me…bucko, again. And lastly, thank you." he smirked slightly. "I do not believe anyone has ever complimented me in such a manner before."

Talia blushed and looked off. "Well…you're welcome. I'm just saying you can't do what you want and there's no way I'm not ever leaving the village again. I don't want to be in prison." She huffed, snatching her finger from his grasp before turning away from him and heading back to the road. "Anyways, thanks for saving me." She called over her shoulder.

She let out a startled scream as she was suddenly lifted into his strong arms. "You're welcome." He said, leaping into the trees. "I will escort you back. It will be much faster." He explained, moving from branch to branch in a rapid manner.

Despite her flustered expression, she tried to protest. "I have legs you know. I can walk."

"That will just slow us down." He smirked, glancing down at her. "And I like to go fast."

Talia sighed, grabbing her bag and cradling it since she didn't want to lose any of her herbs. "I'm not slow." She grumbled.

"I never said you were." Sanosuke replied, before stopping on a branch. "Would you rather I set you down and we walk?"

"Well we're already going, so I don't see why it matters." She said matter-of-factly, though she truly didn't want to. She felt like a princess from a fairytale book, being carried off after her brave knight had saved her. "So…" she trailed off. "You just got back from an Anbu mission?"

"Yes." He pushed off from the branch and resumed their fast pace towards home.

She stayed silent, trying not to look so awkward. "What did you do?"

He looked down at her. "I can't tell you that." He said. "But you can tell me why you were travelling alone. Has no one ever told you about the dangers outside the village? Especially for a woman as nice looking as you are."

"I was getting some herbs from a nearby town." She explained, pointing to her bag. "They're rare, and I was bringing them so we could start growing them as well."

Sanosuke nodded. "That must have been Hayate's idea." He mused.

"Mhm." She nodded. "But none of the ninja wanted to go because it was such a trivial mission, and so I decided to go myself. I'm not afraid of leaving the village." Talia replied smugly, but then blinked. "Wait a second…" she trailed off, backtracking on his words. A huge blush spread across her face, tinting her cheeks the color of a cherry. "Did you just say I was pretty?"

An attractive smirk came to his features as their eyes met. "In so many words, yes."

It was as if Talia's heart was about to explode from the rapid beating. Uchiha Sanosuke thought she was pretty? She knew she was pretty, but to hear him of all people say it, it seemed to make it undeniably real. "Thank you…" she whispered, fiddling nervously with her fingers. All too soon, Sanosuke landed in front of the large gates that led into Konoha.

"You're welcome." He said as he set her down, thinking she was thanking him for bringing her home. "Do you want me to escort you to the hospital as well?"

"No it's okay. I know you probably have to get back to your mom and report your heinous act." She smirked, though she couldn't help the jab. She knew the Anbu did some pretty shady things, and having never known any personally, she didn't really think of them as anything more than ninja who liked to prove themselves by taking others out.

He returned the gesture. "Yes, because saving you is so terrible." He said, knowing she was talking about his secret mission. He bowed then, a gesture that shocked the blonde woman. "Goodbye, Utagawa Talia. Maybe I'll see you again someday." He said, before disappearing in a whirl of sand.

Talia stared at the spot that Sanosuke had been, glancing around suspiciously. She'd never actually seen any of the Uchiha children do that before. Not like she'd actually been around that many, but they came to the hospital a lot to visit Hayate, and the youngest of the clan never seemed to find it necessary to transport that way.

She turned her back to the gate and started towards the hospital. Still, he thought she was pretty. That alone made her stomach flutter. All her life, she'd seen Sanosuke from afar, or with his family, and she'd always found him cute. Sure, his elder brothers were extremely good looking as well, but Kanamé had always been too kind looking for her taste and Noriaki, as everyone knew, was a complete arrogant jerk, except to his girlfriend, Hikari.

But somehow Sanosuke had always held her gaze. She let out a small giggle and hurried forth, eager to get back to work and help Hayate with the herbs she'd gotten.