Twist of fate

Summary:

Fate certainly is an imaginative fellow. It interweaves the intricacies of our existence, testing our resolve by throwing in two unfortunate accidents, and thickens the plot by mixing in mistaken identities. Don't you just want to give him a nice resounding knock in the head sometimes?

Main Pairing: Sasuke and Hinata

Secondary: Sakura and Naruto

Disclaimer:

Of course, all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I would also like to add that this story was inspired by the historical novel 'Until You' by Judith McNaught. :)

I. When it rains, it pours.

Propped upon a mountain of soft pillows amid rumpled bed linens, Karin surveyed his smooth, muscular torso with an appreciative smile as Sasuke Uchiha shrugged into a white long sleeve shirt he'd tossed uncaringly over the foot of the bed last night.

"Are we still attending Shikamaru's inauguration party next week?" she purred as she lifted up on an elbow and pulled a sheet to her breasts.

Sasuke glanced at her as he picked up his necktie. "Of course." Turning to the mirror above the fireplace, he met her intense gaze as his fingers deftly made its way with the fine black silk in a series of wraps and folds. "Why do you need to ask?"

With a sigh, Karin rolled onto her side, hiding her face from Sasuke's eyes. "I heard from the grapevine that Kin Tsuchi is coming next week, and I also gathered that you're finally going to make her the offer she and her father have long been waiting for."

"Is that what the gossip columns are saying? Evidently, you skim the lurid Icha Icha tabloid as a guilty pleasure. I always thought you're the wall street journal type." Sasuke said casually, but he lifted his eyebrows slightly, a gesture that effectively conveys his displeasure at her for bringing up a topic that he clearly felt was none of her concern.

Karin noted the silent warning from his tone but pushed the topic nonetheless. "We've been on this thing for several years, and in the past, I've been hearing a lot of gossips about you- " she paused and giggled before continuing. "Not only from the columns of the lurid Icha icha tabloid, but from our associates as well, -getting engaged with one aspiring female or another, and until now, I never asked you to confirm or deny any of them.

Without answering, Sasuke turned from the mirror and picked up his jacket from the velvet sofa. He shoved his arms into the sleeves and walked over to the side of the bed. Standing there, he directed his attention to the woman in it.

Karin is a business associate during the day, a wickedly delectable playmate during the night. Theirs was an open relationship, free to date anyone, bed anyone, no commitments. They've had enough with possessive partners and jealous exes.

In other words, friends with benefits.

But clearly, with the way this conversation is dangerously leading in to, Karin, Sasuke decided, is putting her toes out of the line they drew when they started this relationship 2 years ago.

He felt his annoyance diminish a little, as he looked down at the woman before him. She was indeed a delectable sight. She was also intelligent, cunning and direct, all of which made her a thoroughly enjoyable partner in and out of bed. Sasuke knew she was not a hopeless romantic to nurture any secret hopes of a marriage offer from him, and she was too independent to have any real desire to tie herself to someone for life – traits that further solidified their relationship. Or so he had thought.

"So now you want me to confirm or deny that I will run to Kin and ask for her hand in marriage?" he asked quietly.

Karin responded with a warm, alluring smile that usually made his body go wild. "Bingo."

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest and answered coolly. "What if it's true?"

Karin rose to her feet, blanket still clutched to her chest. "Then Sasuke, as your business associate, I would say that you are making a great mistake. A no-no." She wiggled her forefinger in front of his face as if she's talking to a two year old.

"And why is that?" He drawled sarcastically.

She chuckled softly, and cupped his handsome face with her soft hands. "Based from your stories, she's your childhood friend and you even mentioned that you only treat her as a younger sister. You have fondness for her, yes; it's true, but not a great love nor even a great passion." Like ours, she mentally added. "All she has to offer you is her beauty, her bloodlines and the prospect of an heir. She might not match your strength, or your intelligence, and although she may care for you, she will never understand you. Kin, an inexperienced, spoiled and pampered brat that she is, will just bore you in bed and annoy you when out of it." Karin lifted an elegant brow, daring him to counter what she considered a perfect and accurate deduction of Sasuke and Kin's impending relationship.

"Thank you, Karin. I must count myself fortunate that you take such interest in my personal life that you even went out of your way to share your advices on how I ought to live it. Wow, I mean, you perfectly foretold my future there. Are you into palmistry or in those cosmic shits now?" Sasuke replied in deliberate sarcasm.

The stinging reply caused her fingers to tremble a little, and her smile to falter. "There, you see? Your grim sense of humor, those sarcastic replies, that acerbic tone of yours, will just make Kin completely crushed or dreadfully offended."

Sasuke regarded her with a raised eyebrow, before inclining his head in a mockery of a bow. "I apologize, Madame." He moved his face away from her grasp. Karin opened her soft lips, as if to say something more, but Sasuke quickly pressed a farewell kiss on her forehead and walked towards the door.

"Sasuke… I have to confess something…"

His hand suspended in mid-air, which was about to grab the knob to open the door. He faced Karin, his expression unreadable.

"No confessions." Sasuke reminded her. "We agreed from the beginning. No confessions, no accusations, no promises. That's the way we both wanted it."

Karin's crimson orbs stared at him, a plethora of emotions reflected in those eyes Sasuke dared not to interpret. With an impatient sigh, he turned the handle and opened the door. "Call me if you need anything." With that, he was gone.

Silent tears dropped on soft hands that clutch the crumpled linens that lay on her knees.

I'm starting to fall for you…

Outside, a wet gray fog blanketed the night, marred by the faint eerie glows of lamplights along the street. Sasuke took his keys from his coat pocket and pressed the remote control to unlock his car.

What the hell is she thinking? Sasuke's mind reeled, as he drove through the quiet and empty streets of Konoha.

Interpreting Karin's gestures and her genial and loving smiles she thought he didn't notice sent warning flags to Sasuke.

God, don't tell me she's falling in love with me. He groaned as he increased his speed, wanting to get home as fast as possible. He wanted to douse himself with brandy to nurse his throbbing head. Shikamaru once warned him about how dangerous it is to be threading on such perilous waters.

Heh. Maybe I could ask Shikamaru to dish out 200 ways to escape this dilemma. Or duck the particular commitment trap Karin is planning to hurl at me.

He clutched the ignition and stepped on the gas. His car's running 120 now, which warrants him a speeding ticket if there's any police lurking around the corner. However, a ticket and a police car trailing after him are the last two things on Sasuke's problem-addled mind. He turned sharply to the left when he came across an intersection and continued driving.

I am uncharacteristically losing my cool now. Relax, Sasuke. Take a deep breath.

Just as he was finally beginning to push his mind to focus, his cell phone suddenly hummed, announcing a call.

A sigh escaped his lips as he glanced at his cell perched on the phone cradle he had the garage installed. His grip tightened on the steering wheel as his gaze drifted to the caller id –

Call me if you need anything.

Karin.

"GODDAMNIT!" He bellowed, slamming his fist into the steering wheel, unmindful that at the same time the door of a pub flung open, splashing light into the cold, empty street. A dark figure staggered out of the pub, zigzagged towards the curb and regurgitated a night's worth of booze before materializing in front of Sasuke's car.

Sasuke's eyes widened in fear and jammed his foot hard on the breaks, but it all came too late.

When it rains, it definitely pours.

Sasuke always considered that idiom really stupid until now.

Leaning heavily against the window of the private hospital suite he got for the unfortunate figure he accidentally hit last night, Sasuke listened in silence as the man who introduced himself as Jiraiya, the guy's guardian informed him about his current condition.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" he whispered.

An assortment of tubes connected the unconscious figure to a variety of complex contraptions, many of which are unknown to Sasuke, but served its purpose of sustaining Naruto's life and ensuring he stays in the world of the living.

"Accidents happen. Mishaps are mishaps, and that's why we call them that." Jiraiya's gaze landed towards Naruto's sleeping form.

"I'd hardly call running a man down and rendering him in a coma a 'mishap'." Sasuke retorted, with such disdain directed at himself, not at Jiraiya.

"Don't blame yourself. I am thankful enough you didn't run away from your responsibility of at least rushing him to the hospital."

Sasuke ran an impatient hand on his hair, a gesture he always did when stressed or pressured. "Surely, Naruto must have a family somewhere – someone to whom I could explain personally about the accident?" He asked, before burying his face to his sweaty palms. He thought the number on speed dial one saved in Naruto's cellphone was his dad, or some relative really close to him.

Jiraiya merely shook his head, distracted by the realization that Naruto needs to meet someone important in the following days to come. How could he explain to her…?

"What do you mean?" Sasuke's gruff voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Jiraiya cleared his throat before answering his question. "Naruto had no close living relatives. His parents died on an airplane crash when he was three."

"I see." He loosened his tie and pinched the bridge of his nose, in attempt to lessen the pain of his throbbing head. "Has he always been like that?" he turned to Jiraiya, who was casually leaning on his chair, apparently losing to sleep. He cracked one eye open.

"Like what?"

"You know what I mean." he replied, too tired to explain.

"Getting wasted?" he snorted. "No. Damn boy is just commemorating the end of his bachelorhood. He's getting married in two months time." Jiraiya rubbed his eyes to keep himself awake. "He must've gone way overboard last night." A sad smile made its way on the creases of his mouth. "And now, it's my responsibility to tell his fiancée what happened to him, because by the looks of it, he's not going to wake up anytime soon."

To Sasuke's dismay, a fresh wave of guilt washed over him, but he nodded, and his voice became brisk and purposeful. "What's her name and when is she scheduled to arrive?"

"Sakura, you can't do this to me!" Hinata cried, her pale fingers clutching a piece of paper that Sakura left at her bedside. She straightened the crumpled paper again, re-reading the note (which was obviously written in haste) a couple of times whilst fervently wishing she's just losing her mind. Or hey eyesight just deteriorating.

Dear Hinata,

I'm sorry to put you in such trouble, but I can't be with this Uzumaki Naruto father wants me to marry. I still wanted to do a lot of things. Hopefully you'll understand what I'm going through right now. I'll be away for a while, don't worry, I won't do something stupid. I'll call you from time to time.

Love,

Sakura

"This is a nightmare!" Hinata cried, pacing back and forth in their hotel room. No time to admire the grandness of the suite Sakura's father reserved for the duration of their stay in Konoha. Her mind is now working double-time trying to think of an excuse to tell Sakura's fiancée and father without putting her job in danger.

It didn't help that a chambermaid who'd come to tell her for the second time that a "gentleman" was waiting for her in the lobby – a gentleman she naturally assumed to be Naruto Uzumaki.

"T-tell him to w-wait. Tell him I died. No, tell him we're unwell! She shoved the door closed, shot the bolt, engaged the latch before pressing her back to the panel and slowly sliding down to her feet.

Her long indigo hair splashed all over her face, not bothering to tuck it back behind her ears. "This is a nightmare." She closed her eyes, repeating the sentence as if it was a mantra. "When I wake up in the morning, it will all be over."

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed. :)