My next story in my growing collection of ItaHinaSasu love triangles....I attempted to make this one a little more lighthearted than my last blood and angst filled ones by changing canon a little. In other words, Sandaime was able to strike some agreement with the Uchiha clan and so Sasuke's family still lives and Itachi never had to go through with actually killing them. He did eventually go his own way though, as you will soon see. So yes, reviews will help me decide whether I finish this or not XD

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(C) Masashi Kishimoto

Home at last, Sasuke thought as he slid open the sliding door of his home with as much of a racket as it could possibly make; eager to make his presence known. He impatiently stood there and waited for his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, to come and attend to him in her usual irritating, yet oddly endearing way, just as she did when he returned from even the dullest and most routine of assignments. Carelessly dropping his backpack down and spilling dozens of kunai and shuriken onto the well-polished floor in the process, he was unsettled to be met by nothing but silence instead of the usual rushed pat of his mother's feet as she rushed over to either spoil or scold him, depending on her mood.

His father of course was bound to be of attending to some terribly urgent clan business that was far too solemn to be of any concern to the "baby" of the family, and his older brother had, at twenty-two years old, decided to defy their family's wishes to stick close together by getting his own place far from the main Uchiha residence. So Sasuke was used to it being just him and his mom most of the time.

Oh well, he thought with a shrug as he kicked off his shoes, languorously stretched, and made his way over to his room. It couldn't be helped, and in any case, his mother was a jounin who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, wherever it was that she had wandered off to. Besides, it would be nice to wind down with a long shower and a nap after having to endure the nonstop chatter and messy misadventures of his squad-mates, Naruto and Sakura, for untold hours.

A slight grin made it's way across his face as he anticipated the feel of warm, rushing water over his fatigued body while he began to casually pull off his sweat-drenched shirt.

However, opening his eyes wide, he abruptly stopped walking right when he reached the doorway of Itachi's old room, a room which had become a sanctuary and shrine for Sasuke in many ways since Itachi's sudden absence. He stood quietly there with his nose wrinkled and his arms folded across his chest.

He was no Inazuka of course, but he was almost one-hundred percent positive that he had caught the undeniably arousing, yet suspiciously out-of-place scent of woman defiling the sacred and untouchable refuge which had been the place where his brother had once slept and studied, and it sure as hell doesn't smell like my mother, he thought to himself.

Upon hearing the soft and rhythmic sound of this mysterious phantom woman's breathing, he hastily threw open the door and gasped aloud at the sight which met his eyes. Lying there asleep on his brother's bed, with hands folded peacefully under her head, was a young woman. A nicely curved young woman with long, sapphire hair falling over most of her charmingly flushed face, and appearing to be wearing little else besides one of Itachi's old, used-up and stretched out shirts. Sasuke noticed this and began to blush a little as his eyes began to wander over to her bared thighs and shapely calves.

He began to unconsciously walk closer towards the slumbering girl until he was standing right over her, close enough to watch the subtle, rhythmic movements of her body as she breathed.

"Who are you?" He thought aloud while gently brushing aside some of the softly flowing, yet tangled strands of hair away from her face in order to get a better look. In response, the girl's eyes began to lazily and languorously open, and for the second time that day, Sasuke nearly gasped aloud.

The eyes that blinked with confusion and opened wide to meet his were shocking, flashing white eyes with a slight kiss of violet. I know these eyes, he realized, struggling in the shock of the moment to put a name to them. Before it came to mind, however, she had sprung up and scuttled over to the farthest corner of the bed with a loud and frightened "meep" sort of sound and covered her face with one of the pillows there.

I wonder when she's going to realize that I've got a clear view of her underwear from this angle, thought Sasuke, annoyed at no longer being able to stare into those two silvery moons which she had for eyes.

"Did he do something to you, Hinata-chan?"

Sasuke turned swiftly around with his mouth open and his fists clenched as he watched his brother Itachi, whom he hadn't seen in quite some time, walk past him as though he were invisible and then tenderly wrap his arms around the blushing girl, petting and comforting her as if she were a small child.

"It's okay, I'm here now. You go and get dressed while I deal with him over there for you." Itachi's kind smile turned suddenly wicked as he glanced in Sasuke's direction while Hinata, which Sasuke had finally remembered to be her name at about the same moment that Itachi had spoken it, nodded obediently and scurried away. She pulled down hard at the bottom of the shirt she was wearing in order to hide her underwear, which unbeknownst to her had already been seen, as she ran.

Sasuke could only wonder at the number of times that Itachi must've seen them, among other things, which he blushed to imagine. Glaring hard at his still-smirking brother, Sasuke decided to be the one to finally break the awkward silence which had fallen over the little room the second that Hinata had left it.

"What," he began, in a slow and deep tone of voice. "In the hell! Was that all about?"

Itachi looked back at Sasuke as though he were impossibly dense.

"What do you think? She's a shy girl, Sasuke, and you scared her, standing over her all half dressed like that. She didn't know what your intentions were. You're a lot more impulsive then you let on to be. Who knows what might have happened if I hadn't decided to come over here to see how she's been doing."

"I can assure you, nothing would've happened." Sasuke was grudgingly pulling his shirt back over his head, annoyed by Itachi's implication that he could be a possible danger to somebody in his own home, and besides, he hadn't been the only one half-dressed. "What is she doing here in the first place? Can you at least answer that?"

Itachi looked down for a moment, shaking his head slightly with barely-kept in disapproval over Sasuke's social blindness.

"Don't you know even a single thing about her Sasuke? At least one single thing? She's been in the same classes as you for most of your life.

"That's not answering my question."

"Fine." Itachi sighed. "Hinata has been disowned by the Hyuuga clan for refusing her duties as heir. Her younger sister Hanabi is to take her place and will one day take the place of leader. As a result, she was considering moving in with Kurenai, or perhaps one of her squadmates, but I offered her a better solution."

"Oh God, spare me," Sasuke muttered under his breath. "So all of a sudden two spoiled clan heirs are sticking together now? Or are you trying to add on to your already near-perfect karma by saving yet another damsel-in distress? Seriously, nii-san." Sasuke hated, absolutely hated, to admit it, but he pretty much despised any alliances his brother made which did not involve him.

The wicked gleam was beginning to appear once more in Itachi's eye, further unsettling Sasuke. "Oh, I'm not just rescuing her," he replied as he began to casually walk out his old room door. "I'm going to marry her, so get used to it, little brother. You'll be seeing a lot more of her from now on."

Sasuke began to blink furiously and rubbed at his eyes as though what he had just heard had simply been part of a bizarre dream which he could easily wake himself from.

"M…m..marry? You can't get married. What are you thinking?"

At that moment, Hinata returned, wearing a violet-colored summer kimono which brought out the lavender twinkle in her eyes, and which draped beautifully over all the curves of her body. The warm smile which she gave to Itachi left him feeling as though all his defenses were falling down at his feet.

Sasuke couldn't stomach change, was always suspicious of the unfamiliar, and was mostly annoyed by females. Throw in the fact that this strange angel was a rival for his brother's all too rare attention now that he had left the family, and he just didn't know what to make of her.

He was aware that the jealousy that he felt was beyond childish and immature, but he just couldn't seem to help himself.

Change, he thought to himself while throwing a lethal stare in the light-eyed kitten of a girl's direction, could be a real bitch.

END OF CHAP 1

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NOTE: Excuse any weird typos, I had to do this at the library as my home Internet is all screwed up right now and I didn't have much time to proofread...