Prologue

She was beautiful. Easily the most amazing girl he had ever seen. Long, flowing, indigo hair that sparkled in the sunlight, clear, porcelain skin that starkly contrasted with her dark locks, pearly eyes that always twinkled with kindness...

And now she lay on the dank and dirty ground, hardly breathing. Her hair scattered in tangled disarray, skin tainted with mud, eyes dull and unresponsive.

Bandits had caught her in the countryside, close to where he lived. They found and ambushed her, stole what little jewelry she wore and her purse, then left her beside the road for dead. He was on the way back from target practice when he saw her there. Rushing to her aid, he leaned her against a tree and gave her some water to drink. As soon as she told him what happened and what was taken, he tracked down her attackers, fought and tied them up, got her belongings, and returned to where he had left her. He was pleased to see that she was fully awake and for the most part, unharmed. She was equally happy to have her things back, but more so to see him alive and well. He was about to give his name when-

"Hinata-Sama!" a voice rang out over the fields.

"Oh…" the girl called Hinata looked up at the direction where the holler came from.

"I'm coming, Neji-Nii-San!" she called back in her small voice, running up the road. She stopped and looked back at her savior.

"Goodbye…" she waved.

But Sasuke was gone. As soon as she had left his side, he disappeared, not wanting to be caught by the guards and arrested for thievery he didn't commit, and he, an Uchiha peasant, associating with the Hyūga princess. He especially didn't want to be found by the head of knights and Princess Hinata's overprotective cousin, Neji. Hinata looked around, but was quickly brought back to the castle to be cleaned up and interrogated about the robbers. Sasuke meanwhile, lay on his rather hard bed in his small, hand-built house, recalling the day's events.

'What's this feeling I get when I think about her…?'

He already knew that he felt something for the Hyūga heiress ever since they were small children; he just wasn't sure what it was. Going through the long list of possible choices in his head, he found that almost none of them matched the description. That left only one thing…

'It… it can't be that… I'm… in LOVE?'

He turned over and beat his pillow into a more comfortable shape.

'No… that would never happen… it couldn't happen. She a princess and I'm… I'm nothing.'

With that, Sasuke Uchiha fell into a very troubled sleep.

The same, yet reverse thing, was happening in Hinata's mind, over in the royal palace. She sat in front of her vanity, her maids brushing out her silken tresses.

"U-um… it's alright, you c-can go, now…" she politely ordered them.

'Why does his face always show up in my head?'

She turned out the lights and sank into her large, richly decorated bed.

'Should I try finding him again? After all, I never did get the chance to properly thank him…'

Sliding under the covers and smiling to herself, she began thinking of ways to express her gratitude to her nameless hero.