I do not own Naruto, funny that.


At times Sasuke reminds Hinata of Itachi, or at the least the little she knew of him, the illusive heir of noble Uchiha clan who was stone faced, calm and never bowed quite low enough for her father. "Your future husband, Itachi Uchiha, please don't quiver too much Hinata. Our clan has suffered enough at the hands of your insolence." And for all her nerves and innocence Hinata never felt put-out by the arrangement, she was six years old and knew nothing of it, nothing of love and choice. Their encounters were rare, short and really, she knew very little about him. So like all little girls she made him out of the stories her maids read her at night, the wise princes and courageous knights, and grew continuously more content with her future. Until he murdered his clansmen and ran far far away, little Hinata was told to forget all about him. But ideas can be infectious, addictive, and the seed was already planted.

Hinata's image of Itachi evolved with ferocity and progressed with her age. By her teenage years he was every dark transgressing thought to pass her mind in the night, his face a mascot for the foreign and confusing emotions, grumbling with hunger beneath her stomach. Naruto made her feel hopeful and light, stuffy and fuzzy in her chest, but her idea of Itachi made her insides constrict and drop, tempting her to lick her lips and scream.

Sasuke surprises everyone when he returns by re-presenting the old marriage proposal to the Hyuuga clan, claiming it states only the 'Uchiha eldest and heir' as opposed to Itachi himself. Hinata understands more than the others, she suspects she understands more than Sasuke himself. He wants to rebuild his clan, and Hinata already belongs to it. She's a little less then pleased, but her father is more than happy to agree, so it's done, straightforward and simple. (Her teammates spend hours trying to convince her that she doesn't have to go through with it, that she has a choice, but Hinata knows she has just as much choice as that little six year old girl, hiding behind her father's knees and clutching onto his hakama)

Sasuke doesn't touch her; he stares an awful lot, that horrid stare that makes Hinata think he truly regrets his decision to marry her, but doesn't dare lay a finger on her. Maybe in his mind she is still his brothers, his possession, which is foolish because she never was. She heard Itachi was a good honest man in the end, which makes sense because all good honest shinobi die before their time, but her Itachi, the idea of him rooted deep in her mind, he is still daring and dark and clinging onto the coattails of her fantasies. It's alright, Hinata thinks, it's alright that Sasuke cannot bare to touch her yet. In the dim light and warm room he reminds her an awful lot of Itachi, calm faced in the very least. She wonders, when Sasuke is gone with his own dreams and far from waking, just what exactly she would have been doing with Itachi in the night, if this were their marriage bed instead.


Thanks for reading!