Finally got this one done. And I definately should have been doing all sorts of other things. Like working on a graded paper. But essays are not nearly as fun as fiction. So clearly this one won out. Fun stuff is this. Yay!

My past is a dark, touchy subject I like to avoid. I've spent so much time dwelling on it, that I no longer want to keep it in my mind. Okay, that's a lie. In my more recent past, sunshine started peaking through the gloom. A pale, smiling face with ivory eyes and indigo hair who always reminds me of my mother.

Ah yes, my family. The Uchiha Clan. We had strict rules. But I was too young to think of them as such. I think this one of the things that made Itachi snap. My brother's betrayal still stings, even though our conflict has been resolved for several years. Anyways, my childhood was defined by my adoration of my brother, and my need for my father's attention. The two went hand-in-hand really. The more like Itachi I became, the more my father would be proud of me. Of course, Father dedicated most of his time to Itachi, "the future of the clan." The irony of this astounds me. Yeah, Itachi was the future of the clan. Ensuring their future as corpses.

My life had seemed normal when I was a child. I had a loving mother, a caring brother, and a distant father. As much as Father ignored me, I took comfort from what my mother told me. "He only talks about you when it's just him and me. Your brother is the future leader of this clan, so your father must make sure he's ready to take his place when the time comes. That's why his attention is mainly focused on your brother," she'd said. (A/N- Stupid Sasuke and his overdone clichéd back story. I really don't want to write this. But I'm going to. Because it needs to be done.)

I'd nodded and accepted her answer. I watched as Father and Itachi grew apart. I watched my brother's defection. It stings now to think that I was so oblivious to all the signs. But then Father started paying attention to me. I proved myself to him, performing the Great Fireball Technique to prove my worthiness of being considered an adult in the Uchiha clan. I was seven years old.

The demon of my life is Itachi. I know now that most of what he did was to manipulate me. He'd pretended to be the kind caring older brother. And I know that at one point he was. Before he became ANBU and had been influenced by Madara, I'm sure he cared about me. But then he'd been influenced to gain more power by obtaining the Mangekyou. He killed his best friend, and then to see exactly how much more power he'd gained, he killed everyone else. His "mentor" helped him take out everyone.

I came home from the academy late that night. I'd walked into the Uchiha district only to find corpses everywhere. I ran home, terrified. I found Itachi there. Standing over the dead forms of my parents. I remember being terrified and running away. He followed me and told me that I should channel my hatred toward him, gain the Mangekyou and avenge the clan. I came to learn much later that the only reason he'd done any of this was to manipulate me into gaining the Mangekyou so that he could take my eyes. He'd left me alive to be his spare.

Because of everything that had happened, I did as my brother had instructed. I tried to foster my hatred toward him. But the peaceful Konoha was not good enough to get me to my brother's level. I realized this when I first got beat by Gaara. Then my brother showed me just how much further I still had to go to catch up. The last point was when the Mist Swordsman called me weak. He called the clan weak. It was too much. Naruto, the loser, was catching up, and I couldn't handle that. So when Orochimaru's minions came for me, I went with them willingly.

Of course, they couldn't just leave me alone. Konoha sent people after me, trying to get me back. I had to fight Naruto in the Valley of the End. Such an ironic place for the battle now that I think about it. The founding fathers of Konoha watched over us, Uchiha Madara and the Shodaime Hokage. The Uchiha traitor and the Hokage. Naruto isn't actually the Hokage yet, but he's well on his way there. It was a grueling fight, but I came out the victor. I had the opportunity to do as my brother instructed right then. I could have killed my best friend, and gained the Mangekyou. But my father's words resonated in my head. "Don't follow your brother." The order I remembered oh so clearly. I also refused to give him the pleasure of seeing me obtain power in the same way I had. So I let Naruto live.

There were several times in the past when I regretted that decision. He constantly tried to get me back from Orochimaru. He never succeeded, but he still managed to get in my way. I spent about three years with Orochimaru, training and become more and more powerful. When the time for him to move into my body arrived, I killed him, absorbing his power. I formed my own team and went after my brother. I really didn't care about any of them, but they proved extremely useful.

I'm not going into the details, but I did manage to find and kill my brother. The Konoha nins were there to bring me back. I had no qualms. Itachi was dead. But I did want to go after Madara. But with his main objective being either me or Naruto, if we stuck together, I figured we'd draw him out eventually.

And we did. Somehow, we managed to win when the legendary immortal came after us. But after winning I realized I had nothing left to live for. All of my life had been shattered. I was an empty shell. What else was I going to do with myself?

I went back to Konoha, where I was immediately placed under house arrest. I was placed in a building. They called it a home, but it was a far cry from it. ANBU sat outside of the building at all times watching me, under orders to kill me if I tried anything. I sort of wondered if they would have been able to had they tried. Probably not though...my strength was unparalleled. I'd killed my brother. I'd killed Orochimaru. I'd even managed to take out the legendary Uchiha Madara. Who would be able to stop me? No one. But I didn't want to become like any of the people I'd killed. Which was why I was allowing myself to be subjected to such treatment.

I think the other reason I allowed myself to stay imprisoned was because I had no purpose left. Everything was gone, I'd settled all of the hatred in my heart and I was a shell that felt nothing on the inside except the remnants of my hate. Bitterness and cynicism consumed me. There was nothing in the world that was worthwhile so not being a part of it barely bothered me.

I didn't pay attention to the people that came to offer their support. I didn't care. Naruto and Sakura's happy chatter only annoyed me. I wanted silence. I wanted to wallow in my empty shell and never feel anything ever again. I wished that I could just die and end the Uchiha clan's miserable state of existence. I was the only one left. I wanted nothing to do with anything. They came to visit me regularly and it only made me angry. They brought Sai with them too. I hated him. I don't think I realized it at the time, but deep down the reason for my feelings toward the black haired boy was my jealousy that they'd replaced me. I treated them all indifferently, because that's what I felt. Indifferent. A horrible, all consuming indifference.

Those three were about the only ones to visit me regularly. Sometimes groups of people would come to see me, but I'd treat them all the same—with disinterest—and they'd leave within a few minutes of arriving. No one had the guts to come by themselves besides Naruto, and he and Sakura were practically joined at the hip. Which is what surprised me most when the quiet Hyuuga heiress came to see me. She and I had never even spoken in the past. I had no idea why she'd want to come see me, much less why she'd come to see me without accompaniment.

I still treated her with the same indifference I gave everyone. And it wasn't long before she turned and left. I'd sighed in relief when she'd left, glad to be by myself once more to wallow in my own world. I didn't need out. I didn't want out. I was satisfied with where I was at. She turned and left before too long, not saying a word. I shrugged my shoulder and forgot about it. If she'd wanted something, she'd have asked. It wasn't worth my time to think about it.

The problem was I had nothing better to do. I lived in my own head, reliving my past. Nightmares still plagued my sleep, even though I'd taken out the creator of those bad memories. My brain was probably tired of dwelling on the same things. So it took the liberty of turning to new things.

The following week she came again. She stood looking at me. It annoyed me, how she just stood there, too scared to even look me in the eye or open her mouth. After the week of thinking on it, her actions seemed to me like pity. And I didn't want it. Her pity. So as my anger increased I confronted her about her being there, emotionlessly asking her, "Why are you here?"

She opened her mouth to speak, only to let out a small noise and start crying. I was surprised, but didn't move as she fell on her knees and rested her forehead on the floor. Her tears hit the wooden floor, landing with tiny, barely perceptible splashes. She was sobbing, words flying out of her mouth so fast and indistinguishable that I couldn't make out more than a few words.

I'm sure I was looking at her with mild interest, because I felt more than a little interested in what she wanted now. No one had ever cried like that in front of me. I didn't really know what to do, thus the reason for me sitting and doing nothing. Though I probably wouldn't have anyways. I was still stuck in my own pain, not willing to leave it.

She eventually stopped crying, looking up at me as she sucked in a breath to steady herself. "I was wondering...if you could tell me...why are you so important to him?"

I stared at her, contemplating for a moment. "We...share...similar paths," I said finally.

The confusion was clear on her face, but she nodded and stood up to leave. "Hinata? That's your name, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "Hai. I'm Hyuuga Hinata."

I closed my eyes in thought. "Is this the first time we've spoken?"

I watched her stop to consider this. "I...think so," she answered unsteadily.

I retreated into my own head, my dark thoughts consuming me. I was so alone, in so much pain. I wished that I could cry, like she had. I was angry with myself for being unable to openly express my emotions. I'm sure I looked absolutely pathetic when I opened my eyes again. I told her, "Come again. I'll tell you what you want to know." She turned and left then, leaving me to feel absolutely and bitterly alone. More so than I had in a very long time.

I had to wonder why her pain had made me start feeling mine again. I'd shut it all out for a long time. I'd turned my pain into hatred in my search for vengeance. But now that the vengeance was fulfilled, the hatred had withered away. I'd been numb for a while, but now the pain had resurfaced. It was an odd experience for me, feeling the old wound get opened again, even after I'd applied ointment and bandaged it and ignored the pain for so long.

The week passed. I spent all of my time digging through my memories, clinging to the pain. I was looking for something bright in the horror to make me feel better. The only thing that stuck out was my mother's smiling face, my father's words of praise after demonstrating that I could use the Katon, that I was a worthy member of the Uchiha family. I wanted to cling to those memories and block out all the rest. But the rest wouldn't go away. I'd been to this place before, after the incident with Itachi had happened. The denial. I cleared my head. It was all over. I needed to move on.

I was sitting at a table drinking tea when Hinata came to visit me next. "I was expecting you," I said, setting down my cup. She nodded in acknowledgement and gulped. I waved my hand, calling her over to sit down opposite of me. She did as instructed, sinking down to her knees. She served herself tea, not taking her eyes off of the liquid in her reluctance to start the conversation. When she finally looked up at me, I swallowed the tea in my mouth before asking, "Why is knowing important to you?"

Confusion spread on her features. "What?"

"Why do you want to know what it is that makes me special to Naruto?"

"I…I…" Hinata was stuttering. I wasn't really surprised, having already figured out that she was extremely shy from her first visit. So to help her, I didn't look at her directly, keeping my gaze off of her. "I want to uh...see if I can get his attention. And you seemed to have had it, so I was wondering how."

I smirked. I knew exactly where this was going. "What?" she asked. I could only shake my head.

"You won't win," I said as kindly and gently as I could. I knew this would hurt, but I had to tell her. Embracing the truth made the healing process easier. She looked confused by my comment. "He's not going to give Sakura up for you. I may not have been around much lately, but I know how he was before..." I elaborated. This only served to cause Hinata to burst into tears. I felt bad for making her cry. I really did. But it had to be done. I had seen enough of Naruto and Sakura together to know that Hinata was never going to be more than just a friend to him, even if I didn't care. I wasn't stupid or naïve. I knew where their relationship was headed, and Hinata wasn't going to be a part of it.

I sat and stared at the crying girl thinking about how she had to be hurt. My words must have cut very deep. She reminded me of me in some obscure way. She was clinging to her feelings to make her wishes reality. It was just like what I'd done. I'd clung to hate to make Itachi's death reality. That one had come true. But her love for Naruto was not going make him love her back. I didn't move when she stopped crying and ran out. I stared at the space she'd previously occupied. How come her pain made me feel mine? It didn't make sense.

I languished in sorrow and loneliness the next week. My past still haunted me, the nightmares attacking with new ferocity. I tried to sleep as little as possible, but every time I closed my eyes, Itachi's face appeared before me. The dreams were filled with blood. One was particularly terrible, everyone had been killed. Everyone. I was the only one left. I woke up screaming, sweat pouring down my body. I stumbled into the bathroom, collapsing on the floor. My head betrayed me, showing memories of my parents' dead bodies and my brother giving me instructions, telling me to get strong enough to kill him.

I don't know why, but I started crying then, cursing and saying that I didn't want revenge. I screamed at myself, telling myself that it was over. That the horrible nightmare was over. An image of Hinata crying flashed in front of my face. I slammed my hand on the ground in frustration. I had caused her pain, made her cry the last time she had been here. I hated myself. I was no better than my brother. I was a murderer, a betrayer. I'd caused others pain.

My angry tears ceased. Standing up, I washed off my face. I scowled at the reflection at the mirror. I was a wretched person. Why did I even bother living? There was nothing to look forward to. More death. More pain. More disappointing people who cared about me.

I spent the whole day on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. I didn't bother turning on the lights. What was the point? My life was meaningless. I was worthless. It started getting darker as the sun sunk. It was almost completely dark when I heard the door open and my lights turned on. I heard footsteps, ones that I'd heard before and could recognize as being Hinata's. Without moving or looking over, I asked, "Why are you here?"

"I...noticed all the lights were off and wondered if something was wrong." With a sigh, he glanced over me and shook his head.

"I'm sorry," were the first words out of my mouth. I could tell she was definitely confused about it. So I clarified by saying, "I didn't mean to make you cry last...time."

She bowed her head, looking at the floor. "Uh...it's okay. You were telling me the truth." I was very relieved that she wasn't angry with me. Or at least, if she had been, she had forgiven me. I sat up. "Do I...never mind," I started, only to rethink my words and decide to not ask the question.

"What?" Hinata asked, trying to extract the question from me.

"Am I frightening to you?"

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Yes...when you ask questions like that," was her reply. I smirked because I'd seen the alarm on her face that now wanted to turn into a smile. "It depends on how you act. You're not too bad right now."

Realizing that I hadn't eaten anything all day, I stood up and made my way to my little kitchen. "Nothing good," I said upon finding nothing worth eating in my refrigerator.

"Do you want this?" she asked, offering me a bag of her leftovers. I glanced over eyeing the bag before glancing up at her face. With a nod I accepted the offer. She handed me the food before she announced that she had to get home. With a nod I acknowledged what she said. Before I took a bit of the food, I said "Come over again sometime. It's so lonely in here whenever I don't have visitors." I looked down sadly, thinking about how I'd spent my entire day laying around and being miserable.

"I'll come by next week," she said quietly before turning around to walk out of the house.

Just as she'd promised Hinata came to visit me the next week. It was the afternoon and while she was there Sakura and Naruto came for a visit together. I knew almost immediately how this was going to affect Hinata. She still wouldn't be ready to have to deal with the two of them together even if she'd started getting over the idea. I watched her harder her resolve. She was going to refuse to cry with them in the room so she stared at me, trying to use me to block them out completely.

I felt a twang of what resembled pride when she succeeded. She didn't start crying until after they'd left. It had to have been hard for her, so I sat down beside her, trying to be a presence to offer her comfort. She cried for a while, but not quite with the same despair and pain as she had the first few times she had. After her tears ceased, I looked at her red puffy eyes and whitewashed complexion. I stood up and told her, "You might want to wash up before you leave. It'll feel good to wash away the tears with fresh water." She nodded, moving to do as I'd suggested. I moved to my couch, picking up a book while I waited for Hinata to finish. I glanced up at her when she walked in the room. "Did it help?" I asked.

"It did. How did you know it would help?"

"I have spent a lot of time...in tears," I answered. "It was a long time ago, I don't cry anymore, but I remember how it felt." I was denying that I had just cried a week earlier. But other than that it had been a very long time since I'd cried. And I figured that she didn't need to know that I had, and perhaps if I ignored that it had happened then I could pretend that it hadn't.

Hinata nodded. "Well thank you for your advice," she said. "I'll see you next week then?" I nodded my agreement. She bowed and left my house.

Our weekly meetings continued for about four months. We talked about trivial matters. Occasionally serious ones would come up as well. Hinata stopped crying as she grew accustomed to the idea of Naruto only ever being a friend. That wound still hurt her, I could tell. She'd still get antsy whenever Naruto and Sakura came and she was there. Her deeply rooted love of Naruto would remain for a long time. She'd eventually move on. She was a very attractive girl. And just so you know, I didn't think of her like that at this point. I could look at her and tell she was beautiful, even if I wasn't interested in her. It was sort of looking at a well done piece of art. Okay… that still sounds terrible, but I think you understand. I wasn't attracted to her, but she was attractive.

We became comfortable in each other's presence. We learned how to joke around with each other. I started being less lonely all the time. I was still cold and removed on my exterior, but on the inside, I knew I was opening up. I had confronted my inner demons and had come out on top. I'd removed the source of my hatred by accepting it. I crushed my still festering hatred of my brother. I let go of my past. Hinata was still quiet and shy around me, but we had managed to step outside of ourselves a little bit because of the time we spent getting to know each other. We were plenty happy just sitting quietly together because we weren't alone.

There came the day when Hinata didn't show up. At first I just figured she'd come later in the day. But then the sun set, and she still didn't come. And against my will, I started to get anxious. I was pacing, imagining all the bad things that could have happened to Hinata. And as each scenario played out, they became gradually worse and worse and I started feeling panicked.

I was contemplating breaking out, just to go make sure she was okay. I was ready to do it too, getting ready to break down my door. My hand hovered over the handle as a reel of the consequences played through my head. I could definitely get past most of the guards without having to get into a fight. Even if I did have to fight, I'd probably kill someone. Then I'd be in even more trouble, and I might not get to see her. "Hinata," I said out loud to myself as I backed away from the door.

I didn't understand why she mattered to me. Why would not being able to see her bother me like this? I sat down on my couch, brooding. What exactly was she to me? Why did I feel a little better about myself whenever I was around her? Why did I miss her so much? Why was her absense driving me mad?

Her face flashed in across my thoughts, round and pale, cheeks tinted pink as she blushed. She smiled shyly in my head and looked through her bangs at me with those colorless eyes.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. What was going on with me? I'd never experienced anything like this. I sighed in aggravation. I needed to get a hold of myself. Hinata was fine. Nothing had happened to her. She was probably too busy.

The door opened then, and Hinata walked in. If I'd any control of myself I would have sat on the couch emotionlessly and let her greet me. Instead, I had to go embrace her in relief. "I'm glad you're okay," I told her. "You didn't show up...I was worried." She just looked at me in shock, too speechless from being in my arms to say anything at that moment. That would have been when I became quite aware of the fact that she was female. Her...endowments pressed against my chest, and my head was dragging me down an interesting train of thoughts. I let her go, and she smiled up at me, having no idea what the embrace had just made me realize.

She told me about her cousin's aversion to allowing her to see me in that quiet voice of hers. I paid attention, but I was thinking about my discovery. I liked Hinata. Romantically liked Hinata. She finished her story. I had been listening and her annoyance at Neji's behavior made me smile. She looked up at me with wide eyes. "As long as you're okay," I'd told her.

But that seemed to create a problem. If Neji refused to let her see me, how in the world would I be able to figure out how to tell Hinata the truth. She left after that, after promising me that she would still visit me, even if it had to be late at night.

I knew I would have to wait awhile to tell her. She was still just getting over her heartbreak. I knew. Because I was the person she cried to about it. It was still too soon for her to return my feelings. So I decided to pretend like nothing had changed in me and my thoughts of her.

And you bet I had thoughts about her. I spent a lot of time sitting in a dark house, all by myself. I had plenty of time to just sit and think. Most of them were dark, about how she'd never accept me. But every once in a while, I'd have a flash of hope, thinking that maybe someday we would...

I tried not to hold onto hope too much. Hope always seemed to cause me pain. It was better to just be cynical. But every week she came to visit me. For a while it was late at night. And eventually it seemed like Neji gave up and she started coming in the day again. And every single time I felt better. It was like there was finally sun shining through my clouds. My heart pounded when she was around. Yeah, I was nervous. I had a crush on her, and well, it was my first crush. So I didn't really know how to act. I wanted to get her attention, but I didn't want to hurt her after her recent heartbreak. So I just asked her to come visit me more often, telling her that I got bored all by myself. She had just smiled and agreed.

That was probably another of the reasons why I fell in love. She was very agreeable and acquiesced to almost anything I asked of her. She wasn't annoying, she was quiet, she was unimposing but could get the job done, stubborn if her mind was set. Wow...I'm digressing. Okay, so she kept coming to visit me, more like two or three times a week now. Eventually she decided my "house" was too gloomy, so I gave her free decorating reign. And she turned my bathroom pink. I was rather angry about that since I was the only one occupying the room on a regular basis, but then she giggled at my reaction, and I couldn't stay mad at her. Instead I just sighed in frustration. It was... her smile changed my mood completely.

It took all of my will to keep myself from telling her right then what I thought about her, wrapping her in my arms and kissing her. But I succeeded in keeping myself off of her. We worked on the living room area together, cleaning, talking, and painting the walls white. It was very enjoyable. But any time I spent with her was enjoyable. She...I don't know. She made me feel like a part of me that I had been missing was starting to resurface.

In all honesty it was true. The part that had left was my heart. I realized that I'd had my heart broken by my brother. I'd loved him, and in return, he'd trampled all over that trust and adoration. I'd locked it away, not wanting to feel the sting of betrayal ever again. As I grew, I considered letting it out once more, but I knew that doing so would get in my way. If I wanted to take down my brother, I'd have no time for something trivial like romance or love. But now that part of my life was behind me. And Hinata was pulling my heart back to the surface.

When I look back, I think of her being more like my sun. I gravitated towards her, slowly and surely. She slowly started to consume all of my thoughts. She'd made me confront my own pain, and overcome it. Just like she'd slowly but surely confronted her pain. I came to realize that I wanted out of my prison so I could spend all of my time with her. I didn't want to be separate anymore. And eventually that time came.

I was released, roughly a year after I'd returned and been imprisoned. I also figured Hinata was over Naruto now. So I was ready to go there, to see if a relationship that was more than just friendship would work. I was at the point where I wouldn't have even have cared if I was just her replacement for Naruto. She meant too much to me for this to stop me.

My first day out, I wanted to fight. I hadn't fought in so long, I wanted to remember how it felt. Since Hinata was there with me, she was the person I ended up sparring with. I knew that even though I was rusty from not using anything in such a long time I was more powerful than she. I had a fuller arsenal of weapons. So I took it easy. She went for my chakra points using her soft fist style. It was hard to counteract that just by using taijutsu. There was a lot of dodging on both of our parts and it was a fairly even match considering that I was only using a third of my abilities.

She dove in for a hit, I grabbed her wrist, throwing her down on her back. She hit a chakra point on my leg and I fell, landing on top of her. All kinds of perverted thoughts filled my mind at that point. I had the woman I had been secretly wanting for months underneath of me. I was leaning in, without realizing it. I felt like I was on fire from the touch of her perspiring body underneath of mine. Her rapid breathing on my face sent shut all thought process in my brain off. Leaning down, my lips touched hers.

I wasn't really expecting the reaction I got in return. Instead of pulling back in shock, she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling herself against me and kissing me back with as much fervor as I was kissing her with. It felt like we stayed like that forever, on the ground wrapped in each other's arms passionately kissing. Eventually I needed to stop for air. I pulled back and looked down at her. She was filled with happiness. Her ivory eyes sparkled with it. I could feel it in myself. The happiness that I hadn't felt in such a very long time. "Sasuke," she whispered to me, reaching up to brush my bangs back.

"Hinata... I think I've fallen in love with you," I said, quickly kissing her before standing up. She took my proffered hand, and I pulled her to her feet. She was clearly light headed after that, stumbling into me. I caught her of course, holding her up. My arms were wrapped around her waist. I could see Hinata radiate with happiness as she came to accept that she felt the same way for me and I had about her. But I could still tell that there was no point in rushing this relationship. It had taken a year to get this far. It was probably for the best to keep it at a slower pace.

I knew as soon as we headed down into the center of Konoha hand-in-hand, Hiashi would have to be told. It would be best to hear it from me before gossip got to him. So I planned on talking to him as soon as we got to the Hyuuga complex. I walked into his office with Hinata at my side. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke," I'd said, bowing to the head of the current most prominent clan in Konoha. "I'd like to ask for permission to date your daughter."

He barely hesitated after I asked the question, standing up to clap me on the shoulder. "She's yours as long as she stays as happy as she's been the last few months spending time with you." I said my thanks, turning around and smiling to Hinata.

After that time, we became very close, spending almost all of our time together. I spent a fair amount of time reestablishing Konoha's police force. I wanted the Uchiha clan to take back its original duty within Konoha. But other than that and my few missions, I was with Hinata. We talked openly about our pasts, revealing how we had been hurt. Of course, we both already knew a fair amount about these subjects, but we were at the point of keeping no secrets.

We also started to get a lot more physical. Almost everything was acceptable as long as it wasn't sex. It was at this point, being almost a year into our official relationship, that I realized where this was headed. And I knew at some point Hinata was going to tell me that we would have to wait until we were married. So I started planning it. I asked for Hiashi's permission first, and he agreed. I bought the ring, waiting for the best moment to ask.

We were getting very hot and heavy at one point, I had all of her clothes off, planting kisses the whole way down her body. She gasped as I pushed her legs open, then sat up abrubtly, snapping her legs closed. It was the moment I'd been waiting for. "We're not going the whole way until we're married," she told me authoritatively. And I reached into my pant pocket and pulled out the ring.

"Well then," I said. "How about we just get married then?"

She agreed. Forgetting about her complete nudity, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I ignored this fact though, knowing it wouldn't do well to proceed where we left off before she'd stopped me.

We tried to keep our hands off until the wedding, knowing that it would be very hard to contain ourselves. Hinata, Hanabi, and almost all the other girls in the village made the preparations with Hiashi paying for it. I was fortunate that I was only really expected to buy the ring and get my suit.

I picked out my groomsmen as well. I picked people who I was in some way associated with. Neji was an obvious choice because he was Hinata's cousin. Kakashi had been my teacher in the past. Shikamaru was just there and not really doing anything else, and he didn't perpetually bother me. Naruto was my best man because he was the closest person to being my best friend.

I wasn't really expecting it, but I was nervous on the day of the wedding. I wasn't so worried about making the decision to be with Hinata my whole life. I'd made that decision a long time ago. It was more because I was so excited.

I'll never forget standing at the alter and watching Hinata walk towards me. She was beautiful. Even more beautiful that I had ever imagined that she'd be. It was like watching a diamond walk towards me. We both said our 'I do's before kissing. Hinata was crying, not the tears of sadness she'd cried when we first met, but tears of joy.

The reception (as well as the ceremony) was held in the meeting house in the Hyuuga compound. We ate, danced, and talked our way around, much to my chagrin because all I really wanted was to get her back to the Uchiha complex and bedded. Which was why I decided to drive her crazy with my caresses. Every bit of skin that she'd left exposed, I touched, and I knew from the way she pressed her body against me in response that it was working.

Eventually, the party died down, and everyone left. I was quick to scoop Hinata up and carry her to the Uchiha mansion. "You know, for once I'm glad that Itachi killed everyone. Now we get to spend our wedding night in a giant house all by ourselves."

I got her out of her dress, planting kisses all over her body.

It was definately a little awkward. Neither of us had gone the whole way in the past, so we had no idea what we were doing. But like most things that involve emotions, hormones, and instints, the brain shut off and the body took control. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience that impacted my life more than other. I was never going to leave Hinata ever. If my mind hadn't completely been made up before, it was now a statement of fact.

It's been about two years since then. I'm head of the Police Department. I also serve as an ANBU. Hinata works as a Jounin teacher at the academy. It suits her just fine because she is wonderful with children. I can't wait until we have our own, not only for the purpose of restoring the clan but because I know how happy Hinata will be when it happens. And Hiashi will finally stop insulting me. Every single time I see him he just has to insult my inability to give him a grandchild. We do get along, but we sort of like to compete against each other. A lot of what I do revolves around Hinata's happiness. If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd be bending to the will of a woman, much less Hyuuga Hinata, I'd have said you were crazy. But now I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm so happy that this is finally finished. Praises! Yayz! I know I changed some stuff from Hinata's but it's not too major.