AN: in this story there'd be much less characters altogether than the purple cherry blossom one.
Chapter Two
Fairytale
Itachi wasn't surprised when the girl looked so scared. He always had this effect on people. This girl looked as if she would faint any minute. The Uchiha genius turned and left in a blink, as mysterious as the way he appeared.
Hinata's heart was racing, she thought she was going to die. After all, everyone knew how Itachi mercilessly killed his family and left his little brother full of hatred and despair... She felt very relieved when the tall man left without a word... he didn't even really GLANCE at her!
The Hyuuga heiress difinitely wasn't in the mood of picking flowers any more. She jumped through the branches and went back to Konoha as soon as she could. Should I report this to Hokage-sama?
-knock-
"Come in."
"Ho-hokage-sama..." Hinata stuttered, "I... I just saw... U-uchiha-san in the fo-forest..."
"Sasuke?"
"N-no no no..." the shy girl waved her hands frantically, "I-itachi-san."
Tsunade's expression changed at once. Sasuke has just returned to Konoha, he SEEMED to have got over the 'I-must-revenge' matter, but they still can't risk letting Sasuke know this information. The hokage eyed the girl in front of her, "have you told anyone else yet?"
"N-no... Hokage-sama."
"Good." the blonde woman paused, "Thank you, Hinata. You may go now." And Itachi must be here to capture Naruto... she sighed, so much trouble. Tsunade called an ANBU meeting, that is... every ANBU except Neji, Tenten and Sasuke. Neji and Tenten just left on an important mission this morning.
Itachi didn't feel like killing today. He's not as blood thirsty as everyone imagined, but sometimes he liked to pretend he was and scare other people. It was a quite childish thought, really, but Itachi need some amusement in life. Frowning everyday was tiring, and to keep an emotionless face was certainly not helping, neither. The Uchiha felt he was turning into a rock.
When he returned to where they rested, he saw Kisame facing a white-robed man, discussing something.
"Itachi-san." Kisame grinned when he saw his partner, "This is Yuu-san, from the 'White Wolf'."
Itachi nodded slightly as a greeting.
"I would like to kill the Dojutsu users in Konoha, so I'm asking you to delay your attack for a few weeks." Yuu told them politely, though he was thinking, and I'd also like to kill you, Uchiha.
Both the Akatsukis didn't mind at all, this was making their mission easier, as long as the White Wolf don't interfere with their capture of Kyuubi.
A simple handshake, then Yuu left.
The Uchiha prodigy smirked, I'm sure his next target will be me... But Itachi didn't feel like pointing this out to his shark partner. The two Akatsuki members left the country the next day.
All ANBU were on alert, searching for signs of the Akatsukis. But surprisingly, through two months' careful investigation, the Akatsukis still haven't appeared.
Hinata was relieved when she heard the news, but also worried at the same time, What if hokage-sama thinks I was lying? What happened to Uchiha-san? Just as she was thinking this, Tsunade called the Hyuuga girl to her office.
"Hinata. I'm putting you under strict supervisation, do not leave Konoha and do not go around without a guard."
Oh no! She really thought I'm a liar! Hinata felt terrible...
"Someone blackmailed me saying they want to kill all Dojutsu users. This is for your own safty."
The small girl felt almost happy when she heard these words, so it's not because of the Akatsuki incident! She nodded and left the office with two ANBUs following her.
The door closed behind her, leaving a tired Tsunade sitting behind the mountains of paperwork. This is so complicated... the Hokage sighed, first some appearance of Akatsukis, then White Wolf? Can things get worse?! Being a Hokage really sucks... Wait... could there be connection between the two? If these two organisations are working together... Tsunade felt she really needed a holiday. I hate all these!
It was really uncomfortable being followed by all these ninjas. Hinata would like to be free... she wouldn't mind if the guards could give her a bit of personal space... but... Oh well, ONE good thing about this is, Naruto was assigned to protect her! Hinata felt so happy when she saw the blonde boy entered the Hyuuga minor, huge smile pastered on his handsome face... well, at least Hinata thought Naruto was quite handsome.
"Hinata! Want to train together?" The kyuubi vessel offered.
"Sur---"
"Hyuuga-san, for your safty, you shouldn't..."
"Come on... it's just some training!" Naruto jumped in front of the guard, "Besides, Hinata is a ninja, too!"
"Uzumaki-san..."
"Stop the whole 'san' thing! It's really annoying... just call me Naruto!"
The blonde argued with the guards, after two hours of arguement, it was decided that Hinata can train with Naruto in the Hyuuga mansion's training area.
The pale-eye girl laid on her bed, looking at the ceiling as if it was extremely interesting... this is so boring...
Maybe it's the whole teenager thing of wanting to do the opposite of what's right... maybe it's because the pressure that she was always getting finally broke down... or maybe it's simply curiosity --- Hinata carefully masked her presence and climbed out of the window.
It was late, only two jounins were on the look out for intruders. Hinata paused to think of a plan. She put on a dark mask, and ensured her long black robe looked suspicious. Then the Hyuuga girl spread her locks of hair over her face... after walking several paces away from her window, she turned and started walking back to her room.
The jounins saw the dark figure, and stopped her, "What are you doing? We will not let you get in!" they posed into a fighting stance.
Hinata pretended to be frightened and 'ran away'. For perhaps the first time, she smirked... that was quite fun!
The night breeze blew on her soft features, she took off the mask and wandered aimlessly. She was happy... she felt freedom.
The Akatsukis and the White Wolves' agreement was due. It had been quite a long time since they met the white-robed man. Itachi and Kisame headed back to Konoha... on the way, they encountered quite a number of ANBUs.
"What did the White Wolf do?" Kisame got quite angry after killing two more ANBUs and disposing their dead bodies.
Obviously they made Konoha raised their guards. Itachi sighed.
Moonlight shone on the two... Kisame lit a small fire and made sure it won't be noticed by the Konoha ninjas. Itachi left to get water.
Hinata walked to the river and followed the clear stream... wondering what to do. The water rang like music, quiet, but calm... light scattered like broken silver on the surface of the river, the reflection of the moon glistened... the Hyuuga girl always loved water, they resemble herself quite a lot...
Someone else was standing beside the river, watching her. Hinata was about to greet him, but when she walked close, she saw the Akatsuki whom she met two months ago...
This guy AGAIN?! The Hyuuga girl wasn't scared, she didn't understand why... perhaps it's because Itachi didn't look so threatening... only lonely, like herself...
The two stared at each other. Hinata laughed on the inside somehow... this is like the ancient fairytale... the girl meets the love of her life near the river of Lethe... except, she really wouldn't call Itachi the 'love of her life'...
The fairytale wasn't as well-known as 'Snow White' or 'Sleeping Beauty', but Hinata always loved this little story when she was young... and she would always cry when her mother told her how the girl lost her memory and couldn't recognise the boy anymore... The Hyuuga girl thought the fairytale was quite sad though in the end, they still lived happily ever after...
Waters of Lethe... the river of forgetfulness... Hinata continued to stare into the dark orbs of Itachi's... thousands words seemed to have past between the two yet none of them said anything...
The sorrow...
AN: Review if you want to, flames are welcome as long as you don't swear.