A/N: Okay here's Chapter 2 of Sasuke's moving castle. Also just a note to all my readers. This isn't going to exactly be like the movie or the book of the same name. I took a little bit from each story and decided to use it. Not that I don't love Howl's Moving Castle. It's one of my favorite books and a movie I watch at any opportunity I just didn't want to regurgitate the story itself, and for any who has read the book and watched the movie knows those are two very different stories. I know this chapter is a little late... ok it's A LOT late but give me a break! I had a hectic schedule at work. I'm a substitute not full time and I've been working everyday for the past two weeks! But better late than never right? Anyways...
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Howl's Moving Castle, both the movie and book
Chapter 2: Of Mistakes and Misunderstandings
Sasuke rolled his eyes, this was already proving to be a mistake. After he had picked her the Hyuga girl had promptly fainted, and the group of people swarmed around her, or most of them at least. All of the people that had been standing near her had gathered in a small circle around Sakura who had moved forward to make sure she wasn't injured, and Suigetsu who had caught her expertly, before she could hit the ground. He bit back the irritation, as he recalled Suigetsu's large smile, and expression that seemed to scream 'I told you so'. The other Hyuga girl didn't approach her apparent relative, surprising Sasuke slightly. From the glare he was receiving from the other Hyuga their family seemed like a close one. The only people that hadn't invaded the other girls space, was him, the two Hyuga's and the red head who watched with an unreadable expression on his face.
"What?" Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth.
The Hyuga boy's stare was aggravating him to no end and when he still hadn't spoken, but continued to level a scorching glare at the back of Sasuke's head he couldn't take it.
"Why did you pick her?" he snapped, as if that answered Sasuke's question.
"I picked an apprentice like I was supposed to." Sasuke, said scathingly. "I don't see a problem."
The boy looked like he was ready to pounce and Sasuke was only too happy to oblige him. It would give him something remotely entertaining to do.
"Neji-ni-san." a calm clipped voice stopped the white eyed male from attacking.
Sasuke turned his gaze towards the rather small girl that approached them. She was related to both the boy Neji, and the apprentice that he just picked, but he didn't know in what capacity.
"If you care for Hinata-nee-chan as much as you seem to," she continued her voice formal. "Then I suggest you allow her to be trained by her mentor, that's what she wanted yes? If not she wouldn't be here."
Neji opened his mouth to protest but let it die on his lips before nodding to the younger girl, his face solemn.
"Of course Hanabi-sama." he answered stiffly.
Sasuke gave him a smug, triumphant smirk, that simply stated 'ha I win'. He scowled as soon as the thought crossed his mind. Suigetsu was starting to rub off on him and that thought was horrific enough.
"She's going to be all right." Sakura announced, standing.
Some of the tension seemed to have left Neji's shoulders, as they slumped forward slightly. Naruto who had been buzzing around behind Sakura turned to the pink haired girl and smiled, about to say something remotely flirtatious by the looks of it. But before he could even open his mouth she hit him hard in the jaw. Sasuke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, glaring at his apprentice who was still sprawled on the floor.
-Page Break-
Hinata blinked her eyes open slowly. She was met with multiple pairs of eyes, and she blushed remembering what had led her to faint in the first place.
"You okay Hinata?" a slightly familiar voice asked.
She looked up as far as she could and saw the source of the voice was Suigetsu. He flashed a smile, his shark like teeth, startling her for a moment before she quickly sat up. Which she regretted as her head collided with someone else's.
"OWWW!" the blonde boy, Naruto howled.
He reeled back, clutching his forehead tightly making loud noises of pain. Hinata rubbed her forehead as well, but couldn't stop her face from turning cherry red, as she felt the overwhelming need to pass out again.
"Naruto you're such a clutz!" a woman whom Hinata didn't recognize chastised gently, as she grasped the girl by her shoulders. "Are you okay?" She asked loudly.
"Y-yes." she stuttered, before being blinded by the girls mega watt smile.
"Oh good, my name's Natsu." she explained.
"H-hello Natsu-san." she stuttered, before she was pulled to her feet.
Hinata visibly winced when she caught sight of the dark haired man that had picked her to be his apprentice, very aware of all the heated glares she was receiving from the other girls in the room, with the exception of Natsu, and her sister. She knew that, (Sasuke was his name?), he didn't like her, if the scowl he was giving her along with how he treated her earlier that morning was any indication. Hinata felt a wave of regret, remembering a home where she was wanted, with her best friend and her sensei. But she swallowed the lump in her throat and approached her master.
"T-thank you for p-picking me." She muttered quietly.
He scoffed and turned away from her, and Hinata fell silent behind him. Suddenly she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see the handsome red head from earlier. He didn't smile, or give her a confident or reassuring look. Instead the gaze she met was set, and determined, which gave her courage in itself. She nodded and gave a small smile, whether it was for herself or him she didn't know. As soon as he saw the gesture he moved away from her back to his own chosen apprentice, leaving Hinata alone with the icicle of a person in front of her. The pink haired girl cleared her throat, before continuing with the ceremony.
-Page Break-
It didn't take long for things to finish and most of the apprentices were talking animatedly with their sensei's. Only Hinata and Sasuke remained silent, while Suigetsu chatted amicably with no one in particular.
"Apprentice's, you and your new master may stay the night, Lady Tsunade has prepared rooms for each of you. Stay and enjoy the feast!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly. "Shizune-san will lead you to your rooms."
"Come this way please." A dark haired girl, holding a pig that was wearing a pearl necklace, entered the room and bowed.
Neji gestured towards her and Hinata went to go follow them when she felt a sharp tug on her arm.
"We are not staying." Sasuke said cooly, his grip on her arm tight.
She winced slightly in pain, and was about to open her mouth to question why he was so determined to leave all of a sudden, but Suigetsu beat her to it.
"You mean we're leaving tonight? Ugh! Can't we just stay?" Suigetsu whined.
"Shut up Suigetsu." Sasuke answered flatly.
The young man bristled and rounded on his raven haired companion when Hinata held up her hands in a placating manner, causing Suigetsu to seethe in silence.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked weakly as said boy made a bee-line for the door. "Won't you please stay." She begged. "For me."
Sasuke turned with a deeper scowl and a harsher glare. He opened his mouth to say something undoubtably mean, when Naruto came rushing over. He swung his arm over Sasuke's shoulders and held him against his side tightly.
"Sasuke-teme isn't going anywhere Sakura-chan." Naruto reassured his smile bright, but a threat lingered in his eyes.
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond but seemed to decide otherwise and instead allowed Naruto to steer him out of the room. Suigetsu cheered the blonde before grabbing Hinata's hand and dragging her behind the group of witches and wizards following Shizune.
-Page Break-
"I'm sure he's not all bad." the light brown haired girl named Matsuri reassured Hinata.
The dark haired girl shook her head as if in disbelief. The chubby boy sitting next to her snorted in derision before returning to his snack.
"You're not exactly helping Chouji." Ino Yamanaka said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder, and glared.
Hinata gave a sheepish smile and shifted a little self-consciously. All the apprentices had decided to meet before dinner. After Hinata had managed to convince Suigetsu they all sat in the large sitting room between all of their individual rooms. All of the apprentices were there, except for her sister, who as a Hyuga, was too good for them anyway. They had introduced themselves and seemed to enjoy each other's company. Well everyone, except for the red headed girl with the glasses.
"Don't you say a word against Sasuke-sama!" She bristled, crossing her arms and huffing.
"Be careful Karen, your hero worship is showing." the young man Kabuto teased lightly, pushing up his glasses.
"Hero worship? It's obviously more than that." Suigetsu groused, sitting up next to Hinata.
The Hyuga looked down towards the young man. He was cocky, loud, and at times a little rude, but at least he liked her, unlike Sasuke. She wasn't looking forward to her apprenticeship, but knowing that Suigetsu would be there, made it a little less terrible.
"Every girl has at least a teeny tiny crush on Sasuke, at one point." Ino admitted, shrugging.
Chouji snorted again and continued to eat while Matsuri nodded once in agreement. Hinata looked at them confused before shaking her head.
"I n-never l-liked Sasuke-san." she said quietly.
For a second Hinata thought she had gone deaf. The room had gone completely silent, as if no one dared to breathe. Even Chouji who had been snacking quite loudly stopped in mid bite, as everyone turned to look at her.
"W-what?" she asked weakly after a few moments of silent staring.
"I knew it!" Suigetsu cried, breaking the silence and allowing Hinata to breathe again. "You are perfect! She's pretty, smart, and she doesn't like Sasuke! What more could you want from a girl?" Suigetsu said throwing an arm around her shoulders.
Kabuto gave her a vibrant smile before agreeing while Chouji nodded. Hinata felt her cheeks heat, uncomfortable with all the attention. Karen huffed in indignation before turning towards them looking at her accusingly. Suigetsu stood, stretched and excused himself after a few more minutes, claiming he had to go to the bathroom.
"Why did he pick YOU anyway?" the red head asked scathingly. "Especially since you don't even like him!"
"The f-f-feeling is m-m-mutual." Hinata said gravely.
"Then why did he pick you?" Konohamaru who had been silent up until then, piped in. "It doesn't make sense. If he didn't like you then why pick you?"
Hinata shrugged slightly not sure what she should do. No one seemed to accept that answer.
"Maybe it's because your a Hyuga." Ino offered.
"Or because you were the only one, other than myself, not drooling and practically bowing at his feet." Matsuri supplied.
"That's probably it," Kabuto agreed. "Maybe he's tired of all the looks of admiration he gets."
"It has to be, it's obviously not because she has any real talent." Karen said snidely.
"I can c-cast s-some s-s-spells." Hinata defended.
Suddenly everyone in the room turned to look at her astounded. She blinked before shifting self consciously again.
"Did you say you can cast spells?" Chouji asked, shifting away from her slightly.
"U-uh, u-um y-yes some." Hinata answered confused.
"Were you trained by the Hyuga?" Kabuto asked.
"N-no, I t-trained myself see." Hinata explained, murmuring under her breath before a white lily appeared in her hand.
Everyone moved away from her this time, some gasping in shock. Hinata looked around, still puzzled. It was just a flower, surely they could do more deadly magic then she could.
"You...you do magic even though you haven't been trained yet?" Ino asked.
Hinata nodded slowly, wary about why they all were looking at her as if she had grown extra heads.
"How?" Kabuto couldn't help but ask, his voice slightly strained.
"I m-make my own spells." Hinata explained.
"That's dangerous!" Konohamaru shouted. "If an untrained witch or wizard tries to use magic without being trained, especially using their own spells something terrible could happen. People could get hurt, or even die!"
Hinata reeled back as if she had been slapped. She stared at them all with wide eyes, her mind went to Kurenai and what she had revealed to Hinata. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to think on something else, and compose herself.
"You need to promise us Hinata," Matsuri began giving the girl a meaningful look. "That you won't use any more magic until your trained."
"I p-p-promise." Hinata answered.
"Well then maybe that's why Sasuke picked her." Kabuto mused out loud. "Sasuke only cares about three things, beauty, strength, and revenge." he elaborated seeing her curious expression.
"Yeah, now that I think about it I feel bad for you." Ino said sheepishly.
"W-w-why?" Hinata asked.
"You haven't heard the rumors about Sasuke?" Matsuri asked in disbelief.
Hinata shook her head, and however far they had scooted from her before quickly didn't matter as they all seemed to circle around her. Even Karen slid to the empty spot next to her.
"You've heard of the great Uchiha clan right?" Kabuto asked receiving a nod from Hinata. "Well Sasuke was the second born son of the leader of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha. When Sasuke was seven years old his entire family was massacred. He was the only survivor other than his older brother who disappeared that same night. Sasuke vowed revenge on the murderer of his family and from that day on only sought power. He trained and traveled until he met the snake demon Orochimaru."
The room seemed to fill with tension as Hinata listened, half in fear and half in disbelief. She couldn't believe that such a thing existed and if it did what did she get herself into.
"The price for the power that the demon offered him was huge. In exchange for power the demon took his heart." Kabuto continued. "That's why he's so cold, and uncaring. Sasuke gave his heart to the demon in order to get his revenge. You're the first apprentice he's ever taken on, because it's said he travels the world finding beautiful maidens, and steals their heart's, in the hopes that one day the demon will become strong enough to help him find and destroy the man who killed his family."
Suddenly Kabuto stiffened, and the rest of the rooms occupants seemed to hold their breath. They were all staring behind Hinata. The dark haired girl slowly turned to find Suigetsu standing over her, his usually good humored expression was stoic. No one dared to move or speak until finally Suigetsu held out his hand to Hinata. The nervous girl took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
"Come on Hinata, we have to go. Sasuke's waiting for us." Suigetsu said, not acknowledging the previous conversation or the people in the room.
Hinata shot them all one last fearful look before allowing Suigetsu to lead her from the room. They walked down the halls of the large palace, neither of them saying a word. After ten minutes Hinata couldn't take the silence anymore.
"I-I don't b-b-believe what t-they said about S-S-Sasuke-san." Hinata said softly.
"Why?" he snorted. "It's a legend that most people have heard a thousand times."
"So you're not mad?" Hinata asked breathlessly.
Suigetsu gave her look that she had never seen before. It was soft, apologetic, with a little something else she knew she couldn't identify.
"Of course I'm not mad!" His expression changed again in an instant, returning to his normal rough and feral grin. "But if I had to tell the story, I would mention that his weak ass hasn't gotten any stronger, and that he had no heart to give away to begin with."
Hinata gave him a small nervous smile, as he scowled, and ranted about Sasuke again. When silence fell between them once more Hinata found the courage to speak.
"B-b-but it's n-not t-true right?" Hinata asked.
"Look there's Sasuke!" Suigetsu said in response, his loud voice ringing off the walls, and drawing the dark haired mans attention.
"Keep your voice down, moron." Sasuke hissed as they got closer.
"Make me ass." Suigetsu shot back.
Hinata looked down at her feet finding herself unable to even look at Sasuke. She was well aware that Suigetsu hadn't answered her question, and when she felt Sasuke's eyes on her, a shiver of terror ran up her spine. But even then she tried to convince herself that the story wasn't real. Everyone needed a heart, if not in the metaphorical sense, at least in the physical sense, how did someone live without a heart? It wasn't possible. Hinata finally raised her eyes and immediately let them fall again, all of her reassurances flew out the window, because with one second staring into those black eyes she realized that with Sasuke, this was entirely possible.
A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Okay read and review peeps!