((A/N: Sorry for the confusion! I did mess with the ages a little bit. At the time of Sasuke's disappearance, I'm making the Rookie 9 all at the age of 16. This makes Neji, Tenten and Lee 17, and Itachi…22 I believe. Thank you for reading!))

~Flashback, Six Months Prior~

Hinata was walking by herself, taking her time as she came back from training. She always took the back way home from the training grounds, you see. Her cottage was on the outskirts of the Hyuuga complex. All she had to do was vault over the fence to avoid walking through the main house, which she preferred, anyway. The only thing she didn't like about her little detour was the fact that she needed to walk passed the dilapidated, charred remains of the Uchiha compound. It filled her with sadness. She would often stop despite herself, to sneak a peek inside.

But it was on this cold, gloomy Friday evening that she caught sight of something that made her blood freeze and the color drain from her face. She had peered in through the wrought iron gates of the compound, as she always did, but this time, she saw a figure hunched over in the middle of the walkway, far into the center of the compound. The wind picked up and blue through her hair, and she quickly noted it's sent. These were the winds of change…they chill you to the bone, and refuse to let you go. Feeling as though she were pushed by those gusts, she silently slipped into the long-forgotten realm, treading towards the figure.

"Excuse me." Her voice was delicate, but she readied a kunai deftly underneath her sleeve. She knew it could very well be a looter, since Konoha had been unable to secure the assets of the Estate. Everything had been left to Sasuke, and he refused to touch a cent of it. Her small voice cut the silence like a knife, and the figure rose to full height slowly. It was wearing a long, black cloak adorned with red clouds, and a high collar. It was only after the figure turned around that Hinata realized the severity of the situation she now found herself in.

Long black hair, that looked course and slightly matted and in good need of a wash. A regal face, with defining worrylines on either side of the nose. But the most important features that she took in were two red eyes…Sharingan.

"U-Uchiha Itachi!" Was all she could say before the man closed ten foot gap between them, covering her mouth with his hand. It was dirty, she could feel the grit around her face. She fought her natural reaction to faint, Byagukan activating out of fright. Behind the power of the Sharingan, Hinata could see a feral wildness, and a deep sadness.

"Don't scream." Came his odd voice. He sounded off, like something was seriously wrong. Well, everything was wrong. He'd slaughtered his entire clan, and then abandoned the village. That much was public knowledge. This man was not to be trusted.

She wanted to run, to do anything to get away. She struggled against him, but he was far too strong an opponent. She stared deep into his eyes, fear radiating from her. Those red orbs were the last thing she saw before the blunt handle of a kunai connected with her skull, and the world turned black.

This was not the first time Hinata had been kidnapped. In all reality, it was her third. This was, though, the first time it was not for ransom. She was not worth anything now, not after her demotion from Heir to Commoner. When she came too, she was sitting upright in a futon, with her hands bound behind her and her feet bound together, both and the ankles and the knees. She struggled violently, before she noticed the eldest Uchiha pacing back and forth in front of her.

"Please!" She pleaded, gazing up at him with her wide white eyes. "Please, I'm not worth anything…please, I won't tell anyone you were here, just let me go!"

He stopped pacing, and kneeled in front of her. "I don't deal in chance, Little Hyuuga." He noticed the way she flinched away from him. He sighed, turning to resume his pacing across what was once his bedroom.

"Since I'm going to kill you anyway, I guess I should tell you the truth of what happened that night." He leaned against his old bureau, which has charred from the fire. The whole house had a layer of black soot. Hinata's eyes went wide at his words.

'He means to kill me!'

"Please don't! Don't kill me!" She stood up, wobbling, before tipping over. She was much too exhausted to stand. Itachi dove for her, catching her. Being pressed against Uchiha Itachi's chest was definitely a foreign feeling to her. She cursed herself as she began to cry, sobbing against his chest.

"Why not just let me fall, y-you're going to kill me anyway." She was weak now, she had no way of fighting back.

"I want to confess what truly happened to at least one living being. I need you awake for that." He sounded unwavering. She shuttered as he set her back down on his old futon, and took the spot next to her. He was very close to her, and this shook her reality. She always imagined him, the very few times he had ever crossed her mind, as an apathetic loner who resisted all rational thought and human contact. He still came across psychotic, but in a different way.

"Listen carefully, for I will repeat nothing. I was forced to do it. The Hokage forced my hand, forced me to slaughter every man woman and child. But I couldn't kill him. Not my otouto. My precious baby brother…so I fled. I fled and every day, every second of every day since then, I have been aching and rotting inside. With no will…no purpose…" He hung his head now.

The Hyuuga could not believe what she was hearing. It took a few moments to register, to fully sink in. The Hokage had ordered the slaughter of an entire clan? That was impossible…

A three year old Hinata sat at her place next to her father. Hiashi looked at the other leaders of their clan. "This marks the third year since the massacre of the Uchiha clan. May we lift our glasses and celebrate, good riddance to the bloodline traitors!"

Hinata gasped. It was true…and her family had rejoiced it! She had…she had taken a sip of her drink to that toast, not knowing what it meant. She shook her head to rid herself of such memories.

"Itachi-sama. I'm so…so very sorry. I believe you, if it helps ease your suffering. I-I wish with all my heart you could take it back…I can't f-fathom…!" It was her turn to hang her head, tears suddenly cascading down her cheeks and landing with soft thuds on her pants. "Oh, h-how your heart must ache!"

A calloused hand lifted her chin. Her eyes were met with black ones now, the man had turned off his kekkei genkai. He looked solemn. "Don't cry for me, little one. I don't deserve it. I'm a monster."

"No! N-No you're not!" She stared at him intensely, trying to convey her feelings. "You were manipulated by both your clan and your country. Curse this village! Curse clan values!" She looked tortured now. Her own pain was now seeping into her words, mixing with his in slow, deadly dance. "What father pits one son against another, poisoning their bonds forever? What father casts aside his own daughter because she cannot fight? Even if you asked for a ransom, he would not pay it! Do you know that? He would let me be taken. Raped, killed…it means nothing to him! I mean nothing to him!

Itachi blinked. "I certainly don't mean to rape you." He said matter-of-factly. He then looked her in the eyes. "Or kill you."

Her bonds snapped, freeing her extremities. She stayed were she sat though, for what seemed like hours but was really only minutes. Itachi didn't move either. There was a comfortable silence that danced in the air.

And then he was gone.