CH3
Disclaimer: I do not own naruto, this is written for fanfiction purposes only.
AN: Hinata is shorter than Itachi, thus when I say 'looked down at her' I mean in the sense of height and not in the condescending manner.
Hinata-Hime-Starz - Thank you for your review, I am glad you enjoy the story I will try hard to keep it up, so please bear with me and thanks once again.
Location Training ground 4
Thud thud, Itachi acknowledged the sound of the kunai hitting their targets as he spun around and released three shuriken at the wooden targets 800 yards away. 'That chakara again, whats she doing here…' he pondered before jumping in the air crimson eyes scanning the area. Sure enough confirming his thoughts there was the Hyuuga he had brought home yesterday. She hadn't noticed him yet but she would eventually as she was following a direct path in to the traps he had set up incase anyone bothered him, which he didn't think was possible as he was up training at the break of dawn. 'Those traps are easy enough to disarm' pondered Itachi as he continued to run drills. It wasn't before he threw his second senbon at the tree he heard a female scream 'Kyaaa!' His eyes turned towards the origin of the noise and started walking towards it.
Hinata was on her bottom clutching her bloody knee as she screamed in pain. Not even realising she had tripped over the metal wire, and promptly into the hole that someone had cleverly disguised using the native flora. Her mind was in pain but she was more embarrassed that she had fallen for such a simple trap. Truth be told if her father's actions weren't on her mind she might have avoided such an embarrassing fate. 'Hyuuga san?' spoke a familiar cold voice from above. 'Oh no…please not him…n…n…not him' she thought as she looked up. Sure enough his red eyes meet her puffy pink ones, as his gaze deepened her tears started flowing, knowing she was showing her weakness she tried to stand up, and abruptly falling down again. Her tears betrayed her as she started sobbing now. 'I…I…I…'m s…s…s…s…orry Uchiha san' she managed to get out inbetween strained sobs, as she lowered her heard averting his eyes from her pathetic state. She was sure she heard him sigh, as she saw him lower his sleeve into the pit and a black snake emerged from his sleeve, was Hinata not distressed already she would have screamed again. 'No I have to be strong Hyuugas don't show weakness' she said reciting the mantra beaten into her consciousness by her father in both meaning of the words. The snake coiled around her with a degree of comfort which was unlike the characteristic of the creature and moved her towards the top of the pit and dropped her onto the clearing and returned into the right sleeve of Itachi Uchiha. Cleaning her watery eyes with her jacket she looked up at him. There stood the heir of the most prestigious clan in the village no that was an understatement perhaps even the Shinobi world, their notoriety in strength, and intelligence was only surpassed by their ruthlessness towards their enemies. She knew she was from a wealthy family but the Uchiha stronghold's wealth was near limitless as she knew from the way her father still conducted business with the Uchiha clan despite his hatred. Hinata was sure he had his reasons, and they were usually pointed towards personal profit for the clan. He was of a slender, solid build. Just a bit bulkier than Sasuke but that's where the similarities ended. He was taller, had wilder hair which was tied into a small pony tail. Rather than give him a thuggish appearance it complemented his facial aesthetics and gave him a regal appearance. His face was clean, free from any blemishes, aside from the tear duct shaped marks he had down both of his eyes, a feature he had inherited from his father, she had seen his father many times during his visits to the Hyuuga main house to conduct business, and from her interactions with him, she had speculated he was an honest but firm man. He was dressed in a long sleeved shirt bearing the Uchiha clan symbol on his chest, all black with a small golden line along the bottom and directly underneath the clan symbol,and he wore simple sandals. His main feature his eyes were the most vivid pair she had seen in her entire life, is Sasuke's eyes were strange, Itachi's were an enigma, she had seen the Sharingan on numerous occasions just not one so cold, so totally devoid of any emotion. Sasuke's had always been threatening, and you could tell by simply looking into his eyes, he had a fierce rage beneath his eyes. Itachi's however were cold, his Sharingan tomoe spinning counter clockwise in a slow fashion. 'Hyuuga san' she heard him as she broke from her thoughts. A hand was offered to her, Hinata had never known anyone to help her besides her teammates, why was this stranger helping her. Reluctantly she took him up on his offer, her hands met with calloused, hardened hands, they were hard and firm. Hinata was taken aback by how scared she felt by simply holding his hand, almost as if he had read her thoughts she felt him release her hand as he looked at her questioning.
His face displaying no emotion as he enquired 'Are you injured?' She let out a sound that seemed a cross between a sigh of confusion and surprise; she simply shook her head her eyes still looking at the ground instead of him. 'Ok farewell' he said as he turned to walk away. 'W…Wait, P...p…please stop' squeaked the shorter female behind him. 'This is counterproductive to my training; I shall have to leave if she continues' he thought as he turned around ready to listen to her. 'I…I apolog…g…g…gize f...f…or inter…r…r…upting y…y…o…o…ur trai…i…i…nin…n…g' she whined almost like an injured puppy. Taking a moment to register her incoherent stuttering he simply looked down at her and stated 'You have nothing to apologize for'. 'B…b…ut I ruined your t…training, I'm so clumsy and weak' she said softly almost whispering the last part. Itachi had enough of this, he had learned to strive to be the best, there was no reason to continue this conversation any longer, she was keeping him from training after all it was his last chance at training before the surgical procedure that would determine his fate as a shinobi. He looked down at her as she scanned his face for some response, almost reminding him of Yumi the little fruit vendor girl he had come to love as a younger sibling, he then did something he knew he shouldn't have considering the circumstances. 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you are a kunoichi of Konohagakure become stronger to protect our village' he demanded with no change in his tone or demeanour. He studied her face for a response, she started to open her mouth 'I…I don't ha…a…ve the strength…' she stopped suddenly taken back by the fact that his sharingan had started unconsciously spinning faster at her reply. He watched her as she instinctively pulled both of her hands upwards to cover her face, he watched as she shivered underneath his glare. 'I have no idea how to deal with this female, she is different from my other female encounters', he thought to himself as he drew up memories of dealing with females that were either infatuated with his male appearance, intimidated by his name or were too strong headed to worry about any of the two, Inuzuka Hana and Anko came to mind they were both hard headed and were loud. This Hyuuga was fragile, soft and wasn't afraid of showing her emotions, if he were on a mission, and she an enemy he would have no problem reliving of her life. When he held her hand before, he was reminded of his mother's affection towards him at a younger age she had always held his hand possessively so he knew of the warmth of the female touch, his mothers hands were soft but firm due to her needing dexterity at surgery; however Hyuuga's hands were delicate and felt that if he had squeezed any harder her hand would have faded into nothingness, in contrast to his blood stained hands having fought, and destroyed enemy nin he felt that she was pure almost feeling that her brief connection with him was one that shouldn't have happened he shouldn't have touched her with his killer hands almost removing any innocence she had. 'Her hands are that of a civilian, she shouldn't be a kunoichi she would never survive outside' he pondered as he thought of what to do in this situation. He was here in the training ground, his training drills interrupted by this Hyuuga and now she was cowering infront of him in fear with her hands over her face. Sighing he spoke 'I will not harm you Hyuuga, you have disturbed my training' he heard her let out a small cry as he said that but she didn't lower her hands from her defensive stance 'however I am willing to…' hesitating as he weighed the other options he had, but he had never known himself to be so illogical 'allow you to spar with me for the rest of the duration of my session if you wish to Hyuuga san'. Was it the surgery… was it anxiousness about going blind forever… was it the impending fate that he would never be able to save any one after this afternoon…was he doing this as a gesture towards a fellow villager… no he couldn't explain it, Itachi had for the first time in his entire life did something illogical. Infront of him stood this weakling female, she was trembling at first but now her demeanour had changed from fear to almost serene she was happy. 'How strange' He thought as he steadied himself, turning off his sharingan.
'…If you wish to Hyuuga san' that's all she heard when she lowered her hands and her facial expression changed immediately. 'No ones wanted to train with me willingly not even Neji niisan' she exclaimed to herself as she nodded and said out loud 'Are you sure Uchiha san? I'm not that st…st…rong but I will try my best'. 'It is fine now come at me with everything you have in your arsenal Hyuuga san' 'O…o…o…kay' she stuttered her reply before shouting 'Bakyugan!' immediately activating her bloodline limit allowed her to see chakara all around her and the chakara that flowed within others. Hinata averted her eyes towards Itachi, she was surprised at the colour of his chakara, rather than being dark or cold as she suspected it was warm, calm and of a lavender colour. It was the most calming almost serene chakara she had seen in her life. She was almost scared that Itachi possessed such chakara, unlike Sasukes whos chakara was dark and a cold aura surrounded it, his elder brothers was warm like the sun beams penetrating a populated forest. Setting her admiration aside he sped towards him, she took out three kunai from her side pouch and threw them at Itachi, she wasn't surprised when he had caught them between his fingers. She had however anticipated this and the scrolls on the kunai immediately started to light up exploding in his hands. She leapt back watching for any signs of life as the smoke cleared, instead she saw Itachi in his cold demeanour looking back at her without even a scratch. Whilst she was processing what to do next he suddenly flashed right infront of her looking down at her. 'When did he…how fast is he…' she thought to herself as Itachi moved to attack. Hinata readied herself for a brutal attack; instead all she got was a flick of his fingers on her forehead. 'Owww' she frowned as she sniffed hands immediately moving towards the reddening area on her head. Looking up she saw nothing he had moved again, scanning the area she looked for his chakara signature, and found it on a tree behind her. 'He outclasses me in speed I have to try something else' she thought as she started making handsigns. 'Water wild wave technique!' she screamed as the nearby water of the nara river that flowed suddenly launched at Itachi, the wave resembled a small tsunami as it sped towards its target. Itachi simply placed his left hand before him and absorbed the entirety of the water wave. 'W…hat that's not possible…he fully absorbed my attack, not even Neji niisan can do that!' she spoke aloud shocked at the events unravelling themselves infront of her. Before she could fully comprehend what had happened he appeared before her again, poked her forehead as he had done before and said 'enough'. This time however it actually did hurt her as she stood holding her forehead tears slowly dripped down her eyes as she deactivated her Bakyugan. 'I…I… am s…s…s…orry for wasting your time Uchiha san' she spoke as she trembled further. 'God I'm so weak' she thought silently cursing herself. She looked upwards and watched Itachi walking up to her he placed a hand on her head ruffled her silky purplish hair and spoke in his cold as ever voice 'Don't worry Hyuuga san I found our training to be tolerable' 'YOOOO HINNNNAAATA' she heard Kiba's familiar voice calling to her. 'It seems our time is up, take care Hyuuga san' said Itachi flatly as he disappeared into nothingness leaving falling leaves in his absence. 'When di…d he form handsigns I didn't even see them… what did he mee..eee..an torelrable…' she thought as she placed her hand where his had been mere moments ago, not noticing the blood rushing to her face as she felt butterflies in her stomach.
'HEEEEEEEY YOU DEAF HINNNNNNNATA?' Kiba screamed bringing Hinata out of her daze. 'Good morning Kiba kun, Shino kun how are you doing this morning?' she asked politely to her two former team mates. They had been spending more and more time together since the team disbanded and they were all chunins now. She enjoyed their company as outside the family they were the closest people she had that she could truly call friends. 'Hinata san was that Uchiha Itachi that was here a moment ago?' enquired Shino as he adjusted the black glasses forwards as if deep in thought and concern. ' Itachi san!, what were you doing with him?' spoke Kiba in his brash tone as he looked in to her noticing her worn out clothes and scratches on her face 'Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you Hinata?' Kiba spoke laced with concern for his friend. Sensing the hidden meaning behind his tone she erupted in a blush that rivalled the hue of the sharingan itself 'N…n…n…o we were just sparing' she stuttered trying her best not to faint from the embarrassment of the statement that Itachi had an interest in her plain self. 'Train?' spoke Shino raising an eyebrow at Kiba who returned the sentiment. 'Y…y…y…es' she said softly as she nervously lowered her head and started twirling her fingers together. 'Be careful Hinata san he is not of our level' Shino said as he looked at Hinata who had started that annoying habit she had only when she was in the proximity of Uzumaki Naruto. 'I know he is not chunin' she replied. At this statement both Shino and Kiba sighed at her ignorance and total void of knowledge of the ninja within the village. 'Hinata chan…Hinata chan… don't you know he is an ANBU captain' Kiba said shaking his head. Immediately she was flushed the colour that had once reached her face had now just as quickly dissolved from her face leaving her very pale with the thought that Itachi had sparred with her, a chunin. The fact that an ANBU, let alone an ANBU captain had willingly trained with her had, even Neji niisan who was a Jonin often would express unconsciously that sparring with her was a total waste of his talent, he only did it because she was heir to the clan. If she wasn't going to faint now she was after what Shino said to her next 'Hinata…weren't you there when Godaime sama announced he had exterminated the leader of otogakure, Orochimaru one of the sannin?, Shino said matter of factly. Hinata slowly slumped towards the ground eyes closed fainting at the further notion of what just happened to her simple life today, the day that Uchiha Itachi had spared her some of his time and expected nothing in return, and well even somehow complemented her.
'Welcome son' Mikoto greeted her eldest as he entered the hospital suite of the Uchiha district. 'Welcome Uchiha sama' spoke a crowd of nurses as they deeply bowed at his presence. 'Thank you Okaasan and thank you for your services today' Itachi stated as he bowed towards the nurses. The nurses were of all ages but his manners and attractiveness didn't go amiss with them as they all beamed with happiness at the recognition that the heir of the most powerful Ninja clan had just given them. Mikoto smiled at this and spoke rather mischievously smirking 'Watch out girls he is of a marrying age, and some of you are married'. At this the nurses blushed profusely and scattered to prepare, the sounds of medical equipment sterilised and machines being brought to life were heard. Itachi just started at the exchange not realising what had just transpired. He looked around the large white room, and watched as his mother in her white lab coat signalled him towards a twin set of beds, one of which was occupied with his cousin's body. He looked at Shisui his cousin and best friend was unconscious as he lay waiting the same fate as Itachi. He prepared himself fully trusting himself to his mother, one of the only people aside from his brother he could trust. 'Do you wish for the same anesthesia as Shisui?' Mikoto asked hovering over him, her eyes turned crimson as the nurses brought machines and tables close to the table he was on. 'He looked at her, closing his eyes deactivating the sharingan and stated 'No'.
Mikoto sighed as she knew what he would answer before she even asked. Infront of her lay a third of her world, and she was going to spend the next nine hours fighting for his continuity in her life. She stared at one of the nurses at her right, who had activated her sharingan in preparation for this operation, let's begin. 'Itachi, I love you more than anything in the world you are my everything son', she spoke sadly as she lifted the scalpel. She looked down at him, her crimson eyes flicked to the mangekyou as she met onyx eyes as he said in a voice she hadn't heard since he was four 'I love you too Okaasan'