Hi guys, I am back again with a looong chappie. Trust me this one is long. I am starting my exams soon so I might be MIA for a while. This chapter was quite challenging to write as finding the right words that would be effective to execute the idea to be portrayed became difficult. Anyways thanks so much for your awesome reviews you guys really know how to keep me writing.

I want to thank:

Chiisai-chan97: I can see you are all about the intensity I'm glad this story gives you those feels.

MsChifSantos: I'm happy you are enjoying this story. You really amuse me with how you are all out for Fugaku's head in this story. Haha. Hope I can make your wishes come true soon.

FallenHime: Huge Sasuhina fan yet having a guilty pleasure for itahina. You really got me swollen headed there. Lol.

NaviTheGoddess: it's really good to see you following this story and taking your time to review. You really know how to make a writer wanted.

tactics2012: I hope this chapter somehow answers your question of what our dear Itachi is going to do. We all know how sacrificial Itachi can get.

misao97: (WHY ITACHI WHY?! I KNOW YOU STILL LOVE HER! WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS MAKE YOURSELF THE BAD GUY?! ) It almost seems you have Itachi right in front of you and you are giving him the scolding of his life, hehe. Just shows how much you are into the story.

rcr: I'm glad you want to read more.

x Misty me x: the huge sasuhina converting into an itahina believer, lol. Sorry if I play a part in this dilemma of yours *grinning mischievously*

PINKunicorn: thanks for the correction.

Milkshakecat200: I just looked through the story and realised my note for you didnt appear. Sorry about that and i hope you see this. Now to the note: I must say you had me blushing madly at your review about my writing and all. Im glad you like my story and writing.

Divinity-fan: oh my where do I start with you, hehe. The way you have sank your teeth into this story is just wow, words fail me. Reading your reviews is a joy as I can't see a writer who wouldn't get reviews like yours and is not moved to start writing the next chapter. You are so emphatic about your sentiments and perception about the characters and even Ocs, wow, how you just don't read but absorb every detail of the story and how you crave for more is just exciting. I'm so glad a got someone like you to read and love my story. You are every writer's dream reviewer. You really know how to make a writer feel appreciated.

PS: about the sadist thing…how did you know? You really cracked me up with that one. Can't stop laughing.

And to the guest reviewers, gosh how I wish I couldidn't address each of you by your individual profile names and show my appreciation. You guys really give great reviews thanks so much.

You guys are the best. Chapter 4. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a review.

Chapter 4: The Heart Slayer

So much had happened.

So much had happened in such a short time she couldn't even focus on one to entertain at a time to torment her. In this moment she would have been grateful if she could have the luxury to even do just that. All she had done the days that had passed since her father's funeral was to sit around and do nothing, unable to put herself to do anything as the problems she did not have the luxury to even stress about at a time kept nagging at the back of her mind to remind her of its omnipresence in her life with its promise of pure misery when she was finally grounded enough to do so eventhough it had not yet started its torture. At least the nagging made her know she was still amongst the living and she hadn't fully turned into a zombie yet.

She was to meet the elders and discuss some important issues, as they had put it, after breakfast and as such was dressed formally in a simple formal knee length dress with short sleeves in black as she was still mourning the death of her father and with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Breakfast was going to be in about an hour's time but Hinata was already dressed sitting on her bed as she had finally gotten tired of just morbidly sitting around as time and space pass her by and as such needed to do something to make her feel somewhat alive. She even took the liberty to use more make up than her usual just to entertain her dull mind. She had to admit she was quite surprised upon her complete absence from the table since her father's funeral, the elders had still not already barged into her room and dragged her out to reprimand her for her 'rudeness' and 'gross disrespect'.

Maybe this was their idea of how to express the feeling of consideration and comfort. She shrugged.

But now she was done and still ended up sitting on her bed staring into space again. Another thing she had to admit was that in this state of hers even though she felt the nagging of the existence her tortuous thoughts whose effects they were yet to manifest, in this lifeless state of hers, she felt nothing. Nothing got to her. Not the tons of problems trying to bang their way into her head. Not the things happening around her. Nor the responsibilities she had even forgotten she had. She was immune to it all. In this vacuum were time or space never reached her.

She had received the results of her father's autopsy the day after the funeral, but it still remained on her bedside table where she left it the day she received it, untouched and collecting dust. In all the days that had gone by, she had tried several times to open the envelope and read its contents but each time she gave up, afraid whatever was in the envelope would break this sanctuary of numbness she was in, where no pain could touch her.

And with that she realised something she had avoided admitting this whole time.

She enjoyed being like this, being in this state of nothingness, frozen in time and space. Because it was safe, proof being upon everything that had happened, throughout the days that had passed after the funeral, she had not shed even a single tear. And this was why she hadn't till now opened her father's autopsy that she had demanded to have with immediate effect. That was why she had not been able to confront the situation with her sister who had not left her room nor spoken a word since the funeral. She always asked how she was faring from Ko when came to her room to do his frequent check-ups on her but when pushes herself to go to and see Hanabi, she was never able to stay long, always making sure her visits were when the girl was asleep.

And that's when she realised how selfish she had been all this time. To protect herself from all the pain and agony of all that had happened, she abandoned the quest to finding out what actually caused her father's death altogether and she let her little sister to suffer alone. When the memory of her sister's uncontrollable state at the funeral flashed through her mind in that moment, for the first time in the days that passed she felt something crawl up her heart and brutally rip at it at the heart wrenching memory and after a long time of their absence, tears brim her eyes again.

Hinata felt terrible. She didn't know how she made things get like this. It was like after the funeral time stopped for her.

No. That was not it.

To be more accurate, time and space stopped after…

"Unlike you who seems walk ignorantly in your father's company, I am present at all important business meetings, like that with your father. He took my pen to sign all these documents."

Then his eyes narrowed increasing the intensity of his glare.

"And do not refer to me so casually, Hyuga."

…Itachi.

At the thought of his name, she felt her heart jerk hard against her rib cage as if it just came back alive, but now every beat of the heart pumped pain to every cell of her body.

She shut her eyes to prevent any tears from falling out as she clutched hard unto her bed sheets to try and calm the intensity of pain somehow. This was the reason why she shut out her emotions because she knew the pain would break her like it was doing now. Most of her pain was borne from her deep confusion of what happened between her and Itachi at the funeral and at the same time that same confusion was what was keeping her from completely breaking down.

She just couldn't believe that cold heartless man before her at the funeral, was the same man who was willing to go against generations of hatred and bad blood between their families just to be with her, the same man who would allow her, of enemy blood to touch his heart, the same man who made passionate love to her just the day before the funeral.

It didn't make sense and the more she tried to make sense of it, the more she felt her head and chest want to explode. But if she didn't, she felt like she was going to go insane.

It all felt surreal, like a horror movie of her worst nightmares starring the beautiful soulless man who looked painfully similar to the man who never failed to let her know how much he adored her, mostly through his eyes and actions, now stabbing her cruelly in the heart with his words and his cold piercing eyes.

This man before her who was a carbon copy of the man who in many ways made her know of his love for her, had soulless eyes that looked like they were incapable of love and his heartless actions and harsh cold words reflected that.

The man she loved was not capable of looking at her with so much spite and spit so much venom at her. That was what she was trying to believe and convince that all that happened was just a nightmare that never happened, but the chill that run through her spine eliciting goose bumps on her skin at the remembrance of how frightening his stone cold eyes were as they gave her the death glare straight from the fiery pits of hell with the potency of killing her a million of lifetimes to come, knocked her hard with reality that it actually happened.

But why?

She couldn't think of any reason why Itachi would treat her like he actually despised her with a passion.

Was it because his father and my family were present?

"Unlike you who seems to walk ignorantly in your father's company, I am present at all important business meetings, like that with your father. He took my pen to sign all these documents." Those cruel words carried by his signature deep voice rang through her head again.

But would he go that far to say something as grave as this just because our families were around?

She remembered how Itachi never failed to voice out how he wished this feud between their families could be over so that he could love her properly and not do so like a criminal, so that he could finally let the whole world know, let whatever suitors with the intention of pursing her know and their families know she was his woman.

So why would the same person purposefully antagonise people he wished to be at peace with?

It all didn't make sense at all.

And the fact that all that he said about the business deal between her father and his father was in such impeccable detail also gave room for her questioning if what he said about being present at the final meeting was not a lie as she desperately wanted to believe.

By this time her head was all jumbled up by all these questions that she couldn't answer but that didn't seize the throbbing pain in her chest.

If she stayed here like this in this room for a second longer the room would actually swallow her whole with madness.

Like she was possessed she all of a sudden shot to her feet and let her feet lead her out of the room. Her alert eyes scanned the area for any soul around but it seemed everyone was somewhere busying themselves giving her the perfect opportunity to sneak her way out. Carefully and noiselessly, she descended the stairs and with a sharp scan of the area, she made it out successfully out of the front door without being seen by anyone. She could not believe how easy it was to leave the house undetected with all those elders in there. She allowed herself to let go of the breath she was holding all along to clear her head as she begun to make her way to the gates. As she approached the gates, the guard around who saw her run up to her with a confused look.

"Hinata-sama do you need something?" he inquired.

"No I just need to go out." She replied.

"Oh, would you like me to arrange a car for you?" The guard deduced from her response to which Hinata shook her head to refute.

"No need for that. I'm just going for a walk." She lied which seemed to answer the question on the guard's lips.

"Oh ok, Hinata-sama." He answered feeling sheepish as he quickly opened the gates for her, to which she thank him before she passed.

As soon as she got outside, she took in a deep breath and begun to walk as fast as she could from the mansion before anyone could detect her absence and start looking for her. As soon as she was at a safe distance from the Hyuga compound and getting to the main road, she took out her phone and begun to dial a familiar number. But there was no answer. She tried for three more times and got the same response making her heart begin to sink. That was when she realised throughout all these days she was playing walking dead, she had not received a single call or text from him making something hit her hard in her stomach.

Itachi….

She didn't let that back her down as she took her phone and let her fingers dance over the screen to type a text, to which she was quickly done with and tapped her screen to send it. She made the few steps she needed to get her to the main road, where she shot her hand out and stopped a cab to take her to Itachi's apartment.

He grunted as he was given a rude awakening from his slumber by the sudden sharp ringing of his phone. He cracked his eyes open wondering why he had not drowned the annoying device already. Upon not answering his phone for these past days, he would have thought people would have already got the hint that he didn't want to be bothered, but if they chose to be stubbornly oblivious like his father just to get under his skin, he wouldn't be surprise they didn't only take the hint, but choose to ignore it anyway. It had been like this since the funeral, he shutting the world out, not stepping out of the comfort of his apartment nor bothering to pick any of the numerous calls that came in. He didn't need to be genius to guess most of the calls were from his father without checking, the one person he couldn't stomach facing.

Without bothering to get up from his comfortable position of lying in his couch, he reached out his long arm to pick up the noisy device from the centre table to cut the noisy fanfare the call came along with only for his mildly curious eyes to take a glance at the screen resulting in his whole body freezing at the name displayed on his screen.

The name of one person he actually couldn't stomach seeing at all and the reason he was living like a dead man since the funeral.

Hinata.

The name that awoke his dormant heart with joy and pain at the same time.

For the first time in these past few days, he felt his heart beat so hard he could feel his rib cage shake as he watch her name display on the screen, totally forgetting how the ringing of his phone was annoying him earlier, only for the call to end and for his heart to drop at her name vanishing from his screen.

He almost jumped at the suddenness of the second call bringing his phone back to life and like a magic trick also bringing his heart to life at her name appearing on his screen again. But he just stared at her name on his screen and did not make any move to cut it nor answer it. He felt a painful lump form in his throat as he had so much he wanted to say to her yet he couldn't and therefore could not answer her call like he was dying to. So he could only watch as her call would end only for her to call again, and this cycle went on till he laid there staring at the blank screen of his phone as after the consecutive unanswered calls he had remained in this position without any call coming through. His heart fell in disappointment thinking she gave up so soon.

But as if to prove him wrong, his phone blared back to life but only for a short time compared to the calls. It was a text. From her.

He sat up abruptly as the rate of his heart beat escalated, afraid to open it mostly because he did not know what to expect to find in it. After writing his fear off as silliness, he went ahead to open it only to be proven wrong again and his heart skipped a beat with alarm as his wide eyes took in the contents of the message.

I am coming over to see you right now.

It took a while as he remained frozen staring at the message before he snapped back to his senses to assimilate what she meant.

She is coming here. Right now.

And he couldn't let that happen.

He quickly shot to his feet immediately to walk briskly to his room to get something appropriate to wear as he dialled her number to call her.

Hinata's eyes were trained on her blank phone screen as if to telepathically command it to come alive. But it just blankly stared back at her. She felt that unwelcome chill run down her spine again that left a bitter after taste in her mouth. It was a bad feeling she was having about the situation and she didn't like the fact she was having that.

No this is all in my mind. After I see him….after I see Itachi, everything would be cleared.

A flash of his soulless cold eyes crossed her mind as if to laugh and refute her mind set.

He must…..he must have a good reason for that. She told herself firmly, closing her heart to any doubts or fears about Itachi.

She glance out the cab window to see they were on the highway, which meant she was about almost half way getting to Itachi's apartment. Her heart begun to race at that realisation, her nervousness now becoming more apparent to her. She let a solemn amused smile dance across her lips.

She didn't even know what she would say when she is in front of him. It was like she was back to square one, to those times before they even got to know each other and ended up dating, those times he initially used to intimidate her because she thought he was coming for her head due to their little glitch at the very beginning. Funny enough the first time they actually interacted with each other, she didn't know him enough to be intimidated by him which resulted in their first meeting being a truly epic one.

In spite of her mood, a giggle escaped her lips at the memory making her heavy heart seem lighter as she allowed her mind take her back to those times… when life was so simple.

''''

oooooooooooooooooooo

''''

It wasn't surprising for two of the international business heavyweights of Japan to have their heirs enrolling in one of the Ivy League Universities, universities deemed as the best of the best of all the universities in the world. But what was surprising was upon them having 8 schools to choose from the Ivy League, their heirs happened to end up in the same university, Cornell.

Both fathers were aware of this happening. In fact Itachi was already in Cornell before Hinata chose to enrol there. Hiashi knew of this but did not prevent her from doing so. Fugaku knew this would happen and if Hinata were to choose any other school even be it another Ivy League school, he knew Hiashi would make sure she still chose Cornell eventhough he was very well aware of his arch enemy's son attending the same university. So yet again it's not surprising both heirs of enemy clans ended up in the same university even with possible insistence by their fathers, since both Fugaku and Hiashi were themselves alumni of Cornell. And as alumni who broke and set records of their own there, they would also want their children to continue with their legacy and what better environment to that than were you have a constant poignant awareness of your enemy and rival close by. The one person you would die than lose to.

Both men had the same thing in mind.

The competition both fathers wanted would have had the possibility to see the day of light if either Itachi or Hinata gave two garden eggs about all that or even if they remembered the other still existed under the sun with them, eventhough they knew of each other due to them being of the same social status and coming from rival families. It would have also been more probable if it was Sasuke being in the same school as Hinata, but Sasuke chose Brown so as to escape his brother's shadow and also make his own name in a new territory.

Itachi was in 5th year of his Architectural undergraduate course and Hinata was a freshman. Eventhough before they enrolled they were already known due to the legacies left behind by their fathers, Itachi had already made a name of his own in Cornell as genius of his own right and his name was on the lips of most of the student body, both male and female with admiration, fascination, intimidation and envy, and his naturally blessed outstanding Uchiha good looks even skyrocketed his already immense popularity. He was practically untouchable in Cornell.

Hinata who had already made up her mind to complete her stay here in seclusion, was not amused by the unwanted attention she got as soon as the colour of her eyes gave her identity away. To salvage this problem, she took on the nerdy look, complete with huge lenses and with a lot of her hair covering her face to hide traitorous eyes that always gave away who she was, a look one would not expect of a Hyuga heiress who many expected to embrace her popularity handed to her on a silver platter to become a demi god here like Itachi was. And like a nerd, she was always found with her nose in thick and heavy books at a particular secluded corner of the library and once there she would be in her own bubble totally unaware of her surroundings. Hinata just needed to move her stuff to that corner of the library to officially make it her room as she spent almost all her time after lectures there and even had times she slept overnight in the library since it was a 24\7 library and therefore she was lucky she wasn't at risked of being locked inside. Due to this lifestyle of hers, her GPA was always in the first class range and also made her have a social life almost like that of a monk on some mountains at the ends of the world, being almost if not for her group members assigned to her for group projects, who she had no option but to know. She always found herself in the awkward position whenever her roommate asks her to mention her name to find out if Hinata remembers which she found out she didn't to her dismay and Hinata's embarrassment.

Eventhough Itachi's social life was light years way better than Hinata's, his course seemed to be slowly but steadily killing it especially now in his 5th year. He found himself stuck in the studio for several hours and sometimes the whole day trying to finish mountains of projects before the deadline. There had been a few times where his tiredness had taken over him and he ended up spending the night at his work desk, his rolls of papers serving as his makeshift pillow. He even had to decline night outs with his guys more times than he wanted to. He was sure by the time he was done with his course, amongst his many expected accolades he would also be given that of the most non-existent social life.

He didn't know he had to compete with one Hyuga heiress for that award.

It was afternoon and Hinata was at her usual spot in the library, dozing off with her book in hand. Exams was approaching and as such she was studying with even more vigour than usual towards it, resulting in her spending the whole night studying and catching just a little amount of sleep to get more time to learn. And as the old adage says, one can never cheat nature, she was paying for depriving herself of sleep heavily by dozing of whiles learning in the day. She abruptly woke up and realised she was dozing off when she almost fell over in her slumber. To push her eyes to stay wide awake to continue learning, she stumbled to her feet to make her way out of the library to the vending machine in search of anything caffeinated. Unfortunately for her, the vending machines were either not working or didn't have caffeinated drinks more precisely coke which was strange, so her determined legs took her all the way to the next building.

Luckily for her the second floor had a working vending machine with caffeinated drinks in it, her eyes lighting up at the sight of coke which she was specifically looking for. She inserted her coin into the machine and allowed a yawn escape her mouth as she waited for her drink. But it was almost a minute and there was no drink. Hinata rose an eye brow at this.

She just saw someone use it before her without any problem so how come….

She punched the button with her finger again and waited for her drink but no drink appeared. She did this a couple of times and she still got the same response. Her eye begun to twitch in irritation as her patience was running thin, this reaction being catalysed by her sudden grumpiness from not having enough sleep. She decided to get physical with machine by hitting its sides till it gave up and vomited out her drink, but her first try left her cringing in pain from her sore knuckles as she was too drained of energy to do anything that physical.

"I can see the machine has another victim." A male voice said from behind her making her turn to see a guy with shaggy hair giving her a toothy grin.

Hinata could just stand there blinking at him not knowing what to say.

"May I?" he asked out of nowhere with his amused eyes on her as she gave him a confused look not getting his question.

He chuckled.

"I mean may I help you with the machine?" he corrected making her eyes brighten with understanding and feeling a little sheepish at the same time.

She simply nodded since words still failed her. The guy walked up to the side of the machine and squatted by it and placed his ear to it which made Hinata give him a weird look. All of a sudden he disconnected his ear from the machine and with a quick bang of his strong fist against where his ear was previously placed, her drink finally tumbled out, making Hinata's eyes lighten up with joy and gratitude at her Good Samaritan.

"Thank y-"just when she was about to thank her saviour for helping her with her long awaited drink, out of nowhere a hand shot out and took the drink, placed a coin on the machine and then from nowhere like the hand that took her drink she heard a deep voice say the very words she was just about to mouth.

"Thank you."

All this seemed to happen in a flash of a second for Hinata. She could only blink as she tried to catch what had just happened. Her eyes fell to the coin that was placed on the vending machine. She then moved them to the one who placed it there and her eyes were met with the back of a tall guy with dark long hair tied in a neat low pony in a blue black shirt and black jeans all fitting his lean body perfectly not hiding the muscle that flexed subtly beneath the fabric with his movement. The temporary fascination of the stranger's back seized when her eyes fell on the drink in his hand.

Her drink.

Her eyes moved to the empty vending machine were her drink was previously to emphasize the point making her finally assimilate what had just happened.

He took her drink. He took the drink she had walked all the way from her building to this building for, the drink she had almost fractured her knuckles for, the drink her saviour had gone through the trouble to doing a weird stunt even with people around to see just to get the drink for her.

And this guy just came here out of nowhere…..and took the drink.

My drink.

Hinata tried to take in deep breaths to calm herself as her eye was now twitching badly indicating she was getting royally pissed by the second. But when she opened her eyes and they fell on the coin he left behind, all self-control went down the drain and she snapped.

Hinata Hyuga snapped.

She didn't know who he was. And she didn't care.

….

But the shaggy haired stranger had seen his face and knew who he was. Under normal circumstances if the drink were for him, he would have done the smartest thing everyone else would have done in this situation, let it go because of who the guy was. But when he saw how the meek and fragile girl stood there helplessly watching her drink being taking away just like that, he got mad.

He clenched his fists as he turned his angry eyes to the raven head's back.

Who the hell does he think he is?

Just when he was about to advance towards him and confront him, something dashed past him and before he could blink, his eyes rather widened with shock as they took in the meek and fragile girl materializing in front of the raven head successfully blocking his path and stopping him but that was not what made the brown haired stranger's jaw hit the floor. The meek and fragile girl was standing in front of the most untouchable guy in Cornell and was…she was glaring at him.

First of all, the shaggy haired guy could never in his wildest dreams picture the mousey girl manage a frown on her soft features, much more a glare. And it wasn't just a glare. It was the death glare of the millennia. And that was when he actually saw her eyes to see the unmistakable pale shade that belong to….

When the shaggy haired guy thought nothing could be more shocking than seeing this timid girl turn badass, he stood corrected.

She is…..

And he is…

Hinata's chest heaved with both infuriation and the rush of adrenaline that propelled her to face the guy who dared to take the drink she had gone through a lot of trouble to get. This was very uncharacteristic of Hinata. The normal thing she would have done on any day would have just take the coin he left and struggle to get the drink again and let him go. Heck even if he hadn't left a coin she would have silently just fished out another coin from her pocket to get another drink.

But today was not a normal day or was Hinata her normal self. She was stressed, irritable from not having enough sleep(which wasn't a good combo for anyone) and all in all frustrated with her long and fruitless search for her drink and God being so good He let the kind stranger help her get it only for this guy from nowhere to come and take it just like that and leave a coin like she was supposed to obediently take it and that would make everything ok.

Hinata clenched her fist hard in anger as she looked up to glare at the impudent guy with her steel cold inherited Hyuga eyes. Her anger clouded eyes cleared for a second for her to catch the nonchalant look on the guy's face change to that of surprise as his eyes fell on her making her wonder if there was something on her face. But as she stubbornly glared at him, something suddenly hit her. Something she had been missing all this time hit her hard.

The nostalgia gripped her still as she finally recognized him as she took his trademark family features: his black hair, charcoal black eyes that seemed to have a perpetual scarlet stirring in them and his own unique feature that identified him from the rest of his clan, his tear troughs which run under each eye.

This was….

Uchiha.

Uchiha Itachi.

Then she realised he had already recognized her.

Hinata could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smirk on the guy's lips before it was no more there like it never happened. With his nonchalant look from before in place he walked right past her, like she wasn't even standing right before him.

The twitching of Hinata's eye got erratic at this.

She didn't care who this guy was or whatever was going on between their families. All she knew at the moment was that he as an individual pissed her of to newer lengths she never thought she could ever reach with anyone and she had had enough of him.

"That is my drink you have in your hands, Uchiha-san." Her soft but firm voice rang through the hall way instantly causing everyone there to turn to the source including Itachi, who turned to look at her as if to question if she actually said that, and her defiant eyes boring holes into him confirmed that.

He then turned fully to her making her heart skip a beat at actually taking her time to take in his face well, which was a big mistake on her part. And despite her anger, she was struck. Hard. She had heard of what a genius and a young prodigy Itachi Uchiha was amongst many achievements of his as that was what she was to compete against. But she didn't understand why no one ever mentioned he was this stunning to brace herself for the hit and prevent herself from looking like an idiot like she thought she was looking now.

From the way his long bangs fell over his wide obsidian eyes that seemed to have an everlasting scarlet tint hooded with such long lashes that any woman would envy, to his sharp and well defined straight nose down to his full lips, Hinata felt herself mesmerized at the same time overwhelmed by it all making her feel small and insignificant being in his presence and much more, feeling silly challenging him in the first place.

Getting her where he wanted at seeing her glare waver, he fixated his piercing eyes on her as he slowly but menacingly walked towards her in a leisurely yet dangerous pace with no intent of stopping even as he was getting closer than comfort making her almost take a step back as he towered over her making her look and feel even smaller than before.

"I don't think I caught what you said earlier. Could you repeat it?" it was a dare, no, more of a threat telling her not to dare repeat what she said earlier and just run away for her own good.

Just when she was about to give in to the chill that run down her spine under his dense gaze and take a step back, she stopped at a sudden realisation.

This is what he wanted. He wanted to intimidate her, so she would chicken out of demanding what was rightfully hers. Her drink.

This even made him get on her nerves the more.

Who the hell did he think he was?

She looked past all his distracting aesthetics to look him eye ball to eye ball in defiance.

"I said you have my drink in your possession and I would like you to kindly hand it over to me." Hinata said in a carefully trained and polite tone against her anger burning inside her chest for him but with a biting edge to it. His eyes widen a bit in surprise after her words, seemingly taken aback by her bravery. And all of a sudden, it changed to amusement which manifested itself as a smirk turning the sides of his lips upwards, making Hinata almost question his sanity. But she found herself letting out a sharp gasp as he suddenly bent down to bring his face dangerously close to hers as he held her bewildered eyes with his intense ones.

"You could easily use the coin I left over to get another drink instead of wasting both of our times." He said monotonously like he was stating a fact. But then he let his head cock to the side, broadening his smirk as the scarlet in his eyes grew darker "Unless you can't let this one past because…..I am an Uchiha and you are a Hyuga?"

His words seemed pull Hinata from her state of shock from their close proximity to fix him with a look.

"And are refusing to give my drink back to me based on such sentiments?" Hinata threw his question back to him making his eyes widen again in surprise for the second time in their little exchange as she indirectly hinted her carelessness of the names they both bore. And like the one before it, it was replaced with an amused smirk with something she couldn't put her finger on, glimmering in his eyes as the intensity of his eyes deepened.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" he asked with a hint of genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Would you give my drink back to me to prove that?" Hinata threw back almost immediately, taking her by surprise as all of a sudden he begun to chuckle at her words.

"Interesting." He said in between chuckles as he straightened up to his full height, as he schooled his features back his blank look from before. " But unfortunately I have to disappoint you and say no, I can't give the drink to you." And with one last glance at Hinata he turned to leave, but surprising even her, Hinata's legs moved almost immediately to intercept him.

"And I can't let you have my drink." Hinata said stubbornly staring up at him unmoving.

"Aren't you also contradicting yourself by not letting go because of our last names?" he cocked an elegant eyebrow upwards as he dropped his question.

"No, I can't let go not because you are an Uchiha or because I am a Hyuga, but because a nice guy went through a lot of trouble just to get that drink for me." She countered, which seemed to make the Uchiha pause to stare at her quietly with those intense eyes of his with something unreadable dancing through them.

…..

"Then I don't think he would mind going through that trouble again with the coin I left since he is a nice guy." He finally said after the pause as if that was his conclusion from the words she said earlier after a long thought.

Hinata was left aghast by his words unable to believe this guy's lack of insensitivity.

Hinata clenched her fist in resolve.

"I can see words can't get to you." Hinata concluded.

"Its good you are finally realis-"Itachi's words were unceremoniously cut by Hinata all of a sudden charging towards him to snatch the drink. But in the last second before she could touch it, Itachi's sharp reflexes kicked in to move the drink from her reach raising it above their heads.

Itachi blinked at her.

"What do you think you are doing?" Itachi asked her like she had lost her mind.

"If persuasion fails, force is applied." And immediately after she finished talking she jumped to reach out for the drink suddenly only for Itachi to see thorough her actions to effortlessly toss the drink into his other hand away from her reach.

Hinata had to hold herself from stomping her feet in frustration like a kid as she glared at Itachi who had a mocking smirk on his face as he continued to toss her drink from one hand to the other to tease her and dare her to try and take it from him once more.

Her breaths grew heavy with infuriation as she helplessly just glared at him.

She cursed her lack of height.

"Oh, already giving up?" he asked in feigned innocence and then his smug smirk she had grown to hate reappeared to mock her. "Then I guess I win. Why don't we drink to that?"

Just when Hinata was about to stop him from doing what he was about to do, he beat her to it and the results of his actions left the girl frozen in place. Everything happened so fast and so shockingly. Just when he ended his words he brought the drink before him to open it and to prevent Hinata from getting to him before he did so, he without wasting time flicked the metal tab of the can drink to open it, which he was going to regret the next second, as before the shocked eyes of everyone in the hallway the contents of the can shot right into Uchiha Itachi's face, The Uchiha Itachi's face. For a moment there the only sound that could be heard in the hallway was the drink splashing into Itachi's face as the gobsmacked audience of this unbelievable scene could just gape and watch, forgetting to breathe in their shock.

The drink finally emptied all is contents into the Uchiha's face, making it possible for him to now open his eyes. And all he could do was blink owlishly as the drink dripped from his face as if he was still struggling to understand what had just happened.

Hinata could not take it anymore as a cough choked out her lips which gave way to a huge burst of laughter, the force of it causing her to double over in her fit of laughter making everyone turn their bewildered eyes to the girl like she had grown an extra head that had also joined in on the laughter. When whoever present who was daring enough to want to laugh was waiting patiently to get into a dark corner to ease themselves of the laughter burning in their chest, she was freely doing so, laughing at him right in front of him, Uchiha Itachi, the Uchiha Itachi who virtually ruled the school.

Did she have a death wish or had she had completely lost her mind?

To beginning…. with did she even know who she was laughing at?

They couldn't help but wonder as they just stood there awkwardly to stare at the girl and then back to Itachi as if they were waiting for a bomb out of nowhere to explode there and then.

Finally she was able to let her laughter die down to giggles as she approached the Uchiha.

The others were now truly convinced she had lost her mind as they couldn't fathom how anyone in their right mind would approach someone they had laughed at in their most humiliating state much more it being Itachi Uchiha.

Heck, you bolt to the opposite direction as fast as you could, not walk right into your grave by approaching the person you made a laughing stock of.

Hinata stopped in front of him now being the one stepping too close for comfort and he could only stare at her blankly with a smug look now on her face. She then put a hand in her back pocket to fish out something.

"If you are still having trouble figuring out what just happened, the tossing of the drink in your hands is what caused its explosion on your face." She pointed out with uncharacteristic mischief and companion casualness to her voice as she finally brought her hand out of her pocket, along with a handkerchief. As if the spectators thought they weren't capable of getting knocked over by anything upon what they had just witnessed, they stood humbly corrected.

Hinata reached out and placed the handkerchief on his shoulder now with a genuine smile of concern on her face making puzzlement reflect in his eyes.

"If you do not clean the drink off you soon, it would get sticky. Hope this helps, Itachi-san." And with that, she gave a slight bow before, turning to leave with everyone's eyes on her, especially a very stunned set of charcoal eyes.

''''''''

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

''''''''

A giggle escape Hinata's lips at her memory jog her back to the past were she first encountered Itachi, the giggle bringing a sense nostalgia which came along with a breath of fresh air and lightening her heavy heart since it was her first of any form of laughter since her father's death. She giggled harder when she remembered how the next day after their little incident, to her immense surprise, people couldn't stop talking about how awesome and hot Itachi looked with coke dripping from his face and it became an 'it' thing every girl wanted her boyfriend to do and every guy wanted to do to get game.

Unbelievable.

Hinata thought as she couldn't believe how an utterly humiliating scene could turn to the new fad on campus. It was like the new hot commercial for the drink which everyone was now nuts for as now everyone wanted that drink and the vending machines were now out of them every day.

That was when Hinata finally realised who she had messed with and begun watching her back every step she made. And instead of appearing from the back as she expected, he came from the front which completely took her by a great surprise.

She remembered how she froze in fright waiting for him to exact his revenge on her. But to her surprise that was not what he came for. He came to return her handkerchief and to give her a drink, coke, like the one he took from her. She remembered how from that day onwards he always brought her the drink at her corner in the library. The familiar feeling of butterflies filled her stomach like then when she thought of how cute the gesture was. Of how special she felt, for someone who was practically worshipped by the whole student body and would have better places to go choosing to come to her secluded corner every day to give her a drink. How he got to know of her obscure hangout, she didn't exactly know and didn't bother to because she loved the whole mystery about it but she knew for someone with the student body at his beck and call it wouldn't be that hard.

Her heavy heart was now a lot lighter than before as she realised no matter what happened that was her Itachi, the man who she wasn't supposed to love but managed to warm his way into her heart, and no matter what was wrong with him or bothering him, she was going to find out and help him through it.

From the very beginning he always came to her. He always pushed her to move beyond her limits, he made her learn how to dream and believe in them and this time it was her turn to go to him so that if he didn't have the strength to go beyond his limits anymore she would push him to and if he no longer had knew how to dream she would teach him. This resolve calmed her beating anxious heart with confidence and determination.

Just then her phone begun to ring and as if she had summoned him with her thoughts, Itachi's contact name appeared on her screen making her heart leap in her chest seeing this as a ray of hope.

He called. The joy dancing in her heart gleamed in her eyes as she wasted no time to answer his call.

"Itachi." She blurted out breathlessly failing to calm her excited nerves.

"Hinata." He responded in his normal calm voice making Hinata's insides act funny like usual. "I need to see you." Hinata felt a chill of excitement run down her spine engulfing her whole body with warmth at his words giving her the feel of warm honey over her body.

"I also want to see you, Itachi. I am in a cab about halfway to your place." She said enthusiastically.

"A cab?... could you alight at the bus stop by the post office? I would come and pick you up from there." Itachi instructed.

"Sure. I would see you then." Hinata responded.

"Ok." And with that the phone went dead. Hinata remained still for some time to ponder over their brief call.

Why would he want me to alight somewhere else to pick me instead of letting the cab take me straight to his place?

She asked herself trying to understand his actions.

Unless he wasn't taking me to his place….

But where is he taking me and why not let the cab take me there straight? Another question she found difficult to answer popped up in her head.

Then a realisation hit her.

He is taking me to our lake house so we can talk. So he can explain what happened at the funeral in detail with just us alone. She concluded and found warmth bubbling inside her at that and a smile gracing her face.

I was right. There was something probably bothering him during the funeral. But he is still my Itachi.

She comforted herself with that idea as she turned to the cab driver.

"Please take me to the bus stop by the post office."

Hinata…..

The first time he met her, she laughed at him and she took his breath away.

No one had ever laughed at him to his face before. No one had the opportunity to. He was perfect. That was what everyone said. He was a genius and seemed to be always ahead of everyone around him. As a result, people feared and admired him and as such always kept a respectable distance. It even applied to his little brother, who after years of living under his shadow, begun distancing himself as he grew up, to escape that shadow. Eventhough he was hailed and respected by all, he was the only one on that pedestal with no one to relate to, with no one to actually make him feel human, and normal like everyone else….. like he always craved for.

But that day, when Hinata dared to laugh at him, when he had drink dripping from his face, he felt this strange and foreign feeling of warmth fill the vacuum his chest.

He felt normal. He felt human for the first time.

And as if that was not enough for his first time of joining the human club, she walked to him, came into his personal space, to offer her handkerchief to him clean the drink splashed all over him which was the consequence he got for just snatching her drink away. And then she smiled at him, a genuine smile of concern to someone who tried to take what rightfully belonged to her and was receiving the due punishment for which she should be happy for, but she instead reached out a helping hand to him.

She treated him like if it were to be any other person in his situation and laughed at him, not because she was gloating at what had befallen him, but because it was a rare rib cracking scene that he was sure he himself would have laughed at the hilarious sight of drink being splashed in his face. She then walked up to him and broke through the walls others had created around him, to show him kindness eventhough he was trying to take her drink away from her.

It took a Hyuga to make him an Uchiha feel like human and part of the world.

Itachi-san….

Eventhough she called him Uchiha san since it was their first time meeting with no familiarity between them, in the end she called him by his first name, like they had already gotten to the stage of familiarity and companionship.

From the beginning she never saw him as an Uchiha. She just saw him as a normal guy who took her drink and went ahead to demand for it.

She went against everything he was told about Hyugas all his life. They said the Hyugas were cold blooded people yet she showed kindness to him when he didn't deserve it. They said the Hyugas were the most notorious snobs yet she was the first person to break through his walls to reach out to him. They said Hyugas were full of hate and had no soul, yet again she never had an ounce of hatred or hostility in her eyes when she looked at him. And all this was just in their first meeting ever.

And it made him wonder if she was not also told this same things by her clan members about the Uchihas?

Was she even a Hyuga to begin with?

But who was he to talk when from when he was able to think as an individual from a tender age, he always saw this feud between the Hyugas and Uchihas as baseless and a waste of time. But he just couldn't believe that the one person he had been futilely looking for all this time who shared his sentiments and ideologies, who was no one other than a Hyuga.

After their first meeting, he felt himself uncharacteristically intrigued and fascinated by her and found himself wanting to see her again. After he found her, he wasted no time to approach her with a peace token of a similar drink like the one he took from her. From her alarmed expression at seeing him, he realised she had finally caught on who he was on campus and what 'powers' he held, which upset him since he liked the fact she didn't see him as everyone did like their first encounter. But that was rectified after, consecutive meetings which lead to them getting acquainted, and through this he was able to confirm something he had nagging him at the back of his mind.

She cared less about the hatred between their families, just like he did. Upon all his search, trying to find someone who could see the harm than good this hatred between their families had caused their respective families ,to find someone who couldn't stomach the idea of a child being taught how to hate just as they begun to learn how to talk, to find someone who yearned for peace between the two families for both sides to see they were all just humans with the same red blood running through each other's veins, he finally found that person….. who happened to be the one person he was supposed to hate with every fibre of his being.

Hyuga Hinata.

He had finally found her. The person he could for the first time relate to, the person who could understand him like no other and the person who made him able to experience how to truly love with all your heart and with such intensity he never knew he was capable of and to be also truly loved with that same intensity.

But now…but now…..he was going to have to let it all go. He was going to…

He gripped the steering wheel hard and stepped on the accelerator as the rest of the words got painfully lodged in his throat.

He didn't want to say it out loud.

He couldn't bear to say it or hear it out loud.

He could feel his heart collapse on him as it clenched hard and painfully in his chest.

Everywhere hurt. His chest hurt. His throat hurt. His head hurt. He knew it wouldn't be easy but he didn't know it would be this hard. He thought he could handle it better than this, he didn't think it would take such a toll on him. But he had to do it.

It was…..

It was for the best.

With that final resolve, he stepped on the accelerator and zoomed forward.

"awww Sasuke-kun do I have to leave this early, its Saturday lets cuddle in bed the whole day." Sasuke tried to pry the clingy arms of the woman off him as he bristled at the thought of cuddling in bed with the banshee the whole day. She was even lucky he made her spend the night as she was totally passed out after their hot and heavy session the night before.

She must have had too much to drink last night.

He didn't care though but was just too happy when she finally woke to rip her off his bed and send her out, but that proved difficult as she was still grabbing on to him and trying to pull his sweat pants off so they could go at it there and then, but he was in no mood for that as he was done with her and wanted her out. He didn't care her mini skirt was not zipped properly and was falling off her hips or that her blouse was unbuttoned exposing her torso, her modesty only saved by her bra trying to contain her generous mounds from spilling out. If she spent another second here, he was going to throw her out his window. Ignoring her whining, he put a firm hand at the small of her back and successfully dragged her to the door, already unlocking the doors to throw her out.

He opened the door and in her last ditch attempt to stay, she pressed her bra clad breasts to his bare chest since he was only in his sweat pants.

"Are you sure you don't want us to do it on the door? It would be fun." She purred as her hungry hands were already moving down to the band of his sweet pants in their attempt to discard it.

Just when he was about to open the door wider to push her out, the blood drained from his face as his eyes caught what was behind the door.

"Dad!" He blurted out in shock at the man whose was frozen where he stood with his hand hanging awkwardly in the air like he was about to knock, mirroring his horrified expression.

Sasuke fought the urge to face palm as he could only imagine what was going through his father's head seeing him in nothing but his sweat pants loosely hanging around his slender waist with an almost naked woman pressing herself to him as she tried to undo his pants suggesting they banged on the door where his father currently stood.

He sighed.

He turned to the woman and fixed her with one of his infamous glares instantly making her balk back in fear.

"Get out." And that was enough to send the now petrified girl scurrying out of the apartment while struggling to keep her clothes on. He couldn't help but wish he would have done this earlier to save him and his father from this awkward situation they were in now that she was gone leaving the two of them alone.

"I hope you would spare me of all the talk on the hazards of pre-marital sex, dad." Sasuke sighed

"That's if you don't permit me to believe that you are stupid enough to get just anyone pregnant." Fugaku shot at him with a grim look on his face.

Sasuke just shrugged it off and walked in to the apartment to his coffee maker to make some coffee to indirectly invite his father in, who had already made himself at home and was about to sit in one of the couches only for him to halt abruptly in his tracks to give the couch a dirty look.

Sasuke chuckled at this.

"Don't worry, that one is safe." Sasuke piped up from the coffee maker with a mischievous amused smirk on his face as Fugaku shot him a dirty look this time.

"Tsk." Fugaku shook his head as he hesitantly took his seat.

Sasuke just grinned mischievously as he went to his cabinet to look for mugs.

"Coffee?" he called out to his father who with a wave of the hand, declined.

Sasuke just put back the extra mug and came back to the coffee maker to fill his mug as he waited for his father to spill out his reason for his much unexpected and very surprising visit.

"Have you heard from your brother?" Fugaku finally spoke up, making Sasuke pause as he was about to bring his mug of hot black coffee to his lips, instantly wiping the smirk from before off his face.

"So….that's why you came all the way to pay me a visit?" Sasuke said sarcastically as his face grew hard as his eyes shone with disappointment as they stayed at his father's back facing him.

Fugaku turned his head to Sasuke to give him a questioning look.

"Why, is there any other reason why I would be here instead of my office working because someone spends his Saturdays rolling in bed with anything in skirt?" Fugaku threw back.

Sasuke gave a dry humourless chuckle at this trying to ignore the pang of bitterness in his chest.

Either work or Itachi.

I never stood a chance when I am not even worth second best now.

"Not at all." Sasuke replied as he quickly downed a large gulp of his hot steamy coffee to burn down the sour and aching feeling in his chest. "I haven't heard from him. I've tried calling but he doesn't pick"

"Hn." Fugaku simply replied.

"But why are you here inquiring of this when you could simply go to his place?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask, raising an eyebrow in question.

…

There was no answer making a realisation hit Sasuke.

"Did he keep you out?" Sasuke asked in both shock and curiosity at this very interesting and unbelievable realisation of his father being kept out of Itachi apartment and he actually obeying.

"I need you to go and see him." Fugaku simply answered ignoring his question.

So he was kept out. Sasuke couldn't help but gloat in his head as he chuckled darkly under his breath.

First that nosy prick Koga and now father, wow Itachi was just making his dreams come true and it wasn't even Christmas yet. To see those two in this pathetic helpless state was just priceless.

But then he got serious to ponder over the whole situation.

All these unusual things begun after Hyuga Hiashi's death. Itachi's disappearance from the office and his now disappearance from the world. Even right after the Hyuga's death, Itachi and his father having a meeting where even Fugaku's shadow Koga wasn't supposed to be there and now, Fugaku seemingly forbidden to go to Itachi place and he of all people heeding to it, was all just too unusual to be ignored as something petty.

Something big must have happened connected to Hyuga Hiashi's death, something so big even Koga, Fugaku's most trusted right hand man could not be let out on it, something so big the proud and all powerful Fugaku Uchiha was made to stay away from Itachi's apartment by Itachi himself and he actually obeyed and came crawling to him, Sasuke to help him to get access to Itachi.

What did Itachi have on Fugaku, so big he totally isolated himself from the world, so big Fugaku was obeying his wishes without question or without any kind of force and was all connected to the death of Hyuga Hiashi?

Fugaku stood to his feet, as he had made the purpose of his visit clear and had to leave to the load of work waiting for him at the office, but then when he was about to make known his departure to Sasuke, he paused with a puzzled look on his face as he saw his son's face frozen in horror as his wide alarmed eyes were fixated on him.

"What is it?" Fugaku questioned, uncomfortable at how Sasuke was gawking at him.

Sasuke stood there paralyzed by a horrific realisation that got to him.

The business deal between his father and Hiashi Hyuga and how he died on the day for the final signing…

Itachi's strange behaviour immediately afterwards and he able to throw both his father and his right hand man in a state of unease and for his father to have something that Koga didn't know but Itachi did and as such seemed to have some power over Fugaku….

No…

This can't be…..

"Father….did you….could you have…." Sasuke found his voice and begun to ask but lost his voice before he could finish, afraid of the question dying at the tip of his tongue.

Did his father…..was his father capable of killing even if it was Hyuga Hiashi, his greatest nemesis?!

Sasuke couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it, that his father was capable of murder of any sort, yet taking everything that had happened everything seemed to point to that…

That someway somehow his father had something to do with Hyuga Hiashi's death.

The thought of his father having his hands stained with another person's blood even be it a Hyuga, made Sasuke's stomach churn and a chill run down his spine as he didn't want to believe the one man he admired and feared in spite of everything, was capable of stooping so low as to commit murder.

"Boy, if you have something to say let it out. I do not have all day." Fugaku called out impatiently, immediately pulling Sasuke from his trance.

No, it couldn't be. From the reports, Hiashi Hyuga died from cardiac arrest as he was already having heart problems so his father couldn't have killed him. Sasuke convinced himself as he blocked any other thought of doubts or possible theories to debunk his father's innocence of Hyuga Hiashi's death, that innocence he was going to fiercely believe in, because he was afraid, he was afraid that his world would crumble and fall apart if the one man he believed in, the one man he looked up to and held in high regard apart from his brother Itachi, was nothing but a killer.

No his father has been able to achieve the greatness he has all by his hard work and capabilities, he didn't need to stoop so low as to kill a mere Hyuga and taint his flawless image just to seal the deal between them in his favour.

No it was just the Hyuga's bad luck and bad timing to die. Nothing more.

"No, its nothing. I would pass by Itachi's to see what's up with him. I already had that in mind anyway." Sasuke was now back to normal, now speaking with indifference like he didn't look like he had just seen a ghost a second ago.

Fugaku watched him intently for some time, seemly not convinced by Sasuke's act of sudden composure as oppose to a second ago how he looked at him, like ….he couldn't put a finger on it but, it seemed so similar to how Itachi looked at him when he asked him…..

Are you even human?

And it greatly unnerved him, to think Sasuke knew something. But that was impossible because only he and itachi knew fully what happened and to some extent Koga and with the three of them, there was no way Sasuke could ever know a thing.

So why?

Did he suspect something? What did he suspect? What was going on in his mind?

"Father, is there a problem?" Sasuke question as Fugaku spaced out, giving his father a weird look.

Fugaku blinked back to normal to wear a blank face.

It was best not to ask him anything so as not give him a reason to suspect anything in case he hadn't at all or give him more reason to if he did suspect something.

"Make sure to report back to me after you go and see Itachi." And with that he made his way to the door and let himself out.

But Sasuke's eyes still remained were his father previously stood, with so many things stirring in them.

"Please do not disappoint me, Dad."

She had lost weight.

He thought to himself as he sat in the car watching her sit down waiting for him, making no move to make his presence known. He had been watching her like this for the past 30 minutes since he arrived.

He was hesitating. Eventhough his resolve had driven him here, in the last minute he hesitated. He knew this would happen if he didn't immediately plunge into action as soon as he arrived but, he had to do this, he had to watch her and let his eyes savour her like this, since it was probably going to be the last time he could do so, probably the last time he would have the right to do so.

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched his teeth as he watched her, but couldn't help but marvel despite his dark mood at how even in black and going through even darker times, she was still able to maintain the luminance of her beauty and as she occasionally looked around for any sign of him and he couldn't help himself from letting a small wistful smile grace his lips at how adorable she looked when her hopeful eyes fell a bit at not seeing any sign of him. His heart would have swollen with happiness and warmth if it were any other day and in any other situation, and she was waiting for him like this. But now all that filled his heart was pain and regret, as he was going to be the one to kill that hope in her eyes.

He hated him himself for this…..but it was for the best.

She was about to pick her phone and make a call, most probably call him, since impatience was now settling in on her face.

If only she knew what she was being impatient about….

The guilt in his head mocked him.

He wish he could warn her… he wished he could tell her to run away.

Without wasting any more time before a minute indecision sent him running away instead from what he was to do, he stepped on his accelerator to drive him from his hiding place into view and zoom right in front of Hinata who almost jumped from her skin at the suddenness of his appearance. But she calmed down and shot to her feet when she realised it was Itachi, her eyes lighting up with life and hope that seemed to mock him and make his stomach churn. He immediately opened the door for her from the inside to beckon her to come inside, to which she did and gracefully glided herself to the passenger seat next to him, shutting the door after her.

A sudden nervousness enveloped her as soon as she entered the car, making her fix her eyes to her hands in her lap as if she was afraid to raise her eyes to meet Itachi's, as the seemingly eerie atmosphere in the car engulfed her, siphoning out every hope and excitement she had at finally seeing him. He also sat quietly beside her, not moving a muscle to move the car. Her curiosity got the better of her as she finally raised her eyes to his face to see him with his eyes fixated ahead with a blank look on his face in an almost unnatural rigidness to the way he sat quietly and unmoving.

She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat.

"Hi." She spoke up almost shyly which seemed to successfully break Itachi from the trance he seemed to be in, to finally put his muscles to movement since she sat in the car, to look at her, but his eyes didn't meet hers.

He simply nodded in response.

Her eyes quickly caught the dark circles under his eyes making concern etch into her features.

He had not been catching enough sleep.

But that was not all, she didn't miss the dullness of his eyes and how they didn't meet hers which was quite uncharacteristic of Itachi who one of the main things people got intimidated by him was how he always looked intently into their eyes.

Then something hit her.

It must be guilt. He must be feeling guilty about what happened at the funeral. That explains why she had not heard from him since the funeral till now. That explained the dark shadow under his almost lifeless eyes that couldn't reach hers.

The guilt was eating him up and had been eating him for days since the funeral and she felt terrible for letting him go through this all on his own when she could have reached out to him earlier than this to assure him there was nothing for him to feel guilty about as she didn't hold anything against him for what happened, instead of her locking herself up in her room and feeling sorry for herself.

She was selfish. She felt awful about herself.

She wanted to apologize to him for letting him drown himself in guilt, to rest assure all his worries and doubts and help him through whatever it was obvious he was going through that caused the incident at the funeral. She wanted to bring life back to his lifeless eyes and for him to look into her eyes with them.

She wanted him to forgive himself.

Unbeknownst to her, her hand of its own volition fell on his hand on his lap to give it a comforting reassuring squeeze, which only made him stiffen in response. Seeing his actions she concluded, he wasn't comfortable enough with himself enough to address the issue so she was going to wait patiently for him to be comfortable enough to do so.

Itachi then moved his hand from under hers to place it on the steering wheel. Hinata heart instinctively fell a bit at the loss of warmth from his hand but she told herself she understood him.

"Shall we?" he asked in an almost inaudible voice.

Hinata just nodded demurely in response letting herself fall into her seat as Itachi begun to move the car to their destination.

He knocked on the door for the third time.

"Hinata-sama, Hinata-sama, it's time for breakfast." But like the previous times he knocked, there was no response.

He gave an exasperated sigh.

He had no option but to enter without invitation.

"Forgive me, Hinata-sama, but I am entering." Ko announced as he entered only to find her room empty.

He paused.

"Hinata-sama." Ko called as he went further in the room in search of Hinata. But there was no sign of her, and he begun to get alarmed.

He dashed to her bathroom, closet and balcony but she wasn't there.

Ko begun to get frantic as he dashed to Hanabi's room, who was sleeping and their father's room but there was no Hinata. He searched the other parts of the mansion for her but she was nowhere to be found.

She was gone. But how? How and when did she manage to get out without anyone noticing?

How could she choose a time like this to disappear when she was to meet with the elders before they left today?

Ko's thoughts became frantic as he paced the hallway back and forth trying to grasp the situation.

But he had to find a solution fast before the elders got to know of her absence.

He calmed down so he could do so properly. First he had to go and ask the guards at the gates if they had seen her leave. He quickly descended the stairs to do that.

...

"The lady said she was going for a walk when I asked to arrange for a car for her. Now that you mentioned it she has been out too long for just a walk. It's almost an hour and she is still not back." One of the guards supplied.

Ko tried to calm himself down. If she purposefully left without a car, it was so no one would know she was going out or where she was going. And for her to go through all this trouble, it only meant one thing.

She was going to see Uchiha Itachi.

Ko clenched his fist hard trying to control himself, hold himself from hitting anything whiles imagining it being the Uchiha's damn face.

That damn Uchiha must have definitely put her up to this. He must have come to pick her and take her somewhere.

Dammit.

He didn't understand what kind of mysterious hold that the Uchiha had on his lady that she couldn't stay away from him. It was like she couldn't live without him.

Upon all the people in the whole wide world, why did it have to be an Uchiha, why did she have to give her heart to someone with no soul?

Ko's knuckles became white from clenching his fists too hard with the anger and frustration eating him inside at the whole situation.

The whole situation made him sick to his stomach, but first things first.

"I have to find her." he turned and almost had a heart attack at the shock of seeing no one other than Honoka standing right him behind him with her stern gaze on him.

"Honoka-sama." He quickly composed himself to give the elder a deep bow.

"Am I to think the 'her' you have to find is Hinata who is supposed to be locked up in her room like the days that have passed?"

Ko's hesitance to answer confirmed her suspicion.

"And where could she have gone to when she is aware of the fact she has an important meeting with us the elders over breakfast?" her voice went dangerously lower as she narrowed her eyes menacingly at Ko to warn him that this time she demanded an answer.

Ko gulped.

"She went for a walk but seemed to have wandered a bit far. I was just on my way to fetch her." Ko skilfully used Hinata's lie as his to hide where his lady actually went to.

The raising of her eyebrow made Ko almost swear she saw right through his lies and didn't buy anything he said, but she seemed not to want to pursue the matter any further as she was about turning to leave, but stopped in her tracks.

"Do find her this minute, because due to someone's misuse of his pen and his brains, we have a flight to catch instead of the comfort of the availability of a private jet. May his soul rest in perfect peace." And with that snide, Honoka glided gracefully back into the mansion.

Ko held his tongue from replying her unpleasant remark at his former master.

The elders had every right to be angry at his former master, but that didn't give them the right to spit at his grave like this. For being their former leader and fellow clansman they ought to give him some respect.

He couldn't wait for those elders to be gone. Nothing good came from them anytime they were around.

Ko took a deep breath as he begun to make his way to the garage to get one of the cars to search for Hinata.

As soon as the car jolted to a halt, Hinata unconsciously let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. If she had any life in her, that car ride successfully drained every bit of it out of her. There was not even a word shared between them during the car ride. She tried to bring something up to ease the awkwardness but as the words came, they crush her throat shut in silence. The tension in the car was so palpable, she felt it grind out every ounce of air in her lungs and even make the surrounding air so thick it was impossible to breathe in. The car ride was long, it was tortuous and it was nerve wracking.

And Hinata didn't understand. She didn't understand any of it at all.

She didn't understand how she could possibly feel this way when she was with no one other than Itachi. Someone who had always been her safe haven when the whole world was crushing down on her. They didn't even need to speak, just being in each other's company was pure bliss and it gave them a breath of fresh air from all the troubles of the world.

So what had happened?

What had changed now?

Did something happen…was something happening that she wasn't aware of?

Were they changing without her realising it?

A sudden fear gripped her heart as the thoughts run wild in her head.

Just then Itachi's cold eyes from the funeral flashed through her head making the fear bite into her heart the more as a question she didn't have the answer to, yet frightened her crossed her mind.

Itachi…

Am I loosing you?

"Hinata." Itachi's deep voice plucked her mind back to earth as she turned her wide eyes to see Itachi to her surprise standing by her outside holding her door open.

"We have arrived."

She was already aware of that, but her troubled mind seemed to find just that moment of their arrival as a suitable time to space out. She then let her eyes up to take in her environment only to realise they were at a café.

"I thought we were going to the Lake house to talk." Hinata voiced out her confusion before she knew it.

"I presume you haven't had anything in your stomach this morning, neither have I, so I thought it would be more convenient to talk over breakfast." He pointed out.

"I am not hungry." Her mouth moved faster than her again to her dismay. She saw something pass through Itachi's eyes and saw his lips about to form words to speak but she beat him to it.

"But I do not mind having coffee whiles you have your breakfast." She piped up making his words die on his lips.

"Thank you." He said replied politely but it sounded so off like he was speaking to a stranger.

She simply nodded as he opened her door wider to beckon her to join him out of the car.

...

It had been close to 20 minutes since their orders arrived, but they were left untouched. Hinata sat there the whole time watching Itachi who had his chin in one hand with his face turned to the window by their table with his eyes fixated outside in a world of his own.

"You have not touch your food." She pointed out to bring his mind back to the table.

"You have not touched your drink either." Itachi countered without turning making Hinata wondered how he was able to deduce that correctly when he hadn't even looked at her since the came to the café.

"But you said earlier you had nothing to eat so we came here instead so you could have breakfast." Hinata reminded him. "I said I was ok."

Itachi opened his mouth immediately after her words as if to refute her claim, only to close it again.

He then closed his eyes and let himself fall back into his seat with an inaudible sigh.

"I lost my appetite." He said dryly but it almost sounded like it was a jab at Hinata.

Hinata just nodded forgetting he couldn't see her with his eyes closed as she let her down cast eyes fall on her coffee.

"It seems so since it looks like you haven't been eating or sleeping properly of late." Hinata voiced out with deep concern in her voice.

"And have you?" he retorted making Hinata's head snap up to see his accusatory eyes on her making her blush at being caught, making her avert her eyes in embarrassment.

But she couldn't help the small smile that found itself on her lips at this little exchange. The tension seemed to have lessened and from his accurate observations, it showed all along when she thought he hadn't looked at her since they came here, he was actually watching her and paying attention to her unbeknownst to her. It made her lifeless heart flutter to life with warmth at this.

This was Itachi. Her Itachi, and nothing had changed.

"I have missed you…..I have missed us… being….. just like this." Hinata confessed softly unable to hide the happiness finding its way to heart.

She didn't care about what happened at the funeral or hold anything against him. She was just glad she had her Itachi back, and whatever had been going on with him, she was going to help him through it. It must have been his father's presence that's why he acted like a stranger to her. He probably didn't want his father to catch on their relationship that's why he acted distant. Besides did she expect him to comfort her when not only his father was present but practically her entire clan whose feathers had already been ruffled by his father?

Letting her mind go back to that day, what she could help but question what she was thinking calling him by his first name and trying to cling to him with both their families present and eagerly waiting for a trigger to start a war.

He must have panicked and acted the way he did.

Hinata at this moment wanted to kick herself at all she made Itachi go through. She could only imagine how awful he must be feeling about himself for having to use such harsh means to prevent their cover from being blown by her. And after all that, she left him to brood and hate himself, evidence being his pale and lifeless appearance.

Itachi…..

"It was all my fault. If I hadn't been so careless and selfish, you wouldn't have been put in such a difficult situation during the funeral. I wasn't thinking straight. I understand why you took such actions during the funeral and it was all to protect and save our relationship from being exposed before our families. I shouldn't have left you these past few days alone to beat yourself up about the incident." Her voice almost cracked at the last sentence at feeling Itachi's suffering. She reached out to take Itachi's hand on the table into hers as she looked up at him with her earnest tear glazed eyes. "If anyone should be beating themselves up for what happened that day and asking for forgiveness, it shouldn't be you. It should be me. Forgive me, Itachi. Forgive me for not being there for you when you needed me the most."

She shut her eyes tight trying to hold her tears from spilling, unconsciously holding Itachi's hand in hers tighter with her overwhelming emotions.

There was silence as she struggled to get her composure, taking deep breaths to that effect.

Then there was a sigh from Itachi.

"You had it all wrong. You have had it all wrong since the beginning, haven't you?" His deep voice made her snap her head up to meet his dead gaze on her, as she tried to assimilate what he just said.

"Eh?" she blurted out in her confusion.

"I'm afraid all your deductions made earlier were wrong." He announced making the confusion on Hinata's face deepen."

"None of what happened during the funeral was your fault. I was fully aware of what I was doing and acted of my own volition." He stated in a matter of fact tone, which seemed to envelope Hinata's chest with warmth seeing Itachi's words as he being considerate and trying to comfort her.

But the shade of his eyes turned darker.

"And secondly, I didn't act the way I did during the funeral because I wanted to protect or save our relationship….. I acted the way I did at the funeral, to end this illusion we call our relationship." In a cold and levelled voice, Itachi declared.

Hinata froze at the words that just came out from Itachi's mouth. She slowly lifted her bewildered eyes full of disbelief to meet his cold lifeless ones, searching in them for the answers to the many questions rushing through her head at that moment.

Did I just hear right, or my ears are deceiving me? She asked herself as she just couldn't believe those words she thought she heard just came out of Itachi's lips.

"Your ears are functioning very well and aren't deceiving you, Hinata. You heard right. I am putting an end to this relationship of ours." Itachi reverberated the words her whole system rejected with a passion.

Everything was happening too fast, she couldn't keep up to grasp the situation well. Questions she had no answers to kept ramming into her head, but there was one that stood out that made its way up her throat to ask….

"Why?" one question that summed all her confusion and bafflement of the whole situation since those words that came out of Itachi's mouth turned her world as she knew it upside down.

His eyes were empty as he stared into her confused ones still trying to reach out to him. It was no use.

"Why?...Because I am done with you." He stated nonchalantly as if those words didn't punch several holes in her heart in just that second.

She gripped unto his hand in her hands hard as she struggled not to let the cold and hurtful understanding of his words set in, but she still had questions.

"What….What is going? What are you trying to say, Itachi?"

"As you are now, penniless and with your family not posing a threat to the Uchihas as we have finally conquered your clan, I have no need of you anymore." He stated coolly with no feeling whatsoever in his voice.

She could just stare at him, wide eyed with shock as his words this time shook her to the core. She begun to tremble as dread begun to set in on how things were turning.

"Why….Why are you talking like this, Itachi?" she asked in a voice so soft and fragile afraid it would break if she talked any louder from the volcano of emotions stirring inside her. "This is unlike you."

…

"How would you know if this is unlike me or not when you have been deceiving yourself from the very beginning? The me you thought you knew was just an illusion I made you believe. This is reality. This is who I am: an Uchiha who despises Hyugas." And just like that her nightmare with the face of Itachi, resurfaced again right before her, his icy cold eyes shooting icicles into her heart and his words making her bleed.

And this time neither his father nor his family were here for her to use it as an excuse that that was what was influencing his actions. They were here alone, just the two of them at a table in a café as he sat there and tore her world apart with his words.

She started to take in deep breaths so she could try and think properly.

"It doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense that you would bring our family feud up because you never cared about that." She pointed out with the little confidence she was able to muster seeing this as a fact that he couldn't deny.

"And what makes sense? Me….an Uchiha falling for a Hyuga?" the way he said it even in his monotonous voice made it sound so ridiculous it almost made Hinata's confidence falter.

"Yes! Yes because none of that mattered to us. Our families and the hatred between them….none of that mattered for us because we love each other, more than we ever thought possible. And that love we have for each other is much stronger than all that hatred between our clans." She poured out with so much passion but in the end she sounded like she was desperately trying to not only convince him but herself of that fact, when unconsciously she begun to lose hope with how dispassionately he was looking at her.

Itachi gave an exasperated sigh.

"Don't let me repeat myself, Hinata. If this would make you see things clearly then fine I would spell it out to you. I was just using you to see what information I could get that would seem helpful in conquering the Hyugas for good by the Uchihas. Everything I did in this supposed relationship of ours was to reach that goal. That's all. And now that your father is no more and we have been able to achieve our goals of finally winning this war between your family, you are of no use to me now." Every word, every single one of them that came out of his mouth shot an arrow to her already bleeding heart and it couldn't take it anymore. The shock of the excruciating pain of it all made her whole system seize to function at that moment. Raw pain was sawing through her in every direction possible. His words felt like shards of glass against her throat as she finally swallowed them, the painful conclusion now became clear as daylight that only cast her in a shadow of bottomless darkness as her battered heart begun to sink in a pool of sorrow.

Her grip on his hand unconsciously loosened, and she let him go. Her whole face seemed to be swollen and burning with tears that glazed her eyes promising to fall with the slightest movement. She held his cold empty eyes with hers filled intense agony as she made him watch as the last shred of hope departed eyes, along with hot tears rushing down her face.

She felt the walls of the room close in one her, to suffocate her. Eventhough she was choking and out of breath, she was at the moment incapable of filling her lungs with the much needed air as it seemed her lungs had collapsed in on her. It was like the weight of the whole world was crushing in on her chest and at the same time her chest felt like it wanted to explode. In her body's reflex to keep her living, a loud gasp of air escaped her lips to allow a large gush of air fill her impoverish lungs, the impact making her need her hand to support her body on the table as her violent quiver overtook her body. And this allowed more tears to fall from her face.

Am I dying?

Itachi pulled out his wallet to take out some bills and place them on the table.

"Before I leave, I have a favour to ask of you. In case we cross paths in the future, let's not refer to each other by our first names. It would be convenient for both of us. I hope you get what I'm trying to mean here." he then stood up and with one last glance he said "Have a good life, Hyuga san." And with that he left the table and out of the café. As he left, Hinata felt herself crumble from the inside.

Itachi…..

"They are still not back?" Isamu Hyuga asked one of the servants setting the table.

"No please, Isamu-sama." The servant replied and with a wave of the hand was dismissed

"That impudent girl is going to hear it from me when she is back. Who does she think she is keeping us the elders waiting?" Honoka growled.

"Can't we just leave a writing of the purpose of our meeting behind and leave. We shouldn't stand for such disrespect against us." Hisao stated also very upset by Hinata's absence.

"No, we can't. its too delicate a matter to be treated casually. We need to tell her to her face. That is the least we could do after arriving at such a decision." Hironori said, with disapproval at the end of his statement which didn't go unnoticed by the other elders.

"Hironori, the decision we made, eventhough difficult was for the best, for the whole of the Hyuga clan." Isamu tried to reason with his colleague whose face was still set in disapproval.

"But isn't there any other way to go about this?" Hironori pressed again still not satisfied.

"Hironori, this is not the time to be weak hearted. We all understand where you are coming from and this is not an easy decision for any of us, but for the good of the Hyugas, we have to set such troublesome sentiments aside to come up with the best solution for the clan in its dire state. That is what makes as elders of the Hyuga clan. Do not soil that title with your indecisiveness." Eito boomed in a tone of finality, giving no room for further discussion.

Hironori just swallowed his words and remained silent with his heart filled with guilt.

Hiashi…Forgive us for what we are about to do.

Reviews please!