A/N: I'm on a roll! Putting out three chapters for my three fics in a few days! Don't expect this often haha!

Fun fact: This chapter is named "Painting Flowers" because the song Painting Flowers inspired me throughout the chapter! It's by All Time Low, if you wanted to listen to it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO.

The Fated Ones

Chapter Six

Painting Flowers

Detached onyx eyes stared after the retreating figure of his brother and the Hyūga princess. They disappeared to the front of the large house, and once they were gone, it felt as if time had started once again.

He sighed and stumbled his way towards his fallen best friend. Naruto rubbed his cheek, squaring his aching jaw. Taking pity on his childhood friend, he reached down and hoisted the blond up by his elbow. They both used each other for balance and shared a look.

Naruto's was one of loss. He had always been second best to the Uchiha brothers. They were both a lot more intelligent than he and girls just flocked towards them like a moth to an open flame.

Sasuke kept his eyes guarded, which was something they were used to. With a reassuring smile that was the fakest Naruto had ever seen on his raven haired friend, Sasuke pushed him towards the mini bar.

As they downed shot after shot, glass after glass of liquor, he could still tell Sasuke tried his best to cover the empty look in his eyes every time he gazed at something purple. Being the baby of the family, Sasuke had always gotten what he had wanted. His mother doted on him and spoiled him. Itachi didn't get the same treatment since their father took him under his wing as soon as his umbilical cord was cut. They were one drink away from blacking out when they cheered to Itachi.

Rubbing the throbbing left side of his chest, a fuzzy-brained Sasuke mused to himself as he watched his best friend dance with a long-haired senior, 'You beat me this time, Itachi-nii.'

Taking another shot, his mind slipped from his grasp although the dull throbbing never left.

He released a breath, watching as the stars in the sky sparkled against the black abyss surrounding it. Dark eyes glanced towards the passenger seat. Curled into a semi-fetal position, long wisps of navy were scattered across the leather. Her lips were parted and let out small, light snores.

They had been driving for nearly two hours. It wasn't a surprise to him that she'd fall asleep. He had been too caught up in his thoughts to try to keep her conscious.

Pressing the button to close the large metal gates they had just drove through, he shut off the lights and went over to her side and gently maneuvered her into his arms. For a moment, it troubled him to notice how thin she was, but he decided to have a talk about that with her later.

Walking up the large marble stairs in front of the home, he unlocked the door and opened it while balancing her perfectly. Everything he did was perfect, although he hardly paid mind to it any more. Flicking on the lights, he blinked at the immaculate and large living room. Most of the furniture was made of purely white fabric. The wall that faced the beach and the almost olympic sized pool was replaced with glass. He continued his path up the winding stairs, careful not to hit her against the large polished marble staircase.

He went straight to the master bedroom at the end of the hall and laid her on the clean mattress. The window was cleaned, the moon bounced it's light over the deep sea. He opened the glass, letting the icy sea breeze smack onto his face. He looked around the room once his hands were free and noticed there wasn't a layer of dust around like there usually was. His mother must've slept here when she and Fugaku got into that fight a few days ago.

With a tired sigh, he bent down and untied the straps of her heels before slipping off his own shoes and crawling next to her. When he pulled the blanket over them, she curled into his broad chest, tiny hands grabbing a fist full of his shirt while her legs snaked around his. He was still until she was comfortable wrapped around him before letting out a breath. His arms coiled around her waist as she nuzzled into him. A small mumble left her lips.

It only took a minute for him to feel his eyes droop, but he caught her faint whisper before he drifted off.

"Itachi..."

Thick eyelashes slowly parted upwards, and two slivers of lavender peaked from under her heavy lids. Sunlight streaked into the room, immediately aggravating the strengthening pounding in her head.

It took half a second for her to realize this wasn't her room and most likely wasn't her house. She wasn't respected in her clan for just being pretty, after all. Closing her eyes, she activated her Byakugan and looked around the large home for another signature. Her head throbbed slightly, but she ignored it. A very familiar signature was moving back and forth in the kitchen down stairs. The property was large and secluded from the rest of the neighborhood.

She deactivated it and assessed herself before getting out of the bed slowly. Her clothes were wrinkled but they were in place so nothing drastic happened between the two. Or so she thought. She noted her heels next to his shoes by the bed before making her way out of the room to the large stair case.

She wondered around the well-light living room, the natural sunlight increasing her pounding headache but the scenery made up for it a hundred fold.

Gazing at the white sand beach with crystal clear water, Hinata was too distracted to notice the smell of food cooking in the kitchen a few feet away from her. She did notice, however, the feeling of someone watching her.

"Hungry?" Itachi asked in his usual quiet voice, although she could hear the sleep laced into it.

Turning, she found him leaning his bare shoulder against the kitchen doorway, dressed in only a pair of black sweat pants. His hair was a bit damp, hanging over his shoulder attractively.

She pulled her gaze away from staring long enough to nod slowly.

Dark eyes blankly took in the dishevled form of his "enemy". The slight twitch of her eye every now and again tipped him off to her discomfort due to the bright sun light. Just as he suspected, she could mask her hangover rather well. He supposed he couldn't expect anything less because she could handle her liquor better than some of his male friends. He busied himself in the kitchen until he felt a small hand graze the middle of his back. He immediately froze in the spot and turned to see the heiress smile at him.

He was taken aback by the smile at first. His pounding heart almost made him forget what he needed to talk to her about as well. Almost.

"Thank you," she said quietly, probably not trying to aggravate her headache any more than necessary.

He watched her for a moment, amazed.

When he woke up, he wasn't sure if what he was feeling was real. He could feel drawn to her, in a way that he'd never felt before. He knew, vaguley, that Hyūgas could feel the aura of other's. He wasn't sure if they could feel emotions, but it was a possibility. They were able to manipulate others in a way that was almost like mind-control. No one outside of the Hyūga clan knew how they did it. Taking a moment to observe the graceful way she carried herself, Itachi leaned back against the counter and let his eyes trail after her.

This strange...pull, if he could describe it as that, was intense and it was entirely new. He had woken up and upon glancing at the sleeping heiress next to him, he felt it. It was overwhelming at first. It felt as if a tsunami crashed into him and drowned him with a couple handfuls of emotions. He had to close his eyes and lay his head back down to regroup his emotions and get a handle on the situation. A strong grip tightened around his heart, like someone had just tied an invisible ribbon around his heart and mind while the other side was connected to the tiny ninja whom was casually eating breakfast in his kitchen. He was sure this had to do with her. Something had changed between them. Something huge. Probably bigger than they could deal with at the moment, he realized as he watched the princess finish eating.

Whatever it was, he was now right in the middle of it. There was absolutely no going back after he decided to stop running from these feelings. That kiss in the detention room was the first time he had been open about his feelings, and he openly admitted it to her in the car afterwards. Running a hand through his damp air, he let out a tired sigh.

He also didn't have any idea if her drunken babble last night had any truth behind it. If they were soul mates, why did none of the Uchiha archives have anything about this predicament documented? Had this never happened before in Uchiha history? Was this some weird Hyūga thing? The old Uchiha catacombs were close to ruins and somewhere deep under the city. He had been there once, but he'd never bothered to try to decipher the old writing or pick through all the scrolls and read them.

Perhaps he should give them a visit...

A small cough caught his attention once again. Dark eyes noticed that she had stopped eating, now finished, and was also done cleaning off the dishes as well. How long had he been zoned out? Long enough for her break the spell he was under, apperently.

He wasn't sure if she had the right answers or any answers at all really, but they did need to talk. It was long overdue as well.

"We should talk," he stated calmly. He didn't move from his position against the granite counter-top, but she dried her hands and went back to the circled table to sit.

With a carefully blank face, Hinata sat facing the Uchiha heir. She was slightly worried about whatever he needed to talk about. He stood with his arms crossed in a manner that suggested he was angered with her. That probably wasn't the case since he had been standing like that for the past fifteen minutes. It felt as if he were breaking up with her, in a sense. Although that was silly since they were never dating in the first place. She almost sighed in disappointment at the thought.

Itachi noticed her flickering emotions that she tried desperately to cover but failed miserably. It was kind of cute.

But, he had to focus or else he would never get any answers.

He took a deep breath and decided not to beat around the bush. "What you said last night, about us being soul mates, what did you mean exactly?"

If he wasn't watching her closely, he would've missed how her fingers flexed and how her body tensed for half a second. She glanced up from the table to stare at him in the eyes. She had a curious hint in them, mixed with equal disbelief.

When she noticed he was really clueless as to the question and not just toying with her, she rested her chin on her dainty wrist. "You were never told either," she said quietly.

His eyebrow raised but kept silent in order for her to continue.

She smiled in an almost sympathetic matter. "You might want to sit down for this."

He heeded her warning and took a seat across from her on the small table, intent on listening to whatever she had to say. He would be lying if he denied that he wasn't getting a little nervous.

Hinata shifted and licked her lips, "I guess I should start from the beginning. Hyūga are able to feel the aura of other people, and their emotions. People all have different auras and since my...power is more developed than others, it is natural that my aura attracts others without any effort on my part. We call those Pulls. There's many different pulls but that's not important." She paused, wondering how thin the line between giving him information and explaining really was. "However, I can sever the connection and reconnect it at my will without it taking much energy from me."

"The first day I got to Konoha Academy, I felt an immediate pull towards you. It was stronger than any I had encountered at the time. It was..." She blushed as her mind racked over words to describe it to him. She wasn't even sure if she should be telling him a lot of her families secret but those without Hyūga blood couldn't preform the technique anyway. "It was very, um, passionate and deep. I can feel when you're in a certain range of me and I'm very sensitive to your emotions as well. When you're away from me for long periods of times, I get physically sick. Being near you calms my aura and mind. I think clearly and it feels like a weight is lifted off my shoulder just by having you within my range. Your pull towards me is different from anyone else's because...I cannot sever the connection, at all. I was terrified when I realized this and asked my grandmother about it. She explained to me that it was a soul mates pull and that we were destined to be together."

He opened his mouth to say something but she held up her palm.

"She also told me about two young ninja who fell in love thousands of years ago. The Hyūga was the heiress and she felt the same pull. Our families were not friendly at the time and they were forbidden from being together. They planned to get their fathers to meet, however, it did not turn out well for the lovers. They were sentenced to death, but before that, they placed a forbidden jutsu over both Uchiha and Hyūga, a reincarnation jutsu. Before they died, they told their families that there would be a Hyūga falling in love with an Uchiha and the two would bring the clans together in a time of great disaster."

Hinata took a deep breath and mentally gave herself a pat on the back for talking this much without stuttering or slipping on her words.

"My grandmother gave me a scroll that's said to belong to Mitsuko, the Hyūga girl. It is half a scroll and the other half is in Uchiha posession. We do not know the name of the Uchiha boy but the writing on the scroll can only be seen with the blood of Mitsuko. Chie baa-chan believes you and I are the reincarnations of those two."

She took a peek at him, studying how he gave her his full attention. It made her heart beat a little faster at how intense his smothering eyes were, but she couldn't get distracted just yet.

"However, I've been trying to dissect the reincarnation jutsu and the specifics of what exactly those two did. They placed a jutsu in order for a Hyūga to fall in love with a Uchiha. But, the forbidden reincarnation jutsu does not deal with emotions and not even the most powerful of Hyūga can manipulate love. It is a difficult emotion and no one has been able to do it. No jutsu can make someone fall in love. I have a feeling that our clans misinterpreted the jutsu Mitsuko and her lover casted. I feel that it was a jutsu for us to meet, to interact. The actual falling in love part is up to us."

She brushed back her bangs. "Our pull is a lover's pull, a soul mate pull, whatever you'd like to call it. I cannot sever it because it cannot be severed. It's impossible for me to do that. Every Hyūga has a pull like this and, legend has it, that in each life, your soul mate is the same. According to Hyūga beliefs, I was probably not always a Hyūga in my lives and you were probably not always a Uchiha. We could have both been Uchihas or Hyūgas or even just regular people with no ninja clan. But I believe we are soul mates in whatever life we are in."

Pausing, she gave him a smile, "It just so happens that we got stuck with the life that being soul mates would complicate things."

Itachi's face was carefully blank. She didn't blame him. She did kind of unload a lot of information on him all at once. Relaxing on the chair behind her, the long haired girl let it sink into his brain. It wouldn't take long, she figured. Itachi was a genius, even she knew that from her sheltered life in the Hyūga.

He was pretty much frozen in his seat except for the rise and fall of his bare chest. She was about to worry that she shocked him too much until his eyes focused sharply on her. "We're soul mates, basically."

He seemed to be looking for clarification so she nodded.

"You can feel my emotions?"

She blushed slightly, and looked to the side. "Technically, yes. I can feel bits and pieces of it but our bond isn't strong enough right now. As it gets stronger, I'll be able to feel it almost constantly."

He seemed to relax a lot more after hearing that, but there was still uncertainty in his dark eyes. "So you can feel my presences as well?"

Not wanting to give away too much, she nodded again and fidgeted a bit.

He noticed her getting uncomfortable and let the subject drop, although he was filled with questions. A few tense minutes passed before he settled on one question that had been swimming around his mind for the past day.

"What now?"

She paused.

He had been thinking and trying to figure out a game plan but the gears shifted to quickly in his mind. For the first time in his life, the Uchiha heir would rather hear someone else's thoughts on the matter before coming to a decision. Usually, he thought of solutions himself, without the help of others.

She caught on to what he was asking, "If my father f-found out, curse or not, he'd have our heads on a sliver platter..."

Although he would rather not have to deal with the Head of the Hyūga, it was almost inevitable. Itachi relaxed on the back of the chair, arms crossed over his chest. "If we go back to ignoring each other, you will get sick, no?"

Her cheeks flustered without her permission, realizing anything she told the Uchiha genius, he would most definitely remember. "It is...likely, yes."

They were both silent for a moment before a vibrating caught their attention. Fishing his phone from his pocket, Itachi almost grimaced when he noticed it was his brother calling. This was the tenth time Sasuke had called. Each time he had ignored it. He was sure it had something to do with the twenty-three miss calls and just as many texts from his mother.

Sighing, he answered it as he stood and went into the other room. "Hello, little brother."

"Nii-san, what the actual fuck? You left me to deal with our crazy mother alone."

Judging by his harsh, low whispers, Itachi figured his brother was probably somewhere in their home, hiding from their mom. She was known to get a little protective over them two at times. Each time they didn't come home at night, she would have a mental break down. Their father was no help; he always managed to sneak off to his study during these times.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, I'll be home shortly. Make her some brownies and keep her distracted."

"Where are you, anyway?"

He hesitated in his steps. Sasuke wasn't one to be friendly with Hyūgas, but this was his beloved brother, someone he couldn't lie to. "I'm at the beach house...with Hinata."

It was silent for a moment until he heard a low growl. "I hope you know what you're doing, Nii-san."

Looking out to the clear beach, the heir sighed cryptically, "Me too."

Without wanting to hear his response, Itachi hung up and tossed the phone onto the pristine white couch. His large palm rubbed down his face in thought.

A relationship between the Uchiha heir and the Hyūga heiress? It was unheard of. Unthinkable! It was like a slap in the face to his family. No doubt hers would feel the same way. Years of hatred don't just disappear because two teens have feelings for each other.

He turned slightly, eyes catching sight of the beauty who still sat at the table. She was flawless in every sense of the word. The feelings they held for each other were real, it wasn't just from some curse.

Could they get away with having a relationship?

It really came down to if she was willing to hide this from her family.

He sighed, causing her to turn and gaze back at him. "We have to keep this from our families."

She nodded, biting her lips nervously while she stood and stepped towards him.

"Do you want this?"

Whatever this was. Hinata searched his face for any sign of him feeling apprehensive. He looked very understanding and open, waiting patiently for her answer. His eyes looked hopeful and her heart swelled at the image. Pressing her thin palms to his chest, Hinata balanced on her toes and brushed her lips softly against his.

"Yes, I do."

A/N: Ending was kind of rushed. I will be editing this and adding more substance in the next few days.

Notice that hint of one sided SasuHina? I couldn't resist...ugh. It won't be too much, Sasuke will get over it haha!

Review and favorite :)