Excuse my spelling

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Hinata sat on the couch, her face blank and devoid of all feelings, she wanted to be invisible so Naruto could not see the dreading pain that consumed her. He didn't sit by her, he stood up tall in front of her, with a similar look that Itachi always gave her. Disbelief, a doubt that she could have ever looked as sickly and abused as she did, a look that told her that this person knew who to blame for it without even thinking. Her beauty was smudged by a filthy man.

She squirmed as he stared at her and stared, she was dying just waiting for him to say something. Anything. Finally his lips broke the silence when they parted to speak the first words of the afternoon. "I'd never expect you to show up at my house wearing something like this."

Suddenly she blushed, looking down at herself. She'd forgotten how clad she looked in her current state of dress, to add onto the running mascara dried into her skin the red, puffy eyes. Her hair was a flurry of ebony waves all tangled together on top of her head. She looked like a strangled hooker. She sighed, shaking her head, nothing would go for her. "Well...it was Sasuke's idea." she spoke, completely unafraid of his response at this point, it's not like she had much to be respected for now.

"I guessed that. The rumors that your marriage was ending have been circulating for months now." he spoke knowingly like it was no news to him. Hinata lifted her head up with the speed of lightening, had she heard right? Their marriage was failing, well it was, but publicly? When did this happen? Of course, it happened when she wasn't allowed to come out of the house for the past year.

"So my father knows." she sighed, she hated that. If her father knew, it was definitely bad and he was always the first person to receive any gossip anywhere. The Hyuugas were important although he didn't quite care when his daughter seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"Not that we know of. Why don't you tell him anyways, he's the only one that can really help you." his sarcastic tone almost made it seem as if he didn't want her there. He did disturb his nap but then again, it wasn't really a nap-more like a self challenge to slowly kill himself with transfats and laziness.

"If my father knew that Sasuke and I were like this....it'd be awful. I'm an embarrassment to the Hyuuga clan, marrying Sasuke is the most beneficial thing I've ever done in my father's book. He doesn't need the humiliation of his daughter being dumped by Sasuke Uchiha, he'd send me far away and I'd never see anyone I love again." her words were like irony in itself, it wasn't like she could see anyone again. "You're truly the only one that can help me. Sakura can't keep her mouth shut and Kiba will end up doing something crazy. I need you."

She was so fluent and confident yet so sensitive, if he denied her she would break. He couldn't have that, not on his couch that he just had accidentally cleaned when he pushed it on the porch to find his damn lost shoe and forgot to put it back, resulting in the soaked and rainy cushions he'd grown to love and ignore. "I'm not turning you away, I would never do that Hinata."

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The day after

Sasuke awoke that morning in a normal mood which was abnormal. He should have been rushing to get out of the house and run to his other woman but that was not the case today. Today, he lazily rolled over with a yawn and scratched the side of his bottom through his suit pants with his jagged fingernails. He licked the dried droll from the side of his mouth and settled into a burrowed state. Opening one eye and looking around the room, now coming to a certain realization.

His bed was empty. Now shaking woman beside him with her hair gently tousled across the sheets, fists clenched together like a small child and breathing sweetly causing her chest to rise and fall so gently. Something was out of wack. His hand reached out so that his finger could trace the light groove she'd made in their silky sheets. He hadn't yet thought of the fact that she disappeared somewhere between the 8th and 21st full cup of gin. He rose from his laying position, stretching his long arms and coughing a little. He assumed she'd magically appear in the kitchen, cooking something he'd refuse to eat even if it smelled fantastic.

The entire truth was, he had no idea why he treated her so badly. He loved her, he had to, even if the feelings came long after they were formally married. He could never show her that vulnerability, he would never give her the satisfaction of knowing that she means something to him-that he was above killing her. She would never understand if she knew. No one would, he had a few hang-ups. He treated everyone the same, no matter what emotional significance they had to him. He had to be strong in every aspect and that included the woman he loved.

Of course, while thinking this, he realized she was gone and had obviously left the party. His darting hangover made his memory blurry but he remembered her crying and shaking, he remembered pretending to be angry, anything after that was one big blur. He hadn't been so reckless since he was a teenager. He rubbed his head, feeling his greasy hair, then accounting in his mind for every asset. Missing a few.

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the following hour

"Lord Sasuke." the youngest maid, Leia jumped where she stood as she saw the approaching form of her master. It was so late, he should have left for work already. She would not have been lazily fixing her hair had she known he was in the building. But why was he so late waking up? Normally he ran out of the house without acknowledging anyone. The girl, shuffled through stray items on the table, making herself quite busy.

He seemed to be in some type of daze, he was disoriented. He began turning into room doors along the line of the hallway, poking his head in then mumbling something. Was he lost in his own home? Finally, after going round and round in circles, he stomped up to the small woman-looking around the kitchen as if he hadn't noticed her presence.

"Where's Hinata?" he asked stiffly when he caught her sight, he even began to lift up papers and look in drawers as if he were looking for his keys and not his wife.

"Well, forgive my Lord, but my Lady did not return last night, you were quite late home as well." she spoke reluctantly in a soft voice similar to Hinata's. He looked about, confused by his own memories mixed with the nurse's words. He shook his head once again, trying to recover any thoughts that may have been distorted by what took place last night. What did take place last night?

The maid just continued to stare at him, as he seemed so puzzled. She'd never seen him like this before, he was always calm and collected-he always either had a solution for everything or he knew who to blame. Here he just resembled a small child who'd lost their mother, scrambling for something to sustain them until she returns magically. Sadly, it would not happen as spontaneously and quickly as a mother desperate to find her child.

"I'm going to find my wife." with those soft, half-whispered words, he exited the house without another word. He was a cryptic one.

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Something is definitely off, Hinata is outside. She should never be outside. Who knows what kinds of secrets she's blurting out. Even worse if she's been kidnaped. She better hope to God I don't find her in any compromising positions or this will be the last time she ever sees the light of day.

He thought this as he sped down the roads of central Konoha, anyone could tell he was in a hurry but they were more concerned by the fact that he was walking at all. He was a very social man, but very important. He made it seem as if he didn't have the time to prattle around like a normal person, and yet he was speed walking down the road, with straight arms and wearing a business suit.

Everywhere he went, heads turned. Fingers were pointed and coos were made. It was one of the reasons that he saw these people as disgusting and beneath him, he was just a man and there they sat praising him like he was the essence of truth. He lied and stole from them all once but they would never admit to that themselves, they loved him for nothing. It was stupid. Weak.

His mind was ridden with thoughts, at least one of each. Murder, anger, remorse, disgust but suddenly everything stopped. He stopped in his tracks. He had heard something. Over the crowd of the city streets, an utterance of something he never wanted to hear, about a meter away. He turned to the Ichi Raku stand, tuning his ears past all the clamor and buzz of the road and listening to every word spoken in that context.

"You'll never guess who I saw yesterday." A young woman spoke as she stood at the stand with her friend, shopping bags in hand. Sasuke assumed that they were waiting on an order, either way he was getting somewhere through their mindless chat.

"Who?" the brunette woman next to her asked.

"Hinata Hyuuga, walking down the street, the dress she was wearing had to cost a small fortune." the first woman responded, Sasuke's ears perked more and more as the women began a short conversation.

"I heard about that, they said she was looking for that Naruto boy. Isn't she married to Sasuke Uchiha?" the brunette asked, holding her hand over her mouth, completely wrapped into her friend's tales of useless banter.

"Not anymore. I thought they were splitting up." He ignored the last thing she said, he had all the information he needed. With that last thought he turned and began walking in the opposite direction, to Naruto's apartment. Before he could make a total of ten steps, a sly grin snuck onto his lips as an idea crossed his mind. He knew what to do. Where he stood, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

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The incessant ringing of Naruto's house phone was completely futile due to the loudness of the living room television, which was drowned out by Naruto's heavy sleeping, he rolled over on the couch-making it as comfortable as possible. Had he not been such a gentleman, Hinata would have been sleeping there. He didn't mind the mold and fungus growing around his ankle as much as Hinata did. She herself could not hear it either, she lay in Naruto's bed-her eyes clenched closed in a state of half-sleep. She did not want to be awake, not for days-for years. Eventually she realized that she had to come out of this state, she couldn't mourn something that never was forever.

The ringing eventually silenced as well, replaced by a beeping voicemail tone followed by a shirt beep. I supposed you've guessed by now that I already know about you guys and your little private party, I don't know if this is your attempt to rescue her from herself or something you good for nothing happy-go-luckies do but I'll let you have your fun. I have no need to have her back at this point, at least not right away so please take your time. She will return soon enough.