It's been a while i know. sorry. im happy with this chapter though. hope you like it. i opened up my instant messaging in case you have questions... or want to talk...
"Oh, Naru, do stop whining." Hiashi shook his head disapprovingly. "Whining is quite unbecoming of you."
Naruto scrunched her brow in an angry, rather unladylike, fashion but she didn't say anymore about her dislike… no…hatred of hunting. Instead, she stomped away.
Hiashi motioned for Sakura to follow her. "Just make sure she doesn't get hurt." He turned to Itachi as Sakura ran off. "Not that she'd hurt herself on purpose but she has…clumsy tendencies." He smiled. "I know that it must seem strange that I would just let her go off after what happened yesterday but I trust Sakura."
Itachi smirked. "And the fact that these are your lands has nothing to do with it."
Hiashi laughed and slapped Itachi's shoulder. "Smart boy! Ha, ha. You know," Hiashi pushed his way through the forest as he whispered to Itachi, "I like that you speak your mind. For some reason everyone feels the need to hold their tongue around me. You however… well you remind me of Naruto.
Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Hiashi nodded. "Yes." He hesitated. "She seems to be quite taken with you."
Itachi cleared his throat. "I…I am-"
"You feel the same… toward her."
Itachi nodded. "Yes, Lord, I do."
Lord Hyuga laughed. "Please, call me Hiashi."
"Naru! Naru! Stop!" Sakura ran after Naruto through the woods.
Naruto stomped through the forest into a clearing and flung herself to the ground.
Finally (after much tripping and mumbled curses) Sakura caught up with her. "Naruto, come on."
"No, Sakura. No." Tears glistened in Naruto's crystal eyes. "How many do you think he'll get? How many?"
Sakura leaned over so she could talk to Naruto eye to eye. "Naruto, don't be this way."
Naruto dropped her head into her knees and wrapped her right arm around her legs, carefully keeping her sore bandaged right arm close to her body. "Don't be this way? Sakura, he's out there. My Kyubi and her babies. What if he hurts them?"
"It's not like he's looking for them, Naruto. He's just hunting. What happened to Kyubi before was an accident. Besides, if you hate this so much, why did you come?"
Naruto bit her bottom lip. "Well, I thought maybe I could handle it. I thought maybe if Itachi was here…" She trailed off.
"Naruto, snap out of it. You have to let go of this childish infatuation! The only reason you like him is because he looks like Sasuke!" Sakura yelled. She watched Naruto's reaction panting.
Naruto stared for a moment, stunned and angry. Then her eyes narrowed. "What do you know?" She hissed. Naruto stood. "What…what…what do you know about anything?" She burst into tears. "Nothing, Sakura. You don't know what you're talking about. You have no idea how I feel! You don't know how it was before or how it is now! Stop lecturing me!" She turned on her heel and stomped away from Sakura to find a place to cry. Alone.
Sasuke sighed. He was lying in his bed. He had given up hours ago on finding any clue as to the whereabouts of the necklace. The younger raven stared at the bland chipping ceiling over his head, suddenly thinking that he would much prefer to be looking at the sky. Sasuke heaved himself out of the bed and walked outside, not even bothering to take a coat.
His bare foot sunk into the ground on his first step out the door. The ground was still saturated from the former night's rain. He sighed and took a deep breath of the crisp evening air.
Sasuke ignored the mud between his toes as he walked outside. The sun was hovering over the horizon in the west signifying the end of a day. The raven leaned against the house and touched his cheek to its cool brick. He sighed as he stared back up at the sky.
flashback
"I need your help."
"I can't." A nineteen year old Sasuke turned his face away from the dark figure through the divider in the Confessional. "I won't."
"You can't run away from your past." The voice was gentle.
"I'm not trying to run away from my past… I'm just finding a better future."
"Have you even told her? Does she know who you are or what you do?"
Sasuke slammed his hands on the wall. "Stay out of it!"
"Have you even told her father?"
"Shut up!" Sasuke stood, ready to leave.
"Sasuke," The voice was tender. "I am only trying to tell you that if they find out… they may be more than a little upset."
end flashback
The raven sighed. Upset. That's what she had said. Sasuke snorted in disgust. A little upset. There was no such thing. "Not when it comes to Naruto," he murmured, wincing at her name. He refrained from speaking her name to anyone but himself when he was alone. Sasuke kicked at the ground, sending a mass of mud flying. He hadn't told Itachi of his relationship with Naruto.
Itachi had left home when Sasuke was young. Very young. So Sasuke had lived on his own, his parents being dead. He had met Naruto when he was seventeen, and courted her until their engagement when he was nineteen. He could still recall the look on her father's face when Sasuke had asked for Naruto's hand in marriage. Arashi was delighted and he had given Sasuke his blessing right away. That man had been so strong. Sasuke had asked Naruto to marry him within the same hour. She had accepted.
Sasuke slumped down against the building so he was sitting in the dirt as he remembered.
His only means of money at the time had been his constant jobs as a thief thanks to a mysterious woman he had met in a Catholic church. She had mistaken him for his brother and given him a job. He hadn't been incredibly gifted in the actual thieving but he was a master at negotiating. At any rate, the jobs had given him enough to live well.
Sasuke closed his eyes.
That night had been dark. At least, it had been in Sasuke's mind. Sasuke had decided to…to tell Naruto exactly where he came from. Exactly what he did for a living. He had taken her on a walk through the ground of her father's castle. He took her to the perfect place… he had told her at just the right moment… Sasuke remembered the blank look on Naruto's face. It was as if everything had been washed away. She had pulled her hands away from his slowly and stood up staring straight ahead. Her top lip had quivered very slightly. Sasuke had tried to take her hands back and explain. Naruto misinterpreted his intentions and screamed. Sasuke remembered his hands going to her mouth. "No, please Naruto." Those were the last words he ever spoke to her. She had pulled away and ran from him. She ran and Sasuke knew he couldn't follow. Oh God what have I done? He raced from the grounds and never looked back.
Later, he sought out Itachi. Itachi… the brother he had been mistaken as. He sought him out and offered his services as a negotiator for prices. Itachi had accepted his brother's services, though he had doubts about his intentions. Sasuke never talked to Itachi about his life with Naruto. He learned later that Naruto's father had died. Sasuke tried to pretend that it didn't bother him… but…
Sasuke stood and sighed deeply.
Alright, so the jig is up. Sasuke's the man you've all been angry with for hurting Naru. Ah, well. Who knew? Sometimes things like that happen. ...i guess...
