A/N: I literally had this entire thing done March 17th but my browser crashed and lost the last half of this chapter. I honestly cried, I was so devastated.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO.


The Fated Ones

Chapter Eight

Encounters

"Hinata?"

She sighed from the other end of the phone, a content smile on her lips. Just hearing her cousin's deep tremble soothed her worries. He was her protector, her guardian.

Just that knowalge made this whole conversation a lot harder. She took a deep breath, "I'm still here. How's Hanabi-chan and Okaa-san?"

"They're just fine. Hanabi-chan is getting restless from being copped up in the house." There was a shuffling in the back ground and two muffled voices. "They say they miss you and to call them tomorrow."

Leaning her head against the back of the couch, Hinata smiled. "Tell mother I will call her tomorrow."

There was more muffling before Neji came back on the microphone, "Why'd you call so late?"

Lavender eyes glanced towards the large clock against the wall. "Oh, that's right! It's almost ten over there. I forgot about the time difference. I'm sorry, nii-san, I'll just talk to you tomorrow-"

His voice cut her off in the middle of her sentence however, "Hinata, it's fine. What is wrong?" The severity in his tone caused her to pause and her thumping heart beat quicker.

"Are you by mother or Hanabi-chan?" she whispered, as if they could hear her from the other side of the line.

"No, they are in the family room and I'm in the study…Hinata, what is going on?"

Okay, she chanted to herself, just spit it out! Neji wouldn't scream at her too badly, right? Her throat constricted while her palms felt clammy. Suddenly, she felt a weary, familiar aura. "It's hard to explain, so can I just call you tomorrow?"

She hadn't noticed how nervous her voice must've sounded to her older cousin because he immediately was tense. "No Uchihas are giving you problems are they?"

'Not technically…'

The jiggling of keys turned her attention towards the front door across the way from her. "No, nothing like that. I'll FaceTime you, alright?"

Before hearing confirmation, she hung up the phone and put it aside, just as her grandmother stumbled her way over the threshold. With large, flashing sunglasses and multi-colored cheap costume jewelry, Chie stopped as she spotted her disapproving grand-daughter.

Arms crossed under her bust, Hinata wondered if this was a common occurrence for her grandmother. "Do you know what time it is, young lady?" She teased.

Chie would've laughed at how ironic the situation was - she had been in the same position when her twin boys stumbled in the house at wee hours of the morning - if the hammering in her head wasn't so prominent. Rubbing her temples and shutting the door behind her, she mumbled something about a nap before trekking up the stairs. Her usual grace was unsurprisingly lacking in her movements.

Back on the couch, Hinata muffled her giggles at seeing her normally cool and composed adult figure struggle to stand steady up the stairs. She could've sworn she heard a few curses stringing along as well.


A moldy, wet smell invaded the second heir's nostrils. Sasuke stifled a sneeze before staring blankly at his brothers back. They were both surrounded by worn books, aged scrolls and other clan documents in the middle of the large, stone room. Lanterns and candles were scattered around the siblings randomly, emitting a warm glow the color of the sunset over them.

The catacombs were dark and dank, when it was without light. The last time he had been in here was after his rite of passage race. Growing up, he had never been interested in the inner workings of his clan, or the ancient ways either. He felt that the pass should stay just that - the past. There was no reason for him to go snooping through the old records in a written language he couldn't even decipher.

Itachi was an entirely different matter. He was a curious, genius child who couldn't get enough knowledge through his head fast enough. He'd been down here more than Sasuke had, but he hadn't been looking for anything specific as he was now.

The catacombs were secret tunnels under the city that their family had since the beginning of time. It was always there, and every Uchiha clan head put every law or important notes down there, for record keeping. It dated back to the formation of their clan, more than two thousand years ago.

They had been down there for more than three hours and Sasuke was getting restless. Itachi had promised to take him to lunch after this, but as it neared four in the evening, it seemed as if they would be having dinner instead.

Jet colored eyes stared at his niisan once more. Thin brows frowned in concentration, Itachi looked determine to find whatever it was he was looking for. Without leaving his gaze from the long document, Itachi's lanky fingers curled around a strangle looking scroll. It was about half the size of a normal one and looked as if many people had read it. It was worn and tattered, but it was the only scroll to have a golden seal placed over it. Itachi glanced at it briefly with confusion before he tightened his grip on it.

He quickly dropped it with a soft hiss. Shocked, Sasuke was about to ask what was the matter until he noticed the small line of smoke coming from the seal. "Did that thing just burn you?" He asked incredulously.

Itachi stared at the scroll with slightly wide eyes before deciding to reach out to it again. This time, he applied some of his chakra to release the seal. They both held their breaths, expecting something to explode in their face or anything equally as spectacular to appear.

Nothing.

"What the hell - a blank scroll?" Sasuke asked, leaning back with his arms crossed. "How anti-climatic is that?"

Itachi would've agreed with his baby brother if not for Hinata's voice fluttering in his head, "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 possession. 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."

This could very well be the other half to the Hyūga scroll. The Uchiha boy's half of the scroll. Without his blood, however, the writing would not be shown.

If they were the reincarnations of this couple, would his blood work on it? Hinata hadn't informed him of her trying to use her blood to see it, so he wasn't quite sure how it would work.

What was there to lose?

Putting his thumb to his teeth, he bit down enough to rip the skin before hovering over the wrinkled paper. Sasuke asked what he thought he was doing, but it fell on deaf ears. It felt as if time had slowed as a single drop of cheery red blood left his thumb to free fall to it's destination. It landed somewhere in the middle before soaking into paper and disappearing just as quickly as it happened.

They were silent for another long minute as they watched with anticipation for something to happen. Again, nothing happened. Sasuke glanced at his brother with a questioning tilt of his brow.

He sighed deeply before wiping the excess blood from his fingers. There was still nothing he could see with his eyes on this parchment. He would've thought this was just a blank scroll if not for the seal that was attracted to it. No one put seals on scrolls that had nothing written on it. This had to be something...

In a last attempt move, he activated his Sharingan and looked directly at the paper.

His eyes flashed while a sharp pain invaded his head and before he could make a sound, it was over. Blinking, the Uchiha heir cautiously surveyed his new surroundings with alarm.

He was sucked into a world covered in white. There were no walls, no left or right, or up or down. It was white and desolate, with his little brother nowhere in sight. He turned to face the opposite way, in a desperate attempt to find a way out of this place until he stopped.

He came to face with a young woman, a few feet from him. She was petite, about a head shorter than he, and smiling with such peacefulness that his mood instantly calmed as well. Her pale skin was radiant against the ivory of her delicately patterned kimono. This woman looked like some kind of other worldly goddess. Her lengthy tresses were the deepest shade of ebony that reminded him slightly of someone very familiar to him. Rosy lips stretched in a wide smile as if she had been waiting her whole life for him. She was smiling so happily that her eyes were closed in response. As if she could read his thoughts, her dark eyelashes fanned open so her pearly lavender eyes gazed right back at him.

"My, you sure do look like my Izuna-kun," the Hyūga girl said with a softer smile. Her voice sounded so heavenly, he almost longed to hear it once more. Her eyes watered for a second before she wiped them with the long sleeve of her kimono.

"Izuna?" Itachi retracted, blinking back his surprised although he was completely taken aback.

She nodded, thick straight hair flowing gracefully around her. "Yes, his name was Izuna."

He felt his heart clench painfully. The same Izuna from the war era thousands of years ago that was mortally wounded in battle defending his clan? The one who so selflessly gave up his eyes to his brother in order to protect their clan from their enemies? That Uchiha Izuna?

He hadn't realized he had asked that out-loud until he saw her beautifully confused face.

"That is what the Uchiha have told you of how he died?" She sounded disgusted and a little expectant. "It is like them to cover their embarrassment, their shame, their failed heir."

She took a step closer, carefully watching his reaction to her. Trying to move back proved to be futile at the moment. His muscles wouldn't respond to him, they refused to follow his commands.

Before she was about ten feet from him, he asked, "Are you Mitsuko?"

"How rude of me." A smile slowly crept up her lips, her head tilting, "Yes, I am Hyūga Mitsuko. Third heir to the Hyūga Clan, first heiress."

He nodded, although he had figured she was Mitsuko from her near identical appearance to Hinata. There was subtle differences, like how her bangs were on the side of her face and not on her forehead. Her figure was thinner and she was slightly taller. Other than that, they could be twins. Down to their voices as well as calming chakra signatures.

"I am Uchiha Itachi. Heir to the Uchiha Clan."

Pearl eyes watered and she nodded to him. After a moment of silence from them both, she closed their distance and placed her pale hand against his cheek. He was warm while she was cold. Before she got carried away, Mitsuko pulled away, albeit sluggishly.

"I haven't seen Izuna since our death. I can only imagine how long it has been." Shaking her head, thin fingers brushed her hair from her face in a fashion he had noticed Hinata do. "Since you're here, I see you've found my scroll, and you are Izuna's reincarnation. Have you met mine yet?"

Finding he now had movement as he flexed his fingers, he looked into her eyes, "Yes. She informed me that she had your scroll..."

Noticing he wished for her to elaborate, she nodded. "Yes, that scroll has my name on it, although it has Izuna's blood. That was for safety measures. He's very cautious, that one."

His brow raised slightly when she continued without missing a beat, "My reincarnation, what's she like? What's her name?"

Although he would like to ask her some of his questions, Itachi indulged his past life's lover. "She is very loving, has a big heart and is quiet feisty when provoked. She looks like you, slightly shorter. Her name is Hyūga Hinata."

"Hinata..." Mitsuko tested on her tongue before cracking into a smile, "I guess the Hyūga have not got out of the tradition to name their heirs after the light. Mitsuko is close to 'sunny place' since it is 'shinning child'."

Itachi quickly spotted another difference. Hinata wasn't nearly as talkative as her ancestor. He appreciated that greatly. "Hinata mentioned about us being soul mates. That would mean her and I were the first of your reincarnations to be soul mates from the Uchiha and Hyūga."

She folded her hands together gently, as if anticipating his onslaught of questions. "Yes, you are correct. That seal hasn't been released since I placed it all those years ago."

"That jutsu you placed at the time of your death, what was it?"

At that, her pink lips tilted upwards while her eyes lit up. "During the war, our clans were very hostile and as heiress, I had unlimited access to my father's and the clan's history of jutsus. I was known for using forbidden techniques in almost all of my battles, which was why I was so formidable. However, there was no rules of war - everyone was dying, men, women, children even newborn babies. Our families were just terribly bitter by the time that me and Izuna met."

Taking a deep breath, Mitsuko continued, "I actually stumbled upon him in battle with my little brother Hideaki. He had injured my brother pretty badly so I jumped in without thinking, in a protective sibling rage. However, when we locked gazes, I felt a strong pull. Izuna must've felt it too because he clenched his chest. It was a distracting sensation at first and I tried to sever it. I managed to tell Hideaki to go back while I fought. While I was known for being one of the strongest among the Hyūga warriors, I hadn't ever known too much about Izuna's fighting skills. This was the first we had ever seen each other, our first face off.

"We had been battling for hours until I slipped up. I let my guard down and he managed to pin me against a tree with a kunai. I admitted defeat and waited for the finishing blow. I had no doubt he that he wouldn't kill me. To have the Hyūga's heiress fall to you in battle? Who wouldn't have wanted that? However, it never came. Instead, he released me and dropped the kunai. For about two minutes, he stared at me and I knew it then. I knew he was my soul mate. He knew it too.

"The next day, we ended up at the same clearing, but this time it was more of a spar than a death battle. Suddenly, that became a regular, every day thing. About a year into our secret meetings, we started talking about running away together, starting a family. The war had slowed down, our fathers were old and tired of this constant battle at their age. We devised a plan to bring just our Clan Heads together to finally settle the differences, and we announced that I was expecting a child. Obviously, it was Izuna's and they not in the least bit happy to become grandfathers."

That had thrown Itachi from just passively listening to staring at her with a mildly shocked expression. She noticed his change of demeanor easily and rested a hand lovingly against her flat stomach, wrapped tightly in the kimono.

"There were harsh words cast around, as we had expected. However, we didn't expect for our father's to agree that we needed to be dealt with. We did expect punishment, of course. Our fathers banned together, and settled their differences, but only to kill their eldest children. A sword though Izuna's chest and one though mine as well. It was a slow death and our fathers left us to die there in the woods. Before they retreated, I told them that one day, there would be heirs from both our clans to bring the clans together. They couldn't change destiny, that we would come back - in a different body, different appearance, but same will-power. They walked off, but I told them that upon Izuna's last breath, there would be a curse over both clans."

She took another breath, though this time, her cheerful face was as cold as a statue and no trace of a smile was gracing her features. "We knew we were dying so we decided to use the last of our life force and chakra to infuse with that scroll. We had hoped to use the scroll to write the agreement of a cease fire. It was supposed to be used as a peace offering, but instead, we used it as a way to contact our reincarnations, if we ever had any."

Looking puzzled, Itachi raised a thin brow at the former heiress, "Hyūga's believe that each person has the same soul mate in every one of their lives, although they may be different people outwardly, they are the same spiritually, no?"

Long coal hair bounced with her affirmative nod. "Yes, we do. However, we're not sure when our spiritual line, per say, ends. I do not know how many lives I've lived before, if I have at all. I do not know how many there were after me as well. It was said more out of anger than anything else. I was rather bitter at him." She giggled at Itachi's blank expression.

"Your father could have easily called your bluff, then?"

"Had you and Hinata not been born, then, yes." Mitsuko smiled brightly once more, "If he had known that my spiritual line would end with me, yes. He didn't believe me anyway, since Hyūgas cannot see into the future."

He took a moment to absorb all of this before a question popped up in his head, "Hinata was told by her grandmother that the forbidden jutsu you placed on the clan could very well be a jutsu for us to meet. Hyūgas can't control or manipulate a strong emotion such a love."

The Hyūga smiled mischievously with her hands innocently held behind her back. "There was none. That was the bluff."

He stared at her for a lengthy minute. "So there was never any curse or fobridden jutsu?"

Mitsuko shook her head. "Nope. You and Hinata meet because it was destiny. And you will fall in love because she is meant for you." Seeing his slightly irritated face, she threw in, "Well, I'm not sure if it's the Uchiha or Hyūga is in a time of disaster, but I do know fate has a funny way of playing itself out."

A blinding light erupted from behind her, to which she sighed and glanced back. "It seems as if I've used all of my spiritual energy. I need time to rejuvenate my energy. You can contact me though this scroll, but it will put a tax on your Sharingan so use this wisely."

He nodded, coal eyes fixated on how her figure slowly dissipated into the light. It was as if she was floating back to Heaven's gates. For a second, he was star stuck until a painful sensation, similar to a rusty dagger slamming ruthlessly into his temple, radiated though this body. He shut his eyes that next second and fell to the ground. On his knees, Itachi ground his teeth into each other, distantly recalling Sasuke's frantic questions.

The pain was gone after a little while, and instead he felt as if there was a cool river flowing through his veins. A hand was rubbing his back as he violently coughed before he glanced to the side to see the wide eyes of his baby brother.

Groaning, he sat with his arms over his knees to catch his breath. "How long was that?"

Sasuke looked extremely puzzled, "You activated your Sharingan, and then you were quiet and still for a second, I'm pretty sure you stopped breathing. You were like that for about a minute."

He looked towards the Heavens with a weary gaze. 'That was only a minute?'


Hinata bid her grandmother a good night as she shuffled up the stairs after dinner. She activated her Byakugan just to make sure she climbed the stairs with no problems while she continued to clean off the dishes from dinner.

She had spent the rest of the day dragging her defiant grandmother to the grocery store to get something other than sake, rice and apples. Of course, the old women complained about how making creative dinner ideas with those three ingredients builds character, something that the new generation very much lacks. Hinata just rolled her eyes and tossed a box of hot pockets in the cart her grandmother leaned on. She was really concerned for how her father and uncle grew up, but figured they only made it past the age of three with the help of their father. Bless his soul, for being able to put up with this crazy old lady.

After cleaning up the kitchen and dinning table, Hinata went straight to work on her homework. It was easy for her, someone who had been primped and primed in every school subject since she was able to form coherent words.

As she got up from her desk in her room to put her papers in her binder, a rock smacked into her window.

She probed her surroundings with her own aura, only to find Itachi's strong signature standing below her second story room. 'What the…why couldn't I feel him coming?' Going to the window, she pulled it up and stared questionably at him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, not really bothering to be quiet for her grandmother. She was sleeping off her hangover, so she would most likely not hear, or care, about Itachi's presence.

He gestured to the front door with a tilt of his head, which was a few feet from his position, "Can we talk?"

Closing the window, she grabbed a jacket and put it over her tank top while she scurried down the stairs to the door. She slipped on her sandals and fixed her unflattering shorts, but didn't worry about it too much. She never fretted about her appearance unless she was going out in public. If she was caught looking any bit less of the heiress she was, her parents would have her head for disgracing them around the enemy.

'This would probably warrant that same reaction,' she thought with a secret smile as she met the Uchiha heir on the porch.

He waited for her to sit on the padded couch before sitting himself. Onyx eyes gazed over her and smiled. He was relieved that she didn't dress up just to talk to him. She was cute and her sleepy look made him want to stare at her for longer.

He should probably let her sleep. He knew he needed it as well. A lot of his chakra was drained from unlocking the seal and meeting Mitsuko.

"I found the other half of the scroll you were telling me about," he started casually.

Pearly eyes widened, her head turning fully to look at him. "You did?"

He nodded, "It was blank. However, I used my blood to try to get it to reveal writing."

Thus began the half an hour of recanting all that happened to her. She sat, silent and with wide eyes and open ears. Naturally, she had her own questions and voiced them when he was finished talking. During this time, he noticed they had gradually leaned towards each other until they were nearly sitting with her knee touching his thigh. He also was aware that she didn't seem to be shying away either. Her posture was completely relaxed.

What she asked next, however, threw him into silence. "Is she pretty?"

Loud, blaring sirens sounded off in his head. That was a forbidden question- a taboo. He had been alive long enough to know the smartest way out of this was to run. His father had been a kunai pin cushion whenever he was truthful about how his mother looked in new clothes. Sasuke and he had learned from their father's mistakes yet this was the first time he'd have to use this experience in his life. As he refocused on her enchanting eyes, with a matching smile, he took a minute to put that expression to memory. He would've activated his Sharingan if she wasn't so intently looking at him. It was then that he understood the difference between the two Hyūga heiresses. Mitsuko just wasn't Hinata.

A smile wiggled onto her lips. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with the question. She didn't really see a problem, but throughly enjoyed how his taunt muscles under his skin tensed and his lips flatten into a line. Her head tilted to the side, waiting for his answer as his midnight eyes stared far beyond her. She was about to halt his inner turmoil when he spoke first.

Probably the boldest thing he'd ever say (and the cheesiest, he'd realize later on), Itachi grasped her dainty fingers in his palm to tug her soft chest against his, "Not nearly as beautiful as you."

The surprised curl of her lips was covered with his hungry ones.


A/N: This chapter is really light considering the future ones. Especially the next one. That will have almost no romance between these two love birds (don't kill me!) but it is necessary for the plot (damn plot). I love the next chapter the most because *drum roll please* Madara comes back! And you all know how I love lunatic uncles. If the end is rushed, I hope not, but I lost the last half of this chapter and had to write though my anger (even days after I lost it). Sorry in advance.

Review and let me know what you think. :)