This chapter took me at least 3 days to write. :)

Itachi is so difficult! So don't expect too much with him.

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Hinata walked towards the door that separated her from the god of death. Every step was another struggle against her body's instinct to run away. Something evil was behind the onyx door and Hinata was interested in finding out exactly who Hades was. A horrible deity that everyone was correct in avoiding, or something surprising? It only passed her mind once that the very fact that she was willing to touch the door was against who she was in the beginning of her journey.

She took a deep breath and placed her pale hand against the black door. It was quite a beautiful door, so dark it seemed to disappear and yet it reflected her image slightly.

A reflection that Hinata was disappointed in. Her hair had dried after having had the impromptu bath and was frizzing on the bottom. A little bit of dirt was smeared on her nose and forehead, most likely from her hands, and her tunic was fraying on the ends. She looked like a peasant and, frankly, it was exhilarating. She hadn't looked so dirty since the first day of her journey; but this time she felt alive.

With one last smile at her reflection, Hinata pushed open the door.

As soon as she stepped inside the door closed behind her harshly. There was no light and Hinata couldn't even see her own hands. Sasuke was banging on the stone door behind her, but it wasn't budging.

"H-Hades?" She called out into the darkness, expecting no answer.

"Yes?" A deep, male voice replied. The pale girl froze in fear as a light suddenly flickered to life. It was only one light, however, and illuminated only a large hand and the edge of a long black robe. The hand was pale and obviously a man's, she decided while trying to focus on anything but the growing feeling that she was being watched intently.

"I'm H-H-Hinata." She stumbled out, trying desperately to rub away the goose bumps on her forearms.

"I know." The voice stated almost emotionlessly – almost, because even Hinata could clearly distinguish the hint of smugness in his dark voice.

Hinata didn't know what to do next. Should she talk some more and explain her situation and hope that he takes pity? Or should she follow her raw instinct to get the hell out of…hell? She didn't have the chance to make a decision though because the light suddenly went out and she heard the flutter of clothes.

The feeling of warmth invaded her senses as she felt a body in front of her. A rough, calloused hand grabbed her chin and tilted her head up. She tried to see the man in the dark to no avail.

"You're not very beautiful." Hades stated out-of-the-blue. Hinata's mouth curled down in a frown at his insult. "But it appears that you have a few good qualities." The hand pushed back on her head as he let go, causing her to stumble just as a flurry of lights turned on.

The man was already sitting in the chair that Hinata assumed he had been sitting in before. His large hand rested lazily in the same spot that was illuminated before. For some reason she focused on this first. It was until the hand moved a few seconds later that she took a look at the god of the underworld.

He was tall; she could gather that just by him sitting down, and oddly familiar. She scanned his long black robe for any signs or color, but there was none. Finally, she looked at his face, the part that everyone on earth and Olympus avoided in fear. It was solemn and beautiful at the same time, his eyes were the color of blood, a deep and ominous red; and his mouth was thin and set in a straight line. She couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking, but she could guess that it wasn't very pleasant. He was as frightening as legends told and Hinata was at a loss for words.

"Are you going to run away, child?" The man spoke with intensity and Hinata felt compelled to look at his face yet again. The tradition of avoiding such evil is a hard thing to overcome.

"N-No." She whispered, glancing briefly at his beautiful face, but avoiding his eyes as much as she could. "You kn-know wh-why I'm he-here." The words came out slow and forced - she felt as if she had regressed to the days of her childhood, back to the days of beatings and training. Hinata felt her face grow hot with a mixture of anger and embarrassment at the thought of her past.

"What are you thinking of, girl?" He asked. "Are you thinking of impure thoughts, or something more malicious?" The words fell like silver from his mouth and Hinata could only watch in fascination. He was unlike the other gods…

…he was much more seductive.

"I'm thi-thinking of ho-how to get out of here quickly." She had practically mouthed the last words, but Itachi heard them anyways.

"I thought that you wanted to ask me something." He asked, moving his hand to emphasize his points. His face was completely emotionless, but Hinata felt as if he was mocking her in his own way.

"I-I do." She answered, eyes downcast. The floor was the same color as the entire room - onyx – except for a long, blood red carpet that extended from the door to Itachi's throne.

He waved his hand and told her to keep talking. Hinata's eyes flickered up in time to catch his movement and get a glance at his expression – emotionless.

"I-I wa-was sent h-here to-to ask yo-you fo-for he-help in find-finding a love." She said hesitantly, her eyes on his left hand the entire time. "Ts-Tsunade sent m-me." She added in case he forgot.

"I know."

"Th-then w-why let me ke-keep going?" Anger was uncommon for Hinata, but for some reason the god of the underworld sparked it for just a second. "W-why make me keep ta-talking when I-I'm already so ner-nervous?" She asked as soon as she felt the anger recede a split second later.

Itachi didn't say anything. Instead, he stood up and walked over to her. Hinata immediately shriveled closer to the wall as he neared. He stopped right in front of her and looked down at her face.

"You-you don't like wh-when people a-are nervous, do-do you." It was a statement. After being around so many different men the past few weeks she had reached the point where she understood Itachi's type of personality. It was very similar to Gaara's and Sasuke's – both disliked weak people and, to them, nervousness was a sign of weakness. "Yo-you think I'm we-weak." She stated at Itachi's silence.

Itachi gave a small smirk, but that was the only change in his stony appearance. "You're much more perceptive than the other let on." He grabbed her chin again, ignoring her obvious flinch. He tilted her head, causing her to look at him through the corners of her eyes. "I wonder why everyone has let you leave." He said off-handedly before releasing her in the same manner that he had done before –roughly.

Hinata didn't understand his last comment and, frankly, she didn't really care to understand him. But, before she could plead with him to just allow her this one favor, Sasuke opened the onyx door.

"What did you do to her, Itachi?" The black-haired man spat out Hades' name like poison as his eyes quickly scanned over Hinata's appearance. Finding her to be uninjured, he allowed himself to relax.

Itachi ignored Sasuke, however, and began to walk back to his throne as if the other man had not just burst into his room and accused him.

"Itachi! You bastard I-"

"Sasuke, wh-what's going on?" Hinata asked frantically, interrupting him before he cursed anymore. Her pale eyes were large with worry.

"He thinks I had something to do with his wife's death." Itachi said from his seat.

"He did. He tricked her into staying here forever and not coming back with me." Sasuke retorted, glaring fiercely at the other man.

"I allowed you to try and bring her back. You're failure at being able to follow simple rules was your own fault." Itachi said in a way that made it clear the conversation was over.

Sasuke let out a low growl and would have attacked the god if Hinata had not moved in front of him.

"It seems as if you found a replacement for her." Itachi said as soon as Sasuke stopped moving. This sparked a new set of anger and the black-haired musician was just a shove away from throwing Hinata back when the girl suddenly did a series of movements, causing the man to become paralyzed. In normal situation she would have let Sasuke run around and yell at people (not that he usually does), but she could clearly see who would have the advantage in this fight.

"I-I don't re-really understand what's go-going on, but th-this is to-too mu-much. J-just tell me, Ita-It-Sir, will yo-you allow me to fi-find love?" She asked quickly for the paralysis was not going to last long.

"No, I will not."

"Why not?" She asked, not noticing that her stutter had left in her sudden burst of anger.

"Because I don't see the need for my interference in your life." He replied stoically.

"But-But everyone else doesn't see the problem with it." Hinata's face turned pink as she argued with the god of the underworld.

"Everyone else is blinded by your past to think about anything else. I, on the other hand, do not care for your past or your future."

Sasuke watched at Itachi and Hinata had a full conversation. The girl barely stuttered and the god was not just shrugging her off as Sasuke had seen him do to kings and other gods. This made the musician even angrier, but he was in no position to speak at the moment.

"You really won't help me?" She asked, feeling broken-hearted. It was a horrible feeling because this adventure had been a difficult period and, at the very end, she was being rejected her prize.

"No. I won't, so leave and take him with you." Itachi said emotionlessly, pointing to Sasuke.

The pale-eyed girl bit her bottom lip softly before turning and walking out the room, Sasuke right behind her.

And, with her mission a complete failure, Hinata left the underworld.


This was going to end completely different had I not read a romance book over the winter break. :)

Only 1 more chapter and an epilogue left!