Never Meant To Win

A/N: Slight yaoi reference here. Don't like, don't read.

God bless Chemo. God bless Naruto. And God bless the people at the gate who sent a message to Naruto that Neji and I had arrived back in Konoha. Naruto sent Chemo ahead to, at the very least, pause Hinata's wedding for me, before Hinata could sign any of her vows.

I arrived at the Hyuuga estate, and gratefully thanked Chemo. I'm not sure, as I was slightly delusional, but I think I hugged him. And maybe kissed his cheek… But that wasn't important.

I strode into the estate, and suddenly realized I had no clue what I was going to say. What could I say? 'Excuse me, Hyuuga-sama, but I want to interrupt your daughter's wedding with her betrothed in order to tell you that I love her, and the Aburame clan can forget conjoining with the Hyuuga clan?'

That'd go over real well. I'd be lucky if I survived.

But, my dear friend Neji had my back.

"Excuse the intrusion, Hiashi-sama, but I am afraid that we have some news. It is in Hinata-sama's best interests," Neji said, with a deep and flowing bow. I was certain that his nose grazed the ground.

I decided that copying his bow would be a good idea. I bent lowly in deference to the head of the Hyuuga clan, hoping that he wasn't too angered.

"This had better bevery important," Hiashi growled. At least he hadn't attempted homicide yet. Or perhaps he was waiting for a lack of witnesses.

"It is," I assured him. "I… Well, Hinata can't marry Shino. Because…"

"She can't? I do believe most of the papers are already signed… Other than the vows, Hinata and Shino are already legally bound. They certainly have the ability to be wed," Shibi Aburame interjected.

"No… No offense to you, Aburame-sama, but Shino isn't meant for Hinata," Neji interjected. He certainly knew how to handle clan officials.

"Yes, she is. And she has been since they were both five years old," Hiashi growled. "I see no reason why we shouldn't continue with the wedding."

I sighed, and finally, I decided talking to the two of them was a waste of time. They wouldn't let me have a word in edge-wise, and confessing my love to Hinata to them wouldn't help me much.

"Hinata… It's a little late, but… I think I…" I quickly glanced at everyone else. Shibi held a mask of indifference. Hiashi Hyuuga was glaring at me. Neji was giving me a look of impatience, as if he was watching a soap opera and there had been a commercial. Shino looked… relieved?

I finally continued. "I think I love you, Hinata. In fact, I'm positive."

There was silence.

"I—" Hinata began, but her father cut her off.

"That's very sweet, Uchiha, but we're in the middle of a wedding. No sordid affair is going to get in the way of my daughter marrying a traitor of Konoha," Hiashi definitely held deep contempt towards me.

"Father!" Hinata yelled. Hiashi snapped and glared at her.

"Hinata. I thought I raised you better. You do not talk to the leader of your clan in such a manner."

"But, Father, I love him, too," Hinata stated firmly. "Shino… I've known Shino forever, but at most, he's a brother to me. I can't ever love him romantically. But Sasuke…"

"Sasuke isn't worthy. He is a missing-nin, no matter whether or not the Hokage accepts him. If the Hokage had been anyone else, there would be a bounty on Sasuke's head. He is trash compared to us, and we are above him, Hinata."

"He had his reasons. He needed to avenge his family. How is that below us?"

"Hinata, it is understandable that he would want to cleanse his clan's name, but in doing so, he betrayed the entirety of Konoha. Even I know that my clan comes after Konoha."

"How else was he supposed to avenge his family's name? He didn't have any choice. His brother was leaps and bounds ahead of him—Sasuke had to borrow power, before Itachi was out of reach and did something horrible!"

"Stop, please," Shibi interjected the father-daughter argument. "I have never seen someone as genteel as Hinata act so insanely. She must really care for Sasuke, if she is willing to put everything on the line to defend his honor." He paused. "However, Hinata is young, as well as Shino is. Perhaps we should wait," Shibi offered.

"I apologize, but even in a few years, I will not care for Shino in that manner," Hinata spoke apologetically.

"I'm afraid a wedding cannot wait. According to Hyuuga tradition, the leader of the clan must be married at fifteen—for five years, they run the clan under the previous leader's supervision, and then they take it over themselves."

"Perhaps we can go against tradition, just this once?" Neji offered.

I felt very awkward at this point. It was as if they had forgotten that I was in the room with them as they argued over not only Hinata's fate, but mine as well.

"Go against tradition? Surely, Neji, you must be joking?" This question was the last full sentence I was able to completely comprehend.

"If I could interject—" Shibi Aburame.

"Look, Father, I know you don't understand—" Hinata.

"No, I'm not joking, I'm being serious—" Neji.

"I don't really want to marry Hinata, either—" Shino.

"Um, maybe I should leave—" What was Chemo still doing here?

"Enough," my voice spoke firmly. The glare on Hiashi Hyuuga's face was nearly as intense as his own Byakugan. The incredulous look everyone else's' face was priceless, but at the moment, I was humorless. I coughed lightly, trying to lessen a little bit of the tension. Of course, I didn't succeed. I began to speak. "Hyuuga-sama, I understand your position. You do not wish your daughter to be wed to a missing nin—but my actions have been in favor of Konoha. Killing Itachi Uchiha, and I even, just a few hours ago, killed Orochimaru of the Sound. I know that some of my past actions were mutinies against Konoha, but the current Hokage is not a fool. He wouldn't have accepted me back into his city if he had any doubts about me."

Hiashi looked at me long and hard. Finally, with a great heaving sigh, he looked from me and looked to Hinata. "Perhaps he wouldn't be a disgrace to the Hyuuga line. However, Hinata, this decision isn't ours to make." Hiashi looked from Hinata to Shibi Aburame. "I'm afraid that this contract was initiated nearly a decade ago. Whether or not this wedding continues lies firmly in the hands of the Aburame family."

Shibi Aburame seemed to consider this statement for a moment before talking. "Shino has been given many marriage proposals. There have been those from Suna, those from the Cloud, those from the Rain… All of whom are very good candidates. Possibly better than Hinata is, in the respect that their genes can't possibly interfere with the Aburame genes. I'll leave the decision in the hands of my son."

"Father, I never wanted to marry Hinata."

"Is that an insult to the Hyuuga name?" Neji hissed, flinging himself forward at Shino. I was shocked at this sudden show of violence coming from someone like Neji—he was always calm, cool, and collected. But, suddenly, he was ready to fight Shino. Either he was going through a time of emotional turmoil, or he was extraordinarily protective of the Hyuuga name. I hoped it was the second.

Shino sighed, completely ignoring the obvious tone of threat in Neji's voice. "I mean no disrespect to your clan, one of the greatest of Konoha," he paused. "This wasn't quite how I wanted to say it, but I've never been interested in girls."

"You're gay?" the shock in Shibi's voice was evident. I glanced at Hinata, but she didn't seem the least bit surprised or disturbed, in any way. Perhaps she always knew, or perhaps he had told her. I'd be willing to believe either.

"I suppose that does explain why you've never seemed interested in dating any of the women that have been offered to you…" Shibi wasn't annoyed that his son was gay—to his credit, he seemed as if he was simply contemplating how he could make his son's sexuality work out for the good of their clan. "We'll discuss it later, in more private quarters. For now," Shibi Aburame turned to Hiashi Hyuuga, "It appears that we'll have to terminate the marriage, now doesn't it?"

"It appears so."

I scooped Hinata up in my arms, kissing her full on the lips. I stared into her bleary eyes, somewhat surprised that she was on the verge of tears. "Something wrong?"

"I… No. Nothing's wrong," she smiled softly at me. She pecked lightly at my lips, before backing away from me. "Everything is right."

----

And with that, life continued on as normal. Hinata and I were dating, and thankfully, Hiashi Hyuuga hadn't made me marry Hinata right then and there. I would rather not rush her, thank you. Neji and Tenten married each other, and when they returned from their two-week honeymoon, Tenten begrudgingly admitted to her closest friends that Neji was more fertile than average, and she was already pregnant due to a mistake that occurred just before the wedding.

Naruto and Sakura set a date for their wedding, and Naruto was making it a holiday for everyone—it was going to be conducted on the Hokage façade, right above his own statue (slightly egotistical, but no one else seemed to think so).

I was living a normal ninja life. I was going on missions, and I was becoming a bigger part of the ANBU. Currently, I'm up for nomination for becoming a squad leader—a huge step on the way to becoming the head of the ANBU itself, which was a great responsibility and honor.

However, aside from dating Hinata, doing missions, and working towards becoming a leader in the ANBU, another thing was weighing heavily on my mind. I still needed answers to some fundamental questions from Orochimaru. Questions such as: Why did he seem to know everything that happened to Kabuto, or to me, as a matter of fact? Why did he seem to just… give up in the last battle? What was all the research on, aside from thousands of jutsu?

But the main question was: Had we really gotten rid of Orochimaru, or was that just an assumption?

You could never be sure, especially not with a ninja like Orochimaru. I would feel thousands of times more secure in the fact that he was dead if I had been present at the time of his burial, burning, or whatever they did with his body.

As I perused the seemingly ancient text, I found very little of use to him. There were thousands upon thousands of jutsu, but nothing about scientific research, or anything out of the ordinary. However, halfway through the work, I noticed a line that seemed very oddly out of place.

Vipers bite, though they have long ago lost their heads.

Dumb folded, I pondered the line for a few minutes.

Did this mean that Orochimaru wasn't dead?

----

"Jiraiya, I need to talk to you," I greeted him hurriedly, and without much deference. He seemed to appreciate the fact that I was obviously in a rush, due to the gravity of the subject. "How… how did you dispose of Orochimaru's body?"

Jiraiya stiffened, and I could tell that he was thinking I was insulting his intelligence. "We beheaded him, and buried the head away from the body."

"Shit," I cursed. Of course—that was a standard manner of disposing of bodies, at least when one was dealing with more experienced ninja. Some ninja had the ability to regenerate him or herself, even from death, to full capacity—Tsunade, no doubt, was one such person.

I had hoped that, for some reason, Jiraiya had cremated Orochimaru instead of burial. But I had no such luck.

"I… I think he's coming back for me. I don't know when, but he's coming back," I growled out, certain that I was right.

----

Later that night, I allowed myself a rare moment of weakness. I was feeling exhausted—mentally, physically, and emotionally. We were in Hinata's part of the estate, somewhat like her own apartment. It was very lovely and comforting to come home to—and, though I didn'tlive there, I considered it home. We were lying on Hinata's couch, and my head was lying on Hinata's lap. As I relayed my account of the day and my research, she stroked my hair gently and consolingly. She paused at the parts that disturbed her, asked a few questions, and then continued.

"It's getting late," she pointed out, sometime around midnight.

"I don't want to go…" I was tired, and being spoiled by Hinata was by no means motivating me to leave. She sighed, obviously (if only slightly) annoyed at my whining.

"Sasuke, it wouldn't be proper for you to spend the night…" she protested.

"I'll sleep on the couch," I offered. Just being around Hinata was a relief, like she was a drug. When she was accessible, I was at ease and able to relax. Away from her, I constantly felt broken apart, like I needed something. Her.

She let out a breath. I hoped that she felt the same way that I did. "What about clothes?" she asked. Her arguments were getting weaker!

"I'll go to my place before work tomorrow, change and shower there," I suggested. I continued praying that Hinata would say 'yes, you can spend the night'.

But it wasn't meant to be.

"Oh, wait. I forgot entirely. I have a Hyuuga clan meeting to go to early in the morning. Father is coming to pick me up—I'd rather not explain why you spent the night in my apartment, which he is so lovingly providing and paying for," the last part she mumbled sarcastically. I snickered, reveling in the fact that I was the only one she said such things around—with everyone else, there was this constant 'proper-ness'. And though I loved that about her, I also loved the 'normal' part of her—the part of her that let down her guard.

As for the reason for the sarcastic tone of speaking, her father only gave her the apartment to keep her from moving away from the Hyuuga estate. At least here, he has some authority over her and what she does. He'd be lost if she moved into an apartment complex, as opposed to having her own place on the Hyuuga land.

"Well, fine…" I mumbled. I sat up and turned to Hinata. "I'll leave, then. I…" I paused. I had been planning on saying it for a long time, but for some odd reason, I had never been able to.

'Coward,' I cursed myself, before continuing. "I'll see you tomorrow," I finished lamely before grabbing my bag and stalking out of the apartment.

I had said it before. Why was I having problems saying it again? The first time, I suppose, I had said it out of desperation. However, saying, "I love you" so casually seemed… wrong. It was like she deserved to hear "I love you" dramatically every time it was said.

"Idiot," I spat the word, like it was acid coming out of my mouth. One of these days…

----

I rolled over in my bed, awaking to warm sunlight pouring into my room and on my half-naked body. I blinked slowly, coming conscious as reluctantly as was possible. I rubbed groggily at my eyes, before I realized something that motivated me quickly: I was horribly late for work. I jumped out of the bed, flying across my room. I froze, however, when I saw the note pinned to my bedroom door.

I'm glad you read the line in my notes. I won't have to repeat myself.

Let's just say that this viper has finally struck, and he's taken the princess of the Hyuuga.

She'll make a lovely substitute for you body, won't she? Lovely chakra precision, and she also has a bloodline limit! If it wasn't for the fact that she was female, she'd be a better candidate than you!

But, relax, dear Sasuke, for I will always covet your body above anyone else's'.

So, bring yourself to my current lair, alone, and I promise you, I will release your lovely—girlfriend, is it? Congratulations, by the way…—in exchange for yourself.

Signed,

The Beheaded Viper

Just as the meaning of the letter was sinking in, a loud pounding erupted at my door. "UCHIHA! OPEN UP!" I knew it to be the sound of Hyuuga Hiashi, and currently, he didn't seem very happy with me.

A/N (x2): Drama, drama, drama... Yes, I know, a lot happens all at once, but still. Well, next chapter will have a lot of Hinata's POV.

And I bet you all were thinking that this was around the ending, when you read the mini-synopsis I wrote, huh? Nope! I considered it, but there were still a few holes in regards to Orochimaru. Oh, and at this point, let's say they've been together about a month. Kay? Well, thanks for reviewing, everyone, I really appreciate it! Keep 'em coming!