Role Reversal

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Notation: You're going to see a new side to Sasuke and Hinata during their battle with enemy ninjas in this one that may be potentially disturbing, but I view it as a realistic reaction to a situation like that.

Chapter 11

A short while later, Hinata wakes up and snuggles into the source of warmth next to her. Whatever that warmth was, it felt nice. Her semi-conscious mind didn't register that her blanket was actually Sasuke.

"Hinata, are you awake?" Sasuke whispers.

The Hyuga Heiress was dimly aware that someone was calling her name, but she didn't really want to wake up. This was nice and comfortable. Whoever it was could wait a few minutes.

They were whispering. Surely, it couldn't be an emergency. Right? Well at least that was the logic that Hinata employed as she cuddles further into her "blanket."

"Hinata, we really need to talk about your rather deviant usage of your Byakugan. I know that you looked at me in the shower." Sasuke continues.

Byakugan. Shower. Oh right. She had peeked. Hinata knew that she shouldn't have done that, but curiosity had gotten the better of her. She was only human.

That's when it clicked. She wasn't curling up into a blanket. The bluenette was snuggling against Sasuke. The man who she had spied on in the shower and he was apparently, very aware of that fact. Uh oh.

"I'm sorry. I s-shouldn't have looked!" Hinata stammers out quickly.

It was amazing really. She was a Jonin Level Ninja and Sasuke could reduce her to stuttering. Stuttering because she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.

"Hinata, I'm not angry. I don't mind you looking, but I would prefer to be aware of that fact." Sasuke chides her gently.

He wasn't angry? Sasuke wasn't angry that she had completely invaded his privacy? Hinata wasn't really sure how that was possible, but she wasn't going to argue about it.

"Oh good. I was just curious. I didn't mean to invade your privacy like that." She apologizes.

That's when she suddenly finds herself on her back and pinned to the bed. Pinned to the bed with an Uchiha on top of her. Hinata suddenly feels her face burn bright red.

"Well next time you're curious about anything, you can just tell me and maybe I'll indulge you." Sasuke whispers hotly into her ear.

It really should be illegal to do whatever he was doing with his voice. Hinata feels herself shiver and she somehow manages to stutter out a lame answer. It was lame, but at least it was coherent.

"A-alright." She whispers and Sasuke smiles in response.

"Mhm. Well Gaara is Kazekage now. So it's a safe bet that he's going to be in the Sand Village. We can take our time. We don't necessarily need to hurry. I doubt the Akatsuki are going to target a Kage first." Sasuke reasons as he caresses her cheek.

It was tempting. Really tempting. They could just stay here for a day or two and get some more rest. That or maybe they could kiss some more, but she knew that she couldn't do it.

"Sasuke, we're leaving now. You're being distracting again and I don't appreciate it." She informs him.

"Oh this isn't distracting. I could get in the shower again, if you want. You wouldn't even have to use your Byakugan this time. You could join me." Sasuke says and Hinata feels her face burn bright red in response.

He was definitely going to take every opportunity to tease her about her moment of weakness. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but not Hyugas. No. Curiosity was content just to embarrass the Hyuga Heiress, seemed.

That was it! She was going to have to retake control of the situation! She was not the same shy girl that left the Leaf Village. She wasn't going to let herself get seduced by her… well whatever Sasuke was to her!

"After we kill Neji, maybe. Not until then though." She retorts as she flips them.

It was a strange, but thrilling feeling. Having the Uchiha pinned underneath her and there was something rather satisfying about the look that he was now giving her. It was one of complete surprise.

He shouldn't be surprised really. Hinata had spent years at the Sound Village. She had been training everyday to get stronger. Strong enough to kill Neji. Of course, she could flip them.

"Just more incentive to kill him. What are you going to do, if I keep distracting you though?" Sasuke asks with a smirk.

"If I have to, I could always lock up your chakra points until you behave. If that doesn't work, I know how to use all manner of weapons now. I can use whips and swords as well as kunais." Hinata warns him.

"Whips are more Orochimaru's thing than mine. I wouldn't say no to chakra cuffs though." Sasuke teases her.

Hinata blinks. What was she going to do with him? Right. She was going to have to get rough.

"Sasuke, I meant it. I WILL lock up your chakra points, if you don't stop distracting me." The Hyuga Heiress states firmly.

"Alright. Alright. I'll be good. Hey. Wait. Did you hear that?" Sasuke asks as he tenses up.

Hinata pauses and listens carefully. She could hear footsteps coming down the hall. More footsteps than was normal. Damn it!

"Byakugan." She whispers as she looks through the wall.

Sound Ninjas. Five of them. While she was confident that she and Sasuke could defeat them, Hinata really didn't want to waste the time and potential injuries that such a confrontation would likely result in.

"They found us. Damn it. Orochimaru knows me too well. We need to get out of here." She says and Sasuke nods.

He quickly grabs his weapons and his pouch filled with the money that Hinata had given him. She had one of her own. The bluenette had done this deliberately.

If they got separated, she wanted Sasuke to have enough funds to return to the Leaf. That or if Neji killed her. She would do her damnest not to let that happen, but she knew the truth. It was an all too real possibility.

"He knows how you think, but he doesn't know how I think. They'll follow us, but at least we won't have to fight them where civilians will get dragged into it." Sasuke says as he grabs her hand and Flickers them off.

Meanwhile the Uchihas had divided up into two groups. The first was the largest group. They would be staying at the Uchiha District while the search happened while the second group searched for Sasuke and Hinata.

"So um no offense, Mrs. Uchiha. Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean you haven't been on Active Duty in a few years and we're dealing with the Sound and Neji." Naruto asks nervously.

"I may not have been on Active Duty, but I kept up with my training. Sasuke is my son and I'm going to help find him. Fugaku has to stay behind and keep order in our District and patrol the Leaf. So I'm going in his stead." The Uchiha woman replies as they flit off.

Itachi shakes his head in amusement. One day, Naruto would learn his lesson. Never argue with a ninja woman. They were the most stubborn breed of women imaginable.

"That and my mother also happens to be quite skilled at tracking." He offers.

"Oh well that's good." Naruto concedes as they continue on their trek.

Itachi nods in agreement. Unfortunately, they didn't have much to go on. Hinata could have taken them anywhere and they had a head start. The only good news was that they were somewhat limited by the fact that they presumably were living off the land. One could only move so fast when you had to hunt dinner and make camp.

The elder Uchiha Brother estimated that perhaps ten percent of the Uchiha Clan had been deployed to look for Sasuke and Hinata. Anymore than that and it might spread a panic. The Uchihas were the Leaf's Military Police Force. If they all went missing at once, it wouldn't look good.

"Where do you think they would have gone?" Shisui asks Naruto and Itachi.

Itachi frowns in response. That was a good question. Logically, he and Naruto should know how those two would think better than anyone. Sadly, he was coming up blank.

"The fact that she just grabs him, means we don't know which direction they went. We have a good portion of our Clan and several regular Ninja Teams on the look out. We'll find them. They might have a head start, but we have more people and have the advantage of not needing to stop for supplies." He reasons.

"Maybe, they aren't living off the land. I mean Sasuke probably had some money in his pouch and Hinata might have." Naruto suggests.

Itachi pauses as he hears that. That was a good point. He should have considered that.

"Knowing Sasuke, it's unlikely that he would leave home without emergency funds. If he did though, we have no way of knowing how much he brought with him. Let alone, if Hinata had any cash on hand." The Uchiha Matriarch says.

"Between the two of them, it's possible they may have enough to secure a room for at least a day or a few days. It'd be smart for them to use Transformation Jutsus and fake names to hide while they made a plan. We've been going about this all wrong." Itachi whispers.

He had been so foolish. Itachi should have known that Sasuke would have money on him. It was the smart thing to do and while his little brother may be foolish, there was no denying that he was also highly intelligent.

"We should be checking every inn and nearby hotel in that case. Most likely they'll pose as lovers or even as a husband and a wife." Shisui points out.

"Ha! Do you think the bastard will carry her around Bridal Style? Because that would be really funny, if he did!" Naruto says with a laugh.

"Naruto, now is really not the time to be making jokes!" Mikoto snaps at him.

Wisely, the Nine Tails chooses that moment to go quiet. Itachi couldn't blame him. After all, his parents could be quite fearsome when they wanted to be. In that regard, Mikoto Uchiha was not all that different than her husband.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He mutters hastily as Itachi skids to a halt.

"Itachi, what are you doing?" Shisui asks in confusion at the sudden stop.

"I'm sending out messages to the other search teams. They might not have realized what we did." Itachi states as he summons several crows and immediately begins taking out scrolls and scribbling messages on them.

They would cover more ground this way. Everyone should be searching inns and hotels. They had been going about this all wrong.

"Good thinking." Mikoto agrees as her eyes scan their surroundings on high alert.

She had good reason to be so anxious. There was a chance that Sound Ninjas could be lurking around. Waiting to ambush them.

"Thank you, mother." Itachi says as he finishes writing the last of the notes and the crows take flight.

Pursuing a Summon Contract was one of the best decisions that Itachi had ever made. Summons were just so useful in so many situations. Their value couldn't be overstated.

"You're welcome. We should be going though." Mikoto says and with that, their search team takes off.

Elsewhere, Neji continues his journey with Kisame. They were on the hunt for Tailed Beasts. Not that the Hyuga particularly cared about this endeavor, but he knew that it was vital to keep up appearances.

"I say we go to the Sand. It'll be fun to watch Deidara tear through the "Ultimate Defense," don't you think?" Kisame asks with a smirk.

"I suppose that there is a slim chance he might need our assistance. Very well." Neji agrees.

He knew Kisame. The man was trouble when he got bored. Well he was trouble on a good day, but especially so when he was bored and didn't have anything to channel all his energy into.

In a strange way, the shark lover was almost hyper. At the very least, he was always looking for an adrenaline rush. His love of cheap thrills had been the cause of much strife in their partnership thus far and Neji doubted that was going to change, anytime soon.

"That's the spirit! This is going to be fun!" Kisame says merrily as they begin to make their way towards the Sand Village.

It was going to be a long trip. Neji knew that, but that wouldn't stop him. The last thing he needed was a partner who was looking for a fight. This was especially the case when it was so easy to pacify him.

"I don't know, if fun is how I would characterize this pursuit. Still Deidara may need us and don't currently have any other leads. There is no harm in it. It may even be beneficial." The lavender eyed man reasons.

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud. Would it kill you to smile once in awhile?" The sword lover inquires as he walks side by side with Neji.

Neji couldn't remember the last time that he smiled, now that Kisame mentioned it. It must have been years ago. Before the Massacre. Surely, he must have smiled then.

It was pathetic. The Hyuga couldn't even remember the last time he had felt enough happiness to merit a smile. Hinata would be doing him a favor when she finally ended his miserable life.

"My smiling is not necessary for us to complete our mission." He replies curtly.

"Yeah. I guess not. You're worse than Sasori. You know that?" The blue skinned man asks as they continue on.

Sasori was another member of the Akatsuki. The red head wasn't the most social either. Though Neji suspected that had more to do with the fact that Sasori's partner was his polar opposite than anything else.

Oddly enough, the eccentric blonde seemed to worship the ground that Sasori walked on. The Hyuga was certain that in his own strange way, the puppet master also cared for the artist. He just had a strange way of showing it.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Neji mutters.

"You would. You're really weird, even by my standards. Oh and those eyes of yours are pretty freaky." Kisame comments cheerfully.

Weird. Well Neji had been called far worse than that before. He could live with that description. As for his freaky eyes, well Kisame needed to look at himself in the mirror.

Not that Neji was a shallow person. He knew that it was what was on the inside that mattered most. Most people would consider him attractive, but he was also someone who had nearly wiped out an entire Clan of hundreds of people. Beauty really was only skin deep.

"Whatever. If you want to see Deidara fight the Kazekage, we better hurry." Neji mutters and Kisame nods in agreement as the two of them race off towards the Sand Village.

Meanwhile Sasuke and Hinata shimmer into a clearing. Sasuke looks around warily. He knew that it was likely just a matter of time before the Sound Ninjas showed up. Those freaks just never gave up.

"We'll take them out quickly. I can't believe that I'm copying the loser's trademark move, but it's easier. SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Sasuke says as he forms a dozen or so clones.

"I find it strange that the two of you are best friends, but you still call him loser. You're right though. We need to end this quickly." Hinata agrees as she also forms several clones.

"We're always like that. We've got company. I can sense some chakra signatures approaching us fast." Sasuke warns her.

Sure enough, there were soon eight Sound Ninjas rushing towards them. Damn. That was strange. That was a rather large squad, but not large enough to necessarily be an overwhelming force when you were dealing with people like him and Hinata.

"I think it's time that you made good use of your whip. FIREBALL JUTSU!" Sasuke hisses as he breathes a giant fireball out of his mouth and towards their attackers.

He didn't want to waste large attacks on them, unless it was absolutely necessary. On a mission like this, conversing chakra could be the difference between life and death. Whether or not, they ended up killing the Sound Ninjas didn't really matter to Sasuke.

"You're right!" Hinata says as she takes out her whip and lashes it at some of the nearby ninjas.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be. She agreed to be Lord Orochimaru's Vessel and he's not going to let her go back on her word. Did you really think that you were the first Vessel doublecross him?" A Sound Ninja named Kiro hisses in pain as the lash of the whip slashes into his arm.

Sasuke saw blood well up and flow from the wound. It was more superficial than anything else. It would sting, but Hinata had clearly decided to go with a warning shot.

"No, but he's not getting her body!" Sasuke yells as one of his clones charges at a Sound Ninja.

While Kiro was tall with long, straight brown hair and dark blue eyes, this one was his opposite. Short blonde hair and orange eyes. Sasuke vaguely remembered them being called Kada.

"You're lucky that Lord Orochimaru wants you two alive. You're going to be his Vessels and that's that." Kada warns Sasuke as he hurls a kunai at him.

Sasuke manages to dodge and jumps up into the air. It wasn't long until Hinata saw him firing off a Lion's Barrage. It was called a Lion's Barrage for a reason. It was a powerful Taijutsu Attack and it sounded painful.

Kada wasn't giving up that easily though. He was trying his best to block Sasuke's clone's furious punches and kicks, while tossing more kunais at the other man. Hinata would have been worried, if it wasn't a clone.

"Hey, Princess. Did you forget something?!" Kiro demands as he Flickers behind her and holds a kunai to her throat.

Too bad for him, that she had summoned quite a few clones. Her clones launch an all out assault on him. Despite the fact that the technique was called the Gentle Fist, the attack was far from gentle. Her clones' hits struck true and locked up his chakra points.

"Not really. I just don't usually don't squash insects. One of my teammates is very fond of them, but I'll make an exception for you." She hisses as she steals his kunai.

She hated killing, but Kiro wouldn't give up. Hinata knew that and she needed to be able to help Sasuke. Besides, he would have done it to her. With that in mind, she quickly slashes his throat open with the kunai that he had intended to attack her with.

Blood spills profusely from the wound and Hinata watches with a strange sense of detachment as he quickly bleeds to death. The only thing that snapped her out of her daze was the sound of fireballs, kunais, and Chidoris being thrown around.

"Not bad kid, but you can't take out all of us! At least, not at once!" A woman named Akara snarls at the Uchiha as she hurls what seemed to be thousands of needles at him.

She wasn't the only one though. Hinata could see that someone was trying their luck with a Water Dragon attack. Another was attempting what was likely a Genjutsu. It was hard for her to keep up with all the attacks. They had all decided to focus on Sasuke first.

That was their mistake. Thanks to his Sharingan, Sasuke was able to doge most of the attacks. Though to her growing horror, she could see that he had been struck by what was likely dozens of needles and his clones had disappeared.

"I'm wouldn't be sure about that!" He growls as he takes a punch to the face, to grab one of the Sound Ninjas by the arm and throw him backwards into a tree.

One by one, each of his clones had fallen. There was only one Sasuke left and he didn't have the time to summon more clones. It was becoming readily apparent that he was lucky that he could see attacks coming and counter. He couldn't do any "new" moves.

"Sasuke!" She calls out in horror.

"I'm fine! Just get out of here. I'll find you!" Sasuke tells her.

Thin trails of blood were sliding down his arms and face from the needles. She could see that even with his Sharingan, it was a struggle to keep up with that many attacks coming at him simultaneously.

The red head with the chocolate brown eyes named Akara didn't last long though. Sasuke drove a Chidori into her heart and then did a flip backwards to narrow dodge some attacks.

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Hinata says as she has her clones charge at the Sound Ninjas.

"You're still the most stubborn woman that I've ever met!" Sasuke seethes as he exchanges blows with another Sound Ninja.

Hinata's clones slammed Gentle Fists into her opponents while she cracked her whip. She wasn't going to leave him behind. Not after everything they had gone through together.

It was a flurry of whip lashes, punches, kicks, kunais, and Jutsus. Hinata had never seen anything like it, but in the end. They had won. The Sound Ninjas were either dead or unable to attack further.

Which was a good thing. It would have been unwise to continue much further. Hinata winces as she pulls a kunai out of her arm and the wound begins to bleed heavily.

"Hinata, are you alright?" Sasuke asks as he slowly makes his way over to her.

Most likely, he was worried one of the few living Sound Ninjas would have another go at him. They were on the ground, but that didn't necessarily mean that the two or three that were still alive wouldn't find a second wind.

"It's fine. Just a kunai to the arm. What about you? Your face is covered in blood!" She exclaims.

"Superficial for the most part. Though the sword slash to the back, I could have lived without. We need to treat your injury. Yours is worse than mine." He says.

"Alright, but first we have to kill the ones who are alive. If they live, there's a chance that they could get back to Orochimaru. They could tell him where we were." She whispers.

Hinata nearly winced at the horrified look Sasuke gave her. He had killed in the heat of battle. She had seen that with her own eyes, but killing someone who was already incapacitated obviously didn't suit well with him.

"Hinata, they aren't a threat anymore. We don't need to do that." He tells her.

"We don't know that." She replies as Sasuke looks at her arm.

"My, my. It seems that I taught you well. So you've finally learned to tie up loose ends. Though you really should be more aware of your surroundings." Hinata hears an all too familiar voice say.

Orochimaru. Orochimaru had gone with the team. How that was possible when he was that sick, she didn't know. Though judging by the fact that Kabuto was standing at his side, she was willing to be the medical ninja had something to do with it.

"You're right. Sasuke, change of plans. We should kill the snake first before dealing with the insects." Hinata says.