When she smiles

Chapter 25

Ever growing fear

"What kind of idiot are you, you, fool? Your sister could have gotten killed! Don't you know she's the future of this company you miserable little mistake?" The older woman hissed leaving Hinata in tears. She'd looked away for just a second to grab her sister a snack, that was all and by the time she looked back the four year old was making her way into the street. Hinata had sprinted over snatching the girl back to the safety of the sidewalk just as a large truck barreled past. The fact that she had almost lost her sister was taking a huge toll on the ten year old.

"You brat, I bet you wanted to put your sister in harm's way, I bet it's because you know your father loves her more! You know you're worthless to us especially after this morning!" hearing this Hinata flinched, she knew she messed up this morning, she knew her father was upset about it too, but she hadn't tried to mess it up! She couldn't control how she stuttered when she was nervous! She had met the leader of the Kumo company Mr. Rai. Her job as heiress to the company was to present the opening speech about the Hyuga corporation and she'd stuttered terribly through it all. Every one of the people there were so intimidating, especially Mr. Rai. Hinata knew her father was disappointed and couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze after he dismissed her from the room.

Unable to take any more of the abuse from their caretaker Hinata sprinted away from the park as fast as she could in tears. She wanted to go home, she wanted to be with Miss. Kurenai and yet she could do none of those things, they were in Kumo, from what her father told her it was the land of clouds. Her father was in a business meeting currently striking a proposal to another company on their turf and Hinata had no idea how to get anywhere in this place. It wasn't long before in her fit of tears she became hopelessly lost. She had been wandering for hours now and found herself at another park, there she sat silently on the swings wondering how she'd ever find her family and get home, it was starting to get dark and just as she made to get off the swings Hinata was grabbed and a cloth was pressed against her face sending the girl into darkness.

O0o0o0

The room was just as he'd left it, it seemed his father never bothered to look in his son's room, he never had before so why would he start now? It was clean and tidily kept due to the maids paid by the man he called father and as Sasuke looked around never had he felt sicker in his life, he didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be in this room, not even in this house. The prison felt more like home than this place did. With a sigh the black haired teen kicked his bag into the closet and changed his clothes, it seemed the maids had also kept up with doing his laundry, and after putting on something that wasn't slacks and a button up shirt courtesy of his father Sasuke walked from his room. There was an old tree house in the back he and his brother would play in all the time and often he needed to go there to think…well he needed to be there now. As he made his way down the hall he paused at his father's office as the man's voice rose in anger.

"I don't give a damn what you have to do to her, the Hyuga's corporation is taking us over, we'll be bankrupt in a few years! Listen just do me a favor and get rid of the girl, their progress will die out in months and we'll have room to thrive….how the hell do I know?...Yes the older one, she's due to lead the company is she not?...Whatever I've got a bone to pick with that little bitch anyways… just do it…" the sound of the phone snapping shut was enough to bring Sasuke back to his senses but before he could move his father walked from the room immediately spotting him.

"In a matter of days all your troubles will long gone son." Fugaku said with a smug grin leaving his son standing in shock. Sasuke watched as he walked around the corner and hurried from the house leaving the mansion behind him. It was official his father had lost his damned mind and Sasuke was not going to be around to deal with the aftermath of this one, screw that, hell freekin no. Walking through the city in his escape eventually a set of fancy looking apartments, caught his eye and the name of the lodgings were familiar and seeing his brother's car parked out from he knew why.

O0o0o0

Hinata had been sleeping restlessly, her dreams progressively going from bad to worse until she woke up in a panic almost falling out of the bed as she lay there in a cold sweat trying to catch her breath. Looking around the room quickly pale eyes registered the silent red head resting on the bean bag. He opened one eye looking at her before jerking his head for her to come over before closing it once again and in that moment Hinata wanted nothing more than to have him hold her. Crawling off the bed, the instant she touched the ground the sound of shattering glass made her scream and in moments she was grabbed and covered from the shards of glass that showered the room from the window nearest them.

Gaara held her tightly beneath him protecting her from a large majority of the glass feeling as Hinata trembled violently in his arms. In moments Hinata's door slammed open making her scream again as her father and Neji hurried into her room. Hiashi looked over the damage of the room while Neji glared at Gaara who still lay on top of his little cousin. Slowly he pulled Hinata up as she clung to him looking around until finally her eyes caught a brick with paper wrapped around it the same moment her father picked it up. Pulling the paper free of the rubber band he unfolded it before blinking curiously.

"Uncle, what's it say?" Neji asked, it wasn't usual for Hiashi to be struck into silence be it from confusion or shock, based on his face they knew it was confusion.

"Thirty." Hearing this Neji blinked.

"What?"

"It says thirty." Hiashi said obviously not knowing what to make of this message. Thirty what? What could it possibly mean? Gaara held onto Hinata tighter as she began to cry, she knew what it meant, she'd been counting the days. It was thirty days until school started, until the first day of official classes, until the first night she'd be alone and away from her family at college for the first time ever.

"It's ok, it's gonna be ok." Gaara whispered softly kissing the top of her head, but no matter how often he said it or how much he said it, Hinata had a feeling that it wouldn't be, that things were just beginning to go from bad to much, much, worse.

O0o0o0

Hinata woke dizzy, scared, and confused, her head ached and she felt sick to her stomach as it flipped and lurched as her world spun. In moments the young girl threw up as she began crying, her throat burning as she retched coughing, everything was dark and her arms were sore. Hinata went to move them only to find she couldn't and immediately began panicking as she cried more struggling against the binds.

"Awww damn it the damn kid threw up!" a male voice said in disgust.

"Shut the hell up you think I don't see that? Jeeze you're a whine bag its puke get over it! And you, shut the hell up you're giving me a headache!" a female voice snapped kicking the ten year old over as she yelped in pain.

"Sol, Luz enough." A familiar voice growled. "Don't you know she's a valuable package?"

"Don't look at me Luz is the one who kicked her not me." The male voice said defensively.

"Yeah well the brat wouldn't shut up, you find anything out about any cash Rai?" a resounding slap and a gasp was heard as the second man growled angrily.

"I told you not to call me that while were doing this, it could compromise everything!" Hearing this voice Hinata blinked, she recognized that voice and the woman saying his name solidified everything in her mind. That man was Mr. Rai, the same Mr. Rai her father was making a proposal for a company merger with, the same Mr. Rai she had spoken to this morning.

"Sorry….sir."

"And if you must know…they're willing to pay double here and now than what they were willing to put into our company, along with no criminal charges in exchange for the girl."

"When's the exchange?"

"Tonight at midnight at a local restaurant after he's deposited the money into the off shore account I've created."

"Good, it's almost time for the exchange. Sol, Luz you deliver the girl and keep her hidden, gag her if you have to and when you get a text from me leave her and split."

"Yes Sir." The male voice said.

"Yeah, got it." The female voice said in annoyance.

Hinata was pulled from the ground by strong arms and squealed when she felt her feet lift from the ground and immediately she began kicking in a panic as she screamed. In moments a cloth was shoved in her mouth muffling the shrieks and it was tied in place keeping her much quieter as she was moved from one location to another. At one point as she was brought to the first vehicle she kicked the man and was dropped hitting the ground hard.

"Screw what freekin Rai says this kids not worth the time. 'A valuable package?' I'll turn this damn kid into a package." The man snapped. Her hands bound behind her back Hinata squirmed trying to get away as she kicked her legs at him. Hinata was grabbed and her ankles were bound and soon enough she was forced into a vinyl zip up bag. Once she heard the loud zipping of the bag the girl blacked out waking only to hear people calling her name. The smell around her was awful and she could hardly move, wiggling around Hinata eventually hit what seemed to be a metal wall with a loud thunk. She could hear the people calling for her and began kicking the metal wall to the best of her ability with the limited movement she had. Hinata was still in tears and the indigo haired girl felt as though she hadn't stopped crying through the entire hellish experience.

Minutes later she was found, she'd been bound, gagged, stuffed in a duffle bag and tossed in a dumpster behind the restaurant which served as the meeting point. The ride back to the hotel was a blur to the girl who had been sitting holding onto her father the entire time and when they arrived she was handed over to her caretaker for a bath. She'd been unceremoniously stripped and almost pushed into the bath tub filled with scalding hot water, and as the woman washed Hinata's hair, using far more force than necessary, she once again berated the young heiress.

"Such an incompetent child, I'll bet you did this on purpose getting yourself in trouble to make a fuss! You're just spoiled, a spoiled brat who wants attention on only herself, you should be ashamed you worthless little wretch." With that said the woman dumped a bucked of the hot water onto Hinata's head rinsing the soap from her hair. "Get your ass out of the tub and get dressed, I imagine you aren't so incompetent that you're able to do that." Her caretaker snapped throwing a towel at Hinata who sat in the water with new tears staining her face as she shook.

O0o0o0

Gaara had gone home after staying long enough to speak with the police about what had happened. He promised Hinata that he would return, he had to go check in with Temari and go to work, lucky for him all he had was inventory duty today for shop materials as there were no landscaping projects to be done. He'd texted Hinata the whole day and after work he hurried home for a shower and a change of clothes, and after leaving a list of questions for Kankuro (who had been out at the time) to answer Gaara went back to the Hyuga mansion. Hinata had told him of her thoughts of what that thirty meant and he felt that maybe she was right, the police however thought differently and brushed aside the information telling them that if it happened again to call back.

That month passed quickly, and as it passed Hinata grew more stoic and silent and became a nervous wreck afraid of her own shadow. It had indeed happened again, though the smashed window was the only time that had happened, every day she received a note with a number counting down the days, and in various ways and places too, the most frightening when the number one appeared on her window in blood that morning, though the sight was unnerving the most frightening aspect was that the blood was on the inside of the window. Police patrols had increased around the Hyuga mansion yet the offender had never been caught or even spotted fleeing the scene.

Gaara was worried for her, Hinata had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and the bluenette had lost a lot of weight, she just couldn't keep anything down so she just stopped eating, this was not something he was happy about. The red head watched as slowly his girlfriend wasted away out of absolute fear. He watched as she packed her bags for college almost mechanically, like a robot showing barely any emotion. Gaara could see how drained she was, standing from his seat on the bed he pulled Hinata into his arms and held her tightly in his embrace. Hinata laid her head in the crook of Gaara's neck letting out a tired sigh, she was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Honestly, the bluenette didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"I won't let anything happen to you Hinata, I promise." Hinata didn't respond, she simply held him tighter.

"I don't think I can do this anymore Gaara. I just can't do it." She said softly pushing him gently away and turning back to her packing. "I'm just so tired, I'm tired of being scared, and I'm tired of worrying…I'm just so tired of everything. I-I can't do this anymore! It's too much; all of it's too much." Before Gaara could even respond a knock came to Hinata's door effectively drawing both their attention.

"Miss Hinata?" a voice called through the door as Hinata walked over opening it. "Your father wishes to speak with you and Gaara in his study, he would also wanted me to warn you that there are guests in his study with him that you both may not wish to see, however they are here for a very important discussion which you must be present for. There is however security in the room to put you at ease during the meeting. That is all." The servant said turning and walking from Hinata's threshold and disappearing into the Hyuga mansion.

"Who do you think it is?" Hinata asked looking at Gaara curiously, the red head simply shrugged. The only person whom he'd imagine Hinata wouldn't want to see would be Sasuke, but there was no chance in hell Hiashi would even let him in the building, let alone force Hinata to sit in a room with him again. Together they made their way to Hiashi's office where Hinata timidly knocked on the door and in moments it was opened and they walked to the door that led into the study. Gaara could hear voices one Hiashi's the other very vaguely familiar though he couldn't place a name or a face to it. Once again Hinata knocked and this time her father answered the door blocking the view of the guests.

"Hinata, I need you to be strong right now understood? Gaara, just stay calm and keep your temper in check understood? I mean it Gaara, this is serious business." they shared a glance at each other and nodded. With a sigh Hiashi walked the two of them into the room. The first thing Gaara's eyes were drawn to was the man pacing near the window talking on the phone, he looked familiar, but the sound of Hinata's panicked gasp drew his focus to the second person in the room, sitting alone at the table with his chin steepled on his fingers was one Uchiha Sasuke.

Sorry for the late update guys, I'm guessing you wanna spear me by now or something, but i've been working at work like crazy! =( not an excuse i know but if it makes u feel better ive been uber inspired lately and i have half of the next chappy done okies? Laters =)