GA/N: I do not own any part of Naruto. Very OOC Sasuke.

Please, please don't forget to review. I finally thought of the major plot!

Hinata thought that since she has worked as a priestess in the temple that she could know how to cook and clean in an ordinary house.

She knew how to collect herbs and categorize offerings based on the specific ancient criteria and value. She cleaned the marble floors and bathhouses twice a month.

But how wrong she was. She forgot that not every house has a mountain of offerings or dried incenses that need to be rearranged in jars.

Not every house has marble floors. She was in a mountain hut, and she wanted to repay her savior's kindness and prove that she wasn't useless.

'Maybe then, hopefully I could buy time enough to find a place to hide from ni-san...'

She told herself, 'if I prove myself useful, he won't need to send me the town council. Now, ni-san doesn't know that I escaped because he is on his overseas missions, but right now the palace court must be looking for me. I can't let them or ni-san find me."

But she had no idea as how to prove that she was worthy enough to share the hearth of this tall stranger.

She felt like a child lost in a crowd as she looked at the burnt meat that she tried to skin as best as possible despite the urge to hurl.

What was the use of public decorum in a forest full of wildlife? Why did she not have the useful skills that she would actually need?

Mortification made her face bright red, and she kept looking at the door lest the man named Sasuke comes in and sees the mess she created.

If he sees the mess, he might quickly change his mind full of heroism and gallantry and decide to give her up to the aristocrats who will in turn hand her over to their sovereign.

She shook her head quickly, no, she just can't let that happen. When she remembered Neji's cold silver grey eyes and the way they speculated on her...

She felt a shiver run down her spine. She still felt like she was being watched.

She picked the burnt meat and carefully went outside in a tiptoe. She then looked around for a good place to hide this awful proof that she wasn't so useful.

Then she finally found a mound of dirt that she thought would be perfect to hide her big mistake.

She crouched over the mound of dirt.

Then she heard a loud shout and felt a harsh yank on her arm that lifted her up, "What are you doing?"

Suddenly, she registered the smell of wild pines and warmth of a body and blushed profusely, "I...I"

The man named Sasuke looked down on her, shocked, "You can't bury that near the house. You'll be inviting wolves!"

"Oh-oh-" shocked at her own thoughtlessness that bordered on stupidity, she didn't even find the courage to make excuses or apologize.

The dark haired man threw a single glance on the burnt meat in her hand and then looked at her with his characteristically smoldering eyes.

He then snatched the burnt meat from her hands and walked into a deeper part of the forest that Hinata would never venture into, for fear of snakes.

When the man disappeared, she fell to the ground and covered her face in embarrassment. She was expecting a sharp berating remark but now that the man was silent, she was even more afraid.

'Should I run now?' she wondered. 'What if the man brings a group of soldiers?' When she pictured the scenario, the spears, the armor, she felt weak in her knees.

When Sasuke returned, he came back with a skinned hare instead. Hinata fought the urge to vomit when her eyes landed on the hare and tried to school her expression.

But when she saw the scowl on the handsome man's face, she realized that she failed miserably in acting nonchalant and blushed a bright red.

Thankfully for her, the man didn't say anything and sauntered into the hut where he proceeded to build a fire and start cooking the meat.

Hinata scooped underneath the narrow opening of the hut and meekly whispered, "I-I can...watch the fire."

Sasuke threw a glance over his shoulder and his eyebrow arched in question.

With the burnt meat hovering in her mind, bemoaning its fate, Hinata blushed profusely, "I-I made a deep mistake. I-I'm very sorry-"

"The stutter-" she heard a low baritone. She started. The root of her insecurity. He noticed it. Would he find it so annoying that he will take her to the town courts?

But what he said next was unexpected, "Did you develop it when you became a slave?"

Her eyes widened. The man, who looked so cold at the beginning, sounded caring, even concerned. And...did he just ask her if she was a slave?

When she became speechless, Sasuke added quickly, looking surprisingly embarrassed "Aren't you a slave?"

When his dark eyes landed on her wrists, Hinata blushed and then realized why this man would assume she was a run away slave.

"At first, your clothes and mannerisms made me think you were a lady, but..." surprisingly, bright red tinted his ears "I didn't mean to, but I saw the bruises on your body," he rubbed his mouth roughly in awkwardness, "and why would an aristocratic lady wander in the forests?"

Hearing his reasoning, Hinata had to agree. She also flushed a deep red. She looked at the man. His embarrassment made him look even more youthful and attractive. He looked even more handsome, being shy.

When she stared, he added quickly, "Don't worry. I won't turn you over just because you're a slave."

He then looked at her with compassion, "You must have never gotten a chance to know your parents. Me too. I've never known them."

At such rare show of kindness, Hinata suddenly felt something hot rise in her throat. She said "I-"

But then her judgment silenced her. Isn't it better that this naive man thinks that she was a slave, groomed to be an aristocrat's play thing? She also has her baby to think about.

When he saw her wet eyes, he suddenly withdrew his radiant smile. But he wasn't cold. Instead, he turned to the fire quickly, "The meat is ready." He said curtly.

Then they scooped down on the dirt floor and started helping themselves to the juicy, succulent meat. When Sasuke gave her a piece, her fingers trembled at first.

Then Hinata quickly helped herself to the meat that wasn't even salted or peppered or coated with olive oil. She ventured in the woods for so long and helped herself to berries and wild roots. She wasn't going to be picky.

While she was eating, she saw a bowl full of meat in the periphery of her sight. When she looked, she saw Sasuke handing her the bowl.

He gave her a serious look, "Did they not feed you well?" His brows knitted in a frown and he urged her to take the meat he offered.

Hinata blushed. She must have been eating ravenously without care for the man to offer her more with such look of worry.

"N-no," she blundered like a fool, "I-I was never starved." She felt her stuttering grow worse because of mortification.

Holding a bone, she said with a sense of melancholy, "He...never starved me." In fact, she was very well fed. The royal cooks were very skilled and she got to consume meat like fat goose and hog almost daily, a luxury that only came recently before she escaped.

She even remembered what Neji said right before he left for his missions. With his beautiful arm wrapped around her naked waist as she lay panting and red, he said something very strange in her ear.

"Princess..."

When she turned, she saw his eyelids half closed, as he surveyed a piece of her dark hair.

"I need you to be well-fed while I'm gone."

When she looked surprised, he said in a way that sent tingles down her thighs and arms.

"Hinata..."

Then he suddenly caught her in a hard embrace.

"If you are with child..."

But what shocked her more was his following words.

"That child will be king."

She wondered. Neji hated her, yet he wanted there to be a child and not just that he desired the child to be king. She lowered her head and thought. Before, she was certain that he only wanted to use her and the child for his revenge. She told herself that it was still true. Neji swore himself as her enemy and wanted to torment her. It did not have to be said outloud that the reason he wanted the child to be king was not out of any paternal love but to abuse and exploit the child like Hiashi. She bit her bottom lip. Neji was a heartless man. But she could not ignore the small whisper of doubt in the back of her mind. Maybe, just maybe the cold cruel man harbored some kind of adoration for his offspring other than as a political progeny to be ruthlessly trained and deployed?

Her hands smoothed over her still flat belly as she ruminated over the chances that Neji might have responded favorably to the news of his child. But she quickly squashed that hope, chastising herself for dreaming once again of happiness and love.

When she looked at the man, Sasuke she started. He suddenly wore such a look of hostility that she never anticipated. She worried if she accidentally offended him by the look on her face, the furrow buried into her brows.

"I-"

"That man who hurt you-" he said sternly, "is barely a man."

Time flew much more quickly than Hinata expected. Days past in the forest, and she had no idea if it was a week, two weeks, maybe a month.

Sasuke turned out to be a quiet man. A self-sufficient man, he turned out to be, Hinata found. When he became impatient with her clumsiness, his face turned frigid like the northern wind god's, but he never raised his voice or even let out a sigh of frustration.

Thanks to his patience, Hinata became better quickly at roasting meat and collecting wild herbs for side dishes. Thanks to her experience working as a priestess, she had some background knowledge in roasting (burning offerings) and processing dried and fresh herbs for apothecary.

When she was done with her chores, she would sometimes climb up to the highest peak in the mountain and watch the direction of the capital city.

If there was a rising smoke in the city, it meant that the king was either in danger or alerting his people of a dire emergency.

When she checked that there was no smoke, she let out a big sigh of relief and went down to Sasuke's hut that was buried deep in the forests.

But the person she saw in front of his hut made her heart stop.

Tall, with grey hair. It must be the man Kakashi.

She saw Sasuke raising his voice at Kakashi who later signaled that he didn't want to fight any longer and turned away.

Before he left, Kakashi shot a shockingly hostile glare at Hinata who automatically flinched. Her hand automatically rose to cover her stomach as if she was shielding her child.

When she turned to the hut again, she saw Sasuke seething red. But when he saw Hinata, Sasuke's face automatically brightened-or at least lost some of the simmering fury.

"Leuke-"

Hinata tucked the straw basket of wild vegetables under her arm awkwardly, "Shouldn't you go after your friend?"

She at first thought that Sasuke was just a very patient man, but when she saw him raising his voice at Kakashi, she wondered if she was mistaken.

Sasuke looked down at her and then rubbed the back of his dark spiky hair in frustration.

Then he suddenly grabbed her hand. The impact caused her to drop her basket and try to catch up with his brisk pace.

When he walked briskly down the mountain, skillfully treading on the jagged rocks and past the weeds and bark, she asked, "Where are we going?"

"You haven't let this area for quite a while," he answered brusquely.

Touched by his concern, Hinata blushed, "I-I'm okay..."

"Stop being like a squirrel," he glanced back at her and then kept walking.

Hinata's gratitude quickly turned into slight indignation, "A squirrel?"

"You even look like one."

"I-I don't!"

When he didn't even respond, she spoke quickly, "I-I'm not that small!"

"You are."

"I'm not! You're just big!"

"Hm?"

He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. He quickly towered over her.

Soon Hinata's heart almost stopped. 'Did I offend him?'

But the tall, dark and handsome man was quiet for a second.

Then he blurted out,

"Beady eyes."

Hinata turned red and was speechless, "I-I-" Did that man just tease about her eyes?

Hinata might have been meek and treated as a useless weakling by her father, but it was always only by her father-the most supreme being in the kingdom.

Her eyes were sign of her royal birthright, so she was never, ever referred to, let alone teased, about her eyes!

Then they kept walking down. Hinata didn't know how time flied,

"Th-that's" she wondered what to say and finished lamely, "unkind..."

But the big hand holding hers was warm.

He didn't forget to say, "You eat the portion, too."

When Hinata tried to retort, that it's him who eats like a bear, suddenly the forests cleared up and she saw the bustling village.

When she saw the bright white flowers, the breezy robes, and the games the people were playing, her eyes glittered. She even saw a group of people dressed as a chimera! Music, the sound of lyres and harps, was in the air.

"The moonflower festival!" she exclaimed.

When Sasuke looked down at her, she blushed as she felt his gaze. She felt a tug on her hand. He asked, "Do you want to look around?"

The music and the intoxicating smell of chick pea and pepper sauces and grilling meat already stole her senses.

When he saw that Hinata wasn't even listening, he muffled the urge to laugh.

...

Hinata saw so many things in the moonflower festival she never imagined in the palace. Sasuke got her a cloak to cover her head at her request to hide her face.

As always, he never questioned why she was obsessed with hiding from public.

Despite Hinata's protests, he got some of his spare wages he got from selling hide and got her pieces of chicken breast stuck on a stick and marinated with chickpea sauce.

"Bu-but we could always eat at home..."

Sasuke looked down at her apologetic face, "Who said it's just for you?"

Then he took a bite of her chicken. He casually wiped the white sauce around his mouth with the back of his hand and held her hand.

...

By the time she finished with the chicken, they happened to see a game where two men wrestled on a sand pit and tried to take a colorful sash that was tied around each other's waist. They were berefit of their tops, with their tan muscles glistened under the sun, reflected by the sand particles.

The crowds cheered when a young man with brown hair toppled his opponent and unceremoniously slung him over the san. Then the former snatched the green sash off his opponent's and raised both of his arms in victory. At the victor's roar, the crowd, especially the women cheered. Hinata couldn't take her eyes off such scene of raw energy and bravado. She has only seen aristocrats battle with their prized animals or slaves.

She didn't have the ability to see the look on Sasuke's face because she was so busy admiring the fight.

The victor took the green sash and circled around the sand ring. Hinata especially heard the great screams of women.

Hinata wondered, 'why were the women so excited? Throwing flowers at his feet?'

When the man almost passed by Hinata, he saw Sasuke and then looked down to see Hinata by his side.

Before she quickly covered her face, she saw the man make a warm, congenial smile and extend the dark green sash to her.

Hinata wondered in curiosity, 'Am I supposed to take it? But why?'

Then suddenly she saw a strong arm shoot forward towards the man, and she looked up to see Sasuke catching the wrist of the victor in a grip.

Sasuke's onyx eyes blazed as he locked his gaze with the victor's. The victor, who just overthrew a 200 pound opponent, also looked surprised and taken aback.

She looked at how furious Sasuke was, as his lips barely parted in quiet rage, "Sasuke..."

When she felt everyone's attention on them, she hurriedly covered her face in her cloak.

The judge looked at the two and then raised his hand, "It's a challenge!"

At the judge's signal, Sasuke walked into the golden sand ring without any hesitation.

Looking at the victor's size and smug look of confidence, Hinata gasped and tried to stop him but Sasu carefully pried her hand away.

Under the golden sun, Sasuke grabbed the edge of his upper tunic and slid it off his torso. The judge tied a bright red ash around his waist like the victor's belt.

At the sight of his chiseled ribs, abs, and wide marble shoulders, Hinata tried to hide the redness of her face with her cloak and the crowds cheered.

The victor smirked and also stepped into the ring. Now that he has taken off his top, Sasuke looked relatively calmer and poised.

The judge raised his hand. Silence fell on the crowds. The crowd became even bigger at the news that the village's most handsome youth challenged the most experienced wrestler of the prefect.

When Hinata saw the victor's head tower over Sasuke's and breadth of shoulder double his, she felt her heart beating in agitation.

Then the judge put down his hand, and the victor then idly tread in a circle. Then she saw the victor lunge towards Sasuke's back.

Hinata grabbed her cloak close to her chest and cried out, "Sasuke!" She almost took a step into the sand ring.

But then her eyes widened.

Sasuke side stepped, causing the man to lunge forth. When the agile man tried to whirl and grabbed both Sasuke's shoulder and band waist, Sasuke grabbed his opponent's belt by both sides and slammed his back on the sand pit. The golden sand spurted around them

The crowd emitted a loud cry. When the sand cleared and fell to the ground, everyone speculated wildly about the outcome.

What Hinata saw was Sasuke struggling to take off the victor's purple sash, and the victor struggling to push Sasuke off him.

The spectating women, including Hinata herself, blushed at the coincidental suggestiveness of the two bodies writhing against each other.

Finally, Sasuke rose with the purple sash that he raised triumphantly over his head. The crowds cheered, and a chill ran down Hinata's spine.

His shoulders rose up and down as he breathed heavily, and the victor rose and kicked the sand and walked out of the ring.

When the crowd kept cheering, celebrating the overthrow of the seasoned wrestler in face of the new one, Sasuke walked up to Hinata.

Then he extended the purple sash to Hinata's surprised face.

When Hinata's eyes shot up to him, Sasuke kept looking down at her, locking his dark eyes with hers. His bare shoulders and torso rose and fell roughly.

Hinata took the purple sash with both hands.

Then she buried her face into the purple.

That night, Sasuke heard a low, trailing groan. It was a series of short groans that complained of deep pain.

Wondering what it was, he rose from his deep sleep and took his dagger.

The first thing he checked was Leuke's bed. His blood ran cold when he saw that she was the one making those sounds.

"Leuke," he stood up and ran over to her bed "what's wrong?"

"My...my..stomach..." Tears formed in her light lavender eyes. Sweat was beading her temple, plastering her dark indigo hair that looked even bluer.

She gripped her stomach as if she felt a dull ache in the pit.

Sasuke bit his bottom lip and raised her bed cover. He was planning to take her to the village healer.

He cursed roughly at the sight. Red blood was saturating her dress.

He tried to bring cool reason back to his head and lifted her skirt.

When he saw the amount of blood between her legs, color came back to his face.

"It's okay," when she rested her face on his neck and sobbed quietly, Sasuke comforted her gently, rubbing her back. As a hunter, he watched female hunting dogs bleed a lot more if they lose their pups. She didn't get a miscarriage. She never had a seed of life in her. "You didn't lose a child."

At his words, she blinked her lovely wet eyes, "...child?"

Sasuke watched her face slowly sink into despair, "I...never..." When he saw the look of despair in her face, he bit his bottom lip. He just realized. She must have been expecting a child. The bastard's child.

At the sight of such sorrow, he felt his heart churn in pain. But he felt he needed to remind her of what was true, "No...you never had a child at the first place."

"Oh," she tried to hide her face in her hands. Dark hair fell across her face, "I'm glad. I'm so relieved. I'm glad."

But despite her claims to be relieved, to be happy, her shoulders shivered ever so slightly. She couldn't fool his eyes.

"Leuke" he said firmly.

"I'm-"

He silenced her in his embrace. Her breath was knocked off her as he pressed her front flush to his chest.

He wasn't good with words. So, instead he held her and his palm made gentle circles on her back.

She wept in his chest. Sasuke asked, with rare sadness in his deep voice "Why are you crying? You should be glad you're not pregnant by your master."

At his words, she shook her head, "I-I don't know..."

As his fingers intertwined with her hair, she said, "I don't know why...He was cruel. He was so cruel to me but..."

She trailed and he felt something ominous in her inability to complete what she was saying.

What she said next almost stopped his heart, "maybe I...wanted...his child."

When she was about to finish her next words, "Maybe I-" She relaxed her grip on his tunic. He felt that she was about to pull away.

"Stop."

He squeezed her tight, and she suddenly lost her words.

"Don't." He said. He asked her not to continue with the unspoken "please." He begged her to not finish what she was about to say. If she was to say that she fell for that damned aristocrat who hurt her, he wouldn't know what to do.

That night, she fell asleep in his arms.

A few days past since the event. Hinata was in the hut's kitchen, seasoning the wild lettuce she found in the forests.

By the time, Sasuke came in, she looked up to the door with wide eyes, "Sasuke, where were you?" Her long hair was tied with the purple sash. She straightened up and approached him with familiarity. She didn't act in fear or wariness like an alert bunny anymore.

"Here."

Suddenly her face was covered with golden freesias. Her hands were at lost in the air at first.

Then she carefully received the flowers and touched the petals. Then she closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet heady scent.

While she was enjoying the flowers, she heard Sasuke calling her, "Leuke."

When she tried to lift her face to thank him, he closed the distance between them.

When she felt the mix of warmth and fragrance, she heard his warm, low voice. He slightly bowed his head, and his black hair rested on her dark indigo crown.

His words came out as a half-whisper. "Marry me."

Her light lavender eyes shot up to him.

"Sasuke?" She looked up to him in question. Her lips trembled, "why...why?"

Sasuke's pale face stiffened and his eyes clouded with disappointment. Hinata could tell that he was feeling a keen sense of rejection even though he struggled to hide it. Her heart ached as she saw that she caused pain. Especially to her lovely benefactor to whom she owes her live.

She looked down at her poor yellow flowers that she grabbed so hard to her chest that they wilted. Her face showed agitation, "But... I can't cook...I can't sew..."

"You are learning," he said.

She bowed her head even lower, "I'm...a runaway slave...You can't take me to the marketplace without me hiding my face. You won't receive any dowery."

"I don't care."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Bu-but...what about Kakashi?"

Sasuke made a sour grin and scratched the back of his neck, "He'll be mad, but he'll get around."

Hinata doubted that the tall grey haired man will condone this marriage.

When she was still silent, Sasuke glanced at her uneasily.

He asked, "is it because...I can't afford the lifestyle you had?"

"No!" Hinata didn't raise her voice often but this time she just had to. Sasuke started.

She furiously shook her head.

"It's...it's not because of that." Her eyes looked at him in heartbroken concern lest she hurt him.

"Then..."

"I-I..." Hinata blushed, "even told you that I wanted the child of the person who hurt me..."

She didn't have the courage to glance at him, "don't I disgust you?"

"No." Obsidian eyes gazed down at her, as he told her what she guessed was supposed to be a private secret for the reserved man, "I was an orphan all my life. I always wanted a mother. But I knew I was probably abandoned."

He held her arms and pulled her close to him. Surprised, she looked up at him.

"If you could cry for the child you got by the man who hurt you..."

Hinata's breath hitched to her throat. His smile reached his dark irises that shone like black jewels. He looked unearthly but gentle. His lips parted to show the warmest smile she has ever seen in his face yet. There was a glow in his radiant face.

His eyes gazed down at her warmly, "You are definitely not disgusting."

Hinata's eyes welled up with tears again. A tear fell across her cheek, and Sasuke sighed, "Leuke, I didn't mean for you to cry like this."

As he held her tight, he whispered into her ear, "So..." his warm breath tickled her ear, "marry me, okay?"

When she sniffled and finally nodded, he hugged her around her neck because of his taller height and buried her face to his chest.

She could hear his heart beat rapidly—the thundrous pounding echoing in her ear.

She remembered the first time she was proposed to—it was by Naruto who claimed that he loved her, who was much more fiery and eloquent, passionate and gallant in his speech, who held her hand.

But why did she feel so much more at the face of Sasuke's calmer speech? At his simple plain words? Why did her heart swell in emotions she never felt before? Why was she so happy?

Sasuke kept holding her close.

That afternoon, they decided to have a little wedding.