Chapter One: War is Declared

"You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride."

― Jodi Picoult, Mercy

"Mrs. Uchiha! Tell us, how is your marriage to Sasuke?!"

"Are you expecting soon?!"

"Is it true that you're thinking of starting a music career?!"

The paparazzi barraged the meek girl as she walked out of the Uchiha Corps. Building, holding her coat over her head as her two bodyguards ushered the crowd of people away from the bluette and the limo out front. Her nerves were a wreck; how could a person deal with this every day? Always being the person of observation?

She used to be so carefree before she married , her life was a jumbled mess filled with cameramen and uncomfortable questions.

Her personal assistant, Konan, addressed the News' stations and the paparazzi with swift response.

"Unfortunately, Hinata is busy and has no time for record labels and such, but that's not to say that she won't be interested in it in the future. As for her marriage, everything is peachy.", her assistant's monotonous voice reached the crowd, who listened with careful hearing.

Konan turned toward the crowd with a small smirk on her flawless face. " Their schedules are crazy at the moment, so children will have to wait right now."

The fans ate up every word that Konan said and started snapping more pictures while at the small time screaming in excitement of the handsome Sasuke and shy Hinata doing very 'naughty' things.

Hinata, already in the limo, waited for Konan to return. She exhaled a little and watched the woman enter the limo and gave Hinata a blank stare. That's why I hired her. She gets the job done.

The driver pulled off once everyone was in the limo.

Konan jotted something down before looking back up at Hinata with placid eyes. "Hyuuga advisors are setting up a meeting next week for the new group of interns coming in. Tenten called - she wants you to come by. Oh, Hanabi sent her group of pleading classmates for you to come and visit." Konan looked once again through the list before closing it. "One of the Hyuuga member's called about a meeting. Says that it's urgent, though I highly doubt it."

Hinata sighed heavily and looked out the window once Konan caught her eyes; she knew what was going to be said. It had been said several times before anyway, only in different words.

"Isn't it funny how he says he's going to change, yet the only thing he changes is his mistress? And now he's with Sakura Haruno, the newly hired spokesmodel for Uchiha Corporation. Wow, what an upgrade - guess he got bored with all the women in the building, neh?" Her words stung, but they were true. Nothing had changed at all.

Hinata took the words, not saying anything to the mutinous women in front of her. "H-He's says that he l-loves me and-"

"You're a pathetic twit for standing for the crap that bitch puts you through.", Konan said.

"I-I know. But w-what can I do about it? He's my husband. ."

Hazel eyes turned towards the window of the vehicle as Konan looked at the billboard they were passing. The Main Gang was on there: Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru. Their smirks were devious, highlighting the billboard all over Japan. Those bastards. Both Hinata and Konan knew they couldn't win. Even if they were the heroines of the story. They had always won, no matter how wrong they were.

Konan stayed silent as the bluette rolled down the window separating the back from the driver's domain.

"T-To Neji-nii-san's, please."

Sakura Haruno was known all over. She was the beautiful pinkette that most thought of as stunning, sweet, and very, very smart. She had attended the most prestigious high school in Japan, Sarutobi Private, modeled in catalogues, acted in several mainstream movies, and also was Miss Japan twice in a row for her extraordinary beauty. Because of all of this, she knew that she and Sasuke were meant to be together; she felt that she was the female version of him, beautiful and charismatic.

Hinata couldn't compete.

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat in front of the Uchiha, who ignored her very presence. She smirked a little when he raised his head from his work, his eyes gluing to the amount of neck that she had out in her outfit.

"Why did you call me in so early, Uchiha-san?", Sakura said, a small grin forming on her lips.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her for a moment, and swiftly grabbed his pen on the desk and signed off a document in front of him."Do I have to have a reason? I had heard that you had wanted to see me."

Sakura folded her legs at his comment, giving him the sign that he had said the wrong answer. The Uchiha sighed before grabbing his phone and checking through some of his emails; his job couldn't be stopped by anyone right now. Not when he was so close…

Sakura snarled.

"I really don't have time for your mind games today, Sakura. I am buried right now."

The pink beauty jumped from her seat and slammed her hands on the desk, finally fed up with his nonchalant behavior. "Well I don't have time on my side either, Mr. Uchiha. So you better set down your pretty little Iphone before it ends up jumping out the window."

She clenched his attention and for the most part he liked a challenge..

"Feisty today, aren't we?", the Uchiha grabbed her hands and rubbed his thumb across them.

A blush quickly crossed her cheeks before she tried to snatch her small hands away. "Why are you still with her?"

Sasuke let go of her, not liking the flow of the conversation.

He knew he wouldn't make it out of the room without her yelling.

"With who?" He sounded so persuasive and innocent that Sakura questioned if he really didn't know.

"Sasuke, you know what I-!"

His phone started to ring. He sighed in relief inside. Perfect timing.

Sakura was fuming and watched as her lover answered the phone.

"Sure thing." Sasuke hung up the phone before he quickly went over to the sofa to get his coat. He looked out the window to see Neji also exiting his office. Sasuke smirked. The plan is in action.

He turned to Sakura. "You wanted me to leave my wife, right?" Sakura flinched at the word 'wife'. It made her sound dirty. " I have something even better than divorce papers to give you." Sakura raised an eyebrow in question, but nevertheless let the handsome Uchiha drag her out of the building into the paparazzi's blazing front.

"Oh Hinata, you should have seen Tenji's face when I told him that Santa Claus was a flux! Neji had gotten so upset when he found out. I had felt so guilty about it!" Tenten laughed as she organized her boy's backpack.

Hinata lounged on the couch and watched the overly-joyed mother. If only she knew..

"Y-You should, Tenten! You're n-not supposed to tell him that u-until he's ….ten?", Hinata gave a funny face, causing Tenten to laugh.

"Neji suggested that we tell him when he was thirteen, but what kind of mother would I be if I lied to him about a fat man sneaking into the house. One day a fat man might just break into the house and Tenji might just think it was Santa Claus."

Hinata smiled. "I-I'd be more worried about what he would do to the Santa Claus man."

The girl shrugged and she grabbed the remote to the wide flat-screen television above the fireplace. She popped on the TV and started to scroll down the guide list, only for it to be snatched my Tenji. Hinata pouted and snatched back the remote, resulting in the boy climbing on top of her and pulling her hair.

Tenten just watched in amusement as Hinata struggled with the six year old; He definitely got that from her. The remote was then pulled from both Tenji and Hinata as Tenten turned it to the Japan's local news station.

Hinata frowned."I wanted to watch m-my soap opera! Now I'm going to m-miss it because of this c-chimp monk!"

Tenji laughed evilly and ran out of the room manically. It felt weird to see a little version of Neji doing bad things around the house.

The bun-headed lady rolled her eyes at the pouting woman and dramatically started to swing the remote around, not caring about the glass figurines on the shelf.

"Don't worry about it. You'll watch your stupid opera after I find out why my early morning wrestling is being blocked out! Inuyasha is supposed to be fighting today! Do you know how serious that is! Something better have happened or I'll go down to the station myself and smash their heads in!" Tenten angrily sat on the sofa and watched tv, waiting for the breaking news to show.

Hinata got up, an evil smile on her face and went into the kitchen. It was no surprise that pork buns were scattered throughout the fridge after Tenji's hunger hunt when Hinata searched for a snack. Little devil.

Hinata's smile wavered as she thought about how this perfect family could be the end due to Neji's affair with Kin. She sighed and felt guilt hit her. She could have told Tenten a long time ago, but what would it have accomplished in the end? She would lose her cousin's trust and her best friend; too much was on the line. Hinata ran her fingers through her hair and stared out the kitchen window; people were gathering outside. Apparently for a yard sale. She heard Tenten's voice in the other room.

"That little fucker!" Hinata grew curious at Tenten's harsh-like tone. The girl sounded like she was going to cry. Had she found out about Neji. Hinata rushed in the room, her mind going all over the place.

Had she seen it? What would she say? Her heart started to speed up and soon, she sat down calmly next to the woman, waiting to see her tears or her angry face.

"I-I've wanted t-to tell you for so l-long, I-" Tenten shook her off and turned up the tv. A news anchor woman stood in front of Uchiha Corporation. The title at the bottom said BREAKING NEWS.

The woman was with a crowd of reporters who were surrounding a couple. Hinata held her breath. She was nervous, was it Neji and Kin? Tenten suddenly held her hand. Here it comes. Pink hair came into view. Hinata's world exploded the second time that day.

Sasuke was holding Sakura Haruno by her waist. His smirk and Sakura's beautiful smile was pierced in her head.

Tenten threw her remote at the TV, shattering the flat-screen. Tenji's scream was heard later on.

Hinata couldn't speak; the last thing she saw on the tv was Sasuke kissing Sakura's cheek while the pinkette was showing off...

a ring.

What?

Tenten's door was shoved open by Konan as well as Hinata's lawyer and long-time friend, Ino Yamanaka. Ino's briefcase contrasted with her bright yellow suit; that was her war color. Obnoxious and clearly seen, just like the girl's personality.

Konan entered the living room and noticed servants cleaning the rug where the TV once stood. Tenten for sure. She sat on the couch next to Hinata, ignoring the girl's sobbing, and motioned for Ino to join.

The barbie sat opposite of Hinata and started to pull papers out of her brief case, not etching a single emotion on her face. Even though it was a hurtful time, she had a job to do.

Konan turned toward the steaming Tenten, an emotionless face showing despite how heated she was inside. "I suppose you two saw the same thing millions of other people saw, right?" the question sounded more like a statement.

Tenten nodded and grabbed tissues for Hinata, trying to shush the crying girl.

Ino continued pulling files and papers with many words out with a serious expression on her face. "Never in my two years of work have I ever seen an Uchiha do that in the public eye. I don't even know if this was a coincidence or not." The blonde looked up at Hinata . "Has he been.."

Hinata never responded. She had seen the women that had been with her husband in meetings giving her glares. She had since known he was a cheater. He had even told her so on their 'honeymoon'. He was not a faithful man, he admitted, but he would never admit to cheating on her. She didn't care then though. He said he loved her.

Konan snorted and pulled out her laptop. "I bet the people are raving over this already. Sasuke's in serious shit now.."

She quickly searched the blogs and websites that numerous fans visited on a daily basis. There were over four million comments about the Uchiha. The good news was that his shit had hit the fan. The bad news was that the negative comments weren't towards the notorious couple; it was targeted at Hinata.

Konan quickly closed down the laptop and clenched the bridge of her nose. "This is so bad." She tried to think of anything that could stop the madness from spreading. But she only knew one person who could stray the media from an Uchiha. " I need a diversion. Tenten, do you have the Sabaku Business number? "

Tenten nodded and pulled out her Iphone and started searching until the business popped up.

The bun-headed woman held the crying girl tight while glaring at the wall in front of her.

"I swear to God that when I see that son-of –a-bitch that I will rip his fucking throat out.", Tenten seethed out, a deep frown on her face.

Konan pressed the call button and waited until the receptionist picked up. "Matsuri, get Gaara on the phone. Tell him it's urgent...I don't give a damn about him being in the meeting! Give him the phone!", Konan yelled into the cell.

The room was quiet. No one dared to speak. Hinata's mind was in space. Sasuke had really done it, hadn't he. It's one thing to see him with other women but to see him on TV broadcasting it? She was heartbroken. Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha? He said that no one could replace her, no one. But now here he was, in the public eye, with another woman. A woman that Hinata had seen on many commercials and on many products. The same woman that had passed her in the hall of Uchiha Corps. The same woman that her husband had fallen in love with? They were mocking her existence. She couldn't let them do this to her reputation.

Hinata grabbed her coat and sprinted out the door to her Ferrari 458 Spider, ignoring the the yells of her to come back. She slipped in and quickly started up her engine; Ino slipped into the passenger seat and waved to Konan and Tenten. They nodded and quickly started dialing phone numbers. Tenji, looking lost, decided that the toilet seemed like a nice place to for him to stuff his daddy's forty-thousand dollar watches in before he came home.

The bluette's hand gripped the steering wheel while her other fondled with her wedding ring. A few tears escaped her eyes. Ino looked ahead of her with a menacing glare at the world. Both had the same thoughts in their head.

This was war.