I'm back. I admit this chapter was quite a challenge to write, but I hope you enjoy it.
I'm also looking for a beta. I plan to write a few more Sasuhina stories in the future. PM me if you're interested.
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Last time on FATE...
"My name is Hinata Hyuuga. I am the heiress of the Hyuuga clan. I am Prince Sasuke's bride, chosen by the late Crown Prince Itachi"
Gasps, murmurs and questions filled the ballroom.
What sort of claim is this?
Did she just mention the late Crown Prince?
I think I've heard of the Hyuuga
The Prince Itachi chose her?
How's that even possible?
Fugaku rose from his seat and the hall silenced. He approached his wife and Hinata, saying "That is impossible"
As silent murmurs roam the ballroom once more, almost everyone gives him a questioning look. Hinata bows her head as the King looks her over, and lifts her head at his request.
"The only survivors should be Lord Hiashi and his nephew. He never mentioned anything of your survival, heiress of the Hyuuga. Explain yourself!" Fugaku demanded.
"My father and I only reunited recently, your majesty. From the time of the accident until just a month ago, my father and cousin were unaware that I still lived, and even I had no inkling of my true identity other than my own name," Hinata spoke boldly.
"And why should we believe anything you say?" Tsunade spoke out from her seat, "You could be here just to cause chaos and stop the wedding"
"Do you have someone to vouch for you?" Fugaku asked. Before Hinata could mention her father, a voice -long forgotten- boomed out,
"I can vouch for her!"
A man in a green kimono and red sleevless haori coat stepped onto the platform, he gives a curt nod and says, "I have to admit its been too long King Fugaku, Queen Mikoto. It's good to see you too, Lady Hinata"
"Lord Jiraiya," Fugaku announced, his face expressing surprise. Mikoto and Hinata were just as shocked, their eyes wide at the sight of Jiraiya. A pair of hands slammed on a table and a chair could be heard dragged back. All eyes were on Tsunade, who's face was etched with surprise and fury.
"Y-you should be in a coma," Tsunade stammered, her shaking hand pointing at Jiraiya.
"I was in a coma. As fate would have it, I awoke a few days ago," Jiraiya replied calmly. The voices of the guests reminded King Fugaku that they were not alone. Not wanting a scandal of sorts, he quickly dismissed the ball and commanded everyone on the platform to follow him into his private study. He asked Kakashi to summon Lord Hiashi to join them as soon as possible. This was going to prove an interesting night.
Shisui opened the door to a drawing room, the one nearest to the King's private study, allowing the rest of the group to enter. The group being Naruto, Ten-ten, Izumi, Neji and himself. With everyone inside, Shisui asked a butler to bring them refreshments and closed the door when the butler left.
"Finally!" Ten-ten exclaimed, sitting on a sky-blue loveseat and removing her red peep toe heels. Naruto sat next to Ten-ten, and across from them, sat Izumi and Neji on another loveseat.
"So," Shisui began, walking around the room.
"I can't believe Hinata just did that," Ten-ten said.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I didn't think she knew that Itachi chose her"
"She remembered," Neji voiced. Naruto and Ten-ten gave him puzzled faces and Izumi quickly clapped her hands.
"That's right!" Izumi exclaimed, pointing, "Naruto, Ten-ten, meet Neji Hyuuga. Hinata's cousin. Neji, Ten-ten and Naruto, Hinata's best-friend and Sasuke's best-friend respectively"
"Its wonderful to meet you," Ten-ten greeted, "I'm glad Hinata has found her family"
"Likewise. Hinata talked about all of you. She missed you much," Neji replied.
"How come she didn't come back sooner or at least tell us she was okay?" Ten-ten questioned.
"Hinata didn't feel the timing was right. At least, a priest advised her such," Neji mused.
"I thought it would be more interesting to crash the wedding," Izumi said, "Then again, it would be too cliche"
"If it was up to you Izumi, crashing the wedding would be...tame," Naruto commented. Izumi gave a rather mischievous dramatic look.
"What could I possibly to wrong?" Izumi asked innocently.
"A lot!" they all chorused, well, except Neji who nodded in agreement. Izumi pouted. The butler entered the room shortly with the refreshments. He left the room once more, leaving those who were seated to help themselves per Shisui's request. Naruto noticed Shisui looking around the room and asked, "Hey Shisui, what are you doing?"
"Oh him," Izumi cut in before Shisui, "he's looking for a secret passage"
"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed.
"What for?" Ten-ten asked.
"You don't expect us to sit here while the good stuff happens. I don't plan on hearing the rest of this story from someone else. I want to be there first hand," Izumi declared. Before anymore could be said, they all heard the sound of shifting wall. The seated four turned to see Shisui smiling triumphantly in front of an opening.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Shisui asked, "Let's go"
Once they were all settled into the study, Fugaku observed all the people seated in the room from his desk. On his right, his wife's facial expression displayed confusion; on his left, Sasuke was in his usual stoic demeanor, but his eyes were dancing with smugness. He knows something. He turned to Lord Jiraiya, still surprised he was on his feet and not in a coma. Jiraiya was speaking in an assuring manner to the girl, Hinata. Both of them, including Hiashi Hyuuga, had an air of calm. They did not seem at all worried. Lastly, there was Lady Tsunade and Lady Sakura. He was surprised to see that both displayed discomfort. Why? he thought. Fugaku cleared his throat, calling forth everyone's attention.
"This is quite the gathering we have here," Fugaku noted, "The return of the surviving members of the Hyuuga clan and my late son's sensei and trusted adviser. I should mention how my wife recognized Lady Hinata as Lady Sakura's hand maiden. I believe explanations are in order"
Fugaku paused, allowing his words to sink in. Turning to Hiashi, he asked, "Lord Hiashi, can you confirm this young woman's identity?"
"Of course your majesty. This is my first born daughter. For more than a decade, I had believed her dead. It was only on the night I returned to my home in Onsen that I discovered that she survived that fatal accident. I must confess, I mistook her for a servant in my home, but one look and I knew. If you remember meeting my late wife from our college days, you can tell my daughter looks like her in every aspect," Hiashi explained.
"I remember," Mikoto whispered, loud enough for her husband to hear. Fugaku studied the girl closely, his memory seemed to provide him a picture of a young woman with Hinata's kind face and hair color. However, that was held little importance in comparison to a string of questions dominant in his mind.
"Lady Hinata, until the reunion, you were a servant in Lord Hiashi's home and before that, a servant of Lady Sakura. Is this correct?" Fugaku questioned.
"Yes your majesty," Hinata replied, "I served as Lady Sakura's hand maiden and bodyguard since I turned seven. That is until I was told to leave Koboha"
"I don't understand something," Mikoto cut in, a sharp gaze in Sakura's direction, "if Hinata was to be a servant in Lord Hiashi's home, then why did you Sakura insist that she was merely on an errand out of town? And how did she end up in your household in the first place?"
"I...I...," Sakura stuttered.
"I brought Hinata to our home after I found her washed at a beach," Jiraiya cut in, "My intention was to insure she regained her health, and bring her to the Manor. Itachi had informed me of his decision and I made it my mission to fulfill it. Before doing that, I returned to Onsen to investigate further on the incident. However, an accident occurred and I had been in a coma since. I left Hinata in the care of my wife hoping she would do what I could not. But as it would seem, the opposite happened"
"Have you had your mental health checked Jiraiya?" Tsunade taunted, "You must be still disorientated from being in a coma too long"
"I'll have you know that my mental health is as perfect as it will ever be. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be trapped in your own body? To be aware of your very surroundings but not even open your own eyes because you have no control. It was hell. The worst part, is knowing that my wife is doing this to me for her own selfish reasons!" Jiraiya yelled.
A deadly silence hung in the air, not even a breathe could be heard. All eyes were on Tsunade who had her angry eyes set on Jiraiya.
"You're being delusional," Tsunade seethed.
"Tsunade, your deceit ends now. You had me in an induced coma! You made Hinata suffer for no reason instead of doing the right thing. If it wasn't for Naruto and his friend Ten-ten, I would have lost all reason to keep my sanity"
"You are going to involve...," Tsunade retorted but was interrupted by another voice.
"We know the truth!"
Surprised gasps flickered through the room as Naruto, Ten-ten, Shisui, Izumi and Neji tumbled out of a hidden passage from a bookshelf. All five stood up, four glaring at the blonde who exposed their presence. Shisui smacked the blonde as the brunette in the red dress bounded towards Hinata and both girls embraced each other, tears in their eyes.
"What are doing here you idiot?" Sasuke growled, joining the group. Naruto soothed the area Shisui smacked, gave an apologetic grin and replied
"Uh moral support?"
Sasuke smacked his forehead. This was so embarrassing.
"I believe this was supposed to be private," Fugaku spoke out, emphasis on private. The young adults stood, with respectful bows and silent apologies. Fugaku continued, "However, it doesn't exactly surprise me that my son and his friends are involved. Would you care to explain?"
"Well uhh... See, we, well Ten-ten, discovered that Lady Tsunade had been injecting per- I mean Jiraiya sensei with some serum that kept him in a coma. We saw her do it," Naruto stated.
"We found it weird that she would do it to her own husband and decided to wake him up," Ten-ten added, "He should have been up over a decade ago, but her constant injections kept him in that comatose state. We were desperate because she sent our friend away from us and we needed every clue we could get to find her"
"Lady Tsunade, explain yourself!" Fugaku bellowed.
Sakura at this point was in tears as Lady Tsunade reverted to her calm facade and crossed her arms.
"The Senju were at the forefront the Uchiha when this kingdom was founded. We aided this kingdom through thick and thin. We should have been honored! You insulted my clan once by choosing a girl from a clan that was barely involved in matters of the Land of Fire. The Hyuuga have no place here! I will not have Hinata ruin Sakura's chances a third time. I will not allow these children to stop this marriage or you Uchihas to disregard protocol and the old ways. I know that the road for me now is imprisonment, but Sakura will marry Sasuke," Lady Tsunade declared.
"What do you mean by a third time?" Fugaku questioned.
"Father," Sasuke spoke out, "If I may, I have no intention of marrying Sakura. Itachi didn't chose a bride for me just to spite you. He didn't do it to anger the Senju either. He wanted to make a community where everyone was equal and united. I met Hinata in a cafe. It took a while, but we became friends, and I chose not to regard status because she didn't do so with me. Hinata, Naruto, Ten-ten and myself became the most unlikely of friends, regardless of our background. I've learned a lot with my time with them, I saw things in a different perspective. In the kind of perspective I believe Itachi wanted for this kingdom. When Hinata left, Naruto, Ten-ten and myself were lost without our friend, then we became a team that wanted change and needed our friend back.
"We can't live in the old ways, there's much to be done to eradicate the divide. I want to be seen as Sasuke the man and not Sasuke the Crown Prince. I want to honor Itachi's legacy and do my part in this kingdom the right way. In time when I take the throne, I would like her by my side as my wife. Not because Itachi chose her, not because of her status but because we treat each other as equals and more importantly because I love her"
Hinata grasped Sasuke's hand, her eyes shining with un-shed tears. Sasuke embraced her and kissed her temple, and he heard a soft 'I love you' from Hinata. The rest remained silent, save for Mikoto's tears of happiness and Sakura's sobs of defeat. Fugaku got up from his seat and approached his son. Fugaku placed a hand on his son's shoulder and said,
"You could not have made me prouder, son. Someone get in here!"
Kakashi entered the room and bowed. When he looked up, he was quite surprised to see more people in the room than before.
"Your majesty," Kakashi announced.
"Have someone escort Lady Tsunade to the interrogation center. And make an announcement that the wedding is off"
"Yes, your majesty"
"You can't do this!" Tsunade screeched, as Kakashi took her out of the room. There were relived sighs once her voice was out of hearing range.
Turning to Jiraiya, Fugaku continued, "Jiraiya, I thank you for your honesty and service to my sons. Please take Sakura with you. I trust you will do well to manage the Senju estate and properties until you find it fit to pas them along to Sakura"
"Yes, your majesty" Jiraiya replied. He escorted a still sobbing Sakura out of the room.
"Well good riddance!" Izumi explained, "No that all this drama is over, can we please go to the after party?"