I Couldn't Stop Him Chapter 9: Hinata, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That's probably a good thing.

A/N: Well, this is going to be it for this fic. I'm running out of originality and my chapters are starting to be either carbon copies of each other or sappy messes. So this is it. Thank you for reading, reviewing and supporting this fic.

To SarcasticallyTroublesomeGirl: I'm glad you liked my Gaara chapter more than I did. Did you ever get my personal message?

To Netbreaker0: This is the chapter that you and STG requested, so I hope I don't disappoint here.

Warning: Slight plot change, a minor OC, and anachronism. And maybe an OOC Sasuke.

Final Chapter: Hinata

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Life just isn't fair sometimes, Hinata brooded as she sat alone in the branches of a tree outside Ichiraku. Here I had planned to meet Naruto-kun here...and tell him how I feel about him...and he's here alright...on a date with...Sakura-chan...!

She fought back tears as she thought despairingly, WHY!? Why would Sakura-chan choose now of all times to let Naruto-kun take her out? And why would he chase after her anyway, after being rejected three times a day for the last three months? Argh...

Glad that nobody was here to see her, the Hyuuga heiress whimpered softly. Here, Naruto-kun has finally gotten what he's always wanted and deserved, and I'm sitting here pitying myself instead of being happy for him. What kind of friend am I, then? He probably avoided me because he saw my selfishness before I saw it myself. Somehow, she didn't find that thought particularly comforting. Tired of her own depressing thoughts, she buried her face and sobbed silently, an ability she had long mastered since being labeled the refuse of the Hyuuga clan. (A/N: Nobody should have to learn to do something like that.)

"Oi, let me walk you home, Sakura-chan! It's getting late!" Hinata heard Naruto call while running after Sakura.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle in spite of herself. "Aw, being the gentleman are we? Okay, I'll let you walk me home tonight."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan! And don't worry about Sasuke..." that was all Hinata heard before Naruto and Sakura left earshot. Hinata thought about following them, but changed her mind. The way I've been watching Naruto-kun all these years...could be considered stalking. Even more so now since he's dating Sakura-chan... she thought as they left her alone.

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She was startled awake by the sound of footsteps below her.

When did I fall asleep, she mused, And how long have I been sleeping here?

"Oh, crap!" she whispered to herself. "If that's Neji nii-san or tou-san, I'm in trouble!"

"Who's there?" snapped the person who had been walking by. His voice reminded her of Neji, but was somewhat different. All at once, three shuriken embedded themselves into the tree all around her, and she let out a squeak in response.

"Answer me!" commanded the harsh voice again. "Identify yourself, or the next one will kill you!"

"Eep...don't attack it's-it's me..." Hinata stammered as she dropped down from the tree.

"Oh, it's you." Hinata could feel the disdain in the other ninja's voice. She was barely able to force herself to look him in the face...the face of Uchiha Sasuke. Without another word, he stepped around her and strode through the village gate.

"Wh-where are you g-going, Sasuke?"

"To obtain power." He stopped briefly, then continued to walk.

Hinata let him walk for a few more seconds, then, "Sasuke-kun, pardon me for asking, but..." She watched as he stopped again without turning around to face her. "Where...where...where are you going to get power? I..."

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Flashback (episode 47 or 48)

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"Do as you like with her." Hiashi coldly told Kurenai. "She is of little use to this clan. Her sister Hanabi, who is five years her junior, is already of greater worth. If you have nothing more to say, then go."

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End Flashback

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"I...have b-been weak f-for far too long. I...am n-nothing to my family, a burden t-to my team, and barely more than an a-acquaintance to anyone else. I-if you know where I can find power, tell me! Please!"

"Hmph," was the first sound to come out of Sasuke. "If you want to know that badly..." He activated his Sharingan eyes, which made Hinata flinch, "I'm going to find the power I need in the Hidden Sound Village."

Hinata let out a gasp. "Th-the s-same Sound village that invaded Konoha recently? THAT Sound Village?" Sasuke merely nodded.

"W-what's in Sound village that can give you...p-power?"

"Not what. Who." At this, the Hyuuga heiress's eyes dilated. "You're...going to...Orochimaru? Y-you realize he won't give you power for free. He will want y-your allegiance...won't he?"

With a shrug, Sasuke responded, "That doesn't matter," and turned to walk away.

In his wildest dreams, he couldn't have imagined that Hinata would spin him around by the shoulder and punch him in the face as hard as she could. It wasn't Jyuuken, just a hard, straight punch that Sasuke didn't know Hinata possessed.

"Weak as I am, I'm no traitor," Hinata hissed while activating her Byakugan and showing no sign of a stutter. "I will never betray my village by seeking power from that snake, nor will I betray Naruto-kun by letting you, his best friend become his worst enemy!"

Sasuke picked himself up off the ground, enraged. "That dead-last can burn for all I care!" he growled while wiping blood from his upper lip. "And I'll be glad to let you burn with him! Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

"What kind of best friend are you with that kind of attitude?" Hinata hissed again as she sidestepped his fireball and closed the distance between them.

"Shut up, you know nothing about me," came his retort. He drew a kunai and waited for her.

She saw him draw his kunai and drew one of her own. He parried her attack and answered with one of his own, which she blocked in turn. Back and forth they went, eventually getting to the point where both were gasping for breath and their mutual bloodlines had deactivated.

"So..tell me...do you...have a reason...to...sell out your friends...for power? Or..." She paused to reactivate her Byakugan. "Are you just like Orochimaru, a sadist who just likes to hurt people?"

"Surely you have heard...of the Uchiha massacre. Surely you must know...that I live...only to avenge my family...and to kill the one responsible...my brother..."

"Does it even matter...that you will become just like him? Orochimaru will...want you to come back here...to help him destroy this village. One who would...destroy his friends for revenge...is little different...from one who would...destroy his family...with no just cause."

"I was helpless as my family was destroyed...because I wasn't strong enough. When I faced my brother again...it was the same thing. The very same thing. In order to kill him...I must have strength...at any cost. Any. Cost."

"Power is different from strength, Sasuke," Hinata told him, deactivating her Byakugan and catching her breath. "Even with all the power at his disposal, Orochimaru cannot give you strength. As I fought you for Naruto-kun, I found strength for the first time in a long time. Strength comes from within, when you're fighting for something or someone you care about. It doesn't come from power-hungry criminals or obsessions with revenge."

"Well, guess what," Sasuke said, stepping closer. "My power is going to crush your strength." Without warning, he grabbed both her wrists, swung her around once, and threw her against the trunk of a tree, causing branches to fall down. Battered and exhausted, the Hyuuga heiress fell unconscious as the Uchiha survivor turned to walk away. "I'm sorry, Naruto...kun..."

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Hinata was awakened by a bright light, which only aggravated her severe headache. She was in a soft bed in a room that was almost entirely white. A few seconds later, a woman with blue hair and eyes knocked on the door and entered slowly.

"Good morning, Hinata-sama," the woman greeted with a gentle smile.

Hinata responded with a groan. "H-how long...have I b-been in this hospital room?"

"Just since you were brought in late last night. What happened?"

"I...I got into a f-fight last night."

The nurse shook her head. "Somebody as pretty as you shouldn't be getting into fights. How did it start?"

With minimal stuttering, Hinata managed to tell the nurse of the night's events. "Sasuke is gone. I c-couldn't stop him." That was as far as Hinata got before she started to choke up.

At that moment, another nurse burst into the room. "Siora-san!" she cried, addressing the first nurse. "We have an emergency case! He has weird marks all over his body and it seems like he's gone blind!"

"Where is he!?" Siora called back. "Bring him in!"

Though barely able to turn her head, Hinata turned enough to get a view of the screaming patient as he was wheeled into the room. He was covered with repulsive black markings she hadn't seen before, and she almost couldn't make out his face. But, marked up or not, there was only one shinobi in Konoha with black hair shaped like a duck tail.

"S-sasuke?" As Siora and the other nurse restrained Sasuke in the bed next to her, Siora called to a third nurse, "Go get Tsunade-sama, this is bad! I've never seen anything like this before!"

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Within ten minutes the Godaime was there. Somewhat buzzed from sake, but there. When she saw Sasuke, she muttered, "The idiot activated the curse mark." Then aloud, she said, "Get him 50 mg of morphine! And Siora, I'll need you to dilate his pupils while I get a flashlight! And also make sure Hinata's okay!"

Hinata closed her eyes again, but could hear the sounds of the nurses frantically working on Sasuke while he cried out from pain. Within a few minutes, Siora asked her if she needed anything.

"W-will he be okay?"

"We're doing our best, Hinata-sama. He will be fine." She smiled grimly. "If it were life-threating, we would would cut him open by now." Hinata gasped, aghast. "Sorry, that wasn't funny. But he'll be fine, rest assured. Now, is there anything you need?"

"Ice...for my head...please..." Hinata wasn't sure whether or not she was running a fever, but her head felt awful.

Siora fished about in the refrigerator for a few seconds before finding a bag of ice, which she gently placed on Hinata's forehead. "Get some rest, Hinata-sama. We will take care of everything."

Within a few minutes, the morphine took effect on Sasuke and he stopped screaming. When that happened, Hinata was able to fall asleep easily.

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It was dark when she woke up. All of the nurses were gone from the room, leaving her and Sasuke alone. Sasuke was awake and the odd markings that covered his body were gone.

"G-glad you changed your m-mind and decided to come back, S-sasuke."

He groaned. "I made no such decision. I sorely underestimated you, though."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You're just like Naruto. You don't know when to quit." He answered in a deadpanned voice.

Just like Naruto was about all that Hinata heard. For her, that was about the greatest compliment you could give somebody, and she was wondering when Sasuke had become this...nice.

"Even after I slammed you against the tree and thought I had disabled you, you kept fighting," his voice said with no more expression.

"I-I...I don't remember that..."

"It was like you were in a trance, and no matter what I did, you always stood in front of me. For at least five more minutes, you kept fighting. It was at that point that I decided I had no choice but to finish you off with Chidori."

Images of him using that move against Gaara filled her head as she stammered, "L-lightning b-blade?"

"The very same. The only thing that I could do to get rid of you was kill you while destroying your body."

Hinata gulped. "S-so...it didn't work, right? B-because I'm still here and you're in w-worse shape than I am."

"Chidori uses up a lot of chakra, especially when I use it with my Sharingan. I was so tired that I didn't have enough chakra to sustain either jutsu, so trying to use both activated my curse seal."

"Curse seal? Like the s-symbol of the c-caged bird?"

"Caged bird? What are you talking about?"

Hinata briefly explained the ritual undergone by branch family member and it purpose, to which Sasuke said, "No, it's nothing like that. It's more like a sample of Orochimaru's power that I can access at the cost of my own identity. It sometimes activates on its own when my chakra is low. That's what happened, which caused those markings to appear on my body. I temporarily lost my eyesight from overuse of my Sharingan."

"Even with the curse mark activated, I barely had enough strength to move. You had finally stopped fighting, and all I could do was crawl into a thicket and try to rest. I tried to leave in the morning, but was quickly found, subdued, and dragged here."

Hinata hesitated to respond, and Sasuke continued. "Maybe you were right about strength and power. In order to keep me from leaving this village and from leaving Naruto, you were able to find strength enough to fight me, and fight me well. The power that was given to me by Orochimaru during the Chuunin exams...did nothing for me. I was willing to betray everything I had ever known for power, and now I can barely look myself in the face. You, on the other hand...you still have something you can be proud of."

Hinata noticed that Sasuke was being all nice again. "Y-you're acting strange, Sasuke. Is this some sort of fever dream?"

Sasuke shook his head. "You're in love with Naruto, right?"

"W-w-w-what. H-h-h.."

"Everyone knows, Hinata," Sasuke said, smirking. "But you're going to have to wait a while to hook up with the dobe. He's dense. Clueless. Admirable though, albeit in his dense, clueless way."

"I-I'm willing to wait. True love isn't conditional, n-nor does it e-expire. I'll wait as long as it takes."

"In that case, I've got nothing more to add. Best of luck, Hinata."

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A/N: I hope I did better than I think I did with the ending, and that I didn't completely ruin Sasuke's character.

Thanks again for 1244 hits.

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If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have cleared 2 chapters on this fic. So thanks again. I'll see you somewhere else on this site hopefully. For the last time, PublicNMEno1, over and out!