Unforgivable

Chapter Five: It Was Called Love

Hinata opened her mouth to scream, but no sound managed to come out. She could feel her face freeze and turn deathly pale. His coal black eyes locked with her own white ones and suddenly, the world stopped. For one moment, it was only him and her. For one fleeting moment, something from the past had reappeared. Something breathless, something unimaginable between an Uchiha and a Hyuuga.

It was called love.

Sasuke was the first to come out of the daze. He schooled his features back into the uncaring and cold look that he so carefully cultivated, "You're Hyuuga Hinata?"

It took an extra second for Hinata to react to what he just said. She replied shakily, "H-hai."

"Good. Why are you here? I thought you weren't permitted to leave the Hyuuga palace on your own."

Hinata smiled bitterly, "H-hai. But I c-convinced my f-father to let me o-out. H-how, did you kn-know?"

"Know what?", Sasuke's delicate eyebrows furrowed. Even before she could answer, the answer came to him. How did he know about the strict rule Lord Hyuuga imposed on his eldest daughter? He quickly made up a fib, "My brother told me."

"…a-ano..?" Hinata blinked rapidly. Sasuke's…brother? She didn't think that anyone except a Hyuuga would know about the rule. She stared at the Uchiha again. Who was he anyway? Why was he appearing in her dreams? Why…did she feel so…apprehensive?

"What are you doing?"

A crisp voice shook her out of her momentary daze. She smiled softly and replied, "N-nothing…"

He seemed satisfied, although both he and she knew that was not the case. Even though both of them were screaming silently, wondering if the other knew, if the other felt the same way…if they had truly known each other before.

Why?

"Remember… when we first met?"

The woman smiled softly, cherishing the memory. Her silk eyes swam with unshed tears and her chest screamed in the unforgettable agony of a heart breaking. The man behind her seemed to be remembering too.

"It was love at first sight…or so we thought, right, Sasuke?"

"It doesn't matter," the man tried to regain his cold demeanor, trying to block the onslaught of emotions, the flood of painful memories back in to his numbed mind.

"It hurts…so much," another tear slid down her pale face. The moonlight made the tear sparkle as it ran down her cheek, leaving a wet trail. Her eyes glittered and the smile wavered on her brave mask of a face. Upon hearing her words, the Uchiha behind her moved suddenly, as if to wipe the tear off her face, but stopped himself in an instant.

"Don't make me do this, Hinata," his voice seemed to almost tremble.

"I can't change what was meant to be, Sasuke," a few strands of purple hair waved silently in the wind, as she whispered, "The least you can do…is remember… what we once had. It was called love, Sasuke."

Before he could react, she flicked a kunai out of her sleeve raised it high in the darkness. A single tear slid down her face for the last time, "I'm sorry…it had to be this way…"

Why?

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

Sasuke offered the timid Hyuuga heiress his hand as she got up shyly. Her pearly white eyes seemed to reflect everything around them. When they reached the beginning edge of the busy marketplace, he could see a tiny sliver of a smile appear on her face. He guessed that this was one of the few times that she was ever really allowed to see so many people.

They walked past a clothing store when suddenly, Hinata gasped. She jerked her hand out of Sasuke's reach and ran back to the previous store. She picked out three silk kimonos with floral designs on them and hurriedly put them in her bag. As she handed the money to the shopkeeper, she mumbled to Sasuke, "I-I'm sorry for b-being so im-impolite…I-it's just," she gulped quietly, "..I h-have to b-buy someth-thing o-or f-father will g-get s-suspicious."

His black eyes narrowed a bit as he digested the information. "So," he tried to strike up a conversation, "does your father let you come out often?" He watched as she smiled sadly and shake her head slowly. She continued to stare at the ground while clutching the bags to her chest, "There's a sh-shadow following me; so h-he c-can still monit-tor me."

Sasuke nodded while he tried to sense the chaka signature of the person following them. But even while he strained, he just couldn't sense anything. While he was searching, he heard a soft voice say, "You c-can't sense h-him. He's very w-well hidden."

"Oh," Sasuke smiled grimly, "Your father places a lot of trust in him. It seems like your father cares about you a lot, Hyuuga-san."

"J-just Hinata, p-please, Uchiha-san," her soft, pink lips spread in a smile, "Sometimes, I-I think he c-cares ab-about m-me too m-much."

"If I call you Hinata ,then just call me Sasuke." He looked the other way, "No need to be so unfriendly, after all."

"It's n-not called being im-impolite, Uch—Sasuke," Hinata walked a few steps ahead, "We n-need t-to look out f-for m-manners, af-after all."

A bunch of children flew past them in whirlwind of dust that left Hinata coughing. Sasuke yelled angrily after the children while Hinata half coughed and half giggled. He turned his burning eyes on her when he heard her unseemly laugh, "What's so funny?"

"J-just," she straightened up again, "You l-look s-so f-funny wh-when you get m-mad."

Despite himself, Sasuke couldn't help but smile. He never showed his emotions freely around anyone, and no one had really ever appreciated it when he did. Her milky eyes turned on him again and that soft smile he would come to treasure appeared again. "B-but you kn-know what?" Hinata said, "Y-you l-look b-better when you sm-smile, Sasuke."

Before Sasuke could reply, a flash ran past Hinata leaving them in the dust. He heard her shriek and felt her presence disappear from beside him. Right after the first flash disappeared, another figure dashed out from behind the bushes. The figure's white eyes glanced at him for a second, as if saying, this is all your stupid fault, Uchiha.

He wiped the dust from his eyes and chased in the direction both of them went.

Hinata woke up in a dark warehouse with her eyes blindfolded and limbs bound with chakra-blockers. She activated her Byakugan, but could see nothing except the humming of the chakra in her blindfold. This person had experience with capturing Hyuugas.

She waited silently in the darkness, pretending to be knocked out so nothing dargerous would happen to her. But while she waited, her mind was racing. This person was skilled—and very good at their job. For her, the heir of the Hyuuga clan, they could demand anything from the clan—except the secret of the Byakugan, of course. For that, they would have to kill her before any of her clan came to the rescue.

Lying there on the cold, concrete ground, she wondered if Neji, the shadow following her, could find where she was. The building was cloaked with a chakra field around it; that much, she could still sense. If he didn't have any help, there probably wasn't any way he could get in. By that time though, she could be dead or sold as a slave.

Anything was possible.

The ground shook and the thud of bodies falling to the ground reached her ears. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She could sense Neji's chakra, which appeared deep blue in her vision, but he could also sense someone else…someone with lightening white-blue chakra. Both of them seemed to be going mad.

The bunch of unfamiliar red chakra in her senses began to decrease one by one. She didn't even realize that she was sitting upright until a rough leg kicked her down.

"Looks like yer friends are comin', princess. They're dropping like flies out there," a deep voice chuckled. Hinata hid the horror from her features, afraid to show any expression. Weren't those ninja outside his comrades? How could he talk about them like…like they were insignificant insects? A grubby hand reached down and pinched her roughly on the cheek.

"Hey, don't bruise her too much," a distinctly feminine voice said, "With some luck, she'll sell for a pretty price as some bed-warmer."

"Fine," Hinata felt the man get up, "I was just playin' around, that's all. You think they'll be able to get in?"

"Probably," the woman answered , "You idiot, didn't I tell you that Hyuuga Neji was an ANBU captain? But either way…I'll take care of him. By the time I'm done, nothing but a puddle of blood will be left."

Author's Notes: Now that I look back, everything I've written so far has been a MESS! Those previous chapters need some serious reconstructing. Well, the story is progressing along nicely, although it would be nice if I received more REVIEWS. Just a suggestiong.

moonhaku