Book III:

The Warning

Hinata rolled over on the sheepskin bed and looked over for the umpteenth time at the blacksmith, who was curled up by the fire on a threadbare blanket with his back facing her, fast asleep. Sasuke had insisted that she sleep on the bed, though she could distinctly her him mutter something about how difficult women were as he lay down on the hard, uncomfortable floor. She propped her head up on her hand and sighed. How did bathing innocently in a stream get her into this mess?

Hinata sighed deeply and turned her head to look out the window at the beautiful night sky. To her dismay, tears were starting to well up in her violet eyes. She longed, more than anything, to be back home with her family of gods and goddesses, to sit on comfortable couches made of gold while drinking ambrosia and looking down on the mortal world with a mixture of amusement and pity. She had learned her lesson, that no goddess should strut about so recklessly on earth, and was eager to come back home.

'Unfortunately,' Hinata thought, her vision cloudy, 'a promise is a promise. And soon, he-' She shot Sasuke a furtive glare over her shoulder. '-will see that his wish can't be granted and that he'll just have to ask for something else.'

The goddess, restless as always, quietly slipped out of the makeshift bed and tip-toed towards the door of the small house. She glanced at the blacksmith, who was still sleeping peacefully, and creaked open the door. Hinata gratefully breathed in the crisp, cool night air and strode off into the wheat field that stood next to Sasuke's house. The homesickness that dwelled in the pit of her stomach began to wane as she walking gracefully through the field, taking in the surroundings of the warm night around her.

'Maybe I don't give the Earth much credit,' she thought, once again gazing at the expanse of stars above her. 'But all the same, it's nothing compared to home.'

Hinata cringed as a light wind blew her brilliantly shining hair into her face, thinking of how much her sisters would tease her when she was finally back in Olympus. Sakura would guffaw and the poke fun at her teasingly about Sasuke, Tenten would lecture her on how goddesses were supposed to behave, and Temari would shake her head and smile warmly. Unfortunately, thinking of her sisters made her heart pang with longing, and once again she sighed and continued ever deeper into the field, wondering if the blacksmith had noticed her absence yet.

Hinata kept walking through the wheat stalks for half an hour, her thoughts ricocheting between Sasuke and her home, when she heard a rustle to her left and the sound of hooves. She smiled as a handsome centaur with the tanned muscular torso of a man and the sleek, brown body of a horse stepped through the stalks, crushing them with his black hooves.

"Well, good evening, Somnium," Hinata said quietly.

The centaur's piercing blue eyes bore into hers before he flipped back his midnight black hair and bowed low. "Goddess of love, I didn't expect to find someone as radiant as you on my nightly stroll."

Hinata blushed and returned his bow; he was quite handsome, and somehow she always became flustered when they talked. "P-please, you're embarrassing me."

Somnium stood up straight and his eyes narrowed. "I've heard tell from the nymphs that you're stuck here on Earth because you promised a mortal you would become his wife."

The goddess's cheeks reddened even more, but not from embarrassment. "N-now see here-"

"I'm not sure who's more foolish, the mortal or you," Somnium interrupted coolly.

Hinata's lip quivered. "You-you don't understand-" She began a bit shrilly.

The centaur ignored her and looked up at the sky. "A war is on the horizon," he said dreamily. "Mars has been shining brightly for the past few nights."

"Yes, yes, that's all well and good," Hinata said impatiently, jerking her head upwards and spotting the red planet without much concern. "But you see-"

"This bodes ill for the mortals," Somnium continued as though she hadn't interrupted. "Perhaps the human you've been galloping around with will be affected by this."

Hinata looked back up at the blazing red planet. "Well you see, my cousin Neji, the war god, has been in a particularly foul mood lately, and this might just be-"

When she noticed that Somnium wasn't paying attention, but rather looking at a spot behind her shoulder with his eyes turned to slits, she shut her mouth and angrily spun around to face the intruder. She felt her face grow even hotter and her heart beat speed up; even though she hadn't heard any footsteps, Sasuke was standing behind her, a scowl on his face and a shining dagger in his hands. To her delight, he was shirtless, and with the pale moonlight shining on his muscular chest and illuminating his pitch black eyes, he looked like a god.

Sasuke's frown deepened. "So, decided that you'd kidnap her away from me, huh, you filthy animal!"

Hinata gasped and Somnium swished his tail indignantly, yet remained silent, his eyes locked with the blacksmith's. The two stared at each other with the nervous goddess between them before Somnium turned to Hinata, his expression softened.

"I believe, goddess, that you'd do well to stay away from unworthy mortals such as him, a common blacksmith." Hinata saw Sasuke shift from the corner of her eye, but the centaur turned away and began walking back through the stalks through which he had come. "Goodnight, and I'll pray to the other gods in Olympus that you return to your home safely."

Hinata waited until Somnium disappeared from sight before turning on Sasuke, angry and annoyed. "Really! That was awful for you to call him such a hideous name! And he didn't kidnap me-"

"You just decided to leave without telling me," Sasuke said coldly, all the warmth he usually gazed at her with gone from his eyes.

Hinata was taken aback. "No-no, you…you don't...I just…"

Before she could say anymore, Sasuke gripped her upper arm and began leading her back through the wheat, his dagger still shining murderously. Hinata decided that it was best not to struggle, and let herself be dragged.

"Seriously," Sasuke uttered under his breath. "Just walking out in the middle of the night, even if you are immortal!"

The goddess of love grinned as she was yanked back all the way to his house, Sasuke muttering about reckless women and how unnatural it was for a man to have a horse's buttocks the whole way.

A/N: Oh jeeze, it's pretty apparent that Harry Potter was my inspiration for this chapter, huh?

I'm so very, very sorry for the slow updating of this fic. I will try my best to update it more often, as it is very enjoyable to write.

Somnium: the Latin word for dream