Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

This story setting is a bit odd. It's AU but with a mix of canon. And of course, Sasuhina It's a ONE-SHOT unlessssss you guys ask me to expand it so let me know! :D Thank you so much for reading 3

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Sasuke sat outside the café patio, as was his usual preference, regardless of the sudden early September chills. He scanned the headlines of the local paper and absently took a sip of his black coffee. As it was rather early in the morning, the market square was not yet crowded and the sounds that filled the air were mostly shop keepers opening their stores and the food stands bringing in fresh produce from the harbor. It was a small town, not to the point where everybody knew everybody but where a stranger could be easily recognized, often made quite obvious by their appearance, their style of dress. While it had been three months since Uchila Sasuke had taken residence in this little town, he was still a considered a stranger and while the residents regularly dressed in rather casual clothing, he could been seen, like today, in dark suits that likely cost more than an entire year's salary of the café owner. Passerby's would do a double take as they walked by the café patio, still unused to such a model-like form. And with long legs, a well-toned body, a chiseled face, and silky dark ink hair, Sasuke Uchila appeared he belonged on the run way, not here, a small town off the coast of France.

The dark stranger paid no attention to the group of giggling girls or rather groups (even in a new country he was quickly accumulating fan girls) and continued to read the paper, occasionally stopping to reach for his coffee mug or glance at his watch. The reason Sasuke enjoyed this particular café so much was because it was more of a bookstore that also sold coffee and sweets. For him, it was perfect; a place to work, food, and books all in one place. If they had beds, he would have no reason to go back to the villa he was renting. And even though it was more of a bookstore, the locals simply referred to it as 'the café.'

But today he was not here to work. The idiot was over an hour late already and-

"Oi, Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked up from his paper to see Naruto slide into the chair across from him.

"Sasuke, how have ya been? Hong long has it been this time, two years? Or three? I think three…Anyways, can you believe it? Shikamaru and Ino had another baby! It's a girl this time, they named her Hanako! Hold on, I have a picture around here somewhere." As Naruto dug around in his wallet, Sasuke took in his old friend's appearance. Same spikey blond hair, but a little longer; same blue eyes, but a little sharper; same constantly grinning face, but not as trusting, and same love for orange clothes, but a little more mature then the old jackets Sasuke was accustomed to.

Wait, did he just use Naruto and mature in the same sentence? His age must be catching up to him…For at twenty-five, he felt like he had lived two or three lifetimes, no longer a youth. Sasuke patiently listened to Naruto's chatter for a good twenty minutes before cutting straight to the point.

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke for the first time during their meeting, cutting Naruto off from babbling off about the many children their friends and teachers had accumulated.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?"

The blond sighed and leaned back into the chair and absent-mindedly ruffled his hair. Seeming to make up his mind, he leaned forward, folding his hands on the table and looked at Sasuke straight in the eyes for the first time all morning. Sasuke was a little taken back by the sudden serious expression but didn't waver his own gaze.

"It's time to come home," Naruto said.

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto beat him to it. "You can't run forever Sasuke. How long has it been since you've been to Japan? Since my wedding right? Itachi is dead. You killed him yourself. But you refuse to come home. When was the last time you saw Sakura? She misses you. We all do."

The Uchila sighed. He tried, many times to explain to Naruto that without Itachi, he had no purpose in Konoha, no purpose in Japan, no purpose in…life.

"We've gone over this before, you know my reasons-" Sasuke tried once again but was interrupted again.

"Sasuke within six years you've lived in South Korea, India, England, America, Jamaica, China, and now France, " Nauro said to him, counting off the countries on his fingers. "Can't you see it's not working? You're not going to find what you're looking for in a land full of strangers."

Naruto then proceeded to go on and on about all the reason's he was needed back home, even pulling out a list (clearly written by Sakura) about how he was wasting his life and more, importantly, his money.

Sasuke actually snorted at the last one. He had more money than he knew to do with and his multi-million cooperation, which he ran from his laptop; instructing his employees what to do from whatever country he was in, made a small fortune, monthly.

His eyes started to wander when Naruto added vigor to his speech, speaking in a fashion Gai and Rock Lee would be proud of. Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if Naruto stood on the table to proclaim his reasons his friend was needed back home to all of France.

The idiot was still an idiot. It was nice to know that some things never change.

Sasuke idly looked into the café window, just in time to see a girl carrying a large stack of books, a stack so long that it reached way over her head, lean down a bit to reach for another book sitting on the shelf. He watched as she struggled reach the thick book stretching her fingers to their limit. He watched as books began to fall around her from the stack she was still holding, one barely missing her head and watched as the café owner's son rush over with a hand basket to help the girl. The young man smiled at the girl and put the fallen books into the hand basket. He spoke to her, but Sasuke couldn't hear through the glass. Luckily, his training back home had given him the ability to read lips and he understood French quite well so eavesdropping was no problem.

"You must not shop around much, since you didn't grab the hand basket," the brown haired boy said smiling.

The girl blushed and looked a bit flustered, "No…not really. T-this is my f-f-first type actually. Um, but thank you very much for the advice!" she said quickly, leaning down in a formal bow…Causing the large stack of books to slide straight out of her hands and onto the young man.

Now the girl was beet red and frantic, apologizing while trying to unbury the boy, who couldn't seem to stop laughing.

Sasuke smiled and gave a small chuckle at the expense of the girl who was giving off waves of embarrassment at this point as the boy, still laughing, arranged the rest of the books in the basket.

The last Uchila turned back to face Naruto, only to see the blond had stopped talking and had his mouth slightly open. Sasuke's smile quickly faded.

"What?" he asked in a slightly irritated tone. Naruto was still looking at him like he just sprouted a tail.

"Did you just…Did you just smile?" Naruto asked, in a stage whisper, leaning in rather close.

Sasuke leaned back a little in response. "What the hell-What are you talking about?"

But Naruto wasn't listening; he was too busy looking around at what caused this phenomena, scanning the patio, craning his neck to look around the markets, even glancing under the table. Finally his bright blue eyes looked through the café window to see the girl at the checkout counter holding shopping bags full of her books, politely listening to the brown haired teen.

"Hin-HINATA?" he cried before jumping up and running into the café, almost catching his coat on the door. Before Sasuke had time to blink, Naruto had already gone inside, grabbed the girl's wrist in one hand and her bags in another, and came back outside, setting her bags on one chair and leading her into another, leaving the teen, still in the café, in mid-sentence.

There was a few seconds of silence.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and then the girl, who appeared to be in shock, with questioning eyes. Hinata? Why did the name sound familiar?

"A-a-ano? Naruto-kun? U-Uchila-san?" she gasped, her eyes wide, glancing between the two.

Ahhh, now he understood. Only a Hyuuga would have such clear eyes. He vaguely remembered that the Hyuuga princess was in his same class back at home so maybe this was her.

"Hinata! What are you doing in France?" Naruto asked, grinning at her shocked expression.

The black haired girl shook her head a little as if to clear her head. "Ah, that is…What a-are you both doing here?"

"Well it's a bit embarrassing but Sasuke ran away here to be with his gay gigolo transvestite lover-"

Hinata gasped sharply as Sasuke's fist connected squarely into Naruto's face.

"Naruto-kun! Are you ok? Ice, ice, let me go get-"Hinata said frantically, standing up but was pulled back down by Naruto.

The blond grinned, "Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'm fine! I'm used to it by now. And don't forget, we were both special agents so we're tougher then we look."

Hinata's eyes searched his grinning face for a bloody nose or a bruised jaw but didn't see a scratch.

Sasuke scoffed and turned his attention back to the princess, "I'm here because I want to be. The idiot is just wasting his time here but he'll go back home by tomorrow. What are you doing here?"

Hinata shrank a little under the Uchila's gaze and began fiddling with her hands, "Um, w-well I live here…for now."

"What? When did this happen? You were over for dinner just two days ago and you didn't say anything? What about your title as head of family?" Naruto asked increadously, his blue eyes wide with concern.

If possible, the Hyuuga shrank even more. "Ah, that is…what happened was…I couldn't just…My sister…"

"Just say it," Sasuke snapped, his patience growing thin.

Naruto glared at his friend, "Shut up Sasuke. She'll tell us when she's ready."

Hinata smiled gratefully into her lap. Curling her hands into fists, she looked up at the two men with a little more confidence.

"The elders of my family decided that it would be best if I handed my title to my younger sister and so…I did," Hinata smiled softly at Naruto's look of surprise. She bowed her head towards the blond. "I'm thankful for the time I had as the head of the family and to you Naruto-kun for believing in me but…They decided I wasn't good enough. But it's okay. Hanabi is strong. She will lead the family to greatness."

Sasuke pulled out a handkerchief and silently handed it to Hinata. She smiled her thanks and wiped the few stray tears that escaped her control. Naruto went into the café to fetch her some tea.

"Hinata. Why didn't you tell us? Maybe we could have helped or maybe Tsunade could have talked to the elders." Naruto asked as he set the tea down in front of her, his face grave.

Hinata shook her head, "It's my fault. I…I tried to end the Branch Family to soon and I was to rash about it. Hanabi…she knows how to play politics with the elders. She'll achieve our dream."

Sasuke watched strands of her long, ink black hair sway in the breeze. If his family were still here today, would he be in a similar situation?

Naruto sigh, "Aw man, what a mess…But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you and Neji try to fix this or something?"

"No, I…I decided to step down on my own will. It's refreshing, in a way. Now I'm free," Hinata smiled sadly into tea. "B-but without my t-tile, I have no purpose in Kohana or even Japan. So I decided to start over where no one knows me."

Sasuke looked at the girl in a new light. It seemed they were both in the same position after all. And they were now living in the same town…

"Does anyone know?" Naruto asked.

"Only N-neji-nisan, Hanabi-chan, and F-father. I felt that if I had to tell people goodbye, I wouldn't be a-able to leave. I actually arrived just last night." Hinata said before taking a few sips of her tea.

"Naruto-kun…I know you're going to a-ask me to come back with you but…" Hinata set down her cup and looked at her former crush, "But I need to be away for a while. I need to figure out who I am without the title and…And what I'm going to do with my life."

Naruto looked between Sasuke (who was thinking how odd it was that the Hyuuga princess's life and his were running parallel) and Hinata (who was growing more and more uncomfortable since both men were staring rather intently at her) as a grin slowly stretched across his face.

"Actually this is perfect! Hinata-chan, where are you staying?"

"Ummm, 4525 étoile lane," she answered, surprised at the sudden attitude change.

"And Sasuke aren't you staying at 4526 étoile lane?" Naruto asked, still grinning.

At Sasuke's stiff nod, Naruto laughed, "It's to perfect, I couldn't have planned it better myself."

He placed a hand on both Sasuke's and Hinata's shoulder and looked at his two startled friends in the eyes, "You two have my blessing. Take good care of each other and make sure you invite me to the wedding!" Naruto laughed again, got up, and walked back towards his rental car. He waved once again before driving off.

Hinata looked at Sasuke, "Uchila-san…what just happened? Did Naruto-kun…leave?"

Sasuke stared after the car, the meaning of his friend's words sinking in, "Ignore the idiot. He doesn't know what he's blabbering about."

Hinata glanced at him and then back at the car until it was no longer visible, "O-okay."

Sasuke crossed his arms and looked at the timid girl who was nothing like him but was somehow the only one who might understand him.

Hinata turned around to see Sasuke staring at her intently and involuntarily shivered. It was a bit like staring into a wild panther's eyes. Dangerously fascinating.

They both had no idea what was going to happen now…But they both knew one thing. They were no longer in a land full of strangers.

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The End =] I was planning on making this a one shot but maybe I should expand it? Review and let me know! :D