Hello! I'ts a little late, I know, but better late than never, ne? Well, I was thinking yesterday and I decided to make this my Christmas present to you all. Yes, Christmas is almost over and most of you wont read this until tomorrow or Monday, but hey, doesn't mean it's not a kick ass Christmas present! Anyway - Read, Enjoy, Review!

All For Love

KawaiixKisses

Runaway

In the dark she lay for hours, her opal eyes staring at the walls. It was silent save for the soft hum of her husband's snoring beside her and the occasional sniffling on her account. She had cried silently for a while, – long after he had fallen asleep of course – unable to stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks. It was becoming too much for her to handle, just too much for her to deal with all together. She had hoped Naruto would change, revert back to the old him, the him she fell in love with, now she was beginning to see that that would never happen. Naruto might as well of died because the person she was married to was not 'Naruto'. He was a person she could not recognize but had become used to. He was a stranger, someone she didn't know – someone she didn't want to know. She had to escape. That was all she thought as she slid from the bed.

Lifelessly, she walked towards the en suite bathroom and turned on the shower, scrubbing her filthy skin from all traces of her husband. She toweled herself dry, after the hour-long shower, and stepped out into their bedroom where she dressed casually in sweats. She tossed a quick glance at the lock, noting the time, before her eyes slid to her husband. He lay there, his brows knotted slightly as if scowling his sleep. "I hate you." She wasn't sure if the words were spoken aloud or were silent thoughts, but it didn't matter. She hated him. More than anything else in the world. She hated him more than cancer, more than world hunger, more than poverty. "Shit…" she swore under her breath as more tears slid from her eyes. She was so frustrated. If she could, she'd stab him right then. He was vulnerable, so open for her to destroy. She wanted him to feel everything she had felt, she wanted to take everything he had away from him so that he could be left hallow, just as she had been. God she hated this man. She had never hated anyone before, but Naruto had taught her how to. Showed her how to hate another person, how to wish they wouldn't wake up in the morning, or that they'd get into some horrible car accident on the way home from work. How to wish they'd never been born – never even thought of. Hell, sometimes she wished his parents had never met, and then she wouldn't have to stuck there with him.

The wife turned away from her husband, the person she swore before God to spend forever with, for better or for worse. Only, she hadn't known that the 'worse' would have been so horrible. She forced herself to walk away from the man she had once loved, away from the person who had once loved her. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to get the hell out of there. The opal eyed woman allowed her feet to carry her out of her house and down the street where she wandered for hours. Her mind was jumbled with thousands of incoherent thoughts.

Vaguely, she noted how dark and cold it was, the night air brushing against her arms and face. She should have brought a jacket, she thought as she rounded a corner slowly. She hadn't been thinking about it earlier and supposed it didn't matter now, what was done was done. She wasn't going back to the house to get one, that was for sure. For now, she'd have to find a warm place to stay for the night, some place safe. Vaguely she thought of all the places she could go, where she would be accepted. There was Sakura or Ino, but she didn't want them to know she and Naruto were having problems. She didn't want them to feel sorry for her. She couldn't go back to the Hyuuga either, they would see her failed marriage as her fault, they'd scorn her, tell her she ought to go back home and apologize to her husband. She wasn't willing to do that at all. She didn't want to make up with Naruto – not anymore. Hinata needed time for herself, she needed to be alone. She wished she could run away to far away place, some place only she knew about – she'd be happy then.

She allowed her feet to continue carrying her down the road. She drew closer to the town, her home being way out in the boonies, as time passed. She must have been out there for an hour or so before her opal eyes caught sight of a convenience store. She hurried into the store, tired of the cold air. She let out a sigh of relief as heat crashed against her skin, instantly warming her up. "Oyasumi*" a voice sounded as she entered. Her eyes darted towards a brightly smiling woman behind the counter, her brown eyes shimmering with glee. Hinata was slightly annoyed with the woman's friendly disposition, but her natural politeness wouldn't allow her to be rude. "Oyasumi…" her voice sounded, cracking slightly as she rubbed her arms, moving around the store. This was good for now, but she couldn't stay there forever, she knew that. She had left all her money behind however – hell she'd even left her car. A sudden wave of hopelessness went through her. Maybe she should go back, it was becoming apparent she couldn't survive without Naruto. She needed him to take care of her. Her job wasn't enough to finance her lavish life-style, the life-style she was accustomed to. Her mind wandered towards the fact that she had an untouched trust fund. 900,000,000 yen* - that was more than enough to support her. But then, the Hyuuga would know if she tapped into it. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd be getting a call from Hiashi if she dared to use it – he'd hound her with questions about Naruto and why she needed to use it. She honestly didn't feel like dealing with that.

Hinata sighed with desperation, moving around the store. She scanned an isle of magazines, her eyes glancing idly at the cover pictures. A bell chimed in the front of the store, alerting the clerks that someone had entered the store yet again. "Oyasumi" the clerk sounded again. Hinata couldn't help herself this time and rolled her eyes, thoroughly annoyed with the woman. Just what the hell was she so happy about? It was damn near three in the morning; no one should be that happy. The disgruntled wife continued moving throughout the store however, walking towards the junk food. She was hungry she noted, staring down at a bag of American Burger Chips**, she had never got around to making that chicken… Images of the night flashed through her mind. She remembered it perfectly, the way he touched her, the harsh grunts he made, everything. It was still fresh in her memory. She reached up to hold herself, her hands closing around her upper arms. She could feel the tears burning the back of her eyes, threatening to betray her out there in public where everyone could see her falling apart. "Uzumaki-san?"

She shut her eyes tightly, ignoring her husband's name. Was he here? God, she hoped he wasn't there. He would be livid. He'd drag her back to their house by her hair and give her the beating of her life. Her chest began rising and falling as the hysteria took over. "No!" she screamed, turning and running from where she stood. "Uzumaki-san!" the voice called once again. Her heart raced wildly, panic filling her at the sound of footsteps following behind her. "No!" she screamed again, knocking over rack, candy falling all over the floor. "Uzumaki! What the hell is wrong with you?" the voice shouted. Hinata of course didn't answer, instead she continued screaming, tossing things down in front of the person she believed to be trying to take her back. "No!" she screamed as two strong arms wrapped around her. Her body jerked frantically, arms and legs thrashing about, trying to escape the steel grip of the man holding her. "Damn it, let me go!" she screamed, fighting her hardest to get away from the man holding onto her, her actions were futile however.

"Uzumaki, calm down. Calm down. No one's trying to hurt you, okay?" the voice said to her, only this time it was gentler; a whisper almost. Hinata continued to thrash about still, not willing to believe what the man was saying to her. "Lemme go! Lemme go!" she screamed louder, "I'm not going back! I'm not going back!" She couldn't help but cry now, hard sobs wracking her body. "Please… please…" she sobbed, "I don't want to g-go back… don't make me go b-back…" she cried softly, thrashing about still. "Shh… shh… nobody's going to make you go anywhere. You're okay. You're okay," the man said to her, patting her head gently, allowing her to relax. It wasn't until she stopped thrashing about that he set her down on her own two feet. She was still for a moment or two, her body shaking before she had the courage to turn around and face the person in behind her. Well, that was what she had planned to do before her brain decided it had gone through enough and the world went dark.

Uchiha Sasuke sat quietly in his living room, a stack of papers set out on his coffee table. He needed to finish all of it before work the following day some how. He had grown bored of his work and had decided to take a walk, relax his mind for a while before returning to his work. Never had he ever thought that he would have stumbled upon what he had when he walked into the convenience store. The sight of her there had worried him for some reason, she looked broken – more broken than usual – , like world had fallen around her. She looked so hopeless, like all she really needed was a hug, someone to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay. He had approached her, surprisingly, with the intent to see if she was indeed all right. Turns out she was anything but. She had had a complete melt down at the mention of her name, screaming and knocking over everything. The clerk at the convenience store wanted to have arrested, the woman was ready to call the police and would have if Sasuke hadn't paid her not to.

After being exploited into giving the woman a ridiculously large amount of money, the male had brought his assistant back to his apartment. He had been careful in laying her down in the bed, not wanting to wake her. She would have had a nasty fall had he not caught her in time. Something bad was going on with Uzumaki, that much was for sure. He had an idea of what was going on, but it would be better to hear it from her mouth and not for him to assume. But, judging from the bruises he had saw and the way her husband had acted a few weeks ago, Sasuke was certain he was beating her. Tonight only reaffirmed it. She was out there in the cold, dressed in thin clothing and without a coat, she obviously hadn't been thinking before she left and the way she had been looking at those American Burger Chips, she hadn't eaten either. Sasuke wasn't sure what he should do next. He had her here, passed out in his bed, and she obviously didn't want to go home and he wasn't going to send her out there in the cold either. The male let out a tired sigh, his eyes glancing towards the clock – 7:30am. He should be on his way to work now. He couldn't leave her though, not like that.

Just as the thought had crossed his mind, the door to his bedroom opened slowly to reveal a very sleepy and very tired Hinata. Her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying in her sleep – she probably did. She stared at him for a moment or so, blinking past the fog in her mind until she could see properly. "Uchiha-san…" she said softly, obviously confused by the tone in her voice. Sasuke turned his attention to her, studying the jumbled mass of black hair that curled and tangled around her head. She looked cute – yet horrible at the same time. Her voice was also hoarse, possibly from the screaming. "Wh-where am I?" she asked softly, her eyes skating around nervously. "My apartment," he answered her. The male watched with sadistic fascination as her eyes widened in fear. "You fainted," he told her calmly as she clung to the door jam to his bedroom. She stared at him for a while before nodding her head slowly, probably remembering what had happened before. "I'm… I'm… sorry," she said quietly to him, ashamed by her behavior, heat flooding her cheeks. Sasuke nodded his head. Ordinarily, one would say 'its okay', but Sasuke wasn't much of liar. What she had done was anything but okay – she had a melt down in a convenience store at three in the morning then pasted out in the arms of someone she thought to be a stranger.

They were silent for while, staring at each other. Sasuke was the first to speak. "Sit, we need to talk," he said to her, careful not use her name – he didn't want to spark another outburst like before. The dark haired woman nodded her head and slowly made her way over towards him to sit on the couch. "About earlier," he started but she cut him off. "C-can we… forget that happened." Sasuke frowned, his brows creasing and his lips pouting slightly. "No we can't forget it, Uzumaki," he started, using her name on purpose and getting the desired affect, for her eyes opened wider. "You destroyed a store – knocked over everything. I had to pay a woman 50,000 yen for the clerk not to call the police on you. I deserve a few answers." Hinata closed her eyes; trying to fight the tears she felt building up inside her. She was ashamed, mortified at the idea of someone seeing her so weak – seeing her like that. She hadn't been thinking clearly, she was paranoid, guilty. "I… ran away," she said softly after what had seemed like an eternity. Sasuke had wondered if she had even heard the question and if so, did she plan on answering it. The male nodded his head, already knowing what or whom she had run away from and why, even still, he waited for her to continue.

"Naruto… he… he beats… me." The words were spoken so softly, so quietly, they were barely a whisper. She couldn't keep the tears from sliding down her cheeks, the shame was too much for her bare. Before she knew it she was shaking and sobbing, softly. "A-almost every d-d-day…" she said, choking back another sob. Sasuke looked at her uncertainly – what should he do in a time like this? What should he say? He wanted to comfort her, pull her close and tell her everything would be okay but he got the feeling his touch would not be welcome. By the way she hugged herself and rocked back and forth slowly Sasuke knew it was best if didn't touch her. "How long?" he asked her, his voice soft and controlled. She looked up at him, eyes searching his for something. "Wh-what?"

"How long has he been beating you for?" he restated the question. Hinata nibbled her bottom lip gently, searching her mind for an answer. "Y-years…" she said softly. The male nodded his head and sat back in the couch. His dark eyes studied the walls of his apartment as he began to think. What was he going to do with her? He couldn't just bring her back there, not to where she was being abused so badly. "Is there any place you can go? Family? A friend?" he asked her, turning to look at her once more. Her gaze lowered and she shook her head slowly. Sasuke nodded his head yet again. If that was the case then where was she planning on going? Obviously not back home for she begged and pleaded with him not to make her go back there. "I-I should g-get going now…" she said nervously after some time had passed between the two. The wife stood to her feet, set on walking towards the door before his voice sounded. "To where?" he questioned. She stared at him for a moment or so, thinking over the question in her mind. Where would she go? Not home. Naruto had probably wakened up already and was livid upon waking up and not seeing her there. "I don't know," she answered him.

Sasuke closed his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. Somehow he knew this was going to happen. He had pretty much figured it out himself. He didn't need her to tell him for the future was so plain to see now. "Stay here," he said to her. Hinata stared at him for a while, trying to figure out what he was saying to her. "What?" she asked him. Sasuke let out another annoyed sigh, rubbing his eyebrows with his thumb and index finger. "Stay here. You take the bed and I'll take the couch. Hell, I'll even drive you to work," he said to her. Hinata began shaking her head and waving her hands about, rejecting the idea. "I c-can't impose o-on Uchiha-san l-like that…" she said to him. Sasuke frowned again. "It's not imposing if I tell you to stay here. Besides, where are you going to go? You don't have pockets or a purse so I know you don't have any money on you," he countered, staring her square in the eye. Hinata felt her cheeks heat up again. It was true, she didn't have any money, but that didn't mean it was okay for her to just move in with him. "Uchiha-san I – " she tried but he interrupted her. "You're staying here, Uzumaki. I don't want to hear anything else about it."

That was the end of their conversation before he stood up and walked towards his bathroom to shower, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

* a little over 10,000,000 U.S. dollars

** Japanese chips that supposedly taste like American cheese burgers lol

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. It's a bit short, only two scenes, but I think it was good nonetheless. Tell me what you think of the format, I felt a bit uncomfortable, but I think it looks better that way, less unnecessary spaces. Other than that, leave me a review, onegaishimasu! :D