Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it's characters, or any aspect of it. It all belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

The Beauty of Power

Chapter 12

They were about a day from Konohagakure. The Uchiha heir didn't say anything to her the whole way there, and she was beginning to wonder about him. Once in a while, the Hyuuga heiress snuck a peek of him, he had an indifferent expression on her face, and when he met her eyes, she turned the other way. A slight blush coming to her face, telling herself, mentally, to look at the ground from now on as a shy smile played on her lips. This was strange for the Hyuuga heiress. She had not really paid any attention to any form of romantic feelings in a long time, at least not after she had confessed her love for Naruto. Of course, it ended up with Naruto and Hinata loving one another as friends, and nothing more. Naruto loved Sakura in the way that Hinata had loved him, and that was fine with the Hyuuga heiress. She wanted to see the jinchuuriki host happy. So, it was not that Hinata still harbored feelings for Naruto, it was just that she has put her love life on pause, and she didn't know how to exactly put herself out there for someone else. Her timid nature prevented the possibility of that every happening, but she didn't expect someone to be interested her would be Sasuke Uchiha. Although, it wasn't exactly quite romantic feelings yet, it was definitely the beginning of something more intimate between the two. Of all people! Sasuke Uchiha, the same man who all those years go, the girls doted and swooned over. She felt flattered, and there was some validity in those girls infatuation with him, he was quite handsome, even Hinata couldn't deny that.

So was she attracted to the Uchiha heir?

The Hyuuga heiress was attracted to Sasuke, but his physiological features was not the main reason as to why she wanted to get to know him. She wanted to get to know him because Hinata was curious about him.

Also, wasn't he attracted to her a little? He did say that he wanted her to be his in a roundabout way. It was only natural that two people who were attracted to one another, learn about each other, but Sasuke was a hard man. Hinata wasn't quite sure if he would share anything with her, about who he was, in fact she could imagine that he would tell her that everything she knew about him already. However, the information Hinata had learned about him, had been delivered through rumors, tainted by the biased feelings of people towards Sasuke Uchiha, so she didn't consider it to be valid.

Hinata's thoughts distracted her, she ran into Ino, and she stumbled backwards.

"Sorry." The Hyuuga heiress apologized. "I didn't m-mean to bump into you."

"It is alright, Hinata-chan." Ino grinned at her, and she waved her, dismissively. A cool wind blew Hinata's hair behind her, the sun was starting to set, and it made the sky turn into a different array of vibrant pastel colors. Everyone had been eerily quiet, no one uttered a word to one another, so it was nice that Ino was breaking the silence. The blond headed kunoichi sighed. "Maybe, we should start setting up camp, after all, I am sure that we are all exhausted, we have been on the move for two days without stopping."

"Agreed, it will start getting dark soon." Shikamaru stated. There were no towns around, just miles of terrain, and some vegetation.

"There is a river a couple of more miles." Sakura informed as she held up a map. "We will set up camp here."

"Okay." Kiba walked up to the Hyuuga heiress, Akamaru was buried in his jacket, and he smiled at her.

"Are you tired, Hinata-chan?" The Inuzuka looked at her, concerned, and Hinata shook her head. However, her legs were tired, and her feet burned from being on them for so long. Yet, these physiological pains were something that she had gotten used to when going on long missions.

"I am fine, n-no worries." Hinata gave him a reassuring smile, and Kiba nodded. "w-what about you?"

"I can't wait to take a break!" Kiba let out a long sigh, making a face, and Hinata let out a low chuckle.

XXXX

The Uchiha heir looked at the Hyuuga heiress out the corner of his eye, and he started to admire her tenacity. Sasuke would have expected her to collapse in exhaustion by now. He didn't mind the demand on his body, he was accustomed to such things, but he also knew that she was tired more than she let on. Shinobi from Konoha went on missions, yes, and they traveled for days, yes, and they did face an immense demand on their bodies depending on the situation that they were placed in. However, it took years for the Uchiha heir to be able to withstand such things without being overcome by his mundane human needs. He could go days without eating or drinking anything, but most shinobi would have fallen over by then. Since they had been traveling, everyone had taken turns sleeping inside of the carriage, but the Uchiha heir didn't. He was too aroused to allow himself to sleep, traveling always aroused him, and it wasn't like he could honestly get a good sleep. The sleep he did received came into two categories. The first category was that he would wake up hour after hour. If he did sleep, restfully, the second category came into play, Sasuke was plagued by the image of Itachi Uchiha looking at him with those ash burn lifeless eyes, a loving smile plastered on his face, and blood trickling out of his mouth. So, to avoid all of it, it was best to not sleep at all.

There were black circles underneath the Uchiha heir's eyes.

He had not spoken to the Hyuuga heiress, in fact he had kept his distance from her, and it was not that he meant to do this, purposefully. It was just that this was all new to him, and he wasn't sure how to go about everything. Sasuke was surprised that no one had said anything to him as to why he was accompanying them on their way back. Good. Cause he sure as hell wasn't going to give the a explanation for it.

And why did he accompany them? A very simple reason really. He wanted the Hyuuga heiress to be his and only his, and he didn't like harm to come what was his.

Oh! How the alliance that he first sought out had become blurred developing into a desire to pursue an intimate relationship with her.

- About thirty minutes later-

The sound of rushing water began to fill Sasuke's hears as they continued to walk, and soon a huge river was spotted cutting through the terrain. The water was crystal blue, he heard a sigh of relief among everyone, and the Nakamura placed lead the horse off to the side.

"We will rest here and be back up early tomorrow." Shikamaru stated. "We should be in Konohagakure by tomorrow's afternoon."

"Sounds good." Kiba chimed. He collapsed on the ground, resting his hands behind his head, and he closed his eyes.

"W-w have food that Gakukoru g-gave us." He watched Hinata walked up to the carriage, pulling out loaves of sweet bread, and she looked at everyone. "I-I am not sure about water though."

"We will drink from the river." Sakura shrugged, and she sat down on the grass.

"I'll munch on a loaf of bread." Shikamaru volunteered. "There is a lot isn't there?"

"Too much t-to count." The Hyuuga heiress handed him one, and Shikamaru unwrapped it. The Uchiha heir watched her grab another loaf, walking over to him, and she smiled, bashfully. "A-are you hungry, Sasuke-san?"

"I am fine." Sasuke held up his hand in front of him. "You eat."

"b-but you haven't eaten a single thing since we l-left the village." Hinata looked at him, worryingly, and Sasuke stared at her. He saw her open up the loaf of bread, and she handed it to him.

"Please eat it." The Hyuuga heiress urged. The Uchiha her kept a cool expression on his face, he let out a sigh, and broke off a piece of it.

If that will stop you from being a pain.

"You have not eaten either." Sasuke observed. "You really need stop with the selflessness, it is quite annoying." His voice now slightly agitated. He popped the morceaux of sweet bread in his mouth, and pushed the loaf back into her chest. "I'm done, now leave me alone."

The Hyuuga heiress pursed her lips, and she nodded at him. She turned on her heels, the Uchiha heir grabbed her wrist, gently, and Hinata looked back at him, surprised. A smirk came to his face.

"Eat." Sasuke demanded. He was turning the tables on the Hyuuga heiress, she had been so pushy with him, and so now he was going to be pushy with her.

"w-what?"

"You heard me, eat the food or I will force feed you." Sasuke growled, throatily. "And don't test me, because I swear I'll do it in front of everyone here." The smirk still on his lips, she took off a piece of the bread, and Hinata took a couple of bites. She looked at him for approval, he just scrutinized her, but he was getting his message across without a single word. After about a third of it was gone just by her standing there, Sasuke let go of her wrist. He saw her, blush rose red, and she looked up at him.

"That's enough," The Uchiha heir approved. "I don't need you to throwing up." A slight chuckle was in his voice, the Hyuuga heiress let out a low laugh, and she wrapped the food back up

. "I am done torturing you for now."

"I began to eat, and didn't realize how hungry I was." Hinata admitted.

"Hmph!" Sasuke grunted. "I can't have you dying on me, Hinata, you are fragile, and not immune to such things."

XXXX

The Hyuuga heiress was not embarrassed when he touched her wrists, but she was embarrassed by the fact that she had just eaten all of that food in front of him. However, Hinata knew that is what he wanted her to do, he was always forceful with her, but it was in a caring way.

Yes, Sasuke Uchiha did care for someone… he cared for her regardless of whether he admitted it or not, his actions reflected it.

And here she was laughing, laughing with him! The Hyuuga heiress didn't even know that Sasuke Uchiha even had a sense of humor. She walked back over to the carriage, and the Hyuuga heiress watched the Uchiha heir sit down. He sat with his back towards everyone, and Hinata watched Kiba walk over to Sasuke.

XXXX

The Uchiha heir heard footsteps behind him, he didn't turn around to face the person, and Kiba stepped in front of him. Sasuke looked at him, coldly, and Kiba sighed.

"Thank you for saving, Hinata-chan back there in the village, it seems I was wrong about you."

"I don't care what you think about me or anyone else."

"I was against you being around, Hinata-chan, in fact, I think that we all were considering who you are and what your motives were for it, but it seems that they are not malicious." The Uchiha heir didn't need any fucking approval from anyone to be around anyone. The Inuzuka carried on. "However, I will be watching you, Hinata-chan is like a sister to me."

"Leave me alone." The Uchiha heir growled. He watched the Inuzuka look at him, irate for a moment, probably at the lack of interest in what he had to say, and he pushed past Sasuke, grumbling. Sasuke didn't look back at the others, he kept his eyes forward, and he remained that way the whole day.

XXXX

The night soon fell, and everyone pulled out more food for dinner. They ate their food in silence, and soon everyone went to bed. However, Hinata found herself, oddly awake, and she began to wonder if Sasuke was asleep or not. Furthermore, he hadn't interacted with anyone all day, and she wondered if he was still sitting off to the side. After a few struggles with her thoughts, she lifted up, curiously, and looked around the camp. Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura were all asleep soundly as their chest rose and fell. She looked to see the Uchiha heir was sitting down with his legs crossed, overlooking the river. Hinata got up, walking over to him, but he didn't turn around.

"Go back to sleep." Sasuke ordered.

"You are not tired?" Hinata asked, curiously. She strolled over beside him, and sat down on the ground.

"No."

"If you d-don't mind me asking, how come you d-don't sleep, Sasuke-san?" The Hyuuga heiress questioned. "You haven't slept a wink since we l-left the village."

"I don't sleep when I am traveling out here, sleeping is a vulnerable state."

"No harm w-will come to you here." Hinata assured. He scoffed at the ridiculous comment, he reached over his hand, and laid it on top of hers.

"Like I fret over such things." The Uchiha heir snorted, mockingly. "I am Sasuke Uchiha, harm doesn't come to me, and I cause harm."

"Is that w-why you don't s-sleep?"

"Hinata." Sasuke said as his eye rested on her, they were intense, and he pursed his lips. "I have killed many people, my hands are stained red with their blood and among those people I have killed my own brother, my own family slaughtered in front of me, sleep doesn't grace me with her presence."

"You killed… your brother?" Hinata murmured as her eyes became wide orbs.

"Yes, I did, I ripped the only relative I have out of this wretched world."

One of the many rare things that I regret doing. Did the Uchiha heir have morals, hell no, he abandoned morals or anything that held you back of your actions. However, the emotion of regret you could say was something that he could say was a possible moral. Hell, he regretted nothing, except for that one thing.

"W-why did you kill….him?" Hinata asked, apprehensively. The Uchiha heir felt an odd form of anger wash over him, and he clenched his jaw.

Are you so oblivious!

"I was misguided by that damn village that you called home, that village that you and so many people hold onto so dearly, used my clan, me, my brother as nothing but pawns in their own selfish quests." His voice was dark and cold. "They all made a fool out of the Uchiha clan!" A gasp escaped out of her lips, she tried to pull her hand away, and he grabbed it. "I will make them rue the day that they all decided to use the Uchiha clan if not in this life but in the next!"

"Sasuke-san." Hinata muttered, lowly. "I-I…. "Her voice trailed off.

"No words of kindness eh?" The Uchiha heir derided.

"I'm sorry." The Hyuuga heiress closed her eyes, and she turned away from him. "I'm sorry that Konohagakure m-makes you feel such things." B-but, what do you mean by "they"?"

"Everyone." Sasuke said, bluntly. "Everyone that I have come in contact that belong to Konohagakure ever."

"So it is true." Hinata mumbled, lowly. She withdrew her hand, and the Hyuuga heiress searched the Uchiha heir's face. "The r-rumors that you wanted to decimate Konohagakure."

"Yes." The Uchiha heir said, flatly. "I wanted to kill everyone who inhabited it." He saw her pale at his words.

You wanted to know, Hyuuga, sometimes the truth is abominable.

"You say wanted, w-what made you change your m-mind?"

"My brother did, it was my way to honor his wishes."

"…..have those murderous feelings left you?"

"No, they have not." Sasuke admitted. "I just merely channel those feelings in a different direction." He kept his response ambiguous, but he knew that she could figure it out.

"In your fights." Hinata guessed. There was another silence exchanged between them. "Let me ask you a q-question?"

"And what pretell may that be?"

"If you would not have met me, if you did not h-honor your brother's wishes, would you have struck me down when you destroyed Konoha."

"You know the answer." A slight gasp escaped from her mouth, and she withered away from him.

"But what if you knew me?" Hinata said, shakily. "c-could you look me in the eye and do that?" w-what about Sakura-san, and Naruto-san, they knew you as well, w-what about the innocent lives."

"So." The Uchiha heir brushed off her sentiments, and he looked back at the river. "But….. If I knew you then, I would have left you… alive." As for my former teammates, I wouldn't care."

"y-you would have condemned me to a life of l-loneliness without my family." Hinata defended." Without my friends."

"You would be alive wouldn't you?" Sasuke exasperated. "That is more than what most people get out of me." He saw her recoil, she pulled her legs up to her chest, and she placed her head in her knees, hiding her face. Her body trembled, and he knew that she was crying at the pure apathy displayed by the Uchiha heir. "Are you afraid of me, Hinata?"

"' I am not afraid of you." Her voice unsteady. The Uchiha heir reached over a hand, and he rested the palm of his hand on the middle of her back.

"Show me your face, Hinata."

"Why w-would you do that to a-another human being?" Hinata demanded. "Devalue and d-dehumanize them in such a w-way." She lifted her face, it was filled with a mix of terror and confusion, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I-I can't even comprehend it." He moved his hand, brushing her bangs out of her face, and a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It is okay to be weak in front of me, you don't have to be so strong, you can be afraid of me." The Uchiha heir informed. "Because, I know that you are."

"I-I'm sorry." Hinata apologized. She lifted up her arm, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her jacket, and a determined look came on her face. "But I-I will not look at you with such fright you like everyone on Konoha does, I-I will not shy away from you o-out of fear."

"Hmph, that kindness will be the death of you." The Uchiha heir stated. "You know I could just be doing this to get through to you and use all your kindness against you." A smirk came on his face. "I am always calculating, Hinata, don't you ever forget that."

"You should take that to heart."

"But, sometimes life t-throws you events that are unanticipated, Sasuke-san." The Hyuuga heiress muttered, lowly. Her tears now dried up. "It is h-hard to calculate those things."

Oh how well I know. You were not anticipated.

"I don't need a lecture." He snapped.

"I know."

"You should go to sleep." The Uchiha heir recommended.

With a nod, Hinata started to get up, but he grabbed the sleeve of her jacket. "You can stay here and sleep."

"A-are you sure?" The Hyuuga heiress asked, shocked.

"I wouldn't have proposed the idea if I wasn't sure, I am always sure about everything I do." Siting back down, he noticed that she was uneasy, and she fumbled with her fingers.

"Relax, Hyuuga, and go to sleep."

"Oh, yes, sorry, may I p-please rest my head against your shoulder?"

"Fine." He saw her hesitant, and the Uchiha heir became agitated. "Well…I gave you permission didn't I?" She bit her lip, Hinata rested her head against his shoulder, and the Uchiha heir tensed up. He fought the urge to throw her off of him, he was not used to the touch of a woman. Then, she did something unexpected.

XXXX

Hinata allowed herself a bold move, hoping to relax the Uchiha heir, and she wrapped her arms across him. A faint blush rose to her cheeks, she closed her eyes not wanting to see the look on his face, and she drifted off to sleep.

XXXX

Sasuke looked at the Hyuuga heiress, angrily. Did he say that she could do this? He would have permitted that she grab his hand, maybe brush his skin, or hair but not embrace. Hell, he had only just now allowed himself to show affection for her. She took in a deep breath, it escaped from her parted lips, and the Uchiha heir rolled his eyes. He muttered something unintelligible before he turned his gaze to the moonlight kissed water, staying like that for the rest of the night.

XXXX

He was an uncaring, cold man, but at the same time a warm, and thoughtful person. What an oxymoron that was. The Hyuuga heiress couldn't figure him out.

Did his words strike fear into her heart? Yes. However, he was truthful with her.

Furthermore, she figured that he would have looked down upon her when she broke down in front of him, but he didn't. In fact, he tried to comfort her in a strange way.

He was definitely an odd man.

A slight fall of her arm woke the Hyuuga heiress up, and she lifted up, quickly. Her eyes were met with onyx eyes, Hinata gasped at him, and she back away.

"S-sorry." The Hyuuga heiress said, breathlessly.

"You should be." The Uchiha heir grumbled. He said this with a blank expression, his voice was dark, but there was no sign of fury behind it. She was surprised at this, she had expected him to be infuriated, but the Hyuuga heiress could tell that he had her allowed to remain that way all night. A smile came to her lips, and she wiped her eyes. "You all need to hurry up and eat, we need to head out soon." Sasuke stood up, he stood afar, and Hinata took a couple of more bites of her food. As she ate, everyone started to wake up, and Sakura smiled at her.

"Morning, Hinata-san." The pink haired kunoichi greeted.

"Morning,"

"Ugh." Ino groaned as she lifted up. "I am so ready for a warm bed." The Hyuuga heiress chuckled at her. "How did you sleep, Hinata-chan?"

"I slept good, thank you." Hinata smiled, kindly.

"Geez, can I not get one sleep without you whining Ino?" Shikamaru asked as he lifted up, and he rubbed his eyes. "Every time, we go on missions like this, it's the same thing."

"No, you won't." Hinata walked over to Kiba, she touched his shoulder, his brown eyes fluttered open, and Akamaru began to stir at the same time as Kiba.

"I am up." Kiba grinned with a flash of canine like teeth. He lifted up, and began to stretch like an animal.

"Just w-wanted to make sure."

"We will all start heading out soon." Shikamaru announced. "So let's hurry and eat." Hinata walked over to the horse, and she gave it some water in preparation for the long trip. Kiba grabbed onto the horse's reins after she was done, and everyone ready themselves for the last bit of their journey.

XXXX

- A few hours later-

The Uchiha heir was not happy to see Konohagakure once again, it was the bane of his existence, and the guards at the gates looked at him with a stunned expression.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke Uchiha?" One of them demanded with a guarded eyes. "Stay right there."

"You going to stop me?" Sasuke questioned, knowing the answer that he would get, and they shook their head.

Smart decision.

The gates opened up, letting all of them through, and other shinobi came to greet them. All of their mouths dropped when they caught sight of the Sasuke, Sasuke was seeing more than enough, and he headed towards the estate.

"Oh, Sasuke-san..." Hinata began. The Uchiha heir cut her off.

"You know where I stay at." Sasuke spat. "Come see me there if you wish to speak with me any further." And with that, the Uchiha heir pulled up the hood of his cloak, and put as much distance as he could between the shinobi and himself.

Man, he fucking detested shinobi.

XXXX

Hinata wondered home after they turned in their report to Naruto, and informed him of all the events that transpired. The Hyuuga heiress was surprised when she saw Hiashi standing outside the Hyuuga gate as she approached it. Hiashi's looked at Hinata with a stern look, his pale eyes were intense, and he had on a brown kimono with a matching tan jacket. The Hyuuga heiress walked up to her father, and she bowed in front of him.

"I-I am back from my mission."

"I am aware that your mission is finished, I was given the paper work on the duration that it would take you to complete it." Hiashi said as he crossed his arms. "Come inside... we need to talk."

"Yes, father." Hinata followed after him. The Hyuuga heiress looked up at him, perplexed as he walked in front of her. "If I may ask, w-what is this about?" Hiashi stopped, looking at her out the corner of his eye, and Hinata's eyes widened at his comment.

"It is about your recent interactions with Sasuke Uchiha."

Please review the story, I would greatly appreciate it, and I hope you all enjoyed it as there will be more to come- FireGladiator