Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any aspect of it, it all belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

A Brush of Sweetness

Sasuke couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of "matters" Itachi was talking about that they needed to discuss. These "matters" may range from their strained relationship to dealings with Uchiha Industries, or all of the above.

Still, he was not looking forward to his brother coming to town, and although, he would never fully admit it out loud, the Uchiha was not prepared to face his brother.

At least the warm taste of Hinata's green tea calmed him down a little. He had decided to stay over her home once again, but he wouldn't stay the night.

She had to get back to work.

And he would not mess up with her ever again. He also realized that their argument was partly based on fear, fear that he would treat her like Karin, and other many other women.

A silly notion, she far superseded Karin or any other woman in all ways.

It almost made him chuckle at how she could break him down so easily, make him insane, no woman had ever had that effect on him before.

But, he welcomed every bit of it. He was becoming a real softie for her.

"Maybe, y-your brother's coming will b-be good." Hinata soothed. She reached across the table, touching his hand with her slender fingers, and he caressed her knuckles with his thumb.

"Hm… maybe." He said, coolly. Sasuke took one last sip of his green tea, looking at the clock, and he got up. "I better get going, you should go to sleep."

Hinata gave him a gentle smile, the Uchiha placed a hand on top of her head, and kissed her forehead. The way her cheeks turned red made him smirk, and he left her apartment.

XXXX

The next day, Hinata put on a navy blue dress, and matching flats. She had enjoyed her time off, she loved being able to spend time with her boyfriend, and she had even been able to see her family.

However, she missed the daily grind.

She hoped that everything would work out for Sasuke.

Hinata figured that she would visit him at the end of the day to see how he was doing.

She climbed in her car, and headed for work.

Kiba greeted her in the parking lot.

"I am so not ready to be back." He sighed, heavily. Hinata giggled.

"How a-are you and I-Ino doing?" she inquired. The Inuzuka's cheeks flushed red, he looked the other way, and smiled a little.

"Good… we have been spending a lot of time together." He explained.
How are you and the Uchiha doing?"

"We're good." Kurenai had not arrived at the bookstore, they waited for a couple of minutes, and she pulled in.

"Bright and early as usual." She smiled, warmly.

"How w-was your vacation?"

"It was great, I didn't want to come back." She admitted. Kurenai opened up the bookstore, and the day started off as usual.

It was slow, and began to pick up around noon. However, an unexpected guest came in, Hinata immediately caught sight of her when she walked through the door.

Karin looked around the bookstore, she seemed to be searching for something… or someone. Hinata squeaked when the redheaded woman's eyes fell on her, and she bit her lower lip.

She avoided her hard stare, and went to helping a customer. Kiba took notice of this.

"Hinata, is everything okay?" he asked, concerned.

"It's f-fine." Hinata assured. Kiba gave her a sour look, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Then why is that woman giving you a death glare?" He beckoned to Karin who was snooping around the magazines, but her eyes flickered from it to Hinata.

"That is Sasuke's e-ex." Kiba's eyes widened, and then he grimaced.

"You need me to run her out of here, or maybe we should get Kurenai to do it."

"No, no, there's no need, really everything is okay." She reiterated. Kiba stared at her, silently for a few moments, and then sighed.

"Fine. But, if s-she starts something with you l-let me know." The Hyuuga heiress couldn't help, but giggle, and nod. Kiba may had been her coworker, but he always treated her like a little sister.

Karin never interacted with her, she just wandered about the bookstore, but on every aisle whether it was helping a customer or Hinata was placing books on a shelf.

She was there, giving her the evil eye. Hinata was a little wary as to how to approach her, she was still a customer, and needed to be helped.

But, she wasn't sure as to how it would play out. She was not particularly fond of confrontation both verbal and physical whereas Sasuke's ex was quite the opposite.

She was going to take her chances. She walked up to Karin who looked at her with a guarded expression, and Hinata bit her lower lip.

"Ano... e-excuse me, but May I help you find a book?" Karin pursed her lips, and she closed her book.

"Hmph, if I needed your help, I would have asked for it." She spat.

"I'm sorry." Hinata apologized. "P-please let me know if you n-need help." Hinata walked away, but not before she heard the discontented growl come from her boyfriend's ex.

Karin clicked her tongue, and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"I don't see why Sasuke chose you, your too nice for your own good." She stated. Hinata stopped in her tracks, she had to put an end to this, and she felt as if she were underneath a magnifying glass.

Hinata turned around, and frowned at her. This caught Karin off guard, and she balled up her fists.

"Sasuke is with me, I'm sorry that you f-find that hard to believe, and even I can't sometimes. But, please just leave me and him be. I'm s-sorry that he treated you so callously, but you have to move on because if y-you don't it will place an unnecessary weight onto your s-shoulders."

There was a silence exchanged between the two, and Hinata bit the inside of her cheek. Now, she had done it.

However, when she met Karin's eyes, she was taken aback, a sullen expression was all over Karin's face.

"I'm going to lose aren't I?"

"H-huh?"

"I cannot compete with you no matter how hard I try." The redheaded woman stated with a bit of a chuckle. "Alright, I'll leave you alone from now on, but you better take care of him because if you don't. I will snatch him right back."

Hinata smiled at her, warmly. "I promise."

"So…" Karin said as she waved her hand. "What kind of books do you really have in here?"

"I will show y-you."

XXXX

Sasuke sat on the couch, his arms were folded across his chest, and Naruto stared at him, wide-eyed. He took notice of his blond headed roommate's baffled expression.

"Stop looking at me like that." The Uchiha commanded.

"So let me get this straight, your brother is coming to see you." Naruto clarified.

"Yeah."

"When did you and out?"

"Yesterday when I went over Hinata's house."

"I see, so I was not the first one to know huh?" Naruto said with a grin, and Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.

"What is up with that stupid grin?"

"Oh, nothing, you and Hinata are getting pretty serious huh, I mean she knows about your brother. You're not the one to open up about your family."

The Uchiha stared at his blond headed roommate, intently. "I don't date someone who I am not serious about."

"Look, man, maybe just maybe this is a way for fate to say that you need to work things out with your brother."

"Yeah…." Sasuke grimaced.

"I mean we all have to face our pasts sometime." Sasuke knew that his old childhood friend was trying to help, but he held a different relationship with his brother. His brother liked Naruto ever since they met when they were in their teens, Sasuke figured Itachi thought Naruto could be a way to bring them together.

However, even Naruto knew that all Uchiha men were incredibly obstinate.

"Well, if he comes here, just tell him that I am not here."

"You know can spot a lie a mile away."

"Just do it."

"Okay, fine." Naruto ran his hand through his blond locks.

Sasuke was going to avoid Itachi the best way he could, although he had a gut feeling that it wouldn't exactly work.

XXXX

Hinata couldn't believe that Karin stuck around all day at the bookstore or the fact Karin seemed much more serene around her as the day progressed.

During closing time, Hinata started to make her way to her car, and Karin stopped her.

"I really don't like you." She informed. "But, you have kind of grown on me, and my dislike for you has turned into tolerance."

She looked at her, shocked.

"Doesn't mean I will call you out for a girls outing or whatever. We are not friends. Just enemies turned into acquaintances." Hinata felt a smile tug at her lips, and she nodded.

"Okay."

"Yeah, and I'll read these books." Karin said as she held up the bag. "Later." Hinata watched her walk away, and she climbed into her car.

At least she didn't have to worry about Karin anymore.

XXXX

"Oi, Hinata's here!" The Uchiha heard Naruto yell. Sasuke lifted off of his bed, and Hinata waited in the living room.

"Hey." He said, grabbing her hand, and she blushed. "How was work?"

"I-it was good." She informed. He led her back to his bedroom, beckoning to the bed, and she sat down on it. "Ano… K-Karin came to my job."

"What?" He seethed. He sat next to her. "Did she do or say something to you?" He gave Hinata a guarded look, and she giggled.

"N-no, actually, she was kind of n-nice to me." Hinata stated.

"Kind?"

"i-I mean at f-first she was sort of upset." She admitted. "B-but, after I talked to her, she softened up a bit."

"Just because you talked to her?" he asked, skeptically. The Hyuuga heiress's face turned ten shades of red as she reflected back on how she kind of stood up to Karin.

"Well….I-I kind of stuck u-up for you and I." A smirk crept across Sasuke's face.

He chuckled lowly, catching Hinata off guard, and his arm snaked around her waist. He pulled her closed to him, and buried his face in her hair.

Her hair smelled like vanilla.

"You know, it is supposed to be the guy to take up for the woman not the other way around."

"I-I'm sorry."

"For what, it's kind of hot." His lips pressed against her ear, and she giggled again. "At least we won't have her bothering us anymore."

"Sasuke." She took him by the shoulders, gently, and pulled away. "A-are you alright?" Before, the Uchiha could answer, he heard another knock at the door, and then dark voice of his brother.

Sasuke held up his finger, getting off the bed, and he cracked the door.

"Sorry, he is not here." Naruto explained.

"So my little brother refuses to face me eh?" A hint of condescension was in Itachi's voice, and Sasuke gritted his teeth.

He was not some coward.

"Stay here."

"O-okay." He stepped out of his room, and Itachi stood at the door. Itachi crossed his arms, and cocked an eyebrow.

"We will talk outside." Sasuke stated.

"If that is what you wish." He moved outside, and Sasuke closed the door behind them. "Long time no see, little brother."

"Not long enough." Sasuke said, coldly. Itachi sighed to himself, and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"How did you know where I lived?"

"We're Uchiha, we know how to find someone when we need to." Itachi informed. "It is about time that you and I settled this."

"I am fine with the way it is."

"Sasuke, I didn't defend myself for my own reasons." Sasuke balled up his fist, his nails dug into the palm of his hands, but he maintained his stoic demeanor. "It has been years, you cannot run forever."

"I am not running." There was a silence exchanged between the two brothers.

"What you did was deceive me." Sasuke seethed.

"Foolish brother, you refuse to listen to me." Itachi said, shaking his head. "But, you have to come back to Uchiha industries, we have to mend this, Orochimaru is trying to take over the company. He is trying to get his snake like hands on our sharingan stocks."

He didn't reply back. Orochimaru came from a rival company of Uchiha Industries, and was always seen with his assistant Kabuto.

And they had always had their eyes on the company.

"Has he taken over?"

"No. I will not allow such a thing to happen, but it is not my battle to face alone."

"We know you are using the situation as a medium to get to me."

"Perhaps." He saw Itachi's eyes flicker behind him. " and who is that young woman?"

He turned around to see Hinata was poking out of the window, her eyes widened in shock, and she quickly pushed back the curtain.

"She is my girlfriend." The Uchiha informed, snappily. "But, I don't see why that matters to you because I want you to stay out of my life."

Sasuke's composure broke a little, and a hurt expression came across his face.

"Well, I will not go away. I will be staying in town, and coming back here to get an answer." Itachi began to walk away. "This will not be the last time after all I am your older brother."

A faded smile settled on Itachi's lips, the Uchiha watched him climb into a Black Lexus, and drive off.

He sucked in his teeth. "You won't be getting an answer."

XXXX

"What are they doing?" Naruto whispered as the Hyuuga heiress looked through the window.

"Just talking."

"I'm surprised, Sasuke isn't trying to kill him."

"a-are you sure about t-this?"

"Oh yeah."

Hinata ducked down after she caught sight of Sasuke staring directly at her, and Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"He saw you didn't him?" She nodded.

Hinata bit her lower lip, and fumbled with her fingers, nervously. "Do you k-know what happened between Itachi and S-Sasuke, Naruto?" Naruto's face turned grim, and he nodded, slowly.

"I do. It is not something that Sasuke likes to talk about, but I am sure that if you ask, he will tell you?"

Hinata looked at him, perplexed. "Why d-do you say t-that?"

"I have a feeling." Naruto said with a triumphant smile.

"Do you think that I s-should go out t-there?"

"I would leave it to the two of them." He crossed his arms. "It is best to stay out of conflict between Uchihas."

XXXX

Sasuke walked back into the house, Naruto and Hinata scrambled away from the window, but the blond headed roommate fell on top of her. She squeaked, and the Uchiha's eyebrow twitched at the scene.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing." Naruto helped Hinata up, brushing off her shoulders, and he grinned. "See she is fine."

"Uh huh, she better be." Naruto chuckled, apprehensively, and pointed to the kitchen.

"I'm going to go see if there is some ramen I can put on." He watched Naruto nearly dash out of the living room, and sighed to himself.

Hinata bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, I-I didn't mean t-to pry." Sasuke pulled the Hyuuga heiress into him, she gasped, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

His grasp on her was tight and desperate. She reached up a hand, and stroked his hair. "Sasuke…?"

"Stay here with me tonight." His voice almost came out like a plea.

"I-I will, but I d-don't have any c-clothes."

"I will just give you some of mine."

"O-okay." He pulled away from her, Hinata pursed her lips as she took in his face. It was dark, and conflicted. "Sasuke, w-what happened b-between you and your brother?"

The Uchiha remained silent as he stared at her, and she reached up a hand, brushing his bangs out of his face.

"I'll tell you in my room." Sasuke led Hinata into his room, and he fell back on the bed with her in his arms. His face became serious. "Maybe, if I tell you, I will get some sleep tonight after all of this."

"As you know my parents died when I was small, but what I didn't tell you was how they died. They were murdered in a home invasion."

She felt her throat dry up, and her chest tightened.

"I was just coming home, I can still envision how our belongings were littered all over the floor, but Itachi was there before me." Sasuke elaborated. "I found my parents in the living room dead and Itachi was standing over their bodies, drenched in their blood."

Hinata's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth. "D-did he…."

"Kill them?" The Uchiha finished, and then his voice lowered with anger. "That is what I thought, and that is what authorities believed until the true culprits were found, and he was innocent. But, the damage had already been done, for years I believe that my own brother killed my family, and he made no efforts to prove his innocence, to convince me otherwise."

He clicked his tongue. "It was selfish, and he played me. His own flesh and blood. I will never forgive him for making me think such a thing. Now, you know."

"Y-you d-don't have to hold in." Hinata said with a gentle smile.

"I won't…not with you." He placed both of his hands on her face. "But, I resent him for what he did to me."

There was a silence exchanged between the two lovers. "You think different of me don't you?"

Hinata shook her head. "I-I don't."

It was at that moment, Sasuke realized Hinata was the only one who could calm him, and he found a desire arising in him.

A desire to have her as much more.

He gave her a pair of gray pants and a blue shirt to wear for the night.

XXXX

As she tried on his clothes, she found they smelled like fresh cologne, and it made her lips curve into a smile. However, her smile fell as she reflected back on the Uchiha brothers.

The Hyuuga heiress didn't realize Sasuke had been through so much. He reminded her of her cousin in a way, both men kept things bottled up inside.

And as she felt Sasuke's chest rise and fall against her back as they lay in bed together that night with his arm tight around her waist.

She couldn't help, but wonder what Itachi's real reasoning behind his actions was or if there was any hope that they would make amends.

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