We're getting close to the middle of the story now! Maybe. Actually I'm not too sure.

I feel like I might be dragging the story out but whenever I write it just flows for me like this. I hope you guys stick around even if the story might seem boring at some points but that's where feedback is much appreciated! Thank you to everyone that left a review for the story. You guys are awesome!

"Oh my god! Everyone, it's Hinata! She's here!" as soon as we got to the gates of her compound someone came rushing out yelling. Now, everyone was hogging at the entrance to greet Hinata.

The compound was pretty big but it was in a small town on the outskirts of Suna, so technically it wasn't even in Suna.

"Hinata, we were so worried when we found out that you missed your train in the Sound Village. Thank god you're okay!" an old lady said as she hugged Hinata tightly. How did they find out about her missing the train? I guess the question I was thinking showed on my face because Hinata answered it.

"Oh, I used your cellphone, when you were asleep in the bus, to tell my family so they would know I was coming later. I hope that was okay," she smiled at me even as I glared at her.

Slowly we made our way inside the gates to the front yard, but people were still surrounding us as they greeted Hinata but gave me weird looks. How many people lived in this place? It was pretty big.

"Ooh! Hinata brought home a boyfriend!" yelled a little girl who was crushing Hinata in a hug. She began jumping and pointing at me but I raised my hands and frantically shook my head to deny her claims.

As soon as she yelled, everyone turned their heads to look at me with those same pale grey eyes as Hinata. Seriously, everyone had those eyes. Is it a family trait?

"No Hanabi! Everyone, this is my friend Sasuke. I met him on the train from Konoha. He helped me get here safely all the way from the Sound Village." Hinata introduced me to everyone as they kept staring. I was getting nervous at their silence and constant staring so I gave a small wave which made them erupt in cheers. Now everyone was greeting me like I was their best friend or something.

"Sasuke, man! You're such an awesome guy!"

"Thank you for getting Hinata home safely."

"Yeah, you must stay here with us for a few days," one man suggested.

"Oh no! That's totally unnecessary. I was just going to drop her off and head out," I tried rejecting their hospitality as nicely as possible.

"You took care of our princess. The least we can do is return your kindness."

"There's no need for that! I was just trying to be a... uh... good citizen. Ahaha," these people were so aggressive in persuading that it was scary.

"Nonsense! You shall stay here and that's final!" said an old lady as she pounded her walking stick in the ground. I gulped in fear. These people can't seriously force me to stay?

"Ok everyone, that's enough with the greetings. Hinata, your father is waiting inside to meet you and your…. guest," the man looked at me suspiciously but I tried to keep myself calm.

"Thank you uncle Hizashi. We'll go see him now. Come on Sasuke," Hinata grabbed my hand and pulled me inside towards one of the entrances to the compound.

When she grabbed my hand, I could feel everyone's eyes on us. What is this girl doing giving everyone the wrong idea?!

"Hello father," said Hinata as she ran to her father to give him a hug. The man looked almost identical to her uncle outside.

I stood right next to her when she backed away to stand in front of her father, and for some reason I almost feared for my life. This shouldn't be a big deal, right? It's not like I'm asking her father for her hand in marriage or something. Damn! Why am I so nervous!?

"Hinata, I'm glad that you made it home safely," he then turned to look at me with his steely-eyed gaze, "I see you brought a boy with you." Boy? I'll be turning 25 in July. Who the hell is he calling a boy?

I stood a bit straighter as he kept his gaze on me.

"Father, this is Sasuke."

"So is he your boyfriend?" I froze because I was too nervous to respond.

"No, father! He's just a friend."

"A friend? With a boy?! I don't believe you! Hinata, I know how people are in a big city like Konoha."

"No, he's just a friend, father."

"Don't think you can be clever with me! Why else would you bring him home, Hinata? Are you pregnant!?" yelled her father.

"No father! You're embarrassing me," she said while blushing, "He's just a friend! I met him on the train and he was there to help me when I missed my train all the way in the Sound Village, in the middle of the night!"

"Hn," was all he said but it seemed that he had cooled down a bit.

Wow. He's a real stickler. Complete opposite of Hinata. A stickler with a giant stick up his –

"So what do you do, boy?" he asked me, halting my train of thought.

"Uhh… I, uh," what should I say? I don't have a job! "I'm a… freelancer…?" he just gave me a weird look but did not ask any further.

"We will be having dinner soon. You should join us," I just nodded before he dismissed us.

Afterwards, somebody lead me to my room while Hinata went off to god knows where. I took a shower and changed into some clothes they gave me since I didn't have any clothes with me.

I took out my phone while I was changing and saw that I had several missed calls. Most of them were from my lawyer, probably trying to figure out what to do since I lost everything. There was no call from my father or my brother. It wasn't surprising since my brother fired me but I guess my father couldn't care about his other son either.

I sat on the bed, shirtless, with my elbows on my knees, and phone in one hand. I was trying to scroll through all my voicemails, deleting most of them. Lawyer, delete. Lawyer, delete. Lawyer, delete. God, this guy! How many voicemails did he leave?

Sliding my thumb up on my phone's screen I came across the last name I was expecting to see right now.

Mom.

She had left me a voicemail and it was left on the day I got fired. I have her number blocked so my phone probably didn't show it when she called, but instead sent her straight to voicemail. It was probably a good thing that I didn't get to talk to her because it would've just made it worse. But now, staring at her voicemail, I didn't know what to do. Should I listen to it? Should I delete it? Somehow the idea of deleting it didn't sit right with me.

I'm not a sentimental guy but it has been more than two years since I last heard from my mom. The last time was a few weeks after my college graduation. At that time I was still sore over Sakura leaving me so I had taken out my anger at my mom. I had yelled at her, called her a horrible mother for leaving her family, and told her that I did not want to see her ever again. I still believe I was right in my opinions but seeing her pained expression on the words I had yelled at her still troubles me.

She always used to try and stay in touch with Itachi and me, but after that I hadn't heard from her until now. I wonder why she called on that day. Did she know I got fired?

Hesitantly, I pressed the play button and brought the phone closer to my ear to listen to her message.

"Sasuke… I don't know if you're getting this but… I have to see you… I miss you… I really need to talk you, so please call me… I love you –" the message ended there abruptly.

I held the phone in my hand as I kept staring at its black screen. The message was so vague. She just wanted to talk to me?

Just then someone opened the door and popped their head in. It was a girl who looked about my age, maybe a little younger. I wasn't sure. As soon as she saw my state of undress since I didn't have my shirt on, her face turned several shades of red before she uttered a word.

"U-um, d-dinner is r-ready. Uncle w-would like t-to have y-you j-j-join us. G-goodbye!" She slammed the door as she finished talking. I guess Hinata isn't the only weird one in her family.

I got dressed and headed out the room. This place was so big that it took me a few minutes to find my way. I just followed the crowd and found myself to be in a big room. People were sitting on a very large dining table chatting while serving food to each other.

"Sasuke! Come sit here," said one guy as he pointed to an empty chair right next to him.

As I walked to him I swear I heard whispers from some of the girls on the table. They kept staring at me and I felt like I was on a runway. When I took my seat, a plate of food was served to me.

Throughout the entire dinner, my plate was always filled with food because every time I finished, someone would offer me more and fill up my plate before I got a chance to reject.

Hinata giggled from the other side as she got up to leave with the girl who came to my room earlier. I tried getting up to leave as well but the guy right next to me grabbed my shoulder and pulled me down to my seat.

"Sasuke, you have to try this!"

"No, thank you. I'm very full," that was an understatement.

"But we made this just for you, Sasuke!" I tried refusing again.

"Wow, you city folk don't eat much. No wonder you're so scrawny," an old man said as he squeezed my biceps. Who the hell is he calling scrawny?

An hour later they finally let me leave the table. I walked up to my room while holding my stomach. These people literally forced me to eat so much food!

"Sasuke," whispered Hinata as she came up behind me, "What's wrong? You look like you're in pain."

"It's all your family's fault. The fed me so much food. Now I feel like my stomach is going to explode!" I groaned. Hinata just giggled at that.

"Oh, you'll be fine!" she said as she patted my back, "But listen," she continued whispering, "We have some guests coming tomorrow and I want you to stay here for that."

"Why?" I whispered back. What's so important that she's being so secretive?

"The people that are coming tomorrow are coming for me. There's going to be a guy named Gaara with them and I think my dad is trying to arrange my marriage with him."

"I thought you were going to marry that Toneri guy?"

"I will, but my dad doesn't know about him yet."

"So why don't you tell him?"

"You don't understand. My dad won't accept him because he's not from here, plus he's big on arranged marriages."

"So why do I have to be here?"

"I just don't want to face these people alone."

"I'm not going to meet your possible suitors tomorrow. This isn't my business!"

"Please," Hinata pulled a puppy-dog face trying to convince me, and I had to strain a little to keep my resolve. Only a little. "Hmph! Fine! But my family isn't going to let you leave so easily. Not if I have say in it."

"Why you –"

"Hinata, what are you doing here?" the girl from earlier came down the hall as she looked at Hinata and me suspiciously.

"Hanako!" Hinata spoke normally now, "I'm glad you're here. I wanted to introduce you to my friend Sasuke here!"

"Friend…?" she looked at me curiously, "Right. Hinata it's getting late. You should get some rest for tomorrow."

"Oh, I will. Don't worry about me. Why don't you two talk a little? Get to know each other," she winked at me, "I'm off! Goodnight! Don't stay up too late you two," she pointed at us as she walked backwards until she was gone.

"Uhh… don't mind her… she always does weird things like that" Hanako said.

"Oh, so she's always been like that?" I smirked as the other girl laughed.

"Yes, she has. Well, maybe not always, but for the most part… I'll let you sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I nodded.

"Oh and thank you for helping Hinata. She's really clumsy and kind of naïve, so I'm glad someone like you was there to help her, or else…" she shook her head as if to dispel a thought. She smiled one last time before leaving.

I thought about what Hanako said before heading into my room to sleep. It wasn't pleasant to think about what could've happened to Hinata if I wasn't there when she missed her train. Twice.

In the morning after breakfast, I decided to not leave. It wasn't like these people were stopping me but I knew that if I left so soon they would protest.

When Gaara and his family arrived, Hinata's father introduced me as their guest from Konoha. After that one encounter I did not see them again as they went in to the living room to talk. Hinata tried to discreetly grab my hand and pull me too but I dodged her attempts and walked away. I did not need to be a part of that.

It was noon now and I was roaming the fields in the back of the compound trying to avoid Hinata because I did not want to be dragged into whatever she was in right now. It would probably give the wrong idea to her father and her suitor, Gaara.

"Sasuke, right?" asked a girl who was sitting on a swing under a tree as I was passing by. She looked like she was around 16 years old. I just nodded and stopped by the tree.

"I'm Hanabi, Hinata's sister." So that's why they looked similar. "So you helped my sister when she missed her train?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well… she needed help and I didn't feel right just leaving her in the middle of nowhere like that." Hanabi observed me while I answered as if to judge my answer. What is she getting at?

"So you decided to travel all the way to Suna with a stranger? You could've just given her some money. You didn't have to come here... Unless..."

"What?"

"You're the reason why she missed the train, right?" I didn't respond, "I knew it! It didn't make sense that some random guy decided to help my sister. And you're too hot to be my sister's boyfriend. So you probably helped her out of obligation. That whole spiel about being a 'good citizen' was just you trying to cover for your ass!"

"Fine! Yes, she missed her train because she was trying to help me so I felt guilty and brought her all the way to her home. Happy?"

"Hmm," she just shrugged her shoulders, "I was just curious."

She stayed quiet for a bit while swinging until she spoke again.

"Do you think Hinata is a bit too naïve?" I raised an eyebrow at her question. So her little sister thinks so too. I just shrugged in response not wanting to say something about her sister that might offend her. "It's just that she's too kind hearted, which always leads her in vulnerable situations. That just ends up hurting her. And she never learns either," Hanabi sighed.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I guess since you went overboard helping Hinata, I feel like you're an alright guy. I can trust you… with her," she smirked as she glanced at me sideways.

"What do you mean you can trust me with her?"

"Well you already met our father. So now all you need to do is ask her out. Plus if you guys date then father might go lenient on all the arranged marriages stuff. I hate the idea of arrange marraiges," she pouted.

"You know we are not dating nor are we going to date, right?"

"Not yet," she smirked.

"You can't be serious? She's meeting her possible future husband right now," what kind of fantasy is this girl coming up with in her head? After I leave this place, I'm never going to see Hinata again. That was it.

"Mhmm, possible husband. Plus, you seem like the guy who wouldn't stop at anything to get what he likes," she smiled as she began swinging faster.

"I don't even like her!" is everyone crazy in Hinata's family?!

Hanabi just laughed while I scowled at her.

"You're so serious! Stop brooding and push me… Please!" Hanabi said. I just shook my head and pushed her on the swing to make her go faster. This girl is just as weird as Hinata.

A few minutes later Hinata came rushing towards us. Hanabi tried to stop the swing as she dragged her feet in the dirt.

"Hanabi! Father is looking for you! It's something about Konohamaru sneaking around in the backyard." Hanabi's eyes widened as panic laced her features. She jumped off her swing and dashed towards the compound.

As soon as Hanabi was out of view, Hinata turned towards me, and I did not like the way she was looking at me.

"You jerk! You left me!" she yelled as she pointed her finger at me and harshly poked me in my chest.

"This isn't my problem!" I rubbed where her nail poked me.

"Stop being such a pansy and tell me if somebody is walking this way." I glared at her but then looked behind her to see Gaara walking out of the compound in our direction. "Don't make it noticeable."

"What? It's just Gaara," I was about to raise my hand to call to him so I could get his attention but Hinata grabbed my shoulders and positioned me so I was standing right in front of her and her back was to Gaara.

"Just stay like this and don't look at him. Look at me," she was staring right into my eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows and gave her a questioning look, but she ignored it. "Is he looking this way?" I discreetly looked behind her to see that Gaara was staring at us now. He was making his way here.

"Yeah, he's coming this way," Hinata got closer to me, "What are you doing?" I took a step back, and she got even closer, "Stay away from me!" Then she grabbed my arms and quickly kissed my cheek before I could push her away.

My eyes widened as I felt her lips on my cheek. It was a light peck but somehow I had to control my blush at such an innocent action. She was now smiling at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes. I looked up to see Gaara charging towards us with a murderous look in his eyes. I swear I could see flames erupting from his red hair. He stopped right by the tree where we stood, seething with anger.

"Wait! T-this isn't what you think! She's just…" she kept smiling at me. I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face Gaara. "Tell him!" I yelled at her. This girl is going to get me murdered!

"Oh Gaara," she said breathlessly while blushing, "I didn't know you were there." I glared at her blatant lie.

"Stop lying! Tell him that nothing is going on here!" she looked at me through her lashes while I glared at her. "Hinata," I said threateningly, "tell him that nothing is going on between us."

"Oh, yes. He's right, there's nothing going on here… between us…nothing at all. Absolutely nothing between us," she said a little too innocently as she kept shaking her head to Gaara. I continued glaring at her. She was doing this on purpose!

Gaara shifted his eyes between Hinata and me. Before he could say anything Hanabi came into the scene yelling.

"Hinata, dad said that he didn't call me! Why would you say that he did?" she asked.

"What? That's ridiculous! I swear he was looking for you earlier. Come on, lets go find him," she grabbed Hanabi's arm and quickly walked away.

Now I was the one trying to make her stay as she slipped away. I glared at her retreating form as she glanced back at me and winked before running off with her sister.

"Uhm," Gaara cleared his throat to get my attention.

"Gaara… I swear, there is nothing going on between me and her," I tried to sound as convincing as possible.

"Then why would my Hinata do that?" he raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"I don't know… You'd have to ask her that... But rest assured, there is nothing between us. I don't want to come between you two."

"I may not be as clever as you big city, Konoha folks, but I have eyes," he pointed to his eyes, "and I have seen enough today." He turned around and left after giving me one last glare.

I let out a long sigh as I dragged my hand across my face. What is this girl thinking? She's trying to use me to get out of this arranged marriage but she's going to get me killed at this rate. I can only hope her father doesn't find out about this.

An hour after sitting under the tree, I decided to go inside and face my retribution. I was sure Gaara would've told Hiashi about what he saw, but surprisingly everything was the same. The guests were gone and all Hiashi did when he passed me by was nod and say goodnight. Am I safe?

I didn't find Hinata anywhere either so I just went straight to my room. There I listened to my mom's voicemail again trying to figure out why she actually called. But when it was getting late I decided to go to sleep.

A few hours after I had fallen asleep, I got this feeling that someone was watching me. I got up and looked around the dark room to see what had woken me up. I was still groggy from sleep so it took me some time to process that someone was crouching on my bed right beside me.

As soon as I realized that there was an intruder, I tried to attack but the person put their hand on my mouth and told me to shush.

"Don't make so much noise. You'll wake everyone up," whispered the person.

"Hinata?" I asked in the darkness. She switched on the bedside lamp and in its low glow I saw Hinata crouching on the bed, staring at me. "What the hell do you thin–" I started saying before she shut me up by placing her hand on my mouth again.

"Stop talking so loudly," she whispered.

"Are you crazy," I whispered as I removed her hand from my mouth. "You already got Gaara thinking that there's something going on between us, and now you're sneaking into my room in the middle of the night! What are they going to think!?"

"That's the problem!" she whispered, "My plan was going so well. Gaara was going to think that there was something going on between us, and then back out of the marriage. But, now he's not backing out. Instead he wants to talk to me and get this marriage done as soon as possible. What did you say to him!?"

"Nothing! Just that there was nothing between us!"

"Ugh, I can't get married to Gaara."

"Then what're you going to do?"

"Plan B, which was technically Plan A all along but now in the light of this situation has been advanced to an earlier time. Like now."

"So… what is this plan exactly?"

"I am going to run away," she said as she grabbed the straps of her backpack on her shoulder. Just then I noticed that she was wearing a grey hoodie, unzipped to show a light purple long shirt underneath it, with black jeans and black sneakers. She was prepared to literally run. "I just came to say goodbye before I left…So goodbye!" she waved as she began to get off the bed.

"Wait a minute!" I grabbed her arm and brought her back on the bed. "If you leave, then what about me?"

"You stay here and relax maybe a few more days. Then leave whenever you want. You have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? Are you crazy!? The last time Gaara saw me was when you kissed me and if you run away now he's going to tell everyone about it. Then everyone is going to think I had something to do with your disappearance. They're going to rip me to shreds if I stay here!"

"Okay, fine then. No big deal. You run away with me too!" She smiled at her suggestion while I just groaned. Why do I always end up in the worst situations with her?

I packed my stuff and got ready in ten minutes to head out with Hinata. Soon we were slowly walking towards the gates of the compound through the front yard.

"Hinata, is that you?" both of us paused and slowly turned to see who it was. Standing in the balcony was Hanako with a towel around her head. Damn, she saw us. "What are you guys doing?" Hinata turned to me and grabbed my hand. She ran towards the gates and pulled me right behind her as Hanako went inside yelling, "UNCLE HIASHI! HINATA'S RUNNING AWAY!"

"Wait! Hinata we can't run this way." I pulled at her hand to stop her.

"What!? We have to keep running or else they'll catch up to us!"

"They'll eventually catch up to us no matter what because they have cars. Come on, I have an idea," I pulled her back to the compound but we went around the entrance towards the backyard. There was a small door towards the back that led to the roof. I took her inside and went up the stairs until we reached the rooftop. There we went to the farther corner where we could hide and see inside the compound at the same time.

"Why are we here, Sasuke?"

"Hanako saw us running towards the gates so everyone will think that we ran outside. One by one, they're going to leave to look for us."

"And we'll wait until they're all gone so we can sneak out unnoticed. Nice plan! Did you come up with that one when you were fantasizing about running away with your ex?" Hinata winked. This girl infuriates me so much right now. I poked her forehead. "Ouch!" she rubbed the spot where I poked.

"You're really an idiot! This was your brilliant idea? To run away?" I whispered but my temper wasn't helping keep my voice down.

"Hey! You went along with it! I didn't ask you to come!" she whispered back.

"Well how could I stay behind? You see how panicked they are! They would've taken this out on me!" just then, Hinata's father walked out of the compound.

"I can't believe this! Hinata would never do this!"

"Hiashi, it's all that boy, Sasuke's fault. It must've been his crazy idea," said Hinata's uncle. Great! They already started blaming me. Don't they know how crazy Hinata is?

"Take out the car Hizashi. I'm going to hunt down that filthy boy myself."

"See what I mean!" I whispered to Hinata.

"Ok, ok I get it. Sorry," she mumbled. It was quiet between us for a few minutes while all the men were leaving the compound in their cars one by one.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as I couldn't help my curiosity. What was causing her to be so rash all of a sudden?

"You know why," she responded but I shook my head because I knew she was hiding something.

"You could've refused that arranged marriage."

"But if I did then my dad would want to know why, and I can't tell him about Toneri."

"Why?"

"I already told you. He's not like the guys my dad would want me to be with. He's not stable in his job yet and he's…" she paused. She closed her eyes taking in a deep breathe before letting out. "The truth is, he's already married." My eyes widened at the revelation. "No, it's not like he's cheating on his wife! He just… he got married to her when he was young because his family forced him to… but he doesn't love her. Neither does she… They were going to get a divorce but their families kept getting in the way. His father didn't want him to get a divorce, but before Toneri left Konoha he told me that he will definitely get a divorce and let me know because then we can get married."

I took in what she said and tried to understand her situation. It makes sense why she didn't want her father to find out about this guy. Getting yourself involved with a married man like that was dangerous, and no father would want that for his daughter.

"So have you spoken to him? Is that why you're running away because he's divorced and now you can marry him?" she shook her head, "Does he even know you're running away?" she shook her head again. "Do you even know if he's divorced?" she just kept shaking her head. I was in shock at her response. "He doesn't even know it and you're willing to throw away everything for him… You don't even know if it'll work out."

"It'll work out."

"How can you be so sure? You don't even know if he's going through with the divorce! And what about your father and your family? Will they accept you if you got married to him?"

"Once I get married, all I have to do is drop to their feet and ask for forgiveness. They'll get mad and yell, but eventually they'll come around once they see how great he is."

I was starting to panic hearing her say all this. She was going to put everything on the line for a promise someone else made. The worst part was that she didn't even know if he was divorced. What if he wasn't, and then what would she do? She can't possibly think she can be with him like that. Would her family take her back once they found out she ran away for a married man.

"Sasuke, don't worry so much. Everything will be alright," she smiled and tried to smooth my frown lines with her fingers. I swatted her hand away and glared at her. She's the one who's throwing away her life and I'm the one getting comforted?

"You are absolutely crazy." She shrugged and smiled.

"People always do crazy things when they're in love."

Somehow that comment made me think of my mom and Sakura. They both let go of everything they had for love too. Would Hinata turn out like Sakura and marry the guy she loves, or would she be like my mother who never found her love and is now without a family.

I stayed silent for the rest of the night as we snuck out of the compound when everyone was gone back to their rooms. We made our way to the bus stop and there I was faced with a dilemma.

I could go back to Konoha now. I didn't have any obligation to help Hinata. She can travel on her own to the Land of Tea. There was no need for me. I could go back to whatever that was waiting for me in Konoha, which was nothing.

There was nothing for me in Konoha. Apart from a spacious apartment, I had nothing. No one was waiting for me in Konoha. I didn't even have a job to go back to.

On the other hand, I also didn't want to leave Hinata. Finding out about the reality of her situation with this guy, Toneri, I became even more worried about her. It frustrated me and saddened me at the same time to think how easily she was tossing everything for him. And in return she had no guarantee. She didn't ask for anything/ She hadn't even spoken to the guy and here she was running to him.

"Sasuke," Hinata lightly touched my arm, as we got closer to the bus station. "Are you going to get a ticket for Konoha? I can buy it for you since it's the least I can do for all your help," she smiled and for the first time I was worried that I would never see her smile again.

At that moment I made a decision to go with her to the Land of Tea. I couldn't leave not knowing if she got there safely. Also, the thought of going back to an empty apartment with nothing to do haunted me so what better way to keep myself occupied than this.

"I've never really been to the Land of Tea before," I smirked as Hinata's expression brightened at what I was about to suggest. "Maybe I'll get a ticket to there and accompany you."

"Really?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, but only because I'm bored," I said nonchalantly.

"Of course. Lets go!" she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the station to buy our tickets.

For some reason, seeing her cheerful and happy, made me sad. I don't know why but I felt like I was going to lose something important even though it was never mine to begin with.