Never Alone, Ever Again

Chapter Four

Fugaku would flip if he found out that Sasuke was friends with a Hyuuga.

"That's Tomato-chan," he replied as they begin walking towards the Uchiha compound.

"Tomato-chan? That's an odd name."

Sasuke merely shrugged. "Only I call her that. Everyone else calls her 'Hinata-chan'."

"Why would you call her that?" Shisui asked.

"Because her cheeks look like tomatoes all the time," he explained, a small blush appeared on his cheek. "And she's not annoying."

Shisui stopped and let out a dramatic gasp. "Don't tell me she's your girlfriend."

The blush on his face turned darker. "N-no! She's n-not my g-g-girlfriend."

The older Uchiha held up a finger and said with a serious tone. "Its not nice to lie to people. I'm going to tell Mikoto-san that you have a girlfriend, Sasuke." His face broke into a grin and started jogging towards the compound with Sasuke running behind him, trying to catch up.

"M-matte, Shisui-san!" Sasuke shouted. "She's not my girlfriend! S-she's just a friend!"

"Denial is the first step!" he shouted over his shoulder. Shisui could only laugh as they were gathering amused looks from the villagers. It was rare to see an Uchiha behave like children.

Apart from Shisui's brother, Obito (1).

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Senju Tsunade was not a patient woman. Her temper was shorter than her apprentice's. So managing a village was never her forte. Even as the Hokage, her luck in gamble was always unlucky – she did thought that her luck might change after becoming the Hokage. Does Kami-sama hate her that much?

Not to mention her drinking problem.

Being the Hokage has never been easy for her. It was all about paperwork and more paperwork. She wondered how did the previous Hokages enjoy being cooped up in the office most of their time.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and pulled out a lottery ticket and a newpaper from her drawer. She flipped through the newspaper to the lottery section. Her gaze went to the number printed and did a double take.

She had won 1 million ryo (2).

Abandoning those two items, the blonde stood and walked towards the window, gazing at the village. Something bad was going to happen. By experience, if she had won the lottery, something very bad was going to happen soon.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden knock. "Come in," she said, still gazing outside of the window.

The door opened with a soft click, followed by quiet and light footsteps. "Hokage-sama," the female greeted.

"That was quicker than I expected," Tsunade remarked but it was directed towards the person standing beside the Hyuuga Heiress. "I thought you would take a longer time."

The Uchiha scoffed.

Tsunade ignored him and turned to face the two eye doujutsu user. "I have a miss–"

"Tsunade-sama!" The Hokage's assistant interrupted her – Tsunade grimaced at this – as she practically burst into the room and placed a scroll on the table. "The message has been decoded."

The Godaime narrowed her eyes on the scroll and unroll it. She furrowed her eyebrows as she skimmed through the message. "Change of plans," she muttered and face towards the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. Today was definitely was not her day. "Get the rest of your teams on guard duty tonight," she commanded. "Make sure no shinobi leaves and enteres the village. We will need all active shinobi here."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Hinata answered.

Before Hinata and Sasuke could leave, Tsunade called them. "Hinata, I want you to keep a close eye on him," she added. "And I hope you won't turn your back to the village again, Uchiha."

Sasuke glanced towards Hinata's stilled form. "Of course," he mumbled but it was loud enough for Hinata to hear him.

Tsunade turned her attention towards the lottery ticket. A war is brewing soon.

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"I'm leaving Konoha," he told her, his back turned towards her. "Come with me."

The night was cold and dark for her taste. The moonlight was the only light source they had. It irritates her that she could not see his face. "L-leave? Everything we c-care for is here," she reasoned.

Sasuke faced her, his face betraying no emotion. "What I once held dear is long gone," he chose his words carefully. "Except for one thing, you."

She drew a sharp breath. What does he mean? How could he say that when all he did was ignored her after his clan was massacred? "I-I have res-responsibilities that I –"

A pained look passed through his features. "Understood. In that case," Sasuke walked towards her and lifted her chin to meet his eyes, "this is good bye."

Pale lilac eyes met with blood red eyes. The tomoe was spinning rapidly. "I'm sorry, Hinata," he apologised, a tender smile formed on his lips. "I won't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. Forgive me, Tomato-chan."

Then her vision went black.

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(1) As I said in chap 2, in this fanfic Obito and Shisui are brothers.

(2) Ok so sue me. I don't know anything about gambling.

Next time on Never Alone, Ever Again…

"Nice to meet you, Emo."

"I left because I wanted to be stronger! I want to be strong enough to protect you!"

"I'm starting to feel sorry for the trees."

"Nee-chan, who was Uchiha to you?"

Author's End Notes: I think you can guess who's line is whose. Anyway, review!