A/N: Like Metal, this fic was initially going to be a one shot, but it seemed to long so I spilt it up into two chapters.

Enjoy!

In His Arms at Last

If there is one phrase that all women know is trouble, it's this: "I need to talk to you". So when Naruto had said that solemnly over the phone to his fiancé, Hinata, she knew that something was up. When she had arrived at his house after his phone call, he didn't happily greet her with a hug and a kiss. Hell, he didn't even let her in his house. Instead, he had opened his front door just wide enough so he could look at her trembling figure on his porch and with a grim smile on his face, said the heart-breaking statement:

"I'm really sorry. I found someone else."

And before closing the door, he threw the engagement ring on the ground next to the speechless woman's feet.

That was two weeks ago. And Hinata still hadn't even started to heal from the pain and heartbreak. It didn't make sense to her at all. They had started dating when they were eighteen. They had hugged, held hands, kissed, and finally, oh finally, Naruto had taken her virginity in his bedroom on the night of their one year anniversary. Hinata didn't think life could've gotten much better, but it did: three months later, the blonde-haired man had asked for her hand in marriage, which she had said yes to excitedly. The months that passed were a euphoric blur of wedding preparations and fantasies of married life, until…

'Until that phone call,' Hinata thought sadly as from the corner of her eye she watched Sasuke pack up his equipment.

At that moment, Hinata was training with her mission partner for an assignment they were to start the next day. Sasuke had, of course, a very successful training session, unlike Hinata: the day before, she returned her wedding dress, which was very embarrassing since all the employees at the bridal shop were giving her quizzical stares, and she was still feeling quite depressed that she had to give back her gorgeous gown. When she and Sasuke had sparred, she lost horribly, and her shuriken were way off when they did target practice. There was no doubt that her mind was on something other than training.

"Alright then," Sasuke said as he packed the last of his weapons into his bag. "Guess I'll meet you here tomorrow morning, and then we'll hit the road. The Village of Grass isn't too far from here, so we should be able to get there in half a day."

Hinata looked at him and forced a smile. "Y-yes, of course. Have a good night."

She expected him to leave right then (which she would've liked since once he was gone she wanted to stay behind in the clearing and have a good cry), but instead he stayed rooted to the spot, his brow raised.

"Um…sorry if this sounds nosy, but are you okay? You really sucked today, no offense."

Hinata felt her cheeks burn but she waved her hand nonchalantly. "I'm-I'm fine. Really. Guess I'm just a little… pre-occupied, ya know."

Sasuke chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets before he turned around. "That's right," he said as he started to walk away. "You have your wedding to think about, huh?"

Hinata's heart wrenched painfully and she sighed heavily as she watched him disappear among the trees that surrounded their training spot. She knew that Sasuke hadn't meant any harm, but all the same she wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

The next evening, the two were in their hotel room about fifty miles outside of the Village of Grass, stripping off their ANBU uniforms and changing into their night clothes. Once again, Hinata had performed horribly that day: she had slipped off a branch when they were traveling through the tree tops and had procured a rather nasty bruise on her shin, and she had almost thrown a kunai at Sasuke, thinking he was an enemy ninja. She was very much relieved when they had both agreed to call it a day and stopped at the hotel for the night.

As Sasuke took out his toothbrush from his bag, he looked over his shoulder at Hinata, who was sitting on one of the two beds in the room mindlessly running her fingers through her long violet hair. "You still have the scroll, right?"

Hinata nodded silently, keeping her eyes glued on the cheap, green carpet under the bed. Why wouldn't the throbbing pain in her chest just go away? Plenty of men left their fiancés for other women, so it wasn't like it was a unique situation. She was a ninja, an ANBU member in fact, someone who was supposed to be powerful and not let their emotions get in the way of their performance on important missions. Yet she knew that she could train all day, conditioning her body and turning it into hard, strong muscle, and complete many rigorous and difficult missions … but her heart would still be as weak and fragile as ever. An enemy ninja could come into the room at that very moment and rip off all her limbs, but that physical pain wouldn't compare at all to the suffering of her heart.

Sasuke straightened up and frowned. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little…I dunno, off."

"I'm fine," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

The man leaned forward and squinted. "I didn't notice this before but your ring is missing. Did it fall off while we were traveling?"

Hinata remained silent for a moment before she crawled under the covers of the bed and in a choked voice said, "I'm a little tired now, Sasuke-san. I-I think I'll just get some sleep."

She turned her back to him, closed her eyes tightly and pretended to fall asleep, but she knew that he was still staring at her.

Three hours later, Hinata was still awake while her partner was fast asleep in the bed next to her. Ever since Naruto had called their engagement off, she had had trouble getting to sleep. Thoughts of "Why wasn't I good enough?" and "What in the world did I do wrong?" bounced around the tired woman's brain every night until after tossing and turning for hours she fell into a fitful slumber. Although it seemed pathetic…this was how much the blonde man had meant to her.

Hinata turned onto her side and faced the window of the room, from which a crescent moon was shining in the distant heavens. What was Naruto doing at this exact moment? Was he sleeping? Staying awake like her? Or the most probable was…

Hinata whimpered softly as the tears she had been struggling to hold in began to run down her face. 'He's…he's probably making love to her.'

She sniffled, trying hard not to think about the man that she would die for in bed with that woman, in the bed in which Hinata herself had given her body to Naruto. She tried not to think about the way that he was probably stroking her cheek, whispering lovely and impossible things in her ear, running his lips down her body along with his curious, calloused hands…the way he had done with Hinata.

The Hyuuga buried her face in her hands, her body violently shaking now and the tears continuing to flood down her face as for the millionth time in the past two weeks it felt as though her heart were being ripped into many tiny pieces…

"…Hinata?"

The woman gasped loudly amid her sobs and whipped around. Sasuke was sitting up in his bed, propped up on his elbow and a very concerned expression upon his handsome face.

'Oh god, Sasuke-san,' Hinata begged silently as she attempted to wipe her face dry and sat up as well. 'Please, don't give me that look. It'll just make it worse.'

Sasuke blinked tiredly. "Hinata…what's wrong?"

Hinata bit her lip and stared back at him, wanting to tell him to just get the fuck back to sleep, to leave her alone, because there was no way in hell he could understand what she was going through…yet he was the first person to show an interest in how she was feeling since that evening two weeks ago…

'He...he might actually care…he might listen to me and help relieve my pain…'

Hinata shook her head slowly, feeling a fresh wave of tears well up in her milky white eyes. "I…I just don't know what to do anymore."

She inhaled deeply and once again started to sob while Sasuke looked on silently for a moment before quietly asking, "…It has to do with Naruto, huh?"

The girl paused and silently nodded, sniffling loudly. Sasuke sighed and slowly, reluctantly, got up from his bed and sat down next to Hinata on the mattress she was on.

"You um…wanna talk about it?"

Hinata shrugged half-heartedly. "It's…it's really not that big of a deal."

"Tch, if it's making you cry this bad, then it is a big deal."

The woman looked down at the white comforter of the bed and ran her finger along its' stitching. "I…I know you'll think I'm stupid if I tell you."

Sasuke smirked. "Maybe. But you might as well give it a shot."

Hinata opened her mouth to speak but closed it immediately as soon as he got up off the bed and walked over to the small kitchenette area in their room. 'I knew it…he doesn't want to listen after all.'

She heard the sound of the faucet turn on and Sasuke called over his shoulder, "I'm listening."

The violet-haired woman wiped way the last of her tears and breathed in deeply. "Um…it's just…"

Sasuke turned back around, holding a Styrofoam cup of water, and walked back to the bed. Before taking his seat next to Hinata, he handed her the cup, which slightly surprised the girl, since Sasuke wasn't known for being the nicest.

"Drink."

She lifted the cup to her lips and drank several large gulps of water before setting it on the bedside table to her left. "Th-thank you."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "So…you and Naruto…"

Hinata closed her eyes tightly and bit her lip. Should she really be telling him this? Why was it any of his business anyway?

The man's expression softened and he lightly touched her arm. "Hinata, please…there's no way I can sleep knowing that my teammate is in pain."

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. His usually cold, black eyes were at that moment full of warmth and kindness, and his mouth was curved downwards in a frown. Was this really the same man that was rumored not to care about anyone?

Hinata exhaled and finally began. "I-I was so in love with him. He was the world to me. I never once stopped thinking about him." She began to twiddle with her thumbs. "You wouldn't believe how-how ecstatic I was when he asked me to be his girlfriend. It was like… all my childhood dreams were coming true."

Sasuke raised his brow. "Of all people, why did you like Naruto so much?"

At this, Hinata actually smiled. "He-he was so full of…life. He never gave up, he never took anything for granted. He was strong and supportive, and cheered everyone on when they were struggling. He made this-this fire burn within me, ya know? Made me want to be better." She took a deep breath and continued. "When we dated, we took it slow, since Naruto knew how nervous I was. We didn't even hug till a month after we became a couple. But then as our relationship began to grow, we started holding hands, and kissing and then…" She hesitated.

"Then?"

The woman sighed happily at the thought and held her hand up to her heart. "We made love for the first time."

Sasuke crinkled his nose. "Damn, I never knew Naruto had it in him to do that."

"Oh, believe me. He-he was nervous too. But he was so gentle and so comforting when we first did it. He handled my body as if it were made of silk." Hinata blushed slightly. "That night was the best night of my life."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she saw Sasuke's eyes turn to slits. "Okay…"

Hinata flipped a strand of her hair over her shoulder and continued. "After we lost our virginity to each other, we both knew that we wanted to be together forever. And just a few months later, he proposed to me. And I thought that life was so perfect." The smile that had been on her face just moments before was replaced by a deep frown. "I-I shouldn't have been so stupid to think that anything was perfect."

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed together. "What do you mean?"

Hinata's lower lip trembled and she stared down at the floor. "Two weeks ago," She whispered. "Two weeks ago he…"

"He what?"

She shook her head while once again crystal clear tears feel down her cheeks. "He-he-he told me he was-was in love with someone else!" She hiccupped quietly. "And I was just-just so shocked." Hinata's hands formed into fists and she pounded the mattress. "Why, why, why!?" She cried out in an agonized, high-pitched voice that even panged the Uchiha's cold heart. "WHY? Why her!"

Sasuke silently watched Hinata as she dissolved into sobs and slowly, unsure if this was the right thing to do, wrapped one of his muscular arms around her shaking body. It was a mystery to him how people could mess around with another's feelings, especially someone like Hinata. She had to be the sweetest, kindest, more pure soul Sasuke had ever met. What his ex-teammate had done to her was simply cruel.

He grimaced slightly. "Is it okay if I ask who?"

Hinata took in a shuddering breath and barely whispered, "It's Sakura."

At the thought of the woman, more tears fell from her eyes and she buried her head in his chest, the only source of comfort that she had had in what seemed like ages. Sasuke was rather taken aback by the answer and after a full minute of silence he sheepishly patted the top of her head and said the only thing that he thought might slightly ease Hinata's pain:

"If it helps any…I totally heard she has herpes."

At this comment, Hinata slowly looked back up at him and sniffled, confused. "Wh-what?"

Sasuke grinned. "Yeah man, apparently she's got the herp!" He winked. "Wouldn't it be awesome if she gave it to Naruto? That would show him how wrong he was to leave you!"

Hinata stared at him before she burst out laughing, and oh, how wonderful it felt. She relished the thought of her ex-fiancé getting his just desserts for breaking her heart (even if the rumors of an "unclean" Sakura weren't true), and at that moment she wanted to hug her teammate for considerably lifting her spirits.

Sasuke continued to smile and Hinata felt his arm grip her slight frame tighter. "We've both seen his dick. Can you imagine how nasty it would look after fucking Sakura?"

Once again, the woman was overcome by a fit of laughter and she playfully tapped his cheek. "S-Sasuke-san, how awful!" She raised her brow slightly. "And when did you see his…ya know…"

The man shuddered. "Ugh, when we were genin that idiot flashed me." He shook his head, trying to clear the memory from his mind. "God, I wanted to vomit."

Hinata giggled quietly and leaned into his shoulder. Even though she still wasn't over Naruto, it somehow felt so right to be with Sasuke at that moment. They had been teammates, just the two of them, for some time now, and she had grown to trust him completely. They had completed missions together in which they had to risk their lives. They trained together almost every day. Every once in a while, they'd even go out to eat together. When she was engaged, Hinata's time was split between two men: Naruto and Sasuke. And now, though, only one of those men had seen her through this far…

She looked up at his face slowly, and he looked down at her as well. Hinata blushed lightly, but didn't move away from his warm body. She had always known that Sasuke was attractive. But now, after he had listened to her spill out her problems, her innermost feelings, and even made her laugh…he looked even more handsome than he usually did. His black, tussled hair…his mesmerizing eyes…that muscled body…

And for a split second, Hinata imagined herself in bed with Sasuke, holding his hand, kissing him, and walking down a long aisle in a beautiful wedding down to meet him at the alter…

She gasped quietly at the thought and quickly pulled away from him. "Um, thank you so, so much for listening to me, Sasuke-san," she said slightly out of breath as she climbed underneath her bedcovers. . "It-it really helped."

Sasuke frowned. "I really didn't do much except listen to you and help spread a rumor about a certain woman we know having an STD." He shrugged and stood up, heading back to his own bed. 'But you're welcome, I guess."

Hinata watched him for a moment before sighing and turning back towards the window. Even though her teammate really did help…she still knew that her heart ached for the blonde-haired man.

"Oh, and Hinata?"

Hinata turned around and faced Sasuke, who was huddled under the blankets on his bed as well. "Yes?"

He scratched his head and through the darkness of their room Hinata thought she saw him blushing. "I just wanna let you know…I think you're way prettier than that skanky Sakura." He turned onto his side, his back facing the woman. "And I always thought that you could do way better than Naruto anyway."