A/N: So this is my first Naruto story. It's centered on Sasuke and Hinata but it does focus on other characters too (Mostly the Uchiha family). For the most part it will be about Hinata who's a 28 year old housewife and as her family start to distance themselves, she feels lonely and begins to gamble. A lot of people don't take chronic gambling seriously but it's very serious and I will try illustrating how terrible gambling is and how it could affect a family. There will be some SasuHina, MadaHina, and ItaMabui. Also I have two OCs in this story Oboro and Seito but they are kids of characters.

A/N: Italic words are thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: Pilot

The sun rays tickled at Hinata's eyes and she grudgingly opened her unique lavender orbs. Taking in a deep breath and stretching out her limbs trying to reach the ends of her bed to feel the silky comforter slide through her fingers. She sighed; Sasuke has left to work already. Rarely did she see Sasuke anymore or even engage in a conversation on the phone. Ever since the attempted assassination of the Kazekage and the breakthrough about the Akatsuki whereabouts Sasuke has been on the investigation nonstop. But the problem is that he hardly has any information and hasn't made any improvements. However, his grandfather, Kagami Uchiha, was intrigued by the Akatsuki and offered his help. So from there onwards the retired detective Kagami has lived in their home and every morning Sasuke and Kagami would go to the station and stay there till the early morning. Did she miss him? You could say that, she has been married to him for nine years obviously there is going to be some feelings there.

Hinata furrowed her delicate eyebrows together as she lay lazily in bed thinking about her marriage. Their marriage was not out of love, it was an arranged marriage. Hinata had no quarries of marrying Sasuke since she knew him ever since she was a little girl. She grew up in a controlled environment in which her father encased her in the house at least eighty percent of her life. Ever since her older sister Hanabi was kidnapped, raped, and murdered at the tender age of four, her father has never been the same and made sure Hinata would never share the same fate as Hanabi. Hinata never learned how to ride a bike, never had a boyfriend, never had friends, and never went to prom. Those things were forbidden by her father and she simply complied with his authority. She loved her father and she knew he loved her. He restricted all those things from her childhood because it was to keep her safe. But Hinata grew up very lonely and the only person that she had human contact with on a daily basis was her cousin Neji. Eventually she convinced her father to get her license and started working at a bank then went to community college. Everything was going fine for her and she even made some friends at her workplace but like always something had to go wrong. The bank she worked at was robbed and the robber had left Hinata with a huge gash on the side of her forehead.

Hinata shifted and sat up in bed tenderly lifting a docile finger to touch the side of her head where gash was at. When her father initially seen the gash and heard of the robbery he become like his fearful self and locked her up in the house again. Hinata pleaded day and night for her father to release her again and Hiashi realized that his daughter has tasted freedom and he can't keep her locked up forever. Hinata later found herself to be in a conversation between Kagami Uchiha and her father. Kagami offered Hinata an arranged marriage to his grandson Sasuke. Thinking she wouldn't be stuck in a house for the rest of her life, she accepted the marriage.

Little did she know that her husband was an even bigger control freak than her father. Sasuke grew up in a police oriented family, his father, his grandfather, and great father were chief of police. She found Sasuke to be extremely paranoid since he had two locks for each door and bullet proof windows with bars outside. There were cameras inside, and outside the house, in the cars, and her phone had a tracking device. She understood why Sasuke took all these measures to keep her safe because at the age of six Sasuke and Itachi's parents died in a car crash. Sasuke from there on believed that every little action accounts for something that may go wrong in the future.

Hinata got up from bed and walked into the master bathroom pulling on the faucet to start brushing her teeth. She remembered Sasuke as a nonsexual person; in fact in the nine years she's been married to him they barely had sex every month. Sasuke was just not interested in sex and she concluded long ago that Sasuke was asexual. Still, Sasuke though very stoic and quiet with a pinch of arrogance had warmed up to her as she did with him. They had feelings for one another, but love? Maybe, she does care about him. In recent years because of their child he has become more relaxed and less paranoid by letting her drive.

She had been staring at the mirror for a long time until she remembered that she had to make breakfast for Oboro and Seito. Quickly, she pulled on a long fluffy pink robe and dashed down the stairs to the kitchen. To find both Oboro and Seito already eating breakfast composed of cereal and pop tarts.

"Good Morning, Mommy." Her eight year old son twiddling a piece of pop tart in his hand as he bit it.

"Oh, you guys made your breakfast on your own." Hinata didn't want to admit it, but she secretly wanted to make them breakfast every day. It was one of the few highlights in her daily pathetic life.

"Yea, don't worry about making breakfast anymore we could make our own." Oboro said with a bright smile. She looks just like Uncle Obito with that smile, Hinata thought to herself. Oboro was her seventeen year old niece, the daughter of Shisui and Mabui and the granddaughter of Obito. She had been living in their home for four years now ever since Obito died from a heart attack.

"But I want to." She didn't want to sound desperate but she didn't want to let go of making breakfast. She went to the cupboard to pull out some lunch bags so she could prepare lunch for the kids to take to school.

"Umm Mommy, you don't have to make lunch either." Seito murmured as he threw away the pop tart wrapper and Hinata raised a questioning eyebrow at her little spiky haired son.

"And why is that? It's the start of a new year and I always make lunch for the both of you every day." Hinata softly said as she began to pull bread out from the fridge and noticed that the fridge was full of food to her surprise.

"Because we get free food at school, and your lunch always gets soggy at lunch." Her son whispered under his breath as he looked at his older cousin for guidance. Hinata couldn't believe it, her lunches were bad? Why didn't anyone say this before? She turned her attention to the cowering teenager.

"Is this true Oboro?" The teenager slowly turned to her and nodded her head slowly making Hinata slightly more displeased.

"Sorry, Aunty. You just look kind of happy when you make breakfast and lunch. But the breakfast always takes too long for you to make it and we always get late for school…." She trailed off as she broke eye contact with Hinata. Oboro knew Hinata was hurt but the truth had to come out someday. Hinata saw Oboro's reaction and knew the truth instantly making her hang her head in defeat. Well at least I can take them to school- "And I can drive to school with Seito." Hinata looked in Oboro's sympathetic obsidian eyes and realized that the only feature she has inherited from her mother was her slightly tan skin. Then she lowered her eyes in thought, she's just trying to help me. Putting on a strained happy go lucky smile Hinata gingerly lifted her head to meet Oboro's.

"Alright, if you get into any troubles just call me." Oboro gave her a trade mark smile and got off her seat to give her Aunt a hug.

"Come on lets go." Oboro took Seito's hand to guide him out the door but before she could get to the door Hinata grabbed her shoulder.

"Do you know why the fridge is full?" She asked as she leaned down to give Seito a kiss on the forehead. At first Oboro shrugged because she didn't know who brought the grocery, then it hit her.

"Oh! Grandpa hired a maid, she probably brought it." The first thought that came to Hinata's mind was that fucking old bastard but she refrained herself. When did he get the idea that he could get a maid without her consent?

"Bye Mommy." Hinata was brought out of her stupor as she said her farewells to the kids.

…

The raven haired man gingerly picked up the two piping hot cups of plain coffee. The smell of strong caffeine clogged up his senses and he enjoyed being indulged in it. It's six in the morning and he had spent the whole night awake, and he needed to be awake now. Looking down to check on the coffee that is the same color as his obsidian eyes. Sasuke sighed as he looked outside the coffee shop to see his black car being pelted with rain. His grandfather has news for him and it had to do with the Akatsuki. It's now or never. He began to chew on his bottom lip as he walked out the shop feeling the rain hit his long tan trench coat. Once he got inside the car he quickly gave one of the coffees to his grandfather as he put the other in a cup holder. He heard the rustle of paperwork while he was putting the seat belt on. His grandfather is over sixty but looked no more than forty and very fit. Like all Uchihas, his grandfather didn't have a single grey hair in his tousled curly black hair and barely any wrinkles complete with a stoic face.

While holding firmly on the coffee in one hand, Kagami pulled out a file in another. Sasuke gave him an inquisitive look and Kagami smirked. "Take it, this is what I found." Sasuke snatched the folder and read the header; it's a confidential file of a prostitute.

"A prostitute?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow and Kagami chuckled as he sipped his drink.

"She's a prostitute from Kusagakure and her name is Karin." He continued as he ignored Sasuke's questioning glare. "She has been arrested four times and her pimp is Orochimaru." He sipped again as he explained.

"What does Orochimaru have to do with Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked as he opened Karin's file and looked at her photo.

"The men we interrogated from the attempted assassination of the Kazekage were the henchmen of Sasori, a member of Akatsuki. But they admitted Sasori also had a surgeon with great medical experience that had long red hair and red eyes-"

"Karin has medical experience." Sasuke concluded as he suddenly became very interested in his grandfather's blabbering.

"Exactly. Karin used to be a very well renowned surgeon before she became addicted to crack." Kagami mused as he fiddled with the car keys.

"So why would one of Orochimaru's prostitute's work for Sasori as a doctor?" Sasuke asked as he closed the folder and Kagami grinned then started the engine.

"That's what we are going to find out."

…

Hinata lay sprawled on the couch as she flipped through channels trying to find something that would ease her boredom. She changed from her robe to a snuggly fit pair of sweats. Just when the kids left she got to meet the aged maid with a bust double the size of her own. The maid's name is Tsunade and had started to clean the house immediately. Throughout the whole ordeal Hinata just watched and wondered if Tsunade will leave a few things dirty so she could clean it later. She even contemplated on firing Tsunade but then when Tsunade told her that she used to own a hospital but due to her gambling problem had lost everything. Feeling sorry for Tsunade, she decided to keep the older woman around. After Tsunade left, Hinata checked every little corner in the house and found it to be spotless. Spotless. There was no cleaning needed. No food needed to cook. No need to pick up the children. And…no need for her. She sunk back on the couch, she felt so useless it's just like the dreaded years back when she lived with her family. She pulled out her phone and called Sasuke. It ringed for a while and then she heard his voicemail. Sighing she ended the call and glanced at the mail that came today. She picked them up and sorted through each mail. Sasuke got five mails, Oboro has a letter from her oversea brother Omoi, and Seito got a postcard from his great great grandfather, Madara. Hinata scowled at this, Madara hardly knew Seito and had only seen him through pictures that Sasuke sent. Hinata has seen Madara once and it was at her wedding. Yet, Madara claimed that Seito was his favorite great great grandchild. The man must be over ninety now, and yet Obito died at forty. "Old bat." She mumbled as she picked up the remote and started flipping channels again. Something ached in her heart when she took into account that everyone got mail but her. It's like the world has forgotten about her…the ache in her heart started to hurt more.