Posted: 20/07/2008

Edited: Never

Beta-ed: Never

A/N: This chapter is basically the wrapping up of Aiko's story, the last one WILL be the last of Until Then and will only have this OC mentioned. If you don't want to read about her you can skip this chapter

Until then…

Chapter 19

Recap:

"You better believe it dattebayo!"

There were a few rolling of the eyes and sniggers but Naruto simply scratched the back of his neck.

Ok, so MAYBE he had exaggerated a bit on his account of his latest mission.

"I b-believe you N-naruto-k-kun."

Naruto grinned adoringly at his girlfriend before kissing her passionately.

Neji glared at the blonde but said nothing. He had long since accepted that the kitsune boy is the most deserving person of his sweet cousin's love.

Naruto broke the kiss and smirked at Hinata's blushing face. At least she no longer fainted whenever he got near her.

The look on her face was so cute that he couldn't help but lean down again. However, before he could capture her lips, the familiar sound of the transportation jutsu signalled the arrival of his best friend.

"Oi teme, you came just in time! We're about to order."

Sasuke hn-ed as he took in his surroundings.

Ichiraku was completely occupied by this group. Not surprised he realized he recognized every one present.

There was the dope and the Hyuuga Sisters, the rest of the so called Rookie 9 (minus Sakura), Lee and Tenten… and next to them, glaring at him, was…

"Hyuuga."

"Uchiha."

They glared at each other for a few moments before Sasuke continued to look around.

Just as he feared: his… sister… was nowhere to be found.

His eyes locked with Neji's pearl orbs again. "I want to have a word with you."

Neji's eyes narrowed. "We have nothing to talk about."

Sasuke clenched his fists. "We need to talk abou-…"

"Kyra-chan!" Ino's high pitch voice cut through the intense atmosphere like a knife. All eyes turned to the entrance. "Or should I call you Aiko-chan, hum?" The blonde teased.

A tired chuckle echoed surprisingly clear in the middle of the grave-like silence. "Whatever you want is fine."

Blue met onix before turning to silver.

Dark eyes narrowed.

Sasuke turned to see what was so interesting to have caught her attention.

Behind him was Neji.

Anger rose and the game began.

End Recap

Have you ever had one of those awkward moments when you could swear you can hear a cricket sing?

That's what they were having.

Luckily Ino came to the rescue!

"Don't just stand there! Come come." The blonde patted the chair she had occupied mere seconds before. "Sit here and tell us everything!"

The blue-haired kunoichi hesitated before sitting down, fidgeting under so many gazes.

Everyone seemed to be looking at the same thing, but no one dared say a word about it.

Uncomfortable with the situation Aiko let her fingertips trace her newly acquired scar. It ran from beneath her exposed eye, down to her neck (covered by a choker) and no one could see exactly where it ended.

"I guess you already know about the mission, huh?" Ino nodded excitedly. "Basically Ne-… Hyuuga-san and I were ordered to infiltrate an organization of rogue nin."

Ino rolled her eyes, oblivious to the way Neji had responded to hearing her addressing him so formally. "Yeah yeah, we already know that! Details! We want details!"

The older girl smiled at the youngest antics. "That's it, really. We were found out before reinforcements arrived so he basically had to kill them ourselves." She shrugged.

Everyone was listening closely even if the Yamanaka was the only one making the questions. "Was that when you got that scar?"

A single emotionless eye bore into light blue. "Yes. Despite my training I couldn't do better to heal myself."

Another pregnant pause followed before Ino noticed the wedding ring adorning Aiko's hand. "You still haven't gotten rid of it?"

"Huh?" Ibiki's apprentice blinked at the sudden change of subject.

Ino smirked and pointed at the other girl's left hand. "The ring. Didn't you get the marriage annulled?"

Aiko blushed before looking away. "We can't."

Hinata frowned, finding the courage to step in the conversation. "W-why not? Y-you have six months t-to annul it. As long as you h-haven't…" The shy girl trailed off blushing like mad. It was obvious that she wanted to say 'unless the marriage was consummated'.

Neji coughed lightly to attract the attention to himself. "What I believe Aiko-san is trying to say is that we need a divorce."

Aiko's eyes saddened and that seemed to trigger something inside Neji's chest. He finally got the answer to the question that plagued him for so long.

The group gaped openly at the couple so the young kunoichi decided to elaborate the answer. "We had to prove we really were a couple. We did what we had to do in order to survive."

Sasuke looked ready to kill Neji, who seemed to be immune to the entire topic of conversation. Instead he was trying to analyse the way Aiko had answered so emotionlessly.

"I see…" Ino's eyes softened, although she did not fully comprehend the implications of the previous statement. They were kunoichi, their bodies were only a tool. It was only natural they ended up in a situation like that. Thankfully she had never been put in such a position. "When will the divorce come out?"

Aiko opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by Neji's deep voice. "It won't."

"WHAT?"

Neji winced at Ino's extremely high voice. Of all those who had yelled, her voice was definitely the loudest.

Neji focused his gaze on Aiko and Aiko only as she looked at him with barely contained hope.

His eyes softened and he looked at her more tenderly than he had ever looked at anyone, even Sakura. "I would at least like to try."

Aiko's lips burst into a smile, the first real one since she had gotten back, and she threw herself into his waiting arms, burying her face in his chest to hide the tears she couldn't keep from falling.

"Must have been one hell of a mission… What have the two of you been doing?" Ino teased.

Neji chuckled and Aiko stuck her tongue our childishly. "None of your buiseness!"

She looked and sounded so happy that it was like she had become another person altogether. He too was far from his usual emotionless self.

Before anyone could congratulate the couple, Sasuke came out of his shock-induced stupor and with a growling sound tried to punch Neji, sharingan ablaze.

Neji quickly evaded the attack before activating his Byakugan.

Sasuke could hear Aiko's cries, telling him to stop, but her voice seemed to come from far away and he paid them no heed.

All he could hear was the beating of his heart, his blood on his ears boiling with anger. "Take your hand off of her!"

"I believe it's her decision if she wants my hands on her or not."

The Hyuuga's words as well as the smug look on his face did nothing to appease his anger. Instigated by it, Sasuke lunged forward to try a series of rapid punches only to have every single one of them blocked.

Before he could try anything else and risk destroying the ramen stand Naruto and Shino stepped in to stop him.

Sasuke glared at them before focusing his Sharingan on Aiko while still talking to Neji. "You don't deserve her Hyuuga. You couldn't even keep her safe."

Neji clenched his fists and greeted his teeth.

He didn't need to be remembered.

He had been caught in another part of the complex at that time. He knew the girls abilities were barely chuunin level, he shouldn't have left her alone.

Aiko knew it too for she declined the Hokage's invitation to become a jounin at the end of the mission.

He knew that because it had been one of the very few things Tsunade had told him while Aiko was in recovery.

"Teme, don't do anything stupid…"

It wasn't so much that he listened to Naruto's words, but more that he knew he couldn't get to Neji with everyone getting in the way.

Shrugging Naruto's and Shino's hands off of him Sasuke left, not before throwing a last dirty look at the man who had taken Aiko from him.

'This isn't over.'

Another awkward silence followed. It seemed to be happening a lot this evening.

Naruto tried to follow his friend but was stopped by a soft hand on his elbow.

Aiko hadn't even realized she had moved until the kitsune boy stopped. Still she knew it was probably for the best if she were the one talking to her brother.

She exchanged a look with Neji, silently willing him to understand what she had to do.

He didn't seem too happy about it but he knew they needed closure.

She was his now and there was nothing the Uchiha could do to change that.

Sasuke ran to the nearest forest, destroying everything in his path. He WOULD have her. She was HIS and only his! She was the best choice to revive his clan; after all she was an Uchiha herself. Pure blood meant strong blood. She was confused, but he would make her understand. She loved him, not that bastard of a Hyuuga!

"Sasuke!"

Said shinobi stopped dead in his tracks before smirking wickedly. She had come around sooner than he thought.

"Aiko."

The girl shifted her weight from one foot to another. "I think we need to talk…"

Sasuke walked close to her and gently picked her hand and brought it to his chest. "It's okay, I understand why you were confused, but everything will be okay now."

"What?"

Sasuke hugged her against himself so hard it hurt, and his grip only tightened when she tried to get away. "I forgive you Aiko. It was not your fault."

"What are you talking about?"

"We can be together now. We'll go away to where no one knows us and start over. Our children will have pure blood and our clan will be strong again."

Aiko was too shocked to move let alone say anything at all. What the hell had happened to Sasuke? He had clearly lost his mind!

"We can leave tonight and be married by tomorrow under an alias. No one will stand in our way Aiko. No one."

Aiko manage to draw back far enough to slap him. Hard.

They say the Uchiha blood is cursed, if so Sasuke is the living proof of their fate.

"We're siblings!"

"It doesn't mater! In the beginning of our clan siblings used to marry to strengthen the blood. That way our blood will stay pure."

The girl stepped back, disgusted beyond words. "You're insane."

Sasuke frowned. Insane? He had never been more clear minded in his entire life! How could she NOT see it? It was the perfect plan!

"But Aiko…"

The blue-haired kunoichi raised her hand in a universal gesture to shut him up. She was angry, disgusted, sad, disappointed… all that and so much more… but most of all she pitied him…

She had seen glimpses of madness in his eyes on the few times she had seen him talk about his two obsessions, but she never imagined it would turn out like this.

Now that his obsession with Itachi and come to a dead end it seemed he had diverted his entire attention to his second goal, and worst: to her. Such obsessions are never healthy. To have something like that bottled up inside for so many years could only end up in insanity.

Still, even tough he had lost all his reason, he was still her brother and she still loved him, somehow.

Softening her eyes minutely she rested her hand against his strong jaw and caressed his cheek with her thumb.

"I'm really sorry Sasuke, I don't love you like that. I think I love Neji and I want to be with him."

To say that the Uchiha was enraged was an understatement. He grabbed the girl by her shoulders and kissed her violently, roughly forcing her to understand.

Aiko wriggled under his grasp, trying to break free from his grasp. Realizing she couldn't she started to cry.

The situation reminded her too much of her past, the past she tried so hard to forget.

Sasuke broke the kiss, confused by her tears.

Aiko sobbed and se quickly made some hand seals. "Goodbye Sasuke."

With a poof she was gone.

Sasuke stared at the place Aiko had been. What had he done? He had lost her forever!

For the second time in his life Uchiha Sasuke lost everything he loved.

For the first time in a long time Uchiha Sasuke cried.