Part 1
Midnight Months
-CHAPTER 1-
This January
Present
"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six..." the crowd cheers, screaming at the top of their lungs. Naruto is lucky the cops left them alone.
It is so loud. It echoes in the very depths of her and him. Blood red numbers on the timer and it's 11:59 and the next year, 2018 is happening. 2018 with his girlfriend seems like a bad decision.
On his right, Ino was over there. Hinata was... to his left. He was equal distances apart from the both of them. He should go to Ino, tell her how much he wanted to spend the year with her.
He doesn't feel like lying tonight. But the clock's ticking. And it's almost midnight.
He has to choose.
"Five!" the crowd of five hundred drunk teens yells.
Sasuke loved her. He missed her. He wanted her.
"Four!" people bellowed, deafening his eardrums and such.
Who was the name of this her?
All the confetti is blocking his eyesight. Girl's high-heels make him trip over his shoes. The alcohol makes him tipsy. The stomps and cries of the drunkness resounds, vibrates in his core.
"Three!"
He looks between the two in derision.
"Two!" Anticipation builds and all gazes were on the clock.
His eyes land on Ino, his golden girlfriend; light, vivacious, loud and hot. Then he looks to Hinata Hyuuga; dark, mysterious and kind and fucking beautiful- gorgeous, and very not his girlfriend.
"One!" everyone shouts.
And oh God, he needed to kiss her. He hasn't felt her lips on his in so long- it was killing him. She's biting her pillowy soft lips and that just reminds him of how good he makes her feel. How good she makes him feel. How good he wants to feel.
"Happy New Years!"
Then it all just clicks. Clicks into place.
He slides across the floor, to his choice.
He chooses her. Hinata. And his lips touched hers and they were kissing again like they shouldn't have been like he wanted to.
At all!
He cups the back of her neck, grabs her by the hip and he kisses her...
Their kisses started slow but ends up passionate, devouring each other so much that they curve into each other.
Sasuke's ecstatic. Also sloppy and desperate, his hands in her hair and her hands around his neck and groaning into his lips.
When the cheering stops, Ino screams, "What the fuck?!"
And the music stops, that's how he knows he fucked up. Everyone else stops kissing. The shine of the hardwood floor of lost. Everyone pauses, the celebration ends.
And Sasuke and Hinata were in the middle of the whole fucking chaos.
It was organized chaos, like the glitter and the candle wax on the floor and the tangle of her sweeping lashes.
They were sharing breaths, twisted up in each other. Her lips are swollen and decidedly less inviting now that he's seen her expression.
She looks betrayed but in love.
Her face is symmetrical and skin soft and creamy, like alabaster but not snow, a different whiteness. Her full lips, her high and prominent cheekbones and rows of straight, pearly teeth and high arched eyebrows. Her flush, she never blushes anymore but her nose is still red and cute from the cold though they've been inside for more than an hour.
"You weren't supposed to do that," she says slowly.
"It's tradition, Snow," he says.
Her eyes widen a bit. "Our tradition."
She looks like she'll scream or walk away.
"Would you feel guilty if you did the same to me?" he asks her. "In any of these midnight months?"
He grabs the side of her cheek and pulls at her blue strands.
"Never," she breathes.
Noticing how he's looking at her, Ino screams out in disgust and rushes away, stomping. Ino surges out of the house, slamming the door while Sakura untangled herself from Sai. She looks at them all, apologetically and follows her best friend.
She then pushes away and there's this odd standstill while every watches and waits while the brilliant yellow, gold fireworks beam and pop outside.
She shakes her head, "I would never hurt you like you hurt me right now, Sasuke," she says, eyes filling with white tears.
And it's like he hadn't hurt her by meeting her years ago.
Last January
One year ago.
The house's unusually quiet...
Hinata hasn't taken the Christmas decorations down so the fairy lights are illuminated and hauntingly beautiful against the dingy walls of their home. Paintings illuminate her world and she bows to one as she gets to the table.
There are unpaid bills on the table, along with hollow long neck bottles glittering.
It's just hours before midnight and she's awake, sweeping around the small apartment laced with pretty things and the ugliness of his drunken mess.
It's not rare for her father to drink himself into a drunken coma; he's selfish in that way. But he's devastated and what else would happen... if he didn't cope?
She wouldn't mind if he were getting better. Recuperating.
Hinata tries to understand with the whistling rise and fall of his snores but ended with nothing.
Should she turn on the lights? The electricity bill is high enough. She lights candles instead, ignoring the coffee bean stain on her white uniform.
She smells like coffee and deodorant. Gross. She should take a shower but she's too exhausted. She's come in from her job and she had to clean this saline mess on the counter.
She would make herself coffee but she should just sleep. It is the last day of 2017 and it has been a hard year. She needs to cool down, focus on her studies and live a little.
She should sleep. She needs to.
Then, surprisingly, she gets a call. She checks her phone, a message from Tenten.
Hinata winces.
If Hinata answers, she'll either have the cool, sweet Tenten who was her good friend or the one who got broken up by her distant cousin Neji.
It was anyone's pick. Hinata hopes her friend comes back.
"Hyuuga, c'mon out with your girls Tenten and Lee and Sai!" Tenten whoops, animated.
Hinata raises her eyebrows. Tenten's oddly unbroken today. Tenten even called first.
"I'm not a girl," Sai deadpans through the speaker.
The radio static intensifies and the phone jostles. Lee coughs out, "I'm not, either."
"Lee, you are my stupid brother, so butt out!" Tenten growls, obviously on something. A substance...
Sai gives a resigned sigh. "You are unbearable and we are not related."
"But you love me!"
"No. I really don't, Tenny." Sai retorts.
There's a gasp and a playful smack then Sai's dry laughter.
Sai and Tenten were always like this. Lee usually breaks them up or-
"Naruto's having a party. You in?" Tenten asks, loud and bright.
"Huh?" Hinata asks.
An invite?
A party? With everything going on with her sister, her, and father and trying to study for her exams- she's invited to a party? Just next year, she has the SATs and if she doesn't pass, she'll end up in a rut or something.
"Uzumaki Naruto, the one from your church. The one anyone would have unholy thoughts about," Tenten snickers.
"Tenten!" Hinata blushes.
"He's gorgeous. And he's gorgeously having a party! Come with us!"
"Today? Now..." Hinata asks quietly, clutching the phone tighter...
Hinata wipes the sweat off of her palms, eyeing scanning her bleak, small apartment.
Her dad's asleep, inebriated. He wouldn't mind... He wouldn't even be awake to see her sneak out and this party... she hadn't known about it. Maybe she should go, taste the fresh air and breathe in the lights.
"He has one every year, didn't you know?" Tenten rolls her eyes.
Hinata didn't but she didn't say that. "Uh, I-I mean, of course, I knew."
It would be sad if she didn't know, which she didn't but no one had to know that, right?
She giggles nervously. "I really knew."
"Baby, let's get blind tonight! And swear we'll never drink again, c'mon. I never see you anymore," Tenten sighs. "Is Neji telling you to not see me? It's like a custody battle. Every day! Fuck him!"
Neji hasn't spoken to Hinata since last Tuesday. It was more of formalities than actual conversation.
Tenten and Neji broke up after a solid two months of dating but three years of solid pining. They were smitten with each other, it was all but obvious to everyone but them.
However, they were incompatible and overtly aggressive. They put Hinata in the middle of their awry conflicts.
"You're never around... Is it because you didn't spend Christmas with Hanabi?" Tenten asks lowly.
"N-no! That has nothing to do with it," Hinata says with a minute frown. "I... I just had work and I am exhausted."
It's true. And she just feels crappy. She needs to recuperate.
"Your birthday just passed. You made us promise not to do anything. Let me do something for you. You're too nice, giving acts of service to everyone else but we don't return the favor!" Tenten (probably) rolls her eyes.
"I don't want anything... You're my friends, what more do I need?" Hinata smiles softly.
Lee, Sai, and Tenten are really sweet and nice and that's all she could ask for, really.
"To be at a party instead of working! What monster manager makes you work on New Year's Eve?!" Tenten insists.
Hinata's monster bosses would, she laughs a bit. She needs the hours. How else would she keep the bills coming in? Her father is just wasted... all the time.
"We would all like it if you relaxed every once in a while. You work too much, alright? It's good to work but it's also just as great if you let loose, feel the vigor of life!" Lee says knowingly.
"I know how much it matters to you but tonight, forget it. Let's have fun and drink gross eggnog and dance! 2016 is over, please, Hinata... For me..." Tenten pleads.
Hinata thought it over... She could either be lonely and miserable at home or miserable and lonely at a party, with others. With Naruto.
"For you," she nods. "I'll go."
Hinata aptly talked Tenten out of driving her. She took the bus and leaned her head on the frosty window, the city lights glittering.
Hinata didn't know if she had enough money for a bus pass but she did this month. Her phone had good music and she absently thought of bringing Hanabi to this part of town if the day called for it.
She hopes it does. She misses her sister. This area; it's like the suburbs then not with touches of industry, affluence and wealth.
Hinata used to live in a huge house mansion, with a foyer and a balcony and emerald grass that sparkled with purple flowers bodyguards would step on. Now she's used to shitty heating, mold stains in the corner of a small, tiny apartment.
It doesn't matter, Hinata promises herself as she dismounts from the bus. She'll get all of the money back.
"Thank you!" Hinata calls out to the bus driver and jumps off.
Her sneakers don't take too kindly to the snow, and it squelches underneath her. The snow looks like confectionery sugar and the plains of it make her hesitant to walk around.
She walks for a little until she sees it. The layout of this mansion-like house probably looks like something out of IKEA.
Then, she sees the outside and it's filled to the brim and she didn't know anyone. The street's filled with ice, cars and shoe prints. People showing up at every minute, people grinding.
Hinata goes inside and gets hit by the smell, again and loses courage.
It smelled of cigars, weed, and booze was omnipresent. Good music blasts. People were tame the most part.
Hinata loses her breath and settles two feet away from another guy, sighing and brushing away the mountains of snow piling on the railing.
"Hey," he says staidly.
Hinata gives a small wave and looks at the other nice houses in this affluent area.
He looks at her for a while. "I dropped my cigarette, gotta spare?" he finally asks.
Hinata shakes her head. "Sorry."
"Don't be. It's cute that you are, though," he says, his tiny ear piercings flashing.
Hinata blushes and stares at the railing. He just called me cute! What do I do? What do I do? Hinata panics.
"The party's a drag, anyway. I've been to 'em since Naruto started them back in '09. God, they suck," he looks up, sort of restless. "Stars are nice tonight. Too bad for the frigid cold," he frowns.
The porch light comes on and she sees his vapor breaths, wondering if he vapes too. All the kids vape now.
His ebony hair's piled back and spiky, in his ponytail. He seems exhausted, bundled up like it took all of his strength to shrug at her.
Hinata realizes she's seen him somewhere. His eyes shine with recognition too.
"Do I know you?" Hinata asks.
He nods. "Math class."
Hinata laughs. "Yeah, you're always sleeping," she looks at him warily, "and smoking."
"That's me," he gives a smart salute, which is cute and weird at the same time.
They look back at the stars, without things to say.
"Cool," Hinata echoes.
"It is," he says.
He looks up at the void of space, like something fascinating and colorful is going on that she can't see.
"This sight's better when the clouds pass," he tells her softly.
Hinata smiles softly. "My mother always says the stars and clouds... humble people."
"Humble them?"
Hinata's blushes a bit, wondering why he's so interested. "Yeah... We're so small. Be humble... for we are all made of earth... and made of stars."
"Serbian proverb?" he guesses.
Hinata nods.
He smiles. "When something humbles you, makes you smaller, you remember just how important you are."
Hinata blinks. Woah... She feels like she's talking to her grandfather, who is wise and all-seeing. This sleeping man seems all-knowing, for some reason.
"Did you know that we're getting smaller and bigger at every second?" he continues.
"The universe is expanding and we're growing?"
"Exactly," he says, proud for some reason.
Hinata shifts and smiles a bit.
"Many people don't realize that. It's troublesome," he chuckles. "You know what? You're not too bad, for someone at this scene."
It's a genuine compliment. Is it?
There's another pause, between all the twinkling stars and orange streetlights.
Hinata thinks it's better to go inside, ride the wave of the scene.
Hinata smiles, wanting to enter the grand house but feels she should say goodbye. His energy, for some reason, just calmed her down. Unlike all the hormone-raging teens, animated and loud, he was basically down to earth.
The opposite of everyone and that was nice.
She looks back at him. "I have to go but it was nice talking to you."
"You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here."
"I'll risk it. Maybe someone else'll have a smoke with me."
"Maybe." Hinata laughs, she turns away and pushes into the house.
Hinata weaves through the crowd and it feels manic and more manic. The music vibrates through her, people are making out against walls, it's insane.
She finally sees Sai and Lee with other guys and girls she doesn't know. Their charming smiles become deadly sharp when they look at her.
The boys are chatting up some girls, a girl with pink hair and another girl with chaotic red hair. She is so pretty. They wave her over and Hinata feels calmer, she has her friends.
They'll keep her safe.
When she arrives, Lee slings an arm over her shoulder and grins beside her ear. Lee smiles, emphatically and Hinata doesn't know how to react.
Hinata just nods when he laughs again, his cheeks bright and he's laughing so hard that she's sure he's also been drunk.
To be honest, Lee is quite the same. His laughs make her feel light and giddy. Lee's so infectious and great.
"Hinata- something, something, something kitchen," Lee says quietly into her cheek.
"Kitchen?" Hinata repeats.
Sai's pale skin flashes as he brushes away his too-long hair out of his eyes.
Sai gets up, much to the dismay of the pink haired girl who glares at Hinata. She gets passed off of his lap and she crosses her arms, jealousy brewing in her eyes.
Hinata gets sandwiched between the two men, with Lee using her head as a stool and Sai's beside her left shoulder.
"Tenten's in the kitchen!" Sai whispers close to her ear. "Don't go. I implore you."
"Why not?" Hinata asks.
"Just- because-" Sai starts but she ducks under his arms and makes a b-line for the kitchen.
She goes to the kitchen after accidentally seeing a couple doing anal. She's still trembling. Gah! Naruto and Tenten... They're aggressively making out beside the doorway and Hinata feels her heart sink a bit.
"It's not midnight yet." Tenten moves away a bit, to say something but their faces are so close she's whispering into his mouth.
"Who cares? I wanna-" says Naruto.
Tenten interrupts him with another smooch. He gladly takes the distraction.
Hinata's just staring dumbly. "Wh- what...?" What's going on?
Tenten's eyes are glazed over, and she's drawing little swirls of chaos onto Naruto's collar, hands locked behind his neck with their fingers all over each other.
Tenten breaks from the kiss, not opening her eyes for a few moments afterward.
What the heck?
"Hinata-chan," Naruto says loudly, cheeks bright.
He's acting awkward- seeing Hinata.
Tenten's and Naruto's bodies rip away from each other, skin sweaty, the sheen of on their foreheads.
"I haven't seen you since... church. Great service. Good food." he says, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding her gaze.
"The best," Hinata echoes, blushing.
He's so cute but his mouth is kind of sparkling and beautiful in this light. Is that Tenten's lip gloss? Tenten looks undisturbed while Naruto wants to sink into the floor.
"Oh hi, Hinata," Tenten says, arms around Hinata, hugging her lightly. "How are you?"
"Uh-" Hinata says, pulling away. "I'm..." Traumatized. Kind of angry. Jealous. "Great?" Hinata winces.
Tenten smiles, and the alcohol on her breath should make Hinata dizzy but it doesn't.
"Oh! I'm thirsty- get me some eggnog, Hinata," Tenten orders.
"Eggnog?" Hinata repeats. Why should she get the eggnog? And who likes eggnog?
"Naruto- do you like the taste of eggnog?" Tenten asks pointedly.
Hinata steps back, pushed by someone rushing by. They're going to- oh. Oh gosh.
A small smile curls his red lips. "Anything's fine," Naruto chuckles.
"Okay." Tenten smiles resolutely. "Eggnog it is."
"Uh- uhm, okay?" Hinata says.
"Enjoy the party! I'm so glad you came," Tenten giggles.
She's feminine and happy which is so unlike the woman who refers to herself as the 'iron girl' ready to chop someone's junk off. Tenten's so drunk and so kissing Naruto. And she's invited Hinata to watch and she'll have to see him at church- with memories of them!
Hinata backs away like they're a dangerous bomb about to detonate.
Hinata offers a small wave. "Uh- h-have fun?"
She shakes her head and walks to the other side of this massive kitchen. Gordon Ramsay would love this layout, she should watch some more reruns of Hotel Hell... Maybe she should borrow one of his knives to stab her eyes out...
Hinata's wanted to kiss Naruto since that time they played spin the bottle in sixth grade. She's never gotten the chance do but Tenten always does.
This is so backward. It's just- why is she... here?
Hinata floats towards the fridge and cupboards. A long table decorated with dollar-tree plastic tablecloth has a heap of food.
She's staring at the finger foods and dips on the long plastic table. Cheetos, alcohol, red cups, beer, liquor, vodka, more chips and someone's retainer. A punch bowl is a centerpiece and she stares at her reflection... Maybe she should go home.
Beside her, someone chews their apple, like a horse, loudly. She looks over and it's a guy, not a horse like she strangely assumed.
He's tall, smiling- no, smirking a bit. He's leaning against the marble counter, beside a crystal bowl of fresh apples he's monopolized.
Crunch!
That sound alone makes her notice his white teeth and the shiny, coal-black stalagmites hanging beside his ears and the dark beanie that hides the rest of the spikes.
"That was sad," he comments slowly, watching.
His vest over his dark hoodie crinkles when he talks and his converse shoes aren't tied properly, the laces are stuffed in the shoe itself.
"What was?" Hinata asks lowly.
"What happened to you and them." He uses his oddly concrete, sharp chin to gesture Tenten and Naruto kissing.
"Y-you saw it? Us?" Me, Hinata asks.
He bites into his apple. "Yeah. Sad..."
"It wasn't that sad." protests a blushing Hinata.
He grimaces like he's tasted something bitter. "It was gross. He's trying to swallow her face and she's letting him, and he's a church choir boy... There's no room for Jesus in between them." the boy quips.
"Y-you religious?" Hinata stutters.
He laughs. "Pfft. No." He looks over at Naruto.
The blonde spiky tectonic-gold-haired boy... His broad shoulders connected to muscled arms wander Tenten's equally beautiful shadow. They're not trying to be conspicuous but he's standing with her hand on her waistline, making a scene.
"He was," the beanie boy shrugs.
Hinata frowns. She's here for no reason. Naruto's acting like Tenten's her favorite snack and this guy in a beanie is talking to her like a best friend.
Hinata should drink. Not alcohol. She's never been drunk and she doesn't feel like getting intoxicated tonight. Punch seems appetizing. She reaches over the ruby red pool for a cup, only to be intercepted by beanie boy once again.
He claps her wrist, shaking his head. "Don't you have common sense?" he snaps.
"What's wrong with the punch?" Hinata asks, hyper-aware of his grip on her wrist.
"Who knows?" he asks sharply. "Rule number one of parties and social outings, don't drink the punch at parties. They all might've been spiked with things you don't want to wake up with."
That makes her stomach churn. What else is dangerous?
He releases her wrist and he huffs, muttering something under his breath. Well, if she can't have the punch or the chips since they could kill her, she'll have something else; apples.
She eyes the apples that he's eating. He's on the second one since she's met this polarizing figure. They're safe, right? Watching her watch him, he swallows then shakes his head. "Don't also eat the apples."
"Wh- what's wrong with them?" Hinata asks.
"Nothing. They're good. You can't have any."
He's like a child! "You're eating the apples!" Hinata argues.
"Yeah, I like those, I want to have them all."
She shakes her head, huffing through her nose. Watching and spanning the room, she thinks she got pushed into another dimension full of bad luck and strange encounters.
She's too afraid to do anything and go to Lee and Sai because of that strange staring girl and because she's too tired...
After eyeing her for a long time, he says, "Here..." and offers the apple.
"No! I don't know you." Hinata says.
"I'm sterile and apples are good."
"Snow White, please, enjoy your apples," she jokes a bit.
He raises his eyebrows and points at her, quite offended. "Okay. Don't do that again, princess."
"I'm the princess?" she points to herself.
He looks down at her and lightly flicks her forehead. "You kind of look like one." he shrugs. "Albeit a small one."
"I'm not small."
"Well, dynamite comes in small packages," he sighs. "I've had too much experience with those."
Hmm. His exes... Hinata doesn't want to hear about that, so she looks away, as he did as well. Their combined gazes fall on Naruto and Tenten.
"Maybe she'll be his princess this year. Didn't you know, they've been thinging for months." he sighs.
"Thinging" is like they're dating but without the labels. For months. Tenten hadn't even told her. Has Tenten ever cheated on Neji? No. She'd never. Right?
"They can't wait for midnight..." Hinata murmurs to herself.
He tsks and shakes his head. "Can anyone? In about five minutes or so, the clock strikes midnight and it'll be an organized, more clothed orgy."
"Orgy? Ew."
"Yes, modest girl. For lack of better word, orgy describes the scene."
First the apples then the obscure nicknames and orgies. "You can't ever be serious, can you?" Hinata laughs.
"Maybe a sip or two loosens me up." he shrugs. "Naruto usually gives a toast at midnight and firecrackers on the roof. You want to have three hundred dollar champagne or dollar rootbeer? Stay, Naruto's got it all."
Heh... including Tenten, Hinata thinks then internally cringes. I sound bitter. Why am I bitter?
"You sticking around to share your new year resolutions?" he asks.
Hinata shrugs. "I made two; be happy and worry less."
They're solid goals; easy to control and she's being realistic.
He glares at his half-eaten apple, hissing. "That is personal advice we should follow every day. That's why resolutions are so stupid. People never keep to them. You don't need to have them to be a better person."
Hinata smiles softly. "I think if we have the chance to be better, we should seize it. They're wishes."
He perks up a bit, watching her eyes and expression closely, making her blush. "What's your wish?" he asks.
"To get a raise," she chuckles.
He rewards her with a laugh of his own. "That's a reasonable wish. Mine is to be the best director of all time."
"Of all time?" Hinata asks. "That's-"
"Don't act so shocked," he snaps. "I'll get a Golden Globe instead of an Oscar because it's a sham. I promise you, I'll be up there with Stanely Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Christopher Nolan. Just watch me, recycle out the 3D glasses and applaud."
"I was about to say neat. Your dreams are... respectable," Hinata squeaks, playing with her long hair a bit. "It's cool."
He chews on his lip, skeptical but with the undertone of relief humming on his face. "Normally people just laugh at my dying art."
"It's not dying. People like you give it life."
"I do," he nods to himself. "Hell, people who hate cinema are those who don't like the overpriced popcorn and the nosebleed seats."
Hinata shrugs. People laugh or get scared in response to such fervid behavior when talking about something as mundane as the theatre.
My wish is to... I have no idea what I'll be doing, Hinata falters. How will she pay for college? Everything is so expensive-
"Do you have a favorite holiday?" he asks, drawing her out of her thoughts.
She smiles. "Christmas but I hate the snow."
"Ah. Princesses do like material. The gifts must be your favorite part," he gives a crooked smile.
Was that a joke? It wasn't funny. She shakes her head. "Family time," she corrects him lightly.
"Ah. For me, it's about the food. Tenten's favorite holiday is probably labor day," he scoffs.
"It's actually Halloween," Hinata intones, "but Tenten solely wears white to anger her neighbors after labor day."
He gives a wry smile. "My kinda person. Naruto likes the purge," he adds, philosophical.
"Seriously?" Hinata asks, alarmed.
He chuckles. "No, but how terrifying would that be?"
"Terrifying." she agrees.
Tenten likes all the gore and scary stuff. Tenten wouldn't mind the purge, she would celebrate it as exuberantly as Halloween if Naruto were involved.
"The one you are with at midnight tells you who you will be with for the rest of the year," he says lightly. He suddenly looks at her and winks. "Don't worry. You'll never see me again."
She sighs, moving to get the mug.
Beanie boy staggers backward, eyes wide and mouth hanging. "Why are you doing it?"
"She's my best friend it's better for me to see to it that she's drinking eggnog instead of the various other things she could get," Hinata says, opening a haphazard cabinet. After a few tries, she hit jackpot.
Hinata stands on her toes, trying to reach the glossy, smooth handle of the pretty mugs. Why does she have to be so short?!
The beanie boy gives a pleasing sound. "Can't reach?"
Obviously! But she can't ask for his help. He's been teasing her with hot and cold attitude all night... She doesn't want any of the help.
"Oh don't even say a word!" Hinata says sharply. Well, tries to, it doesn't succeed in the slightest bit.
"Are you dumb? They screwed us over, why service them?" he demands, pinching the bridge of his nose.
She rolls her eyes. She could do whatever she chooses to, she'll just get the eggnog and go. Everyone else is dancing all night and playing the music loud.
She had no use here. She'll get a bus and uh, she doesn't know- ignore Naruto and Tenten the next time they see each other at church.
"A bed," Tenten murmurs in broken words because Naruto breaks her sentences with kisses.
Gah! It's like hearing her parents have sex.
"Upstairs. I need a bed." Tenten says.
Are they going to have sex? The mug she was grabbing fell-
On her face.
The odd hotness on her forehead blanks out her vision for a few moments. Her face stings and there's this gush of red that leaks over her face-
And beanie boy, beanie boy is laughing, having the best time of his life watching her bleed.
Amused.
He chuckles. "That must be karma. Don't you see?"
"I can't see you with all the blood in my eye," Hinata says, holding her forehead.
A rush of remorse and guilt slashes into his sharp, barking laughter. "I'm sorry, princess, but this is just a response to the situation." His chuckle becomes a cough.
"I'm glad my injury helped you find whimsy, j-jerk!"
"I'm a lot of things but a jerk-"
"You're laughing at me, someone who just got hurt!" Hinata protests.
"Okay. Point taken." He says, inspecting her carefully. "Hey- look at me. You might have a concussion. I need to get you to a hospital."
"A h-hospital?" Hinata repeats.
No. No. She refuses to go to a hospital with the roads like this and he's a stranger. How would he take her?
"You still know what that is, right? You've been hit hard- do you remember what day it is?"
"Yes. New Year's Day and I don't need a hospital. I don't want to go to the hospital."
"Why?" he asks then shrugs. "I hate what they represent but never mind... Uh, snow'll work. You could numb the pain with snow."
Hinata smiles. "Yeah!"
"Snow is better, alright?" He gives Hinata a smug smirk. "Look who's Snow White now."
She rolls her eyes. "Can we just go to front lawn?"
He nods. "It's funny. You getting hurt 'cause I know a forehead girl."
"Forehead girl?" Hinata repeats, quite insulted for whoever this girl was.
He hesitates then sighs. "I mean- it doesn't matter. Just- let's go through the house to the foyer and you'll get your ice and snow, alright?"
"Ah... I'm going to have a scar..."
He looks down at her and pushes away a strand of hair, and nods again. "You'll be alright. 'S just a scratch."
"No one'll see?"
"No one," he promises.
She gives a small smile. He quickly looks away.
"Uh," he coughs. "Let's go."
Hinata nods, taken aback when he clasps her sleeve to gently guide her through the crowd. Everyone's elbows jab into her, the heat through her secondhand leather jacket is immensely hot from everyone's dancing and body heat suffocated her.
Why does everyone hype up parties? They're all shades of awful... And no one says it!
Then, with that, her following him, and getting jostled around, Hinata hears the dreaded countdown of New Year's Day.
She listens to the seconds and it's hindered, like the audio of a record tape someone slowed down. All sounds are strange and the song is warped in a way that makes it strangely beautiful.
It's impossible to pin down what evils had befallen and what sensations didn't happen. It's indecipherable. Hinata doesn't really hear the alleged countdown because some slowed down the seconds.
Almost mechanical and fully human in his next action, he looks down at her.
Beanie Boy smiles down at her, and they halt. He looks at the blood-red timer with the ticking, fading seconds then at the red of her lips.
He faces her, loomingly (since she's so small and he's so tall and lanky) and tips her chin upwards, leaning into her.
Something's about to happen, Hinata tells herself. I can't bring myself to stop it.
His slender touch. His interesting black eyes. His sure, purposeful step forward... That hand on her cheek. That gaze on her person. Lightning strikes just then, again, because she's never felt anything like it before.
He kisses her.
And all that has been stressing her out went away in droves. His mouth was slightly wet, he was sweet in the way he basically pecked her lips for a good ten seconds.
He pulls back, and cheers with everyone else at the countdown hitting zero.
Hinata can't think, move or breathe.
That was my first kiss. This boy, at a party I didn't want to be at just kissed me, Hinata blinks. She is not happy nor sad. She just is... She doesn't know what to feel.
She's all euphoric and energy's surging through every living thing in the vicinity. It's surging through her...
Can you hear my heartbeat? I've never felt my pulse like this before. I'm dead but now flickering with some potential, I hate it... Hinata thinks, looking at him.
Confetti's released and it tangles, brushes against her skin and in her dark blue hair. She reaches to her lip. It's still shingling, the sensation fresh though the kiss happened ages ago.
"What?" Beanie boy asks, concerned after seeing her expression and spasmodic actions.
"You k-kissed me!" Hinata sputters.
"It's tradition," he says staunchly.
"Uh! Why did you do that?"
His eyes roam her face and he staggers back a bit. "Please don't tell me I was your first kiss," he groans, face-palming.
"You weren't my first kiss," Hinata says, almost robotic.
He stares at her through the cracks in between his fingers. "You're a terrible liar. Fuck!" he says, looking away.
Hinata shakes her head. Why did she have to be around him at midnight? Now she is all screwed up and confused because he stole her first kiss!
They shift awkwardly, the only ones not celebrating with the rest of everyone. And she's bleeding. This is more awkward than her first period. He keeps on staring at her and it's all strange.
Hinata suddenly looks at him. "I have to get back to Tenten-"
"Alright. Whatever. We going to get the snow?" he asks, the redness in his cheeks sorta gone.
"What makes you think I'm going with you? C-cause I'm not." Hinata protests.
"You're bleeding and I think that warrants an appropriate reaction like wanting to help," he scoffs.
Her lip is still wet! A reminder of what just transpired. "You laughed at me! Now you want to help?" Hinata argues.
"I'll be in the car, or call it an ambulance if you will because you could bleed out, Snow White," he says, yawning.
"Don't call me that!"
He gives a small wave and a plain look that only could be described as "woman". "Whatever you say, princess," he calls out, going through the crowd to disappear.
Just then, she feels impossibly and terribly alone. At least when beanie boy was there she had company, though he was temperamental and loud, he's amusing all the same.
She turns around and the very person she was about to seek was coming from the grand curve of the plaster entrance.
Tenten. And oh god- Naruto. Tenten was making her way toward Hinata, smiling brightly.
I can't talk to her right now or look at Naruto. They're going to have sex and I can't even ask him for a pencil or a Bible at church, Hinata thinks, screaming in her mind.
The house is so massive, the foyer still is a cave compared to the berth of the art-filled hallways. A large, spindling staircase dominates the room. Then, when she turns around, to go upstairs, something cold and wet falls onto her chest.
Wine. Alcohol, on her shirt! Hinata flinches at the rush of low temperature onto the look up to see a blonde girl with eyes just as cold as December glaring at her. She's holding a wine glass, too.
The treacherous girl's eyes are stunningly azure. She shines like a gem with how beautiful and radiant she is.
The older girl scowls a bit and does a once over of Hinata's outfit. "I can't believe you stole my kiss with Sasuke-kun," her manicured nails clutch the wine glass so tightly, it threatens to crack.
Hinata threatens to crack. She purposefully threw her drink on Hinata. Seriously?
"His name is Sasuke?" Hinata asks. He doesn't look like a Sasuke... That's a stunningly archaic Japanese name, too.
A vein threatens to pop on the blonde's face. "You don't even know his name?!" Blondie demands.
Hinata nods. "It's tradition...?"
"You're a skank who stole my kiss on my day who doesn't even know his name?" she waves her arms so violently, her deep beryl wine swishes out of her cup. "New Years Day is our holiday. My tradition with him. You are disgusting."
"Hey- slow down! He kissed me! I don't even know him!" Hinata protests. "And why spill this on me?"
"Because this a warning," she says, turning around. She looks over her shoulder and crosses her arms. "One message to survive your last junior year from yours truly; Stay away from Uchiha Sasuke if you know what's good for you- Yamanaka Ino," Ino huffs.
The clacking of Ino's heels echoes even in the ruckus, vehement house.
Hinata notices the even glacier stare of another girl waiting near to Ino. Pink hair, beautiful too- also mad at her for this Sasuke's actions. Seriously? She's getting threatened because of Uchiha Sasuke?!
Hinata finds a bathroom and shakes her head. What the hell is wrong with everyone here? She smoothens out her hair. How could Sasuke kiss her with all this frizziness?
Her cut wasn't had and it stopped bleeding. If she had glasses, she could be a wizard. She sighed. She didn't want to enter 2017 a mess or as Harry Potter. She should leave. So Hinata breaks for the door, mostly unnoticed.
Hinata backed away, and backed away some more until she was safely outside, closing the doors in front of her.
Into the cool night air and out of the hotness of their rage...