Academy Days:
Sasuke strolled down the paved path, skilfully avoiding the twirling autumn leaves which descended with grace. He was good at that. Avoiding situations he didn't want to be caught up in. Take a group of swarming love-truck teenagers for example. He could simply extend his arms and lift himself to seek refuge upon the oak trees in 10 seconds flat. Or a particularly annoying duo who somehow knew exactly where he was all the time.
"Sasuke-teme! Wait up!" The blonde yelled at the top of his lungs making Sasuke growl in frustration. Couldn't he walk 5 minutes without the dobe harassing him?
"What?" He snapped, throwing a glance over his shoulder. He couldn't spot the pink haired one, but he didn't want to take his chances. Throwing a small smoke bomb, he leapt backwards in the humid air, landing perfectly on a thick branch.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called, walking briskly past the tree he was currently sheltered in. There was his signal. He turned and jumped on the nearest branch, lowering himself to make sure that he couldn't been seen.
"Achoo!" A loud sneeze startled him, causing him to lose his footing slightly and scrape his arm on a stray branch. His upper arm drew scarlet drops of blood but he refused to wince at the stinging pain. Angry at whatever had alarmed him, he tucked his head in and peered over the edge with caution.
"Achoo! Achoo!" The sneeze came again. It was from a girl with a painfully bright yellow jacket and weirdly cut indigo hair.
What a horrid combination
Sasuke crinkled his nose and pulled back, applying pressure on his wound.
The girl sniffed slightly, unsure of where she was meant to be. She bit her bottom lip awkwardly and pattered left, stopped, then waddled right.
She was lost.
"ACHOO! *sniff sniff*" She rubbed her nose and with one last sigh, she gave up. Sasuke watched with mild interest, shaking his head at the dumb girl. She then began humming to herself, calming her nerves and cooling herself down with her hands.
Sasuke remembered how his mum used to hum him to sleep. It was surprisingly soothing.
"Oi!" Sasuke called out, revealing a scowl on his otherwise hidden face. The girl jumped, staring up at the tree immediately.
Happy that he had got her attention, he pointed with his good arm towards east of the village. "The Hyuuga compound is that way. Take two lefts, then a right."
The Hyuuga girl's lavender eyes widened as she stared at where he was pointing then shyly lowered her gaze.
"A-ano… you're Sasuke-kun, right?" She said up at the tree, trying to find his face. Sasuke frowned.
"No. I'm not," He snapped, standing to his full height. He leaned on the trunk of the tree but still glared at her.
"Oh. Demo… w-what's your name then?" She asked politely.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow questioningly, but soon gave her an answer.
"My name is, Naruto Uzumaki! And I will become Hokage someday."
The purple-haired girl opened her mouth in surprise to see her crush emerging from the leaves and dropping down next to her.
"N-N-Naruto-kun?" She stuttered badly, blushing even worse.
Sasuke smirked at her reaction as he had transformed into the dobe to see what she would do. Clearly, and quite sadly, it seemed this poor girl had a thing for the idiotic 'Naruto-kun'.
"See ya" he wandered off, but just when he was going to leave, she held her arm out.
"W-wait! You've been i-injured." She whispered with concern.
Sasuke growled inwardly but flashed a goofy Naruto-style grin. "I think I can manage" He thought for a moment. "Dattebayo!" He finished with triumph.
The annoying brat didn't budge however. She dug deep into her pockets and fished out a small rounded object. Shaking like the orange leaves in the breeze, she held it out with her head bowed.
"Please accept this from me!" She stated rather loudly. This bothered Sasuke immensely.
"Ugh, I don't need it okay! It'll heal in no time!" He backed off, kicking a stone away. With one huge leap, he jumped onto the roof of the nearest shop in a flash.
Hinata looked at the spot he had last stood in, cupping her flaming cheeks with her cold hands.
"He's so cute…"
Present day:
Hinata pulled her hair up in a high pony tail and readjusted her position towards the beaten down wooden post.
"Jyuuken!" She yelled, fiercely jabbing her palm towards her unlucky stress-reliever.
"You were saying?" Hanabi called from the other side of the training court, practicing her already perfect shuriken techniques.
Hinata breathed in deeply, pausing to think clearly.
"I-I… I don't know what to do…" She sighed, immediately aiming a high-powered kick towards the top of the post. "They say I excel in the medical field, but I want to carry on being a shinobi."
"That's easy." Hanabi scoffed, aiming with one eye shut. Hinata glanced at her in confusion.
"Do both or do none." She answered, as if she had just the saved the world. Hinata deadpanned as it took all it could take to keep her from smashing her head into the post.
"I seriously doubt your intellect, Hana-chan." She scowled, centring her chakra towards her palms once again. Hanabi took no heed to her sister's words as they continued to practice til dusk.
"Ne, nee-chan?" Hanabi whispered when she crawled into Hinata's room that night. Hinata was brushing her long, midnight hair, humming quietly to herself.
"Yes, what is it?" She spoke softly, standing to get into her bed. Hanabi followed her, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed. Hinata could tell something was troubling her but didn't rush her despite wanting to get into bed after the long day.
"Uh… say there was this… uh" She stumbled over her words which made her sister smile, reminding her of herself.
"Guy?" Hinata finished for her with a gentle smile. Hanabi nodded sheepishly, siting crossed legged with a slight blush on her rounded face.
"Yeah. I think he's from the academy but he always has this dumb smirk which makes me think otherwise." She frowned slightly. "But he's nice to me. Really nice to me when I see him sometimes. And I'm so mean to him…" She giggled slightly, a guilty blush creeping up on her neck.
"And do you have any feelings for him?" Hinata asked, genuinely interested. She had never seen someone close to her falling for someone else before. No, scratch that. She had seen Naruto fall for Sakura and Sakura fall for Sasuke almost since the time they were born.
Hanabi buried her head in her hands, groaning. "Is it that obvious?" She squeaked.
Hinata beamed with much love for her baby sister. She wanted to know who this mystery boy was who managed to make her gloomy sister so happy.
"What's his name, Hana-chan?"
"I think you might know him, nee-chan. He's one of Naruto's friends."
"Okay, spill." She urged.
"His name is Sasuke."
Tenten watched Hinata pace restlessly around her living room, clearly feeling the frustration radiating off her.
"You don't look so good, Hina-chan." She commented, moving her head left and right along with the very agitated Hinata.
"I'm dead. If my father finds out about this, she's going to be s-slaughtered and I'll be exiled." She breathed in sharply, almost forgetting how to inhale.
"It can't be that bad…." Tenten tried to reassure but somehow managed to make the situation worse. Hinata head snapped towards her direction and she paced forwards until she was an inch away from her face.
"My 12-year-old sister. That probably still doesn't know what puberty is. Is in love. With. The Rogue Avenger/Killing machine/T-total lunatic." She trembled, sweating bullets. Her teeth chattered audibly as she bit her nails in incredible speed.
"By whom you mean Sasuke. The totally normal, not psycho, who must do community service for 3 years kind of guy? Not to mention everybody loves him anyway." Tenten swatted the dire situation like it was a pestering fly. Hinata couldn't bear the thought of Hanabi having anything to do with that man, let alone falling head-over-heals in love!
What does a 12-year-old know about love?!
Hinata made up her mind. If she had to fight tooth and nail for the lolicon to leave her sister alone, then so be it. She will face that man. And she will start by getting a job at the academy.
"What are you planning to do anyway? Tell the poor guy to back off when he hasn't done anything?" Tenten saw right through her, shaking her head at her friend's desperation.
"Well! I'm preventing him from doing anything. And how you ask? I-I'm going to watch his every move. If one of his fingers even accidently touches Hanabi, I'm going to kill him."
"In other words." Tenten yawned. "You're going to stalk him and possibly avoid any awkward situations unless you absolutely have to get involved." She translated.
"Exactly!" Hinata smiled. "My version sounded way more h-harsher though."
Tenten laughed. "I know, just make sure not to get killed. Or fired. Or end up falling in love with the dude yourself."
"My heart is with one man only." She answered firmly with a slight blush, but fought it back and squeezed Tenten in a tight hug.
"Wish me luck."