Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1: Forgotten Stranger

I am a simple girl. I like to take little naps at school in between classes. I love licking on small candy canes. I always dress in white garments and brown boots. I dislike confrontations. And I try to avoid conflicts when I can. I am a simple girl. There's a small empty fish pond in my backyard. I like to lay down next to it with my right hand dipped in it. I will swirl my hand in the cool water- swirl swirl swirl. Oh the water is clean don't worry. My mama made sure of it. She's a fussy mama but a kind mama too. So in the clean water I swirl my hand again and again. It's a relaxing gesture. I do this every Saturday morning before the sun gets high up in the sky. Most of the time I will fall asleep while doing this. Then the overbearing heat from the sun will wake me up. I hate hot weather. I really do. I break a sweat easily so I hate hot weather a lot. When I open my eyes I shut it again immediately. The sun is too glaring, it's hurting my eyes. I try to push myself up, but I forgot that my right hand is in the pond- splash splash splash. I slipped into the shallow pond.

Now my dress is wet. I look down at my dress and stares at it. I am thinking, I am trying to think. What should I do next? Then I hear footsteps approaching. The sound is getting louder. I am trying to think but the noise is pretty distracting, so I close my eyes. I feel something touching my shoulder. It feels like a hand. A big hand is gripping my shoulder and gently shaking me. "Hinata." I recognise this voice. I know this person. "Hinata, let's get you changed. Come on now." I open my eyes and see my cousin. I stare at him. It's Neji. Neji seems to be glowing, it must be the sunlight. "Hinata, hurry up or you will catch a cold. Take my hand." He pulls me up and guides me back into the house. I feel strange. I feel like something is not right. Why is Neji here? Neji never comes to visit anymore. Neji, he's-

"HINATA!"

Gasp! I bolt upright. My head is hammering and my heart is beating wildly. What in the world? "Hinata! Get up and go stand outside the class! Now!" Oh. I scrape my chair back and stand up slowly, my head low. "I'm sorry Miss Mitarashi." I did it. I fell asleep in class. "Walk faster, you're wasting our time!" "Yes, Miss." This is so embarrassing. I can't believe I fell asleep in her class out of all people! I tug on my hair and sigh. What was that dream just now? I can't remember what it was, but why does my heart feel so heavy? I blink once, twice. I shake my head and shut the classroom door behind me. I love to nap in between classes, but never when a class is running. And definitely not in Mitarashi Anko's Physics class. I hear the door sliding open next to me and brace myself. "Hinata, is there something going on at home?" I turn to look at her and shake my head. "No Miss, I just went to bed late last night. I apologise for sleeping in class." She stares at me and I begin to sweat. I break a sweat really easily. This is why I hate confrontations.

"Hinata, if something is troubling you, please seek help from one of the staff. Perhaps from someone less scary." I see a little smile on her face and my face cools off a bit. "Thank you for your concern Miss Mitarashi, I will consider it." I bow to her when the school bell rings for lunch. She pats my shoulder and enters the class. I follow her inside and go straight to my seat. "Alright, class dismissed. Don't forget to turn in your assignment tomorrow!" She looks at me once more, nods and leaves the classroom. This day will get better. I hope. Reaching inside my bag, I pull out my boxed lunch. I make my own lunches because I'm a picky eater. I am a simple girl, but I am picky with my food. I don't trust food that is made by anyone other than me. Maybe my family can be an exception. But I will not take that chance. The class is noisy by now. My classmates are pulling and pushing tables together to eat lunch with each other.

"Hey sooo, Hinata, what were you up to last night huh?" Ino turns her chair around and puts her salad on my table. "Why do you ask?" She usually eats with me, when she remembers to bring her salad. "Just curious." I know now that she heard my conversation with Anko. She sits near the front door. "Nothing in particular. Actually, I just couldn't sleep." Another table connects with mine. "And why is that?" Sakura eats with us too. I don't know why they want to eat lunch with me, but I guess I don't mind. "I don't know." I take a bite out of my sandwich. "Is there something you're not telling us?" Ino is a bit nosy. I think she thinks we're friends, I think she thinks we are close. I don't talk to anyone else in class, so maybe she's not wrong in thinking that. She is still nosy though. I tilt my head and say no. They both sigh and we continue to eat in silence until the break is over.

"Hinata." School has ended and Sakura is at my table. "Hinata, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know you have Ino and I, right?" She looks at me softly. I nod and smile a bit. "Yes, thank you." She slips something in my hand. "It's crazy but I just realised that we don't have each other's numbers right? Here's mine, oh and Ino's too. You can call us anytime!" She gives me a quick hug and leaves the room. I pull out my phone and begin punching in their numbers. My other hand slips inside my pocket to retrieve a candy cane when I hear footsteps approaching me. The sound is getting louder. I mess up the numbers because the noise is pretty distracting, so I close my eyes. Then a feeling of deja vu hits me. "Hinata." A voice startles me out of my daydream. "Yes?" My voice squeaks in surprise as I turn to the voice. "Here's my number." I look at the piece of torn paper thrusted at my face, to the hand holding it, and all the way to the face. "Why are you giving it to me?" I feel strange. I have never talked to him before. "Why not?" He grabs the hand in my pocket and put the paper inside my palm before closing it. "Save it." And he leaves the room.

Lying down on my bed, I'm starting to feel tired. It was a long and confusing day. A mysterious dream I couldn't remember and a number given by a boy I never talk to. I reach for my phone and open my contact list. I am intrigued. I scroll down to his name and stare at it. I am intrigued. My thumb hovers above his number. If I touch it, the call will go through. My heartbeat quickens. This is the most excitement I've had in weeks. What a day this is! Suddenly my door swings open and I almost yelled in fright. "Hinata, I'm gonna go to the convenient store, do you need anything?" Hanabi is standing at my door in her big black dress; she has her little bear purse tucked in her armpit. "Hanabi! Why didn't you knock? I almost died!" Hanabi scoffs and rolls her eyes. She never takes me seriously. She never does. "I'll just buy you some candies then, g'bye." My heart calms a bit. I love candies so much. I lay back down on my bed and hug a pillow to my face. "Hello? Hey, anyone there?" I hear a voice. I feel strange. No one is at home. But maybe... I remove the pillow before rolling over to my phone. Oh no. My face is starting to sweat. I must have pressed his number when Hanabi startled me.

"H-hello?"

"Hm, who may this be?"

"Err, I'm sorry I think I called the wrong number, so-"

"Don't lie."

"No, please. Sorry, b-"

"Hinata."

This is too much. My head is sweating. My heart is bursting. I end the call and shove my phone under a pillow. Taking deep breaths to calm my heart, I start to fall asleep.

"Why did you hang up?"

Oh no. I have just entered the school gates when he stops me. I can't deal with this. I don't want to. I start walking again. "Hey, stop ignoring me." No you stop following me. I quicken my pace and almost started running when he grabs my arm. "Hinata, come with me." My eyes widen as I start to panic. What does he mean? I look at him, horrified. "Sasuke, what do you want?" That seems to appease him, because his grip on my arm seems to have loosened a bit. "So you can talk. I want you to come with me." No. "Why? Where?" He looks annoyed. "Just trust me." Then he circles his arm around my shoulder and guides me to some unknown destination. I am sweating so much. I don't like this. I- I trust he won't do me harm but I'm scared. He stops when we're at the school yard, near the chicken coops and vegetable garden. He releases my shoulder and goes to stand in front of me. I'm trembling slightly, my palms sweating. I hate conflicts. I hate it. I hate it.

"Hinata, calm down. I won't hurt you."

"I know."

"Look at me."

"No."

"Do it."

"Stop telling me what to do!" I yell, clenching my fists, eyes closed. I'm sick of this. He's making me feel all these horrible feelings. I hate it.

"Look at me Hinata, please."

I take deep breaths as I count to ten. My palms are starting to get sweaty so I unclench my hands and rub them on my skirt. The gesture seems to soothe my nerves a bit.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"You only need to look at me."

So I open my eyes and look at him. I look at his hair. I look at his unbuttoned collar. I look at his pierced ears. And finally I settled my gaze on his nose.

"Can I go now?"

"Not yet."

"Please. Sasuke, please I want to go."

"No, Hinata, not until you really look at me."

This boy is crazy. What does he want? Why is he even doing this? He's crazy. I want to get away. I have to, I'm sweating so much right now.

"Hinata, look into my eyes."

I want to leave! I want to leave... so I move my eyes up until I'm looking into his eyes. I feel strange. I feel a kind of familiarity with the way he knits his eyebrows together, the slight wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and the way he is looking at me. It's strange how his eyes make me feel calm. Then I sense some movements and feel startled when I feel something touching my hips.

"What are you trying to do? Please let me go!"

"Hinata please."

"No- let me go! Let me go!"

"Sasuke stop! Hinata!"

Sasuke lets go of me as soon as he heard Sakura's voice. The force of inertia made me stumble backwards and I nearly fell. Sakura rushes to me and pulls me in a hug. "Sasuke, what were you doing? You shouldn't have done that Sasuke, you shouldn't have!" I feel the tremors in my hands and the buckles in my knees. What was he trying to do to me? If Sakura hadn't found me, what would have happened? The thought scares me so much. I could no longer hear, nor see anything around me. And so I collapse.

Tbc.

A/N: I know. I deserve to be spanked. So many unfinished stories what the heck am I doing starting a new one! Right? I'm sorry, I really am. I'm trying out a new writing style. Also trying to get them gears running. My brain is rusty. I am rusty. Hopefully this little story will get me back in my groove (I know I say this every time I write a new story, thanks for putting up with me).

So anyway I have been spending way too much time on tumblr; as a consumer pig, not a content creator. My url is seizurespasms if you wanna connect with me heh heh. Thank you for reading this story, and thank you for sticking with me! Love you guys!

P/s: The rating for this story might go really high, so yes.