Chapter 1

Hinata smiled lightly as Naruto led her down the halls of their school. It was a good day for her. The sun was shining, her father ate dinner with them, Hanabi was actually bouncy this morning, Neji drove relatively normal today and her boyfriend was taking her somewhere where they could be alone for alittle. Everything was great. She paused in her thoughts when Naruto brought them to a stop under a huge tree. It's leaves were the reds and oranges that autumn brought with it. Some fell lazily from the tree to land softly on the ground below. She smiled softly at him and he returned but it it soon became pained. He pulled his hand away from where it had been holding hers.

"Are you ok?" Hinata asked and he nodded.

"Yea. Just wanted to talk to you about a thing or two." he answered rocking on his feet alittle.

"About what?" she asked with a light frown.

"Us."

"U-us?" Hinata asked. Her nervousness showed in her stuttering. He nodded.

"Don't... well... I don't know." the blond began, trying to find the words to use. "I lied."

"You lied?" Hinata asked

"Yea and now I'm going to hurt you." Naruto said a pained expression passed over his face. Hinata's nervousness peaked. Naruto wouldn't hurt her, not intentionally. "You see, I lied when I told you I liked you."

"W-w-what?"

"No, I mean, I like you but I don't LIKE you, you know?" he said almost pleadingly.

Hinata couldn't move. There was no way this could be happening, he couldn't be serious. Yet, there was so much sincerity in his eyes.

"I mean, I thought I did for a while but I don't and I still lied that I did." she heard him continue but she just couldn't listen. She stared at him as he continued to speak. Her shoulders slumped. Another girl.

"Who?" Hinata asked and he froze. He had forgotten she could talk with how she had gone deathly silent.

"Um, Ino." he had the decency to blush pink.

"Oh.…" she mumbled. He stared at her waiting for her to say more but she had already locked her mind away in her own thoughts 'Why her? She has everything! She's pretty, fun, bouncy, exciting, blond, pretty, fashionable and happy all the time! She's energetic. What am I? Boring, plain, dull. I don't even dress like the other girls. I could never do it, everybody would look at me. He's a bundle of energy, someone like me must be killing him on the inside.'

She was so immersed in her thought she never noticed the tear that left her or heard the soft 'goodbye' or saw him back away slowly in a non-threatening way.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, something very similar was taking place but Sakura just wasn't taking it that well. She was in tears, loudly sobbing.

"You can't be serious!" Sakura screamed grabbing him by his more-expensive-than-she-could-ever-buy-on-her-own shirt. She clutched onto him looking up at his face with tear filled eyes. "You love me Sasuke. We love each other so much."

"Sakura, I don't love you." he said doing his best to get her hands off him without tearing the shirt or stretching it. That was one of the many reasons he didn't like her. She was always touching him, always hanging all over him. She just couldn't keep her hands off. He managed to throwing her hands off. "I don't even like you."

"But I love you Sasuke!" she said grabbing towards him again. He stepped back to avoid them. "You can't just break up with me!"

"That's what I'm doing. Don't even sit beside me in class." he told her. She looked at him wide eyes.

"But-"

"No." he interrupted firmly while sending her a glare. "We are finished, period."

"But-" his next glare silenced her immediately. She dissolved in tears. Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned away. She watched him go. He'd soon realise that they were meant to be then he'd come back to her and they could be together again. 'He'll see. We're meant to be.'

XXXXX

Sasuke watched as the dumb blonde sitting beside the other blonde chattered away to that blond. That was the seat Sakura usually sat at when she wasn't having all over him. The really question was: why was Naruto over there? He should be beside him. Or over in the corner where that girlfriend of his usually sat but Sakura was occupying that space now (she came in a little after him). Come to think of it where was the girl? If he remembered correctly she was never late.

'Probably didn't come to school.' he deduced. It's not like he kept a tab on the whereabouts of anyone but a choice few (and even then it was only now and again) least of all one of the very least important persons in the school. Why Naruto would date her was beyond him anyway. Sure she was likely rich but what else did she have? Didn't he have a project to do with her? What ever.

To be truthful he was sick and tired of girls. Especially the ones that just threw themselves at him. He was glad he was finally taking a break from them. He had no intention of dating again until next year, that was about three months away. The only thing left was for all the other girls to leave him alone. That, he guessed, would never happen.

Finally their biology teacher, everybody called him Kabuto though he preferred Mr. Yakushi, entered the room and began the lesson. They were half-way through when Hinata finally made an appearance. And what an appearance that was. Her hair was mused and littered with leaves and grass. Her clothes though smudged with dirt in some places, didn't show it against it's dark colours. The room was silent as she mumbled a 'sorry I'm late' to Kabuto and shuffled to the back to the only available seat. Sasuke watched out of the corner of his eyes as the dishevelled girl sat beside him. He took in her rugged appearance as Kabuto continued his lesson.

"You were crying." he stated just loud enough for her to hear. She turned shocked eyes to him. She nodded. He gave her a bored look in return. "You should look in a mirror."

"I don't care." she said quietly. "I feel as horrible as I look. It matches."

He stared at her for a moment. Even with all that mess, she still had a slight beauty.

'Yea right.' he turned away from her. He didn't see how someone like her could ever look beautiful. "Suit yourself."

"Now." Kabuto was saying. "Let me remind you of your projects. In your pairs you will each be presenting on a topic that you will be receiving today. Please remember presentations begin next week Tuesday. One person from each pair come pick a topic then begin planning with your partner."

Sasuke watched as a crowd began to form around Kabuto. He was not going up there, there were too many people. He looked at Hinata, she was staring at the desk lost in her own world. Was she always like this? So lost? He poked her with his pen. She turned a blank look onto him.

"Go get the topic."

"Why don't you get it?" she told him and turned back to her staring. Did she, a girl, just talk back to him?

"Because the pink haired banshee is up there." Sasuke said with a glare. He was not going anywhere near that girl. Why didn't she just get up and go already?"

"So is the blond." she levelled him with another blank stare. His brow arched slightly and looked up at the crowd. The only blond up there was Naruto but why would she be avoiding him? They were together weren't they? He narrowed his eyes in an attempt to scare her to go. She merely stared bank at him with the same blank look as before.

'What's up with her?' he mentally yelled. Uchiha's don't scream, they make a manly sound called yelling which they rarely use (if at all) outside of the confines of their own head. Some don't even use it in their head. It was very unprofessional and went against everything Uchiha.

"Well it seems the two of you can't leave each other already." Kabuto's voice crooned from above them. They both looked up, in Sasuke's case glared up, at him. He held a strip of paper to them with a smile that was completely fake. It usually would have made Hinata skin crawl but she wasn't paying much attention to anything and she really didn't care to at the moment. "Genetics. Your presentation must be thorough."

Sasuke said nothing as he watched him leave. He didn't exactly like the man but he had to live with it. Now back to the matter of his partner. She still seemed off in her own world. This was going to kill him if this continued. He would kill her if this continued.

XXXXX

Hinata followed Sasuke slowly to his car. She had totally forgotten they ther were going to start working on the biology project. She really didn't feel like doing anything but go jonr throw herself in bed, cry and drown herself in rock music until she felt better. The feel better part would take a few days.

Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes when he saw the zombie girl copy his movements to a stop. He was tempered to test it and wave his arm around just to see if she would do it too. the project would never get anywhere like this.

"Look." he began and she lifted her pale eyes to his. He could see everything there: pain hurt sorrow. Everything she was feeling. The girl was numb to everything else. "I don't know what happened but I can guess and I'll tell you now, it happens. You can either accept it and move on or don't and have it ruin you."

Why Ino...? I don't know. She was the only free one? It fit for the stuff I needed to happen.