Hey.
I know I should be working on my other fic, but the plot bunny came and would not leave me alone.
This was really two stories smashed together.
Oh, and Hinata is super OOC in this fic. And she changed her last name.
a|sym|met|ric
Rated: T, for coarse language, moderate violence, moderate sexual references and suggestive themes.
Summary: Naruto gets captured, but when he returns, he turns his school's popularity system around. But as the mystery surrounding his disappearance clears, will he get his life back together in time to save everyone he loves?
Warning: This story contains yaoi (slash). If you have any problem with that, please do not read instead of flaming.
Day One: Trade-off
The last few stragglers filed into the hall, and sat down. There were murmurings and rumors flying past by the dozen, and the students were all taking wild guesses as to why they were there. Feedback from a microphone echoed off the walls, the students immediately covering their ears.
"Hello." no-one listened, "Quiet! Thank you," Tsunade, the principal, was so close to quitting her job and living the life of a hermit, "As you may know, one of the students in your year is missing today. Namely, a Mr. Naruto Uzumaki. Mr. Uzumaki was caught in a gang war between two gangs known as The Jinchuuriki and the Akatsuki, last night. Naruto has been reported as taken hostage by one of the gangs, although it is not known which one. His current location is unknown, as well as it is not known whether he is still alive. Please, keep him in your hearts and in your prayers, and hope that he will one day come home. Thank you, now get back to class," if one was to look closely at her face tears would be visible, running down her cheeks.
Every single person in the audience was stunned, except one. Her defining feature was her long, purplish black hair, that shook as she stood up swiftly, and ran out of the hall, all eyes on her. Her friend who was sitting beside her followed, another face to leave the room. Silence reingned on the usually rowdy students.
Hinata's POV
I was not necessarily known to be the most friendly child, despite my name. Having a past like mine, being like me, you're gonna take whatever friends you can get. Naruto being one of them. We met in the orphanage, him being a veteran of a few years, and me being recently disbanded by my good-for nothing father. We became fast friends, then besties, and then practically brother and sister. I adopted his last name, since we both agreed that it was cooler than my old one. Uzumaki or Hyuuga, take your pick.
We shared our ups and downs, and when we met Sakura back in primary, it wasn't long before we were the most troublemaking trio in town, courtesy of Naruto, of course. Then there was the fateful day we joined the gang. The gang-our gang- was always, always meant to fight crime and injustice. The stuff that the police that couldn't handle. It still does. Naruto shouldn't been have caught last night. It was going to me, but the idiot had to just butt in without warning. And, damn, that was just the beginning. Being in the gang had stopped my stuttering, and forced me to grow harder, and be able to deal and counter all different insults. I was really a different person.
In school we were different people. We were the losers, the people that were picked on all the time, but Naruto had it the worst. His fighting skill was probably unrivaled, even by Sakura and I, but he just let the bullies beat him up and taunt him, without a word. Ever since he had come out with his sexuality, people made a point of disliking him, more and more, and it really riled me up, but he always held me back, telling me not to stoop down to their level. Bloody mother-fucking bastards. He was way to nice for his own good. I trudged to my next class, trying had to ignore the whispers and rumors that were circulating around. "Trying" being the operative word in that sentence.
"Well I say good riddance. We don't need queers in this place." one person said, rather loudly and obnoxiously. I spun around, looking for the offender. Of course, it was Kiba Inuzuka, one of the "popular" crowd. I punched him, hard in the face, my fist connecting with the red triangular tattoos.
"What the fuck was that for?" he spat at me.
"For being a mother-fucking bastard, and insulting my best friend." I then slapped him on the other cheek, "And that was for being a retarded homophobe. I'm sick of your shit. Can't you just stick your nose in your own shit for once? That goes for you and the rest of the retards you call friends. Although I guess you're too much of a prick to do that, eh?" I sneered in his face.
"Bitch," he flipped me off and stalked off to his next class, nursing his red cheek.
"Haha, you wish," I muttered, before stalking off to my next class, ignoring the pointed looks that were shot at me. I shook my head at myself. Naruto would be so disappointed.
"Hinata Uzumaki, please report to the Principal's office right away," Shizune-san's voice blared over the loudspeakers. The others looked at me with an odd look, as if they were trying to decipher something. I gathered my books and made my way through the empty hallways. I took the seat that Shizune san gestured to, and waited patiently.
"And then she went bat-shit crazy on me and started beating me up!" I heard Kiba's voice through the walls. Tsunade was tolerant of cuss words, as she understood we were teenagers with raging hormones, as long as we weren't disrespectful to teachers and other members of staff.
The door was opened by Shizune and I walked in with all my stuff, and I could see Tsunade-sensei was trying not to laugh. I bowed stiffly, and sat down, trying to ignore Kiba's wandering eyes and small blush.
"You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sensei?"
"Yes. I realizes that you may be stressed and emotional at the disappearance of your friend and room-mate, but that is no reason to beat up other students,"
"Tsunade-sensei, I was provoked,"
"In what way?"
"Kiba said that it was a good thing that Naruto may be dead and that being homosexual was wrong,"
"Well, then. I have decided to give you two detention together for three weeks. And maybe you'll get through it without beating each other up,"
"What! That girl is crazy! Absolutely psycho! What the hell!"
"I'm not changing your punishment. Now, scram, brats. And go to the nurse, Kiba." she handed us both hall passes, and we got back to our classes.
Kiba's POV
Tsuande-sama is bat-shit crazy. That girl would murder me! I dragged my feet back to Kurenai-sensei's class, and found she was announcing pairs for our new assignment.
"Oh, Kiba, back just in time. You'll be paired with Hinata Uzumaki, okay?" she smiled as I handed her my hall pass. "Hinata already has your project papers. You guys should just spend the last five minutes agree on what exactly you're going to do."
Hinata glared at me, and I think I blushed slightly. She may be bat-shit crazy, but she was hot! I wondered why I had never noticed that before.
"We're doing our project on the army." Hang, on what?
"What?"
"The Roman army. Hello? Y'know, Centurions and that shit? My god, what the hell do you do in class?"
"What?"
"Oh my fucking god. Do you do nothing? Is there anything in vain and vapid brain of yours?"
The bell rang, at just the right time. Lunch, yay.
"Bye, bitch." I flipped her off, again.
"You wish," Hinata snorted. Wasn't she all stuttering and stuff? Since when did she grow balls?
"What?"
"Jesus, is that like you new catchphrase or something? That action means 'fuck you'. You wish I was. The sad thing is, you need to grow a pair to do so," she chewed cutely on her lip, "I feel so sorry for you. See you at gym," she swiveled around and walked out. I was subconsciously watching her ass. She stuck her head back in, and smirked.
"Eyes above the shoulders, boy,"
Damn, she's really hot. I saw my fan club glaring daggers at the doorway.
"Man, you just got your ass kicked by a girl!" my friend Choji laughed.
"Shut up."
"Are you sure you don't have a thing for her?" my best friend Shino deadpanned. He was never one to beat around the bush.
Hinata's POV
I chewed through another of the numerous fruits littering the table. I was covered in various juices, and completely sticky. Sakura was scratching away on another Geo essay. I honestly don't know why she chose Geo, it was absolutely boring. History was so much better. But whatever. We were skirting around the topic of the missing third member of our little clique. As usual, right on time, Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka and their cronies came to insult us and-slash-or humiliate us and beat Naruto up. Except today it was only Kiba and Ino.
Sakura looked up lazily at her ex-best friend, Ino Yamanaka, and rolled her eyes. They had a major fight over Sasuke when they were younger, and majorly drifted apart. Sakura eventually got over him, and then Naruto confessed he actually had a crush on Sasuke. Ino still was trying to get Sasuke's attention, but us three think that he's either gay or asexual.
"What do you want, Ino-pig?"
"Well, Billboard brow, we're pleased to hear about your friend. One less fangirl for Sasuke,"
"He was more of a man than your Sasuke would ever be," They started their usual bickering and I zoned out, not bothered to listen.
"Hey," Kiba said to me.
"What?"
"Can I sit?" He guestured to the empty seat next to me.
"Whatever," I went back to mercilessly devouring my fruit.
"So," he started, "That was a pretty good punch. Where did you learn to hit like that?"
"Somewhere,"
"Oh, hey, man," Kiba said, and I looked up from the passionfruit I was eating. It was Sasuke.
"Hn. I heard that the Jinchuuriki were very strong." his words sounded well-chosen, and careful.
"So did I," I retorted.
"Especially the Kyuubi," Sasuke smirked, almost like he was boasting.
"So?"
"So the Kyuubi probably killed that retard Naruto." I was really trying to keep a straight face, and Sakura was too. Let me get something straight, Naruto was strong, and his alias was known everywhere, (although Naruto himself doesn't have a criminal record, at all) so it was no wonder that they knew of him, but Naruto was never suicidal. So that statement, to us, was hilarious.
"Or the Hana duo*, they could have probably done him in too. I don't know why the second-in-command would have to deal with such a loser," Ino pointed out. That was also hilarious, as y'know, me and Sakura were the Hana duo, and we'd never do Naruto in. And yes, Naruto was only Second in command, but we were still in high-school. He's Hachibi-sama's protege, although that unto itself is hard enough. I was seriously trying to not laugh, and Sakura was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
"Or, they might decide that he's actually really hot, and want to have a threesome with them, but he'd tell them he's gay, and then they'd take him shopping with them, and stuff like that, eh?" Sakura wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I blew it. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt, and through my tears I could see Sakura was having the same reaction. We finally quieted down, and I saw the others staring at us oddly. We just picked up our stuff and left, remembering where Naruto was. We decided to skip the rest of school, and talk to B-sama, in case he had more information.
Hinata and Sakura checked that no-one was following them, and entered a nondescript building, nodding to the bulky security guard. They quickly graced across the floor, and entered the elevator and pressed a sub-basement level. Both had identical looks on their faces-one of worry and despair. The lift stopped and the doors opened. The stalked angrily through the floor, people scurrying out of their way. They stopped at a door at the end of the twisting corridor. Sakura rapped her knuckles on the door, and gruff voice replied.
"Come in." Sakura opened the door, and they filed in.
"Any news?" Sakura demanded. Hinata just hung her head in defeat.
"Good news," A, Killer B-san's right hand man and advisor looked up from his papers, "The Akatsuki just contacted us. They said we trade, our prisoner for theirs. B said it would be advisable that you and Gaara-san's squad both go to the tradeoff, to keep the Akatsuki scum in check. They said that it would commence at 2.45 sharp. Get changed and go down to Gaara's offices. They'll meet you there with the prisoner. Oh, and B-san made sure to tell you that from now on, Gaara-san's squad will go to your school too, just to make sure that you and Naruto-sama are safe,"
Sakura and Hinata both murmured thanks and slipped out of the room to get changed into normal clothes.
Once in suitable clothes, and with various knives, guns and spare ammo hidden on their lithe forms, they entered Gaara's office. Waiting for them were the three triplets that made up Gaara-san's squad. Temari, the oldest, had golden blonde hair tied in four pigtails, and a blue tattoo of the kanji for 'family' above her right eye. She was leaning against the far wall, filing her nails. Kankuro, the middle child, was clad in all black clothes, and his face was covered in purple face paint, which partially obscured his purple tattoo for 'home', which resided in the same place that Temari's was. He was standing against the wall to Hinata and Sakura's left, holding a gun to the prisoner's temple. The prisoner herself was known as Konan, and she had long blue hair tied up in a bun on the top of her head. Her eyes, though, were fixed on a certain person who was staring at the newcomers from his vantage point at his desk. His shock of red hair, bright green eyes and tattoo reading 'love' in kanji identified him as Gaara. And his strange absence of eyebrows and the dark circles around his eyes only strengthened his unwavering gaze.
"Shukaku-san. We are ready to go. Shall we leave?" Hinata's voice cut through the silence like a butter knife. Gaara only nodded his head slightly in response.
They arrived 8 minutes early. Three minutes passed and another car came from the other end of the road. Another minute passed and they all got out of the car, guns at the ready. Another three minutes passed, uneventfully. Hinata could see Naruto's shock of blonde hair in the distance, along with his favorite orange jacket. Sakura marched forward to the half-way point, and another person from the Akatsuki met her. They talked briefly, agreeing on the rules of a change over. With the temporary truce intact, Kankuro, Gaara and the prisoner met Sakura, whilst Naruto and his two guards met the Akatsuki scum. They quickly swapped Konan for Naruto, then both group retreated backwards to their cars. They loaded into the car and reversed until they were out of range, then did a U-turn and sped off, back to base.
"Naruto!" both Sakura and Hinata cried, squeezing him in a tight death-hold.
"Fuck you guys. You're killing me here!" Naruto sounded indignant as the two loosened their grip on the boy. Temari and Kankuro chuckled.
"You alright?" Gaara said in his gruff voice.
"Yeah! But the food there was horrible! Disgusting!"
"Well," Sakura said with a smile, "Why don't we get you cleaned up, and then we'll go to Ichiraku's, okay? My treat,"
Thanks for reading. (Damn that was long) Please don't hesitate to leave a review on your way out.