I had no intention of being noticed in school. Everyday, my routine was the same, go, be invisible, and leave. I had lived like that for 4 years so going to a new high school held no difference for me. Or at least, that's what I thought.

& Invisible &

Head hung down, the delicate Hyuuga found herself squeezing through the congestion of her new school. After what seemed like hours of searching, she found the office- which by that time, looked like heaven.

Finally escaping the traffic, she walked straight- into the clear glass door and left a face imprint. Gathering the remaining scraps of dignity she held left, Hinata staggered into the room, avoiding any witnesses of her recent escapade.

The room she went into had a stuffy atmosphere- making her nose and throat feel as if a cork was stuck in them. She looked about the room, taking note of the several people seated in it, when her eye caught onto one boy. It was the hair, the flaming red hair that caught her attention. His style was simple: a shirt with the school name scrawled across it with ripped jeans; stylistic in its own right. Hair and shoes matched in the same dirty red. Flawless eyes of green drew Hinata in, almost compelling her to move closer.

Hinata was unable to draw her eyes away, lost in the green pools that were currently glaring straight back at her. She paled, embarrassed at the thought of being caught ogling, and turned to the attendant who was tapping her foot impatiently, apparently waiting for Hinata to return to earth.

The older, blond girl sighed, giving up. She tapped Hinata atop her head, clearing her throat. The Hyuuga jumped in surprise and started to stutter.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

The girl rolled her green eyes and waited for the new girl to talk; she had dealt with the shy type before and it wasn't very interesting.

Clearing her throat, she voiced, "Um, I'm Hinata Hyuuga, the new student." The blond merely rolled her eyes again; as if that was hard to tell.

The attendant motioned for her to follow, and began to walk past the seated students and into a ridiculously bright hallway. Hands brought up to shield from the obnoxious lighting, Hinata silently followed the taller girl.

The girl, who somewhere along the walk introduced herself as Temari, suddenly stopped walking, resulting in a very confused Hinata to crash into her. "We're here. This is your first period. As soon as it finishes, I'll meet you here to take you to your next class." Temari stopped and looked back at the fraught girl behind her, who at the moment was rubbing her head sheepishly. Temari sighed, for what seemed the umpteenth time that day. This girl was going to have a blast at her new school. "Here's your schedule."

She turned to leave but stopped mid-step. "Don't get lost. This is a pretty big school with confusing hallways, mostly due to the lighting."

Hinata smiled in gratitude and glanced over her schedule. 'English, history, chemistry, P.E., math, art, and Home EC. Sounds fair enough, I guess.'

A semi-content sigh passed from her lips as her trembling hand opened the door. The English room was coated with posters of random phrases and grammar terms. As quietly as possible, she snuck, or more likely staggered over to the teacher's desk- most of the class was diligently testing and she didn't want to be a nuisance. Unsure of whether to leave the professor to his sleep wake him, she shyly took a quick glance around the room, while her mind was weighing out the options.

Other than the assortment of posters, the room consisted of desks, paired up in numerous rows. Lights illuminated each section of the room adequately so that there were no intense glares coming from reflections of light off objects. There was this pleasing ambiance emanating from the room, in which the sight- despite the colorful posters- was very calming and relaxing. That would probably explain the dozing teacher whom Hinata had finally decided to awaken. A gentle shake was all it took for the sleeping professor to sit up, and rub the sleep from his visible eye, fully refreshed.

The teacher had a navy blue bandana covering most of the left side of his well-toned face. An obnoxiously orange book hung over the bridge of his nose and managed to leave only his right eye available to view. Once he gingerly picked up and closed the book on the desk, he scanned the room. Hinata saw a smile form from underneath the cloth concealing his mouth.

Taking no notice of the young girl beside him, he scanned the room again, slowly. Suddenly, he spoke in a calm, collected voice, "Yo. Are any of you guys done yet?"

An orchestra of groans starting from a high pitched to a bass tone one played throughout the room. A student with cerulean eyes was irritated enough to shout out. "Sensei, you show up 40 minutes late to class and have the nerve to dump a test on our heads and fall asleep? Not only that, but this thing-" He waggled the paper in the air. "-is too hard! What gives!?" His eyes narrowed dangerously, mouth bending into an unruly pout.

Another student perked her head up from the position it was on the desk so that her chin held her head upright. "Kakashi-sensei, you've only been asleep for ten minutes. How can you expect us to be finished? And also, as Naruto was so eager to state, this test is impossible!"

It was as if another disc had been inserted into the CD player- the music playing was a sea of agreements. The waves of sound departed as the gray-haired teacher waggled his finger at the students.

"If you had studied, maybe it would be easier. Complain again and.." his eye playfully creased, forming an upside-down U. He chuckled to himself evilly. "I'll make you turn it in right now." Voices immediately ceased and the scratching of pencils on paper resumed.

Hinata, not the least bit surprised at not being noticed by her teacher, decided to speak up, lest her teacher fall asleep again. "S-Sensei, I… I'm H-Hinata Hyuuga." She fiddled with her thumbs, losing confidence at the sudden eye contact that the man gave her. "T-The um.. new student i-in your class."

"And I'm your new English teacher." Kakashi grinned, his one visible eye transforming into an arc once again. He patted her on the head and whipped out his blinding orange book from the top of the desk. He motioned for her to sit down anywhere and went on his merry way reading, from what appeared to be a porn book. Hinata blushed furiously, unable to comprehend why her teacher was reading one of those types of books.

Her lips opened and shut with no sound coming out, earning her another pat on the head.

Propping his legs onto the desk, the composed teacher turned his head towards Hinata. "You can sit next to Ino. Here's the seating chart."

Hinata cringed from the chuckles, childish giggles, and slightly disturbing sounds that emitted from her new teacher. As Hinata walked over to her newly assigned seat, she couldn't help but think about all the perverted things that her Sensei could be reading about.

The girl called Ino smiled in pity when she saw Hinata's horrified face. "Don't worry, Sensei only reads perverted stuff. He's not really like that. Annoying, yes, but he's not an old pedophile if that's what you're thinking."

Hinata simply let out a breath and nodded her head in thanks. She let her eyes wander back to the seating chart that Kakashi-sensei had presented her with. Ino.. Ino.. Ino, Hinata's white eyes scanned the page until it settled upon the name Yamanaka Ino. Looking back at the blond girl, she blushed again, realizing she was standing in front of her new desk the whole time.

"Hey. Hey!" Ino's voice knifed through her embarassement.

"Y-Yes?!?"

Running her hand through her radiant hair, Ino pouted. "You haven't introduced yourself yet."

"I-I'm Hinata."

"Cool, Nice to meet cha! I'm Ino. Looks like we're English partners now. Kakashi-sensei hasn't updated the seating chart since day one. He's too lazy." Ino crinkled her nose in mock disgust.

Hinata's lips formulated something that resembled a smile; she was still unsure of how to deal with the cheerful blonde.

Before returning to her test, Ino explained who sat where in the class, with their personalities. Hinata took mental notes, thankful that the blond was kind enough to explain.

Soon after, the bell rang and the students shuffled out through the doors, exam papers piling up into a mountain on Kakashi's desk. He ignored the leaning pile, continuing to read even though the papers collapsed onto the floor.

While reading, he grabbed onto Naruto by the back of his shirt as he passed by the desk. "Hey Naruto." The English teacher chimed- still reading his book. "Would you mind picking up those papers that fell on the ground? You see, I'm at a very interesting part of the book and I couldn't possibly stop now."

Naruto's face turned murderous and he huffed, "Kakashi-sensei you LIAR!!"

"Thank you Naruto." The teacher paid no heed and stepped out of the classroom, walking to the teachers lounge, nose buried in the book.

Hinata wanted to stay behind to help but was dragged out of the room by Ino who didn't want her to be late meeting Temari. "She gets huffy when you're late. I'll see you in Gym, okay? Don't be late. Gai-sensei's a bit overwhelming, especially if you walk in even a second later than the bell." Her new companion waved while running off and eventually disappeared into the crowd.

Hinata latched onto Temari's arm, attempting to glue herself to her guides' side as they squeezed along the busy hallways, not wanting to lose her. Her guide dropped her off at her next class, where Hinata immediately noticed a head of red hair that happened to be leaning against the opposite wall. She paused slightly, before heading into the gymnasium.

&&&

Her brain took mental notes to itself, memorizing what classes had Ino in them and to her surprise, what classes that she shared with the red haired boy. It was agonizing- her eyes would dart around to glance at the red haired boy over and over again and it didn't help that they shared five classes together and, to her demise, lunch as well, where she currently was trying to enjoy herself.

"Hinata. Yoo hoo?" A flash of peach blocked her vision.

"I-Ino-san…?" Hinata moved her head so she saw around Ino's hand and straight at the blond.

"Oooh, you were looking at Sabaku Gaara weren't you?"

"Is that his na--?" Hinata's hand flew to cover her mouth and her face went through five different shades of red when she realized that she had basically admitted to Ino who she was staring at. She looked at the table and sighed, relieved only Ino had heard her.

Ino suddenly wrapped her arms around Hinata's shoulders, enveloping her in warmth that she hadn't felt since her mother had passed away. "Don't you have high hopes! He's the school's number one hottie. The one all the chicks go for. Ya see, it used to be a boy named Uchiha Sasuke, but he moved away about 2 months before you came by."

"From what I've heard, he has no interest in any girl in this school." One of Ino's friends, Sakura pitched in.

Hinata blushed profusely- the whole table in fact did hear.

"I-I don't like him or anything. It's just that um… his hair is s-sso dark and light at the sa-ame time."

"Mhm, and his eyes. They go so well together right?" Ino giggled.

"Hinata, I recommend that you be careful. There are girls in this school that can hurt you." Tenten advised. "Besides, since you're the talk of the school, everyone's interested in you."

Hinata blinked several times, her face distressed. "What do you mean?" The attention was making her woozy. She wanted to go back to being invisible.

Immediately, Sakura and Ino joined hands and grinned at her. "Every guy in the school has their eyes on you!"

Sakura took a deep breath and recited, "Her stunning eyes and body shape are simply a vision of what paradise can be. Her hair, so long and blue, intensifies her beauty tenfold."

Everyone at the table twitched, slightly uncomfortable with the description. Hinata cringed, unable to believe what her new friends were telling her, much less digest all of it at once.

"No really! I'm not joking! I overheard some guys talking!"

Hinata cringed once more. "I really don't want all this attention… I think it would be better if I went back to being unnoticed." Hinata whispered softly. Ino turned her head and glanced at Hinata, having heard what she said. She held Hinata's hand in hers and looked into her eyes.

"Hinata, you're new to the school and already all the guys are drooling over you! You haven't even batted an eyelash! Enjoy yourself because you are one hell of a lucky girl."

"I bet even Gaara looked at you once or twice!" Each girl at the table took their turn complementing the Hyuuga, boosting her confidence to extreme levels and contradicting what they said before.

By the time the girls were finished, Hinata looked like she was about to die, or faint at the very least. It appeared that her face couldn't get any redder with mortification, especially from Ino's last comment about Hinata and Gaara in bed.

Hinata would have died and gone to heaven from embarrassment if Kin and her gang hadn't intervened. Kin stomped her boot on the table, deliberately delivering food to decorate Hinata and Ino's laps.

"Hey bitch, stay off our property you got that?"

Hinata pointed at herself, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, you." Another one of Kin's gang members, Tayuya piped in. "Just because you're pretty doesn't mean you're getting anywhere."

Kin yanked Hinata's long blue hair towards herself, jerking the poor girl's head forward. Hinata yelped at the sudden pain, resulting in another tug on her hair. The lunchroom quieted, all focus on the two girls.

"So this is the hair that everyone's spazzing about." She sneered. "It's nothing compared to mine. I bet you spent hundreds of dollars to make it like this. How would you feel if it was all too just, disappear?"

"Kin, stop!" Ino glared at the black haired girl, fury rising by the second. "What the hell you do think you're doing!?!?" She tried to lunge at the girl but was pushed down to the ground.

The other girls forced Ino, Sakura, and Tenten to their knees, holding their hair to position their heads in which they could view their friend's torment. Kin reached into her pocket and revealed a shiny penknife that had been concealed in her baggy army pants. She flicked it open, light dancing on the edges. Holding out Hinata's hair with one hand and the knife in the other, she aimed to cut it off and leave only an inch or two remaining. Before she could though, her arm was captured by a strong, firm grip of none other than Gaara.

Kin's eyes widened in disbelief. "G-Gaara!"

"You're making a ruckus. It's annoying." He slipped the penknife out of her hand easily and threw it into the nearest trashcan. The other students stood in awe, unable to comprehend the soccer captain's actions.

Losing balance when Kin released her, Hinata glanced up, anddisappointingly, only saw her hero's backside. She wanted to thank him, call out to him, but that would only draw more attention. That was the complete opposite of what she wanted. She would do so later- after all, that red-haired kid was hard to forget.

&&&

After school, as she was walking home, she was wary of every tree, car, bench, and building. Her new friends had warned her of Kin and her gang stopping at no costs to make her life a living hell, especially after the way Gaara had protected her.

She passed by the playing field and looked on to see the soccer players scattered across the field. She inched towards the field, taking refuge behind trees that barely covered her. When she was within hearing distance, the guys took a water break. All of them looked like they had bathed in sweat- they were glistening from perspiration.

Hinata cautiously moved one more tree toward the field, getting closer to the captain. Drool formed in her mouth as Gaara drank water, muscles contracting and water pouring down his throat.

"Say Gaara, why'd you help that girl? What's her name… Hinata?"

"Oi, Naruto, that's not something you need to ask. Isn't it obvious? He knew that the fanclub would get even madder and then there's going to be hell. It would be boring if it ended just now. He wants to see more jealousy, more violence."

The captain merely grunted in response- neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Hinata misunderstood and pressed her books tighter to her chest. She was stupid, extremely stupid for believing that Gaara was a kind person. He had only wanted to see her in pain. She ran until her lungs were burning; only stopping when her white door appeared in view.

&&&

She climbed up her wooden stairs, which creaked on every odd numbered step. She skillfully avoided each one while beating herself up mentally. 'How could I have fallen for such a …' she couldn't finish her sentence, feeling sorrow rather than contempt.

She flung the door open and collapsed on her unmade bed. Her body molded right into the cushions, the sheets wrapping around her in a warm embrace.

It was the only comfort she had. After her mother's death, her father hardly ever cared for her and her sister was to busy with her own relationships to even notice her.

But for once, instead of meditating on the bed, she picked up her house phone and dialed the number Ino had stamped on her arm with a pungent blue sharpie.

'Call me anytime.'

Hinata took a deep breath and dialed the number. It was the first time in years since she had conversed with someone on the phone that wasn't related to her.

"Hello?" Hinata hung up the phone immediately, losing all nerve at the sound of a male voice on the other line.

She panted nervously and tried dialing again- this time praying that Ino would pick up. Did she dial the right number? Did Ino give her the wrong one as a prank?

"Hello?" A wave of relief washed over Hinata. Ino had picked up this time.

"H-hi Ino, its Hinata."

"Hey! Sorry, Shikamaru picked up before. It was you who called before, right?"

"Y-Yea, that was kind of surprising. I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you had a brother."

The echoing of laughter resonated throughout the phone. "Shikamaru? Haha! My brother?"

"H-he's n-not?" Hinata stammered, losing confidence once again. Her throat constricted and her mouth clamped shut.

"Of course not. He's my boyfriend. He's just over because I'm tutoring him."

The male voice was heard again over the line. "You're doing what?"

"Oh. I'll call some other time. Sorry if I bothered you."

"NO NO NO! Don't hang up. He isn't worth hanging up for."

"Hey!"

Ino giggled madly. Hinata could feel Ino smile through the phone. "So what'd you call for?"

"I heard Gaara talking today."

"Wow, big whoop. Congrats, not many people alive can here him utter a sound!"

"I-I'm sorry." There was a long pause on the line. Ino slapped herself mentally. She had forgotten how fragile Hinata was and how easily she could brood.

"Hinata, I didn't mean it that way. Sorry, anyway keep going."

The Hyuuga twirled her long fingers around the telephone cord. "I overheard him… and… well, you know when he saved me from Kin?"

"Yea!" Hinata could imagine Ino pumping her fist up into the air with enthusiasm. "That was cool!"

"I-I th-think… he only did it to hurt me." She breathed.

"What!?! What the hell are you talking about? Shikamaru stop fiddling with the pencil and do your work!"

"……Since Kin hates me, he wanted to save me and make Kin hate me more. That way I would suffer and he would be entertained." Small ships of tears were forming in her eyes at this point and they were setting sail down her cheeks. Hinata wiped her eyes. "And I really thought he was different but now… now…" She sniffled, pushing her two index fingers together, the phone balanced against her chin and shoulder.

"What a JERK!! But, hot guys are often disappointing. Just like my Shika. He's one of the hottest in our school but he's extremely stupid."

"What are you talking about Ino? I'm not really here to learn! Spreading rumors about me. You know what I'm here mmmmmmmmmmmmph!!!!!!!!"

The line was disconnected. Hinata was worried for Shikamaru's sake but she was glad that she called Ino. It felt like she was no longer drowning from disappointment.

She traced Gaara's name into the air.

Sabaku Gaara

It was on her lips, and she swore that she wouldn't let herself be fooled by something like love at first sight.

& "I will never fall for you again." &

A/N: Please Review! Hahaha, Ino's not helping Shika study. I'll leave it to your imagination ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, it would be called Gaara. XD My awesome mind would make the crack pairings come true so they would no longer be considered crack!