Life's Funny
Chapter One: Participate! Par-Par-Participate!
Warnings: au, romance(?), f/f, language.
Disclaimer: Haha, but thanks for asking. It's Masashi Kishimoto actually.
So was she his stalker? No. Yes. Perhaps. She honestly didn't know.
Hinata sighed. She watched Naruto fool around with his two best friends, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, chin on top of her clasped hands. It was true that she could probably speak to them, maybe not in the same intimate way they did with one another, but an exchange of a few stiff but friendly words. Then she could, if slowly and painstakingly, work her way up from there. But she never did. Her best friend Kiba was a friend of Naruto's, Shino was one of the only people Sasuke tolerated, and Sakura was Hinata's table mate in her English class, but the mere thought of speaking to Naruto always made her choke up. And then she'd do something that pushed suicidal thoughts into her head. She'd stutter. Stutter like she hadn't done since she was twelve, and that was something inevitable she couldn't allow.
Another wistful sigh and Hinata moved her head so that she wasn't staring at the laughing trio, her eyes instead on the rose bushes that covered the school grounds. She pushed back a strand of dark hair away from her face only to have it fall back as she waited for Kiba to arrive with Shino trailing along almost reluctantly behind him. Her eyes closed for a moment and she took a deep breath to stop herself from daydreaming about what it would be like to be in a relationship with Naruto. It was always the same, with them hand in hand, him dragging her around the campus. They both would always have a smile on their face. Her dreamworld was nice, but whenever she left it, she'd be reminded that she'd never even spoken to the loudmouth outside of an 'e-excuse me, Uzamaki-san' that he hadn't even heard.
Not like he'd want to be with someone like me, anyways, she thought. For Kami's sake, not when he hangs out with star students like Haruno and Uchiha-san. I'm just a...
"Oy Hinata!" she snapped up when the familiar voice called to her and she smiled when she saw Kiba running towards her. "You tired or somethin'?"
"Or something," she muttered, pushing back that same piece of hair that always fell back and her smile weakened a little. He slid into the bench across the table from her, effectively blocking out her view of Naruto. Shame. "How are you, Kiba-kun?"
He frowned for a moment at her pleasantries, but then it quickly was replaced by his usual grin. "Fine, fine, you?" he said with his usual ferocity, eager to get past the dreaded small talk that Hinata insisted on pushing on him.
"I'm good, thank you," she said, and turned to the tall brunette that dropped into the seat next to Kiba silently. "Good morning, Shino-kun."
"Good morning, Hinata," he replied, more comfortable with the polite exchange than Kiba was. "How are you?"
"Good. I got into the Debate Team," she forced excitement, twirling a piece of long hair around a finger.
Kiba frowned and she bit back a sigh. Yes, she wasn't the person most would call on to argue a point for them, and the Debate Team was at the bottom of her list of things she wanted to do. Her dad, however, wanted her to have extracurricular activities, ones preferably that mimicked her wonderful cousin Neji's, and what her father wanted, her father got.
"That's...great," Shino offered, not bothering to hide the strain behind his words, and Hinata was grateful that he was trying, unlike Kiba. "How?"
She shrugged, not wanting it to be because of her cousin, but knew that it had to be. It would be so easy for him to intimidate the other members of his team to allow her in, and she could hardly put it past him. His intentions were good, but what was the saying? Something about a road and pavement...
"What's up with you two?" she asked instead.
As if it was his cue, Kiba went on a rampage about how he should've been the baseball team's pitcher, not stupid Naruto, while Hinata daydreamed about said stupid Naruto. Shino dutifully ignored his best friend, rolling his eyes behind reflective sunglasses.
"Hinata?" a voice called above Hinata's head and she flipped to the next page of her book.
"Yes?" she said, shut the book and looked up at the pink-haired girl smiling down at her. "Can I help you, Haruno-san?"
Sakura chuckled nervously, leaning back into her seat and glanced at her friend Ino from where she sat across the table from them, arguing with the sleeping boy at the table next to theirs.
"Um, actually," she said, and Hinata tensed at her tone. That was the voice she used when she corrected special people, not people like Naruto or Ino. This voice was for the delicate, the outcast, a loser with a fragile self esteem that one should be careful with when administering hurtful information. Uh-oh. "Yes, you can, um, Ino and I were wondering..."
"Don't bring me into this, Forehead-chan," Ino called without pulling her glare away from Shikamaru's ponytail. "This is all your wondering."
Sakura ignored her. "Well, without Kin here, and all, we kind of need you to actually, well, do something."
"Do something?" she repeated, and blushed at the critical look that was growing more and more prominent on Sakura's pale face. "Uh, I mean, I thought I already did...things."
"Not really," she said so bluntly that Hinata almost flinched. "You pretty much read huge books, doodle and do your worksheets and stuff." She paused. "It doesn't really make sense, actually. You're as good as me in English, but you don't do anything to help with group work."
"She writes," Ino offered, and turned her attention to Choji, who was currently eating potato chips Shikamaru had smuggled in for him. "Her handwriting's really pretty."
"I don't doodle," was all Hinata found to say.
"Draw. Sketch. Whatever," Sakura said, exasperated. "You need to participate, Hinata!"
"Y-yes, Haruno-san," she sighed obediently, slouching in her seat. Damn, she thought at the hint of stutter.
"Come to my house after school, tomorrow, okay?" she asked in the same voice you use with small children and easily spooked animals. Hinata nodded slowly. "We can work over the assignment together."
"O-Okay."
Hinata wondered what the assignment was, but didn't ask. She didn't need to give Sakura yet another piece of evidence of Hinata's disenvolvement.