NightDREAMERms: Hello readers! This is officially, my first SasuHina fic Ever. I never believed I'd make one either! It just jumped into my mind and Boom! Anyways, hope you like. It's just a one-shot… But they're always a possibility of a sequel.
NOTE: NightDREAMERms does not own Naruto, Love Hina, Yu-gi-oh, or any other stupid anime on this site and she NEVER will so stop making her write this at the beginning of every single post!
EDIT: For some reason the lines didn't show up... it was bugging me and probably bugged a couple of you so I fixed it!
EDIT EDIT: Ok, I don't understand why but Fanfiction isnt accepting three periods in a row anymore. And because of that Some things have messed up. I'll try to fix it the best I can. Oh. And, you guys are killing me with the positiveness! When I say possible sequel it pretty much means it's not gonna happen unless I suddenly get struck by the lightning bolt of inspiration. (Which, oddly enough strikes pretty often) But don't get your hopes up!
The sound of his pencil bouncing off the wooden desk was like a metronome.
Beat after beat, completely steady: the rest of the world, completely silent.
It made her fidget. Fidget uncontrollably. But resolutely, she took one hand and placed it over the trembling other. Giving it a firm squeeze, she forced herself calm, simultaneously tucking her ankles tightly under the cold metal bars of her chair.
But she definately wouldn't bite her lip.
"Name."
Strike that. She wouldn't bite her lip noticeably.
"Hinata."
The metronome paused.
She flinched as she heard the long tell-tale rusty squeak of the chair spinning the 180 degrees towards her. She should know. She worked here too.
"Full name."
Though, she never imagined she'd be the one sitting across the resident criminal psychologist.
"H-hinata Hyuuga."
Some pencil scribbles. It was a mechanical, standard office issue, 0.7mm lead. She could tell all of this just by the sound it made scraping against the paper. She always did have extraordinary senses.
"Age."
She frowned. Did he really have to go through all of this?
"Nineteen."
"Blood Type."
No. No he didn't. It wasn't like she was really going to jail.
"AB positive."
"Birth date."
She hadn't done anything wrong! Well… not arrest-worthy wrong… right?
"February Thirteenth."
Pause. "Weight."
Okay… Now he was just being arrogant.
"…102 lbs."
"Che. Height."
Really arrogant. He knew very well what her height (as well as just about everything else she had been questioned about!)was. Just last week he and… and him had mercilessly teased her about it, her height (a.k.a. the reason she didn't own flats), all lunch hour long.
Two could play this game.
"5'5." she retorted with as much pride as she could muster.
Silence.
Sigh. "…5'2... And a half." Or not.
"Hn. Gender?"
"Sasuke!" she exclaimed. That was taking it's little too far.
For the first time that session their eyes met. The fact that is was indeed the first, mostly because she had been religiously staring at her clasped hands ever since she had walked into the small corner office. If you could call it that. Most of her co-workers simply referred it as what it really was; The Interrogation Room.
The dark haired man lowered the metal clipboard and twirled the plastic writing utensil carelessly on one hand. "Yes." he drawled lazily.
Hinata was never known for her anger. But when an outburst did occur, and the sleeping dragon arose, those who knew her knew to find cover and find it fast. All hell was about to break lose.
But this time, just as a finger rose haughtily in the air, her ruffled expression evaporated. Just looking into that accusing yet disappointed expression… it extinguished any flame of self-indignation she had left in her. Sufficiently doused, she adverted her seemingly pupil-less eyes and sunk down in her seat, feeling very much like a child about to be reprimanded by a miffed parent.
"Nothing?" He cocked an eyebrow.
She chose to stay silent.
"That'll be enough then." He concluded with an empty tone, already starting to stack all the papers scattered on his tabletop, certainly not all from her case, into a single pile. Hinata blinked.
He didn't even look up. "The exit's on the second hallway to the-"
"Wait! W-what about the interrogation?" she interrupted suddenly sitting straighter than ever before. It wasn't as if she needed directions out of the building she woke up every weekend at 6 a.m. to go for the past year anyways.
His eyes caught hers briefly. "Not needed." He retorted shortly, going back to stuffing the straightened leaflets into a tan folder.
"B-but you don't have a s-statement o-or an evaluation of my psyche-" She was tripping over her words a common occurrence when she became nervous or over-excited.
"Doesn't matter. Don't need one." He was now shutting his leather briefcase and buckling it's silver locks. He was going to leave her; Right then and there in mid-meeting. The meeting he had requested.
"But I- I thought we- I thought we were- -then why did- why am I?-" Her speech was now incomprehendable but that was the least of her problems at the moment. She was so confused.
Despite himself, the spiky-haired onyx-eyed teen let out a smirk which he quickly covered with a cough and slight frown. "Settle down, Hyuuga."
The mention of her surname actually did mollify her, but only because the only person she'd ever heard him refer to as just plain "Hyuuga" was her older cousin, Neji, his only notable rival in the most eligible bachelor competition according to The Konohan Style Editorial.
"We don't need a statement, because primarily, all of this isn't really official. And secondly, the wife is not currently pressing charges against the husband."
The way he said it, so easy and impersonal, made it seem like they were talking about another party. Not people she'd known her whole life. Not members of the famous (and infamous) Konoha Twelve.
Not her, Naruto, and Sakura.
"A-and the evaluation?" She couldn't keep the involuntary tremble out of her voice.
He surveyed her with a blank look. "Honestly, Hyuuga.-" She flinched. He must be really vexed if he was still referring to her as that. But.. with what she had done, why wouldn't he? "-After spending eleven years of my life with you and the rest of the gang, you seriously believe I'd need to evaluate your personality to come to a conclusion on this case."
No... but it was standard procedure…
"Even if I hadn't known you individually-" She reverted her head and attention back to him, pony-tailed long black tresses following gracefully. "-Your body signals would've given away your guilt. From the way your hands wrung together, to how you couldn't look me directly in the eye, even now your looking at a spot above my right eyebrow."
Her cheeks reddened into a deep rosy color. Immediately, her irises traveled back to her lap. Was she really that obvious?
"What finalized my assessment was your reaction to my insult. Under normal circumstances you would've defended yourself, but this time you did not; due to your own self-reproach." One foot was pressed against the oak desk, propping him leisurely back in his chair, open gray suit wrinkling against the pressure. "In this case however, that seems to be a good thing for you. Had you shown little to no remorse… More extensive studies would've had to been done as that would of exemplified major mentality abnormalities-"
"Sasuke-kun." she interjected again, this time a lot more quietly. She couldn't wait for a pause, once Sasuke got on a monologue about his profession he was as bad as Shikamaru, the ace meteorologist, and his clouds.
Besides, this was important.
"Hn." he gazed back.
She would've much preferred to have asked someone else, someone who wasn't as emotionally attached to the subject as he was. But as it was her popularity was currently in a perpetual decline and with the worry nawwing at her mind... well, she'd get who she could get. Her head bent down lower than she had ever before thought possible; remorse on a full-fledge attack. "I-is Sakura-san… doing okay?"
Sasuke's shoe, alligator, removed itself from the desk his elbows soon taking their place. He sighed heavily through his nose, dissolving any remaining remnants of his professional phase.
"I don't know. She's been at Ino's ever since… you-know."
Of course she knew.
She was the other woman. The adulteress. The skank. The whore. The slut. Yes, she'd heard it all before. It happens, when you're one of the multi-millionaire heiresses of Hyuuga Industries. Even more, when your group of friends are all in some way or another connected to fame. False reports of all of the members of the Konohan Twelve, had been released to the public at least twice in their two decade lifespan. (Including an inconceivable bestiality affliction concerning Akamaru).
Even so, Hinata was always portrayed, or dubbed, the angel of the group.
The mediator of conflicts; The perfect role-model for teens! (An Heiress, yet still graduated high school with outstanding marks and is currently excelling in law studies whilst working part-time.)
Her fans, and the general public often ignored new releases of 'undercover' stories. Usually titled centered or close to 'Good Girl Gone BAAAD?! Get the insider on Page 7!'
The public hadn't believed it before and, more than likely, they weren't going to now.
Depressing. For once, the paparazzi would be telling the complete and honest truth.
"How long?"
Hinata almost jumped at the question. She tucked a fly-away bang behind a sapphire-studded ear. "Pardon?"
Sasuke had, sometime during her montage of thoughts, rested his chin on his clasped hands; the pondering position. "How long has this… affair going on."
Her neck stiffened and she felt an imaginary prick at the small of her back at the word. She forcefully relaxed it before shutting her eyes. She needed to say this. "Two… two months."
She didn't need to see him to know his eyes had widened. He was ruminating, how, for sixty-four days, had they hid their relationship. Not only from him, but the entire camera-filled, nosy people-flooded world that would wish for nothing more than a shot of the scandalous couple. Easy.
"We never planned anything." she spoke in a tone much clearer than she'd imagined. "There were no rendezvouses, no letters or texts… nothing like that. So there was nothing anyone could trace back to us… I-it just happened. The first time might've been an accident, but it kept happening and then things started getting more and more serious-" She was quite aware that the best friend of the man she was speaking about was still in the room, but she chose to ignore his presence. She needed to explain this. She herself, didn't truly understand how things got so bad. "Friendly flirting turned romantic- Pecks turned to kisses- Kissing to full-on make out sessions-" Her voice was starting to crack. Any moment tears would leak. "A-And then last week, I find myself at their house, with him, in his bedroom, in his bed… h-h-half naked with a shouting, no shrieking Ino- A-and she's completely trashing us- screaming curses- and throw… throwing everything she can get a hand on at us. I-it's o-only then I realize, what I'm doing. What I am-"
"A home-wrecking hoe?"
It's like a scene from the Matrix. Time speeds up and suddenly she's directly in front of his desk, face scrunched into a scowl. Then time slows as the hand swings back then swipes forward with incredible force resounding with a very audible thunder-like clap.
The hand's still in the air but is trembling now, as is her entire body, as she breathes deeply. "I'd never EVER hurt Sakura on purpose! She's one of my closest, oldest, and dearest friends!" She was able to say this with so much honesty and passion that despite the tears flowing down her face, her voice did not waver. Not once.
Sasuke, on the other hand, cupped his left cheek in pain, it was red and sure to turn purple in a couple of hours if he didn't get ice on it soon. …She should apologize… She hadn't realized she'd hit him that hard. Oh no. She was behaving even more like a criminal! First adultery, now aggravated assault! What next? Attempted robbery?
But…
He did kind of deserve it. Or at least should've expected it.
"Then why… why did you sleep with Naruto?" the young man croaked with as much dignity as he could conjure, trying exceeding hard to keep up his calm facade. He massaged the bruising muscle with his fingertips, wincing when they first made contact.
Upon hearing the pain-ladden sound, Hinata broke her own rule of not biting her lip perceptibly as her eyes roamed around the room in a phrenetic state, finally landing on a free-standing drink cooler in the back corner hidden by a bookshelf or two.
She practically ran to it, unwrapping the navy autumn scarf from around her neck at the same time. Carefully, she placed several handfuls into the thick material and tied it into a considerably sized ball, before approaching the interrogator's chair.
"Gomen." she whispered, placing the frozen water on the swelling side of his face. She really shouldn't have taken her anger out on him. He was just being a good friend to Naruto, Sakura, and truthfully, to her too.
Even if he was a bit out of line.
Frowning, she absent-mindedly began brushing his pitch-black locks away from the make-shift ice bag. When she finally did realize what she was doing and pulled away an embarrassed mess ('I forgot! Sasuke doesn't like to be touched!'), he already had his eyes transfixed on her in that cool and calculating way of his.
Quite frankly, it made her want to melt to the floor. Not in the good way either. Melt to be out of its range. He was thinking… and she was pretty sure it wasn't about anything particurally good for her.
"You never answered, Hyuuga." he was much more composed now, but there was something else in it as well, a bland emotion-concealing tone all members of the Uchiha Corporation had learned to mimic to hide their true thoughts whenever necessary. "Why did you sleep with Naruto when you knew he was married and that it would hurt his wife, your friend and mine, Sakura?"
She squinched. She had been hoping he'd forgotten about his previous question. But, hey! At least she wasn't reprimanded like anyone else outside of his "Team 7" who touched him was…. Why wasn't she being reprimanded?… Then again, why didn't he get angry that she hit him in the first place?
"I-i never slept with him!" she protested nonetheless. "…I probably would've… but Ino-san…-Anyways. I was with him... Because I… -It's because I… I…-" She hadn't been able to say it before, not in elementary, nor in middle school, not even at graduation (which, acceptably was too late anyways… he proposed to Sakura that day on the podium…) So why in the world did he believe she could say it now. "I-" her voice faltered like she knew it would.
"Just spit it out!' he yelled abruptly, in such a non-Uchiha (known, like the Hyuugas, for their silence and almost annoyingly strong temper-control) way that she actually did:
"I LOVE NARUTO UZUMAKI!"
She collapsed back into the lone chair. There. She said it. That wasn't so hard, now was it? Huh? Huh? Faint.
"You-you love him?" the Uchiha repeated in disbelief, actually stumbling over his own tongue. She liked to think she hid her crush pretty well around others. Ever since, what, fourth grade? The only person ever to notice anything was Tenten(when she inquired Hinata flat-out denied), her cousin's current fiancé and her own good friend, … but even she was convinced Hinata had gotten over the crush years ago.
Hinata nodded numbly. This was the first time ever she had admitted her true feelings for the fox boy aloud, let alone to someone.
Gathering his thoughts together quickly and re-adopting that signature bland tone, Sasuke continued his assault on her character. "That doesn't give you an excuse. He was still unavailable. What you two did together was wrong."
She already knew that. She tilted her head back down to stare at the small light blue snowflakes dancing around the white background of her ankle-length skirt. "I know he's married, and I know it's unethical, and what we did probably hurt a lot of people…. But." She swerved her face upwards, staring him square in the face. "But that won't stop me from loving him."
Sasuke rolled his deep midnight eyes and stood from is chair. Walking around to the front of the desk and leaning back against it, he shot her a look. "Can the drama, Love Hina. This isn't about what you want, or following your heart or any other Yu-gi-oh principle." He said as he waved his hands in the air. "This is about what's best for them." At this point the paused and pointed to one of the photos on his desk.
It was of four people, three of them about the age of adolescents and one adult. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei. It was the "Team" photo. In the beginning of the first year of the school the Konoha Twelve attended, B.F. Middle, each student got grouped with two of his or her classmates(normally in the 1:2 girl to boy ratio) and assigned a personal coach. This coach would spend a minimum of two hours each day after school with the group to increase their physical abilities. She had been assigned to a team with Kiba, dog-lover, Shino, bug-extremist, and Kurenai, a wonderful sensei with a disputable temper. She loved her odd little team, she really did. But she often wondered what would of happened if she had gotten assigned to Team 7, with Naruto, like Sakura had been. How many things would have been different…
"Naruto and Sakura." He continued, oblivious to her thoughts. "They're happy together… or at least were- And that's what I'm sure both you and I want: For them to be happy." Yes. That part was true. "You'll just have to learn to either ignore or override those… feelings… of yours." Solely by the tone he said it in, she was pretty certain that Sasuke wasn't one who liked sentimental speech. The disgust evident in the sentence and slight cringe was almost too funny. She might've laughed had the situation been less serious.
"I've tried." she cried. She really had and-
"Try harder."
" I have!"
"Then try even harder than that!" He was starting to get a bit more than narked with her, she could tell.
"I can't!" she still refuted.
"Yes, you can!"
"No, I can't! I'm not strong enough!"
"Yes, you are! You just don't believe you are!"
Their voices were getting higher and louder with every word traded. The echoes bounced off the walls of the neighboring halls. Luckily, there was no one else left on their side of the building that would be able to hear.
"No, you don't understand! I really really can't-"
"It isn't as hard as you're making it out to be! It's only-"
"I'm NOT a Uchiha, okay! I can't just discard my emotions like- like some robot whenever I want to like you!"
More eerie silence.
"Okay… maybe I phrased that albeit incorrectly." Sasuke started again, after giving her a moment to compose herself, sounding irritated; why, she was uncertain. No wait. Of course he'd be roiled. She had just insulted his clan. But candidly, what she said was true. There was a reason his fan group in high school was abbreviated as "T.I.P.L.A." (The Ice Prince Lover Association).
"You don't have to actually rid yourself of your feelings. Just turn them into something more… acceptable. Downgrade them to an amicable level."
"I'll try…" she replied after some time, her dirty old habit reviving itself causing her to nibble at the corner of her bottom lip. "But, I don't I'll be able to…-"
"There you go again!" Sasuke barked, voice already back to it's raised height. It was so abrupt that her bottom actually hit the wall as she jumped back into her chair. "You're always doing this, Hinata." He was staring her down. Opaque eyes glinting in an unusual combination of anger and determination. "Always doubting yourself, putting yourself down. And worse, you're not even fishing for a compliment like some girls- like Ino does! You really believe it."
She prodded her fingers together, confidence diminishing. "But I'm really not…" she uttered in a small voice. Sasuke had always been on her case over her less than low self-esteem, as had everyone else in the Konoha Twelve and the couple of friends she had outside the fame-laden circle, but she never knew he felt this intensely about it; powerful enough to break his own composure.
"Not what? Strong?" He bated, before lifting and replacing the ice bag on his cheek. "This bruise begs to differ."
"You know that's not what I meant…"
"So, mentally strong enough then? Hyuuga. You're attending one if not the most prestigious educational sites in all of Fire Country. And still you're second in your class!"
Hinata felt a blush building up. She didn't take flattery very well normally and she hadn't known the Uchiha heir was checking up on her stats…
"But that doesn't have anything to do with-"
"And really, confidence shouldn't even be an issue for you-"
"-this. My heart and my brain are two different organs." But he wasn't listening to her anymore. He was ranting to himself.
"-it must've taken some real guts-"
"Sasuke-kun."
"-to steal some one else's husband.-"
"Sasuke-kun, stop it and listen!"
"-Especially, when the wife's-"
"Sasuke-kun, don't say it. Listen to me!"
"-some one you've known for years, and-"
"Sasuke! You don't understand-"
"-is pregnant with the husband's child. Nope, no confidence problem there."
"Listen!" she yelled desperately, lifting from her seat in one swift move. "The only reason I even ever got with Naruto-kun, was because I'd already given up! I didn't mean to- I didn't connive against anyone!" she protested frantically. "I figured, since he was already committed to her there wasn't anymore reason for me to give into the butterflies that filled my stomach when I saw him…. I had no chance, so I no longer ran away or hid when we were alone. And, ironically, that's when.. When it all started. … I couldn't… I couldn't stop my feelings." Her hands clenched into small tight balls. She wouldn't start crying again!
For once, it looked like Sasuke was at a loss of what to say next. There she was, trying to keep her tears in (any mascara she was wearing before creating grey streaks vertically across her cheeks), standing in the middle of the floor and sniffling occasionally, while he was a few inches in front of her half sitting on his desk, holding a scarf full of ice to one side of his face. What a sight they'd be.
After what looked like an inner battle with himself, he plucked a quarter-size office tissue box from his desk and awkwardly held it out to her. She took it nevertheless and with a soft "Arigatou." pulled out a few tissues to wipe the old tear paths off her face (She did it! She held back the new ones!).
"Well…" Sasuke was once again the one to break the silence. "This isn't my forte, per say." Uh-oh Sasuke's uncomfortable. Something's up. He wasn't looking at her anymore. He seemed to find the tissue box more interesting. "But from what I see, since you can't discard them. The best thing you can do now is find something… more precisely, someone else… to move those unrequited feelings to."
Hinata stared.
"Y-you… want me to get a boyfriend?" She exclaimed, pointing to him and then herself purely out of astonishment that it was Sasuke "I-don't-want-or-need-a-love-interest" Uchiha who had suggested it.
For some reason or another, said boy's ears turned a deep rouge color (which also surprised her, it seemed as if he never got embarrassed) and he suddenly reached for his priorly packed suitcase. "Maybe you should discuss this with the girls. They're better suited for this kind of stuff, any-"
"No! No I can't!" She stopped him. "The rest of the girls... Ino told them." Actually, Ino raved about the event she walked into to everyone in their close knit circle. Thus she had become the outcasted traitor. Much like the boy she was speaking to had been for a year. It was a rather complex highschool story, where had went behind all of their backs to prove... something-or-other. She hadn't been given the full details on the event. Only Team 7 knew everything... Back on topic, she was planning on speaking to both Sakura and Ino eventually and hopefully rekindle their friendship. But right now, it was still much too soon.
"Aa. So they're not talking to you. None of them?" Sasuke reiterated.
"We're not on speaking terms, no."
There was another block of stillness as the two parties simply stared at each other. Then, right as Hinata was about to withdraw, the Uchiha gave in and sighed. "I should be getting paid for this." he muttered, placing, with his suitcase, the melted and no longer needed ice pack on the escritoire. He crossed his arms. "So tell me Hinata, what's your problem with getting a…(cringe) guy."
This time Hinata did giggle lightly but hid it well by clamping her lips shut. Or at least she thought she thought she did; Sasuke was giving her the evil eye. Perculiarly, all it did was make her want to laugh harder.
"Well?" Sasuke interceeded her joy.
Almost immediately, she sombered up. "That's just it, I can't get one. It's just not in the way I was raised to ask a male out and besides even if I did… they wouldn't say yes…"
She intended the last comment to only be heard by herself but unfortunately, Sasuke possessed superb lip-reading abilities and fixed her with a glare. "Don't make me say it again."
She feigned ignorance. "Say what again?"
Sasuke groaned, preferring to disregard her reply and think aloud. "It's not that you can't stand up for yourself. More, that you don't do it often enough and only on certain qualities."
"B-but this is really true though!" She protested. "I'm really shy, short, way too into my studies-"
"Intelligent, well-mannered, kind, honest." Sasuke threw right back easily with more than a hint of impatience, counting on his fingers as she had.
Hinata reddened for a moment, looked down, then retorted. "A-and I'm incredibly disproportional, almost sickly pale, and have transparent pupils." Pointing out all her faults wasn't a very fun experience.
Sasuke took a disbelief-filled double take before clutching one side of his head in frustration. "Do you- Do you even look in mirrors?" He was clearly disconcerted. "Now I see what Sakura's always complaining about!"
'Complaining?' She understood Sasuke was talking about Sakura's impromptu esteem lessons that occurred about anytime there was a considerably large event in Konoha that required new clothing. It usually consisted of Sakura and whichever one of the girls she brought with her playing Dress Me Barbie with Hinata as the doll. Throughout the lesson, she would constantly be reassured that every item she put on looked wonderful on her, even though she knew that most of the time it fallacious and vocalized this knowledge. But if she was complaining about it, then the entire process must be bothersome to them as well. Would that make her a burden to them…?
"Kami. It's like you don't even- No!" Sasuke suddenly shouted, locking in and getting the gist of her thoughts by watching her expression. "That's not what I…- You know what? I give." He threw his hands up in the air. "This talking chit isn't getting us anywhere." He grabbed his case in one hand and with the other scribbled something onto a note on his desk, probably to his secretary.
Hinata sighed inwardly, she figured he'd amused her long enough. She too, gathered all her things together, first picking her bag off the ground and then going up to the desk to retrieve her still damp scarf. But just as she finished rolling it up and fitting it inside of her hand bag she felt a hard thud in the center of her forehead, soon after realizing her view had been obstructed.
Blinking twice, she pulled off the light blue paper, that turned out to be a sticky note and skimmed it.
No Cell phone
No Formal Wear
No Make Up
No Heels
And Absolutely NO Telling Your Idiotically Over-Protective Cousin Crap
She blinked twice more before looking up to find the spikey-haired man who wrote and placed the note standing at the door. "What's…"
"That would be me asking-" He shook his head. "No, ordering you out. Your self-confidence issue? I'm ending it. Starting tonight." He walked right out the door, slamming it for emphasis, only to reopen it a moment later.
He gave her a stern look. "Be ready at eight, or else." Slam!
All poor Hinata could do was gape at the empty space where he'd been standing.
Well then…
She'd be buying a pair of new shoes...
A/N: You can interpret the "going out" line as any way you want. But it was originally meant to be in the romantic sense. But if you diehard NaruHina SasuSaku fans want to make it that they're just friends going out somewhere to improve her self-esteem level, be my guest (Though it really doesn't make as much sense that way). God knows, how many times I've done that in my own mind with a story.
Anywho, Hope you liked it. Review so I can know what you think!