Hello everyone! Well first off I'm very pleased with the amount of feedback I've gotten. And I'd like to thank all of my old readers for reading this fic xD You guys are awesome I'd also like to say that I've gotten a lot of great feedback and criticism, so thank you all for giving me your invaluable critiques! After all, I'm writing this for all you readers out there, so what better way to improve then to listen to what you guys have to say?
Happy Holidays, everybody! Hope your Christmas is as Merry as mine!
Disclaimer: Mine ain't Naruto. Sue don't so. (It rhymes, SUCCESS!)
Chapter Two: Bullet to the head
"Look, there's Tenten and Temari! Let's go sit next to them!" Sakura nodded. She turned to Hinata, and made the appropriate hand signs. The three of them walked towards the two older girls sitting towards the back of the room.
"Hi guys! Hello...who's this?"
"Hinata, Sakura's kawaii new sister."
Tenten slapped her forehead. "Duh, you only told us like two weeks ago. Silly me." The brown-haired girl cocked her head, scrutinizing the petite new girl. "She looks very familiar."
Sakura shook her head. "My parents adopted her from an orphanage. I think it's safe to say that she doesn't have any more living family members."
Temari looked at the quiet girl with newfound intrigue. "What happened to her family?"
"Well, the reports in her personal file were really vague. All it said was that they died in some sort of an accident. That's how Hinata ended up deaf."
"Deaf! Wow, she's so brave!" Temari dug into her backpack and snatched a piece of paper from it. She furiously scribbled on it and showed it to Hinata. It read:
'Me: Temari!'
The boisterous blond gestured at the paper, then proceeded to point at herself.
Hinata bowed to her with an awkward grin on her face.
"Good afternoon, class."
"Good afternoon, Kurenai-sensei!"
"Okay let's turn to page…oh. It says here we have a new student. Haruno Hinata? You have a sister, Sakura?"
The pretty blush-haired girl sighed and began to tell her worn out anecdote for the umpteenth time. "We're not blood-related, parents adopted her, yadda yadda."
Kurenai rolled her eyes. "Okay, I take it this isn't the first time you've said it. Fine, I'll spare you." She turned her gaze to the pale, silver-eyed girl. "Welcome Hinata. Now, let's all turn to page 417 and continue our lesson on Robert Frost."
The class opened up their text books and began to annotate their poems while Kurenai attacked the stack of papers that had yet to be graded.
"Hey, hey girl! You got an extra pencil?"
The incredulous boy looked on as Hinata merely continued her work, totally ignoring him.
His friend elbowed him and laughed. "I bet you I can get her to talk to me. Hey new girl!"
His cocky grin drooped into a scowl when he was received with the same cold shoulder.
"What a freaking ice queen! Hey, just because you're a mighty Haruno now, you think you're above everybody else?"
"Knock it off!"
But before Tenten's words could be registered, the gun was already fired. The bullet, a crumpled-up piece of paper, bounced off the top of Hinata's head, landing in her out-stretched palm. Thirty pairs of eyes fixed onto her as the classroom grew deathly silent. Her eyes drifted down to the paper ball in her hand. She simply sat there, holding and staring at it with a blank-no, frozen expression of apathy.
Like a deer caught in oncoming headlights, Hinata seemed to shrivel from all the attention.
Drop by drop, she could feel the blood spew from in the bullet wound in her head, for all the class to see.
Sakura felt the anger in her swell; how dare they treat her sister that way! Before she could open her mouth and let all hell break lose, a small hand blocked her way. Her mint green eyes widened in surprise and drifted upwards to the wielder of this brave hand.
Hinata simply shook her head, with a detached, glazed look in her eyes. She raised her hand; Kurenai opened her mouth as if to speak, but gave up and simply nodded. Hinata got up from her seat and made the walk across the plank towards the wastebasket. Tossing the ball into the trash can, she walked back to her seat.
When she took a seat, she rubbed her sore feet from the needles they had walked on.
The boy from earlier scratched the back of his head in shame. "Hey, I-I'm really sorry about that…"
"Are you listening!? She's deaf."
"Oh, why don't we all just keep talking about her when she's right there!" Tenten yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "Fine, she can't hear. Do you think she doesn't know? She's deaf; not unfeeling."
There weren't words left to say. In a quiet, mutual manner, every single person in the room felt something for the new student: pity. Sympathy. Guilt?
Sakura sat there with a bitter feeling curling in the pit of her stomach. Not only did she loathe being embarrassed or undermined in any way, but she especially hated not being heard. Her eyes shifted to Hinata, where she was met with confliction; could she feel anger towards her? Was that even allowed? Could you be angered at the handicap? She shook her head, and decided to drop it and resumed her study of the poet Frost. Even he was making more sense, right about now.
There was an awkward drift resounding in the air as the students trudged out of the classroom.
"Oh, crap." The three turns turned to face Sakura, while Hinata, who was still walking, was pulled back by Tenten.
Temari scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "What is it?"
The girl in question snatched Hinata's schedule and held it beside hers. "We don't have the next classes together." She bit her lower lip in thought, unsure of what to do.
"I believe I have the answer to that problem, Miss Haruno."
They turned around to find themselves face to face with the busty principal. "Hinata," she turned around and grabbed someone, "your new assistant. COME!" From behind the throng of bustling students, she produced a familiar spiky-headed boy. Sakura's jaw unlatched in disbelief.
"Uchiha Sasuke?"
The black-haired, brooding teen rolled his eyes in displeasure. "What?"
"You're…an assistant?"
He shrugged, turning so that his back was to her. Stuffing his fingers into his pockets, he muttered, "What of it?"
Her eyes narrowed, at nothing in particular. Just in blatant discontent.
Tsunade clapped her hands. "Mr. Uchiha has graciously volunteered to show Hinata around, and make sure she doesn't encounter any problems. Since we're still in the first quarter, the counselors were even able to move Sasuke into all of Hinata's classes. Now get! The bell's gonna ring in two minutes!" As she rushed past the baffled teens, she leaned into towards Hinata and whispered, "You can thank me later for the studdly assistant." With a wink, she was gone.
Hinata slowly, slowly, turned to face the Uchiha. She took in his rugged appearance and had to admit that he was indeed attractive; attractiveness that inspired nothing in her.
So he was her new assistant.
"Well, are you coming or what?"
Two big, wide opals blinked at him.
Sighing, Sasuke pushed passed Sakura and stalked towards Hinata like the predator he was. As he brushed passed her, Sasuke grabbed the top handle of Hinata's backpack, dragging her backwards.
It was quite an awkward sight; the cold, introvert heart throb dragging the indifferent new Haruno, backwards. But as Sakura watched the awkward twosome grow smaller and smaller, she could her fingers perspiring from gripping her skirt so tightly. She released the material to find it irreversibly crinkled and dented.
,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.
Flashback
Tsunade walked into to see Sasuke slumped against the chair, counting his cigarettes. He doesn't bother turning around when he hears her enter.
"Why Mr. Uchiha, smoking again in the boy's room. And better yet, you sit here counting your EVIDENCE." At the last word, she snatched the box from his hand and dropped it, crushing it with her stiletto heel.
"Have fun cleaning that."
"Oh, I will. But not as much fun as I will have punishing your sorry ass. What will it be this time? Suspension? Perhaps expulsion."
He scoffed. "Fine. Too many fan girls here anyway."
Her eyes developed a sinister glimmer in them. "Yes, you do have a particularly devoted pack of fan girls here." The corners of her grin collided with her ears. "I take it you're one for that cute Haruno girl?"
The Uchiha's eyes grew dark and stormy.
Tsunade's fingers fidgeted with giddiness. "Never mind what I said earlier. This new punishment will save me big bucks for Vegas. Uchiha Sasuke. You will be assisting Hinata, the new student."
His eyes were disbelieving. "Baby-sit some girl? You're getting too old for this."
She smirked. "Yeah? You're right-I'm getting old. Maybe that's why I forgot to mention. Hinata…is Sakura's new sister." Tsunade cackled. "Enjoy seeing more of her."
"…Shit."
End Flashback
,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.,.-;-'-;-.,.
Sasuke walked into class, ignoring all of the stunned stares as he tugged the helpless girl. There were two empty seats in the back; he looked around to see all of the hungry female faces leering at him. Sasuke looked at her with a menacing sneer that even she wasn't immune to; maybe she wasn't entirely useless.
Taking one of the seats for himself, he ushered (kind of threw…) Hinata into the adjacent one. Were he anyone other than Uchiha Sasuke, he would have possibly done a victory dance at the grumbling sound of all the disappointed fan girls.
While the teacher began a lesson on what was about second-grade chemistry, Sasuke took a sideways glance at her.
He had to admit; she had quite a nice profile. Her nose was thin and elegantly elevated, her eyes (an odd chrome color) were deeply sunken in, and she had a delicately chiseled jaw line. On the whole, she was rather attractive. But any fondness or interest in her dissolved as he watched her mechanically take notes on the lecture.
By far, she was the dullest girl he had ever encountered, which was kind of ironic, seeing as how she had the most unusual features. At least the fan girls had…feelings (albeit too many). Hinata; he scoffed at her name. Some ray of sunshine she was. A cloudy, rainy afternoon was more accurate.
Were it not the warmth from her breath as she exhaled, he would have assumed she was a mannequin. Not a single emotion was displayed onto her face. No concentration, or even boredom.
The loud, bold personality of someone like Naruto easily took up a whole room's worth of space.
This strange, strange girl…you could say, she didn't take up any space at all.
Her personality was dry; her mannerisms, dull. Was there any life in her? Sasuke began to wonder if she actually enjoyed being deaf, mute, or any other ailment she possessed.
A wall; she was enclosed in some sort of barrier. Sasuke smirked; how much weight could her wall withstand before crumbling away?
Might as well have fun with this one while he was stuck "baby-sitting."
After all, what is life but a game, meant solely to entertain him?
One by one, slowly but surely, Uchiha Sasuke would be the one to stack the weights onto her barriers and wait for the fortress to come crashing down.
