Chapter 2

"Would I be assumed nosy if I were to ask what you why you were in detention

"Would I be assumed nosy if I were to ask what you why you were in detention?" asked Neji Hyuuga as he drove his cousin home. She'd told him during lunch she'd need a ride at four o' clock, but he'd presumed she'd be busy with a school activity.

But no, she had been in detention, where no Hyuuga had ever gone before.

"It's a silly matter," confessed Hinata quietly, fidgeting her hands, "I've been falling asleep in class lately, and Mr. Iruka doesn't want it to ruin my school performance." There was quiet for a minute (she lives seven minutes away from school), before the young girl spoke up again.

"Do you spread rumors, Neji?"

There was a deafening screech as Neji slammed his foot on the breaks, stopping himself from driving over an elderly man crossing the road. He looked at his cousin, whose eyes were larger than saucers from the inertia of the breaks.

"Who told you that?" he said, not noticing he sounded demanding. She looked at him with her doe eyes, and stuttered out, "Sasuke Uchiha…"

Neji sighed, rolling up his window, as they continued to drive. "Oh, it's that bastard," he muttered under his breath, "I guess you had Kakashi's detention." Hinata nodded meekly. "Sasuke said you'd been talking bad about him to Lee, who confronted him about it." She shifted her position towards the window. "What happened, Neji?"

They pulled into the driveway of her house, where she barely noticed her father's car was missing.

"Hinata," Neji began, "you have to understand the type of person Sasuke Uchiha is." He pulled a cigarette from his back pocket, not offering her one cause he knew she'd refuse, and lit it to calm himself. He knew she was waiting for her to continue. "Do you know what a syringe is, Hinata?"

"It's used for shots maybe?"

"That's right." He exhaled a stream of smoke out his rolled down window, before continuing. Taking another drag, Neji pondered on how he would proceed. You could trust Hinata to keep a secret, but how she'd take it personally is a different matter.

"Why did Sasuke have a syringe, Neji?"

"Who knows," muttered Neji under his breath, "What happened was he asked me get something for him from his bag. I saw it shoved underneath his jumpsuit; I didn't even know what it was filled with. I mentioned it to Lee, who misunderstood me and accused Uchiha for being an emotional wreck who needed drugs to be calm again, which apparently ticked him off." The young man chuckled darkly. "Lee's a dumb ass."

"So why did he have it then?"

"He didn't say," Neji said, "But I wouldn't mention it to him." He eyed her, but she seemed focused on the side view mirror. "You weren't planning on confronting him about it would you?" She didn't reply. "Hinata." he said forcefully. She snapped her head in his direction. "N-No, I wasn't planning to."

"Good."

She got out of the car with a small smile, but somehow, as he pulled out of the driveway, making sure she walked through her door, he felt it had been forced. Something had been on her mind.

OOOO

First period was always taxing to Hinata, but she never really let it show. She didn't know why, but English was never one of her strong points. It never really clicked in her brain is all. At least, that's what she told herself.

Sliding into her seat, she happened to notice the guy from detention that had been in the corner. Shifting her position so she could see which seat he took, she watched him take the seat in the front, near a window. His posture was stooped, and from where she sat, she could see him already writing in his planner; the assignments were on the board. She did the same, and as the class filled with people, Professor Asuma followed suit, the rank smell of cigarettes drenching him.

She didn't really know anyone in this class, so as the teacher droned on, she found herself more and more bored. She decided to focus on the boy, but found it hard to see anything but his back, thus not providing the boredom buster she needed.

But the ear-piercing whine of the fire alarm had been exactly what she needed.

"Alright, fire drill, let's go," yelled Asuma as the class filed out into the hallway, creating a flood of teenagers and teachers. The Hyuuga girl looked for a familiar face, but was unable to locate any as they proceeded out of the building.

The air was hot outside, and the lack of air-conditioning was starting to take a toll on everyone. As they waited to go back inside, Hinata found herself in close proximity with the boy, and heard someone call him Kankouro. She mentally kicked herself for not remembering his name.

His face was darkened, with his shaggy brown hair hanging lightly over his forehead. He still wore absurd makeup, and she noticed some facial piercing here and there. He would be a likely example of people her father would forbid her to befriend, and as of today, she still didn't have the nerve to say hi. Surely he would recognize her from detention, if he had been paying any attention at all. But she couldn't rely on his memory of one unofficial encounter, so she dropped the subject, and as they went back inside, she saw her window of opportunity slip away.

OOOO

Second period only brought more woes, when she saw Sasuke sitting in his usual corner. This was World History, something she found boring but easy, but she felt uneasy as she saw Sasuke glance at menacingly. Her blood felt like it had frozen.

"Well, class," said Mr. Hayate with a cough, "Today we will begin our first project of the year. I'll be assigning groups of three, and don't ask me to switch, because I won't let you." There was a mixed combination of groans and squeals.

"First group will be Yamanaka and Uzumaki and Inuzuka," Three simultaneous groans came from the back.

"Second will be Akimichi and Aburame and Haruno,"

He continued on through the list.

"Hyuuga, Uchiha, and Nara,"

She could have died right there. Having Shikamaru with her was a gift from heaven, but it seemed Sasuke would intimidate her through and through. She glanced back at him, almost afraid of what she'd see, but was met with an even worse fate.

The remaining females of the class gave her glares that might compare the Uchiha's, but his still was the coldest. It was like a sea of angry, pretty faces. With a gulp she turned back, and almost jumped when she realized Shikamaru was already next to her. "Don't worry about them," he said as he positioned himself to lean back in his seat, "They don't understand how ruthless he can be." Hinata noted how the word 'ruthless' was so true.

Sasuke suddenly stood, and slowly made his way over to his assigned group. Hinata could feel him approach her from behind, and waited as he sat down on her other side and didn't say another word. She didn't even want to glance at him. Apparently Shikamaru didn't care though.

"Uchiha, when do you suppose we can all meet to finish his thing?"

There was a pause, where Sasuke eyed Hinata, then Shikamaru. "I'm free for lunch,"

And Hinata felt the air rush out of her. Lunch came between second and third period.

OOOO

In the library, the trio sat in the very back, where the windows were. Setting aside her book bag, Hinata took a seat at the table, and the boys followed suit. Shikamaru immediately began to get to work with Sasuke, who merely nodded and shook his head at the appropriate times. Hinata didn't have to say a word, for Shikamaru had instructed her to just do the same, since he could probably do it all when he got home and call them to confirm everything.

"So I can research on past Egypt before next class, where we can slam it all together on a written report which I will present on the due date."

"I-I'll type it up then," Hinata offered.

"Good," said the genius, tapping his pencil on the table like a drummer. Coincidentally, he was in band with Chouji. "Uchiha, you can research excavations." Sasuke nodded, before tilting his head toward the heiress. "Isn't she going to research anything?"

"She doesn't have to," said Shika, scooting out of his chair, "She's going to be typing up everything we find, so she'll have the worst job anyway."

"I'll h-help get books for you guys," she offered, not wanting to seem unhelpful.

"Whatever you say," said the genius, "Let's hurry before lunch ends."

The group dispersed amongst the shelves of books, and Hinata found herself merely wandering around, trying to avoid the Uchiha. She felt weird being nervous around him. She SHOULDN'T be nervous around him. But after his rough incident after detention, she felt it unwise to find her alone with him again, less he takes out his anger at her cousin on her.

"What are you doing just standing there," came the perpetrator's harsh voice. She spun around in surprise and realized he was right behind her. He was glaring but he was concentrating on skimming the bookshelf. He looked more frustrated than anything.

"U-Um… sorry." She immediately began scanning book titles as well. She was able to pull out three books that seemed worthwhile before she felt compelled to talk to him, to maybe clear up this tension.

"He's my cousin, not my brother." He froze with his palm inches away from the spine of a book. But he overcame it, and continued with what he was doing. "So?"

"You called him my brother yesterday," she said softly, "He's not. He's my cousin."

"Whatever." The tension had been lessoned, but not by much. She wished Shikamaru would butt in soon to say lunch was over. Surely it had been forty-five minutes already!

"It's not his fault-" His hand slamming her entire arm into the hard wood of the bookshelf cut her off. She winced in pain, unsure of how big the bruise would be.

"What do you know about it?" he hissed at her, his eyes seemingly glowing, "He didn't see anything! Got it?"

She looked at him, a tremor of fear making her tremble slightly at the knees. It was at this moment that she noticed how unhealthy he looked. His face was paler than normal, though from afar it could've looked like foundation. His eyes had dark circles around them, but from a distance it could have easily been mistaken for mascara. His lips, sad to say, were dry and chapped, with a thin layer of Chap Stick that from any distance could be considered lip-gloss. There were so many flaws about his feminine features that he'd covered up, she wondered if anyone at school had ever seen the real him.

"What hurts?" The words slipped out so easily, she didn't even know she said them until it was too late to take them back. His look of surprise was turned to rage. He shoved her, making her topple over onto the ground, yet not really damaged.

"You don't know me," he snarled. In surprisingly good timing, the bell for lunch rung, signaling the stampede for third period. He stepped over her toward the table, got his bag and left.

Brushing herself off, Hinata headed back to the table, a small tear threatening to come out of her eye. She extinguished it with a swipe of her hand, and saw Shikamaru looking at her with an I-told-you-so look. She shrugged and began to pick up her bags, before she noticed that Sasuke's stacks of books had been forgotten. She pointed this out to Shikamaru.

"Dammit," he said with an exasperated look, "I don't have any classes with him. Just leave them then." He headed towards the door. "Come on,"

In a swift decision, Hinata took up the books and shoved them into her book bag, before running to catch up with her friend.

OOOO

The bell that signified the end of school was terribly loud. Doors burst open as hoards of students rushed out to go home. But Hinata lingered, for the books were a constant, heavy reminder that she had to find Sasuke Uchiha. She didn't want to, but she didn't want him kicking himself when he realized he didn't have them.

Setting a pace for herself, Hinata rushed to meet Sasuke before he got on the bus (she knew he rode the bus because Kiba did as well), but to her dismay, the line had no traces of the arrogant jerk. The books were becoming increasingly heavy, and she wondered if he still had detention.

She zipped off toward Kakashi's room, hoping he was actually there. When she skidded to a halt at the door, she peered in, and was relieved to see he was there. Building up little composure she could muster, she twisted the knob till she heard the familiar click, and pushed the door open. Kakashi gave her a look as she walked in, but she ignored him, and walked directly to Sasuke's desk.

The twins giggled, maybe thinking she was going to profess her love for him, and the boy from English eyed her curiously. The girl paid no heed.

Opening her book bag, she took out all the textbooks she had saved for him (and checked out under her name), setting them lightly on his desk. He gave her a surprised, yet disgusted look, and all she could do was wonder what made him the sad person he was. He was a surprisingly deep character indeed.

She smiled, ignoring his glare, before saying, "You left without checking them out. They're checked out under my name, but now you'll have resources to research. Good luck." The students and teacher watched silently as she left, her head down.