EYES OF A KILLER

CHAPTER 2

They didn't have lunch together after the day on the roof. Or the day after, or the day after that. It seemed as if Sasuke had been ignoring her, and that, as a matter of fact, was perfectly fine with Hinata. He made her weary enough just being in the same room. In retrospect, she actually had no idea how she'd made it through that lunch date.

Date.

'Kami,' thought Hinata. It wasn't really a . . . She cupped her cheeks at the thought. It wasn't a date. Dates were planned, arranged between two mutual parties, so indeed, it wasn't a date! What ludicrous thoughts: thoughts that an "elite" of the Hyuga Clan had no business harboring on her way to training academy. Training academy! What she should have been attending was a normal academy. Training academy was for kids who aspired to become great ninja, or were already on their way to becoming great ninja. Like her Neji-niisan. She fit into neither category.

It was heartbreaking, in a sense. Every member of the Hyuga Clan, main branch or not, had to attend training academies. They hailed from great warriors, prodigy bearers like the Uchihas, and were trained to become great warriors themselves, and their children. For one to drop into mediocrity was unheard of, an embarrassment. Whether or not she was suited for it, a training academy was her only option. And she would never argue with Father.

It was a galactic twist of fate that she was born to be the heir. A failing heir, that is. Not miserably (yet), but failing nonetheless. At best she was average. How shameful. It was one thing for fate to screw with her, but there was her niisan too. Neji was the top Genin, literally a genius, talented and skilled in every aspect: academic grades, the Byakugan and most certainly the Gentle Fist. His profile was impressive, a sun to her waning candle flame.

And he'd always hated Hinata. But that never stopped her from loving him. Family is family no matter what, right?

Luckily her Neji-niisan was out of sight and out of the way. And vice versa. Their social status, their age, their abilities, so much kept them separated, and even though they lived in the same manor they rarely ever saw each other.

When she arrived to class the first thing she did was nestle herself in the back. Because the room was arranged in tiers it was easy to watch Naruto, who was seated up front and closer to the floor. He was currently chatting away to a very annoyed Sakura, who was clicking her nails on the desk. Impatiently waiting for Sasuke to arrive, no doubt.

Where was he? He always comes to class so early. 'Probably to avoid running into Sakura and Ino' she thought in amusement. Hinata always came to school early herself to avoid confrontation with her family. The only reason she was later than usual today was because her father had called her in early to have a long "progress" talk with her. Being head of the clan made him a very busy man, and she guessed he wouldn't have had any other time to spare.

Being a rich and powerful clan, and an active political branch of Konoha, endowed them with certain responsibilities assigned to them by the Hokage. Sometimes foreign things, sometimes other things. Hinata's father would be attending to a new arrival, courtesy of the Kazekage himself; three children who would eventually be enrolling in the training academy alongside Hinata and Neji-niisan. The Main House was efficient on keeping quiet on such matters, but she had heard the Branch House talking about it.

That's how she usually got information about what her father was doing. The two of them didn't, by any means, have the kind of relationship where he was expected to brief her on anything besides what concerned her specifically. The father that casually inquires about his child's day, the kind of father who encourages his children to open up to him, was not her father. The father whose chest inflates with pride at his child's tiniest accomplishments was not her father.

Do as you are told, deliver on what is needed from you, and when you are lagging behind, you can be replaced.

This is how things are.

This is what was happening to her. Hinata didn't like thinking about Hanabi, who at this very moment was training to take her position as heir, and if she hadn't been threatened with the curse mark of the Branch House she might not have cared.

It was okay, though. If she was left with nothing by her family, there was still Naruto. He didn't know it, but he kept her from going crazy. Even being so absorbed in Sakura as he was, the girl who hated him, the girl who had stolen her name from a flower—and perhaps even its looks as well. How she so effortlessly pushed Naruto aside for the dark haired Uchiha, someone who had never even given her so much as a smile, she did not understand. Sasuke only smiled to himself, and those smiles, Hinata noticed, were bitter with the sourness of life. Of the pain which had been inflicted on him. That was something he couldn't hide from someone with even normal eyesight.

Maybe that's why girls thought he was so alluring. Maybe they thought that if he opened up to them, if he gave them the jewel of his fidelity, they could do something for him. Heal him. Change him. Something that would leave a mark, a personal mark from them alone, which would make them triumphant in having claimed the heart that everyone wanted but no one could get. Like a . . . a prize or something. How very sad.

Or maybe she was thinking about it too hard. Too deep. Maybe it was something more superficial, like his looks. Hinata did not have the biological sense to judge looks apart (particularly where men were concerned). They were of no consequence, and ultimately played no practical role in life (as she had been told) and if that was the case, it was absolutely no use trying to pick the situation apart. It was lost on her.

Down at the front of the classroom Sakura rolled her eyes at something Naruto said. In doing so she happened to catch Hinata's eyes by accident, and that snapped her back to reality. Sakura stared wide-eyed, shocked. Hinata returned a look of great surprise and confusion, turning her head reflexively, but only to catch Ino giving her the same look. And some of the other girls too.

What was happening? Hinata looked around frantically, but the answer was right there sitting next to her. Sasuke was leaned over with his elbows on his desk, staring at her from the corner of his eye. Why?! What did he think he was doing? 'Well, he's not doing anything bad, particularly,' she caught herself thinking with a burst of shame, but he sure was doing something out of the ordinary. Once again she glanced at Sakura. Well of course. It made sense that he would seat himself here in the nosebleed area, the part of the classroom where hardly anyone sat.

"Do you mind?" he asked in a quiet, monotone voice.

"N-no, I don't mind." She immediately directed her eyes to the front of the classroom. How did he manage to sit right next to her without catching her attention? Was it Naruto again? Kami, no wonder her grades were so poor . . .

She tried to relax, and sighed. Sasuke must have mistook it for relief, because he turned his eyes back to the front of the classroom and did not pursue the subject anymore. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to her (though she couldn't shake the itching feeling that he was) so once again she couldn't pay attention to the lecture. She would need to get a lot of studying done after class.

Sasuke twitched his nose discreetly, pretending to be mentally absorbed in Iruka's lecture. It was a continuation of his last lecture on chakra flow and tenketsu, something he already knew about in great detail. Hinata's scent of soap and flowers clouded his head. It made him unexpectedly calm, reminded him of his mother. There was nothing unnaturally sharp about it, like Sakura or Ino, whom he was certain had jacked the local prostitute of her all perfumes.

His nose twitched a little less discreetly when he thought he caught a whiff of it. Kami, was it finally starting to rub off on his clothes? How he suffered when forced to inhale the brunt of it. Only one of the reasons he was constantly in a bad mood. "You smell really nice too!" Sasuke could still hear Naruto saying that, and smirked to himself. You can have her, moron.

What a relief he didn't have to deal with any of that today. Even if he was too reserved to say it out loud, he'd have liked to spend more time with Hinata. But his presence bothered her—it was obvious. Just sitting next to her as he was doing now made her nervous, possibly even scared. When she sighed in relief he actually felt a twinge of happiness. That confused him. It came and went so fast, but it had been there. The feeling of happiness was like catching a fire in a blizzard; such a crisp, foreign feeling, and he thought it was as absurd as it was useless.

Feelings like happiness, content, love—what good were they? Wasn't it the love he had for his clan and his parents, who had been so brutally murdered, the reason behind the obsession to kill his brother now? Wasn't it anger and hatred that had replaced love the day he vowed to avenge his clan? Superficial things like love harbored no merit, and so he had cut those things out of his life. History would not repeat itself. The grief that brothered love was not welcome here.

And still, Hinata confused him. She didn't inspire any of those feelings of grief, hatred, or even annoyance. It was not the same with Sakura and Ino. One female was just like the other, and so they all should have evoked the same negative feelings, right? When Hinata was around he wasn't sure what to feel. She was too timid and kind to hate, too distanced and shy to be friendly to. But at the same time he didn't think nothing of her. There was proof in the fact that when he trained, when nothing in the cosmic Universe should have mattered more to him than the eradication of his brother, Hinata's face would pop up in his mind.

Hinata Hyuga he thought dryly. Shy and docile with a stutter that was either cute or just plain annoying (and Sasuke found himself leaning more toward the former), and crushing on the moron like glass under a bus. That was another subject entirely. He thought Hinata's not so secret affection was uncanny, like herself, and stupid for sure, but there was something else there too. He'd felt it before, when his father used to take Itachi on private training sessions to places he was told not to come. It was similar to that. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or confused, so he was both.

'Kami's sake.' He rubbed his head in frustration. Thankfully Iruka called for attention. He needed the distraction. When he actually started paying attention he noticed belatedly that someone was standing beside Iruka. A new student? What the hell? He looked like a damn weirdo, but those eyes he found too familiar . . . They were very much like his own, different only in one way. Those eyes, he could confidently say, belonged to that of a killer.

Hinata examined the boy carefully. She recognized him. Not from sight, but from a description given to her by one of Father's men. He was one of the Kazekage's offspring. The students, especially the girls—but the boys more so—stared at him with shaking fear. The glare he offered could have literally been described as "looks that could kill," and since he wasn't staring at anyone in particular, Hinata dared to say that this was just how he looked. He had fiery hair and rings of black around his eyes. There was an impractically large gourd strapped to his back, which he sported with no effort whatsoever: if his immaculate posture was any indication.

Even bored, he looked terrifying. Iruka was looking distinctly uncomfortable, a bit paler than usual, and with her proficient eyesight she couldn't just right it off as her imagination. It was astounding to see that some of the girls were looking at him with something like rapture.

Iruka gulped, smiling nervously. His hand flattened upwards in a welcoming gesture, but in a reluctant sort of way, as if he were afraid the boy would chomp off his arm. "Class," he said, "this is Sabaku Gaara. He will be joining us for the rest of the school year."

*AN*

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