An Isolated Cage And A Song Bird's Key - 2

Yes, her stuttering is worse around Gaara.

She stared at him for a moment. Was that it? He wasn't going to continue asking her about the stutter? Poke fun at her for it like how some other people did just to cause her further embarrassment?

Hinata waited another second but when he still did nothing she let out a little sigh of relief. The issue had been dropped. That was good, she would rather not become incapable of speech right this instant - which happened occasionally either when her friends joked about her stuttering or when her father would launch into a lecture when she had messed up in training. She didn't really have to worry about the latter happening anymore though.

"R-right this w-way." She turned as she spoke, walking back toward the academy doors, looking over her shoulder once to make sure he was following her.

She turned back, pressing the door open and holding it until he was inside and quickly move to the closest door. "Th-this room is used f-for the taijutsu c-class. It's the closest-st one to the t-training grounds where w-we just came fr-from. There's also a-another door in the c-class leading out-outside to the t-track and m-more sports oriented-ed areas." Hinata made her way to the next door down, only taking a second to stop next to it to explain it was the storage room before going across the hall to the first door on the right. "I-iruka sensei ho-holds his classes h-here. He's the nin-ninjutsu instructor."

Hinata took a breath, backing up to press her hands to her warming face. Ooh, why did she have to be the one to do this? Surely Suzume would have wanted this new student to be more talkative, ask her more questions to make her talk even more than she had to, but even with that not being the case she was struggling. And she wasn't even sure which scenario she would have preferred either.

This boy hardly seemed to talk himself, but it was evident that he wasn't nervous about ir or anything. He just didn't care to. She was sure if she glanced back now his face would still be as impassive as ever. When Suzume had put her to this task did she know just how hard it would be to interact with him at all?

At least with a student that was equivalent to a chipmunk she could pretend to have a conversation, and they would likely force an answer out of her by continued pestering as well.

None of this was accounting for the fact that his 'normal' expression looked suspiciously like a 'bored enough to kill' expression. She could feel his gaze on her - which, granted it should be - but, with that expression she felt like he was considering ways to kill her.

He just looked so damn scary!

And right now she probably looked like an idiot standing in the hall covering her face like this. She still had three more doors to go too, the last one being Suzume's.

Slowly she let her hands fall back down, took a small gulp of air and turned to walk to the next door. Hinata stood still for a moment, trying to still her tongue before she spoke again, "In this room you'll be learning about genjutsu from Daikoku sensei. And," she turned on her heel with a soft mutter, feeling like his eyes were burning two small holes into her back. "Here is where a few of the students hold club meetings when the instructors aren't using it for a test. It's also were you'll be taking the final exam before you graduate. The c-club hours-" Oh no. "Are he-held for an hour after sc-school on week days an-and it's the only classroom o-open during Saturday for the whole d-day. On Sunday i-it's closed along w-with the rest of th-the school."

Darn it. She sighed, and she had kept the stutter from getting in the way for so long to. It just took so much of her concentration to do so.

Hinata turned to the last door, making her way over a bit slower this time. As much as she hoped Suzume hadn't seen her mess up it was likely she had. Would her sensei lecture her in front of the new student?

She could feel her cheeks darken at the mere thought. "This is Su-Suzume's-"

The door opened and Hinata quickly stepped back and out of the way. "You must be Gaara," Suzume said as she stepped out into the hallway looking to the new student. "I hope you made it here okay."

"It was no trouble getting here."

"Good, very good." Suzume turned her gaze to her then and Hinata had the overwhelming urge to sink into the wall that was still a few feet behind her. "I hope Hinata hasn't been giving you too much trouble." She wished with all her might that the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

"No." She could feel his gaze on her again and was sure he would tell Suzume what he had told her not too long ago. That he didn't need help. "She was just telling me the layout of the academy."

"Great. Then I'll see you around and, Hinata?"

"Y-yes?" her voice practically came out in a squeak and she had to fight back the urge to cringe away from her sensei.

The corner of Suzume's lip turning down was enough incentive for her to know she had just disappointed her, besides making a fool out of herself for the millionth time in front of the new student. "I'll see you on Monday."

She just gave a nod, not trusting herself to speak further at this point, and quickly stepped to the side so Suzume could pass by and continue down the hall until the beat her sandals made on the floor disappeared from the air. When silence fell over the hall she quickly turned to Gaara, "W-we can go to the c-class and wait th-there for it to st-art."

At his own silence she took it to mean he would follow her to the class for ninjutsu and quickly walked down the hall, pulling open the door to slip inside and walk to her seat. It was only when she reached her desk when she stopped again, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Umm... Gaara-san? I-if we sit n-next to e-each other I can f-fill you in on anything that s-sensei has us working o-on." She forced herself to turn and face him properly. "That is, if you t-think you would n-need it or-"

"That's fine."

She practically jumped at the sound of his voice. Even though she had just heard it not too long ago in the hall it still made her blood freeze in her veins. "O-okay, either seat will be f-fine we don't have assigned seating h-here."

Hinata sat down in her seat quickly until she lost total control of her voice, watching him maneuver to the seat on her left out of the corner of her eye. His close proximity was unnerving to say the least, and now that he was sitting beside her she could have sworn the air had grown colder.

The door opened then and more students quickly began to fill the room; talking loudly, laughing at the top of their lungs, feet hitting the panels with a thud with each step. She had to wonder what Gaara thought of her class just then. Was it anything like the one he had left behind at Suna?

"Settle down, everyone." Iruka slid the door closed behind him when he entered the room before heading to his desk to prepare for whatever lesson he had planned.

"Hey, Hinata," a voice sounded behind her and she turned to see Kiba leaning forward in his seat. "Who's the new kid?'

"He-he's a transfer student from Suna," she explained, not wanting to say anymore unless Iruka sensei got angry at her for talking during class and gave her a special task of his own.

"Hmm?" Bright yellow hair shifted off to her right and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. Blue eyes flickered over her to the new student before focusing to the front of the room. "Hey, Iruka sensei, how come you didn't tell us we were getting a new student?"

Iruka looked up from his desk at Naruto. "A transfer isn't final until the student comes to the academy."

As the instructor busied himself with something in a drawer Naruto turned around once more, setting her heart pounding once again. "So, what village are our from? What's your name?" Her shoulders nearly slumped when his gaze didn't even skirt over her, instead focusing on the ice cloud next to her.

"My name is, Gaara of the Sand."

The ice cloud seemed to have expanded around her when he spoke, enveloping her completely and she was sure more than half the class could feel it. Naruto had to be immune to the sudden chill when he pressed on, "Then you're from Suna, right?" She was sure he was receiving the same treatment she had earlier just then, the death eye.

There was a loud huff from behind her. "Hinata said he was a transfer student from Suna barely a minute ago. Weren't you listening?"

"Eh?" Naruto's gaze floated right over her to Kiba. "No. I just noticed he was new." His gaze was on her then and she could feel her skin warm. He was looking at her. "How did you know about the transfer before class, Hinata?"

"I-i was asked to h-help him settle in," she replied, wishing her voice didn't come out quite so soft. She just couldn't help it. Naruto-kun always brought out this side of her.

Naruto looked about to say something else when Iruka's voice filled the classroom, "Enough chatter. Class has officially started and we'll be practicing kunai throwing for the day." There was a mixture of groans and excited voices at this announcement. "Now, everyone head to the training grounds. Quietly, if you could, I don't want you disturbing any of the other classes."

"Yes, sensei," several voices echoed with hers, and then they were getting up and making their way outside.

Hinata slowed her pace to walk alongside Gaara instead of Kiba. The training area they were heading to was view-able from Suzume's room and the teacher would surely be watching her when the class didn't require her full attention. Besides, she had been given the task to help her, even if he was intimidating she needed to give it her all to better herself.

"Uh, Gaara-san," she paused, her fingers curling into the fabric of her jacket as she wracked her mind for something to say. "What's the vi-village like in S-una? Do y-ou miss it?" She wanted to hide her face all over again. What a lame question. Of course he missed it.

Still, she could feel his gaze on her and glanced over to see his eyes had narrowed slightly. It was no wonder she had felt a sudden chill down her spine a second after those words had slipped out of her. "Don't act as if you're interested when you're not."

"I-" she tried to say she was though. That it was somewhere she had never been before and she was curious about it but he cut her off before she could even begin.

"I'm sure you're task doesn't require you to know my life story. So, don't bother asking."

Hinata had to force her feet to keep moving so she wasn't left standing on the path in the still air. She didn't say another word though, she couldn't think of anything else. Suzume had mentioned becoming friends with the new transfer student but she couldn't see how that was possible when he was more prickly than a porcupine. Even with that not being part of the task it would seem it was only going to get harder from here on out.

"Get in a line, everyone." Iruka sensei instructed when they got to their location and the chatter that had started up during the short journey had died back down. Hinata waited for Gaara to get in the line before she got in behind him. That should satisfy Suzume for now if she happened to look over, she hoped. "Okay. There are dummies in the tree line, try to hit all the marks. This is to test your accuracy. After that exercise I'll put new markers near the dummies and you'll hit those without hitting the dummies, got it?"

"Yes, sensei," most of the class replied.

Once the line started to move the day seemed to move as fast as the kunai that flew through the air to find their marks among the straw and rough bark.

After ninjutsu was genjutsu, then taijutsu, and then finally the bell rang and the students ran outside to meet with their parents. Well, most of them.

Hinata leaned against the wall, watching her cousin Neji leave for the Hyuuga compound where her father was no doubt still training with Hanabi. Too busy to come and get her himself. Not when he had to start grooming her younger sister for leadership of the clan far later than he had started with her, back when she had still been thought of as salvageable.

She looked up when Gaara stepped out of the academy, having been held back by their taijutsu instructor to talk about something. Hinata hadn't been exactly listening to the conversation at the time, she had been much more interested with getting through the day without receiving another glare from him. "Gaara-san," she spoke to get his attention as the last student trailed after their parent and away from the academy. Hinata rummaged in her pockets for a moment as he approached before pulling out the key with the address. "I-i was asked t-to show you the w-way to where you'll b-be living while st-staying here."

Without waiting to see if he had even been close enough to hear her she turned and started walking down the path, winding her way in-between the buildings. She only stopped once, aware of his footsteps behind her. "O-over there is t-the market," she pointed in the direction as she spoke. "It's ju-just a block from y-your place so it sh-should be convenient f-for you."

Hinata resumed her walk down the street, turning a corner and stopping at a door a fourth way down the row. "Th-this is your p-place." She turned to face him then, her hand clutching onto the key. "I-I'm sorry about as-asking about Suna b-before. It was n-none of m-my business." Her fingers were close to shaking when she extended her hand to him. "Here's your key."

He was silent when he picked it up from the palm of her hand, the tips of his fingers leaving her skin cool in their wake. Gaara stepped past her to unlock the door and step into the apartment, stopping to survey the place inside. Before she could escape into the dying light of the afternoon he spoke, "Be here at eight." She blinked, not quite comprehending what he had just said. Gaara looked back over at her, his intense gaze burning right through her. "You're suppose to help me settle in aren't you?"

"Y-yes," she confirmed along with a quick nod.

The door closed behind him silently.