Chap 3 — His Cold Touch

For a few weeks, Hinata didn't see Sasuke and he didn't see her. Hinata figured that Sasuke was at a mission – she hadn't seen him around town for a time. She hadn't

seen Naruto or Sakura either, or even Kakashi-sensei, so the fact that they were on a mission was almost positive from her point.

The Hyuga stared into the sky and glanced at Neji. "Neji-niisan, anything you want to do?" she asked her cousin pleasantly. For a moment, the other white-eyed boy didn't answer.

Then he replied, "A few days ago, I heard something." he said quietly. Hinata glanced at him inquiringly, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"And what would that be?" she asked.

"You and Uchiha. Someone spotted you together." Neji said. Hinata blinked, but could tell that it took her cousin everything he had to say this to her face.

"I suppose I can't say it's false information. I agree, we did meet in the forest, but...it wasn't like a 'love tryst' or something." Hinata replied, shrugging. She continued walking, and glanced at Neji, who was following her, though looking a bit upset at that response.

"I trust you, Hinata." Neji began a few minutes ago. "But I'll warn you anyway. Don't get close to Uchiha-san. He'll just end up hurting you."

Hinata was surely surprised at her cousins words, but she decided it was good advice. She nodded, then smiled at him. "So? You never answered my question! What do you want to do?" she asked him for the second time, still smiling.

"I'm going home." was all he said. Hinata watched him walk away in shock, before sighing. Yet again — she was alone. She sighed and looked at the ground, before looking back up into the white sky. It had been snowing for almost a week, but she still loved it. She smiled warmly, walking.

It seems that walking with your eyes closed will make you bump into people. Usually, most people dodge when they see someone walking close-eyed around, but someone was too preoccupied with absolutely nothing to notice.

"Oh!" she cried, opening her eyes and staggering backwards.

"Ack!"

"Oh! Uchiha-sam—Sasuke-kun!" Hinata stammered slightly, looking at the fourteen year old boy. Sasuke blinked his surprise at seeing Hinata. The Hyuga was shocked to see a grin spread across his face.

"Hinata!" he said, he said, smiling pleasantly. She could only stare in amazement, that smile was so different than what she was used to.

"Umm...Hello." she said softly, staring at the ground. Her nerves were coming back, after not talking to him for the last few weeks. She twiddled with her thumbs and looked away, and saw Naruto and Sakura running through the snow towards them.

"Hinata-chan!" Sakura and naruto both yelled at the same time. "Hey Hinata!" yelled Naruto, smiling. Hinata blushed softly and forced a smile for him.

"He—hello N—N—Naruto-kun." she stuttered, continuing to give him that perfectly soft smile of hers. When she glanced at Sasuke, she noticed that his eyes were hard and he looked slightly angry. "Um...I really...sh—should be going n-now!" she stammered out, staggering backwards. She gave Sasuke one more pained gaze before dashing away.

"Hinata!" Sasuke yelled after her accidently. He hadn't meant to yell after her — he had meant to just leave her hanging like that. Let her go. He wasn't supposed to yell after the girl who had a crush on Naruto. He looked at his teammates — both of them had arched eyebrows and confused looks.

Then, within a second, he was chasing after the shy-girl.

"Hinata! Hinata!" he called after her, grabbing her arm. He saw her wince in pain and then, without thinking at all, pulled her into a tight hug. "You can't leave yet." he said, his voice hard. "I haven't seen you in two weeks, and suddenly you're back! I missed you — you can't just run away after saying three words!"

Hinata stood still in his arms for a few long second then spoke, still stuttering the words out. "Sasuke-kun. You...you're h–holding me. Wh—why are you hugging me?" her voice was strained, weak, hoarse. The fact that Sasuke replied surprised her.

"Because I can't bare to let you go. If I let go, I'm afraid I'll lose you forever."

The words shocked her. She shoved him — and shoved him hard, at that, stared at him for a few seconds, and then ran as fast as she could.

'No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!' Her thoughts screamed the one word to her again and again and she suddenly screamed out loud. "NO!" she yelled as loud as possible, grabbing the door knob and yanking the door open.

"Hinata-oneechan, what're you doing!" Hanabi called after her as Hinata raced up the stairs. She ignored her 9 year old sister to the best of her ability and slammed the door to her small room.

She fell on her bed and covered herself with blankets angrily, pulling the pillow over her head. She screamed into the sheets, muffling her voice. 'Dammit, dammit all. How could he! How could he?' her mind yelled, and hot tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"Bastard..." she sobbed, curling up in a tight ball. "Fucking bastard."

He had been so warm...yet so, so, so cold. So painfully cold.

End Chap Three