Chapter 3

Sigh.

After Hinata was checked out by the family doctor, pestered by her annoying younger sister, Hanabi, finished her homework, showered and got ready for bed, she started to question her sanity.

'Now is not the time to be losing my mind. I don't want to be losing my mind since I'm pretty sure that earlier Naruto held my leg and rubbed the bandages to assess the damage. That had to be real. I wonder why his eyes seemed to flash in anger though. It's not like someone did it to me. Oh well. I'm thinking too much into it. I'm so bored. What's on TV?'

She grabbed the remote and clicked on the television. The news was on so Hinata decided to watch a few minutes of it.

"And now breaking news with Rin-san." The TV screen flashed from a young man with dark brown hair to an equally young woman with orange hair. "Arigato Hayate-san. And now, tonight police have found another body located in a dumpster in a dark alleyway. The reports say that the body seems to be drained of all its blood, and has several large slashes through the neck. The chief of police suspects this to be the doing of a satanic cult, due to the gruesome way the body has been mutilated as well as unusual markings found on the victim's body."

Hinata gasped. "That's t-terrible. Wh-who would d-do such a thing?"

"Here's a list of all the places where police have found the mutilated bodies." On Hinata's small plasma TV screen appeared a short list of street names and dates of the reports of the dead bodies that were found.

Hinata almost fainted right there. Good thing she was already sitting on her queen sized fluffy bed, because neither she nor Neji would be able to handle another fall. Especially Neji.

She sat there wide-eyed, staring at the screen, with drool practically sliding out of the corner of her mouth. Near the bottom of the screen, where the most recent body was found was where the pallid girl's eyes were fixated. 'I-I-I-I was there tonight!! I hope that that poor lady is safe and that they didn't get her!' This was the thought of an overly generous person. A selfless girl who thought of others before themselves. If it were any other person, they would have been thanking their stars that it didn't happen to them or even affect them.

"And so everyone watching this please be aware of these places. Be sure to tell your family, friends, everyone. Now that concludes tonight's news, I'm Rin. Oyasuminasai minna-san."

The adolescent yawned and turned off the television. She hopped out of the bed to brush her teeth in her adjoined bathroom and turned off her lamp before she crawled back in bed to talk to her deceased mother and eventually fall asleep.

.-*-.

"Hinata-sama. Wake-up. It's 9 o'clock."

Said person was startled awake and ended up on her pure white, fluffy carpet, entangled in the sheets and comforter.

She still didn't fully understand why Neji insisted on being her alarm clock when she had a perfectly working one on her nightstand. Then she would remember him claiming that she would sleep through it or pick it up and throw it across the room. And that latter part was actually pretty uncharacteristic of her but he wouldn't listen and took up the charge of getting her up on time.

"Hinata-sama." came Neji's authoritative voice again on the gold-plated intercom that was apart of Hinata's wall above her bed.

"H-hai," was her muffled reply. A sigh came from Neji's end. "Daiboju desu ka?"

He received the same muffled response. "Ok." But he didn't sound convinced.

'Oh boy, here it comes,' she couldn't help but think as she tried to pull herself together and make up her bed. "We'll talk later."

"If y-you say s-so." She knew there was no point in arguing either. He'd find a way to win, which was something Hanabi always cursed.

"Hurry up Hinata-sama." "Ok, ok." Honestly, she thought sometimes her cousin could see through walls.

She shuddered suddenly and hurried to get dressed in a casual outfit, which consisted of her favorite worn gray sweat pants and semi-loose dark purple t-shirt. She put her hair in a quick bun and left her room.

"Hinat-!" "I'm h-here," she entered the bright, capacious living room slowly and looked at Neji. "Come here and sit by me please," he demanded politely. She did as asked and sat on the expensive white corner sofa that was imported from the UK.

"Something happened last night and I want to know what."

"I-It was n-nothing," she lied.

"Come on Hinata-sama. If that was true, then you wouldn't have reacted the way that you did. I need you to tell me because this could be related to your safety…," he paused for dramatic effect, "which I'm responsible for."

Hinata looked into his pleading eyes, but it didn't take long for her to breakdown and explain what she saw. At the end of it, she just brushed it off as something that was neither serious nor important.

"I m-mean c-come on. The h-house is old and was p-probably playing tricks on my mind. It's n-nothing serious."

"Maybe," he said thoughtfully.

~*.That Evening.*~

BEEP!

BEEEP! BEEEEEP!!

"Hinata-chan! Hurry up so Nii-chan can stop beeping that darn horn!" Yelled Hanabi up the stairs.

"I-I'm coming! I can only move so fast," came Hinata's soft spoken yell.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're crippled." "I am n-not," was her lame comeback to her younger sister who currently stood at the bottom of the elegant staircase with her thin arms folded across her flat chest and Hyuuga eyes looking up at her. Hinata, almost ready to go, hobbled down the marvelous, expensive marble staircase while clutching tightly to the heavy, bright gold banister.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP!

"If Nii-chan hits that horn one more time, I gonna…" Hanabi said through gritted teeth as she prepared to act on her unfinished threat. "Ano, i-if it helps, y-you can tell him I'm on my w-way right now," the older sister said to the younger. "Fine," she grumbled and ran outside the grand front door, slamming it behind her.

Sigh.

Hinata grabbed her book bag and headed out the door herself.

~*.At School.*~

Neji was turning an unhealthy shade of red and it was obvious that his blood pressure was going up. Needless to say, Neji was livid.

"WHAT THE HE-!" "N-Nii-san, l-language please," reprimanded Hinata softly. She was a little frightened and hadn't seen him this angry since Hanabi had put a mix of dog vomit, diarrhea, and pink hair dye in Neji's favorite shampoo, which he used every other day. That was an event that no one wanted to remember, excluding Hanabi of course. Even though Haruno Sakura was a bit flattered to have one of, if not THE, hottest guy dye their hair a matching pink.

So anyway, back to the matter at hand. Neji was seriously about to bust a cap. Some ignorant retard who either could not read or didn't care for the rules, parked their rather ostentatious car in the reserved Hyuuga parking space. Whoever it was was going to have to be put in their place.

He was still fuming, but now he was only mumbling, "I don't know what the heck is their problem; parked their stupid new Lamborghini Murciélago in my spot."

Right. Because his own 2009 silver Lamborghini Reventón wasn't just as showy and expensive, if not more so than the other car.

"I-It's okay Nii-san, j-just find another s-spot." Hinata told him quietly. Neji just turned slowly and looked at her incredulously. "P-Please?" He sighed and parked a few spaces from the best parking spot in the lot.

.-*-.

"Aaaww! Kawaiiiii!" squealed half of Hinata's first class as Neji walked in carrying his blushing cousin in his arms. Whispers shot through the room about how sexy he was and how one them would love to be held in his nicely toned arms.

"Class! CLASS! Settle down!" Kurenai shouted to get everyone's attention because their whispers had escalated into a loud roaring.

"I have to go now Hina-sama. Your class is just a little too immature for me," he suppressed a smile and continued, "I'll come to your last class to pick you up, alright?" She simply nodded as he gently put her down next to her desk.

"Alright Nii-san, ja n-ne."

Neji walked out of the room and normalcy returned to the quiet girl's literature class. When the bell rang, the little mousy girl gathered her assignments and turned them in. She even took this time to explain what had happened to her the night before. Kurenai nodded at the end of her story and told her to be careful, before sending her off to her advisory class.

"Oy Hina-chan!" shouted a pretty blue-eyed blonde who was running up to her. "K-Konnichiwa Ino-chan. What's up?"

"I've got HUGE news! I'll tell you on the way to advisory."

Advisory was a combination of a time for announcements as well as free time and sometimes study hall. "I heard, from my very reliable sources, that there's a new student."

"And?"

"And, he's MAJOR HOT!!" the loud, superficial blonde yelled, practically deafening the heiress to the Hyuuga company.

"Eh Ino-chan, that's m-my hearing."

"O-Oh. Gomen ne." She received an accepting look from Hinata and continued, "Anyway. I heard he's going to be our advisory class." "Mmm. Really? How nice. I-I wonder what he'll be l-like?" Hinata thought out loud to herself.

"I know that he's SUPER HOT!"

"Are y-you sure? Have you even s-seen him?"

"Iie, but here's my chance now, come on!" Ino dragged her poor, injured friend into the class to see their new classmate.

As soon as they walked through the door, the pair found a couple of empty seats near the middle of the classroom and began chatting away about the party Ino would be hosting that next Saturday, momentarily forgetting about the new student.

"So Hina-chan. What are you going to wear to my birthday bash?"

"Ano, I'm n-not s-sure yet," she said timidly, somewhat afraid of how Ino would react.

"What?!" Well she was right in expecting a reaction like that. "In that case we are totally going shopping this Friday!"

Hinata uncharacteristically groaned. "Come on, it'll be fun. I even invited some cute guys, so you have to look great," Ino emphasized with a wink. Hinata sat there and blushed a pretty shade of cardinal. "I-I don't know. I'll h-have to a-ask my Otou-san." Even though Hinata already knew that her father wouldn't mind since he believed in making as many friends as possible and staying on their good side in his type of business. Even if that included going to some adolescent party on the weekend. Whatever kept potential partners happy.

"Alright, but don't wait until the last minute."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Class may I have your attention?" Everyone stopped talking and looked up to see their masked teacher walk in through the door with his briefcase.

"Alright, now I'm sure that many of you have already heard the rumors, but I'm here to confirm them and introduce our brand new student."

At that moment a pasty, yet lean teenager walked in through the door slowly and confidently. A collective gasp went around the room along with a string of loud whispers.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

"Class, meet Uchiha Sasuke…"

Thank you all so much for your reviews! They really are appreciated. And of course I'm terribly sorry the long wait on the update. I wish I could say that I could update sooner as an apology but I can't because state tests are coming up as well as SAT/ACT and AP Exams. *sigh* God help me. Anyway, leave a review and maybe an idea. Once again thank you all! Love and kisses.