My oh my, Wednesday already. Time for another chapter of Timeless, faithful readers! Huge thanks to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, and alerting!

Disclaimer: I own Naruto. April Fools!


Timeless

By Dandy Wonderous

Chapter 3: Tossed Aside

Tuesday Hinata stole the sculpture.

Wednesday it sat in her closet all day, hidden behind a box of ribbons she used to wear while dancing. Wednesday night Hinata, her homework finished, pulled the sculpture down and sat with it admiringly in her lap.

She had watched Deidara sneak into the art room before school started that morning. He had gone to the shelf and looked for the sculpture (or its remains), but the shelf was empty… and clean.

Hinata watched from behind her tree as a red-haired boy entered the art room. She recognized him: Sasori, a senior and Deidara's best friend. She couldn't hear their conversation through the window, but she could lip read for most of it, a skill she had gained when she was much younger.

"Need any help?" Sasori most likely asked. Hinata (and most of her classmates) were amazed by the man, who looked like he was barely twelve and yet was a legitimate senior, and one of the older ones at that.

Deidara remained silent for several seconds, confusion evident on his face. Finally, he shook his head.

"There's no mess to clean up." Hinata couldn't be sure, but she thought that the extra mouth movement was "un," a curious speech habit Deidara had.

Sasori cocked his head to one side. "But didn't you leave one here yesterday?"

"Yeah…" Deidara rubbed both eyes, moving his bangs so that she got a rare sight of the left side of his face.

"Janitor must have cleaned it," Sasori decided.

Whatever Deidara replied, Hinata would never know. He turned away from the window, his hand running up through the long shock of bangs over his left eye, then he left the art room. Sasori started to follow him, then paused and looked back over his shoulder and out the window. Hinata gasped, a shiver running down her spine, and she ducked behind the tree, straight as a board so its trunk would conceal her as much as possible. She stayed there, heart pounding, until the bell rang. Sasori was nowhere to be seen.

Now, in her room, Hinata remembered that look. Could it be possible that Sasori had seen her?

But then again, he probably would have confronted her if he had seen her, and Hinata took comfort in the fact that he hadn't.

She rotated the clay bird delicately in her fingers, examining it from every angle. A shame he couldn't finish painting it…

A sudden thought occurred to her. Suppose she brought the sculpture back to him?

She immediately swallowed the idea. Then he would know about it all; about how she watched him, for almost half a year, about how she had never done anything to save a sculpture before, about how she was a sneaky little thief…

But still…

She remembered his face when he had arrived at the art room that morning. He had been confused that there were no smashed bits of clay… and, there, deep in his eyes, hope. Hope that, for once, his hard work hadn't been destroyed.

Maybe I could bring that hope back.

The thought thrilled the small girl; that she could bring happiness and hope to another person. Surely he would forget all about her watching him, in light of what she had done…

In a jittery trance, Hinata delicately rewrapped the clay bird and hid it away in her backpack once again.


"Hinata! Are you paying any attention?"

"Huh?" Hinata tore her eyes away from the cafeteria door for the shortest of moments to look at Sakura, then they relocked on the entrance.

"Who's coming that's so important?" Ino asked, waving her hand in front of Hinata's face.

"N-no one," she answered lamely, her heart and stomach so jumpy that she wouldn't dare to touch her food.

"Yeah right!" said both girls in unison, but Hinata didn't hear them; Deidara had entered the cafeteria, followed by Sasori and a senior named Tobi, with black hair and freaky eyes.

A small gasp escaped Hinata, and she froze. I can't do this.

Her eyes stayed trained on Deidara as he joined the senior lunch line. Her friends gaped at her, then followed her gaze. Ino's jaw dropped.

"A SENIOR!" she almost shrieked.

"Which one?" Sakura chimed excitedly.

"Not Sasori, surely," Ino said.

Hinata ignored them completely as they mused over which senior was her secret crush. He moved through the line and reappeared with his tray of food, Hinata fully focused on him the entire time.

"Deidara!" Sakura and Ino squealed in their shared epiphany.

"I never pegged him as your type," Ino said.

"Huh? Wh-what?"

"You know, the angsty artist and the shy girl…"

"Sounds like a shojo manga to me," said Sakura cheerfully.

Hinata heard their continued conversation as though through water. Her vision narrowed until all she could see was the blond senior. And a strange sensation filled her, the same urge she had had the night before, to see hope and happiness in those icy blue eyes.

"Hinata? What's wrong?"

She ignored Sakura; she was on her feet, had fished the sculpture out of her bag. She couldn't stop now.

"You're not going to talk to him now!" Ino cried, shocked.

She walked with shaky yet determined steps across the cafeteria to his table, the clay bird cradled gently in her arms.

Sasori saw her first. Deidara and Tobi both had their back to her, but Sasori, on the other side of the table, noticed her. He made no move to alert his friends of her presence, instead only eyeing her curiously before returning to his salad.

"E-excuse me," she stuttered. "Um… Deidara?"

He turned around in his chair, curious yet friendly smile on his face. "Hmm?" Tobi turned around as well, and Sasori laid his fork down.

"Um…" Hinata realized she didn't know what to say. At a loss, she settled on thrusting the sculpture forward, like a peace offering, eyes on the floor.

Deidara stared at it in stunned silence. "What…?" The question died on his lips.

"Y-you m-m-made it," Hinata stammered out. "Tuesday."

Deidara's face slowly hardened. "I know that, un," he snapped, and Hinata's head shoot up to look at him, wounded. This certainly wasn't going how she had imagined. "Why do you have it?"

"W-w-well, I… I knew the soccer t-team was going to… break it, so I-"

"So you took pity on me and saved it, un," the boy finished for her.

Now it was Hinata who was stunned. "N-no… No, it's not like that, I-"

Deidara snatched the bird out of her hands and stood. He wound his arm like a pitcher and chunked the sculpture with all his strength into the wall.

Hinata watched, mouth open, as it shattered into millions of pieces, each fragment raining down to the cold linoleum floor. And her heart was smashed along with it, a million tiny bits in her chest…

"My artwork doesn't last," said Deidara scornfully, sitting back down. He returned to his lunch, and slowly the gawking students, alerted by the sound of breaking, did likewise.

Hinata, tears blurring her vision, turned and ran, pushing past the other students, shoving away the comforting hands of Sakura and Ino. She ran blindly until she was back outside by her tree, and there she sank to her knees and cried.

Chapter 3 End


A/N: I typed this up (but most of it was already written) after writing a term paper. I'm now really tired… and I still have history to do! Anime tears…

but she could lip read for most of it

Lip reading: a probably Hinata skill and a versatile plot device!

Tobi, with black hair and freaky eyes.

Basically, Tobi acts like Tobi but looks like evil what's-his-name (I'm not officially there yet and right now I don't feel like looking it up). In other words, he's just a maskless Tobi.

Sorry if that wasn't the lovey-dovey first interaction you were hoping for, but where would be the fun in that?

See you next Wednesday! Wish me a good grade on my term paper!

Watching Ghostbusters while eating Stay Puffed marshmallows (oh, the irony!), this is Dandy Wonderous, signing off.