Chapter 4

"So…what exactly are sporks good for anyways? It's not like you can drink soup with them, it'd just spill through the slits, and you can't use it like a regular for 'cause those…what are they? ..Spike thingies are so small." Sakura stared at her pencil as if it was something very fascinating. Her emerald eyes glinting in the dim lighting of their Geometry class. Why were they even talking about sporks, anyways?

"Sakura, do you work or you're going to fail this class again." Hinata said, not looking up from her geometry book.

"Bleh…geometry… I can't do this, Hinata. It's just not my calling." Hinata looked up and stared at the pink headed young woman.

"It's math, Sakura. It's not supposed to be anyone's calling."

Sakura shifter in her seat. She needed to find something else to talk about to keep her from doing…that. Her eyes darted to her paper work and a look of disgust spread across her face.

"Anyways," Sakura started again, turning back towards Hinata and pushing her work to the other side of the desk with one hand. "I saw you with that Sasuke guy at lunch today. You guys were all lovey-dovey hugging each other back there. What'd you guys do? Hook up in home ec?"

Hinata dropped her pencil. Her cheeks turned pink, and her pale eyes darted towards Sakura. "W-what are y-you talking about?"

"Oh, please, Hinata. You know what I mean. That sexy Sasuke Uchiha. The one you couldn't get your hands off of at lunch. I was getting kind of jealous." A smirk formed on her lips, and she continued to play with her pencil.

Hinata laughed nervously. "Oh…that. That was nothing. He was just trying to make me stop crying.-Besides," she added in quickly, "why would you be jealous, you have Naruto, remember."

"Girls! You can talk about this nonsense later! Do your work!" The teacher lashed out at them. She had been over hearing their conversation and had finally had enough.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned back towards Hinata, resting her elbow on the desk and placing her head on her palm. "Pssh.. Naruto. I don't even know why I asked him out in the first place. He's soo annoying." She smirked.

Hinata stared back down at her paper. "That's because you only went out with him to make me mad.." Hinata knew Sakura could be a bitch sometimes, and she would sometimes wonder in amazement at how she ever became friends with her. But, she knew Sakura could be pretty okay sometimes. She wasn't all that bad.

"Helloooo, you there, Hinata?" Sakura whispered, shaking the book that was under Hinata's nose.

"Oh…" Hinata said quietly, and turned her head towards Sakura.

Sakura laughed a bit. "I swear, Hinata. Sometimes you can be soo spacey. It makes me wonder how you can be smarter than me."

Hinata laughed quietly. "Who isn't? ..Oh..wait. That was mean.."

"Anyways, what was Sasuke trying to keep you from crying about?"

"Huh? Who?" Hinata looked up at Sakura. It's not that she didn't hear here, Hinata just really, really did not want to talk about it.

"That sexy hunk, Sasuke!!" Sakura said so loud that the whole class turned and looked at her in surprise and confusedment. (lol. Is that even a word? If it isn't. Too bad. It is now.)

"Sakura! That's it! Out! Out of my class!" The teacher lashed out once more, pulling Sakura out of the desk, and barely giving her any time to gather her things. Sakura winked at Hinata, just before the teacher slammed the door at her. "Hmph!"

Hinata laughed quietly and got back to work.

xXxXxXxXx

The bell rang and Hinata walked out of her last class and headed towards the school foyer, hoping to catch up to Naruto just to say a quick hello (or in this case, goodbye), but it was no luck, she saw the Uzamaki boy run up to the exit and leave at such an unbelievably great speed.

Hinata sat down on a bench just outside the school, waiting patiently for her cousin Neji to pick her up and walk back home together.

She stared at her shoes which were dirty from running around in the dirt all day. Hinata doesn't understand why she chooses not to use the sidewalk sometimes. She stared at her books that she placed on her lap. She thought of the things Sasuke told her about Kiba. Will Kiba ever forgive her?

"Hinata!"

She smiled as she stared at the book cover. "I could swear I can hear Sasuke's voice in my mind…"

"Hinata" Hinata looked up with a smile and looked straight into onyx orbs that seemed very familiar.

"Hinata!" Sasuke waved his hand in front of her face. "Why is this girl so spacey?"

Realizing it really was Sasuke, Hinata's face turned a bright pink. "Oh…Sorry Uchiha-kun…"

"It's okay.." Sasuke said, sound a bit irritated, but it soon faded as the fragile girl in front of him smiled. He stare at those strange pale eyes that matched the girl beautifully. "Uh...I ..Uh.." Sasuke scratched the back of his head. He'd forgotten what he had originally came up to tell her.

Hinata fiddled with her fingers. She felt strange having someone stare at her so closely. Actually, she felt strange when people stared at her at all.

"Uhmm..So… about home ec." Sasuke said, finally remembering. "You still wanna teach me?" he moved the books he had in his left hand to his right and placed the free hand in the pocket of his coat.

Hinata nodded. "O-oh... yeah. I almost forgot about that." Hinata stood up and picked up her navy blue school uniform jacket that she had carelessly thrown on the bench when she had sat down earlier.

"About that… I was wondering if you… I dunno.." He looked around coolly and reverted his gaze back to her. "I thought maybe you'd like to come over today."

"Come over? You mean… to your house?" the idea scared the poor girl senseless. Never. Never had she been over to a boy's house before. Her father wouldn't allow it. No. That's what he would say. A stern no, and end of discussion.

Sasuke nodded, and was about to say something else had he not been interrupted by Neji, Hinata's cousin.

"Hinata, ready to go?" Neji said breathlessly, he had run a great distance when he noticed how long he had taken saying goodbye to Tenten. –ahem-

"Actually, N-Neji. I was s-sorta gonna go to Sa-Sauke-kun's hou-house.." Hinata smiled meekly and turned to Sasuke for support.

Neji looked at the Uchiha boy suspiciously. Then raised an eyebrow and turned to Hinata again. "I don't think your dad will like you going to his house, Hinata.."

Hinata sighed. She knew her cousin meant well, but his protectiveness was starting to get extremely annoying. She didn't really think Neji would take it seriously when her father told Neji to take care of her. "Neji, please. I'm supposed to teach him how to cook. Can't you j-just tell my dad I'm going to Sakura's house or something, please." Hinata pursed her lips and gave him the saddest puppy dog frown she had ever given.

Neji glared at Hinata. "Doesn't he have parents that can teach him how to cook?" He gave a strange glace at Sasuke, then turned back to Hinata. Traces of annoyance clearly visible on his face. "Besides, I'm not gonna lie to your dad!" He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Pretty please!! I swear I'll make it up to you!" Hinata tugged at his jacket.

"Jeez, Hinata… you make it so hard to say no. I'll let you go and spend time with your little boyfriend. Just make sure you com back by curfew." Hinata smiled and hugged her cousin. She turned to Sasuke and realized that his cheeks were pink.

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend.." Sasuke said quietly before leaving. Neji only laughed ad walked along to the Hyuuga mansion.

xXxXxXxXx

The walked to Sasuke's house could only be described in one word: awkward, but as cliché as that may sound (not like the story is cliché already), it really was. It was basically due to what Neji had said to Hinata just a few minutes ago. Oddly enough, it wasn't Hinata who was troubled about it. It was … Sasuke?

"Uhh..so.. h-how much farther is it to your house, Sasuke-san?" Hinata said, trying to find something to talk about.

"About three more blocks." Sasuke said quietly. Hinata watched him from the corner of her eye. She wanted to giggle when he noticed the traces of pink still on his cheeks.

Hinata found it strange. Sasuke's been pursued by dozens of girls that are absolutely in love with him, and just shrugs it off, but the minute her cousins playfully calls Sasuke Hinata's boyfriend, he blushed just like… well, just like Hinata usually does. This boy was, indeed, a strange one.

Finally arriving to Sasuke's house, Hinata sat quietly on the front porch steps while Sasuke recklessly looked for the keys to his house. But finally, after much searching, he realized that his keys were in the front pocket of his coat.

Embarrassed, Sasuke opened the door and led the quiet girl into his very large, very beautiful home.

Hinata smiled, marveling at the huge windows and largeness of his home. It reminded her of her own home. Except his was slightly smaller and was much more quiet. Actually, his house was a little too quiet.

"C'mon. You can put your stuff in the kitchen." Sasuke led Hinata and opened the swinging doors to a very bright kitchen.

Hinata dropped her bag on the floor next to a circular table by a large window and sat on one of the stools next to the large marble countered island in the middle of the kitchen which also held the sing and the stove.

"Your house is really pretty, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said politely as she leaned over the counted to get a better view of what Sasuke was doing.

Washing his hands, Sasuke nodded. "Thanks, but I guess that's what you get when your dad's a lawyer." He tore a paper towel from the rack next to the sink and dried his hands, pulling down the sleeves of his jacket and taking it off, throwing it carelessly to the side.

"I didn't know he's a lawyer. That's pretty cool. What about your mother? What does she do?" Hinata asked, sitting back down and taking her jacket off, placing it carefully on the backrest of the stool beside her.

"She's a secretary at my dad's office."

"Ah." Hinata nodded. She looked around. "Where are they? Won't they get mad if I'm here and you didn't ask?"

Sasuke shrugged and grabbed a recipe book from one of the many shelves in the kitchen and opened it. "They're not gonna come back for another week, so I doubt they'll find out."

Hinata's eyes widened. 'They're not coming back for another week.'? She quickly stood up from her chair, "You mean we're alone?!?!"