Chapter 3 – Apart (rewritten)

'Thank God it's over! I'm going to have to be careful not to spill any of those chemicals..', Hinata though while half-running, half stumbling out of the Chemistry classroom. Orochimaru-sensei was the scariest teacher she had ever met! The scary hissing noise he made, the snake-like gliding from one table to another.. but what really traumatized Hinata was the look of doom she got when she paired up with Sasuke (who didn't want a fangirl to his parter since all the other boys had partners already..). She thought she'd never get out of there alive.

The mass of students in the hallways was heading to the cafeteria. Hinata tried to walk to the other direction to search for the stairs leading to the roof but the flow of the hungry students was too strong. After a while she found herself lining up for the lunch.

'This wasn't supposed to go like this, I have to meet the guy Ino told me about..', she sighed and turned to try to resist the current which was getting weaker the closer she was to the pile of trays in the beginning of the official line.

Behind her stood a seething pink-haired girl. Hinata didn't want to get in her way – she really looked like she was ready to kill - so she quickly passed her to leave the cafeteria. To Hinata's misfortune, the girl turned her attention to her.

"Where are you going, newbie?" She asked, flipping her long hair. Hinata stopped. "I'm not really hungry", she lied and continued walking – or would have, if someone hadn't gripped her wrist. She turned to excuse herself from the girl only to see that it wasn't her who had forcefully taken her wrist.

"Shikamaru told me to show you where you can get to the roof", Sasuke, her Chemistry lab partter said and started to drag Hinata out of the cafeteria. "Sasuke-kun! Don't mind that newbie – " Sakura ran after them only to lose them in the mass of students.

The two walked in silence. The Uchiha had let go of her hand and was instead picking up the pace. Obviously he wanted to be on his way as soon as possible. 'Or to get away from me, the newbie who's weird enough to actually to wear the school uniform', Hinata thought to herself. She didn't notice the boy stop and almost ran into the door he had opened for her to go through. Blushing, Hinata quickly ran through the doorway only to be faced with a set of stairs.

"Go all the way up", the boy stated and turned to leave. Now that he wasn't nearly running or giving her murdeous looks she found her voice again.

"Thank you, um.." she waited for him to officially introduce himself like an Uchiha should – actually should have already in Chemistry - but instead he just shrugged (the boys of Konoha seemed to do that a lot) and walked away, leaving her all by herself. "Well seems like someone's got a stick up his ass", Hinata muttered turning to look at the stairs.

Why did she have a feeling that it would take her a while to reach her destination?

Ino was nervous.

'How will she take it? I hope Shkamaru doesn't read the note.. he isn't a genious for nothing. He'd find out, that's for sure.. Gosh, why didn't I go there myself?' She knew the answer. She couldn't.

To say things like she would have had to, to see Hinata's heartbroken expression.. and what if someone saw? They would put two and two together. Hinata and Ino's secret wasn't exactly one in their ex-school; the other transfers knew and probably would blabber their whole history to anyone who'd ask them.

From the corner of her eye she saw someone sit down to her right. A hand was placed onto her shoulder in a comforting manner. Shikamaru.

No words were exchanged between the two. Sakura was chattering happily away, Chouji was too busy eating (and secretly watching Ino) to listen to her and Sasuke was staring off into space. Only one was missing from the gang.

"I'm back, -ttebayo!" A blond boy sat onto the empty seat on Ino's left. Sakura dismissed his greeting with a flick of her hair, giving a not-so-discreet look at Sasuke, who was – as always - ignoring her. Ino sighed. She couldn't ask Shikamaru how Hinata had taken the news with all the bothersome people around!

'Oh great, I'm starting to sound like Shika... what's next, his hairdo?'

Shikamaru sneezed. Choji was the only one to spare him a questioning look before turning back to what he was doing. Shikamaru gave Ino the I-know-it-was-you-look before handing her a note underneath the table.

The blonde ate her salad (yes, in order to be cool in a normal school girls had to eat salad, all the salad and nothing but the salad) without any hurry. After a final gulp of water she excused herself, taking her tray – and the note which was tucked safely in her pocket – and leaving the cafeteria.

"I said she's been acting weird! I'd know, she's my roommate after all. But did anyone listen? No! Except, of course, for Sasuke-kun, ne?"

She opened the door. Quiet sobbing was heard from one of the stalls but Ino had better things to do that find out who was the culprit of annoying her. The note Shikamaru had given her was still in her pocket. She slowly took it out and unfolded it. It wasn't from Shikamaru, after all. It was Hinata's handwriting.

'Kunoichi Beauty,

I understand your reasoning. I would probably do what you are doing right now if I regretted what we had then.. But I don't. I didn't know you would feel differently. I hope your new life is worth it.

Kunoichi x'

Before Ino had the time to rub her eyes to stop the tears from flowing, a stall door to the far right corner opened. The blonde turned away, not wanting the other girl see her like this.. She was Yamanaka Ino, the popular girl #2 after all. The other girl turned the water on. Ino was trying her best to dry her tears unnoticed.The tap was turned off.

They stood there, letting the other have the peace they needed. The silence was something comforting and, to them, lasted for a small eternity.

The bathroom door was banged open and the popular girl #1 stepped in.

"Ino, we've been looking all over for you! We need to order the drinks for tonight's party from the upperclassmen during luch break which is – yea, right now. If you want anything to drink you'd better come", Sakura said, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. Her eyes soon found another victim to take her bad mood out on.

"You, newbie, what are you doing here? Get out now when you can run with those chubby legs of yours! Idiot, showing your ugly face around me.. "

Ino felt her heart stop. Was Sakura talking about.. Hinata?

"Ha-hai, Haruno-san" a quiet voice said behind the Kunoichi Beauty. The said blonde turned around – to face her former best friend, her confidant, her – 'Stop! It's in the past. She's over me. I'm over her. This is the way we're meant to be.. apart'. Hinata had been crying: her eyes were puffy and red and there still were tears streaking down her cheeks.

'This is how you wanted it, Ino, remember it. Don't pity her. Don't love her. You don't want to know how she looked when she read your note..'

1267 words. I'd appreciate if you told me what you think.