Chapter 4: Secrets

She moved her glance to the space between Neji and Naruto. She could feel the back of her eyes burn with tears, but she refused to let them out. "Nothing that matters. We can talk about it later." Hinata began to feel very uneasy with all the attention Neji didn't seem to notice. He was about to fire another question but Naruto interrupted him.

"Hinata? What's wrong?" he asked her a little worried. She did her best to replace her face back to normal as she looked up at him. She smiled her fake smile, but for some reason it was harder to pretend when it was Naruto. She never had trouble with that back at the estate. "I'm fine, it's just old memories. Neji and I used to have homeschooling together before he moved. I haven't seen him since." Hinata purposely avoided telling him Neji and her were cosines, in case that would lead him to the conclusion of who she is. Of course, Hinata couldn't be sure whatever or not Naruto knew Neji was a Hyuga, but better not take any chances.

Neji then received an unpleasant thought. He shook Hinata lightly so she would focus on him. When she did, Neji asked a little more clam: "You have quitted with it since you moved, right?"

Hinata eyes widened and she hesitated. Her thoughts accelerated around the topic which was extremely forbidden here, outside of the estate. And with all the attention they've gathered the last minutes... it would never turn out good. She knew what Neji meant; the sport she was still forced to continue with even thought she had moved from her family. Her father's one condition... The reason why the citizens of Konoha back away from Hyugas... Even thought they don't even know half of reality around this topic. They only think the Hyugas are crazy, violent fighters or something, but they really have no idea of who they're living so close to. The Hyuga family are famous worldwide for this sport, but there's no reason for citizens of Konoha to brag about how lucky they are to be among the Hyugas in everyday life when they travel to other counties. So that's why they don't know. Hinata didn't want her friends to know about this either. They would look at her differently if they found out about the sport. It's very few people inside of Konoha who knows, and about Hinata's situation; only one outsider. It happen a long time ago and the boy demanded to know how Hinata could turn into... that. Her family didn't want to tell him, but ended up doing it anyway since the boy had a higher rank even at the age of seven. Both Hinata and the boy was the same age when Hinata had beaten him half to death. After he got to know the truth, he had helped Hinata the best he could until the... incident happened.

Then she felt a tear escape, which brought her back to reality. She quickly wiped it away. "Not now, Neji. Later," she told him.

Neji finally understood and stepped back. "Okay, I'll fetch you after school. You can tell me then," he said with an emotionless face. "See you later." He went off to a table filled with seniors without saying more.

Someone poked Hinata in the shoulder and she turned to Naruto. "Shall we go back?" he asked her. She just nodded and followed Naruto back to Sakura and Temari. The two girls looks fired up with thousands of questions for Hinata only as they narrowed their eyes at her. Each of them grabbed one arm and started to drag Hinata out of the cafeteria without a word. The newcomer looked horrified by this but didn't say anything either, just thought it was normal on a public school.

Naruto looked at the trio until the doors slammed behind them. 'Poor Hinata,' Naruto thought worried. 'Don't let them brake you!' he encouraged mentally as he saw Ino rush away right beside him, towards the door. 'Good luck. You'll need it.' He turned and saw almost all of his friends sitting by the table; Lee, Choji, Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba and... Tenten. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. Usually, she would join the other girls when they did this kind of a thing.

"Why aren't you going with Ino?" he asked her.

She gave Naruto a sarcastic look. "Why would I arrange a pop-quiz about the newcomer?" she said, avoiding the question.

Naruto sat down beside her and Lee. "Do you have something against Hinata?" he said out of curiosity.

Tenten snorted and Kiba wanted to participate. "Hey, Naruto. How do you know that babe? She's hot!" he exclaimed and got a sudden lustful expression.

"Kiba," said Shino. "Do not look at her as another female alfa."

Naruto blinked. He hadn't actually thought of Hinata as anything else than a nice, friendly, cute... sky... careful... adorable... and kind girl... His thoughts trailed off as he thought about her looks; her long, dark hair, soft skin, wide lavender eyes and her... 'NO! NO! Don't think like that! Bad Naruto! Don't be such a pervert!' Naruto choked once. "Ehhh... I saved her form a mailbox earlier today," he explained. The others looked stupid at him.

"Neji is one lucky guy," Kiba said disappointed. Naruto saw Tenten's face hardened and she almost squeezed her bottle.

"What do you mean, Kiba?" Naruto asked him confused.

Choji grabbed a bag of chips. "Even I could see that Hinata and Neji have or has something going on," he said and started eating. Tenten practically fried.

"If they ever had a relationship like that, I bet Hinata isn't even a virgin! That's impossible; it's Neji we're talking about," Kiba chuckled. Tenten slammed her fist in the table and left the cafeteria without a word. She didn't even bother to dodge the other students as she walked rapidly fast out of the hall. The pupils made way for her, obviously terrified by her expression.

"What's she so upset about? Her youthfulness is lacking again," Lee said, worried for his best friend as he followed her with his glance.

"Ah... forget about her," Kiba said. "It's just her crush on Neji again. Even more important; where's Sasuke? Naruto, have you seen him?"

Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. Everyone rolled their eyes at him. "Here we go..." Shikamaru whispered lazily.

"You see," Naruto stared and sweat-dropped. "When I followed Hinata to Shizune's office, I wasn't allowed to stay. I tried to explain that I waited for Sasuke but she shoved me out like she would give Hinata a body examination or something!" he exclaimed.

"And what wouldn't I give to see that..." Kiba said and spaced out while drooling a little.

"See what?" asked Sakura behind Kiba. He sat upon one of the chairs' back as Sakura sneaked up on him. He screamed and fell backwards, hitting the floor head first. Naruto burst out laughing and also fell on the ground. His whole body shook as Kiba got up and pointed one finger at Sakura.

"You got to stop hanging so much around Anko-sensei!" Kiba cried at her.

She just rolled her eyes at him. Temari, who still dragged Hinata, came up beside Sakura. Hinata was placed beside Naruto by the table since she only knew him and then the chatter started. Even though Hinata had already been asked skin full about her love life, Kiba found it shockingly interesting and started asking her his creepy questions. Hinata sat world record in blushing, went wide-eyed a lot, face-palmed herself enough times and also hid behind Naruto when Kiba's questions got way too intimate. Everyone seemed to like her a lot when the brake ended. Hinata liked them even more, Kiba too. She had been able to make friends her very first day at a public school. Hinata felt two different feelings; she was proud of herself and she was extremely thankful for Naruto for giving her this chance.

They were the last ones to enter the classroom. Naruto went to his seat while Hinata went over to the nature science teacher, Jiraiya, to get him to sign a paper Shizune had given her. As Naruto sat down he heard Jiraiya laugh his silent pervy-laugh. He looked up and saw Jiraiya eyeing the new student with a somewhat creepy smile. "So... new student, huh?" the perv said and a little nosebleed escaped his nose.

Hinata stood a couple meters away and smiled nervously to him. Not in the way she had done to her new friends, but kind of like she was afraid of him. The room was silent as all of them watched Hinata and waited for the teacher to do what he always does to the newcomers. Hinata started nodding rapidly.

"In that case..." Jiraiya said and searched for something in his desk. "Aha! Come here miss...?" he said and fished after her name.

"Hinata!" she exclaimed and stood straight before hesitantly moving closer to the perv. 'Hinata has probably already figured what was wrong with our nature science teacher,' Naruto thought as he watched the teacher give something to Hinata. Hinata held the package in front of her, not quite catching what it was. Naruto strangled his urge to burst out in laughter. He wasn't the only one; almost all of the students in the front rows practically held their breath. 'I can't believe she got the whole box!' Naruto thought to himself. 'It's usually only one each... Wow, the perv must really find her good looking. Not that she isn't...' He watched Hinata stare at her gift. She glanced over it one more time but this time her eyes widened. Her face went rose red and she looked back at the grinning teacher.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't need it," he said and eyed her with a slight grin. "Condoms never hurt anyway."