Chapter 4--Free Fall
Disclaimer: owns nothing…mores the pity
(AN: I had trouble writing the last chapter…although I did enjoy it all the same, the part in the bed made me puke. And I had to suffer the process when all my friends started to think it was lame TT now it's time to see Sasuke back in action!! Thanks for sticking with Sasuke all this time, I appreciate it. On with the story…)
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Every little bit of mistake you do, something good comes out from it
-Kyrik: Silver Trinity (the fallen grave)
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Having another dream which turned out to be more of nightmare, Sasuke's had ached painfully as he received a slash of freezing cold water in his face.
His blue-black hair now stood almost flat on his head. He shivered looking rather affronted. Whoever did this is going to get it!
The Hyuga prodigy stood at the corner of Hinata's bed wearing an expression of utmost satisfaction with one hand holding a wooden bucket and the other on Sasuke's shoulder.
"What the-" he had expected perhaps a more pleasant way of getting him to wake up, rather than this…he was (more or less) soaked. "We're leaving, Uchiha." Neji replied flatly as though he was unworthy enough to be called by his first name.
Sasuke said nothing, glanced at the clock nearby-5:05a.m. He felt his heart sink and settled somewhere above his navel.
"What the hell did you do that for??" Neji raised an eyebrow. Sasuke realized he had just yelled, immediately slowed down to a steadier pace. "Ok, maybe I know I'm her servant, but so what? It's only 5!"
Sasuke knew he had gone too far after having promised to himself never to explode right in front of Neji.
"It is not your choice to decide when to get up…and mind you I did not beg in front of Hiashi to run the Hyuga house-slave network..." Sasuke glared.
"Do you really think I give a damn?" Sasuke retorted obviously losing his coolness. For a moment it had seemed as if he had reached boiling point. "Hm," Neji answered using his usual tone. "We'll deal with this in your punishment list later…now go and get dressed.
Hinata-sama has training to do." he left closing the door gently behind it, while Sasuke would have loved to slam it. A punishment list? What was that supposed to mean? A list of all the crimes he has committed since he set foot in the Hyuga Compound? He felt rather pathetic with himself, but it was a fact. He didn't think he deserved it.
"Right." He muttered under his breath as he hurried to get dressed…
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He forgot mostly what happened the previous night. It was a sensational feeling and as much as he loved it he knew it was impossible that it would happen twice. At least not while Neji's around.
Hinata was waiting at the entrance looking brilliant, as usual, in her kunoichi cloths. She looked bored as she threw the kunai in the air, caught it, whirled it around her fragile fingers then repeated the process over until Sasuke was two feet away from her.
She waved goodbye to Neji and Hinabi before leaving and set off on a steady pace with Sasuke close behind her heels.
Anyone could see how vibrant yet graceful she was. Sasuke was glad she was growing out of her shell. They chatted animatedly on their way about the Chunin exams years ago. Now it was easy to start a conversation without much stuttering and uncertainties.
They stopped in the clearing in which they trained. It was quite and provided a large space for movement. Sasuke began to take charge of the training in matter of time.
"Let's start with simple moves. A couple rounds of aiming. Then the real thing." Hinata didn't mind, so they began. Sasuke backed off into a ninjutsu stance, "Let's say I was an enemy and you can use only kunai and shuriken."
Hinata hesitated, but nodded in agreement and began shifting in her own stance, deciding which would be the best place to start. He used one as an experiment and landed three seconds after Sasuke's foot left.
It was a waste, but nonetheless she could see Sasuke was fast. He let out a smirk (not in an unpleasant way, but rather encouragingly), "Come on, you can do better than that! Running is second nature to me, so try a bit harder."
He bounded onto a tree branch and looked down with his mysteriously blue-black eyes, as he had always done, and ruffled his hair playfully in the wind. He looked as if he was a boy again.
This time Hinata took a different path and hurled 4 this time at his right ankle. Again, she could only stare in amazement at his reflexes as the Uchiha whirled to the left missing the kunai by a millimeter.
She continued and this time almost stabbing the young boy to death by nearly an inch, but he dodged out of the way panting as he did so.
He had to say she improved a lot over the time and he was proud. The move was graceful and nearly nailed him to the branch. He gave a low laugh…the first one in so many months. It was a close one. He leapt down from the tree with ease and stopped to meet Hinata's gaze.
"That one was close. You nearly killed me back there!" He looked approved and Hinata gave a small laugh in reply.
"Now for something, I like. L-Let's climb trees!" Hinata watched Sasuke as his expression turned grave. She knew he was horrible at. He knew it too. In fact, everyone knew it. He was great at leaping up, but climbing was terror. Hinata on the other hand was beaming at him.
"Is there anything w-wrong, Sasuke-kun?" She asked apprehensively.
It's not the time to start chickening out. He thought in despair. No matter how bad you do, you can't lose to a girl, right? "W-What if we fall?" Now it was his turn to stutter.
"We won't?" She gave a response so sure that it was true.
Sasuke just sighed. He swore under his breath, but gave a usual nod in her direction.
Hinata started first and reached the third top branch in exactly 30 seconds, that's when Sasuke began to panic. The fact was—he sucked. Worse.
It was his turn and he easily made it half way like an expert and that's when he started feeling shaky. The view was great, but his stomach felt horrible—as if butterflies flew about.
When he looked up, Hinata was offering a hand to him. And he gratefully took it, feeling so dizzy it was hard for him to stand up at all.
However what was worse. The entire top branch cracked due to the immense of two bodies and Hinata fell soundlessly toward the ground. Her tongue didn't even make any effort to produce an audible sound.
Without hesitating he leapt down after her with more speed than ever. He didn't want anything to happen…at least not to her. He was diving for the ground.
Meanwhile Hinata's heart almost skipped a beat. It was horrifying and seemed to be the longest moment of her life. Her head whirled.
Sasuke grasped onto her waist half-way down and held her down so close and before any of them could realize, they were sprawled together on the ground.
Hinata was still on his chest, her breathing turning into desperate gasps for air. She laid there for what seemed like hours under his iron-like arms. It was nearly impossible to remove them. He was so strong.
Sasuke was up soon after gazing into her eyes (yet again). He held onto her frail body and then slowly laid her on the ground, leaving her to look up at his face innocently.
"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke-nii," she stuttered trying to look away.
"How will I ever forgive myself if anything like that ever happens again?" He glowered at her, and then added. "I'm your guard…remember?"
He got up leaving room for Hinata to crouch up again and breath.
It was getting rather cold, and the clear area provided no shield to the frigid chill in the breeze. Clouds began to curtain the sky and it was only in a matter of time before a short drizzle showered them.
"Shall we call that it for today?" Hinata nodded obediently and allowed Sasuke to help her up.
"Here." he stopped under a tree taking off his own blue Uchiha top handing it to Hinata, who caught it in surprise. "You're practically soaked."
"So are you." She replied raising her eyebrows in curiosity. The shirt was so large and heavy, but dry nevertheless.
"Well…you'll get sick." He recalled, not ready for her response. Now apparently shirtless and feeling rather pathetic, the rain was cold.
"And, so will you." Hinata retaliated.
Sasuke could see no point in arguing, but he didn't want to see Hinata catching a cold sometime later.
"Nah, I'm never sick. I'm an Uchiha!" he bragged, then turned the other way to ruffle his wet hair that stood like a bird's nest above his head and waited patiently for Hinata to change.
"That was an understatement." Hinata mused, but began to take off her own shirt anyway, fitting his blue one squarely over her shoulders. It was surprisingly larger than her own.
"No, more like mind over matter." Sasuke commented, refusing to lose the argument. He let out a low chuckle then swung around to see exactly how bad Hinata looked in his cloths.
Sasuke had to admit, it was large and nearly slipped off her shoulders. But yes, it made her look like an Uchiha.
--Da end--(kidding, seriously not the end of the story…yet)
Special Blah-Blah-Blah #2
Rioku: where the hell did all my cloths go? (they kept on disappearing since I moved in)
Kiritori: oh, I was thinking we were short of cash
Rioku: And…?
Kiritori: well, I thought those lululemon jackets were kinda dashy
Rioku: …
Kiritori: I auctioned them off yesterday :D (now we have $50 of cash)
Rioku: WHAT?!!!? You put them in a pawn shop? TT those were my fav.
AN: I realized how the decline in reviews. I got like 20 on the first chap. IS MY STORY THAT BAD????? Anyways I really need a lot of encouragement to continue updating. So I won't update until I get more than 12 reviews. Cheers! Cya in the next chap.
--Kiritori