"Itachi, what's your problem? I was just hanging out with Sasori!" Hinata yelled as Itachi pushed her into their room. "I don't want you to hang out with him anymore," he said. Hinata half-heartedly glared at him. "Why not?" Itachi rolled his eyes and looked at her condescendingly. "Can't you see that he's flirting with you? I can't stand to see you with someone else."

Hinata huffed and crossed her arms. Itachi leaned down and kissed her. "Don't see Sasori anymore. I'm doing this because I love you." Hinata closed her eyes. "Okay."

This was going to be hard.

-:-

"Deidara. I need to talk to you. It's serious."

"What is it this time?"

"No. Deidara. I'm worried. No, I'm scared. For Hinata."

"What? Why?"

"Just… Come over."

"Alright."

-:-

Deidara arrived within ten minutes. The two sat together at the table. "I haven't had sex with someone in the past two days." Deidara gasped. "It's that serious?" Sasori nodded grimly.

"So. The other day, I was with Hinata at the café. We really clicked, you know? Like old times. But then, Itachi comes in and makes a big shit about her being with me, and then the two go home. It was the weirdest thing." Deidara nodded, even though Sasori was speaking incredibly fast.

"But then, I chased after them. I mean, it was totally okay for me to hang out with Hinata, right? But when I went after them, Hinata looked at me. She looked at me and told me with her eyes not to chase them. It was heartbreaking, Deidara. I couldn't comprehend what I saw, so I avoided sex for the past two days to try and configure it. And this is what I came up with." Sasori paused dramatically and unnecessarily. Deidara nodded.

"Itachi is abusing Hinata."

Deidara stared blankly at him. "What?"

Sasori bit his lip to gather his thoughts.

"When she looked at me, Deidara, she was scared. Fear should never exist in a relationship." Deidara couldn't help but be somewhat proud of Sasori's newfound morals. "I need to help her. I need to tell her what's happening."

Deidara didn't know what to say. He's never dealt with this before. "I think you need to find help for Hinata." Sasori looked at Deidara like the answer was obvious. "Deidara, I'm the help. I'm the one who's going to save her."

Deidara shook his head. "Sasori, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before. You don't know what you're doing. You're ill-equipped." Sasori wouldn't hear it. "I know what I'm doing, Deidara. I'm going to save Hinata from Itachi and she'll fall in love with me, and then everything will be okay." Perhaps he was wrong to have been proud of Sasori's 'newfound morals.' "Sasori, please. You might be putting Hinata in more danger – if she's in any danger at all."

He stopped Sasori at the door. "Please, Sasori. I'm worried now, too. Just take this slowly, alright?" Sasori frowned, clearly disturbed by everything. "What should I do, then? I don't want to wait until he hits her." Deidara bit his lip. "I… I don't know."

There was a pause.

Sasori walked out the door.

-:-

He didn't go to Hinata's right away. He went out in search of a computer.

Deidara was right. He didn't know what to do. The best thing to do is inform himself about what was going on.

He needed to know the causes. The signs.

The red flags.

He was able to pull up a few of them in the library.

When your partner is rude or inconsiderate…

Jealous of the time you spend with family or friends…

Don't respect your right to make your own decisions…

rushes the relationship…

makes you jealous or insecure…

ever raises a hand to you or actually hits you…

Sasori felt like throwing up.

The website said that the thing to do was to convince the person to leave their abusive partner.

How was he supposed to pull that off? Hinata seemed almost hell-bent on being with Itachi.

Now he felt as if he were going to yell.

I need to get her alone again.

"N… No, Sasori. I really can't. I… I have plans that day."

"Please, Hinata. It's urgent."

"I shouldn't – I can't. I'm sorry."

"Hinata. It's for you. I need to talk to you soon. Today. Now."

Hinata was silent. Her voice was brought down to a whisper.

"… I'll meet you at the park before first period."

Sasori breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, good."

-:-

Sasori saw Hinata sitting in the unnoticeable bench in the corner of the courtyard. She looked terrible. Her eyes were shifty, her arms and legs fidgeting nervously – he was almost afraid that he was too late.

Slowly, he sat next to her, as if the slightest movement would break her.

However, the minute he got comfortable, the air of fear left her, and she talked to him normally again. It scared him.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked. Sasori bit his lip. "I… think you should break up with him." Hinata looked downward. "… With who?"

Sasori scoffed. "The Pope. Obviously." Hinata laughed weakly. "I can't do that. He… He loves me. And I… I love… him." Sasori couldn't believe that. He huffed and sat back into the bench. "I can't believe you call that love." Hinata stared at him, offended. "What do you mean?" She asked, her voice rising slightly.

Sasori folded his arms and spoke in a hush tone. "He finds you, wherever you are, and takes you back home. He grabs you. He doesn't let you spend time with me – your friend." Hinata shook her head. "He does that because he gets jealous easily. It means he loves me, Sasori. Why can't you understand that?"

"Why can't he understand that we were just having coffee together? Why isn't that okay with him?"

"He's jealous!"

"You broke it off with me, he should know that. You'd never cheat on him. Would he ever cheat on you?"

"No! God, Sasori, you're being such a dick!"

"Can't you see that he's controlling you?"

"He is not! I can do whatever I want! I just… want to spend time with him a lot."

Sasori stood up and scratched his head. This whole situation was turning into horse shit. Hinata was so stubborn about the wrong things. "I can't believe this. You could have told me that you didn't want to have coffee with me." Hinata shook her head. She hunched over and ran a hand through her hair. "I… I wanted to have coffee with you, Sasori." She bit her lip and let one tear fall down her face. Sasori looked at her. "Then why did you go with him? Why couldn't you have explained to him that we were on a friend date?"

Hinata stayed silent. Sasori began to walk away.

"I don't know what to do, okay?" she yelled at him. He stopped and turned around to face her.

"Break up with him, Hinata. You don't need him."

Hinata just stood there as the first bell rang.

-:-

Hinata spent the next few weeks pondering what Sasori said to her. Perhaps she did rush things. Perhaps it was better if she did break up with Itachi. Every day she believed that more and more, but something was stopping her. What, though?

She ran into Deidara in between classes. It was a relief to her – she hadn't seen him in ages, and she was in need of her gay best friend's words of wisdom.

Itachi knows he's gay, right? It shouldn't be a problem to him, she found herself thinking.

"How are you, Hinata?" Deidara asked, his look oddly worried. Hinata smiled a little and said, "I'm okay. You? How're you and Tobi?" Deidara half-heartedly returned her smile and said, "We're great. I really like him. How's… Itachi…?" He said Itachi's name as if it were a swear word. Hinata bit her lip. "He's… alright."

It was silent then. Deidara suddenly pulled her into a hug. "I miss you, Hinata. Sasori's especially annoying – talking shit about Itachi or talking about you – I absolutely hate it!" Hinata laughed loudly. She hadn't felt like this in a while. She hugged him back, tightly. Deidara smiled. "Sasori hasn't had sex for the past two weeks. Can you believe that?" Hinata's jaw dropped. "Really? Wow. That's new." Deidara nodded. "We need you back in our lives. It's just too boring without you."

They stayed in a hug for a while longer, enjoying the feeling of what existed before everything started. The simplicity of their friendship, their problems, their cares – the feeling filled her up. She began to cry. Deidara, all-knowing as he was, only held her tighter. Hinata sobbed uncontrollably. "I… I don't know what to do, Deidara. Everything's suddenly so…" Deidara hushed her and kissed her forehead.

"Leave him, Hinata." That was all Hinata needed to hear. Just leave him. No anger, no spite. It was as if Deidara was giving her the option to leave Itachi.

She made up her mind. She would do it tonight.

-:-

Her palms were sweaty. She was shaking all over. Her stomach was doing flips and knots. She walked into the dorm, unable to comprehend the fear she felt.

It was dark, except for the lamp in the corner. It took her a minute to notice Itachi sitting next to it, the light was so dim. She gulped. The atmosphere was heavy, and Itachi stared at her.

"Where were you today between third and fourth period?" he asked, his voice deep and threatening. Hinata closed her eyes. "I was going to class." She answered honestly. Itachi scoffed, sending another chill of fear down her spine. Was she always this afraid around him? Why should she be? What was happening?

"Don't lie." He walked up to her and grabbed her arm. "I saw you." It took her a moment to realize that he was talking about Deidara. "O-Oh. W-Well, I ran into D-Deidara, so we t-talked for a little while…" Itachi squeezed harder on her arm. She winced. He shook her. "What did he say to you?" he demanded, squeezing her arm tight enough to bruise a little. Hinata forced herself to ignore it.

Break up with him, she repeated in her head. Just break it off, before this gets too far. That voice faded to the back of her head as Itachi stared into her.

"He asked how I was," she said with surprising fluency. "I said fine, and that was it."

Itachi growled. He raised his fist, and Hinata closed her eyes, bracing herself.

He hit her left cheek.

She fell to the ground, but immediately tried to get back up.

"I said not to lie."

She sobbed then – she didn't know what he was talking about. She didn't know what he wanted her to say.

"I saw him. He kissed you."

"On the forehead!" Hinata managed to say. He slapped her, and she stumbled back into a wall. He pinned her down. "Don't talk back to me. You need to be punished. Why would you betray me like that?" He was doing it again- squeezing her arm.

His voice suddenly became smooth. "I'm sorry, Hinata," he said softly, "You deserve this. I do this because I love you." He caressed her bruised arm, cooing softly into her ear. He could smell her fear.

I deserve this? Her heart was pumping. She felt him pull and push her onto the couch. "You're all bruised up," he said, as if he needed to point it out. "Tell everyone you fell – it was dark when you came home." She could only nod as he walked away.

She cried. She lay there on the couch and cried herself to sleep.

-:-

Sorry if that was a bit intense. Or weird.