Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to Sachiko Heiwajima, NeverInUrWildestDreams, MuffinMan9223, wolf-enzeru, Kibachow, Tamani, oCloudNine, kichisaburo, CrimsonNight41, lilshadow lover, Dani Stark, and stasoft for all your wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this to their favorites and follows lists - I love seeing new alerts in my e-box!

Author's Note: And finally we reach the chapter with the most SasuHina interaction yet! Eek, I'm so excited about this chapter, so I'll just let you all dive right in. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!


*~Chapter VII~*

~Research~


Over the course of the weekend, Sasuke managed to gather up enough courage to revisit the library on Monday. Again, he came in at the very beginning of the slump hours between one and five, his trusty cap pulled firmly down over his eyes, soft-soled shoes on his feet, and the collar of his baggy jacket pulled up past his jawline.

As he skulked past the (thankfully empty) desk by the entrance, a brightly-colored poster caught his eye. Sasuke almost passed it up before he noticed it; doing a double take, he found himself staring at a blown-up picture from the back of his novels, accompanied by an advertisement (in ridiculously large letters) about his appearances at the library for the next three Wednesdays.

It was enough to make him tempted to turn around, walk right out of the library, then return to his home to call Jiraiya and cancel.

But Sasuke knew he'd been enough of a coward recently. He'd come to the library to do research for his next book, and he wasn't leaving until he'd found enough good material to at least partially construct a plot outline. If he could do that, he could stay away from the library until his first official appearance Wednesday.

He would wait to see how that went before he decided for sure to come back for further research, or to go for the Naruto option.

Sasuke heard the soft sound of books sliding against shelves down the Romance aisle, and schlepped past quickly before ducking down Nonfiction. He remembered exactly where the supernatural books were from his last visit, so it didn't take him long to pull down the most promising ones, and a few more besides.

Then he returned to his corner and settled in, books stacked neatly beside him, fully-charged laptop balanced across his legs. Cradling each book in turn in his left hand, he scanned them and typed with his right any time something sparked even a hint of stimulation.

Like a blanket, the comfortable weight of inspiration settled on his shoulders. He smiled as he read and typed, feeling ideas stirring and starting to link together. The ideas were still relatively small, all things considered, but they were a start. And, at least for now, it would be enough to get the creative juices flowing.

The sound of his name being spoken jarred Sasuke out of his groove. He froze, eyes peeking out from beneath the bill of his cap, wondering if someone had spotted him. But when he didn't see shoes and legs in front of him, and the voice spoke again at a distance, he realized it was someone speaking to the librarian at the front of the building.

"Does he really look like that in real life?" The voice was female, slightly high-pitched, and nothing at all like he imagined a fan of his books would sound.

A familiar voice replied - the same librarian who had startled him on his last visit. "I don't know. I've never actually met the man. But he does look rather macabre, doesn't he?"

The picture on the dust jackets hadn't been Sasuke's idea. Jiraiya had seen the sheathed katana over the mantle of the fireplace in Sasuke's living room, and he'd immediately come up with the idea of Sasuke standing in front of a blood-splattered white wall, the katana draped over his shoulders, blood spattering his clothes and face and everything else. He hadn't liked the idea from the beginning - even less so once he saw the picture - but Jiraiya assured him it would be a good selling point.

Sometimes Sasuke found himself holding one of his books, staring at the author picture, trying to find a trace of himself somewhere in the grotesque figure grinning back at him.

He had yet to do so.

"Maybe a little," the higher-pitched voice said, drawing Sasuke's attention back to the conversation at the front of the library. "So he's going to be here, then? The next three Wednesdays?"

"Yes. This Wednesday is a meet and greet, the next is a discussion of his books, and the last is a book signing. Would you like me to sign you up to be present for one or all of them?" The librarian sounded so cool and professional.

"Yes, please." The other woman's voice had too much breathiness and excitement for her to sound cool or professional. "I'll see you Wednesday, okay, Hinata?"

"I've got you signed up. You're lucky - there are only five spaces left. See you then, Sakura."

Hinata. So he finally had a name for the librarian. From what little he'd seen of her the other day, it seemed to fit.

Shaking his head to free himself from his irrelevent musings, Sasuke turned back to his research. He had a job to do, and not a whole lot of time in which to do it. He'd best get busy and take advantage of what time he had.


Those creepy red eyes in the poster behind her bored holes into her back. Hinata could almost stake money on the possibility that if she turned around, she'd catch them blinking at her.

The fine hair on the back of her neck prickled uncomfortably. Hinata shifted in her seat for the third time in as many minutes. I wish I'd scattered out my reshelving duties instead of doing it all at once. But who could blame me for wanting to stay away from that creepy poster? He looks like he's going to step out and slaughter me right here at the desk.

Quiet enveloped the library since Sakura left. Even Tsunade, sequestered in her office, was quiet for once. Hinata had found her boss's gloating over securing three appearances for Sasuke amusing until the blonde came out with the huge poster of the image from the back of the man's books.

A clunking sound from her right alerted Hinata something had just been dropped in the overnight returns. Cheered at the thought of being able to get out of the poster's sightline, even for a moment, Hinata popped to her feet and hurried over to lift the lid of the big metal bin. She bent to pull out the three books lying at the bottom.

When Hinata got a glimpse of the titles of two and the back cover of the other, she nearly dropped them again. Uchiha's books! Of course. The library, although of a modest size, still had almost ten thousand books from which to choose. But the most popular ones to be checked out by a landslide? Uchiha Sasuke's books.

Quietly grinding her teeth, Hinata quickly checked the books in and half-tossed them on the cart to be returned to the shelf later. It seemed like no matter where in the library she went, she couldn't escape the man and his creepy eyes!

Taking another sip of tea from the bottle she hid under the desk, Hinata glanced at her watch and wished it was closer to quitting time. Not only did she still have a million last-minute wedding details to help Tenten with, she still wasn't sure how to convince her father moving Hanabi in with her was a very bad idea. Add to that Tsunade had called all hands on deck for Wednesday night for Sasuke's first appearance, she felt like her plate was overloaded and getting ready to spill.

It would be very messy indeed when it did.

Over the next hour, only three people came in: a teenage boy who wanted reference materials for a summer class he was taking; a middle-aged man wanting a stack of mystery novels; and an elderly woman...

"Excuse me, dearie. But I can't seem to find the books I'm looking for."

Hinata looked up from her computer screen at Chiyo, a new resident who had just moved to Konoha a few weeks before. "I'll come help you look," she said promptly. Relishing the temporary freedom from the Uchiha poster's glaring eyes, she rounded the desk and followed the surprisingly spry old woman to the supernatural nonfiction section.

"Here, see?" Chiyo pointed to several empty slots on the shelf. "All three books I'm looking for aren't there. Are they checked out?"

Besides the three Chiyo was looking for, Hinata noticed six more besides that weren't where they belonged. "I don't remember anyone checking them out, but if you'll please give me a moment, I'll go check." She went back to the desk and did a quick search of the list of checked-out items, wondering if the other woman who worked at the library on Hinata's days off had checked them out to someone.

Nothing. According to the computer, all nine books should still be on the shelf.

"Just a moment, please!" Hinata called to Chiyo, not worried about raising her voice since the two of them were the only ones in the main part of the library. She checked under her desk, on all the reshelving carts, on the shelf where they kept holds, and even popped back to the office to see if Tsunade had pulled them for some reason.

Nothing. The books had simply vanished.

A chill rushed down her spine. Hinata felt she was firmly rooted in reality and didn't believe in ghosts (or vampires, or werewolves, or any other supernatural nonsense), but the fact nine books on the supernatural had disappeared right from beneath her nose gave her a very strange feeling.

She glared up at the spooky poster of Uchiha and planted her hands on her hips. "This is all your fault," she muttered. Returning to the aisle where Chiyo still patiently waited as she browsed, Hinata said, "I'm so sorry about that. It appears the books are missing, but if you like, as soon as we find them I can give you a call. I'll place a hold on them, too, to make sure you're the first one to get them as soon as they're found."

Holding up the stack of books cradled in her left arm, Chiyo smiled warmly and said, "No hurry, dear. I have plenty here to keep me occupied till then, but I appreciate your trying so hard to find them."

After (properly) checking out the books Chiyo wanted and wishing her a good day, Hinata fisted her hands on her hips again and looked around what part of the library she could see. The books had to be in the building somewhere. They couldn't have grown legs and walked out of the building, and she knew no one could have carried them out without her knowing about it.

Or at least she was ninety-nine percent certain they hadn't.

Shiho hadn't been working at the library long, so it was possible she'd placed the books on the wrong shelf. Hinata determinedly moved from behind the desk and went to scan the shelves, looking for the missing nine books, as well as anything else which wasn't in the right place.

All the gaps she found belonged to books she knew for sure where checked out - either because she remembered checking them out for people or she'd seen them on the list earlier. Humming softly under her breath, Hinata ran her finger along the edges of the shelves as she searched. The library had had occasional problems with theft in the past, but not such a large quantity. And not on Hinata's watch.

While Hinata perused the romance shelves, her friend Aburame Shino came in to pick up the holds he'd placed over the weekend. She checked the stack of bug books out, then chatted with him for a few minutes before he left and she resumed her search.

Come out, come out, wherever you are, she mentally sang, beginning to feel her eyes cross. She'd been hoping the books were reshelved in the adult section, but she only had two more aisles to search there. If they didn't turn up, she'd have to look in the children/young adults section, and there was less than an hour to go until the library got busy again at five. Undoubtedly she wouldn't have another chance to look until after it closed at eight.

She didn't like the idea of staying late, but she would do it to make sure the books were found. Frowning, Hinata rounded the corner-

-And startled at the sight of the same capped figure she'd seen at the library last week. "Hey!" she cried involuntarily.

The boy jumped, dropping the stack of books he'd been precariously cradling in his left arm as he reached up to put the one in his right hand on the shelf. As they tumbled to the floor, Hinata caught the sight of several of the titles:

They all matched the missing books, and she realized she stood at the head of the supernatural aisle.

"It was you!" Hinata slammed her hands onto her hips and strode down the aisle toward the boy, who backed up a few hasty steps as she approached. "A patron came in earlier today looking for several of those books, and I've spent the last two hours trying to find those, and the rest!" She jabbed her finger at the books scattered at her feet.

Tugging at the brim of his cap, the man (for the deep voice that came out of his mouth couldn't possibly belong to a boy as she first thought) said, "I'm sorry. I was just sitting back here where it's quiet doing some reading. I didn't mean to make you go to so much extra work." He pulled at his cap again, then knelt and started hurriedly gathering up the books he'd dropped.

Hinata gathered handfuls of her colorful broomstick skirt and knelt across from him. "It's all right," she said, feeling her temper cool. Shiho hadn't shelved them wrong, and they hadn't been stolen. She'd caught this man in the process of putting them back, and he acted apologetic rather than belligerent, so she felt badly about going off on him. "I'm sorry I blew up at you like that. It's been - something of a stressful week, I guess you could say."

Tucking another book on top of the stack on his arm, the stranger said from beneath the bill of his cap, "But the week just started."

"Yes, I know. But things from the last one carried over into this." Picking up the last book, Hinata rose and reached up to start sorting out the ones Chiyo wanted. "It's still no excuse for going off on you like that."

When he didn't respond, she glanced over to find him staring at the hem of her skirt. Blushing, she twitched it and instinctively tucked her left foot behind her right, knowing he must have gotten a glimpse of what she always tried so hard to hide when she knelt or stood. Turning away, she pressed her lips together tightly and went back to her job, holding out another of the three Chiyo had been looking for. Stop staring at me, stop staring at me, stop staring at me...

She sensed him move, and heard the soft thunk of books on the shelf as he took care of his stack. "I'm sorry about that," he said again. "I- I'll let you know if I pull down any more, okay?"

Hinata nodded. "I appreciate it. Did you want me to check out any books for you? Another patron wants these three, but the others should be available if you want to take them home." And then she wouldn't have to worry about any more vanishing, and then reappearing.

Tugging at the brim of his cap yet again, the man shook his head. "No thanks." He hitched his shoulder as if to hide his profile from her as he slid past her and headed toward the door. "Have a good evening, Hinata."

She trailed him as far as the front desk. "You too!" she called. Setting down the bottom two books, she swiped the first one under the scanner and reached for the mouse to click the "hold" option which popped up.

Then promptly dropped the book when she realized the stranger had called her by name as he left - and she'd forgotten to put on her name tag this morning as she left home. Jerking her head up to look at the closed door, she clutched the edge of the desk and wondered breathlessly, Just who are you?

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: Eek, I've been waiting to get to this chapter! The most SasuHina interaction yet - and I promise it just grows from here. I had such fun writing their encounter, and what could Sasuke have possibly spotted on Hinata's ankle, hmm? I promise you'll find out soon - in the next chapter, as a matter of fact! A few people have voiced curiosity about Naruto and what he does for a living - he's not a writer, too, but since it won't be too long before you find out, I'll give you a clue: He works in the family business. I don't want to give out too big a spoiler, so I'll leave it at that for now. I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween, thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you all agian for next week's update!