Hetze
* * *
Lesson nr. VIII
Inuzuka Kiba slowly walked down the aisle as the bell had went off a little while ago, just wondering around with his hands stuffed into his pockets as he pushed himself through the masses of students. His dark-brown eyes were looking ahead, but his thoughts were somewhere else.
He really wondered if he should go and talk with Kurenai-sensei about the problems her foster child was currently having. She probably knew nothing of it, as Hinata would rather bite her tongue off than bother someone with her troubles, especially now that Kurenai herself was dealing with some heavy stuff. Hinata always thought she could take care of it herself, no one else should have to be troubled with it.
The fact that she was too sweet for her own good wasn't even the main part of his worries. It was the fact that it wasn't solely kindness, but her locking herself away from the people around her as well. Being betrayed by loved ones several times, she had unconsciously built a wall around her tiny form in order to protect herself from other harm.
It was that wall that occupied most of his thoughts as it was getting bigger and bigger with every step Sasuke took into her direction, driving her into a corner all the time and driving her away from people who really meant well.
He wanted to help her.
He wanted to be the one to tear that wall down.
But he realized that he wasn't the right person to do that. Only Hinata herself was able to break the wall around her, she was the only one who could help herself. The only thing he could do, was to support her in that, reaching a hand out to her while she dragged herself out of the dark well.
He realized that it was Hinata herself who would have to tell Kurenai of her problems. He realized that well enough.
But as he thought at her silent form back in class, looking ready to sink away into shadows, he also realized that it would be very difficult for him to wait until Hinata finally saw that she was only helping herself further into a bottomless pit.
He stopped walking when he got to the vending machine, where someone else was currently getting himself a cup of coffee or two.
Yes, it was going to be very difficult to stay silent when he had the words ready for so long already.
* * *
She stayed where she was after the bell had rung, looking at her classmates who left the classroom while chattering happily from the corner of her eye, Kiba's back slowly disappearing into the crowd.
She had seen his slightly hunched form and wondered what he was thinking about. She would ask him later.
Later.
After the talk with the one person Sasuke had forbidden her to speak with. She wondered how angry he would be when he found out.
Ino had slightly squeezed her shoulder, telling her that they all would be waiting on the usual spot should the chat end before break had.
After all the other students were gone, leaving only silence behind, Hinata turned her eyes away from her table and looked as her new teacher suddenly stood up from behind his desk and walked over to her. She sank farther away into her seat in fear for the harsh words that were surely going to fall, as she had behaved really badly this period. What would he think of her now? Was he angry with her? He probably was. Had she been in shoes, she would be, probably. She only hoped he wouldn't tell Kurenai-sens—
"Do you want some coffee as well? I'm gonna get some, so just say it if you want some too, hmm."
Hinata was so taken aback at his question that she didn't saw him slightly scrutinizing her. Here she was, thinking about what kind of extra work he would surely give her. She lightly smiled about what a scaredy-cat she was.
At his slight cough however, she realized she hadn't given an answer and quickly nodded, feeling a bit stupid. "Eh-uhm, y-yes, I would like s-some coffee, p-please." It was when she said it that she realized that she actually preferred tea over coffee, but didn't say it out loud; she would look like an idiot that couldn't decide for herself. Coffee would be fine, coffee wasn't too bad.
He only nodded at her and walked out of the classroom, leaving her with her thoughts and fears. As soon as her chemistry teacher had walked past the room she went to stand next to the door, where no windows had been built in and where Sasuke wouldn't see her from the hallway, if he would be looking for her here.
She felt really paranoid but his words from that morning had never left her thoughts, ghosts of memories haunting her vaguely as most were still unclear; thanks to her suppressing them for so long, they had become inconsistent, like a hundred ghost ships floating on the sea that was called her mind.
The one memory that had become clear and had hit her with the force of lightning though, was his face. His name. His voice. His eyes full of an emotion that she had never seen in him before, just before they closed.
His body lying there.
While the whole event enrolled itself before her eyes yet again the knot in her stomach became so heavy and pressing that she felt the need to puke. Smacking a hand in front of her mouth she tried to calm herself down, but the whole classroom seemed to spin suddenly and the screaming in her head made her want to cry.
And then there was that hand on her shoulder, that hand that felt warm and strong, and a voice.
"You alright, hmm?"
She looked up. Her teacher was standing there, looking at her with a bit of a worried look in his eyes. Her mind went completely still for a moment, and she vaguely nodded. The hand on her shoulder softly pushed her towards a chair. "Sit down. Sit down for a bit, hmm."
She did as she was told. His hand left her shoulder and he went to sit in the chair opposite of her, placing two plastic cups that he had held with one hand on the table in-between them. The place were his hand had been suddenly felt cold.
He coughed. She carefully looked up. He gestured to the cup on the table that was left over, he himself nonchalantly sipping from his fourth cup of coffee that hour. She silently wondered if he was a caffeine-addict as she nodded her head in gratitude and grabbed what was she assumed was coffee, before looking down in surprise when she smelled something else.
"There wasn't any coffee left so I got us tea, hmm," the blonde simply said.
She only nodded again and lifted the cup to her lips, but didn't drink it yet; it was an old habit of her to have something in front of her face, be it her hands or something else. She smiled a little while savoring the smell and the warmth of the tea.
Her teacher leaned back in his comfortable chair and took another sip at the same time she did before he placed the cup on his desk, looking at her for a little while.
"You feeling better now?"
"Yes, th-thank you, sensei." She really did feel better, the aroma of the tea had calmed her senses a bit and she could think more clearly now. The nausea had faded as fast as it had hit her.
He didn't ask any further and for a while they sat there in silence, she sipping from her tea and he thinking. It wasn't one of those uncomfortable silences, but a serene one as outside the birds were chirping and you could hear the rumor of students talking as they were eating lunch outside underneath the Sakura trees, since it was a warm day.
Deidara threw a glance out of the window when particular loud giggling of a couple of girls was heard before he directed himself towards Hinata again and opened his mouth.
"You aren't doing drugs, are you?"
She almost choked on her tea and coughed, before awkwardly swallowing the hot liquor and looking up at him with teary eyes from the sudden heat that passed her throat.
"D-Doing dr..? N-N-NO, I'm—"
"As a teacher, I need to warn you for the dangers of the outer world! Drugs are bad, hmm."
"I-I'm not using a-any drugs..!"
"Alright, alright. Don't worry, I believe you." He winked at her. "Didn't think of you as a junkie to begin with, but I needed to ask just in case, hmm. Standard procedure, y'know." He was bluffing and both knew it. It made her smile.
"Glad to see that smile is back." She looked up, surprised, and he quickly changed the subject before she could inquire him any further. "Hyuga-san, do you detest Chemistry?"
"D-Detest chemistry?" She paused, thinking about the second surprising question of that day in silence before answering him silently. "N-No, I-I don't detest it. I'm just n-not very good with numbers, and.." She stopped herself again, looking up at him in horror. "D-D-Did I g-give that impression?" She suddenly realized that she had probably given off a very uninterested air as she hadn't been paying attention and hadn't even known the answer to any of his questions. She gasped in abhorrence when he stayed silent, assuming he meant exactly that. "Oh, I-I-I am so s-sorry sensei, I-I mean I don't hate your s-subject or a-anything but I—"
He stopped her with one hand, slightly smirking at her helpless expression. "Don't worry, you didn't give me that impression, hmm. Besides," he handed her a paper on which something was scribbled in a handwriting that she knew very well. "—Asuma-san already left me a note to inform me about you, hmm. I was just kidding." His smile grew bigger upon seeing the horror of being joked around with grow on her face.
"Th-That's mean, s-sensei.. Asking a-all those questions.."
Now it was his turn to be surprised at her pouting face, and after a second of silence he burst out laughing. Seeing her rising irritation he only had to laugh louder. When calmed down he wiped a few tears away. "Haa— Sorry, but you looked so gullible that I couldn't help myself, hmm." He leaned forward and reached over the table, giving her a pat on the head.
Her irritation was swept away immediately as she slightly blushed at the gesture and looked away. She really couldn't get his train of thoughts, and she caught herself thinking about what he was thinking about. She wanted to understand this man and his strange antics.
"Asuma-san. You know him better than most of your classmates do, right?"
The question and the tension that came with it caught her off-guard. His voice had turned serious and she slightly nodded, not trusting her own voice enough as tears had hit her suddenly and very heavily. He just sighed. "Alright… I'm sorry I teased you, hmm. Don't you worry, I'm gonna help you as much as I can."
She slightly smiled through her sadness and nodded. "T-Thank you, sensei."
He nodded. "Yeah, well... You can go now, hmm. Just—" He stopped himself before he could ask about her boyfriend. He didn't want to give the impression of being a nosy teacher. He saw that she was patiently waiting for him to continue and he shook his head. "Nothing, hmm. You just go now, and I'll see you in two days."
Her chemistry teacher looked as she hastily stood up from her chair, bowed at him and quickly got her bag before running out of the classroom.
* * *
Closing the door behind him Deidara walked towards the vending machine in a relaxed manner, taking his time as he thought about the Hyuga girl.
He had already noticed the sadness she seemed to be engulfed by, and it stung him to see. He wondered what had happened to the girl for her to look that way, a manner he recognized only in people who had been through a lot. He knew, because he had seen that look all the time when he was a kid.
Halting before the vending machine he rummaged through his pockets to grab some coins and pushed them in before searching the button for coffee when he heard a voice behind him.
"Are you really that nervous sensei, taking so much coffee?"
The blonde turned around with two cups in his hands to meet with that kid from his class, Inuzuka or something. He grinned back. "This is for me and my date, Inuzuka. Nothing for you to worry about, hmm."
The boy turned red at his words as he knew very well who his teacher meant by that and his hands balled into fists, invisible for the eye because they were still hidden in his pockets. The other smirked at this. "Relax, I was joking, eh."
"Yeah, whatever." The boy was still blushing a bit as he looked away, before he realized that he was talking to a teacher and quickly tried to amend his mistake. "Err, what I wanted to ask was, if you could spare Hinata a bit. Please," he added as an after-thought.
The other raised an eyebrow. "Spare her? What do you mean? You think I'm going to give her a week of detention or somethin'? Don't worry Inuzuka, I won't be that mean, hmm."
The dark-haired boy shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Sir." His brown eyes were looking at him in a piercing way, showing that he was quite serious about the matter. "What I meant was, please be careful with her, sensei. With what you say. Around her. She's not made of glass or somethin', but she's been through a lot. Still is." His eyes darkened and he stayed quiet for a moment before he continued. "Most here know about it, but I thought I should tell you."
Deidara wondered what he meant with that. "What? Problems at home or something? Her boyfriend's beating her?"
The meaningful look he was giving didn't go unnoticed and dark eyes narrowed. "I'm not the right person to tell you about that. You'll know soon enough, sensei."
Hn. Seemed like that familiar-looking kid was quite the big boy around here. Tsch, what a bother.
"Anyway." Deidara looked as the kid tried to flow into another subject in a semi-casual way. "You know about Asuma-sensei's situation, right?" When he was answered with a nod he continued. "Hinata's the foster daughter of his girlfriend, Kurenai-sensei. She's a teacher here as well."
Deidara didn't say anything as he remembered the tired-looking woman from before.
Yūhi Kurenai.
Ahh. So, that's how it was.
Asuma-san's girlfriend.
Well, that explained the peculiar revulsion for cigarettes, all right.
"That's about it. The rest you'll find out soon enough." Inuzuka Kiba was already walking away as he turned around for a moment. "Oh, 'nother thing, sensei." He looked meaningfully at the two cups of coffee the blonde was still holding in his hands before he glanced his way.
"Hinata likes tea."
* * *
He glanced at the group of people around a table at the other end of the cafeteria, coal-black eyes searching for the one person that he wanted to see but who wasn't there. His agitation grew with every second she didn't appear in his sight and he thought about going and looking for her, but she was probably somewhere in the library; most probably still hiding from him, he realized with a slight grimace.
As he detested the smell of moldy old books and wanted to give her some time to think about what he had said as well, he continued to eat his lunch. He would find her later on; she knew very well he loved her so she would forgive him for using such harsh words. She always did.
If not, he only needed to let her realize again who had been the one to save her and her family from scandal.
* * *
White eyes carefully looked around to see if there wasn't a certain someone with a handsome face but a snake-like air surrounding him around, and as soon as she saw that the coast was clear she quickly walked towards the cafeteria; Sasuke would leave her alone most of the time when she was with her friends.
She pushed her way through groups of students who had already finished their lunch and were talking animatedly to each other, not paying attention to the small girl who was trying to reach the cafeteria. She had almost made it to the entry when a hand suddenly yanked her away. Scared that it was Sasuke she gave a slight yelp and spun around, only to meet with the ash-grey countenance of her Homeroom teacher and caretaker.
"Hinata." Kurenai looked sickly pale and the skin around her eyes were smudged by tears mixed with mascara, but it was the look she had in them that scared Hinata the most. Disbelief together with abhorrence were swimming in her red orbs, and the girl thought that her teacher looked ready to pass out.
"I need to go to the hospital right now. It's Asuma."
Hinata slightly nodded, too scared to really say anything yet. Kurenai gave her a watery smile that didn't reach her eyes and patted her lightly on the shoulder. The girl could feel the trembling of her warm hands through the fabric of her uniform.
"I most probably won't be coming home tonight, but you'll take good care of yourself, right? And if not, you'll call me, okay?" Again, she nodded, this time speaking up. "I will.. But p-promise me you take good c-care of yourself as well, K-Kurenai-san."
The older woman gave her a tight hug before wiping the tears away with a napkin and smiling again. Hinata thought that she didn't need to try her best at smiling when she was obviously in so much despair, but realized that was what she herself always did as well when trying to comfort people. So she only said her goodbyes in a soft voice and watched as Kurenai-sensei was taken away by Umino-sensei towards the exit, she slightly waving at her and he giving her a wink before both turned the corner and were gone from her sight.
Other people glanced at her in their passing-by as she just stayed where she was, looking dazedly to where Kurenai-san had disappeared.
The headache was back again.
-
End Of Lesson Nr. VIII
* * *
A/N: I graduated. 8D ZOMG, I'm actually finished with High School! That means no more Math, no more Latin, and no more Physics. \(*,*)/ Hell yeah.
Thank you all for the reviews, especially those of you who showed your support for my uncle and wished him well. That was really sweet and for that you all have my gratitude! n_n He's in a so-so situation right now, not feeling exactly at his best, but not horrible either. It's difficult since they don't exactly know how long he still has, but until that day comes we continue to hope for the best.
As for this chapter… well, nothing much, except for moar DeiXHina quality time, sorry.. u_u; Sasuke's being the possessive a**hole, as always, but please pay attention to what he said (no, not that he doesn't like old books), since it's going to play an important role in the rest of this story.
I know that things aren't going very fast, but I didn't want to make it a story in which the two main characters fall in love at first sight (well, alright, alright. I meant, "don't take it to the next level in the first chapter." xD) and the rest of the chapters an "Oh! My darrrling, I miss you so much that I'm afraid my heart will explode the seconds you're not here, in my arms." "I know my dearest, I cannot stand not being near you. Now, kiss me." story.
… *has read too much Jane Austen*
Anyways. I'll be hopefully seeing you in chapter nine. ;)
