Chapter 9: Karate catastrophe.
The silence fell upon the class again. Suigetsu stared at Hinata like he didn't believe it. She stared back as emotionless as possible. But she has never been good at having a straight face. Hinata has always been the warm sun in the stone hard mansion she used to live in.
Suigetsu snorted and looked away. Hinata almost gasped. She had never won a staring competition before. "We already know you're a Hyuga. None of them is an orphan, so don't come here and claim that you-" he said, but stopped when Hinata walked away from him and towards the desks.
"You're right. I said 'practically'," she mumbled and hid her face in the shadow of her bangs. But on the inside, she truly wished to be parentless than being Hiashi Hyuga's daughter. She couldn't protect the secret about what kind of family she came from, but she had to protect the other two; that he was the next head of the family and the sport. The difference is that it is illegal to spoil those secrets.
Suigetsu chuckled. "The only one close to that would be the heir to the company," he continued. Hinata wasn't even sure if it was her he talked to. "Since his father, the head, works a lot and his mother is dead."
That made Hinata stop her track. Sasuke had respected her mother, that's why it didn't hurt to talk about her with him. But when this guy, this rude and disrespectful guy, spit at her beloved mother's grave like that... it made Hinata fry.
Yukiko Hyuga... the mother of Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga and wife of Hiashi Hyuga...
Normal citizens didn't know that it was an heiress instead of an heir. That was to keep Hinata's identity a secret. It was people out there who wanted her dead, just make up for a los the Hyuga clan had forced upon them... often the lives of people they held dear.
Hinata's nails made her palm bleed again. She still got the courage to defend her mother, but this time she wasn't allowed to do so. 'No one must know... who I really am...' She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked at the person. He stood faced to Suigetsu behind her.
"Leave it," Sasuke said coldly and loud. "It's Hinata's family you're talking about. She knew that woman... and so did I."
Hinata couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sasuke Uchiha claim to be friends with a Hyuga... in public. Still, she would never be able thank him enough for helping her right then.
Other pupils surrounding them began to chat loudly about the last sentence which had escaped Sasuke's mouth.
"So?" Suigetsu said and tried to get the attention of the class. "I wouldn't get fooled by a fake sad-face. Just wait until PE-class later; then we'll get to see her real fighting skills." He laughed.
"And why do you think that?" Sasuke asked coldly.
"Because we'll have karate combat today!" Suigetsu said joyfully. Hinata stopped inhaling and her heart stopped beating. "AND WE ALL KNOW," he assigned loudly so no one would miss this information. The chatting stopped. "that Hyugas are crazy fighting addicts. That has been proven way too many times at this school. And now it's her turn." With that he left for his seat with a few other people.
Hinata mumbled small words. Her heart had yet to start beating again. 'Karate combat?! That's way too close. I-I can't... it wouldn't work, I... it will happen all over again... they will... things are going to-' Hinata's thought got cut off by seeing Sasuke signal someone to come over. Then Sasuke stepped backwards and took a look at Hinata. He nodded to her and as he turned around and started walking in front of her, a pair of hands landed on her shoulder and forced her legs to walk. She looked up at the person helping her. Naruto returned her glance. His worried face made her heart start up again.
"Is it true?" he asked all of a sudden, startling Hinata enough to rip her out of the trance of his eyes. "That you feel like an orphan, I mean..." he hesitantly continued. They were walking towards some seats in the back row. Sasuke walked first, then Hinata and Naruto. Back there sat Sakura, Temari, Shikamaru, Choji and Lee. They, too, looked at Hinata with worry, but also confusion. As she passed a few of them, she felt someone touch her hand. She looked down on the pink haired girl with an emotionless face. Sakura smiled a little to her before Sasuke took his seat behind her. Naruto helped Hinata over the empty desk behind Sasuke and sat down beside her again. The dark haired girl looked around her and noticed that she was surrounded by people she knew: Naruto on the left, Sasuke in front, Temari at her right and Lee behind her. This protection made her smile, unaware that a certain blonde was observing her closely from the corner of his eye. But Naruto could never imagine all the happiness behind that little smile.
As the class ended, the eight friends walked down the corridor on their way to PE. It seemed like almost everyone had forgotten the little incident earlier, but Hinata didn't know that all of her friends here was thinking about it. Everyone except Hinata and Sasuke chatted and joked while the two of them walked a little behind so their conversation would be private.
"Do you have a plan, Hyuga? 'Cause I'm blank. There's no way Suigetsu would let you out of it!" Sasuke exclaimed silently.
"I bet he will force me on the mat too..." Hinata whispered.
"No doubt there."
Hinata sighed silently. "I don't know... Does the PE teacher use a flute? If not, we still have a good chance!" Hinata started to get her hopes up.
Sasuke facepalmed. "That's right; if he didn't, we would have nothing to worry about. But unfortunately he does." Both Sasuke and Hinata looked miserable.
"Thank you, Uchiha..." Hinata told him suddenly. "But you don't need to get dragged into this with me. You have nothing to do with it, you know." The last thing she wanted was to get an old friend into trouble.
Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder, making her stop. Then, he narrowed his eyes at her. "It's not about needing. I WANT to help you! I owe you at least that much..." they both started to think back to a moment none of them will ever forget. The moment Sasuke was seven and on a visit at the Hyuga estate when he got told that his whole family was murdered while he was there. Even after ten years, Hinata still thought that she didn't help him at all that day, when he locked himself up and refused to say something. But in reality, that was what had helped him the most, when she had talked to him even if he didn't reply.
"You guys coming?" Choji asked them and they snapped out of the memory. Before them were the doors to the wardrobes and Hinata started shaking.
"What are we going to do?" she pleaded her childhood friend through her teeth.
"I'll try to figure something out." With that, they separated and Hinata walked to the girls. But when she started undressing, she felt a lot of them staring at her.
The heiress looked around confused. "What is it?"
Sakura had the locker beside her and she just gave her a smile while taking off her pants. "No, it's nothing. It's just that we want to know how every part of your body looks like."
Hinata's eyes went wide and she blushed madly. "W-Why w-would you want to d-do that?" 'Isn't that kind of private?' she thought and couldn't believe it.
Temari snorted and rolled her eyes. She wore underclothing only. "Yeah, they did that to me a whole month after I transferred here from Suna. You're not the first one, Hina." She blinked to her, making her feel a little more relaxed.
"Wait. What did you just call her? Her name is Hinata," Ino stated.
Temari shrugged. "Like a nickname, you know. I just thought 'Hinata' is a long name so I shortened it."
Hinata got into her gym cloths and giggled a little. "That's what my sister calls me when she's in a good mood." She smiled warmly of the memory of her baby sister, her voice rapidity saying 'Hina! Hina!' as a little girl.
"So it's okay for you then? To call you just Hina sometimes?" Temari asked her.
"Sure it is! It brings back some nice memories." They left the wardrobes dressed in blue shorts and white t-shirts with a leaf in their back.
"Oh Hinata, here you go," Sakura gave her a rubber band. Hinata gave her a puzzled look. "Trust me, if we have karate today, I promise you would need it."
She thanked her as they walked into the huge gymnastic hall. It was stands, seats, equipment and everything you could ever think of being placed in such a place. It had wooded floor and walls, but in the centre of the floor laid a huge mat. The one they would practice karate at very soon.
Hinata didn't quite realise it at first, but she had stopped walking so Sakura and Temari pushed her to the crowd surrounding the mat. "Come one, Hinata! WALK!" they pleaded her.
As they finally reached the centre, Hinata caught Sasuke's glance. He nodded once, making her almost jump from happiness. He had a plan. Naruto took place beside the new girl and looked at her. "You okay?"
She nodded and blushed lightly for some reason. "Yeah. I was warned about the insults beforehand..."
She noticed Naruto's hand twitch. "And also, you never answered me. Do you really feel like an orphan?"
She pierced her eyes into the floor, avoiding all kinds of eye-contact. It's true that she feel that way deep inside, but on the surface she has duties as the daughter of the Hyuga head. And not everything was pleasant... She sighed and looked up at the blue eyes, but before she could say something, a bouldering voice interrupted the chatter. The lights in the hall got turned off and everyone except Hinata sighed and mumbled "here we go again".
"It's okay Hinata," Naruto whispered in her ear. "It's only our teacher who's making a big entrance as always..." he chuckled. She haven't even realised it had scared her, moreover that she clung to his arm tightly. She released him immediately and blushed madly. 'Thank god the light is off.' "Sorry," she whispered to him.
"It's just fine, really," was his reply. 'Damn it, I was enjoying that,' he thought regretfully.
"AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." Hinata heard a male voice fill the enormous room. Even more student's sighed heavily. "GRAB YOUR SUNGLASSES SO YOU WOULDN'T GET BLINDED BY YOUR TEACHER'S YOUTHFULNESS!" A spotlight flashed over the 'audience' and landed on the training mat. Out from no-where a green creature jumped into the bright light like a rockstar. A guy with shiny, black, bowl haircut, huge eyebrows and a pure green sweat suit stood up with a microphone in his hand. He reminded her so much of Lee. 'Maybe it's his father?' "MIGHTY GAI!" he yelled into the mic, causing a shockwave of sound to fill the room.
When Hinata finally got the hearing back, the only thing that could be heard was the loud cheering from Lee with stars in his eyes. She turned to Naruto who still covered his ears.
"Alright then, my youthful seeds of springtime love; today is karate combat. Because of that we, unfortunately, don't have time to do the heating so line up around the mat," Gai-sensei told them. Hinata looked puzzled while the others started cheering.
"I only understood half of what he just said," she mumbled silently.
"You'll get used to it," Naruto sighed and led her to the mat. "When he is in a good mood, he adds fireworks."
"Okay, listen up!" Gai-sensei announced when all of them had gathered. "Firstly, the one who stole my flute; I want it back. Secondly, I've heard that we have a karate master among us today! Thank you so much, Suigetsu," Gai said and turned to the guilty one who only smirked at Hinata.
'Oh no. He spoke about me to the teacher. What does that mean?!' She would figure soon enough. "No, no, no, no, no..." she whispered and started shaking lightly.
"So could our new classmate, Hinata Hyuga, please step forward to me?" Gai said, glancing over the crowd. Hinata didn't move a muscle. But soon the teacher saw a new face and came running towards her. Hinata panicked, but too late. Gai grabbed her hands and dragged her upon the mat so everyone could see her. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Hinata (who sweat-dropped). "Since you're a master the humanity have never laid their eyes on before; do you mind showing us your youthful dance of karate?" he pleaded her.
Hinata was dumfounded. "Eh... huh... w-wha... eck?" Then she mentally slapped herself. "Eh... W-What makes you think I'm a karate master?"
The bushy-browed teacher hugged her tightly while crying his eyes out. "BECAUSE OF YOUR SURNAME, MY LATE BLOOMER!" he announced. Then he turned serious and looked her straight in the eye. "So do us the honour of showing your greatness by being the first one to fight!" He turned to the other students. "Who wants to fight Hinata Hyuga in combat to test her skills?"
