Wow. Reviews already? It's been only half a day Oo. I love you guys :D.
EDIT 26/05/08: Thanks for the reviews so far guys, but I just re-read my own writing, and I realized that my writing was ATROCIOUS. My god I made like a zillion typos. That's what I get for writing at like three in the morning.
--
"Neji-nii-san…" she said, removing her bag for her cousin, "Oh, you can sit there…"
She wasn't in the mood for Neji's criticism, and she was somewhat relieved to know that he didn't have any as he sat down.
"Who were you saving that seat for?" Neji asked. Hinata sighed; she knew Neji didn't approve of Kiba.
Even to the baseball game, Neji was dressed in his school uniform. His School Captain badge gleamed in the sun. His hair was nice and shiny and tied back. He was also much taller than Hinata.
"I-I was saving it for N-Naruto-kun," Hinata lied, Neji looked around at her.
"Let me guess, he chose not to show up?" he said, giving Hinata his little lol-I'm-better-than-you smirk. This little facial expression scared Hinata.
"N-no… he's playing!"
"Oh really, I didn't see him,"
"H-he's on the outfield,"
"OH, he was the one who hit Lee during the field segment. Heh, I don't know what Tenten's thinking saying that this is Konoha's best season. Personally, I don't care, sports are a waste of time for me,"
"I-if you don't like sports, why are you here," Hinata asked. Neji snorted.
"Tenten. I don't know WHY she wanted to commentate, she's ruining her reputation doing this,"
"O-oh, but she's good a-at this. She's really tomboy-ish, isn't she?" Hinata asked. Neji shrugged.
"I don't know, but she looks stunning in a dress. You'll see her at the prom, she's my partner,"
Hinata paid no attention to the game going on below, her cousin had brought up the prom. She didn't want to discuss that with anyone. Least of all, her cousin. While they were talking, batter number two AND Shikamaru both got out, even though batter two did hit the ball, only Shikamaru didn't run off first base, and then they both ended up there, and both got out. Tenten was screaming with outrage, and even though Neji twitched every time she said "OOOOOOOOOOH", Hinata didn't notice.
"AND NEXT UP, WE HAVE OUR RISING STAR, SUBAKU NO GAARA! OOOOH, IT'S A PITY THE BASES AIN'T LOADED, BECAUSE SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT THIS GUY COULD SAVE KONOHA!"
Hinata tried to ignore Neji as she watched Gaara step up to the plate. The only thing was, this was Neji, and she never was that good at ignoring him.
"That kid is your roommate right why d-,"
Neji kept talking, as always. He was good at that, talking. Thankfully, he was cut off by Gaara hitting the ball. Hitting it hard. So hard it flew right past the diamond, far out into the outfield. The fielders ran out to get the ball, but too slow!
"HOME RUNNNNNNNNNNN," Tenten screamed, "SUBAKU NO GAARA HITS A HOMERUN! WOW, I SURE WIN ALL MY BETS, THIS TOTALLY NEW SUNA KID HAS GOT KONOHA THE WIN! GEE, I'M GOING TO MOVE TO SUNA BEFORE I LEARN HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL, BECAUSE THIS GUY MAKES IT LOOK SO EASY!"
Hinata didn't care about embarrassing herself in front of her cousin anymore; she stood up and stomped her foot and clapped for Gaara, just like the rest of the stadium, as Gaara touched home plate in such a cool way. Even Neji was leaning over to watch him. It was so strange how Gaara was so quiet; yet he had so much skill on the field.
"That guy," said Neji as Hinata sat back down, "He's your roommate, isn't he?"
"Yes! He is, I'm so proud of him!" Hinata practically shouted at him.
"Ever considered asking him to the prom?" he asked, Hinata let her face fall. The prom again. She shook her head.
"Gaara's a good friend Neji-nii-san, b-but, not my idea of a prom date,"
"I hear he's pretty intelligent," Neji added, Hinata shook her head frantically.
"He's really nice, but I'm not interested in him in that way, OKAY!"
WHY did he always get the answers out of her? Why had she just told him that? What if he told Gaara? Why couldn't Hinata just keep her mouth closed; and just block Neji.
Neji's reaction was very delayed. He gave a quiet "Oh," and then sighed.
"As long as you're not going with that Inuzuka boy," Neji said firmly. Hinata looked away from him. Did he have to bring all of this up? Sometimes, she just hated her cousin.
"He's going w-with Ino Y-Yamanaka,"
"Her?" Neji shriveled up his nose, "She thinks that I'm going out with her "4eva,", I believe it was her that stuck that note in my locker on valentines day. She's the Cheerleading captain, right?"
"S-She was, b-but she broke her wrist. I think she's still the captain, but s-she isn't cheerleading now,"
"Serves her right, but how on earth can she be cheerleading captain if she's not actually cheerleading" spat Neji
"I-I don't know…" Hinata muttered. So, Neji disliked Ino as well. But Hinata knew that Neji wouldn't help get Kiba back; because he disliked Kiba too.
"Inuzuka and Yamanaka," Neji droned on sarcastically, "What a perfect couple,"
Hinata went back to ignore-Neji mode. Well, try-to-ignore-Neji-mode. She focused back on Tenten.
"NEXT UP IS MEANT TO BE UCHIHA, BUT APPARENTLY HE IS STILL BANNED, BUT HIS DISMISSAL DOESN'T COUNT AS AN OUT; SO KONOHA ARE STILL IN IT TO WIN IT! SUBAKU HAS EVENED THE SCORES, BUT KONOHA NEEDS ANOTHER RUN TO WIN….. WE HAVE HIKO NOW!
"Hey, come to think of it, weren't you going to try out for the cheerleading team, Hinata?" Neji asked, Hinata sighed.
"Y-Yes, I was… but I-I got r-rejected,"
Well, Hinata didn't see what came next coming. Neji grabbed her wrist hard and turned her to face him. Very fast. Hinata put her other hand on top of his, attempting to loosen his grip.
"W-What?!" she squeaked, he looked into her eyes, but this time, he wasn't smirking. He looked truly angry with her.
"Did you just say you got rejected?"
Hinata's eyes widened. She looked into her cousins sharp gaze, wondering what had set him off all of a sudden. Neji gave her a little shake.
"Huh? Did you just say that you got REJECTED?"
"Y-Yes… what…?"
"Hinata; THE HYUUGA FAMILY DON'T GET REJECTED,"
He tightened his grip on her wrist, as she cringed in pain.
"I don't know if you realize, but the Hyuuga family is the most prestigious family to ever come through Konoha High. Your father was the school captain, our grandfather was too, every single Hyuuga to come through this school has held some kind of position of power, and even if they didn't; they made sure they got onto everything they tried out for. EVERYTHING,"
Neji's School Captain badge gleamed in the sun; Hinata didn't want to hear him talk anymore. She had heard it so many times. The Hyuuga family; their name written all over the SCHOOL CAPTAINS board in the reception; were the more highly valued family ever to attend Konoha high. But it wasn't only Neji who talked about this; It was Hinata's own father. Ever since she had started at Konoha High, her father had urged her to go for gold and become class captain, and now he wanted her to go for school captain too. But Hinata wasn't Neji. Neji was a good speaker, he was on the debating team, he had good looks, and he was popular. He was also strong and confident. He was your stereotypical school captain. Hinata knew she wasn't any of that.
"Look, I don't mind if you're not class captain because nobody votes you, but the cheerleading team isn't based on the opinion of others. It's based on your trial," he kept saying, Hinata closed her eyes; his face was getting scary, "You obviously didn't practice enough. Tell me, WHY WEREN'T YOU CHOSEN? I get chosen for everything I try out for because I practice. I make sure I get on, and that's WHY I get on. Our whole family is like that. Ever since this school opened, the Hyuuga Family have strived to be the best known students. We don't go to private school, but we don't need to, as we're better known than ANY private school students,"
Neji was starting to make less and less sense with every word he said. Hinata didn't want to hear this anymore. Her father had told her this many times already.
"N-Neji-nii-san… I did practice… b-but Ino didn't see me try-out. S-She just rejected me," she squealed, hoping that he would just let go.
Instead he gripped her tighter.
"WHAT? Ino Yamanaka didn't see you tryout?" Neji yelled, "She had to. It's a rule, and I'm pretty sure you know that. She can't just reject you without basis, and I know there was definitely a space on that team because the one who dropped out was none other than Tenten,"
"I-I know t-that…"
"THEN WHY DID YOU LET HER REJECT YOU?"
Some of the people around them were looking at them now. Hinata felt her eyes fill up with tears now. Why did he have to do this in public?
"I-I c-couldn't talk b-back to her… s-she's the captain," Hinata muttered, Neji looked like he was going to hit her.
"Hinata, you're just a disgrace to our family. You're not standing up to her just because she's the cheerleading captain. And she's INO YAMANAKA for God's sake,"
"I-Ino can do a lot! S-Sakura H-Haruno… w-was Ino's best f-friend a-and…"
"That's Sakura Haruno's problem. Maybe she doesn't have a lot of self confidence. I don't know, nor do I care. BUT THE HYUUGA FAMILY DON'T HAVE LOW SELF-CONFIDENCE,"
Neji acted like the Hyuuga Family were the Royal Family.
"Even Kiba Inuzuka has more sense than you. He stands up to me all the time and I'm the bloody SCHOOL CAPTAIN. Like I said Hinata, you're a disgrace,"
He let go of her. Hinata opened her eyes; her wrist had a red mark on it where Neji's nails had dug into it.
"B-But I d-don't know what to do N-Neji-s-san… e-even if I did a try-out… S-She'll reject me… s-she doesn't like me,"
Neji didn't turn back to look at her; his face remained fixed on the baseball game.
"Do you have any proof that she decides based on whether she likes you or not?"
"Y-Yes… S-Sakura H-Haruno… K-Kiba…" Hinata mumbled.
Her greatest fear was that this was going to get to her father. If her father found out, she was finished, and Neji always told him things. Always, and Hinata hated it.
"Have Sakura Haruno or Kiba actually talked to you about this, or is it just your assumptions?"
"S-Sakura d-doesn't talk to anyone anymore! A-And Kiba h-hates me now too…"
"Maybe I'll be willing to help if you actually get something out of them," spat Neji, still facing the other way.
He still wasn't looking at Hinata, but she noticed that he had said that he was willing to help.
"…If you can't talk to Ino Yamanaka for some stupid reason, go find some other people who're against her. And then get her back as a group,"
Talk to Kiba? Talk to Sakura Haruno? Kiba was, for obvious reasons, probably not going to help. All he'd do is support Ino; even before he left Hinata, he backed up Ino, back when Ino rejected Hinata. As for Sakura Haruno, she wasn't talking to anybody anymore, and Sasuke Uchiha was very overprotective of her. Sasuke was much like Neji in many ways, and not just intelligence, Sasuke had that aura of you-don't-want-to-go-near-him. Sakura wasn't the type to talk about her problems anyway. Hinata sighed; what was she going to do?
Tenten was still commentating. The last batter, Hiko, who Hinata hadn't seen hit, thanks to Neji, was standing on Second Base. There were only two batters left now, and Naruto was one of them.
"NEXT UP IS LEE," Tenten yelled into the microphone, "FIRST SEASON FOR HIM, I BELIEVE…"
Next to Hinata, Neji gave a snort as Rock Lee came up to the field.
"Stupid Lee," Neji muttered.
"He's a nice guy Neji-san," Hinata said softly; then she wished she hadn't said it; it could lead to another Neji outburst.
"He's failing school. That guy has ALWAYS been at the bottom of my class, and the worst part is, the teachers always ask ME to help him. He should be doing his assignments and instead he's playing baseball…? What an idiot,"
Nobody in Neji's grade ever talked to Rock Lee, which was strange, because he was somewhat good at sport, and really nice. Hinata considered retaliating, but she kept quiet, and hoped that Lee's hit would speak for itself.
"FOUL BALL!" Tenten shouted, "SO THAT'S STRIKE ONE!"
"Pfft," said Neji, leaning over to watch as well.
"I'm sure he'll hit it," Hinata whispered. She hoped Lee would hit it, because if he went out, then that would be three outs, and then Naruto wouldn't get a shot at batting. Hinata crossed her fingers in her lap.
"AHAHA, ANOTHER FOUL? STRIKE TWO!"
Apparently not. Neji was actually laughing silently next to her. How dare he; He probably didn't even know what a foul meant.
"Go Lee! You can do it!" Hinata shouted, standing up, Neji gave off another "Pfft". Tenten continued commentating.
"THE PITCHER THROWS, LEE HITS, AND F- OH WAIT, THIS ONE'S IN. JUST IN!"
"Phew," Hinata sighed, sitting down again.
"He's still better off doing his assignment,"
"ROCK LEE HITS A SINGLE! A SINGLE! HE PUTS MIKO ON THIRD, AND HIMSELF ON FIRST, THUS PUTTING ALL OF IT UP TO TEAM KONOHA'S LAST PLAYER! UZAMAKI!"
Hinata stood up again. This was what she had really been waiting for. Neji was giving her even more strange looks, but she didn't care.
"GOOOOO NARUTO!!" she screamed, as Naruto took his place.
"HEY SIT DOWN GIRL," shouted the guy behind her, but she wasn't listening!
"NARUTO UZAMAKI! A NEW PLAYER, I HEAR HE'S SASUKE UCHIHA'S ROOMMATE, BUT DOES THAT MEAN ANYTHING? LET'S JUST HOPE THAT HIS BATTING IS BETTER THAN HIS FIELDING STUFF UP FROM BEFORE!"
Tenten was virtually insulting Naruto into the microphone, and to think that Hinata's cousin was dating her. Hinata ignored Tenten's commentating too now; as all that mattered was Naruto's performance. She didn't care if he hit it or not, but she didn't want Naruto to be sad, so she wanted him to hit it.
"AND HE THROWS AND HE… HE HITS!"
Hinata had been expecting a strike, but she didn't even get one of those. She prayed that the hit would go far, far enough to get Miko, Lee and Naruto home… and sometimes, God really does answer your prays.
"IT'S FLYING, IT'S FLYIN'! THAT'S GONNA GO SOMEWHERE… HERE IT COMES…..YESSSSSSS, UZAMAKI BREAKS SUBAKU'S DISTANCE, THE BALL GOES FURTHER, AND THIS IS A HOMER FOR SURE!! YES, THAT'S MIKO HOME…
Hinata was standing on top of her chair now. Neji's now had a "I AM TOTALLY NOT RELATED TO HER" look on his face, but that was the least of Hinata's worried. Hinata really wished she WAS a cheerleader now, with Pom Pom's… cheering Naruto on…
"HERE GOES LEE… YES, THAT'S TWO HOME…"
She looked at Naruto, from here she couldn't see the look on his face, but she knew that he had the "Never Give Up" demeanor about him now, even if she couldn't see it. That was Naruto; he never gave up.
"AND UZAMAKI TOUCHES HOME PLATE! HE SAVES THE DAY, NOT ONLY BEATING KUSA COLLEGE, BUT GETTING THREE MEN HOME IN THE PROCESS!"
Then the whistle blew. Hinata started jumping up and down as the crowd cheered; people behind her were trying to get a look around, but Hinata was too busy to allow them. NARUTO HAD WON THE MATCH. He had done more than that too; he had changed Hinata.
"Neji-nii-san," Hinata said, no, shouted, Neji looked up at her.
"What?"
"I'm going to get Ino Yamanaka back. I am, I am,"
Neji looked at her for a long time. Then, he smiled.
"Good, I knew you'd come around eventually, you have the Hyuuga blood, after all,"
"And also…" she added, not bothering to comment on his continued Hyuuga pride,
"What now?"
"Naruto Uzumaki is who I'm taking to the prom!"
To Hinata's surprise, Neji didn't snort.
"Get down from there, you're insulting the Hyuuga family,"
Only this time, he was smiling as he said it.
--
"Good Work team," Sasuke said to Naruto and the others, as they finished getting changed, "You can go now, and just remember, we still have another seven games this season. We won this time, but some of you didn't give all your best. You know who you are, don't stuff up next time, especially you Nara,"
Heh, thought Naruto. If anybody ought to be embarrassed, it was Sasuke. He actually got sent off for striking. Well, he obviously was embarrassed, considering how angry he looked, but whatever. It didn't matter. Sasuke didn't say "Especially you, Uzumaki,"
And that was because he couldn't. He just couldn't. Naruto was the one who had saved the day. The hero of the baseball game, and the rest of the team all knew it.
"Good work Naruto," said Lee, shuffling past and leaving the room, leaving just Naruto and Gaara. Oh, and Sasuke, only he was in a cubicle now; the poor guy had been so humiliated that he couldn't even get changed in public anymore.
"Bye Lee, you did good too," said Naruto, waving to Lee; he turned to Gaara, "I so owned Sasuke, didn't I,"
"Well, I don't know about "owned" because you were never against him," said Gaara quietly, "But you certainly performed better than him,"
Better than you too, Naruto thought to himself.
"You'll probably get a prom date now, Naruto, did you hear the crowd cheering for you?"
"Yeah," said Naruto. Geez, this guy talked about the prom a lot.
"Has Hinata got a date yet?" Gaara asked. He had asked this the day before as well.
"I don't think so. Why don't you go ask her?" Naruto said, picking up his bag, as they too started leaving the change room,
"I want to ask if…" Gaara started, "She'd be my da-"
Naruto didn't hear any of that, because somebody else started shouting through it.
"NARUTO-KUN! GAARA-KUN!" came Hinata's voice. Well, it was Hinata's voice, but not her pitch. She was shouting. Next thing he knew; Hinata had appeared the heck out of no where, and pulled both Gaara and him into a big hug.
"You guys played so well!" she said loudly. Naruto didn't get a chance to take a look at her, but Hinata seemed very well, high, to say the least.
"That was just great! Gaara's fielding and Naruto's hitting. O-Oh I watched the whole thing!"
"Thanks Hinata," said Gaara, Naruto looked around at him, his face was very red. Even more red than it had been before when he had been running. Strange.
"Did you see me hit, Hinata?" Naruto asked, she nodded,
"I said I did! It was the best!"
She finally let go of them, and Naruto got another look at her. She looked even better than before; her dress had that slight crumpled and wind blown look to it, and her hair had become a little messy with the excitement of the day. But she looked cute, and it was strange to admit it, but, she looked kind of beautiful as well.
"Oi, Hyuuga," came another shout, everybody turned. It was Sasuke, and he looked very pissed as he came towards them from the change room. Naruto noted that his shirt was inside-out.
"Leave her alone,' Naruto said, "You're just mad because you got sent off,"
"Shut it, Dobe," said Sasuke, he turned to Hinata, "You were watching from the B-Section of the stands right? Did you see Sakura?"
"N-No,"
Hinata had started stuttering again. All of her high-ness had vanished. Sasuke had turned her back into the old Hinata; but she still had that sense of beauty about her, as she looked down, not meeting Sasuke's gaze.
"Arghhh," groaned Sasuke, walking past without thanking Hinata, "So she didn't turn up. I don't know why she's so depressed. She said she was going to turn up and sit in the B-Section. What the heck,"
"Well he can't talk about other people being depressed. Stupid emo," Naruto muttered under his breath.
"Sakura Haruno d-didn't turn up…?" Hinata whispered, watching after Sasuke.
"She's been skipping a lot of school lately too," Gaara added.
"She's very upset about the cheerleading thing, I guess," said Naruto. Hinata turned around and looked at him.
"I hate Ino Yamanaka. I hate her," she said clearly, "I want to get her back, for everything she's done,"
Hinata wasn't high again, but there definitely was strength in her tone of voice. She meant what she was saying, that was for sure. Something about her had changed. Was it really Naruto's match which had done that? If it was, he sure was proud of himself.
And then Naruto realized something. This morning, he had woken up, thinking that if he won this game, it would mean that Sakura Haruno would like him. But it hadn't, because Sakura hadn't come to the game. The thing was; Naruto didn't care. He had always liked Sakura for her mental strength, and right now, Sakura wasn't showing that great a mental strength. But somebody else was…
And right now, she was the one Naruto was attracted to.
--
Thank God that's over. I am really not very good at sport myself, and I don't know the rules of baseball well. It's just that it's the only sport I know ENOUGH about to right a story on. Yes, I know there are no cheerleaders in baseball, but I don't know how to play basketball, and I needed cheerleaders for the plot, so now we have baseball cheerleaders. Sorry guys. Oh well, my horrible writing of sports I don't know how to actually play is over! YAY. Hmm, the NaruHina begins. Aww, Poor Gaara.
