Chapter 9: Want some lasagna, Gaara?
"HYAAA!" Hinata yelled while her fists rapidly hit the punch-bag before her. She bent her knees, swooped around and jump-kicked it with her stretched leg. Then she let herself fall, making two backwards rotations, only to charge the punch-bag again with her hands. The chain that held the punch-bag up creaked while the thing rocked back and forth. Little beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. For the occasion she put her deep purple hair in a high ponytail and used some pins to keep her bangs out of her face. Hinata panted, her hands stretched and held close together before her, as was the Hyuuga fighting style passed down for centuries. She had wrapped linen around her palms and wrists for support. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly and deeply. When she opened them again she pushed her outstretched hands forward, delivering the fatal blow. The leather skin of the sandbag ripped and sand poured out before her. Hinata stepped back and walked towards the counter for her bottle of water. She drank greedily and afterwards used the sink to splash some cool water in her hot face. It didn't matter to her that it dripped down on her outfit too. When Hinata Hyuuga trained, she did it with a concentration and devotion that would earn her the praise of any master in martial arts. She lifted her head, grabbed one of the plushy hand towels to pat her face dry, and only then noticed the figure standing next to the door. Startled she stared at him, wondering how long Neji had been watching. Gaara stepped away from the door clapping.
"Remind me never to anger you," he teased, nodding his head at the punch-bag which still continued to empty its content on the floor.
"Come on, you probably destroyed a thousand of punch-bags already," she countered, a little irritated he hadn't made himself known earlier.
"What makes you think that?" Gaara asked and stepped around observing the gym a little better. Behind her he saw Hinata still had plenty of punch-bags in reserve, there were at least three of them hanging idly along the wall. Besides a sink, the counter was equipped with a mini-fridge, microwave and medical kit. In the middle of the gym there was a boxing ring, while in the back there was a spacious area with mirrors on all three walls. On the right side there stood training equipment, such as a treadmill, weights, a cycle and so on.
"Hizashi is a grandmaster in the Gentle Fist-style," Hinata retorted, "surely he made you train a lot."
"Not really," Gaara replied, much to Hinata's surprise. She pulled up one eyebrow.
"He didn't?"
"Perhaps I was just being rebellious, but I lost my interest in that fighting style a long time ago… I trained myself in other martial arts," he lied. The real Neji already mastered the art at a young age, under the pressure of Hizashi, but Gaara had to step away from that reality in fear of exposing himself as a imposter.
"Wow," Hinata breathed shocked, "if I did that, dad would've used the Eight Trigrams of One Hundred Twenty-Eight palms and blew me halfway mount Fuji."
Gaara smiled faintly at her joke. Hinata dropped the used towel in a laundry bag and turned back to him slowly.
"How about you spar me?" she asked him. This time Gaara actually snorted a laugh.
"No, no," he shook his head.
"What? Scared you'll get your ass kicked?" Hinata jested, putting her hands in her middle.
"Never," he smirked.
"Then come at me, bro!" she winked.
Gaara stood still and sized her up. He had already felt the impact of her fists once before. Admittedly Hinata had a lot of strength in her, the ripped punch-bag was proof of this too, but one thing she didn't have. She wasn't streetwise. She had only experienced battles in the form of training, one martial artist to another. Having the experience of needing to improvise, deal with different fighting styles, was Gaara's strength. He started to remove his watch and the necklace that was a present from Kankuro and put them aside on the counter, and looked back at Hinata. She saw the look in his eyes change. He began to omit an aura of danger, and she realized that if he battled her seriously she'd have a hell of a difficult time defeating him. In the back of her mind she heard that familiar little voice 'you can't defeat him, you're a failure at fighting, you're afraid it will hurt'. She felt the anxiousness well up from her stomach, paralyzing her movements.
'No!' she scolded herself firmly, clenching her fists, 'you are Hinata Hyuuga, heir not only to Hyuuga Corp, but also of the Gentle Fist style. Having received training from the age of four, you are now practically a grandmaster too.'
She snapped out of her thoughts and held her breath involuntarily when Gaara pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his toned chest. He had kicked off his shoes too, standing before her only in his jeans with the rim of his black boxers peeping over the edge. Of course she knew he was fit, but it was different being confronted with his bare skin and muscularity this blatantly. She knew by fact that he was her brother, but not by feeling. Their separation of over a decade turned him into a stranger. Had they grown up together, there would be familiarity, and she would not be affected by looking at him. But five days weren't enough... not enough to fully accept in her mind that Neji had returned, that the redheaded man before her was her brother... Hell, every morning she still had to remind herself that she wasn't alone anymore! That was likely also by fault of her illness. Thus she stared at him like she was admiring the body of someone she hardly knew. Gaara proceeded to wrap his hands and wrists like Hinata's.
"You done gawking?" Gaara asked monotone when he was finished.
"Ah? Uhm-yes," she sputtered, embarrassed for having been caught staring.
"Let's get on with it," he told her and climbed into the boxing ring. Hinata followed suit, sliding under the elastic rope.
"What rules shall we apply? First one to immobilize the other for ten seconds wins?" Gaara asked.
"Sure," Hinata replied. She took her stance: one leg before the other, and one hand before her with her second close to her chest. Gaara breathed in deeply and relaxed. He gave her a nod, indicating she could start.
"You're not getting into fighting position?" Hinata asked surprised, looking at his arms hanging next to his body so casually.
"This is my fighting position," he remarked coolly. Hinata cocked her head and grinned.
"Your loss!" she called out and charged at the same time.
God, she was fast! It took her no more than a split second to get close to him.
"HYAA!" she exclaimed and lunged her hands forward. She was aiming for the nerve points on his arms. He deflected the attack with a swipe and shot his other hand under hers towards her stomach, Hinata pushed his hand down and stepped into his foot space to force him backwards. Instead Gaara pushed his foot against hers, caught her wrist and turned it around into a painful twist. Hinata grimaced and hooked her foot behind his leg, letting her weight drop backwards. She was trying to throw him over, Gaara realized in an instance. He managed to release her grasp and her feet only grazed his stomach where they would've kicked him otherwise. Quickly she scrambled back to her feet.
"Clever, using my hold on you, but not good enough," he said.
"Don't underestimate me," Hinata shot back.
Now that they were in the middle of a fight, he saw the fire in her eyes. Hinata wanted to win. Gaara was waiting for her to come at him another time. His fighting style was to use the momentum of an opponent's attack against them. He hardly ever dealt the first blow. He had been trained in mixed martial arts, combining techniques from different disciplines, such as grappling, judo, karate, kungfu and muay thai.
Hinata ran forward, Gaara swooped his leg across the floor, she jumped up to evade while Gaara aimed for her stomach and shielded his head with another arm. Hinata deflected his attack, using the Gentle Fist technique to hurt the nerve points on lower arm. Although he felt the burning pain, he didn't flinch. He was beginning to see through her movements. She was faster than him, and lighter than him. God, her movements were so smooth, almost feline. But if he could anticipate her attacks he would have the upper hand. Hinata backed away and then used the pole keeping the rope up to jump and fly-kick. He caught her blow with his hands, his left arm shaking from the effort after she hit the crucial nerve points. Gaara held onto her leg tight and she fell to the floor, shocked by the blow for only a second. But that second was enough for Gaara to put his weight on her and grab her arm to lock her. She wiggled, fighting back. In a flash Hinata rolled on top of him, straddling Gaara with her thighs, and readying herself to use the Eight Trigrams to immobilize him. Gaara didn't wait for it to happen and grabbed onto her wrists, pulling each arm into the opposite direction and forcing her closer to him. The hair of her ponytail was falling down her shoulder onto his chest. It tickled a little. She stared into his eyes fiercely with clenched teeth and tried to release his grip, but Gaara's hands were strong. It was quite amusing seeing her getting angry at his hold of her. He released a chuckle.
"Ahem," they heard. They both turned their heads towards the door opening. Irune was standing there with a blank look on her face. Hinata suddenly became aware of how they were positioned. She, sitting on top of a half-naked Neji, with her chest hovering only inches from his and her thighs around his hips, her body grinding his as they struggled to control each other. A furious blush formed on her cheeks and she quickly got up.
"S-s-sorry!" she stuttered flustered to Gaara, as though he needed an apology, and turned to Irune, "we were sparring."
"So I see," Irune replied dryly, "I'm here to inform you Mr. Inuzuka arrived and is waiting you in the livingroom."
"It's already that time? I thought he would be here at four," she mumbled aghast.
"No, I'm positive I informed you he would be here at three, but it doesn't matter Hinata-sama," Irune replied with a gentle smile.
Hinata hastened to a door leading to a bathroom while Irune walked away. Before she entered Hinata turned around to Gaara, who climbed out of the boxing ring at ease.
"I was so defeating you," she told him with a grin.
"How? Tickling me into submission with your hair?" Gaara replied. Hinata snorted and then frowned.
"If Irune hadn't come in, I'd have won. I was on top of you."
"Maybe," he replied mysteriously, "or maybe not." He didn't want to say he had been holding back, afraid to harm her.
She rolled her eyes at him and disappeared through the door. Gaara heard the shower turn on, water clattering on the tiled floor while Hinata refreshed herself. Gaara opened the mini-fridge and downed half a bottle of chilled water before putting his clothes and accessories back on. He walked to the livingroom where Kiba Inuzuka was waiting, slouched down in one of the armchairs with a white dog at his feet.
"Oi," he greeted Gaara casually. Gaara simply nodded in return. He sat down in the opposite seat.
"How's it going?" Kiba asked, "getting used to being back home yet?"
"Many things changed here during the years of my absence," he remarked monotone.
"Yeah? You like it though?" Kiba continued whilst patting his dogs flank. For a moment Hinata's face flashed to Gaara's mind. He looked around the room at all the stuff.
"Sure," he said. He grabbed a magazine and started flicking the pages.
"Can I ask, what business are you working in? Normally a man would be on the job at this hour," Kiba asked leaning forward. Gaara remained silent for a moment, pretending something in the magazine had caught his interest so he could think of the answer.
"I'm partner of an international club and I sponsor rally racing," he finally replied. To his surprise Kiba's face morphed into a look of realization.
"Ah yeah, yeah!" he said nodding his head, "that makes me think of something. Could it be your secretary, Mr. Sabaku, is also last year's second-place winner of the Country of Wind Grand Prix?"
Kiba frowned and closed his eyes for a second, tapping his hand on his leg.
"What's his name… what's his name…" he mumbled, and then exclaimed, "oh yeah, Kankuro!"
'Shit…' Gaara thought eying Kiba with a straight face, 'I didn't think Kankuro was already this known… this Kiba must be a car-fanatic like him. Thankfully I never appeared in any pictures with Kankuro, but this is dangerous nonetheless.'
"That's right, but during the recess he works for me," he replied bored, masking his nervosity.
"Cool, cool," Kiba said and sighed looking at his watch, "my, Hinata is taking her sweet time isn't she?"
"I'm here now," they heard Hinata speak from the other side of the room. She had just appeared from the hallway into the livingroom, looking stunning in a tight lavender a-line dress that reached to an inch above her knees, with a slit in the back for easier movement and a peplum around the waist. She finished her look with gray pumps and a simple silver necklace.
"I thought you were only going to talk about business," Gaara said, noting she wouldn't look out of place on the red carpet.
"I'm taking her out for diner as well," Kiba explained. Gaara tried not to look surprised.
"We do this every week, we discuss Hyuuga Corp matters and then dine," Kiba continued, "of course its more of a formality, since Hinata-sama is having difficulties preserving new memories."
Hinata walked over to them with clicking heels.
"Shall we take a walk through the garden?" she suggested, "then Akamaru can have some fresh air too."
Kiba got up from his sitting position and nudged Akamaru to do the same. They walked to the glass sliding door.
"See ya later, Neji," Kiba said with a wave before they disappeared from his sight. He addressed Gaara like they were friends, it annoyed him. A half hour later he saw them throwing a ball for Akamaru to catch. The dog barked happily. Kiba put all his strength into throwing, obviously showing off to Hinata. For some reason it irritated him greatly to see them having fun. Irune walked by and saw him glowering.
"What's the matter?" she asked. He looked at her past his shoulder.
"Isn't Hyuuga Corp my business now too?"
"I'm sorry Neji-sama, but for that Hinata-sama must first allow you to sign the will…"
"Hn."
"Kiba and Hinata have been friends for two and a half years now," Irune continued and smiled at them from next to Gaara. Inside he frowned at her remark.
"Irune-san," he started coolly, "why is my father's death certificate in your car?"
She sperred her eyes open and pressed her lips together, noticably startled.
"Owh th-that's… it's still in my car?" she stammered and laughed sheepishly, "how sloppy of me."
"What does 'it has been done' signify?" he continued, looking at her face expectantly. She noticed how observant he was of her and stared right back into his face.
"It's just a note I received from one of the helpers after all the flowers were ordered for the funeral," she explained calmly. Gaara looked at her hard and suddenly smiled faintly, turning away from Irune.
"I see," he said, "thank you for taking care of things."
"Ah, it's my pleasure, Neji-sama," she answered, unable to fully mask the relief in her voice. Gaara kept his back to her and nodded his head slowly. There was something about Irune that didn't sit right. But then again, did he really want to care? He was there for the money. It would not be in his interest to make an enemy of Irune, who still had the ability to unmask him if she really put an effort to it. And right now he needed to get away from this house. It started to irritate him. Kankuro was supposed to pick him up anytime now.
"Speaking of the devil," he mumbled when he heard the car honk out front.
"I'm going," he told Irune, grabbing his coat and exiting the house.
When he stepped out of the house Kankuro was rocking his head back and forth wildly to the loud death metal music he was listening to.
"Duuuude!" he hollered with both hands forming the sign of the horns when Gaara stepped inside and roared like an enraged gorilla in his effort to sound like the musicians.
"Kankuro, need I remind you we are still outside of the Hyuuga mansion?"
"Oh right, now that you mention," Kankuro scoffed, stroking his hair back whilst pulling a haughty face.
"Mozart's 21st piano concerto, sir?" he asked with his best butler imitation and switched the radio channel to classic music. Gaara shook his head and smiled a bit.
"Where are we going, bro?" Kankuro asked as soon as they exited the gates.
"Let's just go home for now."
When they arrived at their apartment they heard alot of stumbling going on inside and a loud scream. Kankuro and Gaara exchanged a startled look and Kankuro quickly searched for the right key to enter their home. Inside it was a mess. The contents of Temari's purse where sprawled out across the hall, and they heard loud bangs from the livingroom.
"Temari," Kankuro breathed worried. They rushed to the livingroom and opened the door with a clap. Temari was sitting next to the closet with several drawers pulled out, rummaging through them franticly.
"What the fuck! It looks like a bomb exploded here," Kankuro exclaimed. Temari shot her head up at them.
"I can't find my other earring," she bit at Kankuro, pointing at the one dangling from her ear.
"So you go into a fury," Gaara jested, looking at the devastation around them. Temari had quite literally looked in every nook and cranny.
"You know when there's something you want to use, and you can't find it, how fucking frustrating it gets?" she spat and turned another drawer upside down, spreading the stuff out with her hands.
Kankuro smiled down on his sister wickedly. Gaara eyed him anxiously, knowing what would happen. That joker's face didn't spell out anything good. He shook his head no lightly, indicating he mustn't aggravate Temari any further, or they'd all have it. If Temari got one of her rages there wouldn't be a wall left erect in the house. But Kankuro ignored him and stepped closer.
"You sure you're not just being this way 'cause your tampon is jammed in too high?"
Temari stopped what she was doing. Gaara stared at her wide-eyed and stepped back. Kankuro's mischievous smile only widened. Oh how he loved to push Temari's button's.
"Kan-KUROOOOO!" Temari yelled and got up. He ran towards the kitchen laughing hysterically with Temari right on his heels. He ran around the table and stopped while Temari was on the other side.
"Uh-oh, I'm wearing red today," Kankuro laughed, "and there's a bull on her period before me."
"Bulls don't get periods, dumbass!" Temari snapped, making Kankuro gasp for breath laughing.
"Yeah, it's funny?" Temari asked, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl in the centre of the table and throwing it at Kankuro, aiming for his crotch. He pulled up his leg just in time.
"FOOD FIGHT!" he bellowed, "boy, am I lucky the fridge is on my side."
He opened it and quickly reached for yesterday's lasagna. Temari didn't wait for it to happen and ran towards him. He jolted away with the lasagna in his hands. She reached for a bottle of yoghurt and one of ketchup, popped the caps and threw the yoghurt at Kankuro. He tried to evade chuckling madly, sounding like a monkey for real this time. His humor only pissed Temari off further. The yoghurt splashed onto his waist and the wall beside him. He eyed Temari and opened the container with lasagna.
"No, Kankuro… I was gonna eat that," Temari protested, watching Kankuro's hand reach out into the container. "I was gonna eat that! I was gonna eat that!" she yelled running towards him. When Temari caught her brother he turned towards her and smeared the lasagna in his hand all through her hair and down her neck. She screamed and squeezed the ketchup bottle hard, making it squirt all over his shirt and face, straight into his smiling mouth and almost into his eye, and started to laugh herself as well. They broke apart, both covered in goo.
"This is crazy," she breathed and chuckled uncontrollably.
"I take back what I said about the bull," Kankuro grinned, "you sound more like a horse now."
Gaara was sitting on the couch watching them go at it. He knew he'd better steer clear if Temari and Kankuro got into one of these situations. Kankuro stared at him and Temari followed his gaze. When they turned their faces back to each other they both knew they shared the same thought and raced towards Gaara. Gaara's eyes widened in shock, he shook his head no and swiftly got up to outrun them.
"THE DOOR TEMARI!" Kankuro called out. Temari cut his passage off and threw yoghurt at Gaara while Kankuro attacked him from the back and pushed him back on the couch.
"Want some lasagna, Gaara?" he jested and ran his gooey fingers down his shirt.
"You two!" Gaara growled. He pulled the pillow from the couch to use as a shield and saw something shimmery drop.
"Hey, I found your earring," Gaara exclaimed, holding up the silver hanger with the Swarovski droplet. Temari stopped her attack and came close.
"Yeah, that's the one I was looking for," she coed, "thanks Gaara!"
She took it from him and put in her ear.
"Good. If only next time you think about looking behind the pillows of the couch first we won't have to destroy the house," Kankuro grinned. Temari looked around herself with a guilty smile. Besides all the papers and other junk she had spilled out of the drawers there was a trail of ketchup, yoghurt and lasagna throughout the room. The couch and themselves were also covered. She brushed a dirty strand of hair from her face leaving a smear of tomato sauce on her forehead.
"Shall we vote who cleans up?" Gaara suggested looking at Temari intently. She took the hint.
"Yeah sure, good idea," she responded slyly.
"KANKURO!" they said in chorus. Kankuro let his shoulders hang and grimaced.
"Owh man, I'm always the sucker, so much for democracy."
"You are also always the instigator," Gaara replied monotone, his sister nodding fiercely in agreement. Gaara got up from his seat starting for the door. "I think I'll take a shower."
"Yeah, Kankuro, me too," Temari grinned patting her brother's arm, and wished him luck sweetly.
Kankuro pulled his dirty shirt over his head and threw it in a corner.
'I'll get you two for this,' he grumbled to himself and resigned to his fate.
A/N:
Thanks for reading and all the fave's / follows and comments I got last time. Really appreciated it! :3
Bit of a crazy chapter. How was it?
I'll say now btw, that as long as Hinata thinks Gaara is her "brother" there won't be any kissing etc. o.O that'd be creepy, wouldn't it, and in the least hella confusing and weird for them both. But there will be longing on their individual parts... and eventually Gaara's roleplaying will be unmasked... if it's by his own doing or another's...
Take care!
~ Demiyah
