Umm. I don't really have much to say, except Sorry for taking so long to update. Oh, and a humongous THANK YOUUUUU to everyone who reviewed. I'm so glad that people are enjoying my story! I love you all.
Disclaimer: Hello? Me? Own it? Psh, I effing wish.
Chapter 9
-0-
Hinata's muscles trembled under all the pressure exerted on them. Beads of sweat ran down her face and disappeared into her neck. Her legs were on fire, any more of this torture and she would explode into a million little pieces. Her breathing was become more ragged by the second.
You can do this.
Hinata closed her eyes and held in the loud groan of pain that was fighting to escape her. She clenched her teeth and endured. Just a few more seconds to go...
"Annnnnnd RELAX!"
Hinata opened her eyes and collapsed to the floor in a heap, exhausted and out of breath. Looking around the room, she noted how she'd been one of the few people left standing.
"That was very, very good! Now, FIVE MORE SETS OF EVERYTHING!"
The entire class let out a collective groan. They were doing 'core-work', as Gai called it. Apparently that meant a workout consisting of 80 push-ups, hundreds of sit-ups, squats, sprints, lunges, and anything else that came to his mind. Hinata had a nagging suspicion he thought of all his lessons on the spot. It figured. They had just been doing squats…long squats, it felt as if she'd been crouched in that position for hours.
Thankfully, class was over just as Gai had split up the class for the various workouts. Hinata was surprised to find herself disappointed. She liked the workouts. She liked to see how far she could push her body before it collapsed completely. It beat sitting around in a dingy old classroom listening to some teacher drone on and on about the history of Genjutsu, at least. It seemed she was the only one with this opinion however, the rest of the class seemed extremely relieved. She pouted unconsciously; she wished Gai's class were longer. Training was fun.
Hinata was the last one to leave the gym, as she took her time stretching her tired muscles at the end of every class. But suddenly she felt like she was being watched. Hinata kept her eyes on the floor as she walked towards the exit, but just as she was about to walk through, Hinata decided to chance it and throw a glance over her shoulder. She was incredibly shocked to see Uchiha Sasuke's pearl-black eyes fixed on her from the other side of gym. Hinata suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, and comically, they both looked away instantly as if they had been scorched. Hinata felt herself blush as she stumbled clumsily out of the gymnasium, a flurry of embarrassment and confusion. Why would he be staring at her like that? And more importantly, for how long?
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Sasuke walked into the men's locker room, intrigued about what had happened minutes earlier with Hinata. Why did I do that?
Oblivious to everything, Sasuke changed silently, trying to find out why exactly he had caught himself staring at Hyuuga Hinata while she stretched Not to mention, she had actually noticed too. Ugh. That could cause some problems. Why had even done it in the first place? Because she was alright looking?
But so what? A lot of girls were. Hinata didn't really have anything going for her. She wasn't talented at anything, she barely stood out…and she wasn't a gorgeous beauty like Ino, Sakura or any other of her female classmates were. So then why, out of all the girls in he had ever known, did she plague his mind so much?
The image of her fury the first time they met swam into his brain. He'd been a total asshole for no reason, and she really did deserve to hate him. He smiled to himself as he vaguely remembered the flush on her cheeks, and the way she had said nothing to stand up for herself, instead merely walking away with her face hidden in her bangs. Maybe that was why he preyed on her so much. She was weak, and being the sadistic bastard he was, he took advantage of that. It was just too easy to push her buttons near breaking point, Sasuke found himself intoxicated with the power he had over her emotions. Hinata was too sensitive, too immature, he had no idea how she would survive the rest of the year. Let alone the next few years.
Sasuke also knew most of the girls in the school swooned at the mere sight of him, yet she didn't. On the contrary, she seemed to not want to spend time with him at all. He remembered the horror on her face when he told her they would have to meet in the library…alone. He almost chuckled to himself. Any other female would have giggled and acted obnoxious.
So Hinata wasn't that bad, he concluded. She seemed mildly complex, and he would have fun dissecting the many layers (that he suspected, hoped) made her up. As for the reason why was doing it, Sasuke had no idea. He just knew that some part of him- a very tiny part- wanted to get closer to her.
It shouldn't be too hard, he thought with a wicked smirk as he passed her in the hallway minutes later, her fingers pressed together as she walked alone. There was a calm, serene smile on her face; she looked at ease, something that never happened when she was within ten feet of him. The peaceful look on her face caught him off guard. He swallowed, and caught himself staring at her again…he vaguely wondered what she hid underneath that bulky sweater of hers. When he realized his thoughts, he almost smacked himself for being such a pervert.
What the hell is going on with me?
-0-
The weeks flew by, and with much relief, Hinata noted how her life became much more comfortable within the walls of Hidden Leaf. She became more at ease around the people that had accepted her, got to know her teachers more, and was ecstatic to find Sasuke keeping his distance. Yes, life was good for Hinata. Despite the fact that she seemed to almost pass out whenever Naruto spoke to her, or walked by her…or did anything around her. Why had she allowed herself to become so obsessed? It wasn't healthy, especially since he did not return her feelings.
One particularly sunny morning, she awoke to find most of the girls in her year huddled around Tenten's bed, whispering frantically. She groaned inwardly. It was the weekend, and she wanted to sleep in, not be woken up by a bunch of gossips at the crack of dawn.
Hinata rolled over, but sleep eluded her. The giggling and happy chatter was too noisy. For a few minutes she lay there, but eventually decided to do something about it. Annoyed, she sat up, and glared at everyone in the room. Not that they noticed, of course.
"She's up!" someone said happily.
Ugh. No. Too early for psychotic teenage girls.
"Hinata, did you hear?" Ino chirped, sitting at the foot of her bed and bouncing up and down. The other girls moved from Tenten's bed and congregated around hers. Hinata suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. They were all dressed and bathed, and she was still wrapped around her covers, in her ratty pajamas and no doubt had crusty stuff in the corners of her eyes. Hinata rubbed her eyes sleepily. How early did these girls get up on a Saturday morning?
"Oh come on, hurry and wake up," Ino said impatiently, punching her leg playfully.
"I am up," Hinata muttered, somewhat annoyed. She allowed herself once last yawn before opening her eyes for good.
"Do you know what today is?" Tenten asked brightly, eyes flooding with excitement. Hinata reclined into her pillows.
"Saturday?" she mumbled sleepily.
"No, silly. It's the first day of winter!" Tenten laughed.
Umm. What?
"A-am I m-missing something?" Hinata asked shyly, pulling her covers around her. She was only slightly frightened.
"Every year, on the first day of winter there's usually this major convention or something, for all the faculty members," Temari explained from her spot on the windowsill. She was the only one that seemed remotely calm.
"So they all leave campus for about two days to go over there. So usually there are no classes and it's just the students. Well, except for the security ninja that they leave posted everywhere, to help with meals and everything," she said.
"And that just happens to be today!" Tenten giggled, suddenly sprinting to her closet and rummaging through the things there, complaining about not having clothes to suit the weather.
Most of the girls glanced at her to join in on the excitement. But Hinata was still lost.
"And that's e-exiting because…" Hinata trailed off, pressing her fingers together, curious.
"You're so naive, Hinata-chan. It's adorable."
It was Sakura who had spoken. She was staring at Hinata with a mixture of amusement and fondness. Hinata tried to disappear under her covers even more. Did naïve here mean incredibly stupid?
"W-why is t-that?"
Ino laughed again. "Don't you get it? No faculty means no teachers. No teachers means no rules. No rules means no one to tell us what to do. And that means…"
"Sneaking out!" Sakura finished for her, actually managing to do a cartwheel in the cramped room. They all cheered, and immediately launched into talk of plans for 'later tonight'.
"S-sneaking out? As in, out o-of the s-school?" she asked, praying to god the answer was a no.
"No Hinata. Sneaking out of the cafeteria. Of course the school," Ino said sarcastically, "We're all so sick of being cooped up in here."
Cooped up? What? The campus was huge! There were all types of fields, and there was a humongous pool, there were courtyards and tables and flower-lined paths and cute little creeks. Sheesh, what were these people, blind?
"So, right after lunch, we usually meet up here then wait around until the last of them leaves campus. Then, we bribe the security guards and then sneak out to town," Ino suppiled, jumping on Tenten's now empty bed. "So we'll meet you back here right after morning classes today, okay?"
Yeah, right. She had barely survived through sneaking out of the dorm rooms, did they seriously expect her to sneak out of the school? She would rather chew off her own arm. It was way too risky.
"I d-don't t-think I can go," Hinata muttered, embarrassed by her own cowardice.
"What? Why?"
Hinata opened her mouth, but then stopped herself. Why, exactly was she too afraid to go? Because she would get hurt? Because they could get caught? Because for once in her monotonous life she would actually be doing something fun? Hinata sighed. If her father were here he would just lock her up in her room for the night, even though there would have been no chance of her going anyway.
And I'll just be a burden.
She realized with a heavy heart that the other girls where staring at her expectantly. She was shocked to find that they actually wanted her to go with them. Ino especially, looked the most deflated.
"Please?" Ino asked, sincerely.
"I-I.." Hinata faltered, looking down at her hands. "I w-want to go b-but-"
"Then come," Ino said firmly, getting up. "Don't be scared, we do this every year and nothing happens. Don't worry, we won't get caught, and nothing will happen to you."
Hinata sighed again. Should she dare?
"Besides," Temari piped up suddenly, "Everyone's going", she said, emphasizing word 'everyone'.
Hinata's head snapped up, and she stared at Temari.
"Everyone?" She repeated, not stuttering for once.
"Everyone." Temari answered, looking at her. Hinata caught the knowing glint in Temari's eyes and ducked her head, blushing. So Temari knew about her teensy crush on a certain blue-eyed blond. Was she really that obvious about it?
Eventually Hinata smiled, her mind made up. "F-fine. I-I'll go." Ino cheered and launched herself on Hinata.
Hopefully, I won't regret this.
-o-
Hinata yawned and stared at the blackboard, trying her hardest to process the information that her teacher was droning on about. It didn't work.
She sighed impatiently. Just her luck. Her morning class was with Kakashi. She had a feeling he knew exactly what everyone in the class was planning to do the second all the teachers left campus. The stupid man was purposely making the class as long and boring as possible. Hinata could see the twinkle of amusement in the teacher's eye.
Oh damn him.
As everyone was fidgeting and pretending to take notes, Hinata noticed that Uchiha Sasuke's eyes were trained on her. Again. Heat rose to her cheeks. What was his problem? Maybe he wasn't staring at her per se. Maybe he was looking at someone else behind her. She turned her head to see who else was in her general area. Just a fish tank.
Somehow I doubt he's staring at Kakashi's turtles.
She decided to return his gaze with a glare, and was pleased to see he quickly averted his gaze. Score one for Hinata. If she were capable, she would have smirked evilly. Hinata wouldn't let him get to her anymore.
-o-
Although it seemed like an eternity, the bell rang eventually, signaling the end of class. Hinata was amused by the sheer speed everyone fled the classroom. She took her time, knowing that speeding through everything wouldn't make the teachers leave any quicker. In a dreamlike state, she wandered through the halls and into her room, fantasizing about what the night would bring.
"HINATA!"
She jumped and was startled out of her reverie when she entered her room and found that it had been…transformed.
There were clothes everywhere, on the bed, the floor, the desks, even in the bathtub. Ino, Sakura, and some other girls had apparently decided to turn their rooms in some kind of…headquarters.
"Hinata-chan, hurry up! The teachers are leaving soon and you're not ready!" Ino cried, rushing over to Hinata and grabbing her hand.
Hinata gasped at Ino's outfit. It was a bit…risqué, to say the least. Her turquoise low-cut shirt hugged all her curves perfectly, and the pants she was wearing were low-cut enough to reveal a strip of flat stomach, but it was her face that drew Hinata's attention. Her big blue eyes were sparkling with happiness, and the small quirk of her mouth let Hinata know Ino was one she could trust. Ino was practically glowing.
Hinata could only gape and be envious of Ino's beauty. She wondered what put her into such a good mood.
"Ino! Where'd you leave the jewelry box?" Sakura called from bathroom.
"Look for it!" Ino called back, physically forcing Hinata to plonk down on the nearest chair.
"W-what are y-you doing?" Hinata asked, horrified as Ino whipped out a rather lethal-looking lip-stick.
"Doing your make-up," Ino responded, as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
Heck no.
Hinata jumped out of the chair as if scalded. "No thank you," she said as politely as she could. "I don't wear make-up."
Ino huffed, annoyed, "Fine."
Hinata let out a sigh of relief, but then grew wary again as Ino drew out three dresses and threw them at Hinata.
"Try those on."
"Why c-can't I go in w-what I'm wearing n-now?" Hinata complained, taking a few steps back.
"Oh come on, Hinata," Ino begged, "Indulge me. I think you would look adorable in one these."
Hinata always was, and always would be, a people pleaser. She knew that she really didn't want to wear the dresses, but she couldn't bear to disappoint Ino, who looked much too eager.
"Alright," Hinata sighed, picking a dress. She knew the second she donned it that it wasn't for her. Too short, too bright, too tight.
The next one was equally bad, if not worse. It was leopard print. Hinata could not get out of the thing fast enough. It was a skin-tight, leopard-print mini-dress. No way.
"See?" Hinata said, donning her trademark bulky sweater after she had tried on the dresses "I w-would never wear something l-like that in public."
Ino was know in full-on fashion mode, and she had decided that she would get Hinata out of her usually boring clothes if it was the last thing she did. It would be better if she had more time, but Sakura and Tenten were standing at the door, looking impatient.
"You guys leave," Ino said, pausing her manic searching through her wardrobe. "Hinata's not ready yet."
"Yes I am!" Hinata said indignantly.
"No, you're not, Hinata-chan," Ino said firmly, closing the matter. With a small shrug, Tenten and Sakura departed, eager to leave campus.
"Ino, please," Hinata whined. "You're wasting your time. We b-both know I-I'm h-hopeless when it comes t-to this." Ino didn't answer; she only kept digging through her closet in search of something. Hinata had to admit, she was starting to get slightly scared.
"AHA!" Ino shouted suddenly, making Hinata jump. "Here it is!"
"W-what?"
Triumphantly, Ino turned around to reveal the item she had been searching for with so much ardor- a plain black dress.
"This is PERFECT." Ino said happily, throwing Hinata the dress. Haltingly, Hinata took it. It looked ok for her to wear. She put it on carefully, it was made of soft velvet, and she was pleased see that it hit about an inch above her knee. It had sleeves, thankfully, and it was a simple V-Neck, and it wasn't too tight, but it wasn't a sack either. Perfect. She smiled at Ino.
"Thank you, Ino." Hinata said sincerely, looking at herself in the mirror. The effect was astonishing. Completely different than how she normally looked.
"Now for the shoes…" Ino muttered. Hinata froze. She would never be able to walk in the type of shoes Ino wore.
"I a-actually h-have s-something that might work." Hinata said, as she looked through her own closet and found a pair of pristine white flats. If there was ever a 'Hinata Shoe', this was it. Delicate and modest, they were a perfect mirror of Hinata's style and personality.
Ino took advantage of Hinata's good mood and managed to trace a hint of eyeliner and a spot of blush on her cheeks before being swatted away. After this was done, Ino stood back to admire her handiwork. Hinata had been transformed, she looked elegant and confident. The dress flaunted what needed to be seen, and hid other aspects of Hinata that would have made her uncomfortable. The touch of eyeliner brought out Hinata's white eyes daringly, so that they looked deep and large.
"Oh my, Hinata," Ino said, admiring her handiwork. "You'll have Naruto drooling in no time." Hinata blushed and looked down, not even bothering to ask how she knew. It seemed everyone did, but Naruto himself. She tried not to dwell on it.
And with Hinata finally ready, the two set off.
As they sneaked out the school and through the back gate, Hinata was surprised to see that she felt exited, rather than fearful. It would be her first party, she felt beautiful and confident and ready to take on anything.
"D-do you know w-where we're g-going?" Hinata asked, as they weaved through the dark streets lined with shops.
"Yep, a club,"
"As in…d-dance c-club?" Hinata asked, feeling her stomach clench.
"Yes. It's so exiting; everyone's going to be there! I heard even some students from out of the country, too! Tonight's going to be a big night, Hinata-chan, I can feel it," Ino said, her voice saturated with excitement. "I also feel like getting a bit drunk. So don't make fun of me later, all right?"
"All r-right," Hinata, voice shaking slightly. She suddenly went being from confident to meek and scared. Club? Dancing? Foreigners? Booze? She was starting to regret coming along. That did not sound fun to her at all.
As they rounded a corner, Hinata suddenly heard the faint beats of loud music. Then came the loud chatter of people, the laughing, shouting, yelling. Hinata's heart was in her throat as they rounded a corner and came across the loudest gathering of people Hinata had seen. They were all dancing, all laughing…and all very drunk by the looks of it. And this was just outside. Hinata could make out the vague outline of a building behind the large crowd of people outside…and the neon billboard over the building illuminated the street.
"Come on," Ino muttered, grabbing Hinata's arm and leading her inside.
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Thanks for reading, please review! It makes my day.
