"The White Nights describes the few weeks around the summer solstice during which sunsets are late, sunrises are early and darkness is never complete. The sun does not set until late at night, and twilight lasts much longer."

"Sasuke, we need to talk. "

A figure emerged from the dark corner of the room as soon as Sasuke entered his room. Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke ignored the form that stood behind him and proceeded to sit on his fuchsia couch. A portion of his shirt was torn from the slight skirmish he had with Itachi.

But the bruise was gone.

"…Kiba. It's curfew. Go back home. "

He spoke wearily, but Kiba was unbending.

"I said we need to talk. "

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the boy who stood in front of him wearing the most curious expression ever. The tone was too stiff. Inuzuka Kiba was gazing at him in an atypical manner; less reverence and more belligerence. But for what reason, Sasuke was unaware. He shifted his leg and crossed it as he leaned back into the blood-red couch and nodded softly.

"Fine, but make it quick. If Itachi finds you here breaking cur…"

"Why didn't you stop the Hyuuga? "

"…what? "

Kiba scowled; he had blurted that out too fast, cutting off Sasuke's words. No doubt, this was going to get him in trouble later—confronting a superior was unheard of—but he had to know. He'd thought, over the few years staying beside Sasuke; he thought this guy was different from the rest. This guy was perhaps, not so cruel. This guy could be his friend.

Was he?

"Hyuuga Neji, I heard, threatened to kill Kazu…you didn't do anything. Why…? "

Sasuke grimaced; he should've known.

Kiba should know better too; if he knew—and no doubt he did—what led to that little decision, he should know to not confront the decision Sasuke made then, no matter how brutal. He hated to 'chastise', but did so anyways.

"You, as an Inuzuka 'selected', should consider the peace of many before the wellbeing of just your family. If sacrificing, let's say, Miharu would save us from a mass battle, I believe Itachi would, indeed, kill his own kin…and I would too. You know that. "

The breath stuck in Kiba's throat and he snarled out in fury, his lime eyes glowering as he shouted out in spite:

"Well then damn you all! You say that as if you really would! Why so…numb to everything? "

Sasuke jumped up from his seat and adeptly placed his palm across Kiba's mouth, shutting it off. They both stood still, ears alert, eyes lighting up red and lime. There were footsteps trotting softly two floors up—either Miharu or Nahoko—and no doubt Itachi had heard the 'cacophony' from his room in the northern wing of the mansion. Sasuke swore briefly and dragged Kiba towards the large glass window.

"You…need to leave. I'll take care of this myself…so just leave. "

He glared into Kiba's eyes to show he meant it. Kiba dully stared back, his eyes a glazed brown. Sasuke slid his hand off Kiba's shirt and sighed gustily.

"…you shouldn't have been a selected, Kiba. Though it was impossible; you were born with the responsibility…but if the Inuzuka elders fucking cared an ounce about you, they shouldn't have. "

"They 'care'. "

Kiba growled, his eyes narrowing and hands trembling. Sasuke noticed from the rusted blood staining his friend's nails…he had been out hunting. He must have needed to purge out most of his energy before confronting him, lest he lost control and did anything too stupid. But it did not seem as if he'd vented even half of his abundant energy at all, let alone 'most'.

"It's…damn hard, this job. Sometimes, I wish I could just…never mind. But you know, what you are is putting a toll on you Kiba. I wish you'd actually resign. "

That did it. The claws erupted from Kiba's hands as he stood limply, glowering at Sasuke.

"I…what? Resign? Like a coward?...Sasuke, as proud as this sounds, I 'am' the rightful heir of my family, I'm the strongest among all my kin, except for the elders! Why should I…"

"You think that being weak is the only hindrance to your responsibility? "

Sasuke cut in, his deadpan onyx eyes taking no notice of the lime glow that had set in desperately in Kiba's eyes. He reached out and unlocked the brass knob, opening the glass window for Kiba to retreat.

"Caring too much for your own kin…that's a hindrance too. "

White Nights: Summer Solstice

Chapter 2- Moonlight Arroyo

(Session#2- Atypical)

Going to school was completely a different matter now, at least to Hyuuga Hinata.

"…Neji, pull me out…I…I'm not going to be able to take lit. "

"I don't believe this…goody goody Hinata asking 'me' to bail her out of class?

Neji pretended as if this was any normal school day, wearing his good natured grin on his face and holding out a can of cherry coke at Hinata. She looked like a train wreck. She ignored the can and whispered in a panicked voice.

"I…I mean it! What if he tries to kill me? "

There was a sound like spluttering laughter from behind, and another Hyuuga joined them. This time, it was not Yurie.

"Well, Hinata, I doubt the Uchiha boy would be foolish enough to pull a stunt like that 'in class', with Hatake Kakashi watching him like a hawk. "

"Ryuha…! "

Neji turned around swiftly and cuffed the boy who had just joined them on the shoulder, but Hinata hadn't noticed any innuendo about her good looking lit teacher. She was too wrought up about the prospects of meeting Uchiha Sasuke face to face again.

The person who had just commented amiably was Hyuuga Ryuha, who despite his feminine name, was male. He was currently a senior in Konoha high and had been quite subdued the entire stay so far, until Hinata ceased being a complete naïveté. From then, he started being quite congenial and chatty. With his barely neck-length hair and eyes that glowed a deeper shade of lavender, Ryuha was a bit of an anomaly among the Hyuugas. But he did have the customary black hair, willowy frame and the white skin. He was supposedly the head of the debate team before he resigned and let Temari fill his space, and did track, soccer and swimming, all three of it.

"Knowing him, you'd be more concerned that he doesn't take an interest in Hinata. You know how he is with naïvetés. "

Another voice joined them, the cool tone only slightly marred by the fact that it wavered from concealed anxiety.

Yurie had finally joined them, her lengthy swishy hair falling gracefully as she walked briskly to catch up with them, her pace brisk. And Hinata stopped walking.

Neji and Yurie both stopped to wait for her, but Ryuha jogged ahead to meet up with his senior friends, two naïveté boys and a tall gangly boy with maroon hair that looked suspiciously like an Inuzuka…but Hinata could just have been paranoid.

Not all maroon haired boys could be Inuzukas, couldn't they?

"Hinata? Are you okay? "

"…in…terest? "

They both stared at the quivering girl blankly, until Yurie got what was bothering Hinata.

"Oh, no no…sweetie, there's nothing to worry about…it's just that Uchiha Sasuke is…"

She exchanged a look with Neji, as if consulting a husband about whether to tell their little kid that life weren't always happy endings. Neji frowned and shook his head once, choosing to stare intensely ahead and focusing on reaching school.

"…nothing to worry about? "

"Yes, yes…"

"What was it that you were going to say about Uchiha Sasuke? "

"Nothing, really. "

It was Hinata's turn to frown, and she did so while she struggled to keep pace with the suddenly springy gait her siblings adopted. She wished to discuss the matter further, but Neji and Yurie both seemed certain that the matter was closed. It was only when they reached the road that led immediately to the massive school gates that Neji paused and turned around to Hinata with an agitated smile.

He wore his 'serious' face all of a sudden, his face frowning thoughtfully.

"I'll bail you out of lit today. "

He offered—quite kindly— but Hinata declined.

She'd have to survive this; she could not miss every literature class in her sophomore year.

"Well, well, well… this is a first. "

Haruno Sakura eyed the throngs of students arriving at school from the roof of the building and spotted Sasuke walking alone for once; no Kiba, no Miharu, no other Uchihas.

She smiled at the mirror of her compact, her lips glossed to perfection. It was just too strange, too awkward seeing Sasuke without all his entourage. Once you were a selected, there was no escaping having subordinates swarming about you, asking for directions, backing him when there was a confrontation...and even spying on him.

Just in case he went out of line as a selected; that's what Miharu did.

Sakura's lips turned down in the corners as she thought of the pigtailed, cat-eyed, white-faced wretch of an Uchiha. She hated that girl so bad. It was Miharu who always reported to Itachi when Sasuke made 'mistakes', and it was also she who was usually on surveillance, spying on others.

Uchiha Miharu was smaller than her age, and wore pigtails—Sakura snorted out in contempt—to school…but no one dared tease her or snub her, because she had the Uchihas for her brothers and the pigtails did really suit her. And in any case, it was 'she' who did the snubbing, always turning away pointedly whenever Sakura got close to her.

"Little bitch…"

Sakura seethed, her legs stomping upon the red glazed tiles. It was unfair that every single Uchiha walking on Earth could order around their lesser families. It was even more unfair that the Harunos did not really rank high on the hierarchy of the Uchiha side. She was not satisfied at all with how the rankings went…it almost made her want to migrate down to the Hyuuga side—that Neji guy didn't seem so bad when it came to fair dealings, and he was pretty hot…—but she wouldn't. Never.

Not when Sasuk…

"Oi, sis! Bell's ringing soon, you gotta come down! "

Interrupted from her thinking, Sakrua stood up briskly from her spot and spied her little brother, Lee, waving at her from two floors down. His strawberry blonde hair was whipping in the air as he leaned out from the open window, his mouth open in a large 'O'.

"Coming! "

Yelling back and ignoring the gapes of her classmates, she gracefully jogged down the rigged lane of the roof and lifted herself into the nearest window, grinning to herself. Let the guys get a full view of her pretty thonged ass while she was at it.

But when she landed on the green floor of the school hallways with a clack, she rose to see someone eyeing her with a disproving look on his face.

"Don't go around pulling stunts like that. It shows up too much. "

It was Kiba, his face unnaturally moody, arms crossed. Sakura blushed angrily for a moment as if Kiba himself had looked up her skirt, and then casually lifted up her face, staring back at him with equal nonchalance.

"You can't order me around…you're not Sasuke. "

Her voice was a mixture of flirtatious lilt and catty challenge.

"Our family ranks way higher above yours…"

Kiba muttered with a scowl, but relented and sighed, stuffing both his hands in his pockets. There was no use arguing with Sakura… and besides, he loathed arguing with girls. It just did not seem right to mess with them…except for when that 'girl' happened to be Uchiha Miharu. Then, it was just arguing front to last.

Come to think of it, he didn't even consider the girl a girl; she was just a…nuisance.

"…never mind then. Run along to your precious fucking Sasuke; he won't be interested in you today though, mind. "

He spoke as he turned away, striding down the semi-empty hallway.

Sakura, whose legs had been just ready to spring up and jog down to meet Sasuke, froze. She whipped around to look at Kiba's retreating back, and responded shrilly:

"What do you mean by that? "

He did not stop walking, and Kiba's spiky maroon head was all Sakura had in view when he replied in a dull tone:

"Watch out for the Hyuuga naïveté if you wish to keep his attention. "

Lit class was only two hours away, and Hinata was panicking. It was breaktime, and Tenten had met up with her with a bright, "How was your day? Listen, I had awesome plans to go hang round the café that opened just across the corner a week ago, and would you like to come with Neji? It'll be so great, I totally promise…oops, I have to go, my girls are beckoning! " Then she was left to her own worries—but at least peace and quiet.

It wasn't that Tenten was her 'only' friend…Hinata did talk to some girls in her class, and got friendly with one or two kind helpful girls in her other subjects…but it was quite hard to erase the impression that Tenten had become her best friend. Everyone who strolled by the lockers would have thought Tenten was Hinata's best friend, with all that chatting and squealing going on.

Hinata herself wasn't so sure on whether Tenten was a real friend. She seemed so eager on Neji, and it wasn't really like she was the type Hinata usually made friends with…she preferred someone quieter and more reserved.

"Hey. "

She flinched. Someone had tapped her on the shoulders.

She turned around to find her eyes level with the person's chest—it was reminiscent of the time when stood in front of Neji…but this person was not Neji. She looked up and find a pair of dark eyes staring back at her, a little bored, if not entirely weary. A pair of onyx, coal-black eyes that reminded her of a certain Uchiha...but it was not him too.

Hinata did not recognize this boy at all, and felt a stab of trepidation. She had been attending the school for a few weeks, and all the students that felt like 'welcoming' the new students had already spoken to her. There was no reason for another student to be chatting her up, especially—she eyed the color of the flag on his chest—a junior.

And by the looks of her classmate who was passing by with the same look they had on when she was with Neji—"What's so special about her that he's with 'her'?"—this certain junior boy was no nobody. She swallowed with some difficulty and lowered her red face, whispering out quickly:

"H…hi. Um… My name's Hyuuga Hin…"

"I know who you are. Neji told me to keep an eye on you. "

Hinata took a double-take; Neji?

She took a deep breath and looked up at the tall boy, when he suddenly laughed easily, giving her a big lazy smile.

"You don't need to look so surprised; I'm not a bad guy. Neji's supervising his team's practice today, and he didn't feel like letting his little cousin sister go home all alone…so that's why I'm escorting you for the day. Not only home, but generally around the school, if you don't mind. "

His voice was a pleasant low tone, words slightly running into each other as he leisurely drawled out the facts.

Hinata blinked at him, saw his raven head with the spiky pulled back hair, saw the easy going idleness aura hanging about him, saw the way his tall frame dominated the halls from the point where he entered it, and suddenly realized she was looking at none other than the current student council president of Konoha High, Nara Shikamaru.

Neji had been right. She'd have met this guy sooner or later.

But she hadn't expected Neji to have made the boy come 'to' her when it was he that who originally warned her. Didn't he tell her to beware of this guy?

"…Neji told you to …'escort' me? "

The word 'escort' sounded out of place, as if she was some foreign envoy being chauffeured to her destination. But Shikamaru looked obviously in place, save for that sporadic riffs in his forehead that perhaps indicated how bored he was with all this. It was a small chore to him, more like.

He did not let it show, though.

"Sure. To speak of which, I don't do this normally. It's just that you're a …naïveté. "

His voice plummeted low at the last word, his eyes gleaming meaningfully as he beckoned her to follow him. Hinata followed him with out a word, mesmerized by the way he walked past the big crowd of students; it was like cutting butter with a knife—the kids parted away easily enough, and all Hinata had to do was follow through the cracks as the kids started to close the gap again. But he did walk pretty fast, and it was hard to keep up.

"Um…uh, excuse me…I,…Nara senpai? "

She tried speaking up as she followed the lofty figure, but it did not seem like he could hear her small voice amongst this din. His long legs took fast strides, and Hinata had to half-jog to keep up with…

A leg.

The leg of a girl who was just running across the crowded hall to greet her friend accidentally banged into Hinata's, and she fell like a brick. She immediately threw her hands over her head—everyone was so occupied, it was highly likely that any one of them might ignorantly step on her as they went along their ways—screwing her eyes shut with anticipation. But there was no steps, nor bumps into her crouching body.

The hall way had suddenly quieted down, even though the bell was still a full five minutes away. Hinata cracked open a cautious eye as she looked up, fully expecting to see Nara Shikamaru's lean frame standing in front of her with a weary expression on his face…but it was not him. A pair of legs stood in front of her face, and there was an outstretched hand, but it did not belong to Shikamaru.

She could have chocked.

It was Uchiha Sasuke.

"…I…uh…"

She vividly imagined him cracking open her wrist as soon as she took hold of the outstretched hand, kicking his heels into her stomach and throwing her out of the window. Of course, she'd never seen him do this, but judging by the way he had glared at her the past few weeks…nothing was impossible. She winced at the memory of the way he had stopped the Inuzuka boy and Neji from fighting each other; it'd seemed an impossible feat.

To make things worse, the calmed crowd of kids started to whisper, a dull drone of soft gossip engulfing her gradually.

"Take it. It's not going to kill you. "

He muttered quietly with a line of vexation crossing on his chiseled face, jerking his outstretched hand once irritably. To anyone who heard, it could have sounded like typical Sasuke tone, but to Hinata, it sounded like an immense threat. She took hold of the hand and lifted herself off the gritty floor, terrified that his hand was going to crush hers as soon as she was up.

But nothing happened.

He did not do anything else after she'd completely stood up.

"Oi, Hinata? "

There suddenly stood another guy in front of her, his gangly height somehow even outstripping Sasuke's—Nara Shikamaru, junior.

Sasuke looked back to spot him and raised his brow in greeting, but did not progress any further from that. Hinata's hand was still in his palm, and Shikamaru eyed it in wariness, imagining Neji balking if he ever heard what had happened…it seemed almost funny, and he was tempted to let the Uchiha continue whatever he wished to do—Sasuke wouldn't do anything out of order while he was here—but he stopped himself.

Too troublesome.

"…would you mind? I need to bring her to someone. "

Shikamaru spoke quietly, ignoring the curious eyes of his peers as he gestured pointedly at the held hands.

Hinata had expected to see some tone of recognition in Shikamaru's voice, but he seemed as polite and casual as ever. Sasuke yielded without any fuss too, enlarging her confusion.

"Take her. "

He let go of her hand as if disposing a wad of tissue, and walked towards her and beyond, heading for the flight of stairs, his eyes not landing on anything in particular.

He whispered as he walked by her side.

"I'll see 'you' in lit. "

(bloodiedsugs's words on WNSS—

I decided to include some explanation for every session, because there seemed to be readers that misunderstood my…motives(?) lol.

So… Sasuke and Kiba resents their positions, as does Neji. A 'selected' as you probably guessed, is the representative of a family that 'attends' Konoha High. (naturally, once you graduate, you retreat to your home and take care of things from there. Itachi was the clan's selected before Sasuke.) A selected is picked from the strongest among the clan whose age is limited to…school age? Something like that. That's why even though there's so many Inuzukas romping around, Kiba's the only 'selected'. Plus, a selected can have authority among all his subordinates, but usually they don't push it. They have the irritating job of cleaning after mini scats (poor Kiba lol)

Also, there's a rank.

I'll probably explain this as I go along, but for the benefit of the readers…there's a hierarchy among the families. In the Uchiha side, the Uchihas automatically exude power over the rest…the Inuzukas are second in rank. And as you probably guessed from poor Haruno Lee's experiences; Haruno is among the last. (though Sakura is slightly 'different'…wait for it. )

And, Nara Shikamaru is the peacemaker, the 'watcher'. He's the one that takes care of clashes in between the Uchiha side and Hyuuga side, so his job is similar to that of a selected, except that he has authority over both sides. He's backed up by the Suna family, as can be seen by Temari staying next to him. There were Watchers before him, and…that's to be explained way later.

PS: since people are anxious to know. Duh~. Of course Hinata's not going to be useless, ^^, that's why she's a main character. But again…wait for it…my stories are too stretchy sometimes, it even annoys me. But oh well.

PPS: to BK Black Knight (who's being wonderful by commenting on a lot of my stories…lol), I've never read shika hina before; I seem to love ShikaTema too much ^^ I like sideline couples…like KakaAnko and…believe it or not, InoKanku (crack)

Bear with me.)