"It's all right, Hinata. It really is. Most likely he isn't the bassist; it's all going to be okay…"
"Where's my bass?"
"Fuck."
"Hinata, what are you doing here?" Neji asked.
"You know what? That's my new song. Fuckety fuck fuck fuck. FUCK!"
"Temari, I thought I said for you to tell him!" Sakura barked, wheeling around to the blonde furiously. Her emerald green eyes flashed in annoyance.
"I know, but I told Gaara to tell him because he's in more classes with him than I am! Seeing I'm a junior and everything!" Temari shot back.
"Tell me what?" Neji growled. His menacing voice was promptly ignored.
"Gaara, is that true?"
"Yeah."
"But…?" Sakura asked, hoping to get a more defining answer.
"Too lazy."
"Gaara!" Temari stretched the first syllable of his name and snapped the second like a rubber band. "You were supposed to tell him!"
"Tell me WHAT?!" Neji roared, so loud that Sakura, Hinata, and Temari all jumped a mile in surprise. Only Gaara stayed stationary, staring at his guitar longingly. "What is she doing here?!"
"I… um, I…" Hinata began, stammering like crazy.
"Neji, Hinata's-the-new-singer-of-the-band," Sakura explained at a speed that Hinata had to blink at.
"She has no voice," Neji replied promptly. "She's too quiet." Hinata felt a quick jab of anger at this. Usually she would just agree and be done with it, but she was a better singer than he could ever imagine. She could feel her mouth slowly growing taut with anger.
"I assure you, she has more singing talent in her pinky finger than I do in my whole body," Sakura admitted flatly, putting her hands on her slender hips. "You know how dedicated I am to this, Neji."
Neji didn't say anything to this, except for "Well, let's hear what you got."
"All right Hinata, pick the first song on your head and start singing. Loud. " Temari commanded. "Warm up time starts now." She threw the microphone on its cord at Hinata, and Hinata instinctively caught it. Shooting Neji a slight glare in defiance before going back to shy mode, she began to sing tentatively that grew in strength with each word:
The kisses of the sun, were sweet
I didn't blink, I let it in my eyes
Like an exotic dream, the radio playing songs
That I have never heard, I don't know what to say
Oh not another word
Just la la la la la
It goes around the world
Just la la la la la
It's all around the world
Just la la la la la
And everybody's singing
La la la la la
And now the bells are ringing
With a series of la's in store for the next minute or so and then a small break, Hinata finally looked up from the microphone. Neji looked completely dumbstruck, much like Sakura, Temari, and Tenten did on the sleepover. Hinata smirked a little on the inside. She had his attention, all right. Sakura and Temari were both smiling widely, with their eyes saying, "That's our girl."
Inside an empty room, my inspiration flows
Now wait to hear the tune, around my head it goes
The magic melody, you want to sing with me
Just la la la la la, the music is the key.
With those lyrics, Sakura and Temari were unconsciously singing along. Gaara was slightly moving to the beat Hinata had set, and Neji was slowly shaking his head in wonder.
And now the night is gone, still it goes on and on
So deep inside of me, I long to set it free
I don't know what to do, just can't explain to you
I don't know what to say, oh not another word
Just la la la la la
It goes around the world
Just la la la la la,
It's all around the world
Just la la la la la,
And everybody's singing
La la la la la
And now the bells are ringing
Once again, there were a series of la's, and Hinata was grinning widely along with Sakura and Temari, who were still singing along with her. Neji now had his little not-quite-a-smile on his face, jumping on the stage to retrieve the bass. In respect for her singing however, he didn't play a single chord until Hinata was done.
The kisses of the sun…
Around, around, around, around, around…
La la la la la
It goes around the world
Just la la la la la
It's all around the world
Just la la la la la
And everybody's singing
La la la la la
And now the bells are ringing
Hinata finished up with yet another series of la's, and she was grinning like a mad person at Neji's face. Her long haired cousin blinked a few times in more surprise before tuning his bass with Gaara.
"You know what? That song just made me want to hug somebody," Sakura said happily.
Gaara's imaginary eyebrows shot up.
"Oh yeah! Duh!" Sakura instantly hugged her boyfriend, with Gaara hugging her back. A smirk glowed in his expression as Temari and Hinata laughed hard. Neji had a forlorn expression. He was all alone… Hinata gave him a hug, which had marked her as the most forgiving person on the face of the earth.
The rest of band practice went by without a single protest about Hinata's singing.
Two classes down.
Two to go.
Thank the Lord. Hinata dived into her Jewelry class, looking wildly around for Naruto and Sakura. Especially Naruto, but Sakura wouldn't hurt either. Her voice was hoarse from singing the previous night, but they got a lot done. They picked the three songs they would sing for the Battle of the Bands night, and they got the rough sketch of what they would do for props and for the judges. Gaara and Sakura took care of some of the vocals too, and without Temari to manage the crap… they would be screwed. Not a bad night at all.
"Hinata!" Hinata heard Sakura scream, and then she was suddenly bowled over by a flying tackle hug that was executed flawlessly by the pink haired girl. Hinata had barely caught herself with her foot, but the shy girl was too off balance. They both went crashing down into the ground.
Stupid reflexes.
"Sakura, I can't breathe," Hinata managed, quickly turning blue from lack of air.
"Oh, right. Sorry," Sakura let go of her and pulled her up in a fast motion to come face to face with Naruto, who looked a little worried. "No, I did not just nearly kill your date to homecoming, I swear," she added in a monotone, her face completely expressionless.
"Uh huh. Right," Naruto said dryly, before his expression lit up as if he just noticed Hinata was in radar. "Hey Hinata, you should come sit by me!" he yelled excitedly, announcing it to the entire world… or at least to the entire class. Laughing with only a slight spell of dizziness, Hinata let Naruto drag her to the tables.
"Here, you can have a few of my drawings, you're behind as it is," Naruto piped up, handing her a drawing of a wolf and a fox. Hinata's eyes widened.
"Whoa, these are really good!" she breathed.
"You think so?" Naruto smiled widely. "Thanks. You can pick one for the cut and pierce project, if you want."
"I'll… pick… this one!" Hinata picked the fox. "It kinda reminds me of you." She went a little pink as she said it, but inside, she was practically throwing a rave. She wasn't stammering in front of him. Then she was smiling like an idiot and laughing a little bit. "Sorry, I don't know what I'm thinking today."
Naruto didn't say anything, except his eyes were sparkling with a happiness that Hinata couldn't even begin to describe. "It's okay." Suddenly he cleared his throat. "Hinata…"
That was about when the fire alarm went off. Not the drill. The actual alarm.
Which, of course, caused mayhem.
"Everyone, calm the fuck down!" Anko roared over the kids' screaming and hollering. Very few of them were actually panicking; the others were whooping that maybe the school would burn to the ground or something. Hinata was looking around, and she could smell something…
Smoke?
Hinata looked outside the window, and she gasped. Naruto looked over her head, and his sharp intake of breath showed he was scared too. The entire science wing was nearly completely consumed in flames, with the fires licking each brick and charring it black. The hairs on the back of Hinata's neck raised as she heard spine-chilling screams coming from that part of the structure. Oh no…
"Tenten has Biology this block," Hinata breathed, her eyes wide in fright.
"Oh shit," Naruto hissed, and Anko dared to take a peek out of that window to evaluate the situation. Her eyes widened as well before screaming, "Would all of you just shut up?! This is an emergency, and you all need to find an exit buddy in case we get separated, all right?"
Hinata instinctively gripped Naruto's arm while Sakura and Temari went after Chouji and Shikamaru respectively. The class all split apart while Anko kept an eye on the fire. It seemed to be controlled, but it was still too much of a risk to send the entire class out at once to get out.
"Do you all have your exit buddies?" Anko yelled, realizing that it sounded completely ridiculous.
"I have my exit buddy!" Naruto barked back, mimicking Anko's tone. Hinata bit her cheeks to keep from laughing despite the situation they were in, and there was a huge silence before Anko spoke up again, her voice laced with annoyance and impatience.
"Thanks for the information, Naruto. All right!" she ordered. "All of you, line up at the door and if we get separated, stay with your partner at all times until we find you. Now, OUT!"
The class didn't need to be told twice. They bolted. However, the thick smoke made it almost impossible to see, and Hinata began to freak out until she heard a familiar voice.
"Hinata?" Naruto called.
"Over here!" she coughed, grabbing for his hand once she could see it.
"We lost the others," came Temari's voice, along with Shikamaru's mutter of "Now smoke? How troublesome."
"How?" Hinata asked.
"The smoke's too thick… I don't really know, but we're here now," Temari replied tersely. She was unconsciously gripping Shikamaru's hand hard, but the lazy kid didn't say a word.
"Okay, we can't stand here all day. We need to get out of here. Let's try that way," Shikamaru said at last, pointing in a direction.
"All right, let's give it a shot," Temari agreed. With Naruto holding onto Hinata and Shikamaru holding on to Temari, they ran as fast as they could in the direction Shikamaru had pointed.
Hinata's hand was in Naruto's strong grip as they kept running, but she started coughing even more as the smoke kept getting thicker. It was irritating her already sore throat and she was very quickly getting light headed. As the smoke turned from a light color to a dark pewter gray, Hinata's legs gave out from underneath her. She landed heavily on her knees and buckled over as she began to cough even harder.
"We can't go this way; the smoke is getting too thick!" Naruto shouted desperately, stopping for the collapsed sophomore.
"But I can see the front doors; if we can just go a little farther we can make it!" Temari replied, coughing a little as well.
"But Hinata-"
"I can make it!" Hinata burst out as soon as her coughing spasm ceased. "If it's just a little ways ahead, I'll be fine!"
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.
"I'll be fine," Hinata repeated grimly, slowly getting to her feet. She was still swaying a little, so Naruto moved in front of her and bent over.
"Get on!" His tone offered no room for protests, and Hinata could barely even walk anyway. She obediently climbed on, and the group started running again towards the exit. Hinata was slowly weakening and coughing more and more, until they finally reached the double doors. Temari and Shikamaru kicked them open and they burst out of the school. Once blessed air greeted Hinata's lungs, she fell off Naruto's back and gasped sweet oxygen as she lay on her back in the grass.
"Come on, Hinata. We need to get as far away from the building as possible," Temari stretched out a hand. Hinata gratefully took it as she stumbled to her feet. She was a little shaky, but she could walk. Even so, Naruto helped to hold her upright as they walked away from the fire. That was about when Hinata realized how close in proximity he was.
"Oh no, don't you dare have a heart attack now!" Hinata thought firmly, struggling a little to walk. She looked at her crush, and his blue eyes were staring straight ahead with an expression she couldn't read.
"Hinata! Naruto! Temari! Shikamaru!" Hinata heard a voice shriek, and she whipped around to see Sakura in the distance, waving. Hinata waved back once she could find the strength, but looking in the other direction, she found her cousin staring at the building with a wild look in his eyes.
"Neji! What's wrong?" Temari called.
"Tenten! She's still inside!" Neji yelled, his voice wild with fear for the brunette.
"What?!" Temari and Hinata whirled around to see a fireman climbing out of the building, holding someone on his back. It was a girl, holding on his back tightly.
"Tenten!" Sakura was now next to them, and she shouted the girl's name with relief. The fireman slowly climbed down the ladder, and gently placed Tenten on solid ground. She looked around crazily, before her eyes rested on her boyfriend.
"NEJI!" Tenten screamed with hysteria and relief in her voice, and she was sprinting all out towards him before tackling him in a bear hug. Neji gripped her tightly as Tenten collapsed, bringing her boyfriend down with her. Neji kissed her once before gripping her harder, and Tenten was now sobbing into his shoulder with reaction from the blazes she narrowly escaped from.
"Thank God she's all right," Hinata gasped, and she looked up again a few minutes later. The fire was now completely under control, with only the science section damaged. The rest of the building was unscathed, and Hinata couldn't help but sigh with relief.
"Awww… it would have been perfect if the school burned down," Naruto joked lightly, unconsciously wrapping his arms around Hinata. Hinata sagged in his arms, still weak from all the smoke. Temari and Shikamaru were also standing closer together than usual, with Temari still occasionally coughing.
"Hey guys, are you all right?" Hinata lifted her head to see Anko looking down at them worriedly.
"Yeah, we're okay. What's going on with the school?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"School will be closed tomorrow, but since the science part of the building was the only part that has serious damage, you'll be back the next day."
"Aw man…" Naruto groaned, but he didn't move for Hinata's sake. He did straighten up a little though, and Hinata blushed furiously once she remembered where she was. But instead of trying to move, she stayed still to try and catch her breath. "Well, do you know what happened?"
"Some idiot kid mixed the wrong chemicals and they exploded," Anko explained. "He's all right, but the flames from the explosion caught and spread pretty fast. Also, there was a gas spill that we didn't pick up until the fire found it. Then it all went to hell from there."
Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by a scream.
"Hinata!" It was her mother.
She blinked a few times before waving back, but then she looked up. Naruto was still holding her… with his arms wrapped around her stomach. Her eyes flashed open wide as she realized she was still slouched against him.
And her mom just saw the whole thing.
"Shit."
I apologize for the shortness and anything else I messed up on more than usual, that's what I get for writing this chap with a fever. –chuckles- Keep reviewing people!