Hinata sighed quietly to herself as she finished another round of vocal routines to warm-up. She really, really didn't want to sing. She wanted the piano. But of course, her opinion was pushed to the background of everyone else and was simply told that she would be the one to sing. She was used to it, used to it enough that it rarely bothered her. If it made everyone else happy, then she could settle for it. But this? Singing? Maybe it was okay to sing in front of a couple people, but what happens if she freezes up when they perform in front of everyone else? Perhaps they didn't realize just exactly how shy she truly was.

Maybe it would all work out, maybe she was feeling the anxiety over nothing. After all, she was managing just fine the more she practiced with the others. The more time passed, the more comfortable she was becoming in the role.

"We ready?" Temari asked in a firm voice, everyone there could tell that something was wrong, but no one asked. It was Temari and just about everyone in the school was used to her temper tantrums.

Ino merely nodded as she placed her violin in position. Any and all fight had left her after what happened earlier with Chouji. She was scared to look Hinata in the eye, scared that the pale-eyed girl would say something. Even though she was sure they all knew about what happened. And Temari already hated her for Kankuro helping her out. Poor Kankuro, he was pretty sweet to her, and she felt bad because she knew he probably held a small amount of feelings for her. Something she could never return. Not while she held this guilt in her heart for being solely responsible of Chouji's destruction. It was most definitely a sobering feeling.

As for Tenten, she merely went to sit behind the piano. She previously made herself busy with going over some of the lyric changes Hinata made from their last solo practice together. That and she was…kind of okay lately. Not happy by any means, but…okay. She never would have thought that she would actually find herself in a relationship with Neji. Kami she crushed on him hard for a long time, so hard he seemed like an unreachable dream. And when she finally opened her eyes he turned into one of her best friends. Then Lee happened. Damn it, no. She would not think about him. Because when she thought about Lee, the pain came soon after. And it probably didn't help that she hasn't cut since Neji basically asked her out. There wasn't a reason too. She was too numb to feel anything. It was as though Neji neutralized the constant pain she felt inside.

Sakura was…Sakura was confused. "Yeah, let's start already, we've wasted enough time warming up," very, very confused. And angry. And hurt. But most of all, she was confused. Despite the party over the weekend, the biggest highlight was that weird afternoon she had with Neji Hyuuga. All her other troubles just kind of melted away as they talked out their plan of action for their project, it was like she was able to get away from everything. Listening to his calm yet confident voice drone on about phages and securing laboratory time was soothing compared to Naruto's earsplitting volume. She cast a side-long glance towards Hinata, only to feel her ire rise even more. Damn that girl. Sure, it was awkward being around Neji this weekend. But being around Hinata was suffocating. She hated her. No matter what Sakura did, Hinata was always the first thing on Naruto's mind. It wasn't fair. And today only proved it!

Sasuke and Naruto had apparently made up sometime after lunch, as they walked towards her locker together and talking in quiet tones. When she asked what was up, Naruto just looked at her and she could see the pain in his eyes. Finally Sasuke told her what happened with Neji and Chouji earlier and it all made sense. He was worried, he was worried over his damned ex girlfriend! When was Sakura going to come first!?

"I thought you were ready?" Temari asked moodily, "Come on Sakura, you just missed you cue! Pay attention."

The pink-haired girl nodded distractedly, "Let's start from the top again."

Ino started out with a long, melancholy sound from the violin. Then Tenten picked up a few seconds later to softly start in with key sounds on the piano. Hinata started in on the lyrics with, "Sparkling angel, I believed. You were my savior in my time of need. Blinded by faith, I couldn't hear. All the whispers, the warning so clear. I see the angels, I'll lead them to your door. There's no escape now, no mercy no more. No remorse because I still remember," here is where Temari and Sakura started in with the drums and guitar, "The smile when you tore me apart."

They went on and re-started a few times. Temari and Sakura were really struggling to match each other's speed. Ino's playing on the violin just came across as sad. Tenten was doing fairly well and even Hinata was gaining more confidence each time they went over it, even though her passion didn't match the intensity of the lyrics. As more time passed it was pretty obvious that Temari and Sakura were getting really frustrated with each other. But the biggest surprise came before they could start yelling at one another.

It was Ino. The one who actually wrote down most of the lyrics for the song they were trying to get right. Yes, right in the middle of the first couple lyrics she started to sob. Each of the girls were shocked at the sound and the room went instantly silent. Another sob, then two more. And in a flash, the beautiful blonde girl bolted out of the room, carelessly dropping her instrument in the process.

The remaining girls eyed each other as though looking for an explanation, even though two of them knew what had happened. Sakura refused to meet Hinata's eyes.

The shy girl spoke up, "I-I I'll be right back." And then she too bolted out of the door.

Sakura scoffed, of course Hinata would go after her and be the savior. Even though Ino was really her friend, "I guess we're done here."

"Guess so, and hey Sakura, why don't you work a little extra on your part, you were really off today," Temari suggested. Sakura merely rolled her eyes and gathered up her things to leave.

With Hinata, she had a good idea where Ino went off to. As she rounded the corner she caught just the sight of Ino's blonde ponytail as she went through another set of doors. Hinata slowed her steps to a walking pace, building up her own strength to try and be there for Ino. She wasn't sure why, she just knew that Ino needed someone who would listen. Ino's sobs were just so eerily heart-breaking.

As she neared the heavy doors she could hear Ino crying as quietly as possible. It was late and most of the students and faculty were already gone, so she doubted anyone else would be here. With a firm push, she opened the doors and stepped foot into the faded blue walls of the girls changing room for gym. Ino was curled up in the corner of the room, luckily no one else was there. She took a few cautious steps towards the blonde.

"Just go away Hinata," Ino whispered hotly through her tears.

Hinata simply sighed and seated herself close the other girl, "It's okay to cry Ino."

The girl cried harder into her own arms, pulling into herself as tightly as possible. Hinata sat there beside her for a few minutes, saying nothing, just listening to Ino's broken cries. With everything that Naruto and Sakura put her through, cheating on her and breaking her heart, at least she could honestly say she was never physically abused.

It took a while, several minutes in fact, but eventually the usually bright and happy Ino calmed down and chanced a glance up towards the girl next to her, "H-Hinata, promise me you won't say anything. Please."

The Hyuuga girl smiled softly, "I p-promise."

Ino nodded in self-reassurance, "I'm sorry I just," she cleared her groggy throat, "I don't know what came over me."

"Ino you've," she hesitated just the slightest, "you've b-been through a lot today."

The blonde stilled her movement for a bit, "Hinata um," what could she say to her? It wasn't a big secret anymore. Not after he hit her that day after practice, everyone in school knew about it. And it will be even worse after today when he threw her into the lockers. What could she say? Kami, she could already see everyone's sympathizing looks.

"I-it's n-not my place," Hinata told her in a quiet voice, "but," she gulped nervously, "I am worried for you."

"You don't have to worry, everything will be okay, it always is."

Denial. They sat there quiet for a little bit as the denial of her statement remained out in the open. Both lost in their own thoughts. Ino herself wasn't sure what else she could do to keep up with it all. Everything was breaking down around her, and it was all her fault. Hinata wondered if Ino was just telling herself it was going to be okay. They were friends; yes, but not close. They barely talked to each other outside of class or these music practices. Hinata didn't know what she should do.

"Really Hinata, he doesn't mean it." There was a part of her that believed that to be true too. There was also a small part inside her that wanted to talk to Hinata, to tell her everything, all her problems.

Hinata's eyes snapped towards Ino's in disbelief, "He m-may not mean it, but that d-doesn't m-make it right."

Ino allowed another moment of silence to stretch between them before replying back quietly, almost in a whispered tone, "It's my fault."

Shaking her head once in denial, Hinata turned herself towards her friend and placed a hand to her shoulder, "No, it's not."

"But it is," light blue eyes filled with pain before continuing on, "he wouldn't," she shuddered, "he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for me."

"Ino," she whispered, "why do you believe that?"

"Because," she sobbed again, not being able to stop it in time, "I introduced him to it all Hinata, I did. Don't you see? I made him popular just by being with him. He used to never drink, or pop pills, or…or sleep around. I did this to him."

She was shocked, but in the end Hinata could see where Ino could think like that. So she took a moment to think on how to respond before settling for the honest truth of it all, "You didn't force h-him into anything. He made his own decisions."

Immediately Ino shook her head no, "You don't understand, sure you dated Naruto for a while, but you still weren't that popular. You don't know what it's like to party like we do. I love him Hinata, we deserve each other."

It was the truth and it stung a little, but she came back with, "You're right about that," she paused, "but you're wrong about one-one thing. You deserve better and so does he. I d-don't mean that in a bad way. Just th-that you two maybe aren't good for each other."

Ino laughed once bitterly, "You think?" She then looked around, as if to make sure they were truly alone before admitting in a quiet voice, "I tried to end it you know, several times in fact. The first time it happened was the worst. He apologized and I could tell he meant it, he doesn't really mean to hurt me. Then he did it again, and then again. And again and again. And not just that, but he's cheated on me I don't even know how many times. But what do I do Hinata? I love him so much it hurts. I hate it that I am the one who changed him. So if you think about it, I've hurt him just as much as he's hurt me." Ino paused to catch her breath, she didn't really mean to say all of these things, but it felt so good to talk to someone. "I know we're not good for each other. I really do. But I love him, it's as simple as that. I can't escape how I feel about him and he knows it."

Poor Ino, she's been through so much, and still hangs on for the one she loves. She's had to twist the truth to make it into something she could fathom was possible and fix. "Ino, I'm sorry but," Hinata wasn't sure how the blonde was going to react but it needed to be said here, "but it's going to get wor-worse. If this has been going on for as long as you say then it already has gotten worse. What if he hits you one too many times, or what if he takes one too many pills?"

"I know," she cried out, her eyes now swollen with tears, "I know but I can't stop it. I tried to break up with him just last week but here I am. Hurt again, crying again. And I know he's sorry. But I know he'll just do it again. Kami and when he gets so angry and looks at me…sometimes I wonder if this is it, you know? Is this when it ends?"

Hinata shook her head and pulled her into her arms, "You're strong Ino, one of the strongest people I know. But you both need to be away from-from each other, for both of your sakes." Ino continued to cry her tears out. Hinata was right, she knew that. She listened to Hinata add, "He needs you too, Ino. Because you do love each other so much, you might be the only one that can help him."

Before she realized it, Ino was nodding at what needed to be done. One more time, she will try to break it off one more time. Hinata was probably right about that too, she was the only one that could save Chouji from what he's become. She helped to mold and create him, she will have to be the one to save him. She never really thought of it like that before. "Hinata um…"

"…I promised you, don't worry. But I'll be here for you if you need help."

"Hinata," she smiled sadly, "thank you."

~*R*~

"How was the party loser?"

Naruto glared at his best friend, "Awesome. Why don't you ever go those things anyway?"

Sasuke just shrugged, "What's the point?"

"Uh," Naruto started, "the point is to get drunk with your friends and sneak off with your girlfriend."

"Ew, I really don't want to hear about your latest sexcapade with Sakura."

"Right, guess I should thank you for always turning her down. She finally realized I was the better choice all along."

The Uchiha scoffed, "I'm not even going to justify that with an intelligent response."

"Don't hate," the blonde teased. They were playing video games in Naruto's room, the age old way of patching things up with each other. You know, the typical guy way, by blowing each up on-screen. When Sasuke brutally took him out with a head-shot Naruto glanced his way, "Hey look, I'm sorry about the other day."

"You mean when you sucker-punched me?" Was it just him, or did Naruto's room smell like dirty socks and leftover ramen? He glanced around…it looked like it smelled. Gross. From now on he will insist on game night at his place. He didn't give two shits what Itachi had to say about it.

"Yeah, hee hee," he stalled, "Sasuke uh, do you like Hinata or something?"

He was quiet for a few minutes, enjoying blowing the loud boy to smithereens. Instead of answering him, he finally asked a question of his own, "What did you want with her?"

Naruto let out a tired sigh and ran his hands through his blonde locks, "Nothing. Everything. I still want to be her friend."

Sasuke stared at him, "It was wrong what you did to her."

Accepting that, Naruto nodded. After all he could still feel every one of Neji's punches, "I know, and she deserved better. I see her and…I want to see her smile again so bad. I've apologized, but I know she doesn't think I mean it, "he sighed again, "I love Sakura."

He snorted at his friend, "Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of that."

"No, I do. I love her. That I'm sure of. I mean come on bastard, a lifetime of pining for her doesn't just fade away overnight."

"And Hinata? What about her?"

"…I don't know."

"Might want to get it figured out loser, you've hurt her enough as it is. You talking to her and being all happy is like throwing it all back in her face."

"You know, you never did answer my question, why do you care when it comes to Hinata?"

Sasuke just turned his thoughts inwards. He wasn't into Hinata like that, but they had been friends. He had once considered her more of a friend; other than Naruto of course, than anyone else in school. She was just genuine; she wasn't out for popularity or anything like that. Plus she never did follow him around like an annoying puppy with a stupid crush. Heh, once upon a time it was Naruto who showed him the error of his ways. Guess now it was Sasuke's turn to show Naruto that he needed to get his shit together before he lost both of them.