Love at second sight

A/N: (grumbles) I got ANOTHER insufficient mark for Maths…T-T GAH!!! I hate it!!!! X( And to make it worse, thanks to this, I have gotten a computer-limit! (cries out loudly) I think I'm going to believe in karma too, because I must have done something terrible in my previous life to deserve this shit… But: at least I can continue my story! XD But be warned: I have a computer-limit now, so it'll probably go even slower…- -' Sorry, you guys…

Anyways, please enjoy this chapter! Hope you like it. :D

Chapter twelve.

Temari gulped.

And gulped another time.

The visiting hour had started. Right now she was standing right in front of the door of room number 409, otherwise known as the room of the Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara. Her brother.

Her other, quite nervous, sibling was standing behind her, pushing her to go in first.

Slowly she raised her hand, knocking softly. "Gaara-kun? It's us, Temari and Kankuro…"

No answer.

For the second time she knocked, a little louder this time. "Can we come in?"

Still no answer.

Impatient now, Temari 'carefully' banged on the door. "Gaara-kun!"

Suddenly there was a dangerous growl heard from inside the room. It was only for a few seconds, but both Temari and Kankuro had heard it very clearly. They could practically slice the thick tension that radiated from behind the closed door in front of them with a knife.

Temari gulped for the third time while Kankuro slowly took a step backwards. "Errrr…. sis, is it okay if I go another time? I mean, it's clear that he's a bit, uhm... stressy now, and as a guy I can't handle emotional problems very well… You're much better with that, so, errrrr…. See ya!" And with that he took off, with an amazing speed as well.

Temari slightly sweatdropped at the stupid behaviour of her retarded brother, and turned slowly towards the suddenly very large and scary door. Lifting her now shaking hand once again, she grabbed the golden-coloured knob, turned it, and opened the door. Afraid to go in, the blonde stopped herself. 'What do I do now?' she asked herself silently.

'No.' Temari reprimanded herself suddenly. 'I will not be afraid of Gaara. He's my brother…' And with that thought she stepped inside.

Damn.

It's dark here.

The curtains were closed so tightly that there wasn't even a tiny stream of light shining through them. Temari squeezed her eyes until they were small slits and could slightly distinguish the silhouette of her brother, lying very still in his bed.

"Gaara-kun?" Temari cautiously asked the motionless form. "Are you all right?"

Even in the dark she could see the lime-green eyes that were suddenly focused on her now. Feeling a shudder going through her spine, Temari stayed were she was to not anger him further. It was clear to her that someone, or something, had provoked him. She could hear the sand hiss a little. Not a good sign.

The form moved a little and finally spoke in a very low, almost inaudible voice. "Someone has been watching me…"

Temari was shocked. "Watching you? What do you mean? The Uchiha? Or…"

"A perilous person." Gaara's solemn voice interrupted her.

She stayed silent. 'An unknown person? And Gaara calls him perilous? Well, in that case he's probably really dangerous… But is that why Gaara-kun is so…gloomy?'

"How… How do you know he's dangerous? Did he have a strange chakra?"

Again it was silent. Temari, feeling her brother's aura growing darker and darker, decided to not press the issue further. But just as she opened her mouth to say that she would leave now, she was stopped by his voice.

"He smelled like blood... the blood of many people…"

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She couldn't believe it.

She just couldn't.

She refused to believe that the person next to her had been ordered to….

kill her and Gaara-kun…

Tears slowly started to form in opal white eyes.

Why?

Why was this happening to her?

Did she do something wrong?

Had she said something to provoke the Gods?

She didn't know.

"I-I just c-can't understand i-i-it…"

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"I-I just c-can't understand i-i-it…"

Sasuke looked up, at the shaking form next to him. His hand reached out to her, but she flinched away. Sadly, he withdrew. "There's nothing to understand. I just… got the mission and I would have succeeded in it too, if it weren't… if it weren't for you…"

Tears flowing freely now, she glanced at him, silently asking him what he meant.

He noticed. "I recognized you, Hinata… After those two long years, I saw you again… and still loved you. I couldn't kill the only person I truly loved. Could you?"

Silently Hinata shook her head.

Carefully leaning against him, she sighed softly. "No, I c-couldn't, never…"

Before he could hold her, she seceded from him once again and slowly got up to her feet. Still shaking a little, she turned to the dark-haired man who was staring at her.

"I-I have to… I mean, I-I need…a-alone time… have to th-think about a-all of t-this…" Stuttering a few more incoherent words, she wiped the tears away from her now red cheeks, turning away from the Uchiha again.

"I-I'll be b-back…" Stumbling to the door, Hinata was stopped. The Uchiha had grabbed her wrist and looked her in the eyes as she glanced at him, a bit shocked. His dark orbs looked like they almost held a tinge of desperation. "Promise it." He hoarsely whispered.

"I promise…" she whispered back and carefully slid her wrist out of his grip.

The door was closed suddenly.

Sasuke stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. He wanted to run after her, tell her he loved her, begging for her to stay, but he didn't. He stayed right where he was, on that little spot on the floor. Cursing himself to Hell.

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Oh yes, Neji was very, very content with himself.

He had a plan.

After all, he wasn't a genius for nothing.

If it weren't for his modesty, he would have patted himself on the back for sure.

But enough about Neji's modesty and genius plans:

Let's continue with the execution of the latter.

"Hiashi-sama, I have to go to the Hokage's office. She called me for a secret mission. Do I have permission to leave?"

"Yes, you may go." A hand waved languidly in his direction, signalling for him to leave.

"Arigatou, Hiashi-sama." And with that he left the Hyuuga compound, almost grinning at his own intelligence.

In five minutes he was at the office and waltzed straight in, not caring for the shocked looks of the bystanders and the yells of the receptionist. Knocking on the door that read 'Hokage' in scrappy letters, he called. "Tsunade-sama, can I come in, please? I have a request."

The tinkling of bottles was heard and after a couple of minutes the slurred voice of a certain drunken Hokage anwered him. "Yes, yes, come in…"

Neji walked in and scowled slightly: a strong smelling, nauseating wave of alcohol filled his nostrils and he was almost knocked down by it.

Tsunade smiled, or more likely, grimaced at the Hyuuga genius and gestured for him to sit down. "Well, what issit that you tanted me to walk about…?"

He took a deep breath before answering: if he inhaled too much here, he would fall off of his chair. "As I said: I have a request. Now that Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara has been attacked and his wife has been… kidnapped, someone of Konoha should investigate it there. It would be only normal to help an ally, and since Hinata-sama is my family, I would appreciate it if you send me there…"

Tsunade nodded. "I understand it, Hyuuga… You have my… permission. Leave wlithin two hourrrs. You know what to do, right..?" Slurring a bit, she grabbed the closest bottle and gulped a huge draught out of it. Neji took it as a permission to leave and slightly bowed. "Arigatou, Tsunade-sama. I'll be going then."

Turning around, he left the office as fast as he could. Step one of his plan was successfully executed. Step two would follow soon…

"You just wait, Uchiha… I'll be hunting your ass down…"

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"So, you're saying that there was someone dangerous creeping around here? With a bloodied cloak?" Kankuro shuddered slightly.

Damn, first the Uchiha, and now a blood-sucking vampire / werewolf / zombie or something like that… Great. Just great. Life couldn't get any better.

"Yeah, Gaara was pretty pissed about it… If even he says the guy is dangerous, we really have to watch out. But our number one priority right now is finding Hinata-chan. And that creep is probably miles away from here now…"

Temari sighed deeply. "Look, let's go home. Tomorrow we'll talk about this some more…" She began walking towards the exit, signalling for her sibling to come as well. When he didn't come, the fan-kunoichi turned around and saw her brother flirting with nurse number 73.

A vein appeared on her forehead. "Get your ass down here right now, Kankuro! It's late and I want to go home!" Sending her patented deathly-sister-glare to her poor brother, Temari waited, foot tapping impatiently. The nurse made sure she wasn't near the angry female and hastily walked away.

Kankuro strolled towards his sister obediently, while sighing depressively. "Coming, coming!"

He grumbled. "Great, now I'll have to deal with two werewolves…" He made sure the werewolf in front of him, a.k.a. his sister, didn't hear that last part.

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Small footsteps were heard through the streets of Amegakure.

Hyuuga Hinata shivered a little: it was late, almost night. The darkness began to rise slowly, while the temperature descended.

But she didn't care.

She wanted to be alone and think.

Think about everything that had happened in the last few days.

Think about everything that was told to her.

Think about what to do next.

"Gaara-kun…" she whispered softly. She missed him. She missed everyone. She longed for Suna. Hinata always had the tendency to be homesick, even in her earliest childhood memories she could remember how she had cried every time her mother left to do groceries or something else. Most of the time she didn't even want to cry, but somehow she always did. But only when she was alone. If her father was near, he would scold her harshly for being such a baby. But no matter how hard he yelled at her, she would always cry, even it was just for a bit, when her mother left.

But when she died, Hinata had no more tears left. She was so sad, but couldn't cry. She had tried to shed some tears, but her eyes wouldn't cooperate. Even when she was standing next to her father, looking at her mothers' gravestone, not a single tear would come out.

And now, many years later, it was the same again. No matter how much she missed Gaara, no matter how much she longed to be in Suna again, no matter how much she wanted to cry because of Sasuke, no tears would be shed. Not even when she wanted to.

It was strange, really.

To be able to cry only when you don't want to.

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Hinata was so lost in thought, that she didn't notice that she wasn't the only one on the normally deserted streets. Another pair of footsteps was right behind her, echoing hollow. However, she did notice when the breath of someone tingled on her neck.

Gasping, she turned around and her eyes met small grey ones. The same man from this morning was grinning at her, baring his yellow teeth.

"Sooooo, we meet again, missy!"

He slowly neared, while the frightened girl took a step backwards.

And another one.

And another one.

She turned around again, and began to run. Right now she didn't want to fight, especially not against that creepy guy who looked quite strong too. The only thing she wanted right now was to be alone. She ignored the shouting behind her, and began to run even harder when she heard the same footsteps again, also in a fast pace. Coming closer and closer, the greasy man reached out to grab her hand. Hinata jerked away and fled into an alley.

Wrong move.

Halting right before the dead end, Hinata attempted to dodge and move around the man, but it held no avail: She was cornered now.

Damn.

The tears came again.

Slowly she turned to the man, while trying to wipe the tears away. "P-Please, Sir, l-l-leave me a-alone…"

The man laughed hoarsely. "And leave such a cutie? I don't think so. Why don't you come with me? You look awfully alone tonight…"

His hand reached out again, and this time he did get her small hand. She tried to pull away, but the man wouldn't let go. "Go a-away!" she cried now, trying to sound brave.

Clearly it didn't work, the man laughed even louder this time. "Oh, she's getting mad now! You don't have to be afraid sweetie, I won't do anything."

His face neared slowly and stopped only inches from hers. "Now how 'bout a kiss?"

He didn't get a peck on the lips, but he did receive a smack in the face.

Yelling out loud, he took a step backwards while holding the sore spot where Hinata had hit him. After his shouting faded, his grey eyes narrowed. "You little bitch! You'll pay for that…"

Even before Hinata had the time to get in a defending stance, the man had hit her very hard. She fell with her head against the wall and collapsed on the cold ground. With her sight completely blurry, she could barely distinguish the form of the man, bending over her.

"Now, no struggling anymore."

He reached out again, and caressed her cheek. Just as Hinata wanted to let out a scream, she saw another form coming in her sight, right behind the other man. A wave of pure horror suddenly rolled over her; it made her even more nauseating than she already was. She didn't know why, but this newcomer didn't feel good. He felt pure evil; dark aura was radiating off of him as a deathly plague.

She felt the rough hand freeze on her cheek.

"What do you want?! Don't you see I'm…"

The gruff voice suddenly stopped. She could feel the dark aura almost consume her, while the sound of someone choking echoed through the dark alley. Then there was something right next to her, making spastic movements. Hinata tried to see what it was, but her sight was still blurred and her head was still spinning. The contours of the other man neared, and panicked she tried to get away, but a strong hand already gripped her neck tightly.

"So, Hyuuga Hinata…"

'He knows… who I am? Even with… the Henge no jutsu…?' Getting sleepier and sleepier, she tried to raise her spinning head and fight against the hand around her neck, but failed.

The last thing she saw before darkness engulfed her completely were blazing black eyes, staring intensely into her white ones.

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End of chapter twelve

A/N: Arggghhh! Another cliff hanger! Sorry!! XO (dodges a couple of shoes and forks) i really am! But it seemed like a good end...

Anyways, I hope you liked it! Considering it'll go even slower now (grumbles), it'll probably take a little longer before chapter thirteen arrives… But I'll really try to update as soon as possible! But for now,

sayonara!!! XD