Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

A/N.: Kakashi has no mask in this fic. I repeat, no mask. Inspiration has hit me in this chapter, though!

Chapter 13: Broken Hallelujah

"Hinata."

"..."

"Hinata?"

"..."

"HINATA!!" The said person solemnly looked up at her principal, Lady Tsunade. She was pacing in front of Hinata, who sat neatly on the wooden chair in the middle of the room. Shizune came in, with a notepad and a pen, looking worn-out and dead-tired. Amazingly, she was able to discretly give a thumbs-up to the frightened Hyuuga.

Tsunade walked over to her worned down desk and sat in her leather chair, and clasped her hands together on the top of the furniture. "Explain what happened. Take as much time as you want." she said tiredly, looking at her watch, which proudly announced 2 AM. 'I'm getting too old for this.' she thought.

Hinata took a deep breath, and unwillingly told her story.

Hinata walked slowly to her dorm from the hospital where Sasuke was currently recieving treatment. She felt so broken, so forlorn, that she kept on wondering what would happen after this was all over. She didn't even realize where she was going until it was too late.

She crashed into another student, sending the person flying into a bush. Hinata looked around dazedly. Strange faces were staring at her. 'What a bunch of freaks. One has an orange mask, one looks like a blond girl, and that girl has blue hair. Well, at least that other blondie looks normal. Even with those four ponytails.' She sat up with wide eyes, as she took in the whole scene.

"HIDAN!" yelled the sandy-haired girl, haughtiness displayed in her beautiful features. She got up from her spot, and grabbed the person who Hinata just recently gave a migraine to and held him by the collar. He had a black hoodie and sported a red bandana on his neck, from what Hinata saw. And he didn't look too happy either. "Fuck off, you slut." he snapped at Temari, who gave him the finger automatically.

"Nice. Considering you do stare at Temari's ass all the time, Hidan." muttered the blue-haired girl. Hidan stared at her with narrowed eyes.

"Umm... " said Hinata, poking her fingers together, not wanting to cause any more trouble. The girl with blue locks looked at her, slowly noticing that they had forgotten all about the girl.

"Oh. Sorry about that. Hidan has an eye problem." she said unconvincingly. Hinata raised an eyebrow, as Hidan cursed Konan to a thousand deaths, using the top brutal weapons ever known to mankind. "If y-you say so." the Hyuuga muttered.

She slowly grabbed her bag and walked away.

"H-hey!" yelled Hidan. He ran up to the girl, panting and out of breath. "What's your name?" he asked. Hinata stared up at him. He was really tall, about 6ft 7in or more, and he had these magenta eyes that were very deep and dark, added with his grey-blond hair, which was combed into the back very tidily and neatly. 'You'd never think he would be a potty mouth. But still... '

"What's your name?" he asked, and Hinata resurfaced from her thoughts. She replied back quickly, for fear he'd rage and cuss at her, like he did with the others.

"Hyuuga Hinata." Hidan grinned evilly, making Hinata wince from nerves. 'They must be something with those eyes of theirs.'

"Well, Hyuuga Hinata. I think we'll be seeing each other a lot sooner than you think."

"...And that's it." she lied, looking at Tsunade with apprehension. Not pausing to think for a minute, Tsunade ran to her drinks cabinet and grabbed a few bottles of sake, tripping over her heels as she ran.

***

"You think she told them?" asked Konan, looking from the window of a building directly opposite of the principal's office, watching the ongoing drama that was emanating from that small stuffy room. Dark rain clouds kept on hammering down at the lowly earth, making it hard for them to be spotted, yet hard for them to see what was actually going on.

"Hell no." Hidan replied, scratching his neck.

"You know you're commiting suicide, trying to take on Itachi as the leader. And that means he'll take it out on us too." she said indifferently. He stared at her oddly.

"Umm Konan...."

"What??"

"Are you a masochist?"

"..."

"...!"

"IDIOT. Why would I be a masochist?"

"Because you are indifferent to hurting others, even if it makes you get hurt in return."

"..."

"...!?!"

"Wow. That's the first sentence I've heard that you didn't utter a single swear. Congrats."

"..."

"..."

"Shut up."

***

Kakashi walked down the hall with his briefcase in his left side and his orange book on his right. He had such a good class today, that he decided to reward himself by reading some more Icha Icha Tactics before going to the staff meeting.

He ducked under a project that some kids made for his class, and walked into a more distant hallway, which lead to the student grounds and library. He sat on a nearby bench and read to his heart's content.

"No Roberto! Don't leave me now!" Kakashi smirked. He always liked this part. It usually ended where the heroine and the hero made up and lived happily ever after. But still, it was Icha Icha Tactics, and it really explained in detail what -

WHAM! The south campus door opened, and (just like in Icha Icha) a a rain-soaked girl trudged into the warmly lit halls of the Academy. She looked tired and worn out, like a person who was carrying the entire world on his shoulders. Kakashi watched, as she slowly made her way through the hall, looking up every now and then.

And then it hit him. 'Isn't that... Hinata!?!!' As he was processing his train of thought, Hinata was slowly walking away from him.

"W-Wait! Hinata!!" he yelled, and he left his Icha Icha Tactics on the bench. He ran to her side, noticing how she didn't even stop and acknowledge him. "How... How are you?" he asked anxiously.

Hinata slowly looked up at him, and saw something in his eyes that she'd been looking for her entire life: concern. Without even thinking twice, she collapsed onto him and sobbed uncontrollably. "H-hinata?" exclaimed Kakashi, aghast. She looked like a broken doll, clutching onto him like a lifeline, afraid to let go, afraid of what might come next. He knew immediately that her heart was hurting a lot. It pained him to see such a beautiful young lady in such pain. After all, it had been two weeks since Sasuke first entered the hospital.

"I... I don't know.... w-what to... DO ANYMORE SENSEI!!" she screamed. Her knees were buckling, and she was in danger of collapsing. "P-people a-are everywhere, th-they... want me... I... I-" she stopped momentarily when Kakashi scooped her up and walked, holding her in his arms, to the bench he was so happily reading a while ago.

"Now," he said seriously, as Hinata wiped the last of her tears on her tear-stained jacket, "Tell me what happened. Down to the very detail." She looked at him with wide eyes, afraid to confide in a man she had only known as 'sensei'.

As she began to take a breath, he added, looking sternly at her, "I only want the truth, Hinata."

"Th-the... how do you..." she said, startled at the choice of words he used.

He winked, and said, "Huh? Did you honestly think that my other eye wasn't just there so I didn't look like a cyclops?" he opened his left eye.

"Sh-sharingan..." she squealed in fright. "How-how d-did you..."

"It was a gift," he interrupted. Hinata couldn't help but hear the finality of his last phrase. "Anyways," he said,"...care to tell me what happened?"

"S-sure."

(The TRUTH)

Hinata walked down the stairs, in between the basement and the first floor, and saw a peculiar sight. 'What a weird place to hang out,' she thought silently to herself. The people in front of her looked very ominous. The first one near the far right, who had blue hair, had piercings all over herself. Her arms were adorned with metal spiked bracelets. Another girl who was right beside her, looked normal (with 4 ponytails) all except for the big metal object she carried like a backpack. The girl was chatting animatedly to a guy with sleek grey hair, combed to the back, who had a big three-spiked staff which he too also carried like a backpack. He had a red bandana tied on his neck.

She slowly backed away, knowing that she'd be dead meat if she was caught there. As she backed away, she tripped on the top step, and lost her footing. At the sound of the crash, the grey haired man looked up the staircase, and his eyes found the startled girl wincing and clutching at her leg.

He smirked, cause he knew he'd be having a good time tonight.

"Hmm..." said Kakashi, in his pensive state of mind. "So... from what you said, those people would be... Kawasaki Konan, Yajiro Hidan, and Sabaku no Temari."

"H-how-"

"I'm a teacher, Hinata." he smirked. "Oh..." she muttered, feeling stupid. "However," he suddenly added. "Why were you going to the basement in the first place?"

Hinata blushed and put her fingers together. "I wanted to see the sunset." Kakashi smiled a eye-crinkling smile. 'What a cutie.' he thought.

"Well," he replied, straightening up, "If you need anything, Hinata, you know who to talk to." He looked inside his briefcase for a pen and paper, but only found the pen. "Oh. I guess I left my paper on my desk." he searched around for any type of papery substance.

"Ow." he said, and he realized he sat on his precious orange book. 'Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I ripped a bit of paper off of it to write my number.' He started tearing the prologue part of his book. Hinata watched, shocked that he'd do such a thing to his precious reading material.

Finally, he hastily scribbled his number on it, and handed it to her hurriedly. "Is this your home number?" she asked, wondering if she would be interrupting him if she ever needed to call.

"Yes. I mean, I really can't give you my cell, because I use it a lot. Not that your problem is not as important, but you get the picture." he explained.

She smiled happily, forgetting all of her troubles. "Thank you, Kakashi." She ran back from the exit in where she came from. Kakashi watched her disappear from view. He got up, and as he was buckling up his briefcase, a few materials came out. "Drat," he said, and he picked up his stuff and dumped them unceremoniously in his bag. Straightening up, he walked away from the bench, not realizing that he and Hinata had just left some things behind on it.

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