Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Ch.14 On Shaky Ground

The brilliantly tinted windows gleamed in the sunlight, giving an appearance of energy and life.

And yet, Hyuuga Hinata felt nothing like that this morning. Groaning, she turned off her alarm clock and walked to the calendar, using a spare marker to cross off another boring day. She had been crossing the days off ever since Sasuke had slipped into a coma. The only reason he wasn't taken off life-support was the fact that his father, Uchiha Fugaku, didn't want his business to be inherited by his eldest son. Hinata didn't care why he wouldn't trust Itachi, she could care less about that man.

But what intrigued her was how nobody, besides the Student Council, Deidara and Sasori actually cared for the young Uchiha.

Breathing the humid spring air, she flipped through the calendar. She vaguely noticed how it long it was since Sasuke had been with them. Ignoring the nagging pain in her chest, she got up and started on her way.

She looked at herself for the first time in her mirror. Her eyes had dark shadows under them and she was getting even paler, if that was ever possible. It didn't look like her at all. All of her baby-fat had gone and was replaced with a sharper face and a skinnier stomach. On any other girl, that would've looked quite pretty, but Hinata could tell that her face wasn't supposed to be like that.

"Hinata?" called a voice from the other side of the apartment. 'Neji' she thought. Her heart went out to her cousin at the moment, because he was still trying to act as though nothing had happened, which is really hard, considering that Hinata was the only person he was able to talk to (besides Tenten) without scaring away.

Leaning on the side of her wall, she heard the door quietly closed, followed by distant footsteps. 'So much for trying to communicate with me, Neji-san.' she thought.

She collapsed on the floor, letting the nagging stitch in her heart consume her.

***

The faint heat of the coffee swirled skywards, as a pale ray of the sun shone on it. The owner of the coffee was looking out the window, and he glaring at everything that was going on outside. He thought back to what had happened the last few weeks. "What was I thinking?!!" he shouted, banging his head against the windowpane. The man, Uchiha Itachi, rubbed his head and growled, as he saw that his clock was now beeping : 9 o'clock.

'School doesn't start till ten today, praise kami," he thought, walking to his unstirred cup of coffee. Taking it in his hands, he caught a whiff of it in his nose. The tangy smell of the black coffee beans filled him up with its sweet aroma.

"Uchiha Itachi??" yelled a obnoxious voice.

Too bad this peaceful atmosphere only lasted so long. "HN!" he shouted back. Ever since a few months ago, he had developed his strange habit of "Hn." even more, effectively making him the most un-sociable person in Konoha Academy. The person at the door, named Izumo, rolled his eyes.

"Saying 'Hn' to me won't make me go away." he stated as a matter-of-factly. "This from a person who beat up his own brother," he muttered. Suddenly, the door opened and a very dishevelled Itachi death glared him.

The tomoes in his now-red eyes started swirling dangerously. "You better watch what you say." he warned. Izumo backed away, grinning. "Whatever. I got you the first time." Seeing how Itachi had turned to his monotonous, boring self, he added, "Lighten up, man. Live your life."

The Uchiha stared at his classmate, who was now walking in the direction of the classrooms. "Wait." he said. Izumo smirked at him, apparently oblivious to the Uchiha death glare.

"You can't go to class like that." he calmly pointed out. Itachi looked at himself, and found out very harshly that he was still in his pajamas. "So what?" he defended, still staring at his flannel shorts. "It's not that obvious. I still look amazing."

Izumo grinned and stuck out his tongue. "You actually said a whole sentence, weasel." Itachi tried to backhand him but missed, and only hit the point of Izumo's nose. "Ooh. What an ego. Too bad I have amazing taijutsu skills that'll pwn your ass, prodigy-kun."

The said person pinched his nose, and started to grin evilly. Seeing the look on the Uchiha's face, Izumo started backing away. "Um...Itachi!" he said in a friendly way, "Let's talk this through." he tried to laugh, but it changed in his vocal chords, and turned into a hiccup/strangle/cough/sneeze.

The man in flannel pajamas started to go into a martial stance. Izumo saw that his eyes were spinning. Realizing that it was time to flee, he ran for his life, Itachi chasing him all the way down to the classrooms.

***

'Everyone is staring at me.' Hinata thought in disgust. 'Everyone knows what happened, and they pity me.' She walked down the narrow hallway, keeping to the side, so as to avoid the onslaught of oncoming students.

As if reading her mind, Tenten smiled. "Don't worry Hinata." reassured Tenten. She was the one who dragged Hinata out of her apartment that morning. "It'll be fine. They're ignorant losers."

"Yeah." Hinata looked around nervously. She checked her schedule, and sure enough, they had science for their next block. "Inoichi-sensei will probably tell us off for being late, Tenten-chan."

"Ha!" Tenten yelled exuberantly, causing several people to look around in alarm. "If he does that, I'll punch the living daylights out of him. I don't care if he's Ino's dad, I'll-"

"No violence." Hinata shot her friend a glare. They walked into the science room. As soon as Hinata entered, she saw two brilliant colors of pink and blonde zooming her way. Before she knew it, all the breath was knocked out of her as Ino and Sakura bear-hugged her. "I'll be back." Tenten said, in an uncannily depiction of Arnold Schwarzenneger. Everyone looked at her. "What?" she demanded.

"You're not in our class!" Everyone yelled. Tenten cringed at the loud voices. "So much for being loved."

But Hinata wasn't paying much attention to her friends' antics at that moment. She had locked gaze with a dark-haired person in the back of the room.

"Itachi." she muttered under her breath. She dropped her bag on the floor, and it banged against the hardwood floor. She slowly made her way, like a dream, to where Itachi was sitting. It was all very quick.

SLAP! Everyone turned their attention from Tenten to the furious girl standing in front of Itachi. The boy was rubbing his face in apparent surprise. "Wha..."

"That's for Sasuke." she said quietly, tears threatening to brim over.

***

Itachi never felt so humiliated in her life. He kept rubbing the side of his cheek, as though it would ease the shock. He looked at the figure sitting a few seats in the front, calmly writing on the blank piece of paper.

When Inoichi saw what happened in the class, he wasn't amused at all. He gave Hinata and Itachi a week's worth of detentions, and gave them no chance of ever switching lab partners. That remark alone earned him a Hyuuga and Itachi glare, but since he was used to it from the Uchiha brothers and Neji, he just smirked and assigned them lines.

It wasn't like Itachi hadn't been expecting it. In fact, he was wondering when she was going to crack. But what he hadn't been expecting was that he actually felt... sorry for her. For the past fifteen years, his father, Uchiha Fugaku always said that pity is the one-way road to destruction.

Now, seeing how much it had hurt her, he had hurt her, he couldn't help but agree with his dad. He decided to resolve this once and for all.

"Hinata?" She continued on as if she hadn't heard him. Her hand was scribbling furiously, and he saw that she was trying really hard not to snap like she did that day. Getting up, he slowly walked to her desk. Again, she looked straight on ahead to the words written on the board that they had to copy down a hundred times.

"Hinata. Listen to me please." Itachi wanted her to hear him, even though she'd really never ever forgive him, not even in his wildest dreams. "What do you want, Uchiha-san?" she said coldly, devoid of emotion, although her face betrayed her sentiments.

Seeing a break in her defensive barrier, he grabbed a chair and sat next to her desk. "I... I just want you to know..." he took a shuddering breath. "...that I really... never meant-"

"Never meant it? Don't give me that! I saw that look in your eyes. Come on!" But her bottom lip was trembling.

"I did, Hinata!" Itachi cried, aghast. "I never meant to go that far! He kept... tauntin-" Hinata grabbed the front of his vest as she stood up, a steely glare in her eyes. "Taunting you? The great Uchiha Itachi, taunted by his own brother? Who knew?" She was seething. Itachi had never seen her like this before, and it scared him.

"Umm, Hinata..." he said.

"WHAT?"

"Could you please... let go of me??" Itachi asked politely. For some reason, Hinata didn't realize she had grabbed Itachi's shirt. "Oh... sorry." she mumbled, sitting back down. Itachi chuckled, and Hinata blushed. 'Now she's more herself.'

"Itachi?" Hinata said after a few shaky moments of silence. "Why're you wearing pajamas to school?"

Note: Hidan is now taking over most of Itachi's gang. How will Itachi react when he finds out! More Ita/Hina interaction on the way!

Review please!