A/N: A quick release. :)

Chapter 21 Unsaid but not Forgotten

The overflowing heat from her cheeks was a stark contrast to the cold night air. She stood in front of the dormitory, her breath coming out in lines of smoke as she tried to process everything that had just happened. Sasuke had kissed her, and she had let him, even kissed him back. She pressed her fingers upon her lips, stunned. When she had been caught up in the heat of the moment, logic and reason heartlessly abandoned her, leaving her alone with a swirling whirlpool of emotions that threatened to overflow. But now, given some space and time, a million different thoughts ran through her head. They weaved and tangled like coiling wires until she couldn't figure out where one thought ended and the next began.

Then do you like me? Those black iron eyes bore her down into dust, and then his words blew her away.

She had nodded, but now she wanted to take it back. How could she like him? She didn't even know him. Who was Uchiha Sasuke? There was nothing she knew about him. She only felt it, the undeniable magnet of attraction that at the very last minute had pulled a little too hard.

To think that he liked her. It was absurd. She told herself that it was guilt mistaken for affection, a moment of self-delusion stemmed from loneliness. Perhaps the world had suddenly fallen off kilter and was now hurling towards the sun in a frenzied pirouette because feelings were nothing more than just another word for a momentary madness. Reclaiming the cold logic of the Hyuuga clan, she tried to steady herself. The pendulum of wavering emotions, at one moment at the height of joy only to come crashing down into despair in the next, was forced into equilibrium by her overpowering bloodright.

This simply cannot go on.

She returned to the dormitory with controlled even steps, the heiress inside of her revealing herself only in times of need, and slid the door to her room open. Sasuke was sitting at his desk, startled from the newspaper he had been reading from her sudden reappearance. For a moment, she paused at the doorway and gave him a long look. How could he just be reading so casually after such a cataclysmic event?

"We should talk now," she said as rigidly as she could, trying her best to keep her heart rate under control.

His narrowed dark eyes scrutinized her pale ones. "Fine. Talk then," he relented.

"I want to hear what you think first," she said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

"What I think? You actually care about what I think? Shocking," he said sarcastically. His eyes turned upon her, resentful and defensive. She did not understand why he seemed so upset.

"Of course I do," she said with a frown.

Another long pause. He was thinking, but she couldn't sure of what.

"I want to stay with you." Her eyes widened; she had not been prepared for such words. Cracks began to develop in the wall she had put up. "Don't look so surprised," he grumbled. "I only said that because I know that you probably want to change rooms."

"Do you want to return to being just roommates? I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I don't think we can be just roommates," he replied dryly. "What are you afraid of, that I'll attack you in the middle of night?" he asked scornfully.

"You have before," she pointed out.

"What? When?" he asked in disbelief.

"You climbed into my bed once remember?" she reminded him, embarrassed by the simple recollection of that night.

"That was an accident and I was only sleeping. It's not like I did anything to you," Sasuke argued, but then he smirked. "Unless you wanted me to."

"I-I didn't!" she exclaimed, flustered. "I-I mean... with things like touching and stuff, at least ask first," she said as sternly as she could. With a shudder, Hinata remembered the way his finger trailed over her bare skin when they had kissed. The kisses themselves were already too much for her to handle, but then they started change directions into something else and she had to put a stop to it. He had been slowly pulling her deeper into the bottomless pit of no return, his caresses coaxing her into giving him something she didn't have.

He regarded her for a long time, watching the minute changes on her countenance, and then he let out a harsh peal of laughter and shook his head. "I'm not the gentleman type."

"I'm aware," she said, not meaning to make it to sound so resentful, but Sasuke immediately flared up.

"I'm sorry I'm not Kiba-kun," he retorted darkly.

She gaped at him, taken aback by the sudden mention of her friend. "Why are you talking about Kiba-kun? He doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"Oh really," he said dryly, his eyes brimming with contempt.

"Sasuke why are you getting so mad?"

"I'm not mad! I just don't understand why this is so hard for you."

"So it's easy for you?" Hinata asked with a frown.

"We should just do whatever we feel like doing. Fuck what other people think!" he gesticulated angrily, suddenly standing up to make his point clear. He glared down at her.

"I'm the Hyuuga heiress," she said bitterly. "There are rules. I can't just do anything I want."

"Yes, I completely forgot," he said sarcastically, throwing his hands up. "Well princess do you like me or not because I don't want to play this game with you anymore."

"I am not playing any games! I'm being serious here!" Moisture of frustration began to gather in the edge of her eyes. She was glad that she was on the first floor rooms or else their neighbors probably would've heard them arguing.

His expression immediately softened upon seeing that she was upset. "Let's just get some sleep for now," he said, turning off the lights. He headed to bed and threw the covers over himself, showing her his back. "We can talk about it when you're ready."

When you're ready. So he was insinuating that all the problems were on her side. She resented that, but she knew that she was the one who couldn't make up her mind while Sasuke had made his position perfectly clear. Her conviction to forget everything couldn't stand up to his conviction to not. It was like fighting a swordsman with a twig, her resolve snapped in half before she could even get across her point.

There were too many things to consider. What about her disguise? What will happen when her father arranges her to marry someone? What if someone found out? What about Itachi and the relationship between the two clans? What would she tell her family and friends? Would they be boyfriend and girlfriend or something else? If they were dating, would they have to keep a secret forever? Did she even want to date Sasuke in the first place? Was he worth the risk that this was all putting her through? Her head swam and as she laid her head down onto her pillow.

A part of her wanted to throw caution to the wind, but the invisible strings of the Hyuuga wrapped around her so tightly she felt that if she struggled any harder against them they would shred her to pieces. And for a moment, her whole body went cold when she wondered who it was she should actually be fighting against. As quickly as the thought had come, she suffocated it, her heiress hands pushing it back into the deep waters of her subconscious until it drowned and floated back down.

"Sasuke," she said quietly in the dark.

"What?" he uttered.

"Let's just forget today ever happened. It would be easier that way," she told him, trying to sound absolute in her resolve.

A long lull of silence.

"Just like you did last time?" he asked, his voice not angry, but solemn and dejected.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Fine whatever. Consider it forgotten."

Sometime during the night, Sasuke had fallen asleep while Hinata spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in her bed, and when morning broke across the horizon, she had achieved nothing but dull sleeplessness. Before Sasuke awoke, she slipped out of bed and locked herself into her bathroom for a long warm bath. She tried not to think about last night, but there was a heaviness in her chest that she couldn't ignore so she just bandaged her chest tighter to hide everything away once again.

When she got out of the bath, buttresses of white light filtered in through the windows, creating a slanted barred fence between her side of the room and Sasuke's. She was astonished to find him still asleep. His pillowed head was tilted towards her and a peaceful expression graced his resting face. However, it was getting late in the day and school was going to start soon. She wondered if she had the courage to wake him up as she crossed through the sheaths of light to his side of the room.

"Sasuke, it's almost time for school," she said, but her voice wasn't strong enough to rouse him. She slowly extended her hand out and gently shook his arm. The fabric of his shirt was soft to the touch and his body was wonderfully warm.

His lashes began to twitch and before she could escape he caught her hand in his as his eyelids flickered open. Unfocused eyes looked at her from somewhere far away deep inside, and gradually they got closer until she could clearly see her own image reflected in those those dark inkwells. Nostalgic sentiment got the best of her; recalling that night where he searched for her hand amongst nightmares, and she didn't pull away. Her chest tightened again.

"You overslept," she said, the words barely making it out of her throat.

He exhaled a long breath she didn't realize he had been holding in. "So I can't attack you but you can attack me?" he said with a faint smile, his voice heavy with sleep. She blushed and immediately retracted her hand from his.

"I was only trying to wake you," she said, turning away and leaving his bedside to cross the light back to her side of the room. "You should come to school today. Nara-san has been asking for you." She busied herself with putting her items in her bag, the last being the notebook that Sasuke had retrieved for her.

"Hmm," he made a soft humming noise that suggested he'd think about it.

"I'm going to get breakfast," she told him before heading out the door. When she glanced back, he had still not moved from his languorous position on his bed.

After an uneventful breakfast of miso soup and rice with Neji and Tenten (who were bickering as usual), Hinata went to class. A few of her classmates wanted to sign her blue cast. Apparently it was supposed to aide in the healing process of her broken wrist, another piece of information she had never heard of before. The class was particularly loud this morning with the Spring Festival fast approaching and with the pressure building up, groups were scrambling at the last minute to put together preparations that should've been done weeks ago. A few minutes before class officially started, their group gathered into a small circle in the corner of the room. Hinata found herself sitting next to Kiba. He kept sneaking glances at her and Hinata couldn't understand why.

"Look at them," Naruto said clicking his tongue at the rest of the class. "They really should've done their work earlier."

"You're one to talk Naruto," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You don't even have your lines memorized. Not to mention, we still don't have the mirror frame that you said that you would provide last week."

"Hey, do you know how hard it is to find the perfect frame for a magic mirror? It's not easy," Naruto argued. "What about you? You were supposed to make print outs of the posters but we don't see any of those do we?"

"Stop arguing you two," Ino snapped. "At the very least, let's just have rehearsal today. Sakura is a little late because she's bringing in the costumes. I hope you guys like it. We stayed up all night on the weekend to get them done."

"Yeah, but where's Sasuke?" Kiba asked. "If he never comes to class, we might have to do the play without him." As if right on cue, Sasuke came through the doors, though Kiba hadn't noticed him until Sasuke was standing right behind him.

"I bet you'd like that," Sasuke sneered. Kiba flinched in his chair, whipping around.

"I thought I smelled something foul," Kiba snapped back, baring his fangs at the unamused boy.

"Anyway, enough fighting. As soon as Sakura gets here, we'll go rehearse. For now, let's just go over your lines. Everyone pull out your scripts."

"Wow," Naruto said, grabbing Hinata's script as soon as she pulled it out. "You have notes in it and everything!" he flipped through the pages, finding the small notes next to her lines where she marked where she should intonate and what kind of gestures should be performed.

"Have you acted before?" he asked.

"N-No..." Hinata said, but she had seen plenty of traditional Japanese stages. The Hyuuga were big fans of Noh theater, though Noh was nothing like the play they were going to be putting on.

Sakura showed up a few minutes later, her hands filled with different old shopping bags stuffed to the brim with clothes, proudly announcing that the costumes were ready. With the whole group there, they moved their meeting to the backstage room of the theater where they would be performing. Kakashi, who was lazily flipping through his erotica, took no notice of them when they left the class. The backstage room was large and stored with many boxes filled with various props that were used by the theater club and in the corner was a red curtained dressing room.

"I'll go first," Sakura said, taking her several bags into the dressing room while the rest of them sat on the furniture props littered throughout the room. It was silent at first until Sakura started yelling, "Don't just sit around listening to me change! Talk amongst yourself or something!"

Like clockwork, eyes turned away from the curtains and found other things to focus on.

"Did you memorize your script?" Kiba asked her.

"I hope so," she said, fingering the fringed edges of her script. "What about you Kiba?"

"I don't have very many, so I'm pretty sure I got it down," he grinned. "By the way, how is your wrist?"

"Itchy," she replied with a small smile.

"It doesn't hurt does it?"

"Only barely. I don't really notice it," she lied. It actually did hurt since she hadn't taken any medication for it. Just lifting her arm too quickly would make her mind go blank from pain, but she was careful and she was getting used to it.

Finally, Sakura whipped the curtains back and stepped out in a flowing dress of pink organza. Cherry blossoms filled the upper part of her swooped bodice and little shining jewels dotted the skirt. She twirled around dramatically, proud of her handiwork.

"How is it?" she asked, beaming.

"Amazing!" Naruto called out.

"Pretty!" Ino chimed in, "but the color makes your face look like a tomato."

Sakura ignored their comments and instead directed her attention towards the one she cared about hte most. "What do you think Sasuke?" Sakura asked, looking at the brooding figure of the boy shyly.

"You look stupid. There's too much pink," he answered. Sakura's smile and good mood dissipated immediately.

"I guess all the pink is a bit overboard, since it's the same shade as my hair..."

"Ignore him Sakura-chan," Naruto said, glaring at Sasuke. "He couldn't appreciate color in Oz."

Ino was next and she came out in a white dress. Unlike the revealing top of Sakura's dress, hers had lace sleeves on them and had a higher neckline to portray the picture of a modest princess. The dress was nowhere near as intricate as Sakura's, but Hinata still thought she looked lovely in white. One could only imagine how time-consuming it must've been to actually create these costumes.

"Okay time for the boys, who wants to go first?" Sakura asked excitedly. "How about you Sasuke?" she said, handing him a bag.

Unamused but relenting anyway, Sasuke walked into the dressing room to change, snapping the curtain closed. A few curses could be heard from within. Moments later, the curtains were drawn back and Sakura and Ino burst into high pitch squeals of excitement. There was only one thing Hinata could see, and that was a lot of skin. Sasuke was clad in all black except for a red cloth that tied around his waist. The shirt he wore was loose with long sleeves, which would've been fine if the V-neck neckline didn't take a sudden suicidal dip past his abdomen, revealing for all to see his painfully well defined upper body. Sakura and Ino were practically slobbering onto his chest as they came up close to get a better look. Even Hinata found her eyes lingering longer than they should've and she mentally kicked herself for it and turned away to keep her cheeks from getting any pinker than they were. Sasuke gave them all a deep scowl, pulling at the collars in a futile attempt to cover up.

"I'm supposed to be a prince, not a pirate," he grumbled, irritation stitching itself between his brow. Hinata hoped to the heavens that they would not ask her to wear a shirt like that.

"Yeah, like we're really aiming for accuracy while doing this play," Shikamaru said rolling his eyes. "Let's move it along. Who's next?"

"I want to go next!" Naruto said.

"You don't have a costume you dolt. You're just going to be standing in the mirror with face paint and some black clothes," Sakura reminded him. Naruto pouted, crossing his arms childishly.

"I'll go next," Kiba said climbing to his feet.

Sasuke promptly replaced Kiba's newly vacant seat next to Hinata. Heat was emanating between the small divide that kept their arms from touching, and Hinata fidgeted nervously, playing with the hem of her sleeve. She tried her best not to glance in his direction, lest she get an eyeful of bare skin. Kiba came out a few minutes later with a brown shirt that was also indecently low, revealing his tanned body that was just as muscular, if not more so than Sasuke's. Her face reddened when she saw how much the pirate look suited his features and his build. The two other girls gave out catcalls while Kiba, embarrassed, was yelling at them to be quiet.

"Don't drool," Hinata heard Sasuke say in a low sardonic voice next to her. She shot him an offended look, but immediately had to look away when she realized he was only provoking her. Sasuke had decided to let one shoulder of his shirt slip and from her angle and position and there was nothing left to the imagination as far as his upper body was concerned. Her face burned and she quickly looked away while Sasuke laughed under his breath at her reaction.

"Hikaru you're next!" Ino said tossing her package of clothes at her. She was dreading having to change, seeing a very definite pattern in the male clothes, but she was relieved to get away from Sasuke. There was a single full body mirror inside the changing room and a few hooks for her to hang her clothes. She quickly shed her layers, four of them, and took out the clothes from the bag. There were three items, a white shirt, a purple vest, and black pants. She put the pants on first, noticing how incredibly small they were. They squeezed tightly over her butt and thighs even though she knew she had become almost fashionably thin due to the stress of attending school. The white shirt, luckily, was low enough to partially cover her behind, but like the other shirts, it had loose sleeves and a dramatically low neckline that revealed the poorly hidden lumps of her bound chest. Much to her relief, the purple vest buttoned up and hid the exposed parts of her shirt and was made of a stiff enough material not to cling to her body. She could've run out and hugged Sakura, thanking her silently for the vest. The only problem was that the buttons looked a flimsy.

After dressing, she examined herself in the mirror. Overall, she was satisfied that there were no noticeable sign of her breasts when she turned to the side, but she looked disastrously feminine. The curve of her hips and legs were revealed and so were her small shoulders and thin neck. She fussed around with her hair, wondering if there was any way she could look less like a girl, but some complaints from beyond the curtain left her no time to make any changes. Self-consciously, she gathered and folded the clothes she had been wearing and slowly came out, holding her other clothes to her chest in an unsuccessful attempt at hiding her girly hips. The girls broke out into a fit of giggles, complimenting her on her figure.

"Wow you look..." Naruto trailed off in an attempt to find a compliment. "Different!" Hinata's eyes dropped to the floor, cheeks turning red again.

"Put your clothes down so we can see," Sakura complained. Hinata gave the pink haired girl an exasperated look, but placed her folded up clothes on the table.

"Looks good Hikaru," Ino said, giving her the thumbs up and a very wide smile.

"You're really..." Kiba said, a bit flustered, "small."

"Kiba!" Naruto said, jabbing him with his elbow. "You can't tell a guy he looks small."

"Um... it's okay I know," Hinata said, wanting to die from embarrassment. She glanced at Sasuke and she turned and even deeper shade of red when she saw the way his eyes were leisurely travelling over her body. Horrified that she was drawing this much attention she quickly went back to her seat, holding her previous garments close to her.

"Okay now that we're done with the fashion show," Shikamaru said with a tired sigh. "Let's actually get on with the rehearsal. We don't have forever until we actually have to perform this play."

Everyone picked up their scripts and got into position. Shikamaru narrated the beginning with his usual irritated tone before Hinata and Ino stepped onto the scene. They circled each other like the awkward couple they were playing, reading out their lines before taking a seat at the makeshift table to pretend to eat dinner.

"You did surprisingly well," Shikamaru said, looking mildly surprised at Hinata's acting. "Okay next scene. C'mon guys let's move it along," he said, giving his director's chair a few thwacks with his rolled up script. Naruto and Kiba came onto their makeshift stage to change the setting while Sakura and Ino prepared for their scenes.

Hinata was watching from afar when she suddenly felt Sasuke stand too closely behind her. "These clothes look much better on you than your regular ones," he said in a deep murmur. Red crept across her cheeks once again so she moved away a few steps to gain some distance, ignoring his comment.

"Have you learned your lines yet?" she asked, trying to get him to stop gawking at her legs.

"I have."

"Then you don't mind if I test you?" she asked, sneaking a glance at him. He smirked.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked, the first line she would say once the Dark Prince awakens her from her enchanted slumber.

He smiled smugly. "You're not fooling anyone."

"That's not the line," she told him.

He shrugged and played along, rehearsing his line, "I had to."

"Explain yourself."

"Like always, I've found something I couldn't have, but now you're mine," he said his gazing eyes so darkly serious that she had to look away. Her heart skipped a few beats and she inwardly scolded herself for letting him get under her skin.

"You're mistaken. That's not the line."

"What's the line then?"

"Like always, I've done something I shouldn't have, and now you're mine," she told him, flustered. The last lines were meant to sound like the Dark Prince had no choice but to take responsibility for the sleeping Snow Prince. It wasn't meant to sound romantic and possessive.

"I guess I haven't learned yet," he replied with a knowing look and she wondered if he was referring to the script or something else.

Suddenly she could feel his fingers run up the small of her back, and she immediately flinched away, hairs standing on end. He looked down at her with his slow-burning charcoal eyes, offering no explanation for his behavior. A silence of charged meaning encased them, creating a separate world where only they two existed apart from everyone else. Their small bubble filled up with things unsaid but not forgotten.

"What are you doing?" she asked, giving him a sharp look. She looked around to make sure that everyone else was still absorbed in the rehearsal before returning her attention to the troublemaking boy.

"Does it bother you?" he asked, leaning in closer to her. Her face colored again at the low droop of his shirt where she could see his completely exposed chest.

"It d-does," she stammered, backing away.

"Good," he said with a simply wolfish grin. "Two can play this game princess."

Hinata looked at him, eyes widening at first and then narrowing. "This isn't a game."

"It is a game and I hate losing."

"I'm not playing," she said, annoyed at him.

"Are you forfeiting then? Don't you know the saying to the victor go the spoils?"

"I'm not forfeiting anything. I don't even know what kind of game you're talking about," Hinata was completely taken aback by the whole situation and had no idea what was possibly going through Sasuke's mind. He was acting completely strange and out of character.

"A battle of wills. Either you give in to me, or I give in to you. I know that I said I would consider last night forgotten, but I decided to change my mind."

"Why?" Hinata asked.

"I don't want to be forgotten again," he said firmly. Hardened eyes of black onyx conveyed that what he had in mind was much more serious than his words suggested. If it was a game, it was a dangerous one that gambled with their futures.

The pendulum began to swing again, and this time it would not reach equilibrium again until everything was lost.

In the dark dusty filing cabinets in the RA's office, Hyuuga Neji was busily going through stacks and stacks of manilla folders. The RA in question was passed out drunk outside after Neji offered an easy bribe of beers. Six beers later, Neji had full access to all the information he needed in regards to the roommate situation. He had filled in a request two weeks ago for a room change, but found that it got rejected and now he needed to know why. He flipped through the old files in search of the original request that had come in before Hinata had even arrived at the school.

That's weird, Neji thought when he saw that the original request for the two cousins to room together had been accepted. He looked through the next few manilla folders for later dates until he stumbled onto something shocking. Marked a single day after the first request had gone through was another request for a roommate switch that was not made under the Hyuuga name.

"Uchiha Itachi," Neji said through clenched jaws. What the hell was the older Uchiha planning? There was nothing else written on the request form except Hinata and Sasuke's name. The reason for the switch was left blank but a large red stamp with the word "ACCEPTED" was stamped onto the page.

Neji slipped the papers back into the folders and put them back into the cabinets. Disturbed, he decided that he would have to approach Itachi. He couldn't help but feel that the Uchiha brothers were plotting something against them. Leaving the office, he walked over to the administration building. Rumors were circulating over the missing older Uchiha. After the first day of class, he had simply disappeared. No one had seen him since the famous fight between the brothers.

"Uchiha-sensei?" the woman at the front desk of the administration office asked. "I'm sorry, he is temporarily away for personal reasons."

"What reasons?" Neji asked curiously.

"It doesn't say, but it is related to his law enforcement work."

"Do you know where can I find him? There's an urgent matter that I have to discuss with him."

"He still lives on campus, I can write out his address for you if you like."

"Thank you. That would be immensely helpful," he said, showing the woman a smile. She tinged red and quickly started to print out the address written on in her files. He strategically allowed their fingers brush against each other when she handed over the piece of paper.

"Oh, and just to be clear. This will be a secret between just the two of us," he added.

"Of course," she said with a bright smile.

Neji nodded towards her and made his way out of the building, glad that his training on information collecting had paid off. Some people needed bribes, others only needed a little attention. While all the other students spent their holidays having fun or lazing around at home, Neji had been preparing to become the perfect shadow leader of the Hyuuga clan. Hinata would technically rule as the clan's figurehead, but he would be the one pulling the strings in the future. He was going to make sure of that. His weak younger cousin could not possibly run the clan on her own, and for that reason he worked extra hard to make sure he could run it for her.

He had not recognized the address on the sheet, but as he approached the house, he began to realize exactly where he was. Located on the outskirts of the school, a traditional three story building sat alone away from the world, hidden amongst a dense cluster of trees. It was a building that had been abandoned until only a year ago.

Strange.

The address given was the home to the one and only Sabaku no Gaara and his two siblings. The eerie sound of wind chimes played a melody as an ominous wind passed through. Why in the world, Neji wondered, did Itachi's address lead him here of all places? However, Neji was not someone who scared easily so he pressed on, knocking on the doors. When no answer came, he tried opening the door. Sliding it half open, he stopped short when his olfactory senses were overloaded by the heavy scent of desert sand.

"Can I help you," a chillingly cold voice said from behind him. Neji quickly turned around, surprised to see the red haired boy standing right behind him. He had never had another person sneak up on him like that without him noticing.

"Gaara," Neji said, the name distasteful in his mouth. Gaara gave him an expressionless look that neither hinted at anger at his trespassing nor surprise upon seeing him. Dark circles like pollution ringed the placid green swamp waters of his eyes. The infamous nocturnal Gaara always had a strange hypnotic effect on those who looked upon him. "In fact yes, there is something you can help me with," Neji said, trying not to get led into his pace.

"Are you a relation to Hyuuga Hikaru?" Gaara wondered out loud.

"I'm Hyuuga Neji, his older brother."

"Ah. Brother," Gaara said dully. The way the term was so easily dismissed in his mouth made Neji think that Gaara did not exactly believe him. "So what brings you here Hyuuga Neji?" he asked, walking up to the door to his house and abruptly shutting it. The smell of sand disappeared.

"I wanted to ask you a question. What is your relation to Uchiha Itachi?"

Gaara looked at him with the same flat expression in his eyes. "There is no relation."

"Then why does his address lead to your home?" Neji asked with a scowl. "You're hiding something aren't you?"

"I do not know, but I suggest you leave if you don't want to get hurt in the crossfire," Gaara said, turning briefly to look out into the distance for something that had not yet come. The sky had gotten dark. It would rain soon.

"Crossfire of what?"

"It's none of your concern," Gaara replied blankly. "I do not know why Uchiha Itachi used my address and neither do I know where he is. However, I will tell you one thing I do know since you have come all this way and you are his brother; Uchiha Itachi is not the enemy you should be looking for."

"Then who am I after?" Neji asked, narrowing his eyes. Gaara knew something and he was hiding it. Neji wasn't surprised. It was as expected from someone who hailed from such a powerful political background. There were many rumors swirling around the red-haired devil. Some claimed him to be a murderous ghost that haunted the school, others said that he was part demon not born from woman but of something more sinister. However, despite these preposterous rumors, Neji knew Gaara was really the son of a corrupt politician who had an extensive underground network that had a tendency of making people disappear off the face of the Earth. He was nothing more than a human like everybody else, but that did not mean he was normal by any standards.

"Figure it out yourself Hyuuga, you are not completely incompetent are you?" Gaara said mockingly. The two glared at one another for a while before Gaara lost interest in him. Walking back into his house, his green eyes sharpened as he passed, a warning like a knife pressed at his throat telling him that any more unnecessary probing into his affairs would not end well for him. The door to the house shut Neji out with a slam and the wind chimes began to sound again as the wind started to blow fiercely.

Large dark drops of water began to fall from the weeping sky quickly staining the Earth black. Neji swore that he would get to the bottom of this mystery. He was not going to let anyone threaten the well-being of the Hyuuga clan, not when he had sacrificed and lost so much.

A/N: For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to write that Hinata saw Sasuke's exposed nipples? I did write in before but I took it out since I don't think Hinata would even think the word "nipple" in her head, but maybe I should've left it in haha... On another note, the part with Neji's POV opens up another can of worms, but at least we get a little closer to unveiling the underlying plot that is guiding the characters along.

Some replies to things that were brought up in the reviews:

1) You guys want more Gaahina? What, you guys don't like Sasuhina anymore?! Is it because Sasuke is kind of a jerk? Haha I'm just kidding (well maybe not about the Sasuke being a jerk part). Well due to popular demand, I might add more Gaahina then.

2) Itachi is not dead so don't forget about him haha. He's a bit awol at the moment, but he's pretty central to the plot and Hinata's development. We'll get much more of him later.

3) Someone suggested a rewrite. I'll consider it to spruce up the earlier chapters' syntax and to get rid of all the typos.

4) A thousand kowtows to those who have stuck with this for so long given my prolonged absences. I'm happy you guys like my characterization of Hinata. I'm working on some character development, but she's like a baby fish trying to swim upstream. You know, I'm standing there chanting "go Hinata go!", fist pumping in the air and all that jazz, but she's just flapping around going nowhere... so yeah... I'll work on it.

Reviews are appreciated! It always makes me happy to see people taking an interest in my story. :)