"I can't believe this. I really can't believe this. You should be ashamed of yourself, Hinata."
Hyuuga Hinata was mumbling the same thing since the moment she stepped out of her room until she arrived at her classroom. She didn't even notice how people were looking at her mumbling to herself in the hallways when she walked past them. It was certainly a new sight. To them, Hinata, although famous through her last name, was as silent and quiet as the night. To them, she was practically invisible. To see her talking to herself so early in the morning was certainly a strange, new sight.
The midnight blue haired girl was finally at the comfort of her seat beside the window. She checked the neighbouring class before coming to her own. His bag was there but the owner wasn't. She knew what his bag looked like for she saw it last night in his room, which again reminded her what she had done.
"The common courtesy should be to apologize, right?" she considered texting him.
"Gaara I'm so sorry for my rudeness last night. I'm so ashamed of myself. I was tired but that is no excuse. I will reflect on myself and will not repeat it again."
Sent. But was still no reply after several minutes of waiting. 'Maybe because it's still pretty early in the morning?' But then she saw that her message had been read. 'Yeah, understandable of him to not reply.' She thought of sending another message, just to make sure whether he hated her or not.
"Where did you get your diffuser and the oil essential? Asking for a friend"
It was immediately read. He was probably on his phone. Ding. 'Oh he finally replied.'
"Morning Glory."
That was very straightforward and Gaara-like. That got Hinata thinking again. He didn't reply to her apology yet replied to her question just fine. 'That means everything is fine, right? He doesn't hate me or anything?' Reassuring herself that everything was fine, she opened google map and put the name of the store Gaara just told her. Other people would ask him where that was but Hinata knew better to search it on her own. "Oh this is pretty far." She was considering going on a weekend. After reassuring herself that everything was fine, she put her phone back inside her bag.
0o0
Hinata didn't see her new red-haired acquaintance for the rest of the week, which was pretty understandable. He was a busy man for god knows what. 'One simply does not ask what Gaara is doing and his whereabouts.' Who knew, he was probably not even on the school grounds right now.
On Saturday, Hinata finally got to go to the store Gaara told her. It was a pretty far place that she had to take a bus to get there. The fact that the store he frequented was far told her that Gaara's playing grounds were definitely not somewhere near the school.
The bell above her rang when she opened the glass door. She was greeted by a very pleasant atmosphere and smell upon entering the store. The inside of the store was actually not that big, it was small, in fact, probably run by a family or a group of colleagues.
"How can I help you?" a dark-haired young woman who was probably in her twenties greeted her.
"I need a new diffuser. This specific one actually, like uh…" she forgot to take a picture but she remembered how it looked like, her eyes rolled about to look at her surroundings. "…That one yes, that's what my friend uses." She pointed at one specific diffuser lined up on the display. "And the oil…" Hinata forgot to ask him what it was called. And she didn't have enough confidence to call Gaara, at least not yet. "I don't know what it is called."
The young lady smiled. "Maybe you can describe the smell? I'll help as much as I can."
"It was very relaxing, kind of floral I think?" she offered unhelpfully. "Ah maybe I should call Gaara after all," she said finally, reaching for her phone in her blazer pocket.
"Oh, is it Gaara-san?"
"Blood-red hair? Yes he is my friend." She wouldn't have the confidence calling him her friend if he were actually there.
"Your friend Gaara-san is a regular. He even has our membership card. If it's what Gaara-san usually buys, he usually buys these three oil essentials." Her face visibly brightened. The clerk then went to fetch three sample bottles. "The floral one you said, I think it's this one. This is made from Neroli whose origin is from bitter orange tree blossoms." She let Hinata took a whiff.
"Ah yes it is exactly this one."
"And this one, if you like the smell of herbs, is made from Marjoram. It's an herb native to Egypt and Arabia. And the last one, if you have a liking to woody smells, Frankincense whose origin is from Boswellia Sacra trees," the lady explained thoroughly, trying to make a customer buy many their products, which was, of course, understandable. "These are all sleep aid oil essentials perfect to, of course, aid your sleep. The Neroli one is a bit more expensive than the other two because of its effectiveness to relieve insomnia. Your friend usually buys all three. Are you interested too?"
'Sleep aid? Has Gaara always had trouble sleeping? For how long? His whole life?'
"Yes, all of them please."
In the end she couldn't say no to the store clerk. Hinata was the type who could never say no to store clerks nicely asking her to buy the products they sold, which was also the reason why she rarely went out to shop, and which was why she could save so much (much more than any normal teenager could) from her monthly allowance. And the next time Gaara came to her room unannounced again, he asked why her room smelled identical to his, and she could only smile sheepishly.
0o0
Days leading up to final exams were fairly peaceful on Hinata's part. She still had to attend the occasional formal Hyuuga-Uchiha dinner or family-related events sometimes but she no longer felt terrible attending those, not when she was excited to go on her secret trip. On her free-time, she studied like never before, for some reason she was hit with a sudden burst of motivation. Hinata had always made it into top 5 too, though she'd never been higher than the fifth or fourth place.
Her giddiness resulted in studying even more, thankfully, instead of neglecting her studies. She rarely saw Gaara at the school grounds. And on the occasions she did, neither of them made any gestures of acknowledgement. It somehow looked like a silent agreement between them.
Her temporary peace, though, ended when she least expected it.
One Monday morning, exactly one week before the final exam period officially started, she felt like people talked in hushed whispers whenever she was around. At first she thought it was just her being paranoid and overthinking. There was no way people would even talk about her, there was nothing about her worth talking about, except… her blood ran cold at the sudden realization.
'No. There's no way,' she reassured herself. But the stares and the whispers were heavy on her shoulders. Looking at anything other than her shoes and the road ahead of her seemed terrifying.
"Honestly what year is it? Arranged marriage? Lame."
Hinata's blood ran even colder. 'No no no no.' But her hearing senses only got heightened and now every whispers sounded like a direct attack to her and she felt like a criminal. And being inside a toilet stall while some girls were outside confirmed her suspicions that her secret which she carried for almost one year was blown.
"Isn't it so nice to be her? You have everything in your hands, so much wealth, even a future spouse like Uchiha Sasuke."
"She doesn't even deserve all of that. I mean, look at her. We forgot she even existed until now."
"She is only relevant because her fiancé is Uchiha Sasuke."
"How does someone coming from such a family have so little presence? She's practically a ghost. Isn't it just sad?" Great. Now they were downright insulting her.
Opening the door to her stall with a little more force than she'd like, the girls looked at her through the mirror, one of them even turned her head around. They went silent after that, their expressions nowhere near apologetic, yet Hinata knew they knew that she heard, clearly. Hinata went to the sink to wash her hands and left them.
So, all of her efforts to keep her engagement to the school prince under wraps were all for naught. Hinata was glad there was no sign of a group of girls bullying her, yet. She was glad that they were at least smart enough to know how powerful her family was and the mess they'd get into if they ever laid a finger on the Hyuuga's ex-heiress. Though, they were wrong about that. Hinata knew that if there came a time where she did get bullied at school, she'd be the one her father would chew out for being weak and pathetic to let herself get bullied. But the stares and whispers were extremely uncomfortable. She wondered if this was what Gaara felt every time a new rumour about him came out. She doubted it. He just didn't care.
Would she let herself get bullied though, if anyone dared enough? It was the whispers and stares she was suffering from, not the idea of being harassed by Uchiha's fanclub. The fact that these people only opened their mouths instead of directly attacking her made it harder for her to defend herself. Somehow, Hinata was so much more uncomfortable with the idea of speaking up against people who talked crap behind her back and their so-not whispers than she was with actually fighting people physically. Hinata knew she wasn't as strong as her sister but she had jyuuken and karate under her belt. She'd even take some punches or hair-grabbing before attacking them in retaliation. It wouldn't be so bad. If it escalated and the principal was called in, she'd just say that it was self-defense and show him her bruises. Her jyuuken, though, would leave no bruises until several days later but it'd be pretty painful.
Hinata didn't know her mind could be so wicked.
Hinata knew she wasn't as strong and skillful as Hanabi but again, she was glad for her family-special martial arts and she was glad that majority of the students here didn't know she was part of the karate club at school, it worked out to her advantage. Her jyuuken training had stopped upon her entering high school, so she needed to enter a club that would keep her in shape and her fighting skills sharp. She knew that Hanabi's skills only grew and got so much better than hers given that she stayed home and therefore never stopped that training whereas Hinata only sparred at home during the long breaks, her jyuuken was probably rusty.
Oh boy, it seemed that she had let her mind wander again. No bullying would ever take place. And with a sigh, Hinata accepted and moved on. She'd have to learn to be nonchalant and appear unfazed about the things people said about her, something she had to learn from a certain redheaded acquaintance of hers.
0o0
The week went on and on several occasions, she bumped into Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, two of the few nice acquaintances she made on her first year. After her sudden retreat and the distance made by being in different classes (they were in 11-C), sometimes the both of them would still say hello and wave at her. But now, even when they obviously made eye contact, the pink-haired girl didn't acknowledge her, let alone wave and smile.
Hinata knew the reason why. In their first year, back when they were in the same class, talks about crushes and cute boys were very common, and she wasn't spared for exception. Haruno said, and Hinata quoted, she was "in love" with Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka was her love rival, though from her eyes, it seemed as though Yamanaka only liked riling the pinkette up by claiming to love Uchiha more and not exactly "in love" with the school prince. Back then, she had smiled, genuinely wishing the pinkette good luck on her love life, and Haruno said thank you.
And now….
Hinata understood why Haruno Sakura felt betrayed. In Sakura's perspective, Hinata had stolen him. Now she wouldn't even wave at her in the hallways, Yamanaka tried to be neutral but she knew the blonde had always been on Haruno's side.
0o0
On a Thursday night, after four whole days enduring whispers about her and a certain Uchiha, Hinata found herself on Gaara's window ledge again. She had, of course, confirmed that he would be in his room instead of being somewhere. It had been weeks since the last time they even interacted that she had been convinced at some point that everything between them had been a fever dream. But there he was, opening his windows for her.
It hadn't been a dream. The Gaara truly was her acquaintance. It was still absurd as hell.
Hinata had been reluctant in repeating the whole grueling process of getting into his room. She thought just that one time was enough. Jumping balconies, railings, and trees and avoiding school security cameras and student council patrols weren't exactly her hobby, but the moment she saw that blood-red hair, and that calm and serene face of his, she knew it was worth it.
Someday, Hinata mused, someday she would be comfortable enough to ask Gaara things that other people wouldn't; his life, his childhood, his job, if he had any, and even the rumours.
"Training your stealth?" He asked as he let her in, voice still as gruff as ever as if it came from the depths of his soul. He always sounded older than seventeen.
The corner of her lips turned upwards. "You know it." She felt like it was the first time she had smiled in a while.
There were books on his desk. So this was why he wasn't outside, even Gaara was studying for exams. She shouldn't have been this surprised, but she was anyway. On her backpack, she also brought her own textbooks, intending to read them in Gaara's place for some unknown reason. She stared at his face for seconds too long, trying to find any signs of him being uncomfortable of having her around and was glad when she didn't find any. He didn't protest nor kick her out. There was this unique burst of motivation that only came from watching other people study that made you open your book too no matter whether you wanted to or not. Hinata just hadn't expected it to come from Gaara.
It was a very quiet night for the two studying teenagers.
0o0
By Monday, the first day of final exam period, every behind-the-back talks about her engagement to Uchiha Sasuke had been left behind. So what if she didn't have any friends for the whole three years of high school? She had been used to having loneliness as company. No big deal.
Right now, Hinata was so motivated for her final exams like never before. And one week passed. Gaara had offered her to go and depart right away after the last day of exams on Friday, but Hinata refused and decided to wait for the announcement of final scores.
On Monday seven o'clock of next week, she walked to the announcement board, where the list of names and final exam scores would be displayed. Yes, it was humiliating for last-place students, because everyone could see, but it was also the way for first-place students to show off without actually showing off. Everyone could and would see.
There were already several people there.
1st place, Gaara. Hinata's eyes widened. There was some strange pride she felt for her new friend. 2nd place, Hyuuga Hinata. Her eyes got impossibly wider. 'What?' In her almost two years being in senior highschool, through the mock exams, mid-term exams, and semester final exams, she had only placed fourth and fifth place. 'My new career high?' She was aware of the fact that this was also Gaara's highest rank for his previous highest was only to second place. She couldn't believe her eyes and how happy she was both for herself and Gaara.
3rd place, Nara Shikamaru, ah yes that student who had the highest IQ in the whole school and somehow wouldn't put any efforts in his study nor his homeworks. 4th place Uchiha Sasuke. 'Hell yeah.' She would be dancing if she weren't surrounded by people, this was her first win against Sasuke. Finally, there was something she had done better than Sasuke. 5th place Haruno Sakura. 6th place Yamanaka Ino. She read through the list of top ten scores, nothing new nor weird there, it was always the same ten people, only the ranks were often jumbled.
Hinata finally knew what actual motivation could do. She swore she would study as hard, if not harder, the next time another exam rolled around. She thought that maybe should try for first place next time and do a bet with Gaara.
She reached for her phone and texted a certain redhead. "Gaara you are first place."
Came his reply. "I know."
Hinata smiled softly.
0o0
"Meet me at these coordinates," his text had said, and he shared a location. They had decided to depart on the next day. The rest of the week after the score announcement was usually used for make-up exams for those who didn't do well, some of the days were used for club activities wrap-up which Hinata didn't attend this time around for obvious reasons.
Her luggage had been taken care of before by Gaara on Sunday night, the night before she saw the exam score, she didn't know how. But he had her clothes at the ready, and probably already loaded to the car. What and whose car, she had no idea. She didn't bring much anyway, only clothes, toiletries, and some money she withdrew from her secret account. She had a perfect amount of money on the account her father set up for her, which she wouldn't use of course, so no one would be suspicious.
She had only one rucksack on her back which only contain her wallet, phone, tissues, hand-sanitizer, and other necessities that she would use during a trip. Hinata went to the academics to report on her going home and that her dorm room would be empty from now on. They said okay, they knew Hinata always went home on her own for some reason. But somehow, she knew this time someone would pick her up, which was why she needed to leave as soon as possible.
It was six o'clock in the morning when she arrived. The place of their meet-up was actually pretty far and she had needed to use a train. Apparently, Gaara had been there since Monday, not bothering to look at his own exam score. He was waiting for her. What greeted her when she arrived at the coordinate was actually a house.
"Is this your house?"
"Maybe," he answered vaguely.
She stared at the white SUV parked in front of the house. "Is this the car we will use?"
He nodded, locking the door to the house, and got in the car. He wasted no time. "Well, get in."
Somehow hesitating, she opened the door to the passenger seat. 'We're really doing this' He didn't back out, she wouldn't either, and somehow Gaara was the one who looked more ready than she was. Once inside, Hinata couldn't help but stare at Gaara behind the steering wheel as he maneuvered skillfully to get the car out and into the main road.
He looked cool.
Scratch that. He looked so damn cool.
Hinata knew she could drive as well, but she was sure she didn't look that charismatic behind a steering wheel. Hell, she knew she sucked at parking. Her parking lessons six months ago, on semester break, hadn't been that fruitful and she stopped learning once school re-started for the second semester. After summer break, would be a third-year already. Oh how time flies.
"Shouldn't you be at least eighteen for a driving license?"
"Loopholes," he said, as if that explained anything. Hinata knew not to question further and just accept it.
Then he dropped another card on her lap, eyes not looking away from the road. She looked at her driving license. Definitely a fake one. "…Where did you even get this made?"
"Some questions are better unanswered." Of course. "It's in case I am tired," he added.
"Just so you know. I suck."
"I know."
Hinata boldly reached for his phone on the phone holder on his side. "What's your password?"
"Give it here."
She handed him the phone and he handed it back after inputting his password. She was mildly surprised that he would even let her do something with his phone, not that she would actually do anything other than editing her new phone number, for she had destroyed the simcard of her old one. She put the phone back carefully.
"Where did you even get this car? Is this even yours?"
"No, it's not."
Hinata let out a little gasp. "You didn't steal it, did you?"
"I didn't."
"Then whose?"
"Some questions are better unanswered." Of course. Not like it wasn't shady as hell.
0o0
They had long left behind the cities and their very-city-lie buildings, the roads now weren't as wide, surrounded by shrubbery of greens. Trees rich with green leaves lined the road. They had the windows open now that the air felt fresh, and Hinata could see how the wind blew his red hair, eyes full in concentration, and she could note how sharp his jaw was from this distance. 'What a side profile.' Another realization of how beautiful he actually was.
"Take a picture, won't you?" he side-eyed her. Of course he had noticed her blatant staring. Again.
'It'll last longer,' she continued in her head. "Okay," she replied easily. Suddenly her phone was held up in her hand, a shutter sound, and he realized a second too late the she actually took a picture of him. He decided he'd just let her have it.
She smiled at her phone. Nobody had had a picture of him before, but he found that he didn't mind it that now someone had.
Gaara had claimed that he was growing a little tired. He had been driving for three hours. It was understandable though, for even Gaara wasn't that used to driving for a long trip by himself. Pulling over to a gas station to refill and toilet breaks, Hinata finally found herself behind the steering wheel this time. Gaara had managed to convince her to take over despite her rusty skills. Well, I can't be that bad. The thing was that it was the first time she drove on actual road without anyone from her family supervising her. And she still sucked at parking. Gaara had reasoned with her that the road wasn't as busy as the city.
Hinata was nervous at first, but she actually eased to the task pretty quickly. The road wasn't busy, in fact it was kind of a lonely road. Gaara supervised her driving for a while before he closed his eyes. Hinata took a quick look at him. She was glad that he was comfortable enough with her that he would lower his guard once more to let himself sleep in her presence, especially since she knew he'd always had trouble sleeping. She let out a little smile.
It was eleven o'clock when he woke up, disoriented. He looked at the girl beside her, visibly confused. Hinata wanted to laugh. 'God, will he kill me if I said he looks adorable?' She decided to ask whether they should eat lunch and he said yes. Instead of drive-thru, they decided to eat in, it was good to stretch and step on the ground for a while.
Gaara took over, it was time for her own nap. They each took turns in driving until they arrived at Suna at seven in the evening. Yes, it took thirteen hours to get to Suna with short breaks and no traffic. Gaara had chosen the fastest route to get there, even if it meant going through unknown roads only map apps would know. There had been times when it was only their car on the road, it was kind of creepy, but Gaara had insisted that they kept driving in order to avoid driving on unknown roads after dark. It would've taken two or three more hours to Suna if they had taken the usual route people used, counting the traffic and the busy streets.
After being on creepy streets for a while, the bright lights of the city calmed her nerves. They made to avoid hotels, with Uchiha being the owner of the biggest hotel chains in Japan and all. To be safe than sorry, they simply avoided all hotels and settled for cheaper inns instead. They couldn't risk being tracked so early in their trip.
Gaara had chosen a modest inn outside of the bustling city but still close to a supermarket, a pub, and a restaurant in case they needed anything. In fact the inn had a diner on the first floor and somehow it turned into a bar at night on certain days, reminding her of Doug's inn from the Harvestmoon game. There were not a lot of cars in the parking area. Gaara had pulled out a ring out of nowhere and put it on his ring finger and urged me to do the same as he gave her another ring. 'You mean to….'
"Yes."
Hinata wouldn't be surprised if he had their fake marriage papers in his bag too, ready to pull them out if the rings weren't enough to convince the inn's owner. He looked at them suspiciously, clearly finding both of them too young to be legally married but shrugged and gave them a key to a room. All of the rooms were upstairs, as the first floor was only for the diner, the bar, and the kitchen.
Sleeping on one bed with Gaara, how did it come to this point?
Hinata knew that even though they had a lot of money, they didn't need to spend it unnecessarily. Why get two rooms when they could get one?
The room was not that big, it was modest, but it was enough for both of them. Somehow she knew that he wasn't picky either. She closed the door behind them, ready to rest for the night. It was her first time driving for such a long time and frankly she was exhausted.
Hinata set her luggage on the floor and pulled out the clothes she'd use for sleeping and a small bag of toiletries. She used the shower first, knowing she always had the best sleep after a warm shower. Clad in her baby blue pajama, she went to dry her hair and then climbed to the left side of the bed, her phone safely charged now. The bed was more comfortable than it looked, or she was simply so tired. Gaara came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of, lo and behold, pajama! His red hair was darker when wet. This was her first time seeing him clad in a pajama. He usually just wore track pants and a short-sleeved shirt. The air conditioner blew softly on that summer night, the extra cold promising a better sleep. Ah, Hinata always loved the cold. After her hair dried, she pulled the comforter up to her waist, ready to go to sleep. She hoped it'd be a dreamless sleep, as dreamless sleeps are the best sleeps.
"You know this is one of romance authors' favorite tropes, right?" she started a conversation as she went to lie down, sighing to herself at how comfortable she was. Covering herself in a blanket while the air was cold was her most favorite thing to do.
Gaara who was now sitting on his side of the bed, the right, turned to look at the girl, soundlessly telling her to explain what she meant.
"You see, the 'and there's only one bed' trope. It's a very popular trope. Romance fictions usually have it to make the main characters share one bed and then they would wake up in the morning cuddling each other."
"…Disgusting."
"I know." She laughed. "Let's not do that."
Hinata didn't know how long Gaara was up but sleep came easy to her.
…
—to be continued—