COMPETING

CHAPTER 8

The preliminaries were approaching faster than Hinata had ever dreamed. Keeping up with her training was becoming more difficult; not just by the day, but the hour. It only seemed like yesterday her father was calling her into his office, hounding for slacking on the application. And now here she was struggling to get through even a single training session. Her progress hovered between that gravitational hell where her body always ached, but never enough.

With only two weeks until the preliminary rounds, Hinata couldn't help but question her readiness. When she looked back at all she had done, her sparring matches with her teammates, her test scores, her trigram technique, she found with crippling dismay that no. She wasn't ready.

The school was certainly on top of things. With only two months left, the teachers had called for an assembly. Even though they already knew all there was to know about the preliminaries, it was undoubtedly worth going over again. Therefore their academic studies had been put on hold for a half a month, so training could get done by their senseis. Not that it mattered much to Hinata, since she had her private tutor always waiting for her at home.

It was a little surreal to be back in class. Several weeks had passed since Sasuke's birthday, and yet concentrating on the lecture was harder than ever. She'd forgotten how stressful the classroom was. She thought that with all the hype of the tournament things would change somehow, but Sasuke was sitting right next to her again. "Good morning, Hinata," he'd said. It was the closest thing to cordial he'd ever been, so why did her ears get so hot?

Ever since the park the only thing she'd been able to look at were his lips. So far nothing had been able to rinse away the memory of him touching those very same lips to hers only weeks ago. That was a kiss, wasn't it? Her first one! If she'd known that's what he was going to do, she'd really have gone out of her way to get him an actual present. He had never, prior to this day, called her by any name, let alone her first name. It was so natural the way he said it, as if he'd never called her anything different. Too much.

Worrying about Sasuke was more than enough, but then there was also Gaara. He also had not changed seats, despite not liking Sasuke. He rarely looked at her, but she couldn't help feeling that he was keeping a close eye on her. It made her afraid to move. His troop was saddled on the upper floor of the estate in a wing that niisan had forbidden her to tread. Every time she happened to get too close he would suddenly be there.

But Gaara had not caused any trouble so far. The guards and the servants were ever watchful of him, no more lax than they'd been the first day. This made Hinata uneasy. She couldn't explain it, but it also felt as if he was somehow following her. Those uncomfortable pricks along the back of her neck, that unshakable sense of foreboding—she felt it everywhere she went. Once or twice, out of paranoia, she had used the Byakugan to scan the area. Gaara was never anywhere near her.

Sasuke didn't even know he was staying with her. She wanted to keep it that way. He had been so stern when he told her to stay away from Gaara, and she dreaded his reaction if he ever found out. Presumptuous of her to think that, maybe. Still, it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. If Hiashi and the Hokage thought it was best, who could argue?

It may have been their close quarters, but Gaara kept getting (unintentionally) close to her. Whenever he did it seemed like Sasuke would always be there: sometimes scowling, sometimes aloof, just like her niisan. That was alarming in itself. Hinata disliked an angry Naruto, but an angry Sasuke was frightening.

Focusing on Naruto did help. For the sake of her mental health she had to draw attention to other things. He was sitting closer than he ever had before, right between Sakura and Ino. Apparently they had set their fears of Gaara aside in order to be closer to Sasuke. Naruto didn't mind it either, as long as he didn't have to leave Sakura's side.

Yes, a lot of good it was doing for Hinata's mental stability. Maybe Sasuke wasn't so bad after all. He was keeping an eye on Gaara. His shoulders were tense, palms sliding back and forth of his knuckles as if he were expecting an attack of some sort. If Gaara noticed he didn't care. Unlike the two of them, he seemed to be paying attention to Iruka's announcement.

"Good morning everyone. Is everyone here?"

"I'm here, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted with a wave of his hand. Iruka's eyelids dropped halfway closed.

"Yes, we all know you're here, Naruto."

Ino huffed. "Do I have to sit next to these two morons?" Sakura mimicked her complaints. Neither one was much of a morning person.

"All right class, you all know the C.A.T is coming up in two months, so all classes have been called to a meeting. If you've been paying attention like you should be, none of what I'm about to tell you should come as a surprise. Still, it's necessary to brief you on the rules and regulations just in case." He smiled at them, slapping the corner of his desk with a roll of paper. Probably a stack of applications.

"Every year the villages compete in what's called the Cross Academy Tournament. They do this to increase their rank and honor, and to see which village has the best trained students. Do I have to tell you how important it is to represent your village? No? Good! Each village holds their own competition to weed out the strongest in their vicinity. When that's done, those who passed will compete against the winners of the other villages, and so forth until one grand competition is held, and one village wins. The preliminaries are in two weeks. When the winners emerge, the next competition will commence two months following. The deciding tournament will be held in Konoha's Stadium, where it has been for the last two competitions. This is also a great honor."

He went on to explain the rules of disqualification and other consequences should something like death become a factor. For all her distractions Hinata managed to pay very close attention to this part. Gaara and Sasuke listened unsparingly, but to Hinata it seemed like they might be taking the rules a little differently than everyone else.

Naruto's excitement could not be contained. Sakura had to keep shushing him to be quiet. Hinata fought a smile. "The upcoming preliminaries will determine only the top ranking five," said Iruka, and Hinata snapped back to attention. "Do you know what that means? Out of everyone here only five of you will be make it to the secondary competition. It will be held here in the hall at noon on Thursday. Train as hard as you can, learn everything you can, and sleep! Do you all hear that? Take care of your bodies. The papers here—" he waved the stack in his hand—"explain everything I've just told you. Feel free to take as many as you want. Now, dismissed! Have a nice and productive day."

Iruka's announcement was indeed empowering. Everyone was in a feverish hurry to go train—even the lazy Shikamaru. Naruto was like a series of mini bombs. Not a single person left without knowing how "productive" his training was going to be. Sasuke addressed Gaara when they both got up from their seats. "Sabaku." Gaara turned around.

"Yes?"

"You won't be in the preliminaries, right?" Gaara closed his eyes for a moment.

"No. The preliminaries in Suna are already over with. We won. My siblings and I are here early, to see first-hand how Konoha does with their own competition. I will have no part in it." Hinata edged away from them toward the exit.

"Why is it only the three of you here?" Sasuke asked Gaara. "It's supposed to be five."

"Everyone else dropped out."

"Hinata!" Sasuke called. She kept going, terrified that he might try to follow. If he was, Sakura held him up.

"Wait, Sasuke! I want to talk to you!" By the time she and Ino started bickering, Hinata was already out the door and halfway down the hall.

'Two months' she thought feverishly. 'I only have two months to prepare. What do I do? Should I ask Neji-niisan to help me, or . . . no. He would never. Maybe Kiba and Shino . . .' She'd have liked to go back to the class to ask them to train with her, but Sasuke and Gaara were there. The only options left to her were either the training grounds or home. She deliberated in the market at the angle formed between the two, a Tofu Dango shop which smelled of crushed sesame seeds and soy sauce.

She wasn't let much time to debate. One minute she was standing there, the next she was being yanked by arm, practically dragged behind the shop down an alleyway. "S-Sasuke-san?" she cried. He all but pinned her to the wall. "Why did you run away?" he demanded. Beads of sweat touched his brow, and he was panting a bit. Hinata shrank at the tone he used.

"I-I didn't . . . I had to go home."

"No, you ran away."

"S-Sasuke, my arm." He actually did have her pinned by the arm, and was squeezing it unconsciously. His eyes widened when he realized what he was doing and immediately backed away with haste. "Sorry." He clenched his hands into fists. They were shaking.

"I-It's okay," Hinata mumbled. "Can I help you?"

"I have to tell you something." His granite eyes were ablaze. Veins appeared in his neck, his body squaring against hers, as if to block her from an exit. "Don't compete."

Hinata's mouth parted. "E-Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Don't compete."

"B-But I have to." That was truer than he could ever know.

"No, you don't. You don't have to do anything, especially not participate in this. Run away, fake an illness—I don't care what you do—just find a way out of it." She went rigid with silence. She couldn't possibly be hearing what she thought she was hearing. Not participate? No, she couldn't just not compete. Out of the question. She was heir to the Hyuga throne. Even if she wasn't, to just run away from a fight like that . . .

Yes she was cowardly. Yes she was weak. One thing she wasn't, however, was dishonorable. "Sasuke-san . . . I'm competing." Sasuke was incredulous. This was the sternest she had ever been with anyone.

"Hinata . . ." He did not mean to sound so rough, so shaky. "You're not strong enough."

Hinata frowned. "Maybe not, but I will still try. I am sorry."

"Are you trying to prove yourself to your family, Hinata? To your father? You don't have to—"

"No. For myself."

Sasuke forked a hand through his bangs. His eyes were narrowed, cast down to the dirty street below. Then he smiled. It was so small, the only thing visible between the dark curtains formed by his bangs. "I see," he said. There was a bit of reverence there. Pride.

"I-I have to go, Sasuke-san. I will see you at the tournament." He caught her by the arm as she turned to go, far more gentler than before.

"You're really going to do this."

Hinata nodded.

"Fine. Then tomorrow at six a.m. Training grounds. Meet me there."

*AN*

If you like this story and want to be kept updated, please TWEET me at Stitchpuppy01 so I can respond to you personally! I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from you!