Chapter 5: The game

Hinata jerked upward, gasping for air.

Suffocation was the only sound echoing in the room for five minutes. She slightly turned her head to her right: it was 3 o'clock in the morning. For seven days in a row, she had woken up abruptly in the wee of dawn; for seven days in a row, she had had the same nightmare: a woman, with slick long black hair, getting brutally murdered. This night, she was the victim for the first time, and catching her breath wasn't so easy. Sleep wouldn't comeback, of that, she was sure. She waited until she fully gained back control over her breathing, then she went to sit down at her miniscule table.

She subconsciously replayed the nightmare in her mind: a person whose face she couldn't see holding a sharp knife he kept stabbing her with over and over, her blood, her screams, her fear, her pleading, the gurgling sound of her breathe mixing with blood… she couldn't help but feed her dark thoughts until one feeling stood out over everything else, possessing her: genuine fear.

She had always helped the few ghosts that managed to spot her but this specter had never made a request. Ever since that conversation about her not knowing anything, Hinata had been more than grateful to be left alone by the ghost. However, she still popped out everywhere: in class, in her house, in the bathroom… never had a ghost been so intrusive or given her nightmares.

Now she sat there, haunted by an unshakable fear, as if something bad and imminent would happen to her.

Besides drilling that dread inside of her, the ghost was still on earth even though she never asked for a loved one or anything else. From the teen's experience, she knew that a wandering ghost was one with unfinished business.

For both their sake, Hinata had to help the ghost.

For a moment the sky stole her attention: from her seat, she could see the sky painted blue, pink and yellow, the sun timidly showing up. It was short lived though, before her resolution came back to mind. Sighing heavily, she stretched a bit, turned off her light and get up. She decided two things: first, gather as much information as possible to help the ghost find back her memories; second, get some cold medicine at the pharmacy.

Hinata was fixing herself a coffee when Kurenai joined her in the kitchen.

"Wow, you've been super early this past week" Kurenai said as she took the cup Hinata gave her.

"yes" Hinata said, thinking of a way to tell the truth without actually telling it "I've been… up, thinking a lot"

"What, you've got a problem at school?"

"Oh, no no! Nothing like that"

"… Is it a boy problem then?" A smile stretched the woman's lips. "I still haven't forgotten about that little visit at my store"

Hinata stammered as she blushed heavily. After some teasing, Kurenai told her about having an appointment later in the morning and then got started with her routine of cleaning, preparing food and getting ready.

The dark-haired girl got ready quickly. She applied a bit of make up to appear less tired. When Kurenai got worried that she looked more and more like a ghost on the third morning, she had asked Karin for advice, not without getting interrogated by the redhead and explaining the source of her insomnia. Once satisfied, she got back to the kitchen.

"Have fun with Asuma-San" Hinata winked. It was only fair after getting teased so much herself. The teen's keen eyes didn't miss the pretty blush and sheepish smile on her godmother's face before exiting the kitchen.

Asuma was their history teacher, and by the way Shikamaru's godfather, one of the popular kids. He was in his early fifties but still rather handsome with his black hair unruly in the back and scruffy beard. He was quite stylish, and from the Rolex at his wrist, one might guess he was well off. Karin told her that the man owned a nice house with garden and a dog, and that he did his studies abroad. His sole flaw was that he was a chain smoker. Otherwise, he was a charming man. That was something even Hinata had witnessed firsthand at school.

Once outside, she was at first at a loss to what her exact next step would be. She racked her brains throughout until she remembered some important information: the place she first met the ghost and the person she seemed to follow. Her heart skipped a beat. She groaned. Hinata didn't know if she should feel blessed or cursed for liking someone.

Hinata took the direction of Shinsjitsu Cemetery. It was Sunday like last time, thus she felt that her chances to see the person she was looking for and maybe the ghost were high enough. She had every intention of being able to speak to the spirit, and the only way to do that apparently was to find Sasuke. It was imperative for her to see him that day, as in high school, she remembered ogling more than usual (and get teased by Karin), and not seeing the ghost. May be the cemetery was the answer. Or may be her ogling sidetracked her enough not to see anything. She ruffled her hair.

For once the weather was fine, which would happen, if lucky, once a year in Konoha. Hinata had quite early on realized it wasn't to get a few giggles out of her that Karin nicknamed this village The Scotland of Japan, adding that they even had their own Loch Ness monster with black hair, a nasal voice and lessclass. Hinata giggled at the memory.

Hinata made her way into the cemetery, looking up and down for Sasuke, but he was not there. She wondered if he had already visited earlier. Remembering their conversation, she guessed that he was a regular visitor. Moreover, she got there too early for him to come earlier than that. She decided to wait one hour for him, hoping that he'd decided to come that day.

Unable to resist the atmosphere of the place, she talked to her mother about her life, what was happening at school, Asuma and Kurenai, even the last ghost she managed to help in joiningthe Other Side, and finally, she asked for her support in figuring out the problem with the latest specter.

She was about to start the herbal store story when she was interrupted.

"Don't you prefer chatting with someone who can answer you?"

She got up hastilywhen she recognized the voice of her interlocutor.

"Sa- Sasuke-Kun…" she said shyly, momentarily sidetracked from her mission. Her gaze darted around him, searching for the spirit that haunted her.

"Can I know what you're looking for?" He asked, looking at her with an arched eyebrow.

"Uh ... no ... yes ..." heat painted her cheek red while confusion scattered her mind "are y-you all alone?" she questioned him without any tact.

He paused.

She mentally slapped herself.

"Unless I'm haunted, yes I'm all alone." He replied slowly in a tone of mockery.

The moment he said the word "haunted", she deflated as if he had hit the stop button. She knew he wanted her to understand that she was saying nonsense -well for him. But as he held her gaze for a bit too long than politeness allowed, somewhere in the back of her mind, something was screaming at her to tell him it was true, that he might be indeed haunted.

She giggled a bit at last.

The fact that she was feeling that comfortable with him made her feel like an idiot. She was certain he wouldn't believe her, and maybe call her silly -at best. There was also the fact that she only contacted people about ghost -albeit not directly- only when they had something to do with the whereabouts of said spirit. In this case, she couldn't tell whether the ghost was linked to him or not.

After the little mess on her part, they went back down to the exit in comfortable silence.

Stealing glances of him surrounded by the halo of the sunlight, she felt her heart break. Since the store incident, she had dared to let herself speculate about his possible interest in her. It never failed to turn her into a pool of mush, leaving her glassy eyed and more absent-minded than ever. This time though she could see it, how out of her league he really was. She felt ashamed for being one of those who mistook concern and politeness for interest. Up until then he'd just been a decent person to her upon their haphazard encounters. Interest wasn't being nice, or walking someone to an exit. Interest was when the other seek you out or got out of their way to strike conversation with you and he didn't. today, she had to force destiny to meet him.

Seeing him was the

reality check she needed.

She decided right then that she'd stop those nonsense feelings. To hell with those sappy songs about never giving up on or being too weak to get over someone. She was strong enough to get over a boy and focus on her studies.

"What's up?" he asked, looking straight ahead. She didn't look up.

"F…" she hesitated, then decided she didn't want to lie "I can't seem to sleep well these days"

"No herbs or potions at your store?"

"There are, but I think I need something stronger" Hinata shrugged, feeling a headache on its way "I… I'd go to the pharmacy later"

"You're not doing a very good job at advertising your store" he said with the tiniest smirk

"I guess marketing is out of the question for college then" a small smile formed on her lips as Sasuke chuckled.

Before going each other their way, he asked her something that surprised her.

"Are you coming to watch the game tonight?"

Their eyes met.

"Yeah…" with her eyes still round from the surprise, her shoulder lifting a bit in a shrug, she reiterated her presence "Of course"

Three things were clear to her then: her lie seemed to please him, she was going to go to her first basketball game ever, and he obliterated her goal to forget about his existence. Hinata didn't really know what to do with herself anymore.

Basketball wasn't even her thing. The only thing she saw herself doing at that game was staring at Sasuke, and may be have her feelings get worse… then a plan formed inside her mind.

Later that day, Hinata went to the pharmacy to buy her meds. Once home, she called Karin.

"You want to go to a basketball game?" Karin asked loudly "Did they announce snow in the middle of September ?"

"Calm down Karin-Chan" Hinata chuckled a bit "okay, listen: the spirit might be related to Sasuke-Kun."

"You said it this past week, and you also said you haven't seen anything" Karin crushed paper in the background "isn't this an excuse to ogle Sasuke yet again…?"

"I -I w-wasn't"

"You're stuttering" Karin singsonged

"Ugh, Karin-Chan, s-stop teasing" Hinata waited for the redhead to be serious again as she flushed beet red "If… tonight is the last time I'll test that theory. If it's true, the ghost might appear at the gym."

"Sounds logical," Karin consented "still, why do you want me to come with you?"

"You will tell me about the game, since you'll be watching it." Hinata said idly, more focused on doing her homework than the conversation at hand

"Ah, okay ...?" the redhead said slowly. She was clearly confused, "but why is it so important that you know what happened during the game ... Nobody will think of looking for you there since you never go, unless…" She trailed off "unless… Hyuga Hinata, are we trying to impress a jock?"

"What?"

"Yeah, like, you heard me gurl"

Hinata mentally backtracked through their conversation, realizing too late that she compromised herself and that she should definitely stop multitasking.

Stupid mouth, she thought to herself.

For a brief, crazy second, she thought of confiding in the redhead. After all, Karin was her closest, basically only friend there and the girl had pretty well digested her ghost whisperer secret. However, she quickly came back to her senses. There was nothing to tell, Sasuke wasn't anything to her and Karin was sure to read between lines that didn't exist. She was afraid of what things the redhead would be able to put in her head, things she came so close to believe prior days.

Feeling a bit guilty, she promised herself to tell everything to her friend once she'd actually have a boyfriend.

"I ... I had to make up an excuse to ... Kurenai ... uh ... it isn't that important. I'll tell you about it later." she stuttered an excuse "Anyway, we meet in front of your house at 8:00 p.m.?"

"Yeah, 8:00 p.m., in front of my house" the redhead said "don't forget to come with a better excuse than that"

Thus, at 8:00 p.m., Hinata was in front of her friend's house. The redhead was already waiting for her, burgundy eyes shining in the dark. As expected, she tried but couldn't get the truth out of the dark-haired girl. Never before did Hinata felt this lucky that the trip to school was that short.

The two girls arrived ten minutes before the match but managed to squeeze themselves a place near the exit. The game started around 8:30.

Initially, she focused on each face to find the mysterious woman but after fifteen minutes of scrutiny, she let it go. There were way too many people. She ended up taking a mild interest in the game, a first for her. In fact, she'd never seen the first three minutes of an actual basketball game.

At one point, one of the players on their team was pushed around quite violently. Hinata tried to remember the name of said player but she only drew a blank. Apparently, what had just happened was not an accident. The protest in the audience and on the field made the floor quake.

It was then that she saw the ghostly figure move outside.

She got to her feet, stumbled a bit and followed the ghost. Outside, unlike inside, there was no soul. She hesitated, but the retreating specter made her quicken her steps.

"Hey! Wait!" she called out, running after her.