And here we are. Chapter two! Hope you're liking it thus far! I'm gonna need a little bit to build this up, so bear with me!
Chapter Two - Father
"Huh?" Hinata looked down to see that she was standing right by a chair. "O-oh… Sorry…"
"HUH?" He had nearly the exact same reaction as the other guy had when she thanked him for giving her the block of glass. "What did you just say?" He looked almost disgusted by her response.
"A-ah… I mean…"
"Nevermind…" He suddenly looked away and started rubbing his temples. "You must be on some drugs or something, just leave me alone." Wh-what? What have I ever done to him? I don't even know him! And why should I leave him alone when he's the one who talked to me?!
She somehow found her way back to her seat after trying to sit in apparently someone else's spot one three separate occasions.
"… Anyway." The teacher lady couldn't hide her bewilderment either. Everyone was talking about her. "Let's begin. Open your textbooks to page 57 and let's start with Uchiha-san reading from line 20." Hinata turned her head to see a raven-haired boy in the far back of the classroom by the window begin to read aloud. So I'm in school, in a class.
In the midst of all her panic, she began to smile. What the heck is going on here!?
"What the heck?" Someone seemed to echo her thoughts and she looked up to see the beautiful blonde guys staring at something on his block of glass in bewilderment. Their eyes met again, but Hinata quickly averted her gaze.
"What-"
"Uzumaki-san! I expected better from you." The lady teacher confiscated his block of glass like she had Hinata's. "You can both stay behind after class and clean up. Come to my office afterwards and I'll give your phones back." That word again, "phone".
"Aw, man…" He sighed, then placed his hands on the desk and intertwined his fingers, deciding to focus on the lesson.
Without taking in anything for an hour, the class ended. Someone stood up and walked to the front of the class, yelling "stand", to which everyone but Hinata and some girls stood up. The person at the front glanced at her, then proceeded to yell "bow", to which everyone bowed. Hinata watched them in both awe and confusion, suddenly feeling eyes on her. She looked to her side and saw the blonde guy watching her in disgust. Why do I get the feeling that he hates me?
She never follows orders. He thought to himself, scoffing. Always having to be such a delinquent.
Did he just scoff at me? Hinata raised her brows in disbelief.
When the bell rang, Hinata stood to her feet and made her way towards the exit, but didn't get very far before she felt someone grab her by her collar from behind.
"Where do you think you're going?" He sounded extremely annoyed as he held her back. "Are you seriously trying to bail on cleaning duty?" Oh right, the lady mentioned that.
"B-but… I… I don't think I-I nee-need t-that… phone…"
"Huh?" Oh no, I said something weird again! "What the heck are you talking about?" Hinata flinched under his harsh voice. "You must've hit your head, for real."
Seeing her uncomfortable, he quickly let go of her, but seemed to note something about her behavior.
I should really just shut up, shouldn't I. Hinata thought to herself.
"See ya tomorrow, Hinata!" The girl named Temari and a girl with two buns laughed sheepishly before leaving. "Have fun with your favorite person!"
"Ugh…" The guy let out a long, irritated sigh. That name, Naruto. What a…
"Cute name…" Hinata whispered, accidentally making her thoughts audible.
"What did you say?" The boy named Naruto snapped his head around to look at her. His expression was mixed with disgust and condescension. Hinata blushed and quickly hid her face in embarrassment.
"I-I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to… S-say t-th-that! … Aloud…" Hinata tugged at her hair and tried to shield her face with it. He didn't respond, so she lowered her hands a little bit only to see him leaving.
"W-wait!" She stumbled forward, tripping on someone's desk and falling on the floor. "A-ah…" I'm so clumsy…
The boy named Naruto even turn around. "I don't know what kind of weird trick you're trying to pull, but just knock it off." He really… Hates me. Who am I, and what did I do to make this guy hate me?
She got back up on her feet, feeling a sting in her ankle, but nonetheless followed him out of the classroom. From then on, she decided to try to keep her reactions to her surroundings to herself.
There were people everywhere and everyone was wearing the same clothes. Everyone had that block of glass, too. Those things, phones, or whatever, seemed very important to people in this world. The view outside was just too overwhelming though, she couldn't even begin to grasp where she was. She instead tried to stop staring at everything around her and redirected her gaze to her classmate's back.
His back was much broader than hers, and he smelled really nice. She closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose, only to almost immediately after walk right into said back as he had apparently stopped in his tracks.
"Ew, get off me!" He quickly moved away and Hinata scrambled to find an excuse in her head.
"A-ah I'm sorry!" She shielded herself instinctively, to which he gave her an even more confused look than he'd done before, if it was even possible.
"Why are you acting like I'm gonna hit you?! Seriously, you're acting so weird, it's like you wanna be cute but you're coming off as just plain creepy!"
People started turning their heads at their loud conversation.
"Look, they're fighting again."
"Just another day at Konoha High, I guess."
"W-wanna be cute? C-creepy..?" Hinata was stumped by his words. She had had enough of this boy's audacity. All she ever did was apologize and try to be kind, but here he was, judging her character and making her seem like a lunatic. I don't even know where I am!
"Lo-look, I d-don't k-kn-know wh-why y-you ha-hate me, b-but-"
"And why are you stuttering?! You've never done that before!"
"Wh-what?"
"Ugh, whatever! Just go home, you're acting more annoying than usual, I'll clean up myself!" He started to walk, but she cut him off.
"No!" She suddenly yelled, surprising even herself. "U-um… What I mean is… I'll… I-I'll do it my-myself!" Without waiting for his response or even looking at him, Hinata started to walk off on her own. However, the boy was quick to call out after her.
"That's not even the right direction! Ugh, seriously, have you never cleaned before?! Do you always skip cleaning duty!?" Hinata's hand balled into a fist and she pressed her lips together in embarrassment. I was trying to be tough but just ended up looking like an idiot… Everything I do is just wrong all the time...!
"O-okay… I-I'm sorry…" She immediately caved in.
"Oh…" His voice suddenly shifted.
"Hahaha, I was so surprised when he said that!" A pink haired girl and a blonde girl passed them, caught up in laughter. They were both wearing a tasteful amount of makeup and looked absolutely gorgeous, nothing Hinata could ever hope to compare herself to.
"Hey, Sakura…" The blonde boy's tone had completely changed to something like guilt and he quickly made a move to bow to her as she passed.
"Oh, hi Naruto…" The girl who seemed to be called Sakura stopped and was about to make conversation with him for a bit, but saw Hinata and quickly cast her eyes to the floor. She grabbed the blond girl's arm and they both for a moment looked at Hinata, obvious fear written on their faces. They both bowed respectfully to Hinata and quickly scurried off. What was that all about?
Naruto cast her a hateful scowl, but said nothing and instead continued walking. Is it something about my appearance? Did I do something?
She spotted a toilet sign and excused herself briefly to go look in a mirror. When she did, she was met with the biggest shock yet.
"M-my fringe?!" She leaned forward against the sink, holding her hand over her exposed forehead. And her makeup! She had the thickest layer of makeup caked on top of her skin, and pimples underneath. She could feel the sweat trapped underneath all the makeup and tried to rub it off with water and soap, but only made it worse. Her hair was short, but not as short as she was used to. It was almost to her shoulders, but put up in a high, sloppy ponytail, with some kind of sprayed on pink highlights. Oh my god, what do I look like… On top of that, she was wearing earrings. How have I gotten away with this at school…
Feeling defeated, she left the bathroom somehow looking worse than when she entered, only to be repeated to her by her male classmate.
"You look worse than you did when you went in." Thank you for your support… Hinata's shoulders slumped in response to his comment.
When they finished cleaning, they headed to the teachers' offices and retrieved their phones. Hinata had felt the Naruto guy's eyes on her almost the entire time, but he kept his mouth shut and so did she. Not knowing where to go or what to do with her phone, Hinata followed carefully behind Naruto to the shoe lockers. He quickly got his stuff and made a beeline for the exit, leaving her to look for her own shoe locker.
"Oh no, where could mine be…" She whispered to herself and, feeling his judging eyes on her, started to sweat profusely.
"A-ah, there!" She exclaimed, but quickly caught herself and tried to recover from her obviously weird reaction. "It's s-so hot… I must b-be confused."
The boy leaned against a wall and crossed his arms, raising his chin and staring down at her with his eyes narrowed.
"Ha… ha…" Hinata pretended he didn't exist and tried to figure out where the key to her shoe locker was. Why won't he leave?!
"It's in your outer bag pocket."
"A-ah!" She checked the pocket and found her key. "T-thank you." Oh no, not another slip up! She quickly cleared her throat and tried to save face. "I-I me-mean, I kne-knew that… O-obviously…" Naruto let out a chuckle, but then seemed to catch himself and looked away.
"Whatever." And with that, he left.
"Okay…" Hinata put her outdoor shoes on. A pair of simple white sneakers with lots of drawings on them. What kind of person am I? Hinata from this world, who are you?
Suddenly, the phone in her pocket vibrated again, but this time didn't stop. Hinata had to resist the sudden instinct to throw it away from herself again, and instead took it out and read the screen on it.
"'pops'?" Hinata had to think for a while.
Father..?
She dropped the phone and lowered herself to the ground, her entire body trembling. Memories from earlier flooded her mind. Where am I..? Is father here too? Has he somehow orchestrated this whole thing? If I died, will he be here with me in the afterlife too?
"Please…N-no…"
"It's as I thought." Hinata spun around to see the lady teacher from before, standing by the stairs with her arms crossed. "You are acting strange."
"I-I…" Hinata wanted to try to come up with an excuse, but words wouldn't form from her mouth. The teacher started to approach her, then sat next to her.
"I don't know what you've been doing with your life up until now, but remember that you're only sixteen. You're too young to be making mistakes like this. It's not too late to get out of it, to find a new friend group and to fix your grades."
Hinata lowered her gaze to the floor. If only you knew…
"I-I understand…"
"Also, I called your father. He'll be here soon." Hinata's head snapped up and her expression must've told the teacher all she needed, because she immediately continued. "Don't give me that – you haven't been yourself today, you can't just take the train home on your own! You could get kidnapped when you're spacing out like you are." She called him? Called him in what way? What does she mean? Is he going to be here? Will I have to face him?!
"B-but…" Hinata felt the panic returning to her. "H-he… He-he's…!"
Suddenly, the doors burst open and Hinata's attention was snatched from the teacher to the figure standing before them.
Hiashi.
Let me know what you think!