"You two know each other?" Ten-ten sounded too happy for Hinata's comfort.
Before her legs could give out, she quickly placed the glasses on the knee high table, and knelt on the mat, head still whirling as she grabbed it roughly to stop it spinning.
"You ok?" the cheery girl asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You look like you want to tear your hair out or something," she laughed.
"Um..."
"She'll be fine. When she gets nervous her head spins." Neji offered, taking a sip from the glass. "We're cousins." He added as an afterthought.
"Really! Wow... what a coincidence."
Neji smiled suddenly, and asked what was for dinner as Ten-ten jumped up to save her chicken from burning on the stove. When Ten-ten was out of hearing range, Neji turned back to Hinata who was groaning softly.
"You've been having headaches forever," Neji commented, looking speculatively at her. "So. You've moved in here." He said, eyeing the place with neutral eyes. "It's not too bad."
Today was just full of surprises. First, Neji being Ten-ten's boyfriend, then Neji smiling, and now this, saying that her apartment wasn't 'too bad'. Hinata mused, "Your girlfriend did choose this place. Of course it wouldn't be too bad."
"The Hinata I knew didn't say those things out loud, even if she did think them," Neji said, his face expressionless, but Hinata knew better. He was amused. Afterall, they had been playmates since they were young, which had unfortunately changed once he had found out that the relationship between their fathers weren't as simple as once thought.
"It has been a good few months. I've never learnt so much in my entire sheltered life," she replied, as Ten-ten came back.
"Hey guys, hate to break it up, but dinner's ready! Let's go to the dining table to eat, okay?"
Dinner was a relatively tensionless affair, as Neji began to warm up towards Hinata, sensing the change in the naïve girl. Ten-ten was Ten-ten, having the ability to make even the most uncomfortable situations bearable. Hinata noticed that her flatmate was really important to Neji, from the way he speaks to her and the way he scoops more food into her bowl, and asking her how's the food though she had been the one to cook it.
After the meal was over, they gathered a couple of pillows and propped them up against the wall, leaning against them and flipping the channels on TV as Hinata cut up fruits in the kitchen, placing them into the fruit bowl.
She could hear a squeal coming from Ten-ten as she carried the fruit bowl out, seeing the girl squirming in the pillows as Neji tickled her relentlessly. She smiled to herself, and cleared her throat to catch their attention.
"Oops, sorry. Neji! It's all your fault!" Ten-ten smacked him with a smaller pillow lying by the side.
Neji feigned hurt and pinched her nose, eliciting another undignified squeak from the high-spirited girl. Not wanting to be in their way, she placed the fruit bowl on the table, and stood up to leave when Ten-ten waved a dvd in her face.
"Interested in watching Hitch? I heard it's really funny."
"Um, I think I shouldn't. I've got a lot of work to catch up on. You guys have fun." She smiled, and stood. She felt rather uncomfortable as she saw Neji look at her as she straightened with a wary look in his eye, but ignored it and headed for her room.
It was 12 at night when Ten-ten knocked on her door then opened it, peeking into the lit room. Hinata's head was on her arm as she dozed.
"Hinata?" came the soft voice, but it was enough to wake Hinata from her nap.
"Huh?" she looked around, not seeing anyone.
"Behind you, dear." She giggled.
Hinata turned around, and rubbed her eyes. "What's up?"
"Someone's on the phone. I forgot to ask who it was though," Ten-ten told her, sticking her tongue out.
"Oh, that's fine. I'll just go answer it," the smaller girl darted out of her room noiselessly, and padded toward the phone, which was beside Neji. "Hello?" she asked, and Neji looked quickly at her then turned back to the movie.
"Sasuke?" her voice was thick with sleep. "Oh. Right. Uh huh. No, that's alright. I'll be there. Just give me fifteen minutes. Yeah. I'll take a cab or something. No. Don't worry about it. Yeah. Can I go now? Ok. Fine. Bye." The phone clicked. Hinata stood, and gave a sharp shake of her head, and sighed deeply.
"What's wrong?" Ten-ten's head perked up.
"Nothing. I'm going out." She grabbed her jacket and house keys, heading out the door.
Neji stood, not before brushing a soft kiss on his girlfriend's temple. "Where're you headed? I'll give you a lift."
"Not necessary. I'll take a taxi. You stay here and watch your movie."
"No. It's late, and it's not safe for a girl out on the streets this late."
Hinata felt like rolling his eyes at her cousin's protective behaviour, and bit her lip from doing so. It reminded her of their relationship just 3 years back, when they were still close. "Okay."
She rested her head against the window, listening to the music that was playing on his stereo.
"I didn't know you knew Sasuke," Neji began, his eyes on the windscreen.
"Yes. He happens to be in my class. If I remember correctly, it happens to be your class too," she said dryly.
"You know what I mean, baka 'jou-chan. I mean, ready to meet him in the dead of the night kind of 'know'."
"Don't call me that." She had referred to his nickname for her, 'baka ojou-chan'. "I've moved out, I've changed, but that doesn't mean we can suddenly be good pals again." She watched the window as they neared the street where her pub was. "Stop the car. We're here." She waited with her hand on the handle, hoping to flee as quickly as she could after the car had stopped.
Neji was quiet as he braked the car, and looked at the pub. "I'm coming with you." He said, switching the engines off.
"No. I'm not here to drink. I'm here to work. Sasuke's short staffed tonight, and Lee's been making a lot of noise, and Gai-sensei can't control him, so Sasuke's going to send him back, and he needs someone to tend the bar while he's gone." Hinata explained in a rush, and looked at Neji pleadingly. "Please. Just go. I'll be fine."
Neji hesitated, and nodded after a few moments. "I'll be staying over at Ten-ten's tonight."
Hinata looked shocked. She gaped at him, her jaw working but no sound came out. "I-, that is, um, you- I- T-too much information!" her cheeks flamed, and she opened the door and jumped out, slamming it behind her and rushing into the back alley, entering through the back door.
Neji sat in the car, eyes glittering with mirth. "I wasn't implying anything." He smirked and drove off.
She changed into her usual uniform of a fitted white shirt and black slacks and went behind the bar, watching Sasuke dispensing drinks with what seemed like eight arms and trying to soothe the very drunk and boisterous Lee who was making a scene at the bar.
"Why wouldn't Sakura-chan even look at me?" he wailed, gripping Sasuke by the collar, causing him to nearly spill beer on himself.
"Dammit, ahou! Watch yourself!" Sasuke hissed, shaking his arm free of the other boy's grasp and handing the beer over to a Caucasian who gave him a twenty and told him to keep the change.
The band was in the middle of a song, and the pub was full of older students and working people, being a Friday night. Sasuke noticed Hinata already dispensing drinks herself, and gave a small sigh of relief.
"Thank god you're here. Look at the crowd. And bloody Shino had to be sick today." He scowled, but as a lady waved at him to get his attention, he turned to her with a dazzling smile and took her order, stunning Hinata.
"You really should smile at me more often," Hinata groused.
"This," he pointed as his dazzling smile, "is fake." He said through his teeth. "It's a 'business smile'. I can't help it if I'm naturally good looking." He shrugged. "That lady asked for a Mai Tai. Don't look at me like that. Triple sec, rum- dark and light, bitters, grapefruit juice and now I've gotta run and send this idiot back to his hole. I'll be back as soon as I can." He grabbed his car keys from the glass cabinet and went out the bar, throwing Lee's arm around his shoulders, hefting the lithe boy and dragging him out with the help of Gai-sensei, who wasn't very sober himself.
Hinata did the cocktail in record time, as the people at the bar threw orders at her, leaving her sweaty and nervous. As the night wore on, she relaxed into the pace, which seemed to be slowing down as it reached the early hours of the morning. The band was exceptionally good today, seemingly feeding off the energies of the crowd, singing and playing really powerfully, and Hinata couldn't help but feel energised and alive as she too fed off the energies of the people.
It was three thirty in the morning when Sasuke came back, and the crowd had already left earlier when the band retired for the night. "How's Lee?"
"Still an asshole." He grumbled, and opened his collar to show her finger marks on his neck. Hinata bit back the urge to laugh. He looked at her critically then said, "If you want to laugh, go right ahead. You look like you're choking on something."
"Sasuke... you're pouting!" Hinata managed to say as she collapsed in giggles.
He frowned. "Am not,"
"Like the lady says, you are." A guest piped up, holding his glass of bourbon up in a toast as he downed the last of it. "Great night tonight. I'd best be leaving. Good night you guys. Great job." He waved, and the teens waved back as he exited the pub. There goes their last customer.
"Can we close now?" Hinata glanced at her wrist for the umpteenth time that evening, and it was close to 4.
"Sure. As much as I like to watch people drink, I think that's it for tonight. I'm bushed." He stretched and heard the popping of his vertebrae. "Yow. That feels good."
They were cleaning up for a while when Hinata spoke. "I have a question."
Sasuke glanced up at her. "You've got the right to ask and I, a right not to answer. Shoot."
"How do you manage to do this every night and yet still get to class on time and get top marks?"
Sasuke chuckled. "Is that it?"
Hinata nodded. "I'm a simple girl with simple goals. I want to do well. For myself." She added the last part in a rush.
The boy nodded, his black orbs looking dull and flat. "I was always in my brother's shadow, from the moment I was born. He was the genius, I was just hardworking and determined. All the stuff that we're learning now, I got them down pat when I was in primary school. You could say my childhood was books and more books. Anything to shine brighter than my brother. To cast my own shadow instead of being engulfed by his." Sasuke shrugged. "As for the waking up part, well, I guess I'm used to it." He paused, then added, "I do take naps in the afternoon and in between classes of course."
Hinata gave a 'hmm' in response, and went over to check their tip basket, tipping out the money on the counter, counting how much they've earned that night. "Wow. That's 50000 yen in here! We've got real generous people in here tonight."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That? That's nothing. Back two years ago, we made double that amount easily. Of course, we had more experienced bartenders of course."
"Oh." Hinata felt a little disappointed.
"Did you expect to be the best there is? Of course not. There'll always be competition, that's life. You'll be compared to others, there's no escape from that either. You're not living in a fairytale where everyone cuts you slack."
"I know that."
"Then act like it."
Hinata grew annoyed. "You don't know me. Stop judging me."
"That's just it. You don't understand." He sighed and shook his head. "I don't want us to argue, ok? Let's just get out of here so I can go back to Hiroe."
"The great Sasuke, avoiding confrontation? That's a first." Hinata mocked, and wondered where had that came from.
"And Hinata Hyuuga the mute, provoking me for a reaction? That's a laugh," Sasuke retorted, and Hinata turned away in embarrassment and anger.
They worked in silence, and Sasuke sent Hinata back as usual. The girl got out the car, thanking Sasuke and he drove off into the night, red taillights of his car disappearing into the distance. The sky was beginning to lighten and the sound of birds chipping was heard as she fished out her keys, jabbing them into the hole before sliding into the quiet apartment.