Windflight apologizes for the slight delay in updating but see, she ran out of Sasuhina fics to read, so then she turned to Gaahina which didn't fit as well, then tried NejiTenten which were really good, especially Goldberry's and was so busy reading those that she didn't write her part of the story. Thank Walking Green Cucumber that this chapter got posted this week.

Anyways, enjoy and don't forget to review!

Sakura slammed her hands hard on the desk, effectively silencing the gossiping students scattered around the room. It was always about the Hyuuga; she had taken away Sasuke-kun, and now everyone was blabbing on about her little sister.

She had to stop this. She would humiliate the Hyuuga so badly she wouldn't ever be able to show her face around here, and it would be in front of Sasuke-kun too. Now how to go about this…

Of course. As much as she hated the idea, it seemed like she would require the help of the other Sasuke admirers. Her lips pressed together in grim smile. It was all for Sasuke-kun.

---

Sasuke couldn't pay much attention to his lessons; he kept on noticing something that moved and twitched before him. Sakura. She kept on trying to wave at him and blow him kisses, and she made it so obvious even the teacher had to stop her. And she kept sending those silly annoying giggles and grins at him.

The first time she had done that, he stared at her. Big. Mistake.

From then on, she would do nothing but laugh loudly and try to catch his eye again. But he never did stare at her again, pathetic, was all he would mutter.

And after Hinata came he noticed how Sakura would always glance at her, no, not glance- glower. She glowered at Hinata with all the hatred in the world, and after lunch it seemed almost all the other girls were following her example. Suspicion rose that they were joining against Hinata, and he decided Hinata would be better off once they were home schooled. Not that he cared.

Hinata didn't particularly notice the angry glares and ugly retorts directed at her. Instead she was working harder than ever, scrutinizing her textbooks carefully as if she could remember ever word, actually volunteering answers during class, and she stayed behind a few minutes extra after every period to talk to the teachers; she was practically saying goodbye.

He felt obligated to follow her example, but he decided against it, pushing himself out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang.

---

"That Hyuuga girl, we need to get rid of her," spat one of the girls. Half a dozen girls were gathered in the school's fancy girls' bathroom, a few of them taking advantage of their surroundings to apply a thicker layer of lipstick or comb their already perfect hair.

Another girl nodded in agreement, "She stealing our cuuute Sasuke-kun!" At this, all the girls in the room squealed, except for Sakura, who tapped the sink's marble surface impatiently.

"Ah-hem, we're trying to come up with a plan to prevent that." Sakura turned to the reclining blonde next to her. "What do you think Ino?"

"I'm not so sure we should be doing this," frowned the usually confident blonde. Her sky blue eyes looked troubled for once. "I don't really think it's Hinata-san's fault. It was an arranged enga-"

"Oh, be quiet Ino," Sakura snapped. It took all her willpower to restrain herself from inflicting bodily harm upon the blonde. "Are you backing out now? Have you gotten attached to that stuttering wreck? Have you?"

Ino averted her eyes. "No, but if we get caught…"

"Well we won't," Sakura snarled. "Now, what shall we do?" she huffily asked the rest of the group.

"She's a Hyuuga, so directly harming her is out of the question," a girl piped up.

"Then we have no choice. We'll have to crack her spirit." Sakura smiled cruelly, "It should be easy enough considering she has absolutely no confidence. Besides, we have all year to plan…"

But that's where Sakura Haruno, straight A student, was for once wrong.

---

Hanabi stared at the card, her expression inscrutable.

"House."

Hanabi repeated the word in a slightly louder voice, "House."

The lady holding the cards took it, and silently switched the card again.

Hanabi scrunched her nose and squinted her eyes... "Tree."

She had spent many hours doing this exercise, and she was getting tired of it. She was smart, but not nearly as smart as Neji, and her mind was still recovering from her ordeal.

But what she didn't understand, and no one could help her understand, was her past. They had told her vaguely about it; Hinata. Hyuuga family. Dead. Akatsuki. Kidnapping... Death... Kill... Die...

She hardly understood it all. What was death? What was family? What was... love? Hatred? Hanabi didn't care about the trees, flowers or what color the sky was. She wanted to know more about these things... feelings, her family, and her past.

But the lady in front of her was still switching cards slowly and nodding her head each time Hanabi got it correct, which was every time.

"Book."

Her eyes dimmed at the next card.

"Car…"

---

Hinata peered out the car window, at the few lightly swirling snowflakes, deceptively gentle as they brought with them the bitter winter cold. Today would be their last day of school. Tomorrow she would start home schooling, with Hanabi and Sasuke.

She breathed in deeply as the limo stopped. Again... bear through the day doing as much as she could, ignore stares and glances and gasps and all sorts of things from the other students, and hand out her goodbye presents to the teachers.

The door opened, and dim sunlight streamed into the limo. Hinata took a deep breath, and forcing a nervous smile onto her face, stepped out onto the pavement.

---

There was a tap on her shoulder. Ino ignored it, preferring to shuffle through her bag in search of the lost English assignment. It had to be there, it had to!

The person grew impatient, and the next tap was a lot harder, causing Ino to grimace slightly. "WHAT!" Ino exploded, turning around to face her assailant.

The girl flinched back, hands hurrying to cover her eardrums, though it was not punishment enough in Ino's opinion.

"Haruno wants to see you," the girl muttered with a glare, jerking her head towards a corner of the hallway before stomping away angrily.

Ino decided to give up the futile search, and headed over to where the girl had indicated.

Sakura was slumped on a wall, a miserable look on her face. For once, she was quiet, not chatting endlessly about Sasuke-kun. Despite herself, Ino felt concerned about her friend/rival's strange behavior.

"Hey, forehead girl," Ino called out in a teasing voice. "What's wrong? Sasuke-kun dumped you?"

When there was no biting response, Ino grew even more worried.

Finally, Sakura spoke, her voice quiet but full of anger. "He's going to leave. The Hyuuga stole him from us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Azuma-sensei told me that, that Ino, Sasuke-kun's going to be home schooled!" Sakura half screeched half sobbed.

Ino was struck dumb. "Sasuke-kun... home schooled?" she registered herself muttering.

Sakura wanted to slap Ino silly, "You dummy! It means Sasuke-kun won't be here anymore! And you know what's even WORSE? He's going to be home schooled with, with..."

"Hinata." Ino couldn't have guessed anyone else. She tried to feel angry with the white-eyed girl, but all she felt was a sweeping sense of relief.

Ino waited a moment before tentatively asking, "It's too late to do anything now, right?"

"WHAT!" Sakura almost shrieked, drawing the attention of nearby students. She put on an embarrassed smile, and dragged Ino after her to the far corner of the hall.

"Ino, I am not going to stand by and let that Hyuuga take away Sasuke-kun, not without a fight," Sakura muttered in a deathly quiet voice.

Ino winced at the death grip being applied on her arm. "There's not enough time…" she tried to reason.

"Today is more then enough," Sakura hissed.