Authoress: I'm sorry for the cliffhanger last chappie…and I'm not in the lemon-writing mood right now…so maybe next chapter we'll go back to Naruto and Gaara…don't worry…they're together for a while…we'll have our chances to peek in on the happy couple…

Naruto//blushes/

Authoress: heh…yep…that would be nice…heh…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…if I did…drools for a moment damn…there'd be so many different pairings…we'd just have to have a big orgy to fit it all in one series…heh /smiles evilly/ I have found a new favorite pairing…and it will be one my next story…Gaara/Neji…oh, god…PEOPLE READ Vindicated…it's an amazing story…and I highly recommend Lost and Found…I cried during both of them…they were so beautiful…and horribly angst-filled…but I'm an angst whore…so it's all good! To Hurricane-rider and Junsui Kegasu…if you guys read this…those stories were beautiful!

Chapter Three

Hinata's POV

"Damn bastard…" Sasuke mumbled to himself for the fifth time since we reached the car, glaring at the same point on the windshield he had been trying to melt with his gaze since we got into his small convertible.

Poor Sasuke-san…I didn't' believe Neji-niisan when he said Sasuke hated all homosexuals…I thought to myself, hoping that Neji would say something to calm his fuming friend. In all the years Sasuke had been an adopted child of our family, he had never been this upset in my presence. High, drunk, yes, I had seen him at his worst…usually I was the one who had to take care of him when he got sick, since he didn't want his family to know about his habits and my parents remained somewhat ignorant for their own reasons, but he had never been so…un-Sasuke-like while I was around.

If I wasn't as shy as I was around him and Neji, I would have probably been trying to calm him down in a motherly way-in other words, holding him and talking in a soft, calming voice. I didn't do that, since I knew Sasuke would probably just freeze up like he usually did when I tried helping him. My heart ached when I saw the look on Gaara's face when Sasuke had glared at him. He seemed depressed at Sasuke's reaction. I guess he was hoping for Sasuke to finally accept him. I knew Gaara liked other men…so did Neji…and Sasuke is Gaara's best friend…he should be able to accept Gaara's lifestyle no matter what…I thought to myself, for a moment disappointed in the Uchiha, but from the look on Sasuke's face-or what I could see from my position in the back seat-I forgot about being mad at Sasuke. I felt sorry for him instead. I could tell from the look in Sasuke's eyes that he was really upset, but it didn't look like he was angry at Gaara…more like at himself.

"Sasuke, we should have told you about Gaara a while ago," Neji stated, finally ending the uncomfortable silence between the three of us. He leaned forwards so he could see Sasuke's face. The Uchiha 'hmphed' and turned his head to stare out the window. If it had been less of a serious setting, I would have laughed at Sasuke's immature action. I had seen Sasuke pout before…but it wasn't as noticeable as this.

"Sasuke-san…" I began, but bit my lip, hoping Sasuke would at least give me a signal that he had heard me. "Gomen nasai." Sorry…I've done nothing wrong, but what else can I do except apologize for Gaara? I sighed internally, praying that Sasuke would soon start up the car, since I knew that my father was worried sick. He thought I was weak-so did Neji…they both saw me as good for nothing. One day, I'll prove my worth to him…to both of them. I couldn't help but stare at my cousin. So many girls wondered how I could stand being so close to a "god" (their words, not mine), but not be able to do anything. Every time they asked, I laughed inwardly, answering the question truthfully in my thoughts-I can't stand it. I knew Neji better than anyone, and I knew that-if it wasn't for the small fact that our fathers were brothers…that, and I was so shy-I'd be clinging to him like every other girl. I tried to hide-to forget my unnatural feelings for my cousin and every time I looked at him, my love for him only seemed to grow. I knew he loved me more than anyone else-isn't that what family is for?-but I could see it in his eyes, his movements, and in the way he spoke to me with caring words no one else had the pleasure to hear…I was his precious cousin…more like a sister to him than anything. And how could he love a 'sister'…especially someone like me…I'm not pretty like other girls, I'm not exceptionally smart or gifted, I can't fight like him. Why would he ever think I'm something more than his little Hinata-sama? I'm just his cousin…

"How long have you been hiding it from me?" Sasuke's voice pulled me from my increasingly depressing thoughts. I looked over at him and my heart only felt more pain when I saw the crushed look on his face-as if he had no reason left for life. If I didn't know him almost as well as Neji and Gaara, I would have thought that Gaara had just broken his heart, but it was something much worse. Gaara and Neji betrayed him. He trusted them the most out of anyone he knows and they hid something from him…no wonder he looks so sad. I bit my lip, looking down at my lap, wishing that Neji would answer him. Glancing up at Sasuke when I heard the Uchiha sigh, I noticed that he turned his head so he could rest his forehead on the steering wheel and look down at the floor. "How long?" he asked again, this time, his voice so soft, I could hardly hear it over my own breathing.

Being able to read people was an odd ability of my family so I cringed when I saw his hands quickly grip the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. I could tell Neji also knew what was coming. "KUSO, HOW LONG!" I had never heard Sasuke raise his voice before and, from the quick look at Neji's hurt expression, I could tell he had never gotten Sasuke to yell at him before.

"Years. Ever since the incident," Neji replied, his voice almost as soft as Sasuke's had been only moments ago. Incident? I glanced at Neji and could tell from a returned look that he would explain later. Sasuke made a soft 'pft' sound, then reached to his keys and started the car.

The vehicle roared to life as Neji's comment was drowned out by the noise-from Sasuke's hearing, but not from mine. I looked down at the floor of the car, rethinking Neji's pained words. 'He didn't want you to hate him…'

/\\

OC POV (A/N: this part's just to introduce someone…and add a lil' humor…)

"UCHIHA-SAN!" Iruka had finally had it-standing over Sasuke for nearly five minutes and calling to the stuck-up bastard had finally made him snap. Sasuke continued to stare off into space, not noticing our enraged teacher and the rest of the class was staring at him. The vein popping out of Iruka's forehead was quite amusing, since the only other time our class saw that particular blood vessel was when he was screaming at one person in particular-Aoi-AKA, the class clown. I smiled happily when I saw Sasuke look in my direction for a moment, but then his eyes shifted to Iruka. As soon as those black eyes had left me, I returned to glaring at the bastard. Scanning over our teacher, he raised an eyebrow. "Don't fall asleep in my class again, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke glared at him for a moment, finally turning his head and mumbling a soft 'che.' I didn't know why, but every time I looked at the boy, every time I heard his voice, I felt like I should strangle him. Where he got off 'che-ing' at Iruka, I growled, surprising the students around me. A few turned to look at me in surprise, so I quickly plastered on a fake smile-as if nothing had happened. He was unnaturally handsome, I'd give that to him, but he was a cold-hearted bastard, and I still wanted to wring his neck. Imagining myself shaking the Uchiha by the neck, I glanced down at my paper, happily smiling-for once, my smile was genuine. That image was so lovely, I felt better than I had when I woke up this morning next to my gorgeous boyfriend. Heh…wait 'til I get home…I smirked to myself, staring at the piece of paper for a moment, the small wheels in my head slowly being put into motion. I sighed, noticing that not a single answer space had been filled out-not even where my name went-and, with a quick glance at the classroom's small clock, I only had a minute to finish. All because of that damn bastard…I couldn't finish my test! I, now fueled with a new urge to kill the bastard, allowed myself to internally scream. Iruka's gonna kill me! He said that if I passed this test, he'd let me do make up work…but I'll never pass it! It's all that prick's fault…if I wasn't thinking of ways to kill him, I'd sooooo have been done with this half an hour ago! I glared at Sasuke, then thought up of an idea.

"Iruka-sensei!" I cried, knowing that, if I really tried and used all of my charms on our teacher, I could make him forget about the test, at least for a few more hours.

"What is it now?" Iruka asked, his patience obviously growing thin as his gaze traveled from Sasuke, across the room, and finally focusing on me in the back of the room. "I thought I said no talking…"

Putting on the best "wounded puppy" look I could muster-I'll have to thank Kiba and Akamaru for that later-I stared at Iruka, blinking through misty eyes. "Anou…anou…wa-watashi wa…" What could really piss Iruka off? I wondered to myself, laughing inwardly when I thought of my best prank yet. "I forgot to tell you before…" I got out of my seat as gracefully as the bench would allow me and, by doing so, gained the attention of the entire class. I could see the evil smirk of Kiba's face as he watched me begin sauntering up to Iruka. I knew that he, like myself, had no hopes of passing the test, thereby not getting his make-up work either, so he probably had some idea what I was planning.

Heh…beat this, sensei, I thought to myself as I walked up to our teacher as elegantly as I could. Only five more feet before I would be in position for Mission: First Prank On Iruka Today. I was now only four feet away and I could almost hear Kiba's oncoming hysterical laughter. Wait for it…wait for it…I chanted inwardly, now only three feet away from my intended target. Almost there, I began my best stunt yet. "I forgot to tell you before, Sensei…" At that moment, as fate would have it, I tripped over something (most likely my own feet, but I would never admit that to anyone). I felt warm hands grab me, my 'savior' falling onto the floor with me. He was obviously surprised, guessing from the fact that he had fallen to catch me, but his surprise was nothing next to mine when I looked up and saw Iruka glancing down at me worriedly.

Mate…Iruka's up there…so who am I…my eye nearly twitched as I glanced down at the warm body I was straddling. I could feel strong, warm hands on me-I quickly located one on my upper thigh, the other on my behind-as I took in the dark features of my personal cushion. Black hair, black eyes…dark aura…killer intent…and a blush? I stared in wonder as his eyes met mine, the features suddenly clicking into place. His eyes still captivated me, so I continued to stare, unable to believe that my heart just started beating faster. WHAT THE HELL! I forced myself to break our staring contest, thereby breaking the spell he had put over me. I quickly remembered where those hands were.

"HENTAI!" I screamed, slapping my savior in his prissy face. The loud crack of my hand on his perfect skin made even myself wince. I didn't hit him hard, but-from the glares I was getting-I knew I was going to die soon. Sakura and Ino scared me sometimes…but the looks I was getting from them at this moment made my body freeze. Sa…suke…caught me…under me…groping me…hit him…death shall not be swift…I theorized in my irrational mind as I slowly got off of the boy, gulping. Even Iruka couldn't hide the sweat drop sliding down the side of his face when he realized what I had just done…and who had seen it.

Sasuke, still on the floor, slowly sat up, glaring at me with that killer intent I just sensed. It was almost as bad as his fan girls', but nothing could beat them at this moment. He raised his hand to the pink cheek and touched it gently.

Uh…oh…I thought to myself, glancing up at Iruka, hoping that our teacher might be kind to me for once and help me. My eyes pleaded with him to protect me, but he only twitched-that lovely vein coming back with a vengeance-as he turned back to go to his desk.

My body, finally able to move again, received the frantic messages to run from my brain, so I shot out of the room like a bat out of hell. I was so out of it, I didn't notice I had bumped into Shikamaru as I flew down the hallways. I guessed, knowing the Nara, he had finally gotten into school and it was already lunch time. Lazy bum, I thought to myself, continuing my sprint down the hallways, reviewing the events that just occurred in my biology class. (A/N: yesh, Iruka teaches Bio…I couldn't think of a better class for him…)

I tripped and for some odd reason, Sasuke caught me. We fell down-him under me. His hands somehow landed on me and I slapped him, calling him a pervert and I ran out of class. What else could go wrong today? I wondered to myself, sighing in defeat when I remembered that I had left my books and bag in the classroom. Kuso…today's just not my day…I thought to myself, glancing at my surroundings. I realized that I had wandered outside of the massive school and was facing a huge sculpture the art class had made years ago. It was a continuing project-one that had started when the school was founded. A tradition of sorts, I guess. I stared at the familiar faces that had been carved into the massive piece of rock. The first two faces and last I had never seen in person-the first being the school's founder and the second one of the school's past teachers. The middle one was a sculpture of the head of the current principal-the old bastard was going to have a field day with what I just did. The fourth one was of another man-a teacher I had never met, but everyone said that he died sixteen years ago, but I couldn't remember why.

The piece of artwork was amazing, something I had always dreamed of having my face carved into. To be acknowledged as the best teacher of that generation…one day…they'll have to acknowledge me, I thought to myself, smiling at the face of our principal. Even you, old man.

I sighed, letting my body lean against a wall I was close to. I slid down the wall and sat down, glancing down at my hands. But how can I ever be the best? I'm failing all of my classes…and I can't do anything right…I passed the entrance exams with flying colors and I still can't keep up with these classes. Even Kiba's doing better than me…Shikamaru, for the three times he comes in a week is passing every class. Why can't I be like them? I, now thoroughly depressed, closed my eyes and pulled my legs up to my chest. It was cold outside, but I didn't care at the moment. All I was focusing on was forcing myself to stop-stop sniffling, stop letting tears well up in my eyes and slide down my face…to stop being an idiot who could never achieve their dreams. Wanting something badly enough…you said that would be enough to let me succeed, Iruka…but…I can't…

I sobbed softly, praying that no one would be coming outside on this cold day to eat their lunch.

/\\

Sasuke's POV

"We are soooo sorry about that, Sasuke-kun. Don't worry, we'll make sure she never annoys you again," Sakura stated, her voice almost frightening in its serious tone (A/N: Sakura's one of those crazy bitches who would kill someone out of jealousy…I don't like her that much, if you can't guess…). She used my moment of 'obliviousness' to move herself next to me. It wasn't that I was oblivious, it was that I was still stunned. Frozen would have been a better term. Who…was that? I wondered to myself, my hand still resting on my stinging cheek. Those eyes had hypnotized me for the few moments that they had landed on me. I had never seen such eyes before-filled with so much sorrow, but at the same time, hatred directed only at me. What did I do to her? I wondered to myself, slowly getting up from my seat when I heard the bell ring.

I couldn't believe how quickly people flew out of the room as I slowly put my books back in a neat pile. I heard one voice over the others, one I recognized as the obnoxious Kiba.

"See ya later, Sensei!"

"I'll see you in study hall, Ki…ba…" I watched in interest as Iruka froze for a moment, obviously thinking about something, then he snapped, his eyebrow twitching furiously. "MATE! YOU HAVE LUNCH DETENTION TODAY!" I watched as Kiba merely sprinted faster to the door, laughing, when he heard Iruka's voice.

When Iruka had finally stopped screaming after Kiba, I noticed that Sakura had been trying to ask me, nervously, if I wanted to eat lunch with her. I politely rejected her-why she was so persistent, I'd never know-and walked towards the back of the room where I had left my bag in a small cubby. (A/N: in most Japanese schools, they have cubbies in the room instead of lockers…and I mixed the 'American' school with a Japanese one for their school (Konoha High if you people wonder later on) just to explain why they have lockers outside the rooms)

I slowly began my descent back down the rows of benches and desks when I noticed that a certain pile of books and an orange backpack were left next to an empty chair in the back row. Quickly glancing around the room, I noticed that Iruka was the only other living thing in the room and he had, thankfully, calmed down and currently seemed preoccupied with picking up the tests he had handed out. I knew I passed-it was such an easy test, I wondered if this was the right class for me to be taking. Too bad I have to take Biology…I thought to myself, internally deciding it was okay to pick up the extra things. I knew it wouldn't harm my 'rep,' if Iruka saw my actions-it wouldn't have mattered at this moment anyways. The entire class just saw how I had dove to catch that girl from falling flat on her face. Gentleman…behavior…involuntarily, I knew it was bad when I started thinking in fragments, so I quickly took a deep breath, picking up the girl's pile of books and slinging her backpack on my shoulder where it rested comfortably next to mine.

"Try outside," Iruka commented as he finally reached the row of desks I was currently standing in. I glanced over at him questioningly. "She's probably outside, if you wanted to return her books."

"…thanks…" I mumbled, quickly passing Iruka. I could see the smile on his face out of the corner of my eye as I walked out of the room.

"Don't try to annoy her anymore…she hit you lightly this time," Iruka called after me as I let the door close behind myself. LIGHTLY? I wondered in surprise, wincing as I touched my cheek again. I already knew it was going to leave a lovely bruise later, but I guess I deserved it. I did have my hands on two inappropriate places, but it was unintentional. I had even blushed when I realized where exactly my hands were, but, as I walked down the hallways to my locker, I remembered how the girl's body had felt. She's really muscular…even though she didn't look it. I thought to myself, remembering how surprised I was to discover she was much heavier than I had anticipated…the reason I had fallen out of my chair trying to catch her. Her leg and behind were also absent of all the soft flesh I assumed a girl usually had-on the contrary, her body was probably harder than mine was and I trained with a passion!

Why am I thinking about her? I wondered to myself, realizing that I had been thinking about the strange girl the entire time it took me to reach my locker, unconsciously open it, and switch the books I had in my backpack. I was about to go to the cafeteria when I remembered-with the help of a few odd glances at the orange backpack next to mine-what I was going to do.

I ignored the various looks in my direction as I wove through the crowds-all of which were going in the opposite direction-and sighed inwardly in relief when I finally found my way outside the mob of teens. I continued my journey across the school's now deserted hallways. It was creepy that the hallways could be so barren of life when I had nearly been run over only moments before.

I, being bored with just thinking about various school-related topics, glanced at the walls as I continued to walk towards the main entrance of the school. There were a lot of different posters on the walls, all advertising different clubs and teams the school had. I had never realized that the school had clubs and sports teams, let alone all different kinds of strange ones that made me shiver when thinking about them. There was even a 'bishounen' club and I froze when I saw a certain poster…one that held my name on it. Those words…made me twitch. Sasuke fan club?….I've only been here a month…I shivered, wondering what on earth they did at these meetings, but I didn't really want to know.

My mind was filled with thoughts of my 'fan club' until I finally reached the large glass doors of the entrance. Pushing one of the doors open, I shivered in fear of that particular club. Please don't say they're going to take candid pictures…I prayed silently to myself, glancing around for the girl who I had offended…and still bore the mark.

"You're going to freeze out here in that," a high-pitched voice stated. It seemed to come from my far left, so I surveyed the area to my left, immediately noticing the large stone monuments that the girl was sitting nearby.

I got a good look at her, immediately wondering if this was actually a girl and figured out why I hadn't noticed her before. She was wearing a boy's uniform-which was quite baggy on her- and I could see a crystal necklace nearly hidden underneath the halfway buttoned green jacket.

"What about you?" I retorted, walking towards the girl. She had nothing really stunning about herself-no wonder I didn't notice her before-except for those almost unnaturally blue eyes, which were currently being hidden under long blonde bangs. The rest of the girl's flaxen hair was tied up into two pigtails, which I noticed were touching the ground they were so long.

"I don't mind the cold," she replied, pulling her legs closer to her body and resting her head into her knees, making it now impossible for me to see her face. I raised an eyebrow, noticing a very distinct shiver underneath the baggy outfit she was wearing. I wondered momentarily how she got away wearing a boy's uniform, but just shook my head, not wanting to pry into the girl's business. Reaching the girl, I leaned against the same wall she was in front of and looked down at her. I was trying to judge how tall she was-more specifically if she was taller than I was-when I noticed her body shake again.

I wondered for a moment why I wasn't feeling the cold air, then realized that in my daze, I had put on my jacket. It was my favorite one; dark blue with a high collar and a white and red fan design on the back-my family's symbol. I sighed inwardly, yet again cursing my polite ways as I pushed away from the wall and slid the backpacks off my shoulder, setting them down next to the girl and unzipping my jacket. I pulled the warm article of clothing off, immediately feeling the freezing December air and almost putting it back on. The first day of December usually isn't this cold…

I was surprised for a moment that, even though there wasn't any snow on the ground yet, it was cold enough for me to see my own breath. Gritting my teeth, I placed my jacket over the girl's shaking shoulders. Her body seemed to freeze as soon as my coat had touched her and I watched as her head sunk even lower into her chest.

"Gomen…" she whispered softly. Even though it was muffled by her body and my jacket, I could hear her voice cracked-as if she was…crying. Shimatta…I sighed, squatting down to look at the girl's face-or the parts that weren't being hidden by her body. In the end, all I could see was her small nose, which was already turning red from either the cold or, if she was, crying.

"For?" I asked, praying that the girl wasn't one of the members in my fan club. It would only make their day to know I did actually have a kind side. Iie…that look she gave me before…she hates me…I thought to myself, wondering how the girl had changed from a slapping bitch to a little girl with a runny nose.

"Hitting you. I should've thanked you for attempting to catch me…" she mumbled, her voice even softer than it was a few moments ago. I studied her for a moment, or what I could see of her, and decided that this could be one person I could-maybe-get to know better. Attempting? I did catch her…I forced myself not to point that little fact out, since it would probably get her even more emotional-and that was the last thing I wanted, so I opted for something that might calm her down a little.

"What's your name?" I asked, almost sighing. I hoped inwardly this wasn't going to end up being one big mistake. I had an odd feeling about this girl, but I couldn't stand listening to her sniffling which could have been caused by two reasons-and I was praying it wasn't because she was still crying. I hated crying people…they were weak.

I could tell she was surprised at my question when she glanced at me from underneath her arm. I wanted to hit myself when I saw her watery blue eyes. I noticed that she was one of those people who could cry without getting bloodshot eyes and I inwardly wondered why she was crying. Please let it not be me…I thought to myself, unable to stand when I made others cry. That might have been one of the reasons I had always rejected the girls…since the rest would cry when they heard I had a girlfriend. I theorized it was better to have one at a time cry than all of them at once.

"Aoi…" she whispered softly, returning her face to its hiding place. I sighed again, inwardly of course, and looked up at the sky. There were no clouds in the sky, so it was a beautiful shade of blue, a color I had never seen the sky be before, which gave me an odd thought. It's the same color as her eyes…

"Gomen, Aoi…I shouldn't have…" I looked away, for some reason feeling embarrassed all of a sudden. I could feel her gaze on me, which made me even more uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have touched you…"

I heard an almost inaudible chuckle come from the girl as she unburied her head from her chest and looked at me. "E-ro-ya-ro…" she said slowly, stressing every syllable. I felt my eyebrow twitch as I turned to look at her. She's an evil bitch just like the rest…I thought to myself, then I got a good look at her face.

Her eyes were curved upwards, no longer being hidden by her bangs, and I could see a row of perfect teeth that her smile was showing off. She also had round cheeks and soft-looking, pink lips, both of which gave a look of absolute innocence, but I could almost image a pair of horns on the top of her head. Evil…bitch…I repeated to myself, trying to force myself to remember she was the reason my face was still aching.

"Urusai…" I stated coldly, getting another look from her-this time she was glaring at me through squinted eyes (A/N: you know…the usual 'Naruto' face) and had an adorable pout on her face. Hold it…adorable? I wondered to myself, snorting and looking away from the girl, thinking of something that would probably get another expression out of her. "Ba-ka."

That adorable face lost its charm when I saw a vein pop out on the side of her head and watched as one of her hands turned into a fist. "What did you call me?" she asked calmly-I wouldn't admit it to anyone, but that voice scared me slightly. I smirked, inwardly remembering that Iruka told me not to annoy her anymore, and shivered.

"Baka…" I replied, slowly standing back up when I realized my legs were starting to cramp. Heh…she won't be able to hit me now…I thought to myself, getting ready for the girl to attack me. As I expected, she quickly got up and threw a punch-directed at my face. I easily dodged and called her 'baka' a third time. This only seemed to fuel her anger as she quickly changed her stance-now I almost wanted to apologize. She knows taijutsu? I almost cried happily when I realized this. I finally found a sparring partner! I was so elated for a moment, I missed her sudden movement. She…disappeared? I noticed a movement to my right and as I turned, I brought my arm up to the side of my face, just in time to block a kick aimed for my head. She could kill me if she hit me with such strength! I thought to myself, surprised to feel my body fly backwards into the wall behind us from the sheer force of her kick.

Her agility had to have rivaled Neji's, if not surpass his completely. I was amazed at Aoi's speed as she flew at me again. Each kick, each punch…all I could do was block the girl's violent attacks on more vulnerable parts of my body. I was able to stop her from landing any harmful blows that would leave me with major damage, but as our sparring session continued, my legs and arms truly began to hurt. With each blow she delivered, I could also see that Aoi was becoming tired. Inwardly, I decided she looked…good. Even with sweat pouring down her face, a pink nose from the cold, and hatred in her eyes, she held a natural beauty I had never seen in a girl before.

"AOI! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" A voice made Aoi freeze in mid-kick and turn, her entire body shivering and her face plastered with a smile, at a teacher behind her. I watched as the brunette stormed up to her, glaring at both of us with intense anger.

"Eh….yo…I…Iruka-sensei…" Aoi replied softly, giving Iruka an innocent smile, with big, watery eyes. Iruka, obviously used to this, twitched and glanced over at me. "Sasuke-kuuun and I were just playing…right, Sasuke-kun?" Aoi turned to look at me, her eyes telling me that if I didn't agree, not even Iruka could stop her from attacking me again. I was too tired to fight back or block if she was to come at me again, so I sighed and nodded my head.

"DON'T 'YO' ME! YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO FIGHT OTHERS, HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU THAT? Oh, and I told you not to aggravate her more, Sasuke-kun," Iruka stated, the painful looking vein in his head receding when he had turned to look at me and calmly comment on my actions. Can we call him bipolar? I wondered, amazed with Iruka's sudden change of character.

"Demo…demo…he started it…" Aoi said softly, glomping Iruka with enough force to make our teacher step backwards. She buried her head into his chest, clinging to his shirt. I could hear sniffles and sobs coming from the girl and, looking at Iruka's face, I sighed. What happened to the 'we were only playing' excuse?

Iruka looked down at Aoi's blonde head for a moment, then up at me, and back down at her. He raised a shaking fist as he closed his eyes, that famous blood vessel returning, and he quickly brought his fist down onto Aoi's head. She cried 'itai,' clutching her head in-mock?-pain. I couldn't tell if she was faking it, since Iruka had hit her hard enough for the 'bam' of his fist connecting with her head to echo for a moment, but she seemed like the type that could take a hit.

"You…didn't finish you test…you didn't even answer a single question on it…" Iruka stated, that teacher-like calm returning. I watched as Aoi, over the punch Iruka had delivered, smiled up at our teacher and chuckled.

"…I…was busy?" she said questioningly. If she's going to make excuses, they have to be more convincing than that…I thought to myself, wondering what exactly Aoi was trying to do, besides annoy Iruka even more.

"I told you…" Iruka sighed, looking defeated, when Aoi gave him a hopeful look. "Iie, I told you that if you didn't pass the test, no extra credit work for you…why do you and Kiba have to be the only people with such problems?" Iruka sighed again, looking down at Aoi.

"Because you love me so?" Aoi suggested, only making Iruka hit the girl in the head a second time. "You have some major abuse issues, Iruka-sensei."

"What am I going to do with you Aoi? If the Sandaime hears you got into another fight, you're going to be expelled…and you hitting Sasuke in class today doesn't help you much…" Iruka looked up to the sky, as if he was praying. I thought he probably was praying for someone to take Aoi away.

Expelled? How many fights has she gotten into? I wondered to myself watching as the girl's shoulders slumped and she lowered her head. If I get in trouble for this…my parents will have a field day and make me come back home…great…I sighed inwardly, wishing that I wouldn't have come outside in the first place.

"If you two promise not to fight each other…or anyone else…" That little part was directed at Aoi, who flinched when Iruka's gaze landed on her, then returned to me. "I won't report this to the Sandaime…and I have a little project for the two of you…"

"Project?" Aoi looked back up at our sensei hopefully. I slowly walked over to him, eyeing the brunette suspiciously. I had learned that adults always had ulterior motives and Iruka's sudden 'idea' was suspicious.

"Hai, project. I want you two to work together. Sasuke, you are going to be Aoi's tutor for the next two months-until the end of the marking period. If you can get her to pass all of her classes, then you two will not get in any trouble."

"HONTO! ARIGATOU, IRUKA-SENSEI!" Aoi promptly launched herself at Iruka, laughing happily. Tutor…her? Has the man lost his mind? I wondered to myself, about ready to protest-I would rather go back home than have to deal with her for two months-when Iruka cleared his throat, trying (but failing very badly) to look dignified as Aoi clung to his chest, her legs wrapped around his waist.

"That means you have to pass all of your classes, Aoi," Iruka pointed out, which made the girl's expression of joy falter. A soft 'eh' out of Aoi made Iruka continue, "I said, if you don't pass all of your classes, then both of you will be reported…and the Sandaime is already mad at you for defacing the statues the other day…he doesn't want to hear you did something else, Aoi."

Defacing the statues? I wondered to myself, glancing at the carved rock nearby. I could see, however faint, that there was a bit of paint on the faces. She painted the statues? I looked back at Aoi in amazement. I then remembered that everyone was in an uproar the other day-something about statues and paint, I remembered faintly. I had taken a look at the statues as I walked out to my car at the end of that day, surprised to see that the statues were covered in graffiti and someone was tied to a system of pulleys trying to scrub the paint off.

Glancing down at Aoi's hands, I noticed for the first time that they were heavily bandaged. She scrubbed the entire thing herself? I was now impressed with the girl. It had been below freezing that day, I remembered, and the girl had probably, guessing from her behavior today, had scrubbed the entire thing without thinking to put a jacket on. One thought I had surprised me enough to forget about protesting Iruka's conditions for a moment. It had to take hours…she was out in the cold for hours?

"I got almost all of the paint off!" Aoi retorted, glaring at Iruka out her squinting eyes.

"Aoi…I have another condition for you. No more pranks, got it?" Iruka looked down at her for a moment. "If I have to hear the rest of the teachers yell at me for your behavior one more time, I will have you expelled."

"But…Iruk-" A glare from Iruka shut Aoi up in the middle of her protest. She glanced back at me and smiled. "Well…when shall we start the tutoring?"

"…" I stared at her in amazement. She was actually agreeing to these absurd terms, but, thinking about it, being expelled is quite harsh. She must have done a lot to get in this much trouble with the school system…I thought to myself, sighing. It can't be that hard to tutor? Can it?

"You two better go eat lunch before the period is over," Iruka stated as he turned to leave. I watched as the teacher returned to the school. I noticed the sadistic bastard had an extra lightness to his step. Well, he just solved all his problems in one shot…I glanced over at Aoi, who had walked back to the wall where our things were and picked up my jacket.

"What period do you have free?" I asked as I looked at my beloved jacket. It was covered in dirt and, if I still wasn't in a daze from what just happened, I would have blown up. Aoi looked up at me in surprise. She glanced around the grounds, mumbling 'after lunch.' I watched as she picked her books and our backpacks up, handing me mine and slinging that horrible orange thing over a shoulder. I have the same period free…I've never seen her in my study hall. I knew I wouldn't have missed seeing her in that class since our study hall teacher-who happened to be Iruka as well-always had a list of people who came to class that day up on the board-and I could distinctly remember Aoi's name wasn't written on it.

"I usually don't go," Aoi explained as she waited for me to begin walking back to the entrance. I was inwardly smirking-now knowing she was shorter than myself-and was surprised that she quickly fell into step with me. She has long legs…I commented inwardly, glancing over at the blonde, silently asking her to explain. "I have a club practice that period."

"Club?"

"Un…Drama," Aoi's face brightened as she answered me. "We're practicing for a play next month. We haven't picked roles yet, since we still have to find someone who wants to be the male lead…but no one in our club wants to kiss anyone else…so no one's going to try out. Gai's about ready to kill himself…" Aoi sighed, glancing over at me. "You should come watch…it's really interesting…"

Drama? Huh…she can act, memorize lines and everything, but is horrible in school…I thought to myself, wondering if there could be a way to teach the girl who was failing a few classes. "How many classes are you failing?"

Aoi glanced at me curiously, then lowered her head as she opened the glass door and walked back into our school. She mumbled something and looked away. "What?" I didn't hear her clearly, but it kind of sounded like she said 'all.'

"All of them…"

"…" I stared at the girl in awe. She couldn't possibly be serious…how could she be in a club if she was failing everything? "You've got to be kidding…"

"Nope…I'm really bad in school. I really try…but what's the point anymore?" She glanced at me, smiling. I could tell from the look in her eyes that that smile was fake-she was lying. She really did want to do well, but how could I help her pass every class she took!

"Do you have any other free time?" I asked, getting another curious look from Aoi. She smiled softly and nodded her head. I looked at her, waiting for a verbal answer. Please don't say after school…that means she would have to come over to my house, or I go over to hers…I don't think I want to meet her family if they're as strange as she is…I thought to myself.

"After school." I felt as if I had been smacked by her in the face again. Why me? Obviously seeing my expression, she frantically flew her hands in the air, saying "I'll ask Gai if it's okay I miss practice for the next two months, no prob!"

"What about your play?" I asked, watching as Aoi glanced at the floor, a smile on her face.

"I wasn't going to play a lead role, I was probably going to be stuck backstage anyways," Aoi replied, smiling at me. I didn't know why, but I could tell she was forcing herself to smile.

"What's the name of the play?" I wondered aloud, glancing back at Aoi for a moment. She put her arms behind her head as we continued to walk, her eyebrows knitted in thought.

"Dunno, we didn't think of a name for it yet." I sweat dropped, hoping she was kidding. How could they have a play with no title? "One of our actors wrote it and Gai insisted we do this one…even though it'll be hard for all of us…"

"Hard?" I repeated questioningly, wondering what kind of idiotic scriptwriter didn't think of a title for his own plays. Probably someone like her…I commented internally, watching as Aoi shifted the backpack on her shoulder.

"Yeah, it's more of an adult kind of play-heh, it's really romantic and…beautiful. Pretty much, a young lord falls in love with a princess…that kind of plot, y'know. He can't possibly tell her his feelings because he's low on the whole status level, but what makes it worse is that they are cousins, so throughout the entire play, he courts her anonymously, but towards the end of the play, she is betrothed to another prince and-" Aoi stopped to look at me. I must have been looking like I wasn't paying any attention to her, so I glanced at her, nodding for her to continue. "And he and this prince, who is equally in love with her, duke it out, our lord being the victor, but he killed the prince in their fight, so he's executed. The play ends with the princess admitting her love for him, after the execution, and she kills herself. That summary sucked, ne?"

…that is almost creepy that it's kind of the situation Neji's in…without the whole 'prince and betrothal' part. I looked over at Aoi, who was getting teary-eyed just thinking about the play. "Iie…who wrote it?"

"Oh, a guy a year above us," Aoi replied. Neji's a year above us…please don't say it…please don't say Neji, I pleaded with myself, since I would have to make fun of him for this and we still weren't on a speaking basis and I didn't know what I would do with myself and this blackmailing information. "You probably wouldn't know him, but Hyuuga Neji. He's really weird, but okay I guess. Kind of into that whole 'fate is predetermined' thing." Aoi began doing an impression of Neji. The speech she made, with a surprisingly deep voice, had a great deal of 'fate this,' 'destiny that.' I couldn't help but smile at how far, and how close, she was to imitating Neji. I watched her in amusement as we finally reached the cafeteria, which was already beginning to empty.

Quickly putting my 'icy bastard' face, I followed Aoi to a table where there was no one else sitting. Sitting down, she sat her backpack down on the table and began rummaging through it for something. I watched her as I sat down across from her, surprised to see her pull out a thermos and pair of chopsticks.

Raising my eyebrow slightly, I watched as she opened the metal container and-completely forgetting her chopsticks-ate the soupy meal with gusto. Ramen…I shivered, remembering how much I couldn't stand the long noodles and broth, even though I hadn't had it since I was seven or so. Happy to have made my own lunch today, I pulled out my celery and onigiri. I knew it probably wasn't a normal thing to be eating at lunch, but I had a thing for celery-that and I didn't really know how to cook much, except rice, so onigiri it was.

"You need to eat more," Aoi commented, looking at my celery sticks with distain. She, I was guessing, wasn't much of a vegetable lover. "Maybe some meat…ne?"

"I'm a vegetarian," I replied, glaring at her. She ignored the glare-which I gave since it was a soft spot when people made fun of my eating habits-and smirked.

"A vegetarian…ha! That isn't healthy," Aoi said with a finality to her voice. I raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "You need to eat meat or else you won't get strong, like me!" She flexed an arm proudly and gave me another smile. I shivered when she stuck some of her ramen in my face. I watched the limp noodles slowly slide from her chopstick, nearly becoming sick from the smell of it. "It's pork, try it!"

"Iie." I bent back away from the horrid ramen and stared at it with a promise of death. (A/N: yes, he will kill the ramen) "If you put that near my face agai-" I nearly choked when she shoved her chopsticks into my mouth, forcing me to taste the grotesque noodles. They even had a disgusting texture, I realized as I spit them back out, glaring at Aoi-who was smiling oh-so innocently.

"Hehe…" Aoi, now realizing her mistake, sweated as she scratched the back of her head. "Gomen?" I sighed, slumping back in my chair to stare at her and eat my celery quickly, just to get that taste out of my mouth. "I'm really sorry, Sasuke…didn't mean to piss you off or anything…"

She didn't mean to piss me off? I stared at the oblivious blonde in wonder. She had to be kidding. Either that, or she was just plain deaf, blind, and stupid. I glared at her for a moment, then looked up at the cafeteria's ceiling. "I'll watch your practice today." She stared at me in amazement as I bit into an onigiri, so happy to finally have the taste of ramen out of my mouth.

"Eh…HONTO? SUGOI!" Instantly I found myself with a hyperactive blonde hugging my chest, laughing. I looked up at the ceiling again, wondering what I did to get myself into this hell. I tried to pull her off me, but she clung to me. The last few people in the cafeteria, besides us, looked at the two of us and I could hear them whisper angrily. More fan girls? I wondered, praying the girl would let go soon. Eventually, when I heard the bell begin ringing, she finally did, sitting back from her seat on my lap and smiled. Hold it…I stared at her, realizing where exactly she was…and where exactly her hands were now resting. I stared down at her hands and the hidden crotch of my pants, then back up at her.

It was as if an atomic bomb went off in my mind…there was nothing left. All shreds of thoughts disappeared as I stared at her. She stared back at me with that blank look-her atom bombing must have been just as devastating, I theorized in my empty mind. All of a sudden, she flew off of my lay, again slapping me and calling me a pervert-I'm starting to see a pattern here-and flew to her side of the table.

"I'm a pervert?" I asked, realizing this time she hit the other cheek. I knew this one was going to be a matching bruise tomorrow. I glanced at her, noticing she was quickly putting her things into her backpack, her face bright red.

"…heh…sorry about that, again," Aoi replied, smiling sheepishly at me. She's really kind of creepy…I thought to myself as I watched her sling her backpack over her shoulder. "We better hurry, Gai hates it when I'm late!" With that, she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the cafeteria.

/\\

(Still Sasuke's POV)

After quickly telling Iruka where she was taking me (more like kidnapping), Aoi pulled me down a maze of hallways I hadn't been in before, since I had no reason to. Finally stopping in front of a pair of sliding doors, Aoi smiled at me and opened them, letting me walk in first.

Instantly, I noticed all of the eyes in the room were on us-all together twelve pairs of eyes. I recognized most of them immediately as classmates-Sakura and Ino stared at me hungrily (shiver shiver), Kiba, Shino, and Choji glanced up at me, then back down at stacks of papers in their hands (I wondered why there was a dog here for a moment, then remembered that it was always with the unusual boy as Akamaru barked at me once), Shikamaru didn't even bother to look up from his sprawled position on the large, wooden stage, and Hinata waved shyly at me. I looked at the three older teens, getting a 'what are you doing here' look from Neji, an interested glance from the girl next to him with her black hair pulled up into two buns, and the final teen in the room looked so much like what I assumed was Gai, I shivered even more than from Ino's and Sakura's looks. The two, both identical outfits, same hair cut, looked like they could be related. The strangest thing about the boy were those eyebrows…they were almost as hypnotic as Aoi's eyes-but for entirely opposite reasons.

"Ah, the flower of youth has finally arrived and brought someone new!" The green thing known as Gai gave such a creepy grin and thumbs up, I almost left the room, but Aoi's grip on my arm stopped me-not that I wasn't trying to let her make me go-as we walked down an aisle. I was surprised to see how many chairs were in the room, considering I hadn't even heard anything about a drama club before. I nearly froze when I saw there was a balcony looking over the twenty rows of thirty chairs (I quickly counted the number of chairs in each of the three sections). Looking at the balcony, I could see that there were almost as many chairs up there as down on this floor. Do they get this many people to come to a play? I wondered for a moment before I heard Hinata say a soft 'hi.'

"What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, a blush on her face, as she slid off of the stage. Aoi smirked and finally let me go. As soon as she had released her grip on my arm, she leapt onto the stage and hit Kiba in the head, yelling something about not helping her in her prank.

"The baka invited me to come," I replied, sitting down in the front row of chairs, which just happened to be right next to Neji. Sakura mumbled an 'oh' and, before she got a chance to annoy me further, was called back up onto the stage by a fuming Ino.

"So, you're Sasuke? Nice to meet you, I'm TenTen," the girl with the two buns said as she leaned across Neji to shake my hand. "That guy over there is Rock Lee." She pointed at the Gai-clone, who was trying to impress Sakura with a dramatic pose-I think-but only made the girl twitch.

"TenTen, could you help us for a sec?" Ino called, pointing at a dress that I had finally noticed her wearing. It was a very beautiful red silk kimono with bright blue flowers scattered down the arms and was tied with a yellow obi. While the color combination was odd, the overall outcome of the dress was amazing. Even though I could tell the dress wasn't meant for Ino-it didn't exactly fit around the chest and was too short-it was stunning.

TenTen quickly got up, sighing for a moment, and climbed onto the stage to help the other girls. "So, I hear you're a playwright," I commented with a slight bit of humor in my voice, glancing over at the Hyuuga. He let a small smirk cross his lips as he shook his head.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find out," Neji replied as he turned to look at me. "I guess you heard the plot from Aoi?" I nodded my head and watched as the girls began bickering about the dress's size. Ino obviously thought that she was the only person able to wear the dress. "I was planning to give the play to Hinata, but Gai got his hands on it…and said that we were going to do it before I could protest."

"Kaiwaii," I stated, smirking evilly at Neji. I could see him blush out of the corner of my eye. I thought for a moment, realizing this was the first time in about a month-since that incident-that we had spoken, and then discovered I was really lonely in that month without my best friends to talk to.

"Urusai," he mumbled, glaring at me. I sighed, softly saying 'gomen.' He obviously knew what I was apologizing for because he leaned back in his chair, glancing up at the bitch-fight-fest going on up on the stage and replied, "forget about it."

"Such youth! Listen, I have decided on the cast!" Gai exclaimed without warning. I could hear Kiba pointing out that they had no try outs yet, but the strange teacher ignored him, posing from his seat a few chairs away from Neji and myself.

"Who's the princess!" The three girls, forgetting their bickering, asked in unison. Even Shikamaru looked a little interested at their crazed teacher's decision.

"Aoi!" All eyes landed on the blonde, who was sitting next to Hinata with a script in her hands. Aoi blinked twice, wondering what we were staring at most likely, then leaned towards Hinata to listen to something the girl was saying.

Aoi blinked again, pointing at herself. "Me?" she squeaked, then glanced at Gai, who was doing that creepy smile he did. I wanted to hit the man next time he made his teeth shine like that, but I resisted the urge when I saw him do another pose. He shall die…

"The prince, Neji." Neji twitched ever so slightly as I smirked. Gai continued to list the other roles. I listened as much as I could, noticing that everyone in the room had at least one part-a few of them had three or four small roles. Even Akamaru had a part, I noticed by the time Gai had run out of air-and roles, hopefully.

"What about the lord?" Lee asked, looking over at the creepy teacher. He had gotten smaller roles, like servants and such, and he, like everyone else, wanted to know who would have to kiss Aoi. I could see Aoi shiver out of the corner of my eye when she realized it was going to be either Choji or Lee-they were the only ones with small enough roles that they could probably pull off the extra role. I wouldn't want to kiss that either…I thought to myself, shivering at the thought while feeling sorry for Aoi.

"Sasuke!" At the sound of my name coming from the teacher's lips, I forgot that I was a cold, emotionless guy who never raised his voice. Neji was nearly dying from laughter as he held his stomach, looking at my infuriated expression.

"NANI?" I exclaimed, my glare now directed at Gai. He grinned and gave me the thumbs up, striking a new pose. This man can't be serious… "I'm not having any part in your play!"

"Of course the Green Beast of Konoha will have to give this youth acting lessons, so the play will be delayed for a few months!" Gai didn't even hear my response in his idiocy. He's even worse than Aoi…I commented inwardly, glancing over at Neji, who had somehow composed himself in those few seconds.

"You won't get him to rethink it now…and he isn't that bad of an actor," Neji stated, smirking. I wanted to forget we were close enough to be brothers for that moment and kill him-preferably something horribly long and painful, but Neji deserved better, so I would settle for quick, with as much pain as I could administer in that fast ending.

"I have to kiss Sasuke?" Aoi asked, her voice bringing everyone's gazes back to her. She glanced over at Hinata, who was smiling kindly at her, nodding her head. "I WON'T DO IT, YOU CREEPY EYEBROWED FREAK!" She flew up from her sitting position, pointing at Gai.

I could see Neji massaging his temples from the corner of my eye. Even in the little time I had gotten to know Aoi, I could tell she was stubborn…and her stubbornness was only a small part of the whole reason I found myself, ten minutes later, being measured by TenTen, and two furious fan girls. They agreed that either one of them should have gotten the princess role rather than Aoi.

/\\

Neji's POV

"I can't say this!" Sasuke exclaimed, looking back down at the script for a third time, just to make sure this is what I had written, then back up at me for an answer.

"What's so hard about it?" I asked, flipping through my own copy of the script. He let his body fall on my bed with a soft sigh. He glanced at me as I flipped over on the oversized hammock I had hung in my room only a few hours ago-one of the reasons he was here. I, somehow keeping my balance, read through his lines, for the first time realizing why Sasuke was having such a problem. Let me touch the pale night for the stars seem too out of reach. I glanced further ahead, where Sasuke was supposed to be ending a soliloquy. If it was to be that a man was destined to taste ecstasy, he would soon no longer yearn for the gentile touch of a lover. As the threads of life cannot be rewoven by these virgin fingers, let then me beg a skilled weaver to change what shall be. I know no such being, so let the gods themselves know this lost soul will take fate into its own unsure, trembling fingers. I closed my eyes, knowing the next part of the play, only one word could possibly end such a powerful statement. Dies. I glanced back up at Sasuke, wondering what he was reading with such interest.

"I thought I was supposed to be executed," he commented, glancing up from his script, obviously reading the same lines as I had.

"Aoi didn't remember that, before he was executed, Yuki kills himself so that he wouldn't have to be killed by someone else," I replied, glancing back down at my script. The massive amount of lines spanning across over a hundred pages had brought tears to Hinata's eyes the first time she read it, but I was unsure if she had figured out what it was supposed to mean. Five weeks since Sasuke joined the drama club…against his will, so nearly seven weeks since Hinata read the script, I thought to myself, glancing back up at Sasuke. "Just try saying it again."

Sasuke, glowering at me, repeating the same section I had just reread for what seemed to be like the five hundredth time in the past two hours. "You need to put feeling into it, Sasuke…this is supposed to be a powerful ending," I stated, sitting up on the hammock. It swayed gently as I got up from it and pulled Sasuke to his feet. "Try it again." This time, Sasuke did try putting more feeling into it, but he just didn't get the term 'unrequited love.' "You're supposed to be so depressed you commit suicide not…laughing?" I stared at him, noticing that upturn of his lips as he chuckled in a very un-Sasuke-ish way. "What now?"

"Aoi's over too, I'm guessing?" he asked as a cry erupted through the house, followed by a 'stand still!' They're still working on her costume? I wondered as I nodded my head, realizing we weren't going to get any practice out until Sasuke could go make fun of Aoi's pain.

"The entire club's going to be coming over for a meeting later, but Aoi, TenTen, and the other girls came over to work on costumes," I replied, following as the Uchiha calmly walked through the halls, following the sound of Aoi's pained voice.

"THAT HURTS TENTEN!"

"HOLD STILL THEN!"

I sighed when we finally reached the open door to Hinata's large bedroom. Glancing in before entering, I noticed Aoi was being fitted for a new dress as TenTen and Ino were trying to pin the material in place-obviously pricking her a few times. Sakura was making sketches on a piece of paper from the other side of the room, probably adding details to a drawing of Aoi's unfinished dress, and Hinata was sitting on her massive featherbed, watching in amusement. I couldn't help but sigh when I saw that smile on her face. She was so cute sometimes, I wanted to just cuddle her! NOT AGAIN! I thought to myself, wondering when all these little urges of mine would end. For the past two weeks, everyone was so busy starting to get ready for the play and midterms that I had hardly even seen Hinata except for practices, so I hadn't had to deal with my incestuous thoughts and images-but they came back with a vengeance.

"Prick her harder," Sasuke commented as he sat down on the bed next to Hinata to watch. Aoi shot him a deadly glare, then looked back down at the two girls quickly pinning the hem to her dress.

"Urusai, asshole!" she shot back, then looked at me. "Just say it and you die."

I knew Aoi well enough now to know that her tomboy appearance was due to preference-she hated anything and everything 'girly' and this new pink dress was the epitome of her hatred. I shook my head and sat on the other side of Hinata.

"Are you guys coming tonight?" Sakura wondered out loud, glancing up from her sketching to look at me and Sasuke. Sasuke only raised an eyebrow, wondering what we were talking about as I nodded my head.

"Where?" he asked, looking from Sakura to me.

"Masquerade…that club we went to a while ago," I replied, getting a nod in understanding from Sasuke. "They were having a party tonight for the employees and the entire club was invited."

"The entire club?" Sasuke repeated, probably wondering who, besides Sakura, worked at the unusual club.

"Hai, the owners and Gai are good friends, Kiba, Shikamaru, Sakura, Choji, Shino, and myself all work there too, and we asked the boss if it was okay for the rest of the club to come," Ino replied, smiling at Sasuke with a blush on her face.

I was surprised to hear nearly the entire drama club worked at the club, I only knew about Sakura, Ino, and Shino since I had seen all of them there…and Shino with such clothing on was…interesting.

"Oh," was all Sasuke could say as he glanced over at me. Hinata was playing with her fingers as she stared down at the floor, then up to Aoi.

"Are you going to be coming, Aoi-kun?" Hinata asked, getting everyone's attention, save mine, since it was already on her, directed towards the fuming blonde. Aoi, glaring down at the pink pieces of material surrounding her, didn't seem to hear Hinata until TenTen pricked her with a large pin.

"ITAI!" Aoi blinked, glancing over at Hinata. "Eh…no, I can't come tonight…got a lot of work that bastard gave me." She pointed at Sasuke, which almost made me smirk, since no one could see her hands under the unpinned pinkness. Her eyes began to water as she looked at Hinata for support. "He gave me extra work! Nearly five times as much as Gai gave us!"

"Gai doesn't give us homework," Sakura pointed out, getting a glare from Aoi.

"He gives me an insane amount of make-up work every week!" Aoi retorted, beginning her daily pout. She stomped on her raised platform, repeating that she hated pink. TenTen, already used to this, merely began humming as she continued her work.

"It's not our fault you were failing so badly," Ino snapped, being unusually 'careless' with her pins as she fixed a stubborn part of the dress's shoulder.

"HEY THAT'S SKIN!" Aoi yelled, then glowered at Ino. "I'm not failing anymore, thank you very much!" Everyone froze at that comment, even Sasuke. "Nani?"

"You're…passing?" Sasuke asked, amazed at his own work. We all were surprised when Sasuke said he was Aoi's new tutor. Not even with all of my patience could I tutor her the one time I was assigned the task. After the first week, Aoi wanted to kill the Uchiha-having to deal with him every day after school and most likely Itachi nearly every day she went over to Sasuke's house. I remembered Sasuke telling me that Aoi didn't even know the basics of algebra, her English was horrible, and she had such problems with Japanese, he wondered how she could possibly speak. He had migraines for these past seven weeks, but the four hour meetings they had at Sasuke's house every day, even weekends, had finally showed promise. I wondered more than once why Sasuke had taken such an unusual interest in Aoi's tutoring, since I knew he wasn't getting paid for it. When I asked him about it, he said it was a condition Iruka had set to make sure they weren't both kicked out of school. He didn't go into detail in what exactly they did, but I assumed it was fighting, since it seemed that was all they ever did.

They can be so annoying sometimes…and how is it the play is going to be pulled off when the two stars, supposedly madly in love, hate each other? I sighed, glancing over at Hinata. If only Hinata was the princess…but she's too shy for a lead role…I sighed again, my gaze shifting to Aoi. She was pretty, even I had to admit that, and she was one of those people who could easily capture the attention of a large crowd-even though most of the time it was because she was an annoyance.

"I've got a passing grade even in Biology…Iruka gave me a progress report after school today…he was crying…" Aoi smirked, forgetting for a moment that she was in a pink dress. I watched as that proud smirk turned into a full smile-one that everyone in the room could tell wasn't one of her forced smiles just to make people think she was a smiling, bumbling idiot. She hardly smiled like that, but when she did, it felt as if every problem in the world was solved. Even Sasuke seemed more at ease when she smiled in that way. I had noticed she only got that smile when she was talking about certain people, one of them being Iruka, who everyone had been surprised to discover was the closest thing to a father Aoi had, and the other was her unnamed boyfriend-who everyone in the drama club wanted to meet.

I remembered when Aoi finally had told everyone she had a boyfriend, the first time I ever saw that smile of hers…it was only last week in practice.

Flashback

"Hey, Aoi, why don't you wear the girl's uniform?" TenTen asked as she glanced up from the massive pile of material on her lap-one of the backdrops that we had found from an earlier play that could be used, but needed to be sewn in a few places.

"Eh?" Aoi glanced over at TenTen from her 'sleeping' position on the stage. Gai, nearly crying-mumbling something about the curiosity of youth-called for a break. Sasuke, breathing a sigh of relief, sat down next to me on the far right of the stage.

"You almost got to the kiss scene," I commented, smirking. Six weeks and they had yet to review that particular part, but everyone was starting to think that Aoi and Sasuke would just save it for opening night…there was a conspiracy going on.

"…ha ha…" Sasuke retorted sarcastically, obviously listening for Aoi's answer. He, like everyone else in the club, wanted to know exactly why Aoi had worn the boy's uniform when it was obvious (every time she wore a dress for practice or fittings) she had a nice body.

"I hate skirts," Aoi replied quickly, sitting up from the bed. TenTen told her she was lying, so she sighed and shifted her body so that she was laying on her stomach. "I guess I don't want guys to gawk at me…my boyfriend does it enough as it is…"

"BOYFRIEND!" Ino's and Sakura's attention was immediately caught with that particular word. And here those two were, assuring themselves Aoi was going to try and steal Sasuke away from them.

"H-hai…boyfriend…" Aoi answered, giving the two curious teenagers a confused look. "You didn't know I had a boyfriend?"

"Iie! So, what's he like?" Sakura asked, her hatred and jealousy of Aoi immediately gone when she realized she was no longer a threat. She flew up onto the bed next to Aoi and waited for an answer.

Even from my seat nearly twenty feet away, I could see the blush on Aoi's face. "He's…quiet usually…very thoughtful, sympathetic…loving…err…"

"Is he handsome?" Ino asked, taking a seat on Aoi's other side. Aoi smiled, her eyes landing on thin air, as if she was imagining him. She sighed and nodded her head.

"Beautiful…even better looking that that bastard," she replied, glancing over at Sasuke.

"NEVER!" TenTen-who we had all discovered, became a member of the Sasuke fan club after meeting him-sat at the foot of the bed, waiting for some gossip.

"He is! He has a perfect body…" Aoi sighed, her face pink as she looked down at the bedspread. I glanced at Ino and Sakura, knowing what they were about to ask.

"How far have you gone?" Sakura's personal question even piqued the attention of Shikamaru, who was quite content for the majority of practice to sleep in the rigging and lights over the stage. Gai, glancing over at the four girls, again began talking about youth, but I could easily tell he was curious.

"…heh…" That little 'heh' made the girls squeal, which surprised Shikamaru so much, he fell out of his spot, landing on the bed with the girls, Gai fainted, Choji began choking, Kiba and Shino only stared in wonder, Lee let his mouth drop, and Hinata smiled innocently. I then realized Hinata knew that little piece of information this whole time. I glanced over at Sasuke, still silent from my surprise, and saw he was the only person who wasn't…surprised. He slowly got up and gave a look at Aoi that I could only describe as rejected. He turned to leave the stage but froze when he heard a question from the usually quiet Shino.

"Are you in love?" Sasuke, for a moment, looked back at Aoi , only to have 'salt rubbed in the wound' when Aoi, without missing a beat, answered him, with a radiating smile and such emotion in her voice, we all knew it to be true.

"I love him more than anything else."

End Flashback

That was the first time I realized Sasuke had had a thing for Aoi and he had never mentioned anything since then, so I assumed he was over his crush. What he saw in her…I'll never know…I thought to myself, wondering if it was in Sasuke's destiny to be with Aoi. It couldn't be…she's already found her soul mate…I thought to myself, glancing over at Sasuke. He had become even colder to everyone since that day, except for myself and Hinata, and, if possible, he became even more of an evil bastard towards Aoi. Now, I was sure that if Aoi was to be harmed in any way, it would be Sasuke doing it.

I knew I should feel sorry for Sasuke and in a way, I did, but how he was treating Aoi was inexcusable. I knew, like the rest of the drama club, that she had no family and her boyfriend was the only family, besides teachers like Iruka and the drama club, she had. I kind of felt happy for Aoi to be able to have someone to love and to be loved in return, which brought me back to my ongoing predicament.

"Congratulations, Aoi-kun," Hinata said, smiling in her oh-so adorable way. Aoi smiled back, thanking my cousin. I wanted nothing more, at that moment, than to glomp her, cooing. That's a weird thought…I thought to myself, glancing over at Sakura for a moment before getting up.

"It's almost time for the rest of the club to be arriving," I commented as I left the room, no longer trusting my self control, and began walking back down the stairs, praying that I would be able to tell Hinata my feelings after the play's premiere and that, in her eyes, it was good.

/\\

(A/N: hmm…should I continue? I think so…just a little more of this extremely long chappie//smiles/)

Sasuke's POV

"Interesting mask, Uchiha," Kiba commented, studying my mask through his dog-like half-mask. I 'hmphed' as I noticed Sakura had finally opened the bar. I made my way through the crowd, which was quite large considering this was just a party for employees and friends. Sitting down at one of the red barstools, I asked for a beer.

"I'm not letting you get smashed tonight, Sasuke-kun," Sakura commented from her spot behind the elongated table, then handed me a cold bottle. She had never seen me drunk, but I guess Hinata or someone told her not to let me drink too much-probably Neji, the evil bastard he was. I pulled my mask up to rest it on the top of my head and put the beer to my lips.

I had felt like drinking ever since I saw Aoi this afternoon at the Hyuuga mansion. She seemed so happy…but I really hadn't done anything to help her in school…only remind her what an idiot she was and that I would be glad when our two months were up. Seven weeks…that means that we only have one week of tutoring left…almost three actually…I thought inwardly, noticing that I almost didn't want those two months to be up. She was always interesting to have around the house-one reason Itachi had finally left me alone. I mentally cheered for the girl when I saw the short message he wrote, telling me he was going home to give me and 'my girlfriend' more time together.

The blonde had been elated the past few days, with the play's debut only a few weeks away, and we had yet to practice the entire play from beginning to end. For some reason, no one except myself was a little worried about that. Neji had told me they usually never get through a practice of the full play until dress rehearsal the day before opening. That made me even more nervous. It wasn't that I minded the whole 'kiss' thing, it was that I had discovered, as the date grew closer, I was starting to get stage fright. In our last practice, I had nearly fainted when I realized that a few other clubs had turned up to watch our practice. There were only about twenty people or so, most of them from our own class, but I still froze when I noticed them sitting in the back rows.

After that practice, Aoi had asked me what happened, but I wasn't going to tell her of all people that I had acquired a new phobia. Gai had taken me aside later and told me that, to get rid of my stage fright, I would have to just stay calm and, with practice, I would get better. TO HELL WITH HIM! That creepy guy doesn't have to stand up there and…have people look at him! I sighed, knowing this fear was an irrational thing, that it was completely in my head and no one else could really help me overcome it, but it still didn't help me.

I stared at the beer with slight interest, inwardly wondering why now, of all times, I had discovered I couldn't stand being in front of people. The entire club-everyone except Aoi-guessed what happened the other day and was praying that it was only a phase…one I would get through very soon, but I knew that, for some reason, I had put myself into this position. Fears are created due to personal events…but nothing really big has happened lately that would make me suddenly…nervous around crowds… I thought back, remembering that the biggest thing that had happened to me lately had been Gaara and my 'fight,' if it could have been called that. I knew I was homophobic, I couldn't stand the looks some guys gave me, but I always felt…comfortable around Gaara and even before that night, deep down, I knew that he wasn't straight, I just wasn't willing to admit it to myself. Does that mean that I'm not a homophobe? I wondered to myself, realizing I felt no hate towards Gaara for being what he was-it was just I had been pissed that night because he hadn't had the guts to tell me before.

"I thought you wouldn't come back," a familiar voice to my left stated as a red head sat down next to me. Gaara looked at me for a moment, probably noticing the depressed look on my face, then sighed. "Sorry about before…"

"Do you want me to forgive you?" I asked in a mocking tone, handing my beer to him. I let a smile pass over my lips-just fast enough for Gaara and no one else to see, then sighed. "So, how's your boyfriend?"

Gaara nearly spit the amber liquid back up, surprised I would ask. He smirked once he was able to swallow than shook his head. "Fine…how's your…fan club?" I looked at him, an obvious 'how did you know about that' stare on my face. "Neji and I do talk…Hinata drags him to the club all the time. He also told me about this girl you like…"

"NANI!" This exclamation was more out of the 'Hinata' statement than the girl I liked, but it received many surprised stares from the surrounding people. I quickly gave everyone an icy glare before stealing my beer back from Gaara. "Hinata…what does she do here?"

Gaara came to the closest I've ever heard him giggle. He pointed over at the table that I remembered his boyfriend dancing on what seemed like ages ago. I stared in wonder, then quickly surveyed the area for Neji, but couldn't find him, so my gaze returned to the black-haired teen and blonde dancing around that pole. I recognized the blonde immediately as Gaara's boyfriend, but the other…my mind 'WTF' when I recognized the Hyuuga heiress as the black-haired, scantily-clad…beauty.

"H-Hinata…" was all I could say…and think as the crowd cheered, only egging Hinata on as she and Gaara's boyfriend touched each other in ways I was blushing from. I looked back at Gaara, who was obviously unfazed by their…grope session.

"They've been trying to hide Hinata working here from Neji…I guess she's finally giving up on that…" Gaara commented coolly watching as Hinata used the pole to pull her body up from a laying position on the floor, slowly enough that everyone watching could clearly see she was licking her way up the near-naked blonde leaning against the pole.

"He…will…die…" Neji stated, sitting down at the empty barstool on my other side. Quickly glancing at him, I noticed he was beyond the point of pissed. He was actually so mad, Gaara and I noticed the veins on his temples. That's not good…I thought to myself, wondering what could be said to save Gaara's boyfriend from an untimely death by the Hyuuga's hand.

"Sexy, right?" Gaara stated, giving a humored look to Neji, who only growled in reply. When Neji was no longer able to form words, it was safe for me to say that he was beyond the usual 'I'm going to kill him for daring to come near MY Hinata-sama' disposition. I noticed the song was beginning to end, thankfully. If Neji would have had to watch that man touch his cousin one more time, he probably would have killed him then and there, but I was surprised the Hyuuga had held onto sanity this long.

I remembered the only other time a man had gotten close enough to touch Hinata-he merely smacked her behind softly-and Neji went into a rage so bad…the police didn't want to know where he hid the dismembered man's jewels. Thankfully, they kept everything quiet and out of the news, since the Hyuuga family is famous. Instead of being angry at Neji for taking a knife to another man's crotch, his uncle actually patted him on the back, saying he would have done the same thing if he was Hinata's bodyguard.

Their family sometimes scares me…I thought to myself, watching as the pair of half-naked employees jumped off the stage and came towards the bar. I, out of instinct, quickly grabbed for Neji and held him back as best as I could when the blonde came into view, Hinata right behind him. Neji surged forwards, but I kept a firm grip on him, placing my own body between him and Gaara's boyfriend, praying that Hinata would quickly explain herself and save the employee's pride and life.

"Neji-niisan…" Hinata began, looking to her side, a blush on her face. She only called him 'niisan' when she wanted to apologize for something or wanted to charm him into doing something-which wasn't hard for her to do usually. Neji, at the sound of her voice, backed up slightly, the freakish veins on his temples receding slightly.

"Heh…so this is Neji…" the blonde said nervously from behind Gaara, who had also jumped up to stop Neji's attack, just in case I couldn't contain the overprotective teen. I glanced back at him for a moment, surprised to hear that he, like the majority of the other employees, was only a teen. Taking a look at his body, he looked to be at least mid-twenties, but his voice sounded to be closer to my age-it wasn't deep like most guys', but his voice held a male quality that raised hairs on the back of my neck. (A/N: some guys just have that voice…it's an amazing thing…)

"I…will…kill…" Neji quietly stated, glaring at the blonde with promises of death, castration, and about fifty other horrible endings for the man. Hinata slowly walked up to Neji and took his balled fist in her smaller hands, gently leaning towards her cousin and pressing her face into his chest. Neji's body froze when Hinata's head touched him, so I decided it was safe to let go and step back.

"Gomen nasai, Neji-niisan," Hinata mumbled into his shirt, moving even closer to him. Neji-unable to move-simply looked down at her and we watched as his face turned bright red. I then noticed that Hinata had been able to coerce his arms around her waist. "I didn't mean to make you mad at me…" Hinata gave her best teary-eyed look I had ever seen on her-I even wanted to cuddle her at that moment!-and Neji melted.

"Daijoubu, I'm not mad at you Hinata-sama," Neji replied softly, glancing over at me-his eyes asking if it was 'okay' for him to return the hug. I nodded my head, smirking, as he did just that. The image was so perfect, I almost wanted to go in search of a camera, but noticed Sakura taking pictures like a madwoman, so I decided I would ask for copies later.

I diverted my eyes as the two remained in each others' arms for more than the usual 'cousinly' embrace, but continued to watch them out of the corner of my eye. Hinata turned her head slightly to rest her head more comfortably on Neji's chest as the older teen let his head bow enough to bury his nose into Hinata's hair and his hand, the one not being held down by Hinata's smaller hands, drifted up to the other Hyuuga's head, where he gently stroked her hair.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" Gaara commented from behind me. I almost agreed with him when I felt him take a sharp intake of breath. I, glancing back, noticed he was being elbowed by his boyfriend.

"Oh, hush you…" Gaara's boyfriend…Kitsune?…snapped. From the smile on his half-hidden face, I could tell he wasn't meaning to sound offended, but the way Gaara looked at him, I'm sure the red head didn't realize that. Gaara wrapped his arms around the shorter teen and nuzzled the top of his head. I was close enough I could hear a soft 'gomen' coming from Gaara. He has him…whipped…I thought internally, smirking at how domesticated Gaara had become in the few months I hadn't spoken to him. I couldn't help but-against my long-set belief against homosexuality-I inwardly wished them luck. Anything that made Gaara smile like that had my acceptance.

"It's so cute!" Sakura commented, taking a picture of the two boys, who were beginning to get a little too intimate for me to stand, so I returned to my beer at the bar's counter. Sakura, now having found a new calling as a pornographic photographer, had already run out of a roll of film and, with expert hands, quickly put in a new one. I sighed, trying to ignore the loud sounds behind me that told me exactly what my best friend had been doing all this time. I was amazed that, however disturbing I found the soft moans and whispers exchanged between the two boys, I was kind of turned on by it.

"Sasuke-kun…are you okay? You're starting to turn red…" Sakura said softly, stopping her frantic picture-taking to look at me. I stared down at the counter and mumbled that I was fine. What the hell is wrong with me all of a sudden? I wondered to myself, praying that I could leave the club as soon as I was finished with my beer…and not have to deal with the couple behind me anymore tonight. Neji and Hinata, finally done with their sickeningly cute, loving moment, turned to look at me.

"Sasuke…" Neji started out-I was their only ride home, so I turned to look at him and nodded my head. "Arigatou." He said softly, letting me see a contented smile on his face. Heh…'bout time those two finally got together… I glanced over at Hinata, noticing for the first time that her face was flushed. She's beyond drunk…I was wondering why she wasn't being so shy tonight…her father's going to kill Neji…I thought to myself, inwardly thankful, for Hinata's sake, that it was a Friday.

I quickly finished my now warm beer and slid off of my barstool, slowly following Neji-who had opted to carry Hinata bridal-style back to the car…she didn't seem capable to walk anymore-out of the club. We passed through the crowds, which were mostly people I had seen around school. There were so many teachers, it made my head spin. Is the entire staff here? I wondered for a moment, my heart falling when I saw a certain brunette chatting with a silver-haired man I recognized as the literature teacher for the higher grades. He looked boring, so I had always been glad not to have him. But, it was a double-edged sword…we, instead of having the boring teacher, got Jiraiya…the most perverted being I had ever met, which was a feat, since Neji had his moments.

This town has no morals…I decided, the fact that Iruka smiled at us as we left only adding to my proof. Figuring that the teachers all had to be drunk or high…perhaps both…I explained Iruka's behavior, but was pretty sure that the man didn't look drunk. As I stepped out into the cold January air, I sighed . Zabuza had been inside, so the three of us were completely alone as I unlocked the car and watched as Neji gently put Hinata into the backseat, even going as far as to strap her in, then got in next to her from the other side.

This is going to be fun dropping them off…I thought to myself as I turned the key, still wondering how I could have gotten aroused, even slightly, by Gaara and his boyfriend. Jiraiya and Neji are turning me into a pervert like them…I thought to myself as I pulled away from the curb, heading towards the Hyuuga mansion.

/\\

Authoress: shit…this thing says I've written twenty two pages…/smiles/ heh…sorry I made the chapter so long, everyone!

Neji//is content/

Authoress: now, since Hinata is drunk, we won't be having and Hyuugacest fest next chapter…and in the next chapter, I'm sure to reveal the actual plot of the story, I promise//grins sheepishly/ it took me long enough, right? Anyways, I just want to say something…for those of you who guessed who Aoi's supposed to be…/hands out cookies/ YAY FOR YOU!

Sasuke//stares in wonder/

Authoress: now, for those of you who know about the current contest going on, EXTRA FOUR PACKS OF RAMEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP ME!…I can't spell the name Sasuke always calls Naruto in the anime for the life of me…it means 'moron of all morons' …something to that effect…and I know I should know it…considering I own almost every single episode of Naruto in Japanese (No, not the Japanese and English DVDs…original shiiiiieeettt man!)…that makes me wonder…how many episodes are even out in English…dunno…/grins/ heh…I'll stop now before I take up a page with my rants…so, until the next chappie…and hopefully an answer to my question, SAYONARA MY LOYAL REVIEWERS!