Teenage Wasteland

by Jasmine Starlight

Full summary: Sasu/Hina. He was Uchiha Sasuke, he attends Konoha High, as a whacked out punk, he has a brother who's a dick and is also dating his English teacher, a garage band that seemed promising. She was Hyuuga Hinata, popular and pleasant. But she has problems of her own to deal with, another sucky father who placed value in his other offspring(Like Sasuke). If only she could be…more like Hanabi. Really, the two of them coming together had come out of nowhere...tortured daughter and tortured artist? I mean where's the attraction there?

I have been ignoring this story blatantly. And the overpopulation of the universe has disgusted me with all the fan girls who write themselves into stories in ways that have all the main male/female characters in love with them as a sick way to overcompensate for the fact that their parents wouldn't let them go the Usher concert.

CHAPTER FOUR

COLD FIRE

"When's the band going to play?" Kiba asked.

"Uchiha said in a couple of minutes, getting bored with the lack of scantily clad girls here already?" Gaara said sneeringly.

Shino looked at Kiba oddly, Hinata noted this and wondered what happened to her old childhood friends to make them act funny, "You also seem to be getting bored, that's why you seemed to have been sneering at the girl Naruto's been talking to for the past ten minutes."

"…"

"Moving on—where did Shikamaru go?" Temari asked disinterestedly.

"He's probably sleeping backstage." Gaara sneered before a stage hand arrived to make sure he got to the stage on time.

Hinata cleared her throat awkwardly, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present you with the opening act—The Flaming Foxes and One Evil Raccoon?"

Temari rolled her eyes, "How original." She drawled to Hinata, who ignored her in favor of staring dazedly at Sasuke while he crooned into the mic.

"And I'm good, good; good to go
I got to get away
Get away from all of my mistakes

"Ne, Temari-san?" Hinata nearly shouted over the loud music.

"What?"

"Does Sasuke have a girlfriend?"

"So here I sit looking at the traffic lights
The red extinguishes the hope that the green ignites
I want to run away I want to ditch my life
Cause all of my mistakes keep me awake at night

"Interested in taking up the position?"

Hinata flushed and looked at her toes.

"I hear the position's open."

"And after all of my alibis desert me
I just want to get by
I don't want nothing to hurt me
I had no idea where my head was at
But if my heart says I'm sorry can we leave it at that
Because I just want for all of this to end

£¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤£

"So what did you do over the weekend?"

"I went out." Hinata briefly closed her eyes, why was she so tired?

"With who?"

"Some people from school."

"Friends?"

"Sort of." Hinata fidgeted in her chair.

Why do you keep returning to this dullard?

Because he has my best interest at heart.

What he has at heart is the big fat check your father gives him at the end of each and every month.

That's not true.

Yes it is.

No it isn't.

Why do you think that therapy will get rid of me? Don't you see? I'm a part of you. How long will you carry on this charade of trying "to get better"? I'll be around till the day of your sorry death.

No, you're something that grew out of my incredibly low self-esteem. A figment of my idiotic imagination.

"What do you mean by "sort of"?"

"I-I've always known them but w-we've never hung out—outside of school."

"Why is that?"

"I-I'm not sure."

£¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤£

"Class it's time for me to assign your project—which will be worth 66 of your grade," Kakashi paused to look at his pupils, most of whom were completing homework from other classes—presumably Gai's.

"The project will be done in pairs." Kakashi waited for the exclamation of joy to wake his class up.

Ino's heavily made-up eyes sharpened to rapt attention. "We'll pick partners by a draw. On each slip of paper there's a genre of literature. There are two slips with each genre on them, you find your partner by finding the person with the same topic as you."

Kakashi sniffed before shoving the box in front of Sasuke who drew a pastel blue slip, he went down each row until the box was empty.

"Alright now that you have your genres you and you partner will have to write a short novella, with relatable characters, you also will be giving me character sketches, analysis's, plot summaries—whatever you feel like giving me.

Finally your project will culminate with a movie version of your book. Now, since the copy machine is broken," Naruto snorted, "I'll have to give you the outline tomorrow. Naruto! Since you're so vocal tell the class what genre you chose."

Ino's eyes brightened.

"Er—Fantasy." Ino glared menacingly.

"Who else has fantasy?"

"I do." Gaara said.

Ino's glare intensified.

"How nice! The rest of you! Find your partners, now! You have five minutes."

Hinata opened her slip, "Drama or Tragedy." Sasuke said from over her shoulder, which made Hinata's flush return.

"I guess we're partners." Hinata sighed.

"Better than being partners with Sakura."

Hinata allowed herself to crack a tiny smile.

£¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤£

"When do you want to start?"

Hinata slammed her locker shut in surprise as Sasuke materialized out of nowhere. "Um—today?" she asked nervously.

"Whatever." Sasuke replied as he fell into step with Hinata.

"H-Have any ideas?" Hinata said quietly as they exited the school.

Sasuke remained silent for a full five minutes—Hinata counted each one of them.

"Not really."

Hinata sighed.

"Where do you want to do this?"

"Not my house." She said quickly.

Sasuke stared at her oddly. "Alright then."

£¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤£

"Any character ideas?" Hinata asked boredly.

"Nope." Sasuke said as he flipped through his literature textbook dimly.

Hinata sighed as resumed staring at the ceiling, "W-Well why don't we start with character names?" she suggested quietly.

"Whatever."

"Setting?"

"Jupiter." Hinata stared at Sasuke incredulously.

"I'm serious." Sasuke insisted, sitting up from his slouch, "If we want to get the high grades we have to make sure Kakashi doesn't read his Icha Icha Paradise over our novel."

Hinata's eyebrows rose considerably, "How do you know what kind of pornography Kakashi-sensei likes?"

Sasuke cleared his throat awkwardly, "You don't want to know."

"Y-Yes, I think I do."

"No you don't." Sasuke said abruptly as he stood up and went into the aisle of bookcases.

"Yes I do." Hinata insisted curiously as she tried to keep up with Sasuke's brisk pace.

Sasuke gave her a disgusted look, "You really want to know?"

"Y-Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely?"

"Absolutely."

"Positive—" Hinata irritably interrupted him by latching both her manicured hands onto the collar of his shirt, "Yes, I'm positive."

My, my, play nice Hinata.

Sasuke seemed amused, he then leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, sending delicious shivers up her spine.

And then he was gone, disappearing down another aisle. Hinata quickly ran after him, "Where?"

She found him in the children's section, looking at books on the planets.

"Jupiter For Kiddies?"

"Yes, it's easier than trying to translate the jargon that's supposed to be our textbooks."

Hinata moved a little closer, from this distance she could faintly smell his deodorant, "What time is it?" he asked suddenly, snapping the book shut.

"4.36." Hinata replied softly.

"Then I have to go to work."

"Where do you work?"

"Here." Sasuke said as he made his way to the counter and put on an apron. "That will be $23.47. How would you like to pay? Cash or credit?" Sasuke asked mechanically.

"What?"

"For the research books." Sasuke said boredly.

"Shouldn't there be other people in here?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because the closed sign is up."

"Wait, so you closed the store to do our project?"

"No."

"…"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I can."

"Are you the only one working here?"

"Why?"

"Why does it matter if I ask?"

"Maybe there's a personal reason that I'm not ready to divulge to you."

"What?"

"So are you leaving or what?"

"In a hurry to get rid of me?"

"No. I could do this all day."

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer." Hinata said frustratedly, running a hand through her hair, "Fine, I'll go." she said before going to gather her books.

"Here. Keep the change." She said handing him a hundred.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

END

Anime/Manga Lubber- Hah.

Lunarangel- I will because I like yaoi.

mi.shoe- Not really.

Hokai Amplifier- Love you.

The Dark Hanyou- I like Hinata's clothes too.

Kenshinlover2002- I think Sasuke is gay. I 3 SasuNaru

Nanogirl- I don't see Sasuke as romantic, it ruins the basis of his character.

NanamiYatsumaki- SO many reviews. :)