CHAPTER 10

Sasuke woke up to Sakura screaming like a banshee. He could barely formulate a coherent thought after blinking his eyes open, because shortly after a hand materialised in his field of vision and roughly yanked away the covers to grab onto his shirt.

"What is your problem?!" he barked at her hoarsely. However, his ferociousness was lost as he began to cough right after, feeling the scratchiness of his throat from dehydration.

"What the hell did you do yesterday?!" she yelled into his face.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto finally barged into his bedroom and pulled a furious Sakura away by her flailing limbs. "It's not that big of a deal!"

Sasuke sat up from his bed to glare at Sakura with hostility. He absolutely loathed it when anyone entered his room without waiting for his permission, and he similarly hated it when someone yelled at him when they were in close proximity. Sakura knew this but brazenly committed both sins anyway, which only aggravated him further.

The pinkette seemed to come to her senses after being physically restrained by Naruto, as she slowly dropped her arms and looked at Sasuke with unshed tears in her eyes. It was a truly befuddling situation to the man that had just been rudely jolted awake.

"Is someone going to tell me what is going on?" Sasuke gritted out between his teeth after realising that neither of the two in the room was intending to break the tense silence.

Sakura opened her mouth to respond but Naruto pre-emptively clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her. "You should check Twitter," was all he said.

Sasuke raised his brows at this but decided to do as he was told given how unusually sombre his two group members were being. He snatched his phone from the nightstand and clicked onto the cursed application. His eyes widened at the first piece of news that greeted him. It appeared that he did not even have to scroll to understand why Sakura was pissed off to the high heavens.

The very first post that greeted him was a picture taken by Dispatch – of him and Hinata leaving the club the previous night. Their identities were clearly ascertainable, and the worst part was the fact that they were caught holding hands. He did not even remember doing it, so it must have been something that was done subconsciously.

On hindsight, he realised that he had held hands with Hinata off-camera on multiple occasions, albeit never for extended periods of time. It always felt natural enough to reach out to touch her hand, perhaps because the scenes that they had to shoot already conditioned them to get comfortable with the act. It had apparently reached a stage where he did not notice or did not mind whenever he held hands with Hinata off-camera, but now that he was seeing it from an observer's point of view, he realised that he should have been more attentive.

This woman must be dulling my senses, he groaned internally. It was unlike him to be this oblivious to the implications behind his actions, and judging from Sakura's look of utter devastation, she must have been more than a little disappointed by his lapse in judgment.

"Are you going to explain yourself?" Sakura finally spoke up.

Sasuke stared at her incredulously and replied, "What is there to explain? It's none of your business."

She clenched her fists in anger at his dismissal. "None of my business? It is my business because Team 7 is going to be affected by this controversy!"

Pathetic. Sasuke tossed his phone to the side and folded his arms indignantly. "Team 7 will not be significantly affected by this. If you want to know about the people I spend time with then ask me as a friend. Don't try and extort information from me under the pretence of carrying out your leader duties. It's pathetic."

Naruto made an alarmed noise the moment Sakura started sobbing at Sasuke's words. He glared at the raven-haired man, angered by his approach to the situation, but at the same time he was aware that taking Sakura's side openly was only going to exacerbate the conflict. Just as he decided to lead Sakura out of the room to freshen up, Sakura surprised him by turning around to hug him. She continued sobbing into his shirt.

Naruto instinctively wrapped his arms around her and patted her back in consolation. His eyes flitted back up to meet Sasuke's gaze. He did not like the look of apathy on his face, but he wisely withheld any comment that would worsen the situation.

"Why are you crying?" Sasuke finally said to Sakura.

"Teme…" Naruto began with a hint of warning in his voice.

Sakura sniffled but did not respond, which prompted Sasuke to continue, "This is about you, not Team 7, isn't it?" A contemplative pause. "Will you leave me alone if I told you I'm seeing Hinata?"

A deafening silence fell upon the room. Sakura shifted impossibly closer to Naruto, as if doing so would protect her from Sasuke's cruel words. He had stripped her intentions bare right there and then, and never had she felt this naked in front of her closest friends. Sasuke knew that she still carried a torch for him, and yet he decisively sliced her heart into pieces with his cutting words. Sakura was unsurprised that he did not reciprocate her affection, but amidst the shock and shame that she was experiencing came a wave of bitterness.

"I'm sorry," she said. For what it was worth, she genuinely was. Sasuke eyed her quietly for a moment before he sighed and got to his feet.

"Get out of my room," he replied curtly.

"Teme-"

"I have to clean up this shit on my own." With that, he pulled off his shirt and trudged to the bathroom for a shower. Sasuke needed a long, cold one to consider how exactly he was going to deal with this mess. One thing for certain was that Kakashi was going to have his head.

As expected, Kakashi spent the entirety of the car ride chewing Sasuke out. He even decided to take the longest route to the filming site so that he could spend more time lecturing the idol. Sasuke had developed a headache by the end of the ride just from listening to Kakashi's passionate soliloquy about the importance of keeping relationships lowkey to maintain his appeal as an idol.

However, what aggravated his headache was Kakashi's gradual transition to a tangentially relevant topic about the importance of using protection during sex. It truly boggled his mind how his own manager seemed to just assume that the dating rumours were true, and then proceeded to think it was a good idea to provide sex education in the car where he was unable to escape.

When Sasuke was finally released from his makeshift prison, Kakashi called out to him, "Say hi to Hinata-chan for me!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and slammed the car door shut, wilfully ignoring the playful wink that Kakashi shot him.

He walked past a group of crew members, taking care to bow politely in greeting to each of them as he did so. Sasuke was having a bad day so far, but he was not about to forget his manners. His reputation would take another hit otherwise.

It did not take long for him to spot Hinata sitting in the corner of the classroom, acting exactly like the character that she was playing. Her knees were brought up to her chest as she sat on the lockers at the back of the classroom. Her eyes were glued to her phone.

Sasuke walked up to her, but she did not look up to acknowledge him until he cleared his throat. Hinata let out a 'eep' before apologising, and Sasuke could not help but notice that she seemed to behave differently today. She was almost skittish around him, as if he was someone to be wary about. It greatly annoyed him like an itch under his skin.

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and narrowed his eyes at Hinata, which only made her shrink back into the wall under his gaze. What was with his female peers today? They were all behaving so unpredictably.

"Good morning," he greeted stoically.

"G-Good morning," she replied.

Sasuke frowned. She usually replied with "Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" and with much more enthusiasm. He did not know what he had done to warrant this unexpectedly lukewarm response, but what he knew was that it annoyed him greatly.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and drawled, "Have you rehearsed for your part today?"

They were filming several scenes, but the emphasis that he placed on "part" caused Hinata to gulp nervously. She knew exactly what scene he was referring to, and she cursed herself inwardly for blushing.

"Y-Yes, I have read through my lines…"

Once again, she averted eye contact with him and began to poke her fingers together. Sasuke gave her one last long look before wordlessly trudging out of the room to find Sai. He had to get his makeup done after all. There was no time to spare for the unusually mousey woman. At the back of his mind, Sasuke also decided that the demon was less pretty when she looked at him with anything but warmth.

"Masuoka," Kaito called out from the entrance of the classroom.

"Y-Yes?"

He shut the door behind him pointedly and took a step forward. "You are still avoiding me."

Yui shook her head and gave him a forced smile. "That's not true, Kaito-san."

Another step forward. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Yui bowed her head down sheepishly at the call-out, praying that he would miraculously develop a change of heart and drop the matter. She had never been good at dealing with confrontations.

"Yui."

"Y-Yes?"

This time, Kaito crossed the room till he was face to face with her. Yui leaned back to increase the distance between them, but she let out a soft gasp when her back collided with the window. She was trapped now.

Kaito leaned in till there were only a few centimetres between their faces. He scanned every microexpression that flitted across her face, trying to decipher her train of thought. Yet, all that was emanating from her was apprehension.

With determination etched across his features, he pulled her in for a hug. Yui gasped again at the suddenness of the contact, but she soon relaxed in his hold. Her fingers tentatively stroked the sides of his waist as he wrapped his arms possessively around her entire torso.

"You have been avoiding me ever since that day."

"I…"

"Do you not like me?" A pause. "If you don't then tell me to get lost. I…I will stop bothering you if that's what you want."

There was a long pause where Yui struggled to find the right words. "It's not that… I just needed time…"

Kaito slowly released his hold on her and met her shy gaze with his own dark eyes. "I'm sorry."

Yui shook her head vigorously and reached out to grab onto his hand. Kaito glanced down for a second to look at their joined hands before looking back up at her in mild surprise. His fingers gave hers a little squeeze.

"Don't be sorry, Kaito-san. It's just that a lot has been happening in my life recently, and I needed time to process everything. I did not mean to hurt your feelings… I care about you, so I'm s-sorry if I hurt you."

Kaito brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. Yui's eyes slid shut at the contact, and her face began to heat up at the intimacy of the gesture. "Let me take care of you," he replied simply.

Yui did not respond to this. Instead, her eyes blinked open and she stared at him with a glazed expression on her face. Her mouth parted into a small 'o' shape.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment, but in one smooth motion Kaito bent down to rest his forehead on Yui's. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, before Kaito suddenly let out a long exhale and pulled away.

"Cut!"

Hinata cowered under the full force of her co-star's glare. "Sorry, I need a moment," Sasuke announced to the crew before storming out of the classroom. Hinata wrapped her arms around herself at the sudden chill that went down her spine at his words. Deep down she knew that he had sensed something in the air between them and broke out of his character. It was all her fault now, and this knowledge filled her with remorse.

"Everything okay?"

Hinata whipped her head to the side to face Kiba. One of the directors, Shino, was also staring at her with a look of concern on his face, as if silently making the same inquiry. Hinata gave them her most convincing smile and nodded.

"Y-Yes, I am okay. Don't worry!"

Shino shoved his hands into his pocket and pushed up his tinted glasses. He appeared to be judging her behind those lenses. On the other hand, Kiba was more straightforward. He threw his arms into the air and lamented dramatically, "You were doing great, but Sasuke must have been having a bad day or something. I'm sure the second take will be fine if he comes to his senses."

Hinata shook her head adamantly, which surprised Kiba. "It was partially my fault. Sasuke-kun isn't to blame."

"You think so?"

Hinata nodded and began to walk out of the classroom. "I-I'll go and check on him!" she replied. She then left the classroom in a jiffy to hunt down her co-star. It felt like an apology of sorts was warranted, so she allowed her guilty conscience to fuel each of her steps down the long hallway.

She rounded the corner and finally – she saw Sasuke leaving the gents. She should have expected that he would go to the bathroom to freshen up after his uncharacteristic break-away from his character. Sasuke rarely made mistakes like that after all.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called out to him.

However, it seemed that Sasuke was in a foul mood given that he immediately did a detour and walked back into the toilet when he heard her voice. Hinata gasped and followed after him, stopping right outside the door to call out to him. Yet, Sasuke did not respond. He seemed adamant on ignoring her for some reason.

It took Hinata a great deal of courage, but she ended up doing what she never thought she would do in this lifetime: she pushed the door open and entered the gents. The moment she crossed the threshold, she came face to face with a completely bewildered Sasuke who was staring at her in disbelief through the mirror. He blinked at her comically, as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped. Hinata blushed and instinctively brought her hands to her chest in a defensive position, but she held her ground. At least Sasuke was talking to her now.

"You're not supposed to be here."

"I-I know…"

"Then…why are you here?"

"I wanted to apologise."

At this, Sasuke turned around to face her fully. Hinata felt herself shrivel up inside at the sheer intensity of his gaze. A moment of silence passed before Sasuke spoke up. "You don't have to apologise for your discomfort around me." There was a hint of bitterness in the way he said those words, and that made Hinata wince.

"I am not uncomfortable around you," Hinata protested softly. It was true. Sasuke made her nervous sometimes because he was her senior, he was capable, and most of all he was confident – but that did not translate into discomfort.

Sasuke did not seem to believe her. He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side as he said, "You're behaving differently around me today." It was not even a question. "You heard the news this morning, didn't you?"

Hinata gulped, knowing that he was referring to the pictures of them that had been released by Dispatch. There was no way of denying this, but more than anything her inability to decipher his feelings and provide comfort to him was beginning to cause her some anxiety.

"I did…"

There was a long pause where neither of them said anything. Hinata stared at her feet, while Sasuke kept his eyes on her. Finally, Sasuke broke the silence with a resigned sigh. "I'm sorry that the thought of dating me is such a turn-off for you."

He then moved towards the exit, but Hinata surprised him by stepping in front of him to block his way. She grabbed onto his hand – daringly, if Sasuke may say so himself – and looked up at him with imploring eyes. Her pearlescent orbs were already beginning to glisten with tears, and Sasuke cursed himself when he felt his heart skip a beat at the sight.

"T-That's not true," Hinata protested again.

"Then why are you tiptoeing around me today?"

Hinata tightened her grip on his hand. She was surprised that Sasuke had not shrugged her hand off like she thought he would. "I…I'm sorry. It is not your fault, it is mine."

Sasuke furrowed his brows in confusion and turned to face her. He slipped his hand out of her grasp only to intertwine their fingers and pull her towards him. For some unfathomable reason it felt like the right thing to do. Besides, Dispatch was not there in this private space to catch him red-handed. "Talk to me," he all but ordered.

Hinata did not pull away. Instead, she smiled at him and said, "It isn't a big deal… It is just that I have been harassed a little by some of your avid fans, but maybe I am just too sensitive. I will get over it in time, so p-please don't worry about me."

Now this arrested Sasuke's full attention. "What did they say to you?" he asked darkly. Hinata continued to trivialise her own experience, but Sasuke did not relent.

Eventually, she admitted, "S-Someone issued a death threat…"

Sasuke blinked at her wordlessly for a long moment, trying to process the severity of the issue at hand. He knew that some of his fans were crazy, but to threaten to kill one of his friends was straight-up reprehensible. Hinata must have been traumatised by this to some extent, especially if he counted the slew of rude comments that she must have received along with the death threat.

He tightened his grip on her hand and looked down at Hinata with a fire in his eyes. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you," he said with dead seriousness.

Hinata must have sensed his sincerity, as she began to blush again. Sasuke inwardly praised her the moment he saw the warmth return to her eyes when she looked at him. She was definitely prettier like this.

"I appreciate the thought, but I don't want to impose-"

"You just have to say 'thank you'."

Hinata blinked up at him for a moment before she broke out into another one of her lovely smiles. "T-Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke nodded in acceptance of this and began to pull away. However, the moment he did, Hinata unexpectedly launched herself at him. He caught her in his arms, but pure confusion flooded his being at her sudden act. He waited for her to speak her mind, but she did not release her hold on him. Her petite arms were still wrapped tightly around his back, and Sasuke was starting to feel his cheeks heat up from how soft her body was when she pressed up against him like this.

"We should go back," he murmured.

Hinata nodded, but she did not let go of him.

"Soon, someone is going to walk in and catch us like this."

Hinata squeaked at that prospect and finally released him. Sasuke heaved a sigh of relief when he no longer had to feel her soft body against his, but she took him by surprise once again by dragging him into one of the cubicles and locking the door behind them.

"Hinata," he said lowly after he managed to collect his wits. She did not deign to respond, merely choosing to stare at their feet while a heavy blush dusted her cheeks.

"What are you trying to do?" he whispered.

There was a long pause, but Sasuke decided to break it by moving to unlock the door of the cubicle. He had no desire to torture himself by remaining in such a small, claustrophobic space with the pretty demon for a second longer. It was not a game where he could emerge as the victor, therefore he would not be a willing participant to begin with.

However, it was in that moment that Hinata did the most unexpected thing: she slid between him and the opened door, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him. It was a chaste kiss, and it was so quick that Sasuke could have missed it if he had blinked at the right time, but he caught on to everything. Well, the gist of it.

He caught on to the startling fact that Hyuuga Hinata had just executed the ultimate power move in her game of seduction by initiating a kiss with him - and in a manner that somehow exuded nothing but pure innocence. This was truly outrageous now. Sasuke was, for the first time in a long while, at a complete loss for words.

"I-I'm sorry."

Hinata's voice sliced through his thoughts like a knife. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her slightly, and he watched her cower under his judgmental gaze. "What are you trying to do?" he repeated.

She did not respond, although he did not expect her to anyway. If he had learned anything about her from their few months of friendship, it was that Hinata would never speak her mind whenever she felt ashamed of what she was thinking.

"You wanted to rehearse for the scene?" he asked lowly. It was a wild guess, but he had to put it out there.

Hinata did not say anything in response, but her flaming red face was telling enough of her line of thought. In return, Sasuke reached out to stroke her face with one hand, while the other went to the door to lock it again.

"All you had to do was ask," he said right before he leaned down to capture her lips with his.