Fragile Hearts: Two
"So you're going?"
"I didn't say that." Her lavender eyes scanned one movie title after the next as she stared at the many DVDs before her.
The brunette scoffed on the other end of the phone. "You should show up, just to show him that you're over the little incident."
Hinata frowned deeply. Little incident. That's all everyone made it out to be, she couldn't blame them however as she never told anyone the full story...not even Kiba. A feeling of fear and disgust bubbled up inside her as she remembered that night and suddenly she felt dirty. Dirtier than she had in her entire life.
"I don't know," she finally said shaking the bad memories from her mind. It wasn't healthy to dwell on the past and besides, he couldn't hurt her now...right?
Tenten sighed, "I wish I was there so I could slap some sense into you."
"Ouch," she replied as though she'd been hit. Violent much. "When are you going to visit?"
"I don't know honestly. Being a social worker is harder than I thought it'd be." The chocolate-eyed girl whined.
Hinata giggled, "at least you're doing something you love."
There was a moment of silence, "yeah. Well, I'll try for some time next month."
"You better," the pale girl said with a smile. Her fingers skimmed over the hard plastic cases that housed the DVDs. "When did it become so hard to pick a movie?" She mumbled to herself, but unfortunately for her Tenten heard.
"Movie? I can help."
Hinata rolled her lavender eyes, "no thanks Tenten. I'd rather not sit and watch soppy love stories all night."
"Hey, The Notebook isn't soppy," she muttered in response. "Besides you could learn a few things from romance movies."
She took down a copy of The Avengers, "really? Like what?"
"Like falling in love, hello! Earth to Hinata Hyūga!" She yelled in her ear. "Do you want to grow old alone?"
She grabbed a few movies from the action section without looking at their titles. "Trust me, it's better this way."
"Better for who?"
"Me alright." The Hyūga sighed in frustration. This was why she hardly called Tenten, they'd always end up arguing over her nonexistent love life. It drained her and now all she wanted was to run herself a hot bath and watch movies all night while stuffing her face. Because that's what single women do right? She shook her head and made her way to the cashier. "I have to go."
"I'm sorry Hinata."
She placed her movies on the counter, "it's okay, really."
"If you say so. Alright talk to you soon, take care of yourself," she said, affection evident in her voice.
"You too Tenten," was all she said before hanging up. Hinata turned her attention to the brown-haired cashier with whom she'd grown familiar with. He had a red swirl on both his cheeks and was a bit chubby.
The cashier glanced at the movies she'd placed on the counter then back at her. "Bad day?"
"You could say that."
...
From: Sasuke-San
'The party's this Saturday. See you there :)'
8:34 p.m
Hinata groaned as she read the text message in the elevator. She'd never been so indecisive in her entire life. But who knows? Perhaps she would go, just to make an old friend happy.
"Come on!" She heard as soon as the elevator doors slid open. Her eyes widened when there was a loud bang followed by groans of frustration. Stepping into the carpeted hallway, she saw a brown-haired girl hunched over with her hands on her knees gasping for breath. She watched as she straightened and placed two hands against her lower back. Her light brown eyes fixated on the door, she backed up a bit before charging at the closed door. "Son of a-!"
"Um..." Hinata spoke up sensing her frustration. Her heated gaze turned on the Hyūga that hadn't moved from her spot. The lift doors closed behind her and the silence filled the space around them.
"Sorry," she said running a hand through her loose, long hair. "It's just that my key got stuck in the lock and then it broke...so I'm trying to...you know..." She said gesturing to the door. Hinata nodded slowly, clenching the paper bag with her movies in her hands. The awkward silence returned as they both stared at each other. "I'm Tamaki." The brunette said after a while, approaching her with her hand outstretched. "And you are?"
"Your new neighbour," the Hyūga replied shaking her hand.
Tamaki chuckled nervously, "Sorry."
"You should call for help," she suggested withdrawing her hand.
Her counterpart rolled her brown orbs, "I did! I called for the maintenance man almost an hour ago."
"Oh," was Hinata's only reply as she walked over to her door a few feet away. She opened it quickly and turned to Tamaki, "i-if you want you could stay with me until he comes."
The brunette bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced at the open door and her luggage in the hallway. "Thanks," she said quietly getting her stuff. The Hyūga smiled warmly at her before closing the door behind them. She shrugged off her jacket and draped it on the coat rack on the wall. "Wow," was her visitor's reaction to seeing her home.
"Make yourself at home," she said quietly while placing her movies on the coffee table in the living room. Leaving, she walked towards the small kitchen, "tea?" She asked on her way.
"Sure, why not?" Tamaki replied sitting hesitantly on the white sofa. Her eyes glanced around the living room with awe. Her feet rested on a black and white, checkered carpet that spanned the area between the three couches. A painting of a caged bird was situated on the wall opposite the flat screen tv that sat in the middle of the black entertainment center.
Getting up she was fascinated by the pale girl's movie collection. From inside the kitchen, Hinata heard her guest's loud outburst, "whoa!" Rushing into the living room she was surprised to see her standing with a few of her DVDs in her hand.
"Erm...what happened?" She asked unsure of what was happening exactly.
"I fail to understand how someone as neat and conservative as you, watches action and thriller movies." Tamaki said nonchalantly. Hinata frowned watching her as she had somewhat insulted her character in her own home. "I thought you'd have been a more romance or comedy type of person."
"Oh...sorry t-to disappoint."
The smile fell from Tamaki's face at the sound of her voice. She turned to face her with an apologetic look on her face, "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry if I did..." She furrowed her eyebrows, "wait, you never told me your name."
Hinata bit the inside of her cheek and glanced away. "Hinata. Hinata Hyūga."
Her counterpart nodded and placed her movies back. Hinata cringed as she knew she's have to re-alphabetize them later. She returned to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, waiting for the water to boil. It was for that reason why she didn't have people over...they'd ruin everything. Everything she worked so hard to keep in order...to keep pure. They'd taint it with their blighted hands, destroying not only it but a part of her in the process. The more she thought of it, the more she wanted to be alone.
"You're still upset?" She heard from the entrance of the kitchen. The pale girl straightened quickly and turned to face the intruder.
On seeing the sad look on Tamaki's face she shook her head, "no."
"Hmm," she hummed leaning against the wall. "I have a habit of saying whatever comes to my mind without thinking." Hinata nodded, having noticed this from their previous conversation. The brown-haired girl sighed, "but that's the least of my problems."
The Hyūga removed the water container from the base of the cordless electric kettle and poured the boiled water into two waiting cups. "Problems?" She asked trying to keep the conversation going.
"This is my first time living alone and I need a job," she complained. "I've never particularly had to take care of myself before. It was always..." Hinata didn't press, knowing that it was something personal. She couldn't judge either, having her fair share of skeletons in the closet. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on her door. "Expecting someone?"
"Not at all," she replied leaving the kitchen. The midnight blue-haired girl pulled down her rumpled blouse as she approached the door. Tipping on her toes she peeped at the person standing outside her door. Having recognized him she opened the door.
"Hello Miss Hyūga, sorry to disturb you, but have you seen your new neighbour?" The maintenance man asked. He was much taller than the Hyūga, with short, brown hair and almond-shaped, black eyes.
Before Hinata could reply there was a loud outburst behind her. "I'm right here you lazy as-"
"Tamaki," Hinata scolded cutting her off. The brown-haired girl simply folded her arms and looked away. "Uh, well I invited her to stay with me since you were taking a while, Mr. Yamato."
He nodded and gestured to Tamaki, "I removed the piece of key that was left in the lock." She scoffed, obviously still annoyed. "Turns out your apartment is actually number 38, not 37."
The brown-eyed girl froze having acknowledged her mistake. Yamato handed Hinata a replacement key and said his farewell. Closing the door Hinata suppressed her laughter as she looked at the frozen girl. "It's okay," she said quietly handing her the key.
"See what I mean?" She groaned pacing, "my first day and I'm already screwing up."
"You'll be okay...living alone just takes getting used to," Hinata whispered looking around the small space.
"I guess..." Tamaki sighed. "I better go get settled in." Hinata nodded and helped her with her luggage. By the time she returned to her apartment she knew her tea had gotten cold. With a sigh, she marched to her bathroom and turned on the tap to run herself a warm bath.
After almost an hour in the bathroom, the lavender-eyed girl got dressed in a plain, black, long-sleeved, sleeping shirt and pink and black sleeping shorts. Her feet were warm against the cold wood, she pulled back the sleeves of her shirt as she stood before her stack of movies. Her leftover pizza was already in the microwave, all she needed now was the movie.
Her gaze switched from title to title, plot lines running through her head. She frowned deeply at the disorganization that had trespassed into her collection. Hinata pulled them out one by one, anger rising within her as she tried desperately to restore the order that had been there. One fell from her hands, looking down at it she realized that she wasn't angry at Tamaki, but at herself.
Her disorganized movie collection was a reflection of the way her life was at that moment. And the more she tried to reorganize and hold on to what little order was left of it...was the more it was slipping from her hands. She was a mess, a time bomb just waiting to explode...and it was all his fault.
He'd left a scar that reared its ugly head at the slightest memory of him. Maybe she hadn't moved on...and everyone around her could see it. She was drowning in her past, stuck in a static present and unwilling to change for the future.
She placed what movies she had in her hand back in their previous state of disorder. Glancing at the coffee table she picked up the paper bag she'd forgotten with her new movies. The sound of the microwave stopping filled the small apartment. Gathering everything she needed quickly she migrated to the confines of her bedroom.
She wasn't sure what exactly she was watching, all she knew was that people were running from some pending danger. A girl, who she suspected was the star of the movie was screaming and that was it. Hinata ate absentmindedly, too lost in the many thoughts roaming around in her head.
Her cellphone rang just then alarming her. Searching quickly through the sheets she found the shrieking device. "Hello?"
"Hinata," she relaxed at the sound of Kiba's voice. "I told you I'd call."
"Kiba-kun." There was a loud scream from the TV.
"Don't tell me you're watching horror movies again."
"I don't know what I'm watching exactly." She said truthfully; the concept of the plot was a mystery to her.
Kiba sighed, "you okay?"
"Peachy, and you?" The pale girl replied taking a bite of her cheese pizza.
"Tired. That blonde guy completely drained me." He complained.
Hinata giggled while turning down the volume of the television. "How's the cat?"
"She's fine. The way he was fussing about her you'd think I was going to amputate one of her legs." An image of the blonde stranger from before flashed across Hinata's mind. She remembered him clearly, his tanned skin and whiskered cheeks. Blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen, not to mention his god-like physic. "...are you listening to me?"
"Huh?" She asked realizing that she'd zoned out. "Sorry, Kiba-kun." The brown-haired man sighed on the other end of the phone making her feel bad. Taking a deep breath she made a hasty decision. "Um...would you like to go with me to Sasuke's engagement party this Saturday?"
There was a moment of awkward silence as she stared at the TV while waiting on his response. "I don't know. Let me check my schedule."
"Kiba," she whined and he laughed.
"Of course I'll go with you," he chuckled.
Hinata wore a sad smile while looking at her bed covers. "I'll give you the details tomorrow."
"Okay, well I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye," she whispered and listened as he repeated the word. The line went dead and so did her hope of avoiding her past.
6
Fragile Hearts | A NaruHina Story
©Infinite_Writer01™2016
Thank you for reading!
