Rumours and Assets
The rumours at Konoha Gakuen High have been confirmed and Itachi Uchiha is indeed pursuing the new Hyuuga girl. And for the sake of defeating him, Sasuke wants to win her affections first. With his good looks and "too cool for you attitude", it couldn't be too hard, right?
A/N: I am so sorry for the late update but I was dealing with really busy weeks full of assignments and exams, so I'm sorry about that, but it's holidays now, so yay for more updates! To all you wise children who knew about Gaara... you are wise beyond your years... and here I thought I was being sneaky with my plot! XD
I know you all have been wondering why I chose to make Gaara a nerd in this story but please watch this video of Shippu! Konoha Gakuen Den Special! to get a clear understanding where I got the basic idea behind some of the characters: www. youtube . com / watch?vuXVcWu5sM28 (obviously remove the spaces)
Also, I realised that some of you may not like some of the minor couplings that are referred to but, I guess we all have our preferences, yes? :) And I do apologise if the characters are a tad OOC in this... I've just been really stressed and it's hard writing right now, so I hope you understand...
Onto chapter 7!
...
Hinata had to continuously reassure herself that she would be able to cope, even with Sasuke acting as the Kyuubi Prince. At that thought, her heart picked up speed and she squeezed her eyes shut, mentally demanding her accelerating heart to calm down.
"Don't worry," Kisame had attempted to reassure her with a departing grin, "you only appear four times in the play and each of them are short."
Yes and all of those short appearances are in the company of the Kyuubi Prince, a voice at the back of Hinata's mind reminded her for, seemingly, the ten billionth time that Saturday evening.
"Oh no! What do I do? What do I do?" she cried, pacing her room, her hands in her hair.
She reasoned that there was no possible way for her to act as the Kyuubi Prince's love interest or anyone's love interest for that fact, even if it was a play. She wouldn't be able to handle any of those situations especially if the person who was acting interested was someone that she was sure didn't like her, or at the very least, he didn't think very highly of her.
"What do I do...?" she mumbled worriedly, wringing her hands. "What do I do...?"
She lifted the script in her hands so that she could read it. "F-Fuujin... uh... um..." There was a pause before she grabbed at her hair in distress, face burning red. "H-how e-embarrassing! Th-there's no p-possible way for me to d-do t-this!" she cried before deciding it was better to put the script away and forget about it for the moment.
...
"Hellloooooo there!" Tobi greeted cheerfully at the door of the Uchiha residence. "Looking as dashing as ever Itachiiii! I just wanted to visit you to give you this!" the masked senior said, holding out a love-heart shaped candy box to the older Uchiha.
Itachi did not even bat an eyelash before he proceeded to slam the door in the Akatsuki leader's face.
Tobi's hand caught the door before it closed. "Tobi was joking, Tobi was only joking..." he sobbed weakly, his throbbing fingers caught painfully in between the door and the door frame. "I'm only here because Kisame wanted to talk to Sasuke about his role in the play."
"Idiot," Itachi breathed, opening the door again. He turned to glance over his shoulder before speaking to someone behind him. "Sasuke, Kisame is here to see you."
"Why should I care for?" came the younger Uchiha's retort.
"I assume he's here to see you about The Sharingan Princess play and perhaps help you with it, unless you wish to continue practicing it with me."
Tobi and Kisame could almost hear the vein pop out on Sasuke's forehead. "I already told you, there's no way in hell that I would act with you again!"
Itachi turned back to the two Akatsuki members outside and stepped aside, opening the door further to allow them room to enter. "I shall assume that Sasuke agrees with speaking to you from that reply," Itachi said calmly.
The blue-haired Akatsuki walked into the room, passing the impassive Itachi and grinning in genuine amusement at the younger Uchiha's dark looks and mutterings. As Tobi made to step into over the threshold however, the door suddenly swung forward and the masked Akatsuki leader was forced to quickly throw his hands up to push against the door.
"IIIItttaaaccchhiii..." Tobi whined, tears seemingly streaming down his face behind the mask. "Please let me iinnn..."
"Not unless you die," Itachi replied flatly.
"Cruel!"
"I hope you can do a better acting job than my brother," Sasuke said in disdain, as if he did not expect much from the blue-haired senior standing across from him.
The grin on Kisame's face broadened. "Mind you, Sasuke-san, I wrote that script," the blue-haired senior said, somewhat proud as he grin broadened-if humanly possible-even further.
There was silence as a fly buzzed past the two.
"Oh," Sasuke began, face blank of any emotion, "then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I severed your limbs?"
Kisame couldn't suppress his amused grin. He knew that the younger Uchiha was difficult to please and had a rather moody disposition in comparison to his older brother. In spite of this, he wondered whether the younger Uchiha's acting was as Itachi had said, not near enough to surpassing his inflated ego.
"Itttaaacchhiiii...!" Tobi continued to whine at the door, struggling against it as Itachi continued to attempt closing it on him.
Kisame spoke, not bothering to turn around. "Itachi-san, I know that may be amusing to you, but I think you can let him in now."
"Never."
...
Rain pounded against Sasuke's bedroom window as he rolled his aching shoulders, shrugging off the jacket he had been wearing to keep warm and rubbing his tired eyes as he headed to his comfortable bed that was beckoning to him. He was too exhausted to have a shower that night, deciding he would make up for it the next morning having had to stand the company of different Akatsuki members for the past two nights. He had thought he had seen the last of them when Kisame and Tobi had left the night before after attempting to give him some "thoughtful" advice-which he had thoughtfully chosen to ignore-but found his eye twitching convulsively when he was greeted at the front door by the sight of the Akatsuki group, many of them having insisted to come as to watch Sasuke "make a fool of himself, hn" (which had been Deidara's exact words as he had forcefully stepped into the house, uninvited, along with the other Akatsuki members).
"Who asked you to be here anyway?" Sasuke demanded testily, glaring at each member as they forced their way past him.
Noticing his aggravation, Kakuzu glanced at his watch. "It's 6:30am," he stated simply, as if he couldn't care less anyway.
"Oh yeah, isn't this the time he gets pissy?" Hidan asked, scratching his head in annoyance. "Aw man, because if he were to get pissy, that would piss me off too. The last thing I'd need for my blood pressure to rise is for some pubescent teen to turn PMS mode on me, y'know?"
"I hope you're not referring to me," Sasuke muttered darkly, slamming the door behind them.
"I don't think we could be referring to anyone else, hn," Deidara called from the kitchen as he stepped back into the living room eating some left-overs from the night before.
"Why the hell are you going through our fridge?" snapped Sasuke, his foul mood increasing.
"Because I can," Deidara replied, stopping directly in front of Sasuke as he took another bite out of the food in his hands. "What're you going to do about it, hn?" he asked tauntingly.
"Don't make me-"
"That would be enough, Sasuke," said Itachi's velvety voice as he suddenly appeared, poking an unsuspecting Sasuke on the forehead. "They've requested to come and watch you perform for them-"
"Who the hell said I was performing for them?"
"-and I agreed to this request, so please perform to the best of your ability," Itachi explained smoothly, as if there was nothing further to discuss.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "Itachi..." he growled lowly, gritting his teeth in irritation, his fists clenched tightly as he glared down his brother.
Ignoring the two Uchiha's, Konan spoke up as a thought came to her. "That reminds me," she asked dully, having only come as Pein had been dragged to the Uchiha residence by an insistent Tobi. "As the Hyuuga is playing the Blossom Medic, shouldn't she have been made a lead as well? She is, after all, playing the love interest of the Kyuubi Prince."
Sasuke's head whipped in her direction. "What?" he asked, stunned.
Tobi waved his finger at him disapprovingly. "Ahh, Sasuke seems to not have read the script yet despite being the main character of the play. Ahh, shame on you Sasuke, shame! And here, Kisame had kindly asked you yesterday to read over the script to get a clear idea of your character and to be able to successfully portray him-"
"Who asked you to be here?" Sasuke asked, clearly irritated by the talkative Akatsuki leader.
"'Like brother, like brother' , as the saying goes!" Tobi wept, stung by the Uchiha's question.
"It's 'Like father, like son', idiot," Pein corrected, also annoyed by the masked Akatsuki leader (as he had been dragged there despite having clearly told Tobi that he was not even remotely interested in watching Sasuke act).
And so, Sasuke had endured an entire day with the Akatsuki constantly badgering him and intentionally doing things to rile him and have him snap at them which Deidara and Kisame always found highly amusing. It didn't help that when he actually attempted to read over his lines aloud, Tobi would boo him and claim that he lacked "passion" in his reading, which resulted in Sasuke flinging his script at the Akatsuki leader's head and demanding their entire group to leave if they were not satisfied with his acting, which of course none of them did.
He thanked the rain silently as he collapsed into his bed, it being the reason why the Akatsuki had decided to leave, many not wanting to arrive home in sopping clothes (with Konan and Pein not minding as if they were quite accustomed to the rain).
He closed his eyes.
It was late and he was thankful that he could finally get some rest. He had had enough trouble with his brother intentionally setting his alarm early to wake him up in the schooldays, but if he were to have the Akatsuki persistently arrive every weekend morning (most likely to get a kick out of tormenting him), he would very well lose his sanity.
And with one last thought about the play role he resented, he allowed sleep to wash over him.
...
Creamy white, soft skin were the only words that registered in his mind.
His index finger trailed softly down her collar bone, along her arm, his dark eyes following the movement of his hand, past the cloth that enveloped them.
"U-Uchiha-san?"
Glancing up, he saw a flushed Hinata Hyuuga, seated before him in her sleeveless pajamas, waiting and watching him expectantly. "Isn't it time to get up for school now?" she asked, cocking her head to the side before reaching forward and pressing an ice-cold tomato to his face with a bright smile.
Sasuke Uchiha jolted up in bed, clamping a sweaty hand over his mouth. What the hell was that?
Before he could gather his thoughts together, knocking was heard on his door and he turned to it, his brows pulling together as he frowned. He already knew who it was without having to ask. "What is it, Itachi?" he asked roughly, not in the mood to see the other Uchiha after having had such a bizarre dream. It was normal for guys to have such dreams right, after all, nothing really happened in it besides there being a girl that he didn't hold any particular interest in. All the same, Sasuke couldn't help the twitching of his eyebrow as he recalled the dream he had had. Creamy white, soft skin... Sasuke found himself thinking before he growled aloud in annoyance and scolded himself mentally, reminding himself that this was the Hyuuga girl he was talking about.
There was more knocking on his door and Sasuke grumbled incoherently before pulling off his bed sheets and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. "What do you want?" he demanded, not in a good mood after having been woken up so early. Mainly because of his dream, but it wasn't helping that his older brother was insistent on torturing him every morning.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and Tobi leapt into the room, arms open wide. "Good morning, m'dear!" he sang, jumping towards an alarmed Sasuke.
Instinctively, Sasuke kicked the Akatsuki leader in the face, sending him crashing into the bedroom door before grabbing his chest as if he had had a heart-attack. "How the hell did you get into our house?" he cried, eyes still wide in shock as he stared down at the back of Tobi's head.
"Arghh... like brother, like brother, I see..." Tobi mumbled into Sasuke's carpeted floor as he slowly pushed himself back up.
"Stop saying that!" Sasuke yelled, kicking Tobi's head back into the floor. "And get out of my room already, idiot!"
Meanwhile, outside of Sasuke's door, Itachi walked away feeling somewhat accomplished. He had after all, decided to leave the front door open to allow for a non-existent breeze to come in.
...
"Uh-m... I was wondering..." Hinata began in her soft voice, embarrassed at what she had resolved to do.
It was Monday morning and instead of taking her usual route to her locker to take out the books necessary for the first two classes she had, she had made her way down to where she knew she would find the two people that she could easily trust. The two people that she was sure wouldn't laugh at her if she asked for what she needed assistance with. Although she was sure they wouldn't laugh, she still found it rather embarrassing of her to have to ask for help, but knew she had no other choice in this matter. It seemed she hardly had a choice in numerous things nowadays.
"Umm... I needed to practise my role..." Hinata explained quietly to the two people before her, somewhat embarrassed as she poked her index fingers together. "And... I can't seem to... get into character properly... so I was hoping... c-could w-we...?" she blushed, unable to continue.
Understanding her request, Kiba grinned and gave her the thumbs up as reassurance. "So you want to practise the script with me and Shino, right? Man, don't worry about asking us for help! You shouldn't be embarrassed about things like that, I mean, we're friends, right?" Kiba asked, thumping Hinata enthusiastically on the back.
Reassured, Hinata gave a small smile to her old friends. "Th-thank you," she said gratefully.
Feeling as if she were being watched, she glanced over and caught Sasuke looking in her direction as he was passing on his way to his locker. He frowned, his brows drawn down together in annoyance and looked away. Hinata continued to stare at him in surprise until Kiba and Shino took her attention once more, asking which scene she wanted to first practise with them.
"Well... I would like to... practise these scenes..." she began as she took out her script, her mind not entirely focused on the pages in her hands before her.
Somehow, she had annoyed the Uchiha prodigy. But how? She hadn't even said a word to him yet. She shook her head, attempting to clear it. Why would she need to worry herself over that matter? He seemed to be annoyed with everything she said and did, so it shouldn't surprise her anymore. It was just his moody disposition and his somewhat egotistical personality that made him annoyed with her and perhaps even look down at her. After all, why wouldn't he? No matter what she did, it seemed that he would find a reason to snap at her.
She quickly flicked through her script to the first scene that she would make her appearance in the play and decided that it was best to avoid the Uchiha for the rest of the day if he was determined to feel annoyed by her presence or for whatever reason it was that irritated him about her. She kept her eyes down on the script in her hands, lips pressed firmly together in feigned concentration as he passed by.
She didn't feel like dealing with him today.
...
"Oh yeah, I think I heard from Lee that we're going to be having a class rehearsal today," Kiba said as the thought suddenly came to him whilst Hinata continued searching for the scenes she would appear in in the play.
Hinata's eyes widened and she fumbled the script in her hands. "A r-rehearsal?" she repeated in horror, blood draining from her face.
"It's only reading over the script. Neji wants to ensure that everyone did their homework and read over the script," Shino explained simply, hands deep in his pockets as he stood off to the side.
"Yes! That's right! Are you ready, Hinata?" Sakura's enthusiastic voice called from behind the indigo-haired teen.
Hinata spun around, eyes wide in surprise at the bubblegum pink-haired teen's sudden appearance. "S-Sakura-san..."
Sakura smiled brightly and took Hinata by the arm. "Come on! Let's go to Homeroom together," she said as she began to lead the way, obviously excited by the prospect of a class rehearsal.
Hinata gazed at her confident friend by her side and lowered her eyes, smiling sadly to herself. She had wanted to become something like that. Someone brimming with confidence; someone that people noticed to have a strong and positive personality.
She had wanted something like that. A change.
And yet, she still felt that familiar bitter sensation; that feeling that was burning into her arm where Sakura held her.
A burden.
Hinata closed her eyes and simply wondered. What would it be like to be changed?
She drew closer to Sakura, who turned to her with a smile, patting her shoulder. "Do you need to go to your locker?" she asked gently, noticing the expression on Hinata's face.
"Y-yes..." Hinata replied, her voice sounding quiet and distant to her ears. She suddenly recalled that Sasuke had passed by a few minutes ago on his way to his locker and shook her head, reaching out and tugging lightly at Sakura's arm in the direction of the Homeroom, deciding against venturing to her locker during this morning time where the grouchy Uchiha was most likely to greet her. "I-I can go to it before first class..." I don't want to trouble you, Hinata added mentally, that burning sensation on her arm once more.
Sakura studied Hinata's face for a moment and decided against questioning her. Perhaps, there was a lot on her friend's mind at the moment. The corners of her mouth pulled into a tight smile for her friend. "Okay," she said simply as they made their way to Homeroom, arm in arm.
...
It was painful to watch as Sakura forced a pained smile, her jade-coloured eyes filled with tears that she struggled to hold back. It was too painful to watch, that was what Hinata thought as she clutched at her aching heart, wishing that she had not caused this much pain for her friend.
"Y-you... do you know..." Sakura spoke softly, voice trembling and her smile painful and strained. "Th-that... the truth is, he... he loves you instead..." she ended in a whisper, struggling to hold back the tears she knew were threatening to spill. "He..." she gulped, tears brimming her eyes as she struggled to continue smiling to the indigo-haired girl before her, clenching and fistful of her clothing tightly to prevent the tears from escaping.
"S-Sakura-s-san!" Hinata cried, tears brimming her eyes also as she watched her friend struggle with herself. She clenched her fists tightly but she couldn't bring herself to say what she knew she should. "I-I..." she began, clenched fists trembling uncontrollably as her mind went suddenly blank. "I... I-I'm so s-sorry everyone!" she choked out instead, bowing low before Sakura and the rest of the class, with many slapping their foreheads and sighing in response to the Hyuuga's predictable actions.
Neji's eyebrow twitched. At this rate, we'll never get passed Sakura's line with Hinata-sama's compassionate personality. The Hyuuga's eyebrow continued to twitch. But to feel sorry for someone when they're obviously just acting...
Reaching forward and placing a hand on Hinata's quivering shoulder, Sakura smiled at the indigo-haired girl. "Don't worry, Hinata, I'm sure we can get passed this part with more practise," she said encouragingly.
Hinata looked up at her, eyes still teary. "A-are y-you sure...?" she asked, doubtful, knowing she lacked the confidence to be able to pull of such a large acting task.
Sakura nodded confidently. "Definitely! I'm sure you'll get the hang of this acting business," she said smilingly.
Gaara's voice prevented any further conversation in the classroom as he spoke loudly to gain the class' attention. "All right, we'll go over that scene one more time."
Blushing, Hinata nibbled her lip and gazed down at the class floor, ashamed of her poor acting skills and her inability to remember any of her lines. They had already attempted doing this scene three times and every time she had failed to recall the words she was meant to say and unable to prevent herself from becoming teary-eyed from her friend's more superior acting ability. She clenched her fists tighter, her nails biting into her palm. "I don't want to do it again..." she said softly so that only Sakura could hear her, her brows knotted together.
Turning to her, Sakura noted the expression on Hinata's face and turned back to Gaara and Neji, raising her hand to call attention to herself as she intended to speak. "Well, I think we should move onto the next scene. We've done this one a couple of times already and besides, it's a first time rehearsal. I think we can focus more on scenes and correcting mistakes down the track, so let's just move onto the next scene," she explained, Hinata feeling a rush of gratitude towards her fast-thinking friend.
"All right then, if that's fine by you Neji," Gaara grunted, re-adjusting his gleaming glasses.
Knowing that it was painful for the majority of the class to watch Hinata continuously fail, he decided to give what the class wanted. "I'm fine with that," he began nonchalantly, nodding his head in dismissal to Hinata and Sakura who resumed their seats at their desks. "I think the next scene we'll have should be the one where the Kyuubi Prince encounters the antagonist of the story, Yamano Orochi. Naruto and Sasuke, that means you two," Neji said pointedly to the blonde and raven-haired teens seated before him, smirking to himself. He knew that although Hinata was not a very good actor, it was only because she lacked confidence in herself and he was quite sure that the two teens now standing before him and the class, glaring at one another, were simply all talk and physical strength and because of this, Neji had concluded that they most likely lacked in drama abilities.
And how right was he.
"You," Sasuke began to read in a flat voice, his eyebrow twitching and mouth pulled down into a straight line as if he were focusing. "I will not allow you to take Kushinada away," he continued to read in his monotone voice as he drew out the sword from the sheath hanging on his school belt, a prop given to him by the class president.
Naruto squinted at the script in his hand, frowning as he too, appeared to be concentrating hard. "Um, argh, you shall not stand in my way... um..." Naruto fumbled the sword prop in his hand, earning a few laughs and giggles from his classmates. He raised the sword and pointedly it directly at Sasuke, eyes however, never leaving the page held up before his eyes. "This is the path she has chosen and I shall take her... you... cannot... stop me..." Naruto attempted to emphasise.
"I won't allow this," Sasuke replied dully, pointing his sword at Naruto also.
An awkward silence settled over the class as they watched the duo's poor performance before them.
Ino sweat dropped and scratched her platinum blonde hair, puzzled. "Um... are they serious?" she asked, feeling embarrassed for the two rehearsing in front of the class.
"I think they are serious," TenTen replied, also sweat-dropping.
Kiba held his sides as he laughed hysterically, mentioning that he couldn't breathe as he rocked on his chair from laughing so uncontrollably. "AHAHAHAH! You guys reek! You're awful!" he choked between laughs.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"Shut up! It's not my fault that he can't act!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the annoyed Uchiha.
Sasuke snorted, a sneer marring his face. "You're the one who can't act, dobe!"
"What'd you call me?" Naruto snapped, throwing his script to the floor.
Sasuke followed suit, his script also falling to the floor. "You heard me, dobe," Sasuke hissed.
"Now, now," Kakashi said cheerily, their teacher for first period. He calmly walked up to the two, stopping in front of the both of them and placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let's remain calm about this, yes? It's nothing to fight about, after all, we're all friends here, right?" he said, with supposedly a smile behind his mask.
Both Sasuke and Naruto continued to glare at one another, clearly contradicting Kakashi's words.
Gaara glanced over at the student council president, noticing the way the Hyuuga's brow twitched convulsively in annoyance and cleared his throat. "I think that's about enough. We'll have the actors for the next scene of the play," he said in cool dismissal.
Hinata watched as both Naruto and Sasuke threw one last glare at one another before they turned huffily, resembling children as they stormed back to the seats.
"I think it's pretty clear that Sasuke just ruined his image in mere minutes in front of the entire class," Kiba said to Shino, not bothering to lower his voice.
Oddly enough, Hinata turned to look at him over her shoulder, her brows creased together in somewhat of a frown. "K-Kiba-kun…" she mumbled, unable to scold her friend yet feeling sympathetic towards the Uchiha prodigy. She knew how it felt to be mocked because of the inability to act.
Kiba simply grinned and raised one shoulder in a shrug and Hinata fell silent before turning back, her pale eyes resting on the pink-haired teen beside her who seemed to be forcing a smile.
"S-Sakura-san?" Hinata asked, worried by the strained smile.
Sakura remained silent for a moment longer before breathing out. "Oh. My." She turned to the concerned Hyuuga, her brow twitching in sync with the corner of her mouth. "Oh my," she said simply again, pressing her hand over her mouth to contain a laugh she was sure would escape.
"S-Sakura-san?" Hinata repeated, watching as Sakura doubled over with suppressed laughter. Realising that the slightly older Haruno was only laughing, she smiled in relief and lowered her head onto the desk to be level with Sakura. "You're not disappointed are you?" she asked softly, recalling Ino's words the other day.
"Ahahah!" Sakura laughed into her hand, attempting to stifle her giggles.
Hinata waited patiently for her friend to sober up, hardly listening to the chatter around them or the performances before them.
"It's nice," Sakura whispered to her as she stared straight ahead, a bright smile lighting her face.
Tilting her head to the side, Hinata remained silent and waited for her to continue.
Closing her eyes, Sakura continued to smile as she spoke. "They're like brothers. Both of them."
Naruto-kun and Uchiha-san? Hinata thought as she glanced across the classroom at both Sasuke and Naruto, the Uchiha with a serious expression on his face, brows knotted furiously together and Uzumaki with a cross between a frown and pout on his. But Uchiha-san already has a brother…
Now that she thought about it, whenever both Uchihas were mentioned in the same sentences, it wasn't because they were relating them together as brothers but rather as enemies; two people who supposedly hated each other (well, it was true in Sasuke case). Why didn't anyone recognise them as brothers as they did with Naruto and Sasuke?
Uchiha-senpai, do you prefer being considered Uchiha-san's enemy rather than his brother? Hinata found herself wondering as Sakura, being a main character for the play, was called up to perform with Ino in the next scene. Do you mind that people are replacing you, as Uchiha-san's brother, with Naruto-kun?
…
"Hey, where's Hinata-chan, hn?" Deidara asked as he scanned the rooftop at recess, seating himself.
"She's probably somewhere rehearsing her parts in the play," Sasori answered in disinterest as he pulled out a banana and began to peel away the skin.
"Konan can confirm that," Pein said as he pulled himself up onto the roof from the ladder.
"That would be correct. I just saw her when Pein and I were heading here, practising her lines with two boys from her class, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame," Konan stated as she also pulled herself onto the rooftop and headed to her usual spot.
"Ahh, glad to see she's working hard on my play," Kisame said with a grin, biting into his sandwich.
"Well, that still kind of pisses me off," Hidan put in grumpily, folding his arms over his chest as he scowled.
"Why would that piss you off?" Kakuzu asked. "We're not losing any money from her absence, are we?"
Hidan whipped his head in the direction of the group's banker, sneering. "All you ever fucking think about is money! It pisses me off!"
"Oh, that's a surprise, since literally everything pisses you off," Deidara said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the silver-haired Akatsuki member.
"Who the hell asked you, piss brain?"
There was a moment of silence before Kakuzu spoke up in a dangerously low tone. "Hidan."
"What?" Hidan snapped, turning back to the money-interested Akatsuki member.
"Shut up or I'll kill you," Kakuzu warned.
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Can someone deal with him?" Zetsu asked, nudging the Akatsuki leader with his foot as he lay on the floor. "He's frothing at the mouth."
"That idiot gets worse each time Hinata-chan's absent from the group, hn," Deidara said indifferently as he continued to eat his lunch.
Pein glanced over at Tobi before turning his attention back to his recess, ignoring the sulking senior. "What an idiot."
...
"F-Fuujin... p-please take b-better care of yourself!" Hinata forced out.
Raising a brow but deciding it was best to continue, Kiba replied, "As long as you remain by my side, I will do so."
Hinata flushed, unable to focus on her script any further. "Ah... ah... ahh..." she stammered, too embarrassed to continue.
Kiba wanted to sigh aloud but suppressed the urge to, knowing that he had to simply wait patiently for Hinata who he knew to be a very shy and self-conscious girl. There was no need to scare her by showing his impatience. What she needed now was encouragement, not further discouragement.
Although he was trying not to show it, Hinata knew that the Inuzuka must be frustrated with their continual need to go over the same lines as she would forget her lines or freeze up on the same part, each and every time. Yet still, she continued to receive words of encouragement from both Kiba and Shino who knew it was best to be patient with her.
"I-I'm s-sorry…" Hinata stammered, staring at her shoes in embarrassment, knowing that the apology probably wasn't sufficient enough for the many times they had gone over the same scene. I'm hopeless! she thought bitterly, biting her lip.
Noticing that she was disheartened, Kiba quickly waved away her apology. "It's okay, don't worry about it! We'll just go over that part again, just stay calm and focus on your lines," he said supportively, grinning at the deflated Hyuuga. "Come on, Hinata, don't worry! You're capable of doing this, I know it!" he added, hoping to keep her spirits up. Kiba glanced over at Shino.
"Yes, Hinata. You have our support," Shino put in at Kiba's look.
"Yeah, so come on! Let's do this again!" Kiba enthused.
Biting her lip, Hinata drew in a deep breath before lifting her chin determinedly. Now wasn't the time to be depressed over what she lacked. She needed to work hard at improving rather than brood about it. The official performance was in less than three weeks time now and there was no time for her to waste on moping. She clenched her fist.
Hadn't it been what she wanted? A change?
"O-okay. H-here I go," she said, recalling her first few lines in the scene.
She had to continue to work harder to achieve that goal.
That dream.
...
The first three days of the week flew by and the Akatsuki hardly ever saw Hinata as she would devote her recess and lunch to rehearsing the play with both Kiba and Shino with it resulting in her being able to get through the first scene with only a few hiccups and the second scene caused quite a bit of trouble for her as it was a scene with only her and the Kyuubi Prince, Fuujin Kazemaki, and throughout the entire rehearsal, her imagination remained on overdrive with her being unable to get the image of Sasuke Uchiha reading in a monotonous tone the romantic lines of the Shippu Kingdom Prince. With those thoughts in her head, she struggled continuously to remember her lines for that scene. How would she deal with this scene when she actually had to rehearse it with the Uchiha prodigy? The very thought of it was unnerving.
It was recess on Thursday when Hinata was tapped on the shoulder as she was rehearsing with Kiba and Shino and she noticed the alarmed expressions on both of her friends' faces which alerted her at to who it could possibly be. Her guess was confirmed when she turned and looked at the Akatsuki member behind her.
"S-Sasori-senpai!" Hinata said in surprise, wondering what could possibly bring the senior out to this area.
"It's quite bothersome that the leader sent me out here to get you," Sasori stated, to the point, eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"T-Tobi-senpai? Is he alright?" Hinata asked in a sudden rush of concern.
"In a sense, no," Sasori replied simply. He paused and stared pointedly at Hinata causing her to blush. "I do hope you remember that I hate waiting."
"E-eh?" Hinata stammered, not understanding what he meant, the colour deepening in her cheeks.
Sasori's eyes narrowed further. "Are you going to make me repeat myself?" he asked in a deathly tone.
"Hey, I don't know what business you have with Hinata but I don't like your threatening tone buddy," Kiba interrupted, stepping in front of Hinata and standing between her and the glaring senior.
Raising an annoyed brow at Kiba's intrusion, Sasori glanced over at Shino, taking note of his offensive stance from the side before returning his gaze to the Inuzuka and speaking crisply, "I am not, in any way, your 'buddy' nor was I in any way talking to you. Tobi has requested that I escort the Hyuuga back to the Akatsuki." Ignoring the two teenaged boys, Sasori shifted his attention back to Hinata. "Hurry up, I already told you that I hate waiting."
But you didn't say anything about me coming with you in the beginning! Hinata cried exasperatedly in her head before sighing defeatedly and stepping out from behind Kiba who looked at her in surprise. She forced a smile. "I-it's all right, I sit w-with them," she explained briefly, sweat dropping when Kiba's mouth fell open in horror.
"Y-you…? Whhaaat?" Kiba cried in surprise, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Hinata smiled nervously until the Akatsuki member turned on his heel and began to walk away which made her bow quickly to her classmates with a hurried goodbye leaving her lips before she chased after Sasori.
"Do I have to repeat everything I say to you?" he asked in irritation when she finally caught up to him.
Biting her lip, Hinata stared down at the floor underneath her feet. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
Silence fell over them as Sasori led the way back to the group, walking briskly ahead of her and Hinata sighed mentally, always finding it difficult to initiate a conversation with any Akatsuki member. She struggled with herself to say something to the senior ahead of her and was disappointed when they reached the ladder that led to where the Akatsuki sat on the rooftop and she still had not started any kind of conversation. It was one thing she would have to work on with each Akatsuki member.
Though it was expected, she was still alarmed when Tobi practically leaped from his spot on the rooftop at her, nearly succeeding in embracing her entirely had Hidan and Deidara not jumped forward and restrained him.
"Fucking pervert," Hidan growled.
"Stupid idiot," Deidara added.
"AHHHH! PET-CHAN! PPPEEETTT-CHHHAAANNN!" Tobi sobbed, fighting against his restraints. "I will not stop until I have held my Pet-chan!" he vowed, continuing to struggle against both Hidan and Deidara's hold.
"H-hello, Tobi-senpai," Hinata greeted, sweat dropping as Tobi continued to thrash about.
"Pet-chan is calling to me! Did you hear? She's calling to me! Return to my arms my beloved!"
"I could fucking kill you, moron!" Hidan threatened causing Hinata to sweat drop further as he tightened his hold on the Akatsuki leader.
"He's bordering on insane as you can see, although, it's nothing new," Pein explained in his bored tone without looking up, casually reading a book.
"Ahh… y-yes… o-okay…" Hinata sat down, still watching Tobi struggle in concern.
"Don't concern yourself with his idiocy."
The unmistakable velvety voice made her jump in surprise. She turned, her pale eyes meeting the older Uchiha's dark ones.
"U-Uchiha-senpai," Hinata greeted, lowering here eyes. Monday's thoughts of the Uchiha brother relationship ran through her head once more and unconsciously she clenched fistfuls of her skirt.
Itachi noted her clenched fists, his lashed obsidian eyes returning to her face. "Konan stated that you've been practising," he said, concise and to the point.
Hinata jumped once more at his voice. "U-uh... yes... I have been..."
There was a pause where Itachi simply observed her, his face portraying nothing. "Are you going to rehearse with Kisame?"
Hinata shook her head. "N-no... I was hoping... um..." she paused and poked her index fingers together, knowing that so far she had failed miserably in all her rehearsals with Sakura, Kiba and Shino who she knew must be becoming impatient despite how much they reassured her that she would do fine on the actual day. She still struggled to get through the first scene and with the second scene, she found she was unable to deal with the uncomfortable situation she knew she would be in when she would be rehearsing with the younger Uchiha.
Itachi watched her fidget nervously for a few moments. "Would you prefer rehearsing with me then?" Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side as he studied Hinata.
Heat rose into Hinata's cheeks and she hurriedly waved her hands wildly in refusal. "N-no!" she exclaimed, too embarrassed by even the thought of rehearsing her scenes with the older Uchiha. "I-I wouldn't want to trouble you," she added hastily, hoping that she hadn't offended him with her sudden refusal in case he had been offering.
"It wouldn't be of any trouble," Itachi replied calmly.
Hinata shook her head and bowed quickly, face still burning. "I-I appreciate it though," she murmured, cheeks still coloured pink as she tried not to imagine Itachi reading aloud the Kyuubi Prince's lines.
He nodded and turned away, eating his recess in his trademark silence and Hinata breathed out mentally in relief.
Reaching into her bag, Hinata smiled to herself as she pulled out her recess. There were so many people who were willing to help her with the play. It made her very happy to know that there were people who wanted her to succeed or improve. It made her very happy.
"Peeettt-ccchhhhaannnn!"
And despite that, she couldn't help but feel frightened by those people as well. She sweat dropped and turned to see Deidara and Hidan continuing to restrain Tobi. "Uh-m... m-maybe... Deidara-senpai, Hidan-senpai... it's all right to l-let Tobi-senpai go... I-I really don't mind if he h-hugs me..." Since he really just hugs my head... Hinata added thankfully in her head.
"Don't encourage him," Kisame said with a laugh.
"DID YOU HEAR THAT? RELEASE ME NOW, MY LOVELY PET-CHAN COMMANDED SO!" Tobi cried, struggling more violently against Deidara and Hidan's hold.
"I've loaded my pockets with exploding clay, so if you keep thrashing about you'll trigger them!" Deidara yelled, frustrated.
"Why the flying fuck did you load yourself with fucking exploding clay?" Hidan shouted in disbelief, his grip loosening on the Akatsuki leader.
"We have art next period!" Deidara explained defensively.
"That's no excuse, piss brain!"
"Idiot," Sasori mumbled as he bit into his sandwich.
"What did you call me?" Deidara yelled, throwing his fists up, prepared to fight. In a split second, he froze, his eyes widening in horror.
"A fucking piss brain!" yelled Hidan as Tobi escaped both their holds and leapt, seeming to soar across the sky towards a terrified Hinata, rooted to the spot.
"PPPEEETTT-CHHHHAANNN!"
There was a painful crunching sound as Itachi's foot met Tobi's face in a swift and effortless manner.
"U-Uchiha-s-senpai..." Hinata stammered in horror, her eyes as wide as saucers as she watched Tobi fall to the ground.
Itachi calmly continued to eat, never turning to look at the damage he had caused. "He'll recover," he said, unconcerned.
"A-as that s-song goes... You're as cold as ice," Tobi muttered weakly from the pain.
Yes, Hinata couldn't help but feel frightened by those supportive people as well.
...
It was Friday afternoon, the fifth and final period for the day when Neji announced that next week would be when they would begin rehearsing scenes as a class, with the following week being the official dress rehearsals.
Hinata could almost hear her world shatter repeatedly in her ears. There was no possible way that she could act out her scenes with Sasuke being present in each and every one of them. All she could hope was that she could somehow take advantage of the possible alterations that they were allowed to make. All she could do was hope.
That didn't solve the stomach ache she was having from stressing.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she placed her hands together and simply prayed that she would be able to endure the hardships she was sure was to come. She only had the weekend to prepare herself for it.
Even in the weekends, Sasuke had to force himself to take deep breaths to calm himself as he felt an aneurysm approaching. He gritted his teeth at the loud chatter around him which had cause the throbbing morning migraine and took another deep breath.
"Who asked you all to be here?" he asked in a low voice, attempting to restrain himself from exploding. "And why... are you raiding our fridge again?" he snapped at Deidara, who simply raised his brows in innocence, the bone of a drumstick popping out of his mouth.
"This guy's always pissy," Hidan grumbled, picking up a CD from a disc-rack nearby, examining it.
Kakuzu raised a brow as he turned to him. "You're one to talk, Hidan."
"Does that mean Tobi can raid your fridge too?" the Akatsuki leader asked as he practically bounced over to the kitchen. "Would anyone else want some food too?" Tobi sang out from the kitchen as the sound of the fridge door opening was heard. "Tobi's a good boy for asking!"
A vein popped out on Sasuke's forehead and he clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he slowly counted down from ten.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind having some food," Kisame answered with a grin.
"Me too, hnn," Deidara agreed, his voice muffled as he ate the roasted chicken that sat on the plate in his lap.
Sasori's brows creased together as he looked at the chicken. "You're already eating, idiot."
"By the way, where's Itachi?" Zetsu asked as he seated himself comfortably on the large sofa.
Flicking a fleck of lint off her clothes in boredom, the well-informed Konan answered, "I do believe he left early to supposedly visit the Hyuuga doctor to check his eyesight, although, I am one to believe that he simply left to leave Sasuke to deal with us on his own."
That was the last straw for Sasuke.
Upon returning to the front of the Uchiha residence, Itachi Uchiha simply blinked and continued to walk down the street, looking about himself. Convinced that it wasn't his bad eyesight, he back-tracked to the unmistakable Uchiha mansion, it's front door hanging by a hinge, windows smashed and a random roast chicken laying abandoned on the driveway.
He then made a mental note to never leave Sasuke alone with the Akatsuki ever again.
...
End chapter seven.
A/N: OMGOSH, I finally updated! I'm so glad! This chapter was extremely long because I hadn't updated in so long, so I do apologise for that.
Here is my livejournal link to the characters in the play, who's playing them and how they link to mythology and the Naruto universe: errechan . livejournal . com #cutid1 (please removes the spaces) I know I said that I'd have the storyline for the play up with this chapter but I've been really busy, so I only have the characters and the explanations up. Hopefully by the next chapter I'll have it up. D:
So anyways, I wish I could reply to all you reviewers because you're all wonderful but please do continue to leave reviews. Thank you for your continual support, you guys are awesome! :)