Chapter Three
The following morning, Neji noticed the troubled look on his cousin's face as they walked together to school. She had been rather quiet since the night before when they ate dinner together. She seemed the complete opposite than she was when she told him that she was going to do some work with a classmate.
"Is something troubling you, Hinata?" he asked her.
"It's nothing," she said softly. "Nii-san?"
"Yes?"
"Um…" she twisted her fingers nervously and avoided to meet his gaze. "Do you know anything about Sabaku Gaara-san?"
He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Why do you ask, Hinata?"
"I-I'm just curious," she said softly, her cheeks slightly reddened.
He looked up into the sky and released a sigh through his nose. "I don't know much about him, but I do know that he and Sabaku-senpai are one of the school chairmen's sons, which somehow explains how he got accepted into the school."
"Oh…" she said. "Anything else?"
"That's all I know about him," he said. "He's your classmate, isn't he?"
She nodded her head slowly.
"I advise you to stay away from him, Hinata. I heard he caused a lot of trouble in junior high school." He said.
She glanced at him. "What kind of trouble?"
He looked at her and noticed the worried look in her doe eyes. "I'm not entirely sure, Hinata, but just stay away from him."
She slowly shifted her gaze from him and said very softly, "Okay."
The following days, Hinata spent her hours after school in her room working on their assignment. Sabaku-san had given her his part of the assignment and apologized to her that he couldn't help her with the rest. She doubted him at first, thinking that he was just too lazy to help her and that he was using her, but from the fixed gaze he had, he was honest. Not a trace of doubt crossed her mind ever again afterwards.
She was still bothered by curiosity of the things he did during junior high school that gave him the reputation of being dangerous and frightening. She wanted to know very badly, but she couldn't just ask him. That would be impolite, and he might hate her for it.
During the weekend, Hinata often visited the bookstore in Shibuya just to clear her head from feeling restless and burdened with curiosity. She felt more at peace when she's surrounded by books, mainly in the Fiction section.
She felt more reserved by the time she went back to school on Monday. She gave Sabaku-san a shy smile and softly greeted him good morning as she made her way to her desk. Just after she settled down, he approached her and stood next to her table.
"Are you done with it?" he asked with a bland yet affable manner.
"Yes."
"Did you bring it?" he asked again.
She opened her bag and gave him their assignment. He flipped through the pages with an impassive expression before giving it back to her.
"We'll submit it to Hatake-sensei during the first break," he said before he went back to his desk.
"Okay…" her voice softened into a whisper.
She felt stupid. She wanted to sink her nails into her skull for responding to him with one sentence all the time. She felt so stupid and utterly troubled for being painfully shy.
When the school bell rang for the first break, Sabaku-san called for her from the doorway and all she could do was stutter an "Okay" before she got up and walked towards him with their assignment in her hand.
Hinata walked behind him and kept her head down. She never felt confident whenever she walked down the school hallway. There were just too many people, and she didn't want them to look at her with their frightening judgmental eyes. She didn't want to hear them whispering about her and Neji for being arrogant Hyugas. She felt less confident now that she was following Sabaku-san. Everyone looked at them with frightened and confused looks on their faces. She wanted to shield herself from their whisperings and wanted to disappear before their very eyes and never return.
"Hey," Sabaku-san said and she glanced up, "just keep walking, okay?"
Blinking several times, she answered, "Okay."
She let out a quiet relieved sigh when they had arrived at the teachers' office. Hatake-sensei was nowhere to be found, and so they just put their work on his desk.
"You seemed very uncomfortable just a moment ago," Sabaku-san said to her when they got out of the teachers' office.
"I did?" she asked, surprised.
He seemed surprised to see her surprised.
"Yes."
She blushed and shyly looked away.
"Are you scared of being near me?" he asked apathetically.
She shot her head up and glanced at him. "N-no, it's not that!"
"Well?" he raised an eyebrow.
She felt the warmth spreading to her ears, and once again she looked away. She was struggling to keep herself from stuttering and crying at the same time.
"I…" her voice trembled. She was afraid if she told him what her problem was, he might laugh at her and think that she's weird. The last thing she wanted to hear was a mocking laugh coming from someone after she told him her problem.
"I'm…scared of people." She continued despite her fears.
She was prepared to be laughed at. She was prepared for the mean words that would come out of his mouth. However, no matter how prepared she was, she felt the hot tears forming on her eyes.
"Then you're scared of me." He said.
"No!" the heat spread to the top of her head. "I'm just…I'm just…" She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm painfully shy."
He looked at her without any trace of expressions on his face. She was puzzled. Was he judging her? Was he silently laughing at her? Did he think she's weird? So many questions crowded her mind, yet she couldn't tell any of them.
He averted his gaze from her to the hallway, and said, "Let's go."
Gaara was at the rooftop of the school building smoking his final cigarette before stopping for good. He watched the smoke gracefully dance into the cloudy sky, becoming one with the air that he breathed. His cigarette dangled lazily between his two fingers before he put it between his lips and took a drag.
His mind drifted back at her flushed face and her tear-covered eyes. She was so fragile although he didn't say anything harmful to her. She was painfully shy that she nearly broke down in tears because of one harmless question.
He sighed. He couldn't put a finger why she was scared of people. No, she seemed to be terrified of them. Throughout his life so far, he had learned how to make people fear him, and he wanted that to stop. If Hinata really was scared of him, he would tell her that he's now a different person. If she didn't believe him, it would be best for her to stay away from him.
He chose her to be his partner, because she was so quiet unlike the other girls and she seemed terribly lonely in class. He had been taking notice of her when he saw her silently crying on the fourth day as a sophomore. He wanted to comfort her, but he thought it was best if he left her alone.
The school bell rang for dismissal. The dismal vibe that surrounded the building seemed to be lifted away and a positive one radiated from it.
He bit the cigarette butt between his teeth as he searched for his phone in his pockets to tell Kankuro to meet him in the rooftop with his stuff.
He put his phone back in his pocket and then looked down to see students scramble their way out of the building. The girls were the loudest to come out, without a doubt.
He felt his chest tightened when he spotted her walking side by side with a boy. That boy was probably her cousin, Hyuga Neji. She was always seen with him, and he often heard jealous and intimidated students talk in hushed voices about the two cousins.
Something inside him wished that she would turn around and look up to see him leaning against the rooftop railing. When she did, she would notice it was him standing there. She would smile to herself and raise her delicate hand to wave him goodbye.
He scoffed a laugh. It was funny that he was hoping for something as silly as that.
Author's Note: I've been very good at updating lately, haven't I? Thank you for reading, and don't forget to review, if you'd like! Any kinds of reviews are very most welcome. I'll see you again very soon!