Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Babysitting

Hinata woke up with a start, breathing heavily. She stood up and went to the shower, trying to just forget the nightmare she had just had. She should have been used to it by now, having some kind of nightmare at least twice a week since she was a little girl. But even if you say that, to some extent she would always wake up shaken.

She walked into the shower, reaching for her shampoo, when she remembered that today she would have to go to Kakashi's apartment. Realising this she sighed a little, feeling it was a bit troublesome. Silently she thanked Kami that Genma would be there, she wouldn't have known what she would have done otherwise.

After her quick shower, she put on her regular training clothes, baggy dark sweatpants and an oversized white sweater. She walked down to the kitchen to get some food before she went training.

When she got to the kitchen the cooks had already prepared breakfast, usually she would make her own food, but when she was late like today there was always food ready, and she couldn't deny that the cook made absolutely amazing food.

She sat down and ate her pancakes in silence, thinking about different training exercises she could do during today's training, when someone else joined her at the table.

"Hinata." Neji's firm voice sounded. Immediately she looked up, this was not normal behaviour for Neji, he usually would not sound that serious, he was a morning person and it was usually the only time he was really relaxed (when not meditating at least)

"Hai, Neji-niisan" her soft voice replied, looking up at him, the concern evident in her face. Neji looked down at her, softening his hard features that had burned themselves onto his skin. The two of them had grown much closer after the Chuunin Exams, he could never help but still feeling guilty about it when she had to tell him over and over again, that it was alright and it was in the past.

After the exams, Neji had sort of moved on, and resolved some issued with Hiashi, they got the grudges out of the way, though Neji now instead started to despise him for how he treated his daughter, he could clearly see how his behavior affected the Hyuuga heiress's already lacking confidence. He never confronted his uncle though, figuring that that would be pushing their already straining relationship, and as long as Hinata was happy (which she was despite her father treating her in a very unlike-fatherly way) he would be happy too.

Neji and Hinata had developed a close bond, he couldn't help himself to warm up to that sweet innocent girl who actually never had harmed him, and now he acted as her guardian, a protector if you would like. He became quite overprotective, especially when it came to her fan boys, which he made a big deal out of that she never knew about.

"It has come to my understanding that you are to guard the Uchiha boy tonight." It wasn't much of a question but Hinata understood the underlying meaning.

"Hai Neji-nisan, that is correct." She stated softly, a small smile gracing her pale face.

"Hinata! How could you accept such a thing, you need to cancel, I know you hate cancelling and I would go in your place if I didn't have a mission, but this is unacceptable, what would your father say if he ever found out about this?" Neji spoke with an upset voice (well upset for being Neji), a voice he would rarely use around anyone else than Hinata or his teammate / girlfriend: Tenten

Hinata's small smile didn't falter, instead she just reached out to his hand and looked him in his eyes, he immediately calmed down a bit, it was a gift she had on the calm and stoic men she had around herself, not many women could do something to reach the same effect.

"Don't worry Neji, I won't be alone, Genma-san will accompany me. But even if he were not, I would go, I am a jounin now too you know, I can take care of myself, even though the Uchiha is on a sannin-level, I am not the useless little girl anymore" Her smile had maken place for a more solemn expression, while she lifted herself from her seat and proceeded to move towards they Hyuuga training grounds.

Neji stared at her back while she was walking away, "Oh Hinata-sama, I have no doubt about your capability, of course you can handle it, you can handle anything you would want as long as you put your heart to it. It's just that you don't understand that boys your age see you in a particular way, I don't, - no, I won't let you get hurt because of some trivial boy, no less the Uchiha."

With those thoughts, he also left the kitchen, making a mental note to speak with Genma to remind him to take extra care of her, while he was away on his mission.

Hinata was punching the wooden pole with a controlled strength, getting bored quite quickly. She didn't mind training alone, but right now her condition was in top form, and she kind of needed someone to spar against.

Feeling this was a waste of time (she had been doing it for more than an hour anyway), she packed up her stuff to head back to the main house. After cleaning up, she decided to read some materials she hadn't had time to read before, and also fill out those reports that were due in two days.

That evening at around 6 she decided it was time to get ready for her 'babysitting', her and Genma would meet each other at Kakashi's apartment, where they would make some dinner, so she wouldn't have to eat dinner at home. She didn't particularily mind, for she knew that her father was having some important high ranked guests over, and she knew it would just be some boring polite dinner party, something she would probably have to endure a lot in the future anyway, especially with her turning 18 in a few months.

She walked through her walk-in closet, trying to find something appropriate, yet still casual to wear. She did not like to wear her regular clothes on such an occasion, as she felt those clothes should only be worn during a work-out or mission.

After looking through her options for a few minutes she finally decided on a pair of simple faded grey jeans, together with a dark blue baggy sweater, she had gotten used to wear more revealing clothes hanging out with Ino more, but she always came back to the baggy sweaters, they made her feel cozy and comfortable. She brushed her hair once more and looked in the mirror deeming that she looked ok for a babysitting session.

Before Hinata finished dressing completely she attached her kunai holster on the outside of her jeans. She had already added a small knife at her ankle, and had a belt with shuriken and some other things she could need in case she was called in for an emergency.

She grabbed her dark-green messenger bag and putting it on her shoulder, she headed for the door, she had counted that she would arrive at the apartment at 6.50, a bit on the early side, but she liked being early. Especially since she suspected that Kakashi might need help with bringing the correct gift for his date, sometimes men could be such a disaster when it comes to women, she thought while chuckling to herself.

She walked through the centre of Konoha, Doing something she didn't do too often alone after 6 pm, she started thinking about how it would be with the Uchiha there. 'I wonder if he still rememberes me, eh, probably not. I mean I was all quiet and shy in the academy days, it wouldn't be strange at all if he doesn't even know my name.' she thougth with a small sigh to herself. Sighing because of the fact that she could not have more confidence in herself, once again she found herself envying Sakura and Ino, even Tenten had more confidence then her, 'what am I thinking, of course Tenten has more confidence than me, she is the most confident kunoichi in Konoha' Hinata smiled at her thoughts.

She continued moving through the streets, seeing a bunch of men hanging out right outside one of the local bars, not paying any mind to them she continued walking. After she had passed them she heard one of the men wolf-whistling to a girl, while the other men started laughing.

'heh, she must be quite the girl to get men to whistle to her just passing through town, I wonder who she is' but she didn't want to turn her head to look, finding it rude to intrude in someone else's business.

She continued walking, reflecting upon her non-existent love life, and sighed a bit. "Come on Hina, now is not the time to get all depressed about this, you are going to hang out with Genma (and Sasuke) tonight, you can handle this." She started smiling brightly and walked into Kakashi's neighbourhood.

Finally reaching Kakashi-sensei's apartment she knocked on the door, expecting to see Kakashi. However, her face showed surprise when it was Sasuke who opened the door, with a scowl on his face.

"Uhm, ano.., Kakashi invited me o-over." Hinata quietly stated, looking past Sasuke into the apartment, in hopes of finding Kakashi there. Luck was on her side today, for he appeared right behind Sasuke, with his hair still wet from his shower, and his ever present mask adorning his face.

"Hi Hinata-chan! Just ignore Sasuke here for being so rude, he is just grumpy since he can't go out with such a fine lady as me" The last part was said with Kakashi totally becoming a radiating sun, even though they couldn't see his smile, the knew... they just knew...

"Hn, you wish" Was Sasuke's monotone answer, while he turned his back on them and moved into the apartment. Kakashi motioned for Hinata to follow him, and she also went into the apartment, closing the door after her.

She waited on the sofa while Kakashi finished getting dressed, Sasuke had vanished the moment she came into the apartment. She looked around the apartment, it was not huge, but was certianly fit for two people. The living room was attached to the small yet cozy kitchen. Momentarily she was sitting on one of the two sofa's in the livingroom, the living room also consisted of a coffee table, two book cases, a new TV (she knew it was new, since it hadn't been there when she was there about two months ago, she figured it probably had something to do with the fact that Sasuke was living there now.)

The other parts she could see at that moment were four closed doors, and the entrance to the apartment. One door she knew was the bathroom, a rather luxury one if she could say so herself, she knew Kakashi liked comfort, and no doubt picked this apartment just because of the bathroom. Another door was a broomcloset, one was Kakashi's room as she had just seen him dissappear in there, and the last, she guessed while lingering her gaze on the door, must be Sasuke's room.

She didn't noticed when Kakashi came back fully dressed, looking very handsome dressed in something else than the usual. He noticed her gaze lingering on the door leading to Sasuke's room. "You don't need to worry, Genma will be here soon enough, and he should not be a bother" He assured her putting a hand softly on her shoulder.

She was startled from her thoughts, and a small "eep!" ensued,, then she turned red from embarassment for letting her guard down, especially considering it was her superior.

Though right before she could reply anything, a knock sounded on the door, and Kakashi went to open the door for Genma. ' few! Saved by the bell...' Was all Hinata could think, before Genma came right in and gave her a bone-crushing hug.

When Genma let go, Hinata had a small smile adorning her face, they turned towards Kakashi who was now about ready to leave for his date, after just coming back from the Uchiha's room, probably telling him something like to not cause trouble, or whatever he said.

"Hinata, there is food in the kitchen, don't be scared to use anything, if you don't want to cook then let Sasuke make his own dinner. Genma, make sure things go alright." The last part was added with a more serious tone, making it seem to Hinata they had talked about this before, but she just brushed it of as nothing.

With that said, Hinata gave him a shy hug, and whispered a quick good luck to him. Genma only waved at him from the couch.

Genma and Hinata had been watching TV for about an hour now, still not having seen a sight of Sasuke, though both could tell he was in his room with all the chakra patterns and all. They were watching Greys Anatomy, Hinata's pick and Genma just went along with it since he knew it would be the episode where Izzie would have a break-down and pretty much strip until only her underwear was left.

They were watching the show quietly, Hinata's head resting on Genma's shoulder, both quite content in their position, someone (like Ino) might have mistaken this position for something else, but they both knew perfectly well how they saw each other.

Both nin turned their head and instinctively reached for their kunai resting against there legs in case of emergency, when they heard a door creak. When they saw who it was, they stopped reaching for their weapons and sat up, wondering what Sasuke would want, after hiding for over an hour and now suddenly appearing with his ever-present scowl on his face.

He barely acknowledged them when heading towards the kitchen, they both presumed he was hungry, and now when she thought about it, she was hungry too.

"You hungry?" Hinata asked her companion, wondering if she maybe should make dinner for all of them, it could make the whole awkward situation a bit better she reasoned.

"Hm, a bit actually, but you don't have to make dinner just because that brat is hungry" Genma assured her, she only stood up with a soft smile and headed towards the kitchen, there she found the Uchiha searching every cupboard for food, it didn't seem like he had ever been in that particular kitchen before and she wondered how he had gotten food so far, however she quickly forgot that thought when he spoke to her.

"What are you doing here, I don't need help." He spoke angrily while glaring at her. She felt herself shrink under his gaze, but then remembered that she was more confident now, and that she was the one in charge here, not him.

She surprised him, that she could actually speak without the annoying stutter she had had when she was still in the academy, yes he still remembered her, she was the only girl who did not have a crush on him, thanking Kakashi for being considerate when picking out a babysitter.

She replied "I know you don't need help, but Genma and me are also hungry, so I figured I could make dinner for all of us, or if you want to make something for just yourself its fine too" She replied weakly, thinking 'I am in charge' over and over again.

"Hn" was his reaction, before heading out the kitchen and she heard a door slamming, which she presumed was his bedroom door, she assumed this meant that he wanted dinner as well, and she started on making some riceballs.

Not much later Genma joined her in the kitchen, asking her if she needed help with anything, after making a bit of small talk about how his current girlfriend was (turns out that things were not turning out well, and he was going to end it, no big surprise there right?:P), and a bit about her training and missions, before he went back to the TV (the scene where Izzie was stripping was coming up.)

Hinata continued making dinner, being almost done with the saus they would eat together with the riceballs. She hoped Genma and Sasuke didn't hate her cooking skills, she continued her cooking while softly singing to herself, one of the songs she only sings while cooking, the one her mom used to sing to her when they were baking ginger bread, a sad smile covered her face remembering her mom, her hands never faltered from making dinner.

In the mean time Genma had finished watching Izzie stripping and was now watching the last parts of the episode, he didn't even look up when Sasuke came and sit in one of the chairs in the living room, not showing his surprise of the young Uchiha watching Greys Anatomy. I mean who would expect the young Uchiha avenger to like to watch a sappy tv-show with almost no violence?

"-Is she almost done with dinner?" the stoic Uchiha asked with a deep voice, looking very annoyed.

"If you want your dinner quicker go make it yourself, she is not some proffessional cook here just to serve you, you know?" Genma lazily replied, irritation could be heard in his voice because of the Uchiha brat.

"Hmpf! I only asked a normal question, and what's with you jumping up in her defense immediately, is she your girlfriend or something? Didn't know you to be such a pervert to go for underage girls, nevertheless the ugly ones" Now Sasuke was openly smirking yet still glaring at the older shinobi, trying to push his limits. He did not actually think Hinata was ugly, he barely had taken a look at her, only seeing her wear some baggy sweaters, thus assuming she was a bit chubby. However, that was not the point, the point was too see how Genma would react. And he found out quickly -

- Genma jumped up, grabbing Sasuke at his collar and pressed him against the wall, Sasuke was midly surprised with the strong reaction he got, nevertheless he did not mind, he was only hoping that Genma would mess up and hit him, so he could have an excuse to fight someone, it killed him that he was barely allowed to spar, only when someone was guarding him, and even then they didn't really want him to keep his powers up properly, in case he decided to go all evil / emo again.

Genma glared that would even have an ANBU-captain's smile falter, he spoke with a growl "Fine you go and insult me with whatever comment you make, but if you even dare to insult Hinata in my presence one more time, I'll make sure no one in this village will recognize you ever again, you will be deemed an outcast, no matter that you are friends with that Uzumaki-brat, no matter if you are friends with the fucking hokage, it will not help you. So I advice you to shut your trap and wait nicely on your dinner, and even if it tastes shit you will act like you like it, because if you don't, if you hurt Hinata's feelings then I will - "

He never got to finish his threat since at that moment a honey-sweet voice spoke "Genma, S-Sasuke, dinner is ready!".

Genma let go of Sasuke, and he fell on his feet with a soft thump. Genma turned his back on him and walked to the kitchen to help Hinata, making sure that she would not notice anything different as he release his anger. Sasuke stared at the retreating back with mild interest, wondering what the hell made a jounin act like that because of a little insult towards a simple kunoichi. He could definetly see nothing special about her.

Sasuke didn't understand at all, the rage he had seen in Genma's face. He knew that the insinuation of a relationship between the two was based on nothing, he knew it couldn't be true since he had seen Genma with other women and from things Kakashi had told himw hen he thought that Sasuke wasn't even listening, but this new piece of information definetly made him rethink the whole relationship.

It was also interesting since right before Kakashi had left on his so-calle date, he had interrupted his relaxing-ALONE-in-his-room-to-be-by-HIMSELF to warn him to behave around the Hyuuga, he had never been warned before, and he had been left around plenty of different people, all from Sakura to Asuma to Tenten, and never once had he been warned.

"Hmm, this is interesting" The young Uchiha thought while staring at Hinata quietly laughing at one of Genma's joke as she put the food on the table. He walked into the room, not feeling the need to have Genma become pissed of again for not "liking" Hinata's food or something, thus he ate in silence, looking down at the table, thinking and reflecting over his time in Konoha so far, yet he found his thoughts drifting back to the Hyuuga-heiress several times during dinner.

Here is another chapter, I am sorry for not have updated sooo long, it is because test-week came up, and then other stuff came up, and yes, now it is Christmas Break, about time don't you think. I will update a couple of times during the coming weeks, I will try to write a bite veryday, and then post a chapter every 4-7 days, but we shall see, I have to work as well (unexpected, but Im happy about it, earning money FTW!:P), anyways, I hope you guys like the chapter, I might work on it a bit more sometime this week, since I haven't really gone through it carefully, and some part might be really bad, whatever, you tell me

Review please:P

Huggies until next time....

- HyuugaAE