Title: Of Silent Verses and Torn Pages
Author: Vampiress22
Rating: PG-13 ( T )
Pairing: SasuHina
Challenge: Birthday

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— — —

Heavy white slush coated the windows of my black BMW. The night sky dimmed to a recumbent blue, only lightened by the few, glowing lampposts. The road swooshed past me as I steered through the flooding streets full of many other cars. It was a Saturday, Christmas on a Saturday. I hadn't been back in the old town since tonight, but I felt so alive. I was missing out of all the fun. It was not adequate to be here, but I had to stay here. Automobiles covered the streets, driving to friend's houses, late night parties, and midnight mass. It was late, and I was late.

The annual party held by my best friend, Naruto, was in session. And I was late. I was extremely late. I thought back to our days in high school when we invited the cliché girls and the football guys. It had always ended up being a late night, and I ended up spending the night there. The lightly painted house, yellow and white, matched the floral decorations as it always had. Now, as I arrived in front of the same house, dimly lighten, I found no cars parked close by. I was very late.

The engine's purr slowly softened to a silence. I grabbed my keys, my duffel bag, and I was off to the house, off to the same, yellow house, in which only Naruto lived, now. His parents had been…a bit out of their heads to let him own the large place, but they trusted him when they moved back to Japan. And he earned the place to live in. He belonged there; he linked his personality into it. He was a guitarist, something I never believed he would become such, but it was something he enjoyed. He had enough money to reside in the house when it was his time.

However, we were only in college, a month off for vacation, and as I entered the house, I was brought back to a few faces that I didn't exactly recognize. Some took time to get back to, but Naruto Uzumaki stood out, with his washed-out blond hair, those same laughable blue eyes, and that stupid grin always lined on his face. No matter how old we got, I think I would never forget my good, old friend. He had been the only one who I could ever trust, and that was all I needed.

As I made my way through the almost empty halls, I found beer bottles scattered on tables, paper plates reclining on couches, a few mistletoes hanging from the ceiling—typical Naruto.

Before I could make my way to Naruto, a pair of soft, delicate arms grasped me. I was awestruck, wanting whomever it was to let go of me, but then I saw those pink locks, a soft giggle, and I already knew who this was.

"Sakura, do you want to suffocate me?" I asked sarcastically, the first time I had done that in years.

She released me, and I saw her once again. She looked…different. Her pink hair had grown out, her eyes were the same dazzling green, but she seemed different. Despite her appearance and the arm, which intertwined with hers, she still answered me with a gracious smile. Old crushes never did grow old, but I was never in love with her. Sakura was the one who was fond of me back in high school. With Naruto next to her, I could see things had changed. The way they looked at one another…Things had definitely taken a turn.

She smiled at me and added to the sarcastic conversation. "Maybe I do."

Naruto cut in between, letting go of Sakura's small hand, and he grinned that same idiotic grin he always had. "You're late."

"Very late," Sakura added.

I nodded my head. I knew I was late. Nevertheless, a drive back to the town where you once lived, where you cherished life, brought back memories. "I guess I missed the party," I recited.

Naruto nodded his head. "It doesn't matter. As long as you're staying for the New Years Party, I could care less."

I smirked at him. Naruto never changed. "The same room, right?"

He nodded and I walked that way, up the stairs, up to the room I stayed in every year. The house was almost empty. I could still hear chatter from the living room as I grasped the balustrade with my bare arms, my other hand clutching a small duffel bag, enough clothing within it for the week. Soon, I would fall asleep, fall deep asleep, and forget about college, about the pain in the neck of a job I was going to get when I was older, and just wonder, was it all worth it?

As I turned the corner, watching a few unrecognizable girls pass by, probably leaving, I found the oak door still the same, behind them. My fingers twiddled with the knob and it turned. Through the entryway, I found the pale walls, rough, coffee carpet, and a girl. What was a girl doing in this room? Her hair stayed sprawled up on the bed, as she lay there, oblivious to my presence. She wore dark-rimmed glasses, eyes glued away from me. Headphones were in her ears, A Time to Kill by John Grisham in her hands. She turned the page as I placed my duffel bag down. What was she doing here?

"Excuse me?"

She seemed to have heard me, her hands flying to fold down the corner of the browning page, pulling her earphones out of her ears, and her eyes became attentive. I noticed the slight glint in her eyes, pure and light behind those speckles. Her hair glistened in the fluorescent lights, and she smiled at me, shyly. I could see that she was about to say something, but I heard someone yell from downstairs. "Hinata, it's time to go!"

Instead, she remained silent. Quickly, she got off the recumbent bed, grasping her coat and purse. She dashed out of the room before I could even say another word. What had she been doing here? I would never know, because Naruto wouldn't know who she was. It didn't matter. It wasn't as if I was ever going to meet her again.

So after placing my clothing in the wooden closet and shutting the door once more, I walked back downstairs to enjoy the remainder of the party.

—

The next day followed with my crawling out of bed, showering, and finding something so utterly unimaginable.

On the bed, lay the one thing I didn't believe anyone would forget. The purple headphones; glossy, clear screen; soft, silver, metallic casing held her songs. Her iPod lay on the bed, on my bed. How was it possible for a girl to forget a contraption that was so expensive and overused? She probably thrived on the thing, for all I knew. How was I going to get Naruto to tell me whose this was? He never remembered half of the people he would invite for his parties. He had probably passed out as it was. I would have to wait until later today, until his hyped-up fever had worn down.

When I held the silver, sleek mold in my hands, I could only stare. I sat on the recumbent bed, just gazing at it in disbelief. Who would forget something this important, really? I thought back to the girl, her small figure, her glasses, her antisocial manner. She didn't seem as though she was the partying type, and she proved it by being in isolation in a single room all alone. I guess some people were just different.

I turned on her iPod classic, just to take a peak into someone else's life. It was strange, thinking about not having fun. Yes, I had had those moments of being in distress and wanting to get away, but this was a bit much, at least in my eyes.

The screen popped up, and I saw And One, flash on the screen. Hmm…that was interesting. She had been reading A Time to Kill. Strange, Linkin Park matched up with a cold case of mystery. Yeah, she was definitely from another planet. It was as if I was a young boy, thinking that girls had cooties and were so irrelevant, but still, I continued through her endless songs and settled to looking at her Most Played songs instead.

And One

Linkin Park

Bleed

Anna Nalick

Gone Forever

Three Days Grace

Hands

Jewel

In Pieces

Linkin Park

Lyrical Lies

Cute Is What We Aim For

My Immortal

Evanescence

Lust Prima Vista

The Spill Canvas

Pressure

Paramore

Miss Murder

AFI

It was an obscure mix; I had to admit that. For a girl, she listened to many feminine songs, but still, there was the death metal and alternative rock I hadn't expected. She hadn't looked as though she could have handled it with such ease, but she was matching up her books and songs as though they were pieces to a puzzle. And even though I hadn't read anything by John Grisham, as I listened to the song, And One, I noticed the way that it matched, the way the scary reality took over me.

Where should I start

Disjointed heart

I've got no commitment

To my own flesh and blood

Left all alone

Far from my home

No one to hear me, to heal my ill heart

It didn't seem so impractical that she was not as cliché as the rest of the girls. Still, she was not normal. Alien or girl with glasses, she didn't seem to be half-bad with this taste in music, books, and so forth. So I continued to listen to her songs, the way she looked at the world. She wasn't just another girl.

Well, it's been almost a year to the moment

When I finally realized it was over

And I knew that love wasn't good enough

Of a reason for me to stay

Well, I saw you yesterday; you were drivin'

And I tried so hard to forget

You were alive, and as you passed by I began to cry

Over things that I did not say

Bleed by Anna Nalick was the song. I had remembered Sakura speaking of her…sometime in the past. I had expected her to be some woman who sang about boring love stories and romantic get-togethers, but this was beyond that. Somehow, I could picture her as more of a mature woman, reading between the lines. That was probably the reason why this girl listened to her. What was her name again? Hinata, I believe, from what I remembered from the remains of the calls from last night. Hinata…sunny place, I think it meant. I was a bit off on my Japanese lately. She was a real character in her own story. I could picture her in my mind, reading a book like Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picolut and letting the song keep repeating continuously.

My bashful childhood came back to me. Among her family, she must have been forgotten, just as I had been. But some of us learned to use it to our advantage and have friends help us through it. That was where Naruto and Sakura came along for me, but I didn't know for her. She seemed quiet, reticent, and so forth. Therefore, I continued to listen, to further my education about her.

Now things are coming clear

And I don't need you here

And in this world around me

I'm glad you disappeared

So I'll stay out all night

Get drunk and fucking fight

Until the morning comes I'll

Forget about our life

Clearly, Gone Forever by Three Days Grace was a saddening song. Hinata had probably been listening to it at a depressing moment in her life, or a time when she just needed to express her emotions through those lyrics, through the words of a book such as The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

If I could tell the world just one thing

It would be that we're all OK

And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful

And useless in times like these

I won't be made useless

I won't be idle with despair

I will gather myself around my faith

For light does the darkness most fear

A simple book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a classic of the late 1900s was what this song aimed for. Hands by Jewel, this was truly a diverse girl. She went from mysterious tales of criminals and lawyers to ranchers in Southern California.

—

I had to ask Naruto if he knew who she was. I had to give her this back. But for now, it was time to gain a little more information about her. It wouldn't hurt, right?

I found Naruto in the kitchen, probably still worn from the alcohol he had consumed the previous night. Still, he managed a grin as I strolled towards him.

"I found this on my bed?" I said.

He gave me a puzzled expression, but then grabbed it from my hands, holding the iPod as though he was examining it carefully. "Hinata's? Figures."

"So you know who she is. Good."

Naruto laughed, nonchalantly. "Hinata is Sakura's roommate. They've been friends for a few months, but Hinata's distant. She usually spends her time with her iPod and a book."

I nodded, understanding why she had left so abruptly. "She's probably looking for it."

"Yeah, and we have to go over to their place tomorrow, anyway. It's Hinata's twenty-second birthday. It's the perfect present for you to give her."

"Sure…" I kept my calm act plastered on my face, but on the inside, I felt a little jolt of happiness come inside of me. It was only a little jolt.

—

You promise me the sky

Then toss me like a stone

You wrap me in your arms

And chill me to the bone

There's truth in your lies

Doubt in your faith

All I've got's what you didn't take

Action packed, along with adventure and the adrenaline rush was Linkin Park's In Pieces. It was probably a book like I am a Legend by Richard Matheson, which she had been reading when she perfected her mind with something mind boggling and science fictional. It was late at night, and I could keep going with her top ten songs, just for a little while. It wouldn't hurt a fly to understand her a bit better than anyone did. She needed a friend, right?

An old man gave me a tip he said:

"Don't waste your time with politics," he said.

"Just chase skirts instead."

"Life is too short, and you're almost dead," he said.

"I met a woman once, I gave her my best shot."

"But never did I talk and talk and talk."

"If I had her back, I'd be as real as my age."

"I so don't blame them, I wouldn't do the same."

"But I can blame them, I'd sing her this…"

High school crazed boy, damned girl, which was a book's possibility. Maybe she had read something like This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen that I had seen some girls reading in eighth grade. It was Cute Is What We Aim For after all, with Lyrical Lies.

I'm so tired of being here

Suppressed by all my childish fears

And if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

'Cause your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

This was the song that showed the romantic side or Hinata, I presumed. My Immortal by Evanescence accompanied by a Nicholas Sparks classic such as Dear John was probably what I pictured.

I'm on my knees,

but so are you

Unfortunately for the wrong reasons

I keep incessantly believing that you're pure,

but you know it's not true

There's nothing wrong with being lonely

Crack open a bottle of red

Let's toast to this here bed

Offer up your hand

My one night, two month, three year stand

I stood by my separate bathroom mirror, brushing my teeth as I thought about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It did match La Prima Vista by Spill Canvas. Forbidden love, everything every single girl dreamt of, so surely Hinata had the same wishes.

Now that I'm losing hope

And there's nothing else to show

For all of the days that we spent

Carried away from home

Some things I'll never know

And I had to let them go

I'm sitting all alone, feeling empty

I crawled under the covers of my comfortable bed. The peer pressure, the dreams, the witnesses, and the desires all fit Paramore's song Pressure, yet I assumed Hinata was the type to be an unbeliever of simplicity. She much have been more complex, more in control, and probably read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

With just a look they shook

And heavens bowed before him.

Simply a look can break your heart.

The stars that pierce the sky;

He left them all behind.

We're left to wonder why

He left us all behind.

Miss Murder by AFI was distinct from all the rest. It was a mix of rock and emphatic tunes that were very imperious against other sounds, yet many people probably didn't enjoy their work. On the other hand, Hinata was the polar opposite. She could have been reading a book such as Hitler by Joachim C. Fest for all I would know, and understand it better than I could. She seemed so fictional just as all the characters in the books, I suspected she had read, were, yet, she was the real one. So I turned off her iPod, pushed it aside, and fell asleep.

—

"Just the four of us?"

"Yes, it's only us for tonight. I told you, Hinata doesn't enjoy being around so many people. It is her birthday, after all," Naruto replied as we entered the small, yet classy, restaurant. It was December twenty-seven, Hinata's birthday.

I found velvet, red curtains draping the windows and the table in which the two girls sat at. Sakura grinned, but despite it all, Hinata, the girl who wore no glasses now, seemed a bit glum about the matter.

As we sauntered towards the table, I found myself face to face with the girl who I knew already, through her mementos. Her eyes were a dazzling purple, bright and blinding, which I hadn't noticed before because of her glasses.

Naruto gave a quick kiss to Sakura as he sat down across from her, and I sat adjacent to him. He introduced us, finally. "Hinata, this is Sasuke. You two met, he said, during the Christmas party."

She nodded her head, carefully.

I hadn't heard her say a word, which bothered the hell out of me. So I said what I could, the only thing I could. "Happy birthday."

It was simple, really, and so small talk was made as we mingled over portioned meals and soft music playing in the background. But still, not a single word released from Hinata's perfect, pink lips.

As the music grew fainter, silence overtook the table as Naruto asked Sakura to dance, and she accepted radiantly, leaving the two of us in an awkward position. She wouldn't look me in the eye, I noticed. "Here," I said, handing over the iPod that was resting in my pocket the entire night. "You forgot it that night."

"Thank you," she squeaked. Her voice was light, soft, and elegant. "I'm sorry…I guess I come off as nothing close to far-fetched. I…just don't like to talk much. "

I scoffed. "I noticed."

A small smile appeared on her face, so tiny that only I could notice. "You have good taste in music, by the way," I mentioned.

She gave me a puzzled look, a soft blush painting onto her cheeks. "You went through my iPod?"

I nodded my head.

She let out a little laugh. "I didn't expect you to. You seemed a bit scared on Christmas to find me stuck up there, alone."

"Not scared…" I said quickly. "You enjoy reading too, right?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Mhh...Hmm…"

She seemed to be everything I had compiled. She was smart, sensitive, generous, sweet, caring, and timid. Yet, she was someone important in the making.

"You look nice without your glasses…kind of cute…" I didn't know what had brought me to say such a thing…but I had.

"Um…"

"Hinata..."

I wondered, what would happen if I asked her the same thing that Naruto had asked Sakura? Not to dance, but…to be someone more to me even if I had only known her for a matter of two days. There was only one way to find out…