I'M ON FIRE!

Don't own Naruto. Don't own PopTarts either, but I'm not sure if it matters too much (you'll see).

Chapter 3

Hinata woke up and yawned. She was tired.

Bold, black numbers on her digital clock's luminescent screen read 3:00 am. The alarm would ring in 3 hours, but she could hardly shut her eyes.

'I can't believe I'm losing sleep over this,' she thought. Sighing, she rolled over in her bed once again to get more comfortable and pulled her white sheets up to her chin.

Sakura's words from earlier that day kept on repeating themselves.

You can get Kiba to come

Like, as your date!

Were she and Kiba really that close? Did others really see them as more than friends? Hinata had never thought so. They were only friends, nothing more.

Then why did Sakura ask Hinata about him? Maybe she was just trying to be nice, because she knew Hinata could get lonely without someone to talk to, because the quiet girl hardly got along with anyone except Kiba. Maybe she didn't have enough time to talk to him, so she would have Hinata invite him. Maybe...

There were too many "maybe"s. Hinata muffled her frustrated scream with a fluffy pillow. A second later, she breathed in the lavender scent of her shampoo and calmed down, telling herself to not freak out.

In a way, Hinata could see where Sakura got the idea. Hinata's locker was right next to Kiba's and they had a lot of classes together. Sometimes they hung out after school. Still…

This situation was all too confusing for Hinata. She would think about it later, when she wasn't so tired. But she couldn't really forget…

It seemed that as soon as she let her eyelids fall, an obnoxious beeping noise started. Great.

Hinata hated her alarm clock. She hated the alarm. First it would start with a soft beeping, like a heartbeat. If she was feeling lazy and stayed in bed, it would get louder and louder, driving Hinata up the wall, and ultimately waking her up.

Anyway, she had to wake up somehow. She presumed waking up this way beat having her elder cousin Neji or her father rousing her. Yes, irritating alarm clocks, good. Underestimating fathers and stern cousins, bad.

Hinata waited a few minutes (maybe too many)until she rolled out of bed and into the bathroom, taking her blue plaid skirt and white blouse with her. Normally, Hinata wore her beige sweater, with the school logo on it, sure enough, over the school uniform's thin white blouse. Not that she didn't have a nice body, she was just really modest about it. That, and she didn't want people to think she was a slut because she was hot and they were jealous (ehh).

Morning routine: shower, blow-dry, get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, check for imperfections. Hinata stood in front of the mirror, on step 6. She picked up the hairbrush again and repeated the process of running the thin teeth through her long blue-ish tinted black hair - step 5. She didn't know why it was blue-ish tinted. Just that it was – she hadn't dyed her hair like Sakura. Only Sakura could pull off having pink hair.

Hinata examined her reflection one more time. Something was missing. Ah, yes. She ran into her room, picked up her bookbag, and slung it over her shoulder. Voila, et c'est fini. (Ta-da, and it's complete).

When she finally considered herself ready, she went into the kitchen for breakfast. It was already 7:10. Enough time to grab something quick to eat and get to school by 7:30. Neji had suggested to drive her, but she decided walking was more fun.

She was too busy scouring the pantry to realize how fast time was passing.

"Hinata-sama, aren't you going to be late?" Hinata stuck her head out of the pantry to see Neji, casually getting a bowl from the cupboard for his daily cereal. Ohcrap, she was!

"Y-yes!" It was already 7:20. Time flies when you're looking for something appealing to eat. She grabbed the first thing she saw – a strawberry PopTart pack (you know how there's 2 PopTarts in one wrapper) – and rushed out the door before Neji could ask if she needed a ride.

Hinata jogged a few blocks, then checked her watch. 5 minutes away at 7:24. She could make it. After all, class didn't start until 7:40. Panting lightly, she opened the shiny silver wrapper of the PopTart and broke off a piece to munch on. Yep, life was good.

"Hinata!" just who she was wanting to talk to – and avoid. A familiar puppy-looking boy was running down the sidewalk from behind her.

"O-ohayo, Kiba-kun!" Hinata stopped and waited for him to catch up to her, then they started walking.

"Hinata, you're late,"

Hinata smiled, "Oh? W-why is that?" she always found herself a little stuttering less when she was around Kiba.

"Because I'm always late. And me running into you on my way to school means you're just as late as I am," he grinned, exactly the way Hinata liked him to grin.

They walked in silence, until Hinata spoke up.

"Kiba-kun, do you… do you… do you want..." how hard was it to ask if he wanted to go to Sakura's "party" with her?

"Yes…?"

"Doyouwantthispoptart?" she blurted out. Kiba looked down at the strawberry PopTart in her small hand, then up to her blushing face.

"Um…ok." Hinata handed it to him.

"H-here, then," her hand brushed his ever-so-lightly. She pretended she didn't feel the electricity passing between them.

They continued to walk in silence.

"Kiba-kun, that wasn't really the question I w-was planning to ask you," stated Hinata. Kiba cocked his head and gave her a look as if to say "Are you going to offer me more food?"

"Shoot."

"E-excuse me?" Hinata had thought Kiba meant to say the "S word". He had surely cussed before.

"I mean go ahead."

"Next weekend S-Sakura-chan is, sort of, throwing a party. Sh-she's bringing Naruto as a d-date and I wondered i-if you wanted to come. W-with me."

Kiba's eyes widened. So Sakura asked Naruto out. Wait…then what was Hinata doing?

"So… you're asking me out, to go to that thing… as your date?"

"Yes… No! No, yes. No. I-I mean, sort of. T-to accompany me, b-but not l-like a real date date." Was the closest Hinata could get to a description. Boy, how pathetic did she sound?

Kiba nodded. "I'll go,"

"Y-you will?"

"Yep. Next weekend, right?"

"Mmhmm. A-around 5 or 5:30 on S-saturday. I'll ask Sakura-chan about the d-details or you c-can ask her or something…" Hinata let yet another moment of silence pass between her and her friend. Correction, "date".

"O-oh, Kiba-kun, she also s-said you could… stay overnight. A-at her house. Well, i-if we're going back t-to her house to h-hang out, I d-don't think we would really have a chance to get home. W-without appearing suspicious, anyway. P-plus, it's a lot easier j-just to stay there, i-isn't it? I-I mean, wouldn't it be? I guess you c-could always lie or something and I d-don't think we'd be doing anything th-that bad and I didn't think sh-she would invite m-many people and –"

Out of the blue, he laid his finger on her lips, quieting her. "I get it," he murmured. There were tiny PopTart crumbs on his fingertip.

Their eyes met.

"O-ok," Hinata squeaked.

The two walked in silence the rest of the way.

Ehhh, that was sort of boring. But I didn't want to make chapters overwhelmingly long, where the little scrolly bar on the side is a millimeter thick. (though i guess my author notes aren't helping this situation.)

I also don't know stuff about driving in Japan, either, so I just set it to the American standards and whatnot. Really, it's only a fanfic, but it bugs me when things aren't correct like that.

That's also why I need a reason for Neji to be calling Hinata "Hinata-sama". I just looked it up now, and found out that "sama" -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is for somebody who was higher in status, thus a more respectful title. Either Neji's simply a respectful person or a kiss-up. Or something else. My theory is his history in this AU story should be, like, his father and Hinata's father fought in some kind of war and Hinata's father lived while his died, and who knows what happened to his mother, so Hiashi took him in and gave him the food and shelter and everything, and maybe that's why he uses "sama" as the suffix on Hinata's name. This is a Hinata story, though, not a Neji story. There's really no point into going through all the trouble to find why Neji says "Hinata-sama". So forget I said anything -.-;;

Sakura's "party" is sounding kinda lame-ish to me. I dunno, it just seems weird. But I guess that's what "she" chose, so whatever, and I've already written it down, and defying it will throw off the whole natural order of my story! (I've been watching Charmed) Well, it's only a fanfic. I suppose, one of the fun parts about fanfics is that you can make them whatever you want. Though I had a few ideas planned, I'm not sure they'll fly with the guys in the fic. If they did, it would be pretty OOC. I have an idea. It's a secret. You can't know. Whee.

I've decided that reviews are appreciated.

Don't get used to the speed. Next update will probably take a lot longer than the rate I've been going. I'll try not to be too long, but I can't guarantee a new chapter each day. Though that would be nice, wouldn't it...

- jiao

PS; it's 1:30 in the morning and I have no life. Dx. But I am hunting for a new title.