Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Warnings: Gaara/Hinata pairing
No Laws To Love: Part VIII: Don't Hurt Yourself Thinking
Her fingers twiddled idly as she stared up at the vast ceiling of the structure. Around her, high shelves of volumes loomed over her small stature. Turning around slightly, she faced the large window that viewed a small garden with a mini foutaine, frozen at this time of year.
Hinatas' large coat hung on the chair beside her as her light blue bag lay carelessly in front of her on the wooden table.
Glancing at the clock, she sighed and leaned back.
I'm such a dummy!
Being overexcited on their weekend meeting, she had arrived prior to their meeting time.
I doubt Gaara's happy about spending time with me on a Saturday…it is on a boring subject anyway…
Gaara…
Thinking about it now, she'd barely known him for a month. Probably three weeks at most—but that didn't stop for this small infatuation.
Okay, so infatuation was a tad understatement. But there was just something…very entrancing about the solemn and occasionally sadistic boy.
Besides the fact that he stood out like red sock in the whites only pile of laundry. She giggled at that connection.
"Hrm…?"
A voice snapped her out of her thoughts to a tired looking boy in front of her.
"Ah…O-Ohayoo…"
Ahh…now he thinks I'm passed weird! Laughing by myself!
Either Gaara had not heard her giggle, but merely addressed her, or he ignored her self-conversations, the red head said nothing else afterwards, but returned her "hello" with a slight grunt.
Gaara seated himself down slowly, blinking at the table, confused.
All in all, Sabaku Gaara was not a morning person.
The bag slipping off his shoulder finished it's intended journey and plopped carelessly onto the ground as he yawned, scratching his head slightly. He had totally forgotten he never woke up anytime before 1PM on a weekend. And then last night was helping Temari unpack back into her room. That took a long time.
He pulled out his book and set it on the table with a thump.
"A-Ano…what part do you need help with…?"
He stared up at her through sleepy eyes. Hinata blushed at his forwardness.
"…everything…"
The brief silence said more than anything else.
"E-Ehhh!"
But…Gaara…was doing his work great during the class lessons…
"Uhm…just the second half of the book…chapter 27…I think…" He rubbed his eye.
It was a cute sight indeed to Hinata—besides from her real task—but a sleepy Gaara with tousled hair was not a common sight.
Gaara watched the girl blearily as she flipped through the pages of the chapter on electrical charge, trying to find where to start.
How could she be so…awake…in the morning?
Like always, his subconscious chose that as a start to their lively conversation. You should be more attentive…it might show that you're not at all interested in her.
I'm not interested in her
The snarky little conscience smirked, if it could. Then why are you spending the weekend with her…?
We're at the library
It struck back. Alone.
She's helping me with physics…it's a school related topic…
The little voice rolled its imaginary eyes. You could've asked Temari…she's a genius.
Temari's busy today
Being as always, Or is she?
Why do you always have to be suspicious?
It shot back. You're the one suspicious, I am you, smartass.
"A-Ano…Sabaku-san, we'll start here…" She turned the book around, so he could read it, she teaching reading it upside down.
"O-Okay, we'll start with the simple rule that…Charges of the same repel each other, and charges…"
She stared long and hard at the cup of tea seated in front of her, afraid that if she looked up, she'll start blushing again like crazy.
Gaara had asked her to go to dinner. They had spent all morning and afternoon in the library that none had the chance to go eat—sides from the granola bars they ate while no one's looking.
"A-Ano…we went through everything and you understand…so…you wouldn't need my help tomorrow…?"
"No," He answered promptly.
"Oh," was all she could reply at first, "Okay."
This would probably be the last time she would see him. Monday was his final in the class, and then they wouldn't need her to come and help them anymore. She would be back to her old schedule.
Gaara glanced at her sad face. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt for the blue haired girl.
"Our…next match will be a district match…"
She glanced up at him. His face was unreadable, but…
Is he inviting me…?
"Temari-nee and Kankuro-nii are back…so we'll be going to dinner too…"
His brain shot at him. Come on already, cut to the chase.
He blinked a few times.
Would this be like asking a girl out…?
He'd never done it before, even though he had a few girls ask him, he had always blatantly ignored them.
His conscious snickered. It's not like you haven't asked Hinata-chan out before…remember this morning?
We already went through this, it was not a date
The voice got a tad suspicious to Gaara. Oh? "We"? Are you signifying that I am not part of you?
This made him ponder.
That was a good question alright. Who the heck was he talking to all the time then? Okay, so he was a little anti-social, doesn't mean he goes and sprouts another person in his head.
Out of the question too, Gaara did not have an imaginary friend. Not now, not ever.
Hinata stared at the boy before her. He had a very thoughtful look on his face.
Is there something wrong with me?
She calmed down her thoughts. She hadn't done anything wrong…not yet, at least.
"Do…you…want to join us?"
"Huh?"
Was the first thing out of her mouth.
"Ah, nevermind…if you're busy then that's just—"
"Eh?" She cut him off, just as the words before sunk in.
He invited me!
Oh, if she were any other girl, she would've leaped for joy. But being Hinata, she stood there and stared at him for centuries as a blush crept on both of their faces and Gaara turned his face to the side, looking down.
"I-I…I'd love to…"
It took all the effort in her little body not to skip up the stairs as she passed by Neji and Hanabi in the living room, humming a soft tune.
Of course it wasn't a date! There would be the others there too…but it was just the fact that he had invited her made her feel all giddy.
The long haired boy took his eyes off the TV long enough to glance at his happy cousin to figure out that something was going on.
Also the fact that she never went out as much as she did the past few weeks. She rarely had any visitors either, except for that strange boy with the red hair that was exceptionally rude to Neji.
So let's put it this way, Neji is not a stupid person. He shouldn't ever even be considered in that category. And of course with his quick wits and intelligence, he was able to put two-and-two together to come up with the answer.
Opening his mouth, his brain started to form a witty way to state his newfound information. Neji was smart.
Too bad it took him too long to say something.
"Ooh, Hina-neechan, you won first place for the poetry contest!" Hanabi exclaimed as she remembered about the letter they received in the afternoon, "Congratulations!"
"A-Ah…Arigatou Hanabi, I received a phone call this morning already," She smiled fondly at her energetic younger sister.
Poor Neji was struck speechless now, as he had the contest to consider too…
She could be overjoyed about winning the contest…but Hinata always won any writing contest she entered, then again, the prize was a pretty large sum of money. But…Hinata didn't need the money…but…
Neji's head was spinning, as the result of being way too intelligent, he often took in too much, and end up saying nothing in the whole matter. So to save himself, he turned back to the TV with a slight 'hn' and forget about whatever he had deducted then.
Half-bouncing up the stairs, Hinata ran into her mother, who was striding down gracefully, fixing her dress.
"Ne, Hinata, go get dressed, we're having guests over," With that, her willowy mother bent over the railing, raising her voice slightly, "Neji, Hanabi, go get dressed."
The Hyuuga mistress then proceeded down the stairs, checking the status of her household.
"O-Okaasan…who's coming…?" She asked hesitantly.
Her mother clapped her hands together delightfully as she turned around to face her beautiful, yet shy daughter, "Some old family friends. Go wear that dress I had Misao make for you to Ayame's party, but you got sick and couldn't go."
Hinata's face reddened, "T-That dress…? B-But Okaasan…that was a…"
"We don't have much time, they could be here any minute. Go put that dress on."
With no further argument, Hinata closed her door and fished out the black and red dress. Sighing, she made her way to her private bathroom for a quick shower.
She had gotten sick on Ayame's party on purpose, so she didn't have to wear this dress.
Feeling a bit more refreshed, she picked up the silky material and slipped it on. It stopped mid-thigh with a few red sheer ruffles diagonally down and hung onto her tightly, revealing the curves her school uniform usually covered. It resembled a shortened version of a tango dress.
Drying her hair, she heard a small knock on her door and Hanabi's muffled voice on the other side.
"Ne, they're here."
She quickly applied some makeup to look presentable and joined her sister on top of the staircase, waiting for Neji. Hanabi was dressed in something similar, though it was blue and black instead. Neji came out, straightening his tie, irritated look on his face. He hated social outings.
There was a lady and a man downstairs with her parents and they talked in low voices and acted just like her parents. Must be of the same status for her parents to make such a private dinner.
"Ah, here are my two daughters, and nephew," Her mother ushered them in front of the guests. The lady had a friendly smile on her face, but the man resembled her father in the strict visage.
She bowed politely as her sister and Neji did the same, "Nice to meet you. My name is Hinata."
"Hanabi, pleasure to meet you."
"Neji," He bowed lower than the other two.
"Ah, well, you should meet our sons!" The lady looked at Hinata expectantly, who blushed under her gaze.
Two boys dressed in navy blue dress shirts and black slacks walked out into the opening from the living room. They were almost identical except for the height difference. The tall one had long black hair and the shorter one had short spiky, dark blue hair.
The first one smiled at her and bowed, "I'm Uchiha Itachi, and this is my younger brother, Sasuke."
Sasuke looked at the scantily clad girls in front of him and gazed off somewhere else with a slight 'hn'.
By that time, the parents had already left and Sasuke's behavior went unnoticed—except for Hanabi.
She walked right by him and scoffed as she entered the living room, "How rude," she commented. Neji smirked, shaking his head as she followed his abrasive cousin.
Hinata blinked as Sasuke's gaze fell on her.
"What?" He snapped.
"N-Nothing…" She stuttered and ran off after her sister and cousin, leaving the two Uchiha brothers in the guest room.
Itachi turned and smirk at Sasuke, who stuck his hands in his pocket and flopped down on the nearest chair.
"She's cute," His older brother teased, "I don't know why you have to be that mean."
Sasuke frowned at his brother.
He remembered her…he had seen her before.
Sabaku Gaara's…girlfriend…
The spiky haired boy smirked. Maybe there was more than one way to win against that guy.
He stood up and proceeded towards the living room.
"Ooh," Itachi exclaimed, "So you do think so!"
Sasuke frowned at his rambling brother. He didn't even know what Itachi was ranting about anymore. Years living with him, Sasuke formed an ability to zone out non-stopping chatterboxes.
"Whatever."
Now, to find Hinata…
End Part VIII: Don't Hurt Yourself Thinking
Wow…it's been ages since I've had time to sit down and do this. I really want to thank everyone for taking your time to review this and such. It's been a great reminder for me that I still need to finish this XD I know there's a lot of errors…but I really don't have much time to go back and reread as I usually do anymore so thanks for pointing out the mistakes!
THANKSSSSSSS!
Ame no Megami