I'd like to thanks Bitter-Blood-Sacrifice and kenshinlover2002 for inspiring me.

Chapter 5: What I Like About You

When Hinata woke up, she had a terrible fever and strep throat. She couldn't come out of her comfy bed and wouldn't even bother trying to go to the bathroom, just so Hanabi wouldn't be there first. However, she heard the shower coming on and knew that Hanabi was already there.

As soon as she came out, she dressed herself in her uniform and ran towards Hinata's bed. The sudden movement made Hinata kick and punch beneath the covers and awoke her from her deep sleep.

"Wake up!!!" Hanabi shouted in her sister's ear. Hinata grunted noisily when she did this. "Don't be like that! We have school!"

There was no convincing Hinata to go to school. First of all, she wasn't ready, since her hair was very disheveled and her eyes remained shut, not to mention she wasn't dressed. Second, she was sick. "Hanabi," she whispered. "I can't go to s-school. I'm sick." A low cough was inserted while saying this.

Hanabi wasn't too convinced. "Are you really sick?"

Only a weak nod was her respond. "Tell Neji I c-can't go."

"Okay, whatever." With that, the younger sibling left Hinata there to rest in peace for a couple minutes until Neji came to check on her.

"Hinata-chan," Neji said. "You okay?"

She solemnly shook her head. "I have a really bad cold... please, please go without me..."

Neji showed concern. "Feel better kiddo." He then left Hinata there to finally daze off to dreamworld, that is, until her cellphone started singing its familiar ring tone.

Feeling as irritated as ever, she picked it up unwillingly. "WHAT!?" she yelled in the phone. It caused her throat to ache more.

Sasuke's voice broke in. "What's wrong with you?"

"Uchiha-san!" Hinata cleared her throat thoroughly and tried to act normal. "W-What do you need?"

"Nothing... I was just calling about the math test we have today... what did we need to study again?"

Her voice sounded a bit high-pitched. "I don't know." She sneezed.

"You sound sick," Uchiha stated. "You going to school?"

"No," Hinata murmured softly. The thought of even going to the wretched place made her shiver so she ducked behind the covers.

"I'm coming over," was the last thing he said before Hinata could protest and clicked on her.

Why is Sasuke doing this to me? She wondered. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He might take care of her and keep her company, since she was so lonely and was needed of recovery. Maybe it wasn't so bad having Sasuke coming over...

Who am I kidding!? He'll boss me around! He'll order me to do stuff! I'll never get better!Hinata started dialing his number. She needed to stop him before it was too late.

But no. He wouldn't pick up. This meant he couldn't be stopped, so Hinata just admitted defeat and went back to sleep without any more interruptions, only to be awoken again ten minutes later by Sasuke freakin' Uchiha ringing the doorbell.

Since she was too cold to go downstairs, she wrapped herself with her blanket and went hopping carefully down the stairs, and then opened the door to be met by Sasuke's judgmental glance. His hair drooped a little from the rain that was hitting softly, but also exposing wind at the same time.

"Um..." his eyes tried to look at something, but couldn't, since seeing Hinata being eaten up by her sheets was oddly funny. "Hi?"

She sneezed again. "H-Hello Uchiha-san. P-Please come in." Sasuke obeyed and Hinata slammed the door before the cold, wet air could interact with her body. "Did you eat b-breakfast?"

He nodded while looking around. He hasn't really noticed how big the Hyuuga mansion really is. "Are your parents here?"

Hinata was somewhat afraid to answer. "No... my d-dad is working..."

"What about your mum?"

"Sh-She's not here..." -Hinata faced down at the covers that were getting dragged by on the floor- "... anymore..."

"Oh..." Silence took over both of them and they were forced to break it. "I brought a movie for us to see." He took out a dvd case. There was a key in the middle of the cover with half of the faces of two men, one Hinata knew right away. "It's 1408. Ever saw it?"

Her dad saw it and recommended Hinata to watch it, but she never got around to see it. "No."

"It's a good movie." He looked around. "Where's your dvd player?"

She thought for a second and snatched the dvd from him. "Right here," she said hopping around the living room only ending up falling flat on her face. Hinata yelped as the covers hide her from her embarrassment.

An obnoxious laugh broke out from Sasuke. "That... was funny!" He went nearby and stripped off a little of the cover that was wrapping her head like a Muslim woman. "Where's the dvd?"

"Ugh..." Hinata sluggishly gave him the movie. He snatched it from her hand and went to put it inside the player, since he spotted it awhile before she hit the ground. Oh gee, thanks for the help! Hinata thought while getting up with the blanket still wrapped around her.

The movie started playing. Sasuke plopped himself on the couch and relaxed. Hinata rested on the opposite side and started watching the big screen. Before she could officially close her eyes, there was a nudge on her side. She irritatingly looked at Sasuke.

"Do you have popcorn?" he asked nonchalantly.

Of course! What isn't a movie without having a slave attending to all your needs! "I'll g-get to it..." Hinata stood up and went hopping to the kitchen. She opened her cupboard, finding a bag of popcorn and Advil right next to it. She opened the bottle and took a pill out, swallowed it, then got the bag and microwaved it, until it began to puff.

Hinata went back to Sasuke and handed him the bag of fluffy popcorn, while she tried her best to have a little nap. "Don't you have butter?"AGH!!!!

--

There was no way Hinata couldn't sleep. She was too busy attending to Sasuke and becoming interested in the movie at the same time. Suddenly, the alarm clock in the movie began to sing a familiar song she has heard of and started singing along.

"We've only just begun... to live..."

Sasuke directly glanced at her. "You know this song?"

Pink tint brushed across her face. "O-Of course," she retorted. "I love the C-Carpenters."

He smirked. "They're old."

That was the response Hinata was looking for, since everyone thought she had old taste in music. Not bad, but old. "I kn-know."

They began concentrating on the movie again. It was difficult to understand if the hotel held supernatural occurrences or not, but still was as scary, without any of the blood or gore. It made Hinata feel woozy. Or it could be the Advil she took earlier.

She gives up too easily on talking, Sasuke thought, getting absolutely bored with her. "Are you always this shy?"

"N-Not all the t-time. Just w-when I can't... find the right words to s-say."

"You don't want me as a friend?"

Good question. "It's not like that!" She shook her head frantically. "It's just... is Sakura your only f-female friend?"

"If you also count Naruto."

"WHAT!?"

"You get so freaked out easily, but yeah. In fact, I wouldn't even consider that bimbo as my friend, but just another annoying fan girl who use to have personality when we were younger."

Hinata would've agreed, but she didn't open her mouth to respond. When they were about twelve, Sakura was such a sweet and typical girl-next-door. She was a hell-of-a lot nicer to her than she is now.

"You kn-know, not everyone is in l-love with you." Oh my God, I shouldn't have said that!

Sasuke stared at her for a good minute. Hinata tried to focus somewhere else, rather than build up more tension. He was getting her nervous, so he finally spoke. "Like you. You're already in love with Naruto."

Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. It's too obvious for everybody to know she has a crush on Naruto, but Naruto himself.

"Uchiha-san," she began.

"It's Sasuke," he corrected... again...

"R-Right.. Sasuke-san... you didn't really h-have to come over. It w-was really sweet for you to do that..." The pink tint came on her face as she finished her dialog.

His eyes went to the ceiling. "I wanted to. Besides, I still didn't have a clue on what we needed to study for our math test. I tried calling everyone, but those idiots don't even know." Hinata giggled at the remark.

"D-Doesn't that make you one?" Ugh oh. What is wrong with me!?

Sasuke's eyes grew an inch more. Did she just called me an idiot? "Did you just diss me?"

"I'm sorry Uchiha-san! I'm really, really sorry!" She was begging for him to forgive her. "I didn't mean t-to!"

"Relax," he answered. "Isn't that what friends do? Call out on their crap?" She was too speechless to say anything. "It's my fault, anyways. I talk too much."

Between those two, yes he does talk a lot. But with everyone else, he just seems so quiet and intimidating.

The silence came back for another round. This time, it won over both of them. They only continued watching most of the movie, Hinata sneezing and coughing throughout. Something then popped into her mind. It was about yesterday's question!

"Where did you g-go yesterday?"

An exasperated sigh came out of Sasuke. "You're never gonna drop that, are you?"

"Gomenesai---"

"Okay fine! I'll tell you!" He didn't want to hear another apology. "I was out, doing hit men shit. I heard that the enemy almost killed one of our gang members and someone else that was with him at the time. Luckily, I killed the bastard." It didn't seem like such a great story, especially to Hinata, who was apart of it.

"..."

"...?"

"..."

"... Now I told you..." His attention went back to the movie. What he didn't know was that it was Neji and Hinata who were the victims of the incident.

"Uchiha--- I mean Sasuke-san," she murmured. "Neji-nii and I were the p-people they almost killed..."

It was Sasuke's turn to be shocked. "You guys were the one who fell into the river!?" How did he knew that?

She hesitantly nodded her head. "That is why I have the c-cold in the f-first place." Sniffle.

He changed his expression at once. "As long as you're okay."

"Y-Yes. I'm feeling a little better now!" She instantly flashed an artificial smile.

However, he saw beyond that. "Nice try. Maybe you shouldn't hang around Neji anymore."

"Does this m-mean I shouldn't hang around you anymore as w-well?"

"No, no one really knows I'm in a gang except you and Neji. I'm not really a target."

Impressive. "I don't know. I l-love Neji-nii with all my heart..."

"He obviously doesn't care. The reason why he doesn't want me to hang around with you is because he thinks I'll take you away. Is he in love with you or something?"

"Uchiha-san! We're cousins!"

"Big deal. You guys can still fall in love with each other. It happens a lot. I know this one guy who's dating his sister..."

"But I'm not in love with him!!!!" Hinata's pitch was a high as it can she. She tried softening it. "A-And I know Neji-niisan isn't in love with m-me either."

She's obviously stubborn about the whole thing. "I believe you when you say you're not in love with him," he replied, "but I'm not quite sure about Nuttie."

Hinata pulled the covers over her head. She was trying to hide the shame Sasuke was sending her, but he kept pulling them back. "Would you s-stop doing that!?"

"What the hell are you doing?" He was positioned to be on top of her. Almost. One hand was tugging on the blanket. "Are you hiding from me?"

"No!" she lied. "I'm just r-really cold."

"Do you feel uncomfortable around me? This time, be honest. And if you're gonna lie about it, make it sound real."

He was catching on to her, so she decided to let the whole truth out. "You are t-too demanding! You, you s-scare me sometimes and you make me really nervous! I, I haven't felt this way around anyone, b-but when it comes to you, you take the c-cake!"

"I don't like cake," he interrupted.

"It doesn't matter!" Hinata now felt she had power. "You s-saved my life. Big d-deal! You want to b-be my friend. Okay! But I-I-I'm not your servant!" I'm about to die.

Sasuke only looked at her. He blinked... twice already... his face showed no signs of pity, or anger, just as expressionless as it can be.

"If you felt that way around me, why didn't you just say so?" He stood from the couch and walked away. Hinata became sad and followed.

"W-Wait! S-Sasuke-san!" He was a feet away from the door.

"It's Uchiha," he said and opened it, then abruptly slammed it.

She opened it and felt the instant rush of air hit her. She started to hug herself for warmth and ran to Sasuke, who seemed desperately to avoid her. "Uchiha-san!" she called out over and over. The worst part of walking in moist and cold ground was that she only had socks on. "Uchiha-san, please wait!" She finally reached up to him and tugged him from behind. "I'm very sorry I said that!"

"That's not gonna work on me this time Hinata," he snarled without turning to her. "You obviously don't like me. It seemed like you were calling me out of my crap, but it's actually a way of telling me that you don't want to be friends. And you know what else..." -this time, he turned to Hinata- "You stutter way too much. You're always nervous around everyone and you lack a backbone."

Hearing this from Sasuke made her feel vulnerable. The waterworks were coming in her eyes.

"You have no confidence. You're too fragile." The list seemed to go on forever. Hinata couldn't hold it any longer and water came rushing beneath her eyes. "And yet... I like hanging out with you. You're unpredictable and easily embarrassed. There are rarely any people like you anymore. Even though you're too quiet at times, you just know how to make a person want more."

The tears suddenly disappeared. Hinata didn't know whether she should feel happy or insulted.

"But I have no idea if you want us to be friends or not," -he arched an eyebrow- "if you don't I'll just go. If you do, then, I don't know. It's up for you to decide."

Her answer shortly came up. "Yes! I do want us to b-be friends! I really do!" She kept bobbing her head.

"But why?"

"Because!" She thought for a moment. "Because you... you're a very different person! You're funny, you're just the r-right amount of protection, and, and... you're very honest..."

"Sure you're not using me to get to Naruto?"

"No, no! I would n-never---!" Sasuke could tell she was lying right away, but it made him sneer.

"So, that's it? That's the reasons you want us to continue being friends?"

"No! And one m-more thing... you k-keep me company when I'm alone..." The last reason was difficult for her to say.

Sasuke couldn't argue. He guess she was always lonely, even if she does have only two friends, but it seemed like they never actually paid much attention to her.

"Yeah I know," he said. "Are you always lonely?"

"N-Not all the time," Hinata retorted. "Neji hangs out with me..."

He gave a stern smile. "Watch out." She smiled back at him, but he only walked passed her. "You coming or do you wanna stay here and get sicker?"

She followed him to her home and went to watch the rest of the movie.

End of Chapter.

This chapter was really hard to right! But I managed to write it yay:D