Note: I'd like to apologize for giving Hinata such old taste in music from the last chapter. I'm not a big Carpenter's fan, but when I listened to one of their songs, I thought about a sweet and kind person like Hinata, since she's sweet and kind. Other than that, thanks for the hits/reviews/favorites/alerts. You guys have given me so much support:)

Chapter 6: You Can Stand Under My Umbrella

As soon as Neji and Hanabi came back from school, they saw a peaceful-looking Hinata sleeping on the couch with her blanket, only covering her ankles. She was finally resting! Neji didn't want to bother her, but for Hanabi, it seemed like the perfect opportunity, since she enjoys her bigger sister getting annoyed and how much of a bitch she can be when disturbed.

"Hinata-oniichan, wake up!" Hanabi shouted, using the suffix to sound innocent. "We're home!"

It worked. Hinata grunted and moaned with annoyance. She had the best dream ever, and it had to be interrupted by the evilness of her sister. What maddened her the most was that Hanabi kept pushing her brusquely and she won't stop until Hinata was awake.

"Hanabi, what are you doing?" Neji directed to her. "Can't you see your big sister's sleeping? Let her in peace."

But it was too late and Hinata threw a pillow at her face as payback. "Go away," she grumbled and turned away from her.

The pillow was thrown back at her, but harder. "Ha!" Hanabi shouted and ran up to her room so Hinata wouldn't catch up.

"Hanabi!" Neji yelled after her.

Hinata arose to the soft object. "Hanabi!" She heard the bedroom to her sister's room shut. "Ugh!" She pulled the covers over her head and tried to go back to sleep.

Neji approached towards her. "You okay, Hina?"

Just then, Hinata pulled her cousin towards her and pulled the covers over their heads. She giggled. "Hi Neji-nii!" He was stunned by her movement, but laughed anyways. "How was school? Did anyone miss me?"

Neji shrugged. "I did," he retorted, "but no one else. They were actually happy that you were gone."

"Don't be such a..."

"Such a what?"

Hinata thought long and hard. "Don't be such a b, Neji!"

He gaped, but only with amusement. "Oh yeah?" He went near her face.

She advanced back. "Yeah!" Another snicker came again.

"Yeah, well, you're such a... you're such an h!"

"Yeah, well, you're a d!"

"Yeah, well, you're a c!"

"Yeah, well, you're an a!"

"Yeah... well you're a b!"

Hinata tilted her head. "I already said that!"

"No, I meant bitch," he emphasized the last word.

There was a moment of silence. "I already said that!" They both broke into laughter. After they calmed down, Neji wrapped his arms around Hinata and she, the same. They were both very happy today. "Neji-nii," Hinata said, "want me to cook you something?"

"Aren't you suppose to be sick?" he teased and felt her forehead. "You don't even feel sick!"

She chuckled again. "I'm f-feeling a lot better now! See?" She rolled over and stood at the floor, putting her hands in the air. Neji was unimpressed, and he just pulled her back again while she squealed with delight.

"What were you doing here, all alone by yourself?" he asked.

"Nothing really. I was dying over here!" Hinata retorted. "S-Sasuke came over though."

After she said those words, their kiddish fun had stopped abruptly. After she said those words, Neji became cold and suspicious, wanting to know what happened between them. After she said those words, Hinata could feel her cousin squeezing her arms. He was staring directly into her eyes. After she said those words, that is.

"What... was he... doing here?" he asked silently.

There was no mentioning Sasuke around Neji. "He was just... We were just... watching a m-movie is all!" Speaking of movies, did Sasuke forget to take 1408 back with him?

Neji narrowed his eyes with doubt and relaxed his grip with her. "No wonder I didn't see him in school today," he mumbled.

Both wordless and nothing to say, Hinata bounced from the couch and went right into the kitchen. "What do you want to eat, Neji-niisan? We have... r-ramen!" she shouted, trying to change the subject. She didn't want to deal with this right now.

He only sighed. "Is there anything else?"

--

It was Saturday morning, as Hinata cozily woke up from her bed at eleven-fifty. Yesterday was such a long day, since Neji was on her case. She stretched and went in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and washing her face. She felt much better now. Her throat didn't hurt so much as it did before, and she didn't feel crappy anymore!

Hanabi lazily passed by her sister without bothering her (for once) and went to eat breakfast. Hinata accompanied her later on, serving herself toast with butter and a glass of orange juice. She embraced herself, thinking Hanabi might annoy her across the breakfast table, but nothing came out of Hanabi... yet...

"Good morning Hanabi!" Hinata said, enthusiastic about her quietness. "How did you s-sleep?"

She only flashed her a weird look. "Are you okay?" Hanabi asked. "You sound high."

Peace denied. "Can't I be nice without being accused of using crack!?" Hinata stormed out of the room, ticked-off about her sister's response. She's such a little wise ass! She thought to herself and opened the door outside of the house. It was raining like crazy, the drops pounding hard onto the concrete floor, and her home. Hinata immediately shut the door, shivering a little from the wet breeze that blew onto her direction. There was no way Neji would survive this without a car.

Since she was bored out of her mind, she started to call Shino, but only got his answering machine. It was time to call Kiba then, but the number got disconnected, possibly because he forgot to pay his cellphone bill again. Out of boredom, she called Sasuke. He picked up the phone. "Hello?" Hinata could recognize the exhaustion in his voice and the sound of rain in the background.

"Uchiha-san? W-Where are you?"

"I don't really know (pant). I'm (pant) running (pant)."

"Oh, from what?"

Sasuke looked from behind and stopped. "You don't wanna know."

Indeed, she already knew. "Are you okay?"

He started walking. "Yeah, I already lost them. They probably have no clue it was me..." Sasuke took off the hood that was perched on his head.

Hinata gulped quietly. "As long as you're not h-hurt."

"Nah." He opened an umbrella that he clutched in his hand. "Only wet. Really wet."

She smiled into the phone. "That's g-good to hear."

"I guess it is." There were people running into Sasuke's direction. "Hinata, I gotta go. I'll call you back later," he then hung up his cell.

The line went dead. "Okay, bye, Uchiha-sa--- I mean Sasuke," Hinata said, knowing Sasuke already clicked.

Why is he always doing that? Hinata knew it was going to be another dull Saturday. The only thing to do, was just go on the computer, and that's exactly what she did.

Four hours messaging random people she met on the Internet, and Hinata became absolutely bored. She heard her father coming into their mansion and then it hit her. I forgot to make lunch for dad! Hinata turned off the computer and hurriedly went downstairs, being stopped by her father's mean glare. "Hinata," he snarled. "Where is my meal!?"

"Forgive me, father," Hinata muttered. "I f-forgot and I p-p-promise it will never happen again!" She went to the kitchen before she could Hiashi's rants about her.

"You're useless! You are such a disgrace! This is the third time this week! You don't ever think about your family! I bet Hanabi would cook better than you! In fact, don't cook! Hanabi!" He called the younger sister in, and she came as fast as she can. "Hanabi, since your sister does not know how to keep track of her schedule and cook for her father, would you replace her, and remember your duties better?"

Hanabi did not want to answer that. She didn't want to be in a position where she had to be against Hinata, or disobey her father's orders. But, she had to. She held her head down as she told him, her answer. "Yes father. I will." Hinata came out as she heard this.

That made Hiashi grin. "Good," he turned to Hinata, "Go make use of yourself and buy rice."

"B-But father! It's r-raining a lot outside!"

"And? You're not going to go buy rice because of a little rain? This only proves how useless you are."

Her face showed anger when he said this. He always said this. She had to prove him wrong, so she grabbed her raincoat and went outside, abruptly shutting the door. The rain hit her hard, but she didn't care. It was time to put Hiashi's foot in his mouth.

The outside looked very depressing, like a sad portrait playing a tear jerking song from the piano. If Hinata wasn't quick, she'd probably get another cold.

There was an opened deli. She went inside and swiftly got the bag of rice, paying the clerk, and then went off.

The pavement was slippery, but Hinata didn't notice that when she was running. It caused her to fall with the bag of rice, ripping open when it met the ground.

"No!" Hinata cried out. There was no more money to pay for another bag. She felt the tears come into her eyes, and tried washing that out with the rain hitting her face. Just another devastating Saturday.

She stood from the ground. There was no way she could face Hiashi now. She waited for traffic. There were many cars passing by, which means she'd stay there for awhile. Good, Hinata thought. Maybe father would go away.

Something started shielding her head. She didn't feel the rain anymore. It seemed like an umbrella was protecting her, but who was doing that?

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, being the one to shield her from the rain. "Are you trying to get sick again?"

"Uchiha-san!" Hinata squealed.

Sasuke," he corrected, yet again.

"I'm sorry," she could see Sasuke getting impatient with her, "I was tr-trying to buy rice."

He looked in her hands. "Where is it?"

She faced down. "I don't have it anymore," Hinata murmured sadly.

"Need money?" He took out a five dollar bill. "I guess you need it more than I do."

"It's okay, U- I mean Sasuke-san."

"No, you look like you really need it, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but I-"

"You don't have to repay me back." He grabbed her hand and placed the money into it. "Just take it."

It seemed like more of a demand than a favor. "Arigatou," she said and place it in her pocket. "You don't know how much it means to m-me."

"It's just rice." Sasuke slumped his shoulders. "It's not a big deal."

"I-It is to me! I need to prove to my f-father that I'm not useless!"

He sneered. "You're not useless. Your father's just overreacting because of the death of your mother."

Hinata's eyes widened. "What does th-that have to do with a-anything?"

"He could see you as your mother, since you're the oldest, but hey, this is just my assumption."

"I see."

Sasuke's onyx eyes darted somewhere else. "Do you want to come home with me?"

"I can't! My father would be w-waiting for me!"

"Lie about it. Just say it took you awhile to find a store that was opened. He'll believe it." He nudged Hinata and walked away. "You coming?"

She had a choice to just buy the rice and go home, but she made another choice and went with him instead, because it's more interesting that way.

--

In all the houses Hinata went to, she never saw one as clean as Sasuke's. She imagined his house like the houses of her guy friends. Even her mansion didn't look as neat. "You like?" he asked, wiping his shoes on a mat. Hinata did the same so she wouldn't leave muddy tracks on his floor.

"Your house is very... spotless," she replied.

He grinned. "I know." Sasuke went near her face. "You thought it was going to be messy just because I'm a guy?"

"I, ugh, I..." Just gazing at his face made her nervous to answer. "Maybe..."

"I thought so." He sat on a chair. "You need something?"

She shook her head. "I'm good." Hinata sat across from him. Only the table was between them.

Sasuke tapped his fingers on the table. "How's your demented cousin?"

"He's fine."

"Sister?"

"Traitor!"

"How so?"

"Sh-She's such a goody-goody..."

"Like you?"

"No, she's l-like a suck-up to father."

"She has to be? What you told me about your dad is what I expect Hanabi to be like."

What a know-it-all. "Do you have any b-brothers or sisters?"

"I only have a big brother. His name is Itachi. Right now, he's a college graduate."

"Oh, I n-never knew that."

"You don't know me that well."

"I know." She twiddled her thumbs around. "I'm just g-getting to know you."

"Same. Do you need to buy the rice?"

Hinata forgot all about that. "Yeah, I do." They both went outside and went to a near little store. Hinata grabbed a bag and gave the manager the five dollars. Her and Sasuke went back outside, noticing the rain has gotten lighter. "I need to go home now," Hinata said.

"You just got here," Sasuke retorted.

"I know, but I don't want to get y-yelled by my f-father. Thanks again." Without thinking, she gave him a peck on the cheek. Heat took over her face when she did this. Sasuke was stunned as he felt her soft lips touched his face. He felt the spot that she kissed.

"Um... you're welcome..." He walked her home, still surprised about it.

A few minutes later, they were outside of the Hyuuga mansion. Hinata rung the doorbell. "See you tomorrow?" She couldn't stop smiling.

"Yeah sure," he said and smiled lightly back at her. They both were staring at each other, until Hiashi opened the door.

Hinata saw her father coming out and she instantly frowned. "Hi father."

"It's about time." He glared at Uchiha. "Who is he?"

"He's a friend of m-mine that I b-bumped into the s-store," she lied.

"I see. You may go now," he hissed.

"Yes sir," Sasuke replied and went away.

Hinata went inside the mansion quickly, while hearing the same old rants that was expected from her father. "What took you so long? Are you that slow? Did you abandon your duties just to be with that pretty boy? I'm very busy Hinata, and I don't have to wait for you to buy a simple thing."

"I have the rice!" Hinata shouted. "W-What else do you want f-from me!? I'm not mother!!!" She ran up to her room, the words shocked Hiashi.

Hanabi popped out of the kitchen. "Dad... I accidentally burned the the chicken..." Hiashi turned to her with a softened expression.

"It's okay Hanabi," he said. "You can go."

She sighed with relief. "Really? Thanks daddy!" She gave him a hug and went to her room, leaving Hiashi alone to think.

In the meantime, Hinata was still thinking about the innocent kiss she gave on Sasuke. I hope he doesn't take it the wrong way,she wrote in her diary. I never did that to anyone before, and I guess I was caught up in the moment... if that counted as a first kiss with a boy (except Neji, who's only family), then Sasuke would be the first guy I kissed! What have I done? She chuckled at the thought and went on writing.

End of Chapter.

Before you all get excited, that kiss was just a token of Hinata's gratitude. That doesn't mean she has a crush on him (yet), only mutual feelings for Sasuke. BTW, he's freaked out about it, but he's just not showing it XD