Breaking the Rules

Naruto doesn't belong to me.

Author's note: Enjoy!

Chapter 3:

'What a great way to spend a Friday night…'

Hinata copied the gardening article for the second time. She looked at her watch: 45 minutes of detention to go. Two hours of copying turned out to be worse than she imagined. She inaudibly sighed and looked around. Out of the 25 other students or so, she only recognized Temari. Actually, most of them seemed to be seniors.

When detention was over, Hinata hurried to her locker to take her bag and leave.

"What is someone like you doing here?" asked Temari as she sped up to catch up with Hinata.

"It's a long story…" she distantly replied.

"What did I want to say...? Oh yea, thanks for the locker, the teacher bought it. It's irritating that I got caught for copying that homework that morning but oh well! C'est la vie, right? Anyway, next time you have detention, give me a heads up. We can go home together or something," she concluded with a friendly smile.

"Monday," Hinata said, more to herself, before letting out a nervous laugh.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Her trip home was fine, if we don't mention that someone vandalized her method of transportation. In other words, someone drilled nails in her bike's wheels. But what was mostly frustrating was that usually, Hinata could take a short-cut that saved her half an hour. Now, she had to do a long detour that took her one hour and a half.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Sakura was at a restaurant with Naruto and they were having the first serious discussion of the afternoon. Before that, they had gone to the movies and took a long walk in a nearby park.

The two ordered something to eat and Naruto started, "Now can you explain to me why you invited me?"

"There isn't a specific reason…" she responded and shook her hands a little.

"Sakura, I'm not stupid." He said seriously, eyeing her carefully. The waiter arrived with the food and set up the plates, which gave Sakura a moment to think and answer, "I realized that I couldn't experience real happiness unless I was with you. It's odd; I never noticed before that- hey, are you even listening?"

"Sakura! Your food is getting cold!"

'At least he would never doubt that I'm doing this for my own plans…'

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Hinata was still in bed. Her body felt heavy and tired even at 2 p.m. She turned around to be on her back, put her hands behind her head and slowly opened her eyes. Collecting books took her more time than she had anticipated; she was working until the first rays of the sun came out!

'Who would want to piss off Gaara?' she thought as she got up passively with a loud sigh. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the brightness around her.

"Before anything, I have to buy some wheels," she said aloud. She got dressed quickly, washed her face and took some money from her desk's first drawer. Hinata then went down the stairs four by four and as she passed by the kitchen, she snatched an apple from a fruit bowl.

"I'm going out!" she told her mother in her hurry.

"But we're expecting guests," her mother answered. She got a slammed door as a response.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Hinata got home around five. Her little trip had taken her more than she had expected. In the length of two minutes, she found Gaara's address and jammed it in her pocket, changed her t-shirt, put on a dark blue hoody on top of it, shoved in the eight bags in her backpack and dragged it across the room with much effort. So many things to do, so little time!

Whether she liked it or not, the Hyuuga was off to Gaara's house. On her fixed bike, she cruised slowly, taking deep breaths to calm down. Something felt oh so terribly wrong.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

The house was…really big. It looked a little like her own, but that wasn't saying much. Surprisingly, he didn't live that far- she could have made it in 10 minutes if she hadn't taken her time so much. Her shaking finger approached the bell, then pulled away.

'It'll be fine, just fine…' se reassured herself. So she rang the bell and waited. A few seconds later, the door opened and a familiar person stepped in the light~!

"I…um…well, think I got the wrong place; sorry Temari," Hinata said, embarrassed.

'Great! Now she'll think I'm stalking her or something. I'm pretty sure this is the address though…'

Temari just smiled and said, "Show me the address, maybe I can help."

Hinata handed her the paper without delay. After giving it a quick look, the blonde looked serious.

"This is Gaara's handwriting." It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Um…well…we have a project…" Hinata said vaguely, scratching the side of her head.

"Come in then."

"Oh but…actually my bike's near the fence, should I put it inside?"

"No worries. No one would dare touch it." Temari reassured her.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

She silently followed her, all the while telling herself that nothing can go wrong. The walls were in a shade of blue that created a sense of tranquility in the house. There were a few portraits here and there and some fancy candelabras in random places. The stairs were covered in a dark blue carpet that went well with the wall color.

Hinata looked around and tried to appear like she wasn't looking around too much at the same time. The two arrived in the living room and sat down.

"So what's up? You look stressed," Temari teased goodheartedly.

"Stress? Yes, maybe. Actually…" Hinata awkwardly started.

"You want to know where Gaara is?" she guessed.

"Not exactly…I was wondering if- if you don't mind- I could kind of eat something? I was collecting material for the project and running around all day…" Hinata stopped her rambling when her stomach fiercely grumbled. Her face became a few shades darker.

"Of course!" Temari said, getting up. The conversation went on, "I think you're going to have to wait a little for Gaara though. He went out a while ago."

Hinata tried not to look too relieved.

"I'm not bothering you then, am I?" Hinata asked in a low voice.

"Of course not! I prefer when there's company," Temari said as she appeared again. She threw a sandwich that Hinata caught easily.

"Thanks," she said, eying the food.

"So…do you play?"

"Hinata looked at her awkwardly.

"I mean like, playstation and stuff."

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Gaara silently walked downtown. He was looking for something in particular. He took out his hand from his pocket, a new cigarette rolling between his fingers. He lit it and continued to sweep the place with his eyes. The snow had completely melted but Gaara still felt the cold inside of his bones and on his bare arms and lightly shivered.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

"WAOH! Level 7! Hinata we gotta get together more often; we make the perfect team!" Temari said a little too loudly. She was totally absorbed in the game.

"Do you have a movie or…you know, something different?" Unlike the blonde, Hinata just wanted to work on the stupid project and sleep.

"Um…did you see "Kill Bill"? My friend says it's good." Temari said as she put in the DVD.

About an hour later, both of them were lazily spread out on the floor, their backs against the sofa.

"So…what's this movie's lame name again?" Hinata asked with half-closed eyes.

"Dunno. I'd rather forget forever. How can blood splash out the human body like that and-" she stopped talking when she heard the door. Hinata checked the time: 8:49 p.m.

Both of them got up quickly, staring in the door's direction. There was a deadly silence and in the dark, the first thing that appeared was a dark silhouette. They both took a step back. Gaara then opened the light and looked at them indifferently.

"What?" he asked as he saw their facial expressions. "I'm back." He then said as an afterthought.

Temari gazed at him curiously. Her brother's skin looked frail in the light and the bandage on his forehead…

"Where were you? Did you get in a fight?" she asked.

"No…" he replied in a tone that clearly warned her not to inquire further for info. He gave his attention to Hinata.

'What's she doing here? A-tchaaa, the project.'

"Is father home?" he asked Temari, ignoring his guest.

No, but he canceled your appointment at the shri-"

"Ok, that's fine." He cut her, his tone the same as earlier. His eyes were lightly squinted and for a few milliseconds, he searched Hinata's face for a reaction. He vividly remembered the short discussion he had with his father.

"I have to meet a classmate for a project at that exact time actually."

"A project? It can't be cancelled?" his father asked from behind his desk.

"Impossible. We both have tight schedules." Gaara answered as he headed towards the door. The conversation was over.

"What are you doing here?"

'She looks angry. This could be amusing.' He thought.

Hinata gave him a confused look, then gave him the best answer she could muster in this kind of situation:

"The project." She couldn't hate unpunctual people more, even if it was THE Gaara.

He just showed off a smirk for less than five seconds.

Hinata thanked Temari and picked up her stuff before following the great and mighty Gaara.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

The backpack was visibly heavy, but Gaara didn't seem to have the slightest intention of helping her in any way. Walking behind him, she didn't miss a chance to give him her mild death glare.

'What a real gentleman…my back's about to crack!'

As they walked in the hallway, Hinata's eyes widened as she saw an almost fully decapitated puppet sporting horrible make-up on dangling from a door. When he noticed her reaction, Gaara simply said, "It's my brother's room."

"Oh and…is he there now?" she asked, tying to ease the tension.

"No, he's at the hospital," he said with a certain satisfaction. Hinata swallowed her saliva with difficulty when he turned around.

'Why can't he be a little more like his sis..?'

Unlike everyday, Gaara gently opened his door then told his guest to wait.

'What the…? What happened in there?' Hinata thought when she saw the messiness of his room.

'We'll just get this done today so I won't have to see her again.' Gaara thought on his side.

He pulled out a low table, about 30 centimeters high, and placed it in the middle of the room.

"Sit there and don't touch anything." Gaara ordered as he pointed to a spot beside the table. She did as she was told and took out her books and Gaara opened his computer. When he wasn't paying attention, she looked at him in detail. His bright red hair stood out in the room. The dark circles around his eyes clearly showed the lack of sleep the boy was getting. Also, his extremely light eyebrows were hardly visible; perhaps makeup?

"What are you staring at?" Gaara startled her.

"N-nothing. I was just…wondering what happened to your forehead," she successfully lied.

"It doesn't concern you," he said, irritated. She looked elsewhere, busying herself with the books.

"Copy this one first," she said, changing the subject.

"Why should I? Let's just scan it," he said in a stable voice.

"We could scan, but it won't be pretty."

Gaara obviously couldn't care less. Hinata took off her hoody to block out Gaara gaze for a second.

"Half-half," he concluded. The redhead moved some magazines and a scanner appeared almost magically!

He copied down the first three texts at the speed of light but the poems were extra long. -One of them was a 4 page text!- Anyway, everything went by smoothly and everything done and said was related to the project. It was already around midnight.

"It's…it's going well," she wanted it to seem like a compliment but Gaara didn't seem to catch on.

"Hmm…"

'Did she choose the longest poems on purpose? My fingers are killing me' Gaara thought as he silently rubbed his fingers.

'He's so calm, he kind of looks like a spy...' Hinata thought as a picture of Sakura popped up in her head. ' What am I thinking! Maybe…maybe next time I could ask? Hm…'

Gaara turned around briskly which (literally) made Hinata jump.

"Come write," he calmly said, passing it off as an order and not a desperate call for help.

"You know we don't have to finish everything today, right?" Hinata said, sitting by the computer and cracked her knuckles.

"No. We're finishing today," Gaara ordered

"Um…you do realize it's past midnight," Hinata said, feeling a little nervous now.

"You can spend the night," Gaara offered. "You can sleep on the floor."

'He's…joking, right?'

"My mom will worry."

That seemed to mysteriously shut Gaara up.

'Did I say something wrong?'

"Sorry."

"What's left?" he asked.

"Well, printing it, adding personnel comments, the bibliography of each poem, the biography of each author, an illustration for each text, the cover page, the forth cover page, a poem to write and a few more poems to type."

"To scan," Gaara corrected.

'We're not even half done.' Hinata realized, trying to mentally divide the tasks.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" she asked, hoping he'll say "yes".

"No. I'm not going to your house."

'Like I wanted to come back here.'

"Come back tomorrow."

'Does he read minds?'

"Fine," she reluctantly said.

"At three," he concluded and Hinata approved with a light nod.

O+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+O

Nothing unusual happened on the way home. She went in from the back, and put her bike on the side. On her way in, she suddenly remembered:

"We're expecting guests."

'Shoot.'

To be continued…