Meiwa Says: Hello to everyone! I'm so glad you dropped by, I really appreciate it...but I'd appreciate it more if you'd leave a little comment for me to improve (not to boost my ego, lol) in the reviews section. Although I believe it's not proper to discontinue the story because of lack of reviews, it would be real nice to hear from the audience.
Um, okay. My comments on this one is that the first part isn't really significant to the whole plot of the chapter, so yeah. I just wanted to show that Hinata and Sasuke's friendship had progressed over the course of seven years. And I don't know what age Sasuke left the village, so let's leave it at that, 'kay?
I apologize for errors in the info here, but I based this on what I know and what I've read so far. They're still in the Academy, but all of them are genin already.
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own it. That's why it's called fanfiction. Fan, me? Fiction, not real?
Mittsu no Kotoba: I Hate You!
Meiwa Chinmoku.
Hinata Hyuga was a terrible liar, and everyone knew that as if it were a fact.
But there were some times, just a countable number of times that she had managed to slip without anyone noticing. At some point, she'd have to put all her efforts into lying in order to save someone – or very, very, very rarely, herself – from humiliation. It wasn't as if she had horrible intentions about it, no, quite the opposite. She usually had a good reason to, and this was one of it.
"No, I d-don't think S-Sasuke-kun's c-cute..."
As years progressed and so did her friendship with Sasuke, formalities were dropped and so was the stutter. Okay, Hinata would again be lying if she claimed that her 'illness' – as Sasuke not so kindly categorized it – was entirely gone, but she was improving since she was a child. The only reason she stammered was when she was nervous or on the brink of blacking out, which was quite uncommon nowadays.
Sakura seemed to have believed her, as the pink-haired kunoichi frolicked away, humming to herself a wedding march. Hinata could only imagine what was going through her mind.
Well, in truth, she had sorta lied when she replied to Sakura. Of course, somewhere deep inside the shy heiress, she believed that Sasuke Uchiha was handsome, but that wasn't exactly the same as cute, so it meant that she hadn't totally lied to Sakura…right?
Ugh, what complications life could bring with simple questions. It irked her that she, among other girls, was the only one who really thought about who Sasuke really was inside. But she never voiced that out – she was Hinata, the kind, shy, dark weirdo.
"Hey, Hinata-chan." A loud voice pulled her out of her reverie. She turned her body to see Kiba, taking the once-empty chair beside her. "Good morning!"
"Good morning, K-Kiba-kun!"
The brunette chuckled and lay back on his chair, starting a story before being interrupted by something that sounded like a cross of a bark and a yelp. A head of white fur popped from underneath his coat, showing the hyperactive dog he always carried around. Akamaru jumped out of his owner's jacket and into Hinata's open arms.
"And good morning to you too, Akamaru-chan!" she cooed, as the dog cuddled in closer. "I'm so glad you've finally convinced Iruka-sensei to allow you to bring Akamaru-chan to the Academy."
Kiba immediately blushed and rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. "Heh, that's the thing, Hinata-chan…um…"
"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret," replied the indigo-haired kunoichi, grinning innocently at the red Kiba.
The two laughed together, as if they had a deep secret that they shared. What they didn't know was that two red sharingan eyes were watching them with complete resentment.
...
"Sasuke-kun..." A green-haired Sasuke-girlfriend-wannabe approached him shyly, shoving a sample of her rice balls in his face. "Um…it would be a…a real honor if you'd eat this…and…"
He glared at her, "Hn."
Most girls knew what this meant. When Sasuke glared and gave his trademark 'hn', it meant that his patience was thin and that he didn't want anyone to come within an eight feet radius of where he was. Upon realizing the expression he gave to her, Aoko merely sniffed and ran away from him, crying as her friends tried to catch up to her.
Hinata watched, one-by-one, as Sasuke rejected all their proposals of offering him food. She could tell by his face that he was more than irritated, even more so than pissed. She didn't know why, and she really didn't know if she wanted to.
"Sasuke-kun, sorry I'm late but Gai-sensei had me do stuff for TenTen-chan! But now, here I am!" Sakura cheered, pushing down the container of food she had brought for two. She offered him some chopsticks, but he merely ignored her presence.
Her cheeks reddened as she gasped. "Oh I understand! You want me to feed you, huh, Sasuke-kun? Alrighty then, oooopen up!'
Sakura placed a piece of korokke in between the chopsticks – well, Hinata could only guess what it really was – and opened her mouth, making cooing noises at the brooding man. Before she could react, Sasuke had already screeched his chair backwards and slammed his fists on his table, hoping that the pink-haired girl could understand the significance of his actions. The girls who were once planning to hand him some of their homemade sweets cowered back into their seats, feeling their confidence sink in.
Hinata blinked as he walked away from the classroom, and on instinct, she followed him.
She just hoped she was doing the right thing – not only for herself and Sakura, but for Sasuke as well.
...
Hearing footsteps trailing behind him further increased his anger. Sasuke Uchiha was known to be very temperamental, so it wasn't a surprise when he activated his famous sharingan and glared at the person following him. The last person he'd expect was Hinata.
"A-A-Ano…I-I-I…" she choked on her last words, leaving him in wonder to what she'd say. He dropped his kekkei genkai and continued to trudge away from the Academy building. "W-W-Wait, S-Sasuke-kun!"
"Who gave you permission to call me that?" he grumbled loudly, causing her to wince in fear.
"A-Ano...y-you did," she pointed out, clashing the tips of her index fingers together. "B-But i-i-if you don't l-like it…I could…ano…I could c-call you U-U-Uchiha-san…"
"Stop stuttering!" he commanded without much thought of what he was doing.
He then found himself pinning her to the tree, her fearful eyes casting a look she had never given him before. Sasuke then clenched his fists, trying to calm his temper. For all the years he had been with Hinata, he swore to himself that he'd protect her, but ever since the incident happened, he wasn't so sure he could keep up with his promise.
"I…I'm s-sorry…" Hinata whispered, wincing as she stuttered out the last word.
"What is it that you want from me?" he hissed, unable to control his temper. Hinata gulped and turned her head away, casting her gaze elsewhere. Her intentions were not to aggravate him further, but to have a nice chat with him like they used to. She couldn't understand what changed that, and she found herself admitting that she missed the old Sasuke.
"N-N-Nothing…"
Sasuke clenched his teeth. "Then get the hell out of here!"
"Hey, Teme, let go of Hinata-chan!"
Both teens turned their heads to see Naruto with fire in his eyes. He showed many emotions that moment – ranging from concern to anger and so on. Hinata shivered as her shoulders eased up, Sasuke fully turning his attention to the blond container. "Get out, Dobe; this isn't any of your business."
"Oh yes it is!" Naruto growled, fixing his eyes squarely at the scene before him. "I see you trying to scare Hinata-chan, and I won't let that happen!"
"What are you gonna do? Fight me?"
The blue-eyed boy eyed Hinata carefully, noticing how apprehension plagued her features. He had seen her face abuse over the years; whether from Hiashi or Neji, and he didn't believe that anyone should face such pain. Naruto understood that she was guarded because of this emotional trauma. "If it takes beating you up to leave her alone, then so be it! I will kick your ass, dattebayo!"
Sasuke then activated his sharingan and Naruto quickly started making hand signs for his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The blue-haired heiress suddenly processed what was going on, and instantly got in between the two, despite her shaking legs.
"N-No, please, Naruto-kun, s-s-stop!"
"Get out of my way." Sasuke sneered, but she tried to ignore it.
Naruto blinked at her with owlish eyes. "Hinata-chan, you gotta understand! I need to fight Teme to –"
"It's n-n-never right to fight!" She yelled, closing her eyes. "T-That's why we're n-ninjas, so we c-can help p-people!"
"B-But it's n-n-never right to um…fight." She huffed, pouting. "I-I-I w-want t-to be a great n-ninja someday…but o-only because I want t-to help p-people…"
At that moment, Sasuke Uchiha dropped his sharingan and watched as tears streamed down the young kunoichi's cheeks. Naruto muttered many apologies as he dismissed his clones, looking apologetic and rueful at the same time. Upon noticing the lack of battle cries and occupants, she raised her lavender eyes to look at them in gratitude, wiping away her tears. "A-A-Arigatou…"
"Take this as a warning, Hyuga." Sasuke glowered at her with much intensity in his eyes. "You will never, in under any circumstances, speak to me or communicate with me."
Hinata didn't know what to say to him, or in much clearer terms, how to react. She was used to his scary and desolate demeanor, but she knew that deep inside Sasuke was still the little boy who was trying to put up a façade in front of everyone. Not having the ability to search for the right words, the blue-haired kunoichi purely stammered out, "W-W-Why U-Uchiha-san?"
And he said three words, three words that had really affected her to her very core– three words that would probably haunt her for the rest of her life…three words that she'd never forget. "I hate you."
Meiwa Says: I don't know if they didn't allow Akamaru in the Academy, but yeah. I'm sorry for Sakura fans that I made her one of the annoying b**ches here, but she fit the story quite nicely. I probably won't be having Sakura-bashing anytime soon, so don't worry. Oh yeah, in the last chapter, I made the arrangements of the name like surname then given name. I decided to change it in this chapter for reasons I can't explain.
I would also love to acknowledge: cheralypse, kikizoey & lover9 for placing Mittsu no Kotoba in their favorites! Arigatou gozaimasu!
cheralypse: Thank you so much for leaving a review! I appreciate what you said and the effort. :) Also, I hope you find this equally-interesting as the first one!
lover9: Thank you! Hope you find this chapter to your liking!
Korokke - Japanese Croquettes.