Psychoticbunny: Hi peoples! Thank you for the great reviews! I was happy:D I just want you guys to know I'm changing Temari and Kankuro's ages. Temari is five years older than Gaara (14) and Kankuro is two years older than Temari (16). It's for the sake of the story. Now, review replies!
SilentAbyss- Thanks. I made her Chinese 'cause I take Chinese in school so I realized: Hey! I can use all of the stuff I learned! I can't help you with Cantonese. I can barely speak Mandarin! - I know the whole two Nejis are confusing, but it'll be explained. Gaara is not rich in this story. He's actually really poor. It actually mentions it in this chapter. It's gonna make it harder for both of them because Hiashi will be upset if Hinata likes someone of that status. Thank you again for your long review. Seriously, I live for these reviews.
SnowyNight- Thanks. I worked extra hard on the comedy in that chapter because the beginning was so serious. I actually can't be serious at all. I'm writing another angst fic and I keep making jokes everywhere. Oh well. I think I like anonymous reviews best 'cause you guys are putting in your opinion. Thanks again!
Disclaimer: Gaara would kill me if I owned him and Hinata would be scarred for life. And that's only two characters reactions.
Warnings: Cursing, mentions of rape, and… I dunno. I forgot. Whatever. Read the chapter and you'll find out.
"Regular"- Chinese
"Italics"- English
---
Gaara is really, well, cute when he smiles. It's almost as if he's out of practice or something so he experiments when he does. It's kind of twisted, but looks wonderful on his face anyway. I'm sad he stopped. It was so adorable I had to falter just to admire it.
I shake my head. I can't think about this. I need to listen to Mother while she crams nine years' worth of education in proper manners of ladies into my head.
"Remember that when pouring tea, you must be…"
But I don't want to listen to this. It's a lot more fun to think about Gaara. That boy is just one of a kind. Father had allowed him to come over when I asked, so now I was much too excited for tomorrow to pay attention to the correct way to walk when in a dress.
"Neji!"
"Huh? Wha?"
"Repeat what you have learned at this session to me."
Shoot.
---
"I'll be out late tomorrow," I inform Temari.
"Really? Why?" she replies.
"'Cause."
"Come on. Can't you tell me?"
"Fine. It's a friend."
She smiles happily. She's been waiting forever for me to acquaint someone. I doubt she would've cared if I'd added that she was a mass murderer I had helped escape from jail.
"Maybe you should invite him over one of these days. I'd like to meet one of your friends. This is really great Gaara."
"Invite over?" I give her a look. "To this dump? She'd probably ask why we're hanging out in the garbage can." I put emphasis on the 'she'd' to correct Temari's mistake.
"Come on Gaara. Give her a chance. Our apartment isn't a dump. It's a bit trashy, but we can't afford much more."
I hate being poor, but there's not much I can do about it. Most of the neighbors are too terrified of me to pay me for chores such as watering plants or feeding cats. Besides that one creepy old man who wants me to come over for 'fun.' I shudder at the thought.
"You okay?" Temari asks and I nod. "I'm going out to work then." I nod again.
And I'm alone again. I'm alone for most of my day. In school everyone avoids me like the plague (except for Neji, of course). Then, when I get home, Temari has to go to ten billion jobs. Finally, she gets back and has to flop down on the springy, uncomfortable excuse for a mattress in our room and goes to sleep. Later, my brother, Kankuro, gets home and does the same. After that comes nighttime, where minutes feel like years. In the morning comes school again, and then the process is repeated.
I wonder how I'm going to teach Neji English. I guess I'll start will the little words and move up. Or maybe I should start with simple phrases and then expand. Jeez. This is going to be harder than I thought.
---
Jeez. This is going to be harder than I thought. There are so many things to remember when it comes to being a proper lady. I just want to stay as a boy if it's this much of a hassle to be a girl.
I spent all of last evening learning, getting scolded, and then learning some more. And now I'm going to have to learn English too! I don't know how I'm going to handle all of this. I might explode from overload or something!
I accidentally let out an exasperated sigh.
"Neji, are you alright?" Gaara inquires.
"Huh? Oh me? Yeah, I'm fine," I lie. "Oh. Here we are."
Gaara's looking up at the fence in pure amazement. I won't be too surprised if he starts drooling.
"This is where you live?" he finally manages to say.
"Uh. Yeah. Let's go in," I say, pressing a button on the intercom.
"Who is this?"
"It's me, Neji, and my friend."
The gate opens and I lead Gaara up the almost tediously lengthy path. He looks at everything open-mouthed. I don't see what's so special about it. It's even smaller than what we had in China. Then again, I have to keep in mind that not most people are ridiculously rich and live in castle-sized estates.
"Right. Let's go to my room," I say as we reach the front door.
"This place is huge," I hear him mutter as I lead him through multiple hallways and up several staircases. I chuckle at his shock, but I think he's too busy ogling at his surroundings to perceive it.
"Okay. Here it is, my room," I say while opening the door, "Don't laugh. I know it's on the small side."
"The small side?" he says dubiously, gaping at my room.
My room really is one of the tinier rooms in the manor. It only has my four-poster bed, a desk with a computer, a couch, a rug, and a wooden bookshelf. The walls are plain and white, like the rest of my room, making it a very dull sight to me. Gaara, however, looks astonished.
"This place is so cool!"
I think this is the only time I ever seen Gaara excited. In fact, before this, I pondered whether he had any emotions in the first place. I can't help but giggle at his amazement. This time he notices.
"What? I think you could fit one million of my apartment in here. I can't believe you actually live here!" he exclaims.
I didn't know he lived in an apartment. That probably just added onto to the shock because of the comparison. He probably would think one of the regular houses in the branch family's district is impressive.
"Well, can we get started?" I ask, wanting to distract his attention.
"What? Oh yeah. Sorry. Got kind of side tracked," he… apologized? He's really acting out of character right now. "Well, now let's get to your lesson, dumbo." Never mind. "I've decided to start by teaching you the English alphabet because, unlike Chinese, each letter has a certain sound. Also, when you pair letters with others, sometimes it will make different sounds. You might want to take notes."
"Oh! Of course!" I say and retrieve a notebook and a mechanical pencil.
"Okay. We'll start with the letter A."
---
For an idiot, Neji sure does catch on fast. It's like she absorbs every piece of information I give her. Is she part sponge or something? By the end of one hour, we've covered the alphabet, a couple of small words, and a few important phrases. Maybe she isn't as dim-witted as I thought.
"Um… Gaara?" she says.
"Yeah?"
"I get it and stuff, but… it's just… um…" I glare at her. "Sorry. It's just that the alphabet is really hard to remember. How do you memorize the order? I know that it's only twenty-six letters, but it's just so hard to keep track of them all!"
"Well, there's a song you can sing," I state.
"Could you… could you teach it to me? Maybe? Please?" she questions.
I'm sure if I teach her the alphabet song, she'll get it right away. Nevertheless, there is the problem that I don't sing. And I'm sure if I did, it wouldn't sound too great. In fact, the only reason I know the alphabet song is because Temari used to sing it to me. I'm not even sure if I can remember the tune.
I'm about to turn her down when Neji gives me this helpless and lost look. For god's sake, it's the alphabet! Oddly enough, I soon find myself singing the familiar song.
"A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z. Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you sing with me?"
She repeats it, hitting every note perfectly. Then, she sings it again for fun. She starts grinning and doing this little dance that would normally look stupid, but, for some strange reason, looks absolutely perfect when she does it. She changes the beat around and sings it that way. She sings it every way I could ever think of and even more with matching dances for each. I'm entranced. I can't keep my eyes off her.
Suddenly, she opens her warm lavender eyes and stares straight into my icy turquoise ones. The warmth seems to spread from her eyes to mine and then throughout my entire body, until I'm tingling all over. I feel my lips curve upwards on their own accord and heat rise to my face.
I have an urge I have never had before: I want to hug her. I want to touch her, something I had avoided so much for the past nine years of my life. And now, someone I've known for only three days is going to break that hatred, that fear?
"Neji," I whisper. I still don't like that name, but it's Neji's name, so it's just right.
"Hm?" she says.
"Do you know how to say sunshine in Japanese?" I inquire.
She shakes her head.
"It's Hinata. And that's what I'll call you from now on, Hinata." Because you are my sunshine.
She blushes, even though I didn't add that last bit on, which is just like her. Yes, Hinata fits her wonderfully. She deserves a name that means something better than screw. (1)
I tuck some strands of her hair behind her ear delicately, as if she's made of porcelain. I run my fingers across her jaw and caress her cheek. Her skin is as soft as a baby's.
I abruptly realize what I'm doing and immediately withdraw my hand as if I have been burnt.
There's an awkward silence that follows. What have I done? What's wrong with me? I just screwed up the only friendship I've ever had! I think I need my brain checked. Not that I could afford it… damn it! Being poor is really frustrating! You can't even dis yourself without coming to a financial problem!
Hinata opens her mouth. I'm afraid of what she'll say. That she hates me? That she never wants to see me again?
"Let's eat something," she suggests, probably to break the intense atmosphere and I nod just so we can get out of here.
---
Over the past six hours I have been lying in my bed, thinking over the events of today, I have finally come up with one observation: My ceiling is very white. It's so white, it almost blinds you with it's white-ness, but not really. What an enigma. Too bad it has absolutely nothing to do with how peculiar Gaara was acting.
He was nice to me. I think this might be a sign of the apocalypse. Perhaps instead of pondering his behavior, I should hide under my bed for cover. Well, actually, I doubt a bed will protect me from the apocalypse.
Anyway, say the apocalypse isn't happening (this doesn't mean I'm deserting the idea completely though). What's up with Gaara? Naming me Hinata because it means sunshine. I thought for sure he would name me usuratonkatchi, because I'm fairly certain that means something along the lines of moron. And then there's that whole part where he was being really gentle to me and stroking my cheek. The weirdest thing was I kind of enjoyed it.
After that incident, the rest of the visit went pretty smoothly. We ate some food and Gaara taught me some more English before he left. We arranged to have our next lesson at his apartment on Friday, as long as I promised not to laugh and to leave at six. When I asked him why I had to leave then, he refused to answer.
Could it be that he's sick? You know, mentally. Or maybe even physically and it's affecting him mentally. I've heard of cases like that. Maybe there was some dust on my face and it was annoying him. Or could it be…? No. No, Gaara couldn't possibly like me, you know, more than friends. No, that could never happen.
…
Then again, I wouldn't know. Romance was always more of a girly thing so I was never taught any of it. So what I am in need of is a female friend. Someone who knows all about this stuff, someone who I could give daily updates to and could analyze all of Gaara's actions for me.
The question is do I like him back? I guess Gaara has his charm. Even though he's usually pretty rough, he can be really tender at times. There was always the tiny, miniscule detail that I'm going to be married, so there was no way we could ever be together.
I sigh and roll over on my side. He probably doesn't like me anyway. The next thing I hear is Ge ge crying out, "You're late!"
---
I hum the ABC song quietly to myself. I'm sitting on a tall ledge near the school. I arrived early, hoping to clear things up with Hinata.
I have to repeat the song. Where is she? I stop humming. Some other students have begun to turn up. Is something wrong? Is she purposely steering clear of me?
I hop off the ledge. Some kids stop to watch and gawk as I touch the ground practically noiselessly, but I disregard it.
"Hey you!" I shout at one of them who instantaneously recoils out of fright. "Have you seen the new kid, Neji?"
"N-n-no!" he squeaks. Wimp.
I moodily storm off to the classroom. Maybe she had gone ahead without me, thinking I would wait for her to come. She might have also came really early, earlier than me, and hurried off to the classroom. Either way I was kind of mad at her. She should at least give me a chance to explain myself.
"Hey Gaara!" calls Naruto at I enter the classroom. I think that he thinks I'm his friend (which I'm not). "Wazzup?"
"Hn. Naruto. Where's Neji?" I ask.
"Neji?" he repeats. "Oh yeah! The evil kid! He doesn't like ramen you know. He's a bad influence. I suggest you don't hang out with him; it might be contagious."
"It's she and I could care less about her opinions on ramen. (2)" I reply. "Just tell me where she is."
"Oh! I dunno. No one's seen her," he says.
Now I'm starting to get worried, but I have to calm down. She's probably just sick or something. My mind conjures up a picture of Hinata coughing her lungs out. No, not that sick. Just a small cold.
What if she's afraid to come to school now, because of yesterday? That wouldn't be fair! I forgave her for touching me, which I hate, yet she won't forgive me for something as measly as petting her face for a second or two? I bite my lip to prevent screaming in frustration.
I look at the clock above the chalkboard. It's five to nine. Five minutes! She has five minutes!
Tick tock, tick tock.
Four minutes.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Three minutes.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Two.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Hinata bursts into the room with only five seconds left until nine. She's panting, which leads me to believe she's run recently. She looks up and flashes me a smile.
The school bell rings and Ms. Kurenai stands up and tells everyone to settle down. Hinata sits down beside me and whispers, "I overslept. Sorry if I worried you."
I grunt in response and pretend to be focused on whatever the teacher's blabbing about, but in reality I'm relieved that she's okay. I wonder if she can see my body relax. I wonder if she can hear my heartbeat slow down. I wonder if she knows how much I care about her.
---
What's the use? What's the use of telling him anything when all he ever does is treat me like an empty seat? I race to class and make sure he knows I'm okay and all he does is grunt! A grunt. That's what I get. A grunt. Did he even notice I was gone? Why doesn't he care? I care about him!
"Mistress Neji. Is everything all right? You look troubled," says Ge ge. He has picked me up again.
"Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for asking. I've just got a lot of things on my mind," I answer.
"Yes, with the marriage and everything. That would cause plenty of stress. Learning how to act like a lady seems to be no easy task and taking English lessons would only add more pressure. I still want to meet this friend of yours, though." Ge ge doesn't like the idea of me going to 'some random boy's' apartment. He can get a bit over-protective at times, but I just have to remind him that if anything happens, I have my cell phone. Plus, just incase that gets lost, I always keep my back up cell phone in my backpack.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Gaara is really nice." Not.
"I know, I know. I just can't help but fret over it. I wish I could come along to make sure you'll be okay. Just call me if anything happens. I'll be at home," he notifies me.
"I know," I reassure. "You just need to calm down. Gaara's parents will be there to help us anything goes wrong." That's actually a total guess. I have no idea whether or not Gaara's parents work or stay home. Maybe he has siblings. I honestly can't say.
The rest of the walk goes on in silence (not including my head, which is telling Gaara off). As we near our home, I begin to think about how small Gaara's residence will be. It'll probably have a kitchen and a living room. Also, it'll have a bedroom or two for Gaara and his parents. Maybe more if he has siblings. I start to observe that I know almost nothing about Gaara. I should ask him about his life more often.
For a fleeting moment, I imagine Gaara homeless, struggling to make the cardboard box he lives in more hospitable. Wait, Gaara said he lives in an apartment, and unless he keeps a great deal of cardboard boxes, I doubt he would live in one. Even if he did own an incredible amount, I still think he would prefer his apartment to one of them.
I muse over what his room will look like. I'm not aware of any of his interests (another thing I make a mental note to ask him about) so for all I know, the whole room could be a lurid pink color! That's not too much like his personality though. No, his room would probably be black, based on his character. What would be in his room? Posters?
My mind suddenly comes up with this image of a poorly lit room with no windows and mid-evil torture devices. In the middle of the room, Gaara is cackling maniacally over the screams of my classmates having the machines put to use on them.
…
SCARY! Okay, let's just delete that image.
Maybe he's really girly, but just acts as if he's a big tough guy.
Now I see Gaara giggling innocently in a frilly pink dress with tons of lace. He's standing in a very pink room. Pink bed, pink stuffed animals, pink closet, pink lamp, pink everything. The wallpaper has little hearts all over it and on the floor rests a hot pink carpet.
…
Okay. That's ever scarier than the mid-evil torture one. Oh my eyes. That's worse than Spandex Boy (who I've found out wears that revealing in oh too many ways jumpsuit every day), and Spandex Boy is pretty bad.
Perhaps he's the sporty type, and his room will be filled with a bunch of trophies and equipment. However, he's never mentioned anything about sports to me.
There's also the chance it will be plain and boring like mine. White, white, and more white. Yeah. That's suits him best.
Actually, what suits him best in my opinion would be a vampire's coffin. Then again, a colossal house doesn't exactly fit my personality too well. I really have no clue what his room will look like, taking that into account.
I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
---
One- Yes, Neji means screw in Japanese. Like in the hammer, nail, screw thing. Why Kishimoto chose to name Neji this, I do not know. You can add that to why he decided to name Kakashi scarecrow.
Two- Whenever I switch to italics after previously typing in regular that means emphasis is put on the word(s). They aren't switching from Chinese to English every two seconds.
Psychoticbunny: Done! Thank goodness! I got writers block about ten times during this chapter. I'm surprised I got in finished. This was a real fluffy chapter. I know I kind of switched p.o.v. ten billion times, but I kind of had to. Not very funny, though. I know I'm kind of making Gaara and Hinata's relationship progress really quickly. Call it love at first sight? Ehehe. -U Whatever. See ya next time:D :D :D