Un-edited.
I. Fear
"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." – Bertrand Russell
Hinata slid the door open to her homeroom. All eyes on her, as with what she pulled yesterday, her first day, it was a miracle they didn't pull any sorts of bullying like they did with the boy yesterday. Hinata held her head high and ignored the stares as she made her way to her desk — window seat, second to the last row. She was resistant to that treatment, to be more precise, she was used to it.
Whispers started to flood the room as soon as she sat down. Perhaps on the first day, her classmates saw her as a good target to bully, since she was meek — a quality typically associated in weak people. She wouldn't be offended if they thought of her as weak person if the had met her a few years ago, but now, it's a different story. She didn't even try to make friends with anyone. Good thing her homeroom teacher didn't make the class to introduce themselves in front of the class, since this was their last year, it's rare for students to transfer in on their last year, so the whole batch knew each other... except for her. And, if he did tell them to introduce themselves, Hinata wouldn't, it's not like he can force her to, he was weak. Hinata was taught not to judge others to quickly, but the way her classmates treated him with disrespect, she could tell that even her homeroom teacher was bullied by his own students. How... pitiful.
After the stunt she's pulled yesterday, they probably saw Hinata as someone weird, or something along that line. Hinata did not care for all that, especially with what they thought about her.
Homeroom plus the first four periods passed by quickly and it was already lunch time. Hinata grabbed her bento and made her way to the empty bench over-looking the field, a place she has been eyeing since third period. By now, Hinata has expected 'the bullies' to make a move by now, or maybe later after she's finished her lunch. But even if they do, she'll be ready for whatever comes her way.
"Itadakimasu." She whispered before digging in. After taking her first bite, she suddenly lost the appetite to finish her food. It wasn't because it badly cooked, but the kaarage she was used to cooking tasted different... Maybe because everything she cooked, she usually ate it with them. Her hand dropped on top of her box, this was not the time to think about the past, about them. She chose to leave, determined. Now was not the time to back down.
Hinata repacked her lunch. Today seemed like a long day, and she couldn't wait for it to be over.
Fifth and sixth period felt like 4 hours, and 5-minute homeroom felt like forever. Hinata rejoiced as soon as the bell rang, it was a good thing she wasn't part of today's osoji[1]. She hurriedly grabbed her stuff, and practically dashed her way to the shoe lockers.
Instead of her day-old routine, she made her way to a flower shop she found 2 days ago near the bus stop.
Entering the shop, her ears were greeted by a soft chime. Hinata looked around for a brief moment, and her eyes caught the flowers she's wanted to purchase.
"Hi Miss, back here so soon?" A girl that looked a few years younger than her, appeared beside her.
Hinata slightly smiled. "I'll have these flowers." She pointed at her preferred flowers.
"Sure! Want it arranged like last time?" The girl joyfully asked. Hinata nodded. The girl picked a few flowers up and headed to the wrapping station with Hinata following behind. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you quite often, I'm Akane[2]. What's your name?"
Hinata laughed softly. "I'm Hinata." Hinata was looking around the shop while waiting for her flowers to be ready, and saw some Yarrows. "Akane, I would like a separate arrangement for these, please."
"Sure." It took some time for the flowers to get ready, and every now and then, Hinata kept checking her watch. Akane, who saw Hinata's attention, sped her job. Finishing each arrangement, Akane handed the bouquet of flowers to Hinata. "That'll be ¥12,081[3]."
Hinata handed Akane a couple of bills. "You can keep the change."
"Wow! Thank you. I'll consider it as a tip then!" Akane grinned. "See you."
"See you around."
After 10 minutes of riding the bus, and 15 minutes of riding the train (approximately 8 stops from where she rode), she had finally reached her destination.
The buildings were somewhat isolated from the city. Everything surrounding the buildings were green, probably for patients to feel at peace.
Hinata entered the building and headed to the west wing.
"Excuse me, where can I find the room of Ebisu Udon[4]?" Hinata asked the nurse's station. "I believe he checked in last night." She remembered when she encountered the Nurse from school a while ago.
The nurse looked up his name on the computer. "He's in the common rooms, down that hall to your right. Though he was given NSAIDs an hour ago, so he's probably asleep by now."
"Oh is that so, can you just hand these over to him then?" Hinata handed the Yarrows over.
Hinata made her way back to where she entered to head to the west wing. On the corner of her eye, a familiar black-head just left the hospital. What's he doing here? She thought as she continued her way to her original destination.
Sasuke woke up from the sound of his front door banging. He growled. Who the in their right mind dared knock on his door, much less disturb his sleep[5]? He's a private person, and lived alone. The only person allowed in his apartment was his guardian — correction, the only one who dared force his way in. Tch! That old man!
"What Kakashi?!" The door swung open abruptly.
His guardian barged his way in, settling down in the living room. He made himself comfortable before crossing his leg on top of the other. "You skipped your appointments Sasuke." His voice a little bit muffled by the mask he wore.
"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms, as he sat down opposite his guardian.
"The kid had to check-in the hospital last night," Kakashi went through some papers, "from bruises, broken ribs, scratches and internal bleeding. His parents are filing a suit." Kakashi through the papers on the coffee table.
"Not my problem. You've been taking care of that since what?"
"We had a deal kid." Kakashi uncrossed his leg, and folded his hands together. "I take care of your problems, let you play around with your friends, and all you have to do is attend those appointments."
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"From now on, I'll be setting up all your appointments. And, seeing that it's lunch time, I assume that you wouldn't go to school today" Kakashi stood up and glanced at the clock. "So I've set up a 2:30pm for you. Be there, or I'll drag your sorry ass down there."
"Whatever. Just go." Sasuke pushed Kakashi out his apartment, but before he could close the door on his guardian, Kakashi caught the door.
"Be careful Sasuke. There's little to what I can protect you from." Kakashi whispered seriously.
"See you on Saturday Sasuke."
"Hn." Sasuke glared at the doctor, as she scribbled stuff down her notebook.
He exited the room, and turned his phone on, while waiting for the elevator to reach his floor. With his phone reaching its home screen, it kept buzzing. 15 messages and 3 voicemails. Those idiots! Suddenly, his phone started ringing.
"What?!"
"Man! Where've you been?" Suigetsu's loud mouth shouted through the speaker phone.
"Somewhere."
"Anyway, those guys from Otogakure came back to our territory. They beat up some of our guys. You wan' do something about it?"
"Tch. Those weaklings! Tell Jugo to meet me at the warehouse in an hour, we'll take care of Oto. You and Kiba beat the shit out of those weaklings." He hung up.
Today might actually turn out to be a good day, apart from Kakashi bothering him. He had people to relieve his stress, and the outcome doesn't usually end up with Kakashi cleaning up his mess. Sasuke exited the elevator, and headed towards the vending machine to eat before he commuted back to his local district. With the drop of the omusubi[6], Sasuke grabbed the snacks, unknown to him that someone was behind him.
Two bodies collided, causing Sasuke to drop his omusubi, "Watch it!" He growled, but the foot of the stranger landed on the wrapped omusubi. Sasuke's brow twitched. "What the—"
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke averted his eyes from his squished rice ball to the bucket-hat wearing stranger. "Huh?" The stranger was wearing an orange-striped black tracksuit zipped all the way to the collar covering his mouth, with black wayfarer sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.
"It IS you!" The stranger smacked him on his back. Sasuke slightly cringed. He'd have to sue this guy if he starts spitting blood later on. "It's me!" Sasuke eyed him suspiciously. "Your bestfriend, Naruto!" The stranger took off his bucket-hat and sunglasses revealing bright blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. Sasuke held out left hand forward, but Naruto grabbed it, hugged him on process. "You still remember me!" Naruto let him go, wearing his bucket-hat and sunglasses again.
Sasuke smacked him on his head. "And you're still an idiot. My money." Sasuke held out his hand again.
"Wha—" Sasuke pointed at his foot. Naruto scratched his head. "Yikes, sorry about that... Anyway I'm hungry, so let's grab something! This might be also a good time to catch up!" Naruto dragged Sasuke off to the hospital cafeteria before Sasuke could respond.
Sasuke sighed heavily while waiting for the blonde to come back. He watched his suspicious friend, or as Naruto described it — his 'best friend' — though he hate to admit it, from the back of his head, then scanned the surrounding area. Still the same as always...
Naruto dropped two trays on the table and plopped himself opposite of Sasuke. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at what Naruto ordered for him. "So, what's up?" Naruto asked digging in his ramen bowl.
Sasuke ignored Naruto's question, and started to calmly eat his cold spaghetti with tomato and tuna.
"Wait, you still like tomatoes and okaka[7] right?" Naruto asked. For Sasuke, it was a miracle for this idiot to remember what he preferred, favored, to eat.
"Hn." Sasuke shrugged.
"Good! Good! It's nice to see my best friend eating well." Naruto reached out and patted, smacked, Sasuke's back. Sasuke coughed out some of his food, and glared at the blonde. Naruto raised his brow. "What? Don't want my best friend to grow up all skin and bones."
"So, how're you?" Naruto was already done with his ramen bowl.
Sasuke sighed for the nth time. As much Naruto irritated him, even when they were kids, the both of them looked out for each other. "Hn. You?"
"Exhausted... It's been kinda stressful lately."
Sasuke noticed the cheeriness disappeared from his friend. "Parents?"
"Nah. Other... stuff." Naruto nervously laughed. "They're fine by the way. Though Menma[8]... still has a stick up his ass." Both snickered. Sasuke remembered the younger brother, as opposed to Naruto's hyperactive personality, Menma was the complete opposite. "So what brought you here? I haven't seen you for, what? 9, 10 years? And I haven't seen you around this hospital... Got broken bones or something?"
"Kakashi." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Been skipping, and he caught on."
An 'Oh' was all that escaped Naruto's mouth. He didn't need to pry about it, he knew what it meant. Since it was what caused the unfortunate event that happened to his bestfriend to begin with. "Yikes, speak of the devil." Naruto put his phone back in his pocket, taking out his wallet, to pull out a card and handed it to Sasuke. "Mom's gonna kill me, so gotta go. And keep that! We gotta stay in contact!" Naruto cleaned up his mess, and left.
Sasuke stared at the contact card, then crumpled it, letting it drop on top of his half-eaten meal. After all, the reason why no one knew if he was dead or alive was because he chose to cut all ties with his past.
Two figures sat across each other, approximately five meters away from each other. No one talked. Faint voices from the students in the field could be heard, with the sound of the broken down AC overtook their ears. The air inside the room was heavy. It was already April, the start of spring; yet in the room, it felt like winter — was it because of the AC? Obviously not. This part of the school building was breaking down.
Sasuke observed the figure in front of him. Pale skin that out-rivaled his own, long dark hair with an outdated hairstyle, prim and proper uniform… and those infamous silver eyes. His eyebrow twitched. "What's a Hyuga like you doing here in my territory?" Sasuke leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.
No reaction, no reply.
Sasuke glared harder at the girl in front of him. How dare she ignore him! "You know," he stood up and made his way towards her, "chaos is prevented by enforcing order." Still no reaction from her. This girl even dared to stare the the black board across from her. He walked passed her, stopping in front of the large window, observing the students outside. "The strong prey on the weak, and only the strong survive. That's how it's always been."
"Survival of the fittest?" She whispered sarcastically.
"Hn."
"Who are you to judge others?" Her voice gradually became louder. "Who are you to decide who survives this small little world you built? You know nothing of the real world." Hinata hastily stood up, knocking the chair down in process. She wanted to leave the room, she was wasting her breath talking to this immature boy. Seconds later, she felt a sharp pain on her back and clavicle. He was pinning her against the wall, using his forearm to trap her.
"What are you gonna do about it?" He applied more pressure on her. "You have no idea what I know, or what I can do to you. You don't like how it is here? Go back to your castle, little girl. This is my territory. You don't belong here."
Hinata winced at the applied pressure. "You're gonna tell the others to beat me up, like what you did with that student? You're just a coward who can't take care of his own problems. Go ahead, I don't care. I know what I did was right, and I don't care about your ridiculous rules. You're just a coward hiding in your little make-shift world." Hinata swiftly slid her palms in between her clavicle and his forearm, successfully pushing him away from her.
Coward? This little girl doesn't know shit about him. He grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her down. Hinata flinched, she could feel her blood pumping throughout her head. "Tch!" He pulled her hair towards him, forcing the side of her head to meet his face. He crouched his head down to her ear and whispered, "Let's see who the coward is, once I'm done with you."
Hinata grabbed his wrist gripping her hair, swiftly ducked down to twist her body to the right, leaving his elbow open to her left side. With his wrist restrained, she used her right palm to hit his left elbow inward. Sasuke immediately released her hair and pushed her away from him. Any more of that pressure on the wrong side would have broken his arm. Sasuke glared at the girl in front of him. Although she was breathing hard, her eyes remain unfazed. "I'm not afraid of you." She snarled and walked out the room, banging the door in process.
The door slid open, and the room was filled with three more three headed towards the vacant chairs around him.
"So... What happens next?" Suigetsu snickered seeing that Sasuke was riled up by that girl.
"Get her files."
When Hinata was young, her mother taught her that cursing was inappropriate, and apparently, her fellow classmates did not have the luxury of being disciplined by their parents. Unlike before, they did not hold back with their nasty remarks. It was obvious that her classmates wanted their unpleasant comments to be heard. Moreover, her desk was heavily vandalized, contrary to the vandalism that was etched on her wooden desk from the previous days she's owned the desk.
"Just die!" Memory fragments flooded her mind.
I don't care, I can take it. Hinata did not care about the high school drama these people were looking for, she had...other things to worry about. Yes, other 'important' things, not this. If ever they come after her hard, she can take it. She's not weak. Hinata inwardly laughed, shutting the lecturing teacher out of her mind. Apparently, her perpetrator forces fear upon his victims beforehand, then if things don't go his way, he resorts violence. Hinata grabbed her own collar near her neck, and her heart rate sped up.
It looked like she was grabbing on an imaginary arm that was around her neck, gasping for air to stay alive.
[1] Osoji - after school clean-up
[2] Akane - One of Naruto's teenage fan girls from The Last.
[3] ¥12,081 = $100.
[4] Ebisu Udon - Konohamaru and Moegi's teammate. I do not know his last name, so I made their team name into his last name. Also, I'll be using japanese name format (last name, first name).
[5] Sasuke's blood type is AB. It's believed that people with this blood type are not morning-people, or are usually in a bad mood when disturbed from sleep.
[6] Omusubi - onigiri, Sasuke's favorite food to eat with okaka and tomatoes.
[7] Okaka - fermented tuna.
[8] Menma - The alternate Naruto in the movie Road to Ninja and Shipuden Ep. 247. Menma will have the same personality as the Menma in Shipuden ep. 247, rather than the one in the movie.
A/N: Don't give in to other people. Do something about it, by telling someone, or just ignore those people (if you're strong enough). The more you let them know you're affected, the more they'll do it.