Chapter 6

Hanabi had no idea her sister was going to be in such a vulnerable state when she came home that afternoon soaking wet. When she saw her sister home an hour earlier than usually she was surprised, but didn't detect her sisters' sadness. Hanabi prided herself with the thought that she knew her sister; actually, she was pretty sure she knew her sister better than her sister even knew herself.

Seeing Hinata arrive in a car that was not their own was indeed startling, but not as startling to see a handsome guy driving the vehicle. A handsome guy who was not Naruto. Hanabi knew who Hinata's love interest was and knew that her sister was nowhere near to getting over him. So seeing Hinata with another guy was indeed worrisome and curious and Hanabi could not contain herself from asking her about it.

"Who was that?" asked Hanabi the moment her sister entered through the front door.

"Hey Hanabi," greeted Hinata in reply. She took off her jacket and boots to put away.

"So?" asked Hanabi impatiently. She leaned forward, watching her sister as she hung up her jacket. It was soaking wet and already creating a puddle on the floor.

"Where's father?" asked Hinata.

Hanabi watched her sister with open curiosity. Their father, Hiashi, usually picked Hinata up from the library. "He had to go to a meeting. He would have picked you up if he hadn't had to go."

Hinata simply nodded, but Hanabi knew her sister was feeling neglected. Work first, daughters last. Especially Hinata. She always seemed to be the last thing on Haishi's list of things he paid attention to.

Grabbing a bag of already opened chips, Hanabi began to munch noisily.

Hinata glanced at the junk food in her sister's hands. "I'm going to make lunch, so put that away."

Walking to the kitchen, Hanabi sat down at the table, watching her sister put on a pot of water to boil. She continued to munch on the chips, ignoring her sisters pointed stare.

"So?" Hanabi began again.

Hinata looked up at her sister blankly, clueless of what she was asking.

Rolling her eyes, Hanabi put another chip in her mouth. "Who was that guy that dropped you off?"

"I-I-" Hinata began, but seemed to think better of it. "S-Stop eating those chips." She grabbed the bag from her sibling's hand, which got her a well deserved pout. Hanabi wasn't thrown off though. The chips weren't that important, Hinata's secret was.

"Who was he?" she exclaimed, impatient with anticipation. It had to be interesting if her sister was trying to avoid the question.

Hinata's shoulders drooped and she gave in to her sister's questions.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Hanabi paused, placing a finger on her chin. She wasn't too familiar with that name, and then it clicked.

"Oh~! Naruto's best friend, right?"

Hinata nodded and wrapped an apron around her waist and began to chop up some mushrooms for the stir fry she was making.

Hanabi blinked, not satisfied with the reaction she was getting from her sister. Sasuke wouldn't give her a lift out of the blue, right? This had to be something big. Hanabi tried to peer into her sister's eyes, but Hinata averted her gaze.

She must be hiding something.

Playing with a flower that was on the table, Hanabi began to boredly pluck at its petals. How was she to get her sister to open up? "You guys hit it off?"prodded Hanabi curiously. Her sister didn't respond though, but continued to chop up ingredients for the stir fry. Hanabi huffed in annoyance.

"Do you like him?" asked Hanabi mischievously. "Or perhaps . . . does he like you?"

Hinata visibly blushed and Hanabi grinned in victory, satisfied with the reaction.

"Ohhhh is something going on between you?" pressed Hanabi. "Did you finally give up on Naruto? I don't blame you; personally I thought he was an idiot, but Sasuke . . . ." Hanabi paused thoughtfully. Honestly she never heard that much about Sasuke. "I hear he's really hot, which of what I've seen of him, he's pretty cute."

Glancing up, Hanabi noticed that her sister had stopped chopping up food and was staring at the knife in her hands. An expersionless frown was across her face, etching little wrinkles around her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Hanabi leaned on the table, trying to look more closely at her sister. "You like him right? And he likes you? Or is it one-sided again? Hinata?" Grinning cheekily, Hanabi whispered dramatically, "Are you in love~?"

A dam that Hanabi didn't see in her sister finally burst. Hinata dropped the knife in her hands and ran out of the kitchen. Alarmed, Hanabi ran after her sister, confused about what had just happened.

In the living room Hinata curled up on the couch, crying away her heart into a pillow in a few, short sobs.

"Hinata?" exclaimed Hanabi. Kneeling down by her sister, she began to smooth down her siblings hair. "Hinata," whispered Hanabi guiltily. She didn't realize she had pushed a tender topic. She would have never if she knew.

"Oh," sobbed Hinata, pulling her head away from the pillow. Taking Hanabi into her arms, Hinata quickly settled down, reclaiming her emotions into a place deep inside her.

"What is it?" asked Hanabi leaning into her sister's hug. If there was one thing Hanabi could do to help her sister, it was listen. Hinata trusted only Hanabi with her deepest secrets.

"I-I don't know," sighed Hinata pathetically. "I b-barely know him and y-yet-"

Hanabi looked curiously at her sister; she was talking about Sasuke, wasn't she?

"H-he h-hates me so much," Hinata whimpered.

So Hinata wasn't in love with Sasuke. Hanabi frowned at this new piece of information. Why did Sasuke hate her sister?

Hanabi clenched her fist angrily, Hinata's tears making Hanabi only think of their father. Hinata's biggest problem was their father and Hanabi wasn't sure if Hinata could ever get over some of the problems she had with him. And the last thing Hinata needed was another person to worry about.

"Ah, who cares, right?" said Hanabi, trying to cheer up her sister. "If you're not in love with him, why should you care about him?"

Hinata laughed sadly at her sister's words. "He's s-still Na-Naruto's b-best friend though."

Hanabi just rolled her eyes in reply. "And I still think Naruto's an idiot."

That time Hanabi managed to get a smile out of Hinata.

"He is not" said Hinata fondly. Standing up, Hinata started to walk to the kitchen. "I'm going to finish lunch now."

When Hinata vanished back into the kitchen, Hanabi gave herself a few minutes to recover her feelings as well.

She decided then and there that she hated Uchiha Sasuke and that from then and there; she was going to make him pay for making her sister cry.

Naruto was acting weird . . . er than usual. Sasuke began noticing it the day he and Naruto went to the library. At first Sasuke decided to ignore it, but Naruto was beginning to act like he was hiding something and Sasuke was increasingly becoming suspicious.

"Ugh," said Naruto, placing down his book. "I can't read anymore, I'm so bored."

Sasuke glanced up from his book, raising an eyebrow. They had only been reading for about thirty minutes, Sasuke thought Naruto could at least last longer than that.

Glancing in boredom around himself, Naruto leaned curiously against Sasuke, trying to see what he was reading. Sasuke moved, allowing Naruto to lose balance and fall onto the floor.

"Jerk!" exclaimed Naruto, sitting up grumpily.

"Hn."

Still sitting on the floor, Naruto leaned his chin on his hand, apparently finding nothing better to do.

A few minutes passed before Naruto spoke again.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Nothing that would interest you."

Naruto huffed angrily, tapping his fingers on the wooden floor. He looked around himself before looking up at the book in Sasuke's hands.

"It doesn't have an interesting cover," Naruto mentioned.

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

Naruto snorted in reply, looking at the book skeptically. It didn't look like a good book to him.

"What's it about?"

Sasuke glanced down at his friend on the floor. "Are you trying to be annoying?"

"I'm just curious!" Naruto defended. Standing up, he stared down at the page Sasuke was on. "You're already on page fifty?" asked Naruto, seemingly amazed at Sasuke's accomplishment. "Jess, I'm on page fifteen."

Sasuke ignored his friend this time, his impatience close to its end. He thought Naruto was going to settle down, but just as he turned the page Naruto jerked the book out of his hands.

"I just want to see what it's about," said Naruto, dodging Sasuke's attempt to grab his book back.

Sasuke relented, allowing his friend to flip through his book. Naruto was just restless and bored, he was probably hoping for Sasuke to start a fight with him. Instead, Sasuke opted to ignore Naruto and leave him in his current mood. Grabbing the book Naruto had abandoned, Sasuke looked at it curiously. It was a plain hardcover book, it didn't even have a title or author name on it. Sasuke glanced up at Naruto, he was pretty sure his friend had taken off the book's jacket. Sasuke shrugged, Naruto probably did so just to protect it from damage.

Sasuke was about to open the book when Naruto suddenly made a mad swipe for it.

"That's my book!"

Holding it away from Naruto's reach, Sasuke raised an eyebrow curiously. "Well you took mine, so I decided to look through yours."

"Well take back your stupid book," said Naruto, throwing it at Sasuke's head.

Sasuke dodged the book, a smirk forming on his lips. "No."

Naruto growled, jumping at Sasuke who skillfully sidestepped the attack. "Give it back, bastard!"

Still smirking, Sasuke decided to have some fun with this. "Why?" he taunted, waving the book at Naruto. "What are you hiding?"

Naruto growled again, diving for the book that Sasuke was holding above his head. Sasuke jumped to the side and took off, prepared to lead Naruto on a wild goose chase.

"You want your book back?" asked Sasuke, waving it just out of Naruto reach. "Can't have it." Opening the book, Sasuke looked at it curiously. Why was Naruto getting worked up for stupid book?

Suddenly, Naruto roared, jumping at Sasuke and tackling him to the ground. "Give it back!" he bellowed.

Shocked at Naruto's unpredicted rage, Sasuke fought back.

Sasuke pushed Naruto off roughly, who only dove back on Sasuke with renewed anger. Gaining the upper hand, Naruto punched Sasuke in the mouth, causing Sasuke's head to slam back onto the floor, making his sight blur and darken for a moment.

A new surge of energy ripped through Sasuke who with amazing force, pushed Naruto off him, sending the male colliding into the couch behind him. Before Naruto could recover, Sasuke threw his book at him. The book hit Naruto in the face and Naruto stopped, suddenly looking as if the thing weighed a ton.

Angrily Sasuke got back on to his feet, whipping at his now bloody lip. Naruto sat heavily down on the floor, staring at the book in his hands.

Naruto glanced up at his friend, but Sasuke wasn't looking at him.

"I'm leaving," said Sasuke bitterly.

"Sasuke-" Naruto got up to stop his friend, but was only shoved angrily aside.

"Shut up," said Sasuke.

Grabbing his book that was discarded on the floor, Sasuke glared angrily at it as if was the reason for all of his problems. Naruto sat heavily down on the couch; he put his arms around his head and sighed deeply. For a moment, Sasuke contemplated what to do next. He wanted to be furious and storm out the door, but instead he sat down next to Naruto.

For a moment they just both sat in silence, neither one sure what to do. Naruto was the first one to make amends. After staring at the book in his hand for a long time he suddenly tossed it on to Sasuke's lap. Sasuke looked at the book with an annoyed expression, realizing that the book was the reason he was in a bad mood. He glanced at Naruto before opening it curiously.

At first there was silence as Sasuke looked over the books' title and author, but then there was uncontainable laughter.

"It's not funny!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke just put down his friend's book, gripping his side in laughter. Naruto began to growl, but Sasuke put up his hand to stop him.

"Okay, okay," he gasped. "I'll stop laughing."

Regaining his composure, Sasuke sat quietly now, but he couldn't wipe the smirk off his face. Yes, he was surprised what book his best friend was apparently reading, but Sasuke thought it was funny mainly because Naruto had been so desperate to keep him from seeing it.

"Hey," said Sasuke, trying to cheer up his friend. "I promise not to tell anyone. Except for maybe Kiba." Sasuke kept his expression serious, but inside he was laughing at Naurto's embarrassment.

Naruto just scowled, ignoring Sasuke's comment. The silence stretched for a while longer between them, and then hesitantly Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances. Naruto looked down at the book in his hand. He stared at its title for a few moments, before blinking slowly.

"Tips on Dating: How to Get the Girl," said Naruto, reading the book's title aloud. He blinked again and broke into a grin before exploding into hysterical laughter as if he too found it unbelievable that he was reading such a book.

Sasuke easily joined in his friend's laughter and he didn't stop laughing for five minutes. Even after Naruto stopped laughing himself and threw the book at Sasuke. If anything, it made him laugh a little bit harder.

AN: So sorry for the late update. Where in the world did this week go? No interaction between Hinata and Sasuke in this chapter, but you get two today, since I failed to update last week. Really sorry about that.