It's summer holidays now so I'm having some problems writting. I am going to finish this but it will take sometime for some chapters to be uploaded after this point. I really have not left it to rot, I just write better and quicker when I'm in school. It's sad but true.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 4

It was official for Hinata, seeing Naruto with Ino hurt. At first she had tried to push it away but she just couldn't. It didn't help that she had biology with both of them. They were always huddled together talking and, for all she knew, sneaking kisses. It wasn't so painful as it was disgusting because they kept doing it but the pain was still very much there. She looked away from the blonde duo and back to Mr Yakushi when he stood before the class.

"I'll be ending class here for today since I have some important business to take care off." he said and no one noticed his eyes hover on Sasuke for a moment longer than the others. "I expect you to be on your best behaviour or at least as good as it gets."

The noise level quickly picked up even before he slipped through the door. Hinata's eyes drifted back to her blond ex and she immediately regretted it. It was sickening. It was as if they forgot they were actually in a classroom... with other people. Kiba and a few others were doing the honours of cheer them on. She turned away from them in time to see Sasuke cross his arms with a look of detachment.

He raised a brow at her. Her face was green and she didn't look well. Before her could make a comment on it, a well-manicured pink nail-polished hand that looked disturbingly familiar placed itself flatly onto his desk. He looked up, against his better judgement. He could feel the twitch building up in his left eye. How he could have dated her was still a mystery he had to ponder.

"What?"

"So hostile Sasuke." the pink haired girl said brushing her hair away from her face. She gave him an alluring smile that made him hide a grimace. He only faintly noticed Hinata leave in a rush.

Sasuke leaned back in his seat and away from her. Sakura took that as an invitation to sit on his desk. She crossed her legs allowing her already short skirt to rise a little higher. He kept his eyes trained on her face even though with the all-seeing Uchiha eyes he could still see the colour of her panties. Curse the damned things! He didn't need to know what was down there!

"How are you?" she asked and he frowned at the question. That wasn't something Sakura cared about. "How are you missing me?"

That sounded more like it.

"If you mean how good I feel, then I'm feeling better than I have in a long time."

"I doubt it feels as good as it did when we were together. I bet I could make you feel even better." she said leaning forward to give him a peek at her already out there cleavage. He didn't move but kept his gaze on her face. Disinterest was written all over his face. "Sucks for you. You dumped me."

"I know. That's old news. Get off my desk."

"You'll miss me Sasuke. It's already seeping in." she said attempting to run a finger against his jawline but he caught her hand before it could touch him and squeezed. She hissed both from the pressure and the icy glare he sent her. She pulled her hand away to cradle it. With a huff, she was gone and the bell signalled the end.

XX

Hinata still felt sick. She had gone straight to the bathroom when she got up. It was luck that she hadn't actually thrown up. She had felt the urge but it had gone away when she locked herself into the bathroom stall. Now she was just trying to calm herself down and stop recalling the scene that caused it all. The bell had rung for lunch only a few seconds before so she was just trying to get herself together completely before going out. Temari and Ten-ten would realise something wasn't right instantly and Temari would be hell-bent on destroying whoever caused it.

She was just about to pick up her bag and leave when the door to the bathroom banged open. She froze at the loud noise in the previously silent bathroom and the chatter of familiar voices reached her ears.

"I didn't think it would take this long." she didn't quite get who it was but it was someone she knew.

"It's only been one week, he'll come around." that voice she recognised.

'Ino' Hinata thought darkly, starting to feel sick all over again.

"But I miss him so much. My precious Sasuke, did I do something wrong?" Sakura, she concluded, asked in a weepy tone. These were two people Hinata did not want to see at the moment.

"No way. He dumped you for no reason." Ino said comforting the girl. "Soon he'll realise that he's made a horrible and then he'll be begging for you to take him back. He'll realise just what he lost and come running back to you because you will set his heart on fire for you. That cold freezer will be yours."

Hinata rolled her eyes. 'Sasuke's cold freezer will forever remain his.'

"You think so?" Sakura asked on the verge of tears.

"I know so." Ino prompted. "Now fix your face. You have a point to prove and show that cold bastard what he's missing."

"By this time next week I'll have him back and wrapped around my finger." Sakura said cheering up. "We belong together."

'Ambitious.' Hinata thought and continued to absently listen to Sakura and Ino plot how to win Sasuke's heart over. As far and Hinata was concerned they were doomed to fail. Sasuke would not be fooled by them. Once he hated someone nothing could change his mind. If only she could stand that strongly. If there was anything she admired about Sasuke it was his conviction and confidence. Those were two things she needed that she lacked.

Soon enough she was left alone in the bathroom once again. She quickly grabbed her things and got out. She was almost at the cafeteria when she was suddenly hugged from behind by someone almost a head taller than her.

"We were just about to hunt the whole school for you." the blond asked spinning her around roughly. "Where were you?"

"B-bathroom."

"Are you ok? Are you sick?" Temari asked shaking her.

"If she wasn't sick she'd be sick now." Ten-ten said pulling Hinata away from her. "You ok?"

"Yea. Wasn't feeling well earlier but I'm better now."

They both looked at her worriedly until Ten-ten asked: "Want to talk about it?"

"...Maybe later." Hinata told them and they left it at that.

"Anyway, guess what?" Ten-ten said as both she and Temari threw their arms around Hinata. The girl smiled at their suddenly happy attitude and began to walk with them the rest of the way to the cafeteria.

"What?" Hinata asked indulgently.

"I'm on the official team for the track competition next month!" the brunette announced.

"That's great!" Hinata congratulated.

"Awesome!" Temari added.

"Yea and Neji is taking me somewhere special this evening to celebrate!" Ten-ten told them.

"Wow. That's good for you." Hinata said as they reached their destination and entered the noisy room. She was genuinely happy for Ten-ten.

"Yea but he won't tell me where and we're going out early because it's going to be for a long time." Ten-ten sighed dejectedly. They were already in the line and waiting for their turn.

"Oh well, just enjoy it. It's bound to be something good if he's going through that much trouble." Temari said examining her nails. Hinata smiled in agreement. She could see Sakura and Ino across the cafeteria from between her two friends. Sakura kept stealing glances to a few tables over where Sasuke sat with a few friends from his team including Neji and Naruto. She almost felt sympathy for the girl. She probably would have been like that if she had deluded herself instead of trying to change herself for the better she hoped. The sympathy didn't actually manifest however. Sakura and her friends could be vicious, especially Ino. The Sakura-Ino combo was the place to go for a good downgrading. They weren't alone of course but Karin was nothing more than a lackey to them. The girl hung on every word they said almost as much as she hung on everything related to Sasuke. The guy had some weird followers. The others weren't even important to spare a glance unless dealing them a mental or emotional blow. It was sad.

Hinata was so deep in thought she almost missed the feeling of eyes on her. She only had to turn her gaze a little to find the source, Sasuke Uchiha. His gaze didn't shift even if he realised she was looking at him now. If anything it seemed like he was scrutinising her, as if trying to figure out something. When his finally met her they were unwavering and Hinata almost felt like taking a step back from the sheer intensity. She almost saw it as a glare except for the slight raise on an eyebrow when his usual glares had both brows furrowed. She couldn't even feel any hostile vibe from him. She offered him a weak and nervous smile despite his piercing look. Sasuke's eyes glided back to Naruto and just like that he was done with her.

Hinata turned her eyes back to her friends after the little event with Sasuke. They hadn't even realised her little lapse in attention. It was for the best because for the life of her, she couldn't guess why he was staring at her in the First place.

XXXXX

"How do you like the fudge cakes dear?" Mikoto asked kindly as she prepared the chicken for the oven. Hinata smiled behind the mass of chocolaty goodness.

"They're very nice, Mrs Uchiha."

"Please Hinata, it's Mikoto." the lady laughed.

"Right." Hinata replied quietly. "Do you think Sasuke is done yet?"

"Nope, he takes a while after school especially after coming from practice." Mikoto told her and Hinata nodded idly and continued her fudge cake.

"Neji does the same thing." she commented and Mikoto smiled at her. She actually liked the girl.

Hinata looked away from her food when she saw a tall figure enter the room. He was looked a lot like Sasuke but a lot different as well. While they both had the same black hair and pale skin, this guy's skin was a shade or two darker, his eyes had a red tint, his hair was longer and pulled into a pony tail, and he had two deep frown lines marring his face. "Hey mom," He said before seeing the small girl around the kitchen counter. He smiled at her. "Hello there, are you Sasuke's friend?"

"Sort of." she answered politely resting her fudge cake on her plate. Mikoto ignored them in favour of attending to her chicken.

"Sort of?" Itachi asked before sitting on one of the stools beside Hinata. "Well he said his 'friend' would be coming over. I would guess that's you. I'm Itachi, Sasuke's brother."

"Hinata." she answered shaking his hand. He gave her a small smile before stealing her fudge cake from her plate. She stared frozen as he savoured every bite of her fudge cake in a type of seduction that just wasn't present in many high school boys. Itachi was classy... "And he stole my delicious fudge cake."

"Excuse me?" Itachi asked wiping his mouth with a napkin from the counter.

"I was going to eat that." she said pointing at the last piece of fudge cake in his hand. He tilted his head while looking at her.

"You should have said so sooner." he said popping the piece into his mouth while watching her. She gaped at him and he shot her smile before turning to his mother. "You fudge cakes are always the best Mom."

"Thank you hunny." Mikoto said happily and continued her work on the chicken.

"Don't look at me like that. You can have my cake." he said picking another one from the pile on the counter and placing it into her plate. She looked from him to the cake. "It's not going to bite you."

"Thanks...?" she said uncertainly but pulled it closer to her anyway.

"You are adorable." he said and watched her face flush red. "Eat up. Do you do any type of sport?"

"Uh..." Hinata began.

XXXXX

Sasuke emerged from the bathroom still considering everything that had gone through in practise. The team prided itself on coordination and cooperation. Those relied on trust in the team. Sasuke knew he could trust Suigetsu to pass the ball to him at the right time on the field but he was more likely to believe what a rock told him than anything that came from Suigetsu's mouth. He could trust all of the team on the field it was off that he didn't. There were only few he would trust and those were Naruto and Neji. Naruto, because he knew the kid for most of his life and could trust him to be by his side even if he didn't want him to be. Neji, because he was more practical and more likely to not mess things up. Plus he didn't have a big mouth and had been kind enough to let Sasuke sneak into his room and stay over the night when his father kicked out for ending up in the police station the first time. It hadn't been his fault really.

If there was one other thing the team was known for it was always keeping possession of the ball for the majority of any game. The ball was theirs. That had something to do with Shikamaru being the goalkeeper and he insistence that the ball should come nowhere near him.

Sasuke paused in his thoughts halfway down the stairs when he heard soft laughing and the tell-tale sounds of a male voice. It was too light to be his father and his father didn't make people laugh. He walked silently down the stairs until he was able to see into the kitchen. Lo and behold there was his dear brother, the very bane of his existence; talking to the very person he had business (assignment) to discuss with. Whatever they were talking about must have been amusing because Hinata wouldn't stop smiling and he could hear his mother's laughing in there as well. She was out of his view but she could still be heard.

It was irritating. Unsoundly irritating.

Before either of them could even guess at his presence he was already back up the stairs and in his room. Just the sight of her smiling so easily with his brother. She never spoke or smiled like that with anyone especially not with him. She was a silent unassuming and people shy person. She didn't willingly talk to anyone! Oh but no his brother had to be the one to get her to be totally different than she usually was. He had to be the one to get her to be so open and lively. He was angry but no that was all. He was something else too. He was something he hadn't been in a long time. It was something that he couldn't quite put a finger on. Could it be? No, it could never... It couldn't possibly be-

"Sasuke, you're ready." the Hyuga asked from the door effective bringing Sasuke back to the present. He frowned on noticing that he was standing at the desk in his room with his back to the door and he had his lighter in his hands. He glared at the empty lighter he had gotten from his grandfather on one of his earlier birthdays when the man was still alive, before dropping it back in the drawer he had taken it from and slamming it shut. He wouldn't be able to tell you when he had pulled it out to begin with.

"Is something wrong?" she asked at the lack of response.

"You should know to just come up stairs." he said darkly moving

"You were bathing." she said timidly stepping towards him

"Point?" he asked giving her an icy glare. She remained silent and just took a seat on the bed beside him. They sent out the books and got to work neither of them breaking the silence. They were a good way through their work when Sasuke voiced something that had been muffling at him fir sometime.

"So, what happened to you in class today?" Sasuke asked and Hinata looked at him cluelessly for a moment trying to figure out what he meant. Her eyes widened when she realised he meant how she had left their biology class in such a rush.

"Does it matter?" she asked not looking away from him even as his dark eyes bore into her.

"Just curious." he answered turning away and picking up a book to hide a slight blush. He didn't even know why he wanted to know. First he had been worried at lunch, then he had been jealous of her talking so easily with his brother and now he wanted to know something that wasn't even his business. You could add 'confused about himself' to the list. Today was just mixed up. He was feeling way too many things he didn't usually feel and it was because of this short, skinny, sort of pretty Hyuga g- 'Pretty? Am I serious?' Sasuke mentally slapped himself.

"Sasuke?" The girl's concerned voice filtered into his head. He looked over and saw her looking at him. "You were glaring at the book for a looong time, very harshly."

He was quiet for a moment before dropping the book onto the bed space before him. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

Hinata smiled at him. "Yea."