Chapter 5

He was angry. Kabuto had been an ass with his snide remarks and his petty jealousy. Then there was Karin. Karin would not leave him alone. She was constantly trying to get his attention and it annoyed him more than anything else. He especially hated how she would always say 'isn't that right Sasuke?' while she twirled the neat part of her hair in her fingers and batted her eyelashes at him. He chose to ignore her most times but there was a limit to how much a person can ignore especially when Suigetsu was being just as annoying. Then there were the other idiots that thought it would be great time to stop by. Let's not forget the boss himself. The only person he could actually tolerate for the half hour had been Juugo. He was thankful that Juugo was actually a quite person. Sasuke wasn't even sure he could manage being near Hinata. He was very near to avoiding all human contact at this point.

However, his grades were very important to take him where he wanted to go. You had to be smart to actually take over a company as vast as the Uchiha's. Itachi's right to the company had been revoked when Fugaku found out he was in Akatsuki, a 'street gang full of lowlifes' as Fugaku had been inclined to think before meeting the 'thugs' incorporated in it. Sasuke's right could not be revoked because then the company would have to be passed to one of their cousin Tobi who isn't really a good choice either and he was also a part of Akatsuki. If he was revoked as well then the company would have to go to someone outside of the family and Fugaku would not allow that. The current plans for the inheritance were either for Sasuke to take it or for co-leadership by both Itachi and Sasuke. Fugaku was realising every day that Itachi had a more level head than Sasuke and was the better leader. Also, if he revoked Itachi for gang involvement he'd have to do the same to Sasuke, which he couldn't, so he'd have to half-reinstate Itachi.

Back on topic, Sasuke almost slammed the front door on entering. He grunted what could just barely pass for a greeting to his mother before heading directly to his room. He paused only momentarily in the doorway when he saw the Hyuga girl bent over a book on the floor by the foot of his bed. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the book resting on her legs. Her lengthening was like a veil hiding her face away with her head bent like that. She looked up when he entered only long enough to give him a small smile before returning to the book. He threw his bag down by his desk before moving to get rid of his shoes and put them into the closet.

"I was thinking about what we were going to build then I got to thinking about the different structures possible." Hinata said as he continued about his business. "I thought about which would be easier, which would get us better marks if we pulled it off properly. That's what I'm examining now. I'm also studying so excuse me if I miss some stuff."

Sasuke ignored her as he continued to loathe everything about the past hour or so. Now he had things to do later that he hadn't planned to do before. He sat in the chair at the desk and moodily stared out the window. Hinata took in his posture before addressing him again. He had a thoughtfully but angry glare directed at the tree outside. Just by watching him she realised that he was preoccupied because he hadn't noticed her.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke?" she asked bringing his attention to her. His gaze found hers and his eyes looked darker than before even with the slight red tint hovering around the edges of his irises. From what Hinata knew it was a trait of the Uchiha's that appeared when under extreme emotion or most usually and easily anger. It was almost the same in Hyuga's except that instead of a seeming change in colour, there seemed to be a rise in blood pressure that resulted in raised veins near the eyes. It scared persons easily. People were very generally creped out by seemingly blind people having perfectly normal or above par vision anyway. They were also a scare tactic the football (soccer) team employed in some matches, both Sasuke and Neji were proficient in the use of their 'angry eyes'.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with." he answered and watched as she held his gaze for a moment longer then return to her book before turning back to the window. "It's not something for innocent little girls."

She was silent as she thought of what could be bothering him, even as she continued reading.

"I already know about Hebi." Hinata said not moving her eyes from her book as if what she said was no big deal. Sasuke's attention snapped to her immediately.

"Hebi? What do you know about Hebi?" he asked tightening his hands into fist.

"Not much really. It's a gang for sure. You're in it. Suigetsu is in it too." she answered without a care. Sasuke froze. No one was supposed to know about that.

"How do you know that?" he asked turning the chair to face her. She was busy reading and didn't acknowledge his change view.

"When you're as invisible as I am at school, you hear a lot of things." Hinata said waving it off.

"Then you know I shouldn't be messed with." Sasuke said lowly and Hinata finally looked up at him.

"Of course. Whether or not you're in Hebi you are not someone who takes kindly to being baited." she told him in all honesty. He searched her face for a moment.

"What else do you know about Hebi?" he asked. If she knew that much who's to tell what else she knew.

"Not much. Your boss is some guy name Orochi-something-"

"Orochimaru." he corrected.

"Ok. I think Juugo might be in it too. You guys aren't quite innocent either, stealing, armed robbery, turf wars with Akatsuki-" she continued.

"What do you know about Akatsuki?" Sasuke interrupted again.

Hinata frowned as she tried to remember from the little scraps of conversations she overheard: "They're another gang, usually referred to as a criminal organisation because of how clean and organised they are. Usually respected and feared."

"Anything else?"

"Their colours are black and red with a red cloud as their insignia."

"That's it?" he asked.

"There are about ten of them." she added and Sasuke couldn't help wonder if that was really all.

"So you know that Itachi is one of them?" Sasuke stated and she nodded. "And Kisame that you seem to have so much fun around?"

"I figured. Are you done now?" she asked with a frown. She was tired of all the questions. When she received no answer she turned her attention to her book.

Sasuke was wondering how someone like Hinata could stand knowing such things and not report it. She didn't seem like the type to keep the knowledge or not let it affect her interactions with the persons. Maybe she was really serious about not caring about anything. That explained why she seemingly didn't care about all this gang business. 'What exactly do I know about her other than her family relations? What do I know about her?'

"Your nickname is Bunny." he stated suddenly. Hinata looked up at him confused.

"Yes?" she said and hesitantly took the hand held to her. He pulled her up from the ground easily as she stood as well.

"Come." he ordered pulling her by the hand. She followed him from his room and down across the hall into another room, without saying anything. Hinata could only guess this was Itachi's room from the colour scheme and the black coat covered in red clouds on the bed. The room actually had air conditioning as well. Sasuke pulled her over to the open closet and onto the ground with him. He let go of her hand to open a large trunk in there.

"Itachi's Trunk of Wonders." he explained as he rummaged through it.

"Trunk of Wonders?" Hinata asked watching as he continued to dig through the huge black trunk.

"Itachi's Trunk of Wonders." he corrected still rummaging. Soon he found two of what he was looking for and one of then soon found itself perched on Hinata's head. He looked at her critically for a moment as she looks up at him questioningly.

"You actually do look like a bunny." he commented and a small smile graced his face when her cheeks coloured to a cute shade of red. The white pair of bunny ears were a good contrast to her dark hair and the red blush just made her even cuter. 'I did not just think that... Crap...'

Before he realised what was happening the black pair of ears in his hands were snatched away from him and placed onto his head. He looked down at the girl that dared to put the ears on him. She was giggling. She was actually giggling at him. He could feel his pale skin colouring already.

"You're a cute Mr Bunny too." she said still giggling.

"I never said you were cute." he said but he couldn't help the smile her giggling brought. Her face was completely red now from all the giggling.

"It was implied." she told him trying her best to calm down.

"Well what do we have here?" a voice asked from the doorway. The two looked over to see Itachi smirking and a grinning Kisame just behind him. "It seems that two rabbits have invaded my room."

"What's up doc?" Kisame said imitating Bugs Bunny with a grin.

"No breeding in here. I don't want a furry invasion." Itachi warned playfully. Hinata was completely red by now while Sasuke glared at him.

"Shut up." Sasuke growled ripping the ears off their heads and throwing them back into the trunk. Kisame erupted in laughter as he watched Sasuke pull the blushing Hinata up and pull her along behind him. Itachi sent a smile after them as he picked his coat off his bed.

"It's almost too cute." Itachi commented moving to his closet to draw it closed.

"Who would have thought?" Kisame grinned as he waited for Itachi to leave.

The door to Sasuke's room slammed shut behind Hinata and Sasuke leaned against it listening for sounds of movement beyond the door. When Itachi and Kisame were gone he turned back to see Hinata sitting on the floor again but was merely staring at the floor still blushing madly.

"What else do you know from being invisible?" Sasuke asked to channel her attention elsewhere. She looked over at him as he came to sit beside her and pulled her book from earlier from off the bed.

"A lot of things I guess. Kiba was the one to clog the teacher's bathrooms last week. That's where Iruka-sensei's notes went." she supplied and Sasuke nodded. He had thought it would have been either Kiba or Naruto anyway. "Sometimes I hear things in the girl's bathroom too and I think... Sakura really loves you."

Sasuke frowned resting his head onto the edge of the bed. He stared up at the ceiling. "Sakura is delusional."