I should tell you this now; school is hell. Don't expect anything for at least the next two weeks. Too much things to do and exams start next week. It sucks. Took me long enough to finish this. So until Chritmas or something. Later.

Chapter 13

School the next morning was tiring for both Hinata and Neji. For Neji he had been up worrying his eyes out about whether or not Hinata was alright, when she would get back and hoping that Hiashi wouldn't call or suddenly decide to come home. For Hinata the trip had been a little long and the races had been fun and tiring oddly. The fact that while she was tried beyond relief, Sasuke was right beside her apparently unaffected by the late night, only served it agitate her. She spent the class glaring at the notebook in front of her while Sasuke took notes for that class. She was too tired to sleep. It was too unbelievable and downright frustrating.

Sasuke spared Hinata glances anytime he could so that he could see her face. She was cute when she was frustrated. She certainly pouted alot. He paused in his writing when their teacher for the class exited the class to deal with a matter. He turned his attention to her. She turned her glare onto him when she noticed watching her.

"What?" she asked irritably and Sasuke chuckled. Her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion.

"Nothing." he answered and she continued to look at him with narrowed eyes. Deciding she had things that required less brain power than trying to figure him out that she could do she turned her attention back to the desk.

"Attention! Attention!" someone suddenly called and everyone turned their attention to the blond standing on his desk. Sasuke held in a sigh as Naruto grinned at them all. "Pretty much all of you should know this by now but tomorrow is my birthday! That's not what I want to announce though."

"Right..." both Sasuke and Hinata thought giving him a flat look that he totally missed.

"What I want to announce is my birthday party." Naruto continued and Hinata groaned. She had wondered when this would come up. Naruto always had a birthday party and apparently they were the high light of the year. Every year. This year would be no different. The question was; was she going to go? "It's a Halloween event. It will be held on the twenty-seventh at my uncle's place and it's gonna be a costume party and all of you are invited. So really, just show up and have some fun."

"I'm in man!" Kiba shouted from across the class and high-fived Suigetsu over Shino's head. Shino scowled at him.

"That's great!" Naruto said giving them thumbs up sign. "I'll be accepting presents starting now until the party but you can always still give me presents afterwards right!"

Sasuke smirked at the blonde's antics. Naruto quickly wrapped up his party infomercial and jumped down just before their teacher returned. This was going to be interesting. His plans could finally be put into place. Hinata looked miserable though. He guessed hearing about an amazing party when you were already frustrated would make you feel worse. They had lunch next so she would have time to rest.

The lunch bell came quicker than they thought it would but Hinata wasn't looking forward to another hour of not being able to sleep. She shoved her note book into her bag and hoisted it onto her shoulders. She had just stepped out of the class when she felt a hand slip enclose around hers and begin pulling her in the opposite direction of her locker. She looked up to see Sasuke pulling her along with him.

"What?" she asked and he glanced at her but ignored the question. He didn't know how she would take the answer and frankly he thought she'd protest. He kept a hold on her hand as he weaved them both through the throng of students exiting classes and heading to the cafeteria or their lockers. She glared at his back. Not answering was not an answer. She didn't try to pull away though, it would take energy she didn't really have.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice called to him and he paused long enough for Karin to come up to him with a tray from the cafeteria in her hands. There was food on it just like he had asked her when he texted her earlier. He dug out a bill with his free and flicked it to her before taking the tray off her hands. Karin's eyes travelled from him to Hinata to their linked hands before shooting back to him. Her mouth hung open slightly.

"You're going to catch flies like that." Sasuke told her before turning away tray in one hand and Hinata's hand in the other. Hinata followed behind him but glanced back to see Karin gaping at them still before she went out of view. She had a feeling this was going to spread now. Everyone knew Karin was crazily crushing on Sasuke. It was borderline obsession. Hinata could just imagine what was going on in Karin's head now.

They finally came to a stop before a door leaned into to push open. Hinata hadn't been paying much attention to where they were going but here definitely looked familiar. She only barely caught the metal plate on the door that said 'nurse' before Sasuke was pushing her into the room. He let the door close itself behind them.

"Mr Uchiha and Ms Hyuga, how can I help you?" Shizune asked from her desk by the wall.

"Lack of sleep and current inability to sleep." Sasuke told her pushing Hinata towards her.

"Oh. What happened with the Hyuga's last night?" she asked getting up to check Hinata. "Your brother has been here since last period begging me to let him sleep. He irritated me so much I might have slapped him a little too hard with the book. He blacked out for a minute but he's sleeping now."

"It's a testament to how tired he was if you actually managed to hit him." Sasuke commented eying the concealed bed.

"I know. I was so surprised I froze for a moment before I remembered I'm supposed to tend to people who have blacked out." she laughed and turned to Hinata. "Come on. On the bed."

"Eat first." Sasuke told her when she was seated on the bed and gave her the tray of food. Hinata looked from the tray to him.

"It's not yours?" she asked and he shook his head. He will have time to eat when she's sleeping.

"Just get at least an hour of sleep." he told her

"Well aren't you guys the cutest." Shizune said smiling at both of them. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Hinata ignored her in favour of eating. She hadn't realised she was actually hungry before. Sasuke sat with her on the bed watching her eat. She gave him a few quizzical looks at the beginning but eventually decided to just ignore him.

"Hey, would you go with me to Naruto's party?" he asked suddenly and Hinata looked over at him wide eyed. "He's my... close friend so I have to go."

"Um..."

"I'd really rather go with you than alone or with anyone else for the matter." he told her and she blushed lightly. She stared at the remaining food on the tray before her. She didn't particularly want to go but she didn't really have a reason not to go. She gave him one last look before making up her mind.

"Yea."

"You don't have to if you don't want to." he told her.

"I want to."

"Bleh!"

Both teens and the nurse spun frightened gazes to the curtained bed. They saw Neji leaned over the bed with a mess that was apparently vomit on the floor before him. He glared at Hinata and Sasuke. "You two sicken me." he said before falling back into the bed and yanking the curtain shut. The three other occupants of the room look at each other then back to the curtain before sense finally came back to the room.

"Neji you can't just lie down like that!" Shizune said suddenly jumping out of her chair. She hurried over to the bed and yanked the curtain open. "Why did you puke? It can't have been the sappiness! How do you feel? What did you eat this morning?"

"I don't want any more." Hinata said putting her tray aside.

"I'm skipping lunch." Sasuke agreed.

XX

"Hey. Naruto." Sasuke called when he saw the blond on his way out of the school. It was the 10th now and Naruto's birthday. Naruto turned around and smiled at him.

"Hey man! I haven't seen you all day today."

"I sat right behind you in our last class dobe." Sasuke told him and Naruto's eyes narrowed at him. "Anyway happy birthday."

"Thanks man!" Naruto grinned again and pulled him into a bear hug. He pushed him to arm's length. "Did ya get me a present?"

"Yea." Sasuke answered letting his smirk smile slip onto his face. He dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a thick dark blue band with 'Da Bomb' embroidered on it in orange. "From me... and Neji."

"Cool." Naruto said eagerly taking the band and putting it on. "I'm surprised this is what you got me."

"Why?"

"No reason." Naruto answered with a grin.

"Ok. Well see you tomorrow." Sasuke said patting him on the shoulder and walking away.

"Yea. Tomorrow." Naruto called after him. Sasuke couldn't help the full blown smirk that grew on his face.

XXXXX

Hinata sighed lightly as she walked up to the front door of the Uchiha home. Apparently they were given another assignment to do together the day before when she missed classes at the nurse. It had turned out that Neji had drank some expired milk that upset his stomach. She ended up being just as sick since she had drank the sane milk and frankly watching Neji throw up only made her want to too. It was apparently a similar case with Hanabi at her school.

Mikoto answered the door just as Hinata lifted her hand to ring the bell. She grinned at Hinata and held the door open for her. Hinata smiled

"Sasuke said you would be coming over and you're just on time." Mikoto greeted and immediately began steering her to the kitchen. "I just finished a batch of cookies and a pie. Pie or cookies dear? You can have both too."

"What kind of pie?" Hinata asked watching as Sasuke's mother busied herself around the kitchen. She placed a bowl of cookies before Hinata.

"Cherry." she answered with a smile and put a slice of pie with a fork before her. "Surprisingly, the boys like cherry. They don't actually like the fruit just the pie."

"Maybe because the pie produced is red." Hinata offered and Mikoto looked thoughtful.

"They do tend to like red foods." Mikoto mused before smiling happily. "It's like Itachi. He's not really a fan of chocolate and that stuff but he will eat as many fudge cakes as I bake."

Hinata smiled at her. Mikoto was so nice and welcoming. She was like a mother to everyone. She felt like a mother to Hinata and she had only known the woman for approximately three weeks. Mikoto was just that warm.

Hinata was on her third cookie as she listened to Mikoto talk about a charity event that was being held in the park that she was baking for when Sasuke sauntered into the kitchen. He paused a moment to look at both of them before reaching for the knife to cut the pie.

"Hey. Didn't know you were here already." he said to Hinata before dipping the knife into the pie. Hinata continued to nibble her cookie with a hum and watched him as he worked. He glanced at her then over to his mother. "You're feeding her up with so much sweets, she'll get fat."

"Don't worry darling it'll just go straight to her breasts." Mikoto said off-handedly with a smirk and Hinata instantly became red. Sasuke smirked as well moving to stand close enough to Hinata for her to have to look up to look at him.

"That's not such a bad thing then but don't you think she has enough." he said running his free hand through her hair. His smirk remained in place when her eyes widened and her hands began to fidget.

"Um..."

"Sorry sweetie, you're just so cute when you're embarrassed." Mikoto said with an amused but slightly apologetic look.

"I like you how you are." Sasuke told her with a smile before biting into his pie. Mikoto smiled at them both.

"You kids get to work." Mikoto told them before shoo-ing them out of the kitchen. When they were out Sasuke took another bite before speaking.

"Sit in the living room; we'll just work down here. I'll go get my books." he said and Hinata nodded. He turned and headed towards the stairs when he saw Hinata move towards the living area. The truth was his room was a mess and smelled a lot like gasoline with the slathered clothes he had in there. He had been working on a few things to and frankly he believed Hinata would either take him reconstructing and refilling lighters in his room in stride or totally freak out. It would lead to questions, that was for sure. He found his book and laptop quickly and left the room he only stopped by the kitchen to leave his empty plate in the sink. When he returned Hinata was sitting in one of the larger couches. She already had things out and ready.

"I wasn't sure what to bring." she confessed pulling some of the books closer to her.

"It's Chemistry, I think you're prepared enough." he said sitting beside her on the couch. He handed her the note book before opening his computer. "Familiarise yourself with the notes you missed, I'll start on some research."

"Yea." she agreed flipping the book open. Sasuke wrote beautifully and frankly she was a little jealous. People say guys can't write properly, obviously they have never seen Sasuke's or Itachi's or even Neji's handwriting. Her handwriting wasn't bad but put it beside theirs and it would look like total crap. It was actually legible too.

They were peacefully reading and researching when it happened. There was a loud bang from the region of the front door that shocked both teens. Hinata's eyes flew wide open when a loud wail erupted from that direction.

"MIKO-MOMMY!"

"Shit!" Sasuke mumbled instantly and Hinata turned her wide eyed gaze at him. He was almost snarling and did not look pleased at all.

"In the kitchen, little one." Mikoto called back. Hinata jumped when the front door slammed shut and only a second later a human sized figure dashed past the living room archway on its way to the kitchen. It was definitely not the size on a 'little one'.

"Miko-mommy, kitty feeding!" a voice could be heard from the direction of the kitchen. Sasuke rose with an almost unheard growl and moved out if the room. Hinata followed in curiosity. "Tobi needs kitty feeding!"

"Cat food?" Mikoto said just as Hinata and Sasuke came in to see moving to a cabinet. Hinata's interest instantly moved to the other person in the room. He was taller than Sasuke by almost a head and had the same black hair though his was messier, spikier and longer.

"Can't you ever be quieter?" Sasuke asked and the stranger spun to look at him. Hinata instantly noticed his dark eye. The other one was covered completely by his really thick hair and Hinata thought she saw the edge of what might have been an eye-patch peeking out near his scalp until he broke out into a blinding smile and glomped Sasuke. Hinata expected Sasuke to topple over when the boy practically wrapped himself around him but Sasuke barely moved.

"Cuz!" he exclaimed burying his face in Sasuke's hair. Hinata thought it was cute but Sasuke just looked pissed now. "Tobi missed you!"

"Get off me." Sasuke ground out and Hinata couldn't hold in a giggle. The stranger's attention was instantly brought to her. He gasped.

"White Eyes." he said jumping off Sasuke. He rushed past him to get to her "Hey miss, you're a Hyuga, White Eyes, you know that? Tobi was helping kittens, poor little stranded kittens. You look like a kitten too."

"She's a Bunny." Sasuke told him dead pan.

"Ahh! Yes! Really cute bunny rabbit!" Tobi said enraptured and cupping her face. Hinata watched on dubiously as he continued to stare at her brightly. "She so cute. Tobi likes White Eyes."

"Her name is Hinata, Tobi." Mikoto told him pushing a bowl of cat food towards him.

"Sunflower!" he exclaimed immediately pulling her into a hug. She had her face planted firmly in his chest because that was how much taller than her he was. He was a lot more solid than she thought he would be as well. Hinata didn't think it would get any more odd they it already was until he began singing. "This little sunflower in my garden makes me smile every day!"

"Enough." Sasuke said wedging a hand between them and pulling them apart. Hinata released a sigh of relief.

"Sasuke is so mean." Tobi pouted before taking a seat and the counter with folded arms. Then he spotted the dish in the table. "Cookies!"

"Is he always like this?" Hinata asked Sasuke as they both watched Tobi munch away with his hands full of cookies. Mikoto smiled as him and she cut him a slice of pie and putrid him a glass of milk

"Usually." he answered in an annoyed tone. Tobi was talking again and it was filled with animated waves and a mouth full of food. He was like a four year old.

"Is he alright?"

"Perfectly." Sasuke said and turned to leave. "Let's get back to work, shall we?"

"He's nice." Hinata said before shooting one last glance at Tobi who was telling Mikoto about a new friend he made at the supermarket.

"He's like Itachi and Kisame." Sasuke told her. At her clueless look he clarified for her. "Akatsuki."

"Really?" She asked looking at the bright boy that was still talking to Mikoto in the most animated way she had ever seen anyone his age speak. The third person speech was odd as well.

"He looks younger than he is and is definitely more dangerous than he looks." Sasuke told her and she nodded looking at the ecstatic boy around the counter practically bouncing on his stool.

They were in the living room again when they heard Tobi's exclamation of "No! Tobi forgot the kitties!" before he sprinted past the door way again and they heard the door slam open and closed. Hinata couldn't help but think 'how could that guy be dangerous.'

XXXXX

School the next day began in a calm feel until the school's front door slammed open and Naruto came storming in. He stomped through the school ignoring everyone until he found Sasuke almost instantly. He spun the brunette around to face him. "Bastard! You killed my wrist!"

"What are you saying Naruto?" Sasuke asked innocently or as innocent as an Uchiha could look. Naruto looked at him in suspicion.

"The band you gave me killed my hand. I can't feel it!" he said pushing his hand into Sasuke's view. There was a ring of black dead looking skin around his wrist. "I can't feel anything past that thing!"

"Get that thing away from me. It stinks." Sasuke said batting the arm away from him. Naruto looked at him hopelessly.

"How am I going to fix this?" the blond asked worriedly. Sasuke churched at him. "You did this! You fix this!"

"Nope." Sasuke answered with a smirk.

"You bastard! This is revenge for the dead worms that I gave you for your birthday, isn't it? I told you I couldn't find any snakes!" Naruto told him before stomping away. "You don't have to kill my hands for that!"

"It works." Neji commented leaning on the locker beside Sasuke's.

"I told you, I tested it."

"How long?"

"A week if he takes it off now." Sasuke answered with a wide smirk.

"Spectacular."