Chapter 21

"Ok. What is this idea?" Sasuke asked still frowning. He personally didn't believe there was any way to fix his problem with Hebi.

Hinata strengthened her resolve. This was the hard part. "We form a gang."

"I'm sorry what?"

"We form a gang." Hinata repeated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked getting a sinking feeling.

"We make a gang of our own."

"We, as in you and me?" he asked and she nodded. "No. Just no. You can't."

"What makes you think you have a say in this?" Hinata asked angrily and Sasuke was quiet. She took a breath and tightened her hold on his hand before continuing. "Hear me out."

He looked at her. He didn't like this. Not in the least but this was her idea and he had to at least listen to her. "Fine. Explain."

"Ok. You said that you can't get out of this, you can't get out of the gang business." she said and nodded along with him when he did. "But what if we don't take you out of the gang business just out of Hebi?"

"I can't go Akatsuki and the other gang are shit. Akatsuki is the only gang that could protect me. The only hand that actually goes against Hebi."

"I figured as much that's why I'm going to talk to Pein."

"He won't take me. Ever." Sasuke protested. "Even if Itachi is my brother. Never."

"But he won't be taking you. I will." Hinata stated easily and Sasuke openly stared at her.

"What?" Sasuke asked incredulously

"We are going to form our own gang." Hinata said and Sasuke gave her a quizzical look.

"What does Akatsuki have to do with this?" he asked

"Alliance." she answered.

"So let me get this straight," Sasuke said stepping away to begin pacing. "You want to form a gang and an alliance with Akatsuki for protection?"

"Yes."

"Question. You're going to form a brand new gang with just the two of us?" Sasuke asked agitatedly. His mind was running too quickly for him to stay still. "Let's not forget that new gangs are on the shit list and so any new gangs get stomped quicker than bubble-gum sticks to shoes. Pein won't even want to ally with a shitty gang of two."

"It wouldn't be just the two of us. So far it's five plus you."

"Five?" he asked surprised. "Who?"

"Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Ten-ten and me." she answered. "Obviously you are number six."

"Are you serious? Them?"

"Yea."

"What can they do? What can they defend?"

"Before Temari and her brothers moved here they had a reputation in Suna. Even after first moving here they kept up that reputation. They were called the Sand Siblings. Both because of their last name and where Suna is and of course because they are siblings."

"The Sand Siblings?" Sasuke muttered thoughtfully. "Well shit. We've had monsters on our team for years. No wonder Suna teams generally avoid them. They pretty much run when Gaara come one to play goalkeeper."

"I assume we're on the same page for that one." Hinata stated watching him. He was still going through his mind for clues that he might have missed. "Ten-ten might not have a rep but she's good with sharp objects. I can also defend myself."

"Ok. So how do you plan to even get this to work?" he asked then.

"We steal you away duh." she said as if it was obvious.

After listening to Hinata's plan, Sasuke couldn't deny that it was a good one, a very elaborate plan. They were still standing by the pond when she was finish. They were not touching or looking at each other but they were close.

"Can we give this some time for me to think on this and get back to you?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Of course. I didn't expect you to agree with me right away." Hinata told him.

"Great." he mumbled to himself before speaking to her. "Can we go on a date and forget this plan for a while?"

"Yea." she answered slipping her hand into his. After so long it was comfortable to feel her hand in his. They turned away from the water and began a walk through the rest of the park.

"I missed you." Sasuke confessed shifting his hands to lace their fingers together. Hinata blushed but quickly pushed it away. Thankfully Sasuke wasn't looking her way.

"I tried not to think about it." she told him and followed him when he gently pulled her out of the park. "I missed you too."

"Lunch?"

"Lunch was a while ago." she teased.

"Dinner?" he compromised.

"Nothing too..." Hinata began but couldn't find the word she was looking for. Sasuke raised a brow at her in amusement.

"Posh?" he offered and she smiled at him. He had missed that smile.

"Not the word I was looking for but it works." She said easily. They were already back in the parking lot and approaching Sasuke's car. It was funny how easily she fell back into walk with him to his car, how quickly she accepted a drive from him.

"Is a burger fine with you?" he asked unlocking the door with remote and holding the door open for Hinata.

"Of course. It's a burger!" she said as she got into the car. He closed the door and hurried around to the driver's seat. As he started the car he thought about how he had never seen Hinata around the wheel.

"Do you have a learner's license?"

"Yea?" she answered incredulously. She hadn't expected that question.

"How come you never drive?" he asked keeping his eyes on the road.

"Neji always drives me or a chauffeur does. Neji usually gives me lessons or my father but that's usually on holidays or weekends. They prefer to do the driving."

"So can you?" he asked

"Yes. I'll eventually get my own car."

"Want to drive?" he offered

"Really?" she asked

"I have my old learner's sign in the back."

"In your mom's car?" she asked with a smile. He glanced at her and gave her a small smile.

"That's where I learned to drive officially."

"And unofficially?" she asked.

"With Itachi in the street races." he answered remembering the times he snuck out with Itachi to the races. That was before Hebi. After that things got complicated.

"Figures. Well thanks but no. It's sweet of you to offer though. I know you guys don't like giving over control of your cars." Hinata said with a smile. She looked over at Sasuke as he finally pulled into a Burger King driveway. He was undeniable attractive. A part of her still questioned why he was with her a little even now. There were so many things he was and so many things he wasn't. He wasn't nice or even half sweet. He was often cold and harsh with a glare that could melt or freeze people regularly. He was the Ice Prince of the entire school just like Ino was the Queen Bitch and Gaara was the King of Doom. They were the people that nobody messed with unless they were stupid. If Gaara walked into a room looked at you and cracked his knuckles you were doomed. Evidently she was both stupid and smart. Stupid to mess with Sakura and Ino and smart to be friends with Temari and her brothers.

"What?" Sasuke asked bringing her attention back to him. She hasn't even realised that they had stopped and that Sasuke had turned to her.

"Nothing. Just thinking." she told him and flushed in embarrassment at being caught just staring at him. She got out if the car and walked in with him.

"Do I want to know what you were thinking about?" Sasuke asked teasingly.

"School. The hierarchy." she answered and he gave her a quizzical look. "Do you guys actually have royal meetings?"

Sasuke stared at her almost half a minute before he chuckled. "No. We are from completely different kingdoms and so we hardly ever get along with each other."

They quickly ordered, received their food and found a table. They were halfway through their food when Sasuke asked another question.

"What are you going to do when Orochimaru finds out that your gang is new?" he asked this question had obviously been bothering him. With good reason, Orochimaru could be vicious when he felt like if and that was more often than not.

"He won't. We'll lie and say we've been around since before you joined Hebi." She answered and he shot her a doubtful look. "Akatsuki would agree with us and even produce proof of agreement if necessary."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked. Another question that was bothering him.

"Because I like you more than I usually like people and this will help." she answered honestly and his eyes widened as he stated at her. "It would suck if you had to hate me even if I know you don't want to."

"Oh." he uttered. His eyes were as wide as saucers. Hinata had to look away and take a large bite of her burger to stifle her laughter. His look was too cute. "Ok."

"Ok?" she asked.

"Ok." he nodded lost in his own thoughts.

'OMG! Sasuke is practically speechless! He doesn't know what to say!' Hinata marvelled. She had made Sasuke speechless and lost! Or was his brain just temporarily on shutdown?

"Great." she said smiling.

The next day found Sasuke pulling into the driveway of the Sabaku house. It was the day before Christmas Eve which is why Hinata's 'gang' was meeting for the first time officially at the Sabaku home. He slipped out of the car just as Kankuro came through the front door carrying two six pack soda.

"Hey man! We're around back. Gaara is frying the chicken." Kankuro greeted him as he came down the front porch.

"Chicken?" Sasuke asked approaching him.

"Yea. There has to be food if we're doing some serious chatting." Kankuro informed him as he offered one of the six packs to Sasuke to carry before clapping him on the back with his free hand and a smile. Sasuke offered him a slight tilt of his lips in return. He understood Kankuro slap as a 'totally here for you dude' and Kankuro understood his smile as a 'thank you'. The moment they stepped into the backyard Kankuro announced. "Food's almost ready."

"Great." Ten-ten voiced from her seat beside Hinata around the picnic table that was set with various types of finger food.

"I'm telling you Gaara's chicken is the best!" Temari announced just as she sat around the picnic table. Kankuro set the sodas down near her. She suddenly noticed Sasuke when he put his load there too. "Hey Chicken Ass. What's up?"

"Chicken Ass?" He asked. She obviously had not decided on what his nickname should be as yet.

"Don't like that? How about Tail Feathers?" Temari asked in mock concern. Sasuke looked at her with raised eyebrows as Kankuro, Hinata and Ten-ten laughed.

"How are those even related to me?" Sasuke asked taking a seat across from her but beside Hinata.

"Have you seen the back of your head recently?" Ten-ten asked and Sasuke self-consciously reached his hand there. Hinata chuckled while Temari and Kankuro laughed heartily.

"Fresh from the pan." Gaara announced carrying out a large dish filled with his fried chicken and proudly placed it on the table. "Organic fry chicken."

"Doesn't frying it spoil the organicity of the chicken?" Sasuke asked and Gaara gave him his most threatening blank look. Sasuke actually flinched.

"Don't question Gaara's cooking." Kankuro stated before motioning for Gaara to sit beside him. "Who wants to grace our already tasty looking meal?"

"Grace?"

"You have a lot of questions." Gaara commented and Sasuke shrugged.

"I'll do it." Hinata volunteered and the table quickly fell silent. She offered her grace and soon they were all digging into the food present on the table and having idle conversation. They were half way through the meal when the main topic finally came up.

"So have we decided yet?" Kankuro asked in the middle of the make-shift burger he had built.

"Decided? On what?" Ten-ten asked. She was already finished and sipping her soda. It had been a great meal.

"On what we are going to name the gang." Kankuro answered as if it was obvious.

"No actuality. I haven't given it much thought." Hinata said thoughtfully as she picked up another piece of chicken. It was really good chicken.

"It's your gang and you're not thinking about these things?" Sasuke asked surprised.

"The thought never occurred to me." Hinata answered defensively. Sasuke rolled his eyes at her.

"Well you have to think of one. You're the boss." Kankuro stated and everyone turned their attention to the Hyuga heiress.

"I'm the boss?" Hinata asked wide eyed.

"Duh." the three siblings said before Ten-ten asked "Who'd you think it would be?"

Hinata quickly pointed at Sasuke. He shook his head instantly.

"Not plausible. They would never believe that the gang leader would send himself out as a spy. That's what grunts and lesser officers are for." Sasuke stated putting away the food for the moment. He turned to Hinata with a critical eye. "Truthfully I'm wondering how you're going to make them believe you could be the boss. You're gonna have to be tough. Take a page out of Temari or Gaara's book or out of both or the entire book of either or both of their books."

"Hey! What about mine?" Kankuro whined. "I'm pretty tough."

"You're the annoying kind of tough." Sasuke stated completely disregarding Kankuro toughness. He then went into lecture mode. "Temari is more the dictator tough. The 'Do as I says or suffer immediately' kind that also says 'look at me I will destroy you if you so much as look at he too hard'. Gaara on the other hand is more of a slow kill tough. The 'I'll make you suffer slowly if you defy me' kind that also says 'I'll sneak up on you when you least expect it.' You have to decide how you will lead us and how you will project yourself."

"She's getting there." Temari stated proudly. "Continue dating you for a while longer and she'll be tougher than ever."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment." Sasuke commented with a raised brow. "But I will assume it is."

"Good now, so figure out a name, be tough, what else?"

"Posting." Sasuke answered and sighed when he saw their blank looks. "Giving specific jobs to person. Departmentalising. We have few people so each person can just be in charge of something."

"Ok so I'm boss. You're second in command." Hinata said to Sasuke and he gaped at her. She ignored him. "What is everybody else good at?"

"Second in command?" Sasuke asked but was again ignored. The others ignored him as well.

"I have underground connections." Gaara stated. "I haven't been keeping them in like in a while. I think I should remind them that I still live here."

"I can provide weapons. You'd be surprised how many sharp object dad has." Ten-ten stated. "Doesn't help that he sells guns either."

"No guns." both Sasuke and Hinata stated. Ten-ten shrugged.

"I can take care of more obvious attacks. Get rid of things you don't want. Discreetly." Kankuro said smirking at just the thought of the job.

"I'm surprised you know that word." Sasuke commented and Kankuro made a face at him.

"I'll take care of anything else that needs dealing with." Temari put in.

"Ok. That's what you'll do then." Hinata told them with a nod.

"You're going to need a tech guy." Sasuke commented. "Technological warfare is become quite dominant these days."

"A hacker?" Kankuro asked. He was still stuffing his face with food. "We really need one?"

"We are running an operation people, we need everything." Hinata stated.

"I know exactly who we need." Temari smiled.