edited: 21/3/18
"You must be a sorceress because you just did the impossible, Gained my trust"
iv.
"G-Good morning"
The Uchiha's face remained impassive, showing no signs of having heard her. Hinata silently sighed before taking her seat beside him.
This was the third day in a row her greeting had been met with silence.
Hinata fiddled with her eraser, attempting to distract herself from the awkwardness she felt between them, but it did little to ease the tension. She wondered if she would ever get a word out of him. How were they ever going to get any work done as partners if they couldn't even talk? They had yet to get any lab work, but only four days had passed since school had started so it was only a matter of time.
Hinata had a hard enough time speaking to most people who willingly engaged her in conservation, with someone like him, she was at a complete loss. It was frustrating, but she wasn't surprised. From what little she knew of Sasuke from first year, she knew that he had been anything but approachable. That didn't seem to have changed during his one year suspension. The only person she had seen him talking to on a regular basis was Naruto. She could try and ask Naruto for help, but what if he told Sasuke about it? She was getting embarrassed just thinking about it. She had tried getting advice from Sakura and Ino since they were infinitely more personable than she was, but their responses had been anything but helpful.
The eraser she had been toying with suddenly flew from her hand, landing on the lap of the very subject of her thoughts. Hinata immediately froze in place, unknowingly holding her breathe. She watched apprehensively as the obsidian eyes of the boy seated beside her shifted to the eraser now laying in his lap. His dark brows furrowed before he picked it up and, to her dismay, turning to look directly at her.
Heat flooded her face as she suddenly grew tense under his open scrutiny. Well she certainly had his attention now, being ignored was suddenly enormously more appealing.
"Is this yours?"
Hinata stared blankly at him for a moment, words caught in her throat. He started back, dark gaze wavering for such a short moment, she was sure she had imagined it. Breaking eye contact, she choose to focus on the eraser held carefully in his pale hands.
"Y-yes... sorry."
Her eyes followed as he placed the eraser on the table, closer to her than him, before his attention was once again off her.
Relaxing, Hinata let out a quiet breathe of relief. She had been so sure she had annoyed him. Or maybe she had, and he just hid it well. Hinata reached for her eraser, but
when she realized she was once again fiddling with it she set it down.
iv.
The next day Anko-sensei informed the class they could work with their partners on the worksheet she had just finished passing out. Most students in the class jumped at the opportunity. Soon the classroom was filled with hushed voices as the students began discussing the assignment. Anko-sensei had made it clear that if it got too noisy, this would be the first and the last time she let them work together on anything outside of labs.
Hinata looked over the worksheet, noting there was nothing too difficult. She felt like she could answer most of these correctly without looking at the book, a good sign for any upcoming tests. Her ears picked up a series of soft clicking noises, followed by a frustrated sigh from beside her.
"Do you have any lead I could borrow?"
It took Hinata a few seconds to realize that yes, that question, from Sasuke himself, was addressed to her. She blinked a few a times before quickly grabbing a few pieces of lead from the refill in her pencil case and handing them to him. He took it from her hands, barely sparing her a look, though she managed to hear a thank you.
"Y-You're welcome." she quietly responded, her face breaking into a soft smile.
iv.
Hinata stifled a yawn as she entered her locker combination. It was only the Monday of the second week of school and already she felt sleep deprived.
She transferred the books she wouldn't need until later into her locker, her movements sluggish. She shook her head, realizing she was dangerously close to falling asleep where she stood. She smacked her face with both hands, the sting serving to wake her up a little. She was going to have to start going to bed earlier.
As she closed the door to her locker, the grip she had on her literature book loosened. She watched as it fell to the floor, almost in slow motion, her hand seconds too late in tightening it's grip. Hinata tiredly started at the book laying on the ground beside her feet, contemplating leaving it there for one crazy second before reason reclaimed it's hold on her.
She blinked in surprise when a dark head of hair briefly entered her line of sight, before a smooth pale hand was suddenly holding her textbook towards her. Taking it, she looked up to thank the person. A small jolt of shock going directly through her heart served to wake up further when she was met with with the dark eyes of her current lab partner. Her lips opened and closed a few time before she finally managed to get out a thank you.
Sasuke shrugged one shoulders before turning to enter his combination. She titled her head and allowed herself to study him for a few moments, trying to figure him out before shaking her head and leaving for class.
Hinata never would have guessed someone like him would go out of his way to do something so small, yet thoughtful. She should know better than anyone that being cold and distant on the outside, didn't necessarily reflection what a person was like on the inside. Having a cousin like Neji should have taught her that, but the Uchiha's seemingly random display of kindness still managed to catch her off guard.
iv.
Sasuke tried to act as casual as possible despite being unnerved by the heavy weight of the Hyuga's gaze on him. She seemed to study him for a few seconds before turning around and leaving. He let out a breathe he hadn't realized he was holding. You would think after being stared at by girls all day everyday he's be used to it by now, but she always managed to unnerve him.
"Hi Sasuke-kun!" a shrill voice disturbing close to his hear cried, causing him to flinch. The voice was soon joined be a chorus of similar greetings. He didn't even need to turn around to know he was surrounded. He let out a frustrated sigh before slamming his locker closed.
Later that day Sasuke was staring at the text book in front of him intently while his mind was else where. He thought the novelty of him being back at school would have worn off by now and most of the girls would lose interest, but a week later and he was still getting mobbed at his locker, during lunch, while changing classes, the list went on. Not even the boys bathroom was completely safe from his "admirers." Those girls would do just about anything to try and grab his attention. He had never seen so many pencils, pens, or phone numbers just fall out of people hands so consistently in his life. Every action seemed to have a hidden agenda with these girls, and he was sick of it.
He was shaken from his thoughts when he heard the distinctly unpleasant sound of a pencil hitting the floor, a sound he'd come to dread. The dark haired girl sitting next to him swiftly bent down to pick it up before resuming her work.
The Hyuga was probably one of the few girls who didn't a hidden motive behind any of her actions. She seemed like too much of an open book too even pull it off. It wasn't hard to guess what she was thinking. He remembered when she dropped her eraser a few days ago, she had frozen in place when he turned to return it to her. From the alarm clear in her eyes, It was hard to think it was anything other than an accident.
Just looking at her now Sasuke could tell she was becoming more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by. Her cheeks were taking on a rosy hue, and the way she was nibbling on her bottom lip was probably more captivating than it should have been. It took him a moment to realize her sudden nervousness was cause by him openly staring at her. He quickly turned his attention back to his book, mentally kicking himself in the face.
iv.
Hinata hummed a song that had been recently stuck in her head, a smile on her face as she breezed by the many students in a rush to leave school and enjoy their weekends. The smile grew at the thought of finally being able to sleep in the next day since the school week was finally over. Her father still wasn't home from his business trip, so she could invite Ino and Sakura over without having to worry about the disapproving looks he would surely give her. She was brought out of her thoughts by the familiar voices of her two best friends. She turned to greet them, before the three made their way out of the building.
"So... My father is still away on business, would you like to come over tomorrow?" Hinata asked when they reached a lull in their conversation.
"Really? He's been gone for over a month now—not that I'm complaining," Ino said, before suddenly clapping her hands together. "We could go to the pool! I hear the weather is supposed to be great tomorrow!"
Hinata nodded her head, smiling in approval. They hadn't gone to the pool in while, it sounded like fun.
"Can't, I already have plans for tomorrow," Sakura stated casually.
"What? Since when?" Ino asked indignantly, echoing Hinata's own thoughts.
"Since just now," Sakura replied, jade eyes remaining glued to the screen of her phone. A smile creeped onto her face as she rapidly began typing. Ino stared intently at the side of Sakura's head, waiting for the pink haired girl to continue. When Sakura remained oblivious Ino let out a noise of frustration.
"Well what are they? " She demanded, "These plans better be really good if you're ditching us for them."
"Naruto asked me if I wanted to go see a movie tomorrow with him..." Sakura said slowly, finally taking he bright green eyes off of her phone.
Taken aback, Hinata titled her head as she waited for Sakura to continue.
"...and Sasuke."
Sakura's face was apologetic as she waited for a response from her two friends.
"Oh," Ino said flatly before she turned to look back at Hinata. Immediately she went back to speaking about going to the pool, all interest in the previous conversation seeming to vanish.
Hinata smiled as she nodded along, giving input wherever needed while stealing nervous glances at Sakura. The pink haired girl had opened her mouth a few times, as if to say something but ultimately choose to remain silent. The troubled expression on Sakura's face slowly morphed into to one of delight as she read whatever was currently on the screen of her phone. This eased Hinata's trepidation, at least about Sakura.
Ino on the other hand still worried her. Though the ice blonde was currently speaking animatedly, seeming as bright as ever while she went over their plans for the weekend, it didn't hide the fact she was bothered by Sakura's words.
Hinata was happy Sakura seemed to easily be falling back into the friendship she had with the two boys during first year. She remembered how upset she had been by the events leading up to the boys one year suspension. But fixing that friendship could tear this current one apart. Sakura and Ino weren't friend's back then for a reason, and the circumstances that lead to that were slowly falling back into place.
Hinata wondered if she should just let it go. Trying to talk about it could do more harm than good. Maybe this time would be different. She was friends with them now, that was one major difference. Who was to say things would go the same way they did back in first year?
She decided to push her concerns to the back of her head, instead turning her attention fully towards making plans with Ino for the weekend.
End of Chapter Notes:
Once again, I'm sorry for not updating in so long. Thank you for all the reviews, favourites, and follows from last chapter, they're what keep me coming back. Some of you already have such interesting guesses for Hinata's ex. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.
The next chapter should be up soon! It's already written, along with about 5 more chapters, I just need to proof read/edit it a bit more before posting. This chapter actually didn't exist at all, and the next one was originally chapter 4, but after looking back on my outline, I felt like I needed to add this. Anyway, until next time!