Author's Notes: I still do not own Naruto or its characters. I am simply using them for my own enjoyment. Also some of the characters are still a bit OOC but that is how they will be in this story. I would also like to thank everyone for reading and for the wonderful reviews. They are greatly appreciated and are encouraging to keep on writing and get the next chapter out asap which I once again did. I think I am finally getting a pretty good idea of where I want to go with this story so we shall see where it goes. Hope you all enjoy Chapter 3.
They heard the rally long before they reached it, the dull roar of the music reached them even though the windows were rolled up to keep out the cool night breeze. Naruto had been talking for most of the ride but Hinata was only half listening. She loved her friend dearly but sometimes he didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. It was a wonder he didn't get himself into much trouble. He tended to be loud and opinionated though he was honest to a fault so most of his opinions were well deserved. Still she worried one day he was going to mouth off to the wrong guy and end up in a lot of trouble. He probably would have done that already if he didn't have her and Shikamaru looking out for him.
Hinata turned up the next street, and approached the rally, the bass of the music nearly shaking her car as she slowed down to maneuver the Mustang through the crowds of people that had gathered around to watch the rally. It seemed to take forever to crawl through the crowds, all the while Hinata's fingers drumming idly to the beat of the music against her steering wheel. Naruto was distracted by the scantily dressed girls who had turned up at the event so for once he was quiet. At least they were good for something, right?
About five minutes later Hinata pulled the car into an open spot and killed the engine. She grinned over at Naruto before opening the door and sliding her slender frame out of the Mustang. Immediately her head was accosted by the blaring music which was coming from the sound system that someone had installed in the back of their car. Hinata was surprised the speakers hadn't blown. She half-wondered how it was possible hear anything over the music. The smell of cigarette smoke filled her nose and she wrinkled it slightly before slamming the door to the car and moving around the other side to find Naruto.
Hinata had to push her way through a group of half-dressed girls and drinking guys in order to get to Naruto who was still grinning like some sort of goofy kid. Hinata shook her head and grabbed onto his arm, dragging him back through the ground and towards where they usually went to meet with the others. She didn't figure they would be here yet but it beat spending all this time getting jostled around in this crowd.
Hinata may not by her shy and timid self but it didn't mean she was fond of the overly large crowds that gathered around at the rallies. All those people in such a small area made the air temperature rise about ten degrees warmer than it actually was and she felt the sweat begin to trickle down the back of her neck as she led Naruto through the crowds. Along the way she was stopped numerous times by different people. For once though she was glad to have Naruto along with her. Far less guys made an attempt to approach her while she had him with her. Not that she thought about Naruto like that anymore but she supposed letting others think that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She certainly wasn't used to the attention. For a girl who was just about invisible during school, it was a strange change of pace to go somewhere where just about everyone had an idea of who she was. There weren't too many other female racers and certainly she was still unique in the fact that she was the only one who wore a mask and no one knew as anything other than Violet.
Either way the attention was not entirely unwanted. She wouldn't pretend it wasn't nice to be noticed for once in her life. It was such a breath of fresh air to be seen as someone who was confident and talented. Here people actually respected her for what she did. Here she was in no one's shadow. Her hand went up to the mask on her face and traced the edges lightly with the pad of her thumb. All because of a silly little mask. Oh but the mask was anything but silly to her. It was everything to her. It was what helped her get through everyday. It was always there waiting for her to leave behind the life she had been forced into and step into the one she had chosen for herself. Such complete opposites these lives were. She wasn't sure that either suited her, but she was sure that this life here was the one in which she felt the most alive.
"Naruto are you coming," Hinata implored the blonde, who was too busy taking in his surroundings and dragging his feet. Hinata let out an exasperated sigh before she turned around and proceeded to walk straight into someone. The contact nearly sent her stumbling backwards but she managed to maintain her footing as she turned her violet eyes upward to see who it was that she had just walked into. A man, perhaps around the same age as Jiraiya, was standing there staring down at her.
Hinata could honestly say she had never felt such instant dread wash over her as it did at that moment. The man was tall, with skin that made her own creamy complexion seem as though she had acquired an actual tan. His hair was black and long, perhaps even longer than her own, and his bangs fell forward in front of piercing eyes that seemed to cut right through her. She wanted to run, to disappear back into the ground and forget about the man but she seemed frozen in place. She was unable to will her feet into listening. And so she stood rooted to her spot on the ground, her violet eyes wide as she tried to get her bearings back together. The man snaked his tongue out along his lips, his eyes never once leaving Hinata as she suddenly forgot all about the earlier heat and shivered despite the temperature.
Her hands went cold and clammy as the man leaned closer towards her as if to whisper something in her ear. Every muscle in her body, tensed and while her mind screamed for her to move. Still no part of her body seemed to comply and she nearly choked on her own anxiety until suddenly there was a strong arm around her shoulder and the stranger was no longer leaning in, rather now he was straightening. Hinata melted into the strength of the
arm around her, the warm returning to her body and her fear leaving her. She turned her head to her right to allow her eyes to rest on the face of her savior. Kakashi… she couldn't remember ever being so happy to see him.
"Well now Orochimaru you wouldn't have been trying to say something to my student would you have," Kakashi growled at the older man as he gave Hinata's shoulders a reassuring squeeze.
"Kakashi," Orochimaru hissed, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Still working for Jiraiya I seeeeee," he said drawing out the end of his word as if once again hissing. His gaze fell back on Hinata. "It was a pleasureee finally being able to see you in the fleeessshhhh Violet. I am sure I will be seeeeeeing you again. You should count on it," he said turning away from Kakashi and moving back into the crowds and finally fading from sight altogether.
"You're late," Hinata said as she took a step away from Kakashi and turned around, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him sternly. Kakashi simply shrugged his shoulders and looked down at her as if he was completely bored. Hinata sighed. "Not that I should expect anything else from you. At least you made it in time for my race this time," she said standing up on her toes and looking around for Naruto.
She found him walking back towards her, a soda in his hand. Hinata reached out and smacked him in the back of the head. It wasn't hard or anything but it got his attention.
"Ow, hey H… Violet what the heck was that for," he whined as he rubbed the back of his head.
"That is for leaving me. I could have used your help about a minute ago. Luckily Kakashi showed up," she shuttered slightly. "That guy was beyond creepy. Who was he," Hinata asked looking over at Kakashi.
"Come on we might as well make our way over to Jiraiya," Kakashi said to the two teens as he began to move off the way Hinata had been heading, glancing back over his shoulder to talk to her as they walked. "That was Orochimaru. He is pretty much the sworn enemy of Jiraiya or at least it seems that way. When they were younger, the two used to be best friends. They had some sort of falling out even though I am not sure what it was about. Either way they have hated each other since. Orochimaru though is bad news. Just stay away from him okay?"
"Why is he bad news," Naruto asked rather loudly having been listening in to everything Kakashi had been saying.
"Word is that he is in on a lot of different things, most of which are very illegal. Granted this crowd isn't exactly full of law abiders and model citizens but Orochimaru makes them all look pretty good. And," Kakashi said raising his hand up to silence Naruto who had opened his mouth once again. "I am not going to answer anymore questions. Both of you just keep away from him and his little followers."
Naruto shut his mouth looking kind of bummed that Kakashi wouldn't answer his questions and Hinata nodded. She had no interest in knowing anymore than she had just found out. She would make sure to stay away from that guy. Not that she would want to get near him anyway. Something about his scared the heck out of her. He just looked so cold. Shaking her head to get though haunting eyes out of her mind, she turned her attention back to the crowd.
"Kakashi, Violet over here." Hinata looked up to see Jiraiya waving them over to where he was standing with Lee and Gai. Apparently they had left right after she and Naruto had if they had beat them here. She and Kakashi, followed by Naruto, headed over to where the group was standing. At least over here they could actually hear without yelling at one another.
"Kakashi," came Gai's clipped greeting of his long time rival. Kakashi nodded but said nothing in return to Gai who now was back to discussing something with Lee.
"Lee is in the second race of the night. You are in the sixth," Jiraiya said to Hinata. "It is you and three other racers in that heat. You are up against some rookie who from what I heard shouldn't pose too much of a threat, and Riku who you have beaten before. You're competition is going to this guy named Kabuto. He races for Orochimaru," Jiraiya said his voice laced with quite a bit of venom as he spit out the name. Obviously Kakashi had been right on the dot with the hating one another. "I want you to give it your all Violet," he said giving her his best attempt at a smile.
Hinata nodded knowing full well that his last words had come out as 'give it you all' but in reality they meant way more than that. They meant, beat that guy for me. Give me the chance to one up him once more. I don't want to lose to him. And Hinata didn't want him to have to lose to him. She would win this for him. Look at all he had done for her, given her a chance at a life she may have never known otherwise. Giving her a life where she was really free. Winning this, well it was the least she could do and she would beat this Kabuto guy if she had anything to say about it.
"Where does Lee end at," Hinata asked switching the topic away from herself and onto her teammate who was now walking away with Gai probably to get his car to the starting line for his race.
"It is a circuit, they finish here. Your race is the same. They've got the stretch cleared out so no one will get in the way," Jiraiya said.
"Okay well I am going to go find a spot over near the line so I can see how he does," Hinata said. She paused to look for Naruto but saw that he was now talking to Shikamaru and Temari who must have just gotten here. Deciding not to bother them, she waved to the group, who waved back, and then headed back out into the crowds off people so she could get a good view of the race.
It took her awhile to get there but she finally was able to make it to where they had the road blocked off for the race. Pushing her way in front of a few more people, she found a spot against one of the barriers and leaned against it, her violet eyes on the empty stretch of road in front of her. The first race had already begun. She had been able to hear the revving engines as she had made her way to the street. She didn't know who was running in this race. She knew the course well enough, it would take the racers around 10 minutes to complete it. The better ones did it in around 9. Her best time so far was nine minutes and thirteen seconds. Lee's was nine minutes and eleven seconds and from the way he acted one might actually think those two seconds were an hour. She didn't really mind it that much though.
Besides the one time the two had actually raced, she had beaten him by two car lengths. Lee was good, especially in the drift style racing that they were a part of because he excelled at handling corners and knowing when to start his drift. His only problem was that he had trouble maneuvering through traffic, which was something Hinata was rather good at. If Lee got out in front, there was not much stopping him because when he had the space he was hard to catch. But when he was in the middle of a pack, or caught in traffic he never handled the car as well. He didn't risk it like Hinata did. She had no problems taking a few chances to get the lead. It was how she had beaten him back when they had raced.
She smiled to herself, his reaction replaying in her mind though that thought was interrupted as the first car tore down the road and crossed the finish with a roar of the engine. The driver hit his breaks, came to a stop and then burned out, the smoke pouring off the back tires and causing the smell of burning rubber to fill the air. The second and third car crossed one right behind the other and about ten seconds later the forth driver came rolling down the road. The announcer read off the names of the drivers and what place they finished and then told them to clear off the track for the next race.
Hinata watched as the cars made their way off the strip of road and the other cars drove on. She saw Lee's green Nissan Silvia pull onto the road and she smiled. It was always green with Lee. Once the cars were lined up at the starting line everyone climbed out of the cars. Lee and Gai got out of his own for a few last minute pep talks. That was one thing Kakashi never did. She was lucky if he even made it in time at all, which he usually did. She didn't mind though.
Once Gai had finished talking and moved off to the side Hinata yelled out to Lee. "Hey Lee good luck!" He turned and looked in her direction, finally finding her and giving her a smile and a thumbs up. Hinata shook her head with a smile and then watched him climb into his car. They may have some sort of strange rivalry between them but he was still her teammate and she wanted him to do well. They were on the same team, so his success was partially her own too. Plus she would never actually wish for him to lose, unless of course it was against her.
The sound of an air horn tore through the dull roar of the crowd signaling the start of the race. The driver's gunned their engines and the cars surged forward on the open road ahead of them. Hinata cheered and leaned over the barrier to look out at the cars which were now speeding away. She watched tm until they disappeared around a corner. Before leaning back in and beginning her wait for race to be over.
The thing was for Hinata that when she was racing, the time flew by. Races never seemed to last as long as they actually were. But when she was watching one, especially one where she was interested in the results, they took forever. The waiting killed her every time and this time was no different. So she drummed her fingers out of sheer boredom against the barrier she was leaning against. How many minutes had gone by, was it four or maybe six? She made a note that she should really start wearing a watch.
And that was when she became aware that someone's gaze was on her. It was purely instinct alone but her body tensed slightly in anticipation as she turned around to see just who it was that was looking at her so intently. And that was when she came face to face with Sasuke Uchiha.
So I had every intention of having Hina and Susuke actually meeting up and talking in this chapter but it was already longer than both of my other chapters so I cut it off here. The only good news is that it means I have already started writing Chp 4. Sorry to have to keep you waiting longer but the next chapter will include them talking and Hinata racing so that should make up for it I hope. Hope you enjoyed this part.
