C9

Ding.

Dong.

"Hinata! Hinata he's here!" Hanabi squealed as she peeked through the curtain that lie next to the door's window. "It's him!"

"Then open the door up, Hanabi!" Hinata said exasperatedly as she ran down the stairs.

Nodding vigorously, Hanabi complied and fumbled with the lock to pull open the door dramatically, an expectant and excited look set upon her face. Standing in the door frame, his arm raised to knock, was Naruto, blond hair, blue eyes, stunning complexion and all. "Oh, hey there, I met you at the skating rink didn't I? Sorry about running you over…"

"Hanabi." She chirped in quickly. "I'm Hanabi."

"Ha ha," He chuckled. "Hanabi. So, where might your sister—" His words died in his throat as he looked up and over at Hinata who was currently trying to wrestle her new pair of four inch leather stilletoes onto her feet. Honestly, they mildly frightened her as she tottered up finally at a nice five foot seven inches and were pointy enough that they looked like they had the capabilities of causing bodily damage and quite possibly death.

"Hi, N-Naruto." Hinata waved shyly as she stood up properly and adjusted her shirt. She never should have let Tenten persuade her into buying all of her clothes for this party. Her cowl necked shirt (which was showing far too much cleavage for her comfort) was both backless and prone to slipping down too far, her jeans were far tighter than any she had worn before in her life, and she was definitely sure the leather clutch in her hand was going to get lost at some point in the evening. Tenten had dragged her over to a friend of hers beauty salon earlier that day where Hinata had spent a pain staking two and a half hours having her ridiculously long and thick hair straightened to perfection and bangs so straight and across she felt like an Egyptian queen. Not to mention the mass amounts of makeup piled onto her face in such a away that it barely looked applied.

"…Wow." His eyebrows rose considerably as he ruffled the back of his hair awkwardly. "You look…you look amazing."

"Thanks," Hinata blushed and snatched her cell phone up off the small ledge next to the door before turning to Hanabi. "I'll see you later." She smiled and reached out hesitantly to ruffle her sister's hair, unsure of what her reaction to it may be.

To her surprise, Hanabi leaned further into her hand and grinned widely. "Have lots of fun and tell me everything later, okay?"

"Okay." Hinata grinned back and looked up at Naruto shyly. "Should we go now?"

"But of course!" Naruto grinned and held out an elbow for her to hesitantly clasp onto. "Let's go."

--

"I…I don't know about this…" Hinata dug her heels lightly into the ground like a frightened dog and clutched onto Naruto's sleeve tightly. Her widened eyes were staring terrified at the house before them almost shaking from the loud bass of the music.

"It'll be lots of fun!" He goaded and smiled reassuringly at her and placed a reassuring hand over hers. "'Sides, you have me." Returning his reassuring smile with one that wasn't nearly as much so, Hinata gripped his sleeve tighter and gave a small nod.

"Atta girl." He draped an arm casually around her shoulder to place a friendly peck on the crown of her head, and proceeded to leave a very stunned and red Hinata clinging to his arm blankly.

Did that just happen?

Really?

(Where were the butterflies she felt earlier around another certain member of the opposite sex?)

The first thing Hinata noticed as they entered the house with Naruto waving and grinning towards everyone he knew, and even the ones he didn't know, was: It was loud. It was very loud. There were people everywhere. People in the corner making out. People dancing on couches. People making out on couches. People everywhere with a drink in hand.

Just…people.

"I'll go get something for us to drink, okay?" Naruto shouted in her ear and gently pried her off of his arm. "I'll be right back."

"No! Don't—" But it was already too late, he had disappeared amongst the impossible crowd of inebriated teenagers, leaving her alone in her terror, searching for a vaguely familiar face.

Her familiar face, however, was not one she hoped to see in the near future.

"Hey! Check stand three girl!" A loud (and admittedly obnoxious) voice made its way to process in her ears.

Turning almost violently, she answered automatically (if not desperately), "Yes?"

"Hinata, right?" An arm was slung around her shoulders in a manner far too friendly for her liking. Hinata almost cringed as she recognized the hazel eyed boy next to her as the one who constantly harassed her whenever he came through her check stand.

"Whatcha doin' here?" His voice was slurred and his breath was rank with what she could determine were vodka shots by the direction he had come from. She could see a group of people loudly cheering on two boys around a coffee table as they downed the small glasses.

"Um…I-I had a date…"She murmured and squirmed away from his grasp.

"So tell me, Hinata," He asked as if her previous statement hadn't even been said. "Do you just not like coffee or something?"

"What?" She backed up against the wall conveniently located right behind her, his much larger frame caging her as he placed an arm against the wall.

His head lowered as he murmured with lips much too close to her ears. Flinching and shrinking in on herself, she reluctantly listened to his next lines, "You haven't said yes to my date yet."

"I-I really don't think—" She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip, trying hard not to cry.

"Aw, c'mon. Just one date?"

"So this was where you went."

Peering anxiously around the boy's form, Hinata nearly cried tears of relief as she watched Sasuke's dark eyes glare back angrily at H.E.B's own ones. Slinking to the side, she almost managed an escape before HEB snarled and turned back to Hinata who stared back fearfully. "Hey, we're having a conversation."

"Like hell you were." With that, Sasuke snatched her arm and yanked her towards him, causing her to tumble into his firm and exceptionally inviting and comforting chest. "She rejected you. Get over it."

"Hey, fuck you, man." HEB snarled and drew himself up to the impressive height of six foot six.

"Let's go, please," Hinata whispered urgently up at Sasuke and gripped his shirt. "Now."

Giving HEB one last sneer, Sasuke took her by the elbow to get lost in the sea of jostling teenagers, though not before Hinata heard the burning exclamation of HEB's last growl, "You can't fucking shield your girlfriend forever!"

"Th-thank you so much," Hinata choked out and rubbed at her eyes to prevent from crying. This was not exactly how she had planned her first ever party to go.

"You should really start telling him to fuck off." Sasuke growled and continued to drag her through the crowd. Hinata stared down at the hand gripping her wrist and felt warmth rush all over her, a mixture of gratitude and something else she wasn't sure she wanted named at the moment.

"May-maybe." She agreed quietly.

"C'mon. You need a drink." He led her through the crowded kitchen where drinks were being poured and mixed. He took a ladle from the punch bowl and poured it into the a glass before handing it to her and taking a beer off the counter next to it.

Tentatively, Hinata took the glass and stared at it in her hands for a moment before taking a long gulp of it. Almost immediately her head felt lighter and her body tingled all around. Coughing, she stared up at Sasuke with wide eyes and asked, "Wh-what's in this?"

Shrugging, Sasuke opened his bottle with a skilful bite with his teeth. "Cranberry juice…7up…Malibu…"

"Malibu?" Hinata echoed and looked down at her glass and bit her lip. "Like…alcohol?"

"Yeah." He took a swig of his drink and raised an eyebrow at her. "What'd you think I meant by a drink?"

"N-nothing…" Hinata murmured and took another sip, this one considerably smaller. She didn't like the nearly ridiculing and patronizing tone in his voice.

"Listen," He grabbed her hand that was holding the glass and gently lowered it away from her mouth. "You don't have to drink if you don't want. My opinion isn't going to change of you either way."

But this was what she had wanted, wasn't it? She wanted to be one of these kids who considered getting drunk on a Saturday evening at someone who she had never met in her life's party normal, didn't she? Taking another sip and feeling the warmth that ran through her pleasantly this time, Hinata merely gave a crooked smile and shook her head. "It's okay. I-I'm fine…"

"If you say so…" Glancing at her with that damned raised eyebrow that she was far too accustomed to seeing on his face. "What are you doing here anyways?"

Hinata took another gulp, finishing her glass much quicker than she had thought and answered, "I came here with Naruto." With a pout, she looked around. "I…I don't know where he went. He was supposed to bring me a drink…" Holding out her glass expectantly, Hinata chirped, "More please!"

"Naruto? You're Naruto's date?" He took the glass and placed it on the counter next to them. "No. No more for now, unless you'd like to spend the evening in a less than pleasant mood making good acquaintances with the toilet. Wait a little bit."

Hinata snorted and let out a strangled and half crazed sounding chuckle. "Why aren't you this f-funny usually at school? Or at work?" She looked up suddenly eyes wide and worried. "Is…is it that surprising that N-Naruto would ask me to be his date?"

"No," Sasuke sighed and put his hand on the small of her back to guide their way out of the overly crowded kitchen. "I just…I thought I saw him here earlier and…never mind."

"Earlier? When—" She stopped in her tracks as her eyes happened to catch sight of the last thing she wanted to see. Sakura was sitting on a table with Naruto standing between her legs grinning as she ran a hand through his hair, his nose nuzzling her neck. He…he didn't even look the least bit guilty, instead, he looked pleased and altogether far too happy.

"Oh." Hinata murmured and leaned back into his hand that was still cupped against her back. "…That's why."

"Let's go," Sasuke tugged her back lightly by her wrist. "We don't have to--"

"Yes. We do." Hinata narrowed her eyes and tore her gaze desperately away from the two. "I…I can't keep running away."

"What're you going to do then?" He took another swig of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I…I don't know," She admitted and blushed. Of course, determination to do something was always way cooler sounding in one's head instead of in reality where the variable of 'something' was still unknown.

"Let's dance." He suggested and shrugged as if the idea had little interest to him either way.

Hinata looked around the living room where groups of people were grinding against one another to no particular rhythm, neither changing pace when a song changed from loud and fast paced, or loud and slow. Biting her lip for what felt like the hundredth time that night, Hinata admitted almost too quiet for Sasuke to hear in the noise of the room, "I don't know how to."

"It's really not all that particularly difficult," With the beer still in hand, he lightly held both of her wrists and brought them up around his neck so her arms looped closely around him. "And really, uh, you just move." His leg stood between hers, with her hips pressed together against his. Burying her head deep into the crook of his neck, Hinata felt the burn of a harsh blush leak across her body. For some reason, this whole ordeal felt humiliating. And degrading.

And exhilarating.

His body was altogether too close to be considered remotely appropriate, and in all honestly, Hinata felt like a tart dancing like this. But the heat from his body and breath against her ear made her shiver and tingle in a way that she wasn't sure had to do with the alcohol.

"Sasuke, Sasuke." Hinata suddenly chanted urgently and began pulling lightly on the back of his shirt collar. "Sasuke…" She rubbed her cheek against the fabric on his shoulder.

"What?" He glanced down at her and looked like he was about to smile. But that wasn't possible. This was Sasuke.

"Don't laugh at meeeeeee." Hinata whined and hid her head from him again before nuzzling his shirt and laughing. "Ha ha, your shirt's really soft." She shot her head up seriously and blinked. "Sasuke, Sasuke you're…you're vibrating."

"What? – Shit." He smoothly removed her arms from around him and reached into his pocket to bring out his cell phone. "It's Kakashi, I have to take this."

"Don't leave me, please." Hinata clutched onto his hand tightly and hid her face in his open palm. "I don't want…I don't want that kid to see me again."

Sighing, Sasuke put down his drink and used his other hand to lightly place on place on her cheek as he shifted the one Hinata was holding to the other cheek so his large hands overwhelmed and cupped her face. "I'll be back. But I have to take this, okay?" He wrinkled his eyebrows together. "You've only had one glass and you're definitely a bit past tipsy. Don't do something dumb while I'm gone, okay?"

"I'm not tipsy! I feel fine!" Hinata insisted and leaned into his hands. "Don't…don't let him find me, okay?"

"Okay." Sasuke sighed and let go of her, careful to make sure she didn't fall. "I'll be right back." He reassured her before heading in the direction of the back door, cell phone at the ready to dial.

Hinata watched him go with a worried expression and bit her lip. Now she was all alone and Naruto was probably off making out with Sakura.

She needed to find another drink.


Garhararrar...that's the first cliffhanger I've written for this story yet.

You better be freaaaking grateful.