Chapter two –The Illogical Brouhahas-

Nothing had ever been the same since Sasuke's arrival to Konoha High.

All the girls swooned at him, showering him with hopeful kisses and hugs -all rejected of course- while the boys sulked under his shadow. In the history of the school, never had there been a newcomer who could make pawns of the whole school in just ninety minutes… But there's always a first time for everything.

There were at least three people trailing Sasuke whenever he went. They either got bored of being ignored or were shushed away by Sasuke before they stopped, only to be replaced by another different people. His situation was funny, because most of the time, people would strive for attention, not decline it.

Hinata noticed it thoroughly, since she sat on the very back of the class. She also had the prospect of watching other peoples' antiques freely without the constant fear of being caught. Her location also gave her freedom to watch over her precious Naruto, since she'd crafted her location so carefully that out of 7 periods, 4 of them was the same with him.

She also picked the table at the very corner in the cafeteria; another perfect place to observe him. Hardly anyone joined her, except the occasional time of Neji-nii and his fans joined her. But now, since Neji-nii was hospitalized, she had no companions.

Until today.

A boy, features the complete opposite of her own, settled at her lonely able, startling her greatly. He watched her silently, his black-red orbs studying her. His eyes rarely left hers, even as one hand crammed food into his mouth, the other ruffling the back of his hair.

"U..uuuhh… by-by the way.." Hinata halted; she didn't know what to call this guy. Should she call him Uchiha? Or would he prefer being called by his first name? But Hinata couldn't remember it; she hadn't been listening to Ebisu-sensei when the teacher introduced the albino.

He seemed to understand her dilemma. "Hi. My name's Sasuke Uchiha." he said with no inflection in his tone, as his hand took hers into a firm shake.

She quickly withdrew her blazing her once he loosened it.

"O-okay.. umm, U-Uchi.." she stuttered. Sasuke gave her the creeps and she didn't know how to react to the sudden attention. She drew a deep breath and tried again, "I-I mean, Uchih- a Uchi..."

Amused by her difficulty in pronouncing the simple word, Sasuke rested his jaw on his palm, watching her attempts to say his name. Noticing his gazes sent chills down Hinata's spine and she squirmed.

"You're worse than those kindergarten kiddos." Sasuke said with unexpected serenity, "It's U-C-H-I-H-A. .Ha," he said so slowly, the way one would talk to imbeciles.

'He thinks I'm stupid' Hinata thought sourly. After chewing on her lips nervously and strengthening herself, she could finally say it: "U-Uchiha."

An indecipherable smile spread on his face as he nodded in approval. "It'll sound better if you can stop stuttering."

She nodded.

"Uhm… Uchiha..." Hinata tried again. "Y-your seat… my c-c-cousin s-sits there..." she swallowed and continued quickly. "And... and I-I think he wouldn't like it… if he knew t-that y-you're sitting on his chair.."

"Hmmm," he nodded casually, "So?"

"A-and… Neji… that's my cousin's name…." She halted, thinking of some threat that would cause the boy to withdraw. "He p-punches really hard…"

He stopped his eating this time, and then locked his reddish eyes on Hinata's white ones, making the girl gulp when she saw the red-liquid beneath his black contacts.

"For your information, I kick hard."

Hinata was silenced, but that condition didn't stay very long. "Neji.. Neji knows a-a few kungfu techniques, too."

"I've taken self-defense classes."

"He- He has also t-taken tae-kwon-do…"

At this point, Sasuke sighed. "If I say I can do capoeira, then you'd probably reply by saying that your Neji can perform wu-shu."

Hinata bent her head down when her lies were discovered.

Sasuke leaned on his forearms. "What were you suggesting, anyway?"

She bit her lower lip, contemplating how she would say that. "Would you... would you exchange—"

"—seats…?"

"Sasuuukeeee!" a high-pitched voice sang.

Sakura's voice easily drowned out Hinata's. Hinata pursed her lips and took a spoon to start eating fast. The pink haired banshee waved one of her tanned hands at them- okay, at Sasuke, who did a good job of pretending that he didn't see her. But Sakura was persistent. She jogged over to their table and plopped her books next to Hinata,

A small plate of salad rested between Sakura and Sasuke.

'So that's why she's so anorexic,' Hinata thought as her eyes traveled over the scarce food placed before her.

"Hi Sasuke..." Sakura said sweetly. She turned to Hinata with a vague wrinkle on her nose. "Hello. Nice shirt."

Hinata murmured her greeting and thanks –even though she knew that Sakura was mocking her. But Sasuke kept maintaining his poker face.

Hinata could see how his eyes widened when he saw a spoon of salad that was only inches away from his mouth.

Sakura was trying to feed him.

"Come on eat, Sasuke..." Sakura commanded softly, and then shot him a wide smile from ear to ear. "I don't do this often..."

'Ah.' Hinata thought, 'If Uchiha were to fall for Sakura's charm and decide to sit beside her…then he would exchange places with Naruto and…and…'

She blushed at the thought, it was mean to think something like that but she couldn't help it. For the longest time, she had wanted to sit beside Naruto, even though she didn't think she'd be able to speak to him, the thought of sitting next to him was enough to satisfy her absence of speech.

She looked up at Sasuke, half-hoping he would give in to Sakura.

"I'm not a rabbit," Sasuke said.

Hmm. Logical.

"It's healthy," Sakura still pushed. Without warning, she pushed the spoon up to his lips.

"What the hell..." Sasuke immediately shoved the spoon away, "are your intentions…" his eyes were starting to turn dark by anger zeal, "by feeding me?"

Ominous silence followed his little outburst.

Sakura was too startled to respond.

Hinata just plain scared.

"You think I'm a dog?" He continued, "You think I'm some poor hobo who can't feed himself!"

"I-…I-" of course Sakura was confused. That was her most effective tactic to entice boys. Never had she experienced such a fiasco. Sakura pursed her lips and then turned it into a smile, -and Hinata wondered how long she'd practiced to smile so sweetly in such bitter situations-. She put a hand on his shoulder and tried to placate him. "-Sasuke- … I didn't know—"

His voice was cold. "Get. Off. Me."

"Sasuke-—"

"GET OFF ME!"

Even Sakura knew when to withdraw. She muttered a lie to save last vestige of dignity, then picked up her books and ran.

Audible nasal sound came from Sasuke's nostrils.

Hinata still had her spoon lifted up on the air, as she was too astonished to move. She didn't know whether to laugh or to squirm. After all, she sat near Sasuke the whole time; one wrong move could throw her under 'Session two of Uchiha's wrath'.

Sasuke suddenly laid his glare on her, then to her lifted spoon. Hinata flinched when she realized that her pose made her looked like wanted to feed him too.

"I-I'm not tr-trying to feed you… U-Uchiha!" she said before Sasuke had a chance to speak. "Trust me! I—I'm going t-to eat it m-myself..!"

Then she did it. Fast. Her father had taught her to maintain the elegance even in her most vulnerable state, but this time, she could snooze over the rule and pigged herself out of her food as fast as she could. It was, after all, her life that was at risk.

"I'm going n-now." Hinata said quickly after she'd finished her food.

She didn't want to stay near the bloodcurdling guy.

And his red-eyes…

Weren't those scary (Hinata) –supah-dupah-ultra-HOT (Ino and Sakura) –turning you on – (sex-crazed girls) – cynosure (bookworms girls), -an epitome of a perfect sex-partner –(gay's district), -beatific- (art-crazed girls)?

Oh God…

Little did Hinata know that she just gave Sasuke an (inward) hysterical laugh.

Just after the recess was done, everything changed.

In science class, Hinata could see Kin's former frizzy hair magically turned glossy and SUPER straight –very much like those shampoo models' hair.

The petite girl gawked at the sudden challenge, but she couldn't help gaping in both remorse and pity when she realized that the hair was only a mere wig. By the time Kin wanted to show if off in front of Sasuke by tossing her hair left and right, it fell down to the floor, along with everyone's laughter.

She didn't see Kin again that day.

In A.P Calculus, both Usagi and Tenten –the bun-bun girls- wore even more buns. Tenten had up to six buns, but Usagi's buns almost reached ten. Hinata heard from the gossipers that Usagi and Tenten had a short-but-concise practice of flirting during the English class.

At first, Hinata didn't trust it, but she finally believed the rumors when she saw both of the mentioned girls simultaneously swaying their hips whenever they passed Sasuke. And if possible, they added an act of batting eyelashes while waving their hands at the boy.

Sasuke didn't even glance at the bun-bun girls. But when he did he said coldly, "I hate saying this, but you two look very much like the female versions of whoever played Fred and George between takes."

They actually considered this a compliment at first. Eyes twinkling, they gazed at him with such expectations. "And what is that?"

Sasuke only needed about a second to find the right word. "Terrifying."

It was later known that Usagi and Tenten had a glorious catfight after school.

The most significant changes were with Ino and Sakura.

The seventh period was Honors English; both of them came late at a different caliber. Ino was ten minutes late, but Sakura was almost twenty minutes tardy. Ino had changed her former blue tank top to a flirtatious red halter, and Sakura changed her former spaghetti strap into a tempting black-and-red tube top.

There was no Honor English lesson that day due to the fact that the teacher fainted from an exceptional nose-bleed.

Sigh…

Talk about the power of a mere mortal named Sasuke Uchiha…

But what made Hinata got infuriated was…that the new kid kept sticking with her!

And when Hinata cautiously rubbed it in at Honor English class, Sasuke only casually shrugged and said:

"You're exaggerating, those were accidents."

"..Oh... okay…" Hinata managed to smile weakly. "Accidents… T-that's right…"

Yeah, right…

They were accidentally having the very same lesson in every period. Hinata always sat on the back and Sasuke accidentally always had either Hinata's right or left side as his assigned seat. Even at lunch, the albino also accidentally had the same dietary food like Hinata's, and don't forget the accident when he accidentally sat across her at the same table.

Hinata almost sure that she would likely have a nightmare about a white-ghost with red eyes screaming 'ACCIDENT, ACCIDENT' while chasing her to her death.

Art was the last lesson that day, and as always, Hinata and Sasuke sat side by side accidentally again. Hinata knew the guy wouldn't take the hint so she only shook her head weakly and gave up.

She sat on her seat passively and tried her best not to look at him. She didn't like how his original red orbs scarcely mixed up with the black contacts. Besides, he always had this weird expression of both amusement and contentment whenever she glanced at him. Like he knew a joke was thrown to her but not letting her know about it.

Sometimes it made her shudder when she glanced up to him and saw him staring with critical interest at her.

Maybe that's because of my body? Hinata thought ruefully. 'Maybe my chest is bigger than most girls?'

It was a fatal blow to her; her body developed too fast. Sometimes she looked in the mirror and felt embarrassed to see her big busts and her model-like curves. It always drew catcalls from the guys, and she didn't like it. Some people even mistook her as a vivacious girl with no brain, and thus, shunned her from good perceptions. Sure, some girls wanted to have a body like hers, but…

Those assets didn't make her proud. It merely explained why she wore baggy shirts and men's pants. Too bad it made her looked fat and shapeless.

She almost yelped when she felt a little squeeze on her left arm. Sasuke's voice came shortly after the nudge.

"Your name?"

His eyes were glued on her and it made her uncomfortable, so she turned away and squeezed her hands together. She had to gulp for several times before she could properly speak, "Hi-Hinata..."

He angled his head, looking bemused, "Only that?"

Hinata shook her head. "M-my surname is Hyuuga.." she said in her soft voice. It wasn't that she was embarrassed of her family, no, of course not. The Hyuugas never had any rap lists; they regularly attended churches and charity, they weren't nearly as rich as the Uchihas, however the proved themselves as a competition when it comes to honor. It was she who ashamed her family with her low scores and submissive manner.

"A Hyuuga, huh?" Sasuke mused and repeated it several times. A second later, Hinata found him was testing her full name in awe. "Your name is strange."

'As if yours isn't!' Hinata wanted retort back. But of course, she didn't have the guts to do such a thing, so she swallowed it down.

He didn't receive a reply and continued. "It's strange, but beautiful." He halted at this rate and tilted his head up, closing his eyes while he breathed out: "I like it..."

Now Hinata wasn't sure if she would have either a nightmare or sweet-dream. She had to admit that she liked the view before her. Even though Sasuke wasn't as attractive as Naruto –in Hinata's eyes-, but still, Sasuke's looks didn't hurt. Especially when he had his eyes closed, Hinata could see the long and heavy eyelashes sweep down. It was feminine, but it did a good job of embellishing Sasuke's calm profile.

His suggestive pose drew some wistful sighs from the girls, but he merely ignored them. He opened his black-reddish eyes and locked them to hers.

When Hinata realized that Sasuke was waiting for her to reply, she quickly bowed her head a few times and murmured: "Thank you."

Sasuke half-smiled.

Kurenai-sensei came shortly thereafter. And she demanded the class to make a sketch of making something or someone beautiful. The students responded it by letting out cries of relief and a minute later no one made sounds again. Everybody was busy with their pencils and charcoal, some of them looked at various objects or memories to memorize the details.

And Sasuke looked at the petite girl next to him.

Indeed, she wasn't the one who he would call pretty or beautiful. That Hyuuga girl was more to cute than gorgeous, thanks to her small body and weightless look.

As Sasuke kept studying her for the last few minutes, he also learned that the girl was a shyer type who would always stammer whenever she talked. It really wasn't a plus score for him, but overall, the girl was passable. Her family name also gave him credit in front of his own dysfunctional family. His parents would never protest as long as he didn't date a poor girl.

Sasuke leaned his body closer to Hinata; he was having trouble with her cheek. He noticed her drawing of that Naruto guy on her canvas.

"U-uuhmm…" Hinata chewed her lips for a while then spoke. "P-please don't look at m-my canvas…Uchi-S-Sasuke..."

After she said that, she blocked his view by turning her body, with her back facing him.

Sasuke didn't know if he should feel happy or hurt when he found out that she didn't have any interest in him.

But it was better that way. After all, it would be much easier if she didn't have any feelings towards him. He was also sure that he wouldn't really 'look' at her. The girl truly wasn't his type, but she could give him benefits.

What an ideal pseudo-girlfriend.

Hiding a smile, Sasuke started to sketch. Being a prodigy he was, he just needed a few minutes to finish his drawing, but instead of giving it to Kurenai-sensei like he supposed to do, he gave the canvas to Hinata.

"For you." he said. Then he leaned closer to the girl and felt a little shudders from Hinata. He placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her trembling and whispered. "Don't forget to come." then he got up from his seat and exited the room, ignoring all the calls from both the pupils and Kurenai.

Hinata gawked at his action and slowly looked at his drawing, and how shocked she was when she saw that Sasuke had sketched her. The details were amazing, and somehow Hinata looked more beautiful on Sasuke's drawing with those curves in the right places (she felt a tremor ran to her spine when she saw it).He also shaded the sketch well and gave a touch of innocence in her expression. But what made Hinata blushed was a little note on the bottom.

"Hinata, come to the janitor's closet after school. We have to talk"

'Maybe he's still offended that I differentiated his eyes' was Hinata's first thought. 'Maybe he doesn't like how I keep ignoring him...'

Millions of other possibilities harassed her mind, as each idea more and more sadistic than the last. Hinata chewed her lip and almost shed a tear in her trepidation, 'Or maybe… maybe he.. wants to 'touch' me…!'

A few seconds later, the bell rang, indicating the school's dismissal.

Hinata wanted to cry.

Just how long did he intend to torment her?

Chapter Two Ended

thank you for reading