Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters.
PART ONE
Ch. 3 - Unsaid
B-BEEP
Hinata's eyes slowly opened to loud noise of her alarm clock.
'Miya-hee'
Blinking quickly, she tried to see what time it was, where she was, and why she hurt so bad... all over.
'Miya-hoo'
5:36 AM glowed brightly in red on her iHome stereo. Well that was good, school didn't start until 7:15 AM and Neji didn't leave until 6:50AM because he could drive to school. She could wait until 6:30 AM to get up and take her shower. She didn't even need that much time.
'Miya-hu'
Hinata blinked again. The clock didn't have the numbers 5:36 on it. It had the numbers 6:46 on it.
'Miya-h-'
"SHIT!"
The alarm clock landed on the floor with a thud and sparks, while Hinata ran out of her room and down the hall to the bathroom, turning the shower on as she peeled her clothes off, throwing them haphazardly around the room.
Hinata quickly got in the shower and put the water on full blast. She ruthlessly scrubbed herself, paying no mind to the bruises covering her abdomen or ribs. The pain was bearable so long as no soap got in a cut, something she learned a long time ago.
Hinata picked up some shampoo and dumped the open bottle in her hand. With a 'splursh', the entire contents of the bottle came out and covered the shower floor, only some landing in her hand. Today was going to be one of those days.
Not missing a beat, Hinata grabbed Neji's shampoo. For being a dude, he really did choose great shampoo. Hinata plopped some in her hand and started harshly scrubbing her scalp. Feeling foam and knowing she didn't have that much hair as she used to, she put her head under the spray.
As the soap dripped from her head, down her neck and back, Hinata examined her wrist. She couldn't remember how exactly it had happened, she just knew that the color black for a bruise was new for her. 'Now,' she thought ruefully, 'I've officially had every color on my body'.
With a sigh, she decided to cover the bruise with a leather wrist band, a thick one. 'I can get away with that, right? It's not like that weird kid goes to my school, right? It's not like any of those guys go to my school, right?'
However, Hinata knew the answer to all of those questions. Only one proved to be in her favor, and she wasn't sure the wrist band would work if someone asked about it, or told her to take it off. She could only get away with so much.
Feeling like she should just give up and not do anything gang related, Hinata turned the shower off. Sighing, she stepped out, grabbing her towel as she did. Wiping a hand across the fogged up mirror, Hinata assessed the damage last night had left on her.
Her back felt like someone had beaten her against a wall and then dragged her along pavement. Which had pretty much happened. Her eyes scanned across her back, searching for anything deeper than a paper cut or darker than a normal gray bruise. Finding none, she decided her back hurt mostly because it was simply sore.
Looking at her abdomen, Hinata noticed that the boy from Hebi had left some serious bruising. 'The kid must have some issues,' she thought, giggling lightly; then stopping immediately, finding it hurt more than it made her happy.
Irritated that a happy emotion actually caused pain, Hinata grazed her fingertips over her new bruises, searching for any that might be worse than usual. In her search, though, Hinata found that the bruise that Anko had fixed yesterday was nearly gone, a light gray splotch the only reminder.
A small smile spread across her face, the damage wasn't more than she could handle. In fact, it was well within her limits, with an extra bonus, it was highly likely that this wouldn't even bother her today.
The day was looking up for a moment. Then she remembered, she still had to put on her chest restraint. Everything suddenly turned back into a dark corner of a dungeon in a medieval castle. "Crap," Hinata muttered.
After getting dressed and covering up her chest, the bruise on her wrist, and the mark on her bicep, she left the bathroom for the kitchen, hoping to see Neji and convince him to give her a ride to school.
To her surprising luck, she caught Neji just as he was walking out the door.
"Hey Neji!" she called, grabbing her backpack and shoes, "Wait up for me you girly-man!"
That little comment always got him to stop. Hinata opened the front door to see Neji frozen on their sidewalk. Turning around quickly, she locked the door, and ran barefooted across their patch of grass.
"Hurry up Neji, times-a-wasting," she padded past Neji and to the street, where his Ford Fairmont sat, practically turning to rust where it waited.
His face, slowly fading from its bright red, now contorted from anger to pure irritation. "Hinata," he growled, unlocking the car and opening the driver side door, "I told you to never call me that, ever."
"Yes I know," Hinata cooed from the passenger seat, her backpack on the floor, feet on the dashboard, and shoes in her hands, "but it never fails to get your attention when I need it most."
As Hinata laced up her bright orange Chuck Taylor's, the car became increasingly quite. Hinata could feel a lecture coming on.
"Hinata," Neji began, his voice strained.
"How did I know?" Hinata muttered to herself, sarcasm dripping from her words.
"Hinata, what time did you come home last night?" Neji asked as the car came to a stop at a red light. When Hinata didn't answer, and just put her feet back on top of dashboard, Neji went on. "I went in your room at 1:00 AM and-"
"You went in my room?" Hinata asked, her tone somewhere between terrified and angry.
"Well," Neji began when the light changed to green, "yes, and you weren't there. So where were you? And what were you doing?"
"What were you doing in my room? Besides, why were you up so late Neji?"
"You didn't answer my question," Neji remarked, his voice slightly impudent.
Hinata sighed and pulled her legs down from the dash, "You know where I was and what I was doing Neji. We've talked about this," Hinata defended.
Neji looked over to his cousin as he turned the vehicle, he could see the pain clearly on her face. She truly wanted him to accept this, no, she needed him to. The only problem seemed to be that he couldn't. He was unable to accept the fact that his female cousin had joined a gang and now participated in their activities. Even after all she had been through, she somehow still wanted to fight.
"I was hoping to ask you about how school worked out for you yesterday, but seeing as you weren't there..." Neji's hesitant voice trailed off, not wanting to sound even remotely emotional.
"Oh, Neji," Hinata squealed, "you almost sounded like a caring older sibling."
"Hinata," Neji warned, tired of the girl's trying to derail the conversation, "you know I care-"
"I don't have an older sibling Neji, and I don't expect you to act like one," Hinata said, her words strained. Just by her mentioning of the word sibling brought back Hanabi. Hinata had hardly known her sister. The two never really seemed to have serious talks, besides the whole "Where do babies come from?" and girly issues conversations, they never really connected. Mainly because Hinata made sure Hanabi was always busy so she was hardly home, the other thing being that Hinata spent a lot of time in her room then, trying to heal herself up.
Maybe if she had taught her sister some moves she would've been okay. Maybe if Hinata had scheduled a sleep-over for her that evening, she would've been alive. Maybe if she'd taken her to practice, they could of stayed out all night. Maybe if she'd went home earlier it wouldn't of happened. Maybe if... Maybe if...
"-ata! I said we're here! Remember, you need to get out of the car before we get on school grounds so no one knows of your immediate relation to me." Neji scolded while saving Hinata from her dark thoughts.
"Yeah," Hinata mumbled, her mouth dry and eyes stinging, she always tried to keep Hanabi off her mind. It only ever caused her severe depression and some bad training hours.
Hinata stepped out of the car, her backpack dragging behind her.
"I'll see you later Hina," Neji said, pulling the car away from the curb and going on towards the school, a block and a half away.
"See ya Neji," Hinata whispered, following the other teenagers towards the school, thinking the whole time 'Goddammit,' and not really sure why.
Pushing her way through the hallway towards her locker, trying to bash into as few people as possible, Hinata noticed that this school really was the way she had assumed it would be in the morning. Girls giggling and pointing to their crush, guys pulling pranks on each other or copying their friends homework, even some people zeroing in on their enemies. What she hadn't expected, was so many people making-out on the lockers.
At her last school, boyfriends and girlfriends did this... just not so many. Nor had anyone ever blocked her locker so that she couldn't get to it.
Two teenagers... were defiling her locker. She wasn't quite sure she would ever feel comfortable touching her locker, ever again.
However, right now, the clock's hands were at seven and one. Meaning, it happened to be 7:05 AM. In ten minutes, class would start. She needed to get to her class early. Yesterday she hadn't even gone to first hour.
Unlike her friends thought, Hinata wasn't very good at giving orders or making people do what she wanted them to do. In fact, outside Shukaku, no one really ever did exactly what she asked of them. It was usually either a loose interpretation, or not at all.
Noticing how no one ever really listened to her, Hinata saw the two on her locker get a little more serious, as in, your-clothes-are-starting-to-get-in-the-way. Horrified and unsure of what to do, Hinata simply said the first thing she could think of, or rather, screamed.
"HEY! IDIOTS MOVING TO SECOND BASE!"
Unfortunately for Hinata, they heard her. As did everyone else in the hallway.
Everyone was staring and utterly silent. Even the two atop her locker, who happened to be the pink-haired moron from yesterday and some blonde bimbo. Sakura, her face contorted in either shock or rage, Hinata wasn't sure, quickly changed to complete embarrassment. The blonde, however, was not amused, judging by the reddening of his face and the grinding of his teeth.
Hinata honestly couldn't believe her luck, of course Sakura had to be the one on her locker with some guy, who, from the scars on his face and the swirling fire tattoo on his forearm, was most likely in the group Kyuubi. In other words, she possibly just started an issue with Kyuubi, when she already had issues with Hebi on her hands. Not to mention that the scars on his face are similar to that of the rumors of what the leader of Kyuubi has on his face.
Suddenly, the silence changed back to the obnoxious never ending noise of a typical high school hallway. Everyone had gone back to their business, that is, except for Sakura and the 'Problem' still hooked to her.
"H-Hi," Sakura stuttered, staring at the somewhat distraught Hinata, "y-you're the new ki-kid who helped me o-out yesterday."
Hinata just nodded.
"I never caught your name."
"With good reason," Hinata mumbled to herself.
"What did you say?" Sakura asked, her cheeks growing steadily red as their conversation continued.
"Hm? Oh, I was just asking if you two could find the will to get off of my locker, ya know, so I could actually go to class," Hinata replied, glaring at the two for giving her problems so early in the morning.
"Oh," Sakura said, as if relieved, "oh," she repeated, this time slightly disappointed, then a third time, finally realizing she was irritating the crap out of her new crush. "Uh, uh, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, hitting the blonde, "Get off his locker!"
"Why?" the blonde pouted.
"Because, dammit, I said so!" Sakura hollered, obviously in no mood to argue, "Let's go, we'll both be late to our first period classes at this rate. We'll leave you alone now – er – See you in Science."
Now, if Hinata had actually continued listening, she would have heard the blonde laughing at Sakura for saying 'period' out loud. She was in shock, though, and had heard absolutely nothing after the word 'Naruto' came from Sakura's lips.
Feeling rather numb, Hinata proceeded to empty out her backpack and grab her Algebra 2 book and corresponding notebook. Still, she was in shock, unaware of everything around her. Including the fact that the late bell had rung three minutes ago.
She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she had just watched Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki suck face. Hinata was not positive that the boy 'Naruto', was Naruto Uzumaki, or at least she tried to persuade herself. It happened to be hard for her to forget her first love, especially what he looked like. With his tan skin, spiky blonde hair, and liquid blue eyes, full of pure happiness and delight at all times, Hinata was sure it couldn't be anybody but Naruto Uzumaki. Besides, how many people went by the name 'Naruto' anyway? She was willing to bet not many.
Sighing and tightening the hold on her books, Hinata finally noticed the silence in the hallway. Anxious, she quickly looked about, scared people may be staring at her. Brushing away her acute paranoia, Hinata noticed no one else was in the hallway. Relieved Hinata continued walking...
"Son of a bitch..."
Kakashi Hatake was a man of few worries and more than enough patience. However, after coming to class ten minutes late, and still finding that his missing student from yesterday had yet to arrive, he was growing impatient, more so by the second. This being because the student had made it to all of his other classes, eventually. However, this new student, Hinata Hyuga, did not even stop by his class after missing it yesterday. This, surprisingly, irked him. All of his other students knew and appreciated the fact that he was always late, that is, except for this boy who seemed to not even remotely care about math at all.
He had taken into consideration that the new student may have shown up earlier and left, thinking the teacher was absent and simply left the room, not seeing the point in staying. This possibility was canceled after Mr. Hatake had asked the students if they had seen the new kid.
When the only response was "What new kid?", Mr. Hatake had made his decision, he finally had a student who tested his patience. This would be interesting.
Twelve minutes had passed since the late bell had rung, after twenty minutes, the boy would receive an absence, yet again. However, Mr. Hatake was determined to find out who this Hinata Hyuga was exactly. He knew from Ms. Yuuhi that Hinata was adopted by her and had also come with numerous problems. He had been called when Kurenai found out about Hinata's scars from fighting, mostly out of principle. Whenever anything happened to one of the staff members, they tended to tell everyone. Frankly, Kurenai had been hysterical and wasn't sure what to do so she had called everyone she could think of. Including the Math teacher.
Mr. Hatake wanted to meet this Hinata Hyuga, because, not only was he now irritated by the boy, he was thinking that he had some sort of potential to be an issue for the gangs. Very interesting indeed.
Hence the fact that he had forced the entire class to be silent so he could hear the approaching footsteps of Hinata Hyuga. At this point though, there wasn't a sound coming from the hall. Only five more minutes until 7:35 AM, the time limit for absences.
Giving up on the student, Mr. Hatake sighed and moved away from the door. "Well class," he began reluctantly, "It seems that yet again-"
"'Scuse me. Is this Mr. Hatake's class?"
Surprised, Mr. Hatake turned around quickly to find the source of the brooding voice, finding it belonged to a fairly tall, pale skinned boy, with dark hair covering most of his face.
"Yes," he paused, "It is".
"Good, because if this wasn't I was ready to skip-out on the whole day," Hinata walked in through the class, scanning over the columns of seats for an empty desk.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Hatake asked, quirking his visible eyebrow, the other side of his face completely hidden by his ridiculous gray hair, the rest of his face hidden by face mask, as if he was highly concerned about germs.
"Umm... I believe your the teacher so, can't you do that yourself?" Hinata asked haughtily, strolling down towards the aisle closest to the window.
The class was breathless, no one really ever talked back to Mr. Hatake. Mostly because no one saw the point in arguing with someone who would overall win. This boy, unlike everyone else, seemed to want to bother the one teacher not worth irritating.
"Are you the new student Hinata Hyuga?" Mr. Hatake ignored the teenager's remark.
Hinata plopped herself down in the fifth row down in the last column. Lightly tossing her books on her desk, Hinata looked up at her teacher, entirely disinterested in this topic. "Does this school really get that many new students? All the time? Or are all staff members compelled to ask questions everyone already knows the answer to?" Hinata grumbled, still in a bad mood from seeing Naruto and Sakura all over her locker.
"We prefer to ask questions so we can irritate as many students as possible in the short amount of time given to do so. Which, because of your little interruption, I only have thirty-two minutes and twenty-seven seconds left to do so."
Hinata stared up at the teacher and finally realized she still wasn't supposed to be grabbing attention. 'Crap...' was the only thing that came to mind. She couldn't just go silent or ask for forgiveness, everyone would either take her for an idiot or a wimp, both made easy targets. She couldn't continue the argument either though, that would attract far too much attention and most likely land her in trouble with numerous people. Plus, it could spring gossip. Simply, she had no easy way to do this, so she had to be careful with what words she chose and the tone she used with each words inflection.
Looking back to the front of the almost all beige room, Hinata's eyes fell back on the teacher, who, from the slight crinkle of his visible eye, was actually smiling at her. That certainly was unusual, normally the teacher's face would be red at this point...
"Hmm, well, this class seems to be remotely interesting. I might even stay awake in it. And seeing as there are twenty-seven other students in here, there are plenty of others kids to torture and ask questions of. I think another deserves a turn. Plus, seeing as I'm the new kid, I might even learn a name through you torturing them, though I doubt I'll remember any..."
Mr. Hatake started to smile wider. This student would definitely be someone to keep an eye on.
"Oh, I almost forgot. What page are we on?"
"Class, open your books to page fifty-six, today we'll be looking at factoring polynomials."
Everyone groaned in unison and did as they were told, leaving the little scene that had just played out forgotten, along with the new student who had starred in it.
Like the day before, class with the weird Jiraiya dude was plain creepy. After ten minutes into the class, she was positive she had thanked whoever she could that she wasn't dressed as a girl for this class. The man had a problem.
Too bad he couldn't be arrested for it...
After copying the notes scrawled on the board in purple, Hinata decided to zone out. Simply placing her elbow on her desk, her head in her up-turned palm, and the rest was up to whatever she wanted to imagine. Unfortunately, her imagination wasn't very active when it came to things that weren't meant for nightmares, so, she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.
As class went on, Jiraiya walked around the class, up and down the aisles, checking all of his students. More likely, he was searching for short skirts...
Passing through the third aisle and walking towards the front of the fourth aisle, in which Hinata sat as close to the back as possible for her; seeing as the girl who had talked to her yesterday was sitting in the very last seat, behind her.
Stopping in the second row, Jiraiya started to pester a girl whose skirt was hiking up where she sat. How very unfortunate for her.
Hinata, however, was completely unaware, as she was having another nightmare about Hanabi and her father. Although she never called out or thrashed about in her nightmares, she had been known to sweat with pure fear, or for her breathing pace to become irregular, as if she was panicking. In this nightmare she was fighting with her father, only this time it wasn't from her point of view, but Hanabi's.
Honestly, this terrified her the most. She didn't know how the entire ordeal happened between her sister and father. All she knew was that it involved practically every single thing in the kitchen. How that had happened, she didn't know, she could imagine though...
She walked into the kitchen, her steps light and quick across the tiled floor. Hesitantly she walked towards the refrigerator, hoping to find something edible for some sort of dinner. Well, at least more edible than last nights soup, which had questionable objects in it, not to mention that they didn't seem to be cooked...
Hanabi wouldn't have said anything though, even if her sister had asked about the meal. She knew Hinata had worked very hard just to come up with the sad excuse. Hinata seemed to be inept-ed when it came to food, last night's abomination was partly because of the lack of good food and Hinata not having a clue of how to make anything...
Hanabi's hands flitted through the fridge, trying to grasp for any food–
SLAM
The fridge slammed shut as Hanabi jumped back. Her father had found her.
"What, exactly, is it you think your doing?"
Hanabi didn't answer. What could she say?
Hiashi grabbed her by her neck, backing her onto the refrigerator's door. Hanabi gagged, spit flying from her mouth as she gasped for air.
The scene suddenly changed. Shapes turning to mush, colors mixing together and swirling until all was black.
Again the scene began, this time differently.
Hiashi was standing in the kitchen, waiting.
Hanabi entered through the screen door to the porch, walking in the kitchen without noticing Hiashi was standing there, waiting for her.
In the blink of an eye, Hanabi saw Hiashi and he was stepping forward to attack her. His hands raised, one showing a knife–
The scene blurred and changed again, this time showing the two calmly sitting at the counter, neither saying a word.
Hanabi's mouth moved as if she were speaking. Hiashi's face twisted, then he was yelling, only no sound was coming from his mouth. The two were now yelling at each other, both standing as if ready to attack.
Hiashi swiped his arm out, aiming for Hanabi's side. Hanabi dived out of his reach and across the counter.
Opening a drawer, Hanabi searched for some sort of weapon, something to defend herself.
Hiashi jumped over the counter and Hanabi clasped onto whatever her hand could find. She spun around to face–
Everything blurred.
Hanabi was sitting at the counter again. Her elbows were propped up on the marble while her head rested in her hands. From the heaving of her body, she seemed to be crying.
Then, she didn't move except for tilting her head back, her eyes wide with horror.
Hiashi was now in the room, looking down at Hanabi. His eyes just as Hinata had remembered. As white and pure as snow, the color of angel wings. Yet there he was, his eyes seething with deadly hate. He reached out his hand for Hanabi, snatching her neck.
She didn't struggle, she did nothing. What could she do? Hiashi's eyes lit with excitement, he pushed Hanabi down.
Time slowed as Hanabi fell, her eyes closing and hair splayed out around her.
Her skull slapped against the tile, her blood spilling out onto the floor like water–
The scene blurred. Hinata was grateful, she wasn't sure if she could watch that longer.
The events continued again and again. New scenes, each passing by more rapidly than the last.
K-BUM
Hinata watched on as her sister was tormented just as she had been.
KK-BUM
Over and over again.
K-BUM
Hinata jolted awake. 'It was just a dream, there was nothing I could have done' she attempted to convince herself.
Trying to put away her emotions, Hinata slowly lifted up her head from her desk. She needed to check what was going on around her. If not to pay attention, to get her mind onto something else.
KK-BUM
Hinata nearly jumped put of her chair as she felt someone kick the bottom of her seat. 'What the HELL?'
Wiping her head around, Hinata saw the girl from yesterday pointing towards the front of the class, her eyes widening and eyebrows raising.
Confused, Hinata looked back towards the front of her aisle. Immediately her eyes settled on their teacher, Mr. Jiraiya, strolling down the aisle leisurely, looking all around the class. Seeing this, Hinata now understood, the girl was trying to help her.
Sighing, Hinata settled back down in her seat. Trying to relax for the rest of the class she had to endure.
Having stayed awake for the rest of class, when the bell rang, Hinata stood and spun around. Quickly, she thanked the girl behind her for "the save", and left the class before the girl could reply.
Not wanting to be late to Chemistry, Hinata went to her locker and grabbed her notebook; she still didn't know where her book was.
Irritated, Hinata pushed past the edges of the crowd. Wanting to just get to her class and settle in her seat, ready for fifty-five minutes of sleep.
Pushing the door open roughly, Hinata noticed that the class was not as it was yesterday.
Everyone was sitting in their seats, those that were already there, facing forward, and completely silent.
'That's plain creepy.'
Her head down and freaked-out meter on high, Hinata went to the back of the class and sat down in the same chair as yesterday. Taking note that no one sat beside her Hinata's hope that Sakura would leave her alone today soared and–
"Hi new kid," the perky voice of Sakura Haruno whispered to Hinata.
Groaning inwardly, Hinata flicked her gaze to the chair beside her, which was no longer empty, to find Sakura sitting there, a smile bright on her face. 'That's plain unnatural'.
"So, I never got your name. Do you think you could tell me what it is?"
Cringing at her cheery tone, Hinata contemplated the ups and downs of telling Sakura her name. As smart as Sakura had been when they were friends, she was pretty sure she wouldn't put the old "Hinata Hyuga" and new "Hinata Hyuga" together. Besides, Hinata was pretty positive that Sakura would not go away unless she told her her name. Well, she probably would not go away, but she would at least ease up. Hopefully.
"My name's Hinata."
"Oh really? I'm Sakura. Well, y-you... al-alre-ready kn-knew that... b-but..." Sakura floundered in her own words.
'Wow,' Hinata thought grinning on the inside, 'they all told me I had a speech problem...'
"Never mind..." Sakura mumbled, attempting to keep what dignity she still had.
Ignoring the blob of pink, Hinata actually looked towards the front of the room and found why everyone was supposedly silent. On the board, written in red spray paint:
"The Great Snake has been replaced!"
Below the declaration was a Treble clef, the symbol of the Sound's leader.
Hinata's muscles tensed, her teeth grinding on each other, her eyes alert and wide. Someone had set this up just before her class period, why else would it still be up on the board while they were still in the class. It was meant for someone in her Chemistry class, someone it would hold meaning for.
Trying to find the target, Hinata observed all present. Most seemed to be shocked that someone had spray painted the board of Kabuto-the-Creeper. They stared forward, their mouths slightly open and eyes wide. As if they wanted to ask "What the hell?"
Others appeared to understand its meaning. These, like Hinata, had tensed muscles and their eyes were glued to the board. They too didn't know why this was in their class, but they knew the meaning behind it... There were only three of these kids. One was a large boy, well over 200 pounds in weight, and hair that was a mess, going in every direction. Another was, surprisingly, from her own gang, Kiba. He was their tag expert, so he knew very well what this meant. The other was a boy with bright orange hair and a large build, with wide shoulders, and seemingly over six feet tall.
None of them were who it was meant for, at least, from what she cold tell. Of course, she couldn't see their faces, so she was unsure. However, she knew Kiba had no clue, because he hardly knew anything about the Sound. The large boy she had seen before with Naruto. She guessed he was in Kyuubi, therefore, not likely to know anything about the Sound besides the fact that their leader had recently been taken-out.
She knew nothing of the other boy. He was new to gangs, she could tell by the fact that he had no scars, visible that is. Yet, he had no marks on him, that she could see. So, she didn't know what gang he belonged to.
When the door opened for another student, everyone gasped. The boy had a massive bruise on his jaw, roughly the size of a fist. More specifically, Hinata's fist. It was the boy with the white hair and blue eyes she had fought yesterday.
'So... Creepy is in my Chem class... great...'
Her eyes followed "Creepy" as he walked through the classroom. He sat down next to the orange haired boy, obviously grumbling to himself. Then he looked up and saw what the entire class had been staring at.
"SHIT!" the boy shouted and ran out of the classroom.
'So that's who it was meant for'.
The door still swinging from "Creepy" running through it, Ms. Shizune entered. From one glance it was obvious the poor girl was over-worked. Her hair was tousled and her arms were full of paperwork, books, and folders, which she could barely hold onto.
Feeling a large amount of sympathy for the secretary, Hinata watched as Ms. Shizune's face changed from distress to outraged horror at seeing the board. Obviously no one had yet told the office.
Clearing out her throat to compose herself, Ms. Shizune turned around to face the class.
"Does anyone know how this happened?"
Complete silence was her answer.
"Of course you don't," Ms. Shizune mumbled, irritated and flustered. Setting down her burden, she cleared her throat again, this time for attention, "Class, your teacher, Mr. Kabuto, I'm sorry to tell you, has quit his job and recently disappeared. A new teacher will be hired as soon as possible. For now, however, you shall have a babysitting teacher. This being because there are no lesson plans from this date forward in his log," pausing for breathe, Ms. Shizune looked about the class, "For the moment, I will be the replacement. Do as you please – "
The class was in an excited uproar before they even heard Ms. Shizune add, "just don't break anything".
'Someone help me!'
After enduring forty odd minutes of unending noise, Hinata wandered down the hall towards a new form of torture she was sure awaited her. Gym class.
Knowing Anko had meant what she said, Hinata had packed clothes for Gym the night before. She would have to change within the Boys' Locker room. With all the other boys...
This would be awkward.
Resenting the fact that she had ever decided to come to this school, Hinata pushed the door to the Locker room open, hoping the horrors within wouldn't kill her.
She needed to learn how to beg correctly, because apparently she did something wrong.
The smell of serious B.O. assaulted her nostrils. Then the door assaulted her back, reminding her just how painful this class would most likely be, and pushing her further into the locker room.
Willing her gag reflex to lay dormant, Hinata walked past rows of twelve lockers back to back, creating aisles with a bench between them.
Desperately ignoring all exposed flesh, Hinata moved past eight rows of lockers, her plastic bag of clothes in hand, and passed by the doorway entrance to the stalls and urinals. Continuing her sad walk, Hinata turned down an aisle, where she stopped in her tracks.
Having found a boy in just his boxers.
'Oh dear...'
Taking a deep breathe, Hinata walked down the aisle and towards her locker, two lockers away from the end, almost right beside the showers. That would most likely present problems.
Cringing as images ran wild in her minds eye, Hinata opened her hideously green locker. 'Is everything in this school green?' Hinata joked to herself, needing to laugh at something.
Finding herself unable to do so, Hinata shoved her bag into her locker and sat down on the bench in the aisle, hoping that, if she sat down, some of the weight of her nervousness would roll off. It stayed firmly intact. Unable to think of a way around the situation she was in, boys all around her in various states of undress, she decided to simply embrace it. She was the new kid so, she had no friends, no one would randomly start talking to her while she was changing. Plus, no one really knew anything about her, so if they saw her bandages they would most likely come to their own conclusions as to why she had them.
Her body shaking in anticipation, Hinata grabbed at the clothes in her locker, her fingers grasping a pair of shorts. 'Damn...' Hinata cursed.
Her body noticeably trembling, she set the shorts down beside where she sat and slowly stood. Her hands at her belt, she pulled it through the loops and threw it in her locker with a clink. Unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans, Hinata quickly used her peripheral vision to see if the boy was still there.
Finding the aisle empty, Hinata quickly stripped off her pants and threw them in her locker, then snatching at her shorts and throwing them on over her boxers. Her breath quick and feeling lucky, Hinata tore off her hoodie and t-shirt
Trading the shirt for another, Hinata froze when she felt someone watching her. Automatically, adrenaline coursed through her veins, on a rabid path to all of her muscles. Ready to attack if needed, Hinata turned her head slowly to the right, her heart pounding and eyes dilating, to see a brunette boy staring at her.
"Dude..." the boy drawled, "what the HELL happened to you?"
Scared beyond all belief, Hinata's pulse stopped when she noticed shiny metal on the boys mouth. Squinting slightly, she saw a piercing on either side of the boy's bottom lip. She almost collapsed in relief. It was Kiba.
"Wha-What do you mean?" Hinata asked, still in slight shock. Feigning denial, she bent over for her discarded t-shirt, the team name 'Lakers' stretched across the yellow front.
However, in bending down, she revealed more of the scars stretched across her back, along with the new scratches and nicks, not to mention the bruises covering her midsection.
"I mean the marks all over your body!" Kiba exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the lines on her back.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Hinata denied, pulling her shirt over her head.
"Dude, you even have bandages around your chest, how the hell can that happen without an explanation?"
Hinata, finished dressing, shut her locker with a bang and noticed that Kiba was dragging attention towards their conversation. A sigh escaped her lips, she was going to have to be a bitch towards him for this.
"That," she paused, "is none of your business."
"But, what if you collapse or something when we're outside on the field, what the hell am I supposed to tell the teacher? Oh, sorry coach, I have no idea why your student collapsed, I can give you an idea though, he's all sorts of bruised and he could be internally bleeding but I don't know for sure but-"
"I was in a car accident." Hinata threw the boy a bone in hopes of shutting him up and ending his ramblings.
"That must've been one hell'uv an accident for you to banged up that badly..." Kiba trailed off, his piercings tilting downwards as he frowned.
"Yeah, it was." Hinata mumbled, trying to step away from her fellow Shukaku.
"Well, that sucks. What's your name, by the way? Oh, my name's Kiba Inuzuka, in case you were wondering."
"Mine's Hinata, and no, I wasn't wondering." Hinata said, leaving the Locker room for the gym, with many stares following her back.
Gym, she had been told, was the worst class for all students. Apparently, it was the most difficult class to pass. This, she figured, was a complete lie. Hinata could not have been more mistaken.
Bursting through the double doors of the Gym, Mr. Gai entered, already shouting orders for the students to run ten laps around the basketball court and then sit down in the stands. The teenagers had no will to even cringe, too many times had they done this routine. Hinata, however, had not.
'Are you frickin' kidding me?'
With a role of her eyes at her excessively eyebrow-ed and energetic teacher, Hinata began running the laps, cutting the corners and passing others by. Some students gave her odd looks, scrutinizing the new kid's actions but, really, she no longer cared what any of the kids thought of her.
Having finished her jog around the court at an even pace, Hinata ran up to the stands and sat down amongst the other students, only closer to the top. Her breathing was fairly even, although she had ran and passed by more than half the class. Finding that the students in her class were not as entertaining as she had hoped, Hinata started to search for her teachers.
She looked about the Gym, her eyes scanning the sides, hoping to find Mr. Gai, who was rather interesting or Anko, who she could probably go and bother. Finding only the odd teacher, Hinata slumped her shoulders, she was doomed to be bored and in pain in this class, awesome.
Staring at her bright orange shoes, Hinata began to trace the All-Stars design with her eyes. There was no way she could be more bored, at least, she thought so. 'Well,' she lamented, 'at least Kiba isn't he-'
"So, why are you sitting at the tops of the bleachers, all by your lonesome?" Kiba smiled.
Pinching the skin between her thumb and forefinger to force herself into silence, Hinata thought, 'Oh well, at least Sakura isn-'
"Hey, new kid, why are you up here with pin-cushion?"
'Goddamn'
"I am not a pin-cushion," Kiba snarled, "I only have two piercings on my face and a few on my ears. That's it..." he trailed off, not mentioning that is was all he could afford at the moment.
"Whatever weirdo," the pink haired girl rolled eyes of moss-green. "Why don't you come and sit near the bottom?" Sakura smiled, her eyes twinkling at the possibilities.
"That's okay I think I'll just-"
"Everybody! Down here! NOW!" Mr. Gai yelled, leaving his place on the wall and running towards the bleachers, where all the students now sat.
Cursing in her head, Hinata reluctantly followed Sakura and Kiba towards the bottom of the bleachers and onto the floor, her shoes slapping against wood with every step.
"Now," Mr. Gai smiled, all the students now on the Gym floor, "pick your teams. We're playing dodge-ball."
'Fudge biscuit.'
"Make a line," Mr. Gai said, straightening out his arm, just in case the high school level students were unsure of what a line was.
Hinata followed the others and lined up beside Kiba; Sakura was lost somewhere along the way, 'YES!'.
"Now," Mr. Gai said, his eyes moving up and down the line of teenagers, "would Naruto Uzumaki," he paused, "and Sasuke Uchiha step forward."
The blonde blue-eyed boy who had been on her locker earlier with Sakura stepped forward and turned around, just a ways to her right, a large smile on her face. 'So it was Naruto...' she thought grimly. Rolling back her shoulders and shutting her eyes in an effort to calm herself down, Hinata did not notice the second boy step forward, only two people to her left.
She opened her eyes to see a dark haired and eyed boy with pale skin. His hair was peculiar, the back sticking back as if windblown or desperately attempting to get away from the boy's head. Then she noticed the outline of a feather on his neck.
Her hand slapping her mouth, Hinata stifled a gasp. Not because the boy was rather attractive, as was the reason for the other girls. No, her reason was simple, both boys who stood affront her were from different gangs, rivals to be more specific. Hebi and Kyuubi. Of this Hinata was positive, because the boy who had pinned her to a wall last night and marked her was standing in front of the class, staring right at her.
'Great. Now what?' Hinata despaired, surely the boy would notice the strong similarity.
He did not, however, he simply noticed that Hinata was standing beside Kiba, completely unaffected by the fact that Kiba was in Shukaku. For some reason, this bothered Sasuke greatly, like a thorn in his side or a pinch at the back of his neck. This, however, he would need to put aside for later observation.
Mr. Gai strutted down the line like a spring rooster, walking between both Naruto and Sasuke. "So," Mr. Gai began, "who wants to pick first?"
"Well, I don-"
"I DO!" Naruto yelled, interrupting Sasuke. He was fired up, dodge-ball happened to be his favorite and best sport, at least he thought so, and here was the opportunity to beat the Sasuke Uchiha at it.
"Okay," Mr. Gai declared, walking away from the line of students to give the two boys a better view of their possible teammates.
Bursting with excitement, Naruto quickly picked Sakura as his first choice, before she could even scream for Sasuke to pick her. Ready to curse at Naruto, Sakura went to his side, standing behind him and making faces.
Sasuke, obviously not wanting to play this game at the moment, or at least not have the responsibility of who was on his team, picked a boy with spiky orange hair to be on his team; Hinata was sure she had seen him in her Chemistry class.
Not missing a beat, Naruto started strutting up and down the line, as Mr. Gai had been, searching for his next team member. "Hmm," he murmured, tapping a finger to his cheek and getting up close to each student, "lets see here."
Naruto walked up and down the line, quickly passing by the students who backed away from him when he leaned closer. Then he came upon Hinata.
"How about you?" he mused, leaning in closer. Hinata kept her spot, staring off at the wall, still hoping to be saved by Anko.
"PICK HIM NARUTO!" Sakura yelled, bouncing where she stood.
Wincing at Sakura's high pitch, Hinata's eyes strayed and came upon Naruto's. Almost white mixed with pure water blue. "Fine," Naruto mumbled, "but only because you're wearing orange shoes.
Elated that she would not have to be on Sasuke's team, where he could possibly get a better look at her face, Hinata followed Naruto back to his position on the basketball court and stood beside a melting Sakura. To Sakura, Hinata appeared to be extremely cool and calm, how dreamy.
Folding her arms across her chest, Hinata watched as Sasuke and Naruto continued to pick their teams. However, she soon learned that playing dodge-ball had been optional. Some of the students simply walked away and up into the stands to watch the game, however, this was very few and mostly girls. Most likely, if she had gone with them, she would have paid for it later.
The teams chosen and the court ready, as Mr. Gai had been setting up the balls that would be dividing their sides, Hinata checked out her team and the opposing. They would be evenly matched, however, she had mixed feelings about being on the same team as Sakura, Kiba, and Naruto. As her eyes scanned the teams, she noticed that more gang members were on either side. Naruto's consisted of mainly Kyuubi members while with Sasuke's team she was unable to find telltale signs.
Breathing in and out slowly, Hinata walked across the court and towards the opposite side of the Gym. Stopping by the far wall and turning around, Hinata faced her opponents and put all of her teammates into view. Seeing Naruto to her left and Sakura to her right with two other boys beside her and Kiba between Sakura and herself, she was ready. Across from her stood Sasuke, at the very front of his group, forming a 'V' symbol with him at the front.
Mr. Gai stood off to the right side of the court, from Hinata's point of view, a whistle in his hand. "When I tweet the whistle a third time you GO!" Mr. Gai yelled, clearly enthralled by the coming beatings.
"Okay!" Mr. Gai yelled, "Ready, SET!" Mr. Gai raised the whistle to his lips.
TWEET!
Hinata quickly scanned the court, trying to see who would run for a ball, foolishly to fall for getting hit almost instantly.
TWEET!
She could see the muscles in Naruto's back tense as he leaned forward, then how Sasuke responded with his own snarl and lean. Her own muscles tensed in anticipation, ready to pounce and weave.
TWE–
Mr. Gai was silenced as the double doors to the Gym slammed against the walls.
"GAI!" Anko yelled, walking into the room like a storm rolling into a harbor.
"Ye-yes?" Gai stuttered, intimidated by Anko's fury.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing starting dodge-ball?"
"We-well," Gai attempted but drowned in his words, unable to grasp a coherent thought.
Anko let out a frustrated sigh and snatched the whistle from the wounded man. Stepping out onto the middle of the court, Anko addressed all of the students. "Do to the fact that I am unhappy, we are changing the rules from your typical dodge-ball!" The students paled, their eyes weary, an angry Anko only foretold danger. "Line up against the walls children, we're changing this up a bit."
A look of horror on her face, Hinata quickly ran to the wall behind her, fearing whatever it was that Anko was planning.
"Now," Anko's voice rang through the Gymnasium, having seen all the students lined up against the white block walls, "See the person on the opposite wall from you?" Anko asked sadistically.
Hinata's head snapped up to find the person opposite herself. To her horror, there stood Sasuke Uchiha, his eyes smoldering coals and smirk broad.
"You are now partners. Join up."
Anko's voice echoed in Hinata's head, the word "partner" causing pain similar to that of a thunderstorm when having a migraine. She could feel bile rising in her throat. This would surely bring about something horrible for her and Shukaku. All she could do, face it head on.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note:
SOOOOOO... I know. I fudged up. You can rant and yell. I understand. HOWEVER! I have begun part two which will be shorter and easier. This piece I just wanted to get up, that is why I split it. If you do not like this, go vote on my profile. Also, REVIEW! I need to know what to improve on or if I should just delete this cause I am somewhat considering it... REVIEW! (it motivates me to update sooner...)
AND thank you to everyone who reviewed. You get cookies.
SPECIAL:
COMING NEXT HALF!
"What the HELL was that? Did you see that? Cause I saw that! I mean – HOLY FUCK!"
"What's that on your wrist...?'
"DODGE YOU FUCKIN' IDIOT!"
BONUS:
So... I've been basing my chapters on songs by the Fray and using their titles as the chapter name. Guess whats happening next time.
Unsaid
by the Fray
Not that you're the one
Not to say I'm right
Not to say today
And not to say a thing tonight
But suffice it to say
We're leaving things unsaid
We sing ourselves to sleep
Watching the day lie instead
And we are leaving things unsaid
And we are breathing deeper instead
We're both pretty sure
Neither one can tell
We seem difficult
What we got is hard as hell
A hundred thousand words could not quite explain
So I walk you to your car And we talk it out in the rain
I can sing myself to sleep
No more
Not that you're the one
Not to say I'm right
Not to say today
And not to say a thing tonight
TA-DA
REVIEW!