Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters.

PART TWO

Ch. 3 - Unsaid (Continued)

Hinata gulped as discreetly as possible. She couldn't believe how horrible her luck was. The chance that she would be paired up with the bastard in charge of Hebi was ridiculously unlikely but, by the will of some deity with a sick sense of humor, she was stuck with him. Him and that twisted smirk on his face that suggested he knew far more than she would like for him to know.

Hinata tried to hold back a shudder. The kid was weird for one, was powerful for two, and was a bastard for three. Altogether, he was a whole mess of person she just did not want to deal with. Ever.

Sighing, Hinata met the boy's gaze. "Do you know what we're supposed to be doing?" she asked stiffly, careful to make her voice deeper than normal.

"Hn."

'Gee, thanks. You're so incredibly helpful.' Hinata thought, her lip curling ever so slightly in disgust. Opening her mouth to make a snarky remark at his aloof nature, Hinata thought better of it and bit her tongue. She really needed to keep a low profile around here. Fighting with Sasuke would be as far from low as possible.

Hinata resigned herself to feeling indignant and stood beside the fellow dark teen with her arms crossed.

"You're the new kid, right?"

Hinata nodded.

"Don't get in my way, or I'll make your life hell here. That's a promise."

Hinata stiffened. Then her blood burst with adrenaline. She swung around so she was facing him head on, ready to make a move on him that would cause pain with little force.

TWEET!

She froze and turned back around.

"Alright you maggots!" Anko barked out. "This is still dodge ball, so don't go thinking you're safe. If anything you're in greater danger," a slight smile snuck out onto her lips, quickly replaced with her usual snarl. "You and your partner are now your only allies. Everyone else is your enemy. The goal is to be the last pair on the court. You are, however, DQ'd for either you or your partner being hit, in any manner, by the ball. Any questions, morons?"

The gym was silent.

Then Naruto lifted his hand above his head.

Anko sighed irritably, "Uzumaki, what is it?"

"Umm...well, can we catch the ball though?"

"What kind of question is that?" Anko hissed, venom spilling out of her mouth. "I'll tell you what kind," she continued, snarling, "a dumb one." She looked around the room threateningly, daring anyone else to ask such a question. "Now, on the third tweet, the match begins. Remember, you're trying to eliminate everyone else, and to protect you partner, you're all you have."

TWEET!

Hinata glanced sidelong at Sasuke, noting how he was already sliding away to move towards the balls that would be sliding down the bleachers, courtesy of Mr. Gai.

TWEET!

Her fists clenched in resolution. She wouldn't get in Sasuke's way, but she wasn't going to help the bastard either.

TWEET!

They bolted away from each other in opposite directions.

x.x.x.x.x

Hinata, so far, had avoided two balls to the head, three blows to her stomach, five trip moves, and seven full-on assaults. Central City High School had some "crazy mother-fuckers" as she had put it so politely when one of the students nearly body slammed her into one of the cinder-blocked walls of the gym.

The "boy" took a jogging lap around the gym, trying to catch sight of her pissy partner. However, as usual, she had no such luck. Cursing under her breath, she took another lap, avoiding the occasional ball that whizzed by overhead.

Still, she had no sight of the stoic Sasuke.

Hinata huffed dejectedly. She was not going to be at fault for losing this game, and in order for that to workout, she needed to at least know where the hell her partner was.

Again finding no Sasuke, Hinata made a move to double back and take the Gym in the opposite direction. Only to be stopped by a ball shooting right passed her face. She froze mid-step, the ball nearly touching her nose.

As the ball passed, Hinata turned her head with it, watching as it continued on its intended course. However, she felt a slight jolt of shock at the sight of its victim. The red-headed girl from Hebi stood in its path, about to be nailed on her jaw.

"DODGE YOU FUCKIN' IDIOT!"

Hinata's head whipped around to the sudden outburst, her eyes landing on Naruto, his expression livid. Apparently the two were partners. However, Naruto's bit of "advice", as wise as it was, only served to further distract the Hebi member, resulting in the ball to smash into her already bruised nose, as she had tried to see where the "advice" had come from.

Hinata tried very hard to contain her laughter. She had managed pretty well too, until she spluttered out a few giggles that were silenced by her hand slapping across her mouth.

The red head named Karin had been smashed in the nose and had fallen to the ground from the force of the ball, her head bouncing against the wooden floors of the basketball court. Quite possibly resulting in the best one-hit take-down Hinata had ever seen. Her eyes flickered to the direction the ball had come from and she found Sasuke standing on the bleachers, a legitimate smile on his face. For some reason this scared her to no end.

'He takes pleasure in his members being harmed', Hinata panicked, not knowing what kind of person did that. It was far too bizarre; simply unheard of, well, outside of Sound that is. 'Then again', Hinata mused, 'the girl is incredibly aggravating; he could just be getting back at her. . .'

Hinata, attempting not to twitch, decided to take the shot as Sasuke following the assignment and having really good aim. Anko had said all hits counted and everyone but partners were enemies. He was just doing as he was told. . . Yeah. . .

She ran to the other side of the gym.

x.x.x.x.x

Hinata stood from her crouching position on the court. There were currently 21 other people, besides herself, on the court. Meaning there was her team and ten others left. She was going to have to actually start playing. That was not going to be fun.

Hinata stepped to the side as a ball came hurtling toward her.

"Son of a bitch! I've been aiming at that new kid for at least ten minutes and he's still not out!"

A smirk twitched at her lips. Maybe she would have a little fun with this.

Looking around Hinata's eye caught on a ball bouncing her way. Moving swiftly, she dropped down and snatched the ball up. Standing up straight, she searched for a possible victim, preferably an easy one.

Her eyes scanned half of the Gym, not finding a target that she felt compelled to hit, that didn't happen to be on her team, she decided to just toss it into the middle of the court, seeing as it was a useless weapon.

"Damn I really hate this game…" Hinata muttered as she turned around, and finding herself face to face with Sakura.

"Uuuuh," Hinata groaned with elegant awkwardness, "Hi there…"

An intensely red blush blossomed across Sakura's face at that. 'Craaaap' was all Hinata could think.

"So, um, I'm gonna walk away now…so…" Hinata mumbled, trying to escape as quickly as possible from the pink haired bimbo.

Sakura, however, had other plans and simply snatched Hinata's arm, crying out - "Wait! Um! Uh! How're you d-"

Hinata saw it coming only seconds before the ball could hit and acted just as fast and out of sheer instinct.

'Hanabi!'

She moved before she could think to stop herself. She jumped into the air, spun an axis and leaped over Sakura. The ball only centimeters away, Hinata snatched Sakura up from behind and, using the momentum gained from her flip, spun the two of them horizontally to the left, leading them out of the balls path.

The two landed on the gyms floor with a thud, Hinata's body covering Sakura's as if she was trying to shield her from some sort of monster.

"Wha…Wha…How…"

Hinata heard Sakura say this but kept her eyes shut tightly. All she had seen, with that ball coming at Sakura, was a flash of her father – no Hiashi – attacking her sister from behind. She tried to keep the feeling for the need to hyperventilate down as she troublesomely thought that she definitely needed more sleep than she was currently getting.

She tried to take a deep breath so she could get herself up off the floor and pretend none of this ever happened, but, apparently her little display of compassion hadn't gone unnoticed.

"What the HELL was that? Did you see that? Cause I saw that! I mean – HOLY FUCK!"

Hinata peered out of the corner of her eye to see Kiba gesturing at her and jumping around as if he'd just won the Olympics.

"Fuck…" she whispered under her breath, her eyes squeezing shut once more.

"Um…Uh…You…Why did you save me?" Hinata heard Sakura whisper from under her and jumped to her feet immediately, having apparently forgotten that she'd landed on the pinkette.

This question and many others started to throw themselves at Hinata, such as "How the hell did you do that?" and "What do you think you're doing touching Sakura like that?"

All, however, went unnoticed, thanks to the ball that was hurtled at her from across the gym and hit her squarely in the back of the head.

"Got'em!" Someone yelled and Hinata heard a high-five occur in the background.

That was just a cherry to be thrown on top. Hinata let her head drop so her eyes were trained on her feet as the realization of what she'd just done hit her. She'd shown her abilities in school. This could ruin everything. This would ruin everything. With the onslaught of despair setting in, she didn't seem to notice a certain calculating and dark gaze that was staring at her back.

The Uchiha boy had seen.

x.x.x.x.x

Hinata had seen Sasuke storm off in a huff after she had lost them the game. He left the gym and that was all she needed to know. He was out of her area, meaning he wasn't her problem and she just had to hide from him until this little deal blew over…

Then she remembered his threat.

"Son of a bitch," she hissed under her breath.

She knew she was definitely screwed at this point. All the kids in the gym had seen and were fascinated by what she'd done. Meaning in about fifteen minutes nearly the entire school would know what she'd done. Meaning by tonight, Gaara would have a nice, well thought out lecture for her to endure before they met up with the gang.

Hinata just wanted this day to be over with already so she could sleep it off and then run through her streets.

TWEET!

"Alright maggots!" Anko yelled out to her students, "That was a good fight! I expect the same dedication next time! Dismissed!"

All the kids bolted to their locker rooms, afraid that Anko might snap out another order to them if they lingered. Hinata, however, trudged behind them, her head down and steps hesitant.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered repeatedly, her thoughts only on what reprimands Gaara was going to spout out at her when he came by to pick her up tonight as she made her way into the locker room.

"Son of a bitch is right new kid, haha," someone said from behind Hinata, slapping her back.

"Excuse me?" Hinata snarled, turning around in front of her locker.

"Oh, haha," Kiba hesitated, "nothing new kid haha." Kiba leaned against the lockers next to her, seemingly settling himself in for a nice long chat.

'Kiba…' Hinata sighed. She wanted to talk to her friend but knew she had to keep their interactions to a minimum. If he realized that she was the Hime he knew she would be royally screwed. Her cover would be completely blown because, she loved Kiba but, the boy wasn't exactly the best at keeping quiet in any way, shape, or form.

Kiba stared back at Hinata, clueless but confused none the less at her fridgid state. "Well," Kiba muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

Pretending to be uninterested and mildly irritated by the boy's presence, no matter how much it really comforted her, Hinata went back to busying herself with changing at her locker.

"That was pretty cool what you did in there," Kiba continued, almost bashfully, "I don't think I've ever seen that sort of thing, haha."

Hinata nearly rolled her eyes at that, knowing very well that he had indeed seen that move thousands of times alone in their training sessions. Continuing to show her disinterest in communicating with the boy, she took her gym shirt off and checked her bindings and bruises. All seemed to be in order, which also seemed to shut Kiba up.

"Seriously man, how did you get all those marks?" Kiba asked again, his voiced hushed, as if his quieter tone meant he could keep any secret in the world.

"That is still none of your business."

"Oh, come on," Kiba whined, stretching out each 'O' as if he were five again.

"Maybe some other time," Hinata submitted, knowing that he also did not know that Hime had these wounds and scars.

That seemed to be enough for the boy; because he smiled and nodded as he walked off to go change himself.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Hinata slid her t-shirt back on. Glancing around shadily, she made sure she was alone in her aisle before slipping her shorts off and returning to her jeans as hastily as possible.

"Well, well, Hinata."

'Dammit,' Hinata cursed, 'I would end up nearly stuck with my pants around my ankles.'

"I told you to stay out of my way. And what did you do? Went and put yourself in the line of fire for Sakura Haruno," Sasuke snarled. Hinata could nearly taste his anger in the air.

Keeping her head down and eyes averted, she tried to ignore the boy's clear invitation for a fight. She had already messed up enough for today in Gym; she didn't need to add fighting with Sasuke Uchiha to the list of what Gaara was going to yell at her for today.

"Look at me," Sasuke growled, moving to just inches away from Hinata. He wasn't really sure why, but this boy frustrated him to no end. He wasn't really sure what exactly caused him to feel this way, 'Probably his incompetence,' he mused, but he felt the need to slam him against the lockers. Hard.

"What do you want?" Hinata asked, only it was said more as a command.

"I want," Sasuke grunted as he slammed Hinata against her locker, "for you to understand the gravity of the situation."

Lights burst forth from behind Hinata's eyes. 'If this motherfucker gives me a concussion, I swear, when I'm Hime tonight, I will find him and beat his ass into next week,' Hinata's mind reeled. "Oh, I think I understand the situation much better than you believe," she hissed weakly, pushing down on his right arm that had her pinned.

"Oh, really?" Sasuke snarled, his eyes glinting at the boy's stupidity. "You really think you know what's going on here," Sasuke chuckled, "Seriously? Are you for real?"

Sasuke paused in his monologue to chuckle and observe the boy. There was clearly something wrong with him. Why else would he be standing his ground to the leader of Hebi with no fear in his eyes, even though he was not tied to a gang?

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember if all her marks and wounds from their fight last night were covered, reviewing every move she'd made while changing. Her back was covered, her legs were covered, she had put that bracelet on earlier, all bases were covered. 'You have nothing to worry about. He doesn't have a clue, just breathe.'

Hinata took a breath and opened her eyes again to see Sasuke measuring her up. All she could do was hope he wasn't as observant as all the rumors had said he was.

Sasuke sighed, released Hinata from her pinned position, but did not step back and give her space. "I find you interesting new kid. That is why I will let this slide for once." Sasuke made a move to walk away, when he saw relief spread across Hinata's face.

'What do you have to hide?' Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly with apprehension.

He eyed the boy quickly, trying to put his unsettled feeling to rest, and froze.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, his voice restrained.

"What's what?" Hinata muttered disinterestedly, turning away from the boy to busy herself with her locker.

"What's that on your wrist?"

"Shit."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That is not nothing," Sasuke tried to hold himself back but his voice was rising. He had given Hime a mark just like that last night. He had done it in hopes of finding the girl. "Why the fuck do you have that on your wrist?"

Panic began to rise up in Hinata, she could feel it creeping up her esophagus in the form of vomit. Now would be a great time to come up with a fantastical lie. Right about now. Or now. NOW.

"I-I s-sprained my wrist the other day. What's it to you?" Hinata's face reddened slightly with shame at her stutter. It had taken her some time to get rid of that unfortunate tick, but it always seemed to pop back up when she was nervous or panicky, making it that much more inconvenient.

"Sure you did. That is such a load of –"

"Load of what, Uchiha?" male Gym teacher Gai 's booming voice came to Hinata's rescue.

"Nothing, sir," Sasuke took two steps back from Hinata, as if that would disassociate himself from the "boy". He seemed to further this by looking down and away from Hinata, as if he was never even talking to her.

'So he's scared of teachers? What the hell?'

"Then get going Uchiha, you don't need me talking to him about this," Gai spoke firmly, his eyes narrowing in on Sasuke as if he were a target at a shooting range.

"Yes, sir," Sasuke muttered, stalking out of the aisle and glaring back at Hinata after he'd past Gai. Hinata knew that look. She'd given people that look. That was a "I am going to beat the shit out of you later for this" look. Extremely unpleasant.

"You alright Hinata?" Gai asked, stepping away slightly.

"Yes, sir," Hinata mumbled, trying to catch her breath slightly, "Just feeling a little sick."

"Well you get changed and head to the nurses then," Gai left her with that bit of wisdom and walked off, leaving Hinata alone in the locker room. At least before the next class came in.

x.x.x.x.x

Two hours later Hinata was curled up into a ball on her bed.

Her head was throbbing and she was trying to keep the vomit that kept creeping up in her stomach. It was just her luck to end up with a migraine from the stress of today. She could be out of commission for tonight because of this.

Burping into her fist, Hinata turned over.

Today had been a right mess. She had only made it to Gym. Kurenai would not be pleased with her, nor would Gaara. He would surely know what had happened today and would lecture her, both on her misconduct and that she did not stay in school for the full day.

Her head throbbed for good measure, as if reminding her that she was forgetting one more large and impending problem.

Sasuke was suspicious. Already. She'd only been in school for two days and someone was already on her trail, and to make it more suspicious, she'd ended up having to leave school right after their little encounter.

"Fuck," she muttered, rubbing the heels of her hands on her eyelids. If he puts two and two together he will realize who she is. To make things worse, from what she's heard the Uchiha is no idiot. He knows what he's doing in just about everything he does, and he does all of it well. His being in a gang makes it that much more likely that he can easily identify people he's seen only one before. Her disguise will only just help her.

"He will know in a few days, if not less," Hinata whispered, a sob at the back of her throat. She did not need this. She could take pain from fights, from stress, even from her endless migraines. All of them together, however, was something she was not capable of.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this…"

"Doing what Hina?" Neji mumbled, slipping into her room.

"Neji," she whispered, the slightest hint of pain in her voice.

"What is it Hinata?" Neji's voice firmed as he moved to her bed and took a seat on its edge.

Hinata could see true concern for her shinning in his eyes. She desperately wanted to tell him everything. About what she was doing to the city with Shukaku's help, about her troubles with school, about the pain caused by her father, about everything.

"Neji I…" Hinata's voice trailed off. She could not tell Neji all she wished to tell him. That would only endanger him. He was set up to intern with the police department and planned to eventually become an agent in the FBI. If he knew any information about what she was doing, he would either have to tell his superiors or keep her secret from them. Meaning he would face betraying his family or losing his dream.

Hinata knew what Neji would choose. She knew, and that was good enough. At least she knew that Neji would support her and protect her and take care of her. She could not, however, take his dream away from him. He deserved that and so much more.

Before she even said a word, Neji knew she had made up her mind. "Scooch on over Hinata," Neji muttered, gently putting his hand on her back.

She scooted over and allowed Neji to curl up next to her on her bed, hugging her from her back. "I'm here for you Hinata. I will always be here for you, no matter what it is you have to say."

"Neji, I…some things are better left unsaid," Hinata mumbled, bringing her knees to her chest and closing her eyes.

A few tears slipped through her closed eyes. She was only two days into this mess and she already couldn't handle this pressure. With Neji there with her, though, she was able to have some greatly deserved rest.

x.x.x.x.x

Author's Note:

I AM SO SORRY. I have been so busy and I just have been completely unable to update this story. I had this ready and I figured I better put this up. I plan on updating more again. And I am sorry for the long wait and the shortness of this chapter. I PROMISE I WILL UPDATE AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Please stay with me! And thank you so much for all the reviews that said to keep updating! You all are the reason I finally put this up! So please continue to!

Review!