"I think it's too big." Kisame draped the extra black jacket they had over her shoulders. "But it's the only spare we got without ordering one for ya."

"Perfect," Itachi commented.

It was too big for her frame, but she never liked tight jackets. It was warm like Kisame's, but she was disappointed it didn't smell like his, even if he did smell like cigarettes and alcohol from work now and then.

"There, it's official now." Kisame grinned. "You think his head is going to explode?"

"I hope he just accepts it. I don't like fighting with him." Hinata knew it was unavoidable. "I should be getting home. Neji-san's already not happy with me hiding from him, and it's getting late."

"What do you mean, 'unexpected'? You shouldn't be doing anything unexpected." Neji was furious.

And now, so was she. "Unexpected, as in, I did not expect it!" Hinata snapped back. "They were hungry. We went to study while we ate. I didn't expect it to take so long, and I didn't expect to be offered a position!"

"I had no idea where you were!" Neji scolded.

Really? "I texted you back within 3 minutes. Itachi-san and Kisame-san were with me the whole time."

"I don't trust those two," Neji growled back.

"They have been absolutely nothing but kind to me," Hinata shouted. "And I don't need you to approve of my friends." This argument was getting familiar.

But Neji didn't back down this time. "I should be there to protect you."

Hinata snapped her cane down on the kitchen floor, making a sharp crack. "I don't need your protection!"

"Stop." They both flinched, turning to Hizashi.

Hinata shelved her temper, dipping her head in shame. She shouldn't have raised her voice. "I'm sorry, uncle."

Hizashi didn't raise his own voice. "You joined a club?" Hinata kept her head down as she nodded. "Your study group with Uchiha and Hoshigaki?" Hinata nodded again. "Good. Keep your grades up, and it shouldn't be a problem. It is a study group, after all." Hinata peeked up at her uncle, glaring down at his son. "Neji, you and I need to talk."

"Yes, father." Neji lowered his own head, walking back to his father's office.

Hinata felt her heart drop to her stomach. She got him in trouble. "Uncle… He means well…"

Hizashi softened his eyes on her. "I know, but I also know that you have been doing perfectly fine with your independence, and I am proud of you for fighting for it. He needs to understand that you are not made of glass, and you can more than get about on your own without his help."

Hinata nodded sadly. She wished she hadn't gotten him in trouble.

"So, are you grounded for breaking your cousin's appointed curfew?" Kisame put his massive hand down on her head that she laid, pouting in her folded arms.

"No, but Neji-san is." Hinata flattened onto the desk, sadly.

"… Why are you upset, then?" Kisame released her, sitting down.

"I didn't mean to get him in trouble." Hinata whimpered. "He hasn't been in this much trouble since he beat me up when we were kids."

Kisame took a moment to realize what she said. "Woah, back up. He beat you up?"

Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned it. "The family pressures got to him. He saw me as the problem, and he put me in the hospital."

"What the fuck? And we are a danger to you?" Kisame dipped his head down to her level, showing the horror and confusion on his face.

Hinata hushed him. He shouldn't be swearing in school. "We weren't even teens yet."

"I don't think that changes the fact he tried to kill you." Hinata really was in no mood to explain. "I'm serious."

Hinata refused to talk about it further until Kisame, still outraged, brought it up at lunch to Itachi.

"I remember that. I took Sasuke to that competition." Itachi mentioned.

Kisame paused when Itachi didn't just agree with him. "Wait, competition?"

"Martial arts." Itachi filled.

"Why didn't anyone stop him?" Kisame asked furiously.

"They were in the same weight class, and they were meant to be fighting. Hinata had a solid stance. She took the hits. Even though they were way too hard for a competitive match, no one really realized something was wrong until she started spitting up blood, and even then, she refused to yield, so the ref didn't stop him until she went down." Itachi explained.

Kisame was appalled. "How is he still allowed to participate?"

"Rich family," Itachi explained flatly. "Sasuke tried to do the same thing to me when he was younger, and got knocked down a peg. We are from old families with old rules."

Hinata picked at her lunch. "Father made me train through my concussion. He was so mad at how weak I was."

Kisame's mouth snapped open to continue to rant, but Itachi's hand on his arm and the 'don't go there look' stopped him. Rich people suck.

Kisame slammed down his chair, his jaw set, fists curled into balls, and his eyes burning a hole into the desk. "We need to get your jacket embroidered with your name."

"What?" Hinata asked cautiously.

Deidara sat down, eyeing Kisame skittishly, looking pale. "I'll… do it today, yeah."

In another moment, Itachi barreled into the classroom, slamming his hands down on their desk. "Are you trying to get expelled?!"

Hinata's eyes flickered between the three of them. "What happened?"

Itachi crossed his arm, eyebrows knitting into a serious look of disappointment. "He attacked a student."

"Nearly," With the look Kisame was giving Itachi, he might be next.

Hinata hesitantly set her hand on Kisame's forearm, only then realizing the knuckles on his hand were split. "You're bleeding!" She pulled his hand toward her and encouraged him to straighten it out. Kisame let her tend to his tense hand, but offered no explanation. Kisame got into fights at work, but she had never once heard of him getting into a fight at school. "What is going on?"

"He overheard a rumor that came out about you since you've been wearing the club jacket." Itachi's shoulders kept their tension. "People have seen you wear Kisame or mine, but never one of your own."

Kisame had tension in his hand but made an effort not to ball it up as she dabbed it with antiseptic from the first aid kit in her bag. She knew she would need to use this on him one day, though she wasn't happy that she was right. "I don't get it." Hinata voiced.

"They thought you uh… slept with one or… all of us, and it quickly turned into calling you 'the Akatsuki whore'…uh." Deidara finished making a face watching Kisame re-tense.

Hinata kept his hand flat on the table as his forearm started to bulge from the pressure. He was going to hurt himself.

"He crushed a locker after throwing a hockey player at it." Itachi scolded.

"Don't repeat what he said." Kisame pointed at Deidara, yanking his bad hand out of her care. Deidara shrunk back. Hinata fought to pull his arm back down.

"Kisame, that was stupid." Itachi continued to scold.

"I didn't hit him." Kisame averted his eyes. "I should have."

"I don't need you to defend my honor," Hinata stated.

Kisame looked in her direction, but not at her eyes. At least he felt a little shame. "Mouse, this is more than fangirls being jealous."

"I don't think it is." Hinata corrected. "I think that this is just another rumor about the new girl. You are overreacting. Deidara-san can embroider my jacket with my name, and you are not going to hit anyone else on my behalf." She told him more strongly. "Losing your education is not worth my reputation."

Kisame turned his head away to hide his jaw resetting. At least he didn't argue.

"I told you, you shouldn't be anywhere near them!" Neji snapped. "Have you heard what people are calling you?"

Hinata stood against the wall patiently. "I am not in any type of mood to argue with you."

Neji looked taken back, her cold tone. "Hinata-sama, this is serious."

"No, it's not. It's schoolyard drama, and it should be treated as such." Hinata looked up at him. "Kisame-san shouldn't have gotten so angry. Deidara-san is putting my name on my jacket. The matter will blow over."

"You're not staying in this club after this," Neji demanded.

"Neji-san, I'm sorry, but I don't want your opinion." Hinata shifted her weight onto her umbrella.

"Hinata?" Deidara peeked his head out of the art room, cautiously looking at Neji much like he did Kisame that morning. "Your jacket's done, yeah."

"Thank you." Deidara looked between the two of them and disappeared back into the room. Hinata slipped the jacket on and turned to show Neji. "See." She pointed to her name on the jacket, written in a matching red swirly font. "Now, no one is going to mistake it as someone else's jacket."

"Now you're their official whore." Neji lamented.

"Better than the hokey team thinking that I am available when the Akatsuki is done with me." Hinata sighed.

Neji became uncomfortable. "… You heard about that?"

"Sasori-san is less afraid of Kisame-san than Deidara-san is." Hinata excused. "I understand why Kisame-san was upset, but I don't think it makes what he did any more excusable. I'm just glad he only hit a locker."

"How come he wasn't expelled?" Neji lost his earlier steam.

"He offered to repair the damage, and Itachi-san defended him. The nurse already knew about me being tripped earlier in the week. Kisame-san got detention for the damage, but I don't honestly think that anyone wanted to fill out the paperwork to explain what the hockey player said." Hinata explained. "I just hope it blows over quickly before someone else says something to make him that mad again."

With Kisame serving detention until the damage was repaired, Hinata and Itachi sat alone on the bleachers. "I think you should tell him you appreciate his attempt to protect you."

Since when was Itachi on Kisame's side? "I am not going to encourage him."

"You should also tell him that. However, he was more worried about that boy acting on his comment rather than the comment itself." Itachi explained. "He was sending the message that he should not attempt to assault you." Hinata considered that. It was possible if guys thought she was easy, they might advance on her. "And you can't exactly run from a hockey player." Itachi pointed out. "Though, I encourage you to bludgeon them with your cane."

Hinata smiled at both jokes. It was true she couldn't run, but she appreciated that both Itachi and Kisame didn't mind joking about it. That aside, he was right. It was likely that a hockey player would overpower her. She might have martial arts experience, but she was out of practice, small, and disabled. It made sense that Kisame was really worried about it. "Maybe."

"He's very protective of you." Itachi looked forward to the match. Was there a point in pointing it out so blatantly?

Kisame was in a foul mood when they picked him up from detention. Every day that he didn't work, he was in the metal workshop until he properly got the dent out of the locker, which was harder than he thought it would be.

Today, Kisame cut his finger on the metal. Hinata made him sit down and properly clean it, rather than the tapped-on paper towels he used. "You're almost done." Hinata nudged her head at his work. It still needed to be painted, but it wasn't caved in anymore.

Kisame made a face at the locker. "I should just hit the bastard. I wouldn't have to fix his head."

Itachi gave her a pointed look before stepping out. He wanted her to talk about it now? "Though I think your execution was reckless, and you are lucky you didn't actually hit him… Thank you for trying to protect me." Kisame shifted from brooding to surprise. His eyebrows lifted curiously. Hinata kept her eyes down on bandaging his hand. "I understand that you were worried what might happen to me if people believed the rumor, and your actions will definitely deter that… though I still disagree with how you did it."

Kisame looked down at her fingers, and his face turned a light shade of purple.

"Are you too warm?" Hinata gave him his hand back, finished with her bandaging.

Kisame cleared his throat and pulled off his jacket. "Yeah. Let's get going. Where did Itachi go?"

Itachi showed up outside the door with the excuse he used the restroom, but he looked a little too smug. Was he expecting more than her apology?