Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just my plot and OCs.

To my reviewers: from now on, I'm going to reply to you all personally through the reply url that comes with the comments because it's just easier that way. But you already know that, 'cause I've already replied to you.

Anyway, thanx to each and every one of you! And everyone who added this story to their favorites/alerts! Here's the next chapter.

Summary:

AU. Hinata is one of the most popular girls at South Konoha High. She's the object of desire for many boys but she only has eyes for one guy. What happens when a jealous girl finds out and hires a certain loud-mouthed blonde to win her over, just long enough to deflower her.

Deflowring the Flower

Chapter 27:

The Problem

She was crying, what else could she do?

Hinata had managed to get home without drawing any attention to herself, but she knew it was just a matter of time before somebody came to check on her.

Since the moment she got home, she had locked herself in her room and had not come out once. Not even to eat dinner.

It was only a matter of time before somebody came to check on her and she did not want to talk to anyone at the moment.

Slowly, she got up from her bed and wiped her eyes with her sleeves.

There was only one place she knew she could go to where no one would bother her. She got her towel and went to take a bath.

Mika regretted every step she took.

'I'm going to meet his father,' she thought with regret. Part of her wanted to run away but she couldn't. He was holding her hand as he led her through the streets to his house.

When she got there, she was so intimidated. It was nothing fancy, it wasn't even that big, but the idea of meeting his father scared her.

What would she even say? Considering the circumstances that she met him through, it obviously couldn't be the truth. She took a deep breath as she walked into the house and came face to face with a man standing right at the entramce.

Had he been wating for them?

"Hello," He spoke calmly, much like his son, "You must be Mika. I'm Aburame Shibi."

"Hinata-sama." Neji knocked on her door, "You're going to be late for school."

There was no reply from the other side of the door.

"Hinata-sama, if you don't reply, I'm going to go into your room whether you like it or not."

Still no reply. Now he was worried, usually the threat of invading her privacy was enough to get her to run out of her room.

He walked into the room and a chill ran down his spine. It was so cold! He noticed her sleeping form still in her bed. Now he was really worried. She never overslept.

As he got closer he could hear her coughing and sniffling. 'So she's not asleep.'

"Hinata-sama," He called out worridly as he placed his palm on her forehead, "You're burning up! And your hair's still wet. Did you really sleep with your hair wet and the temperature this low?"

A cough was his reply.

"Is this why you stayed in your room all this time?"

Hinata's eyes brightened at the idea, "Y-yes, I was feeling bad."

"Why didn't you say anything? Just stay put, I'll got tell Hiashi-sama that you can't go to school."

Naruto let out a long sigh as he stared at the cold soda can in his hand. Why was he even helping this girl anyway? Wasn't she the one who ruined everything?

He walked from the vending machine to the bench that the green-haired girl, Makoto he thought, was sitting at and gave her the soda can. Instead of drinking it, like one would think, she pressed it against her face, trying to stop the stinging.

When he had marched toward her locker, he had every intention of yelling at her, making her feel bad, and everything except for hurting her. But when she turned around with a large, red hand-shaped mark on her face the nice guy in him won out.

Instead of trying to make her feel as bad as he was feeling, he was trying to help her feel better. 'Besides, she already looks worse than me.'

That was true, besides the slap on her face, she had bags under her eyes and her eyes looked tortured, for more reasons than just what she did to him, her hair was undone and she was so pale she looked sick.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled quietly, but he heard it, "I just thought I could finally do the right thing, you know?"

He nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him; she was looking at the floor.

"She's been my only friend since I was a little kid, even though I knew all the things she did were wrong, I didn't stop any of them because I didn't want to make her angry. I just wanted to remain as her friend, I just wanted to be accepted by someone." Tears started threatning to spill out at this point.

"I've always been that girl, the weird girl," she continued, "When I was with her, she didn't really make me feel any different about that," she laughed bitterly at that, "but I felt like she needed me. For the first time in my life, I felt needed by someone; not even my parents gave me that. I mean, they love me, but they don't really need me."

Tears were quietly spilling out now, "I just... wanted to be needed by someone."

Naruto looked at the crying girl next to him, understanding perfectly what she was talking about. Nobody at his old schools ever liked "that orphan boy" which was why he always got into fights.

"So what's different now?" He asked, even though he had no idea who she was talking about, "Why tell on her now?"

She turned to him suddenly, with a fierce look in her eyes, but it quickly dissapeared and she shied away from him. "Because I thought I had found someone else who needed me, who I needed too."

"What a problem," Naruto declared, when she looked at him with a confused look on her face he continued, "Well, I was planning to hate you, but now I understand you, I can even relate to you. I wanted to be able to blame someone else other than myself for what I did, but who am I supposed to hate now?"

Makoto stared at him with sad eyes. Then her face lit up with an idea.

"Well..." she started carefully, "Maybe you can make it all better!"

It was his turn to look at her with a confused look on his face.

"Mika! I'm sure she knows what to do to make it all better!"

"That weird girl who told me what to do?"

"Yes, she's just a middleman, but it's her job to do things like this. If she can ruin lives, I'm sure she can help us make them better."

"How?"

"Well, I wanted to avoid doing this, but I guess we have to give the mastermind a taste of her own medicine." Makoto announced, though she noticed she still couldn't bring herself to rat out Haruka.

"How do we contact her? She always came to me." Naruto pointed out.

"I know where she lives, but it's dangerous to go too late, we have to go right now!" She jumped out of the bench and threw the soda can aside. "You don't mind skipping school, do you?"

"What, are you joking?" He stood up as well, "Let's go!"

A/N: That last scene with Naruto and Makoto is what kept me from updating for so long. I wasn't sure how to make them interact, and even though I'm still not completely in love with it, I decided to stick with this version and end the chapter here before I got stuck again.

Well, Mika's boyfriend has been revealed and a couple of people actually got it right: Shino! Props to all those who got it right!

Please read and review!