~Denial~

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE:

It was a typical start to what turned out to be a very unusual day for a certain Sakura Haruno. Irritating beeping sound from alarm clock, lukewarm toast, messy room, thoughts of Sasuke running through her head. Though she was trying to keep that to a minimum.
After multiple fangirl spazzes with Ino, and a little bit of thinking on her side, Sakura had realised that the best way to get Sasuke to notice her- even work out her name- was to stop acting like a groupie around him. Today was going to be her first attempt to stay sane around Uchiha-san.
As she hurried through the school halls, the girl made a silent vow to herself that today she would be successful. "Sakura-chan!" she heard behind her, and she turned to find the pale face of Hinata Hyuuga behind her.
"Hey Hinata," Sakura greeted, kneeling down at her locker to rummage through her books.
"We will soon be late for Homegroup," Hinata warned, and Sakura grinned and hurried up.

~x~

Sasuke Uchiha was in a bad mood.
His usually neat uniform was a mess, crumpled in places, and with a few buttons put through the wrong holes. His glorious 'duck-butt', as it had been sarcastically dubbed by Naruto, was messy, looking as though it had been hit by a hurricane.
The worst part of his appearance, however, was the dark smudges beneath his eyes, highlighting just how pale his skin was, and making dark-brown eyes look all the more onyx.
And this was all caused by one very big, very blonde problem; Naruto.
He hadn't had sleep in what felt like weeks.
Was probably weeks.
When he had awoken from one of the first nights of sleep he'd had in awhile, Itachi was already thumping at his door, looking somewhat like an angry housewife, dressed in his cleaning garb.
The youngest Uchiha grouchily stalked passed his apron-clad brother, moodily sipping at some tea that was waiting on the table, before grudgingly casting a glance at his watch; and letting out a 'ARRGHHHH' that could have woken the whole neighbourhood. (Someone, somewhere, might've called it a scream, but Sasuke most definitely would have knocked them out, because Uchihas do NOT scream.)
The boy had then raced upstairs, dancing precariously around a vacuum cleaner, that was roaring viciously and munching away at the carpet. Itachi didn't bother looking up, simply staring around suspiciously for more signs of untidiness in his 'spotless' home.
Sasuke had slammed the door shut, shoved on his uniform, and attempted to jell his hair up into shape in -… He cast another glance at his watch.
2 minutes.
With yet another yelp (Certainly NOT a scream) he had bolted out of the house, down the street, and through the school gates. He was seated in home group just as the bell chimed, and the groans of his fellow classmates echoed through the halls.
He glared at each student who entered the classroom, DARING them to laugh at him.
No one made a sound.
And the cause of all his misery?
That idiot blonde, who seemed intent on sneaking into his every spare thought, crawling into his head when he least needed it.
He'd forbade himself from going to sleep, scared of seeing himself and a certain blonde... together… Him rubbing his hands over that delicious chest, savouring the ferocious look those sparkling blue sapphires were sending him, leaning closer, closer, closer…
He snapped his eyes open with a jolt, sitting bolt upright in his chair.
A giggle from behind him made the boy spin round, glaring, face set in clear scowl.
The room went silent.
And with that, the Uchiha returned to himself, secluding into his chair, seemingly boring holes into the wall beside him, all the while trying to chase one very annoying, persistent blonde from his thoughts.

Sakura and Hinata hurried into the room just before the bell rang, Sakura catching her breath as the sight of Sasu- Uchiha-san hunched over at his desk. Seated next to the windows, the bright light turned him into a silhouette.
Sakura's brain turned into mush at the sight of her long-term crush. She tried desperately to think of something to say to him as she and Hinata walked past him-
"Good morning Sasuke-san," greeted Hinata. Damn! Why hadn't Sakura thought of that? "How are you?" continued the Hyuuga, pausing for a moment as she noticed the bags under Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke simply gave a grunted, almost growl of a greeting, shuffling his seat slightly further away, running almost shaking fingers through the tangled mess of his hair.
"Bloody horrible..." he murmured in response to Hinata's second question; his voice was rough and muted, with a sharp edge to his tones.
Why wouldn't that sun go away? He was in absolutely no mood for bright happy sunshine.
No mood for company.
He glanced around the room, taking stock of who had arrived.
His brain groaned, and he had to repress the moan eager to escape his sore, dry throat.
And certainly no mood for fangirls.

Sakura grinned at him (she was unable to stop herself at just a small smile) and then left to sit down before the teacher arrived. Hinata remained, her compassion taking pity on the boy before her. "Can I do anything for you?" she asked. Then she remembered from his words before that it sounded painful to speak, so she shook her head. "Never mind! Here, I hope you feel better soon Sasuke-san," she said brightly, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a small pack of pills and placing it on the desk in front of Sasuke. The label along the side of the pack identified them as cough pills. "They'll sooth your throat anyways," Hinata farewelled.

Sasuke had to resist the urge to slam his hand down on the pills, and instead, calmly plucked them off the desk, deftly slipping them into one of his pockets.
His dark eyes met hers for a moment, before he resigned himself to his own problems...
He paused.
What if...
What if he could prove to himself he definitely did NOT like Naruto? All he had to do... was get a girlfriend. He didn't care who. Anyone would do.
Hell, he could probably have any girl he WANTED. The entire schools female student body was practically drooling over him every chance they got..
He flicked dark eyes over the Hyuuga before him.
She was quiet... Shy... But obviously kind.
A smirk flittered across his face, and he stood, gently reaching for her hand with his own, long elegant fingers grasping her hand softly.
"Thank you, Hinata... chan." He spoke crisply, voice still slightly rasped. He almost had to stop himself gagging. But at least it was only Hinata.

Hinata smiled sweetly, nodded, then pulled away and walked to sit calmly next to Sakura, who was practically frothing at the mouth. The raven-haired girl tuned Sakura's fangirl-rant out of her consciousness as she turned her eyes to the door, waiting for her Naruto-kun to walk into homegroup.

Sasuke was left, standing there, shocked.
Had she just… ditched him?
He snorted, sitting down once more, bad mood returning.
No girl could have been able to resist that.
That was him turning on the charm. And who could resist Sasuke Uchiha when he was being charming? Albeit one very irritating blonde idi-... Nonono. He was not thinking about that certain idiot. Not at ALL.
He flicked out the cough pills, slipping one down, gulping noisily, and glaring across at the empty teacher desk.
With any luck, Naruto would be sick. Not late. And today, when he was sleep deprived, sick, and over stressed, he would FINALLY not have to deal with that dope.
He hoped.

The moment homegroup was released and Sasuke vanished instantly from the room, every girl bar one swarmed to Hinata and formed a three-girl-think wall around her. Suddenly getting blasted from all sides by screams, squeals and questions, Hinata's initial reaction to wail and shield her ears kicked in.
"What did you say to Sasuke-kun?!"
"How did you get him to reply?!"
"Stay away from my Sasuke-kuuuun!!"
"Hey! He's MY Sasuke-kun!!"
"No he's not! He's-"
"-not yours, at any rate!!"
"Hinata, what did you-"
"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" screamed a voice over the hubbub. Immediately, the ruckus became near-silent, and Sakura managed to speak again. "Give Hinata-chan a break! The reason she spoke to Uchiha-san is because she was being kind. Besides, we have class now." The sudden change of topic threw a few girls off, but Hinata glanced at the clock and wailed. "We're late!"
Those two words sent the whole lot scattering out through the corridors and into their classes.
As she hurried along, Hinata's thoughts turned down a little when she remembered that in the end Naruto hadn't turned up to homegroup. There was of course a chance that he was just very late, but it was also possible that he wouldn't turn up to school at all that day.

Sasuke slogged through the rest of his morning with ease; Double geography always calmed him - Besides, when your teacher merely talked all lesson, how could one not calm down? They were learning about rainforests that lesson anyway - Something Sasuke had already covered in reading on the way to school.
Which left him to sit, and simply stare all lesson, and let his mind wander (though avoiding CERTAIN topics).
Hinata was cute. He couldn't deny it. Though it almost felt weird actually thinking about his fanbase - Generally he simply ignored them, and pretended they didn't exist.
Thankfully, it gave him a chance to distract himself, from other, far more pleasurable thoughts.
He flinched at that thought, earning himself a strange look from his teacher, who opened her mouth - Just as the bell rung.
With a small shrug of his shoulders, he swiftly gathered his books, and exited the classroom.
This lunch time, he would find himself a girlfriend. And prove to his stupid, obviously confused brain, that he definitely did not even LIKE a certain blonde boy, who had failed to show up to class today.
Not that he was worried, or anything.

Hinata hummed a happy little tune to herself as she made her way towards her locker. Double Japanese was one of her two favourite subjects, and that day her class had had a cultural lesson- meaning that they ate Japanese food and tried their hands at calligraphy. It was a Hyuuga tradition that all children be taught calligraphy from a young age, so Hinata had stunned the rest of her class. She knelt down and began spinning her lock this way and that, so intent on remembering the right combination that she didn't notice when Sakura (who had the locker next to her) arrived. "Hey Hinata-chan!" greeted Sakura loudly, laughing when Hinata jumped in surprise.

Soon enough both girls were making their way to the cafeteria, where they could tell instantly where Sasuke was- there was a throng of girls squealing around him, after all.
"I feel sorry for poor Sasuke-san," Hinata murmured to Sakura as they sat a few seats away from the subject of the girl's sentence. "He isn't feeling well today, and these girls are all so loud..."

Sasuke glanced around the cafeteria - Hinata was seated just a few tables away, sitting next to Sakura.
He'd recognize her anyway - Probably the Queen of all those blasted fangirls.
With a gulp, and another sore-throat pill, he slunk over, a tray placed almost leisurely in one hand.
Across his pale features was a large smirk - His eyes practically shone with some sort of devious intent, and he stalked toward Hinata like a cat might a mouse; a playful, almost-bounce, in his step.
"Is this seat taken?" he practically purred, dark eyes placed innocently upon the two, and long fingers were placed on the chair opposite Hinata.
He felt his gut clenching, warning him to leave. Telling him that all this company really WAS not healthy.
But he swallowed the lump forming in his throat, and kept up his smirk, fixing his eyes upon Hinata. He needed a girlfriend, and she was probably one of the easiest targets.

"N-Not at all, go ahead Sasuke-san," Hinata replied politely, and although her face was kept diplomatically blank, mentally she was beginning to read some fakeness on Sasuke's side. Before today, Hinata would have doubted that Sasuke even knew she existed. And already he'd thanked her, called her "Hinata-chan", and asked to eat with her... was this some kind of an exchange for the throat pills? For any other girl in the school, to have lunch with Sasuke was to have lunch with an angel... he would know that, and possibly use it?
Even as this speculation passed quickly through Hinata's mind, she smiled again at the Uchiha and continued eating as if the number one most-fangirled-after student in the history of Konoha High wasn't sitting opposite her. She could see out of her peripheral vision Sakura's- and for that matter, the entire female population's reactions. Shocked silence, mouths hanging open and dropped trays littered the cafeteria.

"Thank you," he replied softly, taking the seat.
Now... Now came the tricky bit.
How long had it been since he'd actually had lunch with someone, other than his stoic brother? He could exchange pleasantries, but obviously, he needed to find something she was interested in…
He gingerly took his apple, taking a bite, and listened to it echo through the cafeteria.
Could he rely on reputation alone to carry him through on a date? Somehow, with this girl, he doubted it.
And that difficulty made it all the more fun. He'd have to work for this, and that mean't he could focus on it; Pour all his energy into his little project.
He flicked his calculating gaze back onto Hinata, searching her face as though it might give him some insight into what she enjoyed doing.
"So, how has your day been so far?" He asked, attempting a more casual approach. This was actually quite difficult... What did people talk about?!?
His brow furrowed slightly in concentration.
This, was going to be difficult.

The silence in the cafeteria only seemed to deepen. Just by looking at the dumbstruck expressions on everyone's- by now even the boys were watching Sasuke in stunned silence- faces, it was obvious what the only thought going through their minds was.
What. The. Hell.
Hinata began to blush. Up until now she'd managed to restrain herself, calling on the training her father had put her through about diplomacy and politics. But this complete and utter scrutiny was more than anything she'd been prepared for.
Still, she refused to let down her father, and she sat up a little straighter and replied in as strong a voice as she could. She realized vaguely that it felt as if she and Sasuke were acting out a play on a stage.
"Very well so far, thank you very much. I had Japanese just previously, it was quite interesting. How are you enjoying today, Sasuke-san?" Hinata almost kicked herself, Sasuke looked horrendous! How could he be enjoying himself when he was so tired and suffering from a sore throat?! Still, the words were out there now and Hinata refused to pull them back. Hyuugas did not make mistakes.

Sasuke smirk only deepened.
It was time to pull out the big guns.
With a smile, he gave out a small chuckle. "Interesting? I do Japanese as well, though in a different time-slot, I would presume. Aren't we having one of those cultural days? Their always fun," he attempted, deciding it best to ignore the later question. He could reply with something along that lines of; 'I feel horrible, all because of that blonde idiot, who didn't even have the decency to turn up to school today, but other than that, fine!' But he assumed sarcasm wouldn't be a very good idea.
He stomach twisted again, and he had to resist the urge to flee like the anti-social creature he really was.
It was creepy enough having all his fanbase watching; Let alone the whole school. His small chuckle had echoed around the hall, making it sound all the more fake. Why was he inducing this torture upon himself again?
Oh yeah.
Because of Naruto.
His gut twinged again, and he quickly stopped zoning out. No blondes were allowed in his head today.

Suddenly, what sounded like a thunderclap echoed through the room. What it actually was, was the combined force of several hundred students turning and whispering or speaking to the person next to them. Within seconds, a full-scale riot was taking place, with fangirls screaming around Sasuke again.
Hinata's mouth dropped open slightly before she shut her jaw, aghast. It was even louder now than it had been before! Still, she shook her head and determinedly continued the conversation- as it turned out, Sasuke-san wasn't such a silent person. But to make herself heard, Hinata had to lean across the table until her face was just a few centimeters from Sasuke's, and speak very loudly and clearly. "Yes, in class today we learnt the technique of Japanese calligraphy. It is likely you will be as well. Is Kurenai-sensei your teacher?"

Sasuke smirked again, reaching across and taking her hand gently once more, elegant fingers resting atop her own.
"Shall we take this outside? I can barely hear myself think," ' And I really have to concentrate here...' He finished to himself, collecting both trays, and wading through the people, many of whom instantly backed up, staring in what was either shock, amusement, or befuddlement.
Fangirls who had had the excuse of lunch to swarm around him pouted as the boy made his way toward the door - Toward the school grounds - Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Hinata was following.

Hinata rose to her feet gracefully, feeling more and more like she was playing leading lady to Sasuke's role in a play. To be honest, she almost expected curtains to draw closed as she followed Sasuke. As she turned to examine the faces around her, she saw a set of jade-green eyes watching her. Finding Sakura's face amongst all the others was hard, but once located Hinata found it hard to believe she'd missed it before; Sakura's face had a look of complete and utter betrayal etched deeply into it.
Hinata paused. Never before had she deserted her friends. Then again, neither had she ever found herself in a situation like this. She glanced over her shoulder and met Sasuke's eyes, whose body had also hesitated when he realized Hinata had stopped. Hinata looked back to Sakura, whose eyes were lowered. Sakura glanced up, saw Hinata's distraught face and shook her head, shrugging. She stood up and walked out of the cafeteria in the opposite direction.
Shocked, Hinata almost followed her, but finally turned back to Sasuke.
The entire thing took less than three seconds, and to the audience Hinata's, Sasuke's and Sakura's silent conversation went by almost unnoticed.
Moments later, Hinata and Sasuke were in the corridor just outside the cafeteria. The glass sliding door which opened out to the gardens was just a few metres away.

Sasuke gave her yet another one of his rare smiles, that changed the set of his entire face.
It softened the dark smudges beneath his eyes, even brought a little colour into those pale cheeks.
But it was in his eyes that it made the most difference.
Steely onyx melted into a rich, dark chocolate colour, far softer, and yet seeming all the more bright.
And then, in an instant, that soft side was covered up once more; Hiding all signs of weakness, and returning to cold and calculating.
"Yeah, I have Kurenai-sensei too. She's very kind, neh? Are you any good at calligraphy?" He continued, attempting a look of genuine curiosity; The one he had seen when Naruto had asked him questions before. The way that boy could dshow simple, raw emotions.. It was almost naive, but in such an endearing way, that you could barely scrutinize him for it.
It made everything he said that much more honest; Believable. It was what made him inspire trust in others so easily; Because you could read what he was thinking easily in those big blue eyes.

"It is a tradition for the Hyuuga clan's children to be educated thoroughly and traditionally, so I was taught calligraphy at the age of seven," Hinata explained quietly as she slid open the glass doors and stepped out into the fresh air of the grounds. "I believe the Uchiha clan has a similar system?" she asked, turning to face Sasuke and take back her tray from him.

"Yes, something similar...," The Uchiha replied vaguely, handing back her tray and following into the garden.
The fresh air hit him like a small slap, crisp air washing over him in a way somewhat reminiscent of a cool shower.
Leaves were flung from their trees, as the boughs danced and waved slowly, as though under water.
" We were taught all sorts of Japanese culture, since when we were small.. I've even seen some Kabuki theatre, and enjoyed a tea ceremony," He explained, poking at the ominous substance sitting on a small plate on his tray.
Today, the lunch lady must have gone all out; Today's lunch looked particularly unappetizing, a sloogey brown mess that he couldn't quite remember the name of.
Probably pretending to be some sort of casserole.
He smirked, looking Hinata over once more; She was from a respectable clan, so his brother would approve. She was beautiful, with skin like porcelain, and dark, long hair that framed her heart-shaped face perfectly.
And yet, despite all that..
He felt nothing.
Not even a twinge.
With a small frown, his head tilted to one side, and he flicked glances at her every so often; Hoping.. wishing, that some part of his being would realize that the girl next to him was very much free, and probably a tad more willing than some.. others people.

"Sounds interesting," Hinata nodded as she sat down and continued eating. The problem, Hinata decided, was that with two naturally quiet people from two different, respectable clans, there were precious few things to talk about. Both she and Sasuke had things they couldn't or wouldn't talk about.

Sasuke sighed, visible sagging under the effort of all this.
Perhaps it would be best to simply come out with a statement... Something close to the truth.
As close to the truth as his pride would allow, anyway.
He fixed his gaze upon her, a hand placed gently on her own, and he leaned slightly closer. He almost felt himself shiver at the closeness. He had never been this close to someone.
His mouth suddenly felt dry, his stomach did something he assumed would be close to a backflip, and decided that large butterflies would start flapping around in there too.
What WAS that? He almost felt like he would throw up. Like a dizziness was coming to wash all through his system.
It definitely had something to ..close.
It wasn't anything like what he felt when he stared at
he stared at a certain someone else.. This was different. He couldn't place the feeling.. Something between joy and dislike.
His brain was certainly confused.
" Hey, Hinata-chan… I was wondering.. If you'd like to go out with me?" He almost spat out, very quickly, lunch completely forgotten.
He needed her to say yes.
Wanted her to say yes.
But…
Would she?