I'm thinking my writing is a little different since I haven't written anything in so long. Please leave a review to let me know if my writing seems inconsistent from the earlier chapters!

Disclaimer: Naruto and characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 9: You're Impossible

Hinata's room was very simple. There were the basic necessities: a bed, a desk, and a dresser. The walls were painted a pale blue-lilac color and she had a soft, fluffy white comforter on her bed with many pillows. Her books were neatly stacked along the hanging wall shelf above her desk. She had a collection of novels, poems, and books about wildlife. On her windowsill sat several tiny plants with delicate green leaves to give her bedroom some life. A silky curtain was tied up to the sides to let in sunlight. Her desk was quite bare with only a lamp and a picture frame of her mother who passed away - her source of comfort during difficult days when she felt alone. The floor was a dark hardwood, but atop that lay a soft cream-colored carpet. Along the wall hung string lights to add a bit of mood lighting when she just wanted to relax. This was where she spent most of her time (other than school) before she met her puppy.

The girl had already begun her homework as she waited for Sasuke, but she couldn't focus due to her anxiety. She was not keen on having the churlish boy in her private space, but she was excited to see her puppy. It was the thing that kept her going. No matter what, the puppy always loved her unconditionally and that was not something she had before. Still, it was a surprise that Sasuke was willing to go all the way to her house to bring the puppy - something Hinata would never have expected him to do.

Rather than focusing on her homework, she kept hypothesizing what the odd boy's motives were. Sometimes he could do such hurtful things to her, but other times it actually seemed like he would care. Such as when he would notice things about her that others didn't, or when he went out of his way to help care for her puppy instead of telling everyone her secret. She tried not to overthink it too much, because she just couldn't trust Sasuke - not after all of the things he's done. He didn't care about her. Right…?

Tap.

Tap.

A subtle sound of tapping at the window caused Hinata to turn her attention away from her thoughts. She realized that it was tiny pebbles hitting her window. 'What is this, a cheesy romance movie?' The girl shook her head at the idea before getting up to open the window. There was a small Sasuke looking up at her while holding the dog in one hand. How was he going to get the dog up there? Luckily, there was a tall tree by her window, but could he climb it while holding the dog?

The quiet girl gave a small nod to him and he quietly began climbing the tree. It was a struggle, but he managed to do it in such a cool way. Well, he was the athletic type, she guessed. Moving back to give him space to enter the window, she watched as he suddenly towered over her. Her room felt small when he was in it.

"You know, you're such a pain." he muttered to her as he set the excited puppy on the floor.

There it was again. She always had to be greeted with some sort of insult. But for some reason, she didn't mind it so much this time. Hinata was grateful that he had brought her puppy and that's all that mattered.

Sitting on the floor with Sasuke, they watched as the curious puppy roamed around the room, sniffing everything. "Thanks for bringing him. I appreciate that." she quietly confessed.

Sasuke sat in a relaxed position with one leg propped up and his elbow resting on his knee. "I didn't do it for you. I'm not going to take care of this dog myself, that's all."

She wondered how much truth was in his words, as she figured that going through all the trouble of coming here was more work than taking care of the dog on his own. Somehow, once the two got there, she didn't feel as worried about her sister. They were being pretty quiet and the puppy didn't make much noise anyway, so maybe it would be okay.

"So… your father,"

"Hm?"

"Why is he so uptight?" asked Sasuke. The girl was hit with another unexpected question from Sasuke. It wasn't like him to start a conversation, but lately…he was. "Not that I care. Like I said… just so we have something to talk about." he corrected. The dusky-eyed teen kept his gaze averted as he spoke.

Hinata didn't really take what he said to heart and just continued the conversation normally. "He's always been like that. But since mother passed away…" She stared at her socks as she hugged her knees. The boy turned to look at her now.

She continued. "...he's been extra hard on us. He just wants to keep up the family legacy. Wealthy, hardworking, and having a good position in society - that's how he wants us to continue on." Her eyelids closed and she rested her chin on her knees. "But I think he compares us to mother. Nothing we do can be the way mother did it, but that's what he wants."

Sasuke stared aimlessly and remarked, "Pathetic."

Hinata shot her gaze over to Sasuke now. "Huh?"

"If you have to depend on your kids to make you feel better about yourself, that's pathetic." the boy stated bluntly.

The petite girl's eyes softened and her soft voice answered back. "Maybe you're right."

When the two realized they actually agreed on something they slowly turned to look at each other and then…

"Ah, no!" Hinata quickly got up from her sitting position to pick up the puppy who was chewing on the leg of her desk. "No chewing!"

Sighing, she set the naughty dog back on the ground and made a seat on her bed. Sasuke getting up, started to walk over to examine the books on her shelf but the pup made its way under his feet, causing him to trip. The boy grunted in alarm as he fell toward Hinata sitting on the bed. She looked up to see Sasuke plunging toward her, but had no time to react. Everything happened in a blur. She opened her round, ghostly eyes to find Sasuke's dusky one's only inches away from her's. Sasuke's arms resting on either side of her head to catch himself, she lay on her back, the strands of her side-ponytail going this way and that. While the dumbfounded boy was on top of her, he felt a rush of warmth in his face. Hinata, too, was red.

The puppy sat in the corner, scratching his ear with his leg. Almost as quickly as he had fallen, Sasuke backed away and Hinata sat up again, face still red. She rubbed her arm and avoided looking at his face when he got up.

'This was not how this was supposed to go.' Sasuke thought, still in shock. He noticed his heartbeat was out of control and he didn't like that. Not one bit. No, he wasn't about to suffer this embarrassment - not around her. So he then did what he did best.

"Y-your breath stinks." he complained. Not that it really did. She actually smelled really good, but that wasn't the point here.

The indigo-haired girl's brow's furrowed. She was beginning to get sick of his insults. He didn't look so intimidating, now. "O-oh yeah? Well…" She couldn't think of a comeback. "Y...your face stinks!"

He didn't expect her to talk back, so he became flustered. "That's the worst insult I've ever heard." Ugh. He was supposed to be tormenting her, not tormenting himself.

The boy was about to return a comeback, however their banter had to end. There were footsteps echoing down the hall. Wide-eyed, the two teens snapped their heads toward the door. And then came a soft knock.

There was no time for Sasuke to climb back down the tree so he looked to Hinata. She quietly got up and motioned her hands to the bed and mouthed 'Get under the bed.' In a snap, he scooped up the dog and silently rolled under the bed. With that, Hinata walked toward the door while Sasuke wrapped his hand around the dog's snout. It was squirmy, but Sasuke was strong enough to hold the pup in place. The girl took a second to gain her composure before answering the door.

It was Hanabi. She stood there so calmly. There was a plate of half-eaten cookies in her hand. "Yes?" Hinata answered.

"I thought I would give you this… as a peace offering."

"What?" The lilac-eyed girl tilted her head in confusion.

"Well… for telling father about you leaving early." Hanabi still seemed to feel bad about her sister getting in trouble. Hinata slowly took the plate in her hands.

"Ah, it's no big deal. S-sorry for yelling at you last night." she admitted.

Her little sister nodded but then turned her attention to Hinata's room. Sniff, sniff. "I smell something," she observed. "Kind of like… an animal or something."

Sasuke held his breath from under Hinata's bed when he heard this and Hinata froze where she stood. "Really? I don't smell anything." She tried to seem as oblivious as she could. "I left the window open for some fresh air. Maybe it's coming from outside?" the girl suggested.

"Hm, I guess so." Hanabi hesitantly turned around to go back to her room.

"Th-thanks for the cookies." Hinata added and then shut the door carefully.

Both Hinata and Sasuke simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. While the boy crawled out from under the bed and the dog continued wandering around the room again, Hinata wondered if it would really be a good idea to do this everyday. Sasuke's expression was that of annoyance.

There was just too much anxiety in one day… and all because of her. He was having a harder time intimidating her lately and he figured that was because she was changing. These last few weeks, he's been watching her grow her confidence more and more. Perhaps this was why he was having a harder time controlling the situation. He couldn't help but think it was because of himself that she was adjusting this way. But somehow… she still wasn't like the other girls. Something still made her more interesting and he didn't understand it. This irked him. The thing he thought he hated about her - her low self-esteem - was going away, yet he was still amused by her.

Hinata held out a cookie to Sasuke, "Do you want one?"

"Hmph. I don't want your damn half-eaten cookie." He stuffed his hand into his pocket and walked over to her book shelf. Staring at the books with an uninterested look, he grabbed the one with poems. Hinata, munching on a cookie was focused on the puppy, who was begging for a taste. As Sasuke sifted through the pages, a photo fell out of the book. He got a quick glimpse of it as he reached to pick it up, only to find Hinata's hand snap into his vision to grab it herself. She held it to her chest, cheeks tinted with red. This intrigued the mischievous boy.

"Was that… a photo of Naruto?" A malicious grin plastered on his face. She looked horrified. "Aww, a photo of your crush in a poem book. How sweet." he teased.

"S-stop it!" Just when she thought Sasuke wasn't as intimidating, he suddenly became a wolf ready to pounce on his prey. When it came to Naruto, she didn't want anyone to know of her feelings. It made her feel pitiful to let anyone know how she felt for the bright, confident boy when she herself was quite the opposite.

With little warning, the raven-haired boy snatched the photo from her fingers and held it up above his head with a smirk. Hinata was angry. Angry and frightened. She started hitting Sasuke's chest to get him to give her the photo. The puppy started to bark which caused the two to stop and hush the puppy. Hinata bent down to quiet the dog down and then looked back at Sasuke angrily.

"You should just tell him you like him. Or should I do that for you?" he snickered. She wondered why he was so interested in her private matters. Was it just to taunt her?

"No!"

"How long have you liked the guy? Years probably?" He guessed. Hinata knew he was right. "If you don't tell him now, you're never going to do it."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't. But Naruto is my friend, you know. I think if anyone had a crush on him that long, he'd want to know." Her embarrassment amused him. She was getting more confident lately, but he wanted to see her push herself further. He wanted to see her struggle.

"I-it's my decision when I'm going to tell him."

"Well maybe it's mine, now." he retorted. "Either I can tell him, or you can tell him. Your choice."

The girl clenched her fists, face blazing red - not just from embarrassment, but raging resentment. He always crawled into parts of her life where she didn't want him! Just when she thought things were going smoothly, he had to revert back to his wicked ways.

"If you don't confess in the next week… I'll show him this photo."

"Y-your impossible!" she cried. "Just get out!" This was more than she could handle. This was a crush she'd had since the first grade. Confessing those feelings within just one week? That was absurd!

Sasuke took the hint and put the photo in his shirt. He grabbed the puppy which was now falling asleep and made his way out the window again into the dark night, leaving the teary-eyed Hinata behind to sort out her feelings. Travelling through the night with the sleeping dog in his arms, he was left with his thoughts. Of course, he wasn't actually planning to show Naruto the photo. 'I guess we'll see if she will really do it.'

Oh, Sasuke. Why can't you just be nice?

Next chapter: some more Naruto and maybe more of the 'Mysterious Other's' messages?

Please let me know if you have suggestions for what you would like to see!