--
.the project.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing but THE WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHA… (sweatdrops)
Story dedicated to SasuHina fans all over the site.
--
"Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata."
I freeze when I hear Kurenai-sensei's voice says my name. I look up and realize that the beautiful teacher's red, ruby eyes are looking straight into me, and I timidly look down, back at my desk.
Just right beside me, I hear Sasuke sniffing. He has been the one sitting right next to me, on the same table, for almost two months, since the school started.
Behind him, Haruno Sakura, one of my best friends, could only scoff. I wonder what she will say to me after this Science class is over. Sakura has always a crush on Sasuke, and I'm sure she wouldn't be really happy since I am partnered with her crush.
But before she or anyone else could object, Kurenai-sensei has already continued.
"You two will be investigating how babies are born together." She finishes, giving the boy behind me a stern look I could see. "There will be no obligations for this project. You have to do it, or else you'll fail my subject."
I simply nod at her, a slight blush of embarrassment creeping up my face.
Babies…
The word rang clearly into my mind. It will be hard to investigate how babies are born…
"Che."
Hearing the annoyed sound beside me, I look up, just to see Sasuke's dark, beautiful orbs staring back at my eyes.
"Looks like we're stuck together again, Hyuuga."
--
.prologue.
--
Our Science class, taught by Yuuhi Kurenai-sensei, is currently doing a unit on humans, how generally humans are created, more specifically. While my friends get topics such as evolutions and such, I get a topic on how babies are born…
I always like babies, so that doesn't matter for me.
I walk down the corridor, heaving my heavy books with me as I go into a daze again. I could, surprisingly, just daydream and still find myself going to the place I needed to go.
Now, I am just heading towards the exit gates of the school.
The study periods are finally over.
"Hinata, wait up!" I hear Tenten's voice, and quietly zap out of my state of daze.
Sending a smile towards my best friend, she smiles right back. "So, how is it like being Sasuke's partner?" She asks, her voice gentle as she is. "How did Sakura react?"
"It's... f-fine." I reply softly, my old habit of stuttering getting the best of me. "Sakura didn't say anything. She left... right after class ended."
I frown a little, knowing that it is all about Sasuke.
And it's not like I wanted to be his partner, too...
If I could trade, I really would. I want to have a partner like Sakura's, the happy and talkative Uzumaki Naruto rather than a silent Sasuke.
To me, Uchiha Sasuke is a mystery.
I haven't been that close to him. All these days of sitting right next to him didn't bring me any closer to him. Sasuke stays silent, speaks when he was addressed, and asks when he didn't understand.
It is a rare occasion - his misunderstanding of the units we studied. Rumors have it that my seating partner is a genius, and seeing that he has the second highest grades in my class, it might be true.
All I know is that his family has died, and he is left alone in this whole wide world without anyone to support him on. He lives a sad life, from the looks of it, but never did he surrender.
Therefore, at times, I admire him.
I admire him for having the courage to tell people his real feelings. I admire him for his talents. I admire him for his ability to live alone - his ability not to give up and surrender when the worst of times came.
"Hinata?" Tenten calls, zapping me out of my trains of thoughts again.
I look up at her and smile, "Tenten, you're with Neji-niisan, right?"
The bun-haired girl frowns when she hears what I asked her. "Yeah." She replies, still frowning. "A bad luck I must have, stuck with a guy like your cousin, Hinata. He'd be torturing me to no end, really, like he used to. Damn, why should he be that perfect?"
"Perfect?" I ask, confused.
"Yes." Tenten sighs heavily, flinging her bag to her back as she looks at me meaningfully, "He's... really clever, a genius, not to mention quite good-looking... Oh damn it. No offense, Hinata, but after all that things he has, he is never really kind to me anyway."
I smile hearing this.
She just doesn't know...
"Really?" I asked her, still smiling. Tenten is a very kind girl, though sometimes she really is dense. She isn't like Sakura or Ino - my other best friend - who both are really good of their women intuition. They simply know it when somebody's crushing on somebody, even if the person's feeling is way hidden.
I never inherit that much women intuition, too.
"Yes." Tenten replies again, her warm eyes blazing ever so suddenly. "Of course. Really, Hinata, I didn't mean to offend you or something like that-" She pauses, looking at me intently, "-But he is a torture to me."
"Neji-niisan will be so sad when he hears this." I tell her softly, teasingly. "He speaks a lot about you when we're on our way home, normally."
"He does?" My best friend looks surprised, confused, and then annoyed. "He must be speaking of the bad things, then. Damn, I really want to change seats with somebody else. Sitting next to him in every class drives me insane. He is clever, he helps me lots, but he is a torture to no end!"
I didn't give a reply on that. If I do, I probably will spill out one of the secrets Neji-niisan trusts me to keep. For example, like his hidden feelings towards the weapon mistress.
Yes, Tenten is a weapon mistress of her own, in this modern world. She excels at archery, kendo, and a latter of sports that use weapons as the main object.
Neji-niisan secretly 'crushes' on her.
He admitted it to me once, when I accidentally found him smiling over a pencil Tenten gave him riiiiiiight before anything happened between them. Neji-niisan is really good at hiding his feelings, I must say, but at the same time he wants her affection - her attention.
He wants her eyes only at him, but instead of making Tenten smile all the time, all Neji-niisan does is teasing her to no end, acting like a bastard when he actually isn't.
If love makes the genius of my clan like that, what will it do to me?
Even though I am the so-called heiress of the whole clan, one that will be a leader, but I think I am nothing compared to Neji-niisan. I do not excel at school when he does, my grades are high but not as high as his, and most of all, I am easily shy, embarrassed, and I am scared of public speaking when Neji-niisan is confident in himself.
Neji-niisan and my smaller sister Hanabi all are kind people. They tried to support me by telling me that I'll get used to that kind of publicity, and that I will succeed as one of the most successful leader ever in the clan.
But even with their support, I am still never really confident of myself.
I was nearly daydreaming again, but then I catch Tenten looking at me, her eyes worried.
"What is it, Hinata? You look a bit scared of something." She says, her voice sounding worried. "Is anything wrong?"
But before I can say anything, Neji-niisan appears right beside her, his white eyes cold as usual, but being around him for all my life, I notice the slightly relaxed expression on his face and the bright shine in his orbs. That didn't occur very often, and now I know that those expressions only appear when he is around Tenten.
It's funny the way how love works, really.
"Neji!" Tenten shrieks, realizing that he is right behind her.
He looks down at her, and a playful smirk of mockery curls on his lips. "Heh." He says, sounding very much teasing and annoying, but I know him better than that, "Not torturing my cousin again, are you, Tenten?"
I see Tenten's lips become thinner as she shoots back a retort at him, "If anyone is torturing," She says confidently, putting her hands on her hip, "It must be you. You're born to torture people, anyway."
Neji-niisan smirks again, and then turns towards me. "Let's go now, Hinata." He says quietly, "It's not good to stay around people who constantly torture mortals."
I smile and then let a soft laugh escapes my lips. "You two are meant for each other." I reply teasingly, not knowing why I am acting like this.
But Tenten's reaction is priceless.
"Hinata! What are you saying?" She quickly says, her face blushing. Yes, Tenten is blushing – a rare occasion in my life. She never really blushes – not even when the self-proclaimed hottest guy in school saluted at her. Tenten claimed that she hasn't found a man she likes yet, and she believes that all men in our school are just plain stupid.
I smile at her softly, "It's nothing." I reply, and then look at Neji-niisan as he nods. I then look back at Tenten. "I'll go now, Tenten." I say, silently saying goodbye to my best friend as she simply nods and turns the other way.
"Good bye!" Tenten calls before disappearing right behind the corridor, unseen anymore.
I turn towards Neji-niisan and almost giggle when I see him blushing too. He has been holding that blush for around thirty seconds, as far as I know. "Happy?" I ask, feeling extremely happy to see Neji-niisan like this. I will definitely tell Hanabi later when we arrive at home.
He doesn't reply as he simply turns away, leaving me back in the hallways, walking faster and faster each and every step.
I was about to follow him when a voice stops me.
"Hyuuga Hinata."
I turn back, only to meet Sasuke's eyes.
"Uchiha Sasuke…" I reply, also saying his full name. I haven't grown over the habit of calling him with his full name. Uchiha Sasuke has a nice ring to it – I love his name.
"Your phone number."
"… W-what?"
"Your phone number." He repeats, clearly irritated. "Give me your phone number."
I stare at his onyx eyes. They are so captivating, so capturing, so demanding my attention that I couldn't even focus on his words. He is moving, slightly looking uncomfortable, but handsome all the same. That face, that eyes, and that silent attitude are all the reasons why Sakura is all over him. He is, I should admit, one of the most attractive boys I have ever met.
"Give me your phone number, Hyuuga Hinata." Sasuke says again, this time he shoots me a strange look. He hands me a paper and a pen. "Your phone number."
I quickly jot down my phone number, before returning the piece of paper to him. He tucks the sheet into his pocket and turns away, leaving me alone in the hallway. Just three steps he walked, he turns his head back at me.
"This is for the project." He tells me, his voice sounding uncontrollably uncomfortable. "Don't think too much about it."
"O-okay…" I answer, a little confusion on me. Think about what, I want to ask, but don't dare as he draws in a sharp breath and turns his whole body at me, his eyes piercing into mine.
Those eyes…
Then he says the magic words.
"I'll phone you later."
--
.to be continued.
--
A/N:
Gee, that really sucked. I think Sasuke and Hinata are both OOC. I mean, I am really not adapted to their characteristics much yet (usually I write NejiTen and only that I am capable of). This is my first try on SasuHina, so please point out my mistakes (especially on their characteristics because that's what I'm really concerned of) and criticize me if you want to. I always love it when people correct my mistakes, for that will help me improve. I'm asking for a favor here. This is just a prologue, and I promise that the next chapter will be longer. That's a promise!!
Please review, and thanks!