A/N- I was going to put on here a thank you to another author, but isn't letting me put her name up and I'm not sure why. So, instead, I'm just going to tell oyu that you should really look up her story. It's what inspired me to write this one and It has the same title!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or the song Those Nights. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Those Nights belongs to Skillet and whoever else has rights to it. I am in no way making money off this fic, nor do I plan to.
"You can't even serve me tea right, you useless child!" screamed a very angry Hiashi at his cowering eldest daughter bowing in front of him. Bringing back his foot, Hiashi harshly kicked the girl's small form, causing her to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. A yelp of pain was heard from the fragile girl as she hit the ground, holding her side.
"I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to! Please st-stop!" Hinata pleaded from her spot on the ground.
"Get up," ordered Hiashi, kicking her again. Slowly, Hinata obliged. Once she was able to stand her father punched her stomach. Dubbling over in pain and holding her now bruised belly, Hinata fought the tears threatening to fall. She knew crying would only make him angrier. "Clean up your mess."
"Y-yes, Father." Hiashi turned on his heal and stalked out of the room, leaving his daughter to clean up the broken glass and tea from the hardwood floor of his study. Hinata was supposed to deliver Hiashi his morning tea, as she always did, but had woken up late. In her hurry to get her father his tea on time, so she wouldn't receive another beating she had tripped walking into his study. The glass and its contents hit the floor as she dropped them to catch herself. Needless to say, Hiashi hadn't been too happy to see his beloved tea in a puddle on the ground. Now Hinata was stuck cleaning up the mess she caused.
As she carefully picked up the broken shards of glass her mind began to wonder how she would get to school on time. There were still so many things she had to do. She had to make Hiashi more tea, bandage her newest wounds, get dressed, not to mention she had to walk the entire three and a half miles to school.
"I guess I'll have to run,"she sighed before dumping the last of the glass into Hiashi's trash bin and starting to soak up the tea with some paper towels Hiashi kept on his desk. After cleaning the last of the mess she made her way to her "bedroom". It was actually just the basement of the huge house. Hiashi said she was unworthy to have an actual room like her sister and cousin. Unlike her, they didn't disgrace the Hyuuga name.
Locating the bandages she hid in a hole in the wall behind a painting of a winter landscape, she began to bandage her stomach and side. She had a bit of trouble reaching around to her back, but overcame the obsticle quickly and finished bandaging herself. Glancing, at the clock Hiashi had given her so she would always be on time for her chores, she noticed she only had twenty minutes to get to school.
'Crap!' she thought. Hurriedly, she threw on her usual baggy hoodie and jeans. Bounding up the stairs two at a time, she didn't notice her father standing at the top until it was too late. Hinata stared in horror as she and her father collided and landed in a heap on the floor.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Hinata got off her father and bowed. "I-I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and I d-didn't see you until it was t-too late to st-stop," Hinata tried to explain herself but to no avail. Hiashi had already curled his hand into a fist and launched it at her. It connected with Hinata's cheek and sent her stumbling backwards. Before she could do more than grab her cheek, her father had already grab her short hair and slammed her head into the wall.
Tilting her head to the side, she saw Neji coming into the living room and could hear Hanabi coming up behind him. Hinata made a strangled cry to get his attention. When he turned to face the two in the hall his eyes widened with pity before seeing the look in the younger one's eyes. He knew what it meant. Get Hanabi out of here. Nodding his head slightly to show he understood, he turned and ran out of the room. Hinata could faintly hear him telling Hanabi he forgot something upstairs and to come with him to get it.
A sharp pain at the back of her head alerted Hinata that her father had yanked on her hair yet again.
"You should learn to watch where you're going. You never know you might just slip." Venom was dripping off his every word as he yanked Hinata's hair and threw her head first down the stairs. As she tumbled downward, Hinata was sure there would be more bruises than she could cover this time. She only hoped she didn't break another bone.
After what seemed like hours, she finally hit the bottom of the staircase. Her fathers laughter rung in her ears and she thought she would rather die right there, than hear his taunting voice again. Sadly, fate had a way a kicking you when you were down. She was alive and she had to get up if she wanted to get to school even close to on time today.
Cautiously, she made her way to her feet, trying not to strain her already hurt body. Inspecting herself, she noticed she wasn't bleeding and sighed, taking a quick glance at the clock. If she went to school without taking the time to bandage herself, There was a chance she could get there on time.
Reaching her decision, she put on a determined face and began the painful journey up the stairs. Halfway to her destination she heard her father's car pull out of the driveway. Hiashi always took Hanabi and Neji to school. When Hanabi questioned why Hinata never got a ride to school, Neji told her Hinata liked to walk.
Neji knew what Hiashi did to his daughter and did everything he could to help her. Hanabi on the other hand had no idea what happened to her sister when she wasn't around. Neji and Hinata had come to the desicion long ago to keep Hiashi's 'bad side' away from Hanabi's knowledge. When everything had first started Hanabi was only about a year old and little six-year-old Hinata and seven-year-old Neji had known right away they didn't want Hanabi to have anything to do with it.
In order to keep everything a secret they came up with signals, so they could talk to each other without using words. To this day, Hanabi doesn't know that her sister is abused, her father is the abuser, and her cousin knows all about it. Of course, she does notice her sister seems sore a lot, but Neji and Hinata play it off as Hinata being clumsy.
Sighing to herself, Hinata wondered how they were able to keep everything a secret for seven years. It almost seemed impossible that no one noticed anything. Maybe they were just lucky. . . or not so lucky depending on how you look at it.
Snapping out of her reverie, Hinata noticed she had made it to her front door. Picking up her backpack, she made her way out of the Hyuuga household and down the street towards Konoha's middle school.
"This is not my fault!"
"Oh, so you're blaming me now?"
"You're the man of the house! You should know the signs!"
"You're home all day. Shouldn't you know what your son is reading?"
Sasuke sighed. His mother had found an Esquire Magazine(1) hidden in his brother's room and their parents were fighting over who's fault it was that he had it. He was eighteen for pete's sake! Eighteen and trying to buy his own house! He's bound to start getting into that crap sooner or later. Why can't they just confront Itachi about it and go on with their lives?
Stifling another sigh, Sasuke finished cooking his bacon and sat it with his eggs and tomatos- his favorite breakfast. Right when he sat down at the table, Itachi came down the stairs with his backpack slung over his shoulder.
"What is it this time?" he asked before sitting in the chair across from Sasuke. Sasuke didn't have to ask what he was talking about. Their discussion started the same way virtually every morning.
"They found your Esquire Magazine and mom says dad should've seen the signs, but dad says mom should know what goes on here 'cause she's home all day."
"They found my magazine? Crap!"
"Che. Calm down. It's not like you're gonna get in trouble. They just want something to fight over."
"Yeah, I guess," Itachi sighed, "So how's school?"
"School," Sasuke answered bluntly. Itachi nodded.
"Sakura and Naruto coming over today?" Sasuke thought about it before answering.
"Maybe. If there's nothing else to do."
"Fangirls sti-"
"Don't even go there," Sasuke interupted
Itachi chuckled. "I guess that means they're still as annoying as ever?"
"You have no idea."
"Hm, well I gotta go. See ya, Otouto."
"Bye, Aniki." Sasuke spared a glance at the clock. He still had a while before he had to leave for school. It was only a ten minute walk from his house. Tiredly, he sat down on the couch. He really hated Mondays. Why couldn't the week just skip to Tuesday? It made more sense in his opinion.
At least his parents had went into their bedroom to continue thier fight instead of yelling in the same room as him. Thier voices were now muffled by the thick walls of the spacious living room. Before he knew it he was drifting off to sleep with the lullaby of his parents' yells in the background.
Twenty minutes later he was awoken by a loud knocking on the door.
"Come on, Sasuke-teme, we're gonna be late! Dattebayo!"
"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, hurry up!" Groggily, Sasuke sat up and glared at the door in hopes the two on the other side would feel it and leave him alone. No such luck- the knocking continued. Finally, he stood with a scowl on his face and made his way to the door.
"Bye Mom, bye Dad!" he yelled while grabbing his backpack and casually opening the door. With his backpack slung haphazardly over his shoulder, Sasuke greated the teens standing on his porch.
"Hn."
"Good morning to you too, grumpy-britches."
"Naruto! Don't be mean to Sasuke-kun!"
"But, Sakura-chan, he started it! The least he could do was say good morning!"
"Sasuke-kun is too cool for things like good morning!"
Sighing, Sasuke thought, 'This is what I have to put up with everyday.' Sadly, while he was busy trying to block out his annoying 'friends', he didn't notice the small form of a girl trying to pick herself up off the ground right in front of him. Sasuke gasped as he hit the ground face first.
"What was that?" he asked out loud before he heard a quiet whimpering noise.
Looking behind him, Sasuke saw a small girl with dark indigo colored hair lying on the ground in the fetal position. The whimpering sound was coming from her. Sasuke leaned forward, trying to hear what she was saying.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She was repeating the same thing over and over like a mantra. He wasn't sure what, but something about this girl worried him. She looked about thirteen and was extremely small- much too small for a girl her age. Her face looked very pretty, but it was contorted into a mixture of pain and fear. Sasuke was about to speak when Sakura beat him to it.
"Look what you did, Freak! You tripped Sasuke-kun! You better apoligize before you get hurt!" she threatened while cracking her knuckles.
"You okay, Sasuke-teme?" What was wrong with them? Couldn't they see the girl was already hurt? Why were they asking if he was alright?
"Hn. I'm fine. What about you?" he asked in a bored tone, looking at the girl still cowering on the ground beneath the three teens.
"Oh please, she's fine, Sasuke-kun, but she won't be if she doesn't apoligize real soon," Sakura said with malice in her voice. The frightened girl slowly took her arms away from her face and opened her eyes. She had stopped her mantra and was now staring up at the people in front of her with a terrified gaze. "Didn't you get the hint? Tell Sasuke-kun you're sorry, Weirdo."
The indigo haired girl gasped and quickly tried to pick herself up. She struggled, wincing many times, before finally standing, though she was still hunched over slightly as if her stomach hurt. Taking in a deep breath, she bowed deeply.
"I'm v-very sorry, Uchiha-san." Sasuke could tell by the sound of her voice that bowing increased the pain in her stomach.
"Hn. Whatever." Naruto stepped forward and looked at the fragile girl with a look of pity. Sasuke knew he wouldn't do anything, though. He had a huge crush on Sakura and if she didn't like somebody, Naruto wouldn't help them if she was anywhere within a twenty mile radius.
"Come on, Teme, we're gonna be late for school."
"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, if we hurry we can beat Ino-pig!" Sasuke sighed. It was always a competition with those two!
"Whatever." The three teens turned and walked off down the street, leaving the dark haired girl behind. A couple minutes later Sasuke broke the silence.
"Who was that girl?"
"The one who tripped you?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah."
"That's the geek who always sits in the back of the room and almost never speaks. She's always hanging around that freaky bug-loving kid and the one with the dog. Rumor has it she lives on the streets. I wouldn't doubt it, I mean she wears the same jacket everyday." Sasuke felt disgusted. If this girl was living in the streets and people knew about it, then why weren't they helping her?
"Hn. I forgot something at my house. I'll see ya at school."
"And you call me the dobe!" Naruto laughed.
"Bye Sasuke-kun!"
'What's wrong with you? Are you insane? Those kids were popular! Don't you know what they could have done to you?' Hinata lectured herself. How could she have been so careless? She should really watch where she's falling from now on. If it gets around to the fangirls that the Freak tripped their precious Sasuke-kun, she'll be as good as dead.
Walking, slower this time, in the direction of her destination, Hinata worried about the different things Sasuke's fangirls were capable of. When it came to the cold heart throb of the school, there were endless possibilities of punishments for anyone who messed with him. The thought made Hinata shudder involuntarily.
That slight movement alone sent a wave of pain through her stomach and ribs. Maybe she should have taken the time to bandage herself up after all- it seemed like today was going to be a very long day. A sudden voice broke her train of thought.
"Hey," Snapping her head up, Hinata saw Sasuke Uchiha standing ten feet in front of her. "Are you okay?" Hinata blinked, then pointed to herself with a questioning look in her eyes.
"Me?"
Sasuke smirked, "Yeah, you."
"I'm f-fine. . . Thank you." Sasuke quirked a brow.
"You don't look fine. Why are you holding your side?" Looking down, Hinata saw that she was, in fact, still holding her side.
'Stupid,' she thought.
"Oh, um, it's nothing, r-really." Sasuke took a step towards her and she flinched.
"Do I scare you?"
Hinata gasped, "N-No! It's just, um, it's just that, well, I-"
"Whatever," Sasuke cut her off, "What's that on your face?" Hinata reached her hand up to touch her face and didn't feel anything but a slight pain from falling down the stairs.
"What do y-you mean?" Sasuke walked towards her again and didn't stop until he was standing directly infront of her. It took all of Hinata's willpower not to step back or flinch away from him.
"Right there," he said, pointing to a spot on her cheek, "it looks like a bruise."
"Oh, that, I, um sort of f-fell down the st-stairs this morning, that's all."
"Is that why you're holding your ribs?" Hinata nodded her head. "You're lying. I can see it in your eyes. Who did that to you?"
"What do you m-mean by that?"
"You're avoiding my eyes and you look worried, like you think I might learn a secret or something. What is it you're hiding? I know you didn't just fall down the stairs."
"You're d-different than you are at sch-school, why?" Sasuke was getting irritated.
"Don't change the subject," he began, grabbing hold of her shoulders, making her cry out in pain, "who did that to you."
Hinata was fighting tears again. Sasuke's grip on her shoulders hurt and she wished she had never ran into him.
"If. . . if I tell you, will y-you let me go?" Sasuke looked at her shoulders and saw how hard he was gripping them and, instead of being the gentleman he was brought up to be, he decided to use it to his advantage.
Tightening his grip he said, "Yeah, but you have to tell the truth." Hinata nodded.
"O-okay," She took a deep breath, "I did fall down the st-stairs," Sasuke's grip tightened even more, "but I d-didn't slip."
"Then how'd you fall?"
"I. . . c-can't tell you." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"Why is that?"
"Because I'll get in tr-trouble."
"With who?"
"I can't t-tell you that either." Sasuke sighed in exasperation.
"What can you tell me then."
"Not much. I'm sorry. Um, c-can you let me g-go now?"
"No, you didn't tell me what I wanted to know."
"But I can't!"
"Why not?"
"My f-father would kill me!" Hinata gasped and quickly avoided his eyes, "I-I mean he, um, d-doesn't like me talking to st-strangers." Sasuke let go of her shoulders.
"Your father did this to you?"
"I, erm, uh, never s-said that."
"Yes you did. Why don't you get help? He should be put in jail."
"No, I couldn't d-do that, he's my father. What would happen to my l-little sister, my cousin, and m-me? What if Social S-services seperates us?"
"Okay, so you admit your father did this to you?"
"What? No! He would never."
"Then why would Social Services seperate you?"
"I-I, well, um, I-"
"I rest my case, so why do you let him do that to you?"
'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! All these years and I get outsmarted by one boy! You're losing your touch, Hinata, now get it together,' Hinata scolded herself for letting herself get cornered into this situation. Where had all her practice gone? Neji and herself had practiced many situations and had gotten out of everyone of them, so why couldn't she do it now? Her train of thought was suddenly broken when Sasuke snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"I'm waiting."
"Um, well, I gotta go, so, um, bye," she said before running as fast as her battered body would allow. To her suprise, Sasuke didn't chase after her.
She sighed in relief when she made it to school without anymore interuptions. After walking up the stairs to the main entrance, she saw Neji standing in the doorway holding her 'doctor's note'. The two of them had come up with a lot of different ones for when she couldn't make it to school on time.
Looking at the note, she saw that she was late because of a simple check up. At least she wouldn't have to act sick today. Glancing at Neji, she saw him beginning to walk away.
"Wait, Neji!" Neji turned to look at his cousin.
"What is it?"
"Avoid Sasuke Uchiha. He's suspicious."
Neji nodded, "Alright," and with that he walked off toward his class.
Hinata made her way carefully towards the office, making sure not to show any sign of being wounded. Finally making it, she looked at the clock and saw she was twenty minutes late. She sighed and pushed open the door.
"Good morning, Ms. Shizune," she greeted happily.
"Good morning, Hinata, why are you late?" asked the receptionist in her happy voice.
"I had a d-doctor's appointment, I'm sorry."
"Oh, it's fine. Just let me see your excuse and you can go on to class."
"Thank you, Ma'am," she answered while bowing. Standing up straight, she quickly left the room. Reaching her first period math class, she opened the door as quietly as she could. Unluckily for her, the teacher, Genma sensei, noticed her entrance.
"Ms. Hyuuga, how nice of you to join us today." Everyone else in the class laughed as Hinata hung her head and walked to the front of the room, handing her admission slip to the teacher.
"I'm sorry."
Genma sighed, "It's fine, Hinata, don't take things so personally," he said. Placing his hand on her head and ruffling the small girl's hair before sending her off to her seat in the back of the room.
Sasuke was now even more curious to what Hinata goes through at home. Obviously her cousin knows something about it and he knows already it has something to do with her father. Now all he had to do was make the peices fit together. Sasuke isn't naíve, he knows child abuse exists, but could it exist in the small town of Konoha?
Konoha was one of those towns that people thought of when they thought of the perfect neighborhood. No, they didnt have the long streets lined with houses that looked exactly the same, but it was one of those towns where everybody knew almost everybody, but you still had that privacy you didn't get in other small towns. When he had went on vacation to Suna with his family, everyone who found out they were from Konaha wouldn't stop talking about how they would love to live somewhere as peaceful as the 'Village Hidden in the Leaves' as it was nicknamed.
So, back to the original question, could something as horrible as child abuse happen in the peaceful, quiet town of Konoha? Sasuke didn't know, but he was determined to find out.
Standing up straight and out of his crouch he had been in while watching the two Hyuuga cousins from behind a bush, he made his way to his first period History class. He didn't have an excuse so there was no point in going to the office, just to be chewed out for being late.
Nonchalantly, Sasuke opened the door and walked into class, bracing himself for Anko sensei's lecture.
"Mr. Uchiha, would you be so kind as to tell the class why you felt the need to interupt their learning experience?"
"Hn." Anko's eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance.
"Just go to your seat, Sasuke," he sighed then mumbled something about needing a cigarette. Smirking, Sasuke went to his seat and sat down.
Class was boring as always. Sasuke already knew most of it. Sometimes whenever his parents were fighting and he didn't have anything else to do, Sasuke would take out one of his school books and read ahead to the next chapter just so he would have something to block out his parent's yells.
"Homework tonight. Read chapters seven and eight," Anko said just as the bell rang.
As students filed out of classrooms, looking for friends and hurrying to their next class, Sasuke kept his eyes peeled for any sign of the two Hyuugas. Finally, he spotted Hinata talking to a kid with red triangular markings on his face, who he knew as Kiba and another one with sunglasses hiding his eyes named Shino. Sasuke started to make his way toward the three friends, but before he could reach his destination he was ambushed by Naruto and Sakura.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed in her overly cheery voice, she only uses when talking to Sasuke.
"Yo, Teme, did ya get what you went back to your house for?"
"What?" Sasuke asked slightly confused, "Oh, that. Yeah, I got it," he quickly recovered.
"That's good, Sasuke-kun! I would hate it if you got in trouble because Naruto woke you up this morning."
"Sakura-chan! You were yelling too!" Naruto whined.
"What did you say?" Sakura asked as she cracked her knuckles and her eyes took on an evil glint.
"Um, nothing, Sakura-chan."
"That's what I thought." Sasuke just shook his head at his friends antics. Suddenly remembering what he was doing before he was interupted, Sasuke glanced over toward Hinata and her friends. He looked over just in time to see Kiba put his arm around Hinata's shoulders and point in the direction of his little group. Hinata's face went slightly red, but as soon as her eyes met Sasuke's she turned and hid her face in Kiba's side. Kiba looked slightly dissappointed at her reaction and Shino seemed confused. As Sasuke watched, he saw Kiba bend down and whisper something in Hinata's ear and Shino seemed to be listening intently.
"Sasuke-kun, what are you staring at?" Quickly Sasuke turned his head back in the direction of his friends. He hadn't realized he'd been staring.
"Hn. Just thinking."
"Oh, ok."
"Come on, guys, we're gonna be late!"
"Whatever, Dobe, we're coming."
"Hey, what'd you call me?" shouted Naruto as the group started walking.
"You heard me, Dobe."
"Teme!"
"Che." That was the end of the conversation because they had reached the Science classroom.
Finally, the bell signaling the end of first period rang. Hinata hastily jumped up and walked out of the classroom, careful not to strain herself too much. She only stopped outside the door to wait for Kiba and Shino. When they caught up with her moments later, all three of them started walking towards the bathrooms. They always met up there after classes to talk about how class went and random things.
"So, how was your weekend?" Kiba asked, breaking the silence.
"Mine was fine." Shino said simply.
"Aw, come on, Shino, that's what you always say. What'd you do?"
"Nothing extrodinary."
"Wow, your a real life of the party, aren't ya?" Kiba said sarcastically.
"What exactly did you do over the weekend, Kiba." Shino asked, knowing it would get Kiba talking for a minute or two.
"Me? I had an awesome weekend! I took Akamaru fishing with me down by the lake and we caught a whole bunch of fish. We ate 'em for supper and then Sunday we went to the park with the pond and Hana and Mom came with there dogs and we stayed there all day having fun. That is 'til Mom's dog stole a man's hotdog and he chased us out of the park. . . ." Kiba chuckled then trailed off for a moment.
They walked in a comfortable silence again until they reached the bathrooms, when Kiba decided to break it once more.
"So, how was your weekend, Hinata." Hinata stiffened slightly. She hated it when they asked her that question. It wasn't so much the lying she hated, but the fact that she was lying to her friends. Thankfully, she was saved the trouble because Kiba spotted something across the hall that made a sly grin appear on his face and made him forget all about his previous question.
Suddenly, he put his arm around Hinata's shoulders and pointed in the direction he had been looking. Hinata winced slightly when Kiba absentmindedly squeezed her closer to him. Kiba was like a brother to her, but he sure was strong.
"Look who it is, Hinata. It's Naruto." Kiba always liked picking on Hinata about her crush on the hyperactive blond. Hinata's face went slightly red, but not as much as it usually did. She couldn't help but think of how he acted this morning.
'Why was he so mean this morning? He completely ignored me and let Sakura torment me. The only one who offered any help was Sasuke. Of course he offered a bit too much help.'
Just as she thought this her eyes drifted to the left just enough to meet with Sasuke's. Gasping slightly, she turned her head to hide her face in Kiba's side.
She could feel her friends' eyes on her, but she couldn't help but to turn away from Sasuke's scrutinizing gaze. If she let anymore information loose, he might figure out what she had been hiding, and then she'd be in more trouble than she cared to imagine. She felt Kiba's weight shift and knew he was bending down to whisper in her ear.
"What happened? Did he do something to you?" Without having to ask, she knew he was talking about Naruto. He didn't know about her encounter with them this morning, which means he doesn't know she's ever even spoke to Sasuke.
"N-no," she managed to stutter out. It technically wasn't a lie- he hadn't done anything, which was exactly the problem.
"Don't lie to me, Hinata, you've had a crush on him since elementry school. Why the sudden change now?"
"I-it's not really s-sudden. . . ."
"Hinata," Shino spoke up, "we only want to help you."
"I kn-know, but he didn't d-do anything." Kiba sighed.
"Fine," Kiba gave in reluctantly.
"We should get to class. It'll be starting soon," Shino said, being the responsible one like always.
"Yeah, let's go." Hinata agreed. With that they headed off to class, Kiba and Shino going one way and Hinata going the other.
"She's hiding something about that blond idiot and I want to know what." Kiba growled as they headed in the direction of their next class- math.
"Are you going to confront him?"
"Duh, I'm gonna confront him and if he don't give me answers I'm gonna beat 'em outta him!"
Shino sighed, "Just don't do anything to rash."
"Come on, you know me, I wouldn't do anything I thought was unneccasary"
"That's what I'm afraid of." Kiba laughed as they both reached their classroom
"Good morning, Class." Genma said when the bell rang and everyone took there seats. There was a muttering of greetings around the classroom before Genma started the lesson. Time seemed to crawl along to Kiba, but finally the bell rang, Genma hollered out 'No homework!', and students started rushing out of the classroom. Kiba grabbed his stuff and made a beeline to where he knew the 'popular' people hung out in between classes.
He would have made it there too, if it weren't for Shino's hand clasping down on the collar of his shirt and holding him still.
"Shino! Let go! What are you doing?"
"Hinata expects us at the bathroom. If we aren't there she'll either come looking for us and possibly get hurt physically while you're fighting Naruto, or think we turned our backs on her and be hurt emotionally- neither of which we want to happen. We'll have to meet her, then make an excuse to get away."
"Fine," Kiba grumbled. Both friends made it to the bathrooms and saw Hinata standing there with a worried expression.
"Told you," Shino said quietly.
"Shut up," Kiba hissed, "Hey, Hinata, sorry we're late, we had to stay back in class for a minute." Hinata's relief was evident on her face.
"Oh, it's alright!" She said happily. Kiba began to look around in fake panic, but Hinata couldn't tell he was acting.
"Aw man! I left my homework in Genma's classroom." Hinata looked confused.
"But, we d-didn't have homework in m-math, did we?"
Kiba laughed nervously, "You do if you didn't finish the classwork. I gotta go get it. You go on to class, so you aren't late, Hinata."
"Hm? Oh, ok. Bye, Kiba!"
"See ya!" Kiba waved.
"I'll go with him, I have to go that way anyway," Shino explained.
"Alright. Bye, Shino!"
Shino nodded, "Goodbye," he said and walked off to catch up with Kiba. Looking down, Hinata noticed Kiba dropped his pen on the ground. She knew if Kiba went to class unprepared again he would get detention, so she picked it up and took off in the direction Shino and him had went.
Sasuke stared at the inside of his locker and sighed, he hadn't seen Hinata or Neji again after seeing Hinata this morning. He wanted to help, but Hinata seemed afraid of any help he had to offer. Why would she be afraid of help? She can't like the life she's living, whatever it is. Or maybe Sasuke was blowing this all out of proportion and Hinata really is a freak like Sakura says.
Sasuke shook his head. He can't think like that. He was the last person who should be judging someone's homelife by their school image. No one at school knew his parents fought except Naruto and Sakura and even they don't know how much they fight.
A sudden banging sound snapped Sasuke out of his reverie.
"What did you do?" a voice growled. Sasuke shut his locker and looked to his right. Kiba had Naruto by the collar of his shirt and was holding him up against the lockers. Shino was right behind him, shaking his head and Sakura stood off to the side, wearing a shocked expression.
"I thought you said you weren't going to do anything until you talked to him." Shino said in his monotone voice.
"I am talking," Kiba responded, "Now what did you do?" he half asked half yelled at Naruto.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Naruto shouted. Trying to avoid a fight, Shino interrupted before Kiba could speak.
"He means what did you do to Hinata. We have reason to believe you did something to harm her," he explained.
"I didn't do anything to her!" Naruto defended himself.
"You liar!" Kiba growled. He brought back his fist, ready to punch Naruto in the face.
"Kiba! Stop!" A quiet voice shouted. A small form planted itself inbetween the two thirteen year olds. Kiba tried bringing his fist back, but it was too late. All he could do was slow it. His fist made contact with Hinata's head, causing Hinata to fall to the ground holding her head.
Several shouts of "Hinata" could be heard from the surrounding group. Kiba and Shino had already bent down to check her head. It wasn't bleeding, but no one could tell if something was wrong on the inside of her head.
"We need to take her to the Nurse's Office," Shino, being the reasonable one, said.
"B-but, Shino, I'm f-fine," Hinata protested. She didn't want to go to the Nurse's Office. What if they saw all her bruises?
"Yeah, let's go," Kiba agreed, ignoring Hinata's pleas.
"I'll do it," Sasuke spoke up. All eyes turned to the youngest Uchiha. Kiba's eyes narrowed, Shino's glasses glinted dangerously, Naruto and Sakura stared at him with suprised looks in their eyes and Hinata looked at him nervously with wide eyes.
"Why would you want to take her, Uchiha?" Kiba growled. Sasuke glared.
"Don't get mad at me. You're the one who came over here and started picking fights. Beside, I'm not gonna do anything to her. I only suggested it because if you don't hurry you're all going to be late to class. I'm late all the time anyway, so it doesn't matter to me." Kiba was about to speak, but Shino cut him off.
"Very well."
"Shino, are you insane?"
"But, I'm f-fine, guys, honestly." Hinata and Kiba spoke at once.
"No, Kiba, I'm not crazy and Hinata you need to have your head checked out." Hinata pouted and looked away. She was so worried. What if the nurse wanted to check more than her head? Are there other bruises on her head? Would the nurse except that she fell down the stairs?
"Hinata? Hello?" Sasuke's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked around and noticed everyone else had gone back to class. Down the hallway she could hear Naruto telling Sakura how he could have taken Kiba if Hinata hadn't got in the way. She giggled slightly at his boistrous ways.
"Are you coming or not?" Sasuke questioned. Realizing he had already started moving, Hinata reluctantly followed. When they neared the Nurse's Office Hinata slowed her pace as she thought of all the scenerios that could land her, Neji, and Hanabi in Foster Care. Sasuke suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction.
"Where are we g-going?"
"Somewhere." Hinata was confused, but if she stopped Sasuke would probably have pulled her arm out of socket, so she did her best to keep up without letting out any cries of pain. They finally stopped outside the door that led to the roof after walking up some stairs. Sasuke let go of her arm and opened the door.
"Go on," he said. Hinata stared at him as if he were crazy. "It's either this or go to the Nurse's Office." Hinata reluctantly walked out the door and onto the school's roof. After walking through it as well, Sasuke shut the door. Hinata turned to him suspiciously.
"Why are we h-here?"
"Because you didn't want to go to the Nurse's Office."
"Oh, um, th-thank you, Uchiha-san."
"Sasuke."
"What?"
"Call me Sasuke. Uchiha-san sounds to formal."
"Oh, ok." Sasuke paused and glanced at Hinata.
"So, are you going to answer my questions?" Hinata's eyes shifted around nervously, looking anywhere but at Sasuke.
"Wh-what questions?" she asked, trying to play dumb.
"You know what questions. If you don't answer them, I'll follow you home and ask your father."
"NO! Y-you wouldn't d-dare!" Hinata stuttered out.
"Try me. Besides, you owe me anyway."
"F-for what?"
"Getting you out of going to the Nurse's Office." Hinata looked down and forced herself not to cry.
"Please, please, don't d-do this."
"I want to know what your father did to you."
"He d-didn't do anything!"
"You're lying!"
"No, I'm not. Stop it!" Hinata was desperate. She had to get away- away from the questions and the memories. School was supposed to be her escape. She didn't have to think about this here! Why was Sasuke doing this? Why wouldn't he leave her alone? Hinata covered her ears and fell to the ground.
"Leave m-me alone! Please!" With wide eyes Sasuke bent down next to the shaking girl and put his arm on her shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Without thinking, Hinata threw her arms around Sasuke and buried her head in his neck before the stream of tears she had been holding back for years finally broke loose.
"I-It hurts, Sasuke. It hurts so much. Why d-doesn't he love me? I didn't mean for it t-to happen! I wish they were st-still here too, b-but there not. Why couldn't it have been m-me? Why can't he see I'm h-hurting too?" The front of Sasuke's shirt was wet with Hinata's tears, but he didn't care. He just wanted to comfort her somehow. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to think of what to say. How do you comfort a girl crying in your arms, without knowing what they're crying for?
"Shh. I don't know, Hinata, I don't know. I wish I could help you, but I'm not sure how." The two stayed there in the same position for ten minutes before Hinata's crying finally slowed a bit. The tears were still coming, but they weren't as bad as they had been.
While Hinata was crying, Sasuke had been trying to figure out what she may have meant. What happened? Who went where? Why are both Hinata and her father hurting? None of it made any sense to him. Hinata's voice caught his attention before he could ponder on it further.
"Sasuke, why does he still blame m-me? It's been so long and I've tried and tried to h-help him forget, but his punches just get harder. I've tried so hard to help him, but it's never e-enough. I don't want to t-try anymore, Sasuke!"
'So he does hit her?'
"Don't worry, I'll help you in anyway I can, I promise." Sasuke vowed. Sasuke glanced at his watch. "Come on, Hinata, we need to get back to class," he said helping her up. The two teens walked back the way they had come, but they made a quick stop at the restrooms, so that Hinata could wash her face and get rid of any evidence that she'd been crying. When they passed the Nurse's Office Sasuke pulled Hinata inside.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't worry, we just need an excuse." Sasuke walked up to the Nurse's desk and asked for a cough drop for Hinata and an excuse for both of them for being late to class. With a smile, Ms. Shizune, who was also the school's nurse, gave Sasuke what he asked for. Sasuke thanked her and the two thirteen year olds headed off to there respected classes.
For Hinata, the rest of her day seemed to fly by. She felt lighter after letting everything out. After holding it all in for so long, she felt like the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders. Opening her locker, Hinata noticed a note fall out of it. Bending down carefully to grab it, she looked around to see if anyone was watching. Kiba and Shino weren't anywhere around, so she opened the note and read what it said.
Hinata,
Can you come to my house for the weekend? I told you I'd help you and one way I can think of to do that is to get you out of that house for a little while. Write back with your answer.
Sasuke.
Hinata smiled. It felt good to have someone other than Neji know what was going on. Now all she had to do was convince her father to let her go to a friend's house for the weekend.
'Oh boy.'
A/N- The first chapter is finally done! Yay! It took me so long to finish this it's not even funny! Between moving and having the internet shut off twice, I didn't think I'd ever get this finished! Anyway, please leave a review. I was planning on writing a couple chapters before posting this, but with everything that happened I decided to go ahead and publish it, so my next update might not be for a while.
(1)- I just looked up adult magazines for guys and this was one that came up. If it's actually not a 'bad magazine' (as in not for kids), I'm sorry. Please pretend it is. Thanks!