Chapter 3 - Hinata cont'd

Yeah. So, it goes pretty much directly from the last one. They may as well have been the same chapters, but then they'd be out of proportion. And I really have issues with things that are out of proportion. Because I'm weird that way.

I don't own Naruto or the characters. Yeah.



~3~

Sakura marched down to the food court, Hinata quietly following and maybe a bit pinker than normal&oh well. Hinata was always pink for some reason or another. She burned so easily, whenever she forgot to put on sunscreen before training, shed have a pinkish hue before lunch on a fairly clouded day. Between that and her being easily embarassed, her skin was always pink or red or something along those lines.

Admittedly, that constant little blush might have been what made her so cute, but Sakura didn't much care about how cute Hinata was--after all, she had the great and uncomparable beauty of Ino to quest for. It was in this quest that Sakura was now tramped through the mall, and it was Hinata who suggested this adventure, this venture for the sake of reminding Ino that Sakura wanted some of her love too.

The duo arrived at the ice cream stand in the food court, and Sakura started looking around for her beloved Ino while Hinata pondered what kind of ice cream she wanted to buy. It was in vain, though--Ino's bright blonde hair was nowhere to be found in the food court. Sakura huffed, irritated at Inos hiding.

Sakura jumped back to reality at the sound of Hinata's meek voice asking, "Um, Sakura? I...well, because I bought that outfit, I only have enough money for one cone...so, um...I guess we have to share...what kind do you want?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked, caught off-guard. "Oh...um, well...I don't know what kind of ice cream I like that you like too...it's okay Hinata, I'll just buy my own," she improvised, fishing in her purse for her wallet.

Hinata stammered for a moment before she said, "U-um, Sakura, I'd rather pay for you--I don't mind, I'm not really hungry anyway, I could just get the one for you--"

"No, no!" Sakura insisted. "I couldn't let you pay for me and go hungry yourself! It's just not--"

"B-but Sakura," Hinata protested. "I-I-I'm lactose int-intolerant, I-I just re-remembered th-that I f-forgot my pill th-this morning, s-so I c-c-can't eat i-ice cream--I-I mean I can, I just sh-shouldn't, or, y-you know..."

Hinata always stuttered when she lied, so Sakura knew instantly that the short-haired Hyuuga wasn't telling the truth. She felt anger rising within her, sparked by Ino's dissapearence and fueled by Hinata lying for no reason. "No, you're not, you're lying, and I'm paying for myself, thank you very much," she snapped, whipping out a five-dollar bill and addressing the man behind the counter. "One small strawberry ice cream in a sugar cone, please," she ordered huffily.

Sakura was too busy taking her ice cream from the employee to notice Hinata stammer that she was going to the bathroom before running off in that general direction. Sakura grinned triumphantly. 'Good riddance, liar,' she thought unforgivingly as Hinata cut through the crowd, unaware of the tears that she wiped away from her eyes.

As Hinata ran through the throng, she almost ran into two girls who were holding hands. She avoided crashing into them when they seperated, and came back together as soon as she was past, looking over their shoulders at the blindly sprinting girl, her unzipped hoodie flapping behind her. One of the girls, blonde with clear blue eyes, squinted after Hinata. "Was that...?" she wondered.

"Hm?" her friend, a brunette who put her hair into two buns resembling panda ears, asked. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah..." the blonde answered quietly. "TenTen, I think that was Hinata..."

"Hinata?" TenTen asked. "That sounds familiar...oh, yeah, she's Neji's cousin! But, Ino, how do you know Hinata?"

"Well, she graduated from the same class as I did," Ino explained. "We both passed all the exams--Hinata, Sakura, and myself are the only girls from this year's Rookie Nine."

"Oh," TenTen responded. "So...why's she crying?"

"I don't know," Ino admitted. "Maybe we should follow her and find out..."

"Yeah, okay," TenTen agreed, following her new girlfriend into the girls' bathroom.

At their destination, Hinata was already curled up in a corner of the largest stall, tears running down her face as she sobbed lightly. 'Sakura,' she thought sadly, 'what did I do wrong? Do you hate people who aren't straight? But--that doesn't make sense, you like Ino, doesn't that mean that you hate yourself, too? You don't hate yourself, do you? You're so cheerful, how could you be so cheerful if you hate yourself? What is it about me that you hate so much?'

Hinata heard the bathroom door open and tried to stop sobbing until they left. They didn't, though; she saw two pairs of feet head toward her stall, and then stop just outside the stall door, a second before she heard a familiar voice ask softly, "Hinata? Are you okay? Why are you crying?"

'Ino,' Hinata thought, recognizing her voice. 'Maybe...would Sakura have been so mean if she wasn't in love with you?'

"Hinata? What happened?" Ino tried again.

Hinata sobbed harder. 'I-I-I-I, I c-can't s-s-say..."

"Why not?" Ino asked. She gasped. "You're not pregnant or anything, are you?"

A single bark of a laugh came instead of a sob, a laugh at Ino's misunderstanding that cleared the clouds of depression for a split second before the clouds converged and rained even harder than before. "N-n-n-no, I-I-I'm n-not, I-I-I..."

Ino sighed and thought for a second. "Um...did you see Naruto eating ice cream with Sakura or something?"

Hinata pictured that image and felt herself gasping for air, she thought she was drowning--both of the people she loved the most abandoned her, turned their backs on her, ignored her, left her to be alone forever--

She shook her head vigorously, half trying to clear the image and half saying no, before she remembered that Ino was on the other side of the door. "N-n-n, n, n-n, n--"

"No? Okay," Ino finished for her. "Then what is it?"

"S-s-s, s-s, Sa--s-s-s," Hinata tried to stammer, but stopped herself when she thought of what Ino might say if she knew Hinata was in love with Sakura. "U-u-uh, I-I, I, I mean..."

Ino sighed and waited patiently. "Just say it. If you don't want to say who, speak in generalities--like, my crush, or my brother, or my friend. Okay?"

Hinata tried again. "M-m-my, my crush," she wimpered, swallowed, and tried to go on, "h-h, h-hates me..."

"Who, Naruto?" Ino asked, surprised. She always thought that Naruto liked Hinata, if anything, or he would if he knew what she thought of him.

"N-n-n-n, n-n-no," Hinata stumbled.

"Really?" Ino was even more surprised by this. "Are you crushing on Sasuke or something?"

"N-n-n--"

"Okay, not Sasuke..."

Hinata took a deep, shuddering breath, and released it unevenly. How was she going to tell Ino that she loved Sakura, how would Ino react to Hinata's love for people of the same gender?

"Hmmm..." Ino muttered, thinking. "Well, Hinata, maybe if you come out, it would be a little easier for us to talk? You know, at least you could shake your head instead of trying to say no. I mean, no offense, but it's really pathetic, hearing you stumble so badly over that one syllable..."

"N-n-none, t-t-t, t-taken," Hinata spluttered, slightly hesitant to open the door, partially because she was shaking badly and didnt want to fall and hurt herself on the tile. She managed to crawl close enough to the door to reach up and open it, and it swung open, reminding Hinata that Ino hadnt come into the bathroom alone.

Standing in the doorway was Ino, as expected, with her face halfway between worried and comforting, but standing to one side and a bit behind the blonde was another girl, with brown hair held in a style that made Hinata think of a panda, her face only worry about something or another, her chocolate-brown eyes holding no comfort, just a wish that she could.

"Hinata," Ino addressed, smiling softly and understandingly, "this is TenTen. TenTen, this is Hinata, although she doesn't usually look this bad."

TenTen smiled uncertainly. "Nice to meet you, I guess, even if circumstances are a little...odd."

Hinata looked at TenTen uncertainly, then looked to Ino with a questioning look. "Y-you came h-h-here w-with...t-t-Tent-Ten?" she asked.

"Yup," Ino answered, still smiling comfortingly. "I know that when I said I couldn't come with you and Sakura, it sounded like I have a new boyfriend, but I don't--well, not quite. I have TenTen instead. You get it?"

"S-so, yo-you're..."

"You know, I guess so," Ino admitted. "I guess I'm lesbian now--and I-m happy that way, really. TenTen and I have a lot in common, she's really nice, and--"

Hinata made a little squeaking laugh. "Aha...you m-mean...s-s-seriously..."

"Yup!" Ino repeated. "So, I guess it's needless to say that I have no negative comments whatsoever about who your crush is--well, as far as gender goes, anyway, right?"

Hinata smiled, relieved, and tried to stand. Ino realized how shakey her friend was and came forward to support her while she stood. "W-well, th-then, I g-guess I should t-tell you...m-my crush? Sh-she's..." Hinata blushed. A lot. "Sh-sh-she's..."

"Hmmm..." Ino mumbled. "Let's see...who could it be...?" She frowned. "You know, why is it that you're in here, crying your eyes out, and Sakura seems to have entirely ditched you?"

Hinata's eyes filled with tears again and she looked down. "Sh-sh-sh-she....I-I think...sh-she h-h-h, h-h-h, h-ha-hates me..."

Ino grimaced. "So it's Sakura, then? Why does she hate you? Does she have a problem with your crush on her?"

"I-I...I-I-I-I...I-I-I'm n-n-not..."

"You're not sure?" Ino finished. "Well...where is she? I'm going to go knock some sense--"

"No!" Hinata protested. "Sh-sh-she...p-pl-please, n-n-no..."

Ino smiled again, her eyes mirroring sadness rather than happiness. "Yeah, okay. But I still need to talk to her about all this. It's just not right--Sakura isn't that homophobic, if she is at all, it's got to be something else!" She turned to leave, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Um, TenTen, could you stay here and make sure Hinata's okay? You know, just comfort her, and don't let anything happen to her--she's like a sister to me."

"A-are you sure?" TenTen asked, uncertain what she could do for the trembling Hyuuga. "M-maybe I should go get Saku--"

"No, I should do it," Ino told her stubornly. "I'm sorry if you don't think you can take care of the situation very well, but you're my only option, and whatever you think, I know you can take care of Hinata well enough." With that, Ino walked out of the bathroom, leaving Hinata and TenTen alone.

"L-let's stay in this stall," TenTen decided, guiding Hinata back into the handicaped stall. "We'll just stay here and wait for Ino to come back..."


~fin~

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