A Class Act Chapter 7

A Class Act

Notes: Update date! I'm really excited about this chapter since it will feature some of the characters people have been asking about/have been pretty much ignored so far. Now, before I start, I have one request. Please, please stop asking me about where is 'this character' or 'that character', when will we see 'so-and-so'.

Please, be patient with me. Yes, there are characters who do get swept under the rug in some chapters, only to appear again later on. Just trust that I know what I'm doing. I have the story pretty much planned out and every day I'm adding scenes on the story so everyone gets some spotlight.

Anyway, sorry if I'm being a pain, just had to get that off my chest. Enough yap! Onward to the next chapter!
–
Chapter Seven:
Shino's Revenge, Sleeping Arrangements, and Fairy Queens- Part One-


Pinned between a boy, who called himself Tobi, and the carpet; Hinata struggled to breathe. Face burning a bright red, the girl sputtered, pushed, and uttered half-formed protests. Then, the awkward-factor was upped by the fact someone was opening the door to the common room.

"N-no! Don't come in!" Hinata yelped.

Nevertheless, the door opened. Pale eyes blinked as Neji took in sight of his female cousin, tackled to the ground by a...Uchiha. Teeth gritted, his fists clenched so tight the knuckles were white; Neji demanded an explanation.

"What is the meaning of this? What are you doing on top of Hinata-sama?!"

In response, Tobi clung tighter to the wiggling girl. Hinata squeaked and struggled frantically, fingers clawing at the floor. The boy on top of her refused to let go though.

"Tobi loves Hinata-chan! There is nothing you can do about it, Princess Neji!"

Last year's 'nickname', still rankled the young man, plus Tobi's voice alone was enough to grate on Neji's frayed nerves. The student council member quickly strode over, his right hand fisted on the back of Tobi's shirt collar.

"You can't stop our love!" the Uchiha wailed, while being forcibly pried off Hinata. Pulling the 'petite' Senior up to look him in the eye, Neji scowled. His words were spoken softly, yet as frigid as ice.

"Outside. Now."

Crimson eyes closed, following the boy's outward cringe, "S-scary!"

Sitting up, Hinata finally managed to work her mouth properly, "T-thank you...Neji-nii-san. B-but, please don't hurt him."

The boy glared at Tobi's bowed head, the young man was gagging and trying to breathe around Neji's tight grip on his collar and throat.

"No promises..." was his dark reply.

Hinata flinched as Neji dragged Tobi out of the room, slamming the door behind him upon departure. From the other side of the door, a very loud and 'girly' scream arose. Opal eyes blinked. Was that...Tobi-sempai? That didn't 'sound' like Neji...

Hinata blinked yet again as footsteps stomped, before skidding to a stop in front of the door, which was then flung open. Once able to look inside, blue eyes peered inside the room.

"Did you just scream?" Naruto inquired. Looking worried, the boy's blue eyes glanced around  the room for threats, be it boys, spiders, or anything else that might have set Hinata off.

"Uh n-no, that was..."

Suddenly the front door opened, as Tobi attempted to claw his way back inside. Long and unruly black hair fell in the boy's face; as the senior crawled desperately, only to be dragged back out.

"Please Princess Neji! I'm sorry! N-not the face!"

"Hold still, you damn Uchiha!" Neji growled.

Naruto and Hinata had to turn their heads to witness as Tobi scrambled to crawl back inside the house; only to be dragged back to the porch by Neji.

"Oh, that guy." Naruto noted casually, before kneeling beside the young woman. Hinata scooted over, allowing Naruto elbow room as he sat beside her.

"You k-know him?" Hinata asked, shifting uncomfortably at being so close to Naruto. Yet, she didn't want to move too far away either.

The blond shrugged, while leaning back, his palms flat against the carpet.  "Kind of. He's one of the Uchiha Quads. They're all pretty strange, but he's..." Naruto's explanation was overpowered by the Uchiha in question begging for mercy.

"Princess Neji! Stop, I've learned my lesson!"

"Quit calling me a princess, you freak!"

"Why? That's what Gaara called you last year..." those words were followed by yet another girlish scream.

"He's...different." Naruto finished with a weak grin.

A sympathetic flinch crossed Hinata's expression, "M-maybe we should ask Neji-nii to stop..." she started to say, moving to stand. However, Hinata stopped short of getting up and confronting her cousin, when Naruto reached up and grabbed her hand.

Hinata's face felt like it was on fire. Surely, he must have felt her pulse leap, just underneath the skin.

"Nah, leave him to Neji-sempai. I'm sure whatever Tobi did, he deserves it."

Unable to speak right away, Hinata settled for a slow nod then re-folded her knees. Once she was down on the floor again, Hinata felt her wrist fall from Naruto's loose grasp. The blush receded, yet Hinata mourned the loss of contact.

'W-what am I thinking? Naruto-kun...he's very nice to me, but he's also one of the residents. I can't get too close...it wouldn't be right.' Hinata thought, biting her bottom lip. For his part, Naruto seemed oblivious to the young woman's mounting anxiety.

"You've done your homework already?" the blond-haired boy inquired.

Hinata nodded once more, "Have you finished...your homework, Naruto-kun?"

A sheepish grin made Hinata's blush to return.

"Uh not really. I don't get..." he replied, while flipping open Hinata's notes and completed work. Uneasy silence settled into the room, only interrupted by the fidgeting coming from the dorm manager. Just sitting next to Naruto, even when he wasn't saying anything, made her face turn red, heart beat flutter, and just all around clumsiness.

Then, Naruto's voice interrupted the quiet, "How did you get this?"

Steeling herself to force out a coherent sentence, Hinata cleared her throat, "W-which one?"

As the blond leaned over, to show Hinata the paper, she froze. Breathing became a chore as the girl's head took to spinning. Naruto-kun...was so close...she could see the exact hue in his blue eyes...

The blue eyes blinked, "Hinata-chan?"

Hearing her name, Hinata snapped into alertness, "S-sorry...I was...thinking about..."

The pause afforded Hinata one stolen glance to the boy, "...s-something else."

"Ah, I have that problem too! I can't help but space out when the teachers are rambling about something boring..."

As the blond went to great lengths to describe his ADHD, with some side-tracked blurt-outs of thoughts along the way; Hinata couldn't help but be in awe. Naruto-kun...was pretty amazing. So much energy, she felt exhausted just LISTENING to him talk.

However, the five minutes of basking in his sunny glow, wasn't meant to last.

The door to the common room opened for a third time, at this point it was Kankuro standing at the opposite end.

"Oi, you going to help us or not?" the grumpy senior resident barked.
–
"A little to the left."

Hinata winced as she watched Kankuro's bottom lip curl, visibly annoyed by his dorm mate barking orders.

The dorm members that were forced to abandon their rooms had banned together to set up a temporary base in the common room. It was fairly chaotic as they clashed over the arrangements and she hoped to gather enough courage to maintain peace.

"You're sleeping on the goddamn floor! Why does it matter so much where the mattress goes?!"

The short red-headed boy didn't even blink. His voice monotone and calm, Sasori plainly stated, "I'm very particular about my sleeping space."

Kankuro's jaw tightened, a cutting retort sitting at the tip of his tongue.

"Ah...like this S-Sasori-sempai?" Hinata instantly said while shifting the mattress; in hopes of defusing some of the tension.

Sasori eyed the bed's new position. A pause. Then he gave a casual shrug, "It will do."

Relieved to have appeased Sasori and stopped a fight from brewing; Hinata notice two people were missing.

"Why aren't Hidan-sempai and Deidara-sempai here?"

Sasori replied, "Hidan was taking a shower. No idea where Deidara is...though most likely he's making some insipid sculpture and calling it 'art'. Well, we'll just see about that..."

Hinata's pale eyes blinked widely, at his dark mummers. However, she wasn't given much time to dwell on it, because at that moment the door to the common room opened yet again. Neji had returned. Hinata could tell, just by looking at him, her cousin had something on his mind.

Feeling a bit more confident, from assisting Kankuro and Sasori before they could start bickering; Hinata strode over to her cousin.

"Nii-san?"

His pale eyes glanced up at her, right as Hinata greeted him.

"I uh...t-thank you...for helping me earlier. W-with...Tobi-sempai."

Neji didn't reply to his cousin's gratitude. Instead, Hinata felt a clammy hand grasp her right wrist, forcibly pulling her out of the common room and into the hallway. Surprise, didn't even begin to describe, what Hinata felt.

Her cousin's anger was obvious as he blocked her into a corner. However, the look Hinata took for anger turned on herself, wasn't quite how it appeared. In actuality, Neji was more pissed at himself than anyone else. Yet, his gloomy countenance didn't translate well.

Trapped, Hinata had no choice but to look at him. Into those intimidating eyes. Suddenly, she felt eight years old again; Scared of men, boys, the opposite sex in general. Back then, every touch from her cousin had felt just as slimy as...as...

"You need to stop this." Neji bit out, his tone was soft in volume, but steely in delivery.

Snapping out of her momentary lapse, Hinata spoke hesitantly, "S-stop what?"

"This!" he snapped, still holding Hinata's wrist.

"You're so...gullible and...too nice. You'll wind up in more situations like that, Hinata. Not just with Tobi-san, but others." Neji gritted out, his grip tightening around Hinata's wrists.

The temperature dropped around them, causing Hinata to shiver. Why did he have to remind her of this? The very thing she wanted to avoid thinking about, Neji was quick to not only remind, but chide her about. As if...the incident was HER fault.

"If you leave yourself open like that Hinata, people are bound to take advantage of you. Again. Do you enjoy...being that helpless and caught up in something like..."

Tears gathered behind her eyes. Neji was implying...she 'enjoyed' being the victim. This wasn't right! He just didn't understand, what she went through. And it wasn't like she sought out trouble. There was so much Hinata wanted to tell her cousin, explain to him. Not a single word went past her lips though. She was still imprisoned by familiar fears.

What if...he didn't believe her? What if Neji really did think she brought all of that pain and humiliation on herself?

For his part, Neji's grip became slack as Hinata's face reddened, her eyes dewy with pent-up teardrops. For a moment he wondered if he was being too hard on his younger cousin. Forcing himself to be a touch more gentle, Neji took a step back.

"You don't understand, what people can do to you....Hinata..." he started to say, yet his voice trailed off, as a person emerged from the shower room.

She didn't dare look up, to see what distracted Neji from his train of thought. She was only aware of his loosened grip on her wrist, and the body backing away.

Taking advantage of this opening, Hinata blindly bolted down the hallway. She had to escape Neji. He assumed to know everything, but in reality he knew nothing. Nothing of the past. Nothing of that encounter with Tobi-sempai.

He had no right...speaking to her like that. But, rather than tell him so; Hinata opted to take the easiest route: Running away.
–
With a towel around his waist and another around his neck, Hidan pushed silver bangs back. Steam followed him out the opened door and into the hall. Before he could walk on, the boy stopped as he saw Neji keeping the dorm manager boxed in a corner.

It wasn't any of his business. Regardless, Hidan grinned. He knew an opportunity to mess with some poor sucker's head, when he saw one.  The term 'kissing cousins' came to mind.

If the two Hyuugas reacted like he expected, they'd jump, blush, and deny- deny-deny. If that was what they were doing...well him and Deidara could torment them both later on.

However, before he could open his mouth, Neji demanded to know, "Why aren't you dressed?"

That comment was all it took to irk him, "What? A guy can't walk around this place shirtless, anymore?"

Neji's eyes narrowed into a cold glare. Hidan's only response was a snort.

"Just put some clothes on."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Oh, and your girlfriend just took off." Hidan remarked casually, a thumb jerked in the direction Hinata took off in.

"We're cousins." Neji bit out.

"Hn, if you say so. Getting kind of close and touchy-feely for being...'cousins'."

Hidan's grin grew wider in response to Neji's wanning glare.

He could tell, Neji was becoming irritated, but there was also a very suspicious pinking of cheeks. Such a reaction from such a tight-ass like the Hyuuga, obviously something was up. Unfortunately, Hidan's goal of starting something wasn't realized. Neji decided he had bigger fish to fry than getting into a fight with Hidan.

As the other boy turned and walked away, Hidan recalled the snippet of the conversation he had overheard. Come to think of it...what Neji had said to his cousin, didn't 'sound' romantic at all. If anything his words came across as intimidating.

"Ah whatever...not my problem." Hidan mumbled to himself.
–
Lowering the strap of his bass case off his shoulder, Chojuro was surprised to see the dorm manager wandering down the hallway. Her face was flushed red, eyes watery with the start of tears. His hand paused at the door to his and Sai's room. He shouldn't interfere. Chojuro knew he was pretty much useless around girls. So, anything he could say might be used against him as evidence of his ineptitude. Still, he couldn't allow himself open the door, walk-in, and ignore her behind a locked barrier.

"H-Hinata-chan?"

The girl's head snapped up, hands quickly moving to wiping tears off her face.

"Chojuro-kun...I'm sorry it's just..." her gaze wandered, looking past his shoulder to the hallway. Chojuro followed the girl's line of sight. Neji was walking towards them, he looked angry.

"Here, c-come inside." he offered.

At first, the girl was hesitant, teeth lightly impressed on her bottom lip. But, as Neji came closer, she darted inside. Chojuro slide the door shut and locked it.
–
Outside Chojuro's dorm room, Neji glared at the locked door, as if he could burn a hole inside simply by staring at it. Gritting his teeth, he tapped a fist against the wooden frame. His first thought was accusing Hinata of being a coward. Yet, as he stood there his anger gradually abetted. If Hinata was hiding from him, then he had pushed too much.

Neji wasn't sure how else to go about it though. Hinata had always been his closest companion when they were growing up. He was like an older brother to her, with Hinata closely following him around, just like an imprinted duckling. Yet, when she turned eight, something changed in Hinata.  Suddenly, she wouldn't stop crying. She took to screaming whenever Neji touched her, and secluded herself away into unused rooms of the Hyuuga household.

It wasn't until three years later, when the culprit was not only caught, but put in jail; did Neji get an explanation for her bizarre behavior. However, he was still working on regaining Hinata's trust. This ill-advised conversation just might have ruined his chances.

Discouraged, Neji lowered his hand then turned from the door to walk down the hallway to his own room.

–
Inside, Chojuro and Hinata remained silent, not looking at each other or the locked door.

Finally, Neji gave up: His footsteps heard walking away from the door. For his part, Chojuro breathed a sigh of relief. He would have hated to confront Neji, if that had lasted any longer. Or worse, Sai would see Neji and just let him walk right in.  It wasn't long though, before the peace and quiet was shattered, by a muffled sob.

Chojuro watched, fidgeting in discomfort, as the dorm manager broke down. Tears streamed down the young woman's face, hands clasped tightly to stifle the sound, while shoulders rose and fell.

"A-are you...alright...Hinata-chan?"

The only answer he received was a shaking head. Chojuro felt like an idiot then. Of course she wasn't 'alright'! He might not be all that bright or suave when it came to women; but even an idiot could tell a woman was not okay when she was crying.

Spying his Mp3 player and headphones on the desk, he toyed with the idea of putting on the headphones and tuning her out.

At the last moment, he thought better of it. He still grabbed the headset and MP3 device; but instead of shoving it on and turning up the music, he offered it to Hinata instead.

"H-here...l-let me..."

She flinched as the earphones were placed around her ears. Heart in his throat, Chojuro hoped he was doing the right thing. His fingers clicked buttons, until coming across a particular play list. Hinata seemed lost completely to her despair, until lively music was pumped through the headphones.

Opal colored eyes blinked owlishly, then glanced up at Chojuro, who blushed in response. Hand behind his head, the boy gave a weak chuckle, really not wanting to explain why he had perky, happy, bubble-gum pop on his music player.

"It's just...w-whenever I'm feeling down...I listen to...happy music to...lighten my m-mood. Go on...try."

Pulling the headphones back on, albeit reluctantly; Hinata looked up at Chojuro as if doubting his words. However, as one song bled into another (the same kind of happy-pop music, but with a different singer and style); her look of disbelief softened into a smile. Relieved once again, he sighed.

"D-do you like it?"

She slowly nodded.

"So...do you...feel a little b-bit better, Hinata-chan?"

It took her a bit longer for Hinata to respond this time. Eventually, her lips moved, "Hai...a...little bit."
–
This couldn't be.

Brown eyes behind sunglasses narrowed, as Shino examined the flyer in his hands. After closing the door, sending the senior from the Hebi dorm back to where he came from, Shino found himself staring at a brightly colored death warrant for the less than appreciated residents of their home.

There had to be some sort of mistake. Despite the gross error, Shino wasn't overly concerned. He just had to show the dorm manager the flyer and have her deal with it. Hinata would obviously see how unjust such a slaughter would be and would therefore approach the Headmaster about sparing the lives of the termites.

How was he so assured in that knowledge? Well...for one thing, Hinata was the dorm manger. One of her duties was to represent the residents and present their requests to the Headmaster. Also, if Kiba's dog was allowed to stay inside the dormitory...why couldn't the termites be allowed to live here as well?

With that in mind, Shino strode down the hallway, having just left Hinata's empty room. It took two rounds of pacing from one end of the hall, to the other, before he finally spotted the elusive dorm manager. Catching her just as she emerged from Chojuro's room, Shino said nothing as both glanced back at him, their eyes wide and shocked, not too dissimilar from deer caught in headlights.

However, Shino couldn't even muster up the curiosity for a raised eyebrow. Instead, there were more important matters at hand. Lives were at stake, literally.

"Y-yes...Shino-kun? ...what's this?" Hinata questioned once handed the flyer.

"Minato-sensei sent it to us through another student." Shino said, allowing Hinata a moment to read the contents of the page. However, Shino's expectations of Hinata sharing his indignant, yet quiet, outrage were left wanting. The girl didn't frown or even look upset at the news of exterminators stopping by their dorm house tomorrow. If anything she looked...relieved?

"Ah, Minato-sensei p-promised he'd work on this quickly. B-but I didn't expect him to get an appointment at such a late notice."

This reaction perplexed the young man. Then again, most of people's negative reaction to insects in general confused Shino.

Still, could Hinata not see that by allowing the exterminators into their dorm, she was supporting murder? Or maybe...a cute and frolicking puppy took priority over termites?

If that was the case...

Hinata gasped as the flyer was suddenly snatched from her hands.

"Never mind, Hinata-chan. I'll take care of this myself." Shino said quietly, however his tone was not to mistaken for one of submission and acceptance. He was already working on a way to prevent the mass murder of thousands of innocent termites.

As the boy turned right around to walk to his dorm, Chojuro and Hinata were left standing in the hall. Silently, they marveled at Shino's determination and shivered in fear of what exactly he planned on doing to 'take care' of the termite issue.
–

Wrinkled sheets slid and twisted around the bed, as the body the fabric covered flopped down to lay on his stomach. Perched atop the pillow was a squirming puppy that was ready to get down and attack the balls of paper littering the floor.

A grunt escaped while Kiba kept a gentle hand on Akamaru, attempting to calm him down. His efforts were futile though since Akamaru wiggled out from under his palm. The pup took a flying leap off the bed, his mouth open to catch the paper-ball Shino tossed over his shoulder.

Groggy and not in the best of moods, Kiba's dark brown eyes narrowed at his roommate's hunched shoulders.

"Shino...give it up man. It's...three a.m. In the morning. There is nothing you can say that can stop those guys from coming in and spraying the house down."

Kiba held his breath as Shino fidgeted at the desk. A hand ran through thick-almost afro-like-hair, then down to pinch the bridge of a slender nose. While his back was still to Kiba, Shino slid off his sunglasses for a moment.

Just when Kiba was starting to anticipate Shino turning off the desk lamp and going to bed; he was greatly disappointed to see Shino lean back in the chair, crack his knuckles, and put on his sunglasses again; before leaning over and getting back to work.

Exasperated, Kiba flopped back into bed and reached back to pull the pillow over his eyes; blocking out the light of the desk lamp.
–

For Shino and Kiba, morning came much too soon. However, for Hinata, daybreak was right on time. Seeing Gaara standing guard at her doorway was a little less of a shock; so Hinata attempted to work around the red-head. By the time all of her school material was together, homework included; Hinata timidly greeted Gaara as he woke up.

He replied with a 'good morning glare', which looked more like a 'shut up or I'll kill you stare'; but since he left her room without incident she decided to be optimistic. At least Gaara had looked at her this time, rather than out right ignoring her greeting.

Once the room was all hers again, Hinata dressed quickly and decided that after the termites were taken care of, she'd try to request Minato-sensei to see about putting in better doors- preferably ones with better locks. Ready to start a new day, Hinata walked only a few steps from her dorm door, before encountering a sort of traffic jam.

"W-what's going on?" the timid girl asked, trying to see over Kisame's broad shoulders. The blue-haired boy shrugged, "Dunno. It's been backed-up like this all morning...and you've got a stalker..."

"...what?" Hinata uttered, just before two arms wrapped around her.

"Hinata-chan!" Tobi squealed, again with a voice much higher than should be on allowed on a boy. With an 'omph' Hinata found herself embraced tightly, Tobi rubbing his cheek against hers.

"K-K-Kisame-sempai...help me...p-please?!"

All she got from the swimmer was a weak chuckle. Was it Hinata's imagination...or did Kisame not want to mess with Tobi-sempai?

"Uh...you know...I'll ask around and see what the holdup is at the front door instead. Be a good boy Tobi."

The black mane of hair attached to a boy, snorted, "Tobi is ALWAYS a good boy, stinky sushi man."

"...sure you are." Kisame replied with a short sigh. As he walked on, Hinata attempted to stagger alongside Kisame. However, holding Tobi's weight alongside her own almost made her trip and fall.

"T-Tobi-sempai please let me go. I need to walk...ahh!" Hinata's words were interrupted by Hidan loudly proclaiming, and using some rather colorful language at that; that he wouldn't sign what Shino was putting in front of him.

"They're just a bunch of stinkin bugs! Let them die for all I care! I need my damn room back."

Hinata, with a Tobi-attachment, peered around the line in time to see Hidan shove Shino out of the way, followed closely by Deidara.
Once those two broke ranks and pushed Shino aside; the rest of the dorm followed suit.

"W-what's going on?"

"You don't know?" Tobi asked, his head resting on Hinata's right shoulder, most of his mane-like hair blocking her peripheral vision.

"No..."

Tobi shrugged, releasing her arm long enough to wave his arms as he spoke, "Shino-kun wants to protect the icky buggies, so he's got this paper going around...saying we should sign it, so the termites don't get sprayed."

Hinata swallowed uneasily. This didn't sound good. From the looks of things, no one was willing to even humor Shino and sign the petition. Instead, they were bullying and pushing him around.

"I...I should do something..." she muttered. Yet the thought of speaking up, or even signing Shino's petition as a gesture; suddenly made Hinata feel dreadful.

What if...the other residents turned on her for signing the document? She was supposed to be keeping order inside these halls. How could she do that...if most of the dorm despised her?

And...what of Shino? If she ignored how the other boys were treating him, wouldn't he resent her too?

In the end...fear won out. Hinata knew there was a back door that went out into the garden and the gate could get her out to the sidewalk...

Quietly, (Well as quiet as she could be with Tobi all but surgically attached to her right arm) she slipped away, leaving Shino to fend for himself.

She didn't feel good about it. In fact, Hinata regretted her choice of cowardly turning away and not even attempting to help Shino. Yet, the desire to be liked by at least a majority of the dorm residents and the fact that...well the termites did need to go away for safety reasons, if not for sanitary purposes.

After pulling Tobi off of the gate (that he'd abandoned her arm in favor of), so he could stop swinging from it, Hinata carefully tip-toed around the side of the house, before bolting.
–
Meanwhile, inside the Ginkgo dorm, a showdown had begun. A flash of a silver cylinder. With the flick of a thumb, a miniature flame sparked to life. From behind his sunglasses, Shino's gaze narrowed. He had been pushed, mocked, and aggravated; but he wasn't about to back down, just because an Uchiha came at him with a lighter.

However, when Sasuke held up the petition page, Shino spoke up.

"You wouldn't dare..."

Sasuke not only 'dared', he followed through. The flame latched onto the corner of the page. It quickly crawled up the length of paper, until Sasuke released it to the ground. His shoe stomped on the petition then ground it into the dirt.

Shino held himself back. His first reaction was to round on the Uchiha but that was not only out of character for him; striking Sasuke could land him in trouble. More trouble than standing up for the termites would.

Still, he couldn't help but snark behind the Uchiha's back, "You shouldn't have done that...Sasuke."
–
Hinata went through the rest of her school day. It was a fairly normal and easy going, save for the fact the young woman was wracked with guilt and indecision. Should she have stayed and defended Shino? Should she have coaxed him into giving up the petition?

All day, Hinata weighed her options long after the moment had passed. Guilt crashed headlong into reality when Hinata was summoned outside the classroom and called to the Headmaster's office. Worried about what waited for her on the other side of the door, she stood outside for a moment.

However, she did move (more specifically nearly jump out of her skin); when someone came up behind her to push the door open.

"It's unlocked." Sasuke said behind her.

"I uh...I'm not h-here...because you're in trouble...right?"

Sasuke shot her a look, but otherwise said nothing as he walked into the Headmaster's office. After a moment of hesitating, Hinata followed him in.

Minato-sensei glanced up from his stack of papers, "Ah, glad you could make it Hinata-chan. Have a seat."

She tried to, but Sasuke beat Hinata to the only available chair. The young woman suspected it was on purpose. Still, not one to make a big deal over anything; Hinata stood in front of Minato-sensei's desk.

"I-is something wrong, sir?"

A nervous smile, followed by a smothered cough-chuckle. "Uh...not so much as 'wrong' as a...complication...or an inconvenience. It's about Abrumane Shino..."
–
Notes: DONE! I know this chapter is rather short, but trust me...it could have been a whole lot longer, hence why it's gonna be installed in 'two parts'. Sorry for the anti-climatic cliffhanger, but just rest assured that the second part is coming soon-ish since I've got it all planned out.

Thank you everyone for reading!