Chapter 3

Hinata hugged her black hoodie close her body, she'd been standing in front of the Uchiha's doorstep for two minutes now, trying to work up the courage to ring the bell.
'What if he changed his mind? What if I mess up everything?' Hinata thought, her palms sweaty and her lips had already begun to bruise from her teeth gnawing on them. But she knew she had to get it over with and so she raised and shaking hand and rung the doorbell, waiting for someone to answer.

Sasuke paced back and forth in his bedroom she hadn't shown up yet and it was already two minutes past 7:30.
'Two minutes!' Sasuke thought, he really was overreacting, but he just couldn't shake the doubt that she wouldn't come...after all it was the first time he'd invited anyone over to his house, apart from his bandmates, for something other than a party. Sasuke was about to ask Neji for Hinata's number so he could call her when he heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" he yelled before one of the numerous maids in the vast Uchiha estate could answer it. Rushing uncharacteristically down the stairs Sasuke came to a halt in front of the door and stopped to compose himself then yanked the door open and was met with Hinata's shivering form.

'Just how long was she standing out here?' thought Sasuke when he heard her chattering teeth.
"Get inside, you're freezing."
"A-ano, thanks..." Hinata shivered rubbing her arms violently. Sasuke barely resisted the urge to throw his arms around Hinata and hug her till she was warm, instead he shrugged off his hoodie and placed it over her shoulders then turned away to his burning face.
"This way Hyuuga," he said gruffly, trying to hide the emotion in his voice.

Hinata felt frozen both from cold and from Sasuke's reaction...he had given her his jacket! She felt as though she was going to melt on the spot, warmth seem to flood her entire body until she almost felt hot.
'Did he just give me his hoodie? Why am I suddenly visible to him? Not because we are doing a project together means he has to notice me...did someone pay him off to do this?' Hinata thought, but she already knew the answer, Sasuke was filthy rich and even though she didn't know him very well she knew that money did matter to him at all. Following Sasuke up the stairs Hinata drank in every detail of his house, its was, surprisingly, a lot like the Hyuuga's residence. When Sasuke stopped walking Hinata noticed that they were in a bedroom...his room.
'Shit, am I in his room?' Hinata thought while nervously twisting her hands, she felt as though her head was going to explode. She wasn't used to attention like this. Sasuke sat on his bed trying not to stare at Hinata's blushing face, and trying really hard to act nonchalant..and failing.
Hinata glanced around the room it was covered in posters of various bands, most of which she recognized. She smiled when she saw the OfMice&Men poster.
"I didn't know you liked them," she said while gesturing to the poster.
"Hn, yeah i do...and you can sit," Sasuke replied, his black eyes dancing playfully.

'The fuck? I don't ever joke around, what is wrong with me?' he thought, feeling intensely annoyed with himself. Hinata blushed in embarrassment,
"A-no, yeah..sorry," she mumbled and stumble into the nearby desk chair. For a moment the two teens were silent then an idea sparked in Sasuke's mind and he smirked.
"So...Hyuuga, wanna skip this project?" he asked, his lips quirked upwards.
'Is he serious? If so what should I say?' thought Hinata, her grey eyes widening with confusion. Seeing her expression Sasuke did something he hadn't done in a long time, he laughed. Hinata bristled at his laughter,
'Is he laughing at me? Nothing new there I guess...' she thought, suddenly feeling cold again. Sasuke could see her drawing into herself and mentally kicked himself.
"Oi, Hyuuga, I was just kidding."
'Of Course he was!' Hinata thought, instantly hating herself for jumping to conclusions.
"U-um okay," Hinata replied while giving Sasuke a weak smile.
'Yay she isn't mad at me! wait since when do i go yay? no! I go hn!' Sasuke thought, wondering what was happening to him because he did not say .

Twenty minutes later they were still trying to start the project and still failing miserably.
"Che, fuck this," Sasuke said then grabbed his ipod and shoved one of the ear buds in Hinata's ear, "know this song?" he asked before she even had a chance to react.
"Oh yeah!" Hinata said, her face lighting up and for the first time she didn't stutter in front of him. Her confidence didn't last long though, as she knew that if she didn't complete the project in time she would be in big trouble if her father found out.

"A-ano, Sasuke-san I think we should work on the project now...I mean if it's okay with you, because if I don't finish the project on time I will be in trouble with my father." Hinata whispered, her voice getting quieter and quieter as she reached the end of her sentence, her head bowed and her hands trembling.

'That was fast,' thought Sasuke, referring to Hinata's brief spurt of confidence. The Uchiha was quiet for a couple moments when he noticed Hinata's trembling hands, why did the mention of her father's name induce such fear into her? These thoughts continued to plague Sasuke's mind, creating a confused whirlpool of thoughts, but when Hinata got to her feet to leave he realized he hadn't answered her yet.

"Hn, where are you going? We have a project to start, its going to be pretty long since we have to write about how the Uchiha's kicked the Hyuuga's butts in the past." smirked Sasuke and Hinata froze in her tracks.

He wasn't mad at her! She felt a wave of happiness fill her chest and she turned around to face him, a small smile on her face at his blatant attempt to make a joke by insulting her family. She didn't mind half as much as she should have.

Around two hours later they decided to call it a night and Hinata packed up her books and headed to the front door of the Uchiha mansion to let herself out. When she reached the doorstep Sasuke called out to her.

"Hinata, wait." He didn't have to repeat himself because she stopped in her tracks, her face hot with emotion.

'Did he just call me Hinata, and not Hyuuga?' she thought, hugging her books closer to her body. So he did know her name!

"W-what is it Sasuke-san?" she asked timidly, hoping he wasn't going to change his mind about being partners with her.

"Uhm..." Sasuke spluttered while mentally chastising himself for losing his ability to speak.

'Wow just great, what an awesome Uchiha you are!' he snarled mentally, forcing himself to look at Hinata, who had now turned around. The night breeze was gently swirling her long jet black hair around her and her cheeks were red from the cold, or so he thought. But it was her eyes that almost undid him. He could still see the fear in their violet depths, she thought he was going to reject her. Sasuke forced himself to look away and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Che, I need your number Hyuuga, how else am I going to contact you about this project crap?" But for all his self-control, he didn't sound half as nonchalant and gruff as he had hoped.

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief so he wasn't going to tell her to get lost, but then the impact of what he'd said hit her and another wave of heat flushed over her face.

'He wants my number? The Sasuke Uchiha wants my number?!' thought Hinata excitedly, no one had ever asked for her number before, especially not the male gender. It was just because of the project of course but it still filled her cold lonely heart with warmth.

"A-ano, u-um s-sure," Hinata stuttered even more than usual and her ears reddened with embarrassment. She fumbled for her phone and handed it to Sasuke who typed in his number in her contacts as she did the same to his phone. Hinata handed Sasuke's phone back to him, trying to ignore the fact that her hand was now brushing against his as she placed the mobile device into his palm. But when pressed her phone into her palm and his fingers brushed the back of her icy hand she stiffened and her hand seemed to fill with warmth.

'Her hands are really cold, is she that nervous?' thought Sasuke as he looked down at Hinata's pale hand. The sleeve of her shirt had rode up slightly and he noticed the edge of an angry red scar peeking out from underneath the hem, he also noticed how fragile her skin looked, she seemed to be, at that moment, a living porcelain doll.

'I wish I could remove that scar.' Sasuke mused angrily, wondering what had driven Hinata to inflict wounds on herself. He knew they were self-inflicted, after all he had quite a few of his own. Hinata noticed Sasuke staring down at the small piece of the scar that peaked out from under her ruched up sleeve.

'Crap!' she thought as humiliation filled her gut and she yanked her hand from Sasuke's, her palm tightly curled around her phone.

"A-ano I have to go its late, I should be home already, thank you for letting me work on the project with you." Hinata managed to get out before she turned and feld, tears stinging in her eyes.

'He must think I'm so pathetic and ugly with my scarred skin.' the heiress thought as her feet pounded on the pavement of the Uchiha's driveway, if she only knew how wrong she was and how beautiful he thought she was at that moment; scars and all.

"Dammit!" Sasuke spat as he watched Hinata's retreating figure, he had scared her off with his weird staring, she probably thought that he thought she was a freak or something.

'How did I manage to mess up again? kuso!' he cursed mentally then turned and headed back to his room, the feel of Hinata's hand still ghosting over his own. He knew what he had to do.

Hinata quietly entered the Hyuuga mansion, trying to be as discreet as possible, she was well over an hour late, she had wasted too much time at Sasuke's house when they had stopped to listen to music. She quickly removed her jacket and was about to head to her room when the smooth but deadly voice of her father echoed from behind her.

"You are late," Hiashi hissed, his tone quiet and deadly with anger.

'Shit!' thought Hinata and forced herself to turn and face her father, clenching her trembling hands in front of her and bowing respectfully.

"G-gomen nasai Otousama, b-but working on the project with Sasuke-san to a lot longer than I thought it would." she stuttered, looking down at her shoes, her body clenched in fear.

"Did I not tell you to return home by 9:30 pm? It is now 10:15!" Hiashi scowled angrily "How much more incompetent can you get, even you're younger sister can follow an order as simple as that! You are completely worthless, and maybe working with that Uchiha is not helping your incompetence."

Hinata's eyes stung with tears and she felt as though Hiashi had slapped her. Didn't he already remind her enough that she nothing in comparison to Hanabi and basically everyone else? But when he had begun to drag Sasuke into it she couldn't stay silent.

"It wasn't Sasuke's fault! Please don't let me quit the project I-" she was cut off by a furious Hiashi.

"Do not talk back to me." he spat, his voice going even quieter and deadlier and he reached out and slapped Hinata across her face, sending her sprawling on the floor. "Do not let tonight repeat itself." with that he exited the room as quickly as he'd come leaving Hinata sobbing on the floor as her face began to bruise.

'Shit! Why isn't she answering?!' thought Sasuke agitatedly as he paced back and forth in his room. He'd logged on to her blog, intent on finding out what he'd done wrong earlier by means of Anonymous1, but it had already been twenty minutes and there was no reply. But then it hit him that she didn't know Anonymous1 was him so it couldn't be that she was too angry to reply, something must have happened.

Hinata fell onto her bed tears rolling down the side of her cheek and into her hair. No amount of makeup was going to cover the bruise, she didn't know how she was going to endure the jeers the following day at school. As she sunk further into her depressed state Hinata's fingers began to itch for the smooth feel of her silver razor.

'Why am I so worthless and disgusting? Even my own father thinks so...' she thought bitterly and was fully intent on punishing herself with the little silver blade when her phone made a pinging noise indicating she had a notification. Hinata raised her phone in her trembling hands and gently tapped the screen opening the browser that was still logged in to her blog, her eyes skipping over to the chat box at the right hand corner of the screen.

Anonymous1: are you there? Is something wrong, you haven't answered for 20 minutes now

Hinata felt another wave of emotion wash over here and fresh tears sprang into her eyes. Why was this anonymous person so nice to her? Why didn't they realize what trash she was?

HinataHyuuga: Yeah sorry, I didn't realize you were trying to get me...I wasn't feeling so well.

'Shit, I knew something was wrong!' thought Sasuke gritting his teeth as he quickly typed a reply, he was going to find out what it was, he just hoped it was not because of his actions earlier.

Anonymous1: Why, what's wrong? :/

HinataHyuuga: Um...

Hinata bit her lip anxiously, should she tell anonymous about her father? about Sasuke? What if it made them hate her? She couldn't risk that, they were the only friend she had.

Anonymous1: I won't force you to tell me, but whatever it is I'm here to listen.

HinataHyuuga: If I tell you, you'll hate me...

Anonymous1: you said that before and I already said no, but since it you seem to have forgotten, no, I won't!

HinataHyuuga: sorry...I just feel like nothing right now...

Anonymous1: Did Sasuke do something when you went to his house to work on the project?

Sasuke held his breath as he waited for Hinata to reply he really hoped he wasn't the cause of her distress.

HinataHyuuga: no..not really, I mean he kind of saw one of the scars on my wrist when my sleeve rode up...he must think I'm ugly and worthless now.

'What?!' Sasuke yelled mentally, why would she think that? Couldn't she see how beautiful she was? She looked like a doll for fuck's sake!

'But of course she can't, she too damaged.' said a little voice in his head and he clenched his fists, well he was going to fix that, even if it took one hundred years.

Anonymous1: No, I really don't think he'd think so. He may seem to be really harsh but he's struggles with alot of things too...more than you know. And a scar dosen't make you ugly, in fact it makes you even more beautiful because it shows that you were strong enough to recover from whatever caused it.

Hinata felt as though her chest was going to burst and all the words that she'd been trying to hold back slipped from her grasp and she typed furiously through her tears.

HinataHyuuga: How can you think that? I am nothing! even my own Father thinks so! The bruise on my face right now proves that...

Sasuke felt as though someone had stabbed him in the gut, now he knew why Hinata had trembled at the mention of her father.

'Fucking bastard!' he snarled mentally.

Anonymous1: what?! Did he do anything else to you? That bastard, I'll kill him! Can't he see how lucky he is to have a daughter like you?!

HinataHyuuga: Thanks...um I'm okay he just hit me in my face...I, I'm so sorry I'm just not used to being comforted like this. No one has done this for me before.

Anonymous1: Don't apologize you're worth it, you should probably go and put some ice on your cheek to help with the pain and the swelling.

HinataHyuuga: how did you know it was swollen?

Anonymous1: I am not new to this kind of treatment.

HinataHyuuga: Something like this happened to you before?

Anonymous1: yeah...

Sasuke leaned back against the wall of his bedroom, trying to stem the anger coursing through his veins. How could her own father turn against her? She such a gentle and loving person regardless of how others treated her...She didn't deserve to be abused...not like he did.

HinataHyuuga: sorry, I shouldn't have asked.

Anonymous1: no its fine, I was just lost in thought, I just can't understand why someone would want to hurt you. And are you sure you're okay?

HinataHyuuga: Um...I don't know what to say...and yeah I'm alright now...I don't really feel like cutting so badly anymore.

Anonymous1: You felt like cutting? No! Why didn't you contact me? I told you anytime you felt that way you could talk to me...

HinataHyuuga: I know...I'm just not used to relying on others.

Anonymous1: well get used to it because you're stuck with me. Hn.

HinataHyuuga: Hn? do you know Sasuke or something, he always says that!

'Oh crap!' Sasuke groaned, he'd almost given away his cover.

Anonymous1: Yeah I do know him but I didn't know he said that.

HinataHyuuga: Oh...

Anonymous1: You should get some rest now, but you have to promise me you won't hurt yourself.

HinataHyuuga: I promise.

Sasuke tossed and turned restlessly in his bed, visions of Hinata's bruised face kept invading his mind like a poison.

1:30 am

'Fuck it!' he snarled mentally and flung the covers off his bed before getting up and quickly dressing. He had to go and see if she was alright for himself, it wasn't that he didn't trust her words but Hinata was too self-sacrificing. He quietly made his way down stairs so he didn't wake anyone then silently climbed through the front window. Sasuke easily made his way to the back of the mansion and scaled the high wall, ignoring the pain that seared through his knees when he landed on the pavement below. He knew the surveillance cameras had probably caught him but he needed to see Hinata too desperately to care. He would worry about that later.

A couple minutes later Sasuke was crawling over the fence to the Hyuuga mansion, his senses on edge as he looked out for any other presence. He quickly made his way to the side of the house where Hinata's bedroom was located, taking the route that he knew couldn't be caught by the surveillance cameras. He and Neji had sneaked out enough times for him to know by now. Scaling the vines that clung to the walls he swung himself up onto the balcony that lead to her bedroom. The sliding doors were slightly open and he could see her laying on her bed, her chest rising and falling slowly with the motions of sleep. A wave of relief washed over him when he saw that she okay, if only physically, that was enough to make him feel thankful. The moonlight glinted over her raven locks at that moment and Sasuke saw the sadness on her visage that she couldn't mask with sleep.

'Che, what are you doing to me Hinata?' Sasuke thought wryly as a sad smile twisted his lips. He'd gotten up in the wee hours of the morning to sneak into her house to see if she was okay. It was a rash desicion considering the animosity between their families but it was worth it. Sasuke quietly slipped into her room with the stealth of an assassin and leaned down, placing a chaste kiss on Hinata's forehead and the knot in his heart seemed to loosen a little when her face smoothed out, looking a little less sad. He quickly exited and hurried back towards his own house, knowing that he was going to have to face his actions in the morning.

AN: tadaaaa! Here is chapter 3! I hope you enjoy it c: hehe I am on a roll with the updates this week! :D peeeease give me lovely reviews because I stayed up so late typing this *sniff* and I have school in the morning and I'm in lots of pain :/ *gets on my knees and begs*