The Denial Twist

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Hello all! I'm really sorry about that horrible double chapter post, but I felt like chapter 5 had been way too long—longer than the stories I work on in my spare time! In THOSE I usually stop at 50 pages because I lose inspiration. How sad D:

But I am truly, really, sincerely, horribly sorry for that double chapter post, I know it must have been painful.

(Is once again brutally bludgeoned.)

Hey...HEY! HEY, HEY, HEY!

I'm being nice and giving you a sexy chapter.

XXX

Disclaimer: LAMBICORNS. Oh. And I don't own Naruto. Or a lambicorn (lambicornlamb unicorn).

XXX

"The boat yeah you know she's rockin' it

And the truth well you know there's no stoppin' it."

XXX

Neji hadn't taken Hinata's 'news' well.

However, he wasn't completely lecturing her, as he usually would have, and he wasn't threatening to lock her away in a long, winding torrent inside a faraway castle, where no one could find her and she could live out a life of chastity in peace.

But, instead, the young boy-going-on-full-grown-man was too busy throwing a rampage.

Hinata only felt bad when Neji awoke Ino with his restless yelling and stomping. That she felt guilty about, mostly because Ino had been sleeping soundly without a worry. All the crying she had done must have easily worn her out, and the young girl had to wonder how long exactly her blonde friend had been crying for.

When Ino had finally woken up fully, and Neji had finally ceased his temper tantrum (or at least taken it elsewhere, being the downstairs living room where their television set resided), Hinata decided to make tea.

Her elder cousin declined the offer, scowling at her and muttering underneath his breath some very colorful words.

Since then, he had locked himself up inside the recreational living room (rather than locking up his younger cousin), sneaking out after five minutes to steal a cup from the cupboard and fix his own tea, believing himself to be sneaky, but Hinata had seen him do it, and already predicted it to happen.

The young girl sighed and shook her head, watching Neji make his way down the stairs as she had turned her back to walk into her room.

Ino was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking slightly more cheerful than she had previously appeared.

The young girl had obviously raided Hinata's vanity, brushed her hair, and looked to have put on some (what Hinata hoped was waterproof) mascara.

Hinata never carried or wore make-up, but after receiving so much for Christmas and her birthday, especially following her thirteenth and sixteenth years, it sort of just piled up and hung around—and Ino knew where it was.

When Hinata walked in with the tray of tea, her elder friend smiled lightly, and patted the section of the bed next to her.

The young girl set the tea next to her friend, easily pouring a generous amount from the teapot into one of the cups she had brought, and gave it to Ino to fix as she pleased. Instead, in hers, Hinata added a spoonful of honey and drank it like that.

"Thank-you, Hina," Ino sighed happily, fixing her tea and drinking it easily. When the young girl had finished, she stared at Hinata, watching her as she stared out the window.

Ino tried to see what she was looking at.

But, to no avail. She found nothing.

"Hina? What are you looki—"

"Ino…do you think that, had you been on the verandah on the second floor…could you have been able to climb through this window?"

Ino blinked in confusion.

XXX

Never before inside Neji Hyuuga's life would he have imagined his younger (not to mention utterly pure, angelic, well behaved...) cousin to have held secret feelings for Sasuke Uchiha.

She had never spoken to him!

Never!

At least not until that moment that had taken place earlier...b-but still!

They had nothing in common. NOTHING.

The only thing they probably could relate to each other with was their enjoyment of solitude.

Solitude and that they both were exceptionally intelligent—Hinata might not be a genius like Neji himself was, but the Uchiha—and Neji couldn't deny this—was blindingly clever, and Hinata wasn't inside AP Honors English for nothing.

Neji mulled over his thoughts.

What else did they hold in common?

Their appearances, he guessed, although Hinata was short and petite, whereas Sasuke was tall and only slightly built. Hinata's hair was dark, as was Sasuke's, but at least hers had a striking indigo tint to it.

Sasuke's was blacker than night.

Just like his eyes.

Hinata had the Hyuuga eyes…what if Sasuke held feelings for her? What would their eyes turn out? Deep obsidian with pearly white eyes, which equaled the most awkward shade of gray Neji Hyuuga, could think of.

There.

Biologically it couldn't work.

But…why Hinata?

Neji groaned and sipped his tea, only spitting it back into the cup.

"FUCK THAT'S HOT!"

XXX

Tenten sighed, sitting on Kiba's couch.

There was dog hair on it, but she didn't mind too much. At least it didn't smell like the young man's dog…

As if on cue, Akamaru ambled up to the young girl, jumping onto the couch despite his large size—he was about the size of a full-grown German shepherd dog, but Tenten could not completely figure out his origin.

Now, it appeared as if the young dog had grown used to the young girl, he wasn't growling or snapping at her, just pretending as if she didn't exist at all.

Maybe it was because she was wearing Kiba's elder sister's shirt.

It was her size, although she worried that she had stretched it slightly with her more athletic build. From the pictures she'd seen lying around Hana's room, Kiba's sister was tall, slim and very tan, with the same Inuzuka brown hair and warm brown eyes.

Tenten was usually one who thought things through; designed and mulled things over, but then would end up throwing away all plans that had been created, thinking and acting couldn't come together—it was one or the other, and naturally with Tenten it came with her being so athletic and participating on many sports teams.

Teamwork, planning and organization were keys to success, especially when she had to work with girls who would rather paint their nails than catch a pop fly from short stop.

So, naturally, Tenten had to learn to think fast, act quick and just let it go when a crucial play arose.

But, when she had decided to take a shower after waking up at Kiba's house—well, she had just thought that maybe she would wear her dress again.

Of course, when she had gotten out, soaking wet and clutching a towel to her body (Tenten cringed every time she remembered this when she was older—it was rude to have not asked to use a towel and also to have made sure she had clean clothes,) she realized that it was soaked through with sweat, mud and whatever else she had laid on.

Slowly, the girl had left the confines of the bathroom, and lightly tiptoed through the room, opening the door into the hallway.

"K-Kiba…"

"On the bed!" came the slightly muffled call, and Tenten turned, finding a pair of shorts and shirt.

But, that lead her to where she was now, sitting by herself on a large, hair-covered couch with a slobbering dog who was continuously rubbing against her, smothering her neck and chin in licks and trying to persuade her to scratch him on the stomach.

Tenten tentatively ran her fingers over the dogs surprisingly smooth stomach, laughing as he kicked the air with his back left paw, tail wagging in utter contentment.

She almost didn't hear the young man walk in.

"Ready to go home?" he inquired, smiling warmly at her.

"Yeah," she nodded and smiled, but stared down at the dog beneath her finger tips.

"Eh, he'll be fine, he's just ass-kissing right now," Kiba laughed, and began walking out to his car, Akamaru jumping up and away from Tenten to follow.

XXX

Sasuke paced around his bedroom angrily.

This wasn't good.

He couldn't stop thinking about Hinata's confession earlier that day—he knew she was just saying it to get him off the hook—but…

Why had it made him feel so good?

Why had she done this for him…when all he had done was brought her complete misery, been rude, and been so uncaring, so…

Him.

But this little worthless girl…who stood against everything he believed it, lest anyone forget, had stood up for him.

A sickly warm, sensationally feeling bubbled inside of his gut.

She LIKES you…

Well, obviously, she liked everyone…and all girls seemed to be automatically programmed to LOVE him…

But she had been different.

She hadn't thrown herself at him, she'd glared at him and made horrible comebacks that would have made any other man shrink away, and deciding to end whatever was happening before it got ugly.

Doesn't it bother you that she didn't THROW herself at you?

NO.

It didn't.

He argued back fiercely with the little voice inside his head that kept knocking his mind between the pros and cons of this situation.

Didn't he like her slightly?

She wasn't like the other girls.

She was…nice…

Right?

That was it. She was just nice. Just helping him out—it was what nice girls did.

Right.

Nice girls forgave and did nice things for bad guys like him.

He was the bad guy…the bad guy didn't have to like the nice girl, he just had to tolerate her, then she would show him something about himself he never knew, then they could sing a happy Randy Newman Disney-esque song, hold hands and walk into the sunset promising to be the best of friends for all eternity.

Sasuke would swear to never harm another living creature and lead on his life to be a successful…whatever it was that bad guys became when they turned good.

Good guy?

And Hinata would go on to marry the true hero of the story, living in a two-story house in a happy neighborhood, go to fancy parties where all the women wore tight red dresses and had that frosted-bob hair cut, drink wine and then have children—all healthy and exceptionally beautiful who dressed themselves and went to bed when they should.

Was history allowed to be rewritten?

Had the bad guy ever…Sasuke couldn't believe he was doing this.

He sounded like a complete asshole—Sasuke Uchiha was going soft. He was becoming worse than Naruto Uzumaki or…or…Sakura and Ino!

You like her…

I don't! Sasuke screamed inside his head, I. DO. NOT!

Yes, you do. Admit it. You like her. You think she's pretty—she's nice, she's kind, she's funny, she can hold her own in an argument…

NO

You.

NO I DON'T.

Like.

NO.

HER.

Sasuke roared loudly, screeching,

"I DON'T FUCKING LIKE HINATA HYUUGA,"

"Really?"

Sasuke whipped around, only to find Naruto Uzumaki standing in the doorway to his room, wearing the widest Cheshire cat grin known to man.

"Well, Sasuke…elaborate for me, please?"

His blue eyes gleamed.

XXX

Hinata sat down, drinking her tea with Ino.

"So, Ino…what really happened?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, studying her friend's features as they crunched up and twisting into a tightly coiled cringe.

Ino just cleared her features back up when she saw Hinata watching her and stared into the tea cup.

Her reflection glared back at her.

She winced.

"Ah…Hina…"

Her gaze flicked to her younger friend, whose eyes were twisted downward, full of worry and concern.

How would Hinata react?

Hinata—so young, so pure, so…

So…Hinata.

What if she didn't accept Ino as her friend, after she told her? What if she shrunk away, demanded Ino leave…what if she…what if she broke off their friendship?

Ino would be all alone—no Hinata, Sakura wasn't picking up and Tenten was MIA.

She wouldn't have anywhere else to run to.

"Hina…you're my…you're my friend, r-right?" She felt the large ball constrict her esophagus.

Hinata nodded, taking the teacup from Ino's hands and placing it onto the tray, in turn taking her hands into her friend's now empty ones.

"Ino…I'm your friend, I swear I am, you can tell me anything," Hinata urged, soothing her friends sorrows.

"You won't…promise me, Hina," Hinata nodded, allowing Ino to continue, "Promise me you won't…hate me, promise me you won't leave me when I tell you this."

Ino waited for another nod.

Hinata didn't hesitate, as she nodded and pulled her friend into a tight embrace,

"I promise, Ino, you can tell me anything, I won't judge you."

Ino took a deep breath, letting out a few labored sobs.

"Last night…I…" Ino broke down into sobs, and Hinata listened to every mumbled word.

XXX

The two boys stared at Hinata's door.

"If you like her, tell her," Naruto urged, the light summer wind shifting his blonde hair, making it shimmer in the labored light.

The sun was beginning to descend.

"I don't like her you dobe—this was a pointless trip, and you wasted all of your time—and energy—getting me out here," Sasuke grumbled, miffed by all the fuss the blonde had begun to just get Sasuke into the car and back out to this goddamn house for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"I bet you do—hell, fuck Sasuke, I KNOW you do! And you know what? I lost who I thought was my love, bet you had I asked her out sooner she'd still be with me…but, damnit, Sasuke if you tell Hinata…I bet she won't ever leave you…" Naruto ended his speech, "even though I would have had I been dating you."

Naruto laughed uproariously as Sasuke tried to smack him in the face.

"I don't like her, you nimrod." The young man turned around, beginning to walk away from the mansion.

"YES YOU DO!" Naruto yelled, running to catch up with his friend, "That's the first stage of liking someone! Denial! You're in-fuckin-denial—look, just talk to her at least…you did ask me for her number earlier…"

Sasuke shivered.

Fucker.

"HA!"

The young man groaned, massaging his temples, for he felt a major migraine emerging.

"You like her Sasuke, or at least you can tolerate her to some length…and don't deny that you think that she's hot, because you said it yourself last night," Naruto grabbed onto his friends arm and began to pull.

Strange enough, Sasuke let him.

XXX

"So, which way?" Kiba asked, starting the engine.

Akamaru yelped.

Earlier, Tenten had nearly died when Akamaru ambled up and hopped into the back seat of Kiba's car.

"YOU TAKE HIM WITH YOU?" She demanded, looking from Kiba to the rather large dog.

"Yup!" Kiba chirped, happily buckling himself in.

"Well?" Kiba asked again, "where do I start?" He waited patiently for her answer.

"Actually…you can just take me to Hinata's house," Tenten said.

It was better—he knew the way, and Hinata wouldn't mind Tenten's company in the least—the young girl knew this. Plus she had to get off her chest what was paining her so.

Kiba nodded, understanding,

"Alright."

They pulled out.

XXX

"Oh, Ino," Hinata consoled her friend, deciding to lay off on the goody-two-shoes scolding.

"The worst part is that—I think Sakura found out, she's been completely ignoring me, Tenten too—oh my god, Hinata, Tenten knows already anyway and Sakura…oh fuck, Hinata, I'm all alone," Ino blubbered, cradling her head on her younger friend's shoulder.

"No, you're not, Ino—I doubt either one of them know this fast…and even if they did, they are your friends, just like I am…we'll deal with this, don't worry," Hinata smoothed over her friends once again frazzled hair.

"Hina…I…this…I didn't want any of it to end this way," her eyes were now gazing upon Hinata, deep, red, with an off-setting blue that almost blinded Hinata when she looked back.

"I know you didn't, Ino…I know," Hinata felt like crying herself, and hugged her friend tighter.

XXX

"I can't be here, Naruto," Sasuke stared at his friend, "Neji wants me dead."

"Because of last night, Sasuke? Don't sweat it—Neji's pretty calm…man, he's usually a…whatsa callit…a pacefist? Pashefist? Posafist?"

"Pacifist, Naruto?" Sasuke offered, continuing to murmur some choice words under his breath.

"Yeah! He doesn't like violence…"

"Tell that to my eye," Sasuke hissed, pointing dramatically to the bandage.

"He got a little carried away, alright, see…watch, if he answers, you'll see," Naruto rung the doorbell, and followed it with a series of knocks.

A maid answered, Sasuke recognized her as the one from earlier.

She let them in, obviously perturbed to see Sasuke there…again…for about the fourth time that day.

Naruto pulled Sasuke along, limp like a ragdoll.

XXX

Hinata got up racehorse fast when there was a knock at her door.

"Neji, not right now!" she ran to the door, remembering how she had forgotten to lock it, but she was too late.

Naruto stepped through the doors threshold, a smile glittering on his face—and his face abruptly fell when he saw Ino.

Ino's face reflected his own.

He felt an aching inside his heart.

"What's wrong, Naruto? Now's not a good time…" Hinata began, ushering Naruto out as fast as possible.

Naruto's gaze flickered back to Hinata as he began to lose sight of Ino.

"Ah…Hina…Hinata, uhm, well…I brought Sasuke to see you…he has something…" he watched Ino as she moved, and sunk underneath Hinata's bed covers, "to say to you." He finished gulping.

Hinata blocked his vision with her door.

It was only then she noticed Sasuke standing behind Naruto, grumbling to himself.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she asked, watching as Sasuke's eyes widened as they fell upon her.

"I don't have anything to say, Naruto's fucking delusional—sorry, Hinata," he didn't realize it fully until he had said it.

But Naruto and Hinata had.

Sasuke had just apologized to someone.

And to a girl, no less.

"I'll leave you guys to talk," Naruto chirped happily, masking his worry over Ino as he inched away from the two in the opposite direction to Hinata's room…instead, he was going to find Neji. This was something he had to get off of his chest.

Sasuke and Hinata both began to argue against it, but when Naruto kicked Sasuke in his back, sending the young man flying into Hinata, cornering her against the wall, they both ceased.

Naruto laughed, walking away.

But instead, Sasuke was at a complete loss for words.

His lips were pressed deeply into Hinata's bangs, almost touching the skin of her forehead, whilst the young girl's nose was pressing slightly into the section of his neck where his throat met his collarbone.

Neither talked, nor moved, too afraid to do anything.

"So…your…hair smells…nice?" Sasuke offered.

"So…does your…uhm…neck?"

Sasuke rose, and saw as the color of Hinata's face intensified to a bright red.

They just stared at each other in complete silence.

XXX

"Thanks for the ride!" Tenten grinned, waving at Kiba as he reversed.

"Don't mention it! Anytime—let's just hope next time you haven't passed out in my front lawn," Kiba called back, Akamaru barking his agreement.

"I'll try not to!" Tenten laughed, racing up Hinata's front steps and banging on the door.

What happened next would probably be what Tenten referred to later in life as the worst experience of her life.

Naruto Uzumaki opened the door, and the duo stared at each other, horror etched into their faces.

XXX

Hinata sighed, leaning against the wall.

This day was turning out horrible—worse, she imagined, if Neji caught Sasuke back here.

Was Sasuke just hard-headed?

He kept coming to her house—was he here to straighten things up? To tell Neji what had happened?

"Sorry," Sasuke grimaced, rubbing the bridge over his nose, "Naruto…he…"

The young man groaned.

"It's alright," Hinata offered, staring anywhere but where Sasuke was.

What's worse is that she liked the proximity.

Too much.

Way, way, way too much…

It had sent her up on a delirious high, so intoxicating, so delicious that she couldn't shirk herself out of it, as hard as she tried. The worst part was that her eyes kept flying back to Sasuke's neck, right where her nose had skimmed the skin.

Right there.

She had been right there.

The young girl shivered.

"Sorry…again…that I keep ending up over here," Sasuke apologized again, wincing when he realized that he had yet again APOLOGIZED, something Sasuke Uchiha had NEVER done.

NEVER.

"It's…it's alright, you just…caught me at a bad time, really," Hinata noticed a light pink flush seeped across Sasuke's cheek bones.

Sasuke watched as she fiddled with her fingers.

It was a shame that he didn't like her, because he really wanted to hold them in his own.

They were probably so small compared to his, so tiny and fragile…

How had she made it through this world?

He wanted to embrace her, to hold her, never let her go.

Fuck that, Sasuke Uchiha was going too soft.

He glared now.

How dare this girl make him feel this way? How dare she do these things to him—make him feel this way!

HE HAD NEVER FELT THIS WAY BEFORE.

So why her—why was Hinata Hyuuga so damn special?

He'd been in close proximity to girls…girls had touched him, girls had smothered him, forced their lips upon his and more.

So why…

Why did he LIKE it when she did it?

He fought off all of the others, kicking them, pushing them, yelling at them and spitting at their feet.

So how come Hinata could touch him and make him feel like he had never been touched before, why did he crave her attention? Why did he want to be around her, and fed off of her existence?

This girl—sure, she was funny and nice, quiet and solemn, fierce when she wanted to be…

But what was pulling him towards her.

He growled, gripping either side of her face.

"Why the hell are you doing this to me?" He hissed, watching as her eyes widened, then glared back at him.

"Doing WHAT? I'm not doing ANYTHING to you, Sasuke; it's more like you're doing stuff to ME!" She seethed, gripping his hands in her own petite ones.

"No! Dammit, fuck, Hinata, you make me want to just yell and SCREAM and KICK, you make me want to…"

"To what, you ignorant, lousy, arrogant son of a—"

And with that, Sasuke smothered her lips with his, silencing her for what seemed like an eternity.

XXX

LOL WORST ENDING TO A CHAPTER EVER! HAHA.

BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEE!

That was so horrible and OOC and horrible and distasteful and blahblahblah.

I'll probably get a nice flame for having some horrible unoriginality—but I'll live, I suppose.

However, you won't unless you review.

Wanna know why? Because I wanna hear what you think—not about the kiss because I completely sucked at that, but about what you think is GOING ON.

Because even I'm confusing myself D

But, yeah, comment on the kiss.

You have to.

BECAUSE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY—HAHA! Yes, March 4th, Pisces are awesome, chyeah?

So now you have to—sorry guys:)

Next chapter up on Saturday.