Title: Ghost Story
Rating: PG-13 ( T ) – becuz of all th' dead people.
Disclaimer: This idea's not even that original, lolz...
Spoilers: I SEE DEAD PEOPLE

Summary: AU. "You're a real cutie, you know that?" said a pretty teenage girl with wide brown eyes. If it weren't for that gaping head wound and blissfully vacant expression, he might have mistaken her for a living person. SasuHina.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Good thing the world didn't end, eh?

Chapter 4

Sasuke's keys jingled as he turned the lock on his front door. It gave way after his usual bit of finagling – one always had to turn the key with one hand while jerking the doorknob upwards with the other and wiggling it – and he tumbled inside, exhausted.

His backpack landed by the door with a disgusting "splat" as he simultaneously kicked off his shoes. They landed haphazardly in the corner and Sasuke didn't bother straightening them. All he wanted was a shower and his bed.

"What happened to you?" an eerie, echoing voice queried.

Ah, fuck. Sasuke frowned at the ghost-girl floating above his TV as he loosened the knot in his food-speckled tie. "You're still here?"

Since pondering her questionable presence in someone else's home would presumably damage her delusions of still being alive, the girl chose to ignore that question. "Did you get into a fight with the lunch lady?"

"Something like that...," he replied, slipping the tie from his collar and allowing it to fall to the floor wherever it chose. He padded to the bathroom in his greasy sock feet while he unclasped the top three buttons of his shirt.

He made a quick detour to his dresser and pulled the top drawer open. He was about to reach in and grab some clean clothes when it struck him how dirty his hands were. He wiped his palms against the interior of his pockets – the only portion of his clothing completely guarded from the lunchroom onslaught – and withdrew them covered in fuzz. He snorted in exasperation and began digging through his collection of underwear anyway.

A cold presence against his back alerted him to the near proximity of the ghost-girl before she spoke. "Bad day?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Sasuke said. Goosebumps were beginning to raise on his extremities.

Careful to step around his ghastly house guest lest he treat himself to a cloud of freezing ectoplasm, Sasuke closed the distance between himself and his ultimate destination (the shower) quickly. The ghost-girl hovered to the side, arms crossed over her spangly One Direction T-Shirt, and glared at him with accusing brown eyes. "You don't have to take it out on me, you know. I was just asking about your day like a nice person."

Sasuke grunted and reached for the bathroom doorknob. He twisted it, pulled the door wide and was about to step inside when he stopped. He inclined his head toward the ghost-girl, who was still staring at him with her annoyed gory eyes, and said, "Don't follow me in here."

"That's so rude! I wouldn't – "

He closed the door with a firm "slam" behind him.

Sasuke watched the bits of food and swirls of blood circle the drain as he allowed the shower water to beat down upon him. He'd turned the temperature up a little too high, but he didn't really mind being scalded; all the better to wash away the shame and ectoplasm.

As the steam billowed around his nude body, Sasuke pondered the events of his day. He had gone to school, confronted the girl, chased her around campus, confronted her again and then been attacked by a foodfighting poltergeist. He honestly couldn't remember a worse day.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, but some memories were best left forgotten. He shivered and turned the water temperature up another notch.

The problem of Hinata Hyuuga's clear reluctance to help him required solving. Either she was bashful or sincerely repulsed by the thought of him, – something which he hadn't encountered in a girl before – but he still needed her. If the encounter in the cafeteria proved anything it was that he couldn't continue to allow supernatural beings to overrun his life. He didn't know if Hinata Hyuuga had the ability to vanquish ghosts back to the other side, but he absolutely needed to find out.

The girl herself was a little weird, though. He could understand being ostracized by their peers, – that idiot Naruto faced the same problem daily – but Hinata Hyuuga seemed to encourage the black balling. From his observations today, he could clearly see that she segregated herself from the rest of the student body and kept a wary distance. Was she just being respectful of her classmates' obvious aversion to her? If so, that was kind of pathetic.

If the reactions of his skittish fangirls were anything to reason by (something he hadn't previously considered possible), she had some spooky powers that made her dangerous to the general population. Was that why she exiled herself to the Elba of unpopularity? Was she afraid of hurting people or burning down the school accidentally? Could she unleash some sort of supernatural howitzer? (That would be cool.)

Whatever reasons she had for avoiding him would be conquered. Sasuke was determined.

The shower water was growing cooler of its own volition, so Sasuke quickly washed his hair one more time, scrubbed the last vestiges of chocolate pudding from between his toes (he didn't even want to imagine how it had gotten there) and rinsed thoroughly. When there were no more traces of his encounter with the Foodfighter, he shut off the faucet and pulled back the plastic, duckie-covered shower curtain to reach for his towel.

As he rubbed the droplets of water from his tangled hair, he began formulating a new, more direct plan of attack.

"Aaah!" Sasuke screamed as he jolted awake, his heart beating a hard, uneven tempo against the inside of his ribcage. Beads of cold sweat trickled down every inch of his exposed skin and soaked into the white undershirt and boxers he'd donned before bed. His wide, terrified eyes found his alarm clock in the dark; the glowing red letters told him it was three-fifteen in the morning.

Sasuke grabbed hold of his sheets and unwound them from his legs before planting his feet on the floor. His bare toes recoiled at the contact with the cold hardwood, but the Uchiha reveled in the sensation. Feeling cold meant that he was still alive.

As his eyes adjusted to the pre-dawn light, Sasuke swiveled them around the room in search for intruders. He didn't find any, as his rational mind had suspected. His closet, with the door swung open, was empty of all except his clothes, the power light on his laptop blinked at him from his orderly desk, and all of his belongings were still in the places he had left them before dropping off to sleep. Even the ghost-girl seemed to be gone for the moment, though he was sure she was lurking somewhere out of sight so that she could ambush him later.

Feeling jittery and silly, the Uchiha brought his hand up to his face to wipe the sweat away. He didn't know what had woken him up, – a nightmare, presumably – but there was little chance of getting back to sleep now. The bed creaked as he shifted his weight onto his feet and walked the three steps to his dresser. Pulling open the top drawer, he withdrew a new undershirt and pair of boxers.

Sasuke then ventured another five steps and, after groping around in the darkness through the open doorway, flipped on the bathroom light. The bright florescent burned his retina as the bulbs flickered to life and Sasuke blinked at the onslaught. After his eyes adjusted, he stepped into the room and threw his change of underclothes onto the counter top.

With his palms braced on the lips of the sink, Sasuke slumped forward and closed his eyes. He fought to recall the details of his terror, but his memory was blank. All he had left were the traces of adrenaline in his blood.

Sasuke opened his eyes and a new surge of terror sent him stumbling backwards into the opposite wall. The back of his head collided with the corner of his towel rack and bright white spots burst before his eyes like New Years fireworks. When his vision cleared, all he saw was his own reflection in the bathroom mirror.

What the hell? Sasuke knew – could have sworn – there had been a face. A terrible, dark face with golden eyes and a gruesome sneer. It had wanted to consume him.

When the locker slammed shut, just barely missing the tips of her fingers, Hinata Hyuuga made an adorable little squeaking sound. She swiveled her head around and her moony gaze connected with Sasuke's. "Good morning."

"G-G-Good m-morning," the girl stammered, trembling like prey caught in a trap. Her eyes remained trained on him as if she were afraid to withdraw them.

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiing! The final warning for homeroom echoed down the emptying hallways like a screeching banshee. Students dove into their respective classrooms, heralded by its wail.

Sasuke kept his palm planted firmly against the face of Hinata Hyuuga's locker and leaned in, just to unsettle her. "We never got to talk yesterday," he commented. His tone was casual and calm, but his frustration was understood by both of them. She swallowed as if her tongue were stuck to the roof of her mouth. "Let's go somewhere...private."

The girl began stumbling backwards, her loafer-covered feet tripping over each other, in a vain attempt to get away. Sasuke extended his other arm and foiled her escape. With her caught within the cage of his arms, she had nowhere to go.

"W-We have c-class," she reminded him. Her lip was beginning to tremble and her eyelashes beat rapidly against the curve of her cheek. Maybe she was going to cry.

Sasuke didn't care. He leaned in until their foreheads were touching and their gazes were aligned. A sharp jolt of stinging pleasure coursed down his spine. "I don't care. I'm getting what I want from you and I'm not accepting any excuses."

"Hey! You there – quit that hanky-panky and get to class!"

Sasuke raised his head enough to see the hall monitor pointing at them from around the corner. He pasted on a quick smile and said, "On our way. C'mon, Hyuuga."

Grabbing hold of Hinata Hyuuga's upper arm, he tugged her away from the wall and steered her down the corridor. They passed the hall monitor, who was glaring at them with creepily magnified eyes through his spectacles, and Sasuke paused to nudge open the door to the stairwell with his shoulder. He dragged the girl inside and closed it behind them.

Instead of mounting the staircase, Sasuke proceeded forward to the door that led outside. He pushed that one out of his way, too, and they both emerged into the bright fall sunlight.

Author's Notes: I know this one was short, but I felt that it conveyed everything that it needed to. I'm hoping the chapters will grow in length as soon as I have more important things to fill them with.

Also, though this story will be primarily humorous, expect some creepy passages/segments throughout. There's no point to a ghost story that doesn't give you chills.

Sorry for the delay. I've barely touched my computer since January...

Self-beta'd.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– Love can be black and white. SasuHina