A/N: Just a little warning. This story is NOT for Sari fans. I have nothing against her but I made her mean for the sake of the story plot. But I still hope you'd enjoy reading. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Nerdy to Lady

Chapter 1

"Hey"

She raised her head to meet the jade eyes of the person sitting across from her.

"Let's break up"

It took her mind a few seconds to process what he had just said to her, unable to find some sense in his words. She froze and frantically searched his eyes for a sign that he was kidding. She found none. Then it came to her that he was never the type to joke around. Why should now be any different? Her eyes widened from behind her large and thick glasses and she stared at him in shock and disbelief. "…what?" Her soft voice quivered. She saw him shrug his broad shoulders, almost apathetically that it hurt.

"Let's break up" he repeated and stood up from his chair. "That's all what I came here for." He gave her one last look before he turned his back to her, leaving her stunned and staring with her pale lavender eyes at his retreating figure in the library.

She suddenly heard snickering and she turned around to find two girls smirking at her from their table. They didn't even bother lowering their voice and purposefully let her hear their conversation.

"Sabaku Gaara finally got tired of her, huh?" one girl said to the other beside her.

The other snorted. "Oh please! Who wouldn't be?" she said, arching a beautifully trimmed eyebrow. "Hyuga Hinata's such a dweeb, after all! It's even more surprising they lasted for one year."

"What did Gaara-kun see in her anyway?"

Feeling devastated at not only their words but also at the sudden break-up, Hinata shut the book she was just reading earlier and ran out of the library with the girls' derisive remarks ringing in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling down her pale cheeks. She ran aimlessly around Suna Academy with her head down, trying to chase away the constricting pain in her chest when she collided with something hard enough to make her fall on her behind.

"Whoa! Watch where you're going, will you—" The voice abruptly stopped upon realizing who had just bumped into them.

Hinata looked up to find a group of five unfamiliar guys staring down at her in surprise.

"Well, well, well," the guy she bumped with spoke first. An amused smirk played on his lips. "If it isn't the intellectual dweeb."

"Man, look at her" another said. "She's crying."

A look of confusion crossed her features for a second before her hand slowly came up to touch her cheek for confirmation. When she felt the wetness on her fingers, she immediately withdrew her hand as if it burned her and she looked down to see her tears on the tips of her pale fingers. Realization dawned on her like a raging waterfall and she found herself unable to stop her tears in front of the group. Her vision blurred and she could only hear their laughter when one of them said something that the others found amusing. She immediately stood up and ran away from them as fast as she could, allowing her feet to take her to a place where she could be all alone.

She hadn't taken notice of the curious stares she got from the students she passed by. She hadn't even stopped to apologize like she usually does when she bumped into someone for the umpteenth time. No, she was too hurt to care about manners she had been taught of ever since she was little. She was too broken-hearted to even entertain the pain in her knees and forehead when she tripped several times.

A sob escaped her lips despite her extra effort in holding it back. It was when she finally opened a door and stepped outside to the school's rooftop that her shaking knees buckled and she fell to the floor crying like a baby. She couldn't stop her body from shaking. Her tears wouldn't stop from falling. Her loud and deep sobs filled the silent and peaceful atmosphere of the place.

Why? What happened that made him break up with her? What did she do? What did she say? What did she think to make him dismiss their relationship? Everything had been going well between them. What happened? How did the decision cross his mind?

Why did he not seem to care anymore?

It was so sudden that she was caught off guard. Just yesterday during the weekend they were having a good time together, watching a romantic movie back at her home. Just what happened that everything went wrong?

A new wave of sadness filled her at the memory and she sobbed louder. Images flooded her mind. Images of Gaara and herself, memories of the day she confessed to him and he accepted, memories of the few number of dates they went to and an equally few number of times they shared a kiss. She had been completely satisfied with her life. For the past two years since she transferred schools in Wind country, she had been happy despite being far away from her friends back in Fire country. She was happy because she had Gaara. She was happy because she loved him.

But that no longer mattered.

It was over.

After what felt like hours, her sobs toned down to sniffs and she slowly got up from the shameful position she got herself into. Her pale eyes shifted around the place very familiar to her like the back of her hand. There was always no one around whenever she goes there and, ever since coming to the academy, the rooftop became her favorite spot in campus. Every day, she would be there and relish in the peacefulness of the place.

But that was until Gaara became her boyfriend. It took her all of her courage just to confess to him. To be honest, she was half-expecting to be rejected. But when he did the contrary, although he just gave her a nod in response to her confession, it was more than enough to make her burst with happiness. So when they started dating, she had completely forgotten her comforting sanctuary and let Gaara lead her everywhere where there are too many people for comfort. But she understood why. She understood him. She couldn't ever blame him for having such a big crowd wanting to be close with him. After all, he's the most popular guy in school. The fact was one of the many reasons she hadn't expected to be able to date him.

After fixing herself up, Hinata turned around and weakly made her way inside the school. When she walked down the corridors, she couldn't help but notice that there was some commotion amongst the students around. Most of them, she noted, had their eyes filled with surprise glued to the screens of their cell phones. She caught several students glancing warily in her direction. She was used to these stares, but she knew something was off. She momentarily shrugged the matter off when she caught the room she was looking for in her peripheral vision. Turning to her right, she opened the door leading to the restroom.

She went to stand in front of one of the three mirrors placed together against the wall and grimaced at what she saw. If it weren't for the thick glasses she was wearing, her red puffy eyes would've stood out and frightened the hell out of her to the point that she would scream. Her indigo hair that was already tied haphazardly in a bun behind her head, save for the bangs she had that covered her entire forehead, was even messier and a few strands could be seen sticking out in different directions. Her lips were drier and more chapped than usual. Her uniform, which is the seifuku (sailor fuku/uniform)—black blazer over white cotton blouse with a red bow and knee-length pleated skirt—was badly crumpled and dirty with that many times she tripped and when she curled herself on the floor while she cried earlier. She looked down and noticed that her black mid-calf length socks also suffered the same state as her entire uniform. Her white uwabaki (indoor shoes) appeared to be the only thing less dirty, surprisingly.

Her shoulders visibly slumped. She should at least make herself presentable before going out of the restroom, even a little bit. Whipping her head from side to side, she made sure no one's around. Once she was sure that she's all alone, she raised her hands to her thick glasses and gently removed it from her face.

She may not be an attractive girl—she rather looked very plain in her own point of view—but if there's one thing to look at her, it's her eyes. One of the reasons her family, the Hyugas, are well-known internationally, aside from their influential Hyuga Corporation, was because of their unique eyes. While most of her relatives have white-grayish orbs, hers had a hint of lavender in them. Because of her unusual eyes, people tend to stare too much for her liking, which is why she wears fake huge glasses to cover it up. She was never one for attention ever since she was little as she easily gets uncomfortable.

But, apparently, that didn't stop capturing people's attention.

Once satisfied with her appearance—which didn't change much, really—Hinata put her glasses back on. She turned and was about to leave when the door swung open and three girls came in. They stopped short when their gaze fell on her.

"Look, it's Hinata the nerd" one of them said to the other two.

Hinata listened to their laughter while she kept her head down. She was used to this kind of bullying. Ever since she became Gaara's girlfriend, most girls couldn't accept the fact that he chose her over them. Her that was the "nerd", the "intellectual dweeb", the "smart-ass" and "miss goody-two-shoes"—as she was a straight A student and was dubbed as the most intelligent student in school, even more than her seniors. The nicknames they had for her had been started by none other than Gaara's fans club and, no sooner, the whole school calls her the same way. Ever since then, not once had her true name been used if not for the sake of mockery towards her. And Gaara hadn't done anything about it, despite it being common knowledge among the students and teachers in school. The fact left a stabbing pain in her chest.

Basically, since Gaara broke-up with her, she was now all alone.

She felt her eyes sting with tears again and she immediately squeezed it shut in an attempt to push them back.

"Hey, you movin' or what?" one of the girls asked in an annoyed tone.

Hinata quickly stepped aside to give way for them. She waited until they were all inside and silently exited the restroom. But still, she was grateful that, despite being bullied every day through insulting remarks, no one has ever laid a finger on her. She supposed she has her family's reputation to thank for that. It is not a secret that her family owns one of the largest and most successful corporations throughout the world and that she is the heiress to said corporation. One would think that people would try and get close to her because of this. But, no. No one wished to be acquaintances with someone so plain-looking such as her. If it weren't for her surname and eyes, no one would've have guessed she was the heiress.

It wasn't until someone bumped her by her shoulder that she realized she was at the ground floor of the academy. Her eyes caught the sight of a large group of students crowding at a certain spot. Then, she remembered the commotion earlier before she entered the restroom. She figured that maybe what the students were currently looking at was somehow related to it. Curious, she made her way towards the crowd.

"E-Excuse me" she said, her voice a whisper. Obviously, no one heard her. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Excuse m-me" The noise drowned the somewhat loud volume of her voice. Thankfully, the guy in front of her managed to hear her and turned around.

His eyes widened and, in a voice loud enough for those in front of him to hear, he announced, "the dweeb's here!"

To her surprise, upon hearing the guy, the crowd split apart and gave her way to see what they were looking at. Once her eyes landed ahead, she understood why.

And the throbbing pain in her chest increased tenfold.

She stared in utter horror at Gaara and Sari making out openly in public. She hadn't known Gaara the type of person to be so open with his affections. At least, he had never been that way to her. But that wasn't what was crushing her. The fact that they just separated earlier and he was already kissing another girl was eating her up inside. Not to mention, the said girl was the most popular Sari Chairo. Her straight long brown hair and sparkling brown eyes made her the most beautiful girl in school, according to what Hinata had heard from some guys. But she couldn't really say otherwise even if she did try. In her own opinion, Sari was really the most popular and beautiful girl in Suna Academy.

"Oi, nerd, is it true you and Gaara-kun broke-up?" a female asked.

Forcing her eyes to look away from the couple, Hinata turned to the side and saw the girl who asked the question with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for an answer. News sure does spread like wildfire. Hinata wasn't sure if she even wanted to answer. But she slowly nodded, anyway. At her confirmation, the crowd gasped and she could almost hear the happy squeals of the girls.

Unable to take any more, Hinata quickly turned and left for her classroom to get her things.

She wanted to go home.

A pale hand raised and knocked on the large wooden door to Hinata's room. After several seconds of waiting and still no answer came, the ten-year old brown-haired girl turned to her cousin standing beside her. "What do you think happened, Neji nii-sama?" she asked him.

Neji looked down at his little cousin's eyes that was very similar to his and saw the concern swimming in their depths. He gave the little girl a small gentle pat on the head. "I wouldn't know, Hanabi" he said to her. "But I am certain it is related to Hinata's school."

Hanabi walked forward towards the floor's railings of the Hyuga Mansion and stared down at the maids scurrying around the hall below her. "Hinata nee-sama's maid told me that as soon as she arrived from school earlier, she refused to have tea like she usually does and, instead, locked herself up in her room. It's been hours and she's still in there" she gestured to the door.

"I see" Neji said. "Then, if it has been hours, she's probably asleep."

"Probably" Hanabi said. "But I'm worried."

Neji made his way to Hanabi and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't be" he said. "You'll see her later and would be able to ask her. You know Hinata. She would never miss dinner."

A grin finally made its way to Hanabi's face. "Mainly because father forbids us to miss it because it's 'family time'."

Neji couldn't help but give her a small smile. "Then, be glad uncle Hiashi made it a rule for all of us to follow."

Comfortable silence followed them for a moment before Hanabi spoke once again. "Thanks, Neji nii-sama."

Neji just nodded. Shifting back his gaze to the wooden door, his pale eyes narrowed almost as if he could see through the thick object. Hinata, you better come out soon, he thought. I have a strong feeling this has got to do with that Sabaku. I never really trusted that guy…

The knocking to her door stopped a few minutes ago. But Hinata knew her cousin Neji and her little sister Hanabi were still standing outside conversing with each other. Their voices were muffled by the thick wooden door, so she couldn't really make out what they were saying. But she knew it was about her. She also knew Hanabi was worrying again. The way she knocked gave her away.

She felt bad, but she didn't plan on coming out soon. Not when her uncovered eyes were very puffy that she had to make an effort in making them stay open. She had been crying non-stop for five hours straight. She would've cried for a lot longer if not for the lack of tears. Everyone in school deserted her. Now, even her own tears had left her. So, she settled for staring blankly at the ceiling while she lay on her huge bed. She didn't feel like doing anything anyway even though she has homework. She was too depressed, too hurt. The pain in her chest may have subsided but it never left. She almost wished she could just puncture her chest and pull her heart out to stop the pain she felt. Almost. She wasn't suicidal, thank you very much.

It's just that the break-up was so sudden. She had a hard time coping up with the events that just happened. Gaara ending their relationship, the painful remarks of the others...

…Gaara kissing Sari.

Her hand instinctively shot up and gripped her loose white shirt that covered her chest. Gaara had moved on so fast. It didn't help that she witnessed and saw them with her very own eyes. He moved on so fast it almost felt like…like…

She covered her eyes with the back of her arm. Maybe she trusted him too much or maybe she's just too dense and stupid to notice, or maybe both. Gaara broke up with her. He moved on too fast. Gaara broke up with her to move on to Sari.

"Sabaku Gaara finally got tired of her, huh?

"What did Gaara-kun see in her anyway?"

"Let's break up"

Gaara left her for Sari.

She let out a sob as she felt a single tear slide down her cheek. "Gaara-kun…"

After taking the entrance exam four days ago, here he was yet again, for his first day of school.

"So this is it, huh?" a deep voice spoke. "Suna Academy…"

"Yes" he replied. Turning his head to the source of the voice, he faced his impassive older brother. "It's a lot different than Konoha Academy." His brows slightly furrowed. His brother chuckled and he immediately felt a hand ruffle his jet black hair.

"Well, if you want to have it easy, I advise you to stop comparing Fire country with Wind."

"But, Itachi—"

"No buts" Itachi cut off. "Our family's here now. Father and mother are not sure how long we'll be staying here. So, it is for the best that we enjoy it here as much as we can." He gave a smile.

He crossed his arms over his chest in a defiant manner and frowned at Itachi. "I hate it when you talk to me like I'm still a child." He narrowed his eyes at his older brother and his frown deepened when he noticed him try to hold back his laughter.

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry" Itachi said. "I guess I keep on forgetting that you're already in high school." Before he could even utter a reply, Itachi turned and walked away to his car while waving up a hand. "I'll see you later" he said.

He watched him get on his car and drove away. It wasn't until the vehicle was out of sight that he turned around and walked towards the school building. He had to admit, despite it being very different from Konoha Academy, Suna Academy wasn't so bad at all. The building was tall, wide and big. The ground, unlike in Konoha that was filled with grass, was cemented and the plants that could be seen were nothing but potted.

"Kyaa~ so handsome!"

He turned his head curiously to the side only to slightly grimace at finding a group of girls squealing and whispering to each other while staring at him.

"He's looking over here!"

"What to do?"

"Let's wave at him!"

He immediately looked away and brought back his focus forward. He barely managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. If there's something that remained constant between Fire and Wind countries, it's the squealing, giggling, blushing girls. And he does not like it one bit! He despised those silly creatures. Back in Konoha, he hated being swarmed by them like pesky bugs. He hated getting jumped at, attacked and ambushed by them. He hated how they would go so far as to sneak on him at the men's restroom just to have a peak at his little buddy. He hated how they would have a picture of him he hadn't even noticed them taking. He hated how they would rub their bodies against him, especially those who don't have anything worthwhile to rub with. He hated it! And he could only pray to every existing god he knew that that would not be the case in this country. He desperately prays that they would have enough sanity to leave him alone. He prays or so help him.

Finally stopping in front of a closed door to the director's office, he briefly wondered why he was instructed to go directly to the director and not to the information desk or even to the principal, for that matter. Shrugging it off and not really caring, he raised a hand and gave a short but loud knock on the door. He heard a male's deep voice on the other end, permitting him to enter.

Upon stepping inside the huge office, he immediately spotted a man with grayish-red hair and dark eyes seated behind a wide wooden desk, staring back at him. His gaze landed on the name plate situated near the edge of the table in front of the man seated. Sabaku Shukaku, the name in golden letters had read. His black eyes went back to the man who was well-known as the director of Suna Academy, the most prestigious school in Wind country.

He watched the director rise from his seat and looked back at him. "It's a pleasure to have you as our student,"—a small smile—"Uchiha Sasuke"

A/N: First of all, the "Chairo" in Sari Chairo means "brown". At least, that's what I researched on. And I hope you didn't mind me using Ichibi's name for the fourth Kazekage's name—too lazy to make a new epic one—and Gaara's supposed-to-be title for his first and last name, just omitting the character "no". I really don't think I'm making any sense here…

Moving on, as promised, this is my new story and first AU. The pairings are based solely on the votes I got from the poll I made. As it turned out, GaaHina and SasuHina were the top two pairings that won. And since I got a request from whisperwind-v that Gaara should be the bad guy, well, I granted it :)

So how is it? Okay? Fine? Good? Bad? Disgusting? Needs to be rewritten? Needs to be removed? Positive and negative reviews are welcomed with open arms. Seriously. Don't be shy…