Hinata and Sasuke were present at breakfast at 10 a.m. the next day. "Good Morning kids." Fugaku announced. There were murmurs of "Morning." From Itachi and Hinata while Sasuke stayed silent.

"You two don't look too happy, did something happen?" Fugaku asked, eyeing Hinata and Sasuke, who were unusually grave. (Maybe Hinata was, Sasuke was usually like this.)

Hinata shook her head, not meeting anyone's eye while Sasuke did not even bother with a response. "Did something happen at the party?" Itachi asked, recognizing the look on Hinata's face as the one Izumi gave him when he fucked up.

"Yeah, how did the party go?" Mikoto asked. Itachi was not home yet and Mikoto and Fugaku were 'busy' when they arrived last night.

"It was good." Hinata muttered half heartedly.

"Did you wear the outfit?" Mikoto asked and Hinata nodded, lying "Oooh! Did everyone like it? Was there feedback?"

Hinata nodded again and Sasuke was super annoyed at her for pretending everything went great. "There sure was feedback mom." Sasuke said.

Mikoto smiled. "You noticed?" she raised her brow.

"Yeah I did. She almost got groped so I had to kick some ass." Sasuke said, enjoying the effect on his family.

Itachi and Fugaku looked pale while Mikoto went white. "Oh My God..." she said.

"Where is my shotgun?" Fugaku asked in a low voice while Itachi got that 'you're-dead' look in his eyes. Both of theirs Sharingans activated.

"Can you recognize them or name them Hinata? And dad my grenades and your guns are in the locker in the basement." Hinata flinched at Itachi's words. How the hell did they have so many weapons?

She looked accusingly at Sasuke who looked smug even though he was pretending to be angry and hurt for his fiancé.

"It was nothing. Sasuke took care of it." She said, lying along. She could just tell the truth but she knew she should go along. She hated pretending.

"My babies!" Mikoto said tearfully while Fugaku and Itachi looked impressed. "Finally something manly." Itachi complimented.

Sasuke nodded fiercely. Both Hinata and he did not look at each other even once during this though. Mikoto was walking upstairs to burn the dress when Hinata called her, telling her she had to go get Neji.

"I would appreciate it if you would not let the incident of last night get out of this room." Hinata mumbled, knowing Neji would go on a killing spree on this false rape attempt.

"Of course baby. And Sasuke will accompany you to the airport. Besides, you do not drive." Mikoto said.

Fugaku nodded with his sharingan activated. No one messed with his future daughter in law. "I'll drop her luggage at her home." Itachi agreed.

Hinata agreed with the arrangement too. Aside from the Sasuke part. But she said nothing as she dressed in a lilac top over white Capri pants and heels and took off to their airport with Sasuke.

He almost wanted her to berate him for the horrible lie he had just told his parents but she did not.
___________

Hinata and Sasuke drove in silence. But this was not the comfortable silence which they often shared. This silence was restrained. It was a pregnant kind of silence. They were both pretending like the other was not even present there.

Hinata did not even try to turn on the radio this time, Sasuke noticed, as if she did not want to end the restrained silence. "It's not my fault." He finally said.

Hinata looked up from her bowed head as if broken out from a deep thought. "What isn't?" she asked, in her soft voice. She seemed slightly distant.

"The Karin thing." He said, looking over to see her face, which was blank for the first time. She betrayed absolutely no emotion.

"I did not blame you." Her words were careful. Sasuke knew she was just bursting with anger. She had to be.

"Look, I'm sorry it happened but I wasn't the one who told her to do it." He said, swallowing his pride to say sorry for something that was not even his fault.

"Sasuke" she said in a clipped tone "I'm not saying it was your fault. Don't apologize." He was annoyed now. If she did not blame him, why wasn't she talking to him?

"Then why are you silent?" he asked. They both knew he was hinting towards her usual, feeble attempts at a conversation.

"Because I want to be, alright?" she said, her voice finally showing some annoyance.

"And why is that?" he asked, challenging her to answer him.

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH YOU ANYMORE!" she yelled. Sasuke's feet immediately pressed on the brake pedal. He did not want to cause an accident now. He pulled the car to the side of the road.

"Finally getting smart, are we?" he snarled. Something was buzzing under his skin.

"Yes." She said curtly, avoiding his gaze.

"And it was Karin that made you realize that?" he asked. She still did not look at him. He took a hold of her chin and made her look at him.

"No. It was you." She said, her eyes narrowing and forming tears of angers.

"Care to explain?" he asked, narrowing his own eyes.

"No." She made him let go of her face and she turned away. "I insist." He said, making her face him again.

"Sasuke, I'm just tired. I'm taking shit from your fan girls every day. I get hate notes in my locker; I get verbal abuse from them and finally physical abuse for driving with you. I'm not whining to you about it because I know you can't stop it. I could keep doing it but I know there's no reason for me to." She took a deep breath before continuing.

"You probably think I am a burden, you were forced in an engagement with me, you don't like me, your mom makes me do things for you and it's just unfair...to the both of us. I know I was the one who said we should be friends but I don't think so anymore. You deserve your life without me weighing you down and vice versa."

She looked at Sasuke who was looking at her, his face blank now. His sharingan suddenly activated (Hinata had researched on it). What was the intense emotion he was facing now? Relief, she thought bitterly.

He started the car and did not speak for the rest of the way.

****
Sasuke watched as Hinata walked ran over to Neji and launched herself on him. He dropped his rucksack and picked her up and twirled her around.

Neji put Hinata down and hugged her tightly. He was smiling like Sasuke had never seen him. His face showed true emotion. It showed love as if for a sibling.

Hinata kissed his cheek and he ruffled her hair before bending to pick up his rucksack. They both walked towards the car happily. Sasuke got out of the car to greet Neji.

"Uchiha." Neji acknowledged with a smirk which Sasuke returned with one of his own. "Hyuga."

"Neji, where are Tenten and Lee?" Hinata asked.

"They return tomorrow. I chose the quickest flight home. I had to see you." Neji replied with a faint smile directed at her.

"As cute as this is, I think I should drive you guys home." Sasuke said, teasing Neji. He frowned at Sasuke before grinning again. He must be going crazy because he was so glad to be back that he even liked the Uchiha right now.

Neji sat in the passenger seat next to Sasuke and Hinata sat in the back with the luggage. The wind whipped Neji's hair back. Sasuke was kind of glad he could not see Hinata much this way.

He still could not believe that had happened. He had thought they were starting to get along. Sometimes. Whatever. Not like he cared about her. He was just surprised. Because he had never been told to stay away by a girl.

But he was slightly glad that he did not have to wait on her anymore. Hinata's words of last night echoed in his mind. 'SASUKE IS NOT YOUR TOY'. That was when his Sharingan had activated. He had felt....excited. Because there was a girl who actually thought of him as a person.

"Uchiha, you didn't try anything with my cousin, did you?" Neji asked suddenly.

"I have better things to do." Sasuke replied.

"You better. So the guys told me we won. Congrats, seems like you finally were able to lead us to victory." Neji smirked.

"Your cousin was more popular." Sasuke said just to get on his nerves.

"Oh yeah, Hina, it was your first match right? How did it go?" Neji asked.

"It was good Neji-nii" Hinata said, leaning back on the window seat. No one said anything for some minutes. Everyone lost in their own thoughts.
________

Sasuke went home only to find it empty. Itachi was out with Izumi on a date and his parents were gone to some dinner party.

He was scrolling through Facebook where Naruto had just uploaded his cover picture. It was of the boys and the cheerleaders together, grinning after their victory.

Naruto was doing his fist pump thing, Kiba grinning, Shikamaru with his eyes half lidded, Gaara looked stoic as ever and Sasuke was smirking a little and he looked hot. The girls were in front of them, being shorter.

Sakura was doing her 'shannaro' look, Ino her hot smile thing while Hinata was just smiling like she always did which made her look beautiful. He did not know for how many minutes he just stared at her picture before searching for her on Facebook.

Hyuga Hinata. Her profile picture was of her smiling pleasantly while dressed in a purple top with her head tilted slightly. She looked truly enchanting. The cover photo was of her, Temari, Sakura, Ino and Tenten standing somewhere (it looks suspiciously like Sakura's first party).

He scrolled through her profile, slightly interested. There was a picture of her in a dark blue dress that fell to her knees, as she stood next to a boy with dark brown hair. He was smiling with his green eyes shining brightly as he had his arm around her waist. Hinata also looked content.

Sasuke had no interest in knowing who that person was, as he kept on with his scrolling. He even saved some pictures without thinking.

He then came back to his homepage as he finished looking through her profile. He felt hungry now. Food wouldn't be that bad.
__________

Author notes: This was bit of a filler chapter. It mainly focuses on Hinata and Sasuke finally confronting each other.

Sasuke is finally getting used to the idea of Hinata while Hinata tries to be done with it. Sasuke also realizes she is not like other girls while Hinata realizes she wants to escape this engagement because she thinks she likes Naruto.