SasuHina: Beyond The Camera

Chapter 43

-Hinata's POV-

For the next few days, Prestige carried on acting as though everything was fine and nothing out of the ordinary was going on behind the scenes. We did a couple more interviews, had dance practices with Sai, and did a few photoshoots with the appearance that all was well, but really it feels like a wild storm is slowly brewing.

I think Gaara's having trouble sleeping again because he's been dead silent and keeping to himself, the dark rings around his eyes getting darker by the day. During dance practice, I asked him if he was feeling alright and he shot me down as politely as possible, saying he just wants some time to himself and doesn't feel like talking. Maybe he's getting sick or something because he's never said something like that to any of us, even though it's not rude of him and I'm not offended.

He and Sakura have been actively avoiding one another, too, which is unheard of. Those two are like two peas in a pod at almost all times. Maybe he tried to talk to her about her odd aura lately and she snapped at him. I'm just worried is all.

Sakura's obviously still struggling a lot with what happened between her and Sasori, them sleeping together and her dumping him. Not only is she probably feeling guilty for breaking up with him because of her anxiety about losing her virginity, but he's not taking it well either.

He's blown her phone up so much over the past week that she bit the bullet and changed her number. A part of me wants to feel bad for the man because he obviously cares about her, but I'm on Sakura's side no matter what. She's my friend and I'm going to support her before anything else.

Personally, I have a few different things on my plate to deal with. Kisame texted me and asked if Hidan could have my number, saying his bandmate asked him for it. I simply pretended not to have seen the message. I can't very well tell him no because then he'll want to know why and I can't tell him yes because then it'll be the same as when Suigetsu was harassing me.

Adding to that, the brunette woman from the party that Kankuro and I rescued still hasn't reached out. I thought for sure she'd at least text me to either ask me to keep quiet or thank me for stopping him, but nothing of the sort occurred.

Finally, things between Sasuke and I are as tense as they've ever been in the past. He tried just one more time to approach me after I blew him off in the hall during dance practice and when I panicked and pretty much repeated my actions, he didn't try a third time.

I feel guilty for not being honest and telling him what's bothering me, but I can't do that without coming clean that I've had inappropriate feelings for him. Not only that, but each time our eyes meet I get so awkward and nervous, almost to the point that I was when we first met.

Being forced to acknowledge the extreme difference in our experience has really messed me up. Of course Sasuke knows that I'm shy, but I'm not sure he knows how much I struggle just to kiss someone, much less anything more. It took weeks for me to be able to kiss Kiba and feel comfortable about it.

The Uchiha man is so used to these confident women who're ready and willing to do whatever it takes to please him, something I very much am not. Sakura was correct when she said he treats me a little differently from everyone else, which is quite flattering and warms my heart, but what if I admit my feelings and he wants to have sex or something? What if he gets annoyed or even angry when I panic? I'll die on the spot, I'm sure of it. Our friendship might never recover from something like that.

Circling back to the Hidan issue, Tenten and I decided to simply go to Kakashi and explain what I witnessed when it became clear that the brunette woman might never reach out. The CEO was incredibly receptive and agrees that we need to take action, but things can never be that easy. He told us Hidan's family is very wealthy, meaning they can afford the best of the best when it comes to legal help and council. If we try to go through with this with just my word against his, it's almost a fact that we'll lose.