Out of Her Sight and Out of His Mind

Monday morning had proved to be even stranger than Friday. Secret glares had been thrown at him all morning long and he couldn't for the life of him understand why. What had he done for most of the student population to hate him. Sure, it got people to intentionally ignore him and he had peace, but it was irritating to be stared at with such hate. What he also found curious was Shina hadn't been in school either and the most hateful glares seemed to be coming from her brother and Kiba. He had wondered if it had anything to do with what happened Friday night. Finally gym had rolled around and they had been playing flag football. There was to be no contact in the sport unless getting in the way of another player.

Suddenly Sasuke was tossed to the gym floor and slid a few feet on the slick hardwood. When he looked up Naruto was standing above him, a malicious grin on his lips, and shrugged.

"Sorry." He said sarcastically as he trotted off. His temper then flared and he stormed after the blond turning him around violently.

"What the hell was that for?!" He all but shouted. Naruto glared at him and Kiba came up behind him with the same glare.

"That Uchiha," He spat, venom lacing his words. "was for my sister. You have no right treating her the way you did. You're lucky she's the forgiving type, but me an' Kiba here aren't so forgiving. So you better watch it. You ever treat her like that again and I'll be sure no one ever finds your body." He threatened. Sasuke raised a brow and almost chuckled.

"Is that why she's not here. She's really that upset that I called her a coward?" He almost couldn't hold back his laughter at this point. Kiba then stepped forward almost growling.

"No, she's upset because for some god forsaken reason she thought you'd be more understanding. She thought there was something about you that was just like her. But little did she know you were just a cold, heartless bastard." Now Sasuke couldn't help but full out laugh. Him be like her? How absurd. There was no one like him, and he wasn't like anyone else. He was alone and forever damned to be so. The raven gripped his sides from laughing so hard at the fact that someone he had only known for a few hours, maybe less, put so much trust in him.

A loud thud resounded throughout the gymnasium and Sasuke was on the ground again. His anger spiking to an all time high, he launched himself from the ground to his attacker. A blond and raven colored mess of hair and limbs battled it out on the ground each throwing a fair share of punches, missing and connecting with skin. Though Kiba would have loved to hit the Uchiha himself Naruto had beat him to it and before he could actually do anything the teachers had noticed and came running over screaming at the two teens, ripping them away from one another.

"YOU EVER INSULT OR EVEN GO NEAR MY SISTER AGAIN AND I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto screamed as Anko held him back. Asuma held Sasuke back and he only smirked arrogantly.

"Tch, dobe. Like I'd want to be near, not only a coward, but an idiot as well." He sneered. Naruto tried lunging forward at the boy again, but Anko had too strong of a hold on him.

"Both of you to the principal!" Asuma shouted over their bickering. Though Sasuke's last statement had hit a few nerves of everyone in the room. They knew he had no right to say any of those things about Shina because he hadn't known her, but they knew everyone was entitled to an opinion no matter what.

Both Anko and Asuma accompanied the two boys to the principal's office in fear they'd start an even bigger war on the way there alone. Once inside the office Anko had gone in to talk to the head of the school while Asuma stayed with the two boys who sat at opposite ends of the room. A long silence filled the room and finally Naruto spoke, hate still clear in his tone.

"For your information Uchiha, Shina's not here because Renton had to go back to the vet today. She's not going to stay home for a dumb reason like you insulting her." He wiped some blood away from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before he was called in by a harsh, angry female voice. He flinched when he heard his name being called and answered back.

"Coming baa-chan." He lowered his head walking in. Sasuke was now left alone with Asuma. The older man sighed chewing on a toothpick like always, he took it out of his mouth to speak then.

"Look, I know you're entitled to your opinion and all, but you really shouldn't have called her a coward and an idiot. She's one of the strongest, bravest and most intelligent people I know,... that any of us know. If you're really looking for a death wish, keep going against her without actually getting to know her and you'll see how strongly her friends and family feel about her. No, you won't see it... you'll feel it. And I do mean this quite literally. She's got some pretty powerful friends, or haven't you noticed this by now?" The raven haired teen just looked to the gym teacher with a glare.

"Hn," He grunted then wiped his own mouth from the blood that was still almost pouring from his lips. Asuma could only shrug at the boys stubbornness.

"Fine, suit yourself kid." After finally being scolded by the principal school was out. Quickly the two boys headed back into the locker rooms and changed and left.

Then next day Shina was back in school and Renton was right at her feet lounging under her desk. As Sasuke walked by, the dog growled ferociously and the petite girl hadn't said a word. Though he could tell she wasn't in a very pleasant mood. He knew she had known about the fight before Naruto had even made it home. Actually Sasuke felt a little grateful. Now he wouldn't have to listen to anyone being cheery towards him, he inwardly smirked to himself. Though he had thought of victory all too soon.

"I heard about yesterday," She didn't even turn around, but the class was quiet enough to where she knew the boy sitting behind her heard her.

"Hn," Was all she received. She was expecting the answer anyway.

"Yea, well for being a supposed 'genius' " She made quotations with her fingers knowing how the boy was considered a genius, which she had gotten from Kakashi, and continued without pause. " you really aren't all that bright." A small subtle insult on her part. The raven leaned forward in his seat and talked to her with a spiteful tone.

"What makes you figure that I'm not all that intelligent?" He questioned his curiosity peaking at what her answer was going to be. He loved when people had really tried to challenge his intelligence. At this she turned in her seat to the older teen.

"Well for one, picking a fight with Naruto. Obviously his build is a bit bigger than yours and judging from the weight difference between the two of you he could most likely easily crush you. If not, Kiba most certainly could along with any of my other guy friends. Two, you can call me what ever it is that you like, bitch, whore, idiot, coward, even make fun of me being blind, but you have no right to do so if you don't know me. I could have easily called you a drug addict- because I can smell more than just nicotine on you- asshole, bastard, immature, even a coward yourself. Because whatever it is that happened to you in your past has obviously fucked with you now and you choose to take it out on everyone else like it's their fault that you're a sad excuse for a human being and quite possibly a waste of good flesh all because you're letting whoever it is that victimized you, get to you." She paused and he just glared harder at her even though he knew she couldn't see it. Naruto then turned to Shina.

"Shina don't talk to him. he's just a worthless piece o-"

"Naruto, be quiet. I can handle this. Now, am I really the one who's the coward if I've chosen to let what ever happened to me go because fucking myself over isn't worth it, because I know I'll get no where with it?" What she had asked wasn't a rhetorical question. She really did want an answer, but the bell signaling first period had rung and before she could call him back Sasuke was gone.

She shook her head and went to her first period class, Renton leading the way knowing exactly where to go. The small girl had sighed hundreds of times throughout the day. During her third period class with Kakashi she had spaced out completely not even bothering to pay attention in the least. Renton was fully aware of his masters mood and placed his head on her lap as she placed her hand on his head and rubbed absent-mindedly.

Kakashi had noticed Shina's behavior and worried for her. She'd never looked so dejected before. Finally the last bell to this class had rung and Shina began to leave. "Ah, Shina. I'd like you to stay after class if that's ok with you." The petite girl nodded and stayed seated waiting for everyone to leave. She knew Kakashi just as well as he'd known her and she knew her staying after was because she hadn't paid attention this class. She sighed heavily just wanting to go home and crawl into bed. Finally everyone was gone and Kakashi brought his chair over and sat in front of her.

"Oi, Shi-chan what's wrong?" He asked. She was like a little sister to him and Naruto a little annoying brother. Shina kept her head on the desk sighing once more. She shrugged. "Well we have the whole last period for you to talk. This is my free period and Asuma and Anko already know you're here." Shina lifted her head keeping her eyes closed.

"Kashi... why do you think Kaa-san didn't like me?" She asked as tears burned behind her lids, not giving them the chance to fall. The older man sighed. He knew all too well this was going to happen with his new ward. Both he and Shina would clash coming from similar backgrounds and it would end up opening old and new wounds for each of them.

"Shina, your mother loved you very much. Anyone could have seen that. She was just very sick. I don't think she knew what she was doing and I think now she regrets what it was that she did." He explained as best he could.

"Maybe if I were never there she would have stayed happy for Tou-san. Maybe if I wasn't here now everyone would be happier. I just seem to be a burden to everyone around me. Like to Sasuke. He already doesn't like me." Kakashi frowned at this. He never knew how Shina felt. She wasn't one for sharing her feelings. She usually kept to herself and just listened to everyone else and tried to help them. "Maybe I should just crawl into a hole or something and die." She said finally and this startled the older man who was finally getting a glimpse into this small girls head.

"Don't you dare talk like that Shina." The anger in his voice caught her off guard she wasn't expecting a reaction like that. "You are no burden and Sasuke has some issues he needs to sort through. He just doesn't know how to, he's been left alone for so long that no one's showed him the right way to handle his feelings and thoughts. You're better at that, which, is why I believe you can help him. And don't you ever think that anyone that you know would be better off with out you. Do you know how many people would be crushed if you were just gone. Think about Kiba, Naruto, Jiraiyah, me, Sakura, Hinata, need I go on? I mean you have so many people's hearts its not even funny." Kakashi encouraged. Finally she let the tears fall. She gasped for the breath that she was holding trying to fight those tears.

The older man went around the desk and placed his arms around her trying to calm her down some. Shina threw her arms around him and began crying harder. Never had he seen her this upset, it damn near broke his heart. He'd never thought it possible for her to be this sad she'd always been so happy or at least amazingly good at pretending she was.

Renton kept his head on her lap between the two until Kakashi finally picked her up bridal style and walked out of the classroom. The large dog grabbed his masters backpack between his teeth and trotted off behind the tall man.