Hello there. :)

Well, I hereby dub thee... Recipe to a Soup... New story? Yes yes... new story. I deleted 2 of my other stories... for good. Why? Because I won’t be updating them... ever.. which.. saddens me... but yes.

Like Dispassionate Understatement, Hinata will be OOC also, and this will be AU.

Summary: Hinata moves out of the Hyuuga compound, and shares a rent with none other than the famous Uchiha Itachi, trying to get away from the pressure from the Uchiha Corps. Gaara is studying abroad and meets Hinata at school. Who will win her affection? The guy next door? Or the school mate?

Main Characters:

Hinata – 23

Hanabi - 21

Itachi – 27

Gaara – 27

Akatsuki Members – 26-28

Prologue

After being disowned by Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata moved out somewhere else in the city. With the help of Neji and her friends, they managed to help her start out her own life as a student at Konoha University.

As for the Hyuuga family, they totally erased Hinata from their family records as if she never existed. Hanabi stepped up to be the new heir (according to the records, she was always the heir...) and unknowingly to anybody, she entered the same University as Hinata!

Hinata and Hanabi’s relationship was never that good. Well, to be honest, they were close when Hinata was around 12, but Hinata suddenly came out of her shell and began to fight back. It was then that Hanabi could no longer step on her older sister with her dirty little feet. She could no longer control her. That was the time when they grew apart.

And during these 11 years, Hinata grew stronger bit by bit. She practiced speaking in front of the mirror to stop stuttering, her tongue also got very smart. But no matter how hard she tried to impress her father, Hanabi was always the star child. Intelligent (so he claims) and beautiful. Hinata had to agree with beautiful though, compared to her, Hinata was the ugly beggar, and Hanabi was the star princess.

And now, even if Hinata had stepped down, she still remembered her teachings from being an heiress. Teachings like, how to defend herself, business managing tricks, and how to be sly like a Hyuuga. Of course, she never practiced the last teaching, but it didn’t mean she didn’t know how to do it.

Chapter 1

Summer - Autumn: The melancholy days are to come, the saddest of the year. Of wailing winds, and naked woods and meadows, brown and sere.

Hinata rode the taxi into the serene part of the city. It’s not like that part of town was deserted, in fact, it still had popular malls, restaurants, and small businesses. It was just.. less busy then the rest of Konoha.

She heard her cell phone ring and answered it. “Hello?”

“Hey Hinata, it’s Neji. Where are you?”

“Oh.. Well.. Uhh,...”

“You’re in the cab aren’t you?”

“...”

“Didn’t I tell you to wait for me so I can see where you live?” He said irritably. He wished he had GPS’d her so he knew where she was.

“... S-Sorry ni-san, but I want to live somewhere where nobody knows where I’m living..” She could here Neji sigh on the other line.

“Well.. it’s not like I’m gonna object you living there if the environment is bad.. unless.. it really is bad...”

Hinata giggled a little bit. Neji was lying. He would kick her out of there if there would be a single thing out of place. A beep came from her phone. “Ehhh.. sorry ni-san, but I have another call, just wait.” She pressed a button. “Hello?”

“Ahhh!! Hinata-chan! I’M ENGAGED! Shika-chan just proposed!” she shouted in obvious delight.

“Ahh.. Ino-chan, congratulations!” Hinata smiled genuinely. “How did he propose?” She asked, almost completely forgetting about Neji on the other line.

“Ughh.. he is such a loser.. but a romantic loser. He begged me to play shoji with him, and when I finally agreed, the ring was one of the pieces!” She laughed very cutely.

Hinata laughed. “Wow, a sore loser.” She joked.

“Yeah, and..”

Hinata heard another beep and cut her off. “Oh! Sorry Ino-chan, just a second, I left Neji hanging on the other line.” She pressed another button. “Ni-san, I’m sorry, I forgoo- - “

“I’ll forgive you if you give me your address.”

She paused for a moment then said, “No.” She knew that he couldn’t be mad at her for long, and vice versa.

He sighed. “You know me too well.”

“Just because you’re my ni-san.”

“Yep.”

“And just because you’re my ni-san, I am gonna ditch you for Ino on the other line.”

He sighed again. “Okay, but call me when you’ve settled in. Shikamaru apparently is having some sort of get together for something.”

“Okay, I know what it’s about, I’ll talk to you about it later, bye.”

“Bye.”

Hinata pressed another button. “Hello Ino?”

But no one was on. Hinata shrugged and ended the call. She realized she had a text message from Ino. It said, “Hina-chan you’re too slow. Come by later tonight, we’re having a celebration for our engagement. Bring champagne. Bye (heart)”

Hinata giggled. Ino was never a patient person.

The cab arrived at her destination. The kind driver helped her with her luggage and boxes overflowing the trunk and left her with her landlord.

“Hi, I’m Nahima, I’m the landlord of this place. You must be Hinata.”

“H-hai. It’s nice to meet you.” She stuttered.

Nahima was a stern man and got right to the point. He kind of reminded Hinata of her father. “Your apartment is the second to the left.” He directed as he lead her up the steps to the doors. He helped her carry a heavy box. Nahima unlocked the door with his set of keys and put down the box.

“There’s the bathroom, kitchen, bed, and that door over there connects with your next door neighbor. He has the advantage cause the lock is on his side. If you’re paranoid, I recommend you to block it with a shelf or something.”

“T-that won’t be necessary, I’ll meet my neighbors lat...”

He cut her off. “Neighbor. You only have one neighbor and that’s next door. The other apartment is available, but that one is a lot bigger, and much more expensive. So is your neighbor’s place.” He said grimly.

“Ahh.. hai..”

“I’ll leave you to get settled in.” He stalked out as if she was a nuisance.

Hinata sighed and looked around. The space was small and a bit cramped, but it was good enough for her. She was just living by herself after all.

She gingerly unpacked. She didn’t have that many things with her. Most of it were just her computer parts. She had a small set of cutlery and plates, clothes, and some supplies for school. She glanced around the room after unpacking. It didn’t look very.. homely she decided. She made a mental note to herself to redecorate once she fully settled in.

Hinata glanced at her clock. It read 11:30am. “Hrmm.. maybe I’ll go meet the neighbor now.” She picked up a box of cookies meant for her future neighbor, walked over next door and rang the doorbell..

There was a moment of silence, but then Hinata heard small shouts. On the other side of the door she heard a frustrated shout to another person, “All right, all right, I’ll get it! But you’ll pay me extra!”

The door finally opened revealing a woman with pink hair, around her age, with a whole bucket of make up on. She was only in her bras and panties.

Hinata blushed seeing what she thinks is her neighbor like this for the first time. “Uumm.. are you my neighbor?”

“No.” she said curtly, checking to see if her perfectly manicured nails were damaged from opening the door.

“Do you know the person who lives here?” she asked meekly. The pink haired lady was intimidating to her.

“I guess you can say that.”

“Umm.. are they here?”

“Probably, if he didn’t run away.”

“Oh.”

There was a moment of silence but then the woman spoke up. “Look hunny, if you’re looking for the owner, he’s busy right now so if you can just leave...”

But the woman shut up when a man came up to the door. “Hello there, I’m the one who lives here, how may I help you?” he gave her a dazzling smile.

Hinata looked and him and blushed like a cherry. Her neighbor, was male obviously, but like the woman, he was also half-naked, only in his boxers. He had a well muscled chest, and his blue-ish tinted hair was tied up a bit messily, either that, or the woman had been fondling with it. She didn’t look at his face, instead she looked down at her feet.

“W-well.. “ Hinata stuttered. Sure she was a lot more confident then before, but she never expected to meet her neighbor in this sort of situation. “I’m Hinata, and I m-moved in next door and...” she paused and noticed the strange man raise an eyebrow at her.

“Umm... Sorry, this is obviously a bad time, I’ll talk to you later.” Hinata dashed back to her door, then cursed herself. She glanced back at the still open door with the people there staring strangely at her. She dashed back and handed them the tin of cookies. “Here, as a hoping you’ll take care of me present.” She did a curt bow, ran back to her door and slammed it.

She slid down the door she was leaning on. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! Way to leave an impression Hinata.” She mentally slapped herself. She sighed to herself. “Great, now he probably thinks I’m some sort of freak.” It was then she heard a knock.

Hinata took a couple of breaths to regain her composure. This was how she practiced in the mirror. She bravely opened the door. “Umm can I help you?” She didn’t recognize the man in front of her.

“Hello again.” The man said.

“Umm... Have we met before?”

He gave her a puzzled look. “Just 10 seconds ago.”

Hinata thought back and blushed again. “Oh.” She examined him.

He was dressed in black cargo pants, and a navy blue and white shirt. She looked at his face. She had to admit, he was very handsome, no doubt about it, too bad she didn’t only go for looks.

She looked behind him out at the parking. The pink haired lady was giving him or her the middle finger. She was pretty sure it was towards him and not her.. hopefully..

“Umm can I help you?” She asked him.

“Oh no, I just want to thank you for these delicious cookies, did you make them?”

Hinata blushed again. “Yes.”

“Well they’re really good. You gave them to me just in time too, I was getting hungry.” He winked at her. He noticed her blush again. “She’s so easy.” He thought

“Umm... yeah, thank you.” She bowed politely.

“I’m Uchiha Itachi by the way, you’re.. Hinata?”

She gave a puzzled nod because of his surname. “Where have I heard that name before?” she thought to herself.

“Just Hinata?”

“Ahh yes.. at the moment, no surname.” She thought back at her being disowned.

“Ah yes, I see.” He realized her situation quickly, after all, he too came from a

prestigious family.

Then she asked. “Uchiha? From Uchiha Corps.?”

He nodded.

“Then why do you live next door when you can live almost anywhere you want?”

“You know, get away from the pressure.” He shrugged. “A little privacy won’t hurt. And my apartment is definitely a lot more grand then this..” he peered inside her aparment. “..closet.”

She nodded agreeably. The more she looked at her apartment, the more she wished to be at the apartment available. After that comment there was a moment of silence.

He suddenly spoke up in a whole new different tone. “So how did you like the view?”

Hinata gave him a puzzled look, but then she realized what he was talking about. He was talking about him being half naked before.

He didn’t miss the fact that Hinata was checking him out back there, not to mention her cherry-blush.

At this comment Hinata glared at him. No guy could win her over with petty words like that. “I’m much more comfortable with you being fully dressed thank you very much.”

He smirked, putting away his nice guy act. “Don’t worry, I will take care of you. But you know, I can take care of you really well.. in bed.”

Hinata gave him her sly Hyuuga smile. “Ahh.. You’d like that.” “What a creep” she thought.

He noticed this and took it as a definite no. He reached out and grabbed back his nice guy act. “Just joking there neighbor.” He winked at her, and this time she didn’t blush.

She now realized by far that he was just all looks and probably no brains.

“Well Uchiha-san, I better get going, I’m meeting my cousin later.” She stepped out and locked her door.

“Ahh.. yes, meeting with your family, well goodbye then.” He waved her off.

“Bye.” She waved back at him.

“Oh yes, Hinata,”

She looked at him.

“It’s Itachi, just Itachi.”

She smiled and nodded. Sure he was a creep, but a nice creep... just like every other creep. “I think I might listen to Nahima and slide a bookshelf at the door in my room.” She thought thoughtfully, thinking about her new neighbor.

If Neji found out, he would freak. The Hyuuga’s and Uchiha’s were never that close. They were polite, but were secretly battling for company domination.

She called Neji at the bus stop. “Hi ni-san”

“Hi. Are you done unpacking yet?”

“Yep, where do you want me to meet you?” She asked, driving her car.

“At my place.”

“Ni-san..” she half-whined. “You know I don’t like going there.” she sighed. His house was in the Hyuuga compound. “Father probably won’t even let me in!”

He sighed. “Fine, meet me outside then.”

“You do realize that if father sees me, he’ll shoo me away.”

“Fine.” He said irritably. “Where then?”

“I’ll just take the bus to Ino’s.” she said.

“Okay, call me when you get there.” he said protectively. “I might be a bit late.”

“Why?”

“I’m bringing cake.”

“Oh. OH YEAH! I have to bring champagne!” she gasped.

“Well I’ll see you there then.” He chuckled. Hinata was still forgetful.

“Okay, bye.” She ended the call and got on her bus.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Let’s see. Champagne.. champagne...” Hinata said to herself. She herself wasn’t that big of an alcohol drinker, but she did sometimes enjoy it. Ino and Shikamaru however are strong alcoholics. They don’t have any problems or anything, but they are strong drinkers, and have more developed taste buds in this kind of field.

Hinata picked up a bottle, than put it back down again. She picked another one up, and decided it was no good. She continued like that for a couple of minutes until a bored voice came in. “Can I help you?” a male voice asked emotionlessly.

Hinata looked up. The man had flaming red hair and icy blue eyes that pierced right through her like he could see everything about her. His eyes that clearly said, “I don’t want to be here.” And just showed that he saw everything he wanted about her, but wasn’t interested anymore.

Hinata just stared awed. His eyes were cold, but they were indeed beautiful. She stared at his name tag. “Gaara.” She read quietly in her head.

He sighed. “Great another fan girl” he thought. Most girls reacted this way when they first saw him. “I said, do you need help?”

Hinata snapped out of her trance and blushed. This was so embarassing. He probably thought she was a dork. “Eeerr.. yes please. I was wondering if you could recommend champagne that more experienced drinkers would like.

“How old?” he asked boredly.

“Um.. 23, 25? But they drink a lot anyways.”

“This one is good, but you might want it to sit a while for it to age..” That will probably be the longest sentence of this conversation.

Hinata shook her head. “No, is there anything that’s good so we can drink it immediately?”

He picked up another. “This one is little bit.. fruity.. for my taste.” He furrowed his eyebrows. It was obvious he didn’t like “fruity”

Hinata nodded. She recalled Ino saying something about “fruity” being good. “I’ll take it.”

Gaara went behind the desk and typed in the code for the bottle. “$55.41 is your total.”

Hinata’s eyes widened. “That much for just a bottle of champagne?” she thought to herself.

Gaara noticed this and smirked. “Too expensive? We have others for you to choose from.”

She glared at him. “Is he making fun of me?” she thought to herself. “He better not, or he’s gonna get it... sooner or later..” “No, it’s okay.. how much? $55.41?” She would never admit it, but she had her pride. She wouldn’t bow down to someone like him.. never.

He smirked. This was how he made sales with girls like her. She paid with debit and when she signed her name he looked at it. There was a small screw up. She wrote an H, but she scribbled it out, and just put her first name, “Hinata”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Just her first name?” he thought. He did not pursue it. Even if he was fired, he didn’t care, this job sucked anyways.

“Come again.” He said which probably meant, “Hope I never see your face again.”

Before Hinata could open the door though, the door smacked into her face, leaving her right cheek a little red and bruised.

“Gaara-kun!” a overly happy voice yelled in.

The red head rolled his eyes. This happened everyday at the same time and it was always the same person.

A beautiful woman ran in behind the counter and clinged on to him. “I missed you so much!” she nuzzled into his neck.

The man rolled his eyes.

Hinata rubbed her cheek and then realized who it was. “H-Hanabi..” she whispered.

The 21 year old Hyuuga had dazzling sleek hair down to her waist. She had some locks bent to lie on her shoulder. Her almost pupil-less eyes showed only 2 things. Gorgeous and glamorous. She was truly a site. She wore a nice sun dress even though autumn was of the essence, but she still looked cute.

Hanabi knew (or thought she knew) what type of girl Gaara goes for. The non-slutty type that was serene and cute. Underline the cute. She could get any guy she wanted, mainly because she could tell what type of girl they went for. Sometimes she’d dress slutty, bitchy, glamorous, cute or pretty. They were all different, and had fine line of difference between them. But Gaara, being emotionless was a little hard to read. I guess she read him wrong..

“Awee.. I got some lipstick on you..” She said in a baby voice as she wiped it off his cheek. After wiping it, she kissed him on the cheek. “All better.”

Gaara pushed her away from him as if she was nothing. She hated her when she was like this. When they first met, she was pretty, and nice. Now she was too overly happy, and over doing it. And he never agreed to become smitten with her.. never.

After regaining her balance from being pushed Hanabi looked up and smirked. “Well, if it isn’t Hinata-chan, what happened to you face?” she pointed at the red mark from the door.

“You happened.” She spoke bitterly. It was probably going to leave a bruise.

“Stop blaming all your mistakes on other people Hinata, it’s bad for you.” She lectured and teased Hinata. She realized that Gaara didn’t like her look that was dedicated to him, and just became her normal bitchy self again. There will be other chances to woo Gaara, but she doesn’t know when she’ll see Hinata again.

Hinata pouted. She didn’t have time to argue with her. Neji would get so pissed at her if she was late. “Yeah, I don’t do that, and neither do you, but we all know who the fake one here is.”

Hanabi was about to say more but then Gaara stopped her. “Hanabi, don’t bother my customers.” He glared at her which made her shudder.

Hanabi scoffed a bit. There were many other Gaara like men out there, but only one of her sister. She would not miss this opportunity. She went up to Hinata and slapped her. “Respect the higher up Hinata, or else, you’ll get no where in life.” She sneered and walked out. Tomorrow she’ll get Gaara back. She sighed happily and skipped away in her sundress.. which many men stared at.

Hinata rubbed her cheek. It was the same cheek that was hit by the door. Hinata suddenly felt it go ice cold. She looked up. Gaara was holding an ice pack up to her cheek. “Hold it.” He said emotionlessly.

Hinata nodded.

He was slightly impressed, though he would never admit it. On the day Hanabi had started pestering him like his lover, he saw right through her. Pretty, but fake. Has brains, but doesn’t know how to use it. Materialistic? Yes. Many woman would find her intimidating. With her beauty, and snooty attitude, most girls like Hinata (shy and timid) would just run away. But she at least fought back.

“Thank you.” She smiled. And it wasn’t a small, self pitying smile. It was a confident smile.

That’s what drew him in. As a friend only of course.

“Hinata.” She reached out her hand, introducing herself.

Gaara stared awkwardly at it. He had never shook hands with anybody except at business parties. He shook it a bit uncomfortably. It felt weird to Gaara to shake her hand. “Gaara.” He replied quietly.

He stared into her eyes. They reminded him of somebody. “Who?” he thought to himself.

Who indeed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All done. This chapter was quite long, and I’m not sure if it drew many people in as the first chapter of Dispassionate Statement did. Hrmm... Title may change so yeah :)

Please forgive any grammatical/spelling mistakes. Thanks Yous.

Feedback and reviews will be greatly appreciated.

-smellysoap