It all first started when Sasuke got an intimate glimpse of Hinata during the fall semester and not in the conventional I-walked-in-on-you-changing way.

Hinata had pushed the snooze button on her alarm clock for the fifth time before something in her groggy, little brain reminded her that she had class to attend. Within an instant, her covers were thrown off her entire bed during her scramble to brush her teeth, put on a clean bra, and get dressed at the same time.

She had ran for ten consecutive minutes and was about to get her second wind when she felt a dull ache in her left calf. Hinata knew she had to exercise more – God forbid if the Hyuuga had to listen to one more of Ino's lectures on avoiding the freshmen fifteen. If Hinata's roommate got a whiff of her current state then the whole dorm would have to suffer from the blonde's latest diet craze. But Hinata didn't think she could get out of shape so soon? She knew she hadn't been as physically active since the new semester started, but to have it already affect her so greatly? It was just ridiculous.

Upon reaching a particularly steep staircase leading to the lecture hall, Hinata took the time to catch her breath, stretch out her poor muscles, and possibly shake out the cramp in her leg. One particular stretch seemed to do the trick as she felt a release in pressure in the spot that was causing her the dull ache.

Taking this as a good sign, Hinata jogged her way up the stairs and rounded the corner. This is when she nearly collided with one infamous Sasuke Uchiha. She let out a gasp and nearly tripped over her own two feet as she sidestepped him in a rather ungraceful manner.

"Watch it," he muttered, grumpy as ever.

She moved farther aside to let him through, feeling her face growing pink in the process, especially when he chose to return her polite gesture by shooting her a disinterested look before his gaze landed at her feet. Then it was as if the guy couldn't get away from her fast enough.

Looking down, Hinata saw that the "pressure" she felt in her calf was actually a pair of lacy, purple underwear that had been lodged in her pant leg. The pair of lacy, purple underwear that was now hanging loosely around her ankle.

Suddenly, Hinata didn't feel like going to class anymore.

Sasuke didn't run into the Hyuuga girl again until about a week later. He had been essentially avoiding her and every other member of the female species while he was getting settled into his dorm room. Naruto was still miffed over the fact that Sasuke had opted out from being his roommate and had instead chosen Shikamaru.

The blonde just couldn't fathom why his best friend would chose to live with someone who didn't have nudie magazines lying everywhere even though Sasuke had discussed the matter with him numerous times.

"Goddammit, Naruto, for the sake of our friendship, I cannot live with you!"

"Awww, but Sasuke, they were a gift!"

And due to his oh-so eloquent explanation, Sasuke was carrying his laptop and textbooks in an old, beat-up duffle bag that he didn't even know he had until he fished it out of his closet. "Someone" had stolen Sasuke's backpack and he had an idea of who did it, but, luckily for Naruto, the boy had skipped town to meet up with his old guardian Jiraiya. It had all of the typical Naruto trademarks too because not only was the duffle bag a garish shade of orange, but it also smelled like stale ramen noodles. Only the dobe could be so childish to resort to middle-grade pranks to get back at him.

It was when Sasuke was in the middle of walking across the campus that the bag ripped at the seams and spilled his all of his belongings onto the ground. Sasuke swore at his bad luck, mainly because it was like a signal for all of his fan girls to come swarming over with an excuse to talk to him and help him out.

"Oh Sasuke, I can help you carry your things!"

"I can sew up your bag no problem! If you gave me your number then I can gladly return it to you when I'm done and we can…"

"Go out with me! Go out WITH ME!"

You know the drill.

Sasuke managed to swat them all away and, as the crowd of fan girls dejectedly parted, he spotted the Hyuuga standing there. His instant reaction was to turn his head in a rare expression of shyness at the thought of her exposed underwear. After all, with his awkward interactions with people it wasn't difficult to imagine the Uchiha as a bit of a prude, which made his situation with his fan girls all that more unbearable as they pushed his personal boundaries in (sometimes illegal) attempts to gain his attention.

The sight of a girl's underwear wasn't a first for him, albeit it was the most understated way someone had ever flashed him, the situation was still discomforting.

"U-um… Sasuke?" At the sound of her voice, he slowly faced her again and tried to give her one of his patented glares as Uchihas never publicly showed any signs of weakness. Sasuke wasn't about to stand down from a two second view of some underwear after all. However, his glare came out a little softer than what he'd wanted. It was hard to punish someone for making him lose face when she was more discomfited than he was to begin with.

Hinata let out a small squeak when they made eye contact and hung her head so he couldn't see her face. She tried to explain herself but it came out an intangible mess. She ended up sputtering a bit, her face increasingly getter redder from the effort, before giving up entirely and shoved something into his hands. She ran off as soon as the exchange was made and at that point Sasuke was more concerned about her emotional state than his. He silently watched her make her panic-filled retreat as something – the politeness that all Hyuugas were conditioned to express, probably? – made her spit out over her shoulder, "I hope this helps!"

Strange girl, Sasuke thought to himself before he finally looked at the item she had given him. It was a woman's handbag. It was a navy blue handbag that was very well tailored, but a woman's handbag nonetheless. He felt a twitch forming under his eye when he realized what it was for.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket just then. It was Karin texting him. She and the rest of Team Taka were wondering where the hell their presentation leader was.

Contemplating his situation he took in a deep breath and sighed in defeat. Sasuke was late for his group presentation and he DID need something to carry all of their equipment in…

Hauling the handbag over his shoulder, Sasuke couldn't help but imagine all of the great ways he was going to torture Naruto for his little prank. Until then, he was going to take out his frustration on Suigetsu because knowing the little prick, he was going to make some sort of snide comment and Sasuke was looking forward to giving him a black eye. Or at least a lasting bruise.

There wasn't a doubt at all that Sasuke was a genius, but such high aptitudes of intelligence often came with a crippling case of social ineptitude. He didn't know why the damn Hyuuga had given him her handbag but now it was in his possession and he didn't know how to give it back.

He had seen her once at the library doing some research but he didn't have the handbag on him so there was no point in approaching her. He saw her again in one of the on-campus coffee houses but she was hanging out with Shino and the instant his shaded eyes came in Sasuke's direction, he just left. Returning the item became so awkward and weirdly time-consuming on Sasuke's part that he had began carrying the handbag around just in case he ran into her again!

And because of the pattern of meet-ups that Sasuke and Hinata have had, you can expect that they met up again with a bang. Literally.

After all, living on residence meant communal washrooms and Sasuke just happened to be so frustrated with his predicament that he pushed the washroom door a little too forcibly: the door was met with resistance, there was the sound of wood making painful contact, a feminine scream, which was followed by a loud thud.

In that moment, Sasuke Uchiha had managed to sweep a girl off of her feet and take her out. Just not in the way that any girl would want.

Sasuke felt the slightest twinge of guilt that this girl's accident had put him in a place of comfort. Social etiquette was not his strong point but the cold detachment involved in the analysis of this girl's concussion was something he was familiar with.

After making a thorough check to see if it were all right to move the girl, Sasuke picked up Hinata and decided that the least intimate way of carrying her would be to piggyback her like Itachi did for him when he was younger. If Sasuke didn't think he had given Hinata any permanent damage before, he nearly had a heart attack when he came close to dropping the girl against the sink while adjusting her position on his back.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he slowly opened the washroom door to check the hallways for bystanders twice, before leaving.

Sasuke was heading to his usual seat in the far back of lecture when he saw that it was already being occupied. He faltered at this before making an abrupt stop because, seriously, what were the odds of this happening? His sudden stop elicited some grunts and complaints from the people he was holding up in the aisle, but it didn't take more than a cursory glance from the Uchiha before they backed down and eventually just fanned out into the seats that were available.

Once he got his wits back, Sasuke made his way to where he would have sat. He seated himself beside Hinata, keeping his attention on her while he settled in, shrugging off his backpack and setting up his laptop. She had obviously not noticed him quite yet as she had her eyes closed while massaging her temple in small circles.

Sasuke found himself unsure of what to say since during their last striking encounter, he basically picked the girl off the floor and carried her to the dormitory advisor's office. Ino came to pick her up shortly and the blonde's mouth was left hanging when she saw that the Hyuuga was clutching onto the ends of Sasuke's shirt in a dazed stupor. Sasuke had to stay behind since he was the only eyewitness to give testimony as to what the hell happened and he basically pried the girl's fingers off of his shirt before leaving the duo with no explanation, but had enough sense to leave the handbag behind.

It wasn't exactly the most ideal way to return the damn thing to her, but he wasn't going to waste the opportunity for another, possibly more precarious, situation came up.

After much deliberation, he opted to make the first move. "I thought you were advised to stay in your dorm for a while."

She jumped at the sound of his voice and he thought it was almost – dare he say it – cute. Once the initial shock wore off, he saw that she just looked tired. She shouldn't have been here.

"Oh hello, Sasuke," she said with a shy smile. "I've been cooped up in my dorm room for two days and I can't miss anymore of class."

There was a pause. He hadn't quite planned what to say after this.

"So… how are you feeling?"

"Good, I guess." She placed her fingers against her temple again. "My head's starting to hurt less as the days pass so I'm taking that as a good sign. But thank you for asking."

He eyed her seat and she didn't have a laptop or notebook and pen on handy. Not even a sign of a recorder. "So how are you going to take notes?"

"I'm not. Shizune told me that using electronics was bad because of the tiny screens and bright lights would bother me. But I feel like I should at least come and listen. Something has to sink in even though I'm not totally here. I just can't sit at home anymore since there's nothing I can really do and I'm all the way in the back where the projection screen won't be as intense so it should be all right."

"I can always give you my notes," he said, shifting in his seat.

It was the first time Hinata had really looked at him during their conversation and she seemed just as surprised as he was by the offer. Or that might have been the headache getting to her – Sasuke wasn't sure. His offer wasn't entirely out of kindness as Uchihas did pride themselves and he wasn't going to let her deal with the consequences when he was the reason she was in the predicament in the first place.

"Really? I can't possibly ask you to do that when you helped me out… you know, from before?"

A redheaded student sitting in front of them, and for a second Sasuke thought it was Karin, shushed them and whispered a warning about the lecture being scheduled to start. Hinata apologized but Sasuke didn't give her the same courtesy as he rolled his eyes and snorted. There wasn't much point since Kakashi-sensei's classes never started on time and he usually went on some ramble when he did show up anyway.

Sasuke waited exactly three whole seconds before turning to Hinata again.

"Your concussion," he started out saying, feeling his mouth become dry as Uchihas also never outwardly admitted to mistakes. "It was partly my fault to begin with."

He looked up at her as she just blinked at him owlishly and for some reason that really irritated him. "Look, just let me do this one favour for you by taking some notes for one class!"

The redhead shushed them again.

Sasuke turned to her angrily, "Will you just – !"

"Hello everyone," announced Kakashi-sensei, his voice bouncing around the auditorium through the overhead speakers. He had entered the classroom as if he just materialized into thin air.

Almost instantaneously everyone yelled, "You're late!" which he replied with some lame excuse about – what was it? Being lost on the road of life? Something about a woman inviting him to dance? An old lady requesting that he save her cat? By the length of the description it sounded like he had done all three.

"You helped me out before," he whispered harshly from the corner of his mouth. "And then I bashed your face in with a washroom door, so just let me take some notes to pay you back. Understand?"

He never looked at her as he said any of this. He knew for a fact that if he did, he'd be taking in her reaction and then dissecting each facial expression for their meaning during the rest of the lecture, and how distracting would that be when he was trying to take notes to pay her back?

Hinata stared at the Uchiha and was once again met with surprise. And then content. She'd never witness the moody genius willingly do favours for anyone and that was including Naruto. She nodded at him and comfortably sat back with a smile even when Kakashi started his story about the real reason why he was late: he was in line for the new book in the Icha Icha spin-off series.

While Sasuke didn't know how to approach Hinata because of his social ineptitude, Hinata was very much struggling with how to approach Sasuke to give her thanks. She had made a lunchbox with all of his supposed favourite foods but she had walked past his dorm room about three times out of indecision and her natural shyness. She was about to do another round of the floor when one of the upperclassmen – Hidan, was it? – had yelled, "Hey, get your exercise somewhere else or am I going to have to call security on you?" This was followed by questions of her being another stalker wanting to ride the Uchiha's dick and a slew of expletives that had her fleeing the scene before anyone would notice her there.

Hinata's heart was going through some major palpitations but she was determined to see her goal through. One, because Sasuke Uchiha really wasn't a bad guy, especially after Hidan's display of lack of propriety, and two, she really couldn't let the food she prepared go to waste.

Taking a careful peep to see if the coast was clear, Hinata slowly edged her way to Sasuke's dorm room and knocked.

Nothing.

Hinata felt the seconds tick by as she felt the familiar pang of a headache and her body growing hotter from embarrassment. Just as she was turning to leave, the door opened.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke looked downright confused. And from below the neck, he also looked half-naked.

Hinata blushed and turned her attention to the floor. As if Sasuke had just realized his appearance at the moment, he instinctively crossed his arms to shield his torso. They both stood there uneasily and would have for a bit longer if the sound of another door being opened hadn't alerted them. You could hear Hidan's booming voice before the door was fully open yet Hinata, who had already had to deal with his verbal assault once already, nervously ran into Sasuke's dorm room while pushing him in in the process.

Hinata was resting against the door taking in shallow breaths until she realized what she had done. Then she stopped breathing altogether. She, Hyuuga Hinata, had just forcibly pushed a (half) naked man into his room with the desperation and unkemptness of a hormonal fan girl. She swore that if her face got any redder than she'd be losing blood circulation to the rest of her body and would surely faint.

"Are you okay?" asked Sasuke.

Gulping quite loudly, Hinata started to face the Uchiha. He was in the process of putting on a hoodie, an oversized one at that, which Hinata highly approved of. "Y-Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that by the way. It's just that… Hidan kind of scares me…"

He totally scared her but she wasn't going to let Sasuke know that.

In response, the Uchiha just snorted (not in an unkind way?) and said, "Yeah, he can be kind of abrasive on the ears but he keeps unwanted guests away so I can always appreciate him for that". He eyed the item in her hands. "What do you have there?"

Her hands shot out then, head hung low. "This is for you! I just wanted to say thank you for everything: the notes, returning my bag, helping me during my accident even if you caused it – many people would have just up and left! And I would just like to say thank you, especially for not teasing me and being nice to me even though you saw my underwear!"

The only thing Hinata could hear was the sound of her breathing and his approaching footsteps. She felt the pressure from the lunchbox disappear as he took it from her. She cautiously raised her head and saw that Sasuke was examining the contents and even took a sniff or two.

He shrugged. "Didn't have to but thanks. It looks good."

That was it. No mention of anything, especially of the underwear part, and Hinata felt a little bewildered as she took a few steps back and was ready to leave.

"Wait, come eat with me," Sasuke said, rounding the small table set up in his dorm room and the statement made Hinata's head snap back in his direction. "W-What?"

"I said 'come eat with me'. You made a generous amount of food and besides; Hidan's particularly sensitive around this time because it's when he prays to Jashin, whatever that is. But don't let him hear me say that," he added quickly. "You might as well sit here for a bit."

"Okay," she answered. Hinata made her way and sat on the chair opposite to the Uchiha. She tried not to shake her leg in anxiety as the boy ate and she looked around. Everything in the dorm room was in neat order, or at least until you got onto the other side where clothes, books, and various board games were scattered everywhere. There was a particularly large assortment of stuff that was heaped onto the bed.

"This is good," Sasuke said after swallowing a big mouthful. "What's in this?"

"Oh, um, well there's the standard rice and omelet but… I also heard you like tomatoes. So there's obviously double portions of tomato in everything, ground pepper…" Hinata's word trailed off as she looked at Sasuke's face. "Are you okay?"

He put the lunchbox down and coughed a bit, covering his hand with his mouth. She handed him a glass of water and he greedily drank from it. A second passed before he started to cough again and… was his face turning blue from LACK OF OXYGEN?

"Can you breathe?" Hinata gasped.

Sasuke had one hand over his throat and the other one over his mouth as he wheezed and coughed. "I think… I'm going into… anaphylactic shock!"

If Hinata was spazzing out before, that was nothing compared to her level of going freaking insane now! "Oh my God, should I call someone? Where's your phone?"

The two of them were making so much noise in fact that they managed to rouse Shikamaru, who had been sleeping under that pile of clothing and textbooks this entire time, and alerted him of the situation. The lazy boy emerged from the pile, scaring Hinata in the process, and his eyes went from half-lidded slits to widened saucers at the sight before him: a blue and oxygen deprived Uchiha and a paler-than-usual Hyuuga leaning over Sasuke in worry.

"Sasuke! Hinata?" He shook his head. "What the hell is going on?"

"I think he's having an allergic reaction to my food!"

"He's having a – what? Dammit," he muttered, leaping over to one of his drawers and pulling something from inside. "I never thought I'd have to use this."

"What is it? Can it help?"

"Let's hope it does. ARGHHHH!" And with a roaring leap, Shikamaru plunged an EpiPen deep into Sasuke's thigh, causing Hinata to scream and then Sasuke. Hinata screamed from the suddenness of someone being shanked, and Sasuke screamed from the unexpected pain.

Across the hallway, Hidan screamed in anger and frustration, as he was so close to performing the ritual in order to gain immortality when someone broke his concentration.

Oh well, better luck next time.

The Hyuugas and Uchihas have had a tenuous relationship after a particularly bad business merger but that was nothing compared to the rivalry – no, that would insinuate some level of respect for one another, FUED! – between their respective children: Neji and Sasuke. The two had been academically competing for years to see whose family was better and one thing led to another and they got into an actual fight… over a final grade. It was positively the nerdiest and coolest thing their high school had ever witnessed because, besides being total academics, Neji and Sasuke were also pretty badass fighters too.

Though what really sealed their hostile relationship was their trade of homophobic remarks during their roughhousing. Neji said he was going to "Gentle Fist the hell out of him" and Sasuke laughed and said that was the gayest thing he had ever heard. The Hyuuga prodigy made a mental note to himself about possibly renaming his special attack, but didn't let that show as he smirked and commented on Sasuke's less than platonic relationship with Naruto. Specifically that kiss all those years back.

("Goddammit that was an accident and it happened one time. ONE TIME! Why does everyone keep bringing it up?")

Well if Neji needed proof that the Uchiha brat wasn't gay, he wished his cousin hadn't been the evidence. There were rumours that the Uchiha was carrying Hinata when she hit her head, though some sources said Sasuke was the one to knock her out in the first place, Neji was willing to discount that as his cousin needed medical attention. Physical intimacy was all right in those circumstances, BUT THEN there was a second rumor with actual eyewitnesses that said Hinata was in Sasuke's dorm room and was feeding him! At the very thought of his cousin spoon-feeding his enemy – the boy had a very limited scope of what was considered romantic – he wanted to snap the boy's neck!

Neji was marching over to confront the boy himself and nothing was going to get in his way, which was evident as he was parting crowds better than Moses himself, as the dorm advisor's office was awfully crowded. Fan girls worrying over their precious "Sasuke-poo" and all that other shit and just curious onlookers who apparently had nothing else to do.

Neji managed to get through, citing that he was a relative to one of the patients, and was promptly ushered in to the back room.

Neji spotted the Nara boy first, standing indifferently at the side, scratching his head and muttering how all of this was, "troublesome". Then he saw his cousin sitting too close for comfort beside the Uchiha, who was looking a tad ruffled and breathing quite heavily, but was otherwise in perfect condition. Shizune was checking his vitals and writing things on a clipboard.

Surprisingly, Sasuke was the first one to notice Neji in the doorway.

Sasuke was very much aware of how his feud with the Hyuuga created some weird fear in Neji's head that Sasuke would get involved with one of his two younger cousins as payback. Though the idea was silly to Sasuke at the time, currently he couldn't help but notice how nice it was to have Hinata worrying about him. And sitting so close…

"Uchiha," the Hyuuga prodigy said.

Nonetheless, knowing this was not a time to egg the Hyuuga on, Sasuke resisted the urge to smirk or snort or whatever else was written in the "how to respond" section of the Pompous Genius Handbook, and said neutrally back, "Hyuuga".

One word. All it took was one word and Neji had leapt across the room and made a grab at his enemy's collar. If Sasuke had been anyone else, he would've peed a little. Luckily for him, the crazed Hyuuga was forcibly dragged back by the combined efforts of Shizune and Shikamaru. Damn. For a boy who could have passed for a sloth, he sure did have good reflexes.

"Hyuuga, kindly remove yourself from the premises before I call security!" yelled Shizune.

"Let me at him!" More attempts to jump the Uchiha. With a bit more time he would've broken free but what stopped him was his dear cousin jumping in between the struggling trio and the Uchiha brat.

"Neji! Please stop!"

One look at those watering pearl eyes and trembling lip and Neji stopped in his tracks, causing Shizune and Shikamaru to relax. There was nothing he could do now that Hinata had expressed her displeasure at his behaviour. Neji was so livid with himself, for his lack of control in a public space no less, and for upsetting his beloved cousin. He shot such an intense warning look to Sasuke that it looked like he was going to pop multiple veins around his eyes and forehead. With one last angry, veiny throb, Neji turned in a huff and strutted away. Maybe he'd take Rock Lee on his offer of intensive training after all.

And with that, a new rumor erupted that day: Neji Hyuuga was so distraught over discovering his cousin's tryst with his rival that he stormed into the dorm advisor's office looking to draw blood. However, Hinata chose to defend the Uchiha and declared him as her one true love.

Sounds like quite a set-up for whirlwind romance, no?

No.

With the onslaught of accumulating rumors that just got crazier and crazier, and pestering bystanders that wanted answers, Hinata and Sasuke had been unintentionally avoiding each other. Hinata was shy and was still working on her self-confidence whereas Sasuke was a man of few words and took comfort in his privacy. When they were travelling individually the staring and whispering were bad enough, but when the two of them were in the same vicinity, the unwanted attention was just downright awful.

Neither one knew how to face one another but they had to address the issue soon because it was starting to bleed into their social circles.

Sasuke was sitting in a tree, contemplating life and the sort as broody geniuses do, when Kiba came running up shaking his fist.

"Oi, Sasuke, what is this I hear about you and Hinata?" His doggy sidekick, Akamaru, was right behind him and barked as if in agreement.

Sasuke opened one eye (in a very Shikamaru-esque like fashion) to look at the speaker, but closed it again and rested his head back against his arms when he saw that it was just the Inuzuka. He could hear the dog-lover growling from being overlooked and, though he knew his response would just agitate the boy further on, Sasuke's answer was purely based on the fact that he liked his privacy. "That's none of your business."

"What do you mean it's none of my business!"

Not to mention Sasuke just couldn't help but toy with such an easy target. The Inuzuka was just like Naruto in that aspect and with all of the things going out of his control; it was nice for Sasuke to be able to pull the reigns again.

"Hinata is one of my child hood friends, you know? When she's worried, so am I!"

Well then you must be kept up a lot. She's kinda skittish, Sasuke thought to himself before he mulled over her childhood for a moment and realized all of the pressure Hinata to endure as the Hyuuga heir to that large business company. The very same pressure his father had been and still was putting on his older brother. The more he thought it over, the harder it was not to get… sad for Hinata. And now that the Inuzuka mentioned it: worried. But Hinata was stronger than that and didn't deserve pity. All of a sudden something snapped in Sasuke and he sat up, staring down hard at Kiba.

"Hey Kiba, if you're really her friend then I wouldn't go so far to undermine her intelligence or her resolve."

"Don't you insult me, Sasuke!"

But Sasuke wasn't finished as the boy's interjection just made him angrier. Sasuke jumped down from his spot and took a few steps toward the Inuzuka as he spoke. "If you're really worried about Hinata then I would go and talk to her instead of confronting me. And why are you here exactly? Because you heard some stupid gossip going around? Why not stop those strangers from talking behind her back in the first place? That's what's causing her all of that grief, Inuzuka, not any association with me. And if you're not going to do any of that then you don't deserve her."

Kiba was stunned into silence at the Uchiha's words and his faithful companion took on a friendlier stance even though he had gotten a thorough tongue-lashing.

Satisfied with Kiba's reaction, Sasuke bent down to quickly ruffle Akamaru's head and went off on his merry way before either human or animal tried to bite him.

Shino, who had stayed back to watch the confrontation, was impressed. He had never witnessed the loner Uchiha defend anyone so whole-heartily besides the instances that people underestimated and even belittled Naruto in his presence. The Aburame ignored gossip by nature, but by the way Sasuke was watching Hinata before at the coffee shop, and especially as he just defended her, Shino decided there was some truth to it all. But very little. It seemed Sasuke had a thing for one of Shino's oldest friends and if he was honest about it, he didn't really mind.

There was power in numbers and Hinata didn't think she could've gotten through the week if it hadn't been for Ino, Tenten, and Sakura. Ino was her roommate and they did have their differences, but the two steadily became close. With her friendship brought Sakura as they were joined at the hip and Tenten had approached Hinata and apologized on behalf of Neji's behaviour. Being his study partner meant being exposed to his caffeinated-induced rambles and rare confessions of paranoia.

Ino, Tenten and Sakura had been empathetic with Hinata's situation, warded off any of Sasuke's more overzealous fan girls, and refrained from asking any intrusive questions concerning the rumours, though Ino had some pretty creative questions after she picked the girl up from the dorm advisory's office a while back. All in all, they believed her and took her side and that was all Hinata needed.

Curiosity did kill the cat though.

They were lounging at one of the outside tables eating lunch when Sakura asked, "So what's up between you and Sasuke anyway?"

Hinata's water went down the wrong pipe and she sputtered a bit as Tenten patted her back.

"Way to go, Sakura. Try and kill the poor girl, why don't you?" said the oldest girl of group. "Are you speaking out of jealousy or something?"

"I used to like Sasuke all through elementary, middle, and high school. What of it? And there are two former Sasuke groupies here, okay?" Sakura replied, shooting her blonde best friend a look to emphasize her point.

"That's true," said Ino, scratching her neck. "And I did have some questions to ask Hinata before too… but I never got any answers."

Sakura looked back at Tenten almost triumphantly. "It's a reasonable question."

"I guess you're right…?"

Hinata sighed. "I do suppose I should tell someone about it. It's just kind of weird because there's nothing particularly romantic about it so I don't know people are making such a big deal of it all."

And she proceeded to tell every embarrassing detail from the underwear, to the handbag, and to everything else leading up to this moment. When she was done her friends looked amused but also disappointed.

"Huh," said Ino. "You know I was dying to know everything for a while but now that I actually know… it wasn't like what I thought."

"What did you think?" asked Hinata.

"Well I didn't believe the stories if that's what you're thinking but I at least thought you liked each other," the blonde said back simply. "But now it just sounds like you two bring the inner klutzes out of one another, which isn't exactly a bad or good thing. It just… ruins all of my past thoughts of Sasuke as some cool, aloof guy."

Tenten snickered. "Yeah, when you were describing his face with the underwear, it sounds like he was more mortified than you."

Sakura actually let out a laugh now. "Yeah, you know what? When Iruka assigned him, Naruto, and me to that yearlong assignment, I got to know him better. By himself he's totally cool but with other people he's actually just a hot dork."

All three girls laughed and Hinata couldn't help but feel insulted for the boy. "But he's a lot nicer than you'd think. And I don't think he's a dork."

Hinata thought her friends were disagreeing with her when they wouldn't say anything, but they were all wondering if the Hyuuga had developed some sort of crush on the dork in the process.

And speak of the devil, thought Ino as she spotted Sasuke and Naruto over Hinata's shoulder. A mischievous thought hit her then so she stood up, waving her arms in big arcs as she hollered, "Hey, Naruto! Back from your trip?"

The other girls turned to stare at the energetic goof who ran at them full speed until he was standing at their table. Sasuke slowly made his way over too, though no one really noticed since Naruto tended to fill up the entire space with his enthusiasm and bouncy disposition.

"Yeah, I just got back from Jiraiya's! How are you guys?"

Sakura snorted. "Only you could convince the dean that going on a smutty book tour counted as a credit."

"They're not smut. They're adult material," he said back, quoting what Kakashi always said when a student questioned his need for the orange book while he was lecturing. "But really, how is everyone? I've been gone for so long that I've probably missed some good stuff. Hm? Anything new? Ino?" She shook her head.

"Sakura?" The girl was about to open her mouth and say something when Ino's heel slammed painfully onto her toes.

"Tenten?" She would have said something if she wasn't so preoccupied, staring at her friends sitting across her and trying to figure out what they were doing.

"Hinata?"

Hinata shrank back a little when he suddenly grew interested in her but then paled when she saw that Sasuke had made it to the table. The two stared at each other for a bit and Ino knew she made the right decision until Hinata made up some random excuse and ran off. So much for that. And after her escape, Sasuke muttered something under his breath and walked off too.

Naruto oscillated between watching his best friend leave and the dust cloud that Hinata had left in her retreat. He scratched his head. "Huh? Did I miss something?"

In life, chaos is always followed by order.

And with the amount of mayhem that had forced Hinata and Sasuke's to their knees, they were in dire need or order. Or at least a break.

Hinata had just finished her work at the library and was walking to the elevator when someone was already there. She jumped behind a bookcase, cursed her cowardice, and peered through the space to see the back of none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself. She swore on her family's good name that she would apologize to him for everything if only she had a little more time to prepare. As she circled the floor that she was on, she guessed that her family's business was in serious peril as she saw a big sign hanging on the door leading to the stairs that read, "DANGER: OUT OF SERVICE".

"How can stairs be out of service?" she mumbled to herself.

"I think Hidan did some weird immortality ritual again," said a voice from her left.

Hinata looked over and saw a very bored-looking Sasuke standing there, staring at the elevator doors as if he was willing it to open. The library was built in a circle so when Hinata was going around looking for stairs, she had ended up right back where she started. She felt her face grow hot from embarrassment as she thought how silly she'd been, going to such great lengths to avoid him when he hadn't done anything wrong.

After the elevator doors opened and he walked inside, not realizing whom he was talking to, Hinata followed after him. She had never seen Sasuke so surprised in comparison to the moment she stopped the doors from closing and walked in nonchalantly to stand beside him.

"Hello, Sasuke," she said confidently.

He recomposed himself then. "Hinata. Not running away I see."

She could just feel him smirking and he wasn't even facing her. "No, but I apologize for that. And for Neji. And everything before that actually."

"Do you ever stop apologizing for things that you never did wrong?"

"I almost killed you," she said indignantly, finally standing face to face to him.

"So did I." He smirked at her for real now. "So I guess we're even."

"I guess you're right though I think you do owe me a bit." He raised his eyebrow at this. "Your fan girls were kind of scary."

"I wouldn't worry about them. All they do is give empty threats. Besides Neji, did you know that Kiba also came to fight me too?"

Hinata let out a small gasp. "He didn't."

"He did." Sasuke gave a small smile at the memory and how he had so passionately spoken about the girl standing in front of him. "And I saw Shino close by too. I think that if one hadn't come, the other would've. Or maybe they both would've tagged teamed me. You're pretty popular, y'know."

"So are you. Sakura and Ino had a lot of questions about me and you."

"You're hanging out with Sakura and Ino?" he asked and then suddenly he looked very intrigued. "What did you say?"

"I said that you were nicer than people thought and that you weren't a dork."

"I'm more offended by the fact that you said I was even remotely nice."

"I think you are."

"Hn."

"You are! You might not realize it but you've done a lot of kind things for me. Those notes you gave me got me an A on our online assignment, Neji treats me like an equal rather than someone he needs to babysit, and since your fans have been giving me extra attention I've made much stronger friendships with our classmates."

"I can't exactly say the same. I will never get used to flashing, the handbag you gave me was nice but also humiliating to carry around, giving someone an unwarranted concussion is a cheap shot, you poisoned me, and there have been more men than usual who have threatened to kill me." He chuckled at her jaded expression and continued. "Hinata Hyuuga, you've put me into more uncomfortable situations than anyone I have ever met and for some reason I wouldn't change any of it."

Hinata grinned at this and it made Sasuke give a small smile in return.

"I wouldn't change anything either."

He leaned in a bit to see how she'd react and when she went to close the distance between them, he knew it was okay to kiss her.

They bumped heads on the way and pulled back laughing. Hinata shook her head because it was just their luck that it would happen.

The doors opened and Sasuke grabbed her hand as they walked out, lacing her fingers in between his. Their attempt at a first kiss might have gone awry but they had many more chances to perfect it. Maybe it was a good idea to take things slowly.

ClockRepair Message: Holy crap, I can't believe it's been two years since I've last published a piece of fan fiction and THREE years since my last Sasuhina. Though I have missed writing fan fiction dearly and it was amazing to find inspiration to write another, I wouldn't exactly say that I'm out of my temporary hiatus. But hopefully I am so very, very wrong.

I just apologize because I don't think my humour is what it was like before and I feel like the second half of this (long) oneshot is much stronger than the first half. For those of you who made it to the end and feel like you have gotten some form of entertainment by it, I want to say thank you. For anyone who was not satisfied and gave up somewhere, I want to apologize because the story wasn't what you wanted or expected. But as a whole I am so happy that I got to write this. The ending is kind of cheesy but it makes me smile so whatever.

Weirdly enough, I think Hidan and Shikamaru really stole the show ;)

Please leave a review :)