The first time Hinata told Menma that she loved him, Menma had laughed.

She could remember it like it was just yesterday. It was a Sunday wintery afternoon in Konoha, on the swings by the academy. Wind blew hard and the skies are grey, it clearly seemed like it was going to snow. It was Menma's favorite weather; he just loved to stare at the cold grey sky where the sun is too shy to come show its face. With a book in hand, Menma would swing slowly as he enjoyed the afternoon.

Hinata had been running, away from the Hyuuga family manor, and obviously away from Ko. Once she woke up to see what kind of weather had graced the village hidden in the leaves, she knew that a certain blond would have gone out of the house as soon as he could to enjoy the weather he so favored. It wasn't often that snow would come to Konoha, after all.

With only the pale jacket everyone in Hyuuga clan favored, Hinata rushed into the snowy roads of Konoha. Her feet felt cold and her ears started to hurt, but she paid them no heed as she ran and ran and ran towards the one place where she knew the spectator of everything would be.

Hinata panted as she had her hand on the academy's gate, searching for the man she fell in love with. And if she could use her byakugan, she probably would, just to find Menma one second quicker. She walked towards the swings she often saw Menma in and she found him.

Namikaze Menma; with golden hair and beautiful beautiful blue eyes that seemed to look at everything and nothing at the same time was, at the moment, focused to a book on his hand. He swung slowly as he hummed a song Hinata did not recognize, seeming not to notice that she was there, but if he did, he didn't show. The Hyuuga heiress walked closer to the only son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, earning a look from the blond.

Blue eyes met pale lavender and Hinata felt her breath tightening around her chest. Menma was so… beautiful, so different from everything else she ever knew. As the heiress of Hyuuga, Hinata had seen her share of beautiful things but nothing drew her in as one Menma Namikaze did.

"Hyuuga-san," he began, voice formal and crisp and it sounded nothing like his parents' voice. "How can I help you?" Hinata didn't have anything else to say but the one and only truth.

"I'm in love with you, Namikaze Menma."

And she really really was in love with Menma. The boy was so quiet, so calm, and yet Hinata somehow knew from the sparring sessions that Menma could probably murder his classmates with a smile on his face. He was so above all of them, even that playboy Uchiha and the fourth Hokage's daughter, but Menma did everything he could not to stand out.

Menma looked shocked, and for a split second, Hinata swore that he looked disgusted, but then it reverted back to his usual calm exterior and he let out a small laughter.

Hinata felt like her world had shifted in that very moment. She, Hinata Hyuuga, had made Namikaze Menma laughed. She didn't care if it was a joke to him, but she really is in love with him and she is not afraid to show it.

Menma had a strong look on his face as he closed his book and smiled a polite, insincere smile to Hinata. "You shouldn't joke about things like that, Hyuuga-san." And then he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Hinata all to her lonesome.

It should have make her feel dejected, but it didn't. If it was all possible, it just make Hinata fall for him even more.

Uchiha Sasuke never actually thought that he could settle down with someone, but if he ever could, he wanted to settle down with the one person everyone wants to settle down with.

Haruno Sakura, the beautiful tragic daughter of the Fourth Hokage.

Itachi-niisan and Shisui-san had shook their heads. How could he, the playboy Uchiha, could ever hope to win the heart of the most beautiful person in Konoha? How could he, an average shinobi whose Sharingan wasn't as up to par as everyone else's, ever hope to settle down with the pink-haired medical ninja that was rumored to be the next best medical ninja after Senju Tsunade herself? He didn't really know, but what he knew was the fact that he and Sakura were placed in the same team.

Team 7 had consisted of him, Haruno Sakura, and supposedly Namikaze Menma. But Namikaze always had a training regime so different from his and Sakura that he might as well not be there. Their jounin-sensei, the ever enthusiastic Kakashi-sensei, had told them that people in torture and interrogation division of Konoha had taken interest in Namikaze, so he was never around for most training. Kakashi-sensei had always love to push them close to their limits so he never really did forbid Namikaze from doing what he liked. And a few months after they were together, Namikaze went missing. And he was replaced by a boy named Sai, who was a far more sociable than Namikaze ever was.

So nowadays Team 7 had him, Haruno Sakura, and Sai. They were a great support team. Never the ones stationed in the frontlines, but they make do. Sometimes it frustrated Sakura that they were not as great as her parents, but she does everything as she perfectly could.

Sasuke knew just how much Sakura had respected Namikaze during their academy days. How could she not? The son of Konoha's Yellow Flash and the Red-Hot Habanero, former host of the nine-tailed fox. And according to the information he once overheard from Itachi-niisan, Namikaze is the current host of the tailed beast. Everyone was told that the Kyuubi is dead after the Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself, but it turns out that it wasn't so.

Namikaze was an enigma, the thing Sasuke did not understand and didn't bother to understand. Namikaze was never interested in Sasuke's life in general, or even in the object of everyone affection Haruno Sakura, so Sasuke just resigned himself to accept Namikaze's existence. Besides, he hadn't seen the guy ever since the chuunin exam a year ago, and it's unlikely that he'll see him again.

Oh how wrong he was.

It was a normal afternoon in Konoha, the crickets cried long summer and it was a perfect day for a date. But it seemed that Team 7 was assigned another support mission for one of the teams currently somewhere in Sunagakure. Ever since Gaara of the Sand became the Kazekage, Suna had been conducting so much more training practices with Konoha and these practices included war games. He, Sakura, and Sai were about to enter Hokage's office when a sharp smell of blood entered their system without any warning.

"And that is my report, Hokage-sama." Namikaze spoke, his voice had the sound of finality that Sasuke found extremely cold. It was like facing Itachi-niisan in a bad day and he didn't particularly like it. Team 7 entered the room awkwardly, but Shizune-san welcomed them in and they stood just beside Namikaze while he gave his report.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add, Hyuuga Hinata?"

Namikaze had his chin on top of Hyuuga Hinata's head, her hair was drenched in blood as was her clothes that were torn in some places that Sasuke had to avert his eyes to feel respectable. But she seemed content as she firmly held Namikaze's hands that circled around her waist. "No, Hokage-sama." She answered with a smile that looked like it was out of place with the bloodstains on her face. Namikaze chuckled.

"Very well, you two are dismissed. Thank you for your great work, Hinata, Menma."

They both bowed before Hinata jumped towards Namikaze and kissed him square on the lips before they disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"The ANBU tasked with cleaning their work has been dispatched, Hokage-sama. You know full well not to send those two when you want something covert. Menma-kun is good with silent assassinations, you should have sent him alone." Shizune-san huffed. "Yes, well, this time I want it done is good quickly and efficiently. Hinata could murder people just with the touch of her Gentle Fist when she see people hurt Menma and that's exactly what I want to do."

"But the blood and the mangled corpses?"

"That happened after. Now, Team 7, where was I with you?"