So, I decided to venture back into the Naruto fandom with my new favourite pairing~ I was contemplating this idea for a couple of months and it came to this... Of course all good ideas come when I really shouldn't be writing (coughfinalexamscough). I used to adore GaaHina, but then I read a few GaaHinaSasu triangles and thought... Hey, SasuHina would actually be really cute. Then, I saw fanart of them and was immediately hooked.

I know my sense of humour is a bit weird so this might not actually be funny... And I hope that the italicised text isn't too confusing. I think this is the longest thing I've ever written as a one-shot, all 30-31 pages. I have no beta-reader so please forgive my mistakes. I am so sad strikethrough doesn't show up on here...

Constructive criticism is always welcome~ Rated T for language. Sasuke is kind of OoC, but in my defence, there was no masssacre.

EDIT: Thank you, princess p, I fixed that error. Also fixed some grammar.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Crime and Punishment, or Pokemon, or Twilight. I only came up with the plot line. I do, however, own Tsuki as she is an OC put in for some humour.

He was going to murder his so-called 'best friend'.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say." An irritated voice permeated one of the outdoor areas surrounded in trees. Each word came out punctuated, crisp. Dark eyes glared at the blond sitting across from him who, by the way, was completely ignorant to the speaker's tone of voice and black aura (though others were slowly backing away from the pair with a slight look of fear in their eyes).

"Huh? Didn't know you were that deaf, teme. I said, I signed you up for the scavenger hunt with me," the blue-eyed male said nonchalantly, not only oblivious to the raven-haired male in front of him, but also to his companions in the background not-so-subtly (wildly) gesturing at him to shut the hell up before he got himself killed.

Onyx eyes narrowed further. "And why the hell would you go and do that?" If looks could kill, the male in front of him would be dead. That brought him back to the one question.

Why was he friends with Naruto anyway?

"Because you only ever participate in two events for athletics day. 'Sides, it'll be fun. It's one of the last events of the day, along with the amazing race thing, but there was no more room in the amazing race. Anyway, after your events you always just go off somewhere. You might as well enjoy the day since we don't have classes. Who knows? It might be beneficial for you."

Would detention be worth it if I can beat up Naruto? His day so far had already been horrible. Not only did his fangirls stalk him everywhere the whole day and try to get into 'romantic' situations with him (he'd foiled 7 plots already), he had failed to avoid one and had been shut in a closet with one of them. He had only managed to escape the closet 5 minutes after when the janitor opened the door to get a mop. Fending off a persistent fangirl in a cramped space was not a great way to start lunch. Now this… "In case you didn't notice, I pick the events in the morning so afterwards I can ditch and not put up with all those girls. Take my name off the list, dobe. And what the fuck to you mean by beneficial?"

To his frustration, Naruto just grinned wider. "No can do, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei has already handed the list to Gai-sensei. Everything's final!" The blond ignored his last question.

Fuck this. He hated social-ish events.

"YEOWCH! WHY THE HELL DID YOU PUNCH ME?!"

Konoha high school's seventeen year old heartthrob, Uchiha Sasuke, fortunately was not suspended from school for punching his classmate in the face and causing a bloody nose. Nor was he exempt from having to participate in the school's athletics day, or whatever the hell you called it. He was not in the mood for any of this.

Especially not after Gai.

He and Naruto, who was being patched up during this, spent an agonising fifteen minutes listening to Gai give a lecture on the 'youthfulness of the teenage years (he had no desire to listen to the physed teacher go on about how the two of them were arguing over 'the youthful blossoms of love' or something to that effect). Hell, he was pretty sure that every second word that came out of Gai's mouth was a word with 'youth' in it. Asking Gai if he would remove his name from the scavenger hunt list of participants got him another lecture, albeit shorter, on how he shouldn't back out of his decisions, to which he argued back that it was not his decision to participate in the useless activity and can't you tell from the writing it was Naruto who wrote his name down? Who else had such illegible handwriting? Unfortunately for him, Gai was not buying any of that and strictly told him that he could not suddenly change his mind (if Naruto signing him up against his will counted as'his' mind) or his physed grade would suffer and so would the class.

He couldn't care less about which class got the most points, but he couldn't afford to lose his straight A+ streak.

Naruto would pay for this. He would make sure the blue-eyed male suffered. The scavenger hunt was set to take place at 2 in the afternoon. That was almost four and a half hours where he had to actively avoid his fangirls.

He'd chosen the 300 metre and the 100 metre races since they were at 9 and 9:20 respectively. His usual plan was to ditch the school grounds after he'd completed the physed requirement, like every year preceding. Now, thanks to his idiotic 'best friend' (he should really consider cutting all relations to him), he had no choice but to stay the whole day.

Sasuke stalked off to math class in a horrible mood, glaring at all the giggling girls he saw along the way and ignoring their shallow remarks about him. They saw, or at least 'felt', his murderous aura right now and thus didn't approach him.

"Sasuke-san!"

Pause.

Twitch.

Large mental deep breath.

Glare to neutral expression.

He turned around to see a girl with long midnight hair that fell to her waist. She smiled up at him, brushing her fringe out of her soft lavender eyes. Part of her dark hair was tied back with a lilac ribbon. "Hinata."

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly as she walked over to him. "I heard from Kiba-kun that you and Naruto-kun got into a fight earlier."

Of course the mutt went to tell her. "I'm fine," he told her, gruffly. "As if the dobe could do any damage." Noting her frown he continued, "Gai-sensei intervened before the fight got too serious."

Hinata shook her head knowing that it was pointless to try and convince them to stop trading blows at any opportunity. "You shouldn't have hit Naruto-kun in the face…"

"He deserved it."

"What did you two fight over this time?" She still looked concerned.

He scowled. "He signed me up for the scavenger hunt."

She blinked. "He… oh dear…" She tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Well, if it's any consolation, I heard the scavenger hunt this year is going to be really fun. All the slots filled up really quickly." She looked a bit wistful. "I was hoping to sign up."

"Why did you want to participate?"

"Well, Kiba-kun told me he was going to do it, so I thought I should at least try it before we graduate. Hopefully next year I'll get a chance." She shot him a shy smile. "I'll be sure to cheer you on."

"Ah... What events did you sign up for then?" He ignored the warm feeling from her words.

"Um… high jump and the hundred metre. I suppose you're doing the hundred and three hundred?"

"Hn."

The warning bell sounded, signifying that students should start heading to class.

"Oh, well I better head to Gai-sensei's class. I definitely don't want to be late for that, or he'll make me run fifty laps. I'll see you later, Sasuke-san." She waved and headed off.

He headed off in the direction of his English class. Kurenai was one of the few normal teachers in this school.

"TEME!" Naruto yelled as he entered the classroom.

Twitch. Right, Naruto.

"You're early," he commented. No point starting yet another fight. Though, a small smirk surfaced when he saw the white piece of cotton taped to the blond's nose.

"Shut up. At least we didn't get detention for that." The blue-eyed male rubbed his nose gingerly. "Probably because you're an Uchiha."

"As if Ibiki-sensei cared that time."

Naruto made a face. "Whatever. Can you believe he wouldn't give me pain killers? At least Hinata-chan had some."

He growled. "They're not supposed to give you medication. Bring your own, dobe. Stop mooching off everyone."

"I do not mooch off everyone!"

"Then tell me, what do you call 'borrowing' ten pens, six erasers, thirteen pencils, three whi-"

"I just forget to bring that stuff!"

Kiba snorted. "Yah right. We never get anything you 'borrow' back. How much money have I lent you already?"

Kurenai walked in before Naruto could come back with a retort (or more like a pathetic insult), and all the students moved to their desks.

Sasuke preferred English as it was one of the few classes where everyone sat at individual desks, and Kurenai was strict on students who dared talk during one of her lessons without her permission. That didn't stop some of the girls from throwing notes in his direction. Most of the time he just threw the notes at the back of Naruto's head (it was a good way to practice his aim). His best friend sat in front of him and couldn't do a thing while red-eyed female was teaching.

...

Hyuuga Hinata…

His best friend was probably the biggest idiot he'd ever met. Hinata had a crush on Naruto throughout primary and junior high school, but that faded in year 10 after she accepted the fact that the blue-eyed male with A.D.D. was solely focused on one pink-haired Haruno Sakura.

And Sakura had a crush on him.

It was a freaking... quadrilateral...

The lavender-eyed female was one of the few girls Sasuke had ever met that didn't fawn over him like a rabid-obsessed fangirl in dire need of some kind of shot. He'd only really started talking to her in year 8 since they were partners for some Japanese project, and he found that she was quiet and not annoying. It wasn't hard to see that she had this big crush on Naruto. So it was a nice change to be able to talk to someone of the opposite gender without being fangirl-ed over. He discovered that she was a soft-spoken, intelligent woman, with a cousin that was severely over-protective of her.

Severely.

Her cousin, one year older than them, had threatened him upon seeing the two of them converse one day during lunch about a stupid Japanese project. Hinata had apologised profusely, stuttering too many times for him to count. She had explained the whole mother-hen-cousin thing much to Neji's chagrin (it was much too like her to apologise for someone else, even when the person she was apologising for was standing a metre away from her). She'd explained the situation to her cousin, but the white-eyed male still regarded him with dislike. And recently Neji's dislike of him seemed to have grown.

He hoped it wasn't because the coffee-haired male suspected anything of him.

They'd slowly become friends over the past two years. He was her support in the whole 'I-have-a-crush-on-Naruto' thing. He was the one (comforting) helping her when she cried her heart out last year when she finally decided to give up on the blond. Hinata had confessed to the hyperactive male and was rejected (which she knew would happen, but she wanted to tell Naruto anyway).

She was still somewhat shy around him, even though they'd known each other since year 8, and they'd become pretty good friends over the past 2 years.

And he, over the past few years had… he had… The one girl that was not attracted to him, and he just had to…

Goddamnit.

He ran his hand through his unruly hair. Of course she would blush further if teased, and he tended to do that a bit after that incident last year (though only when nobody else was around since he didn't need Neji coming after him with a katana or something, which was what the pale-eyed male did to Naruto after the event last year much to the blond's confusion and anger). Somehow, the elder Hyuuga had managed to get away with bringing a katana on school grounds and waving it about as he chased Naruto. Where the fuck did he pull that weapon from? It definitely could not have fit in the school bag.

Seriously, how the hell did no-one notice that? Especially with Naruto screaming like a little girl.

So the perfect time to talk to the shy girl would be during class as her overprotective (mother) cousin couldn't show up since he was in the year above.

But no, he didn't share a single class with her. Six subjects in a day, eight subjects in total, and ten homerooms. He would have thought that they'd share at least one class together. Hell, there were only two physed sessions. They had the same 7 subjects, but not a single shared class.

And she was always surrounded by people during the breaks, Sakura, Tenten, Yamanaka, and… he growled, the three Sabaku siblings, Inuzuka and Aburame, Nara, Akimichi, not to mention her crazy-ass cousin and his psycho green stalker who looked/was way too much like Gai for anyone's comfort.

Fuck, he had to stop thinking about this.

"Uchiha-kun," Kurenai's voice broke him out of his reverie. "Please explain why Raskolnikov decided to give his remaining money to Marmeladov's family."

The thought of having to stay at school the whole day with his unrestrained fangirls was seriously off-putting. That feeling only increased the closer he got to the school gates, especially with all the girls already bothering him as he approached hell. He'd left late so he hopefully wouldn't have to put up with all the fawning for as long. No such luck. He stood in front of the grounds, hands in pockets. He attempted to ignore the screams and girls around him, at least until an arm was slung over his shoulders with great enthusiasm.

"Today's gonna be fun, trust me. Let's go find the others!" the blond chattered, like he'd taken seven cups of coffee for the first time and didn't know what to do with the extra energy. This proved to further the point when the hyperactive male abruptly let him go and went charging off to goodness-knows-where. Naruto probably smelled ramen coming from somewhere; he was like a sniffer dog. Maybe ramen was Naruto's drug, who knew?

"There you are, Sasuke-kun!" Another familiarly cheery voice called out to him.

He turned to face a bubbly fuchsia-coloured mop of hair. "Sakura." His face was impassive.

She stared at him for a while, hands on her hips. "At least try and have fun today? I know you don't want to do the scavenger hunt thing, but it wouldn't hurt to have the experience?" She shook her head, knowing he wasn't going to say anything. But at least he wasn't outright refusing. "Come on, let's go find the others."

He followed his emerald-eyed companion. Sakura had gotten over her obsessive crush on him. She still cared for him deeply. He had no idea who her new infatuation was, but he was relieved she had gotten over him. Whatever, at least he didn't have to put up with any declarations of so-called 'love' from her.

The pair reached the back corner of the field where a group of them had decided to 'camp'. He could see 4 different blankets lain on the grass, and he was unsurprised to see Shikamaru already sleeping to the side. How the genius could sleep through such racket he'd never know.

The rest of the group were not perturbed by Naruto and Ino arguing with one another at the top of their lungs over something he didn't even want to listen to.

Chouji, as always, was sitting on one section of the blanket eating some of his snacks (that was one huge snack bag). Kiba and Shino were in some sort of discussion. Sakura had gone over to break up the fight between the two blonds. Hinata was sitting with Tenten and Temari, laughing over something. When he got closer to the group (Sakura had run ahead of him when she'd seen/heard the loud voices of Ino and Naruto), he received a chorus of varied greetings.

He surveyed the group, nodding in response. Naruto made his way over to him with a wide grin on his face.

"You took your time finding us," the azure-eyed male commented.

"Hn." Of course his best friend conveniently forgot that he was the one who ran off.

Naruto dragged him over to the group. "Anyway, this'll be fun! I'll definitely beat you in this afternoon's event."

"So you signed me up for it knowing you can't beat me in any athletic sport, including the two races we have this morning?"

"Shut up, teme, that's NOT it. I can beat you any day, believe it!"

"Then how do you explain the past four years?"

"Why you-"

"Will all the participants in the male three hundred metre sprint please report to the centre of the field. I repeat, will all the participants in the male three hundred metre sprint, please report to the centre of the field."A female voice echoed throughout the field.

Naruto's irritation faded upon hearing the announcement. "Let's go, teme! I'll for sure beat you today!"

The Uchiha resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He'd heard that statement every time Naruto challenged him to, well anything really. "Dobe, the only thing you could ever beat me in is being dead last."

Before the blond could reply to that, Sasuke had headed off to the rally point for the 3oo metre. "Oi, teme, wait up!"

The rest of the group shook their heads at their antics.

"Maybe in about five minutes we should head over there and cheer them on?" Sakura suggested as she twirled a lock of her hair with a finger.

Ino smirked at her, arms crossed. "I thought you were over your little crush on Sasuke-kun, Forehead."

"I am, Ino-pig! And I am not just cheering for him. I was going to cheer for Naruto as well." She turned away from Ino. "Ne, Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan, Temari-chan, did you guys want to come along too? Your events don't start until ten anyway, right?"

"Naw, I have to go do javelin," Tenten said. "Sorry, but Hinata-chan and Temari-chan can go, right?"

Temari shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

The pale-eyed girl looked at Tenten and Temari, who both shot her looks. She sighed.

"I'll go."

"Damn, we're not in the same heat," Naruto said, disappointed. His arms were bent at odd angles. The quiet male never understood how his friend warmed up.

"Probably better for you, dobe." Sasuke ignored the protest made by the blue-eyed male and scanned the crowd while he continued to stretch, wary of all his fangirls that were waiting all around the track with water bottles and lunch boxes. He'd have to make a very quick and sneaky escape if he wanted to get through his day without being sexually harassed/hounded. He easily spotted Ino and Sakura in the crowd (their hair colours together were hard not to notice). Naruto would be happy to see the pinkette. Then Hinata appeared on the other side of Sakura. He blinked. She looked around until her gaze met his. She tucked some stray hair behind her ear, some of it coming loose from the ponytail she'd tied up with a deep mauve coloured ribbon. He quickly glanced at Naruto to make sure that the lavender-eyed girl was not looking at him. Nope, it was fine; Naruto was stretching, not even facing the direction of the girls. The dark-haired male quickly looked back at Hinata, who shot him a small smile of encouragement. He frowned. She was saying something to him…

Good luck.

At least that's what he thought it was. He inclined his head and her smile grew.

"You can do it, Sasuke-kun!"

"Go for it, Naruto!"

He winced at the two girls' yells. They were so loud.

The third heat was called out. Melanoid orbs looked over in Naruto's direction. "I'm not losing to you, dobe."

The sunny-haired male gave him an odd look, which faded into a competitive grin. "We'll see about that!"

He walked over to the start line, finishing up his last stretches. He glanced at the other males competing in his heat. Not seeing anyone worth noting, he focused on the track.

"On your marks, get set, go!" The whistle blew, signifying the beginning of the race.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, slightly out of breath.

"Goddamnit, teme," Naruto said through heavy breaths.

"I told you that you couldn't beat me."

"But half a second!"

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called over, saving the Uchiha from having to comment.

Both males turned to look over, only to see her and the platinum blond. Behind them was Temari dragging a reluctant (?) looking Hinata, Tenten in tow. Upon reaching them, the taller girl dropped Hinata's arms.

"That was amazing, you two!" Ino exclaimed. "I think you just broke the school record for the hundred metre, Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn."

Sakura beamed at the two of them. "Congratulations! I don't think anyone beat your times. Our class is already in the lead! Cha!"

"Yeah, our homeroom is going to beat all the others!" Naruto shouted, his trademark grin on his face. "Too bad only Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme are in our homeroom."

"Ah, congratulations on winning both races," a soft voice called out from behind him.

Since when did Hinata get there?

"Hn."

She smiled up at him, a light blush adorning her features.

Before he could respond, he caught sight of a large number of fangirls heading in his direction.

"Fangirls," he said, irritated. He knew that she'd understand, so he quickly evacuated the area to avoid the mobs that were trying to give him things.

The raven-haired teen had managed to keep away from mostly everyone for the rest of the day and he felt more exhausted than ever as he hadn't been able to stay in one place for more than half an hour. He had been (hiding) hanging out on the rooftop for about twenty minutes and nobody had found him there yet (he twitched at any noise coming from the door region). Safe to say, he was not well rested at all.

Now all he had to do was head down to the middle of the field. He looked down to see if the organisers were ready, peering over the edge where a flamboyant looking stage had been set up. The backdrop (yes there was one) was a deeply coloured sunset of orange and purple hues with cerulean green ocean waves crashing into shiny, jagged rocks. His eye twitched.

Don't tell me Gai-sensei is hosting this thing…

Suppressing a groan, he headed down while keeping an eye out for any fangirls on the prowl.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

"OH MY GOD, THERE HE IS!"

"PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!"

"Bitch, HE'S MINE!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

He stealthily avoided his fangirls and made it out to the field where they couldn't follow him.

"There you are, teme!" Naruto called out to him. He turned to see his best friend waving at him in a ridiculous manner to go over to the crowd surrounding the stage. Grateful for a reason to avoid his fangirls, he (ran) walked over to his best friend.

"Hn."

"Where've you been?"

He avoided looking at the stage at this point. Those colours were too bright, too clashing. It was an assault on his eyes. Definitely Gai's handiwork. "Around."

"Obviously. You're supposed to be enjoying today, not holing up somewhere being emo."

"There's a reason why I only chose to do those two races, dobe. And don't ask stupid questions."

"Teme-!"

"Attention participants of the scavenger hunt. I will be the host for today's event," a young female teacher stood upon the stage, her dark eyes scanning the crowd. Shizune was doing her best to ignore the (hideous) charming backdrop surrounding her. "First, I would like to thank you all for participating in the event. Second, would all participants please pick up a yellow bandanna from the front and tie it around one of your arms so that the teachers can identify who is taking part."

"Ugh, they spend so long on stupid speeches," Naruto commented to him. "Anyway, I'll grab one for you too, teme." The energetic male walked off and returned not much later with two yellow bandannas in hand, one of which he handed to the Uchiha.

"The rules for this are simple. The winner is the person who manages to successfully fulfil all eight clues first. You are allowed to ask other students for help, but you are not allowed to leave the school grounds. You must be holding on to all these clues at all times. If at any point you are not in contact with the clues, then you are immediately disqualified. You are also not allowed to take items from other competitors. The standard school rules apply to this event. Teachers will be positioned around the school to enforce these rules," Shizune announced to the crowd of students that were participating. "I will be standing outside the main office if you have any further questions."

That was an odd way to put it. So he couldn't let go of the items? Wouldn't 8 of them be a pain in the ass to hold? Surely the teachers weren't crazy enough to make them carry around hurdles or desks. Well, there was Gai-sensei… Hell, maybe he should just get himself disqualified. But Naruto… Sasuke gritted his teeth. He'd never live it down if he didn't win this. Who else was taking part in this stupid thing? He glanced around. Inuzuka (right, Hinata had said so), Lee, Tenten, and a few other people that he couldn't be bothered to remember.

"Now, here's Gai-sensei with your first clue," Shizune called out.

He really hoped he didn't have to go find the fountain of youth, or something equally stupid.

"Your first task is to get a green umbrella!" Gai said excitedly, his right hand giving a thumbs up and his left leg propped on top of a stool (which he swore was not there two seconds ago). A shining sunset blinded him, accentuating the already bright backdrop (no wonder it was there), and he wished he hadn't forgotten his sunglasses. "After you have the umbrella, talk to Kurenai-sensei for the next part!" He grinned, his teeth giving off a sparkle that would have made Edward Cullen jealous. He could hear the groans of the students around him, along with a few whimpers of pain. "Now, go!"

Not needing to be told twice, the raven-haired teen quickly left. He didn't want any of that weirdness rubbing off on him. No way.

A green umbrella. Where was he going to find one of those? No doubt Lee already had his and was getting the second clue soon. He'd better hurry if he wanted to win this thing.

He was not going to be second place to anyone in anything.

"Sasuke-kun!" a few too cheery and too giggly voices called out to him. He winced. Fangirls.

He quickly turned around, just to make sure they weren't going to jump him. To his (not) surprise, six girls were holding out green umbrellas and they were surrounded by, no doubt, more fangirls sans umbrellas. Right, his fangirls would probably end up giving him at least half these items that he'd been forced to find. Maybe this would be over sooner than he thought. "Hn."

"Ah… PLEASE TAKE THIS!" one red-headed fangirl held the umbrella out to him, wide-eyed.

"No, take MY umbrella!"

"Bitch, I was here first!"

"As if he wants your umbrella."

"Sasuke-kun, take my umbrella!"

God, they were so loud. He just took the closest plain umbrella to him wordlessly before he quickly ran off to find Kurenai. He could hear the girls swooning behind him and raised voices of arguments. He did not wish to hear any of it.

He stopped in front of crimson-eyed female, holding the umbrella distastefully in front of her.

"Ahh, Uchiha-kun. That was rather quick. Well, no matter. The next thing I need you to get is a souvenir from anywhere outside of Japan. Go find Kakashi-sensei when you manage to get the object."

"Hn." He quickly headed off. Since Kurenai hadn't announced through a microphone what the next item was, he might end up having to….. *gulp* ask a fangirl.

He shuddered at that thought. God, someone must have been outside Japan and bought a souvenir and hung it on their bag/pencil case/notebook/whatever, right?

Oh right. Hadn't Yamanaka gone to Europe last break? Didn't she love key chains? Great, now he had to find her. This would have been a lot easier if she had still been stalking him.

He did not just think that.

No.

Cursing to himself, Sasuke headed in the direction of their group. All their bags would be there. Maybe he could just take it? He cast that thought away upon reaching the area. No sign of Ino, and he was not going to rummage through a woman's handbag in the presence of three males. Sabaku, Hyuuga, Aburame. There was no way he was asking for a goddamn souvenir from the three, especially not Neji.

And why the hell couldn't he have a partially sane fan club like the Hyuuga? Hyuuga's fan club didn't obsessively stalk the white-eyed male, nor did they creepily try and invade his personal space.

Why did he get all the insane ones?

From the corner of his eye, he spotted fangirls holding what looked like home-made food. He quickly headed off knowing that majority (probably all) of his fangirls could not cook for their lives.

The food ranged anywhere from unidentifiable sludge to questionable meats to uncut vegetables in odd sauce. Did he forget to mention some of them bubbled? And they weren't even hot! No doubt they were putting in weird ingredients to try and get him to like them in the same way that they liked him and there was no way he was going to fall for that (he made the mistake of eating one of their lunches once when he was in grade school and didn't know any better; he had never been so sick in his life).

That was probably one of the reasons why he was grateful for Hinata's presence. Her cooking was excellent, an all too welcome change from other 'consumables' (how they could believe love potions existed in this day and age was beyond him).

"Uchiha." Munch munch. "Being chased by girls again?" Crrruuuunch!

His eyes narrowed. "Akimichi. No, I'm looking for a souvenir from somewhere outside Japan for the scavenger hunt."

"Oh, Ino should have a keychain on her. She has like twelve of them. I last saw her in the gymnasium flirting with some guys." Crunch, munch.

Sasuke nodded his acknowledgement and ran off to the gym, dodging his fangirls that were trying to ask him ridiculous questions. He hated how they always pestered him about what his ideal girl was, ('cause he'd just think of midnight blue hair and pale lavender eyes).

He did not answer pointless, useless questions, especially not from fangirls.

The raven-haired male passed by Naruto, who was clutching a horrendous looking green umbrella (did he get that from Gai?). The blond shot him a cheeky grin as he inclined his head towards the Uchiha's dozens of stalking fangirls. He returned the look with an icy glare of his own before he entered the gymnasium in order to find the other blond.

They'd be good for each other, both loudmouths in one area, which he could actively avoid if he didn't feel like putting up with all the noise.

True to Akimichi's word, the female was flirting with three guys next to the bleachers. Were he not an Uchiha he would have rolled his eyes at her predictability.

"Sasuke-kun! Did you come looking for lil old me?" Ino asked flirtatiously.

"Yes and no," he replied shortly. Before she could say anything, he continued, "I need a souvenir from outside Japan for the scavenger hunt. Akimichi said you'd have at least one on you."

Ino dug through her pockets. "I was kidding, Sasuke-kun. As a matter of fact, I have nine. Do you have a preference?"

He scoffed. "I don't care. Any will do, and be quick about it, I'm being hounded."

"Okay, well…" She frowned, pulling her hands out of her pocket, void of any metal. "Strange, I must have left my keys with my bag. Guess we have to head back to the blankets. Come on, Sasuke-kun." She winked at the three males around her. "I'll be back. Just give me a couple of minutes."

He followed Ino out of the gym silently. He noted his fangirls shooting the platinum blond female dirty looks, to which she replied with a rude gesture with her hand, both at times.

Not that he was worried for the loud-mouthed female. She could take care of herself; she had been one of them before, after all.

He was aware of her chattering, though he chose to ignore it. Only when she stopped halfway on the field, falling silent, did he pay any attention to her.

"You haven't been listening to a word I've said, have you?" she demanded.

The pointed look he gave answered her question. "Do I look like I care?"

Ino merely rolled her eyes and resumed walking. He scoffed as she continued chattering on about something else. He merely followed her to the blanket, where she proceeded to rummage through her bag before pulling out a chunk of metal. It looked like there were about twelve things stuck to Ino's keys. That was a lot of key chains; she could clobber someone with those (poor Nara). Before she could ask again, he stated, "whichever one comes off first. Just hurry up."

"Fine, fine." She fiddled with her keys and shortly after, pulled off one with a miniature Eiffel tower in silver with 'Paris' engraved in fancy script on the back. She handed it to the Uchiha, who took it and nodded at her before heading off to find Kakashi.

"Geez, he really doesn't change, does he?"

Sasuke swerved in and out of the crowd, dodging fangirls while looking for the silver-haired math teacher. Kakashi was not hard to spot as he was sitting on the stool left by Gai on the stage, reading that detestable book, half in conversation with Iruka standing near him. Dog-boy was running towards the stage as well. He'd better get there quick.

"Oh, Uchiha-kun, Inuzuka-kun, congratulations on getting the second item," Kakashi said nonchalantly as he spotted the keychain in Sasuke's hand and the notebook with 'Breathtaking Vancouver' written on the front in Kiba's. His carefree look faded, replaced by a gleam which the younger onyx-eyed male could not place.

Why did he not like the look Kakashi was giving him? He scowled, waiting for the math teacher to give him the next item that he had to get. It better not be a desk or something.

"Well, Uchiha-kun, Inuzuka-kun, your next task is to get a person of the opposite gender to run around with you for the rest of this event. You need to go to Anko-sensei when you find your significant-, I mean a girl."

Wait.

WHAT?!

He'd prefer the desk.

Stupid Kakashi. That wording was completely unnecessary. And what was with that look?

Ohshitohshitohshit. The stoic male quickly bolted before his fangirls could catch up to him. From the squeals of "please take me with you" and "I'll go with you" and other useless garbage, he had better run fast.

What kind of sick, twisted event was this? His fangirls were going to (molest) mob him and he'd never (see the light of day again) finish this. No wonder there were so many guys taking part in this event (though how they knew of this section… probably Jiraiya… His fangirls must have known since there was suspiciously a giant horde around Kakashi). He had to get some female to go with him, AND he had to keep in contact with her, which meant holding hands or something stupid like that. No wonder there was such a stupid rule involved.

He needed to find a girl that wouldn't cling to him. Some female…

A female.

Oh shit.

INUZUKA.

There was no way the mutt was going to be running around with her for the rest of the race, holding hands. Not if he could help it.

He'd better find her quickly. He bolted over to the corner where they had set up in the morning (Sakura's bright pink umbrella was an easy landmark). Nope, no sign of her there. He had absolutely no idea where she could be, so he just ran around aimlessly, hoping that he'd reach her before Inuzuka did. He blitzed past all the girls clamouring to be his partner in the event.

It took so much damn effort to evade all his fangirls. Where the hell did they get all that energy from anyway? This should be an event in itself – getting past his fangirls in the least amount or time or the most unscathed.

They were chasing him the whole way, screaming out to him to take them along as well as other declarations of their so-called 'love'.

Hell no.

He'd rather spend the whole day with Gai.

Was it sad that he'd prefer that? He shuddered.

He spotted a deep purple-red ribbon blowing in the wind and immediately headed in that direction. Sasuke was relieved to find her unaccompanied.

"Hinata." He walked up behind her. Her surprised 'eep' was amusing, but he had to ask her before the mutt barged in and ruined everything.

"S-s-sasuke-san. I… what… aren't you doing the scavenger hunt?" She looked up at him confused. "Oh, did you need some help with the item? Is there anything I can help with?"

"I need to bring a person of the opposite gender around with me for the rest of this event," he stated flatly, his gaze impassive. He focused his attention on her eyes.

She blinked a few times rapidly, surprised. "I thought it was going to be all material objects since that's what they did last year…" Her face was scrunched up slightly, a rather endearing expression on her face. "Well, I think Sakura-chan and Ino-chan said they were going to be inside the gymnasium. Or, if you want to ask Temari-chan, she's next to the long jump pit." She looked somewhat nervous.

She actually… she really didn`t even think about herself. He almost sighed aloud at her denseness. At times it was rather cute, but at other times…

"I don't even get along with Sabaku. As for Sakura and Yamanaka, they'll talk my ears off not to mention they'll cling to me like barnacles." Perhaps the last statement was a bit of an exaggeration...Would she think of herself now?

Her blush came back. Curious reaction. And she was looking off to the side. Even more curious…. "Umm… Ami-san?"

He winced. That was probably his biggest fangirl yet (he figured the president of the Uchiha Sasuke fanclub had to be the biggest and craziest fangirl in the school). "No." He saw Kiba from the corner of his eye. With a small sigh of frustration, he grabbed her hand and walked quickly off in the direction of the dango-eating teacher.

"S-s-s-sasuke-san?" she spluttered out. It's been a while since I've heard her stutter around me so badly. When he gave no response, she continued, "w-w-what a-are y-you d-d-doing?" A really long while for it to be that bad.

"Isn't it obvious?"

He didn't have to look at her to know that she was probably gaping at him with a completely stunned expression. He figured she was also pretty red, maybe a new shade of red. So far he'd counted seeing at least 14 shades of red on her face (he had no idea a human could even be that many shades of red without something being seriously wrong). She hadn't pulled away yet. He really really hoped she wouldn't, or he'd have to deal with some very annoying girls. (Besides, he enjoyed her company).

To his relief, he felt her grip his hand back ever so slightly. Good, he wouldn't have to deal with any fangirls trying anything on him.

"How many times have I told you to drop the 'san' and just call me Sasuke?" he asked, annoyed at the honorific.

"Umm… no S-s-sasuke-kun?" She blushed at the lack of formality. To drop the honorific completely… she wasn't comfortable with it, he could tell.

The raven-haired male shot her a look of mild disgust. "Hell no."

She shot him a smile through the rather red colouring on her cheeks and then glanced around. She shrunk slightly from the extremely hostile glares directed at her from various girls as they wondered how the hell Hyuuga managed to 'snag' their beloved 'Sasuke-kun'.

Good thing he didn't have to worry about fangirls verbally harassing the Hyuuga female too much. She could handle them since she had experience with her cousin's fandom as well. She had a way with words, so politely disarming.

"Sasuke-san…?"

He gave a side-long glance at her to indicate he was listening, though he continued walking. Goddamn that honorific.

"A-are you s-s-sure? I mean…" She took a deep breath, calming herself. He almost smirked at her trying so hard. "You can always find someone else.'

"Hinata, I wouldn't be holding on to you if I didn't mean to."

"I guess…"

Cue awkward silence. He could tell she was quite uncomfortable, and his brain conveniently decided to go on vacation, thus he couldn't think of any way to make this less awkward. So they made their way to Anko in silence.

"Uchiha-kun, Hyuuga-san," Anko raised an eyebrow in surprise at his companion; the smirk on her face was 'oh-so-obvious'. He glared at her. "Interesting… Cute companion." Her comment received a pretty blush from the female and an even darker glare from the male, both of which she pointedly ignored. She threw one of the empty dango sticks into the bin with perfect aim. "Your next item is a copy of Seventeen magazine. After you have that, you need to find Asuma-sensei."

The hell?! Seventeen magazine?

His grip on his companion's hand tightened, and he pulled her away. He was not letting her go; screw the fangirls and Inuzuka.

Speaking of the mutt…

"Uchiha!" Kiba called out to him, annoyed. "What the hell are you doing with Hinata-chan?!" Her childhood friend was not improving his mood. At all.

"What does it look like, idiot? Kakashi-sensei told us to find someone of the opposite gender. I'm pretty sure Hinata qualifies."

"That's not what I mean and you know it, Uchiha," Kiba snarled back.

"Kiba-kun, it's fine. Sasuke-san probably just found me first," Hinata replied, attempting to prevent any arguments/fights from occurring.

The chocolate-haired male looked at her pleadingly. "But Hinata-chan!"

Irritated, Sasuke tugged her away from Kiba to go in search of a copy of Seventeen magazine. He could hear the other male's protests but paid no attention to them as he pulled her through the crowd.

"S-sasuke-san! Y-you can't j-just leave Kiba-kun like t-that!" she spluttered, an objection to his behaviour.

"Hn."

He heard her sigh, but no further words came from her. Her childhood friend was really annoying.

The obsidian-eyed male dragged Hinata around the school grounds, at a loss of where to find such a girly magazine. He couldn't just ask for one, that'd be… degrading. His fangirls weren't approaching him like they normally did (probably because he was holding Hinata's hand and maybe because that was still sinking in).

No, he would not, could not ask anyone.

"Umm… if you want a copy of the magazine, I think Sakura-chan or Ino-chan have one. I can ask them for you. Or, maybe Tsuki-chan," she commented, breaking the silence.

"Luria?" he asked incredulously. "The one that wants to kung-fu my ass almost every time we meet?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, she doesn't read those things, but she knows where and how to get almost any item. I can always ask her about any other items you may end up having to find."She sighed. "And… well… she's a difficult person to get along with."

"Whatever… Lead the way." It'd be nice to win this thing with her after all.

The female Hyuuga lead the way, gently tugging him through the masses of people. She ended up asking a few of her friends, none of which managed to procure the required item.

"Well, I can try asking Sakura-chan. I think she should still be near the gym with Ino-chan." Hinata tugged lightly on his hand, squeezing it gently as she walked toward the school building.

He did keep an eye out for fangirls… He didn't want any of them targeting the meek girl in front of him. He also kept watch for any guys shooting Hinata looks. She was more than a pretty face and didn't deserve to have all the guys eyeing her, most likely with indecent thoughts running through their minds. Especially not in front of him. The raven-haired male moved closer to the petite girl until he was close enough to be able to inhale her lavender scent. He felt her stiffen slightly, but she gave no other indication of his sudden movement.

No guy was going to hit on her in his presence. The look on his face was practically telling everyone to 'back-the-hell-off-before-you-regret-it'.

So what if Uchiha's were a tad possessive?

The duo entered the hallway to see Sakura arguing with Naruto. Upon seeing them, the emerald-eyed female stopped talking and stared at them in mild disbelief. Naruto, who noticed his crush falling silent, followed her gaze and grinned.

"Hey, teme, pretty beneficial, ya know?"

He blinked and then remembered the blond's comment from a few days ago. He shot Naruto a dark look. "How many times have I told you to stop meddling, Naruto?" he growled out. He shouldn't be wasting his time arguing with the ramen-loving idiot. He took a deep breath, noting that Naruto didn't have a partner yet. He smirked. "You're behind."

Naruto flared up. "I was in the process of asking Sakura-chan before you came along." He turned his attention to the pink-haired female. "Please, Sakura-chan, come along with me! I'll do anything!" he pleaded.

The pinkette raised an eyebrow, amused. "Anything?"

"Yeah, anything, believe it!" If Naruto could spend time with Sakura while holding hands with her, then anything she asked of him would be worth it.

Sakura gave him a mischievous smile. "How about going without ramen for a month?"

The blond's jaw dropped. "No ramen... for a month...? But Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" He looked rather conflicted.

As amusing as the situation was, Sasuke figured that he'd better get a move on with this thing. The longer Naruto was held up the better. "Sakura, I need to ask you something, without the dobe."

"Yeah, sure, Sasuke-kun," the emerald-eyed female replied. She glanced at Naruto, grinning. "Think about it, Naruto." The three walked a few metres away from the hyperactive male.

Before the chipper female could say anything, Sasuke stated, "I need a copy of Seventeen magazine."

The cherry blossom stared. This would have been the weirdest thing ever had she not known that it was for the scavenger hunt. But, just to be sure... "Scavenger hunt...?"

He gave her a pointed look. "No shit."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked at Hinata. "I don't know how you put up with him sometimes. "

The Hyuuga giggled. "Ne, Sakura-chan, he's not that bad." She smiled warmly at her. "Sasuke-san is really nice."

"I don't doubt that," Sakura replied. Not noticing the sarcasm lacing the Haruno's voice, Hinata nodded happily. "Anyway," Sakura continued, "I have a copy of the magazine. It's in my locker. Since I have to deal with Naruto, you guys can go get it, Hinata-chan, Sasuke-kun. You remember my locker combo, right?"

"Twenty-seven, six, fifty-nine?"

"Yup, good luck, you two!" With that, the fuchsia-haired female walked back over to Naruto, who looked like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Sasuke tugged the shy girl in the direction of the jade-eyed female's locker. "Let's go."

The walk there was awkward and the stares from various students didn't help in the least. He glanced at her only to see her look away quickly.

"Sasuke-kun, why is she with you?" a sickeningly sweet female voice called out. He was wondering when they'd come bitch about Hinata (he guessed the shock of him picking her as a partner wore off). He looked down at the girl and her followers coldly (they always came in groups).

God, he hated his fangirls.

"That doesn't concern you." He could pick whoever he wanted and it just happened to be the quiet pale-eyed girl.

Predictably, the few girls in front of him began trying to flirt with him in order to change his mind about his choice of partner, or just flirt with him in general.

"Um... it would be against the rules if Sasuke-san changed partners now, as he's not allowed to umm... let go of me..." Hinata's shy voice broke through the cacophony. Through the protesting shrieks, she continued. "He'd be disqualified if he did. So… if you want him to win, you should let him go and find the other items."

Logic. This was one of the rare instances it permeated his fangirls' minds. His fangirls backed away, some scowling, but majority still flirting with him and encouraging him to win the stupid event.

Wasting no time, he briskly tugged Hinata off before they decided to change their minds.

And Hinata was, well, Hinata. Nobody would dare do physical harm to the Hyuuga heiress, not only because of the powerful company she represented, but also the fact that there would be a very angry and very scary Hyuuga Neji out for their blood (with a katana or some equally or more so dangerous weapon).

As well as a pissed off Uchiha, but nobody knew that. Not yet at least. Though, granted, his elder brother held most of the power (if he wanted to do any political damage; he'd settle for social and physical unless things got really bad).

He watched her as she spun the combination on Sakura's lock, the door opening soon after. The inside of the door was covered in pictures, ranging from primary school to now. The pictures contained a lot of Sakura's female friends, along with many of himself, Naruto, and the pinkette herself. On the bottom of the shelf was a small stack of magazines. Hinata looked through the pile, pulling out a magazine with the large word 'Seventeen' emblazoned across the top in pink italicised script, accompanied by a picture of some female teen star that he had no clue about (who could be bothered to follow pop culture?).

"There he is!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Wait for me!"

The young Uchiha quickly grabbed the lock, slammed the door closed, locked it up, and dragged Hinata off in the opposite direction of the voices. Too bad there were fangirls everywhere. It was becoming increasingly difficult to completely ignore/avoid them. So, he directed her down one of the less crowded areas in order to reach Asuma (hopefully) relatively unbothered.

This whole thing was a waste of his time.

"Look, sorry for dragging you into this," he said rather quietly, tilting his head to look at her.

The midnight-haired female blinked at the sudden apology. "No, umm... it's fine." He knew she would have done that finger poking thing had he not been holding on to one of her hands. "Well... this way I get to be a part of the scavenger hunt, ne?" Besides..." She looked a bit hesitant, her grip on his hand loosened. "I'm having a lot of fun with you..."

He noted her cheeks growing increasingly redder. He wasn't expecting that, especially that slight emphasis on her last word (maybe he was overanalysing this). But, this was Hinata. She probably didn't mean anything special when she said that since she was just an all around nice person (even to his fangirls who were not deserving of such kindness). He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Good to know I'm not horrible company."

The lavender-eyed girl laughed, if a bit timidly. "Of course not! You're very pleasant company. I always enjoy spending time with you!" She paused, then blushed deeply at the last comment, her free hand moving to cover her mouth.

Sasuke ignored the faint fluttering feeling in his stomach. "Always?" he asked, curious.

She flushed further and quickly dropped her gaze to the floor. "W-w-well, I... umm... y-y-yes...?" This was said so quietly that he had to strain to hear it.

Hmm... maybe she did feel some sort of attraction to him, or she wouldn't be so flustered recently, right? Instead of giving her a verbal reply, he merely tugged her a little closer.

"Uchiha-kun, Hyuuga-san," Asuma's deep voice penetrated the area as they approached the teacher. "You're not doing too bad, Uchiha-kun. You're the third one by me. Anyway, the next thing you have to get is a deck of cards," he continued on as he saw the magazine rolled up in the Sasuke's hand. "You'll have to see Ebisu-sensei when you find it. Good luck."

The raven-haired male nodded and headed off in the direction of the main building, Hinata following him demurely. "Naruto has a deck in his locker," he said in explanation. "We'll go to his locker and take it."

"But won't Naruto-kun need it?"

He shrugged. "The dobe said I could take whatever I needed from there whenever I wanted. Besides, it's his problem that he's not ahead of us. He's wasting his time."

Hinata frowned but didn't protest further. It was a competition after all.

"Hina-chan!" Temari called out. "What are you d-" She stopped upon seeing the stoic male next to her petite friend. "What... isn't Uchiha doing the scavenger hunt? What are you doing with him?" she asked, grinning.

Why did they have to run into so many people that wanted to chat with them? (Or just Hinata).

"Ahh... Temari-chan... Well... Sasuke-san needs someone to go with him for the rest of the event that is the opposite gender..." Hinata fought back a blush. "I guess he found me first..."

Temari raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. "Is that so?"

"I don't see how it's any of your business, Sabaku," he replied shortly.

The grin didn't diminish at all. "Hina-chan, I'm positive." She shrugged. "Don't do anything inappropriate to Hina-chan, Uchiha, or you're a dead man."

He glared at her, shooting her a look of 'are you stupid?'. "Don't you have something better to do?" he asked rather rudely.

"Tch." Temari turned to Hinata. "See you around, Hina-chan. If anything happens, I'll be at the blue bleachers ready to kick his ass if you need me." The blond headed off in a particularly good mood.

Hinata groaned. "I'm sorry about Temari-chan. She's just..."

"There's no need for you to apologise. It's not your fault," he cut her off before she could continue, knowing she would try and come up with some sort of excuse. It was in her nature. "Stop apologising for things that aren't within your control," he said rather gruffly. Sheesh, he was getting soft (but only around her).

"Oh... I... uhh... okay..." She was staring at the ground as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "Umm... thank you, Sasuke-san."

"Hn." He received a warm smile in response.

A comfortable silence settled over the pair as they made their way to Naruto's locker. This time he was the one opening the locker and retrieving the item. Naruto would be angry at him for taking the cards. He briefly wondered if the blond had managed to get Sakura to go with him as he rummaged through the azure-eyed male's mess of a locker. His nose wrinkled in distaste (Naruto really needed to clean this thing out; was that a bunch of assorted fruit that Sakura had gotten the blond at the beginning of the year? Oh god). Shaking his head in disgust, he walked out the building to find Ebisu, Hinata in tow. On the way, he saw Lee dragging along a defeated looking brunette that he didn't recognise; the bright green umbrella was held above the female's head. Lee appeared to be excitedly lecturing her about the joys of youth and Gai's teachings (if the sparkles around Lee were any indication).

He only just caught sight of Ebisu when he felt something hard smack him in the back of the head. He winced at the impact and brought his right hand gingerly to the back of his head, touching the spot of impact. Yup, that was going to bruise. Who the hell did that and what the hell was that? He turned to see a guilty looking Konohamaru, who also looked half terrified. Of course it was the stupid 6th grader that idolised the dobe.

"Sasuke-san! Are you alright?" Hinata's concerned eyes met his, worry shining through.

He was about to answer her when he felt her hand sift through his hair, her fingers stopping on the already forming lump. She rubbed it gently, stunning him momentarily before he remembered his manners. "I'm fine." What the fuck did I get hit with?

She stared into his eyes, looking for any signs of concussion. The bluenette removed her hand from his hair. He then felt Hinata bend down (through the slight weight in their joined hands) and looked at her to see her holding a replica Pokéball. "Looks like Konohamaru-kun couldn't catch them all." He was not amused. She giggled at his highly offended/irritated expression, her laughter only increasing when he turned to glare at the younger boy and her hand dropped to her side.

"Good job, Sarutobi. Real smooth," Hanabi piped up, rolling her eyes at Konohamaru's klutziness.

"I'M SORRY, UCHIHA-SEMPAI!" Konohamaru yelled out quickly, a completely terrified expression on his face as he bowed multiple times before speeding off like hell was on his heels.

Luckily for him, 'hell' was not chasing him after since 'hell' was currently occupied with other matters.

He rather enjoyed Hinata's concern since it meant that all her attention was on him.

Tad possessive, remember?

"What the hell is he doing throwing that thing around?"

"I think he was trying to impress Hanabi-chan." The Hyuuga heiress smiled a little.

"Well the idiot failed," Hanabi commented dryly, completely unimpressed by the display. She shook her head in exasperation and looked over at her elder sister and the Uchiha. "Anyway, you guys should get going if you want to win this thing. Good luck!" She smirked knowingly, waving as she walked off.

Hinata blushed and turned to look at the quiet male... "Umm... y-you should go t-to the infirmary."

"Hinata, I doubt that gave me a concussion. Sarutobi's throw wasn't that strong. We should just continue."

She looked back at him stubbornly. "I-I think you should go see the nurse, just in case." She looked down at the Pokéball in her hand and sighed. "I guess I'll return this to him afterwards since Hanabi-chan won't..." She pocketed the object.

Sasuke shook his head. "No need. I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible."

Thankfully, she didn't seem offended by that. She tugged him in the direction of the school building, presumably to the nurse's office. "But what if you do have a concussion?" She gave him the puppy dog look. "Please, Sasuke-san, I'm worried about you."

He gazed at her for a moment. "Fine, but only if you drop the honorific."

The pearl-eyed girl gaped at him. "Th-th-that has n-nothing to d-do with th-this!" she exclaimed, a mixture of confusion and embarrassment on her face.

"Your call, Hinata." Either way he won. He figured they'd just continue on since she was far too polite/embarrassed to drop the –san.

"... we're... going to see the nurse, S-s-sasuke," she said rather hesitantly, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

He really wasn't expecting that. She was cute, her form emanating shyness. Going to the infirmary was worth it. "About time, though I didn't think you'd do it."

"W-well, I-I care about y-you so y-y-your health is im-import-tant to me," she replied, looking slightly offended. "Though... I don't know why you're so insistent that I-I call you Sasuke." She said his name without the stutter this time around, her voice curious and laced with a hint of annoyance.

His name had never sounded so good.

"We've known each other for three years, Hinata. That should be long enough for you to ditch formalities with me. You know how much I hate them."

He knew she would've poked her fingers together had he not been holding her hand. "You're the first person that I've dropped the honorific with! Now let's go." The petite girl had said this all rather quickly and quietly while she dragged him off to the nurse. She wasn't looking at him, and he didn't have to see her face to know she was highly embarrassed.

She seemed to be letting a lot of things slip today.

Cute.

"I told you I didn't have a concussion." The Uchiha was holding an ice pack (with the deck of cards on the back) to the lump on his head, the umbrella tucked under his arm.

The dark-haired female next to him sighed. "Better safe than sorry. Besides, it didn't take that long."

"Hn."

The pair reached Ebisu, who was telling off some students for something. Sasuke held up the deck of cards (and the ice pack), and the teacher nodded as he shoo-ed the 7th graders away.

"You're second so far, Uchiha-kun," Ebisu said as he shoved his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. He eyed the deck of cards in the brunette's hand.

Before he could say anything, Lee ran over, dragging his partner with him. "Here, Ebisu-sensei!"

Ebisu looked at the energetic male, seeing the cards in his free hand. "Okay, both of you, your next item is a cheerleader pom-pom. Bring that to Ibiki-sensei."

First, someone of the opposite gender, then Seventeen magazine, now a cheerleader pom-pom? He wished he was at home.

He and Hinata walked away from Ebisu and he heard the female next to him laughing quietly. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's just... funny... to imagine you... holding a pom-pom, a... cheerleading... pom-pom," she replied between laughs.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he shot her an offended look. "Let's just go..." At least today was Friday, so he could go home afterwards and pretend like this never happened until Monday.

He dragged her back towards the gym, ditching the warm ice pack in the bin and shoving the cards into his pocket. He held the umbrella once again. This umbrella is such a pain in the ass to hold on to.

Ino or Sakura would have one of the blasted things. Unfortunately, the only one in the gymnasium was a small brown-haired girl shooting hoops.

"Tsuki-chan!" the petite Hyuuga called out to the girl.

The addressed girl turned around, her silver eyes widened in recognition. "Hinata-chan! What're you… oh my god, Hyuuga-sempai is not going to be happy." She tossed one of her pigtails over her shoulder, the basketball under her right arm.

"I- Tsu-tsuki-chan!" Hinata protested. "Th-this is j-j-just f-for the sc-scavenger h-hunt! S-sasuke h-has t-to bring a f-f-female around with h-him for the r-r-rest of t-the r-r-race!" She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, while the Uchiha shot the short girl his trademark glare-of-death. "A-anyway… Tsuki-chan, c-can we h-have your cheerleading pom-p-pom?"

Metallic orbs glinted in amusement. The absence of a certain honorific did not go unnoticed by her. "Of course you can, Hinata-chan. Let me go grab it for you." Tsuki headed off, dropping the ball on the ground.

"I-I wonder how Tsuki-chan managed to get the gym t-to herself..."

The raven-haired male scoffed. "She probably scared them all off with some twisted threats."

"Sh-she... S-Sasuke!"

"It's fine. He's not completely wrong there," Tsuki said as she re-entered the gym shoving the navy and sky blue pom-pom into the stoic male's hand that was already holding the umbrella. "Uchiha, hand it back after the event is over. I have practice afterwards. Don't get too attached to it."

He glared at her. "As if I would."

The silver-eyed girl smirked, ignoring him. "Good luck, you two."

"See you later, Tsuki-chan!" Hinata quickly tugged him out of the gym.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Tsuki sighed. "Damn, I should have taken a picture of them holding hands with the Uchiha holding a cheerleading pom-pom. It would have been such a good picture to bring up after a few years as blackmail."

6 down and 2 more to go. At least it was almost over.

How was someone like Luria even on the cheerleading squad? She hated prep groups. Plus, she was an evil, evil, evil, sadistic monster.

Better question, how was Hinata even friends with her?

He shook those thoughts from his mind. Now where was Ibiki-sensei?

"Umm... Sasuke... I... well... umm... Ibiki-sensei told us yesterday that he would be marking our chemistry exams so... he should be in the west wing chemistry lab." He could hear her trying vainly not to laugh.

It was like she could read his mind. This race was really too easy with her help. But, he did not appreciate being laughed at. He looked to see where her gaze was and sure enough, it was on the detestable blue object in his hand. If he had any say in this dumb event, he would not be holding half these objects. It was an insult to his masculinity. He scrunched the pom-pom, trying to make it as small as possible. Though this proved ineffective due to the stupid umbrella he had to hold. At least the other items fit into his pockets. This only caused her to actually laugh. "Hinata..."

Her free hand was over her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle her giggles. Then again, it didn't look like she was trying too hard to do so. "I-I-I'm s-sorry, S-sasuke... It's j-just... you l-l-look s-so ridicu-culous I..."

He growled. He already knew that. The ebony-eyed teen did not need to hear that out loud, especially not from her. "Shut up and let's get going..." He dragged her somewhat roughly down out of the gym and down the hallways of the building.

She merely giggled for a little while longer before complying with his wishes, though the amusement in her eyes did not wane.

They walked through the corridors, Hinata greeting almost everyone they met. (How did she know so many people? And was it just him or were there more guys?). Sasuke was growing increasingly irritated at the jibes he heard from other males about the amount of feminine objects he was carrying (the stupid magazine was rolled up and sticking out of his pocket), where he told them that they could shove their opinion up their ass since anything that crap loaded belonged there (that being the most polite thing he said). Hinata had pulled him away quickly, making sure that any potential conversations were dissuaded.

He was also getting sick of the explanation she gave others, that he had found her first and thus she was 'forced' to tag along for the event. But he didn't want to tell her the real reason; he had his pride.

The Hyuuga gently knocked on the door to the chemistry lab. A faint 'enter' was heard from beyond the door. She opened the door since her partner could not.

"Right, the scavenger hunt." Ibiki eyed the cheerleading accessory. "Very well, the next item you have to get is the licence of someone whose birthday is in November. After you get that, go to Iruka-sensei for your final clue." He glanced down at the papers. "Oh and congratulations, you two, for getting full marks on last Wednesday's chemistry test. Many people didn't do very well."

Hinata bowed slightly. "Thank you, Ibiki-sensei."

Sasuke nodded and the two of them left the room. He turned to her, shoving the pom-pom into his pocket while keeping a hold of the umbrella. In his opinion, it was a fairly good balancing act. "Do you have any idea who has a birthday in November and who has a learner's permit?"

Her brow wrinkled faintly as she thought, a finger to her lips. "Oh! Sai-san has a licence, and his birthday is on November twenty-fifth."

"How do you remember all this?"

"Ehh... it's not that hard. I remember all my friends' birthdays," she replied happily. "Now all we need to do is find him."

They walked through the hallways, Hinata stopping to talk to some people in order to ask them if they knew where the artist was. It was a long chain of 'I don't know; why don't you ask so-and-so?' and squeals of 'SASUKE-KUN, LOVE ME' repeated, at least until they came across a lazy genius. About time too; he was getting terribly impatient and the only thing preventing him from telling them all to go to hell was the lavender-eyed girl next to him.

"Shikamaru-san, do you happen to know where Sai-san is?" the Hyuuga female asked, tilting her head slightly.

Shikamaru yawned, covering his mouth with his left hand. "Sai? The last I saw him, he was near the pool area making fun of Naruto and Sakura."

So the idiot was really going to give up ramen for a month. This was going to be a very fun month ahead for him. He was pretty sure that the grocery store had ramen, in bulk, on sale this week. He'd make sure to buy Naruto's favourite flavour and drop them off at his apartment. Oh, and he should make sure that Sakura was around too, just so the blond couldn't cave in front of him.

Besides, it was Naruto's fault he was stuck in this stupid event with fangirls chasing after him (the fact that he had to look for items plus the manoeuvring around so that he wouldn't get mobbed was very annoying).

"Thank you, Shikamaru-san," Hinata replied.

Once again the Uchiha merely nodded his 'gratitude' before the pair headed towards the pool.

"Ahh, Naruto-kun going a month without ramen is quite hard to believe," the midnight-haired female commented, concerned.

He snorted quietly. "It's what he gets if he wants to go with Sakura. Besides, he'll live. It is healthier, after all."

She still frowned, probably at the prospect of a depressed blue-eyed male. She never did like to see her friends upset. Her expression then flickered to one of amusement, her thoughts shifting. "I can't imagine you going a month without tomatoes though."

He snorted. "And what about you and cinnamon buns?"

"I-I-I c-could if I w-wanted to..." she protested weakly.

Sasuke shot her a look of disbelief. Before she could reply, Sakura's yell of 'shut up' pierced the air. Hm, since when did they reach the pool? He looked over at the pink-haired female to see her holding up her left fist while Naruto was attempting to rub his head with the hand holding the umbrella.

The pinkette turned around to see the quiet pair and waved. "Sasuke-kun! Hinata-chan!" She turned her attention on the Uchiha. "You took Naruto's cards, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "Not my fault the dobe is slow."

"Shut up, teme!"

Hematite orbs stared down cerulean ones, bored. "Should you really be wasting your time yelling at me? If you're only up to the cards, you are way behind me."

Letting out a few curses, the ramen-obsessed male dragged Sakura off while yelling a rather insincere sounding 'thanks' to the painter.

After a few moments of silence, Hinata spoke. "Umm... Sai-san... could you... I mean... can we have your learner's permit? The next item we need is an I.D. of someone born in November."

"Okay, Hyuuga, just bring it back." He handed his card to the petite girl. "Oh, did you know Inuzuka was disqualified because he let go of beautiful? They were arguing over something."

Good, Sai was keeping to his promise of not giving Hinata a nickname. After the Hyuuga prodigy had heard the other nicknames the painter had given to their friends, Neji threatened Sai about that. And Sai wasn't stupid. "Not surprising," Sasuke commented.

"Oh, poor Kiba-kun, Ino-chan... Well, thank you, Sai-san."

Sai smiled plainly. "Anything for a pretty girl."

Hinata blushed horribly. "I-I-I-I'm n-n-not... B-b-but th-thank y-y-you."

"We'll be going now," the Uchiha said coldly before Sai could even open his mouth again. He dragged the petite female away from the pool, away from Sai. He never did like the artist.

He didn't even have to look for Iruka as the teacher was loitering around the stage chatting to Kakashi.

"Um... Sasuke... here's the card..." She held the piece of plastic out to him.

Cobalt orbs stared at the card for a moment before he tucked the umbrella under his arm and took the card from her grasp. He muttered a 'thanks' and pulled her with him to the stage where the final clue awaited. One more and he'd be done at last. Hopefully the last clue would be easy...

Before Iruka could ask for the damn I.D. card, he held it up for the teacher to see. "Oh, good. Lee-kun is just ahead of you. Your last item is a white flower. When you finish, find Shizune-sensei and she'll tell you your rank. If you're first, you also get a small gift."

Lee was in front of him? Damn. He turned to the girl next to him. "Hina-"

She abruptly tugged him away from the stage, to his surprise. He quickly shoved Sai's I.D. into his pocket with the rest of the small items. "The gardens in the south-west corner of the school have white camellias. It's not too far. We can get one of those. You can come in first if we hurry."

"Hn." He allowed her to drag him across the school. She turned one of the corners and they were met with five trees dappled with white camellia blossoms.

"They're so pretty," she breathed as she stared up in admiration at the snow-white petals.

Sasuke deftly plucked a flower off the branch and stared down at it, contemplating. Should he? Why not, it's not that hard to come up with excuses...

He held the flower between his thumb and index finger. Then, using the other three, he gently tucked some of the hair framing the right side of her face behind her ear, keeping the stray hair in place with the ivory blossom. He heard he gasp, her eyes widening in shock and embarrassment.

"W-w-w-what a-a-are y-you d-d-doing?" Her face was bright red, redder than he'd seen in a long time. Her eyes were downcast and she shrunk away as if she was trying to blend into the floor.

"... it suits you..." He quickly withdrew his hand and grabbed another flower. "Come on. Shizune-sensei should be at the main office." He pulled her with him in the direction of the front building. She followed him wordlessly and he did not look back at her, unsure of what to do next. Did he make things too awkward between them?

The duo briskly walked towards the front of the main office. He risked a glance at her only to see her deep in thought, her cheeks still stained scarlet. He really wondered what was on her mind. Did she even think anything of that gesture? Was that a bad move? Maybe he shouldn't have done that...

"Oh, Uchiha-kun! Congratulations on winning the scavenger hunt!" Shizune exclaimed upon seeing the Uchiha holding a white camellia in his hand (and one was tucked behind the Hyuuga girl's ear?). She fished out a cream envelope from her pocket. "Here's your prize. Congratulations once again. You've earned twenty points for your homeroom."

Sasuke took the envelope wordlessly, dropping the umbrella in the process (finally). The male couldn't care less about the number of points he won his class or the so-called 'prize'. He was more focused on the fact that he felt Hinata's grip loosen almost immediately after Shizune had handed him the envelope, her hand dropping from his. He let her. She was obviously upset about the whole thing as she hadn't said a single word to him the whole time. Maybe that was too forward... He gritted his teeth. "Hinata, I-"

A soft, warm pair of lips pressed against his cheek briefly. His eyes widened in shock and his head snapped up to see the shy girl pull away, blushing furiously. He could feel his cheeks warm slightly, the gears in his head grinding to a halt. All he could do was stare at her.

"Umm... I... uhh... c-c-c-congr-gratul-lations, S-s-s-sasuk-ke..." Hinata poked her fingers together as she stared at the floor. "A-and... th-th-thank y-you f-f-for the f-flower...Ah... I... I'm s-s-sorry i-if th-that was... I-I... m-maybe sh-shouldn't h-have... umm..."

The gears went back into motion, a smirk on his face. "Hinata," he said, interrupting her apologies. At her name, she glanced up at him, hesitantly meeting his gaze. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Y-yes... wh-wh-why...?"

She was cute when she was confused. He held the camellia blossom out to her and saw her frown slightly, perplexed. "Go out with me tomorrow."

Hinata squeaked, turning an even deeper shade of crimson, her eyes as wide as saucers. "L-l-like a-a d-d-d-date...?"

"Hn."

She stared at him for a moment, the reality of the situation sinking in. The female Hyuuga carefully plucked the flower from his hands. "Um... o-okay..." She shot him a shy smile, her eyes softening, before quickly looking down at the ground again.

"I'll pick you up at ten."

"O-o-okay..."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Way to go, nee-san!"

Both of them started at the agonised screams (and random cheer). He looked away from Hinata (who was blushing furiously at her younger sister's cheers) and looked around. Oh crap, I forgot about them... Shizune was smiling at them, obviously amused. He ignored the teacher and saw his fangirls wailing in despair, which was satisfying. But... his eyes narrowed upon spotting an excited looking TenTen and Temari nudging each other and covering their mouths. Sakura was next to them, looking pleasantly surprised and mischievous. And his best friend? Naruto was grinning at him mouthing 'it's about time'.

He twitched, grabbing the lavender-eyed girl's hand and tugging her off somewhere more private. At least none of their other 'friends' were around, though knowing the ones that were already there... the news would spread like a wildfire.

And Hanabi would for sure tell Neji... That was an obstacle he was not looking forward to.

So maybe today wasn't a complete waste of his time. Maybe this stupid scavenger hunt was worth it after all. Maybe Naruto's meddling was actually helpful.

Sasuke smirked.

But he'd never tell the dobe that.

Oh, no, instead he'd get his best friend a month's supply of his favourite ramen.