"Do I look a-acceptable?" Hinata asked, as she looked in the long mirror. She was wearing a light blue, strapless, gown. The top part had silver detailing, and the bottom was light and flowy. It was long, but had a slit up to her thigh on the left side. Hinata had wanted a more adult look, but looking at it now, she wasn't sure if it was too much.
"Hinata! Shut up. You're gorgeous and that dress is amazing!" Hanabi said, as she gazed up at her sister. Hinata was getting ready for the Konoha Ball. It was an old tradition, that hadn't happened since the third Hokage was in his prime. Now that things had settled down, such as the Akatsuki and Orichimaru, Tsunade decided it was time to bring it back. It was a formal ball, and all shinobi were welcome. Hiashi had decided Hanabi was too young to go, so she was just helping her sister get ready. Hinata wasn't even planning to go, but then Naruto had asked her to go as his date, and she said "yes", without a second thought.
Hinata blushed as she thought about him. She had picked the blue dress because it reminded her of his eyes. Tonight was the night, first she would go as his date and then, eventually she would be his girlfriend. Hinata smiled as she thought about her childhood dream coming true. She had given up on Naruto as the years went by, but the crush had never gone away, just the hope. But now, things were finally going her way.
Sasuke resisted the urge to barf as he saw the brightest outfit he had ever seen in his life. The dope was wearing the brightest dress shirt in the world, a neon yellow color. As if that wouldn't hurt anyone's eyes, he added white dress pants and a light blue bow tie. The only thing that was trying to tone it down was a black blazer, but it didn't do much.
"You look like what a clown would look like if he tried to dress professionally." Sasuke said, as he watched the idiot adjust his clip-on bowtie. Naruto looked over at him and grinned.
"It's better than looking like a depressed lawyer." He said as he made a face at Sasuke's suit.
"Tch." Sasuke said, as he did a quick once over in the mirror. He didn't really want to go to this thing, but Tsunade threatened to take away his position as captain of the Anbu, and the woman was crazy enough to actually go through with it. He decided to go with the usual type of suit, black pants and a black blazer. He wore a simple white dress shirt, with a navy tie.
"I'll see you there! I have to go pick up Hinata now. Don't bail or you owe me a month of ramen!" Naruto yelled, as he left. Dope, Sasuke thought. Sasuke had decided not to bring a date, that was just more trouble than this stupid ball was worth. Even if he wanted one, the women of Konoha were too aggressive for his taste. The dope had wanted to go with Sakura, but she had wanted to go with Sasuke, who of course, flat out rejected every advance of hers. Since she didn't want to go by herself, she had asked Kira, another Anbu captain. Naruto was devastated and jealous and that's when he had asked Hinata. Sasuke didn't really have anything against Hinata, she was alright. She had been on a couple missions with him and his team, when they had to have medic nin with them. She was still shy, but more confident in her abilities than they were as kids. Sasuke had been there when Naruto had asked her to go to the ball. Her face had turned beet red and she had just said "yes". It wasn't any surprise, after all, most of Konoha knew Hinata liked Naruto, except the dope himself. Whatever, all Sasuke hoped was that the night would go by fast.
"Wow! Hinata you look really pretty!" Naruto exclaimed as Hinata came down the steps. She was trying her hardest not to faint, so all she could was smile, and take his offered hand. As they walked towards the ball, Naruto kept talking about his missions, which Hinata was totally content with. That way she didn't have to talk much.
"Oi! Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed, as they came upon Shikamaru in a gray suit, with Temari in a lavender gown, at his side.
"I didn't know you and the sand lady were a thing!" Naruto exclaimed, causing Temari's smirking face to blush and Shikamaru to yawn.
"I didn't know you and the Hyuuga were a thing." Temari countered, causing Hinata to feel a rush of heat on her face. Naruto laughed.
"We're not, Hinata and I are just friends!" Naruto said, as he gave Hinata a friendly pat on the back.
"Temari, we have to go to Chouji's place. They wanted to go as a group. See you guys there." Shikamaru said as he pulled Temari along with him, but not before flashing Hinata an apologetic face. Hinata felt her heart pounding against her chest, but not for the reason she wanted.
"N-Naruto?" she asked, interrupting him talking about some mission in the Sand. He looked at her as they walked.
"W-Why did you ask me to go with you?", she asked, as she put her thumbs together, a habit she tried to break, but would surface when she felt the most nervous.
"Eh? I mean you didn't have a date and I didn't have a date, so-Sakura?" he said, and ran ahead. Hinata stopped in her tracks and looked at the scene in front of her. Sakura was crying and Naruto ran over and cradled her in his arms. Hinata gulped, and walked up to them slowly.
"What happened?" Naruto asked, as he stroked the pink hair.
"Well, Kira bailed on me! He told me that he had a mission to do! I dressed up and everything! How could he?! Now I'll have to go to the ball by myself!" Sakura exclaimed, tears streaming down her face. Hinata looked at how Naruto was looking at Sakura, and felt her heart breaking.
"Sakura, don't worry! I'll go with you!" Naruto exclaimed, as he wiped the tears from her face. Hinata felt tears welling up and blinked fast to keep them down.
"You would do that? Thank-Wait. What about Hinata?" Sakura asked, and both of them stared at her. Hinata looked at the two bright haired people in front of her, cerulean and green eyes looking at her with hope. She faked a smile.
"I'll be fine! Don't worry about me! You guys should go t-together!" she exclaimed, trying to sound as happy as possible. Apparently it worked, because they both broke into smiles in front of her.
"Hinata! You're the nicest person!" Naruto exclaimed, giving her a quick hug, and then returning to Sakura.
"You want to walk with us there?" Sakura asked, as she checked her compact to fix her makeup.
"O-oh no. I want to enjoy the walk, so you guys can go ahead." Hinata said, inwardly thinking about how awkward walking with them would be.
"Okay! See you there!" Naruto said as he put on arm around Sakura and they started walking ahead. Hinata's smile faded as their backs turned, and she sat on a bench, watching them getting smaller and smaller.
Sasuke walked slowly, enjoying the silence and slight breeze of the evening. He wanted to enjoy his last few minutes of peace, before he headed into the ball, where he would most likely get a headache as soon as he walked in. He furrowed his brow, as he looked at what was up ahead. A woman was sitting on a bench, her hands in her lap, just looking at..well, nothing. As he got closer, Sasuke realized it was Hinata Hyuuga, looking quite nice. Quite nice? Who am I, my mother?, Sasuke thought to himself, shaking his head. Apparently she hadn't noticed him. He walked closer, to see that she had tear marks on her face. What did Naruto do?, the Uchiha wondered, as he debated on if he should put his awful social skills to the test or just avoid her. He sighed, Naruto and Kakashi had influenced him too much.
"Hyuuga." He said, but didn't get a reaction. The woman was lost in her own world.
"Oi. Hyuuga." Sasuke said, walking right in front of where she sat. This jolted her a little, and she looked up at him with big, pale eyes.
"O-oh. S-Sasuke! How are you?" she asked, giving him a smile through her tear-stained face. Sasuke quirked a brow.
"How am I? I think the better question is, is how are you? What? Did the dope go to the wrong address or something?" Sasuke asked, and immediately regretted it as her eyes started looking watery.
"O-oh no. He picked me up…" Hinata said, avoiding his eye contact. Sasuke looked around.
"Well, then where is he?" he asked, thinking the idiot had decided to get one last go of ramen before the ball.
"He..well..S-Sakura's date couldn't make it, so N-Naruto offered to take her." Hinata said, as she looked down at the ground, staring at Sasuke's shoes.
"What a dope." Sasuke said, as he sat down next to her. I should've avoided her, I knew it, he thought as he gazed at the ground too. He could've easily walked on by and avoided this emotional woman with her emotional problems. It's all the dope's fault, he thought, as he scowled.
"O-oh no! He asked me, so it's f-fine." Hinata said, as she touched her thumbs together. They sat in an awkward silence for a couple minutes, and then she finally got up and dusted her dress off.
"T-thank you for sitting with me, Sasuke. H-have fun at the ball!" Hinata said with a smile, an obvious fake smile, as she turned to walk away.
"Hey. The ball is the other way." Sasuke said, as he got up. Hinata turned back to look at him, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.
"W-Well, I don't really feel too well. I'm just going to go home." She responded, giving him another fake smile. Sasuke looked at her blankly.
"Why? Because that moron left you for another moron? You should thank God that he saved you." Sasuke said, as he crossed his arms. If I have to go, she has to go, he thought.
"H-he's not a moron. He just wanted to help S-Sakura." Hinata said, feeling defensive over Naruto. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"But you were his date. He shouldn't have just left you for her." Sasuke stated, and he surprised himself by how much he believed in that. Honestly, why would anyone want to go out with Sakura…he thought. Hinata opened her mouth, but she couldn't think of anything to say back to that, so just smiled.
"Have fun." She said, and turned to walk away again.
"Just go with me." Sasuke said without thinking. Wait. What did I just say?, he wondered, his brain in full panic mood.
What did he just say? Hinata thought, as she turned around to look at him, cheeks bright.
"G-go with you?" she squeaked. After a couple awkward seconds, Sasuke shrugged.
"I don't have a date and neither do you." Sasuke said, making it sound like the most logical solution.
"N-Naruto said the same thing…" Hinata murmered, causing Sasuke to cringe.
"Don't compare me to that idiot. I wouldn't leave someone for Sakura." Sasuke said, putting his hands in his pockets. Hinata bit her lip, she wasn't sure what to do. She'd talked to Sasuke a couple times, but he still intimidated her. Looking at him, he was the exact opposite of Naruto. His face was more impassive, compared to the infectious smile Naruto always had. He was silent, Naruto was loud and expressive. Hinata thought about how to say no politely, when he interrupted her thoughts.
"If you want to let those two dopes ruin your night, be my guest." Sasuke said, walking away from her. Hinata thought about that. Sure, the evening hadn't gone as she planned…but, she still had on this expensive dress and Sasuke was just trying to help. Naruto couldn't help who he liked…but it was still rude to just leave her. Hinata gulped.
"S-Sasuke. I'd love to go with y-you. Thank you." Hinata stammered out, as she caught up with him. Sasuke slowed down and gave her a quirked eyebrow.
"Okay." Was the response she got. This was going to be a strange night.
Let me know if you guys like it so far! Thanks for reading!