Chap. 1: Confessions

It was a very hot July night when the rookie nine decided to have a summer get-together. They all piled into Sakura's house while her parents were away on a summer vacation. She was left with the key and her parent's promise to keep the house in order. It looks like she broke that promise.

At the party, Sakura sat next to Sasuke, along with an intruding Ino, trying to make conversation with the two about memories they all had together. Ino's friend, Shikamaru, lay on the sofa sleeping. Chouji, Shikamaru's best friend, sat with Kiba and Shino while eating all of the chips he could find in the party bowls. Kiba and Shino were in a deep debate about who attacked and defeated the most people while on missions. Akamaru, finding his pal's conversation boring, walked through the house aimlessly, receiving pats on the head as he walked by the children (well, they shouldn't be considered children anymore since most of them were eighteen already). He soon passed by Hinata, who was watching Naruto doing tricks with the kunai that were in his ninja pack. Akamaru sat and watched, being entertained by the spinning kunai. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, finally noticing his dangerous stunts.

"Hey, idiot, don't slice anyone's head off!" he yelled to Naruto with a smirk on his face. Naruto looked at Sasuke and stuck his tongue out. "Is that all you have to say to me?" Sasuke replied to the tongue that was stuck out at him.

"Keep up, and one of these kunai will 'accidentally' be in the middle of your head." Naruto said smugly.

At this point, two regular people would've been at each other's throats, but the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was quite different. Their friendship was built on trying to out-do each other, competing every single moment that they had with each other. The result was replacing compliments and smiles with threats, insults, and smirks.

Sakura decided to break up their stare down by standing in between them.

"Okay you two. Enough of the death glares. We're not competing for anything tonight." She said to both of them.

"Oh, come on Sakura. You know we act this way all the time. You never did anything about it before, so why start now?" Naruto commented to her as he took the soda that Hinata held for him and started finishing his drink.

"Yeah, Sakura, lighten up a little." Sasuke gave a smug smile to her.

"I would like to, but I know that this conversation is gonna get way too far and you two will be at each other's throats. Try and act like friends for at least a second." Sakura sighed and sat in her seat, "Plus, I have to do this so that way there aren't any fights, so that nothing will be broken, and my parents won't ground me until the twelfth of never."

"You should've thought about that before we had the party here." Ino commented on the statement.

"Don't worry, Sakura. We'll keep an eye out for fights. And we promise not to start any." Naruto continued his kunai tricks to entertain Hinata (and whoever just happens to pass by Naruto).

"Y-You're r-really good with kunai tricks, N-Naruto." Hinata responded in her low, timid voice.

Naruto, used to her low volume, heard her statement, "Thanks, Hinata. Have to learn something entertaining when you're out on a lot of missions. I learned this stuff to entertain Sakura, but I guess she got bored with it since she started talking to the bastard!" The latter of the statement was raised in volume so Sasuke and Sakura could hear him talking about them.

"Whatever, you idiot!" Sasuke yelled while Sakura looked at Hinata and smiled. Hinata, how can you stand a guy like him? Sakura thought in her head, he has a good heart deep down inside…still; he can be a huge idiot sometimes.

Hinata looked back at Sakura, she's so pretty… Hinata felt a blush creep up to her cheeks, but suppressed it and looked back at Naruto. Don't even think about it Hinata, she's not into girls and you know that. She thought to herself.

Sakura noticed the blush on Hinata's face and turned to look at the edge of her chair. Was she blushing at me? No, it was probably Naruto. He must've said something to her that I couldn't hear. She looked at Sasuke, who was talking to Ino about his major fights that he had on missions. I wonder if Hinata was ever a fan girl of Sasuke?

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Hours passed by before anyone decided to go home. Chouji ate too many snacks, so Shikamaru escorted him home. Akamaru fell asleep next to Kiba (he couldn't sleep on his lap since he had grown so large) so the duo decided to hit the hay themselves. Shino mysteriously left, most likely with Kiba or just out into the darkness of night. The only people that were still left were Ino, Hinata, and the team 7 threesome.

Ino looked like she was going to pass out, but she wanted to stay with Sasuke and spend as much time with him as possible. They both sat talking about nothing. Sakura became entirely bored with the conversation and decided to go sit and talk with Hinata. Unfortunately, Hinata was sitting next to a passed out Naruto.

"I tried waking him up," Hinata explained, "but Naruto must be a really hard sleeper…"

Sakura sighed, "Well, looks like he's gonna be staying with me for the night. There's an extra room down the hallway, we can put him in that bed."

"Won't your parents be angry to see a sleeping boy in their house?" Hinata asked.

Sakura laughed, "My parents won't be home until next week. They practically won't know that a party was in their home." She picked up Naruto by his shoulders while Hinata carried his feet. They traveled down the hall to the guest room on the right. Sakura laid his head on the pillow, while Hinata sat his long legs on the end on the bed. She sat there, staring at his peaceful face.

"You really like him, don't you?" Sakura asked.

Hinata blushed at the question, "W-Well I-I-I, um…" She panicked, trying to find the right explanation for herself, her eyes on the floor.

Sakura smiled, "It's okay to like him. He's not a bad person. In your heart you think he's right."

Hinata looked at her, "Like you think Sasuke is right for you…" Sakura blushed and looked at the ground. "If you think he's right for you, then why did you leave him alone with Ino?" Hinata continued.

Sakura looked back at Hinata with a softer smile on her face, "To see if he truly likes anyone else, or anyone at all for that matter." Sakura chuckled to herself, "He doesn't seem like the person who would open up again for love since he was hurt so bad when he was younger. But I just wanted to see if there was still any emotion left in him at all." She looked down at Naruto, "Plus, if he doesn't like me, I have other people that I know will love me in his place." She gave a silent laugh, "Wow that sounded like such a bitchy thing to say."

Hinata stared at her, "But, sounds right, doesn't it?" Sakura looked back into Hinata's eyes, when all of a sudden they were interrupted by a comment made from the person in between them.

"Sakura…" he grumbled, "…she's so pretty…I wish you were mine…" Sakura smiled, but the smile seemed sad. She knew the statement was true, but wished it wasn't. He would be better off with Hinata…

Hinata stared at Naruto, confused and somewhat hurt at his statement. "Is he sleep talking?" she asked, and Sakura nodded.

"Hinata…" Naruto continued, "…You're the nicest person ever. I wish you were mine, too…" Sakura and Hinata stared at each other.

"H-He just said he liked b-both of us." Hinata said, confused once again.

"H-He's a boy. He's probably in love with every girl." Sakura reassured both of them, but the next statement Naruto was about to make would shock them both.

"Sasuke… I wish you were mine as well…" he said as he snoozed back into sleep. The girls just looked at him, wide-eyed and astonished.

"H-He's in l-love w-with…Sasuke?!" they both stuttered.