Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…
A/N: Well, this is going to be more than one-shots or two-shots that I usually write. I hope it turned out alright.
Affectionate Heart
Her whitish-gray, opaque eyes widened and she could feel the heat emitting from her cheeks, as she perceived two pairs of eyes that totally contrasted colors, which seemed to further emphasize their differing personalities.
'Why does this happen to me?' She thought as she laughed nervously at them and tried to speak. The blond haired guy with clear blue eyes smiled kindly at her, while the handsome but somewhat gloomy guy with a pair of onyx eyes looked at her indifferently. She chose to look at more friendly and outgoing Naruto, who seemed to encourage her to say what she intended.
"Um…" She hated the way she couldn't control her blush but she was a shy girl, who was, at the moment, forced to help her best friend. "Sakura-chan would like to know if she could borrow your notes, Sasuke-san."
She looked at Naruto, who seemed to be interested now that Sakura got involved in the conversation. She felt sorry for him. 'Sakura-chan likes Sasuke. If only she liked Naruto…'
She briefly caught Sasuke's eyes flashing in annoyance and worried that she might have angered him. She opted to look at his shoulder until his sharp voice, brimmed with anger, reached her ears. "Why couldn't she ask that herself?"
She tucked her hair behind her ears and inwardly sighed in agreement. 'Yeah. Why couldn't she? I mean wouldn't it be more convenient? She would get to talk to him.' But Hinata didn't blame her because Sasuke was scary when he wanted to be. She couldn't imagine why her pink-haired best friend liked this guy. 'You can do this.' Hinata thought over and over in her mind.
"She has to take a math test that she missed last time and since you are in the same history class as her, she asked me to ask you for the notes," Hinata said, as she hugged the books closer to her and clenched her fingers in anxiety and nervousness.
Now, Naruto spoke up, "Sasuke, let her borrow your notes. She's asking you nicely, you know." He smiled widely at Hinata, who looked at him gratefully.
"It's none of your business," Sasuke shot back, which made Naruto angry rather quickly. Before the blond-haired best friend could speak up, Sasuke turned to Hinata and almost shoved the notes into her hands. "Tell her to give it back to me tomorrow."
"Oh, right. Thanks," Hinata said, glad that this was finally over. She let out the breath she was holding and relaxed as Sasuke walked away.
"See you tomorrow!" Naruto said, as he squeezed one of her shoulders in a friendly gesture as he passed by to catch up with Sasuke. He gave out his trademark grin as he ran toward his friend. She half-heartedly waved back at him. 'If only Sakura-chan liked Naruto-kun, then it could have made everyone's life easier,' she sighed. 'But not everything works to your advantage.' She smiled at the thought of how these notes would make Sakura happy.
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"Sasuke-kun!"
Hinata winced and felt her body automatically tense as she let herself be dragged by Sakura, who had called out to her crush with the sweetest voice possible. She spotted Naruto, who had stopped to wait for Sakura, while Sasuke just kept his normal pace.
"Saku--" Before Naruto could greet her, she stomped her way past him to catch up with Sasuke, leaving behind Hinata right next to Naruto.
"Sasuke-kun! I got your notes!" Sakura called out, which couldn't have been louder in the crowded hallway. It would have been heard miles away.
Naruto tried to catch her pink-haired best friend's attention. "Sakura-chan, do you want to go to the class together?"
Sakura briefly looked at him, her eyes flashing at him in annoyance. "No, you go ahead. I'll give the notes back to Sasuke-kun."
Hinata's heart went to him whole-heartedly with sympathy. Sometimes, Sakura could be ruthless in putting people down.
"Then I'll wai--"
Whatever Naruto was going to say was cut off by another sharp statement from Sakura. "Since Hina-chan has the same class as you, why don't you walk with her?" Then she turned to Hinata and said, "I'll catch up with you, alright?" The message contained in them was clear. Hinata was supposed to distract Naruto and take him to class so that Sakura could spend more time with Sasuke.
Hinata could only mutely nod, while Naruto sighed in frustration as he watched Sakura skip to Sasuke, who was observing the whole situation with an unreadable expression. She watched as Sasuke quickly took the notes from eager Sakura and walked away as fast as he could, while Sakura tried keep up with his pace.
Hinata turned to her friend next to her. "I'm sure Sakura-chan will come talk to you later," she consoled but she knew that it was a worthless assurance.
But Naruto seemed not to mind it or at least, if he noticed, he had the grace not to show it. "Yeah, I'm sure," he said, with disappointment, but cheered up instantly. "Let's go to our class! Oh shoot! I forgot to do my homework." He scratched his head in exasperation. "Aw, man, I'm gonna get another boring lecture from Hana-sensei."
Her eyes lit up in amusement at his antics. "If you could copy my homework in 3 minutes, I'll let you borrow mine."
"Really?" Naruto said, his cerulean eyes widening in happiness. "That would be great."
He hugged her briefly as a gesture of thanks to which Hinata let out a small blush, unused to getting touched by the opposite sex.
"You're w-welcome."
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'Just a little more,' Hinata thought as she tried to reach the highest shelf that contained the book she needed. This was one of those times when she wished that she could somehow magically make herself taller.
Then she felt something warm cover up her back and was instantly surrounded by the scent of cologne, characteristic of masculinity. She let out a sharp intake of breath in surprise and quickly turned to look at the person, who withdrew his hand from the top shelf, retrieving the same troublesome book in his hand.
"Sasuke…san?" Hinata's tried to calm her nervousness and fright. He towered over her and she tried to put some distance between them by attempting to shrink back into the bookshelf behind her. To her dismay, he stayed where he was, right in front of her, too close for her comfort.
"Yeah?" He asked, nonchalantly, holding the book as a hostage.
"Ah, w-well, if you don't mind," Hinata tried to ignore the rising panic spreading throughout her body. "That is, are you…well, do you need that book?"
"This?" Sasuke said, as his eyes looked straight into hers. "Not really."
But he did not move an inch from his previous position. "So…c-can I have it?" Hinata stuttered out, still trying to figure out a way out before anybody could see. She almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw that no one was coming to their aisle in which they were staying.
"Only if you answer my question," Sasuke replied back, stepping half-step away from her to give her a little more room. He went right to his point. "Is Sakura forcing you... to do things?"
The question itself was incredibly vague and Hinata didn't know what he was talking about. 'Sakura forcing me to do things? What is he talking about?' Perhaps he meant homework and class duties.
"Umm…no," Hinata answered as best as she could.
He looked like he was a little put off by her answer. "No?" He continued to scrutinize her as if he was interrogating her. The next question threw her off as well. "Are you staying in the library?"
In her desperate effort to get out of her situation, she answered without thinking. "Yes."
"Good," Sasuke said as he started to move toward to the end of the bookshelf.
'Huh?' Hinata looked at him with astonishment. She was frozen in her spot as he continued to walk away.
Sasuke looked back at her in slight irritation. "Are you coming? Hurry up."
"Ah, uh, yes," Hinata hastily picked up her other books and her backpack and followed him in bewilderment.
'My book for the research.' She looked longingly at the book held in Sasuke's hand.
They arrived at an empty table, where he finally let her book plop down onto the desk, which was located in one corner of the library. He looked up at her expectantly. She scrambled to her seat, opposite of him, and settled down.
"Now study," Sasuke stated, flatly. She was puzzled by his actions but did not question him and reluctantly got her other books out. He also took out his laptop as well as his books but before he could devote himself to his study, the soft, feminine voice floated to his ears.
"Sakura--" Hinata started off but he cut in through the middle of the sentence.
"What about her?" Sasuke said in annoyance.
"Well, she, umm…" Hinata was left speechless. 'She will kill me if she sees me with Sasuke.'
She tried to come up with anything to add to that sentence. With him looking at her with such an intense gaze, she just blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Ah, she's a nice girl."
Hinata bit her lips as she felt the intensity of his gaze increase with the each second that passed by. Few seconds felt like a whole hour to her, as tension seemed to swirl around the surrounding air, constricting her whole body, until she found it hard to breathe.
"Hn." He neither agreed nor disagreed, which relieved Hinata.
'So he isn't completely heartless.' Hinata thought as she looked at him curiously.
Sasuke chose not to answer and turned to his laptop.
'Well, as long as Sakura doesn't see, it won't hurt. It's not like we're talking or getting to know each other, right? No harm in being a studying partner.'
Hinata reassured herself and finally opened her book and was able to maintain her state of relaxation and focus until several hours passed, when she became hungry and her eyes were tired. She forgot that Sasuke was there and yawned. When she finally noticed him, her eyes widened as if seeing him for the first time.
His hands were intertwined together and his chin rested over his hands. His eyes looked at her in amusement. "You done?"
She nodded without saying anything, afraid that if she spoke, it would come out as a stuttering mess.
"Hinata?" Someone's voice called out from behind her. Hinata automatically looked back to see her cousin standing there, who was looking back and forth between her and Sasuke.
"Neji!" She almost shouted out his name but managed to control the volume of her voice. 'Just the person I wanted to see. Help me, Neji!'
As if sensing her distress, Neji quickly glared at Sasuke. "What the hell are you doing here with my cousin?"
Sasuke glared back at him with equal intensity. "As you can see, we're studying. Or rather, we were studying until you interrupted."
Neji ignored him and turned to look at his cousin instead. His eyes visibly softened when he turned to look at his cousin. "You done?" When Hinata nodded, Neji came closer and put his hand in her shoulder. "Your dad called and said you are needed."
"Alright," Hinata stated, calmly, smiling at her cousin. Smiling seemed to help escalate her mood.
"Come on then," Neji stated as he started walking away.
Hinata picked her books up in a hurry and turned to look at Sasuke, who had an indifferent face and looked at her with a blank stare. "Uhh, I'll see you around."
Sasuke smirked, making her face heat up. "Sure."
Hianta swiftly turned around and it took her whole willpower not to run to her cousin in relief and happiness.
She caught up to her cousin easily and walked alongside him with ease and contentment until they were outside the library. That was when he decided to ask her the question she has been anticipating and at the same time, dreading.
"So…what were you doing with Uchiha Sasuke?" Eyes so similar to her own looked searchingly into hers.
"Coincidence!" Hinata exclaimed, until she realized that she had burst out in a manner so unlike her usual self. "Umm…we just met at the library together and I, uh, decided to study with him," Hinata spoke all this rapidly, trying to convince her stubborn-natured cousin.
"Very well," Neji stated, looking like he wanted to say something. But he decided against it. She could make the right judgment on her own. She sighed in relief when she felt the subject seemed to drop. She loosely slipped an arm around his, just like what they used to do when they were little and they continued on their way in comfortable silence.
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First chapter is done :)
Reviews would be nice.
