Author's Note: Did I say I could update sooner? I lied. Sorry 'bout that. This plot's been festering in my notebook like a sugary wound for ages, though, so here you go (finally, a Sasuhina non-oneshot!) Posted on New Year's Day because I'm a dork and forgot about it until I looked at my list of New Year's Resolutions. :P
Again, please excuse any OOC-ness or inconsistencies—it's been a long time since I've wandered into the Naruto fandom. :)
Uchiha Sasuke lived in a world full of pointless things.
Social interaction, dealing with idiotic adults, fangirls, compulsory education that insisted on teaching him what he, as a twelve-year-old prodigy and Avenger already knew—it was all pointless.
Today, however, was completely, utterly, almost revoltingly pointless.
Why? Simple—it was February the 13th.
February in and of itself was pointless—possibly the most pointless month ever. Not only was it the shortest month of the year, it was also the most annoying—it had no useful holidays and one loathsome one. February the 13th was also normally pointless because it only served as 24 more hours to fuel his female classmate's sick anticipations of the 14th—and whatever nauseatingly sweet Valentine's Day chocolate confections or confessions they would force upon him.
Today's February 13th was particularly pointless, however, because it happened to be the second Monday in February—the day Iruka insisted on assigning partners (and changing them every week afterwards) in a last-ditch effort to "inspire camaraderie and teamwork" among students before they graduated in early March. And although the concept of working together with anybody else, much less a partner was the most pointless thing of all, Iruka insisted on it year after year.
At least his luck had held out for four years—he'd always ended up with relatively non-annoying partners like somewhat-creepy Shino or even the lazy Shikamaru (who at least knew how to keep their mouths shut.) But then, Sasuke suspected that even Iruka had figured out that pairing him up with a girl would be more trouble than it was worth the first year, when he'd had the bad luck to be stuck with some lovestruck idiot who ended up getting bullied by the rest of their female classmates.
"Sasuke," Iruka called out, peering down at his roster, "you can be…well, Hinata's partner."
Correction: Iruka was clearly dumber than Sasuke gave him credit for.
Slouching in his seat with unhidden annoyance and blocking out the wide whines of protest from the rest of the girls in the class, Sasuke heard an almost imperceptible sigh come from the desk on his far left.
Oh. So that was Hinata. That quiet mouse of a Hyuuga who couldn't kill a fly, much less carry out any Class-C mission. Well, she didn't seem like the noisy type of fangirl, so he supposed she'd do, but—
"Don't worry, Hinata," whispered a surprisingly non-jealous Ino, patting the disheartened girl comfortingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get Naruto for a partner next year."
Wait, Naruto? This Hinata'd wanted the dobe for a partner of all people? Over him?
Sasuke blinked for a few seconds then recovered from the slight shock and wound to his pride. A Hyuuga girl who most definitely wasn't a fan of his. Pointless as a partner, but acceptable. A better than worst case scenario, at least. And it was after all, only for a week.
--
"Since I've just assigned everybody their partner, your next lesson will be to work together on a medical-type assignment. Although I doubt the majority of you will ever receive any medical-nin training, there are basic things all ninjas need to know in the ninja world—such as, for example, how to make a simple wound-sealing ointment. If I could just get a volunteer to pass out the materials— "
"I'll do it, sensei!" Sakura chirped, carefully practiced smile on her face.
"Ah, thank you, then. Well, I'll write down the basic instructions for the ointment here on the chalkboard. I should warn you all, however, that if you follow them exactly, you'll only get a mediocre ointment at best."
"Aww, but that's unfair, Iruka-sensei! How are we supposed to learn how to do it well, then?" Ino complained.
"In the real world, making or perfecting an ointment also requires experimentation. If you want to perfect even this basic ointment, you'll have to go through the same process," Iruka explained.
How pointless, Sasuke thought silently, looking down at the unfamiliar leaves and extracts with unease. Medical-type assignments weren't his forte to begin with, and with the instructions skewed against his favor he doubted he could get it right for both him and his rather useless partner—
—even if said partner was currently busily at work mashing and mixing the ingredients as if she'd been doing so all her life.
--
"What are you doing?" Sasuke hissed rather angrily.
"M-mixing the v-valerian root with the yarrow," Hinata replied nervously.
"Those aren't the amounts Iruka put on the board," Sasuke scowled.
"N-no," Hinata agreed, "but t-this way t-the valerian r-root's medicinal attributes a-are highlighted."
"Oh."
Hinata paused for a moment, then, convinced Sasuke was done asking questions, resumed her work. After a few minutes, Sasuke cleared his throat, uneased by the silence and unsure of what to do.
"Iruka-sensei!" Ino protested halfway across the room loudly, "Naruto's not doing anything!"
"Not again! Naruto, you have to do your share of the work. That's the entire point of working in partners," Iruka scolded exasperatedly.
"Ne, sensei, Sasuke's not doing any of the work either. He's just letting Hinata do all of his work too, so what's wrong with me doing it?" Naruto complained.
Dozens of eyes turned to stare at both Sasuke and Hinata. "Hinata, is that true?" Iruka asked.
"A-a-ah, n-n-no. N-not at all," Hinata stammered out.
"Then why has Sasuke just been sitting there for awhile?" Naruto asked curiously.
"He's been supervising me," Hinata said quickly, looking down at her desk. "W-we're experimenting with the r-ratios like Iruka-sensei told us to, a-and Sasuke's t-taking note of the ratios."
"I see. Naruto, just concentrate on your own ointment. And yes, Ino, I give you permission to hit him when—I mean if he doesn't," Iruka groaned, rubbing his temples tiredly.
Apparently, Hinata could lie well if she felt like it. Sasuke stored the information away for future reference. Although, granted, the fact that he even needed his partner to cover for him was humiliating. With a scowl, Sasuke slouched even further down into his seat.
--
"U-um…Sasuke?" Hinata asked, not returning to working on the ointment for some reason.
"Yes?"
"C-c-could you please make the fourth part of the mixture?"
"I don't know how to, remember? Besides, the instructions on the board are wrong, right?"
"A-actually, Iruka-sensei was k-kind enough to make that p-part a-accurate. I-I'm not very good at that p-part, so…"
"You want me to do it?" Sasuke offered with slight relief.
"Y-yes," Hinata nodded. "S-since y-you're a lot better at that sort of thing." She held out the container quietly, and although Sasuke knew she could lie well if she felt like it, he had the feeling she'd been saving this last part for him. Fingers brushing (the desks were rather cramped, after all), Sasuke took the container. Huh. Funny how physical contact with Hinata had none of the sickening feeling he associated with his female classmates. Probably came from the fact that Hinata wasn't a fangirl.
Wordlessly, Sasuke picked up the other ingredients necessary and started working.
"Hey," he said after a few moments of silence, "pass me that container over there, will you?"
"Ah," Hinata agreed, handing him the container, nervousness (nearly) gone.
--
Their ointment had turned out the best hands down of course. Iruka had congratulated them on a job exceptionally done, yadda yadda. And although Sasuke was used to that type of attention, he had to admit, it was somewhat nice to see Hinata's reaction to it.
--
If he'd stopped and thought about it, Uchiha Sasuke might have realized that he had (willingly) worked with a partner (a female partner, even) and maybe even enjoyed it. If he'd stopped to think about it, he might have realized that he'd enjoyed even a pointless day spent on a pointless assignment, all because of his pointless partner—but then again, if he'd stopped and thought about it, he might have realized that he didn't particularly dislike Hyuuga Hinata's shyness and random acts of kindness.
Of course, he didn't stop and think about it. Such a thing, after all, would be pointless.
Author's Note: …er. Yeah.
Btw, anybody who actually knows how to make an ointment will be aware that I sped up/completely skewed up the process. (Since, apparently, it takes about two weeks to make 'em.) And yes, the flower/herb names were placed in randomly. Oh, and I apologize for the boring-ness of this chapter. It'll pick up soon, I promise. ;)
On a different note, I was displeased to find the supermarkets already stocked with piles and piles of V-day stuff the day right after Christmas. The last thing my cousins need is a prolonging of mass cavity-inducing candy sales.
As always, any reviews are appreciated.