Oh hi. :) I usually don't write multi-chapter fics (I much prefer oneshots), but the relationships I want to build (not necessarily all romantic relationships, mind you) just can't be done in one chapter. Well, I suppose it could, but it'd be one heck of a long chapter. This story will also be a bit of everything: comedy, drama, romance, angst, ect.

Dedicated, at least a little bit, to Danieru-sama, who asked me if I was going to work on a NaruHina story. I wasn't at the time, but I couldn't resist the ideas that formed in my head as a result.

Story: With the Best Intentions

Rating: T (Language, suggestive content, mild violence)

Pairings: SasuSaku, NaruHina.

Warnings: Mildly OOC Sasuke, but this does take place a year after Itachi's death and Sasuke's return to Konoha, so therefore I believe he wouldn't be quite as much of a jerk-face as he is now. Eventually he has to learn he can't go about reviving his clan if he doesn't' make himself at least a little personable.

Do I really need to blatantly state that I don't own Naruto? If I did, the damn series would be finished by now.

Prologue: So Much for Karma Points

I don't suppose it would help my case if I said that, for once, I had entirely good intentions. Okay, so maybe my intentions were not purely good, but they were mostly good. As much I liked watching the dobe make an idiot of himself, the poor girl just didn't deserve this.

Even I, back in my academy days, could tell that Hyuuga Hinata liked Uzumaki Naruto. It was about as blatantly obvious as the fact that Sakura liked me back then.

You know, I kind of wish it was that obvious now. It would make things an awful lot more simple. However, whether Haruno Sakura still liked me or not, at the moment, was the least of my worries.

Right now, the greatest of my worries was how bad she was going to pummel me when she got here. It's not like I meant for things to turn out this way, it was impulse action. I was trying to help him out, I swear.

"Hey, hey, Teme!"

I groaned. "What do you want, Naruto? I'm trying to eat."

"Why do you suppose Hinata always goes red and faints?" You have got to be kidding me, Dobe. I followed Naruto's line of sight to the Hyuuga girl who had just walked into the restaurant and was apparently looking for someone in particular she was supposed to be meeting. You can't tell? Even I can tell. I can't tell WHY, but I can tell….

"Maybe she's just sick, Naruto?" I managed to sound even more sarcastic than usual. Of course it went right over his head like it usually does. Instead his eyes got uncharacteristically large.

"You think so? Hey! You think Sakura-chan could fix her?!"

"Perhaps she can, Dickless" Sai chimed in with that oh-so-creepy fake smile of his. "Ugly can fix just about everything right?

You guys CANT be serious. Sai, you being more socially awkward than even me, I can understand, but come on, Naruto.

If I were the type to slam my head against tables in the public domain, the one I was sitting at would probably have been in shambles at my feet by then. But I'm not, and the restaurant owners are probably grateful for that. I did however notice that her team mates, Kiba and Shino, were seated at the table behind us, which she was now trying to get to.

"Oi! Hinataaaa!" Came the loud voice from across the table. The poor girl froze and started to turn that trademark shade of red once she saw the blonde-haired blue-eyed moron. Her pearly eyes widened even more when he stood up.

"N-Naruto-kun. H-hello!" She managed cheerfully with a ludicrously shy smile.

That's when Naruto's large grin shrank and his eyes widened. "Hinata, you're all red again. Are you feeling alright?

"I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun. Really!"

Apparently the dobe wasn't convinced, as I watched him start to walk past me towards the stuttering, blushing girl. Poor Hinata. Really. She couldn't have picked anyone more intelligent? It wasn't really a hard task….

This is where the idea hit me. It's a rare thing when I decide to meddle in people's lives, but like I said, the poor girl just didn't deserve the whole ordeal. That and I was hoping to make up for lost Karma points. I mean, I've been back for a year, but there were just a few things that hadn't fallen back into place quite the way I wanted them to….

So that's when I quickly stuck my foot out. Not that it would work- Naruto, however dense, was still a ninja.

"WAAAAAAH!!

CRASH

Okay…apparently I was wrong.

"I'm still confused about this bond between you and Naruto. You display it in such interesting ways"

"Shut up, Sai."

To be perfectly honest, yes, the purpose was to give Naruto a shove in the right direction- and by 'right direction' I mean 'on the floor on top of Hinata'. What I didn't count on was Naruto knocking Hinata out cold when her head hit the sake bar.

So that leads me to my current predicament. Both Kiba and Shino were sent out to find and bring back Sakura as soon as was humanly possible, and Naruto….

…Naruto still hasn't moved off of her. He's just sprawled over her on his hands and knees completely slack jawed and with his eyes as wide as saucers. If it were any other situation, I probably would be internally laughing my ass off. Actually, the look on his face is so priceless I might even smirk and laugh a bit on the outside too.

It would be a lot easier to laugh if I didn't know Sakura was on her way, and it would be a lot easier to smile at that fact itself if I didn't just know Sai would open his mouth.

"Dobe. She needs air. Get off". He snapped out of whatever shock or trance he was stuck in and scrambled to get off of her, but didn't stop looking at her.

"She'll be okay, right, Teme?"

"She'll be fine. Sakura fixes everything, right?" Is he nursing that left wrist of his? Crap. So much for Karma points.

"Naruto! Hinata-chan!"

I recognized that voice instantly, and although, truth be told, I really wanted to cower in the corner, I did my best to maintain my disinterested façade. I succeeded, of course, but it took effort.

"What happened?" Sakura was on her knees beside the unconscious Hinata, checking for open wounds first. Her features relaxed in a sigh of relief when she did not find any, but the look of concern never left her jade eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan! I just kind of tripped. I mean the floor just reached up and grabbedme!" Naruto tried to flail and point accusingly at the floor but winced in pain when the motion involved an attempt to move his injured wrist.

"The floor, or Sasuke's foot, dickless? I don't know about you, but I saw Sasuke-kun's foot"

I was instantaneously aware of two things. One, Sai was wearing that freakish fake smile the whole time he spewed the news of my guilt. Two, Sakura was not smiling at me. Oh no, quite the contrary.

'Remember when I sent you flying through the wall after you killed your brother?' her look seemed to say at me. 'I'll do it again. Just try me.'

Damn you, Sai. Damn you to hell.

"Sai-kun?" She asked him calmly and sweetly, never once taking those angry eyes off of me. "Do you think you can carry Hinata to the hospital? It will be better if I treat her there."

"Of course, Ugly."

I was hoping that would make her lose focus on me. No, no such luck. She didn't even flinch.

"I can carry her! It's my fault anyway!" Naruto chimed in.

"You have a broken wrist, Naruto. I can tell just by looking at it. You can follow Sai though. I'll be right behind you."

In one smooth motion, I watched Sai gather the unconscious Hyuuga girl into his arms and head off to the hospital, followed by a not so smooth and not so quiet Naruto.

"Now, Sasuke" You know, it's moments like these where I miss my lost honorific. "While I'd really love to pummel you first and ask questions later, I need to conserve chakra. So you are going to walk with me to the hospital, and you're going to tell me what really happened."

Did I mention things had not fallen into place quite the way I wanted them to?

No, I don't suppose it would help my case if I said I had good intentions, I decided as I followed Sakura out the door.

I don't suppose it would help my case at all.

In case it wasn't obvious, the italics were a flashback.

Socially awkward Sai is socially awkward. And I wouldn't have him any other way.

Chapter one coming soon! In the meantime, reviews are much loved.