Disclaimer: owns nothing but a flock of fangirls. You can have them. Honestly.

Ah, the beautiful summer days!

The sun shone brightly over a typical Konoha morning. Birds were chirping, children were playing, and a bunch of teenage girls in coats and sunglasses were hiding behind newspapers or casually leaning against a street lamp… Not even remotely suspicious!

Someone uninformed, like a foreigner, would probably come to the conclusion that he or she had accidentally run into the set of a really, really bad spy movie.

Anyone who knew a bit about the shinobi of this village would probably assume that the Aburame clan was having a family reunion, not that that made much more sense.

But to everyone who live in Konoha, the signs were obvious. Sasuke Uchiha's Fanclub was about to make a move.

Glued to their strategic positions the girls kept one eye on their red-haired leader and the other on the target (special wall-eyed squad).

Their dark-haired goal could be seen behind the small diner's window. If he noticed his not-so-subtle stalkers, he didn't show it. Instead he continued to look extremely bored while his enraged female teammate slowly choked a certain blond idiot. Naruto was incredibly stupid, insulting him while sitting next to Sakura. Some people learn painfully slowly…

Team 7 wasn't the only Genin team in the diner. In fact, all of the Rookie 9 were sitting at separate tables, throwing glances at each other.

Their senseis were also there, sitting by the door. Well, two of the three. Guess which one was missing.

„That lazy bum! At this rate he'd better not show his stupid masked face at all!" Kurenai growled. She was in an uncharacteristically bad mood and Asuma knew better than to interfere.

They were supposed to be going on a joint mission that was yet to be explained to the students, and Kakashi was more than an hour late. An hour!

Outside the red-haired Kotone-san gave her masked comrades an ultra-secret-fangirl sign which, roughly translated, meant something like 'get your butts over here and prepare the cameras'. When they obeyed, she turned to face the girl behind the bar and winked. It was somewhat difficult because of the sunglasses, but nothing her super fangirl powers couldn't handle. The young waitress nodded.

With an ominous smile playing on her lips she grabbed an order and sprinted to the customer. No one noticed a mischevious glint sparkling in her eyes. This would be too easy.

The moment she approached Team 7's table, the young waitress conveniently 'tripped' and a dark extra hot hot hot liquid flew in the air… only to land, after a long moment, on Sasuke Uchiha's chest.

The following events happened at an incredible pace.

Sasuke cried out in pain as the tea burned his skin.

Fangirls greedily pressed their noses against the glass waiting for him to take his now ruined shirt off – the moment they'd been planning for! (The severe burns were just a side effect they haven't gave much thought too.)

Sakura and Ino froze for a moment. When their narrowed eyes met, the iciness of their calculated glares made the temperature of the room fall a few degrees, and the rest of the Rookie 9 shuddered.

A heartbeat.

And then…

The intensity of their fists's collision sent glasses, plates, and Naruto flying across the room

They were so busy fighting over who was going to help Sasuke first that they failed to notice the he had already left the crime scene.

Sasuke collapsed on the ground of the deserted alley he escaped too, stubbornly refusing to give his drooling audience the pleasure of seeing him naked (those fangirls outside were avoidable too).

To tell the truth, he should have seen this coming. His fanbase had long ago stopped being an annoying group of blushing girls. They'd developed tactics, plans, routes and most importantly, they were becoming creative.

He carefully pulled at the shirt, only to groan in pain. Great, the fabric was stuck to the wounded skin.

The last thing he wanted right now was to go to the hospital, not just because he was in the completely wrong part of the village, but also because there was this weird nurse that he'd caught staring at him while she thought he was asleep. Twice. Creepy.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like he had a choice.

Sasuke was in the middle of a heavy sigh, when his ears pricked. He heard the rapid flip-flopping of sandals. Someone was coming. A fangirl? With his luck…

He barely managed to stand up and hide before the newcomer ran into the alley. It was a girl, alright, but definitely not the one he expected. His dark eyes widened in surprise.

Hinata Hyuga.

Hinata Hyuga?

The petite kunoichi had almost disappeared around a corner when suddenly she stopped, head jerking up. Her white eyes looked to the sky, searching for something in the air, something that was invisible to the Uchiha.

He was now feeling irritated, in addition to his pain. What was she looking for, anyway? Couldn't she look for whatever it was somewhere else? Why his alley? Why now?

Then it hit him. His chakra! He'd forgotten to conceal it. She could see him with her byakugan.

Strangely, that thought calmed him down. So what if she could sense him? He had nothing to say to her, so he would just wait until she took the hint and went away.

Except that she didn't go away, not even after a few minutes had passed. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists he glared at the Hyuga heiress, who was nervously shifting in the middle of the dark alley, playing with her fingers. Her usually porcelain cheeks were changing colour by the minute, constantly upgrading to a new shade of red.

When she finally spoke, her strange lavender eyes were firmly locked on the ground.

„Uhm… Uhm… U-U-Uchiha-san?" Hinata questioned, awkwardly addressing thin air.

That caught him off-guard. Sure he'd realised that she'd noticed his presence, but it hadn't occurred to him that he was the one shy Byakugan user searched for.

Well, in that case…

He was getting ready to escape his temporary sanctuary as quickly as possible, but his sudden movements made him bite his lip to suppress a cry of pain. Wonderful. Now his lip was bleeding.

„Uchiha-san, please… I want to h-help!" her voice was louder now, and sounded almost pleading.

„I h-have an ointment", she said as she searched through her pouch and took out some kind of a container, looking up one more time to the sky. When he still didn't respond, she shrunk into herself a bit, radiating nervousness.

Sasuke gave the small girl a suspicious look. She stood there insecurely, holding the small jar protectively in front of her chest. Although she reminded him of a frightened little mouse, it was obvious she wasn't going to run away.

Why is she doing this? Why would she of all people want to help him? She was the shy heiress whom he had never even spoke to, the one who was so obviously in love with Naruto even Sasuke could tell…

Pain shot through him again. „Uchiha-san?"

Finally he made a decision.

Hinata Hyuga was a lot of things: weak, plain, average, nervous, way too soft for her own good… but the things that interested him far more right now were the things she was not. And she was not a squeaky fangirl who'd drool over his bare chest or expect something as lame as a kiss in return. Her help could be used.

Hinata gasped when the dark-haired teen appeared out of nowhere. There was a part of her that had been really hoping he wouldn't come out.

But the decision had already been made, and she wasn't going back on her word. It was her ninja way, just as much as it was Naruto's. Hinata gulped, summoning all her determination.

Resisting a strong urge to escape, she quickly checked him over. The first thing she noticed was that the steaming shirt was still on. That wasn't good, it must have hurt a lot!

She timidly took a step closer. He didn't react so she concluded that it was safe to continue.

When she finally reached him, Hinata made a stupid mistake and looked straight into the cold, black eyes. The result? A nervous twitch and a brand new shiny shade of red.

Pretending to look through her pouch, she murmured so quietly that only a trained shinobi could hear her: „Y-You should s-s-sit down." So he did, in silence, still eyeing her suspiciously.

Carefully avoiding further eye-contact, Hinata quickly asked for permission, then lightly tugged at the blue fabric of the shirt. A short hiss warned her she'd assumed right, it was stuck to the burn.

When she pulled out a kunai, Sasuke backed off a little and hit the wall with his back.

„What's that for?" he asked with a wary glare, hiding nervousness behind a rude tone. She politely ignored it.

„I mustn't remove the shirt, or I could d-damage the tissue. I have to cut around so I can tend the other burns."

The shiny blade came dangerously close to his chest.

He tried to reason with his rebellious instincts, telling himself he really ought to give her more credit. After all, Hinata was a trained Leaf kunoichi, graduated from the Academy. She should be more than able to handle a kunai properly. Still, relief overwhelmed him when she finished.

His blue shirt was cut down to rags and scattered across the dusty road and his bare chest shone in the sun in all it's damaged glory!

He looked down only to gasp.

It wasn't as bad as he expected it to be.

It was worse.

What he could see was mostly covered in blisters, and whatever wasn't blistered matched the red that graced Hinata's flushed face.

'It must be second-degree at least.' He searched Hinata's eyes but they were solely dedicated to the injury. It was surprising, seeing her examine it so professionally, considering the flustered, fidgeting state she was in not even a minute ago.

Her face showed nothing but determination, and she nodded slightly to herself.

This was it. The moment she'd been waiting, the reason she ran out of the diner after the fleeing Uchiha.

It wasn't because of a crush or affection of any kind. Kami knew she never really paid attention to the distant boy.

Actually, he kinda scared her, always glaring with cold, hostile eyes, always deadly silent, enveloped in a dark, suffocating aura. Sure, he was handsome, and Hinata could understand why Sakura or Ino would like him, but she couldn't overlook his arrogant behaviour or the way he always put people down, making them feel inferior.

People who tried hard, and who always gave their best. People like Naruto, and… herself.

And yet here she was, sitting on her knees in some narrow deserted alley before the very comrade she secretly feared, tending his injury.

Why?

Oh, it was simple.

All those years she spent watching Naruto from the background, seeing the enormous effort he put into his training, his constant wish to prove himself, to be acknowledged… She wished she could be more like him too, and not a disappointment anymore.

To be strong. That was her dream.

And this was the first step. To overcome her fears and help people with something she was good at. To be useful.

The incident in the diner seemed like a perfect opportunity, so in the hustle that followed Ino's and Sakura's fight she gathered all her courage and flew out.

Sasuke observed the petite kunoichi.

Afterwards, she had blushed only once, the moment her shaky hand touched his chest. Now, she looked… distant. Almost like she was looking through him as her fingers spread the ointment mechanically.

The boy lowered his gaze to her small hand. He thought he would find this form of personal contact aggravating, but surprisingly enough… Nothing. Her delicate fingers worked fast but their touch was so gentle. They were taking away the pain, leaving pleasant, soothing, coolness in its stead.

Guess he hadn't made a bad decision after all.

Looking back up to her face, he was surprised to find her eyes softened and a small absent-minded smile gracing her lips. The little Hyuga was obviously completely lost in her own thoughts.

Sasuke frowned. He didn't get her at all.

Still, whatever the reason Hinata helping him was, Sasuke was grateful. And for the first time, after so many years, he felt comfortably at ease with someone being so close.

Kakashi was dragging himself lazily through the heated streets of Konoha, nose buried deep in the book he carried. He was already more than an hour late, so a few more minutes couldn't hurt… too much.

Skimming through the current page, a good part of his mind was dedicated to an excuse he could provide to the angry crowd, so at first he didn't fully comprehend the scene caught by the corner of his eye. Just that it was something strange.

Unwillingly he broke away from the spicy plot twists of Chapter 11 to glance at the suspicious sight, only to freeze on the spot. Slowly turning to the right, he stared blankly.

„Sasuke?"

In the dim shadow of a murky alley sat his prodigy of a student and Kurenai's Hinata, who had apparently just finished the bandaging Uchiha's naked chest. The call seemed to startle both of them, as the girl squealed in surprise and jumped back to her feet.

„Uhm, K-Ka-Kakashi-sensei! I just… I m-mean, he…" the girl was fidgeting and blushing madly. „Uhm, w-well…"

„Is Sasuke hurt? What happened?" the Jounin interrupted confused.

Before Hinata could continue her stammering explanation, the dark-haired boy spoke up in his usual monotone: „Long story."

„Well, uhm, yes… Uchiha-san got burnt pretty b-badly. I did the best I c-c-could, but you should probably take him to the h-hospital." Before Kakashi could say anything, she added: „You don't have to w-worry, I can tell the others where you are."

Bowing awkwardly to him and Sasuke's form still sprawled in the dust, she almost started to run away when a voice stopped her.

„Hinata…"

She turned her head slightly. Dark eyes were watching her, unreadable. A moment of silence passed.

„… Thank you," the corner of Sasuke's lips twitched into a half smile. She gasped.

A real… genuine…?

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly when a bright, eye-crinkled smile was flashed at him. It was as warm as the sun rays dancing above her head.

The next moment she disappeared around the corner, but he still looked dazzled.

Kakashi cleared his throat. „Uhm, shall we?"

AN– this fic proves that some people shouldn't be allowed to fangirl. What criminal mind I have…

Anyway, few things I wanted to say:

- thank you for wasting your time on this story!

- yes, I am aware that you shouldn't use any kind of ointment on a fresh burn, but let's pretend that the normal laws of medicine don't apply when it comes to chakra contaminated family products (the romance of touch!)

-The reasons why Sasuke OOCly didn't give much resistance:

1. Hinata's obviously smitten with Naruto, so he's safe

2. she's touching naked him, yet spacing out, so he's safe

3. wouldn't you be grateful and peaceful if someone took your pain away?

Thank you one more time, r&r if you feel like it.