Chapter 3- "A Day At The Beach"

Hinata got ready to meet Sasuke at the beach, she was beginning to get nervous and couldn't choose a bathing suit to wear. She began to panic until she decided to wear a two piece, this was like a first date and she didn't know what to expect or what could happen. She began to pack her beach bag and began to head out.

Neji watched her leave as he clenched his teeth, he had to hold his part of the deal or he would be screwed. "I can't believe you did this..." he replied, "Sasuke has poisoned your mind..."

"No..." she replied quietly, "Neji, I have a crush on him.."

"You've been acting a little different now that you and him are friends..."

Hinata smiled, "I guess you're right, I couldn't be happier..."

She walked out the door as she waited by the steps for Sasuke to come. He said he would be around at 5:30 to pick her up, Hinata was brimming with excitement. It was her first time out with a boy and she wanted to make the best of it but she forgot one thing. She couldn't swim.

'Oh great, I forgot that I'm a lousy swimmer...' she thought, 'I hope Sasuke doesn't notice...'

She continued to wait as Neji watched by the window, what was he going to do with Hanabi? He wasn't used to babysitting. He sighed as went in the kitchen to go cook something, it turned out to be a huge problem since he had no cooking skills at all. He would just have to give Hanabi leftovers from yesterday night.

Hinata waited around anxiously as she stared out into the field. No sign of Sasuke yet. She went to turn back when she saw Sasuke hanging from her house right in her face, she almost had a heart attack as she turned bright red. She stumbled backwards as Sasuke jumped from the roof onto the ground, she wasn't expecting him to appear this way.

"Thought I'd surprise you..." said Sasuke, "Let's go to the beach..."

Hinata stood there as Sasuke knew something was wrong, "Umm...Sasuke...You need to know something..." Hinata began playing with her fingers.

Sasuke half smiled, "Alright, what's going on?"

Hinata looked up at him, "I-I can't...swim..."

"That's okay...We'll stay in the shallow end..."

Hinata looked down, "I thought you'd be disappointed that I couldn't swim..."

Sasuke petted her, "It's okay, we'll go on the rides instead..."

Sasuke jumped in front of her and looked back. Hinata ran beside him as they go onto the sidewalk and they began walking down the road, she began looking at all the flowers that flew by as Sasuke caught one and gave it to her. She smiled and put it in her bag, she would press it in her book for later so she could keep it.

As they walked, Sasuke looked at her book as he went to grab it, "...This must be your flower pressing book, Naruto said you had a thing for it..."

"Yeah, I do..." she replied, "You can...look if you want..."

"Nah, I'll look at when we watch the sunset together..."

Hinata blushed, a sunset? She couldn't wait, '...Sasuke picks the best places to have fun, it's like I've forgotten how to have fun...'

There was a brief silence as they neared closer to the beach. Hinata looked closely at Sasuke who kept his eyes in front of him, it seemed like he was thinking about something too, she couldn't figure it out. He looked over at her as she looked away. He also sensed that Hinata was deep in thought as well.

Sasuke stopped for a minute and looked at the beach in the distance. People crowded the beach and it seemed packed, it was about 93 degrees out today. Konoha had hotter days, it reached 108 degrees one time and they had to cancel school and training for the rest of the afternoon.

"The beach is packed..." replied Sasuke, "That's okay by evening, there's only about four or five people left..."

Hinata giggled, "I've never seen the beach so packed..."

Sasuke lead the way as he tried to find a place for Hinata and him to rest. It seemed impossible because every spot he picked they were surrounded by too many kids or fat people. Sasuke almost got crushed as he ran back to Hinata as he sighed angrily, he really wanted to have a place to stay.

Hinata giggled as he showed his anger, he wasn't happy that he couldn't get a spot.

"Out of all days, it had to be a hot day..." Sasuke sighed, "The weather seems to lie sometimes, they said it would be cool today..."

Hinata looked at him, "That's okay, we'll find somewhere else..."

"I don't know, Hinata..." Sasuke looked around, "We'll have to sit under the dock where it's shady..."

Hinata already noticed a problem, "The demon children messed up our place...remember?"

"Damn it. We'll have to eat lunch early, sorry Hinata..."

Hinata giggled, "That's okay...I don't mind..."

Sasuke lead the way again as Hinata followed. She ran after him until she bumped into Sakura and Ino again, Sasuke looked back and came back to her and couldn't believe the two girls were at the beach too. He sighed as he waited for a conflict to happen, Sakura and Ino glomped him as he fell in the sand wrestling with both girls.

"SASUKE!" They both yelled.

'Ohh, why does it have to be me? Sasuke thought, he couldn't believe it. 'This popularity thing is really starting to get on my nerves...'

Hinata waited patiently for the wrestling to stop as Sasuke got up and took Hinata by the hand. He looked back as he still fought to keep both girls off him, he was really annoyed since he wanted to be alone with Hinata and everywhere he went, his two biggest fangirls showed up.

Sakura got in front of him as he almost glared, "...You guys are on a date already?!?! Sasuke!"

"...Alright, it is one..." he replied, "Don't the two of you have better things to do?"

Ino couldn't believe it, "You ditched us at the movies, Sasuke! Why didn't you come?"

"...I had more important things to do than to go to the movies..." He sighed, "I was too tired to see one anyway..."

Hinata gently tugged on Sasuke as he looked at her, "Umm...Sasuke, can we get a burger now?"

Sasuke half smiled, "Sure Ina, just go on without me..."

Sakura raised her eyebrow, "Ina? Is that your nickname for your girlfriend?"

Sasuke looked at her, "It's a nickname I like to call her, she calls me Sasu sometimes..."

Sakura looked at him with jealousy, "Just admit it, you guys are doing both. Being friends and being girlfriend and boyfriend!"

'How could we do both? It makes no sense...' Sasuke thought, 'Great, now I don't know which one we're doing'

"See?" replied Ino, "You even have to think about it..."

"You two are like stalkers, always after me and always trying to see what Hinata and me are doing..." Sasuke was almost grinning then he frowned, "Lay off."

Sakura stopped stiff, "What? Sasuke..."

Sasuke meant it, "Leave us alone and don't harass Hinata."

The two girls stopped stiff as they began to walk away, Sasuke had some relief as he took Hinata to the restaurant to eat. They sat down as Hinata had more regret for not standing up for herself more, she always thought she was the target every time Sakura and Ino came around and they acted worse with Sasuke.

She sighed quietly.

"Oh Hinata, stop worrying over it..." he replied, "I'm sorry you're always caught up in this..."

"No..." Sasuke's eyes turned wide, "...I couldn't even...stand up for myself..."

Sasuke put his arm around her, "That's okay...it'll take awhile for your confidence to build but other wise you have a good heart..."

Hinata blushed at the comment as Sasuke smiled. She couldn't believe it, she was seeing him crack a full smile. He grabbed her food and put out all the things for her so she wouldn't have to do it, they both laughed at each others jokes until Sasuke asked Hinata about school and her other classes.

She smiled and began talking about English as Sasuke listened, "It's so much fun, we're writing three poems and a personal essay..."

Sasuke laughed, "I'm good in English but I like Math and Woodshop better..."

They both laughed.

Sasuke asked another question, "Hey Hinata, before we got close as friends...you seemed a little sad at times..."

Hinata calmed down, "Oh...about that..."

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to..."

"Umm...I'll tell you later when we watch the sunset..."

"Oh, alright..." Sasuke grinned a little.

They continued to eat their burgers as they talked about other things, Hinata smiled a little as Sasuke threw a french fry at her and she threw one back. They seemed to be enjoying the date.

X X X

The sunset was in perfect view, Hinata had never seen in so close before. It always seemed far away to see. Sasuke held onto the railing and looked out, he seemed calm and in thought. Hinata watched the waves crash on the shore as looked at Sasuke, he seemed even cuter when he was thinking or watching something.

"Hinata." said Sasuke, "Let's talk about why you were so sad before we became good friends..."

There was a sudden pause, then Hinata spoke, "Um...I guess I really never had the confidence in myself to much, and I feel like I let my father down all the time."

"Oh, I see now. You seemed gloomy sometimes..."

"...Hanabi is a better heiress than I'll ever be, I can't perform like...one."

"Oh yeah, so much is expected of you...That's hard sometimes..."

Hinata blushed she felt like she could confide in Sasuke anytime she needed to, "I'm so glad you understand...I can be very insecure at times..."

She smiled then she held her head down, Sasuke watched her carefully. He saw warm tears form in her eyes as Sasuke hugged her, it was frustration. She felt so frustrated and cried into Sasuke's shirt, she quietly sniffled and grabbed Sasuke tighter.

"I'm sorry, Hinata...It's hard to be frustrated..." Sasuke began thinking about Itachi, 'You're not the only one who feels that way, Hinata...'

Hinata recovered and wiped the rest of her tears away, "I'm sorry...I've kept those feelings inside..."

"It's okay, don't worry about it..."

Hinata smiled as she watched the sunset, it made her happy and she loved the colors. Sasuke watched her as he half smiled, he had a really good time today. Hinata wasn't like the other girls, she was quiet but she was beginning to come out with her problems. Sasuke liked this because she didn't act up when she saw him and they were good as friends.'

The ocean crashed softly as Sasuke put another note in her hand, Hinata quickly opened it and began blushing again:

I've really enjoyed today, Hinata. This is the most fun I've had in awhile with someone and I hope we do it again really soon.

Hey, if you aren't doing anything next Sunday I'm having a party. Do you want to come?

Hinata noticed a problem, Hiashi wasn't going to let her stay out that late. "Oh Sasuke, Hiashi is very strict about me being out...I have curfews you know.."

"...Aw, that sucks..." said Sasuke, "How late could you say if it was to midnight?

"Probably until 11, maybe he'll say 11:30..." Hinata was hoping he would, "I'm not sure, I'll talk about it with him..."

"Oh okay, I hope you can make it..." Sasuke put his arm around her, "Stay out of trouble so you can come, okay?"

Hinata began to laugh, "Sasuke! When do I get in trouble?"

They both began to walk away from the dock back onto the sidewalk, Hinata couldn't have been more excited to go to a party. She held the invitation very close to her heart.

That's Chapter 3, please R&R.