Kakashi pats Sasuke on the head and says, "Play nice, Sasu-chan…" Sasuke turns his head and glares up at Kakashi with the famous Uchiha death glare. This causes Kakashi to remove his hand, fearing it would be cut off. "Okay…we might as well head out."
Sasuke gives Kakashi a look that says, 'Yeah, you better not touch me…'
"You don't have to be so cold to Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke," Naruto says, walking off.
"Hn," is Sasuke's only voiced reply. 'I don't even want to go on this mission.' He glances over at Hinata. 'Not since what she said last night…'
"SENSEI! How much further!" Naruto yells in irritation.
"Oh…just fifteen more miles…I'm sure you can hold out, Naruto!" Kakashi replies, smiling devilishly.
Naruto's jaw drops. "B-b-but…my feet hurt!" Naruto whines, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
Sasuke slaps Naruto on the back of the head. "Quit whining, idiot." 'I already have a big enough headache without hearing your voice.'
"Yeah, listen to Sasuke-kun, Naruto!" Sakura says, siding with Sasuke as always.
Naruto growls at Sasuke. "You're the idiot…you'll pay for doing that!" He gets into a fighting stance. Sasuke ignores him and keeps walking, seemingly oblivious to Naruto's challenge.
"Shut UP, Naruto!" Kiba shouts, face twitching visibly. "I've been with you less than ONE HOUR and I already want to strangle you!"
"Kiba-kun…m-maybe you shouldn't y-yell…it m-might make t-things w-worse," Hinata quietly says from near the back of the group.
"Be happy. You don't have to go on missions with the idiot all the time…" Sasuke murmurs to Kiba as he walks past him. Kiba snickers at Sasuke's comment and Naruto glares at them, eyes flashing dangerously red.
With a glare, Naruto storms off ahead of everyone, wanting to be alone. Out of concern, Hinata walks up to him and starts talking to him.
Sasuke sees this and feels rage soaring inside of him. 'Wait. If she's going out of her way to make him feel better, why did she say what she did last night? I want it to be true…I just don't know if it is.' Sasuke looks off into the trees. 'We're just going to help some old people by maintaining their garden. Damn. Why do they need two teams for that?'
The two teams arrive at the mansion of an elderly couple. Kakashi and Kurenai go up and talk to them about the mission.
Uninterested in their mission, Sasuke looks elsewhere to see Hinata and Naruto laughing together. He unconsciously activates his sharingan. 'Damn him! She's mine.' Sasuke moves closer to hear what they're talking about, but before he makes it close enough, Kakashi and Kurenai come back.
"Okay. The garden's in the back," Kakashi says, pointing in the direction of a gate. The six genin and two jounin make their way there and open the gate to reveal a garden that spans five times larger than all of Konoha.
"HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MAINTAIN THIS!" Kiba shouts.
'So that's why they need two teams,' Sasuke thinks, his eye twitching.
"EH!" Naruto shouts, pulling at his hair.
"I-it doesn't look too bad," Sakura says, trying to reason with them. 'Who am I kidding? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!'
Kurenai sighs and says, "Okay. We'll break up into 4 teams and spread out, got it? Okay. Naruto and Sakura, Kiba and Shino, Sasuke and Hinata, and Kakashi and I are the teams." Many of the genin open their mouths to protest but before they could say anything, see adds, "No complaining." Kiba and Naruto pout angrily. "Now go."
The four teams spread out through the giant garden.
Sasuke starts pulling weeds in a remote area while Hinata waters the flowers nearby. Sasuke keeps stealing glances at her.
Three hours pass and neither has said a word. The silence is starting to get to Hinata. 'Why doesn't he say anything?' He glances over at Sasuke who, at that moment, was trimming the hedges. 'Even though he's quiet, he at least finds something to talk to me about.' "Um…S-Sasuke-san? Is everything a-alright?"
"Yes," Sasuke says quickly.
"Oh…t-there's nothing you w-want to t-talk about?" Hinata asks, trying to get him to say something more than his one word replies.
"No."
Hinata's shoulders fall in defeat. 'I tried…'
Sasuke stops what he's doing and glances over at her. "Why were you talking to Naruto?"
Hinata looks at him in surprise. 'He asked something on his own?' "Um…I w-wanted him t-to cheer up."
"Don't talk to him."
Hinata's eyes widen. "W-what? W-why?"
"I just don't want you talking to him. That's simple enough to understand."
Hinata frowns. "W-why don't you w-want me to t-talk to N-Naruto-kun?" Sasuke mutters something inaudible and stalks off to clean a nearby pond. "S-Sasuke-san!" Hinata looks at the pond sadly. Something catches her attention. 'That ground around the pond isn't solid. It has no underneath.' "W-wait, S-Sasuke-san!" Hinata runs up and grabs his arm, but she's too late, he's already standing at the pond edge and he falls through, pulling Hinata with him. "O-ow…" Hinata murmurs quietly, her head down.
"Are you alright?"
Hinata's eyes widen and she looks up to see Sasuke sitting in the water with her in his lap. "I-I'm so s-s-sorry, S-Sasuke-san! I d-didn't mean t-to—" Hinata's cut off when Sasuke gently kisses her.
"Shh. Don't apologize. It's not your fault. I didn't know that the edge wasn't stable. Now. Are you hurt?"
It is at that moment this Hinata realizes that she twisted her ankle. "I-I think I t-twisted m-my ankle," she mutters quietly, not looking up at Sasuke.
Nonetheless, he hears her and looks at her ankle. He sighs and says, "Well, we might as well get you back to the sensei." Sasuke lifts her up bridal style.
"S-Sasuke-san! W-WHAT ARE YOU D-DOING!" Hinata shouts—yes, shouts—as a blush darkens her face.
"You can't walk so I'm carrying you," Sasuke says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"B-but! I DON'T WANT TO BE CARRIED!"
Sasuke frowns. He sets her down under a shady tree. "You know…I thought that guys were supposed to lead girls on. Not the other way around!" With that, he storms off, leaving a flustered Hinata behind.
"W-what does he mean by that?" Hinata thinks out-loud. 'Does that mean…he loves me?'
ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! Then I'm done with this story.
