Still don't own Naruto, it wouldn't be as good if I did, so be grateful.

I fell into step behind him as we walked. We were off to an ok start, and I wasn't gonna mess that up by doing something stupid like talking. So I followed. And followed, and it pretty much went like that...where were we going.

"Uh, the water is the other way, so I can't figure out where you're taking us."

And on que, he stepped up the front steps to a cabin. Most likely his... "I waited for you yesterday." then he opened the door and looked back to me waiting at the bottom of the steps.

"You can't blame me, I never asked you to wait for me, actually yesterday I was hoping you would be gone by the time I came out of the bathroom." Crap, that wasn't friendly.

"So is that why you took so long?"

"I did not take long! You were all angry and out of the right mind, you view of time is just warped." uh oh. I just can't stop. He gets this rise out of me every time he opens his mouth, what do I do?

"Look are you coming in or what?" So that's why he was just standing there with the door open.

"I think I'll wait here."

"Why, we've only been here a day, Naruto hasn't trashed it yet."

"Just hurry up."

He seemed a bit unhappy with the fact I wouldn't follow him. Oh well, he'll live.

When he finally came back out he was shirtless, oh god...wow. I tore my gaze from his body and saw him smirking. Oh hell no. "is there a reason you have your shirt over your shoulder and not on?" I made sure I kept my voice steady so it sounded like I didn't really care.

His smirk fell, and he just pulled his shirt over his head. As he pulled his head through I could see his eyes widen just enough before he went back to his stoic facade. "What happened to you?"

He was staring at my arm. The arm he grabbed yesterday. It was sporting some strange shaped bruises, but I didn't feel like hearing him call me weak because my body couldn't handle his strength. I just pulled my arm back and out of his view, "lets just go."

"No first I want to know what happened." I started walking, but this time he just leaned against the railing of his cabin and crossed his arms.

He was waiting for me to tell him, "you really shouldn't worry about it, lets just go Sasuke." he didn't move. Fine...but then, he started thinking. I could see it on his face.

"You didn't have them yesterday when you went to look at the boy's list." He was watching that? Then he started thinking again and all of a sudden his face twisted in anger. "I did it didn't I?"

I didn't know what to do. The way he said it, the way his voice sounded, "N-no, you couldn't hurt me. Don't be so full of yourself."

The stutter didn't help the lie, but I was done when he grabbed my arm again and pulled me toward him. Just touching the spot ached, so when he grabbed me, I let out a squeak of pain. "Then why do my fingers match the prints?"

He had me, I couldn't lie my way out of this one. So I just looked down. He loosened his grip and brought my arm up to his face, examining it closely with his eyes. "There's nothing I can do to make the bruises go away faster so don't worry about it." I pulled my arm from him gently. "So can we go do...I don't know something?"

Sasuke walked by me again, back to his usual self I can see. I walked next to him, but we still didn't speak. Which was ok, I was comfortable in silence. Sometimes I even welcomed it. Though after all this, I still didn't know where we were going.

XXXX

We walked. All day. That's it, im currently wondering why we had to spend time with out partners. All Sasuke and I did was walk around the camp in complete silence. I can't say I really minded to much, it was fine, but I didn't get to know him at all. Even when everyone met up in the mess hall for lunch and dinner, we didn't speak. Though I did get to talk to the girls, which kept me sorta distracted from Mr. Mood-swing.

When I got back to the cabin, I slept. The day was over, I had work in the morning, and my feet were killing me. About an hour later I heard the rest of my cabin flutter on in. Ino poked me until I got up to give her a mean look.

A look that just encouraged her to say, "oh look she's up!"

"I kinda wish I wasn't... What are you guys doing anyway?"

Tenten stood up and came over to lean against my bunk as well, "we wanted to know how your day with the Uchiha went?"

"We didn't do anything." with that I fell back into my sheets, only to be pulled back up by Temari. Crap when did she get here.

"C'mon we all wanna hear about the girl who can break the ice." she smiled a little to devilishly.

"Seriously guys, all we did was walk around the camp, we didn't even talk to each other. What did you guys do?"

I could see everyone's faces light up. Ok, so at least they all had a good time.

"Me and Shikamaru watched clouds. I mean I wanted to do something fun, but he's just so lazy, and if that boy calls me 'troublesome' one more time I swear!"

Ino was still ranting when Temari started, "well my partner is such a hottie! He's this like totally bad ass guy with a six pack. We compared our wake boarding stuff, and he said he liked my hair! He was so cool. You guys should have seen him."

"Temari, Kyo isn't really that great. I mean the kid smokes like a pack a day." Tenten stated.

"He's better than Hinata's cousin." with her smirk in place, she grabbed her stuff and went to go get ready for bed in the bathroom.

"She's attracted to these guys who look and act kind of like delinquents. We don't know why, but she can take care of herself, so we never have to worry about it." Ino managed to say before Tenten cut her off.

"Besided, Neji and I had so much fun! We went into the forest a little ways, and talked and meditated. Then we found this little creek thing and we were looking at the fish, it was so cool."

Ino looked a little jealous, "really! That's so not fair. I mean im glad for you, especially since you managed to finally get his attention and all, but why did you get the fun partner?"

Tenten smiled brightly before she winked at us and grabbed her stuff and knocked on the door to join Temari in the bathroom.

I was the first one to speak again, "why was she so excited?"

"Well Tenten has been crushing on the other Hyuga since I met her, so the fact they're forced to hang out everyday is making her a little ridiculous, don't worry, she'll be fine in a few days. Hopefully all the meditating wont mess with her head. That is one thing im not jealous of."

I laughed a bit before looking back at my best friend who currently dragging a brush through her hair. "So nothing exciting between you and Shikamaru?"

"Honestly what could happen between me and him, were so different, we make terrible partners, im surprised he even rides at all, he seems to lazy to board, but whatever. As long as he doesn't fall asleep behind the wheel of the boat, I don't care. He better not cost me the win." I could still see her smiling even when she made fun of him, but decided I could bug her all I want some other time. I leaned over the edge of my bed and saw Hinata twiddling her fingers.

"So how did your day go?"

When she looked up she was shocked to see me hanging upside down. I probably would have been too. Strange pink haired girls with bright green eyes hanging upside down right in your face are not a common occurrence I understand, but no reason to go red in the face. "I-, N-Naruto-kun and I, w-we uh hung out."

I didn't have the patience to ask any more questions, and I don't think she had the energy. Just then Karin came in scowling. Damn, next time just let me sleep through her arrival. The moment she saw us staring at her though, she quickly plastered on a smile and started talking about how amazing her partner was. "He's even cooler than Sasuke-Kun!"

That's nice. Bed time. After she kicked the other girls out of the bathroom and took up a good half hour, she set her alarm clock, making sure to glare at each one of us before pulling down that purple mask and turned to her side, signaling she was going to bed. I fell asleep the second the lights finally went out.

When I woke up I went through my routine again. Though I shut off Karin's alarm before anything else. I left the cabin smiling a little too wide.

"I need those tomatoes Haruno!"

"Here" I said calmly behind the cook holding the tray of chopped up tomatoes.

"Oh, well thanks" he grabbed the cutting board from my hands and dumped the sliced veggie in the pan. "Get started on the_"

"The peppers are already cut, right next to you. I poured a pitcher of water and orange juice for each table, and cleaned all of the utensils and plates."

"Oh...very good then, you're uh dismissed."

"Have a good day sir." as I ran out of the back door I could hear the cook still muttering to himself. I work at a diner, I can cut vegetables and clean dishes in record time. I took off my apron as I ran back to the cabin. The girls were gone. Man, I raced all the way here hoping I could catch them. Oh well. I changed, redid my ponytail since it was falling anyway, and put on my flip flops.

When I was finally back at the mess hall doors, I could already hear the commotion from inside. I took my place at my new table beside Ino. Across from the Uchiha... I thought nothing of the food really, but when I looked over at Sasuke's plate I realized he picked the tomatoes out of his eggs, and gotten more from the salad bar. Ha I had cut those!

When he caught me looking at his plate curiously I just offered to throw away his trash before things got awkward. Problem was, then I had to take everyone's trash. Note to self, next time think that through.

I sat back down in Tenten's currently empty seat right next to Hinata, "so what's up? I haven't talked to you today." Everyone stared at us, watching intensely like something exciting could happen any second.

"N-nothing S-Sakura-ch-chan. I'm going to use the r-restroom" she slowly got up and started playing with her fingers again as she walked.

"HOW DID YOU GET HER TO TALK?" Naruto was right across from me screaming at me. Someone make sure my ear isn't bleeding please...

"What do you mean?" I looked back at Hinata who was quietly retreating to the bathroom.

"See Forehead, Hinata only ever talks to you. Until this trip, none of us have ever heard her speak. That's why Tenten and I kept looking at you funny the past two days. She only talks when you're around."

"Seriously? I don't think that's possible. I mean what about school and you guys, how about her family? She has to talk to them."

"She spent all day with me and never said a word. A lot of nodding, yeah, but not even a syllable other than that." Naruto said

"As of school, she's never called on. Most of her teachers seem to think she doesn't fully exist. I think she may ask to not be called on at the beginning of each year." Ino chimed in and looked at Shikamaru.

He got the hint and added, "im in a lot of her classes, she gets good grades so it's not like she really needs to be questioned in class, and we have a lot of silent study classes. Not to mention she never does anything wrong. If she has to communicate she can almost always use her hands or nod to get what she needs out."

"I live in the same house, but we never really need to associate with anyone. It's usually only me and her who are around. And I have football and basketball, or im out wake boarding with my friends, so im gone most of the time as well. She gets along at home by herself and the maids usually. And the maids are not allowed to speak to anyone in the house." Neji was a normally unemotional person, close to the Uchiha in that sense, but I could still hear a bit of sadness in his voice as he spoke. "I don't think she was always like that though."

The normally loud boy turned to me again, "so how do you do it?"

"I don't know, she just tells me stuff. I didn't even know who she was until I came here."

"You didn't know who any of us were, but we all knew who you were." I looked for the voice, but was rather shocked to see it came from my partner at the other end of the table. "You shut everyone out, and she doesn't have many friends. I think she trusts you, you didn't talk much, she doesn't talk ever. She probably figures your similar." that was the most the Uchiha had ever said.

"Maybe, I don't know, I just try to be really nice, when I talked to her alone the other day, she wasn't even stuttering, so maybe that'll work for you guys. There has to be someone she's close to. Who does she usually wake board with? I mean if she's in this contest, she must be pretty good right?" I didn't really have anything else to say.

"She's one of our best friends, we even all requested to be in the same cabin, and her wake boarding isn't bad at all. She usually goes with me and Tenten, sometimes Temari or a few different girls, but she doesn't have to talk to wakeboard." Ino seemed to have most of the information.

"You didn't have to talk to board. My parents said you tried not to socialize much, you just focused on the water. Well I think Hinata just focuses on other stuff you know?" Even Naruto had put thought into this.

"Hinata always had to work hard, she didn't exactly have natural talent for boarding, but she wanted to be good, so she tries harder than most people would think possible for a girl like her." Ino added.

I could see Hinata and Tenten coming back to the table. "Everyone ready to go, most of the other tables are cleaning up to leave." the bunned girl said, pulling Hinata along.

I looked to Sasuke who was already standing and staring at me. "Yeah I guess." I watched the others leave and wondered, how was it possible people to know and care so much for each other? They could recite everything about the shy girl, and even if she wouldn't talk to them, they were all still concerned about her. I left the mess hall with the prodigy close behind, trying to gather different thoughts in my head. "So, uh what do you want to do today?"

Sasuke almost said something, but decided against it and started walking the same direction as yesterday. And go figure after about twenty minutes, we were back in front of his cabin. "Are you coming inside today?" was all he said to me.

I looked at the door where he was waiting and then back at him. Subconsciously I grasped my hurt arm. He glared at the ground before going inside to change. When he came out I was happy(...or unhappy, depending on how you looked at it,) to report he was fully clothed. I was not so happy however, about the scowl he was sporting as he slammed the door and made his way over to me.

"Why are you upset now?" he didn't look at me as he stormed away. "Seriously? That took all of four seconds!" was all I called after him.

XXXX

We ended up walking all day. Again. Yeah, I thought my feet hurt yesterday, well reality check for Sakura Haruno, never go hiking in flip flops. We are currently at dinner, meaning after this I only have to spend another hour with him before I can say I need to go back to the cabin to shower.

"No luck yet?" Ino whispered in my ear. I told her about how bored I was walking in silence with some boy I didn't even know. Now she continuously takes secret glances at us to see if were talking at all. Please, I don't think the Uchiha could ever talk to me like im human. How does Naruto handle it?

Ino went back to her previous conversation, and I stole a glance at Sasuke. Saying I was surprised by what I saw had to be the understatement of my life. He was just staring at his hand. Angry and guilty. Part of me really just wanted to hold him all of a sudden. Tell him everything would work itself out.

When he caught me watching him he put on that emotionless facade again, not even bothering to look me in the eyes. The moment we were out of there I said, "I only have an hour left. I need to get back to my cabin, the girls and I have some stuff planned, and I need to take a shower and you know take care of some stuff." I think he could tell I was lying. Well that's awkward.

He nodded none the less and we walked to the beach. No one came here after dinner. It was super crowded earlier, but now it seemed practically deserted. A few stray partners were still here, a long with a few people who ditched their partners and were currently making out behind the trees.

"Can we sit down at least Sasuke?" He never responded, just sat down right were he was standing. I sighed and joined him. "Look, I understand we're not the best of friends, and you still haven't really warmed up to me, but I give great advise (probably a lie, I haven't talked to many people lately) and I want to help with whatever is bugging you."

When I saw the black hair out of the corner of my eye start to move, I looked over at him. "Just tell me this Sakura, are you scared of me?"

What! "Of course not." I know that time my voice didn't falter.

"Then why don't you ever go into the cabin with me. Or anyplace by ourselves. You always chose the path with a lot of people. You immediately grab you arm when I suggest such a thing as a more secluded area. I understand safety, but do you really think I'll do anything else? Im sorry ok? I really am. I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just..."

"...Just what?" I looked at him, begging him to tell me something, anything really.

"Nothing Sakura." he looked away, but he still wanted answers to his questions. And it was only right I gave them to him.

"Im not scared of you. Sure, it's a reaction to grab my arm now, but that's subconscious. As far as im concerned, I'll never fear anyone. I refuse to be scared, and besides, you hurt me again, I'll hit back, im sure of that. And your also forgetting, were pretty secluded at the moment. Not enough to get away with murder, but close."

I saw him smirk again. Every time he did that I couldn't look away. In a way, it made him seem so much more...alive? Im not sure, but definitely happier in a way. Seeing emotion on his face that wasn't some kind of pain or grief was a really nice change.

I spoke again, "so is that why you have been upset the past two days?"

"...yeah" Sasuke wasn't even looking at me when he answered. The tone in his voice almost seemed like a trick, or the way a breeze whips by just quick enough to make sound. But I still caught it, and when he looked me in the eyes afterward, I was glad that no matter how things started out, at least for one moment, Sasuke Uchiha did not hate me.

I wanted to keep my word so he couldn't tell I was lying, so when everything got quiet again, I simply said, "well like I said, I've got stuff to do. I'll see you tomorrow Sasuke"

That night, I went to bed smiling. We weren't friends, not even close, but curing just one of his worries made everything seem ok between us. Besides, Ino said that Sasuke had never once in his life apologized. Not to anyone. And with that fact, came a bit of pride.

XXXX

As I was walking out the back door from kitchen duty I hung my apron with the other's on the back wall. This was a lot easier than having to remember it every morning. "Alright I'll see you later."

"Bye Sakura, go get ready."

"I am, but can I take a few of these."

When the cook turned to see what I pointed at he smiled and said "sure why not. Only a few though."

"You got it, bye Tanzo."

I placed my gift in a plastic bag and headed back to my cabin. Today I made it in time so find the other girls outside. "Hey guys."

"Hey Sakura, where have you been running off to every morning?" Tenten was winking as she spoke, but I just rolled my eyes and ran inside. I changed and just before I left I through my sneakers and my plastic bag in a draw-string bag before walking back down the stairs. Only Ino, Tenten, Temari, and Hinata were still standing there.

"Im gonna take a wild guess and say the other three left?"

Ino looked at me, "im pretty sure the exact words were 'who does she think she is, making us wait for her? Hmph! Im such an outrageous beyotch' then she kept complaining as she stormed away. Oh well."

"Why do I have a strange feeling she didn't call herself an outrageous bitch?" I turned to Ino.

She just shrugged, "in my mind she calls herself an outrageous bitch ever like twenty seconds."

I gave her a weird look, "how comforting to know your such a good listener."

"Hey it's only to that girl, she's even more annoying these days."

Temari looked at us and smirked, "she's just upset because someone is turning off her alarm every morning, and so far we keep beating her to the shower. And while Ino uses enough hot water as it is, Tenten topped it off when she actually finished showering and let the water run until it turned cold, while she just brushed her hair."

I looked over at her half surprised half doubling over laughing. "Wow, hate her much?"

"What gave you that idea?" Tenten smiled.

We all laughed at talked the entire way back to the mess hall. Well all of us except Hinata, which for the first time, im really noticing the significant difference when her voice isn't involved.

Breakfast was a blur, Ino just told this story that went on forever about her sweet 16, something I wouldn't really know about, and something the others didn't care about since you know, they were there.

XXXX

Right now, im on my way to Sasuke's cabin. But when we were walking down the foresty path, I saw a butterfly stuck in a spiders web. It was in the tree right next to me, but I was kind of proud I noticed such a small splash of color anyway. Sasuke didn't seem to notice (and probably didn't care) I stopped and detached the insect from the deadly strings. He stopped walking to watch me, but I couldn't read the expression in his eyes. I still felt kinda bad that I just took away some spider's dinner, and destroyed its web, but if I had left the butterfly to die, I think I would have felt much worse. Even if it is just some bug.

I followed Sasuke up the stairs of his cabin and he turned around to give me a questioning look. "What, I told you I wasn't scared of you, and I can prove it," I brushed by him and walked right into his cabin.

I was hit so hard with the smell of dirty socks and the sight of candy wrappers, dog food, and boxers (and a green jumpsuit?) I stumbled back a little. Sasuke remained unfazed, "I told you it wasn't that trashed two days ago, 48 hours is more than enough time for those guys to hit."

"And you live in this!" I couldn't help the way my voice sounded.

"I told the guys you wouldn't come in, so they stopped trying to control themselves. You don't have to stay in here with me, I'll just hurry. I don't exactly spend my free time in here anyway."

"No, I can handle it." I pulled my hands from my nose and leaned against what appeared to be a clean wall. Or so I was silently praying. Sasuke smirked and walked to his bed. "Hey you have the same bunk as me!"

He just looked at me like I had two heads...or like I had a strange hair color or something...

"What I meant was since the cabins all have the same layout, you have the bed in the same section that mine is in."

"Yeah, Naruto is under me, he said he was gonna be tricky and since heat rises he wanted the bottom bunk, either way I didn't really care." he proceeded to grab stuff from his bag and I looked around the big room.

"Funny, Hinata sleeps on the bottom bunk for us too."

He walked to the bathroom and waltzed out 5 minutes later pretty much wearing the same thing. Only he traded it his black sweat pants for black swimming trunks, and his navy shirt for a dark gray one. Why can't the boy just change before he comes, his friends do, I think he just likes dragging me back here. Bastard...

I walked out before him, and this time, when he started walking up the hill to our normal path I sat down and slipped off my sandals. This time I was prepared. I pulled on a thin pair of socks and my sneakers. Sasuke watched as I slipped my flip flops back into my bag and stood up to face him again. "Seems like you put some thought into this."

"What can I say, I like to plan ahead every once in a while." he nodded and I think I may have just missed a bit of amusement creeping into his eyes.