Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But if I did I would jump up and down like Sasuke on a sugar-high!!!

Thinking of you...wherever you are
chapter IV: A reason to be strong

Sasuke got home at twelve that night. He didnt care what he had to do the next day, there were way too many things on his mind for him to care about time. But, surprisingly, the night turned out alright. He woke up at his regular time of five-thirty and got ready for training.

During his morning routine, he found himself thinking of Hinata and how she was doing. He wondered what Neji had told her when she returned home so late. He had been catching himself a lot lately, thinking of her, and before he knew it, time had flown by and he was already ten minutes late. And so he ran out the door. But when he got to the meeting place, nobody was there.

"What..the...?" The young Uchiha looked around for a moment, where was his team? Actually, where were any of the teams?

Just then, Iruka came around the corner, "Ah, Sasuke. There you are. Sorry, guess Naruto forgot to tell you; we're taking a day in the classroom to learn advanced chakra mastering. C'mon, we're all waiting on you."Iruka turned the corner again and Sasuke quickly followed, taking louder steps to let Iruka know he was following. Sasuke opened the door to the old classroom where him and team seven first met, where everyone first met, and everyone was there. Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, Rock lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, and...Hinata. She was talking to Shino, laughing at something he was telling her. ' Good, she's okay.' Sasuke closed his eyes and made an almost nonexistent sigh, walking over to his team.

He chose the seat next to Naruto, thinking it better to have to sit next to him and tolerate his snoring than listen to how much Sakura "admired" him. He sat his chin on his hands and got ready for Iruka's lecture. The jounin started off by talking about the three different types of jutsus and how to measure the chakra use in each one for each situation and going in to other matters about training your chakra, but no one was really listening. Even Sakura, who was usually the only one paying attention, was writing Sasuke's name in different styles on her paper, everything going through one ear and out the other.

Sasuke tapped his fingers on his table, bored out of his mind, and decided to see who was sitting around him. Naruto was next to him, napping the lecture away, Sakura behind him, humming a song, writing something obviously different than the notes she was supposed to, Tenten was sitting on the other side of him, staring at Neji and smiling, with Kiba next to her. And in front of Kiba and Tenten was Shino and Hinata. Hinata on the right. She was holding Akamaru and petting him gently, lulling him to sleep. She looked like she had a lot on her mind.

Her once gentle appearance was now more of a distressed and worried expression. ' she's probably still worrying about her fight with Neji. She's going to strain herself too much and she's not going to be able to sleep. Pathetic..' But the look he gave her with worried eyes made his last thought seemingly untrue. He took his mind off Hinata after a while and tried paying attention to Iruka and take in at least a little bit of his lecture. But no such luck would come to him today. There came a little "flicking" noise. There it was again! and again! every couple seconds it seemed. He looked around to see where it was coming from, he heard it from the beginning of class but thought it would've stopped after a little while…but…

Then Sasuke listened, it was coming from behind him.' So that's what it is. Or otherwise, who it is.' He groaned with an aggravated sigh. Sakura was throwing spitballs at someone. He assumed it was Ino who was the target, it always had been, but Ino was nowhere to be found, and when he heard a small voice whisper, "p-please, stop" his eyebrow rose. He searched for the speaker. It was Hinata, and she whispered again, "p-please Sakura, stop." And with no signs of the spitballs ceasing, Hinata sighed wearily and took them with no resistance, she didn't want to start anything or risk disrupting the class. One thing she didnt understand though, was what she did to make Sakura so mad, or what she did wrong at all, it seemed ridiculous. And neither did Sasuke. He'd watched her wipe the spitballs out of her hair and off of her desk and wondered how long she'd been at it.

He stared at the floor under her desk and it was full of scattered, little, pink paper spitballs, obviously from Sakura, and his respect for the pink kunoichi fell even further. ' Spitballs? Pff, sheesh, like she could fall any further. What did Hinata do anyway? Girls fight for the dummest reasons, with equally immature ways of solving them.' Out of nowhere, Naruto waved a hand in front of Sasuke's face, "Helloooo? Is anybody home? Sasuke, are you there?" Sasuke then quick-snapped out of his unknown trance and shook his head. "Haha!! what were you staring at?! You looked worried or somethin!! And then you turned to Sakura and put on this angry face, looking like you wanted to eat her!! But..it was weird. At first, when I saw you worried, it looked like you were staring at...Hinata--" , Just as soon as Naruto said her name, Sasuke replied with a simple but effective,

"Shut up."

"Okay, chunin, can anyone tell me what the main strategy for measuring chakra is? ...Anyone?" Iruka realeased a sigh and ended up dismissing the chunin early, mumbling something about why he even bothered. Sasuke was the last to get out, still packing up the rest of his papers that always seem to spread themselves out whenever he was rushed or ready to go. But it was okay, at least he could get some peace and quiet walking home.

' Well, better get packing. Damn, I hate valentines day..' He walked out the door and shut it loosely, leaving it open just enough for an exhausted Iruka to slug through.

He hadnt taken notice to how late it was until he had walked a couple feet from the Academy, the sky was painted a soft cobalt and the stars were beginning to shine. ' By my guess, it's probably already eight-thirty. I'm taking the short cut tonight.' Sasuke cut through the forest, taking careful steps as not to let anyone know he wasn't home so there wouldn't be the slightest chance of his plans being ruined. Scaring a cricket here and there, Sasuke kept on. But he stopped when he heard nerby voices. He could see them through the trees, two people, one of them...pink-haired, but he couldnt make out the other. Sasuke jumped into a tree and hopped from branch to branch until he got close enough to where he could hear what the two were saying...or screaming. He caught Sakura in the middle of her sentence,

"--trying to pull?! I saw you two last night!! You looked pretty comfortable, holding his hand like that!!!"

"But Sakura-chan--"

"Dont -But Sakura-chan!- me!!!"

"But I-I--!!"

"I would have expected something this from Ino, but not from YOU, HINATA!!!"

"H-he was just...walking me home. I-I-I wasnt trying to--!!" Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"That's bull, Hinata!!! No one hold Sasuke's hand JUST BECAUSE he's walking them home. You know full well you enjoyed every second of it!! And you know what else?! You don't have to keep hiding your little secret anymore. You can stop hiding behind Naruto and finally admit you like Sasuke! I mean, what was I thinking believing you?! Who in their right minds would like Naruto?!! He's a stupid, obnoxious, ugh!! IDIOTIC LITTLE BASTARD!! I—!!"

Hinata, tears welling, blew up at Sakura.

"NO!!! Y-YOU'RE WRONG!!! NARUTO'S NOT AN IDIOT!! A-AND HE'S NOT ANY OF THOSE OTHER THINGS EITHER!!! He's kind and sweet, and confident and strong--A-AND HE DOESNT YELL AT PEOPLE WHEN THEY'VE DONE N-NOTHING WRONG!!!"

She couldnt stop the tears now, they were cascading from her eyes like never before. Hiding her face in her hands, she sobbed even harder. Sasuke had never seen her yell at anyone before, he'd never seen her so strong. His heart leaped. And seeing a once bold Hinata cry, he knew it must have taken a lot of her strength to stand up to Sakura like that. And before he knew it, he found himself standing on the ground in front of the crying girl ready to defend her.

Sasuke walked up dangerously close to the pink-haired kunoichi, glaring her down with dead-shot eyes, so ready to strike it wasnt even funny. Though, she started talking in a strangely casual voice, "Sasuke, hey what a suprise! What are you doing out here so late?!" Sasuke's appearance had changed just as much as snow fell in summer, "Shut up." He sputtered sternly. Sakura flinched back,"-and leave Hinata alone, I walked her home last night, so what? Not like it's any of your business. But I had to drag her home because she wouldn't just let me walk her there…it was almost midnight, too late for anyone to be out alone. And if she really liked me, if you truly believed she liked me, do you think she would spend so much time yelling at you about why you shouldn't call NARUTO all those names? She didnt even stop to deny she liked me. No, all she thought about was Naruto. THINK ABOUT IT, SAKURA, before you do something stupid like this ever again."

After holding back from choking her, he coldly turned his back to Sakura and looked over to Hinata with soft eyes. An eternity of a second passed as the wind blew through the trees, letting Hinata take in his gaze, then looking at him as if to take her away. And, as if reading some glint in her eyes, Sasuke took Hinata by the hand and pulled her into the forest. But this time, she didnt stumble, or take time to ask him what he was doing, she didn't need to. She was going home...with Sasuke beside her..keeping her strong.
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Sasuke and Hinata are working on the story, both writing on the same paper at the same time

Hinata: ooh! How about in this scene we...whispers to Sasuke
Sasuke: Yeah, yeah, but what about when I--whispers to Hinata
They both start laughing
Hinata: YEAH!! I like that idea!! WRITE IT DOWN!!!!
Naruto: uuhhh..wow Hinata, you're really getting into this story arent you?
Hinata: yeah yeah, hey Naruto could you bring me and Sasuke-kun some more pencils?
Naruto: Alright, just dont get too into this. I'm still here you know hugs Hinata and snuggles her cheek
Hinata: yeah, I know! pushes Naruto away and wipes her cheek Could you just go already?!
Naruto: I...I love you :)
Hinata: U-huh, okay.waves at him to go away
Naruto: WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO ME??!! runs away crying
Sakura: It's okay, Naruto..puts her arm around a crying Naruto, walking him to get some hot cocoa
Naruto: I just...dont understand...sniffles and cries some more
kacey9tails: I know you Naruhina fans probably hate me by now, so I'm sorry. But don't worry, NARUHINA will PREVAIL!! anyway, remember, reviews are like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. at 55mph, and the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at the speed of 35mph. But…not as confusing…or math related.
Please review!!!!