Chapter Twelve

First thing Monday morning found an interesting new development. Naruto skidded into the classroom just barely on time. His tie was askew and he was holding toast he'd snatched from the cafeteria in his hand. It had obviously been a rough morning. At the very least, the teacher wasn't there yet. Sighing in relief, Naruto ran a hand through his hair, adjusted his bag and began walking towards his seat near the back.

A few steps in. Back up. Rewind. What was that?

A quite.. intriguing sight met Naruto's eyes. Sitting in the front row of class was Sasuke. Who usually sat in the back with Naruto. But perhaps more importantly, Hinata was there too. Where she usually sat. And they were.. conversing. Naruto tilted his head to the side and blinked. Because he was fairly sure they hated each other. Or rather, Sasuke was not fond of Hinata. Whenever Sasuke had taken to invading his personal space at lunch it was to squeeze himself between Naruto and Hinata, cutting off all Naruto's contact with the girl. Suffice to say, the message was loud and clear.

So... why?

And was that a smile?

Naruto sort of gaped and dropped his bag on the ground as he watched their interaction, morbidly fascinated. If he was planning something! Naruto would take care of it.

"Stop gaping like an idiot," Sasuke's curt voice cut through his inner confusion.

Jerking his head up, Naruto adopted a petulant look. "I wasn't gaping," He spat and picked up his bag, stalking towards the back of the classroom.

What did he care if Sasuke sat at the front and talked to Hinata with more expression than he'd ever used on Naruto through their whole of their difficult and trying and basically awful friendship? Not at all. That was how much he cared! In fact! Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke's back. Good riddance. But how was he supposed to save Hinata? She was blushing! And they were awfully close!

Grumbling to himself, Naruto crumpled up a piece of paper and tried to throw it at Sasuke's head.

...Only to have it bounce of Sakura instead.

Ducking, Naruto flushed bright red and pretended to be getting something from his bag. No one had noticed that right? When he finally deemed it safe to look around again, Sakura was looking disgruntled. But Sasuke was staring right at him, a smirk on his face. A smirk! And not a smile. Oh, no. Not like he'd smiled at Hinata.

Wait a moment.

Naruto's mouth opened widely as Sasuke slowly turned back to his conversation partner. Because now he understood! Everything was perfectly clear. How could he have not seen it before? All the intimidation, the attempt at friendliness, the anger, the separation, the woe. It was all for a very simple and easily explainable reason. Naruto was actually quite proud of himself for coming up with it. Really, it was particularly amazing, and he'd couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. It kind of made him feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. To think Sasuke had any sort of feelings at all...

Obviously, Naruto was going to have to treat this new situation delicately. Now that he understood and he knew what was going on. Of course, he was a little confused, but he was willing to make it work. Naruto wanted Sasuke to be happy, after all! It was an odd feeling, where that had come from. But Naruto cared about his friends, so he wasn't too concerned. He just wanted to do everything in his power for the black haired boy.

Smiling to himself, Naruto began drafting out a plan in his notebook, completely ignoring the lesson that was now underway.

Because what Naruto had realized, was that Sasuke liked Hinata.

"Have you ever tried to get anyone together?" Naruto asked, slouching in an armchair in the lounge. There weren't too many people here. It was a Monday. There was homework to be done. Naruto, of course, was ignoring his.

"No," Kiba scoffed, throwing Naruto a look like the boy was crazy.

Rolling her eyes, Temari aimed a smack at Kiba's head. "That's because no one would ever listen to your advice, moron," Temari said scathingly before turning her attention to Naruto. "Who are you trying to get together?"

"Oh," Naruto paused. Should he share? Technically, he had two different couples he needed to help out. Because otherwise how were they supposed to realize their love for one another? "You're not going to tell, are you?" Naruto asked, peering around.

"Of course not," Temari said, giving Kiba a significant look.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba waved his hand, flipping open a magazine. He was bored with the conversation already.

No one else was really within hearing range, so Naruto figured he could talk to Temari about it. It might be easier with a girl, after all. They could work together. And she was nice. Shrugging, Naruto hopped off his chair and sat next to her on the couch so they could scheme together.

Tuesday morning went quite similarly to Monday morning. Except, Naruto had made it to breakfast on time. He'd set his alarm extra early. There were things to be done, after all! Like make sure everyone sat according to the arranged seats he'd given them the night before. Well, except for the involved parties, after all.

It would have gone so swimmingly. If only Sasuke had shown up...

But now, Naruto was running to class again, having gone back to his room because he'd forgotten his bag. And his tie was askew again. When he walked into the classroom, Naruto was ready for the sight that awaited him. It was wonderful, fabulous, completely according to plan. He grinned as he walked by Sasuke talking to Hinata.

That is, he would have walked by if a hand hadn't snatched his wrist. "Come here, idiot," Sasuke's voice was quieter than usual as he yanked Naruto towards his desk. "When are you going to learn to do this yourself?" He questioned.

Naruto just fidgeted. This was not according to plan. Sasuke's fingers kept tickling his neck. "Why should I learn when you just do it for me," Naruto shot back, looking quite proud of himself. Glancing at Hinata, who was watching them interact, Naruto grinned at her. "Hey," He greeted.

She smiled, blushed and didn't say anything as she looked down at her desk. Naruto was too busy watching her to notice the change in Sasuke's eyes. He did, however, notice the jerk on his tie, tugging his whole body downwards, lest he choke.

Now that Naruto was staring straight into Sasuke's black eyes, he swallowed nervously. "Sasuke," He started to say, but cut off.

"All set," Sasuke's breath whispered across his face as Naruto was released from his grip.

Straightening himself out, Naruto shot a poorly conceived glare at Sasuke. "Bastard," He mumbled before walking back to his seat. And no, he didn't miss the way Sasuke immediately turned to Hinata to talk to her. This time, though, he wasn't quite as happy about it as before.

The rest of the week was surprisingly uneventful. Naruto was beginning to suspect that Sasuke was avoiding him. Apart from every morning when Sasuke fixed his tie. Other than that though, Sasuke was usually whisking Hinata away somewhere. Naruto didn't even get to speak to her. They sat alone together at lunch. They sat together in class. Naruto even suspected they studied together.

"Maybe they don't need our help," Naruto twirled his fork in his fingers, staring at the couples back during lunch on Friday.

Temari kicked him under the table. "You're hopeless," She muttered.

Naruto frowned and dropped his fork to look at her. "What?" He asked.

She shook her head and shot him a pointed look.

"You two would make a good couple," Kiba grinned at them from across the table. "You have your own language and everything," He barked a laugh.

This made Gaara raise his head. "No, Naruto," He said, before returning to staring out the window, the things on his plate untouched.

Scoffing, Naruto reached out and stole Gaara's dessert. "No offense, love," Naruto said to Temari before glaring at Gaara. "But I don't want to date your sister."

Temari smirked. "Oh, but why not?" She leaned close to him, pressing herself against his side.

Naruto squirmed and got out from under her. "You'll give me cooties like that," Naruto said, laughing as he acted childishly.

Having looked up to see what the fuss was, Shikamaru just shook his head and laid back down to sleep. Temari blushed.

Naruto grinned. Matchmaking was fun.

"I don't know why you want to get them together," Sakura spoke, picking at her salad. After about a day, it had come out about Naruto's intentions towards Sasuke and Hinata. "They don't really fit together." And now everyone was involved in the plan. At least no one else knew about his other couple he had in mind.

Eyeing Sakura, Naruto smiled. "And who do you fit with?"

Naruto could have sworn her cheeks got a little pink. "I don't fit with anyone!" She said vehemently. Naruto snickered. Gaara looked away from the window back to the table. Sakura definitely blushed. Temari narrowed her eyes. Kiba ate. Shikamaru slept.

"'Course not," Naruto shrugged and hopped up. "But if those two don't fit together, I want to know what they're talking about," He said, before stalking towards the pair sitting together.

Acting quite nonchalant about the whole thing, Naruto casually strolled over once he got closer and casually sat down, casually leaning his elbow on the table, casually glancing at the pair of them, casually acting surprised to see them there. "Oh, hey," Naruto grinned, looking quite mischievous despite himself.

"H-hi," Hinata stuttered, seeming to shrink in upon herself.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, imperceptibly moving away from Hinata. "Naruto," His voice sounded far too much like a caress. "What can we do for you?" Sasuke asked.

Shrugging, Naruto just kept grinning. "Nothing."

"Then leave," Sasuke said abruptly leaning back. He didn't bother to look at Naruto again.

Hinata looked like she wanted to say something, but Sasuke laying his hand on the table in front of him paused her speech. She shrunk even further away from both of them.

The whole interaction made Naruto uneasy. Sure, Sasuke was a bastard to him. Naruto got that. But that was because Naruto was also a boy. Sasuke shouldn't be treating Hinata like that! Especially if he fancied her. Which Naruto wasn't completely convinced he didn't. Look how they acted! Completely inseparable for a whole week. That was not the behavior of casual acquaintances.

"Are you dating?" Naruto blurted out, unsure if he could really contain himself anymore.

Hinata immediately blushed a dark red and tried to speak but nothing came out.

As for Sasuke, his smirk only grew. Training his gaze on Naruto, Sasuke's arm slowly descended around Hinata's shoulder, pulling her close. "Why is it that you would like to know, Naruto?" Sasuke asked calmly.

Looking extremely uncomfortable, Naruto rose to his feet. "I was just curious. You can.. you can both date whoever you like," Naruto forced himself to smile and look nonchalant.

Really, he'd been so excited. Naruto was ecstatic to learn that Sasuke had feelings for someone. Perhaps he was a little disappointed to discover who, since he really enjoyed Hinata's company as well. But... He had been willing to sacrifice his own happiness to see Sasuke happy. Surely! That's what friends did. Even friends who had a twisted form of friendship wherein one of them was prone to -

Hey!

Naruto blinked. Stopped. Came to a halt. Turned around.

"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto yelled just before he punched Sasuke in the face. It landed quite nicely on his jaw, causing the other boy to jerk around awkwardly.

Cradling his fist to his chest, Naruto glared at Sasuke, gaze Hinata an apologetic look before stalking away. "I hope you two are blissfully happy together!" Naruto called across the whole cafeteria. Just so that everyone could know what was going on between them. And that Sasuke was a bastard.

Not that Naruto particularly knew why he had had to punch Sasuke. It was a bit confusing in his mind at the moment. Thinking about them as a couple. It sort of made Naruto's insides twist up in complete and utter confusion. That is, the confusion of a completely straight and normal teenage boy. And nothing else. At all. Whatsoever.

Thanks for Reading and Reviewing! They mean a lot to me, and I hope to have all your questions answered as the story unfolds, I promise.