Author's Note: So, I deleted a lot of the original content and integrated part of a scene from Light, and part of a scene from a deleted one-shot, then added a little (because the original version of this chapter was pretty bad). But I retained the general theme of the previous version. Some of the next few chapters are going to have a lot of new content, as the originals were very poorly written.

Have you seen them?"

"Them?"

"I saw them kissing."

"Not my Sasuke-kun!"

"She's too good for him! She's so adorable – and heir to Hyuuga. He's just a stupid traitor."

"He's too good for her. He's a gorgeous genius and she's just a black sheep."

"Why don't you two just admit it…"

"Nani?"

"They make a decent couple."

There were rumors abound, and quickly spreading throughout the village.

"You carry sake in your canteen!?" Lee's shocked exclamation was so loud that many heads darted their way.

"Lee...shut up," murmured Neji, his hand traveling to the back of his teammate's neck. Lee groaned in pleasure, thinking Neji was so kind as to give him a massage. Just before Neji could reach the appropriate pressure point to knock Lee unconscious against the bar, two audacious hands covered his eyes.

"Tenten," Neji said patiently. "That trick will not, and will never work on me. How drunk are you?"

Tenten simply giggled and plopped herself into his lap. She began to nibble his ear, to Neji's alarm. "Tenten!" he shouted. "You're making me spill my drink."

"You know, I saw your cousin and Sasuke-kun making out by the training grounds the other day," she told him, drunkenly. She licked his cheek, causing him to violently twitch. "Aren't you happy for them? They make such a cute couple."

"Go home," Sasuke ordered her. It was early; hours to sunrise. "Before I don't let you," he added nonchalantly, biting his toast as she blushed from the corner of his eye.

Again dressed in one of the Uchiha's old outfits, Hinata hurried back to the Hyuuga house, holding up her pants, and sneaking inside through her bedroom window. She still had some residual pain in her back, but her limbs had loosened up, and she felt a lot better.

She stalked to her bed and collapsed upon it, thinking of what Sasuke had told her the night before; wondering if it hadn't just been a dream.

That afternoon, Kiba put in his best effort to get along with Hinata's boyfriend. He even went over to Kakashi's house and offered to escort Sasuke for the day. The Uchiha agreed to go along with Kiba for "errands."

"-and we just come here to discuss missions and stuff," Kiba was explaining as he and Sasuke entered a room, clad only in towels.

…it was a bathhouse.

"Right," said Sasuke tersely. He refrained from mentioning he found the entire scenario to be rather strange.

He gazed down into the pool, and watched as Kankuro and Lee wrestled with each other, as Neji shampooed his hair, and as Chouji made himself some purple beverage in a little plastic baggy. Shikamaru floated about face down (...dead?), and Shino brooded in a wet lonely corner.

At Kiba and Sasuke's entrance, everyone eyed Sasuke warily. The silence was deafening, at least until Chouji began to loudly choke on his soapy juice drink.

"What are you doing here, Uchiha?" said Neji threateningly.

"Blurgle," Rock Lee agreed, his head submerged, and the water distorting his (racy) remarks.

Sasuke grit his teeth and glared down at them. He threw off his towel, as if to make a statement. Everyone gaped in wonder, except for Chouji, who was not impressed.

"Bathing," Sasuke abruptly cut off the show as he lowered himself into the water. He made sure to keep his distance from everyone – especially Kankuro.

"It's all right guys, he's with me," Kiba mentioned reluctantly, hopping into the pool.

And so, the "mission discussing" commenced.

"Is that a real tattoo?"

"How do you get your hair so long and silky?"

Giggle. "Stop tickling me!"

"Will you scrub my back?"

"Sure thing, pal."

"Ohhh, yessss, yesss, GIVE IT TO ME!"

Feeling paranoid, Sasuke kept mostly to himself, the only thing keeping him in the pool being that there were several ANBU wandering about who would be likely to stop him were he to attempt to leave the building without a shinobi escort. As he backed himself behind a friendly-looking bolder, he noticed Neji on the other side.

"A word?" said the Hyuuga neutrally.

Sasuke began to wade away, regretting that he couldn't use either of his elements in water. He knew that one water jutsu from the day before, but that was just because of his proneness to drowning. "I think I dropped my soap-" Sasuke was cut off as the Hyuuga grabbed a chunk of his hair. Writhing and splashing ensued.

As Neji attempted to drown Sasuke, the other boys gathered 'round, cheering for one or the other.

"Go Neji!" cried Lee.

"Kill him!" screamed Kiba passionately. "Kill him once and for all!"

When Hinata met up with Sasuke by the hospital that evening, he seemed rather…damp.

"Hi," she said meekly.

"Hn," Sasuke responded, seeming unenthusiastic about seeing her.

Hinata frowned to herself as she followed Sasuke inside. The two headed to his teammates' hospital room and walked in, where they saw that both Naruto and Sakura were sitting up, laughing and gesturing to each other from the distance between their beds. They paused, and looked up at seeing Sasuke and Hinata.

"We heard you were awake," said Sasuke, as he approached Sakura's bed.

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled. "Awake, but not much. The nurses barely let me out of bed."

"I can take you for a walk around the hospital," Hinata offered.

Sakura's eyes widened at this. "Really? Would you?"

"Of course," said Hinata. If she made her best effort to befriend Sasuke's teammates, maybe he would return the favor with poor Kiba, and Shino-kun.

She went over to Sakura, and helped her out of bed. The other kunoichi leaned heavily on her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They slowly made their way out of the room, Sakura forcing her legs to heed her.

"Hinata?" Sakura said, through her effort of walking down the hallway.

"Un?"

"I didn't – know you and Sasuke-kun were – together. If I had, I would never have kissed him!"

Hinata blinked at this revelation. She pressed her lips, feeling herself redden, but this had nothing to do with embarrassment. She looked away from Sakura as she continued.

"I'm – so sorry. I just think we can be – good – good friends, right?"

"You're losing your breath," said Hinata patiently. "Let me…let me t-take you back to your room." Hinata continued to gaze ahead and not at the pink-haired girl.

She saw Sakura frown and nod from the corner of her eye, and the two of them made their way back to the hospital room together. When they got there, Sasuke and Naruto looked as though they'd already had enough of each other. Hinata helped Sakura into her bed.

"Ready?" said Sasuke, not bothering to wait for Hinata to respond as he walked out of the room.

Hinata hesitated, but followed. After the door had closed securely behind her, she inquired, "You k-kissed Sakura-san?" She walked alongside Sasuke toward the hospital's exit.

He glanced back at her. "Aa."

"Why?"

"Because she let me."

Hinata's face burned more. He didn't even seem to care. Was this an act of spite towards her for not having sex with him? And if he had kissed Sakura-san, did it mean he was kissing other girls? Doing things other than kissing? Hinata began to stalk off in the opposite direction, but Sasuke caught her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"Do you love me?" She didn't know why she blurted it out. It had nothing to do with the matter at hand, and yet it seemed the most relevant thing in the world. Maybe this wasn't about Sakura, or anything else. Maybe it was about her desperation for him to reciprocate the one thing he had not been able to tell her.

She looked up at him with her desperate, tear-filled eyes.

"No," said Sasuke, and it was like he cut her line of oxygen. She looked down, regretting as her tears spilled from her eyes. She should have been prepared for this.

When Sasuke wrapped his arms around her, Hinata resisted. As usual, he was nursing her wounds just to tear them open again. Their relationship had been one brutal torture.

"I'm lacking in so many ways."

Hinata pushed him away from her. Sasuke complied to step back, regarding her with the same air of apathy.

"Wh-what you said-" Hinata managed. She sniffed. "L-last night."

"What did I say?" he asked.

Hinata closed her eyes, hiding them behind her sleeve. You said you wanted to marry me, she thought, but refused to voice it. She turned and stormed off, promising herself to never be deceived by the Uchiha again.