Disclaimer: I still don't own

Please don't kill me! I know this excuse is old, but my laptop got another virus coz um, apparently SOMEONE coughbrothercough had been surfing through porn…again. Hence the late update. Other than that, I got a little sidetracked ehehe ;

firewindgurl– glad you think so. :)

Scented Candles – here it is after the long, long, long,…long wait. I hope it makes up for it.

deadgalwalking – I think I was inspired when I wrote the first chapter ;P

Hokai Amplifier – finally did, I'm relieved you didn't find the last chapter too boring.

Nioma Maxwell – Sasuke will reveal his true identity in this chapter. And you're right, he must be the farthest from Hinata's mind

mya – I'll try to make Sasuke more in character. Now that he isn't posing as Naruto, I think it'll be easier for me. XD

lesha – I am too :), maybe that's why i like writing about hinata. and sorry for the late update

insanely-normal – I'm so happy I finally got to post, so here it is.

-o-Identity-o-

Looking through the window, one wouldn't expect to see odd things. Odd things being, an apathetic Naruto with arms crossed defensively, and there wasn't any hint of his grin. He was still waiting patiently even after five minutes had passed since he had asked for her. It certainly cleared all the doubts of her suspicion, but now, she was frozen in terror by the window, finding it hard to tear her eyes away from him. Hinata had already been dressed in her lavender kimono since his arrival but she was still torn between going out and staying in.

'Face your fears.' She told herself, willing her body to take action. After several more minutes of indecision, she finally managed to appear outside the mansion's gates.

Sasuke saw her delay as a girl thing and ignored it, forcing the fox grin on. He extended an arm to her.

"Let's go!" Hinata heard him announce loudly. Now, examining his actions attentively, Hinata realized that it was forced enthusiasm.

She wrung the fingers of her right hand nervously while they strode, moving onto her left, then her right, then her left—

Hinata suddenly stopped and Sasuke was forced to do so as well, puzzled. He was expecting her to say something but after an extended amount of silence, his patience ran thin.

"…Hinata?"

The floor seemed more interesting for the Hyuuga at that moment. Hinata gulped before painfully forcing her eyes to meet his and started softly.

"…I know you aren't N-Naruto-kun."

He didn't show any indication whether he was surprised or not. Instead, the fox-smile remained frozen in Naruto's face. There was another lapse of tense silence wherein Hinata stood, watching his movements nervously. Still, she was caught completely off guard when the grin dropped entirely and the left corner of his lips tugged into a smirk.

"I'm not." He confirmed flatly, deciding to drop the whole Naruto act.

Sweat trickled down Hinata's forehead; she didn't notice her hands visibly shaking. "…W-who are you?"

Sasuke took this chance to weigh out the pros and cons of revealing himself right now, but Hinata took his silence negatively.

"I-If you're after my bloodline, I-I…I won't let you." Hinata jumped backwards to create a distance between them as she unsheathed a kunai, taking a tense stance of the gentle fist.

"I'm not." He scoffed and crossed his arms. "I haven't tried anything last time, did I?"

Hinata still looked dubious, progressively more questions were flooding into her mind. "…T-then why did you pose as N-naruto-kun?" she asked.

Sasuke smirked. The answer to that was easy.

"I wanted to," He paused, realizing that he actually didn't know the reason himself. Was it to make friends? Pursue her? No, he was just…curious. But why did he go to this extent? Observing her would be sufficient to satisfy his curiosity.

Hinata grew more and more anxious as his mental turmoil went on.

Sasuke was clenching and unclenching his fist sporadically. At about this point, the Uchiha was getting highly frustrated as he was always aware of his intentions and more often than not, he didn't like it when he wasn't in control of the situation. This talk was pointless.

"Forget it." He bit out finally, forming a hand seal for a quick escape.

The rush of pressure was unexpected, seconds later, Sasuke found himself pinned to a wall. He had under-estimated her completely, it was just too bad he only realized it now. Hinata appeared a few steps away from him, barely holding onto her offensive position; she was trembling so badly it looked like she would break down anytime. "W-w-who are you?"

An easy escape would've been just a snap but his pride suddenly kicked in, dictating he had to go through with the original plan if he didn't want to count failure. He would figure a way to work this to his advantage. With a plan in mind, Sasuke placed his confusions aside for the moment, and gave her a piercingly smug look.

"…I'll show you after we go to the festival."

-o-O-o-

Lights poured from every stall andthe banners fluttered as they arrived. Noise was already existent in every corner and many genins ran around the entrance.

Sasuke was a little relieved now that he didn't have to act like Naruto. His cheeks were already hurting from grinning too much and who knew how much of an idiot he looked when he tried acting hyper. Whereas Hinata had been quite agitated since they arrived at the square.

The Hyuuga had only eased up a bit after visiting several booths. She had become quite assured that he wasn't going to try anything with a hundred or so ninjas crowded within the same perimeter.

She followed beside him, already beginning to enjoy herself while he led her from booth to booth, looking at wares and trying out games. They went to a gaudily decorated place next, featuring kingyo sukui, after exploring most of the other areas.

Hinata didn't think he'd be succesful at first, seeing as how the owner was confident that very few would succeed. But he caught 2 goldfishes on his first try; using the brittle paper scoops with such skill and accuracy that Hinata had to admit that she herself was a little impressed. After winning enough rounds for the more expensive prizes, she found it unusual when he didn't bother to ask what prize she wanted, he picked it himself.

Sasuke leaned over her to retrieve the prize, long enough for Hinata to catch a whiff of him which strangely enough, was something vaguely familiar, mixed with his own distinct masculine scent. It didn't occur to her that she had zoned out until a charm bangle was shoved into her hands.

She flushed horribly when she realized what she had just been thinking about. It was a good thing he didn't notice.

Hinata looked down and felt her heart flutter as she glanced upon the trinket he gave her. She couldn't help but smile a bit while she wore it on. Its silver matched her eyes.

"Thanks." She told Sasuke shyly.

The Uchiha returned a nod of acknowledgement, feeling a bit pleased.

He led her onto the kunai throwing contest next. They both participated, but Sasuke easily surpassed all the other contestants, hitting perfect bull's-eyes on the complicated and moving targets without much effort. Almost as if he was born a genius.

Gathered based on observation, Hinata would say the closest possibility to whom the unknown ninja was would be Neji. But not only would that be impossible, but also a bit…disturbing. Neji and this person's personality didn't seem to match entirely as well.

After no doubt winning the match, he unconsciously threw in a smug look after which Hinata had a fleeting feeling of déjà vu. Sasuke caught her staring and she snapped her view somewhere else, feeling her face grow hot. It just seemed so familiar…

"U-um, are you s-someone I know?" Hinata ducked her head in order to hide her blush.

"Not really." He answered cryptically, remembering her words from their dinner before.

Hinata fell silent and pondered over this a bit.

After basking comfortably in silence, Hinata's stomach chose the worst time to grumble loudly. The Hyuuga turned ten shades of red in embarrassment. "S-sorry…I, um…""

Sasuke did little to hide his amusement; a blatant smirk was on his face. "You should have said so if you were hungry."

Sasuke took hold of her wrist and led her to one of the food stands.

He ordered some riceballs while she chose from the variety of pastries, searching then settling for a cinnamon roll. They sauntered around the shadier parts awhile, where the trees were rustling and the wind blew at their faces and the people's voices were just a murmur from the distance. Hinata had little trouble picking a secluded bench hence after settling down with Sasuke to eat.

The night sky was just getting darker and the food disappearing into their stomachs when Hinata realized that there wasn't anything much left for them to do. It was quite a queer feeling when you could hear your heart hammering in your ears and you're suddenly nervous while feeling happy and at peace. Hinata was growing anxious on who 'Naruto' would turn out to be but 'he' didn't seem to be worried or excited about it, in fact, she felt no emotion at all, just a cool, calm and collected aura emanating. Still, even if she wasn't sure if he was a threat or not, she had unconsciously let her guard down the whole night as she felt strangely safe around him.

Hinata's heart almost jumped out of her throat when Sasuke suddenly moved from his position and stood up. She was quick to follow.

"O-our deal…"

He nodded, and gave her one last smirk that told her that he wasn't about to forget.

There were hand seals, smoke, and the altering of bright orange to deep blue and then, Hinata saw a pair of striking black eyes.

Her eyes widened. Intuition had told her that it would turn out to be someone she had heard of. But never in hell did she envision him. She wouldn't be that shocked if it was Shino or even Chouji for that matter, but Uchiha Sasuke was completely at another level.

"Ja, Hinata-chan."

She could feel her pulse quickening and the blood of her whole system rushing to her face as he gave her an I'm-out-to-get-you-so-be-ready look before disappearing in a flash of smoke.

Hinata wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but it had far too many implications that were enough to send her hyperventilating.

-o-O-o-

kingyo sukui – means 'scooping the goldfish' It's a traditional childhood game in Japan where you scoop goldfish out of a tank using a net or paper scoops (which are more challenging) I'm sure you've heard of it :)

I think there was an overuse of the word smirk in this chapter. ; I'm trying writing the 6th chapter asap so the update won't be that late, I just hope I can post it by next week.

Oh btw, feedback is always very much appreciated. ;) ;) ;)