No, the chapter doesn't mean Naruto has spent years with Hinata... it means... well, you'll understand when you get to the part about Sasuke and the picture frame.
Chapter Title: 48. Years Gone By
Naruto and Hinata were cute together. They took walks in the park, sat and watched the sun set, and Naruto even picked her daisies one day. And they talked every chance they got. To Naruto it seemed as though nothing had changed between them except that they were closer friends than before. He really enjoyed having someone else he could talk to about the little things that bugged him daily.
"He's been bugging me for his shirt back for almost a week now." He grumbled, stirring the noodles in his bowl listlessly.
"The shirt was Sasuke's?" Hinata asked quietly, troubled by her date's despondency that night.
"Yeah, I borrowed a shirt from him, but I didn't know it wouldn't like ramen stains as much as I do." He sighed and looked up to the girl beside him. "And now he suspects I did something to it. If he'd told me it was special or something I might not have taken it." Hinata giggled from behind her hand.
"Of course you would've." She replied. "You would have done it just to upset him." Naruto looked at her for a moment, playing the scenario out in his head before smiling and nodding in agreement.
"I suppose." After that, the couple's mood picked up a little bit, but Hinata could tell that her date's mind was still on Sasuke and his shirt problems.
(star)(star)(star)
Later on in the evening found Naruto waiting for any sign of movement out of his partner. He and Sasuke had taken to sparring in the dead of night to make sure they were ready for another violent raid. So far there had only been a few other injuries, no deaths, as the attackers had been met with the more elite shinobi of the village.
"You think that you'll be able to anticipate my attack like that, dobe?" Sasuke's voice echoed through the forest, causing the blonde to growl under his breath. To prove his point, he threw a kunai just left of his rival's head, slicing off a couple of hairs.
"Asshole!" Naruto screeched in shock. "That was close!"
"And you think your enemies are going to miss like I did. Purposely." He smirked to himself, keeping hidden in the canopy of darkened leaves, his Sharingan wheel glowing faintly in the foliage. Naruto looked through the trees, trying to spot Sasuke through the leaves, and continued walking, in the direction of the voice. He didn't seem fazed at all by the jab in Sasuke's words.
Sasuke shook his head, bemusedly and decided to follow his friend deeper into the forest. Within seconds he found himself frowning when he realised he'd lost sight of the blonde momentarily, but a flash of orange, slightly ahead of him, reassured him of his target. Naruto stopped and looked into the trees again, nodding.
"You think you're so smart, jerk." He exclaimed, closing his eyes and raising his arms, palms up. Sasuke was caught off guard by the sight of his rival in such a vulnerable position and decided to teach him to think before he acted. "Just watch this new jutsu!"
He hopped from branch to branch, as silent as the wind, before throwing a handful of shuriken stars at the still blond boy. Naruto's ears twitched at some invisible sound and he looked straight at Sasuke, disappearing in a cloud of smoke seconds before the shuriken would have found their mark.
"You gave away your position." The real Naruto snickered, holding onto Sasuke's shoulders tightly with one arm, a kunai pressed to the young man's throat in his other hand. "I'll bet you thought I was being stupid." He smirked, watching the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck tense and bristle as his warm breath whispered across the sensitive skin.
"How'd you do it?" Sasuke asked softly, shoving the rest of his weapons into their holsters and conceding defeat. "I was watching you the whole time." Naruto snickered.
"True, but that last throw made you cocky. When I disappeared out of your sight for a couple of seconds, you didn't think anything of it, did you?" He laughed quietly and leaned his chin on Sasuke's shoulder, relaxing his grip on the weapon. "There used to be a time where I would do something stupid in a sparring match with you and end up nearly breaking my neck to avoid my own mistakes. I never thought I would see the day that I would best Sasuke in sparring." He felt Sasuke's back shudder with suppressed chuckles, his chin bouncing with the movements.
"I'd only lose to you, dobe." He whispered back, still well aware of the possibility of watching eyes, however unlikely. "So what are you up to the day after tomorrow? You want to meet me again after our patrol and have some dinner before another match. I will make sure this doesn't happen again." He grinned, even though Naruto was behind him and probably couldn't see it. He didn't bother asking Naruto about tomorrow, knowing the boy already had plans.
"Ah, gomen nasai, Sasuke, I've got a date with Hinata then." The blonde chuckled and let go of Sasuke, putting the kunai in a safe place on his belt. "She told me she wanted to see the old police building. Said something about never seeing the crumbling place before. I was going to take her around that area tomorrow and maybe take her out for some sushi or something the next day." He chuckled softly, not noticing Sasuke's suddenly tense shoulders. "I swear I'm becoming poor like this. Maybe next time I'll just try and make her something for dinner instead of always taking her out." Sasuke nodded and turned around on the branch slowly.
"So you two are serious now?" He asked tentatively. Naruto frowned at the question and shrugged.
"I suppose so." He said. "I enjoy her company so much; she's sweet, kind, attentive; but there's something that I don't feel when I give her hugs. I guess it's not a real relationship, but I've never known any different. She's treating me the way I should think to be treated, and I hate myself for saying it, but I'm not sure it's enough for me to be happy. I just don't want to disappoint her." Sasuke remained silent for a while before he cleared his throat to offer his opinion.
"This is your problem." He said, emotions hidden in the shadows. "Deal with it yourself. Just don't make any brash decisions, dobe." Naruto nodded glumly. "But don't forget that I'll always be here if things fall apart on you. I won't leave you no matter what."
"Really?" Naruto tried squinting in the darkness to see his best friend's face, but the shadows blocked everything except the glow of the still Sharingan wheel and the outline of black on black.
"Of course, dobe." Sasuke replied. "You never left me when I was caught by the darkness, why should I leave you?"
"But I'm not in danger here." Naruto retorted.
"I'm still here." There was a moment of comfortable silence before Naruto cleared his throat.
"Are we done here?" He asked softly. Sasuke nodded and waited until his friend had left before slamming his fist into the tree branch he was sitting on. He hated lying to his best friend, but how was he supposed to tell the brat something he couldn't understand himself. He frowned at the small splinters of bark still clinging to his knuckles.
No, he did understand it; he just didn't want to admit it to himself. And he wouldn't.
(Star)(star)(star)
He returned to his empty house and made his way to his bedroom, just beginning to notice the strain of fatigue pulling on the edge of his mind. He lazily pulled off his shirt and shorts, preferring to sleep in his boxers during the summer months and glanced at the over turned picture frame that was covered in dust. He hadn't really touched anything in his room for years, and that particular picture had been left undisturbed for well over five years.
He walked over and picked up the frame, studying the young forms of Team seven. He smiled to himself, tracing the outline of their faces with his finger, the digit lingering on his own face. Naruto and he wore twin looks of venom, aimed at each other and it was almost enough to make him laugh.
"My, how things change, dobe." He whispered to the small blond boy in the picture, before replacing the frame to the stand, face up.
(Star)(star)(star)
In the morning, Sasuke awoke to the news that Sakura had been put in the hospital from a raid the previous night. The jounin that told him also explained that they were minor injuries and she was being looked after by Lee. He sighed to himself and continued on through the streets to his patrol route. He'd keep an eye out for Naruto on his path and see how he was taking the news. Maybe after their shift they could go to the hospital for a quick visit. It wasn't ten minutes before he bumped into the cheerful prankster.
"Ohayo Naruto." He greeted the young man.
"Hey, Sasuke!"
"Have you heard about Sakura?"
"Yeah, Lee told me on my way home last night." Naruto looked at the ground sadly. "Me and Hinata are going to visit her after my shift, just before our date. I know what she did to me was bad, but I still love her... just not the way I thought." He grinned and looked back to Sasuke who nodded in agreement.
"I love her too."
"You do!" Sasuke frowned for a moment, wondering why the blonde was so excited, before he understood what he said. "Dobe, I love her the way you do."
"Oh." He looked crestfallen. "I just thought with the way you were always going about with your plan to restore the Uchiha clan to its former glory, I thought..." He trailed off, embarrassed. Sasuke was surprised. He'd forgotten about that for a while.
"I'm too busy to look for a girl now." He grunted uncomfortably. "We are in a war you know. When am I supposed to find the time to settle down?" Naruto chuckled and started walking off.
"Fine then, Mr. Celibate. I'll make sure you find the love of your life when we're done with this war... or when I'm Hokage, which ever comes first." He laughed to himself and waved his hand over his head, not bothering to look back.
"I thought you'd forgotten that dream!" Sasuke called out.
"I'm just taking my time!"
(Star)(Star)(Star)
"Sasuke!!" Sakura exclaimed, jumping forward in her bed to grab a hold of the young man in front of her. Sasuke and Naruto smiled at her eagerness, while Lee just shook his head bemusedly.
"They told me she's just got a broken arm and nothing more." He nodded to her cast, which was already lavishly signed by fuzzy-brows himself. Sakura nodded, holding up the hard plastered arm.
"And they forced me to stay over night in here." She explained. "My mom was in a panic when she came in to visit me this morning. Tried blaming doctors and nurses just to get me out of here. And this stupid cast is so... clunky!" She whined.
"Tsunade-baba could probably heal that for you." Naruto pointed out, finally attracting attention to himself and the petite girl on his arm. Sakura nodded thoughtfully.
"Congratulations on you and Hinata dating, you two make a really cute couple." She said and immediately went back to the young man she had her arms around. "You know, we should patrol together! It would be a lot safer for the both of us." Naruto rolled his eyes and Hinata hid her laughter behind her hand.
"You can patrol with me!" Lee interjected enthusiastically. The pink-haired kunoichi frowned on him.
"You're not even a ninja!"
"I can still patrol and do work, even if I'm not officially a ninja any more!" Lee protested. He seemed to have started growing a back bone around the girl. Sakura smiled in admiration of not only his defence, but also because of his determination. He never gave up, no matter what. A soft knock from the door announced the presence of Neji.
"Konbanwa, Sakura-chan." He nodded politely to the girl. She smiled and nodded back, taking his offering of flowers. He watched her make room for the bouquet in her water glass and turned to the other occupants of the room. "Naruto!" He exclaimed, noticing his cousin and her new boyfriend.
"Neji." Naruto said, studying his friend for a moment. "Don't tell me you of all people are going to give me the 'older brother speech'." He moaned. Sakura and Lee chuckled to themselves, but Neji nodded sternly.
"I am her older cousin and it is the branch family's duty to protect the members of the main house."
"You do remember the chuunin exam, don't you?" Naruto asked, a smirk on his face. Neji nodded.
"I remember it well. You kicked my ass into the ground for beating up on Hinata." Sasuke was the only one who looked surprised. Apparently no one had told him of his rival's matches. "And if you recall, it's in the past." He looked up to Sasuke for a moment. "We've all changed from the children we were back then. And that means that no one can break my cousin's heart without going through me." Naruto smiled and nodded, taking hold of Neji's outstretched hand.
"And we all know how many hearts I've broken already. I think you're talking to the wrong orphan; Sasuke's standing right behind you. If anyone is a heartbreaker, it's him." Sakura laughed nervously but Neji ignored the both of them. He smiled serenely at the blonde in front of him.
"I know you're not like that Naruto-kun, I trust you with my life." Naruto's facial expression brightened suddenly at those words and he jumped at the older boy in a tight bear hug.
"I trust you too, Neji-white-eyes!"
"Naruto, we should get going, now." Hinata exclaimed softly, behind the two. "Unless you wanted to skip visiting the police building and go straight to the ramen bar." Naruto was about to open his mouth to reply when they all heard a snort.
"You're taking her out to ramen, dobe?" Naruto bristled and turned to his rival.
"Yeah, so?"
"I thought even you had more class than that."
"I don't see you with any girlfriends to even take out!" He snarled in reply. "So don't even try and make fun of me, Mr. Celibate." He sneered out the nickname they'd joked about the night before. There might have been more said, but Hinata managed to pull Naruto out of the room before they could start anything that would put more of them in the hospital. But not without hearing Sasuke's voice echo out of the room.
(End of Chapter)
THERE IS A REASON (aside from the fact that he likes Naruto) THAT SASUKE IS ACTING SO RUDE TO NARUTO.
One thing I would like to point out is everyone pretty much wants Hinata to end up okay at the end of her relationship with Naruto. I found that rather amusing. Of course, I've had this whole thing planned out for a while, and you'll just have to see how the whole thing ends in the next couple of chapters. Don't worry though, I adore her.
To Ryouseiteki: No, Hinata doesn't notice the hickey at all... she just assumes it's a bruise from before. She's naïve in her own cute way.
To Falcon-Rider: Damnit... have you been reading my notes or something?! Nu... that can't be it... I know! You're reading my mind. Bah, you'll find out in the next two chapters.
To ManicReversed: Thank you very much. I know how hard it is to go through ff.n looking for a fic only to find it was never finished, or it's ended (mostly crappily too) That, and the knowledge of how frustrating it is to wait for updates, is the reason I try so hard to continue. It also helps that I haven't lost interest in Naruto yet. That's usually how I end an obsession. But Kishimoto-sempai keeps me happy, so I can keep writing.
To the La/=/er: Yeah, but I really enjoy it when you two relate so thoroughly to my story. It lets me know exactly what I did right and what I need to work on. Don't worry about the competition. If it comes, then it will. No forcing or anything. Course... I do have a feeling I know when the really big ones will come... but that's not for a little while. I kinda do something really bad to people. Anyways... back to the point. The group of them are actually around 17, with Sasuke turning 18 sometime in the VERY NEAR FUTURE (Which should explain exactly why Sasuke was so upset with Naruto going out with Hinata "the day after tomorrow" which is basically tomorrow now). I'm glad you noticed what I really meant when I said that whole 'opposites attract' thing.
To Aka: He wants to sleep with Sasuke?
To lightdragon1987: My version had Kyuubi wanting to get out, but otherwise putting up with Naruto.
To Kamikakushi: Thank you for the plushies, however I already have a pair. It's what happens when you give Nazo enough money and set her loose on an Anime Convention.
To schokokruemel: I seem to be doing that to a lot of people. I hope your schoolwork wasn't affected too much by me. I don't mind it if English isn't your first language, I was able to understand it very well, so no worries.
TO ALL: I'm glad you guys enjoyed the cookie-dough scene. Not only was it a spur of the moment thing on my part, but I was afraid it was too soon for their relationship. After going over it in my head (a million times) I realise it's the right one, and I need to add a lot more NaruSasu tension in the next chapters in order to prepare you. Heh heh... Hope you enjoyed this chappie.
Chapter Title: 48. Years Gone By
Naruto and Hinata were cute together. They took walks in the park, sat and watched the sun set, and Naruto even picked her daisies one day. And they talked every chance they got. To Naruto it seemed as though nothing had changed between them except that they were closer friends than before. He really enjoyed having someone else he could talk to about the little things that bugged him daily.
"He's been bugging me for his shirt back for almost a week now." He grumbled, stirring the noodles in his bowl listlessly.
"The shirt was Sasuke's?" Hinata asked quietly, troubled by her date's despondency that night.
"Yeah, I borrowed a shirt from him, but I didn't know it wouldn't like ramen stains as much as I do." He sighed and looked up to the girl beside him. "And now he suspects I did something to it. If he'd told me it was special or something I might not have taken it." Hinata giggled from behind her hand.
"Of course you would've." She replied. "You would have done it just to upset him." Naruto looked at her for a moment, playing the scenario out in his head before smiling and nodding in agreement.
"I suppose." After that, the couple's mood picked up a little bit, but Hinata could tell that her date's mind was still on Sasuke and his shirt problems.
(star)(star)(star)
Later on in the evening found Naruto waiting for any sign of movement out of his partner. He and Sasuke had taken to sparring in the dead of night to make sure they were ready for another violent raid. So far there had only been a few other injuries, no deaths, as the attackers had been met with the more elite shinobi of the village.
"You think that you'll be able to anticipate my attack like that, dobe?" Sasuke's voice echoed through the forest, causing the blonde to growl under his breath. To prove his point, he threw a kunai just left of his rival's head, slicing off a couple of hairs.
"Asshole!" Naruto screeched in shock. "That was close!"
"And you think your enemies are going to miss like I did. Purposely." He smirked to himself, keeping hidden in the canopy of darkened leaves, his Sharingan wheel glowing faintly in the foliage. Naruto looked through the trees, trying to spot Sasuke through the leaves, and continued walking, in the direction of the voice. He didn't seem fazed at all by the jab in Sasuke's words.
Sasuke shook his head, bemusedly and decided to follow his friend deeper into the forest. Within seconds he found himself frowning when he realised he'd lost sight of the blonde momentarily, but a flash of orange, slightly ahead of him, reassured him of his target. Naruto stopped and looked into the trees again, nodding.
"You think you're so smart, jerk." He exclaimed, closing his eyes and raising his arms, palms up. Sasuke was caught off guard by the sight of his rival in such a vulnerable position and decided to teach him to think before he acted. "Just watch this new jutsu!"
He hopped from branch to branch, as silent as the wind, before throwing a handful of shuriken stars at the still blond boy. Naruto's ears twitched at some invisible sound and he looked straight at Sasuke, disappearing in a cloud of smoke seconds before the shuriken would have found their mark.
"You gave away your position." The real Naruto snickered, holding onto Sasuke's shoulders tightly with one arm, a kunai pressed to the young man's throat in his other hand. "I'll bet you thought I was being stupid." He smirked, watching the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck tense and bristle as his warm breath whispered across the sensitive skin.
"How'd you do it?" Sasuke asked softly, shoving the rest of his weapons into their holsters and conceding defeat. "I was watching you the whole time." Naruto snickered.
"True, but that last throw made you cocky. When I disappeared out of your sight for a couple of seconds, you didn't think anything of it, did you?" He laughed quietly and leaned his chin on Sasuke's shoulder, relaxing his grip on the weapon. "There used to be a time where I would do something stupid in a sparring match with you and end up nearly breaking my neck to avoid my own mistakes. I never thought I would see the day that I would best Sasuke in sparring." He felt Sasuke's back shudder with suppressed chuckles, his chin bouncing with the movements.
"I'd only lose to you, dobe." He whispered back, still well aware of the possibility of watching eyes, however unlikely. "So what are you up to the day after tomorrow? You want to meet me again after our patrol and have some dinner before another match. I will make sure this doesn't happen again." He grinned, even though Naruto was behind him and probably couldn't see it. He didn't bother asking Naruto about tomorrow, knowing the boy already had plans.
"Ah, gomen nasai, Sasuke, I've got a date with Hinata then." The blonde chuckled and let go of Sasuke, putting the kunai in a safe place on his belt. "She told me she wanted to see the old police building. Said something about never seeing the crumbling place before. I was going to take her around that area tomorrow and maybe take her out for some sushi or something the next day." He chuckled softly, not noticing Sasuke's suddenly tense shoulders. "I swear I'm becoming poor like this. Maybe next time I'll just try and make her something for dinner instead of always taking her out." Sasuke nodded and turned around on the branch slowly.
"So you two are serious now?" He asked tentatively. Naruto frowned at the question and shrugged.
"I suppose so." He said. "I enjoy her company so much; she's sweet, kind, attentive; but there's something that I don't feel when I give her hugs. I guess it's not a real relationship, but I've never known any different. She's treating me the way I should think to be treated, and I hate myself for saying it, but I'm not sure it's enough for me to be happy. I just don't want to disappoint her." Sasuke remained silent for a while before he cleared his throat to offer his opinion.
"This is your problem." He said, emotions hidden in the shadows. "Deal with it yourself. Just don't make any brash decisions, dobe." Naruto nodded glumly. "But don't forget that I'll always be here if things fall apart on you. I won't leave you no matter what."
"Really?" Naruto tried squinting in the darkness to see his best friend's face, but the shadows blocked everything except the glow of the still Sharingan wheel and the outline of black on black.
"Of course, dobe." Sasuke replied. "You never left me when I was caught by the darkness, why should I leave you?"
"But I'm not in danger here." Naruto retorted.
"I'm still here." There was a moment of comfortable silence before Naruto cleared his throat.
"Are we done here?" He asked softly. Sasuke nodded and waited until his friend had left before slamming his fist into the tree branch he was sitting on. He hated lying to his best friend, but how was he supposed to tell the brat something he couldn't understand himself. He frowned at the small splinters of bark still clinging to his knuckles.
No, he did understand it; he just didn't want to admit it to himself. And he wouldn't.
(Star)(star)(star)
He returned to his empty house and made his way to his bedroom, just beginning to notice the strain of fatigue pulling on the edge of his mind. He lazily pulled off his shirt and shorts, preferring to sleep in his boxers during the summer months and glanced at the over turned picture frame that was covered in dust. He hadn't really touched anything in his room for years, and that particular picture had been left undisturbed for well over five years.
He walked over and picked up the frame, studying the young forms of Team seven. He smiled to himself, tracing the outline of their faces with his finger, the digit lingering on his own face. Naruto and he wore twin looks of venom, aimed at each other and it was almost enough to make him laugh.
"My, how things change, dobe." He whispered to the small blond boy in the picture, before replacing the frame to the stand, face up.
(Star)(star)(star)
In the morning, Sasuke awoke to the news that Sakura had been put in the hospital from a raid the previous night. The jounin that told him also explained that they were minor injuries and she was being looked after by Lee. He sighed to himself and continued on through the streets to his patrol route. He'd keep an eye out for Naruto on his path and see how he was taking the news. Maybe after their shift they could go to the hospital for a quick visit. It wasn't ten minutes before he bumped into the cheerful prankster.
"Ohayo Naruto." He greeted the young man.
"Hey, Sasuke!"
"Have you heard about Sakura?"
"Yeah, Lee told me on my way home last night." Naruto looked at the ground sadly. "Me and Hinata are going to visit her after my shift, just before our date. I know what she did to me was bad, but I still love her... just not the way I thought." He grinned and looked back to Sasuke who nodded in agreement.
"I love her too."
"You do!" Sasuke frowned for a moment, wondering why the blonde was so excited, before he understood what he said. "Dobe, I love her the way you do."
"Oh." He looked crestfallen. "I just thought with the way you were always going about with your plan to restore the Uchiha clan to its former glory, I thought..." He trailed off, embarrassed. Sasuke was surprised. He'd forgotten about that for a while.
"I'm too busy to look for a girl now." He grunted uncomfortably. "We are in a war you know. When am I supposed to find the time to settle down?" Naruto chuckled and started walking off.
"Fine then, Mr. Celibate. I'll make sure you find the love of your life when we're done with this war... or when I'm Hokage, which ever comes first." He laughed to himself and waved his hand over his head, not bothering to look back.
"I thought you'd forgotten that dream!" Sasuke called out.
"I'm just taking my time!"
(Star)(Star)(Star)
"Sasuke!!" Sakura exclaimed, jumping forward in her bed to grab a hold of the young man in front of her. Sasuke and Naruto smiled at her eagerness, while Lee just shook his head bemusedly.
"They told me she's just got a broken arm and nothing more." He nodded to her cast, which was already lavishly signed by fuzzy-brows himself. Sakura nodded, holding up the hard plastered arm.
"And they forced me to stay over night in here." She explained. "My mom was in a panic when she came in to visit me this morning. Tried blaming doctors and nurses just to get me out of here. And this stupid cast is so... clunky!" She whined.
"Tsunade-baba could probably heal that for you." Naruto pointed out, finally attracting attention to himself and the petite girl on his arm. Sakura nodded thoughtfully.
"Congratulations on you and Hinata dating, you two make a really cute couple." She said and immediately went back to the young man she had her arms around. "You know, we should patrol together! It would be a lot safer for the both of us." Naruto rolled his eyes and Hinata hid her laughter behind her hand.
"You can patrol with me!" Lee interjected enthusiastically. The pink-haired kunoichi frowned on him.
"You're not even a ninja!"
"I can still patrol and do work, even if I'm not officially a ninja any more!" Lee protested. He seemed to have started growing a back bone around the girl. Sakura smiled in admiration of not only his defence, but also because of his determination. He never gave up, no matter what. A soft knock from the door announced the presence of Neji.
"Konbanwa, Sakura-chan." He nodded politely to the girl. She smiled and nodded back, taking his offering of flowers. He watched her make room for the bouquet in her water glass and turned to the other occupants of the room. "Naruto!" He exclaimed, noticing his cousin and her new boyfriend.
"Neji." Naruto said, studying his friend for a moment. "Don't tell me you of all people are going to give me the 'older brother speech'." He moaned. Sakura and Lee chuckled to themselves, but Neji nodded sternly.
"I am her older cousin and it is the branch family's duty to protect the members of the main house."
"You do remember the chuunin exam, don't you?" Naruto asked, a smirk on his face. Neji nodded.
"I remember it well. You kicked my ass into the ground for beating up on Hinata." Sasuke was the only one who looked surprised. Apparently no one had told him of his rival's matches. "And if you recall, it's in the past." He looked up to Sasuke for a moment. "We've all changed from the children we were back then. And that means that no one can break my cousin's heart without going through me." Naruto smiled and nodded, taking hold of Neji's outstretched hand.
"And we all know how many hearts I've broken already. I think you're talking to the wrong orphan; Sasuke's standing right behind you. If anyone is a heartbreaker, it's him." Sakura laughed nervously but Neji ignored the both of them. He smiled serenely at the blonde in front of him.
"I know you're not like that Naruto-kun, I trust you with my life." Naruto's facial expression brightened suddenly at those words and he jumped at the older boy in a tight bear hug.
"I trust you too, Neji-white-eyes!"
"Naruto, we should get going, now." Hinata exclaimed softly, behind the two. "Unless you wanted to skip visiting the police building and go straight to the ramen bar." Naruto was about to open his mouth to reply when they all heard a snort.
"You're taking her out to ramen, dobe?" Naruto bristled and turned to his rival.
"Yeah, so?"
"I thought even you had more class than that."
"I don't see you with any girlfriends to even take out!" He snarled in reply. "So don't even try and make fun of me, Mr. Celibate." He sneered out the nickname they'd joked about the night before. There might have been more said, but Hinata managed to pull Naruto out of the room before they could start anything that would put more of them in the hospital. But not without hearing Sasuke's voice echo out of the room.
(End of Chapter)
THERE IS A REASON (aside from the fact that he likes Naruto) THAT SASUKE IS ACTING SO RUDE TO NARUTO.
One thing I would like to point out is everyone pretty much wants Hinata to end up okay at the end of her relationship with Naruto. I found that rather amusing. Of course, I've had this whole thing planned out for a while, and you'll just have to see how the whole thing ends in the next couple of chapters. Don't worry though, I adore her.
To Ryouseiteki: No, Hinata doesn't notice the hickey at all... she just assumes it's a bruise from before. She's naïve in her own cute way.
To Falcon-Rider: Damnit... have you been reading my notes or something?! Nu... that can't be it... I know! You're reading my mind. Bah, you'll find out in the next two chapters.
To ManicReversed: Thank you very much. I know how hard it is to go through ff.n looking for a fic only to find it was never finished, or it's ended (mostly crappily too) That, and the knowledge of how frustrating it is to wait for updates, is the reason I try so hard to continue. It also helps that I haven't lost interest in Naruto yet. That's usually how I end an obsession. But Kishimoto-sempai keeps me happy, so I can keep writing.
To the La/=/er: Yeah, but I really enjoy it when you two relate so thoroughly to my story. It lets me know exactly what I did right and what I need to work on. Don't worry about the competition. If it comes, then it will. No forcing or anything. Course... I do have a feeling I know when the really big ones will come... but that's not for a little while. I kinda do something really bad to people. Anyways... back to the point. The group of them are actually around 17, with Sasuke turning 18 sometime in the VERY NEAR FUTURE (Which should explain exactly why Sasuke was so upset with Naruto going out with Hinata "the day after tomorrow" which is basically tomorrow now). I'm glad you noticed what I really meant when I said that whole 'opposites attract' thing.
To Aka: He wants to sleep with Sasuke?
To lightdragon1987: My version had Kyuubi wanting to get out, but otherwise putting up with Naruto.
To Kamikakushi: Thank you for the plushies, however I already have a pair. It's what happens when you give Nazo enough money and set her loose on an Anime Convention.
To schokokruemel: I seem to be doing that to a lot of people. I hope your schoolwork wasn't affected too much by me. I don't mind it if English isn't your first language, I was able to understand it very well, so no worries.
TO ALL: I'm glad you guys enjoyed the cookie-dough scene. Not only was it a spur of the moment thing on my part, but I was afraid it was too soon for their relationship. After going over it in my head (a million times) I realise it's the right one, and I need to add a lot more NaruSasu tension in the next chapters in order to prepare you. Heh heh... Hope you enjoyed this chappie.