(A/N) A bit of a time skip here.

Hinata settled into her normal place between Shino and Kiba, sending a worried glance at the empty seat of one Sasuke Uchiha. Her father had informed her stiffly of the Uchiha massacre last night, and she was worried about her classmate, even if she knew next to nothing about him, other than the fact his mark was a red-tailed hawk. She had taken the time to memorize her classmate's marks, those that she knew anyway, hoping it would come in handy at some point.

Naruto's grinning fox was a bit disconcerting to her classmates, but Hinata thought it was cute, and kinda hoped to see it on her skin as her romantic mark. Her cousin did not share those sentiments, but his opinion was irrelevant in this case.

Sakura's beautiful blooming cherry blossoms with the cracked ground underneath, and the green glow surrounding each petal spoke of power when she got older. Ino's bouquet of flowers dripping in poison spoke of subtlety. Sasuke's red tailed hawk of loyalty, Shikamaru's shoji piece surrounded by shadows in the shape of a deer of intelligence and stealth.

"Hinata," Shino said, quietly.

Hinata looked over quickly, tilting her head slightly.

He nodded towards the front of the classroom, where Sasuke was standing, glaring at the three of them. Hinata squeaked, starting to shrink in her seat under the fierce glare so reminiscent of her father's.

Kiba grabbed hold of her hood, holding her in place. Hinata still tried shrinking into her jacket anyway. He was scary.

A slight burn on her chest, over her heart, alerted her to the arrival of her romantic soulmark. This was an interesting time to get it… She could check after class.

Sasuke sat down in his usual seat, although continued sneaking glances up at her and Kiba and Shino, which confused her immensely. He hadn't noticed her before, he hadn't really noticed anyone before, just what was going on in his head?

She was so distracted that she barely noticed when they paused for lunch, Kiba and Shino taking pity on her and leading her outside to eat lunch.

Oddly enough, Sasuke joined them, silently sitting down near them and eating his lunch.

"W-would you l-like to j-join us, S-S-Sasuke-san?" Hinata stuttered, internally cursing her stuttering.

Shino shifted slightly enough to let him join their circle, Kiba doing the same on the other side, and pressing himself reassuringly into Hinata's side as a result. Hinata didn't mind, really, Kiba was warm, and she had been getting a bit chilly, despite her jacket.

Sasuke did join their circle in the end, even if he hesitated for a good few minutes.

"So, Hinata! Is the twin lion fists coming along at all?" Kiba asked, stuffing half of one of his turkey riceballs in his face after speaking.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose delicately at the rather… interesting sight. Hinata had long grown used to it, and simply ignored the display.

"N-Neji-nii-san says I might be able to do it p-properly by graduation if I work h-hard," Hinata offered quietly. "F-father d-disagrees."

"Your father is wrong," Shino said simply. "Why? Because you are clearly quite far along in learning it. I predict you will have it done by a year before graduation at the latest."

Hinata flushed bright red, and nodded timidly. "I-I'll do my best!"

Sasuke simply gave a nod to her, then turned his attention to his lunch box, for which Hinata was grateful. His stare was really intense! Although the way he'd wrinkled his nose was kind of cute.

Hinata turned red all over again as that particular thought registered to her. Sasuke was, well, Sasuke! And the current sole Uchiha in the village! On top of that, the Hyuuga hated the Uchiha! Even if she wasn't exactly the perfect Hyuuga.

Kiba poked her face, and Hinata jumped, having completely spaced out. "You're gonna waste all of lunch if you keep spacing out like that! Then you won't get to eat!"

"Food is required for optimal performance of the human body," Shino agreed, nudging her bento towards her. She quickly picked it up, eating her lunch and resolutely not looking at Sasuke.

When the day was finished, she bid farewell to Shino and Kiba, Sasuke nodding to her firmly as a sort of goodbye, and wandering off by himself. Hinata quickly calmed her blush, hurrying over to where Neji was saying goodbye to Tenten.

"Ready to leave?" Neji asked, tilting his head at her.

Hinata nodded, waving to Tenten, who happily waved back. "Good afternoon Hinata. I was just saying goodbye to your cousin."

"H-hello," Hinata offered.

Tenten smiled, and moved off, heading towards her own home.

Neji looked at her. "We going home now? You seem unusually eager."

"I-I'm pretty s-sure I got my r-romantic mark," Hinata admitted to him. "I w-wanted to check."

Neji made an 'ah' sound, nodding along. "Alright then, we can get going.

"H-how was y-your day?" Hinata tried as they walked. She was trying to get better at small talk, and who better to practice on then her brother?

"Fine I suppose, we didn't really learn anything new. Although I fear Tenten has another obsession."

"O-oh no," Hinata said, attempting to suppress her giggles.

She, of course, wasn't very sucessful, and Neji stared at her, deadpan.

"I-is it as bad as the T-Tsunade one?" Hinata asked, getting over her giggles.

"Maybe worse." Neji groaned. "This one she can actually do."

"Isn't that g-good?" Hinata wondered.

"Maybe, but you don't have to suffer through excited rants about how shiny her new weapons are," Neji pointed out.

Hinata giggled. "I applaud your p-patience then."

"Thanks," Neji said sarcastically. "How was your day?"

"W-well, S-Sasuke Uchiha is b-back in class," Hinata said, poking her fingers together.

"That's good," Neji encouraged. "Is he even remotely okay?"

"I-I don't know," Hinata said, shrinking in on herself. "I-I didn't t-think it'd be p-polite to ask."

"Did he act any different?" Neji asked patiently.

"H-he kept s-staring at m-me weirdly, a-and s-sat with us a-at lunch," Hinata offered, turning a bit red.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he the typical Uchiha? Aloof and forever alone?"

"I-I guess? I-I don't know."

Neji grunted, nodding to the two guards of the Hyuuga compound. They allowed them through, of course, they were clearly Hyuuga, and Hinata was the clan heiress on top of that.

"Try keeping an eye on him," Neji finally settled on. "I have homework, knock if you need me." He disappeared into his room, closing the door behind him.

Hinata quickly went to the bathroom, shedding her jacket and shirt once the door was firmly locked behind her. She checked the mirror, and immediately went brick red. There, on her chest, over her heart, was a mark that looked like a lion sitting next to a red tailed hawk, the two had their heads touching gently, although both had one eye open and glaring at the world.

Sasuke Uchiha? He was her romantic soulmate!?

How was she even supposed to respond to that? He was an Uchiha! And the last one left! She was the heiress of the Hyuuga clan! They were the farthest thing from able to properly have a relationship that wasn't completely hidden from her clan! What was she even supposed to do!? Tell him about it? Or did he already know? Was that why he had sat with them? Was that why he had been staring at her?

She shakily put her shirt and jacket on, hands trembling very badly, so she stuck them in her pockets. It didn't help.

She knocked on Neji's door, getting a response immediately. "Something wrong, Hinata?"

He seemed to quickly realize that something was up, and ushered her inside his room, closing the door behind them.

In the relatively privacy, Hinata threw herself right into the offered hug.

"What's wrong Hinata?" Neji asked quietly after a few minutes of her shaking.

"M-m-my r-r-romantic s-soulmate," she stuttered, badly shaken. "I-it's S-S-Sasuke!"

Neji froze. "What?"

Hinata nodded shakily, burrowing deeper into his hug.

"We should probably hope your father doesn't check," Neji said quietly.

"H-he w-wouldn't k-know who i-it was anyway," Hinata said, more to reassure herself then Neji.

"Of course not," Neji assured her, holding her tighter, trying to quell the shaking. "He wouldn't care anyway, you're fine, it'll all be fine."

"A-are y-you sure?" Hinata asked, her shaking calming down somewhat.

"As sure as I can be," he agreed, resting his chin on her head.

(A/N) I'm sorry this is really late, but I, uh, got distracted plotting another story. *sheepish* I meant to post it earlier, promise, I just got a bit distracted. How'd I do with the cute scene between Neji and Hinata? And the sort of panic Hinata got when she discovered she had Sasuke Uchiha of all people as her romantic soulmate; how was that?