A/N: Ah, feels like its been awhile since I've posted... stupid workload... anyways, again I wanted to thank the people who have given me kind reviews! It makes me want to devote more time to this then I should. :) One review brought up a good point: How exactly will naruhina benifit from this crazy situation. To the best of my knowledge Sasuke and Hinata have not interacted once during the entire course of Naruto. So, its hard to write a way for Hinata to open up to (what she thinks is) Sasuke in a way that is believable. But, I am going to try all the same... and hopefully it works.

Also, I debated for a long time on whether I should have Hinata refer to Sasuke with a -san or a -kun. Because in addition to these two never talking in Naruto, I also dont think she ever says his name (if she does then I would love for someone to tell me what she says). I decided to go with -san since I figured she would give him a slightly higher level of formality, like she does Neji. Anyways, enough set up. On with the story! XD

Hen na Kinyoubi

Chapter 5: Long Walks and Ice Cream

They were crazy, every single one of them. That was the only explanation. Not only that, but they had to be evil as well because they were keeping him from the one thing he currently wanted most in the world: ramen.

Naruto's stomach grumbled in response to his thoughts, as he sat curled up behind a pair of barrels. Naruto had always been secretly jealous of Sasuke's popularity with girls, and although he wasn't the type to really want a harem of girlfriends, not having them all completely repulsed by his presence would be nice.

Once his anger had cooled a bit after parting ways with Sasuke, he began to notice that most of the girls he passed would stare at him and then turn to giggle with their friends. This didn't seem completely out of the ordinary. Naruto just assumed he had something on his face, or maybe his fly was open. But after finding nothing wrong he realized that, in addition to their giggling, they were smiling and blushing too. Some even had the courage to wave.

It was at this point that Naruto thought that being in Sasuke's body, at least for a little while, might not be so bad. After this realization, he began nodding and winking at the various girls, which seemed to encourage some of them to approach him. It was a few hours later that Naruto realized he had made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

No wonder Sasuke had never so much as given them the time of day. It would be like giving a scrap of food to a stray cat: once the deed was done there would be no getting rid of it. It would just keep coming back expecting more.

After a while of being followed by a fairly large flock of girls, Naruto began to realize that no matter what he said it would lead to basically the same reaction. He had begun to get hungry, so he had politely asked the girls to leave. When this failed, he had tried to get rid of them with bad jokes or stupid comments (which normally worked wonders), but, still, no luck. They just kept clinging to him while smiling and laughing. Finally, he tried yelling at them angrily. But, rather than leaving, they would just look at him with teary eyes asking if he hated them. Of course, he couldn't say yes. But after about another half hour of silent suffering Naruto had had enough, and was forced to call upon his trump card: running away.

However, although he was normally good at eluding crazed pursuers, this time it proved to be easier said than done. His usual maneuver was to use a transformation technique to blend into the crowd, but Naruto wasn't used to manipulating Sasuke's very different flow of chakra, so he shouldn't have been surprised when this failed miserably. So here he was resorting to amateur escape tactics, such as hiding behind shop signs and boxes.

He let out a heavy sigh. All I did was talk to them a little… They were even more ravenous than stray cats.

"I think he went this way."

Naruto cringed as he heard an approaching voice that was painfully female.

"Maybe we should just stop…" a second girl chimed in.

"Are you kidding!? I'm not giving up the chance to hang out with Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Ya me either!" Naruto heard a third voice say.

Jeez! How many are there!?That's no fair; ganging up on me…

ÅgDidn't he seem kinda strange though?"

"Hmm… don't know. I've never really talked to him before… I guess he seemed more talkative or something…"

"Who cares? Either way he's still perfect!"

"Haha. You mean perfectly gorgeous."

"Hey! I'm not as shallow as you!"

"Ya, right! I've liked him for way longer then you! My feelings are much deeper."

"You said you've never really talked to him before!"

"Guys, come on… Let's just agree that we all sincerely like him."

As Naruto listened to their conversation, for the first time he began to feel an emotion towards his pursuers that wasn't shock or fear. The unknown feeling grew stronger, and after hearing that last comment he suddenly knew what it was: anger.

They think that they "sincerely like him"? Are they serious!? Everything they had said sounded completely idiotic to him. How could they claim to like Sasuke when they knew nothing about him? What was even worse than that was that they didn't even seem to even care that they knew nothing about him. He saw why Sasuke always ignored them. What they were essentially doing was constantly saying that, "who you are isn't important." To him, having their adoration wouldn't be nice. It would be painful.

Naruto suddenly realized that, at its core, they basically treated Sasuke the exact same way they did him. They claimed to love one, while they hated the other. However, in both cases, there true selves were insignificant, unimportant…invisible.

Sasuke may come off as a jackass, but deep down… He doesn't deserve this.No one does…

"Hey, doesn't that shadow over there by the barrels look strange?" The girls' change in conversation pulled Naruto from his thoughts. He felt his blood run cold.

Oh, crap… he looked around for somewhere else to sneak to. Damn sun.

He could hear their footsteps grow louder. If he moved he'd be caught, but at this rate, if he stayed put, he wouldn't fare much better.

This is it… he swallowed hard.

"Uh, g-good afternoon. What are you all doing here?" A soft voice caused the footsteps to stop. Naruto's head shot up.

I recognize that voice…

ÅgHuh? Oh, Hinata-chan."

"Haha, we were so preoccupied that we didn't even hear you coming."

Hinata… What is she doing here?

ÅgDid you lose something?" Naruto was stunned by the fact that, although they were all girls, Hinata's voice sounded so completely different from the others. It was so much softer, and less, well… annoying, probably because she wasn't squealing with glee. Somehow just the sound of her voice was relieving the tension from his body.

"Uh, no, not exactly… You haven't happened to see Sasuke-kun recently have you?"

"Sasuke-san? Well, actually I have…"

"Really!?" The three girls squealed in unison.

Oh, no… did she see me? She had approached from a different angle so it was easily possible that she had seen his feet or something.

"Um… ya. I-I passed him on my way here. He should be by the academy by now."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Wow, we were completely off… Come on let's hurry!"

"Thanks Hinata-chan! See you later, k?"

As Naruto heard their squeals fade into the distance, he let out a sigh. I'm saved…

ÅgUm, if you would like to, y-you can come out now…"

Naruto jumped, as Hinata's shaky voice addressed him. Then she did see me. But, then why… Did she lie on purpose to save me?

Naruto slowly got up from his hiding place, and turned to face her. She looked like the same quiet and meek Hinata as always.

"If you knew I was there, then why...?"

"Uh, well…" she played with her fingers, nervously. "I figured there must be a reason you were hiding, and, and… I don't think its very nice to harass and gang up on someone, and, well, if I was wrong then please forgive me, but –"

"Hinata."

"Uh, yes!"

"Thanks. You really saved me." Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a wide grin.

However, Hinata said nothing. She only stared at him with a look of confusion.

"Hinata?"

"Oh! Uh, s-sorry! Its just that… that action… and, I didn't expect you to say that…" Hinata's concentration returned to her fingers, as she fiddled with them nervously.

Naruto's stomach growled, interrupting Hinata's stammering. Naruto slumped over.

"Ah… I had forgotten how hungry I was…" he silently apologized to his stomach.

"Oh, well I don't want to keep – "

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto yelled suddenly. He smiled at what he considered to be his own brilliance.

"Y-Yes!" she squeaked in surprise.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Um, no, not really, but…"

"Well, then come get some ramen with me! I'll treat you as thanks for saving me!"

"R-Ramen? With you?" Hinata glanced around nervously. "B-But, Sasuke-san…"

Oh, right. I'm that jerk Sasuke. Knowing both Hinata and Sasuke's personalities, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if she was terrified of him. More than likely, they had never even had a conversation before. Probably asking her to eat together would be way too unlike him…

ÅgWell, then I guess I will just walk you home, since its sort of on the way anyway." Naruto's stomach grumbled again, due to lack of attention.

"U-Um, well…"

That was a good enough answer for him. "Great!" Naruto began to walk off. "Come on. Lets go!"

"W-Wait! Sasuke-san…" Hinata sighed, and stared at his back. "Well, he does seem much more friendly than usual… not that I really know what usual is considering we've never really had a conversation... oh well…"

A/N: So, this chapter was basically another set up chapter, and in the one following this I plan to include the interactions between both these couples. The title is kinda a foreshadowing of this. It also sorta sounds like an ad in the personals to me: Enjoys long walks and ice cream XD Anyways, look forward to the next chapter cause from now on it just going to be one revelation after another for these people. Oh, and please please review!! Thanks!!