A/N: I struggled with this chapter sooooo much. I rewrote the scene between Sasuke and Sakura completely at least 8 times before realizing I needed a break from the whole story. When I finally came back to it months later I still had no idea what to do with it so I just decided to put it up. Although I am still not really happy with it. Who knows if anybody is still reading this, but if you are, sorry for the wait! And thanks for reading this far!! At least its by far the longest chapter I have written.

After this there is going to be a lot more drama, cause, like any good Freaky Friday story, things have to get a lot worse before they can get better. And thank goodness, cause I need to start writing more of the serious plot before this story drives me crazy. So, please read and review to help me believe that this story is worth all the effort! Thanks!!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto or Freaky Friday.

Hen na Kinyoubi

Chapter 6: The Side You Never See

Sasuke stared down at the sticky brown mass in front of him. He found it hard to believe that people actually paid money to put something like this into their mouth. While he could think of several things he wanted to do with it, none of them included eating it. In all honesty, he was beginning to feel sick to his stomach just from holding it.

He glanced over at Sakura who was happily lapping away at her own ice cream. It looked as equally unappetizing as his, except rather than claiming to be chocolate, like his own, it was pink, whatever flavor that was supposed to be.

Figures.

Before, Sasuke had thought that running into Sakura was bad luck, just like everything else that had happened lately. But, the way she was acting had become mildly fascinating to him.

She had always been talkative, but whenever she had talked to him it was always small talk or asking how he was, but somehow he felt this was the first time they had ever really had a conversation. This was especially impressive considering how little he was contributing.

She looks so comfortable…

"Naruto? Is something wrong? It's unlike you to be so quiet."

"Huh? Well..." Sasuke was about to say it was nothing but then stopped. There was really no point in hiding what he was thinking. It wasn't like Naruto ever thought before he spoke. "I was wondering why you never talk like this around Sasuke."

Sasuke watched her shocked expression out of the corner of his eye. Maybe that had been a little too personal, even for Naruto.

"Don't worry about it. Its not im—"

"I'm scared, I guess…"

Her interruption had been barely audible, and when a long silence followed, Sasuke wasn't sure she had even said anything at all. But, her solemn expression told him otherwise.

"What do you mean?"

After another sizeable silence, she began to slowly speak, as if she was also unsure as to what she meant, and was just figuring it out as she went along.

"You know, showing someone your true self, uninhibited and unprotected… is a very dangerous thing. Not only are you more likely to reveal a part of yourself that the other person doesn't like, but, if they do reject you… then it hurts so much more…

"Being around Sasuke-kun, for me, is like walking on thin ice. I know he already finds me weak and annoying, so I'm afraid that if I were to show him any more faults then it would be too much. The ice would break, and Sasuke-kun would dislike me to a point I could never recover from. Who knows… the ice may have already broken and I'm just clinging to the pieces desperately trying to pull myself back up… But, I can't help it. I mean I know I'm not very girly or delicate, but I still want to be someone that Sasuke-kun cares for."

Sasuke watched her stare at the ground as if fascinated by the pebble she was arbitrarily rolling around with her foot. He had the overwhelming feeling that he should get out of this conversation while he still could. Not only was this a subject that he really wasn't interested in talking about, but he felt as if he was in some way betraying her trust. He might as well be eavesdropping from a nearby bush.

However, as strong as Sasuke's desire to change the conversation was, he knew Naruto would never avoid helping someone with their problems, no matter how awkward it may be. And besides that, Sakura's logic was confusing him.

I guess its true that I have no interest in people who are weak or get in my way, and most of the time I do find her annoying, but…

"Why would you think that Sasuke cares at all about whether a girl is feminine or not?"

Sakura looked up at him and blinked a few times before returning her eyes to the ground. Her gaze became unfocused as she sifted through her thoughts. Finally, she let out a weak chuckle.

"Well, when you put it like that, it does sound pretty stupid, doesn't it? …I guess it's a habit I got into a long time ago, back before I really knew Sasuke-kun, probably at the same time that I decided to grow out my hair. I guess I figured since he was someone who liked girls with long hair, he probably liked sweet, feminine girls also. Since I think it kinda goes with that image… Plus, guys always say they prefer those types of girls…"

… Wait, I like what? Why the hell would I care about a girl's hair length?

"… But as long as I continue to act like that neither of us can get hurt. Suppressing part of my true self keeps this space between us. Sasuke-kun can ignore my attention and reject me as many times as he wants, and I will always stay positive, because part of me is holding back. The space between us softens the blow, so that it doesn't hurt as much.

"And because I will always keep smiling no matter what he does, I can make sure that he doesn't worry about me. I will always look at him the same way. I will always be there.

"…So, maybe this protective shield will keep us from ever getting closer, but… that's ok… so long as it keeps us from being broken apart."

Sasuke stared at her, blankly. Not only was his gaze blank, but his mind was as well. He had no idea what to think, and even less of an idea what to say. He had thought he had understood Sakura's feelings pretty well, but now he wasn't so sure. He considered them teammates, maybe even friends, and would believe her if she said her feelings were the same, but that she seriously had any feelings stronger than that was something that he had never believed. She may have a stupid crush, that was pretty clear, but those feelings were insignificant because they were fake. And fragile feelings like that weren't worth acknowledging, because, if you were stupid enough to believe in them, they would do nothing but hurt you when they broke.

Still… he knew her words hadn't been lies. She would have nothing to gain by lying to Naruto about something like that. Could she possibly care about him more than he had thought?

Sasuke swallowed hard. No. Sakura was Sakura. She hadn't changed since they had first become a team any more than he had. She always had, and always would, see him as something he could never be. As his mind regained its focus, another thought suddenly occurred to him.

"…Your hair."

"Huh?" Sakura looked up at him, startled by the seemingly random break in silence.

"If you care so much about what Sasuke thinks then why didn't you grow your hair out again?"

Sakura smiled gently as a knowing look came to her eyes. Sasuke could tell that pointing out this contradiction hadn't caught her off guard like the last one. It must have been a question she had already asked herself.

"I guess its because my feelings have changed since then…"

This response bothered Sasuke more then he would've expected, which he assumed was simply because it made no sense. What's that supposed to mean? Isn't she just contradicting herself even more, now?

"…Naruto, I'm surprised you are willing to talk this much about Sasuke-kun. I mean, of course you've listened to my problems with him before, but I know its something you don't really want to talk about, and one of us usually ends up changing the subject before too long."

"Ya, well…" Sasuke felt ridiculous. He hadn't even wanted to have this conversation in the first place, but somewhere along the way he had actually become interested in figuring out the truth, and had instead helped keep the conversation going. What the hell is a matter with me?

"I guess… you just seemed down, so I thought maybe getting everything off your chest would cheer you up," or something… sure, that sounds Naruto-like enough.

Sasuke jumped as Sakura suddenly began laughing loudly, breaking the heavy atmosphere.

"Jeez, Naruto, I was just thinking out loud. You don't need to become so serious, idiot." She continued to laugh as she smacked him on the back unnecessarily hard.

"Oh! I completely lost track of the time!" Sakura jumped up before Sasuke could say anything. "See you tomorrow, ok?" She began to run off but then stopped.

"Hey Naruto… don't worry about how Sasuke-kun treats me. I know that he sees both of us as important teammates, and that alone makes me pretty happy. Even if he'll never…" She cut off the end of her sentence, unable to bring herself to say the rest of it out loud.

A moment later the heavy silence was lifted as she spun around and smiled brightly, in order to cover the pain her voice had held only moments earlier.

"Plus, no matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me!"

She looked off into the distance, and her over-the-top smile melted into something soft and sincere, and so unbelievably warm that it made Sasuke uncomfortable.

"… Really, Naruto, somehow you're always making me stronger… You've become someone surprisingly reliable." She blushed slightly and returned her focus back towards Sasuke. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks… But don't let it go to your head! 90 of the time you're still nothing but a pain." She gave a slight smirk before once again turning to leave.

"Later!"

And with that she was gone. Sasuke stared ahead vacantly. His gaze was finally interrupted by the sudden sensation of something cold covering his hand. He looked down, and was surprised to see that his ice cream cone was no longer intact. Most of the brown goo had already fallen to the ground while what remained slowly dripped from his hand. He turned his hand slowly and opened it, releasing more of the brown liquid that had been trapped in his fist. The remains of the shattered cone mixed in with the ice cream as it fell.

Sasuke stared at it confused. I must have crushed it… but I don't even remember doing that... almost like it was a reflex…

Sakura's warm smile flashed in his mind. The smile that was never supposed to be for him to see.

Whatever… He shook his hand to get rid of the excess ice cream, and got up. It was probably just a muscle spasm.

Hinata and Naruto walked silently through the streets of Konoha. The atmosphere might have been considered awkward except it was a silence that neither of them noticed. Naruto was too busy wondering what Sasuke would say in this situation, while Hinata was busy wondering how she had even gotten in this situation.

The atmosphere also might have been considered romantic, but, again, neither took notice of the beauty that surrounded them as the sun began to drop below the horizon, lacing the clouds with pink and gold.

Why am I even wasting my time thinking about this? Naruto sighed to himself.

"Uh," Naruto finally broke the silence, having given up on attempting to act like Sasuke. He gave her a wide grin, "Thanks again for your help."

"Oh! No, really, I didn't do much!" Hinata responded quickly.

"That's not true! If you hadn't told them I was somewhere else then they would have caught me for sure!"

"W-Well, then I am glad that I could help… I feel badly about lying to them though… I have to be sure to apologize next time I see them. I-I mean, I understand why they were acting that way. They weren't being inconsiderate on purpose. I think they just really like you…"

You 'understand' why they were acting that way. Naruto couldn't help but frown at that statement. The way she's saying it makes it sound like she likes him also. Well, I guess that shouldn't be surprising… she is a girl…

"So I guess you feel the same way they do," Naruto was too busy being once again annoyed by Sasuke's popularity to realize that, seeing as he was currently Sasuke, saying something like that sounded incredibly conceited.

However, the thought itself sounded so completely wrong to Hinata, that the statement's audacity went unnoticed.

"No! Not at all!" Hinata all but yelled at him.

Naruto jumped a bit in response to the outburst. She had said it so loudly that some of the people nearby them had even stopped to see what all the commotion was. All Naruto could do was stare at her, speechless.

Ouch… He was sort of glad he was in Sasuke's body at the moment, because no matter how little Sasuke cared about what people thought of him, there was no way her horrified outburst wouldn't have offended him at least a little.

Hinata also quickly realized how harsh that had sounded, and turned bright red from embarrassment.

"I-I mean, not that there is anything wrong with you! A-And its not that I dislike you!" She was talking almost as loudly as she had yelled the previous statement, and her desperation to clarify what she meant caused her to talk so quickly that Naruto was barely able to keep up. "To be honest, I don't really know anything about you. But, you, um, seem… like a good… person. And I guess you are good-looking… I've just never thought of you that way. But you were my classmate so I felt like I should help you. And l-like I said, I don't dislike you, but I already like Na—"

Hinata clasped her hand over her mouth cutting herself short. She had been so preoccupied with trying to make him understand, that she hadn't focused on what exactly she was saying in order to do so.

Naruto notice her blush intensify as she suddenly stopped. Even her ears had become bright red. He figured he got the gist of her explanation, but hadn't really caught that last part. And he had no idea why her hand was covering her mouth. Or why she was staring so intensely at the ground in front of her, as if she was making sure there was no way they would make eye contact.

"Hey, are you feeling ok? Your face is really red."

Hinata pulled her hand away from her mouth slightly but did not lower it.

"I-I'm fine…" her eyes darted around nervously until they caught on something down the street. "Oh! Um, I live right over there, so you don't need to walk me the rest of the way! Thank you for you company," She turned towards him and gave a quick bow, but her eyes still refused to meet his. Before he could respond, she quickly turned to run off. "See you later!"

"Uh, ya, later…" Naruto watched her bolt into the distance still somewhat confused. "Hinata really is weird…"

To his surprise, as Naruto thought this, he couldn't help but smile.

"But I'm starting to think that's a good thing…"

Naruto had woken up to find he was trapped in the body of his worst enemy. He had been a source of entertainment for some weird old lady. And a mob of crazed girls had chased him all afternoon. But, as he walked off towards the ramen shop, he was left with the feeling that today hadn't been all that bad.

He was surprised by how much Hinata had actually managed to cheer him up. It was nice to know there were girls alive that had never once been attracted to Sasuke. And, although he wasn't quite sure why, he was happy that Hinata was one of them.

But… He let out an exhausted sigh. Although I'm happy there are girls that exist who aren't completely in love with Sasuke, it would be nice if Sakura-chan was one of them…

Naruto stopped suddenly. But, I'm Sasuke now… A devious grin formed on his face, as a plan began to slowly develop in his mind. Which means the way I act determines the way Sakura-chan feels.

A disturbing glint came to Naruto's eyes. By the end of this week… everything is going to change.

A/N: ...Naruto sounds more evil then I intended... oh well. I'm looking forward to finally getting to his plan cause its pretty damn good. ;) Please review!!