Disclaimer- As if...which means no.

Chapter three

It didn't take Sasuke long to get packed. It helped that he was an organised person. That and the fact that he kept a bag packed just in case he had to leave Konoha…on a mission that is. Always eager to get away. Something about his ever hungry fan girls did not make him feel like sticking around much.

When he had been a genin, fresh out of the Academy, it hadn't been so bad. He hardly saw most of the girls he had been forced into daily contact with (back there) in class. In fact, there had been a lull where most of his fangirls from school were busy with their own teams. That is, except for Sakura. He had had the dumb luck to get stuck with her on the same team. It got to the point where he was hating the sound of his own name.

'Sasuke-kun!! Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun…' He shuddered.

To say he was glad not to have to put up with her clingy, whiny, annoying ways was an understatement.

When he left Konoha to go to Sound with Orochimaru, the fan girl situation had basically gone away The few females that the snake-nin kept around, and there were very few of those, were more interested improving their skills than following him around like love-sick puppies. It was all too easy to get used to.

When he returned to Konoha a few years later, he had been unprepared for the fan girl frenzy. Being in Sound had actually softened him in that way. You would think that being an ex-missing nin would scare at least some of them away, but no. His fan club had actually doubled in size, apparently 'reformed' bad-boys were all the rage. It only got worse as he got older and his generation started getting married. The race was really on now to become Mrs Sasuke Uchiha.

He was glad of any chance to get away from them. Sasuke was aware by now that Hinata had never been one of his fan girls. In fact, she barely paid him any attention. To be fair though, it was entirely mutual. He was also aware, just as she was too, that the other came from the other most prestigious clan in Konoha. Other than that he never paid her any mind. He had his own goals.

Their genin teams had never been mixed together for missions while he was around. As chunin and jounin, they had not been on missions together more than twice and even then they were simple missions finished within a couple of days. Besides missions, he wasn't one to 'hang out' with any of the other Rookie Nine and Team Gai. Naruto did manage to drag him out once in a while but that was pretty much it.

All he ever did now was train. It kept him busy and let him keep up with Naruto. There wasn't anything else he wanted to do anyway.

For a bit of variety, he sometimes trained in the public training grounds. That's when he first started to take notice of Hinata about a year back. It was almost midnight and she had obviously been training for quite some time yet she showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Her bulky jacket lay discarded in a heap under a tree while she went through Hyuuga-like kata. With his dojutsu aided powers of observation, he noticed that they weren't exactly like what the Hyuuga genius Neji did. They were more flexible and didn't have as much power.

'She's modified her family style to suit herself…'

She stopped suddenly and looked straight at him. Neither said a thing and after a moment both went on with what they had been doing. Sasuke went home. Hinata continued training. The next time they met, the incident wasn't mentioned, Hinata at least had forgotten all about it. Life carried on as normal really, that is until last night.

Sasuke grinned, but only on the inside, as he reached their meeting place at the gates twenty minutes early. Only twenty because he had had to change his route a few times to avoid the hunter-fan girls.

He waited for only a short while before he saw her gliding through the crowds in the street. Sasuke had never really thought about furthering his relationship with the Hyuuga, but this latest incident had got him thinking. This was going to be a fun trip.

Hinata grimaced when she saw Sasuke already waiting for her at the gates. She had come early partly to get away from her father and Neji's lectures and warnings. Neji especially. If Hinata had let him he probably would have spent the rest of the day and night finding reasons to keep her distance from the Uchiha. Luckily, she had had to leave.

The other reason she had left early was because she wanted to be alone for just a few minutes before she had to stay in his company for who knows how long. Well, that didn't work out.

"I hope you haven't been waiting too long."

"I haven't. Shall we go?"

Hinata nodded and they walked out of the city limits together.

They had been tree hopping mostly in silence all the way. Hinata couldn't help but wonder what might or might not have happened between them the other night but there was no way she was going to ask him if anything had in fact happened. If nothing had happened then she would be mortified beyond anything else. Why would Uchiha Sasuke of all people be interested in her? There was nothing special about her.

'Then why were you in his house? In his bed?' a little voice in the back of her head argued.

"It was nothing!" She accidentally exclaimed aloud.

Sasuke shot her a curious look, "What was nothing?"

Her eyes widened comically as she stared at him when she realised she had spoken out loud. "Err…nothing?" She looked away sharply as she turned bright red.

Sasuke looked sceptical, but thankfully, he stayed silent. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. She was extra careful not to blurt anything else out after that. The rest of the journey was passed in total silence.

They reached their first stop ahead of time. They were quite fortunate not to have to spend their first night out in the open, especially since it looked like it was going to rain. Unfortunately, because of the coming rain there was only one room left in the only place that had any room at all.

Sasuke paid the money as Hinata stood back silently. They were led to their room by the owner, who had assumed that they were married. Sasuke hadn't corrected him, it was too much hassle he thought. The owner wished them a pleasant night, giving Sasuke a knowing smile. Hinata caught on and blushed furiously, the man laughed and left behind an uncomfortable silence.

After a long moment, Sasuke cleared his throat and muttered, "It's better than being out there," indicating the window.

There was the faintest hint of what was possibly a blush on his cheeks but it was so minimal that Hinata dismissed it as a trick of the light. She merely nodded in reply.

Any blush that might have still been on her face was banished when she looked around the room and found that there was only one bed. She froze as Sasuke blushed more visibly behind her.

'Great.' they both thought, with very different meanings.

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A/N- I want to apologise for the late, late, very late update. Ive been hit by writers block, then I moved and now I'm a little busy to update as often as I would like. But I'll try and make an effort. Thank you so much for all the great reviews, I really appreciate them.