AN: Wow… let me just say that when Itachi falls in love he falls fast and he falls hard.

Review!

Annoying Orange

Inspired By Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto

Itachi didn't know if he was fortunate or unfortunate.

It could be considered a good thing that his latest mission required him to follow the nine tails Jinchuriki- who happened to be on a mission with Hinata Hyuuga- but then it could be considered bad. Very bad. After all, he was supposed to be watching Naruto Uzumaki, not the beautiful girl a little ways behind him. Not that knowing this made it happen any less, of course. He did his best to keep his focus on the blonde who hopped around as excitedly as a puppy, but nevertheless he found his eyes straying towards the Hyuuga every time.

Perfect, he groaned inwardly, I'll have to report that the first mission I failed was because I kept getting distracted by a girl and couldn't keep my focus on my target. He sighed, At least Pein will be shocked into silence for a while. And none of the other Akatsuki will believe me. He rubbed his temple lightly and returned his attention to Naruto.

The blonde Jinchuriki was in the front of his squad, pleasantly marching and laughing, his bright orange jumpsuit almost painful to look at. Behind him was a pink-haired Kunoichi who frowned at his antics known as Sakura Haruno and the silver-haired Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. In the back of the group was Kiba Inuzuka and his white ninja hound, Akamaru; both of which had been on the last mission that Itachi had seen the Hyuuga.

And then there was Hinata.

Her long navy hair lit up in lighter shades in the rays of the bright sun above, and her pale, milky eyes stared fondly at the people ahead of her. She was positioned in the back of the group with the Inuzuka, walking calmly next to the large white dog as she rubbed him behind his ears in a way that he appeared to enjoy. Itachi couldn't stop the surge of envy he felt for the dog, who was getting all the attention from the Hyuuga that he himself wanted.

Realizing that he had become distracted once more he turned his attention towards the blonde at the head of the group, listening to his conversation with the pink-haired girl in another attempt to focus, "Hey, Sakura? You sure you don't want to have ramen with me when we get back the village?"

"Naruto!" she snapped, having apparently heard this before, "I already told you I don't want ramen! We had it last time we got back from a mission, and the time before that, and the time before that! I want something else for once!"

"How about barbeque?" Kiba suggested from the back, practically salivating at the thought of meat, "Haven't had that in a while."

Sakura perked up, "That sounds good."

Naruto grumbled, "Fine, you can have your barbeque!" he looked over at Hinata and instantly brightened, "But you'll have ramen with me, won't you Hinata?"

The girl flushed and averted her eyes, her fingers moving in front of her to poke each other nervously, "W… well… um… N… Naruto…" His blue-eyed gaze continued to bore into her, making her blush even fiercer, "Y… yes!"

"Woohoo!"

The Jinchuriki began to hop even more, leaving Itachi to stare blankly at the sight before him. He took in the Hyuuga's bright red face, Naruto's oblivious expression, and the unfazed look everyone else had before letting his eyes open a little wider in surprise. The first person he had ever fallen in love with loved someone else… she loved a complete idiot. The black-haired Uchiha swallowed inaudibly. Perhaps it was just a crush, puppy love? No, he thought, thinking of everyone else's unsurprised looks, if their expressions were any indication then this has been going on too long to be anything new.

The Akatsuki member deflated a little at the realization that his hopeless romance had just become even more hopeless. At least, he decided, Hinata will find happiness. The boy she liked may be a fool but there was no way he could possibly not feel the same for her; she was just too perfect.

He resumed his watch on Naruto, this time looking at him carefully for any signs that he was right. Blushing, the occasional glance, anything at all. Instead he saw Naruto shift and maintain his focus on nobody other than Sakura, talking and earning a violent punch to the head from her. Even afterwards he remained attentive only to the pink-haired Kunoichi.

His eyes narrowed.

So he didn't like Hinata. He liked Sakura. Itachi stiffened, momentarily pausing in his movements of following the group of Shinobi in order to put things straight in his head. He loved Hinata, Hinata liked Naruto, Naruto liked Sakura, and Sakura, as he had overheard from an earlier conversation, liked Sasuke. Sasuke, however, only wanted to kill him. Where did that leave him?

Though he wanted to continue trying to puzzle out his dilemma he forced himself to start moving again and change his thoughts to something else. Like how Naruto could like Sakura, who beat him and clearly cared for another, when Hinata was so obviously taken with him and watching over him like a goddess. He saw the pink-haired Kunoichi whack Naruto's blonde head again, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

Perhaps he had masochistic tendencies?

Itachi closed his dark eyes briefly before opening them again in another attempt to observe his blonde target, though he had to admit that this time he was a little bitterer with his judgments. Who wouldn't be after discovering that the perfect girl had been virtually jilted by the only person that she actually wanted?

It was at that moment that the Uchiha realized just how much he disliked the color orange.

His attention was diverted back to their conversation as Kakashi- their only Jonin in the squad- sighed, "Maybe you should finish the mission before you decide what to eat afterwards, hm?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto chuckled before asking, "Hey, what is our mission anyway?"

It went silent and Itachi's eye twitched imperceptibly. There was no way. No way at all. Even Itachi knew what their mission was and he hadn't even been there when it was assigned to them. Before he could even think about it his hand flew to his face with a dull smack that echoed through the air.

~oOo~

Hinata was content walking at the back of her group, rubbing Akamaru's ears and answering when she was spoken to. Her mission wouldn't be a quiet one as long as Naruto was there, but it would be an entertaining one. The mission itself wasn't too horrible, with her and her team only having to track down an old Leaf Village artifact that had been stolen recently and retrieve it. The only catch to this was that they couldn't just take it from the person who had stolen it but instead had to follow him and take it from the person who had hired him to steal it in the first place, capturing him as well. All that was the reason why everyone in her squad had been selected; her and Kiba to find them and Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto to take them all down.

The Hyuuga blinked from her musings and looked at her surroundings, realizing that she and her team had only made it a little over three miles away from the village. Considering they were trying to give the thief- a rather slow, non-Shinobi man- some time to make it to his client, it wasn't bad time.

She turned her attention to the people ahead of her, noticing their talk of food just as Naruto asked if she would have ramen with him once they got back to the village. For a moment Hinata choked, face going red as she stuttered and struggled to answer the simple question. She did, only then noticing that her fingers had moved of their own accord to poke each other in a nervous habit.

Forcing her hands to move down she looked back at Naruto, watching him as he turned his eyes back to Sakura. He continued to chatter giddily, earning two punches to his head from Sakura and making Hinata wince. She wished that Naruto wasn't getting hit all the time. It looked like it hurt.

"Maybe you should finish the mission before you decide what to eat afterwards, hm?"

Hinata blinked at Kakashi's words as Naruto said, "Oh yeah," chuckling afterwards and asking, "Hey, what is our mission anyway?"

There was a disbelieving silence after his words before Kakashi, Sakura, and Kiba all hit their foreheads with their palms in exasperation, four dull smacks echoing in the air. Wait, four? Hinata stopped, There shouldn't be four. Only three people did it. But if there were four slaps that means…

The Hyuuga turned and activated her Byakugan, eyes widening at the sight that greeted her. Behind a tree multiple yards away was a black-haired Akatsuki member with his palm on his forehead and an almost pained expression on his face. She realized with a gasp that it was Itachi Uchiha.

Kakashi, having also realized another person was with them, threw several kunai at the man. He dodged them and, for a moment, disappeared. By now the other members of the squad had figured out that they weren't alone and pulled out a kunai as they slipped into a battle-ready stance. And then the Akatsuki member reappeared, standing on the outskirts of the trees and in plain view of everyone.

Naruto let out a yelp and Kakashi narrowed his eyes menacingly, "Itachi Uchiha."