Hinata arose bright and early the next morning but she was in no hurry to leave for practice. Today would be her first day as a member of Kakashi sensei's team and the thought alone was making her sick.

I would not have pushed for this so hard if I thought things would go bad for you…

"Yeah right," she grumbled. Why on earth was Kakashi so concerned about her? No one ever paid attention to her so the idea of him pushing to have her part of his squad was just mind boggling. Hinata looked in the mirror one final time before heading out the door. She had no idea what was going to happen and how she was going to cope but she had to at least try. Life was going to go on whether Naruto liked her or not.

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When Kakashi arrived at the practice field, he wasn't the least bit shocked that Sasuke and Naruto were already there.

"You are actually here on time. Wow. Something must be up," Sasuke grumbled. Naruto on the other hand just continued to lay back against a near by tree, his eyes shut as he concentrated his chakra into a ball in his hand.

"Well, since we're all here there's something I need to tell you," Kakashi stated.

"Um…forgive me sensei, not trying to be a smart ass or anything but Sakura isn't here yet."

"I know Sasuke, which is why I need to have a word with you guys. You see, Sakura will no longer be training with us. In fact, she is officially no longer apart of this team." Here we go…

"WHAT?! WHADAYA MEAN SHE AIN'T ON THE TEAM NO MORE?! KAKASHI SENSEI?!?!?! WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!" Naruto had jumped up and was now red in the face with fury.

"Naruto, you're such a loser," Sasuke grumbled. I for one am kind of glad that she is no longer going to be around."

"SHUT UP SASUKE!!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, calm down," Kakashi said with a sigh. "You are being ridiculous. Anyway, you and Sasuke both knew that you all were not always going to be on the same team. Now the Hokage and I have changed the line-up and hopefully it will help our team become stronger in areas where we are weak."

"So…she's being replaced?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Yes…and…"

"HINATA?!?! What are YOU doing here?" Naruto asked. Hinata had just walked up and she was now frozen stiff. Kakashi turned and saw here standing there, her face drained of color. He smiled at her and motioned for her to come forward but she did not move. Kakashi turned and frowned at Naruto.

"Naruto, can you get anymore dumber than you look? Hinata is the newest member of this team and I expect you to treat her like you would treat Sakura. Got it? That goes for you too Sasuke."

"Aw…man…yeah ok. Don't see how SHE'S going to help us become stronger," Naruto mumbled. Hinata shot a pleading look at Kakashi before turning and running back through the forest leaving her new team behind.

"Sasuke will you go get Hinata and bring her back here?" Kakashi asked. "I need to have a word with Naruto…alone," he grimaced, straitening his mask so that his Sharingan eye was exposed. Sasuke just laughed and hurried off towards the forest to find Hinata.

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Sasuke walked through the forest looking around for Hinata. He soon spotted her behind a large apple tree, sitting with her head between her knees. Sasuke sighed. One thing he hated about girls was the fact that they were so easy to cry. The other thing, was that they talked entirely too much, but Hinata was an exception to the second. Being that he didn't know her all that well, he wasn't sure whether she talked at all. The most he'd ever heard her talk was…never now that he thought about it. He sighed as he walked over to her.

"Hinata. Kakashi sent me to get you. Come on. We need to start practicing so that we can learn how to work together."

"I…I'm sorry but I can't. Naruto…"

"Naruto is an idiot. I mean, honestly you were the last person I expected but I figure no one could be as bad as Sakura." Hinata still did not seem convinced as she made no attempt to move from her spot. "Hinata…Hinata please…" Sasuke bent over and lifted her head with his hand. Their eyes met briefly and Sasuke was immediately hit by…he wasn't quite sure what it was but in that brief second he noticed all sorts of things about Hinata. For starters, he noticed that her eyes were very pretty, soulful even like two orbs piercing his soul. Then there was the fact that she was actually…kind of pretty, beautiful even but she wasn't his type and besides, he hadn't the time to be fooling with girls, except for the obvious, casual sex and sex with Hinata was the last thing on his mind.

"Um…Sasuke?" she whispered.

"Oh, um…yeah, I'm sorry," he mumbled. He backed away and extended his hand helping her to her feet. She hesitated before following him back towards the training field with a sour look about her face. "You shouldn't worry. Naruto was just shocked to see you that's all. You're not at all what we expected and when he said 'stronger' we were thinking maybe Neji or someone. Besides, Kakashi wouldn't have agreed to have you on the team if he didn't believe you could benefit the team somehow now cheer up." She looked over and he gave her a reassuring smile as they headed back to the training field.

AN: Another short chapter but I have decided that I like the short chapters. Of course, as the story progresses I'll throw in some really long chapters so brace yourself, but not right now. I hope you read and review. Now for my annual cheep plug-----Go read my other Neji/Hinata fic. That is all now review! Bwahahaha I'll try to update again tomorrow...or sometime this weekend. I have to work. Ugh! How lame!