A/N: Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New year!

Naruto POV

(Monday—1:00 pm)

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" I wave the girl over to my desk once class is over. She makes eye contact with me, shuffles her own books into her arms and walks over to my side. I give her a big grin and she returns it with a smile.

"When's your choir gonna perform in front of school, Hinata-chan? I can't wait to hear you sing!" Her cheeks become pink and she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear nervously.

"Uhm, well we will sing the national anthem for the first basketball game, Naruto-kun." I jump out of my seat in surprise.

"Are you serious!? That's this Thursday!" She nods in agreement. Knowing she has practice in twenty minutes, I quickly stuff my books into my backpack and walk with Hinata to her practice room.

"You're planning on staying for the game, too, right?"

"Ye—yes."

"Awesome! You'll see us beat the Suna Raccoons, then." I answer enthusiastically with my hands behind my head. She giggles at my answer and shifts the heavy books in her arms. I watch her for a second as we walk, then shut my eyes.

Her long bluish purple hair, big lavender eyes, and porcelain skin make her look like a beautiful doll. My mind goes back to what Sakura said, and I know I am definitely attracted to the girl beside me. I sigh, though, because if Tenten hadn't have dared me to do this, I wouldn't be spending time with such a sweet person.

"Are you—are you okay, Naruto-kun?" I open my eyes up again to see that we are in the middle of the hall and she is looking up at me with worry.

I clear my throat and try to put on a smile, but then drop the act and sigh again. "You're observant, Hinata-chan. I just...I've been thinking about something and I'm not sure how I should deal with it. Do you ever have feelings that you don't know what to do with?"

Her eyes widen in surprise slightly, then she looks down and nods slowly. "Y—yes, I have, Naruto-kun." I place my hands on her shoulders and she looks back into my eyes.

"And what did you do about them?" I ask, feeling my heart quicken. She bites her lip and shakes her head. "I—I...I haven't expressed them..." She squeaks out. I let go of her then and place my hand under my own chin.

"Well...I guess both of us have to be brave enough to do something about them, right?" My cheeks start to burn and I give Hinata a grin. She stares at me for a second, seeming unsure of herself, but then she nods her head and smiles.

"R—Right. Thank you, Naruto-kun." Her cheeks are a slight pink and I clear my throat as I look around us. We've paused just down the hall near the music room. Barely any students have walked by us due to it being a low profile hallway, but never the less I feel an awkward stare coming from somewhere.

"Well, I gotta go to my practice, so I'll check up with you later, all right?" She agrees and continues her trek. I give her one last smile and wave, then turn around to jog towards the gym.

Not long after leaving her side, I feel a slight tug on my sleeve. I whip around and am met with a young girl who looks like Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi. I raise my eyebrow in confusion, but she gives me a smirk.

"My onee-chan likes hanging out with you, Naruto-kun. You should take her out after the game Thursday, okay!" I scratch my cheek and smile.

"Really? Okay, I will. Say, why are you here, Hanabi? Shouldn't you be at your school?" She blinks up at me and then places her hand on her hip dramatically.

"Father likes me to keep an eye on my onee-chan...And I have tutoring on this hallway at 1:30 everyday." She points to an open door that has a sign next to it saying Konoha Middle school tutoring. 1:30–3 pm M–F.

"Oh. Okay." I reply lamely. She gives me a mischievous look and then walks away and into the room. I stand there, confused, as I think about what had just happened. Then I smile, remembering that she said Hinata likes being with me.

As I stroll out of the building, I start to whistle and realize that nothing could get me down.

(3:30 PM)

"I can't believe Kiba did that to me." I huff as I move the ice pack over my ankle. I wince as the pain travels up my leg, but I've had worse. Sasuke crosses his arms and scowls at nothing.

"Hn. You can still play Thursday, dobe." I roll my eyes at his comment.

"I know! But I thought he was my friend—I didn't know he hated me so much." Sasuke shakes his head and slings his bag over his shoulder.

Trying to change the subject, I think about Sasuke and what happened over the weekend. "Hey, Sasuke, you still keeping up with Tenten's dare?" I whisper so other people don't hear us.

His eye twitches slightly and he runs a hand through his hair. "I'm not going to tell you anything, dobe." I squint at him and cross my arms.

"Awww, teme! At least tell me you guys are getting along now. I don't see you guys talking at school at all." He scowls down for a minute, as if he has to choose his words very carefully. His licks his lips and glances in my direction.

"Sakura and I are healing. You don't have to worry." I give him a questioning look but he shrugs it off and turns around to go out the door. As he opens the door, he pauses, sighs and looks over his shoulder.

"Inuzuka is jealous of you, but you're too dense to realize what I'm even talking about." I try to catch up to him but the pain in my ankle forces me to sit back down. I let out a grunt in defeat.

"Why does everybody keep me out of the loop?" I mutter as I take the ice pack off and start to put my things into my bag. Once done with that, I slowly stand up and put pressure onto my ankle.

I grit my teeth in response to the pain, but I hobble out of the locker room anyway. The gym is almost cleared, except for a few stray cheerleaders flirting with basketball players. They ignore me as I escape the building.

I make my way out to my car and slide carefully into the driver's seat. Once inside, I drive in the direction of my house. I start to think about what happened with Kiba, and anger ripples through my body.

I catch the ball as Shikamaru throws it in my direction. Then, I run and dribble up to the hoop, and pivot to make a layup. Once it leaves the confines of the net, it lands in my arms and I toss it back to Shikamaru. He lazily copies my previous movements, making a clean layup.

"Hey, Naruto!" I hear loud footsteps behind me so I turn around. Kiba Inuzuka is standing there, jersey hanging loosely off of his body, an orange ball propped against his hip.

"What's up, Kiba?" I say as Shikamaru throws the ball to me again. Kiba glowers at me.

"Back off man. You don't know what I can do to you if you hurt—"

I hold my hands up in defense. "Look, Kiba, I don't know what you're accusing me of but just lay off, okay?" His sharp eyes pierce me and I turn around to continue practice with Shikamaru. Before I can finish my step, though, I am tripped.

I yell out in surprise and face plant onto the slick wood floor. Once I finish rubbing the dirt off of my face, I try to stand up but fall back onto the ground. My ankle throbs like crazy and I grit my teeth to hide the pain.

Shikamaru jogs to my side and helps me up while the brunette haired man walks off in the opposite direction.

"Mom, I'm home!" I shut the front door loudly and wander into the kitchen. Before I can make it, my mother runs out while wiping her hands on her apron. One quick look down at my bandaged foot and she rushes to my side.

"What happened, Naruto? Do I need to pummel someone to the ground?" Her eyes light up like a fire and I laugh and shake my head no.

"I'm fine, Mom. Just some stupid guy stuff."

"Yeah, well, if 'stupid guy stuff' is going to injure you forever I'm not going to sit back and watch." She puffs out her cheeks in annoyance. I reassure her that I am fine, then continue to my bedroom and set my bag down. As I fall back onto my comfy bed, I pull out my phone from my pocket.

I guess now would be as good a time as ever to ask Hinata-chan about Thursday, I decide. I enter my passcode, then flip to my contacts until I find her number. I take a breath, then start to type out my message.

After reading it over multiple times, I decide that it's perfect and press the send button. Once it's sent, I set my phone down and pull my bag over with my uninjured foot to my side. With my hand I rummage through until I grab one of my books and pull it to my side, then dig around until I find a notebook to do my homework on.

I sit there for twenty minutes until I finally get a text message, but it's not from who I expect it to be. Tenten's name appears at the top of the notification bubble, so I unlock it and read her message.

Of course she's asking about how things are going with Hinata, so I let her know truthfully about what's going on—even the feelings that I've told Sakura about. Tenten replies back a minute later saying how happy she is and how Sasuke hasn't told her anything.

I reply telling her to just ask Sakura if things have been different with Sasuke, and Tenten agrees to do so. I set my phone back down to continue my work, but it buzzes again.

This time, my heart takes an extra beat. Hinata has replied back to me. I quickly open up the message and take in her reply. After reading it a few times, I let out a shout.

"YES!" I fist pump and roll around on my bed. Then I hear quick footsteps to my bedroom and both my parents stand in the doorway. I sit up, the pain from my ankle barely even there. They both give me a look of confusion, and I shrug my shoulders.

"Eh, sorry. I just got excited." My mother raises her eyebrow and glances down at my phone. "Uh huh. Wanna share?" I feel my face burning and look back down at my phone.

My father puts his hand on her arm gently and gives her a look. "We don't want to push you, Naruto, but we just know there's things teens do nowadays that—"

"Okay, okay! Gosh, it's not like that! Dattebayo! I just...well, I have a date for Thursday night after the game." Both of their faces show pride and they give me smiles.

"Who is it, Naruto? Do we know her?" I clear my throat again and pick up my phone.

"Well, it's the same girl who said she'd help me with our classes—so she's pretty smart! Here is a picture of her. Her name is—"

"Hinata Hyuga." My father finishes. Both my mother and I give him curious looks. He chuckles slightly and gives me a nod. "I started a new job Saturday and it is under her Father's company. The Hyuga's are very rich, you know."

I nod my head as I picture Neji's home. As I think about it, every time I was there Hinata must have been there as well. A pit grows in my stomach as I realize just how much of Hinata I had missed while growing up. She would have been at everything I had been at, yet I never saw her for who she is.

My mother starts to gush at how pretty she is and how sweet she must be, but I barely hear her as I look down at the picture in front of me. Her soft, gentle self that I feel like has been cheering me on forever is unknowingly driving my mind crazy.

And it's only been two weeks!

A/N: Naruto POV is so hard for me to write from. And especially for this story...I like the SasuSaku half better. Shoot me. ^^;

A big thank you to Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf and the guest who reviewed my previous chapter! If you review my chapters, I'll mention your name in the next one. ;)

From the feedback I've gotten for this new SasuSaku fanfic idea, I've gotten two. TWO. Please let me know what you think about it people. If others won't read it, it isn't as much fun writing. I'll be working on it after I finished my current fanfic titled Rockstar. Check it out if you want more SasuSaku in your life. And I'd appreciate a suggestion for a name for it! (Continue reading to see the summary)

Sasuke and Sakura were in a dating relationship their freshman year of high school, until he moved away. Now ten years later, Sakura has a husband and a child. Her husband is unfortunately killed while working as a police officer, and she has been left to take care of their two year old child by herself. One day while at the grocery store, her child gets away from her and bumps into a tall man who is none other than Sasuke. Both adults are in shock at seeing each other again, and it only worsens as the child calls him Daddy. Sasuke has moved back into town as one of the leading officers in the station, making Sakura relive the painful memories of her late husband. Will this accidental run-in rekindle their high school romance or will the scars in both of their lives be too much?