"Hey, Hinata!" A loud voice boomed across the courtyard of the school as the owner of said voice bounded through crowds of students to catch up to the petite brunette who turned around and gave a small smile to the exuberant boy.

"Hello, Naruto." She greeted and clutched her binders closer to her body, "Can I help you?"

"Well, yeah, actually you can." He bent over to whisper conspiratorially into her ear. "You see, I happened to be, uh, sick on Friday and didn't catch the notes for history…and I was wondering if you happened to have some I could…I dunno…borrow for the mean time?"

She raised an eyebrow at him before giggling, "Naruto, everyone knows that you skipped the last period of Friday to go get wasted at the beach with likes of Ino, Kiba, Sakura and a bunch of others."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and grinned at her toothily. "So you caught me. Still though, do you have them?"

She laughed quietly before pulling out a sheet of paper from one of her binders. "I figured you'd ask." She handed it to him and smiled. "You always do."

Grinning, he threw his arms around her in a tight bear hug and said, "You're the best, Hinata. Seriously. I love you, girl."

Hinata burrowed her face into his shoulder to hide the deep blush staining her cheeks. He was way too close. She knew he was an affectionate guy, but sometimes it got to be too much; she felt ashamed that she couldn't even find the will to pull away.

"Thanks so much, Hinata." He unfurled his arms from around her and held the piece of paper up into the sky. "Yes! I will pass this class!"

She chuckled before gripping his shirt sleeve lightly and asking, "Naruto, do you know where Sasuke is?"

He looked around at his surroundings before frowning slightly and scratching his cheek. "Well, he was just over there a second ago…where the hell did he disappear to?" Turning back to Hinata he gave a shrug before saying, "Sorry. I don't."

"It's okay…I-I'll go find him myself." She waved goodbye briefly before going off to find her boyfriend.

--

"Hey, you seen Hinata?" The dark haired boy kicked his foot out and smirked when he felt it connect with the blonde's head from below.

"Hey! What was that for?" Naruto shouted up at Sasuke who was sitting on the concrete ledge of the school gate and rubbed his injured head. "That hurt!"

"I haven't seen her all day." He continued as if never hearing and tapped his pen against the rings of his binder impatiently. "She's in a couple of your classes isn't she? I was supposed to give her some of my notes for Spanish…" He frowned as he scanned the heavily crowded courtyard for his girlfriend, but found himself unable to because of the tree that happened to be blocking his entire view of the courtyard.

"Man, you're whipped, aren't you?" Naruto chuckled and very narrowly avoided the kick sent his way again. "Okay, okay! Yeah, I've seen her! I was just going to find her now to get some notes from her because you won't ever let me copy them!"

"That's because you don't deserve it. If you tried in class instead of skipping it so you can go get crunk with Sakura, then maybe I'd consider it. Hinata's just too nice for her own good." He craned his neck in order to attempt to peer over into the crowd with no avail.

"Yeah, don't know how you managed to snag her." Naruto muttered under his breath and yelped as Sasuke's other foot hit his head.

"Where is she?"

"Over there." Naruto pouted and pointed to a point exactly behind the tree where Sasuke's view was being blocked. "Anyways, I've gotta go see her now." With that, he bounded off towards the girl while an arm waved exuberantly towards her.

Putting down his binder and notes on the high ledge beside him, Sasuke stood up and leapt onto the tree gracefully and gave a crooked smile as he peered over at the shortest girl in the crowd who turned around to Naruto's overly loud call with a look akin to bewilderment. He watched as Naruto gave his weak explanation to Hinata who smiled and patiently gave him the notes with no berating on her behalf.

He grinned slightly and got ready to swing down from the branch to go and meet both of them; his binder and notes forgotten on the ledge.

"You're the best, Hinata. Seriously. I love you, girl."

He paused and gripped the branch tighter as he heard the quick snippet of conversation float through the crowd. Slowly, he turned his gaze to where Naruto had his arms wrapped around her tightly in a hug and Hinata had buried her face into her shoulder.

Too late though.

He saw it.

He saw the blush that fell across her cheeks. He saw the way she bit her lip. He saw the shy look in her eye as his arms fell across her.

Cursing, he snapped off the branch he had been clutching and threw it to the ground angrily before jumping down swiftly to join it.

--

She hadn't seen him all day.

It worried her because as much as people seemed to think so (or want to think so), Sasuke was no badass and never skipped classes. He hadn't even been in Spanish to help her with the notes she had so desperately been in need of assistance for translating. She would've thought he was sick or something except for the fact she had found his binder and notes on the concrete ledge at the edge of the schoolyard at the end of lunch.

"Hey, um, Sakura, have you seen Sasuke at all?" Hinata asked quickly as she just about passed the pink haired girl in the hallway.

Sakura scrunched her nose before shaking her head. "Sorry."

Hinata's shoulders slumped dejectedly as she murmured, "Thanks." Before continuing down the hallway and out the school doors. Staring up at the blue sky that held very little wisps of clouds that afternoon, she sighed quietly. Her gaze drifted towards the top of the school that was shielding her vision from the sun before widening her eyes in realization.

--

He let his eyes drift between closed and barely opened slits as he lied against the warm rooftop of the school with the wind calmly brushing through his hair. At the moment, he was drifting between a state of consciousness and a dreamlike state; which was perfectly fine with him.

It was less painful than being fully aware.

"I thought I might find you here." A quiet voice murmured from behind him as they finished climbing the ladder that led to the top of the building.

Sasuke didn't even bother turning around to acknowledge the shy girl's presence as he opened his eyes and stared up at the clear blue sky above him. He knew who it was and he knew that she knew too.

"You always come up here when there's something to escape from." She sat down next to him and curled her knees up to her chest as she too tilted her head to the sky.

He continued to ignore her and laid his arms down behind his head as angry thoughts stormed across his mind. This was his place of comfort, of solace, and of sanctuary, and she had no right to be here right now.

"You didn't come to Spanish." She whispered quietly into her knees just loud enough for him to hear. "And I didn't see you at all today. I was…worried."

He was angry at himself for the guilt curling up in the bottom of his stomach as he remembered the notes that he was supposed to give her. Letting a snarl cross his lips, he turned his head away from her direction, trying not to let the upset and hurt expression on Hinata's face make him feel in anyway bad.

"Why are you mad at me?" She finally asked, her voice even quieter than anything else she had said to him on the roof thus far.

Clenching his fists behind his head, he finally shot up and turned on her angrily, his eyes narrowed furiously. "Why?" He hissed and moved closer to the distraught girl who could not for the life of her tear her eyes away from his. "Why shouldn't I be? Why should I have to be put up with being second fiddle? Why should I give my hard worked notes to you when you could go ask that blonde idiot? Why do you still care for Naruto?" He all but roared that last question, his face turning splotchy red, his hands clenched into tight fists, and his chest heaving with pants.

"Wh-what?" She breathed out unsteadily and leaned back, too afraid to come any closer to the angry boy.

"I see the way you look at him still. I can see the way your face turns that undeniably infatuated blush when you get close to him. I can tell that your heart beats a thousand miles per minute and that you get breathless when he starts talking to you sometimes. I can tell that you still have feelings for him!" He looked down at the courtyard below them and gritted his teeth painfully. "But…I'm your boyfriend…and you don't even pretend to act around me like that."

Slowly, she faced in front of him and gently pulled one hand to place it right above her heart. "I don't blush around you because…I'm comfortable around you. I don't have to blush around you because I'm not embarrassed and self-conscious when I'm with you." She pressed his large, warm hand closer to her skin and closed her eyes. "And can you feel my heartbeat now when I'm with you?"

Sasuke tried to hide the blush threatening to appear across his fair skinned cheeks due to how close his hand was to her breast before concentrating on her tiny heartbeat. It felt like a little bird panicking in its cage trying to find a way to escape its confinement. Looking up at her, he let his hand lift away from her chest before having it pressed against her warm cheek.

"And as for losing my breath…well…" She blushed as she continued. He could feel the heat radiate from her cheek into his hand and he could feel a small smile crack at the sides of his mouth. "I just try not to show it. Have you actually seen me breathless? It l-looks like I'm having an asthma attack…" She murmured and hid her face against his calloused hands.

Sasuke, it seemed, was slightly dumbstruck as mulled over her words. Turning his head away, he murmured, "But you still have feelings for Naruto nonetheless."

Letting his hand fall from her cheek, she took his face to cup it with her own tiny hands and brought it close to hers so she could stare into it unwaveringly. "Naruto…Naruto is my past. He was someone very dear to me, but…" She trailed off for a moment before beginning again, "You, however, are my present and future." She pressed her cheek against his and whispered, "Just as you can't replace all of Naruto, he can never, ever replace y-you."

Entwining his fingers into her hair, he pulled her body close enough to mould against his body. "He better not." He murmured against her lips and clutched her tight against him.

As much as he relished her earlier excuse for her lack of blushing around him, he still felt a ridiculous amount of male pride at her flushed face after he kissed her; her own breathlessness make him want to stop breathing; and he found that his own heartbeat matched hers perfectly after.

Both of them gave almost smiles as they intertwined fingers, both aware of their blushing, panting, and frantic pulse.

"You, however, are my present

…and future."

He could deal with that.