A/N: Now I'm about halfway through with this story. I intend to carry on through the end! (Plus, I already wrote the epilogue, and I think it's really good, so I have to let you all see it, so I must finish the rest of the story first!)

"Wh-what?"

"That's the only reason I could think of," Temari said. "And, let's face it, it's logical. You're pretty and new, I'm surprised that no one's outright asked you to marry them. You could have anyone here. Though, I advise that you stay away from Shikamaru. He's mine."

"Y-yes, I understand, but…but…G-Gaara can't b-be in love with me…th-that's not possible," Hinata said.

"I can't think of any other explanation," the blonde said. "Now, I've got to get off the phone. But, you didn't hear this from me."

Temari hung up without waiting for Hinata to say goodbye, leaving her alone to wonder about this. No one had ever loved her before, besides Itachi, and she had never considered herself much of a heart throb anyway, so what would anyone see in her?

It wasn't long before she was laying in bed and still pondering this. Surely Temari was wrong. Because if she was right, Hinata would feel guilty having a crush on Naruto.

~X~

The next morning, the Hyuuga walked to school with Ino, Sakura, Tenten, and Temari. She was careful not to look at Temari after their awkward conversation the night before.

Temari didn't even seem to remember it, so Hinata decided not to bring it up at all. Being accused of being her young brother's love interest wasn't something Hinata wanted to talk about anyway.

Luckily, Ino chatted away happily about whatever it was she had been talking about; Hinata hadn't paid much attention. Her mind was still on the quiet redhead whom Temari was convinced was in love with her. There would be only one way to find out, and that would be to watch him closely and see how he acted around her.

School that day was normal, just like it had been the past two days, and Hinata didn't notice any strange activity from any of her friends, much less Gaara. It appeared that Temari might have been wrong.

Still, Hinata made sure that she kept a close eye on him, just to be safe. She was sure that she would be able to pick up on some signs of romantic interest if he had any towards her.

He did glance at her sometimes, but only sometimes, and everyone looked at her every now and then. Everyone but Kiba, and Hinata didn't know why he had become distant with her overnight.

~X~

English class. That was when Kiba was deeply immersed in thought about his white eyed house guest. His thoughts had been about her all day, for reasons involving a conversation he had had recently. He couldn't get his mind off of what Shino and Hana had said to him, about being in love with Hinata.

Truth be told, she was special, unlike any other girl he had met. Unless he had left Hikari, he wouldn't have married anyone at all. Not that the other girls weren't nice, they had just never seemed special at all. None of them could have been the one he was meant to spend his life with.

But Hinata, Hinata was different. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew there was something about her and he could never keep his mind off her for long.

Suddenly, their teacher, Kurenai Yuhi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She was a young and pretty woman and was rumored to be in a relationship with history teacher Asuma Sarutobi. (A/N: I know, I had put it as Izumo, but I had forgotten Asuma, it was a mistake and I'm sorry.)

"Now, this project may not seem English related, but I can assure you that we'll turn it around to make it that way," Ms. Yuhi said. "The fourth grade teacher, Mr. Morino, well lend us his students for this project. Now, there are only five of them, but there is almost enough of you to divide into equal groups for each student. This isn't a project for just one grade, all of you, freshmen, sophomores, and junior are participating.

"We will have three groups of freshmen, one group for sophomore, and Temari, I'm sure you can take on one kid by yourself. Our first group is," Ms. Yuhi paused for dramatic affect, "Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga."

A lot thought that was an unfair grouping. After all, Kiba and Shino were best friends, and Hinata lived with Kiba, so they were all probably good friends. Still, no one verbalized their distaste.

"Our next group is Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Gaara. Our final freshman group is Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. Since there are only two of you sophomores, I'm sure Kankuro and Tenten are already aware of their grouping."

Both Ino and Sakura groaned inwardly at the fact that they were separated from their crushes, Hinata sort of sighed to herself, half with disappointment at not being with Naruto, but half with relief because she knew Kiba well and liked Shino. And perhaps for the fact that she was separated from a certain redhead.

Naruto looked disappointed, and Hinata wondered if it was her that he had wanted to be grouped with, but dismissed it. Why would she want any false hope? Kankuro and Tenten exchanged glances that no one could read, which set a lot to wondering.

"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what your project will be. Each group will be assigned to one of the fourth graders to interview them about their lives, then write a biography about them. Now, you'll interview them in groups, but I want you to each write a separate biography. No copying, I'll be able to pick up on it. You'll meet the fourth grade tomorrow," their teacher continued.

"Why do we have to use little kids in this?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, you idiot, fourth graders are only five years younger than us. That'll hardly make a difference when we're adults. One of us could end up marrying one of them someday," Sakura scolded. (A/N: What? Foreshadowing the epilogue? Me? No way!)

"Well, that's all the time we have today, I'll see you all tomorrow to begin your projects. Make sure you get a rubric on your way out."

~X~

It was lunchtime and Kankuro and Tenten continually glanced at each other, then nodded.

"Guys, we have something to say," Kankuro said.

"Well, this may come as a shock to all of you, but me and Kankuro are dating now," said Tenten. "Last night, we weren't just hanging out as friends but on a date."

No one seemed shocked though. It wasn't uncommon to see them together, so no one had thought anything of it, but the fact that they were dating wasn't shocking at all. Everyone, even Hinata, could tell that the two liked each other as more than friends and it was only a matter of time before they themselves picked up on it.

"Congratulations to both of you," Temari said with a smile.

"You have to fill us in on ALL of the details," Sakura and Ino both said, leaning closer to Tenten.

~X~

"Alright, I hope you all read over your rubrics and have them with you, since they have the questions you should ask on them," Ms. Yuhi said. "You'll be meeting your fourth grader soon. Kiba's group will be interviewing a kid in the library, Naruto's group will be in the cafeteria, Ino's group will be in here, Tenten's group will be in the fourth grade classroom, and Temari will be in the history classroom. You are dismissed to go to that location."

Kiba, Shino, and Hinata made their way to the small library, where a girl with orange hair in two pony tails that stuck diagonally up and dark eyes, was waiting for them.

"My name is Moegi," she said, smiling at them."

"I'm Kiba and sunglasses over there is Shino. This girl here is Hinata," said Kiba. It was true, Shino was wearing sunglasses even though they were inside.

Shino gave a nod to acknowledge Moegi and Hinata waved sweetly at her before they began their interview.

~X~

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji had grouped four desks together in a square just before a brown haired boy with glasses and a runny nose walked into the room.

"My name is Udon," he said before joining them at the desks. They each introduced themselves and then started asking the questions.

~X~

Naruto drug Sakura and Gaara down the hall, despite Sakura's protests and Gaara's inserts of, "We know how walk, Naruto."

The blonde ignored them both and soon burst into the cafeteria, where a girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes sat. She looked up, blushed, then proceeded to introduce herself as Shinzou.

Naruto gave a rushed introduction of them all and started shouting questions at her, until Sakura punched him in the back of the head and did the interview in a more refined manner.

~X~

Kankuro and Tenten chatted with each other as they walked through the hall, on their way to the fourth grade class room. When they reached it, there a boy with brown hair sitting alone.

"Hello, I'm Tenten and he's Kankuro," the girl said, smiling.

"My name's Konohamaru Sarutobi," he replied. "You probably know my uncle, cuz he's a teacher here."

"Yes, we do, and we'll be asking more questions about your family soon, so let's get started."

~X~

Temari stepped into the history classroom and saw a little boy with red hair that reminded her of Gaara and brown eyes. He said his name was Yukinojo, and she told him her name.

~X~

After a week of meeting the kids everyday for their interviews, each student had a large amount of notes and knew their kids well. Everyone worked hard on it and, when the grades came out, even Naruto did a good job on it and everyone had interesting stories to tell.

'That Shinzou was so sweet," Sakura said. "I think she has a crush on Gaara, she was always blushing at him and always wanted to know what he thought."

"I…I really liked Moegi," Hinata said. "I-I think Hanabi would have liked her too…"

"Hanabi's your sister, right?" Ino asked.

"Y…yes."

"Was she mean to you too?"

"N-no…not really. She never bullied me, but she…she never did anything to stop anyone else either. F-fear, I think," Hinata said. She had never really disliked her younger sister.

"Well, either way, it's not like it matters. We don't plan on making you go back to her anytime soon," said Kiba.

"Y-you're all so nice to me. I…I love you all so much…you're like…you're like the family I never had," Hinata said, tears of joy forming in her eyes, though she refused to let them fall.

~X~

Kiba was alone in his room, late at night, thinking as usual. He again couldn't get Hinata out of his head, but tonight was going to be different for him. He was finally beginning to realize that she really was the special girl he had always wanted.

Hinata Hyuuga. She was kind, pretty, and she always tried not to let the pain of her past show. She was definitely special, this Kiba had to realize, as well as his true feelings for her.

He knew exactly what he felt.

A/N: I know, I know, I should have had Naruto's group in charge of Konohamaru, but I'll tell you, it had to happen that way for reasons revealed in the epilogue. I couldn't stick Gaara with any other group because I wanted the groups to be like the teams in the series, but I wanted to him everyone in their age group, so Gaara was out of place and Sasuke's not around, so it happened that way. GET OFF MY BACK! Next time: Kiba has to finally face facts, Hinata, Naruto, and Ino get their hearts broken, and Kankuro and Tenten are still going strong.