"The chunin exams are soon, Hinata. Excited?"
"I-I hope I-I don't let y-you guys down."
"You won't. Why? Because you're strong Hinata, don't doubt it."
Kiba grabbed her arm pulling her close to him and hugged her tight with one arm earning him an adorable blush from the timid girl.
"Yeah! We know you'd have our backs and we'll always have yours." Hinata giggled as Akamaru barked, as if it agreed with his master. She felt so happy to have such warm and encouraging friends.
She hadn't told the Uchiha about the upcoming Chunin exams or the fact that she was going to take part. She didn't know when was the right time; she was actually hoping he would bring it up so she could tell him. She could see from his appearance that he was a skilled shinobi; that's usually the case with the Uchihas. Why he would even take interest in a Genin like her was beyond her. But she was grateful. It led her to believe that maybe Ken would do the same.

There was a meeting for all Genins who were about to enter the Chunin exams. The Hokage had been present and gave a short speech to all of them. The Jounins who were present called the Genins over for a one on one thing, where they questioned their willingness to enter the Chunin exams. None of them said otherwise. This year's batch of Genins were tough; even the hard headed Kiba admitted it. Hinata bit her lip thinking of how much catching up she had to do.
She sighed inwardly at the thought.
Looks like it's going to be non-stop training pretty soon...
It was not until today when she saw the infamous blonde, she realized that she hadn't even thought about him ever since the incident occurred. Of course she still liked the guy and the sparkling admiration she had towards him would never fade away. He was her motivation in the Academy; he still is actually...
Then, there's Ken. The person who spent six days with her and just like that she fell in love. What was it about him? She really didn't know but she didn't want the feeling to go away.
She wanted to be in love with Ken, she wanted him to fulfil his promise.
But right now, what matters is that she advances. She wouldn't be able to face him if she didn't.

"Are you trolling me, Itachi?"
"I told you, she won't be here until its evening."
Why? What is the world trying to do to me?
"It's evening!"
"It's four thirty."
"That's not evening enough for you?"
"We meet up late like six thirty or so."
"Ugh, you should have told me then."
"I did tell you, you're the one who dragged me here."
Shisui took a deep breath as though he was trying to calm himself down. Itachi just folded his arms and leaned against one of the logs in the field, waiting for his weird friend to say something.
"Want to go back?"
"No! I want to see the girl!"
"Then shall we wait?"
"How about we pass the time?"
Itachi raised a brow.
"What do you suggest?"
"Train!" Shisui stretched. "It's been a long time since we've trained together."
"The field is for public use, we can't destroy it."
Itachi said seriously, knowing what their 'training' would do to the place.
"Okay, not all out then just a little basic taijustu. No Sharingan" Shisui smiled, hopeful.
Itachi as much as he didn't want to admit it, couldn't really deny his best friend. Even if he wanted to Shisui would talk his way in to it. That's how they got in to this situation in the first place.
"Just taijustsu?"
"Just taijutsu." Shisui grinned.
Itachi smirked and shook his head.
"Try not to hurt yourself, Itachi."
"Hmph."

It was sort of sad when she thought about it. They had been friends for a month or so now, but the only things they did was sit on the same bench, at the same place, at almost the same time.
She went to more places with Ino and Sakura than she did with him. And that says a lot seeing how those three rarely go out together.
Today, it was going to be different, Chunin exams are coming soon and she needed a training partner. Yes, she could just train with her team mates but she really wanted to try and train with the Uchiha. He was a few years older than her, definitely stronger and more experienced she reckoned.
An Uchiha training a Hyuuga, who would have thought that day would actually come?
Of course, she had to ask him first. Someone like him probably wouldn't want to train with someone like her. But he wasn't like the others, he was... nice.

Both were nearly breathless and sweating like pigs. Neither outmatched the other and it was a tie; again. "Well, at least we didn't destroy anything..." Shisui laughed.
"Yeah, I guess you can say that. Just left a few small craters here and there."
Shisui stood up straight, stretched back and took off his shirt. He wrung it before throwing it on to the bench and giving Itachi a sly smile. "What? Not done yet?"
"Just one more round should get me satisfied. Unless of course you want to back –"
Interrupted by an avoided kick to the temple;
in an instant it began all over again, only this time one of them was shirtless which to him meant that he was getting serious.

The little Hyuuga did not expect to see anything remotely close to this when she came to the field. Afraid to take a step further she watched the two from the shadows; one of them being Itachi and another she assumed was one of his Uchiha friends. Most of the time she couldn't even see them; they were that fast. She gulped. How... is she going to get such a high level shinobi to train her?
She continued watching in silence but was found out immediately when she squeaked as Itachi slammed into a tree after taking a kick to the chest.
Shisui turned to the source of the "EEP" that he had just heard only to find a young, adorable little mouse with her head faced down.
"Aww, a fan girl is checking us out." Itachi looked up and saw the girl; knees shaking, she obviously saw them 'training'. "Hinata-san?" Itachi stood up straight. She shot up, eyes filled with worry and slight fear.
Upon seeing her pale eyes Shisui raised a brow; so it was her.
Slowly she approached the two, it was obvious to Shisui that she was shy. "I-Itachi-kun..."
"Hinata-san, this is Shisui my... friend." Itachi cleared his throat. Shisui flashed his million watt smile at the girl. "Ahhh Hinata-Chan is it?" The timid girl blushed she turned away from the half naked man trying to focus on Itachi. "H-hai.. my n-name is H-Hinata... N-nice t-to meet y-you." She bowed.
She jumped as he opened his arms and ran towards her. "Awww!"
She choked on a squeak as he embraced her, wiggling her tiny body in his larger frame.
"What a cute little Hyuuga mouse! My name is Shisui~ Nice to meet you too Hinata Chaaaaan~!"
Itachi's fists clenched. "Shisui..." He sighed.
Itachi was a tad terrified looking at the poor girl's face, her blush had spread all the way from her neck, to her face, even her ears were red. The fact that he didn't have a shirt on did not help. Never in her life would she have expected this to happen during her friendly evening visit.
"Shisui! She's going to suffocate!"
"Naww, calm down – "
"S-shi-shi—sss—"Hinata was a second away from exploding. Not kidding.
"Shisui, seriously, let her go." Itachi hissed. He didn't know why, but he was furious. He didn't like him suffocating her and for some reason he hated him touching her. He was used to seeing Shisui smother girls all the time, so why? Why did it tick him off so much?
Sensing irritation in his best friend's voice, Shisui pulled away and raised his hands, surrendering, leaving a very red and dizzy Hyuuga. "I-I-I-tachi k-kun"
Worried but at the same time amused by the way she staggered towards him, Itachi reached out for her, grabbing her shoulders and keeping her stable. He shook her slightly in his arms.
"Hinata-san, are you okay?" Her head was swaying in all directions so it was hard to tell if she was nodding or shaking her head. Either one, Shisui earned another death glare from his best friend.
"Okay, okay so she's not a hugger! I get it!" he laughed nervously, stepping away from the irritated Uchiha who's features immediately softened when his eyes met the Hyuuga. "Come on Hinata san, maybe you should sit." Slowly, as if he were scared to break her he brought her to the bench and Shisui silently approached. "I-I am s-sorry." She put on hand on her head and the other was waving in front of her face. "Heheh," Shisui laughed but halted when Itachi beamed at him.
"Heh, she's cute." Shisui grinned at his best friend. Thankfully he had the cow sense to whisper it to him instead of shouting it out for Hinata and the whole world to hear which could lead to her self destruction. Itachi shook his head and focused on the petite figure on the bench; he sighed out of relief when he noticed her blush was residing.
What can I talk about? He thought. They'd usually mostly sit in comfortable silence in each other's company until Hinata spoke up about something inevitably making him laugh or smile. That was the way their evenings were until Shisui screwed it up. He felt scared that they might go back to being awkward again thanks to Shisui. He was hoping that they'd one day drop the formalities too, but looks like he has to start all over again thanks to his douchebag friend.
Hinata flinched as Shisui sat beside her, not even an inch away. She gave Itachi a look as if she were trying to say 'Help me,'
But instead he sat next to her on the left side, leaving her in the middle of the two Uchihas. He felt strangely... flattered when she moved towards him when they were sitting on the bench. It might have been to get away from Shisui, but he was happy. She was close to him, and she didn't feel uncomfortable. "Hey, Hinata-Chan!" Shisui leaned closer to her and she let out a high pitched squeak. "Don't be so tensed, now! We're all friends! Come on, I am sorry I scared you."
He backed up and held out his hand, grinning trying to make her ease up to him. "We'll start from scratch come on," He reached his hand out some more, waiting for her to get the message. Slowly, she grabbed his hand, and he shook with enough power to shake her body as well. "See? I am not scary!"
Itachi raised a brow as he heard her giggle.
She warmed up to him that fast?
"N-no S-Shisui-san." She smile, sliding her hand from his. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when he frowned. "Don't be so formal, Hinata-chan! Come on, call me Shisui-Chan!"
She blushed, as expected but laughed. Itachi felt a weird feeling in his gut, suddenly watching the two getting closer so fast. He didn't know what it was but he didn't like it.
"S-Shisui C-Ch-"
"Yes, come on almost there," Shisui nodded.
"S-Shisui C-Ch-Chan."
"Yeah!" He flung his hand up in the air, wanting to rest it over the girl's shoulder when... the glare.
He sighed at Itachi and quickly diverted his action by putting his arms behind his head.
"Hinata-san, how was your day?"
"I-It was f-fine I-Itachi – Ch-Chan." She giggled and Shisui had to pinch himself to keep from laughing.
He was surprised however to see Itachi actually smile, looking as though he actually liked her calling him that. She is cute.
"I-I a-am j-just k-kidding," She said sounding slightly panicked wondering if he didn't like her calling him that but didn't show it. Then she remembered,
"A-actually, I-Itachi kun,"
Back to that again eh?
He sighed inwardly.
"Hm?"
"Hey, hey I want in too!" Shisui hovered over the Hyuuga girl. She giggled at his friend before continuing
"T-The C-Chunin e-exams are c-coming up a-and I was w-wondering i-if you could t-train me..."
His eyes widened. *Thump*
Train? With me? But...
"Why?" He didn't mean to ask her, but it just slipped out. She looked down at her feet and wrung her hands.
"W-well you see... The Ch-Chunin exams are c-coming soon a-and... Well... I-I need t-training..."
That still doesn't answer my question...
"And w-well, th-that's –"
Why...
"Why me?"
"W-w-well because, you're s-strong and,"
"Hinata-san, I think that there are many other Hyuugas that can train you better than I can. I can't improve your taijutsu, I am not familiar with the gentle fist." He said, honestly.
"B-But! I-I don't.. w-want t-to t-train with them... I-I want t-to train w-with you." The last part was almost inaudible. If she wasn't sitting so close, he doubt he would have heard it. And he hopes, prays that Shisui didn't hear it or out comes the girl friend crap again.
She grabbed his sleeve and gathered her courage to look at him.
*Thump*
"P-please, t-train m-me."
He looked into those pearl orbs and he wondered how the hell people refused her for anything.
They were wide and demanding, filled with determination and just one look into them and you find yourself being pulled; succumbing to whatever she wishes for.
"I'll train you Hinata-Chan!"
Damn.
"Y-you w-would?" Her grip on Itachi's sleeve loosened and she faced the other Uchiha.
Damn it.
"Yeah, we're friends now aren't we?" Shisui grinned.
No.
"Y-yes. I-I guess." She smiled. "T-Thanks, S-Shisui..."
"Chan." He winked, finishing for her.
Don't thank him! Don't train with him! He should have just said yes really.
"B-But I really h-hope t-that I-Itachi-kun would..." She sighed and shook her head, feeling like she was forcing him. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, catching her attention.
"I can't really leave you with someone like Shisui, Hinata-san." Shisui scowled.
Itachi smiled at her and she gleamed with happiness, picking up the pieces of what he meant.
"T-Thank you! Itachi-kun!"
"Hn."
Itachi just kept smiling, he smiled so much at the girl that it actually hurt the muscles on his face; the only muscles on his body that he rarely ever used in his entire life.
Shisui, was also starting to take a liking to the girl. She was like he said before, cute. No, adorable; insanely adorable.

"Hey,"
"Hm?"
"Hinata's cute."
"You've said that three times already."
"Mm, I know. She is just that cute."
"Stop it." Itachi stared at him.
"What?!" Shisui shrugged.
"You almost killed her today." He said, sounding impassive as always
"It was only a hug! Don't tell me you've never hugged her before!"
"I never did." Feeling disappointed as he said that.
"We barely touch each other."
"Eh, well she is a few years younger but you know. Age is just a number right?"
"Don't tell me you actually like her. You just met her." Itachi said, almost sounding bored. But he felt that same uneasy feeling in his gut.
"Of course I don't! Like I said, she's cute."
Yeah, I know.
With a sigh, Itachi looked up at the evening sky. Itachi wasn't one to beat around the bush about his feelings. He knew he liked the girl more than just a friend. He knew it and he admitted it but he didn't show it. Especially since he wasn't sure about how she had felt.
Hinata... Who is Uchiha Itachi to you?

Well there you go, another chapter done with~ :D Thanks for reading please dont hesitate to leave your thoughts :D I love reading reviews. thanks guys! Love ye :D