Author's Note: This chapter is brought to you by present-me. You're welcome.


When Uchiha Sasuke entered the apartment, smirking to himself and covered in mud over a week prior, Kakashi had said nothing, even as his floor was covered in mucky footprints. When Sasuke had walked into the apartment shriveled, pale, and half-drowned some days later, Kakashi had simply stared in concern that he and Hinata were getting too adventurous with their sex games. And that evening, when Kakashi caught Sasuke running around Konoha stark naked except for a wet towel, Kakashi finally found that he had to intervene.

The two were back at the apartment, Sasuke seated on the living room couch, still wet and nude except for his towel, but looking rather nonchalant about it.

Kakashi stood before him, and carefully considered his words. "I know you're young, and may feel the need to…experiment sometimes-"

The Uchiha paused from rubbing a suspicious-looking bite mark on his shoulder. He gave Kakashi a nasty look.

"But you're going to get in trouble if you keep running around like this. Maybe you've been idle for too long. You're coming on my mission with me first thing tomorrow morning."


Naruto and Hinata walked through the Hokage tower together, neither able to look at the other.

"So I guess you heard what happened at the bathhouse last night," Naruto broke the silence.

"K-Kiba-kun told me," said Hinata.

As they reached Tsunade's office, Hinata attempted to walk inside, but Naruto put his hand on the door, stopping her.

"You should know, I requested you – personally – for this mission," Naruto said, smiling awkwardly. "I figured it would help you get your mind off – things," he finished lamely.

Sasuke.

Hinata politely bowed her head. "T-thank you Naruto-kun. I'm s-sure it will help!"

As Naruto didn't respond, Hinata raised her face, to see that he was absently watching her. She blushed under his scrutiny, then noticed some scratches on his neck, but he quickly covered them with his hand.

"Don't worry about this Sasuke thing. Trust me, he's just PMSing."

When Hinata stared at him in shock, Naruto abruptly remembered that she was a girl. He waved his hands frantically and spewed out a few hundred apologies.

Hinata simply glanced away. Sometimes Naruto reminded her of Kiba-kun. She almost smiled.

Almost.

She reflected on how angry Sasuke must have been, to have attacked Naruto somewhere as inappropriate as a bathhouse. She dwelled on the one detail Kiba had mentioned offhandedly – that Sasuke had been clothed in nothing but a towel. She reddened as she unintentionally began to imagine it.

"I'm sorry," Naruto was saying for the umpteenth time. Again, he reached down to her hair, and cleared a spot at her temple – as if to plant a kiss.

Hinata tried to pull away, "S-Sasuke-"

"Sasuke isn't here."

Her shoulders trembled.

"I know you like me Hinata. But I'm not him."

And it couldn't have been more obvious.

Bowing her head, Hinata pushed past Naruto and entered Tsunade's office. She only hoped he was right in suggesting the mission would get Sasuke off her mind.


The group of four stood in the forest, a generally peeved atmosphere amongst them. The three teenagers could barely stand to look at one another.

Kakashi had claimed he hadn't known that Naruto and Hinata had been assigned the same mission as them. Of course, Sasuke overheard Kakashi swearing the same thing to Naruto. His fists clenched in irritation.

Though he didn't look at her directly, he could see Hinata from the corner of his eye.

He had known that getting into a relationship with her had always been a bad idea. He had told himself again and again, had pounded it into his skull, and yet he had still kissed her, had kept her in his company, had consented to being her boyfriend, and now…

…now he was losing his mind.

Hinata walked by, taking little notice of the contemptuous look he was directing towards her. She paid no attention to Sasuke, almost to a suspicious degree, and occupied herself at that moment by dislodging some kunai from a nearby tree, despite that she was dangerously distracted, and his voice seemed to echo in her mind every minute of every hour–

All I wanted was you.

"Hinata, can you scout the perimeter?" Kakashi called.

Hinata activated the byakugan, and made sure she did.

Sasuke wiped his sword on some leaves. The group had encountered two rogue Kumo ninja, but had taken them down without difficulty. Naruto was crouched down, searching the bodies for anything that might be useful as they proceeded.

"There's one more," said Hinata suddenly. "He's getting away!" She darted through some trees.

As Sasuke and Kakashi started after her, several more nin dropped from the surrounding trees.

"Reinforcements," said Kakashi, as Naruto rose. The three were quickly engaged in a scuffle of techniques.

Sasuke blocked strikes and deflected jutsu, but his mind couldn't have been further from the fight. Kumogakure was known for its attempts to steal the byakugan, and Hinata had been specifically warned not to go off on her own. What if this was all just a diversion? Sasuke impatiently slashed the throat of his latest challenger, then raced off in the direction Hinata had gone, tearing through leaves and branches until he found her, and she was-

-drinking from her canteen. She nearly choked at seeing him burst through the brush, breathless, and armed, with his sharingan upon her. As Hinata fell into a fit of coughs, Sasuke continued to scrutinize her. He then lowered his sword, his jaw relaxing, and his eyes turning black again. "Where's the fleer?"

"He – got away–" Hinata managed.

"Hn." He gave her an unimpressed look. She returned it with one of her own.

Their radios crackled. "Sasuke?" said Kakashi's voice.

Sasuke turned away from Hinata and fingered the receiver in his ear. "I'm up ahead. With – Hyuuga," he said tersely.

A moment passed before Kakashi responded. "Good. You two stay ahead, by at least half a mile. I need you to pose as civilians and do some reconnaissance for us until we reach the village. Put away your weapons, hide your vests-" Then the radio cut off again. Sasuke waited, but there were no further instructions.

Not looking at each other, Sasuke and Hinata shed their vests and forehead protectors, burying them in some bushes to retrieve later. With some reluctance, Sasuke also removed his sword. He glanced at Hinata, who had removed her weapons holster from her thigh, to instead strap to her lower leg on the inside of her slacks.

"We're off," said Sasuke, before taking off his ear piece and flicking it away. Hinata turned hers off and tucked it into her pocket.

Sasuke and Hinata proceeded through the woods and towards the territory just on the outskirts of the hidden village of Cloud. Kumo rogues had stolen an important scroll from one of Konoha's bases, and their goal was to retrieve it. Sources had led them to a heavily-guarded military building run by samurai of the Lightening Country. It was a B-class mission, but Tsunade had requested that they go about it with subtlety, so not to aggravate tensions between Konoha and Kumo.

Sasuke and Hinata walked for several kilometers together in silence, and rather than being uncomfortable, it was almost…ordinary between them. They didn't look at each other during their venture, but sensed each other through the sounds of their movements. The two became increasingly cautious as the forest thinned. Without having to verbally communicate, they knelt in the cover of trees as they spotted a road in the distance, and beyond that, a thick stone wall that went up at least fifty feet.

"C'mon," Sasuke hissed, and they proceeded forward, keeping to their thinning cover of foliage.

Soon the base was a few yards away, and the two had crossed the road onto its territory. There was little cover remaining except a tree or two, leaving them exposed and at a strategic disadvantage. It was only as Hinata activated the byakugan to examine the wall that she spotted the guards patrolling the perimeter – one who was quickly approaching. Her white eyes would give away her nationality, and Sasuke's black ones, as well. She began to reach for her weapons' holster, when Sasuke grabbed her jacket and pulled her against him.

Suddenly he was kissing her, and she didn't know why or how it came to be, just that she was kissing him harder. They stumbled into the wall, and quickly resumed, Sasuke's hands on her hips, drawing her against his arousal, their tongues invading each other's mouths, her legs wrapping around him, and fingers pulling off his shirt.

She was pressed harder against the wall as the two fell into rhythmic grunts. His hand explored her upper thigh as hers trailed down from his abdomen. She shrugged off her jacket, allowing it to fall to the ground, leaving her just in a tank top, and Sasuke in his long black armguards that displayed his muscled shoulders and lean pecs.

The world spun and spun around them as they were intoxicated by each other's proximity. They didn't notice the approaching guard who spotted them then sauntered off again, dismissing the two as "horny teenagers." They didn't even notice when Kakashi and Naruto approached.

Naruto coughed. "Guys?"

The two doujutsu-users opened their eyes and stared at one another for a moment before taking notice of their audience. Hinata was dumped unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Un?" said Sasuke, who was fumbling with his belt. Hinata grasped around for her jacket, and hurriedly pulled it on. She quickly climbed up from the ground, neatening her tousled hair. As an afterthought, Sasuke and Hinata gave each other venomous looks. Hinata was red, breathless, and terribly disheveled. She looked away, at anything but him.

"Are you all right Sasuke?"

She was surprised that Kakashi's query was directed not towards her, but Sasuke. She snuck another glance at her ex to realize he was just as flustered as she was.

"Of course," Sasuke seethed.

"Let's move in," said Kakashi.


Kakashi spent the entirety of the trip back to Konoha giving them lecherous smirks. Sasuke could tell by the crinkle of his right eye. Naruto, meanwhile, had become blank-faced and somewhat withdrawn. Every time he looked at his comrades, he would redden, then look away again.

Although Sasuke and Hinata had informed them that their…display…had been the product of strategic discretion, neither Kakashi nor Naruto seemed very convinced.

After the mission, Sasuke went straight to the hospital to see Sakura, because he knew when he was with her, he could relax, if just for a few moments. She was the only one. Maybe he belonged with her, like everyone used to say.

He stopped himself before he entered her hospital room, taking a moment to reflect on what had happened with Hinata. It had been an act of strategic discretion – at least it had started out as one. He had just been following up on their cover – two civilian teenagers, a male and a female – what else would they be doing in the woods?

So to spare the life of the approaching guard, he had kissed Hinata, but then something had gone terribly wrong. Strange…urges…had taken over him, and he had nearly lost control. Had Naruto and Kakashi not interrupted, he didn't know what he would have done to her. And Hinata had even participated. Sasuke felt himself become hot as he wondered what her excuse had been.

Dispelling these thoughts, he entered Sakura's room, where she was already sitting up, and absently staring through the window by her bed. She turned to him and smiled. "What are you angry about this time?"

"I'm always angry," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Not always," Sakura noted, though he could not conceive to what she was referencing. "Come here." She patted the spot next to her on the bed.

Sasuke obeyed, despite his subconscious urging against it. It was because Sakura was everything Hinata was not – stability, lucidity…calm. With her he could wind down, and his heart remained steady. He felt her pull up his shirt and stroke his back, her numbing, healing chakra diving into his latest wounds. He was impressed by how quickly she had managed to recover. Sakura was strong, and Hinata – she was…

Weak. Annoying. Alluring. Bewitching.

Sakura giggled, as though she could read his mind. "You're obsessed with her."

This was something he could no longer deny, the reason for which, he could not determine.

"You really love her, don't you?"

"No – I –" He trailed off. Fuck.