Chapter 3

Sasuke did not know what to do with this newfound information. He had to admit that he was intrigued by the girl, but he didn't want anything to do with love. The endless fangirls had really turned him off that whole idea. As he sat throughout the rest of the school day though, he continually found himself sneaking glances at the unassuming girl. Then, a thought crossed his mind- who did she get on the survey?

He didn't mean to seem cocky or anything, but he just kind of naturally assumed it was him. Every girl seemed to want him in this godforsaken school, so it wouldn't have really been that big of a surprise. But as he glanced at her over and over again, he began to doubt it. She didn't seem particularly pleased at the information, and she didn't look at him like all the other girls do. At first he thought that she was stealing glances at him, but eventually he realized that she was stealing glances at the boy in front of him…..Naruto?

No way, he thought to himself with a smirk. She's into that dobe, and he doesn't even have a clue. His suspicions were confirmed during 8th period, when she and Naruto were assigned to work together on a lab. He had noticed before that she stuttered and blushed easily, but when it came to Naruto it was like she had completely forgotten how to speak, and she turned redder than a tomato. Surprisingly, he found it refreshing and endearing. She didn't try to drape herself all over the object of her affection, rather she offered quiet encouragement and sweet smiles. It seemed...nice.

He unfortunately had been assigned to work on the lab with Karin, so the lab was basically a waste of time. He messed up the free fall experiment 6 times because Karin kept latching on to him whenever he tried to do anything, causing him to drop the tennis ball without the proper preparation. It had been infuriating. If he had been paired up with a normal lab partner he may not have even noticed how nice it would be to have an unassuming girl working with him. But it happened, he sure as hell noticed. More than he would like to admit.

When the day was finally over, he saw a huge group of girls swarm Hinata as she was trying to leave the room to go home. They weren't being mean per-say, but they certainly weren't being nice. They all wanted to see the results of her side of the survey. She was blushing furiously when they finally managed to pry the flimsy piece of paper out of her hand and read the name. When Sakura read the name Uzumaki Naruto aloud they all sighed in audible relief, and a few of the girls even offered to set them up. The girls eventually began to thin out until Hinata was the only girl left. She met Sasuke's gaze and blushed, albeit not as much as she blushed with the Uzumaki. She then promptly left the room without looking at or saying goodbye to anyone.

Just what I thought, she does like Naruto. But those girls really are pathetic, Sasuke thought as he watched her leave. It's not even like they are helping her to be nice or friendly, they are only trying to do it to help themselves. Hinata did not seem to see it that way though. When the girls had offered to help set her up Hinata gave them the most genuine and kind smile Sasuke had seen in a long time. It made him feel sad that she was wasting it on selfish people such as them.

Sasuke was snapped out of his gaze when Naruto called out to him and asked him if he was ready to go. Sasuke gave an annoyed grunt as a reply but followed him out of the room nonetheless. They then descended down the stairs and headed to the main entrance where their other friends were waiting.

At the entrance of the school, a hoard of girls ran up to Sasuke and flaunted their results in his face in an attempt to make him notice them. Sasuke responded to each girl with a glare that would make an adult shrink away in fear. Needless to say, it did the trick.

Naruto and Sasuke met up with Shikamaru, Choji, Ino (sadly), and Sakura (even more sadly) as soon as they had exited the school grounds. As they began to walk home together, all eyes turned to him. Naruto was eventually the one brave enough to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"So, Hinata-san eh? What do you think of her?"

"I don't know. I don't know her. Besides she's in love with you dobe."

As soon as Sasuke said that Ino and Sakura smiled with relief at his ambiguous answer, but the rest of the group were taken aback with Sasuke's statement.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Naruto asked nervously.

"She stares at you all the time and she stutters more than usual when she talks to you. It's painfully obvious. I wouldn't be surprised if she got your name on the survey."

Then Sakura joined in, "It's true she did receive your name. The other girls in the class and I asked her about her form after school. I think you guys should get together I think it would be a good match."

"But I like you Sakura-channn," Naruto complained.

"Come on Naruto, Hinata's a nice girl. Probably the nicest in the school. Any guy would be lucky to date her, especially your dumb ass."

"Ouch Sakura-chann, but I don't like her I like you. She's too quiet and unassuming for me. I like her as a person, and she certainly is nice, but I like girls who are well…. you," Naruto then turned to Sakura and gave her a huge smile, which she responded to promptly by punching him in the face.

Sasuke looked away from the scene then smiled to himself. "Well," he began. "I think she is a nice girl, and she certainly is too good for you, Naruto-baka. If you're not going to try to take her, then I think I will."

At that, he turned down his street, ending his walk with his friends. He gave them a small wave, and said a proper goodbye, but no one said or did anything because they were frozen in shock.

….

Hinata was very relieved when she was finally able to get out of school. After the girls in her class, and, well the entire school found out that Sasuke had received her name, their attitudes toward her drastically changed. Hinata always tried to be nice to everyone no matter what, so it shocked her to see the dramatic shift in other girls' attitudes towards her when she herself hadn't done anything wrong. It's not like she wanted Sasuke to get her name. In fact, after the hellish second part of the day, she wondered what she did to deserve this. She wanted one boy and one boy alone- Uzumaki Naruto.

She noticed that Sasuke kept staring at her throughout the day, but it didn't seem to be a lustful gaze. Instead, it seemed kind of curious. Like he had just realized she existed today even though they have been in the same class since kindergarten. Well, knowing him, he probably just had.

She didn't really care for the Uchiha. It's not like she didn't not like him, it's just that she didn't necessarily like him either. He was just kind of there. Just like she was kind of there. They had always done their own thing with no real regard to each other. She wasn't even sure if they had ever spoken before. He seemed to be averse to any female attention, so she just figured it would be best if she just didn't speak to him. She didn't want him or anyone else (specifically Naruto) to get the wrong idea. The idea that she liked him. Well like-liked him.

As she made her way to the gate she passed Naruto and Sasuke's friends who were gazing at her curiously. She silently pushed her way passed and made her way to her own friends, who were waiting just outside the entrance.

When she saw her friends' faces, she automatically sighed with relief. It hadn't been the life-changing day she wanted it to be, so the pleasant smiles of her friends made her immediately fell better.

The full group was there- Neji, Tenten, Lee, Shino, and Kiba. She was so happy to just be surrounded with people she felt comfortable with. As if the Sasuke thing was exhaustive enough, her teacher chose today of all todays to finally pair her with Naruto. She always wanted to be paired with him, but she was even more flustered than usual today so she couldn't even say one word. He definitely thought she was an idiot now.

As soon as the big group saw her, they gave her a hearty wave and waited for her to reach them before they all started walking home together. Hinata could tell they all wanted to ask about the Sasuke incident and if she recieved Naruto (who they all know she likes), but none of them had the guts to say it. Neji-nii seemed particularly anxious. But Tenten was the first one to muster up the courage.

"So, Sasuke-kun, eh? What do you think of him?"

Hinata looked down at her feet and thought for a while. She couldn't seem to find the find the right words to describe exactly as she felt. After a few minutes she slowly looked up and slowly began talking.

"Sasuke-kun is a nice boy, but the entire event was stressful for me. I've never liked to stick out in school, and today everyone's focus was on me even though I really didn't want it. I have never looked at Sasuke-kun in such a way. My eyes are only for Naruto-kun."

After she said that the entire group seemed to smile. It was such a Hinata thing to say. Even though the event had clearly made her uncomfortable she didn't blame anyone for it and still say Sasuke as a nice boy. Everyone seemed relieved at her statement. Especially Neji. Tenten then asked,

"So who did you receive for your perfect match."

Hinata blushed and looked at the ground once more. She then began to push her pointer fingers together, a sure sign that she was nervous. She smiled to herself then said so quietly almost no one could hear,

"Naruto-kun."

The group smiled again and then turned to other topics. Lee was talking about how he was burning with the passion of youth in anticipation of the upcoming cross-country and track seasons, and Kiba told a funny story about what he did over the weekend. Everything seemed so normal she forgot about the entire Uchiha incident, and by the time she returned home she had completely pushed it out of her mind.

When it resurfaced right before she went to bed, she figured that Sasuke would probably forget about it and her by tomorrow, and she would never have to worry about it ever again. If only she knew what Sasuke had revealed to his friends just hours before.