Hey guys!

I know this is my first update in a while, and I'm extremely sorry about that. You may have noticed that I've updated a few of my other stories recently and in a lot of my ANs I've been telling you I've made a start on a new chapter for this story. Well, I'm finally finished and it feels good!

Anyway, Onward!

"Okay, people!" Anko shouted as she rounded the class up to begin the lesson. "First we'll start with the basics; getting your partner in the right hold."

Most of the class groaned, while a few were excited to be learning how to dance, although that was the minority. It was the last lesson on a Thursday, and people were anxious to get home and start finishing their chores and homework so that they could go out Friday and do whatever it was they did, presumably get drunk, but that was just an assumption.

Anko and her partner, Izumo showed the class the correct hold and then a basic waltz before dispatching them and telling the class to try what they'd just been shown with their partners.

Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Tenten looked at their partners with slight apprehension and the boys took the hint, leading them to various, and slightly isolated places in the room.

"Okay, this'll be a piece of cake!" Naruto declared. He'd had dance lessons in the past, curtesy of being the best friend of Sasuke, because the Uchiha thought it was a necessity to know how to dance.

He held out his hand to Hinata and she looked at it with a hesistant stare. "Um…"

Naruto looked at her in confusion before something clicked in his head. "Wait," He said with a look of understanding, "don't tell me you've never danced before?"

Hinata nodded her head, but Naruto couldn't understand how that was even possible. Even people who didn't have lessons still danced at events and partie- then it clicked for him; Hinata probably had never been to party before.

"It's really easy." Naruto told her and held out his hand again.

Hinata looked him in the eye before deciding to take his hand. She didn't make a move to get closer, though, so Naruto pulled her gently towards him. "The good thing about this type of dancing," He started, as Hinata stared at him, "is that the boy leads, and the girl just has to follow."

To prove his point, Naruto placed Hinata's hand on his shoulder and kept the other firmly in his grasp before starting to sway slightly. Hinata stumbled at first, but she soon got the hang of it and relaxed slightly in Naruto's arms. She'd been dreading this all day, having never danced like this before, but Naruto seemed to know what he was doing, and for some reason Hinata trusted him. She didn't like it when she couldn't do something; it made her feel vulnerable, but with Naruto it was like her insecurities didn't matter, although she didn't admit that to him, or anyone for that matter.

Hinata looked around, making sure that people weren't staring, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone was in their own worlds. She looked at her best friends and saw that they too were in hold with their partners, although Ino and Sakura looked slightly nervous, while Tenten was the perfect picture of calm; she'd always been better at nonchalance than the others.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked. She wouldn't usually have voluntarily talked, but considering the situation they were in, Hinata thought that talking was better than silence.

"Yeah?"

Hinata leaned back slightly so that she could study Naruto with one of her long, calculating gazes. "Why are you so nice to me? You're new, but by now even the stupidest of rumours should have reached you, and I don't make it any better. I'm an ice queen who doesn't deserve kindness, especially from someone like you."

"Of course you do." Naruto told her. "All of you do, despite what you may think." He looked at her in a moment of rare seriousness. "I know you and the other three have some kind of secret you're hiding, but everyone has secrets. When I look at you, I don't see an ice queen; I see a beautiful girl who for some reason carries a lot of weight on her shoulders."

Hinata looked at Naruto with a new found respect, but then caught herself. Can't get too close. She reminded herself diligently. That had been her motto for so long, being all of the girls' mottos, but she had never before found it this hard to follow. When had being an ice queen turned into such work? Before, it was easier because most of the school's population seemed to hate her anyway, but now that Naruto and the other new boys had come into her lives, she was finding it harder to be mean to people who weren't hateful of her and, to a certain degree, possibly cared.

Naruto, having noticed the sudden silence that had fell upon the two, decided to change the topic. "So, I was thinking about going out tomorrow night to check out the town, and I could use a tour guide, if you wanted. We could even just find a place to eat and work on our project."

Hinata found the prospect of going out with Naruto extremely appealing, but instead she reminded herself that she couldn't get too close. "I'm sorry," She told him with sincerity, "but I don't know much of the town myself. I only go to the supermarket occasionally, but I couldn't show you any good places to hang out."

"That doesn't matter." Naruto argued. "I'd be fine with exploring the town with you."

Hinata shook her head. "I'm sorry."

Naruto sighed, but knew he wasn't going to get through to her today. He decided he'd try again tomorrow, and if that didn't work he'd try again next week until she finally agreed. Maybe if Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji got the other girls to agree, Hinata would as well. He decided he would ask them to try, even if the girls disagreed, they could possibly weaken their wills, and maybe going out as a group would make them more comfortable.

"So, you don't go out much, huh?" Naruto asked her.

Hinata shook her head again. "Why would I? People don't like me, and I prefer the solitude that my house offers." She told him, but Naruto could see the wistful look on her face, and decided then and there that he would take Hinata into town soon, despite how much she protested, he'd make sure she had a good time and enjoyed herself.

"Alright, maggots! Class is over! You're free to go!" Anko shouted from across the room.

Naruto let Hinata go, albeit hesitantly, and watched as she looked down at her feet. "Thanks," she said in an unsure voice, "I'm not good at asking for help, so thanks." She looked up at his face and locked her eyes onto his. "I'm actually glad you're my partner." And with that, she walked away, presumably heading towards her surrogate sisters who were waiting for her by the door.

The blonde boy stared after her, not fully comprehending what had happened, but being thankful it had nonetheless.

"Hey, dope!" Sasuke's voice broke through Naruto's daze and he turned to watch his best friend making his way across the room. "Hurry up, we're going to leave without you in a minute." Sasuke told him, ignoring the love-struck expression Naruto knew was on his face, which he was grateful for.

Naruto nodded his head and walked out of the room with Sasuke, finding that Neji and Shikamaru had already made their way towards the car. "I asked Sakura if she wanted to go out sometime." Sasuke said nonchalantly with an air of calmness around him,

"What did she say?" Naruto asked. Sasuke gave Naruto a look that said, 'Do you even have to ask that?' and then turned to face the direction of which the car was in.

"She said no," he finally told the blonde, "but it looked like she wanted to say yes."

"I asked Hinata to go out with me tomorrow night!" Naruto blurted. "She said no as well." As he told Sasuke this, a cloud of sadness seemed to float around him. "How are we going to get them to drop the ice queen act fully if they won't even go out with us places?"

Sasuke thought for a moment before opening his mouth to tell Naruto his thoughts. "There's a party next Friday," he said, still putting together his plan, "and we've been invited."

"And?"

"And we'll invited the girls."

Sasuke went to open his mouth again, but before he could continue, Naruto interrupted him. "A PARTY?! Do you really think the girls will agreed to a party? Hinata didn't even agree to tour me around Konoha, and you think we'll be able to convince them to go to a party?"

"So we'll bide our time; butter the girls up and then spring it on them last minute. I'll get Shikamaru to convince Ino, seeing as she seems like she'd want to go the most, and then the rest will be easy." Sasuke finished his speech just as they reached the car. Neji and Shikamaru were already inside it, but Sasuke waited for the blonde to process his words before he got into the car.

"I…Guess that could work." Naruto reluctantly agreed, although it was obvious he wasn't fully on board with the plan yet.

"Good." Was all Sasuke said before getting into the car, intent on informing Shikamaru and Neji of it the minute they were on the road.

Hinata looked out of the window as they drove home, thinking about when Naruto had asked her out on what could have been interpreted as a 'date'. She didn't know what to think about that; at the time she was shocked, and for a second she wanted to accept his offer and have fun with the blonde, but then she remembered that wasn't an option.

Thinking back, Hinata saw the look of pure determination on Naruto's face when she declined, and she hoped that he wouldn't ask her again. It would be harder to turn down his offer the more it was presented to her.

Glancing at her best friends, she saw that Ino and Tenten were in a conversation, while Sakura was just staring out of the window, much like her. Making a decision, Hinata decided she wouldn't tell her surrogate sisters about what happened while she and Naruto were dancing. They'd probably overreact and say that she was getting too close, persuading her to stop interacting with him, and for some reason Hinata didn't want to let go of Naruto just yet.

The blonde boy, while dense at times, seemed to understand her in a way that only Tenten, Sakura and Ino did. He didn't mind when she was slightly cold, although she had been less of an ice queen with him lately, and he made her flaws seem unimportant. Hinata didn't want to admit it, but Naruto made her feel special, and not in the way her powers did. It wasn't a weird special, or a special that screamed ridicule and alienation; it was the type of special that for a brief time actually made her glad that she was Hinata and not someone else.

Glancing towards the others, Hinata wondered if they felt the same.

Sakura saw Hinata glance at her, but she could't figure out why. The bluenette had done it a few times with all of them, though she didn't think Ino and Tenten had noticed. Sakura wondered what was going on in her mind, but didn't think about it for too long, instead turning back to the window she had previously been staring out of.

Her mind went to when Sasuke had asked if she wanted to go out around town sometime. The question came out of nowhere, and it surprised Sakura greatly, taking her a while to reply, even though she knew in the end what her answer would be.

'I can't,' she remembered herself saying to him, 'it's not going to happen.' She'd said when he continued to ask her.

Thinking back, Sakura knew that she probably felt more disappointment than he did over her rejection. The raven haired boy had smiled at her knowingly and then continued to dance like he didn't have a care in the world. Sakura had stared at him for a while in disbelief, not knowing what to think of the boy she was currently dancing with.

'Do you know how to spin?' He had asked her, to which Sakura replied 'No.'

Without her consent, he had let go of Sakura's right arm and then twirled her under his arm. Sakura had grasped him extra tightly after that, making sure he didn't pull that trick again, but she had to admit that for a brief moment she enjoyed dancing and twirling alongside Sasuke, though she wouldn't say that out loud…Ever.

What did you guys think? Leave me a review if you're feeling gracious :)

I know this chapter is shorter than what I usually produce for this story, but I thought that was a good place to end and I really didn't want to leave you guys waiting any longer. I have so much to do right now; write, eat, sleep, so I'm going to go before I ramble on.

See ya later alligators!