Sasuke and Naruto were on a mountain top outside of Konoha, ready to engage in shinobi kumite. Ever since the war had ended, and they had preferred to train only with each other. The duo had become the strongest shinobi to exist in their time, and they feared they would injure either Sakura or Kakashi in their training sessions. Therefore, they preferred to train alone in a secluded place, and away from the village to keep everyone else safe too.

The sparring began with a quick exchange of blows. Sasuke launched a series of punches and kicks that Naruto managed to dodge skillfully, and his counter punch found its target. Sasuke skidded back and activated his Sharingan to better dodge Naruto's quick attacks. The blond's speed has improved, and he wasn't going to let another hit land this time. Determined to get the upper hand, Sasuke watched Naruto's movements and waited for the blond to approach him.

Naruto came at him summoning several shadow clones all coming in with a punch, but the Uchiha anticipated all the incoming moves which he countered with split kicks and his own punches to disperse the clones. His final punch found the original who was knocked back by the impact. "Hn. Still a dead last" He jeered to rile up Naruto into putting more effort into his tactics.

"Hah, still underestimating me" Naruto gave him a challenging grin as he regained his footing. He came at him once more with a barrage of punches and kicks, and Sasuke blocked them all. Naruto entered into his tailed-beast mode and released another barrage of attacks which Sasuke dodged by switching places with a boulder nearby. Naruto's punch obliterated the boulder, and he quickly scanned the area around him to determine his opponent's location. Sasuke dropped down above him from behind with Kusanagi unsheathed and aimed at the blond, but Naruto channeled a Rasengan which deflected the strike.

The thrill of the spar is exactly what they both needed to get their minds off where their thoughts have been lingering for too long. Ever since Sasuke and Hinata faced off against the Zetsu and he hasn't been able to take his mind off of her. It was new for him, and Sasuke prided himself on being above falling to weak feelings like his idiot friend often would with pretty women. But here he was, sparring against Naruto and all he could think about was that he wanted to see Hinata again. He wanted to be around her in whatever proximity that could be afforded to him.

Equally, Naruto was worried about Konan, who was currently being probed at T&I. No matter how many times he told them he senses no malice from her, and how many times he would remind them that she helped them gain intel about the enemy, the Hokage still insisted that Konan needed to be probed.

Their spar went on for about twenty more minutes, each of their attacks escalating in power until they had both been knocked off their feet. They stood once more to face off, both were panting from exhaustion, and Naruto declared, "Ha-ha, that was intense" to which Sasuke scoffed and challenged again, "Giving up already, loser?" but Naruto shook his head and said, "Honestly, I really needed this Teme, but my mind is somewhere else right now" as he sat back down on the ground and rested his arms on his knees after releasing tailed-beast mode.

Sasuke approached to sit next to him as he stated, "Konan", and Naruto nodded with a worried expression on his face. "Look, it's just village protocol. Are you doubting her allegiance?" Sasuke questioned, to which Naruto assertively stated, "Absolutely not!"

"Hn. Then there's no need to worry" Sasuke met Naruto's gaze to comfort his idiot friend who was worrying for nothing. "Yeah…" Naruto smiled, "Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm overreacting. It's just that… I miss her. I don't know how long this is going to take and I want to see her, and be there for her through the investigation, you know?"

Sasuke did know a little about how the blond felt. He was itching to see a certain someone as well, but his pride was holding him back. Still, the words somehow slipped out of his mouth, most likely because Naruto was the only one other than Itachi, that he would let his guard down around, "Yeah, I know…" he mused quietly aloud. Naruto caught the words and said, "Huh? You do?" in a baffled tone. Sasuke was flustered having realized those words weren't said in his head. Naruto, of course pestered him, "Wait! Are you saying…" A huge grin appearing on his face, "Who is she?" he asked enthusiastically.

"No one" Sasuke responded emphatically. He doesn't talk about girls, and he wasn't about to start now. He also didn't understand what he was feeling, let alone have to explain it to the loud-mouthed-walking-irritation beside him. All he knew is he had this incessant need to see Hinata. But Naruto was not going to let this go. No way!

"Teme, come on! You know about me and Konan. Besides, you might need help with this, you suck when it comes to dealing with the fairer sex" he was right, but Sasuke wasn't going to let him have this. "And you don't?" he retorted, which Naruto rebutted with, "Not as much as you do. At least I have some experience. Besides, I'm your best friend… who else will you go to about this? Kakashi Sensei?"

The loser had a point, Kakashi would be no help at all. He would probably shove Jiraiya's erotic novels in his arms which would just be terrible advice as he had witnessed with the idiot sitting next to him. Other than Naruto, Sasuke only had Itachi to speak with and his brother wasn't any better than he was. He missed Shisui, he would have been the one to speak to about this… If he could ignore the lewd commentary that accompanied the advice. Well, guess he would have to take his chances with Naruto. What did he have to lose?

He sighed and relented, "Hinata".

"WHAT! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!" Naruto barked, and Sasuke realized that he just lost his peace of mind by confiding in him with this information. "STOP BEING SO LOUD" Sasuke bellowed back.

"Ha-ha alright, I'm sorry. So, how did this happen?" Naruto asked in a calmer tone, well as calm as he could muster. This was very exciting news. Sasuke likes a girl, and this girl was Hinata!

He explained what happened in the war between them, and how since then she would cross his mind. "I get this weird urge to see her, it's stupid. I should just ignore it" he said decidedly, but Naruto refuted with, "Teme, don't be an idiot. You like her, that's why you have that urge. So, just go and see her" he insisted. "I don't like her. I just respect her… she's strong and not useless" Sasuke admitted, and Naruto's eyes narrowed in disbelief over the lengths this guy would go to so he would deny having feelings.

"Teme, you can be really thick, you know? You like her. What you just described is what liking a girl feels like. But if you want to be an idiot about this, then fine, be an idiot. Just know, Hinata is a really pretty girl…" Sasuke was suddenly feeling some hostility towards his best friend over hearing him describing Hinata as such, "… and pretty soon someone else will notice, and would make a move on her" This made him feel even more hostility and he didn't know towards who this time.

"Trust me on this. Make a move before someone else steals your chance, and believe me, Sasuke, when that happens, you'll regret it."

The idiot was making sense to him. Sasuke mulled over the words in his mind, but it wasn't until he was strolling down the village center to buy some groceries for his mom, did Naruto's words really sink in.

He was in the produce aisle when he spotted Hinata with her cart and picking out some tomatoes. His heart skipped a beat upon seeing her, and he was now feeling a mixture of elation and relief. However, that feeling soon disappeared when a man, he believed used to be with them in class during their Academy days, approached her.

Sasuke registered that he was standing too close to her and noticed a slight discomfort in her stance. She was being polite towards whatever crap conversation this guy was attempting to make. Clearly, she was just being nice, or so he thought until he heard her bell like giggle at something this bastard had said. He felt a cool sensation trickle down the length of his arm, and he realized he crushed the orange he'd been holding.

He was getting frustrated at the sight of them both, and Naruto's words started ringing in his head.

'Make a move before someone else steals your chance, and believe me, Sasuke, when that happens, you'll regret it.'

He dropped the orange and walked towards them only to stop a few inches away from them both so that they would notice his presence. The man met his gaze and noticed that Sasuke was staring daggers at him and became intimidated as he felt the hostile chakra radiating from the Uchiha before him. "Um, well… it was nice running into you, Hinata… I'll… See you a-around" he backed away hastily and disappeared into another aisle.

Hinata who had been confused at first by her friend's sudden change in demeanor, turned to meet Sasuke and projected her own hostile gaze towards him. "What are you doing?" she asked assertively. Sasuke's gaze softened a little to meet hers but remained stern, "you looked uncomfortable" he informed her in his nonchalant manner. What he believed to be an expression of discomfort, was actually Hinata's cheeks flushing at having received a compliment from the guy who ran away like there's no tomorrow.

Hinata's eyebrows formed a knot, she was displeased by his interference, "If I was uncomfortable then I would have handled it myself" she emphatically returned then walked away from a baffled looking Sasuke.

Even if she had been uncomfortable, she didn't understand why someone like him would even think to interfere. This was so out of character for him, and if she wasn't mad at him, she would have been puzzled about why he would even care to help her. He never had before…

Sasuke was staring at Hinata as she walked away from him, and the distance that was growing between them made him want to close it again. For the first time, Sasuke wasn't thinking, he was just reacting and going with his gut instinct. The loser was clearly rubbing off on him.

Hinata sensed that Sasuke was behind her, and so she quickened her pace, but he was still following her. She made a turn onto another aisle, and he followed her then too. It wasn't until she turned onto a third aisle that she decided to face him again. "What do you want?" she turned suddenly and said a bit more forcefully than she intended. Sasuke looked dumbfounded at first, mostly because he didn't understand why it aroused him when this Hyuuga would yell at him, but then his eyes and face scrunched to display his inner frustration as he admitted, "I don't know! But for some reason I have this inexplicable need to be around you and I can't help it!"

It was Hinata's turn to become dumbfounded, she blinked several times and looked stumped at his sudden admission. Sasuke needed to be around her? He let out a sigh and said, "Look, this is… difficult for me. The loser says I have this urge because I like you, and when I saw that guy, well… I realized he might be right"

Sasuke liked her?!

Hinata's face was turning a bright shade of red. For someone so aloof and hardly says anything other than to reprimand something or another, he was saying things she NEVER believed or even considered he would say to her. He stunned her into silence.

"Look, if you don't feel that way, then it's fine. Just say the word and I won't bother you again" he locked his gaze into hers. She was stunned again. All she had to do was tell him to go away and he would. Did she want that? She doesn't know… Something felt wrong about turning Sasuke away. He had never had feelings, well, romantic feelings for anyone before. Was she really going to break his heart when he had finally experienced this emotion?

Honestly, she did not like him that way, nor did she even consider the notion, but here it was presented to her, and she realized… "I don't really know you that well" she conveyed.

It wasn't a rejection… Sasuke was feeling hopeful, "We could spend more time together, if you'd like? You know, to get to know each other…" he suggested. Hinata was stunned into silence again. She found she wasn't averse to spending more time with him, but she was still confused that Sasuke wanted to spend time with her. She acquiesced by nodding at his suggestion, however, Hinata had terms if they were going to be spending time with each other.

"Fine, but if we are going to be spending more time together, then you need to be nicer" she demanded. "Nicer?" he reiterated, baffled by the prerequisite. "Yes, you can't do what you did earlier with people who speak to me." She explained, and he considered this. She wanted him to be nice to guys who flirted with her… did she not understand what his intensions were? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. "That guy was overstepping" he remarked matter-of-factly. "He wasn't overstepping to me" she stressed. "He was to me. His intensions were to get closer to you" he declared to make his point, and she said once more, "It's still my decision to set limits or to accept someone's intensions" she stressed again.

Sasuke was becoming frustrated again. Did she really expect him to just accept other guys putting the moves on her? Her eyes locked into his challenging him to say anything against this. She wasn't going to let Sasuke make any decisions for her. He bit his cheek as he understood what she was really saying to him, then resigned to accept her precondition reluctantly, "Fine!"

Huh… She didn't expect him to agree, but she was glad that he did. Hinata smiled at him and said, "Alright. So, I guess we could spend more time together then" the question was when? Was she supposed to inform him of a time and a place? Wait… did she just agree to a date?! The full scale of what was happening between them had just started to register with Hinata, and her cheeks flushed a bright pink.

"If you are done, I could help you carry your things home" he proposed. He wanted to spend time with her starting this instant. Truth was, Sasuke wanted all the time he could get. If he couldn't interfere with men putting the moves on her, then he might as well be present as often as he could to keep them away. "Um… I have a few more things to grab, but sure, I don't mind" she agreed.

Sasuke helped her carry her things home, and true to his thoughts, he started to appear wherever she was to keep others at bay. He never preplanned a meeting with her, he would just appear, but Hinata was actually enjoying Sasuke's company. When he was with her, he would speak more than usual. It wasn't much, but soon she began to understand him and learned that he much preferred to listen to her speak. He found everything she said fascinating.

This went on for two weeks, and people began to notice the attachment forming between the two. Sasuke was glad to learn that other men stopped approaching Hinata because of his presence as he intended, and Hinata hadn't noticed as she was too immersed into the friendship developing between her and Sasuke. She liked him very much. He was sweet and attentive with her. Very unlike who he was with their friends.

Sasuke began to understand his feelings more. He cared deeply for the heiress and would even feel downcast whenever their time together had come to an end. He would be eager to be by her side once more as soon as the sun rises, and she had found herself anticipating their meetings. Her gaze began to soften, and he noticed that her manners have become less reserved around him. He wondered if she began to reciprocate the same feelings, he had towards her.

And so, he asked, "Hinata, those past few weeks have helped me understand my feelings for you better. I feel very protective of you, and the more time we spend together, I only seem to want to be around you more…Have your feelings changed from what they used to be?"

She was looking at him with incredulity. He thought that he would be receiving a disappointing answer. Why wouldn't he? Was he even worthy of her goodness? No doubt she's discovered this too. But being around her had made him better. He was less obtuse, less apathetic, and more softened because of her. Hadn't she seen how she made him change?

This was what Sasuke believed that look to mean, however, when Hinata heard Sasuke confess his feelings to her, it stirred something within her. She couldn't believe what he was really saying to her. These past weeks helped her understand him well enough to know that he was telling her he loved her. And…

Hinata reached to touch his hand, her gaze was lowered as she felt too shy to look into his eyes as she said, "I… feel very protective of you as well" her cheeks blushed pink by the heat she felt from confessing her own feelings too. Sasuke was in disbelief. Hinata felt for him too? His heart was racing, and he was almost unsure how to respond, except another urge had taken over him.

He entwined his fingers into hers with the hand she placed in his own, and then reached for her chin to lift her gaze so that it would meet his own. "Could… you say that again" he asked in a nervous whisper.

She mustered the courage to meet his gaze and found warm eyes staring into her own. A comforting warmth had taken over her, prompting her to smile. "I… I'm in love with you too, Sasuke" she confessed again.

He read her lips as they spoke the words, he didn't know his heart longed to hear, and then another desire began to consume him. With no warning, with no thought, he let his body act instinctively. Sasuke leaned in towards her lips, and she lifted herself onto the tips of her toes to meet his own. The kiss was soft, short, but full of expression. He let her lips go, but kept his gaze locked onto hers. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and said, "I… I want to do this right. Your family shares similar traditions to my own, and so, I would like to officially court you Hinata, if you would have me" prompting another smile to beam on her face. She gently nodded in agreement, and he leaned his forehead onto hers.

"Hinata, I would like you to meet my mother tomorrow. Would that be alright with you?" he whispered.

"I would be honored" she murmured back.