The last day of the academic year had arrived without Hinata realizing it.

When she thought about it, she was really surprised at how much had happened in just one year. She was now officially friends with Naruto, sharing lunch with him and being invited to his birthday, and all without her fainting! At this time last year she would have never thought it possible for them to have the type of relationship they now shared, and yet, here they were. Here she was.

There was also Sasuke, of course. The big progression in their relationship was probably even more astounding than the one with Naruto, because of the other boy's taciturn personality. She was proud of herself for being able to earn his acceptance, something that didn't seem easy, because she truly liked Sasuke and appreciated him and, being his friend, or as close as could be, filled her with joy.

Their sparring sessions had continued, although sporadically and always focusing on taijutsu. Hinata had actually been able to win multiple times, more than she lost, but she could see that he was a fast learner and was steadily reaching her level, which meant she had to put more of herself into her training if she wanted to keep contributing to their spars.

Another thing that had changed was her training under her father. For most of the year, it had seemed like he favored Hanabi over her, calling her over only from time to time as compared to before her little sister started learning. But ever since the spar with Neji, things had returned to the way they used to be, although she never trained alongside Hanabi.

Neji… he was the only thing that remained the same. But the accomplishments she had earned that year emboldened her, and she wondered if she could try and mend their relationship somehow, as a new year's resolution. To be honest, she was scared. That was the effect Neji had on her ever since the day of her uncle's funeral, when he quite clearly told her off for causing his father's death. But she was willing to try. After all, hadn't she been scared of Sasuke too, in the beginning? Hadn't she been unable to look Naruto in the eye and hold a normal conversation with him?

"…you really don't listen, don't you?"

"Eh?" she blinked, turning around, finding Sasuke seated next to her as he looked at her with a frown. She squeaked.

"Don't do that" he gritted, annoyed, and Hinata quickly closed her mouth. "Class has been dismissed ten minutes ago. Why are you still seating here, staring into space?"

"What?" she gasped, and turned to look at the now empty classroom. She felt heat coming to her face, embarrassed that she had been so caught up in her thoughts she didn't even notice when Iruka had finished his end-of-the-year speech. She bit her lip, glancing down, and heard Sasuke sigh.

"It's a good thing I forgot a scroll and returned for it, otherwise, who knows how much longer you would have stayed here?"

"P-Please stop…" she pleaded, covering her face. She heard a snort. When she looked up to glare at Sasuke for making fun of her, she found him smiling. Well, it was actually more of a smirk, but the enjoyment behind it gave her pause. He took advantage of her silence to keep talking.

"It's not something to be embarrassed about. Anyway, this is convenient. I actually forgot to ask you to come to the training grounds tonight. I want to practice the new moves they showed us last week."

Hinata blinked, taken aback at the fact he was asking her to meet with him that night to train. Usually, they practiced together without previous planning, only when they were coincidentally in the same place at the same time. Had something changed?

"W-Why are you a-asking me…?"

"Do I need a reason to?" he frowned, causing Hinata to quickly try to apologize and assure him that wasn't the case. He sighed. "I tried them first on my own but I don't feel confident about it. That's why I want to meet you tonight. I need a partner."

"I-I see" she nodded, calming down and placing her hands on her lap. "I-I would love to, but…"

"But?"

"T-Tonight is the R-Rinne festival… and I promised H-Hanabi-chan I would go with her…"

"Oh" he said, blinking, and though he didn't show much emotion, Hinata could still feel the disappointment coming from him.

So she quickly added; "B-But we can meet t-tomorrow! S-Since it's winter vacation now, we can even m-meet during the d-day…"

"Forget about it" he cut her off, causing her to jolt. He closed his eyes and leaned his chin on his joined hands over the table. "That came out wrong. What I meant to say was that you don't have to go out of your way to meet with me on your birthday. You'd probably prefer to spend it with your family, no?"

Hinata blinked, and when she didn't say anything for a while, Sasuke looked at her, realizing immediately what had happened. "You forgot your own birthday?" he asked incredulously. Hinata blushed.

"N-No… it's just… I-I'm surprised you r-remembered it" she said, glancing down and playing with her fingers. "I-I only told you once, after all…"

"Why wouldn't I remember?" he scoffed as he read a piece of paper he had grabbed from… wait, was that her report card? When had he taken it?!

"M-M-My…!" she reached over to take it from him, but he pulled away, extending his arm and keeping her at a distance with a hand on her face.

"It's not my fault you just left it lying around. Why is your score on taijutsu lower than mine?"

"Give it b-back!"

"Not so bad on ninjutsu… although you could do better on genjutsu."

"Sasuke-kun! Give me back my report card!"

"You have good scores on everything else though, except for team work. That's because you talk so little. Hey, look at this! A perfect grade on history!"

"This isn't funny! Please stop reading it now!" should she use the gentle fist on him? Just a little bit, of course, she didn't want to hurt him.

"Ok, ok, here" he finally returned her report card, almost as if he had read her mind. Hinata quickly pushed it inside her backpack, pouting and with her face completely red. "You really do stutter less when you're flustered" he commented, standing up. Hinata frowned.

"W-Were you t-testing me?" she asked grumpily. Sasuke shrugged.

"See you later, Hinata" was all he said, and the use of her name was enough to distract her momentarily. The moment he was out of her sight, she realized he had not confirmed whether he agreed to meet with her tomorrow or not, and by the time she reached the entrance, he was no longer there.

She sighed, placing a hand over her heart as she waited a second to calm down, before making her way back home, wondering if she should go find him tomorrow after her birthday celebration at home was over.