Hinata cleaned in silence, holding back the tears that clouded her vision. While she had been expecting Neji to take her offering of peace badly, she didn't expect him to actually enter her room and trash the place, making a clear show of what exactly he thought of her trying to amend things between them. It hurt knowing just how deeply he despised her.

Despite that, she wasn't about to give up. She wanted her cousin back, the one that once upon a time had been her friend. If she continued approaching him, sooner or later he would at least be willing to listen to her, right?

The next day, she sat down in her usual place in class, her eyes casted down as she kept remembering the mess Neji had left in her room. She could have asked one of the servants to help her clean, but had decided against it; instead, she kept the whole thing a secret, not wanting Neji to get in trouble and reaffirm his belief that she was just a spoiled heiress.

She bit her lip, wondering when she should try to get closer to him again. Was the bento idea still good to go? She didn't like the prospect of wasted food, but she wanted to do something, anything really; and had no idea of what outside of that.

In that moment, while she was deep in thought and sorrow for Neji's blatant rejection, a lollipop was deposited neatly on her desk. Hinata blinked, slowly rising her eyes from the pink treat to the person standing in front of her, the one that had given her the lollipop.

It was Sakura.

"Sakura-chan…?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry for yesterday, Hinata-chan" she said before Hinata could continue. The pink-haired girl looked sad. She was playing with her fingers while glancing down, her posture small as if she was expecting to be rebuffed in her attempt to apologize.

Hinata tilted her head, confused at Sakura's behavior, until it suddenly came back to her. The fight. She had honestly forgotten all about it, after everything that happened with Neji.

"I thought about what you said… about me not treating Naruto well and how I should be nicer to him…" Sakura started slowly. "And… and I know you're right, but… but everyone else always treats him badly, and I thought that meant I should do the same… and he's always bothering me too, but…"

She closed her eyes, taking a breath. "But I don't want you to be angry with me! And you're right that Naruto's not a bad kid, even if he's annoying, so maybe I can treat him a little better, and…!"

"Sakura-chan!" Hinata stopped her, seeing as other kids were starting to look at them. She stood up, and took Sakura's hands on hers. "S-Sakura-chan…! It's alright. I-I always see Naruto-kun being treated badly, so seeing y-you do the same made me really sad, because you're m-my friend… b-but! You also defended me yesterday, and you're always so k-kind to me… I shouldn't have been so harsh with you..." she bit her lip, glancing down. "I k-know you have it in you to be n-nicer to Naruto-kun, because you are nice… Would you try, Sakura-chan?"

"I…" Sakura said, looking a bit unsure. However, when Hinata squeezed her hands, giving her a small nod of reassurance, she finally smiled, albeit timidly. "I can give it a try."

"Really?" Hinata asked. Sakura chuckled and squeezed her hands back.

"Really."

Hinata beamed, before looking at the lollipop Sakura had left on her desk and immediately grabbing it. As she inspected it with a curious gaze, Sakura spoke. "It's a cherry lollipop. You told me once that you like sweets, but don't have the opportunity to eat them often. I know it's not much, but…"

"I-I like it a lot. Thank you, Sakura-chan" Hinata said, clasping the sweet against her chest. It felt nice, being given something by a friend. Just like that time with Sasuke, on her birthday. While in the past she was always alone, now she had friends that would spend time with her and give her small presents. And although the dark cloud that Neji had left her with could not be dissipated so easily, she was still happy.

Class started soon after that, with Sakura taking her usual place next to her. This time, the air between them was much more comfortable than it had been the day before.

Close to lunch time, the teacher suddenly announced they would have a surprise field exercise after recess, causing all of the students to gasp in surprise.

"It's not going to be very difficult, just a small treasure hunt of sorts around Konoha. The exercise is meant as a way to test your capabilities in problem solving, as well as how well you work as a team" he took a sheet of paper from his desk before continuing, "as you know, when you graduate, you will be placed in three-men cells depending on both your abilities as well as compatibility with your fellow classmates. You can think of this exercise as a preview of that. Now then, I will call your names in numbers of three for each team. Pay attention."

As he did just that, Hinata could feel her heart starting to beat frantically in her chest. Teamwork… she wasn't very good at teamwork. While she was better at socializing than she had been a year back, it was still difficult for her to get out of her shell and interact with others without fear of an anxiety attack. She hoped she ended up in a team with someone she knew, at least. Namely Sakura and…

"I hope I can be in the same team as Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired girl said with a dreamy sigh, resting her cheek on her hand and staring at the boy with glittering eyes. "Even if it's just for today… Wouldn't that be nice, Hinata-chan?"

"Y-Yes, Sakura-chan" it would be nice being in the same team as Sakura and Sasuke, but considering there were more boys than girls in their class, it was rather unlikely.

"Hyuuga Hinata" the teacher's voice broke her from her train of thought. She looked up, hoping she didn't miss the names of her other teammates, feeling her cheeks warming up at her absentmindedness. "Uchiha Sasuke" he continued, and all the girls, including Sakura, turned to look at her, causing her face to glow even brighter at the sudden, and most definitely, negative, attention. At least she was together with a friend.

"And Aburame Shino. You're team three, and your starting point is the eastern gate."

Aburame Shino? She looked around, hearing Sakura say how lucky she was and lamenting she couldn't be in the same team as Sasuke in the background, before finding the quiet boy sitting in a corner, staring at his fingers, apparently paying no attention at all to anyone around him.

Aburame… She knew that name. It was one of the four noble clans of Konoha. If she remembered correctly, their specialty lied with controlling bugs in order to perform jutsus… she shuddered a bit. She didn't mind bugs, but she didn't know exactly how the clan worked with them, and that caused her a bit of uncertainty.

She glanced away and looked for her other teammate. Sasuke was, like always, staring at the front of the classroom, chin on top of his joined hands. He didn't look displeased, but he didn't exactly look pleased either. Hinata knew, however, that he was probably relieved he had been put in the same team as her, considering what he told her not too long ago about how he felt towards the other girls.

"Alright, that's all the teams" the teacher said, catching Hinata's attention again. "Please use this time to organize. Choose a leader and when lunch time is over; come over to me so I can give you the instructions for the exercise. Do it according to your team number, alright? Dismissed."

And with that said, everybody stood up and went over to their teammates, Hinata included.