It was difficult, but, at the same time, not as difficult as she expected.
She actually almost tripped once, much to her embarrassment, and would have fallen if not because Sasuke managed to catch her by the wrist in time so she could find her footing again. He wasn't gentle, his grip strong enough to bruise, but it wasn't like he had much option as he had to act fast. Hinata was grateful that he managed to rescue her at all.
Once on top of the cliff, the walk was rather straightforward until they finally reached the stamp, placed, much like the second one, on top of a rock. With a little smile, Hinata pressed it to the last spot in their card and turned to show it to both Sasuke and Shino, not realizing she was grinning.
"We did it!" she exclaimed happily. "We collected all the stamps!"
"Excellent" Sasuke said as well, grabbing the card when the girl offered it to him. He wasn't grinning like her, wasn't even smiling, but she could see he looked pretty satisfied as well. At their side, Shino nodded.
"With this, the exercise is over."
"Not quite" Sasuke corrected, giving the card back to Hinata. "We still need to return to the teacher and show it to him" then, he looked at her, as if waiting. Hinata took a second to understand he wanted her to give the order to return to the academy, as it was expected of her role as the leader.
A little embarrassed, but also giddy by this show of respect, she said. "T-Then let us go back!"
And with that, they made their way back to the academy as fast as they could.
Once there, they quickly found their teacher and gave him the card with all the stamps. He took it and hummed, before giving a nod. "Good. You're the first team to return as well, so congratulations" he said, smiling a little. Hinata was thrilled.
"A-Are we really the first team to m-make it back?" she asked, half-incredulous and half-elated.
The teacher shrugged. "Yeah, but if you're waiting some special prize because of it, then forget it. I had nothing prepared beforehand."
She wasn't really expecting anything, and going by Shino's and Sasuke's expressions she could tell neither were them. However, their general aura gave off a feeling of accomplishment, and so they returned to their seats, waiting for the rest of the teams patiently and, in Hinata's case, smiling happily.
Shino drifted apart soon after though, apparently wishing to do other things with his free time than sitting and talking to them, and his departure made Hinata wonder if she should also go back to her seat and leave Sasuke on his own. She didn't really had anything to say to him, but the idea of just sitting by herself waiting for the rest of their classmates when she could spend the time with Sasuke instead didn't really sit well with her, and so she remained standing close to him, indecisive, until he finally let out a sigh.
"If you want to sit with me, then do so" he said, leaning back against his chair. He looked at her with a small frown, though he didn't look annoyed or anything. "Do it now before the kid that sits next to me comes back" he added when she didn't move. Hinata nodded, a bit embarrassed at the exchange. Go figure Sasuke would notice her indecision and just tell her to be done with it.
She sat, joining her hands on her lap, and looked at the table not knowing what to say. For all she didn't want to go back to her seat to wait alone, she hadn't really thought this through.
"I-It's nice that we arrived first" she finally said, fidgeting slightly. Sasuke hummed, reaching under his chair for his backpack and taking out a scroll.
"It is. It was a rather boring assignment but it's good we managed to finish it quickly" he said, putting the scroll on the desk. Hinata looked at it curiously. Sasuke noticed and explained; "I found it among some… old things I had. It's a scroll on advanced ninjutsu… I've been studying it."
"Advanced?" she gasped, interest piqued. He nodded.
"I already mastered all the things they taught us at the academy. It's becoming a little boring."
"I c-can't imagine mastering everything and g-getting bored… You are amazing, Sasuke-kun" she complimented, sincerely. The boy halted his movements and turned to look at her with an indecipherable expression. Hinata became a bit flustered by it. Had she said something weird?
She opened her mouth to ask that when, in that moment, the door opened and in came another team of three children. Among them, Hinata could see Sakura, who looked up to where they were and immediately saw her sitting with Sasuke.
Without knowing why, she felt a small sense of fear. It wasn't like Hinata wanted her friendship with Sasuke to be a secret, but she still remembered that time she first spoke to Sakura. She had said it was good she didn't like Sasuke because then they could be friends. Would she think her feelings had changed now that she saw her sitting together with him? Would she get angry?
Instead of any of that, Sakura only smiled, waved, and continued towards the teacher along with her teammates. Once they gave them their own card and the teacher allowed them to go, Sakura walked directly towards them, albeit a bit hesitantly. She stopped in front of them, her hands behind her back and one of her feet making small circles on the ground.
"Hello Sasuke-kun, Hinata-chan… can I sit with you?" she asked shyly.
Hinata blinked, surprised at this new Sakura she had never seen before.
Sasuke didn't say anything, simply looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Then, he turned to Hinata, and for some unknown reason she panicked.
"Um, you c-can, Sakura-chan" she said without thinking, and then regretted it immediately. Would Sasuke get angry because she invited Sakura without his permission? But, he had told her he didn't mind Sakura's presence as much, and besides, she was her friend, so…
Sakura beamed, and with an enthusiastic "thank you!" she turned a chair from the desk in front and sat down, placing her elbows on top of the table and resting her chin on her joined hands.
"It seems you were the first team to finish. And here I was thinking it would be us" she commented, chuckling softly. Hinata smiled, playing a bit with her fingers.
"Y-Yes… how did your team do?" she asked. Sakura hummed, before shrugging.
"Pretty well, I think. We had to look for one of the stamps here in the academy, actually. Like, we were all the way near the main gate and we had to come back! This exercise really made us go all over the place" she said, voice sounding annoyed but still excited. She wondered if the latter was because Sasuke was there.
And talking about Sasuke…
"Maybe I should leave" he said, starting to close the scroll and moving to stand up. Sakura turned to him very fast, looking as if she wanted to retain him but not knowing how. Hinata pursed her lips, and, without thinking, cleared her throat, catching their attention.
"This… Sasuke-kun, you don't need to l-leave… this is your desk. We…"
"What are you reading, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, apparently finding the courage to ask after Hinata stopped him, though she ended up interrupting her. Not that Hinata minded, she wasn't really sure what she would have said to Sasuke anyway.
The boy stared at the pink-haired girl at her question, and she blushed, doing her best not to glance down, as far as Hinata could see.
After a while, he finally answered, simply; "a ninjutsu scroll."
"Oh, so you're studying? I see, sorry to bother you then…" Sakura bit her lip, suddenly looking embarrassed. She fidgeted a bit, and then, out of nowhere, stood up. "I'll go then. Hinata-chan's right, this is your desk and we're annoying you. Will you come too, Hinata-chan?" she asked, turning to her questioningly. Even though she was so excited before, her body language now clearly indicated she was feeling uncomfortable.
Hinata nodded slowly. She looked at Sasuke, who was also staring at her, eyebrow raised. She gave him a small smile, waving slightly. "S-See you later, Sasuke-kun?"
"Yeah… see you later" he said, sitting down again.
Sakura and Hinata returned to their seat. Once there, the pink-haired girl slammed her head against the desk and groaned. "Ugh, that was so embarrassing! What was I thinking?"
"I-It's alright, Sakura-chan…" Hinata patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure Sasuke-kun didn't m-mind…"
"I'm sure he did" she huffed, lifting her head and frowning. "I wish I could talk to him normally…" she sighed wistfully. Then, she shook her head, as if wanting to get rid of those thoughts, and looked back at Hinata. "So, how was it, being in the same team as him? Was he really cool?" she changed subjects, staring at her with curiosity and glinting eyes. Hinata couldn't help a giggle at the way she looked. It was almost like she was glittering.
"He… He was really supportive a-and he solved a lot of the riddles…"
"Ah, as expected of Sasuke-kun!" she swooned, resting her head again on the desk, but this time softer than before. Still with her cheek on the table, she turned to Hinata, smiling and looking as if she was in a daze. Hinata could understand. Before becoming friends with Naruto, she always got like that whenever the whiskered boy was even mentioned. Sometimes she still did, despite their friendship.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Sakura stood straight, surprising Hinata. "That reminds me! My birthday is next Tuesday. Do you want to come to my house after academy's over?" she asked.
Hinata blinked, making counts in her head, before saying; "your birthday is the 28th?"
That was a day after Hanabi's birthday.
Sakura nodded. "I will turn ten! And my mom will make my favorite for dinner and told me to bring a friend if I wanted. Well, she told me to bring Ino, but…" and she stopped talking then, clamping her mouth shut as if suddenly realizing what she was saying.
Hinata smiled reassuringly, to show her she wasn't offended, and said; "I would love to, b-but I need to speak with my father first. Can you wait until tomorrow for c-confirmation?"
"Sure! No problem!" Sakura smiled, glad Hinata didn't get hung up on Ino's mention. However, that expression soon turned into a small frown, and the quiet girl couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. "Hey, Hinata-chan, about Sasuke-kun…" she started.
She was interrupted, however, by the entrance of another team, that, upon seeing there were already other students inside the classroom, groaned collectively in annoyance for not being the first back. Hinata turned towards Sakura again after the teacher scolded them, curious as to what the other girl had wanted to tell her, but she only shook her head and changed subjects, leaving her with the doubt.
Later, when she asked her father permission to go to Sakura's house for her birthday, the older man sighed and muttered something like 'when did she get so many friends?' before allowing her to go.
Sakura's still too shy to actively annoy Sasuke, but she's getting there! And Papa Hiashi's surprised Hinata's making so many friends, but he's happy too, even if he doesn't show it.
Sorry for the rather lackluster end to the mini-arc, but at least Hinata's team won! Go quiet team!