Sasuke was finally enjoying a late morning walk in the crisp and warm sun. The looks people threw at him never bothered him, he was used to it anyway. He just ignored them as he and Hinata made their way to his apartment where the rest of the scrolls were.

Although they were still walking down the street, it was quite and he had not heard anyone shout in his ear. He was thankful that Hinata was not a fangirl and was not clinging by his arms and he was also thankful that she was quite, unlike his former teammates.

He sighed. He could walk around the village the whole day without a worry in his mind. The thought had just crossed his mind and a loud voice was heard from behind.

"Oye! Teme!"

Sasuke's eyes twitched but he managed to keep his face blank. Sasuke increased his pace as soon as he heard another voice.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out to him. He just kept walking, acting as if he didn't hear them at all and went on.

"Um... W-will you please... Slow down," Hinata said as she tried to keep up with him. Sasuke just kept walking.

He only stopped when an arm looped around his neck, halting him. Naruto was now nearly choking Sasuke as he angrily said, "What the hell teme! Stop ignoring us?"

Sasuke only looked pissed and annoyed. Sakura came running too and grabbed Naruto by his collar and he immediately let go of Sasuke.

"Let go of him, Naruto! Are you trying to kill him or what!?" Sakura yelled as she just went ahead and punched Naruto square in his jaw. Hinata winced as Naruto plopped down, holding his jaw. He let out a groan.

"Don't you two have a mission to go on? What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked coldly and an annoyed expression was clearly shown on his face.

Now don't get him wrong. Sasuke cared about his team. They were practically his 'family' now as Kakashi liked to put it. But right now, he really didn't want to deal with all this. He just wanted to go to his damn apartment and eat some tomatoes while doing nothing.

He had been alone before while traveling obviously but that was different. He always had to keep his guard up and be cautious of his surroundings and all and hadn't had any breaks in a long while now. And when he finally had gotten a break, he just wanted to... relax and in an quiet atmosphere.

"Kakashi-sensei gave us the day off. He said that you were going to stay for a few days." Sakura said as she smiled at him. Naruto too nodded at her answer as he recovered from his recent injury. His eyes soon landed on Hinata who was fidgeting in the background.

She was debating whether she should leave or not. She felt so out of place there. Naruto noticed her and her hands. He unconsciously grabbed her hands to examine them.

"What happened to your hands, Hinata?" Naruto asked in a concerned tone, his brows slightly furrowed. Hinata blushed furiously as she tried to speak but couldn't get out a single word.

Naruto seemed to notice her blush. First he was confused as to why was she again blushing all of a sudden but then he realized that Hinata had feelings for him. He felt a little embarassed by his actions and let go of her hands. He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry..."

"I-I-I am alright, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said as she dipped her head so that her bangs could cover her flushed face.

"Let me see, Hinata," Sakura said as she examined her hands.

After a little while

Sakura and Hinata sat across Naruto and Sasuke at a table inside a dumpling shop. They were all quiet because Sakura was treating to Hinata's hands and Naruto was watching them with a slightly concerned look. And as for Sasuke, he was quietly sipping his tea.

"All done!" Sakura said happily as she patted Hinata on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," Hinata offered sakura a smile. At that, something in her eyes swirled. Sasuke could tell that it was guilt. He knew Sakura all too well.

"Um...Hinata," Naruto spoke to Hinata as he scratched the back of his neck. "Can we talk later?"

Hinata turned to Naruto as a blush creeped up to her cheeks. She could only nod as she again was unable to utter a word. This didn't go unnoticed by the other two who were present at the table with them. Sakura seemed confused as to why Naruto wanted to talk to Hinata so she threw him a confused look. Naruto only shrugged. However, the Uchiha held a frown which only appeared for a mere second.

They all ate their dumplings in a comfortable silence. But it wasn't comfortable for the pink haired kunoichi as she could practically feel the awkwardness between Hinata and Naruto. So, to light up the mood, she asked the first question that came to her mind when she saw Sasuke and Hinata together earlier.

"When did you two become friends? And where were you going earlier?" Sakura asked. Although she tried to be polite and gentle, and was trying to show that the question was purely out of curiosity but a bit of unhappiness and bitterness slipped out anyway.

At that question, Naruto who was a second away from dozing off perked up and looked between Hinata and Sasuke.

Before Hinata could say anything, Sasuke opened his mouth and simply said, "To my apartment."

Although that was true but something about it sounded really weird to Hinata.

"What!?" Sakura screeched as her mouth fell open. Naruto thought that it wasn't a big deal anyway. If they wanted to spend some time alone then it's a good thing. He snickered visibly.

"Why?" Sakura asked as she was still dazed by the Uchiha's answer. Hinata looked at them and wanted to clear out any misunderstanding that might already be building in Sakura's mind.

"W-we were j-just--" Hinata started but was cut off by the blank faced Uchiha.

"None of your business."

Hinata could tell by their faces what exactly were they thinking about this whole situation. So she spoke up.

"W-wait... That's n-not..." Hinata tried again to explain that it wasn't like that but was again cut off by the Uchiha.

"Let's go. We have some business to attend to." Sasuke said in a monotone as he stood up and payed his share of bill.

Hinata froze. What the hell was Sasuke thinking? She knew that they couldn't tell them about their on-coming mission just yet but leading them in another direction and making them think something else that wasn't even there to begin with...

No, no. She was thinking too much. Maybe they misunderstood it and it wasn't actually Sasuke's intention. Yeah. That must be it.

Hinata didn't have a choice but to follow him out of the shop and all the way to his apartment. Neither of them talked to each other the whole way.

Meanwhile, still at the dumpling shop, two figures were still seated. They both seemed to be in a state of shock. However, the blonde ninja let out a chuckle and said, "It's a good thing that they are getting along."

Sakura blinked and looked at her teammate and her best friend. He was more than a best friend. Sakura had come to like this knucklehead. She couldn't believe that she was admitting that but yeah, she started to have these feelings for Naruto that she once had for Sasuke. But these feelings, they were different and strong.

She hadn't told anyone about it and she hadn't confessed to Naruto either.

Actually she wasn't so sure that whether she should confess or not. She couldn't betray Hinata. Even thinking about having a relationship with Naruto seemed as if she was betraying her friend.

"Sakura-chan."

Sakura snapped back to reality and she realized that she was just staring at Naruto. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm ok," Sakura said. "Let's go, Naruto." She said and stood up. Maybe it was a good thing that they were together. Atleast they'd have each other to lean on.

Elsewhere, at Sasuke's apartment, Hinata found herself surrounded by some old and battered scrolls. She was sitting on the floor, all the scrolls scattered around her and a pen in hand as she translated the scrolls and copied it on the other scrolls.

The scrolls were so old and battered that they were almost unreadable. But Hinata was able to read and figure out some words. Some of the scrolls were almost tored up.

Sasuke was also sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the couch that was in the living room and was currently reading the words that Hinata had just written in the common tongue. He had no idea what it meant. Hinata could only get five words out of that scroll that was so unreadable. The ink or whatever it was written with was all smeared and many of the words had gotten erased.

He again looked at the scroll where those five words were written.

Patience, strong, small, chakra, make.

What did it mean? Sasuke had no idea. Hinata was trying to figure out more about it by looking at the other scrolls but they were all different from each other. But they all had one thing in common. They all contained the information about this world. Like how people live. Their way of talking, living, the kind of food they ate. How seasons and weather changed from time to time.

Sasuke sighed and looked at Hinata who was still on the floor and was still translating the scrolls. It had been four hours since they got to work. Well, Hinata did all of the work, all he did was to only look at her and the scrolls she kept translating. He could tell that Hinata was exhausated. She had been using her byakugan for hours now. He was surprised that she still hadn't collapsed with exhaustion.

"Take a break. You are exhausted," Sasuke said as he stood up and went to where Hinata was sitting. She looked up at him with her byakugan still activated.

She shook her head and said, "I still have to complete this."

"You can do it later. First take a break."

"J-just give me a minute," she said as she turned her attention to the scrolls again. Sasuke really didn't want to admit it but he was kinda worried that she would soon collapse due to chakra exhaustion.

Hinata heard Sasuke grumble as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. At that she looked up at him. He held an annoyed expression. Before she could say anything, Sasuke grabbed her by her arms and pulled her up. That sudden movement caused her head to spin and she almost lost her balance. But Sasuke steadied her as he still had a hold of her arms.

"I told you, you need a break," he said in a monotone. Hinata sighed and nodded as she deactivated her byakugan. She also tried to ignore the fact that she was so close to Sasuke that she could feel his chin slightly grazing her forehead. Sasuke led her to the couch and she settled down. "I'll get you a glass of water." With that Sasuke was gone.

Hinata struggled to keep her eyes open but couldn't and eventually gave in as she dozed off into the land of dreams. When Sasuke came with a glass of water in his hand, he found Hinata sleeping. He went up to her and kneeled infront of her sleeping body. She looked peaceful and... pretty.

Sasuke shook his head and stood up. He went to his room and grabbed a blanket. He draped the blanket over Hinata and helped her in a more comfortable position on the couch. She stirred but didn't wake up. He loosened a relived sigh because if she had woken up and found them so close to each other, then it definitely would've been embarrassing.

Sasuke then left the apartment to buy something to eat. He couldn't stay alive just by eating tomatoes everytime, afterall. He just hoped that by the time he come back, Hinata would have just left.