Day 2: Knowing me, knowing you

Sasuke took Hinata to the infirmary, thankful that all the girls had already left and the nurse was still there. As strong as he was, he didn't really feel like carrying her all the way to her compound and have a million Hyuugas looking at him and asking him why he had brought back their heiress unconscious. She was going to be fine even if he left her in the infirmary.

However, now that everything was said and done, Sasuke had a new problem in his hands.

Namely a girlfriend.

Why had he told her that? It made no sense. He was going to reject her, and yet, when the moment came he said the exact opposite. He didn't need a girlfriend. He didn't want a girlfriend. As soon as he saw her the next day, he was going to tell her it was all a mistake and to forget about it.

But when he came home and found Itachi sitting on the engawa looking at the back garden, a rare sight considering he was always gone on a mission or another, the first thing Sasuke did, after greeting him of course, was ask him what you did with a girlfriend.

"…excuse me?" the older boy asked, eyebrows raised and eyes opened wide. Sasuke huffed, glancing away.

"You heard me. What do you do with a girlfriend? You should know, you're always together with Izumi-san…"

"Izumi isn't my girlfriend…" Sasuke snorted, and Itachi narrowed his eyes. "It's the truth. But enough about that. Why do you want to know that, little brother?"

"…curiosity."

Yeah right.

"Is there anything I should know, Sasuke?" Itachi tried again, smiling softly. The boy pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "Could it be my little brother finally has a…?"

"It's just a stupid girl that left me some dumb love letter. It made me curious what would happen if I said yes, not that I plan to, and that made me wonder what you do with a girlfriend" he lied smoothly, or would have, if it weren't for how obviously red his face was. Itachi hummed, but decided to be a big brother for once and let the matter go.

For now.

"It depends, really."

"Depends on what?" Sasuke asked impatiently when Itachi didn't elaborate.

"Well, what the two of you like, for example. Normally, couples would do activities together that the two enjoy" he said. Sasuke frowned, pondering over it, before nodding slowly.

"So… training together could be considered an activity for couples?"

"If the two of you think of it that way…" Itachi tilted his head, studying his little brother. "Do you know what this girl likes?"

"What girl? This is all hypothetical!"

"Yeah… forgive me little brother" he smiled placatingly at the sputtering boy. "Hypothetically speaking, I would also recommend talking to the girl in question and asking her what she likes and doesn't. Talking is key in any relationship."

"I see…" Sasuke nodded to himself, looking pensive. Then, he glanced up and said; "you're not really good at that then, nii-san. Izumi-san told me the other day that you forgot about…"

"For the last time, Izumi isn't my girlfriend."

Hinata gulped, afraid of what would happen when she stepped inside the classroom.

After finally gathering her courage to write Naruto a love letter… how did it end in Sasuke's shoe locker? She didn't understand it. She was sure she had the right one.

The worst thing was that Sasuke thought the letter was meant for him. That was her fault, because she was too shy to even write Naruto's name. The only son of the Hokage had caught her attention during their early academy days. With amazing and powerful parents, the boy was expected to exceed and become a prodigy; however, it wasn't long until it became obvious that Naruto was a bit more challenged than others when it came to learning.

It wasn't that he was bad… well, maybe he was a little when it came to studying, but he wasn't worse than any other student out there. He didn't learn things fast but he always managed to get there. The problem was that, with the Hokage as his father and the Jinchuriki of the nine tails as his mother, people expected incredible things out of him, and whenever he showed to be just as normal a boy as any other… people got disappointed.

It was unfair, and Hinata could see it every time in Naruto's eyes when people would talk behind his back about how he wasn't as good as his parents. But he never gave up, he always did his best even when having everyone against him, and that was something that Hinata had always admired about him.

She didn't have any hope of Naruto ever reciprocating her feelings, and as the day of their graduation approached, she was suddenly filled with fear that she might never see him again. Something stupid and unfounded, she knew, but there nonetheless. And so, she had pushed herself to write that letter, hoping that he would at least know of her and what she felt, and, just maybe, consider her too for the future.

But that wouldn't happen now. Because the one that received her letter, for some reason, was Sasuke, not Naruto.

Hinata didn't have a negative opinion of Sasuke, her crush's best friend. She actually didn't have much of an opinion of him. He was the second son of the Uchiha clan head, and considered far and wide a genius like his brother. He had the attention of every female at the academy and the favor of all their teachers. For Hinata, he was someone untouchable and unreachable, and so, someone she would be better simply not paying attention to. He received enough from everyone else to need hers after all.

At first, when he showed her the love letter, her heart had sunk believing Naruto had given it to him. Believing her feelings were worth so little even if she already expected a rejection hurt. But then, it turned out she had actually put it in his locker and she was so confused, she could barely form a word before she was being asked about the truthfulness of what she wrote and then promptly declared the boy's girlfriend.

Uchiha Sasuke's girlfriend.

Just why?! Her mind screamed. Why would Sasuke make her his girlfriend? It made no sense at all!

The boy with the entirety of the female population of the academy after him, who likely received hundreds of love letters a month… the only reason she could think of was that he actually lik-but no, that was impossible. But what other explanation could there be? In any case, and regardless of the reason, she had to make sure to clear the misunderstanding as soon as possible.

But to do that she first needed to enter the classroom, and she couldn't do that, still too nervous to even take a step forward.

"Hinata!"

The girl squeaked, turning around just to see Sakura running towards her, a big smile on her face.

"S-Sakura…"

"Hinata, what a surprise! Did you come late too? That's weird because you're always so early! What are you doing just standing there? Come on, let's enter!" Sakura spoke a mile a minute, breath coming out shallowly due to her run. She pushed Hinata playfully from behind as she sputtered and tried to make excuses, but to no avail. Soon, they were inside and Iruka was scolding them and Hinata didn't even raise her head to look at the seat on the middle row to the left, where Naruto and Sasuke usually sat.

The day passed by and soon after it was time to eat lunch. Hinata ducked and practically ran away, worried Sasuke might want to talk to her in front of everyone, with Ino and Sakura quickly following her after exchanging a confused gaze.

"What happened?" Ino asked, seeing her simply picking at her food with her chopsticks. Hinata shook her head, and was thankful when her two friends decided to simply let her be for the moment.

This was another problem she had not seen coming.

It had been so difficult for Hinata to make friends, so when Ino and Sakura started hanging out with her she had been so happy. But the two of them were in love with Sasuke, and although they had both come to terms with that between them, if they knew the boy they liked had unilaterally decided to make her his girlfriend, she was afraid of what their reaction would be.

She didn't want to lose their friendship. Another reason to clear things up with Sasuke as soon as she found a moment alone with him.

At the end of the day, she slowly packed her things, nervous for what she was going to do. She kept an eye open for Sasuke, who was talking to Naruto, hoping he would somehow understand she wanted to talk to him alone. As the two boys made their way out, she quickly followed them, looking for an opportunity, but this never came, as Naruto never once strayed from his friend's side.

That would be a problem.

Then, finally, when she was about to turn around and make a plan to try again tomorrow, Naruto waved Sasuke goodbye and ran down an alley to the left, leaving the black-haired boy alone.

This was her chance.

"I know you're there. How much longer are you going to follow me?"

Hinata squeaked.

Sasuke turned, frowning. "So? Are you coming or not?" he asked when he finally ran out of patience, waiting for her to approach. Hinata winced, feeling her face becoming hot, and made her way to him slowly.

"S-Sasuke-kun, I wanted to talk to you. You see, yesterday…"

"Ah, yes, speaking of which" he interrupted, reaching inside his pocket. Hinata bit her lip, annoyed, but she couldn't say anything else as he kept talking. "I actually wanted to ask you a few things. Let's see…" he took out a piece of paper, and opening it, read aloud. "What's your favorite color?"

Hinata was taken aback. "…what?"

"Your favorite color" he repeated, slowly, as if she was too dumb to understand. Hinata frowned.

"Why… why do you want to know that?"

"I made a list" he showed her the paper, and there she saw question after question written, confusing her. "I talked to Itachi, and he said that we should get to know each other if we're going to date. So I made a list of the things I think might be important. So" he said again, pulling the paper back towards him, "what's your favorite color?"

Hinata didn't answer for a while, too stunned to say anything. Sasuke quickly became impatient.

"It isn't too difficult for you, is it?"

"I… i-it's violet, but…"

"Good. Second question: what's your favorite food?"

"Cinnamon buns… Sasuke-kun, listen...!"

"Ugh, sweets? Should've known, you look the type. Ok, third question…"

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata raised her voice. She wasn't quite yelling, but she was close to. Because… he was really getting on her nerves like this! Sasuke looked up, eyes wide in surprise before he frowned. Hinata ignored that. "Sasuke-kun, I wanted to talk to you about something… can you stop interrupting me and let me speak?" she asked, pleaded almost. At her tone, the boy softened his face, and glanced down, looking like a scolded child.

"Geez, alright, no need to get like that…"

Patience Hinata told herself. "About the letter… I think there has been a m-mistake…"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"The letter… that is… because I didn't put the name…" you thought it was for you, but it was actually for Naruto-kun is what she was going to say.

But then, Sasuke again interrupted her. "Yes, I noticed. That was a bit weird, but it doesn't matter. You know, your letter is actually the first one ever that… I don't know, sounded deeper? What I mean is…" he scratched his nape, and Hinata couldn't help but stare when a bit of color found its way to his cheeks. Sasuke was… blushing? What had the world come to! "I was thinking about it, and I wondered why would I be an inspiration for you. I don't consider anything I do to be special, but the way you described it… I guess I like that you see the effort I put in and acknowledge it. Everyone else is always acting as if everything comes easy to me, but it's nice that at least someone realizes it's not like that. I guess… I feel seen."

…that… that was the most Hinata had ever heard Sasuke talk. On top of that, what was this sudden heart-to-heart? And why now of all times? This way, she would only feel bad when…!

"Ah, I interrupted you again. What did you want to tell me?" Sasuke asked, oblivious to the inner dilemma Hinata was now facing. Gulping heavily, she played with her fingers, trying to come up with a way to tell him the truth without making him feel bad.

"I… I'm sorry I didn't put your name in the letter, Sasuke-kun… I was too shy…" and a coward too, it seemed. "W-What is your favorite color?" she asked, to change the subject.

"Blue. But ask your questions later, it's my turn now" he looked at the list again. "Ok, third question…"

It shouldn't be long until he got bored of her anyway; the shy, weak ex-heiress of the Hyuuga clan with nothing to show for it. Surely, at one point or another, Sasuke would break up with her, and until then, she only had to pretend to be his girlfriend.

Pretty easy, right?

…right?