Day 3: A glance that reveals everything

Sasuke checked the list again, making inventory of all of Hinata's answers. The end result was… disappointing, to say the least. They had almost nothing in common, from food (why sweets of all things?) to hobbies (gardening was kind of fine, his mother liked it, but he honestly found it a bit boring) and even ideologies (how the hell did you become a kind and strong shinobi? The two things were so opposite, it was simply impossible). Sure, there were some things they agreed on, like the fact they both preferred the quiet and taking long walks to allow themselves time to think, but other than that…

Disappointing. What was he supposed to do now?

"Itachi!"

The older man closed his eyes, before slowly opening them. He turned towards his little brother with a soft, if a bit strained, smile. "What is it, Sasuke?"

"What do you do when you have nothing in common with your girlfriend?"

Itachi frowned, pushing aside his assortment of kunais that he was sharpening to give Sasuke his whole attention. He patted the place next to him on the engawa, and when the boy sat down, he asked; "nothing in common?"

"Nothing at all" Sasuke confirmed with a nod. Itachi hummed, a hand on his chin.

"In that case, maybe it's better to just break up."

"…what if you don't want to break up?"

"Why would you want to be with someone you have nothing in common with?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He looked away, wondering himself. He still couldn't understand why he insisted on being with Hinata when he should be looking for chances to break up with her. It made no sense. He knew he should stop this now before it was too late, but every time he tried to, his mind suddenly rebelled itself and… and he just… didn't.

Because it was nice being seen. Really, really nice actually.

Seeing the conflict on his little brother's face, Itachi sighed. "What about searching for something together?" Sasuke perked up at this, looking at him questioningly. "If you don't have anything in common, try looking for something new that the two can enjoy" he explained.

"Something new…" the boy whispered thoughtfully. "Did you ever do something like that with Izumi-san, nii-san?"

"Izumi and I are not dating" he said without missing a heartbeat.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "But have you?"

"…she once suggested we could try new cafés together. We do that from time to time" he relented at the end, feeling slightly frustrated. Why did everyone insist that there was something going on between Izumi and him? Even his little brother thought the same…

"I see! Thanks, nii-san!" Sasuke stood up and left, running inside the house and immediately being reprimanded by their mother. Itachi shook his head, going back to his kunais and wishing his little brother good luck in his mind.

There was taijutsu training that day. As Iruka organized the pairings, Sasuke approached Hinata, who was standing on her own while playing with her fingers.

"We should do something together" he stated without even greeting her first.

Hinata was a bit surprised at his sudden appearance, but hid it well. She tilted her head, curious. "Like… what, Sasuke-kun?"

"Do you like training? We could spar after class" he offered. It would be a beneficial activity both for their personal advancement as ninjas, as well as a way to spend time together as a couple.

The girl hummed, biting her lip and glancing away. "I mean, we can do that if you want to. After class, you mean?"

"Yes" he nodded, feeling proud of himself. He had suggested an activity and Hinata had accepted. He was doing great at this boyfriend thing.

In that moment, Iruka finally called everyone to attention.

The pairs passed one by one, with Sasuke staring at them paying them little mind. Compared to the spars between his nii-san and Shisui-san, none of his classmates looked the least bit interesting. Just a bunch of children flapping around like fishes out of water. Kind of pathetic, if you asked him. His attention was caught, however, when Iruka called Hinata against a classmate he couldn't honestly remember the name of. Rika, was it? He believed she might have sent him around ten or so love letters in the past. He knew this because she always demanded an answer afterwards as if his feelings would have changed since her last try.

He watched, curious as to how Hinata would fare, and was pleasantly surprised when the spar quickly turned in her favor. She was a lot better at taijutsu than he thought she would be, though that made sense, considering her family's techniques and specialties. She made quick work of Rika and ended the fight in record time.

"Hinata wins! Good job, the two of you" Iruka congratulated them. Hinata reached her hand down to Rika and helped her up, and the rest continued as usual.

Sasuke was still reeling from the fight.

That was exciting. And Hinata had not even been using her Byakugan. Would she use it during their spar? He had never fought against someone with it. He definitely would tell her to use it.

After a little while, his name was finally called. He was pitted against Naruto. The two looked at each other with grins on their faces.

"I am so ready to kick your ass, bastard" Naruto gloated, cracking his knuckles. Sasuke scoffed, sending him a condescending smirk of his own.

"We'll see about that, dumbass."

They began as soon as Iruka gave the signal. Sasuke had to admit that Naruto was much better than before, but soon he noticed that he was still superior when he started backing the other boy into only defending. The screams of their female classmates resonated throughout, a cacophony he had grown used to with the years, but that he always found annoying no matter what.

He wondered if Hinata had been a part of the noise as well, and he just never noticed because he didn't bother looking at his fangirls. Without really thinking about it, his eyes travelled to the gaggle of classmates standing on the side, and he found her immediately, but she wasn't looking at him.

She was looking at Naruto. With soft, glowing eyes.

What the he-?

"Na-mi-ka-ze KICK!" Sasuke gasped as a foot exploded against his face. He fell hard against the ground, his head bouncing off it and the world losing its form for a short moment, before everything rushed back to him in one painful, long second. He winced, voices all around him drowning him and making his head hurt even worse. And among all of them, one stood out to him the most.

"Is he alright?" the soft, sweet voice of his girlfriend asked. He blinked, hard, before his eyes searched for her. She was standing at the edge of the small circle of people –mostly girls– that had formed around him, hands clenched in front of her chest and a small frown of worry between her brows.

"Hinata…" he called pitifully. His voice was low, but somehow, everyone managed to hear it, and before long, the noise and commotion calmed down, until there was only silence.

And everyone was looking at Hinata with astonishment.

"Y-Yes, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, but she was still far away. He groaned as he sat up, a hand immediately going to his temple.

"You idiot" this time he looked at Naruto, who was just standing there with his arms crossed, a complicated expression on his face that soon turned to mirth as he heard his friend returning to normal.

"It's your fault for not paying attention~" he sang, pulling his arms up behind his head, grinning from ear to ear. Sasuke was about to retort when Iruka stepped forward, kneeling next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Sasuke? How is your head?"

"…I'm fine" he stood up, shrugging off his teacher's hand as well as the dizziness that accompanied the movement.

"Are you sure? You should go to the infirmary if you don't feel well."

"I said I'm fine" he insisted. Seeing that he was mostly alright, and that he refused to go anywhere, Iruka nodded and told the others to go back to their places, before resuming the training.

Sasuke stood right next to Hinata, who was glancing to the side, as if she couldn't stand looking at him.

"Hey" he said. She trembled, barely humming in acknowledgment, and that made Sasuke angry. "You were looking at the idiot back then" he accused.

"I… I was watching the two of you" she answered as smoothly as she could. Sasuke snorted.

"Oh, really?"

"…yes, really."

The audacity. She was looking at Naruto, and quite fondly too.

"Hey guys, whatcha doing?" said boy arrived in time to interrupt Sasuke, who was about to throw an acidic comment towards his girlfriend, making her gasp and stumble back into him due to surprise because of the idiot's sudden appearance.

"None of your business" Sasuke snarled, pushing Hinata by the shoulder away from him.

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Are you upset about my awesome Namikaze kick? Dude, if you didn't want to be defeated, then you should have been paying atten-"

"Shut up" he cut him off, causing Naruto to look incredibly offended. He was, however, distracted from continuing the fight when his eyes landed on Hinata.

"Hey, what's wrong with your face? Why are you so red?"

"I-I-I…!" the poor girl stuttered, and only then Sasuke looked at her, surprised to find her with that ugly shade of red staining her face.

What is wrong with her? Why is she…? His eyes widened when he realized it. Of course, she stumbled onto me just now. Tch, with so little contact she already becomes like this? How utterly pathetic.

And yet, his face was also becoming redder. Much to his annoyance, Naruto noticed this. "Pfff, what's wrong with you? Finally caught up with the fact I defeated you, huh?" he laughed loudly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "If you have the time to laugh, then go do something productive, loser."

"Look who doesn't have a sense of humor" his friend rolled his eyes, but decided to leave the two alone, thankfully. Once gone, Sasuke dragged a hand down his face, staring at Hinata from the corner of his eye. She was still red, gaze anywhere but on him, and he couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride at knowing it was because of him. Well, she's my girlfriend, so it's only natural.

That's right. She was his girlfriend. She had given him a love letter. Why was he so on edge because of a stupid look she had directed at the idiot? It was so obvious she was into him, otherwise she wouldn't blush like that.

However, he also realized a small problem he had not thought of until then.

Did anyone know she was his girlfriend?

Obviously not, they started dating just a few days ago. That was something he had to fix. Everyone should know, especially Naruto. Not because that glance Hinata had given the idiot meant anything, but because… because it was only natural, of course.

When they returned to class, he went directly to the seat next to him and grabbed Naruto's things, ignoring the kid's protests when he walked towards where Hinata was sitting next to Sakura and dropped them in her place. She gasped, surprised at this, and looked at him with confusion.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you…?" Sakura started asking, but he didn't pay attention to her, looking only at Hinata.

"From now on, you will sit next to me" he announced, loud enough for everyone in class to hear. Gasps and murmurs where heard soon after. Hinata's face, instead of the fluorescent red that had befallen it just a while back in the courtyard, was a sickly pale. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, simply taking her stuff and moving back to his seat.

He heard her stumbling after him. "S-Sasuke-kun! Why are you…? Don't-!"

"You are my girlfriend Hinata" he put down her stuff where Naruto used to sit, and turned to her, face determined and serious. "I want my girlfriend close to me. Don't you want your boyfriend close too?"

The bomb had dropped, just like he wanted.

"Did he say girlfriend?"

"Sasuke-kun is dating that weirdo?!"

"I don't believe this! How did this happen?"

"Bastard" Naruto spoke, eyes wide. "You and Hinata…?"

"Yes" he confirmed, nodding for emphasis. "The day before yesterday Hinata gave me a love letter, and I accepted. So just you all know."

With this, the whole class exploded, with everyone talking over the other. The girls were the most vocal, complaining loudly and throwing Hinata poisonous looks. Right at the back, Ino and Sakura were stunned, staring at their friend with confusion and a hint of betrayal. And Hinata?

Hinata fainted on the spot.