Day 6: A warm embrace

Hinata prepared her stuff for school with nervousness.

Today was the day of their examination to officially become genin.

She made sure she had all of her scrolls, as well as that her kunai pouch was full and ready to go. The exam, as Iruka had explained to them the week before, consisted of three parts: a theoretical written exam, a spar between classmates where their taijutsu would be evaluated, and finally a ninjutsu test where they would be asked to perform a simple jutsu.

Hinata knew that she was well prepared for all of it, but she still couldn't help the churning of her stomach at the mere thought of it. What if she failed? What if she had to repeat the year?

She breathed deep, calming herself. Everything was going to be alright. She closed her hands in fists, nodding to herself, before grabbing her backpack and leaving her room.

At the academy, there was an air of anxiousness all over. She walked over to her seat, next to Sasuke who was already there, chin held up on top of his joined hands as always and looking apparently calm.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun" she greeted. He nodded at her, his head moving just slightly in her direction, before concentrating on the front again. Hinata sat, her eyes moving involuntarily to where Sakura and Ino were sitting. She felt a small pressure in her chest, but forced herself to dismiss that feeling.

She remembered the conversation she had with them a few days ago.

"So, it wasn't Sasuke-kun whom that letter was meant for…" Sakura whispered after Hinata finally managed to convince them to listen to her. She looked confused.

Ino frowned. "Then how did Sasuke-kun receive it?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"I don't know. I don't understand how it ended in his shoe locker, I…" Hinata struggled with explaining. She hadn't told them to whom the letter was originally meant for. She didn't want to, because it was embarrassing, but she knew they would want to know.

And she was right, because the next thing Ino asked was; "and who did you write the love letter for?"

Sakura also looked at her, waiting as Hinata closed her eyes and whispered; "Naruto-kun…"

"Naruto?!" the two of them screeched. Hinata quickly shushed them. They were in an isolated place, all the way outside the academy under the plum tree Sasuke had first told her she was to be his girlfriend. She found it a suitable place to have this conversation without fear of anyone listening in. Despite that, she still didn't want them to draw unwanted attention with their voices.

"You like Naruto?" Sakura asked, eyes wide. Hinata felt herself blushing. She nodded timidly, glancing away. Ino and Sakura exchanged a glance. "Then… and if the letter was meant for Naruto… why are you dating Sasuke-kun?"

"Right? It makes no sense if it was just a mistake" Ino nodded, crossing her arms.

Hinata sighed. "I know, but… I tried to explain to him that it was a mistake, but he wouldn't listen. And I thought… I thought that it wouldn't be long before he… he got tired of me…"

The two girls frowned.

"So… you're just letting him misunderstand on purpose?" Sakura asked, incredulous.

"What about Naruto?" Ino added, just as shocked. "You wrote the letter for him, and now you're dating his best friend. Do you think you will have a chance with him later, even if Sasuke-kun breaks up with you?"

"I was never expecting Naruto-kun to return my feelings" Hinata answered, face and voice sad. "I only wanted him to know how I felt before we graduated… as we probably wouldn't see each other as often."

"And for that reason it doesn't matter if you date Sasuke-kun in the meantime?" Sakura pursed her lips. "Hinata, don't you think that you're playing with his feelings by letting him think you like him?"

"Eh?" she was astounded by the question. Sakura closed her eyes.

"He asked you to be his girlfriend after believing that letter was for him. Don't you think he did that because he likes you?" she asked, slowly, as if she was talking to a child. Hinata was mildly offended, but she let it pass because what she said was even more shocking.

"Sasuke-kun… liking me?"

"Yes, Sakura, what are you saying?" Ino wondered too.

"Think about it. How many girls confess to Sasuke-kun every day? And how many does he accept? None, right?" she looked at both of them for confirmation, and when they nodded, she continued. "And yet, it was only when Hinata 'confessed' to him that he decided to date her? Why? The only explanation is…"

"I-I don't think he likes me!" Hinata interrupted, voice higher than usual. "I… I don't know why he told me that I would be his girlfriend, but I'm sure it must not be because… because…"

"But Sakura's right" Ino said, shoulders sagging in defeat. "There's no other reason. Sasuke-kun likes you, and…"

Hinata shook her head. She couldn't believe this, but there was no convincing Ino and Sakura otherwise. In the end, she couldn't explain to them why it was impossible for Sasuke to like her, because she didn't have any other explanation either, just a gut feeling that something else had made him decide to be with her.

Sakura and Ino had insisted that, since Sasuke liked her, she should at least give him a chance if she was so sure nothing would ever happen with Naruto, and although she felt weird doing it, at least they weren't ignoring her anymore. They weren't actively with her either, but she supposed it would take some time until they could go back to how they were before everything.

She sighed, just as Iruka entered the classroom and called to order. They were reassigned to different classrooms where they would take their written test, and after that they would be taken to the courtyard, for the practical part of the exam.

Sasuke looked at her before she left, giving her a simple, "I trust that you can do it" that managed to ease her worries a lot more than she thought possible.

And then it was time for the exam.

As Sasuke waited for his name to be called for sparring, he looked off into space, bored out of his mind. The written test had been easy enough, and he had confidence the rest of the exam would be as well. At his side, Naruto complained about his head hurting, and he snarled a little, tired of his never ending blabbering.

"Calm down. You said your mom helped you study, no?" he asked as two new names were called. On the other side, Hinata was sitting on her own, playing with her fingers and watching Ino and Sakura talk to each other. He wasn't sure what happened afterwards with the three of them, but he assumed Hinata must have at least said whatever she wanted to the other two, as the air between the three was no longer as strained.

"Where do you think I got my bad studying habits from?" Naruto groaned, returning his attention to him. Sasuke sighed.

"I don't know what to tell you. Enjoy staying in the academy" at this, Naruto sputtered, but he was no longer listening to him. That's because Hinata's name had been called.

As well as his.

"Man, against your girlfriend? That's gotta be tough" Naruto whistled. Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood up.

"It doesn't matter who wins or loses, the spar is just to see if we have what is needed to become genin" he said before making his way over to the center of the field, where Hinata already was, standing with her shoulders close to her ears, glancing down in an anxious position. He frowned at this.

"Alright, begin!" Iruka announced, taking a step back. Sasuke decided to think about Hinata's state later, and took position, waiting for her to make the first move.

She did the same.

For a while, they analyzed each other, no one moving; but then, Sasuke ran towards her, raising his fist and aiming it at her head. She dodged by taking a step back and raising her own arm to hit him on the chest, but he was also fast and managed to avoid her attack.

Back and forth they went, avoiding each other's attacks each time. Sasuke was a little impressed. It was one thing seeing her during class sparring with their classmates, but a completely different experience when it was against him. Without thinking he smirked, pleased with this development.

Hinata frowned in concentration, but it failed at one moment when she looked up at him. Despite not knowing what brought this on, he didn't waste the opportunity and attacked, kicking her legs from under her and causing her to fall down on the ground. He stood over her, his body poised in case she sprung to action again, but Iruka's voice sounded in that moment, declaring him the winner.

He resisted the temptation to groan. The spar had been fun, and it was a shame it had to end. Trying not to wallow on that, he extended a hand towards Hinata, helping her up. They would have time to spar together in another occasion.

"That was pretty good" he told his girlfriend as they made their way over to where the others were. Hinata nodded, her face flushed from the exercise.

"It was… you caught me by surprise back there" she admitted. He tilted his head in confusion.

"How so?"

"Ah, well, you… you seemed to be having a good time" she twirled her thumbs shyly. "You even smiled… it really shocked me."

So that was the reason her concentration faltered? Because he was smiling? He didn't know how to feel about that. "Is it that weird that I smile?" he asked. She immediately shook her head, flustered.

"Oh, of course not! It's just… you don't do it often, and so when it happened…"

"So it is weird" he concluded. He should be more careful from now on then.

"No! Your… your smile's very nice" Hinata confessed, much to his surprise. "I believe… you should smile more" and to drive her point home, she smiled at him, a pretty thing that illuminated her whole face.

He glanced away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. They went their separate ways when they reached the crowd of students and he sat next to Naruto, who made fun of him because of his red face.

"Shut up, it's just the heat that's getting to me."

"We're in October man."

"I said shut up."

For her final test, Hinata performed the substitution technique.

"Very well, Hinata!" Iruka congratulated her, looking at his notes. "You made very good scores in your other two tests as well."

"That means…?" she asked, hopefully. Iruka grinned, as well as the other two teachers that were with him, sitting at the examination table.

"Congratulations. You're officially a genin now" he picked up one of the forehead protectors lying on the table and gave it to her. Hinata took it with trembling hands, staring at it with wide and happy eyes.

"Thank you" she bowed.

"You don't have to thank us. You deserve it" Iruka smiled.

She left the classroom with a skip in her step. Outside, there was a still a bunch of kids waiting for their turn, and they looked at her and her forehead protector with curiosity. Feeling self-conscious, she walked faster until she reached the exit.

Outside, Sasuke was waiting, his own protector already tied around his head.

"You did it" he said, looking at what she was holding. She nodded, smile still there.

"We're genin now" she giggled, giddy with emotion.

"We are. Why don't you put it on?"

She did, trying to tie it around her head like he had, but the metal of the protector felt too heavy and uncomfortable against the skin of her forehead, so instead she settled by tying it around her neck. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment.

Soon after, Naruto joined them, shoulders slumped but forehead protector clutched tightly in his hand. "Guys… I almost didn't make it…"

"What? You failed a simple substitution technique?" Sasuke snarled. Naruto's eyes shot up to him, narrowed and sharp.

"No, you ass, I did the technique just fine!" he sighed then, the fight leaving him as he remembered. "But my written test was a disaster. I barely scraped up enough points to make it."

"The important thing is that you did it, Naruto-kun" Hinata told him softly. He perked up at this, suddenly puffing his chest and grinning widely.

"You're right! And hey! You made it too! Congratulations Hinata!" he said as he took a step forward, crushing her in a hug. Hinata stiffened, her whole body starting to overheat from the simple gesture. "Isn't it amazing? We're all genin now! Now we only have to wait for them to announce our teams next week and…"

"Naruto, hands off" Sasuke said, voice sounding low and dangerous. Hinata couldn't see his expression as her vision was still swimming from the contact, but somewhere deep in her mind that felt full of cotton, she thought he sounded angry.

"Waa, what's with that face bastard? Alright! Alright!" Naruto took a step back, releasing her and raising his hands up, a nervous smile on his face. "Geez, I know she's your girl and all, but damn, a hug between friends should be fine, no?"

"It's not, now leave, your mom's there" he pointed towards the entrance gates to the academy. Naruto turned to look in that direction, his face brightening upon seeing Kushina standing just a way off, smiling and waving at him. He quickly ran towards her, taking just one second to utter a quick 'see you later!' before practically jumping on his mom's arms for another crushing hug.

Hinata was still trying to get her heart under control when Sasuke clicked his tongue. "No wonder he has no clue about personal boundaries…" he complained.

"I think it's cute… that they're so outwardly affectionate…" she poked her fingers together, earning an exasperated look from him.

"Anyway, is your father going to come pick you up? I think my mother and brother will come, but just because Itachi's been having less missions lately it doesn't mean he's not busy with other things" he rolled his eyes. When he didn't get an answer from her though, he looked at her, a frown forming.

She gulped. "My father… he won't come" she told him. She looked away when his frown gave way to incredulity. "He's the clan head… he has other more important things to do. Ah! But that doesn't mean no one will come! Ko-san will surely be here shortly" she quickly explained, waving her hands in the air to dispel any worries.

"Hey, I'm not saying anything" he put his hands in his pockets, staring away as well. "My father won't come either. He already told me yesterday that I shouldn't be expecting him here" he scoffed. "Not like I expected anything to begin with…"

They lapsed into silence after that, with Hinata still playing with her fingers and Sasuke just staring ahead. After a while, she felt it was a little too suffocating, so she raised her head to say something, right at the moment he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

Hinata's jaw fell.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

"Shut up" he muttered, hand moving from her arm to the back of her head. His other hand travelled to her waist, but he didn't envelope her like Naruto had a few minutes ago. Instead, it was just… there. Barely touching her, but enough to make her feel as if she was on fire.

She didn't do or say anything for the entire process, her body stiff as a statue. It was Sasuke who eventually pulled away, and he did so with a frown.

"You are supposed to hug me back" he reprimanded. She blinked up at him, not understanding. "I mean, when Naruto… tsk, whatever, I guess you didn't do anything then either so it doesn't matter" he took a step back, face aloof and hands in his pockets again. Hinata was still in a state of shock, and so, she was only able to come back to reality when she heard her name being called. When she turned around, Sakura was waving at her, making gestures so she would come over to her.

She cleared her throat. "I… I'm going now… see you next week?" she tried.

Sasuke looked at her as if she was stupid. "Of course not. We'll see each other tomorrow, eleven o'clock in front of the public library. You still owe me a proper date" he said, narrowing his eyes.

Hinata gulped, a bit afraid of his expression and what would happen tomorrow, but she nodded, because she didn't want any problems, and then left, practically running away from him.

Her heart was still beating too fast in her chest, and she didn't understand why.

Not too much of a warm embrace, but here we are, hahaha.

I hope this chapter answered the question about how old the kids are supposed to be :D