Misunderstandings

Chapter One

It all started off very slowly and gradually. Sasuke barely noticed how it crept up on him, but he did notice her. Unconsciously at first and without much care, but then it became that he would suddenly notice her at odd times. In the hallways when she passed by him or whenever he happened to glance up and she happened to pass by his classroom.

Sometimes he would be walking alone in the hallway and then suddenly he would notice her walking right in front of him. And each time he saw her, it would always come as a shock, because he never saw her appear or approach, she was just simply there. After a while, it came be to an annoyance for Sasuke whenever he saw her, simply because he couldn't stop being conscious of her presence whenever he noticed her.

She would suddenly be there and Sasuke would suddenly be on edge, noticing her movements and the direction she was heading. He honestly didn't care about her, didn't even know her. She had attended the same elementary and middle school as Sasuke and was even in the same grade as him! But despite all those years at the same schools, he had barely ever spoken a word to her. All he knew was her name, Hyuga Hinata.

It made Sasuke feel extremely weird whenever he saw her. Already in his third year of high school, he had never taken to noticing her presence before. So why now? Why couldn't he go back to ignoring her?

For a while Sasuke obsessed over those questions and as he did, he became even more in tuned to her presence. Frustrated and beyond irritated, he decided that he must be becoming aware of the girl only because he was still obsessing over his questions. So he immediately made himself forget about his questions and took to walking the long way to his classes to avoid her. And it worked! At least . . . for a while.

For about an entire month Sasuke had successfully erased the girl from his thoughts, the only time he thought vaguely of her was when reminding himself to take the long way to class. Sasuke wasn't happy that he'd forgotten the girl, nor was he relieved or satisfied. He wasn't anything. He had completely forgotten about her.

Walking home after school one day, Sasuke was deep in thought, hardly aware of the world around him. A car behind him honked loudly several times, snapping Sasuke instantly from his thoughts. As the car whizzed by several teenagers stuck their heads out the window, yelling and screaming excitedly. Sasuke shook his head, thinking nothing but that all the teenagers in that car were idiots.

Resuming his walk, Sasuke looked forward; his house was just a block away from him now.

Ahead of Sasuke, a girl with dark hair stood staring after the car that had just drove madly by. She turned her head slightly, allowing Sasuke to get a good glimpse of her face.

No. Sasuke's feet faltered and stopped for a moment in shock. It was Hyuga Hinata.

Hinata had resumed walking, as did Sasuke, but he made sure he walked more slowly so that the distance between them grew.

Staring at the girl's back crossly, Sasuke frowned, very much frustrated. He managed going a whole month ignoring the girl and there she was, walking directly in front of him. Acting as if she walked this way home every day.

Twisting his mouth in bemusement, Sasuke wondered where she was headed. He had never before seen her on his walks home. Perhaps visiting a friend? Sasuke shook his head. No, she would be accompanied with someone if she was. Then a relative maybe? Sasuke nodded, positive that that must be the case. Yet, despite telling himself that, Sasuke doubted that was the actual truth.

Suddenly realizing that he was questioning and obsessing again Sasuke shook the thoughts and persistent questions from his head. He was not going to ruin a month of his efforts of forgetting the girl, he decided. She was visiting a relative and that was that. Everything would return to normal tomorrow.

Mind set, Sasuke picked up his speed a little and continued looking on ahead, resuming his neutral and uncaring attitude.

When Hinata stopped at a house, Sasuke almost stopped as well, but continued to walk. He didn't care and as he passed by the house, the front door slamming shut, he nodded assuredly to himself.

Just a relatives' house, right?

On that fateful day of spotting the Hyuga on his way home, Sasuke decided he had been cursed. Despite his insistent assurances and assertions, it ended up that the Hyuga wasn't visiting a relative after all, but going home.

This meant every morning when walking to school, Sasuke saw the Hyuga and then every afternoon when walking home, he saw the Hyuga once more. That wasn't all though. He saw her in the hallways, in the lunchroom, in-between classes. And it was worse than last time. He knew the Hyuga's exact routes between her classes, where she sat at lunch, and whom she usually hung around. He was so aware of her presence that Sasuke was on the verge of madness. He was so fed up that he even came to blame the girl for his abnormality and began to refer to her as "The Hyuga" in his mind.

At first he retaliated to her consistent presence by going out of his way to avoid her. He drove his car to and from school and took the exhaustingly long ways to class.

He only kept that up for about two weeks, before acknowledging to himself that he was acting ridiculously and shamefully. He wasn't scared of the girl for goodness sake, besides, he was wasting gas money by driving to school every day and he was tired of taking the long ways to class. And he was tired of running away; his Uchiha pride told him he was better than that.

So Sasuke got a hold of himself and sucked it up. He walked to school every morning with the Hyuga always twenty feet ahead and walked the regular ways to class, ignoring the sight of the Hyuga whenever she brushed by and he walked home from school behind the Hyuga once again every afternoon. It became Hell for him, but he sucked it up and did his best to ignore the girl. Though she never seemed to go away, like an annoying shadow or a needy girlfriend. Sasuke got over it though and soon she was a consistent presence that he learned to accept, but he never stopped thinking of her as annoying.

As the school year progressed, Sasuke looked forward to the oncoming summer, which would soon free him of school and of the Hyuga's presence. Then over the summer, Sasuke planned to lose all memory of the Hyuga and enjoy his summer stress free and peaceful.

Luckily for Sasuke, he never actually had to interact with the Hyuga, because he didn't have any classes with her or share any friends in common with her. Which was a relief, because Sasuke already saw enough of her that he didn't need to see anymore than he had to.

Two months before school was let out for summer vacation though, the Hyuga began to befriend Sasuke's best friend, Uzumaki Naruto. Which, to say the least, immediately irked Sasuke as annoying and bizarre.

It started off with an art project and Naruto's inability to grasp the task of the project. Hence, this lead to Hinata's offer of help, since she shared that class with Naruto. She explained the project to him, gave him pointers, and by what Naruto told Sasuke, she went over to Naruto's house once to help with the project.

Sasuke had scowled sourly when Naruto told him all this, because it meant the Hyuga was growing closer to his life and those around him. Not what he wanted at all.

At first he antagonized the thoughts of the Hyuga's and Naruto's growing friendship. His worries were soon settled though when the Hyuga approached their table one day during lunch and awkwardly tried to say something to Naruto. In the end it only came out as an incoherent stutter and with her visibly blushing and walking away.

"Who was that?" asked a girl sitting at their table.

"Oh," said Naruto. He turned to the girl, smiling apologetically for the Hyuga.

"That was Hyuga Hinata. She's in my art class. She's nice, but really weird. . . ." mumbled Naruto.

Sasuke had silently agreed with Naruto. After witnessing such an episode from the Hyuga, Sasuke's annoyance was heightened. That stutter! He thought to himself.

But besides the stutter, Sasuke's mood was improved tenfold. Naruto apparently wasn't becoming that close with Hinata, which would mean for now she would remain as the distant, but persistent shadow as she was.

At the end of the final school day, Sasuke actually allowed himself to sigh in relief. School was over, the summer was just beginning. Plus Sasuke was going over to his best friend's house for a party right now. As another positive point, Sasuke wouldn't have to follow behind the Hyuga today (or never again hopefully) since his best friend, Naruto, lived on the other side of town.

Walking with long strides, Sasuke hurried to reach his best friend's house. He promised Naruto that he would hurry ahead to the house and set some things up for the party while Naruto got friends together. About a block away from the school, Sasuke noticed a familiar dark hair and body. He stopped in his tracks for a moment to see if his mind was playing tricks on him.

It wasn't. The Hyuga girl, the one whom he had hoped not to see, was walking steadily ahead of him. Sasuke thought for a second and forced himself to believe that the incident was a coincidence. The Hyuga girl probably wanted to visit a friend on the last day of school as well. Pretty much everyone was planning on going to a party or sleep over today, so why not her as well? After a while though, Sasuke noticed that the Hyuga was still walking in front of him and heading in the exact same direction as him.

How big can a coincidence get?

Finally the Hyuga stopped at a house and walked up to the front door. Sasuke would have breathed a sigh of relief if she had walked up to anyone else's house, but she hadn't. Of all the houses she could have walked right up to, she walked right up to Naruto's!

Sasuke's pace slowed down dramatically as he watched the Hyuga. He knew she had become acquaintances with Naruto, but Sasuke knew who had been invited to Naruto's party and she certainly wasn't one of them.

He watched her warily as she placed something down on the doormat and stepped back to leave.

Sasuke stopped at the edge of the front steps that led up to the front door and stared at the Hyuga. She turned around and stared back at him as well. In her shock she moved to grab what she just placed down, but apparently changed her mind and left it. She stared at Sasuke for a moment longer then rushed past him and ran away.

Confused, Sasuke watched her go and then examined what she left behind. On the doormat was an envelope with Naruto's name printed nicely on front. Curious and with no respect for personal privacy Sasuke opened the envelope without hesitation. He only read the first line when his eyes bulged and his mouth gaped open.

Right there, in his hands was a love letter to his best friend Naruto!

Unable to get pass the first line, Sasuke glanced around himself to see if anyone was watching and stuffed the letter in his pocket.

At Naruto's party Sasuke hated how he was observing the party rather than joining in. He could still feel the love letter in his pocket though and it was driving him insane. Glancing at Naruto, he wondered if his best friend even had a clue about the Hyuga's potential interest.

On the other side of the room Naruto was standing with Sakura and Ino. He was trying to say something when Sakura gestured toward the table with all the snacks and beverages for the party. She smiled at him prettily, which was unnecessary, because Naruto was already going over to get Sakura and Ino some punch.

He returned quickly with two drinks and as he extended his arm to offer the drinks, Naruto bumped ungracefully against a chair near him. Naruto didn't fall, but the drinks in his hands sloshed over their rims, splashing Naruto and more importantly, Sakura.

"Naruto!" cried Sakura hysterically. She was looking helplessly at the red punch stains now on her dress.

"Sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto immediately placed down the two cups and grabbed a napkin. He reached out to rub the stains, but Sakura snatched the napkin jerkily and rubbed at the stain herself. Of course, not after giving Naruto a good beating on the head.

A smirk curled on Sasuke's face as Naruto continued to beg for forgiveness from Sakura, who was too angry to hear Ino offering her a spare dress she had. Walking over Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the ear.

"Ow, ow, Sasuke! What the heck?"

"Come on, dope." Trying to contain his amusement, Sasuke scowled at all the onlookers as he dragged Naruto away. Now standing away from the commotion, Sasuke let go of Naruto and crossed his arms.

"Ah," laughed Naruto nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Thanks for getting me out of that." Glancing up, he caught Sakura's gaze from across the room, which to say was a death sentence directed at him. Naruto ducked his head down again, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, this is fun, isn't it?" said Naruto. He grinned, trying to keep a happy atmosphere. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and looked over all the people at the party.

His eyes found Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru, and one girl gathered together deep in conversation. Curious and puzzled who the stranger could be, Sasuke moved a little closer and then did a sudden double take. It was the Hyuga girl again!

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto leaning over his shoulder. He looked at Sasuke's startled face and then the direction of his gaze. "Oi! Hinata!" called Naruto. He happily waved to the Hyuga.

Closing his mouth, Sasuke's thoughts raced, his mind suddenly too aware of the unknown note addressed to Naruto in his pocket. Why did the idiot have to invite her? Sasuke really wanted to kill his best friend right now.

Going after Naruto, he stood by his side as he listened to Naruto babble on about something to the Hyuga. He studied her under a critical eye as she listened to the fast talking Naruto. She continually blushed whenever Naruto looked her in the eye or smiled at her.

Sasuke waited patiently for a chance to pull his friend away, but Naruto's voice seemed to stretch on without breath. Luckily, the Hyuga had yet to say anything herself.

"Thanks to you Hinata, I was able to pass my final exam. Thank you so much for studying with me!" said Naruto as he cheerfully announced his exam grade.

"I made twenty points higher than you," interrupted Kiba, smirking at Naruto.

"Yeah right," declared Naruto, "I bet you made twenty points lower!"

Suddenly involved in a heated argument with Kiba, Naruto forgot about the Hyuga and focused himself on humiliating Kiba. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, thanking his luck that Naruto had a short attention span.

"E-excuse me."

Sasuke stared at the Hyuga and Naruto turned his head toward her. His arm was wrapped Kiba's neck playfully and showed no signs of letting go.

"Yeah, Hinata?" asked Naruto. He stopped fighting with Kiba for a moment, but it was obvious he wasn't really listening.

"Did-did you happen t-to read-" the girl's voice was lost, when an angry Sakura suddenly appeared for more revenge.

"Idiot," shouted Sakura as she gave Naruto one last cobble on the head. She was wearing a different dress now, but she still had punch on the ribbon in her hair. Sasuke wondered momentarily how it got into her hair.

Only until she had practically cobbled Naruto did Sakura feel satisfied that Naruto had learned his lesson. She walked away along with Kiba who was now trying to start an argument with Shikamaru and Shino as they all wondered back to other side of the room.

Now with everyone else gone, Sasuke, Naruto, and the Hyuga stood still for a moment in silence.

Rubbing his head tenderly, Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that Hinata."

Sasuke saw the girl's expression brighten and her eyes light up. Oh gosh, she really was in love with the idiot.

"D-do you h-have an an-answer?" she asked quietly.

As Hinata spoke, Naruto's name was called across from the room. Kiba was waving his arms excitedly, as if he had something absolutely wonderful to say.

Naruto looked away from Hinata, his gaze suddenly captured by Kiba's waving arms. Hinata's words slide pass him without notice.

"Sorry Hinata, can we talk later?" asked Naruto, his eyes now locked on a large package that Shino was holding with a little difficulty. Naruto seemed eager to break away and join his two friends.

"Oh, s-sure" said the Hyuga, her eyes lowering to the ground. "C-could we meet at J-Java Coffee Shop? T-tomorrow may-maybe? Three o'clock?"

Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically, but not because of what Hinata said. Already beginning to walking away he waved Hinata cheerfully off.

"See you, Hinata!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes; he knew Naruto hadn't heard a word she just said. Looking down at the girl, he caught her looking after Naruto. Sensing his gaze, she looked up at Sasuke with wide, white eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes again and walked away. She was an idiot for loving the idiot.

Arthur's Note: Wow, I hate how this story begins. I have edited and re-edited so many times now and I've finally decided to just go ahead and post. This is not my first Sasuke/Hinata fanfiction, but it is the first one I intend to finish! I already have the second chapter written, but I won't post it until people review on this chapter. Should I rewrite it or continue? My gosh, I'm so nervous, this is going to be my first full length fanfiction and I'm so nervous! Please review and thank you! -Ocean