Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters from Naruto.

Sasuke looked around the path as he walked slowly down it. He couldn't believe the "mission" he'd been set up on. Sasuke sighed as the whole scenario replayed in his head.

"You're always so alone, Sasuke!" Naruto complained after Sakura had stalked off in a huff. "Why don't you just give her a chance?"

"Why should I?" Sasuke retorted and sat down next to Naruto on the bench they were waiting for Kakashi at. "She's so annoying, always saying she loves me and junk."

Naruto was silent for awhile, Sasuke preferred to sit in silence than to talk with him. He found Naruto to be a good companion when he would just shut up. Naruto's face screwed up, as though he were concentrating (which Sasuke found hard to believe was possible.) Then the blonde boy smirked and turned slowly towards Sasuke.

"I have a mission for you Sasuke," Naruto smiled at him and Sasuke raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You have to find a girlfriend by the end of the week."

From that, Sasuke had been challenged and like an idiot he accepted. There was no way an Uchiha would back down from a challenge. But... now he had to find a girl.

As he went on his way to lunch, he looked hopelessly at the people he passed. All the girls his age giggled as he passed by, he never realized how many of them noticed him. Or how many of them he had ignored all this time. Naruto seemed to think this would be an easy thing for Sasuke to do, neither of them seemed to realize just how hard it would actually be for him. Sasuke sighed again and went into Ichiraku, unwittingly passing Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the dark haired boy passed, but made nothing of it. After all, what did Sasuke matter when he had ramen?

Sasuke sat down at an empty table. All alone and thinking. To those around him, he seemed to be in a dark, brooding mood. No one really felt like approaching him.

"Sasuke-san?" A voice to his right spoke. Sasuke came out of his daze to see some members of the Hyuuga clan looking at him. The only ones he recognized were Neji, and Hinata, Neji being the one who had spoken.

"What are you doing here?" Neji asked.

"Nothing," Sasuke sighed, "Trying to complete a mission but I have no idea where to start."

"Maybe Neji nee-san could help you…?" Hinata said timidly, hiding behind Neji somewhat.

"Keh, I doubt it," Sasuke said and turned back to Neji. "What're you doing here anyway?"

"It's Hinata-sama's birthday and she wanted to come here," Neji replied. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly and he looked over at Hinata.

"Happy birthday," he said with a gentle smile. Hinata's cheeks flushed pink and she whispered her thanks.

"Uchiha, is it?" One of the older Hyuuga's asked and Sasuke nodded respectfully. Some of the older adults exchanged glances and one whispered something to Hinata. Sasuke looked at Neji for a clue as to what was going on, but Neji only gave him his usual blank stare.

"Uh… Sasuke-kun?" Hinata began timidly, face turning even more pink, "Since you're… here… and all alone…" She stumbled over her words and paused.

"Would you like to join us?" Neji finished for his cousin. Sasuke smiled weakly at Hinata again.

"I'd love to," Sasuke got up from his table and walked next to Hinata as they went further into the restaurant.

Maybe this won't be so hard after all… He thought with a hidden grin.

Sasuke woke up the next day to the sound of the phone ringing, and stumbled out of bed. In the morning he found his eyes were red, but not because of sharingan. Groping for the phone blindly in the dark he found it and answered with a grumpy "Hello?"

"Sasuke?" A voice he recognized to be Sakura's said. "It's me, Sakura."

"What do you want?" He said bluntly.

"Could you come train with me and some of the others today?" Sakura said cheerfully, she was used to Sasuke's morning daze from some of their old missions.

"Yeah, sure," he yawned. "Who's going to be there?"

"Well, me, Naruto, Kiba and-" Was all Sasuke heard until Sakura's voice yelling at him woke him up. "Sasuke-kun! SASUKE-KUN!"

"Sorry Sakura, I think I dozed off," He'd never fallen asleep on the phone before. He yawned and assured her he'd come before hanging up. Rubbing his eyes he went into the kitchen to make himself breakfast. Sasuke decided that it was the last time he stayed over at the Hyuuga house talking with Neji and Hinata until 11:00 at night.

When he showed up for training, Kiba and Naruto were arguing while Sakura and Hinata practiced with their shuriken.

Hinata...? he thought and tried to supress a small smile. Sakura saw him first and waved at him with a grin. He nodded in reply and noticed Hinata looked a bit sleepy too. Or was she blushing?...

"Sasuke-kun! Over here!" Sakura waved him over Hinata smiled gently at him and the other boys tried to hide their annoyance.

"So what are we doing today?" KIba asked the rest of the group.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto said enthusiastically, "Want to see my super strong new move?"

"No thanks, Naruto," Sasuke replied. "I'd rather do something productive."

"Hey!" Naruto complained but no one was listening to him.

"Alright, about a full out battle, every man," Kiba started and noticed Sakura raise an eyebrow, "-er, person, for themselves."

"How about we draw names for teams?" Sakura suggested. Hinata nodded in approval and the boys went along with it. Sakura pulled a small notepad out of her purse and wrote out everyone's names. She then tore them into five seperate pieces and mixed them up with the names face down. Three on one team and two on the other. "Ok, here are the teams!" She said and flipped the papers over. The team of three was Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura tried her best to hide her happiness as she flipped over the last two papers; revealing Kiba and Naruto as a team. Naruto and Kiba silently shared a look, not sure about how this had turned out for them.

The two teams stood opposite eachother in the practice area as a breeze blew through, rustling the trees, grass and gently blowing through their hair. Kiba and Naruto smirked together, looking like they had done this a million times before. The girls were behind Sasuke and had more confidence there, smiles grew on their faces as well. Hinata even brought her hands down to her sides.

"Alright, let's get this party started!" Naruto began to form seals quickly. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Suddenly they were surrounded by twelve Narutos. Kiba crouched down as he and Akamaru did their beast technique. The team of three all raised their arms, preparing to fight. Hinata used byakuugan, Sakura held a shuriken, and Sasuke formed seals. Sasuke then blew ot a fireball and took out six of the Naruto copies.

Out of the fire Kiba leapt towards Sasuke. Sasuke froze, not really realizing what had happened when someone jumped in front of him. Sasuke fell backwards onto his rear end as he heard multiple punches and heard a dog's whine. Looking up, he saw Hinata standing before him in her battle pose and Akamaru laying on his side, looking hurt.

"Akamaru-kun!" Hinata gasped, her byakuugan receeding as she went over to the puppy's side. Sasuke, still surprised at what he had seen, looked around and saw Kiba about to hit Hinata away from Akamaru.

"Hinata-san!" Sasuke yelled and jumped over to her just as she looked up at him. Ssauke took hold of her shoulders and rolled with her five feet away from where she had been, which now had a dent from Kiba's impact. They stopped rolling and Sasuke looked over at the point of impact. Akamaru had gotten up and hidden in the bushes during the commotion. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh...Sasuke-kun...?" Hinata said and Sasuke looked down at her. Her big white eyes were full of wonder. Sasuke was suddenly overcome with a feeling he couldn't decribe. He couldn't stop staring into those eyes. Those big beautiful eyes...

"Sasuke-kun, could you please let me up?" Hinata said, pulling sasuke out of his daze. He suddenly blushed when he realized what position they were in. She was laying flat on the ground, he had one hand on each side of her head and his legs were inbetween hers. Sasuke rose quickly and brushed himself off, still pink in the face. Hinata pinkened as well, but accepted Sasuke's hand when he offered to help her up. They heard a pop as the last of the Naruto copies was beaten by Sakura.

Sakura now had the real Naruto up against a tree, much to Naruto's hidden pleasure. She held her weapon up against his throat, but paid little attention to him when she saw Sasuke help Hinata up. A pang of jealousy coursed through her body, and Inner-Sakura was screaming for Hinata's slow and painful death. Naruto noticed he was receiving less attention and followed her gaze to Sasuke and Hinata, the pair's hands staying connected for a little longer than normal. Naruto smiled, So this is what his plan is... Naruto thought.

Sasuke noticed the attention first and immediatly released the girl's hand. She seemed a little confused, but remembered they were training and enacted byakuugan once more. Sasuke saw her do this and the two struck a battle pose. Naruto realized that Sakura was probably getting very jealous right about now and felt bad for the challenge. But he knew there was one thing he could do to get her mind off of it.

"Ha!" Naruto yelled and grabbed the weapon from Sakura's hand. Sakura blinked in surprise and watched as he ran off. Suddenly, there were punching sounds and Naruto tripped, falling flat on his face unable to get up. Sakura gasped as Hinata appeared next to him, looking guilty. Sasuke appeared on the other side of him, he and Hinata had combined their talents to take down Naruto. Sasuke's speed and Hinata's gentle fist. Sakura was surprised at how well the two were working together. Surprised, and jealous.

"Oi..."Naruto groaned, rolling onto his back," Where'd Kiba go?"

"I'm over here," Kiba came out of the bushes carring Akamaru, stroking his fur lovingly. "We're done, Akamaru has burns and got hit with gentle fist."

"We got beat by GIRLS!"Naruto whined.

"Sorry Naruto-kun," Hinata blushed, "And sorry Kiba-kun."

"Don't worry Hinata," Kiba smiled at her, "I'm on your team most of the time, just not used to being on the receiving end of it."

"Maybe we should get going," Sakura suggested and walked over to Naruto. She offered him her hand and Sasuke followed suit, knowing there was no way Sakura could get him up alone. The group of five left the training area at once, Kiba in the lead and Hinata tailing behind with Sasuke and Sakura while they half carried half dragged Naruto. Hinata stayed silently on Sasuke's side, slightly behind them. No one but Sakura seemed to care, and even that was just Inner-Sakura having the fit.