Sasuke walked down the streets of Konoha, with his hands in pockets, and deep in thought. To ask what he was thinking about would be a waste of your time and shouldn’t be bothered with. There was only one thing that would ever be on the mind of the stoic Uchiha. Perhaps thinking so deeply at the moment shouldn’t have been his only priority, for he somehow managed to bump into poor passerby, causing the person to fall to the ground.
“S-s-s-sorry, I-I d-didn’t see you t-there,” the timid voice said. “I’ll b-b-be m-m-more c-c-careful I p-p-promise.”
He didn’t reply with a sarcastic remark, he didn’t curse her for her clumsiness, he didn’t tell her to get away from him or that she was wasting his time, but he didn’t help her up either. “I’m s-so s-s-sorry,” she stuttered again, collecting the things she’d been carrying and picking herself up.
“Its summer,” he remarked. “So you’re not stuttering from cold. Why are you?” It was her turn not to answer him. Sasuke was surprising even himself; he should be plotting revenge against his older brother than wondering why a complete stranger had a speech problem. Realization struck him. It was true. He had never met this girl. True, he lived in a large town, and there were many people he hadn’t met, or wanted to, but she was his age. Every girl within three years of his age was normally drooling over him, but he had never seen her, meaning she hadn’t.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“H-Hyuuga H-H-Hinata,” she said quietly, almost as if she was ashamed of her name. “I r-r-really must b-b-be g-going Uchiha-san.”
So she knew who he was, but she’d called him ‘Uchiha-san’ not ‘Sasuke-kun’ as everyone else did. “Where are you going? It’s not safe to be walking around here by yourself.”
“I c-c-can t-t-take c-care of myself,” she said as confidently as she could, but not doing much.
“Where are you going,” he repeated. “I’ve got nothing else to do, I’ll walk you there.”
“N-n-no, I d-d-don’t w-w-w-want t-to t-t-trouble you,” she insisted.
“I’ve got nothing else to do,” he repeated. “It’s not proper to let a girl walk around by herself.”
“I’m an s-strong k-k-kounichi, I c-c-c-can t-take c-care of m-m-m-myself.”
“As strong as I believe you are, if you don’t let me walk you, I’ll simply follow you. Either way I’m coming.” The girl nodded in defeat, knowing there was no talking him out of coming with her.
And so they walked. Not many words for exchanged. Neither were the talking type, he was Uchiha Sasuke, silent heartthrob of the city, and she was the quiet heiress that could barely say a word without stuttering uncontrollably. They say opposites attract, but whoever they are need to shut their anonymous mouths. These two were very alike. Her father favored her cousin; his father favored his brother, before he was killed. Neither talked constantly, for they didn’t seem to be able to. What do you say to someone who you don’t know anything about, only that you seem to be attracted to them? Sasuke never believed in love at first sight, that was something his annoying fan girls believed about their feelings for him. So how could he possibly describe how he felt about this female?
“W-why d-d-did you w-w-want to w-walk m-m-me home Uchiha-san?” she asked after the silence became to deafening for her to handle. She was used to being with Kiba and Shino, and although Shino was this silent, Kiba was always there talking.
“Call me Sasuke,” he started. “And I don’t know. I just wanted to.”
“You’re v-very d-d-different from N-N-N-N-Naruto-k-k-kun,” she managed to say after another few blocks of silence.
Sasuke felt anger boil inside him. The one time he thinks he might like a girl, and she likes his annoying teammate more than himself. “Is that a good thing?” he somehow managed to keep his voice level.
She didn’t answer at once. She pondered the question, letting it sink in. Sasuke and Naruto were two opposites; Sasuke was the strong silent type, where Naruto was loud and full of life. “You t-t-two remind m-me of S-Shino-kun and K-Kiba-kun. They’re my t-t-teammates and b-b-best friends. Shino-kun is s-silent l-like you a-are, and Kiba-kun is l-loud like N-N-Naruto-k-kun. I like them both, but Shino-kun b-b-believes in m-me m-more, but Kiba-kun… Kiba-kun, I think, c-cares a-about me a little b-b-bit more, though it’s h-h-hard to t-t-tell because Shino-kun is s-so quiet all the time.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Sasuke pointed out.
“It would be near impossible to. T-the two of you are so d-d-d-different from the other, and you b-b-both have g-good qualities. And I d-d-don’t know you very well, it w-w-would be h-hard to say.”
“Does that mean we need to get to know each other?” Sasuke asked, a small smile on his handsome face. Hinata blushed and nodded at him, a smile on her face as well.
“This is m-m-my h-house,” she said, coming to a stop.
“I’ll see you around,” Sasuke said, stopping beside her. “Hinata-chan,” and he walked off.
“I’ll l-look forward t-t-to it, Sasuke-kun,” she responded to his retreating back, before entering her house.
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