Beating the Odds

Chapter 8

Naruto was nervous, and he didn’t even know why. He’d thought about the talk between Sakura and himself last night, after he’d come home from the fight between him and Sasuke. It was clear that he had feelings for the girl- Hinata, if not; he was at least interested in her. But, she was interested in him? He couldn’t quite believe that part.

Sakura was right when she said nobody was going to be in the library. As Naruto looked around, he found there wasn’t a single soul in the library. Well, not a single soul he cared about. Which was the complete truth, since he couldn’t even see Hinata.

“I thought…” Naruto cut himself short when he saw the woman emerge from around the corner of an aisle. “Oh.” The blonde approached, nervous. “Hi, Hinata.” She jumped, dropping her book as she did. She twirled around to meet the Uzumaki’s gaze, flustered.

“N-N-N-Naruto!” She stuttered, watching with a prominent blush as the said male bent down to pick up her discarded book. “So-Sorry!”

“S’okay.” He chuckled, returning the book to Hinata. “How are you?” The Hyuuga hugged the book close to her chest, trying to hide her face.

“I-I’m okay.” Naruto grinned at the response, almost forgetting what he came to do.

“Hey, I was wondering something.” Hinata’s interest was perked, and she watched him scratch the back of his head. “Do you want to go out with me?” Hinata blinked a few times, silent. Warning bells rang in Naruto’s head when he got no response, so he quickly tried to cover up his question. “I mean-“

“What did you say, Naruto?” The blonde stared, noticing the lack of stuttering in the girl’s sentence.

“I asked if you wanted to go out with me.” There was more silence. “Hinata?” Naruto cried out as the Hyuuga’s eyes rolled back, and he prepared to catch her when she fell. As her legs gave out the blonde’s arms reached out, successfully preventing her from hitting the floor.

“Hey! Keep it down!” Naruto turned his head to the voice, finding a woman with spikey blonde hair. Temari, she had been named. The Uzumaki thought she looked familiar, but he couldn’t seem to put a name to the face. Not that it mattered, he figured.

“Gah! Sorry! She just fainted!” The woman grunted, cursing her math teacher, Asuma, a fifth time that day. When he put her on library duty as punishment, she almost flipped her desk and punched the kid next to her. Luckily, she held back, and only elbowed the kid in the face.

“Look, I don’t care what you two are doing. Just, keep it down! I don’t wanna get my ass kicked, okay?” Naruto blinked, before nodding hesitantly. “Good.” Temari left then, leaving an unconscious Hinata, and clueless Naruto to themselves.

~*~*~*~*~

“Naruto.” The raven stopped in the hall at his acknowledgment, ignoring those who grumbled behind him about blocking up the path.

“Sasuke.” Naruto replied, mimicking the Uchiha’s own greeting.

“You have my shirt?” Naruto pursed his lips at the question, and Sasuke knew that he didn’t.

“It’s in the wash now. I got up late this morning, so I didn’t have time.”

Sasuke’s brow rose, “What about when you got home last night? Why didn’t you just wash it then?”

“I was angry, okay! I didn’t mean to throw it out the window! Stop hassling me!” The two boys went silent, the only noise between them were the chattering of students around them.