Chapter 1 - A thud on the doorstep

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Naruto or Masashi Kishimoto, although I wish I did! ^_^



S.Z.: Yes! Finally another chapter fic for me after so long! This one is kind of and interesting couple but after a while they do kind of start to fit together. So here, enjoy all of the SasuXHina goodness…



One Gaze

Chapter one: A thud on the doorstep



One gaze. That's all it takes sometimes without us knowing…

On that day, they were walking in different directions. Hinata Hyuuga was walking up the road while Sasuke Uchiha was walking down the road with Naruto tagging along behind him. Usually Hinata would look at Naruto but for some reason, today, Byakugan met Sharringan as Sasuke and Hinata's eyes met while they silently passed each other.



“So where are we going Naruto?” asked Sasuke annoyed, a little bit down the road.



“Um… it's something important, just keep going…” Naruto seemed nervous.



A little more down the road there was a bench where Sakura sat. When she saw the two boys coming around the corner she got up.



“Hello Sasuke…” she said awkwardly.



She made him sit down on the bench. As he sat there staring up at his two teammates standing there looking down at him anxiously, he knew something was up.



“Okay you two, what the hell do you want!?” said Sasuke ticked.



“Well Sasuke you see…” began Naruto.



“…last week when my sweet sixteen party was over…” continued Sakura “Naruto did something that made me um…”



“…change her thoughts on me, I guess…” said Naruto.



“And?” asked Sasuke.



“Well you see…” said Naruto.





“Sasuke… Naruto and I are together like well… together, like a couple…” Sakura grinned sheepishly as did Naruto.



“Is that all?” said Sasuke with a none-to-trustworthy smirk on his face. He got.



“Well, we wanted to know if we had your blessing…” said Sakura.



“Um… sure, see you guys around.” Sasuke began to walk away.



The new couple stood there watching their friend walk away. They didn't quite know how to read his reaction but it was a blessing so, they decided to take it as it was, and leave the situation be…

An hour later, Sasuke could be found training on the grounds. It was about 4 o'clock by then and he hadn't stopped once for a break. He trained and trained until it was too dark to see and he stumbled home.

He didn't know what had driven him to train so hard that day. But then a thought crossed his mind.



*How could you have left me alone?*



Although unknown to him, Sasuke was feeling abandoned by Sakura and Naruto. The sudden coupling of the two had made him feel alone even more. Before then, he took both of them for granted. Naruto's constant rambling and Sakura's constant obsessing. From that day on it would be over, and he was the one who was left behind, alone and even more isolated than before…

It was an odd feeling for someone like Sasuke to have, but he felt that if he kept training, it would keep him occupied from reality. He didn't feel so alone or worthless while he trained, so for two days and nights that's what he did. He pushed himself to the limit; he strained every muscle in his body and almost broke every bone. He had become consumed in a world of useless training. Still unknown to him, he was slipping away from anything real and pretty soon he didn't even bother to care about what was going on around him. He was lifeless, soulless, all because of something he refused to fess up to himself: He was nothing without the old relationships he used to have with his teammates, there was nobody left to agnolige him…

Then came the night he was in the rain. He had been training once again and the rain had started to fall. It became heavier and heavier, so heavy you could hardly see. Sasuke didn't even feel it as he stopped training and let the rain fall on his aching limbs. He began to walk, unknown was the destination. He walked in the cold pouring rain until his body and mind collapsed… on a doorstep that was not his own.

Warm and cozy in the Hyuuga household, Hinata who was alone that night heard a loud thud outside the front door.



“What was that?” she asked herself as she went to go see.



The teen Kunoichi opened the door to find nothing but the pouring rain hitting Sasuke's limp unconscious body.



“Oh my goodness!!” she said as she tried to pick him up and take him inside. She held him in her arms and tried to wake him. No luck. She took off his hitai-ate and placed it on the floor. She pushed the dropping hair from his face and felt his forehead. This was bad; he was burning up. She took him and the headband to a spare room where she made the decision that had to be made.



“I have to choice…” Determined but blushing, she difficultly stripped the raven haired boy of shirt, pants, shoes and armbands. She awkwardly placed the boxer clad Sasuke on the empty bed as she reached for a big towel from a nearby cabinet, wiping off the water and mud as best she could. She laid him on his back and went to get a medical kit, a cloth and a bowl of cold water. When she came back, she placed the cold cloth on his forehead and began dressing his wounds that he had sustained from the past few days.



“These wounds…” said Hinata quietly to herself “… they look like they haven't been cleaned in days.” She dressed a final wound on his face, rewetted the cloth and put it back and then placed a clean, warm blanket over him.



“*sigh*” sighed Hinata in relief that all that was over. She sat in a chair beside the bed. She checked Sasuke's cheek with her hand. His fever seemed to have gone down. She was relieved and then decided to wash and dry his clothes.



The early morning sun hit the bed ridden Sasuke. He began to open his eyes as pain shot through every limb in his body. He groaned at the sudden movements he made, and it had woken Hinata up, who had been sleeping in the chair.



“Sasuke?” she asked just waking up.



“Where am I?” he asked weakly “… where are my clothes?”



Hinata woke up fully and blushed a little.



“Sasuke y-you collapsed on my doorstep, you were soaked and running a fever so… I took you in, I washed your clothes and dressed your wounds. What happened to you anyway?”



“I…” Sasuke hesitated. He couldn't remember a thing from the previous night “I just trained too hard is all…”



“I see… well y-you shouldn't be so reckless. You're welcomed to saty as long as you need to rest for…”



“No I'm fine…” he said gruffly as he got up.



“You sh-shouldn't get up so fast, you have some really bad wounds and…”



“I said I'm fine!”



It was that gaze that he gave her. A cold hostile stare that pierced right through the Kunoichi. She grabbed his pile of clothes and handed it to him. She left the room as he got dressed and went to the door.

While he was getting dressed, Sasuke looked at his dressed wounds, the towels and blankets around him. Hinata had really taken care of him, but all he could think of was going out and training again. He snapped his armbands and went out. Hinata watched him as he put on his shoes and he opened the door. He stopped in the doorway.



“Hinata?”



“Yes?”



“Thank you…”



And with that he left the house and headed towards the training grounds…





To be continued…

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