You walked over to Sasuke's table at lunch. "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, ___!" Naruto exclaimed. You plopped down next to Naruto, across from Sasuke. "Sasuke, we should talk about our project, before I forget again."

Sasuke nodded.

"Oh! ____, meet my soulmate, Hinata," Naruto said.

"You have a soulmate? That's so cute!" You said. "Nice to meet you, Hinata."

"N-nice to meet you too," she stuttered. You smiled at her, then looked at Sasuke. "Are you finished eating your lunch? Come with me."

"To where?"

Before you could respond, a loud whistle came from behind you. "____!" You turned around.

"Deidara, Kisame, what's up?"

"We're just checking up on our favorite manager," Kisame said. "What does on? You coming to the gym to hoop around?"

"I was planning on going with Sasuke," you said. "We've got some stuff to talk about with our project, so I thought we could play together while we plan. Helps me think."

"Sounds like you're just avoiding getting your ass kicked, un."

"Excuse me?" You said before you stood up. "The only ass being kicked is yours, Dei Dei."

"Don't call me that."

"What you gonna do? Cry about it?"

Deidara rolled his eyes and Kisame chuckled.

"You're their manager?" Naruto said.

"Oh! I'm the manager of the JV and Varsity basketball team. So, I show up to practices, help out the coach, go to games, and other stuff."

"Why didn't you join the girl's team?"

You shrugged. "Just didn't want to. Anyways! Will you come, Sasuke?"

He grabbed his bag and stood up. "Sure."

.........

You and Sasuke stayed on one side of the court, while Kisame and Deidara occupied the other.

"So, I was thinking," you said as you shot the ball from the free-throw line. "We should just work together on everything instead of splitting it up, so if something were to happen, we'd know exactly what needs to be done."

"Like what?" Sasuke said.

"Like, if one of us gets sick and can't do a certain part. We'd both have the same shit, so there will be no mix-up, and we can make sure the project is completed efficiently. I don't really like splitting up the work because one person almost always ends up doing most of it."

Sasuke took a shot. "Brick!" Deidara yelled from across the room.

"Shut the hell up!" You exclaimed.

In the back of his mind, Sasuke could swear he heard Naruto's voice. "This is your chance to spend more time with her! Don't mess it up!"

"So?" You said.

Sasuke looked at you and nodded. "That would make it pretty fair, so sure."

"Great! We can start working on it tomorrow, then. I stay for about an hour after school for basketball stuff, so can we meet up after that? We could go to my house, no one will be there except Sai," you said.

"I'll wait for you," Sasuke said. "We can decide when the time comes."

You smiled. "Alright."

Suddenly, Deidara bumped into you. "Oops~," he said.

"That's it!" You exclaimed before you snatched his ball from him. "Let's go, right here, right now!"

"You're on, princess."

"Don't call me that!"

As you and Deidara played, Sasuke stood off to the side. Kisame walked over to him and chuckled. "You're not much of a people person, are you?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No."

"____ was like that too, when we first met her. Shy and quiet, but she really wanted to help out the team. It didn't take long for her to warm up to the team, though."

"____? Shy and quiet?"

"She's just as socially awkward as you, Sasuke. I think she moves off energy, though. It just depends. I've seen her curse out strangers, specifically one team," Kisama said with a chuckle. "and I've also seen her act all shy like she wanted to disappear."

"I see," Sasuke said.

"Being around her will be good for you." Kisame patted Sasuke's shoulder.

"HA! Loser!" you exclaimed as you danced in the middle of the basketball court.

"You cheated," Deidara said.

"Nope! You're just a sore loser! Loser!" You said while making an L with your fingers. Sasuke stared at you and smiled.