A/N: this is my first fic. it is very vague. and a bit angsty too. i like angst. it is after the end of naruto. naruto is dead. it is 4m hinata's pov. it is just an experimental fic to see if i can write gud fics or not. it is a sasuhina. i lyk sasuhina a lot.

Disclaimer: i do not own naruto

HE NEEDS ME...

We were sparring. It had become a daily routine for us. Ever since that day… that fateful day….. the whole ninja world has turned upside down. Needless to say I am no exception…. neither is Sasuke. A few weeks after that day – which everyone will remember till ages – Sasuke and I, Hyuga Hinata, took up this routine of sparring with each other…. sharing with each other one's grief, mostly unknowingly…., other times not so.

That day Naruto passed away, leaving us a peaceful world, thereby fulfilling the prophecy.

Yes…, unbelievable isn't it? Who would have thought this?

Naruto left. And I am presently sparring with the one person he cared for the most. The one person who tried to kill him, who betrayed him – only Kami knows how many times. His rival? His brother…..?...best friend? Or the flipside to the same coin…., the shadow following the light.

It has been a year almost since I started sparring with 'him'….or should I say this emotionally broken rag doll. I won't deny the fact that he has opened up a bit to me. Over time we have become quite attached to each other, even though we do not talk much. I can sense as if he needs me to mend him. But I can never understand why me and not Sakura or Kakashi…his past. Sometimes I feel like he is …. maybe he is trying to leave his past behind…or trying to forget it. But at the same time he is trying not to begin a future. It seems as if he is trying desperately to cling himself to that fateful day, trying to remain frozen in time bound by the chains of his own guilt and regret, defying the inevitable flow of time itself. But perhaps the hope ushered to him by Naruto was enough to allow him to share his guilt and grief with me by the only way he knows…fighting.

Six months later…. I was beginning to be afraid of him. No, not by his power or strength, not even by his dark ominous aura nor his cold and stoic outward façade. I was afraid of those dark obsidian depths of his. Because every time he gazes into my lavender eyes I go into a trance. Those dark endless depths harness such feeling for me that neither can I begin to imagine nor can I explain. To make it worse, I feel happy. A sense of accomplishment sparks through me. I feel happy for making him feel. I feel like somehow I managed to do the thing Naruto wanted to do most. I have managed to pull him out of his self-dug pit of loneliness and sorrow, guilt and regret, and of unending darkness. It is something Naruto couldn't do because…he isn't alive to do so.

I understand Sasuke all too well now to notice his pain and despair. As if he is standing at the edge of a cliff holding his hands out for me to save him from falling to those unfathomable depths. He is closing his eyes and calling my name. He doesn't realize he needs me.

He is in love with me and if I don't reach out for him he will break. Only this time there will be no one to pick him, no one to save him. He needs me. It is as simple as that.

Love, yes… I finally managed to decipher those emotions flaring in his dark depths. He won't say it because I know for sure he doesn't realize it yet.

But I am not so naïve to not notice those lingering touches he leaves unknowingly after bandaging my wounds, those few yet caring words coming from his lips, the warmth of his arms tightly wrapped around me when I hug him every time he breaks down to tears, and many other instances I feel too embarrassed to describe. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions, but seriously I don't think so. He wasn't capable of feeling anything when I met him. But overtime I know that what he feels now is so pure, that it can only be the strongest of emotions…love.

Even if it is not love what he feels for me…, the bottom line remains the same. He needs me. If I am not with him, he will break again.

All these make me feel frightened for him. What if I am not able to save him? What if I break him more instead? It is undeniable that Naruto is the sun in the sky I call my heart. He is the one who helped me stand up for myself. He is the one I love…., the only one I will always love…or maybe not the only one. Maybe along with Naruto as the sun illuminating me, I can be the moon to light up the everlasting night in his heart. Maybe it is time to be the one to help rather than being the one to always need help.

But is it right? Will it not be the same as betraying Naruto? To me….probably yes. To Naruto, it won't, I know it for sure. Naruto would have just given his big foxy grin and would have said…

"It isn't betrayal, hime. You have done something I couldn't. I should feel jealous of you, ne? Heh heh…. ". Then he would have added with his serious tone….."If it makes you happy, do it"

Happy?... yes I can't deny I would be happy helping Sasuke. But the fact remains…

I love Naruto.

I do not love Sasuke.

My decision finalized… I walked up to him towards the clearing. He was slumped over the base of a tree, one knee pulled up, his hands curled upon it. He was gazing up, analyzing the cloudless sky… seemingly entertaining for him, but I knew better. He wasn't training. He never starts without me. I sighed upon that thought.

He turns towards me with his obsidian gaze focused on my lavender ones. Concern and curiosity written all over it, along with the emotion I didn't want to see. I sighed again.

"You are late." It was not a statement but a question asking 'Why was I late?'. The last time I was late was because of an argument with Otousan.

I didn't reply and kept walking. Settling myself to his right, I put my left hand over his intertwined fingers. I looked straight to his face, to which he merely crooked am eyebrow. I knew him well to notice his confusion. Not over the physical contact – we were long used to it – but over the sudden change of routine.

"I need to tell you something". He was perplexed, I can tell. I pushed myself to say it…., forced myself to say it, convinced myself that it is the only way. It needs to be done for him to be happy, for Naruto to be happy…., for me …, for me to be happy.

Finally….

"I love you". And I kissed him on the lips.

It is a lie today….but maybe tomorrow it will be the truth.

THE END

A/N: i left it vague so that the reader can gather their own inferences. one may think hinata does want to accert that she loves sasuke, other may think she is doing this for sasuke as mentioned by hinata herself. there can be many other inferences. but i want the reader to ponder on it for themselves. thats the fun, right?

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