I haven't written anything in a while, but this idea came to me and I felt all inspired, so here's the first chapter! Hope someone out there enjoys it!

Long Distance

1. Opportunities

I'd like to get something straight from the start here: I'm not clingy. I'm not one of those needy girlfriends, I don't jealously grab onto my man's arm as soon as he so much as looks at another female, in fact I don't even mind if he talks to members of the fairer sex.

Case in point, I was out on a date with Sasuke, dinner at a swanky restaurant, and had just gone to the bathroom – I buy cheap lipstick and it needs constant re-application – when I got back to find him chatting with the waitress. She was pretty, tall and thin with glossy brown hair and very even features, and when I sat down she flashed him one last smile and left. Didn't bother me.

"Nice hair," I commented, watching a little enviously as she vanished into the kitchen. I'd kill for hair with a little life in it, my own bizarrely coloured mane lies limp without hours of careful treatment.

Sasuke shrugged in response, "I suppose. I ordered for you, roast lamb. I meant to ask, is that lipstick new?"

"Actually, yes," I grinned, "Good spot. They didn't have my regular colour, so this one is a few shades off."

And this is why I don't feel threatened by other girls. Sasuke's far too busy paying attention to me to have time for flirting with other people.

"I like it. How was your day?"

"Oh, not too bad..."

I launched into an overview of my day, only giving him the highlights. I'm a medical student, which is totally exhausting and equally fascinating – but only for me! Sasuke liked to hear about any interesting medical developments I came across, and didn't mind me going off on stories of the stranger cases we heard about, but when I started talking in jargon his eyes tended to glaze over.

"Ino was telling me about some woman who apparently got into a fight with her husband and ended up with a knife sticking out of her head, but the angle it had gone in meant, believe it or not, that it was basically a flesh wound. It didn't so much as touch her brain, no neurological damage, no need for any treatment really apart from a bandage and some painkillers. Bizarre, right?"

Sasuke just gave a single nod, to anyone else he would probably look disinterested but I'd known him long enough to interpret the slight twitch in one eyebrow – he was curious, but slightly sceptical – and the way he shifted forwards in his chair – he'd be open to hearing more about that particular story – and even the way his eyes narrowed a little at the mention of Ino's name – he'd never been my loud-mouthed friend's biggest fan.

I dredged up some statistics about similar cases and we talked about freak accidents for a while until the food came, when I decided it was time to let him do some talking.

"Okay, so how was your day? Work going well?"

I got the same nod from the end of my knife attack story, but this time the set of his mouth told me that he had something to tell me that he wasn't looking forward to saying.

"What's up?" I tilted my head to one side, looking for eye contact, but he stared resolutely at the plate of food in front of him. I had one more go, "did something happen today? Is your dad okay?"

"My father's fine," Sasuke replied, then hesitated.

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

I didn't respond to that. Sometimes the best way to draw Sasuke out of his shell is to back off and let him figure out what he wants to say on his own. A minute or so of silent eating passed, and then, sure enough, Sasuke opened his mouth again.

"I was offered what is essentially a promotion."

A massive smile spread across my face, "That's fantastic! Wow, you've only been working there a year and a half, and I thought you said your dad would be reluctant to promote you? You must have really impressed him!"

"Hm."

My smile faded a little as I realised that he wasn't finished, "What? What's the downside?"

"It involves a transfer. I have to move up North. I would be working with an offshoot of Uchiha industries, the branch run by Orochimaru," he looked up then, finally making eye contact in an effort to gauge my reaction to the news, "it's a position with far more potential for growth, and Orochimaru doesn't have to worry about being accused of favouritism if he pushes me up the ranks. A year there, and if I make the most of it I can come back to my father's company several rungs higher on the corporate ladder."

"Sounds great," I said faintly, "I take it you've accepted?"

"Yes."

"When did you decide?"

"As soon as father offered it to me, this morning. That's why I wanted to take you out this evening."

Like I said earlier, I'm not clingy, so I played the supportive girlfriend, called for a bottle of champagne and toasted Sasuke's success. We finished dinner, and when Sasuke dropped me off outside my house I told him I loved him and how proud I was. Then I went inside and cried for four hours.

The next morning dawned, bright and shiny, and Ino was kind enough to wake me up with a cup of coffee.

"Three sugars, because after last night you probably need it," she announced as she burst into my room.

"Thanks," I took the mug gratefully, "I hope I didn't keep you up."

"Pfft, nah," Ino waved a hand dismissively, "it's easier to sleep through crying than snoring, you did me a favour by staying up to sob."

"I don't snore."

Ino let out a laugh, "Uh, yes, you do. But I put up with you anyway."

I rolled my eyes and set to drinking my coffee, it was amazing – Ino makes the best hot drinks.

After a couple of sips Ino spoke up again, "I thought about coming in to see you, but I wasn't sure if you'd want me to."

A quick shake of the head, "No, I was fine. Sasuke had some big news and I was processing it."

"That was some serious processing then," Ino shifted closer on the bed, "so what was the news?"

Trying to sound as casual as possible, I accompanied my answer with a nonchalant shrug, "Oh, he's moving to he opposite end of the country for work. Nothing really."

A glance at my friend revealed that her jaw was quite literally hanging open. As the silence stretched out I gave another shrug, "It doesn't have to be a big deal."

"It totally does!" Ino practically shrieked, causing me to flinch and spill coffee all over my duvet.

"Thanks. No really," I sighed, setting the mug down on my bedside table and getting up for some tissue.

"Seriously? He's seriously moving? Are you guys going to break up?"

"What? No!" I grabbed the tissues off my chest of drawers and came back to dab ineffectually at the spreading coffee, "We're going to stay together. It'll just be a long distance relationship for a little while, no biggie."

"No biggie? How long's he going to be gone?"

"A year, maybe two – would it kill you to help me out with this spill?"

Ino sprung off the bed, waving me aside so that she could pull the duvet cover off, "You can't pretend this isn't going to be a problem. A year? Maybe two? That's huge. Did you guys talk about it?"

I trailed after her as she frogmarched my bedding through to the kitchen, cramming it into our tiny washing machine, and was unable to keep a slight hint of resentment out of my voice when I answered her question. "No. There was no discussion, he kind of presented it to me as a done deal."

Even though I couldn't see her face I could practically hear Ino's raised eyebrow in the tone of her voice, "For most people that would be a dumping offence, right there."

"Well I'm not most people," I replied, "we'll be fine. We've been together four years, if we can't stay together despite a little distance then... Well, we will. We'll stay together. Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Or," Ino answered as she turned around, "absence makes the fond heart wander. Do you trust him?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you trust yourself?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ino shrugged, kicked the washing machine door closed and set it going. "Just that he's not exactly Mr Warm-and-Cuddly when he's around, think how much worse it'll be when all you get is his voice."

"You're saying, what, that you think I'll go crazy and seek out the nearest warm body?"

"No, and don't get so pissy with me. I'm just saying that you need to think about what you need and what you'll be getting, and how big the difference is between the two."

I shook my head, "Thanks, but I'm not you."

There was a moment of silence, then Ino laughed, breaking the tension between us, "Are you calling me some kind of slut?"

"No!" I said, suddenly realising the implication, "Wow, no, I didn't mean that. Just that, well, I know you're pretty touchy-feely with your boyfriends. Always holding hands, snuggling up on the sofa, leaning on each other... If you had to go without that suddenly it'd be hard."

"Yeah," Ino said pointedly, "I don't see the point in a relationship where you don't have any of that."

I didn't have a response to that. It was familiar ground for me and Ino, she didn't understand why I was happy to be with somebody who didn't like hugs, who thought that long make-out sessions were juvenile and a waste of time. Sasuke would rather talk, and to be honest my intensive studies often left me so tired that I was more than okay with that. Just as Ino was baffled by my relationship, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she, on the same course as me, had enough energy to stay up all night snogging her latest conquest.

Feeling deflated, I trailed back to my bedroom, snatching my up my coffee and draining what was left of it in a single gulp. Cold, yes, but full of sugary goodness. Ino had followed me back down the hallway, and I turned to her with a grin.

"Right, what do you say we head to the library for some super-fun study time?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I'm supposed to be meeting someone, but," she shook her head, "screw it, give me a minute and I'll be ready."

"Cool," I watched her bounce back down the corridor and then turned to my own room. Clothes – tight blue jeans with a loose white shirt, my favourite study outfit – bag – keys, purse, phone – and a quick trip to the bathroom to scrub my face and brush my teeth, I was good to go in twenty minutes. Ino, changing her outfit six times and meticulously doing her hair and make-up, took almost half an hour longer than me, but eventually we were out the door and on our way to the library.

It was only once we were actually walking that I thought to turn my phone on, and I'm not even going to try to deny that I was hoping for a text from Sasuke. I had one, actually, a short but, by his standards, fairly sweet message thanking me for being so supportive over his new job.

"No apology, I notice," Ino commented, reading over my shoulder.

"You have to read between the lines with Sasuke."

She flicked her long blonde hair and snorted, a summary dismissal from Miss Yamanaka. "And who's the other text from?"

I flicked back to my inbox, eyes tracing the name attached to my other unread message. "Naruto, apparently."

"Who?"

I had to think back a little myself to answer that one. I knew he was Sasuke's oldest friend, and did vaguely remember him from school myself – but then again our town wasn't exactly enormous, with only two schools you were likely to have been in at least one class with 50% of the people your age you came across – but it took me a little while to figure out why he had my number.

Then it hit me, "Oh yeah... Do you remember that surprise party we threw for Sasuke's 20th?"

"Uh-huh," a smirk spread across Ino's face and I swung my bag at her to bring her back to the conversation.

"I know, you and the stripper, let's not go there again. The point is, Naruto got my number to ask me to help me organise it."

"Cool. So what did he say?"

"Nothing much, just saying that Sasuke told him about the promotion and he hopes I'm okay. And it'd be nice to catch up sometime... Sasuke probably asked him to check up on me."

"How sweet," Ino said with mock delight, "rather than call you himself he sent his best friend, who by the way barely knows you, to check how you're doing! What a gent."

Quick tip for you, the worst thing you can ever do when Ino's winding you up is admit she's right. You can't even admit she's partly right, if you do she will never ever shut up. Which is why, even though I half agreed with her, I gave her another whack with my bag and told her to keep out of it.

"I'll call him later," I said with a sigh as Ino rubbed her arm, "in the meantime let's forget about Sasuke and his new job and get on with some work, okay? I just don't want to think about... I want to take my mind off things."

"Sure," Ino replied easily, linking arms with me, "I'll stop bitching about your boyfriend for a while."

It was as close as I was going to get.