Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Looking at the salad bar, Sasuke let out a loud sigh. He had no intention whatsoever of showing up for his 5-year high school reunion. Revisiting fan-girl memories was not an ideal way to spend the night. But Naruto said that it would be good to see everyone again. Sasuke commented that Naruto got to see Sakura everyday and that was enough. The loud-mouthed baka laughed it off and dragged him along anyways.
Sighing once again, Sasuke decided to fill his plate. If he had to pay for this stupid reunion at least the food should be good.
"Are you going to only eat tomatoes?" Sasuke turned to his left and looked at the woman.
"Hn. I don't really like anything else." She obviously had to be in the same class as him. But he just couldn't quite remember who she was.
"Ah I see. Well, it's good to try different things you know?"
"Hn. Maybe." He then pointed to her plate.
"How come you don't have any salad dressing?"
"I don't really like dressing."
"It's good try different things you know?" He repeated her line back to her.
"Perhaps." Sasuke smirked at her comment.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto just had to come and ruin the moment.
"Naruto-kun!" She laughed a little at his loud outburst.
"I've been looking all over for you. Sakura wants to take a picture of all the girls."
"Sure. Let me just put my plate down."
"I'll hold it for you." Sasuke offered.
"Thanks." She smiled at him and walked off with Naruto. Sasuke found a table and sat down. He wasn't sure what exactly possessed him to offer to her hold plate. Maybe he was bored out of his mind. Maybe he found her too intriguing. When Naruto said her name, Sasuke slowly started to remember her. She had shorter hair then. She was shy, hardly speaking up in class. She was part of the Hyuuga family, meaning that her over-protective cousin had to be somewhere near. Most importantly, she wasn't part of his crazy fan club. So now the question was whether or not she remembered him.
"Thank you so much for holding my plate." She took a seat beside him.
"Hn. Sure. Here." He handed her a fork. They ate in silence.
"So how are you after all of these 5 years?" Of course she would be the one to start the conversation.
"Same I guess."
"And your job is going well?"
"Yes. I own my own company now."
"Oh? You aren't working for Uchiha Co.?" So yes, she did remember him.
"No. I wanted to branch out."
"That's good, establish your own identity."
"I don't know if that's really the case. I am still doing the same thing just under a different name."
"True. But at least you are setting your own rules. Plus you are in control, not being controlled."
"Hn. And you?"
"I am sort of in-between jobs right now." Sasuke was slightly caught off-guard by her statement. Wasn't she the oldest in the Hyuuga family?
"Sorry I didn't mean to pry into your private life."
"It's fine. I asked you first remember."
"Hn."
"It seems like a bunch of our high school friends paired off." Hinata looked out on the dance floor.
"I guess."
"Ino and Shikamaru are expecting their first child you know? TenTen and nii-san just got married. Kiba is on his honeymoon."
"Naruto and Sakura are engaged."
"Exactly."
"I'm glad that they found their own happiness. Oh there's Shino. I want to say hi to him. I'll be right back." Sasuke watched as she left the table. Something about her changed. She certainly wasn't the same girl as before.
"What are you doing?" The man asked coldly as he sat down.
"Neji."
"Uchiha. What are you doing staring at Hinata like that?"
"I'm not hitting on her if that's what you are asking."
"You mean you aren't hitting on her yet. She isn't going to be one your conquests."
"Hn. Aren't you being overprotective?"
"You have no idea what Hinata has done for me and her younger sister. Protecting her is the least that I could do."
"And what exactly had she done?" Sasuke saw Neji's face soften.
"You don't have the right to know."
"Nii-san?" Thankfully Hinata had come.
"Hinata." The man stood up and hugged her. "Don't leave before saying goodbye to me. Who knows when I will see you again?"
"Of course not nii-san."
"Good. Sasuke." At least he had the decency to say some sort of goodbye before he left.
"Neji." Sasuke returned the courtesy. Hinata sat back down next to him and finished eating her salad.
"You never told me why you don't like dressing."
"Oh!" A faint blush crept up into her cheeks. "Don't laugh okay?"
"I'll promise to at least try not to laugh."
"I like the way salad tastes naturally."
"But salad doesn't have any taste."
"Yes it does! Like this lettuce is crunchy. And this carrot is sweet. This cucumber is sweet too. I don't know. Just everything has a unique flavor. I don't want to ruin it by adding dressing. I mean, why do you only eat tomatoes?"
"Because they taste good." That was the only response Sasuke could think of.
"See. Because they have natural flavor. So it's the same with salad. I like the natural flavor."
"How interesting." Was the only response Sasuke could come up with. She certainly was interesting. Who in their right mind would ever eat salad without dressing? Eating salad dry was so plain. But maybe that was what was so special about her. On the outside she seemed plain but something precious was hidden inside.
She was different.
"So Hinata I don't mean to be rude or anything but earlier you said you are in-between jobs."
"Yeah but it's all right. I'm still looking around."
"I think I may be able to help you with that."