Hinata tucks her feet under her as she sits on Sakura's new couch. The apartment the pink haired girl has recently acquired was spacious enough to be ridiculous for a newly minted Chuunin living on her own for the first time. If you asked Hinata she thinks the landlord (also unreasonably young for his position) is sweet on Sakura and thus gave her good deal on rent.
"Sakura-san are you sure about all this?" Hinata's childish stutter had left her awhile back but her voice still stayed very soft, almost never rising above a certain level. Sakura pops her head out of the freshly painted yellow kitchen and smiles at her friend. Slinging the washcloth she had been using over her shoulder and leans against the wall to face Hinata.
"Yeah. I love my parents, but honestly? I'm an adult now I need a change." Hinata glances around the apartment at the unopened boxes and the haphazardly arrange furniture and a million little details and patches that would have to be dealt with in a rushed manner between Sakura's missions now that she was busy at the hospital too.
"I don't know it just seems like we should still be twelve and innocent and…" Hinata broke off unsure of how to finish her sentiment. Sakura, as usually, has the idea.
"…and still here?"
The girls take a moment to reflect on their particularly absent teammates. It was obvious Hinata was unhappy with Naruto's two and a half year training trip, and Sakura was emotionally strung out from Sasuke's defection to Sound. Things had been this way for a year though, so nothing new, nothing they couldn't handle. After all they were kunoichi.
Hinata gives a bitter smile at the situation.
"Maybe I'm just jealous I'll never leave the compound." Her voice nearly disappears but she might as well have shouted it at the top of her lungs. Sakura is over sitting beside Hinata in a heartbeat. Her green eye wide with compassion she usually reserves for dying people. Sakura has no jutsu to sooth Hinata's pain away.
"Things are getting better, right? With your team? " Hinata can see Sakura as she holds her breath praying that she said the right thing. Hinata suddenly feels a strange surge of jealously not at Sakura as per usually from their academy days, but at Sasuke. She suddenly wishes she had the fan on her back, the sharingan in her eyes, and Naruto and Sakura's undivided attrition on her, even when she's not really here…not even in spirit
She wants to go back in time and throttle Iruka-sensei until he puts her in cell seven, and she wishes the guards would have opened the gate door for Sasuke on his way out. Because for a second Hinata can almost understand him, she doesn't understand revenge, but the control of one's life is something she'll never have. Ironically neither wills Sasuke as long as his brother lives but at least he's doing something. She just stays perfectly still too afraid to attract the world disapproval.
Hinata feels tears well up in her eyes and Sakura is closer to her rubbing small circle on her back making soothing noises. Hinata pulls herself in tighter and breaths.
"It's not them, really Kiba and Shino are great, and I think my father's starting to take me seriously."Hinata makes a small smile appear for her friend, 'It's just not the life I wanted, I wanted to be with you, with both of you, hell you can keep Sasuke too, just accept me.' Hinata's desperation is probably starting to show on her face but she can't seem to slow down the pace of the traitiorous thoughts. 'You make me into something I can't achieve on my own'
Sakura leans towards Hinata's face and she has the absurd notion that she's about to be kissed. Instead Sakura rests her forehead against Hinata's and gives her such a warm smile that Hinata's heart almost melts.
"Don't be sad, Naruto will come back able to protect himself, and Sasuke will eventually get the stick out of his ass and come home and we'll all be together again." Sakura's hand slipped up around the back of her neck and continued her goofy grin reminding her so much of Naruto it hurt. She gave her poor impression of it in return. They sat there for a while staring in each other's eyes, and again Hinata felt like she should lean in and close the gap. For once she takes the odd gamble. Sakura tastes like the fruit she munches on while working; she keeps it in a clay bowl on the counter. Hinata wasn't sure what she was expecting.
Sakura stares at her with raised eyebrows but if she wants to question the other girl she resists. Sakura straightens up and slides her hand from behind Hinata's head and laughs in a way only Sakura can.
"Naruto will be back soon, after all he promised!" Sakura smile is full of faith and understanding, staring off into the distance that holds her two boys undamaged by time. Once again Hinata is cut out effortlessly after being so close to the bright girl.
Hinata wonders, not for the first time, what makes team seven so different from the rest of them. Two years later when a blonde haired boy collapses in front of the Konoha Gate grinning like a mad man and supporting a scowling Sasuke, and Sakura running green hands over their cuts; Then she will know and it won't help the pain go away.