Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
5 Steps to Forgetting the Pain
Step Four: Closure
In all honesty, Naruto had also been trying to avoid Hinata for fear of this awkward encounter… And at his own party. He had purposely left her out, because he was afraid of what would happen. He glanced at Kiba. Of course she would come, because of course Kiba would ask her to. But he should have foreseen that. He should have grown a pair and simply asked Hinata to come himself. Now he had to deal with the guilt he would feel for not inviting her in the first place.
Nobody else seemed to notice the strained encounter and Hinata quickly made an excuse about needing some fresh air.
She gasped as soon as she got outside, trying to fend off the dull ache in her chest. Maybe she could run home and no one would notice her missing… Yeah, that was a good plan.
Hinata stood and readied to bolt, but someone grabbed her shoulder before she could fully take off. She whipped around and was shocked to see that it wasn't Naruto or Kiba who had grabbed her…
It was the one and only Sasuke Uchiha's hand who lay on her shoulder.
The two stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time in Hinata's opinion until finally she tugged away, the contact finally gone. "D-Did you need something, Sasuke-kun?"
"Are you running away?" The way he said it was more of a demand than a question, but Sasuke was just that kind of person.
"I-I wasn't r-running away." Hinata said as boldly as she could. Why should she be afraid of this boy? He was, after all, just a boy.
"Liar." Then again, this boy was Sasuke Uchiha…
"I… I wasn't running away." Sasuke glared at her lightly before he grabbed her hand and led her back into the restaurant. She wondered why he even cared. Since when had the Uchiha been a part of her life? Since when had he known her?
Hinata was led back into Naruto's celebration by Sasuke and she dreaded it. Why couldn't she be more bold? Why couldn't she have the guts to stand up to Sasuke? Why couldn't she be…
Why couldn't she be more like Sakura?
Hinata saw the couple standing at the back of the room, looking at each other sweetly and Hinata deflated.
Of course Naruto would choose someone like Sakura over Hinata.
The girl was fun, kind, strong, and beautiful. All things Hinata was not.
Hinata continued to watch the couple, even if it did break her heart…
Then she began to notice something… the way Naruto looked at Sakura… and the way she looked back at him…
…There was never really any room for Hinata in Naruto's heart.
The moment she came to this realization, the blonde look over at her. He gave her a nervous and weak smile, his eyes guarded…
Hinata smiled back.
Author's Note: I'm putting up chapter five right after this one. I was busy all day today, prom dress shopping with my cousin.
Okay, so the way I see this is there's a restaurant, and you know how in some restaurants they have rooms designed for big parties? Well, basically Naruto rented out one of those and invited the Rookie 9 to party with him. So don't think their being all loud and happy in the open restaurant.
This is one of my less impressive stories though honestly. If you want a nice, simple, apparently funny one shot, go check out my story Wrong Words. That is ridiculously popular considering it has less than a thousand words. Legend of the Bakeneko is also a one shot, but significantly different than Wrong Words. It's also semi-decent being my second most popular one shot.
Thank you for reading!
P.S. For those of you reading Metamorphose, go read my profile.