Hinata smiled demurely, as Naruto spoke animatedly while recounting how unfair Kakashi-sensei was for not giving him a few extra minutes to finish their math test. To Naruto's left, Sasuke characteristically rolled his eyes as the story went on.
Hinata never expected she would be best friends with these two boys – polar opposites of themselves; the sun and moon incarnate.
It was funny now that she thought about it. She knew them both since elementary school. Well more accurately she knew Sasuke since infancy as their mothers used to be good friends and their fathers were on good terms. And though Naruto was in their class since elementary school, Naruto didn't really know of Hinata's existence as the blonde could be a bit oblivious and Hinata preferred not drawing attention to herself in most situations. Naruto being the opposite of Hinata, tended to stand out as he often vocalized his thoughts through words, actions, or both. And this often led to altercations with peers and those in positions of authority. Many of their peers disliked Naruto initially as his actions would at times lead to consequences not only for him, but his classmates as well. It's true it wasn't always pleasant, but that didn't stop Hinata from admiring Naruto's determination, inner strength, and kindness.
Hinata glanced over at Sasuke as he occasionally nodded his head as Naruto continued his spirited tale.
If she had to guess, she would say Sasuke would disagree with her point of view. She wouldn't blame him though, as initially Naruto was always challenging Sasuke, trying to one up him in most things. You name the activity, and there would be a challenge. Need your pencil sharpened? Naruto would have challenged Sasuke in who could have the most sharpened pencil. Needed an eraser? Naruto would challenge Sasuke by saying that his eraser was better than Sasuke's. There were even more embarrassing challenges that Hinata did not understand how Naruto thought of them. Like who could pee the longest. As well as who could aim the best from the furthest distances away from the urinal. Boys were truly odd. But then she recalled some of her not so favorite memories of the two physically fighting over random things. There was never a clear winner. Sometimes, they would each get in a clean blow and leave it at that. But there was one unfortunate occasion that they got into a terrible altercation. They each broke an arm and had to be in a cast for weeks. She recalled how she cried for each of them in the park while they waited for Itachi to pick them up and take them to the emergency room. While in the waiting room, Hinata continued to shed tears as the two had bruises along their bodies and faces. It was strange because they both apologized to Hinata for making her worry and cry, but they never apologized to each other and yet after that incident they stopped getting into physical fights. They still tended to argue with each other, but there was no longer any malice behind their words. Now that Hinata thought about it, something similar happened between Neji and Sasuke when they were mere children, probably around four or five years old, they had been arguing with each other and saying such hurtful words to each other. This led to Hinata crying, though no apologies were given to her (or to each other), they soothed her and never spoke harshly to each other again, though they didn't become best friends like with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Hinata tell him!"
"Huh?" she asked as she was brought out of her musings.
"Tell that bastard that it's okay for him to show he loves us," Naruto replied. "I mean he hit the jackpot with best friends like us. He has me, this all around catch who is super handsome, smart, funny, great at sports, knows the best place for ramen, could kick his ass in any fight. And did I mention I was good looking and super cool? Then there's you, you're super smart, a little smarter than me, and way smarter than him. You're also like the nicest person on earth. You're super thoughtful, tons of fun to hangout with, and you make people feel seen, which is like a super cool talent of yours. So yeah he's lucky to have us and he should let us know he cares about us right? Tell him I'm right!"
Hinata felt her whole body heating up, she wanted to know if Naruto really thought that about her. Because he had never said that about her before and he just said all of that in front of Sasuke, like was this a dream?
Again, Hinata was brought out of her thoughts by Naruto. "Oh shit! Today's Wednesday, right? That's when I have my morning tutor sessions with Tsunade-sensei. She's gonna kill me if I'm late again. Dammit!" Naruto started running ahead, "I'll see you guys in class," he said as he waved bye.
As Sasuke saw Naruto run off he shook his head and stated, "Idiot."
Hinata, still in somewhat of a daze whispered, "Did he really say that?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, and replied, "Yes, and don't faint. I'm not carrying you to school. I'll just leave you wherever you fall?"
Hinata blinked and looked at Sasuke, she knew he was lying. But for a second she felt like there was a slight crack in his voice. But that couldn't be right. Sasuke, like many in their social class, had perfected the act of neutrality. Of having a neutral face, neutral tone, and neutral body language to make it difficult for others to discern their true intentions. Yes, Hinata must have imagined it.
When Hinata and Sasuke got to class they saw Naruto at his desk with giant tears streaming down his face and him rubbing his left ear.
"Naruto, what happened?" Hinata asked as she took the currently unoccupied desk in front of Naruto, while Sasuke casually walked to his desk, which was next to Naruto's.
"I was eight minutes late so Tsunade-sensei gave me a huge lecture about being responsible and showing up on time. Then she started pulling my ear when she realized I wasn't listening and yelled some more. I didn't get any tutoring and even worse, she may have gave me hearing loss," Naruto whined.
"Serves you right," commented Sasuke.
"Arg! You bastard, we can't all have straight A's like you."
"What happened to 'then there's you, you're super smart, a little smarter than me, and way smarter than him'," Sasuke said, doing a poor job imitating Naruto. "If Hinata is only slightly smarter than you, I have some serious concerns for her."
"You're supposed to be my friends and you're not helping," Naruto stated as he then buried his head in his arms.
"Uhm, maybe we can have an after school study session to help make up for your lost time with Tsunade-sensei" suggested Hinata.
"Hinata, don't encourage his bad behavior."
"Really? You'd help Hinata?"
"Of course."
"Well, I'm out."
"What? Fine, be that way ya damn bastard. You're a terrible tutor anyways, all you do is keep repeating the same question in a louder voice when I get the answer wrong," pouted Naruto. "Hinata is way better at explaining things."
"I'm not the teacher, it's not my responsibility to teach you. Besides, I have cleaning duty today and then I have to go somewhere with Itachi."
"Don't worry about it, you can join us for the next study session. Exams are coming up so let's all do our best," Hinata said with a smile.
Naruto and Hinata had been in the library studying. Hinata had helped Naruto understand concepts he was having difficulty with. Now they were reviewing independently, with Naruto asking the occasional question.
Hinata kept feeling eyes on her. She looked up to find Naruto staring at her. "Is everything alright? Do you have another question?"
Naruto shook his head, "Ah, no, sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I was just thinking."
"Just thinking? About what?"
"I was thinking, I'm kinda glad that it's just the two of us studying. You're good at explaining stuff and don't make me feel dumb when I don't get it the first time." Hinata, unsure of how to respond, gave a small smile and resumed her studies.
Several minutes later, Naruto asked, "Hey Hinata, do you remember when we first met?"
"Huh? You mean at school?"
"No, when we were little."
Hinata gulped, of course she remembered. Naruto had rescued her from a group of bullies and in the process got himself hurt. That was the first time she witnessed his kindness and his desire to protect others. She recalled the event, but she wasn't sure if he did as he didn't acknowledge her until several years later. "Y-you mean the time you saved me?"
Naruto smiled at the response, "Oh, so you do remember. I don't know why that memory has been in my head lately. But I'm glad you remember it too. I kind of thought I made it up or something," he replied as he rubbed the back of his head. Then he took on a somewhat serious expression. "I remember seeing you crying as those kids said things about your eyes," 'There was something in your eyes that screamed for help. I don't know if it was the insecurity calling out to me, seeing someone that possibly felt the same loneliness as me. Someone that I could help.' "I dunno why, when I saw you crying, I thought I wanna help this girl not cry. I never wanna see her cry again. That's why I felt like such an asshole when I made you cry cuz of my fight with Sasuke. We weren't friends yet, you, or even Sasuke. I barely even knew you, but I still felt like the biggest jackass. I still feel that way, I don't wanna see you cry, ever." Naruto placed his hand on top of Hinata's "I'm really glad we became friends and get to spend so much time together."
"Naru-"
"Finished clean up duty early," Sasuke announced as he placed his school bag in front of Hinata and Naruto, causing the pair to flinch. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked as he eyed them.
Hinata at a loss for words held the hand Naruto was previously holding to her chest, fervently nodding no. While Naruto groaned, "No, but your presence was not missed in the slightest."
"Not in the slightest? Hinata, what tricks did you teach this monkey? That he's able to speak so eloquently so soon."
"Elo-what? Don't go using these big ass words."
"Hinata! Hinata!" Naruto yelled running down the hall, "Hinata, you still here?" he asked as he peered into the classroom.
"Naruto, is everything okay?" Hinata asked.
"Better than ok. I passed my test and it was all thanks to you! Let's go get ramen today. My treat as thanks."
"Ramen? Again, weren't we just there last week?" interjected Sasuke.
"Doesn't matter, you're not invited. You didn't help me study. It's only for me and Hinata to celebrate," Naruto replied as he placed his arm around Hinata's shoulders. "Right Hinata? It's only for us to celebrate?"
Hinata lightly pushed against Naruto's side to look up at him, "I think food and celebrations are always best when we are surrounded by friends."
Naruto pouted, "Fine you can come, but I'm not paying for your share."
"Pfft, like I need you to cover me."
As Naruto paid for their share of ramen, including Sasuke's, the trio started heading home. Naruto missed the intersection he normally would have turned at, instead following Hinata and Sasuke. Hinata gave a questioning look. "As part of my thanks, I'm gonna walk you home. I know you stay a little farther away than Sasuke. So the bastard can go straight home and I can make sure you get home safely."
"I-it's not necessary. Neither of you have to walk me home. I'm not too far away from Sasuke's home," Hinata replied, and Sasuke gave Naruto a questioning look.
This was unusually chivalrous of Naruto. Now don't get Sasuke wrong, he thought Naruto was a great guy. He was always supporting the underdog, offering help to anyone in need. But he could also be a bit dense, and never intentional, he could misread situations and unknowingly invalidate feelings or actions. Perhaps Naruto was finally growing up a bit. Either way, he would find out the reasoning once Hinata wasn't around. When it was just "the boys" as Naruto liked to put it.
"Don't fight it, or else he'll just get loud and cause a scene."
Naruto laughed, slapping Sasuke's back in the process, "For once I have to agree with him."
Hinata conceded, offering a quiet, "thanks."
Now that it was just herself and Naruto, Hinata didn't know why she felt nervous. She had spent plenty of time with just Naruto, just as she had spent plenty of time alone with Sasuke. But this time something felt different, and she wasn't sure what it was or why it was. She kept glancing at Naruto trying to find something amiss, an inkling to what he was thinking. There were no discernable clues, the only option left was… "Is everything okay Naruto?"
"Kinda."
"Kind of? Did something happen?"
"Nah, probably not like you're thinking. It's just that Iruka-sensei heard I was struggling in some of my classes so he found a cram school and signed me up for it, for upcoming exams. So I won't be able to walk home or study with you anymore."
"Iruka-sensei is very kind like that."
"Kind? Hinata did you not hear me?! He signed me up for CRAM school. That's not kind! That's torture!"
With a giggle, Hinata replied, "He could have ignored your struggles and let you figure it out. But instead he was proactive and went out of his way to find a school and sign you up. That is kind, and it shows the dedication Iruka-sensei has for his students."
"A teacher's pet would say that," Naruto stated as he crossed his arms with a pout.
"Is that really the only thing bothering you?"
"Yeah, pretty much….I mean I guess I'm also bummed I won't be seeing you anymore."
"What do you mean? I'll still see you on the way to school and in class."
"But it's not the same, I liked it when it was just you and me studying. It was nice ya know? Calm. I was able to focus and you make studying not boring. Which I never thought was possible."
Hinata was glad for the darkness the evening provided, as well as for the evening breeze that cooled her enflamed cheeks. "It may not be the same…but you can always call me if you have questions…"
"Really?"
"Yes," Hinata whispered. She knew it shouldn't be that big a deal, she had been friends with Naruto for years now. Best friends for about 3 years, but even then they rarely called each other. Texting, sure that was common for them as a duo, and as a trio with Sasuke. But calling was rarely done. If they did call it was often a group call.
"Thanks Hinata. You're the best!"
Despite the night or maybe because of the night, Naruto's grin seemed brighter. In Hinata's mind that smile easily outshined the evening stars.
This will my first multi-chapter Naruto story so I hope y'all will join me on this ride. This story has been saved for years! And I somehow found it and decided to give it a go.
Big shout out to my friend and beta for this chapter Wonzy98.
Lately I have come across some great NaruHinaSasu stories that have me hooked. If y'all are into that and are 18+, I would recommend Finding Herself, Love You Two, and Erase My Pain- all by Wonzy98
As well as In Another Life - by DemonOfTheFridge.
Again reader discretion advised as those are all rated M.