A/N: Shikamaru is back! And our little Hinata is blushing! o.O do I sense a bit of a crush from the shy Hyuuga? Yes, I do.
lol, Shika is such a stalker in this chapter.
Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, the poem is Izumi Shikibu's, and the fic is mine. Oh, one more thing - beware the Sasuke angst! I'm sorry, I really am . . .
xxx
Since nothing surpasses
seeing you,
no need for words.
Only concentrate on this,
on this . . .
- Izumi Shikibu
Chapter 5 – Sacrifices
Hinata decided to eat breakfast alone, out at a restaurant. She didn't want to have to talk to anyone or run into anyone, since she knew, or told herself, that they didn't want to pay attention to her anyway. So she left home and walked to her favorite café.
Little did she know, but a pair of lazy eyes was watching her from the shadows.
Shikamaru had waited for her to open the front door, and when she came out, he had followed her to the restaurant. He ordered something himself and then sat down to wait until she finished eating.
The dark-haired ninja tapped his feet, willing himself not to look over at the Hyuuga. It seemed that eternity passed, and finally Shikamaru took a deep breath and glanced up at Hinata. She was sitting over by the window of the restaurant. She had finished eating breakfast a while ago and she was just staring out at the street, head propped on her hands.
Shikamaru took a hesitant step toward her. "Hinata?" he asked quietly.
"Sh-shikam-maru-kun?" Hinata whispered and instantly got to her feet, hands clasped in front of her nervously.
"Uh, I just wanted to give you this . . . since it's Valentine's Day and . . . um, here . . ." The awkward ninja offered the envelope to Hinata hastily.
An outrageous blush spread across the Hyuuga's face as she read the card. "Shikamaru-k-kun . . . I . . ." she stuttered, eyes wide.
Shikamaru fiddled and looked down at his feet. "So . . . um . . . what do you think?"
Hinata blushed. "Yes . . . um, I would love to . . ."
Shikamaru tried to conceal his sigh of relief but failed miserably. "Great! I'll see you at noon then!"
Hinata nodded and looked down. Shikamaru waved as he walked away from the stunned Hyuuga. "Bye, Sh-shikamaru-kun . . ." she whispered, still stunned. He . . . wants to spend time with me? Hinata smiled into her hands. She turned to look out the window at Shikamaru's receding form and sighed. Suddenly the sun seemed brighter and the sky bluer. Everything seemed more alive.
He cares about me . . . at least a little . . .
xxx
The Uchiha felt Naruto's arms slowly encircling his body and he gasped, pulling away from the kiss. The smirk was gone from Naruto's eyes. The blonde ninja stared up at Sasuke, completely lost in the Uchiha's gaze.
Naruto removed one of his hands from around Sasuke's waist and ran his finger along the Uchiha's jaw. The dark-haired ninja closed his eyes, his whole body trembling at the touch. Suddenly, he scowled and pushed Naruto away from him.
The blonde ninja growled in annoyance. "Sasuke, what is it?"
Sasuke turned away and then whirled back again. "Naruto—"
The blonde ninja slammed the door angrily. He was gone.
Sasuke fell to his knees. "I'm sorry. . ." he whispered to the empty room. What have I done? Why did I push him away? Is it because I'm afraid? The Uchiha closed his eyes. I'm afraid of losing him . . . I'm afraid he doesn't really love me . . . BUT WHY DID I DO THAT? Why, WHY . . . Even if he doesn't love me . . . why did I have to push him away? Even if he's just playing with me . . .
Sasuke groaned and fell back on the cold stone of the floor, unaware of everything but the burning feeling in his chest. He didn't feel the hot tears that poured down his face to pool on the stone floor.
xxx
A furious Naruto slammed the door to the hospital room and ran down the hallway until he came out in the bright sunlight. He kicked the wall in anger. "OW!" he shrieked, hopping up and down in pain, holding his toe.
"Naruto, that wasn't very smart of you . . ." a voice commented from behind him.
The blonde ninja whirled around, eyes widening in astonishment. "Kakashi-sensei? I thought you were on a mission! What are you doing here?"
The masked ninja laughed. "Oh, I lied about that."
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me, Naruto. I lied about the mission. I knew you wanted to stay with Sasuke, I just had to give you a little push, so I made up a reason that excused me," Kakashi explained, eye a smiling half-moon. "Come on, Naruto. Admit it. You're glad you got to stay with him."
Naruto just stared at his sensei. It was all true, but . . .
"Look, I know you like him, Naruto. More than normal. I knew that even before you knew it yourself."
Naruto sat down dejectedly against the wall. "Okay, I admit it!" he groaned, blushing. "But sensei, I know that Sasuke hates me . . ."
Kakashi sat down next to his student. "Tell me what happened."
"WE KISSED!" Naruto threw his hands up in aggravation. "And it was his fault! But then he just pushed me away, like he changed his mind or something. I don't get how his mind works! He's so confusing!"
Kakashi sighed. "Alright, Naruto, here's what you need to do . . ."
xxx
Sasuke started. Someone was knocking on the door of his room. He got up from the floor hastily and went to open it, wiping his face with the back of his arm.
He raised his eyebrows. "Kakashi-sensei?"
The masked ninja came in and sat down, motioning for the Uchiha to do the same. "Sasuke, first of all, I want to know how you're feeling. Remember, it was only yesterday that Naruto and Tsunade healed you," he pointed out.
The dark-haired ninja scowled. "I know! I feel fine!" he got up from his chair angrily.
Kakashi shook his head. "No, you obviously don't feel fine. You're flesh wounds have been healed . . ." - the masked ninja's visible eye softened - " . . . but another has opened in year heart."
The Uchiha turned away. This was definitely not the time for his sensei's bad analogies. But Kakashi went on.
"Do you realize that all of this pain is self-inflicted? Why do you hurt yourself, Sasuke?" The masked ninja's voice became quieter as he continued. "Do you know that Naruto admires you? Do you know it hurts him to see you in so much pain? You're torturing him by putting him through all of this."
Sasuke whirled around. "What? All of WHAT?! I HATE HIM! AND THAT'S THE END OF IT!" he shouted. "I don't care how he feels! I don't care about him AT ALL!"
"Then why did you kiss him?"
The Uchiha breathed in sharply and glared at his sensei. Kakashi stood up and put a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. "He loves you and you're too stubborn to realize it, or too suspicious. If you don't get him fast, he'll move on to someone else! If I were you, I would find him as soon as I could and tell him how I felt." Kakashi laughed at the stunned expression on Sasuke's face. "I've known about your feelings for each other for a while now."
The Uchiha stared at his sensei and finally looked down. "He loves me . . ." Sasuke's whisper was barely audible. "But how . . . and WHY . . ." Sasuke held his head in his hands, but his heart was lifting.
Kakashi's visible eye became a smiling half-moon. "Yes, he does love you, though he only just realized it. If I were you, I'd get going immediately. You need to find him and talk to him. Your shirt was ruined but I went and got another for you—you don't want to run after Naruto half-naked!"
Sasuke blushed and pulled the shirt over his head. He walked to the door and paused, standing in front of it for a moment in silence.
"What is it, Sasuke?"
The Uchiha turned around to face the masked ninja. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry about what I did . . . and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am to you." The dark-haired ninja closed his eyes. "You've been like a father—"
The Uchiha's sentence was cut off as his sensei hugged him.
"—to me," he gasped out with a smile.
xxx
Hinata panted, flopping back on her bed. She had gone through her entire closet, but nothing was good enough to wear to lunch . . . nothing . . .
This is bad . . . I want to look nice for Shikamaru-kun . . . Hinata sighed, ignored the tears of frustration that clung to her cheeks.
"Hinata! Could you open the door?!"
The Hyuuga sat up and got off her bed, wiping her face on her sleeve. She sniffed. "N-neji-kun? Is that you?" She let her cousin in. The ninja practically fell over from the weight of the boxes he was carrying. He set them down in the middle of the room. "I heard Shikamaru asked you out." Neji smirked as his cousin blushed.
"Stop teasing, me, Neji-kun," she laughed softly, hands covering her mouth.
Neji smiled. "Well, I figured I'd bring up some of mother's old dresses. See if you want to wear something." He waved to the boxes. "Just be careful with them, will you?" The dark-haired ninja stopped for a second, and stood there, considering his cousin. Suddenly, he started jumping up and down with excitement. "I can't believe my little Hinata-chan is being asked out on a date! This is so exciting!"
Hinata glared but couldn't help but start laughing. "Thank you for the dresses, Neji-kun," the Hyuuga said dubiously.
Neji nodded and skipped away, shutting the door behind him and leaving Hinata to stare at the mountain of boxes in the middle of her room.
I guess I have to start somewhere . . .
The little Hyuuga opened box after box, but the dresses where too small or too big, too fancy or too plain . . .
Hinata sighed as she reached into the last box. She closed her eyes. Please . . . please . . . this has to be the one . . .
The dark-haired ninja opened her eyes slowly and gasped. The dress in her hands was the pale blue of a February sky. "It's beautiful . . ." she whispered in awe.
xxx
A/N: Aw, Hinata wants to look nice for a certain somebody! Btw, Neji is OOC for a reason that will be revealed eventually. And Kakashi gives such good advice because he's gay himself. You know he is. Because he has a boyfriend . . . coughIrukacough. Ahem.