What's that I see on the horizon? Ohyeah! Chapter two. I should have been revising for most of the time I spent writing this chapter (in fact, that will be true about most of the chapters I post for the next two months, assuming the story goes on that long), but hey - everyone needs a break sometimes, right? Right. Anyway, quick thank you to all my new subscribers and fave-ers, it's always really nice to know that the first chapter has captured people's interest. But a special thank you to the reviewers so far; hatakevan, charles cdv and dbzgtfan2004. And heck, why not, even Too Lazy for your... constructive (?) criticism. Now, without further ado...

Long Distance

2. Reintroductions

I dropped Sasuke off at the train station when he left two weeks later. He'd sent his stuff ahead of him in a van, and just like that, he was gone. I got a text from him that evening to say that he was there, but too tired to talk, and in the following days I threw myself into studying to keep my mind off the fact that he wasn't there.

Then the weekend came, and Saturday night – which I'd spent with Sasuke every week bar maybe two for the last couple of years – loomed overhead. Unfortunately Ino wasn't free, some new guy was taking up all her time and most of the food in our cupboards, so rather than sit around at home I decided to head out and hope that some kind of inspiration struck.

Deliberately choosing to turn down roads I didn't know or hadn't taken in a while meant that pretty soon I was out of the most familiar area of town. Still, the further I walked the more the buildings tugged at my memory. It wasn't that mysterious, I knew there wasn't likely to be a single part of town that I hadn't visited at least once, but still it felt like a more important association.

Then I saw something else that jogged my memory – a flash of yellow hair – and remembered why I'd been here before. Naruto's house, just along one of these roads, was where we'd held Sasuke's 20th. I picked up my pace a little to see if the hair did in fact belong to Sasuke's best friend, and when I reached the corner he'd turned just moments before I was relieved to find that I was right.

A little way down the street Naruto was happily meandering along, chatting loudly to a girl with long blue hair. I won't comment on the colour, somebody with pink hair has absolutely no right to find other people's hair unusual. And actually, when the girl turned a little to say something, I saw that it suited her. At least, it certainly helped to offset the blush that I could see spread across her face even from half a street away!

I hadn't decided whether or not I was going to approach Naruto, I wouldn't like to interrupt a date, but as I was watching he got a little ahead of the girl he was with, and when he turned back to say something to her he caught sight of me and started waving.

"Sakuraaaaa! Heeeeey!"

I laughed and lifted a hand to wave back, "Hi!"

Naruto said something quickly to his girlfriend and then came bounding over, "Hi! Wow! What are you doing round here? It's so cool to see you! Did you get my text?"

Oops, I'd forgotten to reply to his message. Ah well, he didn't seem the type to bear a grudge, "I'm just wandering around really, I did get your text but completely forgot to answer. I meant to, it'd be great to hang out sometime."

"Great! Are you busy now?"

"Uh, no," I hurried to tell him that no, I was not a complete loser desperate for friends to hang out with and no, I didn't come here with the intention of finding him and no, I would not like to crash his date, but he'd already grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me over to the blue-haired girl.

He slung an arm around her, "Hinata, Sakura. Sakura, Hinata. You guys might remember each other from school, we were in the same year."

"Y-yes," Hinata said hesitantly, her voice faint, "I think we had some lessons together."

"Probably," I admitted, "but my memory is terrible. Nice to meet you again though."

"Right," Naruto announced, "so what do you say we all hang out together?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly," I said, finding myself starting to blush a little, "I wouldn't want to-"

"Wouldn't want to what? We were just going out for ramen, it's gonna be so good!"

"I think you should... definitely come," Hinata added, without the slightest hint of disappointment or resentment in her tone.

So, with the prospect of an alternative Saturday night spent walking the streets like some kind of crazy, or going home and watching Ino try to eat her new boyfriend's face, I gave in and agreed to go out for ramen. And tried not to feel like too much of a third wheel.

Actually, to be fair, both Naruto and Hinata seemed more than happy to have me along. We went to a little place a few roads down from the station and Naruto spent almost twenty minutes talking us through his various favourite items on the menu.

Once ordering was out of the way we turned onto more typical conversation topics, "So what've you been up to then, Sakura?" was Naruto's first question.

"Since when, since we organised that party for Sasuke?"

"Yeah, you were studying medicine then weren't you?"

I nodded, "Yep, and that's pretty much all I've been doing. It's really intensive, I don't have the time – or energy – for anything else a lot of the time."

"That must be hard," Hinata commented, barely audible over the noise of the other customers' chatter.

"Well, it can be," I smiled, "but it's worth it. The course is fascinating, and I've wanted to be a doctor for years."

Hinata smiled shyly back, "It must be nice to know so clearly... exactly what you want to do."

"You'll figure it out eventually," Naruto said to Hinata, "and until then you can just enjoy looking at all your options!"

She blushed a little and nodded, saved from having to reply by the fact that the arrival of our food.

Almost a whole minute went by without talk as we all started eating, but then Naruto piped up again.

"So how long has the idiot been gone?"

"'Scuse me?" I mumbled, hurrying to swallow a mouthful of noodles.

"I mean Sasuke. He had to move up sometime this week, didn't he?"

"Oh, yeah. He left on Tuesday."

Naruto shook his head, "I can't believe he didn't call me. Well, I can believe it, he never calls me. But it's still annoying! Have you spoken to him since?"

"A couple of times," I said vaguely, not really wanting to admit that all we'd exchanged was a text or two, "he's pretty busy, you know, with setting up in his new place and learning the ropes. Orochimaru's company is structured slightly differently."

I noticed Hinata watching the conversation in silence and tried to change the topic, "But anyway, how often do you guys come here?"

Hinata instantly blushed fiercely and looked down, Naruto answered, "Oh, I come at least once a week. This place does the best ramen in town, maybe even in the country! But hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Are you pissed off with Sasuke for just going off like that?"

"Uh," I took another mouthful of noodles to buy some time, "I don't know. His work is really important to him."

"I'd never leave behind someone I cared about for work," Naruto announced, waving his chopsticks to underline his point, "would you, Hinata?"

Right on cue, Hinata turned bright red again, but she did come out with a firm "No."

Naruto nodded, satisfied, and raised his bowl to tip the last remnants of his meal into his mouth. I pushed what was left of mine around the bowl for a little while, appetite pretty much gone, and conversation moved on to less complicated topics until Hinata finished her food and we settled our bill.

"How late is it?" Hinata asked as we left, and Naruto replied with a vague wave of his hand.

I checked my phone, "Wow, um, it's coming up to half nine. I should really get back home, I have a load of work to do tomorrow."

"That went fast!" Naruto said, stretching.

"You can say that again," I hurried a text to Ino, just in case she was wondering where I'd vanished to, "I wasn't expecting to be out past eight really."

"It was nice," Hinata offered, and I found myself nodding sincerely as I pressed 'send'.

"Very nice," Naruto agreed, "Sakura, you should know that if you want to hang out, any time, I'm pretty much always free."

Checking for Hinata's reaction to this, in case she thought I was looking to make a move on Naruto, I chanced a simple nod-and-shrug combination.

"I'd like to meet up with you guys again sometime, my flat-mate's not exactly available very often and I have a lot of empty evenings," I suddenly grimaced, realising how pathetic and lonely that sounded, "but on the other hand, I'm sure I'll find something to-"

"Well, you've got my number," Naruto interrupted with a wide grin, "so text me. I've been friends with Sasuke for years, so if nothing else we can swap stories."

"Cool, well, bye then," I gave an awkward wave and headed off before I could embarrass myself any further.

Still, it had to be said, it had been a good evening. Hinata seemed sweet, if quiet, and Naruto was entertaining, if bizarrely forward, and hey – anything to fill up my newly acquired spare time!

When I got back to the cramped two-bedroom flat that Ino and I called home, my lovely friend was waiting up with a mug of hot chocolate.

"Hey! How was your night?"

I took the drink gratefully and sipped, almost scalding my tongue on the first mouthful, "It was really good actually."

It might have been a little difficult to understand, since I had my tongue out for the benefit of the cold air at the time, but Ino seemed to know what I was saying.

"Cool, so, who were you with? Where? What did you get up to? I want details!"

Laughing, I put the hot chocolate down on the floor next to the sofa while I talked Ino through the ins and outs of my evening.

She managed to hold off on interrupting, a rarity for her, until I referred to Hinata as Naruto's girlfriend for the third or fourth time.

"She's not," Ino put in as I paused for breath, completely throwing me off my train of thought.

"Huh?"

"She's not. Hinata's not Naruto's girlfriend."

"Sorry," I tilted my head to one side, confused, "how do you know?"

"Because one of my dad's best friends used to work with Hinata's dad and there was this party thing which my dad dragged me along to for no real good reason, but Hinata was there and I was chatting with this other guy who's a friend of hers and Naruto showed up to drop something off, or pick something up – I can't really remember, and the guy I was talking to told me how Hinata had been, like, in love with Naruto since they were kids but had never got up the courage to tell him about it, and he was completely oblivious. So."

Ino looked triumphant, but I was still sceptical, "How long ago was this? They could have easily got together since then."

"No," Ino said confidently, "I'd have heard. I hear everything."

Cue another eye-roll, "Sure," I drained the last of my drink, looking thoughtfully from the cup to Ino, sitting at the other end of the sofa. "How much do you love me?"

"Oh, lots, why?"

I waved my empty mug at her, "Enough to make me some more of your super-special hot chocolate?"

"What's in it for me?"

"My eternal devotion?"

"Pssht, got that already."

I laughed, "How about a hug?"

Ino was about to reply when my phone rang, and a quick glance at the caller ID confirmed what I'd been hoping.

"Sasuke?" Ino asked, catching the look in my eye.

"Was it so obvious?" I smiled at her and stood up, heading to my room as I answered the call.

"Hey Sasuke,"

"Hi. How are you?"

"Oh, not bad," reaching my room, I bumped the door closed with my hip and collapsed onto the bed with a sigh, "how about you? Been busy?"

"Yes, very. I'm doing well, things are moving fast here and I'm already in the thick of things. This is where everything is happening, it's where I need to be. Where I probably should have been months ago."

"Good, I'm glad it's going well. Are you all settled into your new place?"

"I had everything unpacked a couple of days ago, but I'm not spending much time at home."

"You're making sure to get enough sleep, aren't you?" I sat up, concerned, "I know what you get like when you're absorbed in something, but you have to take care of yourself."

"I do," Sasuke's voice had the impatient edge I was so familiar with, "I am."

It made me smile, having the same conversation we often had when he got particularly into a project, "I know, I'm sure you are, but it's my job to worry about that sort of thing."

"Mm."

There was a pause then, as I tried to figure out whether that was an impatient 'mm' or a tolerant, even affectionate, 'mm' – it was tough to tell without the usual visual clues. Then I heard some shouting in the background from Sasuke's end and he let out a short sigh.

"Sounds like something is kicking off here again, I'll ha-"

He was interrupted by a high pitched and irritable shrieking, loud enough to actually make me take the phone away from my ear for a moment.

"Sasuke?" I ventured, "Everything okay there?"

"I'm going to have to go and sort this out," his voice was completely without inflection, but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say he was probably not best pleased, "goodnight Sakura."

"Good-" he hung up, cutting me off mid-word. I looked at the phone in my hand for a second before chucking it on the bed beside me and lying back again. "Love you too, missing you, goodnight," I addressed the ceiling, kicking my shoes off.

There was a knock at the door and Ino poked her head round, "Got that hot chocolate you ordered earlier."

"Thanks," I twitched my head in the direction of the bedside table and she set the mug down before perching next to my feet on the edge of the mattress.

"So how is he?"

"Busy, stressed, only there a few days and already overworking himself. Basically, much the same as usual!"

Ino laid a hand on my leg, "He'll be fine. He's probably in his element up there."

"I know," I rolled over onto my side, facing away from Ino. "I miss him. Is that really pathetic? He's been gone less than a week and I miss him. We used to go a whole seven days without seeing each other sometimes, just because neither of us had the time to spare, but I never felt this sense of distance before."

"Think that might be because now there is actual distance involved?" Ino's tone was only very mildly sarcastic, but I kicked her for it anyway. "Ouch! All I'm saying is that now you know that you couldn't call him up for an emergency meeting, whereas before if you'd started to miss him in a big way you could have done. It's not really that difficult to figure out."

"You can tell you're training for the psych ward," I grumbled.

"I'm still right," she said smugly, "but seriously, there are ways to get round this. Call him more, write to him, text him with updates, just try to make sure you feel connected to him and what's going on in his life, and let him know what's happening with you."

Ino stood to leave the room, offering me a final pat on the leg before she did so, "and if you need a hug, you've always got me. This is hard, but it will get easier."

I heard her pause by the door and rolled over to give her a quick grin before she left, "Night Ino, thanks."

"No problem. What are friends for if not free pseudo-therapy?" She poked her tongue out at me and headed off to her own room, leaving me to stare at the ceiling and think about how I was going to adapt.

One thing I was sure of: after tonight, I was done with the moping.