Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! The next chapter will be the last part to this series and fortunately I'll have lots of time over the next few days to write. So hopefully the final part will be up before the weekend is over! Thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed this story, and thank you so much to everyone who has left me a review - I read every single one and they all put a huge smile on my face! :) Enjoy the chapter!
"I don't know Sakura. I just don't think a blind date is really for me, you know?"
"Are you sure? I'm telling you, I really think that you and this guy would get along perfectly!" Sakura's voice came through the earpiece pleadingly and Hinata bit her lip.
"Maybe we would… I do trust your judgment." Hinata replied hesitantly, lightly chuckling as she heard Sakura's small squeal of delight.
"You would really like him, I promise! He's kind of an idiot and a huge dork, but he's really funny and outgoing! Please Hinata!"
"It's just that– I'm just still kind of upset about, well…"
"You're still upset about Elevator Guy, I understand." Sakura's voice was soft and reassuring and Hinata sighed, sinking deeper into the couch with a small frown on her face and feeling very silly for being so sad over a guy she didn't even really know.
Of course Sakura had been so wonderfully understanding when Hinata had walked into work a few mornings ago in a depressed state, listening intently as Hinata recounted what had happened in the elevator with her dream man and his fiancé. She'd pulled Hinata into a tight hug and told her all the right things, even managing to get them out of work early and taking Hinata to her apartment for a girl's night. Hinata wasn't sure what she had done to deserve a friend like Sakura Haruno, but she appreciated her deeply.
But despite all the comfort she gave, Sakura still couldn't pull Hinata's thoughts from the guy in the elevator.
"Well if you change your mind, let me know." Sakura managed to sound only a little disappointed, letting out a small sigh while Hinata occupied herself by picking at the fabric on her couch. "He'd been against it for awhile too, but out of nowhere he called me a couple days ago saying that he'd be willing to do it. Maybe with a little time you'll feel the same way."
"You're probably right. I'm sorry for the trouble."
"Don't apologize!" Sakura's voice came across like a mother softly scolding her child and Hinata shifted slightly in surprise. "If you don't want to do then you don't have to. If you need time then take it. Just do whatever makes you feel comfortable and happy."
"Thank you, Sakura." Hinata allowed herself a small smile, her chest swelling with warmth at her friend's kindness. Sakura always knew just quite what to say, and Hinata was quite tired of feeling sorry for herself and doing nothing but sitting at home in a slump the past few days. "Oh, hold on just a minute. I think I hear someone knocking."
"No problem," Sakura replied as Hinata stood from the couch and quickly strode toward her front door. Standing slightly on her toes she closed an eye and peeked through the door, stepping back in surprise as she saw a familiar head of messy black hair.
"Who is it, Hinata?" She distantly heard Sakura ask as Hinata unlocked her door and pulled it open to reveal a man staring at her with an impatient expression on his face. His eyes seemed to say 'about time' and Hinata pouted, as she hadn't made him wait long enough to deserve such an expression from him. Before she could open her mouth to question his presence he ignored her quizzical look and pulled his phone from his pocket before pressing a few buttons.
"Hinata?" The sound of Sakura's confused voice pulled Hinata from her thoughts and she opened and closed her mouth in surprise.
"Um, it's–"
"Oh sorry Hinata, that's Sasuke on the other line! I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye!" She heard Sakura's rushed goodbye as she stared at the raven haired man before her with utter confusion, his phone raised to his ear and a blank expression on his face.
"Hey Sasuk–!" Hinata heard Sakura's voice come through his receiver before he promptly hung up on her midway through her greeting, merely blinking at Hinata before stepping past her into the apartment as though she'd invited him in.
"What are you…" Hinata stood in shock for one minute, and then another, before closing the door silently and following her strange friend into her kitchen as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.
"She talks forever, and I really didn't feel like waiting around an hour to get a minute to talk to you."
"Um, I guess that makes a little sense. But what are you doing here? Not that this isn't a pleasant surprise." Hinata eyed him warily as she watched him go through her cabinets one by one. She might have scolded him for inviting himself in so carelessly and digging through her things if she wasn't so completely and utterly confused.
"On the counter." He pointed to his right without looking at her, opening another cabinet and rummaging through it while Hinata followed the point of his finger until her eyes rested upon a small blue envelope that she hadn't noticed before.
"What is this?" She left the question hanging in the air rhetorically, picking up the envelope before delicately opening it. Pulling a small card from within she glanced over it quickly. "Sakura Haruno's…surprise party?"
"Figured I'd invite you since you're her friend." He replied shortly, sparing her a small glance that she met with an amused smile before turning her gaze back onto the card with a cute flower design.
"And here I'd thought you and I had moved on from acquaintances awhile ago, Sasuke... I never took you for the surprise party type." She chuckled lightly as he scoffed. "Or as one to design such a cute card." Hinata read through the invitation with curiosity, the pink script flowing across the card neatly. 'This Saturday, huh? A bit short notice but I don't think I have any other plans.'
"Then you know me better than you think because it wasn't my idea." She watched as he pulled a clear container out of her cabinet with what was almost a tired sigh, giving her the feeling that he was thoroughly not looking forward to a surprise party.
"So you had to get Sakura off of the phone with me so the surprise wouldn't be ruined." Hinata said mostly to herself as she slowly began to understand Sasuke's actions. He merely hummed at her in response.
"It's at my apartment, so you of all people shouldn't be late. I'm borrowing your sugar."
"Okay, um do you want a container?" Hinata asked as he patted the lid of the container, ignoring her question as he walked past her towards her front door. "Or you can just take it all," she rolled her eyes playfully as she followed him.
"See you." He lifted his hand in a brief wave goodbye as he pulled the door open and quickly shut it behind him, taking her sugar and a million unanswered questions with him. She shrugged off the strange encounter with a shake of her head as her phone began vibrating in her hand, and she lifted the receiver to see Sakura's name blinking back at her.
"Hello?"
"Sorry Hinata! I'm pretty sure he just butt dialed me." Sakura laughed and Hinata chuckled weakly in response, not having the heart to tell her that her boyfriend had deliberately hung up on her. "Anyway, who was it at your door?"
"Oh, that…" Hinata smiled to herself as she picked up the party invitation once more. "Just a neighbor borrowing some sugar."
Sakura Haruno knew she had what might be considered an unhealthy habit of getting involved in her friend's love lives.
It's not that she went about her life deliberately trying to match people up with one another; it just so happened that some of her friends and acquaintances seemed to be (in her opinion) perfect matches for other friends and acquaintances. And while she didn't like to toot her own horn, no one could deny the fact that all of the matches that she had managed to successfully arrange all ended up working out amazingly on both sides.
She'd known that her friend Temari would find Sasuke's friend Shikamaru Nara utterly fascinating, despite what she said about not liking lazy guys. She'd known Shikamaru wouldn't be able to resist falling for the powerful woman, despite what he said about not liking 'troublesome' and bossy women. She'd known Chouji and Karui would be instantly attracted to one another, despite Sasuke and Naruto telling her that the pair was completely out of left field and would never take any romantic liking to one another. They continued to be happily in love a year and a half later.
She'd also known from her first meeting with Hinata Hyuga that the quiet girl was a match made in heaven with Naruto Uzumaki.
Sakura wasn't really sure how she knew that the two were perfect for each other; she just did. Perhaps it was the way Hinata's calm demeanor contrasted so sharply with Naruto's in a way that was exactly what the blonde needed in his erratic life. Maybe it was how Naruto's warm and outgoing personality was the sort of spark that could really open Hinata up.
She didn't know. But she could imagine the countless possibilities.
The thousands of cute and amazing possibilities that only disappointed her more and more now that the Hyuga girl had rejected the idea of a blind date.
"Sakura! Pass the salt, would ya?" Naruto's loud voice got her attention quickly, and Sakura glanced at the blonde to find him wolfing spoonful upon spoonful of food into his already full mouth. She scrunched her nose at the crumbs he let spill onto his pants and the unknown speckle of food gathered at the corner of his mouth.
On second thought, maybe she could use the time to teach the blonde some manners.
"You're disgusting." Sasuke eyed the blonde warily as Sakura handed him the salt shaker and Naruto swallowed before sticking his tongue out at his friend.
"I haven't eaten all day, alright? Sue me."
"Idiot." Sasuke muttered with a small smirk.
"Anyway, Naruto," Sakura intervened quickly as Naruto raised his spoon threateningly, watching the two eye each other sharply. "About that blind date."
"Oh, I forgot! So how'd it go, what did she say?" Naruto asked, swallowing a large mouthful before looking towards Sakura hopefully.
"Blind date?" Sasuke looked to her questioningly, and she paused in thought.
"I never told you, did I? I've been trying to set Naruto up on a blind date for a few weeks now, but he kept turning me down until a few days ago." She paused to shoot the blonde an accusing glare and he chuckled apologetically.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't interested then!"
"You and your match making." Sasuke shook his head at her with disappointment and Sakura slapped him on the arm playfully, smiling brightly when she noticed the ghost of a smile on his mouth as he picked up his glass and took a drink.
"So she said yeah, right?" Naruto asked and Sakura grimaced lightly, looking into his hopeful eyes with empathy.
"Actually, she said no…" She frowned as his face fell slightly and he fell back in his seat with a pout.
"Of course she did, I'm going to be single forever."
"Who were you trying to set him up with?" Sasuke gave her a suspicious look and Sakura flushed lightly.
"Eh heh," she shrunk under the suspicious look he was giving her, turning to pick at her food to try and alleviate some of the pressure his gaze was putting on her. Naruto ran his hands over his face with a groan, muttering something to himself about dying alone with 10 cats. "I was actually thinking of setting him up with Hinata; don't you think they'd be cute together?"
A few seconds passed without a reply and Sakura turned to look at him with a confused expression. Wasn't he going to scold her? Tell her she was being silly? Did he not think they'd be a good couple? Or maybe he did and was shocked into silence by her genius?
"Hinata, huh…" He replied softly and Sakura gasped lightly as she watched him place a hand over his mouth in a discreet attempt to hide the smile forming on his face.
"S-Sasuke?" She sputtered in confusion and turned to face him fully as he refused to meet her eye. She pulled on his arm to try and make him face her. "What's so funny?! You're freaking me out! You know it's not a bad idea, don't laugh!"
"I'm not laughing." He turned to face her fully with a straight face and she stared back at him blankly. Had she been imagining it? No, she was sure that she saw the corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile. What was with him?
"I actually think it's not a bad idea. I'll mention it to her again and see what she says." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"…Are you sick or something?"
"What? No, why would you even ask that." He looked at her with his brow furrowed in confusion and Sakura crossed her arms in response.
"You've been acting so strange lately, and now you of all people are trying to set Naruto up on a date? Maybe I'm rubbing off on you," Sakura smirked playfully and Sasuke scoffed and turned away from her.
"All I'm saying is, at this rate, the idiot is going to be single forever," Sasuke responded and Naruto shouted in objection. Sakura watched the two argue back and forth with a curious quick to her brow.
"You asshole, you think you're so cool just because you already have a girlfriend?! Let me remind you of the huge mess you were when you were trying to get the courage to tell Sakura you liked her!"
"Whatever. Don't accept my help then." Sasuke scowled in response, roughly picking up his plate and standing from their table. "It'll resolve itself soon anyway."
"What was that?" Sakura asked, but he turned away stubbornly and headed toward the trash can with stiff strides.
"Forget him Sakura, he's just being Sasuke." Naruto waved his hand dismissively before picking his spoon up once more and resuming his meal.
"Yeah, I guess…" She said quietly, watching as Sasuke began emptying his plate into the trash.
'Maybe he's right; I'm worrying too much…' She chuckled at Naruto as he began choking on one of the large bites he insisted upon taking. She looked toward Sasuke as he began making his way back to their table with a foul expression and smiled.
'It'll all work out on its own.'