Sleepover

"Hinata, your hair is so pretty! I swear, we should curl it more often!" A blond girl said, her sapphire blue eyes gleaming as she giggled gleefully, and her pink-haired companion could only agree, nodding enthusiastically. Hinata tried her best not to roll her eyes, for that would not be very polite, but she managed to suppress a smile. Ino told Hinata not to move her head as she said she didn't want to burn her pretty face, and Hinata reluctantly shifted a little on her cushion on the floor, while Sakura looked at her softly, smiling. "Okay, that's one side done! Would you like me to do your fringe, too?"

Hinata tried to protest, she really did, but her mouth just did not move, so she had to sit through Ino doing her fringe too, as it puffed up and ended up tickling her forehead a little bit more than usual. Ino had a way of somehow asking you if you wanted something done, or something bought, and then snap! it would simply just happen and you could hardly do anything about it. Hinata had to go through this at sleepovers, but she was usually inclined to just go along with whatever the other girls wanted to. "Ino-chan, w-why isn't Ten-ten here with us...?"

"Oh, she was spending the night at her house with her family," Ino said dismissively, putting a clip in her mouth, holding it with her teeth as she pinned a bit of Hinata's hair back to curl the rest of her hair, humming softly. "But don't worry, Hinata, I'm sure she can come next time!"

"O-Okay..." the shy girl stammered, looking up at the ceiling as she felt a surge of disappointment. She wanted Ten-ten to be involved too, and she didn't want her to be left out, but if that was the case, then she hoped she was having fun with her family. She looked at Sakura and noticed oddly, that the pinkette was a little...quiet. "A-Ano...um...S-Sakura-chan...are you a-alright? You seem pretty quiet..." Hinata's voice broke through the quiet atmosphere like a knife, and Sakura started, her emerald eyes wide.

Ino turned her head too and tilted it, frowning a little. "Yeah, you've been quiet for a while, Sakura...are you okay? Not spacing out too much, are you, Billboard Brow?"

"Oh, shut-up, Ino-pig," Sakura snapped in her usual banter towards the blond girl. Giving Hinata a shaky smile, she lied, and said: "No, no, I'm fine, Hinata...I'm just...thinking..."

It was Ino's turn to intrude, as she replied: "Thinking about what?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest. "Since when is it your business?" she asked defensively, narrowing her eyes a little. "I'm just thinking about something, that's all...actually...about Naruto..."

"Naruto?"

Sakura looked away from Hinata and put her hands on her lap, her fists bunched up. "Yes, Naruto, and no, not like that! I'm just..worrying about him, that's all...he just seems...lonely sometimes..."

The conversation soon grew a little awkward for Hinata, however, when she noticed Sakura's concern. She knew that she was concerned about him as a friend, but the shy kunoichi knew that perhaps...there was something more that met the eye. Was that why she was being so quiet? Because Sakura liked Naruto? No, no, that couldn't be possible... Or, could it? As Ino left the room to go to the toilet, Hinata blurted out the question which had been plaguing her mind for more than a few minutes.

"Sakura-chan...d-do you like Naruto-kun?"

Sakura slowly turned her head around and began fidgeting with her fingers again, something which she did when she was shy; an uncharacteristic behaviour. Hinata looked at Sakura, waiting patiently to hear the answer, her stomach twisting and turning with dread. "I...well, I...I do, to be honest..." she said slowly and rather nervously, her lips twitching into a not-convincing half-smile, but at least Hinata knew she wasn't lying. "I've liked him for a while...and...I didn't want to confess to him or anything, because I knew that you...you liked him!" she blurted out, looking back at Hinata and then down at her hands again.

"O-Oh..." Hinata said, not quite believing her hearing. Sakura likes...Naruto-kun...

"I'm...I'm sorry, Hinata...I didn't mean to upset you...but it seems that I have..."

"I-it's okay," Hinata replied softly, her violet eyes flickering to the floor as she gave her a watery smile, tears welling in her eyes as she stood up. "I...I need to be alone for a while..."

"Hinata, wait!"

Hinata ran out of the room and sniffed, as she hid in the bathroom, feeling really alone. She couldn't believe it. She did like Naruto. And for quite some time...as long as Hinata did? Sakura-chan likes Naruto...Sakura-chan likes Naruto... she repeated in her mind numbly, her knees shaking as she sat on the toilet, her hands cupping her face. She likes him...

She stayed in the toilet for a long time. Even when Ino had appeared in the bedroom after going to the kitchen to get some snacks, Hinata still was not there. "Where's Hinata?" Ino asked curiously, putting down the bowl of popcorn and chocolate, blinking.

"Oh, Hinata, she...she..." Sakura fumbled with the words, biting her bottom lip. "She had to...go to the toilet."

"I see... When do you think she's going to come out?"

"I honestly...don't know."

Hinata had walked home that night without any of her things, except the pyjamas she was wearing, and her slippers, as she made her way to her house through a sprinkling of rain, shaking with the cold, and with something else. Uncertainty. Apprehension. Guilt. Anger, and sadness.

Sakura liked Naruto. Hinata didn't know what to think.