"I'd say I was surprised you didn't show up on graduation day… but I really wasn't." Sasuke muttered out into the straw of his soda cup. "How bad was Ebisu when you finally went to collect your documents?"

"Meh, seemed like he was screaming for hours!" Naruto grinned back sheepishly before wolfing the last bit of his cheeseburger. "He kept going on and on how it wouldn't fly in the adult world, it's not a habit, y'know. I've never done well in school, and I never will, that's why I never 'applied' myself."

"Then why are you going to University?" Sasuke asked almost interested, going to University cost thousands, it wasn't something you waste years on if you had no interest in doing it.

"The coaching course I'm taking has a lot of practical stuff, and I figured it gets me away from Jiraiya for a while, but not doubt he'll come to visit every weekend if only to check out the college girls… stupid pervert." Naruto grumbled loudly, slurping his own soda. "How was the last day? Lots of teary, heartfelt goodbyes?"

"There were goodbyes. Bunch of people who I'll probably forget their names by the end of next week." Sasuke answered dully, letting out a heavy sigh. "Girls as well, giving me their email and numbers and near begging me to keep in contact with them."

"Oh come on, Sasuke, there must be at one you want to keep in touch with." Naruto asked again, almost laughing at the raven haired teenager.

"Maybe, I don't know, I haven't really looked through them all yet." Sasuke responded, looking away from the blond on the opposite end of the table.

Naruto slurped his drink loudly again to fill the awkward silence that began to stir between the two of them. "So… did Sakura say anything on the last day?"

"Yeah, she'd one of the ones who gave me their contact details." Sasuke answered, before he noticed the unimpressed stare Naruto gave him. "You meant about you? No, not a word beyond asking where you were?"

"Well at least she noticed I was gone…" Naruto sighed loudly. "But I guess I'm not surprised, she had a crush on you for as long as I've known her. Took her like the tenth rejection for her to finally explain that was the reason she kept saying no to dates."

"I knew you liked her as well." Sasuke said back honestly. "I figured if I never bothered speaking to her she'd give up and finally go on a date with you, it would have shut you up whining about her."

"Gotta give her credit though, she never gave up. I asked her if she wanted me to try and set things up with you, but she said no, that she wanted to grasp your attention by herself… We should have had this conversation years ago, Sasuke, maybe then you would have given her a second glance." Naruto grinned cheekily, causing Sasuke to throw his crumpled up cheeseburger wrapper at Naruto's head.

"What about you, Mr Popularity? A lot of people missed you on the last day, I know I did, if you were there I wouldn't have had to give some on-the-fly graduation speech." Sasuke asked with a small smirk of his own.

"Meh, I've already got all the contact stuff for all the people who want to keep in contact with me, plus, unlike you I am on the social networking sites, y'know. If people want to find me, they know where to look." Naruto beamed.

"Hn, not everyone's…" The black haired teenager spoke shrewdly, almost seeming to enjoy Naruto's lack of knowledge on the subject, it was quite ironic really, the blond moron always whined about Sakura not noticing how much he liked her, he never noticed how much the blue haired Hinata liked him.

"What are you talking about, Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes narrowed with a suspicious stare, causing Sasuke to smirk to himself.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke answered to Naruto's chagrin. Sasuke began picking his litter from their fast food meal up and stood from their table. "Come on, we're done here. I need to get some stuff, Itachi's coming home before him and I go on vacation."

"Yeah, Jiraiya's taking me with him for most of the summer to help out on his promotional tour for his new book. It's gonna be a pain in the ass, but at least he said he'd pay me." Naruto grinned, throwing his own litter in a trashcan as they walked passed it and entered the shopping mall.

May. They had graduation back in May, it was approaching the end of July now. It was almost too months since she had last seen him.

Or at least, the last time she saw him in person. Truth be told she saw him every day. She saw his beaming smile pointed towards a camera.

She must have stared at his profile for a good ten minutes every day, her mouse poised over a button on the screen.

Add Friend

She had promised herself that she would let him go on the last day of school, that she would cast aside all her feelings for him and start fresh. So as she sat in front of her computer, staring aimlessly at his profile picture, she questioned why has hasn't been able to do so.

Was it because she didn't see him on the last day, because she wasn't able to achieve the closure of saying goodbye? If that was the case, was she destined to remain like this? Staring at him from afar?

But a part of her heart screamed at her an even more obvious truth. It was because she did not want to let him go. She wanted to stay near him, to continue hoping she may one day grasp his attention.

And hence, she had found herself in her current predicament. The mouse begging to be clicked, to send the electronic request to be friends and thus, she would be able to remain close to him, at least socially.

On one hand, they had gone to school together, so it wouldn't be surprising for everyone to try and stay in contact with each other. She herself had had a few the week following graduation. But two months now? She wanted to click the button, and she wished she had just plucked up the courage and done it months ago. But now, would it be too weird? Would he question why she hadn't done it sooner? She had never mustered the courage to talk to him in person, what right did she have to even call herself his friend electronically?

Would he even accept?

"Hinata, your friends are here!" Hanabi came barging into her room shouting loudly.

"Okay." She sighed dejectedly, logging off her own account and shutting her computer down. Maybe tomorrow she'd finally click that button.

"I'm just saying I don't think they're that great…" Ino mused out to her pink haired friend as they walked through the shopping mall, both had been working all through the summer and on one of their few days off that they shared, they had decided to meet up one last time before they all went to University. "What do you think, Hinata?"

She turned to the blue haired girl trailing slightly behind them, eyes cast towards the floor in a deep thought. She looked up to meet her blue eye, and a small blush appeared across her face. "S-Sorry Ino, what were you saying?"

"Ugh…" Ino groaned loudly in frustration. "Hinata, it's been almost two months! Don't tell me you're stilling sulking about not getting to see Naruto on the last day?"

The girl blushed even brighter than before, luckily she was saved by Sakura, who decided to put in her two cents. "You can't blame her, Ino. No one's seen or heard from Naruto for a couple of months. Remember Kiba's birthday party? You'd figure Naruto would be there, but he didn't show. Kiba just said he had been travelling all summer." Sakura remembered the party she was surprised to have found herself invited to, she had never really spoken to Kiba, but Ino did, and she assumed her blond haired friend was the reason behind her invitation.

"But still, you told us you were get over it by the last day, which clearly you haven't." Ino huffed out in annoyance. "Listen Hinata, I'm glad we're going to the same university and all, but please don't cramp my style with all the boys when we start with your depressive persona."

"Shut up, Ino. Hinata's obviously got some deep feelings for Naruto, you wouldn't know because you haven't really experienced it, but they don't just fly away because you want them to." Sakura replied angrily, defending the blue haired girl behind her. "Naruto'll be back before you know it, we can probably pull off some party where Hinata can get everything off her chest with him."

"Not likely." They were startled by the male voice who called out to them, they all turned to see Sasuke Uchiha himself standing behind them, wearing a white shirt with a high collar half done up, leaving the top of his chest and a necklace with a fan with the top half of the fan red visible. A black jacket flowing around his waist and held in place with a tight knot and slim fit blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up revealing his plain black sandals better. A pair of large headphones hung around his neck, and his hair was less styled than usual, with bangs dropping to cover his forehead and generally just a messier mop to the usual pristine style he held in school.

"Naruto's in Kumo at the moment, he's not back until the near the end of August, then he's shooting straight off to Univeristy." He added coolly as he approached them. Giving them a small nod before looking towards Hinata. "Sorry, but you won't be able to see the numbskull."

"Eh Sasuke-kun, you know where Naruto's been?" Sakura sounded more surprised than one should have been. "Not even Shikamaru, Kiba or Choji knew where he was, they just knew he went travelling."

"That's because he is travelling." Sasuke replied bluntly. "He is currently in Kumo, the capital city of Kamiwari no Kuni." Suddenly his phone began to vibrate, he took it out, and looked at the caller. "Yeah?" He answered bluntly as he spoke to them. "No I left the store. Look right, I'm not far away. Okay, see ya." He hung up his phone, looking to them once before turning around.

From the short distance the girls saw what could only be described as an older clone of Sasuke, albeit with tear trenches on his face, longer, duller black hair ted into a ponytail and tanner skin.

"There you are Sasuke, you shouldn't wander off. Your big brother gets worried." The man spoke with a small smile as he approached, shocking the girls. This was the infamous, mysterious older brother of Sasuke they had heard about. A blush appeared on all their faces as he smiled at them.

"Itachi, I'm eighteen, not six." Sasuke huffed back in annoyance.

Itachi smiled again, poking his brother in the forehead. "It doesn't matter how old you get, foolish little brother. I will always be there to look after you." He smiled towards the three girls again. "Now who are your friends?"

"I'm Ino Yamanaka!" Ino jumped in immediately, standing so uncomfortably close Itachi took a small step backwards. "And the pink haired one is Sakura Haruno and the white eyed girl is Hinata Hyuuga."

"I see, Hyuuga huh?..." Itachi's eyes focused on Hinata for a few seconds, causing her to shrivel and scoot behind Sakura slightly. Itachi quickly turned back to Sasuke. "Sasuke, is Hinata-san the one that's in love with Naruto?"

"S-S-Sasuke-kun!" A furiously blushing Hinata reprimanded Sasuke, who shrugged back. How many people knew about her crush on Naruto? Would it get back to him?

"Please don't blame Sasuke, yes he told me, but not in those exact words." Itachi offered her a small comforting smile. "From the way it was described it sounded very much like that. My advice, Hinata-san, would be to just tell Naruto how you feel. I know him well, he will give your feelings a chance to be reciprocated if they can. I know it is scary, but the fear of rejection is easier to deal with than the fear of the unknown, yes? Don't waste an opportunity when it is given to you, otherwise you may not get it again."

His words seemed to sink into the blue haired girl, who looked timidly down towards the floor. "Now, which one of you two is my little brother's girlfriend?" Itachi now looked to Ino and Sakura, causing both of them to blush again.

"Neither of them." Sasuke grumbled out in annoyance again, although this time it was accompanied by a small faint blush across his own face. "Now if you're quite finished Itachi, we're done in town, I'd like to go home."

"Very well, Sasuke." Itachi smiled, giving them a small nod. "Until I see you again." With that he and Sasuke began to walk away into the crowds of the mall.

"Well… guess which one inherited the nice gene and the sourpuss gene between them?" Ino mused as they walked away, Itachi was something different to Sasuke, Sasuke always looked angry at everything, and Itachi just seemed to never stop smiling, not as bad as a certain blond boy however.

"Sasuke-kun's not a sourpuss! He's just… reclusive…" Sakura instantly jumped to defend her own crush.

As the two began too bicker, their words faded from Hinata's ears, her mind replaying Itachi's advice towards her.

"The fear of rejection is easier to deal with than the fear of the unknown."

Was he correct? Yes, she had often wondered what would happen if she had just confessed her feelings to Naruto. It haunted her, the thought that he might have accepted them, even reciprocated them.

Did she waste all the opportunities given? Could she create her own? She thought back to earlier today, sitting in front of her computer. How much could be developed if she just pressed that darn button? Was there still time to?

"Okay, Hinata. Bags are in the trunk, you ready to go?" Neji spoke from the back of the car, she gave him a small nod before he moved to sit in the driver's seat. She turned back to her father and younger sister.

"Bye Hinata. Tell me everything that happens when you can." Hanabi smiled sweetly, moving to give her older a sister a hug, which Hinata returned softly.

"I shall. I'll call home when I can." She answered, letting her little sister go, before looking towards her father, who offered her a small smile himself.

"This will be good for you Hinata, you will grow excellently. Do me proud." Her father smiled once more. "And remember. You are a strong, smart, independent young woman. And university is filled with stupid young men, let them know those facts about you and don't do anything stupid."

"I-I won't, father…" Hinata blushed furiously, knowing what her father was suggesting. The thought had never crossed her mind, 'After all, I am still a…'

It wasn't something she was thinking about, at least, in the sense of with some random person, she wanted something special, someone special… someone specific.

"Good. Feel free to call home whenever you feel, and we will see you during your break." Hiashi spoke again with a smile.

"Yes, I shall see you soon!" She waved to them before setting off towards the car, ready to begin the next stage of her life.

Hinata had finished preparing her apartment for the year. It was a good idea that she had arrived a week earlier, as her apartment, one that was to be shared with another person was huge, with everything she could possible require, a private en suite bathroom, a large kitchen, separate large rooms.

She was still waiting to meet her roommate, she quietly hoped they were not too weird or loud, after all, she was about to enter a very arduous and studious part of her life, she would need quiet to focus.

She idly sat on her computer, two weeks ago, she had finally mustered up the courage to attempt to bridge the gap of contact with him. Two weeks had passed, and still she was forced to stare at his profile, hoping for the chance of acknowledgement.

Friend Request Sent

He didn't seem the type to ignore it, or at least she hoped. She hoped that he hadn't had the chance to see it, that he was too preoccupied and too busy to even look at a social networking site. She wasn't sure what Naruto was doing after school, did he continue with education? Or did he simply move on into a career?

"HELLO ROOMIE!" Her door burst open to her shock, Hinata almost jumped out of her skin at the loud noise.

But the voice, it was far too familiar. 'No… please don't tell me…' She slowly turned her head, seeing a blonde boy her own age, a large bag thrown over his shoulder and a suitcase at his side. His eyes were squinted towards her.

"Hinata? You're my roommate?" He asked curiously, still gazing towards her.

"N-N-N-N-N-N-Naruto….!?" She panicked, sweat beginning to bead from her forehead, there she was, literally just staring at him on a computer screen, and now he was in front of her, calling her his roommate?

She didn't know who her roommate was going to be, but she was sure all the deities out there were not cruel enough to her to put her in the same domicile as Naruto, to have her live together with him.

It was too much for her, her head began to feel light, her eyes beginning to go blank. Slowly she began to slip out of her chair, dropping to the ground in a thud.

"Wait, this isn't room 306- Hinata! What the hell!?"