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Best Friend

He was deeply in love with her; she had no idea.

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Chapter 4: She's just a friend, Hyūga

Sasuke knew he was doomed, just like before he was under the Hyūga's spell, he did not necessarily mind it when they were younger; but now sitting on a terrace of a lowkey restaurant on the West Side of Tokyo, not that far from his apartment, in the nicer part of town, he literally was damning the moment he said yes to this lunch invitation.

He was weak, he knew that, and it was so embarrassing how he folded so easily like a teenager. He was a softie, the biggest of them all; and although he was not necessarily late, rather that he just decided to come a little earlier. Still, he was a little annoyed she wasn't there yet on the dot at noon. It was a little warm and he opted for a blue shirt and some pants; his leg was shaking impatiently. What was the best course of action in his current predicament?

Will this be a one-time thing, or will he once again drop anything to just spend some time with her? He couldn't do it. It wasn't fair. But he really could not fault her; she had no idea. Because they were there for one another, the difference was that she saw him as a friend, and him as something more. He wanted to blame her, of course, when everything went in a spiral, he tend to fault her for his misfortunes and he accepted them; but Hinata was not at fault, she never was, not for not reciprocating feelings back, but for him cursing her out; however, she was probably at fault for not being here on time.

Some hurried steps made him put his phone down.

"I'm so sorry for being late,"

"Six minutes late," he corrected.

She sat down with a giggle, and just by that sound, he knew he would forgive her anything. He observe her further, she was wearing a plum turtleneck top and a white mini-skirt. She certainly is using a more risque wardrobe than she used to. The pageant was probably suggesting these outfits, reminiscing on the one she wore at his house.

'She looks very comfortable in them,' he thought while observing her for a second longer than usual. He looked at the menu, sending a silent appreciation to the physical menus that this place seemed to keep. He decided on a cheeseburger with extra tomato when their server arrived.

"I'll have a salad without dressing," she said.

He found that weird, but decided to keep the comment to himself. He always remembered that Hinata was a foodie, she was never shy to eat. Especially when it came to sweets, but then again, she had changed a lot from what he remembered.

"How you'd been?" she asked when the servers brought their drinks; soda for him, and plain water for her.

"Been good," he nodded towards her as if asking her the same.

"Busy," she sighed. "Is a new adventure every day,"

He raised an eyebrow. "Would that explain the gold glitter on your eyes?"

She as if remembering touched her eyelids. "Oh..." she murmured. "Sorry, I was in a photo shoot,"

"Ah..." he let out.

"Yeah, my days are full of modeling, pictures, and fittings, the closer it comes to the gala the busier it'll be." she gave an apologetic smile.

"It's your life," he said.

"For a few months at least," she agreed. He couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. There was a moment of silence for a bit, both looking at each other for the most comfortable quietness, as if in agreement. She looked kinda exhausted, how many times she had been on the go, she probably needed a nap, but instead was here with him, having lunch, catching up taking on his word to hang out.

A warm spread through his chest, suddenly he felt a little better and all the chaos and the extreme measurements he had taken were forgotten, just because she was there with him. Of course, probably seeing him yesterday caused this current predicament, but he did not want to give much thought to that; being a pessimist sometimes was hard work, and he really wanted to have a nice moment with her, without their families, her jerk face cousin, or phones. Just the two of them like old times.

"Silver looks better on you," he said.

"Excuse me?" she asked confused.

"The glitter thing..." he explained. "You always looked better with silver,"

"A-ano..." she stuttered. "Thank you, Sasuke,"

He would never in a million years think that her stutter would bring some sort of comfort to the shy mild friend of his teenage years.

"I really missed you," she said with a voice above a whisper, after looking directly into his eyes.

He almost melted, but his guard was up, and a part of him was desperately trying to protect him against this whole interaction. Still, he gave her a little smile, a sad one though.

"Me too," he admitted after a while.

Just like that they started to catch up. Speaking on what the other did after graduation from high school, there were a few laughs, some blushes on Hinata's part, and harmless gossip. It felt like they were ok, on the right path to rekindle their friendship, and he was very content with that. Just seeing her smile widely and be a little carefree just showed that he still got the privilege that not a lot had. However, he knew he needed to do something before proceeding.

"Listen, " he started. "I owe you an apology,"

"Oh?" she asked clearly confused. "What for?" she left her fork alone, signaling that he had her full attention.

"I..." he rearranges her thoughts in his mind. "Last time we saw each other I cursed you out," he explained, based on the way he looked directly at her, he knew that she knew at what time he was referring to. "It was wrong of me," he gulped at that; no matter how mature he wanted to be, it was still a struggle for him to admit that episode of pure resentment at knowing that she could never view him in the same light that he saw her.

She stood silent for a minute, which was eternal for the man in question. Hinata has always been an open book to him, so sincere in the way her feelings were displayed. So he witnesses her realization of collecting that particular memory, the frown which probably made her relive the experience, and her solemnity in how everything concluded.

"Although I didn't understand why at first, I forgive you..." she tried to smile.

He panicked for a bit. "What did you understand?" he asked slowly. Did she... figure out why he lashed out at him because of the true nature of his feelings?

"Ah..." she started a little unsure."I know your feelings, or rather, anything that has to do with expressing yourself is hard for you to do. So maybe you were bottling things up, and you just exploded."

Now technically she had it right, BUT that wasn't really the core of the chaos. A part of him felt disappointed that she did not catch on, it would've made it easier to confess, without really doing it. But no matter how much the time of five years had passed, Hinata was still a little clueless.

He nodded, not wanting to talk about it more than necessary.

"Is ok Sasuke," she grabbed his hand, "Is all in the past now," she reassured him.

For some reason, he felt bad, Hinata was so altruistic, maybe silently she acted like this just to make him feel guilty; he wished she could be more malicious and throw in his face what a bad friend he had been. However, she was not going to do that, and for that he was thankful.

"Are you sure you don't want a bite of this?" he signaled his plate. Looking over at hers, he saw that there was some pure rabbit food; kale, lettuce, and spinach, no one by choice would like to eat that.

He saw her doubt. "I shouldn't," she whispered, but her eyes gleamed at the suggestion.

"Hinata, you're not going to gain ten pounds just because you eat a cheeseburger," he reasoned.

"Ano..." she licked her lips. "Is not going to be for much longer, and I really should stick to the diet,"

He passed her a fry, signaling for her to take it.

She shook her head.

"I'm going to make you," he said in his mock serious voice.

"You're terrible," she murmured but decided to eat the fry, enjoying the temptation for a moment.

She closed her eyes at the divine treat, and he smirked at how adorable she looked.

"You should eat whatever you want, and if this contest is making you go through hunger, then maybe you should leave it."

"I actually enjoy it," she commented returning to a kale. "It's like everything it has its perks and challenges." she shrugged.

"Hm," he said taking a bite of his burger. "It's not something I'd see you do, though."

"Neither did I," she admitted. "But it grew on me."

"Do you want to win?" he asked. "You're not the competitive type,"

"The goal is not to win, but if I do I guess it'll be a plus," she said.

"Then what is the goal?" he asked directly.

She munched on some carrots before answering. "Father is going to run for Senate," she explained.

It dawned on him; he suddenly remembered why he needed to talk to Itachi; the way his dad looked complicity at Hiashi told him to investigate. "So, you being in this pageant is a stepping thing for your dad,"

Hinata looked visibly uncomfortable at his crudeness. "I mean that's not the only way to see it," she said.

Sasuke knows that Hiashi and his own father had ambitions, big ambitions; so it didn't sit right with him, how this whole thing was just a political tactic to win the public favor. That was so odd; both families always stayed in Economics, and they were pretty successful, what more could they want? Power? He needed to get to the bottom of this.

"That's messed up, Hinata,"

"Is not as bad, like I said, I enjoy it," she smiled. He did believe her, he saw her confidence on stage a few days ago. But still, it felt wrong, there was something she was not telling. The way she was evading his eyes was a dead giveaway. Still, he did not pressure her any further.

"Let's take a walk."


For as long as he could remember, he enjoyed walking, he alone with his thoughts was enough to canalize any immediate chaos he had. He was grateful for it now because he was thinking about the lunch he had with the pretty little thing that was accompanying him. She had some glasses on, if it was to conceal his identity he did not mind. They were walking side by side and he was content with that, it was more than enough for him. He had taken for granted the fact that having a quiet companion was a blessing in order to enjoy these walks.

His phone rang, and he could know who it was because this individual had a good aim at guessing when he was at peace; he decided to ignore it once he confirmed his suspicions.

"That was... Naruto-kun?"

He sure knew that she was going to know. In fact, he had been expecting this possible conversation. Sasuke had been front row the phenomenon that was Hinata falling for Naruto since twelve. It irked him the idea that she probably was having feelings or something.

He just nodded.

There was a quiet moment when they took a path to a park. "Is good that you guys are still friends," she said with a tone full of fondness. Any sardonic comment he may have conjured up was put on pause.

"Clinging to me, you mean," he rephrased.

She giggles. "I'm pretty sure you appreciate him the same way." she looked at him a second longer and then her eyes were on the path.

Internally, he admitted that, but over his dead body would someone catch him saying something nice towards Naruto, he rather settle with "You did have a huge crush on him," he said pointedly trying to get a reaction out of her, that could reveal what feelings he had for the blonde idiot.

To his surprise, she laughed. "Oh god," she started." I was so young and impressionable back then,"

"Hm..." he said." Glad you got over it,"

"Oh yeah," she said. "I do have a soft spot for him, but all I needed was a boyfriend to get over him," she said nonchalantly. That comment almost made him stop in his tracks.

'Excuse me, what?'

"Oh..." that's all he could pronounce.

As if realizing unconsciously. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just didn't think you would say something so boldly..." he also wasn't sure if he was ready to know how 'exactly' she got over Naruto.

She opened her mouth a few times shockingly. "Why are you so surprised?" she let a nervous laugh. "We are adults, we date, no?" she continued. "Besides, don't be like that, remember I saw you yesterday with a girl," she replied cheekily.

He tensed; they just got their friendship back, but that did not mean he was ready to talk to Hinata about Sakura.

"She's just a friend," he said, and even to himself, he sounded a little unsure by his statement. Technically, she was, but they were also more than that. There were no labels between them, just some kisses and late nights.

Hinata dropped the smile seeing how scarily quiet he got. "I'm sorry if I overstepped," she said apologetically.

It wasn't the time, and out of respect for Haruno, he was not going to tell that part of his life. Being the private person that she is, he was sure Hinata was going to understand him. A part of him was dying to give her an explanation that it was not as she imagined, but the conversation died there and he was content to spend time with his best friend, and the girl he still had feelings for.

"I'll treat you to ice cream," he said grabbing his wallet, signaling with his head the ice cream cart on their left.

"I really shouldn't," she said, her eyes were always a dead giveaway of her emotions. She still enjoyed sweet treats, he could almost smile at that.

"You ate a fry, a few scoops would be nothing," he encouraged with his signature smirk.

Hinata looked at him in complicity. "Don't tell anyone," she said baring her a thankful smile, and he once again confirmed that this nostalgic feeling between them made him breathe easier.

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Message from the Author:

Question: I thought SasuHina Month was in August, when did it change? I always send messages in private mail, but I know I have anonymous readers so thank you as well for your kind words.

Side Note: Any mean or ill intend review, will be deleted. I hope your shameful behavior could be easily erased as well.

Edit: July 18, 2023

-LaCrazyWriter