The visitor was Sakura.

"S-Sakura-chan…?" Hinata asked, dumbfounded. She looked strange, standing there, eyes dancing from one corner to the other as she pressed her hands together in nervousness. Ko was standing behind her, giving Hinata a quizzical look, apparently being the one that let the other girl in.

"Hello, Hinata-chan… happy birthday" she said with a small smile, though she soon erased it when she saw that Hinata looked uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and took a step closer. "I know I'm a day late, but… I wanted to congratulate you and give you a present…"

"Ko-san" Hinata looked at her caretaker, ignoring Sakura for the time being, who stiffened at this. "Can you leave us alone? I… I want to talk to my classmate in private" she said in a low voice, starting to play with her fingers. The older man spared one glance at Sakura, before nodding and taking his leave. This left the two girls alone in the receiving room, awkwardly standing across each other without knowing what to do or say.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Sakura-chan… what are you doing here?" she asked, deciding to be the one to break the ice as the pink-haired girl continued to look at the ground, apparently consumed by thoughts that Hinata couldn't begin to guess.

"Ah, that's…" Sakura fidgeted, and the movement drawed Hinata's attention to something cradled in her hands. A small package wrapped in colorful paper. Her birthday present, if she had to guess.

Part of her was elated at the sight of it, but a bigger one couldn't help but feel bitter about it.

What was the point?

"I wanted to apologize" Sakura said before Hinata could even begin to gather her wits to formulate a proper response at the contradicting feelings inside her. "It was never my intention to… to use you for your connection to Sasuke-kun… it was wrong of me to do that."

Hinata swallowed, her eyes falling to the ground unable to say anything. Sakura also remained silent.

In the end, it was the pink-haired girl who spoke again, when the tension and awkwardness was just starting to become too much to bear. "I know I shouldn't have done it… or hid the fact that I knew, but…"

"Yes…" Hinata cleared her throat when her voice came out a little raspy. "You shouldn't have kept quiet about it…"

"I didn't think… that is…" Sakura sighed, apparently unable to find the right words. Hanging her head with an air of resignment, she pushed the gift forward, presenting it to Hinata while glancing away. "I admit it, I got close to you because I thought I could use that opportunity to get closer to Sasuke-kun… but you know? In the end, I realize I never ended up doing it."

Hinata's eyes widened, while Sakura smiled sadly. "I was thinking about it all day yesterday… about my reasons to approach you… but then, I thought even if Hinata-chan wasn't close to Sasuke-kun, I would have still sat with her and become friends, because Hinata-chan's nice… that's when it came to me that… I never did end up asking you about Sasuke-kun at all, even after all this time…" she laughed shyly, her eyes tentatively glancing back up to her, before frowning a little. "I guess that doesn't mean anything, not really, but… I wanted you to know that it's not just Sasuke-kun… that it's you I want to be closer to as well…"

Happy birthday she said again, voice lower, while shaking the present slightly so Hinata finally reached out to grab it.

She was stunned.

Because… Sakura was right. She never asked her about Sasuke, in the whole year since the two of them became friends. Even though that was her reason for approaching her… Sakura never did.

True, it was still underhanded of her, but… but it wasn't all a lie, then? Their friendship… was it real…?

"I'm… I'm going to leave now" Sakura announced, snapping Hinata out of her thoughts. "I guess I'll see you around?" she asked tentatively. Hinata simply stared at her, still reeling from her words, and Sakura gulped with nervousness. "Again, I'm… I'm sorry, and, if there's anything…"

"Why don't you stay a little more, Sakura-chan?" Hinata heard herself ask before she could truly think about it. The two girls were surprised at the sudden offer, but Hinata decided not to dwell so much on it. After all… after all, her friend had come all the way here just to give her a present. It would not do to send her away so fast.

"Hinata-chan… are you sure?" Sakura asked doubtfully. Hinata nodded.

"I want to see what you got me… together. Let's… let's talk a little more, ok? There are things we still need to… to say to each other, right?"

The smile that small question elicited from Sakura was enough to warm Hinata's heart, and get another, shy smile out of her in return.

Maybe everything was not lost.


Booo!