"You're spending a lot of time with Sakura."
Hinata blinked. It was late into the night, and she and Sasuke had just finished a sparring session. She put down the water bottle she had been sipping from, and looked at him. As usual, he was staring off somewhere else. He wasn't much of an eye contact person… or a person that liked contact at all. But just because he wasn't looking at her didn't mean he wasn't paying attention.
"Yes… Sakura-chan and I… we're friends now" she answered. She was trying to stutter less, after being once again chastised by her father; and the best way to do it was by speaking slowly. It was tedious, but she hoped in due time it would bear the desired result.
Sasuke hummed, taking a hold of his own water bottle and drinking a little. After he put it down, he frowned. "And how did that happen?"
"W-Well…" she winced at the blunder, but continued; "after we sat together that… that first day… she asked me to be friends. And I a-accepted."
"Mm" he glanced at her for a second, before looking away again. "I suppose Sakura's not so bad" he said after a small pause, surprising Hinata.
"Sasuke-kun?" she didn't understand what he meant by that. The boy shrugged.
"Compared to other girls, she's not so bad. At least she gives me space unlike the others. But her blond friend, Ino, that one's really annoying."
"The girls, they… bother you?" Hinata asked, slightly surprised, although she shouldn't be. She had been in the same class as him for three years in a row, after all, and had seen firsthand plenty of the moments where their female classmates would stand close to him, talking and trying to get his attention. But, at the same time, he had always looked so indifferent, the only exception being when the downfall of his clan had just taken place. She didn't think it specially bothered him.
Sasuke snorted. "That's putting it lightly. They're always so noisy. It's difficult to hear my own thoughts."
"Oh" she didn't know what else to say. At least he didn't seem to mind that she was friends with Sakura, even though she would have continued to be so even if he didn't like it.
It seemed, however, that Sasuke had more to say. "I don't understand why they always have to swarm me like that. Don't they have better things to do? Like training, or studying, I don't know."
"Well… they… they like you, so… of course they would… would want to be close to y-you" she explained, playing with her fingers and glancing down when she saw him frowning at her words.
"I don't really understand why they would like me. I never talked to them, or did anything for them like Naruto did for you" he said, starting to pluck the grass around him. Hinata didn't have an answer either. She wasn't someone that paid special attention to someone's looks, but she knew other people did. She had to admit that Sasuke was a beautiful boy, with his delicate features that looked almost feminine in appearance, so maybe that was one of the reasons. She'll have to ask Sakura later to confirm if it was only that or there was something else.
A small silence formed between them, with Hinata still playing with her fingers and Sasuke continuing to pluck grass. After a while, he sighed, catching Hinata's attention again.
"I don't want anybody liking me. It's annoying. At least, if they were like you…"
"Huh?" Hinata couldn't help but gasp.
As if realizing what he had just said, Sasuke quickly sputtered; "I mean, the way you like Naruto! You never bother him and you're even helpful to him with all those stupid bentos and…!" he bit his lips, before standing up and walking away. Hinata looked at him, bewildered, contemplating following him, but just when she was about to stand up as well, he stopped a few paces from her, and looked up at the sky, to the full moon that showed between the clouds. "And it doesn't look as empty as with those girls. But I'll still prefer it if they didn't like me at all" he concluded, his voice softer than before.
Hinata fidgeted, glancing down with a small frown. She understood Sasuke didn't like the girls always fawning over him, but the last part of what he said… could it be he wanted someone that liked him the way she liked Naruto? Or maybe that wasn't it; maybe he just thought it would make the situation better that way. She didn't know, she never thought he would care about something like that. She also didn't think there was anything special about the way she liked Naruto. She only… liked him. It was as simple as that.
Sasuke sighed then, saving her the trouble to find something to say. He turned around and walked back to her, grabbing his water bottle and drinking a bit more. After that, he looked at her, and frowned.
"Don't make that face. I complain but it's not really important in the end. I'll just ignore them. As I said, it would be preferable if they didn't like me so they would stop bothering me, but since that's not the case, I guess I just have to endure it until we graduate" he shrugged, capping his bottle and then tilting his head towards the training ground. "Shall we continue?" he asked.
Hinata blinked, and then nodded, standing up and walking to the center of the field. It had been a weird conversation but, she realized, it wasn't the weirdest she has had with him.
It was just a part of being Uchiha Sasuke's friend, she supposed.
So, because I know someone's going to ask: why does Sasuke say that Sakura isn't as bad as Ino? Well, in my mind, it's because she isn't... yet. Like, she's grown a lot, but I believe at this point she's still not confident enough to easily approach Sasuke and pester him like she does at the beginning of the manga. It takes a lot of time and willpower to completely get over your shyness, and I think she's still struggling about it at the moment. That being said, she will get over it and in no time, she'll start annoying Sasuke like we are all used to! :D