Day 21: A hint of jealousy

Hinata was feeling a bit strange.

The mission in Takumi Village had come and gone without any inconveniences. For her, that was fantastic, although she knew at least Kiba disagreed with her.

But that wasn't the reason she was feeling strange.

Ever since she figured out she liked Sasuke, she didn't really know how to act around him. The answer should have been obvious, given that although it was a new discovery, it had been a long time in the making, thus behaving as she had always done so would have been the simplest way to go about it. But just because that's what should've happened, it didn't mean it actually happened.

Somehow, realizing what she felt made everything a lot more complicated. Suddenly she was hyperaware of everything Sasuke did or said, and she found herself doubly thinking her words towards him or what he would think of her if she did this or that. She wanted him to think highly of her, and praise her like he seemed to do at random moments for reasons she never thought anyone would ever praise her for.

And that was why she needed help.

"Finally!" Ino raised her arms to the sky in a pose of worship, glancing up as well exaggeratedly. "Thank you for making Hinata realize her feelings! Just took her forever!"

"Pig!" Sakura slapped one of her arms, causing her to yelp and look at her as if she had been betrayed. "Stop making fun of Hinata! Two months isn't an eternity! And don't forget she first had to get over Naruto!"

"I wasn't trying to be mean!" Ino growled, sobbing her arm and frowning. "And you really need to lay it down with the violence… although Naruto might actually be into it, all things considered" she added with an evil grin. Sakura sputtered.

"This isn't about me!"

"No, it isn't. But don't worry, we'll come back to you after we're done with Hinata" with this, she turned blue eyes towards her other friend, who had remained silent throughout the whole exchange, as she tended to do whenever the two girls would argue pointlessly. "So… what you gonna do about it?"

"What… what am I going to do…?" she repeated slowly. Ino nodded.

"Obviously things can't remain the same now that you know how you feel. In many ways, this is the real beginning of your relationship!"

"The pig's right" Sakura said, looking at Hinata and ignoring Ino's indignant gasp. "Especially considering… well, you know…"

Hinata frowned, not sure what her friend was hinting at. Ino voiced her own doubts. "Don't be so vague. Especially considering what? Just tell us already!"

"Ugh, you're such a bother" Sakura huffed, but did as she was told. "I'm talking about Hinata's love letter! The one that was meant for Naruto, remember?"

"Ah."

"Oh."

"Yes" she sighed, shaking her head. "Hinata, are you planning on telling Sasuke-kun the truth?" she asked seriously, glancing at her friend. The girl gulped, fidgeting as she was being observed attentively by the two of them, who waited for an answer.

It came after some hesitation. "I… I don't want to…"

And the reactions were just as expected.

"Hinata?!"

"What do you mean you don't want to?!"

She winced, taking a step back before regaining her composure. She cleared her throat, trying to project confidence but instead starting to play with her fingers as it was her custom whenever she was nervous. "It's just… I was planning on telling him the truth, but then, when I asked him, just asked him, what would he do if it turned out my letter wasn't actually meant for him, he said…"

"He said?" Sakura frowned when she didn't continue.

Ino nodded, crossing her arms. "You can't just leave us hanging like this Hinata. Once started, gossip must always be shared completely."

"And there you go calling it gossip again" Sakura rolled her eyes. Ino huffed, lifting her chin.

Hinata decided to continue before they could get into another argument. It was embarrassing, and more than a little disturbing, but she much preferred it to hear her two friends going off on nothing again. "Sasuke-kun said that, if the letter turned out to be for someone else… then he would kill me and then kill himself" she confessed, voice getting lower towards the end.

Ino and Sakura looked at her, faces blank.

And then Ino started laughing. "What a guy, honestly. And you believed him?"

"Ino…"

"What?" the blond girl huffed, staring at the pink-haired girl with her hands on her hips. "Who would believe something like that? It's obvious he's just being a boy about it."

"What do you mean by that, Ino?" Hinata asked, curious. Although a bit offended by her initial reaction, now she was wondering if there was something else to what Sasuke said, and she was just being dramatic.

"Simple. It's a question of ego, as it always is when it comes to men" she shook her head, talking as if she knew what she was saying and had not just overheard her older cousins gossiping. "The thought you would like anyone else but him, or that you were not his first option, is something that he doesn't want to think about because it would damage his pride, therefore, he went out of his way to scare you because of even mentioning the possibility" she finished with a raised finger, nodding to herself.

Hinata looked at her in awe, while Sakura simply frowned. "So what you're saying is that Sasuke-kun was jealous? Is that it?" she probed impatiently.

"Naturally!" Ino said with a roll of her eyes. "But it's deeper than that. He's jealous and that takes a hit to his pride!"

"Hn, well, at the very least I agree that I don't think he will actually do that" Sakura glanced at Hinata, her face softening. "If that's what's holding you back from telling him the truth, then don't worry Hinata. As annoying as she is, Ino's right in that Sasuke's likely just buffing."

"Pot meet kettle" Ino mumbled under her breath.

Hinata glanced at her friends worriedly. "It's just…" she didn't know how to say it. No, that wasn't right. She actually knew perfectly well how and what to say… it was just it was too selfish, too… but that didn't liberate her from the obligation of saying it, especially considering she had been the one to come to her friends for help. Sighing deeply, she gathered the courage to admit that… "what if Sasuke-kun doesn't want to be with me anymore after I tell him? Now that I've discovered I like him… it would hurt too much" she admitted, feeling incredibly filthy because she knew the right thing to do was to tell him the truth… she just couldn't get herself to do it.

Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance, before looking at Hinata with pity that cut deep.

"I would not recommend that you keep hiding this from him, because there's always the possibility of him finding out on his own…" Sakura started.

"But we also understand what you're saying" Ino continued. "So… Just do what you think is best? We can't tell you what to do about it."

Hinata blinked, realizing as she did and felt a small tear threatening to make its way down her cheek just why her friends were looking at her like that, and allowing her this small selfishness despite knowing they didn't agree with her at all.

She knew it would be better to tell him the truth. She knew…

But maybe… maybe she could get away with this, or at least, wait a little until she was certain… until she was certain he would not abandon her.

Yes, she could do that.

Yes, she… she would do that.

When she went to look for him, she found him in the training grounds, as usual.

Hinata almost smiled at thinking how much she had gotten to know him in the short time they've been together. It was something her past self would've never imagined, or even begun to believe she would care for. Although her heart still felt heavy with the weight of the lie she had decided to carry for no one's benefit but her own, this small thing filled her with joy, as inconsequential as it looked.

That is, of course, until she saw Sasuke training with someone she didn't know.

The girl had light brown hair, and dark eyes that looked sharp as she furrowed her brows in concentration. She was fast, attacking Sasuke with a deadly precision she had rarely seen in people their age. Sasuke took her strikes, not even dodging but simply blocking, an exercise on fluid movement and getting a correct grip on your weapon, she realized.

Who was that girl? Why was Sasuke training with her? Why…?

"Ah."

In what seemed like a momentary lapse in concentration, where Sasuke took a moment to look around, he seemed to have noticed her, letting out that small exclamation of surprise. However, this also meant the girl, who didn't stop or slow down, had the opportunity to lunge at him and cut cleanly across his cheek. This, of course, was all on accident, if the horrified gasp of the girl as soon as she noticed what she did was any indication.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Nii-san!"

Hinata blinked, her body frozen midway towards Sasuke, who was standing on the middle of the field, hand on his cheek while being fussed over by the unknown girl.

Did she just call him… nii-san?

"It's alright Sumi, it's barely a scratch" Sasuke pushed the hands of the girl away, gently, before looking at her. "Hinata, I didn't expect to see you today" he said, voice even, the only indication he was at least a little pleased to see her that small twinkle in his eyes…

She gulped, hands closing in front of her chest, grabbing the fabric of her jacket as if that would help slow the beating of her heart. "I… I was looking for you…"

"Hinata…?" the girl, Sumi, questioned, tilting her head to the side as she thought… before a look of recognition came to her face. "Ah! Nii-san's girlfriend, right?" she said with a bright smile.

Sasuke nodded. "That's right. She's my girlfriend. Hinata, this is Sumi. She's the daughter of an aunty who lives around the corner from my house" he introduced the two of them, and only after that did Hinata notice the small fan sewed on the side of one of the girl's sleeves.

She blushed involuntarily.

Just what… what did she think…?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hinata-san!" Sumi said with a small bow that Hinata was quick to return as soon as she got a hold of herself.

"The… the pleasure is all mine. And, um…" she glanced at Sasuke this time, who in the time she took to feel like an idiot had already taken out a band-aid from his pocket and applied it to his cheek. She frowned, walking up towards him and grabbing his cheek with one of her hands. "Did you even disinfect it correctly? Just putting a band-aid won't be enough."

"Who are you, my mom?" he tried to step back, but Hinata's hold just became stronger.

"Don't give me that. Come on, take it off, we'll disinfect it first and then you can put a new band-aid on."

"It's alright, the cut isn't even that deep!"

"It's not alright! Just do what I say, otherwise you might get an infection and…"

They were interrupted by a small chuckle.

"Ah" Sumi blushed when their attention turned to her. "I'm sorry, it's just… it kind of reminds me of the fights mom and dad get into sometimes…" she explained with a shy smile.

Sasuke and Hinata blushed, immediately taking a step back from each other.

The boy cleared his throat. "Anyway, I think we've trained enough for today, right? You're getting better and better while fighting with weapons, Sumi, so you should be proud."

It was a clear dismissal, and although Sumi pouted, she nodded obediently, starting to make her way to her backpack lying on the shadow of a tree.

"I get it. Nii-san wants to spend time alone with his girlfriend. But because Sumi is an understanding girl, she won't tell dad that he cut their training session short just for that reason" she turned slightly over her shoulder to wink at them, making Sasuke roll his eyes as she giggled.

"Just go. Tell your parents I say hi, by the way."

"Ok!"

With that, and waving goodbye to the both of them, Sumi ran off, disappearing soon after among the trees.

Hinata took a few seconds to collect herself, and then, she grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him towards his own backpack.

"Hey, what's the…?"

"You have disinfectant in your backpack, right?" she interrupted, reaching said item and releasing his hand, only to kneel down and start rummaging through his stuff. Sasuke frowned.

"I do, but I didn't give you permission to…"

"Here" Hinata found the small spray bottle. She stood up and, without warning, peeled off the old band-aid without any gentleness at all. Sasuke yelped, glaring at her before yelping again, this time from the spray of disinfectant Hinata threw at his face.

She dried it off with a cotton pad she found in his backpack as well, placing a new band-aid on when she was done. All the while, Sasuke glared at her, despite remaining silent as she worked.

Only when she lowered her hands did he speak again. "That's my stuff."

"I know" she calmly put the items back in the backpack, "you should use them if you have them."

"Why, you…!"

"Who was that girl?"

"…what?"

"That girl, Sumi" Hinata didn't look at him, taking her time to close the backpack and standing up straight again. When he didn't answer, she turned her eyes at him, glaring. "Why were you training with her?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slowly. Not in anger, but in confusion.

"I told you, she's the daughter of some neighbors…"

"I never saw her with you before. Why were you training with her?"

"It's not like we're together all the time" he rolled his eyes. "You don't know everything about me. And you heard her. I train with her because her father asked me to. Since she's in her last year of academy, he wants to make sure she's prepared" he looked at her, his eyes examining her expression carefully. "Why do you care so much?"

Hinata bit her lip.

Honestly, it was… there wasn't a real reason why she should care. Sasuke always had girls following him around at the academy, there was no reason it wouldn't be the same at his district, far from the eyes of the rest of the village where she couldn't see…

It was just, the thought had never occurred to her. Or, it would be more accurate to say, she had never truly cared before. But she did now. Because Sasuke was her boyfriend. And she liked him. And she didn't want him training with another girl that wasn't her or Sakura –only because she was his teammate and had no other option– even if the other girl called him nii-san and obviously didn't see him that way from the small interaction she saw between the two…

…had it ever been this way with Naruto? Hinata couldn't recall, however…

"We haven't train in a while" she said instead of answering. This was too new, and Hinata didn't have the time or the energy to sit down to contemplate it. Just another thing she was starting to hate herself for. Not only could she not find it in herself to tell Sasuke the truth about the letter, but she was now avoiding his questions. Truthfully, like this, did she even have any right to…?

"Ah" Sasuke nodded, a look of understanding appearing on his face, utterly confusing Hinata. "I see, you wanted to train with me, that's why you were angry when you found me training with someone else, right?" he nodded again, appearing satisfied for some reason. "We can train if you want, but you know? You only have to ask when you feel like it. Just because I'm training with another person it doesn't mean I won't want to train with you as well" he explained in what appeared a calm, soothing manner.

Hinata had to hold her mouth from falling open.

He… he truly thought…?

So close yet so far!

How could he not see…?!

"So, the same as usual?" Sasuke asked, turning around and starting to walk towards the center of the training field. The usual meant no byakugan or ninjutsu, only taijutsu.

Hinata stared at his back, before letting out a sigh and following him.

"Yes, the usual…"

Well, if Sasuke was so oblivious as not to see the real reason behind her questions… then it didn't matter. Maybe it was even better this way. She didn't want to be seen as a jealous girlfriend or too possessive.

However, this small event made Hinata realize, once more, that she, indeed, liked Sasuke.