Happy Accidents

Chapter 24: Realizations

Watching her leave for her date with Naruto, Sasuke was a mix of emotions. One part of him had wanted to stop her; he wanted her to spend the evening with him, not with that blonde idiot. Another part of him -- the rational part, or so he thought -- said that it was good for her. Not just good for her to get out, but for her to find someone that was better suited for her. Naruto would do that. Sure, he was a bit of an idiot and incredibly dense, but he was kind and caring. No matter what happened, Naruto would take care of her. That much Sasuke could count on him for.

He felt... Lost, sitting there alone. He'd grown used to her presence most evenings. She did well to always make sure he had a hot meal for dinner, no matter how busy their day had been; some days she even left the office early, allowing him to come home after a long day of work to a warm meal. Her food was incredible, too; she'd done well to learn how to cook, much unlike him.

Making his way to the fridge, he pulled out the lasagna and warmed it up, glad he at least had a bit of her cooking to enjoy. His meal was oddly quiet; normally while they ate, she would chatter away, and although he would occasionally add to the conversation he generally felt more inclined to just listen to her talk. He liked the sound of her voice. It was soft, sweet, and full of warmth and energy. Her whole personality reminded him of the spring season; she was bright, lovely, and full of life whenever she was around.

She filled his world with life if he was being honest.

He knew the feelings he was experiencing, even if he didn't want to admit they existed. He was jealous of Naruto. He was jealous that he couldn't be the one to give her the life she deserved. He was jealous that Naruto was going to be better at that than he was -- even if he'd never admit it to the blonde, given how much it would stroke his ego to do so. Regardless, he needed to ensure that Sakura was getting what she needed out of this date. He wanted to make sure it went well.

So, knowing where they were headed--given Naruto hadn't been able to shut up about it the rest of the day--he grabbed his keys and got into his car. He was used to surveillance jobs; he found the restaurant and sat across the street, seeing the two of them sitting near one of the windows. He tried to mentally rationalize that he was just making sure everything was going okay and that absolutely nothing was going wrong... but deep down, he knew why he was sitting there. He knew it was out of jealousy. He knew he just wanted to see her laugh and smile, even if he couldn't hear it. She seemed to be enjoying herself, and for some reason, that was upsetting to him. Stupid jealousy. He didn't want to be jealous about it, but he was.

Becoming irritated, he decided he'd give up; they would be back soon, anyway. He fired up his car and drove back to the house, only beating them by approximately ten minutes or so; they were just paying their bills as he was leaving. He was quick to rush upstairs and change into a more casual outfit, scrambling back down and plopping himself in the recliner. He could see her coming up to the front door, so he turned the tv on and typed in a random channel, pretending to be engaged in it. It was... a hockey game. He hated sports. His only experiences with watching sports had been Naruto and Kiba hollering and screaming at the top of their lungs, jumping up and shrieking so loud it gave him a headache.

She opened the door, and he spared her a single glance. "Hey." One simple greeting, before pretending to enjoy watching a bunch of guys chase down and hit a rubber chunk with wooden sticks and body-check one another into the boards. "How'd it go?" Keep it simple, he thought to himself. He just wanted basic details. Did she enjoy herself? Did the date go well? Did he have to throttle Naruto for something or other? That was all he needed.

"Yeah, it was actually pretty fun," she said honestly, glancing at the TV. "Hockey? I didn't know you liked sports." He responded with little more than a shrug, pretending to be engaged in the game. She seemed to pick up on the awkwardness. "O...kay then. I'm going to, uh, get ready for bed." And with that, she'd disappeared up the stairs.