More //narusasu//

28. Proof

The winter was in full bloom, the first snow was expected any day now, the people of the hidden leaf village were preparing themselves for the snow season ahead, children could be seen running in the streets with multiple layers on. A certain raven had taken upon himself to help the villagers in need, to prepare for the snow.
Sasuke had spoken to the hokage about his plan to search for white zetsu remnants, to which the blonde gave positive remarks. Now, the raven would leave as soon as the other kage would formally accept the proposition of the hidden leaf.

Sasuke had been successful in hiding his emotions from the blonde the past few weeks, but barely. He constantly had to remind himself that the blonde was better off without him. But he still wanted the blonde to know that he had his back always. It was...complicated to say the least.

Naruto continued to visit the club every weekend in order to distract himself from unwanted desires. Was it working? Barely.

This particular weekend, the hokage and his advisor were working on some new applications, the Uchiha was helping them out. The sun had already set and they were about done for the night.

"Finally done!", the blonde stretched his arms, "I can't wait to loosen up a bit. You ready to go Shika?"

"Yeah im just about done", the advisor replied.

Naruto looked at the raven, who was still reading onto something, "Um, thanks for the help today Sasuke", there was a pause, "Say, me and Shikamaru are going to meet up with the gang tonight, its been a long time since we were all free to meet. Would you like to um...I mean you can join us if you want...?"

"I'd rather not", Sasuke said without even batting an eye.

Naruto's smile faltered a bit, but he immediately composed himself, "Uh yeah, o-ofcourse", to save himself from anymore embarrassment, the blonde left the office in a hurry.

Suddenly a stack of papers was thrown abruptly in front of the raven onto the table he was working on, he lifted his head, annoyed.

"What the hell is the matter with you?", the Nara said, frowning.

"Excuse me?", the raven lifted a brow.

"Its stupid enough that you can't accept your own feelings to yourself, you made that clear to him, but you don't have to be an ass for it, he doesn't need that", Shikamaru said firmly.

Sasuke remained silent, as if unable to understand the Nara.

Shikamaru slid a hand on his face, then to the back of his neck, "So troublesome. Look, whatever might have happened between you both, I'm not getting into that. But after everything, he's been nothing but good to you", there was a pause, "We're not the best of buddies you and I Sasuke. But he's my friend, and you're his, so the least you can do for him is be a somewhat acceptable friend to him aswell. He's never asked much of anyone anyway", with that, the Nara gave the Uchiha no time to reply and followed the blonde suit.

Sasuke was left there baffled, am I really that cruel to him? Maybe this distance thing is doing more harm than good after all , he thought.

Naruto reached to the usual place the gang hanged out at, everyone had gotten so busy with their lives that taking time out to hang out together became rarer. Nearly everyone was getting busier with their jobs like Sakura, or were getting into relationships like Sai and Ino, or were getting married like Hinata and Kiba, or straight up having children like Shikamaru was about to have.

Even though Naruto had the highest official job among them all, he still felt like he was missing out, like he needed more to feel at peace.