She Holds the Cards |SasuHina|

Extra: His Protagonist

Sasuke Uchiha, age seventeen, has only thought himself a coward twice in his life.

This was not one of those times.

Ignore the tremble in his heart and the beads of sweat slowly rolling down the length of his neck, he was not a coward and he was definitely not scared. Because why should he be? He's been in this situation plenty of times — just . . . with the roles reversed and he was the one getting confessed to. But that didn't matter much because, well, it just shouldn't. So what if he was coming clean with his thoughts and feelings? So what if he's never done something like this in his life? So what if . . . if the look Hinata was giving him right now made him stop breathing altogether?

It didn't matter.

Why?

Because he was not a coward.

Frowning, he glared up at the staircase above them, feeling like if he looked at her his resolve would disappear immediately. Get a hold of yourself. Cursing at himself, he finally dipped his head and pulled out a white envelope from his back pocket. It took all of his will to not stare daggers into the damn thing. It's just Hinata . . .

Yeah, and it was because it was just Hinata that he was feeling so . . .

Nervous?

No. More than that.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

Scowling, he jerkily held it out to Hinata — the confession letter that he would (unwillingly) admit took him longer to write last night than he'd like to give it credit. "Here," he said, glaring at the floor — not because he was scared, but because he felt like he'd sink into it if he looked away. Because, well, that's what love did to people, right? And just because he liked someone didn't mean he was a coward. This was just the normality of things. He was supposed to feel shaky and . . .

"Give this to her."

Sasuke Uchiha, age seventeen, has only thought himself a coward three times in his life.

...

Her?

HER!?

Who the FUCK is her!?

...

He didn't believe there was anyone out there in that gigantic universe who could be more stupid than Naruto Uzumaki.

Well, at the moment, he sure felt like he was.

The blush on Hinata's face disappeared, followed by a sick white and wide, hollow eyes. She was always easy to read. Maybe that was why he was so drawn to her. But this look — it was out in the open and clear as day, sure, but it just didn't make sense. He couldn't comprehend it.

What was she thinking?

And then, when those big eyes watered up and tears dripped down her cool cheeks, Sasuke was sure he must have messed something up somehow. Her fingers curled around the envelope, crushing it. He couldn't look away. What was happening?

"I-I-I-I'm sorry."

He watched her as she swallowed back a sob and took a few steps away from him.

He didn't like it at all — that distance she put between them, as if she were scared to be close to him.

And when she backed up into the door and pushed it open and never once looked at him, she said the worst thing in the world. "Sh-She's already taken."

...

Taken?

The door slammed shut, leaving him in there, standing under a staircase that he, at the time, wished would fall and crush him.