青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 11

Spring
Thursday—8:45AM

He's never seen Sasuke be so gentle with someone.

Being on a team with the Lone Uchiha for a few months, then seeing him again with another team, Naruto was sure that he's never seen Sasuke actually extend a hand out to help someone without looking as though he was uncomfortable. Never has he seen Sasuke actually touch a woman without recoiling in some way. He remembers seeing Sakura throw herself at him only to be met with indifference, or Sasuke asking her to let him go. Yet, he saw Sasuke with his own eyes hold onto Hinata's hand without scowling or glaring at her with the annoyance he was known for.

Naruto stumbled through the trees, his vision blurry as his heart pounded in his chest in a way he's never felt before. He didn't understand why he just felt so utterly hurt by seeing Sasuke with Hinata, he didn't know why he was crying and feeling as though his heart had been pierced by the coldest of chakra rods.

Sasuke and Hinata.

Things started to click in his head; Sasuke returning with a packed lunchbox, Sasuke talking about a woman who had saved him without mentioning her name, and Sasuke and Hinata wanting to be away from the village. Was this all a ploy for them to be together without having the others question them into oblivion?

Hinata and Sasuke.

He doesn't even remember if they've ever actually spoken to each other, yet alone formally meeting. They did go to the same academy, and they did share similarities with their clans, but that was as far as he could rationalize. She was gone for three months, Sasuke was gone for two years, it couldn't be that they bonded with each other over that time...right?

He gripped his head as he stumbled into a clearing, he fell to his knees and brought his chin towards his chest as he held himself. Why did everything hurt? Was this betrayal? Was he hurting because he trusted them to at least tell him that they were happy together? His friendship meant nothing if they could lie to his face so easily.

But she wrote his name on that note!

He saw how much she looked over him during the split second they were under a genjūtsu during their last mission together. He saw how much Hinata cared about him, so why would she lie about...Not to mention Sasuke! Sasuke always secretly supported him. What were those words supposed to mean back then?

My one and only.

I know your heart, and you, mine.

Did that not mean he would tell him everything? He gave up his home for him! He told him that he would be his home as long as he needed one, but Sasuke has found a home with someone else.

Naruto was cursed, he was convinced he was with the way his body shook and hurt all over as his thoughts bombarded him with images of Sasuke and Hinata. He tried rationalizing them, trying to make sense of things he didn't even want to understand. Sasuke was supposed to be with Sakura, he had fully come to terms with that the more he heard Sakura talk about him. Hinata was supposed to be with someone who loved her genuinely. He had prepared for a future like that—he had fortified his heart knowing that that was the future that awaited him as he watched his friends find love.

Sasuke and Hinata were not what he had in mind.

Naruto cried loudly as he heaved. He was hurt.

And cursed.

Spring
Thursday—8:49AM

Sasuke closed the door behind him and ushered her to the couch. Hinata sat there and pulled her knees to her chest as she rested her cheek on her arm. He watched her rock back and forth, gazing at nothing from underneath the gauze that was wrapped around her eyes. It's been a few days, and she has managed to stay awake for longer than before.