青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 26

Summer
Friday—6:25PM

"I wonder when this became a regular thing." Hinata handed him a bowl of freshly cut tomatoes before sitting down on the opposite couch.

Sasuke was currently sprawled out on the sofa with his head propped up on one of the multiple cushions behind him. The bowl of tomatoes rested on his chest as he ate from it, his other hand occupied with flipping the channel to find something interesting to watch. "I'll let you occupy your thoughts with that. I, frankly, don't know."

"You're not complaining though." She sucked on a slice of pineapple for a second and then chewed on it.

"What's there to complain about?" He glanced at her. "You're not like everyone else I've dealt with that wouldn't even let me be at peace for a moment, Naruto included."

"You like his constant rambling though." She pointed out, her eyes glued on the changing channels. She perked up when he settled on one of the many animated movies that was popular in Konoha.

"I also appreciate my precious silence, it can do some good when Naruto isn't talking my ears off." He turned up the volume and got himself more comfortable. "But I do miss him." His frown was barely visible yet she noticed it.

"Yeah, his missing presence is easy to notice..." She agreed.

They settled down and focused on the movie, their conversation being carried like it usually was by the voices of the characters from the show. Other than the occasional hiccup from Hinata when she became too invested in what was playing, there was no other sound heard from them.

As the credits began to roll, Sasuke sat up with plans to put their empty bowls in the kitchen to clean later. He paused when he noticed her wiping her face, he smirked as he simply sat there and watched her try to hide her tears.

"It wasn't that sad." He rested his cheek on his hand, his smirk widening into a soft smile.

"What? Yeah it was. I mean, she found—" She covered her face with her shirt and wiped her face again. "Oh, shut up, Sasuke."

"I didn't say anything." He chuckled, "you dropped the honorifics as well."

"I," she looked away from him and bit her lip. "I think it's time for me to drop them after everything we spoke about and been through, no? It would be weird to keep using them so often. I can always use it if that's what you prefer?"

He shook his head, "no, it's better without the honorific. That makes me feel weird." He visibly cringed as he thought about the amount of times his name has been said with honorifics, especially with the suffix -kun that everyone has taken to using with him. Just Sasuke was okay, thank you very much.

"Alright, Sasuke."

"I'm curious." He stacked their bowls and pulled them closer.

"Hm?"

"Why do you keep using honorifics with Naruto when it's clear that you two are more familiar with each other than you are with me? Is it because you like him?"

"Eh?" Her eyes widened, her cheeks turning bright red as she blinked at him. "Ah, no, no! I've been calling him that since we were kids, I saw no need to drop it when we're not...we're not exactly as close as you think we are."

"Why is that? Have you not confessed to him? I feel as though I've been playing cupid with him with how many times I've tried to tell him that you clearly like him."

"You've told Naruto...?"

"Why do you think he spoke to you?"

"Well, I guess that that makes sense. In all honesty, I have told Naruto how I've felt, back during the Pein Attack when I thought I would die trying to free him, I confessed. He didn't say anything after that. He was focused on you a lot of the time, so it clicked in my head at some point that Naruto is...I figured that he didn't remember that piece of information because of, erm, well..."