my one in million

chapter 2

Rain was falling in thick sheets when they finally came up to Konoha's gates. Naruto was soaked to the bone, Sakura was wringing her coat under the protection of a tree and Sasuke was the only one with the sense to draw the coat over his head and so was generally dry. "First mission since coming back, eh?" The blond grinned, liquid running down the bridge of his nose and hair. "How's it feel?"

"Wet." He replied simply, tugging at the hood to cover the damp ends of his fringe.

Naruto laughed and waved to the guards who were pushing the heavy gates open. "Old hag will be glad when she finds out you've come back! She was totally against taking you with us to the Cloud Country; she thought you'd run away again."

Sasuke easily stepped on the surface of a large puddle as he kept in step; his sandals dry. "Believe me, when I want to leave, I'd be gone so fast you wouldn't even know where to start looking."

The other boy grumbled with narrowed eyes. "Don't say it like that, it'll bring bad luck. And the guys can hear you; they'll tell old hag." The guards jumped and said no, but Naruto gave them a funny frown anyway. "See, they totally will."

"Whatever." They ducked under the front of a closed shop and Sasuke pulled his hood down. "Sakura really messed up, be sure to mention that to Tsunade."

"She didn't mean to!" He defended. "You make her nervous! She says you glare a lot."

"This is the face I was born with." He shifted the luggage over his shoulder and shook drops of water out of his hair. "She's incompetent and slow, I don't want to be on the same team as her again, alright?" The woman with the pink hair had been approaching them, but heard this and pretended to have been aiming towards the main road.

"Aw, look, she heard you! Stop being such a bully!" Naruto said with a punch to the shoulder, and launched himself after the girl. "Sakura chaaaan-"

He watched them disappear beyond a corner and directed his attention to a four-man group of hooded figures; they exited the gate's checkpoint and passed in front of him on their way out. A giant dog tagged along which indicated an Inozuka family member was with his team on a mission. A girl with an umbrella followed the overgrown dog and spoke to it softly. One of the hooded figures stopped right there in the middle of the square, turned to him and stared through impenetrable dark shades. The girl hiding under her gray umbrella spoke to him, too soft to pick up through the rain, the boy was obviously of the Aburame clan; he went on his way after a short pause and joined his team outside. Whoever he was, he was probably a close friend, the body language said it all.

The girl made her way to him and he had half the mind to turn away and go home; he was tired and dirty, but decided it would be good entertainment to watch whoever she was make a fool of herself.

Once under the protection of the shop front, she put away her umbrella to reveal herself as Hyuuga Hinata. "Good afternoon." She watched the guards push the gates shut after the exiting team. "You worked hard."

"Not really." He quipped and pretended to be interested in the gates.

Her shoulders squared. "I- It's just a phrase…" there was a stretch of uncomfortable silence before she finally spoke again. "Well, I'm going home."

"That's none of my concern." He said and pulled the hood on, picked up his heavy bag and stepped into the rain.

He did not care for her as a person, not her, not anybody other than Uzumaki.

Sure, he'd spent his free time during the mission trying to remember her. Eventually, it was fruitless as he could barely recall any interaction between them from when he was a schoolboy. Back then, he'd had other things to worry about. He'd thought about her a lot, but it didn't mean he was interested in her personally, not at all.