Finding Home - Uchiha Sasuke Fanfic

10 - Unexpected

Hyun Jae pov:

“We’ll stop here for the night,” Neji announced when we reached a sort of enclosed valley.

We were just a few hours away from the Snow Village - as such, the valley we were in was covered in thick snow. The temperature having dropped, we all wore capes over our clothes to keep warm. They were the kind that could be zipped up from the inside so we didn't have to worry about it fluttering open and making us feel cold as we traveled.

Putting down our bags, we split up into groups to look for firewood and set up the tents. Tenten, Lee and I went out to gather firewood, Karin and Sakura to scavenge for food, and Neji, Naruto and Sasuke took to setting up the tents. The princess and her ladies in waiting remained in the carriage to stay warm until their tent was set up while the imperial guards remained by the carriage for their protection.

Our trip had been mostly uneventful - we had not encountered any rogue ninjas or had any major trouble with the changing temperature. However, Princess Rina seemed to be shameless enough to continue her attempts to get Sasuke to like her - her loudness and Naruto's and Lee's cheeriness ensured that our journey was not as silent as it would have been otherwise.

It was amusing to watch Sasuke get annoyed with Princess Rina's forceful advances. Sasuke’s attempts to pry her off when she was clinging to him were often in vain, though he did refrain from being too harsh since doing anything to upset her would cause problems with the ties between the villages. He also had to deal with Sakura and Karin who were constantly hovering around him, glaring at both me and the princess if we got too close to Sasuke.

It was safe to say that I was very much amused by the situation that I often had to hold back from smiling. While I did pity Sasuke to an extent, I was also a little happy that he was being bothered by his three fangirls - though childish, I considered it a tit-for-tat for all the times he had been mean to me.

However, there was also an odd throbbing sensation I felt in my chest whenever I witnessed the three of them getting so comfortably close to Sasuke. It was all the more unusual because I didn't feel that way when I saw anyone else in the group being overly friendly with each other. Perhaps it was because I saw Sasuke in a new light now, after he had consoled me after what Princess Rina had done. I knew, or rather had heard from the others that Sasuke had been by my side the entire night after I fainted, as if he really cared for me, and it had stirred a sort of longing in me, as if I wished to be taken care of like that again. It had only increased after he had asked of my well being after I had burned my arms, even saying that he wished to escort me because it was not safe to be alone in a forest at night.

No matter what I felt though, I suppressed the desire to get closer to Sasuke and instead kept my distance from him. I didn't speak with him unless necessary, which was pretty much never, and I refrained from getting within five meters of him because I didn't want another painful incident to happen.

As such, I also kept my distance from Naruto since Sasuke often hung out with him. It has had me feeling a bit lonely but also more observant and aware of Sasuke's penetrating gazes. It had begun to make me uncomfortable but I hadn't been able to say anything to make him stop.

It was also clear that Sasuke was irritated by my avoidance of him. He often regarded me with sharp glares when I excused myself from any group gathering as soon as he arrived. I was just glad that he never followed me and spared me from receiving more hatred from the three girls who wanted to covet him for themselves.

Unfortunately, I could not avoid him when we had occasional sparring/training sessions during our journey. Sasuke seemed to use it as a chance to get back at me for avoiding him, being more aggressive than necessary and yelling at me for being sloppy or beating me in a spar pathetically.