Once Again, For Love | Naruhina AU

Chapter 9

Sasuke

"Hold on," I slam my beer down, swallowing a huge amount of beer down, "you picked her up to her bedroom. In your arms?" I say loudly.

The bar is pretty empty considering it is still office hours on a weekday, but there are two other guys in a far away booth from us. Another girl who is drinking alone, and a bartender who is either trying to seduce the girl or is just very friendly. I cannot tell the difference at times. So, we can have our conversation without anyone eavesdropping.

"Yes, I did," Naruto replies as a matter of fact, "don't distract me right now." And he goes back into telling me what happened between him and Hinata last night. For the most part, I'm not surprised this happened, I'm surprised that he is still sitting here talking about this with me, rather than chasing the girl he is clearly in love with. I guess he has matured, a lot.

"...then I went out to buy her some coconut water, because that's her favorite drink after a hangover and..." his face is getting redder every second, and he is not making eye contact with me anymore. How odd.

"Well, I uh... I left her a note."

"A note?"

"Yes, a note!"

"A note that says..."

His forehead is sweating a bit, and I can see his hands are all shaky. Is he that embarrassed to tell me what said? Suddenly cold wind rushes throw the bar, someone new just walked in. Another girl, and oh, she's seemed to be the bartender's girlfriend, since she is kissing the bartender pretty hard. I guess the bartender is just a very friendly girl. One mystery solved. I turn back to Naruto, who looks like he has calmed down but keeps rubbing his palms together.

"You know, Sakura is out with Hinata, if you don't tell me, she will." I tell him. I already know what he wrote on the note, but I just want to hear it come out of his mouth. It's more fun that way. Not that this situation is amusing to me, not at all.

"I said to get well soon and uh...wrote that I don't hate her." He chugs his entire beer down.

"You already knew, didn't you?" He looks at my unamused face. I forgot to pretend to be shocked by what he wrote. Well, when I did find out the first time, I was shocked. Shocked enough to visit him, in his annoying office.

"That's why you came down to visit me, huh?"

"Yeah, obviously." After a long pause, I pat him on the back.

"What are you going to do now?"

Naruto

It's supposed to feel good after you have talked or ranted to someone about your problems but for some reason this heaviness in my chest isn't gone. There is a part of me that still wants to hate her, or at least try to hate her but I just cannot. Its physically impossible for me to do that.

"I don't know man." He keeps patting my back, its sort of reassuring.

"Naruto, you clearly have feelings for her. Romantic feelings, you know that and I'm pretty sure everyone who knows you even a little bit would know that. The question is – do you want to act on them? Do you want her to be your girlfriend again?"

Yes, my brain responds instantly. But I don't say it, I cannot. I know it's not possible, even if did get together, it'll be a terrible idea. We both know how this ends, and it'll end in both of us suffering.

"I...don't know. It's complicated, you know?" He nods his head. Despite showing no emotions on his face, I know he feels sorry for me and is genuinely trying to help me out. I appreciate it but I doubt there is anything he can do for me.

"Do you want her in your life?"

"Yes," I respond without thinking. Fuck, that was too quick. He got what he wanted, that bastard.

"Is my misery that funny to you?" I ask him, irritated to see that he has a genuine smile on his face. That fucking dipshit.

"Honestly? Kind of, yes, it is," his smile gets wider and then it slowly fades away.

"Naruto..." he starts but is interrupted by the bartender shouting at her girlfriend. I think they are fighting about someone forgetting their anniversary. God, relationships are hard. They both go in the kitchen, screaming at each other. The bartender is now replaced by a short, even more energetic guy. His eyebrows are sort of funny looking and he is now trying to cheer up the girl drinking at the bar alone. All this commotion distracted me whatever Sasuke was trying to tell me. Or was he even able to finish his sentence?

I look back at him and he is staring intensely at the new bartender. And he looks mad.

"Naruto, let's leave this place. I know that guy, and I am not a huge fan." Was all explanation he gave and left his credit card at the table to pay, leaving me alone. I wonder what he got against a bartender. Well Sasuke doesn't like a lot of people, so I guess cannot narrow it down.

x

We decided to sit in on a park bench since it's a nice cold day outside and I am feeling extremely suffocated staying inside anyway. We didn't talk much during the walk, just catching up with each other. I don't know why but bringing up Hinata doesn't seem right anymore, something about the bartender made Sasuke mad and reserved.

"So, that bartender..."

"Not today, I'll tell you someday later or Sakura might tell you. Today we talk only about your problems." He said. Cold wind is blowing around us, and although it is chilly, I feel weirdly warm.

"Look, Naruto, you need closure. Both you and Hinata need it. You guys need to talk this stuff out." He is looking at a family, a dad and mom sitting by the trees watching their little kid play with his ball.

"You guys need to talk about the past and made sure you are on the same page in this stage of your lives, or else one of you is going to get hurt, again."

"I know." But its so hard. It is so hard to relive the worst moments of my life.

"Breaking up with her literally almost killed me, I cannot go through it again. I don't even want to think about how miserable I was, how can I even talk to her about it?"

"If you want to keep her in your life, you have to talk to her. Build up foundations and..."

I don't let him finish whatever the hell he was saying. I have the best fucking idea ever.

"Sasuke! You are a genius!" I suddenly make eye contact with him and hold on to his shoulder. He is visibly distraught.

"Friends! I'll remain by her side as her friend! This is the greatest idea ever!"

"No, this is the stupidest fucking idea ever," he tries to argue.

"I don't need to talk to her about anything, I'll just tell her to forget what happened last night and let's continue to stay as friends," I am smiling again. I know this will work!

Being friends with Hinata, that would not be hard.

Sakura

"Why are we friends with these two idiots?"

"Babe, if I knew I would not be friends with that idiot," Sasuke sighs and puts his arm around me. I lie down on his chest. We are both debriefing from our meetings with Naruto and Hinata.

"I know this isn't the ideal situation, but maybe being friends will work out for them?" I ask. I don't really believe it, but who knows, maybe friends are what these two needs.

"I would love to believe that, but these two love each other too much," Sasuke sighs, "I'm worried they are going to get hurt because they are refusing to talk about their feelings."

I sit up with the support of my hands, surprised.

"Are you saying, that people should talk more about their feelings, honey?" I tease him, and he rolls his eyes.

"What I am saying is," he hugs me closer, "that our friends are going to need us a lot more than I imagined."