Behind the Scenes

Chapter 5

"Sasuke!" Hinata's face lit up as she greeted him at the door. Sasuke smirked, slipping his hands into his pockets as he looked at her. "Hey," he said, stepping inside as she opened the door wider. "How have you been? We haven't hung out much lately, except when we're with Sakura and Naruto," Hinata said as they made their way to the couch.

Sasuke sat down next to her, his gaze scanning the apartment. "Good. You?" he asked in a bored tone. Hinata smiled. "I've been good too, although work has been driving me crazy," she said softly. Sasuke nodded in understanding. "Same here," he responded.

The two fell into an awkward silence, neither quite sure what to say next. Hinata broke it by asking, "So... where's Sakura? Didn't you have plans with her?" Sasuke looked at her, his expression neutral. "I had work. Came here after," he replied flatly.

Hinata nodded, unsure of how to proceed. "It's kind of weird, isn't it? We haven't really been alone like this since you started dating Sakura," she ventured tentatively. Sasuke hummed in agreement, looking around the room as if searching for something to say.

"Well, Naruto didn't help with that either," he remarked, finally turning his gaze to her. Hinata smiled softly, glad that they could at least share a laugh at Naruto's antics. "Anyway, let's do something while we're here," she suggested, trying to lighten the mood. "Video games?"

Sasuke smirked, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You want to lose again, Hyuga?" Hinata stuck her tongue out playfully. "I've gotten better," she protested, already reaching for the controllers.

Sasuke chuckled at her response. "Alright, we'll see about that." Hinata headed over to the gaming console. "What game do you want to play?" he asked, scrolling through the list of games on the screen.

Hinata thought for a moment before responding. "How about Mortal Kombat?" she suggested. "I've been practicing my moves." Sasuke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Alright then, let's do this."

They spent the next hour battling it out, each trying to outdo the other. Sasuke was impressed with Hinata's skills, but in the end, he still emerged victorious. Hinata groaned in defeat, but couldn't help but laugh.

"You're still the king of video games," she admitted, smiling at him. Sasuke smirked in response. "I told you, you couldn't beat me," he teased. Hinata rolled her eyes playfully.

As they settled back onto the couch, they found themselves slipping back into an easy conversation, reminiscing about old times and catching up on what they had been up to lately. It was nice, Hinata thought, to have this one-on-one time with Sasuke. She had missed their friendship and hoped that they could continue to hang out like this.

But as the night wore on and it started to get late, Sasuke got up to leave. "I should probably get going," he said, glancing at his watch. Hinata nodded in understanding, walking him to the door.

"Thanks for hanging out with me tonight, Sasuke," she said, smiling up at him. "It was really nice."

Sasuke returned the smile with a smirk. "Yeah, it was. We should do this again sometime," he said, before turning to leave.

Hinata watched him go, feeling a sense of warmth in her chest. Maybe things between them weren't as awkward as she thought they would be.

As Hinata closed the door, memories of her childhood with Sasuke flooded her mind. Growing up with him had played a significant role in the small crush she had developed on him. However, after he started dating Sakura, Hinata had made a conscious decision to move on from those feelings. Around a year later, she had started dating Naruto, and her feelings for Sasuke had faded into the background.