Only Fools Fall For You (SasuNaru)

✨ Part 10 ✨

It was hopeless. No matter what he did he could not get Hinata to even spare him a brief glance. When he asked for help she just hid behind her book or pretended that she was too engrossed in her notes to notice him. By the time class had ended he had already buried his face in his arms in defeat. If Sasuke hadn't just waltzed in and scared her away he would have had something nice going for him. That prick!

"Naruto, class is over," Shikamaru interrupted his troubled thoughts with a light pat. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Quite the opposite," he hissed with a glare towards the Uchiha who walked past their table without so much as a fleeting glimpse to him or Hinata. What was he hoping to accomplish? "I swear if I get the chance I'm going to kick him in the teeth."

"How oddly specific," Shikamaru mused as he waved to Hinata who hastily gathered her things and shuffled along with all the other students. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I have calc next class," he grumbled miserably, remembering that Sasuke was in that class too.

"That's not what I asked."

"You mean ditch?" he inquired warily as he put his notes away. "It's only my second day."

"I don't hear a no," his classmate smirked as he leaned against the table. "Come on, it's not like you really want to go in there and learn about derivatives of nonlinear functions."

"What language is that?"

"Exactly. Follow me." The blond looked around uncertainly as they made their way down the steps instead of him going to the third floor to his math class. Should I really be doing this? I haven't even known Shikamaru for that long. "So, what's on your mind?"

They stepped outside to see that not many students were out since class was about to start. Instead of walking on the designated path to the main building Shikamaru led him around back and into the uneven terrain of the woods behind the campus. Naruto thought about the question hesitantly as they weaved through the thin trail between the massive Ashe trees and scattered pine.

"I got Hinata to agree to get together for a study session with me," he explained with a lax smile.

"That was quick," Shikamaru commented, "it usually takes her longer to warm up to anyone."

"It was going well until Sasuke randomly popped in and fucked everything up," he added sulkily with a scowl.

"Pardon?" Shikamaru chuckled as if it were some kind of joke.

"I was about to set up a date when Sasuke showed up out of nowhere and started talking to Hinata, and she took her shit and booked it." The thought of it alone was enough to make him want to go to his math class and punch the Uchiha.

"Wow," Shikamaru said with a knowing smile, "sounds like you got cock-blocked big time."

He shook his head to dismiss the thought but the more he mulled it over the more true it sounded. Sasuke ruined something that he had no business interrupting in the first place. "I did... Didn't I?"

"Afraid so," Shikamaru laughed as he leaned against the trunk of a tree while digging through his bag. "Here, eat this."

Naruto caught the red apple that was tossed his way before sitting at the base of another tree. "Thanks. Why are you doing this for me?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "It looked like you could use someone to talk to. You seemed to be in good spirits until you had a freak out and fell down the stairs."

He could feel the heat against his face again. Maybe Neji and Sakura were right. It couldn't hurt to put his faith in someone, right? "Well, to be honest I met Sasuke's brother after we got back from detention... It went a little fuzzy after that," he mumbled before taking a bite of the apple, enjoying the sweet juices against his tongue.