Ramen or me?

It's Not Stalking If You Care About Them

After two months with Sasuke back in the village, Hinata was in distress.

She had been so, soo happy when her beloved embodiment of sunshine finally came back to the village after such a long training trip with the Sannin. Naruto was so tall, fit, powerful and handsome now! She couldn't stop thinking about how magnificent he'd grown to be!

Now she still though about him all day, but this time with pain in her chest.

She didn't know Sasuke that well even thought they were classmates in the past. What she did know, though, was that he was Naruto's best friend - or so he seemed until he fleed from the village with Orochimaru and almost killed Uzumaki in the process.

She never forgave him for it. But she could understand how important the bond was to her unfairly lonely Naruto-kun.

So why...? Why?! Why did Naruto look so tired?! Why were there dark bags under his eyes? Sasuke - so precious to him - finally came back to the village, so why Uzumaki was so clumsy and jumpy all of the sudden? He was distracted all the time and couldn't pay attention to one thing for too long.

But still for the life of her she couldn't find the reason for it. The first thing that came to her mind was that maybe Uchiha was taking advantage of and abusing her poor Naruto-kun, but what she'd saw seemed to differ.

While everyone seemed to be blinded by Naruto's typical joyfullness (Naruto included. Was he even aware of his bad condition? She really couldn't tell...), Sasuke seemed to be the only one beside Hinata to see through this (very) cheap mask.

After she became so worried, she decided to check on Naruto from time to time. And so she had millions of chances to see Sasuke help Uzumaki with almost everything. Naruto struggled with every little thing and thus Hinata wasn't really that surprised to notice that someone as concerned with the love of her life as Sasuke seemed to be decided to not leave his side and go on every mission that Naruto-kun decided to go to.

And with a little bit of jealousy she noticed that Uzumaki's face brightened every time he saw Uchiha. He looked more animated and happy, his attention didn't flare so much in the presence of Sasuke.

But further observations didn't show any other suspicious circumstances so, reluctantly, she slowly gave up on them. The only thing was that Naruto-kun visibly avoided Ichiraku Ramen, but she could understand that it must had been hard for him to let go of his favourite meal. (she didn't want to dwel on how ridiculous that request of Sasuke had been, really...)

That's why she became angry. So, so angry at herself for not seeing this coming.

That evening she was jogging on her typical route that led through less crowded parts of the village. And that had been a mistake.

The moment she turned on the corner of an empty street she saw it. Naruto and Sasuke embracing each other and kissing in the light of sunset.

She wavered and hit wall of some building with her back. Her lungs not cooperating and not letting any air inside. Her heart hurting.

With watery eyes she stared from behind the house corner as Sasuke goodbyed Naruto and started walking in her direction, not really noticing her yet.

Still, he didn't look surprised when her hand shot out from the shadow of the building and caught him by the collar.

Looking him straight in the eyes she asked with pain in her voice. "Do you really love him? Will you take good care of him?"

Wide, crazy smile slowly spread on Sasuke's mouth. "No", he said, voice dripping with self satisfaction. "Who do you think I am to care about this naive, worthless idiot?", he asked.

While Hinata stood there - gobsmacked and paralized with fear - Sasuke made his way, going slowly towards his home.