Always Somewhere Close

By Miss. Chemist

"Let's break up."

Time seemed to pause around the two after the teen clearly uttered those words. He scratched his head, unsure of how to proceed. He tried to conjure up an explanation for his statement but only came up with a half-baked reason.

"You're moving away. It would be more of a burden since we will be separated all the time, so…"

Hinata felt her hands begin to tremble. She steadied herself, commanding herself not to cry. Despite her internal battle, the blunette kept her head up and her gaze on her now former boyfriend.

"That's too bad, but you're right."

She clasped her hands together to hide the shaking and forced herself to maintain her composure. Hinata formally bowed, completely shocking the boy.

"Hinata…"

"Thank you for all of what you have done for me. It was fun."

She raised her head with a smile. It masked her inner turmoil, but it still appeared sad.

"Good-bye Naruto."

With that, the girl turned on her heel and quickly paced away. She kept her gaze down, covering her eyes with her fringe.

The school bell then rang signaling transition time. She evaded other students as she ran down the hallway, but stopped for a second when she nicked a tall figure's shoulder.

"Watch it!"

Still keeping her gaze down, she muttered, "Gomen." The man saw a single tear escape as she turned to run again into the growing crowd of students.

"Hinata? Wait!"

The teenager ran a hand through is black locks as he franticly scanned the mass of people for the girl. He paced in her general direction trying to predict where she would run to, where she would hide.

Panting, Hinata closed the door behind her. She scanned the large storage room. The blunette placed her back on the door and slid to the floor. It was when she was sure she was alone that she allowed herself to cry.

Pounds of pressure weighed down on her chest. She curled up bringing her knees to chest. Floods of tears ran down her face, and shivers wrecked her body. Thoughts and questions ran through her mind, but each and every second of it made her sick.

So that's why he called me out.

He didn't even hesitate.

Did he care?

Was I stupid to think we would stay together?

Ha. Ha…

The ebony-haired teenager stared at the door to the room that held the heartbroken girl. He took a step forward to turn the door handle, but as soon as his hand touched the smooth metal, he heard soft crying. The sound of her weeping froze his body.

He felt absolutely worthless. He couldn't do anything for her.

The man sat on the ground with his back on the door and crossed his arms over this bent knees. He just listened to her cry, and with each passing second, he felt more and more insignificant. Again, he didn't do anything. Just like back then, when he found out his best friend and the girl he loved started dating, he just stood by and did nothing.

(Flashback)

Sitting alone in the library, the raven-haired teenager looked up from over his book and stole a glance at a usually timid girl. He watched her movements as she ran her hand across the books while she was gleaming with a toothy-white smile. The girl began to twirl and ruffle her long hair as if trying to wake herself up from a dream.

Totally immersed in his musing of the girl's apparent joy, he didn't notice Kakashi-sensei walk up from behind him.

"You know, Sasuke..." The teacher whispered, "It would be so much easier to read that book of yours if it wasn't upside down."

Brought back to earth, Sasuke turned his book in the upright position and glared at the now smirking Kakashi.

"Shut up."

The masked sensei's expression turned dark. "I wouldn't try anything on Hinata." Kakashi explained, "She is dating Naruto now."

Sasuke was internally shaken by this, put his head down, and ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. How did this happen? I thought Naruto only had eyes for Sakura.

I became careless.

Sasuke raised himself from the ground and firmly grasped the door handle.

He noticed the sound of sobbing had ceased. The silence soon became the slamming of random objects. Worried, Sasuke quickly swung the door open. There, he saw a petite girl throwing her backpack across the room. Startled by the scene, Sasuke remained where he stood.

He had never once seen her like this…What happened to make her like this?

The girl froze as she picked up the fallen contents from her bag. A picture of her and Naruto had caught her eye. The photo captured the couple with bright smiles at the top of a mountain, hands interlocked, and…happy.

"What did I mean to you?"

Sasuke finally approached her and brought his hands to both sides of her face. His thumb washed away a tear that managed to escape. Hinata was absolutely dumbfounded. The boy took a step back and began to gather her things into her bag.

"Uchiha-san…"

He paused his movements after hearing her formality but soon continued his endeavors. Sasuke stood up handing Hinata her backpack with all its contents.

"W-wh..."

Before Hinata could question him, Sasuke grabbed her hard and pulled her out of the classroom. He quickly paced down the hallway to a dark club room.

"You are ugly when you cry." Sasuke grumbled.

When he glanced back at her, she had her head turned to the floor. She could hear Sasuke quickly shuffle around, but he did not once let go of her hand.

Sasuke softly grasped her chin, and with little to no force, he raised her face. The boy released her hand to turn on a switch. The starry night sky was soon projected onto every surface in the room.

"A planetarium? Amazing! D-did you m-", Hinata was quickly cut off.

"Yea. I made it." The black-haired boy interjected. "Go on. Take a look around before you leave. There is no way you can go back with an ugly face like that."

Hinata was absolutely taken aback. Her jaw nearly hit the ground. He has to be bipolar, she thought.

Sasuke brought his palm to his forehead and sighed, "If you want to be comforted, say so. I don't like people expecting things from me and then getting disappointed."

Hinata lowered her head again.

He smirked, "Hm? Are you gonna cry again?"

He could have sworn he saw her vein pop as she began to yell, "No! I am not! Okay. Let me look at your planetarium."

She continued, "Unfortunately, the only constellation I know is Orion…Here it is!"

The short girl pointed in the opposite direction of where the constellation really was. She was immediately startled when the usually quiet and gloomy boy burst laughing.

Sasuke softly grasped her hand and guided it to where Orion really was. "Here I'll show you. This is where it is."

He boldly closed the distance between her back and his chest as he guided her hand to each part of the constellation. Hinata could feel his sudden closeness, and with each passing second, her face burned red.

"I-I got it!" She exclaimed and moved away from him.

"Why were you crying?"

She avoided his strong gaze and receded to a corner. "No reason."

He sighed, "Stubborn, aren't you? And here I took the trouble to bring you here and ask."

Hinata turned her head away from him as her mind filled with thoughts.

Had I been honest and told Naruto I wanted to stay together, would it have changed anything?

Hinata could feel her tears coming back. "Yea. I'm stubborn, and it got me dumped."

Sasuke's cool façade melted away when he saw her tears return. He pulled the blunette into his arms as he murmured, "What was he thinking, when he knew you would cry like this?"

Why did it start raining suddenly?

Hinata ran through the pouring rain. She held a flimsy binder over her head in hopes it would keep her dry.

"Wah!," Hinata yelped when an umbrella suddenly lowered in front of her. "Huh?"

"It's the rainy season." Sasuke grumbled. " So bring an umbrella."

Trying to justify herself, Hinata mumbled. "I-I was in a rush this morning!"

Heh…so she is stubborn.

Sasuke grabbed her hand and placed the handle of the umbrella into her palm, "You can borrow it."

He quickly paced in front of her and she shyly walked behind him. The rain pelted down on the male.

"Um, Uchiha-san?"

No response.

"Sasuke-kun?

Still no response.

"Sasuke?"

He turned with a smirk, "Yes?"

"Do you want to use this too?" Hinata suggested.

"No way. I'm not sharing an umbrella." Sasuke replied.

"Well, getting soaking wet is kinda uncool…" Hinata mumbled.

"Fine." Sasuke pulled the handle from her hands and held the umbrella over both of them as they walked home.

"Sasuke."

"Hn?"

"Can I see your planetarium again?"

"Jah…it's so pretty." Hinata delighted in the projected stars. They had been meeting every day during lunch, and Hinata was always so amused by the planetarium.

Sasuke slowly approached her. His hand found its way to her cheek where he caressed softly.

"Sasuke."

He ran his hand over her cheek and behind her neck. The tall man leaned in and kissed her, running his lips across hers. Surprised, Hinata became still with shock but slowly moved her lips against his in a sensual dance. Her hands moved up his chest to his hair where she massaged his ebony locks.

Sasuke's hands snaked around her waist. His hand moved up and down her side as he forced himself away from her.

"Be with me." Sasuke murmured.

Brought back to reality, she pulled away from his grasp. Her eyes searched elsewhere other than Sasuke's face as Naruto's words rang in her mind. Hinata felt fear brew inside her.

"You're moving away. It would be more of a burden since we will be separated all the time…"

She could feel the warm come to her face signaling tears will come.

"You couldn't be serious. Dating wouldn't suit us. Plus you just tease all the time. You were teasing me just now, too, right?"

Anger and frustration grew inside him.

"I am not vain enough to bother with people I don't care about." Sasuke slowly paced past her. "And I have no use for people who don't understand that."

The door was swung open and swung shut. He was gone.

You've got no use for…

You have it all wrong.

I didn't have the confidence to believe someone would keep thinking about me even if I was gone.

"Is Hinata here?" The ebony-haired man asked one of her classmates. "This is her class, right?"

Woah. It's Sasuke Uchiha, the classmate thought.

"Hinata? I think she went home early today. It was something about packing to move." The student replied.

"She's moving?"

"Yea. We were wondering what to give…Hey! Where did he go?"

The blunette loaded the last box unto the truck. She sighed and leaned against the vehicle. Her eyes closed to allow herself some rest.

"Hinata."

That voice… Her eyes shot open and there stood a panting and disheveled Sasuke.

"That was not fair. Did you think I could easily forget you?" Sasuke managed to yell even though he was out of breath.

"Even if you disappear, everything else won't." His voice reduced to a whisper.

"Sasuke. I'm changing schools."

"I know."

"But, can I be with you anyway?"

Sasuke walked up to the now tearing up girl and brought her into his embrace. Her hands clutched his shirt.

"You are such a cry-baby. I'm used to long-distance loves. I had so much practice with the stars and you are so much closer."

Mumbling into his chest with a smile, she said, "Astronomy nerd."

Jah...A happy ending. Just a oneshot for my first fanfic. It was definitely fun writing, and I hope to do more in the future. Anyway, thank you for reading!

Ja Ne! ^^