Love's Misconstruities
Chapter 9
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Time continued to pass,
and Hinata fell into despair. She was
reverting back to her old self and perhaps even worse than before, becoming clumsier,
nervous, and more awkward than she had been in a long time…and she hated
herself for it. She knew the only way
she’d be able to fix it was to get some answers.
difficult as well. It took her weeks
before she initiated conversation with Sakura and even longer before she felt
she could bring up the topic she desperately needed information on, but at last
she mustered up what courage she had.
She’d discovered
Sakura by a bridge which overlooked the small stream that flowed through
Konoha. The pink-haired girl seemed
depressed, but as she sensed Hinata’s presence, masked it with a cheerful
smile.
“Hinata-chan.
Seems like we’ve been running into each other a lot
lately.”
“I-I’m fine...
“I’m good.”
“…Really?”
“Hm?
“N-nothing,
really… You just looked…sad before.”
Sakura’s smile wilted
a bit around the edges before finally collapsing altogether.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, not really…
I guess I’m just lonely,” she admitted with a sigh and small shrug.
me, but…”
“You…
forming in her throat.
This earned her a
surprised glance from Sakura, but she did not question the other girl’s
insight. She simply gave a sad smile and
returned her gaze to the stream.
“Mm… He’s not in Konoha right
now… Sometimes I wonder why it is that I
even like him. He’s the dark, silent,
brooding type. He was nice at times, but
he could also be cold and distant, too; scary even, at times.
love with, can we?” she finished, smiling back up at her fellow kunoichi.
“No…I suppose we can’t.
retreating from the bewildered girl. She
refused to cry in front Sakura. That
would be sinking too low. She waited
until she returned home, then, once she was safely behind the closed door of
her room, she curled into a tight ball on her bed, burying her face in the
pillow to muffle her sobs.
‘All those traits she described…dark…silent…brooding…
So she does love him. And he seems
to like her, too. I could see it in his
face. He even blushed when she touched
him! He’s never blushed around me…
her, too. Why?
her instead? …It’s because I’m too weak.
Sakura-chan? I…
don’t want to give up, but…how? …Where
do I even start? I’m so pathetic…’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~