??????? ??? ???: Naruhina

7. ???????????

He smiled "Just like old times". Shikamaru hated that he kept himself away from her during the summer... he knew she needed a friend but he couldn't let his personal issues get in the way. He knew it must've hurt her but it was for the best. But now that's it's a new semester... maybe things can be different.

Hinata suddenly reached up and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Shikamaru don't ghost me again okay? I really really missed you" she whispered. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and discreetly inhaled her vanilla perfume. The warmth of her embrace only furthering his thoughts to make a change & get back in her life.

"I know Hina... I'm sorry. I just had stuff going on".
They pulled away and she grabbed his hand, giving him a look of reassurance "I know you said that but you can tell me Shika. You know I'm always here for you".

The simple touch of her hand in his made his heart pound.

"Trust me Hinata I know.. I promise I'll tell you everything okay?".

She nodded happily "Okay, now let's ge-"

"PRINCESS!"

Hinata turned to see Naruto fast walking up to her from another building. When he caught up he quickly embraced his fake girlfriend in a warm hug, causing Hinata to get shivers down her spine as she inhaled his sexy cologne. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. This was the first time he actually hugged her.

As the broke away she felt a little flustered "Hi Naruto.. what's up?".

He brushed a hair behind her ear "You weren't answering your phone so I came to see if you were free to hang out tonight. You're done with chess practice right?".

Everything Naruto began to do physically was intentional. After tucking the strand of hair behind her ear he let his fingers slowly trace down her pretty hair. From far away he observed the scene between her and Shikamaru, and he couldn't quite understand why but he hated to see them hug.

I guess she's close with him too...

"Oh uh.. yea I'm done but I have plans".

He furrowed his brows "What plans?".

Shikamaru didn't know what to make of the two's interaction so he stepped in "Hina and I are gonna go get sushi.. an old tradition we had after practice".

Now Shikamaru and Naruto were pretty close friends. However like all of his friends, Naruto has been distant, so even their relationship was little strained due to Narutos partying behavior. Nevertheless they still loved each other like brothers.

He looked at Shikamaru with a new found dislike, but tried to put it to the side because they were best friends. But their hug seemed so... intimate. He looked back at his Princess, "Can I come with?".

Hinata was feeling on the fence. On one hand she did enjoy Naruto's company, but on the other he was obsessed with looking like the perfect couple, and only talking about their plan. When she hangs out with her friends, she likes to actually hang out with them, not having it be a performance. She gave him a worried look then looked back at shikamaru, who shrugged his shoulders with indifference. But maybe having Naruto tag along will clarify their relationship.

Princess? And why is he being so touchy with her? Why is she allowing it?

She grabbed Narutos hand "I need to talk to you". She gave shikamaru a signal to wait there. He watched as the two went a couple a feet down the side walk.  Naruto pouted, "What's wrong?".

She sighed "Listen Naruto... we've been hanging out a lot lately & I know that's good for our plan, taking all these pictures & getting people to talk about us but... right now I don't want it to be about that".