Post Free!Eternal Summer Ep. 11 MakoHina

Tears prickled at the corners of white eyes as Hinata's slim fingers clenched around her boyfriend's tousled brown hair. The sounds of his quiet sobs made her heart hurt, and yet, there was nothing she could do for the hurt in Makoto's heart. Her unbelievably unselfish boyfriend was coming undone in her arms, worried so much for his childhood friend.

She had received a call from him the night before. It was surprising, really, because they usually just messaged each other. There was something urgent in his tone of voice, an emotion that had made her ears perk up. It was different than the smile she usually could hear in his voice. After asking if she had any missions and finding she had none, he had asked, "Hina—do you think you can come visit me? I-I need someone to talk to."

She had come right away. He never asked anything of her, and when she sensed something was wrong, she knew he needed her. Hinata hadn't so much walked through the door to his room after seeing the pain in Makoto's eyes and asked, "What's wrong, Makoto-kun?" when he had taken her in his embrace and buried his face in her hair. "M-Makoto-kun?"

"It's Haru. I-I fought with him."

All she could do was listen.

He had told her about his childhood friend pushing him away more and more. She knew how he felt. After all, she had felt the same way when her own childhood friend left the village and the hurt she had felt went Sasuke left abruptly without so much as a goodbye. Wasn't she good enough? Didn't she mean as much to him as he did to her?

She could tell that Makoto was struggling with the same thoughts. Haru wasn't listening to him. Makoto was worried about his future and he was trying to get Haru to figure it out, too. Wasn't he good enough. Didn't he mean as much to Haru as Haru did to him? But the darker-haired boy wasn't listening.

"I know what Haru can do! I know his potential! I want so much for him—doesn't he understand that?" he asked said through tears, his large arms encircling around her tiny waist. Hinata could only grasp at the back of his shirt, running her fingers lightly through his hair soothingly. "I've found my dream and I want Haru to find his. I want to stand next to him in the future reaching our dreams together! I don't want him to be lost. It hurts to see Haru like that." He whispered heartbreakingly into her neck. "It hurts, Hina."

Hinata slipped quietly out of Makoto's room after Makoto had cried all the tears he could, leaving him to sleep in his room.

"Hina-nee-chan," a worried voice whispered. "Is Onii-chan okay?"

Hinata turned to see Makoto's younger twin siblings staring up at her with wide, anxious eyes. Her furrowed brow relaxed to see the two in front of his door. She bent down to their height, her hands on her knees. They must have felt as helpless as she did when they saw their hero, their idol, and their strength fall apart.

"Nn," she assured them softly. "He's just sleeping. He'll be okay. Do you want to go get some sweet bread with me to surprise him when he wakes up? Maybe it'll help cheer him up."

Ren and Ran nodded eagerly and took one of Hinata's hand each. "We'll help choose!"

Hinata's gentle hands squeezed the smaller one in hers and let herself be pulled toward the door.

Hinata held a box of warm, freshly baked sweet breads close to her chest, watching the twins run ahead and play together with a warm expression on her face. She inhaled deeply as she walked passed the ocean, taking in its salty scent and relishing the breeze as it lifted the strands of her indigo hair. Hinata turned her face towards the horizon and smiled absently. She loved coming to visit Makoto in his own hometown and the relaxation and peace it always brought her. There was something about the setting sun reflecting on the ocean's surface that hypnotized her almost as much as than the green in Makoto's eyes.

As her byakugan eyes gazed longingly at the shore, a dark head of blue caught her attention.

"Haru-kun?"

He was sitting on the sand, staring unseeingly towards the same sun she had been looking at with a blank look on his face. His legs were spread wide and his arms were resting loosely on his lap, devoid of energy and emotion. The love that engulfed his entire being when he looked toward a body of water was absent and so, so unlike him.

Checking to see if the twins were okay with her byakugan, she padded softly over to where he sat on the sand.

Her hand reached out hesitantly towards him and she stammered, "H-Haru-kun?"

He didn't turn in her direction but she didn't miss the way his fingers clenched briefly at the sand. "You're here."

It was because it was something so much like what Sasuke would say, that she heard everything he was trying to say with those few words. "Of course you're here." "Thank for taking care of Makoto when I made him feel like shit." "I don't know what to do."

She sat down beside him, spreading her pale lavender dress around her, placing her arms behind her and leaning back to stare at the darkening sky. She had not said much to Haru ever since the beginning of her relationship with Makoto, so she wasn't even sure if he would open up to her, but she did know that he would not talk at all until he was ready. As with Sasuke, she had found a comforting, quiet companionship with her boyfriend's best friend.

"Makoto's leaving." Haru said tonelessly. His eyes had not moved from the point where the sky met the water in the distance.

"Yes," Hinata whispered. She could only imagine how much more it hurt Haru if Makoto was in so much distress about their future. She waited patiently for Haru's words, which came a few long moments later.

"He tells me to find a dream." His voice was barely audible at first but its volume grew as his spoke. "What dream? What future? What good is any of that if I don't have anyone with me? No Rei? No Nagisa? No Rin?" He clenched his fists and Hinata could see his dark, blue eyes swimming with tears. "N-No Makoto?" His lower lip trembled. "I thought—I thought Makoto would be the only who wouldn't change. He wouldn't leave me. When everything was changing and so confusing—I thought he'd always be there for me."

Suddenly his fist crashed into the sand. Hinata jumped at the sand that flew on her as Haru continued angrily, "And that's why I said, I don't want any of that! I'm fine with the way things are!" He wrapped his arms around knees and buried his face in it. "I don't want any of that if I can't have everyone like they are with me now. I don't want a dream. I don't care about a future. I just want them—now. I want Makoto to stay how he is with me now."

And now Hinata listened to Haru's quiet sobs as he let out his frustration and worries. How long had he been holding this inside of him? How Haru was so like Sasuke! A stoic boy who kept his emotions inside him, coming apart only when his heart couldn't bear it anymore-a boy who hid the fact that he did care, that he did need love, that he was lost and frightened.

Haru's head lifted from off his arms and the same, blank look graced his face again. "And if Makoto's so ready to leave and h-have his future….does it mean he doesn't care if I'm not in it?"

"Oh, Haru-kun." Once again, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes as another boy came apart before her. She got up from her position on the ground to kneel in front of him. She put a hand to his face and said, "Makoto-kun loves you, you know? You are probably the most important person to him and you always have been. He's worried about you and your future. There is nothing more that he wants in his future than to have you in it, moving along and moving forward with everyone else." Haru's eyes widened as she spoke and one last, single tear spilled down his cheek.

Hinata brushed it away with her thumb and gave him a small smile. "You can be free as much as you want, Haru-kun, in whatever you decide to do. Just remember that you will never be alone."

She removed her hand slowly and let it drop back to her side. "Don't forget about Makoto-kun, ne? He's worried the most about you." She got up slowly and brushed the sand off her dress as Haru sat mulling over her words. Hinata picked up the box and started walking towards the direction of Makoto's home. "Come and visit when you can again, Haru-kun. He'll be waiting," she called over her shoulder.

And as Hinata made her way back, she crossed her fingers and hoped that her words would somehow find their way into Haru's heart like it did to Sasuke. And she wished with all her heart that her boyfriend's best friend would find his way to peace, happiness, and a future here with Makoto—just like her own best friend did back in beloved Konoha.