Hinata sat at the counter of the bar, sipping her cold water out of an icy beer mug, wiping her hand on her mouth after every sip. She had come to Kamakaru's bar that day acting on the strangest whim. It was like her gut or her conscience or something had told her she should. She had heard Kiba talking about it vaguely a few days prior, yet it had meant nothing to her until it popped into her head that day. She, however, had no interest in beer.
Hinata had no missions that week, since all was pretty much well in Konoha. She had taken her spare time to train, hang out with her girls, and - most unusually - explored the town. She realized she had never done that before.
She had walked through town, looking, and occasionally buying something that met her fancy. She had stopped, however, at a stand that sold beautiful hand-woven bags to purchase a tiny little blue bag with white shells on it. Just as he was reaching into her wallet for money, saw something. At first she thought it was nothing, then when she did a double take, she clearly saw a gray-cloaked figure behind the jovial man selling the bag. She'd realized it was nothing when she caught the salesman's eye who turned to see what she'd been looking at, and saw a gray coat hanging from a coat rack.
He'd sold the bag to her skeptically.
She wiped her mouth and spun around on the barstool, giggling to herself. She spun a little faster each turn, until her stomach told her to stop. She halted, and positioned herself to face towards the large sliding screen door that was kept open, so that light flooded in to the dimly lit bar from the bright streets of Konoha.
She looked around the car quickly to see if anyone had noticed her spinning frenzy, and was relieved that most people's attentions were on their drinks or their neighbors.
"Can I have a re-fill, please?" she asked the bartender as kindly as possible. She must have looked like she was waiting for someone, the barman had been watching her, confused.
"sure sweetie." He replied in a very paternal way. He quickly refilled her mug with chilled water, adding a little martini umbrella.
She said thank you, and then turned to face the door Just in time to see two young men walk in.
One of them was wearing a green chunin vest, sporting the traditional black spiky ponytail, and next to him the shaggy-haired teenager was wearing a black leather jacket and a fanged smile. They were none other than Shikamaru Nara and, her best friend, Kiba Inuzuka.
"Hinata, hey! You looking good today!" Kiba shouted, striding haughtily across the bar to her, attracting WAY too much attention. She couldn't help blushing.
"Kiba, settle down, un." Shikamaru grumbled. "hi Hinata." He added grumpily, sitting down.
"Shikamaru," she acknowledged. She liked Shikamaru. "Kiba, what have I told you about those food pills you eat?" she asked jokingly.
"I know, I know. They make me hyper and mentally unstable, but-" he plopped down on a barstool and put kicked his feet up on the counter, "an addiction is an addiction."
"then it's time for an intervention." Said Shikamaru seriously.
"oh, come on man, buy a drink. you could use it!" Kiba said, knocking Shikamaru on the shoulder.
"great plan. Do you think they'll mind that I'm underage?" Shikamaru replied sarcastically.
"ah, what's one more year?"
"Shikamaru, why would you want a drink anyway?" Hinata wanted to know.
"Temari dumped him." Kiba said, flicking a bottle cap across the room, then making a triumphant fist when it hit someone's head.
"again?" asked Hinata sympathetically.
"yep." Shikamaru replied dully. "I'll never understand troublesome women." Hinata detected remorse in his tone, she wondered why they broke up, but thought it best not to say anything.
"don't worry Shikamaru, she really does like," Hinata touched his arm comfortingly. He made a "whatever" face at her, making her giggle.
"not after yesterday…" he mumbled. Kiba didn't seem to hear. Hinata wondered what he was talking about.
Her phone buzzed at that exact moment. She jumped n her seat, making bark with laughter. She pulled out her blue slide phone, seeing that she had a text from Ino. She hated texting.
It read:
Operation get 1010 nd Neji 2gether commences pronto
Meeting the dango shop.
Operation "hook up Neji and Tenten had been commencing every week for three years. And now, every day for 2 weeks. Ino didn't play. Ino also disregarded completely the feelings of her fellow ninjas in exchange for their perfect matching color compatibility.
Never mind the fact that they didn't see each other in that way, so long as they both looked good in purple, she was good. Hinata responded to the text very slowly, for lack of hand/eye coordination.
K I'll be ther sprn
She meant "soon."
hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter…
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