The slight sound repeated, stopped, and repeated again.
Tap… tap… tap… tap.
Quiet.
Tap… tap… tap… tap… tap.
Silence.
Tap… tap… tap… tap… tap… tap… tap… tap.
Hinata sat perched on top of the brick wall, legs swinging slightly, the back of her sandals tapping out a sporadic staccato rhythm.
Tap… tap… tap… tap.
She looked own at her watch again. Sighing, she looked up at the sun, using that and the shadow from the great cliff to judge the time.
Tap… tap… tap… tap… tap.
The wind kicked up for a moment, causing her hair to flare out and her long dangling earrings to rock back and forth. She was wearing a lot of jewelry that day, including all of her favorite pieces, including some that she had been given by her late mother.
Tap… tap… tap… tap.
After looking up at the dark clouds gathering overhead, she took out her compact, opened it, and checked her make-up. She had taken a lot of time to get ready. She wanted to look her best! This was a special occasion. At least, it was to her. She sighed again.
The tapping noise continued. The hands on the face of her wristwatch continued in their never ending circuit. Leaves blew past her, and numerous people looked up at her as they made their way along the sidewalk. She kept looking for one particular face, with no luck.
"I've been here for hours," Hinata said, sounding very dejected. She had been very specific. She was certain of that. She had played the conversation over in her head, time and time again. She remembered what she said. She recalled Naruto's response. "He gave me his word."
She hopped down, landing lithely and brushed off the seat of her long skirt. Her clothes were all new. She had spent the better part of an afternoon picking them out. She was even wearing a new perfume, and she usually didn't put on any kind of scent.
"Does this mean…." She froze for a moment, wondering if this was some kind of indication that Naruto had grown tired of her. She had been so happy, lately. Maybe she could have missed some subtle kind of sign. "Maybe… maybe he can't face me yet…." She swallowed hard. She fought the urge to run home and hide her head under her pillow. But, that wouldn't help anything. "I need to find out…." She was probably worried over nothing.
As she moved along the busy avenue, street lights came on one after another. It was silly, but it almost seemed like they were following her. Seeing that the electric lamps were being illuminated somewhat early that night, it was an indication that a storm might be fast approaching. But, things had looked so wonderful, not that long ago. She hoped there wasn't some kind of omen there!
"He hasn't gotten called away on a mission, has he?" That thought had Hinata biting her lip. She had checked and double-checked the duty roster today. She had done the same thing yesterday, and the day before that. If Naruto had been tapped for an assignment, he would have found some way to leave her message, right? "I… ummm… I should look for Sakura."
She felt a little uncomfortable, doing that. Sakura was a friend. While they were never bosom buddies, they had always gotten along well. Until recently. There had been some kind of tension between them, ever since Sakura had begun realizing her feelings for Naruto, but events had led him to ask her out instead.
Running across Shizune outside of the Medical Center, Hinata found out that Sakura was on shift, tending to training injuries in the triage clinic. The older woman kindly accompanied her to the Hospital, so she could page the other medical ninja for a brief meeting. Walking into the waiting area looking somewhat tired, Sakura didn't seem to enthusiastic about seeing Hinata.
"I was… I was wondering…." Hinata chided herself. There was no reason to feel shy or self-conscious. "I was wondering if you knew where Naruto was."
"I think so," Sakura said, nodding her head. "I overheard him talking with Sai earlier. They said something about meeting the other guys over at the Rec Center." She looked at Hinata more closely, noticing how nicely she was done up. "He didn't stand you up on a date, did he?" Instead of feeling a sense of satisfaction or hope, she balled up both fists. She felt that it was her solemn duty to keep one Uzumaki Naruto in line, when he behaved in a way that she did not approve of.
"Well… yes…." Hinata hung her head. "…If he's doing something with his friends instead of me." It felt as if her heart fell out of her chest, landing somewhere down around her knees or ankles.
"You should let him have a piece of your mind," Sakura asserted, her brow furrowed. "There's no way that he should get away with something like that!" She sighed. She and the other kunoichi were different sides of the coin. One of them got angry far too easily. The other never seemed to get angry at all. "You need to get mad, Hinata. You need to get angry." She brought her fist down too hard, splintering the arm of the couch they shared. "You need to get furious." She sighed, knowing that was probably impossible.
Hinata thanked Sakura and head off on her way, walking in a haze for a few blocks. With every step she took, she didn't know whether she should sigh or break into tears. This hurt. It hurt a lot. She never thought that Naruto would hurt her this way.
She should have gone home. There was nothing to be gained from catching Naruto in the act, dressed up this way she was. The other guys would probably snicker after she left. Maybe Naruto would join in, making fun of her. She closed her eyes and shook her head, wanting to chase that kind of image away. For some perverse reason, she decided that she had to see. She needed to know for sure.
"I just….' Hinata was walking against the wind now. The moisture on her face came from the first few droplets of rain. But, the trail of water down her cheeks came from her tears. "I just don't understand how he could do this to me…." The charms on her silver bracelets jangled as she strode along. The tassels on her hand-woven sweater bobbed up and down. "I thought he cared about me…." It was one thing to have a dream die. It was altogether another thing to have one die like this!
The lights at the Rec Center were all on. Large patches of light came through the large glass windows, painting distorted rectangles on the darkened sidewalk and garden areas. One large window was partly open, allowing for ventilation. Walking quietly along the wall, Hinata approached that vantage point. She heard laughter inside. That sound struck her like a stake through her heart.
"So, what will it be tonight, boys?" Kiba was shuffling a newly opened pack of cards. Next to him, within Hinata's field of vision, Shino sat wearing a visor, his cowl pulled down. Both of her teammates were puffing away on cigars!
"Well, I guess it should be stud poker…" That was Naruto. Moving closer to the window, careful not to fog it with her breath, Hinata caught sight of him. He had a vest on with sewn on patches shaped like cards. He was smoking, too! They all were. Shikamaru was the odd man out, a cigarette hanging from his lips instead of one of the short fat stoagies. "Since we're all stuuu-uu-ds." That had Choji and Kiba chuckling. Shino smiled. Neji and Lee looked at one another and shook their heads.
"Studs?" Sai cocked his head, looking curious. "Would Hinata agree with that?"
"Hey! That's right! Mr. Big!" Kiba tried his hands at a number of card tricks. "You can tell us all about Hinata." He grinned, the cigar teetering on the brink of disaster. "She won't tell Shino or me anyting."
"I didn't expect you to be here tonight," Neji said, taking out his cigar and staring at it. It was part of the ritual, so he put it back in place. "Hinata spent much of the day getting ready. Or so Hanabi told me."
"Well, if she did, I have no idea why." Naruto stopped mid puff. One eyebrow went up. He shook his head, blowing out a small cloud of smoke. He was not the jealous type. Hinata was not the type of girl to give him something to be jealous about, in any case.
Hinata sat down hard, unconcerned that the cold concrete felt uncomfortable against her stockings. He didn't even remember? How could he forget a night like this? Maybe he was just lying, so the other guys wouldn't think poorly of him. For a few moments, her sadness was replaced by shock and disbelief.
"Besides, you know I would never miss poker night, no matter what!" Naruto laughed, reaching for another bottle of beer. Truth be known, he would never miss a card night because he would never make a promise to do anything on that night. Not unless it was something extremely important.
"That's right!" Lee sounded overly enthusiastic, as usual. Unable to drink liquor, he was sipping on fruit juice, while his cigar dropped ashes on his green stretchy suit. "Ahhh-hh-h… there is nothing greater than guy's night out!" He felt compelled to stand up and strike a pose, cigar back between his teeth. "The burning fire of youth grows brighter because of bonds like these!"
Shikamaru put his face in his hands, hearing that. He had hoped to convince everyone to try shogi. It was bad enough that he really wasn't fond of card games. Now he had to listen to Lee spout stuff like that.
"That's right!" Choji's shirt was already covered with pretzel fragments. He was bust chewing while he spoke. "Good friends. Good smokes. Good food." He tore open another bag with his teeth. "The girls are all probably sitting around painting their toenails or something."
"Or swapping tales from their diaries," Kiba said. He changed his voice, sounding very nasal. "And todaaa-aa-ay… I saw the cutest boy…." That had everyone laughing. Everyone except Hinata.
"Women!" Shino had obviously had too much to drink already. Unwrapping a stack of poker chips, he knocked over a number of empty bottles. "You can't live with'em…."
"And you can't live without them!" Lee wanted to seem like he was just as hip as the other guys. His smile was a bit forced, as he was thinking about Sakura. How he wished that she would notice him. How he wished any girl would!
"But, you can sure try, right Naruto!" Choji slapped Naruto on the back, causing him to spit out his cigar.
Naruto opened his mouth to reply. Hinata didn't realize that she had grabbed hold of the window frame so tightly, that she had broken a few nails. She didn't need to hear his answer. She already felt all alone again. It wasn't fair. She had been so patient. Things had finally been looking up. At that precise moment, for the first time that she could remember, she began feeling angry.
"Let's get going, guys!" Kiba cracked open a jug of sake, and took away Naruto's chance at a come back. "Five card or seven?" He looked around the table at his friends. "We can try Low Hole Card Wild, or Follow The Queen. Maybe Seven Card Flip or The Bitch."
"All women are bitches," Shino said, hiccoughing. He held his beer bottle up and banged it against those of the other guys.
"Hear! Hear!" Everyone shouted at that, Shikamaru loudest of all. Everyone but Naruto, that is. But, crouching where she was, Hinata couldn't tell that. She bit her lip, drawing blood.
"They're only good for one thing!" Kiba raised his bottle again, and his friends followed suit. "Two, if you count cooking!" He tipped back his head and chugged away.
"And cleaning!" Choji brushed the crumbs off of his shirt and onto the floor. They hadn't even started the first game of the night, and the place looked like a war zone.
"Making us look better on the practice field!" Lee was standing on his chair now, even though he was the only one there who hadn't had a single sip of beer.
"Giving Sai someone to model his clothing after!" Naruto belched, and then gave Sai a playful punch on the arm.
"Two bored casino dealers are waiting at the crap table," Sai said, not certain what a crap table was. But, he had read this joke in a book, and intended to share it with his friends. "An attractive blonde from Kirigakure arrived and bet a huge amount of money on a single roll of the dice."
"I know that one," Shino said, his voice slurred. He stepped in and hijacked the joke. "She said, 'I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude'."
"Don't we all?!" Kiba's quip had everyone laughing, Naruto included. Seeing that, Hinata began to shake. She was cold. She was getting rained on. She had spent all day anticipating this night. And Naruto was in there treating women with disrespect.
"Amen!" That was Choji. Everyone stopped to stare at him until he added 'Well… you know… in my dreams….'
"I will continue now," Sai said. He looked around the room in awe. It was foggy from all the smoke. "With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and yelled, 'Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!'" That had Hinata clenching her teeth. New clothes? New sandals. New perfume. New lipstick. New fingernail polish….
"As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed 'YES! YES! I WON, I WON!'" Shino was at the helm again, chuckling at the look on Sai's face. Some of his chakra bug's wandered out on their own, tipsy from the alcohol in their host body's blood stream. "She hugged each of the dealers…."
"Lucky bastards!" Choji frowned and then upended a bag of pork rinds, pouring them in his mouth, down his shirt, and all over the table.
"And then picked up her winnings and her clothes and quickly departed," Sai continued, beating Shino to the punch. Somewhat tipsy himself, he took out his scroll and ink brush and began sketching. Before anyone knew what he had done, a number of ink spiders ran across the table top hunting down the staggering chakra bugs. "The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked 'What did she roll?' The other answered…."
"'I don't know'," Shino said, slapping his hand at each and every spider he saw. "'I thought you were watching'." That had everyone laughing except for Shiakamru. He simply pouted and mumbled 'bothersome.'
"Good one Shino!" Kiba knew very well that it was Sai's joke. But, he also knew how badly his teammate needed attention. "We still need to pick the game."
"It should be seven card stud," Naruto said, pushing his chair away fro the table, tipping it back ward with his feet as he placed both hands behind his head. "Since there are seven studs here tonight."
"You mean eight, do you not?" Neji asked. For a moment, he sensed an intruder and thought to use his Byakugan. He relaxed. Nobody was going to attack their poker game.
"No," Naruto said, grinning. "I wasn't counting Lee." He slapped hands with Sai. Then, arms windmilling, he felt himself falling backward. Choji had kicked his chair out from under him, causing everyone to applaud. Hinata didn't feel sorry for him at all. He deserved it!
"Seven card it is," Kiba said. "Like last time, no jutsus!" They all remembered an earlier game, when the visiting Kazekage had joined them. Before they had caught on, a drunken Gaara had used that damn sand eye of his to peak at everyone's hands. "I've made sure the cards aren't marked. At least, for normal people." He pointed at Neji. "No Byakugan!" His white-eyed card buddy simply smiled.
It was almost the same kind of phenomenon that happened at the scene of an accident. Some people couldn't help themselves, and had to look. Hinata felt as if she had become rooted to the ground, unable to leave.
"Alright ladies," Kiba chomped on his cigar and began the game, dealing two cards face down to everyone, followed by one card face up. "Let's play with a bring-up tonight. Shikamaru, you have the lowest ranking up-card. Pay up."
"Of course," Shikamaru said, devoid of any enthusiasm. He threw a number of chips into the pot. After that, betting began in clockwise fashion.
"As for bets… I bet that Naruto gets lucky soon!" That was Shino. If he couldn't have a girlfriend, he liked to fantasize what other guys might be doing. His sudden exclamation, as he was tossing in his chips, had Hinata banging her head hard against the window. She saw stars.
"No way!" That was Sai. "Kakashi says it will take years. In his words, Naruto doesn't know a girl from a hole in the ground!" That had everyone rolling a few chips over to the smiling boy in appreciation of his remark. Naruto choked, almost swallowing his cigar.
"Hah!" Kiba slapped his hand down on the table, causing a number of the nearest bottle to wobble back and forth. "It doesn't matter. With a girlfriend like Hinata, he better get real familiar with Pamela palm and her five friends!" Wind whistling in her ears, Hinata felt her face grow warm, despite the chill.
"Ohhhh-hhh-hh-h…." Lee stood up again, striking his Nice Guy pose. "Gai-sensei says that the peerless treasure that pure and true women have to offer is worth waiting for, if it takes forever!"
"He would say that," Choji said, smirking.
"Because it probably will take him forever." Shino thumbed his nose at Lee in friendly fashion. He was glad they hadn't invited any of the jounin other than Neji.
"Naruto was right," Sai said, wondering why he was feeling so light headed. "Only seven studs." He tried Shino's nose thumbing gesture, too.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Sai." Neji said that, coming to the aid of his teammate. But, he certainly shared the same opinion of his teacher that everyone lese but Lee had. Maito Gai was a unique character, no doubt about it! Sneezing, a sopping wet Hinata stared at her cousin. He had come to Lee's defense. Why hadn't he stood up for her?
"Hah!" Naruto almost blew beer out through his nose. "Neji made a joke!"
"We should all take a moment to pray," Shino said, his vice dripping with mock seriousness. "We have all witnessed a miracle…."
"What's next?" Choji asked. "Lee getting a date?"
The banter continued as Kiba busied himself by dealing another up-card is dealt to each player, prompting another betting round. Since Sai's up-cards made the best hand, he started the betting. By the time that Kiba had gotten around to dealing a third up-card, lightning flashed across the sky outside, periodically highlighting a crouched and miserable girl.
Things moved along smoothly, with everyone joking and carrying on. "Two down, four up, one down," Shino said, watching as his teammate flung the last few cards of that game. "It's showdown time." Like his companions, he began making the best five card hand he could, out of the seven cards he had. As everyone busied themselves with the task at hand, Choji started the earthiest topic of the night so far. He asked everyone whether they were a breast man, an ass man, or a leg man.
When it came Naruto's time to answer, Hinata put her fingers in her ears. She looked down at her blouse. It was plastered against her chest. Her legs were cold. Her bottom felt like a block of ice. Her anger had fizzled out earlier. She was too numb now to feel mad. At least, that's what she thought. When she looked back inside, the betting was over and everyone was showing their hands.
"One pair," Lee said, shoulders slumping.
"Don't worry, Lee." Kiba grinned. "Some times a pair is the best thing to have in your hands!"
"If it's a good pair!" Shino knocked bottle with his teammate.
"Two pairs," Choji said, a big smile on his face. He didn't care that he lost that hand. There would be more to follow. Besides, he still had plenty of snacks left. And, since he wasn't low hand in this first game, he wouldn't have to cover the cost of the pizza they would order.
"Same here," Shikamaru said. He shook a fresh cigarette out of its pack. Closing his eyes, he pictured his late sensei playing at this kind of game with his friends. Maybe poker wasn't so bad after all.
Kiba and Shino each had three of a kind. Neji had a straight, but it wasn't good enough.
"It looks like I will be the victor," Sai said, reaching for the pot. He had laid down a flush.
"Not so fast," Naruto said, standing up. He slapped his cards on the table and spread them with a flourish. "Check these babies out. Straight flush." He punched his fist into the air. "Uzumaki Naruto. Biggest winner of them all. There's a reason I'm going to be Hokage some day!"
"Too much sugar in his diet," Neji said to Lee.
"No doubt," Shino added. He scraped up a whole pile of chakra bugs that were out cold, and poured them into one of his robe pockets.
After that, while Lee was phoning in the pizza order, the guys got down to the nitty gritty between hands. They talked about girls. In great detail. Anatomically speaking. A certain white-eyed girl almost couldn't bear to listen.
"Hey!" Lee called out, after they had discussed every girl they knew, and the food had arrived. "We forgot Hinata!" Some of them had. For Naruto and Neji, they purposefully didn't say anything about her. Shikamaru hadn't bothered to say anything about anybody, despite all of Choji's harping on Ino and Temari.
"That's no surprise," Shino said, feeling somewhat bitter that he was always overlooked himself. Overlooked, or thought of as some kind of freak. "Everyone overlooks Hinata!"
That had Hinata's head lifting so fast, that she almost broke her neck. Something inside her snapped. Even the sweetest girl in the Fire Country had her limit! Moving more by raw emotion than any purposeful thought, she got to her feet. When the lightning flashed again, and thunder rolled across the village, she made her way towards the entrance.
As Kiba began to deal the cards for the next go around, the door to the room flew open. Hinata stood there, standing in the stance of the Gentle Fist. Water poured off of her and pooled on the floor. Everyone sat speechless.
"Hinata…." Naruto stood up when Hinata began walking over towards the table. "What are you doing here…."
"Someone overlooked me," Hinata said, her anger boiling over. She was usually a very timid and considerate person. Not now. This was maybe the first time she had been angry in her life. She was going to make the, most of it. At least, relatively speaking. "Maybe that's nothing new." She looked over at Shino. "But… ummm… I didn't think it would happen tonight."
"She almost sounds mad," Kiba said. His face said 'Hinata? Mad?'
"You think?" Sai made a wry face. He was learning sarcasm and the like. Pithy comebacks seemed to be the rage.
"Tonight?" Lee looked ashamed, even though he couldn't think of anything he had done wrong. "What's so special about tonight?"
"Ask Naruto," Hinata said, actually clenching her hands into fists in front of everyone. "He should know." She kicked a chair out of her way. But, she ruined the gesture by moving quickly, making sure it wouldn't hit anyone or damage the room.
"Yes," Choji said. "She's probably mad." He began grabbing snack bags off of the table top and holding them safely in his lap. Ridiculous or not, he pictured Hinata doing Kaiten right there and then.
"But…." Naruto looked like he was thinking furiously. If he were Shikamaru, he would be holding his two hands together in that way of his. "I don't…." He couldn't think of anything he might have done wrong. "I didn't…."
"Yes you did." Hinata walked over and stood right next to his chair. "I believed in you…." She hung her head. "I admired you for the longest time…." Her voice grew husky. "I truly thought you cared for me…."
"I do," Naruto said. "Very much." He stood up and held his arms out, as if to say he was innocent. "You're the most precious of my precious people," he claimed.
"Don't lie to me!" Hinata felt like a tightly coiled spring. She had never felt this way before. She never wanted to feel this way again. "I was waiting for you. It took me a long while to get ready. You said you'd come and get me, right after the sexual education lectures were finished." Oops. That didn't sound right. But, she didn't care.
"Hubba hubba," Sai said. He had thought that saying sounded amusing, after hearing it on a self-instruction tape. He still wasn't certain when the appropriate time was to use it, however.
"Aroooooo-ooooo-oooo-ooo-oo-o…." Kiba let out with a howl that would have made Akamaru proud. "No wonder she's steamed. She wanted some lovin,' but her man came and played cards instead!" That only added more fuel to Hinata's fire.
"Hey… I know you said that… but…." Naruto waved his arms frantically.
"It was our three month anniversary tonight," Hinata said. She hadn't told Naruto that's why they should go out to dinner. She had assumed he would know. "But… you stood me up…." She would probably cry herself to sleep. But, at that moment, her anger was the genie that wanted out of the bottle. The dam broke, and she let them all have it with both barrels, her unintentional choice of words showing that she had spent too much time listening to Naruto rant and rave:
"This sucks…" She looked over at Naruto. "You suck…" She raised her voice, meeting the eyes of the people she thought were her friends. "YOU ALL SUCK!" Sometimes, people just react. Hinata reacted, pulling off the perfect Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin. The Kaiten picked up poker chips, cards, and bottles and had them spinning around the table, as if the room had been hit by a twister. The top of the table rocked back and forth, before being torn free of the sturdy oak pedestal. Lit stoagies were yanked from teeth. Kiba held his tight, but the cigar looked like it had been run over by a herd of elephants.
Her rage gone, Hinata realized what she had said, and what she had done. She immediately put her hand over her mouth. Never in a million years would she have expected to hear words like that come out of her own mouth!
"She's mad alright," Shino said. Maybe having a girlfriend wasn't so great after all.
"But… Hinata-chan…." Naruto tried to put his hands on her shoulders but she shook him off. "I didn't stand you up… I even made reservations…." He swallowed hard, seeing the incredulous look she gave him. "The sex education lectures are tomorrow…."
"…" Hinata stood frozen, as if she had been carved out of a block of glacial ice. "But… that's not true… we had our lecture today…."
"The guys and the girls have their lectures on different days, this week." Neji looked over at his cousin. He would have to make certain that no word of her outburst ever made its way back to his uncle's ears.
"That's why I keep telling Ino that dating is troublesome." Shikamaru blew a big smoke ring in Hinata's direction. "Temari too." He pictured his father, as his mother was chewing him out.
"I…" Hinata turned away from everyone. "I'm so ashamed…." She wished that she had a justu that could turn back time, or erase everyone's memory.
"It's no big deal," Naruto said, tilting her chin up. "We all make mistakes." He touched her sweater, marveling at just how wet she was. "I think you need some dry clothes."
"You don't…." Hinata felt tears well up in her eyes when she looked up at him. "You don't deserve a girlfriend like me…."
"Hey," Naruto said, shrugging. "It only shows how much you care, right?" That little insight had Neji thinking once again that his noisy friend had the best eyes of anyone he knew. "Want me to walk you home?"
"She could stay," Shino said. "I can think of a good game we could play."
"Strip poker," Choji added, thinking what his friend was thinking.
"Luck be a lady tonight!" Kiba rubbed his hands together.
"Come on," Naruto said softly to Hinata. He turned her around and began pushing her towards the door. "You don't need to hear that kind of stuff." He worked his familiar hand seals. Bunshin filled the room.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata managed a small smile.
"They'll keep Shino, Kiba, and Choji busy until I get back." Naruto waved his hand, sending the shadow clones into action.
"Mmmm." Hinata suddenly didn't feel so bad, when Naruto put his arm around her.
END
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'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'
No one is angrier than a woman who has been rejected in love. The proverb is adapted from a line in the play 'The Mourning Bride', by William Congreve, an English author of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
The actual quote is 'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.'