Hinata stirred under the weight of her blankets, slow to respond to the noise within her room. She needed the sleep, an intruder as a wakeup call wouldn't help her recovery. Passive to the thought of real danger, Hinata tuned out her senses by stuffing her extra pillow gently over her head.
Again, the room rustled with sounds beyond her bed. Very carefully, she propped herself up on her small hands and scanned the room with her pale eyes. Had there been an actual threat, her less than speedy response would have meant the end of her, but small white puppies don't tend to kill a friend.
Rolling gracefully from her bed, Hinata took a few slow and deliberate steps. As a result of the chuunin exam, any careless movement punished her with scattered pain. The extra attention to care kept her indoors, while everyone else prepared for the final round or relaxed around town.
She didn't need to be told of her father's reaction to the defeat. She never saw him at the hospital, or at home. She merely waited at home until someone would find her there.
Watching the dog bound up and down, reaching just short of her desktop, Hinata tentatively reached for his form. She cradled him in her arms with a steady rocking motion. Hinata spotted a single doggy treat atop her desk, with no explanation to it, or the dog's, presence.
"You want this?" Hinata teased the canine as it snapped at the dangling snack. "Only if Kiba-kun says its okay." She promised and stowed it away in her coat pocket that hung motionlessly over her chair.
Morning light was pouring through the window, reminding her of the outdoor world she once enjoyed. The light blanketed Akamaru and he began to squirm, insisting on some outside action. Hinata carefully set him back down on the cool floor and watched him scurry to her closed door.
"I feel like go out today too, Akamaru-kun." Hinata slid her usual clothes over the loose outfit she slept in and opened her door.
"Summoning jutsu!"
Beady black eyes returned Naruto's disappointed stare when the tadpole realized dry land now surrounded him. Naruto breathed in deeply to cool his nerves and tossed the creature over his shoulder. The tadpole splashed into some water and silently peaked over the surface. A hundred sets of eyes stared at him in a similar fashion from the same pool.
"Damn… I'm getting nowhere with this." He said discouraged by his lack of improvement. Jiraiya's return was long overdue, and Naruto found this task impossible without the pervert around to help.
The lively pool of eyes chimed synchronously at his efforts. "You're making frogress." They all laughed like a group of school children hearing a teacher fart. Naruto suspected there was a gap between toad and human humor as he stared blankly at them. If he was making progress, it wasn't because of their cheerleading.
Naruto nipped at the clotted blood on his thumb and slammed fresh blood on the ground. A smoky cloud expanded over the area and lingered in the air for a short time. From the hazy obstruction, came an orange, hand sized frog; complete with lungs and all four legs.
Making no attempt to ease out his excitement, Naruto broke into a celebratory cheer. Depending on the person, his attitude was either contagious or an annoyance, but this toad expressed neither and waited patiently for the boy to calm down.
As his initial enthusiasm subsided, the toad took the chance to deflate his ego. "Don't get ahead of yourself." It croaked. "I came to tell you to stop summoning the babies."
"Eh?" Naruto's smile fell and he squinted suspiciously at the toad. "If you can do that tell your bigger friends to come out!"
"That's strange." The toad perched itself on its hind legs to get a better angle on Naruto's face. "Jiraiya promised more talent for this generation, but all I see is a loser." He smiled in satisfaction at seeing his summoner's face contort with anger.
Rage stemmed from Naruto's core; nobody called him a loser. The toad was snatched up by a furious hand and was flung into the water. The splash scattered the frightened tadpoles into a hundred directions.
The chuunin exam made everything in the heart of Konoha crowded and loud. The final round was only a week away and a lot of foreign ninja were boasting in the streets. Hinata gasped at all the turmoil; Konoha was usually quiet this time of year. She couldn't remember what Konoha's last chuunin exam was like. Hinata enjoyed walking in peace so she gradually removed herself from the busy areas of the village.
Thinking of the exam brought strong emotion within her. She was ecstatic to see Naruto make it to the finals, she found herself rooting for him even as he eliminated her own teammate. Strength, desire, and even what she could only describe as love swelled within her heart as his words reached her. Everyone expected her to fail the moment the computer decided her match, but not him. He believed in her to the very end.
Akamaru weaved in and out of her feet with each passing step. Hinata had to be careful or she would trip over his furry body. There was still no word on why the dog came to be in her room, but it didn't matter; she liked the company.
White fur brushed by her ankle and Akamaru tried wooing her in a certain direction. Hinata tried to follow but limitations on her movement prevented her from keeping up with the lively pup.
"Akamaru-kun! Come back!" She called to him. At first he stopped and looked her way, as if in a dilemma to comply or move on. Having no way of knowing Hinata's physical condition was any less than all the times they played together, the pooch chose to pursue its course. Hinata called again but yelling was putting unwelcome strain on her lungs.
Naruto straightened when he heard the voice but was disappointed to hear it wasn't the perverted hermit's. A light, feminine voice was calling but it stopped before he could recognize it.
Looking over the hill, he saw Hinata's tired face poke up above its peak. The frustration from his training had left him a bit high-strung the past few days; the sight of a familiar face softened him a little.
Before any reunion took place, Akamaru blindsided Naruto and tackled his gut. Naruto fell to his rear on impact; the size of the dog never seemed to match the power it could dish out.
Akamaru fought tirelessly against Naruto as he kept the dog an arm's length away. With his free arm, Naruto waved across the clearing. "Hinata, over here!"
Hinata struggled to climb the incline after Akamaru and exerted herself a little more than she wanted to, but the payoff was more than a runaway dog. When she spotted Naruto waving her in, she couldn't help but crack a shy smile while making her tremulous approach.
"Hi Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke with barely a whisper.
"Yeah…" Naruto kept focus on his ongoing battle Akamaru. The canine seemed steadfast on licking every inch of his face, while Naruto was equally against the idea. "Stupid dog! What's with him?"
Hinata laughed nervously at his reaction and the dog's persistence. "He likes you. I bet he's sorry for attacking you during the exam. He usually acts like this after training…"
"Is that it?" Naruto cautiously lowered his guard and allowed the dog closer. It only took a few licks across his face before the tongue breeched his lips, giving him a taste of dog mouth. "Enough! Truce!" Naruto finally stuffed the dog in his lap and pacified him with a scratch to the head.
Around them was nothing but prying amphibian eyes. That detail alone made her wonder why there were so many, but was soon overshadowed by her realizing they were in fact, alone.
Mindful of her injuries, Hinata slowly sat down in the grass across from Naruto. A lot of times she struggled to find the right words, which developed into her finger twiddling habit and some stuttering.
Fortunately Naruto knew where to start. He hadn't seen her since she was carried away on a stretcher from her match with Neji. A shred of guilt crossed him when he realized he never went to check on her. "Are you feeling better? I was worried…"
"I'm okay now…" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and swiftly away again. "Thank you…"
"Ah well I didn't do anything. As long as you're alright I have nothing to worry about."
Hinata swelled at his returned smile, she couldn't stop hers even if she wanted to. She blacked out after her inspiring fight and was never able to thank him properly. That left her with a lot to say but again, it was hard for her to express it verbally. If Naruto could read blushes she wouldn't ever need to say anything. "But you did… thanks for believing in me…"
"Of course! Don't listen to that Neji. Not a word of his blabbering was true, and I'll prove that to him!" Hinata was one of those people that found his behavior contagious. He would find her with the saddest of expressions and have her smiling before even saying a word. She was weird like that.
Hinata swallowed her deepening blush, slightly straightening her back to keep some composure, but it was hard when he said such things. She noticed the oversized toad was watching her with some fascination. There was something unsettling about a toad's gaze that made anyone uncomfortable after a while.
Curiosity overcoming her shyness, Hinata spoke again pointing at the orange toad. "Um… who's your friend?"
"Gamakichi." The toad answered to Hinata's surprise, never ceasing its eternal stare. Only summoned creatures could talk, was Naruto…?
"I'm learning how to summon!" Naruto said with characteristic pride. I went through some business with a contract…" He glanced over at his collection in the pond. "Now I'm stuck with these guys."
"Hello Hinata-chan." The school announced like a crowd of children.
She was laughing again, with less strain now. It was cute to hear them speak and blink simultaneously. Hinata waved bashfully to the pond. "Hi."
In their moment of silence, a breeze combed the area, rustling the branches above them to make a hissing sound. Naruto followed the descent of a particular leaf that was falling between them. It lingered across Hinata's face a moment before falling to the ground. The sides of Hinata's bangs were blowing up against her face, obstructing his view. Just what did he want to see?
As she swept the hair from her eyes, the erythematic sound of fallen leaves being crunched grew louder with each beat. Hinata turned her head to see who was coming, as did Naruto.
Jiraiya observed Naruto's guest and the small zoo around him and suddenly turned away. "Sorry to interrupt. When you're done I'd like to see your progress Naruto." He was nearly gone after speaking.
Snapped away from his uncertain interest, Naruto reverted to something he was sure about. "Ero-sennin! Where have you been?" Naruto steamed over his frustration with his new sensei. He had nearly forgotten about him for a minute.
"E-ero… sennin?" Hinata recognized the fading figure from somewhere. Wasn't he the famous frog hermit Jiraiya? "One of the sannin is training you?" She asked in admiration.
"Yeah he told me about how great he was, but really he is an ero-sennin. Don't get involved with that guy." Naruto finished with a nod.
The sannin of Konoha wouldn't take an apprentice so easily unless they saw something great within them. While glad that more people acknowledged Naruto, she didn't want to steal away his time. "I won't... I don't want to hinder your training… I'll go." She said with a heavy heart. Moments like these were hard to come by and even harder to end.
Hinata readied to sit herself up when Gamakichi hopped into her lap. She looked down inquisitively at the toad. It spoke in that froggy voice to her. "You're nicer than this guy. Do you have any treats?"
Hinata gently rubbed her finger across the toad's backside. "Sorry Gamakichi-kun. Nothing on me." She continued stroking if only to delay her departure another minute.
Naruto piped down since Jiraiya left from his cameo appearance. He watched Hinata play quietly with the rough toad. When Jiraiya got into his useless lectures on the mind of woman, Naruto learned to ignore him. However, something about this triggered curiosity in him. "Hey Hinata. Don't toads creep you out?"
"Huh?" She breathed out inaudible confusion. What gave Naruto that idea? "What do you mean?" She asked more coherently.
Naruto played his sensei's speech over in his head. "Ero-sennin once told me not to summon a frog around girls. He says even one grosses them out and they'll scream." Now he had just cause to never listen to that drabble. Not only was it lecherous in nature, it also wasn't true.
Toads didn't bother her but she weighed her reply carefully. What did Naruto want her to say? Unable to decide, she chose neutral ground that suggested a lot more than she intended. "Um… do you… like… girls… like… that?" Halfway through, she swallowed hard when she realized what she was saying.
Naruto pondered it for a second. "Hmm nah! It's cool you aren't a girl Hinata." He said oblivious to what that could also mean. Naruto figured Ero-sennin must be turning away the girls for other reasons.
She understood the difficulty of finding the right words sometimes. She hoped Naruto stumbled over his this time; they weren't very flattering. "Naruto-kun…" She mumbled as she exhaled. She silently thanked the toad for the ass backward compliment by presenting the doggy treat she recalled was in her coat. "I have this dog biscuit. Do you want it?" She shyly held it forward.
Naruto cringed. "Eh… no thanks, I'll pass." Hinata was definitely strange.
"No! I mean-"
She tried correcting herself but was interrupted when a slimy tongue stole away the snack she held. This did not go unnoticed by Akamaru and he jumped away from Naruto to claim his rightful food. Hinata scrambled away on her hands and knees in a hurry to get away from the brawl.
Naruto hurried to his feet and tried to stop the fight. Although Gamakichi deserved it for calling him a loser, he didn't want any bad blood between him and the toad family. Naruto grabbed the orange toad and pulled him away. The doggy treat was ripped from its tongue and was chomped down by Akamaru. Naruto called for peace between them, but Gamakichi hopped lazily away when the dog let out a satisfied yelp.
"Okay." Naruto straightened out his head plate and brushed off his clothes. "I need to get moving. Lots of work to do in the next week."
Hinata nodded solemnly to him. "Good luck with your training." She was having a nice time; she hated to cut it short.
"Thanks! Feel better soon, alright?" He turned away to follow Jiraiya's path. "See you!"
"Bye Naruto-kun…"
Gamakichi followed Naruto and the tadpoles vanished into a puff of smoke. Hinata was left alone by the pond with Akamaru. She knelt down to the dogs face and petted him in gratitude. Because of his antics, Hinata felt like she was able to get a little closer to Naruto.
Naruto looked over his shoulder in Hinata's direction to see her hunched over Akamaru. Gamakichi wasn't expecting him to stop and bumped into his leg.
"Hey don't stop like that. What's with you?" The toad croaked from below.
Naruto watched her for a moment longer then turned away. "… It's nothing…"