This is a gift fic for my friend Jes, who has been all ill with a busted appendix and doesn't see enough ChouHina on this site. It's also a christmas fic for all you lovely readers, and will end up a fluffy two-shot, with any luck. Oh, and it's for the 100 Themes Challenge.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and happy holidays!
96) In the Storm
It is winter in the Land of Fire, and everybody knows it. Snow is falling so thick there's no visibility at all, not for normal shinobi anyway. For the Hyuuga household, this is the time of year to take gate duty, to stand at the walls and watch for signs of life. This had been the duty of the clan since the formation of the Leaf Village, and Hiashi Hyuuga takes tradition seriously.
Hence, at the first sign of snow, he and his daughters are standing in the blizzard, battered and iced and shivering under layers of wool and dignity. It is tradition, too, to ignore the weakness all of them experience in the face of nature, so for once his eldest daughter is not berated for her weakness despite her shaking limbs.
Hours pass in silence, uncomfortable but somehow more easy even than the usual silences between them. This one is purposeful, dutiful, rather than nervous and unsure. Hinata prefers silences like this to the ones that linger in the rooms of her home.
In the end, the shift is uneventful, and Neji arrives with a few of the strongest branch members to take second shift. It's one of the few times the whole clan cooperates, when the pride all the clan is supposed to have finally shows through, even in the most timid. Still, Hinata is glad to get back to the house for a few hours sleep and warmth. It's only six hours until her next shift – the beginning of the night – and she knows that tradition or not, her father will be angry if she falls asleep while on watch.
Soon, it's 8pm, and the pale white light has faded from her room, and the switch over to her bloodline limit makes everything shockingly bright. She's used to it though, and her mind is already focused on the storm raging on the other side of the walls. She walks to her post alone, already shivering, to relieve Neji from his shift.
She sees before she reaches him that he is the only one not effected by the storm, standing straighter and stiller than even her father could. It hurts, but she's used to being bested, even on other peoples' behalf.
The storm is worse on this watch, far colder and howling faster than before. Her hands are numb and her spine aches but she olds her post stubbornly. The discomfort isn't enough to be frostbite, so she's not willing to give in and leave. Mind set on staying, she pushes her vision further, away from her own body and the cold, and out into the forests surrounding Konoha.
Only minutes later, she spots the first sign of trouble. Three chuunin, her age...team ten, split up and lost in the blizzard. They look healthy now, and warm, but that won't last more than a few hours, and the night is still getting colder. Keeping focused on them, and praying someone is watching, Hinata sets off a ground-flare and leaves her post.
It's hard to travel while watching three separate people, but it's not new to her, and it's better than remaining still as the motion warms her, at least a little. There's too much else to concentrate on to notice the biting cold.
She finds Ino first, ahead of her companions but rushing as if to catch up. The girl doesn't see her until the last minute, and Hinata has to dodge a preemptive strike.
"Wait! Ino, it's me, H-hinata." For a moment silence falls, but for the raging wind, as Ino squints at her through the night and the swirling haze of flakes..
"Hinata? Why're...we need to find Shika and Chouji, I fell behind but I don't know if they were going the right way and-"
"They're not far off. Come on." Hinata takes the girl's hand, mildly worried that she can't feel any warmth from it, and sets off again towards Shikamaru, only a few steps away. He's standing still where before he wad running, and he doesn't flinch when Hinata grabs his hand.
"Shikamaru, i-it's me and Ino."
"I thought I heard something. Hinata, you can see Chouji, right?" He takes her hand wordlessly as she nods, and they plunge as one through the storm again.
A minute later they reach Chouji, slowed down by drifts of snow up to waist height, and Shikamaru grabs the boy's shoulder.
"Chouji, we found you. That's all of us then. Hinata, can you see the way back?" She nods, turning to face into the wind. "Yes. Just f-follow me."
It's too cold and the snow is too deep to run, and team ten can't see the forest debris underfoot what with the dark and the ice numbing their limbs. By the time they get back Hinata cannot feel anything touching her, and the ground has turned into a tunnel of footsteps yet to take. Light from the gates makes the blackness fade to grey, and they stumble to a stop directly under her post.
"So, um, can you find your w-way from here? I need to g-get back on my shift." Sikamaru nods, but Chouji grabs her hand.
"Hinata, you've got to be kidding. You're blue, you need to warm up before anything else. Come back to my house and get thawed. It's only a moment away." She blushes and looks up to see Neji staring back at her. He raises an eyebrow at her and makes a shooing motion with his hand. Of course he'll be fine, he's barely even shivering, and he always does everything better than she could anyway.
Still unsure, she nods, and Chouji takes her arm to pull her into the village proper.
I'll try to get the second chapter up soon, but christmas-ing is taking up a lot of time and I have loads of family to stay...hopefully it'll be up before 2010.
Remember, feedback is my psychological caffeine!