An Isolated Cage And A Song Bird's Key - 1

Thanks for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad everyone liked the prologue so far. Now on with the show!

"W-when will he be getting h-here?"

It was the first and most important question she could think of at the moment. Otherwise she just wanted to get out of the room. She knew Suzume meant well but this conversation - lecture - had taken longer than she thought it would.

"This morning." Suzume bent down to pick up a file, flipping it open to glance over it as she continued to speak, "I don't have an exact time for you, but I imagine he'll be here within thirty minutes. So at least ten minutes before classes start. You should probably start with showing him around the school when he does get here. Introduce him to the other students, anything you can think of to make him more comfortable. As far as I know it is his first time away from home so do keep that in mind."

Suzume was flipping through the folder once again before there was a soft clang on the desk and Hinata did her best to hide the fact that the sudden noise had caused her to jump. Thankfully her sensei didn't seem to notice. If she had Suzume likely would have said something to her about that behavior, how it was another thing Hinata needed to work on. Instead she plucked a key from the surface of the desk, stepping around it towards Hinata, leaving the file closed on her desk.

"After school you'll need to accompany him to his new home while he stays here. Just show him where it is and make sure he knows the route from the school and back so he won't get lost or be late. Okay?"

For a moment she just stared at the key dangling from her sensei's finger before reaching out to have it dropped into the palm of her hand. The metal was thin, tinted green with a slip of paper curled around the ring-shaped end that must have the address scrawled onto it's surface. Hinata gave a small nod of her head.

The chunin seemed to regard her for a moment. "This isn't a one day job, Hinata. I expect to see you getting along with the new student, not standing a kilometer or two behind him, got it?"

Her ears practically went red. "Y-yes, sensei. I un-understand."

"Good." Suzume paused as she went back around the desk to grab the file, straightening out the papers and making sure the edges were perfectly aligned before putting it back in her desk. "I'll see you in a few days, then."

With it finally over Hinata clutched the key in her hand and swiftly left the room, breaking out into a run down the hall to burst from the school building and out into the cool morning air. She drank in the pleasant taste of morning dew, letting the beating in her chest calm before glancing toward the storage unit near the back of the wall that surrounded the training grounds of the school.

With a sigh she slid the key into her pocket before making the trek over and pulling open a door to step inside. She almost couldn't believe what had just happened, and it would happen to her. Her luck really was terrible. Just at the moment she was going to start making some real progress with her training - at least, she hoped she would - she was given a task like this. Suzume hadn't even said for how long it would last. Actually, from the way her sensei worded it the assignment was to last until she said otherwise, or just forgot about it... Was that a possibility or just her own wishful thinking?

Hinata slowly uncurled her hands from the fabric of her jacket. No. This was Suzume, she wouldn't just forget. So she really was stuck with this task then, on top of everything else. Well, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

She grabbed a thin sheet from a shelf before walking back out of the unit, closing the door behind her. Hinata walked over to one of the trees that already had a pad wrapped around the trunk and fit the sheet on top of the surface, pushing the edges into the corners so it wouldn't fall off when she hit it. With that in place she stepped back and took up the stance of the Hyuuga Clan.

Within a second she had activated her byakugan. The world shifted, seeming to surround her in her own cocoon, except for that thin line just behind her. She concentrated on just the area ahead of her, looking at the tree to find some small imperfection in the rings before striking out with the palm of her hand.

Hinata focused on that small area, continuing to strike it again and again, making sure her hands didn't falter in the slightest. Just find that one little spot, so similar to a chakra point and be sure to hit it. With each hit of her hands she changed the flow of her chakra.

The chakra she had just striked with would have halted the flow of chakra in her opponent. So her next strike needed to make the chakra flow back through the body once again. If there was a body.

Upon hearing people walking on the other side of the wall Hinata lowered her arms, closing her eyes for a second as she deactivated her byakugan. Some of the other students were arriving now and she had her knew task to deal with or else she would have continued training up until the bell rang, signalling all students to get to their classes in the next few minutes. With a sigh she opened her eyes and leaned forward, taking off the sheet even though she hadn't managed to train hard enough to draw blood.

At least she had manged to get some training done, but now she had to go and look for the new student and hope he was here now like her teacher had said. What if it was like Suzume said though and he had gotten lost because it was his first time here?

She shook her head hard. No, no someone could have given him directions to the academy if that was the case. Besides it shouldn't be too hard to find him. He would be around their age, a shinobi in training, and new to town so she would never have seen him before. Oh! But what if she mistook another kid that was here with their parents for him? They did get tourists just like every other village. What if-

The dip of a branch in a nearby tree caught her attention. If it hadn't been for the leaves moving though she never would have noticed it. Currently the air was still, so no parts of the tree should be moving in the first place.

Hinata looked up quickly, blinking in surprise. She hadn't known she had had an audience. How long had this boy been standing there? And how come she hadn't noticed him? Well, she was turning out to be a laughing stock of the shinobi if someone could sneak up on her so easily.

The boy was standing on the branch of the tree, close to the trunk, eyes on her looking almost... bored. No, more like impassive. It was as if his face was neutral to emotion. She felt her eyes drawn to the scar just above his left eye, it was the character for love and she couldn't help but wonder how he had gotten such an unusual yet beautiful scar. The lines were precise, just like when the character was written with a brush and ink. Then her gaze moved to the gourd on his back made out of sand... Sand.

"Ah, are you G-gaara?"

There was a slight tilt of his head at her question as he seemed to consider answering. It was another second before he spoke, "Yes." His voice was low, rough. If there was ever a voice that could kill it was likely his.

It sent an unpleasant shiver down her back. "My n-name is Hinata. I w-was asked to h-help you settle i-in." She waited a second, then another before realizing he was probably waiting for her to say more. Hinata gulped softly, hoping that her voice wouldn't betray her so much this time around. "Everyone in our year has the same sc-schedule," Damn it. "I c-could show y-ou to the c-classrooms now or w-wait until the b-bell rings and show you to the f-first class, and t-take it from there for the d-day."

At his continued silence she glanced up through her lashes, hoping she hadn't just made too much of a fool of herself. His next words only cemented that idea though. "I don't need help."

She felt her heart beat faster in her chest. "But-" His hard stare made her falter. But she had to help him. Suzume had said so. It was her task! If she went to her sensei saying that the new student didn't want her help the instructor wasn't going to take that for an answer. She would be told to do it anyway. "Suzume sensei t-told me I was to h-help you a-and that's w-what I'm go-going to d-do." She hated her stutter right then. Even with her voice being a bit higher in pitch she doubted she had sounded very in control of the situation with it.

"What jutsu does this Suzume teach?"

Hinata almost jumped from the sound of his voice. Why was he asking what-oh. "You won't m-meet her. She t-teaches me and the o-others how to be kun-kunoichi."

She didn't see his expression change, but he likely understood now why one of the instructors would give her such a task when it had nothing to do directly with training. Well, at least she was able to give him an answer that made more sense. Maybe now he would let her do her given task. "Does everyone here talk like you?"

Her eyes widened at his next question and she felt her cheeks grow hot under his unmoving gaze. "N-no, it-it's ju-just m-me," as the words left her lips she was sure her whole face had gone as red as a tomato. Oh, dear. Had she really just said that? And why did he have to ask her such an embarrassing question in the first place? Was he making fun of her?

She glanced up quickly to see him just blink at her before stepping off of the tree. Well, at least he wasn't laughing. "Let's go then."