And another one.
Hinata was stressed, a rare feeling coming from her and it was impossible to tell, from her outward appearance, that she even the remotest bit concerned about anything in particular.
It was currently the first period of the day and Hinata was silently copying down some notes in History class, occasionally glancing across the room at two rowdy boys having a go at each other for the third time that day. Kiba and Naruto, just two of the reasons Hinata's mind was at war with her conscience. The main source of her frustrations though was last night. When Neji told Hinata they were patrolling with Sasuke that night she hadn't actually expected to find anything, instead she ended up finding a wind spirit playing shougi against her crushes best friend, who was a vampire. She knew for a fact that she was the only one who knew this though, as Neji had de-activated his byakugan when he neared the game and both the spirit and vampire were too well disguised for Sasuke to sense them.
Hinata was now torn between what she should do and what she wants to do. She had already lied to her cousin's face when pretending to have know idea what had power over winds, and now as a member of the Hyuuga clan she should not only help Neji and Sasuke find the sylph but also tell them that Shikamaru-kun was, in fact, a vampire. But Hinata didn't want the sylph to die nor did she want to have Shikamaru killed since he was a friend of her crush, whom she was sure wasn't entirely human either.
Her crush. Who exactly was her crush? Hinata had most defiantly fallen for the blond loud-mouth the moment he walked though the door, but after a friendly conversation with his friend Kiba and a moments thought Hinata wasn't so sure that was still the case.
Hinata sunk into her chair in defeat; she had never been a very resolute person.
The bell sounded for the next period, soundly reminding Hinata that she still had to memories all the muscles in the body before PE.
Collecting her books she headed to the door, patiently wait for the bulk of the class rush out in to the hall. She was pleasantly surprised when Kiba appeared next to her and offered his company on the way to her next class, Home Ecc.
"W-won't you b-be late for your class K-Kiba-kun?"
"Nah, I got a free period!" Kiba grinned and stuck his thumb up. Hinata blushed slightly at his smile and began to look at the floor.
They walked along the halls in a comfortable silence (or at least as silent as a hallway full of students could be) until Hinata heard a small rustling come from Kiba. On closer, and very subtle, inspection she realized that the sound was coming from inside Kiba's backpack, which he seemed to always have with him even though the coordinator had already assigned everyone lockers on the first day.
"A-ano, Kiba-k-kun your bag is – eep!" Hinata squealed then covered her mouth as a small brown and white dog popped his head out of the bag. Kiba peered over his shoulder then laughed out loud, picking the dog out of his bag he held it out to Hinata.
"Ahhh! Hinata-san this is Akamaru. Akamaru say hello to Hinata-san."
The dog yapped gleefully and licked at Hinata's outstretched hand. The wet tongue ticked her fingers and Hinata began to giggle pulling her hand back around the books.
"D-demo, is A-Akamaru allowed to be here?" Hinata began to scan the halls on the look out for any teachers.
"You can keep a secret can't you?" Kiba held a finger over his mouth a sly look covering his features.
"H-hai." Hinata nodded a bit and blushed, suddenly reminded that she was in fact keeping a lot of secrets at the moment. She was seriously beginning to wonder if having so many dangerous secrets was good for her health.
"Well! Here we are. Gimme some food when you come out, ne?"
"Hai, arigatou gozaimasu Kiba-kun. I'll cook you something." Hinata waved goodbye meekly and found herself caught in a bone-crushing hug (not as bad as Gai's though (a/n: thank Kami-sama for that, Hinata would die!)).
"Arigatou Hinata-san!" Kiba grinned like a wolf and Akamaru stuck his head out of the bag and barked. Hinata assumed it was his way of saying goodbye.
Smells wafted through the air as Hinata skillfully molded rice into appropriate shapes for various items in her dish of sashimi. The teacher lectured them as they work describing proper etiquette when catering for visitors and telling them the course outline for the first semester of school.
Hinata listened intently as she worked but when the teacher stopped and began to move around the room inspecting people's work, Hinata began to wonder what the two girls on her table were talking about. They had been whispering for some time now and every now and then they would cast a glance at Hinata. Suddenly the blonde turned her full attention to Hinata and leaned over the table.
"Ohiyou gozaimasu. I'm Yamanaka Ino, are you Hinata?"
"H-hai."
"This is my friend Tenten. Us and a few other girls are gonna get together of Friday night, you want to come with?"
"Ahhhh… S-sure Ino-san, where are we m-meeting?"
"We're meeting at that Indian place at 7 for dinner then we'll go check out that freaky place on Smith Street. You know the one?"
"A-are you sure that's the b-best place to go?" Hinata looked uncertain, she remembered hearing of that place from Neji and Neji only really spoke to her about vampires and the like.
"Don't tell you're afraid of vampires too! Honestly Tenten your spreading the disease!"
"Hey! I told you I'm not afraid of vampires." The girl with buns in her hair scowled as she sliced prawns.
"I-I'm not afraid of v-vampires either."
"Well it's settled then," Ino grinned, ignoring the glares coming from Tenten, "We'll see you there then."
"Who else is c-coming?"
Ino tapped a dangerously sharp knife against her lip and began to list off names.
"Me, Tenten, you and Sakura. Hmmm seems smaller when I say it like that. Oh well."
"Ok, s-sounds good." Hinata began to wrap up some nori rolls and placed them into a small container.
Hinata paced down the halls quietly wondering how on earth she was going to find Kiba. It was recess and everyone was sitting around outside which meant looking around the building probably wasn't the best idea. An idea soon struck Hinata as she headed outside; she silently activated her byakugan and hid behind a wall.
Hinata could remember what Kiba felt like and it wasn't long until she spotted him with a group of about three people surrounding his. She recognized the presence of Naruto standing next to Kiba making large and mostly rude gestures at the dog boy. Suddenly Kiba pounced on the shorter boy and Hinata's jaw dropped. She saw it, if only for a second, there guard had dropped and she had seen it.
Kiba, Kiba wasn't human and Naruto, what was Naruto? He seemed dangerous, power dripped from him…..and something else, something dark, anger? Anguish? Hinata didn't have time to further investigate though, since as quickly as it dropped their guard it came back once again hiding them and making them 'human'.
'Oh no!' Hinata's mind screamed at her to go find Neji and tell him everything, but some else tugged at her brain telling her to go up to them, give Kiba his food.
Ino had just bought herself some lunch waited for Sakura to be served.
"What did you get?" Ino peered into the bowl Sakura was holding.
"Caesar Salad."
"Ohhh, someone's getting weight conscious." Ino teased.
Sakura stuck her tongue out. "At least I'm mindful of my weight Ino-pig! Hey look there's Tenten, let's go sit with her."
Ino followed Sakura to a large sakura tree which was providing a pleasant pink view for anyone who cared to sit under it. Tenten sat there next to two quarreling boys whom Ino recognized were in her home group.
"Hey Tenten-san!" Sakura called making all three look up and wave.
"Hi Sakura-san, Ino-san. This here with the blonde hair is Naruto and that's Kiba. Shikamaru's sleeping on the other side of the tree." Tenten shoved her thumb behind her.
Ino scowled at the figure snoozing behind Tenten. It was that boy who had gotten all friendly with Neji. Ino continued to glare at the offending figure but allowed Sakura to pull her to the ground.
"Hinata over here!" Tenten waved her hand in the air ushering the stuttering girl over. Hinata wondered over slowly and was greeted warmly by the girls.
"Ne….. Hinata-chan! Is that for me!" Kiba bounded over full of energy, plucking the bag out of her offered hand. "Yum! Hinata-chan is the greatest."
Kiba began to stuff his face as Hinata sat down next to Sakura and noticed Shikamaru sleeping behind the tree.
"Does h-he always s-sleep?" Hinata recalled that he had slept through some of her class, too, surely he couldn't still be tired?
"Probably, lazy bastard!" Ino spat a little louder than necessary. Suddenly Ino found herself face-to-face with the loud blond.
"If you're trying to wake him up shouting won't work. He's slept through a bloody earthquake." The blond grinned and sprung back up onto his feet and chased Kiba for food.
"Hmmm, really?" A devilish smile graced Ino lips as she looked over at the sleeping boy. The blonde reaching into her back and began looking for a pen.
"Urmmm Ino-pig, what are you doing?"
Ino moved so she was leaning over the brunettes face and un-lidded the pen, blocking out the objections coming from behind her she moved to start drawing on him.
"Errmm, Ino-san, I wouldn't do-"
A vice-like grip closed around Ino wrist as the pen was half and inch from Shikamaru's face. Sleepy, doe eyes looked up at Ino.
"that." Tenten finished lamely.
"Yare yare. What do we have here?" Shikamaru's voice was laced with boredom as he removed the pen from Ino's frozen hand and moved her hand back to her lap.
Regaining her composure Ino glared at Shikamaru. "What the fuck?! You were supposed to be asleep!"
"I was."
"Then how the hell did you know?" Ino instantly regretted asking when Shikamaru sat up his face so close she could feel his icy breath ghost across her ear.
"Do you really want to know?" Shikamaru voice was low as he whispered into her ear. Ino flushed bright pink and noticed vaguely that everyone around her was silently watching them.
"Cuz I'm not gonna tell you." Shikamaru grinned and fell back onto the grass, promptly falling back to sleep.
Ino was now red with embarrassment and anger, Kiba and Naruto howled with laughter and Sakura just sighed in disappointment. The red blonde soon realized Naruto and Kiba had known Shikamaru was only going to make a fool out of her and Sakura had been expecting something more romantic from the doe eyed boy. Hinata looked like a stunned bluebird clearly not expecting that reacting at all, on the other hand Tenten just sat there rubbing her temples and smiling apologetically at Ino, she must've gotten used to this.
"Teme!" Ino spat venomously at the sleeping Shikamaru kicking him slightly before wondering back over to the girls.
As the final bell rang Ino began to let her mind wonder. She gazed about the school yard as it slower got emptier and emptier, and head of black hair alerted Ino to the ridiculously good looking Neji standing about a hundred meters away. Turning fully to face one of her few idols (she was very picky). 'Pity he keeps such bad company' Ino glared as she noticed a pineapple haired brunette wonder over towards Neji.
'What the hell is so good about Shikamaru that Neji doesn't push him away like he does with everyone else?!' Deciding she had the right to know Ino crept up to the two boys and loitered at a safe distance, but close enough that she could hear every word they said.
"Konnichiwa, Shikamaru."
"Hmm, in a bad mood are we?"
"Hn."
"Mendoi. Are you gonna tell me why or will I have to guess?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because I need the homework for PE and if you're in a bad mood then I doubt my chances of getting it."
"Always about you is it?"
"Something wrong with that?"
"Hn."
"Well?"
Neji pulled some paper out of a book and thrust it into Shikamaru's hand. "Here. I don't see why you don't ask anyone else for the homework."
"I could."
"Then why won't you?"
"No reason. It's just an excuse to see you." Shikamaru grinned tapping the slightly flustered Neji over the head with the paper.
"Hey, Shika!"
Heads turned as a buxom blonde (a/n: actually buxom this time) hollered from the gate, casually walking up to Shikamaru.
"Hmmm? Temari, why are you here?"
Ino noticed Neji scowl ever so slightly at the, although she hated to admit it, pretty good looking blonde as she draped her arms around Shikamaru and kissed him gently.
"Miss you."
"Weren't you the one who ditch me?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, not really caring that Temari was playing with his hair.
"I'd better be going." Neji cut into the conversation before stalking off. Temari looked at him in surprise then pressed herself up to Shikamaru.
"Sorry, hun! Looks like I made him jealous." Ino didn't catch what she said next as the girl started whispering in his ear. Kissing him again the busty girl left as abruptly as she came. Watching the happy couple talk then kiss was beginning to tug on something inside of Ino, and she knew just what it was, jealousy. 'Kuso.'
I just remembered I usually put up translations of the various random Japanese that's in there. Oh well, you're all very smart people, I assume you can guess from the context. If you don't get something still, email me, don't use the one on my account thingy use this instead: