Chapter 4: Just Another Day

Hinata POV

I opened my eyes to the blinding sun and quickly closed them shut again, pulling the covers over me. The sun was already bright in the sky. It was morning, maybe even noon. Realizing that I'd woken up late, I pushed myself off the bed and twisted my body so my feet landed on the floor. I still didn't have even energy to just spring into life, and an annoying nauseating feeling came over me. It was just going to be one of those mornings, I thought to myself.

As I slowly ate my breakfast bowl of rice, I went over all the things I had to do. I'd already slept through the only part that I could spend doing whatever I wanted. After breakfast, I had to go to the demonstration at the Academy. After that, I promised Tenten and Ino that I'd have a lunch with them. And then after that I had planned to ask Neji if he needed help training his genin for the Chunin exams.

I bit my lip as I thought of the Chunin exams. They meant little to me anymore. What was rank to him? He'd never advanced the ranks past a genin, and yet he saved us all. Why should rank matter now? Bravery and strength, and a good heart, could never be measured by a title. If anything, it demeaned the actual qualities that make a good ninja. It was with these thoughts that I headed out to the Academy for the demonstration.

Shikamaru greeted me at the gate and let me in. His class was going well, as far as I knew. When I asked what it was he wanted me to demonstrate, he said he was doing a lesson on bloodline limits and thought it would be good to show them some Hyuga martial arts based on the Byakugan.

"You don't have to though. You look tired."

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine." That had become my automatic response. "I already have a routine I can do. It's simple enough not to overwhelm the children."

After a short introduction by Shikamaru into the subject, I started my demonstration. It was the same movements I used in that Chunin exam fight I had to face Neji in. I remembered it because he was there, and his face was the last thing I saw before blacking out. The demonstration went by quickly for me. I lost myself in the memory of his living self. I think Shikamaru had tried to signal to me several times that I could stop, but I didn't notice. The memory replaying in my head was just too perfect, even if I was getting beaten close to death, even if in that memory I felt pain in every molecule of my body, it was perfect because he was there watching. He called out my name, and it gave me strength.

"Hinata!"

Only this time it wasn't his voice. Shikamaru called out again, and I finally snapped back into reality. I looked around and saw familiar wooden walls, and the young schoolchildren. For their sake, I put on a smile. "That is Hyuga martial arts. It's a technique used to block off chakra points using the Byakugan, which is only possessed by members of the Hyuga clan."

They looked back at me, amazed, with their large eyes full of fascination. Shikamaru thanked me, and asked the class to thank me, and when it was all over, he added in a lower voice, "You don't have to stay."

I looked back at the children and considered for a moment that I should help a little longer, but they looked too much like how we all used to be. "Thank you," I said, and I left.

The sun had only gotten hotter since the morning, and I guessed that noon had arrived, or was about to arrive. That meant lunch time. That meant that any time now…

"Hinata!" Ino's voice rang.

I turned around just as Ino came running to me, with Tenten walking steadily behind her. "Hi," I answered. "How've you two been?"

"We're great," Tenten said, smiling as she finally caught up with Ino. "You?"

I clapped my hands together. "I'm fine."

"Well, we should start walking," Ino said. "I heard Ichiraku's new menu is attracting a lot of customers."

I blinked, and I froze, and then I looked at the ground. "Ichiraku's?"

Ino nodded. "Yeah, Choji told me it's one of the most delicious things he's ever tasted. Let's go already!"

"Uhm…" My loud heartbeat pounded into my thoughts, and a good excuse became hard to reach. "I... I'm not really that hungry. You two go ahead, and I'll just eat at the dumpling place that just opened."

"But that's on the other side of the village," she answered. "If you weren't really hungry, you wouldn't need to go there at all. Come on, Hinata, just eat with us!"

I sighed and turned to Tenten, who looked just as eager. "No, really, I'll eat later. I have other things I have to finish first."

Ino was not fooled. "Like what?"

"Like…" I was stuck. If I wasn't so panicked I probably could have thought of something. All I knew was that I could not go to Ichiraku's. It would destroy my existence, or something dramatic like that. Without my brain intact, though, I left myself to the mercy of Fate.

Behind Tenten, I saw Kiba riding down the road on Akamaru. He saw me. Our eyes met, and I felt a familiar warmness in my cheeks before I dropped my head again.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked.

Ino turned to him. "We want to go to Ichiraku's, but Hinata won't."

"I'm just not that hungry," I explained again. "I mean, I don't want to go to Ichiraku's."

Ino shook her head. "Why would you not want to go to Ichiraku's? It's like the best food there."

Kiba held up his hand and got off Akamaru. "What Hinata's trying to say," he began when his feet had touched the ground, "is that she already has plans for this afternoon."

"Plans?" Ino asked. "What plans?"

Kiba walked over to my side and smiled charmingly in that boyish way he did things. "She has plans with me," he said.

"What?" It was me this time. "I mean… Yeah, I'm already busy this afternoon. Sorry, Ino. Sorry, Tenten."

Ino turned between Kiba and me. A smirk appeared on her face. "Oh, I get it."

"Get what?"

She shook her head. "Come on, Tenten. We better hurry if we want to get any food."

Tenten nodded. "Of course… Bye, Kiba. See you later, Hinata."

"Get what?" I asked again. "What do you get?"

They were leaving, and I was glad of it, so I eventually stopped asking. I had other things to deal with. "Kiba, you know what Ino was thinking, right?"

He grinned at me. "Of course."

"And you knew she was going to think that when you said what you said."

He nodded. "It was my purpose."

"Then why?" I blinked as I felt the danger of tears forming. "I mean… Thank you for helping me."

"Hinata, I know why you didn't want to go to Ichiraku's. You don't have to hide of that from me. You don't have to hide anything from me."

The tone of his voice was soft and gentle. He'd grown up well. He wasn't the same untamed boy he was when we were younger. I could have admired him just then, gazing over me with so much emotion, but I saw too much of Naruto in his expression, the way Naruto's voice would usually lower when he talked to me. The two of them even moved the same way. There was a certain spontaneity in each step, and each motion. The more Kiba tried to comfort me, the more he reminded me of him, and the more I was reminded that he was gone.

I turned away, but Kiba took hold of my arm and held me in place. I couldn't bring my eyes to meet his, for fear that he'd see the misery on my face. "It's not a matter of hiding," I answered. "I just don't want to talk about it."

He sighed and took my hands in his. "How long is it going to be before you can?"

I understood all the different levels in his question. "You're asking me for a specific date?"

"Well, it depends what you mean when you say 'date.'"

I looked up at his eyes now that the moisture in mine had passed. "You're serious."

"Yes," he said, his voice grower louder without discarding its calm steadiness. "I'd never joke around with you, Hinata. Not when you're vulnerable like this."

"I'm not vulnerable. I just don't…" I pulled myself away from him, and stepped back a few steps. "Thanks, Kiba, but I'm just going to eat lunch with Neji."

"Hinata, wait," he called. "I'm sorry. I won't ask again if you tell me not to."

With his eyes looking at me like they did, I just couldn't leave. "Don't ask again," I said.

"Okay, I won't. I promise." His outstretched hand reached out to me. "Hinata, please. It could be just like old times. We've always been friends. I've always watched over you."

"Yes, you have. But whatever you do, it's still not going to be like old times," I answered quickly. "It's not. Things are different now."

He nodded once. "I know, and I'm sorry." He held out his hand again. I looked at it for a while. I didn't want to take that step backwards by dwelling on the past, but a hand to hold was too much of a temptation.

"Okay," I finally said.

He smiled at me. "Okay. Then I remember hearing you say you wanted dumplings?"

I smiled back. "Yup," I said, taking his hand.

He waved his hand at Akamaru, who barked and started to follow behind us down the road to the dumpling place. I wasn't any more anxious to go there; I'd eaten there with Naruto at one point. However, it was less painful than Ichiraku's, and I really did crave for dumplings.

"Are you okay?" Kiba asked me when we were getting closer. "Do you need to sit down?"

"No, I'm fine." That had become my automatic response.