req rules in end notes!

HinaMatsu - Space au

Her back was aching and no amount of stretching seemed to be alleviating it. Hinata stifled a frustrated sigh as she leaned back in her chair, away from the screen and spread of recent probe data on it.

It was late in the 'day', but the lab was still bright – her own request, against Dr Haruno's advisements – which left her in that bizarre state halfway between exhaustion and over-stimulation. At least it was quiet, just the constant background hum of electronics and machinery that she'd long since grown used to there to distract her. Shino had made a short comment about trying to get some rest as he left her a few hours ago, but she'd gotten so caught up in her work that she'd almost completely forgotten about it.

Or rather, she'd carefully boxed away the nagging drone of her friend's, annoyingly sound, advice into the furthest corner of her mind as she stared at lines of data and test results for hours on end.

She let her head drop back, clamping shaky hands tightly over her eyes.

There was no rush, she had to keep reminding herself. Diligence was far more important than haste; studying a planet's geology, weather and potential existing life was vital before any attempts at contact were made – they couldn't risk disturbing anything – if she was the one responsible for a massive oversight due to the sloppiness brought on by fatigue, then she'd never be able to forgive herself.

But… surely if she could just force her way through a few more data points…

The screech as her chair slid back cut right through to her bones, but she powered through the shudder, turning off her computer and rushing out the door before she could change her mind.

Hair swishing and bouncing in its ponytail as she jogged, Hinata hurried through the halls, not quite able to meet the eyes of her crewmates as she passed by – they weren't judging her for her failure, they were just saying hello, she shouldn't be so paranoid, why did they all have to stop and turn when she entered a room – as she followed her feet through to the one place she felt genuinely comfortable out here in the vast unknown.

At this time, there was only one place she'd be.

When she got there, she paused outside the door, just about managing to hear something from inside. "-just a bit soon, you know? There's still so much we need to think about…"

Hinata groaned softly, leaning against the wall. Well, she couldn't go in now, not with someone else already there; she slowly slid down until she was huddled on the floor, arms wrapping around her legs tightly. Should she just go back to the lab? She didn't want to wait outside like a creep, but she couldn't bring herself to just go to her quarters and try sleeping either.

She leaned her head back until she could stare at the ceiling. She heard a tiny 'click' followed by the swishing of a door sliding open.

"…Uh, hello?"

Softly muttering words that would probably give her cousin a heart attack if he ever heard them coming from her mouth, Hinata jolted to her feet and gingerly poked her head around the doorframe.

"S-s-s-s…" Her mouth slammed shut, teeth gritting together harshly as she took a few seconds to breath. "I apologise, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

Wide brown eyes blinked at her a few times, before Matsuri leapt to her feet and rushed over to greet her. "That's ok! We were just talking; did you need something? Is the IRMS acting up again, because I think I might know what's actually causing it now-"

"No, nothing like that," she said, giggling just a little, "I just… wanted to see you, but you're busy-"

Temari gave a heavy sigh as she pushed herself out of her seat. "No, it's fine, we were just finishing up actually-"

"We were?"

Green eyes narrowed at the younger woman. "Yes, we were, I need to get going anyway, Ino was very clear that date-night would not be missed out on again." The woman smirked down at them both as she passed, before throwing them each a goodbye and striding down the hall.

Hinata wasn't sure she liked that gleam in her eye when they made brief contact, but Matsuri was already pulling on her arm and dragging her to a seat, practically leaping into her own.

She took her time glancing around, trying to see what had changed since she was last here. It was shocking how quickly her friend's room would be revamped, furniture shuffled around, half-complete projects suddenly appearing, progressing and then disappearing with every visit, quickly replaced with new mysterious bits of machinery and wire.

The only constants were the things she'd been given by the crew; the tiny cacti that their resident botanist Gaara had grown for her, easy for someone as easily distracted as Matsuri to take care of; the sketch Sai had claimed was inspired by her, Hinata couldn't see it, but she was never one for abstract art anyway; a post-it note permanently stuck on her mirror reminding her to take her medication, courtesy of Dr Haruno; a plethora of posters and figurines from her favourite cartoons, the only thing she'd brought with her from Earth.

And, pride of place in the mess of sheets and pillows on her tiny bunk, was the hand-knitted mouse that Hinata had made for her birthday.

She still smiled every time she saw it there, even if one of the eyes had already fallen off and some of the stitches were beginning to fray. It was well-loved and Matsuri had told her that she always used it to calm herself down from anxiety attacks, that was more important to her than it being kept pristine and untouched.

"So, how're things? What did you want to talk about?"

Hinata pulled her gaze away from the tiny room and instead to her friend. "I-I… don't know, I just need to… not think about test results for a while." She leaned over and carefully poked at the half-deconstructed… Thing lying on the desk. "What's this you're working on?"

Blinking a few times, Matsuri launched into a jargon-filled explanation that she couldn't even begin to follow – something about an energy inefficient kettle? Or perhaps it was turning a kettle into a space heater for Gaara's greenhouse? – but her voice was soft and perky and the excitement in her tone as her hands dipped and waved as she spoke always, paradoxically, calmed her down.

The world could be so harsh and frustrating and she always felt like every second not working, not being absolutely perfect was inevitably going to lead to all her friends and loved ones abandoning her.

But… if this sweet, fun, genuine woman could find even a kettle filled with exciting opportunities to explore – even if it meant breaking it apart, even if things went wrong and the project eventually had to be scrapped – and who could find a place for even the most useless and worn out bits of machinery…

Then maybe she'd be able to find a use for her own broken, worthless pieces.

Until then, Matsuri's bright smile would always be enough to bring a smile to her own lips and lull her into the most tranquil state of rest.

Rules:

No abusive ships of any kind

No smut (implied or pre/post intimacy is fine though)

No male characters, this is all about the girls so I'm not writing any genderbent ships (trans headcanons/woman-aligned nbs are totally cool though, e.g. trans girl Ino, nonbinary lesbian Tema)

Light angst is ok, but no heavy subject matter please

Poly ships and rarepairs are MORE than ok!

I'll be doing this throughout the rest of Feb, so there's no rush and there's no limit on how many prompts one person can send, just separate them into different asks so it's easier for me to write them one at a time!

oh and dw if you want a ship but can't think of a prompt, I've got loads saved so just send a ship name and I'll pick one out for ya!