Chapter 6
Hinata thought she would never see the light of day again. Of course, she was wrong.
"Hey, who's she?" someone asked. Hinata opened her eyes. One of the mermaids she had seen was looking at her.
Hinata sat up and coughed.
"We thought you drowned," the mermaid explained. "Tenten found you on the ocean floor."
The mermaid with two brown buns atop her head and a green tail nodded. "Good thing I found you, huh?"
Hinata was too stunned to speak. She just let her mouth hand open in utter shock.
"Hey, Ino, I don't think she can speak," Tenten said, cocking her head at Hinata, who was stretched out on a rock.
"And is she blind?" the one names Ino added. "Those eyes are weird."
Tenten smacked her. "For the last time—IT'S CALLED A BYAKUGAUN!"
"Sorry," Ino said, rubbing her head. "I forgot about your boyfriend."
Tenten flipped her tail defiantly. "He is not…"
"But you want him to?" Ino offered.
Hinata noticed they had become so sidetracked with this issue. "Uh… can you tell me where Naruto is?"
Ino and Tenten looked at her in shock, as if she were a talking fish.
"I… got lost… flying down…" Hinata said quietly.
"Oh, their hideout is that way," Tenten said, pointing with her green tail. "It's a big tree, you can't miss it."
"Neji can show her the way," Ino smirked.
Tenten smacked her again. "Give up, already!"
Hinata blinked and walked off her rock to shore. She shook herself off a little, water flying everywhere. Those mermaids were weird. She started to pick up the pace, jumping at any startling noise.
"Who are you?" someone asked, dropping from the branch in front of her. It was a boy with a bored expression wearing a skunk skin.
Hinata almost had a heart attack. "I-I'm Hinata…"
"You're Hinata?" he asked, inspecting her. "Alright. We've been looking for you. By the way, I'm Sasuke, one of the lost shinobi." He lead her through the dense undergrowth to a tree, gnarled from age. He pushed aside a branch. "Hop in," he said bluntly and slid through.
Hesitantly, Hinata followed.