Note: Because I'm not sure everyone understood who the old guy in the last chapter was…it was Jiraiya, fools! 3
Ahh… apparently some people want me to write author's comments at the top or end of chapters…but I'm an idiot in real life and not incredibly interesting…So…who here has ever seen the movie Spirited Away? I love it so much I've seen it at least a dozen times in the past ten days…I'm in love with the story, and the way Miyazaki brought it to life.
On the other hand, on a more related topic, I have more than 1,000 hits on this story. I think it's a little sad I only have 44 reviews to show for it. People, I WANT TOT KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS STORY. REVIEW PROPERLY AND YOU SHALL BE REWARDED WITH IMAGINARY COOKIES OF AWESOMNESS.
Enjoy your chapter, dahlings. I enjoyed writing it; I hope you enjoy reading it at least half as much.
Standard disclaimer can be found on my author's profile.
¤¤¤
The clearing was pleasant enough for a cold, late January day. The fresh snow on the ground was ridden with their footprints, and Hinata felt the end of her fingers start to freeze. They stood side by side, looking a little embarrassed. Their wrists, her right and his left, were tied together so tightly, Hinata was positive her blood circulation was being cut off. Naruto huffed, next to her, annoyed. He tried to shake his hand loose, accidentally making Hinata wince, before crying out to their teacher, Kisame.
"Do we have to fight like this?" Naruto whined, kicking a little snow from the end of his boot. His regular ninja footgear had been replaced with leather boots, his orange jumpsuit gone and replaced by black training pants and a black jacket, thick enough to protect from the cold.
Hinata looked down, silently agreeing with Naruto, but unable to face Kisame's terrifying shark face.
"Suck it up, brats." Kisame cut them off with a knowing and pleased grin. "Since Miss Hinata here was so intent on following you here, our happy little organization has decided to partner train you…" Kisame followed that comment with a chuckle, shaking his head.
"Partner?" Naruto asked again, his voice tired.
Hinata refused to look up. She was wearing the same clothing as Naruto, except she had been given a dark blue scarf to wrap around her neck. She didn't know why, but she supposed whoever had supplied the clothing had thought she would get cold faster than Naruto would...
"Yes yes. Partners." Kisame said nonchalantly, "Kinda like me and Itachi. Except you guys are going to be trained to work together flawlessly and become the ultimate killing machine duo and all that...Later on, if you two prove yourselves," Here, Kisame snickered, and Hinata felt a strange sense of apprehension crawling up her spine, "We might work on your individual skills..." he shot an amused look at the blonde kid, who didn't notice and instead started whining.
"I don't get it." Naruto wailed childishly, trying to cross his arms, but only managed to drag Hinata closer by accident. Hinata barely held back a squeak at the sudden tug.
"Sorry." He apologized sheepishly at the poor, blushing girl. His only answer was a nod, her eyes hidden by her black hair. Kisame rolled his eyes as he saw the interaction between the pair.
"Back to business." He said gruffly, regaining the kid's attention. They were barely teenagers, both on the threshold's of their thirteenth year.
They both looked up, his eyes annoyed and hers apprehensive.
"Pretty much everything you've ever learned about being a ninja is of no use here. In this session, your hands are tied and Naruto's sight will be disabled. Hinata will use her eyes to guide you both, Naruto will be using his ears and nose, and both of you will learn to function as a single unit, understood?"
Naruto growled. "I hate you."
"Bah." Kisame shrugged. "I don't give a shit."
Kisame then turned around and walked a few steps away from them. "I will be using a bamboo stick in this exercise. Now, Hinata, if you would please disable Naruto's eyes. Not permanently, of course."
Hinata looked up, eyes wide and terrified. "Bu-but n-n-Naruto-k-kun…the eyes…it will take a day to…"
"Do it." Kisame said tiredly, not even turning around to face her. "Now."
She charged her free hand with a minimum of chakra and stood in front of Naruto, head cast down, but Byakugan focused on his face.
"I d-don't…I'm…I'm…s-sorry…" she muttered, trying to say something.
"Hinata." Naruto said firmly, rolling his eyes. "I trust you. Don't worry."
She looked up, relief so apparent in her blank eyes. "It won't hurt." She said in one breath, trying hard not to stutter. "P-promise."
Please let me not hurt him...What if I make him blind forever? Oh I'm going to fail I can't do this...I don't want to hurt him oh no I'm going to cry no no no no I can't do this-
Naruto grinned, nodding. "I believe you."
She tried not to falter as her fingers tapped the left side of his head, and one of Naruto's eyes blanked out, his vision darkening. She moved her hand to reach the other point on the other side of his head. The last thing Naruto saw was her pale hand, and behind it, her snow white eyes, filled with worry.
"This is so freaky." He grinned, trying to make everything seem like a big joke. "I can't see anything!" He reached out slightly with his free hand, and moved it in front of his face. "Absolutely nothing!"
Hinata looked down and moved from in front of him back to his side, silently praying. Naruto's eyes followed the sound of her moving, but she knew he couldn't use them and he was using his ears to map her movements.
"Ready, twerps?" called out Kisame, holding a long, sturdy bamboo stick over his shoulders. "We don't have all day."
Naruto called out, trying to stay balanced and keep his calm. "What about us? No weapons?"
Kisame grin"ned. "None. I'm giving you a taste of what real partner training is like. Appreciate it."
And with those words, he attacked them.
¤¤¤
Hours later found the two kids sitting on the frozen forest ground, wrists still tied together and various parts of their bodies throbbing in pain and painted with bruises.
"I hate partner training. No offense, Hinata, but I don't think we were made for each other." Naruto huffed out, catching his breath as he let his head fall to the ground.
His eyes were still not working properly, though he could now perceive light from time to time. As his head was about to fall to the ground, he felt a cool hand on his neck, stop him.
"W-wait…" the dark-haired girl replied quietly as she pushed away a few pebbles and sticks from the ground underneath him.
Naruto's eyes were wide open in shock. "T-thanks." He lay down completely. "Really."
She nodded, an action he didn't see, but smiled faintly.
Not made for each other?
Hinata was on the verge of losing her precious, feeble calm and start crying.
"Maybe when Kisame comes back, we can tell him that we can't do this…knowing the bastard, he'll make us do this stupid thing anyways but-"
"No!" Hinata cried out before she could stop herself.
"Huh?" He looked in her direction with confusion painted over his face.
"…We…you…Uhh…can't give up."
Naruto frowned. "What?"
"You…your ninja…way…says that…you don't…you can't give up…" she took in a deep breath. She had to say this, she figured, or else they might be trained separately and she may never see him again! Or so she thought.
"That is…m-my ninja way too!" she continued, "I won't give up. I know that…y-you can do this!"
Naruto sat up again, and ran his free hand through his hair, thinking hard. "You're right."
Hinata almost looked surprised.
"All right, so...we're going to have to figure out some way of working together...obviously I'm not very useful, so you'll have to take the lead..." he stopped mid-thought.
Hinata wondered why he did.
"That...that won't work." he muttered more to himself than to her.
Hinata sat there, waiting him to continue and stared at their combined wrists. Slowly, she shifted her bound hand so that she could hold his.
"Naruto-kun..." she said after a while.
"Hmm?" he hadn't really paid attention to the way she was holding one of his hands, his mind a little preoccupied. But now that she had broken the silence, he resumed his focus on her, and couldn't understand why she had intertwined her fingers around his hand.
"I cannot take the lead." she said, trying not to stutter, "We...we have to work together. N-not as a leader and a follower, but c-completely in unison..."
"In unison...?"
Hinata nodded, feeling a little more confident, glad that he was paying attention. "Together. It is a little like the three-man genin teams back in the village. We have to learn to completely rely on each other."
Naruto nodded. They both stayed silent for a few moments, before he spoke again.
"We're going to make the craziest team ever, Hinata." Naruto exclaimed, grinning. "And we are going to kick major ass!"
Hinata blushed at his harsh language.
He stood up, pulling her with him. "We won't give up, right?"
"Right." she said without hesitating.
He felt his vision return, a little bit at a time, and suddenly what was once a dark emptiness was now an image covered in black spots. He saw her pale face with it's soft features and her blue-black hair. In her eyes, he could just make out an emotion he liked best.
Her determination.
It was what had first made him notice her, during her fight with Neji. He could remember her pain, how she found it so difficult to stand up after each one of her cousin's blows yet she never gave up, even though it nearly led to her death...
He remembered touching her blood with his hands. Naruto smiled a little. She was special, she wasn't like the other girls Naruto knew, she believed in him and was kind to him.
"Hello, midgets." Kisame's booming voice made them jump. They hadn't sensed him coming! "Would it bother you," he snarled in an irritated voice, "to stop being lazy morons and get back to work?"
Hinata tried not to jump at his tone, but Naruto just yelled back: "Don't you dare call Hinata lazy or stupid!"
Hinata looked at the boy, completely taken aback.
"N-na…"
"Com'on Hinata. Let's give this guy what he deserves."
He turned his neck to face her, and smiled. "I got your back, don't worry."
She nodded, trying to calm her frantically beating heart. She was scared, but placed her feet in a position to charge the older, more dangerous ninja. Out of the corner of her Byakugan, she saw Naruto imitate her moves. He too, was getting ready to move.
She took a deep breath.
She felt Naruto move and within a nanosecond, she unlocked her shaking legs and raced forward with him, charging her free hand with enough chakra to disable an elephant in one shot. Naruto had called forward two shadow clones (he only used one hand to make the seal) and within a second, the two genin had made their move.
They weren't nearly fast enough to actually catch Kisame, especially not with such an obvious attack, but Kisame grinned.
They'll get it…with time.
He destroyed a shadow clone with the bamboo stick and quickly moved out of the way of Hinata, who Naruto had swung around by accident as he'd changed direction.
Lots of time.
