SURPRISE, SURPRISE! TWO CHAPTERS IN TWO DAYS – IT'S A MIRACLE! I HAVE MY READERS AND REVIEWERS TO THANK FOR MAKING ME CRANK THIS OUT. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE AND ENJOY THIS CHAPTER.
Kiba was confused.
Shino losing Hinata was odd enough, but as he raced through the woods tracking his "lost" teammate, her scent grew stronger yet she was getting further and further away. Before he knew it, they were back in the village. Right on the edge, but the village nonetheless.
Halting his dead run, Kiba turned and scowled at Shino who came to a sudden stop right behind him. The Aburame heir was still holding Ino on his back, though she was no longer blindfolded.
"She's not lost, you know," Kiba informed Shino.
"Thank you!" Ino sighed dramatically, lifting her cheek off of Shino's shoulder to stare directly at Kiba. "I was just telling him that of all people, Hinata is physically incapable of getting lost. She always knows where she is."
"I do not recall telling either of you Hinata was lost," Shino's deep voice rumbled and without his collar hiding the lower half of his face, Kiba could see that his teammate looked strangely haggard. The corners of his mouth were pinched, his nose was flared, and even with his hood still up, Ino had the right side pulled back just enough to reveal Shino's ear and shed a bit of moonlight on the shinobi's forehead. His eyebrows were dipped and bunched together.
Was Shino actually scowling?
"You said you didn't know where she was," Kiba reminded his teammate.
"No, I merely stated Ino and I were in search of Hinata. While your conclusion of my ignorance is quite valid, your terminology is incorrect."
Kiba frowned. Sometimes Shino made it really fucking easy to hate him. "What?"
"Where's Hinata, Kiba?" Ino asked. "Not only am I tired of playing horsy, but we need the only person who knows how to interpret Shino's bullshit."
Kiba liked Ino. He always had, even if it was only because she seemed to hate Shino as much as he did.
"What time do you leave for Suna tomorrow?" Hinata asked Gaara as they walked through the civilian district and toward the apartment complex.
"First light."
She bit back a frown of disappointment, "Oh."
"Are you hungry?" he asked, coming to a sudden stop outside of the Korean BBQ House.
Hinata loved Korean BBQ. She had Choji – of course – to blame for this. "I should return you to your apartment. You have a very early start and need your rest."
Gaara smirked, "I don't sleep."
Hinata frowned slightly. She'd heard a rumor that he was an insomniac, but… "Ever?"
"Shukaku," he spoke the name of the one-tailed beast, "took over my body whenever I slept. So no, not if I could help it."
Hinata stepped closer and touched his arm. Like hers, his clothing was still damp.
Gaara lowered his gaze to her hand but didn't move to shake her off. "I suppose I could start sleeping now that he's gone but… I don't really know how. Can't even imagine trying it."
Hinata wanted to comfort him, to hug him, to hand him a pillow and tuck him into bed herself. Instead, she reached up and slowly pressed her fingertips to the eyelids that lowered at her approach. "You just lie down and close your eyes."
"That sounds… boring."
She laughed and lowered her hand. "It's peaceful."
He opened his eyes, "Whatever you say."
Her laughter returned at his doubting tone and petulant expression. When the hell had Gaara of the Sand become adorable?
"So, can we eat or are you still stuffed from those dango sticks?"
Kiba caught Hinata's scent just as they reached the civilian district. Turning his head to the left, he inhaled a mixture of bulgogi, lavender, sand, and something that could only be described as Hinata. She had always had a peculiar scent: a subtle mixture of honeysuckle sweetness and a citrus tartness, with a more pungent odor of undiluted softness.
But it was the other scents that concerned Kiba. That had him pausing in following his nose straight to Hinata. The bulgogi he chalked up to the Korean BBQ House Hinata adored, and the lavender to the waitress, Akemi. But the rough and metallic scent of the sand was oddly familiar and therefore disturbing.
Kiba had been to Suna on a number of occasions, usually to hang out with Kankuro, so he knew the scent of sand pretty well. But this particular stench reeked of blood – old rancid blood – as if the sand had been used to wash away the blood. Or maybe the blood had been used to wash the sand.
Either way, Kiba knew who was with Hinata and came to a sudden stop to turn and glare murderously at Shino and Ino. "You didn't tell me she was alone with Gaara!"
"Alone?" Shino growled.
"With the Kazekage?" Ino's eyes widened. "Oh no, she's terrified of hi-EEK!" Ino was cut off as a swarm of bugs rose from under Shino's coat.
"Which way?" Shino demanded of Kiba.
"East," Kiba threw the answer over his shoulder. He, better than most, knew just how strong and capable a ninja Hinata was, but she still had the nasty habit of letting fear paralyze her. Though why she would fear such a good friend of Naruto's was anyone's guess.
The bugs jetted past Kiba with an unusually fast Shino right behind them.
Gaara was going to spend the entire evening with Hinata. She probably wasn't aware of this future fact, but that didn't matter. He was enjoying himself too much to allow her to leave his company any time soon.
"That is not overprotective," Hinata gave a rueful shake of her head when Gaara finished telling her about how annoying his brother and sister could be with their overprotective ways concerning him.
"Did you not hear me when I said Temari bit Matsuri for giving me giri-chocolate on Valentine's Day?" Gaara repeated.
Hinata gave her head another shake, "That's not even half as bad as what I go through."
"Did I mention Kankuro used Crow to hold Matsuri down?"
"The only time Shino-kun and Kiba-kun work together is when they're attacking someone on my behalf. Or what the believe is my behalf. They nearly killed Lee-kun when he called me a delicate blossom once."
"Nearly?" Gaara asked, knowing his comrade was a worthy enough opponent to take on the Aburame and Inuzuka.
"Lee thought it was a game and opened the first two chakra gates. Shino couldn't use his bugs for a week and Kiba's jaw was wired shut for six months, so he only communicated with Akamaru through whimpers."
Gaara cocked a browless brow, trying to imagine such a scene. "That's not that bad. Ever since I returned from the dead, Kankuro keeps putting Mr. Blinky on my desk."
Hinata frowned, "Returned from the dead?"
"Oh, you didn't hear? Yeah, I died," Gaara offered her a small smile. "But only for like a day or two."
Hinata gaped at him, then reached over and grabbed the hand he'd been about to use to pick up his teacup. "Gaara… I- I mean…"
Gaara didn't notice her loss for words or the fact that the bell over the door had just dinged, signaling new comers. All he saw, heard, smelled, felt, breathed and tasted was the fact that Hinata was holding his hand. She had very delicate fingers, much too delicate for a shinobi. They were slender and graceful with perfectly manicured nails. Unable to stop himself, Gaara moved his other hand to cover the top of hers, but she suddenly jerked away from him.
He looked up, perplexed and rather hurt. But Hinata was no longer looking at him. In fact, she wasn't even seated across from him. She was on her feet and gazing at the entrance.
Turning, Gaara looked up to see the most curious of sights.
The Aburame had two heads. The new head was blonde and decidedly feminine with teal colored eyes staring back at him in shock and curiosity. Rabid curiosity, no less.
"Ino-chan," Hinata breathed, seeming just as perplexed by her two-headed teammate as Gaara. "Are you injured?"
But Ino just blinked and stared at Gaara.
Luckily for her, he was used to girls giving him such a look. He understood. He'd been a monster once and it was hard for people to forget that. Girls, it seemed, remembered it more often than boys.
"Shino-kun," Hinata approached the taller of her two teammates, stood on her toes, and waved a hand in front of Ino's unblinking gaze, "what's happened to Ino-chan?"
"Nothing. She was directed by the Hokage to follow me around. I had no desire to wait for her to catch up to me so hence are current position."
Hinata fell back on her heels as she shifted her gaze to Shino's face and realized it wasn't completely covered. Sure he still had his hood on and was wearing his glasses, but she could see his mouth and nose.
A silent Ino, an unmasked Shino… Something terrible was happening to her friends.
She turned to Kiba, who was beside Shino and Ino, arms crossed at his chest, eyes narrowed to slits, as he looked around the room in that calculating way of his. He was trying to figure out the best attack strategy to use without destroying the BBQ House.
Hinata stepped in front of him and placed a firm and commanding hand to his chest.
"What's going on here?" Kiba spoke the words she'd been seconds from uttering, his gaze boring down and into her.
Hinata frowned, "Nothing. I've been showing Gaara around Konoha."
"Doesn't look like you're doing much 'showing'," Kiba mocked her.
"We were just about to have dinner," Hinata admitted in a quiet voice.
Honestly, she didn't understand Kiba and Shino sometimes. They acted as if every guy in Konoha wanted to snatch her away and do one of the naughty scenes from Kakashi's Icha Icha books to her.
"Dinner, huh?" Kiba walked around her and over to the table. Hinata turned and watched as he sat down across from Gaara. In Hinata's vacated seat.
He flashed Gaara a fangy grin, "Hey there Kage. How's that deadbeat brother of yours?"
Gaara ignored Kiba's lack of respect and shrugged, "Either dead or recovering from an overdose of sand."
"That sounds nice. I'll have to catch up with him later. So," he clapped his hands together then rubbed the palms in a gesture of eagerness, "what're we eating?"
Hinata sent Gaara an apologetic look. His eyes lingered on hers and if she didn't know any better, she'd have thought there was a glint of amusement there.
Slowly, he dragged his gaze from hers and looked back at Kiba. "So far, we've only ordered tea. Hinata was just about to tell me what her favorite dishes were."
"Were you Hinata?" Kiba slanted her a look.
"Everything," Ino blurted out, bringing everyone's attention back to the two-headed monster that was Shino and Ino.
Except Ino was no longer on Shino's back. She had shimmied down and was now walking over and sitting beside Gaara, smiling in that simpering way she used to smile at Sasuke.
Oh no!
Hinata watched wide-eyed as Ino batted her eyelashes and leaned far too closely to Gaara. "Do you like bulgogi, Kazekage-sama?" Ino purred at Gaara.
"I admit I've never had it before."
"Thanks to Choji-kun and Hina-chan it's all I seem to ever eat… Not that I eat as much as Hina-chan, of course."
Oh, this really wasn't good. Ino only ever compared herself to Hinata when a cute boy was around. Or Kakashi-sensei.
"I'm rather glad Hinata has such a boisterous appetite. I'd have bored her to death with our travels otherwise," Gaara stated smoothly, making Hinata blush when he glanced her way.
"Been touring the food vendors then?" Kiba asked with too much nonchalance to really be disinterested.
Hinata felt Shino grab her arm. His touch warm but light. She looked over her shoulder and up at him. It had been two years since she'd seen his nose and mouth. She hadn't remembered his jaw being so square.
"Might I have a word in private, Hina-chan?" Shino asked, but his hand was already pulling on her arm, letting her know it wasn't really a request.
"Of course. Excuse us, K-" Gaara slanted her a look. She cleared her throat, "Be right back."
Shino led Hinata outside of the restaurant. "Did he harm you in any way?" Shino demanded.
Hinata frowned, "What? Of course not."
"Did he make any unwanted advances?"
"Shino!"
"You were alone with him," her teammate pointed out unnecessarily.
"I'm his guide."
"As am I."
Hinata forgot how to speak as she watched Shino's lips thin and his brows arch into a very prominent V. For some reason his hood was a few inches back, revealing his forehead and allowing her to see an expression she didn't think he realized he was making.
"I do not trust him with you," Shino stated simply.
"Shino-kun you were the one who told me he was not only a trustworthy ally of Konoha but a dear friend of Naruto-kun and responsible for saving Kiba-kun's life."
"I was not incorrect, however I have reassessed his intentions toward you and deemed them unworthy and wholly inappropriate."
Hinata had known her teammates were crazy the first time she'd met them, but that hadn't stopped her from adoring them. Even now when she wanted nothing more than to strike all the chakra points leading to Shino's defective brain in hopes it would knock some sense into him, she only allowed herself to smile up at the silly boy.
"You're kind of ridiculous, you know that?" she whispered to him.
"Perhaps…" he allowed hesitantly.
"And you and Kiba are beyond embarrassing."
Another pause, "I suppose there have been certain instances…"
Hinata reached up and pressed her finger to Shino's bared lips, silencing him. "And it's only because I love you and cherish our friendship that I allow you to get away with such behavior."
He gave his head the smallest of nods.
"But you and Kiba must come to the realization that not every boy in Konoha wishes me harm."
His lips parted.
"Nor Kakashi-sensei."
His lips thinned.
"Gaara and I have discovered we have a lot of things in common. Some of which you would also appreciate. And I wish to be his friend and he mine. So, you and Kiba are not allowed to try and intimidate, harass, or bully him in any way. Understood?"
His eyebrows returned to the peculiar V-shape. "Might I speak?" he murmured against her finger.
Hinata lowered her hand, "Go on."
"The last time you asked such a thing of us was after my sparring match with Neji," he pointed out, though she found the use of 'sparring match' to be a gross understatement. It had been more like a bloodbath. "Do you remember how that worked out?"
Unfortunately, she did. The Hokage had passed a law – a law! – that forbade Shino and Neji within 30 yards of each other.
"Now, I will agree to your demands if you promise me your friendship with the Kazekage remains purely platonic."
Hinata gasped and lurched back, offended, "SHINO!"
He didn't even flinch, "Do we have an agreement?"
"Sh-Sh-Shino… H-h-how could you think… How could you possibly, for one second, even fathom…"
"You have dropped all formalities with him. You were holding his hand atop the table. You looked sad and concerned for him, whereas a handful of hours ago you were too afraid to even bow properly before him."
Hinata frowned. She'd thought she'd done a pretty damn good job bowing despite having Jell-O for knees.
"And I couldn't find you earlier. I had to ask Kiba for help," he bit out that last bit through clenched teeth.
Knowing how much Shino hated asking for anything, least of all help, Hinata cocked her head to the side, "And Ino? How did she get involved in all of this?"
"The Hokage insisted she follow me in hopes that I'd lead her to Temari-san's whereabouts, thus revealing her secret Konohan lover."
Hinata righted her head and gaped at her teammate, "Wait, she actually has a secret lover here?"
"Indeed, and before you ask, no it is not Kiba."
Hinata shook her head, a bit bewildered.
"So, are we in agreement?" Shino brought the conversation back to the subject of Gaara and Hinata's friendship.