Chapter Ten
Something woke me in the night
In the midst of the darkness I recognise the light
Now inside me the picture seems so clear
All the dying in my broken dreams is starting to appear
Hinata could feel the warmth coming from Shino where they touched. The three of them sat in silence for a moment before Shino moved to get up. Hinata tried to stand when he did, but Shino put his hand on her shoulder and nodded at her. She slumped down awkwardly. "Well good night then," Shino said as he walked away. "Yeah," Shikamaru called after him. What now? She wondered. She looked over at Shikamaru, who was staring at her. She blushed a little and darted her eyes away. She put her hands in her lap and started playing with her fingers. "Well, I'm going to bed now. Good n..night Shikamaru," she said quietly and stood. "Yeah, night Hinata," he replied. She moved to her sleeping bag without looking back.
She lay quietly; breathing softly while she waited for the fire to die down. When the embers were glowing softly in the fire bed she climbed quietly out of her sleeping bag. With a quick glance at the others, she slipped quietly into the forest. She walked through the trees, looking for a clearing big enough for her to work on her new Gentle Fist technique. She walked through the forest for another five minutes before she found a small oval-shaped clearing with two boulders that came up to her waist. She moved into the clearing and stood between the two boulders. Shifting into her Gentle Fist stance, she gathered chakra in her hands and feet and then launched into the jutsu. As soon as her hand connected with the rock, she released a burst of sharp chakra needles from her fingertips. A loud crack followed immediately. She spun around and kicked the boulder with all the force she could muster, releasing more chakra needles and cracking the stone even more. She brought her left hand up and as it collided with the stone she released enough chakra needles to shatter the boulder, chunks of rock flying away from her. She whirled around and sent a fist flying in the direction of the other boulder. Instead of releasing her chakra in sharp needles, this time she released it as one big force. Her fist smashed through the boulder, embedding itself in the centre. Half a second later she released chakra needles and sent the boulder flying in pieces around her. She launched herself at the falling rock-chunks, smashing them to splinters with needles of chakra so that by the time she finished small stone shards littered the ground. She moved on, pretending the trees were foes. As she splintered wood, a strong wind began to force its way through the forest. She ignored it as she attacked the 'enemies' all around her. She spun around and completely destroyed a small tree and she was about to launch herself at another when her body seized up. She couldn't move. She couldn't even look around to see what was happening. All she could feel was the strong, cold wind whipping her hair around her. She was about to engage her Byakugan when a familiar voice said, "Easy now, don't want to exhaust yourself any more than you already have." She sighed, "Let me go." Shikamaru released his Shadow Possession jutsu and she slunk to the floor. She sat with her legs folded under her, panting hard as a trickle of sweat ran down her cheek, despite the biting wind. She felt warm, strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her up, holding her steady. "I'd heard about this new technique of yours," she heard Shikamaru say, "but I wasn't expecting this. Actually, I'm not really sure what I was expecting." "Oh," was all she could manage to say. She felt the warmth of his body as he held her up, and while she was admittedly a little thrilled at being touched by him, she knew she ought to make him let go. "You know Hinata, if we get sent on another mission together, things won't go well," he said. She was a little taken a back at this. "Why?" she wondered. "Because you always insist on trying to keep a person; a barrier, if you will, between us. Usually Shino," he replied sombrely. She started. "Yes, I suppose you're right Shikamaru," was all she said. "You wanna tell me why?" he asked in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer. "No reason!" she blurted, much too hurriedly to be anything other than a lie. "Right," he said shortly. "Um, Sh..shikamaru?" she stuttered. "Yeah what is it?" "You.. you can let go now," she said quietly. There was a drawn-out moment of silence before she felt his arms pull away from her. She sagged a little, feeling the sting of the cold wind where he had been holding her. "Let's go back," he suggested, turning and heading back to the campsite without looking to see if she was coming. She waited until he had passed into the trees until she followed, slowly, watching the ground as she walked.
By the time they got back to the campsite the wind had died down considerable, but she was still terribly cold. She knelt by the now cold fire bed and went about re-building the fire. As she sat, fumbling with the sticks, Shikamaru moved to sit across from her. They re-kindled the fire in silence and bright orange flames leapt up between them, spreading warmth. Hinata sat in the orange glow, warming her cold, tired body before she got up and went to her sleeping bag. She unzipped it and climbed in, making herself comfortable before zipping it up again. A few minutes later she slipped into an exhausted sleep.
She was woken the next morning by Lee, much too enthusiastic for the time of the day, who was shaking her vigorously. "Wake up Hinata! It is time to go back to the village," he said in way of greeting. She pushed herself up. "What time is it?" she asked sleepily. "Late," came the answer from behind her. She turned her head to see Shikamaru kneeling on the ground, packing his sleeping gear into his bag. She looked away quickly. She pulled herself out of her sleeping bag and packed it into her own bag as quickly as she could. She was quite sore and a little stiff from the previous night. As soon as the last of her gear was in her bag she called "Ready to go, sorry to keep you waiting!" She pulled her bag onto her shoulders. A firm hand came down on her shoulder and she turned to see Sakura looking at her, a little worried. "You need to eat first," she said sternly. "Actually, I think one of your food pills would do her better right about now," Shikamaru piped in. Sakura gave a short nod. "Ok then," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small jar filled with Sakura's homemade food pills. She opened the jar and took one out, placing it in Hinata's hand. The food pill was as big as pebble. She stared at it for a second before putting it in her mouth and chewing it. Sakura's food pills tasted horrible, but when it came to proving energy, they had no equal. She swallowed it gratefully. "Alright then," Shikamaru said, "now that we're all ready, let's go."