Hinari
Chapter 25
Sakura Hanamoto
Hinari was bored out of her mind. Sakura had forbidden her from walking around, and as an end result she was trapped in the hospital, again. She was staring out the window, watching the clouds go by when she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." The door opened and Arashi entered, leaning heavily on a cane Sakura had given her. "Arashi-'nee-chan! Wow, you can already walk all the way down here?"
"Yep! I'm proud of myself, but this cane makes me feel like an old woman." Arashi smiled. Arashi pulled chair closer to the bed and sat down. She let the cane rest on her lap. "So, how are you feeling?" Arashi asked.
"I hate hospitals." Hinari muttered darkly.
"How do you think I feel? I've been here for three years." Arashi said.
"That's true. So I have no right to complain." Hinari smiled.
"Can you tell me about your team?" Arashi asked.
"Oh, okay. First there's, Hikaru-sensei, she's one of our cousins. She's really nice and a good teacher. She used to be part of the Interrogation Squad. She quit to be a teacher, so she can be scary sometimes. Then, Tsubaki, she's a Nara. But she isn't lazy, and she has a scary temper. Don't make her angry otherwise she could cripple you. She always complains about her height because she's the shortest. I used to be; but I grew, so I'm taller now. Don't poke fun at her height. And then, there's Takuro. Takuro's a nice guy, but he can get annoying sometimes. His voice sounds really funny right now. It started cracking during my last mission, so whenever he starts talking I can't help but laugh because it sounds so funny." Hinari said.
"Isn't Takuro that boy I met during the Chuunin Exam?"
"I think so, if you were sitting with Sakura-san you probably did." Hinari said.
"He's nice; he looks like he'll grow up to be rather handsome. Does he have fangirls?"
"Yeah, but Tsubaki chases them away, they piss her off." Arashi laughed.
"I'm surprised you don't." Hinari blushed a bit.
"I've no way of doing it like she can. She swings her fan and they blow away, they're all really light since half of them are anorexic or something." Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Takuro and Tsubaki stuck their heads inside. "Hey guys." They stepped inside. Arashi stood up and gave Hinari a wink.
"Well, I'll see you later Hinari." Arashi leaned on her cane and hobbled back to her room the next floor up.
"Was that Arashi-san?" Takuro asked.
"Yeah."
"How do you know her?" He asked. Hinari almost flinched at the question.
"She's my neighbor." Hinari responded. It was scary how easy it was to lie to him.
"Really? She looks a little young to be using a cane." Tsubaki commented.
"Oh, she broke her leg a while back, she's working on getting her leg back into shape and the cane helps relieve a bit of the pressure. That's what she told me at least." Hinari said. It wasn't a complete lie at least.
"I see." Tsubaki moved towards the door. "I'll see you two later; Mom wants to drag me off to Suna with her for some reason." Tsubaki rolled her eyes.
"See you." Hinari gave her a wave. Takuro sat down in the chair previously occupied by Arashi.
"So, how are your legs?" He asked.
"They itch. Your mother insisted in wrapping them so that I don't move them, and material chafes my skin. And I can't quite scratch." She said.
"Where does it itch?" Hinari pointed her calf. Takuro managed to dig a finger under the bandage and scratched her leg, but Hinari broke into laughter.
"That tickles stop!" She cried. Takuro stopped. "That's hardly scratching."
"Sorry. But I didn't think you were ticklish."
"I try to keep that to myself." She stated. Hinari lay back down and looked out the window. She heard Takuro shift his position. Hinari closed her eyes for a second, but that gave Takuro an opening. Before she knew it, she'd burst into laughter as he tickled her ribs.
"You should have kept that to yourself."
"St-stop! That tickles!" Hinari fell into another fit of laughter. She tried to get away from him, but he held her down carefully. "T-Takuro! Stop!" Hinari began to gasp for breath. "Can't…breath!" She gasped, and he stopped.
"Sorry." He apologized quickly.
"Ahem." They turned to see Sakura leaning against the door. "I'm not interrupting am I?" She asked.
"N-no." Takuro stood up. "See you later Hinari." He waited for his mother to move, and then slipped out the door.
"So, feeling better?"
"My legs itch." Hinari said.
"Okay, well I guess I can take those bandages off." Sakura stepped forward and carefully picked up Hinari's leg and unwrapped it. Hinari quickly began scratching.
"That feels a lot better."
"Just be glad you weren't wearing a cast. Those are hell." Sakura laughed.
"I guess so."
"So what's going on with you and Takuro?" Sakura asked. Hinari sighed.
"Why is everyone asking me this question lately?" She asked out loud.
"Because you two just look so cute together." Sakura replied.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything."
"You're denying it again Hinari."
'Quiet you. You're not helping!'
"It certainly looks like it means something."
"But I don't," Hinari halted. "I-I do like him, but we're just friends." Sakura smiled.
"You guys are still young. It'll work out, they almost always do."
"If you say so."
"I do say so, besides, not a single one of those stupid fangirls hold a candle to you. Can't believe I used to be one of them." Sakura added.
"You used to be a fangirl?"
"I was one of Sasuke's. Now I'm his wife." Sakura giggled a bit. "I need to get going and check on Arashi-chan. Remember what I told you about not moving your legs too much."
"I won't forget." Hinari replied. Sakura left and Hinari was alone, and bored. Hinari was sick of the hospital. She spent so much time there that it was like a second home to her. 'I'm really starting to hate this place.' She thought.
XxXxXxX
Takuro and Sasuke stood facing each other; they were out in the forests outside the village. "This is going to be one of the last techniques I will teach you. Once you've learned the last one, you're on your own. This technique is powerful. Performed correctly, you can kill someone in a single blow. But this technique is to never ever be used against a companion." Sasuke seemed to momentarily blank out after this statement.
"Dad?" Sasuke shook his head.
"Sorry, anyway, if you were to use this technique, more than likely, it will lead to your ruin, as well as kill them. I learned that the hard way."
"What do you mean?"
"I nearly killed my best friend with this technique." Sasuke said. Takuro remained silent. He highly doubted that he'd have to use it against Hinari or Tsubaki. "First, a demonstration." Sasuke formed a few seals. He gripped his right wrist, tightly. Takuro could feel an immense gathering of chakra. Then a piercing sound struck him. Something that sounded like a thousand chirping birds. Takuro watched as Sasuke's hand became super charged with chakra; his hand glowed brightly and flashed like lightning. Sasuke charged into a tree and thrust his hand into it. "Chidori!" Takuro stared in awe as his father yanked his hand out of the tree.
"That's incredible!" Takuro exclaimed.
"Okay, let's get started." Sasuke said turning towards his son. Takuro nodded enthusiastically.
XxXxXxX
Hinari sat in bed attempting to form the Rasengan without a clone. The task was proving to be difficult. She had managed to get it into the spherical shape, but it was highly unstable. The first time she tried she knocked a nurse out of the door on accident as she was entering. She had long since memorized the directions and diagrams on the scroll her father had left behind, but even he had needed the assistance of clones to form the ordinary Rasengan, even as the Hokage.
"Come on," Hinari muttered as she tried to picture her chakra rotating in several different directions. Finally, the sphere stabilized and she was able to retain the shape for over a minute with intense concentration. "Yes!" She cried. Hinari let the chakra disperse slowly so that the backlash didn't call any attention to herself. All she had to do now was master the final step and she'd have it completed. Hinari found that she was tired from working on the Rasengan. She lay down and fell asleep quickly.
XxXxXxX
"Dad? Why did you use the Chidori against your best friend?" Takuro asked. The two were camping out since it was easier than walking back and forth. Takuro lay in his sleeping bag, rolled over onto his stomach. Sasuke turned over to look at his son properly.
"It's a very long story, are you sure you want to hear it?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm curious."
"All right then. I'll try to keep it short, you look pretty tired. The beginning would be, about twenty-five years ago, when I was seven. My older brother, Itachi massacred the entire clan to 'measure his capacity'. That's what his reasoning was. He left me alive, he told me that when I had the same eyes that he did, that I would be able to kill him in revenge. He meant by, when I'd obtained the Mangekyou-Sharingan. Five years later, I graduated from the Academy and was stuck on the team with the 'dead-last' of the class, Uzumaki Naruto. He's Hinari's father. We hated each other, always challenging the other to do better. Our rivalry got to a point where I realized that he had surpassed me. He'd grown in leaps and bounds. He'd learned two new techniques in less than three months, when I'd only learned one. I was jealous, I wanted to be stronger." Sasuke paused.
"When we first took the Chuunin Exam, I was marked by a man named Orochimaru. That mark is still with me today." Sasuke pulled on the collar of his shirt. Takuro could barely make out a strange marking on the back of his father's neck. "That mark was a promise of power. When I knew that Naruto had become so much stronger, I defected. I left this village and joined Orochimaru to gain the power I wanted. But in order to leave, I had to get passed my teammates. Sakura begged me to stay. I refused and knocked her out so that she couldn't tell anyone where I was. Then, Naruto was still in my way. We fought; it was a fight to the death. We each used out most powerful techniques on each other. That's when I nearly killed him. At the last second I stopped and mortally wounded him instead."
"Why did you change your mind?" Takuro asked.
"Because, one of the requirements to gain the Mangekyou-Sharingan is to kill your best friend. I saw Naruto as my best friend, but I refused to stoop as low as my brother to gain that power. When Naruto was unconscious I joined Orochimaru for nearly three years. Then I killed him and set out to kill Itachi. I failed, but swore not to kill him unless necessary."
"And that's what you did last summer." Takuro finished for him. Sasuke nodded.
"Get some sleep Takuro, you look like you need."
"Okay, good night Dad." Takuro turned over and fell asleep immediately.
XxXxXxX
Hinari awoke to find two pairs of green eyes staring at her. One was framed by pink hair, the other by black. "Takuro? Sakura-san?" She pushed herself up slowly.
"We were wondering when you were gonna wake up silly." Takuro tapped her lightly on the head.
"What going on?" She asked.
"You're being discharged today, or did you forget that I told you already?" Sakura asked.
"Why's Takuro here?"
"I'm here to make sure you can walk home okay." He answered with a wide grin. His voice was still randomly cracking when he spoke, and Hinari was still having trouble not laughing at him every time it did. Sakura turned to Takuro.
"Shoo, out, out." He shoved him out the door so that Hinari could get changed.
"You don't have to push."
"Damn straight I do." Sakura slammed the door in his face. "Go ahead and change Hinari." She said. Hinari got up and stretched carefully. It felt good to be on her feet again. She walked over to the closet and changed into her clothes.
"My jacket isn't in here." Hinari said when she finished.
"Hmm, it's pretty cold outside now that it's December. You can always ask Takuro for his if you get too cold, I'm sure he won't mind." Sakura said.
"Uh, okay." Hinari pulled on her sandals and opened the door. Takuro was next to it leaning against the wall.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go. Bye Sakura-san!"
"I don't want to see you back here for at least a month Hinari! You got that!"
"Yeah." Hinari laughed as she and Takuro walked through the halls. Sakura picked up Hinari's chart and signed her name at the bottom.
"She's almost as bad as her dad. Really, if that Kyuubi supposedly heals her injuries, she'd be here the least." She muttered.
XxXxXxX
Hinari shivered, it was colder than it looked. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, but it was still cold. "Here." Takuro draped his jacket over her shoulders.
"Thanks." Hinari pulled her arms through the sleeves. "So what have you been doing lately?"
"Training, Dad taught me a new technique! It's really cool!" He smiled at her.
"I learned a new one too, but I'm not done with it yet. There are two major steps into completing it. I've gotten to the second one, but I need a lot more time to get it worked out." She said.
"That's good, I guess." Hinari found herself staring at him for a second.
"Your voice is starting to settle down." She said off-handedly.
"Really?" He asked. His hand came up to where his voice box was.
"Yeah, it sounds nice." An uncomfortable silence fell over the pair.
"I wonder what Tsubaki's doing in Suna." Takuro thought aloud.
"Did she say when she was supposed to get back?" Hinari asked.
"No, shouldn't be much longer. Now that you're out of the hospital, we can go back on missions now." Hinari nodded. They came to Hinari's apartment building. Hinari knocked on Etsuko's door.
"Etsuko-'baa-chan, can I have my key back now?" Hinari asked.
"Oh, yes of course." Etsuko shuffled back into her apartment and began to look around for Hinari's key. "Now, where did I leave it? Oh yes, now I remember." Etsuko moved into the kitchen and opened up a cookie jar. She reached inside and came out with Hinari's key.
"Thank you." Hinari took her key and walked up the stairs to her apartment. Hinari removed Takuro's' jacket and gave it back to him. "Thanks for walking me home."
"No problem." He gave her a flourished bow then took the stairs two at a time as he left. Hinari giggled.
'He's so weird sometimes.' She thought.
"You're the one making him act like that." Kyuubi said.
'What makes you say that?' Kyuubi chuckled.
"You should have seen the way your father behaved when he was with your mother. He became a danger to himself when he was. He'd get so nervous sometimes that he'd run into telephone poles, and even doors."
'Seriously?'
"Seriously. One time he ran into a door, and then someone pushed the door open and crushed him."
'Wow.'
"Thing's are only going to get weirder as you get older."
'Whatever you say.' Hinari flopped down onto her bed and sighed. 'This, puberty thing sucks.' She thought.
"Hey, Hinari, you're home!" Hinari turned her head to see fox sibs sitting at one end of her bed.
"How long have you guys been in here?"
"A couple days. We knew you were in the hospital, and it's getting pretty cold out in the forest so we decided to move in here. Is that okay?" Akagane asked.
"Yeah, that's fine. But please, go outside when nature calls."
"Of course." Kai said.
"I'm finally out of the hospital and I'm still bored!" Hinari sat up and gave a sigh.
"You want to learn something new?" Umi asked.
"Why not? If it passes the time, I'm in."
"Okay, I'm going to teach you some of the basics of herb lore. It's easier if we were out in the forest, but, I can teach you some basic plant names. Maybe tomorrow I can show you out in the forest." Umi suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. Tsubaki should be back by the day after tomorrow, so I'll be out in the field again, but we can get plenty done tomorrow." Hinari said.
"Perfect. This can be useful, but honestly, it's not as good as medical techniques, they're faster. Healing with the use of herbs takes time so it isn't practiced too much anymore."
"But it's a good thing to know, because you never know what will happen, right?"
"Exactly." Hinari lay down; the sun was already setting, surprisingly enough.
'That much time has passed already? Oh well, at least I was somewhat occupied.' She thought. Hinari changed into pajamas and fell asleep quickly.
XxXxXxX
Takuro leaned against a tree, he was breathing heavily and worn out. 'Once more.' He thought. Forming seals, he gripped his wrist, and charged at an unmarked tree. "Chidori!" He cried, thrusting his hand into the tree. He yanked his hand back out, and was satisfied at the size of the whole he'd made. Stumbling, he headed back to the village to get some sleep.
XxXxXxX
Tsubaki watched as the sun set over the desert beyond Suna. 'It looks much prettier here than in Konoha. Or maybe it's because I've never watched the sunset from anywhere else but Konoha.' She thought. Tsubaki picked up her fan and headed back into her room.
"Tsubaki! Dinner's ready!" She heard her aunt call from down the stairs. Tsubaki walked down the stairs to see Gaara's wife serving dinner to Temari and Yasha.
"Uncle Gaara working late?"
"He's been swamped with paperwork for the last week. At least he doesn't have to worry about sleep so much." She replied.
'Oh yeah, Uncle Gaara's something of an insomniac. He only really sleeps like once a month or something, out of habit he says.' Tsubaki sat down and ate.
"We're heading back tomorrow Tsubaki, so make sure to pack your things." Temari told her daughter.
"All right." Tsubaki smiled. 'I wonder how Takuro and Hinari are holding up. Hopefully, they've started talking to each other again. That was pretty annoying.'
"How's Hinari doing?" Yasha asked.
"The same, being reckless and landing herself in the hospital for injuries that are normally avoidable." Tsubaki replied. "Come to think of it, Hinari's been in the hospital the most compared to all our friends."
"Is she accident prone?"
"No, she's just a magnet for trouble." Yasha chortled. Tsubaki went on eating, thinking on how her friends were getting along without her to referee for them.
A/N: About Gaara sleeping, ya'll know he can't with the the Ichibi sealed in him, but since it isn't I'd assume he can sleep, but doesn't do it often.