I'm missing 56, I know, I sorry, but I is LEAVING and I've had finals and grading and a birthday and a boyfriend and packing so really, more important things in life than fanficcing. OOPSIE

55 waiting


The dessert is too sweet, heavy with cream and layers of pastry. Sasuke only manages to look at it scathingly. Hinata at least eats a little bit. Picks at it, really. Even the fruit on top has been glazed with syrup, as if its natural tartness were an offense. Hanabi's is gone, and the forlorn looking remains of her sister's are next on the list. What ninja can't sneak an unwanted piece of cake away from a star struck girl?

Her father is frowning down the table at her, probably because he did catch her liberating her sister's dessert, and well… while it hasn't been proven that sugar makes her worse, it hasn't been unproven either.

Hanabi finds it very very sad that no one has dragged Hinata out and presented her with a pile of food, good food, and good people. The only way to eat your way into a coma is by having fun, and a lot of unhealthiness. Hanabi at least has an excuse. Everyone she's ever worked with is a boy.

Hinata seems to have not known anything with this much starch and meat weighs like an anchor after consumption, and thus she will need to sit for a little longer because for perhaps the third time in her life, she's eaten more than she should have.

It's the perfect time to harass her, because she can't leave her chair, and everyone's in the way anyway.

At least she waited for everyone to leave before going into annoying mode. Her sister is at her elbow demanding she fold her napkin into a duck, and with no apparent intention of letting her get up until she complies. What is more unnerving is the fact that Sasuke also appears to be waiting. As it is unlikely he also wants a napkin animal, she can only assume he's waiting for her, and it's a tiny gesture she appreciates probably more than she should.

"Hiinata," whines Hanabi, dragging out the syllables of her name, "Is it—"

"Here."

Hanabi examines it with a pout. "It's a stunted crane. It's supposed to be a duck." Folding the neck and tail and saying it's a duck is so cheating.

"It is a duck."

"There is clearly something wrong with your eyes, Sassy-boy, because that is a mutated crane."

Sasuke was and always will be a traitor. Where's the Team 8 solidarity? Clearly as things stand, he's just waiting for everyone to fall into some sort of well-meaning stupor, or another attack on the village, so he can run away again, and maybe find a supervillain that isn't into young boys.

ANBU surveillance might not be enough to keep him from setting them all on fire in the night. She's going to have to go to Plan Omega. Posting the training photos should be enough to round up some dedicated fangirls. Sasu-pon won't be able to leave his room without some rabid brunette somewhere knowing about it and contacting all her friends.

Vapid stupidity is the best place to hide great works of evil. How come no one else has figured it out?

Hanabi attempts to substitute his shoe with a fork. It doesn't work of course, but she is working on the finer points of the chakra control she needs. 'Sticking' her chakra on stuff that isn't alive without touching it is hard. All genin can switch with those stupid logs, but the logs they provide at the Academy still have those little green leaves on them, so you know they're still somewhat alive. And if they're alive, they have their own chakra still flowing in them, slowly, weakly, but how else do you expect children to be able to resonate their chakra with them? The only reason genin like the body replacement is because snapping the chakra for that half second swap is fun.

Sasuke picks up the fork and gives her that pointy look. A slight jerk of the head tells her to look down, and all she sees is a snake of his cornflower blue chakra heading for her foot.

Her sister's bare foot peeks up at her, lightly resting on the arch of the fork. She's sitting down, so it's no trouble at all for her to put no weight on it.

Hanabi glares at her stubbed toe, hiding inside the shoe Sasuke had been aiming for.

She's definitely going to kill him some day. He made her sister kick her.