Chapter 31 - Crush
Hayate arrived at the shore of the lake carrying a genin medic-nin under each arm. They had been too slow so he had just picked them up and carried them himself. When he arrived he saw Shino desperately holding his own jacket pressed onto Kiba's shirtless chest. There was blood all over the ground and Akamaru was whining, licking Kiba's cheek.
"Save him." Hayate ordered, setting the medic-nin down.
The two medic-nin paled when they saw his condition. Shino had moved his hand away when the knelt on the ground next to Kiba, and peeled Shino's jacket off to reveal the horrendous slash.
"This.. We can staunch the flow of blood and keep him alive for a while longer, but this is beyond our ability to heal." One of the medic-nin said, already coating his hands in green chakra and doing his best to stop the bleeding.
"Use this." Hinata arrived and handed over the rest of her jar of ointment.
One of the medic-nin sniffed the ointment and was surprised at the heavy scent of medicinal herbs coming from within. He scooped out the ointment and began smearing it on the wound on the areas that his colleague had already stopped the bleeding.
"What is this stuff?" He asked in surprise, watching the wound almost begin to close itself up.
"It's a secret ointment we make in my clan. It's ridiculously potent." Hinata told him, taking the jar back. "It can save someone that's been heavily injured, but it won't do anything if their organs have been badly damaged."
"Well, with this treatment he should live at least long enough for our jōnin medic-nin to get back and finish healing him. Right now we need to take him back to the clinic and do a blood transfusion. He's lost too much blood." The medic-nin stated. "We'll do our best to keep him stable, but it's still going to be touch and go for a while."
"Alright." Hayate nodded. "Shino, Hinata. We're staying here until Kiba is well enough to travel. I'm taking him back to the clinic now, we'll meet up later."
Hinata looked down at her injured teammate and nodded sullenly. "Hang in there Kiba!"
"Okay." Shino said, releasing his grip on Kiba's hand. "Take good care of him Akamaru."
Akamaru nodded and hopped up onto Hayate's shoulder as he bent down to pick up the now bandaged Kiba. Without wasting anymore words, he took off back towards the village with one of the medic-nin in tow.
"He'll definitely be ok!" Hinata heard Fū's voice from next to her and felt a hand on her shoulder. At some point Fū and Shibuki had arrived, she didn't know exactly when. Hinata just bit her lip, doing her best not to cry.
"The village then?" Shino asked, standing up and looking at Hinata.
"Safe. The enemy shinobi are all dead except for one. She's been restrained and is currently unconscious." Hinata answered wearily.
"Good. Then Kiba's efforts weren't in vain." Shino said, turning around to walk into the jungle.
"Where are you going?" Hinata asked him in confusion.
"The two kids and their mother are still hiding. I'm going to go let them know it's safe and bring them back." She heard Shino reply from within the edge of the tree-line.
Shibuki felt guilty; a genin might end up dead because he wasn't able to protect his own village. He had brought these people into a fight they weren't prepared for and if Kiba died it would be Shibuki's fault.
Fū just stood there with her hand on Hinata's shoulder. She didn't say anything else; she didn't know what to say. She just hoped the teammate of the girl that saved her would be alright. She could feel Hinata shaking a bit and tightened her grip a little, trying to comfort her silently.
The awkward atmosphere continued a while longer until it was broken by the sounds of children shouting and running out of the jungle.
"Shibuki-sama!" Shizuku yelled, running into him and giving him a hug.
"I knew you'd save us!" Himatsu cheered, following his sister's lead and hugging the other side of Shibuki.
Hinata frowned slightly at their words. 'Shino and Kiba saved you didn't they? This coward just had to say a few lines while we did all the work..' She didn't say anything, but she was unhappy with the praise the man was getting.
"How's your mother?" Shibuki asked, looking at the woman that was hanging onto Shino's shoulder, limping out of the jungle.
"I'll be fine.. I'm just glad everyone's safe now. Thank you for your help Shibuki-sama." The woman smiled and said.
That was the final straw for Hinata's patience. "Everyone isn't safe! Kiba almost died and still might! He's the one that saved you, not him!" She yelled, pointing at Shibuki. "If you want to thank someone, thank Shino and Kiba!"
Hinata turned and ran away, back towards the entrance of the village. She didn't want to see anyone right now, especially not these ungrateful bastards. She kept running, tears finally falling from her eyes.
No one followed her when she left. They were taken off guard by her sudden outburst and didn't react in time to follow the girl that disappeared using shunshin after she got a bit away from them.
"I'm sorry about that.." Shino apologized. He was a bit annoyed too, but he had better control over his emotions and didn't want to do anything to embarrass Konoha in front of their employer.
"No.. She's right.." Shibuki said, looking at the woman and her kids. "If you want to thank someone for rescuing you and saving the village you really should be thanking the shinobi from Konoha. They were the ones that defeated the invaders and saved everyone."
"But you were t-" The woman tried to argue but Shibuki interrupted her.
"The coward who couldn't protect his own people and had to rely on outside help." He said in a self-mocking tone.
Fū didn't say anything. She knew how deep Shibuki's fears were ingrained in him. His words didn't surprise her at all. For as much as she liked the man and was grateful to him, she found it hard to look up to him as a leader.
Even now, she noticed how the woman, children, and even the medic-nin were trying their best not to acknowledge her existence. Fū had never been welcome in the village, with only Shibuki treating her like a person and not a monster. She wouldn't have chosen to stay at all if it wasn't for his kindness.
"Let's go back to the village.." Shibuki sighed. "Shino-kun, I thank you for everything you did to keep these people safe. Please allow me to set up a house for you all to stay in while you're here."
Shino nodded and followed along with the group to go back to the village. He looked at the girl with green hair as she traveled off to the side of the group, trying her best to be out of sight of the other villagers. 'Strange..' Shino thought. 'She was acting pretty close to Hinata.. Why does it feel like it's her own countrymen that are strangers to her?'
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Hinata had tried to go visit Kiba at the clinic, but the medic-nin had turned her away saying he was still unconscious. Hayate and Akamaru had already refused to leave his side and they didn't want any more distractions as they worked on him. She hadn't been happy, but listened to them nonetheless.
She was now sitting on one of the massive roots of the giant tree that grew out over the water, hugging her knees as she stared out across the lake. The view was beautiful and tranquil, just like Shibuki had told her. Takigakure was like something out of a picture book. The village itself was extremely small, nowhere remotely close to the size of Konohagakure.
'I doubt they have more than a hundred shinobi..' Hinata thought to herself as she watched the reflection of the clouds in the water. 'Such a small village in a desirable location like this… It's a miracle they haven't been invaded.'
'Kiba you idiot.. Letting yourself get injured like that.. If you die I'm going to kick your ass.' Hinata chuckled at her own lame joke. She stretched her arms and legs out, before collapsing on her back and blinked in surprise, she saw Fū standing above her looking down at her with a smile.
"I like coming here when I'm feeling down as well." Fū said, shifting her gaze away to look out at the water. "It's a peaceful spot isn't it?"
Hinata moved her mouth a bit, trying to find the words she wanted to say, but failed and settled for: "Uh-huh.." 'Damn it Hinata!' She cursed her own inability to speak. 'You were fine before, when you were trying to save her!'
Fū, seeing that the girl wasn't saying anything, decided to try again. "I, uh, never got a chance to thank you for before.. so.. thank you." 'Say something please! I don't know what I did to offend you and I don't know what to say. I'm always too loud and people say I'm obnoxious. I'm really trying here! Work with me!' Fū was secretly fretting in her mind over Hinata's silence.
Hinata croaked out another "Uh-huh." and felt like she wanted to die right there and then. 'I'm not ready for this! I lost the ability to talk, I'm so sorry, please kill me.'
"Um.." Fū continued, her smile strained, not sure what to say. 'Oh my god she hates me. What did I even say to her before? Think, brain, think! Why would she hate you Fū, she just met you? But why else would she not want to talk to you? Is it because her friend is hurt? Did I try to talk to her too soon? Did I ruin everything? Oh my god I'm going to cry. I can't cry here. No wait, this is the only spot where I CAN cry. She took my sad spot! God why is this happening!?'
The two girls, lost in their own thoughts, stared at each other for a moment longer before Fū turned around and walked away at a fast pace. Hinata flipped over onto her stomach and banged her forehead against the tree root repeatedly. 'Stupid. Dumb. Idiot. Coward.' She called herself a new name every time her head hit the root.
Fū power walked away until she was out of sight, and then she ran. She got far enough away and came to stop on the other side of the tree. "AGHHH!" She screamed out at the injustice and rubbed her head with her hands. "Why is she so hard to talk to!" 'Wait.' She got an idea all of a sudden. "Her friend's name was Shino, right?" Fū took off running towards the house Shibuki had set up for the Konoha shinobi.
Fū arrived at the house a few minutes later, crashing through the door. "SHINOOO!" She yelled out, kicking off her sandals and running barefoot on the wooden floor of the house.
Shino was sitting on the patio that was connected to the back of the house, and reading a book, the glass sliding door behind him was open and he heard the front door to the house slam open and what sounded like a young girl yelling his name. It didn't sound like Hinata though, and usually if she needed him she'd just pop up out of nowhere and pull him by the arm to go do something.
'It must be the green-haired one then.' Shino sighed and closed his book, listening to the pitter-patter of bare feet on the wooden floors run through the house. It sounded like she was checking every room on her way here.
The feet finally came to a stop and he could hear panting coming from behind him. He turned around and saw the girl with both arms outstretched touching both sides of the door, as if she was afraid he'd try to run past her and escape.
"Shino!" Fū practically shouted before launching into a rapid-fire speech. "I need your help! I know we're not friends and barely know each other, wait, do you want to be friends with me? No! That's not important right now, I need your help!"
"You need my help..?" Shino reiterated before asking: "Can't you go find Hinata?"
"No I can't ask her! I need help with her! I wouldn't be here if I could ask her!" Fū complained.
Shino stood up quickly. "What's the matter, is she ok?"
"I think she hates me and I don't know why, help me please! You have to help!" Fū said with pleading in her tone.
Shino stared at the girl blankly for a second before sighing and sitting back down. "She doesn't hate you." Shino simply stated and reopened his book to continue reading.
"What? How do you know? Did she say something to you about me!?" Fū asked, pulling over the other chair and sitting on it backwards, leaning her arms over the back of the chair and staring at Shino.
Shino sighed for a third time, and closed his book again. He looked at the girl that was now sitting next to him and leaning in way too close for his comfort. "Because she doesn't just hate people for no reason. I don't even know if she knows how to ha-" He paused, remembering that time she brought the heads of every clan just to get one teacher fired, and changed what he was going to say. "Did you do or say something to make her hate you?"
"I don't knowww!" Fū groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I don't remember what I said to her! I say a lot of things and sometimes I say them really quickly and I can't remember what I said before. I don't think I said anything wrong but I really can't remember Shino you have to help me please!"
It was at this moment exactly, that Shino lamented the fact that Kiba was the one injured instead of himself. 'If you survive, I'm going to kick your ass for leaving me alone to deal with this shit.'
Shino was really worried for his friend, of course, but he also trusted the tenacity of Kiba. Kiba was dumb, and Hinata once told him "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough." and Shino couldn't agree with that sentiment more.
Shino pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before speaking. "Did she say anything to you?"
"No! And that's the problem! She just won't talk to me! She even used a shunshin to get away from me as fast as possible when we first met! Now when I try to talk to her, she just answers me with grunts or something!" Fū was distraught and made a bunch of unintelligible sounds into her hands that Shino couldn't understand.
"She used a shunshin to get away from you?" Shino sat up a bit when he heard that. 'Interesting.. She usually only does that if you try to ask her to do something, or if she's embarrassed…' Shino suddenly had a thought. 'It couldn't be..'
"Yes! That's what I said, we had just met and right after I spoke to her she just disa-" Fū started to launch into dialogue again but Shino interrupted her.
"Where is she right now." Shino asked her abruptly in a serious tone of voice.
"She took my sad spot.." Fū said in a weak voice, a bit embarrassed.
"Your.. what?" Shino blinked, thinking he didn't hear clearly.
"My sad spot, ok!? The spot I go when I'm sad or need to think about something! It's what I call it! Deal with it!" Fū shouted while blushing.
"Ok.. Fine, show me where it is." Shino stood up, putting away his book.
"Yes! You'll help me then!?" Fū stood up and grabbed his arm, grinning at him.
"I'll do my best…" Shino said while sighing yet again.
"Yes! You're the best Shino!" She clapped happily and gave him a hug, before pulling him by the arm towards the door.
Shino, already regretting the fact he let his curiosity get the better of him, let himself be pulled along by the hyperactive girl.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Hinata's forehead hurt. Not as much as her pride hurt, but it still hurt. 'Today sucks ass.' She thought to herself unhappily as she laid on her stomach watching the village in the distance.
She thought back to the time she teased Kiba about not being able to talk to girls and groaned into the tree root. "He can never find out. Ever." She muttered to herself.
She soon heard footsteps on the bark walking towards her. She turned her head just enough to see who it was and saw Shino heading in her direction.
"What?" She grunted out, looking back away.
"You ok?" Shino asked, sitting down next to her on the edge of the root. He looked down and noted the far drop to the water's surface below. The root was really high up, and Shino instantly knew something was wrong with Hinata. She always went to high up places when she wasn't happy. She was like a cat or something.
"Bad day." Hinata grumbled. "Everything was going okay but then those dumb shinobi attacked and then Kiba got hurt and then I -" She stopped talking immediately.
"And then you?" Shino pressed for more information.
Hinata turned her head slightly to face him and just frowned, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Why are you here..?"
"I can't be here just to check on my friend?" Shino asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.
Hinata couldn't see the bottom half of his face since it was hidden by the tall collar on his jacket, but she could tell he was smiling. She didn't trust that smile. Shino almost never smiled. Unless it was at a bug he just found or something.
She narrowed her eyes even further. "Why are you really here..?"
"You're no fun, you know that?" Shino sighed, before continuing. "That green-haired girl found me and asked for my help. She thinks you hate her and can't figure out why."
"Fū? Don't be stupid, I don't hate her. I'm apparently just bad at tal-" Hinata almost said, 'I'm apparently just bad at talking to girls.' But caught herself just in time. "I don't hate her." She said again.
"Really!?" Fū popped up out of literally nowhere as far as Hinata could tell, scaring the shit out of her.
"Hiyah~!" Hinata screamed and rolled away to put some distance between herself and the girl that was now kneeling next to her and Shino.
"Watch out for th-" Shino started to warn Hinata as she panicked.
Hinata scrambled back and her eyes went wide all of a sudden as she felt that there was no more root behind her. She fell backwards off the root, screaming as she fell, until she hit the water with a sharp smacking noise that Shino could barely hear.
"The edge..." Shino finished, looking over the edge at the ripples on the water below. "Well she doesn't hate you." He told Fū who was likewise looking at the water below.
"Is she ok? It's pretty far and I think she just belly flopped into the water." Fū asked, looking for any signs of Hinata surfacing.
"She's dumb too." Shino said, as if that answered her question.
"Oh she's coming back up!" Fū pointed at Hinata who had resurfaced and was now just floating on her back in the water.
Hinata just stared at the sky, the entire front of her body was just a stinging mess, and when she hit the water the wind had been knocked out of her. 'I wonder if this is what it's like to die.' She thought, watching a bird fly overhead. 'It's nice.'
"Stupid Fū, with your stupid cute face and stupid pretty hair." She said to herself, scowling up at the root where she fell from. She could just make out two heads looking down at her. "Sneaking up on me is unfair."
"Should.. should we go check to see if she's ok?" Fū asked Shino before biting her lip and looking back over the edge.
"Yes, in fact I think you should go personally." Shino said in all seriousness. 'This is for all those times we practiced taijutsu.' He thought to himself, satisfied with his revenge.
"Mn. Okay then! Here I go!" Fū said happily, taking a few steps back.
Shino looked over right in time to see Fū jump off the edge of the root into a perfect dive towards the water below.
"Ah.. Hinata might actually end up drowning here." He said out loud, before looking back over the edge to see what was going to happen.
Hinata was still glaring up at the root when she thought she saw one of the dots start to get bigger. 'No wait. That dot is getting bigger. Oh my god did Fū jump? She's coming down here!? Fuck you Shino! You did this, didn't you!?'
Fū hit the water with almost no splash, diving deep before swimming backup and surfacing next to Hinata. "Holy shit are you okay? You completely fell off and did a belly flop. I know it had to hurt because I did that once too. Only I did it on purpose and I imagine it hurts even more when you're not expecting it. Although maybe it hurts less when you're not expecting it..?" She trailed off, lost in her own thoughts for a moment.
'She's talking to me! What do I do? Think of something Hinata! Use your mind girl!' Hinata flipped over face first into the water and floated on her stomach, holding her breath and staring into the crystal clear water. 'Can't say anything dumb if you can't talk. Good job, brain.'
A face suddenly appeared under the water, inches away from hers. Fū was looking up at her in confusion and Hinata flipped out, flailing her arms and inhaling a bunch of water. She brought her head up above the water and gasped for air, coughing out water.
"Stop! *Cough cough* Doing *cough* That!" Hinata choked out, swimming back a bit, away from the girl.
"Stop doing what!? I really want to know! You say you don't hate me but then do stuff like this!" Fū said unhappily, looking a bit hurt.
"Stop *cough* surprising me!" Hinata gasped, finally convinced she wasn't going to drown. "You keep popping up! I can't take much more of it!"
"Surprising you?" Fū tilted her head to the side thinking. "I guess I do keep sneaking up on you a bit huh?" Fū swam closer to Hinata with a grin. "So you really don't hate me!? Everything's good as long as I don't sneak up on you!?"
"I don't hate you!" Hinata said quickly, swimming further away. "Don't come any closer though!"
"Huh? Why?" Fū asked, confused.
"N-no reason!" Hinata blushed and swam back a bit more. "This distance. This is a good distance."
Fū looked at the girl that was now about 3 meters away. "That seems kind of excessive…" Fū was a bit hurt. She wanted Hinata to be her first friend other than Shibuki, but it really did seem like the girl wanted nothing to do with her. 'Both Shino and Hinata said she didn't hate me, so why does it feel like I'm missing something here?'
"Um.." Hinata said in a weak voice. She knew she was being unreasonable and stupid. "I'm sorry, I'm just not very.. good with.. strangers..?" 'Damn it Hinata! Well what was I supposed to say!? I think you're cute and apparently my stupid brain won't work when you're within a certain distance!? Ughh fuck me. Even in my past life I wasn't any good with this shit.'
Shino watched from the top of the root as Hinata freaked out and swam backwards away from Fū and cackled to himself. No one had ever seen Shino cackle, and he would never admit he did. He just confirmed something though that made his entire year, and he wanted to tell Kiba as soon as possible. Shino stood up and ran towards the clinic. It had been a few hours and it was about time to check on his friend anyways.
"Oh! I can understand that! That's okay, we can just hang out some more together and then we won't be strangers!" Fū said excitedly. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"..fun?" Hinata asked, caught off guard.
"Yeah! I like to swim, train, pull pranks, fight people, climb trees.. Really anything outdoors is great!" Fū said, inching just a bit closer.
"Um.." 'Oh my god it's such a simple question. What do I do for fun? No seriously, what do I do for fun? I train. I go running? Isn't that just a form of training? Oh my god. I don't have any hobbies... Why did you have to ask me this question!? Shino, I'm actually going to kill you.'
"I, uh.. also like to train?" Hinata said as if asking herself a question. 'Is training fun though? Is it considered a hobby if you do it for work? No, that's the opposite of a hobby.'
"Great! So we both like training! This is a good start!" Fū, as excited as ever, inched a bit closer. "What's your favorite food? Mine's curry!"
"I like curry." Hinata said dumbly. 'Oh my god, I'm such a loser.'
"Yes! Training and curry!" Fū cheered, moving even closer. They were now about 2 meters apart and Hinata hadn't freaked out yet, so Fū was feeling very confident. "So!?"
"So..?" Hinata asked back, not following.
"Are we still strangers!?" Fū asked her with hope gleaming in her eyes.
"N-no.." Hinata answered, still not sure where she was going with this. If her brain was fully functioning, maybe Hinata would have remembered what she said earlier, but as of this moment, she could barely remember her own name.
"So are we friends!?" Fū asked excitedly.
"Yes?" Hinata replied, uncertainly.
"Yes!" Fū swam over faster than Hinata could react and hugged her. "I've got a friend!"
Hinata made a noise like a strangled cat, broke free from the hug, and used shunshin to run away.
Fū just blinked, once more finding herself staring at the spot where Hinata used to be. "Why does she keep doing that!?"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Shino knocked on the door to the room where Kiba was resting in the clinic and heard Hayate on the other side. "You can come in."
Shino entered the room, closing the door behind him. He turned around and stared in surprise at Kiba, who was grinning back at him. He looked pale and tired, but he was awake!
"You're awake." Shino said, walking over to the bedside. "How are you doing?"
"Oh just great. I feel like I can go for a run." He joked, glad that his friends had all made it out alive. "Where's Hinata? I really need to thank her for that ointment she's always carrying around. They say it saved my life."
Shino heard him mention Hinata, and an evil glint passed through his eyes. "She's.. busy."
"Damn, well I'm sure she'll visit soon enough." Kiba said, running a hand through Akamaru's fur absentmindedly. Akamaru was exhausted and crashed in a deep sleep as soon as Kiba woke up.
"Speaking of Hinata.." Shino mentioned, pulling over a chair and sitting down. "Tell me the reasons why she uses shunshin to get away from people." He asked them casually, wanting to let them draw their own conclusions. It would be more fun that way.
"That's a weird question." Kiba said, looking at Shino curiously. "Why?"
"Just answer the question."
"To get out of doing something." Hayate said flatly. He had tried in the past to talk to her to get her to stop doing that but every time he brought it up she'd shunshin to get away.
"Or because she's embarrassed. That doesn't happen very often though." Kiba said, thinking about it. "I still don't get why you're asking this."
"Oh no real reason, I just thought it was interesting Fū came to me asking if Hinata hated her. Apparently Hinata would go silent whenever Fū started trying to speak to her and then shunshin to get away." Shino grinned happily, thankful his collar made it so that they couldn't see his face.
"Huh? What does that matter? She probably jus.." Kiba trailed off into thought.
Hayate shared a look with Kiba. They both registered the stunned expressions on the other's face and realized they came to the same terrifying conclusion.
"No." Hayate said, turning to Shino. "Absolutely not."
"I thought that at first too." Shino said mysteriously.
"At.. first..?" Kiba asked in a whisper.
"I took Fū to go see her when she was on top of one the roots overlooking the lake. As soon as she saw Fū, she freaked out and flipped over the edge of the root and belly flopped into the water below." Shino chuckled. "Then Fū jumped in to go check on her and Hinata almost drowned in surprise when Fū got too close."
Hayate gasped.
"Are you.. serious..?" Kiba asked, looking at Shino in disbelief.
"Completely serious." Shino nodded solemnly.
"Oh. my. god." Kiba grinned evilly, looking like he heard the best news ever.
"Oh my god.." Hayate looked like someone slapped him.