Bubbles
They walked through the city, looking at people around them leading their lives. The sky, the signs advertising something, anything. Anywhere but at each other.
Hinata was the first to see Neji, but Kiba was the first to greet him.
And they talked. She tried not to move away, but she couldn't concentrate. There was no animosity between her and Neji anymore, but she didn't want to see him. Not now. And he kept looking at her, looking at Kiba, watching her. She tried not to move away, but she must have. She felt miles away.
Neji didn't talk for long; he was busy. He was always busy.
They walked on. "I'm leaving tomorrow." He said, as they were walking through the gates.
"Hn." She was thinking, but she didn't say any of the things she thought.
They walked until they reached the waterfall. Hinata hadn't even been paying attention to where they went, or the time. The sun was behind clouds now, and would soon enough be falling below the horizon. Falling out of the sky.
He was thinking too, but too afraid to say anything. Because he thought maybe she had been lying, or she meant something else. He had even left Akamaru at home so he could say what he wanted, and maybe… But now he was chickening out.
"Where's Akamaru?" she asked.
"Ah… He's not feeling well, so he stayed home to rest." Did he sound fake to her? He sounded fake to himself.
She just nodded and jumped into a tree. He watched her inch her way down the branch until she was over the water;the edge of thebranch leaning down until she touched the surface with her toe.
Then the branch snapped.
She made a small noise of surprise and fell into the water. That was all. The breath she exhaled lingered in the air for a moment before she surfaced again, laughing. Her laugh sounded strange now, because it was so loud. He laughed too, watching her. She blew bubbles in the water and watched him back.
"Come back to me." She said.
He jumped in the water after her.
The light from the sun went away and they were left in the dark for a moment. He held his breath and she asked, "Are you still there?"
Then the moss started to glow, a soft bluish colour. She floated on her back and closed her eyes. She could feel the light on her cheeks, and it was beautiful. She opened her eyes again when she felt him beside her. He was treading water with only his eyes above water, peering at her. When she looked at him he blew bubbles.
"I think I love you too." He said.
She felt, that night, like she had bubbles in her chest.