Well, here is the next chapter! We start a new kind of arc thingy now. There will be lots of fluff between both pairings, but mostly Gaara and Hinata. I feel like I kinda owe you after not having them at all in the last chapter. Gaara's still mad at me for that. And, just for the record, I was kidding about the whole Shino and Kankuro thing. I think some people might have actually taken it seriously…
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I have…Warheads sour spray stuff! -sprays it at Gaara-
Hinata walked around the Hyuuga compound, thinking about her day. It was interesting, to say the least. After everything that had happened with Gaara, she wasn't sure what to think. They had just met, and the last time she saw him personally had been at the Chuunin Exam when he had been trying to kill people. So why was he being so nice to her? On top of it all, she had heard that Kiba and Temari had been seen together; and holding hands nonetheless! The only thing she was sure of was that she didn't want to see the Hokage for awhile, seeing as how she had run out of her office with no explanation.
She signed and sat on a rock in the garden, placing her chin in her hands. There was a light breeze blowing, causing leaves and flower petals to rain down on her. She reached up and removed a leaf from her hair, and was reminded of Gaara once again. The image of him reaching over and delicately taking each individual grain of sand out of hair…she blushed at the thought. Did that really happen? She wondered, although the lack of sand in her hair should have sufficed as proof. However, after that, he had left in another gust of sand soon after, for no apparent reason.
"Hinata-sama? What's the matter?" Hinata looked up and saw her cousin Neji standing in front of her, a somewhat worried look on his face. Since their battle during the Chuunin Exam, their relationship had gotten better, though they still couldn't really be considered 'friends'. At least Neji would talk to her without glaring at her for being a member of the Head family.
"It's nothing, Neji-niisan," Hinata answered with a smile. "I was just…thinking about some stuff. I'm sorry to have worried you." She was silently proud of herself for saying three whole sentences without stuttering.
"Not at all," Neji answered, giving a slight bow. Although their relationship had strengthened, he would still show her the proper respect, from a member of the Branch family to a member of the Head. He turned to leave, then said, "If you need to talk, I am here."
"Thank you, Neji-niisan," Hinata said. She hesitated before saying, "Actually, there is something. I-If you wouldn't mind…" She looked at the ground, her joy at having not stuttered gone. Neji turned and sat down on the rock next to her. "Not at all, Hinata-sama."
"W-well, the thing is," she hesitated again. How could she put it without causing too much suspicion? "T-that is…What do you do if you're with a guy and he picks sand out of your hair and then for no reason he runs away?"
Neji gave her a blank stare. "Come again?" She had said the one sentence so fast that it seemed like one giant word instead of individual ones. There was something about a guy, sand, and running away; that was pretty much all he got. "Try taking a deep breath, and start again."
Hinata did so, and told her about her recent experiences. Well, she left out the part about being sexually assaulted; she didn't think her cousin really needed to know that part. Neji sat and listened throughout the whole story, surprised when she got to the part where she offered to take the sand out of Gaara's hair. He had never known her to be so bold as to even ask someone what time of day it was, let alone offer to reach into their personal bubble to take tiny brown substances out of their hair. She finished with, "What do you think I should do?" and returned her gaze to the ground.
"Well, Hinata-sama, I'm not quite sure," Neji began. "After all, I do not know this Gaara aside from what I've heard and what I've seen for myself during the Chuunin Exam. However, if he is anything like he was back then, then I for one would not like you seeing him."
"Oh," Hinata muttered. It wasn't exactly the response she had been hoping for.
"Please let me finish," Neji continued. "That isn't to say that I don't trust your judgment. If you see that he is different from when we last saw him, and if Tsunade-sama trusts him enough to send him and his teammates on a mission with you, then I will trust you as well. So, Hinata-sama, to answer your question, I think that you should trust your heart, and do what you believe is right."
Hinata placed her hand over where she thought her heart might be. "My heart…"she muttered, lifting her gaze from the ground. "Thank you, Neji-niisan," she said, smiling again. "That really helped. Arigatou."
After that, she went to her room and prepared for bed. She was no longer as anxious as she had been before, and as she put on her pajamas, she looked into the mirror and smiled at herself. She didn't still didn't know what Gaara thought about everything, but at least she felt better about everything that was going on. She went to bed, and sleept soundly until she heard a loud knock on her door.
"Hinata-sama, the Hokage is calling for you."
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Hinata stood anxiously in Tsunade's office, accompanied by Kiba, Shino, and the three Sand shinobi. Everyone was just as clueless as she was, having been summoned so suddenly. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and cast a nervous glance at Gaara. The Sand ninja looked straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to Hinata's gaze.
"Thank you all for coming," Tsunade said suddenly, breaking the eerie silence that had filled the room. "Sorry for calling you so unexpectedly like this, but I have another mission for you." She turned to Gaara and his siblings. "My dear friends from the Sand, I was hoping I could ask for your assistance once again, since you seemed to work so well with these three yesterday." She gestured to the members ofTeam Seven.
"Sure," Temari said, glancing at her brothers to see if they objected. When they didn't, she continued. "No problem. We were just thinking about staying another day in Konoha anyway." She looked at both Kankuro and Gaara individually. "Right?" Kankuro just shrugged, and Gaara gave his traditional "Hn" in resonse.
"Alright, now that that's settled, let's get tothe mission, shall we? Shizune, give them the details, please," Tsunade said, gesturing to the young woman who stood beside her. "And don't worry, it isn't an escort mission," she added, seeing Hinata's pale face.
"There is a village called Rairyuu in the South," Shizune said, beginning the explanation. "There's a legend about how a long time ago, before the village was created, there were three mystical dragons that ruled the land. There was a small collection of houses and people there, but not enough to be considered a real village; still, the people led peaceful lives, and the dragons protected them from enemies. However, each year, a sacrifice needed to be offered to the dragons, or they wouldn't protect the village anymore.
"One year, they sent their offering down to the neighboring lake, where the dragons awaited their arrival. However, for some unexplained reason, the sacrifice and all those with it suddenly disappeared. Because the dragons didn't get their offering that year, they left the village; but not before creating a huge thunderstorm that caused an enormous tidal wave that nearly destroyed it. Afterwards, the remaining people worked to turn the town into a real village, and named it after the dragons that had protected it for so long: Rai meaning lightning, and ryuu meaning dragon."
"That's so sad," Hinata whispered, clutching her hand tightly. "The idea that they actually used people as sacrifices…"
"Yeah, it is depressing," Kiba agreed, "but what does it have to do with our mission?"
"There are rumors around the village that say that the dragons have come back for revenge," Shizune continued. "Normally, they would just be cast off as tales spread to increase the village's reputation, but several witnesses that have gone in to trade or visit claim to have actually seen them. At this point, it can't be ignored, so we decided to send you to investigate it."
"But that's just an old legend," Temari said. "It's not like it's actually true. I mean, there's no such thing as dragons. And even if there were, do all six of us need to go? Wouldn't that just attract attention?"
"You make a good point," Tsunade said, taking over again. "However, it seems that all three dragons have been spotted in the area. As a precaution, I've decided to send all of you just in case."
"But how do we know that people aren't just mistaking one for all three, but just seeingit at different times?" Kiba asked. "I mean, people are stupid like that."
"They're known by their distinct colors," Tsunade replied. "One is light blue, another is red, and the last one is dark purple. Sightings of all three have been reported, and some even claim to have seen all three at one time." She gave a small smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were trying to get out of working with each other."
"O-of course not!" Kiba said, crossing his arms. It wasn't that he didn't want to work with Temari; it was just that both of them felt somewhat embarrassed about the events from the day before and didn't know how to approach the other. Hence, their reluctance to go on a mission together.
"Well, that's good to hear," Tsunade said. "Since there are six of you, I'm not going to assign a squad leader; however, I expect you all to work together. Now, I'll give you some time to get ready. Meet at the entrance gate in an hours' time. Dismissed."
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Exactly sixty minutes later, the group was off on their new mission, jumping through the trees of the forest. Not much had been said, aside from the normal conversation on the order of which they would travel. The final positions were Shino, who was in the lead, followed by Kankuro, Kiba, Temari and Gaara, with Hinata in the rear. Shino was in front because he could use his bugs to scout ahead, and Hinata was in back because she could use her Byakugan to check behind them.
They traveled silently for almost the whole way, only talking to discuss break times and travel plans. Although Hinata was feeling more confident about herself in regards to what had happened, she still didn't know how to approach Gaara; she highly doubted that he would speak to her first, seeing as how he didn't talk much anyway. Kiba and Temari, though they hadboth thoroughly enjoyed spending the day together, weren't quite sure about what the other thought of it, and decided to leave it alone until the other addressed it. Which, at the rate things were going, would take awhile. As for Shino and Kankuro, they were basically caught in the middle: both knew nothing of their teammates' thoughts or the reasons they weren't speaking, but were kind of enjoying the silence, and decided to leave it alone until they found out what the hell was going on.
After only a day of traveling, they were nearing the border of Reiryuu. They were standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at the raging waters below, when the ground beneath them began to shake; softly at first, then the strength of the quake began to grow. Before they fully realized what was happening, the earth began to crack, and eventually gave way beneath them. Gaara and Hinata fell off in one direction, while Kiba and Temari fell in another. Shino and Kankuro were left on the cliff above, but they faced dangers of their own. All around them, trees began to collapse, causing them to jump in all sorts of directions to avoid them.
In the waters below, the ever-growing waves were raging all around the four shinobi, pushing them in different directions.
And thus ends chapter nine! Wow, I can't believe we're already that far! I want to thank everyone who's been supportive so far. And for all those anonymous people who have reviewed, thank you so much! I love you all!
