Hakujitsumu XIII

Hinata awoke to blazing sunshine singeing her retinas, her stomach violently rolling and feeling like she had a half-chewed cactus stuck in her mouth. She gratefully picked up the half-full glass of water Ino had thoughtfully (if sloppily) placed at her bedside and drank a few slow sips to avoid further upsetting her stomach. It took her a moment to realise that the worst of the weight that had settled in her chest for the past several weeks had lessened a little, as if it had all come rushing out along with her words and her tears the evening prior. Some of it was still there and, Hinata suspected, would never truly leave, but on this morning, it had lessened enough that she felt able to get out of bed and tackle the shower she'd been putting off for several long days. The hot water felt good on her sweaty skin and she felt as if she were scrubbing her mind of the worried, cyclical thoughts which had been buzzing in her head for what felt like months. She'd soon dried and dressed in actual clothes and was just as quickly out of the bathroom and in the kitchen where she set the kettle to boil for tea and wondered where Ino was, it was already past eleven am.

"'Ornin'… hey you're dressed!" The woman herself appeared, looking far worse for wear, her hair was a huge bird's nest and her pyjamas were all askew,

"Morning, hungover?"

"So, so hungover, think I hurled three times last night, ugh. How're you?"

"Like crap, but… better." Hinata said, pouring out two mugfuls of tea, "I mean, better than I did yesterday." She handed one to Ino,

"Really? That's great! It was about time you got all that off your chest, no wonder you've been so down. Thanks."

"Yeah… it just felt so hard to articulate, if that makes any sense?"

"Kami-sama I wish there was coffee!" Ino took a hesitant sip of her boiling tea, "Yeah, I think it does, like you just needed some time to get it all straightened out in your head, you know the gist of what happened and why but its just not ready to come out… like a cake that isn't quite cooked."

"Yeah, yeah! Exactly!" Hinata agreed, almost surprised by how accurate Ino had been, "I mean, it's not like I'm magically cured, but…"

"You're out of bed, washed and dressed, I'd call that a pretty damn good start. But don't feel you have to push yourself, you can stay here as long as you need to, Hinata, take you time to get yourself back together again and find some new focus."

"Like what?" It wasn't quite a snap, but it was in no way Hinata's natural timbre,

"I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I just meant that taking over the clan has been the only thing you've thought about for weeks, now. It's okay to think about other things for a while." Ino said awkwardly, it wasn't quite how she meant it come out and the frown steadily growing on Hinata's face cemented it,

"I'm not going to just give up!"

"Of course you shouldn't and that's not what I'm saying, I just mean, it's okay to put it on the back-burner for a little while until you're really ready… it would help to fool Hiashi into thinking you're not a threat anymore, right?" Hinata didn't answer, "But, hey, let's not worry about that, why don't you go for a walk? The sun looks nice today and some fresh air might be good. I'd happily go with you, but I think I need to lie down for a bit longer first."
"No, it's okay, I think I should probably go out."

Before Hinata knew where the hell she was going, she'd found herself among the decaying deciduous trees of the great forest of Fire that surrounded Konoha, the last stubborn hold-outs having a few ruddy leaves clingy precariously onto their stalks despite the persistent wintery breeze. Hinata knew how they must feel. Everything — walking, eating, thinking, talking — all felt so agonisingly difficult, simple in her head but the second she tried to effect any of them, they just turned to mush in her hands, or gibberish on the tip of her tongue. She sat down on a fallen tree to rest her legs, she'd only been walking for fifteen or so minutes but already she felt exhausted, she couldn't possibly be so unfit after a barely two weeks of sleep… could she? She hadn't even felt this tired after being wrested from the clutches of the tree after some six months of inactivity. She broke off a long, thin branch from the trunk, finding it supple; it might have still been alive but Hinata could not see what good it could accomplish still tied to a dead tree.

She had been tethered to a tree, free and then became responsible for its death but her she later was, freed from a good many shackles but somehow feeling evermore trapped. Those words she had spoken to Sakura several months ago now felt like a hollow mockery, wedged in her memory simply to remind her of what an ignorant upstart she was. She had tried to forge herself a new future but had been cut off from everything, no long could she see fresh opportunity when she looked at the world, but rather the broken and smouldering Konoha, offering no shelter or promise of fortune but for a long, desperate slog that was far more likely to claim lives than it was to bless them. She rose to her feet and continued her wandering, feeling her breathing ease the longer she spent in the trees and away from the eyes and ears of others. The constant pushing of Ino and Sakura, telling her to go to Shizune for an appointment with the hospital therapist had done nothing but drive her away, she would be fine in a few weeks! She just needed to get out of this… whatever it was… Hell, even awaking and realising that Iruka no longer existed or that she was no longer pregnant hadn't upset her this badly. Why hadn't it? Hinata felt the sting in her eyes as she wondered just how bad a mother she must have been if she hadn't been that sad to lose her child.

But Iruka never really existed, had he? Yiro, on the other hand, had been a real, living breathing person whose life had been robbed from him… but she clearly remembered every detail of Iruka's life, his first steps, his first words, the strangling worry when he'd fallen sick for the first time and giddy happiness she felt at hearing his laugher as Naruto threw him in the air. But she could only remember those feelings, she didn't feel them now. What was wrong with her? She had no idea how long she'd been stood out in the woods by herself, but a sudden voice shook her from her daydream,

"H-Hinata-sama?" It was Ryutsa, "Hinata-sama! I've been so worried about you, how are you? After Hiashi-sama threw you out… we…" He hurriedly bowed deeply to her,

"Ryutsa-san?"

"We are all so sorry Hinata-sama! There were so many of us prepared to help you take over leadership from Hiashi-sama, but we must have been careless and allowed him or one of his supporters to hear what we were planning!" He bowed again,

"It's just what happened, Ryutsa-san. It was definitely my fault for being so stupid in the first place."

"No, Hinata-sama, we all truly believed that you would make a great clan leader and that you would truly have done what you could to improve things for the clan members and branch house members." Ryutsa pushed, "We are all hoping that when you regain your strength you will try again and succeed."

"What are things like now? In the clan?" Hinata found the question had left her tongue before she could think better of it,

"Hiashi-sama was very displeased at the turn of events… he has been very strict with us."

"I'm sorry, Ryutsa-san—"

"HInata-sama, please try again! You will find that you have a lot of support within the branch house, even more than before, because of how Hiashi had been ruling the clan lately. He has been determined that there will be no more rebellions. Things are… not good."

Hinata took a deep breath tying to control the emotions barrelling around inside her chest, "I'm so sorry I only managed to make things worse for you all… it was the exact opposite of what I wanted."

"I know, HInata-sama, we all know that… but there is a lot of hope that you generated and because you are still alive, people have kept hold of it. Hinata-sama, we all miss Yiro-san, he was a beloved friend and clan-mate and we do not want to see his sacrifice be made in vain. We want to see that… that…"

"That my Father pays the price for murdering him?"

"H-hai."

"I want to, Ryutsa-san, I don't want to leave things the way they ended, but how can I risk more of your lives?"

"Hinata-sama, we want a better life in the clan and we are prepared to fight for it." Ryutsa urged and Hinata looked at him for a good long while, feeling her emotions ebb and swirl, feeling the tears prick at her eyes — through from what exactly she wasn't sure —

"I will Ryutsa-san… I won't leave you all there… I just, need some time… to, to get myself back together again."

"Hai, Hinata-sama, I understand."

"Find me again, Ryutsa-san, I promise I'll get better… I have to."

Ino knocked on the door a couple of times before she just barged right in, "Gai? Are you awake?" She called out, quickly finding him sitting in his kitchen, "You don't have to speak, Gai, I only came here to tell you a bunch of things that I've wanted to say for a while but you keep blowing me off. So I'm here, I'm going to say what's on my mind and then I'll leave you alone, okay?"

"I do not like you all bursting in here whenever you feel like it—"

"Good. Gai, I want you to know just how amazing and valuable I found training with you to be, even if it was just in our heads; I'd never have imagined you could teach me so much about ninjutsu, about myself and the battlefield… and I'd never have imagined I could learn to love taijutsu as much as I do. You seemingly effortlessly instilled in me hope and a desire to be better than I ever had done before, none of my previous senseis had ever managed that. Gai, I don't know if you realised it at the time, but you were the best sensei I ever had, you listened to me and took me as I was." Ino walked close to him, into his line of vision and leaned against the counter behind her, "I never once felt lacking, inexperienced yes, but only in the sense that I had more to learn, you never once belittled me or insulted me or treated me like just another weak girl… you help me when I realised I hadn't even needed help and Kami-sama, I am going to help you. You can't live forever like this, you need some time to digest the changes of course, but, as you once said to me 'it takes courage to realise things about ourselves that we are not proud of and to do our best to change them'. I know you have the courage, Gai, even if you can't go back you can move forwards and Lee and I will be right there with you… as will the rest of the village."

"I am trying to be positive, Ino, but I felt like I haven't moved in days and all of my favourite places to meditate in Konoha are not accessible to wheel chairs. A shinobi's duty is to be adaptable to change and take whatever comes, but I do not know who I am without the ability to walk and run and train." Gai responded, finally looking up at her; his chin was completely obscured by the thick, wiry beard that any centurion would be proud of and he had deep bags beneath his dull eyes.

"Sakura told me something that Hinata had said to her, right after they first awoke, and it was about how we have all been given a second chance. A chance to live a completely new life from the ones we had before, to have new experiences and make different choices… we've already made those choices once which lead us to one outcome and here we are again with the chance to restart at the mid-way point. I wouldn't have chosen it, as I was very happy in that Tsukikomi training with you and Chouji and working at Intel… but I'm hardly the worst off, either. And so are you, you're still alive, Gai and you still have your mind… wasn't your ethos always to put your absolute best into whatever you were doing? Regardless of how likely failure was? Please try again, Gai, there is still something new for you to discover and learn… if nothing else, it will stop me and Lee nagging you."

She heard him snort out a short breath of laughter, "I don't see what there is for me to learn."

"Who you are divorced from your past. There is always value in the reinvention of ourselves and just because we liked our previous version best, does not mean there will be nothing of value in our new incarnation."

"When did you learn philosophy?"

"From listening to you."

…

"Lee, do you have minute?" Ino called out as she jogged over to him,

"Oh, Ino, what's up?" He'd just left his class,

"I was taking to Gai and I think I have an idea how to help him."

"Oh? Did he talk to you? He's still very, um, aggressive the last time I saw him." Lee admitted, internally cringing at the last time he saw — and upset — his former sensei,

"Yes, he wasn't very impressed by my barging in to talk to him either, but I was sick of waiting."

"Um, Ino—"

"I know, I know, but he did tell me something interesting, he said that all of his favourite meditation spots in Konoha weren't wheelchair accessible."

"…Okay..?"

Ino rolled her eyes with impatience, "So what if we build some ramps for him? In just a few places so that he can go back there when he wants to?"

"Oh-oh!" Lee finally cottoned on, "That's a great idea! Then Gai sensei can start to feel normal again!"

"Exactly! I'm not much of a carpenter, though, do you know anyone who might be able to help us?"

"Hmm, there is one in my class who does work in rebuilding and construction, though I'm not sure how willing he would be to help us… he's been slow to accept me as a teacher."

"It'll still be worth asking, even if he'd be willing to offer some tips… the last thing I want to build something half-assed that's mockingly useless."

"Right!" Lee struck his palm with his closed fist, "I will ask for Gai-sensei!"

"Great, I'll start doing some research and see if I can find any other people to help us, we'll meet next week — let me know what time's best for you."

"Hai, see you later, Ino." Lee replied.

Tsunade leant back in her chair as she unrolled the scroll from Gaara,

Godaime Hokage,

Tsunade-sama,

I trust things are well in Konoha; we have had some disturbing developments in Suna, all of our civilian population had have awoken from the Tree with the ability to knead chakra. There have been several minor instances of violence and disruption though nothing serious as of yet. I imagine Konoha is in a similar position and I am at a loss at to how best approach a solution; not everyone can be trained as shinobi and to do so would have far reaching consequences to the balance of power. I am concerned over what the other great nations might decide; although we fought under a single banner under the threat of Otsutsuki, there is no such unifying motivation now. I fear I must act fast to unify Suna and solidify any loyalties the civilian population before any might take it upon themselves to leave, though I am unsure as to what would be the right move.

Please let me know if you have found any effective arrangements or agreements.

Gaara

Yondaime Kazekage

"No, is the short answer, Gaara." Tsunade muttered to herself as she set the scroll back on her desk; she was not surprised by the news that Suna was facing the same problems as Leaf, though she was disappointed to have confirmation of it. The letter had been dated a week or so back, so high had been the backlog of letters and orders and correspondence that tsunade was slowly wading through. Without the inherent strata that shinobi and civilians created, and the excess numbers of those wanting to be shinobi vs those needed to fill the civilian jobs was the largest point of contention. What happened if many simply refused and chose to leave Konoha? Could they be looking at the destruction of the ninja-villages? How was it even in Tsunade's rights to tell people what careers they could or could not pursue?

Even though she planned to opened extra class for those who wished to become ninja, the rigorous selection process she had planned had an equal chance of creating further animosity. But she had to do something, she was running out of time to think about this problem and the longer she sat on it the more difficult it would be to rectify. Before she could reach for her pen, Shizune opened the door,

"Tsunade-sama, you have a visitor, Mifune-sama is here to see you."

"Mifune?" Tsunade rose to her feet as the General bowed to Shizune and walked into the room,

"Good afternoon, Tsunade-sama," He bowed low to her and she returned,

"Mifune-sama, it had been a long time… or so it seems." Tsunade gestured to the chair opposite her desk and he took a seat,

"Indeed, a good deal had happened in a short space of time. Konoha seems to be recovering well."

"Appearances, Mifune-sama," She took a seat herself, "Tensions are high and the civilians feel restless."

"A common theme; I have spent the past month or so visiting the great nations, and they each tell a similar tale, we must find a way to restore order and balance in a way that suits as many as possible. The old shinobi systems will no longer work and we must be careful not to stoke the flames of war."

"I certainly agree with you, Mifune-sama, but I'm not sure what I can realistically recommend."

"What have you been doing so far?"

"Other make thorough records, I have ordered regimens of meditation for the hottest-headed, but it is at best a stop-gap."

Mifune nodded, "Still a good start, I have brought with me a platoon* of my samurai to help you train your civilians in the way of chakra, but not, necessarily to become a fighting force."

"Oh?" Tsunade leaned forwards to rest her arms on her desk,

"The civilian population will need direction and training both to help secure Konoha and to cool tensions; and I have decided that the best way we can accomplish this if they are trained by a neutral force who are highly skilled in chakra but are not ninja."

"Sounds like an excellent idea. What will the end goal of this be, though, Mifune-sama? To teach them simply to understand and wield their chakra? To be a fighting force in desperate times in support of the ninja? Or simply to instil a sense of loyalty and cohesion?"

"A little of all, as well as my samurai I have brought a handful of my chakra wielding civilians who have developed some very interesting jutsu over the years."

"I was not aware that the Land of Iron had anyone, let alone civilians, who were capable of using ninjutsu?"

Mifune offered a sly smile, "Well, it has not been something I've been keen to advertise and almost none of my samurai are capable of utilising their chakra into a ninjutsu — not to mention that our focus is on the sword and associated techniques — so not a great deal of our focus goes into chakra and its development. But many of my civilians have turned their focus, and was such their skills, to things other than fighting."

"Such as?"

"Agriculture, medicine and construction, but to name a few."

"Agriculture? How? In what way?" Tsunade asked, finding herself leaning forwards in her chair in an subconscious expression of her curiosity.

"The Land of Iron has very harsh terrain and climate and for many years we could barely grow enough crops to sustain our relatively small population, but over time, we learned how to grow and strengthen our crops by feeding them chakra, or how to help them survive and continue growing even though the winter months."

"Astonishing, I hadn't though it was possible."

"It isn't for many people, it is a difficult skill to learn, but I am hopeful that the lure of learning a prized and valuable skill with help your people to realise there is more to chakra than becoming a shinobi."

"So do I, I am sincerely grateful that you are willing to share these techniques with us, Mifune-sama."

"Ah, don't thank me, it is Ashima-san who has agreed to teach that which she knows to a select group of women… she is very stubborn about this. But luckily Heitobana-san, Izumi-san and Tsunoko-san are a good deal more relaxed and will happily teach a small class each to anyone demonstrating the right aptitude."

They didn't sound all that much more relaxed but Tsunade resisted the urge to say so, "That is excellent news, Mifune-sama, I am very grateful that you are here. I imagine that you and your people would like to rest after your long travels?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama, some of our group are quite elderly."

"I will have rooms made available to you all. I assume you will like to be begin as soon as possible? First thing in the morning?"

"Indeed we will, if you can call all the non-shinobi into a central place and from there I will explain to them what will happen and what they need to do."

"Very well."

Finally, it seemed, things were looking up.

"Ohayo-gozimasu, Suzuru-san." Yuyouu, her colleague greeted with a large goofy grin and his bushy blond hair as uncombed as always; he wasn't a defiant sort of person but it seemed that no force on heaven nor earth could tame his hair into anything other than a bird's nest. He blamed it on the humidity and within month of his working at the department, even his senior's had grown tired of chastising him on it and let it be.

"Ohayo," She answered politely back,

"Have you heard about today?"

"No..?"

"They're testing everyone's chakra! They're going to let everyone above a certain level train as ninja!" He said excitedly, "Chikotoru-sampai told me about it a few minutes ago, he said we're all supposed to be at the academy for the test."

"What if we don't want to go?"

"Why wouldn't you? This is our chance to get out of this crummy desk job! But, also, Chikotoru-sampai did say it was mandatory." He said, rummaging in one of the cupboards for a mug, "Coffee?"

"Sure; I don't get how they're going to offer those jobs to so many people… if we all leave who will do this job? Or run the restaurants? Or build houses? It just sounds stupid."

"Hmm, well, I think they're going to be strict about it but its still kind of exciting, right? Like we get a second chance at life!" Yuyouu was clearly excited but Suzuru had to fight from saying the first things which sprang to her mind about how Ensei and the others killed who really deserved the second chance and about how Mist was only offering this because of how much they hated their civilian population, regardless of the work they did. They were interrupted before she had to find something to reply with.

"Suzuru-san and Yuyouu-san please come with me," Chikotoru said as he walked up to them, he wasn't much older, perhaps five years, but he had the countenance of someone in his eighties; he suffered no fools and definitely did not spoil the child, but he was honest and hard working, a rare combination in Kirigakure. The two rose to their feet and followed him out of the building and down the short streets over to the academy building; it was too late now to think of any decent excuses, or to be mysteriously absent when they'd called for them. Damnit, playing the buffoon was all she could do now. There was a group of about thirty of them all from the administrative jobs in the Admin building or from the hospital, crammed into the academy test hall, along with ten or so Hunter Nin in full gear leaning against the walls of the hall and a jounin. Every civilian looked slightly nervous and every shinobi looked rather bored. She tried to ignore how the dry atmosphere tickled and gnawed at her eyes as well as her nerves whist constant new worries crept into her head. There were several nin she didn't recognise — could any of them be sensor types? She hadn't seen that Kiri had any, based on the records she'd handled, but then, she wouldn't be trusted with anything conducted by the Hunter Nin.

"You five please step forwards. You five go with Hitoru-san, and you remaining split into a two even groups." One of the nin said, gesturing as he did so; Suzuru tried to keep as low a profile as she was able. The nin walked over to the their group as the other ten left the room, he handed out blindfolds to Suzuru's group, "Put these on."

"W-wait, hold on," Yuyouu interrupted, anxiety colouring his tone, "how is this not an unfair advantage to them? You're just gonna let them beat us up?" A cruel smirk danced over the shinobi's lips,

"You have chakra now, you should be able to defend yourselves… to some degree at least, or have you just been sitting around for all these weeks doing nothing?" Yuyouu opened his mouth to reply, though no words were forth coming and the nin didn't wait for him to think of one, "Blindfolds on! Now!"

As soon as she pulled the cloth taught across her eyes, the itching stopped, the gentle pressure afforded by the blindfold brought Suzuru the first taste of relief from her aggravations in weeks. She let out a quiet breath of relief as the shinobi spoke again:

"For every one of them that you manage to take down — using chakra — you will have earned yourself a place at the academy. Do not kill them, you should be aiming only to incapacitate them so that they cannot fight back." His voice sounded quite distant and before he'd finished speaking, someone grabbed her arm and she felt the weight of something metal pressed into her palm. Her other hand rose to better inspect the item which tuned out to be a kunai,

"It's sharp." A voice whispered to her, though whether he was trying to be helpful or insulting, Suzuru couldn't quite tell from his tone of voice.

"Begin!" The voice was so loud and sudden that she started slightly,

"What? They've got kunai?" A voice called,

"Silence! No more speaking or it will result in automatic disqualification!"

Fucking Kiri! Why is everything some sick, physiological test in this stupid village? Suzuru thought, her irritation flaring as she took a few steps backwards, straining her ears to hear her impromptu enemy's footsteps. Though moving in this situation was almost as useless as staying still—

"Urghhh!" A sudden strangled groan drew her attention as she could feel her chakra spike on instinct, her head whipping around to the source of the noise only to realise that she could see. She saw the outline of Yuyouu lying on the floor, his red chakra flowing quickly and chaotically through his system as Daisuke stood over him, his own chakra significantly weaker and blue but he had the advantage. Wei was advancing fast on her, she could see his brilliant blue chakra gathering to his hands it was probably just meant to be a push, but she gave into instinct and dropped to a crouch, easily though narrowly avoiding his hands and she slashed out in front of her in a careless arc. She felt the blade make contact and Wei yelp in pain; a few of the observing shinobi made noises of approval. Shit.

She rose back to her feet and hurried away a few staggered steps, trying to hide the fact she could see the entire room with ease, and into the next where the other two groups were playing an entirely different game, which looked to be of some obstacle course. The people around her though were busied at a standoff, those blindfolded slashing viciously with their kunai and those without trying to figure out how to get their chakra in contact with their targets. Wei was again advancing on her, though clearly now more wary, Suzuru needed to stay calm and not give in to her instinct again… but how? It was too difficult not to flinch at the sight on incoming pain and she couldn't not see him… she could see everything around her.

"This lot are pathetic," One of nin muttered, "They all look like frightened rabbits, they'll never cope in the field."

"Silence!"

Suzuru dropped to another crouch and stabbed out with her kunai, copying what she'd done earlier and they lost interest in her, good! That gives me something, I can't get careless here! She instinctively looked around the room at the enemy force and the two of her team still standing, crap, crap she threw in a few extra over the top head movements in the hopes of just looking like an idiot. But she had clearly garnered some attention as she saw their instructor-nin gesturing to the others which all lined the wall; they each began reaching for kunai of their own. Wei and three others were still encroaching on her; three of them were water types but the fourth, the one who'd felled Yuyouu, was of a fire nature… not that it would make too much difference here, none of them had used any ninjutsu or elemental chakra at this point and it was unlikely that they even knew what it was. But before she could make a decision, she saw the incoming kunai and couldn't stop herself bracing for the impact that never came, all six of them flew harmlessly past her and each thunked into the wall behind her. Except for one, which lay harmlessly at her feet.

"Stop there. Remove your blindfolds." The nin bellowed as he marched over to Suzuru, who couldn't bring herself to move just yet, he grabbed her and she tried to flinch away but he was far too strong and in a moment her blindfold was ripped off her head.

The sudden brightness against her eyes was such a sensory overload that she blinked fiercely for a few minutes, what she had seen with the blindfold had felt like full vision but it was nothing compared to what she could see without it. The jounin twisted her face towards his and stared emotionlessly at her for a few seconds.

"Just like Ensei-chan."

Hinata's sleep had been stressful and broken, her mind conjuring half-imagined futures and false memories joined on to real ones until eventually she'd awoken at some ungodly hour of the morning, scrambling to get out of bed.

"Iruka! Iruka where are you?" She found herself shouting, panicking as to why she'd been alone in bed, "Iruka!" She wrenched open her door to find Ino stood in the corridor rubbing her eyes,

"Hey, why are you shouting at three in the morning? What's happening?"

"Where's Iruka?" Hinata asked,

"Iruka? Hinata… that was under the Infinite Tsukikomi, remember? He doesn't exist…" Ino clarified gently, taking in the panicked look in Hinata's face, though it slowly faded as her memories came back to her,

"I… right… of course." She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth, "I—I thought, I'd completely forgotten, I suddenly awoke thinking I could hear him crying…"

"Hinata, I'm sorry." Ino pulled her into a hug, "It's okay, it was just a nightmare, you're in my apartment, remember?"

"Yes, yeah, I do… I'm sorry, Ino, I'm sorry for waking you up."

"It's fine, really, are you going to be okay?"

Hinata glanced nervously back at her room, "Uh. yeah, I will, you should go back to sleep."

"C'mon." Ino grabbed her hand and led her into her room, "Just stay with me tonight, you look too freaked out," Ino gestured to her bed and climbed in, "C'mon then, I have to be up in a few hours." Hinata hesitated a second longer before she climbed in the other side. Ino slid up next to her, leaning her head against Hinata's shoulder and sliding an arm over her stomach; Hinata lay paralysed in surprise at the alien touch for a moment, though she soon relaxed at the warmth and safe company. As strong as Ino was her body felt soft against her, her touch was warm and comforting but did not overstep its boundary; Hinata felt no threat or encroachment and was asleep before she knew it.

..

.