Chapter 20: Missing You
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Warning, the rating has changed to M.
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Although Shikamaru, along with half of team 7, had arrived back in Konoha about a few days ago, she hadn't heard from him. The last time she spoke to him had been during the morning of the first day of the year, as he lazily picked up his clothes off the floor and quietly threw it on.
Hinata was at her office, back at home, in the middle of writing. She started at the half-finished letter addressed to Shikamaru. She had wanted to reach out to him, to ask him how he was doing, and what the rest of his trip had been like, just for the sake of starting a conversation. In the half-finished letter, she also confirmed that the whole incident with Toneri was like it had never happened, since he didn't remember a single thing. Thus, they were in the clear, as their relationship remained a secret from her family.
She ripped up the scroll and started all over with a sigh. Talking about the Toneri incident might be too insensitive because of what happened that night, and how Shikamaru had reacted to it. It was probably best to keep it short and sweet.
Looking towards the window, Hinata had a reflective look as she remembered the last time she last saw him, and how he had been a little rough.
Perhaps more than a little.
Shikamaru had done something to her that he had never done before. He had yanked and almost tore her clothes. Her obi and Kimono had been gone in an instant, before shrugging off his clothes and undressing. His touch had left blossoming bruises on her skin. Yet, she felt conflicted about her thought process. It was probably not right to like him a lot more when he was being that way, angry at her, kissing her passionately, or maybe ruthlessly, savagely devouring her.
Hinata had thought about him before, doing things like this, with his mouth against her skin, pinning her down with force and gripping her hands while spreading her slowly.
Her heart had thudded the entire time. Their behavior was considered taboo since they weren't even married. The delightful excitement pushed all of her doubts about this being wrong.
But as close as he had been, Hinata noticed his hesitation to get closer.
He pulled away from their kiss, in search of her gaze. She had looked upon him in anticipation and waited as her bare chest rose and fell with uneven breaths. His usual controlled lazy gaze was tainted dark, his eyes clouded. Yet still, there was a question in his eyes.
She had believed at the time that he needed further encouragement or consent. She didn't let him verbalize the question.
"How do you want me?" Hinata had said, forgetting herself for a moment. It all felt so wonderfully right to not be a clan leader for just a moment.
It was as if Shikamaru was hoping she'd say something like that.
The incredibly sexy motion of him biting his lips, slowly, caused her to inhale, almost sharply, right before he kissed her. Unfortunately, he had paused right as he almost entered her. Hinata had believed at the time that he was merely teasing her and that all of it had been a bluff.
Alas, but no. Shikamaru suddenly decided to stop, that was when she finally realized how furious he had been, as he bluntly admitted that maybe he just wasn't ready for this. He had followed up with a halfhearted kiss on her cheek, right before he laid right next to her and petted her hair before he went to sleep.
Even until today, Hinata wondered what it was that he had been thinking about back then, or what it was that she had done wrong. For the first time, he didn't let her inside his mind. And it scared her. She had a vague idea, though. Shikamaru was probably mad at her for wanting to make Toneri disappear, but that didn't make sense.
As Hinata placed her ink brush down, she leaned her chin on her hand, as she continued to reflect on the situation, momentarily glancing up just to watch Sasuke's annoying messenger bird trying to break through her window. She rolled her eyes, even his bird had taken some of his characteristics. As she got up to let it inside, she thought about how if it had been Sasuke rejecting her, it would've been a lot easier. Hinata knew she would've brushed everything off as one of his little mind games, with a single glare, happy that her virtue remained in tack.
She froze, as her heart began to beat fast. She was sure she had left all kinds of similar nonsensical thoughts behind, in Suna.
Frowning slightly, she recalled Temari's words, along with her philosophy on infidelity. But it wasn't like that at all. When it came to Sasuke Uchiha, her thoughts were private, and her own. She would never try to act upon any of those ridiculous thoughts, for she didn't want anything to do with the Uchiha, romantically.
With confidence, Hinata figured that she was fine. Shikamaru was the only one she cared about, to the point she had been willing to try and eliminate a certain silver-haired problem if Shikamaru hadn't stopped her.
When she opened Sasuke's letter, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she read Hanabi's name.
Not much to report. By the time you receive this letter, Hanabi has already started her mission.
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Matsuri, Hanabi, and a third member were sent further north, a day away from Suna, to explore some strange happenings in a nearby, small village. The village's chief had reached out to Gaara in advance, asking for help in taking care of the threat that had been recurring recently. Some of their orphans had been getting picked off, suddenly going missing.
Gaara had decided to send the three of them, as it was a simple recon mission.
"Make sure that you three don't come back empty. This should be easy for you, Hanabi-san," Gaara had said as Temari stood by his side. "Matsuri-chan, remember to keep your cool and do not engage under any circumstances. We just need information before we move to the next part of assessing the rank of the individuals involved,"
"I understand, Gaara-sama,"
Gaara turned to the third teammate and nodded his way, before sending them off.
"You're all dismissed."
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"Byakugan!" Hanabi's eyes became active as she searched the entire perimeter of the small village that they'd been assigned to investigate.
"Do you see anything?" Matsuri asked, as she fidgeted with a kunai that had a similar trinket attached to it, which almost matched Hanabi's.
"Hmm, no." When she didn't find anything suspicious in particular, she motioned for them to move further out.
"It's so cool to be working with a Byakugan user. With your eyes, I'm sure we'll find clues in no time," The third member added, for which Hanabi merely gave a slight shrug as he seemed to be staring at her like he was some sort of fan. She ignored him.
"Wait, stop. I see something," Hanabi said, a few hours later of searching. It was already close to sunset.
Hanabi led them to a dirty stuffed animal, which had been buried under the sand, probably due to the windstorms that tended to happen at night.
"Why do you think there was a bunny buried around?" The third teammate said.
"I think it means we're getting close to something," Matsuri said.
"I doubt it since I don't see any structures hidden around. Whoever was taken, dropped it here for us to find." Hanabi replied.
Looking at the setting sun, Matsuri sighed. "Let's start searching for shelter and pick this up again tomorrow,"
"Alright, let me just log the coordinates of where we found the stuffed animal." The third teammate said, as he pulled out a compass and wrote down the coordinates on the scroll.
They searched for the next three days, but stopped when they reached the border of the desert, where the sand slightly transitioned into a more grassy terrain.
Matsuri glanced over Hanabi, hesitantly.
"Should we continue? We'll be in another country for sure. And we don't have any letter to vouch for us or our mission."
Sighing, Hanabi took the stuffed animal out of her bag and stared at it, before staring up ahead again at the grassy terrain. Gaara had said not to come back empty-handed...and technically speaking, they had something that proved that the kids were probably being taken, far north, perhaps to another country. But for what purpose? Who knows.
"You're right. Let's go back." Hanabi said. She had deactivated her Byakugan to preserve some chakra.
One hour in, while on their way back, Hanabi had not expected anything to happen next. She wished she would've kept her Byakugan active, for they had not reacted fast enough. Three shinobi, with grayish cloaks, and hoods covering their heads, had jumped out of a mountain of sand, lunging at them and grabbing them from behind, with the blade of their kunai held to their throats. They didn't wear any recognizable headbands, as if purposely keeping their alliance a secret from being given away.
When they were instructed not to move, Hanabi froze.
Their third teammate struggled and went against their instruction, allowing their attention to briefly focus on him. Hanabi took the opportunity to discreetly pull out her kunai and dropped it to the ground, using her feet to cover it slightly with sand.
"What do you want from us?" Matsuri asked. "Are you the guys taking the children?"
"Matsuri-chan!" Hanabi glared from her side, asking her to silently shut up, since they weren't in the position to demand anything.
"Useless. Kill them both. We only need the Hyuga alive," One of the voices said.
Matsuri's brown eyes searched hers, and Hanabi found that she couldn't look away, as her lips parted open, to let out a scream, but her vocals didn't function at the time. Both bodies dropped limply on the ground, with irreparable damage to the throat, meeting a swift end.
"MATSURI!" Hanabi finally screamed, tears immediately flowing. She was knocked unconscious before she could feel anything else.
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An exact week had gone by when Sasuke Uchiha had taken it upon himself to look for Hanabi. Since she was a ninja first, he hadn't minded allowing her to leave his sight for seven days, but he drew the line at eight days.
"You're overreacting, Uchiha-san," Gaara had said.
Overreacting? He almost scoffed. If Hanabi goes missing, Hinata was going to fucking lose it, Sasuke thought to himself.
"Sorry, Gaara, but I agree with Sasuke. I want to do a wellness check on her, since I promised to look after her, too," Sakura said with her arms crossed.
"It's understandable. When you find them, tell them it's time to pull back," Gaara replied as they dismissed themselves from his office.
A worried-looking Sakura, joined Sasuke, that same afternoon, on their trip to find her.
A few days went by of searching up north, but they stopped where the desert sand met greenery grass.
"You don't think they left the country, do you?" Sakura asked, unsure, as the three were nowhere to be found.
"No, they're not stupid."
While on their way back, Sasuke immediately noticed it, something was glistening under the scorching sun, next to two badly decomposed bodies, that had been picked at by the desert's living things.
Inside, he was panicking.
"No...it can't be...who would something like this?" Sakura immediately turned away from who she knew was no doubt Matsuri. Her body had moved to Sasuke's arms while she looked away from the sight. "Matsuri-chan..." Sakura said as she began to sob in Sasuke's arms.
"We're shinobis, Sakura. Get it together," Sasuke said, while gently pushing her away and putting a distance between the two.
As Sasuke walked close to the bodies, he bent down and slowly reached for the glistening item under the sand. He pulled out the familiar kunai he had constantly been annoyed by in the past. That distinctive action figure, for which he had mocked Hanabi about. Instead of being bothered, she would tease him about possibly getting a matching one for him.
He half-turned and held the kunai up for Sakura to view, earning a gasp from her. Her chakra pulsed dangerously as she angrily punched the ground, sending a large gust of wind and sand in all directions.
"This is my fault." Sakura lamented as she wiped her tears.
He gripped Hanabi's kunai, his hand immediately bleeding.
"Sakura, send a letter back to Konoha. Hinata has to know..." Sasuke frowned, as he put Hanabi's kunai away in his weapon pouch, and immediately bandaged his hand. He had made a simple promise to Hinata, and he couldn't even keep it. He didn't have the heart to be the one to let her know.
"But what do I even say, Sasuke!? That we lost her!?"
"No... That we're searching for her."
Her body was missing. So there was hope.
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N/A: Dear readers, I hope you don't mind that I changed the rating. I had kept it rated T because it allowed me a level of discipline, and prevented me from writing straight-up smut. But we're close to the end, and I haven't strayed from what I originally wanted to write.
Edited: 7-22-21 turns out that in the process of editing, I make more mistakes.
Edited: 9-24-21 edited again.
Edited: 9-8-21