Good evening everybody who is reading this! I am so so sorry for not updating earlier - we've had some big things going on these past two weeks where I live - some good, some not so good. I thank you all for being so loyal to our story! It really means a lot to us. Which is why I finished all of my homework super-early so that I could squeeze in a chapter today! Unfortunately, I have not been able to get in touch with Shawn for the past couple of days so our story isn't progressing! -dismayed cry- But with any luck I'll get a response from him soon. :) Until then I'll just keep updating and hope I don't run over where we've written. Again, thanks to all of the people who e-mailed me with consolidations about our loss down here - it really meant a lot to me. So without any further delay, here's Chapter Thirteen! -Naruto Chibis pop up and tell you to read and review-
Chapter Thirteen - Doubting My Skills
"N-Naruto-kun, do you hear that?" Lee asked as he listened more carefully. "It sounds like a girl crying, wait here I will be back shortly," Lee said and before Naruto could object Lee was gone. He quickly traveled to the crying. When he arrived at the source he found it was Hinata. 'Why is she crying, did she find out about Sakura?' Lee thought to himself. "Hinata, I need to talk to you - it is most important," he called out loud enough for her to hear as he jumped down from the roof he was on and walked towards her and waited to she if she responded to him.
Hinata sniffled and looked around to see who was calling her, seeing Rock Lee she shook her head a little bit and raised her hand weakly for a small wave, trying to wipe away her tears with the other one. "Lee-kun, I-I'm sorry...I'm not really f-feeling like talking right now..." She ceased running but continued walking down the road, hoping that Lee wouldn't be too mad at her for not stopping to talk.
"But Hinata it's about Naruto-kun it's very important and he wants to talk with you about many important things, so please come with me so you can talk out your problems with him, I do not like seeing you both so sad," he said still walking towards her.
She stopped and turned to face him, but kept her head down facing the ground. "...I have nothing to say to him, Lee-san. I am not angry at him, I am happy for him...but you can tell him I wish him and Sakura-san the best..." She turned back around and began to walk away again. "Thank you for the concern, though, Lee-san."
"Yeah, she headed out about 20 minutes ago and she hasn't been back. It's late and we're worrying...yeah, yeah me and Neji. Okay, thanks so much. Good luck." Kiba hung up his phone (assuming they have phones) and turned to Neji who was leaning against the wall. "Shino says that he'll go out and look for her." He sat down at the kitchen table and sighed. "I hope he finds her..."
"Hinata you do not understand, he loves you not Sakura, she took advantage of him," he blurted out accidentally. "I should not have said that, that is something he wanted to tell you, but well now you know, so won't you come with me and let him explain HIS side of the story?" Rock Lee pleaded for the last time to Hinata.
She stopped once again but didn't turn around. Her fists clenched at her side and her voice was small, almost dangerous. "Lee-san, if I can develop some confidence and self-respect," she twirled to face him, countenance near-angry, "then I can develop brains, too!" She shook her head. "I don't believe she's taking advantage of him. She's sweet, and even if she was, no one forced him to do anything she told Kiba he did...and besides," She chuckled sadly, "I'd rather it be this way, anyways..." She turned back around and began to walk off again, still talking. "Not only is he safe from my clan, but now he's happy, too."
Shino walked along the streets of the village, searching for Hinata. "Tracing from Kiba's home, she couldn't have gotten too far. The bad thing is that there are about a million different directions she could have gone..." He was about to continue searching when he heard Rock Lee's familiar voice not too far from where he was and decided to go see if he had seen her.
Lee looked down in defeat and walked back to Naruto dragging his feet. 'But he's not happy and he won't be unless he has you, Hinata,' he thought to himself, "As I have Naruto as a friend, now I must go tell him the bad news sigh" he said to himself so no one else would hear. He continued to walk rather than take to the roofs, he was too depressed by the situation.
Hinata walked a little while longer until she reached her old ninja academy. She smiled sadly as she remembered those old days before she was even a Genin, the days when studying was her priority and Naruto would goof up in front of the class, the days before she became friends with Kiba and Shino. She sat down on a bench nearby the empty school and stared off into nothing, all out of tears to cry. "If only life was as simple as it was back then..."
Shino continued walking along the streets, searching for Hinata, until he came across Lee sulking down one of the nearby roads. "Lee," he called quietly and calmly as he usually is and strode over to him. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Hinata, would you?" He didn't ask why he was upset.
Lee pointed in the direction that Hinata went without looking up and continued to walk down the road dragging his feet and bobbing hs head dramatically.
Naruto paced along his roof wondering where Lee went and more importantly what he was going to say to Hinata the next time he saw her. He had no idea how he was going to explain himself this time, and if he could not and she rejected him, would he stay with Sakura or just be like ero-sennin and be alone and hit on all the girls he met. He gave a brief chuckle at the thought, then went back to his thinking.
"Thank you," Shino replied and walked in the direction he pointed.
Hinata sat on her bench and looked up at the sky, tears shining lightly at the corners of her eyes. "Oh, I wish things could go back to the way they were..." She pulled up her legs and hugged her knees.
"Hey," a familiar voice drifted through Hinata's ears. She looked over to see Shino sitting down beside her. "What's going on? Kiba's worried sick about you."
"Shino-kun, I'm sorry, I just came out for a walk..."
"It's kind of late for a walk, don't you think?" He turned to her. "Anything you want to talk about?"
Hinata blinked. Since when did Shino speak this much? He stood up from the bench. "We'll talk about it walking home, okay?"
Lee finally arrived at Naruto's house and jumped onto his roof and looked at Naruto with much sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun I had heard Hinata and went to bring her back here, but she does not wish to speak with you, she knows about you and Sakura and she wishes the two of you the best, but I do not think she wants anything more to do with you." Naruto looked at him and the more Lee spoke the more depressed Naruto looked, by the end there were tears in his eyes.
"Thank you for telling me and now I must go to bed, do not follow me," Naruto said and without another word jumped into his window and put his head into his pillow and let his feelings flow out, and allowed himself to fall asleep for the night, hoping that the next day would not be as bad as today was.
Lee listened to Naruto and did not follow him, he decided to stay out of everyone's affairs for the night and go home before he caused anymore damage.
By the time they had reached Kiba's house (she told Shino about how she was staying there) they had talked about just about everything, well, Hinata talked about just about everything and Shino popped in his comments here and there. The end result left at Shino being fairly silent. Hinata sighed, supposing that it was okay, at least she was able to talk. "Thank you, Shino-kun for listening." Shino nodded.
"I'm sorry I'm not more help, it's just that I see many different possibilities for you branching off from here..."
Hinata nodded, "I suppose so...I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. I'll tell Kiba-kun you found me." Shino nodded and began to walk off, and Hinata waved, "See you tomorrow!"
As she began to open the door she found herself locked between two strong but furry somethings and squeaked, unable to break free. "Why did you scare us like that!" When she realized that it was Kiba-kun's arms wrapped in his jacket, she sighed a breath of relief, but then quickly turned pink.
"Kiba-kun...? ...what are you doing?" she asked. He hastily let go and stood up straight, trying to correct himself.
"W-what! A friend can't be glad a friend's okay?" He looked to Neji who had just come out for a 'help me out.'
Neji laughed. "Oh yeah," He grappled Hinata around the neck and gave her a noogie, mock-hugging her.
"Owowowowowowowowowow! Neji nii-san! Stop!"
He released her and looked to Kiba as if to say, 'you owe me one' and to everyone's surprise and relief, Hinata burst out laughing. "What has gotten into you two!"
Kiba grinned. "Dunno, but at least you're feeling a little less sad!"
Naruto woke up the next morning feeling better, not much better, but in a mood where he could have a normal conversation without showing that something was wrong. Only moments after he woke up there was a knock on his door. "Who is it?" he called out and walked to the door.
"It's me Rock Lee, I have some news for you," Lee said through the door. He had just returned from the Hokage's office and had a mission to do, but was instructed to get his teammates Kiba and Neji and to send Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata to her office for a mission of their own. Lee had objected but was told not whatever was going on was not more important then a mission, and that she had a reason for everything.
Naruto opened the door and greeted Lee with a smile. "Hello fuzzy-brows, thank you for last night by the way, I appreciate it, so what is the news? It is not about Hinata is it?" he said with a little hope and fear in his voice.
"Not really, it is a mission from Hokage-sama - you need to report to her office and I am to get your teammates, and I was told to hurry up so goodbye!" He lied about the fact that he needed to hurry so he would not have to tell Naruto the bad news and began to run towards Kiba's house to pick him up. After that he would head to the Hyuuga estate to pick up Neji and tell Hinata about her mission.
"Wait - what do you mean not really, and who are my teammates get back here Fuzzy-brows!" he yelled to Lee with no success, then Naruto headed to the Hokage's office with a sigh.
Kiba was feeding Akamaru and finishing up his early morning chores while Neji and Hinata still slept. He was honestly surprised they had actually accepted his invitation to stay the night, he figured that Hinata's father would kill them for not coming home. But Neji said that Hiashi-sama was in no position to get onto them after yesterday; Neji might get into a little trouble because he had little to do with the situation, but Hinata would most likely go without trouble.
Neji woke up to see Kiba finishing up his chores and shook Hinata awake. "You need any help with that?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
"Wow...I can't believe I fell asleep..." Hinata yawned as she sat up and then shakily stood up, legs asleep, and stretched.
Rock Lee ran to Kiba's house and knocked on the door rapidly. "Kiba-kun are you awake we must make haste we have a mission and we have many stops to make before we go!" he said jumping from one foot to the other anxiously. "We have to go get Neji and then tell Hinata and Sakura that they have a mission!" he called through the door and waited for a response.
"Is that Lee?" Kiba asked. "And a mission?"
"Neji?" Neji asked. "Why must I be gotten?"
'Hinata?' Kiba thought. 'She shouldn't be out on a mission so soon. She needs time to relax from yesterday...and worse, she's going to be with-'
"SAKURA!" Hinata near shrieked and fell backwards onto the sofa. Kiba and Neji both blinked at her and looked at each other. Neji shook his head and went to open the door to let Rock Lee in.
"Neji-san what are you doing here this is Kiba's house!" he said and stood still. "Did you spend the night here or come over before I got here today?" he asked confusedly. "Well that is not important. The three of us have a mission to do and-" Lee looked to Hinata who was on the sofa, "Hinata has a mission with Sakura and Naruto," he said then quickly followed with "I tried to talk Hokage-sama out of it but she said not to argue and she knows what is best," he said and braced himself for the negative response he was sure he would receive.
Hinata sighed. "Don't worry, Lee-san. I won't let them get in the way of my being a ninja. I'm expected to join them for this mission, so I will. I can't hide from them all my life."
"What kind of mission is ours?" Kiba asked curiously, glad that Hinata wasn't too upset about the team matchups.
"Is it just me or is this all incredibly ironic?" Neji popped in randomly, earning a few stares. "...what? It is!"
"Well that is a relief," Lee said wiping his forehead, then looked to Kiba "It is a B-Rank mission, we must go to the Hidden Village of the Sand and talk to the Kazekage, he will provide more information there," Lee said rather seriously, "And that is all that I was told. Now all we have to do is go tell Sakura to go to the Hokage's office then we can be on our way, Hinata you can head there now too if you'd like," he said and waited for everyone to get ready.
Hinata nodded. "I'll just go get my carrier bag..." She ran upstairs to retrieve it.
"Why wouldn't the Kazegage just assign ninjas from the Sand village to do one of their missions?" Neji asked.
Hinata came back downstairs a split-second later. "You three can go ahead and head for the Sand Village since you're all assembled. I'll go retrieve Sakura for our mission."
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Kiba asked, concern evident in his voice.
Hinata smiled softly. "Kiba-kun, since when did you start doubting my skills as a ninja? You've usually been the one egging me on." Kiba sighed, knowing that Hinata was dodging his real concern, fully aware that Hinata knew that he was talking about Naruto and Sakura.
Kiba grinned, trying to erase his worries. "Well, good luck and be safe!" Neji nodded agreement and Hinata left.
"What rank mission were they going to do, did the Hokage mention?" Neji asked curiously.
"I do not know why the Kazekage do not issue there own Ninjas, but it is possible that they do not have enough help, I myself only know of three people of our rank, it is a relatively smaller village, or maybe they need someone from another village for the mission, but I do not know for sure. As for Hinata's mission I do not know the rank I did not ask, but I can assume it will be at least a C-Rank due to it having three hand picked people for their skills," Lee said in a normal tone with his arms crossed in thought as to why they had a mission in the sand village.
Neji yawned. "Will our mission be a longterm one that we need to take some time to pack for or will it be a pretty quick one?"
Kiba was already packing some food for the trip, normal food for the three and dog food for Akamaru.
"Well I assume it will take a while but I am not sure so I would pack for a long trip if I were you, I'm already packed my backpack is at my Dojo, I need to go pick it up, I'll go do that now if you don't mind." Rock Lee said and began walking towards his Dojo and waved good-bye.
Kiba waved to the departing Rock Lee and began his own packing. "Why don't we meet back here when we're all done packing, Neji? I'm assuming you need to go get some stuff."
Neji nodded. "Yeah, I need to get home and get ready. This was actually perfect timing - Hiashi-sama will have no time to nag at me for being gone last night." Neji disappeared through the door, leaving Kiba and Akamaru alone, preparing for their journey.
N A R U H I N A
Thank you to all of our wonderful reviewers:)
kyubii (Chpt 12) : Thanks! I'm glad you like it! Hinata will make a comeback, just you wait! -heroic pose-
X-275 Strike Fisha: Thanks! I'm glad you're liking it! You'll find that we're big plot twisters. -smiles innocently-
Nara Shikaku: Muahahaha, we're far from finished with this story, my friend. Far from over. -cackles evilly- Thank you so much! It's a great honor you think so highly of our story!
SandGoddess: Maaaaayyyybbbeeee...-shifty eyes- LoL
Blue-Shine-Angel: Voila! Like magic! Another chapter! -golf clap-
blackpelt7: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoy it. :)
garthjax: In a way, it's sort of happened to me. There are some differences between the two situations (like my Sakura was supposed to be my best friend, and my Naruto WAS my best friend...still is...) But in my situation my Sakura flipped the entire situation to make it sound like I was the traitorous friend. -growls- As for Shawn, the other writer, he once said that he was in a situation very similar to this before. So we both relate to the story, maybe that's why we've gotten so into it! Anyways, I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the question:)
kyubii (AN): Whee! Another review! Here's another chapter!
Thanks for the reviews everyone, they keep us going! -hugs all-
Skidoodle & Wobbleman