Chapter Seven

A goofy grin spread on his face and he brushed the dust of his clothes.
'Hmm, didn't see that one comin' dattebayo..' he grumbled, although he didn't mean it.
She giggled. It wasn't actually that funny, but she just didn't know how to react after that little moment they just had.

'Well, let's get back to our base camp, we need to rest. Especially you Hinata', he said softly as he turned towards her, 'I don't want you to get hurt because you crossed your limits and didn't take the time to recover.'
'B-But we have to find the Lavend-'
'Shhhh!' He cut her off by placing his index finger on her lips, causing her cheeks to flame up like fireballs. 'I will hear no objections, Hinata. Either you go rest, or I will make you. No mister nice guy anymore' he said with sparkling little lights in his blue eyes and held his arms over his chest.
'B-But what about our mission, tonight is a new moon...' she asked, wishing he would cut her off the same way he did just now.
'Hey, we got plenty of time left until the sun sets. How about we take our time to rest and then go search for that herb-thing with everything we've got to find it before it perishes?' He answered and started to walk towards the camp, his hands in his pockets.
'B-but..' she started.
He turned around. 'Hey Hinata?'
'Yeah?'
'It wasn't a question actually' he said grinning.
She sighed and smiled. Once Naruto got something on his mind, it was pretty hard to make him let it go. She looked up to the sky. The sun was halfway her path to the other end of the endless blue sky. I hope we'll make it in time.
She sniffed in the cool summerbreeze and followed Naruto's footsteps to their camp.

After a few hours of rest, she felt better again. She got out of her tent and went to the river to look for Naruto since she couldn't find him anywhere in the camp. It was late in the afternoon and leaves were rustling in the trees. She saw a silhouette sitting on shore. There he is.
'Oh hey, you're awake! Are you sure you feel well enough?' he said as he turned his head to face her.
'I think..'
'Don't force yourself Hinata. It's very dangerous to force yourself to cross the limits of what you're capable of..' he said, a concerned look visible in his eyes. 'Kakashi-sensei once told me making sure the team survives is the first priority other than completing the mission. And since you're my team right now...' he paused, and his smile softened. '...I am to make sure you won't work yourself to death, 'tebayo...'
She was stunned. Since when does he care this much about me? Or am I overanalyzing this?
She smiled back at him for being so kind to her. It didn't happy very often somebody was this nice to her. She always got scolded at by her father for being weak and incapable of being the Hyuuga-heiress, and therefore she'd gotten very shy and unsure of herself. Of course Shino and Kiba were really nice to her, true, but in some way or another, it seemed different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was it in the look in his eyes? Was it in the tone of his voice? She didn't know. But why was it different? She'd never felt it before, never noticed it before.
But she didn't got to think about it more.
'Well then, let's go, but don't you dare exhausting yourself like that again.' He said grinning as he started to walk towards the woods surrounding them, and not long after that being followed by her.

The day was slowly fading away, making place for what would probably be a clear night sky, and the sun was about to disappear behind the border of their visible world. The shadows of the trees surrounding her were growing longer and longer, until no one could clearly distinguish where the shadow stopped and the tree begun.
Focus. Focus. Focus. Find it. Find it. Find it, she repeated in her head as some sort of mantra. The veins visibly surrounding her eyes were popping up some more as she concentrated her view. More details. The Lavender Tear is a small herb, and hard to locate. It is mostly found in places where the moonlight has full access. Then, I must find an open space in the forest, and try my best on finding it.

And so she jumped from tree to tree, further and further into the heart of the forest, not realizing she was straying off, and that she was nowhere near the basecamp anymore.

A mere shadow looked up to the sky. This is it, he thought as he saw the last sunrays disappear behind the horizon. He wrapped his cape around him and walked away, careful that he stayed within reach of the shadows.

She slowed down and looked around. It was getting darker around her. Quickly getting darker. But she wasn't worried. After all, the moon wouldn't be spreading her light this night to guide her. Her byakugan wouldn't be troubled by it though, and so she continued her search....