It was her own fault, she told herself. She had no one to blame but herself. Hinata rubbed her arms, though it was a warm night with an equally warm rain. Not even rain; it was more like a fine mist. She darted furtive glances all around her, expecting some horrible monster to jump out of a shadow and maim her. She darted from light source to light source, staying in the shadows as little as possible.

She actually jumped and screamed when a stray cat knocked over a trash can trying to get away from her. Hinata laughed nervously, rubbing her arms again. A kunoichi of her caliber, shrieking like a scared little girl? It was embarrassing…

At least, it would have been embarrassing if she wasn't so scared. This was the absolute last time that Deidara conned her into watching a horror movie! And now she had to walk home in the middle of the night--she had been terrified of it, of course, but she wouldn't allow herself to stay at the tower and show him how much that movie had actually scared her. After all, she was a kunoichi. She wasn't supposed to get scared at small, pale children who killed screaming women and fleeing men in dark roads and alleys just like the one she was walking down…

No! Stop thinking about it, she reprimanded herself, shaking her head. She was already more than halfway home, and if need be, Hinata was fairly certain she could take on a mere child…even if it was a demonic monster bent on trapping her soul for an eternity in its--Stop it!!

Hinata made it home at a dead sprint.

Neji was still awake; that she should be embarrassed about. He looked up dully from the couch. He had been reading a book, Kisho sitting beside him, feigning sleep. "Did you enjoy your movie?" he asked. He sounded fully aware of the fact that she had not.

Hinata shot him a glare and stomped off to bed.

"Do you need me to tuck you in and keep the hallway light on to keep the monsters away?" he called after her. She threw her sandals at him, missing but hitting Kisho instead.

"Stupid humans, have your fight elsewhere," he muttered and just rolled over.

"I'm not speaking to either of you!" Hinata shouted from her room. She slipped into her pajamas at record speed and was under the covers soon after, blankets thrown over her head. A few minutes later, she heard Neji go to bed as well down the hall. Great; he had been staying up just for her. Now she felt bad and scared.

She couldn't sleep. It wasn't even nightmares. Hinata couldn't even get to that point. She just couldn't fall asleep, trying not to picture what was probably crawling on her ceiling or staring at her this very moment.

Just in case, she turned her Byakugan on and checked.

Nothing. Neji was sleeping down the hall, and Kisho was still asleep on the couch. No small, white-skinned, dark-haired children watching her. …That she could see, at any rate.

Sometime during the night, Hinata must have drifted off, because she awoke. She awoke to something dripping on her face. White eyes blearily opened. She ran a wrist over her eyes, trying to get back to sleep.

Then she noticed that she felt a weight on her stomach.

Hinata slowly reopened her eyes, and turned her head to look down at her stomach.

The covers were all red. Dark red. And she just now noticed the scent of blood. But those were dismissed easily when she saw that it was a bloody mass of feathers and flesh.

She screamed and actually used a Shunshin to get out of there. She was not going to waste time running after that.

-.-.-

Neji was suddenly woken by a screaming Hinata tackling him. "Wh-What--?"

"Niisan-there's-a-dead-thing-in-my-bed-it's-going-to-kill-me!!" she wailed, burrowing her face in his chest.

"A 'dead thing'? What dead thing?" Was she talking about a dead cricket, or a dead human? Either way, he had a feeling that the movies she had watched with Deidara had an effect on this…

"I-I don't know," she whimpered, tightening her grip on him.

Neji sighed, wishing he could get back to sleep. Not that he minded their current position, but he wasn't the type of person who particularly enjoyed waking up in the middle of the night. "Do you want me to go take care of it for you…?"

"No." Hinata detached herself from him long enough to climb under the blankets with him, then reattaching herself to him. "Don't leave me alone."

Kisho came into the room at that point. Judging from his large eyes, he had probably been awake for some time. Neji shot him a 'this is your fault' look; the cat had obviously thought it funny to dump some animal on her bed in the middle of the night to see her reaction.

Kisho sat down in front of the door, curling his tail around his forepaws. He gave Neji a 'don't pretend like you don't like that' look.

The brunette gave up at that point; he wasn't going to get into a glaring contest with a cat. "Hinata, are you--"

"Can't I sleep with you?" She turned to him, bottom lip stuck out and eyes large and pleading. She hadn't used that trick on him since they were children. Chagrined (because he still couldn't resist it), Neji laid back down. Most of his annoyance was dispelled, however, when she stubbornly refused to get out of his arms, and instead fell asleep using his shoulder as a pillow.

-.-.-

"Bya-chan! Wanna watch another movie tonight, yeah?" Deidara asked cheerfully. He was a bit perplexed at the sudden glare Neji shot him; it was sharper than usual. He ignored him, however. That's what he usually did. (Call it a defense mechanism.)

"W-Would you pick out the movie…?" she asked reluctantly, avoiding eye contact.

"No, Sasori-danna decided it's his turn." Deidara rolled his eyes. He was a bit miffed that his partner just chose himself for that, especially since movie nights were usually just his and Hinata's. Oh well; he couldn't entirely blame Sasori. He knew that the redhead was getting more possessive of his time, and was more than a bit jealous of how much Deidara still clung to Hinata. Served him right, though.

She visibly relaxed. "Oh. Well then…sure."

"I'm coming, too," Neji said, a bit more loudly than what was needed. Deidara didn't miss the grateful look Hinata gave him. "Consider it a double date."

Deidara blushed, affronted. Hinata, however, laughed. "That would be cute."

"Uh, yeah…" He rubbed the back of his head, scrambling for a quick way to change the subject. "So then! Tonight, let's say eight?"

"It's a date, then." She smiled warmly at him.

-.-.-

Sasori chose another horror movie.

He chose this because it meant he could kill two birds with one stone. The first was that he could scare the wits out of the Hyuuga girl. The second was that he could scare the wits out of Deidara. Neji was just an added bonus. (After the tournament, he wasn't feeling too kind to any of them.)

Hinata tried to leave after the opening credits, but Deidara wouldn't let her. He just laughed off the fright and tugged her back down onto the floor. They were, yet again, in Sasori's room. Deidara's room was still full of clay, so he'd gotten into the habit of taking his partner's room for his own uses. This included movie night. A blanket was spread on the floor, pillows scattered about. Hinata had already selected one to hide behind. Deidara spent most of the opening sequence making a nest for himself, tearing apart Sasori's bed for this.

"Th-This is…" He was a bit surprised that Hinata recognized it first. Then again, Deidara was busy.

"Yes, this is the sequel to the movie you saw last night. I wanted to see if I can follow the storyline without seeing the first," Sasori lied smoothly. It was going to be worth watching such a stupid movie, he saw, judging on how her face paled.

An hour into the movie, Hinata was no longer watching. She was positively buried in Neji's shirt, several pillows propped up around her as some sort of protective fort. Sasori rolled his eyes. No doubt that was the reason Neji had wanted to come along… Not that he minded. It meant that she stayed off of Deidara.

The blonde, contrary to Sasori's prediction, was avidly watching the movie. He was actually leaning forward, grinning. "Ohh--watch--I bet her head is going to--awesome!" On the TV, the woman's head exploded. Sasori could see how his partner would find that attractive. He just thought the effects were cheap and unrealistic.

The movie ended abruptly after the killer, a mere child who probably couldn't have lifted ten kilos if his life depended on it, turned to the camera and grinned. Deidara, who was leaning even farther forward, suddenly fell flat on his face. Hinata hesitantly looked up from Neji's shirt, pale enough to match her eyes.

"Aww, is that it?!" Deidara sat back up, crossing his arms. "That was a pretty crappy ending, yeah. There should have been more blood and less of those cheap chasing scenes."

"The movie was made by civilians. What did you expect?" Neji asked flatly.

"They could have at least used real blood…" The blonde huffed, and fell back onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Non-ninja are so unrealistic, yeah. I've never seen blood that spurted like that when you hack into the jugular."

"You should become a film director and create a better movie, then," Sasori said sarcastically. His plan had backfired, at least on Deidara's half. This put him in a sour mood. (And more so because the effects were horribly unrealistic, especially with the blood.) "Now go fix my bed if you expect to sleep in it tonight."

Neji snorted suddenly, trying to keep in a laugh. Sasori frowned when he realized what that must have sounded like, but it wasn't as if he cared. Hinata and Deidara hadn't even caught that, anyway. "Next time, I'm picking the movie," she said faintly. Neji hauled her upright, leading her towards the door. Apparently she was too scared to even stand properly. That was an interesting side-effect. Or maybe she was just weak from all of the hyperventilating.

Once Hinata left--led out by Neji--Deidara collapsed into the pile of pillows she left behind. Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Do I really have to make the bed again? This is pretty comfortable like this, yeah…"

"For you, maybe."

"You don't even have nerve endings. And you don't sleep. Often, yeah."

"For the record, I can feel some semblance of physical touch with my chakra, and I do need to sleep occasionally. I think tonight is one of those nights. So bed. Made. Now."

Deidara rolled over and faked a snore. Sasori leaned over and kicked his back, pushing him off of the pile of pillows. Deidara responded by taking one of them and throwing it back at him. Predictably, it degraded into a pillow fight soon after that.

Nearly an hour later, feathers, pillows and even a few of the weapons that had been on Sasori's desk were scattered around the room. Deidara was exhausted trying to keep up with the puppeteer (who had cheated and used chakra strings to throw several pillows) and was adamant that he wouldn't clean up the mess. But neither was Sasori, of course; since when was he expected to pick up after Deidara?

"Pick up this mess before I do horrible things to you in your sleep."

"You said you're going to be sleeping, too." Deidara only opened an eye, looking at Sasori as if daring him to try something.

"I'll give myself two hours."

"Then I'll do horrible things to you in your sleep, yeah." He closed his eyes again, laying back down on the pillows. Sasori doubted that their definitions of 'horrible things' were the same, however. He honestly wondered which would be the more gruesome.

Sasori didn't reply, and just stayed silent until he was sure Deidara was asleep. Okay, so he wouldn't do horrible things, but he'd still do some pretty nasty things. But every time he moved to get up, the blonde would roll over or move in some way. It was obvious he was faking sleep, but even that could only last so long. Sasori just waited. Impatiently.

"Just go to sleep already!" he finally snapped, kicking Deidara's foot.

"I can't," he replied without moving.

"And why not?"

Deidara rolled over onto his back, raising his head to look at him. "I'm scared that the kid from the movie will rip out my throat," he said solemnly. How he managed to say it with a straight face was beyond Sasori.

"One can only hope," Sasori said grimly, trying not to laugh at him. Was he actually serious? he asked, biting his lip to stop himself from letting out a chuckle.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I."

"Fine then. I hope it does kill me; then you'll be so sad that I'm dead, you'll just try to go kill yourself. Again, yeah." Deidara huffily rolled over, pulling the blanket with him and wrapping himself up like a cocoon. Sasori once again didn't reply, but instead walked over and sat down beside him. The blonde peered out of his nest, face shadowed except for the reflection of the light in his eyes. Slightly creepy, especially considering the movie they had just watched… "Wanna sleep with me?" Deidara asked suddenly, both catching Sasori off guard and dispelling all creepiness from the situation.

"…"

"Not like that, you sick freak." He made a face, sticking his tongue out. "I'm serious, yeah. We can make a tent and that way the kid won't get us."

"You're seriously scared of that thing?" He raised an eyebrow.

"…Not really," he fielded, averting his eyes.

Sasori smiled in triumph. "My god, you are. You were only putting on a brave front for your princess, hmm?"

"Not just that!" Deidara protested hotly, wiggling in his cocoon. "I knew you'd make fun of me, idiot. And here I am extending the hand of friendship, in case you're scared too, yeah--"

"Friendship my ass. You just want a protector. Fodder, even, in case that twisted child is real."

"…So?"

That was part of what Sasori liked about Deidara. He could be so stupid, so selfish, so entirely…Deidara. And that was why he spent the night under a tent of blankets in a nest of pillows with a sleeping blonde curled in his arms.