Rin sighs as she rubs her hand over her face. "You have to face your fears sometime, kid."
The small indigo-haired child rapidly shakes her head to the contrary. Those pupil-less lavender eyes are filled with fear as the little girl tries desperately to hide behind her babysitter at the Halloween fair. The older girl sighs and kneels.
"Do we need to go find Neji? I know he's around here somewhere."
Little Hinata just hides her face in her hands, quaking in her oversized jacket. She'd just started wearing the thing, and it'd become like a security blanket. She had found she can easily hide herself with the hood pulled up and the floppy, too-long sleeves in front of her face. Rin sighs and tries again.
"Hinata, there's nothing to be afraid of, and I'll prove it!"
"B-but it's a h-haunted house!" This is progress. She had at least squeaked an answer this time.
"It's not really haunted, though!" Rin sighs in exasperation. "It's just a little maze built out of regular wood and decorated with Halloween things!"
"Th-then why do they c-call it h-haunted?"
"It's just another Halloween game." Her babysitter's voice is firm and level with certainty.
"G-game?" Lavender eyes slowly peek over the tops of the sleeves. "D-does that mean there's c-candy at the end?"
"Yes! AND we'll play that fish game afterward to win you that stuffed fox! So what do you say?" Rin offers her a bright grin, hoping it'll work. "Are you with me?"
Hinata glances rapidly between the older girl and the "Haunted Castle of DOOM!" Finally, she nods uncertainly. "O-okay, Rin-chan."
"Excellent! Way to be brave, Hinata-chan!" Rin leads her to the entrance and offers four tickets to the attendant, who quite boredly swings the gate open for them. Rin looks down as a small hand grips hers from within the jacket sleeve, smiling reassuringly to the little girl as they enter the haunted house.
"Look, Hinata," says a smiling Rin as they turn a corner. "There's a fake skeleton!"
Hinata nods nervously, examining the skeleton covered in stretched cotton sheets and fake spiders before moving along. She squeaks in surprise as a group of fake bats drop from the ceiling, dangling above her head by strings. She manages a little laugh at the goofy expressions on their faces. "Th-they look like pumpkin faces!"
"They do, don't they?" Rin smiles as they go through a hallway and turn a corner. She pauses as a scarecrow comes into view and frowns as Hinata approaches it. "Um… I don't think we should go near that one."
"W-why not?" Hinata smiles as she peers up at it. "It's not so sca-REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The little girl turns with a scream and flees as the scarecrow suddenly growls and darts hands out toward her. Rin watches her go and sighs, scowling at the field ornament.
"Ugh, you're such a spiteful teenager, Kakashi."