~Give Me Love~

~Chapter 6~

Neji did not come.

Hinata stayed on the rooftop of the hospital for what must have been eight hours. During that time, she had finished her bento, played around in the sheets, watched people go by on the streets, and even tried flexing her wings and possibly flying away (to no avail). As the night gradually consumed the day, Hinata was beginning to lose hope. Yet, still she prayed for Neji.

She tried spinning, jumping, flapping her wings, screaming his name, but no matter what she did, no one would answer her call. She wondered if her father was worried about her, and why he had not taken the time to come search for her.

Eventually she even tried going back in the hospital to try another spot, but someone had locked the door. At around midnight, she sat in the corner shivering. She thought it was foolish of herself not to have stolen a few of the sheets before one of the members of the hospital came up to retrieve them. So, she sat with her entire body tucked into her turtleneck, feeling as lonely and lost as she had on the floor of the cavern.

The darkness and the cold nipped away at her physically and mentally. She wondered if she would die up here, or maybe fade away into dust. Perhaps there was no home for Hinata to go to...maybe she had failed her mission and was exiled from her family without her knowledge.

It tore at her. She had to get home somehow...even if it meant flying there herself. She would just have to bear through the pain of flying with her wing...she could do it...all she had to do was get to Sky Castle, then she could be treated and taken care of and welcomed home. She got to her feet, and walked to the very edge of the rooftop. She looked down at the street below her...quite a drop. Perhaps even further than the fall through the cave. If she didn't make it, it could very well mortally injure her. But, it didn't matter to her. If she didn't make it home, she was worthless here anyway.

Hinata closed her eyes and spread her arms and wings out. She took a deep breath, and lifted a foot out into empty space. Then, she fell forward...

...and was immediately snagged by something from behind, and yanked back into the roof.

Hinata shook her head from the shock, then looked up to see Shino's goggles staring right down at her.

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked with a soft, yet stern tone of voice.

Hinata's eyes swelled with big, fat, watery tears. As they fell down her cheeks in steady, thick streams, she closed her eyes and wailed. Shino knelt down and gently wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest in an attempt to quiet the noise.

"It's alright little Ga-chan, you don't have to stay up here anymore. I'll take you home."

As Shino scooped her up in his arms like he had done so many times before, Hinata's muffled screams of agony continued. She barely even noticed Shino walking her all the way back to his place. He didn't seem to mind, which Hinata would have been glad for, if she wasn't swarmed with overwhelming feelings of abandonment. After all that time, no one came to get her. No one. Not even a sign of another cupid anywhere...not even a stray feather. Why?

Why, why, why? Why would they leave her? Their precious princess Hinata...heir to the Hyuga clan of cupids. Why wouldn't they even look for her?

Before she even knew it, she was back in Shino's apartment, but it looked a little different. It had remained clean from how Hinata had left it, but a few things had been added. For one, his futon looked a lot more inviting...a few pillows had been added, as well as a plain grey comforter. His kitchen was also well stocked with more than just cup noodles, and on the table near the kitchen counter was a vase with a modest little boquet of forget-me-nots.

The sight temporarily relieved Hinata of her pain. She wiped away the moisture from her face, and sniffed a bit.

"What did you do?" she asked between sniffs.

Shino's subtle smile crossed his lips. "Well, after you went though so much trouble cleaning it, it looked kind of empty...so I bought some things to spruce it up a bit."

She reached out a finger towards the vase. Shino sat her down on her feet, then walked over to it.

"These...I got for you. Actually...to remind me of you, in case I never saw you again. On the off-chance that you came back...I thought you would like them."

Hinata lit up like candle. What a strange sort of feeling she had...it was as if she had been surrounded by a cyclone filled with all manners of demons and fiends and all of a sudden she was whisked away to a heavenly meadow with a calm, serene breeze. She stared at Shino with such awe and appreciation that words were having troubling forming on her lips.

"I...I..." she trembled.

"Are you cold? You spent quite some time on that roof. Would you like a blanket?"

Hinata nodded. She wasn't really cold anymore, in fact, she could hardly feel anything physical at all. Her whole body had gone numb numb with the vast contradiction of environments. Shino pulled apart a semi-neatly folded throw blanket that sat at the foot of his futon, then wrapped it around Hinata's shoulders. He then pulled down his hood and tore off his goggles, ran a hand through his hair, then looked right into Hinata's eyes.

"That better?"

There was entire novel of things that Hinata wanted to say to this man as she gazed into his obsidian pupils. She wanted to thank him most of all, for the flowers and the blanket and for coming back for her. She wanted to tell him that she was so lost and hurt, and that his frienship meant the world to her. But of all the meaningful things she could say, all her lips managed to sputter out were...

"Can I have a hug?"

It was a meak and simple request, and it couldn't have been more timid if a mouse had asked it. But it was granted within the moment she asked for it. She felt his arms weave their way around her and press her gently to him. His earthy scent enclosed her, and she buried her face into him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Again, the tears started to flow, but these were lighter, and came about due to an overwhelming happiness.

"Thank you, Shino-kun," she whispered into his coat.

"You're most welcome, Ga-chan."

She pulled away from him at that moment and stared at him. His face was calm, his subtle smile set on his lips. She felt his thumb reach up and wipe away at her tears. She clutched his hand with her own and held it to her face. He responded by gently cupping her cheek. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth of his hand. Her body was then disrupted by a brisk shiver, realizing how cold she had actually been the entire time. Shino then wrapped himself around her once more and held her tight to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't come get you sooner. I wasn't sure if you even wanted me to..." he said while resting his chin on her head.

"...or for that matter, if I could handle coming back and seeing that you were gone."

"Why did you come back?" Hinata asked, muffled in his clothing.

"I...I don't really know. I guess, I just wanted to make sure you got home safely. I suppose that plan didn't work, did it?"

Hinata remained silent, but pulled away from him.

"I don't know why they didn't come get me..." she said while looking off to the side. She clutched herself, her shivers coming back to her. Shino rubbed her arms.

"Hey, let's not think about that now, alright? You're safe now. As long as you're with me, I'll take care of you. If you're not too sleepy, perhaps you would you perhaps like a bath to warm you up?"

She blinked. "Bath?"

"Yeah, this complex has a little public bath. It only holds a couple of people at a time, but it's always nice and hot. It's also open twenty-four hours, and since it's well after midnight, it should be empty. Want me to take you down there?"

That didn't sound half-bad, honestly. She hadn't had a good bath in a few days, and spending all day on a roof couldn't have been good for her hygeine. Plus, she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon...not after such a painful fit of heartache. So, she decided to take him up on the offer.

After walking through some secluded little trails around the apartment complex, Shino opened a door to a steamy little room with a pool in the middle of it, lined with fake rocks and bamboo to give it a natural appearance. As Shino had suspected, it was completely empty. He gestured for Hinata to go right in, which she promptly did while clutching a soft white towel to herself. She looked at him before continuing any further.

"Will you be right outside?"

"If you want me to."

"I just don't want to be alone..."

"Would you like me to join you?" he said with a sly grin.

Hinata gave him a stink eye while her cheeks flared. "No, thank you..."

"Hmm...alright. Let me know if you need anything."

And with that, Shino left Hinata to her business. There was a lone bench not to far away from the bathhouse, so Shino took a seat and flopped open one of his research journals and started scribbling away in it. Now that Hinata was out of sight, he took the opportunity to release some of his insects to light up his work for him in the darkness of the early morning.

About fifteen minutes or so went by, when Shino suddenly heard an ear-shattering scream erupt from the bathhouse. Without skipping a beat, he dropped his journal and darted to door before wrenching it open. His black eyes widened in shock.

Hinata sat half-submerged in a pool of dark crimson. In her red-splattered hands gripped fistfuls of blood-stained feathers...and her wings... her wings were in utter shambles. She turned to him slowly, eyes wide with pure terror, tears streaming and stained with splashes of blood.

"My...my feathers...my...my feathers..."

"Holy fuck..." he whispered to himself before rushing to her. He wasn't even sure what to do...he held his hands out over her, trying to find something to grab onto. Hinata reached a shaky arm to her wing and plucked a feather from the blood-stained, horrible stick that jutted from her back.

"My feathers...they're falling out..."

"Ssh...it's okay, calm down...just, hold still..."

Still panicked, Shino desperately searched for some way to resolve the situation. She was saturated in blood, and huge ribbons of the stuff was dripping on what was left of the tattered, ragged little wings. He was terrified that she might die of blood loss. He took a breath and reached under her arms and yanked her out of the pool. He then reached for her folded towel and yanked it over, then pressed it against her wings as gently as he could to sop up the mess. Hinata shrieked with pain as the foreign material made contact with her raw, wounded flesh. The towel stuck to her wings and tugged at her skin, but still became soaked with the blood all the same.

"Damn it...Damn it!" he shouted to himself, trying with great difficultly to gather his thoughts. Then, the answer came to him. She probably wouldn't like it, but it would have to do.

"Hinata...I need you to hold absolutely still. Close your eyes, and don't open them. This will feel very strange."

She held her hands to her eyes, breathing sharply and holding as still as she could. Then, Shino held out his arms and released his insects.

Clouds of little black beetles swarmed around her and encased her completely. She looked like a caterpillar that had come across the great misfortune of walking into a pile of ants. As the insects made contact with her, she gasped and starting breathing quickly. Shino rested a hand on her forehead in an attempt to sooth her.

"Just hold still...they'll clean you up."

Within minutes, the insects had consumed every last drop of blood, slime, and stray feathers from her smooth, naked body. Her wings were still raw, but they had nibbled and chewed and produced enough effluvia to stop the bleeding. She was picked clean like a sun-bleached desert bone.

Shino let the insects back into their nest, then took off his coat to wrap it around Hinata. With all her heavy breathing, she had managed to pass herself out, so he scooped her up as he always did and carried her off.

"What a strange, troublesome thing you are, Hinata."

~End of Chapter 6~