A pleasant breeze blew through the window, gently fluttering the many papers on the desk before she put a paperweight on them. The edges still quivered in defiance, the soft noise overshadowed by the muffled voices from the courtyard below.
Red pen in hand, Hinata stacked another paper in the done pile. The slow growing mound not seeming to catch up with the many piles to be graded. When Iruka-sensei asked if she wanted some classroom experience, this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. She sighed, she had to start somewhere.
Of course, her father hadn't been pleased when he found out about even her small progress. Professing it a waste of time, when she could be on more missions or even, to her dismay, accompanying him on clan matters discussed with the elders.
She frowned at that last suggestion, feeling that same sinking feeling in her stomach even after several weeks. Tapping the pen against the desk, Hinata remembered the stoic gaze when she suggested Neji instead, the pale eyes that said Branch Family.
She knew that look, she had seen it for years directed at her. She had seen the subtle slow shift from her to her sister. Seen the pride change from Hanabi to Neji and finally to herself.
Laying the pen down carefully, she pushed herself from the desk and walked to the window. She brushed her hair off her shoulder and watched the cute students in the yard. Smiling, the students had started a game of copycat and were trying to stand on one leg while swinging their hips. Most fell over.
Her father could wait. Until he officially declared an heir, there was no reason to go invite trouble. Besides, it would give her time to think.
The chime of the clock reminded her that she had limited time to finish grading the pile of assignments, so she reluctantly returned to her desk. Adjusting the seat cushion and daintily crossing her ankles under the chair, she picked up the pen again and started marking.
Holding up the next assignment, a quiz, she smiled. It was the same as she took years before, down to the typo on the fifth question: Who is the Homage? What are the functions he/she performs for the village?
Shaking her head, Tsunade-sama wouldn't mind some homage she was sure. Hinata had the interesting experience of witnessing the ending of the last meeting the Hokage had with one of the local Fire Country Lords. Whatever the pitiful man had done to be thrown out of her office, hogtied and in his underwear, she didn't want to know.
Of course, that unusual scene had led to a surprise when she had turned around right into Naruto. He had been looking at the man struggle vainly against his bonds with a grimace of sympathy.
Starting the next quiz, she sighed. Even though he was sweaty and dirty, his blue eyes were intense and she had blushed and looked away. When he had asked her what happened with a fatalistic tone, she could hardly remember replying but could recall that he crossed his arms and leaned his weight to his left foot. That his forehead protector was off and he even had some stubble on his chin.
Distracted, Hinata reached for the next quiz when the door banged open. She spun around, the worried faces of Sakura and Sai greeting her, "What?"
"The mission," Sakura replied, "It went bad, Tsunade-sama wants us to go."
The air left her and the room suddenly felt cold.
She nodded, "When?" calm.
"Fifteen minutes," she could make it if she ran, "We have a day's journey at least," she warned.
They left as suddenly as they came, most likely to hurriedly equip themselves. Something she would have to do as well. Putting the tightly clutched quiz back, she turned to leave but something caught in her vision. She paused just long enough to notice the red smear on the white paper from her broken pen before swiftly leaving.
Disclaimer: For the umpteenth time...
A/N: The next one will be out next week if all goes to plan... it should be interesting. A few notes:
Menial labor, the bane of all student's existence.
Naruto is so cute! Much more pleasing to the eye than Sasuke, or Itachi, or Kakashi, or Deidara, or Sasori, or Sai. I'm probably biased though.
Cliffhangers ahoy!
As always, thank you for reading.