Slight Hesitance
7
Disclaimer: I own neither Detective Conan nor Naruto.
Hinata flipped her quiz paper over, the noise of the paper making the other occupants of her classroom aware that she was already done with her quiz. A few moments later, two other papers were flipped over, papers of the other teenagers trapped in a child's body. She neatly placed her pencil to side, folding her dainty little hands together and examining the rest of her room out of boredom. The real children where sweating over the questions, unsure whether their answers were correct. Kobayashi-sensei sat on her chair, grading the class' homework that she had given yesterday. On closer look, Hinata could see that Sensei had a dazed and slightly blushing look on her face. It was the face that Hinata does when she thinks of Naruto, though a little bit redder.
Speaking of Naruto, she wondered what he was doing, if he was well or not. She felt a little heat come to her face. If he was here, it would certainly make her happier in being in this world, just to have him by her side. She quickly banished that thought from her mind. How could she be so selfish? She berated herself. But still... I miss him.
On the corner of her eye, she saw Kobayashi-sensei turning her head to look at the clock and rising from her chair, making a bit of noise and alerting the class to hand out their papers. The students scrambled to finish their quiz, scribbling their answers hastily on their papers, as Sensei stopped to the front of the classroom, and started collecting their quizzes one-by-one.
After Sensei had collected the pieces of paper, she let everyone leave, minus a few who had been selected to help clean the classroom.
She gathered her items, packing them away inside her bag, before slinging it on her shoulder, following the rest of the Detective Boys out of the room. Along with the Mouri's and Hakase, they have been able to make her relax and enjoy this vacation from the constant missions and training back home. But whil she did enjoy being with them, she feared that staying too long would make bonds with them. Now, she didn't want to sound like Sasuke, but she really didn't want any of them to be hurt when she goes back to her home in Konoha. She didn't want to give too much of herself to someone. Because once she leaves, a whole of her would be gone with her. She didn't want to cling on to hope too tightly, though. She was just as unsure as she is on how she'd get back, as she is unsure on why Naruto could stomach and digest over 30 bowls of ramen and still be in shape. Yet, she didn't want to lose hope either.
"Hinata-chan."
"Hmm...?" she turned her head to the side to find out the owner of the familiar voice, "Yes, C-Conan-kun?"
Conan answered, "You seem quiet. I mean, quieter than usual. Something bothering you?"
"No, not really..." she turned her head back to the front, "Just a little bit homesick, I guess..."
They were heading to the park. The real children of the Detective Boys insisted on going, saying that they'd like to play soccer. Hinata didn't mind, but Haibara decided to pass, saying that, "I've got homework to do." She didn't really know why Haibara would be worrying about the homework, since it was just some simple math questions, but she concluded that she'd rather stay home then in the park. While Conan seemed to have a knowing look on why. Haibara-san is the creator of the drug, is she not? Maybe she's furthering her research for the antidote? I suppose it's not really my business, anyway...
Conan and Hinata sat down on a nearby bench, while the the others went to play soccer. Hinata smiled as she watched them have fun.
"It's just," she sighed, "It's j-just not the same without them h-here..."
He laid a hand on her head, "Well, they do say that distance makes the heart grow fonder," he gave her a grin, mussing up her hair.
She playfully stuck her tongue out at him, before shaking her head and letting her hair fall back to place. Normally, she would never want to be seen with an act like sticking her tongue out, except for Shino and Kiba, she kinda felt comfortable with this guy. Or kid.
Silence.
.
.
.
"Do y-you like... cheese?" she flinched, mentally yelling at herself.
The Japan version of Sherlock Holmes gave her an incredulous stare, spluttering, "What?"
"Ch-cheese... It's a s-solid type of food prepared f-from the pressed c-curd of—"
"I know what it is. I'm just questioning as to why you asked me such a question."
She mentally facepalmed at what she said. Of course he knew what cheese was. He's not stupid.
Poking her fingers together, she bowed her head, to prevent Conan from seeing her blush, "I d-don't know... To b-break the ice, perhaps?"
It went silent again for a few moments.
"I like Sakura cheese, I guess," he shrugged, "But any type of cheese is fine."
She smiled, "My f-favorite is Gouda... But a-any type is fine, t-too..."
He shook his head, chuckling.
Upon learning that Hyuuga Hinata was missing, Hiashi immediately requested a search party for his daughter. Not without glaring daggers to the three who didn't do anything to prevent his Hinata from disappearing, first. Had he not known that they were friends of his daughter, and that he knew she would be incredibly sad, he would've had them killed as slowly and painfully possible. And it wasn't just Hiashi. Hinata's sister and cousin, Hanabi and Neji, wanted some hits as well.
"I have taken a look on the scroll, hoping I could find some clue to where Hinata is, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary in the scroll, except for a bit of chakra that was left by whoever put that jutsu on the scroll," Tsunade said.
Naruto asked, "What's in the scroll, anyway?"
"Fine, fine. It's not really a secret. I only said that it was to prevent blonde idiots from reading it." The Hokage took the scroll, which was placed on the side of her desk, unrolling it. She let the others read the scroll, and told them, "It has no connection to Hinata's disappearance. It's my reply to the Kazekage regarding this year's Chunin Exam. It is going to be held in Suna."
"Then why would a bunch of missing-nin steal that scroll?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrow, "Don't tell me they only did it 'cause they're bored."
"Well, we could have the chakra examined. Who knows, maybe some light might be shed."
She saw the way he looked at Ran. It was as if he longed to be with her, though he was already by her side. It was as if he could see nothing else, but her. It was as if he loved her... Like the look she would see Naruto giving Sakura. It hurts. She had only began to like the teenage detective, yet someone else already beat her. She suspected that she was already beaten beforeshe had even began to like him.
Hesitantly, she called his name, "Conan-kun?" Oh good, she didn't stutter. She didn't stutter as much as she did when she was a genin, but she was surprisingly only stuttering only four or less stutters in this world. Must be because Naruto isn't here, she mused. That boy always turns her into a spluttering, tomato-faced, mess.
He snapped his face towards her, "Yes?"
"Would you m-mind if I a-ask you a question?"
He shook his head, "Not at all."
She licked her lip, contemplating on how she could ask this. She hoped she didn't seem too much of someone who just pries themselves into someone else's business. "Do you l-like Ran-san?" she whispered. Ran was in the kitchen, washing the dishes, but she didn't dare say it loud.
"... Am I that obvious?" he scratched his head nervously, a sheepish expression on his face.
"N-No, not really," she quickly shook her head, "I'm much m-more obvious than you a-are towards the o-object of my affection. I was just c-curious."
"Well, it's kinda personal..." he coughed.
She raised her eyebrow, her pupil-less eyes peering into his soul. Atleast that's what it felt like. She internally smiled in triumph. Her cousin had been teaching her this type of intimidation for a while now, and she finally got to test it out.
"You don't h-have to tell m-me if you don't want to, C-Conan-kun."
He stayed silent for a few seconds, before shrugging, "What the heck? You're my friend, anyway."
So she listened. About how Conan, in his previous childhood, had been friends with Ran ever since kindergarten. About how he has liked Ran ever since the first year of middle school. Hinata thought that Conan, "You can call me Shinichi when in private, you know," was pretty much in the same predicament as Hinata. Except for the part where he told her that Ran confessed to him, while he was in his child form, that Ran has liked him for sometime. He told her that he was turning so red, and that he was surprised Ran didn't notice his blush. In a way, Hinata was jealous at both of them. Jealous at Shinichi, because the one he likes, likes him back. Jealous at Ran, because Shinichi liked her.
"What about you?"
Hinata snapped back to the real world, "Huh?"
"Who is this 'object of affection' that you're talking about?"
She blushed, her fingers wringing themselves together, her gaze low. "He's... a friend of mine," she glanced at Conan to see him waiting for her to continue, "... At first it was j-just admiration. He s-saved me from a bunch of b-bullies. I w-was about 7, I th-think," she smiled, "Since th-then, I decided to try a-and do my best to become strong and never give up, just like wh-what he does. My admiration f-for him bloomed to a c-crush, then blossomed as l-love... He never n-notices me, though. And he l-likes someone else," she frowned, her eyes downcast.
"Hinata-chan, Conan-kun!" Ran's voice interrupted them, "Time to go to beeed~!"
Conan smiled at Hinata, who had her heart fluttering at him, "Goodnight."
Hinata nodded, shyly smiling back.
Goodnight.