Dreamcatcher

By Airyo

Sunrise, Sunflower - 3

Hinata was improving more rapidly than even he had expected.

Her physical fitness was worse than Sakura's when the medic had first joined Team 7, and she had none of Sakura's natural (or unnatural, depending on who was talking) strength. But Hinata's steely gaze would not witness failure. The harder he pushed her, the harder she fought.

While she didn't have the raw strength of his admittedly overpowered Team 7, she had talent. She had speed, she had cunning, she had cleverness. (And she didn't distract herself with foolish pranks or strange quests like they had. They deserved to spend that week working in the bathhouses.)

The chakra control and intuitive sense of balance was purely Hyuuga. For all his father's complaints about Hiashi's poor personality, even prickly Fugaku could never find fault in his genin team mate's fighting ability.

Hinata was her father's daughter, even if no one seemed to recognize it.

The largest difference between teaching her and Team 7, however, was the perpetually tangled knot of fear in his chest. What if Hinata got hurt? Her promotion to genin meant, eventually, she would be sent out for missions. Even if she was capable, all it took was one slip of the knife, one bad shift of balance, one genjutsu…

That was why he had push her to grow even stronger, even faster. He will prepare her for the worst, in hopes that she would never have to face them.

But four months in, Itachi saw his lessons fail.

Hinata was late.

He waited all of ten minutes, before restlessness drove him to go in search of her. He found her at the foot of their favorite tree on the Uchiha training grounds. Her face was buried in her knees and arms wrapped around her shins and hands in fists - everything curled in tight in an attempt to hide. Itachi was forcibly reminded of the crying little girl from all those years ago.

She could wound him without any weapon, any technique.

"Hinata."

"I...had another nightmare," she whispered. It had been a rough one, judging by the raspy quality of her voice. But this was the first time Hinata had retreated here. Itachi wasn't sure if that was a good sign. "This time, I couldn't fight it."

He knelt before her and laid a gentle hand on her arm.

"Hinata. Look at me," he said softly. She stiffened, and then shook her head.

"You put so much effort into teaching me. I'm sorry."

"Foolish, foolish little guinea pig," he chided. It was he that failed her, because he couldn't figure out the root of her nightmares. But he knew that she would never accept such an explanation.

Instead, he took her hands, and coaxed her clenched fists to unfurl. Little crescent-shaped indents lined her palms, little moons that turned tugged the tide of his heart painfully. He interlaced their fingers, so she couldn't continue hurting herself.

Slowly, she lifted her head, red-rimmed eyes peering at him from underneath her curtain of bangs. He held her gaze.

Itachi could had assured her that every ninja faced failure in regards to his abilities. He could have told her that it was expected for a relapse before her condition improved, that even the best shinobi stumbled. He could have said many things that were easy and appropriate and expected of a jounin-sensei.

But this was Hinata, not just another name on the class roster.

Itachi found himself only saying, "If you could not fight it by yourself, then I will help you fight it."

AN: GUYS. My first fic with 1k reviews.

You are the best. All of you that come back again and again to read each new chapter. I died of happiness. Thank you!

In celebration, have a side scene. (Okay, not really, more like "if i wrotes, i posts" and I'm just looking for a reason).

Fugaku and Hiashi are roughly 13 years old here. Kyokki is Hinata's mom (I made up a name). I have no idea what the real teams were back then, so if I'm horrifically wrong, just pretend this is a quirk of the AU.

Aburame Shibi sighed as he dragged his team mates' unconscious bodies back towards to the Uchiha and Hyuuga districts. His kikachu buzzed inside him like bees, hyperactive from the excess of energy. He'd been forced to drain the two of their chakra in order to break up their fight. And of course, their energies also did not get along well. The feeling was similar to what Shibi imagined would be the result of simultaneously drinking too much coffee and alcohol.

One would think after two years on the same genin team, Fugaku and Hiashi would have learned to kindly not kill each other as soon as their sensei turned his back.

Not that he could fault Sakumo-sensei for running off. His wife was finally in labor. The young man had been so frazzled that he mistook a shuriken for a cookie earlier. If Shibi hadn't stopped him, Hatake Sakumo would have found it very painful to kiss his son for the first time.

Sometimes Shibi felt like he was the grown-up of the group. As proud as he was of his powerful team, the Aburame did not understand the logic of the person who thought it would be beneficial to place an Uchiha and a Hyuuga on the team of a jounin who was famous for valuing teamwork. While the theory was cute, all facts pointed to disaster.

Just take a look at the poor genin that Shibi had replaced on Team Sakumo.

Shibi was several years younger than Fugaku and Hiashi. He had graduated early. There were simply too many genin for full teams, yet politics would not have allowed the Aburame to fail. Fortunately, one of the genin on Team Sakumo had cracked and recently retired to become a ramen-chef instead.

Shibi was beginning to appreciate the reasoning behind Teuchi's decision. Maybe he should inquire if they needed another apprentice at the ramen shop...

"Good evening, Shibi-san." Kyokki smiled sweetly at him, distracting him from his consideration of a career shift. "Thank you for bringing back my fiance. I figured this might happen when I heard the news that Sakumo-san's wife was in labor."

"Then you are a wise person, Kyokki-san," Shibi muttered.

She just smiled. "Do you need help?"

Shibi was mature for his age, but he was also a young boy faced with a pretty girl. So he frowned and shook his head. "I am strong enough to manage." With a little shrug, she fell in step with him as he continued down the road to the Hyuuga complex.

"I'm sorry you're always caught in the middle," Kyokki said sadly after a minute of silence. "He has a lot of pent up anger."

Shibi understood. Four years ago, there had been an enormous disturbance at the Hyuuga complex, though it was quickly hushed. The Aburame always kept an eye on the major clans of Konoha and the kikachu scouts had reported extensive bloodshed. Everyone acted as if nothing happened, but abruptly after that, the inseparable Hyuuga twins were ever seen together.

Hiashi had let enough slip that Shibi could guess that it wasn't a voluntary split.

He sighed. That was no excuse to try attempt to turn Uchiha Fugaku into pulp, however. Especially since that usually left Shibi as the reluctant referee.

"It would be rude of me to wish this…" he paused.

"You can tell me," Kyokki said.

"May you or Mikoto have only daughters, for your sake, Kyokki-san. If Fugaku and Hiashi both have sons of the same generation, Konoha may not survive to see its Godaime."

"W-We have a while before we get to that, Shibi-san," Kyokki stuttered with a light blush. She waved her hands emphatically as she could wave away the awkward in the air.

...cute…

Hiashi was a lucky bastard.

It was petty of him, but Shibi might have dragged the Hyuuga's head over several more rocks on the road than necessary.