Alarm
The streets were packed with joyful villagers, the smoke and spices of the vendors wafting above the throngs. She'd seen so many of her comrades in the course of a few hours that it was hard to keep everyone's life straight. Kiba had a girlfriend…maybe. Ino and Sai were officially dating. Mirai was getting so big… It was a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by all of them.
While she wanted to remain present and engaged, she truly was happy for all of them, her eyes kept scanning the crowd for one person in particular. A crop of shaggy dark hair that hung too low to one side. As the night dragged on she began to believe that he wouldn't show until Naruto grabbed her hand with a big smile on his face.
"Sakura-chan!" he shouted, waving frantically with his other.
Hinata immediately started scanning the crowd for the familiar pink haired medic but was too short to see over all of the people. As Naruto pulled her through the crowd, she pressed a trembling hand to her chest. How long had it been since she'd last seen him?
Three weeks.
"Sakura-chan over here!"
Three weeks too long.
She missed him even though she shouldn't. Even though she had no right to.
Naruto's hand slipped from her own as they approached a small group of people that she was unfamiliar to her. They all nodded respectfully to Naruto and smiled politely at her. Hinata tried to return their smiles, her eyes scanning the group for a certain Uchiha but came up empty.
"So this is the elusive heiress?"
"All of the nurses are so excited about the wedding!"
"It's going to be a huge event."
She nodded along with Sakura's happily chattering coworkers, all of whom were more excited about her upcoming nuptials than she was. Though she pretended to listen to them she watched as Naruto silently grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her away from the group. Immediately alarm bells went off in her head.
Something was wrong.
She allowed the two of them to melt into the crowd, her body tense and anxious. When a half hour passed and neither one of them resurfaced she excused herself from the medics as politely as she could. She then tried to weave her way through the crowd via the path she'd seen them take. Finding them would be easier if she activated her Byakugan but that would have raised everyone else's suspicions. Whatever was going on shouldn't interrupt the festival.
Not if she could help it.