It wasn't at all like she thought it would look.

Smooth, polished bronze, scrubbed a million times over. Hands forming the seal of the horse. Three whisker marks on either cheek. Konoha hitai-ate gleaming in the blazing sun.

That look of intense determination. Furrowed brows, narrowed eyes, taut limbs. That look he wore when he was about to kick someone's ass or swear he'd become Hokage.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu is a B-rank technique in which the user in question creates one or more copies of themselves," Iruka-sensei said, chalk racing across the board in neat, flowing script. "You may use the seal of the horse or tiger to perform this technique. The user's chakra is evenly divided between themselves and the clones. Therefore, caution is paramount when using this move. Those without especially large reserves should avoid using Shadow Clone Jutsu because – oi, Naruto, pay attention!"

A strong hand settled on her shoulder.

Hinata turned around to face the Kazekage, a young man with mop of red hair and a mild, kind face. Ai on his forehead, in the bloodiest shade of ruby. Like the beating of a heart.

"Good afternoon. Hyuuga Hinata, sent by Hokage-sama to receive communications, yes?"

"It's an honor to see you, Kazekage-sama." She moved to bow, yet his grip on her shoulder did not lessen.

"Please raise your head. There's no need to keep up appearances with me."

"Kazekage-sama, I'm not sure if – "

"Call me Gaara," he persisted. "I owe your village a huge debt."

"Gaara-sama," she persisted right back. "We owe you a bigger one."

He met her eyes firmly, unrelentingly. She did much the same.

They kept holding each other's eyes unblinking.

In those long seconds, the sun beat down on her back. Sweat pooled on her forehead.

So this was really happening, wasn't it? A staring contest with the Kazekage.

Naruto would have burst out laughing at the scene, and at this realization, she gave in.

"Gaara...san."

He shook his head softly, removing his hand from her shoulder at last. He turned his gaze to the hero of the war, eyes misting over with something Hinata couldn't name. "You're a stubborn one, just like him."

"Naruto-kun...Naruto-kun was straightforward," she protested, eager to defend his honor. Even when he wasn't there. Especially when he wasn't there. "Whenever he spoke, it was from his heart. That was how he showed his regard for others."

"I know," Gaara said. "It was a compliment."

Hinata gave him a sidelong glance. Gaara's eyes were crinkled at the corners, just like his.

"Well, shall we go up to my office? A sandstorm's just around the corner, and blessed though the Byakugan is, I don't think you would appreciate all those sand grains in your eyes."

Gaara leaned forward in his chair, hands steepling together.

"Let me begin by saying that our village truly appreciates Konoha's generous offer in aid. Over half of our shinobi forces and a third of our equipment have been lost in the war. This will be a great help to us. I've conveyed all this and much more in my letter to Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi-sensei," she interjected, quite on instinct.

"I beg your pardon?"

Hinata's lips twitched. "He hates being called Hokage-sama...just like you, Gaara-san."

"His face has been carved into the mountainside, and still he insists on his old title...?"

"Well, we Konoha ninja are quite stubborn."

Gaara's lips twitched into a smile of their own. "That, you are."

He smiled a lot, the Kazekage. Real smiles, ones that reflected what was in his heart. It was funny, what happened when one's sense of self expanded to include others too.

They settled into silence at their spot by the window. The sandstorm swept through Sunagakure's streets with vicious, roaring gales. No visibility, not for hawks, not for eagles, definitely not for humans. Just waves of sand turning the wind gold.

Gold.

Like his hair.

Hinata frowned as a thought struck her. "Gaara-san?"

"Yes?"

"If Sunagakure is facing such financial troubles...why did you build a huge statue of Naruto-kun right in the middle of the village?"

"That? That was decided by vote. Everyone agreed. The villagers, the Suna Council, the Wind Daimyo. We owe him an immeasurable debt. We took cues from Tazuna-san, the one who built the Great Naruto Bridge. And besides," Gaara lowered his voice conspiratorially, "Kumo is planning to build a Great Naruto Tower, Iwa a Great Naruto Cave, and Kiri a Great Naruto Harbor. Kankuro and Temari swore that Suna would never lose to them."

Laughter bubbled forth from Hinata's throat, like fresh water from a stream, gaining force and vigor, rushing down a cliff.

Of course. Naruto changed Gaara. Naruto changed Konoha. Naruto changed Suna.

Naruto changed the world.

Everyone agreed.

We owe him an immeasurable debt.

Splitting himself evenly between all these beings, stretching himself so far and wide.

How much chakra did he have? How much energy did he have?

Therefore, caution is paramount when using this move.

Those without especially large reserves should avoid using Shadow Clone Jutsu.

The laughter was making her throat hurt.

She couldn't stop.

"Hinata?"

It was a miserable, blistering day, snow piling in untouched silver layers.

A boy with a red scarf and golden hair and the loudest voice and the most impossible dream.

Naruto changed Gaara. Naruto changed Konoha. Naruto changed Suna. Naruto changed the world.

But maybe he changed her first. Him with his yellow hair and astonishingly loud voice.

The debt she owed him was immeasurable.

"Hinata? Are you all right? Is something in your throat?"

And he wasn't there to receive anything back.

Her throat hurt.

She couldn't stop.

Couldn't.

Somewhere her laughing had turned to coughing. Somewhere her coughing had turned to wheezing. She didn't know where.

One of Gaara's hands gripped her shoulder. The other pounded on her back.

"Hinata. Breathe."

She gulped up gallons and gallons of air, taking in deep, shaky breaths. Her laughter-turned-hacking-turned-wheezing ground to a halt.

Gaara's brow was pinched in worry.

"I thought perhaps the sand grains from the storm were too much. Our visitors from Konoha never do fare well when these sandstorms hit. We need better ventilation in this office." He hauled her up from her seat, letting her lean on his shoulder. "Come, I'll get you something to soothe your throat."

Usually, when she got back from solo or duo missions, it would be Team 8 that greeted her, Akamaru with a wag of his tail and a friendly bark, Kiba with his bone-crushing hugs, or Shino with a light tap on her shoulder (that she always had to acknowledge or else he'd sulk for days on end).

Of course, she did get along well with Team 10 too. She got along with all her old classmates. It was just that she wasn't planning on Shikamaru of all people to be waiting for her at Konoha's Aun gates, foot tapping impatiently on the dusty dirt path.

Hinata unabashedly stared as he grabbed her bag out of her hands and began a brisk walk down the street.

"Um...good...morning, Shikamaru-kun?" she said, falling into step beside him.

"Hi," he said bluntly.

It wasn't a typical "I'm home!" "Welcome back!" greeting. Hinata still ventured forth bravely.

"So...where are my teammates?"

"I told them I'd pick you up."

Hinata's eyebrows rose into her hair.

Well...this was extremely weird.

It wasn't like she disliked Shikamaru. They were friends...she supposed. They just hadn't talked to each other very much. He was quiet. She was quiet. He was dark, of a yin nature. So was she. He was on one team. She was on another. She liked knitting and flower-pressing. He liked watching clouds and eating chips.

They just weren't...all that close. Not like she and her teammates.

Perhaps, she mused, it was long since time to change that.

His voice broke into her thoughts. "How was your mission?"

"Ah, well...it was just a diplomatic mission. Gaara-san wanted to thank our village for all the help. He says that his village is indebted to ours. He wants to strengthen our relationship."

"He just wanted to say thank you?"

"Yes."

"And talk about the friendship between our villages?"

"...Yes."

"Did...did he mention anyone else?"

Shikamaru's tone was carefully nonchalant. One arm crossed behind his head, eyes trained on the sky above. But a little trail of sweat dripped down from his temple, so Hinata wasn't fooled.

She smiled in a carefully nonchalant way of her own. Now his eagerness to greet her at the gates made a lot more sense. "He did say something about Temari-san and Kankuro-san. That they didn't want to lose? Something like that."

"I didn't mean that troublesome lady," he grumbled. The trail of sweat cascaded onto his shoulderblade, so Hinata really wasn't fooled. "Look...I know these kinds of missions aren't usually your thing. Kakashi-sensei is mixing and matching us all up on missions we would usually never be on, all thanks to our wartime casualties. So if you need any help...let me know. All right?"

"I'm fine, Shikamaru-kun."

"Did he really not mention anyone else? Anything important?"

Hinata shook her head. Well, it wasn't strictly true. But still.

Shikamaru stared at her for a long, long time. An uncomfortably long time. It occurred to her that perhaps he really wasn't here to ask about Temari after all.

She looked off into the distance, into the deep blue sky, just as he was fond of doing.

Unfortunately, there were no clouds.

"You don't look well," he noted rather abruptly.

Hinata blinked.

"I'm fine, Shikamaru-kun," she repeated. "Just a little tired from the journey."

"No, I mean..." He closed his eyes, muttering something under his breath. "I may have heard, from...Temari...who heard from Gaara...that you were sick?"

Ah. That explained a lot.

"That was just a cough brought on by the sandstorm. Gaara-san did say that his office needed more ventilation."

"But you still look...not well. Your eyes are drooping. Your face is pale. That's why I'm asking. Did he say something? Mention anything? To bring this on?"

A prickle of annoyance stabbed at her gut, making her blink yet again.

What was wrong with her? Here she was, feeling something ugly when someone out of kindness asked if she wasn't well.

She had to do better. Be better. This wasn't her ninja way.

"Shikamaru-kun, I appreciate your concern, but really, I'm doing all right."

She pasted a smile onto her face.

He sighed in defeat.

"Okay, then. I'll just drop your stuff at your house. Don't worry about it," he said as she opened her mouth in protest. "I know this year has been troublesome for you...and I know we haven't talked all that much, but we all have to look out for each other. That's what Naruto would have wanted."

He paused briefly and raised his hand in a wave.

"So...take care of yourself, Hinata."

She stared at his retreating back, straining her eyes at the red Uzumaki spiral on the back of his chuunin vest until he turned a corner and vanished.

She'd been doing that for years and years and years, hadn't she? Staring at a certain someone's back, always wanting to catch up, walk beside him.

Be by his side.

Whenever she looked at him –

At that smile. Those eyes. That yellow hair like the sun.

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his nose. "Ya know...I thought you were a shy, dark weirdo..."

"But I kind of like...people like you!"

Bolts of pain tore through her stomach, invading her veins, ripping through her lungs, turning them into mincemeat, intertwining with cough after hacking cough.

She was on her knees, gasping, choking, vomiting up saliva and something yellowish-brown, something, something like –

Hinata. Breathe.

She drank the air like she'd been starved of it for her whole life.

Two petals floated to the ground, golden like his hair, like the winds of a sandstorm, like the very sun itself.

A/N: While writing this chapter, I realized that Hinata does a lot of staring here. Hahaha.

But seriously, it's somewhat of a challenge to move the plot along with a premise that can be summed up as "Hinata gets the cough cough whenever she feels sad about Naruto." Have to keep intensifying her illness without writing in circles, you know?

Hinata's a very resilient character. I know some people would write her as crawling into a hole and never leaving if Naruto were to die...but I don't think she would. I think that she would do her very, VERY best, and that her friends would be extremely worried about her. Not because she's fragile, but because they all know she loved him and...yeah. I would think that even people she isn't besties with, like Shikamaru, would look out for her. Hope I conveyed that.

Her hanahaki will get bad in the upcoming chapters. Really, really bad.

Please leave a review! :)