Chapter title from the song Crystalized by the XX.
My gratitude towards these people for their reviews: I-Love-Trunks1, Beru Wang, a guest, Kiats10, and littlenewgardner.
Thanks for reading.
oOo
Chapter Seven: Do I Have to Keep Up the Pace
The nice part about working at the Hokage Tower was getting a day and a half off for the weekend. She spent her free time to baby her new tattoo and iced it to keep the swelling down. Thankfully, the skin of her face did not bruise.
The morning of her half day, she snuck mouthwash into one of her vest pockets and headed to work.
Per usual, she made it before Itachi. When he walked in, he gave her a disappointed frown, but proceeded to his desk and slipped on his robe. He did not protest anymore when he found her in the office before him.
Hinata waited for him to settle in before he nodded at her. She gathered up the materials for the day and presented them.
He nodded along with her morning report. When he looked up at the end, he paused.
"Are you alright?"
Hinata startled. "Um? Am I alright?" She asked dumbly.
His brows furrowed just slightly, and he touched his jaw. "You look swollen. Here."
She instinctively raised her hand.
Every day he reminded her of what a consummate shinobi looked like. Early on, she learned to avoid attention. Attention meant someone nitpicked her every move. Attention meant someone noticed her incompetence. To survive her childhood, she made herself as discreet as possible. If no one know she was there, then no one could judge her.
Itachi noticed everything. No matter how she attempted to hide.
"Oh," she sighed but smiled. "I was clumsy during training. I tried to hide it with makeup." She touched her cheek and showed him the makeup sticking to her fingertips. "I guess I didn't do a good job."
"Why didn't you get it healed? Bruises are easy enough."
She could not get it healed. Any introduction of any chakra could sever the tentative connection.
Her mouth tasted like copper.
Her eyes crinkled into a good approximation of mirth. "I didn't want to bother anyone."
Itachi stood while quickly cycling through a few hand seals. "Here." He reached forward over the desk; his hand covered in glowing green chakra.
Hinata, surprised at his movement, jerked back just before he touched her face.
His frown deepened. He paused; hand still outstretched. "Hyuga-san? I don't have formal training, but I've seen this done enough times with my Sharingan."
Panic sped her heartbeat. "O-Oh, Hokage-sama. I don't doubt you. But you don't have to waste your chakra on me."
The green sunk back into his skin and he gestured to the empty office in a sweeping motion. "Yes," he said dryly. "I need to save my chakra for all the jutsu I use."
Despite herself, she giggled. Scuttling back, she put space between them. "Still, Hokage-sama. I'm okay."
His expression was dubious, but he nodded. "If you're sure."
"Yes."
She waited for him to sit before returning to her desk.
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Naruto walked into the office and Hinata almost knocked her water over. They could not be back so soon. Hinata swallowed heavily as bile built in the back of her throat.
She needed to rinse out her mouth.
"Ah," Itachi said. "Any news?"
Naruto waved at Hinata before turning his attention to the Hokage. "I might need to go farther than I thought. The dam upstream is working fine, but the reservoir is low."
Itachi hummed thoughtfully. "Where are the reservoir caretakers?"
Naruto shrugged. "The guardhouse was empty. No signs of struggle."
"I'll send someone to talk to their relief. I don't know when they switch shifts."
"The calendar in the dorms said they had a couple more days before they headed back home. They work three weeks on, three weeks off." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I don't know if they went AWOL but it's really weird."
Itachi's expression was grim. Weird for Naruto meant anyone else needed to worry.
Naruto looked over his shoulder. "But Hanabi-chan is doing great, Hinata-chan!"
Hinata mustered a smile, even though she still felt queasy. "Thank you."
"Yes, thank you, Naruto." Itachi said firmly, recapturing Naruto's attention. "Continue upstream and report when you find something."
"Sure thing!" Naruto grinned and puffed out of existence.
oOo
The minute she could, Hinata excused herself. Striding to the bathroom, she checked every stall to make sure they were empty. Locking the door, she pulled the mouthwash out of her pocket with shaking hands. The minty flavor overwhelmed the taste of blood. It stung like hell.
Between the sharp pain, the fear that Hanabi had returned, and the knowledge that somehow, she had captured Itachi's attention, it was all too much. She braced herself with a hand on either side of the porcelain sink. Her arms trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes and her breath came in short pants. But she did not cry.
Her knees felt weak. Allowing herself to lower down, she crouched in a small ball, hugging herself. She was silent except for the small hitching breaths that seemed to echo throughout the room.
As suddenly as it started, her breaths calmed, and her eyes stopped burning. It felt like she had spent this past year crying. She had a job to do.
Slowly standing, she washed her face. Drying with a paper towel, she then reapplied her makeup with the tiny bottles stashed in her vest.
Hinata looked herself in the eyes for the first time in a long time. In her mind, the eyes changed into Neji's. Into Hanabi's. Haruko's and Ko's. Auntie Yoko's and Torio's. Into her father's. Into her mother's.
Her teeth grit together.
Walking out of the room, she pretended to be fine. Like she did not just have a breakdown at work. Standing guard at the bathroom door, an ANBU handed her a banker's box. Their fingers tangled together as she grabbed for it. His gloves were off, and his fingertips were calloused. The white eyes staring at her from behind the mask held determination.
The sight filled her with courage.
"Thank you." For everything.
The ANBU nodded and body flickered away. She turned and walked down the long wooden hallway. In that time, she transformed back into the friendly, clumsy assistant.
She had a lot of practice with pretending to be okay.
Hinata entered the Hokage's office with an abashed smile. "I apologize for taking so long." She held up the cardboard box. "But I got the information you needed for the shinobi and civilians stationed at the reservoir."
Itachi's answering smile was small but kind and warm. Hinata wished that like the Sharingan, the Byakugan stored memories.
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Coming up: Tsunade does a checkup.