This time when Hinata woke up and couldn't see outside, she knew what was going on. She was dressed and downstairs in mere minutes.
"Hinata, over here!" Temari called. Hinata hurried over. "Gaara, take her with you. It will be easier if she can be your eyes."
"That sounds like a good idea." Hinata agreed.
They headed toward the door. Hinata tugged the scarf over her head. "You won't need that," Gaara pulled her closer by the hip and encapsulated them. Hinata activated her eyes.
"It looks like much less chaos when we know it's coming," Hinata stated.
"The last one was out of season. During storm season, we monitor and stay alert." Gaara's arms curled more completely around her ribs as they circled the village.
"I don't see anyone out," Hinata assured him. "No one in or outside the village walls seemed to be struggling." She turned to see Gaara's face in her blind spot.
Gaara took them back. Hinata deactivated her eyes as they landed. He released her as she stepped out of the curling sand. "That was fast," Temari commented.
"I currently have a seven-kilometer radius," Hinata explained.
"That far?" Temari gasped.
"It's a lot to pay attention to, though," Hinata added. "I can see that far, but I can't focus on it all at once."
"Understandable, and here I am, having trouble holding my toothbrush in my mouth while I pull my hair up." Temari joked.
The two women laughed as Gaara received reports. This would be much easier with a Hyuga. He was now seeing the value of having one around. The compound of Hyuga may prove to have its benefits.
Hinata didn't stray far from him. She kept at arm's length no matter where he traveled. He was unsure she was doing it on purpose. Shukaku insisted that she was too far like there was danger. She seemed to feel it as well. Hinata activated her eyes and wasted no time bolting toward the door, dragging him by the arm. Gaara stumbled, probably the first time in years.
"The west wall has lost pieces," Hinata explained as she threw the door open, letting him go off him as she bolted out into the sand without him. Gaara turned to give an order for everyone to stay inside while they checked the wall.
Shukaku bolted the sand around her until Gaara caught up with her. Hinata squeaked as she was yanked back into the ball. "That was rough," Hinata rubbed her head where it had hit his chest.
"It wasn't me," Gaara berated the demon for not being more gentle. His excuse was, 'She should have waited.' "Is anyone hurt? Why are you in a hurry?" The houses to the west were far enough from the wall that if he lost a piece, it shouldn't fly far enough to hit the buildings.
"The pieces are safely away from the homes, but that doesn't mean they are okay." Hinata pressed.
"You're worried about the people who live near?" Gaara filled.
"Can you fix it?" Hinata planned.
"I can keep it patched up until the storm passes," Gaara confirmed.
"Put me down in the residential area. I want the people to know that it's okay." Hinata explained.
Shukaku protested against it.
Hinata bolted out into the storm to tell the people the damage was minimal, so they did have to worry through the night it might collapse. That was her reason for rushing from his reach. They usually sent out nin to check on the homes, but they did it rounds.
Gaara nodded against the anger growing, not from him. The sand started to jitter and struggled against him.
"We're stopping," Hinata noted, more confused than scared.
'She's a ninja. She can handle herself.' Gaara forced them to continue. Shukaku's new affection and protectiveness were not lost on him. Gaara wanted her safe too, but Hinata could handle something like this. She could handle much more, according to her records and Temari's statements.
"Gaara?" Hinata placed a hand on his chest, realizing he was distressed.
"He's fighting me," Gaara tried to focus, pushing further.
"Is that normal?" Hinata asked.
"Not when I'm trying to work," Gaara admitted.
"What's going on…!" Hinata squeaked as they abruptly stopped. She got tossed out of his grip to the wall of the sand. He reached forward, pulling her back up. She blinked wildly at him, rubbing her forehead. "If it's me, put me down. I can get there on my own."
"That's why he's fighting me. He doesn't want me leaving you out there." Another jerk knocked them both off their feet and crumbled at the bottom of the ball.
Hinata sat up, throwing a mass of loose hair back, hitting him in the face with some of it. "I'm a ninja. This is ridiculous."
"You explain that to him," Gaara rubbed the sore part of his head. His ultimate defense was hurting him. How ironic.
Hinata turned her head to him in a stern frown. "I should." She sat up to glare at the sand. "Put me down!"
The ball plummeted to the ground. Hinata squeaked, launching forward, curling her body around his head protectively as they fell.
They stopped before they hit the ground. "Well, we're down." Gaara muffled in her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Hinata checked his head for damage, which was not easy to see in his blood-red hair in the dark ball. When she found nothing, she turned to sand again. "Now let me out."
The sand gave her no reply. Shukaku growled inside Gaara's head.
Hinata stood in her attack stance. Was she going to try to force her way out? Could she do that? Would she be able to find a weak spot and blow her way through? Was that how it worked? Would she have to try to attack him directly if it didn't?
Would she attack him to get out to do what she thought was her duty?
They may never know. Hinata threw a hand forward, and the ball opened, making her tumble into the storm. Hinata squeaked as she fell forward on her hands and knees. She turned with a fit of hair, wiping around her to the ball as it re-closed.
Gaara was alone in the ball. Shukaku relinquished control and stopped fighting. Gaara felt him recede to… pout? Was he annoyed or offended? Hinata offended him by defying him, something Gaara had been doing for years.
Gaara felt a sudden warm spot to the side of the ball and a jolt to Shukaku as he responded.
Hinata ignored the swirling wind and hair. She placed a hand on the side of the ball. She upset Shukaku enough that he gave her what she wanted out of spite. She would have to make it up to him somehow. She felt the sand respond, moving underhand and between her fingers. Then she returned to the task at hand. Pulling her scarf back around her head as she could, she bolted toward the homes.
The ball sped over her head past her destination as Gaara went to fix the damage.
Hinata had different damage to help. She started with the closest houses to the wall and backtracked. She knocked and was let in.
Hinata was often offered shelter and water before explaining what she was there for, explaining the noise, and that the minor damage was being solved by the Kage. She was thanked with relieved faces and good wishes to continue in the storm.
Hinata didn't stay long in each home. She moved from each house, keeping low, feeling she might be swept into the air at any moment, and was a few times. She visited each home until she found people who claimed to not hear anything. She headed back toward the wall to join Gaara.
Hinata barely broke the house line and was joined and covered by Gaara. She openly coughed in the new clean air. "How's the wall?"
"It will do until the storm passes." Gaara reached forward, pulling back her scarf and dumping the surrounding sand.
Hinata placed her hand on the sand wall. "Is he still mad?"
"I don't know what's going on with him. He should know better." Gaara explained. "We can deal with it when we get back if we can get back without incident."
Hinata nodded as they started to move. She and Shukaku needed to talk.
Hinata stood in Gaara's bathroom with her head over the bathtub, shaking her hair.
Gaara stood leaning against the door frame. "Why not wash it out."
"If I added water with this much sand in it, it would cake," Hinata's robe was discarded on his sink. Her exposed shoulders and arms were covered in scratches and bruises she received in the storm, and one large bruise peeked out of the shoulders. He supposed that one was his fault, or rather Shukaku's.
"I'm sorry. I'm getting your bathroom covered in sand." Hinata flicked her hair back into the tub more.
Gaara handed her his hairbrush. "I don't think I mind." They lived in the desert.
Hinata brushed the tangles and sand out over the tub. "Is he still angry with me?"
"I think he's angry with himself right now," Gaara explained.
"Was the fight that bad?" Hinata asked.
"Can you feel that bruise?" Gaara asked genuinely.
"What?" Hinata examined her arm and legs for bruises.
Gaara offered a hand. Hinata let him spin her around in the mirror, sweeping her mangled hair to the side and pulling the hem around her shoulder to show the purpling bruise. She kept getting hurt by things he should be able to control.
This was his fault.
"Oh, no, no. I didn't get that from when Shukaku-san stopped us. I got thrown into a building. I got a bump on the head when I fell, but it doesn't even hurt now." Hinata pointed to her forehead, where redness was hidden by her bangs. "It looks worse than it is. It didn't hurt that much. It was just an odd angle that caused that." Hinata turned in the mirror to see the extent of the bruise. "I'll go to a healer in the morning."
"You'll be sore if you leave these." Gaara brushed his fingers over the edge of the bruise, causing her to shiver. "Are you cold?"
"No, I'm fine," Hinata turned her head back in the tub. "We can talk about this all with Shukaku-san tomorrow."
Gaara didn't make his headache worse tonight. "You may use the shower."
"No, I'll use my own. I'll be fine. Are you okay now?" Gaara was the one to ask her to spend some time with him before she went off to clean up. He was stressed about Shukaku's reaction and wanted her near to calm him and the beast.
"Yes, we can wait. Get some rest." Gaara offered.
"After I put you to sleep. I don't want you two fighting all night. Wait for me." Hinata said pointedly, not really at him.