Chapter 15: Oblivious, Shikamaru's First Crush!
Danzō left the meeting room, walking side by side with Homura and Koharu. Homura and Koharu made up the Leaf Village's counsel. Their words and decisions held tremendous power.
Inside the meeting room, remained a frowning Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage. His eyes were narrowed, as he stood by the window and stared ahead towards the village's gates. Homura and Koharu are retired ninjas, who became convinced that the Leaf Village needs to hold the Chūnin exams right away. They felt anxious because they're lacking in the Chūnin rank department. Hiruzen didn't see a problem with the elder's decisions, since Chūnin exams are held twice a year.
The problem was that Danzō pushed the idea of giving the new rookies a chance to participate. He claimed that the Feudal Lords of other countries would be interested. Nevertheless, the elders offered their word of approval. Hiruzen had to send invitations to several villages, to notify them that the Leaf Village would be hosting the Chūnin exam real soon. That was the easy part. The hard part was facing Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai.
'Danzō, no doubt you're up to something.' Hiruzen thought to himself.
Shino and Kiba were the first to arrive at the training grounds. There, they awaited for the rest of the team 8. When Hinata finally appeared in front of their range of vision, they hadn't known what to say. Waiting for the murmuring to subside, Hinata smiled faintly at her teammates.
"H-Hello."
"Hinata, did someone in your family die?" Kiba asked out of concern, because Hinata didn't look lively at all. She hadn't been lively for over a week. But they hadn't expect her show up wearing all black. Hinata had swapped out her grey shorts for black shorts. And it took that one change to make her appeared like she was in mourning. But what actually completed the transformation was the gloomy aura that she carried around.
"N-No Kiba." Hinata said. On the other hand, Kiba wasn't so far off. Something did die. Her fantasy got completely crushed. She wanted to express without having to explain, that she was indeed mourning over something. But she would never tell anyone that something is the loss of a future with Asuma by her side.
Unbeknownst to them, Kurenai was already there. But they didn't see her because she masked herself completely and also casted an illusion that worked almost like looping a video footage of the three genins being by themselves. But it was Kiba that manage to break out of it because Akamaru started barking as a warning, to tell him that his senses were being messed with. Once Kiba broke out of the Genjutsu, he used his chakra to get his teammates of it as well. Prompting Hinata to feel shocked at Kurenai's presence.
"Hello my genins!" Kurenai said with a cheerful smile which almost faltered upon seeing Hinata's solemn expression. Kurenai received the welcome she expected which lacked energy. After all, Hinata's depression was somehow washing over Kiba as well, therefore affecting his normal behavior pattern.
'I bet it's her stuck up family that's the cause of her suffering.' Kurenai thought sadly. 'But Hinata hasn't opened up to me about the problem. I guess she feels like she's strong enough to carry the burden on her own. That fool, she should know she talk to me and tell me everything.'
"Today it's the start of breaking illusions. Kiba, I can see you're a natural since you managed to break it without any trouble." She praised the boy. "Hinata, Shino, I'll keep casting different illusions on you guys, until you're able to break free. Kiba, I want you to work on walking on water."
"Okay sensei." Kiba replied, lacking the energy he normally has.
A week of vicious training on breaking illusions went by, before the team had become adept at it. Kiba being the best, followed by Hinata and then Shino.
One fateful afternoon of training, Kurenai saw the Hokage's brown hawk flying above the training grounds. Team 8 was in front of her, panting on the ground after breaking one final A-rank Genjutsu. So they didn't notice how their teacher tensed up as she wondered why the Hokage was summoning all the Jounins for a meeting.
"That'll be all for the day." Kurenai said. "I'll see you tomorrow, at the same time as today."
"Sensei, what about missions?" Kiba asked.
"I have a feeling we won't be doing missions for a while." Kurenai replied. "Well my genins, I must go now." Pink petals floated out of the nothing, and swirled around her body before she disappeared.
"Heh, you think she's going on a date with Asuma?" Kiba asked Hinata.
"I-I-I re-really w-wouldn't know." She said, while looking away. "I-I'll see you tomorrow, Kiba, Shino." Hinata said as she bowed.
Shino and Kiba looked at one another, as if to acknowledge to one another that Hinata's behavior was really strange.
The streets of their beloved village was filling up, little by little, with foreigners. Not just any type of foreigners, but menacing, tall, older and threatening looking foreigners. Hinata noticed this as she entered the busy parts of town which had several inns located in the vicinity.
'Something big is going on…I wonder what.' Hinata thought to herself. She couldn't hide to herself the fact that foreigners made her nervous. Especially when they proudly sported their ninja forehead protector. Hinata had never witnessed so much diversity coming into the village.
A delinquent looking ninja, from the land of Sound, bumped into her but not enough force to make her fall to the ground. Hinata knew it had been done on purpose, but she still apologized. To her surprise, the delinquent looking ninja let it go without causing a scene.
"Hinata, did he hurt you? Are you okay?" Ino's voice came from behind after witnessing the scene. Next to Ino was Chouji. The dark blue headed girl turned to her friend and smiled.
"I'm fine." Hinata replied, as her eyes looked around for a missing member of team 10.
"Shikamaru's not with us. He probably decided to doze off by the riverbank after Asuma-sensei treated us to tea and dumplings." Chouji said, surprising her.
"O-Oh. It's just kind of strange to not see him with you guys." Hinata said, as if feeling the need to explain why she expected his presence around team 10.
"What are you talking about Hinata? Do you have amnesia or something? Shika's only with us when it's necessary to be around us." Ino replied while laughing. "Anyways, see ya around! Oh and would you please wear something more colorful next time? You look like you went to a funeral." Ino said before she left.
On her way home, Hinata took a detour. The origin behind such actions all began with a thought.
'I'm so ignorant about the little things and little details that matters...I'm just as bad when it comes to noticing important things about the people around me.'
Such thought gave rise to an idea that maybe her mind needed training.
Hinata accepted that she wasn't as perceptive as she should be. But she wasn't sure how perceptive she needed to be. Being ignorant can be blissful, until the truth shocks you awake. If she hadn't been so naïve, she wouldn't have put herself in such vulnerable position where her heart could be easily broken.
'What's wrong with me? Pinning for a man that's older than me…I should've known he was taken.'
And just like Chouji said, Hinata found Shikamaru in his little domain by the riverbank that floated under a bridge. The genin girl walked close to his domain and sat next to him on the grass, while setting her ninja bag to the side. He was laying down on his back, with his hands behind his head, while his leg was crossed over another.
She came to him to ask for a favor.
But she remembered how she failed to keep her word to help him train about a month ago, because her family decided to keep her inside the house to train her for two weeks.
Thus, she changed her mind about asking for his help as she stared at the running water floating under the bridge. After all, he'll want something in return again, probably. And she wasn't sure if she was trustworthy enough to keep her end of the bargain.
Shikamaru glanced at her, his eyes taking in her appearance for about two seconds. In those two seconds he could see all needed; hence how he knew she was still not over Asuma sensei. His eyes went back to looking at the clouds. And they both never gave a verbal greeting. Just silent acknowledgements.
He wondered if she found him again by coincidence, since it was a small village, but he wasn't that curious to ask. Not one to seek to have pointless conversations, Shikamaru decided to break the silence by asking her a question in case her answers might provide clues to something that's been bothering him about the village.
"Did you notice any Jounins on your way here?" Shikamaru asked, hoping that it was his imagination that there had been a lack of Jounins. Shikamaru avoided the populated town, and took a different path to get where he was. But still, he should've bumped into a few Jounins along the way.
Hinata visibly flinched when his voice cut through the silence like a knife. She hadn't seen Shikamaru in weeks. So hearing him talk, frankly, gave her a shock because his voice sounded different than what she remembered. It sounded deeper, and slightly older. Hinata's response got caught in her throat, but she eventually spoke.
"N-No."
"Use your Byakugan and tell me if you see any nearby." He instructed her.
"I-I see them…they're all gathered in-inside the Hokage's office." Hinata said.
"Damn it." Shikamaru said, almost vehemently. Hinata's perplexing expression gave him a need to explain himself. "I saw Asuma-sensei look concerned right before he left us earlier. We were having dumplings with tea, when a hawk flew over us. And he just stared at it, and left abruptly. Something's going on, and I don't know what it is." Shikamaru sat up, and started taking fist full of grass and pulling it from the ground.
Hinata closed her eyes, as she lay on her back. Hinata looked the same way she had when they had played that memory game. She was closing her eyes really shut as if trying to recall a memory.
"It was the same with my team. I'm sure of it. I-I remember the sound of a hawk. And K-Kurenai-sensei cut our training short. S-She even said that we m-may not go on missions for a while." Hinata opened her eyes and stared at him to see if her information had helped him in any way. He seemed to be thinking about it. "I saw a-a lot of foreigners in town too..." She added.
"Thanks to the information you shared, I got a pretty good idea of what it is that's happening around here." Shikamaru said. She gave him a look, one that he never seen her give him before, so he wasn't sure what to make of it. "What?" He asked her suspiciously. He heard her groaned for the first time in his life. He chuckled. "Why are you groaning?"
"Shikamaru, L-Let's switch brains..." She mumbled. "I'll g-give you my b-brain, and I'll take yours." It was then he understood that she was probably frustrated over not being able to figure some things out.
"No thanks." He breathed out a sigh. "Anyways, all the signs points to one thing-The Chūnin exams-It's probably going to start soon." This worried him, because Asuma was the third's Hokage's son, so who's to say that Asuma won't petition team 10 just by using the connection he has?
"Eh! N-No way!"
"Yeah, it's troublesome. I just hope Asuma-sensei doesn't get any ideas of petitioning my team to participate." Shikamaru said.
Hinata's heart started skipping wildly upon the thought of taking the Chūnin exams. It felt like she had turned into a genin just yesterday. She breathed out a sigh, while convincing herself the Kurenai-sensei wouldn't think to ever to petition team 8. It was too sudden.
The silence that ensued didn't last for too long, as Hinata whispered something, but loud enough for his ears to pick up.
"I came here to find you…" She said, with refined courage. She needed his help and Shikamaru had proven himself again. He was her age, and his presence felt different. He seemed wiser, older and smarter. How can she become like that too? Someone worthy of becoming her little sister's advisor.
His hand movements paused as he stopped pulling grass out of the ground.
Her words made his heart skip a little.
Shikamaru then resumed to pulling out the grass when he figured Hinata just didn't know how to choose her words correctly in a way that doesn't lead to his brain shutting down for a second.
"Aa." He replied once he found his voice.
"I-I was h-hoping for s-some pointers…of how to b-become more perceptive like you." Hinata said, leaving him feeling slightly proud of her. Because her coming to him and asking him about this, meant that she acknowledged that she was oblivious.
"A few book titles comes to mind to help you get started." Shikamaru replied. "Though all of them are a troublesome read." He then glanced at the oblivious girl next to him and wondered how deep her problem was. If the books he recommended to her turned her more pragmatic, than he'll have to accept and praise the author's credibility.
"I don't mind...so could you w-write it down for me?" Hinata said as she sat up and searched her bag for a pen and notepad. Their fingers brushing as the item got passed to him, probably affected Shikamaru more than it did her. But Shikamaru didn't show it. He only hoped that she can understand his sloppy hand writing as he handed the notepad back to her. "Thank you Shikamaru." She said. Hinata put the notepad away inside her bag, and groaned again.
"What is it now?" Shikamaru asked flatly. He wasn't sure if this is who Hinata was, or if his influence had rubbed some of his mannerism off on her.
"S-S-So what do you w-want in return f-for helping me?" Hinata's question prompted his hand to fly to his face to cover his mouth. It was like he had a jester sleeping dormant inside of him that found entertainment in the simplest interactions with her. He felt amused that she remembered his claim of not helping others out of the kindness of his heart. And that much was true.
His willingness to help derived from a hope that she'll become less oblivious and gullible. In other words, more easy to tease. Because it would be nice for a change if her face could turn the shade of tomato after she catches him staring at her. That silly desire wasn't without a reason.
About a week ago, Shikamaru came to a deduction on his own, while watching a cloud which was shaped in a way that reminded him of Hinata's head. He didn't know what to make of the shape at first. But after an internal monologue which danced close to denial, his logical part of his brain came out as the victor. But Shikamaru didn't embrace this as the certain truth, he still had his doubts because his mental state could be attributed to the way boys his age starts to feel towards girls.
But anyways, he believed he may have feelings for her.
That is why he reached out again, though this time he was in control, knowing that it was because he may have a crush on her. So he reached out and held her hand in his. His heart was skipping violently against his chest as he entertained the idea of asking her to have ice cream with him. Sort of like a date maybe, not that she would even notice that it was a date.
His action perplexed her, but Hinata had this coping mechanism that helped her shield her from embarrassment. Therefore, making the situation easier for her to deal with. She retrieved a memory of a similar situation that happened after the spar that took place at the Nara Forest.
She concluded that Shikamaru was asking for help since he was too lazy to get back on his feet. She stared at their joined hand, with a look of relief. She believed this was all he was asking of her in return. She can do this.
'I guess all he wants in return is for me to help him back on his feet. He's so simple.'
She tightened her hand around his and stood up on her feet. She then used her weight and pulled him the way one pulls a door that won't budge. But he finally budged when he realized what was probably going through her mind. So her problem ran deep.
Shikamaru's lips were pressed together into a line as he looked annoyed. When they let go, he used the same hand that held hers just seconds ago and flicked her on the forehead; making her fair skin turn slightly red. That was the shade that came the closest to the one he wanted to see on her cheeks.
"Ow…" Hinata said, while rubbing the area he had just abused. "W-What did you do that for?" She asked.
"Because you're tiresome." Shikamaru said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. He changed his mind about inviting her along to have ice cream when he realized he couldn't take much of this. It was just too troublesome and not worth the trouble if it wasn't going to mean anything inside her head. Hence the reason he settled for waiting until he sees an improvement in her perception.
He left after grunting some sort of word of good bye.
Hinata remained there looking a little lost and confused as she stared after Shikamaru as he walked away. She reached down and grabbed her bag. Her thoughts didn't linger too much on his confusing behavior. To her, Shikamaru was being Shikamaru. He seemed easily annoyed by things, even back from what she remembered at the academy. So she didn't think much of what took place, as she turned around and headed the opposite way; home.