Apprehension filled her gut as Hinata walked towards the bar. When Naruto had excitedly proposed that the former members of the student council organize a class reunion, Hinata had reluctantly agreed, mostly because none of the other former members were free to plan it. And also because, despite having gotten over her crush years ago, she still found it hard to say no to Naruto.
Organizing the event was one thing, attending it was another. As Hinata approached the Rusty Kunai, she found herself slowing as high school memories rose unbidden to the surface. Moments where she'd been too shy to confess her feelings, too quiet to do anything other than fade into the background. Hinata glanced back at the train station a few blocks away. Maybe it wasn't too late to just go home…she could just tell Naruto later that something had come up at work.
But before she could make up her mind, someone was calling her name. "Hinata! Oi, Hinata-chan!"
Hinata turned to see Kiba red-faced with one arm slung over Shino's shoulders. The other held a beer which he lifted in greeting. They were standing a couple steps from the bar entrance, just out of the way of the few people lining up to get in.
"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, what are you doing standing outside?" Hinata asked as she walked up to them.
"It was too loud to talk inside and Kiba was complaining about the smell," Shino said. It was a warm summer night, yet Shino was still wearing his trench coat and dark shades as always. The sight of him made Hinata smile. She was happy to see this at least hadn't changed.
"The place reeks of beer and BO," Kiba added with a grimace. He took a swig of beer and laughed. "Nostalgic, ain't it? Hinata-chan planning another school event. Except now we can drink out in the open instead of hiding it in our water bottles."
"How many beers have you had?" Hinata asked with a frown. Kiba was a sloppy drunk, and she and Shino had had to lug his half-conscious body home too many nights to count.
Kiba grinned and tossed his empty beer bottle into a nearby bin. "Just two so far. I'm going to get my last one." He glanced at Hinata and Shino. "You guys want anything?"
Shino shook his head while Hinata asked for some sake. They watched as Kiba ambled into the bar, disappearing into the crowd.
"Kiba-kun looks happy," Hinata commented. She smiled at Shino. "You do too." It warmed her heart to see Kiba and Shino together after their J-drama worthy confession scene almost a year ago.
Shino adjusted his shades and even in the dim yellow street light Hinata could see that the tips of Shino's ears were bright red. "How has working with your father been?"
Hinata gave him a brief summary of the project that she'd been working on for the last few months, unfazed by the abrupt change in topic. Shino had never been comfortable sharing his feelings, which might be why it had taken him so long to realize how he felt about Kiba.
She was in the middle of recounting all the logistical hurdles that she'd faced working with the Uchihas when Kiba appeared with drinks in hand, looking like he had smelled something rancid. "Ugh, you had'ta work with Ass-suke Uchiha? I heard you went to Ino's flower show with him. You're not dating, are you?"
"What? No, I went with him to support Ino," Hinata said, her cheeks burning at the thought. "Why do you say that?"
Kiba shrugged. "I dunno, I heard that he bought you flowers. Sounds awfully like a date. It's that you're not. Dick called Akamaru a dumb mutt."
In their second year of high school. Kiba had held that grudge ever since.
"Our opinion on Sasuke and his preference in animals is irrelevant," Shino said. "Why? Because Hinata can associate with whom she wants and we should trust her judgment."
"Course I trust Hinata-chan," Kiba argued. "But you don't tell people to fuck off enough."
Hinata patted Kiba's arm. "I have been trying, and I think I've gotten better at it."
They stood outside the bar and continued talking until Shino glanced at his phone and nudged Kiba's arm.
"Alright, alright," Kiba said, downing the rest of his beer. "Sorry, Hinata-chan. We have to go help Shino's brother move his hives or something like that."
"His greenhouse is going to be repaired and we have to move everything by tonight," Shino explained.
"G'night," Kiba said, wrapping her in a bear hug. "Pretty sure I saw Naruto sitting in the back, if you want to say hi."
Kiba and Shino headed down the street towards the train station while Hinata finally entered the bar. The place was more crowded than she had ever seen it. Old schoolmates were packed together like sardines. Dim lighting and years apart made it hard to recognize anyone, and Hinata didn't particularly feel like shouting over all the noise just to try and make small talk.
The owner had opened up a few of the private rooms at the back of the bar to allow the guests more seating options. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were sitting around one such table, just like Kiba had said.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out, waving her over to his table where he sat with Sakura and Sasuke. Years later, Naruto was still a loud ball of energy, Sakura was still in the middle of scolding him about accidentally ordering orange balloons instead of white ones, and Sasuke looked like he'd rather be anywhere other than sitting next to these two. Except for the cups of wine, and the alcohol-induced blush on Sakura and Naruto's faces, this scene could have come straight from their high school days.
"Hello Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, Sasuke," Hinata greeted warmly, taking the last empty seat at the table.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted again. "I haven't seen in forever! Years!" He leaned over to give her a one-armed hug and almost fell over.
"Naruto you idiot you saw her last month," Sakura said, tugging Naruto back into a sitting position. "At the banquet for the Prime Minister of the Land of Iron, remember?"
Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration. "Uhh, there were so many people there I don't remember. You know I'm terrible at names, Sakura-chan," he whined, leaning his head on Sakura's arm.
"How are you going to be the next Hokage if you can't remember the names of important people you're going to be working with?" she sighed, patting his head.
"I keep telling people that having Dead Last leading the country is going to land us in World War III, but no one ever believes me," Sasuke said to Hinata with a roll of his eyes. "Do you want another drink?"
"Hey fuck you bastard," Naruto groused. "Also, get me a refill, will ya."
"And I want a gin and tonic. And some of those truffle fries if you can get your hands on them before they all get snatched up."
Sasuke scowled. "What am I, a waiter?" ("Yes," Naruto and Sakura chorused in unison.) "Besides, I'm cutting both of you off. Last thing we need is for Naruto to start doing drag again."
"That was one time dammit," Naruto said, flipping his best friend the bird.
"A night no one will ever forget," Sakura cackled as she pulled up pictures of that night and showed them to Hinata. Naruto was standing in front of a crowd of formally-dressed guests clad in a blue evening dress, microphone in hand as he sang his heart out. "I heard some of the council members were so angry they almost popped a blood vessel trying to get you removed from Tsunade's campaign."
"Oh no, were you, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"Are you kidding," Sakura scoffed. "Tsunade loved it. If that walking corpse had finally keeled over, she'd have promoted him."
"Granny Tsunade told me not to do it again," Naruto slurred. "In that dress anyway."
Hinata was at a loss. Luckily at that moment Sasuke came back with her refilled cup of wine and two glasses of water.
"What the hell asshole, why'd you get me water?" Naruto exclaimed, scowling down at the glass of water like it had personally offended him.
"I told you I was cutting you two off, didn't I?"
"But you got Hinata-chan a drink," Naruto whined. "How come you're nicer to Hinata-chan than you are to us? Your best friend?"
"I am being nice. By stopping you from becoming an even bigger idiot," Sasuke said, taking a sip of his own drink.
Sakura laughed. "You know why Sasuke is being so nice. Sasuke and Hinata, sitting in a-"
"Are you five?" Sasuke said, shoving a cracker into Sakura's mouth to shut her up. It worked, for about the minute it took Sakura to chew and swallow.
"Sasuke's a big softy," Sakura said, leaning in and whispering conspiratorially. "Jerk with a squishy heart deep, deep, deep down. Like an unripe lychee." Sakura patted Hinata's hand while Sasuke scowled. "Just don't break his tiny, tiny heart. We don't need his hair to get even spikier."
The wine Hinata had must have been stronger than she thought. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, can you say that again?"
But like a pair of hyperactive puppies, Naruto and Sakura had already moved on (or rather back) to bickering about the color of the balloons that Naruto had brought. Hinata sighed in fond exasperation and started with Sasuke about his upcoming trip to the Land of Ice.
A/N: It's been a year since I last updated (life happened) but the rest of this story is completely finished and edited thank god. Three chapters left and they should be uploaded on Thurs evening
Thank you to everyone who commented and Favorited since I last updated. I may not have responded to all of you, but your words mean the world to me.