"I found something" Shino's voice called her after a while. Hinata quickly went over to his side, looking at the place he was pointing at. From a branch on a tree, there was a small piece of paper hanging. It was pretty inconspicuous, the color an earthy brown that could easily get confused with the trunk. Hinata smiled softly, glancing at Shino happily.
"Good d-done, Shino-kun" the boy nodded, before gesturing with the hand towards the tree. Hinata quickly caught his meaning, and, without further ado, climbed up until she could sit on one of the sturdier branches near the paper. She grabbed it and upon reading it, her eyes got wide. "It's a map… I t-think it's the shopping district…" she said. Shino tilted his head, before climbing up as well. Once he reached her side, he took the paper from her hands and plucked it from the tree, much to Hinata's horror. "S-Shino-kun! We're not supposed to t-take that!"
"I'll put it back later" he said, shrugging, before reading it as well. Hinata pursed her lips, but accepted with a nod as Shino hummed in thought. After a while, he finally said; "it is the shopping district, but I don't know which store it marks."
"M-Maybe we could copy it?" Hinata suggested shyly. Shino nodded, passing the paper back to her.
"It's a good idea."
Happy that her proposition was accepted, Hinata quickly took out a small notebook from her pocket and a pen, and started copying the map as best as she could. Once done, she gave it to Shino so he could attach it again to the tree. She climbed down.
Sasuke had not yet returned.
When Shino climbed down as well, she looked at him, fidgeting slightly. "D-Do you think Sasuke-kun is still a-angry?" she asked him, although she knew him better than the Aburame. Still, she could not, for the life of her, understand what caused him to explode against Shino like that. It was true he had originally wanted to be the leader, and that Shino was annoying him with his constant reminders that it was her role and not his, but, for that to rile him up to such a level…
Shino took a while to answer, as he looked around, likely waiting for Sasuke to suddenly appear. When he didn't, he turned to her, and putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket, said; "it's my fault, honestly. I should have realized sooner that the location would rattle him, and yet, I paid no heed to that. But whether he's still angry or not, he should come back soon. He said himself he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible."
"That's true…" Hinata muttered, before something Shino said caught her attention. She looked at him, tilting her head to the side as she asked; "the location? W-why would it rattle him?"
"This place used to be the training grounds of the Uchiha clan. Naka no Kawa runs exactly through where their district was" he explained, and Hinata gasped. She didn't know that! No wonder he was so on edge. If it was anything like when she intruded upon him on his district the year before, then she understood everything now.
She bit her lip, glancing down, before noticing Shino's choice of words. Did he know about what had befallen the Uchiha as well? It wasn't impossible. After all, he was a member of the Aburame clan, the heir, now that she thought about it. Just like her. And, just like the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, the Aburame was another noble clan. It made sense if he knew.
She opened her mouth to ask and confirm her suspicions, but just in that moment, Sasuke appeared, brows still furrowed and hands in his pockets.
He looked at the notebook in her hands, and pointing at it with his chin, asked; "is that the next clue?"
"Y-yes… Shino-kun found a m-map hanging from this tree" she waved at the paper that Shino had put back. Then, she showed the notebook to him. "I c-copied it here. The x marks a place in the s-shopping district, but we're not sure where it is exactly…"
"I see" he nodded, and then looked her in the eyes. "So… we're going?"
"Ah… yes, l-let's go…" she said, nodding, a little surprised at the way he formulated the question. Weary and… a bit unsure?
As they made their way back to Konoha, Hinata saw from the corner of her eyes how Shino stepped just a little closer to Sasuke. The other boy frowned, but said nothing and simply kept staring ahead.
"Sasuke" the boy with the sunglasses called. A grunt was his answer. "I want to apologize for my behavior. Although following the rules is important, I should have noticed before…"
"It's fine. Don't worry about it" he cut him, voice a little sharper than necessary. He ran a little faster until he was in front of them. Shino said nothing, leaving him alone, and Hinata held back a sigh.
They were in the shopping district in no time at all. However, finally being there, the three quickly realized something.
"The x doesn't mark any of the s-stores…" Hinata muttered, frowning at her map. Shino stepped closer, taking another look and humming slightly to himself.
"It's true. At the same time, now that we're here, it seems kind of obvious the map's just marking the general area… that means the stamp should be around here, but we still need to look for it" he concluded.
"M-maybe we should try asking the vendors? They might know something… like the librarian" Hinata suggested, glancing at her teammates.
Shino nodded. "It sounds like a good idea. Information recollection is, after all, an ability any shinobi should have."
"…yeah, let's do it" Sasuke agreed, and they divided the district in three parts so that they could cover more ground. Before she left, however, Hinata turned to Sasuke, and called him with a small voice so Shino wouldn't notice. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I…" she didn't know what to say. Should she apologize too even though she had done nothing wrong? Sasuke was still obviously moody after his small fight with Shino, and experience told her it would be better to simply let him calm down on his own, but… "I didn't know it was your… t-that is… w-why would the academy…?"
"It's been almost two years" he interrupted, turning to face her completely. Hinata's eyes, that had fallen to the ground while she was talking, snapped back towards his, a little surprised at his calm response. The boy himself looked pretty calm as well, if a little tired. He scoffed then, before glancing away, a hand going to scratch at his nape. "The terrain belongs to the village now. I can't expect them not to use it" he said.
Hinata nodded, even though he wasn't looking at her, and a small silence formed between them. After a few seconds of this, Sasuke sighed, and with his thumb pointed at the place where he was originally headed to, said. "Let's get going. We still need three more stamps, after all, and we're not going to get them by just standing here doing nothing."
"A-Ah, sure, you're right" the two took different paths then, but before she wandered too far, she looked at him again over her shoulder. He was walking determinedly, his posture not indicating anything wrong with him, but she wondered, just for a moment, and not for the first time, what it would feel like. What would she feel if she were in his place.
She shuddered a little, before shaking her head and going on her way.