Hinata, her teammates, and little Kurenai-Sensei are sitting in a tree of all things following an afternoon stroll through Konoha's forest. She doesn't know whose idea it was to get up in it but she suspects Shino was the first to sit on one of its boughs. He probably scaled it to escape Kiba and Kurenai-Sensei's loud chatter. As she is now, Hinata's teacher doesn't soften herself for anyone. Not even when she likes them (and Hinata can tell she likes Shino and Hinata quite a bit).

Soon after, she and Kiba joined Shino, asking if there was something interesting up here in the branches. Shino, who's got a keen eye for bugs, quickly found a cicada to direct their attention to. Kurenai-Sensei was happy with this find even if Kiba wasn't too impressed. At this point, Hinata was invited to join the boys and her teacher in the tree.

She's never been good at turning down requests and soon was sitting next to Kurenai-Sensei; in the girl's hands was the cicada. She presented it then to Hinata who made to sure to praise its shiny shell.

This, to her relief, pleased her teacher and started the girl on a story about the bug she was told by a teacher at the Academy. It was a cute tale and drew chuckles from her and Shino. Kurenai-Sensei beamed in response, legs swinging enthusiastically.

A small part of Hinata wants to fuss at the younger girl. She's sure her teacher's fine but the last thing she wants is for her to fall and hurt herself. Hinata's dithering is brought to a swift end when Kurenai-Sensei turns her head and looks at the three of them with wide, beseeching eyes.

"We should play a game!" she exclaims.

Kiba, from the branch above her and Kurenai-Sensei, leans down to quirk his eyebrows at her. "A game, huh?"

"Yes!" she replies with an enthusiastic nod.

Kiba laughs and asks, "You have one in mind?"

Kurenai-Sensei's eyes dilate. "Hide-and-Seek," she says. She juts out her chin and proclaims with none of the humbleness she displays as a teacher, "I'll have you know I'm very good."

Her teammate laughs, showing off the sharp canines all Inuzuka are known for. "Oh yeah?" he teases."We'll see how good you are when it's me and Akamaru looking for you!"

Kurenai-Sensei smirks. "Yes, we will!" she yells before launching herself off the tree.

Hinata covers her mouth to muffle a giggle at the gobsmacked look that takes Kiba's face. It seems Kurenai-Sensei has decided they will be "it" this first round. Shino, from his bough, comes down to join Kiba on his branch. "Three against one, hm?" he hums. "She is either overconfident or, in fact, is very good at hide-and-seek."

-O-

Hinata and her teammates have to admit to themselves that Kurenai-Sensei is very good at hide-and-seek after nearly forty minutes of searching for her. She knows they never set up parameters for how far she could go to hide but Hinata can't believe their teacher would go too far from them.

She's always done her best to be a fair and kind teacher. Being tricky and hiding all the way back in the Village or something similar would be out of character for her. Even for when she's ten years old Hinata thinks. Feeling a little warm, Hinata takes a break from using her Byakugan. Slumping against a tree, she dabs her brow with her sleeve as Kiba and Akamaru collapse in a heap just steps away from her.

"Man!" complains her teammate. "Where could she be…"

Shino appears between them. His arms are crossed over his chest and his shoulders move in tiny, jerking hitches that tell Hinata he's getting tired too. "Maybe it's time we ask for help?" he suggests.

Kiba pushes himself up to his elbows. "What?" he yells. "No! We should be able to find a ten-year-old."

Hinata thinks Kiba is right. They should be able to. They were made to be a tracking and locating team. Somehow, though, Kurenai-Sensei has evaded them so far. It doesn't make her feel good.

Maybe they are missing something, though. Has their teacher been hiding a skill from them these last several months as a team? Is that why they can't find her?

Shino's brows pull together. "I am growing tired of this," he declares. "It reasons Kurenai-Sensei is as well wherever she is."

She agrees with Shino. She is tired and surely Kurenai-Sensei is too. She probably thought they'd find her much quicker than this. "Let's get help," she whispers.

Kiba's head whips around to her. "Hinata!" he decries, betrayed.

Hinata holds herself still. She is not brave but she's made her choice and now it's time to stand by it. "That's t-two against one, Kiba," she says.

He groans and falls back to the ground. "Yeah, yeah…" he mutters into the dirt.

-O-

Five minutes later they stand beside a Dango cart on the edge of the village. With them is Team 10. Choji is chomping away on six different sticks of Dango while Shikamaru pays for a couple more for himself and possibly Asuma since he's empty-handed and Hinata knows for a fact Ino won't eat Dango anymore out of fear of getting fat.

"You agreed to hide-and-seek with Kurenai?" says Asuma after they finish explaining why they are here and where Kurenai-Sensei is. The boy looks impressed as he scratches his chin. "Wow, you're brave. She's the reigning champion of our team."

"Is she?" Hinata finds herself whispering as dismay pulls her shoulders down.

The boy nods. He's then distracted as Shikamaru waves a stick in his face. A happy gleam flashing in his eyes, he takes the stick and immediately eats one of the Dango. When he finishes, he points the stick at them and tells their team, "Look, Kurenai's no Kakashi but she's probably the best genjutsu user under twenty. Even our sensei can't always see behind her illusions immediately when we're training."

Hinata shares looks with Shino and Kiba. They didn't know that. Kurenai-Sensei's never hidden she's specialized in the art but she also never said anything about being prodigious either.

"Where'd you start your game?" asks Asuma before he eats another Dango. "Chances are she's somewhere around there concealed as like a bush or something. She really likes plants," he explains before finishing his stick.

Hinata sees his team smother smirks when Asuma leaves the stick in his mouth and puts his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He looks a lot like his Jōnin-self doing that. Ino comes closer and bends herself over his shoulder to meet Asuma's gaze. "Does she?" she purrs. "Is that why you buy her flowers all of the time?"

Asuma turns red and Hinata feels a little warm herself from secondhand embarrassment. "I—I do that?" the boy stutters.

Ino giggles "Sure do!"

"Oh…" he mumbles; looking away from the blonde kunoichi's intent gaze.

Hinata, who can't take this anymore, stammers, "Um, thanks Asuma-Sensei for your help!"

He snaps his attention back to the three of them. His lips quirk up and he says, "You're welcome and Asuma is fine!"

She sees Kiba bob his head out of the corner of her eyes. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Asuma!"

The boy grins and happily waves goodbye to them as they turn back around to begin the trip back to where they began.

-O-

When they have arrived, Shino turns around to look at Hinata and Kiba. "Here we are," he says. "What should we do to find her?"

Kiba turns his palms up towards the sky. "Start stabbing bushes and trees?" he says, Akamaru barking in agreement from where he's tucked into Kiba's coat.

Hinata gasps at the idea. "N-No!" she replies, turning her trembling hands into fists. "We don't want to accidentally hurt her."

Kiba pouts and mumbles into Akamaru's small, soft head, "I guess."

Shino makes a tsking noise. "Don't sulk, Kiba," he scolds. He brings his fingers together and holds them in front of his face. "Even most stick bugs fall to a predator eventually," he proclaims.

Hinata bites her lip as Kiba huffs a noise that's torn between annoyance and amusement. "…Do you know how to talk like a normal person, man?" he asks their slightly odd, but often insightful teammate.

For a long moment, Shino says nothing. He just stares at Kiba. At last, he turns around and declares, "I will search the east and northeast side."

Kiba sighs. "Sure, whatever," he agrees. "I guess I'll take the west and northwest side. You good doing south, southwest and southeast, Hinata or…?"

She nods upon being addressed. "I'm fine with that," she answers.

Kiba grins at her. "Let's get to it, then."

The three of them fall silent as they meticulously search their quadrants. As she inspects each and every bush and tree that looks slightly questionable Hinata starts to wonder which of them will find Kurenai-Sensei. Perhaps Shino? His eyes are good at finding so much more than just bugs when he tries. Or possibly Kiba. His nose is far better than most shinobis. Maybe, now that he knows what to look for, he'll pick up her scent more easily.

Hinata's ponderings are interrupted when a vine curling up a half-dead tree's chakra flickers in an unnatural way. She chokes on her surprise. Kurenai-Sensei!

She reaches out, fingers passing through the illusion. "Sensei?" she whispers.

A hand shoots out and Hinata suppresses a yelp as she's brought behind the illusion. "Shh!" hisses Kurenai-Sensei once she's beside the girl. "Don't shout, Hinata! They'll find us."

She worries her lip. "Shouldn't we reveal you now?" she replies. "I found you."

Kurenai-Sensei shakes her head; black, wild hair moving around her like a storm. "No, this is fun," the younger girl insists. She squeezes Hinata's hand which she's not yet let go of. "It's how I play with my cousins."

Hinata tilts her head. She didn't know her teacher had multiple cousins. "Cousins?" she whispers.

Kurenai-Sensei grins. "Yeah! I've got two older cousins and one younger cousin," she explains to Hinata. "We're all very good friends even if Akari is nine whole years younger than Kousaku."

She stares. "I didn't realize you had so many," she murmurs.

Her teacher perks up at Hinata's remark. "Oh, you know one?"

"Akari," Hinata answers as she thinks of the woman. She looks quite a lot like Kurenai-Sensei. Only her black hair is straight and thin and her chin square. " I, um, live with adult-you and Akari comes by sometimes," she tells her teacher.

The girl's eyes shine with this new information. She presses even closer to Hinata and whispers in her ear. "Does she have a lisp still?"

"No," Hinata replies, shifting to look down her nose at the younger's face.

She pouts at the news. "Aw," she grumbles. "It's so cute."

Hinata imagines it was. Kurenai-Sensei probably remembers it very well when she's herself. Her teacher is always doting on Akari when she comes to visit her home. "How old exactly do you remember her being?" asks Hinata.

"Six!"

She chuckles. "Has she started at the Academy?"

Kurenai-Sensei shakes her head. "Next month. Akari—"

"Hinata!" shouts Kiba, drowning out their teacher's murmurs. From where they are hidden behind Kurenai-Sensei's genjutsu Hinata can see Kiba's moved into her line of vision. His expression is one of frustration as he spins in circles seeking her out.

"Maybe—"

The younger girl wraps herself around her and begs, "No, please, Hinata!"

"…Okay," she relents; cheeks hot.

Kiba stops spinning around to cup his hands to his mouth and shouts, "Hinata's disappeared Shino!"

Soon, Shino appears beside him. He pushes his sunglasses up higher on the bridge of his nose as he looks straight in their direction. Hinata holds her breath. Does he know they're here?

"Hm. I do not agree," he says to Kiba. "She has found Sensei."

The other boy scowls and places his hands on his hips. "Then where are they?"

"Hiding together," he answers before pointing over at them.

Kurenai-Sensei squeezes Hinata harder as she claps her hands over her mouth. How did Shino find them so quickly? Did he hear them talking? See her get pulled into Kurenai-Sensei's genjutsu?

Kiba's eyes turn in the direction Shino points and he frowns. "Huh?"

"You might as well show yourself, Kurenai-Sensei, Hinata," Shino says.

Hinata exchanges a look with Kurenai-Sensei. The girl pouts a little but lets her go. She then cancels her genjutsu, revealing them to Kiba and Shino. Kiba gapes at their sudden appearance. "Whoah!" he yelps. "I didn't know you were there at all."

Kurenai-Sensei brushes past Hinata and smiles up at the brunet. "I'm a natural at genjutsu my uncle tells me," she gloats. "I pretty much always win at hide-and-seek." She then spins towards Shino and demands, "How'd you find us?"

"A bug," replies Shino. He lifts a finger that has a white larva-like creature sitting on his knuckle. "I placed this a shōkaichū insect on both Hinata and Kiba. When Hinata found you, it came and reported to me she located you and where to look."

The girl trots closer to Shino and stands on her toes to get a better look at the bug. "How cool," she murmurs. Falling back flat on her feet a moment later, she smiles at them all and says, "You guys are pretty good at working together! I'm glad you're my students."

Hinata warms at the words and from the way Kiba and Shino are both blushing, she knows they are just as affected. Kurenai-Sensei isn't sparing with her praise when they do well but it is unlike her to say she's simply happy to have them as her students. Their team knows she likes them but Hinata is pleased to hear her say it aloud. She puts her hands on the girl's shoulders and catches her gaze as she turns her head to look back at her.

"We're glad you're our teacher, Kurenai-Sensei," Hinata says.

She beams.

Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!