Hinata fills in at the hospital and plays mediator on the field.
Chapter 60:When it gets loud, I turn it up
When Hinata reported in for her first shift at the hospital, she was surprised by the person who greeted her.
"Io-san!"
Io smiled, a quick thing, before immediately jumping into a practiced script.
"Here's a uniform for you to change into. I'll be assigning out cases. Please complete them in the order you receive them. The patients will be waiting in the rooms, once you're done please fill out the paperwork promptly and return it to me at the front before taking your next case. If something urgent comes up, I may flip it to the top of the list — there will be a note in yellow. We have a list of codes to be called in case of emergencies; they're on the first page of the booklet, please memorize them."
The other girl walked Hinata through everything she needed to know, her voice business-like but not unkind. Hinata almost didn't recognize her. She looked like Io, but there was a level of professionalism Hinata had never seen her display.
"Thank you for helping out," Io said, once they'd circled back around to the front desk. "Although I suppose it's difficult to say no to Sakura-san." Where once such a statement would have been underlined with a derisive edge, now there was only admiration. "But Hinata-san would have helped either way, right?" This time when Io smiled it was a little flippant, her demeanor losing some of its seriousness and more reminiscent of the girl Hinata had first met.
"Ah, when Sakura-san recruited me, I was happy to help," Hinata demurred. "She has big plans for the hospital. I'm glad to do what I can."
"We've needed a change around here for a while," Io said. "It'll be a lot of work, so get ready for some long hours." There was a grumbling whine to her tone, but Hinata thought Io looked rather excited by the prospect.
"That's how it always seems to go," Hinata mused. "Change."
Io's gaze took on a wistful air. "Mayumi-san probably would have been the first to sign up for extra hours. Breeze through it and show up the next morning without a hair out of place."
Hinata thought of Mayumi's pretty face, elegant up-do and light make-up. Her stylish shoes and well-fitted uniform. "That does sound like her," she said with a smile.
The rest of the morning was a hectic blur of never-ending patients with all sorts of ailments. Hinata healed what she could and relied heavily on the booklet for the rest, searching up symptoms, directing patients to the pharmacy and scheduling follow ups. Io was a good supervisor, checking all of Hinata's notes and advising her where needed.
"You worked hard," Io told her at the end of her shift. "You should get something to eat."
"Are you not leaving too?" Hinata asked, smoothing down the wrinkles of her uniform.
"I wish. I'm pulling a double shift."
Hinata gave her a sympathetic smile. Then an idea struck her and she hurried down the hallway to the vending machine. When she got back Io was already buried in paperwork and so Hinata simply placed the can of coffee near her arm before slipping away, hands still holding another can of coffee as well as a can of amazake.
The afternoon sun shone through the hospital window and though it was closed Hinata knew that the air behind the glass held the warmth of those rays. April weather was less misleading than March in that way, though certainly more prone to rain.
Hands laced behind her back, Hinata spun away from the window to face the boy laying in his hospital bed."Minoru-san, would you like to take a walk?"
Fujiwara Minoru stared at her with a hint of surprise. "Is that allowed?"
"Mm. As long as we stay on hospital grounds," Hinata said.
Minoru hesitated but ultimately agreed.
They walked at a slow pace, Minoru in the hospital issued shirt and pants, Hinata out of the iryō-ninuniform and back in her ninja gear with the intention of spending the rest of her afternoon training at the Uchiha docks.
Everything was in bloom. Sakura trees lent the hospital a dreamy atmosphere, perhaps meant to put patients at ease. Inhaling their faint fragrance, Hinata fell back so she could watch Minoru from behind.
There'd been a change in him since the tribunal, small but persistent. He spoke a little more, not just to Hinata, but to Ino and his doctors. He was eating better, finally looking to be at a healthy weight, if still a little on the slim side. He was hiding less, the blank mask retreating enough to show more than a glimpse of his emotions.
"…despite the things I've done…for the first time people have shown me kindness. It may not be possible, but I would like to be deserving of that kindness."
He seemed determined to honour his promise.
A gentle breeze sent a shower of cherry blossoms down upon them. Hinata couldn't help but smile softly at the sensation even as she brushed the petals away from her cheeks and bangs. Running her fingers through her hair once more for good measure, Hinata tucked the strands behind her ear, catching Minoru's eyes in the middle of the action.
The younger boy hastily turned away and continued walking. The petals that had landed on him flew away in his wake.
Nonplussed, Hinata trailed after him.
They enjoyed the fresh air, roaming around the grounds at a leisurely place. Twenty minutes in, however, Hinata noticed Minoru's breathing growing laboured.
Ino had mentioned before that even after removing the white zetsu, Minoru's body seemed to retain some alterations compared to a civilian, such as improved healing. But spending so much time in a hospital bed didn't help in building up stamina.
"Minoru-san, would it be okay if we sat down for a moment?" Hinata asked, gesturing to a nearby bench. "It would be nice to rest my feet."
Exhaling heavily, Minoru nodded.
When they made their way over to the bench, they both started to dust off stray cherry blossoms from the seat. Hinata smiled faintly, amused. When she tried to meet his gaze, Minoru avoided it, sitting down at the opposite end of the bench as far away as possible.
Hinata sighed to herself before taking a seat as well. Minoru could be oddly skittish at times.
"How are you feeling about being discharged in a few days?" Hinata asked, voice soft as she broached the topic. She kept her gaze skywards, appreciating the view.
Minoru seemed to mull over the question a bit. "…a little strange," he started, before confessing, "Worried. I…"
Hinata waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts.
"It's not like I like being in the hospital," Minoru said, almost defensively. "But…at least I know it."
"Change can be hard. And scary," Hinata agreed. Her earlier conversation with Io came back to her, the iryō-nin's brave optimism, similar to Sakura's attitude about the future of the hospital. She then thought of Naruto's unyielding passion despite the hardships that came his way, of Neji's steadfast determination and Hanabi's bold embrace of change.
Hinata wasn't like that. She was always second guessing herself, wondering if she was making the right choice. She worried constantly, fighting back anxiety during the day only for it to return at night, invading her dreams.
But she'd decided a long time ago, standing across Neji, blood dripping down her chin, arms raised in her jyuuken stance, that letting her insecurities keep her at a standstill wasn't an option. She had to fight. Even if it was a daily battle, an endless struggle, a losing game, she would fight it every day if she had to.
And the reason she could do that was because she wasn't alone.
Seeing her friends racing forward to meet the future, unafraid of what obstacles they might face, gave Hinata courage.
And seeing Sasuke's unrelenting pursuit of a change in himself that he wasn't certain he was capable of gave Hinata strength. Because she believed in him even when he didn't believe in himself. And she saw that belief mirrored in his eyes whenever she doubted herself.
"…I've never been on my own before," Minoru said and in those words, Hinata could hear all the fear and anxiety Minoru was feeling.
"Um. About that…," Hinata started carefully, "I'm sure Ino-san or Naruto-kun will explain soon, but there's subsidized public housing in the village, for when you leave the hospital. And there's some things you can do to cover the rest of the expenses. It's something they were looking into when they were preparing for your tribunal. It's a good plan that they put together. But…there's another option." Hands gripping her knees, Hinata kept her eyes trained on the sky, not wanting to inadvertently influence Minoru. "The land where Sasuke-kun's family used to live…he's restoring it so it can be used again. When the first house is ready, if you wanted to, you could be the first resident. The place would be yours. For free."
The wind whistled through the trees, sending more cherry blossoms fluttering around them. A few wisps of Hinata's hair escaped from behind her ear and trying to tuck them back neatly served as a good distraction from Minoru's marked silence.
"…seriously?"
There was no inflection to Minoru's voice, so it was difficult for Hinata to guess at what emotion he was feeling. Hoping to get more clues from his expression, she turned to face him. Her lavender eyes met a brown pair reflecting disbelief.
"It's completely up to you, of course!" Hinata hastened to reassure him. "It's just an idea we had. Sasuke-kun's idea, really."
Minoru stared back, shocked. Then he shook his head, letting out a soft huff. "I can't win against that guy."
He said it under his breath, as if he didn't mean for her to hear, and so though she was curious, Hinata refrained from asking. Instead, she said, "No matter what you choose…you won't be alone. Not if you don't want to be."
"Okay."
Hinata blinked. "Okay? You'll think about it?"
"Okay. I'll take the place."
A wide smile broke across Hinata's face, her eyes squeezing shut with the force of it. "I'm glad." Then, still smiling, though not as widely as before, she added, "You won't be the only resident for long! We have some more people in mind. People you know. People who will be happy to see you again."
If Minoru had been surprised by the offer of housing, he was completely stunned by this. "Happy to see…me?" he echoed.
"Mm." Hinata bobbed her head in a nod.
"Who —"
Minoru's cut himself off when Hinata stood abruptly. Her ears picking up on the sharp sound of wings piercing through the air, Hinata already had an arm raised by the time a messenger bird dove down expertly to perch on it.
First smoothing the feathers on its head down with her finger in greeting, Hinata then moved to untie the scroll strapped to its leg. As she was reading through the few lines scrawled across the parchment, Minoru edged closer, eyeing the bird both curiously and warily.
Gaze drifting over to him, Hinata suddenly realized that Minoru was of a similar height to her.
They'd never stood so close before. In fact, in the majority of the time she'd known him, Minoru had rarely been standing at all: pinned down by Sasuke, strapped to an operating table, chained to the ground, laying in a hospital bed.
He was on the shorter end for a fifteen year old, but even if he never managed to catch up to his peers, Hinata suspected he would at the very least surpass her.
Minoru turned and upon catching her eyes on him flinched, face flushing with colour.
Smiling to put him at ease, Hinata said, "You can pet him if you'd like." She dropped her gaze to the bird that was watching Minoru just as curiously and just as warily. "Try to approach slowly and be gentle."
Cautiously, Minoru reached out his hand and, when the bird made no move to escape, he stroked its head with a single finger. The bird chirped a little and Minoru froze, eyes widening.
Hinata failed to completely muffle her giggle.
Brown eyes darting to her, a dash of embarrassment suffused through Minoru's expression, but he stayed where he was and even pet the messenger bird again. "I suppose you have to leave," he said mulishly.
"I do," Hinata said apologetically. "I'll visit again soon. We can talk more about your housing."
"…I'll be expecting you back then."
Hinata smiled at that. Tucking the mission scroll into her pocket for safekeeping, she raised her arm up to let the messenger bird take flight. After making sure it was on its way safely, Hinata looked back at Minoru and tilted her head towards the hospital.
"I'll walk you back to your room."
"Hokage-sama," Hinata greeted, bowing briefly as she entered Kakashi's office where she was met with the man himself as well as two others.
She glanced between Sasuke and Sakura, taking note of the substantial distance separating them. Suppressing a sigh, she moved to stand in the middle.
"Hinata. Good, you're here," Kakashi acknowledged before turning to the topic at hand with urgency. "I need the three of you on a search and retrieval. One of our genin teams is late in returning from a mission — they should have arrived yesterday. We have their anticipated route, but in case they veered off path we'll need Hinata for tracking. And considering we don't know what we'll find, Sasuke will handle any hostiles and Sakura will provide emergency care as needed."
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started, cutting a glance towards Hinata. "Hinata had a shift at the hospital today. I know from experience those aren't easy. Assigning her a mission like this right after that isn't ideal."
Hinata could see Sasuke whip his head around to glare at Sakura and so spoke up before he could snap at the other kunoichi. "I can do it. None of the cases I handled today took much chakra and I'm in good condition."
"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked. "If you're not up for it, I can have Shikamaru look for the next available Hyuuga on the roster."
Squaring her shoulders, Hinata answered honestly. "I'm sure."
Kakashi appraised the three of them with a serious expression. "Then I don't want to waste another minute. Get going."
They nodded in unison before wordlessly dispersing.
Using shunshin to go straight from the Hokage Tower to the village gates, Hinata arrived just behind Sasuke, Sakura joining them within a few seconds.
Sasuke didn't so much as wait for Sakura's hair to settle around her face before diving right in. "We have no idea where they may have run into trouble, so there's no point opening a portal. We could miss them entirely. We'll have to run the entire thing on foot and keep an eye out for them." His mismatched eyes met Hinata's as he said with full confidence, "Hinata, you'll take lead."
"Mm." The veins around Hinata's temples swelled with chakra and the world opened up around her.
And then they were off.
The three of them sped through the forests of Hi no Kuni, jumping from branch to branch. Hinata concentrated on parsing through the stream of visual input. A flash of movement at the edge of her range had her pausing, landing steadily on a sturdy branch.
Three ninja, hitai-ate not quite visible. Their age, number and gender were not the right make up for the team they were looking for. One of them turned and Hinata was able to discern the edge of the leaf symbol. Satisfied that their territory wasn't being infiltrated by foreign ninja, she was about to continue when another set of feet landed on the branch beside her.
"Hinata. I'm sorry if I overstepped earlier," Sakura said, voice hushed to give them some semblance of privacy despite Sasuke being well within hearing distance.
Before Hinata could answer a scoff tore through the air.
"Overstepped? You mean when you undermined her in front of the Hokage?" Sasuke asked sneeringly.
"When I checked in on her status before Kakashi-sensei officially assigned the mission," Sakura replied tersely. "And I don't have to explain myself to you, Sasuke. I'm talking to Hinata. You should take your own advice and butt out of other people's business."
"You —"
"Sasuke-kun," Hinata interrupted, trying to inject as much serenity into her voice as possible. Her fingers twitched with the urge to reach out to Sasuke, but he was too far away. "Sakura-san is essentially the team leader for my assignment at the hospital. She was looking out for me as a team lead. I wasn't offended, so please don't be on my behalf." To Sakura, she said, "There's no need to apologize. I understood. I appreciate you respecting my privacy and it's true I can speak for myself, but at the same time…" Here Hinata nearly stammered, nervous. She almost averted her gaze, but forced herself to maintain eye contact, lavender to green. "Sasuke-kun is also looking out for me. So saying it's not his business…from my perspective, that isn't the case."
Sakura's eyes clouded over, but she nodded without protest. Without looking at either of them, she leapt back into the air in the direction of the coordinates Kakashi had given them.
Free from Sakura's weight, the branch buoyed a little beneath Hinata's feet, before bending even further as another set of sandals settled atop it.
"She had no right to do that and you shouldn't have let it pass," Sasuke said sternly.
Despite knowing his frustration wasn't truly directed at her, Hinata couldn't help but flinch.
It didn't escape Sasuke's notice and Hinata could see the anger strip away from him. "Sorry," he muttered, hand brushing down her arm to wrap around her wrist briefly but reassuringly.
Looking up at him from under her bangs, Hinata could see the righteous indignation in his eyes. Knowing it was in defense of her was apology enough. "She did have the right as my team lead," she reiterated, nevertheless.
"Not everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt." The words were a little harsh, but Sasuke's tone was not.
Hinata shook her head. "Maybe not everyone," she allowed. "But I think most people do. Especially our friends. Sakura-san is a good person. I know you know that." With a final imploring look at Sasuke, Hinata kicked off the branch to follow Sakura.
It happened about a quarter of the way into the route the genin team would have taken.
"There." Hinata's voice was quiet but commanding. She switched directions smoothly, descending onto the ground where soil gave way to rocky terrain. "It looks like a cave in." There was a steep decline at the edge of the forest floor that she was able to clear with a few jumps.
"They may have taken shelter from the rain," Sasuke remarked as he dropped down beside her. It wasn't immediately evident, but along the mountainous border in front of them there was a section of collapsed rocks.
"What's their status?" Sakura asked urgently, running towards the cave in.
Hinata traced the chakra pathways beyond the rubble, visible only to her. "Alive, but unconscious. Two of the genin are trapped: one up to their leg and the other up to their midsection. The last genin is unhindered, but may have hit her head. Their conditions appear stable. The jounin sensei is completely buried and in critical condition."
"We need to get through without making things worse," Sakura said. She came to a stop in front of the cave in, careful not to touch it as she examined it from all sides.
Sasuke was doing much the same, analyzing the precarious arrangement of fallen rocks. "Using tendō to relocate everything is risky. When I pull, it might dislodge other rocks and cause another cave in."
Although Sasuke didn't say it explicitly, Hinata suspected he didn't have full confidence in his level of control over tendō. She recalled seeing him practice at the Uchiha docks, the way the shuriken had wobbled and fallen after a couple of minutes.
"Punching through it is even more risky," Sakura noted.
"We can do both," Sasuke said. "Once you punch through, everything that can fall, will. Then I can use tendō to pull it away. But we'll have to be fast. Hinata, you're our eyes."
Sakura adjusted her gloves. "Got it."
Hinata simply nodded. "They're on this side. We need to approach from the right," she said, gesturing with her hands.
Following Hinata's directions, Sakura's bright green eyes continued to scan over the rocks. "Any idea which one I should go for?"
"Hinata can't help with that. The rocks don't have chakra networks," came Sasuke's mocking reply.
"Thanks for your input," Sakura muttered sarcastically without bothering to look back at him.
Hinata ignored the exchange, instead monitoring the fluctuations in chakra of the impaired ninja.
"Just pick one," Sasuke said. "One hit. Then get out of my way."
Sakura huffed, but didn't respond. Drawing back her arm, the pink haired kunoichi curled her fingers into a fist. "Shannaro!"
The impact of Sakura's punch rattled through the mountainside. A fissure split the rock she'd hit, splintering it down the middle before continuing to crack the surrounding rocks into smaller pieces as well. Everything held for a second. Then a rush of small pebbles skittered down, brushing past Sakura's closed fist. Before they could land at her feet, Sakura was gone, having sprung back by several meters.
From her expanded vision, Hinata could see Sasuke's hand raised and his rinnegan aglow. He pulled his hand back and the rocks followed, flying away from the mountain.
With the cave entrance cleared, the body of the jounin was now in sight. He was still partially buried, visible limbs twisted at unnatural angles. A sharp gasp escaped Sakura and she dashed forward. "We have to get him out of there!"
As Sakura neared the opening, Hinata detected a shifting of rocks around the roof of the entrance. "Sakura!" Racing after the other kunoichi, a short list of possible options ran through Hinata's mind.
Mizu Hari had high accuracy, but would be useless against such large rocks.
Hakkeshō Kaiten would grant the best protection, but the resulting debris of any rocks shredded by the chakra forcefield might injure the genin outside of her barrier.
Jūho Sōshiken was a more powerful alternative to Mizu Hari and though still likely to create debris would be less intense than the Kaiten.
Lastly…Hinata had seen Toneri use an ability similar to tendō before and she'd studied Sasuke using it with her byakugan. Maybe…
Within a matter of seconds, Hinata reached where Sakura was crouched over the jounin. Shielding them with her body, Hinata channeled her chakra up to her eyes and down her arms. Then, throwing her hands up above her, Hinata pushed.
Breath held tightly in her lungs, Hinata's vision flickered, heightened colour bleeding into the black and white of the byakugan. Her view of the world around her altered and she knew she had triggered the tenseigan. She could see the flow of chakra leave her hands and repel the falling rocks.
For a second everything was still.
Then Hinata saw that flow of chakra sputter, the technique breaking.
As the rocks above her gave into gravity, Hinata braced herself for impact.
Instead, purple chakra, a different hue from her own, swirled into existence in the space above her. Hinata watched, fascinated. She's seen Sasuke open a portal with her byakugan activated before, but it looked so different from this view. She could see so much more with the tenseigan.
The rocks fell into the portal and with her enhanced vision Hinata could see them land harmlessly off to the side atop the rest of the rocks Sasuke had discarded when he'd unblocked the cave.
Assured of their safety, Hinata turned to Sakura and began helping her dig out the jounin. "Sakura-san, are you okay?"
Hauling one last rock off the jounin, Sakura started to an answer, but a caustic voice cut through and drowned out anything she might have said.
"What the hell were you thinking, Sakura?" Suddenly Sasuke was there and Hinata steeled herself against the anger radiating off of him, but it was Sakura that his narrowed eyes were boring into.
"I was thinking there was an injured comrade in need of immediate treatment," Sakura said brusquely. She seemed to have finished assessing the jounin because her head was shooting up to return Sasuke's glare.
"You should have waited for Hinata to give the all clear," Sasuke snapped. "You and Naruto should have grown out of rushing in recklessly and putting everyone in danger by now."
"I didn't ask Hinata to follow me! It's not like I put her in danger on purpose," Sakura retorted.
Hinata bit her lip, gaze flitting between the two former teammates.
"Not just Hinata, you idiot. You put yourself in danger too!" Sasuke exclaimed, exasperated. "You would have gotten hurt!"
At this Sakura head jerked back, eyes widening. "You…" Green irises shimmered as a watery sheen covered them.
Hinata's heart swelled in her chest. Sensing Sakura's frayed hold over her emotions, she gently intervened. "Is the jounin okay?" she asked, drawing their focus back to the mission.
Sakura startled. Then she shook her head, blinking away the tears. "He will be. I need a few minutes before I can get him to a condition where we can have Sasuke transport him straight to the hospital. Can you check on the genin?"
Hinata nodded and looked to Sasuke. He was already looking back, appearing less agitated than before.
"Let's go," he said.
While Sakura worked on the jounin sensei, Hinata and Sasuke freed the two trapped genin and, after confirming none of the three genin were too badly injured, they then carefully carried all three through Sasuke's portal into Konoha Hospital.
By the time they were done, Sakura had wrapped up her emergency care on the jounin and she took him through Sasuke's portal herself to continue his treatment in the hospital. Hinata made to follow her, but stopped at the call of her name.
"Hinata."
When she turned, she found that Sasuke had travelled even further into the cave. His black clad figure almost blended entirely into the shadows.
"Sasuke-kun?" Coming up to stand beside him, Hinata's attention was on Sasuke's face at first. But then, worried by his expression, she tracked his gaze to a far wall and the sight she was met with had her biting back a gasp.
Etched into the rock of the cave, paint patchy and fading, was a red cloud.
Sasuke and Hinata need to retire so I can stop writing about missions...
Thanks as always to all of my readers
MVH