4.11
I snapped awake and ready to battle. My hands went to my waist pouch, looking for my kunai. The chair tumbled behind , crashed with a loud bang. On the bed in front of , Naruto stirred, rolled to the side, mumbled sothing I couldn’t understand, drooled on the mattress, kept sleeping.
I took deep breaths through the nose, exhaled slowly. I had the worst nightmare ever. Even if I couldn’t recall it now. Sothing about snakes and swords and stuff. I shuddered at the thought. I took more deep breaths. It felt like Orochimaru was hidden in the shadows, waiting for to lower my guard.
“Hinata-chan.” Kakashi-sensei’s voice sounded from behind . I was glad I didn’t normally talk, or I would have yelled high and embarrassing. Even so, I still jumped, and turned toward the voice. Lazy Kakashi looked even more tired than usual. His jounin uniform still had marks of battle, and his eyes were even more dead than normal. He looked at the fallen chair, the bed and the sleeping Naruto. “Trouble sleeping?”
I shook my head. Wiped away a bit of drool with the back of my hand. Cleaned the crust from my eyes. Cool guy Kakashi waited until I composed myself. What a chad. When I was done, I popped my board. “Sothing at my apartnt last night. Didn’t know where else to go.”
Bless the man, his first question wasn’t about what happened. “Are you hurt?”
I felt all fuzzy and warm at the question, even if a nagging voice in the back of my mind whispered this was manipulation 101. I looked at my wounds, noticed most had already scabbed over and now looked weeks old. I shook my head. Wrote more. “A snake, which transford into a sword. It scared . I left the apartnt and ca here.”
Kakashi-sensei nodded, looked over. “I’ll check it out. Wait until I co back.”
I nodded. Wasn’t planning on going anywhere near anything belonging to Orochimaru. No sir, thank you sir. Kakashi left after that. I wasn’t sure what to do now. Naruto was still asleep, and I didn’t want to wake him. I stepped outside, looked about. Sasuke’s door was closed. Didn’t seem worth checking it again. The embarrassing comnts from his mother last ti still caused my cheeks to burn when I rembered it. I andered about, asked a passing nurse where I could find Sakura-chan’s room.
My steps took there. I stood in front of the door, hesitated just for a mont, knocked.
An older female voice answered. “Co in.”
I opened the door a smidgen, peeked inside. Sakura’s mom sat by the side of the bed. Sakura was still sleeping or unconscious, didn’t know which. The woman smiled at , waved inside. I sat down by the bed. Looked at Haruno buki.
“She’s going to be okay.” The woman said, sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “She’s sedated, but not in any danger.” buki looked away, said in a tired voice. “Not anymore.”
I placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. Gave her a nod when she looked at . She smiled. We didn’t talk after that, just sat in silence, watching over the sleeping Sakura.
Kakashi didn’t return until a few hours later. He found in the hospital cafeteria grabbing sothing to eat. He sat at the sa table as . “There was nothing at your house when I got there.”
I nodded, that made sense. If the sword, snake – whatever – could move, I didn’t think it would stay there for no reason. I shoveled food down my gullet while my threads wrote the question. “What do we do?”
“Did it attack you?” Sensei asked. I shook my head. He nodded. “Keep your vigilance, get away from it if you see it again. Find , or any other jounin, report it again.”
Kakashi didn’t tell the sword belonged to Orochimaru. Was he afraid that knowing that would change how I felt about it? I didn’t know. The sword coming to was troubleso, even more so if people started thinking – even more – that I had so sort of relationship with Orochimaru. Thank god the fucker was dead. I just needed to make sure he stayed dead.
In the afternoon of the second day, I was called to make my report. Even with the village mourning and adjusting after the attack, ninjas still did ninja things. I walked inside the tower, greeted Secretary-chan. Her shoulders were tense, black lines under her red tinged eyes. Did soone close to her die in the attack? We never really talked about her family, or anything personal aside from my concoctions and food experints. I thought of the young woman as a friend, my first real connection in this world, but I knew nothing about her.
Secretary-chan's voice sounded tired. “Hinata-chan.”
I walked up to her desk, then around it. Opened my arms, inviting her for a hug. There was a mont of hesitation, then I saw her composure break. She fell into my arms, held tight. Face pressed against my neck, not enough to muffle the pained sobs. We’re breaking several of the shinobi’s rules, but I really didn’t care at this point. I wasn’t an emotionless machine, never have been. I didn’t mind corrupting Secretary-chan. Without words, the only thing I could do was hold the woman while she sobbed her woes away.
Soone else entered the tower. A shinobi I didn’t know. He stopped, disapproving eyes on us. He opened his mouth. I glared at him, the kind of I’ll-kill-you-if-you-say-sothing glare. The man took the hint, closed his mouth, shook his head, walked away.
Gently, I stroke Secretary-chan’s back. My horrible human-being side couldn’t help but notice that even looking distraught, tired, and crying, the woman still slled nice. Jasmin and sothing fruity. The pragmatic side noted that she’d made a horrible infiltration kunoichi with such a distinct scent.
The mont with Secretary-chan didn’t last long. It couldn’t, really. I was here to make a report. But it gave ideas. Maybe I could invite her to hang out? Sothing other than our brief encounters at the tower. I’ve been thinking of trying new concoctions. My new creation was an attempt at crè brûlée. I even learned a d-rank fire release jutsu to burn the cream just before serving it: the presentation was as important as the taste, after all. I wanted Ino to be the first one to taste it, but well, it was for a good cause.
I gave the older girl a peck on the cheeks. She gave a small smile back.
“Go on up,” she said after wiping away the tears. “They’re waiting for you.”
I looked at the stairs leading up, then at Secretary-chan again. I gave her another hug, then left my two last seals for the woman. One with a thermos and tea, another with sweets. I hoped it would make her day just a bit better. Then I fled up the stairs.
It was strange to see the tower in such disarray. In all the tis I ca here before, there was always this sense of calm urgency. Like every ninja had an important task they needed to attend to. Now, most just looked tired, and beaten up. A lot of the ninjas still wore battle scarred vests. It seems none of them had slept after the attack. I knocked at the indicated door, entered when called.
A chunin looked up from behind a mountain of papers. “Na?”
I popped my board, wrote: “Hinata.”
Chunin-san took a notebook from his mountain of paper, flipped a few pages. Looked back at , then at the notebook again. “You’re late.” He said, but continued without giving a chance to say anything in response. “Just wait there a mont, soone will co to take your report.”
I nodded at that. Looked about. There was nowhere to sit. I leaned against the wall. I don’t think this guy deserved my good impression’s pastries kit, he didn’t leave a good impression. Not that I had one to give, even if I wanted. My supplies were utterly depleted. Minutes passed with the only sound being the man’s writing. About ten minutes later, the door opened.
In entered a shinobi I knew. Long ash blond hair, with a spiky top ending in a ponytail. A sharp jaw, light green eyes, sa as Ino’s. Protector wore over his forehead. Standard flak jacket over a black outfit, with a long black overcoat on top of it all.
I bowed to the man. He nodded back.
“I’ll take it from here.” Ino’s dad said to the chunin, who nodded in response. “Follow , Hinata-chan.” Inoichi said to , then instead of leading up or to another room, we took the stairs down. And down we went until I was certain we were underground. Shit.
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