Hesitation

Hinata laid on her bed staring deeply in to the depths of the celling that returned her gaze with equal conviction. The pale gray light that emanated from the ever-present cloudy skies, shone through her window; slightly illuminating her and the blank pages of a book that held the many secrets of her family. So much had happened and so little of it made sense, but there was too much to deny. She glanced down at the book her father had given her and then flipped back to the first page where it proudly proclaimed that it was only meant for her and her relatives. A proclamation that up until now, hid itself from her. The page used to be blank, and this, she could not deny. However, this was the only thing that had appeared in a book with countless pages and she hadn't the slightest idea of how to reveal anymore. Like she had though, upon questioning her father about the contents and secrets of the worn-out family keepsake, He only told her that she lacked the ability to see.

"What's the point of being so vague" She quietly protested to herself and rolled over to look out the window. She laid defiantly for a few more minutes until conceding that moping around was pointless. Rolling of her bed and scooping her phone from the night stand she exited her room to greet the morning. She heard faint sounds from the kitchen as she descended the stairs. She knew her father wasn't home and while it was by no means early; She knew it was way too early for Hanabi to be up and about. She stopped at the base of the stairs as Naruto's words replayed in her head. "He's…jealous of me…" she thought to her self as she mentally prepared to see her cousin who was most likely fixing his-self breakfast. Since everything had happened, she honestly hadn't taken the time to think about him in all this. He knew about all this stuff she had been oblivious to and resented her for her supposed abilities and for her ignorance. His behavior now made sense to her.

"But…what caused him to change…" She thought to herself, still standing on the bottom step "Maybe it's because he doesn't have…or at least hasn't awakened any power." She shook her head in disbelief that that was a real though about reality that she was having. But suddenly something occurred to her. She thought back to the day Neji's biggest change happened. "The branch that fell… did I…do that?"

Her eyes widened as she began to piece things together. Though unsure if she indeed caused that branched to fall, Neji must have taken notice and realized she had abilities that of which he did not. While completely unnecessary and over the top, she understood the reason behind Neji's sudden disdain for her. She didn't know how to face him right now, and she didn't want to. So, she climbed back up the stairs and plopped down on her bed. She pulled her phone out and mindlessly thumbed through her various social media accounts to take her mind off of everything.

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke walked though the various aisles of a store that was affectionately called "Adventurers' Palace" looking over various items and placing them in a cart.

"We should probably get a heavy-duty backpack for each of us" Naruto said trying to look above the aisles for a sign that would guide him towards the backpacks "We'll have a lot of walking to do"

"About that, exactly how much walking do we have to do?" Sasuke replied with a raised brow.

Naruto gave him a look as if he was stupid "…bitch, didn't I just say a lot"

"Look I know you're fucking stupid and don't know how to use any standard units of measurements, but I'm asking for something concrete. Miles, kilometers, days, hours; literally anything that's not as stupidly vague as "a lot"." Sasuke retorted just as sharply.

"…well you don't have to be so mean about it" Naruto said pretending to cry

"What the fuck ever" Sasuke said and pushed past him towards the end of the aisles.

"Well…it will take about a day and a half to get to where we need to go. Then once we actually get to Konoha… probably a couple days before we get to any real town…." Naruto admitted sincerely

"Shit… so were gonna be roughing it for a bit" Sasuke said as he grabbed a canteen and threw it into the cart Naruto was lazily pushing.

"Yeah, but it shouldn't be too bad, barring any unforeseen circumstances" Naruto nervously said with a chuckle.

"Like what? Getting jumped? Cause it's pretty fucking likely to happen. All three of us have people that may not take to kindly to us if they were to find out who we were." Sasuke said shooting a cold look in Naruto's direction

"I know…"

"And you know the girl will be useless" He continued on coldly. Naruto shot him a look that said you better watch your mouth before I politely ask you to run my fade. However, he had to admit that at her current ability, or lack of ability she is a liability "what will we do if we have to fight?"

"Let's just do our best to make sure we don't have to. If for some reason we do have to, we'll protect her" Naruto stated without any room for debate. Sasuke didn't rely and just continued looking at different items. "…So anyway, where them backpacks at?" Naruto finished.

"I Think they are near the front" sasuke said pulling his phone out to look at a list they had both prepared. He read off "Canteen, tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, snacks—"

"Matches, flashlights, maybe like a pan or som-" Naruto began but was interrupted

"Don't need matches or flash lights, we have me" Sasuke said while pulling the cart from Naruto to continue to the next aisles.

"Oh, and what if you died or something? Or, Hinata needs to use them for something? Huh? You Chicken butt haired bitch" Naruto said and while grabbing some trail mix off of a shelf end as they past. "Soooo Selfish"

"Go fuck yourself"

They continued on for a while casually insulting each other and getting stuff to buy for their upcoming journey. They made their way to the front of the store where a large windowed storefront allowed the vibrant grey sky to peak its way in to the store. A light drizzle had picked up and the floors had become spotted with water from customers as they entered the store.

"By the way" Naruto began as he looked over the backpacks "How long have you been here"

Sasuke paused from picking a backpack out, but only for a second "I was about 9 years old when I got here"

"Oh wow… then you've been here for a while…"

"You can say that again"

"But why…? …Was it about you brother?"

Again, Sasuke paused, but this time you could count the seconds "Yeah" He relied simply and continued on; replacing the backpack he had picked up for a blue one. "After what happened, I became a hot commodity. I guess that's one way to put it. And with no one to protect me, and no way to defend myself I was brought here for my own safety"

"I see" Naruto said wholeheartedly "But, now you can protect yourself"

Sasuke simply nodded.

A few minutes of silence went by as they finished picking backpacks and went to complete the rest of their list. "…Aren't you curious about me?" Naruto curiously

Sasuke simply and honestly, without a single trace of malice or mean spirited-ness said "No"

"Fuck you"

"I wanna see you" Hinata typed, then deleted. "This whole magic thing is really freaking me out…" typed, but immediately deleted. "I'm scared" She hesitated, as her thumb hovered over the send button. The excitement and comfort she felt in Naruto's arms yesterday had subsided, like she knew it would. Fear set in as she over-thought herself crazy. She desperately wanted to talk to Naruto about her fear and doubt. However, she once again deleted her message, and simply settled for "Good morning". It was still morning, 9:13 to be exact only a few minutes had past since she got all spacey at the bottom of the stairs. Her stomach had begun to rumble as it demanded to be fed, but it would have to wait. Because so as to avoid extreme awkwardness and or ridicule (a/n: like we all do) she wouldn't step foot in that kitchen so long as her cousin was there. At least not for now.

"Good Morning! :D" she saw appear on her phone at just 9:15 and she let out the faintest of smiles and her mind was instantly put at ease. It was crazy how just a few words on a screen could have such a profound effect on her. "What's up?" quickly followed the previous message.

"Nothing…Still in bed haha" she replied

"I wish I could be in bed with you too 😉" 9:17

Sent 9:17 "SMH" Read 9:17

"LMAO" 9:19

Sent 9:21 "What are you doing?" Read 9:22

"Me and Sasuke are out, picking up some supplies. Kinda like camping stuff lol" 9:22

Sent 9:23 "Really? With Sasuke. I'm not sure, do you two get along?" Read 9:24

"Hahaha, hmmm in our own little way I guess we do." 9:25

Sent 9:25 "Well that's good I guess haha" Read 9:26

"BTW, are how are you doing? Are you okay? I know a lot is going on right now, and thinking back; I did just kind of drop it all on you at once. I'm Really sorry about that…." 9:31

Sent 9:37 "It's okay, and I'm okay 😊" Read 9:39

"are you sure?" 9:39

Sent 9:40 "Yeah, I'm okay" Read 9:40

"Well, you can always talk to me about anything. I'll always listen" 9:42

Sent 9:43 "Thank You" Read 9:43

"of course" 9:43

Sent 9:44 "I'll text you later. Have fun with Sasuke" Read 9:45

"Impossible. Have you seen his hair? It looks like a chicken butt" 9:47

Sent 9:47 "lol. Go" Read 9:47

"Okay Okay lol" 9:48

For some reason, even though she wanted nothing more than to talk about everything. She couldn't bring herself to do it. She wasn't okay. Her mind was swirling and the longer she laid in bed the more she thought. The more she thought, the more she had to ask herself: why is she trying to go off to some random, maybe fake magical land? "Maybe I am some kind of magician…but my life is here. My friends, my family…or maybe I have family over there too…but Dad and Hanabi are here. Even Neji is here." Hinata thought then sat up in her bed as she tried to talk herself out of what she had planned to do only yesterday. "And what about school? I can't just leave…I have to graduate…" The more she though, the more it made since to stay home and continue with the way things are, the way things have always been, and the way things should be. "I like Naruto…a lot" she thought as she stood up from her bed and once again made down the stair towards the kitchen the sound of her cousin still at audible "but running off with a boy just because he's cute, says I'm some kind of witch, and I like him isn't smart… no matter how much I like him…"

Naruto and Sasuke finished up at the cash register of Adventurers' Palace and headed out to the parking lot fully prepared to steal the cart in order to push it back to Naruto's home. Naruto was texting with Hinata while sasuke pushed the cart?

"We got most everything we need" Naruto said still looking down at his phone smiling "We should just hit up the Grocery store tomorrow and pick up some food"

Sasuke checked the list on his phone "Yeah, and its only 9:47. We finished hella early."

"So are you down to go shopping tomorrow best buddy?" Naruto said smiling

"First, not friends. Second, I'm gonna have to pass." Sasuke said coldly "Why not take the mouse"

"Ok first of all, since you wanna use transition words, Hinata isn't a mouse, she's a lady. Who's that lady? Sexy lady (A/n: The Isley Brothers Reference). And Second, why you gotta be so hurtful?"

"Are you actually fucking Stupid?" Sasuke said and looked at him…well… like he was stupid.

"You know what, I will Invite Hinata, because she's cute and nice. You may be cute, but you're definitely not nice."

Sasuke just shook his head.

Just then Naruto's phone gave a muffled buzz from inside his pocket. He pulled it out to see "message from Hina" Flash across his screen. "See that's her now?" he said and stuck his toung out at Sasuke who again shook his head; drawing a laugh from Naruto. However, as he unlocked his phone to see the message from Hinata his Laugh quickly ceased. He stopped walking and stood frozen in place staring at his phone.

"What?" Sasuke said after he noticed Naruto no long beside him. Naruto didn't move or say anything. He just stood there with a face of disbelief. Again, Sasuke said "what" though this time with very slight but audible concern. He walked over to Naruto and peered at his phone. He saw the chat Naruto had going with Hinata and read it over his shoulder. Nothing crazy except for the fact that he said his hair looked like the butt of a chicken. Then he saw the newest message and realized why Naruto hadn't moved. Short, Bitter, and to the point"

"I not going with you. I'm sorry." 9:51

Hey…so I'm kinda back. Can you believe I started writing this when I was twelve years old lol. I went back and read the early chapters, and it was soooo cringy. And I made a lot of mistakes and had hella typos, probably still do. So because of that I might change some things and retcon some stuff idk. I haven't written in so long, that I kinda forgot what I had planned for this story so I'm kinda trying to figure it back out. If you are still reading this story, I'm super glad and really appreciate it. As for why I've been gone, like I said I started this when I was around twelve and its just been something that I have phases for doing. Plus, life and other important stuff comes along and I exit the fanfic writing phase until something brings me back. Usually it's the comments and reviews that I get that bring me back. Anyway, Thanks for reading as always, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this little story I've created. Hopefully more Chapters Soon.