Chapter Five
"Uh… Sasuke-san?" Hinata's soft voice interrupted Sasuke's intent glaring. The last Uchiha had been staring at her retreating cousin for the past minutes. "Sasuke-san?" She asked again, inwardly hoping to catch his attention this time.
"What is it?" He asked in his usual rude manner, not staring back at her.
"Um… Whe-re shou-should I?" Hinata stuttered a little and looked at her feet. - She tried to calm herself down and bit her lip. What should she do? - She thought nervously. Demo… She would try to remain in control….
Sasuke sighed deeply as he turned back to face her. "Follow me." The former Hyuuga looked at him and nodded. She followed him unwillingly into a small room. Hinata looked around for a while. The only furniture the room possessed was a small bed, a drawer and a closet. She, then, proceeded to place her bags in the bed. Hinata gazed at the Uchiha as he was about to close the door and leave her alone.
"Ah… Su-Sumima-sen." She brought her small hand to a rise.
Sasuke looked back seemingly annoyed and rolled his eyes. "What?"
"A-h, It's about my Team Practice. Onegai, I need to…" Hinata looked down as he watched her.
"Che…" Sasuke sneered and narrowed his eyes.
"Onegai. Sasuke-san…" Her voice pleaded while she looked at the floor.
"Go." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Honto?" Hinata raised her head and smiled a little.
Sasuke nodded slightly.
"Arigatou Sasuke-san." She blushed and grinned happily as she rose swiftly from her bed, causing some of her belongings to fall. "Ah… G-gomen." Hinata smiled sheepishly at Sasuke. She then laughed a little at her clumsiness, as she picked her things.
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Sasuke blushed a little at the sight and panicked. He instinctively looked away immediately as he sighed inwardly in frustration. Calming down he turned around and watched her place her small bag on the bed again, apparently getting ready to leave.
"Wait." He stopped Hinata suddenly causing her to jump up a little. He ignored her reaction and proceeded to ask her his question. "When will you be back?"
"U-m, I think around five. Is that fine with you Sasuke-san?" She answered a bit doubtfully.
He nods awkwardly as the former Hyuuga smiles and proceeds to leave him alone.
Sasuke sighs heavily as he presses his head against the wall. –Kuso, he was pathetic...-
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"Hinata-chan!" The black eyed Naruto waved. Gaara and Shikamaru looked up to face the approaching medic nin.
"Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-san, Gaara-san!" She greeted happily as she panted a little; she pleased that she had finally arrived.
"Oi, Hinata your teammates and I were very worried about you!" Shikamaru joked.
"O-h, a-ah a-h. Gomen-nasai." She said sincerely as she bowed and blushed, embarrassed.
"Ne, Hinata! I was actually joking." Shikamaru smiled awkwardly. "Don't take it too seriously, Okay?" He apologized, somewhat.
"Oh, Hai!" Realization struck her and she blushed again in embarrassment.
"Ano! Hinata-chan! Will you help me with these?" Naruto pointed his bruises and scars as Shikamaru sighed.
"Hai. Naruto-kun." She sat down and unpacked her medical supplies. Gaara scoffed at the blonde shinobi. "Weakling."
"You Bastard!" Naruto stuck his tongue at the Sand shinobi. "Um… Naruto-kun…" Hinata interrupted as she blushed. "Onegai, I need you to stay still."
"Oh, Hai, Hai, Hai." Naruto grinned as he rubbed the back of his forehead innocently.
"Baka." Gaara crossed his arms and looked away.
"Heh. I Really showed you this time! Didn't I Gaara?" Naruto laughed.
Hinata breathed heavily as she tried to attend Naruto's wounds, because her heart was beating at a fast rate. "Hinata-chan?" Naruto looked down at her curiously. Hinata felt that she could've fainted right there. "Are you alright?" He questioned.
"Hai!" She squeaked and decided it was better to attend Naruto's wounds fast before she got some sort of heart attack. She proceeded to rub the ointment hastily and in a rather messy way. She bandaged his wounds, and sighed in relief when she was done with her work. She then looked up at Naruto, who looked back at her. She rapidly diverted her gaze towards the Sand Shinobi to hide her blush from Naruto. It wasn't until then that Hinata noticed the Gaara's wound.
"Gaara-san, you're hurt too!" She looked at Gaara's shoulder, concerned.
"It's nothing." Gaara denied the obvious.
Naruto scoffed, this time around. "Hah! Still can't accept that I pounded you good this time!"
"Baka. I said don't need…" He answered, but was cut off by Hinata's voice.
"Demo, Gaara-san… Your wounds could get infected." She said shyly poking her fingers.
"Fine." He looked away as the medic nin smiled and approached him with her supplies.
"Eh! Now who's the weakling… Eh Gaara?" Naruto burst in laughter and clutched his own stomach.
"Oi! How troublesome. Naruto…" Shikamaru nagged.
"Demo, Shikamaru." Naruto crossed his arms. "You're no fun!"
"Che, Uruse." He sat down and watched the clouds above. Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Um… Gaara-san." Hinata looked at her patient. "You might need to… um…" She blushed furiously. Naruto and Shikamaru stopped and looked at her curiously.
"What?" He asked her in an annoyed manner.
"U-m…" She stuttered. "-I-ne-ed-yo-u t-o ta-ke yo-ur sh-irt o-ff!" Hinata squeaked.
Naruto and Shikamaru suddenly burst out laughing loudly. Gaara glared at her and Hinata felt she could die of embarrassment, literally. She heaved a deep sigh as the blush continued to spread.
OoO
"All done!" Hinata looked at her teammates relieved as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. The wound wasn't as deep as she thought, but still needed proper treatment. "Um…Gaara-san are the wrappings too tight?" She asked when she noticed he was still looking at her.
He shook his head. "I'm glad." Hinata smiled and nodded a little.
"Oi, Let's go eat." Shikamaru sighed. The jounin watched as Naruto's ears perked up; Gaara stopped looking awkwardly at a certain kunoichi and Hinata smiled at him.
"But? Hmph! What about our training?" Naruto asked.
"Baka. Do you really want Hinata to do extra work?" Shikamaru sighed.
"Hmph." Naruto got up and crossed his arms. Gaara got up and hastily put his shirt on as Hinata began to pack her supplies again.
"Good." Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets and began to walk.
OoO
"Let's see… Where should we eat?" Shikamaru looked around at their options. -He personally preferred some barbeque.- He thought as he eyed the barbeque stand happily.
"Ramen!" Naruto interrupted.
The jounin sighed; he should've seen it coming. "Eh? Naruto do you always think about Ramen?" He asked.
Naruto laughed at Shikamaru. "Hai!"
Shikamaru looked back at Hinata and Gaara who were walking behind them. He'd let them decide this time. "Oi, Gaara, Hinata where do you want to eat?"
Hinata looked at her captain and then looked at Naruto, who looked like he really wanted to eat Ramen. How could she possibly say no? "Um… Ramen is fine with me." Hinata played with her fingers. Shikamaru sighed in defeat. She smiled shyly and began to follow Gaara, who was already walking towards the Ramen shop.
Naruto jumped happily. "Ramen!"
"Jeez, you are one lucky guy, Naruto." Shikamaru said as he watched Gaara and Hinata walk.
"Nande?" Naruto asked confused and stopped his own victory dance.
"It's nothing." Shikamaru sighed at Naruto's naïve nature.
"Shikamaru. Tell me!" Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Jeez, you're one annoying guy." He sighed exasperatedly and walked past Naruto. "You wouldn't understand anyways."
"Huh? What was that all about?" Naruto watched as his leader entered the shop. He scratched his head. -What was it this time? - He shrugged and headed towards Ichiraku.
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Kankurou eyed his two companions below. He sat atop a tree's branch, above his annoying teammates. Oh how he loathed kids! Especially stuck up kids, and he had ended with two…. Not one, but two! Such bad luck… Even having Gaara in his team would have been much better. He looked at them again.
Yep, much better. At least Gaara would listen to him from time to time. He watched as the two glared at each other intently. Kankurou shrugged the unsettling the feeling he was getting from watching those two. Damn that perverted jounin! This was his fault! Where was he anyways? He wanted to finish the stupid mission already.
"Yo." Kakashi stared at Kankurou right in the eye, interrupting Kankurou's thoughts and at the same time scaring him off. The Puppeteer backed away instinctively as he heard Neji sneer. Kankurou clenched his fists and sighed. Kakashi shrugged innocently and jumped down from the tree.
"Um." Kakashi was about to apologize for his tardiness when Sasuke cut him off.
"Just get to the point." The Uchiha glared at the special jounin.
"Well, um, you see. Hokage-sama says I need to go to on a special mission, so you're… well um… dismissed." He rubbed the back of his head, hoping that they wouldn't be too mad.
"Nani!" Kankurou's eye twitched as Neji crossed his arm and Sasuke prepared to leave.
"Well see you… um… I got to go." Kakashi waved and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Baka." Kankurou sighed. These Leaf nins were really starting to get into his nerves. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to become a jounin anymore.
OoO
"Here you go." Ayame said as she placed the bowls of ramen in front of team three.
"Arigatou, Ayame-chan!" Naruto waved at her and she responded by smiling.
"Itadakimasu." Shikamaru and Hinata said at the same time. Naruto nodded as Gaara shrugged and grabbed his chopsticks from the right end of the table. They began to eat their meal.
"The jounin selection exam is in two weeks… " Hinata sighed and interrupted their silence after a while.
"Oi! Don't worry about it Hinata. Just do your best in the exam, okay?" Shikamaru smiled as he tried to comfort the nervous Hyuuga.
"Um, Hai, I'll do my best." She nodded slightly and continued to eat.
"Hinata-chan! Don't worry so much! With me and Gaara on your team there's no way we'll loose! Right Gaara?" Naruto poked Gaara and grinned happily.
Shikamaru looked at Naruto and shook his head while smiling. Gaara looked at Hinata and Naruto and nodded slightly. "See I told you, there's no way we'll loose!" Naruto smiled.
"Demo…" Hinata whispered a little. "I think, Neji-nii-san's team is quite strong too."
Gaara scoffed when he heard her comment. "See, even Gaara thinks they're no match for us!" Naruto pointed at his teammate. "Anyways, I beat your cousin, remember?"
She nodded and smiled slightly.
"Baka, it's Uchiha Sasuke she's worried about." Gaara interrupted.
"Honto?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. The blonde boy opened his mouth to say something, but paused to think and then he spoke again. "Don't worry about him Hinata-chan! I won't let that bastard win! Much less hurt you! I promise!" He grinned widely. "We're a team, now remember? We're supposed to support each other, right?"
Shikamaru looked at his team and grinned widely.
"Arigatou Naruto-kun, Gaara-san. I'll do my best." She smiled and blushed a little. They all nodded approvingly and continued to eat.
OoO
I
I
"Sasuke-san?" Hinata called shyly and knocked on the wooden door again. She had spent some time with her teammates before heading to her new home. She looked at her small wrist watch, it was five already. Hinata sat down and decided to wait for the Uchiha a bit longer, not that she minded his tardiness, anyways. She sighed inwardly; Sasuke could be a scary person sometimes. Demo, she really wondered if he was the same Sasuke, she used to know. After all, the little Uchiha she used to remember always seemed to smile. Kinda reminded her of Naruto… She yawned. -But not anymore.- She rested her head in her knees and involuntarily began to doze off. She hadn't gotten any rest last night, and she would just take a quick nap.
OoO
"Hinata?" The petite girl felt someone tap her shoulder and call her name. She woke up immediately; blinked rapidly; stood up hastily. "Oh… Uh… Gomen Sasuke-san." She bowed, her face turning pale. He gave her one of his annoyed looks as he rolled his eyes. "Help me with these." He shoved a grocery bag into her hands and fetched his key from his pocket.
She took it and watched curiously as he tried to open the door. Hinata could easily tell he wasn't left handed. She smiled slightly at Sasuke, who had a hard time with the door. Hinata then took the remaining bag from Sasuke and watched as he finally opened the door. She followed him in and placed the packages atop the counter.
"Have you eaten anything, yet?" He asked as he stared at her.
"I-ie." Hinata admitted a bit shyly and looked at her feet.
"What would you like?" He said as he turned his back at her and began to unpack the groceries.
She widened her eyes curiously.
"What?" Sasuke looked back at her clearly annoyed.
"Oh, Um… A-anything is fine Sasuke-san, Arigatou." Hinata stuttered.
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"Oi." Shikamaru yawned. "Playing shougi with you is boring."
"Nani! You baka. That was just luck!" Temari protested.
"Hai, Hai, Hai." He said mockingly.
"Kuso. One last time!" Temari demanded.
The lazy jounin sighed. "How troublesome." He said as he readied the board for another match.
"Uruse." Temari grinned.
"Ano-sa. Temari." Shikamaru scratched his chin as he moved his first piece forward. "How's Ino doing?"
Temari raised her brow before replying: "She's doing fine, still afraid of Shino's kekai bugs, though." Temari moved her piece forward too. "How is Gaara doing?"
"He's doing fine too. I never expected him to get along with his teammates, though." Shikamaru answered and moved his next piece.
"Well, I guess that's how Gaara is… unpredictable." She smiled and moved her piece.
"Jeez, Temari, checkmate." Shikamaru moved his piece and yawned as he stretched his arms.
"Eh? You!" Temari shrieked.
OoO
"Bu-But!" Hinata protested. "I can..."
"Iie." He cut her sentence and crossed his arms. "You're too clumsy; you'll probably end breaking the dishes." Sasuke glared at her.
"Ah… Demo, I." She bit her lip to prevent from speaking further. -He was probably right. But she wanted to help, even if it was just a little.-
"Demo, Sasuke-san, I want to help. I feel it's the least I can do." She spoke shyly and softly.
"Iie." He spoke sternly and glared at her.
Hinata sighed inwardly in frustration as she went back to the table and sat on a chair. Now, she really felt like crying. She swallowed hard and tried not to. She stayed quiet for a while, not daring to speak again.
Owari
Sorry! It's been such a long while since I've updated. I had a huge writer's block. I'll try to have the next chapter up the upcoming week. Please, PLEASE Review.