Rokudaime

Chapter 5: Commencement

“You ready to go?” Kurenai asked, checking the straps on her ugly utilitarian pack. Not pretty, the thing blocked shuriken attacks from behind, so who was she to complain?

“Yes,” Hinata replied firmly. Her new box was freshly supplied, and clutched tightly to her chest.

“We should get you a med-nin’s pack.” Kurenai commented thoughtfully, absently chewing a fingernail. “They’ve got special straps for holding their supplies, so your hands are free.”

“That’d be nice,” Hinata responded.

“I’d have gotten you one before, but you’ve never been as attached to that box as you are now.” She checked the clock quickly, then continued. “If we hurry, we’ll have just enough time to get to the main supply station, switch packs, and then get over to meet Sakura and Ino at the gates.”

“Let’s go then,” Hinata answered, already at the door. Tucking the case under one arm, she opened the door with the other. “C’mon, Yasuo,” she called, beckoning the cat to her. He quickly trotted over, a light bounce in his step.

“We’re bringing the cat with?” Kurenai said, a little surprised. So far, she’d been very astonished at her student’s sudden change in nature. Now she was much more assertive than she’d been even a few days ago. It made her relax a little when Hinata reverted slightly to her usual meekness upon Kurenai’s question.

“Not if you don’t want him,” she answered. “He doesn’t have to.”

“I’m just worried he’ll get lost or hurt or something. If you’ll excuse my saying so, he really isn’t like Akamaru in those senses.”

“You’re right,” Hinata conceded, nodding. “But he can’t stay here alone.”

“We’ll have to leave him with someone.” Kurenai quickly ran through the list of people she knew Hinata was aquainted with. Finally… “Naruto?” she asked, more than a little skeptical. Hinata leaned down awkwardly and scratched Yasuo between the ears.

“He’d be fine there, I’m sure,” she finally replied, standing again. “Naruto likes cats.”

Kurenai only raised one eyebrow momentarily, and smiled to herself before slipping out the door behind her student.

After switching packs at the supply station, Hinata quickly transferred her belongings into the new one, and then buckled her medicine box securely into the special straps on the top of the pack. Designed to both enable the shinobi to move better and to allow quick access to medicines, Hinata was quite pleased with it. But now came something a little less pleasing: talking to Naruto.

Nervously, she walked beside Kurenai towards Naruto’s apartment. What if he didn’t remember who she was? He probably wouldn’t want to take care of her cat anyways. What with the feeding and the litter boxes, who would want to? But it wasn’t the cat’s fault. And she didn’t want to be a burden. It’d be better just to leave him here, but then Naruto would have to take care of him. Everybody else was either busy, on a mission, or would never want to take care of a cat. What if she thought she was assuming he would take care of Yasuo? She kind of was, but she was reasonably sure he’d take care of him… And…

Kurenai jerked Hinata out of her flood of worries when she elbowed her hard in the ribs. “Wha-?” Hinata asked, blinking a few times.

“Kiba,” Kurenai answered, pointing. “Out for a morning run, it seems.”

“He already knows we’re leaving,” Hinata mentioned. “I’d…kind of like to say goodbye.”

The jounin nodded in reply. “There are a couple things I need to tell him too. Oi! Kiba!” she called loudly, waving one arm. He stopped dead and turned to look at her.

“Kurenai?” he asked. “You guys leaving today?” he asked, peeking curiously at their packs. Reaching a hand around Hinata, he rapped his knuckles on the medicine box. “Healer in training, eh?” he asked with a smile. “I never told you before, but that stuff you gave me after my fight really helped.” Kurenai smiled as Hinata’s cheeks flushed at Kiba’s compliment.

“T-thank you,” the girl finally stammered. “I’ll make you some more when I get a chance.”

“It’ll help him out a lot, the amount of scrapes he gets into,” Kurenai joked, trying to break the awkwardness. Kiba stuck his tongue out in reply. Akamaru, who had been tucked into Kiba’s shirt, finally poked his head up and yawned, blinking blearily at Kurenai and Hinata.

“We have to get going,” Kurenai continued, glancing at the rapidly-lightening sky. “We’re going to be late.”

“I guess I’ll say goodbye then,” Kiba replied. He reached out spontaneously and hugged Hinata to him tightly, putting his mouth right by her ear. “Stay safe, Hinata,” he whispered.

“I will,” she replied. “You stay out of trouble.” Akamaru wiggled in protest between the two until Kiba let go of her and stepped back. Happily, the dog jumped out of Kiba’s shirt and licked Hinata wetly across the face.

“Enough!” Kiba laughed, pulling him back. “She gets it. You say goodbye too, right?”

“See you, Akamaru,” she told him, scratching him on one ear and wiping slobber off her face.

“Bye, Kurenai.” Kiba turned to his teacher, hugging her as well. Hinata wasn’t able to hear their words, but after, Kiba looked sufficiently innocent that she doubted he’d make much trouble while they were gone. Kurenai smiled in that devilish way of hers that her team knew very well before flapping a hand at Hinata.

“Let’s go,” she announced, stepping forward. “Be back in a while, Kiba. Don’t have too much fun without us.”

“Bye,” Hinata murmured, waving lightly.

“Good luck,” Kiba answered quietly, although neither of the two could hear him.

Kurenai and Hinata stopped outside of the stairs to the apartment building Naruto lived in. “Are you sure he lives here?” Hinata asked timidly.

“Probably,” Kurenai shrugged. “Leave your stuff, grab Yasuo and let’s go.” Dropping her own pack, she started up the stairs.

Quickly, Hinata pulled the straps of the pack off and set it down, picking Yasuo up instead. “Come on, little guy,” she whispered to him. “You’ll like Naruto.” Kurenai waited outside the door, and after she caught sight of Hinata and the cat, raised her hand to knock.

There was no reply, and she knocked harder. Still no reply. “He must sleep like Kiba,” she grumbled, pulling out a kunai and ramming the hilt of it into the door loud enough to echo up and down the hallway.

“Maybe he’s not here,” Hinata suggested quietly, hoping to get Kurenai to stop making such a racket.

“At this time of day?” She laughed before knocking again. Finally, the jounin reached forward and turned the handle, opening the door with a vicious creak. “Needs some oil,” she growled before stepping into the mess that was Naruto’s home. Suddenly, the boy popped out of his bedroom, yawning and with an odd hat on his head.

“Eh?” he yelped when he caught sight of the girls in his house. “Hinata? What are you doing here?” Hinata looked to Kurenai to take charge, but Kurenai only looked back at Hinata expectantly, and then winked. The girl flushed, and then held out Yasuo.

“I have a cat that I was wondering if you’d take care of,” she started lamely. “His name’s Yasuo, and he’s litter-box trained and everything. He’s really nice, and I’ll even pay you to take care of him while I’m away.” Yasuo, not so happy at being left behind, tried to look as sullen and mean as possible. Of course, this didn’t deter Naruto.

“A cat!” he exclaimed, and in seconds, he was petting the kitten’s black fur and dangling a pencil for him to play with. “I love cats,” he mentioned before returning to play with the feline. Hinata smiled as Naruto tilted his head forward to let Yasuo play with the end of his hat.

“Is that a yes, then?” she asked. He didn’t respond, being too busy playing with the cat. “Naruto?” Kurenai just shook her head.

“Let’s go, Hinata. They like each other enough.”

A few minutes later, Naruto looked up to accept Hinata’s offer, only to find her gone. Holding the purring black cat to him, he announced, “Well, I guess it’s just you and me…Yummy, was it? Something like that.” Yasuo yowled in protest, which Naruto didn’t understand. “Well, Yummy, I’m still tired, so I’m going back to bed.” With that, he went back into his room and shut the door, going back to sleep.

At last the two met up with Sakura and Ino at the Konoha Village gates. Both girls looked tired, and Ino was barely keeping her eyes open. “Ready to go?” Kurenai asked, all too brightly.

Ino grunted and Sakura just shook her head. “Kakashi never makes us get up this early,” she complained.

“It’s just because by now you’ve learned that when he says seven o’clock, he really means about noon,” Kurenai replied. Sakura nodded in agreement.

“Asuma likes evening training and missions better,” Ino whined, picking her pack up slowly from the ground.

“Well, lucky you! It just happens that I’m a morning person!” Kurenai responded with fake cheer. “Up and at ‘em, ladies. Let’s go.” Waving them after her, she headed through the gates with a spring in her step, offering a salute to the guard at the top of the village walls.

A few minutes later, they were well on their way. Hinata was rather impressed; she had never known people could sleep and walk at the same time. Ino and Sakura were doing rather well, considering. “Where are we going?” Ino called from behind, breaking the silence. Kurenai looked back, surprised to see that the pair had apparently woken up a bit.

“You’ve already been briefed on this mission, you should know,” she chided, turning away again.

“No, I know that,” she explained. “How far is it?”

“At least a few days travel,” Kurenai answered, shaking her head. It was going to be a long mission.

Far behind them, another followed, watching them carefully with enhanced vision. A lowly member of the Hyuuga clan, she had been entrusted with this mission due to her unique skills. Blending in with the shadows, she slithered along after the group, keeping vigilant eyes on Hinata. By the time this group arrived back at Konoha Village, that girl would no longer be a part of their team. Mind filled with her duty, Hoshiko slid after them, her jutsu enabling her to blend in seamlessly and undetectably with the little darkness that was left on the bright sunny day.

“Up!” Kurenai called loudly, whipping a kunai towards Ino’s position.

Ino popped up from the grass, cussing. “What the hell!” she protested, raising her fists above her head in frustration.

“Grass gave you away,” Kurenai explained, pointing. “Too much of it is pressed down; you left a dent.” Ino turned and looked. Noticing Kurenai’s point, she stomped her foot and swore again, storming back over to the jounin and sitting down by her feet.

“Sakura’s over there,” Ino said off-handedly, pointing towards a small tree.

Kurenai studied the area carefully, and confirmed Ino’s information. “Thank you,” she muttered, tossing another kunai. Sakura bounced up and caught the kunai, mouth already open to complain.

“That’s cheating!” she whined. “Ino’s not supposed to tell you anything!”

“Yes, but consider if this was a real mission. She would have easily squealed on you. Doesn’t say much for her character, but at least you know if she’s captured, you should worry about keeping your own skin safe,” Kurenai responded sharply. “You can’t even trust your own partners a lot of the time. So don’t.”

With a sigh, Sakura sat down next to Ino and laid back in the long grass. “Where’s Hinata?” she asked Ino, gazing up at the clouds.

“I don’t know,” Ino scoffed. “I haven’t even seen her.”

Kurenai turned and pointed at a large tree. “There,” she called, throwing a third and final kunai to bury itself in the tree’s trunk. Hinata obediently dropped down out of it, coming over to the trio. “I didn’t even see her until just now. Why?”

Ino shrugged and picked at a piece of grass. Sakura spoke up. “Ino and I stayed in the grass, but she went up in the trees where it’s harder to see details and harder to detect a human shape.”

“Very good,” Kurenai praised.

“But the trees were off limits,” Ino pointed out. “She cheated.”

“So did you!” Sakura yelped.

“So?”

“Ino-pig…”

“So what did we learn?” Kurenai interrupted condescendingly.

Silence. Finally, Hinata answered, “Shinobi have no rules besides those of their personal conduct.”

“Remember that,” the jounin instructed the other two genin. “Now up. We’ll go another few miles and stop for a training break.”

“What country are we in?” Ino asked, shivering. “It’s creepy.”

“You noticed, did you?” Kurenai smirked. “Welcome to Sound Country, girls. The geographical terrain of this area tends to make it very cold, and very wet, so if you want to bundle up, this would be the time to do it.” The jounin herself already wore a dark red cloak, slick with the mist and damp that was already prevalent. Hinata was warm in her typical sweatshirt, although her toes were beginning to freeze from continually walking through the wet brush and grass in the forest they travelled through.

Ino and Sakura, on the other hand, were rapidly turning blue. “That’s it!” Sakura shouted, whipping her bag off and burrowing through it. Finally, she found a long dark blue cloak and pulled it on, keeping the hood up and sulking to herself. Ready to go, she turned to Ino. “You going to put anything on?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Nah, Sakura. You’re just a crybaby,” Ino responded quickly, sticking her tongue out.

“Okay…but I really don’t think blue is your color,” Sakura answered just as quickly. After that, Ino gave up the pretense of being warm and pulled on her own jacket.

“Well, now that everybody in the area knows we’re here…” Kurenai dropped down from a tree where she had been scouting out the area ahead and behind. “I’ll just tell you this now. Be careful. Sound Village is on very dangerous footing right now, and I wouldn’t trust anybody. The number of missing-nins lately has probably risen drastically, so consider everyone as a possible enemy,” she instructed seriously. Noting Sakura, Ino and Hinata’s attentive looks, she continued caustically, “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard this sort of thing before. Just remember that this may be a little more dangerous.” Standing, she beckoned them forward. “Let’s go now. Ino, you take point. I’ll take tail.”

“Here’s good,” Hinata suggested, sweeping one arm at the clearing in front of the group.

“No,” Kurenai answered flatly, noting with a tinge of regret that her tone had caused Hinata to act like a kicked puppy. “Why not?”

“The open space?” Ino suggested. Earlier, she had learned that not answering questions got her in more trouble in the end than answering them and getting them wrong.

“No, that’s preferable. Attacks from above are harder.”

The genin thought for a moment before Ino spoke up again. “Is it the water?”

“Yes. Look at the tracks.” Kurenai stepped forward to the tiny trickle of water bubbling up from a rock on the edge of the clearing. “All sorts of animal tracks. With this many comings and goings, we won’t be able to sleep. Also, people may come here to drink, and they probably know this is good hunting ground.”

“So not here, but nearby?” Sakura questioned. “We’ll probably need a source of fresh water.”

“There’s another clearing about 400 yards in that direction.” Hinata pointed, using her Byakugan to search for suitable spots.

Sakura ran ahead to check it, and came back with approval. The group unpacked their things and set up a small travelling camp there. Sakura and Ino built up a fire for them, while Kurenai and Hinata rolled out the beds and went to collect water. On the way back to the fresh water, Kurenai handed Hinata half of the water bottles they all were carrying, and opened up the gallon jug she carried as standard kit. “How’s it going?” she asked her student conversationally as they walked.

“It’s going fine,” Hinata answered warily. Was she doing something wrong? What was it? She wasn’t talking much with Ino and Sakura, was that the problem? She’d never really talked with them much at all, really…maybe Kurenai thought she should.

“You’ve just been really quiet,” the jounin explained. “I’m just worried that you’re not getting along the best with Sakura and Ino.”

“We’re pretty different. We’ve never talked much…”

“Maybe you should try it. They might be friendlier than you’d think.” Kurenai crouched and began to fill the bottles, fingers biting cold in the frigid water.

Hinata remained silent, taking the water from Kurenai as she filled them and passing the empty ones down. Kurenai was probably right; most girls did seem pretty talkative. She might know that if she ever talked to anybody. Hinata was very well aware that she rarely spoke with anyone besides her family, Kurenai, and her team. However, she didn’t think she’d be talking to her family much.

She reached a hand up to grasp the Hyuuga family crest she wore around her neck. Kurenai had told her that the assassin from a few days back was wearing it, and Kakashi had saved it for her. Hinata wore it now, as a sign that she would not be forgetting her family, as well as a sign that they would not forget her. Wordlessly, she followed Kurenai back to the others, spliting the load of water.

The four sat around the fire, each preparing their own food. Pushing a heatproof bowl full of what looked like reconstituted soup towards the fire, Kurenai sat up and watched as the others finished up and waited impatiently for the food to be heated. Ino and Sakura had vetoed soup, which took longer to prepare, in favor of preserved meat sticks, and what looked like meat in a can. Kurenai rolled her eyes. That stuff wasn’t meat, it was protein in a can, and it didn’t taste particularly good either…as Ino and Sakura were finding out. She smiled for a moment, before she caught the glint of metal in the firelight. “Hey, while I’m thinking of it, you guys,” she spoke up. “Headbands off. Nobody should know we’re shinobi from here on in, so be cautious. No code words, no jutsus, none of that other stuff. We’re civilians now; act like it. And put the headbands in the bottoms of your packs. They’re harder to find that way.”

She removed her own and dug down in her pack to deposit it at the bottom. Sakura and Ino followed her lead, as did Hinata, but a little more reluctantly. Kurenai noted with interest the crest hanging around the girl’s neck. “Who’s taking first watch?” Sakura asked with a sigh. “I don’t really want it.”

“I don’t either!” Ino yowled.

There was a moment of silence before Hinata said, “I’ll take it. I don’t mind.” Kurenai sighed. Of course Hinata wouldn’t mind. She had sort of hoped Hinata would have protested having first watch when the question came up.

“I’ll take second,” Ino supplied.

“Third,” Sakura called.

“That’s fourth for me.” Kurenai leaned down and picked up her soup, which was relatively warm now. After drinking it all down and scraping the last of the meat out of the bottom of the bowl…was meat supposed to make a film on the bottom of a bowl?...she walked to her bed. “Good night, everyone.” The jounin lay down, turned over, and went to sleep.

“This stuff is gross…” Ino held up the can of meat she and Sakura were debating eating. It slid out of the container with a sucking noise and onto Ino’s plate, standing there like a squat, not particularly appetizing, tower.

“Dare you to eat it.” Sakura prodded the ‘meat’ with one finger, making it jiggle.

“What’ll you give me?”

Sakura thought about this for a while before finally announcing, “A whole five minutes alone with Sasuke. I’ll even set it up for you.”

“Five minutes? That’s not enough to eat that.”

“Okay, ten.”

“Deal.”

“Eat that meat!”

Ino distastefully broke a chunk of it off with her fingers and popped it in her mouth. Even Hinata had to laugh at her expression. The blonde genin spit it out into the fire, where it sat, not even burning yet. “That’s disgusting! It tastes like cat food!” She guzzled down a bottle full of water, then swirled a mouthful around and spit it out again.

“How do you know what cat food tastes like?” Sakura inquired, trying not to laugh.

“I was a curious child, okay?” Ino spat back, annoyed. “But man, you owe me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to bed.” Sakura stood up, stretched and to all appearances, went to sleep. However, a few minutes later, when Ino started her evening preparations for sleep, Hinata could have sworn she heard Sakura giggling, just about when Ino started to gargle.

Shortly, the other three were asleep. Hinata pulled a paperback novel out of her bag. Using her thick cloak to shield her from the wet ground, she sat down with her back against a tree. Instead of reading, she simply watched the others. Would they be happy talking to her tomorrow? She knew Ino and Sakura had been friends since childhood. Trying to get to know them now felt like she was intruding. But she was getting sort of tired of being alone. Maybe tomorrow she would at least try it. The worst they could do was ignore her.

In the trees above, two ninja lounged, watching the group below. "It'll be full dark tonight," one of them commented to the other, chewing on a piece of meat jerky.

"Perfect timing," the other hissed in reply. "We've been lonesome for a long time, Toshi."

"Tamasine, stop it. You're freaking me out. Eat your meat stick."

Write to Alina-Cantha
On to Chapter 6
Back to Fanfic Main
Japanese Glossary