[X] It's that girl, she's tinsel on a tree~
"Are you sure you want to do this?" you ask, rolling up the one-use Chouji-summoning scroll for later. "I only mentioned it 'cause I couldn't think of anything else that'd give you a boost quick enough."
"I can't just make Hinata do it alone," he says, crosslegged on the floor, counting his kunai for about the fifth time in the past twenty minutes.
"... but you're both gonna be alone anyway once you get where you're going," you point out, eyebrow raised. "Besides, it's Hinata; she'll be fine. She's always been strong."
Chouji shakes his head. "Ino... Hinata's not like you, you know?"
You frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"The way she acts when she's around people, that isn't how she is all the time," he says. "When she's just with us, she's... she talks less. She gets really worried about how what she does or says might make us feel, and on missions she never wants Shikamaru or I to do anything dangerous. She's a really gentle person."
"Well, yeah," you say, deciding to ignore the accidental insults for now. "You think a gentle person can't be strong?"
Chouji huffs. "She says the reason she's always taking risks on missions and leading from the front is because you asked her to look after us. She said she didn't want to let you down. She wouldn't do all that stuff if you hadn't asked, just like I bet she wouldn't have said yes to this summoning thing if you hadn't been the one to suggest it."
You blink.
"But that doesn't matter," Chouji declares, tucking his weapons away again, "because even if Hinata doesn't know it, I know. She's not a loser or a coward like she thinks; to do what I've seen her do takes bravery. A lot of it. Where it came from isn't important." He stares at the floor. "So... it shouldn't hurt to borrow a little of her courage, if she's already borrowing yours, right?"
Where the hell are your friends' parents? Lupin asks flatly.
Chouji isn't even old enough to shave yet, he shouldn't have to worry about this kind of thing. And Hinata-chan! Who lets a sweet little girl like that go around thinking she's a loser?
Before you can reply, to either of them, Hinata comes back from the bathroom.
"Is everything arranged?" she asks.
"Yep!" you chirp. "If you're ready, we can get you guys on your way right now."
She smiles, and goes to kneel beside Chouji.
"Remember to set your watches so the alarm goes off five minutes before the 24-hour mark," you warn. "We don't want you losing track of time."
"Got it," Chouji says with a nod.
"Good luck to both of you," you say, and you mean it. "Be yourselves - that's what this whole thing is about, after all, so it'll probably help."
"See you in a day," Hinata says, and gives you one of Shika's and your half-waves. You grin and return it.
Two voices cry "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and the pair of them are gone.
"... so what do we tell the proctors if they check to make sure no one left the tower?" Menka asks.
"Vision quest! Y'know, like in Ninja Princess Kurogiku when Shinpei was in Crane Country to assassinate the ambassador and Kaede had to keep their house sealed off so no one would know he wasn't home."
Menka brightens up with a twitch of his tail. "That was a great arc! Man, she does so much for him. I wish he'd stop chasing Kurogiku and realize what's right in front of him."
Oh, please! What do cats know about romance? Kaede/Kurogiku is the only pairing that makes any sense!
No dice. Mikage-sensei hates girls'-love; it's never going to happen.
Screw canon! Back in my day we shipped Lt Emma/Kamille and that's how we liked it!
=
If you were paranoid, you would think Hinata timed her walk into the kitchen the next morning to perfectly coincide with you taking a drink of milk.
"Wh- how did-?"
Her grin is brighter than you've ever seen it, and her cheeks are glowing rose. "Mushi-san was kind enough to drop me and Mokona-sama off. Ah!" She holds out the cushion in her arms, which turns out to be alive. "Mokona-sama, this is Ino-chan, my friend I was telling you about!"
"Puu~!" the creature says perkily.
...
dear god it's cute!
Almost sickeningly so. Er, let the voice of experience guide you on this, don't laugh at it. It'll probably suck you into that gem on its forehead or something if you do.
"Pleased t'meetcha," you say, shaking one of its paws with your fingertips. You glance up at Hinata. "So I guess it went well?"
"Bunnies," she says simply, still beaming. "Bunnies everywhere. I can't wait to tell Hanabi. Between this and the special exploding tags you made me I think I might have a real chance."
"Rabbits? Hm." Thinking about it, it certainly fits her temperament. "That ought to sort out your speed problem. What kind of stuff can Rabbit summons do, uh, Mokona... -san?"
"Puupupu pyuu bunyu!"
"You'll see in the finals, I expect," Hinata says. "Um, I kind of want it to be a surprise."
You grin. "Heh. Fair enough."
... wait, bunnies? 'Mushi-san'? Ohohohohoho, ask her. Ask her! ;D
... no fucking way.
Ask her!
"And... this Mushi-san who dropped you off?" you ask weakly. "Is there a rabbit with space-time jutsu or something?"
"... I suppose it must have been, now that you mention it," she says, sounding like the thought genuinely hadn't crossed her mind til then. "A friendly person, but he isn't on the contract; he said he prefers not to be tied down. He only brought us this far because it was on his way to another place." She looks a bit anxious. "Although on reflection I think he might have been mistaken. Oh, dear, I hope he isn't lost - none of the place-names he mentioned were familiar. Do you know of a town called Albuquerque, Ino-chan?"
...
.....
... Hinata is officially the scariest person I know.
You have a really funny way of pronouncing 'coolest', you know that?
-----
This can be treated as an omake, if you prefer. I don't quite know what I want to do about Chouji, so that snip is going to have to wait until tomorrow.
And yeah, no more freebies. Songs in the title don't count anymore, and stuff like the totally obvious joke I made above won't count either.
