Summoner Nin

Page 22: Graduating

Summoner-nin

Part Three: Team Kage

Chapter Five

It was strange, Hinata decided, to walk through Konoha knowing that she, herself, was a ninja, that she, herself, was part of a group responsible for that baker's safety, that waitress' well-being, that mother's security and those children's happiness.

She smiled briefly as a man chased after his dog over several snow banks.

For that man's ease of mind.

If she had been anyone less than a Hyuga, she would have felt crippled under the weight of responsibility, under the paranoia of doing something wrong, but fortunately Hinata being Hinata, with Hinata's uncertainties and weaknesses, had long been fortified by her senseis to stop thinking about herself, but for others instead. Uncertainties, weaknesses, hesitationswere all pushed aside for the sole purpose of being a ninja, almost an autonomous being whose rationale for existence was to protect one's village.

And Hinata would be shamed for life, bound to commit seppeku even, if she were to even fail at such a simple task. Hinata, a Hyuga in some other form, knew loyalty and fealty well. They had been her companions since birth, and loyalty and fealty to Konoha was not so much different than loyalty and fealty to the Hyuga. Both were larger than her, a collective of a social contract, serving one another for safety and prestige.

But, Hinata had to admit as she closed her eyes and bent her neck back to allow the sun to kiss her face, Konoha was much warmer, a more welcomed lord than her... she dared not think it, but much better than her chichioya. She would serve, of course, both willingly, equally with the love and care she held so dear in her heart.

"Good morning, Hinata-san," Shino said upon meeting in front of the Academy.

Hinata blinked, surprised that she had arrived at the Academy. She had been so deep in her own contemplations that she hadn't noticed coming or going at all, and then realized that she must have been ignoring Shino and Shibi for a while now! Horrified, she struggled to cover up her own embarrassment and turmoil by shrugging off her backpack and digging through the innards in a rather volatile fashion.

"G-Good m-morning, Shino-san, Aburame-san!" she squeaked, red in the face as she pulled out Shino's notebooks. "I-I've finally f-finished with y-your notes, Sh-Shino-san!" And then she bowed quite enthusiastically at a rate that surely could have pelted her into the nearest snowman. "I'M SORRY TO HAVE TAKEN SO LONG!"

Silence, perhaps even over the whole school yard, but Hinata noticed none of that as her heart pounded anxiously in her ears. Still bowing, hands offering Shino his notebooks, Hinata trembled with the fear that perhaps Shino was angry with her for taking so long or for having been not seeing him earlier. She was the ninja for crying out loud! She should have noticed him sooner!

Finally, after a full minute, Shino shifted his sunglasses awkwardly and then gently took the offered notebooks. "You're welcome, Hinata-san. Please, do not distress yourself over the matter. I had intended you to procure of my notes for a while longer, thus I have not lost much in my way of studying. You are not at fault."

Hinata, still wary, peeked up from her bangs to see Shibi nod, a little encouragingly, and then she breathed a sigh of relief and straightened from her bow with a beaming smile. "Th-Thank you, Shino-san! You are really kind!"