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Hinata sighed.
“Of course I can,” she said, resigned.
“Thanks!!!!”
In a moment, she was buried under an effusively grateful mass of dog and boy. Which was which? She couldn't tell.
“Kiba,” she managed. “Please get off of me?”
“Sorry, Hina-chan,” said Kiba. He was sorry. She could tell.
“It's fine,” she said. It wasn't. She wanted to go on her date with Gaara tonight. Plus, it was her birthday tomorrow.
“Hina-chan, if you weren't going out with Gaara, I'd be in love with you,” declared Kiba as he ran off.
Hinata trudged home.
“Hinata!” yelled Hanabi.
“Yes?”
“Dad says you've gotta be home by 9:00 tonight.”
“What? Why?”
“That stupid early elders meeting tomorrow.”
Hinata groaned. She'd forgotten.
“Do you have to go?”
Hanabi nodded, making a face.
“I hate it.”
Hinata agreed and went to her room. The faster she got these sorted, the faster she could sleep later after her date with Gaara.
She sat on the floor for several hours, sorting papers. It was acting as a really good sleep-inducer, and all she wanted to do right now was to rest her aching head on anything and shut her sore eyes to go to sleep. But she didn't. She soldiered on through the steadily (although slowly) diminishing pile. Stamina training. She could not, would not...
Yawn...
No! she told herself. No! Bad Hinata! Do not yawn! Do not even think of sleep! Gaara-kun will be here around six or seven and then you can go and have fun with him and then you can come back here and go to sleep! But not right now!
She looked at the clock.
6:30. She was about halfway done.
Maybe... just a minute... then I'll go back to it... I'll just shut my eyes... for just a minute...
She was awoken from her brief dream about herself, Gaara, and cats by the sensation of strangling.
When she opened her eyes and prepared to react, however, she was not being strangled, she was being hugged. From the back. There was only one person who would do this, and his red hair was brushing up against her cheek.
“Hey, Hinata,” he said, his voice tickling her ear. “Hanabi said you were up here. If you were asleep, you need to work on your reflexive skills. Frankly, though, I'm glad you weren't doing so well with those.”
She smiled. Only Gaara could make something bad into something good like that.
“You won't be too glad when I die because of it.”
“Then next time I do that, do not hesitate to attack me.”
“I'm much more on my guard on missions,” she said in defense.
He shook his head, gently correcting her. “You need to be on guard all the time, Hinata. It needs to be like that.” He snapped his finger.
“Easy for you to talk, you've got the second best Ultimate Defense.”
“And when your cousin's teammate Lee managed to outrun it? I would have been doomed had he really been trying to kill me. Do not make my mistake. My strength was my weakness in that case.”
“All right,” she smiled against his face. “I'll work on it.”
“Good,” he said, pleased. “Don't die, Hinata.”
“You neither!” she said.
“It isn't fun,” he admitted. “Especially if you don't think you're coming back. And what is all this?” he asked in reference to the large stack of papers on the floor.
“Just some papers Kiba asked me to sort out.”
“Ouch. I heard from Hanabi about your curfew.”
She frowned.
“Hyuuga council meeting.”
“And then you have to sort all this, too?” he asked.
She nodded.
“That's... not right.” That phrase was particularly reminiscent of Kankuro, and yet he could not think of anything better. “You're so... tired. If you want to stay home tonight, then that's perfectly fine.”
“I'll be fine!” she protested, desperate to go on their usual date. It would be the only release from tension, a nice evening spent having dinner with Hinata.
Gaara looked at the clock.
“Fine, then... I'll take you out to dinner...” He paused, thinking. “Does that curfew include me being gone?”
“Huh?”
“I'm going to take you out to dinner, and if I'm not kicked out at 9:00, I'll help you sort these papers.”
Hinata gaped at him.
“Really?”
He nodded, looking a little shocked. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't help?”
Hinata could have cried, she was so happy.
After a lovely dinner, Gaara brought her home. Multiple Byakugan eyes followed them as they walked up the stairs. After activating her Byakugan, Hinata laughed at their reluctance to watch. Somehow, though, they could not pull themselves away, as though it was absolutely imperative to keep an eye on her.
She saw that Neji in particular was disgusted.
Well, then, she thought happily. This'll show them that they're just all perverted.
“Are they watching?” asked Gaara quietly.
“Yeah,” said Hinata. “They can't hear, though.”
Gaara chuckled.
“How very embarrassed they shall be. Of course, the Kazekage would not do anything inappropriate.” He paused. “Not while they're watching, anyway.”
Hinata blushed a tomato red.
Gaara had to laugh again at her reaction.
They got up to Hinata's room, and she felt all the Byakugan eyes on her again, more so than before.
“You sleep,” commanded Gaara.
“What?!” cried Hinata.
“How are you sorting these?” he asked.
“Um, see that little box right there? All the blues go in one pile, reds in another, and so on.”
He nodded.
“Now I know how to do it, you can rest. You've been looking tired lately.”
She really was tired, now that she was home again.
So very tired...
“I can't let you do it all,” she protested.
Sand gripped her ankles and wrists.
“Hinata, go lay down,” he said pleadingly. “You need to be well rested for tomorrow. It wouldn't do you any good to fall asleep in the elder's meeting. What time does it start? 6:00? And then there's that entire hour that you mentioned you take to get ready, which means you wake up some time around 5:00.”
She nodded.
“A horrifically early time,” Gaara said it finally, as though it was the deciding point.
The sand at her feet flipped up.
“Oh!” she said, as the sand flowed underneath her, supporting her and dropping her into her bed.
She almost immediately fell asleep, but not before she heard Gaara say, “Goodnight, Hinata,” softly.
When Hinata woke up in the morning, she felt fully refreshed. Her papers were neatly sorted and stacked landscape and portrait to differentiate between the different color-coded groups, and on top of it all was a little note that said:
Happy Birthday
Anyway, Happy Birthday Hinata!
See ya next chapter!
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