Breath - Team 8 x Reader

Chapter 5 - Broken Promise

After all of that emotional conflict yesterday, you decided that you needed a girls day today.
Your first stop was the Hyuga compound, to pick up Hinata. Hopefully she wouldn't be too busy training.
You arrived at your destination after a bit, letting yourself into the household's open entrance. You'd been over to visit several times before, and just about everyone recognized you, so none of the family members would think anything of it.

In the outdoor training area, you came upon Neji Hyuga, Hinata's older cousin, training on his own. From what Hinata had told you about her family's special abilities and techniques, you assumed he was practicing with the Gentle Fist fighting style, more specifically the 8 Trigrams: 64 Palms jutsu, against a training dummy.
You slowly approached him, being careful not to get too close so as to remain safely out of his jutsu's range. You noticed that his Byakugan was activated, so he had to have seen you, but was either too preoccupied or just didn't care to acknowledge your presence. He was pretty serious, from what you'd observed, and he could never really be bothered with much that didn't have to do with training or missions.

The Hyuga boy suddenly came to a standstill, exhaling as he stood up straight from his fighting stance. He turned his head to look in your direction. "Hello, (y/n). Not a surprise to see you here."

You blinked a couple of times, attempting to shrug off his bluntness. "Umm, yes. Hello to you too, Neji. I hope you're well."

"I'm alright. I assume you are as well."

You thought for a minute on what he just said, wondering if there was a deeper meaning behind it. But you decided to leave it alone and just nodded in response.

"If you're looking for Hinata, you just missed her. She left shortly before you showed up."

You raised an eyebrow at this new information. That's odd. She doesn't normally go off on her own. Unless... "Did she say where she was going?"

"No. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must return to my training." He bowed his head to you out of courtesy, effectively ending the short conversation. Neji picked back up right where he left off, settling back into his usual fighting stance.

You bowed in return and thanked him for his time, however sparing it was. With that, you turned on your heels and headed back out the way you came in.
Knowing your best friend as well as you did, if she didn't tell anyone where she was going, you figured there was only one place where she would go, and that was where you were heading to next. I hope it's still in the same spot as I remember...

~~~

As you came upon Naruto's usual training spot, you only saw him, and no sign of his teammates or sensei, or Hinata, for that matter. That's weird, I thought for sure she'd be here watching him...where could she be? You weren't paying attention to where you were walking, too lost in thought, so you ended up tripping and falling over a tree branch. You yelped in surprise, but thankfully your ninja reflexes were quick enough to allow you to catch yourself with your hands before you fell flat on your face.

"Whoa, (y/n)! You okay?!" The loudmouthed blonde came trotting over to you. Your noise of alarm must have caught his attention. "Here, lemme help you up."

You looked up at his outstretched hand, smiling and gratefully taking it in your own. "Thanks, Naruto." Once he helped you back up onto your feet, you dusted yourself off and adjusted your clothes. "I really need to watch where I'm going...by the way, have you seen Hinata today? I've been looking for her, but I can't find her anywhere..."

"Oh, yeah! I actually wanted to talk to you about her. I think I might have upset her, and I feel pretty bad..."

Now, this took you by extreme surprise. You couldn't imagine how this boy, the one of her dreams whom she idolized and aspired to be like in almost every way, could ever possibly upset her. You simply had to know. You placed your hands on his shoulders tentatively, your eyes full of concern and concentrarion. "Naruto...what happened?"