青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 18

Spring
Monday—10:43PM

"Calm down." Sasuke sat on the arm of the sofa, his back hunched and the cloak she gifted him wrapped around his body. His bangs were covering his left eye as they usually were, and his arm [although hidden] was stuffed into his pocket. He's been watching her pace the distance between the entrance of the hallway and the living room for a while, her hand in front of her lips which she was not so secretly gnawing on. Her anxiety was practically palpable from where he was sitting.

"I can't." She stopped moving, still, her foot was tapping against the dark oak floorboards in a rhythmic pattern. "I don't want to mess this up." Her hair was braided and wrapped into a bun, her bangs moved out of her face to allow her to see better. Her casual clothing was replaced with her baggy sweater and pants, her hands wrapped in bandages as they usually were and a mask pooled around her neck.

"You're not." He stood up and approached her. His hand twitched at his side, his mind bothered by the end of her bun that stuck out awkwardly. Sucking up his pride, he reached out and fixed it in a swift motion before resuming his nonchalant attitude.

Hinata was too occupied with her inner horrors to actually notice that, for once, Sasuke's touch was lighter than ever. Quick, yet careful the moment he touched her hair. Her breath hitched once Naruto joined them. It was real, all of it was real, and they were actually about to infiltrate the Hyūga compound for what? To get a glimpse at some registry she wasn't even sure existed! When was the last time she's even seen one, now that she thought about it, she was sure that they stopped the practice of keeping a book filled with every resident bearing the Hyūga title after such a large number of casualties during the war. What if she was wrong?

"Stop it, Hinata." Naruto waved his hand in front of her face, "everything will be fine." He didn't touch her, or reach out to her like he usually did to comfort her. "Sasuke and I are here as backup; we go in and out very quickly, just stick nearby since you know the compound like the back of your hand. There's nothing to worry about."

"I know." She twisted her hands in the fabric of her light jacket, letting it swallow her whole as she shrunk further into it. "My father is just...if I pull this off, he's not going to be happy."

"When is Hiashi ever happy?" Naruto smiled at her, "come on, let's go before you chicken out completely."

"I will not!" She pouted as she followed him outside.

"You were five seconds away from calling it quits and picking a different day." Sasuke closed the door behind them.

Hinata was sandwiched between the two men as she walked. She didn't really mind it, it felt new and welcoming to have someone else at her side besides Kiba and Shino. Adding to the fact that their chakra just seemed to love coddling each other despite the distance between all of them and it felt very soothing. She couldn't help but to slouch her shoulders slightly as she focused on the dull humming coming from their inner cores.

"I was not." She finally muttered. With a defeated sigh, and a shameful look directed in both of their directions, she dropped her head—preferring to stare at her feet instead of at them or up ahead. "I don't want to be a burden. This will be my first time working with the both of you, and I'm aware that you two have a...connection of some sorts that allow you to communicate without actually talking. I know the territory we're dealing with is familiar to me, which means that I have to make sure that you two don't do anything that will alert my family...nevertheless, I would need to relay messages with you in a way neither of us is familiar with."

"We're all new here, Hinata. Though...Sasuke and I do have a history, but we can work it out! Say, how about we use standard hand signals like they used back during Kakashi's time? My eyes are pretty good in the dark, and I have no reason to believe that it's any different for the both of you."