青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 42

Summer
Wednesday—10:43AM

They rummaged through her closet, trying desperately to find something of substance as the time ticked. Naruto went through the storage boxes gathered from the shed out back, while Sasuke threw her clothes onto the bed.

"I don't know how much time we have, but we need to hurry." Naruto said as he sat on the floor while going through the boxes. "What are we looking for exactly?"

"Something from that shaman, or better yet, the map to the temple or whatever. It would be easier to find if we get something from there, Aoda can help with tracking."

"Gamakichi can help too, I think. It shouldn't be this hard to find the things Hinata used for her trip, I mean, where else could they be if not inside her own home?" He paused, "you don't think she got rid of it, do you? I mean Chō."

"Disrespectfully, I don't think she thought we would get out of the Shinigami's grasp, so no." Sasuke pushed his hands into the pockets of all the sweaters Hinata had. "I also don't think Hinata would be stupid enough to get rid of that map. Why would she?"

"Fair point. This box has nothing." Naruto pushed it aside and took another. "Can't we use the rope she came with? The one that was always hanging around her room."

Sasuke paused as he straightened up. "Sometimes you're really smart."

"Haha, very funny, Sasuke." He rolled his eyes then frowned. "I don't think our chakra should interfere with the tracking thing, right? It's been here for months, does it still have any traces left from that place."

"Keep the pessimistic thoughts to me, you're supposed to think everything works out while I say otherwise." Sasuke muttered, changing his focus to finding the rope instead of the map.

"I wasn't aware that we had roles." Naruto smiled softly. "Fine, everything will go perfectly okay. Chō isn't doing anything bad right now, Hinata will make it out within the hour, we will find that temple, and we will live happily ever after."

"There you go, that's some good affirmations or whatever the hell Karin talks about."

"Karin is into manifestations? I didn't peg her as one of those kinds."

"I think we're losing the plot here."

"Sorry."

Sasuke shook his head as he scoffed, he was just glad that Naruto's rambling was making the pressure seem bearable at the moment. If the shaking of their hands weren't enough to prove how downright anxious they were, then it was the way they practically pause every few seconds to breathe.

Breathing felt hard knowing that their other part was caught somewhere she shouldn't be, being drowned over and over again while the one she trusted wandered around in her body.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, startling Sasuke. "Sakura, we forgot Sakura! She's supposed to be meeting Hinata for her check up this morning, but Hinata isn't exactly here. What the hell are we supposed to do about that?"

"Clones." Sasuke answered, "just to stall."

"Clones won't cover us for long, we have no idea how long this is going to take. That, and if she encounters Chō, she's going to think it's Hinata and get herself involved. That's if Chō isn't wreaking havoc on the village. The village! Oh gods, I forgot the village." Naruto held his head. "There's so much to do, Sasuke, how are we supposed to make sure things are okay? We can't be everywhere at the same time."

"Naruto, you're panicking."

"People might get hurt, I don't want them to get hurt. I don't want them to see Hinata as a threat because of Chō. We can't avoid that though. What if you go to the temple since you know more, and I go stop Chō? Would that be better? Would I be able to stop her? She's using Hinata's face, I can't hurt Hinata."