Beyond The Stars

#19: Secrets Behind The Walls

"Next time, we don't ever interact with the people of a village." I said, trying to sound as tough as possible, but failed miserably.

"That's impossible, Hinata." Kiba's voice was barely audible.

Kiba and Shino were dragging their feet, obviously trying to say that it was a mistake leaving Konoha.

I sighed, did they not understand?

I stopped in the middle of my tracks, "Do you guys know why we left?"

"We know, Hinata," Kiba said, a hint of sadness tied with his voice, "We just...kind of...miss Konoha."

They weren't looking at me, and the feeling of regret and guiltiness washed over me as I recalled the memories spent on that village.

It's been a week since, and we had just kept going without talking much to one another.

I miss it, too.

Before they could talk any more about Konoha, I spotted another village in the middle of this desert, and it didn't look that far away.

"The Sand Village," I read aloud from the map I was holding.

Looking up from the map, I gasped lightly when a man appeared in front of me.

He was tall, and looked agitated. Despite the wind blowing on the sand, the sand didn't seem to get caught in his ponytail, unlike me.

He was even wearing a green vest of some sort, but looked as if he had just rolled out of bed.

"So? What're your plans? You wanna stare at me a bit more before heading in?" He asked me in a bering tone.

I grimaced, not particularly enjoying his unflattering attitude towards me.

"Come on, Shikamaru. Be nice to the visitants." A gentle voice had interrupted.

He scoffed, "Yeah, yeah."

It was a woman. She was slim, but not too much. Her hair was blonde, but spiky.

It reminded me of someone unpleasant.

Her hair was combed back to place a headband just like Sasuke and Sakura's on her forehead. My guess was that every village but mine had these headbands.

I sighed, "We were just passing by."

We really were, I didn't plan to stay. I mean, the thought of a Sand Village baffled me. Not in that way, but 'why would anybody chose to live here' way.

The woman focused on me for a moment before spreading her lips, "Would it hurt if you could do me a solid before you go?"

I chuckled nervously, "I don't know, we're kindaー"

"Yes, we can." Kiba interrupted me suddenly.

I turned my head around slowly to give Kiba a smile, as it would appear to the two near us.

But Kiba was a close friend, he knew what that smile really meant.

"Are you sure, Kiba- kun?" I added the 'kun' to scare him.

And I obviously succeeded.

He rose his hands up in a surrendering position, "A-ah, actually we are...in a hurry. We are i-in a hurry and we can'tー"

I frowned when Shino put Kiba's hands down, "We can put that aside for now. We'd be obliged to accomplish something for you two." Shino spoke behind his mask.

Damn that Shino! He always loved to challenge me!

I gulped, that's why it was hard to make him quiver before me.