F A M I L I A R

Change in the Air

When I awoke, I felt like I'd gotten the best sleep that I had in months. I stretched and lifted my blanket away from my body. 

Wait a second. I don't remember falling asleep...

Suddenly, I felt like something wasn't quite right. I opened my eyes and realized that I was in fact laying down, but the pillow my head rested on was not my own. I sat up and looked around the little room I was in. Although it was dark, I could make out my bag in the far corner. I looked down and realized that the sleeping mat and blanket I was currently in were not mine either. Curious, and a little confused, I quickly slipped my shoes on and opened the door, walking outside.

My eyes squinted as they adjusted to the morning light and I took a deep breath. The scents of nature were refreshing, and I immediately felt more awake.

"Good m-morning, Asuna," Hinata greeted me with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did," I replied with a yawn. Hinata was sitting on a log in front of our once-lit campfire, putting things away in her bag. I sat down next to her as I wiped the leftover sleep from my eyes.

"Th-thank you for building that shelter for us last night, by the way," Hinata said. "I was t-telling Kiba this morning that I didn't think I said so yesterday."

At the mention of Kiba, last night came flooding back to my memory. The jerky, the flirting, his face in the firelight, my head on his shoulder...

Snap out of it Asuna!

"Oh, it was nothing really," I said shrugging. I hoped that Hinata hadn't noticed my long pause while I was momentarily reliving last night. "So, where are the others?" I added.

"Th-they went to refill our water one more time, they sh-should be back any second now," Hinata smiled at me. "Why, d-do you miss him already?"

That question took me off guard and I couldn't help but blush. I had a feeling I knew exactly who she was talking about. I raised an eyebrow at her and attempted to sound ignorant. "Miss who already?" I asked.

"Y-you know, Kiba," she said, dragging his name out for emphasis.

"What about me?" Kiba yelled from a few feet behind us. He groaned as he stepped over some bushes into our campsite with Akamaru right by his side. "I heard my name."

Hinata's eyes grew wide and she looked directly at me all in the same second. She obviously wasn't planning on him overhearing her, but I just smiled.

"I was just saying that I wanted to say thank you," I said quickly, turning towards him. "For, you know, letting me use your sleeping mat and stuff last night."

I was pretty proud of myself for thinking on my feet. And it wasn't like I was lying to him or anything.

"Oh, s'that all?" Kiba said, beaming at me. "It was the least I could do. What, was I gonna just let you sit there and freeze while you slept?"

I smiled at him and opened my mouth to thank him again, when Shino spoke. "Alright, if we're all awake and alert enough to have conversation, then I think we should go over the scope of our mission before we proceed."

That's right, we don't even know what we're doing yet...

"Alright, we're all ears," Kiba said, sitting down on the next log over with his hand resting on Akamaru's head. I had the urge to go sit next to him, but decided against it.

Shino knelt down and spread the map out in front of us.

"Okay, this is where we are now," he said pointing to a spot on the map, "and this is the border of the Village Hidden in the Grass. It should only take us a few hours to get there from this spot." His finger rested on a spot highlighted in red. "Once we reach our destination, we will split up into teams of two. Kiba, Akamaru, and Asuna, since you three have the widest range of senses, you will investigate the border of the village and the surrounding area. Search for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. Hinata and I will meet with the village leader and the survivors of the attacks to try and get as much intel as possible. Understood?"