Uzumaki

Mistrust

After being briefly patched up, Naruto ascended the stairs with a limp, sore and worn out. Sakura smiled, clapping excitedly.

"Naruto! You did it!" she said. "You know, for a moment. I just didn't think you'd manage it, but then...!"

"You were alright, usuratonkachi."

"Gee, thanks, you prick."

"Now, now, children..."

--

The proctor coughed, and the computer whirred for a couple stalling moments, before it came to rest on two fated names. The proctor spoke, but Naruto did not hear him. The screen read:

Sabaku no Gaara vs Hyuuga Hinata

There was the brief buzzing of conversation that Naruto could barely make out, and then he looked to his right, and saw Hinata, meek and quiet and everything soft, walking towards the stairs. He all but ran to her.

Hinata turned her head, cheeks flushing at the sight of Naruto's gentle smile.

"A-Ah! Naruto-kun," she stuttered. "I-I, um..."

Her index fingers tapped together as her gaze shifted to various points on the floor. Her cheeks were a bright red.

"T-Thank you for standing up for me," she said. "I-I..."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a smile. "It's alright, you know? Your cousin is an asshole, but I was just telling him the truth!"

She smiled, cheeks flushed.

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"Anyway," he said, "what I really came to tell you was that, well..."

'Please, God, don't go down there. He'll kill you. He'll rip you to shreds in seconds. He's a maniac. A psycho. A murderer. Hinata, please, for me, don't.'

Naruto gave her a bright white smile, and a thumbs up.

"You can do it!"

The girl stepped back, blinking, before she smiled and nodded fervently, a renewed strength in her tone.

"Y-Yes! Thank you!"

As Hinata turned to make her way down to the stadium in little elegant steps to the red-haired demon below, Satsuki glanced at the white-knuckled, quivering fists at Naruto's side.

His eyes followed Hinata until the very last step.

--

Gaara's flitting gaze was unsettling. Naruto could see it trailing after Hinata, and somehow the swirling of sand about Gaara's back reminded him of the impatient tapping of a foot.

(Naruto did know those eyes.)

"Commence."

(Perhaps that was why he was so scared for her.)

Gaara did not move, and Hinata waited for a moment, in a defensive stance, before springing out of it to run forward with hands alight-

Gaara's sand snapped forward like a serpent and clasped her by the throat.

Her gargle resounded as it tightened, before it bent, swung, and released her to send her flying into the wall. Her back cracked on contact with the wall, and she peeled away from the concrete and fell to her knees, spitting blood.

Wiping her mouth and steadying her shaky knees to stand, Hinata narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath, and ran to the left. The sand was on her tail immediately, before it returned to float around Gaara.