Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind

The New Hokage

Stepping out onto the dirt road, I quickly turned to lock the door, but paused to glance quickly at Neji, "Do we have everything?"

"I have the house keys." he frowned in slight confusion, "We won't be out for long. What do you think we need?"

"The house keys?" I sassed, using my own to lock the door, "You never know."

"Relax, will you." he sighed, smiling slightly despite himself.

I was about to shoot a 'look who's talking at him' when the rapidly nearing sound of an approaching dog distracted me, and I hardly had time to warn Neji before he just barely missed getting plowed over by Akamaru.

"What in the-!?" Neji stumbled back, tripping over onto the ground.

I held my hands out and shut my eyes, waiting for the impact, but when nothing occurred I reopened my eyes to see the frighteningly large dog sitting directly in front of me, tail wagging excitedly.

"Akamaru!" I heard Kiba's frantic yell from down the street, seeing him sprinting towards us.

Ignoring the dog, I walked over to Neji to help him up, Kiba aiding me when he reached us, "God, Neji, I'm so sorry. I have no idea why he keeps running off like that."

Neji shook his head, shooing away our hands, "No, no, it's fine."

Akamaru's dejected whine drew our collective attention, Kiba glaring pointedly at him, "Not cool, man."

He only whined again, walking over to me and trying to push his nose up against my hand. With a sigh, I decided that petting him would probably save us some trouble, "Did you miss me or something?" I asked.

"You gotta keep yourself under control, buddy." Kiba stopped down in front of the dog like he was scolding a child, "You can't go running people over like that. You aren't a puppy anymore."

"Understatement." Neji huffed.

"Aw, look at that!" we looked back down the road to see Shino and my replacement, Izumi, strolling at a much more leisurely pace towards us, Izumi being the one to have spoken obviously.

"You guys sure took your time." Kiba grumbled.

"Why would we run after you and your dog?" Shino responded, crossing his arms over his chest in his trademark 'my logic is irrefutable' stance.

Kiba only gave him an exasperated look before waving the topic away with a dismissive hand, "Whatever, we're all here now, so let's go."

"What is happening?" Neji looked around the sudden group, asking the question that was frankly on both of our minds.

Izumi seemed to take this as some sort of opportunity, as he placed a hand on Shino's shoulder with a smile, "Well, Shino here is sad, and so I thought it might be nice to get his favorite people together to hang out with him."

"You're making a massive assumption there." Shino dryly commented.

"AKA, a team 8 outing!" Izumi continued, completely undeterred by Shino's snark. Removing his hand from Shino's shoulder, he walked over to me, hugging me around the shoulders with one arm and a big smile, "And, of course, our group wouldn't be complete without Hinata!"

He was only met with the silence of multiple horrified stares, and in confusion he glanced at me to see what was absolutely one of my most effective 'you're touching me right now, prepare to be annihilated' looks. It's not like I was trying to do it, but old habits die hard and I was not ready to get so touchy-feely with a guy I barely knew.