Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Team ❯ Team Making It Work ( Chapter 5 )

Title: Team- Making It Work

Author: Persephone-sings

Date: 12/01/04

Author's note: Enjoy the next part and thanks for all the great reviews!

Making It Work

By the time Naruto had reached the walkway outside Tsunade's office, there was no sight of Gaara. Looking around, he wondered what could have sent the guy off in such a hurry.

Leaning against the railing to wait for Hinata, Naruto considered the fact that his third teammate could just not be a very sociable guy. Based on what Gaara was, a vessel for a demon like Naruto, he could understand why Gaara would be wary of forming attachments. Hell, until Naruto had formed team Seven, he hadn't really had the opportunity to form relationships. And even though Naruto had never liked the thought of being alone, the thought of getting close to people had frightened him more than he would have liked to admit.

So, he could understand where Gaara was coming from, if not where he was planning on going. He figured that if he could just take it slow with the Sand ninja, they'd be able to become friends. Until then, Naruto would have to settle for a really powerful teammate and a (hopefully) great sparring partner.

Having Hinata as their third member would be a little awkward at first. Naruto was never sure how much strength or power he could use around her. He didn't want to frighten her and he certainly didn't want to harm her. But he wasn't sure how people could grow stronger if they weren't challenged. He figured between himself and Gaara, she would have plenty of challenges, both physically and mentally. After all, wasn't Sakura complaining all the time about how much he drove her insane? He'd hate it if that happened with Hinata, too. She was always patient with him when he didn't understand stuff and he was actually looking forward to getting the jutsu scrolls so she could help break down the written techniques for him.

He saw her walking down the hall through the window and shrugged mentally. It would all work out and if it didn't, well, Naruto would have to make it work. He didn't want to disappoint his new teammates after all.

Hinata smiled at him as she walked through the door and at sixteen, Naruto had to admit she made a pretty sight. Short and slender but not so skinny he'd be afraid to break her if he touched her the wrong way, her dark hair was always neat and tidy around her face and she always seemed filled with an inner peace that made him, with his constant motion, a little jealous sometimes.

"Oi, Hinata, where do you think Gaara is? I figured we should go pick up the scrolls so we could get started." Naruto pushed himself off the rail from where he had been leaning to fall into step next to her as she walked down the stairs.

She glanced around, "He's not here? I figured when he said he had to leave that he would go and come back so we could go get the scrolls. Hmm, maybe we should head out towards his apartment?"

Naruto slid his gaze over to her.

"Do you know where he lives?"

Hinata stopped walking and turned to look at him, "No, I thought you did!"

He shook his head with a sardonic grin and sighed. "Guess we better start walking then?"

"Well, we could always go back inside and ask?"

He shook his head, "Now where's the fun in that? C'mon! I think we should treat this as a mission! It could be the Find-Gaara-and-get-to-know-Hinata mission!"

Laughing, Hinata gave in and followed him down the rest of the stairs.

Gaara, meanwhile, had exited the building as quickly as possible without drawing any notice. His blood was singing in his veins and he could feel Shukaku roil around in his head angrily.

Disgusted with himself for being so weak as to fall under Shukaku's blood lust, Gaara's hands clenched into fists so tightly he felt his nails cut into his palm. It wasn't his own blood that was needed, however, and so Gaara headed into the forest.

Loathe to hurt innocent people and gratified that he now felt so, Gaara had been forced to resort to hunting game to suppress the demon under his watch. It was degrading to be ruled by such a creature, but with the pounding in his head and the constant worrying about hurting people and what they saw him as and how they felt about him, he had less control over the demon's emotional influence over him than he liked.

Flying across rooftops, Gaara could nearly feel the game under his hands waiting for the death blow. Sickened by his satisfaction at death (though he still had trouble differentiating between his and Shukaku's emotions when they were strong and fierce), Gaara wondered again how anyone could want to partner a monster such as himself.

Walking through the crowded market streets in the village, Hinata felt hostile eyes on her and refused to acknowledge them. The villagers were watching her walk with Naruto, she knew. She knew, yes, but she didn't care. She had long since gotten over worrying what the townspeople felt or judged or decided. As long as she was happy with herself and the people she cared about were happy, Hinata had decided that all others could take a running leap off the cliff that rose over the village. In fact, she tended to hope more for that to happen than anything else.

Any other day, Hinata would have walked past them with her head high and her mind clear, but she had felt Naruto stiffening beside her the longer they had walked the streets. He saw the people, too. Saw them and was bothered or hurt by them.

She wanted to touch him, to take his hand and show him she didn't care what other people thought, but she had never been could with casual touch and worried that it would look too fake or awkward to make him feel any better. So she had to settle for words.

"Naruto?"

He looked at her unhappily, tension lines around his mouth and crinkling at his eyes.

"Hinata, maybe we should just call it a day."

She stopped in the middle of the street, causing a nosy old lady to either walk around her or walk into her.

"We haven't found Gaara yet." Naruto dropped his gaze and pretended to study the street beneath their feet.

"Hey, Hinata . . .do you really know what you're getting into by teaming up with us?" Clouded blue eyes traced the lines of the houses, the shops, the carts, anything but her. It felt good that he worried about her, but it hurt because he was worrying because he felt it was his fault.

And as another disrespectful person walked by, making no attempt to hide his staring, Hinata's temper started to fray.

"Naruto, are you asking me if I know what you house or are you asking me if I care?"

His eyes shot up to meet hers and he frowned but he was honest, "A little of both, I think."

She smiled sadly at him, "I know and I care." Before his face could fall, she hurried on. "I care, Naruto, because it hurts you and it affects you and it makes your face drop and your smile disappear. I don't care about what other people say or do or think or feel. I only care what the three of us feel or think or do about it, okay?"

His smile was so beautiful and pure and whole that it blinded her to anything else around them and she wished, for a second, that she had brought a camera with her so she could have captured this one perfect moment.

Well, perfect besides the fact that one of their teammates couldn't be found, the townspeople looked ready to lynch them if they didn't start walking again, and she wasn't quite sure how to make their three-person team a success.

Falling back into step next to him as Naruto started walking again, Hinata decided that all those things didn't matter because they could find their missing teammate, they could ignore the villagers, and most of all, she knew they could eventually make their team work.