Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Team ❯ Team Demon-Spawn ( Chapter 10 )

Team Part Ten

01/09/05

Part Ten

The chicken forgiven and forgotten for the moment, Hinata, Naruto, and Gaara all entered Tsunade's office laughing and talking.

"I bet we have to save some village from an evil overlord! How cool is that? Maybe we'll even get to save a damsel in distress or the captured town friar!"

Gaara quirked an eyebrow at the excited man standing beside him, "Or maybe we'll have to go help some old lady weed her grass or buy her groceries or make soap."

"Oi, Gaara! Don't go giving the old lady over here any ideas! She might change our mission if she thinks you really wanna do crap like that, eh Hokage?"

Tsunade glared at the two men in front of her desk and then cast a sidelong look at Hinata. Hinata met her gaze with a rueful smile and a shrug of her soldiers as if to say, "hey, I can't control them either."

Standing up and placing her fists atop her desk, Tsunade cleared her throat loudly. Gaara and Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"I bet we have to go capture a magical creature or an S-class ninja!"

Gaara snorted disdainfully, "More like a rabid cow or a gambling man trying to escape his debts."

"AHEM! Gentleman, when you're ready, please?"

The two men still arguing turned their attention begrudgingly to their leader, who sat back down with a huff. "My goodness, you'd think you two grew up together let alone just started on a team together! How do you put up with this, Hinata?" The smile on her face belied her exasperated tone, letting the three ninjas know she was pleased with their progress as teammates.

Hinata flashed a small smile, "Well, you get used to it, Hokage. Comes with the territory." Tsunade laughed and motioned for the three ninjas to sit in the chairs sitting before her desk.

She handed each person a scroll and opened one herself.

And she waited.

And she peeked at the three before her. They were staring down at their scrolls.

And she waited some more.

Naruto was the first one to recover.

"EH? Old lady Hokage! What the hell is this? Some kind of joke, right? Right? Right?" Naruto slumped deeper into his chair, throwing his head back and covering his eyes with an arm. "Sick, sick joke. Of all the . . . are you having someone follow us? Cause there is no way you could possibly have done this cruel joke if you weren't! It's not fair!" He wailed to the ceiling.

Hinata concentrated heavily on the scroll in her lap. She kept having to swallow her laughter down and was struck by a sudden case of the hiccups. Hearing Naruto still wailing of the injustice of the mission, she burst into hiccuping laughter, bent over at the waist in her chair, clutching the arms to keep from falling out.

Gaara wondered idly if she was choking but decided if anyone could be making those noises, she had to be breathing. Giving in to his first impulse, he leaned over and tentatively patted her back, hoping to bring her back from the brink of insane laughter she seemed to be leaning towards.

Hinata finally managed to catch her breath, leaning back in her chair and giving a heaving sigh of relief. It had felt good to laugh like that. And even though they were going to get disgustingly dirty later on, she couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather do it with.

Of course, she thought as she looked at Gaara and smiled brightly at him, this could be seen as payback for poor Herbert in her hall.

Gaara gave her a grimace in return and turned his attention to Naruto. The poor blonde was still wailing to the ceiling and cursing the Hokage. Having had enough nonsense from his teammate, Gaara reached over and punched his arm.

"The faster we get this done, the faster you can go have ramen, Naruto. How bad can it be?"

Hinata nodded her agreement, "I'll even call ramen tonight my treat, okay?"

Naruto looked at his two teammates, tears pooling in his eyes, "But you guys! We have to herd chickens!"

Hinata burst into laughter again and Gaara shook his head resignedly.

It was going to be a long day.

A very long day.

oooooooooooooooo

Hinata stared in shock at the massive number of chickens running rampant through the woman's yard and even into her neighbors' lawns.

She closed her eyes and counted to ten.

Opening them, she was dismayed to find that not one chicken, not even one, had managed to make it into the pen that Naruto and Gaara were currently rebuilding.

Turning to the grey-haired woman standing next to her, Hinata cleared her throat awkwardly, "Mrs. Kiyoko, how in the world did all of these chickens get loose?"

Amika Kiyoko, mother of five young sons attending the Konoha ninja academy, flushed a deep red and let out a forced laugh, "Ah, well, you know how kids are, deary!"

Hinata nodded, though she really didn't know, having had no real experience with children. She was about to make her way through the sea of endless poultry to help her teammates when Mrs. Kiyoko grabbed hold of her hand.

Turning back towards the plump older woman, Hinata smiled, "Did you need anything else, Ma'am?"

Mrs. Kiyoko smiled back at her, "I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your help today. We do seem to have an awful lot of chickens, don't we?"

Hinata hummed an agreement and moved on to help Gaara and Naruto.

"Hey, Hinata, can you nail this for me?" Naruto was holding a large board of wood against a stout fence post, already sweating in the mid-morning sun.

Grabbing a hammer and some nails, Hinata pounded two pieces of wood back together, careful not to bash in Naruto's fingers.

She ended up following her teammates around the fence, securing planks of wood for the two men as they struggled with the awkward, heavy pieces.

When the last board was set in place, the sun was high in the sky and Hinata was sure it had to be close to noon. She wiped sweat from her brow and noticed both men were sweaty as well. Good, at least she wouldn't be the only sticky, smelly ninja walking back home in the evening.

Gaara eyed the chickens, heaving a tragic sigh, "This is going to take forever."

Naruto, having already waded into the sea of chickens, yelped as one nipped angrily at his fingers. "Ow! Dammit, hold still you stupid bird before I change my dinner plans from pork to chicken ramen!"

Although his threats made no progress with the chickens, Hinata and Gaara were suitably impressed by his varied ideas and curses.

Gaara muttered his share of cursing and swearing as angry chicken after chicken pecked, nipped, bit, and flapped at the three ninjas trying to herd them back into the fenced-off pen.

Hinata squeaked as another chicken flapped its way into the air right in her face. A nice solid whack with the flat of her palm at the squawking chicken landed neatly in the pen. "I don't think I've ever seen so many mean birds before!"

Growling, Gaara pulled a chicken from under his shirt and held it up in front of him, "I really wish you guys would stop referring to them as birds. In my book, they only register as dinner."

Laughing, Hinata shoved dark hair from her eyes and looked around. "Can you believe we've been working at moving chickens for almost two hours and we're not even half done?"

Naruto, feeling as though he was being watched, glanced around and found the object of his discomfort. Mrs. Kiyoko was glaring at him through the glass panes of her front window.

He tried to shrug it off, but as the afternoon continued, he just kept getting more uncomfortable by the minute.

Hinata noticed it and mentioned it to Gaara.

He shrugged, "She hasn't really left the window since she went inside. I don't know why he's bothered by it so much. He should be used to it by now."

Hinata frowned, "Yeah, but, her stare isn't really that friendly."

Gaara shot her a sardonic look, "Your point? When have stares directed at us ever been friendly?"

"Well, I've had just about enough then. He can barely stand still, it's making him so ill at ease! This is ridiculous." Pushing her sleeves up to her elbows, Hinata fixed her own glare on the woman at the window and marched up to it.

Mrs. Kiyoko was startled out of her staring by the sharp rap of Hinata's knuckles. A look at the young woman's face and Mrs. Kiyoka disappeared from view. Less than a minute later, she stepped outside the front door.

"Can I get you something, Hinata?"

"Is there a problem, Mrs. Kiyoko? If we aren't doing something right, you should let us know."

The older woman grimaced and sighed, "I do have a question."

Hinata crossed her arms over her chest. "All right."

Mrs. Kiyoko bit her lip nervously, her brown eyes flicking between Hinata and the two men currently dodging a chicken's latest attack. "Do you . . . well . . . that is to say, are those two who I think they are?"

Hinata felt her blood chill, "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

The older woman leaned over towards Hinata and whispered, "Are they the demons?"

Hinata stiffened and stepped out of range of the older woman. "I don't consider them to be, no. Is that a problem?"

Anger at the younger woman's curt words made Amika Kiyoko fearless, "Why, yes, indeed there is! I don't hire demon-spawn to help around my house. I was not informed that those two would be coming today. If I had been, you can rest assured that I would have declined the help from the village leaders."

Hinata looked at the formerly nice older woman in shock. "Excuse me, did I hear you correctly? Did you just call my friends demon-spawn? Can you be so truly ignorant?" Hinata ignored the gasp the woman standing in front of her gave, and ignored the way her voice rose as she continued, "This is too unbelievable! Is every person in this village completely stupid?"

Naruto and Gaara looked up as soon as they heard Hinata shout. Wide-eyed, they shared a look before stepping hesitantly towards the irate woman.

Hinata blocked the front door with one arm as Mrs. Kiyoko tried to walk through it. "I'm sorry, did I give you the impression that I was done? No? Good." Hinata stepped forward, a little sick at heart at how she enjoyed when the older woman took a step back. But Hinata had finally had enough.

Feeling caged and restless, Hinata began pacing back and forth, "I have tried to be patient with this village. I've even tried to rationalize people's behavior in my mind. But, and let me be frank, I am at wit's end! I hate the fact that when I walk down the street next to my team, whispers and taunts and jeers follow us. I hate that people stare at them as if they're monsters. I even hate that we only go to that damn ramen vender because it's the only one that Naruto feels comfortable around."

She stopped her restless movement and stood in front of the stunned woman. "I am even beginning to hate people. Individuals, Mrs. Kiyoko. I have never before truly hated a person. Until now. And you fit very neatly into that category."

Naruto stepped forward and held out a hand, "Um, Hinata? Maybe you should stop while you're ahead?"

Hinata shook her head and laughed a little shrilly, "I don't think so, Naruto. I'm covered in chicken poop and dirt and grass. I have splinters in every finger and bite marks up to my elbows. Hell, I even think some chicken tried to grope me!"

Stepping down the front steps, Hinata walked to their packs, grabbed them and marched over to Gaara. Thrusting his into his hand, she tossed Naruto his and began to leave the front yard.

Halfway down the drive, she stopped, turned, and shouted at the women still standing on her front porch. "You know what else, Mrs. Kiyoko? The only demon-spawn I see in this yard are your damn chickens!"

And with the last word, Hinata practically skipped down the street.

She didn't notice her two teammates bemused, worried faces as they trailed behind her.