Hinata had been clinging to Saul even after he treated her to some ramen, so Saul's prospective ideas about the upcoming Scroll of Seals Drama had to be put on hold. She followed him around everywhere, walking after him without complaint. Even as he stood outside of his dorm building now, Hinata remained.
When he tried to ask about what happened, Hinata was quite evasive as well. She didn't want to talk about what happened at all. He knew it had to be something to do with her clan, but what exactly could have caused things to deviate from Canon so much?
Saul looked up at his dorm building hesitatingly. He had dormmates! Three others, in fact! He couldn't exactly bring her in to sleep with him openly now, could he? They'd be the talk of the village!
Hinata moved closer behind him, he could feel the sound of her approach from his back. Hinata stepped up on her tip-toes, her breath both warm and moist against his neck.
"Hey... Saul-kun. I don't want to go back to my clan tonight. I know I'm being selfish, but... Could we just hang out somewhere tonight? Just the two of us?"
Hinata was joyously humming an unfamiliar tune as she walked beside me. Under the pretext of training, I had asked her to come with me into one of the forests surrounding Konoha. I had a nagging suspicion that she wouldn't have cared regardless of the pretext, but this way made it easier in case she was ever questioned.
The truth was, I had chosen this specific area of the forest for a reason. Naruto would be escaping the Hokage building soon with the scroll of seals if he hadn't already. He was shown to be training somewhere in a forest. So, I presumed, the forested area nearest to the Hokage building was as good of a guess as any!
"Hinata, for training today, I was thinking we could do something unique. Why don't we try playing a game of hide and seek?"
"Hide... and seek?"
"Yes! Basically I'll have a certain amount of time to hide from you. Your job will be to seek me out and try to find me with your Byakugan? Making sense so far?"
Hinata nodded.
"The goal of this training is to both improve my hiding skills and your Byakugan's searching skills. However, you mustn't use your Byakugan until the agreed time has passed, ok? Otherwise there will be no point to this."
Hinata looked up at Saul with trembling eyes.
"Saul-kun... You aren't trying to just run away from me, right? I'm sorry I followed you!"
"No, of course not Hinata! How about this..."
Saul leans forward and plants a kiss on her forehead. There. With this the girl should be properly motivated, right?
Leaning back, Saul smiles at Hinata and speaks in a teasing tone. "Each time you find me, I'll give you a better reward than that one! How's that?"
Hinata's current blush was a sight to see. Her entire face was red, and she was swaying, almost as if she was going to pass out!
"Did you get all that, my lovely Hinata-kun?"
It took her a little while to recover, but when she did she had the widest smile.
"En!"
Now for the most important part...
"Oh and one last thing! I'll leave a clone of myself here. That way if you feel like you can't find me, just hit it or something. That way I'll be able to sense it dispel and come running back, ok? Also make sure you dispel it if you see anyone else in the forest! I'd rather not be caught unaware walking into anybody..."
Hinata nods gratefully. That was her Saul-kun, always making sure she would be happy and secure!
Saul left quickly after leaving her a clone. He had given her a time to wait... 20 seconds? Hinata counted in her head.
After around 15 seconds though, she started to feel nervous. It was an irrational fear that crept down her back, lingering at her spine. Where was he? Why wasn't he here, with her?
At the 19 second mark she immediately activated her Byakugan, frantically looking at everything within her sight.
You could imagine the perception granted from the Byakugan like a sphere. Every part of the sphere would be registered at all times within one's peripheral vision. Only a very small portion of the vision could be closely examined at a time. This portion of its vision could swap almost instantaneously - very much like looking around with a normal eye.
One's peripheral vision was very good at tracking motion - it allows people to quickly identify threats present that aren't necessarily the focus at the time. This made the Hyuuga clan exceptionally good when it came to motion. They could instantly recognize and focus on such targets.
It was not so magical when motion was not in play. The Byakugan user had to carefully search each area of their vision, sweeping slowly enough that they wouldn't miss whatever they were looking for. Hinata's growing panic compounded the issue!
She couldn't find him! Had he left? Hinata searched her entire perception range again, finally noticing a tree that was slightly off. The texture of the bark didn't match up - clearly something or someone was hiding behind it! Hinata focused in and found the familiar lines of his face. Saul-kun! She was overjoyed!
Hinata jumped though the forest, zoning in on his location like an eagle who had spotted its prey!
"Saaaulll-kuuun~!!!"
She hugged him excitedly. She wrapped her arms around the camouflage paper he was using, his body, and the tree all at once! Yes! She did it! Now for her reward...
Hinata released him and looked over at him expectantly. Saul obliged, putting his arms around her back. Hinata gasped and leaned into his embrace. His arms, Hinata decided, were her new favorite spot!
Saul then brought one arm and tilted up her chin. Hinata's eyes swam for a moment, then closed as she let him do whatever he wanted. Saul leaned in slowly; Hinata felt as if her heart was about to leap out of her chest! And then!
He kissed her on the cheek... Hinata looked at him with a pout.
"Saul-kun..."
"Yes Hinata?"
"..."
Was he trying to make her say it? No! She wouldn't fall for his tricks anymore! Hinata continued to stare silently at Saul with her lips pursed in a frown.
"You were too slow, Hinata..." Saul explained with a half-teasing grin, "Want to try finding me again? If you're faster this time I might give you an even better reward..."
Maybe deep down he was actually a little nervous, just like she was. After all he had been the one taking the initiative this whole time, all on his own. Even while she was still blinded by her obsession with Naruto-san, he was always there to support her no matter what. Maybe it was her turn to show him how she truly felt!
Hinata nodded with quiet determination. Alright, she could do this!
"Go and hide again, Saul-kun."
She stated, calmly, showing a level of resolve Saul wasn't used to seeing from Hinata.
"When I find you, if y-you don't keep your p-promise... I'll..." ...do it myself... Hinata's face went completely red as she left the rest of her sentence unsaid. How could she say that!?
Yep, there was the Hinata he knew. Saul left a clone with her and vanished again.
As Hinata counted, her mind did not devolve into panic this time. Saul would be there. He would be waiting. He wouldn't abandon her. All she had to do was believe in him and claim what she desired!
Twenty! Hinata's Byakugan opened, scanning the immediate area. She had learned from her prior mistakes, this time she'd do much better!
Hinata was not a girl who performed well under pressure. However, when she could put her mind to things, focus, and show resolve, she was actually an insanely talented ninja! Not long after she started seriously searching, she found clues immediately. A shoe print on a muddy branch there, a couple of scattered leaves from a recently shaken tree.
Her eyes clued in on his location! He was using the transformation jutsu to disguise himself as a fallen log, but regardless of how good his transformation was he couldn't hide the subtle flow of chakra she saw, circulating, maintaining the log's form. She found him!
Just as Hinata was about to go and claim her *real* prize, she detected movement within the range of her Byakugan! Remembering what Saul said her face fell with disappointment, but she still alerted him by dispelling his clone.
Saul showed up a little while later.
"Hinata what's wrong?"
"Saul-kun... Someone's here... Right as I found you too..."
Saul would make it up to her later.
"Who?"
Hinata activated her Byakugan once more, concentrating as she focused in on the individual. Her eyes widened in confusion.
"Naruto-San!?"
Author's Note: Alright that chapter took way longer to write than I initially anticipated, but it's finally done! Going into writing this, I wanted to properly write the interactions with Saul and Hinata as they grow closer, but I also was trying to weave in the subtext of the overall plot. In addition I wanted to make sure the Byakugan got a proper explanation since I plan to explore more and more of its capabilities throughout the novel.
So this chapter ended up being my longest chapter yet, lol. Also if you still haven't joined and were thinking about it soon, join the discord! There are a bunch of cool people and interesting conversations about Naruto - I'd love to see you there!
discord gg YwperMGsBq (no spaces, '.' before gg and '/' before Y.)