Decaying Bluebells

Arc XI - Tool

Disclaimer: Nao is my baaaaaaabyyyy. But she's my only child in this tale.

Warning: Fighting. Language. Etc.

Beta: Kalafina94

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Interlude - Omniscient - 8

Hinata fidgeted nervously, her fingers twitching, and she had to consciously resist the urge to poke her two index fingers together and look away. No matter how nervous she was, she wasn't going to be deterred. Not this time.

She reached into her pocket, producing a carefully written, brief letter. It had taken months for her to get the nerve to even start writing it, and a while longer for her to finish it. It was already posted and addressed to one Uzumaki Naruto and all Hinata had to do was drop it into the little mailbox. That's all she had to do.

Hinata held the letter over the opening, her fingers clenched tight around it. Her face felt like it was on fire and her stomach was doing all sorts of flip-flops.

A minute passed and she lowered her eyes, dropping her hands.

I still can't do it, Hinata thought softly, staring down at the letter.

"Oi! Hinata-chan. What are you doing here?"

Hinata stiffened and sent a panicked look at her letter before shoving it behind her and turning to face Ino. Ino grinned brightly at her, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Is that a letter? Who's it for?"

"U-Um."

Ino waved her hand. "Never mind, never mind. Look, I came here because I wanted to invite you to a little party I'm having. It's pretty small, but that's alright."

"Party?" Hinata asked quietly, thankful for the change in subject.

"Mm-hmm."

Hinata's eyes flew over to the quiet murmur from behind Ino. Peeking from behind, Nao gave Hinata a small smile. Hinata reflexively returned it with one of her own. Hinata wasn't all that familiar with Nao, nor was she with Ino. They were classmates, certainly, and she knew Nao was a friend of Naruto's. She knew Ino was one of the girls that followed Sasuke around, and she knew that both of their teams were one of the three that graduated the academy and passed their Genin test.

She knew them both fairly well, but she wouldn't think they were especially close. She visited their family's flower shop frequently, and she and Ino shared in quite a few topics on botany. Nao preferred for her sister to do the majority of the talking, choosing instead to sit in a corner quietly and listen to their conversations.

"I-I would be honored," Hinata said, bowing slightly.

Ino's nose crinkled. She whined, "So formal, Hinata-chan. I thought we were friends."

Hinata giggled nervously, a little worried she had offended Ino. But then Ino giggled along with her, her face warm and open. "You're so cute. It'll be this Friday, our place at seven, okay?"

"Okay," Hinata said, fidgeting with the letter behind her back a little bit. Ino beamed at her and turned away, ruffling Nao's short hair as she left.

Nao looked fondly after her sister, before she turned a wide, single pale-blue eye on Hinata. She moved towards Hinata and sidestepped around her, plucking the letter out of her hands and inserting it into the mailbox.

Hinata gave a startled squeak, her eyes wide with panic. "Wh-Wh-Wh—"

"He would have liked that letter," Nao said softly, already turning away. "He likes getting letters. Especially from people he likes."