Summoner-nin

Part Three: Team Kage

Chapter Seven

"Oh. My. God. Is that him?"

"Yeah. Doesn't he look creepy?"

Hinata pretended not to hear as she and Shino strove down the Academy's hallway towards the schoolyard for recess. Even without her superior hearing, their voices weren't that hard to make out. It was as if they wanted to be heard, as if they had no idea what a ninjawas and that all their training up until then had been moot or unimportant. She didn't understand why they were looking at them, or even pointing at them. Didn't they know that it was rude?

"I heard they ate bugs!"

"I heard bugs live inside them!"

"What's with the sunglasses? I mean, he even wears them inside."

Hinata fought the urge to frown at the comment, or even to press her fingers together in uneasiness under all those eyes. Her peers, some older but most were younger, did not understand that the Aburames' eyes were very sensitive to light. All her peers were, as the Hyuga would put it, grossly ignorant of the ninja clans, but then Hinata would never lay such prompt judgement on others. It was very inappropriate to think lesser of other people. They, too, were capable of speech and thought. They were only expressing their opinions, after all.

"Why's the Hyuga with him?"

"Eyes plus bugs equals: creepy."

Now she pressed fingers together, certainly uncomfortable and she did not find their comment about her eyes very nice. Hyugas took much pride in their bloodline limit and if she were another Hyuga, say her cousin, they would not have gone unharmed from such a... such a... mean remark.

She peeked up from her bangs to look at Shino strolling at her side, walking down the hallway as if he hadn't heard those cruel observations made about him and her. Although Hinata may not have known it, he had faced such crass comments for years, but from what she had garnered from their short walk in just those five minutes...

She was not pleased and, if she were perhaps a little braver like... Naruto, she may have said something... maybe even pull a few pigtails to get her point across. She had noticed that it was wrong for a boy to hit a girl, but when girls fought... it was more than just hair-pulling and nail-scratching, but words were thrown that kunai. She has seen the girls swarming like insects around Sasuke, and no one blinked when they started screeching at each other.

Hinata supposed she could screech too... somewhat... a little... maybe a peep if it meant that they would stop saying uncomfortable things around Shino. They really should know better, after all.

"I think-"

But the rest went unheard when Kiba suddenly propelled himself down the hallway yelling, "WAIT UP, GUYS!" Akamaru's enthusiastic bark followed after, tongue lolling about and saliva dripping down the once immaculate Academy's floor.

As effective as a bowling ball knocking down all ten pins at once - A STRIKE! - Kiba knocked into both Hinata and Shino in a giddy laugh, stringing an arm around Hinata's shoulders and wrapping his other around Shino's.

"I thought you'd be waiting for me!" Kiba lightly scolded, Akamaru barking up at the trio from their feet, happily jumping about.

Shino shifted his feet in order to account for Kiba's added weight; Hinata almost falling over from the impact, but she did not deny that Kiba leaning against them was comfortable. It was almost endearing how he had attached himself to the two of them after her first dinner at the Inuzukas. She was glad, delightedmore like, to have one more person added to their recess endeavours and lunch group.

Shino fixed his sunglasses, Kiba having jarred them a moment ago, and said, "We were not about to wait on you when you had angered sensei."

"Wha-?" Kiba exclaimed with exaggerated offense. "It wasn't even my fault to begin with! That clown Naruto-"

Hinata blushed and quickly scanned about to see if the blond was nearby to even hear Kiba's complaints of him. Fortunately, Shino was there to cut the boisterous Inuzuka off.

"Regardless of who started the fight," Shino reasoned calmly, placing his hands inside his coat when they finally broke through the doors and walked into the chilly spring for recess. "You are just as responsible for continuing the argument."

"Aww, c'mon," Kiba whined; Akamaru mimicking his young master. "It wasn't even that serious! It was only chalk and-"

"Still responsible," Shino said stiffly.

Kiba decided then for some back-up and turned to Hinata with a pout and puppy-dog eyes. It was good that their posse numbered three, because arguments could never end up in ties. "Hinata-chan! Help me out here! Naruto's the one who threw the chalk at me first and I only threw it back in self-defence."

Hinata faltered, suddenly nervous under Kiba's obvious attempt to manipulate her... and she would be lying if she said it wasn't working. It seemed everyday consisted of her being the tie-breaker in Shino and Kiba's "debates," but unfortunately for both males, Hinata was incapable of taking sides, at least not between the two of them. She privately feared that taking the side of one may offend the other, and she certainly didn't want that. Besides, Kiba was Kiba and Shino was Shino...

Whatever troubles they may get into, she would always support them, and with Kiba's arms solid around her shoulders and Shino's buzzing presence beside her... Hinata smiled and said nothing, a response the boys were used to by now.

Friends accepted each other's flaws, she believed.

Kiba could only sigh at her silent smile and then "discreetly" looked over his shoulders at the girls who had been speaking about Shino and her behind their backs. The moment they noticed him watching, theKiba Inuzuka who was both popular and charismatic, they clapped their mouths shut and said nothing. His glare had been startling, to say the least.

He turned back to his friends and Hinata caught his eyes. She smiled appreciatively at his actions, in which he blushed and returned a sheepish smile of his own.

Friends protected each other, even when the others didn't know about it-

"That was unnecessary, Kiba," Shino said.

Friends protected each other, even when the others knew about it and thought that it was unnecessary.

Kiba shrugged Shino off and said, "Whatever."

"Hey, Kiba!" a boy from across the schoolyard called out, waving his arms in the air to catch the Inuzuka's attention.

Akamaru barked excitedly.

"Hey!" Kiba returned to the boy, just as enthusiastically.

"We're gonna play some baseball! You in?" the boy shouted; the group around him calling out to Kiba simultaneously.

Kiba looked to Hinata and then Shino. As much as he was their friend, he was still the Kiba Inuzuka, still popular and charismatic, and a boy among the boys. And as much as he would like to join the boys, or as much as he would like Hinata and Shino to join with him, they all knew that the other boys wouldn't appreciate it.

Luckily Hinata and Shino were not baseball material, and Hinata, ever considerate and observant, gave Kiba a smile and excused him, "You should go play, Kiba! Shino and I are going to watch from our bench, alright? I'd like to see you win!"

Kiba grinned, knowing exactly what the girl was doing. She wiped away all the guilt he'd have if he left the two. Knowing that she was giving him the all-clear, he grinned and nodded. "You better get a good view of me, cause I'm gonna kick some butt! Just you watch me, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata beamed and nodded as Kiba unattached himself from her and Shino. She bent briefly to pat Akamaru on the head before watching the boy and his dog run across the schoolyard to be with the other boys at the Academy, calling out something like he wanted to bat first, whatever that meant.

"You are very considerate, Hinata-chan," Shino noted aloud.

Hinata blushed, nodding. It was good that she was no longer "Hinata-san" to either of Shino and Kiba, but was now "Hinata-chan." She would have to get used to it soon, otherwise she was going to keep tripping over her feet like that.

"H-Hai," she answered as they took a seat on their bench. Behind them was a flowerbed still filled with semi-frozen dirt and yet to have flowers sprout. Once, with the byakugan, Hinata saw that it would contain tulips and crocuses in the spring. She couldn't wait, eager to see them and the kikaichu crawling along the petals. It was certainly be delightful.

Speaking of kikaichu...

Hinata turned to Shino, wincing when Sasuke's crowd of fan girls screeched maniacally somewhere in the distant playground, and asked, "A-Are you alright, Shino-kun?"

The Aburame blinked from behind his sunglasses and inferred, "What do you mean, Hinata-chan?"

She shifted uncomfortably, her eyes on the ground. She didn't know exactly how to ask because she didn't want to bring up bitter feelings. "Th-The girls i-in the hallways... Th-They s-said th-things and..."

She couldn't continue, too busy frowning at the memory.

Shino calmly fixed his sunglasses again and replied, "Do not concern yourself with their gossip, Hinata-chan. They do not understand us."

Hinata pursed her lips and would have felt a lot better if she couldn't hear the kikaichu rumbling discontentedly in Shino's body. They were upset, a direct reflection of their carrier. Although outwardly Shino was calm and unperturbed by the... mean girls, Hinata knew better. She had spent months with Shibi and knew his moods; Shino's moods were a lot more blatant than his father's.

The girls had hurt Shino's feelings.

Hinata was embittered, but she wasn't the hair-pulling type. All she could do was smile at Shino to hide her own uncertainties, and planned to make cookies for him and Kiba that night. Cookies always made her better.

Cookies always made Tora better, along with a saucer of warm milk.

xxx

Zero scanned the horizon from her hiding spot in the forest's tree line. All before her was a vast flat plain of muddy earth and soaked grass, a farewell gift leftover from an embittered Winter to a much too flighty Spring of cold rains one day and warm suns the next. Today was one of those cold rain days, much to Team Kage's chagrin.

From her position on one of the highest branches, Zero watched the Owl, or rather Owlet, she had sent earlier returning to perch on her arm. Although a baby owl did not blend in as well as an adult owl, she had summoned a smaller familiar rather than opting something bigger that could be sighted, even if they were in one of the lesser populated areas of the Konoha-Kusa border.

"Mistress," the baby Owl hooted respectfully. "There is nothing out there."

Even an Owl as young as this one had been taught exquisite manners. The stereotypes had been right. Owls were wise and patient. Even with the chill and the wind, the small Owlet dared not to shake the rain off from her feathers, in case it would offend her summoner-nin.

Zero frowned, hidden from her summon by the blank white mask of Team Kage, and mused aloud, "I see."

If she was Shikaku, she would have said, "Troublesome," but Anko had once told her that no one outside of the Nara Clan was allowed to use that word. Apparently, according to Anko, the word and phrase, "Troublesome," was copyrighted by the Nara Clan, but Hinata had yet to ask her most senior sensei if it were true.

"Mistress," the Owlet spoke politely. "Perhaps it will not appear until nightfall."

Zero tried not to squirm at the prospect, but could not train that little aspect out of her. It was, after all, not very often that one was looking for a ghost. From the mission report they had been given, there was a rumour of a ghost out in the fields by the Konoha-Kusa border. Wanders would pass by and find themselves waking in the morning covered in dust, jabbering about something being, "Beautiful. Very beautiful. Most beautiful. No one more beautiful than you..."

She got the chills just thinking about it.

"Thank you," she told the Owlet and then dismissed the Bird summon.

Taking a moment to recover from her bout of nervousness, Zero jumped down from the trees and made back towards their small camp. She made sure to tap the small string outlined around their camp three times to signal her return, rather than a trespasser stumbling towards them. Cold, tired, and feeling heavy, she nodded her return to the others of her team and sat by the small fire in the middle of their camp.

They spent a good day traveling to the border and with the rain and cold, they were all a little tired, if not agitated at their circumstances. Ghost stories were never light heartening, nor desirable.

"Nothing," Zero reported as Four Point Two curled around her feet to keep her warm.

A nasty wind hurled through across the tops of the forest trees, leaving them untouched in the middle of branches and trunks. It felt like a foreboded wind to Zero, and she scowled at herself for her childish fears. There were no such things as ghosts, and she was in the middle of a mission! She should concentrate.

One sighed wearily from his spot around the fire, hunched over his knees in a lazy fashion. "We'll have to wait for night then."

Another chill, this time not from the wind.

Two, ever boisterous and rampaging, scoffed and threw her head back as if to mock the forest, a combination of dark branches and sinister vines. "I can't wait to see this 'ghost.' Bet'cha it's just somebody walking around with a bed sheet stealing people's money."

Three eyed two from behind his high collar and shook his head. "None of the wanders had reported missing money or any of their possessions. They were, however, delirious."

Four retrieved the teapot from the fire, normally Zero's chore, but the girl had been gone earlier for reconnaissance, and poured out five delicate cups. The tea was to fend off the cold. "What do you make of these 'lights' the victims spoke of?"

One shrugged, and Zero was too uneasy to contemplate. All the victims had reported that before they became unconscious, they saw pretty lights, like stars, floating in the distance. It bothered Zero more than just a little at the information.

"I think one of us will have to be bait," One said.

Zero was not going to volunteer for the job. Two and Four didn't appear too pleased with the idea either.

"The victims were male," Three noted.

One sighed with a, "Troublesome," and knew that it was up to him. "Fine." He sighed. "I'll do it. We'll need the kikaichu to track chakra anyway. Remember, our target is those 'lights' the victims spoke of."

Two huffed. "I don't even understand why we're here. This isn't under our jurisdiction. It can't possibly be a summon."

"You never know," Four placated. "It could be. And even if it wasn't, this will be good experience..."

Four trailed off, but they all knew what she meant as One through Four turned to face Zero. The mission was a good experience for the girl, something the four jounins agreed on, even if the forest was wet and cold and chilling and more than a little ominous.

It was good experience, or so they told themselves.

One sighed and stood. "Night's approaching."

They all kicked back their teas and then readied their kunais and senbons. The rainy drizzle didn't let up, the clouds thick - there would be no moon tonight, but that was the least of their worries. The supernatural, ifit was indeed the work of a supernatural being, was hard to deal with regardless of the aid of moonlight.

"I'll go ahead," One said. "Two and Three one group. Zero, Four and Four Point Two. Split."

Zero turned to Four, who nodded in response, and they counted to five minutes exactly before bolting towards the fields. Two and Three made up the right flank, while Zero and her group made for the left - both hiding in the skeletal foliage just behind the tree line. In all honesty, as she knelt by a pine bush and looking out into the dim fields, Zero thought that One looked rather supernatural standing in the plains by himself. The black of his coat was like a torn cowl swaying in the wind, melting into the darkening night; his mask a glowing white, ghostly and translucent.

Zero held back a shiver, placing a hand on Four Point Two's maw to calm herself. As another breeze whispered by, dragging rain across her mask, she slowed her breathing as they waited patiently for those "lights" they were looking out for. As for One, he was walking with his back hunched, as if a wandering trying to avoid the rain. It was curious why, as a wanderer, he would not seek the forest for shelter, but they did not believe the ghost would mind such a poor façade.

"Are you cold?" Four asked her.

Zero smiled, and then shook her head when she remembered that Four couldn't see her face. In response, Four nodded and they waited silently, almost with baited breath, for their target to arrive. But for a good hour, crouched on the ground, their legs being drained of blood and skin chilled by the wind and the rain, their patience was being tested. When another hour went by, Zero had to dig her fingers into Four Point Two's fur, if only for some warmth and a hard reminded, with her nails pinning her palm, to remain awake.

The cold was starting to slow her heart rate.

Swallowing, Zero could feel her legs cramping and her arms turning brittle. Leaning subconsciously on Four Point Two, the third hour ticked by and she was beginning to feel her eyes droop. Her breathing was becoming long and drawn out, and she could vaguely hear the same coming from Four - Four Point Two was already dozing!

As mysterious as their lack of perseverance was, Zero couldn't do anything to wake either of them out when she felt herself begin to sink. Her eyelids, flickering open and closed, began to close - the cold sinking into her bones and dragging her deeper and deeper into the darkness...

Squinting, trying to stay awake, she thought she saw soft glowing fairy lights float lazily across her eyelids and-

Zero jolted awake when she felt a very hard, very sharp pair of pincers bite the corner of her right eye. Almost immediately, Four Point Two stood wide-awake; Four still a bit dizzy, but she, too, was lucid. Without a second thought, Zero stood, forcing her legs to her commands, and ignored the pricking feeling of her leg being asleep to gape at the little spores of light in the air, twinkling like streetlamps in the rain.

But that was all she saw.

She could not see One wandering in the fields.

She could feel Three's kikaichu skittering down her cheek now that she was awake. It had been a kikaichu who had woke her. Acknowledging her earlier fallacy, Zero activated her bloodline limit; Four now standing and Four Point Two sniffling the air weakly. The rain, wind and mud made it hard for the dog-nin to pinpoint anything.

Immediately, the world turned bright with light and colours; the fairy lights like the stars in the sky, making it even harder for her to see in the dark. But one thing became apparent to Zero at once: One was missing.

Her heart stopped, but only for a second, before she turned to Four. "I can't see One."

Four tensed, even Four Point Two appeared uneasy.

But before any of them could make a point for a search, a willowy voice suddenly reverberated in the air, "Who is the most beautiful one of all?"

Zero and Four caught each other's eyes.

In other circumstances, they would not be perturbed, but the fairy lights made them sleepy and the voice was rather warm and comforting, like a blanket wrapping around them to keep them safe from the rain.

Their opponent was using some sort of mind-numbing jutsu.

Zero felt her head loll forward, sleepy, and when she finally brought her head back up, she saw... the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on.

Hair like a fine spider's web floating in the wind, eyes like rare fireflies, and dress like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings... the woman was stunning, and she before the three of them with an open smile and welcoming arms, thin and slender like a fragile cicada. Zero felt unworthy - was unworthy before such a beautiful woman. She humbled her, almost brought her to her knees with her beauty and such a sincere, warm smile...

"Come, child," the woman called out, a twinkling echo like a ladybug scampering across one's palm. "Do you not think I am beautiful?"

"H-Hai," Zero answered nervously, self-conscious of her own appearance in front of this woman.

"Come forward, child," the woman encouraged, reaching her hand out like a dragonfly skimming the surface of a pond. "Come take a closer look at me and tell me how beautiful I am."

In a hazy cloud, Zero was lucid enough to think, briefly, that the woman was strange for asking her to confirm what she thought was quite obvious. The woman was beautiful. Must Zero assure her of her own beauty? Anyone with eyes, and Zero had eyes (the special kind), could see it.

"Vain," Zero thought, even as she crept closer to inspect the woman, drawn to her like a fly to a flame. "Ugly."

"Excuse me?" the woman asked, quite petulantly too.

"N-Nothing." Zero wriggled uncomfortably under the woman's displeased eyes. She did not want to disappoint her, not someone so beautiful, even if the woman's eyes were narrowing like a black widow ready to strike.

"No," the woman said, as dark as a fire ant. "Say it to my face, child. Tell me I am beautiful, now."

Zero hesitated, a bit irritated now. Even the fairy lights couldn't dull her edge of frustration. "You are beautiful. Why do you need me to say so?"

The woman raised a brow, waspish. "You must say so because you must tell the truth. I am beautiful and that is the truth. Thus you must say so."

For a moment, Zero thought of all those girls at the Ninja Academy, pretty in their own rights, but made wicked in the way they had talked about Shino. This woman, she thought, was just like them. She couldn't be beautiful - not like that. She couldn't be worthy - not like that.

She couldn't be real, because she was ugly.

Zero formed the seals and cried out, "Kai!"

In the glow of fairy lights, the illusion warped and bubbled until all that was left was the grimy forest, dark and gloomy in the rain and clouds, like a watercolour painting gone bad. The "fairy lights "were not fairy lights at all, but large yellow spores, like dust that threatened to crawl its way under her mask to suffocate her. She found it hard to breath, turning around to shake Four and Four Point Two awake.

"Wha...?" Four fluttered blearily.

Zero opened her mouth to explain, even as she choking on the heavy ethereal dust, but she didn't have the time to explain when she finally, finally noticed the giant summon flying above One, its wings like giant fans blowing at the rain and damp grass - swaying the forest like a hurricane.

No hesitation.

No second guessing.

Zero flew out from under the tree line and into the plains, her feet slipping on the mud - chakra to anchor herself. One was under the genjutsu too, she could tell, but he was putting up a pretty good fight from her perspective. At her peripheral vision, she could see Two coming up from the right. Three, even with his kikaichus, had gone to Four, a little jarred himself.

Zero drew out a kunai; Two's flashing in the dark at the ready.

The summon, a beast that she couldn't quite see in the dark and rain, whipped out something - its tongue! Zero called out her byakugan and almost faltered at the sight, the dust spores, glowing an eerie white, illuminated the summon like a bulbous monster, hairy and dirt-grimed.

Its tongue was lashing out at One!

"Summong Jutsu: Ookami!" she screamed through the wind.

The Wolf sprang out from the darkness, now the size of a house, and launched into the air like a deadly shadow. His teeth, moon crescents, snapped shut around the foreign summon's thorax, a resounding crunch of the exoskeleton a blood-curdling sound. A high whine, ear-aching, sounded and Zero slid to a stop beside One, hurriedly checking his pulse-

"I'm fine," One waved away her hands and stood, leaning slightly into Two.

"Fuck," Two cursed, noticing the sliced bloody wounds on One's torso.

"Paralyzing fluids," One informed them.

Zero gritted her teeth, angry. Very angry.

"Zero-"

But the rest of Two's warning was lost to her as she streamlined towards the two summons doing battle in the distance. With her byakugan, she could see everything as chakra outlines, different colours storming around in response to emotions and use. Blood pounding, angry and more than a little disappointed in this summon, Zero threw her body across the slippery, cold grass and drew the kunai up, hard and fast enough to slice through the summon's underbelly, having been too distracted by the Wolf to notice the child-nin.

The summon roared, its left wings torn and bloody from Ookami's work. But even as Zero quickly threw herself back onto her feet, she knew Ookami was starting to become delirious under the effects of the spores. He was barely standing as it was.

"Dismissed!" Zero called him back. "Summoning Jutsu: Shika!"

The Deer King ran his antlers through the enemy's remaining wings, effecting bringing the monster to the ground; the spores draining out in the rain. It could no longer keep up any genjutsus as it was, breathing haggard and bleeding on the ground.

Zero had no more sympathy for such an ugly creature, walking right up to its face and shrieked, "IS BEAUTY SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE TO HURT OTHERS TO HAVE IT?"

Shika took a step back, shocked at his mistress' erratic behaviour. But one chance glance at One and he understood. Suddenly he wasn't very level-headed himself either.

The enemy summon screeched, thrashing about, tongue whipping at the air.

"YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND, CHILD!" the creature screamed. "YOU ARE NOT A MOTH!"

Zero fisted her hands, glaring at the giant Moth, all broken and battered.

"NOBODY WOULD COMPARE YOU TO A BUTTERFLY!" the Moth cried out in rage. "NOBODY WOULD TAKE ONE LOOK AT YOU AND WANT TO DESTROY YOU BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE-"

"You're telling me about rejection?" Hinata yelled, wanting to punch the summon. Never had she felt so, so infuriated by a summon before. How could such a powerful, stunning creature be subjected to such vanity? "YOU DON'T KNOW REJECTION UNTIL YOU'VE FACED A MY FATHER! I HAVE NEVERMET A SUMMON LIKE YOU! DISHONOURED BY YOUR OWN VANITY. DEGRADED BY YOUR NEED FOR APPEARANCES. MADE UGLY IN YOUR WANT FOR BEAUTY. ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED? ARE YOU NOT EMBARASSED? DO YOU NOT FEEL UGLY NOW?"

The Moth's scream shook the skies and ground, infuriated at the girl's words, but Zero would not hear any of it!

"I have seen a lot of moths in my life," she hissed, deathly sharp. "But I have never thought them ugly until now. Until you."

The Moth stilled, narrowing her eyes at the girl in shock and rage.

"You are a petty little thing," Zero spat at last; could have spat fire if Fugaku had taken the chance to teach her.

The Moth gritted her pincers agitatedly and scoffed, "You say that now, girl, but when you are older, you will know the curse of being ugly."

"Fuck you, insect," Two hissed dangerously, sauntering to the battle scene like a warrior ghost out for vengeance. "There is no one more beautiful than Zero, so don't you dare belittle her, you fucktard."

"Ha!" the Moth mocked. "Beautiful? She is but a child. The most she could be is pretty. Beauty can only be had in adulthood."

"You are wrong, Ga," Shika spoke, his voice soothing and full of knowing. "She is made beautiful for who she is, not how she appears."

The Moth hissed at the Deer. "You do not know beauty, Shika. You never will."

"It is not that Shika does not know beauty," Zero said, finally calm enough to feel a little guilt for shouting at the summon, "but rather you are blind."

"Child," the Moth berated, but Zero cut her off.

"Do you see this rain?" she questioned, quick and efficient.

The Moth narrowed her eyes and bit out. "I am not blind."

"Do you not find it beautiful?" Zero asked her.

The Moth laughed, full and mocking. "It is all dark and dreary, and you think it is beautiful?"

"Yes," came Zero's quick, unhesitating reply.

The Moth paused.

"It is beautiful because it sings in the night as it falls to the ground," Zero explained, calmer now, even relaxed as she listened to the rain whisper through the air like soft chanting. "It is beautiful because it dances with the trees." The forest swayed in the background. "And I know that after this storm, the sky will be the brightest it has ever been this week, and the sun will be like satin red as it rises." She smiled to herself at this, a smile that transmitted to her voice. "The rain brings life with it; crocuses will grow, grass will green, rivers and streams will run and thrive. That is why this rain is beautiful, because of what it entails and does for others, not what it appears."

The Moth frowned.

"You are blind," Zero repeated, confirming it as sure as the rain was beautiful. "But I can help you."

"What?" The Moth was taken aback.

Zero - no, Hinata - lifted her hand and offered it to the summon. "Come with me, Ga." The Moth twitched at her name. "Come with me and I will open your eyes to what real beauty is. I will show you the world and why you, too, are beautiful... and how you can become even more beautiful."

The Moth twitched, the blood from her wounds running into the soils as she eyed the child with care. She noted the girl's confident stance, her steady hand - the warmth that resonated from within her. Perhaps it had been the rain, or the wind, or the darkness of the night, but Ga should have known, should have sensedit.

Calmer now, the Moth raised herself from the ground, only slightly what with her body torn all over, and spoke with a dark resonance, "Summoner-nin."

"Hai," Hinata answered, confident and unafraid.

The Moth hummed to herself then, her antennae moving towards the child. Two stiffened, but held back as she watched the antennae touch Hinata's face, briefly, and then her arm, briefly, before settling into Hinata's hand.

"You are not beautiful," the Moth concluded, if a little vain, "but I can feel the power within you."

Hinata nodded. She dared not speak unless she was sure Ga would leave.

"Perhaps..." the Moth said hesitatingly. "Perhaps you will be advantageous for me?"

Hinata frowned. "I do not want to be advantageous." The Moth scowled. "I want to be your friend."

"Hmph," the Moth sounded derisively. "How is that helpful to me?"

Shika shifted, his patience running thin, even for him.

"Because friends see the true beauty in each other," Hinata confirmed, thinking of Shino. "And if I were your friend, Ga, I will be able to tell you that you are beautiful - without lying or under the influence of a genjutsu."

Ga shuffled uneasily for a moment, meeting eyes with Shika briefly, before sighing. "I suppose there is nothing more beautiful than the truth."

Hinata smiled under her mask and gave a nod, faltering when the Moth withdrew her antennae from her hand and slid behind her wings. She had thought that she had convinced the Moth, but-

Hinata paused when Ga drew out a summoning scroll - her summoning scroll - and placed the heavy paperwork into her arms.

"Will that suffice, summoner-nin?" the Moth mocked, preening her hairy thorax.

Hinata beamed. "Yes."

xxx

"Why does he wear that coat?"

"I know, right? It's so ugly."

Hinata calmly unpacked her bento, a frown marring her features. They were talking again, speaking about Shino as if he couldn't hear when the whole class could. They had no shame, and no manners at all!

"He's definitely hiding his gross bugs under it."

One of the girls leaned into another and whispered, "I bet he's-"

"HEY!" Kiba barked, deafening the whole class during the nosiest time of the day: lunch. It certainly was some feat. "I'm tryin' to eat here! Mind shutting your trap?"

Hinata ducked her head, trying to hide her smile, but Kiba caught it while he took a seat at her desk. They shared a smile as Shino lifted the onigiri from his own bento, calmly biting into it as if Kiba hadn't made a scene. Hinata looked to Kiba, and then Shino, both at her desk having lunch with her.

It was so beautiful, this friendship.

"Wow, Hinata-chan," Kiba voiced, bewildered. "You sure packed a lot today."

He was referring to the extra box she packed, and in response she beamed and replied, "A-Actually, these are cookies I baked for us."

"For real?" Kiba said with enthusiasm; Akamaru wiggling through the legs of Hinata's desk in reflection of his young master's excitement.

"Mmhm!" Hinata nodded, prying opened the lid of the box to show a good dozen of chocolate chip cookies. "C-Cookies always make me feel better, so..."

Both Kiba and Hinata flickered their gazes to Shino, and then quickly looked away.

Shino calmly set his onigiri down and picked up a cookie. With a tentative bite, he looked to Hinata and gave her a nod. "It is delicious."

Hinata beamed in response, and as if Shino's acceptance of the cookie was a signal for the "okay," Kiba launched himself at the cookies and stuffed two in his mouth at once, crumbs falling to the floor for Akamaru to snatch up cheerfully.

Hinata giggled happily.

She didn't care what others said about Shino, because she knew Shino was beautiful. They didn't understand just how much he meant to his kikaichu. Perhaps the insects were frightening at first, but they were a work of art unto themselves, their exoskeletons formed just enough to give them strength, their antennae that could read chakra signatures and their mouths able to leech off others... They were like the perfect creation, a balance of power and agility.

And the girls didn't know that, with her byakugen activated, Hinata could see the white chakras move around Shino like stars in the sky, like planets around the sun. The others didn't know that Shino was beautiful because he was a universe unto himself, a provider of life and home for others - a milky way that rivalled all other galaxies. It wasn't about what he looked like, but rather who he was.

They didn't know that Shino was-

"I think you're beautiful, Shino-kun," Hinata murmured gently.

She surprised the boys, she noticed, but they did not gainsay her.

In fact, Kiba chuckled and turned to Shino. "Yeah. What she said."

Although they could not see because of his high collar, they knew Shino was smiling appreciatively.

Friends understood one another's hidden qualities.

"I'll make cinnamon buns next time!" Hinata announced, quite firm too, as if in challenge.

"Alright!" Kiba grinned, high-fiving Akamaru's paw. "Can't wait!"

Shino nodded in confirmation. "I would like to try them, too, Hinata-chan."

She looked to the both of them and felt a warmth pool into her stomach and hug her close. It was a feeling of safety and the relief that she was wanted and always would be. They made her so happy sometimes that she couldn't sleep at night.

Now she knew what having friends felt like.

xxx

the point