Entangled

In Between - Chapter Twenty Four

AN - I sort of allude to this quote this chapter so I thought I'd post it :P Thanks for voting and commenting last chapter <3 I love reading them :D

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Reminder:

Precipice ~ Hinata: 13/14, Kakashi: 23

In Between ~ Hinata: 17, Kakashi: 27 (about 2 years before Eclectic Love)

Eclectic Love ~ Hinata: 18, Kakashi: 28

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In Between - Chapter Twenty-Four

Hinata lounged on her back porch, her legs stretched out in front of her. Her thumb twiddled the top corner of the page she had been staring at for the past hour. She had borrowed this book on fūinjutsu from the Hokage's personal library. Their resources on the fūinjutsu aspects of spacetime ninjutsu were scarce.

'I should ask Jiraiya-sensei for some of his notes,' she mused, pulling a pen out of the pouch strapped to her leg. She bit the cap and pulled the tip loose. In the small notebook beside her she jotted down a particular point that she couldn't seem to wrap her head around. Her brows furrowed as she reread the paragraph, the pen cap twiddling between her teeth.

"Yo."

Hinata didn't look up from her book. She pulled the cap from her teeth and placed it beside her.

"You know it's not nice to ignore people, Hinata-chan," Kakashi lectured, his own nose pressed into his Icha Icha novel.

Hinata tensed as Kakashi suddenly appeared right beside her, leaning in to peak a look at what she was reading.

"Looking at the Yondaime's jutsu?"

"It was created by the Nidaime," Hinata mumbled absently, her mind becoming more and more muddled as the words on the page started circling.

"But perfected by the Yondaime," Kakashi defended.

Hinata closed the book with a minuscule sigh. She breathed in the warm spring air, swallowing when she met Kakashi distinct earthy scent. Her eyes lifted up, "You were the Yondaime's student."

Kakashi pulled his eye from the thick forestry that bordered her backyard to meet her gaze, "Yep."

"Did you copy any of his Flying Thunder God ninjutsu?" Hinata let a tiny bit of hope slip into her voice. She instantly realized that was a mistake when she caught a mischievous gleam flicker through Kakashi's eye.

Kakashi hummed, tapping his chin in thought. "Maybe."

Hinata kept her expression neutral as she restrained a sigh. For the past month, ever since the end of their first mission together, he'd used every opportunity to try and crawl under her skin with that always present insouciant air. She had settled for walking away from the childish Jōnin, but her patience had fluttered away with today's breeze.

"It's worrying that a Jōnin would have such an unreliable memory," she jibed.

Kakashi stood, slipping his book into his pocket, to try and hide the obvious amusement in his eye. He stretched side to side, "You know people usually say nice things when they're asking for a favour, Hinata-chan."

Hinata readjusted her back from its taut positioning as she squinted up at Kakashi against the midday sun.

Kakashi stepped to the side to block a chunk of the sun's rays. "I'll make you a deal." When Hinata's eyes narrowed a fraction he couldn't help the tilt of his lips. "You take these bells from me and I'll tell you all I know." He patted the jingling bells tied to a buckle on his waist.