January 2, 15 AR (Travels - Part 2)
Characters: Hinata and Gaara
Setting: Suna desert
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: Hinata teaches Gaara how to use his magic to create something positive.
The desert, an ocean of moving earth slowly swallowing those above it with every step they tread. To the horizon on every side nothing but shifting sands and burning sun, but sometimes beneath the sand something more lay in wait. That something more was what Hinata was searching for now. Her fingers swam through the sand as she felt out the water beneath. Hinata finally succeeded in sensing the water on her own, and Eki confirmed it was there, but no matter how much power she used to pull the water up, it remained locked below-trapped in a prison of compressed sand.
It’s no use, Hinata,” Eki called out to her. She could feel his frustration at being so close to the water and not reaching it. “The sand is hardened above it. There’s no where for it to move to.”
Unfortunately, like always, he was right. Hinata pulled her hands out of the sand and sighed. She could feel it, but nothing. If she could just get the sand to loosen... A sly smirk played on her lips as she turned to her new companion. “Gaara, you said you can control sand a little, right?”
Gaara had been watching her, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. After a couple of times, he thought he knew; she was trying to get water up from underneath the ground...
Such a thing would probably require a great deal of magic. It was surprising that she was capable of such things. "...Yeah, why?"
Fresh water might not be out of their hands just yet. She just needed an opening large enough to get the water moving out of its hiding place.
“Can you break up the sand beneath here,” she asked, drawing a circle in the sand in front of her. “There’s water down there, but something’s blocking it. I’m thinking the sand must be too compressed to let the water move at all. If you can make an opening, then I can pull the water up.”
Gaara frowned and thought over her words. This would be the first time he had ever used his sand for something that would actually be helpful. "I think I can do it."
He approached Hinata and put his hand out, over the circle she had drawn in the sand. His eyes closed as he began to concentrate on shifting the sand away from the water. A hole began to form in the middle of the circle, getting wider and wider as he willed the sand to move aside.
Impressed would have been the understatement of the day. Hinata had been expecting a crack and some sand shifting underground, not a hole growing larger as she watched. A little sand magic was obviously not what it he tried to make it sound like. He definitely had quite a bit of power, which she was putting to waste standing there like an idiot.
Shaking the shock out, Hinata moved to the other side of the hole and began concentrating on the water. With Gaara’s magic working beautifully, Hinata could feel the water below moving through the freed sand with ease. Eki dived down to merge with the water and with his added strength the wave near burst from it’s sandy home. And, of course, it drenched the front of both magic users trying to keep it all under control.
Hinata let Eki take care of controlling the small oasis pool now formed in the sand. She was too busy laughing at the sight of them dripping wet, and -to be honest- enjoying the cool feeling after half a day under the desert sun. “I didn’t exactly mean for that to happen.”
Gaara pushed his sopping wet hair back and looked down at the well they had created. He had never done anything like this before... The knowledge that he could do it gave him an indescribable feeling... He was not useless.
"How do you get the water to come up like that?"
Hinata shook the water from her hair and, despite her wishes, felt it spike up in all directions. That was one problem she never had with long hair. Still, it felt good to be in her element again, even if it was only a little well.
At Gaara’s question Hinata dipped her hand in the water to feel Eki nip at her fingers. She really wanted to be able to talk to her familiar again, and if Gaara knew then she wouldn’t have to worry about him accidentally catching Eki and losing the little trust they had in each other.
“Well, I didn’t do it completely alone. I’m still learning my magic. So most of it was me, but I got a little help at the end there.” Hinata lifted her fingers out of the pool and with it came a little koi still biting her fingers. The water fish shimmered in the sunlight, and like it’s real counterpart, the fish flipped back and forth before splashing apart. With such little of his element available, Eki reformed as a small mouse scurrying over the water’s surface.
“This is my familiar, Eki. He’s been with me since before I ran away, and he’s taught me all the magic I know.”
Gaara watched the little mouse run across the water, leaving a series of ripples in its path. It intrigued him; he had never seen a thing like it at all. A familiar...The term was unknown to him.
"This...thing teaches you magic? How?" He glanced back to Hinata, wondering how such a thing was even possible.
“Eki is a water spirit. He can merge with water, control it in ways I’ll never be able to. He teaches me how to use water through human magic that mimics his control to degree.” Hinata picked up the little mouse, letting it melt down and reform as a butterfly gently resting on her palm. “Since there is so little water here in Suna he isn’t as strong as he will be once we reach the ocean.”
Now that he knew about Eki, there was something Hinata was more than curious about. “But, Gaara, how were you able to make such a large hole? To be honest, I was expecting some cracks. What you did was amazing.”
This was how they were different. Hinata only learned skills from her familiar...It helped her, gave her what she needed...While the demon that possessed him did nothing to help him, instead relishing the moments it could torture him. Shukaku was something he knew that he could not reveal to her...
"...I don't know. I just imagine what I want it to do and the sand does it," he said, "Though...sometimes it acts on its own."
“You never had to learn it? That’s amazing.” Hinata was genuinely shocked. Natural magic users were rare, most everyone had to learn at least the basics from someone else. But then.. “Must be a little scary for you, too. If it can act on its own, I mean. I can’t imagine my magic being out of my control.”
Hinata wasn’t scared of Gaara herself, but just imagining the lack of control made her empathize with him. Being out of control in any way was scary.
"It doesn't hurt me, so there's nothing for me to be scared of," Gaara said dully, "It's a barrier against attackers...So if anything, it protects me."
He hated it; he wanted to be like everyone else...and not have some monstrous demon...or sand that kept the people he was once close to away from him. But he did not think Hinata would understand that.
There was a little distaste in his face when he talked about his power, so Hinata decided to drop the subject for now. She pulled out one of the empty canteens and started filling it up in their new little well, the silence letting her mull over whether or not to ask a question she’s been curious about for a while.
“Gaara, you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel like it, but... who are you running from?” He already knew she was running from her family, so who was he trying to get away from?
She had told him already...and done things for him that she really did not have to do... Perhaps he really did owe her some sort of explanation.
Gaara swallowed hard and concentrated his gaze on the sand, rather than on her. "I...I ran away from my family," he said, though 'family' was a term he used loosely. He was not sure what else he could say without scaring her off...
“I guess we’re rather alike then, aren’t we?” she commented offhand. There wasn’t any judgement in her voice or expression. She herself was a runaway, so there wasn’t much she could condemn him for.
"Yeah..." Gaara tried not to get too worked up about it. Thinking about his family made him uneasy. He was relieved that Hinata had changed the subject.
“I’d say we’ll probably get out of Suna by the end of the week. There’s quite a bit of forest before we get to the ocean,” Hinata said, not wanting to pressure Gaara too much before he felt ready. She let Eki rain back to the pool water where he settled into a small seagull resting on the surface. “Eki will be happy to get back to the ocean. Out here there just isn’t enough water to suit him.”
"What happens if there's no water at all?" he asked. It was a problem for him as well; if there was no sand where he was, he could not do anything against anyone, unless he used his dark magic. But if Hinata had nothing else to rely on, it could be quite a problem.
“Well, it’s hard to use water magic without water, and I’m not strong enough to use something that isn’t purely water, like blood or really thick mud. It has to be almost entirely water for me to work with it. I have some other magic, but...” But that was Hyuuga magic, and she’d been reminded all her life just how weak that was. If she had no other choice Hinata would always naturally fall back on her training, but if it’s all the same she’d stick with Eki and water magic.
"But what?" Other magic...?
Gaara had a feeling it was not like his but in some strange way, he hoped it was. He wanted to find that he was not the only one who was the way he was...
“But... it’s family magic,” Hinata answered sullenly. Somehow simply by talking about it was enough to make her father’s condescending voice ring loud and clear. Even in this desert, burned dry of life by the blazing sun above, Hinata could feel her father’s eyes on her, scorning... his eyes filled with disgust as he watched her train.
“Let’s just say, my family’s magic isn’t what I’m best at. It’s one of the reasons left.”
"They didn't like you because you weren't like them?" Gaara asked, trying his best to understand her situation.
That seemed hardly fair...yet he could empathize. His family was basically the same.
“Kind of. My father was expecting a prodigy, but he got me instead.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little, even though she really didn’t know what was so funny about it. “In my family, if you can’t use our magic the family doesn’t need you. And they all make that quite clear.”
Gaara frowned, trying to imagine what that could even be like.
"What kind of magic does your family use, anyway?" he asked, thinking that might help to make sense of the situation.
“Energy magic and manipulation.” She might be rather open with Gaara, but family magic was a sore subject, and she had been taught all her life to never talk about family magic to outsiders. “It’s exclusive to our family because of our eyes.”
Gaara had never heard of people using magic with their eyes before. It intrigued him...He wanted to know how such a thing was possible.
"Because you couldn't use it, they rejected you..." he said aloud, just to make sure he understood her situation.
“Not entirely... I learned it, but... It’s just...” She was ashamed of it still. These years on her own, learning to accept the world, accept what happens... but she still couldn’t accept herself. “I’m the heir to the family. Everyone expected me to be one of the strongest, but I struggled with it. No one wanted an heir who couldn’t master the family’s magic.”
"Ah..."
Gaara stayed quiet after that. Hinata did not seem to like discussing it so he figured it would be better to drop it and not push the subject any longer than he had.
“Yeah...” Hinata played with the sand in front of her to fill up the awkwardness in the air. “What about you? What’re you going to do once you don’t have all this sand to work with?”
"What do you mean?" Gaara asked. As far as he was concerned, he would always have those abilities. Without it, he had nothing to rely on but Shukaku.
“Well, like my water magic, it gets weak if there is no water. Once we leave the desert there isn’t going to be a lot of sand. Once we hit the beach, sure, but there is a lot of land between that. Fields, forests, swamps. Not a lot of those have sand readily available.”
That was something Gaara had not considered, having never been out of the desert before.
"I guess I'll have to rely on...something else then." It was definitely going to be a problem...especially if they were attacked.
“Something else?” Hinata asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to pry... but she couldn’t help but be curious by what he meant.
"Just...I don't know. Hand to hand combat, I guess," Gaara replied after a moment. He knew that at some point, she would find out about his secret. People always did...and they always turned away from him.
She nodded in understanding. Hinata had her family fighting style that she could always fall back on. Even if she wasn’t the best at it, it would still buy her some time in needed.
“Well, you can rely on me if you need to,” she said shyly, a hint of a blush coloring her cheeks. And considering she was finally dressed properly for her gender, she couldn’t be mistaken for anything but a maiden now.
Gaara shook his head slightly. "I can't do that...I don't want to rely on anybody," he said. Of course, in a way, he supposed he was relying on her already; to help him get out of Suna...
But he would not just stand by while she did all the work.
“It doesn’t hurt to rely on your friends,” Hinata said a little discouraged. He was so blunt about it, she couldn’t help but feel rejected a little. Suppose it shouldn’t have surprised her though. They had only been traveling together a few days, and she never did exude a sense of reliability.
"...It's been a long time since I had friends," Gaara said in spite of himself.
He did not want to rely on her...He did not want to end up hurting her or anyone else. If it happened again, he would not be able to handle it.
“Guess that’s another thing we have in common.” Hinata twirled her fingers in the water aimlessly, letting Eki twist around her hand like a serpent to comfort her. Unlike Gaara, she at least had Eki as family.
Gaara nodded slightly. It seemed that the only people they had were each other. He did not know what to do about it, whether to admit that Hinata was his friend or to go on like nothing had changed...
Hinata pulled out the rest of the empty canteens and started filling them from the well. Things felt far too awkward between them now, so Hinata did the only thing she knew how to do... run away. “We should probably start up again. The sun’s not that bad today, so we should be able to make good progress.”
"Yeah...How do you know we're going the right way?" Gaara asked. He was not familiar with the lay of the land at all and could not read a map even if he wanted to.
Hopefully, Hinata had some idea of what they were doing.
“I am following the same underground water veins that I used when I entered Suna. I figured I’d find villages if I followed the water.” Eki was helping her make sure it was the same path, since he could recall the differences in water better than she could. Since it was fairly hard to find maps that would remain consistent in the desert, she hadn’t even bothered trying to get one anywhere.
"Oh...So we are going to leave Suna, right?"
Gaara knew that she said they would but he could not help but grow antsy. After all, there was still the slight possibility that she was fooling him...
“Of course, but the desert isn’t a small place,” Hinata said, not quite sure what to make of his question. She’d agreed to take him out of Suna, so she would. “If we don’t have a sure path, then following the water is the best route. We won’t dehydrate and these veins eventually lead to larger bodies of water. It may not be a straight line out of Suna, but there is no way we’ll get lost, and I know how to get to the ocean from where these go.”
"All right." Gaara knew he would just have to take her word for it. This was a huge risk but it was his only option. He would just have to hope that Hinata really was who she said she was...
Setting: Suna desert
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: Hinata teaches Gaara how to use his magic to create something positive.
The desert, an ocean of moving earth slowly swallowing those above it with every step they tread. To the horizon on every side nothing but shifting sands and burning sun, but sometimes beneath the sand something more lay in wait. That something more was what Hinata was searching for now. Her fingers swam through the sand as she felt out the water beneath. Hinata finally succeeded in sensing the water on her own, and Eki confirmed it was there, but no matter how much power she used to pull the water up, it remained locked below-trapped in a prison of compressed sand.
It’s no use, Hinata,” Eki called out to her. She could feel his frustration at being so close to the water and not reaching it. “The sand is hardened above it. There’s no where for it to move to.”
Unfortunately, like always, he was right. Hinata pulled her hands out of the sand and sighed. She could feel it, but nothing. If she could just get the sand to loosen... A sly smirk played on her lips as she turned to her new companion. “Gaara, you said you can control sand a little, right?”
Gaara had been watching her, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. After a couple of times, he thought he knew; she was trying to get water up from underneath the ground...
Such a thing would probably require a great deal of magic. It was surprising that she was capable of such things. "...Yeah, why?"
Fresh water might not be out of their hands just yet. She just needed an opening large enough to get the water moving out of its hiding place.
“Can you break up the sand beneath here,” she asked, drawing a circle in the sand in front of her. “There’s water down there, but something’s blocking it. I’m thinking the sand must be too compressed to let the water move at all. If you can make an opening, then I can pull the water up.”
Gaara frowned and thought over her words. This would be the first time he had ever used his sand for something that would actually be helpful. "I think I can do it."
He approached Hinata and put his hand out, over the circle she had drawn in the sand. His eyes closed as he began to concentrate on shifting the sand away from the water. A hole began to form in the middle of the circle, getting wider and wider as he willed the sand to move aside.
Impressed would have been the understatement of the day. Hinata had been expecting a crack and some sand shifting underground, not a hole growing larger as she watched. A little sand magic was obviously not what it he tried to make it sound like. He definitely had quite a bit of power, which she was putting to waste standing there like an idiot.
Shaking the shock out, Hinata moved to the other side of the hole and began concentrating on the water. With Gaara’s magic working beautifully, Hinata could feel the water below moving through the freed sand with ease. Eki dived down to merge with the water and with his added strength the wave near burst from it’s sandy home. And, of course, it drenched the front of both magic users trying to keep it all under control.
Hinata let Eki take care of controlling the small oasis pool now formed in the sand. She was too busy laughing at the sight of them dripping wet, and -to be honest- enjoying the cool feeling after half a day under the desert sun. “I didn’t exactly mean for that to happen.”
Gaara pushed his sopping wet hair back and looked down at the well they had created. He had never done anything like this before... The knowledge that he could do it gave him an indescribable feeling... He was not useless.
"How do you get the water to come up like that?"
Hinata shook the water from her hair and, despite her wishes, felt it spike up in all directions. That was one problem she never had with long hair. Still, it felt good to be in her element again, even if it was only a little well.
At Gaara’s question Hinata dipped her hand in the water to feel Eki nip at her fingers. She really wanted to be able to talk to her familiar again, and if Gaara knew then she wouldn’t have to worry about him accidentally catching Eki and losing the little trust they had in each other.
“Well, I didn’t do it completely alone. I’m still learning my magic. So most of it was me, but I got a little help at the end there.” Hinata lifted her fingers out of the pool and with it came a little koi still biting her fingers. The water fish shimmered in the sunlight, and like it’s real counterpart, the fish flipped back and forth before splashing apart. With such little of his element available, Eki reformed as a small mouse scurrying over the water’s surface.
“This is my familiar, Eki. He’s been with me since before I ran away, and he’s taught me all the magic I know.”
Gaara watched the little mouse run across the water, leaving a series of ripples in its path. It intrigued him; he had never seen a thing like it at all. A familiar...The term was unknown to him.
"This...thing teaches you magic? How?" He glanced back to Hinata, wondering how such a thing was even possible.
“Eki is a water spirit. He can merge with water, control it in ways I’ll never be able to. He teaches me how to use water through human magic that mimics his control to degree.” Hinata picked up the little mouse, letting it melt down and reform as a butterfly gently resting on her palm. “Since there is so little water here in Suna he isn’t as strong as he will be once we reach the ocean.”
Now that he knew about Eki, there was something Hinata was more than curious about. “But, Gaara, how were you able to make such a large hole? To be honest, I was expecting some cracks. What you did was amazing.”
This was how they were different. Hinata only learned skills from her familiar...It helped her, gave her what she needed...While the demon that possessed him did nothing to help him, instead relishing the moments it could torture him. Shukaku was something he knew that he could not reveal to her...
"...I don't know. I just imagine what I want it to do and the sand does it," he said, "Though...sometimes it acts on its own."
“You never had to learn it? That’s amazing.” Hinata was genuinely shocked. Natural magic users were rare, most everyone had to learn at least the basics from someone else. But then.. “Must be a little scary for you, too. If it can act on its own, I mean. I can’t imagine my magic being out of my control.”
Hinata wasn’t scared of Gaara herself, but just imagining the lack of control made her empathize with him. Being out of control in any way was scary.
"It doesn't hurt me, so there's nothing for me to be scared of," Gaara said dully, "It's a barrier against attackers...So if anything, it protects me."
He hated it; he wanted to be like everyone else...and not have some monstrous demon...or sand that kept the people he was once close to away from him. But he did not think Hinata would understand that.
There was a little distaste in his face when he talked about his power, so Hinata decided to drop the subject for now. She pulled out one of the empty canteens and started filling it up in their new little well, the silence letting her mull over whether or not to ask a question she’s been curious about for a while.
“Gaara, you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel like it, but... who are you running from?” He already knew she was running from her family, so who was he trying to get away from?
She had told him already...and done things for him that she really did not have to do... Perhaps he really did owe her some sort of explanation.
Gaara swallowed hard and concentrated his gaze on the sand, rather than on her. "I...I ran away from my family," he said, though 'family' was a term he used loosely. He was not sure what else he could say without scaring her off...
“I guess we’re rather alike then, aren’t we?” she commented offhand. There wasn’t any judgement in her voice or expression. She herself was a runaway, so there wasn’t much she could condemn him for.
"Yeah..." Gaara tried not to get too worked up about it. Thinking about his family made him uneasy. He was relieved that Hinata had changed the subject.
“I’d say we’ll probably get out of Suna by the end of the week. There’s quite a bit of forest before we get to the ocean,” Hinata said, not wanting to pressure Gaara too much before he felt ready. She let Eki rain back to the pool water where he settled into a small seagull resting on the surface. “Eki will be happy to get back to the ocean. Out here there just isn’t enough water to suit him.”
"What happens if there's no water at all?" he asked. It was a problem for him as well; if there was no sand where he was, he could not do anything against anyone, unless he used his dark magic. But if Hinata had nothing else to rely on, it could be quite a problem.
“Well, it’s hard to use water magic without water, and I’m not strong enough to use something that isn’t purely water, like blood or really thick mud. It has to be almost entirely water for me to work with it. I have some other magic, but...” But that was Hyuuga magic, and she’d been reminded all her life just how weak that was. If she had no other choice Hinata would always naturally fall back on her training, but if it’s all the same she’d stick with Eki and water magic.
"But what?" Other magic...?
Gaara had a feeling it was not like his but in some strange way, he hoped it was. He wanted to find that he was not the only one who was the way he was...
“But... it’s family magic,” Hinata answered sullenly. Somehow simply by talking about it was enough to make her father’s condescending voice ring loud and clear. Even in this desert, burned dry of life by the blazing sun above, Hinata could feel her father’s eyes on her, scorning... his eyes filled with disgust as he watched her train.
“Let’s just say, my family’s magic isn’t what I’m best at. It’s one of the reasons left.”
"They didn't like you because you weren't like them?" Gaara asked, trying his best to understand her situation.
That seemed hardly fair...yet he could empathize. His family was basically the same.
“Kind of. My father was expecting a prodigy, but he got me instead.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little, even though she really didn’t know what was so funny about it. “In my family, if you can’t use our magic the family doesn’t need you. And they all make that quite clear.”
Gaara frowned, trying to imagine what that could even be like.
"What kind of magic does your family use, anyway?" he asked, thinking that might help to make sense of the situation.
“Energy magic and manipulation.” She might be rather open with Gaara, but family magic was a sore subject, and she had been taught all her life to never talk about family magic to outsiders. “It’s exclusive to our family because of our eyes.”
Gaara had never heard of people using magic with their eyes before. It intrigued him...He wanted to know how such a thing was possible.
"Because you couldn't use it, they rejected you..." he said aloud, just to make sure he understood her situation.
“Not entirely... I learned it, but... It’s just...” She was ashamed of it still. These years on her own, learning to accept the world, accept what happens... but she still couldn’t accept herself. “I’m the heir to the family. Everyone expected me to be one of the strongest, but I struggled with it. No one wanted an heir who couldn’t master the family’s magic.”
"Ah..."
Gaara stayed quiet after that. Hinata did not seem to like discussing it so he figured it would be better to drop it and not push the subject any longer than he had.
“Yeah...” Hinata played with the sand in front of her to fill up the awkwardness in the air. “What about you? What’re you going to do once you don’t have all this sand to work with?”
"What do you mean?" Gaara asked. As far as he was concerned, he would always have those abilities. Without it, he had nothing to rely on but Shukaku.
“Well, like my water magic, it gets weak if there is no water. Once we leave the desert there isn’t going to be a lot of sand. Once we hit the beach, sure, but there is a lot of land between that. Fields, forests, swamps. Not a lot of those have sand readily available.”
That was something Gaara had not considered, having never been out of the desert before.
"I guess I'll have to rely on...something else then." It was definitely going to be a problem...especially if they were attacked.
“Something else?” Hinata asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to pry... but she couldn’t help but be curious by what he meant.
"Just...I don't know. Hand to hand combat, I guess," Gaara replied after a moment. He knew that at some point, she would find out about his secret. People always did...and they always turned away from him.
She nodded in understanding. Hinata had her family fighting style that she could always fall back on. Even if she wasn’t the best at it, it would still buy her some time in needed.
“Well, you can rely on me if you need to,” she said shyly, a hint of a blush coloring her cheeks. And considering she was finally dressed properly for her gender, she couldn’t be mistaken for anything but a maiden now.
Gaara shook his head slightly. "I can't do that...I don't want to rely on anybody," he said. Of course, in a way, he supposed he was relying on her already; to help him get out of Suna...
But he would not just stand by while she did all the work.
“It doesn’t hurt to rely on your friends,” Hinata said a little discouraged. He was so blunt about it, she couldn’t help but feel rejected a little. Suppose it shouldn’t have surprised her though. They had only been traveling together a few days, and she never did exude a sense of reliability.
"...It's been a long time since I had friends," Gaara said in spite of himself.
He did not want to rely on her...He did not want to end up hurting her or anyone else. If it happened again, he would not be able to handle it.
“Guess that’s another thing we have in common.” Hinata twirled her fingers in the water aimlessly, letting Eki twist around her hand like a serpent to comfort her. Unlike Gaara, she at least had Eki as family.
Gaara nodded slightly. It seemed that the only people they had were each other. He did not know what to do about it, whether to admit that Hinata was his friend or to go on like nothing had changed...
Hinata pulled out the rest of the empty canteens and started filling them from the well. Things felt far too awkward between them now, so Hinata did the only thing she knew how to do... run away. “We should probably start up again. The sun’s not that bad today, so we should be able to make good progress.”
"Yeah...How do you know we're going the right way?" Gaara asked. He was not familiar with the lay of the land at all and could not read a map even if he wanted to.
Hopefully, Hinata had some idea of what they were doing.
“I am following the same underground water veins that I used when I entered Suna. I figured I’d find villages if I followed the water.” Eki was helping her make sure it was the same path, since he could recall the differences in water better than she could. Since it was fairly hard to find maps that would remain consistent in the desert, she hadn’t even bothered trying to get one anywhere.
"Oh...So we are going to leave Suna, right?"
Gaara knew that she said they would but he could not help but grow antsy. After all, there was still the slight possibility that she was fooling him...
“Of course, but the desert isn’t a small place,” Hinata said, not quite sure what to make of his question. She’d agreed to take him out of Suna, so she would. “If we don’t have a sure path, then following the water is the best route. We won’t dehydrate and these veins eventually lead to larger bodies of water. It may not be a straight line out of Suna, but there is no way we’ll get lost, and I know how to get to the ocean from where these go.”
"All right." Gaara knew he would just have to take her word for it. This was a huge risk but it was his only option. He would just have to hope that Hinata really was who she said she was...