Crash [Hanabi and Suzumo]

[ninjaflowers]

The night after the gala asplosions.Despite the warm days in the Fire Country, the nights were cool. It was blessed relief from the smells the heat had caused all during the day, though blood and the smell of bombs hung in the air. It still made something cold and uneasy curl in his stomach, those smells and the memory of the sounds. Some shinobi

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[ninjaflowers]

Hanabi's sudden waking startled the not quite awake Suzumo, making HIS body suddenly jolt wide awake, adrenaline shooting through him. A deep breath reminded him that the fighting was over, Hanabi was fine, the enemy was dead, and no one was attacking them. His primacy concern, now, was Hanabi with his little hand clutching his sleeve like it was a life line. No matter how much of an adult he acted like, he was still a little boy.

"Safe," Suzumo soothed, much bigger hand curling around Hanabi's on his sleeve. "Hinaji, and Konohako, are both safe. Hinaji I finally sent to rest, Konohako-chan is with her Aunt. I'm safe too, and so are you."

Slowly, keeping his hand over Hanabi's to reassure him, the Academy Sensei slipped down to sit beside the boy. His free hand helped untangle him from his blankets, so he didn't feel trapped and frightened more then he needed to be. Suzumo kept talking in a calm, quiet voice; he hoped it would keep Hanabi calm, while letting him know what was going on. "It's night. Some recovery efforts are still going on, but it's in shifts now, so everyone rests. You've been sleeping awhile. Your brother kept watch most of the day over you. Okay?"

Briefly, he rested a hand on Hanabi's head. "... we're all okay, Hanabi."

[white_sky_eyes]

The coughs subsided quickly, forced down as Hanabi willed them to be gone so he could listen to every word Suzumo said. Hinaji was safe. Suzumo-sensei was safe (was right here, so it was alright). Konohako, Kiba and Sarutobi-san. Safe. So he nodded. Repeatedly. Very, very gratefully.

It wasn't everybody, but Hanabi couldn't in that moment handle names he didn't know - even if he knew he cared. His small world was still fully populated. That was enough. He had his corner, he had his names, and he was clinging to them and refusing to let go.

He was peripherally aware that his sensei was sitting down next to him, talking in his calm and steady voice about things being alright, and setting a reassuring hand on his head. It paled in comparison to the fact that he suddenly couldn't get his fingers to unclench from the cloth of Suzumo's sleeve. His eyes each hurt from temple to nerve, distressed by the unprecidented use he'd put them to with the Byakugan, looking for survivors and bodies; but he didn't lift a hand to touch them.

This time he didn't have to cough. "My eyes hurt. Did I..." He seemed to be searching his memory, trying to recall the last thing he remembered, but kept coming up with nothing. "...how did I get here? I was helping..." He only then realized it was dark, and squinted up at Suzumo as if the night sky burnt like the sun. "You're okay, right? You're okay?"

[ninjaflowers]

"I am okay," Suzumo answered first and foremost, rubbing Hanabi's head lightly. "I am perfectly fine besides a little tired, and a lot worried about you right now. Physically however, there's nothing wrong."

Still ruffling Hanabi's hair a little, he continued. "All of us Konoha shinobi and dignitaries are accounted for. Some a little battered and bruised, worse for the wear, but all alive and accounted for. You used the Byakugan a lot, I think it put a little strain on you. I brought you over here. You had collapsed. And you did help Hanabi, a lot. You saved quite a few people."

The quiet pride in Suzumo's voice was muted, but there. Hanabi had overdone it, yes, but he had stayed calm when faced with a terrible situation and done very well. More praise would come later, when Hanabi was calmer and clear headed enough to accept it.

[white_sky_eyes]

Hanabi was quiet, thoughts and pulse having started to settle once he was reassured once again that Suzumo was fine. He remembered being worried about that before. The rest of what Suzumo said didn't quite settle in his brain yet, mostly because it didn't count as important. What mattered was that Suzumo was alright, and so were the others. Or they would be.

"Okay then," he said quietly, acceptance.

It was going to be alright. Whatever had happened, whyever those cloaked people had attacked, it hadn't cost--

--Hanabi closed his eyes, and remembered bodies. Some of the people they'd found had died, or been dead. Hanabi had seen the dead before, but he hadn't seen them die.

He felt sick. But more than that he just felt tired. And his eyes hurt from overdoing it. Sensei was right there anyway. It really was alright, even if it didn't feel that way. And he didn't want to worry Suzumo any more.

"Sorry Konohako and I snuck off before," he murmurred, eyes still shut. "Pressure of the diplomatic circle was just getting to us, I guess."

[ninjaflowers]

... oh Hanabi.

The Hyuuga where not the most affectionate of clans. They didn't do displays of emotions, or tears, or hugging or anything like that. Suzumo had seen that since he was a boy and saw it more keenly now as an adult. Young Hanabi was no exception. He had been taught that shown emotion simply wasn't what you did. But the unspoken words and subtle shifts in his body language gave away his fears. And it wasn't like him to apologize for doing something he would have considered awesome at another time.

So ignoring how the Hyuuga eschewed contact, Suzumo leaned down and loosely wrapped his arms around the young boy, a light hug. "... it's all right that you snuck off. Sneaking off is what probably spared you injury, and I'm very very grateful for that, Hanabi. Very grateful."

[white_sky_eyes]

Hanabi couldn't remember the last time anybody had hugged him, and it didn't matter that there was a reason for that. He just left his eyes closed, took a heavy breath that seemed to push a little of the weight from his lungs, and stayed there. Leaned on somebody for once in his life.

"I know," he said. He did, after all. He knew that hollow fright, now better than ever before. He didn't notice when his hand finally loosed its grip on Suzumo's sleeve a few moments later as even his stress-shaken reflexes left him. His mind slipped away, wandered away from where they were now that it convinced it was safe.

He couldn't wait to go home and pet Haruhi and Hiroki. He could see them in his mind's eye if he concentrated now, purring by the window. And his mother, crossing the courtyard with even and perfect steps he couldn't copy yet. And Nejiko, bitching at him for showing his face. And Konohako yelling something ludicris that demanded a reply. And Kiba and Hinaji leaving on some awkward date with Akako alongside. And Tentsuke out at the Forge. And...

[ninjaflowers]

... Hanabi didn't need to be awake. He needed to be asleep, dreaming of nothing, just blackness. Suzumo kept his arms around Hanabi, protecting him silently in the best way he could now. This was going to hurt the young man, in many ways and the sensei only hoped that he could help those hurts later on. Now though... now was still a time to sleep.

"Rest, Hanabi," he murmured, very quietly. "I'll stay right here."