Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mokushita Hyuuga ❯ Chapter 4
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hinata's trip back to her small cottage was fairly uneventful. After giving over Kouden, she had picked up some groceries and tipped a few back at the bar. Hinata ran her fingers along the edge of a small end table by her door. Lifting her fingers to her face, she sighed. It was very dusty. She hadnt cleaned since Kouden started his training.
Hinata sighed, and then sighed again because she noticed that she was sighing alot. Moving towards her room, she dumped her bags on the floor and flopped down on her bed. She lifted her hand and half heartedly pushed the curtains back. It was morning now. The birds were just starting to twitter. Closing her eyes Hinata fell into a much needed sleep.
Thock! "Nnn...Naruto..kun...that's a wall..." Hinata mumbled.
Thock thock! Hinata opened a pale eye. she noticed it was dark out. Had she slept that long?
THOCK! The noise got louder. Hinata rose and activated her byuakugan. There was someone at her door. Deactivating it, she opened her door and saw a girl, who appeared to be in her early 20's.
The girl's eyes were wide, sparkling bright blue in the moon light. Hinata glanced down and gasped. She was covered in blood from her elbows down, and all down the front of her dress. The girl started, as if she was in a daze.
"P..Please! You have to help! My partner! He's hurt, and I can't do anything more! Thank god someone lives out here!" She said, frantically, the words climbing over themselves to get out of her mouth. Hinata, slightly taken back at the volume of her voice, nodded. The girl grabbed her hand yanked Hinata out of her house.
"This way...Oh Kami-sama, there were so many..." the girl let out a shuddering sob that Hinata felt through her hand... The girl stopped and gasped,
"Oh no! I forgot to ask! Do you have any medical supplies?" Hinata moved her fingers around, the girl was squeezing them hard and they were slowly going numb.
"Ano...I'm a medic nin..." Hinata said, and opened her mouth to say more, but the girl gave a tension filled laugh and pulled Hinata to where ever her partner was resting.
They'd been running for a full five minutes before they arrived. But Hinata knew they were getting close. There was blood everywhere. On the trees, the ground, even in the moonlight she could see that everything was slick. Hinata tasted bile in her throat. It reminded her of that day.
"...N..naruto-kun? Naruto-kun? No! Naruto!" Hinata yelled, shaking the body of her blonde boyfriend. Hinata's hand slipped, and she looked at it. Red, that's all she saw. She fell to her knees, her other hand, red too. Hinata looked at her shirt, everything was red, red with the blood of her love. Her hands started to quiver. Hinata looked at the sky. It had started to snow. The stark contrast of the snow on the blood is was caused Hinata to snap. Her wordless shreik could be heard for a mile around...
Hinata blinked. She hadn't thought of that in years. Night mares, yes, but thoughts? No. She thought it was best for her mental health not to dwell on her past. Hinata shook her head.
The girl had let go of her hand to wander over to a lump that Hinata wouldnt have seen. The girl sank to her knees beside him. She shook his body gently.
"Yamato....please, wake up, I did it, I found someone to help you! Yamato! Yamato wake up!" she said, her voice starting in a whisper, and ending in a shout. Hinata winced. It was so much like her past.
Kneeling down on the other side of the man, Yamato, her hand lit up and the girl jumped.
Hinata sucked in sharply. This man was barely alive, and he was cut all over. Placing her hand over his more needing wounds, she set to work. The girl's eyes widened farther than they had before as she watched the skin on his neck slowly knit together. Hinata grinned. She hadn't used chakra like this in a while, but she was glad she wasnt as rusty as she thought she would be.
The man jumped, convulsed. Hinata started, and the girl nearly fell over. Convulsing again, Hinata's grin slipped.
"Chikuso! His pulse is slowing down!" Hinata activated her byakugan and poured more chakra into the wound that she was working on. This wound was really deep, and it was spread across his abdomen. Across his heart. Hinata grunted. This much chakra use was getting at her.
"C..can I help? In anyway? I cant stand the thought of losing him!" the girl said, her bloodstained hands in tight balls at her chin. She was on the verge of breaking out into tears. Hinata just shook her head.
"Unless you can spare some chakra, but you're a citizen. Citizen's don't usually have chakra." Hinata's lips pursed.
"No, I can...my sister was a shinobi...I didnt want that way of life...she taught me some control." Hinata had to strain her ears again. She was letting her words jumble out. After puzzling them out, Hinata said,
"Well, can you put your hands over mine, and pump chakra into them?" The girl nodded.
Licking her lips, the girl started to pour fresh chakra into Hinata's hands. Hinata welcomed the rush, and set back to work. The man, Yamato, stopped convulsing. His heart beat steadied, but was still low.
"That's all I can do for now...Here, let's take him back to the cottage, I can treat him better there." The girl nodded and helped Hinata lift Yamato up.
Ten awkward minutes later, and Hinata set Yamato down on her bed. He still had a big open gash on his chest, and across his face. Another look at the girl in the light proved that she took took a wound to the face. Hinata took her emergency aid kit out from a cuppoard in the kitchen. It was stuffed full of gauze and bandages. Hinata looked at the girl.
"Go wash up. The bathroom is the the other door out there." The girl looked at her hands and nodded.
Taking the scraps of Yamato's shirt off, she grimaced. The major wound that she had healed was red and puckered, where as the neck wound looked a little better, the one Hinata needed to bandage was still bleeding freely.
Hinata's hand lit up with the special green fire, and she rested her hand on the wound. His pulse was still steady, but still low. The edges of the still bleeding wound started to scab.
The girl had returned from the bathroom with clean face, and clean hands, but her dress was still covered in blood. Hinata could also see the redness rimming her eyes.
"Is he gonna be ok?" She asked. Hinata sighed and looked at Yamato. The bleeding had stopped. She removed her hand and took out a big wad of gauze.
"He should be, most of the bleeding has stopped, and I closed his major wounds. How he survived having his throat cut is a mystery to me. He will be sporting some major scars." Hinata sighed again and started to work on wrapping Yamato up.
When she finished, he looked like a mummy. His entire torso was bandaged, his neck, and the upper half of his face, which had taken a nasty, but not serious cut.
"Here, let me see your face." Hinata said. The girl nodded and Hinata started to bandage the cut that formed a cresent shape from her forehead, curving around her left eye, and ending near her ear. After she had finished, the two women stared at Yamato. The silence was urking Hinata. She hated silence.
"Ano....so, what did you say your name was?" Hinata said, cursing herself as her old 'ano' habit surfaced.
"Oh, umm, Heh, I probably should have started with that. I'm Kasumi. And this here is my partner, Yamato. We are travelling to Konohagakure in hopes of starting some kind of buisness." Hinata nodded.
"Would... would you like some tea? I've got plenty of kinds." Kasumi nodded and followed Hinata out to the kitchen, sparing Yamato one last glance.
Sitting at the small table meant for two, Hinata let Kasumi pick out her preference of tea, and Hinata made quick work of a katon jutsu to heat the water up. She was lazy today.
Handing the still shaken up Kasumi her cup of tea, she automatically lifted it to her face.
Hinata stiffled a giggle when she hit the side of her lip and spilt some on her chin. That seemed to snap her out of her daze. She put her tea down and fingered the bandages covering her left eye.
"How long will it take to heal?" She said. Her voice steady, well, steadier than anything previous to now.
"Well, I almost ran out of chakra today, I can probably take a look at it tomorrow. I dont think I'll be able to make the scar go away though. Im sorry." Hinata said, lifting her own tea cup to her mouth.
Kasumi just waved her hand.
"No, no. It's fine. Scar's never bothered me. I lived in the 'bad' side of town. Scars were common."
"Speaking of, where DID you come from? I mean, this place isnt exactly commonplace for travellers to be in." Hinata asked with a raised eye brow.
"Ahh...well, I came from a small village in rock country, but I was visiting relatives in grass country. My little sister lived there with my father, who was a shinobi as well as her, I think that she is actually headed to Konoha for the chuunin exams. I hope she passes. But yes, I met Yamato a few years ago, traveling back and forth. He had just quit being a shinobi, he was a genin when he did...I never asked why, but he mentioned something about not trusting the leader in the grass. Im not sure." Kasumi trailed off.
"Ahh...so, can I ask why your friend is sitting in the next room torn to shreds?" Hinata said, but in a way that Kasumi couldnt help but smile.
"Another story, long at that. Are you sure you want to know?" Hinata sipped her tea.
"We've got time. I have nothing to do any more." Hinata said. A pang of sadness for her son hit her, but she pushed it back.
"Hmm, where to start." Kasumi paused, "Well, Yamato and I were just passing through that little village not to far from here. I ran into some one by mistake, and spilt the milk I had just bought all over him. I apologize quickly and helped him clean up, but he was still very angry. So I apologized again, but he shoved me, making me spill the rest of the food I was carrying. At this point, Yamato came to intervene, but you know men, it lead to a little violence before a tall man told them to leave. Me and Yamato were already leaving, so we just picked the food up and left. We'de gotten to that spot and a few men, big men jumped out of the bushes, and slashed Yamato across the chest. I think there were three of them. Yamato fought back with his fists, but they all had short katana's. I tried to stop them, but that's were I got this." She pointed at her face and shook her head.
"I couldn't do anything, im so weak. I'm amazed I even got here. More amazed that he survived." Kasumi said. Hinata's fist was clenched. That wasn't right. It just wasn't right.
"That's horrible! Kami-sama! Men sometimes." Hinata shook her head. Kasumi looked like she wasn't thinking of it anymore. Strange girl.
"Ano sa...So, um...where am I supposed to sleep? It looks like you live alone here..." Kasumi sqeaked, "Ahh, ahh! Gomen! I didnt mean any offence...my mouth gets away with out my brain sometimes." Kasumi cheeks reddened.
"Uhm, well, I have a spare pallet, you can sleep in Yamato's room, I suppose, unless you want to sleep out here? I'm going to sleep in my son's room."
"You have a son? Where is he?" Kasumi said, looking around.
"Oh, he's not here. Training in Konoha with family." Hinata sighed. Kasumi sighed too, but not as loudly.
An awkward silenced passed, before Hinata said,
"Well, I'm gonna go get that pallet. I'll be right back." Kasumi nodded and plodded towards the room that held Yamato.
Walking up the stairs to Kouden's room, she stood in the center, and sighed. He needed to clean his room. Picking her way carefully through his mess, she made her way to the small closet he never used. Opening it with a small sqeak, Hinata pulled out a dusty pallet, and a spare blanket. Trudging back through her son's room, she carefully made her way back to her room. Opening the door, she dropped the pile onto the floor. Kasumi squeaked again, and then looked back at Yamato.
"Here, I'll check his vitals again, and then I'll leave for the night." Kasumi nodded and squeaked again when Hinata's hand lit up with the familiar green fire. Hinata rolled her white eyes. Kasumi's sqeaking was getting annoying. The green light faded and Hinata removed her hand.
"He's fine. If he wakes up, or starts to convulse, please, wake me up. The stairs are behind the refridgerator." Kasumi nodded.
Yawning again, chakra usage was getting to her. Climbing the stairs to Kouden's room, Hinata took off her still blood soaked jacket, and collapsed on the pallet, raising a small cloud of dust.
Sigh. She'd have to talk to her son about that.
Hinata ran, ran like she had never ran before. In each of her hands she carried a hiteate. She had been running for hours, it seemed, before she tripped on a root, and fell uncerimoniously on her face. Hinata tried to get back up, they were coming for her. All because of the terrible lies of that evil man. As far as Hinata considered, when her love's life ended, so had hers.
Still lying on the ground, Hinata brought her hand up her face. A hiteate. His hiteate. Blood still decorated it.
Hinata broke out into sobs. She layed there for hours, sobbing her broken heart out. She didn't even notice that someone had come upon her until his hand rested on her shoulder.
Jerking around, she saw that it was dawn. She'd left Konoha in the afternoon. Running and crying made one loose track.
She stared at the ANBU, her face blanched of all feelings. She watched the snow as it drifted softly around her. She was glad, in a few minutes, she would join her beloved. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would be relatively painless. When death did not come, Hinata opened her eyes, and found her self staring into once emotionless white eyes, now filled with concern.
Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
Hinata's eyes opened and she heard the chirping of birds. She blinked, sat up, and stretched.
She had that dream again. Hinata looked at her hands and almost expected them to be covered in his blood. Hinata sighed and rubbed her hands on her shirt.
It had been a week since Kasumi and Yamato showed up. Yamato woke up late the second day, and Kasumi has been mothering him in everything. Hinata wondered why he didnt explode. The two moved up to Kouden's room, after Hinata tidied it, of course. Yamato could walk, somewhat, after the third day, but by the sixth, it was if he had never been slashed up.
Except for the obvious scars. Those were painfully obvious. The cresent scar on Kasumi's face had faded a bit when Hinata used chakra to heal it, but was still a rosy colour. Kasumi said it didn't bother her. But Hinata thought otherwise.
Getting up, Hinata pulled on a fresh pair of leggings. She found that she could look casual, and still train if she bought and made clothes that were like her old ones in Konoha. Her shirt was a blank tank top with a net mesh covering the neck. She hoped netting was still in style.
Walking out into her kitchen, she glanced out the window to see Kasumi and Yamato picking vegtables from her garden. They had agreed to help Hinata with the chores, in payment for saving Yamato's life. Nothing Hinata said could persuade them otherwise, so she just let them do their thing.
They were leaving today. They had asked, after discovering she was an ex-nin, if she could escort them to Konoha.
"Please, Hinata-san! We need you!" Kasumi said, clasping her hands and shaking them in front of her.
"Please, Hinata-sama, I dont want a repeat of the last incident." Yamato, said, grimacing. Hinata looked to her right. Biting her lower lip, Hinata sighed.
"I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving, but we only ask that you come to the gates with us." Kasumi said, then added, "Besides, didn't you say your son was training there? Wouldn't you like to pay him a visit?" Hinata shot Kasumi a glare. That was a low blow. Rolling her pearly eyes, Hinata nodded.
"Fine. But I expect you to listen to all of my precautions." Kasumi nodded and hugged Hinata.
She had already packed, and expected them to be as well. Not that there was much. It seemed they had been robbed as well as attacked.
Hinata had given a spare set of clothing to Kasumi, since she was about the same size as Hinata, and no village in it's right mind would let a blood stained civilian enter it. Yamato was a different story. Seeing as it was just Hinata and Kouden that lived in the small cabin, Hinata had to make another day long trip to the small village and back just to buy a set of clothing.
Some times Hinata cursed her generosity.
Opening her front door, Hinata called out to the two in the feilds,
"Are you guys about done yet? I'de like to get going before the sun starts beating down on us." Kasumi stood up straight, and yelled back,
"Almost! 5 more minutes, and we can leave! Yamato packed for us already." Yamato nodded and sped up his picking.
Turning back into her house, Hinata tapped her fingers on her leg. This week had been a busy week, with cleaning, and entertaining, but now, for the five minutes that she had to herself, she just didn't know what to do.
Walking, almost gliding back into her room, she took her kunai pouch off her dresser and tied it to her leg. after adjusting it around, she opened it and checked each of the 6 she had in it. After determining that they were all in working condition, she put them back, hoisted her small dark green back pack on to her shoulders, and exited her room.
Yamato was just coming from Kouden's stair case, and Kasumi was bundling rations on the small table.
"You guy's ready?" Hinata asked. Kasumi pulled the knot on the rations tight, and nodded. Yamato hitched his travel bag on his shoulders and gave a thumbs up. Hinata smirked and opened her front door.
End Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dedicated to my cousin.
RIP Ashley, June 25th 2006.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters. But all of the OC's are mine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hinata's trip back to her small cottage was fairly uneventful. After giving over Kouden, she had picked up some groceries and tipped a few back at the bar. Hinata ran her fingers along the edge of a small end table by her door. Lifting her fingers to her face, she sighed. It was very dusty. She hadnt cleaned since Kouden started his training.
Hinata sighed, and then sighed again because she noticed that she was sighing alot. Moving towards her room, she dumped her bags on the floor and flopped down on her bed. She lifted her hand and half heartedly pushed the curtains back. It was morning now. The birds were just starting to twitter. Closing her eyes Hinata fell into a much needed sleep.
Thock! "Nnn...Naruto..kun...that's a wall..." Hinata mumbled.
Thock thock! Hinata opened a pale eye. she noticed it was dark out. Had she slept that long?
THOCK! The noise got louder. Hinata rose and activated her byuakugan. There was someone at her door. Deactivating it, she opened her door and saw a girl, who appeared to be in her early 20's.
The girl's eyes were wide, sparkling bright blue in the moon light. Hinata glanced down and gasped. She was covered in blood from her elbows down, and all down the front of her dress. The girl started, as if she was in a daze.
"P..Please! You have to help! My partner! He's hurt, and I can't do anything more! Thank god someone lives out here!" She said, frantically, the words climbing over themselves to get out of her mouth. Hinata, slightly taken back at the volume of her voice, nodded. The girl grabbed her hand yanked Hinata out of her house.
"This way...Oh Kami-sama, there were so many..." the girl let out a shuddering sob that Hinata felt through her hand... The girl stopped and gasped,
"Oh no! I forgot to ask! Do you have any medical supplies?" Hinata moved her fingers around, the girl was squeezing them hard and they were slowly going numb.
"Ano...I'm a medic nin..." Hinata said, and opened her mouth to say more, but the girl gave a tension filled laugh and pulled Hinata to where ever her partner was resting.
They'd been running for a full five minutes before they arrived. But Hinata knew they were getting close. There was blood everywhere. On the trees, the ground, even in the moonlight she could see that everything was slick. Hinata tasted bile in her throat. It reminded her of that day.
"...N..naruto-kun? Naruto-kun? No! Naruto!" Hinata yelled, shaking the body of her blonde boyfriend. Hinata's hand slipped, and she looked at it. Red, that's all she saw. She fell to her knees, her other hand, red too. Hinata looked at her shirt, everything was red, red with the blood of her love. Her hands started to quiver. Hinata looked at the sky. It had started to snow. The stark contrast of the snow on the blood is was caused Hinata to snap. Her wordless shreik could be heard for a mile around...
Hinata blinked. She hadn't thought of that in years. Night mares, yes, but thoughts? No. She thought it was best for her mental health not to dwell on her past. Hinata shook her head.
The girl had let go of her hand to wander over to a lump that Hinata wouldnt have seen. The girl sank to her knees beside him. She shook his body gently.
"Yamato....please, wake up, I did it, I found someone to help you! Yamato! Yamato wake up!" she said, her voice starting in a whisper, and ending in a shout. Hinata winced. It was so much like her past.
Kneeling down on the other side of the man, Yamato, her hand lit up and the girl jumped.
Hinata sucked in sharply. This man was barely alive, and he was cut all over. Placing her hand over his more needing wounds, she set to work. The girl's eyes widened farther than they had before as she watched the skin on his neck slowly knit together. Hinata grinned. She hadn't used chakra like this in a while, but she was glad she wasnt as rusty as she thought she would be.
The man jumped, convulsed. Hinata started, and the girl nearly fell over. Convulsing again, Hinata's grin slipped.
"Chikuso! His pulse is slowing down!" Hinata activated her byakugan and poured more chakra into the wound that she was working on. This wound was really deep, and it was spread across his abdomen. Across his heart. Hinata grunted. This much chakra use was getting at her.
"C..can I help? In anyway? I cant stand the thought of losing him!" the girl said, her bloodstained hands in tight balls at her chin. She was on the verge of breaking out into tears. Hinata just shook her head.
"Unless you can spare some chakra, but you're a citizen. Citizen's don't usually have chakra." Hinata's lips pursed.
"No, I can...my sister was a shinobi...I didnt want that way of life...she taught me some control." Hinata had to strain her ears again. She was letting her words jumble out. After puzzling them out, Hinata said,
"Well, can you put your hands over mine, and pump chakra into them?" The girl nodded.
Licking her lips, the girl started to pour fresh chakra into Hinata's hands. Hinata welcomed the rush, and set back to work. The man, Yamato, stopped convulsing. His heart beat steadied, but was still low.
"That's all I can do for now...Here, let's take him back to the cottage, I can treat him better there." The girl nodded and helped Hinata lift Yamato up.
Ten awkward minutes later, and Hinata set Yamato down on her bed. He still had a big open gash on his chest, and across his face. Another look at the girl in the light proved that she took took a wound to the face. Hinata took her emergency aid kit out from a cuppoard in the kitchen. It was stuffed full of gauze and bandages. Hinata looked at the girl.
"Go wash up. The bathroom is the the other door out there." The girl looked at her hands and nodded.
Taking the scraps of Yamato's shirt off, she grimaced. The major wound that she had healed was red and puckered, where as the neck wound looked a little better, the one Hinata needed to bandage was still bleeding freely.
Hinata's hand lit up with the special green fire, and she rested her hand on the wound. His pulse was still steady, but still low. The edges of the still bleeding wound started to scab.
The girl had returned from the bathroom with clean face, and clean hands, but her dress was still covered in blood. Hinata could also see the redness rimming her eyes.
"Is he gonna be ok?" She asked. Hinata sighed and looked at Yamato. The bleeding had stopped. She removed her hand and took out a big wad of gauze.
"He should be, most of the bleeding has stopped, and I closed his major wounds. How he survived having his throat cut is a mystery to me. He will be sporting some major scars." Hinata sighed again and started to work on wrapping Yamato up.
When she finished, he looked like a mummy. His entire torso was bandaged, his neck, and the upper half of his face, which had taken a nasty, but not serious cut.
"Here, let me see your face." Hinata said. The girl nodded and Hinata started to bandage the cut that formed a cresent shape from her forehead, curving around her left eye, and ending near her ear. After she had finished, the two women stared at Yamato. The silence was urking Hinata. She hated silence.
"Ano....so, what did you say your name was?" Hinata said, cursing herself as her old 'ano' habit surfaced.
"Oh, umm, Heh, I probably should have started with that. I'm Kasumi. And this here is my partner, Yamato. We are travelling to Konohagakure in hopes of starting some kind of buisness." Hinata nodded.
"Would... would you like some tea? I've got plenty of kinds." Kasumi nodded and followed Hinata out to the kitchen, sparing Yamato one last glance.
Sitting at the small table meant for two, Hinata let Kasumi pick out her preference of tea, and Hinata made quick work of a katon jutsu to heat the water up. She was lazy today.
Handing the still shaken up Kasumi her cup of tea, she automatically lifted it to her face.
Hinata stiffled a giggle when she hit the side of her lip and spilt some on her chin. That seemed to snap her out of her daze. She put her tea down and fingered the bandages covering her left eye.
"How long will it take to heal?" She said. Her voice steady, well, steadier than anything previous to now.
"Well, I almost ran out of chakra today, I can probably take a look at it tomorrow. I dont think I'll be able to make the scar go away though. Im sorry." Hinata said, lifting her own tea cup to her mouth.
Kasumi just waved her hand.
"No, no. It's fine. Scar's never bothered me. I lived in the 'bad' side of town. Scars were common."
"Speaking of, where DID you come from? I mean, this place isnt exactly commonplace for travellers to be in." Hinata asked with a raised eye brow.
"Ahh...well, I came from a small village in rock country, but I was visiting relatives in grass country. My little sister lived there with my father, who was a shinobi as well as her, I think that she is actually headed to Konoha for the chuunin exams. I hope she passes. But yes, I met Yamato a few years ago, traveling back and forth. He had just quit being a shinobi, he was a genin when he did...I never asked why, but he mentioned something about not trusting the leader in the grass. Im not sure." Kasumi trailed off.
"Ahh...so, can I ask why your friend is sitting in the next room torn to shreds?" Hinata said, but in a way that Kasumi couldnt help but smile.
"Another story, long at that. Are you sure you want to know?" Hinata sipped her tea.
"We've got time. I have nothing to do any more." Hinata said. A pang of sadness for her son hit her, but she pushed it back.
"Hmm, where to start." Kasumi paused, "Well, Yamato and I were just passing through that little village not to far from here. I ran into some one by mistake, and spilt the milk I had just bought all over him. I apologize quickly and helped him clean up, but he was still very angry. So I apologized again, but he shoved me, making me spill the rest of the food I was carrying. At this point, Yamato came to intervene, but you know men, it lead to a little violence before a tall man told them to leave. Me and Yamato were already leaving, so we just picked the food up and left. We'de gotten to that spot and a few men, big men jumped out of the bushes, and slashed Yamato across the chest. I think there were three of them. Yamato fought back with his fists, but they all had short katana's. I tried to stop them, but that's were I got this." She pointed at her face and shook her head.
"I couldn't do anything, im so weak. I'm amazed I even got here. More amazed that he survived." Kasumi said. Hinata's fist was clenched. That wasn't right. It just wasn't right.
"That's horrible! Kami-sama! Men sometimes." Hinata shook her head. Kasumi looked like she wasn't thinking of it anymore. Strange girl.
"Ano sa...So, um...where am I supposed to sleep? It looks like you live alone here..." Kasumi sqeaked, "Ahh, ahh! Gomen! I didnt mean any offence...my mouth gets away with out my brain sometimes." Kasumi cheeks reddened.
"Uhm, well, I have a spare pallet, you can sleep in Yamato's room, I suppose, unless you want to sleep out here? I'm going to sleep in my son's room."
"You have a son? Where is he?" Kasumi said, looking around.
"Oh, he's not here. Training in Konoha with family." Hinata sighed. Kasumi sighed too, but not as loudly.
An awkward silenced passed, before Hinata said,
"Well, I'm gonna go get that pallet. I'll be right back." Kasumi nodded and plodded towards the room that held Yamato.
Walking up the stairs to Kouden's room, she stood in the center, and sighed. He needed to clean his room. Picking her way carefully through his mess, she made her way to the small closet he never used. Opening it with a small sqeak, Hinata pulled out a dusty pallet, and a spare blanket. Trudging back through her son's room, she carefully made her way back to her room. Opening the door, she dropped the pile onto the floor. Kasumi squeaked again, and then looked back at Yamato.
"Here, I'll check his vitals again, and then I'll leave for the night." Kasumi nodded and squeaked again when Hinata's hand lit up with the familiar green fire. Hinata rolled her white eyes. Kasumi's sqeaking was getting annoying. The green light faded and Hinata removed her hand.
"He's fine. If he wakes up, or starts to convulse, please, wake me up. The stairs are behind the refridgerator." Kasumi nodded.
Yawning again, chakra usage was getting to her. Climbing the stairs to Kouden's room, Hinata took off her still blood soaked jacket, and collapsed on the pallet, raising a small cloud of dust.
Sigh. She'd have to talk to her son about that.
Hinata ran, ran like she had never ran before. In each of her hands she carried a hiteate. She had been running for hours, it seemed, before she tripped on a root, and fell uncerimoniously on her face. Hinata tried to get back up, they were coming for her. All because of the terrible lies of that evil man. As far as Hinata considered, when her love's life ended, so had hers.
Still lying on the ground, Hinata brought her hand up her face. A hiteate. His hiteate. Blood still decorated it.
Hinata broke out into sobs. She layed there for hours, sobbing her broken heart out. She didn't even notice that someone had come upon her until his hand rested on her shoulder.
Jerking around, she saw that it was dawn. She'd left Konoha in the afternoon. Running and crying made one loose track.
She stared at the ANBU, her face blanched of all feelings. She watched the snow as it drifted softly around her. She was glad, in a few minutes, she would join her beloved. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would be relatively painless. When death did not come, Hinata opened her eyes, and found her self staring into once emotionless white eyes, now filled with concern.
Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
Hinata's eyes opened and she heard the chirping of birds. She blinked, sat up, and stretched.
She had that dream again. Hinata looked at her hands and almost expected them to be covered in his blood. Hinata sighed and rubbed her hands on her shirt.
It had been a week since Kasumi and Yamato showed up. Yamato woke up late the second day, and Kasumi has been mothering him in everything. Hinata wondered why he didnt explode. The two moved up to Kouden's room, after Hinata tidied it, of course. Yamato could walk, somewhat, after the third day, but by the sixth, it was if he had never been slashed up.
Except for the obvious scars. Those were painfully obvious. The cresent scar on Kasumi's face had faded a bit when Hinata used chakra to heal it, but was still a rosy colour. Kasumi said it didn't bother her. But Hinata thought otherwise.
Getting up, Hinata pulled on a fresh pair of leggings. She found that she could look casual, and still train if she bought and made clothes that were like her old ones in Konoha. Her shirt was a blank tank top with a net mesh covering the neck. She hoped netting was still in style.
Walking out into her kitchen, she glanced out the window to see Kasumi and Yamato picking vegtables from her garden. They had agreed to help Hinata with the chores, in payment for saving Yamato's life. Nothing Hinata said could persuade them otherwise, so she just let them do their thing.
They were leaving today. They had asked, after discovering she was an ex-nin, if she could escort them to Konoha.
"Please, Hinata-san! We need you!" Kasumi said, clasping her hands and shaking them in front of her.
"Please, Hinata-sama, I dont want a repeat of the last incident." Yamato, said, grimacing. Hinata looked to her right. Biting her lower lip, Hinata sighed.
"I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving, but we only ask that you come to the gates with us." Kasumi said, then added, "Besides, didn't you say your son was training there? Wouldn't you like to pay him a visit?" Hinata shot Kasumi a glare. That was a low blow. Rolling her pearly eyes, Hinata nodded.
"Fine. But I expect you to listen to all of my precautions." Kasumi nodded and hugged Hinata.
She had already packed, and expected them to be as well. Not that there was much. It seemed they had been robbed as well as attacked.
Hinata had given a spare set of clothing to Kasumi, since she was about the same size as Hinata, and no village in it's right mind would let a blood stained civilian enter it. Yamato was a different story. Seeing as it was just Hinata and Kouden that lived in the small cabin, Hinata had to make another day long trip to the small village and back just to buy a set of clothing.
Some times Hinata cursed her generosity.
Opening her front door, Hinata called out to the two in the feilds,
"Are you guys about done yet? I'de like to get going before the sun starts beating down on us." Kasumi stood up straight, and yelled back,
"Almost! 5 more minutes, and we can leave! Yamato packed for us already." Yamato nodded and sped up his picking.
Turning back into her house, Hinata tapped her fingers on her leg. This week had been a busy week, with cleaning, and entertaining, but now, for the five minutes that she had to herself, she just didn't know what to do.
Walking, almost gliding back into her room, she took her kunai pouch off her dresser and tied it to her leg. after adjusting it around, she opened it and checked each of the 6 she had in it. After determining that they were all in working condition, she put them back, hoisted her small dark green back pack on to her shoulders, and exited her room.
Yamato was just coming from Kouden's stair case, and Kasumi was bundling rations on the small table.
"You guy's ready?" Hinata asked. Kasumi pulled the knot on the rations tight, and nodded. Yamato hitched his travel bag on his shoulders and gave a thumbs up. Hinata smirked and opened her front door.
End Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dedicated to my cousin.
RIP Ashley, June 25th 2006.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters. But all of the OC's are mine.