Hinata of The Clouds

Plot: The mission to Kidnap Hinata went as planned for the Cloud Ninja. Hinata was taken back to Cloud and brainwashed into believing that she was rescued by cloud. She becomes an excellent ninja, training every moment of the day so she can repay her saviors. The day comes with the upcoming chunnin exam. Cloud agrees to take part in the leaf invasion. along with sound and sand. Hinata's mission is to take care of Konoha's triumph card, their 'number-one knuckle-headed Ninja,' Uzumaki Naruto. Though as always when Naruto is concerned things never go as planned.

Ok I'm not stopping 'Son of the Kyubi,' I just had this idea, and so I decided to take a little break. I'm having a little writer's block.

Ok I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, nor do I want to, and I make no profit off of these writings. I just do it for fun.

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Hinata's eyes snapped open. All she could see was white. She lay on her back in what she assumed to be a bed because it was so soft. Hinata's head felt fuzzy; not in a bad way, it just made it hard to think. She couldn't remember where she was. She sat up slowly and looked around, having had a sudden realization.

'Oh I guess I'm dead,' she thought as she looked around. Everything was white but they turned out to be clouds. It looked like what some people described as heaven. White clouds, white sky; she looked down at herself and saw she was wearing a long white dress.

"You're not dead" said a voice from behind her. Hinata's ninja reflexes kicked in. She jumped up and spun around instantly grabbing for a kunnai, but the only thing in front of her was a large black cat with what looked like silver mittens on its front feet and a large pair of leather boots on its back legs.

"Yo," said the cat

"You can talk?" asked Hinata, surprised that she wasn't that surprised. She was dead after all. What's a talking cat to a dead girl?

"Your not dead." The cat spoke again.

"You can read my mind?"

"Yes I can," said the unidentified cat. "My names Gale Natsu."

"I'm Hinata… um…" She trailed off, not sure what her last name was.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that later," said Gale matter-of-factly. "OK, right now we're in what Upperyarder's like to call the Plains."

'Upperyard?' thought Hinata.

"Heaven, Kamis Court, or whatever it is you believe in. If we were in a tall building Upperyard would be at the top. Then comes Angel Isle, then the spirit wall. Then comes the Plains, where 3town is located. Where most spirits reside after that is the 'Lower Court,' then Hell."

Hinata jumped a little. She wasn't aware she was so close to the place of eternal damnation.

"It's not all that bad. Its only for those who truly deserve it. They tend to only deal with demons and other creatures beyond help. The Lower Court deals mostly in humans who were evil in life but want to reform themselves."

Just then there was a flash in the clouds, and Hinata could suddenly hear voices. They were familiar, but she couldn't remember where she knew them from.

"HINATA! KICK HIS ASS!"

"You're nothing but a traitor!"

"I love you sister…"

Hinata grabbed her head as the words suddenly pounded inside her skull. It was like she could feel the words pumping through her blood, pulsating with each heartbeat. 'Dead girls don't have pulses…'

It passed as quickly as it had come.

"What was that?" asked Hinata, breathing heavily, though she didn't think the dead needed to breath either.

"For the last time, you're not dead! The sooner you realize that, the sooner we can get this over with!" said Gale staring at Hinata with pure white eyes that seemed familiar. "As for those flashes, those are your memories, the things that are keeping you alive."

Hinata was confused.

"You see, you were supposed to ascend all the way to Angel Isle. That's quite a feat, really, for a human. I don't think there had been a human Angel since, well, since my Granddad was a kit, but you got stuck. You see, you're still holding on to your memories, which is keeping you alive. You are perched precariously between life and death. You could go either way at the moment. You're lucky. Usually when someone gets stuck, they get left, wandering the planes forever," said Gale, scratching his face with a paw. "However, orders came from Upperyard that you were Important. That's why I'm here, to help you let go of your memories and to move on."

"But I don't remember anything!" said Hinata defensively. Gale just looked her over for a second before speaking.

"So what's that in your hand then?" asked Gale

Hinata looked down. In her hand was a long, deeply polished blue knife. 'No it's not a knife… It's a Kunai. A ninja tool, its just shaped like a leaf…' thought Hinata, examining the weapon with a far away look. "That's right I used to be a ninja" said Hinata. She still stared at the strangely familiar Kunai 'leaf.'

"I used to be a leaf ninja…."

"Hinata don't do it!" said Gale, but Hinata continued in a daze like she didn't even hear him.

"No, I was kidnapped. Taken somewhere strange…" Lightning struck in the clouds somewhere. The pressure was filling her head.

(Memory)

Then she was suddenly sitting in a class room, surrounded by nine other children. All of them looked like her, with grey training suits and black sandals. They all looked like they had cried them selves to sleep last night.

"You are now members of the Cloud family," said a tall female at the front of the class room. "We rescued you from your abusive homes and villages."

"But I was happy where I was! Please let me go home!" said a girl in the middle of the class. The Konochi looked down at her clip board. Hinata had been thinking the same thing, but didn't want to raise her hand.

"Takuya Fujimi?"

The girl just nodded. Suddenly the door opened and a male ninja walked in and took the 'student' named Takuya out. The instructor didn't talk until the door was closed again.

"As I was saying, Cloud Village rescued you. All that we ask is that you help us with some information about your villages so we can protect you better. Is that so much to ask?" she said sweetly.

The remaining eight children just nodded, filling out paper after paper with questions on them. Simple stuff really: Where did you live? What kind of house was it? Did your house have many people in it? Can you or your family do anything special? What was your worst memory?

Takuya Fujimi was escorted back to class an hour later. "I'm sorry I interrupted classes earlier and I want you thank you and the village for saving me."

"You're welcome Takuya. Take a seat, stay behind after class and we can go over what you missed"

This went on for a few days class, then break, then training, then break, then class, then bed, every day another student would be taken away and when they came back they would always thank the instructor for saving them. The children that wanted to go home shrank until it was Hinata's turn.

She was taken to a large circular room with strange drawings all over it. A dim light seemed to emanate from the markings. There were two chairs in the room one, in the center of the room and the other just in front of it. There was a man in the second chair.

"Hello Hinata, my name is Ryuga Kou. Why don't you have a seat?"

Hinata complied since she really didn't have a choice. Ryuga smiled at her as she sat. He was wearing a Chunin jacket and a pair of sunglasses. She didn't know why, as it was almost pitch black in the room except for the glow from the strange writing.

"Hinata, I wanted to talk to you about staying in this village. If you don't want to, I will arrange to send you home." For the first time Hinata really smiled. She really wanted to go home. She didn't want to stay here anymore, she could finally go home.

"But first…" said Ryuga as he took off his sunglasses. He had florescent pink pupils that Hinata couldn't look away from. "Tell me why your family hates you?"

Hinata was confused for a moment before she spoke. "M-My Ffffamily-y d-doesn't h-hate me," Hinata stuttered out.

"But you wrote it right here," he said, holding up a piece of paper he hadn't been holding before. "My worst memory was when my father kicked me across the room because I failed a set."

"B-B-but w-we w-w-were train-ning I- fo-forgot the next-t s-set" said Hinata hurriedly, trying to explain. Her father loved he,r but for some reason she couldn't think of any time he had said that. 'Forget,' came a small voice in her head.

"Hinata, I hate to have to say this, but parents don't kick their children across the room for forgetting something. That was wrong, your father was bad," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Bad?" Hinata asked rhythmically. 'Very bad'

"Yes Hinata, very bad."

"Your family shouldn't have let him do that to you, that's not what families do."

Hinata was angry. Why did her family let him do bad things to her?

"That's not what families do," chanted Hinata.

"Families protect each other."

'Train hard,' came the voice.

"Protect each other!"

"Listen to each other!"

'Obey.'

"Listen!" chanted Hinata.

"Why don't you stay here in the village for a while and think it over? You don't have to decide anything right away."

'Stay Hinata. Stay forever.'

"Yes, Ill think it over"

"Good," said Ryuga as he put on his glasses again.

It's so easy to fool children who already have bad home lives to begin with thought Ryuga.

When Hinata returned to the class she walked right up to her instructor. "Thank you Sensei, for rescuing me."

(End)

"What did he... What did they do to me?" asked Hinata.

"It was a powerful Dojutsu that hypnotized you into believing that what he was telling you was the truth."

Hinata felt sick as a shiver ran up her body. "Look, I know it's not easy but you have to let your memories go…."

There was another flash of lightning. "Crap" was all Gale said as another flashback took them away.

(Memory)

"DON'T LET GO!"

Hinata was hanging over the edge of a ravine, fingers slipping in the wet. It was raining hard, and a blond boy was hanging over the ravine as well. One hand clung to the edge, the other desperately stopping Hinata from falling to her death.

The edge of the cliff began to give way.

"Naruto let go, you'll fall!" shouted Hinata.

"No," was all Naruto said as he tried to get a better grip, the rain making the ground soggy. His hand sank a few inches into the dirt.

"LET GO!" shouted Hinata as she tried to wretch her hand out of his grasp. He held on firmly. "We'll both fall," she pleaded.

"If you keep struggling we're both going to fall," said Naruto as he finally secured a foothold. "Now climb up me."

(end)

"I know that boy!" said Hinata "N-Naruto"

"NO! NO, NO! Stop this Hinata, you can't go back!" shouted Gale, sounding angry for the first time. "You have to throw away that Kunai or you'll be stuck in the Plains forever"

Hinata looked down at the Kunai. For some reason, she didn't know why, she felt that it was really dear to her. It also reminded her of the boy, Naruto. She wasn't sure but she didn't want to let go of the Kunai. She didn't want to forget.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but you can't go back." These words made her want to cry, even if she didn't understand.

"Oh pish posh," came a females voice. Hinata and Gale both jumped, Hinata looked to where the voice came from.

"Veronica, what are you doing here? This is my case," stated Gale as he walked toward the newcomer, Veronica, placing himself between her and Hinata.

"Sorry Gale, orders from the top. She has to go back." She sauntered past Gale and sat next to Hinata.

"BACK?!" screamed Gale. "BUT WE PEOPLE DON'T GO BACK!"

"You're just saying that because we never have before," she said to Gale before turning to Hinata. "Hi. I'm Veronica, your name is Hinata right?"

"…OF COURSE THATS WHAT IT MEANS WHEN WE NEVER SENT ANYONE BACK……"

Hinata was torn between watching Gale, who was still shouting at Veronica, and the object of his tirade, who didn't seen to mind that the he was shouting at her.

"Yes, I'm Hinata. What did you mean I can go back?"

"…..IS BECAUSE WE'VE NEVER, AND I MEAN NEVER, SENT ANYONE BACK BEFORE…"

"It's so great to meet you, you're so lucky. No one has ever gone back."

"I MEAN EVER, EVER GONE BACK BEFORE…."

Hinata didn't really know what they were talking about, so she nodded her head.

"… The counsel will never allow this…" continued Gale.

"The orders come from higher up than the counsel," said Veronica, finally paying attention to Gale for the first time.

"Higher up," asked Gale in disbelief, "but that would mean…"

"Yup… from Kami herself," said Veronica matter-of-factly.

"And, I don't really know what's going on." Hinata spoke up for the first time since Veronica showed up.

"Don't worry, that's what we're here for….." she trailed off as she looked at Gale. He hadn't moved an inch, so she promptly popped him on the head. "Gale, HheellOO! We need to get Hinata back!"

"Right, right sorry," said Gale, regaining his composure. He took a deep breath. "All we need to do is send you back……" He suddenly turned to Veronica. "How pray tell, do we accomplish that?"

"We need Hinata to recall her memories," she said, but her head snapped to Hinata, "but first, Hinata, do you want to go back? There's no turning back, if you decide to do this you can't enter heaven till you die again"

"I want to go back," she said instantly. There was a second of silence as both Gale and Veronica were gobsmacked. "I know it seems that I'm making a rash choice" she said as she glanced at the Kunai in her hand and hugged it to her chest. "I don't know why, but I know that the bo….that Naruto needs me." She looked Veronica dead in the eye and smiled. "I can't explain it, but I know I have to go."

"Ok Hinata, first we have to get your memory back. Take my hand. You too, Gale."

***

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OK so what do you think? In the next however many chapters, I'm going to go back to the beginning and fill in the entire story to the point where Hinata dies, then how she gets back, then the rest of the story.

Please read and review.