Title: 93

Summary: "We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death." ~David Sarnoff

In a time of war, a mortally injured Sasuke knocks on the door of a helpful pacifist.

Yea, I started another fan fiction. Couldn't help it. SasuHina has been on my mind lately. After much brainstorming, I finally found an idea that I could stick with and now...ta-da! 93. This is during the Fourth Ninja War but it was not started by Madara here because I felt that the Akatsuki (4 people) versus the rest of the shinobi world wasn't so fair. :D It's AU-is b/c of how I changed background stories of some characters and things like that but there are still shinobi/kunoichi. I thought this up when I was listening to the Schindler's List theme for the fifty-ith time.

I'm not one to troll for reviews too much. Only review if you want to, don't feel obliged to.

~M.o.t.C

War is ugly. It is ugly not only by its appearance; its smell of burning, suffering nature; the sight of blood-stained grass; the sight of open, lifeless eyes; the visual of countless dead men and horses pleading with their eyes for their owners to help them stand, longing for freedom from the terror of battle. It's not ugly only by the smell of decaying flesh or the sound of its soldiers crying for the only thing it can offer them: death. War is not measured only by the sound bombs bursting in air or the taste of salty tears as they roll down loved-ones faces. War is also ugly in the way that it affects the people involved and the bystanders. War kills not just the soldier, but the family and the community of that soldier as well whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. Fighting in such an intense long-term battle can make the soldier go through something small like combat stress reaction to something more major like post-traumatic-stress disorder. It attacks more than just the exterior of a person, but also the interior. The brain. The soul. Those things.

Hyuuga Hinata hated war and everything that went with it. It was a terrible thing and almost never had any positive outcome. She had seen and felt too much of the aforementioned to support it. For this reason, the navy blue haired teenager refused to help either sides of the war with anything. She was now a seventeen year old living in the Fourth Shinobi World War. The only thing she would do for the war was to help any wounded soldier that knocked on her door; no matter what side they were on. But even then, she only housed them for so long. After all, she had a younger sister that she needed to think about and exposing the young girl to war stories and the sound of the wounded crying out in pain at night, Hinata felt, was too much.

"H-Hanabi!" Hinata called her younger sister meekly, "dinner time."

Hanabi ran down the stairs of their small, quaint home that the two adolescents shared together. It was usually dark in the home, much like it is now. The only light came from the small lamp that hung scarcely above the dinner table. Hanabi looked up at it and moved her lilac eyeballs in the direction that the lamp swayed. It flickered ever so slightly every thirty seconds or so. The bolts holding the lamp to the ceiling seemed to loosen a little. The young girl shifted her eyes to her sister, who was now placing some sort of noodle dish in her bowl. It looked like the same thing they had last week for three days straight. Hanabi's prayers that they wouldn't have it again were apparently left unanswered.

"Udon again?" Hanabi sighed, "Can't we have something different?"

Hinata looked at her sister sternly, but then her gaze softened into a slight smile, "Sorry, y-you know about the rations and I hadn't had a chance to go t-the s-store."

"I can go!" Hanabi said eagerly, a smile spread across her face.

Hinata looked at the girl with the mahogany hair once more. She walked to the window next to the door and looked out of it thoughtfully...solemnly even. The seventeen year old girl raised her delicate hand and touched her reflection in the window softly, as if she thought that a single touch would make her reflection disappear.
She turned to Hanabi, who had already put her coat and shoes on. Hinata chuckled at the sight, the girl knew her older sister too well.
"Alright, go. Talk to no one. O-okay? Don't stop for a-anything. Get what you need and come s-straight back, a-alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the girl said and headed for the door. She reached for the knob before saying one more thing, "What happened to that soldier from Hoshigakure? I haven't seen him around."

Hinata bowed her head, that in itself was enough to tell Hanabi everything she needed to know. She walked up carefully to her sister and held her hand. Hinata's head shot up as she looked at the little girl, "It's okay, Hinata. You did the best you could. You can't save them all."

Hinata nodded solemnly, though secretly she wished that there was something she could have done to save the brave man. His injuries were just too great. It was a simple fact the Hyuga had to face. Disinfectants, bandages, and a damn good bowl of Udon wasn't always enough to cure someone; but it sure did make their final days more meaningful.