Cross of Hendaye

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything that has to do with alchemy. Sad but true. u.u;

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-: Chapter I - Hydrargyrum :-

"Do not pray for your own needs, for your prayer will not then be accepted. But when you want to pray, do so for the heaviness of the Head. For whatever you lack, the Divine Presence also lacks."

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Silence.

It would always begin with silence.

Eerie stillness. It surrounded her, embracing her in a soothing, motherly way that she had missed for so long. But the calmness never stayed.

There was nothing to see that one should be afraid of, nothing visible that would haunt you until eternity. But it was the unspoken threat that lingered underneath the surface, well-hidden but still noticable; daring her mockingly to take one step.

She was alone in the darkness, just standing there rigidly while the tension and fear began to arise within her again. Incoherent and hysteric thoughts filled her mind and she tried to comprehend them, but they only screamed that fleeing was what she had to do.

But no matter how much she wanted it, no matter how hard she tried to move one limb, she found that it was impossible. Adrenalin pumped in her veins, the animalistic urge to run away from danger was building within her intestines and strained every muscle of her body, preparing to bolt away when needed. It held no avail.

She couldn't.

No, she never could.

The silence seemed to have taken over her. Frozen on the spot, she could only move her eyes fearfully from one side to another; staring blindly into obscurity and trying to see anything; anything that would save her from this. Anything that could devour her right then and there.

And finally, after what seemed like hours of torturous abiding and painful attempts to get away from the unknown, the invisible sky would finally open up and reveal the moon to her pupil less eyes.

Splashes of silken rays fell upon her, not quite warm but overpowering the coldness of fear. She kept on staring to the silver ball that looked so much like her own white eyes, desperately clinging onto it in fear for leaving her alone in the dark again.

The moon seemed to smile back at her, consoling her with puddles of radiating light and looking like it set the darkness on pale fire as it shined ever-so brightly.

It was always when the moon fell out of the sky when she would find strength back again. Lips parted in a soundless scream she lifted one arm, hand frighteningly reaching out to catch the falling ball of opal.

The light faded as it neared, scaring her to no end as it seemed like it was dying slowly.

…No.

It couldn't.

It couldn't!

Pale fingers stretched until they could no further. The light had faded entirely, leaving her in the darkness again. A silent tear fell.

A feathery touch, so soft it was barely noticeable, grazed the side of her outstretched hand that still had been lifted to the now invisible sky as black ink had taken over again.

She saw it falling, even in the pitch-black dark. Moving her hand to catch it, her fingers closed around nothing as she was too late and the object landed on the ground with a sigh.

Lying there at her feet and glowing faintly, she crouched down and carefully lifted it up with trembling fingers, to confirm if it really was what she thought.

She looked.

Pearl eyes widened.

Almost dropping it from utter shock, she could only stare as the knob unfolded itself and revealed fragile white petals; a rose had sprouted in her hands. The thorns didn't sting her although they were present; she could feel them vaguely beneath her fingertips.

The white rose had an unearthly beauty, just like the moon always seemed to posses. She wanted to admire the almost hypnotizing flora but couldn't do it as the alarming sense of déjà vu crept underneath her skin and nestled itself there unknown to her.

…A white rose…

…Where did she recognize it from? Where had she seen it earlier? Had she even seen it somewhere before? She was so sure of it… Or was it because…

The confusing feeling of it all overwhelmed her and she clutched her head with her free hand, the other dropping to her side but never letting go of the flower. Not really looking she stared at the nothingness before her; feeling quite light-headed the warning sense of fear rushed back to her.

She no longer knew what to do.

The helpless feeling paralyzed her once again and she fell on her knees, clutching the rose tightly with shaking fingers. As she attempted to calm her rushing mind, a hissing sound was heard behind her back; breaking throughout the silence like a stone that fell through glass, sparkling fragments flying everywhere.

Eyes widened as the sizzling sound neared more and more, sounding like it was right behind her. She sensed something evil coming and the air around her began to feel suffocating; it was as if an invisible hand was shut closed around her throat, taking the last sigh of oxygen away. Slowly, very slowly, she turned around.

Burning yellow orbs were glaring predatorily at her, never blinking as they continued to scrutinize, boring holes through every fibre. She shuddered once.

The snake slithered even closer, the hissing sound never stopping and echoing painfully through her mind. Its glimmering eyes averted not once from her face, keeping the bond between them and keeping her from moving from her spot, not able to do something else then glancing fearfully at the nearing monster.

It was right before her nose that the creature halted, yellow mingling with white as it seemed to stare right into her own widened eyes and read her very soul.

A black tongue slipped out of slightly parted jaws and the slimy lips were distended even more, revealing needle-like fangs. Saliva mixed with deathly toxic dripped off of them and fell onto the nightgown of the numb girl. Greasy skin rubbed against her knees as the tail of the serpent was making spastic movements; the owner ready to strike at its hypnotized prey and taste fresh meat.

She kept on staring into the abyss of yellow, not able to tear her own gaze away. Her mind was screaming loudly, so very loudly, but she let herself take away by the magnificent glimmer, sparking and the last bit of light she would see before Death surely would come and led her to the Here-after. She was strangely content with that.

The hissing sound rang through her ears like a morbid lullaby and thin teeth were almost boring into pale flesh, intoxicating with honey-sweet poison before the final strike would come. She felt drips of it falling onto her skin, feeling cold and tickling slightly before traveling down the sensitive part of her neck.

Eyelids closed before a body shuddered as it was punctured by white-hot needles. Her mouth was wide-open with a scream when poison began to stream through veins, doing its deathly job. Pain began to burn so severely she felt her stomach clench, bitter bile rising up to her throat and filling her mouth with sickly tasting acid. She bent forwards, raven hair touching the snake that backed away quickly while hissing malevolently at her.

She began shaking uncontrollably; soon it changed in hysterical spasms and her body hit the ground with a soft thud as she looked at the darkness around her. The pain had faded due to the silent but deathly poison that had numbed her entirely. Her head turned slightly, shaking still as she spit out some of the bile that had gathered in her mouth. She could no longer raise her arm because it was twisting and turning in movements inimitable for her.

Turning her head back to the ink mass above her, she sighed as a strange calmness washed over her; sleep began to take over as the spasms subdued. Eyelids closed again. The sizzling snake had disappeared into the darkness, leaving its prey behind. She didn't mind.

Death would come anyway…

Tiredly she re-opened her heavy eye-lids as something soft suddenly fell on her; she forced herself to take one last glance up to the innumerable dark and slowly shifted her gaze from her now still body to the sky.

Thousands and thousands of softly glowing roses fell from out of the obscurity, like white feathers from a flight of doves. Her heart fluttered lightly like a butterfly as she saw them descending slowly as snow, hitting the ground around her.

Sweet scent spread around everywhere, forming a serene air around her silent body and making the slight numbing pain disappear completely. She breathed the scent and inhaled slowly, wanting to capture it to take it with her at the afterlife. She smiled as her eyes fluttered closed.

'…Death sure is beautiful...'

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A hysterical gasp filled the air before a trembling body shot up.

Breathing in and out heavily in an unruly pattern, Hinata let out a shivering sigh before letting herself fall back into the fluffy pillows that suddenly felt very uncomfortable. She threw the thin blankets from her body; the warm and intense air in the room was so sweltering that it almost choked her.

She wiped the beads of sweat that stuck onto her forehead away and stared with wide eyes to the ceiling, shadows from outside dancing in strange patterns on it. Images of before returned and another shudder went through her spine.

'…Why this dream again?'

She didn't want to go back to sleep again. Let alone close her eyes. The dream had been haunting her for a while now, and every time she woke up trembling and gasping for air.

It was strange, really. The contentment she felt when she let out her last breath in her dream was replaced by utter fear as soon as she would awake. It ended always the same. The entire dream was always the same. The silent darkness, the moon that fell out of the sky, the snake that would come and bite her …and the white roses.

The white roses scared her the most. It had been the most favourite flower of her mother who had passed away years ago. She knew it as the day from before.

The day of the funeral it had been raining. She didn't quite understand why all the adults were crying because she was still very young, but found that the rain gave comfort to her in a way.

And then her father had walked towards her, his true expression concealed underneath that eternal mask of his. The suit he was wearing was expressing power as if he were a business man and not a grieving husband. He had crouched down and had looked her into the eye for a very long time before handing her a single white rose. Even now, she still remembered the surprise that she had felt and had shifted her glance from the rose to her father who had already turned away from her again and walked away, his broad back distancing him even more from her own small form.

The rose had shattered between her tiny fingers that were clenched into a balled fist, its white petals falling before being carried away from her by the almost playful gush of wind.

She had felt the tears burn as realization had finally dwelled upon her.

"Mom…"

Far away the alarmed barking of a dog was heard. Hinata paid no heed to it as she turned around for the second time, hands under her cheek as she felt tiredness wash over her once again. She didn't want to fall asleep, but…

…she didn't want to stay awake, either. The memories of her mother pained her even if it was years ago that she had died. She felt weak and pathetic.

Tears threatened to fall again and agitatedly Hinata wiped them away before shutting her eyes tightly, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to warm herself a little since she was too lazy to get her covers from the floor.

'Tomorrow everything will be better…'

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She could hear the jingling sound of an alarm clock somewhere… she knew it for sure.

…Wait. It sounded vaguely familiar…

Eyelids fluttered open and she shivered from the sudden absence of warmth. Trying to move, Hinata found that her legs were tangled in a mass of white fabric. Apparently she had grabbed the blankets in her sleep.

After a short wrestling match with her covers she sat right up, tiredly yawning and rubbing the sleep out of her sensitive eyes. She sighed deeply as she turned the cursed alarm off.

Hinata got up and stretched her arm high above her in the process; nothing better than that firstly in the morning. She yawned again and strolled over to the bathroom.

Taking her clothes off and getting under the shower, she closed her eyes as the lukewarm jet of water hit her face. Allowing herself to enjoy a few seconds of the now warm water, she let her thoughts dwell off.

That dream…

Maybe she should see someone for it. It was too much, she was getting sleep-deprived and the returning memories of her mother were something she didn't want to be confronted with every night. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't bear with all the feelings they took with them and especially not right now; work had been quite stressful lately and the latest research assignment was a lot harder than she had assumed at first, forcing her to temporarily ban other things out of her mind.

She yelped when the hot water had suddenly turned cold. Berating herself for standing too long under the shower again Hinata jumped out of the small cabin and searched for a towel.

After being finished in the bathroom and searching for her clothes she went to the kitchen. Surely she could eat some cereal before going off to work… It wasn't too late… right?

Casting a glance to the clock on the wall opposite of her she almost choked in her breakfast.

'9.15! Oh, God! I have to be at work in fifteen minutes!'

Faster than lightening Hinata got up and flashed through her apartment; getting all her papers and other important material she almost tripped over a deserted pair of jeans that lay on the floor of her bedroom. She slightly scowled at the poor piece of fabric before getting her trench coat and grabbing the keys, pushing all of the papers in a suitcase.

She took one last bite of her breakfast before heading towards the door. Closing her hand around the knob and turning it slightly, she opened it and was about to walk out, but something stopped her.

Hinata nearly fainted when she saw the bouquet of white roses on her doormat.

-: End of chapter I - Hydrargyrum :-

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A/N: All right, so… this was the first chapter. What err… did you think about it? –is slightly nervous- Before you all go yelling 'What in the name of God is this'; I know this was very vague. It'll become clearer in the next chapters. The first part was Hinata's dream, for those of you who didn't get that (Not that I think you're dumb or anything; it's just that I'm very well aware of my incapability of explaining things (properly). n.n;). I won't say too much because that would ruin the following chapters, but what I can tell you is that in the next chapter Sasuke will make his appearance and that there will be alchemy involving with this story. It'll will be slightly paranoid and confusing, so just a little warning beforehand! n.n Anyway, please tell me your opinion. Feedback (positive and/or negative) is gladly accepted. :)