"Naruto!" She screamed. Hinata watched as the blond haired boy turned around and looked at her with pitiful eyes. She could swear that she could see tears beginning to form around the center of his eyes but she could no longer keep her eyes open as she began to lose consciousness.
With one last scream of his name, Hinata reached out for him but he was too far. He turned his back on her and the last thing she could see was him walking away leaving her lying on the ground surrounded by her fallen clansmen.
...
Hinata awoke with a start hearing the loud ringing of an alarm clock going off. She blinked her eyes as she slowly came back to reality. She sat up realizing that it was only a dream...a horrible, horrible dream. She reached for the clock, hitting the snooze button silencing the noisy machine. She swept the covers off her legs and swung them to the side of the bed. Stroking her hair back, she sighed quietly as she observed the room around her. Her eyes caught the attention of a photo that was on her bed stand right next to her.
It was picture of a younger her and beside her was boy with blonde yellow hair and blue eyes. The two were smiling and laughing with each other. Hinata reached out for the photo only to stop. Instead of picking the photo up, she placed it face down so that she wouldn't have to look at it any longer.
She stood up and walked past her bedroom door and into the rest of her tiny apartment. She could probably afford a bigger and better place but she found herself unable to part with this place. It had too many memories, both good and bad.
She walked over to the kitchen, opening the cupboard only to see an endless amount of cup of noodles that had been left behind by the previous owner of the apartment. Although she knew that there were only noodles in the cupboard, she found herself always looking there in the morning. Closing the cupboard, she prepared a simple slice of toast with a fresh puree of fruit for her meal.
After breakfast, she took a shower washing away any sweat and grime that may have accumulated over night. She leaned her head against the shower wall letting the cold freezing water wash over her.
Walking out of the bathroom with only a towel around her chest, she noticed a dark shadow in the corner of the room. She immediately threw a kunai in the direction of the shadow only for a young woman with bright pink hair to catch it.
Hinata stared at the young woman sitting in a chair before moving over to her closet. The woman stared back at Hinata, watching her.
"Good Morning, Hinata." She said trying to sound cheerful.
Hinata was silent for a moment before she started rummaging through her clothes.
"Good Morning, Sakura." Hinata replied in a dull, cold tone.
As Sakura watched the seemingly cold, heartless woman look through her closet, her eyes moved over to the ANBU uniform that hung on the side of the wall, taking note of the mask that seemed to resemble a fox.
"You still have that?" Sakura asked.
Without even turning around, Hinata replied. "Of course."
Sakura stood up from her chair and walked over to her friend's side, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata."
Hinata turned and stared at Sakura.
"Why do you torture yourself like this Hinata?" she asked. "Is it necessary that you live in his home, hang his clothes on wall, sleep in his bed?"
Hinata glared at Sakura with cold dark eyes. "Yes." She replied simply.
Sakura looked at Hinata in the eyes before turning around. "Rokudaime wants to see you as soon as possible. I'd hurry if i were you."
With that, Sakura left Hinata alone. Hinata stood there quietly in place with only a towel wrapped around her. She knew that Sakura meant good coming by every morning to check up on her but.. how could she forget about him? Him...
…
"Ma'am. Sakura and Hinata are here to see you."
"Good. Send them in."
Shizune opened the door letting the two girls walk inside. +
"Jiraiya-sama..." Hinata whispered seeing the sanin in the room. It had been five years since she had last seen him. It was the day of the incident...when...he left.
"Come in, Sakura, Hinata." Tsunade said.
The two walked in and stood in front of her desk. Hinata watched the Rokudaime and Jiraiya very carefully. It was no pure coincidence that she would be called in the same day that Jiraiya would mysterious appear in Konoha. Something was amiss.
Tsunade looked over at Jiraiya waiting to see if he wanted to talk first but saw that both Jiraiya and Hinata were looking into each others eyes exchanging information already.
"Hinata."
Hinata looked back at the Rokudaime hearing her name.
"We've found him..." Tsunade said.
Hinata froze hearing her words. "Him?" She asked knowing full well who they were talking about.
Tsunade sighed and blinked her eyes once before saying, "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."
Sakura turned at looked at Hinata who looked like she had seen a ghost. Ever since that fateful day, the village had refrained from using the word, Naruto. It was taboo especially around Hinata. They took special care in using the word 'him' to avoid causing Hinata any pain.
"Where...?" Hinata asked now trembling, her anger now evident.
Jiraiya looked at the girl in front of him with his arms crossed. "Calm down Hinata." He said.
Hinata glanced at him but returned her attention back to Tsunade still waiting for an answer.
Tsunade clasped her hands together. "We have evidence to support that Naruto is in the Land of Grass."
"The Land of Grass?" Hinata asked. She had never heard of the land of grass before. "Where is it?"
"It's a small country bordering the land of earth and the land of wind. It quite small, not even appearing on the map. I chanced upon it during my travels during these last five years." Jiraiya told her. "Contrary to the name, it is filled with a large amount of forest. The perfect hiding place for a criminal."
"Hinata, ever since that day, Jiraiya has been scouring the land for any information on the whereabouts of Naruto. Being an Ex-Anbu, he has hidden his tracks very well. So well, that we don't even have a clear and precise location on where he might be. We only have information that a person with blond hair, blue eyes and three scratches across their face, that resemble whiskers, has been seen in a tiny rural village in the land of grass. The blond hair and blue eyes could easily be mistaken for someone else, but the scratches on his face..." Tsunade told her, letting the information sink in.
Hinata was quiet as she took in all this information. Her mind was racing trying to process it all. Her breathing starting to become ecstatic and unregulated. She felt light headed as she began to hear Naruto's voice call her name.
"Hinata...Hinata...Hinata"
"Hinata?" Sakura asked grabbing Hinata's shoulder. Hinata flinched startled by Sakura's touch.
"I-I'm ok..." She said before slumping to the ground.
Sakura bent down grabbing her shoulders making sure she was ok. She watched her for a moment before looking back at Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sensei, wouldn't have made more sense to go look for Naruto yourself instead of telling us about it. He may have already left the area by the time you would have told us."
Jiraiya nodded. "Yes i could have..." He said before staring at Hinata. Hinata looked up and met his gaze. "However, i felt that there was someone else that deserved to retrieve Naruto... someone dear to him."
Hinata simply looked back at the ground as her memories came rushing towards her. She could hear the sound of his voice calling her name, his laugh when hearing a joke. She could remember their first meeting, their first kiss. But it all disappeared as the memory of Naruto leaving her lying on the floor surrounded by her fallen clansmen came back haunting her.
Tsunade watched Hinata who sitting on the ground silent, unmoving. "Hinata. I am assigning you and a team of your choice to pursue Naruto...will you accept?"
Hinata sat there for a moment before slowly standing up. Her legs shaking, her body trembling, then it stopped. She pulled herself together and stood up tall. Crossing her arms around her back, with a cold expressionless look on her face, she looked the Tsunade in the eye.
"I accept."