NaruHina- One Last Sunset
The cliffs over Konoha were lit red, as if immersed in rubies, as the sun set and closed the day. Naruto had his knees hitched up to his face, his eyes narrow in fatigue as he watched the water like scene in the distance. Another day was coming to a close and he had drawn no conclusion. He couldn't believe Sakura anymore because of what had happened earlier with her. Most of his friends supported him, but had become distant after a while, wondering what his problem was from afar. He was so sick of everyone that he didn't really know what to feel at the moment. So he chose to feel nothing. He felt dead at the moment, and he didn't feel like changing it.
His ears twitched when he heard someone coming from behind him. He almost told them to go away, but he could sense that the person wasn't necessarily there to be with him. He didn't turn and only looked to see who it was when they had sat down, several feet to the left from him, and continued to look serenely at the sunset.
It was Hinata.
Naruto was surprised. She wasn't blushing, she wasn't speaking with a stutter, she was just at peace, here on the top of the cliff.
"I didn't follow you here." She said softly, brushing part of her hair from her face. "Just so you know. I come here all the time… but people will think that I…" She trailed off. Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't assumed she came to talk to him, though many people had.
"If you prefer, I could leave." She said suddenly, her position was acutely awkward. Naruto was taken aback and moved his knees down.
"Nah… you're alright." He replied slowly. "I'm just not used to people up here is all."
"It's quiet here… more peaceful." She remarked, imitating his pose from earlier. Her hair swished slightly in the breeze. " I can get away from everything here… no matter what it is. And no one else… well, until you came Naruto-kun, ever came here… It's like my sanctuary." Naruto stared at her for a moment in disbelief, but she did not look at him. He turned back to the sunset in awe, watching the remains of the red sun sink into the depths of the earth.
"It's too sad, the setting sun." She was standing now, and walking away. Naruto stood too and hastened to catch up with her. She was quick. He remembered how fast she had come to his rescue.
"Hinata- I wanted to Thank you, you know for…" Hinata had turned around, her face puzzled.
"But Naruto…" She said softly. "Don't you know that I'm dead?" Naruto stopped dead in his tracks in disbelief and horror. The kage mountain seemed to shrink and suddenly it was just her and him in the pitch black nothingness. She slowly faded away, and Naruto reached out to touch her hand.
Naruto awoke screaming. He looked around his bedroom, frazzled and confused. It was all a dream? All of that? He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, looking over at his messed up clock. Four in the morning again. Same dream, same time. He was starting to wonder now.
His weeks had been extremely restless, but he hadn't expected the nightmares that pursued him. He'd locked himself up in his house and hadn't left in many days. He lost track after a while, ignoring pleas and threats from his friends. Eventually they had just stopped coming. All except one.
She came every day. She never said a word, so he wasn't sure of who it was. He only knew it was female because she had nothing to say. She just stood by the door for hours at a time, then left. He felt oddly comforted by this figure, and though he was tempted to see who it was, he wasn't that intensely curious.
He stepped out of bed and walked into his kitchen. The milk was bad again. So it had been more than a week. He'd have to stop at the store soon, or he'd starve to death. He wasn't particularly happy about having to do so, being that it meant seeing his friends hurt faces. He didn't want to hurt them, but he didn't want anything to do with them either.
He sighed and closed his refrigerator. Time to face reality, even if it was as unpleasant as his dreams.
He decided to be somewhat inconspicuous that day. He pulled on a black t-shirt and one of his newer black hoodies that he rarely wore because they had not one spec of orange on them. He threw the hood over his head and walked out of his house, headed for the grocery. As one last precaution, he used a jutsu to make himself look like an ordinary teenager. Then, he headed on in the pouring rain.
Hinata stared out her window quietly, without feeling. She was so tired her eyes were barely staying open. She was sick of this sick feeling in her stomach all the time, she was sick of being cooped up in the house during the mornings and being watched during the afternoons. At least, she thought, it was Neji they were sending with her. He let her go where ever, and kept her most desperate secret, well, a secret.
She'd been visiting Naruto every day for 13 days. Nearly two weeks, and he'd still not left his house. She was worried that he might never leave. Neji assured her that he would leave when he felt safe in the village again, but Hinata was almost positive that wasn't why he was hiding out. She had a feeling he was hiding inside himself, trying to figure out what he was going to do next. It was classically Naruto to do so after all.
She sighed, feeling tired and incomplete. Stretching, she looked on into her window again and pulled her legs over her bed. Instantly, she felt nauseous and stopped moving. She wasn't quite sure why she felt this way. She pushed it out of her mind and looked at the door, hearing a slight knock.
"You may enter." She said in a quiet voice. Hanabi entered. She looked uncomfortable and she was blushing slightly.
"Father noticed the bruises on your arms… and that you've been sick a lot lately…" She said quickly, almost as if she couldn't wait to get it over with. "He wants you to go see him as soon as is possible." Hinata, puzzled, stood and walked to the doorway. Hanabi led the way into the small section of the house where their father usually stayed.
"Whenever your ready sister." Hanabi said, bowing. Hinata was surprised, being Hanabi generally regarded her as a lower life form of the Hyuuga. Hinata shrugged it off and went into her father's office.
"We need to talk child, sit."
