A/N: I still don't own Naruto.
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Hinata wheezed again. It was sterile air in a sterile room, and the taste was as tainted as it was clean. Fuzzy light streamed in through a window beyond her reach, dimly glowing in the otherwise dim room.
She had become a shinobi, almost died by Neji's hands and then won some of his respect, perfected her own modified jutsu, and countless other feats leading to her becoming a potent medical ninja. By now, she was dying and no one could help her because of how far her condition had advance unnoticed. Her heart had been damaged in the bout with Neji, but it had healed for the most part, along with her lungs, throat, and the other bits that had taken beatings over time. But as all wounds are, there was slight permanent damage – the scarring – and the lupus had used that against her. When it struck it did so slowly, devouring the weakened muscle tissue and bronchial tubes over a span of several years, in a way that, until truly pushed to her limit, Hinata had never noticed. And by then she was too far-gone.
Life in the hospital had been cruel to her, and due to her worsening state she wasn't allowed many visitors for fear of over-excitement or infection.
When the others had learned of what had happened….things went poorly. Neji and her teammates blamed themselves for not seeing the changes, sensing her weakness, smelling her deterioration. Sakura felt that, as a fellow medical ninja and the pupil of the great Sannin-turned-Hokage Tsunade, she'd failed Hinata by not finding the disease or even being able to treat it in time. The rest faired just as poorly in their own dismal views. But the real topper to it as was that the only boy Hinata'd ever truly loved, Naruto, had taken up with Sakura just a week into her hospitalization, and after the first few visits, had stopped bothering to show altogether. The only constant visitors were Hanabi, Neji, and Sai.
Hanabi came because, in her own demented way, she loved her sister more than life itself, and seeing her so dilapidated had inspired an all but hysteric fear in her. Neji used the excuse of 'protecting' Hinata, as per his assignment by Hiashi, and acted as the envoy from the Hyuuga household. Her father, of course, would never show his face, feeling that Hinata had failed him once again, reinforcing the belief by announcing Hanabi to be the official Hyuuga heir the very afternoon Hinata was admitted. But Sai was different… Sai came to ask about how she felt knowing she was dying. How bad the pain was. Whether or not she was wanting to cry, and just what dying felt like.
At least Sai was honest and clear-headed.
He wasn't panicking over mortality or hiding behind duty. He was straightforward and treated her normally. Not like a dying girl with no one left to talk to or smile for. And he came more frequently – her sister came every Sunday, making Hinata feel like some ritual obligation, while Neji came bi-weekly, and Sai… Sai was there daily, except when on missions, and he stayed after visiting hours had ended and he'd had to sneak back into her barren hospital room, waiting out the dawn with her and ending her night with a simple 'good bye'.
So it was no surprise, when Hinata faded, that he was there. And for the first time he held her hand, and stopped smiling blindly or staring blankly, and for the first time his voice faltered when he questioned her. And when she smiled back and said, "Is this goodbye?" for the first time he kissed her pale forehead and said "Yes. This is the end of goodbyes," as he slowly moved to close her frozen eyes and wipe her final tear away from her ever-cooling face, mixing it with his own as he silently wiped them all away.