If We Forgive
It was so sudden. It felt almost surreal. Hinata watched how the life drained out of her cousin's eyes as Naruto held on to him. Neji-sama.
Hinata sat up on her bed. The clock on her bedside table told her it was 2.30am. Again.. Waking up from her sleep in the middle of the night. She wiped her sweaty forehead. Ever since the war this has always been her pattern. But she knew.. It wasn't just the war. It was the fact that a part of her was still sad over the death of her cousin.
Hinata lay back down on the bed and looked at the moon through her window. It was a beautiful night. The moon from a billion light years away does look enchanting, but up there it's dusty, quiet and pretty deserted. It was like her eyes. The people of konohagukure have always admired the Hyuuga clan's trademark eyes. Like if Hinata went to the market, she will always hear compliments like "beautiful eyes.. It's like a portal to a good soul.. They remind me of the moon." And exactly like the moon, Hinata felt empty, dusty and pretty deserted.
It's not that she's all alone. Her clan house is filled with people. Those with a constant stern face like her father and also some with a more cheery atmosphere like her helper, Mitsuko. And not to mention her one and only sister, Hanabi. Although things did get a little rough between them when her father decided to give her birth right as the potential clan leader to Hanabi, the two of them have gotten past that. It is all good. Because Hinata knew that things always happen for a reason. Even though it hurt her when it was decided. It made her feel like the biggest failure there ever was. What a disgrace of the main branch.
But over time her heartache lessened and slowly it became thinner. She started seeing a new side of her father. A side that she was never aware of. He became gentler towards her and became less strict. She could also sense that he was pleased with her after she pulled that stunt against Pain. When she-
When she tried to save Naruto. Hinata clenched her bed-sheets. What an embarrassing thing to remember. That awkward not to mention lame confession she did. Like who in their right mind would confess when you're up against one of the Akatsuki! Till this day, that memory haunts her like a looming ghost. She regretted it with every cell of her body. Because up to this day also.. Naruto said nothing about it.
People might praise her for her bravery. But in the end she still failed. Still a weakling struggling to prove herself. How she hated how she is. Too gentle, her elders would say. Like her mother.
"Oh, okasan how I wish you were here to guide me." Hinata said to herself as she clenched and unclenched her blanket.
Hinata opened her eyes alarmed. It was real. She swore she heard it. Just as she was about to go back to sleep, she heard something move in the direction of her dressing table.
She activated her byakugan but saw no sign of life. The war made her take extra precautions even though she's in a secured enough place as the Hyuuga compound. Still curious, she got up and walked over to her dresser. With the help of the moonlight, she can see things almost clearly.
After checking her things, she was about to head back to her bed and dismiss the sound as nothing, but then she noticed something was out of place. Hinata picked up a frame which holds a picture of her mother and her back when she was about four years old. The thing is, the frame was not in the position she left it before she went to bed. It was pulled out against the rest of her small frame collection on the dresser. And even more strange, the clasp at the back of the frame was open. She flipped the frame over to look inside and saw the words, 'It's time' written at the back of the photograph.