Chapter One
I hold my breath, closing my eyes.
My ear is pressed to the thin door to my father's office. He doesn't know I'm here, and I really hope that it stays that way. My ears aren't as strong as my eyes, which might be why I it becomes harder to hear when their voices become softer.
"What do you mean?" the voice of my cousin, Neji, comes loud and clear through the shroud of silence.
I don't hear my father's reply.
I originally had decided to eavesdrop, because I was interested in the affair that my father has been calling Neji in to talk to for months now. I haven't mentioned my knowledge of this to anyone, not even my best friends, Kiba and Shino. Normally, I would tell things like this to Shino, but not in this case. I don't want to involve them. I don't know what the circumstances may be, and I don't know if those circumstances may get them hurt.
Another long, excruciatingly loud silence rings out through the long hallway. I feel like my mind will explode from the tension, when I hear Neji's voice again. At first I believe that this is a relief, even if it is some unintelligible noise. I'm wrong, completely and totally wrong. I freeze as I hear the door make a clicking noise. I can't be caught. I won't let myself be caught.
I am just turning to run when my father, Hiashi, steps out.
I stop in mid-stride. My face burns in shame. I keep my eyes rooted to the ground. "Hello, Hinata," my father says coldly.
"F-f-f-father, I c-c-can explain," I reply, my face growing redder at my constant stammering.
He doesn't answer me, waving a hand for me to follow.
I oblige hesitantly, quickening my pace to walk beside him. His expression is grim, and I cringe in fright. In my family, grim never means good, but has it ever? "Hinata," my father glances at me from the corner of his eye.
"Y-yes?"
"Do you remember Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Of course!" I say defensively. How could I forget?
"Oh…" he clears his throat. "I'm afraid that there has been a… misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?"
"Yes."
"W-w-what do you mean?"
"Sadly, Naruto is-"
"Is what?" my voice is growing higher in hysteria. "Don't keep playing around with me!"
"Dead," my father finishes. His deep voice has just broken through all of my swirling thoughts.
"D-d-d-dead?" my voice holds no emotion, although I feel like I'm going to scream.
"Like I said," a gust of icy wind blows through my heart as he speaks, "there was a misunderstanding."
I let it out. Right then and there.
My screams echo throughout the massive house. I cover my own ears as I continue my shrieking, tears streaming down my pale face. My father watches in cold indifference. He begins to talk, but I drown him out with my screams. "SHUT UP!" I screech, my protective shell beginning to crack, "JUST SHUT UP!"
Smack. Smack.
I blink slowly, my cheeks stinging. I look up at my father, who is now standing over me. I let out a small whimper, willing my tears to stop. My legs begin to buckle. I slide down to the wooden floor, my hand over my mouth. If I take it off, the screaming will start again. It's likely that everyone in the house will come running after my first outburst, and it'd be worse than hell if they all found me like this. My father's shadow falls upon me, and I glance up. His mouth is set in a grim line, his forehead filled with many creases of worry. My hands are shaking now. I can't tell whether it is from fear or rage. "Father… what was the misunderstanding?" I manage to say, keeping my voice barely louder than a whisper.
He steps away from me.
My heart must be bleeding as he walks away at a brisk pace. A strange numbness is flooding through my body. I stand. My legs are still shaky, and I put an arm to the wall to steady myself. Naruto's gone. He's gone.
I'll never see his bright, smiling face again.
I begin to run down the hallway, searching for my bedroom. I'll never hear his encouraging words outside of my dreams. I throw open my bedroom door. I'll never be able to laugh with him. I slam it closed. I'll never be able to tell him how I felt. I fall onto my bed. I'll never be able to encourage him just as he encouraged me. I shove my tear-stained face into my pillow. I'll never… I'll never…
My eyes blink open.
The room is cold, and dark. A crescent moon glows faintly in the night sky outside my window. Naruto… my mind begins to whirl again. There's still so much confusion left, and if it overwhelms me, well, that would suck.
A question begins tugging at the edge of my conscience.
A question that I don't know the answer to.
Who killed him?
The first person who comes to mind is Sasuke.
Although it seems that everyone admired and cared for Naruto, I know that he was different. It came through clear in his cold and distant body language before he'd left, where he went I don't know, but he could've easily come back and killed him… no. Everyone knows that Sasuke won't come back. I'm being stupid just thinking like this.
Another, more nauseating thought enters my mind.
I squeeze my eyes shut. I don't want to think this way. My father…. My own father…. He wouldn't, would he? The obvious is knocking on the front door to my brain, but I won't allow myself to see it. My mind is telling me yes. I tell it to shut up. I take a quick peek out from beneath my eyelids. The room is the same as I left it. I shut my eyes again. A face with an empty, blank, dead expression is the only thing I see in the never-ending abyss of blackness.
I can't help myself.
My hands, my mind's hands, reach out towards it, caressing its cold cheeks. A strange feeling washes over me as my fingers trace over caked blood. I know this face from somewhere.
A scream, much louder than my scream earlier, escapes my lips.
"Naruto," I choke out, gagging as the face grows larger.
I rummage through my desk drawers, tears streaking down my face.
I sink to the floor. A few minutes pass, when I realize what is resting in the palm of my left hand. A package of kunai.
