Destined Star
1: From the Past, To the Present
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only the putting out of a lamp because the dawn has come"
~Rabindranath Tagore~
~o0o~
There were many ways people wanted to die. Some say they wanted to die in their sleep. Others say they would like to die for the person they loved. Many didn't wish to think about death; simply because they didn't want to know how they would die.
For Hyūga Hinata it had been a nightmare.
How would things have turned out, if she wasn't the heiress of the Hyūga Clan's main branch? If because of her title, her eyes would never be sealed when she died.
She had watched them die; everyone in her clan. They died to protect her, so that she may live. She often thought, that if she was older, she would have yelled at them. Let her live, for what-so that she would be alone, so that she would have no one, nothing? But the angry voice would disappear as she would always hear her mother's words after.
"You must live Hinata. Live and carry on our legacy, even if it's only in your heart. For you are the last of us. A pure Hyūga. Live and make it better for those who will come after you."
Hinata would always feel sad afterwards, because she missed them. She had been rescued from the ruins of her old home and brought to Konoha. Where they treated her like one of their own. Sometimes she knew that it was mostly out of pity but she never really cared. She knew that if out of the many, two out of the lot actually cared about her well being and had tried to bring her out of her shell; which at first did no good.
Then there was Naruto. The boy whose life was harder than hers, harder than she could have ever imagined. The Hyūga had often times wonder why she, someone who originally wasn't from their village was treated better than someone who was. At that time, ignorance was truly bliss, as in time she got to know that he was the jinchūriki of Kurama-the nine-tails. A monster, that the village hated.
Yet, he still managed to stay strong, and positive. When he was the sun, she was the rain. His smile was bright, she liked that. He had dreams, she wanted that. He wanted to be known, she'll do that.
x.x.x
Her slumber was always dark and empty. Pure nothingness and she liked it that way. She was never haunted, never scared of the memories of death so long ago. It was peaceful, in a sense.
Hinata had changed over those years, physically and mentally. No more was she the stuttering, fearful, weak little girl, who others could take advantage of. Now she had grown stronger and wiser. Getting closer towards her own dreams and goals.
She was ANBU. Skilled in the areas, to track, hunt and kill, commander of the Shadow Squad. The girl who was a dead-last came to be first rated, it had only taken, blood, sweat and tears to get there; and she would gladly do it over again, if to relieve the same results.
The blazing sound of her alarm clock woke Hinata up from her dreamless sleep. Muttering curses to herself, she reached over to turn it off. Opening one pearl eye, the Hyūga stared at the glaring red numbers 2:00 pm. She was suppose to meet at the Hokage tower in an hour, though the Hokage was secretive about the details, she really hoped that it wasn't a mission; she was still tired from her last.
Getting up, Hinata took a quick shower, dressing in her usual ANBU attire; a black skin tight bodysuit, with fastens on the neck, black fingerless gloves and knee high enclosed boots, with a chain belt around her waist for decoration. With her hair still damp from the shower, and her fox mask attached to her side, she decided to forego a meal and head straight to the tower, disappearing in the wind.
Hinata arrived at the Hokage's Tower shedding several minutes off the acquired time. Knocking on the door, she waited until she was addressed to come inside. Inside the Hokage sat behind her desk looking over at a number of papers in front of her with a miserable look on her face. Scowling she stared at Hinata as if she had forgotten why she was there, the information quickly came to mind and she let out a frustrated groan as she rubbed her temples, hoping to release the tension there.
"Well since you're early Hinata, let's get started before the others come." Tsunade said and Hinata raised her right eyebrow in question. For she did not know that her squad was coming, she remembered that the Hokage said that only she was to return today.
"Others?" She voiced her thoughts.
"Yes," the Hokage began her attention fully on Hinata. "I am removing you from ANBU Commander of the SHADOW squad." The Hyūga stood there, trying to understand the words just spoken to her; remove her from her ANBU Commander position. She snapped out of her stupor.
"Why?" The question was brisk, blunt even. It had to be for a good reason, her team had a good success rate if she didn't count the death of one of her members.
"I am giving you a new squad," she started. "All of you have exceptional skills, which is good considering you will be going on highly dangerous classified missions. I need a good team leader and you are my best choice."
Hinata only stared at the Hokage as she let everything register in her mind. She was being thrown into a new squad, where she; metaphorically and literally speaking, was going to have to start from the bottom. The last Hyūga didn't like that. Three chakra signatures shot through her body and she turned to see who they were. Her eyes landing on the ANBU clad forms of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, the original members of Team 7.
"Black Star, meet the members of the RAVEN Squad; Demon Fox, Ghost Reaper and White Willow." Tsunade said.
~o0o~