A/N: The style of this one is much different from my other fics. It's a bit more poetic, I think. How it happened, I have no idea.
Please be warned, the subject matter of this story is a bit sensitive. I ask that you be respectful.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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There runs a train that goes nowhere.
On age-worn and rusty tracks it journeys through a world of darkness. There is no destination, no stops for the passengers to worry about. There is only movement, ceaseless and smooth. Beyond the windows the landscape is blank, but that is of no concern to those who make it on board. Inside they merely sleep on fraying red seats, some with the stuffing ripping out. No destination is their dream, their chosen path.
As it travels, the train blows its whistle, calling to those who have ears for it.
Those sleeping passengers who ride the endless rails all heard the sound; and each, in various ways, answered its weary call. Now they slumber, unaware of the route the train is taking; knowing only the darkness that surrounds them. And never again will they leave, for the train moves only onward, never stopping.
In that world where the train forever runs there is a girl with pale eyes and long, dark hair. Like so many others, she hears the whistle and is being drawn to the echo of its promise. Sightless in the darkness of the train's world, she nevertheless can feel how close it is; and steadily she walks in the direction she knows a platform must wait. She will find it, and she will finally move on. She doesn't yet know how she will board the train- for there are many ways that she could. What matters is getting to the platform and seeing the train in her sights. Until that moment when her mind is made up, she can only stumble through the dark, trying her best to endure.
For outside that darkened, lonely world, the sound of its horn calls to her in stronger, harsher tones.
She hears it call to her when her mother screams in pain at night, and in the morning when that same bruised woman looks at her with eyes of hate and regret. When her father returns home and pushes her against the wall, sneering that she isn't good enough to bear the Hyuuga name; when he slaps her around, telling her she's stupid and worthless and to stop stuttering because it only pisses him off even more. She hears it calling to her then, too.
At school, the train's cry seems to echo in the whispered and sneered names that follow her: Stutter Butt, Ghost Eyes, Freak. Shamed and isolated, she can only sit quietly in the corner they have shoved her into; listening to the whistle of a train that beckons her.
And at night, when she curls in her bed, shaking and crying and wishing for something better- for an end- she knows in another darkened world that she is being pushed forward, because a train that never stops is surely coming.
Because it is futile to resist its call.
There is a new kid in her school one day: a boy with dirty blond, messy hair and baggy clothes. He is loud and annoying, and becomes a target just like her.
Monster.
That is the name the new kid is given.
Rumors follow him: The kids whisper cruelly to each other that he is an orphan, that no one wanted him because his parents were druggies, or abusers, or murderers. The scars on his cheeks and too-large clothes are easy pickings for the ones who taunt him while shoving him against the lockers.
Watching him, she wonders if he can hear the train calling too.
The boys seem especially aggressive with him, and he with them. At lunch, fights break out on the school grounds with him in the middle, kicking and unwilling to go down easily. Inevitably he does, and she can't help but watch; because instead of staying on the ground where their peers have decided he too belongs, he always gets back on his feet and shouts that next time they won't be so lucky.
In class he raises his hand, demanding to be called on; seeking attention. He tries out for sports, even though he is not athletic and his teammates abuse him even more after practice.
She watches him, wondering why he puts himself through the agony.
Even more, she wonders why he bothers with her.
It's humiliating enough that he found her one day after school, cornered by a group of girls who have made it their duty to remind her of her pathetic existence. Why would he step in, brash and angry and refusing to back down to the insults thrown at him for interfering; and still refusing to apologize the next day after their boyfriends beat him up?
It's unbearable, because this time she knows that he was hurt because of her; the stupid girl that she is. And what's worse is that he continues to acknowledge her. And she can't, for the life of her, understand why.
Why does he say "hi" and smile brightly when he passes her in the halls? Why does he ask to sit with her at lunch, again and again? Why, since that incident, does he trail her each day to the schools exit when classes end?
She can't understand. She's nothing special- that one fact has been made extremely clear.
She's used to the isolation and being bullied, so why does he try when he knows how worthless she is? When he is in the same position? They are two of the same: two fish struggling their way upstream.
Except that she is tired, and is being swept away with the water.
She is painfully aware of him now; watching as he struggles against everything that seeks to push him down. He frustrates her. Can't he hear the lonely, beckoning call of the train that so alluringly cries out to her each night?
She can't understand.
If they truly are the same, then why does he still fight the current?
When he asks to walk her home one day, she can't say anything; doesn't even know how to respond. So she simply starts walking and he follows. Before they can make it off school grounds, a group of boys sneak around the corner, throwing jeers and catcalls. One shoves against the blonde's shoulder, knocking him to the ground: immediately he flies back, tackling the boy who had brushed him.
She can't do anything to stop it. This is the order of things, as much as she hates it.
It's over within minutes. The gang gives his curled body one last kick before shoving past her, laughing.
The train's whistle echoes in her ears.
Surely now he can hear it.
And yet he pushes himself to stand, flashing her a grin while declaring that he won't be pushed down so easily next time.
His smile burns too brightly; it makes no sense. Doesn't he see what is happening? Does he really feel nothing?
The train is coming, it's always been coming. There's no other choice for people like them, so why? Why?
Her confusion and anguish bubbles over and she screams at him, needing to know, to understand: "Can't you hear it?!"
The smile slides from his face as he levels a look at her, so serious and understanding and compassionate and hurting, that she knows-
"Hear what?" he asks her softly.
-She knows that he hears it-
Blue eyes full of a pain to match her own shine with something she can't describe.
- He just refuses to listen.
He stumbles towards her, lifting a hand towards her face.
"Hey, why are you crying?"
She doesn't even notice the tears. Something is happening- her heart is hurting. It's as if she's been inside an egg and suddenly the walls around her have started cracking, letting something indescribable shine through to her. She can't breathe. All this time she's heard the train calling to her, never believing it was possible to resist forever; never having the strength to even try.
His fingers lightly brush her cheek and the fragile walls of her shell shatter, raining brilliant shards of light down upon that girl in the other world.
Shock. She can't move, only stare at the boy in front of her; the boy with a weight as heavy as her own on his shoulders, yet a smile on his face.
In her inner world, the girl is blinking in new sunlight.
His light.
And all she can manage to think is that she needs more of it.
Because she is scared.
She is scared of the train and its haunting cry; of what she will do when she reaches that platform.
Wide pale eyes crinkle to slits as she lunges forward, burying her nose in his chest as miserable, freeing sobs rise up from within her. Trembling slender arms reach up to cling to his shirt, searching for the solidity of his determination, his hope. She can't see his face, but she feels his arms gently wrap around her, holding her close. To be touched so gently… it hurts.
But she doesn't want to ever let go.
Clinging to each other, they slide down to the ground and he pulls her in closer, wrapping his body around hers. His chin settles on top of her head, and she can feel it- the hope she had given up on.
"We'll keep going together, Hinata."
His words whispered in her ear drown out the sound of the train's whistle.
Those words are a promise, a lifeline she so desperately needed.
Closing her eyes, she gives in to his strength. For once she doesn't feel shame at someone seeing her tears; because right now, with his arms around her telling her it's okay, she can dare for the first time to believe that it will be.
There runs a train that goes nowhere.
In her once dark world, she can finally see the platform. And that train is rushing by, its whistle screaming as she simply watches it go.
End