Hinata was having that dream again. She was sitting alone on an icy stump that seemed to hold no cold what so ever, and everywhere she looked, she saw snow, stretching on as far as the eye could see. It rose and fell in hills, and there was a sprinkle of leafless trees, but apart from that the land was featureless.

But it was a peaceful land. There was a calmness here that affected everything, settling Hinata's anxious heart. Snow fell slowly from the heavens, and this only made the peace more prominent. There was a soft breeze that ruffled Hinata's short, black hair and tickled her pale skin, and carried the scent of lavender and vanilla to her nose. She had no idea where the smell was coming from-perhaps over the hills?

Hinata loved this icy field. Calm. Quite. Peaceful. It was everything she wanted her life to be, and it was because of this that she couldn't help but smile when she was here.

Hinata's living life was usually a blur, almost a half-forgotten past life, when she dreamed this wonderful dream, but tonight she remembered the waking world vividly. She remembered that the following day would be her birthday, December the 27th, and she would be thirteen years old. She remembered her father's lecture about how hard her life was going to get, and how she will need to hurry and get stronger or risk dying at the hands of her comrades. She remembered crying afterwards, shaken to the bone by her father's words, and the idea that someone at her school might hate her enough to try and take her life.

That was when the wolf appeared.

Hinata was aware she wasn't sitting alone when she felt the wolf's presence, a slight change in the air's pressure, the way the breeze suddenly became colder. Immediately, she spun round on the stump, and found herself face-to-face with the most beautiful she-wolf she had ever laid eyes on.

It's fur was silver, and it seemed to ripple, though the breeze had stopped. Her eyes were a bright, brilliant blue that shimmered in the dim light. Her claws were jet-black and only seemed darker against the pale white of the snow. There were dark blue zig-zags on her sides and they seemed to possess a glow of their own, the colour shifting and gleaming of its own accord. The she-wolf's paws didn't make a sound, though Hinata's clumsy feet always caused the snow to crunch loudly underfoot.

Hinata knew she should've probably been afraid, but for some reason the wolf did not frighten her in the least. Quite the opposite. Happiness swelled within her, and she felt as though she was meeting a friend after years of separation.

"Hime." The wolf's words didn't come from her muzzle-they seemed to come from all everywhere, from the snow and from the wind and from the sky. Again, Hinata knew she should fell fear, but the echoing voice seemed perfectly normal to her.

"O-ookami-san." Hinata said politely, with a slight dip of her head. The she-wolf chuckled, and this time the sound came from her muzzle alone.

"No need to be so polite, child. My name is _"

Hinata frowned. The last part, the she-wolf's name, hadn't reached her ears. Well, it had, but no in the form of words, but rather in the form of a faint whisper that she couldn't understand. In her confusion, Hinata unconsciously titled her head to one side, and the she-wolf laughed in earnest.

"Ah...don't look so confused! It's not surprising you can't hear my name...but you will, one day." She smiled, and Hinata's mind instantly formed the image of a patience woman, a motherly woman, offering encouragement to her bemused child. "It is impressive you can hear me now. But please continue to come here, even if you can't hear my name. I love seeing you."

Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly she couldn't speak and she was being dragged out of the world of dreams. She could a flash of the she-wolf's brilliant blue eyes, and heard her voice carrying on the wind before she woke.

Believe in yourself.

0-0-0

Hinata was bleeding.

Blood gushed freely from a wound above her eye, blinding her momentarily. She only just saw the enemy, and only just avoided the attack. The area in which she'd been standing exploded in a shower of dust and grass, but the enemy slowed down none, and was running for her with a kunai aimed at her heart.

Hinata activated her byukugan and immediately dropped down, dodging his flailing fist. Then she attacked, pouring her chakra into her palms and fighting for all she was worth. She hit several of the enemy's chakra points and she collapsed into a panting mass, and just when Hinata thought it was over, a little white ball appeared out of no-where and leapt at her face. She let out a squeal of surprise and fell back onto her butt, groping desperately for the ball of fuzz that was attacking her face.

But instead of claws and fangs, she felt a sticky toung running along her forehead, and realized the fuzz ball that had jumped her was Akamaru, and he was licking her forehead, congratulating her while his tail wagged so fast Hinata could barely see it.

Shino appeared beside Kiba-the enemy-and heaved him to his feet. He shot Hinata a lot of bewilderment, but it was quickly replaced by one of pride and amazement.

"That was awesome, Hinata!" He exclaimed, his voice a little strained. Hinata realized with a jolt she might have over done it, and perhaps should've held back-then realized that Kiba had hardly ever been affected by her attacks, and so she had never needed to hold back. Sitting up, she placed Akamaru in her lap and looked over Kiba's ragged body with concern. "When did you get so strong!"

"H-huh?"

"You did not realize?" Shino asked in his some-what emotionless voice. "Your strength had increased greatly in the past few days."

"I-it h-has?" Hinata gasped, shocked out of her mind, and Akamaru yipped merrily in her lap.

Kiba grinned. "Yeah, it has! You're amazing, Hinata, and once I can move properly, let's fight again!" His grey eyes flashed, and Hinata flinched slightly, a little scared by his love of combat. She had never liked combat, nor did she believe she would ever came to like it, and this was why she couldn't help but feel shocked by her friends' love of fighting. Even the girls she knew seemed to enjoy it in some way or another, even little Sakura, who had been training incredibly part in the past few weeks. She wanted to be stronger and help Naruto and Sasuke, her team mates, and join in with the battles, just like Hinata did. But Sakura seemed to be enjoying herself, and was beginning to lust for a good fight as much as the boys.

"We must go report to Sensei. She will be pleased with Hinata's performance."

"Damn, Shino, do you have to talk like a robot?"

"I'm not talking like a robot. I'm just talking like a civilized ninja."

"A civilized ninja? Shino, you can't be a civilized ninja..."

Hinata giggled at her friends' silliness and climbed to her feet, stumbled slightly because of the chakra she'd used up. Akamaru bounded after Kiba, his master and greatest alley, and Kiba somehow managed to lean down at pat the snowy white dog, despite the pain in his chest and his need to lean on Shino for support. Hinata felt bad about hurting him, but she also knew it was a good sign-she really was getting stronger, and quickly, too!

And all of a sudden her joy and happiness was ripped out from under her, because a second later the air became ridiculously heavy and an evil presence drowned out all of her senses.

The sensory over-load came so suddenly Hinata was forced to stop and breath and calm her thundering heart, for her eyes were beginning to water and she felt as though she would collapse under the sudden weight. Hinata blinked the water from her eyes and looked for Shino and Kiba-and almost gasped out loud when she was they hadn't been affected in the least by the evil chakra.

In fact, they looked completely fine, as though they couldn't sense the evil that was filling the air like some sort of toxic gas. Hinata swallowed hard. Surely, she wasn't imaging this? She hadn't used so much chakra in that brief moment of combat that she was starting to hallucinate? No! There was no way, to use that much chakra would be suicide, and Hinata hadn't felt suicidal in years.

What is going on?

And suddenly she had the answer.

A roar split the air, and every hair on Hinata's neck rose. It was the most horrible sound she had ever heard, a sound full of grief and anger and loneliness, all voiced in a shrill shriek that carried for miles. It was like some twisted wail of which Hinata had never heard before. Again. Kiba and Shino didn't notice it, but they did notice Hinata was moving and she was sweating like a pig and trembling like nothing else.

"Hinata!" Kiba called. "What's wrong?"

What was wrong? Well, that would be the gigantic monster that suddenly appeared a few metres away from her team-mates, huge and menacing, a face made of bones and a gaping hole in its chest. There were two holes in its skull-like face, and two bloody-red eyes shone, glinting evilly in the sea of black. Its arms were huge and muscular, but they were much longer then its stumpy legs and its hand dragged along the ground as it moved...towards Kiba and Shino!

Hinata forgot all about the heavy air and was sprinting towards Kiba and Shino in and instant. They saw her alarm, saw it written all over her face, and Shino opened her mouth to question her but Hinata had no time to listen to his words. She just grabbed their shirts and leapt back with all her might. The next thing she new, the creature's gigantic fist was smashing against the spot the two boys had once stood. And the ground exploded.

Kiba and Shino let out cries of alarm.

"What-what the hell was that!" Kiba screamed, scrambled to his feet, only to wince in pain. Hinata's attack had been stronger then he thought, and was still affecting him.

Shino didn't scream anything, rather he rounded on Hinata for an explanation.

"Th-there's a monster, right th-there!" Hinata shouted, jabbing a finger towards where it stood. The monster raised its head and roared again, angry that it's prey had escaped it. Hinata flinched at the sound but managed to hear Shino's reply.

"I don't see anything but torn up ground, but I believe you. We've got to get away!" And he was on his feet in seconds, then he was grabbing Kiba and hissing Hinata's words in his ear. Kiba looked shocked beyond words but after a moment he saw the logic and nodded at Shino before calling for Akamaru. The white dog jumped up into Kiba's waiting arms and the ninja student stuffed him down his jacket.

"Let's get out of here!" He huffed.

Hinata was just about to agree, when she saw the creature suddenly gain speed and race after them. It raised its thick arm as it ran and roared furiously at Kiba and Shino, both of whom could not see it!

"KIBA-KUN, SHINO-KUN, LOOK OUT!"

Hinata was barely aware of her feet moving, of her thrusting her hands into Kiba and Shino and pushing them out of the way, seconds before the bolder-sized fist would've crushed them. She was barely aware of the pain that followed, of the blood that she spilled, but the darkness that followed was vivid and very, very real. It scared her, but she let it sweep her away like a leaf caught in the river's current.

And then Hinata's eyes popped open, and she was staring at the sky. For a moment, she wondered if it had all been some huge, insane dream, that she had simply fallen asleep during training and that Kiba and Shino were off sparring somewhere, letting her rest. But the moment her senses kicked in and she felt the evil chakra, she knew that it had been all to real.

She hurriedly climbed to her feet and was about to activate her byukugan when she noticed the chain dangling from her chest. She stared at it for a moment, confused, and then unconsciously lifted a hand to tug it. This resulted in agonizing pain, so sudden and fiery that Hinata couldn't help but scream out loud. Tears sprung into her eyes but she blinked them away and held the rest back, and focused on looking around her.

What she saw was not pleasant.

Kiba and Shino seemed to have forgotten about the monster because they had jumped into a small creator, in which Kiba clung to the slightly mangled body of...Hinata. Yes, that was definitely her. But the left side of her body was crushed, as was her leg, and there was blood everywhere, on her jacket, on her face, in her hair...it was even on Kiba's hands. Kiba was crying in earnest and had buried in his face her shoulder. Shino looked as though he were in some sort of trance, standing on the edge of the creator, his eyes wide and unfocused.

And then it hit her.

I'm dead.

Hinata's mouth dropped slightly.

I'm dead.

I am really, really dead.

So this is what happened when you died. You past injuries disappear and you're left standing around with a chain dangling from your torso. Brilliant.

Hinata forced herself to look away and searched for the monster. As she scanned her surrounding, she thought she felt the air became a little colder, but she shrugged it off as nothing. After a moment, she was a little irritated, because the monster seemed to have disappeared! Where could it have gone? Was it really done, after killing her and-

And suddenly it was there, and it swatted Hinata's away with its massive paw. She rolled over the grass and came to a painful, awkward half, with one arm trapped under her while the other flopped to the side. She sucked in a painful breath and started to get up, only to have the monster pin her down with the hand it hit her with.

It's grip was tight and hard, and it pushed her into the earth. The pain in Hinata's arms began to build, and soon she was screaming. Let go! You're gonna break my arm! Let go, let go, let go! Tears began to flow like rivers down her cheeks and she gave up on squirming, because it only hurt more.

"You saw me while still alive..." The monster mused, a faint smirk playing on its lips. "I couldn't fell your reiatsu under all that chakra while you were still alive, but now I can! There's so much! You're gonna be delicious." And as Hinata realized what it said and let out a hoarse cry, the monster began to cackle.

It's gonna eat me! It's gonna eat me! Why? What did I do! I don't wanna be eaten! Help!

Hinata was struggled to breath now, and she was pretty sure the arm trapped under her had cracked. White dots began to sparkle before her eyes, and she realized she was fainting. That was a good thing, in some ways...she wouldn't feel herself being eaten, then, being unconscious and all...

Hinata saw the monster leaned in, opening its jaws and barring its hundred lines of long, pointed teeth, before she screwed her eyes shut and silently begged to faint. She had never actually asked to faint before, but this was an exception. When she didn't, she just whimpered and waited for the blow to come...

...but it never did.

Instead, Hinata felt the air grow frighteningly cold and she felt ice forming on her cheeks. Seconds later she heard a horrifying cry of pain, and the weight was lifted, and with it the pain of being half-crushed. Her eyes snapped open but her vision was blurred as she sucked in as much air as her lungs would allow and she rolled onto her belly so she could get her arm out of that position. She blinked several times while she panted, hard, and slowly the blurs of shape began solid objects.

And Hinata found herself staring at the monster, expect now it had one arm and a bloody stump, which it was holding. It was hissing furiously at a person that stood between it and its helpless prey, a boy no older then her, wearing a jet black shihakusho and a snow-white haori, holding a nodachi in his hands. His hair was silver and spiked up in all different directions, but that was all Hinata could see of his head, because he was facing away from her, facing the monster.

"I won't let you come any closer, hollow!" The boy growled, and the monster-the Hollow-snarled. It started forward to attack but before it could do anything the boy was suddenly above its head, and he was driving his long blade through the Hollow's skull. His feet touched down lightly on the ground as the Hollow was encased in ice, then it shattered and disappeared, but Hinata was certain she heard a faint cry before it fully materialized.

Then the boy slid the long sword into a just-as-long scabbard that was slung over his back, held there by a dark green sash. He stared at where the hollow had been for a moment longer, then turned round and walked over to Hinata. She saw, then, that his eyes were turquoise, a unique blend of sea-green and sky-blue, and Hinata, despite everything, couldn't help but find those eyes attractive.

"Can you stand?" He asked and Hinata realized she was still lying on the ground. She wasn't sure if she could, so she went ahead and tried, and, though it was slightly painful, found she could do it. She stumbled, though, while trying to take a step, and would have hit the ground all over again if the boy hadn't grabbed her arm. Blushing, Hinata quickly straightened and mumbled a thank you, for both saving from the beast and catching her.

"Don't mention it." He said icily. Then he withdrew his sword again and Hinata's eyes widened in alarm. He noticed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't save you from a hollow and then kill you. I'm a Shinigami, girl, and I'm going to use this to send you to the Soul Society, though I believe you would call it 'Heaven'." She detected a slight scoff when he said heaven, but she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"...W...Will I e-ever see m-my friends a-a-again?" Hinata whispered, and suddenly her chest hurt, but it wasn't a physical pain. Tears sprung in her eyes and though she tried to hold them back she could not. Soon she was crying, and the boy was just standing there, with a slightly bewildered expression on his face. He hadn't the slightest idea how to deal with weeping women. Especially ones that had just died.

"...You'll see them again," He promised, and Hinata sniffed loudly, forcing herself to stop and listen. "Once they die, they'll probably come to the Soul Society as well, and you'll be able to spend years talking with them. You will live for centuries in the Soul Society. Your aging basically comes to a stand-still."

Hinata sniffed again. "O-oh..."

He suddenly lifted his sword, and pressed the tsuka to her forehead. Hinata gasped as her weight disappeared all together and a bright light formed around her feet in the shape of a circle, which almost immediately began to suck her inside like some shinning vacuum. She could barely see the silver haired boy through the light.

"Th-thank you!" She gasped. "M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata! Wh-what's y-yours?"

He looked mildly surprised, but answered all the same. "Hitsugaya Toshiro."

And then Hinata was swallowed into the white, and he was gone.

0-0-0

Somewhere on a plain of ice and snow, a blue eyed she-wolf raised her head and smiled.

Believe in yourself.

!I own neither Bleach or Naruto!

And I'm done! I do hope you enjoyed that. I had fun writing it :D My first story. HitsuHinata-don't like, don't read.

Please tell me what you think ^^ Thank you.