Rain
A/N: I really don't know what possessed me to write this, but I did.
I will say this though.
There is no happy ending.
Hinata loved the rain.
It was a time of aloneness, reflection, and renewal.
She loved how the rain tapped on the windows, sometimes lightly and other times hard, as if asking, begging to be let in. But one knows never to open a window when it is raining. For they could get wet. Of course Hinata took no mind to this implied rule.
Getting wet wasn't an annoyance to her. In fact she loved getting wet when it rained. It made her feel as if all her flaws and imperfections were being washed away. She could truly be Hinata Hyuga when it rained. Isn't that what you would want? To be your true self...and not hide from anyone?
Sasuke Uchiha needed rain. It wasn't even a question. She knew from the first time she had laid eyes on him, which was when she was a young child, not even yet a genin. He hid from everybody...from the world. All who knew him, knew him as a brilliant, silent, and cold person. He kept to himself most, only speaking when he had to. Hiding his true self from the world...and from her.
Sasuke Uchiha also hated the rain. She knew this because whenever gray clouds started to hang deeply over Konoha, he would look up and scowl. His facial expression expressed such annoyance, and hate even. It was a that time that Hinata knew that she just had to somehow show him that he didn't have to hate the rain.
Rather, he could love it, just as she did
I never got the chance to show Sasuke Uchiha the rain. I still have not forgotten my childhood thoughts even though that was quite some while ago. Now...that I'm looking at his face, years later, I wonder if he still hates the rain.
It was a rainy day, ironically, when a bloody and torn Naruto collapsed at the village gates, Sasuke right behind him. I had been at work, as a medical nin, when we heard the news. To be honest, I had let the young boy Sasuke Uchiha leave my mind, so I was quite unprepared when I saw a grown man, instead of a young boy.
He was unconscious when we (or rather Sakura) took him in. Sakura tended to his extensive wounds, while I treated Naruto. As I quietly wrapped one of his severed arms, I noticed his facial expression. One could not describe the look of happiness, peacefulness, and serene joy on his face.
I lightly smiled as I brushed his unkempt hair out of his face. Naruto had fulfilled his promise. He would finally be able to be at home, permanently. I hadn't seen him for quite some time, but he looked all the same to me.
All of a sudden, I saw his eyes flutter open. His arm started to move within my hand. His serene look was not disturbed. I was unprepared when I felt his tough, but strangely smooth hand lightly hold my hand. His head slowly turned, as he came to look at me.
My heart slightly jumped as I looked into his eyes and he said weakly, "I did it, Sakura. Just like I promised."
He squeezed my hand as hard as his body would let him, and then, to my horror, I felt his hand go limp. I saw his lips upturn into a smile, matching his serene face, and his eyes slowly closed. I froze and we stayed like that for a while.
His chest no longer rising up and down, his hand limp in mine, and a look of utter shock on my face. I was used to having people die right in front of my eyes. This was nothing new. So why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I cover his serene face with that white cloth?
That is when I heard the rain loud tapping on the windows. I heard thunder and lightening. I could almost feel the wind. And that was when I realized that rain wasn't always so lovable.
I wasn't sure who somehow removed me from Naruto's lifeless body. Nor do I know how I ended up in Sasuke's room, a cup of water in my hand, with somebody else helping me drink. I did notice, however, the cold feeling that surpassed me and my hand slightly shaking.
"Hinata...you there?" I felt my body being gently shaken.
Shaking my head and blinking for a few seconds, I finally came around.
I heard a relieved sigh. I turned and saw a puffy, red, baggy-eyed, pink-cheeked Sakura Haruno. Obviously she had been sobbing her eyes out. A small smile of relief graced Sakura's dull looking lips, as I slowly looked into her tired green ones.
"I thought I lost you to shock a moment there, Hinata."
At the moment, I wasn't focused on myself at all. I wanted to know about Naruto. "How...is..Naruto?" I whispered softly, not looking at her eyes, and afraid of her answer.
Sakura reverted her eyes to the floor. She cleared her throat, "A-after I found you...I tried to...to..revive him, but...I-i couldn't." Sakura covered her quivering mouth with her free hand. Her eyes watered over with hot tears.
Sakura looked away from the floor and back at me. Her eyes so tired and sad.
"Hinata..." She whispered with a shaky, unstable voice. "I...I couldn't do it. Everything that I trained for...everything that I had studied, I couldn't do anything for Naruto." Her face was now downcast, tears falling on her medical, long jacket.
"I couldn't save him."
A loud streak of lightening struck by the window, illuminating the dark room and making me jump. The rain hit harder. The harder the rain hit the window, the harder Sakura cried, and the louder the thunder boomed the louder her sobs became.
I held Sakura, as she whispered Naruto's name through her sobs and tears. I had never seen her like this before. Never before had I seen her just completely give up and break down. Ever since we had become chuunin, I noticed a slight change in her attitude. She was more focused...more on the pathway of a promising ninja.
The night of Naruto's death Sakura cried her eyes out for hours. The intensity of the moment generated tears in my eyes to, but nothing could compare to the level of sadness and grief in Sakura's tears. All while this is going on, the rain kept on, caring not that tragedy had hit Konoha.
Sakura had cried herself to sleep, a well deserved slumber that I hoped she wouldn't wake from. I laid her down on the couch, and wiped the dampness that had covered my face off. I didn't feel any better then I had previously. My stomach felt queezy.
Carefully I stood up. I felt my feet wobble, but I kept on to my destination. Grabbing hold on Sasuke's bedside, I sat on the end and just stared at him. Unlike Naruto's his chest moved up and down rhythm-like. His face looked calmed and relaxed.
Sakura had done an excellent job in making sure he was bandaged properly.
Nothing but the best, of course, that was always what he was used to.
I sat there, staring at Naruto's murderer, and yet...I didn't feel any hostility towards him. Perhaps I had forgotten all that he had done, and who he had affected emotionally. Quite frankly, he could be described as a horrible, despicable person. Preposterously I didn't think of him that way. Of course I didn't know him like Sakura or Naruto did, but I knew him enough. I knew what he had done.
I knew he hated the rain...and now I think I could understand why.
"I always hated it when she cried."
For some reason, I was unresponsive when I heard his voice jumping out at me. I would have usually been shocked, confused, and what not but not at that particular moment. Nothing could surprise me anymore. I just sat there, almost challenging him.
I tried to dig into his black orbs, but there was nothing. No emotion at all. Nothing.
The rain still tapping on the windows; thunder still booming...lighting still striking fear in my heart. I sat with my hands in my lap and my hair in my face. My eyes couldn't leave his. It was as if I had become a statue, forever destined to see his stony face in my mind.
I noticed that he slowly glanced out the window. What did he see? What did I see?
Like he had years before, he scowled and said. "I always did hate the rain."
The lightening struck once again, but this time, the electricity went out, leaving everything bathed in black.
I then heard Sasuke say, a sinister smile evident on his face. "Goodnight, Hinata."
The first movement I made, which was my last, was my eyes widening and my mouth slowly opening as I felt someone slash my throat.
): The end.