Hello. This is the first chapter in the re-write of The Hanabi Chronicles. The rest is going to be taken down. It will be more detailed, longer, better written and hopefully more interesting and true to the characters. There is character death in the first chapter. I hope that you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, not Suka-Kitsune. This is a not-for-profit story, I don't own anything but the plot. Don't sue!

The Hanabi Chronicles: Atonement

Chapter One

It was just an ordinary day. Simple. Nothing taxing or outlandish was set on his desk that morning and the affairs of his clan appeared to be in order.

Hyuuga Hiashi sighed. Today was one of those days that felt too perfect. It was the kind of perfect that could not and would not last. Something would come and break his calm, but for the moment, he would soak up the atmosphere of the quiet afternoon.

Hiashi had just poured himself a cup of hot tea when he heard heavy footsteps. They were moving toward his door…and they were moving quickly. He slid a kunai that was hidden on the inside of his right yukata sleeve to his awaiting fingertips. He twirled it in a graceful and deadly motion. While he was a master of genjutsu his taijutsu and ninjutsu were nothing to scoff at and heavy footsteps in a ninja village was something of which to be wary.

Without even using a hand sign his face burst into veins and his eyes saw more than others could ever dream to. His body, which had been taught with tension, slackened, but he didn't retract his weapon. While attack was unlikely, the blaze of anger and despair emanating from outside the room kept his right hand curled around the handle. Just getting to his age had ingrained in him the truth that you could never be too careful.

While he knew that they were there, he waited for the knock on his study door. It was habit and tradition. Hyuuga Hiashi stuck to habit and tradition like a fly to a spider's web. It kept him just as trapped and just as unable to struggle as the fly that was about to have its life force sucked away.

He was a man. But he was a man who had been cursed since birth.

His kin wasn't just knocking on the door. He was pounding on it. Hiashi frowned in disapproval. That boy was so fickle. From mild and respectful he would flicker into a wild and rebellious youth, and then flicker back without blinking an eye.

Hiashi threw up the kunai and then caught it on the littlest finger of his left hand. Then he brought both his hands together into a lightning quick succession of signs. Horse-Monkey-Dog.

A clank echoed throughout the room and the heavy and beautifully ornate wooden door slid into the wall. While it was a bit showy, the point to being a clan head was to be seen doing as little as possible. Everything was done behind closed doors, as they said.

But what Hiashi saw through the open doorway had a lump of something hard forming in his gut. Fear…or despair…or pain, something clawed its way into his belly and hooked itself in.

Some Hyuuga are capable of performing the Byakugan, the evil eye. But only the clan master knew of something beyond that. The Senkenshame, the seer's eye, looked past the body and into the soul. It took focus, calm, and a mastery of one's emotions. Not the basic mastery that all ninja had to learn, but something far deeper. It was an understanding of one's self and where one stood in the world.

Hiashi had mastered the Senkenshame the day his brother died. And when his wife had died giving birth to his youngest daughter, he had lost the ability to call forth the seer's eye. And it had been gone from him until the day that he had asked forgiveness of the boy, no, the man standing in his doorway.

And with the Senkenshame he saw all the pain and hurt and anger swirling in Hyuuga Neji's soul. But all the pain in the world couldn't have been as heartrending as the emptiness in his daughter's aura. There was nothing but shock.

And Neji was gripping Hanabi's arm tightly enough to bruise. He thrust her into the room and she fell limply to the floor. The clan head did not even know what to say to this treatment of his youngest daughter. It was almost sacrilegious. Neji was moving in to kick his cousin when Hiashi stood up.

"What do you think you are doing?" He demanded of the boy turned man.

Neji straightened up; he was taller than Hiashi now. Stronger too. But not wiser. He was still far too young to know the world.

"Well go on and tell him, Hanabi. Tell him what you did." Neji's voice was harder than steel and sharper than a katana.

Grief tinged the shock in Hanabi's aura. Her mind was coming back to life. She still lay on the ground but the spark of her life had ignited and the emotions began to rush back to her. Tears ran down her face and snot flowed from her little nose.

"No!" She wailed and the word became elongated and misshapen. Other syllables were added in and soon she was babbling nonsense.

Neji picked her up off the ground and shook her. "Tell him what you did!"

And then Neji was crying. "Hanabi! Tell him!" Grief was winning out over Neji. His entire body was trembling.

At times, when emotions were this intense, scattered images would flow through the soul and into the aura. One steady picture assaulted Hiashi's mind and it made his insides grow cold.

No.

But he already knew.

"Neji, where is she?" He asked with dread filling him and threatening to send him to a very dark place.

Now Neji was gasping, trying to swallow his sobs, trying to answer the question. "H-her r-room." It was probably the first time in the young man's life that he had ever stuttered anything. That had always been left to her.

It brought about a fresh round of tears. Neji was so angry and so crushed and he wanted to hate Hanabi with his very soul. But seeing her next to him, crying her eyes out made it much more difficult. It had been easier to hate her when she was empty, but this? They had both been broken and Neji grabbed his cousin and cried into the crook of her neck, and she clutched him like a lifeline.

Hiashi didn't see this. He had taken off at a run down the hall.

It was the first time he had run in this house since he was a small boy. Running with abandon. He had done it even though his mother, the previous clan head, had scolded him something dreadful. He was not allowed to play outside, so the bird played however it could in the cage it had been born into. Although he had never even realized that there had been bars around him.

He ran. And he ran. And then ran some more. It didn't matter that the incredulous faces of his kin both main and branch house followed him, disbelieving with their pale lavender eyes. He was beyond caring about his image. Nothing could really matter to him. Nothing but her.

And then he was there, standing outside her plain sliding door. And he hesitated. The last time he had been inside this room she had been sick.

She had caught a fever while training in the rain. Earlier that day when she had once again failed to best Hanabi in a spar he had expressed his disappointment in her Genin training and mentioned that, if she had worked harder that maybe she would be able to defeat a newly turned nine-year-old and only then might she turn her sights on something as unattainable as the Chunin rank.

She had bowed her head, stuttered something and left. He had not seen her until after dinner when a couple of branch house members carried her in sopping wet and burning up. She had been training since the early afternoon and had not stopped even when the downpour had started. Hiashi had gone to her room to sit with her.

He had only wanted the best for his daughter he just didn't know how to encourage the soft, shy girl. While Hanabi was the one who had the face of their mother, this girl had her sweet personality. It was a poor thing for a kunoichi to possess.

He thought of all of those things as he sat by her bedside. He was there while she mumbled nonsense and while she said nothing at all. And he was there when she was finally aware of her surroundings.

She saw him and tears filled her eyes. "I-I'm so s-sorr-ry, Father. I am r-reall-ly t-trying-g but s-somet-times I a-am just t-t-too-too weak."

And the only thing that Hiashi had felt at that moment, and would always feel when thinking of that moment was a deep and lingering shame.

He felt that shame even as he stood outside of her door. He had tried to make up for nine years of disapproval and disappointment, but it was hard. His youngest daughter had taken her cues from him and treated her sister with disdain. They had gotten over that hurdle with time and she had grown so beautifully.

He could imagine no finer a kunoichi to take over as clan head. He only wanted her.

He slid open the door and forced himself to step inside.

It was when he looked at the figure lying motionless on the bed that the earth dropped out from underneath him and he couldn't understand how he could still be standing. He was so confused.

She was too still and too pale to be his daughter. Like a marble slab of a person, unmoving and impassive.

It was heartbreaking and mind numbing all at the same time.

And why not? She was dead

Hyuuga Hinata was dead.

It was just one thing after another in the Godaime's life. One god damn thing after another. But her usual work troubles didn't normally shake her as deeply as she had been shaken. The life of a shinobi was fragile and precious. Losing a young kunoichi was never an easy thing, but it wasn't just losing one kunoichi. No, that would have been too simple.

Hyuuga Hinata had not been KOA'd, killed on assignment; she had been murdered in her own home…by her sister.

As far as anyone could tell, the woman had been poisoned by a fast acting toxin that had no known antidote. She had been nicked by a poison tipped shuriken. A shuriken that had been infused with Hanabi's chakra.

And now the girl in question was standing in the middle of her office and holding back tears. It was a shock for the Godaime, as Hanabi had always seemed like such a strong person. One tended to forget that she was barely in her teens with the way she commanded herself, and those around her.

Tsunade needed to hear the girl's side of the story. So did Hiashi. Neji had stayed at home. Enough people had seen his pain for the day.

"Hanabi-san, I need you to tell me what happened." Tsunade said tenderly. She wished that she could pull the girl to her and stroke her hair and stifle her sobs. She was so small and pale. How could such a delicate person be so deadly?

"A-ano…it-it was an accident! Hinata!" She wailed. Tears streamed freely from her pale lavender eyes and dripped down her milky white cheeks.

Hiashi flexed as he restrained himself not to go and hug his child. She was hurting, but he couldn't protect her. It was a slap in the face. He couldn't protect either of his daughters. One had died, and one was being punished for the offense of killing her. What kind of father was he?

Tsunade rubbed her temples. How could you accidentally poison someone? She needed to know what had happened. Now.

"Hanabi-san, I need you to tell me what happened. Tell me now." Her voice steeled up. The gentle approach was getting results.

Hanabi clutched her bare arms. She was wearing a sleeveless white shirt and black cargo capris. It was cold in Tsunade's office, but the Godaime didn't think the temperature or the girl's attire was causing the shivers that wracked her slender body.

"It…it happened like this…."

"Oneesan!" Hinata grinned when she heard the voice. By the sound of the footsteps Hanabi couldn't be more than a few feet away from the door.

A body pushed into the room so violently that the door hit the wall. "Oneesan!"

No one could break up a meditation like her thirteen-year-old sister. Not that it bothered her. Hinata was just happy that her sister loved her. A few years earlier she wouldn't have had to worry about the break in meditation.

"Now what's got my little imouto in such a froth?" Hinata asked.

Hanabi came up to her sister and grabbed her arm. Hinata stroked the girl's hair.

"I was with Tenten-san. She taught me a new jutsu."

"And you thought you would try it out on your favorite sister?" Hinata finished for her.

Hanabi smiled impishly. "You know me too well."

"I'm guessing a weapon summons. That is Tenten's specialty." Also it was Hanabi's current craze. Not just weapons but summoning of any kind. She was close to making a deal with an animal spirit by signing her name in blood.

The younger sister nodded.

"So what do you need me for?" Hinata asked and ruffled the girl's hair. It was getting so long. It was already at her waist. The only indulgence she would allow herself.

Hanabi rolled her eyes. "I need some live target practice…and you need the exercise."

Hinata repressed a scoff as well the urge to box Hanabi's ears. "Thanks….but no thanks, I don't feel the need to have sharp pointy things flying at my body today."

Hinata's voice was sarcastic. Hanabi smiled. Her sister was very different than when she had been nine. She was more assertive now, and funny.

She was almost nineteen and her life was finally going right.

"Come on! This is just training; don't you teacher types love that stuff?"

Hinata rolled her eyes. She had just accepted a long term mission. As a teacher. She had requested in-village missions. Teaching was available and desperate for some fresh blood. Hinata had complied.

"Again, something about the stabbing pain and possibility of death has me doubting the necessity of this."

Hanabi grinned. "You're a special rank Chunin. Don't get hurt."

"Hanabi…" Hinata drawled.

Hanabi rolled her eyes. "Fine I'll blunt them."

The older sister raised an eyebrow. "Tenten taught you a summoning jutsu that could blunt your weapons?"

Hanabi shrugged back a shoulder. "Well no, but I have an idea."

"I remember the last time you had an idea. Instead of killing all of Akamaru's fleas his fur fell out." Hinata said deadpanned.

"It grew back!" Hanabi protested turning pink. "Besides, that was an entirely new jutsu, this is just tweaking an old one. I'm good at this." Her voice was certain.

"Why does it have to be me again?" She was folding, Hanabi could tell.

"Because I need something that can avoid being hit, I haven't been assigned a Chunin team yet and you have great reflexes. Or, I could order one of the branch members…"

"No! No, I'll do it." Hinata looked concerned. She hated the fact that if Hanabi wanted to, she could order a branch member to do whatever she desired. And just because Hanabi no longer looked down on her sister did not mean that she at all held the branch members with any sort of esteem.

Hanabi smirked. She hadn't actually planned to use any branch member in this sort of training. They would have been useless. All but Neji anyway, and Hanabi had no plan of ordering her cousin around.

The only warning Hinata had was the twinkle in her sister's eyes.

Quick as lightening Hanabi pulled a scroll from inside her flak jacket. In another instant she had bitten her finger and was tracing blood down the center of it. Hinata hadn't even seen her make the hand signs, she had moved so quickly.

Hinata leapt up and twisted to the right, just as Hanabi encircled herself in the scroll. She spun and weapons flew from the scroll around her body. All of the weapons sped directly to where Hinata had just been. The missed her by a hair.

Hanabi laughed. "That was great! Can we go again?"

"Great? You didn't blunt them at all. You nicked my leg." Hinata frowned.

"What? I didn't think I had hit you." Surprise and confusion fought for control of her pale face. Confusion won out.

Hinata waved her hand dismissively. "I got clipped by a rouge shuriken. But I think I'm done. I'm supposed to be building up my chakra reserve. I -gasp- I…"

The older Hyuuga sister put a hand to her chest. "I -gasp- seem to –gasp- trouble breathe…" She took in long gaping breaths, or tried to anyway. She didn't look like she was getting any air.

"Hinata! What happened?" Hanabi was being to freak out. Her sister couldn't breathe and she didn't have medical training.

"Leg…burns…"

Hanabi looked down at her sister's leg. She was wearing pants but Hanabi could clearly see a small hole where white skin contrasted the black of the meditation pants. Hanabi quickly moved to Hinata's side and pulled up her pants leg.

Hinata's right leg was almost twice its normal size. And a small wound had taken off a thin layer of skin, but the flesh around it had gone discolored.

"What have I done?" Hanabi asked herself softly.

"Hel…" Hinata choked out, but she couldn't finish. She fell to the floor shaking and then went disturbingly still.

Her eyes were still open, but they had glazed over. Her expression was pain filled and scared.

Hyuuga Hinata had just died.

And then Neji found me. I don't really remember a lot after that. I don't know what happened; I had just tweaked the jutsu, just a little bit! It was supposed to make it safer! I didn't want poisoned weapons."

She was crying now. Hyuuga Hanabi was crying. It simultaneously surprised Tsunade, and made her very sad. All that anyone could want to do at that moment was to enfold the impossibly thin girl in their arms and stroke her very dark brown hair. All anyone could want to do would be to say: It's okay. It's all going to be okay.

But Tsunade didn't have the stomach to lie to bereaved girl. Even if that girl was a kunoichi.

So she did the only thing she could do: her job.

"Hanabi-san, I am really not certain of what needs to be done here. You have killed a fellow shinobi, and yet it wasn't your intention. I don't think there will be many that will feel the loss as hard as you do. Just living with what you have done seems like a punishment to me, but the council of Konoha would surely not be satisfied unless you have been punished."

Hanabi looked up with resignation in her eyes. "Yes, I understand. I deserve all the punishment you could give me. Please." And then she bowed, waiting for the pronouncement to come crashing down on her small person.

Her response only invoked more sadness in Tsunade. This was a terrible reminder of the sense of duty all shinobi felt. The duty that they were trained to feel. No emotion, just the job. It was a shit life.

"Hanabi-san…"

Hanabi tensed as Tsunade began.

"You are here by demoted to Genin and suspended from all missions for six months. You will also be under house arrest until I give the order that you may leave."

"No!" Hanabi cried out. "No, that's not right."

Tsunade sighed. "Hanabi-san, it's only six months and the Chunin exam comes twice a year. You will be okay."

Hanabi shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Hokage-sama, I killed my sister. You're demoting me? I will barely suffer at all."

Tsunade grimaced. She wanted to slap Hanabi but she knew that wouldn't help in the slightest.

"Hanabi-san, with how you are punishing yourself, I see no need for harsher treatment. You are your own jailor and you will control how much you suffer."

The Hokage just wished that Hanabi could end her suffering eventually. But it just wasn't in the Hyuuga nature to give up, even if that meant pain to the stubborn individual.

The younger Hyuuga looked as if she had more to say on the subject but Tsunade shook her head. "This is not negotiable Hanabi-san. I will have someone escort you back to the Hyuuga compound, but Hiashi-san…I would like you to stay behind." She turned to Hiashi as she spoke the last words, and then turned back to Hanabi. "You are dismissed.

Hanabi left the room upset and frustrated. Didn't they understand? It was her fault! Hinata was dead because of her! How could they just slap her on the wrist and expect life to go back to normal? How could anything ever be normal again?

"Hanabi." A voice from behind made her jump. Stupid little girl. She was a ninja, not a scared, awkward child! She looked up at the source of the voice and froze.

He was in his customary black leather jacket and his black cargo trousers. The dark colors made his tan skin look a bit faded but that in turn made his chestnut hair look even darker than it actually was. His hazel eyes flickered from brown to green as he moved closer to her.

"Hanabi, I'm here to take you home."

"Kiba…" Why, why him?

Inuzuka Kiba smiled, stretching the red fang tattoos on his cheeks. He reached out a hand to place on Hanabi's shoulder.

She was flabbergasted. He didn't know about Hinata…What was she going to do?

Her face was blank and Kiba began to look concerned. "Hanabi, what's wrong?"

Why him?

Inuzuka Kiba had been her sister's teammate on Team 8; Kurenai Yūhi's Genin team. The third member had been Aburame Shino, a talented shinobi with a very interesting relationship involving Kikai Bugs. The Hyuuga compound had been the daily meeting spot for the newly formed, three man team before training with Kurenai.

Hanabi had always been fanscinated by the boy with the dog who would sit in their greeting room and slurp his tea. It was just so rude; Hanabi had never seen a person act like that before. Spying on Aburame and Inuzuka became a part of her daily routine.

She hadn't known at the time, but they had been spying back.

"Hanabi?" He was shaking her now.

The little raven grunted and pulled away. "Just…take me home, Kiba. Please."

The hurt in Kiba's eyes at being brushed off almost pulled a tear out of Hanabi, but she knew that once she started crying then it would be over for her. She wouldn't be able to stop herself.

Kiba stepped back. "Of course." And he waited for her to start walking.

She did.

Hanabi was surprised at how little she felt. Every step dragged on her physically, but it was as if her mind had been cut off from her body. She could almost feel the heaviness in her limbs, but it was very far away.

The two shinobi navigated the Hokage tower with ease and in no time were standing outside in the sunlight. Kiba hadn't uttered another word to Hanabi and guilt was beginning to eat away at her insides. She looked up to him and was about to apologize when Kiba's brows rose.

He smiled and put up a hand. Then he said something that made Hanabi's insides go stone cold.

"Hey Naruto!"

Hanabi's eyes widened and fear spiked through her. She immediately shifted her body behind Kiba's and grabbed his hand. The sudden movement confused the Jonin and he tried to turn to face her.

It was too late though. He was there; standing in front of Kiba with a smile on his face and a laugh in his blue eyes.

"Ha, Hanabi-chan, what are you doing? If that was an attempt at concealment then I can't say I agree with your Chunin status." He joked.

Kiba wasn't as amused as Naruto, he could smell fear rolling off of the youngest Hyuuga. He squeezed her hand and stroked her hair as she pushed her shivering body into his, trying to hide as much of herself as possible from the blonde shinobi.

Naruto shifted his gaze to Kiba, concern clearly visible in his eyes. "What the hell happened?"

Kiba just looked helpless. "I have no clue. She was in a meeting with the Godaime and I was told to take her home."

Confusion flashed over Naruto's face. "Why would a Chunin need someone to escort her home?"

Kiba just shook his head. "I thought it was a treat. You know, Tsunade-sama giving me a break to see Hanabi. She knows how close we are." Kiba looked down at the girl in his arms. She looked so small; not even fourteen yet.

"Hanabi, what's wrong?"

She whimpered. Hanabi could hardly think. Naruto didn't know, but he would. And then he would hate her, maybe even kill her. She couldn't look at him…she couldn't even move.

She didn't respond to Kiba's question as it did not even register in her brain. Kiba looked at Naruto.

"I…I need to take her home."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah…I'm going to go talk to Tsunade; she wants to see me about something…"

The blonde tried to put a hand on Hanabi's shoulder but the girl whimpered and retreated even further into the brunette's arms. Kiba tightened his grip and shook his head at the other shinobi.

"Better leave it. She's not herself right now."

Hurt echoed in Naruto's eyes but he shrugged and walked into the Hokage tower.

Kiba leaned into Hanabi's hair and whispered. "I'm going to pick you up. Don't be afraid."

He then scooped her up into his arms and was shocked at how light she was. Sure she was tiny, but could this weight really constitute a human being? Hanabi whimpered at the change in her position, but buried her head into the crook of Kiba's neck. He felt goose bumps spread up and down his arms and neck, but made no move to stop the breath that ghosted his skin.

Kiba closed his eyes, focused chakra into his legs and then bounded onto the roof of a café. He then sped south across the tiled houses in the direction of the Hyuuga compound.

The Hokage tower was located in front of the Hokage monument, the stone faces of the present and past leaders of the village. The Hyuuga compound was on the southernmost road leading to the Shinobi centre of the village. It took a normal person around seven minutes to run to the Hyuuga compound from the Hokage tower.

It took Kiba less than three.

He finally stopped the flow of chakra to his muscles as he reached the entrance to the main house of the Hyuuga compound. How many times had he walked into this place? Too many to count. He looked down at the girl in his arms. Her eyes were shut tight but he could smell the salty tears that hid behind them. What had happened?

"Hanabi…"

She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. There was so much distress in his tone that she lost whatever control she had been holding on to.

Tears streamed down her face.

"Kiba!"

The dam had broken and Hanabi whimpered as Kiba set her down in front of him. He palmed her face, wiping away countless tears. "Please don't cry Hanabi, I don't know what to do. What happened?"

She couldn't tell him! If he knew then he would hate her. That couldn't happen. Kiba hating her would be the worst…But didn't she deserve the worst?

Hanabi turned her watery, lavender orbs up to the concerned man in front of her. His hazel eyes were filled with confusion and sympathetic pain. Kiba didn't know why Hanabi was upset, but seeing her in this state disturbed him.

Hanabi opened her mouth to say the words that would turn Kiba against her…but she couldn't do it. No sound came out. She shook her head angrily. Tears leaked down her cheeks.

Kiba brushed them away, settling his hands on her shoulders and brought his face close to hers. "Hanabi, you don't have to tell me now if you don't want to."

Guilt curled in Hanabi's stomach. She couldn't ignore what had happened. Not even for Kiba. It was all her fault.

"Dead!" Hanabi burst out.

Kiba's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "What?" His grip on her shoulders tightened.

Hanabi winced. "She's dead. Kiba…Hinata's d-dead." She choked on the last word and more tears streamed down her face.

The shinobi's body had gone completely still. And then he was shaking his head. He wasn't seeing her anymore; Hanabi could tell. She had just changed his world with her words.

Kiba grimaced and then looked at her. "What?" It was quiet and uncertain. He didn't want to hear it again, but maybe, if he was lucky, she would say something that made more sense.

"Hinata's dead." It was almost easier to say the second time around. It came out of her mouth without a hitch. But the words still tore at her heart.

"How?"

Fear shot through Hanabi. She had to say it. She had to say it!

"It was an accident!" She yelled. It wasn't what she had meant to say but Hanabi couldn't lie to herself. She needed Kiba to understand.

He had stiffened at her words. "What…what does that mean? What happened, Hanabi?" His voice was quieter; slightly suspicious and afraid of what would come next.

The tears were falling faster down the kunoichi's smooth cheeks. "We…we were sparring. I was practicing weapons summons. I wanted to blunt them! I tweaked the jutsu just a little bit! But…something went wrong."

Hanabi hung her head. Kiba pinched her small pointed chin between his thumb and forefinger, and then lifted her face up so that their eyes met. His face was pained, both from her story and the tears that wouldn't stop running down Hanabi's face.

"What…what went wrong?"

Hanabi tried to pull her face away but Kiba wouldn't slacken his grip. She had to look at him.

"The jutsu…it didn't blunt them. It poisoned them…She stopped breathing just a few moments after getting nicked by a shuriken."

"Hanabi…Why would you use an experimental jutsu on Hinata? Why?" His voice was rising. Kiba was upset. He was upset with her. And he had good reason to be.

She knew this would happen. He was turning against her.

"I shouldn't have! But…I tweak jutsu's all the time. I never thought this would happen! Kiba…don't hate me. Please…please don't hate me…"

All of the energy drained from her and she felt her legs collapse. Her hands dropped to the dirt and she dug her fingers in, uncaring of the discomfort at the action. She felt rather than saw Kiba squat down to her level. Hanabi didn't want to look up. She didn't want to see the rejection in his face.

She didn't have a choice though. Kiba had once again wrapped his fingers around her chin. She wasn't, however, pulled up to his eye level. Her head was just shifted slightly and she felt something warm brush her forehead.

Had…had Kiba just….

Kiba had kissed her forehead.

Hanabi looked up in shock. And then his arms were around her and he was whispering in her ear.

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you…But I don't know what to think. I just can't believe she's dead!"

He was shaking. It really shouldn't be such a shock for the two of them. They were shinobi of Konohagakure, and shinobi were not known for their long lifespan. But both were unprepared.

The scent of incoming people had Kiba standing in a matter of seconds. He had pulled Hanabi up with him so that she was flush against his body.

She was so small. Her thirteen-year-old body was barely developed at all, and Kiba had at least six inches on her. Besides that, she was incredibly skinny. Hanabi had the body of a child, while Kiba on the other hand was a full grown man. At age eighteen he was muscular and tall. It was an odd scene, the young girl being pressed into the body of the man.

It was a scene that Kiba had no interest in sharing, and in a split second they were gone.

Hanabi sat on her bed with her feet swinging off the side. She felt very young with Kiba standing in front of her, arms crossed over his chest.

"So what now?"

The question took her by surprise. "What?" She asked.

"What happens now? What are you going to do?"

It was a fair question. But it was a question that Hanabi had been putting at the back of her mind. Thinking about the future…about moving on, was just something she didn't feel ready for.

She shrugged. "No missions for six months…demoted to Genin so it would be mostly D-rank anyway. I don't know. I'm not sure how father is doing, a lot depends on that."

Kiba nodded. "If…if it gets too hard here, you know that you are always welcome at my place. Mom loves you after all."

Hanabi let a small smile pass over her lips before they crashed back into a frown. "Tsume is quite the woman…"

Kiba let out a short bark of laughter. "That's one way to put it."

They both lapsed into silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable quiet, but a very natural one. Kiba and Hanabi had a very interesting relationship. They had observed each other for half a year before actually speaking. He had been twelve and she had just turned eight.

Even if they had only uttered a word, that just sparked more interactions. A few months later and Hanabi would join Team Eight in their before training tea. By the time Hanabi was ten years old she could call Inuzuka Kiba a friend.

But she felt much more than friendship for the older boy.

Hyuuga Hanabi was in love with Inuzuka Kiba. She probably had been since she had first started watching him when she was seven years old.

Hanabi clutched at the comforter under her fingers as she stared at Kiba. "Ano…Kiba?"

The dog user cocked his head. She looked so delicate. Like a china doll, just a little crack could break her to pieces.

"Yeah?"

She fidgeted as she tried to phrase her question. "Ano…" Finally she met his gaze with her sad, pale eyes. "What…what do you think happens when we die?"

Kiba froze. He didn't know how to answer her.

The lost look on Kiba's face tore at Hanabi. "I'm sorry. I just want to know…where she is."

He shook his head. "Well I don't know. I still feel like she'll be right down the hall…"

"What do you think Naruto is going to do?"

Kiba's head snapped up and he let out a harsh breath. "I forgot about him…Do you think that's why Tsunade was meeting with him?"

Hanabi nodded. "I lost it when I saw him. She loved him so much."

Uzumaki Naruto. The orphan who had fought for years to be recognized; He was being groomed to be the Rokudaime.

He was also Hyuuga Hinata's fiancé.

Naruto was just another piece in Hanabi's broken life. Everything seemed laid out before her, waiting to be picked up and put back in its proper place. But she didn't know where that was anymore. Trying to go back scared her; there was just so much to sort out.

And she was so tired. Maybe tomorrow would be easier.

"Kiba. I wanna sleep."

Trouble filled his eyes at her words. "That won't make it better, Hanabi."

She shook her head. "I'm tired, just let me sleep."

Kiba sighed. She could tell that he wanted to talk more, but he didn't say anything. He just disappeared.

With Kiba gone there was no reason to hold herself together. She let the ache in her soul consume her and as a few stray tears leaked down her cheeks, she fell backward onto the bed.

Although she was drained of feelings and energy, sleep still took a while in coming. Hanabi didn't do much but stare at the ceiling. The moment she had let the feelings drain, her mind had gone numb.

But blackness did eventually get a hold on her and she slept.

And slept…

And slept some more.

Every time that the world started to become real around her, Hanabi closed her eyes and fought to return to the darkness. Sometimes she would even dream.

The dreams were nice because they were the color of Hinata's voice…