A Day Left, a naruto fanfic

He did not bother bringing his kunai pouch along when he went out of his home; all he brought along was a camera. Even if Tsunade had any missions for him, he was not going. What was the point anyway? All Aburame Shino wanted to do was to take pictures of his final memories.

"She's dead." Those were the two words that made his heart stop. Hyuga Hinata was dead. Shino wanted to cry, to beg them to tell him it was a joke, but he knew it was worthless; his crush was already dead. Crying would not bring back the dead.

All Shino wanted to do was march up to Tsunade and yell at her, blaming her for the Hyuga's heiress' death. But then again, blaming, too, would not bring back the dead.

It was hopeless. The words he wished to say out loud would never be heard. The three words that he had wished to tell her the day she passed away. The day that fate cruelly took her away from him.

He could only watch as Inuzuka Kiba went insane, clutching tightly on the medic's collar, exclaiming things like "She's not dead! She can't be dead!"

And it was the first time in many years that the quiet and emotionless Aburame cried.

"Shino-kun!" came a voice, making the bug lover turn to look at the direction where the voice came from.

"Yo, Shino! See! I kept telling those medics she wasn't dead! See? See?" Kiba grinned, laughing happily as Akamaru barked, as if to agree with him.

Shino secretly smiled. Hinata was dead, but she got revived. However, the Aburame was not allowed to tell them that. Without saying a word, the bug lover passed the camera to his best friend, getting a confused look from him.

"...I just realized we've never taken a group picture..." Shino uttered. That was not the real reason why he wanted a picture, though neither Kiba nor Hinata would know.

Grinning from ear to ear, Kiba got Akamaru to get the entire group together and he stretched out his arm, yelling out a "Cheese!" before snapping the picture of all four of them.

Thanking his friends, he took back the camera, which automatically printed out the picture, and kept it. Before Shino went to find others, he placed a hand on Kiba's shoulders, whispering a "Take care of Hinata". Then, he left.

"Do you wish for her to come back?"

"...Yes..."

"There must be a payment."

"...I'll give anything..."

And the mysterious little girl smiled before she disappeared from the Aburame's room.

"Huh? You want to take a picture with us?" the blonde-haired teenager asked, eyes widened. Shino nodded, slightly frustrated. Choji continued snacking on his bag of chips while Shikamaru sighed. Ino continued, "You're the weirdest person I know, Shino! But alright!"

And Shino could not help but to smile. Whether it was sadly or happily, he did not know.

The familiar presence woke the teenager up and he groped around for his shades, immediately putting them on when he found them. He felt stupid. After all, he was wearing shades in the dark!

"Mister, Hyuga Hinata has been revived," was what the girl with glowing yellow eyes and long, white hair said. The child was wearing a really long white and plain dress which reached to the floor.

"...Thank you..." was all Shino said, a tinge of fear in his heart. He already knew what his "payment" was.

"I am not going to be cruel so... You have one more day to live. Spend it wisely. When the time comes, your body and any pictures of you will disappear," the mysterious girl said in her soft and calm tone. She then added, "You must not tell anyone anything at all. If you do say anything, that girl will die." And all Shino did was nod.

And with a smile that could send shivers down one's spine, she disappeared.

Now, Shino had two pictures tucked away in his pockets. Camera still in hand, he took a deep breath before he went towards Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Team Gai.

"Shino!" the blonde ninja exclaimed, making the others turn and look at the Aburame. Normally, Shino would feel like slapping his own forehead but today was different.

It was his last day to live.

Hours had passed before he knew it and he had taken pictures with everyone he knew, even his own clan members! Now there were only a couple of things he wanted to do.

Stopping at the Yamanaka's flower shop, he went in, surprising Ino, who was apparently on shift. Ignoring the blonde, Shino went and grabbed a bouquet of roses and paid for them before he headed home. He had a few hours left so he decided to spend some time taking the thorns out from all the roses. Once he was done, he sat at his desk, pulled out a piece of paper, and started writing. It took him about a couple of hours to finish up the letter, as he wanted it to be perfect, but he managed to anyway.

As he crept out of the Aburame residence, he found his father asleep on the couch. All he said was "Goodbye, Father" and left for the Hyuga residence.

Shino clutched the bouquet tightly and hesitated. He then took the letter from the bouquet and tucked it away in his pockets. Perhaps it was better if Hinata did not know it was from him. Screw the amount of work he put into it! Plus, the letter was probably only going to break her heart!

Sighing, he walked off. He realized that the guards on duty were asleep and frowned. But perhaps it made whatever he wanted to do easier so... Stepping out of Konoha, the Aburame ventured off into the forest. After what seemed like forever, everything faded and the last thing he saw was a young girl in a white dress.

The next morning, Hinata woke up and stretched. Her team was planning to train that day and boy, was she planning to train hard! Excited, she climbed out of bed, changed to her normal attire, and ran out of the house. But she immediately stopped when she saw the thorn less bouquet of flowers. Who was it from? She took them into her house, placed them in a vase, and, once again, ran off.

Kiba was already waiting for her outside his house, where they had agreed on meeting. The raven-haired teenager tilted her head, slightly confused. Where was Shino? He was always the earliest. Even Kiba was wondering. So was Akamaru!

It only made matters worse when Shibi, Shino's father, came running up to them, asking them if they had seen his son. When they shook their heads, the three immediately knew that something was wrong and ran to find the others.

"Perhaps he left the village?" Sakura asked.

"That's impossible! There is always someone on guard!" was what Tenten said.

"They could have been asleep..." And everyone turned silent at Shikamaru's statement before they ran off to ask the two guards. After they confirmed it, all of them went to get permission from Tsunade to leave Konoha and find their missing friend. They wandered for what seemed like hours before they noticed something. There were a few pieces of paper on the grass.

When Sakura picked them up, she gasped and her eyes widened before she stuttered, "G-Guys... Look..."

She showed them the many pictures that were taken the previous day but there was something missing in each of them. In every photo, a space was left. What made them so sure that it was not deliberately left there was that in one of the pictures, the one of Team 8, Kiba had his arm slung around thin air. Who would do that and not even lose their balance?

Hinata glanced around the grass and noticed another piece of paper that had not been picked up. Curiously, but cautiously, the Byakugan-user picked it up and read it.

"Hinata,

By the time you read this, I will probably be gone. I am sorry that I cannot tell you what happened. I promised I would not. Take it that I have left Konoha and never will I come back. I am sorry for everything but please forget all about me.

These roses are meant to show my love for you because I am afraid that I cannot tell you that face-to-face. I know by not telling it to you but writing it down will seem quite insincere, but...

I love you.

Shino"

"H-Hinata? Are you... Crying?" came Kiba's voice as everyone stared at Hinata who was staring at the piece of paper.

When they returned to Konoha, Hinata had no choice but to give the letter to the Hokage as she wanted to investigate his sudden disappearance. Though what Shino meant in the letter was that he was dead, everyone in Konoha mistook it for him leaving and betraying Konoha like Sasuke did. Shino became a wanted man, like Sasuke, but no one was ever able to find him.

Hinata took care of the roses every day, even though her enraged father told her to throw them away as they were from a "criminal". Hinata still loved Naruto but she kept the roses as a reminder of her dearest friend, the one who had trained her before when she was still so weak. Remembering everything Shino had done for her, she started crying again. Kiba tried standing up for Shino whenever someone talked bad about him, saying things like "He probably has a good reason!" Shibi, from then on, pretended that he did not have a son at all as he was disappointed. Very disappointed.

"You really miss her, huh?" a teen-aged girl with a long white dress said, calmly watching a raven-haired woman take care of her blonde child. All the other teenager could do was nod.

The girl sighed and the boy asked, "...Why is it that you can age? And I have not aged in all this years..."

The girl giggled slightly as she replied, "I can change my age to whatever I want. As for you, you gave me your soul at that age so..." Nodding, the boy continued watching the woman console her crying child.

The girl asked, "...Are you sad that she married the nine-tails' host?" And the boy shook his head. The girl could tell he was lying, though, because the sorrow he was feeling was really obvious. The yellow-eyed girl was always good at sensing others' feelings anyway.

"Don't lie."

"...It is natural to feel sad when your crush married someone who is not you..."

"So why aren't you getting revenge? Spirits are unstoppable..."

"..."

Silence filled the air before the brunette replied, "If you truly love someone, you would wish for their happiness..."

Once again, the girl sighed, smiling a little as she muttered to herself, "Aburame Shino... You'll never cease to amaze me..."

A/N: …Y'know… I don't think this makes sense and it probably sucks… But whatever… BTW, I only made the mysterious girl 'cuz… Meh