Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto. Those rights sadly go to Kishimoto. I am also not trying to support the religion and mythology introduced in this story. I am just trying to be authentic to the culture, to its people, and to my interpretations of the Naruto characters who are found within this type of world.
Off to the eastward,
the first shimmer of daylight
rises on the fields-
and when I turn around to see,
the moon is sinking away.
-Kakinomoto no Hitomaru
The moon shone like the sun in the blackened sky. The earth was encased in stillness. Its breath then stirred its inhabitants for a moment and died away. It was just like that night...
That night so long ago...
Moonlight fell through an open window and cast spider-thin shadows on a low, futon bed made up on the floorboards below. The shadows then moved slightly with the light wind that briefly had come through the opening. A cherry-tree stood like a guardian against the glowing light just outside the window with branches that waved in the breeze momentarily, but there was so much its thin branches could cover.
Moonlight still got through.
It fell on the futon unreservedly to play upon the sleeping figure that rested on it. A young woman stirred in this unexpected glow and her pale eyes fluttered as she turned her face away to curl up away from the light.
It was a reminder of that time...
But what did this bright night remind her of? There was no such night in her memories.
Half-awake and half-caught in a dream, she again turned towards the light of the window. There was that memory...The young woman again closed her eyes and soon fell again to an unknown reality.
She turned to that memory of another moonlit night, and to when another reality again became hers. Hyuuga Hinata suddenly found herself awake in another's nightmare which was about to be turned into her own.
Timeless bonds were about to be shattered yet again, but tonight, it was only a dream.
(X)
The room was dark except for an oil lamp that flickered on the wooden alter. Its light barely reached her position now, but the night outside this shrine had been bright and calm. The moon had shined overhead, but none of its light now reached this windowless building. A faint memory told her of this, but in this here and now, there was only the increasing darkness. Hinata shivered in this moment.
"Oh great goddess, lady of heaven, hear the prayer of your servant! Amaterasu-omikami, please rescue your children! We need you so desperately now," she found herself praying softly as the shadows from the small lamp danced around the room. The small firelight just told of a plain room where logs were the only other adornment, but somehow this emptiness seemed oppressive. "Here my prayer, great kami of heaven, mother of my house!"
Hinata's words fell to the ground as her forehead met the bamboo floorboards below, but what sound that did manage to rise up through her choked-up voice was muffled and almost illegible to even her ears. Long, dark and stringy hair also fell over her eyes and stuck itself to her damped forehead.
Hinata stilled herself and waited. Several minutes or maybe even several hours seemed to pass as even time seemed to have lost meaning, but no response did come. A dark well of despair grew within her.
"Please answer me! I will give you my very own life if this is to be my penance!"
Hinata rose to her knees shakily. She reached into her robes and felt a wooden handle. She found herself slowly pulling it out and was surprised to see a sharp blade now in her hand. Her limbs were quite hesitant in their stiffness as she grasped the handle of the knife tighter. Several more minutes passed as she stared at the weapon in her hand. It was a small, sharp, steel knife with a plain, white handle that was etched with a golden circle which depicted the sun.
Hinata turned the knife over in her hand and ran one finger over the other engraving on the back. It was simple, with only the character for love carved deeply, yet messily within it. She felt a lone tear fall again down her face as she continued to stare at it.
"I-I am sorry, my love...You would not want this." she whispered out-loud, and felt a released emotion of defeat course through her. Her grip on the knife began to loosen in her hand, but these words did not prevent the hole from deepening within Hinata's chest as she clenched her teeth to prevent a sob from spilling out.
"Oh, please! Anybody! I-I cannot do this alone anymore! Punish me, but please someone save my people!," Hinata cried out just before she collapsed again to the floor. The knife dropped from her hands and clattered loudly to a place by her side.
(X)
With a start, Hinata opened her eyes and breathed in a shuddering breath as her heart beat violently in her chest.
…Huh?
...W-where was she?
Who was she?
Hinata felt the firmness of the futon below and the softness of the blankets resting on her. She did not open her eyes to try to see again, but the room felt the same. She was in her room again and away from that oppressive shrine, but that fearful wave that carried over from it before still coursed through her.
She curled inward as the dream washed over her again. Only moonlight shown behind her eyelids now for the sun would have warmed her face. It was still night, and despite these assurances, Hinata felt the weight of that previous nightmare trap her in a confusion.
How could that dream be so real and so frightening to her now? The images were so clear, even of this night, which was supposed to be impossible, and if memory could serve her now, this was not the first time she had dreamed of herself in such strange settings. In these dreams, she became a different woman, and experienced problems that were definitely not her own. Now, she curled up in this reoccurring fright with her mind alarmed with these questions:
Where was the dream? Where was the reality? Everything had seemed so real...
These days, nothing seemed clear. Everything had turned into nightmares.