1She was running, running through the forest, the light of the full moon illuminating in astonishing detail. Something was stalking her, as if she were prey, and she sensed it nearing even as she fled. The white silk gown she was wearing billowed out around her as she ran, and when she tripped and fell onto the dirt ground, it did not dirty, but stayed as pearly as the moon that so complimented her eyes.

As she stood, she looked to the moon, and what she saw, she knew not the meaning of. The full moon, the thing that so beautified the night, was behaving strangely. Even as she watched, it waned until it was nothing more than a mere crescent, and as that sliver of silver light disappeared, everything was plunged into an impenetrable darkness. She searched the broad expanse above her, but there were no more stars, nothing but an empty hole in the sky that she knew to be the new moon, the one time of the month that for some reason she feared so much.

A noise startled her, and as she looked wildly around her, her gaze fell on a pair of eyes that were even blacker than the surrounding darkness. She blinked, a mere half a second, and the eyes were gone. She looked once more for them, and then a feeling came over her. Slowly, she looked down at her gown. What was once silk as white and clear as the light of the full moon had turned to a velvet that was as black a color as the new moon that hung in the sky above her.

She clutched at the folds of this new and strange dress, trying to puzzle it's sudden transformation into this dark garment, when a firm arm slipped itself around her waist and pulled her into a hardened body behind her while another hand grasped her hair. She felt it drawn to his face, heard him inhale the scent of it, and heard him exhale in desire.

She fought him, struggled to escape his hold upon her, and finally managed to twist out of his arms, whirling around to face her would-be captor. All she saw were those midnight eyes before Hinata awoke.

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Hinata sat up in the bed, gasping for breath, covered in a cold sweat. These nightmares had been going on for months, all the same dream, almost always ending up with Hinata waking up screaming. Tonight, it seemed, wasn't one of those nights. She got up, trying not to shake the bed so she wouldn't disturb the sleeping form next to her, and went over to the window seat that was nearest to her side of the bed.

She'd insisted, when she'd moved in with him, that she sleep on that side of the bed so she could be close to the window. She'd said that she wanted to be able to have an easier time of getting to the window seat if she couldn't sleep. He'd thought it ridiculous until she had told him that if an intruder came in to the room, he would be able to defend them both faster if he was closest to the door, so he acquiesced to her request with a broad smile and a kiss on the forehead.

The moon is so beautiful tonight, she thought, standing in front of the open window, gazing up at the bright full moon that had just risen. He said that my eyes matched it so perfectly, and he said they looked like the most valuable pearls you could ever get. A small smile crept across her face. He's so loving. I'm so lucky I have him. She stood in that pale luminescence, her alabaster skin glowing, the gossamer white nightgown that she wore sparkling. She'd never considered herself pretty or even close to cute, but Naruto had told her more than once that in the light of the moon, she looked like the most beautiful angel.

She heard him stir behind her, but kept her eyes upon the moon. However, she lowered her eyes to watch his tan hands encircle her waist and he pulled her to him, she placed her own hands on his, keeping them there. He kissed her neck, tenderly, and she closed her eyes to lose herself in his love. They stood there a moment, she and Naruto, in the moonlight streaming through the window. Then he whispered something in her ear.

"Another nightmare, wasn't it?" She didn't consider lying to him, not now, before, or ever in the future. All she gave was a small nod, and as Naruto felt the movement, he gave a soft sigh and hugged her tighter to him. "Let's go back to bed. I'll hold you." Again, nothing more than a nod, and with her small hand clasped in his, he led her back to the bed.

They lay there for a time, in each other's arms, and eventually Naruto fell asleep. She looked at his face, the slight lines of worry smoothed in sleep, his breathing even and peaceful. She raised her left hand to the light, looking at the golden circlet with the intricate filagree of a leafed vine spiraling around it glinting on her ring finger.

Everyone had said they would make the perfect couple when they had announced the engagement, and soon after they had moved in together. But barely after a week of blissful happiness for both, Hinata began having the dreams, the nightmares that visited her every night, that made her so dread the time when the sun set. Her only comfort was the moon, the thing people said they thought of when they looked of her.

She looked at the moon, and then once more at the engagement ring, before setting her hand down back on the white sheets. She stared at the ceiling, thinking, trying to delay the inevitable drowsiness that was stealing over her.

I'm finally engaged to Naruto, our wedding is coming in a few months, but it's all being ruined by me, by a few dreams that I can't seem to take. What's wrong with me? I love Naruto and I want to be with him, but there's this foreboding feeling I keep getting, like something else wants to prevent this, someone like a predator, and I'm the prey, and he wants me for himself.

She shook her head. That was silly, what am I thinking? Nobody wanted to date me before Naruto and I'm fortunate to even have him. I'm getting paranoid. I'm glad I haven't told anyone about this feeling, but what am I going to do about it? Why won't it go away?

All these questions swirled around in her head, as slowly, but surely, her eyes drifted closed, and Hinata was happy to find as she drifted off, that the nightmare would not come back, not tonight, and she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.